Three Square Meals Ch. 100

***

"Oh yeah! Here they come, boys!" Commander Wessex crowed, lifting her Gatling Laser with her right power-armoured gauntlet and waving it in triumph. "I expect to see all those nice little cred-sticks lined up on my desk directly after we kick the Kintark's ass!"

Sergeant Gibbons paid no attention to the grumbling from his squadmates, his attention fully focused on the enormous troop ships landing on the plateau directly ahead of his squad. It was overcast that morning, but the sun's rays filtered through gaps in the grey cloudbanks and glinted off those iridescent green hulls. It would have been a beautiful sight, if he didn't know that each of those huge vessels were ferrying two-thousand Kintark marines into battle. When the first touched down on Terra's surface, it didn't escape him that this was the first time a hostile alien invasion force had ever set foot on humanity's Homeworld.

Activating the image magnification functionality in his Sentinel Armour HUD, he zoomed in on that hulking troop ship and watched as doors all around its base retracted into the hull. Green armoured Kintark marines rushed down the loading ramps, the soldiers eager to escape their confinement and get to grips with the enemy. He looked from ship to ship, seeing them disgorge their battle-ready cargo, the Kintark forces forming up into units before marching towards the Terran Defenders.

It wasn't just troops that were landing on the planet's surface. He saw a number of green grav-tanks floating down from their transports, double-barrelled Plasma Cannon turrets trained towards the Citadel. He heard the dull thump from the Pulveriser Mk XII tanks on the ridgeline behind him, the artillery greeting the invaders with the bark of their howitzers. The neat formations of Kintark troopers were literally torn apart as huge explosions wreaked havoc amongst their lines. Gibbons couldn't help grimacing as dismembered body parts rained down on the survivors amongst the shattered earth that had been blown apart by the savage blasts.

"That'll teach those fuckers!" Brannigan yelled, snorting with laughter. "Get some, you scaly bastards!"

Gibbons tightened his grip on his autocannon and watched in silence as dozens more transports dropped out of the clouds above the plateau. The artillery might be taking a terrible toll on the Kintark troops, but the survivors were still coming, and they were soon to be joined by a lot of very angry friends.

***

Admiral Jayanti Mishra leaned forward in her chair and barked, "The Hareen'tok's shields are down! Focus all fire on that battleship!"

The three-kilometre-long dreadnought swung about, bringing the twin barrels of the Singularity Drivers to bear. As it made the turn, Beam Lasers scythed across the flank of the vulnerable Kintark battleship, the Hareen'tok trembling as Heavy Cannon shells pulverised the armour plating along its port side. Green armour plating was torn to pieces, exploding outwards under that brutal barrage, only for a secondary set of detonations to burst along the hull as a storm of missiles from the dreadnought struck home.

There was a couple of seconds pause, where it seemed like the fury of Shiva the Destroyer had abated... but it was only an illusion of mercy. The Singularity Drivers opened up, hyper-accelerated slugs rocketing down the long rails and arcing across space to slam into the disfigured battleship. The force of that impact rocked the Hareen'tok backwards, a huge explosion blossoming from the incredible kinetic forces unleashed on the vessel. It was soon followed by a second, then a third, huge chunks blasted from the shattered hull as it was pulverised by the vengeful dreadnought.

One of the detonations touched off secondary explosions as a plasma missile magazine detonated amidships. The centre of the battleship bulged obscenely before plasma fire blasted out of a score of ruptures in the hull. After the horrific violence the mangled battleship had just sustained, it seemed almost peaceful the way it slowly broke apart, plasma fire turning the broken hulk into a funeral pyre for its Kintark crew.

Mishra's elation was short lived as a blaring alarm sounded off across the Bridge.

Chief Engineer Shepherd whirled around in his seat. "Shields are out, Admiral!"

"I know what it means!" Mishra snapped, trying to maintain an air of confidence even though her heart was pounding in her chest. "Pull back! We need to get some distance from them!"

All around her Terran cruisers and battleships were ablaze, the reserve force caught unprepared by the ferocity of the Praetorian Guard fleet. The Kintark elite forces had been more than willing to slug it out at point blank range with the Terran Defenders, which would normally be a suicidal move, but in this case had proven lethally effective. The Terran ships were unable to use their Laser Cannons because the Kintark shields just shrugged them off with no ill-effect, while Mass Drivers, Heavy Cannons, and Singularity Drivers were all useless until the Kintark shields were down. That meant the Terran ships were effectively fighting with less than a third of their weapon loadout, whereas the Kintark were able to make full use of their Plasma Cannons batteries.

The Shiva shook as it was struck by a volley of plasma missiles and Mishra's eyes snapped to the Tactical Map. Her eyes widened as she saw several more Kintark battleships switching targets and pursuing her dreadnought. The storm of plasma bolts converging on her ship intensified, as more Plasma Cannons were brought to bear on her vessel.

"We're being focus-fired, Admiral!" Shepherd cried out in panic. "Decks 7, 14, and 23 are on fire... we've lost our aft starboard Fire Control!"

Mishra turned her frantic gaze at her comms interface, abandoning all attempts to maintain a calm facade. "Weber! Where the fuck are you?! We need support!"

"Negative Mishra, I'm falling back to try and regenerate shields," Weber said, visibly trembling as he shook his head. "I've lost nearly all my cruisers and I'm down to half my battleships!"

She wanted to scream at him in frustration, but managed to bite back her furious outburst. "We've taken horrific casualties too... We need help urgently!"

"Sorry, I've got my hands full here," Weber replied curtly, his face white with fear.

Realising that he was no source of salvation, Mishra snarled, "You fucking coward!" She cut off her connection to him, unable to stomach another second looking at his frightened features. Locking eyes with Admiral Caldwell next, she said plaintively, "Edwin! We're getting overwhelmed! Send in the rest of the reserves to cover my withdrawal!"

Caldwell's face was taut with stress as he met her pleading gaze. "I can't, Jayanti! We just lost Poznanski... her entire battle group has been destroyed! I've already committed the Zeus and the last of the reserves to shore up the main battle line!"

Mishra froze as she realised there was no help coming... this was going to be her last stand. She looked out at her Bridge Crew, who were all staring at her, stricken with terror. Taking a deep breath, she sat up straight, lifting her chin proudly.

"Focus all starboard guns on the Armak'tok, port guns on the Delarn'tok... We'll take those bastards down with us!"

***

High Prelate Tekarin gripped the Command Platform's balcony as he roared into the Bridge Pit, "Their ssshieldsss are out! Dessstroy thossse thrice-damned lasssersss!"

The battlecarrier Jaleen'tohok had an impressive battery of Plasma Cannon turrets bristling over its green-plated topdeck and they all pivoted to aim at the closest of Olympus' massive orbital lasers. Several of the other Kintark captains had the same idea and a dozen other battleships began unloading plasma bolts at the powerful Terran weapons. Olympus had been methodically stripping shields off one attacking capital ship after another, before hammering the exposed vessels with remorseless barrages from scores of Heavy Cannon turrets, so every Kintark ship still with shields was anxious to see those weapons destroyed.

Tekarin nodded with grim satisfaction as he watched the huge weapon emplacement get pulverised by that storm of plasma fire. However, the huge explosion as it was blown to bits did little to salve his fury, not after what he'd been forced to endure over the last twenty-five minutes. After the despicable Terrans had sprung their lethal trap, catching him completely by surprise, they'd proceeded to mercilessly slaughter tens-of-thousands of the Kintark Empire's finest crews. The Praetorian leader had never felt so helpless as that Terran fleet had weaved around in front of his forces, battering his ships while seemingly taunting them to do something about it.

By the time his forces had finally managed to strip their shields and started to do some damage, they'd just sailed away without a care in the world, leaving the tattered Kintark battle group to engage Olympus shipyard. Tekarin knew the Terran fleet was withdrawing to regenerate their shields, but there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop them. Unsurprisingly he was not in the best of moods.

When they'd drawn close to Olympus station, he'd been deeply alarmed when he spotted what appeared to be an additional defensive fleet, numbering hundreds of vessels. His concern had turned to rage when he realised that the bulk of those ships were Kintark vessels that had been captured at the Battle of Regulus, and he even recognised High Prelate Zorlin's battlecarrier, the Breklan'tohok. That crippling defeat was a dark stain on the honour of the Kintark Empire and here the Terrans were, flaunting those captured ships like some sick trophy.

At least the formation of Terran ships was nothing more than a pathetic decoy. After blowing a couple of those Terran cruisers to bits, the rest just sat there impotently not reacting in any way to the Kintark presence. Why the Terran forces didn't man what appeared to be perfectly spaceworthy vessels was beyond him, but many things this foul species did made little sense.

"Ssshould we launch our Bomber wingsss, High Prelate?" Sub-Prelate Berahok asked cautiously.

Tekarin narrowed his eyes and gesticulated wildly at the Tactical Map. "Have your fighter wingsss attained ssstrike-craft sssuperiority yet?!"

Berahok lowered his gaze and shook his head. "No, High Prelate... the Terran ssscum posssesss an infernal new gunssship that isss vassstly sssuperior to our Batakosss heavy fightersss!"

"Then why are you wasssting my time asssking me about bombersss, you imbecile?!" Tekarin bellowed, quivering with barely controlled rage. "The moment we launch them, they'll be cut to piecesss!"

Before he could further lambast the idiotic crewman, the comms interface chirped as it received an incoming call. Tekarin clamped down on his anger, then bowed his head respectfully to the august figure waiting to speak with him. "How may I ssserve you, Grand Prelate?"

"How goesss the battle?" Melkadian asked, an excited glimmer of anticipation in his eyes. "Have you... neutralisssed... Olympusss Ssshipyard yet?"

"Not yet, Grand Prelate..." Tekarin reluctantly admitted, his anger diffusing with his growing sense of shame. "There hasss been ssstiffer resssissstance here than I anticipated. We have lossst ssshipsss..."

Melkadian's eyes narrowed. "The Terransss have committed almossst all their available fleetsss to the defence of Terra! You ssshould vassstly outnumber any defendersss; how many vessselsss have you lossst?"

Tekarin slumped under that disapproving glare. "All our dessstroyersss, thirty-four cruisssersss, and fourteen battlessshipsss..."

"WHAT?!" Melkadian balked, his eyes widening in shock. "You cannot posssibly be ssseriousss, Tekarin? How many vessselsss have the Terransss lossst?"

"None..." the high prelate muttered, feeling absolutely mortified. He could see Melkadian's eyes take on a dangerous edge and he knew he was seconds away from an execution order. "The Terransss have deployed an advanced fleet! Their ssshipsss are fassster than oursss and their energy weaponsss hit much harder than normal! They harried usss all the way to the ssshipyard, but we managed to ssscare them away and have managed to knock out Olympus' ssshieldsss."

Melkadian was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Will you be able to complete your misssion?"

"They are using new fightersss too... some kind of gunssship that our own heavy fightersss are no match for. We are unable to launch bombersss..." Tekarin replied, squirming with discomfort. "We have begun crippling the ssshipyard'sss defencesss, once Olympusss isss no longer able to fight, then-"

"You know your objective, Tekarin," Melkadian said, his voice cold and menacing. "Ssstop wasssting time!"

With that the Grand Prelate cut off the call, leaving Tekarin staring blankly at the holo-screen. His orders had been quite clear and he knew what he had to do, so he turned around and walked over to the balustrade surrounding the Command Platform.

"Order all ssshipsss in the fleet to open fire on the dockyardsss! Ignore the gun emplacementsss, we mussst cripple Olympusss' ssshipbuilding capabilitiesss!"

***

"Fuck!" Murphy swore in frustration, watching helplessly as the wingless Rapier careened out of control. It trailed a plume of plasma fire until it smashed into a green and gold hulled destroyer and disintegrated with the impact.

Gripping his flightstick tighter, he squeezed the trigger, lighting up the Kintark heavy fighter that had just shot the wing off the Rapier. He saw the telltale ripple as its shields gave out, so he performed the coup-de-grace with his Gauss Cannon, punching the slug dead-centre on the rear of the enemy ship. It exploded when he ruptured its Power Core, scattering chunks of mangled green wings and shredded fuselage in all directions.

Murphy had managed to take out two of the four lizardman fighters before they'd picked off their quarry, but there were just too many of them. As he was looking for the fourth and final fighter from that wing, he spotted Lincoln chasing down another Kintark fighter, six streams of laser bolts temporarily linking the two ships together as his wingman flayed his target. He was just about to congratulate him on his shooting, when Lincoln's Claymore soared through the crossfire between a Kintark cruiser duelling with a Terran battlecruiser. A stray plasma bolt from a Plasma Cannon clipped the gunship, wiping the shields out in an instant and dousing the end of the Claymore's right wing in molten plasma.

"Shit! I'm on fire!" Lincoln yelled, terror streaking his voice.

"Bank to port, drop your throttle to 75% and manually shut down your starboard guns!" Murphy barked, while yanking his flight stick hard to port and increasing his own throttle to maximum.

The shaken lieutenant stared at him blankly, paralysed with fear. "W-what?"

"Don't think, follow my orders!" Murphy yelled, racing after the burning Claymore.

Lincoln blinked at him owlishly then followed his Wing Commander's instructions, lining himself up perfectly in front of Murphy's gunship.

Murphy squinted as he aimed his crosshairs. "Now don't move a muscle..."

His Gatling Lasers blasted a bright orange line through the flaming Claymore's wing, sawing it in half and sending the burning half spinning harmlessly away.

"You've lost your starboard guns and you'll have to compensate on the handling," Murphy said, racing past and waggling his wingtips.

"Goddamn! Nice shooting!" Baker exclaimed, a huge grin on his face as he swooped in, rejoining their formation to Lincoln's left.

Lincoln looked immensely relieved. "Thanks for saving my ass, Leprechaun."

"We're even," Murphy said with a tight smile. "Now where are Halifax and Abbott?"

"Just nailed another fighter, be right there, Sir," Halifax replied, racing to catch up to them.

Murphy glanced at the holo-interface to check on Abbott and saw a worried frown on the young woman's face. "Abbott, you okay?"

"Leprechaun... they're launching bombers!" his missing wingman gasped.

Pulling back on his flightstick, Murphy pointed the Claymore's nose towards the cluster of Kintark battlecarriers. He immediately spotted the wings of Kintark bombers pouring from those massive capital ships, like bloated green hornets rushing out of their nest.

Tapping the comms interface, he said in a rush, "Gator, bombers incoming! We've been trying to protect the Rapiers... do you want us to switch targets?!"

Captain Lewis looked strained as he yanked his flightstick around, green flashes lighting up his cockpit. "Get the bombers," he muttered distractedly, brow furrowed in concentration. "The Rapiers are gone!"

Murphy tore his eyes away from his commanding officer and stared in shock at the Tactical Map. This whole section of the battlefield was swarming with red dots, the Kintark having overwhelmed the Terran fighters and gained strikecraft superiority. He glanced out the cockpit window and stared in disbelief at the legion of burning Terran capital ships that surrounded them. He realised he'd been so caught up in the dogfight, he hadn't realised just how badly the battle had been going for the Federation fleets.

"The Shiva..." Abbott murmured under her breath, a look of horror on her face.

It only took Murphy a couple of seconds to find the titanic Terran dreadnought and when he did, his horrified expression matched that of the young lieutenant. The Shiva's grey Titanium plating was a ragged patchwork of ugly plasma burns and the once proud juggernaut of destruction was now ablaze in a hundred different places. The huge Kintark flagship was pounding the doomed vessel with non-stop Plasma Cannon barrages, with no less than five Kintark battleships joining the one-sided fight. The dreadnought was barely firing back now, the occasional beam lancing out sporadically as it tried to swat away its attackers. It was like watching some proud stag brought down by a pack of feral hounds and it broke Murphy's heart to witness it.

***

Fleet Admiral Buckingham tried to pick up a glass of water, but his hands were shaking too badly. He decided to put it down to avoid spilling it on himself and making a scene. Instead he turned back to the Tactical Map, watching wide-eyed as the scenes of carnage unfolded.

"No... it wasn't supposed to be like this," he protested weakly, trying to ignore the damning looks he was getting from the command staff in the room.

He saw contempt in those barely veiled glares, their eyes making his skin feel like it was burning. It wasn't just contempt he saw; those unfriendly stares seemed to be blaming him for this disaster, when it wasn't even his fault! The Admirals were in charge of their battle groups... he wasn't responsible if they were incompetent!

Buckingham flicked another glance at Admiral Maybridge, who was staring at him with a look of open visceral hatred. He saw blunt accusation in that stare. Maybridge obviously blamed him for what happened to her niece at Port Medea, but there was something else there too...

Her eyes narrowed when she saw him looking her way and hissed, "Devereux was right! If you'd called the Lion, this disaster could've been averted! This is all your fault!"

The Fleet Admiral turned away sharply, no longer able to meet the harsh condemnation in that judgemental glare. It wasn't his fault! All these cursed aliens were in it together... it was a conspiracy! Why couldn't she see it?! His shaking hand inched towards the pistol holstered at his waist; he had to stop her staring at him like that...

A terrified scream drew his attention back to the battle group interface and his eyes widened when he realised it had come from Jayanti Mishra. The Bridge of the Shiva was wreathed in fel green fire, a raging plasma inferno sweeping through her dreadnought. He could hear the roar of the flames, but above them came the agonised screams of the Bridge crew as they were consumed by the conflagration. Mishra darted a horrified glance behind her at the approaching blaze, then whirled around, her face a mask of terror. She was about to speak when there was a searing explosion and her image froze then died... along with the Shiva as it was blown apart in a series of rippling detonations.