by Ken Lozito
“Acknowledged,” Sean replied. “Comms, open a comlink to the Dutchman.”
A few moments later, Captain Oliver Martinez appeared on his personal holoscreen. “Captain, listen up. I don’t have a lot of time. I have a shuttle en route to extract our Spec Ops team on the ground. It’s a hot zone. We're about to blanket the area with heavy fire, but we’re unable to secure the evac. Can you give our guys a window and scoop them up?”
“Receiving new mission objective, sir,” Martinez said and looked away from his screen for a few moments. “I have the course. We’ll pick our guys up but, sir—” he said and stopped.
“After you retrieve the Spec Ops team, head directly to the Yorktown. Our gate will be up for your return to New Earth,” Sean said.
“Colonel, have the Babylon run the evac up. Let us take some of the tactical burden from the Vigilant,” Martinez said.
“Negative, Captain. I need you on this. There are dozens of ways this could go, and I need an experienced captain to get our guys out of there. Vigilant out,” Sean said and severed the comlink. He looked at Russo, who was still putting together a firing solution.
He opened a comlink to the Babylon, and Lieutenant Richard Pitts's face appeared on his personal holoscreen. “Lieutenant Pitts, you have just about enough time to use a gravitational assist to break out of the orbit and return to the Yorktown.”
“Understood, sir.” Pitts looked off-screen for a moment. “We can assist you.”
Sean looked away from the holoscreen and closed his eyes for a moment. Dammit, Ward, Sean thought. Captain Ryan Ward had been the Babylon’s captain until he'd turned mutineer.
“Colonel, I know I'm not Captain Ward, but the Babylon is ready to assist you. Let me add our combat capabilities to your defense plans. We can increase the odds,” Pitts said.
Pitts had been one of Sean’s critics about how he'd handled the mutiny; now he was willing to lay down his life to make sure their mission succeeded. Sean looked at the young man. “Stand by, Lieutenant.” He then looked at his XO.
“Firing solution ready, sir,” Russo said.
“Execute, XO's discretion,” Sean said and turned back to his holoscreen. “Lieutenant Pitts, maintain course and heading. We’re coming to you.”
Boseman finished reading the message and called the others over, then opened the comlink to the rest of the platoon. “There’s another shuttle coming, but our egress point is half a klick away in an open area.”
“Captain,” Benton said, “Krake soldiers are already on their way here. They have our position.”
“A shuttle can’t get close enough to take out that Krake weapon,” Vladek said.
“The Vigilant is going to bombard the area, and we need to get clear. In this weather, there’s no way for them to make precision shots. They’ll do their best to avoid us, but we have to move. Sergeant Benton, send a recon drone ahead. Maybe there's someplace we can get cover.”
Boseman saw the recon drone zip away. He lost visual but could track its movement through his internal heads-up display.
“Krake attack drones within point defense range, Colonel,” Lieutenant Scott said.
“Acknowledged,” Sean said.
They had altered their course so that the bow of the ship was pointed directly down toward the planet, and the forward mag cannons sent a volley in rapid succession to the target area. The helmsman altered course and increased their velocity. Sean didn’t want the Vigilant to break from the planet's orbit. He had to maintain the angle to utilize the gravitational assist so he could line up with the Yorktown. This would require them to orbit the planet one more time.
Above the howling winds, they heard loud pops, and streaks of red blazed down from above, heading to the city.
“Move!” Boseman shouted.
The Spec Ops platoon ran from cover and headed to the waypoint as the small Krake city felt the wrath of the Vigilant’s weapons. Muted explosions sounded like deep impact wells in high snowdrifts. Krake soldiers fired on them as they ran. Bowren turned and returned fire from his heavy gauss cannon, causing the Krake soldiers to dive for cover, but there were more than a few who got caught in the spray.
There was an orange glow in the blizzard, and black smoke billowed in the howling winds above the city. The attack had been quick and catastrophic. A few of the Krake soldiers pursued them, but most were returning to the city.
Boseman tasked a recon drone to go behind them and make sure the Krake weren't going to follow them. Less than a minute later, the Krake soldiers had turned around and were once again heading right for them. Someone over there knew what it meant to command. Boseman would’ve chewed out any soldier who'd dared to let the enemy get away from a city they'd just destroyed.
“They’re coming. Where’s the shuttle?” Vladek said.
Boseman kept thinking he heard the high-pitched whine of a combat shuttle, but it was just the wind. They ran as best they could, but the snow was getting deeper, and he hoped they didn’t accidentally fall through to a major cavern beneath them. They didn’t have time to rescue anyone if that happened. As the Spec Ops team ran, the bombardment finished and Boseman glanced off to the side, seeing deep crevices begin to form. The ground lurched beneath his feet, and he felt as if he was sliding on a board of ice and snow that was thousands of square feet.
A flash of light appeared ahead of them and a comlink connected to his suit. It was the combat shuttle. The shuttle spun around and the loading ramp lowered. The pilot couldn’t land the shuttle, so it hovered in the air.
“Get on the shuttle, quickly,” Boseman said.
He climbed onto the ramp and turned around. The Krake soldiers who were pursuing them fired their weapons. He and several soldiers stayed at the bottom of the ramp and returned fire while the rest of the platoon raced to get on.
“Bowren, if you don’t get your ass up there, we’re going to leave you here,” Boseman said.
Bowren turned and leaped toward the loading ramp. Bright flashes of light came from Krake weapons as they fired on him. The combat suit heavy was pelted, and Bowren went down by the sheer force of it.
Boseman raced up the loading ramp and grabbed a metallic tether cable. In seconds, he had vaulted down to Bowren and quickly wrapped the tether cable around him. CDF soldiers returned fire from the loading ramp. The engines engaged and the combat shuttle rose into the air. They were retracted to the loading ramp and helped onboard. Bowren’s suit had taken damage, but he was all right. They’d made it.
Boseman walked toward the cockpit and looked at the two shuttle pilots. “Thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire. Where’s the Vigilant?”
“Several thousand kilometers away from here, Captain. Go strap yourself in. We’re meeting up with the Dutchman, and then we’re getting the hell out of here,” the pilot said.
Boseman turned around and headed back to find a seat, ordering his men to strap themselves in. Even though they were off the ground, it sounded like things were just as hot up here as they had been below. They weren’t out of this yet.
Sean didn’t know why the Krake attack drones hadn’t increased their velocity to catch up with him. Perhaps it was because there was something interfering with their navigation system or some other limitation they hadn’t accounted for. He could only deal with the situation as it was, which meant that if there were any Krake attack drones left when he finally broke free of the planet's gravitational pull, they'd be able to catch up to his ship before he could reach the Yorktown.
“Colonel, I’m detecting a gamma burst from the Krake space gate,” Lieutenant Scott said.
“Are you sure? The space gate was disabled. The Talon-V squadrons reported successfully taking out the alignment controls so the gateway couldn’t form,” Sean said.
“These readings are accurate. Charlie team has already picked up the Talon-Vs and they're heading back to the Yorktown,” Lieutenant Scott said.
Sean frowned for a moment. It would take them too much time t
o change their course and stop whatever was happening with the space gate.
“Colonel,” Specialist Sansky said, “I have a . . . It’s Aurang, sir.”
Sean clenched his teeth. “On my screen.”
A moment later, Aurang’s face appeared on his screen. “There’s been a change in our plans. I congratulate you on a successful mission execution. We wouldn’t have achieved our mission objective without you.”
“You double-crossed us! You left my team on the planet, and you’ve activated the space gate that we thought had been sabotaged.”
“We have fulfilled our end of the bargain. I confirmed with Captain Boseman that they had the data they sought. I’m aware of their operations. Therefore, our temporary alliance is concluded. It has been quite enlightening.”
“Aurang, I’m going to hunt you down. I'll have my own update sent to your overseers,” Sean said.
“Only if you manage to survive,” Aurang said and severed the comlink.
Sean cursed and snarled. He looked at Lieutenant Scott.
“Krake warships are coming through the space gate, sir.”
He’d covered all his bases, but once again, his plans were coming up short. There were a few moments of heavy silence on the bridge at the stark realization that they weren't going to get away this time. Sean inhaled explosively and then sighed. “Comms, open a subspace communication link to the Yorktown.”
A few moments later, Major Shelton appeared on his personal holoscreen and he gave her a tactical update of the situation. “I’m sending a data burst to you now. This is the data we’ve collected from the Krake.”
“Confirm receipt of the data,” Major Shelton said.
“You’re to open a gateway back to our universe. I want all ships to go through as soon as they reach you,” Sean said.
He saw the conflicting emotions on her face, but she didn't make the protest she wanted to. She understood the tactical implications of their current position. This time, Sean had played the odds and was going to lose.
“It'll be close, but the Dutchman should be able to reach you.”
“Colonel,” Major Shelton began.
“Hold the gate open for as long as you can, but no heroics. Is that understood, Major?”
Vanessa met his gaze. “Understood, Colonel. Godspeed, sir.”
The comlink severed.
Sean leaned back in his chair and tried to think of something he could do to get them out of this. He glanced at the main holoscreen and saw that the intercept course he’d laid in to meet up with the Babylon was only minutes away. The Dutchman had reported the successful pickup of the remaining Spec Ops team. This mission had cost them.
Sean stood up and walked over to the tactical workstation, and Captain Russo joined him. He looked back up at the command area and saw Oriana staring intently at her console.
“How many HADES Vs do we have left?” he asked.
Lieutenant Scott brought it up on his screen. “Not that many, sir.”
“Get them into the tubes. We can at least stall those attack drones and then make our best speed to the Yorktown,” Sean said.
“That will get us away from the planet, but what about the Krake warships that just entered the system?” Captain Russo asked.
“It’s a race. I don’t know if we can win it, but I’m certainly going to try. We can have the Babylon fly in tight formation with us, and that might buy us a little bit of time,” Sean said.
Russo looked away from him and he knew she was trying to come up with an alternative that had a higher probability of success.
Sean returned to the commander's chair. He looked around the bridge, feeling like a failure. He'd let all these people down by thinking he could achieve this mission and return home.
They completed the last leg of their orbital assist and broke away from the planet's gravitational pull. The Vigilant launched all its remaining HADES V missiles and the Babylon did the same. The two ships sped away from the planet. Active scans showed that Krake warships were trying to intercept them, but despite being faster than the CDF ships, they wouldn't be able to. They'd have to chase them, but they'd be well within the attack drones' range before they reached the Yorktown.
Sean looked at Oriana, and she finally looked back at him. “We have to try it,” he said.
“It’s not ready.”
“It’s our only option. The attack drones will eventually get past our point defense systems. If that happens, we won’t even be able to try.”
Oriana looked away for a moment. “The power requirements for sustained output will deplete the reactor cores on our ship. The Babylon can’t even do it.”
“If the Babylon is ahead of us, they won’t have to do it.”
Oriana was quiet for a moment. “I understand that, but if it doesn’t work at all, then . . .”
Sean knew what she was about to say. With all the ship’s power devoted to what they were about to try, they wouldn’t be able to bring the point defense systems back up in time. It was all or nothing.
“Colonel, I’m not following this conversation. Can you tell me what’s going on?” Russo asked.
“There might be a way to increase our defenses against the Krake attack drones, but it’s never been tried and it’s unconventional.”
Russo’s gaze flicked toward Oriana and then back at Sean. “What is it?”
“It’s gravity,” Oriana said. “It’s the only thing I could think of that might affect the Krake attack drones. When they're active, they can generate heat equivalent to that of a G-type main sequence star. So, I realized the only thing that could withstand that kind of heat is gravity. Gravity is what keeps a star together.”
Russo frowned and looked at Sean. “You want to generate an artificial gravity field that's capable of stopping the attack drones from reaching the ship?”
“Something like that, but the power requirements are enormous, and there’s a bit of a debate on whether it will just stop the attack drones or cause them to be unable to reach us—almost like they’re on a slippery surface,” Sean said and looked at Oriana. “I understand you have reservations, but it’s my call. Comms, give me a broadcast to the ship.”
“Ready, sir,” Specialist Sansky said.
“Crew of the Vigilant, this is Colonel Quinn. Everyone is to go to their emergency stations. All nonessential personnel are to secure themselves in escape pods. We're about to try something that’s never been done before. If we don’t do this, the Krake warships will catch up to us before we can reach our space gate. It’s a numbers game, and our point defense systems cannot stop all the attack drones heading for us. Set Condition Emergency.”
They were making best speed to the space gate, and Sean ordered their braking thrusters to fire, allowing the Babylon to move ahead of them. Lieutenant Pitts followed his orders without question.
“Emitters are charging,” Gabriel said.
“I’ve only tried this with a single emitter in a lab on the hangar deck,” Oriana said.
Sean kept his eyes on the main holoscreen. The Krake warships had launched hundreds of attack drones that were speeding toward them. He imagined they looked like a swarm of bright fireflies flying in formation, streaking toward his ship with the promise of death and destruction.
“I know that. You had a brilliant idea, but I know this ship,” Sean said. “Gabriel, you’ll need to update the configuration of our inertia dampeners.”
Everyone on the bridge returned to their seats and strapped themselves in. Condition Emergency required everyone on board the ship to secure themselves in such a fashion and go on personal life support.
Their point defense systems stopped as the power draw was redirected to the inertia dampeners and artificial gravity emitters used on the ship. They were essentially reversing the direction and projecting it to a point beyond the ship. This meant that they would lose artificial gravity inside. They'd be in a bubble.
The power requirements were such that all non-critical power wa
s diverted and weapons systems went on standby. The calculations for the power adjustment to their artificial gravity emitters had to be done by Gabriel. Only the ship’s AI could update the calculations based on available power and prevent them from overloading. A miscalculation with the emitters would tear the ship apart.
The lighting on the bridge dimmed as they went to emergency power. Sean gripped the arms of his chair and glanced at Oriana.
“Projecting artificial gravity field around the ship, sir,” Gabriel said.
Sean watched as the power spiked across all reactors aboard the ship. Sensor and video feeds didn’t show them anything. Gravity was invisible, but its effects could be observed.
The nearest Krake attack drones experienced a deceleration a few kilometers from the ship. Several groups of attack drones tried to circle around the ship, but they were caught in the field and couldn’t move.
“Gabriel, can you compress the field? Can you bunch them up together?”
“Calculating,” Gabriel said. “Affirmative, but this will deplete our fusion reactor cores quickly.”
“Understood,” Sean said. “Tactical, have the point defense systems target the attack drones.”
They weren’t far from the space gate. However, the Yorktown hadn’t gone through. It was maintaining the gateway. Sean frowned. “Comms, get me Major Shelton.”
“Major, what are you doing?” Sean asked.
“We abandoned the ship, sir. Self-destruction has been set. I calculated your trajectory. Maintain speed and you’ll get through the gateway,” Major Shelton said.
Sean felt a surge of hope. “Major . . .” he began but stopped. They’d have to thread the needle one more time.
“Colonel,” Lieutenant Scott said, “point defense systems are not responsive. Power draw has limited my access.”
Sean opened a comlink to the Babylon. A moment later Lieutenant Pitts appeared on his personal holoscreen. “Lieutenant, I need you to ready a salvo of Hornet B missiles. Target coordinates incoming.”
