The Grey Chronicles Part One: New Declaration of An Old War

Chapter 20: Now Boarding.

Captured Titanus prowler, outer space around Onyx Seven, April of 8096 AL.

"What the hell is going on?" Salem shouted, "Get us back to the Anarchist, now!"

He saw dozens of single fighters swarming his fleet, but he saw no return fire besides his own Wolverines and Daggers; apparently the Daisychains couldn't detect the enemy fighters, his own single ships were the only defense the fleet had against the attackers. A pair of frigates and a destroyer advanced on the Anarchist, several of the other ships in Salem's fleet faced similar problems; half a dozen frigates attacked the smaller vessels in the fleet, barraging their shields with missiles and cannons without taking any return fire. The only ships holding their own were the Hierarch and the Monarch; the Hierarch rammed a destroyer and fired its forward MACs, and the Monarch had a swarm of Wolverines buzzing around the cruiser like bees defending a hive. The mass of fighters swarmed over a frigate and simultaneously bombed it, the massive volley of high explosives destroyed the frigate's armor and shattered the hull below. The crumpled frigate turned to port and hurried away from the Monarch, and the swarm returned to their spiraling flight around the Monarch. Every other ship in the fleet was firing blindly, the captains of the vessels were forced use the cameras on the hull of their ships to aim down the barrel of their cannons. The Anarchist fired a MAC round at the destroyer when it was right on top of them, the round just grazed its starboard side.

"We need to get the upgrade chips to Jaeger as soon as possible," Alex said, "They're getting torn up out there."

"I'm going to board that son of a bitch, try and take some of the heat off of my baby." Salem turned to Korana. He pointed to a frigate approaching the Anarchist's port side. "Take us above that frigate. Octavian said the Baron is airtight, right?"

"Yeah, why?" she replied, confused. She could see the wheels in his head turning, but she couldn't see what they were powering. She flew past the frigate, speeding towards the Anarchist's hangar.

"Drop me off and I'll make my way inside and take the bridge," Salem said. He clearly wasn't asking, but he knew she wouldn't let him do it. He shoved a plastic chip case into Alex's hand. "You two get that chip to Jaeger."

"What? No! I'm not going to just drop you off in the middle of a battle." She turned around in her seat to look at him, but he was gone.

"Where the hell did he..." she trailed off as she heard the loud hiss of an airlock opening. She leaped from her seat and ran to the back of the prowler, leaving the controls to Alex. The newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel grabbed the wheel and stood in front of Korana's chair, yelling at her in a vain attempt to tell her he didn't know how to pilot a ship. She could see Salem through the window in the airlock door, standing next to the open airlock in his armor.

"Dammit! Salem, you colossal asshole, don't you dare-"

She hadn't even finished the sentence before he grinned, waved, and jumped through the airlock. He fired the jump jets and rocketed towards the frigate.

"Fuck you!" Korana screamed at the empty airlock. She rushed back to the pilot's seat and shoved Alex out of the way. She sat down and piloted the prowler towards the hangar to dock with the Anarchist.

"Where did he go?" asked Alex.

"Where the fuck do you think?" she snapped at him. "Jaeger! Come in Jaeger, this is Korana, we finished our mission and have upgrades for the ship's sensors. Have someone meet us in the hangar bay so we can pass off the chip!"

"Yes ma'am," Jaeger's electronic voice answered calmly. "The mechanics have been informed and are prepared to take on your prowler. Soluna will meet you in the hangar. Do hurry, shield integrity is down to nineteen percent, another few volleys and we won't have shields anymore."