Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2)
Read Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) Online
Authors: Sid Kar
BATTLESHIP
AVENGER
Book
Two:
Conquest of Stars
Saga
SID
KAR
Copyright © 2016
Sid Kar
This story is a
work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events, persons are fictional
and product of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living
or dead, places and events is purely coincidental.
Book
Cover Designed by Duong Covers
All
rights reserved
“General, we have
fifteen unidentified battleships on our gravitron scanner,” Joules, the
second-in-command of Battleship
Defender
exclaimed in an excited voice
and turned to look at General Vegus and Capitan Oilus.
“Unidentified
hell,” Vegus threw up his hands, “this is that Mercurian Empire.”
“What is this?
Mercurian Empire?” Capitan Oilus and his soldiers holding the laser guns were
taken aback.
“You fools,”
General Vegus walked over to his command chair, “This is the invasion we were
preparing for. This is why General Bakus was collecting all the battleships.
Not to stage a coup but to stop these mysterious aliens.”
“No one told us,”
Capitan Oilus said and then pushed his hand down towards the floor palm down to
indicate to his soldiers to lower their guns. The officers of the battleship’s
command room quickly rushed to their stations and frantically started hitting
buttons, turning knobs and flicking on switches.
“Why would anybody
tell you?” Vegus said, “You are Republican Guard, not Army. You are supposed to
protect the republic from the foes inside, we from the foes outside. But you
decided to overthrow the republic yourself.”
“Trust me General,
we believed…”
“It doesn’t matter
what you believe,” Vegus cut him off and then turned to Joules, “What is their
position and vector?”
“They entered the
solar system at a very high velocity,” Joules said, “But they are rapidly
decelerating as they approach Nestor. Computer predicts they will be within the
combat range in thirty minutes.”
Capitan Oilus tried
to raise Republican Guard Commander and Coup Planner Nolfus on his personal
radio but all he received was static from the other end.
“Commander Nolfus
isn’t answering,” Oilus said with almost a hint of panic in his voice. He
realized what a big botch up he had just been a part of and if Nolfus had died
in the ground battle then he would have no one to pass the blame upwards.
“Capitan Oilus,”
Vegus called out to him, “We need to raise battlestations and move the four
battleships into defensive formations. Luckily, our ground defenses didn’t fire
on the Starfirians otherwise they would have ripped them out. But our home
world still needs these battleships.”
Capitan stared at
him with a blank expression. He was still trying to process the rapidly
unfolding situation.
“Capitan…” Vegus
called out once again, “Your soldiers are holding my crew and the crew of the other
three battleships hostage. We need to go to combat position and we need to go
NOW!”
“Yes General,”
Oilus was jolted out of his confused thoughts and he raised his radio and gave
out new orders, “Republican Guard officers and soldiers, this is Capitan Oilus
speaking. The coup is over. I repeat, the coup is over. We are under attack by
an alien enemy invader. Stand down and let the Battleship crew carry out their
duties without any interference. You are under the command of your battleship
officer now.”
“Thank you,” Vegus
said letting out a breath, but there was more of a feeling of relief from
irritation than a sense of thankfulness in those words.
“Battlestations,”
Joules yelled wasting no time anticipating the General’s command. The alarms
started ringing out across their battleship and the crew ran to their positions
while the perplexed Republican Guards stood aside trying to avoid getting in
the way.
“What is the
situation with the other battleships?” Vegus asked.
“I will find out
in a second,” Joules replied.
“Porus, prepare
our space fighters 101 – 200 for immediate launch,” Vegus said to the fighter
combat officer.
“What about
fighters’ 1 – 100 sir?” Porus asked.
“Keep them on
standby, but don’t launch yet,” Vegus replied.
“Vegus, the other
battleships’ command officers have resumed full control,” Joules said,
“Republican Guard have stood down,” he looked at Capitan Oilus and nodded who
let out a sigh of relief, “they are moving to our predetermined combat
posture.”
“Good,” Vegus
said, “Joules, get over here; I need you by my side. Let Capitan Tagg handle
the scanners.”
Joules walked over
to the general’s chair and stood by his side looking over his shoulders at the
battleship’s central command display screens.
“May I ask what
you are planning to do with the second half of our space fighters?” Joules
asked him.
“You may, I will
explain in a bit,” Vegus turned to his fighter operations officer, “Porus, have
the rest of the battleships coordinate their fighter tactics with ours. Inform
me when they are ready for launch, space fighters 101 – 200 only.”
“Will get to it
right away,” Porus replied and started sending out encrypted signals to the
other three battleships.
General Vegus of
Battleship Defender was in command of not only his own battleship, but also the
three remaining battleships in the orbit that protected Nestor. He was one of
the fleet commanders.
Vegus turned
around and looked up at Joules and leaned with his shoulder on the edge of his
chair.
“If these
Mercurians are even half competent they were counting the number of fighters
our battleships launched at the Battle of Blackskull,” Vegus explained, “All except
these four of our battleships carry a squadron of a hundred space fighters. But
these four battleships are permanently assigned to the orbit of Nestor and we
don’t need large engines for continuous faster than light travel, significant
fuel storage or other provisions for the crew. We have converted the extra
space for the space fighters.”
“Right,” Joules
said, “The enemy may expect only four hundred space fighters from these
battleships.”
“I am hoping he
will,” Vegus said, “I plan to bring these around from the other side of the
planet and join the battle from the enemy’s rear.”
Joules nodded his
head in the support of the idea but he had one quibble.
“But do you know
who heads the second squadron?” Joules said, “The fly by the seat of his pants,
loose cannon yahoo Capitan Agnosis Wornus. Normally, he is kept in check by
Capitan Gorky Manus, the senior commander of our fighter contingent and a
cautious and prudent man, but on his own Agnosis tends to pull stunts.”
“Let him,” Vegus
chuckled, “We need a wildcat behind our enemy’s rear.”
“General,” Jovus
the communications officer called out to him from his desk in the next row,
“Senator Solus is on the main transmission channel from the planet.”
“Senator Solus?”
General wondered out loud and looked at Joules who frowned with slight
contempt, “What the hell is he doing on that channel? But put him through.”
“General, the
rest of the battleships have half of their space fighters squadron ready for
immediate launch,” Porus said.
“Launch and have
them hide on the other side of Nestor,” Vegus said, “They are not to join the
battle initially but will strike the enemy from the rear in a circular flanking
maneuver across Nestor’s orbit at my command.”
“Ordering launch
now,” Porus said.
“Senator Solus on
the channel, General,” Jovus said.
It was a formality
and the com officer did not have to announce him because the main display
screen in front of Vegus lit up with Solus’s face and Joules bent his neck to
catch a view. Both of them were startled to see the recognizable fixture and
furniture of Chancellor’s office behind Solus’ figure.
“Senator Solus,
sorry we can’t help you put down the coup down there but we have an alien enemy
to repel,” Vegus said.
“You don’t have
to, Starfirians have stopped it cold,” Solus replied, waited a bit for an
awkward pause then cleared his throat, “I have been asked to serve as the
chancellor of our republic until the next elections.”
“You? Chancellor?”
Vegus spoke his words in an almost insulting tone, “What happened to Chancellor
Augus?”
“He is dead,”
Solus replied solemnly.
A momentary
silence descended on the command room floor and Capitan Oilus of the Republican
Guard squirmed as many eyes turned to him, “we didn’t intend to kill…” he
muttered under his breath.
“So, they executed
him?” Vegus asked.
“Oh no,” Solus
replied, “he had a heart attack. The coup was stopped before it could breach
the Senate.”
“And what happened
to VC Remus and who put you in command over him?” Vegus raised his voice to a
level indicating disgruntled demand.
“General, I know
we have our differences and you and the other generals may not like my
appointment,” Solus firmed his voice, “But the commander of Starfirian starship
has chosen me and given that we will need their help, none of us have any
choice here. The peoples will vote in six months. Tolerate me till then.”
“What are our
orders, Chancellor?” Vegus asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.
“I have reviewed
the planetary defense plans,” Solus said, “I have no objections to any. Execute
our primary plan: Operation Shield Deception. General Bakus’s battleships
should be on their way and he will take over operational command from there
on.”
“Yes…” Vegus said
and hesitated a second, “…Chancellor.” He saluted Solus and the display went
blank the next moment.
“What porridge
have these Starfirians cooked up?” Joules exclaimed, “They put that
man…Solus…they installed him as the Chancellor!”
“A temporary one,”
Vegus grunted and shook his head.
“But still… at
least he didn’t change our battle plans and has left Gen. Bakus in command,” Joules
said.
“What choice did
he have?” Vegus said, “Our new esteemed chancellor couldn’t find a battle plan
from his head if it fell in his laps.”
“Damn Starfirians
could have appointed VC Remus,” Joules said, “Polls had predicted his victory
in the next election and he has Nestor’s vote base behind him.”
“VC Remus is the
officer’s choice, true,” Vegus said, “He would win election on this battleship,
but I see the Starfirians point of view to some extent. They can’t blatantly
install a Chancellor favorably disposed towards them without appearing to be
meddling in internal politics. That would cause consternation amongst the rest
of their protectorates.”
“Remus is not a
friend of Starfirians, he only wanted their protection,” Joules said.
“You and I know
that, Senator Solus…” Vegus stopped himself, “I mean Chancellor Solus and other
‘peoples champions’ would have spun it the other way.”
“General, the
Mercurians have launched rockets!” scanner officer Tagg exclaimed with panic in
his voice, “counting 300…600…1000!” he said.
“We aren’t in the
combat range yet,” Joules turned to look at a screen nearby.
“Our combat
range,” Vegus said, “Bakus had said these aliens were far more technologically
advanced than us.”
“Thousand rockets
confirmed,” Tagg said as the rocket display became more distinct on his
gravitron scanner and the computer spit out the total number on the top right
of his screen and estimated time to impact on the top left, “contact in T minus
10 minutes.”
“Alright Joules,
let’s forget Solus and all that political nonsense, I have never cared for that
anyhow,” Vegus said, “It is time to fight. Jovus, get me the other three
battleship commanders on my screens here.”
A few seconds
later a large secondary display beamed the images of the commanders of the
Battleships
Protector
,
Guardian
and
Watchman
on the screen
with a three way split.
“Commanders,”
Vegus spoke in a serious tone, “I don’t know if you have heard but Senator
Solus is now our new Chancellor Solus.”
This caused a
small murmur amongst the three commanders and their consternation upon hearing
this news was clear in their eyes and their body language as they were taken
aback a bit.
“Be that as may,
he has approved our plan known as
Shield Deception
,” Vegus said, “Now
follow me through.”
They nodded their
heads and Vegus turned to his main computer screen as the secondary display
went blank for a second and then displayed the spaceships in their position in
space relative to his own in the center of the screen.
“Forward motion
and laser defense system on full power!” Vegus shouted to his crew and his
navigation staff turned the Battleship right on to the path of the rockets and
his laser defense staff turned on all the laser batteries and charged them to
the maximum power.
The remaining
three battleships followed his lead and they headed straight towards the
cluster of the incoming rockets.