by M. R. Forbes
Gabriel had expected that Theodore would be the one making this run, piloting the ship with the same deft hand that had gotten it away from the Dread twice in the past. When his father had approached him during the all-hands and asked him to take the controls, he was both surprised and honored. The argument for the position was manifold. One, his father was a valuable symbol of the war, a figurehead that the rest of the forces both above and below the thermosphere could rally around. Second, he needed to stay around to help guide the Ishur during what promised to be a grueling fight against a superior defensive force. Third, while he had been successful navigating the Magellan inside of the planetary defenses, it was Gabriel who had the most experience dealing with approaching Earth from beyond them. He was the more seasoned pilot and as such more fitting for the job.
Finally, he had a secondary mission he was tasked to accomplish, one that required reaching Earth's surface. One that might mean the difference between victory and defeat.
"Magellan, this is Ishur Actual," Theodore said, his voice mixing with a small amount of static from their makeshift integrated systems. "We're nearly in position."
"Roger, Ishur Actual," Gabriel replied. "We're ready and waiting. Guy, can you do anything with that static?"
The Guy Larone who had once been a whiney, privileged ass had vanished right after the Magellan had landed on the Ishur. Since then, the scientist had been one of the most valuable cogs in their machine, helping to put Maggie back into fighting shape in record time. That he had volunteered for this mission was a testament to his change of heart.
"I'll see what I can do, sir," he said.
"Excellent. Spaceman Locke, is the DSS ready?"
"Yes, sir," Miranda replied.
While the DSS on the Ishur used a holographic projection to handle manipulation of the darkspace shields, the Magellan's system was more primitive, offering only a three-dimensional schematic of the ship on a table touchscreen, which could be manipulated and tapped to direct the phase modulation along the ship. More importantly, they had only one control unit to cover the ship, versus four on the Ishur. At least Maggie was a much smaller animal.
Gabriel checked the Magellan's sensors. He could see the domo'shah on the longer range array. Seven of them, already moving in their direction.
Time to thread the needle.
"On your mark, General," Gabriel said.
"Prepare for launch in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Go."
Gabriel tapped the control pad, quickly increasing the Magellan's forward vectoring thrusters, pushing the ship backward through the open hangar bay where they had landed. It took a good thirty seconds to get the ship clear of the Ishur, leaving them floating face-forward, drifting upward to the Dread fortress' bridge, giving him one last glimpse of the crew there as he manipulated the other thrusters, pushing the Magellan out and away.
"Magellan is away," Gabriel said. "I'll see you when it's over, Dad."
"Roger. Godspeed, and good hunting," Theodore replied, his voice slightly choked. "Give them hell."
"You, too."
Gabriel got Maggie facing toward the moon, and then hit the main thrusters, almost feeling the acceleration as the Dread reactors provided more than enough power to the ion generators. The ship burst forward, and he adjusted course as they neared the moon.
They cleared the dark side within minutes, finding themselves nearly face-to-face with one of the incoming Dread domo'shah.
"Maggie, how long until the Dread starships reach the Ishur?" Gabriel asked at the same time he vectored to get around the fortress.
"At current velocity, twelve minutes and seventeen seconds," the computer replied.
"How long until we reach Earth's surface?"
"Eight minutes and four seconds."
Gabriel tensed for a moment. He had been hoping they could keep the Ishur back and away from the line of fire long enough for him to finish his secondary mission. It was an incredible long shot to begin with, but now he knew it would be impossible.
"We've got incoming fire," Miranda said, as the domo'shah ahead of them began firing its secondary batteries.
Her hand moved across the tablet, guiding the DSS to the impact points, blocking as many of the bolts as she could. The thick armor handled the rest, taking the hit from the smaller plasma cannons without serious damage.
"Taking evasive maneuvers," Gabriel said, firing top thrusters to drop the Magellan from its current plane. He reversed course as the bolts began sweeping down, crossing over them and rising above while the gunners on the Dread ship tried to adjust.
"Enemy starfighters incoming," Miranda said, helping him keep track of the threat display, impressing him with her ability to multitask with the DSS.
"There's nothing we can about them," he replied. "Their weapons won't do much against us."
Blue flashes passed all around them as they neared the domo'shah, and a second started releasing volleys in their direction. The Dread starfighters maneuvered around the two fortress' attacks, mixing in and making strafing runs across the Magellan's bow. The power flickered on the bridge, the terminals blanking out for a second before returning.
"We may have lost a conduit," Guy said. "Good thing we added backups. Rerouting."
Gabriel shook his head. He had to do more. He adjusted the vectoring thrusters, throwing the Magellan into a wild rotation. Plasma bolts streamed past them, only a few passing the combination of his maneuvers and the DSS.
"Are the enemy ships following?" he asked as they slipped past the fortresses.
"The starships are maintaining course for the Ishur," Miranda replied. "The fighters have split up, though. We've got a tail."
Gabriel could see the smaller ships on the Magellan's display. They were trying to gain velocity to keep up with the larger ship, but it was unclear if they would succeed. It didn't matter. A new threat had appeared ahead of them in the form of the smaller Dread starships. They were on an intercept course, on their way to take them out.
"Targets incoming," Miranda said, too late.
Gabriel adjusted the vectoring thrusters again, leveling the ship and turning it to run perpendicular to the Earth. The Dread ships began firing their plasma weapons, creating another barrage of fire for him to avoid.
"I wish we could use our guns," he said. He and Theodore had decided not to risk them on the way down, in fear of revealing their existence and having them destroyed before the Magellan reached the surface. A few plasma cannons weren't going to be the difference between success and failure on this part of the mission.
He cursed as the lights flickered on the bridge again, and the gravity control momentarily shut down, leaving him rising against his restraints. He shot a look over at Guy, who was tapping furiously on his tablet. They had forgone any non-essential crew, leaving nobody down in engineering to speak to their damage. If Maggie couldn't report it, it didn't exist.
"We're taking a lot of fire, sir," Miranda said, doing her best to keep the DSS moving, blocking the attacks. "I can't keep up."
"I know," Gabriel replied. "You're doing great. Maggie, ETA to the atmosphere?"
"Three minutes, six seconds," the computer replied.
Too long. Much too long. His forward throttle was maxed out, the ship gaining velocity as quickly as it could. The smaller Dread ships were closing in and smelling blood, and a second contingent of starfighters had been sent in.
They weren't going to make it.
He gritted his teeth, his hands moving over the flight controls as quickly as they could, adjusting thrust, changing direction, trying to throw the enemy ships off their tail. They continued to take fire, the ship vibrating as plasma bolts burned into the hull, some of the attacks avoiding the DSS.
He had survived too many runs just like this one to die now.
He changed course, pointing the Magellan toward the nearest starship.
"This worked the last time," he said. "Put the DSS on the bow, Spaceman Locke."
"Roger," Miranda
replied without hesitation.
He could see the dark point shift the front of the Magellan, and he looked ahead of it to the quickly approaching starship. The shields captured the incoming volley of plasma, bringing them closer and closer to the ship.
At the last second, the Dread commander blinked. The ship began vectoring away, trying to avoid the bow of the Magellan before it speared them. Instead of a direct hit, Gabriel scored a glancing blow, one that tore a gash in the bottom of the enemy ship on their way by. It vented atmosphere, its attack fading as it sought to stabilize.
The Magellan continued its descent toward the planet, the automatic Dread defense systems drawing near. They began to activate, directional thrusters aligning them toward Maggie as she approached. The good news was that they were simple machines, and they didn't understand the idea of the darkspace shields. They focused their attack on the same point against the Magellan's bow, allowing Miranda to place the shields and leave them, absorbing the firepower of the defensive net as they neared.
More Dread ships were closing in, firing with a fury that lit up the darkness of space. Gabriel skirted the Magellan around most of it, and Miranda caught a large portion of the rest. They were taking fire, but it was a light rain shower instead of a potential deluge.
"Hull breach on deck nine," Sarah said a moment later. "Bulkheads are sealing, but. Oh, Colonel, we had people down there."
Gabriel winced. They needed to get inside the thermosphere and headed for Mexico City. He adjusted thrust again, diving toward the nearest defense pods. The systems peppered the Magellan with fire right up until the starship slammed into them, the darkspace shields throwing them violently out of the way or smashing them completely.
Then they were through, dropping ever downward toward the planet.
"Maggie, enter coordinates for Mexico City and give me a guideline," Gabriel said.
"Setting coordinates," Maggie replied. "Guideline activated."
A flight path appeared on his command screen, giving him the optimal route to the city even as the ship began to shake, hitting the thermosphere and working to break through. Heat flared ahead of them while the ship made its second approach to Earth in a month, the Dread starfighters remaining behind it, still shooting at them as they crossed into the upper atmosphere.
"We're in," Miranda announced.
"Activate all batteries," Gabriel said, watching the ground growing beneath them as they swept toward the surface. "Fire at will."
The new weapons systems were separate from the pre-existing controls, and Colonel Choi took control of them without hesitation, tapping the commands to rotate them on their turrets. They didn't have a complete field of fire, but there was one battery that could reach behind them, and she didn't waste any time triggering the system. The plasma cannon sent bolt after bolt at the fighters behind them, forcing them to evade.
"Almost there," Gabriel said, the dark spot of the Dread capital becoming visible on the ground ahead of them. "Miranda, activate our comm system, let's see if we can get the ground forces on the line."
"Roger." She abandoned the DSS for a moment, leading to the ship shaking as it took another hit. She tapped the console ahead of her, activating the radio. "Comm online. Channel open."
"Earth Rebellion. This is Major Gabriel St. Martin in the starship Magellan. Do you copy? Over."
A flow of static greeted him from the open channel.
"Guy, are we getting anything?" he asked, jerking the ship to the left as Colonel Choi's defenses hit one of the Dread fighters. "Nice shooting, Colonel."
"Working on it," Guy said, tapping his controls. "Try again, please, sir."
"Earth Rebellion. This is Major Gabriel St. Martin in the starship Magellan. Do you copy? Over."
"Major St. Martin, this is General Alan Parker. Damn, you showed up just in time. We're getting our asses kicked down here."
He had a feeling the Ishur wasn't doing much better above him. "I'm looking for Major Donovan Peters, is he with you?"
He held his breath waiting for the reply. Their plan would be easier to follow if the Major and the clone were still alive.
"Colonel Peters is commanding the mech unit," General Parker replied.
"Is the clone with him?"
"Clone? You mean Ehri or Orli?"
There were two Juliet clones down there? "I don't know, sir. I never learned her name."
"He's not responding to my requests," Parker said. "It could be that his comm is offline. The mech unit is taking a pounding. We all are."
"Understood, General. We'll see what we can do to help."
"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast, son."
Gabriel's eyes tracked over the landscape in front of the ship. The city was getting close, and he reversed throttle in response, slowing the starship down. She wasn't intended for atmospheric flight, and the anti-gravity systems would only do so much.
It was going to be a rough landing any way he tried it, but as his eyes landed on a pair of mechs squaring off against a second, almost identical pair backed by a line of lek'shah carapaced vehicles that resembled tanks, he was satisfied to at least have an idea of where to set down.
"Don't worry, General," he replied. "I intend to."
FIFTY-TWO
DONOVAN BACKED AWAY, HIS eyes sweeping the landscape ahead of him in search of even the barest of cover.
It had been nearly an hour since the battle against the Dread had started. An hour of running and shooting, ducking, and hiding, pausing and issuing commands to a quickly diminishing battalion.
They had lost Big Bertha nearly thirty minutes ago to a heavy assault by the Dread mechs and tanks, an assault that had also claimed Orli as she tried to take on six heavy armors at one time. They had lost Bastion and Knowles at some point, too, their mechs blasted to slag by the deadly gel'shah that seemed to be in endless supply. Half of Able and two-thirds of Bertha were also down, and their mission to pull the enemy away from the Dread capital was a total and complete failure.
Donovan had long given up the idea of winning this fight. Instead, he had decided that he would press on, keep attacking, and take as many of the bastards with him as he could. His mech was beaten but not quite broken, pitted and scarred across most of the surface, out of projectile ammunition and overheating from the constant use of the plasma cannons. He was coated in sweat and soaking wet, the gori'shah unable to wick the moisture away quick enough. His legs were tired, too, tired of maneuvering the mech away from the enemy, of trying to keep pace with Ehri as she tore apart all comers. She was a machine. He was only a man.
Where was General St. Martin, he wondered, as he sidestepped another bolt fired from a gel'shah, ducking down behind a pile of rubble and raising his right arm over it to fire his plasma cannon. Ehri was circling behind him, using the same cover, silent in her focus. The General was supposed to be here today. Donovan hadn't realized what a wide block of time that was until now. An hour was all it would take for the rebel army to fall apart, to be decimated and sent to early graves. General Parker had even given up on sending orders through the comm, leaving him to himself as he did his best to wreak havoc before he too was destroyed.
The enemy mech ahead of him paused, waiting while the three gel'shah behind it fired on the rubble, blasting it away, sending shrapnel thunking off his lek'shah shell and leaving him in the open. He forced his legs to move again, pushing the mech away from the scene, hoping Ehri would see and follow. She didn't. Instead, she broke the other direction, laying down suppressing fire and drawing the attention away from him. The mechs stayed on her, launching another barrage, blasting her mech in the leg and torso. He saw something break, a loud pop, and the mech fell to one knee.
She wouldn't survive another shot like that. He reversed course, sending his mech to block them, trying to get in front of her before they could fire once more. The enemy mechs were closing in, and there was no way he was going to reach her in time.
The thought caused him to stumble, hi
s mech nearly toppling over from the motion of his exhaustion. Only backup systems kept it upright, though it slowed considerably at the miss. He cursed, pushing harder, while two of the gel'shah brought her mech into their sights.
He checked his HUD. His sensors were dead, the array long destroyed. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe that's why everything was so quiet. Had his comm system been destroyed as well?
"This is Delta Actual. Can anyone hear me?" he said over the human channels. He switched to the networked mechs. "Ehri, do you read me? Over."
There was no reply.
He kept moving, trying to reach her but knowing he couldn't. One of the gel'shah fired, and somehow she managed to tip her mech sideways, bringing it over to avoid the blast. It crumpled onto its side and then rolled onto its back, giving the enemy a smaller profile. He thought it was odd when she didn't move right away.
Then he looked up.
He had barely noticed the din of the starship approaching; he had become so numb to the noise of battle. When he saw the long bow of the Magellan dropping toward him, he didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or wet himself. When a series of plasma bolts traced from the sides of the ship and into the enemy position nearby and destroyed the gel'shah and one of the mechs, he almost did all three.
"Oh, shit," he cried. "Wooooo!"
He limped his mech toward Ehri, still trying to reach her and block her from the remaining enemy. More plasma bolts rained down from the Magellan, the growl of the incoming ship growing louder with each second. More of the Dread armor vanished beneath the assault, mounds of dirt spraying aside and crystallizing as each powerful blast slammed into the ground.
The earth began to shake as the Magellan neared, the roar so loud that it drowned out everything around it. Donovan saw the fighters now, the Dread gi'shah peppering the ship with fire and trying to avoid its return volleys. It was coming in fast, so fast, its forward and hull thrusters at full burn to break the velocity. He could feel the pressure from them, the heat, and he tucked over Ehri as it buffeted against him. The Dread mechs weren't quick enough, and the force of the displaced air knocked them down and pushed them back.
