The battle started the moment the Republic’s armada came out of their jump, which was certainly not the plan. The Astralbians had had plenty of time to develop a network of mines and surveillance, and the Republic fighters were immediately deployed to engage with an onslaught of mines.
"We'll clear up the welcome committee easily enough, but the fleet is going to have to watch for the main force," said Drixen. "We'll coordinate with Swampy and the Silver Star fighters."
"Understood," answered Jasken. "We'll call priority targets as we see them. Remember, this is Jylik's base of operations. Everything else was expendable; he'll fight to the bitter end here."
"Yes, Sir," said Drixen.
The fighters had closed in on the mines and began firing. Jasken watched from the bridge of the Wingspan, his face being lit by the explosions as the mines were detonated in the distance.
***
Talon Squad snuck away from the battle and out towards the star trees. The chaos of the moment let them slip over to a couple of mid-sized trees, killing a number of Astralbians as they ran. The group split up, taking the fight into their respective trees.
Vanbrook, Raivyn, D'Jarric, Trebor, and Darvik rushed up one ramp, while Reclan, Hrake, Doc, and Yellup took the other.
Vanbrook charged in first - buckler activated, sword energized, and revolver loaded. He dispatched two guards immediately, his buckler catching a storm of splinters fired from a thorn gun. Darvik leapt out from behind him, slashing through another guard and charging into danger. D'Jarric kept a suppressive fire of energy on the doorways, keeping the tree's guards from overwhelming them.
"Keep it up, D'Jarric, but let me through that door," said Raivyn, indicating the doorway that led to the control room.
"I've got your back," said Trebor. He sheathed his saber and pulled his pistols, falling in behind Raivyn.
Raivyn nodded assent, dropping her differences with the man for the moment. They crashed through the doorway, catching the enemy off guard and quickly dispatching them.
Raivyn grabbed the controls and slowly took the tree up, firing the eyes at the Astralbian soldiers running to stop their escape.
"The tree is cleared," said Vanbrook, stumbling into the control room as they began lift-off.
"Yellup, are you airborne?" asked Raivyn over comms.
"No," replied the RTS agent. "We're working on it."
"We'll buy you some time," said Raivyn. She guided the star tree in wide circles, firing at the enemy until she saw Yellup's tree lift off the ground.
"This is wild!" exclaimed Yellup.
"Alright," said Raivyn. "Get aetherborne and explain things to Drai and Jasken. Providence shine on you."
"And you as well," answered Yellup.
***
Drixen was still seeing mines everywhere he turned when the Astralbian fleet got within range and began firing on the Republic fleet and their allies.
"Blue Griffon squads, stay focused on mopping up these mines," said Swampy. "Silver Star squads, we're going to engage with those star trees."
"You got it, Swampy," answered Drixen, blowing another mine out of the aether. "Admiral Jasken, are you seeing this?"
"Yes," answered Jasken as he watched his display screen. A large fleet of star trees had appeared on the horizon, with more joining from the surface as time went on.
A call request came in.
"It's an Astralbian signal, Sir," said Mairen.
Jasken sighed. "Bring Admiral Drai in on the call. Let's see what Jylik has for us."
"Admiral! It's Reclan!" came the voice from the other end.
Jasken stared dumbly at the screen. "Reclan!?"
The Dromean's scaley, smiling face came into focus on the screen. "Yes, sir! I've got Doc, Hrake, and Yellup with me, as well. The others are chasing Hoon-Kra in another star tree."
"But everyone's alive and free?" asked Jasken.
Reclan shook her head sorrowfully. "Winnow didn't make it."
Jasken nodded grimly. "Understood. Come aboard directly, if you can get here. I'll see to it our side knows you're coming."
Jasken ended the call and went to consult with Mairen when a Ramshackle stealth missile collided with the bridge tower’s shielded bubble. The force of the explosion, while doing nothing to the ship itself, pitched Jasken onto the floor, his mag-boots failing to keep him locked down to the floor. His world spun as he fell, then went suddenly dark with the impact.
***
"Hoon-Kra, this is Darvik, can you hear me?"
Hoon-Kra's eyes snapped to his comms panel. He reached for the controls.
"Darvik. I'm… surprised to hear from you," he said.
"I managed to cause enough of a ruckus that I could slip away," he replied.
"Is Vanbrook dead, then?" asked Hoon-Kra.
"Yes," said Darvik, flat and sincere. Nevermind that he was looking the very-much-alive Vanbrook in the eyes when he said it.
"Good for you," said Hoon-Kra. "But enough pleasantries. What do you want?"
"To join you," said Darvik. "If you could use the help."
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Hoon-Kra thought for a moment. He had a few of his most loyal followers aboard. Most of them were family, along with a few of the founding members of the Koomites. He didn't have much of a fighting force at this point, but that was fine. He'd come back a prophet, if not a messiah, and he could build if need be. Darvik had been a loyal soldier, but he'd become far less predictable since he sobered up. Hoon-Kra smiled as a solution occurred to him.
"I'll send you the coordinates, Darvik," he said.
"Thank you," answered Darvik.
Hoon-Kra killed the communication. Everyone stood by quietly for a moment, curious what would happen next. At length, a series of numbers came through.
"You can get the ship to jump to these, right?" asked Vanbrook.
"We'll find out," said Raivyn with a shrug. "The controls are pretty intuitive. I didn't make a jump that other time."
"That- what?" asked Trebor. "Are you saying this is only the second time you've flown a star tree?"
"That's twice more than you, I'm guessing," snapped Raivyn.
"I need a drink," muttered Darvik. He saw Vanbrook move up beside him and turned to see the barrel of the man's gun inches from his nose.
"Thought you were sober now," sneered Vanbrook.
"That was before Cevla got murdered and I was on a suicide mission," said Darvik, staring past the muzzle of Vanbrook’s pistol and at the man himself. “You gonna shoot me for wanting a drink, or what?”
“There’s plenty of reasons to shoot you, you useless scumbag,” seethed Vanbrook. “But no, I’m escorting you to the brig until we get where we’re going.”
“I think we’re past this kind of squabbling, for now anyway,” said Darvik, not moving an inch. “When we get back to Republic-controlled territory you can turn me in. I committed cold-blooded murder followed by treason and some more killing. So you’ll probably get to see me face a firing squad, but for now, let’s focus on stopping Hoon-Kra.”
Vanbrook’s gun didn’t waver.
“Van,” said Raivyn firmly. “He’s not wrong.”
Vanbrook grunted noncommittally and holstered his pistol, turning from Darvik and pretending to study the tree’s controls.
“These coordinates,” said Raivyn, “they’re not far. We’re talking a two-day jump, if we push it.”
“You can count on Hoon-Kra pushing it,” said Darvik. “This is his life’s work.”
“What exactly is his life’s work, then?” asked Trebor, his brows furrowed.
“The Koomites,” answered Darvik. “Bringing back the worship of the aether beasts, celebrating–and worshiping–raw power.”
“So he plans to go and ‘worship’ this supposed cosmic shark?” asked Trebor. “So what?”
“So he has a psychic amplification device that would kill any mortal psychic, and he’s going to amplify Koo L’Koom’s aura with it,” said Darvik.
“He’s going to…” Trebor considered this all for a moment. “I see. He’s going to drive every psychic he can stark-raving mad.”
Darvik nodded. “You can see how that could be a problem.”
***
The fire being traded between the two fleets had become heavy enough that the fighters had been split into two groups; those above the plane of the battle and those below. The mines taken care of for the moment, both groups were contending with wasps, trees, and pirate ships, as well as the meager forces the Koomites had managed to gather.
“Target that tree!” cried Hunt. “It’s burning badly and drifting towards our position, no doubt it’s full of mines.”
Jasken absorbed the words slowly as he regained consciousness. He looked into Mairen’s concerned eyes.
“How long- ” he began.
“Just a moment,” said Mairen soothingly. “But you gave us a good scare. Come on, let’s get you to the Shepherd.
“Not a chance!” shouted Jasken, righting himself in his chair. He’d evidently been hauled up into it and strapped in.
“Perfect!” said Hunt, off to one side. He looked over and saw the situation unfolding next to him. “We, uh, we got the star tree. Didn’t get a chance to release its mines and went off like fireworks.”
“See? The Captain’s got this,” coaxed Mairen.
Jasken huffed, unbuckled himself, stood up, and stepped down from the command chair. “Captain, I relinquish command of the ship to you for the foreseeable future.”
Hunt paused, staring wide-eyed at his commanding officer.
“Get in the chair, Hunt,” said Jasken firmly. “I’m going to see a doctor.”
***
Reclan walked out of the star tree and into the Wingspan’s hangar, where she was met by a squad of sailors, all of whom were pointing rifles at her.
“That’s some welcome!” she said, putting her hands up.
“Sorry, Specialist,” said one of the sailors, putting her weapon down. “We had to be sure it wasn’t a trap. Welcome back.”
The rest of the sailors followed suit and Reclan was escorted to the bridge along with Doc, Hrake, and Yellup.
"Where's Jasken?" asked Reclan when she saw Hunt in the command chair.
"The Admiral took a small spill," said Hunt. "He's fine, but Mairen sent him to see a medic."
"Excuse me?" asked Mairen.
"Mairen insisted the Admiral follow proper protocol for a head injury," said Hunt, carefully avoiding eye contact with the Communications Officer and ignoring Reclan's chuckle.
"Mmhmm," said Mairen.
"Now what's going on?" asked Hunt. "How did you get free?"
"Cevla and Darvik broke us out," said Reclan. "Then the Shairet rose out of the lake and attacked the Astralbians."
"That is… interesting," said Hunt. "Let's get Drai on the comms. We need to hammer some things out.
***
"There," said Raivyn. "The jump is underway."
"That easy?" asked Vanbrook.
"Yes, easy as thinking," answered Raivyn.
"You did say it was intuitive," said Vanbrook. "I'm just glad you didn't shoot at me this time."
He chuckled, then looked at Raivyn. She was looking over nervously at Trebor.
The RTS agent huffed. "You really believe I'm out to get you, don't you?"
"I'll never forget what you did in that apartment in Kerucester," she answered defiantly.
"When I goaded that psychic into attacking me," he said with a nod. "Do you know what happened with that case? No, you don't. You were there on an observational basis. You didn't know what happened leading up to or following that moment.”
Raivyn stared in icy silence, then turned away from Trebor. "We are going to take down a dangerous psychic together. After that, my honest hope is that our paths simply do not cross again."
***
Drai listened to Reclan's story intently, even as great eye blasts continued to chip away at the fleet's shields. A support vessel had been lost already, and the Falchion was badly damaged, its shields were mostly depleted and the feedback from the great eye blasts had knocked out half of its guns.
“Sounds like we owe it to the Shairet to get down there to help them,” said Drai after Reclan had filled him in.
“I agree, but we’ll need to fall back if we want to do that,” said Hunt. “Shields are dangerously low across the fleet. The Astralbian forces are simply larger than we anticipated. Their tactic of blasting our biggest ships with great eye blasts may not be terribly innovative but it is effective.”
“You’re right,” said Drai, rubbing the bridge of his snout. “We’ve been in contact with the FRF via ripmed. They’ll be here before long, but we’re on the verge of some serious losses. Bring back your fighters, we’re going to fall back and hope to come out swinging tomorrow.”
“What if the Astralbians pursue us?” asked Hunt.
Drai shook his head. “Then we’ll truly see who has the better fleet.”
They began to move away from the battle space, starting with the support ships, then the gunships and, when the fighters had returned, the carriers.
The Astralbians started to give chase, and the Republic and PIC ships continued to trade fire with the enemy.
Then the Liberty came into view, followed by the majority of the Free Revolutionary Fleet.
"Admiral Drai," said Crush. "Looks like you could use a hand."
"We could indeed, Admiral Crush!" replied Drai.
Fresh and ready for a fight, the FRF managed to fire enough heavy cannons and rockets to convince the Astralbians to stop advancing, giving the Republic a chance to fall back.