Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (39 page)

“There goes the
IO
!” called the DSO. The crew of the Terran battlecruiser
Indian Ocean
had exceeded expectations. Commissioned just two days prior, its crew was inexperienced but had lasted far longer than he would have thought possible. They managed to fire plenty of their missiles into the Drakul armada and had done incredibly well, in fact...until the dreadnought freed itself from the minefield. Able to turn whichever way it needed to take the Earth’s defenders under fire, it made short work of the battlecruiser. One volley from the chase armament in the dreadnought’s nose knocked down the
Indian Ocean’s
shields; the first broadside the Terran ship received destroyed it beyond salvage.

The DSO winced as the dreadnought
began turning to present its broadside to the
Terra
. With the ship’s shields already down, and one of its engines out, he knew it wouldn’t take more than one or two volleys before the
Terra
was out of the battle...and they were dead. There would be nothing left to stop the Drakuls’ advance on Earth.

“Firing counter-missiles,” the DSO said. “Tubes at 20%.” Hopefully they’d last long enough to take out the battleship that had destroyed the
Pacific
. That would at least give them bragging rights in hell.

“Missiles launching at the battleship,” said the OSO as the Drakul warship came into view of the
Terra’s
broadside. “All weapons firing.” The battleship had already been hit a number of times and its shields were still down. The
Terra’s
weapons ravaged the aft section of the Drakul vessel, destroying its engineering spaces.

The DSO glanced at the dreadnought. It had reached a firing position on the
Terra
, and the first of its lasers fired.

“Laser strike in the galley,” reported the duty engineer. “
It’s open to space, and we’re venting atmosphere. Several crewmembers went overboard. Damage control crews are responding.” The ship shook violently and went dark. After a few seconds, the emergency lighting came on. “Missile strike near engineering. All motors are out. We’re operating on emergency power.”

The OSO pushed the button that, if powered, would have launched the last barrage of missiles needed to destroy the Drakul battleship. He pushed it again, but it remained unpowered. “Damn,” he
sighed, “I really wanted to kill that bastard.”

“What’s the dreadnought waiting for?” asked Captain Griffin. “Why doesn’t it finish us off?”

“Ma’am!” shouted the communications officer. “Skywatch just called.
Kamikaze 01
took out the dreadnought’s motors, and two of the other kamikazes were successful in hitting the battleships. Skywatch isn’t sure how long the dreadnought will be unpowered...if we can get our motors back online, we’ve got a chance to destroy her!”

“
Engineering, Captain Griffin,
” the CO commed, “
can you give me an ETA on getting a motor back online? The dreadnought is dead in space, and we could destroy it if we could get some weapons operational.
”

“
Ma’am, it’s going to be a while,
” the assistant engineer replied. “
The chief engineer is dead, along with half of the crew that was in Engine Room #2. That space is open to vacuum and Engine Room #1 isn’t much better. #3 and #4 are a little better, but not much.
”

“
Just give me a graser, as soon as you can,
” pleaded Captain Griffin.

“
It’s going to be at least 10 minutes,
” replied the assistant engineer.

“
Try and make it eight,
” said Captain Griffin.

“
Get me power!
” screamed Admiral Bullig. “
Their battleship is defenseless. This battle is won if we can kill that ship. Give me some missiles or some lasers; I don’t care what, just give me something!
”

“
It’s going to be at least 10 minutes,
” replied the engineer.

“
Make it sooner,
” ordered Admiral Bullig, “
or I’ll come back there and kill you myself!”

“
Power coming up,
” said the assistant engineer. “
We’ve got enough for
three grasers. If you try to use more, you’re going to overload the grid, and we’ll go dark again.
”

“
Understood,
” said Captain Griffin. “
Nice work.
” She turned to look at the OSO. “You’ve got three grasers. Using anything else will cause the power to fail. Within those constraints,
destroy that dreadnought!
”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied the OSO. “Grasers firing!”

“I’ve got gate activation,” called the DSO. “It’s a big ship...not one of ours...holy shit,
super dreadnought incoming!
”

I’m sorry Earth, Captain Griffin thought. We were so close, but we’ve failed you.

“Lasers firing from the super dreadnought,” announced the DSO. “They’re eliminating the rest of the mines.” He gazed at his tactical display, hoping it would change. It didn’t. “Won’t be long now,” he muttered as an afterthought. The last few mines in the vicinity of the stargate were destroyed. As if those would have mattered much against a ship that large.

“Wait a minute,” said the OSO
, as the super dreadnought fired again, “the new dreadnought just shot one of the Drakul battlecruisers that was near the gate. What the...?”

“
Attention all Terran forces,
” commed the newcomer, “
This is the Archon super dreadnought
Holy Word.
We are here to help ye in thy fight against the Drakuls. Please deactivate the rest of thy mines around the stargate at this time. More forces are incoming.
”

“
Ye? Thy?” asked the OSO. “Who the hell talks like that?”

“Anyone that wants to come kill
Drakuls can call me ‘ye’ all day long if he keeps pounding on the Drakuls like that,” replied the DSO. He switched to his radio. “
This is the battleship
Terra.
The minefield has been deactivated. You are free to maneuver at will.
”

“
We thank thee very much,
” replied the
Holy Word
, turning to take the Drakul dreadnought under fire, while destroying the remaining battlecruisers with its chase armament. Although the Drakul dreadnought was still without power, the Archons didn’t know when the Drakuls might get it back again, and they were taking no chances. Missiles the size of frigates began pouring from the
Holy Word
like water, washing away the defenseless dreadnought.

“I’ve got another gate activation,” said the DSO as the first round of missiles detonated on the dreadnought. “It’s a much smaller ship...it’s the
Vella Gulf!
The
Gulf’s
back!”

The
Vella Gulf
transited into the system just behind the
Holy Word
. Missiles were already arcing out from both sides of the
Holy Word
. With the enhancements provided by the view screen, the Terrans could see the power of the super dreadnought in action. Lasers and grasers reached out to starboard to envelope the closest battlecruiser, whose screens had already been flattened by its initial missile launch. Counter-missile lasers were still focusing their attention closer in, scouring the area close by the ship of mines...just in case.

“Launch all fighters!” ordered Captain Sheppard. “Weapons free!
Blast the bastards!
” 

“Weapons free, aye,” replied the
Gulf’s
OSO. “Opening fire! Helm, bring the ship 50 degrees to the right!”

“Coming right 50 degrees,” said the helmsman.

“Chase mounts firing!” said the OSO. The missile launchers at the front of the
Gulf
launched their first volley at the cruiser to their left. As the ship turned further right and the main batteries on the port side unmasked, the first volley leapt out to follow the missiles from the chase mounts.

“Mines close aboard to starboard,” called the DSO. “Counter-missile lasers firing!” The mines wouldn’t know the difference between the Terran ship and the Drakuls; once armed you didn’t go through them.
No sense taking chances.

“Sir, the
Terra
is calling,” said the communications officer. “They are asking if we’d finish off the Drakul battleship that is alongside them.”

“Tell the
Terra
it would be our pleasure,” replied Captain Sheppard. He turned to the OSO. “You heard the lady,” he said. “Kill the bastards.”

“Yes sir,” the OSO replied. “I’m on it.” Nine missiles roared downrange, accompanied by the 10 grasers in the
Vella Gulf’s
broadside. The weapons hit home on the
Spurting Blood
before its crew could get their ship’s shields back up. Its magazine breached, the Drakul ship exploded, killing all aboard.

* * * * *

“Grand Admiral Michael, I wanted to pass on the grateful thanks of a very
frightened population,” said Terran President Katrina Nehru to the figure on the view screen. “If not for your assistance, the Drakuls would be overrunning the planet right now.”

“We were happy to assist thee,” replied Grand Admiral Michael, “especially since
thy ship Vella Gulf was instrumental in helping us to make significant gains against the Drakuls in our war against them. We must be going, however. We currently have the Drakuls on the run and need to keep up the pressure. If we can trap them in their system, we will end this war, once and for all.”

“I understand completely,” said President Nehru, “and I look forward to talking with you under better circumstances. The Vella Gulf is the only ship we have that is operational, but we will happily send it with you.”

“Wow,” she said after Grand Admiral Michael had signed off; “he looked just like an angel...”

* * * * *

The force was the biggest that Captain Sheppard had ever seen, although he was admittedly a bit of a novice at major interstellar battles.
They had rendezvoused with a fleet from Archonis and now had two super dreadnoughts, four dreadnoughts, five battleships, seven battlecruisers and five cruisers. When they had entered the Lalande 21185 system, they had also found the
Emperor’s Paw
waiting for them, along with another dreadnought and the brand new spacecraft carrier
Night Strike
. The Terrans’ contribution of a single cruiser looked pathetic compared with the other star nations, but the
Terra
had been in too bad a shape to join them, and the rest of the fleet was scrap that was currently being fed into Terra’s replicators to make new ships. There would be a nice sized fleet once they got all of the wreckage around Saturn cleared out, but that was a long time in the future. 

With the
Terra
sidelined for major repairs, it was up to the
Vella Gulf
to carry the flag of the Republic of Terra into the climactic battle with the Drakuls. No one really expected the Drakuls to have
too
much in the way of capital ships left; the alliance forces had already exterminated two whole Drakul fleets.

“
All ships, this is Grand Admiral Michael,
” the Archon transmitted as the ships approached the stargate to COROT-7 and the planet Drakon, the home world of the Drakuls. “
We are faced with an enemy that has attacked us from the very bowels of hell. They shall not stop us, for our mission is true. Our faith is pure! Let us advance and send these demons back to the hell from whence they came. For God and Archonis!
”

“
For God and Archonis!
” replied the rest of the fleet.

“Here we go,” said Captain Sheppard as the first mine clearance vessels transited the stargate. Robot
ships led the assault into the next system. After transit, they launched a number of decoys for the mines near the stargate to attack. The Archons expected a
lot
of mines and had used all 20 of the mine clearance ships they had available. The
Holy Word
would follow them in, followed by the
Emperor’s Paw
and the
Vella Gulf
, and then the rest of the fleet.

“Leaders lead,” Captain Yerrow
had said, with the Mrowry equivalent of a shrug, when Captain Sheppard had asked why Yerrow had requested the honor of following the
Holy Word
into the system. It seemed like suicide to him, but when the Mrowry officer had asked if the
Vella Gulf
would follow them, Sheppard had said, “Certainly; I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Captain Sheppard shook his head in remembrance. His mother had always warned him that his mouth would be the end of him; it appeared that her prophesy had finally come true. All he could hope for was that the Drakuls would be too worried about the
Holy Word
to bother with his little cruiser.

He watched the front view screen, waiting for the lead ships to begin the assault.
The key was to follow the mine clearance drones closely enough that the enemy couldn’t bring up any additional mines after the drones did their job, but not so closely that the warships intercepted mines that were still headed for the drones. The
Holy Word
began advancing toward the gate.

“All ahead full,” said Captain Sheppard. “Maintain separation from the
Emperor’s Paw
.”

The
Emperor’s Paw
made the jump in front of them. It seemed like forever, and yet no time at all, for them to reach the gate. They made the jump...straight into hell. Although the drones had eliminated most of the mines around the stargate, they had done nothing to reduce the Drakul fleet waiting for them, a fleet that was considerably larger than expected.

“Launch all fighters!” ordered Captain Sheppard. “Weapons free!”

“Holy shit!” muttered the OSO as he started targeting the enemy forces. “That is the largest ship I have ever seen!” Even bigger than the
Holy Word
, the flagship of the Drakul fleet was a full three miles long, brimming with missiles and lasers. Three other super dreadnoughts only slightly smaller waited at the stargate, as well as five dreadnoughts, six battleships, 12 battlecruisers and more cruisers than he could count.

The
Holy Word
had immediately been trapped between the biggest super dreadnought and one of the other super dreadnoughts when it entered the system, and it was trading fire with both. The carrier
Night Strike
entered the system after the
Vella Gulf,
and fighters began launching from all four of its catapults. Every Alliance ship was taken under fire as it entered the system.

Captain Sheppard counted the number of ships showing on the tactical plot and didn’t
like the totals. “I’m not sure we can win this one,” he said in a low voice to Steropes.

“Did you see the courier ship the
Holy Word
just launched?” Steropes replied. “They’re probably thinking the same thing. I believe they are sending it back to let their rulers know.”

“Ummm...wouldn’t we want to
retreat to the last system and wait for reinforcements?”

“I
don’t know what the Archons are thinking,” replied Steropes; “however, it is my guess that Grand Admiral Michael is trying to take advantage of catching them all here. If by some chance we could destroy them all, including their replicator, then the rest of the forces could come and finish them off before the Drakuls can get off planet again. I imagine that he doesn’t want to have to chase them through the universe in order to eradicate them...again.”

The Alliance forces traded missiles and energy weapons with the enemy fleet. Although they gave better than they received,
it didn’t appear the alliance forces were going to win the battle. While the
Holy Word
wasn’t out of the battle after the first 15 minutes, it was close; air and fluids streamed from it in more places than the Terrans could count. Still, it wasn’t done, and the smaller of the two super dreadnoughts that it was fighting blew up as Captain Sheppard watched. The biggest Drakul ship looked like it was in the same shape as the
Holy Word
. Both ships were wrecked; their captains were just too stubborn to admit defeat.

“Sir,
” said the OSO, “another super dreadnought has changed directions and is headed toward the
Holy Word
.”

“If they take
out the
Word
,” said Captain Sheppard, “they can deal with the rest of us at their leisure. Comm the fighters. See if they can hit the super dreadnought before it can get to the
Word
.”