Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (53 page)

Hanscom Air Force Base

              Hard and rapid pounding on the door woke Leah from her sleep. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Sitting up, she looked down at the letter in her hands. She could hear Private Jorkins calling her name through the door as he continued his hard knocking. Wiping her face, she stood, walked to the door, and opened it.

             
“
Sorry, I fell asleep,” she apologized.

             
“
You must come with me, Ms. Aecrin,” Jorkins said, his voice sounding panicky.

             
“
I’m sorry--did I get you in trouble? I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I have everything, just let me grab it.”

             
“
There isn’t time--we need to get to the bunker,” Jorkins said as he reached out, grabbed her hand, and began to pull her down the hall.

             
“
To the bunker? What do you mean we need to get to the bunker? What is going on?” asked Leah, the worry in her voice plain.

             
“
The Shenkar have arrived; the fleets are engaged right now!” Jorkins said excitedly.

             
“
So why do we have to get to the bunker?” Leah asked as she pulled her hand free and stopped.

             
Jorkins faltered at this point and an innocent terrified look formed on his face.

             
“
We are losing the battle. We lost two of the four defense platforms, and the fleet has had to pull back. The Shenkar have pushed our fleet back far enough to allow their troop transports in. Projected inbounds show that two of their transports are headed here. If I take you back to your car, you could get caught out in the open by enemy fighters, and I don’t think Liam would have appreciated me not making sure you’re safe. Everyone is being evacuated to the underground bunker, civilians included,” Jorkins said, once again grabbing her hand and starting to pull her toward the outer door.

             
Leah once again pulled her hand free, but this time, she hurried forward and out the door. Quickly, she jumped into the Humvee while Jorkins hurried around the front the Humvee, jumped in, and floored the accelerator.

EDF Squadrons, Terran System

              Liam watched silently as the
Tryliene
slowly moved into the Shenkar’s command base. When the timer had just about completed its countdown, he keyed the appropriate frequency and spoke.

             
“
All squadron commanders, we are a go! Our primary targets are the transports--do not let them reach Earth.”

Shenkar Command Base

              Commander Kruyt looked at the view screen as he watched what he had first thought was a destroyer seemingly coming apart into several hundred enemy fighters. He had not understood what the Supreme Commander had warned him about until now.

             
“
Commander, enemy fighters closing in on our transports from behind!”

             
If he didn’t destroy those fighters, Supreme Commander Krailsha would eviscerate him.

             
“
Order all fighters to disengage with the Earth fleet and return to cover the transports. All energy cannons to lock on to the enemy fighters and FIRE!” commanded Kruyt.

EDF
George Washington

              “
Admiral, something is going on. The Shenkar command base has begun to fire at something close to them . . . they appear to be fighter craft. All enemy fighters are withdrawing and heading back toward the command base. Long-range chatter on fleet frequency is coming over the fleet network.”

             
“
Patch it into the overhead; I want to know who that is out there,” demanded Admiral Saunders.

             
At first, the comm chatter was unintelligible, but soon the comm officer was able to clear it up.

             
“
Let’s show them the mistake they made in counting us out and attacking Earth! All squadrons, break and attack! Necro Squadron, follow me in.”

             
The comm was scratchy for a several seconds before more chatter was heard.

             
“
People, watch the crossfire!” came the unknown voice leading the fighter group.

             
“
Sparrowhawk, you okay? You looked pretty close when that transport blew,” said the voice.

             
“
I’m good, Arch Angel, Just got my tail singed a bit.”

             
The entire bridge was silent as they listened to the chatter of the far-off engagement that was taking place. The silence was broken by Saunders’s second-in-command.
“
Sir, I can’t be certain, but I believe those pilots are the men and women of the
Sacrifice
.”

             
Saunders smiled at this news, and the heavy knot in his chest loosened a bit.
“
Well, it looks like we just got our miracle,” said Saunders.

             
Keying the fleet net, he spoke.
“
This is Fleet Admiral Saunders. It seems the men and women of the
Sacrifice
have returned. All forces forward full speed; the time for caution is over. We attack, and we continue to attack until either we die or the Shenkar are destroyed.”

Arch Angel, Terran System

              “
Let’s show them the mistake they made in counting us out and attacking Earth! All squadrons, break and attack! Necro Squadron, follow me in,” said Liam.

             
Quickly, the fighter squadrons broke up and moved to engage the transports. As Liam’s squadron approached their first transport, enemy fire began to reach out in attempts to destroy them from the transports and behind from the command base.

             
“
People, watch the crossfire!” Liam cautioned.

             
Easily evading the fire from the enemy energy cannons, Liam locked his targeting reticule on the transport and squeezed the trigger. Energy splashed across the transport’s shields in brilliant flashes of light. Evan, Crystal, and the rest of Necro Squadron followed close behind, energy pouring from their fighters’ cannons into the rear of the transport. Liam had to admit, the Shenkar made their transports shields strong. But not even these shields could withstand the pummeling they were receiving now. The shields failed under the heavy assault, and huge chunks of armor tore free of the rear of the transport right before the transport exploded in a brilliant flash of light and wreckage.

             
Quickly, Liam moved on to his next target. Similar explosions began to bloom throughout as transports erupted in flames. Spotting the explosion of a nearby transport, he saw one Scorpion fighter engulfed in flame only to break free of the fire and wreckage.

             
“
Sparrowhawk, you okay? You looked pretty close when that transport blew,” asked Liam.

             
“
I’m good, Arch Angel, just got my tail singed a bit,” answered Callen.

             
Liam and the rest of Necro Squadron dove on another transport, spraying it with energy bolts. The shields soon collapsed, and the transport exploded.

             
A voice cried out a warning over the comm channel.
“
Enemy fighters inbound!”

             
Looking up, Liam spotted incoming Shenkar fighters.

             
“
Necro Squadron, break. Engage those fighters! Sparrowhawk, continue after those transports!”

             
“
Give ’em hell, mate!” Sparrowhawk replied.

Zombie, Terran System

              Evan pulled back on his flight stick, depressed one of the lower pedals, and sent his fighter into a dive. Squeezing the trigger on his flight stick, he saturated his target with energy. He was already pulling his fighter around to line up another target as his first target exploded. Coming into a lull in the battle, he looked toward Earth, and quickly he keyed the squadron frequency.

             
“
Arch Angel, two transports seemed to have broken through our lines and are entering the Earth’s atmosphere.”

             
Evan didn’t have to wait long for Liam’s response.

             
“
Necro Squadron, break off and follow me. We need to get those transports.”

             
Evan pulled his fighter around and fell in behind Liam and Tim. Crystal, Steve, and Dimitri soon joined them as they sped toward Earth.

             
“
Where do you think they are headed?” Steve asked over the comm.

             
“
Trajectory indicates they are headed toward North America, I think the secret of Hanscom is out,” said Tim.

Shenkar Command Base.

              “
Commander Kruyt, we have lost twelve transports already!” shouted a Shenkar warrior.

             
“
Where are our fighters??!” demanded Kruyt.

             
“
Inbound now, sir . . . uh, sir, what about the
Tryliene
?”

             
Kruyt had completely forgotten about the
Tryliene
. The Supreme Commander had warned him about the battlecruiser. The battlecruiser probably had enemy troops on board, readying themselves to assault the command base. Try and take this station? How foolish these humans were. A battlecruiser couldn’t possibly carry enough warriors to take a command base of this size. Still, Kruyt had heard that these humans known as Templar Knights were very skilled in space--maybe they were equally skilled in ground combat.

             
“
Send all warriors to the docking ports. I want everything that lives on the
Tryliene
exterminated!”

             
Kruyt smiled to himself at the thought of the humans exiting the
Tryliene
and coming face to face with the entire might of this command base.

             
Kruyt’s thoughts were interrupted as the entire station shook violently with the sounds of an incredible explosion, sending any standing warriors to the deck.

             
Quickly, Kruyt attempted to stand, but the command base continued to violently shake, increasing with intensity. Kruyt had just enough time to think maybe he had underestimated the humans before the entire command base erupted in one massive explosion.

EDF
George Washington

              “
Sir! The command base!”

             
Saunders switched his attention from the battle going around him to the command base. A massive explosion illuminated the entire lower half of the base as fire exploded out into space though the massive bay doors. Several areas exploded outward, indicating hull breaches on a massive scale.
That thing is going to explode
, he thought to himself. Hastily, he activated the fleet net.

             
“
ATTENTION, ALL EARTH FORCES. PULL BACK. I REPEAT, PULL BACK! THE COMMAND BASE IS GOING TO BLOW!” Saunders shouted into the comm.

             
Immediately, all Earth forces began to break away, retreating toward Earth. Energy cannons kept up the rapid fire as humans and Shenkar continued to assault one another as they retreated. However, none of the Shenkar warships moved to follow--seemingly unaware of what was transpiring behind them.

             
The seconds ticked by slowly as they ponderously attempted to move out of range of the impending explosion. Saunders felt for the Earth warships that had suffered heavy damage and were either floundering in space or moving slow due to damage to their propulsion.

A massive explosion lit up the darkness of space as the command base finally exploded. Fire engulfed nearby Shenkar warships, destroying them. Wreckage from the command base exploded outward, slamming into Shenkar warships that had been out of range of the fire. The deadly rain of battlecruiser-sized chunks of shrapnel tore through the Shenkar fleet on their way toward the retreating Earth fleet.