Silent Running (The Hope Island Chronicles Book 3)

by PJ Strebor

  “What?” Nathan said, opening the door.

  “You’ve got women in there,” the largest of the three said.

  “Women? Here? No. Just doing some repair work to my freighter. No women here.”

  “I saw them, you lying turd,” the big guy said. “We want them. Hand them over.” They reached for their sidearms.

  Six heavily armed Athenians, all male, backed Nathan, pulsar rifles aimed at the newcomers.

  “Get lost,” Nathan said.

  “Do you know who we are? We’re PLF. You’ll hand your women over or we’ll return with every man we have and take them.”

  Nathan feigned nervous fear and shook his head.

  “Right. Stand up to the PLF will ya? You’re all dead men.” The trio left in a huff.

  So far, so good.

  ***

  An hour before sundown Nathan spotted a huge number of armed men heading for the hangar. So large was the group that they left a sizeable dust cloud in their wake.

  He keyed his internal comm.

  “Grace, is that all of them?”

  “I detect two hundred and seventy-seven,” she said from the tactical station. “As far as I can tell that’s the lot. Except for the landing boat crews. But we know where to find them.”

  “Good.” Nathan keyed his comm off and took the stairs from the roof to the hangar floor. He stepped onto the bridge a minute later.

  “Captain,” he said, “permission to occupy the combat sphere.”

  Knowing that everyone on the bridge was occupied with their duties, Moe rolled her eyes and poked her tongue out. “Permission granted.”

  He winked at her before strapping in and descending into the sphere.

  “SMC, configure combat sphere for real time image, no magnification. Confirm.”

  “Confirmed, Captain.”

  Nathan sniffed. With everything going on, no one had thought to upgrade the SMC as to the change of command. The hollow panels winked to life. He reversed the chair so that he had a view of the huge hangar doors. With no remote access to the doors, two crewmembers stood ready to open them manually. Then take cover.

  “SMC, secure channel to Lieutenant Okuma.”

  “Channel open, Captain.”

  “You ready, Moe.”

  “Yep.” She cut the comm before opening a boat-wide channel. “Attention, crew, this is the Captain. I know that some of you will find what we are about to do as distasteful, and without honor. But remember what we know about these creatures. Think about what they’d do to us if they got aboard. We cannot allow any of them to escape. If just one of them does, and sounds the alarm, that’s game over and we will never see home again. Remember your duty and do your jobs. Captain out.”

  Nice.

  “Captain Telford,” Grace said, “they’ve just arrived at the hundred meter mark.”

  “Very well,” Nathan said. “Open the hangar doors.”

  Powered by human effort the doors rumbled aside. Now Nathan could see what they were up against. Emboldened by their numbers they marched toward the hangar. These fiends feared nothing from the timid ‘freighter’ crew. After all, they were PLF. They stayed on the road leading to the hangar. A tightly-packed column of well-armed killers kicking up a trail of dust.

  With the doors fully open Nathan hovered the boat and slowly began backing Adroit outside. The PLF soldiers saw the boat and slowed their approach. He keyed his comm.

  “Lieutenant Noffke, are you ready?”

  “Just give the word, Captain,” the marine officer said.

  “Good. Grace, open the landing bay hatch.”

  The two L50 pulsars, magnetically sealed to the landing bay, were designed to cut through armor. Even at their lowest power setting the effect on mere human flesh would be horrendous.

  “Very well, marines. Fire.”

  The marines cut through the packed lines of PLF soldiers from left and right in a continuous fine beam setting. Dozens fell in batches six rows deep. As the slaughter continued some of the soldiers tried to flee and were cut down by the snipers on the roof. Others were picked off by Adroit’s crew hidden in the scrub to either side of their formation. In less than a minute the awful carnage ended. Two hundred and seventy seven butchered corpses littered the ground.

  Nathan edged Adroit back into the hangar then retrieved from the combat sphere. He couldn’t recall a time when such intense silence dominated the atmosphere of the bridge.

  CHAPTER 70

  Date: 27th November, 326 ASC.

  Position: Planet Spinney. Northern Quarantine Zone.

  From a tactful distance Nathan watched Kellerman and Hoppe as they approached the first landing boat. The containers of fresh produce were being unloaded from the flatbed truck with the use of anti-gravs before being transferred to the huge landing boats.

  Adroit’s marines had scouted the area yesterday and had confirmed that only two LB’s were in use. This confirmed Nathan’s assumption that the PLF were on Spinney for an extended stay. Over his external mike, he followed Kellerman’s progress.

  “Hey,” Kellerman asked one soldier as he approached. “Who’s in charge?”

  The soldier inclined his head toward the person in the tattered tunic.

  “You in charge?”

  “Yeah, Lieutenant Mittermeier,” he said. “Wadda ya want?”

  “Nothing. Just wanted to know your name, is all.”

  Kellerman pulled his sidearm and shot the officer in the head. He took down the other personnel with equal ease. Hoppe ran to the first LB to silence the pilots while Kellerman did the same to the other. Sighting down the scope of his sniper’s rifle Nathan shot anyone who got a hand to a weapon. Hoppe stepped from the LB with the two pilots.

  “You want to live?” he asked them.

  They nodded.

  “Landing codes for all three ships.”

  “We don’t need them. Not on Spinney.”

  Nathan sensed fear from the pilot but not deception. Hoppe waited, impatiently, until Nathan gave him the kill signal. The bodies of all nine PLF crewmen were dumped in a shallow pit to the side of the apron. Considering the wholesale slaughter of the day, Nathan did not feel the slightest hint of regret. A fitting end to the worst garbage in Tunguska.

  Striding across the dusty track he stepped aboard the first LB. He examine the flight-deck and found the controls crude but familiar enough to fly it without effort. The rudimentary communications device presented no problems.

  The commandeered flatbed truck stopped and Commander Tollini stepped out. He examined the pit of death.

  “You’ve been busy,” he said around a short smile.

  Three containers had already been loaded onto LB 13. Nathan had them removed and parked next to three empty ones. Each container measured six meters square with a height of three meters. Nathan opened the single huge door revealing the cavernous interior.

  Some of Tollini’s engineers unloaded the plating from the flatbed together with the first nuke.

  “Can you do it?” Nathan asked his senior engineer.

  “Give me twenty minutes and you’ll have a hidden compartment on the first one. It won’t hold up to an active scan but should pass visual inspection. Just make sure you don’t get scanned, Skipper.”

  “From what Kellerman tells me,” Nathan said, “internal security on the ships is laughable. So we should be fine.”

  An hour later, the containers, fitted with false bottoms and each containing a five kilotonne nuke, were loaded aboard the landing boats. First Nathan had to get the lethal containers onto the ships. That’s where Kellerman came in. His unique knowledge of PLF lingo, and procedures made him the only person amongst the small convoy to undertake the most dangerous part of the operation.

  Nathan acquainted himself with the landing boat’s systems and the comm signal procedures. A rumbling from the cabin indicated all three containers were aboard.

  Kellerman stepped onto the flight-deck minutes later. “Cargo secured, Skipper.�
��

  “Well done, Chief,” Nathan said. “Strap in.”

  Nathan completed the preflight checks, fired up the engines and set course for their first target. The three giant PLF warships sat in geosynchronous orbit above the spaceport in line-astern formation. Although only modified freighters the warships were impressively armed. Nathan keyed his external comm.

  “People’s Vengeance this is landing boat thirteen. Request permission to come aboard.”

  “Yeah,” a disinterested voice replied, “wadda ya carrying.”

  “Fresh produce. And I’m in a hurry. There’s a beer waiting for me on the planet.”

  “Half your luck. Come aboard.”

  Nathan brought the LB into the massive landing bay, set her down and put the systems on standby. As a precaution he rotated it through its axis so the bow pointed sternward. He stepped into the boat’s cargo bay where Kellerman and Hoppe were attaching anti-gravs to the first container.

  “Any final orders, Skipper?” Kellerman asked.

  “Nope. This is your show. Just keep your comm open.”

  Kellerman nodded. Nathan returned to the flight-deck. The boat bay was deserted except for a handful of personnel awaiting the next shipment. The officer with the clipboard yawned.

  Kellerman pushed the container until it sat in front of the waiting officer. Over his comm Nathan followed the conversation.

  “Produce from Spinney,” he said with weary indifference.

  “Yeah,” the officer said, “take it to cargo hold sixteen.”

  Ten minutes later the two Pruessen sailors returned to the boat.

  “Any problems?” Nathan asked.

  “Nah,” Kellerman said. “Like I said, internal security on these tubs is practically non-existent.”

  “Strap in.”

  Their next delivery, to the People’s Rage, went the same sluggish way. Two down one to go.

  Adopting the same protocols, Nathan landed on the People’s Redemption. Again an officer awaited the delivery. This one was young, keen, and could be a problem. Kellerman went through the same spiel.

  “Produce from Spinney,” Kellerman said in the same weary tone.

  “Let me see the manifest,” the youngster said.

  “Manifest?” Kellerman said. “It’s fresh produce. Vegetables, fruit and meat.”

  “Still, you should have a manifest,” the officer said.

  “Hey, Lieutenant, I don’t know about any manifest. Lieutenant Mittermeier told me to load it up and deliver it. That’s what I’m doing.”

  Nathan got a bad feeling about this eager beaver young officer. He palmed his sidearm.

  “Open the container for inspection,” the officer said. He walked to a nearby table and picked up a scanner.

  “Shit.” Nathan stepped from the LB and approached the officer.

  “What’s the problem here, Lieutenant?”

  “Following protocols,” he replied.

  “Hey, we’ve got a schedule to keep to, so fuck the protocols. Lieutenant Mittermeier will skin us alive if we run over time. Come on Lieutenant, let us be on our way.”

  “After I scan the contents of this container.”

  Nathan sighed and pulled his silenced nine millimeter pistol from his jacket. He shot the officer in the head and then in quick succession the other four terrorists. If he used a pulsar it would show up on internal scans. The projectile weapon set off no alarms.

  “Now that’s my kind of officer,” Hoppe said around a gruesome smile.

  “Quickly, you two, store the container somewhere close and get back here. And keep your comms open.”

  As they pushed the container toward the lift, Nathan began to tidy house. He dragged the bodies into an airlock and cleaned up the blood. By the time he’d finished, the area showed no signs of the recent mayhem. He saw the clipboard laying on the deck, swore, picked it up and turned toward the airlock. Pain throbbed against his spine.

  “You there,” a voice said from behind him. “What’s going on here? Where’s Lieutenant Uta?”

  “Who?”

  “Lieutenant Uta, the assistant stores officer.”

  “The young guy?”

  “Yes.”

  “He didn’t introduce himself. I’m delivering a shipment from the surface. He detailed a cargo hold and then took off. Don’t know where or why. Hey, Commander, I’m on a tight schedule. I need to get back to Spinney for my next delivery.”

  The officer eyed him skeptically.

  “He just left? Without his clipboard? Hand it to me.”

  So much for lax security.

  The two sailors with him held their pulsar rifles in both hands. The moment Nathan reached for his pistol they would shoot him. Nathan handed the commander the clipboard. He examined it briefly.

  “There’s no mention of an allocation here.” He palmed his sidearm. “Who are you.”

  “Vogel, off the Vengeance. Come on Commander, I don’t know what Uta is doing, I just follow my orders and deliver the goods.”

  “Something’s not right here, Vogel, and I intend to find out what. Show me your warrant card.”

  Double shit.

  “On Spinney? Who carries warrant cards on Spinney?”

  The officer drew his sidearm and aimed it at Nathan chest. “Hands up.”

  With three weapons trained on him Nathan had no choice but to comply.

  “Search him,” the commander said to one of his subordinates.

  The guard patted him down and tensed when he felt the pistol under his left shoulder. He removed it and handed it to the officer.

  “What’s this, Vogel?”

  “Family heirloom.”

  “You want to crack wise with me? We’ll see how funny you are when the security chief has a talk with you.” He reached to key his comm. The Commander’s head exploded as the nine millimeter slug tore through his brain. The other two dropped to the deck, blood spurting from their chests. As the second guard was hit his finger tightened on the trigger and the pulsar rifle discharged. Automatic alarms wailed.

  Triple shit.

  “Get aboard,” Nathan yelled to the two non-coms who’d just saved his neck.

  The LB sped from the ship and Nathan positioned it for detonation. Three keys for three ships. He pressed the first one and People’s Rage vanished in a blinding flash. The second one blew People’s Vengeance into very tiny pieces. Nathan took particular pleasure in pressing the key to end the troublesome People’s Redemption. He keyed it a second time and nothing happened. Oh shit. Now we’re in trouble.

  Nathan quickly considered his options. If he returned to Spinney, the remaining PLF warship could nuke Ravensthorp. If he stayed in orbit Redemption would eventually come about and blow him out of space. He didn’t want to endanger the families aboard Odenwald but he couldn’t risk the lives of the blameless civilians on Spinney. Or Adroit. He pushed the throttles to maximum and set course for the E 692. He keyed his external comm.

  “Commander Ryden.”

  “Ryden.”

  “Bring the boat to A-C one and prepare to engage the enemy.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  He called Odenwald. Captain Pitzen answered.

  “Edwin, we’ve got problems. Bring the ship to A-C one, break orbit and head for the I-M at maximum speed.”

  “Shall do, Nathan.”

  Minutes later he docked with the E boat. Landing Boat thirteen was too large to be accommodated aboard the boat so he entered via the airlock before setting it adrift. Leaving the non-comms to get to their combat stations he went directly to the bridge. He stood between Ryden and Krause.

  “I took out two of them but the detonator malfunctioned on the third,” Nathan said.

  “You know we don’t stand a chance against that ship,” Ryden said.

  “I know,” Nathan said. “We don’t have to beat it, just delay it.”

  Ryden nodded. “To give Odenwald time to escape.”

  “Hmm,” Nathan said as he took up the
helm.

  “Rudi, full active scan,” Nathan said.

  “Aye, Skipper,” Ensign Willet replied. “No contact. Yet.”

  “X-O, time to Alert one?”

  “If they do it in nine minutes, then we’ve got three minutes to go.”

  “Captain,” Willet said, “Odenwald has left orbit and is moving out at maximum speed.”

  “Very well.”

  Nathan brought all systems online. Ryden appeared at his right shoulder. He leaned down to be eye to eye with Nathan.

  “How are you going to play this?”

  “We don’t have the firepower to beat her but we’re faster and far more maneuverable. So, hit and run, tie her up for as long as we can. Any thoughts, Ernst?”

  “That’s pretty much what I’d do. One suggestion though.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I’m warming a seat but not actually doing anything. I could be more use as a floater. Fill in where needed. Right now I could be in engineering helping to -”

  “Go.”

  Nathan’s back throbbed painfully. Where the hell is she? With many of her crew on the surface, she could be as badly under-crewed as E 692. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. Nathan pushed the throttles to the red mark.

  “Sir?” Krause said over his earpiece.

  “Playing it by ear, X-O,” Nathan said. “I’m going to build speed, come up on Redemption from astern and hopefully catch her napping. They don’t know we’re here so surprise is on our side. Either way I’m not going to sit and wait for her to come to us.”

  “That’s just what Cap, ah, Commander Ryden would do. It’s aggressive and decisive.”“I’m delighted that you approve.”

  Within minutes the boat reached flank speed. Unlike a Monitor, an E boat couldn’t maintain her stealth mode with active engines. In all other respects her thin profile made her almost as stealthy as the monitor. Nathan wanted to get close enough to the PLF warship to do some real damage. He would cut his thrust engines and coast on momentum until he was on top of her.

  That’s the plan. Now, if only Redemption will cooperate.

  He keyed his comm.

  “Berkner - Captain.”

  “Weapons officer,” Berkner replied.

  “Load all forward tubes with fifty kilotonne pulsar heads. Bring both pulsars online.”