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The Siege of Beta Centauri XVI (Part I, Chapter III: The end of the struggle)
Posted By: Insomnia<sjp0131@hotmail.com>
Date: 18 October 2004, 3:25 PM
Read/Post Comments
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Here you go, Chapter III.
Part I: Orbital Control
Chapter III: The end of the struggle
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Infidel's PrescenceIn low orbit around Beta Centauri XVI, Beta Centauri System
The Super MAC Round raced towards the Ramadan with incredible speed. A legion of sparks were seen dancing from the beam as it streaked towards the flagship with unmatched speed.
"Evasive action! NOW!" 'Eneremee barked, seeming that this was unpredicted the guns could track back this far in the atmosphere without dissolving. The Blasphemers seemed to have known what they were doing with the magnetic fields.
The flagships engines rumbled six hundred units below. The reactors tritium deposit output redlined, exceeding operational capacity. The bluish engines aft of the vessel flared to life. They propelled it to flank speed and thrusters fired afterward, clearing most of the round, but one third of it still hit the ship.
Ship master 'Eneremee was thrown like a toy across the bridge, as were the rest of the guard and 'Omnamamee, who slammed into a bulkhead, unconscious, as if he was expecting this to happen and never braced himself.
'Eneremee sluggishly got up, finding a puddle of his own purple gore was next to him, spouting from his leg. He wondered why his armor's shielding system did not protect him. But there was no time for that. He had to get the ship's status and find a tatical defense.
"You, Sakakz, get over here and tend your Ship masters wound. Ship status?" 'Eneremee said, with a bit of worry in his iron-dense voice.
A grunt ran over towards his superior, disabled his personal shield and tended the gold-armored elite's wound. "Shields down at one hundred and ninety eight percent. If we sustained the full hit, we would be crippled, or destroyed. I strongly recommend-" Dekanta was cut off by 'Eneremee with a strong intention.
'Eneremee still sat on the floor. "Never defile my orders. We must destroy this pitiful colonized world that could have been put to good use, perhaps a Grunt home."
Sakakz and the other Grunts looked up and nodded their heads, in strong support of the idea. "We should get moving. Immediatly." 'Eneremee ordered. "I want my Plasma Discharge heated up now."
Dekanta replied with a ping of irritation in her glass smooth voice. "Working. Plasma Discharge ninety five percent recycled. We have full engine power since our shield took the brunt of the attack."
The Ramadan pulled out of the startled state of lag, and moved, in a stealthy way, but not enough.
Another Super MAC gun turned and fired, but a clean miss as its golden beam shot towards the planets atmosphere and dissipated.
"We need to get lower, so the Super MAC guns cannot see us. Dekanta, get us lower." 'Eneremee spoke.
"Impossible. Any lower will interfere with our targeting system, making it impossible to fire while hot. but of we cool them down, we can avoid that." Dekanta replied.
"No. I want us to go lower. Fire the discharge, now, and aim for numbers four through eight." 'Eneremee spoke, with absolute confidence.
The Ramadan fired another deathly pale shimmering beam that screamed through the vacuum of space before descending lower. The beam shot through with unmatched speed, and eradicated any sort of intentional defense. It impacted on turret number five, while it shuddered for a pycosecond, then evaporated and quickly condensated in a oort-like cloud filled with vapor that cooled down to ice crystals shimmering in the night of space.
The EMP disruption cut out numbers four, six, seven, and eight. They simply sparked, crackled, and melted into a smoking carcass of metal floating lifelessly through space.
"Well done Dekanta." 'Eneremee remarked. "I want our weapon systems powered down. Let us launch two thirds of our squadron of Seraph craft. They are the best there is, and could efficiently cut down the two remaining turrets. Meanwhile, stabalize our orbit to course zero-six-nine-five."
The flagship cooled as its thrusters stabalized its almost internal planetary orbit. Its blue engines flared to life as its glowing turrets cooled off. The only hope to kill off the remainder of the human crusade on this planet is a fighter attack.
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Infidel's PrescenceAboard Seraph-Fighter craft, Upper atmosphere of Beta Centauri XVI, Beta Centauri system
"Let the heathens be diminished once again!" cried 'Kak 'Xenomee as he piloted the Seraph class fighter that left the upper exosphere of the planet. Its engines propelled the craft to around Mach thirty. "Set course for six-zero-zero-eight 'Qwerenemee!"
'Qwerenemee looked at 'Xenomee, finding him high spirited about the destruction of the last of this planet's defenses. But it is a good thing. He thought. That is how all of his kind should feel. To go and to die with honor with pride. That was his creed. "New course adjusted your excellency." 'Qwerenemee replied. He tapped the warning Klaxcon for the order for it to turn off. He could not stand its loud, hooting, horn like sound that reminded him off training for the Covenant horde he lives among today.
The seraph fighter adjusted its course, and aligned with the convoy of other fighters going into destroying the last of the planet defense turrets.
'Xenomee tapped the engines, and the craft accelerated. He soon saw the smoldering remains of most of the turrets, including a mini-oort like cloud. He did not know how the Ship Master did it, but he was brilliant.
Turrets nine and ten came into view, shooting at the Covenant ships that made the rest of the fleet, destroying them. He had no idea how many remained, but the thought of the humans doing something like this to them was pitiful.
The Covenant COM frequencies came about, and orders were barked about from 'Eneremee himself. Do not fire at the incoming enemy ships, only their fighters. If this is done or this action is taken, I WILL have you skinned alive!
'Xenomee obliged to this order, and understood it throughly. He tapped the thrusters and spread out, like he was told.
The fighters spread out, and looked like a swarm of locusts attacking a crop. Pulse lasers started firing, as did a cloud of smoke left behind from incoming missiles. Longsword fighters. They outnumbered them three to one. But 'Xenomee had no worries. They were the Covenant's best, and 'Omnamamee's squad had to be in some of those vessels.
"Impact!" 'Qwerenemee barked, "Take evasive action!"
A missile found its way over and detonated on the the craft. It shields held, but hardly.
'Xenomee acknowledged. "Of course. We must get to those weapons."
The Seraph craft banked into a turn, and trailed an enemy longsword craft. The longsword craft banked into a steep turn, and dived towards the planets atmosphere, the signal for a dogfight.
"Let us trail this craft, and extract more pestilence from the heavens!" 'Xenomee remarked.
'Qwerenemee twisted his face in what passed to be a smile in his species. He obliged, and gee's started creeping into the craft.
The Seraph and longsword dived towards the atmosphere, like a predator chasing prey. Both of the craft descended into the atmosphere. Pulse lasers emanatited from the Seraph's auto-targeting system. He turned the auto-targeting off so that he could do the destruction himself.
Pulse lasers touched the surface of the craft, and it caught on fire, and banked into the atmosphere, burning up in it via its hull breach. Two more enemy craft appeared behind him, trailing and firing their autocannons.
The Seraph caught a great amount of this, and the shields disspated, leaving themselves open to any attack.
"We need to get out of this mess!" 'Qwerenemee barked.
But to 'Qwerenemee's suprise, 'Xenomee was enjoying himself. He banked the craft and touched the edge of the atmosphere, dodging death by a pinch, and the fighters trailing them met that fate they avoided. They headed towards the gun.
A flurry of rounds hit the turrets gravitational stabilization system, found out by Dekanta, who brought those orders right to them.
The installation shuddered and smoked as it fell towards the planets atmosphere. It burned and was dissected into various pieces falling into the planet, almost like a meteor shower.
The craft accelerated towards the next gun.
"I guess that was good since we got rid of six more interlopers?" 'Xenomee chuckled.
"Well, they seem to be in the bottomless pit where the gods can tend to their needs." 'Qwerenemee remarked, laughing at the sheer thought of it.
The next gun appeared, and fell towards the atmosphere, meaning someone already did their job, making the two pilots angry, but this was canceled by another three longsword fighters that approached the craft at flank speed.
The fighters approached them on each side, making them open, even though the seraph's shield was back up. A flurry of projectiles hit and rebounded off the shields, but both 'Xenomee and 'Qwerenemee knew this would not last long.
The craft dived and did a forward loop, making the two flanking ships impact and breach themselves. If the pilots were not wearing helmets, they would have suffocated. The ships were locked together for the moment.
The craft that is now aft of the Seraph approached the starboard side and rammed the ship. Sparks protruded from the enemy hull. Since the enemy had no shields, it hurt them, but not the seraph. A bold move.
The ships that were locked a moment ago exploded, since they could not get free, a moment of self destruction and sorrow for the human pilots. The covenant pilots were now happy since this was their own doing. The craft starboard rammed again, taking out the shields. But in spite of this, 'Xenomee and 'Qwerenemee both agreed it would be worth it and rammed back.
They did this, and the enemy ship shuddered and detonated just three units aft, throwing their engines offline for a second. But as a miracle of Covenant technology, the shields held when this happened, not damaging the thrusters, but depleting their life support.
'Xenomee made a bold statement. "Lets stay out here and make sure that there are no more enemies.
'Qwerenemee hesitated for a second, seeing life support dropped to ninety five percent, then agreed, realizing how much honor this was.
Fellow Seraph craft pulled ahead and shot towards the Ramadan, but 'Xenomee turned to face the one last longsword. Orders were hailed at them from 'Eneremee, but he ignored these.
Life support down to eighty percent.
The remaining Longsword tried to flee, but did not manage it. 'Qwerenemee fired the pulse lasers and an antimatter discharge. The craft eminated and shook, and dived at the Seraph.
Life support down to sixty percent.
The craft sped towards the Seraph and self-destructed, bringing the craft's life support and speed lower, along with a breach.
Life support down to forty percent.
The Seraph turned with agility and rocketed towards the Ramadan with all the speed it could manage. It screamed around Mach fifty leaving a blistering wake in the stars.
Life support down to twenty percent.
The Ramadan became closer and closer. The last other Seraph craft entered and the ship began moving away.
Life support down to ten percent.
The air became thin, 'Xenomee and 'Qwerenemee held their breath, the pilots pushed the ship to its limits.
Life support down to five percent.
The air was almost diminished, the craft entered the shuttle bay. 'Xenomee hit the emergency brake and 'Qwerenemee hit the signal for the doors to open. The craft descended vertically as the sign said:
Life support down to zero percent
'Eneremee was waiting for him on the docks, as was the newly awaken 'Ala 'Omnamamee, and the brute Aemdaues. Both pilots breathed in air, and did not know if this greeting would be good or bad.
'Eneremee was the first to speak. "Greetings, and welcome back."
Both pilots, only blue and red armored, bowed before their two superiors. 'Qwerenemee was slightly shaking, but not enough to notice.
"I see you went through alot." 'Eneremee spoke. "I also see you downed five enemy ships, and you destroyed one of the guns yourselves. I also see you contradicted and disobeyed my orders directly." 'Eneremee's voice and anger slightly rose.
"Normally, I would execute you for this, but Overseer 'Omnamamee saw your work out there." 'Eneremee spoke again.
'Xenomee did not look terrified, instead he looked calm apart from how 'Qwerenemee was acting.
'Omnamamee spoke up. "You did good, escpically considering the fact you risked your own lives for destroying every interloper, something I would normally do. So in turn, you are now heads of the squadron." After saying this 'Omnamamee bowed for them.
'Eneremee spoke up. "You do realize this is a great honor, and this is not over. Do not bask in your own glory, because further action is required on the planet, where Overseer 'Omnamamee will be leading the operation. You will be in charge of airborne combat. I want you to reflect on this." 'Eneremee strode away with 'Omnamamee and the brute after saying this.
'Omnamamee spoke. "If you dare defy my promotion, I will execute you. They deserved it."
'Eneremee rejected. "I whole-heartedly agree with it. If it wasn't for you though, I would have executed the two because the idea never came to mi-"
'Omnamamee held up his hand, indicating silence. "We may need that kind of skill downside. I have a feeling it may not be so easy down there."
'Eneremee paused and understood. "Yes, great one"
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Infidel's PrescenceIn docking bay of Covenant flagship RamadanBeta Centauri system.
"So only Eight of our own ships remain?" 'Eneremee asked.
"Yes only eight. I have called for reinforcements, and they are en route. Time is running out." After saying this, 'Omnamamee strapped himself in the Covenant Dropship that would be among many others into the planets surface. He carried an energy sword that wasn't activated, his personal plasma pistol, and a dozen plasma grenades.
"Good luck on your mission overseer." 'Eneremee said. "And may the gods find perserverence in you." 'Eneremee bowed.
'Omnamamee looked at him, gave him a nod, and the dropships hatch closed and accelerated out of the Ramadan's artificial atmosphere.
End of Part I.
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