Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (60 page)

              “That can’t be good,” Robinson said from beside him.

              Looking over he saw that Robinson knelt beside him, using his own pair of binoculars to survey the area.

              “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. I think that it is a safe bet that gunship came from the orbital station with word of our attack. Still I guess it could be worse, from the fortifications I see down there we should be able to take them once we secure the orbital stations and shuttle down the Praetorian Guard,” Steve explained as he indicated the facilities with his binoculars.

              Robinson did not respond at first and instead he continued to look through his binoculars as something in the far distance.

              “That can’t be good,” Robinson said again as he pointed at something down below.

              Following the direction he pointed, Steve lifted his binoculars and immediately saw the source of Robinson’s declaration. Heavily armored vehicles rolled through a large tunnel opening and were spreading out. They were vehicles of a like Steve had never seen before but if he would to hazard a guess he would say they were some sort of tank. The armored vehicles drove on a tracked system much like their own tanks. Atop the tracked base was a heavy artillery energy cannon but from the looks of it they were fixed and not part of a turrent based system.

              “Damn, you’re right, that is not good. I think we better get back to the ship. There isn’t much we can do here at the moment,” Steve said as he started to withdraw from the cliffs edge.

              “Where are those guys going?” Robinson said softly.

              “Who?” asked Steve, as he sidled back up to the cliffs edge and looked down.

              “Off to the right, closest to our end of the cavern,” Robinson explained.

              Steve used his binoculars to zoom in on the area and saw a column of roughly one hundred Shenkar warriors marching into a tunnel entrance.

              “That isn’t a good sign, Shizta’s intel said the Shenkar rarely went out in patrols larger than ten but when they did it was never anymore than twenty. Something about it never being necessary as they viewed the Lykaans as lesser beings,”Steve explained as he watched the group entering the tunnel.

              The pair watched until the Shenkar column disappeared into the tunnel then Steve gave the signal to withdraw.

              “I think we better hurry back to the ship. That column might be headed to wherever Liam and his group are and that would be trouble.”

              “Why do you think they are headed for Lieutenant Commander Brennan’s group?” Robinson asked curiously.

              “Because trouble seems to gravitate to Liam in the worst way. He is the best of the
Templars
but he is not that good…at least not when he is in his right mind,” Steve explained as he thought of the massacre Liam had performed aboard the Shenkar battlecruiser when he had been captured.

              The pair withdrew and headed off in the direction of where the
Poseidon
was hidden. The destination of the column nagged at Steve but the more concerning problem was the build up of defensive forces around the facilities. If word got to the base overlord that humans were on the surface then it would interfere with their battle plan. Also, if the Shenkar were aware of their presence, then how long before word got out of the system calling for Shenkar reinforcements? Steve knew he needed to figure out something and it had to be quick otherwise they could be facing Shenkar forces they were not equipped to deal with.

January 31
st
, 2014 7:35pm EST

Lykaa

              Leah reclined in the chair as she studied the security feeds that showed the outside of the
Poseidon
, anxious for word of Liam and the rest of the groups. She had been like this for several hours now and was beginning to worry as they had received no updates at the scheduled times from either team. Speculation was their comm signal was being blocked from an unknown material they had found in the surface makeup but Leah still could not help but worry. A male voice from behind her shook her from her thoughts.

              “I wouldn’t worry too much. I am sure he is okay.”

              Turning, she saw Tim Wellmo standing there, looking down at her.

              “You are not worried? Sabrina is out there as well,” Leah asked.

              “She is with Liam and I couldn’t ask for a better guardian than him,” Tim explained as he moved into the seat next to her.

              “Yeah, I still can’t help but worry and not even about Liam. We have not heard from Steve’s group either and the last transmission we received from the
Kraken
in regards to the orbital stations was over four hours ago and they reported complications.”

              “Well, I am not too worried in regards to Liam and Steve’s groups, but I share your worry in regards to the stations. We should have heard from them by now,” Tim said as he studied the security feeds.

              “What should we do?”

              “Nothing at the moment, as much as I would like to take the
Poseidon
up to the station there wouldn’t be much we could do. Also if we abandon our post and either of the surface teams need our help we would be leaving them high and dry. For now all we can do is sit and wait.”

              Leah did not like just sitting and waiting. She wanted to act but how, she could not say. While she did worry about the surface teams, she found her concern more for the orbital stations…what was going on up there?

January 31
st
, 2014 7:55pm EST

Orbital Station 1, Lykaan Space

              “I said, hold him down!” commanded the combat medic.

              Four Praetorian Guard held Evan down as the medic worked, one holding his shoulders while the others held his legs. Pain lanced through him as the medic affixed the tourniquet to his leg, just above where his knee used to be.

              Evan gritted his teeth, trying not to cry out but the pain was extreme from shrapnel wounds that covered his body. He was one of only four members left alive from the original team that took the reactor chambers.              In the final minutes of the battle the fighting had been fierce, close combat breaking out everywhere as Shenkar rushed his position. It looked as if they would be overrun when General Leonid finally broke through with reinforcements. At the time of the arrival of the reinforcements, Evan had been engaged in plasma sword duel with what he believed to have been the commander of the station. When the reinforcements broke through, the enemy commander must have realized they were beaten and he signaled all remaining Shenkar to detonate grenades they carried. As the commander had depressed the button on his device, Evan had managed to sever the hand that held it but by then it was too late. Realizing this, Evan attempted to jump free of the explosion but he had been too slow. The resulting explosion had sent him into a nearby bulkhead. When he woke he had discovered he was only one of four survivors, the remainder killed by the explosive devices. He also learned that schrapnel from the explosion had completed destroyed his left leg from the knee down. As for the Shenkar, they had been completely defeated and mop up operations were now being conducted throughout the station looking for any Shenkar holdouts.

              The pain began to numb as the medic applied the nanite foam Steve had created. The wound quickly sealed but there would be no saving his leg. He contemplated whether the nanites would reconstruct his leg but he doubted it, his body just didn’t have the nanite infusion that some others seemed to have. In his current state, he was effectively removed from combat, both in the cockpit and on the ground.

              “How is he?” a gruff voice said from nearby.

              Turning his head he saw General Leonid looking down, slight concern upon his face.

              Evan slowly lifted one hand, giving thumbs up to the general.

              “All set, I just need a good night’s sleep,” Evan said, his voice slightly slurred from the pain medication surging through his blood stream.

              The medic stood, joined the general and the pair walked off to talk for a few minutes. Both occasionally looked in his direction but they spoke quietly and the surrounding noise made it impossible to hear what they were saying. General Leonid gave a final nod before turning and walking over to where Evan lay. Upon reaching Evan’s side he knelt down beside him.

              “Excellent job holding the reactor chamber as long as you did, Lieutenant Commander. If they had succeeded they could have overloaded the reactors and killed us all. The
Kraken
has withdrawn to the Cathergon base but the frigate
Artemis
has docked with the station, they will take you back to medical facilities on the
Kraken
so you can be properly attended too.”

              Evan nodded but did not say anything further; the look on the general’s face said it all….Evan was out of the war for the forseeable future. What would he do now? He could not fly and certainly could not fight in ground combat.

              His thoughts were interrupted as a Praetorian Guard member ran up to the general’s side. The look upon the soldier’s face said he was the bearer of bad news.

              “General, we have just received signals on the outer reaches of the system. Shenkar warships have just entered the system and are making their way here.”

              “Damn, I was hoping that last gunship had been destroyed with their hasty jump. It seems this was not the case. It is the only explanation for the reinforcements. How many warships have appeared?”

              “Four battlecruisers, six heavy cruisers, seven medium destroyers and seven ships that look to be some sort of troop transport although they are holding back slightly.”

              “How long before they are within weapons range?”

              “Thirty minutes, sir, if they head straight in.”

              General Leonid was silent for a moment as he thought over the new circumstances. Evan knew there was no way they would be able to escape the system with the Cathergon freighters and the two remaining frigates did not have the room to carry all the Praetorian Guard. Perhaps if the
Kraken
had remained in system they could have fought off the assault. Unfortunately the upper brass had wanted to keep the knowledge of the
Krakens
presence within Shenkar Federation territory a secret for as long as possible. This required the
Kraken
to withdraw to the Cathergon base as soon as the stations had been secured. Luckily before she had left she had taken on most of the wounded and sent in fresh replacements for the soldiers lost.

              “Order all remaining wounded to be loaded aboard the
Artemis
and
Apollo,
and then order them out of the system. They are to get back to the
Kraken
and let them know what has transpired here. As for the rest of the guard have them all loaded onto the Cathergon shuttles, once a shuttle has been loaded, have it depart for the planet’s surface. All shuttles should rendezvous to the fallback coordinates. I will be damned if the Shenkar think they can drive us off when we are so close to achieving our goal. On your way out, have Mcnair report to me,” the general commanded.

              The soldier saluted and retreated, pausing only long enough to speak briefly to a soldier near the entrance to the reactor chamber, before exiting to fulfill his orders. The soldier he had spoken to quickly made his way over to the general.

              “Specialist Mcnair reporting as ordered, SIR!” the soldier said as he came to attention and saluted.

“At ease soldier, I need to know if you can rig the defense system on this station to auto target the Shenkar warships?”

              The soldier thought this over for a few moments before answering.

              “It shouldn’t be too much trouble although the targeting/firing sequence will be delayed slightly which will reduce accuracy.”

              “Excellent, I have something in mind that will be quite the surprise for our Shenkar reinforcements. Here is what I want you to do…..”

              At this point two guard members had lifted Evan’s stretcher and carried him out of earshot so he was unable to hear what the general had planned. His stretcher was quickly carried through the station to the docking port where the
Artemis
was docked. As soon as he was secured in bed he felt the vibration of the frigate’s engines coming to life. It was clear the ship was moving away from the station and withdrawing from the system and the oncoming Shenkar battle group. It wouldn’t matter much to him anyways, for now the war was over for him. Closing his eyes he hoped Steve and Liam’s groups were faring a lot better than him.