Read Dione's War Part 1: End of Order Page 9


  These Vandals went far beyond mere terrorism and piracy. They were out to take everything away from him and his kind. Someone had to stop them, and his commanders seemed inept in that respect.

  He turned sharply to face the fighter on his tail once again. That circling Legacy and taking its own shots remained a ways off, but at least he could receive instant gratification.

  His earlier ploy fooled the Vandal into thinking his latest maneuver was another ploy. By the time he realized it was not, Corbitt had already turned the tables and become the hunter. He maintained a steady hold on the trigger, unleashing an unbroken beam of deadly light ahead of him. Fishtailing the fighter turned it into a visual wave, making it difficult for the Vandal to avoid.

  When the Vandal tried to swerve up and down, Corbitt followed suit. He filled the space ahead with so much heat and light, the Vandal’s options ran out and his tail was blasted off. Spiraling helplessly out of control, it presented a far more predictable target. Corbitt realigned his fighter to place the Vandal in his crosshairs.

  But death wasn’t instant. He waited for a moment to enjoy his prey. He wanted to give this kid time to think on his death and fear what might await him on the other side. Corbitt wanted those last moments of life flooded with abject terror and self-reflection before he took the shot to obliterate the craft.

  One fighter remained, so he punched the engines again to hurry himself back to Legacy and the insect buzzing about its hull. The carrier remained within the top layer of the atmosphere and with control fading from the crew’s grasp, Fury’s attacks drove it further downward.

  The fighters were designed to perform flawlessly in atmosphere, but it presented a whole new dynamic for the pilot accustomed to space combat. Corbitt had to fight the moon’s increasing gravity and the drag of the air on his hull. Full stops would be impossible and sharp turns had to be considered carefully so as not to send the ship plunging to the surface.

  Any hindrances placed on his skills would surely weigh on the Vandal pilot more heavily. The cocky young kid at those controls probably never experienced atmospheric flight. So far, he had been able to circle the Legacy unchallenged. Now Corbitt planned to overtax the kid’s abilities.

  He made a preliminary orbit around the ship to study the damage already inflicted. Each section opened to the outside represented entire teams snuffed from existence. Each scorch mark represented one more act of vengeance owed to those monsters.

  Completing his loop, Corbitt spied the fighter flying by Legacy’s aft sections and circling around. He knew it meant to target the engines, and he accelerated once more hoping to target the fighter first. It opened fire before he could. Several shots struck their mark before one breached the hull and triggered another chain reaction explosion.

  But the Vandal had been careless, allowing his fighter to get too close to his success. Though the ship in orbit appeared stationary in relation to the moon, it in fact travelled at a high rate of speed to maintain that orbit. Consequently, the explosions within engineering blew back and left the ship at a similarly high rate of relative speed. The fire jet captured and engulfed the Vandal fighter before he even recognized his mistake.

  And before Corbitt could celebrate, he realized he had passed the engines at the moment of their destruction. The intense flames caught the tip of his wing and melted the flaps in place. In space it would have been survivable, but in the atmosphere, he couldn’t fight against its drag or the moon’s gravity. Best he could hope for was to use the flaps in the other wing and the rudder to keep the ship stable enough to survive the drop. It wouldn’t be pretty or comfortable, but if he could keep the nose up, he might be able to keep his fighter in one piece and survive the crash.

  He looked up through his canopy to judge his chances for rescue, though with the hangar bay gone, there were no ships to send. Spying the Legacy in its deteriorating state, it didn’t seem to matter. It too had lost all hope of maintaining orbit. The heat from the atmospheric friction set the ship aglow in a bath of red and orange. Corbitt could just make out that heat spilling into the open sections of hull and stripping away more of the hull plating. He could almost hear the screams in his head of the crew before their lives were reduced to ash.

  Like him, Legacy was going down, but there seemed to be no one left to keep it stable and its nose pointed forward. There would be no one left alive, and it would be a miracle if any part of the structure survived to the surface.

  With the ground in sight, Corbitt realized successfully landing this fighter wouldn’t keep him alive, it only delayed his death by a few days without the support and supplies of the Legacy.

  * * *

  Min’s crew erupted in celebration as the shape of the EDF carrier vanished into an increasing fireball. Though not a unique victory for her, it was momentous nonetheless. The destruction of a full carrier would no doubt strike a crippling blow against the already crippled EDF forces. Still, the Captain knew this battle was not necessarily over.

  She brought the raucous crew to silence once more and returned their focus to their jobs.

  “What is this moon like? If there are survivors, can they last down there?”

  “No one could survive that,” Evermore challenged.

  Min would not take it for granted. She hadn’t noticed Corbitt’s fighter struggling to keep its occupant alive; she simply wouldn’t underestimate the strength of those carriers. She knew they were sturdy and their hulls resilient. If the atmosphere was thin enough, it was conceivable survivors would remain in the innermost compartments. If the moon gave them the means, they might even stay alive long enough for rescue; and word of Fury’s success would elevate the Vandals’ already hated status in the EDF.

  One of the young kids pulled up the information from the database. Whatever they had on this moon had come from an Earth report, captured in some raid or assimilated from a stolen ship. All Min cared about was the information itself.

  “Surveys report a stabile atmosphere and sparse plant life, but the surface is dry. There is no water to be found down there.”

  She crossed the bridge to study the report for herself, allaying her own fears. Though the moon had held no value for the long-gone research team to continue studying, it put her mind at ease. If there were survivors, they wouldn’t last, nor would anyone take another look at this moon and chance upon the wreck.

  “Satisfied?” Evermore asked, secretly hoping to return the celebratory mood.

  Min returned to her chair and sat comfortably down, taking in the faces waiting on her answer. “Yes I am. Now please get us out of this system before we attract any more attention.”

  Author’s Notes

  Thank you for reading this preview of my new epic adventure.

  Dione’s War is a massive, 300,000 word, world-building epic of hardship, tragedy, and survival. I think of it as a complete series without some of the constraints serialized storytelling imposes, and without the frustrations of finishing a book only to find a cliffhanger. Just as a popular streaming service I won’t name releases their original programming all at once, Dione’s War will give you the full arc in one volume without making you wait for new parts to be released.

  That’s not to say there won’t be a sequel at some point. I will be leaving some threads open for that possibility, but they will be addressed in such a way that they will be considered resolved in the context of this story.

  I recommend you follow me on Facebook and Twitter for updates on future releases, as well as coupon codes for discounts on my books.

  Send me a friend request on Facebook

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