Three Square Meals Ch. 033

Jade pressed a button, switching weapon fire to manual, and then stopped her dodging and let rip with all six gatling lasers on the leftmost bomber. Seconds later the bomber spiralled out of control as one of the wings was cut off cleanly and it yawed away to port. She began to duck and weave again, but her momentary pause had cost the shields dearly. A quick glance at the shield strength display, showed that they were now down to 37%. Even more alarming was that the bombers were rapidly approaching torpedo launching range, and there were still two left for her to eliminate.

Repositioning her gunship to target the next one, she opened up with all her gatling lasers, firing the two shoulder mounted laser cannons as well. The bomber exploded in a bright orange explosion when the laser blasts hit, scattering shimmering green debris in a wide radius. Red warning lights began to flash, signifying that her shields were out, and she rolled the gunship to the side, completing two full rotations before she was lined up with the last bomber. She noticed the torpedo launching bay was now open on the enemy ship, and she opened fire with everything she had, gritting her teeth as plasma bolts lashed into the Raptor, melting long burning gouges through her armour. The gunship rocked with an explosion as the starboard Gatling laser was hit and blown apart, but her returning fire ploughed into the Kintark bomber and cored straight through, before blowing out the cockpit, and instantly killing the crew.

Jade slumped back in her chair, and blew out a sigh of relief, a happy grin on her face. She was sure Dana wouldn't be happy about the damage to the gunship, but she felt a surge of elation that the transports, and all those people onboard, were now safe. She was about to contact the transports to tell them they were clear, when a warning claxon sounded out, alerting her to an enemy ship gaining a missile lock on her. She instinctively cranked the Raptor up to full speed and began to dodge, before being able to spare a few seconds to glance at her tactical map to see what was happening.

In her haste to engage the bombers, Jade realised she hadn't noticed a wing of Kintark fighters that had raced to the bombers defence. The Raptor trembled from enemy weapon impacts, and she winced as damage control showed plasma hits to the rear of the gunship. These fighters might have got there too late to save the bombers, but she realised they now seemed eager to get their revenge on her!

***

The Invictus bore down on the last bomber wing, intercepting the six Kintark attack craft that had targeted the gas mining stations and refineries. With the change of positioning to launch the Raptor, they were coming in at a much steeper attack angle against the bombers, and with much less time to take them down.

"We're only going to get one shot at this," Alyssa warned Calara. "Once we overshoot, by the time I bring us around to follow them, they'll be in firing range on the refineries."

"I've got it, don't worry," Calara said confidently, looking through the holographic targeting matrix at the wing of bombers. Although the bombers were far too small a target for the targeting computer to be able to lock on with the massive beam lasers, the brunette lined them up manually, narrowed her eyes as she concentrated, and then unleashed their devastating firepower. Three of the bombers were instantly vaporised by the coruscating orange beams, and she immediately switched the fire selector to laser cannons while the beam lasers were cooling down.

"You shouldn't have been able to do that!" Dana said in surprise, after watching the Latina using her incredible marksmanship to take out the relatively tiny bombers with the main laser batteries.

"We're in a hurry, and it's faster this way," Calara replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

John chuckled in amazement, and Calara turned off the holographic targeting grid, deactivating the distracting "No target" warning message that kept flashing repeatedly. She then began to manually fire the twelve front facing laser cannons, and a cascade of laser bolts ripped apart the remaining bombers, long before the Invictus had even closed within range to use the Gatling lasers.

"So much for needing the defence grid for bombers!" Alyssa laughed, as she brought the Invictus around to head off the dropships. Her laughter died as she looked at the dropships, and calculated how long it would take to intercept them.

"What's wrong?" John asked her, sensing her disquiet.

"The dropships have sped up, we aren't going to be able to catch them in time!" she replied in alarm.

"They must be burning out their engines to get there before we catch them," Dana nodded grimly. "I'll divert more power to engines too, but we'll only be able to do that for ten seconds or we risk a burnout."

"We can't afford to get stranded here, this warzone is too hot. Give us increased thrust for ten seconds!" John ordered the redhead.

"Done," she said as she flipped off the safeties on the energy distribution hologram, and pushed more power to the main engines. The Invictus charged forward, as though desperate to get to grips with the marauding dropships.

The Kintark dropships were sharply angular craft, covered in the same green iridescent plating as the Bombers had been. They raced towards Port Medea, flying recklessly fast as their engines glowed white hot with the strain. When the dropships got within range, the Port Medea defence grid opened up, showering the enemy ships in a curtain of laser fire. Unfortunately their armour plating was thick, and their shields strong, so only one of the incoming dropships was destroyed by the orange coloured laser fire. Another one of the dropships spontaneously exploded, the rippling detonation coming from the rear of the ship, as the overloaded engines finally ruptured under the strain. The rest of the dropships finally reached their target, and then split up, moving to board the space port from different entry points.

"We can't let that many land, the garrison troops will stand no chance. Calara can you take any out?" John asked her urgently.

"I can't risk using beam lasers, the beams will punch through any dropship I destroy, and hit the station," the brunette explained. "Head for the top of the spaceport Alyssa, we'll have to give up on the others, but I might be able to get those top two before they dock."

Alyssa nodded, and made a course correction that would bring them in on a beeline for the hangars at the top of the station. The hangar bays were the type that had no outer doors, and were oxygen sealed by force fields. The Kintark dropships raced in on their final approach, travelling far too quickly for a safe landing, but desperate to escape from the incoming assault cruiser. Calara opened up with the laser cannons, causing one of the dropships to explode in a shower of green metallic debris, but just crippling the engines on the other one. The dropship barrelled into the hangar, carried forward by its initial momentum, before slamming into the far wall and shearing in half against a protruding bulkhead. The shattered ship fell to the floor in two pieces.

"What now?" Alyssa asked John curiously.

"We suit up and go rescue our interviewee, we've got a vacancy to fill," John said with a smile.

"Jade's in trouble!" Calara said in alarm, as she stared up at the tactical map. "She's got fighters all over her!"

John's smile dropped immediately. "Dana, drop us off anywhere big enough for the Invictus to dock. When we've disembarked, you two will have to go rescue Jade."

"You got it!" Dana said fiercely, and took over flight control of the assault cruiser.

He rose to his feet and vaulted over his console, landing lightly before he ran to the debriefing room on the other side of the bridge. Alyssa was hot on his tail, and the two of them darted into the room to get geared up for combat.

"Dana, look over there!" Calara exclaimed. "There's a docking collar on that refuelling arm, we can easily fit the Invictus alongside that."

The redhead nodded eagerly, and brought the assault cruiser around to the middle of the spaceport. She nudged the ship closer with the careful use of retrothrusters, until the ship's airlock was positioned against the docking collar. She activated the docking clamps, securing them tightly in position, just as John and Alyssa strode out of the debriefing room, now clad from head to toe in glistening black Phalanx armour.

John slammed a clip home in his railgun, then checked to make sure the ammo counter on the weapon read 250/50, indicating that the sabot magazine was securely in place as well. He activated external audio with the optical GUI, as he jogged over to the grav-tube.

"Put me through to Rachel please, then get clear as soon as we give the signal. It's up to you two to save Jade now, but stay safe!" he ordered them sternly, but his concern filtered through regardless.

"The same to you guys!" Calara exclaimed, as she watched them leave.

"Don't get hurt!" Dana called out to them, and they nodded to her as they disappeared out of sight down the grav-tube.

An image of Calara's beautiful face appeared in the top left of John's graphical interface inside his helmet. "Putting you through now, John," she warned him, before her face disappeared and was replaced by a panic stricken Rachel.

"Oh god, we're being boarded!" Rachel cried out in alarm, as she stared at the viewscreen with wide eyes. Behind her, terrified junior medics could be seen running past her bunk as they tried to get to safety.

"Stay calm, we're coming to rescue you," John ordered her in a firm voice. "Where is the medics dorm in the space station?"

"Lower decks, near the centre." Rachel told him.

"It's not safe for you there, get up to the top of the space station right now and hide! We'll be with you as soon as we can," he told her curtly, as he and Alyssa jogged up to the airlock that separated the Invictus from Port Medea.

Rachel nodded, a determined look set on her pretty face, and she darted away, not bothering to turn off the comm channel.

Alyssa had activated their airlock using the DNA reader, and once they had stepped inside, John attached his decryption device to the spaceport airlock, which spiralled open a few moments later. He retrieved the device and then closed the Invictus airlock behind him, while Alyssa hit the button that closed the spaceport airlock as well.

John opened a channel to the Invictus bridge. "We're clear Dana, remember what I told you!" he said firmly as the image of the feisty redhead appeared in the GUI.

"Stay safe, we know," her amused chuckle came back to him over the comm channel, and she waved him goodbye. "We love you both!"

John blew her a kiss, then ended the channel. "Let's see if we can link up with station defences and help repel the boarding action," he said to Alyssa decisively.

"You got it," she replied confidently, before glancing at his back as he began to run down the corridor. "No sword today?" she added inquisitively, before following after him.

"I made a promise to a beautiful woman, that I wouldn't use it again until I knew what I was doing," he replied playfully.

"Well let's just hope the Kintark don't love melee combat as much as the Drakkar did," she said with a laugh.

***

Jade jinked and weaved her gunship, but despite her phenomenal piloting skills, the Kintark fighters were just too nimble for her to shake. She glanced at the tactical map to make sure there was nothing else chasing the transports, and then turned the Raptor so that she was racing away in the opposite direction from the fleeing Terran ships, bringing the entire wing of Kintark fighters chasing after her.

The gunship shuddered again as it was hit once more by incoming plasma fire. The shots didn't punch through her armour thankfully, but she didn't know how much longer it would hold out. The nymph reactivated the auto-targeting on the turrets, and while she just concentrated on dodging, the port and spinal Gatling lasers opened fire, sending an unending stream of orange laser bolts at the pursuing fighters. The shots caught a Kintark fighter pilot by surprise, and his fighter was slashed by laser fire, melting through the canopy and killing the lizard pilot in an explosive decompression. Unfortunately his five wingmen were eager for blood, and Jade had to dodge frantically to avoid their returning fire.

The comm interface flashed, showing an incoming call from the Invictus.

"I'm kinda busy at the moment guys," she said through gritted teeth, as she executed a series of extremely high G turns.

"Come about on a heading of 040," Dana said urgently, "We're on our way!"

Jade nodded, too busy to speak in reply, and yanked the stick back to perform a course changing Immelmann. She cursed when the Raptor got hit again as she pulled up, the Kintark pilot's carefully aimed shot stitched deadly plasma fire across the top of the gunship, and disintegrated the upper spinal Gatling laser turret. Down to only two turrets that could still fire back, her reduced laser fire still managed to clip a chasing fighter in the engine, slashing through the thinner armour at this unusual firing angle, and punching deeper into vital components. There was a minor explosion, and the fighter began to fall behind, as black smoke began to gout from the heat exchangers.

Jade levelled out the gunship, and now headed directly for the Invictus, which was racing to her rescue. Sirens blared in the cockpit, warning of an incoming missile, and she savagely yanked the stick to the side, and activated flares. The missile slipped under the Raptor's hull, missing her by less than a metre as it rocketed past her, and then exploded with a bright green detonation, big enough to buffet the gunship.

"Let's just hope I can stay alive long enough for you to get here..." Jade muttered under her breath, as she focused intently on staying out of the fighters' gunsights.

***

John sprinted through the wide corridors into the deserted shopping district of the spaceport, with Alyssa following close behind in his wake. He could hear the unsettling sounds of piercing screams from just up ahead, and staccato exchanges of gunfire echoed eerily down the corridor. He burst out into a much larger plaza, and found himself standing on the second level with broad gantries sweeping around and above the open area beneath them, shops built into the curving walls around the edge. The shooting was coming from down below, and it looked like one of the Kintark boarding parties had fought their way into this retail zone.

He approached the railing to get a better vantage point, and saw that he was overlooking a pitched battle between heavily armed and armoured Kintark marines, and a small group of station security. The Terran troops were equipped with standard issue assault rifles and light tactical armour, and were hunkered down in a coffee shop, huddled behind overturned tables and the pockmarked counter.

Alyssa bounded up beside him, and ducked down at his side behind the railing as she got her first look at a Kintark warrior. *Hey! I thought you said they were only seven foot tall?* her surprised thoughts came to him, as she stared at the hulking lizardmen below, and in front of them. *They look a hell of a lot bigger than that!*

John shrugged helplessly, as his eyes darted from one bulky Kintark warrior to another. They were fanning out now, looking to try and flank the desperate group of Terran troopers who were fast approaching a last stand. A couple of the Lizardmen were firing long bursts with plasma guns, keeping the beleaguered defenders pinned behind cover. The bright green pulses of high energy plasma blasted steaming gouges out of the coffee shop counter, forcing the Terrans to keep their heads down, and stopping them from firing back at the rest of the approaching Kintark.

*They're dead unless we do something right now,* John thought to Alyssa, who simply nodded eagerly. *Start at the back and work forward, you take the left.*

As one, they leaned over the railing, and aimed at the two lizardmen at the back of the group, who were providing covering fire for their squadmates. John sighted the back of the Kintark warrior's mottled red head in his targeting reticle, the zoom on the scope allowing him to see the heavy armoured scales that protected its cranium. He pulled the trigger, and the railgun murmured "Prrrkow," as his three round burst slammed into the creature's head, and splattered its brains all over the tree it was standing behind. He moved quickly on to the next Lizardman to the right, lining up his shot and then decapitating it with another well aimed burst. He could hear the quiet purr of Alyssa's railgun to his side, as she dispatched one hostile alien after another, and they swept up the lines of advancing Kintark forces, silently devastating their squad before they even knew they were under attack.

After ten seconds with no supporting fire, one of the lizardmen on the right turned to look behind it to see what was happening, and was stunned to see his squad mate's head explode right in front of him. He spotted the telltale flash of weapon flares, noting that they came from a couple of sinister black armoured figures that lurked on the balcony above them, and he began to fire back wildly.

The carefully planned flanking manoeuvre turned into complete chaos as the pinned Terran forces were emboldened by the halt in suppressing fire. The bravest of the troopers poked his head above the counter and then shouted in alarm, causing the rest of his squad to rise up from cover, and open fire on the exposed Kintark warriors. A trooper who'd been huddled behind an overturned table, unloaded his auto-shotgun on a Lizardman at practically point blank range, hitting the alien with dozens of rounds at just over ten metres away, and sending it sprawling backwards from the gut wrenching impacts. "Eat that, you cold blooded bastard!" the man yelled victoriously, but his shotgun rounds were designed for unarmoured opponents, and although the Lizardman was knocked on his back, his lustrous green armour proved tough enough to protect him from injury.

The Kintark warriors darted for cover, hiding behind kiosks, hedgerows, and trees in the once pleasant plaza. They began to open fire on the Terran forces, not quite fully flanking them yet, but still exposing them to a deadly crossfire. Unfortunately for the Trooper with the shotgun, one of the Lizardmen from the other group took careful aim and shot him in the back. Bright green plasma fire seared through the man's torso, cutting off his scream as it burned out his lungs.

John and Alyssa fanned out, moving rapidly along the balcony on opposing sides, and vanishing out of line of sight of the one Kintark warrior who had spotted them. The Lizardman shouted a warning to his squadmates in a loud sibilant voice, but when they looked back they could see nothing on the balcony above, and assumed their colleague had snapped under combat stress.

*Let's finish this up,* John thought to Alyssa, and they reloaded their magazines in preparation. She responded instantly as soon as he acted, both leaning over the railings on opposite sides of the plaza, and raking the remaining Kintark forces with high velocity rounds, firing through the entire clip on full auto. Caught completely out of cover by fire coming directly above them, the lizardmen were ripped apart by their accurate shooting, and when the railgun magazines finally clicked as they ran dry, only a couple of Kintark soldiers still twitched and writhed below them.

After a quick reload, John and Alyssa finished any wounded lizardmen with headshots, and then moved steadily around the balcony to the ramps that would take them to the level below.