Escape Velocity: Override: Battle of Sol, Part 1
The empty system, on the edge of known space, was awash in the quiet of vacuum. One and a half A.U. from the system star, the only planet, uninhabited, went around in its orbit that completed once every few years. It was a pretty drab system.
Suddenly, violently, the peace was violated as a spaceship ripped though hyperspace and exited into the system, a dull bass roar moving out into the vacuum for millions of miles around. The ship looked like a dulled trident head, with peeling paint, probably from many episodes of re-entry into atmosphere. A large solar panel straddled the top of the ship behind the bulge of the bridge.
In the small cockpit, two figures were visible.
Zar tapped the controls in a rapid sequence, turning the old Transporter onto auto-pilot and switching the music on. Smooth, easy jazz filtered from the strategically placed speakers.
Leesa rolled her eyes. Zar, will you give it up, she said, reaching up to the co-pilot controls and taking over the steering. I told you, Im engaged to marry next month.
Not one to give up so easily, Zar was moving his mouth to say something suave when movement outside the ship caught his eye. He turned to face it fully. Leesa, who had already noticed it, was staring open-mouthed at the fleet of warships that stretched farther than the two merchants could see.
Before long, they couldnt see anything else, as bright blasts of energy erupted from each ship in the alien fleet and converged on the small Transporter. Metal, flesh, and plastic was turned to plasma in an instant. An after-image of the ship remained for several seconds before it, too, dissipated with the rest of the cloud of particles that had been two humans and a ship.
The fleet of alien ships slowly moved across the system, checking for any other spaceships. Fighters swarmed the orbit of the lone planet. Capital ships and cruisers ambled along, calling the fighters back after several days. Then the fleet was gone, moving on to the next system via hyperspace, the inhabitants of the next target system totally unaware.
The heavily populated system of Bakka lay only two hyper-jumps from Sol. Numbers for habitation reached into the billions.
Of course, its kinda human nature to overpopulate, ya know? Lars said over the comms one day during practice. His practice fighter was stationary above the rest of the training squad.
James flew through the last free-floating loop and pulled back on the control stick as he pressed the firing stud, hitting the target twenty kilometers away as he pulled a loop-de-loop. He pulled his own fighter up alongside Lars, close enough to read the vulgar statements along the side. Yeah, I know what you mean; and if you ever get a girl, youll understand, too.
Hey! Im working on it, okay? the trainee said, stung by the comment.
Short alarms went up on James radar, and the giant Destroyer-class ships that had been stationed at the Bakka Prime Defense Base, BPDB for short.
What the heck are they doin? came another voice over the channel, Angus, one of the new recruits.
I think were about to see a real space battle, said Sgt. Colde, in his own Carrier, the huge thing shaped like a giant cigar--it had been the dream of many a recruit to actually light it up.
Meanwhile, the boxy shapes of the Destroyers had met resistance. James checked his radar and peered out the slitted view port as he watched ship after ship being destroyed. Bright balls of purple energy streamed from .
James sat up straight in his chair. All over the military channels, voices shouted, panicked. On the channel used by the training squad, he could hear the other trainees shouting as they, too, saw the enemy ships.
Even as he sat there, gawking at the huge mass of them, they came on, firing the purple globes of killing energy. Beside him, Lars ship exploded as three globes ran it through, the resulting explosion throwing harsh orange and yellow light over the rest of the ships.
Angus was the first to break from his stupor. His ship rocketed forward into the oncoming wave, orange blasts from his dual cannons flaring across the vacuum and impacting an alien fighter. The enemy ship responded in kind, and Angus dodged straight up, still firing.
The rest of the squad pushed their ships into the fray, engines going full out as they weaved in and out, returning fire. James gritted his teeth and held the firing stud down as he concentrated on shooting and staying out of the enemy fire.
With a sudden flare, two of the enemy alien fighters exploded, red-hot shrapnel flying through space to rip through the fighters closest to them. A chain reaction followed. When it ceased, five alien fighters had been wiped from the universe.
The fighters suddenly broke formation, swinging wide. James saw a wide wave of deep-space missiles streaking towards the small group of human trainees.
