Chapter 39: Battle for Karsakini Part 4

Amy appeared on the bridge deck, and quickly reacted to the damage. Activating the tractor beams, she reached out and latched onto the crew. Only two were sucked out, as internal forcefields she had installed snapped on and covered the openings. Activating her communications system, she issued her orders.

"This is Amy, I need medical teams to the main bridge we have casualties."

Walking around the room, she checked each crewmember and finally knelt by her sister-wife.

"Tammy, please wake up."

Accessing Tammy's nanobots she saw Tammy was bleeding internally along with the gash on her forehead. Her right shoulder was dislocated and the fingers of her right hand were broken.

Jessica appeared behind her and looked around at the shattered stations, one look and she knew the bridge was a total write off until repairs could be made.

"Amy is Tam..."

"Alive, sister, but hurt badly. We have five critically injured, ten unconscious with mild wounds, and two MIAs: Lieutenant Sandy Dorchester and Ensign Mark Billings. Both were, I believe, were sucked out. Ensign Billings was manning portside sensors, though, and the hit came through his wall. I believe he was killed immediately."

"I will notify Ken, she is going to medical..." Before she could continue the ship lurched as she was hit once again and down on the main deck, an explosion detonated out of the number one through nine rail guns and the three weapon platforms vanished into oblivion.

Amy looked up at her sister, "Get to the flag bridge, now. I will handle the main bridge."

"Okay, Amy, good luck," she said.

She faded out and medical technicians rushed onto the bridge and started administrating to the wounded.

Walking over to the main viewer, Amy tapped into the remaining sensors and weapons platforms and started turning the ship up on her side.

"All batteries open fire on the Crytherian battleship."

Around the ship, hundreds of railguns, pulse laser canons, and missile launchers turned and pointed at the huge ship, and opened fire. On the main deck, several doors opened, and Mechs started walking out onto the hull. The magnetic plates on the bottom of their feet kept them attached to the hull, as they raised their plasma cannons and added their firepower to the ship's.

Corporal Sidney Doran moved through the giant gantries searching for the Crytherian warrior who was sniping at the escapees. Using her holoemitter to disguise her body, she stood up and looked through her binoculars trying to find the target. Her laser rifle was cradled in her arms as she looked for the bastard.

"Come on you fucking bastard, where are you?" she muttered to herself.

Krang slipped up the tower using the maintenance shaft with his anti gravity belt. Stopping at the top, he crawled out on the roof and looked down on the ships being loaded with the escaped slaves. Lifting his rifle and Thrack gun, he sighted the missile onto the freighter Gralian and aimed at the bridge. With a slow pull of the trigger, the missile leaped from the weapon and flew the mile to the target.

Sidney saw the flash and dropped to her knee as she lifted her laser. She spotted the missile heading for one of the freighters. Sighting through the scope the missile came in view. With a quick breath, she fired. Turning as the missile exploded, she looked to the top of the tower. She saw the warrior looking at her. Pressing the trigger, she saw the Crytherian dodge to the side behind some bulky air conditioner units and she started ripping them apart with her laser as she moved to cover.

Krang cursed as his missile exploded and whipped his weapon around following the beams course to one of the armored creatures.

"You die now," he said.

Pulling the trigger for the missile, he got a misfire and dodged to some cover as the creature fired on him. Yanking the missile out he saw what was wrong, and quickly pulled the safety tab and reinserted the missile. Above him, the temperature control unit exploded as the enemy fire perforated it. Running to another ladder, he climbed up and slowly came into view to aim his weapon at the far construction dock.

Ducking behind some stacked beams, Sidney checked her power level and switched it out. Turning she poked her weapon through a small opening as she watched for her target. Then she saw a movement. Waiting for a second, she saw the Crytherian come in view, and she fired.

Captain Joyce Lawson of the Mastiff turned and shouted her orders, "Fold us to the Washington, as soon as we come out, open fire with everything we have."

"Aye-aye, Ma'am, folding now," replied Ensign Abigail Carr as she started typing the commands into the fold engine computers and the ship disappeared and reappeared across the bow of the huge ship.

Lieutenant Mickey Donaldson typed the commands into his forward weapon bay computers while to his right his sister Jerri typed them in for the stern weapons.

"Opening fire now, Ma'am," he reported.

The destroyer's weapons reached out and started smashing into the bow of the ship, wrecking weapon mounts, and walking up the hull of the huge ship towards the circular bridge as she opened fire on the Mastiff.

"Roll ship."

The Valmiksia came around and tried to bring more of her weapons on target when a second battleship appeared and opened fire. Then several destroyers appeared.

"How the hell are they doing that? How could they appear out of thin air?" Captain Weq shouted.

"I don't know, Sir. It's got to be some new type of engine. It's not a hyper-engine. Several of the ships were too far into the gravity well of the star to be able to hyper out," Wvekla shouted over at the navigational panels.

The Valmiksia lurched as one of the destroyers appeared off her bow and opened fire.

"Target the ship directly ahead. Blow her apart, continue our turn, and let's get the big ship."

"Turning and firing now," replied the weapons officer.

The ninety forward heavy lasers fire at once and the shields of the destroyer stop the first hits and then they fire again as the ship started to roll. The beams smashed into the side of the destroyer and start ripping her in two. The ship continued her roll and the shields from the undamaged side deflected the next series of hits. As the Valmiksia started taking more hits, and an explosion blossoms from her bow from a ruptured a missile magazine, she opened fire again.

Joyce staggered to her feet and looked at the damage control boards. "Abigail, fold us to the edge of the system."

"Folding now Ma'am, I had it programmed in."

The little destroyer instantly folded to her new location as spider bots flowed out of their storage bays and started repairing the ship while medical teams started tearing into the shattered compartments of the ship, trying to save as many of the wounded that they could.

Ken watched at the Mastiff folded away, her flanks burning from the damages.

"Orders to the Mastiff, if she's able to, she's to fold to Tau Ceti Prime, take on as many evacuees as possible and then fold for home."

"Aye, Aye, Admiral, sending your orders now," replied the communications officer.

Jessica appeared, and looked around the bridge, taking in as much information as she could while the main AI handled the weapons. "Admiral, main bridge is a write off, we have two MIA's. Captain Thompson and the rest of the bridge crew are being evacuated to medical as we speak."

"Is she Okay?"

"Yes Sir, we also have damage to the number one through nine bow rail guns and heavy pulse laser one and two are destroyed. Damage to environmental unit one; and shield generators one and three are destroyed. The remaining shield generators are compensating for their loss."

The heavy lasers reach out towards the destroyer and just as they are to hit her, she vanished into thin air, "Where did she go?"

"Captain, somehow she is now at the outer reaches of the system, near the twelfth planet."

"How the hell did she do that? We need that technology. We will try and disable one of their ships, but for now concentrate on the battleship."

"Yes, Sir," replied the gunnery officer as he started targeting the huge ship behind them.

"Hard left, ram that ship with the reinforced bow, notify all shock troops we will be boarding."

The Oregon lurched as she came under fire from the battleship. Ted paced his command deck, smoke was thick in the air and he knew his ship has heavy damage to the portside. "Keep our starboard side to them, let's get this right."

"Aye captain, all starboard weapons are opening fire now."

The rail guns come on line and two hundred of them start hammering the undefended bow, ripping huge holes into her flanks as she turned and heads right towards them.

"Helmsman, take us above them; angle the deck to keep all weapons on target."

"Aye captain taking us up."

Lisa appeared and started issuing her report, "Ted, we have damages to sixty percent of our portside compartment. Medical three is gone, along with hydroponics one and three, and environmental one. We have nine shield generators online to port, along with only twenty percent of our weapons; we've down to twenty rail guns, and sixteen laser batteries. Hangar Bay One is a write off. We will need to rebuild it. We have nineteen hundred dead, three hundred wounded and six hundred and eleven MIAs.

"Thank you, Lisa..."

"Sir she's going to ram us."

"Fold us."

"Too late Sir, hang on."

The bow of the huge battleship punched through the armored flank of the Oregon and the two ships come to a dead stop. Deep in the bow, giant ramps descend and thousands of warriors flooded into the enemy ship. One of the ramps came down into the shattered Mech bay, and the Crytherians flooded into a death trap as a Bengal opened up with its plasma cannons, incinerating anyone who came forward.

Sergeant Alice Annapolis watched as the Crytherians come onto her ship and she stepped her damaged Mech out of its repair bay and opened up with its plasma cannons and missiles. "This is Sergeant Annapolis code name Rocking Horse; we have intruders in Mech bay two. I need help down here."

"Roger Rocking Horse helps on the way. See if you could get them to run."

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do!" she shouted back into the Mech as she unleashed all her weapons on the invaders. As she killed the enemy, the doors snapped open and Marines along with Mech pilots flood into the room. Around her, more Mechs powered up and started unleashing their firepower onto the enemy as they valiantly tried to fight back.

Flipping her weapons panel, she activated her long-range missiles, and took aim at the ramp leading into the enemy ship. The missiles flew away from her Mech and started slamming into the bulkheads of the giant battleship.

Up on the bridge, Ted watched the Crytherians pour into his ship and start killing his crew.

"Fold us to Tau Ceti."

"Aye-aye, Captain, folding now."

Weq watched the ship he had rammed disappear. Then his troops flew out of the suddenly decompressed bow ramps.

"Close the ramps..." he said.

He flew across the deck as his ship took a massive hit to his bow and he saw it burning under a white light. Staggering to his feet Captain Weq looked around, "Hyper out, now," he ordered as he staggered to his feet and looked at the bow of his ship.

"Head for Hydron. We will pick up the rest of our fleet and come back."

"Hypering now, Captain, but what about our fighters?"

"They're on their own. We don't have time to get them onboard."

The great ship continued its turn. Deep inside the hull, the ships giant hyper engine came online.

Then it vanished into hyperspace.

"Thank you Jess," Ken replied, as he watched the huge ship taking a pounding and then it disappeared.

"What the hell? Where did it go?"

"Sir, she jumped into hyper, shall we follow?"

"Negative, target the light cruiser, and open fire."

"Aye-aye, Admiral, switching targets now."

The heavy weapons of the battleship switched their fire leaving a trail of antimatter warheads like an old anti-aircraft guns fire as they flow across space and started slamming into the light cruiser. Explosions started detonating across the ships shields and then they go down as their generators are overwhelmed.

"Contact that ship, they have ten seconds to surrender or we blow them apart..."

The orders were never finished. The cruiser exploded into a gigantic fireball, hurling parts of its hull through space, destroying fighters on both sides. One large section hurtled towards the Washington, and slammed into the portside shields, causing them to flare briefly.

"Get me a status report of the fleet."

"Sir, Oregon has heavy damage to their portside, Mastiff has extensive damages, but the heaviest damage is to the Relief, they have a nine hundred foot gash through one of the medical decks, casualties are heavy, estimated around a thousand dead. Spiders are repairing the hull now. Orca has taken some light damage from ground to space weaponry but they have taken care of all their targets. We have crews aboard six liners, sixty-six freighters, sixteen hyper capacity yachts, and nine destroyers. We have rescued in the last ten hours three point two million humans and seventy-one thousand Tralcans, and fourteen hundred creatures called the Dralin. It seems the Crytherians captured their home world about fifty years ago, and they are in very poor shape."

"Dralin?" Ken asked.