The white battlecruiser crept through space like a stalking Siberian tiger, moving ever closer to the herd of unsuspecting ochre-hued prey. The giant blue star at the heart of the Pi Sagittarii system cast its cool light over the closing ship, making it seem like night was falling on that wintry scene, the huge insectoid ships huddling together for warmth in the frozen dusk. Sections of the Invictus' armoured hull slid back, revealing a formidable array of heavy weaponry, but the broad barrels currently lay inert, as if trying not to scare away their jittery quarry. At the same time, broad doors at both the prow and amidships began to peel open, allowing the deadly vessels inside to launch into space.
John stood beside Faye in the Raptor's cockpit, watching through the crystal-clear canopy as the gunship glided clear of the battlecruiser's hull. His view of the Kirrix fleet was both impressive and daunting, the disturbingly alien spacecraft looming over his tiny 40-metre-long vessel. Each drone carrier looked eerily similar to a termite queen, albeit a monstrous mechanical reproduction of one, the bulbous segmented hull covered in yellowish-brown armour plating.
The Raptor was running on low power to keep the sensor profile at a bare minimum, which meant that most of the computer panels and consoles in the cockpit were currently dark. Even though it was impossible for the Kirrix to hear him, John couldn't help lowering his voice, speaking to his petite pilot in a hushed whisper. "Looks like Calara was right... I just see drone carriers out there."
"They're in protective high-orbit above the hive ships," Faye replied quietly, matching his volume. "We're picking up a mass of sensor contacts on Carolus III directly below this position."
John did a quick count of the enormous Kirrix capital ships. "I make it 32 carriers... they must have sent a huge number of hive ships."
"As soon as we initiate the active scan of the closest drone carrier, I'll power up the Invictus' sensor array and get you an accurate count," she offered helpfully.
He nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, take us down, Faye."
She banked the gunship hard to port and the nose dipped towards the planet below, the view from the cockpit a beautiful vista of clear blues and verdant greens.
"It looks so serene," Faye marvelled, big luminous eyes drinking in the spectacular sight.
John knew that appearances could be very deceiving. He could well imagine the horrors being inflicted on the civilian population of Carolus III, but he couldn't bring himself to ruin the moment for Faye. Very soon he'd be immersed in that nightmare and he found himself desperate to cling to the false sense of tranquillity for just a few moments longer.
***
Calara sat motionless in the Combat Bridge, watching as the Invictus coasted into position at the outer limit of scanning range. Faye engaged their retro-thrusters and they flickered in short bursts to bring them to a halt.
"Initiating active scan!" the purple sprite called out in warning, darting an anxious glance at the Latina. "Shall I power up all our systems?"
"Not yet," Calara replied, eyes fixed on the holographic representation of Carolus III and the swarm of sensor contacts lurking nearby. "It might still take them a minute to locate us..."
The seconds ticked by as the Invictus' sensors penetrated the Kirrix drone carrier's hull, detecting spikes in energy signatures and picking up teeming numbers of organic life. Faye stood by quietly, analysing every bit of data that returned, looking for very specific readings in that dense volume of information.
"No Terran life so far..." she murmured, brow furrowing with concentration.
Suddenly the engines at the rear of the drone carrier roared with an orange flame and the ochre capital ship began to pivot in their direction.
"Shields up!" Calara ordered, her hand moving in a blur over her Tactical Console as she brought all the guns online.
Faye blinked and the battlecruiser's shields surged into existence, appearing as a bright green oval around the ship on the damage control display. The Combat Bridge seemed to blaze into life as she activated all the ship's systems, consoles lighting up around them. "Ten more seconds to complete the scan!"
Calara gripped the two weapon controls, the smooth ergonomic contours designed to be a perfect fit for her hands. Lining up the targeting reticle on the nose of the ugly alien ship, she squeezed the trigger on the right, activating the Nova Lances. Vast amounts of energy were poured into the potent weapons, but with the new Zero-Point Regulators easing the power drain, there wasn't so much as a flicker in the brightly illuminated Bridge. A seething nimbus of incandescent light gathered on the prow, gradually building in intensity as the seconds ticked by.
The battlecruiser was a stationary target and when the Kirrix opened fire with a salvo from their forward Neutron Beam battery, they hit with all ten weapons. The fire converged at a single point, sickly green columns of energy lashing the Invictus' shields. However, instead of rippling waves of light appearing in that shimmering dome, there was merely a slight undulation, the beam weapons robbed of much of their strength.
Glancing at the shield status display, Calara couldn't help smiling with relief when she saw they had only dropped to 98%. The Brimorian Shield Generators made a dramatic difference in muting the effectiveness of enemy firepower and the newly installed shield matrix had almost doubled their previous shield capacity.
"It's clear!" Faye called out as the scan completed, her expression brightening with relief. "No Terrans aboard!"
Calara squeezed the trigger on her weapons control for a second time, unleashing the roiling orb of crackling energy that throbbed at the front of the ship. A brilliant beam of light struck the nose of the drone carrier, causing its shields to buckle in a blinding flash, completely overwhelming them with phenomenal firepower. The column then melted through armour and superstructure with impunity, taking only seconds to bore a 100m-wide tunnel through the length of the insectoid capital ship. When the Nova lance beam flickered out a few moments later, the alien vessel had been turned into a hollow tube, the interior glowing an angry orange from the heat of the blast.
She looked wide-eyed at the holographic targeting grid, studying the firing arcs of her weapons which had been redrawn since the upgrade. The cones for the Nova Lances still stretched out to triple the effective range of a standard Terran Beam Laser, but the new Tachyon Lances weren't far behind at double the length, despite the weapons only being a third of the size. The rest of the Kirrix fleet had begun to respond to their presence and Calara watched as the nearest drone carriers turned to engage, their attack vector bringing them into the overlapping fire arcs of the Tachyon Lances.
"Nothing like a live fire test on a battlefield," she said with a wry smile, before glancing at Faye. "Can you show me cam footage of the forward starboard Tachyon Lance on the topdeck please?"
"Here you go," Faye replied, walking down from the Command Podium to join the Latina. She projected the video on a holo-screen in front of the Tactical Console, showing the graceful barrel of the brand-new weapon as it swung to face the enemy ship.
