Starstorm (Starstorm Saga) (13 page)

“I wouldn’t go down there, Trey” said the voice of Jack Thunder.

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park.”

Trey watched as Jack’s Star Sword fell on the damaged enemy ship and finished the job it had started.

“Jack! You’re the craziest man I’ve ever met! But thanks. I owe you one my friend.”

On the Saratoga, Captain Doran and Commander Kelley had been monitoring the battle.

“Is there any sign of them yet?”

“No sir,” said the communications officer. The Captain stared out the view ports of the bridge at the many moons and rings around Saturn.

“Surely, ten Star Swords could ambush five of the enemy’s fighters without suffering heavy casualties. Especially with two pilots like Jack Thunder and Trey Knight.”

“Sir!” yelled the officer operating the scanners.

“What is it, Lieutenant?”

“Three ships, sir, coming this way!”

“Are they ours?”

Commander Kelley came over next to the Captain while the officer checked the readings.

“No, sir. They’re enemy fighters. Sir, it appears as though all our Star Swords were destroyed.”

This saddened April visibly, who for the first time admitted to herself that she actually had feelings for Jack. The Captain noticed her sorrowful look.

“It’s my fault,” he stated blatantly.

“I should have sent more ships with them.”

“What are your orders, sir?”

Captain Doran was still concerned with April. He knew she had served with Knight for years and had also probably taken a liking to Thunder also. April would never let herself cry in front of any one. But she felt like it ever so much. Jack was dead, Trey was dead.

It won’t be long before we join them,
she thought.

The Captain was never sad for long. He always found a way to turn it to anger very quickly.

“Launch twenty Star Swords!” ordered Doran. Klaxons sounded as the pilots began to man their Star Swords.

Sam Grayson had just finished piloting his shuttle out of Titan’s atmosphere. He was on his final approach toward the Saratoga. He slowed his forward momentum, and prepared to set his shuttle down on the landing pad. All of a sudden, Star Swords started shooting out the launch tunnels and flying off. Sam watched as two whole squadrons launched.

“I wonder what’s up,” said Sam as he scanned the area looking to see if they were about to be under attack or something. “Shuttle 141 to Saratoga, request permission to land.”

“Permission granted, Shuttle 141.”

Sam set the shuttle down and it was lowered down into the shuttle hangar.

The hangar was filled with people. It was getting very crowded on the ship. There weren’t enough magnetic boots to go around, so many people were free floating. Some were near the floor, the walls, and in some places even the ceiling. After debarking, Sam found an officer and asked what was going on out.

The officer said that Trey Knight, Jack Thunder and eight other pilots had been killed by a group of enemy ships, and that the Captain had ordered two squadrons to take out the remaining enemy craft that were headed their way. The officer also told Sam that the Captain wanted him to make one more trip but that all the other shuttles were back for good.

Sam was shocked. He’d known Trey when he was just a kid pilot like Jack. Now they were both gone and it seemed there was no hope.

Squad Leader Brel and his wingmen were speeding towards Titan. His instruments showed 20 enemy ships on approach. He cursed the human sun for rendering his shields useless. He and his two wingmen could have easily take on those fighters if his shields were allowed to function properly. He calculated the time it would take him to approach Titan, scan the area at close range, and get away. Then he calculated the time before the human ships would intercept him, taking into account their boost capability. The results of his equation could have been worse he thought. Once in scanning range it would take only a moment to get an accurate scan of the area. He would have time to head back before the twenty human ships arrived. A few moments later the three Zidian ships abruptly halted.

“Start your scans!” ordered Brel.

“Sir! The enemy craft have stopped. They’re just sitting there.” Doran came over and studied them on the screen.

“They’re up to something,” said the Captain. “How long until the Star Swords arrive?”

“Two minutes, Captain. One if they boost now,” replied Kelley.

“Order them to boost! I want those ships destroyed!”

“Sir, my scans are complete!” signaled one of the Zidian pilots to Brel.

“As are mine, sir.” said the other. Squad leader Brel was still finishing his own scans.

“You two go!”

“Sir, they’ll be here in seconds!”

“I said go!”

The two Zidian wingmen flew their fighters back in the direction they had come from. Brel finished his scans and followed his wingmen moments before the Human ships arrived.

He now had twenty Star Swords on his tail. They were still outside of firing range, but they were closing. His wingmen were ahead of him.

“They’re gaining on me,” said Brel.

He then decided to use his ship’s turbo thrusters which basically served the same purpose as the boosters found on Star Swords. He engaged the thrusters and shot ahead, ending up right behind his two wing men.

Doran swore in anger. He was not pleased, especially when the Star Swords had been so close to catching the enemy.

“Captain, I’m picking up two more ships that are ahead of the enemy ships and headed straight for them.”

“Are they enemy re-enforcements?”

“Negative Sir, they’re Star Swords!”

“What!” yelled Doran. “Contact them!”

The radio blurred static and then came to life

“This is Commander Knight.”

“And this is Lieutenant Thunder.”

“We’ll head off those bogies.” said Trey.

“Knight and Thunder,” said Captain Doran. “I might have known!”

Chapter Eleven

S
quad Leader Brel was busy looking at some of the data from their scans. He contacted the Krusha. Akdon’s voice came over the speaker.

“Report, Squad Leader. What did your scans reveal?”

“Commander, it looks as though they are merely trying to evacuate the moon. If we hurry and move the fleet in now we can crush them!”

“Is that all?”

“I’m still processing the data, sir.” Just then one of the other fighters signaled him.

“Squad Leader, there are two ships ahead of us coming this way.”

Brel was busy with the scans. “They’re ours- remember?” They never even bothered to check for sure. Brel continued checking his data.

“They’ll be coming along any moment now Jack.” said Trey.

“Rodger. You take the one on the left and I’ll take the one on the right.”

Trey looked out the cockpit at Jack in his Star Sword and gave him a thumbs up. Jack returned the gesture and they both accelerated.

“Trey, they’re acting as if we aren’t even here.”

Brel’s fighter rocked violently as his two wing men exploded and two human ships flew right past him.

“No! It’s impossible.” yelled Brel as he threw his ship into evasive action. The two humans came about and began to close on him from behind. Plasma bursts were streaking past his fighter as a fierce torrent poured out of the cannons on the two human ships.

Akdon’s voice came over the speaker. “Squad Leader report! What’s going on!”

“I’m under attack!” Brel knew his only chance was to put some distance between himself and the humans and he had already used his turbo thrusters. There was only one thing to do. He overrode the safety systems and pushed his engines to 115% of their recommended power output. The engines buckled under the strain as he accelerated and moved ahead of the pursuing Star Swords. Once he was out of firing range he re-set the safety systems and dropped down to a safe speed.

Jack and Trey once again began to gain but slowly.

“Trey, at this rate we won’t catch him before he gets away.” They continued on, but the distance between them and their enemy closed very slowly. There were still twenty other Star Swords further behind them and for once they thought that it was the enemy’s turn to be scared. But with each passing moment they grew farther from their own fleet and closer to the enemy’s.

They were nearing the rings again. They knew that before long they would once again be out of contact with the Saratoga. They were about to let him go and head back, when all of a sudden the enemy ship’s speed dropped by half. Jack and Trey began to close in rapidly.

“Be careful Jack!” said Trey. “This guy may be up to something!”

Squad Leader Brel cursed his ship and slammed his fist on the control panel. He looked out of his cockpit at his port engine. It was leaking a trail of plasma. It had ruptured under the strain he had put it through and it was on a build up to detonation. He could simply eject the engine and get a safe distance away before the explosion but he knew the two human ships would be on him at any second.

All the possibilities raced through the young Zidian’s mind. He saw no escape for himself so he came to a very grim decision. First he started transmitting all the data he had collected to the Krusha. Next he readied the controls to detonate his port engines the second the humans got close to him. He would avenge his dead comrades. He planned to eject simultaneously, but his chances of survival were not good and if he died he would at least be spared the humiliation of having lost his entire squad. He would also have the satisfaction of taking the two humans with him. He was indeed a man of duty, at least in the Zidian sense of the word. His parents would be proud. He looked at their picture which was stuck to the panel, and he waited.

Brel did not have to wait long. On the Krusha, Akdon had been monitoring the situation and had sent sixteen fighters to aid Squad Leader Brel. However, once Brel’s port engine gave out it was apparent that they would never get there in time. Akdon watched his screen as it received the data bit by bit from Brel’s crippled fighter. The plasma he was leaking was retarding the transmission and the data was being received slowly. The screen began to beep, indicating the Humans were closing in for the kill.

Jack and Trey made their final approach towards the stricken alien craft. Squad Leader Brel began to evade as best he could with one engine, trying to draw them in as close as possible. At the last possible second, he detonated his engine. The Zidian Fighter exploded! Trey swerved his Star Sword to the right, barely missing the blast, but Jack was caught by it and his Star Sword spun out of control.

“Jack!” Trey came about and rushed toward Jack’s crippled Star Sword.
Please, not Jack too!

Akdon was not pleased. Not only had he lost ten fighters, but he had barely gotten half the information from Squad Leader Brel before he had been destroyed. The mission had essentially been for nothing. It had been a complete disaster. He checked the data he did have. He had received full scans of the human colony, two human fleet craft, and had just begun to receive scans of the orbital base when Squad Leader Brel met his doom.

“Very well,” said Akdon. “The time has come to show the might of the Zidian Empire. Move the whole fleet into orbit.” The bridge crew below him worked to carry out his orders. “Get me our lead troop transport. I want to speak to Brigadier Kondor.”

“Yes Commander.”

Akdon waited, and moments later Kondor’s image appeared on the screen. He was a very large Zidian. He wore a battle armor uniform. A great scar was etched in his face and his left eye was gone, replaced by a cybernetic substitute.

“Yes, Commander.”

Akdon pulled up an image of Titan and put it on Kondor’s screen.

“Brigadier, you are going to take this moon.”

“It will be done Commander. Shall I prepare a full battalion?”

“No, a single company should suffice. Use troops only. There’s no need to break out anything else.”

“Yes sir! We shall not fail you.”

“Very well. Akdon out.”

Lieutenant Jack Thunder was dazed. He heard Trey’s frantic voice calling over the radio.

“Jack! Jack! Talk to me buddy.”

“I’m alright, Trey.”

“Thank goodness. Give me a systems check.”

Jack surveyed his controls. “My engines are gone, my atmospheric recycler is down, and I have no weapons to speak of. I’m running on oxygen reserves and emergency power.”

“Don’t worry, Jack. We’ll have you back in plenty of time.”

“It’s not time that has me worried,” broke in the lead pilot of the twenty other Star Swords that had finally caught up. “It’s that large alien fleet headed this way.”

Trey checked his scanners. Sure enough, the whole armada was on its way.

Captain Doran’s voice came over the radio. “All craft fall back.”

Trey wasted no time. He armed his grappler and targeted Jack’s Star Sword. He launched the grappler and it locked onto the nose of Jack’s ship. Trey then took him in tow.

“Captain, our Star Swords are headed this way and the whole enemy fleet is right behind them,” said April.

“Have all ships been informed of the plan?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well then. Launch the Star Swords. Advise the Russians to launch their fighters as well.”

Over two-hundred Star Sword fighters flew out of the Saratoga, the Essex, the Exeter, and Titan base. An additional fifty fighters were launched from the Russian escort carriers.

The shuttle piloted by Sam Grayson took off from the Saratoga. It had been refueled and was ready to make its round trip to Titan and back. Sam and other shuttle pilots like him had brought as many of the colonists up as possible. But Sam knew a lot of people were going to be left behind. Trey also noticed the nearly constant stream of Star Swords shooting out of the launch tunnels and falling into formation. Judging from the way the whole fleet was deploying, it looked as if the battle of Saturn was about to begin.