Three Square Meals Ch. 116

Ilyana padded across the Bridge to take a closer look at the teeming swarms of drone craft approaching the Maliri flank. "They don't look happy..." she agreed, watching the two sides close inexorably with each other.

***

Krisalei's eyes widened at the sheer size of the drone swarm nearing the bombers, the Kirrix force appearing on her tactical overlay as a bewildering mass of red glyphs. She tapped an icon, muting the crimson glare and only highlighting those that the targeting computer deemed likely to intersect her present course.

"There must be at least 2000 drone craft out there," Lorathyra murmured, equally shocked by the sheer numbers involved. "We're outnumbered nearly 7 to 1..."

Krisalei noticed clusters of red dots appearing next to the Kirrix capital ships. "It looks like the drone carriers are launching another wave."

"Yeah, they saw we had 300 interceptors and didn't like the odds!" Torvanna exclaimed, the holographic image of her face lighting up with glee. "Can we start killing them now, Flight Commander?"

Narrowing her eyes, Krisalei watched as her weapon arcs drew ever closer to the flanking edge of the drone swarm. "Not yet..."

The Maliri bombers suddenly turned hard to port, pivoting away from the incoming drone swarm, with alternating rows ascending or descending until they formed a staggered wall. The Heleros class bombers had been upgraded with a host of new technology, including Trankaran engines, dramatically increasing their top speed. While they weren't as fast as the nimble drones, there wasn't a huge difference in maximum velocity, so now that the bombers were flying directly away from the Kirrix, the rapid interception had slowed to a torpid crawl.

Heleros class bombers were also equipped with upper and lower twin Pulse Cannon turrets, all of which swivelled to face their pursuers. Ten rows of ten bombers opened fire simultaneously, unleashing a blistering azure hail on the insectoid craft trying to close the distance. Krisalei watched as that deadly fusillade blasted the front ranks of the swarm, blue energy bolts melting straight through the thinly-armoured drones. Billlowing explosions rippled through the ranks as scores of ochre fighters were blown to pieces, the Kirrix unable to dodge the sheer volume of firepower unloaded on them.

"And the bait springs the trap!" Torvanna crowed, a feral grin on her pretty face.

"Fire at will, ladies," Krisalei purred, her finger caressing the trigger.

Her Nievath interceptor was armed with a Pulse Cannon on each wing and a third built into the fuselage. Triple streams of blue laser fire reaped havoc on every Kirrix fighter they touched, coring holes through the hulls and detonating volatile engines, rupturing unstable power cores or killing the insect pilots outright. The 10 wings that had flown the reconnaissance mission to Theg Haldrim tore into the starboard flank of the swarm, mowing down scores of enemy ships.

Krisalei strafed her fire through one Kirrix wing after another, then rolled her interceptor to the left and pulled backwards on the flight stick. She kept her finger depressed on the trigger, wildly spraying laser bolts through the packed formation of drones, as she brought up the nose of her fighter until she was flying parallel to the enemy. Lorathyra and Torvanna had mirrored her movements so all three were now racing away in the opposite direction to the swarm, while also staying out of range of their neutron guns.

"Ten kills!" Torvanna gasped with glee, darting a longing glance at the drone formation.

To add to the Kirrix woes, the 270 interceptors on bomber escort duty hammered the port flank of the drone swarm, catching them in a devastating crossfire. After gouging an explosion strewn arc through the beleaguered drones, they also peeled away, refusing to get close enough for the hapless bugs to fire back.

"Any chasing after us?" Krisalei asked, carefully watching the tail end of the swarm go rushing past her starboard window.

Lorathyra's eyes sparkled with the thrill of the chase. "That's a negative... they're still after the bombers!"

"Five seconds... then we loop back on their tail," Krisalei said, watching the Maliri interceptors on the far flank matching their manoeuvres. "Watch for debris."

She took her eyes away from the drones and happened to glance at the Kirrix capital ship formations just as the three Maliri battleships initiated the fleet engagement. Krisalei squinted as dazzling beams of energy blasted out from the prow of those golden warships, hitting the ochre drone carriers with a Nova Lance barrage. The coruscating shafts obliterated the Kirrix shields in an instant, then slammed into the flanks of the bulbous carriers, raking back towards the stern. Skewered from the side, the energy beams lanced straight through the stricken vessels, blasting a cavernous hole through the centre of each ship.

The carrier targeted by the Galaena Serine was annihilated by a colossal explosion as the Nova Lance beam detonated the primary Power Core. The subsequent blastwave destroyed everything in its path, sweeping away the drone craft that had managed to launch before the carrier's grim demise. Just as devastating was the shot from the Sylvis Daenala, which chopped its target in half, leaving the bow and stern to tumble away in separate glowing chunks, each rocked by secondary explosions. Finally, the shot from the Iolas Aethyra was at an awkward angle, shearing through the lower decks and effectively filleting the rear of the drone carrier. Fuel lines were ruptured, triggering a fiery inferno that raged through the stern, flames gouting through weapon ports and out of hangar doors.

Krisalei marvelled at the sheer scale of the destruction unleashed on the three Kirrix drone carriers, almost feeling a pang of sympathy for the aliens on the receiving end of that carnage. The Nova Lance beams winked out, leaving smouldering hulks where formidable capital ships had once squared off against the Maliri. The other seven drone carriers were now dreadfully aware that they were in range of Nova Lance strikes and powered up their engines so that they could close with the Maliri fleet to fire back.

Tearing her eyes away from the aftermath of the Nova Lance salvo, Krisalei rolled her interceptor and pulled back on the flightstick, feeling the g-force press her into the seat as her fighter executed a tight loop. Her wing had now rejoined the rest of the Maliri strike craft at the rear of the drone swarm, the insectoid hunters now becoming the hunted. When the interceptors rejoined the bombers in brutally culling the swarm, the Kirrix formation appeared to shatter, the drones giving up their ill-fated pursuit and turning on their tormentors.

"Here we go!" Krisalei called out, slashing Pulse Cannon fire through a sharply-banking drone, then strafing laser bolts through its wingman. "Watch each other's backs!"

"Oh yeah!" Torvanna crowed, blue laser fire scything through a wing of drones. "Eleven, twelve... and there's lucky number thirteen!"

***

"Reverse course!" Lilyana demanded, staring intently at the Tactical Map as the seven remaining drone carriers turned to face the fleet.

"Affirmative, Fleet Commander," the helmswoman replied, ramping up power to the Galaena Serine's retro-thrusters along the port bow and starboard on the stern.

The 1500m behemoth manoeuvred with a grace surprising in a vessel that size, executing a smooth turn mirrored by the pair of Maliri battleships at its flanks.

Lilyana watched the prow swing around until they were facing the outer edge of the system. "Now increase thrust to quarter power... let them start gaining on us."

She checked that her carriers, destroyers, and cruisers were maintaining their position well ahead of the battleships and staying safely out of neutron-beam range. Nodding with satisfaction, she glanced back at the bomber wings that had been forgotten in the fracas and smiled as she saw they were now racing unopposed towards the surface of Theg Haldrim.

***

Sickly yellow-brown fighters rushed past Krisalei's interceptor, hurtling by above, below, and on both flanks as the Maliri plunged into the Kirrix swarm. She could no longer just hold her finger down on the trigger, not with Maliri and Kirrix tangled together like this. Every time her crosshairs overlapped an ugly ovoid-shaped drone, she tapped the trigger, firing off short bursts to lethal effect. She piloted by instinct now, relying on five decades behind a flightstick to steer her safely through the deadly melee. Every time she scored a kill, her slender fingers nudged her interceptor aside, dodging the flaming wreckage of her target.

Green neutron bolts zipped by, too many to make it practical for her to try avoiding them, but the Kirrix's haphazard shooting was striking their own craft just as frequently. However, the elegant golden interceptors had a huge advantage with their Brimorian shields, which muted and absorbed the incoming shots, leaving the Maliri unscathed. Krisalei jinked around a wrecked drone, then ducked under another interceptor, pulling up at the last second to squeeze off a quick salvo of laser fire at the Kirrix on its tail. Her shots cored through the cockpit, blowing out the resin-like canopy and slaying the pilot before spearing the power core. The drone exploded and she winced as her interceptor was jostled by the blast.

The Flight Commander didn't have to check to see if her wingmates were still in formation. Every few seconds, bright bursts of azure bolts would scream past her ship on both sides, gunning down targets flanking her own. Steering through the vicious dogfight, her wing blasted its way clear on the other side, engines blazing as the interceptors put some distance between themselves and the Kirrix to shake off pursuers.

"Shield status!" she barked at her wingmates, glancing at her own damage display.

The muted amber glow was overlaid with a readout showing 63% shield strength. Being caught in the fiery conflagration from a drone's core explosion had taken its toll.

"85%"

"78%"

Easing back the throttle, Krisalei tugged back her flightstick. "Nice work, ladies. Keep it up, we're going back in!"

"Twenty-three!" Torvanna bragged, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

The interceptors executed a tight loop that sent Kirsalei's wing plunging back into the centre of that maelstrom.

***

The Kirrix capital ships powered up their engines to maximum thrust as they pursued the retreating Maliri fleet, quickly closing on the idling battleships. While they barrelled towards their deadly opponents, the flanks of the drone carriers were alive with activity, disgorging a second wave of drones. The strike craft assembled into formation around their carriers and when the last squadrons had been launched, they charged after the golden-hulled vessels, intent on weakening shields and crippling engines.

As the drones raced towards the Maliri battleships, the three carriers at the forefront of the Kirrix formation drew sufficiently close to get into Neutron Beam range. The segmented bows of those ochre monstrosities were festooned with weapon batteries and a forest of sickly-green beams lanced across the distance to strike the rear of the central battleship. Despite the surface of the shields rippling like a pond in a thunderstorm, they stubbornly refused to buckle, the advanced Brimorian defensive fields sapping the strength of each energy beam.

"Shields at 72%, Fleet Commander," the battleship's Chief Engineer informed her.

"Hard to port, accelerate to attack speed," Lilyana ordered, trying not to marvel at the incredible resilience of their new shields. She turned to her Tactical Officer who was waiting with feverish anticipation. "Fire at will!"

The three Maliri Battleships pivoted and answered the Kirrix attack with a devastating broadside of brilliant blue laser beams. The salvo slammed into the closest carrier, overpowering its shields and carving amber trenches through thick ochre armour. The beams cored deep, searing their way down the length of the enemy capital ship, vaporising crew and subsystems alike. Power regulators exploded as they were melted into piles of slag, blasting chunks out of the flanks and plunging the vessel into darkness.

Keeping her eyes on the Kirrix, Lilyana snapped. "Hard to starboard! Keep alternating broadsides until the Nova Lances are ready to fire."

The Maliri helmswoman grinned as she acknowledged the orders with a nod. The port batteries began to cool, Kintark heatsinks venting off the excess heat and readying the weapons to fire again, the golden capital ships smoothly turning to present their starboard batteries to the enemy. Lilyana noticed the two assassins watching her with interest and she raised an eyebrow as she returned their curious gaze.

"Mimicking Calara's manoeuvres at the Defence of Olympus?" Almari asked with a knowing smile.

The Fleet Commander watched as the Maliri battleships hammered the Kirrix with another devastating broadside. "Can you imagine facing someone that devious in battle? The thought gives me nightmares," Lilyana quietly admitted.

"Incoming drone swarm," Ilyana informed her, pointing at the swirling mass of drone craft converging on their position.

Lilyana nodded and activated the fleet interface.

***

Sub-Warden Urumir limped slowly across the plaza and put his burly arm around the shoulder of his bond-mate to give her a comforting hug. He knew that Angraekara was terrified for their two shalelings, who had been forcibly removed from them at gunpoint. Urumir had snapped three of the spindly Kirrix troopers in half before neutron gun blasts had brought him down, but he would have still fought on, if his eldest daughter hadn't begged him to stop. He could see his two girls being marched towards another door in the flank of the hive ship, along with all the other small children that had been separated from their parents.

"What are we going to do, Urumir?!" Angraekara whimpered under her breath, wincing from the gunshot wound to her stomach. "I would sooner be unmade than allow harm to befall our precious jewels!"

He hadn't taken his eyes off Gradaela, who held little Brukaeren's hand in her own. Feeling a surge of paternal pride for his brave girls, he rumbled, "The Kirrix are weak and our gravity taxes their puny bodies. They seem distracted... wait for my sig-"

The Sub-Warden didn't finish his sentence as a piercing sonic boom ripped through the air over Negdratin, Trankaran and Kirrix alike staring up at the sky to locate its source.

"There!" Angraekara gasped, pointing into the distance. The sun glinted off the gleaming hulls of a passing wave of strike craft that swooped towards a target on the opposite side of the city.

A series of high-pitched shrieks echoed around the plaza as the Kirrix hive ship opened fire with its Neutron Beams, but they were too late to catch the swift golden bombers. Grating staccato pulses followed next as neutron gun batteries sprayed green bolts skywards, but the noise was nothing compared to the deafening explosions that suddenly rocked the muddy field. Urumir fell to one knee, knocked down by the blast wave as the hive ship's engines were blown to pieces. That was just the first detonation to rock the insectoid cruiser as its bulbous power generators were hit by streaking torpedoes, shutting down all power.

Debris fragments rained down from above and Urumir grimaced as one bounced off his bulky shoulder. "Now, Angraekara!" he roared, grabbing the nearest Kirrix below its jaw.

His huge muscles tensed and he ripped out its throat, before releasing the dying creature from his burly grip and limping towards the next. His mate tore its neutron gun from spasming chitinous fingers, then Angraekara opened fire on the next ochre-hued invader. The Kirrix soldier twitched wildly, limbs convulsing as it thrashed in agony. To Urumir's surprise, the Kirrix troops were paying the rioting Trankarans no attention, their black compound eyes focused only on the sky. They were shooting wildly into the air, obviously trying to protect the hive ship from harassment by the golden bombers.

Around him, Urumir saw his rockbrethren leaping into the fray, with a ferocity that matched his own. The Trankarans fell on their tormentors, seizing weapons and grappling them in melee, fighting back with all the strength available to them. He saw two female Trankarans each grab a drone's arm and tear the spindly trooper apart between them, gouting green blood over the vengeful mothers.

Lurching after the next distracted insectoid, a brilliant flash of blue caught Urumir's eye, then the Kirrix was blasted in the abdomen, knocking it to the ground. A huge round hole had been melted in its armoured exoskeleton and as it toppled to one side, he could see the shot had cored straight through. The flailing insect was shot twice more, the kill-shot hitting the thorax, which exploded and sent dismembered limbs bouncing across the grass.

He glanced upwards, then gaped at the sky in astonishment. Ten delicate-looking bombers hovered in the air above the plaza, their hulls an unlikely composition of gleaming gold plating and sparkling crystal canopies. Turrets below the ships spun about, pouring an unending stream of blue laser bolts into the Kirrix forces in the plaza. The bombers slowly tilted upwards, until their crystal-shrouded cockpits were pointing towards the sky, at which point a second turret at the rear of the upper fuselage contributed to the massacre below.

Urumir whirled around, fearful for his daughters, but he saw them crouched down with their friends, completely untouched by the deadly hail. Gradaela was staring back at him and when they made eye-contact, she grinned, giving him a friendly wave. A deep chuckle of relief rumbled in his chest and he returned her wave as hundreds of Kirrix soldiers died around them.

***

The trio of Maliri battleships continued their deadly exchange of fire with the Kirrix, every salvo of green beams met with triple the number of blue beams... and at twice the frequency. The Kirrix drone carriers were taking a battering, now down to only four of their original ten. The drone swarm hurtled towards the battleships, desperate to close to neutron gun range and add their firepower to the exchange before it was too late. At the same time the Maliri destroyers and cruisers cut power to their engines, falling back so they flanked the capital ships.

Lilyana watched the drones charge heedlessly into the fire arcs of the Galaena Serine's Pulse Cannon batteries, which were overlapped by defence grids from the destroyers and cruisers. It was as if the heavens opened and a storm of blue laser bolts swept out to meet the ochre swarm. With Kintark heatsinks installed, the Pulse Cannons could fire continuously... and over a thousand of those elegant weapons did exactly that. Even the worst gunner in the galaxy could sweep an unceasing hail of shots over a target and hit it eventually but the Maliri were expert markswomen. The scale of the destruction was breathtaking, with the drone swarm annihilated by azure streams, two thousand drone craft wiped out in under ten seconds.

The Maliri battleships turned, battering the leading drone carrier with beam salvos that systematically eviscerated their target, slicing away glowing chunks of hull. Energy gathered on their prow as they swung about to face the last of the enemy capital ships and the Kirrix attempted to turn and flee when they were hit by the Nova Lance barrage. Those drone carriers actually died before the critically damaged Beam Laser victim, but by this point, the Maliri cruisers had swept into range. The drone carrier was hit by so many blue beams, it was blotted out on the holographic map, and when those pulsing columns faded away, there was barely anything left of their target.