by Ryk Brown
“Nash, Falcon! Head down! Attacking ground forces in five!” Loki pressed his finger to the target screen and drew a circle around the symbols that represented the Jung troops on the surface that were closest to Jessica. “It’s going to be close,” he said.
“How close?” Josh asked.
“Close.”
“Bug’s ass close?”
“Closer. Just hold us steady; that’s all I ask.”
“Any threats in the area?”
“Just the six fighters turning toward us to fire.” Loki engaged the nose turret. “Firing.”
Bolts of plasma energy spat out of the twin barrels of the Falcon’s plasma turret as she skimmed the treetops. The bolts slammed into the ground, the firing pattern snaking back and forth within the defined targeting area and tearing up everything in its path. Trees, bushes, rocks, and Jung troops were all blown apart.
Josh looked down to his left as they passed the target area. Burning debris flew everywhere. Trees and bushes were burning below them. “Fuck, that gun is nasty.” Several energy bolts shot upward from the troops on the ground as they vainly tried to defend themselves against the passing interceptor.
“Fighters have range,” Loki announced. “They’re firing. Ten seconds!”
“Time to go,” Josh said as he pulled the nose up and brought the jet turbines to full power.
“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”
“That’s gotta be frustrating, don’t you think?” Josh said as they came out of the jump and found themselves in orbit above the Earth.
“What?”
“We keep jumping in, they keep shooting, and we keep jumping out again.”
“Probably. Turn toward the Aurora. I’m going to contact Telles,” Loki said.
* * *
“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported as the Aurora’s jump flash subsided.
“Ten kilometers and closing rapidly!” Mister Navashee announced.
Nathan looked at the view screen, surprised that he could see the battleship even from ten kilometers out. “Damn, she’s big,” he said under his breath. “Snapshot two and four!”
“Firing two and four!” Mister Randeen answered.
“Target is firing rail guns!” Mister Navashee reported.
Mister Randeen watched his tactical console as the launch indicators for torpedo tubes two and four flashed green four times to indicate they were launching torpedoes. They then turned red to show that the tubes were empty. “Two and four away!”
The bridge began to shake violently as rail gun fire from the Jung battleship began to rain down upon them as they approached.
“Fire missiles!” Nathan ordered.
“Firing four!” Mister Randeen answered.
“They’ve got all four starboard guns on us,” Mister Navashee warned.
“Hull breach! Topside!” Naralena reported. “Maintenance spaces in the forward quarter are open to space! Damage control reports no damage to inner hull!”
“If we take another round in the same spot…” the systems officer began.
“Roll us over, Mister Chiles,” Nathan ordered without hesitation.
“Rolling over!” the helmsman acknowledged.
Nathan watched the view screen as the image of the massive battleship, which now filled their entire view screen, rotated around their center point.
“Ten seconds to torpedo impact!” Mister Randeen reported. “Fifteen to missile impacts!” Red lights appeared on the tactical officers displays. “Forward rail guns have taken direct hits! That’s a total of six guns down! We can’t put up a point-defense against missiles without those guns, sir!”
“Then we’ll just have to stay in close so she can’t use her missiles,” Nathan said. “Fire plasma torpedoes! Both tubes!”
“Firing one and three!”
The bright, red light washed over the bridge as the two bolts of plasma energy from the torpedo cannons streaked over them on the spherical view screen. A second later, two red flashes appeared at the center of the view screen as the torpedoes struck the enemy battleship’s shields. Their shields glowed a dull orange. A moment later, the dull orange glow was obscured by two brilliant white flashes, and the nuclear warheads on the conventional torpedoes detonated. They were followed immediately by four yellow-orange explosions as their missiles struck the battleship’s shields and also detonated.
“Dive under her!” Nathan ordered.
The upside down image of the massive battleship began to slide upward. Seconds later, a thin strip of black space appeared between the underside of the enemy battleship and the Earth below. The ship began to shake even more violently than before as they passed under the battleship at close range, exposing their underside to close-range bombardment by the Jung’s rail guns.
“We can’t take much more of this!” Mister Randeen warned. “Recommend we jump!” he added.
“Tubes five and six, drop them out at slow speed so they’ll loiter under her, then detonate them as we jump out,” Nathan ordered.
“Ejecting tubes five and six, no propulsion, manual detonation!” Mister Randeen acknowledged.
“Escape jump ready!” Mister Riley reported.
“Five and six away!” the tactical officer announced.
“Jump!” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping in three……”
The bridge continued to shake violently from rail gun fire being discharged from directly above them at short range.
“Two……”
“Long-range comms are offline!” Naralena reported.
“Detonate torpedoes!” Nathan ordered.
“One……”
“Detonating!”
“Jump.”
The blue-white jump flash washed over the bridge once more as the Aurora jumped ahead five light seconds. The bridge suddenly became calm and quiet as the relentless pounding from the battleship’s rail guns ceased.
“Jump complete.”
“Range to target is five light seconds and increasing,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Damage report,” Nathan called over his comm-set.
“Main propulsion and maneuvering are fine, as are all torpedo tubes, the missile launcher, and the quads,” Master Chief Montrose reported over the comm-set. “However, all forward mini-rail guns are down. Our bow guns took direct hits, tore them apart and blew out their bays as well. We’re down to our side guns only, nothing fore or aft is working. We’ve got hull breaches across our bow and stern, but no breaches of the inner hulls as of yet. But we’ve got a lot of gaping holes in us, sir. They’re bound to get lucky sooner or later.”
“Understood,” Nathan answered. “What about our long-range comms? Will we be able to contact the Celestia?”
“Not without jumping to her first,” the master chief said. “Took a direct hit to the deep-space comm-array bay. It’s a pile of scrap metal right now.”
“Understood.” Nathan tapped his comm-set to end the call.
“Target is firing at the surface again, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.
“How many shots?” Nathan asked.
Mister Navashee looked at his displays, then turned to look at the captain. “Target is firing continuously. Once every thirty seconds.”
“Goddamn it!” Nathan swore. “Any chance we weakened his shields?”
“Only for about ten seconds, sir,” Mister Navashee answered. “There was about a twenty-five percent drop in the target’s starboard shield strength during the detonations, but they were back at full strength ten seconds later.”
“Any chance a sustained attack on the same shield set would bring them down?”
“Extremely doubtful, sir,” Mister Navashee answered reluctantly. “It would
take four times the energy levels to overload them. We just don’t have the firepower.”
Nathan frowned, a heavy sigh coming from his nostrils. “Mister Chiles, come about in a descending turn,” Nathan ordered. “I want us at least five kilometers below the target.”
“Coming about and descending relative to target,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.
“Next jump, put us one kilometer off her port side. We’ll slide sideways under her, nose up, firing as we pass under.”
“Aye, sir,” Mister Riley acknowledged.
Nathan turned around to face aft. “Mister Randeen, same firing order. Nukes, missiles, plasma cannons.”
“Captain,” Mister Randeen objected, “if we can’t bring down her shields…”
“He didn’t say we can’t bring down her shields, Mister Randeen,” Nathan corrected. “He said we can’t bring down her starboard shields. We have yet to determine if her other shields are as strong.”
“Is there any reason they wouldn’t be?” Mister Randeen wondered.
“Ta’Akar ships had areas of shielding that were more susceptible to failure than others,” Mister Navashee said, “so it is possible.”
“Exactly,” Nathan said. “We need to find her weakest point.”
“The question is whether we can survive her guns long enough to do so,” Mister Randeen reminded the captain.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Nathan turned forward. “Jump as soon as the plasma shots are away, Mister Riley. Don’t wait for my order. And no three second count either. Make it a… a snap jump.”
Mister Riley turned to look at the captain. “A snap jump?”
“You can do that, right?” Nathan wondered. “Just push the button and jump? That’s how we used to do it.”
“Uh, yes, sir. I’ll have to disable the sequencer and initiate the actual jump manually though.”
“Will that be a problem?”
“Hopefully not,” Mister Riley answered, his tone less confident than usual.
“Very well. Snap jump it is.”
“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Decelerate to fifty percent current speed,” Nathan ordered.
“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.
“Jump plotted and ready,” Mister Riley announced.
“We’re going to have to pitch our nose up relative to our flight path as well, Mister Chiles,” Nathan added. “Even at the slower speed, we’re still going to pass under that battleship rather quickly. I want to be ready to shoot the moment we come out of the jump.”
“Yes, sir,” the helmsman acknowledged.
“Jump flash!” Mister Navashee reported. “Falcon off our port side.”
“Incoming transmission,” Naralena said.
Nathan turned to look over his shoulder at her.
“They just finished another air support pass for Lieutenant Commander Nash,” she continued. “They’re asking to be put through to Lieutenant Telles, sir.”
“Go ahead,” Nathan said. “Maybe they’ve got something good for him.”
“New ground targets discerned, Captain,” Mister Navashee reported. “Belem, Cayene, Paramaribo…”
“Belem?” Nathan interrupted.
“Yes, sir. They’re walking them up South America and into the eastern side of North America. They’ve also hit Trinidad, Guantanamo, Miami, Charleston, and Philadelphia.”
“My God,” Nathan exclaimed in disbelief. He had not been surprised when they had nuked Perth to demonstrate they were not bluffing, but they were now randomly laying waste to cities on his world. They were not targeting infrastructure or resources. They were striking major population centers as they came along their orbital path. They were striking fear into the hearts of his people, all of whom would blame Nathan for not surrendering. Every fiber within him was screaming for him to do so to end the devastation once and for all. After all, would life under Jung rule be that bad? Could it possibly be worse than it was at this very moment? The only thing that prevented him from handing over the Aurora was the knowledge that doing so would only make things worse. The Jung would not stop with the core or the Earth. They would continue to spread throughout the galaxy like a plague. Such is the burden of command, Nathan thought.
“Speed now reduced by fifty percent,” Mister Chiles reported. “Killing the deceleration drives and pitching up.”
The report snapped Nathan out of his moment of self-pity. “Very well.” He took a breath. “Stand by all weapons, Mister Randeen.”
“All operational weapons are ready, sir,” Mister Randeen assured him.
“Jump us back to that battleship,” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”
Nathan closed his eyes momentarily as the blue-white jump flash washed across the Aurora’s bridge.
“Jump complete!” Mister Riley reported.
“Nose on target!” Mister Chiles added.
“Targeting a point on her midship underside shields,” Mister Randeen announced.
“Snapshot two and four!”
“Firing two and four!”
“Fire all missiles!”
“Firing missiles!” Mister Randeen acknowledged. “Torpedo impacts in ten seconds. Missiles in twelve!”
“She’s firing!” Mister Navashee reported.
The bridge again rattled as the Jung rail guns pounded the Aurora’s forward sections. The ship’s nose suddenly yawed hard to port.
“I’ve lost the bow maneuvering thrusters!” Mister Chiles announced. “Compensating with the outboard thrusters!”
“Bring our nose back on the target!”
“I can adjust!” Mister Randeen yelled. “I’ve got it!”
“Fire one and three!”
“Firing!”
Bright, red light washed over the bridge as the plasma torpedoes streaked over their heads. Nathan watched the image of the underside of the Jung battleship as it slid over top of the Aurora. The room filled with white light as the two nuclear torpedoes detonated. A split second later, the flashes were red, then four more appeared that were yellow-orange.
“Jumping!” Mister Riley announced. A moment later, the jump flash filled the room. “Jump complete!”
An explosion was both heard and felt.
“What was that?” Nathan demanded.
“Bow maneuvering pod is completely dead, sir!” Mister Chiles reported.
“Captain, damage control!” Master Chief Montrose called over the comm-set.
“Go for Captain!”
“Bow maneuvering just exploded, sir! We’ve just lost a good portion of our nose!”
“I’m getting dozens of warnings all over the forward section,” the systems officer reported from the starboard auxiliary console. “Hull breach on deck D! All compartments forward of bulkhead one are sealing off!”
Images of the dead crewmen Nathan had seen in those same forward sections, ones that he had suppressed long ago, suddenly appeared in his mind.
“Medical reports casualties, forward section!” Naralena announced. “Rescue teams responding!”
“Reports of fires on deck C as well,” Master Chief Montrose added over the comm-set. “Flight ops reports decompression in launch tube four. Outer doors were damaged. The tube is offline.”
“Understood. Keep on it.”
“Yes, sir,” the master chief responded.
“Helm, how’s she flying?”
“Nose is sluggish to respond, but she can still maneuver.”
“Captain,” Mister Navashee called out, “I’m picking up a fluctuation in one of the target’s starboard shield emitters.”
“What kind of fluctuation?”
“T
he energy output keeps dropping by fifty percent. It’s random, but it keeps happening about once every ten to fifteen seconds.” Mister Navashee turned toward the captain. “We may have damaged them after all.”
“If we hit that shield again, will it fail?” Nathan wondered.
“Doubtful, sir,” Mister Navashee told him. “All their shield sets have considerable overlap. For example, shields one and three overlap either half of shield two between them, making all shields double-layered in a sense.”
“What are you saying, Mister Navashee?”
“If that shield by itself were down to fifty percent, a nuke might be able to pass through the weakened shield, especially if we hit it with plasma torpedoes a split second before the nuke.”
“It won’t work,” Mister Randeen warned. “Those shields are much stronger than anything our torpedoes were designed to withstand. Remember: they’re just modified intercept missiles. Nobody in the Pentaurus cluster used torpedoes. Passing through the enemy shield will fry their circuitry, render them useless. Their hulls are just too thin to adequately protect them.”
“What about something larger with a thicker hull?” Nathan wondered.
“We still have four KKVs in the cargo deck,” Mister Randeen suggested. “They would have to be prepped first though. They’re partially disassembled in order to fit them in the cargo bays.”
“That will take too long,” Nathan said. “You heard him; they’re nuking another city every thirty seconds. Besides, I was thinking of something much bigger with a three-meter-thick hull.”
Mister Randeen looked at Mister Navashee, then back at the captain.
“Sir, their shield perimeter only extends one kilometer from their hull. We won’t fit.”
“We’re only five hundred meters wide at our widest point, half that from top to bottom,” Mister Chiles said. “If we come in slow enough, I can make the turn and we can run alongside them.”
“At that range, one round of missiles should do enough damage to open up a hole in their shields, right?” Mister Randeen said.
