“What of the life of my men?” rasped Zaul.
“It’s your man Vembrod who’s flying,” insisted Lexia.
“Fenli’s egging him on.”
“How can he be?”
“Kestrel, Vembrod is down,” called Varon desperately. “I repeat. Vembrod is down. Electrocuted from panel surge from enemy fire. Shields are low. Fenli is flying. I can’t control him. I’m taking over the guns.”
Zaul choked. “That weaselly—”
“Kestrel, do you see any holes we should explore?” redirected Eagle 2.
“Negative Eagle 2, get out of range! You’ve caused a stir. Zikri mobilization has rippled across the line like wildfire. They’re looking angry and rounding in on you to take their pound of flesh.”
“Eagle 2 copy. We’re ready to depart.”
“Wait!” cried Zaul. “I see Zikri and locust craft in formation side by side. That doesn’t look like enmity. They’re still not convinced. Eagle 3, hit them hard! Those Zikri orbs escorting the new cargo shipments. They’re your targets.”
“Copy,” said Bruus, “We’re the closest.”
Miko’s throat tightened on sight of the twin orbs hurtling in from around the box-van and the yellow-pink flash of incandescent bombs. “Get us out of here, Usk!”
Usk dipped the Doraxu at a stealthy 270 and the craft plunged ninety degrees to the Zikri front.
Miko’s stomach lurched. His eyes grew wide at the sight of the massive rectangular box, surrounded by scores of Zikri orbs and hundreds of lighter craft. The octagonal plates of its prickly, chiselled hide seemed to glow with an inner, unnatural hue.
The viewscreen flashed with myriad flares. A firefly swarm of incoming enemy ships opened up bright laser fire and disrupter bombs on the invaders. The main battleships of both locust and Zikri turned to engage.
“Yeehaw!” Fenli cackled over the speaker. “Get yourselves some choice fodder, boys! Varon, keep your finger on that trigger.”
“Fenli, don’t get crazy!” said Zaul. “You’ve a mission.”
“Shove it, Colonel. Get your own ship and follow your own protocols.”
Laser spatter and Zikri bombs erupted over the invisible no man’s land between Zirki and locust. All the Doraxu Eagle company’s shields were getting hammered. Emergency klaxons rang on the bridges and Miko’s ship skewed sideways. A bright light flared to port, blinding him and Usk.
Star screamed. Orbs flared in ruin and imploded. Enemy Doraxu collided with each other, igniting, sending slivers of metal and flame everywhere. Fights had broken out all over the buffer between fleets. Casualties were heavy on both sides.
“There’s enough local battles to keep them busy,” cried Miko. “There’s a chance we can sneak through this mess and not be slaughtered.”
“Blast them to hell!” came Zaul’s fanatic hiss over the com.
“Don’t hit locusts,” warned Varon.
“I’ll hit what I bloody well like!” said Miko. “Just fly your own ship, Varon.”
“Out, Eagle 1. Now!” cried Zaul.
Usk slammed the controls but nothing happened.
Miko’s face creased in horror. “Usk!”
“Time drives are on standby,” said Deral. “What the devil—”
“Sir, a new weapon! Some tracking systems indicate a kind of strategic defense,” Jinquar reported.
“What?”
“An unknown signal of unclassifiable signature, disrupting Doraxu light drive function. I traced the source to the Zikri war orb at 0.32. It’s a defense orb.”
The spike-armoured monstrosity rose in the viewscreen and Zaul’s teeth showed in a grimace. “That’s impossible! We would have known of such technology.”
“Are you sure, Colonel?” cried Lexia. “Leave it to these fiends to come up with some demon technology more sophisticated than our own.”
“Ah, people,” said Fenli, “we are like floating in a sea of locusts and Zikri ball crushers here...”
“Evasive action, you fool! Do I need to hold your hand?” said Zaul.
“Roger that,” croaked Fenli. He dialled up the impulse thrusters to max and the Doraxu ripped up and over the box-van to face the incoming swarm. Varon blasted the side plates of the ugly box-van with relish. Return fire rippled by and deflected off their battered shields.
Usk turned the Doraxu ship at a steep angle to the van. Zikri zeroed in on them, both locust and Zikri neither trusting the other and raking each other’s flanks with fire. Miko’s head swam; his fingers fired on anything threatening. The bridge rocked and the ship shuddered at the bombardment and went spinning out of control.
Shields held but Miko’s ship couldn’t withstand the punishment for much longer. A cold knot of fear reached out to clutch his throat. If the gambit failed and the crossfire petered out, it could be the end of the free races as they knew it: locusts and Zikri setting up bases anywhere and everywhere in the galaxy, subjugating the free worlds and peoples indefinitely.
“Where’s Fenli?” Miko called wildly.
“Right here, behind your gyrating tail, Eagle 1,” came the static voice over the com. “Keep at max speed, buddy. It’s been nice knowing you. I’m going in to take out that warp impedance transmitter, before we all die.”
“Fenli, stand down,” ordered Zaul.
It was a move the Zikri guard anticipated and they came at Fenli and Varon with force.
Miko watched in horror as Fenli’s ship, trailing a stream of smoke and gas from a hit to the stern, weaved impossibly in between enemy fire and ships, while Varon yelled at Fenli to retreat.
Fenli paid no heed. Eagle 2’s shields dimmed to a dangerously low level.
“I’ll cover you, Eagle 2,” cried Eagle 3, veering his own battered Doraxu into the maw of the stalking orbs.
“Roger that,” confirmed Eagle 4 and 5. The two Doraxu, driven by Zaul’s special elite op team, were fearless as wolves and swept up and over the raging Orbs, splitting enemy fire between them, raking their enemy with lasers. Their auxiliary shields caught the brunt, but were on the verge of blinking out for good. Two donut-shaped Orbs converged on the Eagle vessels recklessly, one colliding into its stealth partner
