by Ryk Brown
“You can’t continue firing torpedoes like that, sir,” Lieutenant Kraska warned. “You’ll overheat the plasma generators.”
Robert ignored his copilot’s warnings and continued firing. “Striker Two, Striker One. You there, Gil?”
“One, Two. Just arrived,” Gil replied. “Any girls left to dance with?”
“A hot one, right in front of me. Keep up the onslaught on her aft shields for me, will ya?” Robert suggested. “My tubes are about to melt!”
“You got it!” Gil replied. “Peel right, and bug out……now!”
Robert immediately rolled his gunship into a tight right turn, tapping his jump button as soon as he got a clear jump line.
Gil Roselle squinted from the blue-white flash as the gunship before him jumped away. Without waiting for his targeting computers to calculate a firing solution, he too pressed his firing trigger and held it down, sending a constant stream of plasma torpedoes slamming into the Dusahn cruiser’s weakening aft shields. “Gunners, join the party,” Gil suggested. “Robey, just as soon as those kids jump in behind us, tell them to cut in on my dance partner here.”
“Understood, sir,” his sensor officer replied.
“Damn! This sure beats the hell out of sitting in a command chair and barking out orders while everyone else has all the fun!”
“Reaper Two, circle north. Target the north and east towers,” Loki instructed from the Seiiki’s cockpit as Josh brought the ship around to jump toward the gunships still pounding the Ghatazhak’s shield on the surface of Corinair. “Reaper Five, target the south and west towers.”
“Reaper Two circling north,” the Reaper’s copilot responded. “Target north and east towers.”
“Reaper Five, taking south and west.”
“You got your jump line?” Loki asked Josh.
“Don’t worry about what this ship is doing,” Josh insisted. “You just keep everyone else on their game. I’ll handle harassing those damned gunships.”
“Thanks,” Loki replied. “But don’t forget to keep us alive, while you’re at it, okay?”
“All part of the plan,” Josh said as he put the Seiiki into a tight roll and pressed the jump button. As soon as they came out of the jump, Josh spotted his next target and turned towards it, firing away.
“Jump to Rama is complete.” By now, the Aurora’s navigator was getting a little more comfortable with the fast-paced battle and the constantly-changing locations in which they were fighting.
In addition, Nathan had noticed that his entire bridge crew was developing a routine, taking turns acknowledging orders, whenever possible, and giving their captain exactly the information he needed, when it was needed.
“No cruisers,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “Six gunships, three in low orbit around Peridino, the other three at the planet’s L-three point. Range to nearest, three light minutes.”
“I got’em,” Jessica replied. “Locking two missiles on… Wait, you got something coming around Peridino’s third moon, Layla?”
“Yup, it’s a cruiser, and she’s a heavy. Range is two and a half light minutes.”
“Helm, turn toward the cruiser,” Nathan instructed. “Roll us over and jump us in above her.”
“Recommend a two-part jump, torpedoes then big guns,” Jessica suggested.
“Correction, Lieutenant,” Nathan followed. “Jump us in two clicks in front of the target as she comes around that moon to bear on us. Two clicks down, as well. We’ll jump in pitched up to fire on her. Then pitch back level as you jump forward, sliding in directly under her bow. And give us just enough pitch to one side, so we can get our topside guns and our broadside guns on that cruiser, as well.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Dinev replied.
“Missiles are away,” Jessica reported.
Twelve small flashes of blue-white light appeared before them as their missiles jumped away toward their distant targets.
In orbit above Rama’s third planet, six blue-white flashes of light momentarily hid the arrival of six instruments of destruction, appearing less than a kilometer from their targets, and closing at blinding speeds. Two seconds later, before any of the three gunships could raise their shields, spin up their point defenses, or jump to safety, the missiles slammed into them, penetrating their unprotected hulls and detonating deep within them. The result was complete destruction of all three gunships. At the same time, more than five hundred thousand kilometers away, three more gunships met identical fates.
“Jump complete,” Mister Bickle reported as the Aurora’s jump flash faded.
“Firing all tubes,” Jessica announced.
“Rolling to port,” Lieutenant Dinev added.
Nathan watched as the image of the Dusahn heavy cruiser rotated forty-five degrees on the main view screen, while a stream of plasma torpedoes leapt from the Aurora’s tubes and slammed into the cruiser’s shields, causing them to flash red-orange with each impact.
“Target somehow managed to get her shields up,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported in disbelief.
“We might have been two light minutes out,” Nathan said.
“But that cruiser was only twenty light seconds from the gunships at L-three,” Jessica finished for him. “But you expected that, didn’t you?”
Nathan didn’t respond. He was too busy calculating all the different ways the cruiser’s captain could defend against their attack and possibly even retaliate.
“Losing my angle on the tubes,” Jessica reported. “Switching to topside cannons.”
“Cruiser is painting us,” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned. “Guns and missiles.”
“Laying down point defense fire between us and the target,” Jessica assured him. “Broadside cannons in ten seconds.”
“Target is firing rail guns and plasma cannons,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.
A moment later, the Aurora’s shields began to light up as plasma charges and heavy rail gun rounds slammed into them. The ship rocked with each impact, but their shields held, even against an onslaught from such close range.
“Broadsides are firing!” Jessica reported.
“Target is launching missiles!”
The Aurora pitched down slowly as she passed under the Dusahn heavy cruiser. Her topside plasma and heavy rail gun cannons exchanged like-kind fire with the enemy vessel, each of them pounding away at the other’s defensive shields, hoping to bring the other’s down before their own collapsed. Missiles leapt from the cruiser’s side launch tubes but were intercepted by the dense layer of fragmenting rail gun rounds being created by the Aurora’s point-defense cannons. The result of the exchange was a fiery display of destructive force, as each tried to destroy the other as they passed one another in the cold vacuum of space.
“Target’s shields are down to thirty percent,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.
“Our shields are down to forty percent,” the systems officer warned.
“I’m losing angle on the broadside cannons,” Jessica warned. “Gimme some yaw, Lieutenant.”
“I’m on it,” Lieutenant Dinev replied from the helm.
“Twenty percent,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.
“Keep on them, people.”
“Thirty percent,” the Aurora’s systems officer warned.
“Target is channeling emergency power into her shields,” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned. “They’re trying to outlast us!”
“Throw everything we’ve got at them, Jess!” Nathan urged as the ship shook violently.
“I am!”
“Ten percent and almost holding,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.
“Our shields are down to fifteen percent, Captain!”
“All available power to shields!” Nathan ba
rked.
“Nine percent and holding!” Layla reported, concern creeping into her tone.
“Escape jump ready, Captain,” Mister Bickle announced, hoping that his captain would take the hint.
“Not yet, Mister Bickle. Not yet,” Nathan insisted.
“Ten percent,” the Aurora’s system’s officer warned, barely containing his panic, “and falling!”
“Not yet,” Nathan instructed calmly, glancing at the mission clock.
“Jump flashes!” the lieutenant commander announced.
“Five percent!” the system’s officer yelled.
“Cobra gunships directly astern! Two clicks! They’re firing!”
A dozen red-orange balls of plasma streaked past the Aurora’s semispherical main view screen, slamming into the Dusahn heavy cruiser’s nearly-depleted shields, draining the last of its energy from them, and causing emitters all over the underside of the warship’s hull to overheat and explode in jets of showering sparks. The shield flashes ceased, and all the plasma energy and rail gun rounds from all three Alliance ships slammed into the Dusahn cruiser’s hull, tearing it open.
Nathan watched without emotion or expression as a warship more than twice the Aurora’s size split open and then broke into several more pieces, ripped to shreds by a never-ending series of secondary explosions. “Anything left to kill here?” Nathan asked his sensor officer calmly.
“Negative, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Kono replied with satisfaction.
“Very nice,” Jessica mumbled.
“Comms, pop a comm-drone, and update command,” Nathan instructed.
“Aye, sir.”
“Lieutenant Dinev, set course for the Takar system.”
“Takar system, aye,” Lieutenant Dinev replied from the Aurora’s helm.
Nathan fought back the urge to smile. So far, things were going better than expected. But there was still plenty of time for their fortunes to change. Like Jessica had said, they were about to jump into an awfully big fan.
* * *
“Status report!” Lord Dusahn barked as he and General Hesson walked into the command center on Takara.
“My lord,” the officer of the watch began. “We are receiving word of attacks on Savoy and Rama, as well.”
“How bad?” General Hesson asked.
“We have lost several gunships in the Savoy system, and Rama is now undefended.”
“My lord,” General Hesson said, turning to Lord Dusahn. “We must send one of our battleships to the Savoy system to protect Ancot.”
“There is nothing but farmers on Ancot,” Lord Dusahn replied.
“Farmers who supply seventy percent of the food the people of this system consume,” General Hesson reminded his leader. “Including our own.”
“Now I am to send battleships to defend grain solos?” Lord Dusahn said in disgust. “General Hesson, you scramble every ship we have, do you understand me? I want the boy captain and his precious little ship out of my hair, permanently, even if I have to do it myself. Do I make myself clear?”
“Unmistakably, my lord,” General Hesson replied, his voice curt. “Shall I summon your shuttle, my lord?”
Lord Dusahn looked quizzically at his general.
“In case you choose to lead the attack against the Aurora yourself, my lord.”
Lord Dusahn stared at the general, displeased with his tone. “Do not think that because our fathers were friends, that I will tolerate your disrespect, General.”
“No disrespect intended, my lord,” General Hesson assured him. “I merely wish to provide you with all the options for which you might desire.”
Lord Dusahn said nothing, but simply glared at the elder general.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, my lord, I’d like to carry out your orders.”
Lord Dusahn watched as General Hesson began barking out orders to the men in the command center. As he watched, he looked to his personal aide, who stepped closer, sensing his lord’s need to speak with him. “See to my shuttle. Contact my flagship, and tell them to be ready to get underway,” he instructed in hushed tones so the general would not hear him.
“As you wish, my lord.”
Lord Dusahn touched his aide’s sleeve, causing the man to pause before departing. “And bring me my sidearm.”
* * *
“Charlie Leader, Boxcar Four. Thirty seconds to release.”
“Understood.” Lieutenant Rezhik scanned the console on his crawler, checking that all systems were operating normally. Then he checked the data pad that had been added to control the single-use, fixed-distance jump drive which had been installed on all six of Charlie team’s crawlers. “Charlie Team, Leader. Jump sequencers to auto, prepare for release.”
“Once again, the mighty Ghatazhak are about to go down in history for another daring act of bravery,” Corporal Chodan announced over comms.
“Stow it, Chodan,” the lieutenant ordered as he activated the jump drive auto-sequencer on his data pad.
“Ten seconds.”
The lieutenant monitored his console as the controller from Boxcar Four counted down the last few seconds. At ‘zero’, the mag-locks on the pads of the crawler arms deactivated, and the artificial gravity, generated by the platform on which they stood, dropped to nothing, allowing them to float freely.
“Thrusting downward and away,” the boxcar’s pilot announced over comms.
Despite the fact that they were moving through space at one meter per second greater than the orbital velocity of the shipyard orbiting above Takara, all six crawlers appeared motionless as the boxcar descended down and away from them. The boxcar continued to fire its thrusters in tiny bursts, causing the distance between the crawlers and the boxcar to grow at an ever-increasing rate. A minute after releasing the crawlers, the boxcar was far enough away to safely depart.
“Safe jump range,” the pilot of the boxcar called. “Good luck, gentlemen.”
Lieutenant Rezhik’s crawler filled momentarily with the blue-white light from the boxcar’s jump flash as it departed, leaving him and his men coasting toward their target just under two light years away.
“Gentlemen?” Corporal Chodan wondered. “Why’d he call us gentlemen? We’re dangerous killers, we are.”
“Dangerous killers who talk too much,” the lieutenant mumbled. “Heads up, gentlemen. Jumping in three……two……one……jumping.”
Six yellow and black crawlers dIsoppeared in unison without jump flashes, leaving no evidence that they had ever been floating freely in that part of space.
“Jump complete,” Mister Bickle announced as the jump flash faded from the Aurora’s bridge.
“Open fire,” Nathan ordered as the bridge flashed red-orange.
On the semispherical view screen, a black and crimson Dusahn cruiser moved from left to right across their screen, obviously underway on a departure course from the Takaran orbital shipyards, which lay directly to their port side. Groups of four plasma torpedoes streaked forth, from under their nose, along with a steady stream of plasma cannon fire from all six of their forward dorsal and ventral gun turrets. The energy charges slammed into the cruiser’s shields, which were already raised as expected, causing no damage to the maneuvering warship other than a slight drain in her shield strength.
Their mission now was one of deception and diversion, not of destruction, and Nathan intended to get the Dusahn’s undivided attention and hold it for as long as possible.
“Target’s shields are down ten percent,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported from the sensor station. “They’re locking missile on us.”
“I’ve got at least a dozen warships on my threat board,” Jessica announced. “I’m locking jump missiles onto all of them, with full recovery safeties.”
“T
arget is firing,” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned, as if it was necessary. A second later, the Aurora shook from the impacts of the Dusahn cruiser’s incoming weapons fire and continued to shake with every impact.
“I’ve got solutions on eight of thirteen targets,” Jessica reported. “Launching sixteen.”
“Prepare to pitch under them, and jump forward ten light seconds,” Nathan instructed. “We need them to keep sight of us while we evade their missiles.”
“Target is launching!” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned.
“Missiles away,” Jessica added.
“Pitching down,” Lieutenant Dinev reported as the image of the cruiser began to slide upward on the main view screen.
The stream of plasma torpedoes leaving the Aurora stopped, as their aim was interrupted by the change in pitch attitude. There was a low rumble, mixed with the violent vibrations of the incoming weapons fire, as the Aurora’s main engines fired to help change her course.
“Point defenses are firing!” Jessica proclaimed.
“Missile impacts in five seconds!” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned. “Three……two…”
“…Clear jump line!” Mister Bickle reported.
“…One…”
“…Jump!” Nathan snapped before the words had cleared the ensign’s lips.
The jump flash washed over the bridge, and the image of the cruiser dIsoppeared from their main view screen, replaced by the planet, Takara, and two frigates that were coming over the planet’s horizon.
“Turn to those frigates, and jump us ahead to point-blank range,” Nathan ordered.
“Turning, aye,” the helmsman replied.
“Plotting jump.”
“I have six missile impacts!” Jessica declared.
