Chapter 4

As Greeny looked out over the wreckage he felt his heart sink.

“How many ships?” Greeny asked trying, and failing, to keep the emotion out of his voice.

“Over a hundred and fifty” Greeny couldn’t see Cold’s face, but he knew that he was smiling.  Cold Fire laughed “That’s over four thousand Terrans, all killed without destroying a single one of their enemies.”

“This was just a fraction of the Terran Fleet, you can’t honestly expect your fleet to beat all the defences of Sol” He new that Cold Fire was no ordinary Pirate, but he was as overconfident as the rest of them.

“Who says we have to beat them?” Cold said turning his shadowed face towards Greeny “Take him back to his cell and prepare to enter hyperspace.” 

“Prime Minister, the pirates are organised.  Their capture of Greeny was obviously for more than a mere ransom demand” Aragon said, visibly shaken “Almost a hundred ships have been destroyed, and we never even fired a shot.”

Sonar leant forewords on his chair and rubbed his temples with his right hand.  “Return to Sol for now.  We will discuss…”

“But Sir” Aragon interrupted “We need to rescue the Emperor”

“I know Admiral” Sonar said calmly “I know.  Dock at Utopia, I will send the Stormguards to meet you there”

Aragon opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it.  “Very well Prime Minister.”

Cold Fire is clearly preoccupied with something, Greeny thought to himself.  Usually, on the way back to his cell he would be accompanied by six armed guards, this time there were only two.  The one on his left was a genus, who was limping slightly and was wearing a similar device on his left shin as Greeny was on his arm.  The man on his right was a Terran and seemed in perfect health.

As they rounded a corner the Terran moved in front and lowered his weapon and Greeny saw his chance.  He kicked at the Genus’s injured shin and felt it give way, the genus went down and howled in pain.  Greeny grabbed the Broods weapon and shot the Terran through the back of the head, and then turned and shot the Genus three times in the chest.  It was all over in less than a second.

“Now to escape” He muttered to himself.  The Genus weapon had enough power left for seventeen shots, and the Terrans had enough for thirty six, but he couldn’t find any spare energy cells.

Now Greeny had to make a choice.  He could head to the command deck and attempt to kill Cold Fire and end this now, or he could go down to the docking bay and try to steal a fighter.  Either way he wouldn’t have long until he was discovered.  He decided on the latter as if he failed to kill Cold, then the Terran Empire would not know what was coming.  But first he needed to find out what Cold intended to do.  Then he heard a crackle and Cold Fire’s voice came over the ships communication system.

“Fleet this is Supreme Admiral Cold Fire” Greeny sighed, are there any pirates in the galaxy who aren’t full of themselves? He asked himself “Prepare to enter hyperspace, set a course for Earth.  We are going to bypass the Terran Defences by dropping out of hyperspace in a low orbit around earth.  As soon as you drop out of hyperspace open fire on the Imperial City.  Happy hunting.”

Greeny felt very confused, one of the reasons that low orbit jumps were not usually attempted was that there is not enough space to slow down before the ships hit planetary shells.  And Earth has dozens of them.  But Cold Fire isn’t a fool, he must have some plan, Greeny though to himself.  He would have to think it through later, for now he needed to get to the hangar.

“Prime Minister, there is a fleet of approximately fifty ships, mixed transponder signals.  It looks like a pirate fleet Sir” Said a middle-aged Lieutenant with greying hair.

“How long until they arrive here?” Sonar asked.  He was becoming increasingly worried, the Stormguards still hadn’t arrived from Bootes.

“Three hours Sir”

“Activate the Planetary Shells and Dome Shields, and put all weapons on standby.  Tell the Mars defence net to prepare for visitors” Sonar ordered.

Greeny was tired and cold.  He had been sitting in the cockpit of the pirate Prism class fighter for several hours.  He couldn’t launch while in hyperspace without raising an alarm, and the guns on a fighter were no match for a Battlecruiser.  He would have to wait until they dropped back into normal space.

“Sir the Planetary shells won’t engage!” Shouted the greying Lieutenant “We are having problems activating power to the generators”

“What all of them?”  There was no way twenty seven generators could go down simultaneously by coincidence “Dispatch security squads to each generator.  Are the dome shields still working?” Sonar asked, rubbing his temples.

“Yes Sir.”  The Imperial City was covered by a network of nine dome shields.  Eight covered the city and a highly focused one was shaped around the Imperial Palace, its profile following the surface of the Palace at approximately three meters from its surface.  This shield was as strong the combined strength of the shields on two hundred Battlecruisers and was never deactivated.

Sonar looked out of one of the windows overlooking the city.  It was night outside but the city was not dark, every part of it was illuminated by artificial lights of all colours and sizes.  It was beautiful.

Sonar sighed “I hope that Mars has the power to stop them” he mumbled under his breath.

“Prepare for the low orbit jump” Came Cold Fire’s voice over the ships communication device. “Fighter pilots board your ships, and prepare for immediate departure, all weapons on standby.  Fire as soon as we enter the system.”

Greeny knew that this wasn’t going to go well for him.  On the one hand if Cold’s plan worked then the Imperial City would be under attack.  But if it failed then Cold Fire’s entire fleet would be destroyed, along with Greeny.  He suddenly felt very angry at himself for wanting Cold to succeed.

“Sir the pirate fleet will be dropping out of hyperspace in five, four, three, two, one…”

“Lieutenant?” Sonar asked “Where are they?”  The sensor screen showed no sign of the pirates, but suddenly it lit up.

“Sir! They are directly above the City!” Shouted the Lieutenant. “Fifty six contacts, no, wait, almost two hundred contacts.  They have launched fighters”

“They jumped out of hyperspace too late, they are going to hit the Planetary She…” It suddenly all clicked in Sonar’s mind.  “Launch defence fighters, recall the fleet from Mars and bring all planetary weapons online”

“Sir they are firing” Said the Lieutenant as a stream of blue, white and green energy bolts fell from the sky.

Greeny scanned the fleet.  Most of it had slowed to speeds that meant that the ships wouldn’t burn up in the atmosphere.  But there were three carrier class ships which had not decelerated.  The sensors showed that there were no living organisms aboard the ships but there were several Preservers.

“They are going to ram the City!” Greeny said out loud as he pushed the ship to its maximum speed and headed towards the Imperial Palace.  He could see the faint blue glow of the city’s shield domes far below him.

“This is Emperor Greeny to the Imperial City” Greeny said over the ships communications device “Please respond”

“Greeny? We thought we would never see you again” Sonar replied.

“No time for that now Sonar” Greeny said “There are three carrier class ships about to ram the City, can the shields take it?”

“I doubt it” Sonar said bleakly “Can you ascertain where they will hit?”

“No” Greeny replied.  “I am going to land near to the Imperial Palace.  Inform the planetary defence net that I am not hostile”

“Yes Sir” Sonar said as he shut off the communicator.

Suddenly several of the fighters behind him opened fire “This is going to be a long day” he muttered to himself.