Loyalties

Chapter 18

"Sir, enemy reinforcements have just arrived," Cindy says, still looking attentively at the holoboard. "They look pissed."

"Torpedoes and missiles incoming!" Denis yells as the ship's engines get a small boost. "Attempting to evade."

The ship tries to dip a bit to the side. However, that isn't enough. A couple hammer into the side, creating a small explosion.

"Those projectiles just ignored out shields!" Lauren shrieks, checking the shield diagnostics. "But our shields are still up."

Just as Lauren says that, one of our DSTR cruisers explodes, some debris making contact with our hull.

"We lost one more," Cindy says. "The backup fleet is awaiting orders, sir."

Judging by the enemy's fleet and how many ships we've taken out, the second half of the fleet would help greatly.

Turning around, Cindy has the battle displayed on the holoboard. The Black Sun blockade is losing ships fairly quickly. The debris of the ship's looks like a ring around the planet. Looking back around at the battle, the Command Cruiser has turned, it's starboard cannons firing in all directions.

"Call in the backup," I order, the pit in my stomach growing larger. "Captain, turn port side. Colonel, have the port side cannons ready."

"Aye sir," Denis says, relaying the command

"Locked and loaded, Admiral," Joseph says, smiling. "Desired target?"

I look out the front viewport. "That Command Cruiser. Lock middle cannons on it, coordinates: 254 mark 710," I order, my eyes not leaving the cruiser for a moment.

My eyes follow all the cannon shots to their end locations. It's harder than it looks, especially when numerous lasers are being volleyed back and forth. The sight of the enemy ships exploding always puts a smile on my face. You're losing this one, Dawn, I think as I grin ear to ear.

"Admiral," Lauren says. "The enemy's Command Cruiser's life support has been destroyed."

I bite my lip, but not of nervousness. Staring at the cruiser, I don't know what my plan of action could be.

"Colonel," I call on Joseph. "Target their engines and all heavy cannons." Joseph nods, and right away, my orders are carried out. In no time, the engines explode in a flash of orange.

"Sir, the enemy ship is hailing us," Cindy says, her expression unchanged. She doesn't seem to panic anymore when the enemy hails, because she knows they've already lost.

I nod, and the image of Capitan Fatima appears. He seems a shorter man, and pretty chubby. He has little to no hair on his head, and his eyes try to mask the terror he's feeling.

"I warned you, Admiral," he spits. "You won't know what's coming!"

"You're right," I say blandly. "I don't. Prepare to be boarded." The transmission is cut. "Colonel, prepare boarding parties and make sure they have covering fire. I want every bit of data off that Command Cruiser, no matter what it is. I want to know what's going on."

"Aye sir," Joseph responds. "The fleet will focus their fire on all other ships, and they're also sending fighter escorts."

"Perfect," I say. "Target their weapon systems and communications. Make them truly dead in the water."

With my fleet greatly outnumbering the Black Sun, the final easy task is taking out outposts on the surface, but keeping the main armory intact. The amount of weapons, data, ammunition for soldiers and shells for ships. Might as well place a large neon sign on top that says "Fort Knox of Ammo".

"Launching boarding parties," Joseph remarks, breaking my trance. "Initiating covering fire sequence Beta-4."

"What's that?" I question with a puzzled look on my face.

Joseph shakes his head. "It's from an older movie," he mocks a historian, "about humans venturing the stars-"

"Save it for after," I cut him off. "Just get all ships onboard that Cruiser."

"Admiral!" Denis calls. "Come have a look at this!"

I walk over to my Captain's location at the front of the bridge. "What is it buddy?" I ask, nearly whispering. Denis points to an instrument.

"I had Trix implement this into our scanners," he says, pressing a couple buttons. "After our talk, I modified the sensors to pick up any irradiated plasma particles, since that's what the Black Sun uses to travel at Mach speed." Denis opens up the scanner again, except this time, there are numerous black streaks across the whole screen.

"What does that mean," I ask. "Has someone or something traveling at Mach all around us?" Denis nods. "Can you track them or it?" Denis nods again.

"The Black Sun. They've been heading to," Denis pauses to do some calculations. "Point 001 by 000 by 000." There's an eerie silence between him and I, and we don't even need to say anything.

Earth.