by Ken Lozito
The only thing they could do now was wait. He hoped Samson and the others hadn't been caught in this trap. He wondered how many of the 7th had made it out of the sewers.
20
Sean left the galley just after he finished his meal and was contacted by Gabriel, the Vigilant’s AI.
“Colonel, I’ve noted some power fluctuations near Dr. Evans’s lab. There has been a temporary loss of artificial gravity in the area,” Gabriel said.
The artificial gravity on the ship was on its own separate system, just like life support. There were redundancies in place to prevent it from failing.
“Is anyone injured?” Sean asked, quickening his pace.
Oriana’s work area wasn’t far from the galley.
“None reported, sir.”
“Thanks for letting me know, Gabriel. I’ll head over there right now,” Sean said.
An alert flashed on his internal heads-up display as he hastened down the corridor. It was a reminder to return to the bridge for his update with Vanessa. Sean reminded himself for the umpteenth time to thank Colonel Cross for connecting him with Major Shelton. Vanessa had become a real asset.
Sean turned down the corridor to Oriana’s lab and saw her standing outside, speaking to a group of people. As he approached, they began to disperse. The door to the lab was open, and Sean leaned over so he could see inside. The place was a mess of overturned equipment and tools.
“What have you done to my ship?” Sean asked.
Oriana smiled. Her long hair was tied up, with a few strands cascading down her neck. “We’ll get it cleaned up.”
Sean glanced inside the lab again and saw two heavy emitters. Status windows appeared above the control console that showed a growing list of errors. Eugena Yuan was working on the consoles.
“They both redlined,” Eugena said, “but I have the calculation that will prevent that. It shouldn’t happen again,” she said and made a passing motion, sending the data to Oriana’s PDA.
Oriana opened her wrist computer and glanced at it. “This looks good. Get this to Halsey when you can,” she said and looked at Sean. “I’ll explain along the way.”
They headed down the corridor and Sean glanced back at the lab. “Are they going to be able to clean all that up?”
“Of course. You should’ve seen it the first time that happened.”
“First time?” Sean said and frowned.
“You asked me to come,” she said and paused. “I know it looks bad, but it’s actually—well, that’s the result of a successful test.”
If that was a success, Sean thought, he’d hate to see what failure looked like.
“Whatever you were doing affected one of the core ship systems.”
“I can explain that,” Oriana said.
For the next ten minutes on their way to the bridge, Oriana explained what she’d been working on. Sean felt like he had a permanent frown on his face while he tried to follow along. He thought he understood what she’d done, or at least he understood the concept.
“But as I said, the power draw will be enormous,” Oriana said.
“And you consulted with Halsey on this?” Sean asked.
“Yes, of course. He even helped me get access to some of the equipment I needed, but it’s not finished. I just ran out of time . . . You don’t look convinced.”
Sean bobbed his head to the side, his brows knitting together in thought. “I’m not convinced, but I don’t think you wasted your time. I don’t mean to take anything away from what you’ve accomplished.”
Oriana nodded and didn’t say anything. She wasn’t angry or anything like that. She knew that there was still a lot more work to be done, but the source of her frustration was the lack of time, which was the source of frustration for all of them.
They walked onto the bridge and headed to the command center. Captain Russo stood up from the commander’s chair and went to sit at the auxiliary workstation next to his. Sean sat down and brought up his personal holoscreen, asking Specialist Sansky to open a subspace comlink to the Yorktown.
Major Vanessa Shelton appeared on his screen. Sean thought he saw a hint of annoyance in her gaze. He’d decided to keep the Yorktown as far away from the hot zone as possible. He’d also transferred the space gate to the Yorktown.
“Colonel Quinn, the Talon-V squadrons have been underway for the past twenty-four hours. They reported minimal course correction and should have more than enough resources to rendezvous with Charlie team,” Shelton said.
He had divided the battle group into multiple teams to achieve their mission. He’d kept the particulars of their plan from Aurang and had just given him a timeframe of when they would begin. Dividing his forces was necessary for mission success. It would enable him to hit the Krake from multiple angles of approach to their targets.
The soldiers aboard the Talon-Vs had spent the last twenty-four hours coasting through space—twenty-four hours in the same cramped space inside the same flight suits—and they had another twelve hours to go, at the very least, not to mention the time it would take after they delivered the payload to the space gate. They had one of the most crucial steps of the entire operation, and they had to send a small enough force to have the least chance of being detected by the enemy.
“Understood, Major,” Sean said. “I know it’s not easy staying out of the fight.”
“I understand the reasoning, sir. It’s the endgame that I don’t particularly care for,” Shelton replied.
In the event that the mission experienced complete failure, the Yorktown and the Acheron would egress through their own space gate. He couldn’t leave the Yorktown completely defenseless, so he’d assigned the Acheron to stay with the Yorktown under the command of Lieutenant Sutton.
“I don’t either, but we need to make sure we can account for anything and everything,” Sean said with a lopsided smile.
“Maintenance checks on our space gate don’t fill me with confidence, sir. We’ve been patching this together as we've gone, and some things are starting to wear out,” Shelton said.
What had started out as a prototype mobile space gate had become a cobbled-together piece that contained components stolen from a Krake space gate to keep it operational. “It just needs to work one time for as long as we need it to.”
“I have maintenance crews working on it now, and they’ll remain working on it until the end of this mission. No matter what, that gate will be operational for you when the time comes,” Shelton said.
Sean had considered moving Vanessa to one of the destroyers, but he needed her right where she was, and they both knew it.
“Aurang and our Spec Ops team have already left and are even now speeding ahead. They should reach their target three hours ahead of us,” Sean said.
“The Krake are even more paranoid about their security than we initially thought. Who puts the authenticator for a secure facility on the planet of a monitoring station that orbits around the planet?”
“Don’t forget the lunar base,” Sean said.
Aurang had informed them that there was a mining facility on the lunar base because of the rich deposits of minerals they’d found there. “We have a good plan,” Sean continued. “The Talon-Vs will disable the space gate while we disable the communication capabilities from the other Krake targets. It should keep them off balance while Aurang and our Spec Ops team reach their target.”
Sean didn’t trust Aurang or that part of the plan, which was why he had a few combat shuttles designated to run rescue operations should the need arise.
“I wish we had more time,” Shelton began to say and then stopped. “I know I’ve said it before, sir. All the parts are moving. I just wish there was more I could do. The entire crew of the Yorktown feels the same way. You’ll be in our thoughts and prayers, sir.”
“Thank you for that,” Sean said. “Good luck, Major.”
“You as well, Colonel.”
The subspace comlink went dark and Sean sat back in his chair. He g
lanced at Oriana for a moment, who was busy working at her console.
“Gabriel,” Sean said quietly, “I need to run a few calculations by you.” He didn’t know why, but most people assumed—and by that he meant scientists and other specialists—that he couldn’t do the same level of math they could. If anything, his parents had made sure that Sean had a good education, and the fact that he’d tested so highly in multiple fields had served him well on more than one occasion. Sean was a military man, but he could easily have been one of the specialists like Oriana.
“Okay, Gabriel. Let’s begin.”
21
Chad Boseman had been on more high-risk missions in the past eighteen months than in his entire military career. The reports they filed carried the acronym LPS, which stood for "low probability of success." Among the Spec Ops team there was a different ranking system for these types of missions, and that carried the acronym CD—certainty of death. The CD for this mission wasn’t quite at the highest rank. He’d read the mission reports from when General Gates had stormed the Vemus Alpha ship and saved the entire colony. If a mission like that rated the number ten in terms of life expectancy, then this one was a solid eight in his professional opinion.
The entire Spec Ops platoon was in their Nexstar combat suits aboard a rundown Krake transport ship, which could’ve been a shuttle at one time but looked more like it had been converted for salvage runs. The ship's components hadn't quite vibrated when they'd done their initial burn to speed away from the Vigilant, but it had been a close thing. They were all on their own life support despite Aurang’s assurances that the atmosphere in the ship would meet their requirements. None of them wanted to breathe the air on a Krake ship.
Aurang was the only one who communicated with them, even though there were five other Krake fifth column fighters aboard.
“I’m surprised they don’t call themselves freedom fighters,” Corporal Brentworth said.
They’d been aboard the ship for over twelve hours, which was long enough to become more comfortable even though they were on an enemy ship.
“So, we're helping freedom fighters,” Brentworth continued.
“Are you kidding me?” Bowren said.
Bowren was in a combat suit heavy configuration and took up a lot more room than the rest of them. The man liked big guns, and it suited him.
“No, I’m not. What’s wrong with calling them freedom fighters?” Brentworth asked. Then he looked at Chad.
“You need to study some history,” Chad replied. “You know how many groups called themselves 'freedom fighters' who were actually little more than terrorists?” The faceplates on the combat suit were transparent because the armored cross section wasn’t engaged, so he could see Brentworth’s frown.
“They told us they were rebelling against those overseers,” Brentworth replied.
“Yeah, and we can’t trust everything they say,” Bowren said.
Benton, who'd been unusually quiet, burped loudly. They were all on a shared comlink, but Benton had a habit of leaving his on, much to everyone's chagrin.
“Watch out now,” Bowren said and grinned. “Sarge is going to lose it.”
Benton grinned, which had started out as a groan. “Not likely.”
Chad looked at Benton. “Are you sick? For real, did you catch a stomach virus or something?”
“Negative, Captain, just my insides are a bit scrambled.”
Chad regarded him for a moment. Benton had been unusually quiet. He opened a private comlink to Benton. “What’s going on?”
Benton sighed. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in zero-G, sir.”
Chad frowned. “You’re telling me you’re nauseous because of the zero-G we experienced for a few minutes before we did our burn?”
“No, sir. You know I can take that. It’s . . . I just got a little bit of payback, that’s all.” He was quiet for a second. “Remember that request we got . . . well, I got?”
“You’re telling me that Dr. Evans did this to you?”
“Not exactly. It was Eugena.”
Chad remembered Eugena. Anyone who saw her wouldn’t likely forget her anytime soon. She was definitely easy on the eyes. He snickered. “What did they do to you?”
“Well, they asked for my help. They said they needed a volunteer out on the flight deck—someone who could keep a clear head. So, I met them out there. They had me out on the second level. I know you told me to stay away from them, but the galley is a free area, sir. I was respectful,” Benton said. “So, Eugena was standing there with a cup of coffee, and she held it out to me. When I went to grab it, she stepped back. Beneath me was the artificial gravity emitter. They reversed the field and had me dangling in the air.”
Chad laughed and the others joined in. He’d opened the channel back up so everyone could hear the story.
“Ha ha, very funny. Yeah, I know,” Benton said.
“How long did they leave you out there?” Chad asked.
“It wasn’t so much the length of time but the transference to other emitter fields. They moved me in every direction possible—up, down, sideways, upside down. You name it; they did it. But I told them to. I told them I could take it, and I did,” Benton said.
Chad nodded in understanding. There were certain personality traits that were almost a prerequisite for joining Spec Ops. They all rose to the challenge to prove themselves in almost everything that came across their paths.
“Was it worth it?” Brentworth asked.
Benton tilted his head to the side and swallowed a burp. “I got her to agree to meet me for a drink when we get back home. What do you think? I told you she liked me,” he said and chuckled a little. “I’d do it all again.”
Chad shook his head. Benton wasn’t kidding. Not giving up was another character trait they looked for in recruits.
Two of the Krake fifth column soldiers ran past them toward the rear of the ship and the Spec Ops team engaged their helmet protection. They had entered the planet's atmosphere, and if everything had gone according to plan, they were over eight hundred kilometers from the south pole. Their target was in the frigid south, where the Krake ran clandestine operations on this Ovarrow world. They’d entered the atmosphere and were flying low to blend in with the frozen landscape.
“Sounds like our plan just took a turn,” Bowren said.
Chad stood up and went toward the cockpit. Several violent shudders moved through the ship, and Chad had to brace himself.
“Are we under attack?” Chad asked.
They were heading toward a massive storm system, and since they were this far to the south, there were likely blizzard conditions on the ground.
Aurang was flying the ship. “No attack. The ship is breaking. We’ll need to secure other options for escape.”
Chad glanced at a smaller holoscreen in front of Aurang’s copilot. It was showing some kind of video feed. The copilot glanced at him and quickly turned off the screen, but for a second he'd seen an arch. They weren’t supposed to be anywhere near an arch on this mission.
“You should secure yourself. This landing won’t be soft,” Aurang said.
“I thought the arch was on the other side of the compound,” Chad said.
“It is, but we also know that this is where we need to secure transport for our escape,” Aurang said.
There was a loud bang from the rear of the ship, and they began to lose altitude. Chad looked at the holoscreen and saw that they were heading directly for a building near their target, but now they were veering off course. This was supposed to be a quiet operation.
Chad turned around and went back to his men. “Get ready. This is going to be a bumpy ride.”
The storm was getting worse. Ice shards pelted the Krake ship. Then, large chunks of ice slammed into the side of the ship. They just had to hold on a little bit longer until they reached their destination. The storm, despite doing its utmost to bring the ship down, was a blessing because it covered their approach. They couldn’t
have asked for better cover than what they had.
Something large slammed into the ship, causing one side to suddenly drop downward. There was a loud tearing sound, and gusts of wind sucked out of the hole in the rear of the craft. Chad watched as the two Krake soldiers held on. The ship banked to the side and sank even farther. Then they crashed.
The Krake ship slid on its side for a few moments before the nose wedged itself into the ground, but they had too much momentum and the ship flipped into the air, snapping off the front of the vessel. But when they finally came to a stop, they were still secure in their seats.
Chad checked the combat suit statuses for his team, and they were all green. They’d survived the crash. The two Krake soldiers in the rear of the ship untangled themselves and headed outside. Aurang left the cockpit, followed by two more soldiers, and all of them left the ship. The blizzard was in full swing, blowing so hard that it was difficult to see. The combat suit systems adjusted the display, clearing the way in front of them as best they could. Chad saw that they weren’t far from their destination. There was a small city laid out like a spider, with domed living spaces at the ends of long tunnels. There were no roads in. They were isolated.
Chad glanced behind him, and so did Brentworth. “Is it working?” he asked quietly.
Brentworth was carrying a modified field kit that contained a subspace communication device. It was big and bulky, and if it didn’t work, it wasn’t worth carrying.
“It’s green across the board, Captain,” Brentworth said, sounding relieved.
They went to one of the buildings on the outskirts. Aurang was able to open the door and they all went inside.
“Captain, I’ll need a few moments to confirm the precise location for the uplink,” Aurang said.
He was flanked by his two companions while the remaining two watched them.
“Is he serious?” Benton said. “We had a target, and they need to confirm the location?”
Chad didn’t reply. Instead, he glanced over to the side where Vladek had circled around so he could have a good view of the console.
