Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (20 page)

Combined fire lashed the Triaxians, adju
sted to the one thirty nine arc, like burning whips of destruction shooting out from twin, vengeful stars.

Then Naero and
Becca executed a flawless, counter-clockwise swing along the edge of the shattered enemy wheel.

Ships groaned. T
hey pulled some heavy stress forces. A few smaller vessels lost power and fell back, or got damaged by sporadic fire.

But the
majority of Strike Fleets Six and Fifteen kept their rapid firing big guns trained on the five enemy fleets.

Most of the
se foes had their shields negated by now.

Naero
and Becca completed one full circle, and five entire enemy fleets burned and exploded.

“Break off and leave them to the sharks,” Naero commanded. “All ships and crews, good work. Now let’s tear the enemy right a new ass, just like the left. Follow me in and form up, mirror configuration. These vectors, on these marks. Let’s burn right through them!
”

Becca laughed openly.
“Lot’s of them running every minute, N. We’re close to breaking them.”

“Close is
n’t good enough. Attack, Becca. Obliterate their entire starboard flank!”

“Wahoo! Light the
se fuckers up!”

The final battle for Helapine-3 lasted almost
an hour longer.

Just when Naero thought they could stand down and assess their
losses and damage, Admiral Joshua put in an emergency call from the battle for Kysarra-5, in the next system over.

The fight there had bogged down into a messy stalemate
.

Even worse, m
any of the enemy ships that fled Helapine-3, jumped in on the Alliance forces at Kysarra-5, tipping the scales in favor of Triax.

Seventy
percent of the Alliance fleets there were now cut off and in danger of being completely wiped out.

“All available ships, this is an emergency,” Admiral Maeris announced. “Proceed immediately to support our other fleets at Kysarra-5. They’re outnumbered, trapped, and taking a pounding. Jump in on these vectors in multiple attack wings
.”

“All ships on our link
,” Naero relayed. “If you are sixty-percent combat ready or better, form up and jump with me. Any others, proceed through the fixer clouds and follow on, as able. Our brothers and sisters need us. We cannot let them down!”

25

Haisha!
Two major battles, in the course of a single, standard day.

Strike Fleet Fifteen
was too beaten up and had to stay back.

When Naero and her forces jumped in on the edge of
the Kysarra-5 battle–several minutes later–at first look at the scans, things could not be much worse.

The
fight had degenerated into the equivalent of a street brawl in a vast muddy pit.

Triax had the
Alliance forces almost fully contained and hemmed in close with sheer, superior numbers.

The Alliance forces could barely move and maneuver
.

Ships rammed each other repeatedly, and fired directly into one another, negating most shields
.

That was the basic, dire situation
she jumped into.

Triax also had ships free of the mix and who
still joined in fresh. They wheeled and spun around, sniping from above and below. Yet because of the nature of the enemy trap itself, the enemy strikers often hit their own ships as well when they tried to attack.

Either way, the Alliance forces were in a very bad way, bottled up as they were by an
envelopment strategy that constricted tighter and tighter around them. The trap was similar to a long metal mesh rat trap, tapered at both ends, and bulging in the center.

But the tightly packed enemy formations instantly told Naero what they needed to do
.

“All ships, conce
ntrate precise, destroying fire on the tapered end of the enemy rear positions. They won’t be able to hold out for long against that. Once the breach is made, our trapped friends can escape to regroup. Ignore the other ships. Let our fighters keep them busy.”

They maneuvered into position
.

Nine of t
he amazons cut loose first, breaking up the packed group of ships and destroying many outright with their combined firepower.

The first Alliance ships saw daylight and shot through to escape the trap
.

“Form concentric rings in convex pattern
Charlie-Kilo-Romeo-8. We’ll rake the rat trap rapidly along its full length. They’ll have to break off and regroup–if they don’t want to be destroyed.”

Admiral Nathan Joshua cut in, just as the enemy trap began to break
up, as planned.

“Alliance forces. Do not allow the enemy to regroup. Repeat, stay on them as they scatter. Expand your rin
gs and then hunt them down. Keep the pressure on. All reserves join in. Any ship that can still fight, let’s break them, now!”

Despite being beaten up
after hours of constant ship-to-ship combat, the battered Alliance captains did as they were commanded.

Even as the enemy tried to peel away and regroup, the Alliance fleets would not let them
.

The plan worked for the most part, but there were still so many Triaxian ships remaining, that in the fighting and confusion, a good many of them were
still getting clear enough to jump away.

Everyone on both sides seemed bloody and exhausted by then
, but the fight did not let up. In fact, it grew even more confused. Triax ships were everywhere.

And the senseless losses for a sensele
ss war only continued to mount.

But e
ventually, Triax would fall.

The
enemy’s days were roughly numbered, yet still numbered. They were finite.

Th
e fact remained that the enemy continued to force the Alliance to pay a very high price for each victory along the way.

Once this battle ended,
Kysarra-5 would await pacification.

A number of massive explosions suddenly rocked
The Hippolyta
to her core. She shuddered and shook.

“Rina, what’s happening
?”

“A dozen enemy ships just uncloaked and hit us point-blank with missiles
.”

“Shields are down, sir,” Ensign Nick Alexander said
.

“Second attack wave about to hit,” Surina said calmly
.

“
Haisha!
More missiles, Rina?

“Alert the Marines,” Tarim shouted. “Get everyone armed and ready
to defend this ship!”

Surina turned and faced Naero, activating her shield and drawing her own blaster pistol and battle blade
.

“Not missiles this time, sir. Enemy boarding craft–hundreds of them. They’ll hit us in seconds
–everywhere.”

Naero readied her own weapons, just like everyone else
.

“
Spread out, everyone,” Tarim said. “Stay sharp. Watch for entry points.” He turned to Naero. “They mean to overwhelm us, sir. Just like they did
The Silver Devil
.”

“Like hell they will. All crew–
everyone fights. Get our fighter waves back and have them attack the boarding craft up close. These killers are going to hit us from every direction. Defend our girl and each other. Let them come!”

Tarim shouted. “They’re after our captain. Everyone defend her to the last breath! That, is an order
.

Hayden and a full rifle platoon of heavy Marines poured out of the lifts to reinforce the bridge
.

Just as the enemy boarders blasted through the hull
.

26

The enemy attackers penetrated the bridge blast shields alone
, at sixteen key points.

The
Triaxians swarmed on
The Hippolyta
and ripped their way in at seventy-four other key locations.

First the foe tossed in explosives to disrupt shields, then smokers to obscure their entry points
.

Spacer Marines and crew flipped up visor optics to target the attackers
.

Scores of Triaxian elite Marines and Hevangian assassins poured in from all directions on grav wings
.

There was no way to shoot them all fast enough
.

They
were sitting ducks with the enemy swarming above them.

“Cut the Gravitics!” she shouted. “Split up and secure each of those access points. Let’s take them on in zero-G!
”

Spacers were superb fighters in null gravity.

But Naero and her people were already heavily outnumbered.

Hayden organized his Marines into sixteen, four-man fireteams, each with a shield pod in front of them
.

“Naero!” he shouted. “You and your people back us up! We’ll do the heavy lifting!
”

“Right! Two-thirds of you–
pair up with the Marines and assail each of the breaches. The rest of you, with me and Tarim. We’re going to swirl around and tear the enemy to pieces at high speed. Blast and cut them as we go!”

The
bridge was quickly enveloped in criss-crossing firefights.

The fireteams attacked the breaches, cutting down the attackers still trying to pour through
.

Personal shields took and hits and buckled
.

Naero led eleven Spacers, rocketing up to clash with over thirty foes
.

Naero hurled microgrenades and exploding blades
.

Some of the grenades were flashbombs, and stunned the foe
.

Others blew the
foe up, just like her blades.

They gutted the enemy thirty and took out almost half of them
.

More shot up at them from the sides and below
.

Tarim dropped head down and spun, raking the
packed enemy forces with his plasma machine pistols.

Foes
withered before Tarim’s blazing guns.

Naero saw Fenley Wilde, her Co-pilot, shredded by and enemy mini-gun, a split second before he took it out with a pulse grenade
.

Medical Specialist Xaevin Cheyenne knifed two foes with her battle blades, just before they were all three cut to pieces by heavy
blaster cannon fire from below.

Naero saw the shock and surprise on Xaevin’s face, just before her head and body exploded in pieces
.

A split second later, precise fire from Leftenant Hayden and his micro-grenade pistols took out the enemy blaster cannon
.

A team of six Hevangian assassins cut loose on Naero herself with heavy stunners, driving her back and disrupting her shields
.

The next
barrage would take her down–they obviously wanted to take her alive.

“Captain, look out!” Surina yelled. She shot one
assassin in the face and threw her battle blade into the throat of the next.

Then she
flung herself directly in front of Naero and took the concentrated blasts of the stunners full on.

Direct hits
drilled Surina into the wall, where she floated, bloody and helpless.

Tw
o dozen assassins drew their poisoned shokkog blades and swept down at Naero, Tarim, and Enel.

Six of
them broke away to to slaughter Surina.

Tarim slipped around
to the side, giving Naero and Enel room to fight. Each rapid shot from his pistols ripped off a Hevangian head.

Enel
tore into the six killers going after Surina like a demon unleashed.

He
emptied his blaster pistol in the chest and torso of the first three attackers. Then he drew his own battle blades and sliced the hands and arms off two more–laying open one killer’s throat with such speed and fury–that he nearly decapitated the foe. The last assassin he smashed into the hull, held off the lethal shokkog, and crushed the assassin’s skull repeatedly with his bare fist.

He secured a heavy blaster and gunned down any foe he could target
.

Enel
became a terrifying warrior in those brief instants.

Eleven
assassins still came straight at Naero.

She smiled and accelerated
to meet them, hurling blasting blades and microgrenades up into their bunching numbers.

That was just to knock them around and distract them
.

Then she went on the attack, with every ounce of her enhanced speed and might
.

She drew her energy cutlass and went at them with it and her last battle blade
.

Naero
swept into them hard and fast, whirling, whipping kicks and flashing blades. She wheeled into them, spinning one way and back the next. She severed poisoned shokkog knives from their hands, crushed heads and torsos.

Like her mother before her, she transformed into
The Invincible Cyclone.
She crushed and slew her foes in a whirling dance of deadly kicks and stabbing, slicing energy blades.

In mere seconds, the elite enemy assassins floated and spun around her–crushed and butchered into bloody pieces
, bubbling in zero-G.

Outside the ship, their fighters surgically blasted the enemy boarding craft off the
flagship’s hull–like removing parasites.

Hayden and his remaining Marines cut down the last foes trying to fight through the breaches
.

Once the fighters blasted th
ose last boarding craft away, the hull shields could seal, and the bridge was secured once more.

At a quick glance, t
wenty-three Marines floated lifeless, along with eight more of Naero’s bridge crew, KIA.

Naero shuddered, trying not to think who else they had lost, but there wasn’t time.
She estimated over four times that number of enemy dead.

Both she and Jeremiah checked the ship’s systems
.

Several battles still raged throughout the ship
–including an intense fight around Medical.

Zhen. Their wounded in the
infirmary.

Their people were still fighting for their lives
.

“Half of you stay here with the wounded and see to our people.
Defend the main bridge. Commander Jaylen is coordinating the other battles from the backup bridge. The other half who can still fight, come with me and Leftenant Jeremiah. We need to assist the rest of the crew.”

“Lock and load, people,” Hayden shouted. “Sergeant Steiner. See to our people here
.”

“Will do, sir
.”

The next nearest battle was a firefight still going on in the ship’s galley down below, and the enemy did not have the codes for the lifts
.

Fortunately, they had the enemy in that area trapped between decks. About sixty Triaxians against forty Spacers
.

Hayden suddenly chuckled.

“What’s so funny, Jeremiah?”

He grinned. “Help’s coming. Check the readouts, sir.”

Fifteen ships from Strike Fleet Six had already docked with the Hippolyta.

Hundreds of enraged Spacer Marines and Spacer crew flooded on board, armed to the teeth and fresh to the fight.

The fact that the enemy had attempted such a direct, brazen attempt on their fleet captain–and her flagship–sent them into a blazing fury.

Naero and Jeremiah reached the galley
.

Once they took out the enemy shields with disruption grenades, numerous reinforcements
poured in to cut the enemy down in short order.

Fresh Marines basically ignite
d squad shield pods, walked right in, and blasted the bastards to death at close range.

Only five Triaxians had time to surrender
.

All of the Hevangians fought to the death. Some few even killed themselves
with their own shokkog blades–rather than be captured and interrogated.

Naero did not mourn their loss in the least
.

She would never forget
or forgive what their kind had done to her and her family–her people. Every chance she would get, Naero would make the Hevangians die.

There wasn’t enough
time to reach any of the other five remaining battles. Overwhelming reinforcements eradicated the enemy threat at each hotspot, within minutes.

Naero addressed her courageous people
over the com throughout their ship.

“All crew, good work. You held up and fought well against tough odds. The enemy came at us all to murder us, and you proved yourselves brave and true. You fought like lions
–as I knew you would–for each other, and to defend our Amazon’s honor. I was beyond proud to stand and fight beside you all.”

Naero paused and took a deep breath. “
Help each other, now that this battle is over. We are family, and many of our sisters and brothers have fallen beside us, or are still hurt. Let’s see to our people, and then put our brave girl back in order. Once again, well done, my brave and fearless crew!”

Naero did not look forward to the final casualty reports
.

Zhen had been slightly wounded during the firefight that took place near the
infirmary–just flesh wounds to her left leg and arm. She ignored her injures and helped manage the triage of the more severely wounded from the battle.

Admiral Klyne himself came over with an Intel investigation team, to study the enemy attack and interrogate the few enemy prisoners who survived
.

Such enemy attacks were
, in fact, on the rise, and new procedures had to be developed to help combat them.

Naero
helped see to her bridge dead–personally. She owed them that much. She, Tarim, Zhen, and five other bridge crew members even helped the prep teams bathe and clean the bodies, and put them in their dress uniforms in preparation for burial.

So many fallen
.

So much that needed to be done
.

Their fallen friends had fought bravely, and deserved no less than the same care they would give family
–for they were family.

Each loss was heartbreaking, and would radiate out from each tragedy, to hurt and cause pain to all who had known and loved them.

Then the Naero, Tarim, and Zhen went to Leftenant Hayden, and joined the Marines as they honored their fallen in a similar fashion. 3
rd
Division personally prepared their own dead, and said their farewells to their battle brothers and battle sisters.

Naero witnessed one bright point in the midst of such loss.

When Leftenant Surina Marshall opened her radiant eyes in her medical bay, medbed, Ensign Enel Maeris was waiting patiently, holding her hand. He had ignored his own minor wounds to remain by her side, while she rested and recovered.

When he ducked out to get her some chow, other bridge crew promptly
came over to her, and informed Surina just how valiantly Enel had fought like a tiger to protect her–as she floated helpless in a sea of killers.

And when Enel returned with Surina’s food,
she took his hand back in hers, and looked into his eyes intently for a very long while, unable to speak any words.