His legs were dangling useless below him. Only his shaking arms were holding him on the ladder, and his strength wouldn’t last forever. He let go with one hand and reached for a higher rung. His fingers held. Then he pulled himself up one more rung with the other hand. Only a couple left to go.
Finally one of his hands could reach the edge of the cockpit. He reached, relieved at having finally made it - and slipped!
For one terrible moment he thought he was going to fall all the way down to the floor. He only had one hand holding to the rail, and it wasn’t going to be enough to stop his fall.
Then his feet caught on a rung, sliding into place with an automatic motion just like they would have done back before his accident.
He gasped with shock and relief. There wasn’t much strength in his legs. His body was still sinking as they buckled under his weight. But it seemed like he had just enough control over his lower extremities to save him from falling all the way to the floor. He reached out with the other hand and grabbed hold of the ladder again. Then he carefully hoisted himself back up, hand over hand. This time he was more careful when he reached the top, and pulled himself over the lip without another fall.
Dan knew he’d been incredibly lucky back there. If his legs hadn’t instinctively moved to arrest the fall, he’d have dropped to the floor. He panted a little, trying to catch his breath. Maybe all the physical therapy and workouts with a walker back on the moon had been worth it after all.
The sound of shouts and booted feet pounding the deck plates echoed through the room as Naga pilots raced through the door to their fighters. He’d made it without a moment to spare.
He tucked himself down into the cockpit as low as he could get, and aimed the pistol at the top of the ladder. The Naga who was due to pilot this ship was about to get a massive surprise.
Twenty-Nine
John had the helm. This was usually Dan’s job, and more than ever he wished his friend were still aboard. Of course, if he were then they could simply head for home and avoid more engagement with the Naga entirely… John had the feeling that the more trouble they caused for their scaled adversaries, the more attention they were drawing. Sooner or later there was bound to be a reckoning, and the further in the future they could push that date the better off Earth was going to be.
With Charline busy taking care of Linda, and Beth working in the engine room on still more repairs of the damaged ship, they were critically short on crew. John wasn’t the pilot Dan was, but he’d have to do.
“Andrew, you set with the guns?” John asked.
“Ready to fire. Majel is already prioritizing targets.”
“Good,” John replied. “Hang on, we’re making our run.”
Cloaked, the Satori was nearly invisible to the Naga sensors. As soon as they began firing they were going to stick out, of course. Every enemy aboard the station would be focused on taking them out. Which was precisely what they were counting on. The chaos that ought to ensue might give Dan the opportunity he needed to escape. If the Cyanauts came through, then it might be just enough to get him out of there.
It had to be. The station was huge. There would be hundreds of Naga aboard it - perhaps thousands. They weren’t going to be able to fight their way through that mess to rescue him, and so far the Naga hadn’t seemed interested in talking things out.
He brought the ship in low over the hull of the station, and then felt the thrumming pulse of the railguns opening up. He could see the streaks of the hot bits of iron as they spat from the guns on either wing, stabbing down into the Naga base with furious force. Again and again they fired as he swept past the wheel of the station.
“That ought to be enough to wake them up,” Andrew said.
“Indeed. I’m pulling us clear so they can’t get a lock on us,” John said.
That was the plan. Dart in, hit them, dart away and change trajectory quickly so that they enemy guns couldn’t get a good lock on them. Already fire was pouring from the station’s guns. They were shooting blindly, but all they needed one was lucky shot.
“I’m bringing us around for another pass,” John said.
“Quickly,” Majel said. “I’m detecting fighter bay doors opening all over the station. We’re about to have a lot of company.”
John grunted an acknowledgement before returning his focus to the ship’s controls. He brought them through a wide arc and then pushed more power into the main thrusters, darting back into firing range again. The Naga were better prepared this time. The moment Andrew opened fire, their guns returned fire on the Satori, aiming for the origin of their railgun shots. John tried to randomize his approach as best he could, dodging and weaving from side to side. Some of their shots were coming dangerously close.
There was a cracking sound like breaking thunder, and then alarms blared across the bridge. The Satori twisted, the controls jerking in John’s hands. He fought to restore the previous heading and couldn’t. The ship was going into a spin.
“I can’t pull us up!” John shouted.
“We’re losing pressure from the main hall,” Majel said. “The venting air is destabilizing the ship. Sealing the compartment and compensating for the vector change.”
“You’re supposed to be dodging!” Beth’s voice said from the speakers. “Not putting more holes in my ship!”
“I’m trying!” John yelled back. He twisted the ship around, jerking the controls hard to avoid another volley of Naga fire. “I have to pull us clear. Their fire control is going to nail us next time.”
“Agreed. We got lucky there,” Andrew said. “Besides, I think we’ve stirred the hornet’s nest enough.”
He wasn’t wrong. The station had opened a dozen bays, and fighters were spewing forth. John wasn’t sure how many might be coming at them, but it could be hundreds.
If he’d been both lucky and good, one of those ships ought to be piloted by Dan. But how the hell were they supposed to figure out which one he was in? Even after they accomplished that, they still needed to get him back aboard and jump for home again. All while dealing with enemy fighters swarming all over them.
The initial assault had been the easy part.
Thirty
Dan stayed crouched as low in the cockpit as he could. All around him he could hear the sounds of other fighters whining as their engines warmed up for takeoff. Where was the pilot who would come to this fighter? Had he seen the wheelchair and gone to investigate? Even now there might be an entire squad of Naga soldiers on their way to this deck, alerted to the fact that Dan was here.
Much of this escape depended on how long Garul remained unconscious. As soon as the Naga leader was awake again, he would sound the alarm. They’d be looking for him in earnest at that point. Even then, the fighter bays might not be the first place they would check. After all, in their eyes he was a cripple. Useless and discardable. But Garul knew that he could fly, so it wouldn’t be terribly far down on the list of places he would look.
The worst part of this was the waiting. That, and not being able to peek. He couldn’t see what was happening out there. If guards turned up the first he’d know of it was when they tossed grenades into his cockpit or something. He could fly this fighter - or at least, he was pretty sure that he could - but it would take time to get it powered up and launched.
A clanging at the base of the ladder got Dan’s attention. There was a banging noise, and then the steady thump, thump, thump of someone climbing. This was the moment of truth. He aimed his pistol at where the Naga’s head would appear.
A claw reached over the edge and came down right next to Dan’s shoulder. He almost jumped out of his skin at how close the Naga had been to touching him. He shrank away from the contact, and almost lost his point of aim.
The Naga’s head rose into sight. It looked distracted at first, but as soon as it saw him in its peripheral vision it locked eyes with Dan. It’s eyes narrowed, a second eyelid fluttered for a moment over the eye. It was getting ready to make some sort
of move.
Dan didn’t give it time to do anything. He fired the pistol. He’d already cranked the setting up to maximum, in case he had to fire it at something in body armor. But this Naga’s head was unarmored, and the blast hit it square in the snout. It made a mess, but Dan didn’t see much of it. The body fell off the ladder, crashing to the floor below.
No time for subtlety now. Even if no one heard the shot or saw the body drop to the floor, it was going to be noticed soon. He powered up the fighter, lowering the cockpit canopy and fastening the unfamiliar harness around his torso. The engines whined with a high-pitched sound that grated on his ears as they powered up.
Outside his fighter, the hangar doors were opening and the first fighter was already getting ready to zip outside into space. An energy barrier flickered in blue light over the open bay doorway, apparently holding the atmosphere in, but allowing the fighters to depart freely.
“Cute trick,” Dan said aloud, wondering how it was done.
There was a helmet resting in a bin above and behind his head. That probably had all the communication gear in it, but Dan had already checked it over. It was built for a Naga, not a human. There was no way he was getting it to fit onto his skull. If whatever the Naga used for wing command was trying to talk to him, there was no way he could hear it.
“This is gonna be messy,” he muttered. He juiced the engines, lifting away from the deck. Next to him another fighter was also lifting off, and almost smacked into him. He veered sideways quickly to avoid it and overcompensated, almost careening into a wall instead.
“These things can really move!” Dan said. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, it might have been fun. He’d never have imagined that he would be back in a fighter cockpit again, but this wasn’t too different from the F-16s he’d flown years ago. The Naga craft were incredibly responsive and maneuverable, if a little touchy on the controls.
He fired the main engine and lit out through the bay doors, crossing his fingers and hoping that no one was going to fire on him for not replying or following normal procedures. He’d have been more circumspect, but he didn’t really know what the Naga launch pattern usually looked like. Hopefully he just looked like another over-eager fighter jock jumping the queue to get out against the enemy faster.
Dan saw another fighter from his wing banking to the left ahead of him. His HUD was circling the fighters from his bay in red, helping them to stand out against space that was becoming increasingly crowded with Naga fighters. He followed that fighter for a bit as it cruised down the length of the station. All of the fighters were spreading out, searching for the attacking ship. Which meant that the Satori was all right, out there somewhere cloaked and waiting.
Of course, knowing they were out there didn’t help him to find them. They were as invisible to Dan as they were to the rest of the Naga fighters. He was effectively hidden from them as well, just one more Naga fighter mixed in with scores of identical ones. He needed to find a way to let them know which one he was flying.
“Always one good way to do that,” he said. He brought his guns live, locked on to the ship that he was following, and fired.
Or tried to fire. The computer was chirping a warning at him. The written alert was in Naga writing so the Cyanaut in his ear wasn’t able to translate it.
“Probably something to the effect of ‘that is not an enemy ship, dumbass’, or something like that,” he said aloud. He was used to hearing chatter in his ear during combat ops. This complete silence was a little unnerving. “Is there a way to disable that friend or foe thing?”
“Unknown,” the Cyanaut replied.
“So you are still speaking to me!” Dan said. “You’d gotten so quiet I wasn’t sure.”
There wasn’t a reply, but Dan hadn’t really expected one. He turned off the targeting computer entirely. It ought to be possible to fire the guns without locking on, and if he could do that…
He fired again. The shots went harmlessly beneath the other fighter. But he pulled back on the controls, slowly guiding the nose of the ship upward and fired again.
This time the shots hammered home, blasting apart one wing of the other fighter and damaging one of the thrusters. It went spinning off to the right, toward the station.
“Now we’re in business!” Dan said. “One down…a hell of a lot more to go.”
Thirty-One
Majel watched the arcs of Naga fighters. They were hunting her. She could almost feel their search, thanks to her deep understanding of the pattern behind their movements. She plotted a new course and fed the information to John, who acknowledged her assistance and changed direction. The new course would keep them clear for another few minutes, but at the rate the station was disgorging fighters it was only a matter of time before they were found.
Eventually the Naga would have enough ships in the air to be able to build a virtual net, which they could use to scour the surrounding space. They would limit her choices of movement, lock down her options for trajectories, and then close the net around the Satori. Eventually one of them would find the ship, even if it was by smashing headlong into it.
Majel predicted they had another ninety-eight seconds before it would be too late to escape the web of hunters. After that they would have to begin firing again, and the station’s guns would come into play to assist the fighters in annihilating the ship. The better option would be to depart before that time, but she knew that meant locking on to Dan’s fighter first. John wasn’t going to give up on his friend easily. Neither would the rest of the crew.
She was searching, of course. But it was hard to tell which craft might be his, or if he had even made it to one of the fighters at all. The Cyanauts had assured John through their link that Dan was indeed out there. Somewhere. Were they to be trusted to their word, after all they had done? It was hard to say.
Majel had managed to narrow down the choices of possible fighters were down to six, out of eighty seven in flight, when Dan simplified the entire process for her.
“Got him!” she said.
“What?” John sounded more alarmed than pleased.
“I’ve located Dan,” she said. “Or rather, he’s revealed himself. One of the Naga fighters has fired on another one. The survivor is breaking off from the search pattern and engaging other fighters now.”
John and Andy looked at each other.
“Dan,” they said in unison.
“Plotting an intercept course now,” Majel said. “John, if I may?”
“The helm is yours,” he replied, taking his hands off the control panel. “I suspect you’re better at this than I am anyway.”
“Probably,” Majel replied. She was more predictable than John’s erratic flying might be, which would hurt them when it came to the station’s guns. She could tell from their firing patterns that the station’s fire control was run by AI. From experience, she knew that the Naga AIs were strong. Maybe not as strong as she, but enough of them working in concert would be difficult to overcome. On the other hand, she was going to be much more effective than John against the fighters, and his erratic pattern of flying was the result of inexperience rather than brilliance.
What they really needed was Dan back at the helm. But he was out there, and although he’d taken down two Naga fighters, he had three more on his tail.
“Moving to engage his pursuers. Ready on the guns,” Majel said.
“I’ve got them,” Andy replied.
She lined up the shot, and he took it. One of the fighters exploded in flames, and the other two shot off in different directions. Dan was clear, at least for the moment. Majel changed course before the rest of the fighters could converge on them. Every time she revealed their presence for even a second gave the enemy data about their location, which they could use to further box them in.
“The station is still launching fighters,” John said. “What’s the count up to?”
“One hundred and forty four,” Majel said. “Minus three.”
And
y got a lock on one fighter which strayed across their path and lit it up. “Minus four,” he chuckled.
“Naga fighters are closing on our position, using our fire to locate us,” Majel warned. They were englobed now. The fighters knew they had the Satori inside their sphere, and were closing the net. They could punch a hole by blowing up a few fighters, but as soon as they did the station’s guns would have them.
Thirty-Two
Dan shot along the outer hull of the station. He stayed as close to the ‘deck’ as he could, mostly to avoid the station’s guns but also because the curve kept pursuing fighters away from him. Most of the fighters chasing him had gone elsewhere - hunting the Satori. He gritted his teeth, jinking the fighter hard to the right so that he could line up another of the station’s turrets in his sights.
He fired, and it exploded satisfactorily. But this was taking too damned long. The Naga base was covered with the things. Even taking a few out wasn’t going to be enough to rescue the Satori from that mess.
It was clear what the Naga were doing. They’d put out enough fighters to completely surround the area where the Satori could be. Then all they needed to do was shrink the globe, and eventually something would run into the human ship. Or more realistically, the Satori would blast her way out - revealing her location. At the range they were sitting, the station’s guns would tear her apart.
Dan peeked at his scanner. Only two fighters still following him. He was small potatoes compared to the Satori. They wanted her more than anything else. He wasn’t sure if they wanted her for the technology they’d lusted after for so long, or because the idea of someone else having that tech scared the shit out of them. In the end it didn’t really matter.
He was finishing an orbit of the station, coming up on a vector which could bring him into the battleground. It was going to be dicey out there, but he needed to screw with the Naga formation. Somehow he needed to manage that without dying to the fighters still on his tail.
Adventures of the Starship Satori: Book 1-6 Complete Library Page 54
