The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (58 page)

* * *

“
It
’
s going after
Griffin
!
”
Estelle said, as
Dragon
powered forward.

“
Ifrit
‘s
back on-line,” Chaz
added.

Dodds noted that running lights were once again dotting the
carrier and that the ship was turning to begin pursuit of its
former ally in battle. He brought his fighter about to look over
the hulking mass of
Dragon
, never before having been so
close to the battleship in his life. He was granted a close-up view
of the graphic of a blue Chinese dragon that spread itself across
the hull, claws sunk in deep, jowls pulled back, teeth snarling.
The bow was already beginning to split, in preparation to use the
anti-matter cannon. He saw that the hijacked Confederation fighters
were breaking off, evacuating the target area so that they would
not risk being caught up in the fallout from the
assault.

He felt powerless. There was nothing he could do to
prevent
Dragon
‘s
advance. His comms popped; it was
Parks.

“
Knights
,
what I’m about to ask is going to sound absurd… but I’m going to
have to request that you engage
Dragon
.”

Dodds
swore, though his words were lost within the collective gasps and
words of disbelief from his fellow wingmates.

“
You all witnessed the power of that
battleship
’
s main gun earlier,” Parks said, undeterred. “We cannot allow
it to gain a lock on us. If it does, then it’s all over.
I
’
m going to
enable the accelerators. Target and sweep the hull across the
vector I
’
m
sending you.”

“
Sir..?” Estelle’s concerned voice came.

“
Don’t panic, de Winter: you will be targeting power systems
only. There is no danger of you destroying that ship.”

That’s not what she’s worried about
,
Dodds thought.

“
The combined power in those accelerators should be enough to
break through the shielding,” Parks added. “If you hit it right,
then you’ll knock it off-line until the Imperial forces can effect
repairs.”

Dodds looked over the colossal battleship. Chaz’s words came
into his head, of how the number of fighters the allied forces were
bringing to the table were no match for it. Back then, during the
commencement of
Operation
Menelaus
, there had been several hundred.
Now there were five.

But Parks was clearly convinced that they had a chance of
tackling
Dragon
.
Either that or the man was clutching at straws. And very brittle
ones at that. But what else could they do? They had to at least
try. It seemed that as much as the commodore wanted to
recapture
Dragon
with the minimum of damage, he no longer had a choice. The
man had long given up on the main objective of the operation that
had begun that morning, resigning himself to the fact that he would
not be retaking the Confederation flagship today.

Dodds’ console jingled. The restriction on the accelerator
had been lifted and Parks’ coordinates had been received. He
glanced again to
Dragon
and set to work utilizing the data and preparing
the cannon. He then swung his craft up and around, to bring himself
in line with Estelle and his fellow wingmates.

* * *

Rissard
watched as the ATAFs changed their heading, breaking away from
their engagements with the Confederation fighters and brought
themselves into a staggered horizontal formation toward the
battleship.

Unperturbed by their sudden interest in his ship, he ordered
that they be ignored, his focus remaining on
Griffin
. They could be captured once
the carrier had been destroyed. He prepared to give the order to
fire, but found that his eyes were inexplicably drawn back to the
camera tracking the black Confederation fighters. The ATAFs came
into range…

Moments later, a thick, bright green stream of plasma erupted
from the belly of the lead, striking the broadside of
Dragon
. Beams from the
four others joined it, aiming for the same point. There was a call
from somewhere down the bridge - the shield generators were
struggling. The lead changed their heading, sweeping the beam along
the hull. Its path was followed by the four others, who banked hard
to trace the line. Against the concentrated plasma beams, the
shield quadrant held for only a few seconds before it collapsed.
Bright splinters erupted from
Dragon
‘s
broadside, as though someone had just shot a cannon ball
through a huge stained glass window.

With the
shield gone, and with nothing to protect it, the beams proceeded to
cut straight into the hull, tearing open the armour as they
went.

The black-suited crew of
Dragon
fell about as the battleship
lurched violently from the assault. Lights and operational computer
arrays failed. Then the gravitational systems failed. Rissard felt
his feet lift off the floor of the darkened bridge and he found him
floating around helplessly.

By the time the ATAFs had concluded their sweep, a large scar
ran deep across
Dragon
‘s
starboard side, venting gases,
chemicals, and the splintered remnants of protective armour
plating. The graphic of the magnificent Chinese dragon had become a
shadow of its former self, a sordid blackened mark running across
it.

A short time later, the emergency systems engaged and
Dragon
‘s
occupants were sent crashing back to the ground.
Rissard picked himself up as the ATAFs swooped past the bridge’s
frontal viewport and ordered the crew to resume their pursuit
of
Griffin
. His
request was denied, reports coming in detailing the state of the
ship in wake of the attack: the main cannon lacked the power it
needed to fire, shielding and weaponry were now in an unreliable
state, the flight deck had suffered significant damage, and the
power generators were in need of repair.

Rissard
glowered as he watched the five starfighters pass by and ordered
the repairs be made at once.

* * *

“
That
’
s enough!” Estelle said, as they
completed their run. “Get back on the fighters!”

Dodds’ scepticism of Parks’ plan had been high. He couldn’t
see any way in which it could actually succeed. And yet it had! And
as he pulled away from
Dragon
,
it
looked for all intents and purposes that the battleship was no
longer able to participate in the battle.

He had
watched as the accelerator beams had hit their target’s shield,
promising to do little else but prove just how well-protected the
legendary vessel was. And then, as he had followed Estelle’s lead,
he had seen the shield give way to the beams which had cut through
into the hull. They had sliced and torn and ripped their way
through the armour, cutting it apart like thin fabric.

He found
it almost impossible to tear his eyes away from what they had just
achieved, and again the questions about just what this craft was he
was in command of began to rise within him. Twenty-four hours
earlier his world had been a very different place.

But now was not the time to contemplate such things. He
pushed them to the back of his mind, turned away from the crippled
battleship and started back towards what remained of
Ifrit
‘s
fighter complement. Now the battle
was
won! The day was
theirs! He was just separating out a target, when a number of
flashes drew his attention. He caught his breath; his jaw dropped.
From out of the fresh jump points emerged six Imperial frigates,
accompanied by a multitude of Imperial starfighters.

“
oh my god,” he gasped.

“
We could be about to become unstuck here, guys,” Enrique
said.

Dodds’ eyes darted
from
Dragon
,
to
Ifrit
,
to
Griffin
,
to the frigates, to the fighters.
He felt his world collapse, not sure of how to begin dealing with
the reinforcements.

“
Dear God, there’s a lot of them,” Kelly breathed.

“
Doesn
’
t matter,” Estelle said. “We need
to keep them away from
Griffin
! Go to it,
people!”

Dodds did as his wing commander ordered, but his own personal
feelings on the matter mirrored those of Enrique
and Kelly
. The incoming
Imperial fighters squadrons was made up of almost everything the
INF possessed: Sphinxes, Mantises, Jackals, Scarabs… He had never
seen anything like it. And the numbers! They were insurmountable!
This was not an Imperial force that he knew of.

With a burst of speed, the fighters accelerated away from the
frigates they had been escorting, aligning themselves with the
sleek black starfighters and almost defenceless
Griffin
beyond. Weapon struts
deployed from the egg-like body of the Mantises, locking into place
and presenting fully-loaded missile hard points below.

Dodds drove himself into the huge squadron of fighters, the
pack looking like so many birds migrating all at once. He could not
count the odds stacked against them, suffice to say one thing was
all too clear: the
Knights
were now heavily outnumbered.

The frontline Imperial fighters opened up with a full barrage
against the five approaching ATAFs, multicoloured light from
various weapon fire reflecting off the
starfighter
’
s
armour as it passed by them, all five of the
White Knights
’
crafts
’
shielding rippling with the impact of the shots. Missiles
from the back line followed.

There are too many,
Dodds thought,
only minutes into the fight, feeling his zeal beginning to slip.
Even so, he kept his mouth shut, trying to focus himself better.
The swarm of fighters on his radar and outside his cockpit had
become overwhelming. His intercom was exploding with chatter, and
every one of the voices was frantic, urgent and very, very
worried.

Many of the fighters were striking
Griffin
now.
The carrier was making a valiant bid at protecting herself,
but with only its rear cannons still undamaged, the cracks in its
defence were all too wide.

Dodds
broke off his engagement, pushing back through the cluster of
adversaries and towards the bombers that were of the greatest
threat to the survival of the carrier. His HUD tagged them with
missiles and he loosed them the instant they were locked. They were
joined by a hail of plasma fire from another ATAF that was quick to
enter and leave his view. He gave no thought to whom it may have
been; nor did he seek to ask. There simply wasn’t time.

The
bombers fell. He swung back around to the cluster of Imperial
forces, trying hard to overcome the sinking feeling that was
consuming his every being. But he couldn’t shake it: this was it;
this was where it was going to end…

* * *

Watching the bombers fall and the
Knights
re-focusing their efforts on
keeping the next wave away from his ship, Parks found himself stuck
between a rock and a hard place. For
Griffin
to remain here would almost
certainly lead to its destruction, in the face of such overwhelming
odds. On the other hand, fleeing the system would not only be risky
in
Griffin
‘s
current state, but would
leave
Ifrit
in
the hands of the Enemy. There was little doubt in his mind that it
would also condemn Meyers to the same fate when he arrived
with
Leviathan
,
coming to Parks
’
rescue.

As he saw the
Knights
trying to cut down what seemed like an unending
supply of Imperial fighters still surrounding them like a swarm of
angry wasps, Parks came to a reluctant conclusion: he had lost. He
would not be bringing either
Dragon
or
Ifrit
back home with him today. His priority now was to
ensure the safe return of the ATAFs, the
Knights
,
and the plans to Confederation space. As of now, they were
the most important thing, more so than anyone else.

* * *