The Final Battle by SajuukCor
Published on Kiith Iopia on the 10 April 2001
Another shot raced by my head as I barrel role towards the attacking Taiidanai fleet. I shook off the feeling of fear months ago, when this alien war started. I punched my Interceptor to the limit and fired off my shots, destroying another Defender. The blue planet moves from my left to the right as I turned. Six months. Everything has lead up to this battle, for Hiigara, our homeworld.
I remember the stories they told, the shock when our race found that we were not originally from our planet, Kharak. Life was already hard for me when the Mothership was under construction; I was part of Kiith Manaan, traveling from place to place with my kiithid. By the time it was done, I signed up for ship duty aboard the voyage. After the tragedy of the Carr-Sileem and the burning of Kharak by the Taiidan, I immediately signed for a fighter squadron to exact my revenge to the fullest. My life almost lost all meaning when I found out my family had died because we broke a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us from entering hyperspace.
From that point on, from the outskirts of Kharak to the Gardens of Kadeash up to here had been nonstop battles to keep our race alive. We started with only five Scouts and Light Corvettes, but now we have Ion and Assault Frigates, Carriers, Destroyers, Heavy Cruisers, and an assortment of Taiidanai rebel ships.
"Attention wing Epsilon," crackled in my ear, "our Ion Cannons are being flanked by Attack Bombers and require escorts."
I guess he means us, I thought as I saw my wingmen broke formation and headed towards the cannons. Before joining them I picked off two more defenders so that our bombers could get through to their target, then did a quick one-eighty and headed towards my comrades.
"Took ya long enough," another voice said. It was my friend. We met in the beginning when he risked his life to save mine by running into an ion beam in a Heavy Corvette. Since then we helped each other out in binds.
"Had to finish the mission," I replied.
"Yeah, almost a suicide mission against twelve Defenders. I'm lucky that I got out of there."
"With the way you fly you're lucky enough to dock with a carrier."
"You Manaanii are all the same: all talk and no show."
I smirked and headed towards the next assignment.
Over here was worse than back there. Volley of missiles and bullets rain the sky followed by explosions on both sides. The Taiidan Mothership was on-hand for this fight, carrying Emperor Riesstiu IV, ruler of the Taiidan empire. I had to switch to neutral tactics to get pass the high speeds of flying metal. I see our cannons being swarmed by bombers. "Looks like twelve of them in wall formation, possible aggressive tactics," I radioed.
"Yeah, and look." I magnified the area to see something following the bombers. "A Defense Fighter," I said.
"Yep..." A short pause, followed by sensor warnings over the ear piece, "...and it looks like their friends want to join our party. I'm reading two Destroyers and a Heavy Cruiser en route to clean them up."
Another warning siren, but this time it was coming from my ship. I looked to the right of my HUD, and quickly found out what was wrong. "We better hurry then, we're running low on fuel. I don't want to sit around when that cruiser starts taking pot shots at us."
"Agreed. What are the orders?"
Okay now, we have twelve Attack Bombers in a wall formation with heavy backup coming in. We have ten Interceptors plus two Light Corvettes, all low on fuel.
Deal with reinforcements. "Wing Epsilon to Fleet Command, Taiidan are bringing in help against our Ion Cannons. We cannot take them on and are low on fuel. We will take care of the primary objective of removing the bombers but then we need to make an immediate retreat to a Support Frigate. Over."
"Roger that wing Epsilon, but we just lost our last Support Frigate. We are underway to make another one, but you have to report to the Mothership for refueling."
"Copy that Fleet Command, we'll see you in a couple of minutes." I flipped a switch to communicate with the wing. "Switch to neutral tactics and take a claw formation. The corvettes will take the front to draw fire away from the DF while the rest of us will blow it out of the sky. We will then switch to aggressive tactics and a sphere formation to take the pressure from our cannons. Once the threat has been neutralized, switch to evasive and hightail it back to the MS for immediate refueling and repairs."
Confirmations came from across the board.
"Got it," my buddy said. "I bet I can pick off more Taiidanai than you."
"That a challenge?" He always did this in battles, making these games. At first I thought it was all in fun, but later on I found out that it was to cope with the Kharakian Genocide, the loss of the world he grew up in, the loss of his family. I played along because, well, it helped me cope with it also.
We formed up into the claw formation as the corvettes thrusted to the DF with guns ablaze. As usual, it came to life and started shooting down the projectiles. A Repair Corvette came to help the cannons as one of them split right down the middle, sending debris everywhere. As we dodged the large sections of the broken hull, we lined up our sights on the Defense Fighter and opened fire. It quickly swung around towards us, taking our shots down, but forgot about the corvettes. Their mass drivers let loose on the lone Taiidanai, and their shots cut through it. After a while of punishment, it exploded in a little sphere of blue fire. We quickly switched tactics and surrounded the bombers, taking them out one by one.
Suddenly, a blue square formed in the middle of the formation of the cannons. "Someone's hyperspacing in, and it's not ours!" someone yelled.
I took out the last bomber and looked at the readings of the ship. "By the hand of Jakuul..." I said, "...it's a Missile Destroyer!"
We started back to the Mothership when it was halfway out of hyperspace. The destroyer became noticed when we switched tactics for a final time. The Missile Destroyer turned slowly and fired four missiles. "Missiles inbound!" I heard.
The corvettes, even in evasive mode, could not outrun the threats screaming behind them. As they made contact I could hear their cries for help tear at me like it was my fault they ended up the way they did. Our Interceptors are slightly faster than the missiles, so we had a small advantage. The Missile Destroyer gave up on us and went after the cannons and Repair Corvette.
We were running on fumes as we inched our way back to the Mothership. The death of the two people under my wing never really hit me. I'd seen many a person fall down at the hand of the Taiidan Empire.
We slowly maneuvered into the huge hanger bay for the repairs that we needed. As one of the machines latched onto me and swung me around, I thought about why this happened to us, to be exiled to a barren wasteland with our memory wiped of our true home. We mustn't put up much of a fight if they took pity on us and exiled the entire race in the first place, but look at us now: the people who they took pity on is now destroying their society and life now. Ironic, almost, that if they killed us when they could, they would had taken many other worlds under the name Taiidanai, and sooner or later, they would take pity on some "low developed" race and spare them, only to come back much later to exact their revenge.
As my repairs were finished and refueling completed, I was notified that we were assigned three more Interceptors and four Light Corvettes to the wing. Our next assignment is to protect the Mothership and other capitol ships as they maneuver their way to orbit Hiigara and take the final battle with the Taiidanai MS.
We launched from the hanger and I tell my wing our next mission.
"So basically we have to keep off the strike craft from the bigger ships while they move in for the kill," my friend summarized.
"Yeah, and we have to do a good job too. We have the Mothership plus two Destroyers, four Assault Frigates, and a damaged Heavy Curser. The cruiser will be repairing itself along with a pair of Repair Corvettes, so they are a priority."
The Mothership's engines sparked online as she crawled along the battlefield. Two Repair Corvettes emerged from the bay and encased the Heavy Curser in a green glow, repairing the burnt metal and engines. As we moved along, one of my wingmen asked: "Why do the Taiidan want us dead so badly? I mean, we took out their fleets in other battles, what makes them think they can get rid of us now?"
"That's the problem," my friend came on, "they didn't think. They want to snuff us out so they won't be humiliated throughout the other worlds they took over. Thank Jakuul that some of them saw what was happening and acted upon that."
"What do you think it is like down there?" another asked.
Silence filled the headsets save the explosions from outside. I looked at the planet in front of my ship, at the vast water oceans and lush green jungle. "It'll be like we never left."
Everyone agreed, and then a ball of fire formed in front of me with large pieces of metal and wires hitting my Interceptor.
"They're here!" the pilot of a corvette yelled. Everyone broke formation to dogfight with the strike craft. "It seems mostly Attack Bombers and Interceptors on multiple attack vectors," I said, trying to stabilize my ship before I went off after a bomber. Even though we were guarding them, the heavier ships took place in the battle. The thunder of the ion beams and rail guns rumbled my hull as I flew past them. The Assault Frigates had an easier time hitting the attacking bombers than the Interceptors.
"They're everywhere!" I heard. I flipped a switch while trying to keep the target in my crosshairs, saying: "Fleet Command, there are to many bogies for us to take down alone and require assistance."
"Copy that. We are sending out Heavy and Multigun Corvettes to assist."
Ten Heavy Corvettes in a X formation and eight Multigun Corvettes in claw formation rushed out into the battle. Scouts and Light Corvettes now joined the Taiidan army as if things weren't thick enough. The Heavy Cruiser and Repair Corvettes were getting the most flank, and we needed the cruiser for the enemy Mothership, so I decided to hover around them and shoot down the attackers.
Four hyperspace signatures jumped on my sensors; all four the same, all four Taiidanai. They were in a sphere formation around our cruiser, and were Skaal Tal Destroyers. It was obvious what their target was.
"Get out of there!" my friend yelled.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" was the reply as I hit the thrusters. A blue beam formed instantly in front of me, and I quickly pulled the flight stick up to avoid it. Big mistake, for I was now face to face with the huge ship. One of his rail guns hit me and I was crippled. I switched to evasive and headed for the Mothership as my attacker slowly tracked and followed me. His ion beams sprung up to the left and right of me and started to close in. I pushed forward the flight stick to dive, made a tight barrel roll and dashed into the protective docking bay of the Mothership. The machine latched onto my Interceptor and began it's repairs. At time like these it always felt like eternity. I could feel small vibrations as the Mothership fired her rail guns.
I could watch the battle with the help of various cameras installed on the hull. We had to stop in order to take out the Destroyers. One of our own Destroyers launched and brought the odds somewhat back in our favor. The ship I ran from was the first to go, bringing with it some strike craft from both sides in the explosion.
An alert on my console. Another hyperspace signature.
......
Kushan! A Kushan Missile Destroyer! It was more than halfway out before the Taiidan realized what it was. Some of them fled, while the others hovered around their Destroyers for protection.
As another ship went down for the count under the punishment of the MD, our Heavy Cruiser slowly turned to face another Skaal Tal, forcing it's four ion cannons to target it. It took awhile to charge them, but when they were, it let loose the particle beams on one point on the ship, ripping through it to the other side. It didn't exploded at first, venting it's crew out into space. When it did, it took down the strike craft surrounding it. I don't know what went though the commander's mind in the lone Destroyer, but the ship opened a hyperspace conduit, and ran like the cowards they were.
The path was now clear, and I could see the it in high orbit. It was guarded by an impressive assortment of capitol ships and strike craft. Fortunately, so of our ships had finished their battles and have joined us in the final battle. While both sides each control two Heavy Cruisers and Carriers, we pilot more corvettes and strike craft while they have frigates and ion cannons, just enough to lay waste to a small planet. Good thing Hiigara is much larger than Kharak in case things get desperate for them.
That thought would run through my head for the next some hours. Even though the Taiidan still had colonies on Hiigara, would they make the same decision as six months ago, just to keep us from what is rightfully ours? A bold move by a losing race.
We halted at a short distance from the impending fleet. "What's with the stop?" someone asked.
"I think their working out terms of surrender. I read there's an open comm channel between both motherships, but it's too heavily encrypted for us to hear," I replied.
The Taiidanai ships took a sphere around their MS while the Heavy Cruisers took the sides. Moments later, our side started to move in with an addition of four Support Frigates. "Guess talks didn't work out," a corvette said.
The Cloak Fighters deployed their sails, rendering them invisible while Mine Corvettes laid an extra layer of mines around the Mothership for defense. More Heavy Corvettes, Defenders and Attack Bombers started pouring out of our Carriers as the Drone Frigates launched their gun drones from their housing. Our greatest battle was about to begin.
I heard the battle cry as my friend rocketed to the battle: "For Hiigara!", followed by yells and howlers to the point of almost taking my earpiece out.
The strike craft were the first to reach the huge fleet. As I weaved through the gigantic ships taking my shots, I saw for the first time the shear sizes of the Taiidan Mothership, as wide as the height of ours.
As our capitol ships pulled up, the real action started. The Heavy Cruisers immediately went to the MS while the Assault and Ion Frigates protected them from enemy fire. No matter where I turned, my view was filled with ion beams, missiles and explosions. Plasma bombs now riddle every capitol ship on both sides. The Cloak Fighters phased in and out of space as they unleashed their destruction. The battle has barely started and dead ships were floating motionless with their pilots dead or dying.
"This is the way I li--" I can hear them all on the comm: a victory cheer followed by a sudden drop-off. These pilots would be remembered the most.
"How is it?" my friend asked.
"Wouldn't change a thing," I replied, taking down a Scout, Interceptor and Attack Bomber in three quick bursts. A Taiidanai Ion Cannon to my right broke in half, causing a huge explosions and, surprisingly, taking down the Destroyer close to it. Our Heavy Cruisers were still holding strong, chipping away at each protective layering. I took a quick glance at my HUD: fuel okay, comm is holding, but hull integrity at fifty percent. I can do it, I kept telling myself. Just hold it off longer.
A badly damaged Assault Frigate took a suicide run into our Ion Cannons, taking out a huge chunk of our fleet. My ship rattled and I looked at the integrity one more time. Thirty-two percent. I rolled to my right to view the Mothership and a shot scraped my ship's underbelly. As I flipped the comm switch, I saw the new number: twenty-seven. "Forget the other ships, go for the Mothership!"
Some time passed before our ships get their bearings, but they did indeed switched their targets to the root of the problem, taking punishment from the others. I screamed along the topside of the MS with my finger on the trigger. When I got to the end, I climbed, rolled, dived, and did it all over again.
"I'm reading another open comm channel between the two Motherships."
"Someone take a reading on the hull integrity on the MS," I said.
After a while, the answer came not too sooner. "I'm reading an eight percent hull integrity," my friend said.
"Fleet Command to all attack strike craft, retreat to the Mothership. The resulting explosion will destroy all strike craft in the area."
Go, I whispered as I forced myself to turn around and retreat from the battle. I switched to evasive and relayed the message again to my teammates. As soon as I left the area, a stray bullet hit my engine, causing me to lose control for a couple seconds. My hull integrity was now... two. I couldn't believe it. I saw my friend shot over my ship. "Hey there, how do I look?"
He rolled to catch a glimpse, and I saw him shake his head. "You got more dents than you pride." Both emotions of humor and fear had befallen on me. "Yeah, what do you know," I said shaken.
A warning sounded, and I slowly turned to see not only our strike fleet zoom by, but the most beautiful sight that I ever saw: the destruction of the Mothership and our oppressor, Emperor Riesstiu IV. The explosion had destroyed most of the remaining Taiidanai, while the survivors hyperspaced out or scuttled to prevent capture.
Six months, and now we got what we came for in both revenge and our planet. I did everything I could from the beginning to protect and serve the fine people on the mobile planetary ship we designated Mothership. We encountered many a race; some benevolent like the Bentusi, while others hostile as the Turanic Raiders, Kadeash and the Taiidan. We discovered new technologies beyond our comprehension and utilized them in the field of battle swiftly and efficiently. As I drifted in the hanger bay one last time, I couldn't believe that it's all over.
"And just think," my friend came on, "this is only the beginning."
"Yeah," I replied.
Only the beginning...