by Jan Domagala
Knowing he would learn nothing further, De Boer simply smiled, nodded his head then looked away.
The pilot took evasive action to avoid the flock of angry creatures whose domain they had invaded. The Nova fighters continued to run interference too.
A particularly large creature collided with a Nova fighter and grabbed hold of the port side stubby wing. Using the strength of its immensely powerful wings the creature twisted in the air and threw the craft into another fighter. The explosion from the collision caused a fireball that rained fiery debris on the ground below.
An attack craft made a strafing run at the shuttle but a Nova got in the way. Pulsed plasma bolts blasted the Nova out of the sky giving the shuttle the opportunity to veer away out of harm’s way.
The battle raged on with casualties on all sides. Attack craft, Nova fighters and the strange winged creatures all fell from the sky in an aerial display of skill and pure power. The only constant, being that the shuttle containing Kurt and the others got through relatively unscathed. When it broke free from the planets' atmosphere and the Odyssey was in sight they all allowed themselves the small hope that it would soon all be over.
*****
Approaching Tula Rhan, Jared Saladar had Alexei Janovic, his pilot cut all forward momentum. Mikal Danovic had returned to the bridge and was at his friends side waiting to see what he would do.
“You know, I was going to contact the Emperor and tell him his son was here, then dump that ship out of our docking bay and leave them to it,” Jared said when Mikal arrived at his side. He was staring at the forward viewscreen which was displaying Tula Rhan in the distance. They had arrived at the system and began to head toward their destination when Jared changed his mind.
“I take it that something changed then?” Mikal said.
“We have a contract and you know I’ve never broken a contract. Our reputation is built on that very principle. It’s not something I’m prepared to compromise on either. I don’t pretend to understand what went on back there and I’m not sure I want to either but we do have the Prince on board and an obligation to return him to his father.”
“What’s your plan then boss?” Mikal asked.
Jared looked at his friend, smiled and said, “We get paid.”
*****
The shuttle docked with the Odyssey whilst the Nova fighters continued to run interference against the attack craft.
As soon as they were on board Kurt, Natasha and the Wildfire Team made their way to the bridge accompanied by Colonel De Boer who ordered what remained of ‘C’ Platoon to remain on stand-by in case they were needed.
As they entered the bridge Sinclair was standing with Matt Hawk by the command chair occupied by Captain Biggs.
“Glad you could all make it gentlemen and ladies,” Sinclair said in his usual clipped tones with no trace of the enormous stress he was under from their present situation. Before any of them could reply he asked Biggs, “Any news on the progress of that super destroyer?”
“None yet sir, they’re still en route to this location,” Biggs replied.
“How long have we got?”
“At their present speed, I’d say no more than thirty minutes.”
Sinclair turned to the group of tired and bedraggled newcomers and said, “Okay this is our present situation. We have an Alliance super destroyer approaching this location, eta thirty minutes. There are no indications as yet to their intentions, so that gives us just under that time to get across to that bogus Outlaw colony, find out all they know of what happened on Tartaran, make sure they cannot access that data and put it to use and get back here. Is that understood people?”
There were nods all around then Sinclair continued, “Captain Riley, you and your Team are on point, Matt you’re along to gather Intel, Colonel, you and your men are back up.”
“What about me sir?” Kurt asked.
Sinclair looked at him and with a cold expression said, “As I recall Kurt, you resigned your commission. You wanted to be like the Ronin of ancient Japan, a warrior who serves no master. In that respect, I am afraid you can play no further part in this little game of ours. I’m sure you’ll find something to occupy your time whilst the rest of us attempt to avert a potential galactic catastrophe.”
“Wow! That was harsh,” Torres commented.
“With respect sir, that guy saved our necks down there, more than once,” Vance added vehemently.
“He’s an incredible asset to us sir, we sure could use him,” Riley said.
“You seem to have made quite an impression Kurt,” Matt said.
“Be that as it may, the fact is, he resigned, said he no longer wanted to be part of Col Sec,” Sinclair said showing no signs of relenting his decision.
“Okay sir, I’ll say it. I was wrong and you and my father were right,” Kurt said, knowing what the General wanted was for him to come to a decision, one that only he could make and possibly one of the most important in his life.
“How so?” asked Sinclair, his poker face firmly in place.
“You said I couldn’t turn my back on Col Sec, but I did and I was wrong. What I’ve learned down on Tartaran made me realise, more than ever what my father meant when he told me that for evil to triumph, all that is required is for good men to do nothing. I can no longer turn my back and do nothing.
“Sir, I want back in,” Kurt said.
“Kurt, you were never out. I just needed you to realise it for yourself,” Sinclair said with a hint of a smile.
“Matt said, “Ronin, I like that.” He motioned towards the goatee and longer hair and said, “This is a new look for you. Going for the pirate look are we?”
“I fancied a change,” Kurt replied with a smile at his friend.
“Looks like you’re with us Kurt,” Riley said with a huge grin.
“Ronin, that’s a great call sign,” Cooper said.
Torres walked up to Kurt, smiled and said, “Welcome to the Team.”
“The clock is ticking gentlemen and ladies, we have work to do,” Sinclair said.
“Did he just call me a lady, again, that’s twice. I’m no lady sir, I’m Recon Delta,” Torres joked as they all left the bridge.
Natasha was about to join them when Sinclair said, “Not you my dear, you remain on board here with us. Your part in this is finished. You’ll be safe here and there’s someone who I’m sure will be pleased to see you.”
Looking at him a little confused, she asked, “”Pleased to see me, who?”
“Your father.”
42
Riley led the team back to the docking bay where ‘C’ Platoon was waiting. He said, “Colonel, we need to get across to that colony undetected. At the moment all their sensors must be focussed on us and the planet, we need to find a back door.”
“What do you suggest?” De Boer asked aware that time was running out on them.
“Our ship, the Pulsar, has stealth technology. I suggest we take her and sneak up on its blindside and then during a co-ordinated attack to bring down its shields, we slip on board before the Outlaws can reinitialise them.”
“It could work but the timing will be critical.”
“I never said it would be easy Colonel.”
“If it was easy, anyone could do it,” De Boer said with a smile. He added, “I’ll ready ‘C’ Platoon while you ready your team.”
“Copy that Colonel,” Riley agreed. “Artie, we’re coming aboard with some friends. We’re going on another little trip.”
*****
The Pulsar had docked alongside the Odyssey away from where the action had taken place. The AI had kept her cloaked as per standard instructions when near other vehicles in the Colonial Fleet.
Riley, the rest of his team, Kurt, Matt, Colonel De Boer and the rest of ‘C’ Platoon all went aboard and made ready for the next phase of the plan.
“Artie, how long have we got before that super destroyer is within firing range?” Riley asked the moment he reached the bridge.
“Tw
enty five minutes sir,” replied the AI
“Take us to the blindside of the colony Artie and make it fast. We’ll co-ordinate our entry with the attack from the Odyssey so we need to be in place in time, okay?” Riley said.
“Understood sir, stand by. I’ll inform you when we are in position.”
*****
Jared went down to the shuttle bay where the captured craft was being held. He paced in front of it then stopped to stand looking up at the pilot’s section. Through his NI he connected to the internal com systems and said, “I know you can see me, I’ve come to talk to you, face to face. Your situation is simple; you‘re trapped. There is no way this is going to end well for you if you don’t do as I say.”
Tarkovic’ voice came through to him as clear as if he was standing in front of him. “What is it you want?” he asked.
“It’s not what I want as much as this is how it’s going to go. You will release the Prince right now. Once he is out of your craft and safe with us I will order my men to back off and we will release you from the docking bay and you can go on your way.”
“And what if I refuse?”
“Then you will die.”
“If you think you’ll get the Prince from us by storming this craft you must know from your scans that we have breathing units, so pumping gas into our air supply won’t work. If you try to storm us in any other way there’s more than a good chance that the Prince will die in the cross fire. Do you really want to risk it? I’ll tell you how this is going to go—“
“No you won’t, you’ll listen to me and listen good. If you don’t release the Prince now we will come and get him. I don’t care if he lives or dies but one thing I do know, you all will die. I’ll simply tell his father that you killed him.”
“You think you can bluff me?
“Who said I was bluffing? You have ten seconds to release the Prince then you die.”
“You would never jeopardise the life of someone who you’ve been sent to rescue, it would ruin your reputation.”
“If you believe that then you’re a fool and you, your men and the Prince will all die.”
“Don’t insult my intelligence, I know this is a bluff, now if you want to talk terms, go ahead, I’m listening.”
“Okay then listen to this. When we storm your craft and you all die, who will know what really happened? We will, so whatever story we decide to spin on this will be believed simply because there will be no one left alive to dispute it. My reputation that you seemed to be so worried about would be secure, I’ll still get paid and you will still be dead. How’s that work for you, you now have five seconds.”
Silence.
Jared said, “Four seconds.”
Still silence from inside the captured craft.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
The hatch hissed open just as Jared and his men were about to move.
Prince Aswan appeared in the open hatch with his hands held high and a look of terror on his face.
“Come with me sir, you’re safe now,” Jared said calmly offering his hand to the terrified captive.
“As soon as we are free of the docking bay we will open the bay doors and you are free to go like I promised,” Jared said through his NI to those inside the captured craft. As he backed out of the docking bay, he never took his eyes off the captured craft just in case they tried anything stupid.
Once they were all clear and the doors closed and sealed behind them, Jared turned to Mikal and said, “Release the outer doors.”
“Okay, you were true to your word and for that I thank you. You must know though that our craft does not have jump capabilities so where would we go?” said Tarkovic from inside the attack craft.
“That, my friend, is not my problem. You attacked my men, kidnapped a Royal Prince and now that it all turned sour you want my help? I have two words for you, no way.”
“You’re pissed, I can appreciate that and I respect that but if you could at least help us to repair our engines then at least we could travel to the nearest planet.”
“Which part of ‘no way’ are you struggling with?” Jared said then turned to Mikal and said, “Flush out the docking bay, I want that vermin off my ship.”
Mikal operated the controls at the side of the door that would expel all the air from the docking bay to the vacuum of deep space, which would cause everything inside the room to be sucked out through the door.
“Done Jared,” he said.
“Good, now let’s get the Prince home,” Jared said and he faced Aswan to say, “If you’ll follow me sir I’ll show you to your quarters where you can rest until we reach your planet.”
Tarkovic and the rest of the Outlaws inside the attack craft felt the craft thrust out from the docking bay. From their viewscreen they watched as the huge starship moved away leaving them behind.
“What the hell do we do now sir?” asked one of them.
“I’m working on it,” Tarkovic replied deep in thought.
*****
Riley stood on the bridge of the Pulsar along with the other members of the Wildfire Team and Kurt. They were looking across at the Outlaw colony through the viewscreen and Kurt said, “It’s a remarkable feat for them to pull this off for so long without anyone from Col Sec learning the truth.”
Riley said, “Well it all ends today.”
Kurt nodded his head in agreement.
“Artie, inform the Odyssey that we are in position and awaiting their word to go,” Riley said putting their plan into operation.
“Colonel, make sure you and your boys are ready to move. The second we get the signal we’ll have just seconds to get across to that colony before they re-initialise its shields,” Riley said through his NI to De Boer who was with ‘C’ Platoon in the docking bay of the Pulsar.
“We’re ready Captain, just say the word,” De Boer replied.
“As soon as you get on board the colony Colonel I want you to make as much noise as possible, keep whoever is there distracted long enough for me and my team to get to the C and C deck and destroy any data on this project we can find. If you find anything pertaining to any research that was done down on Tartaran, destroy that too. You’ll have around ten minutes to complete your portion of this mission then rendezvous back at the Pulsar ready to return to the Odyssey.” Riley said.
“Copy that Captain, we won’t let you down.” De Boer replied.
“Come on Odyssey, make your move, time’s running out here,” Riley said almost in a whisper.
*****
On the bridge of the Odyssey General Sinclair stood at the side of the command chair, which Captain Biggs lounged almost nonchalantly. They had just received the notification of readiness from the Pulsar’s AI and were making final preparations to attack the colony.
“How long before the super destroyer enters firing range?” asked Sinclair.
“Twenty two minutes sir,” replied Biggs in his cool calm deep bass voice.
“Inform the Wildfire Team of how long they have and start your attack Captain,” Sinclair said.
“Copy that,” said Biggs and then he issued the orders that would start the attack.
The gun crews opened fire on the colony with the high intensity pulse cannons battering its shields with pulsed plasma bolts followed by salvo after salvo of Hellfire missiles.
“As soon as their shields go down, inform Riley and his team then cease firing until we get the ‘go’ from them that they are safely back on board the Pulsar,” Sinclair ordered.
Inside the colony, Marko was furious. As soon as the attack had started on his domain, he shouted orders to his crew to return fire.
“Gun crews target that ship; I want it blown to hell and back,” he shouted into the comm. link, then added, “Recall all the fighters and tell them to target that ship too.”
“Sir the shields are buckling, all the firepower levelled at them are going to overload them unless we do something,” replied the sold
ier at ops.
“What do you suggest?” Marko snarled.
“We have to take them offline so we can reconfigure them, if we don’t and they overload we could lose them altogether and we’d be powerless to stop any attack,” suggested ops.
Marko thought about it for a second or two as his colony continued taking fire from all quarters, then he came to a decision.
“Okay, take them offline and do what you have to and be quick about it. The longer they are offline the more vulnerable we are,” he said.
Ops said, “I’ll be as fast as I can sir.”
“Wait until the attack craft are here so they can run interference while the shields are down,” Marko instructed.
“Copy that sir,” replied ops.
The attack craft had chased the shuttle back from the planet’s surface and were continuing their attack when the order came through to them. It only took a few seconds for them to get into position and when they had, ops took the shields offline.
On the bridge of the Odyssey, they saw the shields around the colony go offline and their pulsed plasma bolts start to get through to the defenceless colony.
“Give them the ‘go’ signal,” Sinclair said.
*****
Riley heard the command and said, “Right people, let’s go.”
The Pulsar’s AI moved the craft closer to the blind side of the colony and the team made their way across once it had docked without anyone knowing. Riley led everyone through the docking hatch and into the confines of the redesigned Outlaw Colony.
“Colonel you know what you have to do, Matt you’re with me, we’re heading for the C and C,” Riley said.
Kurt said, “I’m with you Jake.”
“Right you all know what you have to do so let’s do it. Remember people, the clock is ticking, we have less than twenty minutes to get what we came for and get clear.”
With that, everyone went to work.
*****
