Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) (6 page)

When
Conquistador’s rockets rushed up at the vulnerable underbelly there was no time
for counter rockets to be launched and engage. The bottom laser cannons were on
automatic setting and blasted away and destroyed twenty three rockets. But the
seven got through and went right through the narrow opening a few seconds
before its likely closure.

Seven simultaneous
explosions in the interior tore apart the Mercurian carrier and sent its shards
and pieces down to the planet.

“Alright,” Tollvyk
said, “We shoved those rockets right up their…”

“Toll please,”
Raptor said and Tollvyk quickly held his tongue.

“Three Mercurian
battleships moving into position against us,” Horyett said reading off his
scanner, “moving down into low orbit.”

“They are
separated apart at least fifty miles from each other,” Barryett said looking at
his screen, “No doubt they were spread apart to knock off the planetary
defenses, but that means we can run past them and join General Bakus’ battle
fleet in space.”

“That is a sound
plan VC Barryett, but I want them into low orbit for our superweapons,” Raptor
said, “Capitan Avyk, switch all power to shields.”

“Yes sir,” Avyk
replied.

“But be ready to
release excess power to concentrated SuperLaser upon my command,” Raptor said.

“Will program it
in,” Avyk said.

“Capitan Alvina…”
Raptor said but she had already guessed his order.

“Switching all
energy available to lasers to the SuperLaser system,” Alvina said.

“Good,” Raptor
smiled at her, “Seems you have anticipated the move I am trying to make here.
Now Col. Tollvyk, coordinate the launch of Tsar Rocket with Alvina and her
laser crew. I won’t be able to give energy to SuperLaser for more than five to
seven seconds before our shields need it back to hold up against simultaneous
attacks from three battleships.”

“Yes commodore, on
it right away,” Tollvyk said. Tollvyk and his junior rocket officers opened a
separate channel to Alvina and her laser officers to coordinate their firing.

“I have to remind
you Commodore,” VC Barryett said, “Once we use up our superweapons, we won’t
have any wild cards left to get out of a difficult fix. The Army recommends
their use in emergencies except when they are part of a battle plan.”

“They are,” Raptor
replied, “And I am only going to use three of the five.”

“Enemy has
launched rockets,” Horyett said, “The close distance of spaceships and
planetary gravity’s influence makes the exact number difficult to fathom but
approximately three to four hundred.”

“Hold steady, I
want them to come down more,” Raptor said, “Bigger the grip of Nestor’s gravity
on the battleships, the less likely they are to escape our superweapons.”

“Rockets impact in
T minus 10 seconds,” Horyett said.

Everyone in the
room eagerly watched their displays. This was the first time a Starfirian
spaceship was fighting Mercurian battleships and they did not know what to
expect. Their anxiety sprouted beads of sweat on their foreheads in a cold, air
conditioned environment.

“Zurryvk, load the
Battle AI program known as Ravager,” Raptor said.

“Battle AI known
as Ravager uploaded to Starship battle controls,” Zurryvk replied.

A voice spoke out
in the room: ‘Ravager reporting for combat duty’.

Then the enemy
rockets started impacting the Conquistador and megaton explosions rocked its
outer hull.

“Shields holding
steady,” Avyk said.

“Ravager,
Commodore Raptor authorizing the use of superweapons,” Raptor said and entered
his code on his station computer.

Ravager spoke:
‘Authorization accepted, awaiting Vice-Commodore’s concurrence.’

Starfire Army
regulations required that the superweapons could only be used with dual
authorization and concurrence of the two senior most officers abroad a Starship
that carried such weapons.

“Vice-Commodore
Barryett concurring in authorization,” VC Barryett spoke and entered his own
code.

Ravager spoke:
‘Superweapons ready for use’.

Besides being the
AI that checked and verified superweapons authorization, the Ravager program
was also the one that had inbuilt strategies and technical specs of these
weapons and it was the program of choice to calculate and plan their use during
battles. 

“Shields suffering
degradation, down to 85% effectiveness,” Avyk said.

The room was pin
drop silent in anticipation. This number was still pretty good but they were
neither using any other defensive mechanism, nor maneuvering to avoid the incoming
attacks and this was ratcheting up the tension in the command room at a rapid
rate.

“Ravager identify
the enemy battleship most vulnerable to Tsar Rocket and tag it as Mercurian One,”
Raptor said.

Ravager:
‘Identified and tagged as Mercurian One’.

Raptor looked at
his screen and it was the Mercurian battleship that was on their right that the
AI Ravager had tagged. Raptor understood what Mercurians were trying to do,
they were moving in from three directions: one from the top and two from the
sides planning to force Conquistador down and down towards the surface to
escape the barrage of rockets. With maneuverability and speed degrading with
increasing gravitational pull, the spaceship would be unable to either fend of the
attacks or escape out to space.

Except, this was a
Starfirian spaceship, Raptor chuckled to himself and this raised a few brows
amongst the nearby officers. These aliens had no idea that Commodore Raptor and
the starship crew had gone through innumerous training scenarios such as these.
They had no idea what was coming for them, Raptor fortified his determination
and rallied his concentration.

“Alright,” Raptor
said, “Switch excess power from the shields to SuperLaser system, target
Mercurian One and hold steady.”

“Power
transferred,” Avyk said, “Shields operating at normal capacity.”

“Capitan Alvina
and Col. Tollvyk,” Raptor said, “Fire away, it is your show.”

“SuperLaser system
activated,” Alvina said, “Firing now.”

A massive red beam
of laser approximately two meters in diameter shot out from one of the laser
cannons on the outside surface of Conquistador and rushed towards Mercurian
One. It penetrated the defensive shield and cut a hole in the exterior of the
Mercurian battleship and the heat from the laser widened the hole to a rough
diameter of five meters.

“Shields degrading
to 50% effectiveness, “Avyk said.

“I can feel that,”
VC Barryett said, “Vibrations.”

“Tsar Rocket
launched,” Tollvyk said, “Away and onwards to the enemy.”

SuperLaser system
was not an actual superweapon; it was just a more intense form of concentrated
laser blast. All the energy available to every single laser cannon was
channeled to a single laser beam that could cut through a shield in a single
strike. The big danger was that this left the starship firing the super laser
significantly vulnerable as it had less energy for its own shields and it could
not use its lasers to destroy incoming rockets.

Tsar Rocket was
the superweapon and it launched from the tube nearest to the laser beam and as
the beam was automatically shut down to prevent damage to the rocket, it traced
the exact path of the laser towards the hole it had created. Tsar Rocket packed
a punch of a hundred megatons and theoretically could disable a spaceship even
with an external strike on full shields. But Raptor wanted to take no chances.
He had no idea how strong Mercurian Empire’s shields were.

Mercurian
battleship’s repair robots rushed to the hole when the laser was shut off and
sprayed a thick liquid that started cooling rapidly to create a solid layer but
Tsar Rocket’s nose cone was hardened with the strongest metal alloy Starfirian
army workshops could produce and it crashed through the solid patch and exploded
once inside.

“Alright!” Tollvyk
cheered abroad Conquistador, “A perfect hit. An internal strike.”

The Mercurian
battleship was eviscerated by the hundred megatons of energy that the Tsar
Rocket’s explosion unleashed in all directions.  Even Starfirians with their
starship more than thirty miles away felt the shock wave in the form of shaking
under their feet.

“Shield down to
zero in two spots,” Avyk said, “We have taken damage.”

“Shut off
SuperLaser,” Raptor said to Alvina, “Switch all excess power to the shields.
Bring on line LaserStorm system and fire at will at enemy rockets.”

“Excess power back
to shields,” Avyk said, “Shields back to 65% and slowly climbing.”

“SuperLaser system
shut off and LaserStorm defenses activated,” Alvina said, “All intact laser
cannons firing away.”

“That is good,”
Barryett said looking at his screen, “Finally we are destroying most of the
incoming rockets and they have been cut by one third.”

“Time to cut one
more Mercurian’s cards,” Raptor said, “Ravager, tag the enemy spaceship above
us near the low orbit as Mercurian Two. Prepare to strike it with Plasma Arc.”

Ravager replied:
‘Preparing Plasma Arc and calculating optimum strike solution.

“Toll, give me a
hundred Ober rockets on standby,” Raptor said, “They will need to cover the
Plasma Arc’s journey.”

“No problem
Commodore,” Tollvyk replied, “Hundred Ober rockets ready to launch.”

“We are fast
depleting our arsenal,” Barryett said.

“We will be
returning home after the battle,” Raptor said and he could hear sighs of relief
from the crew even amongst the noise of the battle and the tension of the
combat. “I don’t suppose the House of War wants us to single handedly fight the
Mercurians first to last. They will have to send a fleet, perhaps even our own
Sixth Frontier Fleet.” 

“Let’s hope so,”
Barryett said.

Ravager chimed in:
‘Sirs, the solution is ready. I have identified the ideal strike area on
Mercurian Two for our Plasma Arc.’

“Send to our
terminals,” Raptor said, “What is it?”

‘Based on the
analysis of the heat signature of Mercurian Two it is my estimate that it is a
conduit for fuel to feed their reactors. Blueprints for spaceships like that
are not in my database but the highest statistical probability is for a fuel
conduit’: Ravager spoke.

“Wait a minute,”
Raptor said, “Cutting the main fuel conduit will power down their ship and all
its systems including counter rockets and shields and defensive lasers. It will
only disable the spaceship but not destroy it.”

Ravager: ‘That is
correct. I do not possess any data on that type of spaceship to identify a
better target location; however I can try to estimate but with a lower
probability of success.’

“NO…no,” Raptor
said quickly, “crippling it would be even better than killing it. We can
compress its operating components and weapons systems and take them back to
Starfire Empire for analysis. And we can take prisoners.”

“I agree, that is
a better outcome,” Barryett said, “A war is coming between our two empires. To
know of our enemy while he knows not of us will be of a great advantage.”

“Alright then,”
Raptor said, “Tollvyk, I want your Ober Rockets to escort the Plasma Arc Weapon
to the enemy.”

“Done,” Tollvyk
said, “Such a tactic is already programmed into our battle computers and I have
just activated it for the hundred rockets on standby.”

“Colonel Garyett,
prepare to fire our second superweapon the Plasma Arc at Mercurian Two,” Raptor
said.

“Ready sir,” Col.
Garyett replied. He was a quiet officer whose station was just below
Commodore’s station and to his left and he had three junior officers to aid
him. The superweapons officers were rarely involved in most tasks of the
starship’s command room. They were exempt from even the most combat duties. The
superweapons were complex and very dangerous and it was deemed proper to have a
separate section that fully specialized in handling and using them. The Tsar
Rocket was controlled by the rocket officers section under Col. Tollvyk but the
remaining four superweapons were under Col. Garyett. He and his junior officers
were pleased that finally they were able to contribute to their spaceship’s
battle.

“Launch Ober
Rockets,” Raptor said.

“Ober Rockets out
and away,” Tollvyk replied.

“Release the
Plasma Arc,” Raptor ordered.

“Plasma Arc
released,” Garyett confirmed, “On the tail of our rockets.”

The Plasma Arc was
a long, elongated arc of superheated plasma that could cut through just about
any shields or metals. It was a gigantic version of plasma arcs used in
industries for cutting away metal but this was huge, stretching almost two
hundred and fifty meters from end to end and it was heated to temperatures far
higher than industrial arcs, indeed it approached temperatures close to the
interior of stars.