Chapter 5

“Sir, the Shields in the north-west sector are critical”

“Order the people to evacuate that area.  Dispatch security teams and tell the fighters to concentrate on bringing down any ships that move into that area.” Ordered the Prime Minister.

“The Shield is down Sir.”

Sonar sighed, “How long until the Fleet gets here?”

“Seventeen minutes” Replied the Lieutenant.

Sonar looked out of the window again, he watched the exchange of fire between the Pirate ships and the Terran defence fighters for a few seconds.  “Prepare my ship” He said as he turned and headed for the door.

“Get off my tail” Greeny shouted angrily.  He slammed down on the reverse thrust pedal and shot backwards past his pursuers.  As he opened fire one of the pirates tried the same trick that Greeny had done but went straight into Greeny’s line of fire and was destroyed by one quick burst.  The debris from the destroyed fighter caused Greeny’s shields to spark and glow, it took him a few moments to realise that he was being shot at from behind.  The console in front of him flashed a black and white image of the ship and showed that his shields were inoperable.

He flipped the ship and heard the hull creak, he would have to be more careful, atmospheric combat did not leave a lot of options regarding manoeuvres.  He opened fire and watched the blue streaks of light fly from him weapons ports to the attacking fighter. One of the blasts sheered straight through the pirate fighter’s wing, whilst the other pierced the cockpit, causing the fighter to explode violently.  

Greeny hated atmospheric combat, everything was so loud.  In space, battles were silent except for the hum of a ships engines and the sound of the occasional explosion.  But here everything was deafening, the fighters had not been developed with noise concerns in mind.

Greeny looked over the city.  He could clearly see that the shield in the north-west area was not active, many of the buildings were destroyed or burning, in several areas the ground was penetrated deep enough to expose the lower levels of the city.  The Imperial City was built on two levels, on top were the living areas, the markets and the gardens, and underneath were the huge training areas for the Terran Navy and Army.

“Imperial Palace this is Greeny, what is the status of ground defence forces?” Greeny asked over the communicator, but he was replied only with static. He opened the channel to broadcast to any Terran communicator “Can anyone hear me? This is Emperor Greeny”.  Again he was greeted with the faint crackle of static.  “Damn pirates” he muttered to himself as he turned his fighter to face the Imperial Palace again.

Dennis looked up over the pile of rubble that he was using for cover.  The pirates had teleported down immediately in front of his squad.  He signalled to the rest of his squad on the other side of the road to provide covering fire.

“Get down!” One of them shouted, and Dennis hit the ground without thinking.  It took him a split second to realise that they weren’t talking to him as a plasma grenade exploded above.  The building his squad were sheltering in collapsed and Dennis was sprayed with fragments.  He started to move to run across the road but was forced back by weapons fire.  He turned to look at what remained of his team.

“Crap” he said, wiping some blood from the side of his mouth   He could hear the heavy boot steps of the pirates and so he prepared to stand and make his final attack.

Greeny wiped the sweat out of his eyes and brushed his hair out of his face.  His engine had been shot and he was concentrating on keeping the fighter level, he knew that if he lost control it would end badly for him.  He kept his eyes on the Imperial Palace but knew that he would never make it.  Smoke began to fill cockpit and he felt his eyes begin to water.  He decided that he would have to land, but to do that he would have to reach the north-west area where the shields were down. He pulled open the compartment behind him and began to rearrange wires.

Dennis was about to stand and fire when he heard a crash come from behind him.  He looked around and dived out of the road.  The fighter screamed down the road and went straight through the pirates and slowed to a stop about three hundred meters further along the road.  Dennis saw the canopy blow and a figure climb out of the ship.  The figure ran towards him and he suddenly realised that it was the Emperor.  He was clad in the bottom half of standard Terran night clothes, and they were ripped and burned in several places.  But he didn’t have time to stop and stare, he ran over to the collapsed building and looked for any signs of survivors.  A Commander lay on top of the rubble with a trickle of blood running down from his left temple, he checked his pulse and was relieved to find that he was just unconscious.   

“Captain, do you have any kind of transport vehicle?” Greeny asked, he didn’t look at Dennis while he did this, instead his eyes darted back and forth around the sky.

“No my lord” Replied Dennis, bowing low “We were helping with the evacuation of this sector when pirates teleported down and destroyed our transport.  There are other teams helping with the evacuation, but they are probably far away by now, and our communicators don’t seem to be working.”

“Yeah I know, how many of your team are left?” Greeny asked.

“Three are uninjured, including myself, Mustysohi over there is unconscious” he said, pointing at the Commander “and about twenty minutes ago Ensign Jamming was hit by a stun shot.  I don’t know what happened to him exactly, but it messed with his head.  Since he regained consciousness he has claimed to be the leader of the Hive, Kolari and Terran Empire.  We were going to take him to one of the medical areas.”

“Ok, well, first you need to help me get some weapons. Where is the nearest entrance to the training areas?” Greeny asked.

“I will take you there” He said, gesturing for his men to pick up Jamming and Musty. “We just passed an entrance about ten minutes before we were attacked”

“Ok, lead the way” Greeny said, picking up one of the dead pirates guns.  He checked the power pack and smiled, it hadn’t been fired once.