His captain spoke from behind him, and Te'rou could hear the barely restrained alarm in his voice. -Admiral, we have Pteryd ships incoming on our position. At least two fleets in strength. They're coming around the planet right now and will be directly ahead of us. If we keep encircling the rebel fleets, we're going to leave out flanks wide open!-
-Pull back our flankers,- Te'rou said, his heart suddenly racing due to an entirely different emotion. -Pull everyone back! Regroup the fleets and bunker down for the incoming enemy.- He swiped a hand across his face. The speed at which the battle had just turned against him was enough that he felt as though he might lose his balance, and he grabbed the railing for support. -I don't want to say it, but start looking for avenues of retreat. I don't know if we can handle
two
fresh Pteryd fleets, not in our condition.-
-But...the ground forces...If we leave...-
-I know,- Te'rou said. He went back to his command chair and sat down, bracing himself for what was about to come. -Let's hope it doesn't come to that. With any luck, our troops on the ground will have some good news for us soon.-
******
Aria was sitting in the lead armored vehicle with General Soumaren, in the back where the compartment was fully enclosed. The vehicles were Ailian in design, little more than elongated rectangles with eight massive wheels set at even intervals in armored housings. The carrier was armed on top with two open gun turrets, one in front on top of the driver's compartment and one in the rear, each manned by a single Ailian soldier who swiveled around as they drove and watched for the enemy. They had been rushing their way towards and through Hayikwiir City for the better part of an hour and a half, dodging here and there and avoiding getting engaged as much as possible, and for the most part they had been successful. Apart from a few moments when they'd had to change direction quickly and fire off a few bursts at some distant enemy, the ride had been quiet.
The quietness was what worried Aria. -I don't like how well this has gone off, General,- she said to the Nuretan officer, her voice a low growl that was barely heard over the rumble of their vehicle's engine. -I was expecting the enemy to keep themselves inconspicuous inside the city limits, but I was not expecting nothing at all. We should have been attacked more by now.-
-You're right,- General Soumaren agreed reluctantly. She looked at the soldiers who packed the wheeled transport with them, and she turned to face Aria directly so that they would not be overheard. -I've been getting updates from our air recon. They've been reporting what we already know: except for the major chokepoints, the streets are largely empty. They can't get too deep into the city because anti-air emplacements have been erected, more than we anticipated. But they are giving us the routes we've been traveling.-
-Has it occurred to you that we are being indirectly herded?- Aria asked her, as she lowered her ears. -This is my mother, after all. I can't imagine that she hasn't prepared for us in some way.-
Soumaren looked troubled. -I've thought of that,- she admitted. -But whether we're being herded there or not, deeper into the city and to the royal palace is where we need to go. I don't see any way around it.-
-I just hope we aren't getting in over our heads.-
Before General Soumaren could respond to the Ailian, they were all jerked forward as the wheeled transport ground to a halt all of a sudden. A few exclamations of confusion could be heard from the soldiers within, and some of them wondered aloud if they were about to change direction again, but then the exit hatch to the transport opened and Lieutenant Ayalis poked her head inside.
-General, Captain,- she hissed, as her expression appeared quite urgent. -You need to come outside and see this.-
Without asking any questions, Aria and General Soumaren both rose to their feet. Aria beat the Nuretan officer to the hatch, and she followed the lieutenant outside and around the transport. Aria could tell from their surroundings that they were very near the royal palace, but still a few blocks away from their destination. What she saw as she stuck her head around the cover of the armored vehicle made her heart sink.
The royal palace was visible through the buildings, but it was behind a wall of Ailian walkers, painted with rebel colors. Her sharps eyes could make out entrenched infantry positions, and more than that, she saw Pteryd airships patrolling the sky. The fortification was a lot more than they had been prepared for, and more than their drone surveillance craft had spied a mere hour ago. Evidently, between when they had departed Mat'aar Airbase and arrived at this point, the enemy had heavily reinforced the area.
General Soumaren said it first. -Not good.-
******
-Not good at all.-
Te'rou was at the point where even he would have admitted he was beginning to be scared. He had fought Pteryd before, during border disputes on the edges of Ascendancy territory, but he had never fought them at this scale. Because of the telepathic capabilities of the Pteryd, their ship commanders were in absolutely constant contact with each other, and it showed in the movement of their ships. Their fleets seemed to move in concert, and if he had not been on the receiving end of their power, he would have admired it as a thing of beauty.
By now, his fleets were down to forty percent strength, and that number was falling rapidly.
His
ships were the ones in danger of being encircled now, and it was only through some fairly reckless tactics that he had avoided already getting to that point. His ship was taking damage now, and there was scarcely a ship among his combined fleet that didn't have some sort of damage to it. As much as Te'rou didn't like the idea, he needed to start looking for a way to get out if he was going to salvage something from this inevitable defeat.
-Turn us about!- he ordered through clenched teeth. -Start recalling fighters and put as much power to the shields and engines as you can. We need to get out of here. We've lost this one.-
His captain swallowed hard, but nodded, knowing that Admiral Te'rou was right. He began giving the orders, and Te'rou saw the view outside the front windows of the
Krisa'la
change as his ship came around. The engines thrummed loudly as the engineers began rerouting power.
-Admiral!- a voice called up from the crew deck. -We're being flanked!-
-I see them,- Te'rou growled as the hair on the back of his neck raised. Coming into view as his flagship rotated was the sight he least wanted to see right now. In the confusion of the onslaught of the Pteryd, an Ailian heavy battlecruiser and three smaller human warships had maneuvered around behind his battle group. They all looked undamaged, and that was not good for his ships, some of which were barely in shape for running, let alone fighting. -That's Selina's flagship...She wants me for herself.- He clenched his jaw, but then he felt himself relax. -I suppose this is it...At least I'll get to die over the skies of the homeworld...-
Just as Admiral Kris' ship began firing towards his, a second round of alarms rang through the bridge.
What now?
Te'rou groaned inside his head, wondering how things could possibly get any worse. He got his answer a moment later from both his eyes and the shout of one of his junior officers.
-Admiral, there are unknown ships coming in from hyperspace, directly behind us!-
Te'rou's eyes widened as he saw ships begin to emerge into space, a hundred of them at least, with more of them arriving every moment. Some of them were Ailian, but the majority of them were human, and they looked much more formidable than the ones that they had faced so far. Several of them were as large as his own flagship, and as he watched a massive human fighter-carrier flashed into existence, and this one really
was
larger than his, easily the largest ship that humans had ever made.
-It must be the rest of the rebel fleet!- he snarled. He called up his sensor display as a group of the newcomers surged forward. He focused on one of the Ailian ships, and as he got a lock on its transponders he suddenly frowned. -But...that's the
Cha'ren
...She's with the Tenth Fleet, on the human border. She shouldn't be here.-
A moment later, the incoming group opened fire, and Te'rou braced for the impacts of their combined barrage. Instead, he was astonished to see two of the human ships around the rebel flagship take multiple impacts and disintegrate in a flash as their engines detonated. The remaining two enemy ships began to maneuver away, under continued assault from the attacking vessels as they rotated to return fire.
-We have an incoming transmission!- one of his communications officer on the crew deck reported. -We're being hailed by that human carrier!-
-What!?- Te'rou shouted, not really believing what he was hearing. He was frozen for a split second, but then he shot to his feet. -Get me someone who speaks human, right now!-
There was a scramble as they looked for someone, and finally a young Ailian lieutenant rushed to the communications terminal. He put on the headset that the senior communications officer had been wearing and listened for a moment. When he looked up again, his face was a mixture of confusion and glee.
-The captain of the carrier is talking to me,- the lieutenant reported. His tail was windmilling the air madly behind him in his excitement. -He says he's the commander of the United Nations Expeditionary Fleet, and that they were sent by order from Cerelis. They've come with our Tenth Fleet, and they say they're here to help. They're asking for our targeting data!-
Te'rou's jaw dropped open as he processed what the lieutenant was telling him. His legs felt weaker than ever, and he sank into his chair, lightheaded and shaking. He covered his eyes with his hands as the biggest wave of relief he'd ever felt washed over him. Then he felt the fire of eagerness for battle rising up again, and he let himself smile.
-Ask the humans what took so long,- Te'rou said, allowing himself a laugh. -And then start transmitting everything we have. We might win this battle after all.- He closed his eyes and sighed heavily as his crew began to cheer.
- 10 -
“All fighters, prepare to launch on command from the deck officer.”
The commander of the 27
th
Fighter Squadron, known amongst the armed forces as the “Black Falcons”, adjusted his controls and made one final check of his gauges. His fuel levels were at maximum, his shields and armor were in fighting order, and he had a full load of weapons. The colonel was at the controls of a one-man fighter, sleek and streamlined with forward-swept wings, the space- and atmosphere-capable F-66 Raptor III. The fighter was a few years out of date, like a lot of weaponry in human arsenals these days, but its internal bays carried ten high-explosive guided missiles and two recessed gun mounts held one charged particle cannon and one rotary cannon each. The particle cannons were designed for the vacuum of space, but no human had yet invented a weapon as lethal and accurate in atmosphere as the old-fashioned six-barreled 20mm cannons. Loaded with tungsten-jacketed, uranium-cored rounds, the guns and the fighter they were mounted on had both been top-of-the-line five years prior, designed specifically for the purpose of ripping through Ailian fighters and armor. Today they'd be given that task yet again, though with a very different goal in mind.
“This is the deck officer. All pilots and weapons officers, you're receiving new data now. Pay attention to your targeting data. Friendlies and enemies are mixed in out there. Let's not fire on anyone who isn't asking for it. Keep your assignments in mind.” There was a brief pause, and the colonel tensed up. “All fighters, launch, launch, launch.”
The colonel keyed up his radio on his squadron's frequency. “Falcon Lead to squadron, punch out as soon as the path is clear.” He throttled his engines, waiting for the carrier bay exit in front of him to clear out, and then he led the way for his pilots. Eleven F-66s followed after him as he roared out of the bay into space. He gave a quick look around him. The massive carrier was behind his fighter, and all of its bays were boiling over with human fighters and other craft of every imaginable variety. Turning his head for a quick assessment of everywhere else, he saw numerous human and Ailian vessels, as well as those of the Nuretans and the Pteryd. This was his first time seeing any of the latter two species' ships in person. The heads-up display in his helmet marked each ship he looked at as either friendly or enemy, like normal. What wasn't normal was that this time a lot of alien ships were marked as “friendly”, and a lot of human ships were marked as “enemy”.
“This is a clusterfuck if I ever saw one, boss,” one of his younger, more freely-tongued pilots commented on the squadron frequency.
“Yeah,” the colonel agreed. He put his eyes forward. His squadron's assignment, like several others, was to link up with Ailian and Nuretan fighters and break the atmosphere of the desert planet down below to support ground operations. He swiveled his head around to find where he was supposed to be, and his sharp eyes quickly located a route to take through the ever-intensifying battle. He switched to a broader radio frequency. “Black Falcons, Edelweiss, Schwarzblitz, on me.” The other two names he called out belonged to squadrons which were German in nationality, unlike his American one, and they were equipped with newer, faster EF-5000 Hurricane two-man interceptors. Their commanders, under his authority for this operation, acknowledged his order and formed their squadrons up with his.
The colonel's radar pinged, and he looked back over his shoulder as best as he could. Two additional squadrons of fighters, larger models than any of theirs, were coming up fast behind him. He had a moment of panic until his heads-up display reminded him that the Ailian craft were friendlies this time. The data took a moment to load, but they were identified as XF-867 and XF-869, the human equivalents of the numerical designations for the Ascendancy squadrons they belonged to. He had faced fighters like them before in battle, but as crazy as it seemed to him, they would now be flying together as allies. He only hoped that the language barrier wouldn't be too big an issue; he knew only a few words of Ailian and he presumed they knew just as little of his language. As he watched, a third squadron of the vaguely aquatic-looking Nuretan fighters joined the group, too.
“Alright, boys,” he said. Despite the fact that many of the pilots in their group were women, and that he knew the vast majority of the Ailian pilots would be as well, that bit of soldier lingo had remained unchanged for centuries. “Hot and fast, make for the planet. Outer wing pairs, do your best to keep the enemy off of us. Command will transmit our targets to us as we descend. Let's get to it.” He opened his throttle all the way and made good on his words, diving for Lirna as the seventy-odd ships with him did the same.
******
Aria was decidedly not having a good time. She was trying to keep her cool while some of the Nuretan Imperial Marines were going into a panic, and a few of her Royal Guards weren't far behind them. The transports they'd ridden almost the whole way to the palace were in flames now, some of them hit by multiple shots from the rebel walkers, and their assembled forces were scattered among the buildings, grabbing cover wherever they could. The Ascendancy naval troopers were attempting to get clear shots at the enemy walkers with their anti-armor weapons, but they were having difficulty finding the opportunity to do so. Whenever any of them poked their heads out from behind cover, they were subjected to a barrage of fire from the swarm of Pteryd airships. The troopers had managed to take down two of the walkers, but that still left four which were undamaged and fully capable of making things a nightmare for them. They had the option of retreating, but that would have meant exposing their backs to the walkers, and Aria liked that prospect about as much as she liked the idea of turning away when their objective was in sight. She was determined to get inside the royal palace. She had come too far to turn back now.
-Captain Me'lia, we aren't going to last very long at this rate,- General Soumaren said over the radio. She was with a squad of her marines and a few of the naval troopers near Aria's position, inside one of the tall buildings. They'd made a break for it once the walkers had spotted their group, and had taken a few losses getting inside, but now they had a relatively safe location from which to observe the enemy. That was more than Aria could say for herself. She was hunkered down with Lieutenant Ayalis and two other Royal Guards, behind a chest-high wall that offered decent protection against small arms and the guns on the airships. Aria was all too aware of the fact, however, that the walkers would have no problem blasting her to pieces if they figured out she was hidden there.
-We need reinforcements,- Aria radioed back. -And we need armor support. Can we get some of our air assets in the area to help us out?-
-That's negative,- the general responded regretfully. -They're all occupied supporting other areas of the conflict, and they can't break away. The Pteryd are flooding the skies with airships and our forces are having trouble holding airspace as it is.-
Aria snarled in frustration. -Well there has to be something we can do! The Empress is counting on us! We can't just roll over and wait to die here.-
-We should pull back.-
-If we pull back, we might lose this chance!- Aria protested. -And who knows if we'll ever get it again? I am not leaving my sister and my mate to die here!-
She poked her head up over the wall to see what she could. Two of the walkers were striding in her direction, though they hadn't seemed to have caught on to where she was just yet. She was a little more worried to see Pteryd soldiers on the ground, mixed in with Ailian rebels. The captain could see at least fifty in her field of vision, and there were certain to be more of them. If she had been the rebel ground commander, she would be preparing to sweep the nearby buildings to root them all out. They had precious little time to come up with a plan of action before they'd be overrun.
Just then, Aria's radio squawked and a voice came over the air. -Guard One, this is fleet command. You have incoming. Keep your heads down and prepare for some noise.-
Cursing, Aria kept her ears keen for what might be coming. After a few seconds, she could hear a rhythmic chopping sound over the chatter of gunfire surrounding her. She recognized it all too well: helicopters were coming nearer to them. She flattened herself to the ground behind the sheltering wall. Human helicopters were dangerous in their precision and speed, and she hoped that by remaining motionless she could avoid making herself a target for them. She turned her keen eyes up to the sky, waiting for them to appear.
She didn't have to wait long. The chopping grew louder, and then a formation of eight small attack helicopters came around a building five blocks behind them, flying low and fast as they followed the road straight towards where Aria and her soldiers were hiding. She thought she had a good chance of hitting them with her weapon if she aimed carefully, and the heavy rounds her weapon fired might actually cause some damage, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take the risk of giving away her location. As she watched the single-rotor craft get closer, she saw fiery puffs on their stubby wings and knew they were launching missiles.
-Incoming!- Aria called out. -Brace yourselves!- She clutched her rifle tightly, waiting for them to get a little bit closer before chancing a shot back at them. Her eyes tracked the paths of the missiles as they streaked closer to her. At the last second, she gritted her teeth and waited for the explosions she was sure would be going off around her.
To her surprise, the missiles overshot her completely. She whipped her head around to see where they were going, and was astonished to see the missiles strike the walkers that were bearing down on her. The projectiles impacted the sides of the cockpits, where the armor was thinner, and punched through, several of them detonating inside the two-legged hulks. Then her ears were flattened by the wash of the helicopters' rotors as they flew over her head. Six of them peeled off from the formation and gained altitude, heading up towards the Pteryd airships. While the airships were heavily armored and armed, they were sluggish in comparison to the nimble single-pilot helicopters, who began firing rockets at the alien fliers with uncanny precision. The remaining two human craft flared and began sideslipping. Hanging underneath their noses were two-barreled gun turrets, and those opened up on the rebel foot soldiers on the ground, shell casings raining down as they peppered the enemy with well-aimed fire. The line of soldiers began to fall back, returning fire ineffectually as they scattered in confusion. Aria was just as dumbfounded as they were, and she tried to understand why the humans would have turned on their allies like that.
-What's going on?- Lieutenant Ayalis asked her. She had her head up now, watching the scene, and even as she asked that there came a screaming roar as a flight of human fighters came shooting over the tops of the buildings. They joined the helicopters in going after the Pteryd airships, and before long it was a fully-involved aerial battle, while the walkers still standing on the ground began moving for shelter from missiles being fired at them periodically.
-I'm not sure...,- Aria responded. -But I think we should take this chance and get some better cover. On me!- She got to her feet and made a break for the building where General Soumaren was holed up, with her soldiers close on her heels. They had just made it inside when the sound of another helicopter, different from the ones before, reached her ears. Aria turned to look out the open door as it set down in the middle of the nearest intersection. This helicopter was larger than the others, obviously some kind of troop transport, and a side hatch slid open as soon as its wheels hit the pavement. Three humans stepped out. One of them was a male dressed in dark blue fatigues, another in a mottled brown-and-green camouflage pattern, and the third a woman dressed in a drab green.
Lieutenant Ayalis came up to Aria's side, her sniper rifle tucked in to her shoulder. -Should I fire, Captain?- she inquired.
-No, don't,- Aria said warily. The blue-clad human was in the lead, and he spotted her standing in the open doorway. They locked eyes for a moment, and then the trio began jogging towards them. She kept her weapon at the ready, but from their stance and the way they seemed unconcerned about her, she didn't think they had hostile intentions in mind. For the moment.
As they got closer, Aria could tell that they were not used to being on the planet, which reasonably ruled out the possibility that they were part of her mother's rebel group. All three of the humans were sweating heavily by the time they came up to her and Lieutenant Ayalis. Had they been on the planet for as long as the rebels had been in control, they surely would have been acclimated to the desert heat. All that really did for Aria, though, was raise the question of where exactly they had come from, if they weren't with the rebels. The male in the lead and the female seemed unfazed by Aria's intimidating appearance, though she towered above them and was heavily armed. The other male, the one in the mottled camouflage, gaped at her with his mouth slightly ajar. He seemed much younger than the other two, and perhaps he had not seen an Ailian up close before. The trio were all armed with battle rifles, but they had their weapons slung low in front of them rather than gripped in their hands. They clearly wanted to present as non-threatening an image as possible.
When the humans were close enough for their voices to be heard, the one in the lead opened his mouth. “I'm looking for General Kalma Soumaren,” he said.
Aria gripped her weapon more tightly. “You are?” she growled, baring her teeth at the human. He didn't flinch, which she regarded as highly impressive. Not many humans could look at a fully-outfitted Royal Guard officer without showing fear, but this one showed not a hint of trepidation.