Battleship Furiosa Read online

  STAR CRUSADER

  BATTLESHIP FURIOSA

  By Michael G. Thomas

  Part of the STAR CRUSADES universe

  First Edition

  Copyright © 2015 Michael G. Thomas

  Published by Swordworks Books

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Battleship Furiosa was a holy relic amongst the Byotai, and one of only three known Legion Class battleships still in service at the time of the revolution. Her class was designed to carry formidable weaponry suitable for prolonged engagements. Every part of her hull was covered with gilt and sculptures commissioned by each of her long-serving captains. Her long hull split apart at the bow into a pair of long booms, each flanked by feather like membrane wings. Multiple decks revealed partially open launch decks and gun platforms, all protected by articulated and motorised armour plating. At over five hundred metres in length, she was the largest ship in the Imperial Navy and carried a staggering arsenal that included no less than four thousand crew, a company of heavily armoured soldiers, eight boarding shuttles, attached assault cutters, and eighteen to forty fighters.

  The Wing Commander's Handbook

  Alliance Minefield, Fiorr Veej System, Deadlands

  23 December 2472

  The Rift exploded with more energy than even the most powerful ship-based weapon. White and blue arcs of energy lashed out into the blackness of space, quickly falling back into the whirlpool. No sooner had the explosion resided when a series of large ripples pulsed and flashed with barely concealed power.

  Incredible!

  Nate looked out of the left side of his cockpit and watched the lightshow with fascination. He'd seen Rifts in action before, and this was one of the many permanent distortions in space-time. Ships could use it to travel between two points.

  "Stay alert, pilots," said Lieutenant Commander Holder, "This might be the one."

  Nate nodded but kept his eyes on the Rift. The crackling of energy had been almost continuous for fifteen minutes, and still there was no sign of the enemy. The Rifts only ever did this when spacecraft were approaching the other side. As the minutes ticked by, he became more nervous, and so did the other pilots in his formation.

  Nate might be among the youngest of his fellow pilots, but he'd racked up more combat simulation and training missions than probably all of them. Even while attending Academy classes, he'd spent every waking hour on the Star Crusader public simulation. His instincts had proven correct more often than not, and he was now familiar with every piece of fighter technology used by the Alliance over the last generation. For all his experience, he'd never even sat in a fighter until two and a half months ago.

  What are you doing out here?

  He shook his head for what must have been the tenth time and then looked ahead. Dust swirled about, lit by the bright remnants of its red binary stars that had gone supernova long ago. Now their dim light flooded the system, reflecting off the thin clouds of dust that drifted like icebergs on a cold ocean. This region of space looked very different to anywhere else he'd been. Fiorr Veej was its Byotai name, and according to his reading, it literally meant Four Doors. It was aptly named, because this was the heart of a bizarre distortion in space that created a nexus of Spacebridges, or Rifts as they were commonly known.

  "Move on to waypoint six. Keep your eyes open," the Lieutenant Commander ordered.

  Nate rolled his spacecraft to the right as the Squadron passed the massive shape of the Alliance Warbarge ANS Promethium. They were not particularly close as they rushed past its hull, but even at a distance of four hundred metres away, it looked truly massive. Nate was on the far left of the formation as the four fighters moved along the flank of the vessel. As they passed by, a number of the ship's turrets turned to track them. Radar scanners bounced radio waves off each of them, setting off the internal alerts. A quick glance to his right confirmed his comrades were still with him. The sound of Lieutenant Commander Holder's voice snapped his attention back to the front.

  "Drones report contacts on approach. Ready your weapons and stay close."

  "Sir," Nate replied sharply.

  The four fighters moved in a loose formation, staying at a safe distance apart. Two bore the markings of the renowned Corsair Squadron, while the pair to the left that Nate led bore the black bird of prey on their flanks, marking them out as the newly reactivated Knighthawk Squadron. As the fighters moved over the shape of the ancient ship, Nate found his eyes drawn to its vast bulk.

  That is one ugly brute. Where did they find that old relic?

  He had seen the ships before, but only ever in simulation. There were nine famous examples of them back at Sol. He had no idea any of them had been shipped here. The Warbarges were an ancient design that dated back to before the Great War. Apparently, this one was over eighty years old, and Nate didn't doubt that. Unlike the rest of the fleet, the Warbarge was capable of only altering its course and required heavy tugs to move between planets. It was a mobile fortification, nothing more, and had been effectively moored out here as a guardian.

  "Keep clear of the Warbarge. You don't want to provoke that thing."

  The formation angled slightly to the right and away from the warship. Nate shook his head as he ran his eyes along its ugly shape. It looked more like a broken up ship than a warship and consisted of three large hull sections, each fused together and covered in layer upon layer of armour. The upper deck and flanks bristled with twenty-four separate gun platforms, capable of inflicting damage upon anything that strayed too close. Nate sighed as the vessel shrunk into his rear view and then looked at the overlay data.

  Twenty-four large calibre cannons, thirty-two cell missile batteries, and twelve point defence turrets. Insane!

  Nate recalled the simulated battle they had fought back in the Academy. It was set around the old Martian colony where Biomechs had become established. Two of those Warbarges held off an entire battlegroup for an hour. It was a battle Nate remembered well; because it was the first time he'd fought alongside Cassandra.

  "Burners!"

  The Lieutenant Commander’s voice burnt through his mind in a flash. Without having to think, he double-checked the safeties and then activated his burners. At the same time, he pointed the nose of his battered looking Lightning IIA Fighter Bomber towards the next three pre-selected waypoints that would t
ake them on their patrol circuit directly in front of the Rift.

  Here it comes.

  The additional thrust pushed him into his seat as the fighter accelerated ahead. This was one of the most recent variants of the venerable design from Kerberos, making it one of the toughest fighters ever constructed for the Alliance Navy. Its stubby shape was made more unusual by its set of six stubby wings that contributed to its renowned agility and heavy payload. It might have been less elegant than the Lightning interceptor variants from Terra Nova or Prime, but it was certainly the deadliest.

  Weapons.

  Nate ran his fingers over the safety and flicked it off. The fighter was equipped with a substantial arsenal of weaponry, more than capable of dealing with torpedoes, fighters, and even a small ship if attacked in sufficient numbers. The ready indicator for his pair of wing-mounted guns toggled green.

  "Guns armed and ready," said Nate.

  The engines of the four fighters pulsed bright white as they hurtled forward at even higher speeds. Though too far away to be seen, he felt more confident in knowing that a veritable armada lay behind him. Even as Operation Hellfire had been underway, the Admiral managed to contact High Command to request enough ships to double his forces. Now the fleet had grown from the measly fourteen ships to an impressive forty-one vessels, including both an Alliance and a Byotai battleship.

  We could go through that Rift and hit them hard. Forty-one ships could end an empire in one battle.

  Deep down he knew that was the wrong approach. The last information from the reconnaissance drones had shown the enemy now had at least sixty ships in the Ararrh System. By entering the Rift, the Alliance would merely be provoking an actual full-scale war, one that they could potentially lose. It was one thing to fight a rearguard action while leaving the sector, but to actually initiate military action could prove the precursor to a total war.

  Nate shook his head and looked down at the icons on his tactical display. Behind them, just fifteen thousand kilometres away sat the vanguard. Three ships of the Helion Battlegroup with their engines burning brightly as they moved closer to the Rift; the largest of them the recently commissioned Battlecruiser ANS Retaliation, the flagship of her battlegroup. Behind them, at a distance of nearly a hundred thousand kilometres sat the primary fleet, made up of the combined vessels of the Orion and Helion Battlegroups directly in front of the Rift that led back home to Helios Prime. Twenty-three more Alliance capital ships and multiple squadrons of fighters and gunships.

  Mixed in with the formation were another nine ANA auxiliary ships, plus the nine surviving ships of the Royal Fleet that had succumbed at the Battle of Ctenosaura, chief among these being the dreaded battleship, Furiosa. Of all the ships in the fleet, this was the only vessel that came even close to the size and power of ANS Warlord. The Legion Class of battleships were all generations old and holy relics among the people of the Empire. Now just one remained under the command of Prince Kratha, and it bore the scars of the terrible bloodbath at Ctenosaura.

  The other two Rifts were almost a million kilometres away in opposite directions, giving the impression of a giant crossroads that would take at least six hours to travel between in even the fastest warship. One led to the Khreenk border, but the second travelled deep into the Deadlands and to the Serpentis System that bordered along the disputed Tenth Quadrant, the area currently being fought over by General Makos and his Byotai loyalists.

  Complicated, so complicated! Nat thought.

  "Activate your targeting radar and ready your missiles. Do not launch without my order."

  Active scanners were something that could only be used sparingly in space combat. Though the best way to locate and identify potential threats, they also left the fighter exposed to counterattack. Switching on the scanners was like activating a beacon to any nearby threats. Nate switched on the unit and swallowed, desperate to clear the dryness in his throat. The image of two Star Fire missiles appeared on his helmet overlay. Unlike the usual blue outline, this one showed a more bulbous warhead that took up twenty percent more space on the wing pylons. The internal scanners in the missiles remained off-line, and would stay that way until they were already in space and in their final termination phase.

  Star Fires...Very nice!

  The new-generation missiles were already in use through much of the fleet, but this was the first mission he'd been on where his own fighter carried them. They were effectively a larger version of the venerable Dragon V missiles, but fitted with a substantially larger payload for use against capital ships. Tests in simulation had already shown them to be remarkably effective, especially against modern defensive systems.

  "Here they come."

  Nate licked his lips and turned his full attention to the bright lights ahead of them. The Rift flickered and flashed, an instant reminder that something was about to run the gauntlet of the Alliance defences. Small frigates had been busily laying mines for hours now to protect the system from attack.

  What will it be this time?

  He had no wish to be thrown into the middle of another violent space battle, but he was also well aware that his friends, and thousands more were stationed on the ships thousands of kilometres away. Every three hours a new patrol was sent here to guard the approaches, and so far it had been little more than wreckage coming through as the expansionist Star Empire tried to breach the permanent Spacebridge into the Deadlands. This was the most direct route to the border region now garrisoned by the Alliance Fleet, and the last point before the periphery of Alliance controlled space. The bizarre celestial phenomenon pulsed three times and then spat out a single large shape. It flashed and instantly exploded in the middle of the minefield.

  "Wait..." said the Lieutenant Commander.

  The four fighters altered their course to move off to the right, creating a clear line of sight from the single Alliance Warbarge. If whatever was coming through really was hostile, the ancient ship would hit it hard. Another flash appeared and something else came through. As before it was torn apart by the minefield.

  There!

  Nate spotted another three flashes that marked the destruction of yet another ship as it struck a group of mines. The weapons were more than capable of detecting the hostile vessel, but to make matters worse they could also make subtle course corrections to move in and surround incoming threats. The ship had no chance and quickly joined the wreckage of more than a dozen similar ships that now drifted in open space.

  "Okay, looks like we..." started the Lieutenant Commander.

  Her voice stopped as a much larger series of flashes marked the arrival of an entire flotilla of broken ships. This time Nate counted five, and all were surrounded by the yellow and red flashes of the mines. Then to his astonishment came a sixth amidst the middle of the shattered ships. It came through the debris that managed to shield it from all but a dozen or so mines, and then it was through.

  "All ships, this is Corsair Leader. We have a hostile vessel, Battlecruiser classification, and she's preparing her weapons."

  Her audio transmission cut and was replaced by the mechanical sound of a synthesised voice.

  "This is the Battleship Thondar. I bring a message from the Great Triumvir, Legate Catecahassa."

  Nate's brow tightened as he listened to the words.

  "Who the hell is Catecahassa?"

  He hadn't meant to say it aloud, but luckily for him, his transceiver was currently silent. The name clearly had the quality common among Anicinàbe tribal leaders, and he could only assume it was one of the senior command in the Star Empire.

  And a Triumvir?

  Nate was no expert on history, but every teenager knew the story of the old days of ancient Rome. The rivalry between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus was still legendary and formed the basis for so much literature, film, and simulation.

  So this Catecahassa, he is one of three senior leaders? The three legates maybe?

  Before he could give the problem any more thought, the alien spoke aga
in. The mechanical voice created by the computers gave him an even more ominous tone.

  "I have authority to take the war criminal Kratha into custody. Surrender now. Your ships will be forfeit, but your lives will be saved. Legate Catecahassa grants you sixty seconds to comply."

  Nate's eyes widened as he watched the computer scanners identify the many gun ports now opening throughout the massive ship. The vessel was not shown on the ship database, but its size, basic design, and armament placed it in a category close to the Alliance Conqueror Class. The bright iconography emblazoned on its flanks marked it out as a ship of the new Empire. It looked similar in part, but not quite identical to the ships of the Byotai, yet lacking the many wings and fins commonly seen on them. Instead, it was more like a smaller version of the massive supercarrier that ANS Warlord had fought to a standstill.

  They must be modifying ships in the captured Imperial shipyards to their new specification. That is the only way they can be launching ships so fast.

  "This is Admiral Churchill, of the Alliance. We've been here before, and the answer is the same. This is the sovereign territory of our ally, the Byotai Empire. Remove yourself from this sector, or suffer the consequences. We want peace...but we are ready for war. Prince Kratha is under Alliance protection. Violence against our ships will be a declaration of war between our people."

  Nate almost choked as he heard the Admiral speak. After the mauling both sides had suffered, he assumed neither would want to engage in battle again. And here they were, waiting for a race that simply would not back down. The threat of a war was something he expected, but surely it wouldn't spread outside of the old Byotai lands? He glanced back and checked on the position of the Vanguard led by ANS Retaliation.

  Too far away.

  Unfortunately, this attack had occurred right in the middle of the fleet relocation. For the next few minutes, the only warship on station would be the Warbarge, and of course, their group of four fighters. It was enough to cause one ship trouble, but if they came through in force, it could be a problem. Nate didn't like being this far from the fleet, but he could see the thinking behind it. Nothing was more important than protecting their route home. That was why the Admiral had most of the ships positioned directly in front of the Rift back to Helios Prime, and the safety of the Alliance.