Part 1 Formation - Chapter 11

Zekor stepped through the door onto a bustling bridge. Officers sat at their stations, hurriedly checking reports or relaying information while others scurried from station to station. One man turned to see Zekor enter and ran over to meet him.

"Arxictus," The man greeted while placing a fist over his heart.

Zekor returned the gesture with a smile, "Navaris Marglis, can you give me an update?" He asked as he moved towards the center of the bridge.

"Sir!" The man replied and followed, his orange eyes lighting up with intensity, "Bowin ships just ahead, they've formed a blockade around the planet."

"Types of Ships? How many are we dealing with?"

"About thirty-five, sir. Eight cruisers, fifteen frigates, three destroyers, the rest are small ships."

Zekor stopped when he reached the middle of the bridge. He stood on a wide platform with crew pits on either side of him, where officers sat manning their stations. Zekor turned to Marglis, nodded and smiled approvingly, "Good, our fleet can certainly handle that."

He then walked forward to stare out of the gigantic window in front of him. "Aurix take us forward, Commis bring up Triarsi Nertis, and Fraristi."

The two officers below replied, "Yes Sir!" without even looking up from their consoles.

The ship moved forward through the emptiness of space. Ahead set a blue/green planet, an oasis amongst the void, and around that the quickly growing specks of the enemy ships. Zekor stared at them for a moment before turning around just as the image of two men blazed to life behind him.

"Sir!", they bellowed while giving a salute.

Zekor nodded a greeting, "Nertis take your detachment and head left, Fraristi head right. We'll pounce on the blockade from all sides and catch them in our crossfire. Our first job is to punch holes in their formation so our troops can deploy to the surface. Once that's done we are to mop up here and then provide gunnery support to the battle below."

"Yes, sir" The men replied and their images winked out.

The Pride of Palleon continued to glide forward towards the enemy. It was trailed by dozens and dozens of other ships, packed in a formation around it. As they neared closer to their foe, sections of numerous ships broke off on either side of the formation and heard in opposite directions.

A moment later the two fleets were close enough for Zekor to make out some details of the Bowin ships. They sat motionless in a half circle formation round the planet. Their long slender, almost snake-like hulls, bristling with cannons and missile tubes.

"Prolis, order the gunnery crews to prepare to fire and target the cruiser directly ahead of us, Commis, order the Veritre and the Hojkifgjan to do the same."

The ship drew ever closer until finally the deck under Zekor's feet vibrated ever so slightly. A half-second later, bright red beams of energy lanced out from his ship to slam into the enemy vessel. As the energy hit, it dissipated against a bright shimmering surface. As the distortion vanished the ship remained untouched.

Return fire lanced out from the enemy, striking the Pride. "Prolis, damage?" Zekor asked.

"None Sir! Barely scratched our shields." The man replied without looking up from his console.

"Good, order all gunnery crews to fire at will. Launch missiles A to F."

All around the ship lasers and missiles flew, hurling back and forth between the two fleets. From a distance it looked almost beautiful as the brilliant reds and blues streaked through the icy darkness of space.

Missiles streaked from the Pride and slammed into the Bowin ship. Its shield flickered then burst, buckling under the waves of fire slamming into them. Laser blasts then hit the exposed hull and burned holes into it. Missiles from another ship bashed the hull and a second later exploded in fiery balls, blowing whole sections away. Fire and smoke blazed over the hull of the Bowin ship and its engines flickered out, causing it to drift.

"Marglis," Zekor called, "Order the shuttles to begin their assault, order our fighters to launch and cover their descent."

"Sir!' The man replied and hurriedly issued orders into his headset.

Zekor turned back to look out the window as the bowin ship exploded in a brilliant ball of fire and sent chunks of debris crashing into ships around it. As he watched, red beams of light poured into the sides of the ships.

"Sir!" A young man called from below, "Triarsi Nertis, and Fraristi are in position and firing on the enemy."

Zekor smiled, "Good, Commis, send a general warning for ships to watch out. We don't want to get caught up in our own fire, also bring up the BellTabis."

Behind Zekor a panel on the floor slid open, and a circular platform rose from the deck. Once its movement stopped, the top of it lit up and a map burst into life above it, its glow brightening the surrounding space. On the map was a large circle and around it hung a ring of red triangles of various sizes boxed in on all sides by blue triangles.

"It appears the battle is going well." Marglis said as he approached.

"Yes," Zekor replied, thoughtfully studying the map. After a moment he asked, "Commis, how is our fleet doing?"

"Good sir," The officer called out form below, "Minor damage to most, the Neryvotis is being assaulted by two of the enemy destroyers and is reporting that their shields are failing, as for the enemy fleet they're down two cruisers, one frigate, and one destroyer so far."

"Order the Neryvotis to withdraw for a time, as soon as they see an opening, have the Veritre move over to back them up."

"Yes, sir!"

Zekor continued to stare intently at the map. On the map one blue triangle turned away from the battle, while another moved rapidly to its position. In another area two red triangles blinked out of existence, leaving a gap in the enemy line. Zekor touched the two nearest blue ones, causing that section of the map to enlarge and a cascade of information to appear on the side.

"Commis have the Hojkifgjan, move over to quadrant five. Tell them to join up with the Barjkilan, and the Asmodin and use the opening that was just created to slip behind the enemy blockade and hit them from the rear.

Zekor reached over and touched the side of the holographic map, causing it to zoom out again. On the holo three blue triangles slipped through the gap in the enemy lines and turned horizontally. After a moment Several red triangles winked out of existence.

"Commis have the rest of our ships release their troops."

"Yes sir"