Gabatrix: The Terrorists of Batrice

Chuang still hadn't bothered to pull out his tablet as he watched the events transpire on Mizu's tablet. He held it close so that they can both look at it. News agencies were all reporting the same circumstances. A live feed was being broadcasted to seek shelter. They had even patched in the camera feeds from the satellites that were tracking the two Itrean vessels. It was just enough that Mizu could see one of the Itrean ships vanishing. Only a tiny invisible distortion could be seen before it had veered off and became too difficult to track it anymore.

"You see that?" Mizu replied. "It's gone....."

"It cloaked?" Chuang asked.

"The Itreans have this sort of technology? Shit, man....."

Chuang sighed as he looked away from the tablet. He pressed his back to the wall as he sat comfortably on the soft carpet. He showed a look of concern.

"Our cousin....." Chuang remarked.

Mizu looked at him. "I am sure she will be fine. I don't think the Itreans are going to get far by directly attacking us."

Even by telling himself that, a slight sense of fear had entered him. He knew enough that the small enemy warship still carried some firepower to it.

Mizu continued to read up the news feed report that the Batrice military was currently engaging the Itrean raid group. He hoped that these aliens were all they had. Perhaps it was with the indication of the cloaked warship that it seemed that the other small warship was going to engage in some sort of suicide run to the planet. With everything on high alert, tensions were up, but it was not outright panic.

"Ugh....I hope so," Chuang said. "We are responsible for her."

"Hey, bro. Don't attack yourself like that," Mizu replied. "We will be fine. We are not like Eutera."

Chuang seemed to acknowledge this rather well. Mizu knew that he was correct. Unlike Eutera, Batrice was a heavily fortified system. It wasn't just like Mars. It had two large bases that the Itreans had to take out to conquer the system, not including the ground defenses. Its fleets could easily repel small attacks way easier than Eutera's population of a thousand. Batrice alone had hundreds of millions that were living on the surface. There seemed to be way more confidence in the general society when the Itreans came and attacked. The battles were very small scale. Despite the alarm, there was no real panic or signs of anxiety in the society. If the Itreans were determined to take humanity, then they were doing a poor job at it. If anything, the general consensus that Mizu could see was more of confusion or even annoyance at the attack.

"What about Fort Batrice?" Chuang asked.

"It isn't operational," Mizu commented. "Shame that it isn't yet. I know they are rushing to complete it since the Itreans have begun their attacks. It looks like our military already has things well in hand......damn, I can't wait to be a part of it."

"Heh...." His brother almost seemed to chuckle a little bit. "I imagine that after this, the Batrice system will have something to gloat about."

"You know it, bro. The military can use this film footage as an advertisement to recruit people."

Chuang looked at the live feed very carefully. The Itrean ship was still flying further and further away from Anamade. By now, more of the planet could be seen in the background as part of its side was being illuminated by the star. To Mizu, the alien warship was moving as fast as possible as its engine plumes increased more and more. The blue flames were hottest from the main rear thruster as it bled into the darkness of space behind it. The other ship that was with it was long gone.

"I can't believe the Itreans have the ability to cloak themselves....." Chuang remarked.

"Well....they won't get far," Mizu replied.

Mizu looked around the room to see the others in the lobby that were also watching the feed footage on their augmented implants or tablets. He would occasionally see a person looking out of the large window to the streets of empty vehicles. He could only imagine the reactions of every individual. Chuang wasn't really scared but more cautious about the events. He could even recall seeing another individual who got on one of the law firm's comfortable couches. The man went and rested on the seat, was even trying to fall asleep. As long as it was away from the windows, even Mizu didn't worry about it.

Suddenly, the Itrean warship's dorsal mounted light railgun turret began to move a little bit. With the vacuum of space being absolutely quiet, the gun altered its direction by a few degrees as it suddenly emitted a flash to it. Blue and purple lines of particles rained from the weapon as a hypervelocity round was expelled.

"Holy shit...." Chuang replied. Others in the room reacted similarly. The alien warship had fired, but the question was where?

"The ship is firing at Batrice...." Mizu said as he read the feed's information. He scrolled the text as there wasn't enough information available.

People seemed to be holding their breath as the gun's angle was steady. The vectoring thrusters went off on the other side of the alien ship after firing to keep it stable. Even expelling a round in space would naturally push a vessel in the other direction. The technology of the Itreans might have seemed advanced, but it was apparent that it was almost on par with the technology of the UWA and UHN.

Another shot went off from the Itrean warship. The same effect happened again as another hypervelocity tungsten round was thrown into the direction it was shooting at. There were less shock and awe from the people in the lobby.

"How long does it take for those missiles to hit it?" Chuang asked.

"I don't know exactly," Mizu replied.

He seemed to think about it as he was doing the math in his head. It wasn't an easy task to do. The distances between the worlds of the Trappist system were much closer than that of the Sol system. Regardless, the time it took from getting from planet to planet would still be a lot. The catch was that there was no defense against such a move as this. Space did little in stopping a bullet, especially when it was launched towards something. Unless gravity or some large object were in the path, the shell would simply keep going until it would hit. Perhaps he did underestimate the Itreans.

The gun began to turn a little bit. It seemed to aim in a new direction rather than what it was already firing. The railgun went off again as Mizu could see a trail from a different approach.

"Third shot....." Chuang commented. "It is firing once every fifteen seconds."

Mizu continued to think. Without knowing the distance of the alien warship, it was difficult to determine how many more shots it was going to do.

"WARNING," the computerized voice and alarms went off again in the city. "Itrean warship has fired on New Phnom Penh. All personnel and staff are to remain in designated shelters."

For the first time, Chuang began to show real fear in him at the realization that was happening. Everyone began to react as people's attitudes began to shape into shock. The Itrean ship was now firing at the capital.

"Looks like the first two shots were made at Fort Batrice...." Mizu explained. "I don't think they are going to make much progress in damaging it. The thing is still being finished up as it is."

Chuang felt like standing up as Mizu went and grabbed his arm. "Hey bro..." he told him. "We will be....."

On the live feed, the alien ship fired another shot from its railgun. It was the fourth shot being made. The turret did not attempt to turn or adjust. Wherever it was going to hit, it was going to be bad. Even though the Itrean ship was no bigger than 150 meters in length, it was determined to do as much damage as possible.

Suddenly, a series of small missiles were launched from the large missile box of the alien ship. It must have been at least twenty small pieces of munitions that all flew out at once. Once they were jettisoned, each one began to ignite as they took off, leaving blue plumes as they flew. The railgun turret then adjusted slightly before it made another shot from its cannon.

"All three shots are heading towards the capital," Mizu responded.

Even Mizu was getting frustrated. When was the enemy vessel going to be destroyed? Time was ticking by. Every fifteen seconds, it was getting a chance to launch a projectile towards the capital. How big these projectiles were, was anyone's guess. It was as if the volley of missiles deployed from the Widado were taking forever. The fact was that the enormity of space made the transition for even fast flying weapons seemingly slow.

Each second was going by. It was becoming a countdown as the next round was about to be fired. Mizu counted it off in his head. Ten......nine......eight.....seven....six....

Before he could countdown to the next shot, the alien warship's small CIWS gun turrets began to fire. Sprays of small tracer fire could be seen that formed a line. At least two of the guns were going off. The eight missiles were closing in. One of the UHN warheads was seconds from the impact as it was ripped to pieces. Another one exploded as the CIWS guns were doing a good job trying to repel the Widado's volley of munitions. Two more missiles were torn to shreds when the final four finally impacted the Itrean ship.

It was insanely fast enough that Mizu practically blinked and almost missed it. The four missiles all hit around the same area of the forward port section of the alien warship in rapid succession. One of the anti-ship missiles tore into the hull while another missile was a nuclear warhead. This missile hit and produced an enormous flash of blinding light. The entire interior was torn asunder. Within less than a second, the whole vessel was obliterated and incinerated from within. There was a gasp from one of the individuals in the room. Within a few seconds, the blinding light faded as the radiation of the explosion was sent outward. With no heat to really travel in space, the nuclear blast quickly dropped into nothing. There was nothing left of the ship. The alien vessel was destroyed.

"Yeah...." Mizu replied. Chuang even clapped his hands a little bit. The rest of the room all seemed to indicate some form of relief.

"Attention all personnel of New Phnom Penh," the computerized voice called out. "Three shots from the Itrean vessel are still on course with the capital. Estimated time of impact is within two minutes and three seconds. All personnel is advised to remain indoors. Do not venture outside. Emergency teams are on standby to render aid."

The words stuck to everybody's mind. The capital was a huge place, but regardless, it was like being told that a few hypervelocity meteorites were being sent to rain down upon everyone. Mizu had some form of notion of what was going on.

"Damn....." Chuang replied as he wrapped his hands around his leg.

"I wouldn't worry about it, bro," Mizu said. "That gun wasn't that big on that ship. I am sure we will be fine."

"I wonder about those missiles that the alien ship fired."

"Missiles can be shot down, unlike the railgun. I am sure that the UHN can shoot them down without a problem."

Chuang gave the nod. "I can't believe this is happening."

"We will be fine. Maybe the dome could deflect the shots?"

Mizu seemed to think about it for a little while. Science and physics certainly had an interesting way of working. It was possible to take asteroids, turn them into weapons, and then guide them to worlds by simply using math and science. The concept of the railgun was little more than taking a solid tungsten shell, accelerating it through a magnetic chamber, and launching it to hypervelocity speeds. While the process was simple, careful precision was needed to ensure it hits the target. There was nothing spectacular with the shell itself, only the mass, velocity, and power it delivered was the genuine threat.

"One minute till impact," the computerized voice repeated on all tablets and augmented arm and hand displays. Mizu and Chuang didn't even want to think about it, but it was hard not to.

Chuang sighed. "Shame they can't shoot these things down...." He said.

Mizu patted his brother's knee. "At least we got them," he assured them. "That was a nice explosion."

"I hope everyone is going to be alright. I am not just worried about our cousin."

"Yeah.....me too," Mizu said. He showed a serious side of him as he felt this gut instinct that something terrible was about to happen.

"You know.....this reminds me of the safety drills we had in class."

"Yeah......you are right. I didn't even think about it till you said something. The duck and cover drills."

Mizu thought about it as he could picture Keiko in the same situation. If some crazy meteor shower could penetrate the dome's armor casing, the students would all be underneath their desks. He remembered how humorous it was. Most of the students thought it was a joke as they had to practice tucking themselves up into a ball and hoping that the desk and ceiling were somehow going to repel the rocks that rained from above them. Like anything, it really just came down to luck and hoping not to be there when it struck.

The computer voice uttered the words, "Estimated impact in ten.....nine......eight.....seven.....six......five......four......three......two......one."

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as each hypervelocity round was about to strike. Traveling at several thousands of meters per second, the razor-sharp carved tungsten slugs punched through the thin atmosphere of Batrice. Each round was no bigger than a small table. Technically, the damage should be light, but their velocity and mass were the real issues. The first round hit near the southern section of New Phnom Penh dome's top ceiling. It hit so hard and fast that it ultimately went through it like it was tin foil. It wasn't a large hole, but the seals activated quickly. Metal doors slid over to prevent any form of the city's atmosphere from being vented away from the population. The round traveled for mere seconds until it struck a street that was close to the main administration building. Two cars were battered and sliced to ribbons as the shell slammed into the concrete. Debris was thrown about as one of the car's hoods flew up for a few seconds into the air before landing near the impact site. Little pieces of additional objects were flung about. Like tiny bullets, they flew in all directions shattering windows and hitting walls. Thankfully, despite the impact, only a small crater and property damage were left behind.

It was far enough away, but the sound was loud that Mizu and Chuang could hear it. Each shot from the destroyed Itrean ship was about fifteen seconds apart. The banging sound was disturbing, but the fact that it was nowhere near their vicinity was welcoming. He didn't even imagine that anybody was hurt from it, but that sickening feeling was beginning to return. He had no idea why it was the case, but his head turned toward the direction of the school.

"No......" he said. Chuang seemed to look at his brother with some questions as the adrenaline became more apparent.

The second railgun round struck the ceiling again as the metal doors activated immediately. Much as before, the shell flew for a couple of seconds before the titanic crash sound could be heard.

The building that Mizu and Chuang were in was rocked where it was. The explosion was thunderous, causing everyone to shake where they were at. Even the man that tried to fall asleep jumped out of his chair, breathing hard. A few people gave small cries of panic. A woman screamed momentarily as the realization of war was at everyone's doorstep. Debris rained in the street a little bit. The sound was horrifying, and Mizu knew where it was.

"No....no....," Mizu said quietly as he stood up. His adrenaline filled his veins. Others were recoiling a little bit from the shell's impact. Chuang started to stand up as he saw what his brother was doing. The explosion came from somewhere, and it had to come from only one direction.

"The school....." were Mizu's only words as he bolted from his position. Raw emotion and adrenaline were guiding him as he ran to the door that led outside.

"Bro!" Chuang yelled at him. "The last shot hasn't hit yet! Stop!"

Chuang had no choice. He had to follow his brother. He hoped to catch him, but he was too fast and already had a head start. Everyone watched in horror as the two brothers ran out to the street.

Mizu had a brief look at the school that was not far from the law firm building. Smoke was pillaring out the air above on the easternmost section of the school. He didn't think. He just ran as fast as he could to it. His fears had been realized even if he did his best to mask them.

"Brother, stop!" Chuang yelled at him. "The last round is about to hit!"

Mizu ran forward as the last railgun round slammed into the ceiling and punched clean through. Within a couple of seconds, Mizu swore that he heard a slight whistling sound that got louder and louder before there was an explosion. The hypervelocity round slammed through a building near behind him before it punched clean through and into the street. Much as before, a part of a car was hit as its wreckage was slammed into the wall to the left of him.

It all happened so quickly that there was no way to react. He couldn't tell how far apart it was, but the concussive shockwave was horrific. Debris was showered in all directions. Chuang was lifted off the ground and flung into the wall of the law firm building. On the other hand, Mizu didn't even see the sizeable broken metal slab from the busted car come barreling towards his body. The impact was hard as everything went dark......

*******

"A.......u......" were Mizu's only words. There were flashes of light. Mizu growled as his eyes opened up. He couldn't hear anything as he was lying on the ground. Blood was everywhere.

"G........school....." he tried to say, but there was no audio. He heard nothing but a high-pitched ringing sound. He had partial sight, but it was enough that he could see the school.

Dazed and somewhat confused, he felt that he had only one obligation. He summoned the energy as he barely stood up. Blood was pouring out of his left ear. His left side had been sliced into. He looked over and saw his brother Chuang. It was very brief, but he could at least know that he was breathing even if his eyes were closed.

Nothing else mattered. Family came first. Seeing that his brother was somewhat well enough was enough to convince him to go after the next important thing. His brain had taken a concussion, but raw adrenaline was driving him to run towards the school building.

Silence.......the world was completely different now for Mizu. He was breathing hard as his body was summoning every last ounce of energy that was available. He could see that the second railgun round had hit the school like a giant sledgehammer. He could see people running towards the school, but there was no volume. Things seemed to be slow for him. Even if it was over for the rain of death, he had to do it. He ran to the school as best as he could.

He had no grasp of time. He was tumbling as he ran at times. He began to lose his memory once he was in the school hallway. He didn't even remember entering it, but there he was. Students were being moved safely out of the building as he kept moving as fast as he could. Nothing was in the right frame of the mind anymore. Pure shock from the concussion and impact to his body made the world upside down. He continued to move as fast as he could.

He blacked out over and over again. He knew that his life was forfeit and most likely that he was going to die as more blood was dribbling from his ear. A staff member tried to stop him, but he kept moving forward. A teacher from the end of the hallway from where Keiko was located was his destination.