The Liberty and the remainder of the giant battlegroup was only minutes away from Gamma IV now. The repairs on-route had gone well, however the damage on deck 6 still concerned Michael. The viewscreen shimmered into existence once again, “this is Admiral Sato of the Hermes; prepare to drop out of plasma drive on my order.”
The viewscreen gently phased out of existence once again, leaving only the bridge wall.
“ Send the acknowledgement,” Michael replied.
“ Done sir,” Kinraid said.
A tense pause fell across the bridge, “here we go, into the lion’s den,” Michael whispered.
Kinraid looked over at him, “aye sir, nothing the Irish like best than a good old scrap.”
Michael chuckled, Kinraid had that innate ability to lighten almost any situation. The viewscreen blazed into life for a second time, “Sato to the fleet, drop out of plasma drive.”
“ Okay let’s do it, drop out of plasma drive, ready all weapons and defensive systems, all hands battlestations!” Michael announced.
At once the command team jumped into life, Eldathar brought the ship out of plasma drive. Logan Jones brought the weapon systems online and charged the exterior hull plating. Across the entire fleet other ships were doing exactly the same, all 188 ships dropped out of plasma drive simultaneously in a gigantic burst of bright white light that was visible for several hundred thousand kilometres.
And found absolutely no trace of any Krenaran activity whatsoever.
“ I want full scans every few minutes, sensors to maximum,” Michael barked out his orders, where the hell are they, his brow creased in thought.
“ Aye cap’n, if they’re out there, we’ll find ‘em,” Kinraid said.
“ No doubt you will commander,” Michael replied, confident in his most senior subordinate’s abilities, Kinraid was like a bloodhound with the sensors.
The viewscreen blazed into life once again, “Hermes to the fleet, advance toward the shipyards.”
“ You heard the man, ahead one half sub-light speed.”
Eldathar gently pushed forwards on the arms of the chair, and the Liberty quickly picked up speed.
“ Anything yet?” Michael asked, casting a glance toward Kinraid.
“ Nothing yet cap’n, wherever they are, they’re well hidden.”
“ Keep trying.”
Michael stared intently at the viewscreen as the fleet slowly, cautiously advanced toward the vast shipyards which made up the orbital part of Echo base. Tense minutes passed as the shipyards grew larger as they closed with it, like an enormous flattened orb, docking bays for all manner of ships encircled the main structure, massive communications and sensor towers extended from the centre of the facility like tiny metallic strings reaching up into the infinite vastness of space, the docking bays were all empty however. This was damned peculiar, he thought. The Echo base shipyards are one of the busiest in E.O.C. A space, there were always ships here, either being constructed, undergoing upgrades, or being decommissioned. He knew those Krenaran ships had to be out there somewhere, but where, and how many?’
“ What about the shipyards, any life signs on board?”
Kinraid performed a separate sensor sweep of the shipyard interior; studying the findings closely. The light from the console lit up his stubbled features in the darkened command centre.
“ Negative sir, no lifesigns,” he finally said.
“ What about damage to the station itself, anything?”
“ None, cap’n; if the Krenarans did take it, they took it intact.”
‘ Nearly two thousand men lived and worked on the shipyards alone, where did they all go?’ Michael thought as he rested his chin in his hands, deep in thought.
“ I don’t like this captain, smells like a trap.” Lieutenant Jones said nervously.
“ Hold ya’ station, Lieutenant.”Kinraid said, fixing Logan with a stare.
The Lieutenant nodded his understanding.
Michael said nothing, as he returned his attention to the viewscreen, he knew full well the rest of the crew were anxious. Hell, he was anxious. It probably was a Krenaran trap, but right now he couldn’t do a damn about it.
“ Anything yet commander?” he repeated.
“ Nay Cap’n, seems the Krenarans won’t come out an’ play,” Kinraid said as he gazed intently into the sensor systems monitor.
Michael couldn’t help but raise a smile at Kinraid’s choice of words. Damn, where the hell were they? You don’t capture a key shipyard like this, kill everyone on board, and then just abandon it, it didn’t add up and he didn’t like it for a second. There were too many unknowns here, what happened to the workers on the shipyards? Where were the ships they were working on? And where the hell were the Krenarans? These were three basic questions and Michael didn’t know the answers. He hated going into the unknown, because usually it was the unknown that bit you on the ass.
The shipyards themselves loomed large in the shimmering holographic viewscreen now as they neared the facility. The enormous docking facilities were in full view, outstretched servicing pylons and huge repair bays which made the one hundred and forty meter long Liberty look like a tiny speck in comparison.
The lights within the facility were all on, as they could see the thousands of lit viewports, so the base had power. As he gazed into the viewscreen, stroking his chin in thought. Michael noticed that there was not a single scratch anywhere on the station, so they hadn’t been in a fight the Krenarans had surprised them.
“ Any ships in those docking ports?” he asked just to be sure, their may have been others around the other side of the facility, unseen.
“ Negative Cap’n, docking ports are all clear, so they are.” Kinraid replied.
Normally there were around twenty ships assigned to defend Echo base, it was all that could be spared from the front lines, and they were ordered to defend the facility at all costs. Where were they? Michael thought.
Suddenly the viewscreen blazed into life again, startling him and breaking him out of his train of thought. “Admiral Sato to the Honduras, and Eurinades, attempt docking procedures. All other vessels, adopt defensive posture.” The transmission ended.
“ You heard the man, bring us about and adopt defensive position bearing 147 elevation 0,” Michael said.
Eldathar instantly complied, and he swung the Liberty 90 degrees, accelerating slightly away from the station and then held position.
Michael looked towards Kinraid who could guess what the captain was thinking, “Still nothing, sir.”
The massive Danitza’s took up strategic positions around the base, as the Alexander class medium cruiser Honduras, and the Jefferson class heavy destroyer Eurinades advanced toward the station and gradually adopted docking positions.
A formation of Ghandhi class destroyers and Mandela class light cruisers continuously patrolled the area. Other than this the entire fleet sat perfectly still, every ships sensors were constantly screening the surrounding space, as if expecting some sudden strike by the enemy.
On the surface of the planet far below Colonel Nikolai Vargev revved the engine of the raider hard, continuing to speed past the enemy held positions. Energy pulses from Krenaran weapons fire continued to blast apart the ground all around them. The roof mounted Armschlager bucked and swayed as it returned fire; raking the Krenaran positions.
Two of the brutal aliens fell, one gurgling as a shot passed through its neck in a spray of white blood, it plummeted to the ground from the high landing pad. The second was thrown backwards as multiple rounds slammed into its chest. Both the driver of the truck and Vargev in the raider floored the accelerator as they sped past the loading area, and the highest concentration of Krenarans. Yet more energy blasts hurtled towards them and Vargev had to steer hard to avoid the incoming fusillade, smoke and dust thrown up by the weapons fire hammering into the ground all around them. The other commando and the gunner were jostled severely, cursing as he almost lost his grip on the armschlager.
A single lucky shot tore into the roof mounted heavy machine gun, cooking the gunpowder carried within the ammunition and causing it to explode in a bright fireball, showering the occupants in hot metal debris fragments. Vargev very nearly lost control of the vehicle as the force of the explosion rocked the raider violently, causing the A.T. V to veer onto two wheels.
“ Not now!” He shouted in desperation, as he wrenched at the steering, beads of sweat lined his chiselled features as he struggled to get the vehicle back under control. The occupants were thrown around the interior of the speeding vehicle, as it jerked violently.
The gunner fell back hard on the steel floor of the vehicle, choking and coughing up blood as he tried to breathe through his ruined airway, his face was a torn and bloodied mess, a burnt ruin from the explosion and shrapnel. Once the A.T. V had settled again the other commando onboard tried to tend to his fallen comrade as the vehicle sped through the hail of Krenaran weapons fire, Vargev cast a quick glance in the rear view mirror, and saw the other commando solemnly shake his head. Silently he cursed.
They quickly passed the fiery ruins of the command centre, fortunately only drawing minimal fire from other Krenarans advancing through the shattered building. They seemed as though they were more interested in consolidating their position for the big push during the night.
Finally the battered raider and the accompanying truck screeched loudly to a halt in front of the huge munitions buildings, Vargev and his accompanying commandoes from both vehicles quickly dismounted, carrying their injured with them.
A young sergeant approached them, and saluted the colonel.
“ Where is General Steel sergeant?” Vargev asked as he returned the salute.
“ In sickbay sir, he’s badly injured. We didn’t think you would make it either after being cut off like that.”
“ We almost didn’t sergeant; take me to see General Steel.”
“ Of course sir.”
Vargev followed in the sergeants wake, the colonel felt a slight heat in his right leg, as he looked down he could see that his fatigues and a small portion of his flesh had been singed from the Krenaran weapons fire, while he was driving he had not felt it, ignoring the burning sensation he followed the sergeant inside the temporary triage centre hastily rigged up in a far corner of number 2 tank factory, as far away from the fighting as they could manage.
The factory roof had a large ragged hole blasted into it, as a result of the two days of intensive bombardment. The sunny, cloudless sky of Gamma IV was visible through it, and it leaked water heavily. Conditions were less than ideal, but it was the best they had under the circumstances.
The sergeant and two other medics led Nikolai to a bed where Steel lay.
The general tried in vain to struggle into a sitting position, agonizing pain racked his body however and he collapsed back onto the bed; he was weakening.
“ Don’t try to move,” Vargev said solemnly.
His Generals uniform, hung next to his bed was torn and bloodstained, his exposed chest covered in crimson bandages. “You were right colonel,” he coughed.
“ About what sir?”
“ About everything; about deploying the forces in the hills, I’ve been a fool and now I’ve doomed us all.” He sunk further into his pillow, a small tear of sadness ran down his weather beaten, wrinkled cheek.
“ Try not to speak.”
“ I guess this means you’re in charge now Nikolai.” Steel coughed, a small trickle of blood escaped his parched cracked lips.
“ Yes sir, it does.”
“ Just do one thing for me colonel?”
“ What’s that sir?”
“ Win this damned war.”
“ I’ll try my best sir,” Vargev smiled wanly, his dark moustache curling up at the corners as he did so.
Walking slowly away from the bed, and out of earshot of Steel, he spoke to one of the medics. “How’s he doing?”
“ Not good, he has sustained severe shrapnel injuries to his chest and stomach, he has a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, and he’s bleeding internally.”
The medic solemnly shook her head as she let out a sigh, “we are doing everything we can for him, but I don’t think he’ll last the night.”
“ Do whatever you can for him.”
“ We’ll keep on trying colonel.”
Vargev and the woman saluted each other and he left sickbay, all Nikolai could think about was the fact that there goes a good man, and he will be sorely missed. He couldn’t allow himself time to grieve, there will be plenty of time for that later.
He walked towards a group of soldiers smoking and leaning upon the pitted track armour of an Apollo main battle tank. He was weary, and in a daze with the sadness he felt at the loss of General Steel.
A young Lieutenant quickly dropped his cigarette after realizing who it was, saluted and asked. “What are our orders sir?”
“ err..what?” Vargev shook his head slightly as if to lift the fog from his mind, before his thoughts snapped back to the task at hand. “We are going to re-organise the entire defence, I want your section to deploy heavy machine gun nests at the front gate, two men per nest; got that.”
“ Yes sir,” the lieutenant snapped to attention. “Is it true what the men say sir?”
“ And what is that lieutenant?”
“ That we may not last the night out sir,” he said weakly.
“ We can; and we will Lieutenant. We’ll fight to the last man if necessary,” Vargev replied, not really believing his own words.
“ Yes sir,” the lieutenant replied, a slightly relieved look spread across his young features.
They both saluted for the last time and the lieutenant immediately set about ordering his section.
Nikolai could hear the distant ‘boom’ of entrenched groundhog artillery pieces resuming their day-long shelling of the Krenaran positions.
Sandbags were quickly stacked up near the front gate throughout the day, with heavy machine guns placed behind them. More sandbags were piled up near the breach in the perimeter fence near the warehouses. Vargev had ordered two Dominator assault walkers, and two more heavy machine gun nests there, manpower was on the short side, with so many dead and injured, the men were tired and battle weary, he knew that. But they had to carry on the fight, they couldn’t just give up yet.
Troops were ferried past the Krenaran held buildings in much heavier cougar armoured personnel carriers held in reserve, rather than use the lighter raiders. The buildings surrounding the Krenaran occupied areas were garrisoned once again and more heavy machine gun emplacements were prepared at strategic positions on the rooftops.
Finally, after many hours of re-organising and planning, Vargev finally said to himself, “now we are prepared.”
In orbit far above, the mood was tense, the Honduras and the Eurinades had docked with the station, and had transferred some of their crew onboard. They were performing a thorough search of the facility, trying to find out what had happened, they found some evidence of weapons fire, but little else, and were about to detach from the station to resume their previous positions.
“ Sir, I’ve got something for ya’,” Kinraid said in alarm as he turned in his seat towards Michael. His station came alive with information, data flashed across it with such speed that it was all he could do to read it.
“ Put it on the viewer.”
The holographic viewer blazed into life again, and they could just about see a small black cloud emerging from the far equator of Gamma IV, silhouetted by the jade green upper atmosphere of the planet itself.
“ Magnify.”
The viewer zoomed in on the cloud, and they quickly found that it was not a cloud, but instead a gigantic Krenaran fleet heading straight towards them. It showed hundreds of enemy stealth ships, and several of the deadly command carriers bringing up the rear.
“ Jesus Christ!” Michael shouted, as he looked upon the size of the enemy fleet bearing down upon them.
“ I’m readin’ over three hundred ships, and six command carriers,” Kinraid said, his eyes wide.
“ Have the rest of the fleet detected them?”
“ Only the Solarian ships sir, they are awaiting orders.”
“ The enemy fleet has increased speed, they are closing fast,” Eldathar said.
That is how they had taken the station, a fleet of that size would have breezed through the defenders. The crew onboard the shipyards would have been outgunned and quickly overwhelmed, they would have had no choice but to surrender, and in so doing becoming more slaves for the Krenaran war machine, either that or simply eaten, Michael thought sadly.