Chapter 18

Location: Helios System

Planet: Helios Prime

Time: One week after Sol fleet's departure

Estimated Time of Arrival: Twenty Seconds

General Brackas looked grim as he stood among his troops watching as Dagons landing craft took up position three kilometers away, their shock troops pouring out to the rear troop holds. As of right now the Dagons were being held back by the shields, but they were going to soon be depleting the power to the base. General Altar Brackas knew he was fighting a lost battle but they couldn't nor wouldn't surrender to these barbarians. That would be unthinkable to him or his people; it was a fate, some suggested, that was worse than death. If it happened everything they were would cease to be and would be nothing more than chattel. There was one thing about the Dagons that made them probably the most despised species ever, that was cannibalism. They never ate one of their own, though there have been a few occasions when it has happened, but every other sentient life form was free game as far as they were concerned. The practice traced back to their home world of Dagonis around five thousand years ago, during a religious coup d'état. After the coup d'état the new priests revealed a new set of laws from their god Sethamartho which promoted slavery of weaker species to do their dirty work. One of the bylaws was that the eating of other intelligent beings was not just ok but encouraged to a point of religious fervor.

That was the worst possible outcome that Brackas could see for his people, to be conquered and then eaten at the victory celebration. He looked around at his troops; some reflect his own grim appearance while others who couldn't handle the harsh reality of the situation simple retreated into their own mind and lost the will to live or were just catatonic. The women and children had been crowded into the base and every able-bodied man and teen had been given a weapon, whether it was an ancient slug thrower or a sharp knife, they were armed. Now all they could do was sit here and wait for the attack to begin.

They didn't have to wait long.

Location: Outer rim of the Helios System

Estimated Time of Arrival: Fifteen Seconds

Aboard the cruiser Salidin was Fleet Admiral Constantine Vosh, a representative of the League of Interstellar Trade Worlds. He was pissed, starring into the vista of a Dagon blockade in the Helios system. He was ordered to change course and come to the aid of the Helions. In fact they were probably the only ones that came when the call went out, not that it surprised him in the least. He had a total of three cruisers, five heavy freighters, and ten landing craft making up his motley fleet. He knew he was stretched too thin and wouldn't be able to do much to the Dagon blockade. They were facing nine dreadnoughts, fifteen weapons platforms, one ultra class mother ship, and at least forty slave frigates. The odds were stacked against them but they would at least try, they owed Helios that much.

"Anything lieutenant?" asked Vosh.

"No, sir. We've sent the ultimatum less than five minutes ago, with no response from the Dagon Commander." The lieutenant said with little to no emotion in his voice.

"Alright people, commence attack plan alpha." The Admiral said.

The orders went out to his fleet and the three cruisers pulled ahead of the rest of the fleet. The landing craft took the opportunity to swing around the blockade and make a run for the planet Helios Prime while the Dagons were occupied with the fleet. The three cruisers and five freighters opened up with a mighty barrage of firepower. The leagues combined firepower could have level entire cities but were knocked aside by the Dagon shields as if they were nothing. Two Dagon dreadnoughts returned fire, aiming for one of the cruisers and two of the heavy freighters. The cruiser lasted no more than two shots, its shielding collapsed and exploded into a ball of burning plasma and wreckage while the freighters could barley withstand one shot of the Dagon weaponry. One shot boiled hull plating from the aft section of the freighter, venting atmosphere and crewmen alike. The other freighter wasn't so lucky and took a direct hit to the bridge and drift into a uncontrolled spin and slam into its wounded brother, taking nearly four hundred souls with them.

The landing craft weren't so lucky, as they bobbed and weaved through enemy lines as the weapons platforms opened up with barrage after barrage of chemical propulsion missiles and red energy beams of the point defense systems, each platform sported these. Six of the landing craft never made it passed the enemy lines and were transformed into balls of superheated plasma, not unlike miniature stars. The four that survived, but were heavily damaged, managed to make it further in-system. The Dagon blockade forces couldn't withdraw from the fight without letting the League forces getting a more strategic foothold in the system, which would make them more difficult to remove from fortified defensive positions. The four landing craft finally made it passed the enemy line, their sublight engines burning at maximum capacity. The battle was not going well for the League fleet, as another freighter had been crippled and set adrift, clearly out of the game. Two slave frigates approached the wounded vessel, intending to take the crew alive for the slave pens. The crew of the freighter only had two options in their situation; fight to the bitter end or surrender and except their fate as slaves.

Admiral Vosh had other ideas though. His ship and the last cruiser had damaged at least three of the nine dreadnoughts, they were still in the fight, offering their comrades all the support they could muster. He noticed that four frigates were starting to move perpendicularly over the dreadnoughts, positioning themselves for the kill. He ordered all of his fire to focus on the frigates. Energy blast after energy blast peppered the weak frigates, leaving smoldering pock marks. Suddenly two of the frigates careened off towards their big brothers. The small craft were too damaged to maneuver out of their destructive flight path. Both ships hit one of the dreadnoughts, consuming it in plasma and shrapnel. The inflicted dreadnought went into a uncontrolled spin as its hull plating glowed and rippled like water. The resulting explosion sounded the dreadnoughts' death knell, as a liquid ring of fire spread out to engulf its brethren. The resulting explosion heavily damaged, if not destroyed, two neighboring dreadnoughts, while the rest were rocked by the shockwave and received some carbon scoring for their trouble.

Location: Outer rim of the Helios System

Estimated Time of Arrival: Now

All was quite on this side of the Helios system, until a large rip in space appeared, like someone slashed space open with a knife that is. As nebulous clouds wafted through the tear then a small fleet of black ships appeared. As the last ship came through, the rip closed in on itself. The thirteen ships closed in a loose formation, giving each other enough space to maneuver, if they needed to.

"All hands, this is the captain. Man your stations and prepare for battle." Mike commed as soon as they had settled from exiting hyperspace.

The trip had gone well, despite the fact that it was their first venture into another dimension. Even though hyperspace was beautiful to look at, one couldn't exactly stare at it indefinitely, which resulted in a few migraine headaches. Mike was sitting on edge, nervous as a sack of cats over a pool of water. Prior to departure, a delivery of combat suits was made to all ships, an added precaution for the troops.

"Sam, raise shields and activate the cloaking device." Mike ordered.

"Done Captain." Sam replied quickly.

"Ensign?" he asked for her attention.

"Yes, sir?" asked the Asian woman in her mid-twenties.

"Relay that order to the other ships and add a reminder that everyone should be in their combat suits by now." Mike said.

"At once sir." She turned back to her console to relay the orders.

"Sensors?" Mike turned his attention towards the short, bald man hunched over the sensor console, his nose almost touching the display in front of him.

"Scanning now. I'm counting eight dreadnought class vessels of the Dagon blockade plus one ultra-class mother ship and thirty-four frigates. There is also a dozen weapons platforms." Said lieutenant Everett.

"Hmm, ok anything else?" Mike asked.

"Yes sir. It appears that a small fleet is challenging the blockade. At the moment they are taking heavy losses while causing minimal damage to the Dagon ships. Sir, if we don't get to them soon they'll be destroyed."

Mike nodded his head and activated his comm unit to address the entire fleet.

"Attention all ships, group one will head for the blockade to deal with the Dagons, group two will secure Helios Prime. Launch all fighter ASAP and head out and good hunting."

Mike killed his comm and turned his attention to the holo-display as the Darkstar began to proceed towards the blockade. Three Battle Cruisers and two Interceptors accompanied Darkstar towards the blockade, while four Battle Cruisers and three Interceptors went to Helios Prime to liberate the tormented planet. As) Group One began to close in on the blockade, the entire hanger bays on the ships were a flurry of activity, as pilots scrambled into their fighters. Fighter after fighter launched from the bays in a loose form of organized chaos and once they were out of the bays, they formed up with their wingman and joined their squadron mates. Now they were within weapons range of the blockade, still cloaked so the element of surprise was on their side, but Mike wanted to give the Dagons a chance to surrender peacefully. Though he knew they would never accept it, he had to give them the option at least.