by Ryk Brown
“It wasn’t Josh’s fault, Marcus,” Nathan insisted. “If anything, he saved everyone with his piloting skills.”
“He didn’t save Dalen!”
Nathan reached out and put his hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “He lost his friend, but he stayed with it and got the rest down safe. You can’t ask for more.”
“Where’d they go down?” Marcus wondered.
“Eralit Seven Delta.”
“Never heard of it.”
“It’s not exactly habitable,” Nathan replied. “Air’s too thin.”
“Was there anything left?” Marcus asked. “Any wreckage?”
“I don’t know. We barely got them out of there. The Dusahn tracked them and were hunting them down when we arrived. One of the Ghatazhak gave his life defending them.”
Marcus was more affected than Nathan had expected. “She had some mementos on board,” Marcus said. “Stuff her mother left her.”
“Someday, we’ll go back and check the wreckage,” Nathan promised. “But for now, it’s still under Dusahn control.”
“Then we need to get those sons of bitches out of there,” Marcus exclaimed.
“That’s why I’m here,” Nathan explained. “I have an idea, and I need your help.”
Marcus looked over at Nathan, a determined expression on his face. “If it involves killing a few or, better yet, a lot of Dusahn, then count me in.”
* * *
Two flashes of blue-white light appeared well beyond the orbit of Kaen, the furthest gas giant from its parent star, Biali. The two medium-sized cargo ships, which appeared from behind the flashes, were a good two light hours from Ahka, and since the Ahka had no patrols, it was unlikely they would be noticed until well after their mission had concluded.
“Jump complete,” the Inman’s pilot reported from the cargo ship’s helm.
“The Gervais?” Captain Seppi asked over his shoulder.
“In position, two clicks off our port, stern quarter,” the sensor officer replied. “Reapers and Nighthawks just jumped in, as well.”
Captain Seppi pressed the intercom button on the arm of his command chair. “Seppi to Verbeek, we are in position just beyond Kaen.”
“Eagles are ready for launch, Captain,” Commander Verbeek replied.
“Open the bay doors,” the captain instructed his systems officer.
“The Inman and the Gervais are launching Eagles,” the Nighthawk’s AI announced over Commander Prechitt’s helmet comms.
“Thank you, Max,” Commander Prechitt replied. “Nighthawk One to all strike elements. Thirty seconds to attack jump.”
“We’ll be right behind you,” Lieutenant Commander Manes replied from Reaper One.
Commander Prechitt looked to his right, spotting his wingman, then to his left at the other pair of Sugali Nighthawks, led by Talisha Sane. “How are you doing, Talisha?”
“More nervous than I thought I’d be,” she admitted over comms. “I figured this would be easy, after that last attack.”
“You were defending yourself,” the commander explained. “It’s easy to step up and fight when you have no choice. It’s a lot harder when you choose to go in harm’s way.”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” the commander reminded her. “Between us and the Eagles, we’ve got this pretty much covered.”
“No, I need to do this,” Talisha insisted. “If I’m going to help teach the Casbons to fly these ships into danger, I need to see what it’s like for myself.”
“You just have to teach them to fly,” the commander said. “It’s our job to teach them to fight.”
“You know that’s not true, Commander,” Talisha replied, “but I do appreciate your concern.”
“And we appreciate your assistance,” the commander assured her. “Five seconds to jump. Max, raise shields as soon as we come out of the jump.”
“Understood,” Max replied as the Nighthawk jumped toward Ahka.
“Nighthawks have jumped,” Ensign Weston reported. “Twenty seconds to jump.”
“If you would have told me a month ago that we’d be bombing someplace we’d never heard of, over a thousand light years from Earth, I’d have said you were nuts,” Lieutenant Haddix declared.
Ensign Weston smiled. “Five seconds…”
Talisha’s Nighthawk shook violently as if she had just run off the road.
“Damn, that’s some thick atmosphere!” she declared.
“Shields are up, locking on target packages,” her AI reported.
“Stay low, under their air defense targeting sensors,” Commander Prechitt instructed over comms.
“Good target locks,” Ensign Russon announced from Nighthawk Two.
“I’ve got good locks, as well,” Talisha’s wingman reported.
“Target packages are locked,” Leta announced. “Weapons are ready to launch.”
“Weapons free!” Commander Prechitt ordered. “Launching missiles!”
“Nighthawk Two, launching missiles!”
“Nighthawk Three, launching missiles,” Talisha announced as she pressed the launch button.
“Nighthawk Four, launching missiles.”
Talisha felt her fighter’s flight controls change slightly as four missiles dropped away from her fighter and streaked ahead of her, fanning out toward their unsuspecting targets. She immediately pulled up and rolled slightly left, as the mission plan instructed, and jumped to her turn waypoint. In the blink of an eye, she was able to relax a bit, now more than one thousand kilometers from the targets and any defenses. Not a single shot had been fired at them. They hadn’t even been in Ahka airspace long enough for the Ahka defenses to paint them.
She wondered why she had been so nervous.
The weather on Ahka was cold and overcast that morning, with ceilings as low as one hundred meters in some places. Even the hills were covered by clouds. As thunderstorms were forecast, no one took note of a distant clap of thunder.
Only seconds after the thunder, the high-pitched whine of numerous rocket motors could be heard. They were faint at first but grew rapidly louder as they approached. Missiles broke through the low-hanging clouds, slamming into the numerous surface-to-air missile launchers located throughout the city of Ahka, exploding in brilliant flashes of yellow and white.
“Holy shit!” Ensign LaValla exclaimed over comms from Reaper Three. “Those shield busters really do the trick, don’t they!”
Lieutenant Haddix glanced out his forward window as emitters located all around the Ahka spaceport exploded in showers of sparks, overloaded by the incredible amount of energy dumped into them by Alliance ordnance.
“Two, bombs away!” Reaper Two reported.
“Three, bombs away!”
“Four, bombs away!”
“Targets locked,” Ensign Weston announced.
“Five, bombs away!”
“Release,” the lieutenant instructed.
Ensign Weston pressed the launch button, sending Reaper Six’s weapons.
“Six, bombs away,” the lieutenant followed.
Massive shield sections across the Ahka spaceport fell, one by one, as they were struck by bombs from the unknown assailants. By the third Reaper’s pass, the entire facility was unshielded, and the fourth ship’s bombs steered directly toward the Ahka Raiders on the ground, destroying multiple targets with single strikes.
Flight crews ran across the tarmac, in haphazard fashion, while their ships exploded all around them, desperately trying to reach their vessels so they could defend their world. But the Ahka were ill-prepared. No one had dared attack the Ahka…until now.
Commander Verbeek’s Super Eagle fighter shook as it came out of the jump and suddenly found itself in the abnormally thick atmosphere of Ahka. A moment later, his inertial dampeners had adjusted to the changed environment.
His fighter swooped in low, skimming the hilly surface of Ahka, darting in and out of the low-hanging clouds. The c
ommander kept his eyes on his terrain-following sensors, weaving his tiny fighter in between the various rises in the changing landscape.
Seconds after coming out of his jump, the hills of Ahka fell away, and what was left of the airbase lay before him. Of the twenty-plus Ahka raiders that had been on the surface, only three of them had escaped destruction and were attempting to take off.
“Not so fast,” the commander muttered to himself. With only the flick of a switch, a confirmation signal on his display, and the touch of a button on his flight control stick, those three raiders met their fates, as well.
The commander pitched up and pressed his jump button, smiling. This had been way too easy.
Commander Prechitt glanced at his tactical display as his ship jumped back in over the city of Ahka. The only icons on the display were those of the other three Nighthawks accompanying him on this final pass. Below him, fires burned all over the city, especially at the spaceport.
“Max, all frequencies, and channels, and translate into all known languages,” the commander instructed.
“All frequencies, channels, and languages,” Max confirmed.
The commander took a deep breath. “Attention, people of Ahka. This is Commander Prechitt of the Karuzari Alliance. Casbon is now a member of our alliance and, as such, is under our protection. You shall immediately discontinue all hostile actions against the Casbons. If you do not comply, we will destroy all of your industrial infrastructure. This is your only warning.”
“Short and direct,” the commander’s AI commented.
Commander Prechitt smiled as he pitched up to jump away, hopefully for good. “Thanks, Max.”
* * *
“Commander Prechitt reports that the attack on Ahka was a complete success. All surface-based defenses and raiders were destroyed, and as best they can tell, there were no civilian casualties,” Cameron reported.
“Any friendly casualties?” Nathan asked from the head of the conference table in the command briefing room.
“None. In fact, our forces were in and out so quickly, the Ahka never got a shot off,” Cameron replied.
“And the message was delivered?”
“Broadcast in all languages, across all frequencies and channels.”
“Let’s hope it works.”
“At the very least, it will be several months before the Ahka will be able to retaliate,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda commented.
“That should be enough time for Commander Prechitt to train the Casbons to defend themselves,” Cameron added.
“How long until our Reapers return?” Nathan asked.
“They should return by tomorrow morning,” Cameron assured him.
“Good.” Nathan looked at the others. “Anything else?”
“We have some intel from Takara,” Jessica said.
Lieutenant Commander Shinoda looked surprised.
“Lieutenant Commander?” Nathan inquired, noticing his expression.
“Uh, yes, but not all of it has been confirmed.”
“Let’s hear it anyway,” Nathan insisted.
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant commander replied. “It seems that several nobles have been arrested and executed over the last few days.”
“The Dusahn turning up the heat on them?” Nathan wondered.
“Perhaps. The odd thing is that it’s only happening to the nobles who stood against Casimir.”
Nathan’s eyebrow shot up. “What do you mean by, stood against Casimir?”
“The nobles who sponsored his execution,” the lieutenant commander clarified.
“Really,” Nathan replied, thinking for a moment. “Forgive me if I’m not overly concerned about this.”
“This may be what General Telles meant by unfinished business,” Jessica commented.
Nathan looked at her, both eyebrows raised. “You think Telles is behind this?”
“It’s a strong possibility,” Jessica admitted.
“Revenge is not like him,” Nathan insisted.
“I don’t think it’s about revenge,” Jessica explained. “Lord Mahtize is the only noble who sponsored Casimir’s assassination who has not been arrested.”
“The one who was feeding us intel through Terig Espan?” Cameron wondered.
“Yup.”
“You think Telles is trying to force him into helping us?” Nathan asked.
“It makes sense,” Jessica replied. “However, I’m sure the irony hasn’t escaped the general.”
“But Mahtize turned on Espan, didn’t he?” Cameron said. “Why should we trust him now?”
“When he turned on Terig, he thought he was in the driver’s seat. After all, Terig was his employee and no threat to him. Telles, on the other hand, is a threat to him, as demonstrated by the arrest of every other noble who sponsored the assassination of Prince Casimir, not to mention that we slipped into his office without detection. You should have seen Mahtize’s face. Scared the shit out of him.”
“I’d still want verification of any intel he sends us,” Cameron insisted.
“No doubt,” Nathan agreed. “Anything else?”
“We’re also noticing a lot of movement in the Dusahn fleet,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda replied. “They’re moving ships from system to system at an increased rate. We believe they are trying to maintain control of all the systems in the Pentaurus cluster, despite the fact that they do not have enough ships to do so.”
“Any pattern to the movement?” Cameron wondered.
“It looks like they’re trying to make a warship present in every system at least once per day, sometimes twice,” Jessica said.
“It should be noted that their two remaining battleships rarely leave the Takar system and, when they do, it is only one at a time,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda added. “There is always at least one battleship, and a few cruisers and frigates, in the Takar system.”
“When we last attacked Palee, the Dusahn moved two cruisers and several gunships to the area within the hour,” Jessica said. “And octos were there in minutes.”
“Yes, they are really spreading their octo fighters all over the PC as patrols,” the lieutenant commander agreed.
“What’s interesting about this is that the logical move would be to abandon the lesser worlds, especially those furthest from Takar, and concentrate on protecting your most valuable assets, like Takara, Corinair, etcetera,” Jessica said.
“So, the Dusahn egos are just as big as those of the Jung,” Nathan decided.
“Seems so,” Jessica agreed.
“Then, we have to keep up with the hit-and-run raids,” Nathan decided.
Cameron looked alarmed. “We only have two Strikers left.”
“We still have lots of Gunyoki,” Nathan reminded her. “And soon we’ll have a few Orochi, as well.”
“The Orochi are being resurrected to defend Rakuen,” Cameron pointed out.
“The Dusahn are the only threat,” Nathan pointed out. “The more we harass them, the more uncertain they will be about sending their ships away for several days. They would be too vulnerable.”
“We’d better make damned sure there are no Dusahn ships nearby before we send the Orochi out of the Rogen system,” Cameron said.
* * *
“You do realize Siggy is likely to shoot you on sight,” Marcus reminded Nathan as they sat in the back of the Reaper.
“That’s why we brought her,” Nathan replied, pointing to Jessica.
“No insult intended, Jess, but Siggy don’t travel alone. He’ll be surrounded by hired guns.”
“I think I can handle it,” Jessica said with a smile.
“One minute to insertion jump,” Lieutenant Haddix announced from Reaper Six’s cockpit.
“How do I look?” Jessica asked.
“Too clean for Haven,” Marcus said. “Soon as we hit the ground, you need to dirty up a bit. You too, Cap’n,” he added, looking at Nathan. “Clean people draw attention on Haven.”
“It’s a fifty-kil
ometer drive to town, in an open-cabin vehicle,” Nathan reminded him. “I’m pretty sure we’ll be dusty enough by the time we get there.”
“Twenty seconds.”
Jessica pulled her sidearm, checking its charge.
“It’s a cold LZ, Jess,” Nathan said.
“You hope.”
Marcus checked his sidearm, as well, and Nathan followed suit.
“Ten seconds,” Ensign Weston warned.
Jessica moved over to the side hatch. “Ready at the door.”
“Jumping in three…”
Nathan and Marcus moved in behind Jessica.
“Two……one……jumping.”
Jessica tensed up, her hand hovering over the hatch controls. The Reaper lurched as it suddenly found itself in Haven’s atmosphere, bouncing in the evening breezes. The ship pitched up and its four engine pods screamed at full power as it decelerated.
“Pop the door!” the ensign instructed.
Jessica slapped the hatch button, and the large, metal hatch slid aft. The hot, dusty air of Haven rushed into the back cabin of their Reaper, forcing Jessica to grip the overhead rail more tightly to steady herself.
The Reaper nosed back down, its engines throttling down slightly as it settled into a hover a meter above the surface.
“Scope is clear! Go, go, go!” Ensign Weston barked.
Jessica was the first out, jumping to the ground and landing in a crouch. She immediately headed away from the hovering Reaper, making room for the others. Nathan was next, also landing in a crouch and followed her toward the side of the clearing. Marcus jumped from the hovering Reaper, landing with far less aplomb.
The three of them scurried to the edge of the clearing as the Reaper began to climb and accelerate forward.
“See you tomorrow,” Ensign Weston called over comms just before the Reaper jumped away, leaving the canyon eerily quiet.
Jessica pulled out her handheld scanner, sweeping it around three hundred and sixty degrees. “The area’s clear,” she reported. “Our ride should be about two clicks that way,” she added, pointing to her left.
“Pretty good insertion point,” Nathan commented. “Deep, narrow canyon, well off the usual orbits.”
