Synthesis, p.2
Synthesis, page 2
Kayden keyed in his authorization to the NAV computer, and called out to his squad. “Prepare for hyperspace jump on my mark. 3-2-1-mark!”
Chapter 2
14:21, January 13th, 2134
With a thought, he urged the ship to launch. It lurched forward and a kaleidoscope of colors flashed in front of Kayden’s cockpit before suddenly disappearing, reverting to the inky blackness of the void. His stomach revolted as his cockpit’s artificial gravity generators turned back on, but he clamped down on the feeling of nausea just like he had done hundreds of times before. Checking his sensors, he saw that the rest of the squadron’s ships had exited alongside him.
“Red squadron, sound off!”
“Ace here. I’m good.”
“Taco. Good to go, LT.”
“Radar. I hate hyperspace. Also, the rookie just puked.”
Kayden shook his head. “Ensign, you good to fly?”
Coughing, the rookie responded. “Affirmative sir.”
“Good. You were wearing your oxygen mask when you puked, right?”
Silence greeted him over the radio. Finally, the rookie spoke up. “No sir. I was hot, and I took it off.”
Rolling his eyes, Kayden continued. “Well rookie, you played stupid games – now you’ve won a stupid prize. Want to guess what the prize is?”
“Cleaning it up?” The rookie guessed.
“You’re damn right. When we get back to base you’re going to scrub every inch of that cockpit until it sparkles. If it still smells like puke by the time you’re done I’ll ground you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes sir!” The rookie said, terrified.
Kayden felt a little badly for coming down so hard on the rookie, but he had to learn – when you’re on a mission, you never take off your oxygen mask. Sure the cockpits were pressurized and had breathable air, but you never know when something might fail. Better that he learn the lesson now than learning it the hard way later.
“Good, now that we’ve got that sorted – eyes front. The ships should be emerging in a few seconds.”
Kayden barely had the chance to finish his sentence before two large ships emerged from hyperspace in front of them. One of them looked to be about 500 meters long and 250 meters wide, with at least 10 decks. It bristled with weapons emplacements along each side. The other was much longer, probably stretching over a kilometer long and 500 meters wide. There were slots for several covered hangar bays on either side, and a line of guns down the middle. He pinged them with his identify-friend-foe system, but it returned with an ‘unknown’ reading. “Radar. Get me a line to Control, now.”
“Yes sir.” She said, sensing the change in his tone.
“Control here.” The voice came over the radio.
“Control, this is red-1. Two capital ships have emerged. IFF tags are off. They’re not Lokken design, but I don’t recognize them. Based on tonnage and configuration, looks like a cruiser and a carrier.”
“Roger that. Are they advancing towards the station?” She asked.
“Negative. Looks like they’re still spinning down their hyperspace drives. Want me to hail them?”
“Go ahead, but keep me patched in.”
“Roger Control. Going to wideband frequency.”
He switched his radio away from the internal Roccan military frequencies to something he knew would be picked up by all nearby ships. “Unidentified ships, this is Lieutenant Kayden Reynolds of the Roccan Navy 3rd fleet. You have entered Roccan space without proper authorization. Identify yourselves.”
No response came from the ships. “I say again, this is Lieutenant Kayden Reynolds of the Roccan Navy 3rd fleet. You have entered Roccan space without proper authorization. If you fail to identify yourselves we will be forced to assume hostile intent.”
Scanning the ships on his sensors, he noticed the hangar bay doors on the carrier start to open. While he didn’t recognize the capital ships themselves, he did recognize the Triton-class interceptors which began to pour out from their bays.
He switched his radio back to his squad, and began barking orders. “Control, we have a situation. They are deploying fighters – lots of them. We are engaging!”
“Negative red-1! Pull back to Prometheus Station! You’re not equipped to take out a capital ship!”
The first blasts of energy weapons lashed out around them, and his squad scattered to avoid the fire. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the energy rounds dance across the shields of the larger, less maneuverable Insight Class shuttle. “No choice Control! The SWACS is going to get ripped apart out here unless we move closer! We are engaging now!”
He directed his next orders to his squad. “Radar! Get that shuttle close to the fighters – they won’t risk hitting their own troops with the AA guns. Taco, Ace – we’re on interceptor duty!”
Taco was suddenly unsure over the radio. “LT, there are way too many-”
“I don’t wanna hear it Taco! That’s an order!”
The four spacecraft bobbed and weaved through the fire from the capital ship’s guns, meeting the enemy interceptors head-on. He glanced at his sensors to see that they had deployed 12 fighters against his 3 interceptors and shuttle. Kayden switched his guns to energy weapons as the first fighters came into range and began firing almost immediately, desperate to even the odds.
The bolts of energy ripped through the cold vacuum of space towards their targets. His first several shots missed, but the next few connected with the lead fighter draining their shields. His target increased speed to try and fly past Kayden and avoid the incoming fire. It was too late though - the rhythmic beeping of Kayden’s targeting system had turned from short staccato beeps to a long tone, indicating the target was locked in. Kayden loosed two Tempest missiles, tracking the orange glow of their thrusters as they caught up with his target and exploded on impact.
“Splash one!” Kayden called through the radio as he sped past the explosion.
“Splash two!” Ace responded. Out of the corner of his eye, Kayden saw another explosion high and to his right, indicating that Ace had shot down another enemy.
Having passed the initial wave of interceptors, Kayden banked hard and fast, pirouetting in space. Another enemy interceptor was just beginning to perform the same maneuver, but had reacted much slower than Kayden did. His energy weapons lit up again which splashed across the fighter’s shields as they failed. The long tone sounded in Kayden’s ears again as he accelerated towards his target. Two more missiles briefly lit up the nothingness of space before slamming into their target, exploding. “Splash three!” Kayden shouted.
“I’m in trouble!” Taco said over the radio. “Two of them on my tail and I can’t shake them!”
“I’ve got you covered!” Ace replied, taking a position behind the two enemy interceptors. Kayden pushed his engine to the maximum to try and catch up with his wingman, desperately watching on sensors as Ace took down their shields. He knew at this speed he’d be there in the next 10 seconds, but by that point this could all be over.
Time seemed to slow as Kayden watched the two enemy fighters loose a combined 8 missiles at Taco across 4 salvos. In the academy, they’d been taught that they should always try to disable an enemy fighter’s shields before switching to projectile or explosive weapons – otherwise, it was an inefficient use of valuable ammunition. Against that volume of explosives though, his shields wouldn’t matter.
Kayden was forced to watch in horror as the missiles slammed into Taco’s fighter repeatedly, until one of them pierced his shields. Suddenly, Taco was gone – replaced by an explosion, then debris.
“Taco!” Kayden shouted. “Fuck!”
Kayden suddenly realized he was in range, and locked onto one of the unshielded enemy interceptors. He fired 2 more missiles, noting that he only had 4 left in his missile bank. Switching his guns to projectiles, he fired and shredded the remaining enemy’s armour, causing them to explode.
Glancing down at his sensors, he saw that the shuttle was now being swarmed by interceptors. Banking his ship hard again, he started barking orders. “Ace, get your ass back to the shuttle – they need help. Radar, you need to fly towards me.”
As Kayden raced back, he began firing at the nearest interceptor, first with energy blasts and then with projectiles. The enemy pilot didn’t even have time to register that he was being fired on before the combined barrage ripped through the shields and armour. “6 down, 6 to go.” Kayden said grimly as he sped past the wreckage.
Radar was a hell of a pilot. Even if she was flying a large, unwieldly shuttle against 6 interceptors she still did exceptionally well. As Kayden got into range she even managed to shoot one of them down, causing Kayden to change his mental tally to “7-and-5”. As he moved into range of the shuttle though, he was momentarily distracted by a set of warning lights – an enemy had moved in behind him, and was lining up a shot.
“I’m comin’ LT!” Ace shouted, firing most of his remaining missiles into Kayden’s pursuer. They slammed home in a fiery explosion which enveloped the craft.
Unfortunately, in his race to save Kayden, Ace had ignored that two other enemies had moved behind him. For the second time in mere moments Kayden was forced to watch helplessly as they coordinated their fire, blowing through Ace’s shields and killing him instantly.
Kayden was catatonic. One moment he and Ace were making plans about what to do when they left the military. The next moment his best friend was just gone. He unconsciously slowed his ship to a crawl, unable to think about anything except for the grief which was overwhelming him.
It was Radar’s screams which broke Kayden out of his trance. His momentary lapse was just enough time for the remaining interceptors to line up a series of shots on the shuttle, and Kayden watched it explode too.
Seconds. That’s all it took for Kayden to lose his entire squad. On instinct, he pushed his engines to full power, anger overtaking his grief. The two interceptors which blew up the shuttle were his first targets, and he made sure they were dead before they could realize what was happening.
The final two interceptors pulled in behind Kayden, but they were too slow. He flipped his craft upside down while pushing his engines past their recommended maximum, right to the breaking point. Throwing his fighter into a spin he fired everything he had at the last two enemies while screaming in rage. Explosions blossomed from each one as Kayden raced past them, searching for more targets.
There were none. Belatedly, Kayden’s training took over and he took several more calming breaths. His voice still shaking with rage, he opened a secure channel.
“Control, this is red-1. The rest of red squadron is gone. I’m coming back to Prometheus as soon as I can spin up another jump.”
“Negative red-1! The capital ships are here! We are under attack!”
He glanced down at his sensors, cursing his own lapse in concentration. The capital ships were indeed missing. “How?” He responded. “There’s no way they were able to spin up their hyperdrives that quickly.”
“No fucking clue. They must have new hyperdrives. They’re incredibly powerful, we’re getting killed here.”
“I’m coming to help!”
“The hell you are. One interceptor here isn’t going to help us against this kind of firepower. Spin up your hyperspace drive for a long-range jump. I need you to warn the fleet in Sirius – they’re not responding to our messages.”
“That’ll take hours Control!”
“I know. That’s why we’re going to offer our surrender.”
Kayden went silent for a moment. He knew Ashley was a brilliant tactician. If she didn’t see any way out of this, there really was no way to win the battle. He took several steadying breaths, then responded. “Ashley, you have no idea if that’ll work.”
Kayden heard an explosion in the background, and Ashley began barking orders before responding to him. “Kayden, we don’t have a choice. Our shields and armour are failing. We’re going to be dead in the water in a few minutes. At least if we try to surrender we might survive long enough for the fleet in Sirius to rescue us.”
Kayden began to object. “But I-”
“I gave you an order lieutenant. I expect you to carry it out.”
“Yes ma’am.” Kayden responded bitterly, before the radio cut off.
His small hyperspace drive continued to spin up, but it would be several minutes before he was ready to make a jump. While he was waiting, Kayden intercepted a transmission on the wideband frequency to all ships in-system. It was from Prometheus Station. “Unknown attacker, this is Prometheus Station. We are offering our surrender in exchange for mercy.”
There was a long pause as the ships stopped firing for a moment. Kayden linked his sensors to the station’s, and watched as the enemy fighters and bombers pulled back to the carrier. The hulks of broken ships drifted in the space between the station and the ships, some of them still venting atmosphere.
Finally, a transmission responded. “This is Malachi Black of the Black Mercenary Company, on contract to the Lokken Star Collective. We accept your unconditional surrender. Lower your shields and power down your weapons.”
The moment they complied, the Black Company capital ships opened fire with their weapons again. Blasts of energy and dozens of missiles rained down on the now-defenseless station, causing explosions to ripple through it. Kayden cried out as he was forced to watch the station struggle to power their weapons back on, and continue the fight. After a few more moments of token resistance, their guns fell silent again.
The plumes of fire continued to blast out of the station for several more minutes as each compartment’s atmosphere was incinerated then explosively decompressed. He knew there were dozens of emergency repair teams on the station, and could envision them desperately running across the station trying to stop the chain reaction. From this distance though he knew that no matter what they did it wouldn’t be enough.
To him, Prometheus Station wasn’t just a military fortification. As much as he resented the Roccan Alliance for tricking him into serving, Prometheus was his home. Behind blurry eyes he watched as the explosions escalated to a crescendo, culminating in an exceptionally large one that enveloped the whole station. Just like that, it was gone too.
He quickly switched to a sensor feed from a secondary set of satellites, scanning the debris which had been blasted away from the explosion. Among the wreckage it looked like there were several escape pods which were undamaged. His mind hovered between the idea that he should fly back and try to rescue the survivors, and his duty to follow his orders.
In the end, his practical side won out. Not from any sense of obligation, but rather given the fact that the Black Company ships appeared to be parked amongst the wreckage. If there was to be any recovery effort, he’d first need a fleet at his back to destroy those ships. Cursing, he turned his ship and punched the hyperdrive, allowing himself to be taken on the hour-long journey between systems.
Breathing heavily, he flipped his visor up and rubbed tears away from his eyes, trying to focus on the kaleidoscope of colors associated with a long-range hyperspace jump. In the last hour he’d lost his best friend, his squad, and his home: all to a mysterious mercenary company that he’d never heard of. Kayden wasn’t typically a vengeful man, but he knew that given the chance he’d take his growing anger out on every member of the Black Company he could get his hands on. He’d blow up their ships with his fighter, he’d shoot them in the streets, he’d stab them in their sleep, he’d-
His thoughts were interrupted as he dropped out of hyperspace. He hadn’t realized he’d spent an entire hour wallowing in his revenge fantasies. Clearing his mind for the moment, he switched his radio to the internal fleet frequency and began hailing the local fleet.
“Sirius station, this is Lieutenant Kayden Reynolds of the Roccan Navy 3rd fleet. I need a line to your commander, now. This is a priority 1 message.”
A curt response came quickly. “Lieutenant Reynolds, this is Lieutenant Commander Edward Pakenham of Apollo Station. You do not have radio authorization to send a priority 1 message.”
“Reprimand me about radio discipline later Pakenham. There’s been an attack on Prometheus Station!”
“Attack? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Get your C.O., now!”
There was a brief pause on the radio before a second voice came on. “This is Admiral Gibbs. Want to explain to me why the hell a Lieutenant is sending me a priority 1 message, and pulling me away from a very important call?”
Kayden swallowed his annoyance, and answered. “Sir, there’s been an attack. Approximately an hour and a half ago, two mercenary ships under the command of the Lokken Star Collective dropped out of hyperspace and destroyed Prometheus Station. There are escape pods and there might be survivors. We need to rally the fleet and hit them back, now!”
The Admiral took a deep breath, then responded. “I can’t do that.”
“What, why?”
“As of 45 minutes ago, we are no longer at war with the Lokken Star Collective. The message just came through. I’m under strict orders to stand down all military operations, so as not to jeopardize the peace.”
Kayden was stunned. His mind reeled as he worked through the implications. If the truce had just been signed, that meant that his friends had died for nothing. He let out a roar of frustration, before responding. “Admiral, didn’t you get our messages? Our calls for help?!”
“Negative son. I’m not sure why. We’ll look into it. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry – but there’s nothing I can do.”
Kayden shook his head, fresh tears forming on his face. He realized what he wanted more than anything else: to be out of this ship, out of his uniform, and out of the goddamn military. “Admiral, permission to land at Apollo Station?”
“Granted. Coordinate with Pakenham to get landing clearance. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a fleet address to get back to.”
