Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (22 page)

The man sighed deeply.

“Unless you prefer I throw you out the window and be
done with it?”

“Again with the limited choices! Nah, that’s fine...
I’ll come with you, I guess.”

Ryonna made a head gesture. Tar’Lock went to recover
the laptop from the other room and then they were on their way back to Alliance
headquarters. Upon arrival they were debriefed by General Adams, who suggested
they bring the piece of evidence to an information specialist named Cedric.
They brought him the laptop and attempted to explain the situation.

“I see. If the perpetrators used shadow net, it will
take some time to retrieve any useful information,” said Cedric nervously,
opening the laptop and booting the machine.

A password prompt came up.

“Did he give you his password?”

Ryonna shook her head from side to side.

“Alright, it seems to be encrypted. I’ll ask General
Adams if he can acquire the password.”

“I don’t think that should be a problem. The man
this belongs to is a coward, who should divulge that information easily.”

“Coward or not—he almost cost us a brand new
starship. God knows how many lives could have been lost, if that had happened!”

“That’s why it’s important that you dig every bit of
information out as to who gave these orders. We need to find the real threat.”

“I agree. I will also scan the shadow net and see if
other similar orders have been dispatched. This could be the tip of the
iceberg.”

“Iceberg?”

“It’s an expression. Thus far, we could only be
dealing with a very small part of this organization. They could very well have
worse plans in their pipeline. At least now we know where to start looking.”

“That man also mentioned not being able to access
the entire storage on that laptop,” she added.

“Perhaps there’s a hidden encrypted partition. If
so, it could contain very sensitive information.”

“How long do you think it will take you to find
out?”

“Hard to tell. It’s quite the needle in the haystack
at this point. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I have anything to report,
though.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“Sure.”

Ryonna and Tar’Lock left the building, back towards
home. As they arrived at the floor where they both had their temporary
accommodation, Tar’Lock gestured towards his door.

“Want to come in for a bite?”

“Sure, but I need to dress my wound first.”

“Right. Wait, why didn’t we go to the infirmary at
headquarters?”

“Because unless I’m dying, I don’t really like other
people touching me.”

Tar’Lock smiled. “See you later then?”

“Yes, see you later. Thanks for saving my hide
today. I owe you.”

“You saved me from Hellstar; it’s the least I could
do. So let’s say we’re square.”

They both entered their respective flats. Ryonna
went to the bathroom, opened the first-aid kit, disinfected and bandaged her
wound with a flat expression on her face. She then walked to the living room
and placed a call. Soon Ronan’s face appeared on the monitor.

As the EAD
Hope
and the rest of the
Destiny
battle group emerged from hyperspace at the coordinates provided by the
Obsidian emperor, all hell broke loose. The battle group jumped right in the
middle of an ongoing battle between two fleets.

“Status report?” Chase yelled above the fray.

“We’ve jumped right in the middle of a battle. A
sizeable Zarlack fleet is currently engaging an Obsidian battle group. The
Obsidian have already suffered substantial losses, Captain.”

Before Chase could answer, a fleet-wide transmission
displayed on the main holo-monitor.

“Commodore Saroudis to the fleet: open fire on
Zarlack ships immediately. Treat all Obsidian ships as friendlies. Saroudis
out.”

While that last statement made sense under the
current circumstances, Chase couldn’t help it but cringe at the idea of
treating the Obsidian as friendlies. As long as he could remember, they had
been universally reviled as the Enemy. It would take some time before he would
use the term “friend” or even “ally,” for that matter, when thinking of them.

“You heard the commodore, everyone, target the
nearest ships and open fire. Maximum firepower.”

“Firing now!” answered the weapons officer.

Chase selected another comm channel from his chair.

“Sarah, have your wings launch now. Deal with their
fighter waves first, and then target their destroyers.”

“Understood. Alpha and Beta Wings will be ready for
launch shortly”

“Be careful.”

“Likewise. See you on the other side.”

Chase felt his heart ache at the last comment. He
did not like the idea of sitting pretty on the captain’s chair, while Sarah was
flying into mortal danger without him as a wingman.

He then made another comm call.

“Yanis, tell me the modifications we discussed are
ready?”

“They’ve been ready, boss, for a while now. I’ve
simply interfaced your console with the same temple devices you used on the
fighters, any F-147 in fact. Take a look on the left of your chair.”

“I see them, thank you. You always amaze. Chase
out.”

Chase wondered if he should take control of the
reserve StarFury now. He itched to be part of the starfighter dogfight. The
size of the fleet they brought amply augmented the remaining Obsidian. Even if
they had taken considerable damage, from the data he was seeing on his
controls, their combined forces should be more than enough to make sure they’d
win this engagement.

 Therefore, adding his skills to the fight
wasn’t really necessary. He worried how it would look if he divided his
attentions during the first fight onboard his new destroyer. So he decided against
it, reluctantly. Sarah was a very skilled pilot, one of the best. He had to
trust her, and let her do her job as wing commander of the EAD
Hope
.

He checked his telemetry on his personal war-theater
holo-display and watched Sarah’s Alpha Wing engage the Zarlack starfighters. At
least he could witness the capabilities of the StarFuries from here. Sarah
wasted no time dispatching her first two kills, within the first minute of the
engagement. Still, he felt a slight frustration not being there with her.

An impact blast shook the
Hope
. He checked
the status of the shields to see they were holding at ninety-seven percent. He
also identified the ship that had fired on them, a ship similar to the one
Argos had brought to Earth.

He opened a channel to the
Destiny
.

“Commodore, they have a behemoth ship.”

“I see it. Looks like your ship is taking hits
better than the
Destiny
did during our last confrontation with that
class of battleship.”

“Indeed, which is why I’m gonna attack it and take
all the aggro.”

“Agreed, but don’t hesitate to request additional
firepower to take it out.”

“Understood. Chase out.”

Chase ordered the
Hope
to intercept the ship,
determined to see how well the new shields and advanced weaponry capabilities
his fresh-off-the-docks new destroyer would fare.

*   *   *

Sarah’s wing had just dispatched the first wave of
Zarlack starfighters when another wave rolled forward and entered firing range.
Her radar also indicated that another wave was coming from an opposite vector,
no doubt trying to flank her.

“Fillio, I’m tagging a set of fighters. Please
dispatch them at will.”

“Roger that, Wing Commander,” answered Fillio.

With that flanking wave no longer her problem, she
focused on the ones that had already started firing towards her wing. Streaks
of red laser fire streamed passed her cockpit as she dodged the incoming fire.
The neuronal link here on the StarFury was even smoother than on the
Thunderbolt. Whatever delay she’d grown accustomed to between her thoughts and
the ship’s responsiveness was now totally gone. It made for much more precise
flying and shooting, but also made her feel even more empowered than ever
before. The StarFury was a dream to fly, pure and simple.

Time to test some of the new
features!
She deployed the drones, and went after three fighters which were approaching
her in a tight formation. She sent the drones commands to attack the incoming
enemies in the order she had painted them on her neuronal HUD, setting them to
fire low-powered, ultra-rapid fire in order to deplete their shields as fast as
possible. She marveled at how she could also give them specific points to
concentrate their fire on the enemy’s shields since the drones flew themselves.
She found herself laughing gleefully as the drones rained fire on the first target
she had painted, loving the new toys. It only took them a handful of seconds to
severely deplete the shield, at which point she switched her StarFury’s firing
power to maximum, low-frequency lasers. Three simple shots sent the first
target into a spin, followed by a bright explosion.

“This ship is something else!” She laughed to
herself.

She checked her radar. Fillio’s quadruplet wing of
Omega fighters had literally obliterated the incoming wing, which had been
trying to flank her earlier. She’d approached and engaged them cloaked; it was
no surprise at all how easily she’d triumphed. Since the Omegas weren’t able to
stay cloaked for too long they were now visible. But it only took a moment
watching her engage with another wave of fighters to see that she, too, was one
hell of a pilot. A little less reckless than Chase—but then, who wasn’t?

She vectored towards the second ship and added her
firepower to the drones’. It only took seconds before it was dispatched from
the sky. A third bogie attempted to retreat, clearly afraid of suffering the
same fate. But there was no escaping her lock. She tested a new variation of
tactics this time around, lowering the enemy’s aft shield herself. She then
gave the drones the kill order, and switched them to maximum fire, while she
broke away towards her next target. It didn’t take long for the drones to
finish the job. These drones really changed the balance of power when it came
to dogfighting. Already her mind was racing, wondering how else to use them to
best exploit the clear advantages they gave her during combat.

By the time the drones rejoined her in formation,
she had dispatched yet another ship. She passed next to another F-147.

“Having fun?” Daniel’s voice rose up through the
static.

“Oh yeah, you?”

“This ship is something else! Have you noticed how
little the shields dip when you get hit?” Daniel seemed just as thrilled as she
was.

“Hadn’t really had much experience taking that many
hits, to tell you the truth,” she boasted.

“Show off… Chase is rubbing off on you.”

Perhaps he was, she thought, laughing. It was one of
the points that she found endearing about him actually, but she could see how
it could be perceived as arrogance—depending on one’s point of view. But not to
her. Perhaps because they were both pilots. Maybe if he wasn’t such a great
pilot...? The best she had ever seen in fact, and also someone from whom she
could learn a great deal. And handsome, and…

That little distraction got her a salvo of incoming
fire on her port shields. She looked at her HUD and laughed. It took less than
three percent off her shields.

“It’s true, these shields are strong.”

“Let’s not let that fact make us too reckless
though,” Daniel deadpanned, with a bit of warning in his tone.

“Nothing to worry about, my friend.”

“Good. One reckless, hotshot-pilot friend to worry
about is enough, if you know what I mean.”

“Roger that, mister by-the-book.”

“Yeah. He’s
really
rubbing off on you.”

They both laughed. They took different paths and
continued engaging their respective enemies. 

She engaged the next wave of ships. This time she
decided to test the new missiles onboard the StarFury—again amazed by their
effectiveness. The Zarlacks might have had the edge in numbers thus far, but
this new ship would clearly change the odds in terms of firepower. Every
missile she launched found its target, except one that had launched multiple
countermeasures. Most of them had been destroyed at first impact. Those who
weren’t were easy pickings… and didn’t live long enough to tell the tale.

*   *   *

Chase watched the efficient F-147s on his telemetry.
He longed to be part of the fight out there, more than ever. But the
Hope
was approaching firing range on the behemoth ship, the same that had inflicted
quite some damage to other ships already, and even destroyed another Obsidian
battleship.

“Time to see what this ship can do. Sergeant, all
batteries open fire, ready main guns. Full power!”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

All batteries opened fire and it was an impressive
show. The barrage of fire that the ship was able to dispatch blew Chase’s mind.
It must have had at least three times more turrets than the
Destiny
. The
rate of firing was also significantly faster. From the looks of it, it was also
having more effect at lowering the shields of the behemoth-class Zarlack
destroyer. Within a handful of seconds it had reduced shields by five percent,
something they hadn’t been able to manage before with multiple ships.

That obviously got whomever was in charge of that
ship to reconsider their targeting priorities. The ship immediately came about
and fired everything it had straight at the
Hope
. The relentless
pounding made the entire hull shake and tremble, but shields were holding even
though they had lost about ten percent more now.

But the main plasma guns of the
Hope
suddenly
shot towards its prey, and it was a thing of beauty. The first salvo took out
more than half of the ship’s shield. Of course, it would require one minute to
fully recharge the main guns, but Chase could already sense a change: he would
no longer dread facing this type of ship in battle. It would take at least
three of them against the
Hope
to make him worry, in fact. And today
there was only one. If their mission succeeded, it would take a significant
amount of time for Argos to be able to churn them out of the assembly line. For
the first time in a very long time, Chase felt hope grow stronger in his soul.

“Tough little ship,” said Chase out loud.

“Yes, Captain, she is,” answered the sergeant.

And she had been named perfectly too, thought Chase.

“Sergeant, prepare to fire a full salvo of
torpedoes. Launch on my command. I’ll assume main guns firing controls, this
time around.”

“Aye, Captain, firing now. Let me remind you,
however, that the main guns won’t be fully recharge for at least another
thirty-five seconds.”

“No worries, Sergeant, I won’t need full power for
this.”

Chase grinned at the outgoing torpedoes. There were
at least twenty of them, leaving a white smoke trail in their wake. They
created a sort of horizon line from the ship’s bridge vantage point. Chase
prepared to activate the main guns. Even if they were only seventy-five percent
charged, he knew it wouldn’t matter. A couple of seconds before the torpedoes
impacted their target, Chase activated the main guns. The salvo of blue plasma
flew right past the torpedoes and obliterated the rest of the ship’s shield.
Then, in an elaborate percussion composition, the torpedoes tore one hole after
another in their now totally defenseless target. It took only a handful of
seconds before the ship exploded in a million pieces, with quite the fireworks,
and a huge shockwave that damaged the nearest enemy battleship.

It tugged to one side evasively, but it was
hopeless: it would soon become Chase’s next kill.

Chase vectored the
Hope
towards the damaged
ship, and sent five torpedoes in its path. He checked the status of the rest of
the fleet to confirm that the battle was going well. He checked in on Sarah’s
StarFury and saw that both her wings had already dispatched six squadrons of enemy
ships without losing a single fighter. He was on top of the world. It all
seemed too easy, but then again they had better numbers, stronger ships and the
element of surprise on the dogfight side. It was quite evident that the
StarFuries were formidable war machines in close combat. Chase had to admit the
drones were a stroke of genius. He made a mental note to thank Yanis for his
never-ending ingenuity.