Chapter 3

Captain Jesakalin was busying herself by examining the tactical situation. Her ship was on picket duty on the outer part of the solar system. The Ishalitk, or Sapphire, system contained seven planets. There were three rocky inner ones including Sapphire which was second from its sun. There were four gas giants of various sizes in the middle and outer system. The fourth of these planets was a blue-green sphere about the size of Neptune. It was called Terlarin by the dizyntk. It bore the family name of an officer aboard the first dizyntk exploration vessel to reach the system some 250 cyankas previously. Terlarin had 10 moons and the largest of these, Vala, named after a daughter of the officer, had a radius of 1,830 km. That made it a pretty big chunk of rock.

Currently the Zerleen was holding station above this moon. It made for a good hiding spot to sit and watch for ships coming into the system. There was a small sensor station already on the moon of course, but it had been decided that a warship in the area was a good idea as well. It had been a week since the Zerleen had destroyed the scout vessel near Sapphire. In that time its wreckage had been recovered and its markings identified as belonging to House Felsank. The day after the incident, the Zerleen had been ordered to the outer system, along with several other destroyers and frigates, to act as a picket. In the Zerleen's case it had been ordered to ride shotgun over the small sensor station on Vala.

None of the Zerleen's sensor drones were deployed at the moment. In fact, none of the ships sensors were operating at all. The sensor station on Vala had larger and more powerful ones than the Zerleen did, not to mention the remote sensors arrayed on six of the remaining nine moons to cover any blind spot. The ship did not even have its star drive powered up. This close to Terlarin, its efficiency was less than the ship's chemical rocket drives. So with electronics off and star drive emitting no energy signature, the Zerleen was sitting like an almost invisible spider in the sensor web from the station on Vala. In fact there were two more destroyers and two frigates sitting above four of the other moons in much the same way.

Captain Jesakalin knew that an outer gas giant like this was a perfect spot to spring an ambush. Normally any attacking force approaching a system knew it as well, unless that force was not expecting an ambush because it was planning a sneak attack. In that case, coming into the system with said gas giant between you and the inner system would serve as a perfect way to slip in unnoticed. Even if the sensor station located there got off a warning before it was destroyed, the radio waves would arrive at the inner system only a few minutes ahead of the attacking force. They would have scant little time to deploy forces for combat.

There was an even larger ambush force waiting near the other outer system gas giant, Arilik. Also named for one of the officers of that first exploration vessel, Arilik was three times the size of Terlarin and therefore represented an even bigger sensor shadow from the inner system even though it was closer in. It was a calculated risk that the enemy would send their attack in from behind Arilik and not Terlarin. Therefore the larger ambush force was waiting there. Jesakalin knew that but still didn't like being all the way out here by herself with just four other light warships. She knew that she didn't have to like it however; she just had to carry out her mission as best she could.

Her ship was taking a feed from the Vala station's sensors so Captain Jesakalin saw the eighteen ships drop into sub light speeds from exactly the right angle to use the planet as a sensor shadow. She ordered her pilot to stay put. Their mission was to surprise and destroy any warships that closed on the sensor station on Vala. The other four ships would maneuver to attack any passing vessels. She saw two smaller vessels, probably destroyers or frigates, break off from the group and head for Vala. She ordered her ship to combat alert and prepared for battle.

In orbit high above the Royal Palace on Sapphire was the most powerful warship currently in the system. The battleship Kastikirlik, or Bright Star, was the flagship of the System Fleet. It was now monitoring a battle raging at two points in the solar system as well as serving as formidable shield against any attempted attacks on the palace itself. Rear Admiral Jedanaran was silently watching the displays showing the status of the battles. There was nothing else he could do. At this distance he could only trust in his squadron and ship commanders. The Felsank forces had actually come in from behind both planets in the outer system. The ambush set for them had cost the invading forces dearly but they still outnumbered his forces in the system by 2 to 1. Still, he had to admit that the likelihood of any troopships making it to Sapphire and launching an invasion was slight. Just as he thought this he heard an alert message coming into the communications system.

The communications officer swiftly relayed the message to his Admiral. "Report from Royal Guard forces at the Palace, Admiral. They are under attack by ground forces."

He spun around a walked swiftly to the officer. "WHAT? How? There have been no enemy ships anywhere near the planet."

"The report says that the attack is originating from the Rekelin Mountains, Sir" The officer reported.

Admiral Jedanaran knew the geography of Sapphire well; he had grown up there after all. The Rekelin range was only 10 kilometers from the palace and much of it was still in its pristine state. It would be an excellent place to hide an attack force.

"They must have snuck troops in previously." The Admiral stated mostly to himself as he growled at the thought. "Treacherous bastards." He then turned to his tactical officer. "How many ground troops do we have aboard?"

"One company of assault troops, Admiral." the officer responded crisply.

"Have them dropped on the attackers left flank immediately." He ordered.

"Yes, Admiral." The tactical officer replied.

"Does the report give an estimate of the size of the attacking force?" the Admiral asked his communications officer.

"Enemy force estimated at brigade strength, Admiral." she answered.

Admiral Jedanaran knew that the Royal Guard force at the palace was a light battalion at best with just three companies and few, if any, heavy weapons ... They were superbly trained but they were outnumbered almost ten to one. His assault troops would make it just under eight to one. All he could do now was try and give as much support as he could muster and hope that the training of the Royal Guard troops would make a difference.

Virathea cursed loudly as the latest artillery round fell near the palace. The Guard force in the palace grounds had no artillery of their own other than some light mortars. They did have something just as good though and that was air support. At least it was just as good in theory. The problem was that the Felsank forces had more than adequate air defense weapons. The battle had been raging for almost an hour now and the enemy artillery still had not been taken out. It had been reduced but it was still active. Virathea had made sure that her charges, Princess Feyalisa and her family, were safely in the basement shelter. Now she was in charge of one of the three companies of troops located in and around the palace grounds. At least it had been three.

Virathea's company was already down to fifty percent strength and she was sure the other two companies were faring no better. The last attempt to breach the east wall had been thwarted only by the timely arrival of the company of assault troops from the Bright Star. They had lost over half of their number as well and were now inside the grounds with the Royal Guard troops. She could hear over the communications net that the enemy troops were making another push on the east wall.

She turned to her XO, "Swing the company south and set up a flanking position for when those Felsank bastards get through the wall."

The officer, Captain Teralayla Elnak, looked at her commander in confusion. "Are we not going to try and stop them from getting through in the first place?"

"We do not have enough left to do that and you damn well know it." Virathea snapped at her. "It is better to launch a flank attack on the breach and then fight a rearguard to the palace. We might be able to bleed them enough to stall them before they get inside."

Captain Teralayla nodded in agreement with her commander's assessment. She got on the communicator and relayed the proper orders. What went unsaid between the two was that the tactic, even if it worked, would likely cost them most of their remaining troops.

"Well we cannot just sit here, Teralayla. Let's get to where our soldiers are going. That goes for the entire command group. We will need every gun to make this work." Virathea said as she hopped out of the shell crater she had been using as makeshift fighting hole. As she ran to where the rest of her company was going, she could only hope that her Princess would be safe.

The Feyalisa Zerleen was running fast for the relative shelter of Sapphire. They had destroyed the two frigates that had tried to attack the sensor station on Vala. The other four Guard vessels had destroyed another 6 ships and damaged 3 more at the cost of two of them being destroyed. Then 3 cruisers had come in to support the ravaged formation. The Zerleen and the other two vessels decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor and made a run for it. For the last three hours it had been a running battle. They had destroyed one of the cruisers and gotten a piece of another; but the Zerleen was alone now and out of missiles. The alarms at various stations and sparks coming from panels all over the bridge served to remind Captain Jesakalin that her ship was also damaged in addition to the other problems.

"That cruiser is catching up to us, Captain. It's sliding above the plane to cut off our escape that way. That frigate or destroyer is below us and also gaining. I think they have us." The tactical officer reported.

Jesakalin slammed her fist against her console. She just didn't have the engine power to outrun them and the weapons she had left were mainly defensive. The main laser battery might be effective against the smaller ship below them, but it would be like shooting a cap gun at the cruiser that was also closing. She decided to take her chances and go out fighting.

"Helm, lay in an attack vector on the smaller ship. Tactical, charge all anti missile lasers and the main laser battery." She said to her crew. "We will not go down without a fight."

The Zerleen swiftly changed course and headed for the frigate that was below and behind them. The frigate saw them coming and launched a volley of missiles. The Zerleen was able to jam one and shoot down the other three. As they closed, the frigate launched four more but they would not get to the Zerleen before it was able to get into range of its main laser battery. It sliced a huge gouge into the frigate's side. The ship was mortally damaged. Before Jesakalin could take advantage of this, the missiles that had been launched closed on her ship. The first three were destroyed far enough away to avoid any damage. The fourth, however, was detonated only 100 meters from the ship, showering it with high velocity fragments and battering it with a shock wave.

There was a hull breach and more damage to the engines. The section that had been breached was automatically sealed off. The damage to the engines was more problematic. They were now effectively dead in space. The engineer reported that it would take ten minutes to get any form of propulsion. It was time they did not have. Ironically, their sensors were still working just fine. This allowed them to see the Felsank cruiser close on them. It also allowed them to see something else.

"Cruiser will be in range in one minute, Captain." the sensor operator reported. He was no longer fearful. He had accepted he was going to die this day. Suddenly, he saw something that he almost did not believe.

"Another contact just dropped out of translight from above the plane, Captain." He reported. For a moment he thought it was another Felsank vessel. Until, "High energy discharges directed at the Felsank cruiser from the unknown contact. Multiple missiles launched."

"Identify the contact!" Captain Jesakalin demanded.

"Unknown yet, Captain. The Felsank cruiser is directly between us. I cannot get enough sensor data to identify it." He said in frustration.

Suddenly the space around them lit up brightly. Looking thru the viewports, they could all see the Felsank cruiser silhouetted by several explosions and the back third of the ship started tearing away from the rest of the cruiser. A split second later the engine core went. The explosion was bright enough to cause the automatic darkening agent in the viewport to go almost opaque. Several seconds later they could hear the shock wave hit the hull of their destroyer.

While she was still blinking the spots from her eyes, the communications tech received a request to open a channel. "Captain, we have a communication request from the unknown ship."

At the same instant, the sensor operator was finally ably to identify their rescuer. "It's the Amber Lightning, Captain."

Jesakalin shook her head in disbelief. What were the odds?

The com screen lit up and Captain Lefarsa's image looked down at Captain Jesakalin. "I see we made it in time, Captain. I would have hated to see my first command destroyed right in front of me."

Jesakalin bowed her head. "Thank you for your timely arrival, Captain Lefarsa."

Lefarsa smiled and said, "Not at all, Captain. Do you need assistance in getting to Sapphire?"

Jesakalin shook her head. "No sir. We should be able to move under our own power in about five minutes. We will be fine, assuming we are not attacked. Besides which, sir, I think you are needed more urgently at Sapphire than we are. We have heard there is a ground attack under way."

Lefarsa nodded. "Yes, we are aware of the situation. The planetary assault ships we were accompanying should already be getting there."

Jesakalin breathed a sigh of relief. If there were assault ships then there was a strike fleet here as well. That was how things were done. The rest of it was probably dropping on the Felsank forces around Arilik even now she knew. She could only hope that the assault ships would get to Sapphire in time.

Virathea ground her teeth together and growled as she fell into the shell crater she had started at an hour before. She checked her ammo and found that she was down to her last magazine. She leaned her head back for a second and grimaced at the pain from the wound on her thigh. She had been able to sloppily bandage it and put just enough weight on it to hobble back to this spot. She did not know exactly how many warriors were left in her company but she was sure that it was not many. They had extracted a heavy toll on the Felsank forces after they penetrated the outer wall but at a murderous cost. She heard the sounds of running feet and power armor servos. She silently said a prayer and popped her head up over the lip of the hole and fired. She killed the first three attackers she saw before one fired back and hit her squarely on her left arm, almost severing it and slamming her back into the crater.