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PART TWO
"Ten minutes to blockade rendezvous, Commander," said Tiny, adjusting controls to assume command of the Phoenix once again.
"Right, Tiny...is everybody ready?" Mark grinned knowingly at the team. They answered in unison.
"Ready!"
"Good. Jason, tell me again about those mines." Mark leaned on Jason's console.
"Gravitic plasma mines, in a compliment of 20,000. Each one is about the size of a baseball. They can detect and attack vehicles of specific design and origin, within a range of 1,000 kilometers." Jason grinned slyly, "Radar shielded, of course."
"Sounds like we're going to have a party. How's your trigger finger?" Mark clapped his friend on the shoulder.
"Itchy, man...itchy." Jason grinned again, but this time, it never reached his eyes. Mark removed his hand from Jason's back. Mark didn't take this particular behavior personally. Close to a fight, Jase always became hype focused.
"Okay....now, this is a big one. Man your battle stations and get ready."
Keyop and Princess disappeared down a couple of access tubes. Jason sat in his usual position, in front of the master weapons console. Mark looked at Tiny.
"Fly well, friend."
Tiny nodded and focused on the view screen ahead of him. Mark and Jason exchanged a long, silent look. Now that Mark knew that everything was cool, he could go to work unburdened.
"Tiny, make sure everybody's tied in...I'm going to turret one." One thing that hadn't made it to the cartoon was the fact that the Phoenix had multiple laser turrets, that could be automated or manned as needed. It was needed now. Tiny's voice crackled through the ship.
"Two minutes to show time." His voice was tense, a ripple of emotion flowing through it.
Mark buckled himself into his turret, and activated the power grid. To his lower right hand corner, a video display showed him the other team members along it's bottom, while the large, top portion showed the Federation logo. The screen flickered, and the logo was replaced by the grim face of a middle aged male, his black hair streaked with silver.
"Admiral Kovacks," said Mark, in recognition.
"G-Force...it's good to see you again, though I wish the circumstances were better. We're transferring the long range scans to your computers now." Kovacks adjusted a few controls on his end. Mark quickly surveyed the readout.
"Check, Admiral. Looks like we're in for some action." Mark hit a few buttons of his own, running a last minute systems check on the weapons array. The admiral nodded.
"Once you're in formation, we're going ahead to engage the first wave...ETA six minutes at maximum speed." Kovacks looked tense but confident, something that the team felt and responded to in kind.
"We're ready, sir," said Princess, her voice strong and steady.
"I'm sure we will be victorious. Good luck, G-Force." The image of Kovacks disappeared, replaced by system updates. Mark activated the opacity regulators, and the armor plating in front of him shimmered, and became transparent. He looked out at the battle fleet they had joined. Large carriers in blockade formation cruised through time warp space with a confidence that didn't come easy. The carriers carried DART fighters; small, deadly one man machines designed with a perfect balance between maneuverability and offensive effectiveness.
Mark and his team were all younger than the youngest man aboard those ships, yet so much seemed to depend on them. He checked the counter on the display. In just a few more minutes...
Keyop couldn't contain himself any longer.
"G.g.g.gonna make some fireworks, huh Jase?"
"You bet squirt! We're running heavy with all these missiles and mines on board...I gotta get 'em outta here." Jason cracked his knuckles, before his hands returned to hovering just above the missile controls.
"I'm gonna fly rings around those Spectran goons," Tiny said, getting caught up in the morale boosting bravado they often engaged in before a big fight. Mark smiled at their confidence.
"You'll all get your chance...here we go!" Mark kicked into full battle mode as the fleet fell out of warp space. His helmet visor was tied into the battle computer, providing him with a heads up display to assist in targeting the enemy. Outside, the carriers began to spit out hundreds of DART's which immediately began to engage Spectra's similar machinery.
The Phoenix winged through the melee, picking off as many Spectran fighters as they could before closing on one of their carriers. The Spectrans, who hadn't been expecting G-Force to show up at a space battle, began to move back from the front lines, leaving their fighters behind.
Tiny circled one of the carriers, forcing it to make a course correction, as it's weak defense grid attempted to ward off the legendary Earth ship. The Phoenix bucked as it nosed through the defensive energy shields to get closer to the massive carrier.
"Okay, Tiny, get me in close on their port side," said Jason, his finger on the missile launcher button, not yet pressing down. The ship rolled and swung around, flying with it's belly towards the Spectran vessel, and coming from the aft of the ship. The other team members were strafing the ship with their laser turrets, knocking out shield generators and defensive laser positions. Jason selected his target carefully. On the port side of Spectran carriers, he knew there was a battery cluster that lay just underneath the hull. If he could hit it, it might cause a chain reaction that would leave the ship dead in space. Though it seemed an obvious, easy target, in reality it was only so to the Phoenix and it's crew.
"Tiny, speed up, we're taking too much fire!" Mark's voice crackled over the com units. As if to prove Mark's point, the Phoenix lurched under the impact of a large laser blast. Jason swore and looked at Tiny.
"Don't you do it, Tiny! I just need a few more seconds."
"C'mon guys! Make up your minds!" Tiny jostled the stick, avoiding an oncoming burst, even as Mark cursed at Jason.
"Dammit Jason, when I give an order I-" He was cut off by
Jason as he pounded the fire button, releasing a pair of missiles. They streaked down the side of the carrier, slamming into the hull of the vessel violently. Tiny pulled the stick hard, riding the blast out, away from the carrier.
Keyop turned back to see that the ship had begun to list, and had no lights or signs of activity, other than the life pods ejecting from the vessel and small explosions near the engine array.
"It's dead in s.s.space!" His voice filled the ship with joy, as the team reveled in their first victory of the day.
"Nice work Jason...but next time, tell me the plan, okay?" Mark smiled at Jason over the vidcom.
"What next, Mark?" Tiny hadn't changed course since they had peeled away from the carrier, and they were now well away from the combat theater.
"Another carrier!" Keyop grinned maliciously, pointing out his turret window.
"That's a good idea, Keyop...wait." Mark had glanced at his long range scanners and caught something coming in at extreme range. He looked again and altered the scan field to concentrate on the blip. He punched it into everyone's computer.
"What the hell is that?" Princess began adjusting the scanners, pushing their limits to get a better fix. "Great...it's a super mech, Mark!" The display sharpened, and began to give statistics on the approaching mecha. Mark swore as his fingers tightened on the trigger mechanisms.
"Tiny, plot an intercept course...if that mech rips into the fleet, there'll be problems."
"Big Ten, Commander." Tiny brought the ship around in a big arc, angling towards the approaching monstrosity. As they got closer, the forward viewers could pick it up. A shadow in deep space blocking out the stars was advancing quickly. The Phoenix lurched as it was rocked by fire from a squad of Spectran snub fighters that had scrambled off of the carrier the team had crippled. The team began to fire at the fighters, attempting to halt their assault on the ship. Tiny executed a series of stomach lurching maneuvers to shake the pursuers.
"Hey b.b.big guy! Watch it! M.m.makin' me sick!" Indeed, on the viewer, Keyop had paled to a ghostlike hue.
"Take those fighters out, an' I won't have to fly like this!" Tiny's voice was tight with concentration, as he struggled to keep the Phoenix out of harm's way. The mecha was still approaching, and Tiny punched the throttle, accelerating towards it at full thrust with the Spectran snubs in tow.
The mech finally became visible to the team.
"It's a Scorpion, Mark!" Jason leaned over Tiny's shoulder, watching the thing advance.
"I see it, Jase. Heavily shielded, according to the scans. Princess, look for any chinks in it's armor." Mark glanced at Prin before focusing on the mech.
"Right, Commander." Princess put her turrets on auto as she started working on the scanners.
The Phoenix lurched again as the snubs let loose another volley.
"Goddammed pests!" Tiny pulled the stick sharply, changing course to meet the mech head on.
"Tiny what are you doing?" Jason gripped the stick, trying to make the big man change course to avoid collision with the mech.
"Missile launch from the Scorpion, Mark!"
Tiny slowed down, allowing the snubs to close on the ship. Jason stopped fighting, and laughed, seeing what Tiny had in mind. The Phoenix was slammed by fire from the squad of snubs. An alarm sounded somewhere, but was quickly shut off by Keyop.
"Missiles in ten!" said Keyop, continuing the countdown. As he reached one, Tiny yanked the stick harshly, pulling away from the incoming warheads. The Spectran fighters exploded as they collided with the missiles from their own side, accompanied by a cheer from the team. The cheer died as the giant Scorpion mecha zipped by them, and headed directly for the fleet. Mark swore and slammed his fist on the console.
"Tiny! Plot an intercept course. We've got to stop it" Mark grabbed his chair as the big pilot complied, the action pushing the G-Force commander deep into the cushions of his chair. The mecha grew larger as Tiny swiftly closed the gap. The Scorpion's tail lashed impossibly fast for it's size, releasing a payload of missiles from it's poisoned tip. The impact was sudden, and the team felt the brief lapse of the artificial gravity before the generators came back on line.
"I need twenty seconds for a shield recharge, Mark!" Sweat was dripping from beneath Tiny's helmet, drops falling from his nose and darkening his bird style armor just above the bird crest.
"OK, Tiny, but ghost it as close as you can."
Jason inhaled sharply as he saw the fleet attempting to maneuver out of the mech's probable flight path.
"I don't think they're gonna make it, Mark!"
Princess displayed a sensor report on the screen. It showed one of the mecha's tail pods, near the tip.
"There's a lot of energy located in this pod, Commander. It's probably a fuel load, or a munitions store."
"You heard her, Tiny, let's hit it!"
The Phoenix swung past the tail, strafing the pod from each turret. Jason's rocket launch impacted in a reddish orange display, momentarily blinding the team with it's flash. The explosions continued, up through the remaining pods. The spiked pod at the tip blew last, multinuclear flash points sparking and giving Keyop his fireworks. The tail disengaged from the mecha, spinning towards the fleet as the mech itself finally altered course, and slowed down.
"Finally g.g.got it's attention!" Keyop's eyes were wide in expectation.
"Let's make sure it remembers us, kid!" Jason slammed his fist onto the fire button, sending a deadly stream of missiles towards the mecha's communications array, located just behind it's massive head. The dish array disintegrated in a colorful burst, sending shrapnel spinning everywhere. A low level alarm sounded.
"A lot of debris impacting our deflectors, Mark." Princess routed some extra power to the shields to compensate for the constant barrage of scrap metal hurtling through space.
Mark nodded and looked towards the main fleet. The Artimus had managed to blow the Scorpion's tail before impact, but the telltale sparking of the shields indicated that their debris problem was even worse, now. Many of the smaller DART's and Spectra's snubs were being hit, and their lower shield power wasn't enough to repel the metallic junk. Mark smiled approvingly as he heard Kovacks issue a retreat order for the small DART's. Leaving them out there was just a waste of good men, now. Spectra's snubs were also retreating out of the main battle theater, looking for carriers that were no longer there to receive them.
Mark was jolted back to his own problems as the ship bucked wildly, taking fire from the Scorpion's own turrets. The mecha whirled around to face the Phoenix head on, it's forward pincers reaching out to grapple the ship. Tiny slammed the thrusters into overdrive and quickly moved away from it. The pincer slammed down onto itself with a sickening screech would have been deafening inside an atmosphere. The thing's giant mandibles spread wide, spewing burning plasma across thirty kilometers of space and narrowly missing the Phoenix.
Jason fired another volley of missiles, this time targeted at the thing's left pincer. The pincer began to twitch violently. Mark locked his lasers onto it and cut loose a sharp blast of fire. The pincer began to vibrate as something terrible happened inside it. It began opening and closing rapidly, blurring with speed. It collapsed in on itself, ripping apart violently.
The Phoenix shuddered with more impacts, as a volley of missiles slammed into it, launched from concealed silos in the Scorpion's spine. The things massive maw opened again, preparing another plasma blast.
Tiny went into a deep dive relative to the mecha, and came up underneath it. A glowing area near the thing's rear caught Mark's attention. It was very close to where the tail had been attached. He adjusted the screen for a closeup as the ship shook with another missile impact. The thing was on fire! That hit it took on the tail had done even more damage then they had thought!
"Jason! Look there." Mark keyed it into everyone's viewers.
"I got it, Commander. Dammit! I've only got a few missiles left."
"How many?"
"Six."
"We'll all have to hit it...Tiny, you know what we need."
"You got it, Mark!"
The ship thrummed with power as Tiny seemed to meld with the Phoenix, willing it to act as if it were part of him. Mark sometimes thought that was exactly the case. Tiny tried to dodge another plasma blast, but caught some of it on the port side. The ship trembled harshly.
"Shields are gone, Mark!" Princess tried to get more power to the batteries even as she was telling him. The look on her face told him everything he needed to know. There wasn't anything left.
The ship was so energy poor right now, they couldn't convert to the Fiery Phoenix, even if they wanted to.
"C'mon, Tiny...you're all we got!"
Tiny was on the back end of the mecha and positioned to fire before the Scorpion could even register that the Phoenix was no longer in front of it.
The laser turrets hit the burning hole in the mecha's hull, widening the target for Jason. He pounded the fire button six times, sweat flying from his face with the effort of it. With each successive missile strike, the mecha seemed to shake harder. Fire blasted from the rear of the mecha as explosions ripped up the back of the thing, each missile silo destructing in turn.
Every ship in the Federation fleet set a course away from the mecha and bugged out. Spectra's engine of death twitched one last time. Escape pods were launched in a futile attempt at survival, only to be swallowed in the destructing machine's fiery blast.
The Phoenix shuddered as the shockwave hit it, and Mark thought for a moment that Tiny wouldn't be able to handle the strain any longer. It felt as though the Phoenix was going to go over, but somehow, it held course. Cheers from the allied forces rang over the com link, and G-Force was more than happy to join in.
The ship managed to get behind the Artimus, and take refuge in it's shields before the debris field of the dead mecha struck. As the flight deck of the heroic vessel was lit up by the debris impacting on the Artimus' shields, Admiral Kovacks voice came over the com.
"Nice job, folks. I'm proud of all of you. I'd like the fighters to escort the mine layers out now, and that includes you, Commander. Your shields won't be any match if Spectra shows up for round two."
Kovacks continued, the gratitude evident in his voice.
"Oh, and Phoenix...once you're done, come and see me on the Artimus. Kovacks out."