>> Chapter 11 >>

Chapter Twelve
HNS Liberator
Low Hiigaran Orbit
16:24 New Daiamid AHL 06.17.21

The battle all around Hiigara was beginning to swing in the Hiigarans’ favor. The initial Siege Cannon volley, along with the Kadesh assault on the unprotected rear of the Imperialist fleets had seriously weakened the Imperialist units. With many of their carriers gone, the Imperialists were at a hideous disadvantage in numbers strike craft, and only maintained a slight advantage over the Hiigarans in capital ships. Hiigaran units were constantly shuffling between the front lines and the rear areas, managing to repair most badly damaged ships before they were needed again. But the Imperialists had all of their vessels in combat, and that was taking a serious toll on both the crews and the ships.

Commodore Edson sat at a table in the mess hall, silently thinking. His thoughts were interrupted, however, as his comlink began to beep. Commodore Edson switched it on.

“Edson here. What’s up?” Commodore Edson asked

“Sir, we’ve just picked up a Mothership class hyperspace signature about fifty klicks from our position. It has a fleet of escorts, and is launching fighters. The group is heading towards us,” said Captain Saborn.

“I’m on my way to the bridge. Sound red alert. Call for immediate backup.”

Commodore Edson ran out of the galley, and into a lift, which brought him to the bridge. When he ran through the bridge doors, the bridge was in a flurry of activity. The sensors officers kept on reading out new information, while weapons officer issued orders to ready the Liberator’s weapons. The communications officer was issuing orders throughout the fleet. Commodore Edson went to his command chair, and sat down.

“Status?” asked Commodore Edson.

“All systems at one hundred percent functionality. We’ve rebuilt a few of the frigates we’ve lost throughout the fighting. Now we stand at ten ions, six assaults, four multi-beams, and six supports. We have three Revelations, three Deacons, and the Valiant. While you were gone, another Mk II cruiser, the Tempest, joined us from a fleet that had been ambushed. All ships have upgraded ion cannons, even the cruiser, but our ships are the only ones with the heavy armor. The Imps have ten normal ions, ten upgraded ions, twenty assaults, ten supports, six normal Destroyers, six upgraded Destroyers, four Missile Destroyers, four carriers, and four cruisers, along with the Flagship. We’re seriously outgunned. The Kuun-Lan and company is reinforcing us, but they’ve taken some losses. All of their fighters have been launched and headed our way,” said Captain Saborn.

“Have support ships working overtime replacing the armor on the new ships. Helm; plot a course that will take us right in front of the Flagship and its fleet. Anything else?”

“Well, it seems that our initial assessment was wrong. The Flagship is heading for the Mothership, not us.”

“Sajuuk help us. Inform every ship at our disposal that the destruction of Flagship is a top priority. We can’t lose the Mothership.”

“Sir, the Kuun-Lan is informing us that they just got jumped by an Imp battle group. They’re recalling their fighters. They say that it will be awhile before they can assist,” said the communications officer.

“Damn. I guess we’re going it alone,” said Commodore Edson.

Minutes later, the Liberator had arrived within visual range of the Imperialist Flagship. The fighters and corvettes, which had been kept close in to Lightning Fleet, were now dispatched. A line of Imperialist fighters moved in to oppose them. An opening missile volley from all of the Blades, Crusaders, and Acolytes devastated the Imperialist fighter wings, which had nothing to respond with. Dozens of Imperialist fighters exploded into fireballs, with only a few managing to evade the missiles. Both sides entered energy cannon range, and thousands of rounds played out between the two opposing forces. The fighters then broke out of their formations, twisting and turning in a huge dogfight.

Hiigaran and Imperialist corvettes started firing at the fliers, but a second missile volley from the fighters decimated the Imperialist corvette formation. Hiigaran corvettes began to fire at the Imperialist corvettes. By now, over fifty of the Imperialist fighters had been destroyed, most of them destroyed by the opening missile volley. 19 of the Hiigaran fighters were downed. The four Multi Beam frigates in Lightning Fleet arrived and plowed through the center of the engagement.

A Blade Mk VI
Low Hiigara Orbit
16:32 New Daiamid AHL 06.17.21

Commander Jensen took his fighter through a series of turns as he evaded an Imperialist Triikor Interceptor. As he turned onto the Imperialist fighter’s tail, it broke sharply to the right, aided by the gun mounted on its starboard side. Commander Jensen broke to the right as well, managing to keep pace with the Interceptor. The pilot then reversed course, which was his undoing. As the Imperialist passed in front of Commander Jensen’s Interceptor, Jensen unleashed a barrage of energy cannon fire. The Imperialist fighter exploded as the cannon fire tore through its engine.

A snap role to the left brought Commander Jensen behind a flight of Imperialist Light Corvettes. He fired a barrage of fire into the trailing corvette’s drives, badly damaging them. The pilot’s attempt to bring his corvette around was futile, and a second burst burned through them, detonating the core and destroying the corvette. The second corvette managed to bring his corvette’s guns in line with Commander Jensen’s interceptor, but the gunner’s aim was compromised by Commander Jensen’s erratic evasive maneuvers. A burst from his afterburner and a tight turn brought Jensen to the left of the corvette, and a burst of fire into the cockpit killed the crew, leaving the corvette to thrust through space.

As he banked in search of a new target, he noticed an Acolyte Retribution Squad being pursued by an Imperialist Fiirkan. Energy cannons from the Fiirkan slammed into the Acolyte’s left missile launcher, shearing it off. The Acolyte swerved into a flat spin. Commander Jensen dropped in behind the Fiirkan, and fired his own energy cannons at the Imperialist fighter. They blasted off a chunk from the left rear end of the fighter, causing the pilot to lose control. The Acolyte that it had been pursing had regained control, and launched a burst of fire into the Fiirkan. It exploded.

“Thanks for getting that bitch off my ass,” said the Acolyte pilot.

“No problem. Let me have the kill next time,” replied Commander Jensen with a smile.

“In your dreams, Bomb Jockey,” laughed the Acolyte pilot. He headed off towards a Support Frigate, while Commander Jensen veered off back into the fight.

HNS Liberator
Low Hiigara Orbit
16:39 New Daiamid AHL 06.17.21

The Liberator fired another salvo into an Imperialist Advanced Ion Cannon Frigate. The Tempest fired as well. The energy cannons from the cruisers tore through the frigate’s armor, and slammed through the bulkheads with their residual energy. Ion cannon fire burned gashes throughout the frigate. A missile volley from the two cruisers slammed into the reactor of the frigate, causing to overload and detonate.

The Liberator and the Tempest lumbered towards an Imperialist cruiser. It was taking heavy fire, firing its cannons at the cloud of strike craft that were pummeling it. A squadron of Blades launched their missiles at the drives of the cruiser, destroying several engines. The squadron of Leeches in Lightning Fleet, unused until now, was on the surface of the cruiser. Their corrosive acid was melting through the armor plates and slagged the insides of the cruiser.

The two Hiigaran cruisers closed within firing range. A missile volley slammed into the ion turrets of the cruiser, badly damaging them. Explosions from the missiles blew away pieces from the turrets as fire from the fighters worsened the damage. The Imperial cruiser attempted to fire its ion cannons, obviously the result of an ill-timed order unstopped, causing the turrets to explode. The energy cannons and ion cannons on the Hiigaran cruisers lit up, burning holes into the front and sides of the Imperialist ship. Then, the Leeches managed to breach the reactor core of the cruiser with acid. The fighters kicked in their afterburners and blasted away from the cruiser as the reactor exploded. Debris from the cruiser damaged several fighters, and destroyed all of the Leeches.

The rest of the battle was not going so well for Lightning Fleet. Already, three Firelances, a Vengeance, and two Dervishes had been lost. The Lion, a Deacon class destroyer, had been badly damaged, and was fighting off three Imperialist Advanced Ion Cannon Frigates. A squadron of Super Acolytes moved in to assist. Their ion beams lanced through the bridge of the first Ion Frigate, killing the bridge crew. On their second pass, their fire burned into the ion cannon systems of the same frigate. This happened just as the frigate was beginning to fire its ion cannon. When it fired, the cannon exploded, leaving behind only the crust of the armor plating.

To the Lion’s starboard side, the remaining Vengeances of Lightning Fleet were struggling against four pristine Imperialist Sajuuk Cor frigates. The four frigates fired simultaneously on one frigate, blasting off the upper front half, eliminating more than half of its weaponry. The frigate only had one plasma bomb launcher and one turret left, and began to withdraw. A pair of two Kaark bombers swooped in with two Blades behind them. The bombers fired four plasma bombs into the hole created by the frigates as the Blades destroyed them. The plasma bombs smashed into the exposed interior, blasting through the remaining plasma bomb launcher on the frigate. A second volley of fire from the four Imperialist frigates sheared off the front half, leaving behind the engine and bridge. The two other Vengeances had not gone by without firing, however. They had managed to badly damage one of the Sajuuk Cors, and the two Blades rejoined their squadron to begin strafing runs. The fighters formed up into a sphere around the frigate, pounding it with a constant barrage of fire.

The Dervishes and Valiant worked over a second wave of Imperialist strike craft. The Heavy and Multi Gun Corvettes were slaughtering their Imperialist counterparts, while the capital ships devastated the fighter wings. A group of Kaark bombers managed to get through the volleys of missiles, only to be hit with a charged burst attack from the Heavy Corvettes. The group, which was in formation, turned into one brilliant fireball that dissipated into eight streaks of light going in their separate directions.

The four Imperialist Missile Destroyers were heading to ambush the carriers of Lightning Fleet. The Liberator and the Tempest moved to intercept them. Two of the Missile Destroyers turned away to face the cruisers, while the remaining two headed on for the carrier.

“Tell the Tempest to keep on going for the other two MDs. Well take these two,” said Commodore Edson.

“Sir, Tempest reports that one of the Skaal Fas maneuvering to stay in her path. She can’t get past it,” replied the Communications officer.

“Tell her to blow the bastard back to Kharak, we don’t have much time!”

“Yes sir.”

The Tempest fired all of her guns at the Missile Destroyer. It responded with a missile volley. The Tempest’s fire hit the two of the missile bays, completely destroying them. The Missile Destroyer’s fire slammed into the lower ion cannon turret, blowing it completely off. Two Repair Corvettes began to replace the turret. The second salvo from the Tempest destroyed the remaining two missile bays. The captain of the Missile Destroyer decided to attempt the ramming maneuver, but Wraith Squadron managed to maneuver within range to fire a volley of missiles. Twelve missiles impacted on the drives of the Missile Destroyer from the left side, blowing holes through the armor but failing to do significant damage to the drives. A squadron of Thunderbolts closed in on the Missile Destroyer in Wraith Squadron’s wake, launching twenty-four plasma bombs that hit the power core through the gaping holes in the armor created by the missiles. The core detonated, destroying the ship before it could ram the Tempest.

The Liberator had managed to sever the Missile Destroyer that was blocking her path. Repeated salvos of fire from the Liberator’s guns had reduced the Missile Destroyer to a burning hulk, but one missile bay was still operational. Finally, a linked ion cannon blast burned off the connections between the missile bay and the hull of the Missile Destroyer. A volley from the Liberator’s energy cannons smashed into the bridge, rendering the Missile Destroyer without a command crew. Lacking orders, the Missile Destroyer drifted through space, leaving the Liberator free to proceed.

When the two cruisers reached the carriers, they were already under attack. With their strike craft rendered useless, the carriers could only run towards help. The Guardian, the assault carrier, used itself as a shield for the other two carriers to flee. The Guardian was badly damaged by numerous missile impacts, but had destroyed a missile bay on one of the Missile Destroyers in return.

The Liberator and Tempest both fired on the damaged Missile Destroyer. Their weapons blasted into the hull section right behind the missile bays. The firepower of two cruisers cut the Missile Destroyer in half. The drives were still thrusting, and pushed the rear section into the front, destroying both halves.

The second Missile Destroyer ceased its attack on the Guardian and started to fire upon the Liberator. Its missile supply was already exhausted, however, and only a trickle of missiles came out. The Liberator and Tempest launched a missile volley with their remaining missiles, which cored the bridge of the Missile Destroyer. Linked ion cannon fire burned deep into the Missile Destroyer’s missile bays, leaving it without weapons or command.

Then, the Commodore Edson realized his mistake.

>> Chapter 13>>