Battle Earth X by Nick S. Thomas Page A

ship, forcing them all to look away for a second, and then look back to see it was gone.
    "Where the hell is it?"
    "Sir, it looks like it created its own space gateway and jumped out."
    Taylor shook his head. "We are not alone. This will not end well."

Chapter 5
     

    "I want to know what that ship is, where it came from, and where it's gone!" yelled Huber.
    "Sir, Squadron Commander Hunter is requesting orders."
    "He turned around to see Huang was still displayed before him and waiting to see his response.
    "Admiral, can we at least agree to cease all hostilities while potentially greater threats remain?"
    "Agreed, but this is not over."
    The transmission cut off.
    "Call our fighters back, and get the civilian fleet back here under our protection."
    He looked to all the officers and experts around him. Finally, he glared at Jafar.
    "It's about time you came clean about all this. What the hell was that ship? Start talking!"
    "I have never seen it before," he replied calmly.
    "Never seen it before? Christ! You took us to this place, and you had no idea what it was and what was here?"
    "It was the only place I knew there would not be a Krys colony or outpost."
    "So what the hell was that ship we just saw?"
    "Not Krys."
    Huber shook his head. He wanted to carry on but knew he wasn't getting anywhere.
    "Does anybody have any goddamn answers for me?"
    "Sir, I'm getting an emergency distress signal from the Goeben."
    "Put it through."
    "It's an automated signal, Sir."
    "Hail her Captain, and find out what the hell is going on."
    "I'm trying, Sir, but they are not responding."
    "What is their current location?"
    A second later a live map projected onto Huber's operations table. The Goeben was moving at full speed towards the civilian fleet.
    "What the hell are they doing?" Huber asked, "Try them again!"
    Vega tried to hail them, and this time they could all hear the tension rise as his voice became louder and more concerned.
    "Sir, they're not slowing down," said Capwell.
    "Launch fighters and bring us within firing range."
    Capwell looked surprised. "Sir, she's one of ours?"
    "We don't know that for certain."
    "Sir, I've got a signal coming through. It's faint and on a personal channel."
    "Put it through."
    "This is flight ...enant Chapman. We have been overrun by .... Goeben is compromised...peat...Goeben compromised..."
    "This is Admiral Huber speaking. Who is in control of the Goeben?"
    "The...troops, Mechs...ones...they're everywhere."
    "Hold on, Lieutenant. We are coming for you."
    "They're...find me...coming."
    The bridge was silent as they heard Mech weapons fire, and the Lieutenant screamed in pain before he was finally silenced, and the comms channel ended.
    "Lieutenant Chapman, come in? Lieutenant..." Capwell repeated.
    "He's gone," said Huber solemnly, "Are we in weapons range yet?"
    "No, Sir, at the rate she's moving, we won't catch her before she reaches the fleet."
    "How long have we got?"
    "She'll be on top of them in less than a minute."
    "Give orders to our fighters. Take down the Goeben."
    Vega relayed the commands quickly, and they could see on their displays as light flashed in the distance, and the fighters strafed the ship.
    "Sir, Goeben weapon systems are going live," said Vega.
    "Tell Hunter to do whatever he has to do destroy that ship!"
    "They can barely scratch it," Taylor muttered.
    The weapon batteries on the Goeben opened fire, and two of their fighters were blown apart in the opening salvo as the others banked hard to avoid the incoming fire.
    "Washington, we cannot penetrate the armour. We haven't got anything that'll even scratch the surface."
    "Take out her engines, anything you can do!" Vega replied.
    Huber turned to Capwell.
    "Order the civilian fleet to scatter. I want at least two klicks between every vessel!"
    They knew it was all too late, but they had to try. Gunfire struck across the engines but seemed to do little. A moment later one of the fighters put soared towards one of the engines in