Into the Void

Chapter 1

Second Lieutenant Nathan Levin sat hunched over his controls in the cockpit of his gunship, heart racing, watching the empty space around him explode. He watched, wide eyed, as the capital ships spat huge volleys of missiles and gauss shells through the void. Five years ago all he’d wanted to do was serve in space, now he wasn’t so sure of his decision. The final red light on his control panel flicked to green, it was time to begin their attack run. With one final deep breath he engaged the engines and kicked the gunship out away from their carrier.

He gave his co-pilot, John, a sidelong glance.”What's our target?” he asked.

John rolled his eyes. “You still can't figure out how to read a briefing, eh?”

“Reading leaves me less time on the sims”

“Right, well, target’s a rogue station storing new colony supplies, pirates took it over. We'll hit hangar 3 in the middle, drop the marines off and then orbit until they've mopped up the opposition.” The ship nimbly picked its way through the friendly lines, past massive destroyers and carriers, and slid out into the no man’s land between the two fleets. 

Nate switched on the intercom to address the platoon of marines in the troop compartment behind him.“Brace for thrust. This is going to get a little rough.”

He nodded to his co-pilot and threw the throttle forwards, sending the gunship streaking out across the empty space between their carrier and their objective, the acceleration crushing him into the soft foam of the pilot’s seat. According to the friend or foe tracking they were sharing the battlespace with a pair of destroyers and a squadron of frigates. It felt like they were flying alone, thermal sensors couldn't see any friendlies, and the allied ships were invisible to radar. Nate wished their gunship had the same stealth systems. They would be an easy target as they closed in on the space station. A warning light lit up in the cockpit, bathing the cramped space in a bloody glow. He slammed the control stick to the left, sending the ship into a jarring roll and narrowly avoiding a searing beam of laser fire. He levelled out and brought the ship back on course, ducking instinctively as a friendly destroyer fired a gauss round over the top of the gunship. The massive shell hurtled through the void, leaving a ghostly white trail across the thermal display, and slammed into an enemy ship, splitting its armour and sending clouds of debris whirling through space. 

“This is Halberd 1-1, beginning our insertion run” said John into the ships radio. 

“Copy, Halberd” someone replied. “This is Aegis 1-3 we have you covered. Be advised station is equipped with multiple point defence arrays ”

 Before Nate could reply a klaxon blared inside the cockpit and several missiles appeared on the main display. He pushed the ship harder, sending the bulky gunship through a series of rolls and sharp turns, gritting his teeth as his restraints bit into his shoulders, he sent the ship into a tight spin, trying desperately to shake off the incoming missiles. 

“John, highlight those missiles for me” said Nate.

On the primary monitor a trio of white pinpoints were highlighted in red, the missiles corkscrewed in towards the gunship, closing fast. Nate rammed the stick forwards, sending the ship into a plunging dive. The lead missile detonated, sending razor shards of hot shrapnel pinging off the gunships barrier field. More missiles joined the fray, locking on the gunship and streaking towards them at breakneck speeds. Knuckles white, Nate threw the throttle wide open and hauled the ship into a tight 6G turn. The cloud of missiles overshot the gunship and a torrent of gunfire leapt out of an empty patch of space, tearing the missiles to shreds. Frowning at the empty black patch on the thermal display, he switch the main display to the visual feed where he could just barely make out the long slender shape of a frigate. The larger ship was doing its best to keep up with them and shield them with its target jamming arrays and point defence cannons.