Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) (7 page)

Suffice it to say,
such temperature could not be safely generated inside the spaceship and thus
when this weapon was launched from Conquistador, it was at first two machines
carrying mini fusion reactors that were connected by a rod two meters in
diameters and two hundred fifty meters in length, that shot out of the
compartment and rushed towards the enemy spaceship with the rockets in the
lead. When it was safely out of the spaceship, the reactors kicked in and
rapidly turned up the heat, igniting the fuel that filled the connector rod.
The heat melted away the metal revealing a bright, red plasma arc that the two
machines on either end carried forward through space.

The Mercurian
spaceship was either unaware of such a weapon or did not realize that it had
been fired at them. The two spacecrafts on either end of the Plasma Arc
registered as two rockets on their gravitron scanner. The heat from the arc did
give out an unusually bright signature on their thermal scanner but it just
confused its command staff. The Starfirian rockets rushed forward and the
Mercurian lasers attempted to engage these rockets. Eighty-Six rockets were
destroyed by the lasers, the remaining fourteen impacted on the Mercurian ship
but its shields were close to 90% effectiveness and the metal that made up its
exterior was of excellent durability and all fourteen rockets were absorbed
with only minor damage.

But then came the
Plasma Arc while the Mercurian lasers were occupied with targeting the rockets.
The Plasma Arc slashed into the exact location that battle AI Ravager had
pinpointed and it cut through the electromagnetic shield and the metallic hull
like hot knife through butter and while the two spacecrafts on either end were
destroyed on impact with the hull, the plasma arc kept flying forward on its momentum,
cutting everything in its path with precision and finally it slashed the entire
fifty meters wide fuel conduit to the  main reactors and went out through the
other side of the spaceship fizzling out far away in cold space but not before
leaving a huge gash behind on either sides of the spaceship like a man slashed
through and through with a sharp hunting knife.

Mercurian Two shut
down, its lasers stopped firing, its shield collapsed to 0% effectiveness, a
shower of sparks all across the length and breadth of the spaceship gave notice
of uncountable short circuits, all its systems stopped operating, all except a
few emergency lights went out leaving most of the spaceship in the darkness of
space and the power reactors imploded on themselves due to a sudden and
instantaneous withdrawal of their fuel.

“Mercurian Two has
disappeared from all electronic and thermal scanners,” the signals and
electronics officer Hedgewyk said.

“It is still on
the gravitron scanner,” Capitan Horyett said, “But no more rockets are being
launched from it.”

“Alright,” Raptor
said, “The Plasma Arc must have been successful. Knocked out dead in space.”

“There is a remote
chance that they caught on to the Plasma Arc in time, destroyed it and
instantly shut down all of their systems to deceive us,” Barryett said.

“Vice-Commodore, I
respectfully disagree, the heat signature of Plasma Arc is unmistakable on our
thermal scanners and it went all the way,” Hedgewyk said.

“I concur that the
possibility is very remote, but it is there,” Barryett said, “They are in orbit
and can float on their own and not crash to the ground due to a lack of power.
They could take such a chance.”

“Shutting down all
systems near instantaneously could wreck a starship,” Hedgewyk protested.

“We don’t know the
capabilities of Mercurian space technology,” Barryett said, “I don’t believe it
but as a vice-commodore I have to point out every possibility that a commodore
might have overlooked.”

Raptor was
slightly annoyed at this insinuation but he had to agree that he had not
considered this tactic as a potential response from the enemy. Still, if Mercurian
Two was just playing dead, he would deal with them later. There was still one
more enemy left firing away rockets at them.

“Forget them
fellas for a moment,” Raptor waved his hand, “Ravager, tag the remaining enemy
spaceship as Mercurian Three. Col. Garyett prepare to fire our gravity weapon:
the Micro Black Hole.”

“Bringing MBH
weapon on line now,” Garyett replied.

 “Alvina, how are
our lasers doing against the last remaining enemy’s rocket attacks?” Raptor
asked.

“Commodore, the
LaserStorm system is destroying more than 95% of them,” Alvina replied,
“handling one spaceship’s attack is not too difficult.”

“We can give it
right back to them two for one,” Tollvyk said, “Just give the word Commodore,
just give the word.”

Raptor laughed and
the room followed him. With the fight now down to a one on one dual against a
much smaller spaceship, the crew was surging in confidence.

“Commodore, Col.
Toll is right, we can finish them off in a punch for punch fight with lasers
and rockets,” VC Barryett said.

“I know, but as
you said our regular arsenal is depleting and I don’t know how much more of
these Nestorian’s battle we will have to win for them,” Raptor said.

“Very well,”
Barryett said.

The space battle
between Nestorian and Mercurian battleship was raging furiously elsewhere but
they were triumphing in their little corner of the space.

“I am going to
need your rockets anyhow, Toll,” Raptor said, “Col. bring 50 Ober Rockets on
standby and program them to maneuver to the rear of Mercurian Three and then
shoot up vertically.”

“Any reason to
believe their bottom is weaker?” Barryett asked.

“No, I have
another plan,” Raptor replied.

“Rockets
programmed to your specifications, ready to fire,” Tollvyk said.

“Commodore, a
Nestorian spacefighter is coming up from our right and flying straight towards
Mercurian Two,” Horyett said.

“What the hell
for?” Raptor expressed irritation, “does he really want to take on an entire
battleship by himself?”

“His sensors might
be showing him the same data as ours, albeit in a much limited manner,”
Hedgewyk said, “He must have realized that it’s crippled.”

“Then why is he
wasting time on it?” Raptor asked.

“Bastard wants to
steal credit, what else,” Tollvyk opined.

“I am afraid, I
have to concur with the colonel,” Barryett said.

“Do these
Nestorians need every battle tactic spelled out to them?” Raptor said, “Don’t
they realize on their own how much of a prize a captured enemy spaceship would
be.”

“That’s Capitan
Agnosis Wornus of Nestorian Battleship Defender,” communications officer
Dorrvyk said, “he is sending a communique to us identifying himself as a friendly
and asking us to not fire upon him.”

“Reply: do not
fire at Mercurian ship and cut out of here at once,” Raptor said.

“Too late,”
Horyett said, “Scanner shows that his spacecraft has launched four rockets.”

“I told you,”
Tollvyk said, “we should light up his tail with some laser to school him.”

“Please tell me
those rockets will not penetrate…” Raptor’s words hung in the air for capitan
Agnosis had also spotted the gap made by the Plasma Arc on Mercurian Two and
aimed all his rockets to go right through it. With all the defensive systems
shut down, the four rockets flew right inside, struck the broken fuel conduit
now spilling the intensive, radioactive fuel and exploded, lighting up the
whole spaceship and breaking it into many pieces.

“A real yahoo that
pilot,” Barryett shrugged his shoulders, “Can’t say I haven’t seen jokers like
that amongst our spacefighter squadrons during my long years.”

“He is sending
congratulations to us,” Dorrvyk said, “and requesting permission to dock.”
“Permission to dock?” Raptor was livid but calmed himself, “Alright, Dorrvyk
tell him permission granted.”

While Dorrvyk sent
out the reply to Agnosis, Raptor turned to one of his secondary screens and
punched in the code for Capitan Styx, the officer in charge of the Starship
Guards. His face was displayed two seconds later.

“Capitan Styx, a
Nestorian pilot will be docking,” Raptor said, “As soon as he is on board,
arrest him and restrain him physically till further notice.”

Styx was startled
a bit. Arresting a Nestorian officer would not just be a military act, but a
political one too. But in the middle of battle, he was not going to question
his commander’s judgement.

“Yes sir, I will
have him in chains,” Styx replied and Raptor turned off the display.

“You should have
told him to cane that clown,” Tollvyk said.

“I will see him
thrown out of Nestorian Army,” Raptor said, “but later. Now let’s get that
Mercurian Three.”

The remaining
Mercurian battleship must have been unnerved at the sight of the destruction
wrought by
Conquistador
and it slowly started to retreat. Raptor watched
it slowly back away while firing rockets and lasers that were increasingly
ineffective.

“Move us into the
orbital space,” Raptor said, “I want to gain altitude on him.”

“Gaining altitude
and closing distance with Mercurian Three,” Flyptar replied.

“This is it,”
Raptor said, “Col. Tollvyk launch the Ober Rockets on standby.”

“Fifty Ober
Rockets launched,” Tollvyk said.

“Fire the Micro
Black Hole Weapon in the tail of our rockets,” Raptor said, “But do not
activate it yet and program it to break off from the rockets and sustain below
the enemy spaceship.”

“MBH Weapon fired
and away,” Garyett replied, “presently in deactivated state.”

“Capitan Zurryvk,
unload the battle AI Ravager and upload the battle AI known as Berserker,”
Raptor said.

“Dumping Ravager,
loading battle AI known as Berserker,” Zurryvk replied. Berserker was the
battle command program with wild and unorthodox tactics and maneuvers encoded
in its algorithms.

Berserker spoke:
‘Berserker reporting for combat duty.’

“Commodore,” VC
Barryett chipped in before Raptor could order the battle AI, “If you are
thinking of doing what I am guessing, consider that the enemy spaceship may not
have proper collision avoidance system.”

“Conceded,” Raptor
replied, “But we do. And it is unlikely since Mercurian battleships are far
more advanced than Nestorian ships that possess it. And I intend to pull out
and away at the last minute.”

Meanwhile the
Starfirian rockets had flown down towards the atmosphere and then swung around
upwards and headed towards the Mercurian battleship. The battleship turned its
nose downward to bring more laser cannons to bear upon the rockets and
forty-seven were destroyed in mid-air and the remaining three struck the shield
causing slight damage.

The MBH weapon
stayed put much further below and was obscured from Mercurian ship’s scanners
by all the broken pieces of rockets falling down into the clouds.

“Flyptar, how are
we doing on the altitude,” Raptor asked.

“We are in the low
orbit of Nestor,” Flyptar replied, “Nearly vertical, but need seven more
degrees of correction to be straight above the enemy.”

“That is good
enough,” Raptor said, “Berserker; plot a course heading straight into Mercurian
Three’s rear hull at rapid acceleration with a last minute jerk to break us
away clean. Dispatch to flight control section’s terminals.”

Berserker replied:
‘plotting the course and preparing the flight path and acceleration schedule. A
warning sir, our collision aversion systems will kick in automatically and our
spaceship may spin and rotate.’

“Noted,” Raptor
entered a code on his terminal and switched on the starship wide broadcasting
system, “Attention crew of Starship Conquistador. This is your Commodore
speaking and I am ordering everyone to immediately secure themselves at place.
We may experience significant turbulence.”

The command room
members who were standing or walking hastened to their seats and everyone
scrambled to fasten their seat belts. Raptor pulled down two belts from the top
of his chair on either side, crossed them over his chest and affixed them to
the buckles near the waist on the opposite ends.

“Flyptar, execute
Berserker’s flight plan,” Raptor said, “Dive on the enemy. Dive now.”

“Diving on
preprogrammed schedule,” Flyptar replied, “Brace for possible collision.”

Mercurian Three
was just beginning to turn its forward nose upwards after destroying the
rockets when Starship Conquistador rapidly accelerated towards it. The alarms
started ringing abroad the Mercurian vessel and its commanders frantically
maneuvered in a state of shock. They could not believe that the enemy was
planning on a suicidal-homicidal strike when he was in no desperate situation.
Before the Mercurian flight officers and navigators could turn their spaceship,
the Conquistador was on to them and headed straight for its rear hull.
Mercurian battleship’s collision avoidance system took over and rapidly dived
the ship straight down towards the planet as that was the best move to avoid
the accident as calculated by its computers.