by G J Ogden
Some of the other smaller Hedalt battleships had limped on and mounted a spirited resistance, but these had been quickly overcome by the freshly reinvigorated Nimrod Fleet. And with only one or, at most, two Hedalt soldiers on board, the larger cruisers were effectively crippled without their simulant crews. Some sporadically fired back at the fleet, but it was like fighting with only one leg and an arm tied behind their back, making it easy for the agile Nimrods to evade their cannons and pick them off.
Choudary completed his approach and enabled the mag-locks, clamping the Nimrod to the docking bay doors like a limpet on a whale.
“Hard dock confirmed, Commander Sonner,” announced Choudary as the solid thump of metal connecting with metal resounded through the ship’s frame. “Suarez is cutting through now.”
“Is Echo Squadron in position?” asked Sonner.
“Affirmative, Commander, the five Nimrods from Echo are docked and sealed, awaiting your instructions.”
Sonner pushed herself out of the command chair. She had already donned her body armor and had a sidearm strapped to her hip. Eighteen in total would board the capital ship in an effort to seize control from Kagan. Sonner had seen three Hedalt on the bridge, and it was possible there were more, but knowing how heavily they relied on simulants, she doubted it. For all she cared, the rest of the Hedalt fleet could burn in space, but this ship she intended to take as a prize. This wasn’t out of a desire for revenge or for reasons of pride, but for the future defense of Earth. With the simulants gone, she did not expect Warfare Command would mount another attack any time soon, even if they were capable of doing so. But, just in case the Hedalt decided to come knocking again, she would need a way to repel the threat. And what better way than to turn the Hedalt’s most powerful weapon against them.
“The bridge is yours, Mr. Choudary,” said Sonner, heading towards the central corridor that lead to the docking hatch. “Please don’t leave without us...”
Sonner heard spirited Choudary’s reply, but she was already bustling along the corridor towards the airlock, where Suarez and James were waiting.
“We’re ready to breach, Commander,” said Suarez, “the boarding parties from Echo are standing by too.”
Sonner drew her weapon and loaded it, “I hate these damn things,” she grumbled. “I hope you’re a better shot with one of these than me, Suarez.”
“Yes, Commander, I’m the best,” replied Suarez, without even a hint of boastfulness. Sonner wasn’t sure if this was just arrogance or egotism, neither of which she was a fan of, but hearing Suarez’s calmly self-assured reply actually made her feel better.
“Okay, let’s go and steal ourselves a new ship,” Sonner continued, “Breach in three... two... one...”
Suarez hit the hatch release, which swung open like the lid of a jack-in-the-box. Air rushed past their faces and then Suarez charged through first, followed by James and then Sonner. They had expected a volley of plasma to greet them, but they were met only with silence as they entered into what looked like a fighter bay.
“Clear!” Suarez called out using one of the dozen or more smaller ships for cover. Then similar calls of ‘Clear’ were heard from other parts of the deck as Echo breached and also took up defensive positions inside the bay.
Sonner stepped up to one of the smaller craft and inspected it. Each was armed with plasma cannons on the ends of their sleek wing tips and what looked like a smaller turret on the nose.
“These are fighter craft,” said Suarez, pulling herself up to peer inside the cockpit of the closest ship. “Single seater. There’s a defunct simulant inside this one.”
“Looks like we’re going to need to train some fighter pilots then,” said Sonner, running a hand along the hull of the agile-looking vessel, as the breaching teams from Echo Squadron moved up and took positions further inside the hangar.
“You’ve got one volunteer, Commander,” said Suarez, eying up the fighter as if it were a brand new supercar in a showroom.
“If we manage to take over this ship, you’ve got yourself a deal, Miss Suarez,” said Sonner. “Let’s go...”
They moved cautiously through the cavernous interior of the War Carrier, checking section by section for signs of ambush or resistance, but all they found were the non-functional bodies of simulant crew. Eventually, they climbed up a long, elegant stairway, of the sort that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a twentieth-century luxury ocean liner, to reach a wide set of doors.
“Just through there is the bridge, as best as I can make out,” said James, referring to their limited scan data of the ship on a data pad.
“As best as you can make out?” replied Sonner, raising her eyebrows at him. “I need you to do better than that, mister.”
“Sorry, Commander,” James answered, “More than eighty percent of this ship is given over to weapons systems and that fighter bay we walked into. The rest, I’m just guessing at. But I’m pretty sure this is the bridge.”
“Well, I guess ‘pretty sure’ will have to do,” said Sonner, shrugging. It wasn’t like she was about to turn back. “Suarez, you’re up...”
Suarez nodded and signaled the other teams from Echo, before counting down from five using hand signals alone. Sonner took a deep breath and raised her weapon. Here goes nothing...
The door swung open and Suarez burst inside along with the first team from Echo Squadron, but in contrast to the deathly calm throughout the rest of the ship, this time the enemy were waiting.
Plasma shards flashed towards them and Suarez immediately fired back, hitting one of the Hedalt soldiers in the neck, while a second soldier in amber-lined armor was battered by a hail of bullets from the first Echo team. But neither of the soldiers was Kagan.
Sonner and James followed, but they’d barely made it across the threshold before the doors slammed shut behind them, trapping one of the Echo team members and crushing him like a bug. Both Sonners were frozen with shock, unable to tear their eyes away from the gruesome scene. But as grisly as it was, the fact that the bulk of their raiding party was now trapped outside was even harder to stomach. Sonner cursed. They’d just lost their advantage of numbers.
Kagan sprang up from behind a row of consoles and unleashed a storm of plasma from pistols held in both hands, lighting up the bridge like a laser show.
“Move!” cried Suarez, charging towards the shell-shocked duo and knocking Sonner to the deck just as a shard of plasma clipped James’ shoulder. He dropped, yelling as the searing pain took hold, but managed to scramble behind a console alongside Suarez and Sonner. More flashes of plasma seared the air, scorching the deck to their side and burning holes in the wall behind them as Kagan continued to unload.
Sonner glanced across to where the team from Echo had entered, but they all lay dead, hit multiple times in the head and upper body. The Earth Fleet body armor had proved no match for the weapons Kagan was wielding.
“Did you really think you could take my ship, human?” shouted Kagan, his voice echoing around the bridge. “With or without simulants, I will destroy you! Others will come. It is only a matter of time.”
“Big talk, considering your fleet is in ashes,” Sonner called back. “And this is my ship now, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped shooting it up.”
James looked at her, mouth agape, “What are you doing?” he asked in a panicked whisper.
“I’m trying to make him angry, make him slip up,” said Sonner.
“I think he’s already angry!”
More shards of plasma slammed into the console, causing a cascade of small explosions, which showered Sonner and the others with smoldering debris.
“This cover won’t last for long, we have to make a move,” said Sonner, “Suarez, any fancy combat tactics you can offer?”
“Nothing fancy, Commander,” Suarez replied, brushing a burning ember from her hair. “But how about I run out to the side and draw his fire, while you move right and take him down.”
“You’re the crac
k shot,” said Sonner, flinching as the panel to the side of her head burst open and crackled with electrical energy, “I should be the one to draw his fire.”
James shook his head, “No, let me, the fleet can’t lose its Commander.”
“James, this is no time for heroics...” Sonner began, but James was resolute.
“No heroics, Sarah, it’s just common sense,” he said, “I’ll go, and you two take that bastard down.”
The console began to crumble and a shard of plasma ripped through, barely a meter to their side. “Okay, but if you get...”
“I won’t, Sarah, just make sure you get him!” Then James rose to a crouch, “Ready?” Sonner and Suarez nodded and raised their weapons, and as another shower of debris lashed his face, James ran, firing wildly in the direction of High Provost Kagan.
Suarez was up first, but her eyes widened as it become obvious that Kagan hadn’t taken the bait. Instead of switching his aim to James, he had anticipated the move and was aiming dead at her. Plasma flashed from the barrel as Suarez tried desperately to dodge, but the shard raked across her body armor, gouging out a furrow of material and flesh. Suarez screamed as Sonner fired, but Kagan had already moved, darting towards James so fast he was almost a blur.
James slid to a stop, realizing that their plan had failed, and fired at Kagan, but the round pinged off his amber-edged armor like a hailstone off a car hood. Before he knew what was happening, Kagan had discarded one of the plasma pistols and had grabbed him by the neck, lifting him so that his toes were barely scraping on the deck.
“Put him down!” Sonner yelled, stepping out from behind the burning mass of metal that had been their cover, keeping the barrel of her weapon aimed at Kagan. “Do it now, or I will kill you!”
Kagan laughed, and swung the flailing body of James in front of him so that he hung between himself and Sonner like a shield. She could hear his pained gurgles and croaks as Kagan slowly squeezed the life out of him, “Take your shot, human. If you dare!”
Damn it! Sonner cursed, keeping the weapon trained on the small gap to the side of her brother’s thrashing arms and legs. She knew she would as likely hit him as Kagan, but if she didn’t shoot, he’d be dead anyway, with herself following soon after. Kagan knew this. He wanted her to shoot. He wanted her to kill him, to give him some sick sense of satisfaction. She added pressure to the trigger, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t risk killing her brother.
In front of her, she heard Kagan’s long, melodious laugh again, “Pathetic, weak-minded human! And you wonder why we sought to exterminate you...”
A loud crack punctured the air and Sonner flinched, instinctively checking herself, but she was unhurt. She turned and saw Suarez, propped up behind the broken console, barely visible through the smoke and twisted material. She was clutching her wounded side with one hand, while in the other was her weapon, smoke oozing from the barrel, which was aimed dead at Kagan. Sonner spun again and saw her brother desperately scrambling away from the High Provost, who had sunk to his knees, clutching his neck with both hands where Suarez’s bullet had ruptured the flesh. Kagan’s remaining weapon lay discarded on the deck beside him.
Sonner ran over to James and dropped down by his side.
“I’m okay...” James croaked, grabbing her arm with one hand, while still holding his bruised neck with the other.
Sonner rose, and stepped in front of Kagan, kicking the plasma pistol clear of his reach. He looked up at her with hateful eyes. Even now as he drowned in his own blood, Sonner could not understand his vehement contempt for her and the human race. He tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was blood. She considered shooting him, but there had already been enough death and violence. And in some twisted way, she imagined that Kagan would probably consider her act of ‘mercy’ as an insult. Kagan spluttered again, staining the amber lining of his armor with a streak of bright red blood. Then he fell forward and lay in a slowly expanding pool of his own blood, squirming for a few moments more, before finally falling still.
Sonner heard boots shuffling across the deck and turned to see Melinda Suarez hobbling up beside her. She saw the scorched wound and then grasped the tactical specialist by the shoulders, worried she was about to collapse. Suarez gladly accepted Sonner’s help, resting an arm over her shoulder for support.
“We need to get that wound seen to,” said Sonner, “We’ve lost enough people already. And there weren’t many of us to begin with.”
“I’m not dying today, Commander,” said Suarez, and Sonner was amazed to see that the outline of a smile managed to crack through her pained grimace.
“And why is that, Tactical Specialist Melinda Suarez?” Sonner replied, as the doors to the bridge burst open and the other Echo teams raced inside, carrying an assortment of tools and equipment. One of them saw Suarez and rushed to her side, medkit in hand.
“Because I’m going to be a fighter pilot,” said Suarez, grinning, as Sonner helped to lay her down on the deck so that the medic could attend to her.
“Well, a deal is a deal, I guess,” laughed Sonner, backing away to give the medic space. “You were certainly right about one thing, though.”
“What’s that, Commander?” Suarez groaned as the medic began to peel away the charred armor surrounding the wound.
“You are the best damn shot in the fleet.”
TWENTY-SIX
The lone Destroyer that jumped in did not join the battle, as Taylor had expected. Instead, it was headed on a direct course for Earth. Casey had managed to shunt enough power to the main ion engines to catch up with it, but despite repeated attempts to contact the vessel and warn it off, the Destroyer had not responded.
“What’s our time to intercept?” asked Taylor, perched on the edge of the command chair.
“We’ll catch it before it hits atmosphere, Cap,” said Casey. “Less than a minute.”
“Try and raise it again,” said Taylor, glancing across to Satomi at mission ops. “Tell them to stand down or we will open fire.”
“Message sent, Captain,” replied Satomi, “but since they didn’t listen the first four times, I don’t expect they’ll listen now.”
Flashes of plasma erupted from the rear turret of the Destroyer, but Casey managed to weave between them.
“Damn, that was close,” said Blake, “I’m glad you’re still awake over there, Casey.” Casey threw up a casual salute, but kept her eyes fixed inside the pilot’s viewport.
“I think that’s your answer, Captain,” said Satomi, “the choice is to let them land, or not.”
“But they’re a sitting duck,” said Taylor, gesturing to the ship on the viewport, which had not attempted any evasive maneuvers since their pursuit had begun, “It somehow doesn’t seem right to shoot it down.”
“Cap, we’re talkin’ ‘bout the guys who nearly wiped out all life on Earth,” replied Blake, shooting him a reproving look, “I think we’re way past playin’ fair.”
“Fair point,” said Taylor. It was hard to argue, though he still didn’t like the idea of shooting someone in the back, even if that someone was Vice Provost Adra. “See if you can take out their main engines, that will at least buy us time to figure out our next move.”
“The ship’s momentum will still carry it into the atmosphere, even if you disable the engines,” Satomi pointed out. “The difference is that without the main engines it won’t be able to slow down before it gets there.”
“Well, if nothing else, it should motivate them to answer our damn calls,” Taylor replied, “unless Adra wants to get cooked in the atmosphere, that is.” Then he turned to the tactical station and added, “Do it, Blake.”
“You got it, Cap,” said Blake, swiftly targeting the Destroyer’s main ion drives, “One disabled Hedalt ship, comin’ right up.” A burst of turret fire rippled out ahead of them and lashed across the rear of the Destroyer, causing a succession of micro explosions. A few seconds later, the bright glow from the engine exhausts flickered a
nd went out. Blake spun around in his chair and grinned, “Am I good, or what?”
Suddenly, an intense flash of light saturated the viewport as the Destroyer exploded violently, breaking apart into a dozen fiery hulks that shot out in all directions. Casey reacted with the reflexes of a cat, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the larger fragments.
“Blake, I said disable it, not obliterate it!” cried Taylor.
“Hey, I barely tickled the thing,” said Blake, leaping on the defensive, “There’s no way I hit it hard enough to make it pop like that!”
“He’s right, Captain,” said Satomi, peering intently into her console screen, “I’m picking up what looks like an escape shuttle pushing ahead of the debris.” She punched in a few commands and the image on the viewport shifted to show a small v-shaped craft that was only big enough for one or two people, at a squeeze.
Taylor noticed there were electrical arcs spiking all over the rear section, “It looks like it’s damaged.”
“Some debris might have collided with the shuttle after it ejected,” suggested Satomi. “My guess is that they were hoping to mask their escape with the explosion, and then slip away in the confusion. And it almost worked.”
“Can we scoop it up into the cargo hold?” asked Taylor.
“Not before it reaches atmosphere,” said Casey, “I’m going to have to slow down too, otherwise all that will be left of us and this ship is what they can scrape off the surface of Earth.”
“Damn it! Okay, monitor the shuttle and follow it down,” said Taylor, “I guess we’re going to have to meet with our provost friend one last time.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Casey followed the escape shuttle into the cloud-covered, blue atmosphere of Earth. The smaller ship’s higher entry speed opened up a gap between them, and as the Contingency One finally emerged from the flames and into the upper atmosphere, the escape shuttle was already several hundred miles ahead.
