Animus Complete Series Omnibus, page 243
“Either hidden with an energy mask or maybe it got here through a gate?” Lana suggested.
“A gate? Merrick already made sure they were all either destroyed or shut down. It was Damyen’s responsibility to raid military bases and outposts to be sure they had nothing to surprise us with.” The general took a deep breath as the colossus sustained a powerful strike on their port side. “Bastards. Get all fighters in the air. I want the main cannon set to a scattershot.”
“The cannon is still recharging, sir,” one of the technicians called in response. “It won’t be fully operational for at least an hour.”
“We don’t need it to be fully operational.” He seethed with suppressed rage. “A close-range scattershot only requires a third of the energy output. Aurora, when can it be done?”
“With proper configuration, I will have it ready in fifteen minutes,” she responded. “However, I am also managing the shields and other ship weapons. If these tasks can be taken over temporarily, I can bring the main cannon online in less than ten.”
“Do it,” he ordered. “All technicians and gunners to their stations. Get the droid transports in the air. Fighters, be sure to guide them to the enemy ships.”
“The transports?” Lana asked. “Will you drop the droids on the destroyers?”
Nolan glared at her but nodded. “That is exactly right. Now, contact the containment unit, check the number of golems we have available, and put the pilots into those skin suits.”
Arbiter fighters, both manned and automated, deployed from the hangars in droves and were met in the air by a smaller force of WCM fighters deployed from the destroyers. In pure numbers, the AO still held a slight advantage but the destroyers were damn close to the colossus, and their guns fired not only on their main target but backed their fighters up as well. Some of the Arbiter craft were eliminated only seconds after exiting the bay. While there were turrets along the side of the colossus, most of the guns were either along the top or bottom of the massive ship. The larger guns located on the front were busy firing at the destroyers in an effort to destroy their shields. The droid transports launched quickly into the fray, escorted by automated fighters.
Although some of the WCM pilots noticed them and warned the destroyers, the frenzy of battle proved to be an effective enough cloak for the transports. A few were shot down but several made it to two of the targeted vessels, both of which had their shields ruptured by the colossus’ barrage. The transports dropped parties of droids onto the surface of the ships but also fired pods into the hull.
WCM soldiers raced frantically through their ships to intercept the mechanical intruders, but these weren’t interested in military tactics or trying to take the ship. As soon as the top of the pods opened, they leapt out of the containers and attempted to crush, slash, or blast a path of destruction through the soldiers. Resistance was fierce and coordinated despite the unexpected infiltration, and the droids suffered severe losses once their initial advantage of surprise was lost.
Flying sentries were deployed from the colossus. These were much faster than any fighter, although their guns were hardly any better than a simple distraction. Their intention was not to engage the enemy. Instead, they would find a target and pursue until they could sink a grappling spear into a WCM fighter’s plating and pull themselves in. Once attached, they exploded. Or, at least, that was the plan. Instead, whenever a sentry connected with a fighter, the WCM pilots purged their shields to knock them away as their self-destruct sequence activated, and they simply exploded in the sky. Occasionally, a pilot would be caught in the blasts, both friend and foe. This caused other problems as the smoke from the explosions thickened after a while to obscure the human pilots’ vision.
The automated pilots obviously didn’t have this issue. However, they dealt with a very particular problem of their own as they were hacked by WCM technicians, many of whom flew as co-pilot in two-seater fighters or bombers. This allowed them to get close enough to quickly hack into the enemy fighters and either disable them or have them fire on their own men.
“Approximately thirty percent of EI-controlled fighters have been compromised,” Aurora advised Nolan. “The program they use to do it so effectively appears to be a modified version of the same program Chancellor Damyen Orlov used to capture some of his destroyers.”
“They must have been able to make a copy or covertly hack one of the stolen destroyers.” The general cursed and thumped his fist on the arm of his seat. “Even when he isn’t here, that bastard is a pain in my ass.”
“Incoming communication from Damyen Orlov.”
The general exhaled slowly through his nose and shook his head as he tried to regain his composure. “Speak of the devil. Put him on.”
“Aye, Nolan.” The chancellor chuckled. “I hear you’re in a spot of trouble, my friend.”
“Is that so, Damyen? And who would have told you this?” he asked.
“Merrick notified me,” the man explained and Nolan paled slightly. “It doesn’t surprise me. They’ve taken shots at you every time you make planetfall. I came to extend a hand.”
“You have a ship in the area?” he asked.
“I have three.” Damyen held up three fingers. “Three destroyers, all Maverick class. I also made contact with some of the Omegas as well and they’ll send a small fleet. We should have this rounded up in no time.”
“Do you think it will be enough to deal with the Dreadnaught?” the general asked.
The other man frowned. “Dreadnaught? Where did they get one of those?”
“That was something I wanted to ask you,” Nolan retorted. “I was under the impression that we had destroyed the last of them last month and the rest were stuck out in space.”
“You got me there.” The chancellor shrugged. “A Dreadnaught, eh? That definitely has the firepower to finish what these destroyers have started.”
“I am well aware of what a—”
“Why haven’t you simply melted them by now?” the Russian asked. “These destroyers are grouped together and directly ahead. You should have finished this almost as soon as they appeared. Are you saving it for the Dreadnaught?”
He looked away briefly before he nodded his head slowly. “That was the plan,”
“You didn’t get hacked, did you? You still have that fancy EI of the professor’s onboard, don’t you?”
Aurora appeared onscreen. “I am present, Chancellor Orlov.”
Damyen nodded. “Well, I guess that answers that,”
“Not entirely,” Nolan stated. “The WCM technicians are using a hacking program similar to the one you used to commandeer some of your ships.”
“What’s that?” The man sounded genuinely puzzled.
“Where did you get that program, Damyen? And is there any way they could have hacked one of your ships or systems to retrieve it?”
“I suppose it is possible, although unlikely. They couldn’t get it from a ship as I delete it from the systems as soon as I execute the crew to make sure they couldn’t get to it.” The Russian reached into his shirt pocket. “As for where I got it—or rather whom—it was from Oswald.” He produced a small circular device, one quite familiar to Nolan. “He said it was based on the one he gave you to take over the embassy. I keep it on my person at all times. There is no way to steal it from me without taking the only copy.”
“Which means they backward engineered it, most likely.” He sighed but a thought occurred and a small chill shivered through his body. If they had developed a hacking program similar to Damyen’s, it stood to reason that they had also created a counter to it. And if it was based on the one he used to take over the embassy, how long would it take them to develop a counter to that? And if they got close enough to use it, everything would fall out of Merrick’s control while he was still on board.
“Damyen, if your ships are on the way, then you need to alert the master of this development. Make sure he is aware that they could potentially have a way into the embassy,” the general ordered. “I’ll deal with these pests, recover my target at the Nexus Academy, and return as quickly as I can.”
For once, Damyen didn’t regard him with nonchalance or levity and instead, nodded with seriousness and sincerity. “Understood, Nolan. To ensure that you do, my ships will make the jump in ten seconds. They are yours to command.”
“That is appreciated.” The screen turned off and he focused his attention on the fight. “Are the golems ready?”
“They are being sent to the hangars, along with the last batch of Ark and Omega pilots.”
“I want the Ark soldiers and Omegas in fighter and interceptors. Hold the sentries for now and send drones out as defense for the transports, even if all they are good for right now is to take the blasts instead of the transports. As for the golems, get them into bombers and destroy the rest of those shields.”
Damyen’s Maverick-class destroyers arrived almost as soon as Nolan finished giving his orders and wasted no time before they engaged the WCM destroyers. Although the military had a few Maverick-class destroyers of their own, they were focused on the colossus and the more agile yet more fragile Tempest-class destroyers were left to deal with their larger stolen counterparts.
More transports were deployed, but as the battle had spread across a wider area, they were no longer safe in the chaos and were now priority targets that were fired at on sight. Some were able to get close enough to fire their pods thanks to the sacrifice of the drones that accompanied them, although the ships themselves usually didn’t make it. Several exploded in the sky and the Arbiter droids within were either destroyed with them or hurled into empty air. Some fired their cannons at WCM ships as they fell, while others landed on enemy ships and inflicted severe damage. Usually, the vessels spiraled out of control before both they and droid exploded.
A few of the Tempest destroyers broke away to engage the new enemy destroyers. Although they didn’t have the massive and consistent firepower of the Mavericks, they did have one trick their opponents did not. They could sacrifice their shields to grant a quick and massive boost of energy to their main cannon and fire a large blast. While this sacrificed their defense and left their armor exposed, the result was so powerful, even a single blast put a considerable dent into the bigger Mavericks. There were currently four Tempests on their way to engage the enemy, which increased the destructive potential of that particular advantage.
In the distance, a small fleet of Omega destroyers, corsairs, and assault ships made their way to the fight but the WCM Dreadnaught was only a few minutes away. Should it get close enough for a direct strike on the colossus with its main cannon, that could be enough to not only turn the tide into the military’s favor but potentially destroy the enormous vessel, as the battle had already weakened its shields to only twenty percent capacity.
Nolan watched the various monitors which displayed feeds from the different battles and the amount of time until the cannon was ready. It would come down to one shot and he only needed a little more time. If sacrifices needed to be made, so be it. He had more than enough expendables on board.
Chapter Seventeen
“Do you think we’ll be lucky enough to get a shower and some sleep when we get back?” Cameron asked as Wolfson brought the dropship in to hover over the landing pad in the Seattle base.
“I still kinda have adrenaline pumping,” Luke replied and frowned when he glanced at Kaiden “Do you feel all right, buddy?”
“Yeah,” the ace said, his voice quiet. His conversation with Flynn still weighed on him. As he didn’t know if telling the others what happened would rouse them or depress them, he kept it to himself for now. “I guess I hoped it would last longer. You guys seem tired, though.”
“We’ve been out longer,” Silas reminded him and nodded at the two heavies. “Even the big guys are starting to pass out.”
“What? Naw, I can definitely— Shit, I’m lying,” Mack admitted and shook his head, fatigue evident in his eyes. Luke merely grumbled and nodded.
Although he wanted to take a couple of digs at the group, Silas was right. Not only had they been out in the field much longer than his little jaunt, but they had willingly come in at the end of his and Wolfson’s mission. They deserved a reprieve.
Once the door opened, the five of them exited and Wolfson followed soon after, talking to one of the crew about the damages to the ship. Although Kaiden moved purposefully to the nearby tech center currently being used as a temporary HQ, his stride was halted by a familiar greeting. “Friend Kaiden!”
He turned and Genos waved at him from halfway down the path, Jaxon behind him. With a smile, he returned the gesture and redirected his steps to the two Tsuna. “Hey, Genos, Jaxon. How did the mission go?”
“Splendid. There was impressive devastation,” the engineer told him. “We retrieved the device—some kind of targeting system for a satellite cannon.”
Kaiden was caught off-guard by that. “A sat-cannon? You would think they would be offline along with the warp gates once the AO…uh, Merrick took over.”
“I believe that’s why they wanted the device,” Jaxon explained, his voice calm and serious. “If most of the other satellites and arrays are down or cannot be accessed, this device can be something of a workaround if properly recalibrated. As of right now, it is simply a powerful weapon, but Cyra has said there is considerable potential in it.”
“Speaking of which,” he began and shook the case in his hand. “Do you know if she’s in? We found our device too.”
Genos glanced at his prize. “What were you sent to retrieve?”
“Some kind of energy dampener or draining device. My guess is they wanted to mass produce it or something like that. It gives them easy access to any locked-down area.” He held the case firmly in both hands. “It’s better with us anyway.”
A member of the outpost collided into Kaiden’s back and both men fell. The man scrambled hastily to his feet and moved to help the ace up. “I’m so sorry, sir.”
He held a hand up and nodded before he checked to make the case was undamaged. “It’s cool, man. What’s the rush?”
“The enemy colossus—I heard the military engaged it,” the crewman explained.
Kaiden and the Tsuna’s eyes widened in shock. “What? When?” he demanded
“Only a little while ago. There should be a feed in the main hub.” He opened the door to the HQ for them and the group ran hastily inside.
The Tempests closed in on the Mavericks, who seemed aware of the potential danger of their nova cannons. They pounded an ongoing barrage into the incoming destroyers. Even if they wouldn’t break through, less stability and power to the shields meant their shots wouldn’t be as powerful either.
WCM bombers made runs at the new opponents and other fighters broke away to help as the destroyers had brought a small fleet of fighters with them as well. These now poured out of the bays of the vessels to assist the colossus. The WCM were not without their own aid, however, as from behind the line of destroyers, more fighters and interceptors swooped in, having been deployed from the Dreadnaught that moved slowly but inexorably closer.
However, any hope many of the military pilots felt at that moment was dulled when several large shadows appeared in the distance and gradually revealed themselves as Omega Horde ships of different varieties. The faster assault craft reached the battle only a couple of minutes after first sight and began to fire on the destroyers, while the smaller and more agile corsairs assisted in dealing with the personal fighters.
Two of the four Tempests had broken away, but the other two continued their push and finally moved within range to fire. Their captains gave the command and focused on a single target. They knew what it meant to purge their shields at this point, but they also had a plan. Their nova shot began to charge as they set their path to cross directly in front of the enemy destroyer.
The Maverick vessel did not move to dodge the incoming blast and instead, its shields focused on the impact zone of the shot. The other two destroyers did make their way to the side to avoid the fallout, and the assault droids that had joined the fray began to fly low to do the same. Unfortunately, when the two blasts were fired, they collided to create a much larger explosion that not only destroyed the front portion of the Maverick but consumed the assault ships below. The force also thrust its two companions away and destroyed their shields, and one of them actually crashed into the side of the colossus.
The main deck of the enormous vessel rattled and a large crunch of metal echoed throughout the ship.
“Status report,” Nolan ordered and glanced at the row of technicians.
“We’re hit, sir, but not by any blast,” he explained. “One of our destroyers was thrown into our port side by a cross blast from the enemy Tempests.”
The general snarled his outrage. “Damage?”
“Moderate to severe. It ripped through some of our armor on that side, sir.”
He shook his head. “Get the bots there to start repairs. Those of you handling the shields, decrease the dispersal from lightly damaged areas and increase the capacity in that section to cover for the lost armor. The meeting of our shields with the destroyers will cause a blow-back that will knock them away from the ship. Get going!”
“Sir!” they shouted and hastily followed their orders. Nolan looked at the monitor. There were now only two minutes until the cannon was ready and an eta of two minutes before the Dreadnaught would be in its range of fire. They needed a diversion and he looked at Lana. “Since we pulled the sentries back, how many do we have?”
“A little over a couple of hundred at last check,” she stated but began to double-check her tablet. “They weren’t particularly effective.”
Nolan placed a hand over his fist and nodded. “Not to take on the smaller fighter ships, but they could have another use.”
