Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) (8 page)

On Starship
Conquistador too the Battle AI Berserker took over flight controls at the last
moments and kicked in an emergency forward jerk that threw Conquistador ahead
of Mercurian ship’s rear hull and averted physical contact. However, Conquistador’s
automatic collision aversion systems kicked in too. They were strictly off
limits to battle AI’s or even the crew and could not be tampered with or
overridden without a great deal of difficulty. The collision system computers
booted the battle AI out of the starship flight controls just after it had sent
the command for the forward jerk and the mechanical safety machines turned
Conquistador on its rear axis to convert the forward momentum into angular,
rotational momentum that made the starship tumble over its vertical axis safely
ahead of the Mercurian battleship’s astern.

 “Garyett,
activate the MBH weapon now, right now, and send it crashing to the planet,”
Raptor yelled when the command room and the entire starship was flipping over
upside down as the ship’s flight systems worked furiously to overcome the
rotational spin.

“MBH weapon
activated,” Garyett replied after he pressed the button for activation,
“launched it towards the ground”. Raptor and Barryett were both sitting with
override switches to take over the weapon but Garyett came through. Their heads
were spinning but they had been through this exact type of space combat
training and knew how to concentrate on the operations using muscle memory and
concentration of thought. This would not have been a problem in space where the
artificial gravity generated by the spaceship kept the bottom always under
their feet, but planet Nestor’s gravity easily overwhelmed the starship’s. The
starship was stabilized soon thereafter.

“A fully paid for
roller coaster ride courtesy of Starfire Army,” Tollvyk chuckled while he shook
cobwebs out of his head.

“A few more
moments of it and we would be seeing the star field right in this room,”
Barryett said as he held his head with both hands.

“Flyptar, yank us
out of the orbit and into space,” Raptor said, “I don’t want us to waste fuel
countering our own gravity weapon’s pull.”

Flyptar and the
junior flight officers boosted the speed and changed the course of Starship
Conquistador out into the space. 

Meanwhile, the
Mercurian battleship was headed to the planet on automatic controls. After the
danger of collision had passed, the Mercurian flight officers switched the
controls back to manual just when the Starfirian Gravity Weapon was activated
on full power and its artificial concentrated gravity kicked in with a powerful
jolt and suctioned the Mercurian Battleship towards it. The Mercurian officers
were at lost to understand the phenomenon because the downward tug on their
ship was significantly higher than the combined pull of Nestor’s gravity and
their own momentum. They tried to pull the battleship horizontal but to no
avail as the Micro-Black Hole weapon dragged it down further and further below
at higher and higher velocity.

Finally, the MBH
weapon smashed into the ground and its gravity was instantly dissipated but by
then it was too late and soon thereafter the Mercurian Battleship crashed into
the rocky surface and shattered to bits and pieces on impact leaving behind a
deep and wide crater and a massive fireball from the explosion that reached
hundreds of meters in the sky.

 “Mercurian Three
is gone,” Barryett remarked looking at the scanner readings on his display.

“Hedgewyk, give me
the total battle report,” Raptor said.

Capitan Hedgewyk
collected all the signals from all the scanners and sensors and fed them to
multiple battle analysis programs that each applied a distinct criteria to
evaluate the progression and to forecast the eventual outcome of the battle. He
forwarded the results to all the senior officers’ terminals.

“Vice-Commodore,
it seems like the Nestorians are taking a real beating out there,” Raptor said,
“After the initial success of their arguably brilliant deception taking two
enemy spaceships right out of the battle, they have performed poorly
thereafter. If not for their higher number of ships, the Mercurians would have
likely taken Nestor in our absence.”
“I agree sir, the Mercurians are far more advanced than these people we have
to protect,” Barryett said, “I am afraid if Mercurians have another fleet out
there, we are going to have to fight the next battle for them.”

 “We are the
X-Factor in this battle equation,” Tollvyk said, “Mercurians didn’t count on
our presence here. Let’s push this to the hilt.”

“What are you
suggesting Toll?” Raptor asked.

“Let’s charge the
Mercurian battleships engaged against the main Nestorian fleet under General
Bakus out there,” Tollvyk said.

Raptor looked at
the gravitron display. He was aware of the huge battle taking place much
further away in space. He looked at the live database of the ship’s arsenal. He
was also aware of the rapid depletion of their weaponry and fuel supplies. 

“Flyptar, bring us
in the rear of the Mercurian fleet,” Raptor said.

“On our way,” Flyptar
replied.

“VC Barryett, I am
thinking we should try to run the Mercurians off,” Raptor said, “And wait for
the Sixth Frontier Fleet to arrive and reinforce us.”

“I agree sir,”
Barryett replied, “I never liked or even understood the idea of sending a
single starship, even a new and amazingly powerful one such as this, all alone
to defend a protectorate. The Empire’s policy has always been to send at least
three starships for every mission.”

“Thus the Emperor
should hear of this,” Tollvyk said.

Raptor and
Barryett said nothing to this but only looked at each other for a few seconds.
Both of them knew that jumping over so many ranks and going straight to the
Emperor was considered bad form and rudeness and disrespect towards Army’s
hierarchy. Barryett just shrugged and turned back to look out into the space
meanwhile Raptor turned his attention to the flight data.

“Commodore Raptor,
two Mercurian ships are breaking off the battle and turning around towards us,”
Horyett said.

“I don’t want to
waste energy on them, but I do want to relieve Gen. Bakus,” Raptor said, “VC
Barryett, what do you suggest?”

“Run to the Sun?”
Barryett said.

“Yes, let’s do
that,” Raptor said, “Flyptar put us on the path to this system’s star at
accelerating speed but make sure that the two Mercurians are able to keep
pace.”

“Yes sir, turning
to the sun,” Flyptar replied.

Starship
Conquistador turned to the star of Nestor system and sped off straight towards
it. The two Mercurian spaceships hesitated a few seconds and then followed it.
The Mercurians tried hard to catch it but every time they closed distance,
Conquistador just accelerated some more, as if playing a game and toying with
its pursuers, letting them come closer in hope and then effortlessly speeding
away from them.

The heat and light
became more and more intense as they flew ever closer to the star’s surface.
Finally, Raptor ordered the metallic plates drawn over the command room to
curtain off the transparent diamond shield and to avoid the intense luminosity
from ruining their eyes.

The Mercurians
kept up the pursuit and Conquistador kept flying ever closer to the star. The
strain from the heat started taking its toll on the surface of all three ships
and the metal began melting.

“Hold steady,”
Raptor said. If he turned around now he would provide the Mercurians a clear
shot to let loose tens or even hundreds of rockets at him. He had taken the
risk and now he had to see it through.

“Star’s
gravitational force is approaching no return horizon,” Horyett said.

“How much longer
to the no return boundary?” Raptor asked.

“Five minutes and
thirty seconds,” Horyett replied.

“Hold steady,”
Raptor said, “They have to give up soon.”

The chase
continued for two more minutes. After one more minute Raptor was ready to turn
around and open up with full force of his rockets and lasers and settle it with
a showdown after all.

“Tollvyk, stack
two hundred Ober Rockets on standby, equal distribution against targets,”
Raptor said.

“Rockets on
standby,” Tollvyk said, “Commodore, are you sure you want to use up that many?”

“If they don’t
quit, I have no choice,” Raptor said, “A hundred rockets aimed at each might
give us an opening to make a run back unimpeded.”

“No return horizon
in two minutes and thirty seconds,” Horyett said.

Raptor wanted to
turn around but begged himself for one more minute. The Mercurians kept on the
tail. Perhaps the Mercurian metallurgical science was far ahead of them but he
knew from their ship’s operations that their engines were not. Their no return
horizon had to be much earlier than for Conquistador.

The crew sat
stunned with sweat forming both due to the fear of what lay ahead and the
rapidly rising temperature of the room.

“Activate cooling
gases,” Raptor ordered.

“Cooling gases
circulating,” VC Barryett replied.

The temperature
held steady for a few seconds but once again began to rise. Barryett kept
increasing the circulation of the cooling gases let out from the storages but
they could not keep the temperature constant.

“No return horizon
in one minute and thirty seconds,” Horyett said.

“Commodore,”
Tollvyk pleaded, “Raptor, my friend, we are going to be vaporized,” he squealed
in desperation.

“Be quiet,” Raptor
said wiping sweat off his brow, “They can’t continue longer.”

“Neither can we,”
Barryett said as he turned around and fixed his gaze on Raptor.

“No return horizon
in one min…” Horyett began to speak then quickly yelled, “Mercurians have
broken off pursuit. Mercurians have broken off pursuit.” He repeated himself a
couple more times as if to goad Commodore into rapid action.

“Break the
course!” Raptor said, “Back to space.”
“Yes sir,” Flyptar replied with a smile but even before Raptor could finish
his sentence the flight control section had begun turning Conquistador around
and after a few seconds it was headed back on an exact 180 degree path away
from the star.

Raptor relaxed
back in his seat and smiled at his crew, “Boys,” he said and then looked at
Capitan Alvina and gave her a wink, “and girls. You should have faith in our
mechanical engineers. A spaceship’s commander cannot destroy his ship in a fit
of madness. There are automatic fail safes that would have seized control of
this ship before the no return horizon was even reached and turned it around.”

“Would you have
liked to subject those mechanisms to a live test, Commodore,” Barryett grinned.

“Probably not,”
Raptor said.

‘Run to Sun’ was
an old and standard tactic to throw off pursuit that was taught to the new
Starfirian spaceship officers and crew. It could be a dangerous tactic under a
stubborn commander if the spaceship itself didn’t have fail safes to turn
around automatically before its melting point was reached or before the star’s
gravity became overwhelmingly powerful. All Starfirian Army spaceships had such
mechanisms manufactured right into their core structure.

“Where are those
Mercurians now?” Raptor asked.

“Returning to the
main battle or whatever remains thereof,” Horyett replied.

“Let’s hope Gen.
Bakus has made the most of the opportunity we provided him,” Barryett said.

“At great risk to
ourselves, they should reward us after we removed a total of six Mercurian
battleships from combat for them,” Tollvyk said.

“Commodore,”
Horyett said with a jubilant tenor in his voice and a wide grin on his face,
“The remaining Mercurian ships are high tailing out of the star system at two
hundred light speed and climbing rapidly.”

There were claps
and cheers in the command room and Raptor and Barryett looked at each other
with a smile of satisfaction and contentment. Tollvyk stood up and saluted
Raptor and he laughed in response.

“Flyptar, let’s
take us back to Nestor and park us in its orbit for rest and repairs,” Raptor
said.

“With pleasure,
Commodore,” Flyptar replied happily.

General Bakus and
his battle fleet had finally pulled through. Before the
Conquistador
had
shown up and broken off two of the Mercurian ships, they were locked in a very
close, neck to neck struggle for survival. When Mercurian fleet was deprived of
its two crucial battleships, Bakus had sensed an opening and gone on a major
offensive and his battleships had unloaded lasers and rockets at will. The
final straw was the return of
Conquistador
unharmed from the star. It
was just then the news had reached that this Starfirian spaceship had destroyed
four Mercurian spaceships all by itself. It did not take long after that for
the Admiral of their fleet to order a hasty retreat and concede the battle.

The battle was
over and the greatly relieved yet considerably anxious leaders of Nestorian
Republic had assembled in the Chancellor’s suite in the Senate building. The
construction crews had begun work outside furiously clearing away the rubble
and repairing and salvaging what could be. Medical personnel were working
equally fast to examine and treat the large number of civilians who had fallen
victim to the attack. Starfirian soldiers who had died or were wounded had been
evacuated to their starship for treatment and the remaining strike soldiers
maintained order in the city. The Republican Guard that had participated in the
coup was still held in detention pending future investigation.

Commodore Raptor
Warwyk and Vice-Commodore Barryett Wuft had been invited by Chancellor Solus to
the meeting. They were on their way and Commander Krotus was waiting outside
the door to escort them in. Meanwhile, Chancellor Solus, Vice-Chancellor Remus,
General Bakus, Foreign Minister Hickus, War Minister Horus and Interior Minister
Lemon Bree had already assembled and wore grave faces as they reflected on the
recent events.

“Solus, why have
you invited Starfirians to this meeting?” Remus asked. He was not going to
refer to him as a Chancellor. Starfirian commander may have appointed him by
fiat, but Remus had not accepted the legitimacy of that decision. 

“They saved us out
there,” Solus replied, “I think they are owed our confidence.”

“You were totally
opposed to even their presence,” Lemon said, “But now that they have hoisted
you directly to the top of the state, they are your new found friends.”

“Yes, they did
appoint me the Chancellor,” Solus said, “and no I don’t like the process
through which they did it. There is no doubt as the champion of peoples I would
have won the election for this office…”

Remus coughed and
rest of the room scoffed except for Bakus who was not a Senator and could not
show displeasure.

“…and I will win
the election which is just six months away,” Solus said, “And since the rest of
you quietly acquiesced to their decision, you realize too the power Starfirians
hold. They can veto any decision we take here. We will be wasting our time if
we don’t consult them first.”

“We did not
protest because we were under attack,” Remus said, “Some of us value our
republic more than our personal ambitions.”

“And some of us
value the actual peoples that inhabit the republic,” Solus replied.

“Question now is…”
the tedious war minister Horus began to speak when their door opened.

“Chancellor,
Senators,” Krotus said walking in and escorting two Starfirian Army officers
dressed in red and black uniform, “Our guests are here.”

“Come in Commodore
and you too VC,” Solus walked over to them and extended his hand, “The whole of
Nestorian Republic is grateful for your help in our battle.”

Krotus closed the
door behind but stayed in the room.

“Chancellor, what
was the hurry for calling this high level meeting,” Raptor asked. Remus grinned
at Solus while taking small satisfaction in the commodore’s expression of his
displeasure at the rush. “We have not even begun to properly analyze the battle
as we are placing higher priority on treating our wounded.”

“We are in worse
straits because we have to tend to significant repairs…” Bakus began to speak
when Solus cut him off by waving his hand.

“Forget the battle
details, general Bakus,” Solus said. He could not be dismissive of Commodore
Raptor, but Bakus was now under his command and had to bear it. “What is more
important is the political impact going forward.”

Bakus was furious
but he held his anger and displayed a calm demeanor but Remus did not have to.

“Political
Impact?” Remus said, “We lost hundreds of thousands out there, soldiers and
civilians alike, peoples as you call them, as you pretend to care for them and
you are thinking politics?”

“VC Remus,” Solus
said, “If it hasn’t occurred to you, the enemy has merely retreated but the
threat is not finished.”

“I doubt they are
coming back anytime soon,” Raptor said, “Besides, I have sent the signals
relaying the battle to our regional and national capital. It will be just a
matter of time before the Sixth Frontier Fleet arrives in full force.”

“I appreciate that
commodore,” Solus said, “But we must have a hand in avenging our people.”

“I have no
argument with that,” Raptor replied.

“Good,” Solus took
a quick, deep breath. The one worry he had, that of Com. Raptor torpedoing his
plan, was now laid to rest. “General Bakus, I believe our spy has identified
the location of the first inhabited planet of the Mercurian Empire. I want you
to strike back in retaliation.”

“That is crazy,”
Remus said, “We have no strength for that.”

“I believe our
newest and biggest Battleship
Avenger
is ready for duty,” Solus said,
“And since general’s Battleship
Republic
took enough damage to be out of
action for necessary repairs for weeks if not months, I am giving him the
command of
Avenger
.”

“Why don’t we wait
to build up our strength again?” Remus said.

“What? And give up
an opportunity to strike the enemy when he is in chaos?” Solus looked at Bakus
and smiled.

“Chancellor is
right,” Bakus said, “If there is a time to strike back, it is now.”

“You support him?”
Remus asked. He was surprised to see General Bakus ever agreeing with Solus on
anything.

“I do, VC Remus,”
Bakus said, “The Mercurians will never be as weak or as disorganized, not to
mention as demoralized, as now. They sent fifteen battleships, only five of
them are returning…”

“They destroyed
fourteen of ours, damaged all the rest to varying extents,” Remus said, “If you
leave out the four Mercurians taken out by the Starfirians, we got less than
half as many they did of ours. Their technology is far more advanced than
ours.”

“All the more
reason to hit them now,” Bakus said, “They don’t fully know it yet. If we hit
them, we will put them on the defensive, give us time, give Starfire Empire
time to send more starships, give them pause before they launch another attack.
If we attack them right back, then they will think we are stronger than we
actually are.”

“That still leaves
five battleships against just your Avenger,” Remus said.

“My dear Remus, I
may be no military tactician but I am not a complete dullard when it comes to
military matters either,” Solus said, “I don’t expect him to conquer and hold
their planet. Just hit and run and that battleship can run fast.”

“That’s what I was
thinking too,” Bakus said, “besides, their battleships will return to their
base or repair yard which may be on another planet.”

Remus sighed. He
could see quite clearly what Solus had done. He had played to Bakus’ mindset.
General Bakus was thinking military strategy and he liked to strike back in
war, he was a tough fellow, not one to play pure defense. But Remus was
thinking politically. He knew Solus was worried about Bakus because he was one
man who could remove Solus from chancellorship by force if he wanted. General
Vegus was apolitical, other generals were not powerful or popular, but Bakus
had now taken command of majority of battleships. Bakus was too loyal and
professional to stage a coup against a legitimate leader but Solus’ appointment
was due to a foreign commander’s edict.

By sending him
away on a mission, Solus would be rid of the biggest threat to his rule and
also deprive Remus of his endorsement and support during the election campaign
that was soon to begin. Solus could take advantage of the fraying of Nestorian
battlefleet’s command structure and reorder it to his liking in Bakus’ absence,
put his supporters in command of the battleships.

“Commodore
Raptor,” Remus turned to the Starfirian, “Will you accompany General Bakus on
this mission?”

“I am afraid we
cannot,” VC Barryett chimed in, “We have no orders to go on the offensive and
strike enemy territory. Our protection to you extends to your space alone. If
we launch an attack, we will be starting a war on behalf of Starfire Empire
against Mercurian Empire.”

“Haven’t you
already by participating in this battle?” Remus asked surprised and exasperated
simultaneously at this wordplay.

“No,” Raptor said,
“We have defended our protectorate. These Mercurians must see reason that we
were simply extending protection. Now that they know we are in your corner, it
is very likely our representatives can negotiate ceasefire with their leaders.
But if we actually take our starship into their space and start shooting then
that may be an irreversible act of war.”

“Besides, ours is
the only starship that is relatively unharmed,” VC Barryett said, “We are
needed here to guard Nestor and other planets of your republic.”

“I agree,
absolutely right,” Solus said, “Commodore Raptor, your presence here will be of
great help.”

Remus’s jaw
dropped to the floor. Solus was not only cunning but also ruthless. He was
sending General Bakus and the entire Battleship
Avenger
to a mission
with higher probability of death than of return. And he wasn’t even trying to
provide them with support they needed to stay alive. Only Starship
Conquistador
was powerful enough to shield
Avenger
if matters went south. But Solus
had maneuvered both Gen. Bakus and Starfirians, who had been more favorably
inclined towards Remus, right against him.

Remus walked over
to a large, cushion seat and slumped into it. He had been outfoxed and he would
have to compose himself again and make his moves. Presently he could do nothing
but watch.

“There is one
unpleasant matter,” Bakus turned to Raptor, “I believe you have detained one of
our pilots.” Bakus did not want to bring up the topic initially because he had
hoped that the Starfirians would accompany him to return favor to Mercurians.
But now that they were going to just lounge back, he cared not if he offended
them. Savior or not, this man Raptor could not just seize a Nestorian army
officer.

“Yes we have,”
Raptor said.

“We want him
back,” Bakus said.

“Stripped of his
uniform, kicked out of the battlefleet,” Raptor said, “on those terms you can
have him.”

“Excuse me,
Commodore,” Bakus said, “You had no right to arrest him.”

“General,” VC
Barryett said, “It was regretful we had to do it, but he destroyed the enemy
battleship that we had deliberately merely disabled so we could reverse
engineer it and learn from it.”

“Would have
benefited you Nestorians too,” Raptor said, “Shame you let donkeys fly
spacefighters.”

“You do not treat
us as a conquered territory,” Bakus said with his voice rising with his anger,
“I can file a formal complaint to your superior.”

Raptor and
Barryett looked at each other for a moment. Raptor knew for certain that a
starship’s commanding officer could detain a lower ranked officer from another
spaceship if he was proving detrimental to the battle, but whether he could
keep holding him indefinitely, he didn’t know for sure. Barryett might have
known but Raptor could not ask him and display his ignorance and weaken his
position. Raptor wanted to call Bakus’ bluff but he did not relish the thought
of giving Regional Star Commander Carvyk Botlar, his direct superior, an
opportunity to take a shot at him. Raptor stood stone faced but his mind was
deliberating when Solus came to his rescue.

“Starfirians,
there is no need for this petty squabble,” Solus said, “this Capitan Agnosis
Wornus, right…” he looked at Bakus who nodded his head in affirmative, “this
capitan is a known wild cat and even his commanding officer, General Vegus of
Battleship
Defender
did not like him much.”

Bakus was furious
that Solus would berate one of their own in front of outsiders and he turned
his neck to look at Remus who just shrugged and sighed. Remus had given up on
Solus and believed there was nothing he wouldn’t do to butter his bread.

“I would gladly
fire him with disgrace on his record,” Solus said, “But our peoples; they would
cheer him as a hero for fighting an entire battleship.”

“Like hell he
did,” Raptor said.

“I know that it
was your starship that did all of the fighting,” Solus said, “But once out of
the fleet, Agnosis can run his mouth freely. If he stays in, we can seal his
lips under military law.”

“So what are you
proposing?” Barryett asked. Barryett realized that if Agnosis was fired due to
Starfirian pressure and talked in public, a lot of the cheers would turn into
jeers.

“An exchange,”
Solus said, “One of our spies was caught, interrogated and experimented upon by
Mercurians but he managed to escape. I will let you talk to him and examine
him.”

Raptor and
Barryett were startled by this revelation while Bakus clenched his fist in
anger and Remus violently shook his head in opprobrium. Giving up their most
important spy to Starfirians would risk exposure of state secrets.