Gamma Nine (Book One) (36 page)

Hell was
coming, and because of one man’s fear for his terrible lord, it
would arrive without any resistance, hitting their intended mark
and unleashing all of their hatred upon the treacherous Victor
Vincent.

There was no
way to gauge who was more surprised at the Hyperion’s sudden breach
back into real space - the enemy or the handful of defenders of New
Horizon that were still alive after days of playing hide and seek
with the enemy fleet.

The BEAM jump
had been flawless, and Remy’s calculations had been spot on for the
most part, except for one tiny detail. She had not factored in the
gravitational pull of New Horizon’s unique gravity fields
protecting the planet, and because of that oversight the Hyperion
had overshot its exit by tens-of- thousands of miles. Instead of
entering real space near New Horizons closest moon, they had
instead burst back into the void almost on top of the Stygian
Council’s backside. Nothing more than a few thousand miles
separated the vessels.

Just the way
Gray liked it.

Captain Gray
smiled as the bright light of the BEAM jump subsided, blinking to
clear his vision as he looked through the displays around his
command chair. “All crew to battle stations!” he yelled over the
vessel’s ship-wide channel. “Brace for battle!”

Without
thinking all fire and defence crews sprung into instant action.
Manning their assigned stations, they readied themselves for the
rare opportunity to take part in a real void battle. Since the
Rebel Wars there had been no major void conflicts, only Beast
incursions from derelict ships, and those were hardly battles to
remember. Destroying infected ships from a distance was nothing to
write home about anymore, and it was not like the Beast had planned
any of their random appearances inside the safe zones.

This time,
however, it was a different thing altogether. This time the ships
were going to fire back, and people were going to die, people that
were not infected. But they were the enemy nonetheless.

“Locke? Are you
ready?” Gray asked over the Wolves’ private channel.

“Ready to reap
the whirlwind old friend,” Locke replied flatly.

Gray switched
channels again, this time speaking to all offensive crews on-board
the Hyperion. “All crews fire at will when we are in range. I am
taking us underneath the bastard’s scaly belly,” Gray switched
channel again, yelling directly at the engine crews all the way in
the back of his beloved ship, “give me everything you have! I don’t
want to give it a chance to bite back.”

The Hyperion’s
engines flared, hurtling the cruiser forward like a spear sailing
throw the void. Gray aimed his ship directly for the Stygian
Council’s engines protruding from the stern of the destructive
vessel, diving below it suddenly as the black-hulled ship started
turning. Gray smiled to himself as he saw it starting to move,
their unintended surprise had caught the Stygian Council’s
commander unaware, and they would use that gap their lax in
rear-guard had provided.

The Hyperion
was the faster vessel, its manoeuvring capabilities far better than
that of the bulky Stygian Council, but what the capital ship lacked
in speed and manoeuvrability it made up for it in sheer fire-power.
Smaller defensive batteries and fighter wings reached out to the
Hyperion as it passed beneath the larger vessel. But the Hyperion
reached back, and far more fiercely.

The fighters
were ripped to shreds as Inferno lances burned through the silence
of the void between the vessels. Smaller ship to ship cannons
unloaded their reserves into the armoured belly of the Stygian
Council, tearing holes in the glorious vessel. Defensive batteries
on-board the Hyperion destroyed fighters able to avoid the
ordinance unleashed between the ships. A few fighters escaped the
hell of the killing fields only to be shot down by New Horizon’s
remaining defenders.

New Horizon’s
defensive forces in orbit were renewed by the Hyperion’s sudden
appearance, throwing everything they had into the Stygian Council’s
escort vessels floating beside the capital ship. They did not do
much damage, but they provided the ships protecting their capital
ship with enough of a distraction for the Hyperion to wreak
havoc.

Even though the
defensive forces were nearly destroyed, and only a handful of scout
vessels had survived, they still pushed forward into the orbiting
flotilla around the Stygian Council.

One vessel, the
Dusk Fire, was exceptionally brave. Its captain led the charge into
the enemy lines, its cannons empty and its armour torn from days of
being strafed by bombers, forcing its way past the frigates on the
edge of the flotilla. The Dusk Fire selflessly chose to sacrifice
itself for the people of New Horizon. It picked the closest ship it
judged as a threat to the Hyperion and rammed into it at full burn.
The smaller scout ship broke-apart almost instantly, but it had
cracked its target wide open. Within moments the Dusk Fire’s
reactors went critical and the explosion that followed consumed it
and its dying target.

Songs and tales
of heroism would have to wait until the battle was over, only then
would the Dusk Fire go down in humankind’s history as a true
legend.

Gray registered
the bloom of bright light in one of his displays as the Hyperion’s
speed carried it forward, past the Stygian Council’s belly. He did
not slow his vessel down; instead he kept his trajectory and headed
straight for the orbital space above New Horizon’s capital.

Two frigates
were stationed above Santor, bombarding the city from orbit with
their cannons. Gray aimed for the space between the frigates as he
ordered his crew to give both a full broadside once they passed in
between them.

“Get ready
Locke,” Gray said to his friend over the Wolves’ channel. “Good
luck down there. We are leaving orbit after one more run on the
support ships, then you are on your own until we can fight our way
back.”

“Luck be with
you as well, Willis,” Locke replied.

The Hyperion
passed between the two frigates moments later. The cannons and
lances on the Hyperion unleashed destruction on the two ships,
racking them with fire from bow to stern, splitting them wide
open.

Both vessels
died silently in the void, drifting out of position as the coldness
of space froze machinery and crew alike.

“Launch now!”
Gray ordered, opening up a channel to Gunn and the Hyperion’s
fighter squadrons.

Launch doors
only used for combat drops opened beneath the Hyperion, disgorging
three full Crescent fighter wings and four Firefly drop ships. The
Maiden of Flame was leading the drop as all ships formed up behind
it.

The Hyperion
turned away and targeted the closest vessels within range, taking
fire in return as the support vessels had finally caught up with
Gray’s expert piloting. His ship took damage but Gray was too fast
for the inexperienced captains on-board the frigates facing him,
and with little effort the Hyperion broke free of the blockade.

Everything had
happened so quickly that the Stygian Council had only finished its
turn by the time the Hyperion was making for open space beyond New
Horizon’s closest moon.

The Stygian
Council had taken the bait. It and most of its supporting vessels
pursued the vessel that had caused so much damage within such a
short time, leaving only a few escort frigates behind to take care
of the few remaining defensive vessels still in orbit around the
planet.

There was
nothing blocking the Maiden and its escorts drop through New
Horizon’s atmosphere. Its path remained clear and its sister ships
and fighter escorts followed Gunn’s lead as the clouds above Santor
thickened.

Inside the
Maiden the Wolves were dead silent, all of them completely focused
on the drop and the mission ahead.

In only a few
minutes they would finally be allowed to fight unhindered, and
every single one of them relished the thought as the clouds cleared
and the truth of New Horizon’s fate was revealed.

“
We are the tip of the sword my
brothers! By fire and steel we will rid this planet of the enemy.
Our worst nightmares wait for us on the surface, but it does not
fill us with fear. No! It fills us with exhilaration. Embrace the
joy of hate as you plunge into the heart of the hell below. Write
your names in legend with every strike, and make these bastards
remember our names! Mighty Zeus cast the Titans down from Olympus,
banishing them to Tartarus, but that will not be our fate today.
No! We will fall on our enemies and rise with our shields raised
and our minds focused on the Beast’s destruction. Wolves! Follow
me! I will lead you through the abyss and beyond!
- Titan Captain Gabriel Locke’s words before first deployment,
recorded on-board the drop ship Morning Star in the skies above
Arkelis

“We are peeling
off to engage the enemy. God speed Queen,” the voice of Hyperion’s
fighter wing commander said over the radio.

“Happy
hunting,” Gunn replied. She turned to look out of the Maiden’s
cockpit window, watching as the three wings of Crescent fighters
turned to face a squadron of approaching enemy fighters. Gunn could
not make out the class of fighter approaching from the horizon, but
whatever they were they were fast bastards. She hoped the
Hyperion’s fighters would be on equal footing with them. Losing air
support would make things extremely difficult for the drop ships in
the skies above Santor.

“Where are our
friends going?” Locke asked Gunn. He was below in the cargo hold of
the Maiden’s fat belly, and could only see the drop ship’s escort
wing leaving their side.

“They are going
to pick a fight, giving us the perfect opportunity to disappear,”
Gunn replied.

Locke did not
ask anything else, leaving Gunn to co-ordinate the drop ship
formation above Santor. The three other drop ships she was in
charge of carried Sabian and his troops, and four light-armour
support vehicles. These LAS vehicles were part troop carries and
part light tanks, capable of high speeds through urban terrain
while blanketing areas with high calibre machine gun fire. They
would be dropped near the first objective and then make their way
towards the Wolves as they cleared whatever they found around the
school’s emergency beacon. Once the school was secure everyone
would mount up and head north towards the hospital’s beacon and
then swing north-west to reach the final objective - the civilian
bunker still broadcasting on emergency channels. Gunn and the drop
ships would take up a holding pattern around the three beacons,
sweeping the areas beyond the ground troop’s range with their
pintle-mounted weapons all drop ships carried underneath their
short wings.

Corporal Joshua
would not be deploying with the Wolves at the first beacon, instead
he will be leap-frogged to a building overlooking the hospital
objective. The building was high enough to give the scout Titan a
view of all three objectives with his high powered rifle. Everyone
secretly hoped he had trained with Godwaker enough on board the
Hyperion. He was the key to scouting routes for the vehicles to
traverse through Santor’s sprawling cityscape. And everyone on the
ground would depend on his keen eye and skill to take down anything
the ground troops could not see coming. A squad of eight Lancers
would deploy with Jay, acting as spotters and protectors while the
scout Titan looked through his scope.

“All ships,
time to go invisible. Activate stealth on my mark,” Gunn said to
the pilots of the other drop ships. The seconds ticked by as they
drew closer to their objectives. “Mark! Switch to stealth mode
now!”

Jinx, who was
seated in the seat next to Gunn, flipped a series of switches and
the lights inside the Maiden changed from dim white to low
blood-red. Outside, the hull of the Maiden moved and clicked as
armour plating shifted to close any gaps causing unnecessary wind
noise. The same happened to the other drop ships. As the last plate
shifted and locked into place the whine of the drop ship’s engines
lowered to almost an inaudible drone, mostly due to the engines
reducing power and using specialized flaps to reduce noise and
contrail visibility. The last mechanism to activate before the drop
ships disappeared from radar and sight was a curios device located
near the cockpit of each drop ship. Pilots called it White Noise,
and its only function was to emit a range of sound in all
directions, changing frequency every time the engines changed in
tone. This device counteracted all sound from the engines and made
the drop ships almost completely silent. The only way to spot them
was with the naked eye, and that was also a problem due to their
odd shape and colour. Its matt grey hull was the same colour as the
sky above Santor, rendering the Maiden and its sister ships nothing
but mere phantoms in the sky.

“Two minutes
until drop,” Gunn reported to Locke and the other drop ships.

A chorus of
affirmatives answered her words.

Gunn raised the
nose of the Maiden, rolling into a dive as she plunged towards the
first objective, the Maiden’s sister ships mirrored its manoeuvre
precisely, trailing behind the lead ship. Gunn had chosen to drop
down almost on top of the first objective instead of flying low
over the buildings around it, drawing less attention from any eyes
in the vicinity of the school.

“Blue Two, take
the lead, deploy once you are over your designated drop zone, the
rest of you follow Blue Two,” Gunn ordered the drop ship that was
acting as her wingman during the drop.

“Roger that,”
the pilot of Blue Two said. It turned to its right sharply and the
other two drop ships followed suit.

“Drop is less
than a minute Captain!” Gunn reported over the radio.