Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) Read online

  BATTLESHIP AVENGER

  Book Two: Conquest of Stars Saga

  SID KAR

  Copyright © 2016 Sid Kar

  This story is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, events, persons are fictional and product of author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places and events is purely coincidental.

  Book Cover Designed by Duong Covers

  All rights reserved

  Sid Kar’s Books

  1. Starship Conquistador (Conquest of Stars Book 1)

  2. The Storm Maker

  3. War Machine

  4. One Man Army

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Invasion

  Chapter 2: Scramble

  Chapter 3: Deception

  Chapter 4: Escape

  Chapter 5: Superweapons

  Chapter 6: Aftermath

  Chapter 7: Doubles

  Chapter 8: Avenger

  Chapter 9: Officer’s Dinner

  Chapter 10: Purple Planet

  Chapter 11: Autopsy

  Chapter 12: On Conquistador

  Chapter 13: Emperor’s Guesthouse

  Chapter 14: Cloaked Man

  Chapter 15: Stardjacker

  Chapter 16: Vengeance

  Chapter 17: Epilogue

  Appendix

  Chapter 1: Invasion

  “General, we have fifteen unidentified battleships on our gravitron scanner,” Joules, the second-in-command of Battleship Defender exclaimed in an excited voice and turned to look at General Vegus and Capitan Oilus.

  “Unidentified hell,” Vegus threw up his hands, “this is that Mercurian Empire.”

  “What is this? Mercurian Empire?” Capitan Oilus and his soldiers holding the laser guns were taken aback.

  “You fools,” General Vegus walked over to his command chair, “This is the invasion we were preparing for. This is why General Bakus was collecting all the battleships. Not to stage a coup but to stop these mysterious aliens.”

  “No one told us,” Capitan Oilus said and then pushed his hand down towards the floor palm down to indicate to his soldiers to lower their guns. The officers of the battleship’s command room quickly rushed to their stations and frantically started hitting buttons, turning knobs and flicking on switches.

  “Why would anybody tell you?” Vegus said, “You are Republican Guard, not Army. You are supposed to protect the republic from the foes inside, we from the foes outside. But you decided to overthrow the republic yourself.”

  “Trust me General, we believed…”

  “It doesn’t matter what you believe,” Vegus cut him off and then turned to Joules, “What is their position and vector?”

  “They entered the solar system at a very high velocity,” Joules said, “But they are rapidly decelerating as they approach Nestor. Computer predicts they will be within the combat range in thirty minutes.”

  Capitan Oilus tried to raise Republican Guard Commander and Coup Planner Nolfus on his personal radio but all he received was static from the other end.

  “Commander Nolfus isn’t answering,” Oilus said with almost a hint of panic in his voice. He realized what a big botch up he had just been a part of and if Nolfus had died in the ground battle then he would have no one to pass the blame upwards.

  “Capitan Oilus,” Vegus called out to him, “We need to raise battlestations and move the four battleships into defensive formations. Luckily, our ground defenses didn’t fire on the Starfirians otherwise they would have ripped them out. But our home world still needs these battleships.”

  Capitan stared at him with a blank expression. He was still trying to process the rapidly unfolding situation.

  “Capitan…” Vegus called out once again, “Your soldiers are holding my crew and the crew of the other three battleships hostage. We need to go to combat position and we need to go NOW!”

  “Yes General,” Oilus was jolted out of his confused thoughts and he raised his radio and gave out new orders, “Republican Guard officers and soldiers, this is Capitan Oilus speaking. The coup is over. I repeat, the coup is over. We are under attack by an alien enemy invader. Stand down and let the Battleship crew carry out their duties without any interference. You are under the command of your battleship officer now.”

  “Thank you,” Vegus said letting out a breath, but there was more of a feeling of relief from irritation than a sense of thankfulness in those words.

  “Battlestations,” Joules yelled wasting no time anticipating the General’s command. The alarms started ringing out across their battleship and the crew ran to their positions while the perplexed Republican Guards stood aside trying to avoid getting in the way.

  “What is the situation with the other battleships?” Vegus asked.

  “I will find out in a second,” Joules replied.

  “Porus, prepare our space fighters 101 – 200 for immediate launch,” Vegus said to the fighter combat officer.

  “What about fighters’ 1 – 100 sir?” Porus asked.

  “Keep them on standby, but don’t launch yet,” Vegus replied.

  “Vegus, the other battleships’ command officers have resumed full control,” Joules said, “Republican Guard have stood down,” he looked at Capitan Oilus and nodded who let out a sigh of relief, “they are moving to our predetermined combat posture.”

  “Good,” Vegus said, “Joules, get over here; I need you by my side. Let Capitan Tagg handle the scanners.”

  Joules walked over to the general’s chair and stood by his side looking over his shoulders at the battleship’s central command display screens.

  “May I ask what you are planning to do with the second half of our space fighters?” Joules asked him.

  “You may, I will explain in a bit,” Vegus turned to his fighter operations officer, “Porus, have the rest of the battleships coordinate their fighter tactics with ours. Inform me when they are ready for launch, space fighters 101 – 200 only.”

  “Will get to it right away,” Porus replied and started sending out encrypted signals to the other three battleships.

  General Vegus of Battleship Defender was in command of not only his own battleship, but also the three remaining battleships in the orbit that protected Nestor. He was one of the fleet commanders.

  Vegus turned around and looked up at Joules and leaned with his shoulder on the edge of his chair.

  “If these Mercurians are even half competent they were counting the number of fighters our battleships launched at the Battle of Blackskull,” Vegus explained, “All except these four of our battleships carry a squadron of a hundred space fighters. But these four battleships are permanently assigned to the orbit of Nestor and we don’t need large engines for continuous faster than light travel, significant fuel storage or other provisions for the crew. We have converted the extra space for the space fighters.”

  “Right,” Joules said, “The enemy may expect only four hundred space fighters from these battleships.”

  “I am hoping he will,” Vegus said, “I plan to bring these around from the other side of the planet and join the battle from the enemy’s rear.”

  Joules nodded his head in the support of the idea but he had one quibble.

  “But do you know who heads the second squadron?” Joules said, “The fly by the seat of his pants, loose cannon yahoo Capitan Agnosis Wornus. Normally, he is kept in check by Capitan Gorky Manus, the senior commander of our fighter contingent and a cautious and prudent man, but on his own Agnosis tends to pull stunts.”

  “Let him,” Vegus chuckled, “We need a wildcat behind our enemy’s rear.”

  “General,” Jovus the communica
tions officer called out to him from his desk in the next row, “Senator Solus is on the main transmission channel from the planet.”

  “Senator Solus?” General wondered out loud and looked at Joules who frowned with slight contempt, “What the hell is he doing on that channel? But put him through.”

  “General, the rest of the battleships have half of their space fighters squadron ready for immediate launch,” Porus said.

  “Launch and have them hide on the other side of Nestor,” Vegus said, “They are not to join the battle initially but will strike the enemy from the rear in a circular flanking maneuver across Nestor’s orbit at my command.”

  “Ordering launch now,” Porus said.

  “Senator Solus on the channel, General,” Jovus said.

  It was a formality and the com officer did not have to announce him because the main display screen in front of Vegus lit up with Solus’s face and Joules bent his neck to catch a view. Both of them were startled to see the recognizable fixture and furniture of Chancellor’s office behind Solus’ figure.

  “Senator Solus, sorry we can’t help you put down the coup down there but we have an alien enemy to repel,” Vegus said.

  “You don’t have to, Starfirians have stopped it cold,” Solus replied, waited a bit for an awkward pause then cleared his throat, “I have been asked to serve as the chancellor of our republic until the next elections.”

  “You? Chancellor?” Vegus spoke his words in an almost insulting tone, “What happened to Chancellor Augus?”

  “He is dead,” Solus replied solemnly.

  A momentary silence descended on the command room floor and Capitan Oilus of the Republican Guard squirmed as many eyes turned to him, “we didn’t intend to kill…” he muttered under his breath.

  “So, they executed him?” Vegus asked.

  “Oh no,” Solus replied, “he had a heart attack. The coup was stopped before it could breach the Senate.”

  “And what happened to VC Remus and who put you in command over him?” Vegus raised his voice to a level indicating disgruntled demand.

  “General, I know we have our differences and you and the other generals may not like my appointment,” Solus firmed his voice, “But the commander of Starfirian starship has chosen me and given that we will need their help, none of us have any choice here. The peoples will vote in six months. Tolerate me till then.”

  “What are our orders, Chancellor?” Vegus asked with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

  “I have reviewed the planetary defense plans,” Solus said, “I have no objections to any. Execute our primary plan: Operation Shield Deception. General Bakus’s battleships should be on their way and he will take over operational command from there on.”

  “Yes…” Vegus said and hesitated a second, “…Chancellor.” He saluted Solus and the display went blank the next moment.

  “What porridge have these Starfirians cooked up?” Joules exclaimed, “They put that man…Solus…they installed him as the Chancellor!”

  “A temporary one,” Vegus grunted and shook his head.

  “But still… at least he didn’t change our battle plans and has left Gen. Bakus in command,” Joules said.

  “What choice did he have?” Vegus said, “Our new esteemed chancellor couldn’t find a battle plan from his head if it fell in his laps.”

  “Damn Starfirians could have appointed VC Remus,” Joules said, “Polls had predicted his victory in the next election and he has Nestor’s vote base behind him.”

  “VC Remus is the officer’s choice, true,” Vegus said, “He would win election on this battleship, but I see the Starfirians point of view to some extent. They can’t blatantly install a Chancellor favorably disposed towards them without appearing to be meddling in internal politics. That would cause consternation amongst the rest of their protectorates.”

  “Remus is not a friend of Starfirians, he only wanted their protection,” Joules said.

  “You and I know that, Senator Solus…” Vegus stopped himself, “I mean Chancellor Solus and other ‘peoples champions’ would have spun it the other way.”

  “General, the Mercurians have launched rockets!” scanner officer Tagg exclaimed with panic in his voice, “counting 300…600…1000!” he said.

  “We aren’t in the combat range yet,” Joules turned to look at a screen nearby.

  “Our combat range,” Vegus said, “Bakus had said these aliens were far more technologically advanced than us.”

  “Thousand rockets confirmed,” Tagg said as the rocket display became more distinct on his gravitron scanner and the computer spit out the total number on the top right of his screen and estimated time to impact on the top left, “contact in T minus 10 minutes.”

  “Alright Joules, let’s forget Solus and all that political nonsense, I have never cared for that anyhow,” Vegus said, “It is time to fight. Jovus, get me the other three battleship commanders on my screens here.”

  A few seconds later a large secondary display beamed the images of the commanders of the Battleships Protector, Guardian and Watchman on the screen with a three way split.

  “Commanders,” Vegus spoke in a serious tone, “I don’t know if you have heard but Senator Solus is now our new Chancellor Solus.”

  This caused a small murmur amongst the three commanders and their consternation upon hearing this news was clear in their eyes and their body language as they were taken aback a bit.

  “Be that as may, he has approved our plan known as Shield Deception,” Vegus said, “Now follow me through.”

  They nodded their heads and Vegus turned to his main computer screen as the secondary display went blank for a second and then displayed the spaceships in their position in space relative to his own in the center of the screen.

  “Forward motion and laser defense system on full power!” Vegus shouted to his crew and his navigation staff turned the Battleship right on to the path of the rockets and his laser defense staff turned on all the laser batteries and charged them to the maximum power.

  The remaining three battleships followed his lead and they headed straight towards the cluster of the incoming rockets.

  Chapter 2: Scramble

  Commodore Raptor, Vice-Commodore Barryett, Law Officer Legtar and Colonel Jarvyk ran out of the Nestorian Senate building and into the front lawn. Starship Conquistador was beaming bright floodlights on the ground because the electricity had not been fully restored to the city of Nestor. Starfirian airships were parked there and Starfirian Strike Soldiers were guarding the grounds as well as the wall surrounding the Senate. One airship in particular was marked as the personal transport of the Commodore of the Starship and it levitated a foot off the ground and slowly glided towards them. The door on their side slid open and the pilot and co-pilot turned around and saluted them. There were four Starship Guards sitting two each facing the others behind the pilots and far to the back respectively. There was space for twenty individuals in between them but those chairs were all vacant.

  Commodore Raptor picked up his personal radio and dialed in to Capitan Dorrvyk, his communications officer.

  “Capitan Dorrvyk, what is the tactical situation out there?” Raptor asked standing outside the airship doors while VC Barryett and Legtar jumped in and took their seats.

  “Commodore,” Dorrvyk’s voice came over the radio, “a thousand rockets will impact Nestorian Battleships in eight minutes in their current position.”

  “How long before these Mercurians can spot Conquistador?” Raptor asked.

  “We are too close to the planet’s gravity for them to tell our gravitational signal apart from Nestor’s on their gravitron scanner,” Dorrvyk said, “Horyett informs me,” he said referring to the gravitron scanner officer abroad their ship, “they will have to get electronic or visual identification.”

  “Good, that gives us time, at least half an hour, perhaps more, stay on line Dorrvyk,” Raptor turned to face Colonel Jarvyk who was standing opposite to him, “How long
will it take to pack up all the Strike Soldiers?”

  “Sir, we can be loaded and back abroad our Starship in fifteen minutes,” Jarvyk said, “But that would allow the Republican Guard to foment up new trouble.”

  “In the midst of an alien invasion?” VC Barryett poked his neck out, “I don’t believe they are that irresponsible.”

  “Most likely not, on the other hand they did launch a harebrained attempt at a coup,” Raptor said, “Besides these Mercurians may attempt a ground invasion with troops, land and air weapons.”

  “If they do, me and my soldiers are best placed here to stop them,” Jarvyk said, “They will attempt to capture the seat of the government.”

  “Col. Jarvyk, you will stay here with the Strike Soldiers,” Raptor said, “Hold this capital city and more importantly, hold the Senate.”

  “Yes sir,” Jarvyk saluted him and moved a few steps away from the door.

  Raptor got inside the airship and the co-pilot pushed the door button to slide it shut. Raptor waved his finger up in the air to indicate for them to take off towards their spaceship above.

  “Dorrvyk, establish communications with their ground defense command centers and have them clue us in to their planetary defense plans,” Raptor said on his radio.

  “What if they refuse?” Dorrvyk asked.

  “Most likely they won’t,” Raptor said, “But if they do, have Capitan Hedgewyk and his signals team intercept their transmissions.”

  “Yes sir, on to it,” Dorrvyk replied.

  For the rest of the ride up, their airship compartment was quiet. Three minutes later the airship docked inside Conquistador’s forward docking bay that was nearest to the central command room and Raptor and Barryett ran towards the exit. They did not bother with a hovercraft since the command room was within walking distance of this forward bay. They ran at a brisk pace and strode into the command room within five minutes of landing and received sharp salutes from all the officers and the crew.