Champions (Volume 1)

Champions Ch10 - Tirid

Champions

Ch10 - Tirid

"Once more unto breach!"

Hours before we saw anything move. Hours. A scan proved that it was only a meteor. We have sat here for three days in complete silence. Contact with Earth is impossible now. Either something is jamming all singles to and from the ship, or to and from Earth.

Either way, no messages. We took turns on sleeping with the other teams. Turns out the Er-Yiu Gt team doesn't sleep. Not very often, at least. I think I caught one snoozing in the gunner seat of another AA gun.

Grace started to move over the gun, as if trying to get a closer look at something.

"Something's moving out there. It's kind of shiny." Grace commented. She moved back up to her place on the platform and waved a signal to the others. Alex kept trying to get a closer look while I just sat there, looking over the room.

Static blasted through the ship's intercom, but nothing it was lost on everyone. Nothing could be made out. Suddenly, a burst of light like the sun start moving towards the ship. I could notice our drift had turned into a thrust.

An alien, whose identity is lost on me, began to bark orders to the teams. Savvy translated the language of clicks it used.

"Defensive positions! Tirid are attempting to attack. Calibrate for evasive maneuvers!" She repeated. Everyone was moving into a different spot. Grace just copied the movements of the aliens on platforms, moving on top of the guns, directly onto the barrel.

All the guns began to fire, launching the sentries towards the rooftop. I cycled a breaching charge into the gun without thinking and Alex fired the second it was in. The shields flared and Grace flipped through the air. Unprepared, she landed on her back against the roof. She did recover, though. Gladly, the newly found zero-gravity allowed her to stay up with the others.

"Savvy, what are they doing?" I asked. Plans for this scrolled across the screen and I showed Alex. I cycled a flare into the chamber and Alex waited.

Phase 1: Light the field - Fire flares across the battlefield.

Phase 2: Break Shields - Fire breaching charges to break Tirid fighter shields.

Phase 3: Thin Ranks - Fire Hard Light AA charges as fast as possible, thinning Tirid fighter line.

Phase 4: Boarded - Should Tirid board the TCC Excalibur, Warlocks are to drop from the ceiling and board Tirid fighters. The engine can easily be destroyed by locating a gray panel and electrocuting it.

Phase 5: Improvise - If Tirid manage to deploy, use your own plans to destroy invading forces.

All the other guns fired and Alex fired as quickly as possible, though the delay was noticeable. The alien who was shouting orders seemed to glare at us.

Now that we could see, I loaded a breaching charge into the chamber and Alex fired. All the others were firing as fast as they could, so timing wasn't a big deal. I kept loading breaching charges until the others stopped firing.

Suddenly, there was a different flash coming from the other guns. I loaded the Hard Light AA rounds and Alex kept firing the gun.

Now we could see all the ships. The amount was staggering. How they fit so closely together, I'll never know. While we were blowing away dozens of ships with a single shot, they still boarded us. The moment the boarders stopped, everyone on the ceiling jumped. All ships exploded except Grace's. I looked up to see what had happened.