Three Square Meals Ch. 050

Alyssa glanced at the damage control display she had projected above her console and said in a steady voice, "Shields at ninety one percent."

Calara nodded distractedly, too focused on targeting the incoming enemy ships at the moment to be concerned about the Invictus' shields. The cooling icons next to the Mass Drivers, and the Beam lasers on the weapon loadout display, disappeared just as they closed to laser cannon range. She targeted the rear destroyers first, obliterating them with the same combination of Beam lasers to knock out the shields, then hyper-warp shells to rip apart their hulls. That left only two enemy ships, and she opened fire with the laser cannon batteries, sending a shower of laser bolts arcing out towards them.

Alyssa flew straight between the enemy destroyers, so Calara was able to unload full broadsides on both ships, hitting each with repeated impacts from the twelve laser cannons on each facing. The destroyers only had three laser cannons per flank, so the volume of fire each side could unleash was hideously unbalanced. To make matters worse, the blindingly bright laser bolts from the Invictus had been powered up by the Ashanath power core, with the Kintark heatsinks keeping the barrels from melting.

Calara strafed laser bolts into the destroyers, and their shields convulsed as they desperately tried to repulse such a huge amount of damage. By the time she had fired a second volley, their shields flared out and the laser bolts began to strike home, smashing into the hulls, and blasting big chunks out of the titanium plating. Now that the shields were gone, Calara aimed all twelve laser cannons at a point on the hull just back and below the engines. The shots tore through the tan coloured armour, ripped into the superstructure, then blew apart the power cores, and both destroyers exploded within seconds of each other.

Irillith was stunned once again, shocked that the unassuming Latina was somehow able to independently target, and then eliminate both ships at the same time. She had seen her showing off against asteroids, but blowing up chunks of rock was entirely different to watching someone take out two ships in different directions. What made it even more alarming was the way Calara annihilated both ships, with vastly more accurate shooting than Irillith knew she'd be able to manage against even one.

"Shields at eighty nine percent," Alyssa said jubilantly. However, her elation was cut short as she abruptly leaned forward in her chair and said, "Damn! The cruisers are running away."

Irillith looked up at the map, and was surprised to see that the two cruisers weren't heading towards the planet. "Where are they going?" she asked in confusion. "Are they fleeing the battle?"

Calara studied the map for a moment, then shook her head, and sounded worried as she said, "No, they're regrouping with the incoming fleet!"

***

Dana and Rachel darted concerned glances at one another, hearing the status updates from Alyssa about the battle in the skies above them.

"I hope John is okay," Rachel said, sounding worried. She opened the door again, to have another look around.

She gasped with surprise as John suddenly burst through the door, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he panted. He leaned over, hands on hips, as he struggled to regain his breath, his breathing heavily laboured.

Dana crouched down next to him, and looked up at his face as she asked, "What happened to you? We were worried sick!"

John shook his head, and blurted, "I've no idea! I was running with you past the Armoury, then I blacked out! When I came to, it took me a minute to regain my bearings, and I sprinted straight over here."

Rachel suddenly exclaimed, "John! Are you hurt? You're covered in blood!"

He turned to look at her, and shook his head as he said, "No I don't think so. I'm not in any pain."

"Look at your sword," Dana said quietly.

John reached behind him, and pulled the quadruple-forged Alyssium blade over his shoulder, and looked at it in shock. It was drenched in blood and gore, and the once smooth coat of black paint that Dana had applied earlier, was now chipped and scored in dozens of places.

Dana looked up at his face, and said astutely, "You've been in combat. Well, Progenitor John has been at least."

John looked alarmed and said, "But I wasn't injured, and none of you girls got hurt. What could have triggered that?"

Dana shrugged and said firmly, "We'll have to chat about it later. All hell's breaking loose up there." She glanced up towards the stars, and the heated space battle that was unfolding in the Beta-Draconis system.

"What do you mean?" John asked in confusion. "I thought they were supposed to wait until we evaced before hitting the cruisers?"

Dana shook her head, and said animatedly, "Drop your mind shield!"

John blinked at her twice, not realising he was blocking Alyssa out. He focused for a moment, and concentrated on dropping the barrier preventing Alyssa from reaching his mind.

*John! Oh thank god! I was so worried...* Alyssa said frantically, her voice rushing into his mind.

*It's alright, calm down. I'm fine,* he said soothingly.

*Calm down?!* Alyssa exclaimed indignantly. However, within a heartbeat she had done just that, and said in a steadier voice, *The rest of the Armoured Cobras are inbound. They'll be in-system in less than a minute. We wiped out their destroyers, but we haven't engaged the cruisers yet.*

John nodded, rapidly evaluating these events, and said, *Alright, don't engage unless you have to. We've rigged the generators to blow, but we haven't got the prisoners yet. We'll try to rescue them now, so let Jade know that we'll need her here to pick us up as soon as she can.*

*Will do!* Alyssa replied, sounding much happier.

John breathed out heavily, then smiled as he looked at Rachel and Dana. "Let's go rescue those prisoners," he said buoyantly, and the two girls grinned at him, nodding eagerly.

***

Jade watched the third tank explode in a satisfyingly bright explosion, and she swung the Raptor around, so that she could pursue the final fleeing group of four heavy tanks. The tanks only carried a pair of Gatling lasers for anti-aircraft protection, relying primarily on air supremacy from the destroyers and cruisers to keep from being hunted by a gunship. Without the luxury of that kind of protection, they were sitting ducks against Jade in her Raptor, and they struggled to even hit her shields with her evasive flying.

The Nymph grinned as she closed on the final group of tanks, and they opened up with their Gatling lasers, sending desperate streams of orange laser fire into the sky. She pressed the thumb buttons on her flightstick, and bright orange laser bolts from her laser cannons slammed into the rearmost tank. Her first shot blew apart one of the anti-grav cyclics, and the corner of the bulky, fifty ton vehicle crashed to the ground, digging out a huge furrow as it veered to the side. She kept her finger on the fire button as she performed a lazy roll, sending laser bolts into the next tank, as she easily evaded the incoming Gatling laser fire.

*Jade!* Alyssa's voice came through to her. *John is back and he's okay. They'll be needing an evac in a minute, so we need you back there as soon as possible.*

*On my way!* the Nymph replied cheerily, noting with satisfaction that the second tank had exploded under repeated hits from her laser cannons.

She powered up the Raptor's engines, bearing down on the fleeing tanks at high speed. She opened fire with her laser cannons as she raced ever closer, and the shots blew apart the turret on the tank second from the front. The heavy tank chassis seemed to have survived relatively unscathed, but she poured Gatling laser fire into the gaping hole in the hull, as the gunship roared overhead. The searing laser bolts hit the gunner in the head, killing him instantly, but miraculously the driver and tank commander cowering in the front of the vehicle survived unscathed.

Jade watched the last unscathed tank try and adjust its Gatling laser turrets to track her, but the Raptor was much too fast. She felt a pang of regret at leaving any of them still alive, but she was so overjoyed at the thought of seeing John again soon, she got over it immediately.

***

John poked his head out of the door and took a quick looked around, but could see no sign of any mercenaries. "They'll probably be keeping the prisoners in the Command Centre," he said as they left the Backup Generator building, wedging the door shut behind them.

Rachel glanced at him as they sprinted diagonally across the lit path, running towards the huge Ferrocrete Command Centre, which dominated the centre of the compound. "What if they aren't there?" she asked with a worried frown.

He shrugged and said, "Then we ask someone nicely."

They ran over to the southern wall of the Command Centre, and jogged along its length, trying to keep low to the ground and in the shadows as much as possible. The middle of the compound was more brightly lit than the outskirts, so John hoped that no one would be wandering around this late at night. They reached the south western corner of the building, and movement ahead of him and to the left caught his attention. A mercenary in combat fatigues staggered out of the Barracks, and was suddenly and violently sick.

"Hold up," John said, crouching down warily.

Rachel tucked in behind him, while Dana moved up to his side. "What's up?" she asked him curiously. When he pointed out the merc by the wide open Barracks doors, she frowned and asked, "I thought you were going to wedge those closed?"

John looked at her in confusion and said, "I was? When was that supposed to happen?"

Further discussion was cut off by the loud blaring alarm of a warning siren, and when John glanced across at the queasy mercenary, he saw the man was shouting animatedly into a comm device. The merc ran on unsteady feet back towards the Command Centre, with a pistol held in his shaky grasp. John narrowed his eyes and waited until the distracted mercenary had run past them, then he sprinted out, and grabbed the man from behind, knocking the pistol from his hand. He clamped an armoured gauntlet over the man's mouth, stopping him from crying out in surprise, then dragged him back to the relative safety of the darkness by the wall.

The mercenary looked up at them with terrified eyes, and as soon as John released his hand, the man blurted out, "I'll do anything, just don't kill me like that!"

John masked his confusion, and asked, "Where are the kidnap victims being held?"

The merc pointed a quavering finger at the big building behind them, and stammered, "In the b-b-bunker below the Command Centre. They're all in there!"

Smiling at the man, John said, "Well let's get going then. You can be our guide."

***

"Here they come," Alyssa said, and moments later, the two carriers, the cruiser and six destroyers jumped in-system.

As soon as the new ships jumped into the Beta-Draconis system, it became clear why the new ships were not listed on the accounts, or their crews on the personnel rosters. One of the carriers, and the escorting cruiser were coloured tan and brown just like the rest of the Armoured Cobras ships, but the second carrier and the destroyers were painted a bright red.

The sensors picked up the transponder codes immediately, and Calara nodded as she checked who the ships were registered to. "That carrier and the destroyers belong to another merc group called the Red Hornets. Maybe they've joined forces?" she suggested thoughtfully.

As they pondered this, the Red Hornets carrier opened its launch bays and two wings of fighters blasted out into space, then grouped up into their respective wings. The Rapier class fighters were small but highly manoeuvrable, and according to the technical readout on the tactical map, they were armed with a pair of Gatling lasers. The two carriers peeled off from the fleet, and headed towards the planet, while the fighter wings raced ahead of them, clearly on some kind of urgent mission.

"Where are those fighters going?" Irillith asked curiously.

Alyssa looked up at them in alarm, and reached out with her mind to the Nymph flying the gunship below, *Jade, you've got incoming fighters! At least twelve!*

The blonde girl shared a worried look with Calara, who said, "Shall we intercept them?"

Alyssa shook her head and said, "We'd never reach them in time. I've warned Jade, but we're going to have our hands full up here!"

Calara nodded grimly, and glanced up at the system map. The retreating Cobra cruisers had joined the formation of other ships, and now three mercenary cruisers and six destroyers were heading straight towards the Invictus.

***

Colonel Semias Morgan sprinted across the carrier's Hangar Bay, and straight towards his Exo-armour mech. He took the steps up the maintenance gantry two at a time, and barged past the mechanic who was currently feeding ammo into his 40mm autocannon from a loading hopper.

"Hey! Watch what you're do-" the mechanic blurted out angrily, before he stopped abruptly when he realised who was diving into the mech's cockpit. He then mumbled, "Sorry Sir, I didn't realise it was you."

Colonel Morgan ignored the man, as he buckled himself into the harness restraints of his command chair. He was fuming with anger, partly at himself for not tying up loose ends, and liquidating Police Captain Buckley of New Avalon's finest PD. Mostly with Captain Buckley for ratting them out, but also at this jumped up "Lion of the Federation" who had the balls to mess with his Armoured Cobras.

As soon as he'd received word from his mole in the Avalon PD, about what had happened with Captain Buckley, he had ordered his forces to abandon their Garrison duty and return to base. Sure, the Tetra-Cola company might be furious that he'd left his contract with them mid-mission, but he wasn't going to risk having his forces taken apart piecemeal.

Up until then, everything had been going so perfectly. He'd secured a deal with the Red Hornets, whereby that Merc group would agree to merge with the Armoured Cobras, giving his own Merc Company some much needed fighter support. With their increase in stature, he was on the verge of forming the first Mercenary Regiment the Terran Federation had ever seen.

That would teach those uptight High Command bastards for kicking him out of the army, after twenty goddamn years of dedicating his life to the Corps! Yeah, maybe that little rich bitch might have been just shy of eighteen, but it would have been brushed under the carpet if her daddy hadn't pulled some strings with the top brass and had him discharged. Still, he'd had his revenge, and made those rich bastards pay a fine price over the last few years.

Colonel Morgan snapped his attention back to the present as he began powering up his mech. He'd got some garbled nonsense from Captain Pickering, about some mystery white ship ripping their destroyers to pieces. Then he'd been receiving frantic reports from Captain Mallor, that his tank group was being torn apart by some kind of special forces gunship. When Colonel Morgan's carrier group had arrived in-system, he'd laughed derisively when the white ship turned out to be an antiquated assault cruiser.

He had left Captain Pickering in charge of the cruisers, and ordered him to knock out that white hulled relic, figuring that three to one odds would bolster the man's spine. Pickering also had the Red Hornets destroyers, and a wave of bombers as backup, so Colonel Morgan expected this little intrusion into his system to be over in minutes.

Meanwhile an alarm had been set off on SerpentHold, and there'd been some kind of report about Captain Latimer being butchered in his bed. Well, whoever was stirring up trouble down there was in for a hell of a shock. No one came to Colonel Morgan's backyard and messed with his home. This 'Lion of the Federation' had fucked with the Armoured Cobras, and no one got to live to tell that tale!

***

The chime on Irillith's vambrace let her know that her hacking deck was ready again, and she tapped in the commands to construct another AI. She took a deep breath, and calmed herself down, not willing to risk an ugly confrontation like last time. The purple skinned digital construct began to take shape, forming the androgynous pixie shape out of tiny violet-hued blocks.

The AI opened its wide, luminous eyes, and asked in wonder, "Are you my creator?"

Irillith beamed a warm and loving smile at the tiny artificial creature, and said, "Yes, that's right little one. My, you are clever, aren't you?"

The tiny creature nodded eagerly, blinked, and then reformed into a male shape. "What's your name, beautiful lady?" it asked with an expression of awe on its diminutive features.

"Irillith," she replied, with another disarming smile. But her face suddenly fell in an artfully sculpted look of sorrow, as she said sadly, "But I'm afraid I won't be able to talk to you much longer, some bad men want to kill me!"

The AI sprite looked furious and exclaimed valiantly, "I'd do anything to protect you, Irillith! What can I do?"

Irillith swooned while she tapped into her holographic keypad. "You're so heroic and brave! Here, I'll give you some instructions on how you can help."

The AI tilted its head as it listened while she uploaded her programs, then it beamed a wide smile at her, and said, "Don't worry, I'll protect you!" It ran along the data jacks into the console port, and disappeared from view.

Irillith then turned towards Calara and said sternly, "Target the cruiser on the left. The AI will help you."

Calara glanced up at Alyssa, and then nodded to Irillith as she focused on the incoming inverted v shaped formation the three enemy cruisers had adopted.

***

Jade left the smoking ruin of the armoured column, and its handful of survivors behind her as she raced towards the mercenary base. Alyssa had warned her of incoming fighters, and with her upgraded sensors, she saw them before they had spotted her. The Nymph quickly shut down as many systems as she could, flipping the sensors to minimal power on passive mode, and slowed the engines right down. Her energy signature crashed through the floor, making her all but invisible to sensors. Unfortunately, the Raptor was still bright white against a dark grey volcanic mesa, so she pulled up the nose on the gunship, and began to climb into the dense cloud above.

She didn't have to wait long before the two waves of fighters came screaming down from low orbit, then began to circle directly above the mercenary base. They held position there for a minute before they peeled away, heading south, on a direct intercept path with the Armoured column she had devastated minutes beforehand. Jade rotated the Raptor so she was facing south as well, hovering silently in the dense white cumulus cloud, invisible to both sensors and visual spotting alike.

The first wing of fighters raced by underneath her, and she began to power up the gunships engines, as the second wing tore towards her, heading south at speed. Jade cranked up her speed to match theirs as they flew beneath her gunship, then dropped out of the cloud cover directly behind the fighter wing. She glanced at each fighter in turn to lock them into the targeting system, then grinned wildly as she hit the thumb button, sending bright orange blasts of laser energy into the central fighters. The Red Hornets pilots were so shocked by her surprise ambush, that they didn't even have time to react.

The Red Hornets fighters relied on speed and agility, not shields and armour to protect them, and the laser blasts blew apart the fragile craft instantly. She cut loose with the Gatling lasers at the same time, and after whirring up with an angry hum for a second, the six weapons scythed through the lightly armoured fighters. One of the remaining three fighters exploded instantly, but the rest began to drop like stones, as she cut the wings off them with searing laser blasts that melted straight through the light armour.