Star Force: Aquatics (SF31) Read online

  “Blow apart whatever gets in the way, just start doing damage,” Carver ordered.

  “Powering up shield generators,” Tom commented unnecessarily, but there was little else to do at the moment. “Currents are cross. That’s going to eat up some distance.”

  “Get what you can,” the Commander said, encouraging him to stretch the shields to the breaking point in favor of extra range. If they did go down they’d have to reset and it’d waste time, but until they got within range they’d be wasting it anyway so there was little point in waiting.

  “17 is extending column,” Jess noted, referring to the other destroyer’s ID number. Only aquatics battleships received names, so all smaller manned craft got designators, with their destroyer tagged as A-7, meaning it was the 7th produced on planet. Other worlds would have copies of their designators, given that they didn’t transfer off planet very often, making almost all aquatics ships of this size local builds.

  “What are they going for?” Carver asked, seeing a tiny line extend out from A-17, followed by another from themselves a few seconds later.

  “Something closer,” Jess answered without being specific, for the trace didn’t match up with any particular ship.

  Both lines extended from the ships on the battlemap, then changed color starting near the destroyers and extending out as the shield columns widened from a pencil-width out into a waterless, airless vacuum corridor wide enough for the plasma to travel down without it touching the shield walls. That second color also indicated the positions they were capable of firing down, should a ship cross their lines, for the shields were set to automatically seal around any solid objects they came across rather than deflect them.

  Which is what the A-17 was doing. It stuck its shield column into the lizard lines at a shallow angle, cutting across the paths of all but the leading ships and waiting for one of them to run into it. The smaller sharks saw and dodged it easily, with the other ships attempting to do the same, though they weren’t so agile. One of the corvettes nicked the edge of the column with its cylindrical hull, immediately drawing a blue plasma streak from the destroyer.

  It traveled down the 3.4 kilometer length in a flash akin to a lightning strike, save for it was perfectly straight, and blasted into the armored hull, vaporizing the outer layer and pushing to the interior before the plume of plasma against the target broke through the very weak shields, given the range they were stretched, and brought the water in on itself, quelling any hope of an explosive radius.

  The shield matrix, detecting the breach, sent a ‘plug’ up the length in a heartbeat, pushing out the vaporized water spreading back up its length in the vacuum and clearing the firing line again, though it had to slow drastically to push back the liquid water at the end and reconnect with the corvette…though by that time the enemy had passed out of the column, so it extended on past the point of attack and stretched out the ‘trip line’ to the far side of the lizard formation as the rest of the enemy ships, with more forewarning, diverted around it.

  The A-7’s shield column passed over it by 75 meters, heading almost straight up the lizard lines, running into one of the flat frigates as it rose up to miss the other destroyer’s column. Tom sent a plasma blast straight into it, then two more as the column cycled and resealed, though on different portions of the hull as its momentum moved the point of impact. By the fourth cycle the way cleared and the column stretched out even further, leaving the enemy frigate with three hull breaches to contend with.

  A shark got in the way and was toasted in a single shot, then a hammerhead which Carver was glad they hit, taking out a slew of its plasma nodes that it would undoubtedly be trying to ram either the destroyers or the freighters with, then the way cleared and the column reached all the way back to the light destroyer that was trying to move aside.

  “Gotcha,” Tom said, pumping the first plasma lance down the pipe and hitting the large ship’s hull with a satisfying damage plume popping up on sensors…but then the ship began to rotate out of line, looking like they were only going to be able to get one or two more shots on it at best.

  “Stay with it,” the Commander ordered.

  “Don’t know how much play we’ve got,” Tom said, mentally crossing his fingers. He continued pumping the trigger as fast as the computer would allow him to, but at the same time he used the controls to move the shield column laterally…which was usually a bad idea, because the amount of water that would have to be pushed out of the way would drain additional energy out of the shields, threatening their integrity.

  To minimize that Tom only nudged them a little, watching the strain meter. If a little targeting drift gave them another shot it’d be worth it, but there was no way they were going to be able to keep the shield column on the target at this range. If they’d had the power of a mark 5 tower with their large plasma cannons/shield columns then they could have managed more movement, but they only had the medium variety, and that alone required a huge energy drain on the ship’s power core.

  Carver watched as the light destroyer got hit again and again…then it moved out of line to the right, as well as dropping in altitude.

  “Let it go,” he ordered. “Focus on mid-range targets. Split them up so we can deal with them piecemeal.”

  “They’re not charging ahead,” Jess warned. “They’re sticking to formation, so we might not have that option.”

  “See if you can change their mind.”

  “On it,” Tom said as the other destroyer’s shield column suddenly reached out and touched the light destroyer at its new location, prompting a grin to stretch across Carver’s face.

  “Tag team,” he whispered, seeing the enemy ship take several more hits.

  The long range shooting gallery continued on for several more minutes, with the Star Force destroyers picking off six vessels…then the lizards figured they were close enough and broke ranks, sending their sharks on ahead while launching torpedoes of their own towards the A-7, completely ignoring the other destroyer.

  “Looks like we’re popular,” the Commander commented. “Standby PDM, ready offensive torpedoes and spitters.”

  Kevin nodded, assuming control of the extra light plasma cannons used for short range defense, given that there wasn’t a need to maneuver the ship right now so long as they were playing battle station. The destroyer had 4 spitters in total, spread around the ship so that at least one could cover every angle. It was possible to hit a shark with one of them, but not likely. They’d use their torpedoes for that, but if the larger lizard ships came close enough to grapple with them the spitters would make them pay for it.

  “Here we go,” Carver commented as the fireworks started. “Keep the fight here. Focus on disabling, not destroying. We can clean up later, right now we have to keep them away from the transports.”

  Rena’s hologram popped up again. “We’re coming across ahead of you, then turning and paralleling them. We’ll pick up what you drop. Try not to shoot us, please.”

  “You can’t outrun the sharks,” he reminded her.

  “The transports aren’t completely unarmed. They can swat down a few gnats, it’s the big ones we have to knock down.”

  “Permission to cross granted,” Carver said sarcastically, then watched as the friendly destroyer eeked its way out in front of them and dove into the lizards in slow motion…except for Carver saw it as fast, given the amount of time he’d been in the aquatics division. Aerial combat thoroughly confused his mind, given the insane speeds they operated at. He’d completely converted over to the physics of water combat and knew that he destroyer was actually moving in quite fast, using its narrow hull design to cut through the water like a thick knife.

  It reached out with its shield column at short range, dragging it through the water and draining an insane amount of energy out of it in the process, but given it didn’t have to extend more than half a kilometer the maneuver was feasible and it pounded a nearby hammerhead mercilessly, adding to it with a couple of spitt
ers. Simultaneously the ship launched wave after wave of offensive torpedoes out against multiple targets while defending against incoming torpedoes with hoards of PDM acting as intercepts.

  The water around the destroyer roiled with turbulence, steam, and muted explosions…with the battlemap updating the damage it was unleashing, as well as receiving. By the time it came out the opposite side and turned into the same direction the lizards were traveling its shields had gone down and multiple hull damage points were tagged on the hologram, but none were breaches, though more torpedoes were coming its way and trying to take advantage of the downed shields.

  It spat out more PDMs to knock them down, as well as shooting out another shield column and tagging a flanking frigate, who couldn’t escape given the shorter range and the fact that both ships were traveling in the same direction, meaning its momentum offered it no dodging advantage. It tried to turn away but couldn’t in time, with repetitive plasma salvos coring into its hull and depriving it of power through internal damage.

  “Our turn,” Carver said as the sharks began to zip around them, some firing minnows and others just trying to get past so they could head for the transports. Those trying to go around were giving the destroyer a wide berth, which required offensive torpedoes having to be fired to intercept them. Carver watched their speedy tracks on the battlemap, satisfied when they intercepted and destroyed their targets one after another, though he hated wasting the larger ordinance on the tiny ships.

  Before long the water around the destroyer was lit up in blue as the spitters began firing on the corvettes that were trying to get within ‘pinching’ range of the hull. They worked over the targets one by one, based on their proximity, with the main plasma cannon helping out when it could. Torpedoes were used as a last resort, and many did have to be expended to keep the enemy off the hull as the A-17 passed them by and left the main hoard to their guns…but then the lizards changed tactics, and rather than trying to get some ships by the destroyer, they adjusted their side slipping courses and angled directly for it, intent to wipe it out first, then go after the convoy.

  “Oh shit,” Jess said as she worked the torpedo and PDM controls.

  “Calm yourself,” Carver said stoically. “We want to draw their attention away from the transports…just not this much. Reverse course, give us some more closure time for targeting, best speed.”

  “Reversing,” Kevin acknowledged, taking a moment away from the spitters to reverse the jet engines and get them moving backward, adding a bit of anti-grav on top of it. As they accelerated all the computer calculated ETAs for the approaching vessels began to lengthen on the battlemap.

  Rena’s hologram popped up again. “Hold on, Carver. We’re circling back. Didn’t think they’d be this game for a fight.”

  “They’re always full of surprises,” the Commander said, taking control of one of the spitters while Kevin was busy with the helm. He used it to shoot another corvette coming in, lighting up the bridge ‘window’ holographic view ahead of them with a blue lightning strike into the cavity in enemy ship where one of its forward claws had just extended from. While the Star Force destroyer had thick armor plating, there were several points on the hull that the lizard ship could get a grip on, and it had enough compression power to punch through their adamantium armor.

  A torpedo shot out from the hull below the ‘window’ and streaked up into the corvette, literally punching it in the face and visually knocking it back a bit while two more spitters reached out and tagged it with plasma…after which it began listing, unpowered and out of the fight, or so they hoped.

  Carver tagged it with another spitter for good measure, then let Kevin reassume control as their backwards path was now set into the helm’s autopilot. The carnage ahead of them continued, with the torpedo and especially the PDM count in their armory dropping perilously low. Enough scattered torpedoes were getting past their intercepts that portions of their forward shields had gone down and power from others was being shifting around to regenerate them faster.

  Just as their hull began to take a beating from more hits the A-17 came up underneath them and drifted out ahead, firing up at the underside of the stingray frigate’s wide silhouettes with both plasma and torpedoes, distracting a good portion of the incoming weaponsfire away from the A-7.

  Carver blew out the breath. “Helm forward,” he ordered, knowing they needed to stay close to their sister ship. “Hold it together, people. A few more minutes and we’ll be through the worst of it.”

  That prediction didn’t hold entirely true, for ‘a few minutes’ turned into more than an hour of pitched fighting before the incoming hoard thinned, for more ships had continued to enter sensor range behind the damaged light destroyer that eventually made its way into the fray. By the time it got up to the pair of destroyers most of the rest of its fleet was already drifting about as semi-operational rubble, blocking the straight on firing lines and requiring the hundreds of minnows it launched to swim evasive routes to get to their targets.

  Both destroyers shot down what they could with their remaining PDM, but they were soon depleted and they had to resort to taking the small missiles impacts on what was left of their shields and the hull as the enemy ship extended its defense ‘trees’ and sat in place, spitting out more and more minnows until the destroyers double teamed it with their primary plasma cannons and pounded it into submission, eventually triggering an internal explosion that cracked the ship in two.

  That left a few dozen smaller ships to deal with, but they were dropping fast given the attention the medium plasma cannon on each ship was giving them. The A-17 managed to get a lizard corvette attached to its left ‘wing’ where it dug in and began slicing up the hull piece by piece, conveniently tucked where a spitter battery couldn’t get at it, nor did they have any offensive torpedoes or PDM left to knock it off with.

  Fortunately its sister ship was there, and with some fancy maneuvering from both destroyers, the attached corvette was brought into the A-7’s targeting range, which latched a shield column onto the clawed ship and burnt it off the hull while both ships’ other weapons finished off the remainder of the lizard fleet…with a few strays having turned off and taken after the now distant convoy.

  “Kevin, how we set for speed?” Carver asked, surveying the damage statics on his chair’s hologram. The hull was pot-marked with various levels of blasted armor, but the interior breaches numbered only 2, and were both minimal. He had the other 2 crew members not assigned to the bridge working on sealing them up, but there was nothing they could do about the exterior damage while they were moving.

  “Just a limp,” the helmsman answered metaphorically. “Shall I get us underway?”

  “Go,” Carver said, getting Rena back on the holographic comm. “We’re going after the ones that slipped by. You’re chewed up worse than us, what kind of speed have you got?”

  “We won’t be able to keep up with that chunk out of our hull. The convoy will be station 4 before we can catch up to them. We’ll stay here and pound the wreckage while we make repairs. One of their torpedoes made it inside and made a mess of deck 3. Luckily the armory was empty.”

  “Alright, we’re getting underway now. Good luck,” Carver said, knowing that there could be more lizard fleets roaming out beyond their limited sensor range.

  “Likewise, Commander,” Rena said formally, then signed off.

  “You want me to head aft and lend them a hand?” Tom asked.

  “Go,” Carver said, toggling the hologram as his crewman walked past him and went to help with the repair efforts. The battlemap before him expanded out to include Manaan and the battle still ongoing there…with a lot more ships in play than there had been before.

  “Damn,” he commented, prompting Jess and Kevin to glance back.

  “They’re under siege,” Kevin said, aghast. Two more defense towers were gone, and multiple lizard fleets were encircling the city, with another one coming in from the edge of what was left of their
sensor range. Both battleships were now tucked inside the fence and exchanging fire with ships outside it, targeting through the gaps.

  “I’m glad we’re not there,” Jess said, a mixture of worry and relief on her face.

  “I know we don’t have much left, but…” Kevin began.

  “No, we have a duty to do,” Carver reminded them. “If Kyler wanted us back he’d tell us. Focus on the convoy, there may be more enemy ships headed after it. We need to get to station 4 and bolster their defenses, we might be in for another fight there...and if they have to evacuate the city they’ll do it by air. We’ll be of no help to them on the outside, as much as I’d like to try.”

  “Copy that,” Kevin acknowledged.

  Jess nodded her agreement and both crewers turned back to their stations.

  Carver kept his eyes on the battlemap, zooming in to Manaan and watching the carnage occurring there while trusting his crew to keep an eye on the immediate area.

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