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No, it's not going to be 5 parts now, I actually finished it this time, so please enjoy the conclusion!
Also, I need to ramble less in these.
In this story, Telaroth has a gun, I lift the tail and Admiral Hector is angry
As usual, if you don't want to download the pdf, please see below for the story
----
Behind The Line | Part IV
By Tanorath-drgn
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
Lunch was forgotten as people grabbed their weapons and bolted out the door, though I spied a few of my fellows grabbing bits of bread, energy bars – anything that was solid enough to stuff into their pockets amidst the chaos as they ran out.
The atmosphere was lent a frantic energy by the burst of activity as the civilians were ushered away from the walls while the other troops hurried to their posts…that, however, was only the surface. Spend a second or two, look at your comrades in the eyes and you see in some the lack of sleep, in some, hunger, exhaustion and in others just cold determination or even spiteful anger. These people all had the option to leave, but they opted to stay to defend the last holdouts. We had been promised backup and extraction, but all we had out in space were three equally tired ships.
The Major had been quick to realise that I’m pretty hard to injure and sent me directly to the front. I joined a young Lieutenant who was squinting over the wall. Ordinarily, we’d use drones for recon to complement the usual binoculars and such, but the drones were far too valuable to waste on something like this now and the reflection of light off the optics would make you an easy target for snipers.
“Ah, Agent, what brings you to our little slice of paradise, eh?” He quipped, giving me a half-smile as I crouched down next to him.
“The view, obviously!” I chuckled, “What do we have?”
“Looks like a platoon or two,” He replied and heaved a sigh, “Can we count on support?”
“Fleet went dark a while ago. I doubt it, sir,” I replied, shaking my head, “Seems like there’s company space-side, but they didn’t say what.”
“We’ll have to use more gun, then!” He replied with a snort and nodded to two corporals who were hefting a five barrelled rotary monster of a machine gun up to the wall, “That’s all juiced up, I’d say the rain of energy bolts will give ‘em a run for their credits.”
Before I could reply, there was an unintelligible shout from somewhere on the left followed by the distinctive high-pitched whine of a rifle discharging. Seems like they were trying to sneak in… My gaze snapped around and I saw a fire team firing over the wall as the green energy bolts of the Alliance weapons whizzed past.
“Contact!” The lieutenant hollered, “Cover the team!”
Casual chatter done, I hefted my rifle and peeked over the wall to find the Alliance soldiers dodging between cover as they attempted to advance to the gates below. While the other infantry troops suppressed them at best they could, I used my abilities to pick off as many as possible, letting angry red energy bolts fly, gunning down both the brave and the foolish. After all, down the sights of the rifle, they all die just the same…
My focus was broken when my comms unit buzzed in my pocket and the synthesized voice droned “Ship uplink lost… D.E.S. Defiant. Unable to reconnect. Connecting to secondary….”
I must have gone pale or something as I stopped, since the medic who was running past paused to ask if I was alright. All I could do was nod.
…What did he do?
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
“Full engines, prime aft thrusters,” I snarled as my ship raced towards the staging point of the Alliance detachment. Sensors confirmed the impending arrival of three frigates, two cruisers and a battlecruiser. Our efforts have obviously been noticed, “Tactical, I want you to fire on that battlecruiser and the escorts the moment we eject the core, got it?”
“What do you want me to fire at which target?” Talorath replied, looking over and giving me the annoying sideways glance and cocked head that he always gives me when he can’t quite figure out what my plan is.
I snorted, “At this point, it doesn’t matter, as long as you fuck them up good. Target their engines and comms. Get engineering to prioritise weapons and engines. We have bugger-all shields anyway.”
“Got it, sir,” Talorath replied, tapping away at the terminal. Of course, this isn’t his job, but the tactical officer is dead. “May I ask what the secondary plan is?”
“No.” I snapped, gritting my teeth, “Engineering, get ready to eject the reactor. Open those injectors wide before you do.”
Edge acknowledged my orders as we screamed towards where the Alliance vessels would drop out of FTL. The nav officer shouted over that they were dropping to sublight now…
“Helm, lift the tail!” I snarled and the ship shuddered hard as the rear thrusters fired, rotating the top of the ship to face the Alliance Battlecruiser which was just emerging from FTL, “Eject! Tac, fire!”
There was a loud thump as the reactor core was ejected and the lights dimmed as the power levels dipped. Missiles and energy weapons fired, drawing the fire of the Alliance vessels as the ship did a full 180 before we powered away with whatever the engines could give, with barely seconds to spare. The Defiant was clear when the reactor core went full critical and exploded in a brilliant blue-orange fireball…
…Or I thought we were…before the shockwave slammed into my battered ship and tossed it well clear as the explosion tore a gaping hole in the battlecruiser and sent a shard of armour plating through one of their escorting cruisers, which started venting atmosphere and drifting soon after.
We were flung away like a hatchling’s toy and the ship spun, and I could hear the screeching of metal shearing as we hung on for dear life, with the thrusters and engines struggling to bring us to a stop as power levels continued to drop. That damn auxiliary reactor was ramping up to meet demand too slow again. Meanwhile, alarms blared and power surges wrecked yet more consoles while more than one terminal acquired fresh claw marks as people tried not to be turned into bouncy balls. I vaguely remembered being smacked in the snout by a falling ceiling panel, but I can’t be sure. Everything happened so quickly that I hadn’t the faintest clue how I got half the dozen minor cuts that I found after the battle.
It took a while for the sensors to come back online. By the time they did, we were adrift with alarms blaring all over the ship. Both port pylons and exhaust pods had been sheared clean off and save for the key systems that were properly shielded, like life support, engines, shields and weapons, everything was dead. The outer hull was practically gone and what remained of the crew had already evacuated to the inner decks.
For a moment, the Alliance battlecruiser seemed to struggle back to life as its weapons fired a glancing shot or two at our two ships, but it was not to be. The giant ovoid battlecruiser shuddered after the weapons fired, before being violently torn apart as their systems overloaded and their reactor breached. The vessel exploded in another brilliant fireball that tossed the last cruiser away. The three frigates were already adrift, having taken a massive beating from the initial explosion. Our fellows won’t have any trouble here…
“Damage report,” Was all I could manage as I was still busy reassembling my wits.
The voice of Edge cracked over the intercom as the ops officer attempted to reassemble her console, “Captain, the rear port pylons and pods are gone. All secondary and below systems are offline. Weapons and shields at half power. Engines at ten per cent and dropping, Life support at twenty per cent. F.T.L. drive inoperable, cloak inoperable. Long-range comms are down, but the short-range ship-to-ship fare still works. Structural integrity is…well, gone. You almost broke the back of the ship, Captain.”
“Any good news?” I replied, sighing as I picked bits of debris off my lap and chair.
I could hear Edge snort on his end, “The toilets still work.”
“Thank fuck,” I replied with a chuckle, “Well, get those primaries back online.”
“…We won, didn’t we?” Came the reply.
I couldn’t help but sigh, “Yeah, but doesn’t feel like we did. Fix my ship, or what’s left of it.”
There was a pause before Edge replied, “Sir, I can patch it up, but we-“
“Yeah, I know, Edge. She’s fucked, but she’s all we’ve got,” I snapped, rubbing my forehead, “Do what you can.”
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
The battle was bloody, with us thinning the crowd as much as possible before they broke through the gates and things went close quarters. While my abilities let me turn my hand into a literal knife, they don’t allow me to be in several places at once, at least, not without extensive preparation. We risked being overrun at some point by the near-endless torrent of Alliance troops coming through before the fire-team managed to set up that ridiculous rotary gun and mowed them down.
Once the ones in the fray realised that their friends weren’t coming anymore, they fled.
“Agent!” The Major called me over as he gestured to his comms unit. “I can’t raise the Defiant.”
“Yessir, I can’t either,” I grumbled, “Any word from the other ships?”
“They’re busy mopping up, I’d think, since no additional troops have landed,” He replied, rubbing his chin, “Doesn’t bode well if they were destroyed…”
“No sir, it doesn’t, but I suspect that isn’t the case. Did you not see the flashes in the sky earlier?” I pointed in the vague direction up in the now cloudy sky.
The major nodded before his comms unit crackled and came to life. He nearly jumped and I got a bit of a laugh out of that. “This is the cruiser Alkonas to Ground Forces, do you read?”
“Clear enough,” The Major replied, visibly sagging with relief, “What happened up there?”
“There was a battlecruiser problem, Tano’rath took care of it,” Came the terse reply, “They’re conducting repairs now. You’ll hear the story if we get out of this alive, I guarantee.”
The Major nodded, knowing not to ask more as he sighed, “Any word on extraction?”
“None so far,” Came the tired reply, “Major, we will advise you if we hear anything. Stay safe, Alkonas out.”
“Acknowledged, you too, as much as you can.” The Major replied curtly before the channel was closed.
A quick debriefing ensued while the bodies were cleared from the courtyard. There was some discussion about having the bodies buried, but it didn’t make sense to have people exposed outside the walls for so long when we didn’t have any heavy equipment…None that worked anyway.
After a heated debate that turned into an argument and nearly turned into a fist fight, it was agreed that we would move to one of the shelters, as it’s more defensible.
It’s also a death trap – a prime place for a last stand.
The hope has run out, but no soldier worth their rations will die lying down. It is the Drakonian way.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
We must have been a pathetic sight. Three motely ships, all sporting heavy damage, patrolling a single star system while trying to reassemble what was left of our vessels. The command teams decided that we should evacuate the garrison on the surface together with any remaining civilians. Whatever Telricktus was doing, he wasn’t doing it quickly enough.
We had the two working shuttles prepared and notified the ground forces as my crew worked to get the FTL drive online. I half regretted coming back here at all, but we had kept these people safe thus far. That’s our job…isn’t it?
My musings were interrupted when the Alkonas pinged us with their sensor readings –Alliance fleet incoming…This was followed by a message from the planet stating that since some of the citizens were still refusing to leave, the ground troops would stay. So much for that.
“If they stay, we stay.” I remarked flatly, “It’s our duty. Carry on with repairs and resume patrol route. Let the others know.”
The other captains agreed, of course, albeit reluctantly. While this wasn’t the outcome that we had hoped for, it wasn’t all that surprising anyway. They had stayed this long, if they had wanted to leave, they would have done so long ago.
We let those that want to go take the two shuttles, pick up like-minded people from the surface and leave. They promised to inform Command and come back with reinforcements, but well, the situation left that as a very optimistic promise.
Considering how quiet it was, with any conversation killed off by this development, I decided to go and have a late lunch…or rather, early dinner in my office, since my quarters don’t really exist anymore. I was pretending that my combat ration pack was a nice slice of roast beef, which is quite a tall order normally and even more so now. It didn’t help that my little fantasy was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Enter.” I snarled and got up, more than a little bit irritated and let my tail thump lightly on the hull plating to show it.
In walked Talorath with his pack of rations, “Mind if I join you? They taste less shit if you have someone to share in the complaints.”
“By all means,” I replied, sitting back down as I looked around the ruined room, with debris and dangling wires everywhere. My seat and table were the only remotely clean things since I had actually gone and cleaned them, “Forgive me if I don’t offer you a seat, they’re all covered in crap.”
“I can manage,” He replied, shoving a pile of debris off the one seat that wasn’t too badly singed before sitting down, “So, Captain, why’d you send me a message earlier telling me to leave?”
“Doesn’t matter now since you didn’t,” I replied perhaps with more sourness than I had intended and ended up taking a big bite out of my rations in a vain attempt to hide it. Whatever this is, it tastes like compressed tissue paper with a pinch of salt on it. Absolute crap.
Talorath snorted, I’m sure I heard a little disbelief in his tone too. “You don’t think we’re getting out of this.”
“Yeah, well, it’s possible,” I replied, flicking my tail, “but my duty to you as your sibling takes precedence.”
“You really think I could live with myself if I walked away?” Talorath retorted, glaring at me as he munched on his food angrily, “The least you could do is let me fight alongside you!”
“Look, don’t make this an honour thing!” I snapped, returning his glare, “you know what I promised mum!”
“I-“ he tried to retort but I wasn’t having it.
“Shut the fuck up and eat your food.” I retorted, holding an arm up as he opened his mouth to speak again, “I still hope Telricktus is going to turn up with…whatever the fuck he has…but well, who knows?”
“By the fucking Emperor, Tano’rath, I’m your first officer, I’m not abandoning ship.” He replied, sighing as he glared at his lump of whatever the fuck it is that they make these cursed rations out of, “You know if we get out of this…”
“We’re going to cop so much shit it’s gonna be amazing!” I replied with a slight laugh, “Well, even if we don’t, I’d like to take as many of them with us as we can.”
Talorath nodded grimly as we attempted to make more conversation while we ate. It wasn’t much, but it made things feel normal, even if it was only for a short while.
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
Obviously, the trio of ships were less than amused with our decision to stay, but they agreed to stay on with us too, as honour demands. I ended up helping with the move, running around as a guard as we had the civilians make the short trek towards the shelter while we dismantled the modular walls and quickly rebuilt them.
Luckily, there were few attacks on our groups and our infantry troops being able to hold the line as the civilians were brought to safety. We ended up in yet another strategic meeting as a rough map of the area was sketched out and potential attack vectors drawn up so that guards could be deployed more effectively.
Up above, the ships reported that an Alliance fleet was incoming, with mere hours left to spare. It was made clear that this would be a proper second wave of the invasion. There was a less than subtle implication that the three cruisers wouldn’t last too long and once they were gone, it’s game over for us. Apparently, the promised counterattack never happened…it was on that note that The Alkonas urged everyone to leave again, but well, given that everyone who wanted to leave had already left, the decision to stay stood.
It was strangely little in the way of consolation, knowing that I could just take over some Alliance soldier and masquerade my way out of this. After all, that was the point of the nanite conversion – it makes you nearly impossible to kill. This time, however, I half wished I was flesh and blood again. I.I.S. or not, I’ve fought alongside these people, cooked for them, got to know them. Perhaps it would be fitting if I died with them. Funny, since Tano’rath was the one who saved my life before, but he’s out there now basically committing suicide for a lost cause while I’m down here planning my escape.
Maybe they’re right. Spies are cowards.
Thankfully, there wasn’t much time for me to consider my terrible life choices. There were, after all, defences to shore up and entrances to rig with booby traps and such. We were busy giving the civvies weapons and reminding them of their militia training too. There were chargers everywhere charging up power cells for the guns and some people were busy welding plates to walls and the floor using their energy weapons, building up makeshift cover and so on.
The ships sent down as many supplies as they could spare: mostly food, more power cells and a few battered rifles. Battered, just like all of us, but they still work.
Sandbags were filled and passed around, regular time limit updates were given by the ships. which The updates droned on and on until they reported that a second unknown fleet was incoming – they had no transponders and were coming in from Alliance space. Given how badly we had been beaten back, it was quite clear whose fleet it was.
We were once again urged to evacuate.
Once again, we refused.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
Half the struts and bulkheads in the ship were buckled, broken or twisted. Engineering was scurrying about trying to shore things up and anyone who could hold a welding torch was pitching in, me included. The long-range comms array was beyond repair, but they had coaxed the engines to half power and the weapons were back, but the shields refused to go beyond three-quarter capacity. The power couplings were just too far gone to repair and wouldn’t give the system enough power beyond that.
These DN-II ships can really take a beating and the old Defiant has held true to that, but well, with that second fleet incoming, that would arrive barely seconds after the first one, we’re done for anyway. The best we can do is buy as much time as possible for that counterattack promised by Telricktus to turn up, despite my doubts.
In hindsight, I don’t know what I expected when I gave the order to turn around, but at this point, it really doesn’t matter.
When the time came, I found myself back on the bridge after a brief lunch break, along with what was left of the bridge crew. They all looked to me as if expecting me to say something inspirational that’ll turn this around somehow… I couldn’t help but look around the wrecked room, with ceiling panels almost all missing, barely any working lights and most stations destroyed or jury-rigged to work. At least we had had time to clear the debris.
“I don’t know what you all expect me to say,” I remarked, feeling my grip once again tighten on the armrests of my seat. Perhaps I should have put a bit more fire into my tone, but well, I’m no great commander. I was just as tired and sick of it as everyone else, but these things have to be said, “but it has been an honour to fight alongside each and every one of you. Today, let us face fate once again. History will judge our actions, as will our clans, but songs will be sung about what we’re about to do. Never forget: we fight to defend those who can’t. Duty first to species.”
There was a slightly ragged cheer from the officers on board and it was then that I realised that this was on a shipwide channel. I suppose that’s inevitable. Perhaps I should have checked and protested and ordinarily, I would have, but what’s done is done.
“Sir, the first group is closing,” Talorath remarked, tapping away at his half working screen, “The second battlegroup is a minute behind them.”
“Battle stations,” I snarled, “Power all weapons and shields, Shut down all nonessential systems and blackout all empty decks. All hands, make ready to repel boarding parties. Helm, put us behind the moon, the other ships are going to cloak.”
“Weapons coming online. Shields are struggling but they’re getting there,” Talorath replied tapping away at his station. He had been standing since the chair broke and was removed a short while ago, “Engines primed, we’re moving into position. Let's hope those sheared struts don’t leak.”
“Any indication that we’ve been seen?” I remarked just as my screen stopped working and hitting it didn’t fix it. I ended up having to walk over, “And no transponders from the other fleet?”
“No indication, their point of entry is unchanged,” Talorath replied as he pulled up the details on the second fleet, “No trnasponders, theyre dark, but they’re getting pretty close. Seems like they’re trying to stage with the first lot. They’ve accelerated, entry timing will now be closer to the first group.”
“Lay in an intercept course, go top-down. Load whatever missiles we have left into the tubes,” I replied, rubbing my chin, “Any mass driver slugs left?”
“Just one, Captain, but we can’t power the driver anyway.” Talorath replied, snorting, “I think we were supposed to send it to the Alkonas but we didn’t have time.”
I felt my wings twitch as I gritted my teeth, “Edge told me that he can eke out enough from the auxiliary reactor to charge it partway, get him to do it and load the slug. Won’t turn a bunch of them into a meat skewer, but it’ll still take at least one out.”
“Well, there’s three battlecruisers this time, from what we got from the probe at the edge of the system before they blew it up, none of our long-range sensors are functional enough to get an accurate read beyond just a blob,” Talorath replied with a shrug, pulling up the sad joke of a sensor readout that we could get, “But it’s something, yeah. Edge is pushing power to it now, he said that we’ll probably get to a quarter charge and no more.”
“Better than nothing.” I replied flatly, “Prime engines, not long now.”
I saw no point in returning to my seat since the screen was dead, so I’d have no information to use. I ended up standing next to Talorath the ship completed the last minute preparations and such before the first of the Alliance fleet turned up, dropping out of FTL in formation. I counted at least fifteen cruisers, goodness knows how many little frigates and not three, but four battlecruisers. They were already advancing towards us at full sublight and it didn’t take long for them to get past the little moon that we were hiding behind.
“Fire mass driver, lead battlecruiser. Full engines, course zero-nine-zero-E-zero-seven-five. Intercept course, up and over once slug is clear,” I snapped as the other two ships fired their slugs at the battlecruisers, “Draw fire from the other two, give them time to recharge. Weapons free, fire at will. Inform the ground troops, time’s up.”
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
We didn’t have much time left and we ended up welding up makeshift bits of cover from tables and chairs, then stacking sandbags behind them to create defensible positions. Doors were welded and wedged shut to create choke points while I helped set up traps all along the corridors and such.
Whatever time I could steal away with the troops was spent showing them how to rig their weapons to explode if abandoned. I also got a diagram of the Alliances’ current generation of armour and showed them the weakest spots. While most of them already knew some of the tricks that I had, they were generally still appreciative anyway. By now, most knew that I was an I.I.S. agent anyway, but their reservations were long gone by now.
A three-shift guard rotation was set up and people were rotated off work to get some rest and have a meal or two. Despite needing neither, I still took my naps and ate to keep up appearances.
The trio of ships in orbit were silent, probably getting ready for their own battle. After all, you can’t booby trap an entire system in just a few hours. I don’t know what their plan is anyway, but at this point, it doesn’t feel like there is a plan at all… They’re gambling on backup in some way or form showing up.
Partway into one of my breaks, our bet was called with a message from the Alkonas. “Fleet has been engaged. ‘Ware dropships.”
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I didn’t know why I was counting down for the second fleet to arrive…
The ship creaked and shuddered while we charged our way towards the battlecruiser, which we had skewered with the mass driver slug but failed to destroy, having missed their reactor core. I decided that it didn’t matter at this point.
The old ship rattled, creaked and shuddered as the already well-abused struts and bulkheads took new missile and energy beam hits. There were alarms all across the board already and the crew had long since retreated to the key reinforced areas. Most of the decks had breaches in them now and we had simply turned off the life support there to save power.
The enemy battlecruiser is slow. Alliance battlecruisers are infamous for having almost hilariously underpowered thrusters and engines. As such, it was still turning when what was left of my cruiser got within range and fired everything at it, aiming for the mass driver slug, knowing that the explosives in it had failed to go off.
As we scored a few hits, the ship groaned and I had to grab onto the console as we swerved hard to port away as the slug detonated, the shrapnel breaching containment in their reactor and causing it to go into runaway. The lights on the stricken battlecruiser flaring bright before it breached and blasted the vessel clean into two and tossed us clear. I heard the screeching of shearing metal as the HUD threw up a critical warning and showed that we had lost yet another exhaust pod. The only saving grace was that the pod slammed into an Alliance frigate and tore through its pitiful armour.
Hah. Drakonian ships are always built tough, even when they break.
The other two ships weren’t in much better shape either. The Alkonas had a massive gorge carved through their armour plating running almost the entire length and they were missing one of their exhaust pods like us. Meanwhile, the Darat was missing a chunk from the front, having taken a few missiles to that spot and was venting atmosphere, but they were still fighting. All our ships were patchworks of scrap that we had welded back, which didn’t last very long, revealing the missing armour plating and scars from previous engagements underneath.
“Incoming contacts! Second fleet!” Talorath hollered and I snarled, “Evasive! Pull us out of their arc!”
“…Sir, their IFF’s just came on…I’m putting it on-screen.” Talorath added a thread of disbelief in his voice as I looked over at the HUD which had the sensor images on.
It must have been at least twenty frigates, fifty cruisers and six battlecruisers, all having just turned their beacons on, not that I needed that. They’re boxy, with the logo of the space-fleet painted on their flanks, complete with livery. The promised reinforcements are here and barely in time.
I have never heaved a bigger sigh of relief before as they immediately started engaged the Alliance fleet, finally evening the odds. “Fuckin finally! Turn our transponder back on.”
“Telricktus is on comms, he’s asking us to step back and let them take it from here.” Talorath replied, nodding, having finally started breating again. “Alkonas and Darat are breaking off.”
“Back us off. Stick with the ships at the rear,” I couldn’t help but lean tiredly on a pillar and nod, “I’ve never been so happy to hear that name before.”
Talorath nodded as we pulled away, rejoining our ragtag group at the rear of the fleet, escorted by two brand new DN-V cruisers. “Look at those, must be fresh from the yard,” Talorath remarked, pointing to the sensor feed, “When are we getting one?”
“Hah! Maybe tomorrow once this is done, but I suspect they’ll fix up the Defiant, and you know, I can live with that,” I replied, finally sitting back down in my chair after brushing off the debris, “Get Edge to begin repairs, patch those leaks up and get the shields and engines back.”
Meanwhile, the both fleets had started landing troops and from the chatter that was being relayed to us, the fighting had already begun…
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
It was quite obvious that we hadn’t killed off all the Alliance troops that had attacked us earlier, since the fresh troops immediately came barrelling towards our little shelter, evidently having received information from their friends. They even started broadcasting messages demanding our surrender as they kicked the doors down and tried to storm the entrance.
Tried.
They quite literally waltzed into the first trap and the force of the explosion blew the doors off their hinges and sent the soldiers flying. From my position around the first corner, I could hear them go splat and crunch as the solid steel doors flattened them… Perhaps I went a bit overboard with the explosives.
There was a short period of silence as more Allaince troops doubtlessly checked the blast doors that sat behind the main entrance for secondary traps and I heard a yelp as one of them got zapped – I had deliberately shorted one of the power cables and left the entire thing live, knowing that they’d be expecting another bomb instead. One of my counterparts next to me grinned and gave me a thumbs-up as this was followed with a liberal amount of screaming and a loud hum from the doorway before the breaker that I had wedged open finally managed to trip and they swung the door open.
I hefted my rifle, readying up for the inevitable, hearing the soldiers muttering amongst themselves as they advanced before there were a few shouted words and the sound of weapons fire from outside. My comrades and I exchanged glances before we slunk out and I glanced around the corner, finding the corridor empty and the Alliance troops rushing out, blocking our view of the outside.
The course of action was clear. We made eye contact with each other before gunning down the group and making our way out…
To find friendly fighters strafing the Alliance forces and dropping troops, and our shock troops wreaking havoc on the Alliance infantry. I even spotted a technical or two, driving around and gunning enemy troops down. There was the roar of engines, and the whine of energy weapons as we took position by the entrance and did our part. A few other shock troops came running over and joined us, helping to pick the enemy off. It wasn’t hard to tell that with the continuing flow of friendly reinforcements, we were quickly gaining the upper hand and our new friends told us that they were retaking the planet.
Seems like Tano’rath’s hope wasn’t misplaced after all…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
The space battle was concluded rather quickly as more reinforcements streamed in and our ships put paid to the Alliance attack, finally putting an end to the situation that we were in. While they fought, we mostly stayed off to the rear, patching what was left of our ships up and occasionally taking potshots at any enemy ships that dared to stray close.
Eventually, Telricktus did hail us and I had him up on-screen on the bridge, or rather, on half the screen because the other half had a chunk of plating wedged in it. “Greetings, Captain. I trust all that blood isn’t yours?”
I paused to glance at the blood all over my armour – courtesy of a minor head wound that I had sustained earlier. I had a field dressing on it now, at least, and it had stopped bleeding, “No, it’s mine this time, but it’s fine. Good timing, Lieutenant.”
“We would have come earlier if we didn’t have to engage a few other targets,” He replied, nodding, “We’re finally retaking what we lost, though. That leak has been taken care of.”
“Good to hear,” I replied, snorting as I paused to flick a bit of soot off my armour, “We’d be well and truly in the shit if you didn’t turn up, but you did and you have my thanks for it. As you can see, we’re not in the best shape.”
“Yes, Captain, I can see that,” He replied as he paused to flick through his pristine command console, prompting me to look at my burnt out and blackened one, “Actually, why…how do I put this…?”
“You want to know why a third of my ship is missing don’t you?” I replied with a chuckle, “Well, this is what happens when you use the main reactor core as a missile.”
As I spoke, Telricktus had grabbed a mug of tea and taken a sip and as I finished talking, he choked on it and nearly spat his drink out…I nearly laughed. “You what?!”
“Oh yeah, blew a battlecruiser up and everything, but it tore two exhaust ports off and fucked all the outer decks,” I replied with a snort, “That other one we lost when we engaged earlier. Either way, what matters is that we got out of this alive. Has Command said anything?”
Almost on cue, Admiral Hector, who had probably been waiting for this stalked out and glared Telricktus out of his seat before plonking himself down in the command chair. The dusty red Drakonian looked tired and he glared at me, “Captain, I still haven’t decided if you’re very stupid or very brave. Why’d you stay in the first place?”
I had the message with the strange modulation sent over, “Sir, I saw this and I followed what was encoded.”
Hector looked like he was going to retort, but then he flicked through the data and cocked his head, frowning, “I sent the message, but I didn’t do this to it… Telricktus, was this your doing?”
“Yes, it was, Admiral,” Telricktus replied, holding his hands up slightly as Hector, who was probably twice his size, gave him a glare that could melt through a ship, “We needed someone to draw their attention away from our efforts to muster the fleet and they had to be off the grid so that it couldn’t be leaked. The three vessels were already cut off, it made the most sense to send them.”
Hector gritted his teeth for a moment and I could hear the rumble of a suppressed growl in his tone as he replied, “I would appreciate it, Telricktus, if you told me what you were doing with my ships next time!”
“Sir, we didn’t know who the leak was,” Telricktus replied curtly, holding the Admiral’s glare evenly, “We could trust no one, not even you.”
Hector looked, for a moment, like he wanted to punch Telricktus across the room and I had no doubt that he could do it. In fact, I thought it would be hilarious. However, after huffing and puffing for a moment, he gave Telricktus one last glare before turning back to me. “Well, Tano’rath, there was no way for you to know who tampered with the signal. It could have been an Alliance ruse. You’re fortunate that it wasn’t.”
“I am well aware of that, Admiral,” I replied, sighing, “But as Telricktus said, we were being cut off anyway. This, at least, would have given some purpose to our deaths, no?”
Hector paused to mull this over before he nodded. “I suppose. You Daranakaans are really bred different, most of us would be trying to find a way home, you know.”
“That would be a coward’s death.” I replied flatly, snorting, “It was clear when they sent pursuit after us and that they wouldn’t stop.”
“You’re right on that one, Captain,” Hector replied, nodding, “What matters, as you said, is that you’re all alive and the last-minute evacuees arrived safely. All of you did one hell of a fucking job, Captain. I’m recommending all of you for commendations for bravery.”
With that, Hector got up and saluted, followed by the rest of his crew. We stood up and returned the salute before sitting back down.
The clean up on the surface took a while longer, but the shock troops took care of most of the stragglers. The Alliance had tried to land more troops, but the bulk of the transports had been intercepted and shot down by our fighters. Telaroth was extracted and returned to my ship, apparently at his request. We had to be towed back to the closest shipyard where they inspected what was left of the ships.
All three ships were rebuilt and put back to service. We all received commendations and a few of us even got medals for bravery and a few creative manoeuvres. I ended up spending a few months back home on Drakonos giving lectures to trainees about ship combat while the old Defiant was reassembled. Eventually, though, I returned to command my ship and crew, having turned down yet another promotion to Commodore after reiterating that sitting at a desk isn’t my thing.
Also, I need to ramble less in these.
In this story, Telaroth has a gun, I lift the tail and Admiral Hector is angry
As usual, if you don't want to download the pdf, please see below for the story
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Behind The Line | Part IV
By Tanorath-drgn
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
Lunch was forgotten as people grabbed their weapons and bolted out the door, though I spied a few of my fellows grabbing bits of bread, energy bars – anything that was solid enough to stuff into their pockets amidst the chaos as they ran out.
The atmosphere was lent a frantic energy by the burst of activity as the civilians were ushered away from the walls while the other troops hurried to their posts…that, however, was only the surface. Spend a second or two, look at your comrades in the eyes and you see in some the lack of sleep, in some, hunger, exhaustion and in others just cold determination or even spiteful anger. These people all had the option to leave, but they opted to stay to defend the last holdouts. We had been promised backup and extraction, but all we had out in space were three equally tired ships.
The Major had been quick to realise that I’m pretty hard to injure and sent me directly to the front. I joined a young Lieutenant who was squinting over the wall. Ordinarily, we’d use drones for recon to complement the usual binoculars and such, but the drones were far too valuable to waste on something like this now and the reflection of light off the optics would make you an easy target for snipers.
“Ah, Agent, what brings you to our little slice of paradise, eh?” He quipped, giving me a half-smile as I crouched down next to him.
“The view, obviously!” I chuckled, “What do we have?”
“Looks like a platoon or two,” He replied and heaved a sigh, “Can we count on support?”
“Fleet went dark a while ago. I doubt it, sir,” I replied, shaking my head, “Seems like there’s company space-side, but they didn’t say what.”
“We’ll have to use more gun, then!” He replied with a snort and nodded to two corporals who were hefting a five barrelled rotary monster of a machine gun up to the wall, “That’s all juiced up, I’d say the rain of energy bolts will give ‘em a run for their credits.”
Before I could reply, there was an unintelligible shout from somewhere on the left followed by the distinctive high-pitched whine of a rifle discharging. Seems like they were trying to sneak in… My gaze snapped around and I saw a fire team firing over the wall as the green energy bolts of the Alliance weapons whizzed past.
“Contact!” The lieutenant hollered, “Cover the team!”
Casual chatter done, I hefted my rifle and peeked over the wall to find the Alliance soldiers dodging between cover as they attempted to advance to the gates below. While the other infantry troops suppressed them at best they could, I used my abilities to pick off as many as possible, letting angry red energy bolts fly, gunning down both the brave and the foolish. After all, down the sights of the rifle, they all die just the same…
My focus was broken when my comms unit buzzed in my pocket and the synthesized voice droned “Ship uplink lost… D.E.S. Defiant. Unable to reconnect. Connecting to secondary….”
I must have gone pale or something as I stopped, since the medic who was running past paused to ask if I was alright. All I could do was nod.
…What did he do?
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
“Full engines, prime aft thrusters,” I snarled as my ship raced towards the staging point of the Alliance detachment. Sensors confirmed the impending arrival of three frigates, two cruisers and a battlecruiser. Our efforts have obviously been noticed, “Tactical, I want you to fire on that battlecruiser and the escorts the moment we eject the core, got it?”
“What do you want me to fire at which target?” Talorath replied, looking over and giving me the annoying sideways glance and cocked head that he always gives me when he can’t quite figure out what my plan is.
I snorted, “At this point, it doesn’t matter, as long as you fuck them up good. Target their engines and comms. Get engineering to prioritise weapons and engines. We have bugger-all shields anyway.”
“Got it, sir,” Talorath replied, tapping away at the terminal. Of course, this isn’t his job, but the tactical officer is dead. “May I ask what the secondary plan is?”
“No.” I snapped, gritting my teeth, “Engineering, get ready to eject the reactor. Open those injectors wide before you do.”
Edge acknowledged my orders as we screamed towards where the Alliance vessels would drop out of FTL. The nav officer shouted over that they were dropping to sublight now…
“Helm, lift the tail!” I snarled and the ship shuddered hard as the rear thrusters fired, rotating the top of the ship to face the Alliance Battlecruiser which was just emerging from FTL, “Eject! Tac, fire!”
There was a loud thump as the reactor core was ejected and the lights dimmed as the power levels dipped. Missiles and energy weapons fired, drawing the fire of the Alliance vessels as the ship did a full 180 before we powered away with whatever the engines could give, with barely seconds to spare. The Defiant was clear when the reactor core went full critical and exploded in a brilliant blue-orange fireball…
…Or I thought we were…before the shockwave slammed into my battered ship and tossed it well clear as the explosion tore a gaping hole in the battlecruiser and sent a shard of armour plating through one of their escorting cruisers, which started venting atmosphere and drifting soon after.
We were flung away like a hatchling’s toy and the ship spun, and I could hear the screeching of metal shearing as we hung on for dear life, with the thrusters and engines struggling to bring us to a stop as power levels continued to drop. That damn auxiliary reactor was ramping up to meet demand too slow again. Meanwhile, alarms blared and power surges wrecked yet more consoles while more than one terminal acquired fresh claw marks as people tried not to be turned into bouncy balls. I vaguely remembered being smacked in the snout by a falling ceiling panel, but I can’t be sure. Everything happened so quickly that I hadn’t the faintest clue how I got half the dozen minor cuts that I found after the battle.
It took a while for the sensors to come back online. By the time they did, we were adrift with alarms blaring all over the ship. Both port pylons and exhaust pods had been sheared clean off and save for the key systems that were properly shielded, like life support, engines, shields and weapons, everything was dead. The outer hull was practically gone and what remained of the crew had already evacuated to the inner decks.
For a moment, the Alliance battlecruiser seemed to struggle back to life as its weapons fired a glancing shot or two at our two ships, but it was not to be. The giant ovoid battlecruiser shuddered after the weapons fired, before being violently torn apart as their systems overloaded and their reactor breached. The vessel exploded in another brilliant fireball that tossed the last cruiser away. The three frigates were already adrift, having taken a massive beating from the initial explosion. Our fellows won’t have any trouble here…
“Damage report,” Was all I could manage as I was still busy reassembling my wits.
The voice of Edge cracked over the intercom as the ops officer attempted to reassemble her console, “Captain, the rear port pylons and pods are gone. All secondary and below systems are offline. Weapons and shields at half power. Engines at ten per cent and dropping, Life support at twenty per cent. F.T.L. drive inoperable, cloak inoperable. Long-range comms are down, but the short-range ship-to-ship fare still works. Structural integrity is…well, gone. You almost broke the back of the ship, Captain.”
“Any good news?” I replied, sighing as I picked bits of debris off my lap and chair.
I could hear Edge snort on his end, “The toilets still work.”
“Thank fuck,” I replied with a chuckle, “Well, get those primaries back online.”
“…We won, didn’t we?” Came the reply.
I couldn’t help but sigh, “Yeah, but doesn’t feel like we did. Fix my ship, or what’s left of it.”
There was a pause before Edge replied, “Sir, I can patch it up, but we-“
“Yeah, I know, Edge. She’s fucked, but she’s all we’ve got,” I snapped, rubbing my forehead, “Do what you can.”
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
The battle was bloody, with us thinning the crowd as much as possible before they broke through the gates and things went close quarters. While my abilities let me turn my hand into a literal knife, they don’t allow me to be in several places at once, at least, not without extensive preparation. We risked being overrun at some point by the near-endless torrent of Alliance troops coming through before the fire-team managed to set up that ridiculous rotary gun and mowed them down.
Once the ones in the fray realised that their friends weren’t coming anymore, they fled.
“Agent!” The Major called me over as he gestured to his comms unit. “I can’t raise the Defiant.”
“Yessir, I can’t either,” I grumbled, “Any word from the other ships?”
“They’re busy mopping up, I’d think, since no additional troops have landed,” He replied, rubbing his chin, “Doesn’t bode well if they were destroyed…”
“No sir, it doesn’t, but I suspect that isn’t the case. Did you not see the flashes in the sky earlier?” I pointed in the vague direction up in the now cloudy sky.
The major nodded before his comms unit crackled and came to life. He nearly jumped and I got a bit of a laugh out of that. “This is the cruiser Alkonas to Ground Forces, do you read?”
“Clear enough,” The Major replied, visibly sagging with relief, “What happened up there?”
“There was a battlecruiser problem, Tano’rath took care of it,” Came the terse reply, “They’re conducting repairs now. You’ll hear the story if we get out of this alive, I guarantee.”
The Major nodded, knowing not to ask more as he sighed, “Any word on extraction?”
“None so far,” Came the tired reply, “Major, we will advise you if we hear anything. Stay safe, Alkonas out.”
“Acknowledged, you too, as much as you can.” The Major replied curtly before the channel was closed.
A quick debriefing ensued while the bodies were cleared from the courtyard. There was some discussion about having the bodies buried, but it didn’t make sense to have people exposed outside the walls for so long when we didn’t have any heavy equipment…None that worked anyway.
After a heated debate that turned into an argument and nearly turned into a fist fight, it was agreed that we would move to one of the shelters, as it’s more defensible.
It’s also a death trap – a prime place for a last stand.
The hope has run out, but no soldier worth their rations will die lying down. It is the Drakonian way.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
We must have been a pathetic sight. Three motely ships, all sporting heavy damage, patrolling a single star system while trying to reassemble what was left of our vessels. The command teams decided that we should evacuate the garrison on the surface together with any remaining civilians. Whatever Telricktus was doing, he wasn’t doing it quickly enough.
We had the two working shuttles prepared and notified the ground forces as my crew worked to get the FTL drive online. I half regretted coming back here at all, but we had kept these people safe thus far. That’s our job…isn’t it?
My musings were interrupted when the Alkonas pinged us with their sensor readings –Alliance fleet incoming…This was followed by a message from the planet stating that since some of the citizens were still refusing to leave, the ground troops would stay. So much for that.
“If they stay, we stay.” I remarked flatly, “It’s our duty. Carry on with repairs and resume patrol route. Let the others know.”
The other captains agreed, of course, albeit reluctantly. While this wasn’t the outcome that we had hoped for, it wasn’t all that surprising anyway. They had stayed this long, if they had wanted to leave, they would have done so long ago.
We let those that want to go take the two shuttles, pick up like-minded people from the surface and leave. They promised to inform Command and come back with reinforcements, but well, the situation left that as a very optimistic promise.
Considering how quiet it was, with any conversation killed off by this development, I decided to go and have a late lunch…or rather, early dinner in my office, since my quarters don’t really exist anymore. I was pretending that my combat ration pack was a nice slice of roast beef, which is quite a tall order normally and even more so now. It didn’t help that my little fantasy was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Enter.” I snarled and got up, more than a little bit irritated and let my tail thump lightly on the hull plating to show it.
In walked Talorath with his pack of rations, “Mind if I join you? They taste less shit if you have someone to share in the complaints.”
“By all means,” I replied, sitting back down as I looked around the ruined room, with debris and dangling wires everywhere. My seat and table were the only remotely clean things since I had actually gone and cleaned them, “Forgive me if I don’t offer you a seat, they’re all covered in crap.”
“I can manage,” He replied, shoving a pile of debris off the one seat that wasn’t too badly singed before sitting down, “So, Captain, why’d you send me a message earlier telling me to leave?”
“Doesn’t matter now since you didn’t,” I replied perhaps with more sourness than I had intended and ended up taking a big bite out of my rations in a vain attempt to hide it. Whatever this is, it tastes like compressed tissue paper with a pinch of salt on it. Absolute crap.
Talorath snorted, I’m sure I heard a little disbelief in his tone too. “You don’t think we’re getting out of this.”
“Yeah, well, it’s possible,” I replied, flicking my tail, “but my duty to you as your sibling takes precedence.”
“You really think I could live with myself if I walked away?” Talorath retorted, glaring at me as he munched on his food angrily, “The least you could do is let me fight alongside you!”
“Look, don’t make this an honour thing!” I snapped, returning his glare, “you know what I promised mum!”
“I-“ he tried to retort but I wasn’t having it.
“Shut the fuck up and eat your food.” I retorted, holding an arm up as he opened his mouth to speak again, “I still hope Telricktus is going to turn up with…whatever the fuck he has…but well, who knows?”
“By the fucking Emperor, Tano’rath, I’m your first officer, I’m not abandoning ship.” He replied, sighing as he glared at his lump of whatever the fuck it is that they make these cursed rations out of, “You know if we get out of this…”
“We’re going to cop so much shit it’s gonna be amazing!” I replied with a slight laugh, “Well, even if we don’t, I’d like to take as many of them with us as we can.”
Talorath nodded grimly as we attempted to make more conversation while we ate. It wasn’t much, but it made things feel normal, even if it was only for a short while.
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
Obviously, the trio of ships were less than amused with our decision to stay, but they agreed to stay on with us too, as honour demands. I ended up helping with the move, running around as a guard as we had the civilians make the short trek towards the shelter while we dismantled the modular walls and quickly rebuilt them.
Luckily, there were few attacks on our groups and our infantry troops being able to hold the line as the civilians were brought to safety. We ended up in yet another strategic meeting as a rough map of the area was sketched out and potential attack vectors drawn up so that guards could be deployed more effectively.
Up above, the ships reported that an Alliance fleet was incoming, with mere hours left to spare. It was made clear that this would be a proper second wave of the invasion. There was a less than subtle implication that the three cruisers wouldn’t last too long and once they were gone, it’s game over for us. Apparently, the promised counterattack never happened…it was on that note that The Alkonas urged everyone to leave again, but well, given that everyone who wanted to leave had already left, the decision to stay stood.
It was strangely little in the way of consolation, knowing that I could just take over some Alliance soldier and masquerade my way out of this. After all, that was the point of the nanite conversion – it makes you nearly impossible to kill. This time, however, I half wished I was flesh and blood again. I.I.S. or not, I’ve fought alongside these people, cooked for them, got to know them. Perhaps it would be fitting if I died with them. Funny, since Tano’rath was the one who saved my life before, but he’s out there now basically committing suicide for a lost cause while I’m down here planning my escape.
Maybe they’re right. Spies are cowards.
Thankfully, there wasn’t much time for me to consider my terrible life choices. There were, after all, defences to shore up and entrances to rig with booby traps and such. We were busy giving the civvies weapons and reminding them of their militia training too. There were chargers everywhere charging up power cells for the guns and some people were busy welding plates to walls and the floor using their energy weapons, building up makeshift cover and so on.
The ships sent down as many supplies as they could spare: mostly food, more power cells and a few battered rifles. Battered, just like all of us, but they still work.
Sandbags were filled and passed around, regular time limit updates were given by the ships. which The updates droned on and on until they reported that a second unknown fleet was incoming – they had no transponders and were coming in from Alliance space. Given how badly we had been beaten back, it was quite clear whose fleet it was.
We were once again urged to evacuate.
Once again, we refused.
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
Half the struts and bulkheads in the ship were buckled, broken or twisted. Engineering was scurrying about trying to shore things up and anyone who could hold a welding torch was pitching in, me included. The long-range comms array was beyond repair, but they had coaxed the engines to half power and the weapons were back, but the shields refused to go beyond three-quarter capacity. The power couplings were just too far gone to repair and wouldn’t give the system enough power beyond that.
These DN-II ships can really take a beating and the old Defiant has held true to that, but well, with that second fleet incoming, that would arrive barely seconds after the first one, we’re done for anyway. The best we can do is buy as much time as possible for that counterattack promised by Telricktus to turn up, despite my doubts.
In hindsight, I don’t know what I expected when I gave the order to turn around, but at this point, it really doesn’t matter.
When the time came, I found myself back on the bridge after a brief lunch break, along with what was left of the bridge crew. They all looked to me as if expecting me to say something inspirational that’ll turn this around somehow… I couldn’t help but look around the wrecked room, with ceiling panels almost all missing, barely any working lights and most stations destroyed or jury-rigged to work. At least we had had time to clear the debris.
“I don’t know what you all expect me to say,” I remarked, feeling my grip once again tighten on the armrests of my seat. Perhaps I should have put a bit more fire into my tone, but well, I’m no great commander. I was just as tired and sick of it as everyone else, but these things have to be said, “but it has been an honour to fight alongside each and every one of you. Today, let us face fate once again. History will judge our actions, as will our clans, but songs will be sung about what we’re about to do. Never forget: we fight to defend those who can’t. Duty first to species.”
There was a slightly ragged cheer from the officers on board and it was then that I realised that this was on a shipwide channel. I suppose that’s inevitable. Perhaps I should have checked and protested and ordinarily, I would have, but what’s done is done.
“Sir, the first group is closing,” Talorath remarked, tapping away at his half working screen, “The second battlegroup is a minute behind them.”
“Battle stations,” I snarled, “Power all weapons and shields, Shut down all nonessential systems and blackout all empty decks. All hands, make ready to repel boarding parties. Helm, put us behind the moon, the other ships are going to cloak.”
“Weapons coming online. Shields are struggling but they’re getting there,” Talorath replied tapping away at his station. He had been standing since the chair broke and was removed a short while ago, “Engines primed, we’re moving into position. Let's hope those sheared struts don’t leak.”
“Any indication that we’ve been seen?” I remarked just as my screen stopped working and hitting it didn’t fix it. I ended up having to walk over, “And no transponders from the other fleet?”
“No indication, their point of entry is unchanged,” Talorath replied as he pulled up the details on the second fleet, “No trnasponders, theyre dark, but they’re getting pretty close. Seems like they’re trying to stage with the first lot. They’ve accelerated, entry timing will now be closer to the first group.”
“Lay in an intercept course, go top-down. Load whatever missiles we have left into the tubes,” I replied, rubbing my chin, “Any mass driver slugs left?”
“Just one, Captain, but we can’t power the driver anyway.” Talorath replied, snorting, “I think we were supposed to send it to the Alkonas but we didn’t have time.”
I felt my wings twitch as I gritted my teeth, “Edge told me that he can eke out enough from the auxiliary reactor to charge it partway, get him to do it and load the slug. Won’t turn a bunch of them into a meat skewer, but it’ll still take at least one out.”
“Well, there’s three battlecruisers this time, from what we got from the probe at the edge of the system before they blew it up, none of our long-range sensors are functional enough to get an accurate read beyond just a blob,” Talorath replied with a shrug, pulling up the sad joke of a sensor readout that we could get, “But it’s something, yeah. Edge is pushing power to it now, he said that we’ll probably get to a quarter charge and no more.”
“Better than nothing.” I replied flatly, “Prime engines, not long now.”
I saw no point in returning to my seat since the screen was dead, so I’d have no information to use. I ended up standing next to Talorath the ship completed the last minute preparations and such before the first of the Alliance fleet turned up, dropping out of FTL in formation. I counted at least fifteen cruisers, goodness knows how many little frigates and not three, but four battlecruisers. They were already advancing towards us at full sublight and it didn’t take long for them to get past the little moon that we were hiding behind.
“Fire mass driver, lead battlecruiser. Full engines, course zero-nine-zero-E-zero-seven-five. Intercept course, up and over once slug is clear,” I snapped as the other two ships fired their slugs at the battlecruisers, “Draw fire from the other two, give them time to recharge. Weapons free, fire at will. Inform the ground troops, time’s up.”
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
We didn’t have much time left and we ended up welding up makeshift bits of cover from tables and chairs, then stacking sandbags behind them to create defensible positions. Doors were welded and wedged shut to create choke points while I helped set up traps all along the corridors and such.
Whatever time I could steal away with the troops was spent showing them how to rig their weapons to explode if abandoned. I also got a diagram of the Alliances’ current generation of armour and showed them the weakest spots. While most of them already knew some of the tricks that I had, they were generally still appreciative anyway. By now, most knew that I was an I.I.S. agent anyway, but their reservations were long gone by now.
A three-shift guard rotation was set up and people were rotated off work to get some rest and have a meal or two. Despite needing neither, I still took my naps and ate to keep up appearances.
The trio of ships in orbit were silent, probably getting ready for their own battle. After all, you can’t booby trap an entire system in just a few hours. I don’t know what their plan is anyway, but at this point, it doesn’t feel like there is a plan at all… They’re gambling on backup in some way or form showing up.
Partway into one of my breaks, our bet was called with a message from the Alkonas. “Fleet has been engaged. ‘Ware dropships.”
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
I didn’t know why I was counting down for the second fleet to arrive…
The ship creaked and shuddered while we charged our way towards the battlecruiser, which we had skewered with the mass driver slug but failed to destroy, having missed their reactor core. I decided that it didn’t matter at this point.
The old ship rattled, creaked and shuddered as the already well-abused struts and bulkheads took new missile and energy beam hits. There were alarms all across the board already and the crew had long since retreated to the key reinforced areas. Most of the decks had breaches in them now and we had simply turned off the life support there to save power.
The enemy battlecruiser is slow. Alliance battlecruisers are infamous for having almost hilariously underpowered thrusters and engines. As such, it was still turning when what was left of my cruiser got within range and fired everything at it, aiming for the mass driver slug, knowing that the explosives in it had failed to go off.
As we scored a few hits, the ship groaned and I had to grab onto the console as we swerved hard to port away as the slug detonated, the shrapnel breaching containment in their reactor and causing it to go into runaway. The lights on the stricken battlecruiser flaring bright before it breached and blasted the vessel clean into two and tossed us clear. I heard the screeching of shearing metal as the HUD threw up a critical warning and showed that we had lost yet another exhaust pod. The only saving grace was that the pod slammed into an Alliance frigate and tore through its pitiful armour.
Hah. Drakonian ships are always built tough, even when they break.
The other two ships weren’t in much better shape either. The Alkonas had a massive gorge carved through their armour plating running almost the entire length and they were missing one of their exhaust pods like us. Meanwhile, the Darat was missing a chunk from the front, having taken a few missiles to that spot and was venting atmosphere, but they were still fighting. All our ships were patchworks of scrap that we had welded back, which didn’t last very long, revealing the missing armour plating and scars from previous engagements underneath.
“Incoming contacts! Second fleet!” Talorath hollered and I snarled, “Evasive! Pull us out of their arc!”
“…Sir, their IFF’s just came on…I’m putting it on-screen.” Talorath added a thread of disbelief in his voice as I looked over at the HUD which had the sensor images on.
It must have been at least twenty frigates, fifty cruisers and six battlecruisers, all having just turned their beacons on, not that I needed that. They’re boxy, with the logo of the space-fleet painted on their flanks, complete with livery. The promised reinforcements are here and barely in time.
I have never heaved a bigger sigh of relief before as they immediately started engaged the Alliance fleet, finally evening the odds. “Fuckin finally! Turn our transponder back on.”
“Telricktus is on comms, he’s asking us to step back and let them take it from here.” Talorath replied, nodding, having finally started breating again. “Alkonas and Darat are breaking off.”
“Back us off. Stick with the ships at the rear,” I couldn’t help but lean tiredly on a pillar and nod, “I’ve never been so happy to hear that name before.”
Talorath nodded as we pulled away, rejoining our ragtag group at the rear of the fleet, escorted by two brand new DN-V cruisers. “Look at those, must be fresh from the yard,” Talorath remarked, pointing to the sensor feed, “When are we getting one?”
“Hah! Maybe tomorrow once this is done, but I suspect they’ll fix up the Defiant, and you know, I can live with that,” I replied, finally sitting back down in my chair after brushing off the debris, “Get Edge to begin repairs, patch those leaks up and get the shields and engines back.”
Meanwhile, the both fleets had started landing troops and from the chatter that was being relayed to us, the fighting had already begun…
Agent DC-05/N “Telaroth”
Imperial Intelligence Service
It was quite obvious that we hadn’t killed off all the Alliance troops that had attacked us earlier, since the fresh troops immediately came barrelling towards our little shelter, evidently having received information from their friends. They even started broadcasting messages demanding our surrender as they kicked the doors down and tried to storm the entrance.
Tried.
They quite literally waltzed into the first trap and the force of the explosion blew the doors off their hinges and sent the soldiers flying. From my position around the first corner, I could hear them go splat and crunch as the solid steel doors flattened them… Perhaps I went a bit overboard with the explosives.
There was a short period of silence as more Allaince troops doubtlessly checked the blast doors that sat behind the main entrance for secondary traps and I heard a yelp as one of them got zapped – I had deliberately shorted one of the power cables and left the entire thing live, knowing that they’d be expecting another bomb instead. One of my counterparts next to me grinned and gave me a thumbs-up as this was followed with a liberal amount of screaming and a loud hum from the doorway before the breaker that I had wedged open finally managed to trip and they swung the door open.
I hefted my rifle, readying up for the inevitable, hearing the soldiers muttering amongst themselves as they advanced before there were a few shouted words and the sound of weapons fire from outside. My comrades and I exchanged glances before we slunk out and I glanced around the corner, finding the corridor empty and the Alliance troops rushing out, blocking our view of the outside.
The course of action was clear. We made eye contact with each other before gunning down the group and making our way out…
To find friendly fighters strafing the Alliance forces and dropping troops, and our shock troops wreaking havoc on the Alliance infantry. I even spotted a technical or two, driving around and gunning enemy troops down. There was the roar of engines, and the whine of energy weapons as we took position by the entrance and did our part. A few other shock troops came running over and joined us, helping to pick the enemy off. It wasn’t hard to tell that with the continuing flow of friendly reinforcements, we were quickly gaining the upper hand and our new friends told us that they were retaking the planet.
Seems like Tano’rath’s hope wasn’t misplaced after all…
Snr Captain Tano’rath
Cmdr, DES Defiant
The space battle was concluded rather quickly as more reinforcements streamed in and our ships put paid to the Alliance attack, finally putting an end to the situation that we were in. While they fought, we mostly stayed off to the rear, patching what was left of our ships up and occasionally taking potshots at any enemy ships that dared to stray close.
Eventually, Telricktus did hail us and I had him up on-screen on the bridge, or rather, on half the screen because the other half had a chunk of plating wedged in it. “Greetings, Captain. I trust all that blood isn’t yours?”
I paused to glance at the blood all over my armour – courtesy of a minor head wound that I had sustained earlier. I had a field dressing on it now, at least, and it had stopped bleeding, “No, it’s mine this time, but it’s fine. Good timing, Lieutenant.”
“We would have come earlier if we didn’t have to engage a few other targets,” He replied, nodding, “We’re finally retaking what we lost, though. That leak has been taken care of.”
“Good to hear,” I replied, snorting as I paused to flick a bit of soot off my armour, “We’d be well and truly in the shit if you didn’t turn up, but you did and you have my thanks for it. As you can see, we’re not in the best shape.”
“Yes, Captain, I can see that,” He replied as he paused to flick through his pristine command console, prompting me to look at my burnt out and blackened one, “Actually, why…how do I put this…?”
“You want to know why a third of my ship is missing don’t you?” I replied with a chuckle, “Well, this is what happens when you use the main reactor core as a missile.”
As I spoke, Telricktus had grabbed a mug of tea and taken a sip and as I finished talking, he choked on it and nearly spat his drink out…I nearly laughed. “You what?!”
“Oh yeah, blew a battlecruiser up and everything, but it tore two exhaust ports off and fucked all the outer decks,” I replied with a snort, “That other one we lost when we engaged earlier. Either way, what matters is that we got out of this alive. Has Command said anything?”
Almost on cue, Admiral Hector, who had probably been waiting for this stalked out and glared Telricktus out of his seat before plonking himself down in the command chair. The dusty red Drakonian looked tired and he glared at me, “Captain, I still haven’t decided if you’re very stupid or very brave. Why’d you stay in the first place?”
I had the message with the strange modulation sent over, “Sir, I saw this and I followed what was encoded.”
Hector looked like he was going to retort, but then he flicked through the data and cocked his head, frowning, “I sent the message, but I didn’t do this to it… Telricktus, was this your doing?”
“Yes, it was, Admiral,” Telricktus replied, holding his hands up slightly as Hector, who was probably twice his size, gave him a glare that could melt through a ship, “We needed someone to draw their attention away from our efforts to muster the fleet and they had to be off the grid so that it couldn’t be leaked. The three vessels were already cut off, it made the most sense to send them.”
Hector gritted his teeth for a moment and I could hear the rumble of a suppressed growl in his tone as he replied, “I would appreciate it, Telricktus, if you told me what you were doing with my ships next time!”
“Sir, we didn’t know who the leak was,” Telricktus replied curtly, holding the Admiral’s glare evenly, “We could trust no one, not even you.”
Hector looked, for a moment, like he wanted to punch Telricktus across the room and I had no doubt that he could do it. In fact, I thought it would be hilarious. However, after huffing and puffing for a moment, he gave Telricktus one last glare before turning back to me. “Well, Tano’rath, there was no way for you to know who tampered with the signal. It could have been an Alliance ruse. You’re fortunate that it wasn’t.”
“I am well aware of that, Admiral,” I replied, sighing, “But as Telricktus said, we were being cut off anyway. This, at least, would have given some purpose to our deaths, no?”
Hector paused to mull this over before he nodded. “I suppose. You Daranakaans are really bred different, most of us would be trying to find a way home, you know.”
“That would be a coward’s death.” I replied flatly, snorting, “It was clear when they sent pursuit after us and that they wouldn’t stop.”
“You’re right on that one, Captain,” Hector replied, nodding, “What matters, as you said, is that you’re all alive and the last-minute evacuees arrived safely. All of you did one hell of a fucking job, Captain. I’m recommending all of you for commendations for bravery.”
With that, Hector got up and saluted, followed by the rest of his crew. We stood up and returned the salute before sitting back down.
The clean up on the surface took a while longer, but the shock troops took care of most of the stragglers. The Alliance had tried to land more troops, but the bulk of the transports had been intercepted and shot down by our fighters. Telaroth was extracted and returned to my ship, apparently at his request. We had to be towed back to the closest shipyard where they inspected what was left of the ships.
All three ships were rebuilt and put back to service. We all received commendations and a few of us even got medals for bravery and a few creative manoeuvres. I ended up spending a few months back home on Drakonos giving lectures to trainees about ship combat while the old Defiant was reassembled. Eventually, though, I returned to command my ship and crew, having turned down yet another promotion to Commodore after reiterating that sitting at a desk isn’t my thing.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Western Dragon
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 174.1 kB
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