Alpha One - Chris Burton [120]
These vessels were followed by ten larger ships, perhaps two hundred meters in length. They were the same shape, translucent and again outlined beneath by a red glow projecting into space. The Kryl fleet, with their ominous and almost menacing red glow, looked very sinister.
This, then, was their new enemy; but the biggest surprise was yet to come. Behind the glowing fleet their followed a monster: a gargantuan vessel, two to three kilometers in length. Its similarity to the other Kryl ships was obvious, and again the dominant red glow made the sky surrounding the ship glow almost crimson, so deep was its color.
They closed to within five hundred meters and still neither side took the first shot. This all changed in an instant. From beneath each Kryl ship, a beam of red light burst through, instantly penetrating the shields of their new enemy. The small Earth ships’ inadequate shielding was shredded; the Kryl weapons caused devastation almost instantly.
Hoskins knew he must respond and ordered a full out attack, with bursts of plasma cannon, teutonic missiles and phased plasma weaponry. At first there seemed little success, with even the smaller Kryl vessels seemingly impenetrable. Eventually the smaller vessels weakened, and slowly Alpha’s fire-power began to penetrate the Kryl vessels’ shielding.
Buoyed by this success, Hoskins ordered a squadron of Rapier 6’s to be launched to carry on the assault on the smaller vessels. This did not last long. The Kryl turned their attention to the Halo 7, and their bigger more powerful weapons began to smash into the ship‘s shields. At first the shields held, but inevitably the mass onslaught began to penetrate the shields around the weaponry housings.
After just a few minutes, all resistance was over. The Kryl won a resounding victory and the battle ended. The makeshift Earth Fleet’s troubles were far from over. It was time for the Kryl to feed.
Chapter Fifty-Three
The Space Yacht
The type 75 Orion Space Yacht took two more days to reach the far side of the Tri-Star System and the locale of the wormholes. As they drew nearer, Jake and Steve watched in awe at the spectacular sight of three wormholes side by side and the pure brilliant blue emanating from the blue wormhole surrounding the sky in front of them. It did not take long for them to realize what had happened.
Two Rapiers pulled along either side of the space yacht, and their pilots gave them the signal to follow. They both knew better than to argue with two fully-deployed Rapiers. Jake pulled the yacht into their wake and having identified themselves with their Alpha call signs, they set course for the Alpha Fleet flagship, the Illustrious.
There was no sign of private vessels, and even stranger was the lack of any communication traffic. The whole area continued to be devoid of sound. The two Rapiers headed towards the Illustrious and her main hangar bay. She was huge. Neither of the trainee officers had ever been so close to a Type A ship of the line. There was no denying that she was a beautiful thing, if only in the eye of the beholder. You must believe to appreciate its sheer beauty.
* * * *
The hangar itself was vast. It was the size of a large sports stadium and housed hundreds of jump ships, shuttles, Eagles, and several larger support craft. This was only one of the hangars on the ship, albeit the largest one. They were guided towards a landing pad at the rear of the hangar, with the two jump ships putting down on either side of the Yacht.
Jake and Steve were led directly to a small debriefing room on the same deck by two security crew members and asked to wait for the duty security officer. Lieutenant O’Brien entered the room and offered them both coffees before asking them to sit.
“Gentlemen. Can you tell me what two Alpha trainees are doing in a space yacht in the middle of the Tri-Star system?”
Steve piped up first, answering in a typically nonchalant