The captain paused for a moment, rubbing his temples with the thumb and fingers from one hand. "I know this was not what any of you were expecting, but we have just over ninety-three thousand citizens on Cygni. We don't know at this time if they are alive or dead. And we can't offer you any more information as to their status, the status of the station, or the status of our enemies.
"And to add to your possible difficulties, this destroyer was called to the front lines only moments ago. You will not be receiving CDF support or coordination on this mission. You will instead be relying on communications between yourselves and your crews."
The captain looked down before taking in and expelling a long breath. "I've also been notified that every merc crew in the Confederation has been called up to come out here to assist. Make no mistake, we've not faced a threat like we are currently experiencing. You are all now on the front lines of war against a foe we have no knowledge of."
The captain stared into the camera for several seconds. "Good luck and say your prayers. I have the feeling you'll be needing them."
An order for departure was barked by the captain just before the comm closed.
Chapter 2
* * *
I walked onto the bridge just as Collins was opening a comm channel to the other merc ships.
I began the conversation. "We should coordinate any boardings. I would propose that if there is indeed a single ship that we go after it first. If that can be captured, retaking the station will be far more doable."
One of the other veteran captains replied, "And who are you?"
"Xavier Balls. Newly retired from the CDF Marines."
"And why would you think that places you in charge?"
"It doesn't. My suggestion was merely that. A suggestion. If we work together we have a much higher chance for success. Common sense would dictate such."
"I will not have my fighters reporting to anyone but me."
"And I'm not suggesting you do. What I'm suggesting is if we are attacking a ship we all attack the ship, at once."
Another captain chimed in. "I'm with captain Delafonte. We will not be ordered around by someone with so little mercenary experience."
Tanner jumped into the conversation. "So little experience? Sergeant Balls has been on close to a thousand raids. He is top notch. You have no idea how much experience he has."
I pulled Tanner back from the center of the camera. "My apologies gentlemen. While I do have extensive experience, I am not attempting to usurp command from anyone else here. All I'm asking is that we coordinate any effort. If someone else has a suggestion I am all ears."
Two other captains responded with calls for coordination. But these mercs were anything but the coordinating type. They would take orders from fleet command should those come down, but if freelancing they preferred to write those orders themselves. After ten minutes of yelling back and forth over the comm channel, four of the captains decided they would be making the final jump to Cygni on their own. Those four ships dropped from the shared comm.
Collins shook his head. "I think we know who we can count on here."
I held up my hand. "Captains. That leaves eight of us. I would suggest we send in a ship behind these others to evaluate the situation. We need to know what it is we're facing before just charging in there. Captain Palmer told us a frigate and destroyer haven't returned from a jump in. And none of the ships we have here can compare to either of those warships. So we need to evaluate. Just a jump in and quick jump out."
One of the captains asked, "Are you volunteering?"
"We would be willing to do such. Our armor has recently been upgraded, giving us the best chance of a return."
None of the others offered resistance.
I nodded. "Very well, we will follow the others in and then return here immediately after. From there we share the information and attempt to coordinate a response."
The remaining captains agreed. I made my way to my stateroom to suit up, returning to the bridge three minutes later. "Sammy. Follow the fourth captain in. And be prepared for an immediate return."
The jump came less than a minute later. An immense ship, almost the size of Cygni Station itself, floated just to her right. The four merc ships in front of us raced in. Half a dozen smaller alien shuttles were docked at the station after moving fighters between the station and the ship.
I placed my hand on Sammy's shoulder. "Hold position here."
Xurpok came on the bridge, stopping and then almost going into a rage when he saw the image on the display. "That is Herzek!"
I turned. "The enemy who attacked your people?"
"Yes! Take me in! Release me on that ship!"
Collins said, "Sensors show weapons powering up!"
"Sammy, get ready to jump out on my command."
Xurpok seethed. "You must take me in there now!"
An intense laser-beam streaked out from the Herzek warship, disappearing into the merc vessel at the closest approach. Seconds later, the aft plating began to glow before the beam exited the back end. A second beam then flashed out toward the second of the assault ships with a similar fate coming seconds later. Both ships broke into slow uncontrolled rolls, their insides having been incinerated.
"Jump us out!"
Seconds later, just as a third beam began to exit the third merc vessel, a wormhole opened in front of us. As it closed behind, the fourth ship was under assault.
I shared the sensor data with the other captains as a comm was opened. "As you can see, we are up against a ship that is far more powerful than our armor can handle. And with a total of eight ships in our fleet, a bum-rush is out of the question."
One of the captains asked, "What are you suggesting, Mr. Balls?"
"I'm suggesting we wait until more ships arrive."
"That may not be for weeks."
"Regardless. Unless someone has a system or weapon that will defeat that laser, I put our chance of getting close enough to that ship to place a breach tube on its hull at nil. As stated before, I'm open to suggestions."
Another captain asked, "What if we program our jumps to come in as close to that ship as we can?"
"Unless someone has a way to more accurately locate a jump, I don't see that happening. You all know the variable nature of the wormhole. We can get close, but that closeness might still be several minutes away. I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing what we just saw, I have no desire to be hanging out there in the heavens for as much as two minutes."
"The average would be as low as a minute. Someone would get through."
I slowly shook my head. "I won't risk my crew for such. That weapon took under five seconds for a kill. There are eight of us. That's forty seconds and we're guaranteed dead. And let's say two of us get lucky and make it through. Given the size of that ship it could easily have twenty thousand Marines aboard. Anyone here have a crew capable of taking that many on?"
Xurpok stepped forward. "I could. And a Herzek Battlemage carries thirty thousand fighters. Many if not most would likely be on that station at the moment."
"While I believe you have the will, I've seen you huffing and puffing after taking on a few dozen. Scaling that fight up to being against thousands is not something I believe you to be capable of. Just like the rest of us, when you get tired you get sloppy."
Tanner said, "Maybe it's time you woke Bardok?"
Xurpok turned. "I believe that to be a good idea, Herbert."
Tanner rolled his eyes. "Again with the Herbert. It's Herb, or Tanner, or Herb Tanner. No Herbert."
"My apologies. Sergeant, I would like to wake my brother."
Tanner chuckled. "That's good, only problem is your brother is in stasis all the way back at Alday, where your ship is docked."
"We must get him."
I rubbed my forehead with the fingers of my right hand. "That would take six weeks. We don't have six weeks."
Chapter 3
* * *
Sammy said, "Sarge, you
might not believe me, but I think I could jump us to within about twenty seconds of that ship."
"Twenty seconds still gets us dead."
"Not necessarily. If that wormhole opens on the other side of Cygni they won't have a shot at us. At least not immediately."
"Is that twenty second trick something you could show the other captains?"
"I could, but it's not guaranteed to work. Probably a 20 percent chance it leaves us hanging out there in the open."
"Describe the process."
Sammy turned back to his console. "I found the jump to be far more accurate if you enter the same coordinates as the next jump point."
Collins slowly shook his head. "Isn't that why they lock that out of the second input? If things go wrong you could find yourself stuck in an endless jump until your fuel runs out. And time-wise it all happens in an instant, so you come out of the wormhole with no fuel."
"Mr Collins is correct." Sammy replied. "That is a possibility. However, I've done this five times and it worked every time. I think the probability of the multi-jump is low. And I can override the safety that allows a second entry."
I turned back to the comm display. "Did you other captains hear any of that?"
Nods and yeses went around the display.
"Would any of you consider doing such?"
One of the captain's asked, "What of you? Are you willing to take this risk?"
I looked around the bridge at the others, each gave a nod. "We are."
"Then the crew of the Desolate is in."
"Malfeasance is in."
"Carnage is in."
Tanner chuckled. "Who's naming these ships?"
Collins replied, "You're aboard the Fracker and you have to ask?"
The remaining captains confirmed their commitment. Sammy spent the next five minutes going over the system override and the necessary settings. Each of the merc pilot's confirmed their entries.
I turned to face my teammates. "This is it then. We press that button and there's no turning back. Anyone has concerns, speak up now."
Tanner said, "I guess this means we aren't hitting the dining hall first?"
Collins chuckled.
I turned back to face the comm camera. "We're ready and willing over here. On our ride out we planned out a number of entry points should we make it to the station, but we aren't going directly to the station. We need to board that ship. We've done an analysis of possible weak-points on that ship's armor. I'm passing it to each of you. Pick a location. We'll select last. When that effort is done, we'll get this underway."
Several minutes passed as the breach points were selected. We would be going in near what we believed to be the bridge. The others would be spread out down the port side, mostly aft.
I took in and let out a deep breath. "Gentlemen... and Ms. Mendez, I believe we are ready. Captains, we will be sending each of you a sync signal. We'll all be jumping in at once. Are your crews ready? The fighting will come fast once we're through."
Nods and yeses were returned.
I looked to Sammy. "Send the sync."
We watched with anticipation as a timer counted down from sixty seconds. As the counter reached zero a wormhole opened in front of the Fracker. Seconds later we were staring at the side of Cygni Station. Seven of the eight had come through clean. The eighth was out of fuel, having been caught in a multi-loop.
A panicked comm was opened from that captain.
I replied, "We're coming for a push. You and your crew have one shot at surviving. If your ship makes it in close, bail out of your airlock and attach to the side of the station with your mag-boots. From there you'll have to make entry through an external hatch."
Mendez said, "Sarge, could we throw a breach hatch on there for them?"
"Depends on the movement of that Herzek ship. If they cooperate and don't move, we can."
Sammy said, "Initiating push. Captain Razlo, I would advise you start bailing now. Your ship will be crashing into that station. You'll want to drift in without it."
"Thank you. And thank you Balls for making this effort."
"Push is done, Sarge, taking us to our target— crap! The Herzek are moving!"
I said, "Keep us out of their sights!"
A thud could be heard on the hull.
"What was that?"
Sammy winced. "That was one of the crewmen who jumped. I had no choice. If he survived that he won't survive long out there is space. He's no longer heading toward the station."
Any loss of friendly life was hard, especially when you were the direct cause. But sometimes circumstance saw to it you had no choice. It was us or him, and I would fall on the side of my crew with that decision every time.
Collins said, "That beast is chasing us all."
Sammy said, "Sarge, I can try for inside the ring by dipping underneath. The laser weapon is mounted on top of that ship. If we go under we might just be able to sneak up beside her."
"If you think we have a chance of not being incinerated, please take it."
Collins said, "Two others just did the same, Sarge. Dropped under."
The image out of the front viewport quickly flipped on its side as the Fracker dove. With a precise and well-timed move, we were out of immediate danger and circling around to a position that would place us beside the Herzek ship, but still inside the ring of Cygni Station. With a second drop, the view of the ring spiraled up and over the viewport before the side of the immense ship filled our view.
"Breach in ten seconds, Sarge. You might want to get the team back there."
We hurried down the hall just as the pipe began to extend. The Herzek's attempted a turn away from our effort, but the maneuverability of our much smaller ship could not be matched. The breach tube attached, a new hatch was bonded, and the sparks and flame from the autocutter could be seen.
Xurpok raced through the pipe, kicking out the heavy cutout hull plate before charging onto the warship.
I took in a deep breath as I looked back at the others. "Mendez, you have pipe duty. Tanner and Collins you stick with me."
"What is it you have planned, Sarge?" Tanner asked.
"To stay alive and to give Xurpok whatever support we can."
Chapter 4
* * *
The Herzek weapons were laser-based. The whumps and thuds from Xurpok's plasma bolts were countered by hisses and cracks from those of the Herzek. The first dozen bodies we came upon had been mangled with malice, making their bipedal form almost unrecognizable.
We turned a corner only to find an injured fighter coming from a side room. A whump from my blaster saw to his end before he could fire his weapon. Tanner hurried over to pick the weapon up for examination, shaking it to remove the blood and guts that now coated one side. The laser rifle was held up and several pulses were fired.
Tanner nodded. "Not bad. That hiss is kind of wimpy though."
"Let's go," I said, "We don't want Xurpok getting away from us."
As we passed a side hallway, Collins dodged several laser pulses as they streaked down the hall from a group of Herzek fighters. Before I could stop him, he doubled back, firing repeated blaster bolts down the hall. Tanner dove, sliding out from below, firing the laser rifle he had just acquired. With a quick roll he continued across the hall and out of line of sight. Collins ducked back around the corner as a half-dozen laser pulses crackled on the far wall.
Collins shook his head. "Nice aim with that laser, Tan, but it didn't penetrate their body-armor."
"I saw that. But I'm keeping it anyway."
A strap was attached, and the rifle was thrown over his shoulder.
I said, "And just how are you gonna get across that hall? They have us separated and Xurpok is moving farther away."
Tanner turned and sprinted for five steps before turning around. His head ducked as he clomped forward, again diving as he reached the crossway. Two quick laser pulses were followed by a half dozen as he slid to a stop on our side with a grin showing through his f
ace-mask.
"And that's how it's done."
Collins pointed. "And you have a nasty singe mark going across the backs of your legs."
"Sometimes you just have to let loose and live a little, Col."
I bobbed my head in the direction of Xurpok. "Come on. And Tanner, since you seem to be so proud of yourself, you cover our backs."
Twenty minutes passed before we caught up to a tired-looking Xurpok. We had come to a junction, dead Herzek lined each of the halls going away from us.
A comm came in from Sammy. "I think the Herzek are recalling some of their fighters. A swarm of shuttles just came from a massive bay on the side of the ship. Whoa. Wait... one of our mercs just flew his ship straight in there. He's firing some kind of plasma cannon from what I can tell. Not certain how much damage he can do, but he's in there. It's the Malfeasance."
I asked, "You have our position, how far are we from the docking bay?"
"Down three floors and then three hundred meters aft."
Xurpok pointed. "A stairwell is this way."
I opened a comm to Mendez. "Close up the hatch and have Sammy detach. No sense in staying connected and vulnerable. And we may want to exit from a different deck."
"Roger that. Sealing off and detaching. I'd say I wish I was with you guys, but I'd be lying."
"Just protect that ship or our lives will be ending here."
The first two flights of stairs were open. As we encountered the third, the wall beside us burst into flame as a half-dozen laser pulses impacted at the same time. I scrambled back up the stairs with Tanner riding my back, he had been following too close behind and had fallen on top of me.
Xurpok didn't hesitate to jump into action. Going over the rail he dropped two flights of stairs, grabbed another rail, and was quickly back on the steps. Two whumps from his plasma rifle told of the end of two Herzeks. As he came back up the steps he unleashed a tirade of plasma bolts on the half-dozen Herzek fighters who had taken up position in the stairwell door.
I jumped down to the corner of the steps and unleashed a tirade of my own. Tanner and Collins were quick behind me and the door and adjacent hall were cleared of Herzeks. Before I could open my mouth, Xurpok raced by as if only a shadow, disappearing around the corner.
The Squad Novelettes 1-5 Page 11
