The Ascent

Chapter 36

The Phoenix trembled from the force of our missile launchers. Our point defense systems were running them on full auto. Enemy missiles, too small to show up in the gravimetric haze of the long range scanners, appeared as if by magic only seconds from hitting our ship. Our Defense Ranging And Targeting System could barely keep up with them. It seemed the battle station at L1 had joined the fight.

I flash messaged Mia, my fleet tactical officer. "Have the ships move in and concentrate our fire on L4."

"Sir, won't that put us outside the D-RATS response safety margin?"

"Slightly. But we can't stay here and get hammered on both sides. We have to end this fight now and, if we're lucky, L1 will help us finish off L4."

"Acknowledged."

I waited a tense minute, feeling the Phoenix shudder around me while the tac officer calculated and relayed the fleet's movement. I glanced at my pressure helmet strapped to the inside of my pod, making sure it was available if we got hit, then heard the acceleration alarm.

The fleet moved in closer, staying on the station's equator to avoid the concentrated fire at its polar regions. While the attack continued, I planned the fleet's next move. I don't know if L1 helped us out or not, but L4 soon stopped firing and, seconds later, fell apart under our assault.

I flash messaged my tac officers, "stand by for course change," then called up the 3D navigation display. Our momentum was carrying us away from the moon at an oblique angle. We would have to turn toward the moon and burn off our momentum with the reaction drives, but first we had to get out of the range of the battle stations' missiles.

I rotated the display, lining up L2 and L5, determined the angle we'd need to approach, the length of burn to get the speed we'd want and worked backwards to our next destination. I sent the data to the fleet tac officer. "Boost as soon as you've crunched the numbers and get your confirmation from fleet," I told him.

The attacks from L1 continued, but we were now able to concentrate our defenses on them. The missile launchers quivered another minute then stopped as the fleet went FTL. We dropped out of FTL well beyond the moon's range, turned, fired up the reaction drives and began accelerating back. I was tempted to turn the optical sensors on L4 and watch the last minute of our fight as its light caught up to us, but instead I trained my sights on the moon.

I found the enemy's base burrowed into the side of a crater. The Shattered remains of the troopers' landers outside its front entrance had given it away. Someone, most likely L2, had blasted them on the ground.

I messaged my coms officers.

"Yes, sir?"

"Can we reach the troopers on the ground?"

"I'm talking with specialist Lesko right now."

"Add me."

The com officer paused. "OK, you're in."

"Specialist Lesko, this is Commander Phon. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, sir."

"What's your situation?"

"We've secured module A, but cannot access the interior modules."

"Is your position currently threatened?"

"Not at the moment. The aliens sent an assault team out through a secondary entrance to attack us from over the moon's surface earlier. We destroyed them and sent a team to go find the other entrances when the battle station overhead attacked."

"Well, we're about to make a flyby of L2. Hopefully we'll keep them busy."

"What do you want us to do?"