"This was a bad idea." The light of beam weapons flashed through the viewports, strobing into the bridge. They had passed through the Gate three seconds ago, and The Wandering Lady's shields had already dropped to eighty three percent. The ship vibrated with the crash of weapons fire against shields, and pulsed with the rhythmic pounding of thirty six turrets returning fire.

Yvian ignored her sister's comment. She frantically programmed parameters into the Vinga escort ships. Only after they launched did she look back up at the sensors. The readings were even worse then the first time she'd looked.

Mims had taught her extensively about the Klaath during her time as an apprentice. He had insisted she memorize their characteristics, how they fought, and the best ways to deal with them. He'd made her review footage of multiple incursions. She'd thought she knew what to expect. She was wrong.

There were so many ships she couldn't make sense of them all. Klaath Incursions struck Confederation space once every few years. They involved thousands of invaders, sometimes as many as a hundred thousand. Not this time. This time, there were millions. Klusters were still appearing, popping into space at random all over the sector.

Her comm chirped. "Stupid cargo ship," Admiral Fightsmart growled into the frequency. "Not get message? Weaky ships run. Go now."

Yvian checked her ship's status before replying. Her turrets had destroyed the Klaath scouts in the immediate area, but more were closing in. Her Vingas were moving to intercept. "This is Captain Kiver of The Wandering Lady." She decided not to be offended at the Admiral's orders. Most cargo ships weren't modified for combat the way hers had been."We're heavily armed and here to help. Where do you want us?"

"Fighty ship?" the krog rumbled. "Good. Stay. Protect Jumpgate. If Klaath kill Gate, all die," He cut the transmission.

"This was a really bad idea," Lissa repeated.

"I know." Yvian sized up the Gate. It was indeed under attack. Several groups of Klaath raiders and interceptors were swarming along it's circumference, firing down on the massive ring. Yvian plotted a course to engage the nearest group. As she did, she saw another Kluster arrive. When it got within eight kilometers of The Wandering Lady it exploded into a dozen raiders and a Klaath fighter.

"There's no way we can defend this Gate by ourselves," Lissa noted. "It's too much area to cover, and the Klaath'll tear us to pieces if we hit a big swarm."

"I know!" The Wandering Lady started firing as soon as the raiders came within five kilometers, which was a lot sooner than Yvian had expected. Crunch, they were fast. "We have to do what we can. You heard that transmission. Every combat ship within five sectors is on the way. We just have to hold out til they get here." The Vingas opened fire as well. The Klaath were destroyed before they could get close. Mims had told her Klaath fighters and below wouldn't fire until they got within two and a half kilometers. He didn't know why. Their beam weapons should have a much greater range.

"There wasn't a single ship in sensor range when we passed through," Lissa argued. "It'll be at least two hours before anyone shows up, if they're coming at all."

The Lady and it's Vingas engaged one of the groups firing on the Gate. "So what do you want to do?" Yvian demanded. "You want to run?"

"Of course not!" Lissa snapped. "If the Klaath kill the Gates here, a quarter of the Confed gets cut off the Gate network. But I want us to be smart about this. It's gonna be a war of attrition. And I reserve the right to whine."

"Duly noted." Her ships finished tearing through the small group of Klaath..She plotted a course to the next one. "How are we on missiles?"

"Fully stocked," Lissa reported. "We've got thirty eight SEEKER-3 anti fighter missiles, fifteen REIGNFIRE swarmers, and three BIGBOOM heavy torpedos. The Vingas have six SEEKER-3s each."

"Good," Yvian checked sensors again. She needed to big picture this thing. The Klaath were appearing with no rhyme or reason. They wandered aimlessly, for the most part. If they drifted close to anything not Klaath, they attacked. No station, ship, or Gate was left unmolested. Swarms of Klaath were diving straight into Krog Prime's planetary defenses, dashing themselves against a wall of weapons platforms.

Some Klusters were teaming up and flying in formation, forming large rings of rotating ships. Klusters, and only Klusters, could travel without a Jumpgate. No one knew how. When they wanted to bring over other ships, the Klusters would circle up and open a portal. Kluster portals were popping up all over the sector. Corvettes, frigates, and destroyers were coming through.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The defenders were vastly outnumbered. Two hundred eighty seven militia ships, and two thousand one hundred and forty seven Confed Military vessels. The Militia was grouped around a large military station. The Military had divided into six separate fleets. One moved towards each of the four Gates. The other two moved through the sector in loosely associated wing groups, attacking Kluster Portals. Yvian estimated the fleet heading to her Gate would arrive in four hours.

There were a few dozen civilian vessels scattered through the system. They all seemed to be trying to fight their way to either a station or a Gate. Yvian doubted any of them would make it. A swarm destroyed three of the vessels as she watched.

The Wandering Lady and her escorts moved along the perimeter of the Jumpgate, picking off small groups. Yvian learned that controlling the Vingas directly was inefficient. Dodging was useless against beam weapons, and the autopilot targeted and destroyed ships faster than she could do manually. She stubbornly kept at it for the first few fights, but gave it up after Lissa called her out on it.

Two Klusters worth of ships proved no threat to her little fleet, as her guns tore through them before they reached firing range. She could take on three with minimal shield damage. The problem was the Klaath were coming in greater and greater numbers, and the Gate was too big for her to protect all at once. Raiders were able to rain fire on it for several minutes before she could get to them. The Jumpgate's frame was being riddled with damage, and the Lady's shields were steadily dropping as she fought larger and larger groups of Klaath.

She needed a way to thin the herd.

"Lissa, you're on missiles." She gave the command. "Start targeting any Klusters heading our way."

"Won't they just shoot them down?" Lissa asked. "Missiles are easy picking for beam weapons."

"They can't shoot while they're still in a Kluster," Yvian explained. At least she hoped they couldn't. She was pretty sure the human had said something to that effect. "Don't fire any if we're close to regular ships, but any Kluster we take out with missiles is a dozen ships we don't have to fight."

"You got it, Sis," Lissa started messing with her console. "I'll use the Vinga missiles first. I wouldn't want them to go to waste if the Klaath kill our escorts."

She'd been fighting for an hour when the first Corvette arrived. Unliked the pyramid shaped raiders and fighters, the Klaath Corvette was an oval covered in forward facing spikes. It was faster than a Confed Corvette, as fast as the average medium fighter. She'd barely registered it approaching when it opened up with three beam weapons at a range of 5 kilometers. Unlike the smaller vessels she'd been fighting, the Corvette didn't fire a single pulse every two seconds. It was a continuous stream of energy, and it shredded the shields of one of her Vingas before she'd even directed the Lady to focus fire on the damned thing. Her turrets did their work, but the Corvette finished destroying one Vinga and damaged another before she managed to kill it.

"I'm having trouble seeing what's coming at us when we're dealing with a group." She told Lissa. "Can you keep an eye on it and let me know if anything bigger than a fighter comes within ten k?"

"Sure, Sis. We're out of missiles, anyway." She sounded annoyingly cheerful. "You know, we're doing pretty good so far."

"We just lost a ship." Yvian knew her face wasn't visible through the helmet, but she hoped Lissa could sense her irritated glance. "Why are you so chipper?"

Lissa shrugged. "I was pretty sure we'd be dead by now."

Where the Klusters had been aimless, the Klaath that came through the portals immediately set course for the nearest targets. Frigates and Destroyers gathered large groups of Fighter and Raider escorts as they went. Yvian doubted her fleet could deal with a single escorted Frigate. Two such Frigates were headed for her Gate. The first would arrive in twenty three minutes. A Destroyer would be there in forty five. The Military fleet wouldn't show up for another three hours.

"Heads up, Sis! Three Klaath Corvettes closing fast." Yvian snapped her attention back to short range sensors. The three were flying close together at a distance of thirty kilometers. A bolt of adrenaline shot through Yvian at the sight. She turned to see Lissa looking back at her. "I think we should run, now."

"Running." The Wandering Lady was only three kilometers from the Gate. Yvian initiated a course change to run for it. While the Lady could accelerate more quickly than other ships of its class, it was still a cargo hauler, and its turn speed was atrocious. The Klaath closed to eleven kilometers by the time Yvian oriented on the Gate. They weren't going to make it.

Yvian changed the turret settings to fire at ten kilometers instead of five. She put the Vingas between her and the Corvettes. The Lady fired. The Klaath were agile enough to evade the stream of incoming fire at first, but started to take damage when they got within seven kilometers.

Still two kilometers from the Gate. The Klaath opened fire. Yvian's Vingas were torn apart. They'd only bought her a couple of seconds. The Lady's heavy turrets were hitting home, now, pounding away at the lead Corvette. Its beam weapons hammered Yvian's shields. The other two Corvettes joined in a second later.

Her shields were failing fast. Forty percent. Twenty. The Lady's turrets punched through the lead Corvette, but it was too little, too late. Yvian screamed a stream of profanity at the light flashing through the Lady's viewports. She shouted her defiance as she waited for the end.

Her comm chirped. "Do you ever get tired of being rescued all the time?"

A single heavy fighter flashed into view in front of her. It placed itself between The Wandering Lady and the deadly white lights. It was large for a fighter, but something about the curvature of it's triangular hull spoke of speed and agility. Fourteen gun ports protruded from its front, spitting fire at the enemy. Yvian knew that ship. The Random Encounter. Captain Mims had arrived.