“Just come back to the Shinrai,” Reece said, tugging at her hand. “We need to get you warmed up. Your fingers look bad.”
“No,” Becca said, pulling free. “Why’s everyone acting so strange? Molotov,” she called turning to the starjet. “Molotov, it’s safe, come out. It’s them, Schweighofer and the others.”
“Just come with me,” Reece said, tugging again. “Please, Becca.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m mad. I can’t handle that. I swear I can’t. What’s happening? Tell me what’s going on? I don’t like this, Reece, please?”
Commander Blake ambled into the light at the top of the spacecraft’s ramp, face ashen, bags heavy under his sunken eyes.
“It’s not your fault,” Schweighofer said, rising from the ground. “Molo knew the risks. No one blames you.”
“What do you mean it’s not my fault, what are you saying?” Becca stammered. “No, no, Molotov’s alive. He’s in the jet. We were…”
Becca raced into the starjet and searched fanatically, yelling for Molotov to show himself. Fearfully, she gazed towards the chair in which Razak’s body had been stowed. Her blood ran cold. It was empty.
“No, no, no, no, no…”
“Come to the ship,” Reece pleaded, holding out a hand. “Let’s get out of here, Becks. We gotta finish this. Let’s go home.”
“No! We… we were talking for hours,” Becca mumbled, a sick feeling churning her stomach. “He was here, I swear it… when we spoke, you all spoke to him, you heard his voice… I didn’t imagine it, I couldn’t have. It was him. All the other apparitions have been… he wasn’t like the others. You heard him yourself, right Hadley, Fang, you heard him right?”
The pair winced and shrugged.
“Stop it, please,” Becca whimpered.
“It wasn’t him, hon,” Reece said, moving up beside her. “It was you, answering for him. We didn’t wanna freak you out. That thing up there can alter our minds, make us do and see things. It’s not your fault. We need to get you into the Shinrai and into a suit. You need protection. You also need to get warm.”
Schweighofer trudged up beside Becca, features both devastated and full of compassion, eyes bloodshot.
“It’s okay,” Schweighofer offered. “We call ourselves slugs because we do things that no one else wants to do, the mucky work, in the dirt where it’s cold and wet. We all chose this life. Molotov wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. God, I wish he was here, but he died doing what he believed in. This isn’t your fault.”
“But he was here,” Becca said, her voice almost pleading.
“No, hon, come on, come with me,” Reece begged softly.
“Slight change of plans,” Nori announced, bursting into the starjet carrying a metal case, followed by the dog, who sat panting and looking up at Becca. “I’m picking up trace life-signs. Molotov’s alive.”
“Come again?” Schweighofer said, eyes becoming wide. “His nanos are active, he’s alive, you sure?”
“Barely, but yes. He’s alive. We have backup coming through the star portal in thirty-seven minutes. I need everyone to gather round. Hurry. I think we can save Molotov at the same time as winning the day.”
The Renegades assembled inside the stricken starjet. Nori set the metal box he was carrying on the ground and opened the lid. It was filled with drink-can sized objects. The top halves were clear, like nautical emergency beacons, green filaments glowing inside. The lower half was chromed, with a small screen displaying a steady sinewave.
“These are spectral grenades,” Nori informed, picking one of the objects from the case, lights dancing inside the glass. “Our friends printed them up on the fabricator in the Shinrai’s cargo bay. It’s currently weaving a small jump-ship. With cover from the Earth Defense Forces, I’ll fly the jump-ship to the star portal and trigger an EMP. The EMP will stun the entity and all electronics, that includes the Shinrai and all our support forces. So, Reece, that means you need to be on that space station before that happens, I’ll give you a countdown. This isn’t going to be easy. Everything hinges on you landing that ship before the EMP is triggered.”
“I’ll get us in,” Reece said.
“I believe you will, but you’re also going to have to get her out. You need to land, not crash-land, resistance will be heavy. You’ll all have your bit to do. You’re going to have to fight your way in.”
“Have you heard me lately?” Reece said. “I have a wedding to get to. Nothing’s standing in the way of that. I keep telling you. One man, one woman, one goal. It’s gonna happen. I’ll land the ship, don’t you worry about that.”
“And we’ll shoot everything that moves,” Fang said.
“Count on it,” Hadley chimed. “That gunner nest stuff’s actually pretty fun. We were really getting the hang of it back there.”
“If this works, maybe we could make that a double wedding?” Schweighofer said softly.
“Count on it,” Becca said, gripping Schweighofer’s hand. “Two men, two women, one goal.”
“Atta, girl,” Reece said, smiling. “One goal.”
“Does that mean Hadders is gonna have to find a date?” Fang said, grinning at Hadley.
“That’s gonna be so sweet,” Scarlet said, clapping her hands together in delight. “Our little boy, all grown up.”
“Pfffft, whatever,” Hadley said, dismissively batting the air.
“Love you, Hadders,” Fang said, throwing an arm around him and pulling him close, helmets banging together. “You make sure you stay vigilant up there. Don’t you dare do something stupid and go dying on me.”
“Me do something stupid, what about you? I gotta stay alive, someone needs to watch your ass, I mean… aww crap, you know what I mean.”
The group rippled with laughter.
“Then let’s get to it,” Nori said, holding up a spectral grenade, filaments inside glowing green. “You’ll each have a grenade. They’ll change color the closer you get to the entity. Anything exceeding five hundred meters will show green, up to one-hundred, amber, and then red beyond that. You should be able to see the Hive Queen by then. Molotov should be close by. Twist the tops, throw the grenades and get out as fast as you can. Get off that space station and fly as hard and fast as you can for the star portal. Myself and the Earth forces will follow behind. Clear?”
Everyone looked to Commander Blake for the final word, for his usual rousing call to arms, but the man appeared broken, gray stubble poking from his chin, eyes weary. The poor guy looked like a lost old man wondering where he’d left his keys.
“Is there any signal from Razak’s nanos?” The Commander asked quietly.
“I’m sorry, no,” Nori replied. “He’s gone.”
The Commander nodded, his worry lines deepening.
“Slugs,” he said quietly, barely a whisper, “you’ve always done me proud and I’m with you all the way. Schweighofer, I think you should take the lead on this one. Whenever you’re ready…”
“Commander?” Schweighofer said.
Commander Blake didn’t respond. He turned, cutting a lone figure as he trudged back towards the Shinrai.
“Am I strangely beginning to love that guy?” Reece muttered.
“He has that effect,” Fang said. “Why d’you think we put up with all his crap? It’s because he cares more than anyone you’ve ever met. When he screams in your face, it’s him saying he wants you to dig deep, to be the best you can be. Not many people care, not like that, to push you to your limits. Most people just pander and tell you what you wanna hear. Everything we are, he helped us become.”
“Well then let’s give him a reason to scream in our faces again,” Schweighofer said. “Let’s do this for the Commander, Molotov, Razak, Roo, Fox, all Earth. Let’s save everyone.”
Schweighofer leaned over and plucked a spectral grenade from the box and secured it to her belt.
“Gear up, slugs, we’re going in.”
Earth Defense Force
S kunk squ
adron’s leader, Hamilton, vectored on the star portal, which blazed against the darkness of space. He swung his Lockheed Skunk into position facing the artificial micro-star. The solar panelled wings extending from the portal’s ring structure reflected a patchwork image of Earth’s western hemisphere. Shenyang and Firehawk squadrons had already successfully cleared the containment field encircling the star, and had plunged into the fiery maelstrom. Skunk squadron was up next.
“Skunks, form on my six,” Hamilton instructed. “When we go, make sure you hit forty-two thousand miles per hour, any less and the star’ll fry you. There’s no turning back once we clear the containment field. You need to pass through in under three-point-six seconds. That’s all our birds can handle. Go fast and furious.”
“Affirmative,” came multiple responses.
“Weapons hot,” Hamilton advised. “Fire in short bursts and on target, don’t fill the skies with excessive flak. Every round you fire will keep going until it hits something. We’re in space, don’t forget it. The physics of engagement are different up here. Friction is at almost zero. Make each round count and watch out for debris clusters. Keep an eye on your radar. Even a downed bogey can take you out.”
“Safety’s disengaged,” the team responded.
“Monger?” Hamilton enquired. “I’m getting a zero-thrust error from your port burner. Copy that?”
“Everything looks good from here,” Monger replied, his voice crackling over the intercom. “Must be an uplink malfunction. Switching to redundancy.”
“Good, I got you, both engines online. Coulthard, check your drift. If you hit that ring structure no one’s coming home. Stay tight, people.”
“Roger that, closing up.”
Hamilton eyed his formation display as the supporting twenty-five Skunks closed ranks behind his space fighter. When everyone was formed up, he flicked open the plastic housing atop his control stick and held his thumb over the thrust actuator.
“Formation looks good,” Hamilton said. “When we’re through, protect Nori’s jump-ship and the star portal control room. Shenyang and Firehawk squadrons will concentrate on the enemy fighters coming from the nest. Don’t get distracted by unnecessary engagements. Fight hard and watch each other’s tails. I want twenty-six in and twenty-six out. Follow my burners, Skunks, we’re going in. On my mark, in three, two, engage…”
Hamilton lit up his thrusters and rocketed towards the star portal, his squadron in tow. The numbers on his helmet’s HUD counting down to the containment barrier whizzed in a blur, the sequence shortening rapidly. When the numbers hit zero an aggressive gravitational pull tugged at his innards and the micro star’s incredible plasma heat caused him to balk, the radiance cooking him inside his spacesuit. Hamilton’s Skunk pierced the star and a cone of lensing starlight contracted before him. He was in the wormhole now. He said a quick prayer and crossed his chest. In two seconds his squadron would be engaged in the fight of their lives.
The Battle of Gondwana
R eece held the Shinrai above the Gondwanan ocean, beneath a dense blanket of steely cloud, angry waves rising and collapsing below, frothing veins congealing then dashing apart, rain lashing wildly. He’d purposely flown the Shinrai into the tempest to remain concealed from the orbiting space station, with its many hunting spies. Reece worked the Shinrai’s thrusters closely, applying constant corrections to hold them steady under the force of the storm.
“Bulkhead is sealed,” Nori said over the com from the cargo hold. “I’m good to go. Open the bay door.”
“You got it,” Reece said, reaching across the dash and engaging the release mechanism. “Be careful when you pull out, I’m reading windspeeds topping ninety miles an hour.”
The sudden wind excavating the guts of the Shinrai threatened to flip the craft and slam them into the churning ocean.
“I’m out. Close her up,” Nori said a few moments later.
“Closing.”
When the bay doors sealed, the violence of the shuddering control column and the flipping forces eased. Becca and Reece watched from the Shinrai’s cockpit as Nori streaked through the rain ahead, a lone warrior heading into battle, on a craft that was a cross between a racing bike and a missile, which Nori was riding in a prone position, head down, feet planted on stabilizers either side of a rocket engine. Lightning crackled as Nori pulled back and skyrocketed.
“I’m detecting backup arriving through the star portal, multiple signals,” Nori informed as he disappeared into the clouds. “The fight’s on. I’ll alert you when I reach the star portal control room. Don’t begin your ascent until then. Stay concealed.”
“Will do,” Reece said. “Watch yourself out there.”
“I’ve got almost a hundred of the world’s best pilots watching me, I’ll be fine. You just make sure you land that ship in one piece, and take care of my dog.”
Daisuke lifted his head from the footwell and gazed at Reece. He yawned and lay back down.
“I think we’ll be taking care of each other,” Reece said, giving Daisuke a playful shake.
“It’s been an honor serving with you, Nori,” Commander Blake said from his gun nest.
“And it will continue to be so,” Nori came back. “We will get through this. Stay concealed until I say. Nori out.”
*****
Hamilton exploded through the star portal, plasma streaming from his canopy, his collision alarms wailing. He hurtled through a mess of fire and debris, which raked his Skunk, spattering gouges. Flames sprung from the footwell, smoke instantly filling the cabin. He grabbed the fire extinguisher and doused the flames in foam.
“Noodle, Goblin, Shar?” He called, waving the smoke from his display, which showed their transponders offline.
“Goblin didn’t make it,” Monger came. “I saw her peel apart inside the star. She’s gone.”
“I have an engine flame-out,” Natzuke called. “I’m losing fuel, Wing Commander.”
“Can you lock it down?” Hamilton responded, coughing as the lingering smoke attacked his throat.
“I think so. You go on, I’ll catch up.”
“Glock’s floating with his wreckage,” Lombardi informed, her tone grave. “No life-signs.”
Subsequent transmissions confirmed Shar had perished. The battle hadn’t even begun and Hamilton was already down three pilots. Out ahead, Shenyang and Firehawk squadrons were defending the skies in a battle the likes of which Hamilton had only ever seen from the comfort of a movie theatre, a starfield full of fire. Enemy fighters were attacking individual crafts in swarms, green lasers converging, overwhelming their prey by sheer force of numbers. Explosions were everywhere, popping and fading. It didn’t take a mathematical genius to calculate the Earth Defense Force wouldn’t last long if this kept up. A simple glance told Hamilton they were heavily outnumbered.
Hamilton spotted further enemy craft peeling away from the space station, which resembled a beehive, crackling with green electricity. Newly forming craft were crawling across the hive, like a colony of adolescent bees, rippling in mesmerizing waves, a strange hypnotic dance. Here and there they dropped away, becoming energized by the bursting electricity, their hulls igniting green, powering their lasers which spat furiously. A cluster of Firehawk squadron’s fighters were sweeping in from above, blasting the ejecting enemy craft. The space station’s electric whips refocussed and shredded the fighters. The stricken crafts tumbled as welts of pillowing fire, pilots’ screams cutting short.
“Pull back,” Mantis, the Shenyang squadron leader, ordered. “Draw them away from the station, engage away from that electricity.”
“There’s too ma… aaahhhhgggg…”
Swarms of enemy crafts were returning to the hive from their attack runs, becoming recharged by the electric tentacles, hulls glowing brightly once more.
“Get them on the way back to the Hive,” Mantis called. “They’ve only got limited charge. Attack when they’re depleted.”
Hamilton watched Shenyang squadro
n close behind a cluster of retreating enemy fighters, lighting them up and downing dozens, but their numbers were replenished almost immediately. Hundreds of black crafts were now dropping away from the Hive.
“Skunks, we’re moving,” Hamilton called, focussing on Nori’s transponder, which placed him at just over three thousand miles out and closing on their position. “Protect Nori above all else. Follow me, defensive spiral. Don’t sit still, constant attitude changes, pitch and roll, this is it.”
By the time they closed on Nori, Hamilton had lost three more skunks and laser fire was converging on them with increasing frequency. A flurry of enemy fighters engaged them head on, causing Hamilton to jink defensively to avoid their laser fire. He fired a volley in return, which was bolstered by the squadron behind. Watching enemy fighters mushroom with electric flame, Hamilton yanked back on the yolk, performing a reverse barrel-roll, turning one-eighty and dropping in behind Nori, who was weaving madly.
Ahead, Hamilton caught his first glimpse of the control room on the ring structure circling the star portal, an oblong shaped chamber with porthole windows, blanketed oxygen cylinders arranged on one side.
“They got Lombardi,” Wurst cried. “They’re on my tail, I...” the intercom fuzzed to static.
“Peel up and rain down,” Hamilton ordered, noticing a new swarm of enemy fighters blip up on his radar. “Don’t fire towards the structure. It can’t take damage.”
Hamilton’s squadron followed his lead, rising and falling as though dropping from the peak of a rollercoaster, cannons and missiles unleashing, blasting the enemy ranks. Nori streaked ahead of the firestorm. Hamilton groaned; another four Skunks had been downed. His squadron was already down to fourteen and it had only been a few short minutes since incursion. At this rate they weren’t going to last ten.
“Damnit, we’re getting hammered. Nori, did you take any damage?”
“Not so far, keep it up, almost there.”
“Turn off your navigation lights,” Monger said, flashing with inspiration. “We’re visible for miles, from all directions. Let’s fly dark.”
Jurassic Earth Trilogy Box Set Page 59
