by Ryk Brown
“We’re not going to be able to hold if we don’t get some close-air in here,” Sergeant Anwar warned.
“One! Six!” Master Sergeant Lazo called from the roof. “Bulldog One reports the Aurora just jumped into orbit!”
“It’s about fucking time,” the general said, as he kicked the stair door open and fired down at four Dusahn soldiers who were running up to reinforce the guards in the lobby.
“Jump complete,” Ensign Bickle reported.
“Dusahn cruiser, dead ahead,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported from the Aurora’s sensor station.
“Target lock!” the tactical officer announced.
“Fire at will,” Cameron ordered.
All four of the Aurora’s forward plasma torpedo tubes under her bow erupted, spitting three shots in rapid succession. At the same time, her ventral rail guns began firing explosive slugs designed to overload the enemy’s shields. As all twelve plasma torpedoes slammed into the forward shields of the Dusahn cruiser, the Aurora lowered her nose and altered course a few degrees to port, rolling slightly to starboard so that she could bring all four dorsal rail guns onto the target for the next sequence.
“Scootin’” Ensign Bickle reported, as the Aurora jumped forward a few kilometers.
The Dusahn cruiser, which had been four kilometers ahead, was suddenly about to pass slightly high over starboard, only half a kilometer away.
“Proximity warning! Collision alert!” the automated warnings blared.
“Sorry sir,” Ensign Bickle said, silencing the alarms.
“Firing all plasma turrets! Firing all rail guns!” Lieutenant Commander Vidmar announced from the tactical station.
“Incoming message from the Ghatazhak!” Ensign deBanco announced from the comms station. “They’re requesting air support for a rescue op at the city square in front of the justice building in Aitkenna!”
“Have flight ops vector Red flight to help the Ghatazhak,” Cameron ordered, as a type of Dusahn cruiser that she had never seen before passed them on the right. “I hope you’re getting good scans of this, Layla.”
“I’m all over it, Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Kono assured her.
“Shield busters aren’t having any effect!” Lieutenant Commander Vidmar warned.
“Keep pounding them,” Cameron ordered.
“Firing broadsides!”
As the Aurora slid past the Dusahn cruiser, eight mark two plasma cannons, located in her aft starboard utility bays, opened fire on the passing ship. All eight cannons continued firing single shots, one by one, maintaining a firing rate of one shot every two seconds per cannon, as they passed the length of the cruiser.
The cruiser returned fire, tracking the Aurora with her own energy weapons turrets, pounding the Alliance ship’s starboard shields as she passed.
“Starboard shields are down thirty percent the length of the ship!” Lieutenant Commander Vidmar warned.
“Flight ops reports Blue flight is ready to launch,” Ensign deBanco reported.
“Mister Bickle, jump us out one light minute and come about. Mister deBanco, tell Flight Ops to launch all of Blue flight as we turn. Have them engage the gunships trailing the cruiser.”
“Jumping ahead one light minute, aye,” the navigator replied.
“I’m picking up damage to the cruiser’s starboard jump emitters, Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “She may not be able to jump.”
“How did we manage that?” Cameron wondered.
“I don’t know,” the lieutenant commander admitted. “An overload, maybe?”
“Flight ops, Bridge! Launch Blue Flight as we turn,” Ensign deBanco relayed.
“Jumping,” Mister Bickle reported.
“Launch Blue ready birds! Now, now, now!” Ensign deBanco continued.
“Tactical,” Cameron called, “Ready four jump missiles, all nukes, high yields. I want that cruiser’s shields down on the next pass.”
“Yes, sir!” Lieutenant Vidmar replied.
Jessica stood nervously, watching as Tori operated the consciousness transfer equipment, and Michi monitored the unconscious bodies of both Connor Tuplo and Nathan Scott. “How much longer?” Jessica wondered.
“At least eight more minutes,” Tori replied.
“How are they doing?”
“So far so good,” Michi assured her.
“One! Six!” Master Sergeant Lazo called over Jessica’s helmet comms. “Bulldog One reports the Aurora just jumped into orbit!”
“Yes!” Jessica cheered, raising her clenched fists triumphantly in the air.
“What is it?” Michi asked.
“The Aurora is here!”
Michi looked at Tori, then back at Jessica. “That’s good, right?”
“Hell yes!” Jessica replied. “It means we might actually make it out of here alive!” Jessica stepped up to the clear tank, placing both hands on the walls, looking up at the unconscious body of Nathan, floating in the cloudy, viscous fluid within. “You hear that, Nathan?” she whispered. “We’re getting the band back together.”
General Telles and Commander Kellen stormed the basement door, opening fire into the guard post on the other side as they advanced. The General went right, and the commander went left, each of them followed in turn by four more men, two per side, while the last two remained in the bottom of the stairwell outside to hold the position.
Weapons fire bounced throughout the foyer, cutting into the furniture and the counter, and into the guards. Seconds after they had burst into the room, the battle was over.
General Telles stood, surveying the dead Dusahn soldiers, as two of his men placed charges on the heavy door that led to the detention wing.
“Fire in the hole!” one of the two men warned, stepping back from the door to the side.
General Telles simply turned around, bracing himself against the shock wave with the help of his assistive undergarment. Bits of debris bounced off his back armor as the door splintered. A second later, the general turned around to see his men rushing inside the detention wing, weapons firing. So far, they had been lucky. Not a single man had been critically wounded, and only five had received injuries requiring them to withdraw from combat action.
From behind the settling dust, General Telles could make out the prisoners as they emerged from their cells. Coughing and choking, they filed out one by one, prompted by the shouts of his men. He scanned their faces as they passed, searching for the young woman’s face he had seen in the holographic photo block on Captain Gullen’s desk back on the Glendanon.
Finally, a young woman stumbled out, coughing as she tried to wave the dust away. General Telles put his hand out, stopping the young woman in her tracks. “Sori Gullen?” he asked her.
The young lady looked up at the general, frightened by his intense gaze. “Yes,” she replied, her body trembling in fear.
General Telles took her arm, leading her to one side. “Stay with me,” he told her.
“Why?” Sori asked. “What did I do?”
“It is all right,” General Telles assured her. “I will take you to your father.”
“Jump missiles away, delayed jumps,” the Aurora’s tactical officer reported.
“Turn complete,” Lieutenant Dinev announced from the helm.
“Jump us back in,” Cameron instructed. “One click out.”
“One click, aye,” the navigator replied.
“Target has launched something,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “It just jumped away. It may have been a comm drone, Captain.”
“Stand by all forward tubes,” Cameron ordered, realizing she could do nothing about the comm drone.
“Forward tubes, charged and ready,” Lieutenant Commander Vidmar reported.
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“Blue flight is away,” Ensign deBanco informed the captain. “They’re jumping to Aitkenna.”
“Very well.”
“Jumping in three……two……one……jumping.”
The blue-white jump flash washed over the Aurora’s bridge, translated through her main view screens, although greatly subdued. Again, the image of the Dusahn cruiser filled half the forward view screen, growing larger as the Aurora closed on the target from its aft port side.
“Fire all tubes,” Cameron ordered calmly.
“Firing all tubes, aye,” Lieutenant Commander Vidmar replied.
The bridge filled with repeated flashes of red-orange light, as brilliant balls of plasma energy raced out from under the Aurora’s bow toward their target a little over a kilometer ahead. More flashes filled the bridge as another wave of plasma torpedoes departed, followed by a third group.
“Pitch us up and jump past,” Cameron instructed. “Ready on the stern tubes.”
“Pitching up,” Lieutenant Dinev replied, as she raised the Aurora’s nose slightly.
“Ready on the stern tubes,” the tactical officer replied, as the ship shook from the force of the cruiser’s energy weapons impacting the Aurora’s shields.
“Jump ready,” Mister Bickle reported.
“Mister Vidmar?” Cameron queried.
The tactical officer looked at the countdown clock for the jump missiles they had left behind, the enemy ship continuing to pound their shields with energy weapons fire. As the clock neared zero, he gave the word. “Now.”
“Jump,” Cameron ordered.
Sixteen Super Eagle jump fighters appeared suddenly from behind blue-white jump flashes, streaking low over the buildings of downtown Aitkenna. They twisted and banked, chasing the Dusahn fighters that had threatened to cut off the Ghatazhak’s escape, away from the square in front of the justice building.
General Telles emerged from the building’s front doors, amidst the line of prisoners scurrying to get outside. All around, his troops were ushering the prisoners into groups on either side, readying them for boarding.
The entire area lit up with two brilliant flashes of blue-white light, both accompanied by deafening claps of thunder and the sound of displaced air. Two massive pod haulers, known to those in the Pentaurus cluster as ‘boxcars’, appeared from behind the flashes, settling into a hover ten meters above the square. They descended to the ground, settling on four massive landing gear, just as more Dusahn fighters jumped in to the north. As the fighters approached, Takaran fighters appeared from blue-white flashes to the east, immediately vectoring to intercept the incoming Dusahn fighters before they could attack the defenseless boxcars.
Massive ramps fell open from the class one cargo pods mounted underneath the gangly pod haulers, revealing their cavernous interiors. Under the direction of their Ghatazhak handlers, the prisoners ran toward the waiting boxcars, scurrying up their ramps to the relative safety of their interiors.
General Telles watched as nearly four hundred people, each of them an innocent relative of a captain or crew member who refused to bow down to the Dusahn, escaped certain death at the hands of their captors.
Lucius Telles, Commander of the last of the Ghatazhak, felt something he had not felt in some time. Pride. In his men and in his mission. For years now, they had been fighting the battles of others, protecting the interests of thugs and criminals ilk, just to survive. But today was different. Today they had done what the Ghatazhak were meant to do. Fight for those who could not fight for themselves.
“General, I’ll see to Miss Gullen,” Master Sergeant Lazo promised.
General Telles nodded, looking down at the young woman who had dutifully followed him out of the justice building. “The master sergeant will see that you get back to your father safely,” he assured her.
Sori Gullen looked into the general’s eyes, finding them far less frightening than before. “Thank you.”
The Aurora disappeared in a flash of blue-white light, reappearing a split second later only two kilometers away. A moment later, four jump missiles appeared from behind four small flashes of blue-white light, less than one hundred meters to the port side of the Dusahn cruiser.
As the missiles slammed into the target’s shields, the Aurora pitched over, bringing her forward plasma torpedo tubes to bear on the cruiser, as the ship continued to move away.
The nuclear warheads on the missiles flashed a blinding white, and when they cleared a few seconds later, the Dusahn cruiser’s shield emitters were sparking and popping all over her port side. With no shields to protect her, she took the full brunt of the Aurora’s last round of plasma torpedoes, and broke apart in a series of primary and secondary explosions.
Both boxcars began to rise slowly into the air, their ramps swinging upward. Again, Dusahn fighters appeared nearby, and tried to turn toward the climbing boxcars to get a shot at them. But both the Super Eagles and Takaran fighters kept the enemy fighters otherwise occupied, and both pod haulers managed to jump away with their precious cargo, headed back to the Glendanon one hundred and fifty light years away.
Half a minute after the boxcars jumped away, Bulldog One jumped in over the middle of the square and touched down.
“Let’s get everyone on board and get the hell out of here,” General Telles ordered.
“Telles to all Ghatazhak!” the general called over Jessica’s helmet comms. “Phase two complete! Move to evac points!”
Jessica noticed the fluid level in the cloning tank beginning to decrease. “What’s going on?” she asked, turning to Michi.
“The transfer is almost complete. I’m draining the tank.”
“Is that going to hurt him?”
“No,” Michi replied. “Normally, we would have removed the new host body from the tank and properly prepared it, but there was no time.”
“What do you mean, ‘properly prepared it’?” Jessica demanded, becoming more concerned.
“Disconnected it from life support, allowed it to become an autonomous system, without aid from artificial sources. Cleaned it up, dressed it, given it a hair cut and a shave! It doesn’t matter! We need to get it down!” Michi insisted, as she grabbed a gurney and rolled it into position near the hatch at the back of the tank.
Jessica moved quickly around to help Michi, as the fluid continued to drain from the tank.
“We’re at ninety percent!” Tori yelled from the control console. “You’ve got two minutes, maybe three!”
“Shouldn’t we have done this earlier?” Jessica wondered, as she watched Michi override the hatch mechanism.
“We could not risk disrupting the transfer process until it was at least ninety percent complete,” Michi explained.
“Then why don’t we just wait until it’s done?”
“Telles, Aurora!” Ensign deBanco called over Jessica’s helmet comms. “Dusahn cruiser has been destroyed. Our fighters are engaging the gunships now!”
Michi opened the hatch, allowing some of the viscous cloning fluid to spill out onto the lab floor. “Once the transfer is complete, Captain Scott will regain consciousness on his own, unless we heavily sedate him! That would require more monitoring, use of the medical bay on the next level… And do you want to carry his unconscious body out of here?”
“So he regains consciousness. Isn’t that what we want?”
“Not while all these tubes are connected to him!” Michi replied. “He could panic and rip them out! That could prove fatal!”
“I don’t think we thought this through carefully enough,” Jessica said, as she climbed into the tank with Michi.
“Ninety-three percent!” Tori reported.
“I’m disconnecting the monitors!” Michi announced, as she unplugged the cables that attached to the multitude of medical sensors strate
gically placed all over the clone’s body.
“What do you want me to do?” Jessica asked, as she sloshed through the fluid still in the bottom of the tank.
“Bring that gurney in behind him!” Michi instructed.
“Ninety-four!” Tori reported.
Jessica turned around and grabbed the end of the gurney, lifting it up enough to get the front wheels over the hatch lip. Michi moved around to help her position the gurney in behind the clone body hanging from the top of the tank.
“Ninety-five!”
“I’m disconnecting life support!” Michi announced, moving around to the front of the body.
“Is that safe?”
“His autonomic functions are fully operational by now. He is alive!”
“Oh, my God,” Jessica gasped, her eyes wide. She turned to look at Connor, lying motionless on the transfer table in the lab, the transfer apparatus on his head. Thank you, Connor.
Michi carefully disconnected the life support tubes from their fittings on the upper left of Nathan’s chest, letting them fall as she did so. Blood and fluids from the tubes spilled out into the cloning liquid that was still ankle deep in the bottom of the tank, turning the viscous fluid a pale red. Alarms began sounding on the control panel outside the tank.
“What is that?” Jessica asked, nervous.
“Disconnect alarms,” Michi replied. “Ignore them.” Michi looked at Jessica, noticing the distress in her eyes. “It’s fine, Jessica. Trust me.”
Jessica looked at Michi. The petite doctor was calm and confident, quite unlike she had been during the insertion. She was in her element. This was what she knew. Jessica could see it in both her eyes and her demeanor. Every movement had purpose and she managed the tasks involved in the successful disconnect of the systems controlling the growth of this clone body for the last eleven months with practiced skill.
