Vivid Stars Online

Thoughts whirled through my mind like a hurricane as I struggled to keep up. My troops could be seen moving around on my watch’s holographic screen in real-time — every dot a life in my hands — and Lord Admiral Darvon was still waiting expectantly on the call.

With only minutes remaining, I had to prioritize instead of covering every angle. Darvon was first; despite keeping it well hidden, I could tell he was impatient to return to his issues in the fleet.

Was there anything else I needed from him? I knew the number of enemies and their arrival time, but what about equipment?

“What loadout should we expect these drop troopers to be equipped with?” The words came out so quickly that I almost garbled them, yet Darvon only nodded as if used to rapid questions.

“Given that this was a sudden launch without permission from the ship’s captain, they would only have access to the quick response armory attached to the drop hanger,” he responded, keeping his voice clear despite speaking just as fast as I was.

He glanced to the side for a moment before continuing. “You should expect a rifle and sidearm per troop to be the extent of their armaments. Any heavier weapons would have required authorized access to the main armory.”

A voice echoed from somewhere else in the room, indistinct enough that I likely would have missed it without the admiral's reaction. A deep frown spread across his face before he nodded curtly.

“However, I have been reminded that all fleet drop pods have breaching charges and plasma cutters for ship-to-ship boarding actions. I’ll have the details transmitted to you.”

I stifled a curse; that was one of my worst fears confirmed. Still, it was the information I needed, and I couldn’t think of anything else worth ticking down the clock to ask.

“Thank you, Lord Admiral, “ I tried my best to smile as I wound down the call. “That’s everything I need to know for now. Thank you for taking the time to brief me.”

The man was already turning away before I finished speaking and only gave another brief nod in acknowledgment. It seemed he was just as frantic to get back to handling his own crisis as I was.

The screen flickered out a second later, leaving me alone on the bridge. Well, not entirely alone, as Mira reminded me, “Information received, Captain. Analyzing details… Based on the specifications, the listed breaching charges cannot pierce our main hull; they are primarily for breaching entryways.”

“The plasma cutters are another matter. Given time, they could cut through any section of the hull, though removing sufficient plating to create a human-size entryway would take at least ten minutes.”

My lips pursed as I thought it over; that was bad but far from catastrophic. I already had soldiers manning all the weak points I could find, so the breaching charges were covered.

If they did manage to cut through the hull somewhere else, we’d just have to deal with it, and, in the worst instance, I had the pilots stationed at the two critical areas of the ship. Hopefully, we’d have finished securing the main entryways by then; ten minutes was a long time in a firefight.

“Thanks, Mira,” I responded, trying to convey the depth of my appreciation in my tone. “I know you said sensors were down, but do we have any external cameras?”

This time, she responded instantly, as if forgoing the act of mimicking human limitations given the urgency. “We lack cameras across the bulk of the hull; however, security cameras are built into each entrance. They have a limited field of view but should be able to pick up any assault preparations in the vicinity.”

It wasn’t the best I could have hoped for, but it was still far better than being completely blind. Given the size of the ship, it was probably too much to have hoped for all of it to be covered in cameras. The maintenance upkeep alone would have been enormous.

“If you have access to the feeds then please monitor them and alert me as soon as you spot the first enemy,” I ordered. “Assuming you can do that without impacting your normal processes?”

“Confirmed, Captain. That level of multi-tasking is well within my abilities.”

Damn, it's great to have an AI on my side. I shuddered at the thought of how difficult managing all of this would have been otherwise. Turning toward the door, I began striding out of the bridge at high speed.

The most likely outcome would be either the cargo bay, the airlock, or both seeing the bulk of the fighting. As much as I needed to manage the overall situation, I wanted to be close enough to reinforce either position myself.

I might be down my powers, but my superior equipment still made me a significant force. In fact, it sounded like the quality of our equipment might be superior in general for this occasion.

While the enemy might be better trained, we had a heavier loadout, including the two plasma cannons and a wide selection of grenades. And, as much as I wanted to limit damage to the ship, we were in atmosphere during this engagement.

If we breached the hull with some overzealous firepower then it would hardly be the end of the world; just more damage to repair. I might even send the bill to the bloody navy this time; it was their damn screwup, after all.

The situation made me want to scream at someone, but I forced myself to focus. Right now, it didn’t matter whose fault it was or how something like this could have happened. We had to survive before I could ask those questions.

Part-way there, three pilots jogged past, giving me a salute on the run without pausing. Each had their usual sidearms but had also picked up a rifle somewhere. I hadn’t been aware that we had spares on board; I’d have to figure out who to thank for that foresight later.

Without stopping, I called back a thank you and some encouragement over my shoulder. By the time I reached a spot equidistant from the two entrances, the time had almost run out.

My holographic display confirmed that my troops had made it into position, and the last few seconds were ticking down. A quick check of my messages showed a confirmation from Elana that she was in position and working on the ship’s systems, but nothing from Linnea.

That was for the best: the less attention she could draw from the enemy Psion, the better.

My heart was thundering as the timer I’d started hit zero, only for nothing to happen. I’m not sure what I was expecting; it’s not like I could ever hear a landing outside the ship.

Without sensor readings, even Mira wouldn’t have been able to tell if the enemy had arrived on time. All I could do was wait, every second feeling like an anxious eternity.

Then, finally, Mira spoke. “Initial contact spotted on the main airlock cameras. Streaming feed to you know, Captain.”

My screen flickered to high-detail video of the clearing outside the airlock. A figure in heavy gray armor was edging around the very edge of the view; their gun held high as they surveyed the area.

I could recognize a scouting maneuver easily enough from my recent training. It might be one person now, but more would be sure to follow. Suddenly terrified that I’d missed the obvious, I spat the words out. “We do have the doors locked, right Mira?”

“Yes, Captain,” she responded instantly. “All entrances are sealed under combat protocols.”

Relief flowed through me, adding to the continual roller coaster of emotions I’d been experiencing. I was too used to stumbling onto battles I had to fight immediately; this whole waiting-around situation was getting to me.

Seconds ticked by as the figure on my screen seemed to multiply into three, ten, and finally fifteen. They surrounded the door, covering it with their rifles, but otherwise just stood there as if waiting for something.

They weren’t just gathering at the airlock either: the cameras on the cargo bay showed twenty troops gathering. With the larger cargo doors allowing more people through, I could see why they would direct additional troops that way.

Thankfully, I’d somewhat foreseen this outcome and allocated ten of the nineteen troops across the two main entrances to that one. They also had the two plasma cannon troopers within that ten, as the wider area would allow them better opportunities to use their full force.

Even so, they were outnumbered two to one at a significantly worse ratio than the main airlock. Yet I couldn’t just move forces over, not when the airlock was the more challenging position to defend.

The smaller door might reduce the number of enemy troops that could be fielded, but the open corridors it led into lacked cover. Compared to a cargo bay filled with boxes, crates, and machinery, it was practically an open field.

I couldn’t make the judgment to weaken one position in favor of the other, so I would have to wait and see how the battle played out. At most, I could make myself ready to reinforce either spot as needed.

If only I had more troops, at this point, I would have given almost anything for even another half-dozen. For a moment, I glanced at the eight troops guarding the smaller maintenance doors before glancing back with a shake of my head.

Pulling them back might guarantee wins here, but it wouldn’t matter if it let the enemy breach there and send all their other troops in. With thirty-five visible, that still left another fifteen unaccounted for.

No, I’d deployed my available forces as well as I could, and any last-minute redeployments would be too slow in any case. I didn’t even know why the enemy had delayed as long as they had; the attack could start at any second.

Then the doors on the airlock slid to the sides, and I realized exactly why they’d been waiting.

“That fucking Psion,” I cursed under my breath as plasma shots began flashing across the screen before the door had even finished opening. A frantic switch to the other camera showed a similar firefight; we’d lost both main entrances without the enemy even having to breach them.

With my heart in my throat, I flicked through the smaller doors, sighing in relief when I found them still shut. Perhaps we’d finally reached the end of the enemy Psion’s reserves. They might not be safe, but the enemy would have to at least spend the time breaching those doors.

Now that the battle had begun in earnest, the camera streams only provided limited value. Instead of focusing on those, I switched to a tactical view based on the data from my troop's watches.

Each provided biometric data on the individual soldier, while the scouts also had sensors similar to mine. This allowed an overhead view showing the ship's layout with my troops marked as green dots and the enemy as red.

I could already see several of my troops starting to flash, indicating that the trooper was injured. None were rapid, so the injuries shouldn’t be serious, but it was still a stark indication of the danger they were in.

On the cargo bay side, my dots were spread out over its larger area, taking cover behind stationary defenses. Given the even distribution, I could only imagine their squad leader had taken the initiative to move the cover around.

It was working. Outnumbered, they might be, but only a few on our side had been injured, while I could only see eighteen of the original twenty red dots still in play. While those eighteen had moved up and begun taking cover, I felt that front was well in hand.

The airlock data told a far less promising tale. Four of my nine troopers were already flashing, while none of the enemy dots had vanished. With no biometric data on them, it was impossible to tell if any of them had been injured; it was just clear that none had been taken out.

I could imagine the difficulty my troops were facing. With a lack of cover in the hallways, all you could do was hide around corners and use the walls themselves. That might keep you safe, but we could only station a couple of people per corridor.

Any attempt to fire on the enemy would require leaning out into the corridor and, no doubt, a barrage of plasma fire. While the enemy might be in a similar or even worse position, their superior numbers would allow them to put out a massive amount of fire to keep my side pinned down.

It was clear that despite considering the differences in cover, I hadn’t put nearly enough weight on it during my initial planning. Unless something drastically changed, it was the airlock side that would need my support.

Then, one of my green dots vanished entirely, and I lunged into a sprint without even thinking. The time for planning and directing the battle at a distance was over.

The time for personal intervention had begun.