The Colony on Meranda IV - Part 22

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This post started off as a one-off response to a writing prompt in the Freewriters Community. Then I wrote a part 2 (with the outcome literally determined by a coin toss).

But that naturally leads to a part 3, which is where this short series comes in. I felt that doing it in just one post really wouldn't give enough time to build up a bit of suspense 😀 Enjoy !

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Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio

Every eye in the room was fixed on the impromptu Holotac display they'd rigged up. There were too many people to fit into the Governor's office, so they'd moved to the Administration Hall.

The Holotac display itself was not the kind of thing you'd find on a modern warship. In fact, until half an hour ago it had been a seldom-used game of 3D Galaxy Wars that had sat forlorn in the corner of the Gendarmerie mess room, used more often as a drinks stand than played.

A good couple of dozen officers were present, but Admiral Maraz wasn't there. He had left aboard his flagship, the Warhawk of Setok. It was the small yellow diamond shape at the centre of the Imperial formation. The only battleship. The rest of the squadron was mostly comprised of small ovals representing battle cruisers with a few dots for light cruisers. Behind them was a cyan disk representing Meranda.

But the Imperial force was dwarfed by the mass of red symbols closing on them. One hundred and fifty or more enemy vessels. Mostly light cruiser or corvette equivalents. But at the centre of their fleet were five yellow diamonds. Einheriar battleships.

The atmosphere in the room was tense; everyone knew this was an almost impossible situation.

Dafang felt the tension, and no matter how he tried, he could feel his tension being passed to others in the hive mind. Helen and the other colonists first, but then the Alpha Spineders, and on through the network.

Then, on the Holotac display, chaos erupted. Fine lines zipped from the lead ships of each side; the traces of missiles. Groups of ships fired anti-missile plasma bursts or manoeuvred to avoid them, often exposing friendly ships in the second line.

In no time, the screen was a jumbled mass of vessels as formations broke up and a general melee ensued. One ship or another's symbol disappeared, to be replaced by small grey smears indicating debris fields, occasionally with flickering red or yellow lights suggesting there might be a survivor or two among the crew.

It felt inhuman to Dafang to be watching dots on a display and know that every time a yellow one dimmed it meant the death of hundreds or even thousands of living beings.

The red Einheriar dots were being whittled down, and even two of their battleships had been reduced to spinning clumps of debris. But not fast enough. The Imperial line was fractured, too thin to hold. In true form, the Einheriar were focused on destroying all the Imperial warships before moving on.

Somehow the Warhawk of Setok was still in the fight, although an almost invisible flashing indicator next to the diamond indicated critical damage. Dafang didn't know if Maraz was still alive and in command, but what happened next suggested he was. The Imperial battleship batted aside a pair of enemy light cruisers and moved to engage the remaining three red diamonds.

Then it blew up. It must have been deliberate. When the white flash cleared on the display two of the enemy battleships no longer showed on the screen, and several nearby escorts were just grey smears or showing heavy damage.

But it wasn't enough. The few remaining Imperial ships went down fighting, every one taking as many foes with them as they could. Three of the battle cruisers self-destructed in the same manner as their admiral, cutting swathes through the lighter Einheriar vessels.

Finally, the enemy regrouped and started moving slowly towards Meranda. In reality, the Imperial squadron had performed a minor miracle with the amount of damage they'd inflicted. The Einheriar were down to one damaged battle ship and four light cruisers. It was enough to destroy Meranda.

Dafang felt his tension level spike as the remaining war machines exterminated the last Imperial ships and gathered to drive on for Meranda. He could feel the reciprocating emotion from the hive mind. All of it. Every linked life form on Meranda knew of the death heading their way.

Among the white faced, silent officers in the room, Garrad quietly murmured to Dafang, "That was our best shot. I don't know if you've got anything, anything at all. But if you have, now would be a good time."

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Previous posts in this series;

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