Frontiers 05 Rise of the Corinari

by Ryk Brown

  “Finishing our turn, Captain,” the helmsman announced.

  “Jump plotted and locked, sir,” the navigator reported.

  “Jump,” Nathan ordered. The bridge filled with the jump flash again. Nathan looked up at the plot on the forward view screen. They were exactly where he had asked, directly astern of the Takaran frigate, about a light minute behind her.

  “Another turn to port, Mister Chiles. Put us on a pursuit course and change our altitude in relation to the ecliptic to match that of the target.”

  “Aye, sir. Turning to port, and adjusting relative altitude,” Mister Chiles answered.

  “Be sure to angle us outward just enough so that we end up about five hundred meters off her starboard side when we jump, and be sure to match her last known speed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “After we jump, I want you to immediately plot an escape jump, Mister Riley,” Nathan instructed. “We don’t know what shape her starboard guns are in. We may have to leave in a hurry.”

  “Yes, sir,” the navigator answered.

  Nathan spun his command chair around slowly, surveying his bridge staff. Every station that was working was manned, and the key stations had his regular staff watching over each of their respective trainees. While this normally would not be the case, Commander Taylor had felt it justified considering the limited time they had for training, hoping that it would get the new crews able to stand on their feet a bit quicker. It was, however, hard on the original staff, as they had to be present for every drill, while the crews they were training got to rest for nearly an hour after each session.

  “Turn complete, Captain,” the helmsman reported. “We’re now on a pursuit course, same speed, same relative altitude, maintaining a one degree angle off the target’s starboard side.”

  “Very good,” Nathan stated. “Mister Riley?”

  “Jump plotted and locked, sir.”

  “Tactical?”

  “Port rail guns ready. Missile battery deployed and oriented to port, sir,” the tactical officer reported.

  “Very well, here we go. Jump.”

  “Jumping,” Mister Riley reported.

  The bridge flashed again, but the frigate was not on the port side of the view screen where they expected her.

  “Where’s the frigate?”

  “We over shot!” the tactical officer reported. “She’s just behind us off to port.”

  “She’s running slower than expected, Captain,” the sensor operator reported.

  “Damn! Braking thrusters, Mister Chiles! Tactical, retarget, track and prepare to fire as she comes up alongside. Sensors, how are her starboard shields?”

  “Target’s starboard shields are gone, sir,” the sensor operator reported.

  “Firing braking thrusters!” Mister Chiles reported.

  “She is firing rail guns!” the tactical officer reported.

  Nathan looked to port as the ship began to shake from the impact of the enemy frigate’s rail gun rounds. The nose of the frigate started easing into view from the aft edge of the port view screen. “Don’t let her overshoot us, Mister Chiles.” The image of the frigate started to roll away from them.

  “Frigate is rolling to port!” the tactical officer reported.

  “She’s trying to protect her starboard side,” Nathan said. “Helm, pitch up and apply power. Try to barrel roll around her to keep our guns on her unprotected starboard side.

  “Captain,” the tactical officer called, “I do not think she is trying to protect her starboard side. I believe she is trying to bring her last missile battery to bear on us!”

  “Helm, move faster,” Nathan ordered. “Tactical, fire when ready! Mister Riley, jump us as soon as that ship fires her missiles. Don’t wait for my order!”

  “Firing missiles!” the tactical officer reported. A few seconds later, there was a bright flash on the screen to their port side. “Direct hit!”

  “Contacts!” the sensor operator announced. “Target fired just before she was hit!”

  Nathan was about to order the jump when the bridge filled with the jump flash. Mister Riley had not waited.

  “Nicely done, Mister Riley!” Nathan praised. “Position?”

  “I only jumped us forward ten light seconds, sir,” Mister Riley reported.

  “Status of the frigate?” Nathan asked.

  “Stand by, sir. We are still ten seconds out.”

  “Bet you my dessert we nailed him,” Jessica challenged.

  Nathan ignored her. She was standing next to the tactical board, so she knew better than anyone if their shot was likely to hit or not.

  “Target is breaking up, Captain,” the sensor operator reported.

  “Outstanding,” Nathan congratulated. “End simulation.”

  The lights on the bridge reverted from their red hue to the standard amber-white lighting and the main view screen returned to the view of the interior of Karuzara’s main cavern.

  “B-shift, stand down. Take a break, get some chow, then report to the command briefing room to watch your shipmates get put through the ringer,” Commander Taylor announced. “A-shift, take fifteen. Then, we babysit C-shift.”

  The trainees from B-shift stood and headed off the bridge, happily congratulating one another on their simulated victory.

  “You know, you almost screwed that one up,” Cameron said to Nathan after the last of the B-shift trainees had moved beyond earshot.

  “How?”

  “You should have told the helmsman to set his speed slightly faster than the target, then had the navigator jump us just astern of him. Then he probably wouldn’t have seen us in time to start his roll before we got our shots off.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” Nathan admitted. “I guess we’ve all got some learning to do when it comes to using the jump drive in combat.”

  “Well, that’s why the A-shift is sitting through every simulation.”

  “We should probably start each morning with a simulation of our own, with no trainees in the room. Have Deliza give us her worst,” Nathan suggested.

  “You really want to start your day being humiliated?” Cameron asked.

  “Only if you promise that no one will be watching us from the briefing room,” Nathan answered.

  * * *

  After more than a week straight of bridge simulations, Nathan was happy to get a couple days off. Mister Willard had managed to get the electronic countermeasures package pulled from the Yamaro and was currently installing it on the Aurora. It had necessitated the removal of all the arrays on the exterior of the ship in order to install the replacement gear. Unfortunately, none of the Yamaro’s electronic countermeasures systems had been compatible with that of the Aurora. In the end, it was easier to rip it all out and start over. Therefore, Mister Willard and his teams needed the bridge for a few days. Since they were still in port, it seemed the ideal time to conduct the refit.

  His flight teams were not so lucky. Commander Taylor continued to punish them in the flight simulator. He and Cameron had spent many grueling hours in that same simulator when they had first come aboard. He did not envy their punishment.

  While Commander Taylor was running the simulations, Nathan had agreed to take over some of her duties in the interim, the first of which had been to answer a call from his security chief as to a recent shipment of ordnance from the Corinari.

  The main hangar bay was a flurry of activity, as it had been for the last week, as Major Prechitt’s teams moved into the flight deck and all the supportive compartments that surrounded the hangar bay and the fighter alleys. They had wisely begun by filling the areas on the lower decks with their supplies and ordnance before the main hangar deck became too congested.

  Nathan made his way across the deck heading for Lieutenant Commander Nash and a group of very serious looking Corinari guards. “What have you got?” he asked as he approached, noticing the row of six carefully secured crates.

  “You’re not going to believe this,�
� Jessica said. She gestured to one of the specialists that had accompanied the delivery. The technician unfastened the clamps on the lid covering one of the crates. He keyed in a code on the access panel, and the lid began to open, a slight hiss sounding as the hydraulics pressurized and lifted the heavy lid open.

  Nathan leaned forward slightly and peeked inside. There were two pairs of what looked like some type of cruise missiles, one pair carefully stacked atop the other. The devices were nearly five meters long, more than a meter wide, and resembled flattened cigars. They appeared to have once had stubby wings on them as well, but those had since been removed and replaced with some sort of armatures located on all four sides near the front and rear of the device.

  “What the hell are those?” Nathan wondered.

  “Well, they were cruise missiles,” Jessica stated. “Apparently, they're the same type the Corinari interceptors used to take out their own missile silos when the Takaran agents captured them. They’ve adapted them to be launched from our torpedo tubes.”

  Nathan noticed the symbol on the sides of the weapons. It was the same symbol that the Corinari had used as icons on their main tracking display when they were tracking the flight of nuclear weapons. “Are these nukes?” Nathan asked, his mouth nearly falling open.

  “Yes, sir, they are,” Jessica stated. “From what the tech boys here tell me, they’re about twenty kilotons each.”

  “Holy crap,” Nathan said.

  “Don’t get too excited,” Jessica warned. “From what they’re telling me, they’ve got no targeting systems. All they’ll do is fly a straight line, and at less than impressive speeds. So it’s going to be more like throwing a spear than firing a torpedo.”

  “A nuclear-armed spear,” Nathan added.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll take them,” Nathan insisted. “I guess the Corinairans are finally taking the threat more seriously.”

  “Yeah, well, Tug and Josh finding the Wallach on her way here probably helped push things along.”

  “You think we can get anymore?” Nathan wondered.

  “These are all we could produce on short notice, Captain,” the lead technician said. “We have many more, but they do not have nuclear warheads. These twenty were armed using warheads from our last remaining surface-to-orbit missiles.”

  “And there are twenty-four of them?”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Well, be sure to tell your superiors that we’re happy to receive them,” Nathan insisted.

  “Where should we put them?” Jessica asked.

  “Don’t ask me,” Nathan smiled, knowing his answer was going to irritate Jessica. “Ask the chief of the deck, Senior Chief Taggart.”

  * * *

  “Commander Taylor,” Nathan announced, “fancy meeting you here.”

  “I’m a little busy right now, Captain,” Cameron protested. She still had to report to medical every few hours to be scanned and have programming adjustments made to the remaining nanites that were still in her system.

  “You don’t look very busy to me,” Nathan disagreed.

  Cameron held up her data pad. “Performance reports,” she said.

  “Oh yeah? How’s everyone performing?” he asked as he opened a food tray and handed it to Cameron.

  “Pretty good, actually. What’s this?”

  “I brought you your favorite—rabbit food.”

  “They’re vegetables, Nathan. They’re good for you.”

  “If you’re a rabbit.”

  “What are you eating?”

  “Beef,” Nathan stated proudly.

  “There are no cows on Corinair, Nathan.”

  “Okay, it’s more like a yak, I guess, but close enough,” he insisted, taking a bite. “So what are they doing to you, anyway?”

  “Altering the programming of my nanites,” Cameron explained.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Not in the slightest. All I have to do is sit here until the technician tells me I can go.”

  “When does the doctor see you?”

  “To be honest, I haven’t seen him since I came back on board.”

  “How does he know you’re getting better?”

  “I guess he reads the reports, just like I do.”

  “Oh yeah, the performance reports. So, have you figured out who our flight leaders are going to be?”

  “That’s a tough one. To be honest, at this point I’m leaning toward Josh and Loki.”

  Nathan choked on his food. “I think we need to get the doctor in here right away,” he said in between coughs. “I think you’re becoming delusional.”

  “Seriously, they’ve scored as high as anyone else for the most part,” she explained. “They also work better together as a team than any of the others. Furthermore, we already know they can handle the stress of combat, as they have already proven themselves under fire. That is still an unknown factor with the other teams.”

  “I agree,” Nathan said. “I just never thought I’d see you choose Josh over anyone.”

  “You know, Tug says he’s gotten quite proficient at piloting the jump interceptor as well, despite the fact that he finds it rather boring to fly.”

  “Then I guess Josh and Loki are still our boys,” Nathan agreed. “What about everyone else? Any problems I should know about?”

  “Other than Jessica objecting to Marcus as a senior chief?”

  “Yeah, that didn’t go over so well.”

  “I understand why you did it, Nathan. I’m not sure I agree with it, but I do understand it.”

  “Marcus will do fine,” Nathan insisted. “He’s a smart guy—a bit gruff, I’ll admit, but smart.”

  “Well, according to Master Chief Montrose, he is working hard to learn the ropes,” Cameron admitted. “I just hope it will be enough to win her over.”

  “Jessica will get used to it eventually,” Nathan dismissed as he continued eating. “There are going to be a lot of things that people just have to get used to,” he added in between bites. “We’re all just making it up as we go along at this point. The regs just weren’t written for this situation.”

  Cameron thought about what he had just said. He was right, in a fashion. As complete as she had always found the fleet’s extensive regulations to be, they just didn’t cover everything, especially now. She had always been a stickler for the rules, confident that they would always guide her in making the correct decision under any circumstances. However, more and more, she was finding herself stepping just outside the very boundaries she had respected and adhered to her entire, albeit short, military career.

  As much as she hated to admit it, she was beginning to wonder if Nathan wasn’t the ideal captain for their situation after all.

  * * *

  “In position for spacecraft recovery operations, Captain,” Loki responded.

  “Very well,” Nathan answered. “Comms, notify the XO; the ship is in position and is ready to receive spacecraft.”

  “Yes, sir,” Naralena responded.

  “Helm, maintain course and speed.”

  “Maintaining course and speed, aye,” Josh acknowledged.

  “Tactical, position of our fighters?” Nathan asked.

  “Tracking twenty-four, in six groups of four. First four are inbound now, Captain. ETA five minutes,” Jessica reported.

  “Notify the air boss. He has control of the flight deck,” Nathan ordered.

  Commander Taylor looked at the row of view screens built into the overhang in front of her. The flight control center was just forward of the main hangar bay, one deck up. Its aft wall was a row of large windows that angled into the main hangar bay behind them, so that the air boss and his assistants could easily see into the bay. Although there were cameras everywhere, there was simply no substitute for being able to look out a window and see exactly what was going on below.

  The center monitor was tracking the lead group, the one that Major Prechitt, the CAG, was leading in for a landing on the Aurora’s fl
ight deck. They were still a few minutes away and were barely visible on the screen, but that would all change soon enough. Unlike most shuttles, fighters didn’t usually approach at low closure rates. They tended to come in fast and brake hard at the last minute, as if they were being chased. It was their way of practicing a quick landing in case they ever needed to use the skill under fire.

  “Copy, air boss has the flight deck,” she heard the air boss answer. She was only there as an observer. As the executive officer, she needed to understand how everyone aboard her ship did their job. She had chosen to allow the entire aerospace group to set their own procedures as much as possible. Out of respect for the Aurora’s established procedures, the air boss, in turn, had requested a considerable amount of input from Commander Taylor. Until now, the Corinari had been operating from surface bases. This was their first time as much as it was the Aurora’s.

  “Talon Two, follow me to port. Three and four land to starboard,” Major Prechitt instructed. One by one, the other three pilots acknowledged their instructions. “Remember, gentlemen, pass over the top of the main drive, then drop at a forty-degree angle of descent. You’ll touch down just past the forward edge of the outer marker and have plenty of time to roll up smoothly and stop just before you reach the door. Don’t forget, the deck has ten percent gravity at the outer marker, so it will pull you down the last half meter.”

  Major Prechitt thrusted downward, bringing his fighter just ten meters above the Aurora’s main drive section. He waited patiently as it passed under him, glancing out to his right to see his wingman, slightly behind, following him in. As his ship passed the forward edge of the drive section, he fired a more intense burst of downward thrust, causing his ship to descend more rapidly. The single thrust had been just the right amount, and his angle of descent showed to be exactly forty degrees, just as he had hoped.