Dominion

Chapter Fourteen: The Blackness

Chapter Fourteen: The Blackness

This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre.

Even with the cover of The Cloud giving them some protection, the rebels were outmatched. Dominion cannons and scout ships alike assaulted the mountain from every side, while soldiers charged up the paths to finish off whoever was left. It was only a matter of time before the mountain became a tomb.

My eyes studied the battlefield, watching the scout ships and the cannons carefully. They were following a standard flanking tactic. I could see four ground cannons from her, strategically placed in a circular pattern around the mountain. Presumably, there were two more on the other side, beyond my view, to complete the circle. The scout ships were positioned above, but in between the cannons, assaulting what the cannons blasts could not. All the while other scout ships - like the one we commandeered - arrived to drop of more troops at the mountain's base, where the Dominion had a command center set up.

The cannons were firing in a pattern, one after the other, making sure no second was allowed where the mountain wasn't being hit. They would allow the enemy no breathing room, no time to plan a counterattack - they would be too busy trying to stay alive in the bombardment. Any rebels that did get high enough to evade the cannons, the scout ships would attack.

No cannon broke the pattern, nor scout ship. It was like they were wired together, perfectly in sync. And that was their weakness. They wouldn't count on a ship breaking the pattern. They wouldn't be prepared for the element of surprise our ship represented as we entered the battle unnoticed.

"So what's the plan here?" Vera asked me, after my moments of silence as I studied the battle. I tore my eyes away from it and looked to her.

"We have the element of surprise. They won't be expecting one of their ships to attack them." I started, and looked back ahead. "The ground cannons are shielded, so we start taking out the other scout ships."

"The ground cannonsss will quickly take noticcce of that," Lizard pointed out, and I nodded.

"Yeah, they will." I replied, and looked to him. "Which is why we're gonna need a damn good pilot." I finished.

"Hold on," Vera interjected. "Lizard, you're still injured." She said, her eyes glazing over his wound and then back up. "Are you sure you're up for this?" She asked, concerned, and he slowly nodded.

"I will...manage." He replied. "Besssidesss, neither of you know how to fly the ssship." He added.

"No, but we will need to learn how to use the guns." I replied, and Lizard began a fly around of the mountain, making it appear as if we were sent to drop of reinforcements wherever they were needed. That would buy us a minute's time.

"Thessse ssships were desssigned for three." Lizard explained, still keeping his eyes ahead. "A pilot, a gunner, and a scanner." He added, and I looked to either side of the ship. Two control consoles, one on either side. But they looked identical in the fact that I didn't even know where to start.

The console was nothing like I'd ever seen or operated; just two hand-sized pads and a single screen that showed blueprints of the ships weapons. I looked over to Lizard and saw that his hands were placed atop two similar pads and that there didn't appear to be any controls he was actually using.

"Alright, how do these things work?" I asked, taking a seat in front of the screen with the weapons blueprints.

"When you placcce your handsss on the interfaccces, you will essstablisssh a neural link with the ssship. I will not lie...the initial connection is quite unpleasssant." He explained. Wonderful. "It wasss not desssigned for alien mindsss, but we can ssstill ussse it."