formation with it.
“Got it, the Merry Cooper and fighter escort. Thanks Ronin, you know how I love cracking ships with bad names.”
Minh watched as his target suffered multiple decompressions and its cannons ceased to function. Energy readings from the ship dipped suddenly and he marked the pair of fighters that had come to its aid as his squad's next target. His squadron followed his lead as he swung around a small group of meteors. Minh's cockpit lit up as they all opened fire on the older pair of fighters. They flew to pieces in seconds.
Minh looked at the tactical screen as he directed his wing behind a broad, detached solar arm that had been blown off the station in a previous firefight. “I see a fighter recall underway, what do you see?”
“All the remaining fighters are turning towards that ship,” Slick highlighted a large three hundred meter carrier, the Viscount's Pride.
“Oz says no one escapes, so no one escapes,” Minh said with a smile. “All right, this is the one that got Joyboy and his SIO. We're going to use all our dumb fire missiles in the first volley towards their aft dorsal section. Make sure you don't fire them right into their engines or they'll burn up before they hit. Strafe behind cover and focus fire guns on their port side until the missiles strike then widen the hole.”
“This is the Clever Dream. We'll have a clear line of sight in a few seconds to support your strike. Expect a few extra missiles,” reported Lieutenant Garrison, a senior security officer assigned to command the Clever Dream for that boarding action.
As soon as Minh's fighter group broke cover dozens of missiles burst out of their pods. The group slipped sideways after emptying their launchers and took several hits themselves before reaching cover.
“I'm done, three engines down and I'm on backup power,” reported Tempest.
“Can you make it back to the Triton?” Slick asked.
“I can.”
“Good, stay under cover while heading for the nearest barrier edge. Launch a buoy ahead of you to tell them that you're coming in damaged.”
“Aye, sorry.” She seemed genuinely disappointed and regretful as she closed the channel.
The remainder of Minh's group broke cover in time to see a hail of larger missiles zig and zag rapidly towards the Viscount's Pride. “Those are Screamer Missiles, I love that ship,” Minh whispered as his fighter group opened fire with all their cannons. The enemy returned fire in vein. Their shots were absorbed by his squad's shields or blocked by the nearby meteorites and damaged hulks they used as an intermittent defensive wall.
“That'll cause some damage,” Slick chuckled. “Oh man! That's about fifty hits!” he exclaimed as he watched the squadron's volley of dumb fire missiles strike the rear shields of the slow enemy vessel. The power levels of the shielding dropped drastically then the screamer missiles impacted squarely against the aft lower hull. The fighter's sensors reported the Viscount's Pride's shields were completely down.
Minh opened a channel broadcasting on all bands. “You will not be allowed to escape alive. Surrender,” he warned.
“Should we cease fire Ronin?” asked Finger.
“If we cease fire they might not take us seriously,” he replied.
The next time his squadron broke cover, drifting between two collections of larger meteors they dug into the rear of the ship. At first there was little apparent damage, but before they moved behind the next collection of stone and metal a large burst of white and grey erupted from the rear compartments.
“This is Viscount's Pride, we surrender. Powering down weapons. Request permission to take on damaged fighters.”
“Are they actually powering down?” Minh asked Slick.
Slick watched the ship's profile on his sensors for a moment before answering. “I show less then one percent of their former power output. I don't think they had a choice, we hit something important.”
“All right, tell them they're clear to take on their fighter compliment and watch for any extra power readings. Tell Buster to offer similar terms to her target.”
“She's chasing them out of the barrier now.”
“Oh that's a bad day waiting to happen. Triton’s going to cut them to ribbons. Too bad we'll miss it, I've wanted to see that gunnery deck in action since I took the tour.”
“You and me both.”
“This is the Cold Reaver, we're touching down on the station.”
“Clever Dream touching down in ten seconds.”
Chapter 6
The main hold of the Clever Dream was occupied by two squads of heavily armed Triton soldiers. They were all clad in combat vacsuits with the new armour layer added. It was like looking at a muscled version of Captain Valance's combat vacsuit, with horizontal flexible metal slats from head to toe, heavier combat boots up to the knee, and a new face plate that looked more like an ancient Roman centurion's helmet with a crimson Triton skull painted over top. Victor wasn't surprised when the design was added by Captain Valance himself, it was obvious that the value of intimidation wasn't lost on the man.
The extra layer of the armour contained extra life support, a compensation system for heavy gravity areas, a personal shield, more cloaking circuitry, an equipment module that could be dropped if necessary and a backup computer that linked with their communication and control units. Victor's favourite feature of the suit was the gravity compensation systems which included a synthetic muscle layer that made it possible to move normally while affected by heavy gravitational forces. In normal gravity the suit could stand up while under three tons, and he couldn't wait to find an opportunity to test it under impractical conditions.
Closest to the debarkation ramp stood Alaka, whose armour required a special touch. Three of the squadron members behind him had fought at his side on Pandem, pressing in the constant tunnel war to maintain the perimeter around Mount Elbrus. Victor Davis was one of those tunnel fighters and he couldn't help but stare at his old comrade.
The Triton crew had converted the shell of an armoured augmentation suit, much like the loader suits used on the gunnery deck, only the shell they'd adapted for Alaka was like some modernized plate armour. The matte black surface was marked with the grey Triton skull on the right side of his chest and back, there was a mount for his rebuilt beam weapon, built in communications, sensor suite, personnel neutralization system and advanced survival kit for deep space. To look at the black armoured plates interlocking over the massive nafalli you couldn't tell they had fit so much into the suit, in fact no one facing Alaka would care to think what might be inside upon seeing him. He was huge, almost twice the height of some of the boarders and the black suit made him look even more imposing, even menacing.
The other boarders were wearing the new plated vacsuits made for heavy fighting and deep space support. Victor looked around at the Triton soldiers standing all around him. They were all tethered in place for safety, just in case the ride got rough. Each of them had a heavy rifle, a survival package built into the back of their armour, a helmet with the Triton skull imprinted on the face in crimson, rank insignia on their shoulders, a heavy sidearm and a set of speciality gear.
He couldn't believe where he was, what he was doing. Pandem felt like it was years away and if the gear he'd qualified on in the absolutely life like simulation programs wasn't so easy to use he would call it alien. The vacsuit was the most comfortable garment he'd ever worn, the armour practically put itself on and the sensor, targeting, communications and intelligence systems that were built into the whole outfit were so amazing that he'd only ever seen the like in science fiction movies. He knew he'd qualified fast and Alaka had pulled strings to get him into his squad. He didn't intend to disappoint. Many of the security officers aboard Triton wanted a set of the boarding armour, but they could only manufacture so much at a time. In a way he was lucky to be assigned to one of the advance boarding squads. At the same time Victor was keenly aware that he and the rest of the squad were given the armour because the Security Chief expected they'd need it.
