Three Square Meals Ch. 068

"Let me go after Lynton!" he urged the Fleet Admiral. "If my forces get bogged down with the Kintark, she'll slip away before we can neutralise the interdiction beacons!"

Buckingham shook his head, his face stern as he said, "Lynton's traitors haven't engaged yet. We need to address the immediate threat posed by the Kintark forces."

"As you command, Sir," Santini replied, somewhat petulantly.

Relative to the orbital plane of the Regulus system's largest sun, the Kintark were hitting the Terran fleet from both above and below. There were at least a hundred major vessels per Kintark attack group, and that didn't include their picket screen of destroyers, or the waves of strike craft. The Lizardmen's cruisers and battleships were striking at multiple locations along the Terran lines, but seemed to be holding back from a close range engagement. Caldwell knew instinctively that they were probing for weaknesses, and the Terran ships had responded to Buckingham's clear and decisive directions, forming battle formations to exchange barrages at extreme range.

Following Buckingham's orders, Admiral Weber and Admiral Mishra were positioning their forces to launch a counter strike to overwhelm and crush the lower Kintark group. Once those assailants had been smashed, they'd regroup and then converge on the second of the Kintark positions. Caldwell's force, spearheaded by "The Retribution of Zeus", was going to weather the storm from the upper Kintark group, while Santini was tasked with protecting the fleet of support ships.

Caldwell tapped out a long series of commands on his battle group interface, assigning new positions to each squadron of his ships. There was no hesitation from the Terran ships as they manoeuvred into their formations, his elite forces gliding smoothly through space as they responded to his orders.

Buckingham's plan was good, and with a little luck, they'd be able to turn this ambush back against their attackers. Edwin walked the Bridge in a self-assured manner, talking calmly to individual officers, and allowing himself a small, confident smile during those exchanges. He understood that the boost to morale this generated would filter across the fleet, his Bridge Crew providing a fine example of calm professionalism to any personnel that interacted with them. He turned to look at the Tactical Map once again, and it appeared that Lynton might have inadvertently gifted them with an opportunity for a devastating victory over the Kintark Empire.

***

Walking around his Command Platform at a slow pace, High Prelate Zorlin studied the unfolding battle with unblinking eyes. So far, the Terrans had not made any glaring errors that he could capitalise on, and he waited patiently, knowing just such an eventuality would soon present itself.

"High Prelate, we're being hailed by the Leenar'tohok again," his communications Sub-Prelate called to him, a slight note of exasperation appearing in his raised voice.

"Thank you, comrade. Pleassse put her through," Zorlin replied, glancing at the lower formation of Kintark ships in the Tactical hologram.

Grakira's forces were comfortably holding their own in the current stalemate, the plasma fire from her ships giving as good as they were receiving from the Terran beam attacks. He suspected he knew the purpose of her call, guessing that the female Kintark leader's patience was running out.

"My forcesss are eager to take the fight to the Terransss!" she blurted out as soon as her image appeared. "Are you ready yet, Zorlin?"

He shook his head firmly, and replied, "Not yet, Grakira. I would ssstrongly advissse caution until we can exploit a vulnerability in their linesss. The Terran forcesss ssshould not be underessstimated."

She ground her sharp teeth together in frustration, but Grakira was sensible enough to defer to his greater experience. Visibly calming herself, she replied, "It would be foolisssh to ignore your counsssel, Zorlin. I'd advissse hassste though, we're ssstill in Terran territory, and the longer the battle, the more chance ressserve forcesss will be able to intervene."

"Wissse wordsss indeed, Grakira. Fear not, we ssshall find our moment sssoon enough," he replied, meeting her questioning gaze.

They bowed to each other, and Grakira ended the call, pacified once more.

***

"So they're looking to destroy the Kintark piecemeal?" John asked the Latina, darting a glance at the Tactical Map, amazed that she was able to ascertain fleet strategy amongst that riot of shapes and colours.

She nodded, quite certain of herself as she replied, "Definitely. Buckingham's positioned two battle groups to hit the lower force of Kintark. They'll begin their counter-offensive shortly."

John leaned back in his Command Chair as he mulled over the best course of action. He was strongly conflicted in his choice, feeling an obligation towards the Terran Federation, but having no desire to recklessly charge into the middle of a major battle. The Invictus was a tremendously powerful ship, but even she wouldn't last long against that terrifying concentration of Kintark firepower, and he wasn't willing to put the girls at risk if he could help it.

Looking into Calara's brown eyes, he asked, "Where's your father's ship? Is he in any immediate danger?"

She shook her head, and pointed towards a large cluster of ships as she replied, "The Damocles is with what appears to be a reserve force, and they're protecting support vessels in the centre of the flotilla." The Latina's relieved smile ended her dispassionate composure as she added, "His ship hasn't taken any damage. He's safe."

"OK, that's great news," he noted, sharing her smile while staring at the Tactical Map again. Glancing at Alyssa, he asked, "How far out are we?"

"Thirteen minutes. We'll catch up much faster, now that Buckingham isn't going anywhere," she replied, bringing up the Sector Map above her console, displaying the glowing blue line that mapped their path through the stars. Pointing out their approach vector, she continued, "On our current course, we'll arrive at the rear of the Terran forces."

"Alright, we'll maintain our existing heading for the moment," John stated, turning to look at the Tactical Map again. A task force of Terran Federation ships some distance from the battle caught his eye, and he frowned as he added, "Those Terran vessels seem to be hanging back and waiting for something. Are they the traitor forces?"

"Yes, that's right," Calara replied, confirming his suspicions. She looked grim as she continued, "That massive ship is Lynton's dreadnought, the 'Thor's Hammer'."

Alyssa shot him a meaningful glance as she said, "The Tyrenium we sold to Charles helped build that ship."

Dana shared her concern, as she added in a hushed voice, "Yeah, they used it to make the Singularity Drivers..."

***

Gabrielle Lynton watched the repositioning of the Terran fleets, as the capital ships on both sides exchanged withering broadsides. She was a skilled strategist in her own right, and it didn't take her long to realise exactly what Fleet Admiral Buckingham was planning.

"Buckingham's repositioning his forces for a counterassault," she observed, speaking to the man seated beside her in his Executive Officer's chair.

Commander Nichols nodded, and his eyes darted to her console as he asked, "Are you going to warn the Kintark? Their second flotilla will get mauled if they aren't prepared for it."

Her hand flicked over to the comm interface, and she swiped through the list of contacts until she found the one she was looking for. "No, our allies can take care of themselves," she replied with an enigmatic smile. "There's someone else I need to speak with."

As she initiated the call, a message appeared on her communications panel, displaying "Secure Transmission," in bold red lettering. It took a few seconds to connect, and when it did, the startled face of Admiral Ricardo Santini appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Ricardo. You're looking well," she said to him, her tone playful.

His face flushed with anger as he snarled, "You two-faced, lying bitch! How dare you show your face after what you've done!"

She laughed at him dismissively, and said, "Ah Ricky, you always were a bit slow on the uptake. You never suspected for a moment, did you?"

Ricardo got redder as his temper flared, and he growled, "You're a deceitful snake. You fooled everyone."

Giving him a knowing grin, she trailed her fingers over her mouth watering cleavage as she teased him, "Or maybe you were always thinking with your little head? Perhaps that's why you were so easy to dupe. You never could take your eyes off my body..."

He flushed scarlet now, but it was with embarrassment this time. He protested a little too much as he snapped, "You think I'd be interested in you?! Don't flatter yourself, you fucking traitor!"

Gabrielle leaned forward, giving him a tantalising view down her low-cut blouse, and she purred, "It's alright, Ricky, I know why you're so angry. You're just jealous I seduced Leonard instead of you..." She made eye contact with him, and added, "Do you know why I chose him?"

Santini didn't reply, as he did his best to keep his eyes from straying from her face. Although he didn't admit it, why she'd chosen that stuffy bore, Leonard Norwood, was something he'd been curious about.

Her lip curled up into a satisfied smile when she saw his gaze flicker to her chest, and she said airily, "I did some asking around; spoke to that hot little Lieutenant Commander you had that affair with." She sneered then, crooking her little finger and wiggling it at him as she mocked him, "She said you weren't really up to the job!"

"Fuck you! You fucking whore!" Santini blazed, furious now. "You're fucking dead!"

"You haven't got the balls either!" she replied, laughing contemptuously. "Be a good dog and watch over the gas tankers. Buckingham knew you were too much of an imbecile to handle anything trickier than that!"

Santini screamed with rage, but before he could yell any more profanities at her, Gabrielle blew him a kiss, and cut off the comm channel abruptly.

"He's not going to fall for that, surely?" Commander Nichols asked her, shaking his head in disbelief.

She turned to glance at her second-in-command, and said calmly, "He's got a hell of a temper. You'd be amazed how irrational he gets if you wind him up enough."

***

"There it isss," High Prelate Zorlin said in a hushed voice, allowing himself a small smile of satisfaction as the opportunity he'd been waiting for presented itself.

He moved quickly now, striding over to the edge of the Command Platform, and grasped the surrounding balcony with both scaled hands. Staring at his communications Sub-Prelate, he announced, "Contact the Leenar'tohok, comrade, tell them it isss time."

"I will do ssso immediately, High Prelate," the comms officer replied, turning to contact the command vessel for the second Kintark fleet.

Zorlin could well imagine the overjoyed reaction that message would receive from High Prelate Grakira, knowing that she was eager to sink her talons into the Terrans. Leaning forward and gazing around the Bridge Pit, he began to snap off a series of sharp orders.

"Order the fleet to clossse to medium range while maintaining formation, and inform them to watch for my target desssignationsss."

"Launch our firssst wave of fightersss, and prep the sssecond wave for immediate launch."

"Contact the ressservesss, and order them to prepare for an imminent ssstrike on my command."

Standing upright once more, he surveyed his crew who moved in a flurry of activity as they rushed to obey his orders.

***

Edwin Caldwell was staring intently at his battle group interface as he rotated out ships from the front lines, allowing them time to recover their shields. Duelling at extreme range like this reduced the accuracy of incoming fire, greatly extending the durability of the vessels exchanging barrages. He'd lost one cruiser and three destroyers so far, in exchange for destroying one Kintark cruiser, and savaging a second. As his intention was to hold out for as long as possible, until Weber and Mishra had made their move, this low-impact sniping was playing directly into Terran hands.

"Admiral! Something's happening with Task Force four!" Commander Milton blurted out in shock.

Edwin glanced across at the Tactical Map, surprised by how unsettled his XO's sounded. One look at the holographic display told him exactly why.

"That fucking idiot!" he gasped, appalled by Admiral Santini's blatant insubordination.

Santini's dreadnought, The Sword of Sif, had peeled away from the defensive positions around the support fleet, taking two-thirds of that task force with it. The errant Admiral was leading his battleships, half his cruisers and his picket screen of destroyers and corvettes, on a beeline towards Lynton's group of traitors. All that was left was just over a dozen cruisers, along with the light and medium carriers, which left a gaping hole in their defensive lines.

"Kintark are launching strike craft!" his Pilot warned him, his voice trembling slightly.

Edwin's gaze shifted to the two Kintark attack groups, and saw swarms of new contacts pouring from their carriers. These much smaller vessels formed up into attack wings, then raced towards the Terran lines.

Glancing at his XO, Caldwell said, "Get us ready, they'll be attacking in moments. I need to warn Buckingham."

Giving him a curt nod, Commander Milton began barking orders, "Bring the Gauss Cannons, and Laser Cannons online, and launch all fighters! Bring the Zeus about to heading one-nine-five, we need to help cover the support vessels..."

Tuning him out, along with the frenzied activity on the Bridge, Caldwell contacted Buckingham, who answered him a second later, saying, "What is it Edwin?"

"We have a problem. It's Santini..." he replied, his voice taut with anxiety.

The Fleet Admiral glanced away for a second, then his features contorted in anger as he snapped, "What's that fool think he's doing?!"

***

Lieutenant Ryan Murphy grinned at his Commander as his flight group sprinted to their Rapier-class fighters. "Woohoo!" the young man yelled, cheering exuberantly. "It's time to kick some dragon ass!"

"Rein it in, Leprechaun," Commander Angela Summers replied, her voice stern and disapproving as she ran to her own fighter, but her answering grin was nearly as wide as his.

Murphy laughed as he climbed up the steps to his fighter, and pressed two fingers from his left hand to his lips, before placing them on the picture of a naked woman daubed on the side of his ship. The voluptuous redhead was using an oversized shamrock to protect her modesty, with "Luck o' the Irish," emblazoned in emerald text beneath her.

Glancing to his right, he saw his Commanding Officer climb into her fighter, the cockpit swinging closed behind her. Painted on the side of her ship was a pious winged woman dressed in white robes, and as the cockpit lowered into place, the halo painted on the rim completed the angel. All around him the rest of Squadron Two-Hundred-and-Sixty were prepping for launch, and he sank into his seat and pressed the button to close the reinforced canopy.

"We have clearance for immediate launch," Angel's voice sounded out over the comm. "Go Two-Sixty!"

The engines had already been warmed up by the Hangar crew, and Murphy had a wild grin on his face as he stabbed his thumb down on the release button. The launch runway thrummed to life, and the magnetic rails grasped his fighter in an invisible grip, then flung him down the brightly illuminated tunnel.

"Fuck yeah!" Murphy exclaimed as the massive acceleration sank him deeply into his seat, and then moments later, he was blasting clear of the fleet carrier.

With a glance over his right shoulder, he watched the colossal grey hull of the Zeus silhouetted against one of the Regulus suns, until it disappeared behind him as he scrambled to the rally point.

"All right gentlemen, form up into our attack wing," Angel said, drawing his attention back to the task at hand.

"Affirmative, Commander," Binary answered, his monotonous robotic delivery having earned him his callsign.

"You got it, Angel," Snakebite called in.

"I'm there, baby," Romeo crooned in his smooth baritone.

Murphy grinned, and said in a fake lilting brogue, "I'm on me way darlin'."

His Tactical View showed the nearby fighters as green gems, their IFF transponder codes tagging them as friendlies. The fighters in his wing were highlighted with an orange border, making it easy to pick them out amongst the scores of fighter groups. He rolled his ship, then pulled back on the flightstick, bringing him around to flank Angel's fighter before falling back into his position on her left wing. Murphy occupied the middle slot on the left of the five-ship v-formation, and he focused on maintaining his spacing with his Commander, knowing that Snakebite would adjust to his manoeuvres on the outer edge of the left wing.

The Rapiers synced up with each other as their battle computers established group cohesion. To Murphy's right, four images appeared, showing the faces of the pilots in his fighter wing. He knew that his smiling face would now appear in their cockpits too, and he gave the cockpit-cam a playful wink.

Angel guided them to their designated position, weaving around friendly vessels as they raced through the Terran Federation battle group. They pulled up to clear the long hull of a Terran destroyer, then swept around behind a corvette group, while carefully avoiding their engine wash. The huge attack group of fighters that had swarmed out of the fleet carrier were being repositioned by flight control to engage the Kintark fighters, which were racing towards the Terran battle lines.

Murphy's heart hammered in his chest, the rush of pre-battle adrenaline making him feel gloriously alive. He tried to stifle the wild grin on his face, but failed completely; this was his first major battle, and he couldn't wait to go up against the Kintark!

***

"Eight minutes until we hit the Regulus system," Alyssa warned everyone on the Bridge.

John nodded, and replied, "Everyone clear on the plan? We defend the Damocles, and we'll hunt down Lynton when the dust settles."

Calara shot him a look brimming with gratitude, and simply said, "Thank you, John."

He smiled at her, and replied, "I made you a promise, and it's one I intend to keep."

Turning to look at the Tactical Map, he still couldn't help wondering if he was making a dreadful mistake in bringing them anywhere near this battlefield. As he'd said though, he'd made a promise to Calara, to help keep her family safe. Jack Fernandez was the Captain of the Damocles, and commanding a Terran cruiser with hundreds of hostile Kintark vessels bearing down on them, was about as far from safe as her father could get.

Now that Calara had formed a precise picture of the forces arrayed in the system, she'd started removing overlays from the Tactical Map, making it much clearer to see the ships fighting on either side. She highlighted opposing forces in bands of colour, which made it far easier for John to follow exactly what was happening. She was back in her Tactical Chair now, hands on the gunnery controls, as she powered up the Invictus' weapons.

"I thought two of the Terran battle groups were going to attack the lower Kintark force?" Jade asked, sounding puzzled.

Calara nodded, and replied, "Yes, I'm sure of it. Fleet Admiral Buckingham was carefully preparing a Huang riposte." She looked thoughtful as she added, "Although luring the Kintark in with bait, then hitting them with a counterstroke would yield better results against these odds."

The Nymph frowned, then glanced at the brunette as she said hesitantly, "It looks like he changed his mind."