Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (26 page)

The Guard had finally picked his meal and was holding the young female by the arm and listened to her scream. The other prisoners tried to move as far away as possible from the eight foot tall carnivore, but they were packed so close together that they couldn’t move far. Suddenly the guard heard and saw the explosions outside the fence and he released the female and raised his blaster. Something hit him in the neck and he put his hand there feeling pain and saw his hand burned away. Right after that, the rest of his body was burned to ash.

Gabby teleported in to the center of the compound and turned off her armor’s wings and turned on her siren. The extremely loud noise sent the prisoners scrambling away, holding their ears. She checked her scanner and instantly teleported out to her platoon outside the perimeter as two Warriors landed and activated the force field. The prisoners saw the bright field form around the compound and the Algean warrior thought to all of them, “Please remain calm; we are here to attempt your rescue. Please sit down where you are and try to keep your composure.”

A young child walked up to the Algean and said, “Are you going to save me?”

Pistel leaned forward and thought so all could hear, “We are attacking the fleet of the invaders at this moment. Our warriors are arriving to defend you until we see if our fleet is successful. We will save you or die trying.”

The small child moved forward and hugged Pistel.

• • •

Captain Mike Pearsonne landed with the other nine hundred White Warriors in his company and he said, “Great Job, Lieutenant. Move out to your position.” Colby hit his command circuit and his platoon teleported out to the center of the valley. Mike hit his com and said, “Give me an update on the Heavy Armor.”

“They’re on the way down, Sir. They’ll hit their spots in sixty seconds.”

Mike changed frequency, “Lt. Blackwell, Get your unit in place a.s.a.p. I detect some of the enemy’s air assets lifting from their camp.”

“Yes, Sir; I’m moving up our arrival by fifty seconds. Make sure the ground is clear.”

“Target is clear, Lieutenant; bring them in and set up for air assaults.”

Terrance Blackwell made the changes in the program and the twenty huge white machines teleported.

Colby and his platoon hit the dirt and he heard a huge whine through his helmet. Great, the tanks were here. He checked his scanner and knew the invader camp had had to hear the explosions of the weapons platforms and would be responding quickly. He heard Jink say, “We have air craft lifting and moving our way.”

Colby hit his com and asked, “Terry, are the tanks ready?”

“We have the incoming plotted and will take the initial wave. Don’t waste your hornets on them.”

Mike heard the exchange and passed it to the Company over the combat link. The thousand White Warriors changed their weapon selection to anti-personnel. It was night time but the invaders camp was glowing bright. Then the ten Tanks fired their main guns at the camp and it erupted in huge explosions.

The heavy armor tank looked like a smooth hemisphere riding on a huge platform. The platform hovered three feet off the ground and the entire vehicle was enclosed by a force field. The hemisphere was made from the skin of a main battle ship and it was powered by energy absorbed from a star. The different number of weapons stored in that skin was in the thousands. The tank commander had a choice of every weapon in the Empire to call upon.

Lt. Blackwell looked at the scans of the incoming air craft and announced, “The force fields on those ships are a force four. They are stronger than anticipated and hornets will not penetrate. Use your beams.”

Mike heard the announcement and knew that the enemy’s armor was also going to be stronger than he planned. He was going to lose warriors but hornets were going to be the best weapon against them. He also hoped the warrior’s main beams would penetrate. He sent the weapon mix to his company and focused on the enemy soldiers moving out of the exploding camp toward the holding pen. He worried that Fleet may have bit off more than they could handle as well, but worrying about it wouldn’t change anything. He turned back to his scanner and saw the enemy camp continuing to explode from the tanks continued artillery barrage.

The thousand White Warriors had formed a semicircle in front of the holding pen. As long as they prevented any aircraft from getting around them, the back of the pen would not need to be defended. Each warrior had thirty yards to defend and the formation would allow them to crossfire at the approaching enemy. There were ten thousand troops in the enemy camp so they were facing ten to one odds. They watched their scanners and waited for the front of the charging Kreyl to move inside their lines. Colby watched them begin leaving the camp and was amazed at how fast they were moving. Most of them were running on all fours and they had to be moving faster than fifty miles an hour. Here they come. Then he heard the command, “Open fire, all weapons free.”

• • •

The Kreyl Commander at the camp heard the explosions from the compound and rushed out of his tent and saw flames surrounding the captured inhabitants. As he watched a giant force field appeared over the compound. He hit his communication band and yelled, “Grgal, what’s going on?”

There was no response so he hit his band and looked to see how many communicators at the compound were still connected to the general frequency link. None! He hit another button and a gun launched a probe high in the air to give him an aerial view. He watched and saw ten huge mechanical structures suddenly appear next to the force field. He hit his command circuit and yelled, “Get the attack craft launched and get your units moving!!”

He suddenly heard a huge explosion and saw the air field hit. He checked his band and a hundred of the four hundred attack craft had been destroyed on the ground. “Get those craft off the ground!”

By the time the pilots had run to their ships, another hundred and fifty had been destroyed and only a hundred and sixty were able to launch. The Commander watched as forty of them were hit by a series of massive beams and blew up. The survivors moved away from the camp and organized six miles away before they started their run at the ten huge weapon platforms. He looked at his scanner and didn’t see any troops at the camp. Surely whoever this was didn’t think they could survive with just those platforms? He looked at the aerial view again just as the probe was exploded by a beam cutting off his feed. His staff grabbed him by the arm and rushed him out of the camp as the incoming artillery was turned on the camp. He barely made it out as the camp erupted into huge explosions.

He looked up at the sky and wondered where his fleet was while this was happening. In the clear night air he saw massive explosions far up in the atmosphere. He wondered whose ships were being destroyed, but turned his attention back to the ground as his staff hurried him to the underground bunker. A series of explosions were walking across the camp and he just made it into the bunker as they walked by overhead. The massive shaking felt like a major earth quake but the bunker’s force field held. His staff powered up the displays and he leaned forward to watch his troops moving quickly toward the compound.

• • •

Jingos waited for Ron’s communication that the White Warriors had landed before he launched his thousand ships against the huge invading fleet. As he waited, he saw the processing ships arrive at the jump limit and begin their journey to the planet. Those ships were bigger than the Realm’s transports and Jingos hoped they moved far enough in system so that they couldn’t escape once the action started. He decided that he would attack them immediately after the ships above the holding camps.

He waited four hours and his communication officer looked up and said, “The Recon Platoons are in the air. They’ll hit ground in six minutes.”

Jingos activated the general frequency and said, “We will begin our attack in five minutes, fifty seconds from my mark…mark. You must eliminate the three ships holding station above the camps as quickly as possible. Once you finish with those you will teleport out to the processing ships and continue your attack on them. If any ships holding station around the moon start moving toward the planet, we will break off our attack of the processing ships and return to the planet. Choose your targets wisely and avoid being caught in a cross fire.”

The thousand Bristone Main Battleships waited outside the system and had the coordinates of their targets locked into their teleport boards. The countdown seemed to go on forever, but finally the chronometers reached zero and the large white ships disappeared.

Captain Ann Riosa watched as the El Prado teleported in on three large battleships holding station above the planet. The El Prado appeared between two of the brown ships and released a broadside into both of them from point blank range. The eight beams fired at the two ships burned on their force fields for a moment and then broke through, blowing hundred yard holes through their hulls and out the other side. “Move on the other ship. Power the reflective hull now!”

The third ship was surprised but started moving in on the Bristone Ship and fired ten massive beams at it. Ann watched as her ship’s hull collected the ten beams and reflected one giant beam back at the attacking ship. The beam blew through the ships force field and burned off the front third of the huge vessel. The jump officer teleported the ship ten miles away as the remainder of the ship exploded. The other two ships nosed over and started falling toward the planet but the fires burning inside them touched off their missiles and they exploded into fragments that burned up in the atmosphere. Ann shouted, “Jump us to the processing ship on the left end of their formation. Weapons, ready ten missiles and launch them just before you fire the main beam. I want our entire hull concentrated into one beam. The first two ships were able to stop our multiple beams.”

The three thousand ships holding station above the planet were destroyed, but at a price. Eighty ships suffered damage and seven severe enough to overwhelm the fire fighters on board and the ships had to be evacuated. Jingos looked at his board and knew he was going to miss those ships. He listened to Ann Riosa and ordered the fleet to go to reflective hulls and use missiles against the enemy ships. Jingos looked over at his sensor officer and said, “What are they doing?”

The remaining enemy ships are moving out to defend the processors. Ten ships are moving toward the planet.”

Jingo hit his com, “El Prado, take the Rehoben and Townsend and attack those ships moving toward the planet.” Jingos looked at his display and said, “All ships, begin our weave and don’t remain in one place longer than five seconds. Fire and teleport to your next target; come back if needed.”

The seven thousand ships from the planet starting arriving but not before they witnessed the three hundred processing ships go up in explosions, like a giant string of firecrackers.

Jingos looked back over at his Sensor Officer, “How strong are those ships?”

“Their force fields will withstand our multiple beam patterns for three seconds. However, if we only use one concentrated beam, it will punch through immediately. Launching missiles such that they arrive right behind the beam will destroy the ship. Timing will be critical, Sir.”

He looked over at communications and said, “Get that information out to the fleet.”

“Sir, we’ve lost the Ging and the New Hope.”

“How many of them have we killed?”

“Three thousand, Sir.”

“How many?”

“Three thousand four hundred and six now, Sir; the ship Commanders are using their reflective hulls immediately after they fire their main beam to protect them as they teleport. They kill a ship and then kill two or three more that open fire on them.” The Sensor Officer looked back at his display and said, “We’ve lost eight more ships, Sir, but the enemy fleet is down to twenty eight hundred ships. We are starting to attack them with two ships and the rate of destruction of enemy battleships is increasing.”

• • •

The Kryel Admiral watched as the white ships mauled his Fleet. They were able to jump inside the limit and that told him volumes about their level of technology. Some of their ships were destroyed, but not nearly enough. He saw his communications warrior looking at him. He looked away from the display and the warrior said, “Our forces on the planet are reporting they are being attacked by massive weapon platforms and soldiers they cannot see. We are losing huge numbers of warriors.”

The Admiral looked back at his display and saw his Fleet had been reduced to less than two thousand ships. He knew his Fleet would never make it back to the planet and at the current rate of destruction; he would have no ships if this continued, “Order the fleet to scatter and escape back to the main port.” The Communications Warrior stared at him and he snarled, “Do it or I’ll kill you!”

The warrior sent the message knowing that the Kreyl never retreated. He then looked over at the sensor display and saw that only twelve hundred ships remained. He knew they were four hours from the jump limit and it occurred to him that it really didn’t matter if they stayed or ran. No one was going to survive. He was right.

• • •

Colby watched the huge creatures rushing across the terrain and listened for the Captain’s order. He keyed his com and said, “Steady, wait for the order.”

Mike watched as the mass of creatures arrive two hundred yards out from the center of his line and calmly said, “Weapon’s free.”

The hornets rushed out in the thousands and the front of the charging carnivores was blasted. The onrushing Kryel saw the missiles coming at them from all sides but did not see what was launching them. They stopped and hit the ground and began targeting any place they saw a missile leave. Flashes of force fields revealed that they were surrounded by warriors that were invisible. The back of the huge mass of Kryel stopped and began firing at the suspected location of the enemy.

• • •

Lt. Blackwell said, “Target the attack craft. Make them your first priority.”

A hundred and fifty armored attack craft came roaring over the Kryel Warriors and the ten tanks erupted in intense beams that were so bright, that the warriors fighting on the ground had to increase the tint on their faceplates to avoid being blinded. One moment the air was filled with attack craft and in less than three seconds they were crashing to the ground, adding to the destruction taking place below.