The Crazy Droid system was dominated by a large red sun. The only other celestial body in there was an undistinguished rock of a planet, next to which ten large space stations floated in orbit. As the Ick fleet jumped out of light speed and was noticed, it appeared as if an ant hill had been kicked as hundreds of ships swarmed from the stations. Snoodgrass, who was standing at the sensor array, looked over to Wickede. “Space stations, robot fighters’ ships and maybe forty cruisers thrown in.” Wickede nodded and then opened a com-link to the fleet.
“Prepare to launch all fighters.” Standing up he turned to Snoodgrass. “You have the bridge, my friend; let’s hope the backup gets here soon, as we seem to be outnumbered.”
He started to head for the door to take his place amongst the fighter pilots. “A second enemy fleet just came into sensor range, E.T.A. about ten minutes, two hundred plus cruisers,” announced Snoodgrass. “I think our reinforcements may need reinforcing, Wickede.”
Blackarachnia and Nifty sat in their fighters waiting to launch. As the news came through of the second fleet, they looked over at each other through the cockpit windows. They hadn't spoken since Alienbutt had left, despite Blackarachnia's best efforts. He gave a tentative smile to her that she returned, and then she spoke through the com-link.
“Is it too late to whisk me away for that holiday to show me the universe?”
“Not at all, I’ll book it in the morning for us. Why don't we make it a honeymoon?” Blackarachnia asked.
Nifty looked at him, taken aback. “A marriage proposal? You're the last of the romantics for sure. So is this battle going to be our combined hen and stag do?”
“No idea what that means, but was it a yes?”
Nifty gave a huge smile. “Of course it's a yes.”
Blackarachnia grinned as his stomach did somersaults, but he tried to appear cool; after all, his entire crew would be listening in. “Do you want a one week or two week honeymoon?”
Further conversation was interrupted as the order to launch was given. Both hit their thrusters and shot out through the hangar doors, closely followed by Captain Noble and Jack Lantern.
Gwydion flew his fighter as close to the moon’s surface as was possible. The defences around the shield generator were high and many of the Fo’c’sle fighters had been destroyed as they tried to knock out the shield. He ignored the flashes that heralded the giant cannon firing again, and hoped that the dreadnoughts were having luck avoiding the deadly blasts. The sheer number of enemy gun turrets surrounding the generator was preventing anything getting near, so Gwydion was taking his squad of four fighters a different way. Flying at attack speed at ground level, the plan was simple; they would get under the defence shield or would come to a very sudden stop as their ships exploded on it. As they came within sight of the green glowing shield he heard one of his pilots mumble a prayer. Then they were under it and within the cannon’s defensive ring. Slowing down and pulling up to a safer flying altitude, the four fighters headed for the now visible cannon that fired into the heavens every sixty seconds or so.
“Fire everything we’ve got on the first pass, then swing around for the return run,” ordered Gwydion. Their approach took seconds, but even as he fired, he saw the target they would need to hit on their return sweep. “Ionic generator at the back of the cannon, that’s the target, boys, hit it and run, as we won’t have long before it goes critical!” he shouted as the fighters began to loop back.
“I’ve never heard of an ion cannon this big. Who the hell are these guys?” asked one of his squad.
Gwydion had to agree. How the hell did Outer System raiders get advanced technology like this? The fighters, firing everything they had, raced back and were past the generator as it began to explode. As they approached the energy shield, they dropped back down to hug the ground again as they flew under it. Then the world went white behind them as the ionic explosion ripped apart the cannon and spread in a deadly wave that would vaporise everything within one hundred miles. Pushing his fighter to full speed he just managed to outrun the explosion and had to hope the other pilots had also managed to escape.
Leaving the moon behind, he flew back into the battle in space as one of his squad fell in beside him. The Fo’c’sle dreadnoughts were finishing off the enemy cruisers, but the ion cannon had taken a heavy toll on them. He counted less than twenty dreadnoughts left still spaceworthy. Commander Kali’s voice came over the radio. “All fighters return to your ships, we will be jumping to light speed in five minutes.”
Unknown to Gwydion when he had destroyed the Ion cannon, he had also interrupted the television signal being transmitted to the Crazy Droid system just as the final battle started in Star Trek seventeen. A certain robot was now going very crazy.
To be continued, thanks for reading.
All images are mine.
