Relv squeezed into his Commander's seat in the cramped completely utilitarian combat nucleus of the Abarath. He was surrounded by holographic projections with every possible readout or tactical overlay imaginable. At all times he was just one air swipe away with a single finger from anything he needed to know about his ship and its situation.
In a row of consoles forward and to his left the ships pilot, a young hotshot named Glax, was fully immersed in the holographic controls such that he was no more than a dark silhouette in amongst the glimmering light show. In the centre directly in front of Relv his four weapons system operators sat poised over their tactical readouts and weapons controls. Forward and to his right was his second in command Lieutenant Ibek who sat in front of a smaller version of the Commander's layout. Directly behind him in a half circle was eight other crew who operated the vast array of sensors and defensive missiles systems that the ship carried.
Relv tapped on the communicator dot in his neck and set it to broadcast to each of the ship's crew directly.
"Alert all stations, the Abarath is about to enter into a live fire training exercise. Battle stations, battle stations!" With another tap on his communicator he directed his next message to Ibek. "Seal us in, Lieutenant."
Unlike a colony ship the majority of the crew was housed within a limited number of nodes that were effectively self-contained, like the warp core that had saved his life back on the original Abarath. The bulk of his crew were inside the command node with him which was located in the core of the ship. In the centre rear of the ship there was another smaller node that contained the Jumpmaster and his aid. A further two small nodes existed on either side of the ship for the damage control crews. Their job was to keep the ship intact as best they could while they were in battle.
The four nodes were connected by various passageways that ran through the crew sleeping quarters and galley. However any breach in the hull of the ship would render all of those spaces uninhabitable very quickly so during battle all of the crew stayed in their nodes. Relv tapped at his communicator again.
"Jump Master Vedhi report."
"Jump Master reporting Commander!"
Relv found himself suddenly back aboard the original Abarath when the Captain had paged Tanlen just before their fatal jump. Tanlen had been an experienced Jump Master and he had not been able to avoid the destruction of the Abarath. He wondered how this young kid was supposed to keep them alive. Relv was probably more experienced as a Jump Master than he was, even though he had not done it in 30 years.
"Sir?"
"I want a status on our propulsion systems," Relv ordered as he snapped out of his reverie.
"All systems at optimal and ready for battle Commander."
"Good, let's keep it that way today shall we?"
Relv brought up the mission orders for the exercise and sighed deeply. They were the same as usual.
"Seek and destroy as many enemy defensive positions as possible whilst operationally active."
Relv opened a secure direct link with the other brute in their wing.
"What orders did you get Tey?" he asked his fellow Commander.
"Same as usual..."
"I think it's time we gave it a go."
"You sure that's wise?"
"We both know what the outcome is going to be if we don't try something different. We will be lucky to take out half of the defences before we are both destroyed or crippled. If we pull this off we might just survive and reduce the fleet's losses too."
"And if it doesn't?"
"I already told you I am the one going in so I'll take the blame."
"The Fleet Admiral will strip you of command."
"Better that then leading these poor kids to an early death."
"Ok you call it and I'll follow the plan. Good luck Relv."
"Glax move us into formation at the front of our wing please. Today is the day."
Glax turned to face Relv and shot him a broad grin.
"Aye sir! About time we got to show what we can really do."
They moved into formation with the remainder of their wing spread out in their pre-determined zones. Their assault wing consisted of the two brutes, three antimissile cruisers, two orbit assault ships and a small carrier that would spew forth a complement of 60 antimissile fighters.
They approached the moon at full assault speed from a simulated jump in point that would be theoretically beyond the enemies planetary defences, although nobody knew for sure what new defences the enemy would have built or developed in the 70 years that would have passed since the colony fleet was attacked.
Warning claxons started sounding at the various sensor consoles as the ship's systems detected the orbital defences. They fired simulated beams and missiles and the crew responded.
Relv studied the tactical readout and layout of the orbital units. Command must have decided to ramp things up for the last few training operations because the defences were laid out twice as thick as usual and in depth. There would also be the ground defences that they would not detect until much closer and under serious fire.
The fighters launched behind them and spread out to defend the larger ships in the fleet, but his job was to surge forwards and blaze a trail ahead of them.
"I don't know if this is a good idea Relv," said Tey over the direct link, but Relv had no doubts.
"It will work, just keep the Corona right on our tail." Relv then changed to a private channel with Glax. "Increase to full speed and move to a shallow approach vector."
"Aye sir!"
The Abarath accelerated hard from the predetermined assault speed up to its maximum. Relv intentionally closed the secure fleet-com channel that linked him to the Wing Commander and the remainder of the fleet. Ibek turned from his console.
"Sir we are deviating from our flight path."
Relv stared back at Ibek unmoved. He responded by moving to the ships open channel.
"Attention crew, for today's mission we are going to intentionally deviate from our mission plan, but not our mission objectives. It's time we showed the fleet that we are more than a raw damage machine. You are an elite crew and I expect and elite performance today!"
There was a resounding and enthusiastic response from everyone in the command node, all except Ibek who frowned and turned back to his station.
As the Abarath hurtled towards the ring of orbital defence stations around the moon the simulated missiles and other projectiles came thick and fast. They were moving much faster than their normal approach so the defensive systems operators were soon becoming overwhelmed. The ship started taking hits that it could ill afford.
"Aretyl get your defences in order!" he snapped to the midshipman who commanded the defensive system team.
There was more commotion at the consoles behind him, but fortunately before they took any wrecking hits on the frontal armour they picked up the pace and started getting back on top.
"We cannot keep up this pace for long Captain," warned Aretyl.
"Small breach in the hull captain!" reported Ibek.
"Get the first damage control crew on it now Lieutenant!"
Relv checked the status of the Corona. By coming in directly behind and right on the tail of the Abarath they were being shielded from the worst of the onslaught which is exactly what Relv wanted.
As they approached the range of their own weapons the incoming fire reached a crescendo and the Abarath starting taking hits again. There was a sudden hit on one part of their front armour that theoretically vaporised it. One more hit there and they were done for and so was his attempt at making command rethink their tactics.
Relv crossed his fingers that his defensive crews were up to the task as the next set of volleys landed.
"Commander we are in range of our offensive systems!" reported Ibek.
"Fire at will! Concentrate all firepower directly in front of our approach vector only, with intent to punch a hole through the defences."
While the d
rones that were simulating the orbital defences around the moon did not fire real weapons this was a live fire exercise so the Abarath and the Corona were about to unleash some serious firepower. The Abarath now slowed ever so slightly on its approach to allow the Corona to move out from behind its wake and up alongside.
Together they spewed forth a rainbow of intense beam and plasma weapons. They shattered the defences at their penetration point and the two ships burst through the debris field. They had been supposed to fly across the orbital defence line taking them out one by one. Instead they were now on the inside of the orbital ring.
"Ok Tey you take the low road and we will take the high road!"
The Abarath raced along the inside of the orbital ring leaving a wake of destruction as it went. As he had suspected the orbital units were all designed to be outward facing so the only enemy fire he had to worry about was from the ground defences and the Corona with its full armour was making short work of that and absorbing the bulk of the damage.
Relv quietly opened the secure fleet-com channel and listened happily to the shouts of confusion from the rest of the fleet wing. The Wing Commander's voice crashed in loudly over the top of them all.
"Abarath and Corona respond immediately or I will complete my live fire practice on you both!"
"Abarath here Wing Commander, we had some communications issues sir. Please proceed to this vector for mop up and initiate your surface bombardments."
A private channel opened through his neck communicator from the Wing Commander.
"Communications issue by my back plates! You and Tey get your asses on my bridge as soon as this exercise is over!"
Relv smiled briefly and wondered if the Fleet Admiral was going to come see him in person again to deliver his ass kicking?