Freedom's Battle, page 16
"Draiman move this ship to the side and keep it parallel to the incoming proton blasts," Jane ordered.
The Peacemaker began to slowly strafe towards the left, and Jane watched many ships do the same, on both the Alliance and Salarian side.
Many of the protons missed their targets, but those that did hit nearly knocked out their objectives' shields completely. The Peacemaker shook violent as one proton blast hit its shields near the nose of the cruiser, creating a fire ball that danced along the side of the starship and set its sheilds aglow with the colors of the rainbow.
The Tyrant had so many proton blasts aimed at it though and was so massive that three succeeded in hitting the Dreadnought, but its shields were able to withstand the barrage.
"Our battle group has lost two out of ten ships," Melissa said. "The Salerians lost a total of eight ships."
"Thirteen cruisers and one Dreadnought left," Jane murmured to herself. "Proton cannons might not be the best for destroying them, but…I want all my ships to fire a barrage of torpedoes."
The ships under Jane's command soon fired hundreds of torpedoes at the Salarian ships while the others fired another barrage of proton blasts. The protons reached the fleet first, and their explosions were enough to disrupt many of the Salerians' defensive weapons, giving the torpedoes an open window. Half of the remaining Salarian cruisers were destroyed by the combination of torpedoes and proton blasts.
"They're moving in closer now," Melissa announced. "The Tyrant seems to be coming in our direction specifically."
Jane looked down at her panel to see what three cruisers were closest to her, finding that it was the Kotor, the Class-2 Lincoln and the Class-4 cruiser Guardian.
"Commander Merr, Captain Lockhart, Captain Jonah I want you two to create a diamond formation putting the Tyrant in the center and move in on my command. Concentrate you shield power on the part of your ship facing the Dreadnought and use mainly plasma and photon weapons to weaken their shields."
"Copy that commander," the three captains responded.
The four ships hurriedly formed their new formation and began advancing towards the massive Tyrant when Jane gave the go-ahead.
"We are in weapons range now," Liaare announced.
"All ships begin firing. Don't concentrate your fire on any one place, try to cover as much of the ship as you can," Jane said.
The four cruisers then began unleashing torrents of blue-green plasma bolts and yellow and white photon beams. The Dreadnought's shields were set aglow by the energy weapons; whose discharge disrupted the starship's targeting systems.
The Alliance cruisers were so big and close enough that the advanced targeting computers weren't even needed; only a general direction to point was called for. The Dreadnought's fore plasma cannons began firing on the approaching cruisers, bombarding their shields with heavy energy.
"Our shields are going down by five percent a second!" Karn exclaimed.
"I want everyone to concentrate their shields on the section of their cruiser facing the Tyrant," Jane ordered.
Along with the other weapons & shields officers on the other three cruisers Karn immediately began directing shielding energy to the part of the ship receiving the bulk of the Dreadnought's defense. For the Peacemaker this was the starboard quadrant.
"All power to the starboard energy weapons, and prepare the starboard torpedo ports!" Jane commanded. She began to lean forward in her seat as she spat the orders vigorously.
"All hands begin evacuating!" Jane heard Jonah exclaim.
"Captain Jonah, what is the status of your ship?" Jane asked.
"Our shields have been wiped out completely, and our hull integrity is decreasing exponentially! Our reactor has overloaded and is going to blow any minute!"
"Perfect!" Jane suddenly yelled. "Jonah, I want your ship as close to the Tyrant as possible. Try to hold off its destruction until everyone is off the ship. Everyone else, pull away from the Dreadnought!"
The Tyrant continued on its beeline course as the Peacemaker, Kotor, and Guardian began pulling away from it. The Lincoln began diving towards the Salarian supercruiser with as much speed as it could muster. The kilometer long vessel rammed into the far bigger starship, which received only minor damage from the collision. Its course even remained unchanged as the auto-piloted Lincoln continued pushing into the Tyrant.
After a few moments the Lincoln's reactor finally went critical. First the cruiser disappeared in a ball of light, engulfing most of the Dreadnought. Then a monstrous explosion followed, ripping the Tyrant to apart. Its own reactor then exploded, adding another incredible blast to the battle.
"All cruisers begin advancing on the planet," Redrick ordered. "Move into dropping positions and prepare your dropships."
"Draiman, move us into position above Titan," Jane ordered. "Liaare, Karn, target any defense platform we come across with torpedoes. Melissa, see if you can contact Captain Trenh and get his wing to assist the ground forces."
"By your command," everyone replied in unison.
-ABOVE TITAN
"If anyone's going to be on my fiancé's ass it's me!" Norenn exclaimed as he finished destroying a fighter tailing Grace's Mark I Raptor.
"That's three I owe you now," Grace said.
"I'm sure you'll find a way to repay me."
"Captain, Commander Sect is trying to contact you," Morick said. "I'm bouncing her signal off to you."
"Thanks Lieutenant. Commander Sect?"
"Norenn, could you do me a favor?" Jane asked.
"Anything for a beautiful lady."
"I need you to take your ships down to Titan to assist the ground forces."
"The entire wing commander?"
"Well, you aren't really needed in orbit anymore, and if any enemy ships come here you'd be better off on the surface," Jane explained.
"You have a point there. Alrighty then, all wings move in to Titan. Take out anything that's doesn't look friendly."
As the cruisers began surrounding the large moon the fighters and corvettes began speeding down to the capital of the Saturn Empire. After passing through the thick clouds the squadrons found themselves over a dark, barren world.
Norenn, Grace, and Jim were all above an ocean of liquid methane near a power plant floating above the sea.
"Jim, take out that plant. Once you're finished with that follow me and Jaclyn."
"Yeah, I got to do the dirty work. Just like old times," Jim said as he moved his F/A-970 Viper to attack the power plant. As Norenn and Grace broke off to fly north Jim fired a pair of smart bombs at the plant and rejoined the two pilots. No one even needed to watch the bombs hit their defenseless target, exploding on impact and obliterating the structure.
"So we are we headed Playboy?" Jim asked.
"To one of the landing zones to cover any the Marines," Norenn replied.
-MEANWHILE
-PEACEMAKER DROP HANGER TWO
"Looks like this is it," Tumeria said as she felt the pod shudder.
"I never get tired of these drops," Tringston said. "The adrenaline, the pure rush, the feeling of your colon in your throat, its amazing."
"Fifteen seconds to drop."
"Not nervous, are you?" Jamie asked Tumeria.
"Why should I be, I'm just about to freefall a few hundred miles in a big metal can. Like the Lieutenant said, its going to be amazing," Tumeria replied.
Suddenly, Jamie said, "I love you."
Tumeria turned to her, and despite the fact their faces were covered with black visors, each knew the other was smiling. "I love you to."
"Aww, you gonna ki-," Prindek was suddenly cut off when the drop pod was released from the Peacemaker.
Pulled by Titan's gravity and assisted by the explosion of air upon it release the pod plunged to the dark moon, along with thousands of others. The inside of the drop pod rattled violently, as it plummeted uncontrollably.
As the speed of the fall increased Tumeria felt more and more like gravity had been reversed and her body was desperately trying to resist, with failing results. Her suit, along with all the others, automatically injected her with chemicals to prevent her from vomiting or losing consciousness during the drop.
After what seemed like an hour Tumeria began to hear a roaring outside the walls of the drop pod. She immediately realized the thrusters had finally been activated, and soon could feel the one-way ship slowing. It didn't slow enough to land softly though, and the drop pod hit the ground with enough force to create a small crater. If it wasn't for her suit Tumeria was sure some of her bones would have been damaged from the sudden impact.
The handles holding the Marines down lifted and the pod doors quickly opened. The Marines all rushed out into the darkness that passed for a Titan afternoon.
"Everyone stay near the pod until all pods have landed," Tringston ordered.
"See…that…wasn't….so bad," Jamie said between heavy breaths.
"You're right, it wasn't," Tumeria replied, who appeared far less rattled than her girlfriend.
Looking up she could see more triangular pods falling through the clouds, along with large, rectangular boxes. One of the rectangles landed near Tumeria's pod and opened to reveal two M919 Rhino battle tanks. The jet black tanks sported a eight foot long 50mm turret and two 30mm machine guns. Atop the turret Tumeria could see a cylinder that generated an energy shield for the tank.
"Alright boys and girls, we've got a mission now. We're to take out a mountain based air defense system near Imperial City," Tringston announced to his squad. "We've gonna have to go in on the ground, so everyone load into a Bulldog."
"Been a while since we've hoped into one of those," Prindek said.
"Jamie, Prindek, you two comes with me. I want Lisa, Jerry, Matt, and Greg in my Bulldog too. Prindek, you're driving," Tumeria commanded.
-MEANWHILE
-TWO THOSUAND FEET OVERHEAD
"Incoming crescents," Grace announced as she, Norenn, and Jim circled above the recently landed Marines. "Looks like its just three of them."
"One-on-one dog fighting, perfect," Norenn said. "Grace, you get the one on the right, Jim, you get the left. I got the middle."
"Whatever you say sir," Jim said.
The three pilots quickly made a beeline towards the oncoming crescent fighters. Each locked one missile onto their respective opponent and fired. As the crescents broke off to evade the missiles the Alliance pilots duplicated their maneuver.
Norenn's target began a vertical climb that put the missile directly on its tail. It then flipped around and fired a burst of plasma bolts at the pursuing projectile, destroying it before gravity could begin pulling the fighter down.
Norenn, unable to flip his Lancer like the crescent, continued his climb. The turrets were able to lock on though and began firing on the small fighter. The crescent fighter was too fast though, and was quickly out of the turrets' vision.
Norenn rolled his corvette around to pursue the Salarian ship. The crescent was rolling and banking rapidly, preventing anything from getting a fix on it.
"What to act like an ace, huh? Well let me show you how a real expert does it," Norenn said as deactivated the nose cannons lock-on system and switched on the holographic crosshair. He fired every time the crescent crossed into the reticule. The Salarian pilot caught on quickly and quite its evasive maneuver. It then did a barrel roll around Norenn's corvette. The Lancer was too slow to prevent the crescent from getting directly behind it, but the turrets weren't. Both were able to lock on and fire at the small ship. The slugs ripped the fighter apart and ignited its plasma cannons, creating a green cloud of fire.
"All crescent's are down," Jim announced.
"Sometimes I wonder if these guys are even trying," Norenn said jokingly.
-MINUTES LATER
-THIRTY MILES FROM IMPERIAL CITY
"Prindek, what's the ETA to our destination?" Tumeria asked from her turret post.
"If we keep this steady pace then about two minutes," Prindek replied.
"Getting a little anxious there serge?" Lisa asked.
"Kind of hard to cool down when you're technically in the middle of a war zone," Tumeria replied.
"All units disperse, incoming artillery!" the battalion commander, Laura Yuri, ordered.
"Yeah, more exhilarating action," Prindek said sarcastically as he turned the Bulldog away from the center of the convoy.
Looking through the turret's periscope Tumeria could see the entire fleet of tanks and troop transports spreading out from each other, but still generally maintaining their original direction.
Looking up Tumeria could then see a cloud of rockets falling from the sky.
"Prindek…."
"I see it," Prindek replied as he began swerving from side to side, avoiding the falling bombs. There was enough to make it seem like there was an explosion every three feet.
The rockets all exploded a few meters above the ground, apparently intended to cause as much widespread damage as possible. Thanks the Bulldog's armor plating the shrapnel wasn't able to puncture the truck, but Tumeria knew if any of the rockets exploded directly above the transport they'd all be dead.
"Oh crap," Prindek murmured. "Everyone hang on. This is gonna get a little shaky."
Suddenly the IAJ began bouncing erratically. Directing her turret towards the ground Tumeria saw it was because Prindek had driven into a field of small craters from some past battle.
"Alert, eyes skyward!"
Tumeria turned the turret towards the sky and saw a group of Salarian EA201 hovercraft attackers diving from the clouds. The attackers fired a volley of unguided rockets towards the ground then split up to pick off the Alliance battle group.
Through mostly pure luck none of the rockets hit the Bulldog, and thankfully it had finally passed over the crater field. Now Tumeria could get a fix on the enemy hovercraft.
She set her sights on a pair of attackers flying by and fired. The stream of bullets punctured the hull of one of the hovercraft and exploded its engine. The other was nearly knocked out of the air by the shockwave, giving Tumeria enough time to destroy it with the same stream of shells.
"Up ahead!" Prindek yelled. Tumeria swiveled the turret around to find an EA201 preparing to fire its missiles. She was barely able to destroy the Salarian ship before it could fire more than one missile. Tumeria didn't let her hand off the trigger, though, as she attempted to destroy the speeding missile. Prindek swerving the jeep out of the way bought them only a few more seconds, enough time for Tumeria to damage the projectile's guidance system. It made several loops in the air before hitting the ground an exploding a moment later.
Suddenly Prindek stopped the Bulldog abruptly.
"What's going on up there?" Tumeria inquired.
"Land mines," Jamie replied.
"Any way around them?"
"It'll take us three miles off course," Prindek answered.
"Hmm. All right then, Prindek, pull us away from the field, I'll call in an air strike."
-MEANWHILE
-A FEW THOUSAND FEET ABOVE
"I'm thinking of a number between one and ten," Norenn said to Grace and Jim over the com. "What do you think it is?"
"Five," Jim said.
"Eight," said Grace.
"The ladies right, so she gets the mine field," Norenn declared.
"I feel that was biased!" Jim exclaimed jokingly as Grace laughed, descending towards the minefield.
She scanned the area to find a large cluster of the underground explosives, and then prepared a pair of ground penetrating bombs. Once she let the bombs drop everything was left to their computerized memory. The smart bombs directed themselves to ground and successfully dug themselves several meters into the Salarian soil. Once they reached a certain depth they exploded with tremendous force, causing a chain reaction where all the mines exploded.
-A SHORT WHILE LATER
-ONE MILE FROM THE IMPERIAL CITY AIR DEFENSE CONTROL CENTER
Tumeria watched the zoom mechanism on her visor as several Marine squads barged into the ADCC housed inside a mountain six kilometers outside the shining metropolis Imperial City.
"Why again are we holding back here serge?" Greg asked.
"In case reinforcements are needed. Plus, thanks to Prindek, we were one of the last ones here," Tumeria said, giving Prindek a look no one could see.
"It's not my fault I drove towards a minefield," Prindek said in his defense. "Be happy I didn't get us all blown to oblivion.
