Rigel Rising

Stage 13- Felis Et Canis

"I'm really, really sorry, captain!"

I automatically winced, not from my injuries, but because Mariana left her seat and rushed to my side when I returned from the infirmary to get treated.

I am scared of getting Candice angry all this time, but it's really Mariana that I should fear the most.

It turns out that it was all an act to force the Rear Admiral and his goons out of our ship and, in turn, our ship out of the Argonaut Base unharassed.

Drew accidentally found out about the Rigel's self-destruct capabilities and its connection to my life signs when performing a manual check of the ship's navigation and controls systems.

Turns out if my life is endangered, the bridge artificial intelligence will automatically begin the so-called "dust to dust protocol."

It can tell whether my body is dying from natural illness or from aggressive external factors based on its state-of-the-art observing systems installed throughout the ship.

Although this system will only activate if I am inside the ship, not outside, still damn useful for Drew to stumble on when he noticed that the propulsion has a secret protocol stopping it from moving, and he traced it back to the said system.

Trey then immediately repaired it since it was knocked off during our firing of the Panthera while Candice and Cailee prepared Mariana for her role while they act as a diversion.

"No problem, Mariana. Just give me some space for a little while. I am not sure when you will shoot me the third time," I said half-jokingly as the rest of the crew roared in laughter while our communications officer apologized once again, profusely blushing.

Drew wiped away the tears from his eyes, "I can't blame you, captain. Mariana was a well-known sharpshooter during our days back in the academy. Bagged dozens of awards for our institution. If she really wanted to kill you, you will not even feel any pain or know it coming."

"There is only one thing you have that I don't, my dear," Candice started before pointing at the chest of Mariana, "It's your gun-concealing cleavage."

Cailee nodded quickly in agreement, "True, sis! When they frisked us before entering the bridge, they didn't bother peeking at her bosom. Too bad for them."

"Please, stop. I am so embarrassed by my actions," Mariana begged as she smiled at me a little, "I promised to myself I will never use my persona when in the shooting range after graduation, but if I can help just a little bit to all of you then I will gladly do it."

Trey nodded as Mariana returned to her seat after I reassured her that I am genuinely grateful for her actions that saved our hides back there as our ship speed our way towards our planet at top speed, "Too true. She is accommodating, but I am sure you will all agree that if not for Justice's warnings, we wouldn't even get out of there at all!"

"Indeed. I will connect him now to the bridge. He is now entering final preparations for launch."

I blinked when I heard that as I returned to my chair and fastened my seatbelt, "Launch? I never gave the order for that, right?"

"Let me be clear on this one, captain. Technically speaking, I rank higher than you," Justice pointed after he heard what I said as he appeared on the screen in front of me inside the cockpit of his Ballsgrasper, "But don't worry, I am more than willing to follow your orders to the letter. Except in battles. You defend your ship. I defend my cosmo armor. I will not order you how to best utilize Rigel even if my rank far outstrips yours while in battle, and you will do the same to me. Deal?"

I nodded quickly, "No problems here, deal. But why are you launching? Are you expecting a battle before our planetfall?"

To my surprise, he just looked at Candice and Cailee, who sighed and smiled a little before answering my question, "You know, in many ways than one, you are a walking god amongst us. But when you ask that kind of question, it proves to me that you may be a god, but a woefully inexperienced and gullible one. Of course, there will be a battle, you dolt! Smith would have alerted the imperials blockading the upper atmosphere of the kingdom about us! Now, be a good boy and activated all weapons of the Rigel, and open the launch bay gates. I'll break away from you."

-0-

"Twelve missiles from the port, captain!" Mariana reported, and I gritted my teeth.

"Evade! Don't change course! Ocelot missiles begin interception! Caracal, open fire!"

Candice repeated my orders as her sister frantically activated the weapons systems to their maximum capacity as we began to feel the brunt of the relentless barrage of the imperial fleet blockading our descent path to the kingdom.

"Mariana, how many ships are there?!" I asked angrily as we are hit by a stray missile from a marauding cosmo fighter who managed to slip through our defenses, "I know the empire has a lot of ships in its arsenal, but this is ridiculous! We have destroyed two fleets already, and now they have another one to throw at us?!"

Our communications officer quietly surveyed her control panel before answering my question, "One hundred Hela-Class Imperial Destroyer, fifty Baal-Class Imperial Battleship."

"Wait, what is that gargantuan ship sitting at the center of their formation?!" Trey suddenly asked, and we all looked at the screen and finally saw what monstrosity he is talking about.

More than twice the size of Rigel and probably ten times more weapons. It is bristling with large beam turrets practically welded inches apart in its massive hull.

Bearing the imperial color of purple, it is gleaming brightly amongst the dull gray and brown of the ships surrounding it.

"Running through the database Justice has provided us, give me a second. Here it is! It's the Hellhound-Class Imperial Flagship! It is a ship directly under the personal fleet of the emperor himself," Mariana said as she suddenly turned pale, "Goodness gracious, its armaments are unbelievable. How are they powering that ship?!"

Cailee looked at it carefully before speaking, "Just an educated guess, there's only one power plant capable of supplying energy in that "thing," right, sis?"

"Of course. If you want to go "that" big, you have to go nuclear. Really, the imperials are either brave or suicidal. I will never go anywhere near a nuclear-powered ship. If that thing gets hit in the wrong direction, it will not be pretty," Candice agreed grimly as she ordered the main batteries of our ship to target it, "Glide ninety degrees to starboard! Felis, Rufus, target the Hellhound! Open fire!"

The Rigel's two main beam weapons open fired at the Hellhound together with the twin Rufus in a successive barrage as Drew masterfully swings the ship straight towards the imperial flagship to make sure we have a clean shot at it, "Let's see how you dodge that! You will need thrusters the size of a ship to maneuver that thing quickly!"

But it didn't even move.

To our surprise, two Hela-Class destroyers quickly used moved in the path of our beams and projectiles and took the hit for the Hellhound.

"That's absurd!" Trey exclaimed in shock and disbelief as the imperial flagship began preparing to open fire on our vessel in retaliation.

"Targetting arrays detected, we are on the direct line of fire of the port broadside of the Hellhound!" Mariana reported as I cursed under my breath.

"All hands, brace for impact! Seal all airtight bulkheads and prepare the modular armors for severe damage! We are going right through it!" I ordered, and even Candice looked at me as if I am getting insane, "Don't look at me like that! It's too late to run away or evade anyways! We must try and break through their formation at maximum combat speed after their flagship open fired on us. We will never win a battle of attrition here with just one ship! Gareth is almost within our reach!"

But Drew complained loudly, "We can't make a re-entry! The correct coordinates for a Regeinland landfall are behind the Hellhound! If we proceed with a descent elsewhere, who knows where we will get ourselves into! We might even land straight into the heart of the empire's mainland for all we know!"

 "Better than being blasted to smithereens here," Cailee pointed out that managed to shut our helmsman, "We can burn the bridge when we get there. For now, I agree with the captain. We have to make a planetfall, and we can deal with the rest later."

Trey suddenly spoke in fear, "I don't need Mariana to tell me that thing is going to fire anytime now. Can we get a move on? Cosmo fighters are already tearing our aft as we speak!"

"Helm, you have your orders," I said coldly to Drew, and he just cursed quietly as he maneuvered our ship straight into the heart of the enemies' formation.

"Anti-Beam Water Cannons create a defensive dome! Modular armor focus on the bow of the ship! Oncilla missiles begin scattered volley! Felis, Rufus, create an opening for us dead ahead! I don't care if you melt the heat sinks. Just don't stop until it's over!" Candice screamed, and I gave her my approval as I calculate the probability of us returning to Earth alive silently in my seat as we head straight for the enemy fleet open firing at us with all their guns.

I admit what we are doing right now is outright suicidal but sometimes charging towards your death is the only way to live, or so Pyotr once told me during our mock battles while doing our thesis.

I was never a brave one. I prefer running away or fortifying my defenses and only making an offensive move once I am sure I have an overwhelming force to destroy my enemies.

But the other guy in my group is different. Pyotr revels in thrilling and downright suicidal tactics. He managed to crack my defenses several times by charging straight ahead with such ferocity and recklessness that I have no time to react.

True enough, the imperial fleet is acting the exact way I did back then. They are caught unaware by our seemingly unpredictable move and are now failing to react appropriately as we easily breached their line of defense quickly.

"Don't let your guard down! Clowder Gravity Boosters Activate!" I suddenly ordered and Drew quickly followed my orders and rouse our auxiliary engines to fury, giving us an almost unbelievable surge in speed. We blitz through the third line of defense quickly and agilely while dealing as much damage as we can.

But as they say, quantity has a quality of its own. Even if we just did a perfectly executed gambit, the sheer numbers of the ships blockading our way are too much to handle.

"Five Baals and seven Helas blocking our path!" Mariana screamed as Drew opened his mouth in horror.

"We are moving too fast to maneuver! If we don't do something, we're going to crash!"

Candice gritted her teeth and roared, "Felis, Rufus, and Oncilla, begin barrage true north! Unleash everything we have!"

"Belay that order!" I shouted as Candice looked at me in surprise since this is the first time I have disagreed with her, "Forget what is in front of us and focus on our peripheries."

My second protested, "But, captain!"

"That's an order!"

She bit her lips and followed my command begrudgingly as we quickly inch closer to the ships blockading our path and seemed to be dead set on sacrificing themselves to take us down with them.

"Modular armor at sixty-two percent! If this beating continues, we are going to be in trouble!" Trey reported as we began retaking hits from the Rufus in the aft, and to our horror, it began to slowly move and follow us while opening fire.

I looked at Mariana, who is surveying the radar all this time, "Mariana, open the launch bay. Tell the maintenance team to be ready!"

"Aye, aye, captain! Opening the launch bay! Maintenance team to your stations!"

Come on...