Stars in The Storm, 3: Cannon Diplomacy
26 Dec 2023Meowers
Damn that thing is huge. First, you notice that the brownish mist is slowly getting red on your approach, it becomes more like... blood. Why red? No idea. Maybe it's their way of scaring humans away. Trying to, in our case. And those lightnings around it are getting more bright, sharp, distinctive, rather than distant flashes you see from the distance. Then, you get close enough to finally see it, a humongous Thargoid megaship looking like some wicked god sinisterly upscaled your regular freaking Interceptor one hundred times. And, instead of that cockpit-like blob in the centre... There's a greenishly glowing maw, with spikes around it. And the whole thing is covered in turrets, generators, spikes, all that, including those storage... Access points, or whatever they are. Places where it's vulnerable to the extraction charges. Like blowing up the prison wall instead of picking the locks.
If only we had a spare carrier to stuff it with explosives and shove it into this damn thing.
Anyway, we were closing fast and I didn't want to lose that momentum on contemplations.
"Transports, perform scans and bombard that shit with extraction charges! Fighters, form a defensive perimeter and keep your eyes open!"
Yeah, considering my main assignment with more battles in the open, those rescue operations near Titans weren't something I've done many times... Honestly, phah, that was the first one. But, yeah, keeping a serious face and letting people believe that you know what the heck you are doing is the key I guess. I knew this relatively safe experience of hanging around and looking at limpets collecting pods couldn't last for long, eventually they should raise the alert or at least come to look at what's happening. They knew what to do... But so did I.
"Gold 1 and 2, break formation and engage! Maintain visual contact!"
A pair of Glaives and a Cyclops appeared and opened fire immediately, forcing some of the defending ships to flinch, but we were on our way already. A coordinated stream of projectiles hit the Cyclops, making it dash confusedly left to right, and the first heart was shattered almost in an instant. Glaives attempted to avoid us by flying in an arc to the transports, unsuccessfully: my second wing responded and intercepted them halfway, pushing them out. Then the Titan's turrets opened fire.
"Silver 1 and 2, blast those turrets, make this sector a blind spot!"
I wanted this particular engagement to be sharp and quick, to get back to our transports and catch our breath, though, minute by minute, the Thargoids were making me think that... Nah. Not going to happen. We dispatched that damn first Cyclops and another one appeared, and it brought a damned Basilisk with it. And a bunch of those pesky Glaives too. Mion's folks already turned some turrets into a bionic mush dripping oozy liquid and I told her second wing to lend us a hand, attacking the Cyclops, while we kept everything else away. Damn these guns are shit... Our scientists better come up with a kind of a shielding device, I could've nailed all those bastards alone whilst humming funny melodies if not for their protection field.
Damned Basilisk attempted to dash through and hit the transports with its three hearts already destroyed, forcing one of my pilots to literally ram it, swaying it off its course. A thick cloud of Thargoid fluid gushed out of the wound, yet I clearly saw the sparks and smoke through it, and his Challenger was thrown aside viciously, spinning for a few seconds, with one of its engines barely holding on its mount.
"Dammit. Gold 2-3, disengage at once, stay close to the transports!"
A lone Glaive, heavily damaged, limping and twitching, leaving a greenish trail of Thargoid blood, darted to the ship foolhardily, trying to vulture the kill, but I was quicker and squeezed my triggers as soon as I got a lock. A contented smile appeared on my face for a little while as I saw the beast falling apart, its insides falling out and spreading as my gunfire aimed at the dead centre almost turned the thing inside out. More of them tried to press harder and get through the opening since one of our ships went out of combat, yet we slammed the door shut.
"Platinum 5 reporting, anomalous signature, match confirmed. Extracted a group of pods, signal disappeared."
This could be it... Wrapping this up and heading out was the option already. Though... There still were people inside. Hundreds. Thousands. Most of our ships were still in good fighting shape and the rescue transports weren't even half-loaded. We could do more. And we will do more.
"Excellent, grab the pods and move into the centre of your group. Proceed with the operation."
Proceed with the operation... Maybe someone still hates me for these words.
Green buggers kept us on guard. At least six Cyclopes, one Basilisk and a dozen of Glaives were stamped with 'return to sender' at that moment and more of them tried to get to the transports, running circles and searching for a breach in the defences. Our volunteer wings had to show their teeth too, striking quickly and then returning back, Mion sent one of her ships with a nasty hull breach to the rear, even I had some minor malfunctions and holes in the armour here and there. Though... Things weren't bad. Fairly intensive, but not bad.
A bunch of those godsdamned Scythes were less than welcome sight however. They appeared from the opposite side of the Titan and dashed to the transports, paying no attention to the combat, and, have to admit, maybe I was too late with spotting them. They already launched their collector drones to pick up the pods and disturbed the transport formation, transport ships opened fire with their turrets, yet there was only one volunteer wing nearby. Also... Honestly, I wasn't sure.
"Silver 1-1, grab your pilots and get back, rip those freaks to shreds! All Bronze, stay in between and assist!"
Like, I wanted to ensure that the transports would get the strongest protection I could provide them with, and with AXDF ships being locked up in the thick of the combat, keeping the main Thargoid masses away, Mion and her group was the best option. Volunteers could do their part staying in between as a rapid-reaction forces pool. And, as for us... We knew what to do. To give 'em hell no matter how many of them were going for us.
For the better or not, I mean, we were uncomfortably strained and spread out at the moment, but something else started to happen. Like a disturbed, droning sound, and the whole space around us... Felt like it has become more dense. Brighter. Shit... That meant only one thing. Titan energy discharge. It could turn any ship into a sitting duck ready for picking. I bashed the comms button instantly ordering everyone to retreat as far as they could and set up a navigation marker onto the random stellar body ahead, which happened to be one of the planets, to give people a direction. Shit that was terrible, with all those Thargoids chasing us and chipping more and more steel off, combat ships turning around to go reverse and return fire, transports burning their boosts, and that blinding blue... Glow. Glowing toroidal field, enveloping the entire Titan and becoming brighter and brighter before it went off in every direction, like a... Like a little supernova. Causing our electronics to go mad, disrupting the comms, forcing people to squeeze their eyes shut, fingers still on the triggers.
We were lucky. None of us got caught in it. Though those ships with damaged engines got me worried, honestly, I ordered them to retreat further and stay close to the transports whilst the rest of us mounted a counterattack, filling the space with disfigured, charred Thargoid bits. Phah. Those freaks thought we were going to run for it. Caught myself flipping off a dying Basilisk with a middle finger once it began to fall apart, wailing, tumbling chaotically, spreading streams of its greenish goop in every direction, and then finally it went silent, slowly floating away, surrounded by a cloud of its own body pieces.
Nevertheless, a moment to catch our breath. Not the one I wanted to have maybe, but the one that was needed.
"Everyone, use every single repair limpet you have left and then give me a damage report."