A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (3 page)

Getting to the main door leading into the station, one of the thugs pressed the control to open it, and it slid open to the sound of hydraulics.  The boarders exchanged glances, confused at the easy entry before the leader barked an order at them, and they rushed through the door.

The security force missed the golden opportunity to ambush them.  They were ready and waiting, their stunners pointed, but none of them fired.  No one could say, exactly what it was they were waiting for.  But then it was too late.  One of the deputies fired his stunner, catching one of the boarders, a zheen, square in the face.  The insectoid crashed to the deck plating, unconscious.  The others raised their weapons and fired but in a ragged progression, no real concentrated fire. 

The boarders cut them to shreds.  Assault rifles opened up, chattering noisily in the confined metal corridor.  A pair of plasma grenades were tossed at the couple of bits of small cover that two of the deputies were trying to hide behind, blasting it to ragged bits and scorching the metal.  In just under twenty seconds, all twenty of the deputies were dead.

“Move it!” the leader called and they all hustled forward.  They stopped briefly to ensure the deputies were dead, using their blades when necessary and pulled the bodies to the sides of the corridor to clear the area.  They also stripped any access data cards, communicators and weapons that were still functional, dumping it all into a duffel.

              The operations crew watched in horror as the entire security contingent was butchered without a single casualty on the invaders’ side.  Before blasting it out, one of the zheen invaders looked up toward a security camera and hissed. 

              “We’re going to die,” Katie said, putting her head on one hand, leaning on the console.  “That’s it.”

              “We’re not done yet,” Silvio said soothingly.  “We can still beat this.”

              The other operations workers stared at him as though he was speaking another language.  “Are you insane?” one of the men snapped, panic etched on his features.  “We can’t get out of this.  We’re dead!  They’re going to kill us?  Screw this.  I’m out of here.  I should have left with the others, not stay around to get slaughtered.”  The man was up and out of his seat and running. 

              “We need to get out of here,” Katie demanded, getting to her feet.

              “No!” he cried, turning to face her.  “We have to stay and try and protect this station!”

              “Are you kidding me, Silvio?” she said, using his given name.  “We have no chance of doing that.  Those soldiers are going just kill everyone.”  She turned to the other workers here in the command center.  “Get the escape pods,” Katie ordered.

              “You don’t have the authority to give that order,” Silvio bristled, grabbing her arm.

              The woman shook him off and snarled at him.  “You’re a fool.  Fine, stay here and die.”  With that, she joined the others hustling for the pods in the next compartment. 

              He just watched them go, standing dumbfounded in the middle of Operations.

              “Captain,” Kufazik reported from sensors.  “I’ve got five escape pods launching from the mining station.  “No, seven.  Ten.  Eighteen.”

              “Toward us?”

              The zheen consulted his display.  “Two of them are.  The rest of them are on a vector in system, heading in the general direction of the habitable planet.  It’ll be a long time before they get there, though.”

              Skygexx considered.  “Disengage from
Skale
,” he ordered.  “Then move us off and close on those pods.  Get the tractors warmed up.  I think we have a few prisoners to snag.”  It wouldn’t be many, he knew, but if he could even grab five or six technicians off those pods, they would be worth their weight in gold. 

              “Sir, I’m showing two shuttles departing the main bay,” Kufazik said loudly.  “They’re moving to try and evade.”

              Skygexx hissed in amusement, his antennae curling and extending.  “Comms, hail them.  Demand their immediate surrender, or we will shoot them down.  Tactical, lock weapons.”

              Hekai nodded.  He pressed a few controls.  “Done, Captain.”

              “To the shuttles attempting to flee, this is
Ironhide
.  You will immediately strike your shields, stop and heave to, or you will be fired upon.  You have no chance of escape.”  The zheen at comms sounded confident, almost smug.  It was a sentiment Skygexx shared.  This was a
glorious
day. 

              “Don’t fire!  This is Shuttle 15, we are powering down.  Stars, please do not fire!” came the frantic reply from one of the shuttles.  Skygexx noted that one of the icons for the shuttles was slowing and then came to a stop on his display.  The other was still racing frantically in system, clearly deluded in their hope of escape.

              “Order them to maintain position,” Skygexx told the comm-tech.  “And inform them if they try and get… cute, I believe is the word, we will destroy them.”  He looked to Hekai at Tactical.  “Hekai, shoot down that second shuttle.”

              The zheen nodded, clacking his mandibles.  “Aye, Captain!”  He pressed a control and all of
Ironhide’s
rail guns opened up.  A storm of metal raced after the fleeing shuttle, pounding the shields which popped like a soap bubble.  Another salvo breached the hull and the shuttle spun out of control, its systems dark, spiraling off into the system.

              “They’re dead,” Hekai said simply. 

              “Move us into position near that first shuttle,” Skygexx ordered.  The pilot nodded and the destroyer eased over.  Hekai maintained his weapons’ lock on the little ship, until they closed the distance.  “Lock on to them with a tractoring beam and bring the ship in tight.  Have a boarding team ready.”  He checked the display, seeing that the tractors had already caught the two escape pods, and had brought them to rest not far away.  “Then get those pods and reel them in.  Make sure we have some of the lads armed and waiting for our new… guests.” 

              Some of the bridge crew hissed in amusement.  “Yes, sir.  I’ll inform the assault crew.”  The comm-tech said and turned to his console.  Then he looked up.  “Sir, I have an incoming transmission from Leader Aldys.”

              “Put him through on the main display.”

              The face of
Cierre
’s captain appeared, a slight smirk on his lips.  “I have secured the mining station.  There isn’t a whole lot there that we’re going to want, aside from a few bunkers of refined minerals, but I do have seventy-two of their workers and techs captured.  But a few managed to escape on the shuttles and escape pods.”  In the background of the vid pickup, Skygexx could see armed boarding parties on displays behind Aldys’s head.  They were holding in what appeared to be the station’s command center, with one prisoner on his knees with his hands on his head.

              “We’ve captured two of the pods,” Skygexx replied, “As well as one of the shuttles.  The other shuttle I’m afraid is a total write-off.”

              Aldys grinned.  “I see.  Well, there are a number of bits and bobs, but I think the real treasure on this station is the workforce.  I’ll have my people make another sweep, but I think we’ll be heading out to assist with the pickup of the refined minerals out there.”

              “Very well.  Once we collect the pods and secure the shuttle, we’ll be moving to assist
Skale
with emergency repairs.”

              “Should we blow the mining platform?”

              Skygexx considered this.  “No.  If we just blow it up then the locals will lose some of those workers, maybe all of them.  The ones we can’t pick up.  But I don’t want to make things too easy.  If the mining station is still up and running full blast, then once we leave, they’ll be rebuilt in a matter of weeks.  Six months from now, their construction yard will be pumping out warships.  It will make coming back here that much harder the next time.”  He gave a slight buzz of resignation.  “But if we force them to have to fix the station, they won’t have the capability of making those warships.  They’ll be too busy with this.”  His antennae bobbed.  “Break the molecular furnaces, the processors, the computers.  But do not blow the reactors or the life support systems.  I want those workers to have a place to come back to.”

              The man sneered.  “You
care
so much about those poor, beleaguered workers?”

              Skygaxx hissed.  “Do not insult me, Captain.  We’re hauling aboard a number of them to bring back for Lord Verrikoth’s workforce.  I’m not keeping them alive because I’m some sort of... humanitarian.  Lord Verrikoth wants to come back to this system for another raid and he’ll want to fill his ships with more swag.  He’ll need those workers to process the minerals for him.”

“I like the way you think, Captain,” Aldys replied, pointing at the zheen through the vid pickup.  “Out.”

              “Three hundred staff,” Skygexx muttered.  “Seems about right for a station of that size.  Shouldn’t take them too long to get back to the station once we’re gone.”  He twitched his antennae as he saw the looks he was getting from the other bridge crew.  “Well, we don’t want to be doing the mining, we want them to.  And with the number of their personnel that are rocketing away in their escape pods, they should be able to get that station back up and running in a few months.”

              Kufazik nodded.  “Makes sense.  I know I don’t want to be out there cracking rocks.”

              “Lord Verrikoth should be well pleased with the swag we’re coming back with,” Hekai put in.  “And you, sir, managed to preserve all of the ships he sent out to carry out his orders.  Not losing any ships, gaining one of their cargo shuttles, all these new workers
and
the stockpile of metal?  He should be quite happy with that.”

              “Yes, Hekai, I believe you’re right.”  Skygexx chittered a bit, straightening in his command seat.  “Continue with the recovery operation and make sure our guests are secured.  Once we have them on board, we’ll link up with the cargo ship and transfer them over with the others.  Then I want to get back to
Skale
and be sure they can get their systems back online.  From there, we’ll regroup and see if Lord Verrikoth wants our assistance with the attack on the gas mine and their defenses.”

              The others went about their business, and Skygexx stared at his display, watching the various ship icons moving around.  Yes, this had been an
amazing
day so far.

Book 1 – The Outer System Battlespace

Chapter 1

              Lord Verrikoth sat in his command seat aboard his flagship, the, heavy cruiser
Nemesis
, watching as his ships drew closer to the gas giant.  The local cargo ships, shuttles, and tugs were accelerating all out, heading deeper in system, as far from the battle space as possible.  He watched them go, his antennae flicking in amusement.  The mauve-carapaced insectoid rubbed a blunt-fingered hand along one wrist, feeling the indentations, the heavy scratches that had scarred his exoskeleton from fights and battles long ago.  They were reminders of those fights and each one held a memory.

              He would like to capture those ships, the shuttles and cargo vessels to add to his fleet, but for now there were bigger pinkskins to fry.  Perhaps if there was time or opportunity later, they might try and chase a few of those ships down, but right now, the gas mine and the stores of He3 fuel were the priority.  The locals here had a few defensive ships and a squadron of fighters, which meant there would be a bit of a scrap here in a bit but with the overwhelming firepower his forces held, unless their battlecruiser joined the party, he would carry the day.

              “No sign of the battlecruiser, my Lord,” Commander Jensen Tyler,
Nemesis
’s flag captain, reported.  “Only those corvettes.”

              “Very good, Commander,” the zheen replied, continuing to rub his scarred wrist.  “Take uss in.  I want thiss done quickly, before the battlecruizer can arrive.  Because you know they will be sscreaming for help.”

              “Aye, my Lord,” Tyler said.  “Helm, maintain course and speed.  Take us in.”

              “Have the gunboatss launch az well,” Verrikoth ordered.  “I want them to be sseparated from the resst of the fleet.  And launch the fighterz.”

              Tyler issued the orders and the smaller ships in the fleet were flying free.  The squadron of the boxy
Sepulcre
fighters and the near-ovoid shaped
Muon
fighters spread out in front of the fleet, leading the way.  A short distance behind them were the eight gunboats, slightly larger, holding in two loose circular formations. 

              After a moment of continued acceleration, the sensor officer spoke up.  “Commander, the Seylonique forces are accelerating toward us on an intercept vector.  Looks like four corvettes and starfighters.”

              Verrikoth pulled up the display and hissed at the information.  There were
four
corvettes, not the three he had been expecting.  And it appeared that
Toroj
’s sensor data about the fighter squadrons was inaccurate as well.  There were forty signatures coming this way, which was nearly
four
squadrons of fighters coming their way, not the
one
he was expecting.  His own ships typically flew in squadrons of twelve, and if the locals did the same, they were only a few fighters shy of four squadrons.  He hissed again in irritation.  But from what he could tell from the reports, Skygexx and his ships had captured the mining facility, captured a number of the workers for slaves and were loading up everything of value there.  Somehow the young pup had managed it without losing a single ship.  Clearly, some more attention would need to be given to the capable zheen captain.

              The Seylonique fighters were spreading out into groups of four, holding in loose diamond formations, all of them vectoring in toward his fleet.  It appeared, though that four of the fighters were holding back, allowing all the rest of the ships increase their lead.  The quartet of fighters was interposing themselves between his forces and the gas giant.  The gas mining station was on the far side of the planet, and it appeared that the locals wanted to ensure that he couldn’t slip any of his ships by to strike at the mine directly.  Not without a fight anyway.

              “We will have to deal with their defenderz firsst,” he said, nodding slightly.  “Make sure that the freighterz hold back.  I don’t want to looze them in a crossfire.”

              “Comms,” Tyler said, and one of the comm-techs nodded, sending a signal to the three cargo ships. 

              Verrikoth watched as the three icons indicating
Fletcher’s Dolly
and General Typhon’s two freighters pulled back and separated from the rest of the fleet.  That was one worry out of the way.  His fighters were closing with those of the locals and were outdistancing the rest of the fleet, which was fine, if the fighters could tear apart the locals before they got too close to his larger ships, so much the better.

              “Order the fighterz to engage,” Verrikoth said, keeping his attention on the displays.

              Commander Sokann acknowledged the order from the flagship and then keyed the comms for the squadrons.  His was a hodgepodge of ships and groupings, the blocky and more heavily armed and armored
Sepulcre
fighters and the ovoid, nimble and lightly armed and armored
Muon
fighters.  All of his fighters were equipped with missiles, though the
Muons
only carried a single weapon and the
Sepulcres
only had two.  These fighters had a very light throw weight compared to other ships Sokann had seen, but Lord Verrikoth’s priorities were more toward large ships, not fighters.  Though, the zheen pilot admitted to himself, if he and his fellows managed to do well enough today, perhaps he could convince the pirate lord to spare some time for getting his pilots some new and better ships.

              But that was a worry and a thought for another day.  Now, they were going all out against the locals here in Seylonique, the system with a near-mythical boogeyman, that war demon battlecruiser.  No one had actually seen the battlecruiser recently, no one from this fleet anyway, but sensor logs and anecdotal evidence from cargo ships that had come through this part of the Argos Cluster had, and brought that information to Lord Verrikoth, either freely or by force.

              So far there was no sign of the beast, which suited Sokann just fine.  The last thing this fleet needed was a whopping great war machine to drop in on this party.  It
was,
as the pirate lord had decreed, a private party. 

              Nazan Tariq watched as the invader fleet drew nearer.  They were splitting into three distinct groups and as he watched the display, it seemed as though the closest group was splitting further.  He nodded to himself just as the tactical officer spoke up. 

              “Captain, we’ve got fighters inbound,” she said, her voice icy calm.  The woman had shown a unique talent for grace under pressure.  She’d been that way when
Cavalier
had been in Ulla-tran and now with a fleet larger and more powerful than anyone had seen in the Cluster in centuries, she was speaking as though this was just another shift, just another watch.

              “Yes, Alys, I see them,” Nazan replied, rubbing his chin.  “But that’s not for us to deal with.  Comms, get the rest of the corvettes on the line.  We need to figure this out.”  A moment later, the three other captains appeared on a split screen in front of him.  “I’m thinking we let the fighters do their thing, but we concentrate on that second wave.  And since we’ve already gotten confirmation that the bastards have attacked the mining station, we don’t have to waste time or initiative by playing communication games.”

              “So we’re going after another wave of fighters?” the captain of
Eridain
asked.

              Tariq shook his head.  “No.  On those corvettes coming up behind.”  The others showed signs of understanding, two of them nodded.  “They’re racing in pretty quickly.”

              “We can’t let them get in close to the planet,”
Angara
’s captain told them. 

              “No we can’t.  So there’s five of them and four of us,”
Maitland’s
captain piped up.  “But we all pounce on one of them, I think we can take them down.”

              “You think?”
Eridain
demanded.  He threw his hands wide.  “There are four of us, ganging up on one of them?”

              “What’s to stop the others from doing the same?”
Angara
asked, sounding concerned.

              “Nothing,” Tariq replied with a shrug.  “We’re just going to have to cover each other.  We strike, we keep moving, we don’t let any of them get too concentrated.  And we hope that Commander Korqath and his pilots came provide some support.”

              “And what about those?”
Eridain
asked, pointing at something off screen, but on the main tactical plot, the three icons indicating the larger warships grew brighter.  “Three cruisers, one of them pretty big.”

              “We just keep moving,” Tariq said, now sounding unsure.  “We deal with the lighter units first.  Maybe if we can hurt their fleet badly enough, they’ll withdraw.”

             
Angara
snorted.  “That’s the best you’ve got?”

              “Anyone else got a better idea?” he challenged.  No one spoke.  “All right then.  We make for that one,” Tariq pointed to the display, lighting up the icon for the corvette on the far right flank.  The invader ships, their light units, had formed into a ragged line, moving in toward the planet at a high rate of speed.  “Hopefully we can hit it hard before the others can get organized.”

              “Wait, I’m sorry.  Who put you in charge?”

              Tariq sighed.  “Are we really going to be playing this game now?” he demanded.  The others stared back at him, but there were a couple of hostile looks.  “This time, I had a good idea.  The next good idea, we follow that person.  How about that?”

              “Fine,”
Eridain
grumbled.

              “Helm, take us in.  Tactical,” Tariq ordered.  “Target that corvette.”

              “All right Aploras, Twin Novas, let’s get it together,” Korqath called from the cockpit of his
Zlk’vzn
or what some of the pilots and techs were calling the Vision fighter.  The fighters were a roughly manta-ray shape without the tail with slightly downward-canted wings.  They were fast, maneuverable, well-armed and had decent shields, if Korqath had to say.  And he liked to say, as often and to as many people as possible.  He was proud of his ship and his squadron and wasn’t shy about telling anyone who would listen.  The rest of the squadron, zheen all, followed suit, much to the annoyance of others on the gas mine.  But they were fighter pilots and most of the crews simply accepted that this was the way they were.

              “Ready to go, Lead!” Hukriss, one of the Aplora pilots, cried.  “Let’s get ‘em!”  Hukriss was one of the few pilots who had been part of the squadron from the beginning and had proven himself as a skilled pilot.  He had been one of the few who had fought against the
Leytonstone
and survived, which was something he would bring up whenever it seemed someone wasn’t paying him the respect he felt he was due.  Most of the rest of his squadmates would shout him down good-naturedly, while the newer pilots would try and remain quiet.

              “All right, everyone lock on to one of the fighters.  Kalzee, you hang back.  Take Rokek, Korat and Ka’reen with you,” he ordered.  “I want you to act as a blocking force for the tank farm.  You don’t let anybody through, you read me?”

              “Copy, Lead,” the pilots replied.  Korqath checked his displays and saw that the four ships were pulling back as the rest of the two squadrons were accelerating forward.  A few seconds later, the quartet flipped end for end, decelerating for all they were worth, and then slowly accelerating again to take up position according to orders. 

              “Target locked,” he called, as the collection of enemy fighters came into range.  A solid tone sounded.  There was a chorus of agreement from the others.  Thirty-six pilots, each one locking a single missile onto the twenty-two pirate ships coming straight at them.  It was overkill and Korqath knew that, wasting their throat-ripper missiles on fighters like that, but they needed to be done with those fighters quickly so they could engage the bigger ships, keep
them
occupied.  Certainly a few of the defenders’ missiles would be shot down, but more than half again of the number of missiles as ships coming at them, the pirates wouldn’t be able to get them all; not in time.  And even if they only got a handful of them, it would reduce their number and maybe even make a couple of them break off in fear.

              “Firing!” he called, depressing the trigger.  A TR-2 throat-ripper missile dropped from the port wing of his ship and streaked forward.  A quick glance at his display showed the others in the squadrons loosing their weapons as well.  Thirty-six missiles raced toward the oncoming invaders, homing in on their targets.

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

              Sokann’s systems detected the incoming ordnance and began sounding alarms.  He hissed in surprise.  The locals had twice their numbers and were closing the gap to engage.  And then they just fired off a salvo of missiles.  His mandibles clacked in envy that these pilots had missiles to throw away.  If at all possible, he hoped that Lord Verrikoth could get his hands on a few of those ships coming to attack them now.  If nothing else, they held an impressive armament.