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Ziox -> RE: The Last Stand (7/7/2008 14:44:20)
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Chapter One: The First Encounter
The year is now 2520; Earth is thriving with all kinds of new technology. Countries from all over the World started construction on the Space Fleet of Earth, SFE for short, 5 years earlier. It was complete now, it was in high orbit defending Earth.
It started like any other day on the bridge of the Bonyo: everybody was doing their duties as any regular day. But today wasn’t a regular day. In fact, an Alien Civilization that we
learned about some years ago, sharing this part of the Universe with us, was going to attack this very day. Of course nobody on the ship knew it.
The alarms started blaring as the crew was waking up. “All personnel to battle stations! This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill!” The officers were just getting all the troops
prepared as the ships appeared.
“I count ten command ships - twenty support ships, Sir,” yelled the radar operator. The ships that had just come out of hyperspace resembled tree trunks in color. Some were the shape of Planets - others long and wide like a large can.
“Forward batteries online! Scramble fighters!” barked Captain Yule. The doomed ship could not get its weapons online because the enemy hit first. As the last fighter cleared the hanger bay, the order to abandon ship was given. All the enemy weapons opened fire on the Bonyo. The enemy hit the engines, they exploded, destroying the ship. Most of the fighters didn’t make it because they got caught up in the shockwave of the destroyed ship.
“That, Gentlemen was an account from a survivor of the battle.” Admiral Dorling bellowed as he was paced around the conference room on board his command ship, Geneva. The Geneva was a dagger shaped ship, as were all of the ships in the fleet, the bridge was at the far back of the ship barely raised above the hull of the ship. The Hangar was dead center in the top of the ship.
The Admiral, a veteran of United States Navy, was tall and wide at the shoulders, his hair just now starting to grey from his years of service. He wore a white uniform that stood out among all the black uniforms around him.
“Sir, I don’t believe that ships just came out of no where,” grumbled Captain Soule “I think that the ship must have had a malfunction, sending all those people to their death.” The investigation into what had happened to the Bonyo had just started. Even though the destruction happened weeks ago. The survivors just made it back the day before.
(I bet you are wondering who I am; well let me introduce myself my name is Commander Corda, “Strike” to my friends and enemies. During my story I will be mostly acknowledged as Evergreen Leader or later in my story as Captain. I am taller and I have brown hair, some stubble on my chin. I also have a scar on my right eye from a battle long ago.)
“That is the most idiotic thing I think I have ever heard, Captain.” the Geneva’s head engineer piped in.
“I didn’t hear anybody say anything better,” growled the Captain slumping over the table with a scowl.
“We heard what happened, Sir, the unidentified ships destroyed the ship.” bellowed Lt. Harper. The room went silent.
The door opened. In came a worried looking Ensign with a communication. The Admiral glanced at her. Taking the communication, the Admiral started reading. The frown on his face got bigger the more he read it.
“What is it, Sir?” I asked leaning forward in my chair.
“It is from the bridge,” he said not looking up “It says there are unidentified ships moving into the Moon’s range.”
The alarms went off just as the Admiral finished speaking. “All personal to battle stations! I repeat all personal to battle stations!” Everyone in the room bounded from their seats and rushed for the door.
The Admiral picked up the Comm. Link and whispered something in it. He turned to me and commanded “Commander get your fighters ready for battle.”
“Sir, yes, Sir!” I yelled saluting. I turned to run to the hanger bay. I pulled my communicator out telling the mechanics to get the fighters ready. Getting closer to the hanger bay I could hear the humming of ships starting up.
“Sir, your ship is ready and primed for battle.” the head mechanic yelled over the loud whining of fighter engines starting up.
“Good, carry on and tell my squad to launch when ready!” I yelled to him while putting on my flight helmet.
“Yes, Sir!” he yelled over his shoulder at me as ran to the protection of the Mechanics room.
“All four lit and ready to roll.” I breathed into my radio running my eyes over the status reports rolling on the screen in front of me. “Alright Evergreen leader your squad is good to go,” replied the control operator.
“Evergreen lead to Evergreen squad, let's light these candles!” I said punching the accelerator on my fighter. My fighter was a standard fighter in the fleet it had short wings that went up in front of the cockpit like a V most were colored black with the squad color on the front most part of the wings. My squad seemed to be the first of the fighter squads out on into space. Passing the bridge of the Geneva we saw the rest of the fleet changing vectors toward the moon.
“Green Leader to Geneva, contacts in all sectors, I count 20 ships in all.” I reported looking down at the small radar built into my ship.
“Copy Green Lead, watch the friendly fire.” replied the radar operator aboard the Geneva. I was about to answer but the weapons on the ship opened fire.
“Let’s go, Sir!” yelled Evergreen 2 whose ship took the lead anxious to fight.
“Right, attack formation, we are going straight through,” I ordered warming up my lasers for the battle. “Anything we miss we’ll come back for.” I got a bunch of clicks over the radio which meant “copy that.”
~~~
Meanwhile on the Geneva. The command crew was running around the bridge getting orders to all the battle stations.
“Sir, we are being hailed by one of alien ships,” said the radio operator.
“Put it through,” the Admiral ordered quietly.
“Humans we have come to take over your pitiful little planet,” snarled the Vong commander. Though it didn’t sound like English was his language.
“Not if we can help it!” yelled the Admiral slamming his fist onto the board in front of him making small sparks come up from it. “Concentrate all firepower on the ship that is sending this message!” commanded the Admiral. The laser turrets whirled to face the enemy ship and fired.
The enemy took the hit. Smoke poured out from the hole that the turrets had made. The ship kept advancing. Their weapons doing damage to many of our ships at such close range. The enemy ship then stopped for an unknown reason.
“Wow that was easy, pass it onto to all the other ships in the fleet what to do.” ordered the Admiral amazed. The enemy ship wasn’t destroyed. What was breached was an outer layer of shielding. The ship now was speeding toward the Geneva.
“Breaker leader take out that ship before it destroys the Admiral,” I commented over my radio maneuvering my fighter to intercept the incoming ship.
“Good idea Evergreen lead, attack formation delta,” ordered Breaker Leader who had his fighters going away from the ship to protect the Geneva.
“Forget formations my squad is going straight in, see you on the other side,” I replied hitting the buttons on my control stick for my lasers. My lasers tore into the engines. My squad followed my lead.
“That’s a hit, Sir,” yelped Green Five. The ship slowed and finally the Breaker squadron came and finished it off.
~~~
At the front lines of the battle our capital ships were taking heavy damage. The Geneva and the ships surrounding it started moving. They were headed to the heart of the battle.
“Damage report,” growled Captain Soule coughing from all the smoke that had started pouring into the bridge. The Captain was one of the youngest captains in the fleet. He was well respected by all his peers for what he had done in his years of service. His ship, The Freedom, was the command ship in that sector. As a result it was taking the most damage.
“The fighters report a break through, warn the Geneva,” said the Executive Officer trying to fix the Communication systems that had just gone out moments before.
“I don’t think we have to worry about warning them, Sir, because they are already here,” the radar operator said looking worriedly at the half broken radar showing more friendlies coming to the sector.
“Evergreen squad lets help push these idiots back,” I commanded hitting the accelerator on my fighter. The fighters that remained fell into line with the newcomers.
To the right the Rebellion took a direct hit. The engines exploded destroying the ship. The shockwave created damage to the ships around it.
“Sir, shields down to 20% we have to pull back or be destroyed!” yelled the Executive Officer on the Geneva ducking down so he wouldn’t hit his head on the beams that had fallen on the bridge.
“Wait, the enemy is pulling back!” exclaimed the radar operator throwing his hands in the air in celebration. It seemed that we had won this round. Then a laser beam struck the Geneva.
“Evergreen Lead to Geneva, come in Geneva,” I barked into my radio hoping the ship would here me. I looked over at the damaged ship. Smoke poured out of it blocking my view.
“This is….enev….we….damage….Admiral alive……need…..major……” came the response out of my radio.
The Freedom went into rescue position. The enemy had hit the Geneva in the Bridge. What was left of the Bridge was being landed on by rescue shuttles and fighters who thought they could help out.
I could now see the Geneva. It had a huge hole right where the Bridge normally would be. Seeing that made me feel sick to my stomach. The enemy ships had left the battlefield with a victory. “Where do you guys think you’re going?” I asked my squad moving my fighter to go to the Geneva to see what I could do to help there.
“Evergreen squad the Shoganute could use your help,” ordered a new voice over my radio.
“Copy, that,” I answered looking down at my fuel gage that was dangerously close to empty. I was sure that most of my Squad was also running low. Though orders where orders.
Shoganute was the newest ship in the fleet built by Japan with hopes that they could build a ship that would help the fleet have the power that Japan had in the old days. It was put in charge of guarding the ship yards on the far side of Earth.
“I hope that didn’t get the yards, or we could be out about 20 ships,” said Evergreen Green 2 who was slowly moving to the shipyards to conserve fuel. We went around the edge of the planet and there was the Shoganute fighting off an enemy frigate.
“Nice to see you Evergreen Squad, but we don’t need your help with this ship,” said Captain Ryo who sounded un-happy to see us, “What we need, is for you to escort the ship yards to Mars.”
“I don’t think we have enough fuel for that Ma’am,” I replied looking down at my fuel gauge.
“Oh, well dock with the Intruder you can get your fuel there,” the Captain replied again sounding aggravated
“Copy,” I replied as I moved my fighter toward the other ship. “Let’s help the Shoganute and send a couple of torpedoes into the side of that frigate,” I commanded launching two torpedo’s at the enemy.
“Evergreen’s dock in bay 3,” said the radio operator aboard the Intruder.
“Copy that, why are you guys going to Mars when we need you the most here?” I asked latching onto Evergreen Two who had run out of fuel.
“We are moving the ship yards there so they will be out of trouble,” he replied. Well I knew there was also a top secret project going on there so I thought that made sense. My squad moved into position to dock. We got in and the docking bay doors closed with a load thud and I heard the engines start moving the heavy ship yard.
“Well I hope the Geneva will be able to be repaired quickly,” said Green Four pulling of his flight helmet. From the looks of the ship it would takes days to repair the damage. I wondered how many men and women died from that hit. It saddened me to think that I couldn’t even help them.
“All personal prepare for the jump to light speed,” the ships speakers announced. We moved quickly into the darkness of space to our military outpost on Mars. The Outpost was where people from other colonies would stop before making the Final Jump to Earth. It wasn’t really military outpost it was more of a civilian installation. Though on the Far side of Mars there was a Military research facility the men and women there helped us come up with new ship designs and weapons.
“Remember way back in like 2007, it took us nine months to get to Mars now, it just takes a matter of hours,” said Green 7 sitting down near his fighter and looking around. Earth had come a long way to get to where we were now.
“Back in 2007 we didn’t even have a military outpost on Mars,” I remarked laughing.
“That is also true but we are here now with more threats then ever before,” commented Angel Leader stepping out of the shadows of the corridor. The rest of my squad jumped at the sound of the newcomer.
“Well, Well if it isn’t Lt. Mineheart, last I heard you were the head Angel Squadron,” I said thoughtfully looking over to her and remembering many good memories.
“Who said that I still am not?” asked Lt. Mineheart walking into the large docking bay. She was shorter than I was but very strong willed. She had shoulder length blonde hair which most of the time she had up in a ponytail. I knew her from when she used to be part of my squadron; she was a very good pilot and kept her squad pretty much intact when they entered the battle.
“Your fighters don’t look any worse for the wear” she commented looking over at our fighters. “Is it true that the Geneva was destroyed?” she asked turning serious.
“No, but it will take a while before it is repaired though” I answered looking up. I looked at the rest of my squad and they looked angrier than I have ever seen them before.
“We are going to have to pay them back!” yelled Evergreen 6 standing up and putting his hands into a fist. Just as he said that the ship rumbled and out of the loud speakers came
“All fighter pilots get to your ships we have enemies incoming!”
My pilots were already in their ships before the end of the announcement. I looked over just in time to see the Angel squad strapping into their fighters.
“Evergreen Leader to flight control are we clear to take off? I asked not even bothering to look at the readouts on my screen.
“Copy that Evergreen Lead get out of here,” said the flight controller.
“Let’s go Evergreens looks like we got some work to do,” I ordered as I lifted off the docking bay floor.
There was the great Red Planet Mars; many years ago America had sent a man to walk on her. Now it was a military outpost for Earth. It seemed like the enemy had sent a small detachment of ships to destroy it.
“What are your orders Sir?” asked Evergreen 5 moving in line with the rest of his squad mates.
“Go get those fighters Angel squadron, my ships will handle what is left of the capital ships,” I ordered moving to intercept the looming capital ships firing at the planet’s service.
“Copy that Evergreen Leader,” responded Angel Leader.
“Sir those ships are pulling away, we have to keep attacking them,” said my second in command who had taken a small amount of damage from the fight.
“I agree Evergreen 2 you take half the squad and I’ll take the other half and take them on separately.” I ordered taking Evergreen 6, 7, 8 and 9 with me.
The other half of the squad pulled away and started to attack some of the attacking ships. The half of the squad that stayed with me and went for what I thought was the command ship.
“This is just the outer shell, maybe we can find something to shoot into to go to inner shell,” I said trying to avoid the lasers coming at from the much larger capital ship.
“Sir, found a hole…firing missile,” said Evergreen 6 shooting a missile into a small hole in the side of the ship. The capital ship shuttered and an explosion was heard as the ship was destroyed.
“Good shot Evergreen 6!” I yelled into the comm. link. It looked like the other capital ships were pulling away from Mars. “Don’t let up the attack we don’t want hat happened to Geneva to happen here,” I ordered.
Even with the continued attack most of the Enemy ships got away. “Evergreen Leader you have been ordered to the research Station. The Order comes from the Admiral himself,” ordered someone on the Intruder.
Just then The Star of David, the only Israeli ship in the entire fleet, completely manned by the Jewish people came around the great Red Planet. I knew the captain of that ship since High School his name was Tony Lockhart.
“Evergreen Leader you are passing into a restricted area, please turn your ship around or prepare to be fired upon!” came Lockhart’s voice over my comm.
“Sorry Lockhart but I can’t do that, Admirals orders for me to come here,” I replied with a grin on my face.
“I received no such orders…..I’m just kidding old buddy you’re clear to pass,” he replied with a laugh.
As I turned towards the shipyards I noticed a new ship sitting there, I saw the name on the side it was Vanuatu. That ship looked like a different design then the rest of the capital
ships in the fleet. It had a higher bridge and the hanger was on the bottom of the ship. It was black and was more of a triangle.
“Capt…..I mean Evergreen Leader land in the Vanuatu hanger the Admiral is waiting,” came a voice I didn’t recognize from my comm.
As I started to land I noticed that there was a large crowd in the hanger bay. Lockhart was standing next to another friend who was the squadron leader on the Star of David, his name is Sam Zulegar. I also noticed a tall blond guy in an orange jump suit and his name was Taylor Austin, he was another friend.
I jumped down out of my fighter and saluted the commanding officers that were present. The Admiral walked up to me and said “Commander you have done a great job over the years and we would like to thank you for you service to the fleet.” He pulled out a box and opened it; in it were the bars of the rank of Captain. “Welcome to your ship captain,” said the Admiral with a smile on his face. The two commanders snapped to attention and gave me a salute. I in turn gave one back to them.
~~~
“I can’t believe that I am actually a Captain,” I said with a look of awe on my face. I was now standing on the bridge of the Vanuatu escorting the Admiral back to the rest of the fleet with the Star of David.
“Sir, there are several unknown ships heading towards us,” commented the radio operator to my right. I looked over and saw that there were ten ships heading straight for us.
“Warn the Star of David and the Specters to their ships,” I commanded.
Aboard the Star of David, Lockhart got the message and looked worriedly toward the oncoming ships. The men and women under his command had never faced a battle in their careers.
“Leper leader to Star of David, these ships look like commercial ships and they certainly don’t look like those ships that we fought off earlier,” Zulegar reported.
“Fleet ships can you hear us, we have come under attack by some strange ships,” yelled a voice on the comm. Link.
“This is Captain Corda of the Vanuatu, we have received your message, do you have any injured aboard and were you followed?” I replied with a look of relief on my face.
“Thank god you can hear us, and yes we have injured. I’m pretty sure we weren’t followed,” said the voice from the other ship that I recognized from somewhere.
“Star of David I think we can handle this, escort take the Admiral back to Earth,” I said.
Lockhart looked out as the Vanuatu moved into position for rescue. My people can’t be that lucky all the time he thought as he looked out the main viewing port.
Lockhart looked out of the Viewpoint and watched the Stars into lines. One of these days I know something bad is going to happen and we won’t be ready. The stars went back to stars and klaxons started blaring.
Lockhart looked and saw one thing. The fleet was gone. Earth was under attack.
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