Kassina Vikkonen allowed herself a moment of satisfaction when she
appeared on the other end of the interstellar tunnel that had brought
her from the border regions of the Intaki Syndicate into the
uncharted star-cluster called Anoikis.
Most pilots of New Eden
would not dare to venture here, but the Caldari Bounty Hunter had a
mission to accomplish, and she was determined to see it to it's end.
Annoyingly enough, her attempts to contact her contractors had been
fruitless. She had hoped for Awakened Industries to provide her with
an entry point into the remote galactic domain which most people
referred to as Wormhole Space. Whether it was the
remote location, unexpected interference or simple ignorance, Kassina
did not know, but Awakened Industries had not replied.
The Deteis woman was not the type to wait around idly, though. After all, she could already be on her way to seek out a new contract. So she had docked her ship in Poitot – the most civilized system in the anarchic Syndicate region – and reconfigured her modular Tengu-class ship to be suited for covert exploration.
The Deteis woman was not the type to wait around idly, though. After all, she could already be on her way to seek out a new contract. So she had docked her ship in Poitot – the most civilized system in the anarchic Syndicate region – and reconfigured her modular Tengu-class ship to be suited for covert exploration.
It had taken her hours
upon hours of roaming, scanning and probing until she finally found
one of the elusive wormholes that would lead her across the gulfs of
space that separated New Eden from Anoikis. The longer the search
went, the more irate she had become, but that same irritation had
driven her onward. Now that she finally found what she had been
looking for, the tenseness flowed from her muscles and her strong
body settled in the warm fluid of the capsule she occupied.
Of course, having found
a wormhole did not mean the end of her trip, it merely meant that the
easiest part was behind her. From here she would have to find a way
to her actual destination in this trackless sector of the galaxy.
Kassina Vikkonen was no expert on the matter – actually, she knew
very little about Wormhole Space – and in her naive ignorance she
counted on the existence of fixed routes, even if she knew that she
would have to find the stellar gateways to them herself.
She had heard that the
star-systems of Anoikis were largely unoccupied, and indeed, at first
her ship's sensors showed nothing within ten astronomical units. She
began to align her ship to the feeble red star orbiting a black hole
which relentlessly devoured it's matter, sitting in the centre of
this forsaken place like a bloated spider within her web. Suddenly
the long-range sensors of her ship pricked Kassina's awareness. The
gravimetric detectors showed the approach of a large mass at high
speed. The Caldari woman re-attuned her senses to the scanning
systems.
Inside the capsule she
gasped soundlessly. The directional scanner identified three massive
carriers accompanied by a squadron of Gallente-designed strategic
cruisers. Quickly she wrenched her ship out of their approach-vector,
engaged her microwarpdrive and then, with a quick thought, activated
the cloaking field of her newly reconfigured cruiser.
As she vanished from
sight and sensor sweeps alike, the flotilla appeared out of warp
right at the wormhole exit. Immediately one of the immense, pontoon
shaped carriers thrust it's two-pronged bow through the cosmic
aperture and made it convulse fiercely under the strain of passing
mass. With a flash of agitated particles, the vessel vanished in the
cosmic passage to reappear scores of light-years away. While Kassina
looked on, the second carrier followed it and, to her astonishment,
the wormhole entrance contracted in size.
Without knowing the
actual significance of this maneuver, Kassina Vikkonen realized one
thing: Her way back was cut off. Now there was only one way out of
here: Forward. She willed her ship to warp speed, away from those
ships, out of range from their sensors, to find a safe location from
which she could launch scanner probes unnoticed.
Her plan had been to
find a way deeper into Anoikis. Now that plan had just become a
necessity.
Kassina Vikkonen did
not mind that. After all, she was not the type to sit around idly.
***
'We will have this
random entrance collapsed within a few minutes.' the commander of
Arclight's carrier wing reported to his superiour.
'Very good.' From
inside his capsule, Arrakh transmitted his thoughts across the
internal combat channel and the communication systems turned them
into a simulation of his voice. 'We don't want any interlopers here.'
His mind switched between the frequencies of different squadrons to
address the scouts. 'Recon leader, report.' he ordered briskly.
'This is recon leader.'
came the immediate reply from the forward reconnaissance team which
had been sent through an exit to explore the next system. The voice
of the other pilot sounded positively agitated. 'Commander Arrakh, we
have finally found them. Starcharts confirm it's the system occupied
by Awakened Industries.' That was news the Matari fleet commander had
hoped to hear for more than a day now. 'We are in scan range of one
of the stations. There is a large concentration of ships. Looks like
a siege.' the scout reported further.
'Commander. We are
registering scanner probes in the local system and they are not
ours.' a spotter from another squadron, still remaining with the main
body, reported.
'Recon leader. Were you discovered?' Arrakh inquired.
'Negative.' Came the
response. 'We have just found this wormhole, nobody looks to be
scanning here. No way they could know we are coming.'
'Commander, before we
landed we registered the signature of a Tengu-class cruiser at the
entrance coming in from New Eden.' an escort pilot of the carrier
wing reported.
Inside his pod Arrakh
nodded almost unnoticeable. 'Probably a daytripping explorer. Else we
would have seen more out there when we jumped the carriers through.'
If his motor functions would not have been largely rendered inert by
the capsule control interface, Arrakh would have shrugged. 'Let them
watch the show, once we are through here, they can see whether they
find a way home.' the voice synthesizer translated his feeling of
mirth into the simulation of a throaty chuckle.
Switching to broadwave
Arrakh transmitted to the whole fleet. 'Arclight commanders, prepare
for engagement. Stand by for the signal from carrier wing that the
exit to New Eden space is collapsed. That's your signal to warp.
Assemble at the transmitted coordinates.'
Before his sentence was
even finished, he had already sent the location of the wormhole exit
to the besieged system of Awakened Industries to all commanders.
'Thirty hours of
collapsing wormholes. My crews are exhausted and my pilots are
becoming impatient. But here you are Cedrien, with your back against
the wall.' Arrakh though to himself as he accelerated his ship
into warp-speed. 'But we are coming.'
Despite the overriding
functions of the control systems, Arrakh's mouth quirked into the
echo of a satisfied smile.
***
When Cedrien's
consciousness expanded into the ship, he was momentarily lost in the
sensation of his body being replaced by the vastness of the
Thanatos-class carrier he had plugged himself into. He could feel the
swarm of fighter craft inside his hangar. An angry brood of lethal
war-machines waiting to be unleashed against the enemy. For all the
power of his ship's propulsion engines, the metallic-green carrier
only turned slowly under his command to face the opposing fleet
waiting for them outside the battered station's shields.
Cedrien's mind
translated the impressions delivered to it by advanced sensors as he
surveyed the scenery. None of the main tower's defenses remained
intact. The whole station was dedicated to one purpose only:
Reinforcing the shields with so much power that even the most
powerful weapons were unable to penetrate them. That defensive
measure would not remain in effect indefinitely, though. Even now the
shield generators consumed radioactive isotopes at an unsustainable
rate. Inevitably, the moment would come when the generators would
shut down and leave the station exposed to the final assault of the
besieging force.
Cedrien had decided
that he would not wait for that moment, but to choose the time to
make the last stand himself.
Apart from him, there
were only three capsuleer pilots on his side. The rest of his defense
force had suffered heavy losses during the initial attack while the
enemy still had most of his full strength on the field. Only a
miracle could save them right now, and Cedrien had long stopped
believing in those.
The residual echo of a
heave went through Cedrien's floating body at his impulse to sigh
deeply. Without dwelling any longer on thoughts that lead nowhere he
opened a broad-band frequency to address what remained of his fleet.
'Pilots and crews of
Awakened Industries.' his voice began to issue from speaker systems
and transmitted through neural links on the assembled ships.
'Together, we have built a home for ourselves beyond the stars of New
Eden. A place where everyone regardless of race, affiliation or creed
would be welcome for as long as they were dedicated to one thing: The
community which we have built.' He paused momentarily as the results
from his ship's pre-flight checks poured in. 'Today, an enemy has
appeared in this home of ours with the goal to destroy that
community.' he resumed his speech. 'That enemy would have us stand
down and disband. To be dragged off into the prisons, slave camps and
torture chambers of the Empires we have left behind to begin anew out
here among the stars of Anoikis. We have one last choice to make here
today.' For a moment Cedrien paused, doubting for a moment whether
he should really take his crews into that battle they can not win.
Then, he struck the doubts from his mind and continued with new
resolve 'Today we can choose to be stripped of our home, our
livelihood, our dignity and our freedom. Or we can choose to preserve
the last two. Today I ask of you to choose – as I do – to stand
and fight for the one thing that has made our community what it is,
our freedom. To give that community the chance to flower again from
the seed of the destruction this day will bring'
Then, he cut the
transmission and fired up his engines to head for the shields. He
could see the enemy ships reposition themselves into a wide attack
formation. They would target him first and foremost, and the carriers
they had brought were more than enough to support the opposing fleet
against any damage Awakened Industry's forces could possibly do. But
Cedrien knew that they would only need to tie the enemy up in the
fight long enough for the evacuation convoy to escape and find their
way out of the system. If necessary after days of hiding, when the
Janissary fleet had long gone.
Cedrien felt how the
station shield rippled across the bow of his ship as he crossed it's
boundary. He felt the prickling sensation as enemy targeting sensors
began to lock on to him. He signaled Shisei to take his wing of
electronic attack ships and block the sensors of the enemy carriers
and their devastating Bhaalgorn escorts. Already Keram and Sandrielle
were among the aggressors. Cedrien could see the nanite streams of
armour repair systems linking their heavily reinforced strategic
cruisers as they streaked ahead, breaking through the Janissary
formation, drawing fire.
The first energy beams
and blaster charges from the enemy strategic cruisers began to batter
down the shields of the Thanatos carrier. So far the squadron of
Awakened Industry jammer ships under their Achura commander flying a
Tengu cruiser retrofitted for electronic warfare had prevented the
Bhaalgorns to target Cedrien and drain his energy reserves. Cedrien
issued the command for his fighter wings to launch, and soon space
became a chaos of dogfights between friendly and hostile forces. The
Gallente commander did his best to keep as many ships intact for as
long as he could, sending bundled streams of repair nanites to knit
the composite metal of their armor back together.
When the onslaught of
enemy fire became too much, he issued the final order which would
commit him and the hundreds of people on his ship to this fight until
the bitter end. With a mental command he re-routed all power to the
ship's defenses and repair systems. His carrier would be unable to
move until the cycle of reconfigurations was completed. He did not
expect to have that much time.
When Shisei lost his ship under concentrated fire,
and one of the Bhaalgorn battleships began to send arcs of
neutralizing energy streams into his hull, Cedrien knew that the end
was near, but the enemy was just as committed as he was.
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