Warpath (18 page)

“Admiral McPatrick
was concerned that that carrier group you found was only part of an
enemy strategy.”

“Made to lure our
best ships out of orbit so they could strike Tamber,” Ronin said.
“Command thinking. Tell me if there’s anything else we can do.”

“Aye, good hunting,
Ronin,” replied Governor Anderson.

Minh-Chu turned his
fighter and thrust in the direction of the Morrigan, the armoured
hauler Captain Moira McFadden, Frost’s cousin, had just finished
modifying. After she was finished with it, Ronin could only call it a
pirate ship. She kept the six main rotary thrusters, but shortened
the pylons they sat on so the ship wasn’t such an easy target. She
also kept the main thruster at the rear of the ship, but an extra
layer of curved armour covered the entire ship.

Large disruption
emitters dotted the bottom of the ship, made to damage shields at
relatively short range. A long armoured box ran along one side of the
ship where her version of a maxjack was hidden. Numerous arms,
cutters and a pair of fortified docking hatches were ready to crack
into a ship once it was disabled. The rest of the vessel was dotted
with old fashioned energy pulse and railgun turrets.

“I’d love to see a
simulated fight between the Morrigan and the Warlord,” Dent said as
they moved in closer. “Wouldn’t like to see a real one though.”

“That’s a good idea
for training the crews,” Minh-Chu said. “I’ll have to pass it
by Jake and Moira when I get a chance.”

“Captain McFadden
here,” the Captain of the Morrigan said through their
communicators. “I understand you two are our new escort?”

“That’s right,
we’re just getting into position,” Minh-Chu replied.

“Split and cover our
starboard and port sides,” Captain McFadden said. “We’re on our
way to the dark side of Kambis.”

“Expecting trouble?”
Dent asked.

A wormhole opened
between the Morrigan and the rest of the fleet, close enough to set
off all of Ronin’s energy and collision alarms. “Evasive action!
Break to port! Break to port!” he ordered.

The pair of Uriel
fighters thrust out of the way of the large newcomer. It was unlike
any ship Minh-Chu had ever seen. “You’re never allowed to ask
that question again, Dent,” he said as he and his wingman finished
moving out of immediate danger.

“What is that? I’ve
never seen that configuration,” asked Captain McFadden.

Ronin’s heart sank as
the Sol Defence database finished looking up the ship’s profile and
transponder. “I have a record in my Target Identification Database.
That is the Pontos, a ship made for Citadel, the covert oversight
organization for Earth Defence. All information on that ship’s
systems is gone, deleted before the records could be updated.”

“Citadel?” Captain
McFadden asked. “What are they doing here?”

“Citadel ship,”
Governor Anderson addressed. “We are currently dealing with a
crisis elsewhere in the solar system. I need you to declare friend or
foe immediately.”

Minh-Chu’s tactical
display lit up as the Citadel ship’s shields flared, sending a wave
of energy in all directions for over thirty five thousand kilometres.
“My shields are down to nine percent,” he said.

“Five,” reported
Dent, “five percent.”

“Twenty eight
percent,” Captain McFadden said, “they are not friends.”

“Dump your missile
bays, head for that old observation station for cover,” Minh-Chu
ordered. He and dent opened their missile loading doors and ejected
all their munitions in the direction of the Citadel ship. As they
made the minimum safe distance from the munitions, they armed the lot
of them. The guided munitions fired rockets, dragging their full
launcher racks towards the enemy ship. “Hope that provides enough
of a distraction.”

“They’re not
targeting us at all,” Dent said.

“Stop jinxing us!”
Ronin replied as his canopy was lit up by several nearby flashes.
“Morrigan, are you in need of our assistance?”

“No, you made the
right call, running for cover, that ship is between us, you’d get
ripped apart if you tried to cross the distance,” Captain McFadden
said. “We are staying clear of your munitions dump stunt though, we
could have used some warning.”

“They’re not doing
anything about it,” Dent said. “No countermeasures.”

Minh-Chu watched as the
Morrigan opened fire with her turrets, and the flying bundles of
missiles passed by, closing on the Pontos. A barrage of energy bolts
struck one of the bundles, detonating it and sending the rest of the
missiles off course.

“Okay, that singed us
around the edges,” Captain McFadden said. “There was some
antimatter in that load, yeah?”

“A little, that was
one of Dent’s loadouts, mine are a little heavier. There’s an
accumulation missile aboard,” Minh-Chu said as he activated it. The
guided missiles attached to the bundle were doing a fair job of
turning the munitions back towards the enemy ship. His accumulator
missile’s reactor began charging up quickly. The Pontos fired
several shots at it, but couldn’t quite reach. “A blind spot,
right behind that big bastard’s main thrusters. I’m going to have
to blow my racks, Captain McFadden, hurry up and get behind this
observation post.”

“Making best speed,
Ronin,” replied Captain McFadden. “How big is that accumulator
going to build up? What kind of antimatter is it going to make?”

“Enough,” Minh-Chu
said, “I hope.”

“This is the British
Alliance ship William. Please cease and desist all combat activity
and clear the area, we are launching defence fighters and drones.”

Minh-Chu waited an
extra three seconds as the Morrigan made it behind the abandoned
observation station. It had already taken significant damage from the
Pontos’ pulse cannons. His gave his accumulator missile time to
build a little more charge, then triggered the final stage of the
small reactor’s cycle, creating a small, unsafe amount of dense
unshielded antimatter. The drifting rack of missiles flew apart,
sending most of the munitions thrusting against the Pontos’
shields. An instant after they finished impacting, the accumulator
missile exploded, filling the area with white light.

“I’m sorry, say
again, B.A. William?” Minh-Chu asked.

“-and drones are
incoming, please fall back and refrain from detonating any other
large munitions.”

“Understood, B.A.
William,” replied Governor Anderson from the Barricade. “We will
move to a holding position once we have a clear line of fire on the
Pontos.”

Minh-Chu’s tactical
display updated, indicating that he was to join the Barricade, the
Morrigan and Dent had received the same orders. “B.A. William
Command,” he said, looking at the broad carrier on his tactical
display as it launched thirty fighters at a time. “My biggest
antimatter weapon only reduced that ship’s exterior power readings
by eleven percent, it still has a seriously high shield reading and
its recharging fast.”

“Thank you, Ronin,”
said someone from the command deck of that ship. There was no way
Minh-Chu could know who they were or what rank they had. “We are
aware, please follow your commander’s orders.”

“There’s nothing we
can do against that,” Dent said. “Unless you’ve got another
dozen accumulator missiles in your back pocket.”

“Retreat,” Minh-Chu
said. “We’ll merge our shields with the Morrigan, get a good
field going.” He guided his ship into position on the ship’s port
side as Dent did the same.

“Merging the field,”
Captain McFadden said. “Slave your controls to my helm please.”

“Aye,” Minh-Chu
said as he watched the drones engage the Pontos. The ship hadn’t
done anything but reduce the shield power of everyone in the area. It
wasn’t firing at them like an enemy set to destroy its opponents.
“The Pontos was more interested in distracting us,” Minh-Chu
said.

“I was just thinking
the same thing,” Captain McFadden said. “It’s biding its time.”

“The Barricade is
performing a deep scan now, we just got a clear line of sight,”
Governor Anderson said. “Get into our group, now.”

The trio of them broke
cover, thrusting as quickly as they could into open space. Several
bolts of energy struck their shields. One got through and Minh-Chu’s
eyes went wide as he saw what those blasts really were. “They are
firing super-heated plasma contained in an energy field. Uriel
fighters cannot take that kind of fire. Our cockpits are not strong
enough.”

Minh-Chu took control
of his fighter. “Dent and I are going to move our ships to the
front of the Morrigan, so you’re between that ship and us. We’ll
still add to your shield’s charge.”

“My damage control
team can confirm your readings, Ronin,” Captain McFadden said. “Set
your shields to charge as fast as they can, that single shot blasted
a third of the way through our hull.”

Once Dent and he were
in a better position, Minh-Chu looked at the mess the Pontos was
making of the British Alliance drones. Most of them were destroyed in
two shots – one to break their shields down, and another to
superheat large portions of their instruments – and Minh-Chu
couldn’t help but feel lucky that he wasn’t a member of the
fighter squadron moving in behind the drones. They were British
pilots, incredibly talented, well trained, well disciplined. Their
fighters weren’t half as well armed or as manoeuvrable as their
Uriels, but they did have more armour and better shields.

“They’re going to
get killed,” Dent said. “The Brits have to move their destroyers
in faster.”

Minh-Chu could see
there were fourteen British Alliance destroyers and nine corvettes
coming around the planet, but they would not be able to find a firing
solution for another minute, up to two in some cases. Most of the
drones were reduced to rubble by the time the manned fighters were
launching missiles, and Minh-Chu had to force himself not to look
away as the Pontos began firing on the British pilots.

The Pontos began to
move towards Kambis rapidly, opening large doors along the front of
the ship. “The energy readings on whatever is in there are off the
charts.”

“We see it, that’s
what we’ve been trying to get a good scan of,” Governor Anderson
said. “As far as we can scan so far, there are antimatter solids,
and they are charging a separate shield system.”

Minh-Chu had an idea as
to what it was, but shook his head instead of saying it aloud.

“Governor, send an
evacuation order to Kambis, right now!” Captain McFadden said.

Minh-Chu’s tactical
screen updated with an evacuation order for Kambis. “Ronin, do you
know what that is?” asked his old wingman, Slick, on a private
channel.

“A large armoured
casing, independent propulsion, shielding and solid antimatter in the
centre.” Minh-Chu said. “That’s enough power in one weapon to
wipe out a fleet in tight formation, but they’re headed for Kambis’
atmosphere.”

“So, that’s a
planet killer,” Slick said, “That’s what you’re thinking.”

“Look at the scan
data,” Minh-Chu replied. “I can’t see what else it could be.
There are half a billion people down there.” Minh-Chu grasped at
his controls, only to discover they were under the control of the
Morrigan. He turned the slave circuit off and thrust away from the
combat hauler.

“Ronin! Get back here
right now!” Captian McFadden ordered. “What do you think you can
do?”

“I’ll think of
something on my way there,” Minh-Chu said. He looked at the doors
at the front of the Pontos, still opening. They still had powerful
energy shields protecting what was inside.

“There’s nothing
you can do!” Captain McFadden said. “Ronin, listen, if that’s a
planet burner, then we’re going to need you more than ever.”

“Too many people look
to you to lead them,” added Governor Anderson. “If you close in
and try something heroic, you’re going to get slagged before you
reach your target. Those destroyers are about to clear the planet,
and they’re not going to hold their shells for you to try whatever
you have in mind. Fall back, that’s an order, Wing Commander.”

Minh-Chu gritted his
teeth, staring at the Pontos thrusting away, then flipped his fighter
and thrust away from the dark planet of Kambis. A field of debris was
forming around the Citadel ship made of the broken hulls of British
Alliance drones and the wreckage of manned fighters. Those small
ships couldn’t make any difference. “There are half a billion
people on that planet right now.” He set his navigational computer
to automatically move back into formation with the Morrigan and
punched between the buttons on his console. “You better tear that
ship up!”

The first of the
British destroyers began firing their shells, striking the side of
the Pontos to no immediate effect. The Barricade fired all its guns,
even the railguns of the Morrigan were firing in a continuous stream,
the tips of their barrels turning red.

The rest of the Triton
Fleet left behind to defend Tamber were finally out from behind the
moon, and began firing. The Pontos began to slow as it closed in on
the outer atmosphere of the planet.

“This is the Triton,
we need an update on the situation,” came Oz’s voice over
Minh-Chu’s communicator as the Triton appeared on his tactical
display.

“The Pontos is about
to launch a weapon towards Kambis, we are unsure, but it is most
likely a planet wide weapon of mass destruction,” replied Governor
Anderson from the Barricade.

“Triton, fall back so
we can increase our level of response,” ordered British Alliance
command.

“Firing a volley of
torpedoes and everything we have as we clear the area,” Oz replied.
The Triton had come in ninety eight thousand kilometres behind the
Pontos, it was well out of range of any splash damage the British
Alliance could hit the ship with. It was also in a position to block
the Pontos’ escape.