Defender of the Mother Galaxy Chapter 2

  “Oh it can’t be!” I exclaimed in dismay. Then, as if some ill force was against us, one Battlecruiser, seven Cruisers, five Heavy Cruisers, seventeen Destroyers, twenty-one Frigates, three NAF Darrion Cruisers, and five Skeet Bombers warped in. If there were any Fighter or Bombers, they weren’t out of their hangers yet. All the Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers had the old Jolly Roger on them, and that meant only one thing… the Dartfire Pirates had returned.

  The Dartfire Pirates were a group started around 2071 by a man named Daac’sha. He was just your average soldier, ready and willing for a fight. Though, he seemed to think that the Fleet Admirals thought he was too violent. They didn’t, but he believed that they did, and that upset him so very much. He went storming into Derigan’s office claiming that he, and the other Fleet Admirals, thought he was insane, or something along those lines. Derigan tried to explain that he had no clue what he meant, but Daac’sha wouldn’t believe him. He jumped at Derigan, trying to grab his throat and choke him. The scuffle was heard from outside the office, and a few guards rushed in to get Daac’sha away. He squirmed and managed to get free, dashing off closely followed by several other soldiers. Somehow he escaped them and disappeared. We heard nothing from him until 2073, when one of our fleets was attacked by our own ships. This was a shock until Daac’sha contacted us over the Earth’s entire communications network. He announced many cliché things about how he could undermine the Navy’s power, and simply walk in and take control of the entire solar system.

  But while he was off on a monologue, a few Fighters flew into the hanger of his main ship, and snuck their way to him, avoiding anyone they could. He was actually captured, but not for long. He strangely disappeared, obviously with some cloaking device. He killed off two of the four soldiers that captured him, but just as he lunged for the third his cloak failed and the other soldier managed a quick headshot. We hoped, hopelessly, that that was the end of it.

  Things aren’t that simple. Just a year later his son, Daac’ra, had taken control of several good ships from our side and a handful from the Nirtan. He attacked Saturn in hopes of taking it and producing his own ships, but it was a foolish thing to do. Since Saturn is a shipyard there were many, many battle-ready ships. His fleet was decimated and he escaped with only a single Cruiser. This was all we have seen of him since. Not a peep has come from any ships that are under our command, yet we have been mysteriously losing ships here and there.

  Of course, we now know where they went. Daac’ra has returned, but he does not have the power to destroy my fleet. I out-number, and out-gun him. So, my first order of this battle? “Fire all torpedoes in Bay one at the Battlecruiser.”
The Tactical Officer responded immediately, firing the torpedoes. “Torpedoes away, sir.”
The six Alpha Torpedoes flew full speed at the Battlecruiser, but the ship escaped. It’s speed was incredible! No Battlecruiser has ever flown fast enough to dodge torpedoes like that.
“Full turn, charge the Ion Turrets, and fire a full spread of torpedoes from Bay two!”
The Battleship whirled around, with turrets firing at the Battlecruiser. The torpedoes flew out of their bay, and managed to follow the ship as it slowed down to turn and face me. Two of the six torpedoes hit, and passed through the Battlecruiser’s shield, impacting it’s hull. It didn’t do enough damage, so the turrets were aligned and fired again. The hit the shield and less than half the shots got through.
“He’s upgraded those shields!” I wasn’t too happy. Maybe I should show him a little more. “Charge the Photon Turret, and fire on my command.”
“Yes sir.”

   But before the turret was charged the Battlecruiser fired a full volley of twelve Alpha Torpedoes. Four of them missed, and two of them exploded on the shield, but the other six got though. They hit the ship, taking out a couple Ion Turrets, and about five Plasma Turrets.
“Fire that turret!” I yelled. Those torpedoes shouldn’t have damaged an Ion Turret that much.
“Firing, sir.”
The green beam that blasted out from the main turret flew off into black space… The Battlecruiser wasn’t there. Suddenly the ship rocked as explosion from behind disabled the Fusion Drives.
“Eh!? We can’t turn! Charge and fire all rear Plasma Turrets!” I was quite confused and upset. Quickly I ordered my other ships to engage the enemy ships, except for one of the Heavy Cruisers. It was the Dissention. It flew over to me and started firing it’s Ion Turrets at the Battlecruiser to distract it while the engineers repaired my Fusion Drives.

  I watched as the Dissention fought off the Battlecruiser. I couldn’t fire my weapons to help because all power had to be re-routed the Engine Room. Though, after several minutes, the engines were back up.
“Charge the Ion Turrets, and load the last two Torpedo Bays!” I commanded.
“On it, sir.” That Tactical Officer was getting on my nerves… Of course he was on it. I told him to didn’t I? The turrets were charged and ready to fire, when I saw the Battlecruiser fire several torpedoes at the Dissention. It was a critical hit. The engines were down, and all power went out. Just a sitting duck, waiting for it’s doom. But the Battlecruiser didn’t finish it off. Instead it flew a squad of Fighter over to capture the ship.
“Fire those turrets! Now, while it’s vulnerable!” I paused. “And don’t say ‘Yes sir’! It’s getting on my nerves!” Naturally the Tactical Officer didn’t make a sound.

  The shots all hit the Battlecruiser full-force. We got lucky and one shot took out the ship’s entire weapons systems. Hoorah! The torpedoes had also damaged the ship’s shields. This meant we could pick the ship off… assuming we could catch it. The engines were still intact, so it was as speedy as ever. We caught a call on our comm. system about a retreat. I order that the ship be turned around. When it was around I saw a horrid sight. One of my Battleships, all of the Heavy Cruisers, six of the Cruisers, and 3 Destroyers were either lost, or disabled with boarding parties about the take them. The enemy had lost all their Skeet Bombers, one Darrion Cruiser, thirteen Frigates, and one Heavy Cruiser. We were losing, so why were they retreating? Maybe it was because their capitol ship was mostly disabled? I don’t know, but right before they left I received a communication from the Battlecruiser. It was Daac’ra’s voice.

  “Ha-ha. I suppose you think you’ve won. We were not out to destroy you, or even get these ships… Except for one of them. You don’t need to know which. I’ll leave your and your precious planet.” With that he closed the comm. system, and warped his ships out, with my disabled ships in tow. I was enraged. He got several ships from the skirmish, and even managed to nearly destroy my own ship. Not much else we can do now though, other than return to Earth for repairs. I had to tell the Fleet Admiral what happened here.