Ep.#7 - Who Takes No Risk (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  A moment later, the massive Takaran battleship, now under the control of Suvan Navarro and the Ghatazhak, fired its docking thrusters and began to move slowly forward.

  “Dusahn battleship is leaving port bay one,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported from the Aurora’s sensor station.

  “Steer us into that battleship and prepare to jump us in,” Nathan ordered.

  “We can’t stand toe-to-toe with that thing,” Jessica warned. “It’s bigger and better armed than any other battleship we’ve seen so far.”

  “Turning into the target,” Lieutenant Dinev acknowledged.

  “We just have to keep it busy and away from the Teyentah until she can get underway,” Nathan reminded her.

  “On intercept course,” Lieutenant Dinev reported.

  “Jump us in to standard attack range,” Nathan ordered.

  “Jumping,” Mister Bickle replied.

  The jump flash washed over the Aurora’s bridge, and the main view screen filled with the image of the Dusahn’s battleship pulling out of the bay at the far end of the orbital shipyard.

  “Fire all weapons,” Nathan ordered.

  “Firing!”

  “Jump flash!” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced. “Another battleship. I believe it’s the one from the Darvano system.”

  “Where the hell have they been?” Jessica wondered as she continued to fire plasma torpedoes at the primary target.

  “Missile launch from the second battleship,” the lieutenant commander warned. “They’re jump missiles!”

  “Escape jump!” Nathan ordered.

  “We’re moving,” Suvan announced from the Teyentah’s helm. “How long until the jump drive is ready?”

  “Three minutes, minimum,” General Telles replied.

  “This is the tactical display, right?” Corporal Vasya asked the technician. “Uh, General? There’s a really big battleship pulling out of the number one bay to port. They’re going to have a really easy shot at us.”

  “Then perhaps you should figure out how to fire first, Corporal,” the general suggested.

  “Working on it, sir,” Corporal Vasya promised.

  “Everything is automated,” the technician assured the corporal. “All you have to do is tap the icon you want to attack, and the system will choose the right weapons based on target type, distance, rate of increase or decrease in range, etcetera.”

  “Excellent,” the corporal replied, pressing the icon representing the battleship. Nothing happened, so he pressed it again. “Nothing’s happening.”

  “First, you have to arm the tactical grid, then the weapons matrix, then…” The technician pushed the corporal aside. “Let me do it,” he insisted, pressing buttons in rapid succession.

  Corporal Vasya laughed. “Check this guy out,” he said to his comrades. “Show us what you’ve got, tech-boy.”

  The technician quickly finished setting up the weapons system for automatic weapons assignments, then began quickly pressing icons on the screen. “The system is functioning,” he said as he watched the display. “It’s selecting multiple weapons systems for multiple targets… Jesus, it’s firing!”

  “Well that’s what it’s supposed to do, right?” the corporal said.

  “It’s firing on the battleship,” the technician reported in disbelief. “Oh, my God, I think I just killed two octo-fighters.”

  Corporal Vasya laughed, slapping the technician on the back. “Feels good, doesn’t it!”

  “Perhaps you two can figure out how to raise our shields, when you’re done congratulating one another,” Captain Navarro suggested as he steered the ship out of the shipyard.

  “My lord, we are taking incoming fire from two warships.”

  “Two?” Lord Dusahn was puzzled. “Which two?”

  “The Aurora and the Teyentah,” the commander replied.

  “The Teyentah. How is this…” His voice trailed off as he examined the tactical plot hanging in the air before him. “Is her jump drive operational?”

  “It is, my lord, but it will be several minutes before it has enough power to jump even a few light days.”

  “Turn us toward the Teyentah,” Lord Dusahn ordered. “Block her jump line.”

  “Her shields are not yet raised,” the commander pointed out. “We could easily disable her jump drive and her main propulsion.”

  “And risk damaging her further? Unacceptable! You must think of the bigger picture, Commander!”

  “Of course, my lord. My apologies.” The commander turned and barked orders at his crew to carry out their leader’s instructions, then turned back to Lord Dusahn. “And what of the Aurora?”

  “Destroy her,” Lord Dusahn ordered. “Without mercy.”

  “Escape jump complete,” Mister Bickle reported.

  Nathan glanced at the tactical display as it refreshed, noting that they had jumped only a few kilometers, just enough to escape the incoming jump missiles.

  “The Teyentah is moving!” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported with excitement. “And she’s firing on that battleship!”

  “Really.” Nathan smiled. “I guess Captain Navarro is back in command.” Nathan glanced at the tactical display on the mini-view screen at the center of the helm. His face crinkled and his eyes squinted as he noticed the icon representing the battleship changing course. “Where is he going?”

  “I think he’s turning toward the Teyentah, Captain,” the lieutenant commander replied.

  “They’re going to try and block her jump line,” Nathan realized, leaning forward in his command chair. “Helm, turn to two eight five and come eighteen degrees up relative. I want us between the Teyentah and that battleship. We have to keep that ship out of their jump line.”

  “Two eight five, eighteen up relative, aye,” the lieutenant replied.

  “We can’t run block for them for long,” the systems officer warned. “Our shields won’t hold.”

  “We’ll change the ship’s attitude relative to the target, keeping our strongest shields toward them at all times,” Nathan explained. “Comms, tell the Teyentah what we’re up to, and tell them to steer away from that battleship, and jump as soon as they can. Time is running out.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Nathan rotated his chair around to face Jessica at the tactical station behind him. “I need you to pound that thing with everything we’ve got. Probe her shields. Find a weak spot. Every shield’s got one.”

  “You got it,” Jessica replied.

  All around them, the ground and air battle raged. The shield protecting them flashed constantly, and in numerous locations, as Dusahn ground and air forces attempted to breach the shield with energy weapons, while Alliance Super Eagles and Reapers tried to stop them. Without the shield, they would not have lasted this long.

  “Is this the last group?” Sergeant Eliason inquired at the top of his lungs as the stream of Corinari prisoners, from the underground holding facilities to the waiting boxcar, continued.

  “Yes, sir!” Corporal Mitchell replied. “How much time do we have?”

  “Don’t ask!” the sergeant replied.

  “Delta Blue Leader! Delta Red Leader! Status!”

  “We’re loading the last group now, sir!” the sergeant replied.

  “Move your ass, Sergeant! That battleship will be in firing position in twenty seconds!”

  “Yes, sir!” the sergeant replied. “Fuck!” he exclaimed in frustration, looking around at the shield perimeter. He turned back toward the stream of men moving toward the waiting boxcar. “CORINARI! DOUBLE-TIME! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!”

  Suvan Navarro watched the main view screen as he started a slow turn to starboard. “We’re turning,” he declared, almost sounding surprised.

  “Any progress
on those shields, Corporal?” General Telles inquired as he attempted to spin up the jump drive.

  “We’re working on it,” Corporal Vasya replied, his voice tense.

  “Not all of the arrays are operational yet,” one of the technicians explained, moving over to help. “We might be able to reroute some of the matrices in order to generate at least some shielding, but they’ll only be half as effective, at best.”

  “Better than nothing, right?” the corporal insisted.

  “Make it happen yesterday, Vasya,” the general urged.

  “That ship is trying to block us off,” the technician on the sensor console exclaimed.

  “I am aware of that,” Captain Navarro replied as he continued the Teyentah’s slow turn to starboard. “This ship is sluggish to turn. I believe her maneuvering system is automatically limited while in close proximity to the shipyards.”

  “Can we override those limitations?” the general wondered.

  “Probably, but it would take time,” Suvan replied. “Time that we do not have, I’m afraid.”

  “Shields are coming up,” Corporal Vasya declared triumphantly. “Not great ones, but they are shields.”

  “How much coverage?” Captain Navarro asked.

  “Port side only,” the corporal admitted, “and most of the ones around the bow, but only the forward sections are complete. The back half is still full of holes.”

  “Keep working on it,” Suvan ordered.

  “You bet.”

  “That ship is gaining on us,” the technician at the sensor station warned. “They’re going to be in front of us in no time!”

  “The Karuzari have managed to evacuate nearly three-quarters of the Corinari prisoners,” General Hesson’s aide reported.

  The general studied the tactical maps for both systems, taking special note of the location of their battleship in the Darvano system. “How long until they complete the evacuation?”

  “Zen-Anor on the ground believe they are loading their last transport now. After that, all that will be left are the Karuzari forces that conducted the operation. Perhaps, a minute, at the most.”

  “Order our battleship to strike the perimeter around the shield,” the general instructed. “Maximum force.”

  “There will be collateral damage, General,” his aide reminded him.

  “The site is outside Aitkenna, is it not?”

  “It is, but there are still many residences, businesses, industrial complexes, and even a hospital, all within the blast range of such an attack.”

  “It cannot be helped. If we cannot stop the Karuzari from freeing the Corinari, we can at least make the cost a distasteful one.”

  “Tubes coming to bear on target,” Lieutenant Dinev reported.

  “Firing all tubes!” Jessica announced. “Full power triplets!”

  “Don’t stop,” Nathan reminded her.

  “Forward cannons are locking on, as well,” she added as the bridge lit up with flashes of red-orange light from the departing torpedoes.

  “Target is holding course,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “If she doesn’t turn, she’ll hit us in ninety seconds.”

  “She’ll turn,” Nathan said, more to himself than to his crew.

  “Forward cannons are firing!”

  “Target is locking weapons on us,” the lieutenant commander warned. “They’re firing!”

  A second later, the Aurora rocked again as rail gun slugs and plasma bolts lit up their already weakened shields.

  “Has the Teyentah raised her shields yet?” Nathan inquired.

  “Yes, but not all of them. Some on the port side, mostly forward, but not complete coverage anywhere,” the sensor officer reported. “But the battleship hasn’t targeted the Teyentah, yet.”

  “They will,” Nathan said. “Helm, maintain position. Keep us between the Teyentah and that battleship.”

  “More jump missiles!” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced.

  “Point defenses are on them,” Jessica assured her captain.

  “Six of them!” the lieutenant commander added. “Probably from the second battleship!”

  “Where are they?” Jessica wondered as the ship rocked with weapons impacts.

  “Just maintain position,” Nathan insisted.

  As the last few hundred Corinari made their way up the massive ramp into the boxcar’s cargo pod, the cacophony of the battle around the shield perimeter suddenly ceased.

  “What the hell?” Corporal Mitchell commented, looking around. “Why’d it stop?” he wondered, turning to Sergeant Eliason.

  The sergeant looked around, as well, equally confused. “Keep them moving!” he barked, noticing that the Corinari had slowed their progression, also curious as to the sudden end of the assault against their position.

  “Delta Red Leader, Reaper Three!” the Reaper pilot called over the general’s comms channel. “Dusahn forces are falling back, and fast!”

  “That can’t be good,” Mitchell stated.

  “No, it can’t,” the sergeant agreed, tapping the comms controls on his helmet. “Delta Red Leader, Delta Blue Leader! Suggest we start positioning our forces for a fast bug out!”

  “Blue, Red,” the master sergeant responded. “Agreed. Delta Leader to all Ghatazhak forces. Fall back to evac positions!”

  “The Aurora is not moving,” the commander informed Lord Dusahn.

  “How long until her shields are depleted?” Lord Dusahn asked.

  “Two minutes, maximum,” the commander replied. “But we will collide with them in half that time.”

  “They will move,” Lord Dusahn insisted.

  “And if they do not?”

  Lord Dusahn glared at the commander. “They will move.”

  “Reaper Two, Eagle Leader. Are you seeing this?”

  “Eagle Leader, Two. Yes! They’re retreating! All of them!”

  “They’re running like scared rabbits!” another pilot laughed.

  “What is going on?” Josh wondered.

  “I don’t know, but that battleship is now in firing range.” Loki called up the Ghatazhak comms channel. “Ghatazhak, Seiiki! The battleship has reached firing range!”

  “Why the fuck aren’t they firing, then?” Josh wondered.

  Loki studied the sensors readings on the Seiiki’s center console. “I think they’re waiting for their forces to get clear.”

  “What are they planning on hitting them with, nukes?”

  Loki looked at Josh.

  “Dude, I was kidding.”

  “Ghatazhak, Seiiki! Recommend immediate evac! Repeat! Recommend immediate evacuation of everyone! They’re going to hit your position…hard!”

  “Captain,” Jessica called. “I can’t defend against two battleships. Sooner or later, they’re going to launch everything they’ve got and overwhelm our defenses.”

  “Not while we’re this close to their shipyards,” Nathan insisted. “They can’t risk it.”

  “Thirty seconds to impact,” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced.

  “Tell them that!” Jessica barked.

  “Hold position,” Nathan ordered, determined not to flinch first.

  “That ship is six times our size and ten times our mass,” Jessica warned.

  “Twenty seconds.”

  Nathan felt his anger growing and his frustration rising.

  “They’ll plow right through us and barely scuff their paint.”

  Countless scenarios began to run through his mind. Moving; not moving; waiting until a second before impact before jumping, but leaving one of his antimatter cores in the path of the Dusahn warship… None of them offered an acceptable result. The Aurora would survive, but the Teyentah would be lost.


  “Fifteen seconds, Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned, her tension rising.

  Then he began thinking about what would happen if the Aurora was lost or, at least, severely damaged.

  “More jump missiles! Directly astern!” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced.

  “Captain…” Jessica urged.

  If the Aurora was destroyed, and he and his crew survived, they could still finish up the Teyentah and continue the fight…assuming that the Teyentah survived.

  “Ten seconds.”

  But if the Aurora was destroyed, he and his crew would also die. Would he become a martyr that would inspire others? Or would the loss of Na-Tan cause a loss of hope?

  “Nathan!” Jessica yelled.

  Those who fight and run away…

  There was an odd yellow flash on the left side of the main view screen.

  “Shield impact!” the lieutenant commander reported. “Hull impact in five seconds!”

  Live to fight another day. “Missiles, point-blank, no jump,” Nathan ordered, quickly and calmly.

  “…Four…”

  “Escape jump, my mark.”

  “…Three…”

  “Launching missiles! Point-blank! No jump!” Jessica replied.

  “…Two…”

  Nathan couldn’t remember where he had heard that phrase before, but it rang true.

  “…Missiles away!”

  “…One…”

  “Jump.”

  Multiple explosions to port bathed the semispherical main view screen that wrapped around the front half of the Aurora’s bridge in hues of red an orange. A split second later, those colors were overwhelmed by a blue-white flash as the ship jumped to safety.