Young Writers Society

Part Two of Chapter 10.
Chapter 10: The Battle of Hawys.
Rex Jic.
Aboard the lead transport the crew were ecstatic. They had got away directly under the Ducis’ nose and put an end to his prize ship the Caedmon. Although Jic wanted to celebrate with them he announced that they were to wait until they had made the jump to light speed and were far from Hawys. Slowly, the passengers retook their seats and resorted to quick excited discussions about fooling the enemy with their new project, the High Velocity Plasma Projectile Cannon or HVPPC for short. It had been formed to target the large plasma levels ejected from a reactor. When the ammunition hit the reaction it destroyed it and shut down all systems, they had literally blown the enemy out of the sky.
“Leaving gravitational pull now. Moving into feasible position for light speed transition.” Mola announced.
“Thank you Mola,” the Rex said “and excellent timing on the Caedmon. You really hit the Ducis hard.”
Mola bowed and then straightened up with a frown on her face. Her scaly fingers met as she focused on something. The Captain asked her what was wrong.
“I am detecting a concentration of background glycogen but I can’t locate its source. The source seems to be near. One moment.”
From the transports observation deck a single support ship peeled away its no-longer effective shield. Then another. And another. Then five destroyers and a carrier came to view. All carrying the Braxton Space Navy’s logo. A few seconds of shocked silence fell as the rebels realised they had floated right past the Rex Vons silent fleet. The civilians screamed and dashed for the escape pods. The four transport ships screamed away from the Rex and towards the far side of Hawys transferring their attention on shaking off their foe before they had a chance to destroy the engines.
“Their weapons are fully charged Rex.”
With a flare as bright as a sun, the rear transports’ shield shimmered and failed. The deadly beams struck the hull and blasted away the outer layers, causing a vacuum that sucked out tens of unfortunate Braxton to the mercy of dead space. The beams carried on through the ship blasting several clean holes through the doomed ship. It started to fall back to Hawys’ gravitational pull but escape pods began popping off the ship quickly. Vons’ fleet continued after Jic’s at a startling pace as they reorganised for another group attack. A second flare and the transport next to Jic’s exploded through the heat and tumbled towards Hawys.
“Rex, they are sure to capture us. This transport is too slow. You must escape with your newly adapted escape pod” Pushed Mola.
“I can’t leave my people to die” Jic protested.
“I’ll ensure they get to their escape pods in time” assured the unknown Captain “Good luck Rex”
Jic saluted him and then ran with Hoce to his quarters, as he did so the ships intercom ordered all passengers to get to an escape pod and head back to Hawys. Once Jic found his hatch, he and Hoce settled down waiting for Mola. She appeared and announced the launch sequence. Three seconds later the tiny yet luxurious pod propelled away. Hoce peered out through the single pothole and saw dozens of other similar spheres shooting away, however whilst they were returning to the planet Mola guided the ship far out to the edges of the system were hyperspace could be safely reached. The doomed transports were turning back to Vons, pods still popping away and charged at full speed directly into his fleet. One caught alight and slipped out of view but the one Jic had been on mere minutes ago continued on its suicide course towards the lead carrier. Thousands of single-man attack ships piled out to stop the escape pods whilst the capital ships fired everything to stop lethal missile. The exterior erupted and shredded into pieces but still it continued. It finally detonated its reactors in the centre of the battle group causing the 9 enemy ships to recoil with the shockwave and remain short circuit all their systems. One scout ship approached Jic’s pod and the pilot looked though the pothole. When he saw the Rex, he did a double take and could be seen shouting into his communications set. The enemy ships all turned and accelerated in one direction, theirs.
“Mola get us out of here now.”
“Initiating jump to hyperspace in thirty seconds.”
The original scout kept up at a steady pace and showed its single fire cannon. The single gun wouldn’t pose a threat to the pod, despite its size but if a few dozen all fired, it was very likely that nothing would be left.
“Twenty seconds until jump to hyperspace.”
The pod crept further away but the scouts were gaining on them, fast.
“Fifteen seconds until jump to hyperspace.”
The capital ships were now recovering and turning to the three rebels’ intent on destroying them. In a battle, there’s no such thing as overkill.
“Ten seconds until jump to hyperspace.”
Jic could make out the details of each scout, its markings and shape.
“Five…four…”
The occupants were now visible; there was no mistaking the blood lust in their slit-like pupils.
“Three…two…”
Each gun warmed to a nice red and was only moments from firing.
“One…”
Lasers crisscrossed the small shield and as Mola attempted to jump to hyperspace, Jic fell to the floor and his world went silent and dark.