by GARY DARBY
Motioning toward the planet, he grimly said, “Dani, take us in.”
A few minutes later, he called over his shoulder, “Doc, we’re coming up on the first sentry ships. Things could get ugly real fast so get ready to take the controls if we have to jump into the battle pod and fight our way out of here.”
Dani’s fingers played over the controls, and they powered closer to the planet. The first of several sentinel ships slipped past on both the port and starboard sides.
Jadar glanced over at Jy, whose eyes flicked in constant motion from the screen to his sensor board and back. “Jy,” he called over to the young scout in a quiet voice.
“Yes, sir,” the young man answered, looking a little flushed.
“Just breathe, son, just breathe. Are any of their ships breaking formation, making a move toward us?”
In answer, Jy swallowed and took in a deep breath. “No, sir, they’re maintaining same orbital angles and velocity. I don’t think we’ve piqued anyone’s interest so far.”
With the planet looming ever larger, Jadar directed, “Dani, magnify the vu-screen, please.”
Jadar moved a little closer to stare at the enhanced view of the planet. He let his eyes scan the surface until he found what he sought. “There,” he said. “See that glow? That has to be their refining operation.”
He traced a line in the air with his finger. “And there’s the lake. So if our scouts didn’t move their camp, they should be about . . . Here,” he declared with a jab of his finger.
With his finger still pointing at the spot on the planet, he said to Dani, “That’s where we want to go. Got it?”
She nodded, her eyes never leaving the screen. “Yes sir, and let’s just hope that the Mongans don’t get overly curious and wonder why one of their ships is headed toward the surface while everyone else is playing bees around the hive.”
“Just stay away from their refining operation,” Jadar ordered. “If we start wandering too close, I’m sure we’ll find ourselves with a dozen of their warships on our tail, so don’t even look like you’re moving in that direction.”
Closer and closer, they flew to the planet. Jadar saw something that caused him to straighten upright. His eyes narrowed with an intense expression.
Jy, noticing Jadar’s look, asked, “See something, sir?”
“Yeah,” Jadar replied, “something that we just might be able to use to our benefit.”
Moving a little closer to the screen, he pointed at the planet’s dark surface. “Lightning flashes, big ones. I think we’ve got a whole line of t-storms brewing up close to the lake. If that’s so, we just might be able to—”
He whipped around to Jy. “Any changes in their ship orientation?”
Jy shook his head in response. “None, sir, they may have bought it.”
“Maybe,” Jadar breathed out. “But keep your eyes on those sensors, we’re running out of maneuvering room, if someone gets snoopy we’re going to need every bit of open sky we can get to zip out of here.”
“Roger that, sir,” Jy answered with a little smile. “You know sir, if you pull this off, you’ll go down as a tactical genius like Napoleon, Patton, and my crazy Uncle Jethro, the Swamp Fox.”
Jadar turned with furrowed brows. “Crazy Uncle Jethro?”
“Well,” Jy admitted, “that’s what some folks called him. He just had this natural knack for outrunning the law and—”
“Sir,” Dani interrupted, “we’re entering atmosphere.”
“Tell me about your Uncle Jethro later,” Jadar said to Jy. “Hate to miss a great story but right now we’ve got to some business to take care of.”
He took in a breath and let it out. “The moment of truth, so everyone stay sharp.”
Moving next to Dani, he leaned down so that he was at her eye level. “Pilot, slow us down and bring her to five hundred meters off the deck. Remember; keep your heading away from that Mongan complex.”
“Aye, sir,” Dani replied. “Slowing and making it look as if we have no interest other than sightseeing.”
A minute later, Dani nodded toward the vu-screen, “Sir, the lake is coming up on our port, and the valley should be dead ahead.”
“Good,” Jadar stated. “I’m headed to the Zephyr. Wait for my signal.”
He spun away and sprinted down the passageway. Minutes later, he entered the enormous compartment that held the Zephyr.
He cycled through the Zephyr’s airlock and called out, “You can ditch the suit now, doc. We got through okay, time for you and me to take a little ride.”
After Stinneli’s quick thumbs up, Jadar slid into the pilot’s seat and began powering up the scouter craft. Seconds later, he sideslipped the ship over to the hangar’s center and tapped his comms button. “Dani, do you read me?”
“Roger, go ahead, sir.”
“I’m about set here, open the hangar bay doors.”
“Understood, stand by for bay door opening.”
As if two shutters folded back, the massive doors opened. Jadar eased his craft over the opening until he could see forests and low hills just beneath the vessel. He dipped the little ship’s nose downward until the Zephyr cleared the hangar and was in free air.
Off to one side of the ship and far off in the distance, the sky lit up with the white-hot flashes of lightning that seared the sky.
“That’s right,” Jadar murmured to himself. “You just keep boiling up and headed this way. Get big and nasty, for all I care.”
As if in response to his statement, another round of brilliant lightning strikes erupted across the sky as if Odin himself slashed the air with a giant flaming sword.
Jadar eased the ship forward until the Zephyr was under the Mongan cruiser’s belly, matching its course and speed.
“All right, you guys, be there,” he implored and opened his comms to the scout rescue frequency. “Any scout,” he intoned, “this is Lieutenant Colonel Marrel, please respond.”
He waited, but no response came to his hail. He repeated the message, but again, no reply. He began his third attempt when he heard, “Staley to Marrel.”
“Lieutenant Staley!” Jadar cried out. “It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Sir,” she replied crisply, “stand by for verification.”
Jadar smiled and thought to himself, good girl, she’s taking no chances that it might be a trick.
“Go ahead,” he responded.
“Was the sky watch working or not working when we found it?”
“Not working, but you and Choi managed to cannibalize some parts and got it to work long enough for one burst message.”
“Colonel,” Staley answered with an audible sigh of relief, “it is also genuinely good to hear your voice.”
“You too, now listen up, is the camp in the same location?”
“No, sir, we moved it about fifteen klicks farther planetary north.”
“Same valley?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Get outside on high ground where you have a clear view of the sky and then call me.”
A minute later, Staley was back. “Okay sir, go ahead.”
“Do you see a Mongan warship at low altitude cruising up the valley?”
“Yes.”
“How far away?”
“Uh, make it ten klicks.”
“Well, LT, you’re not going to believe this, but that Mongan ship is us, and it’s your ticket out of here.”
“What—” Staley began but Jadar cut her off. “No time to explain. Now listen, when the cruiser gets to a kilometer from your position give me a heads up.
“You’ll see a Zephyr scout craft detach from underneath, guide me in and have your people ready to climb aboard as soon as I’m down.”
“Understood.”
Jadar quickly changed frequencies, “Dani?” he asked.
“I’m reading you, sir.”
“Got’em,” he answered gratefully. “Maintain this course; I’ll be heading down soon. On my mark, do a
one-eighty and reverse course on the exact same azimuth to pick us up on the go round. And change to the rescue frequency so that we’re all tied in.”
“Roger that, sir.”
Jadar kept the Zephyr close to the Mongan warship’s underside, hidden from those above. Less than a minute later, he heard Staley call out, “One klick, sir!”
“Roger, detaching,” he answered.
He cut his main engine power to the bare minimum and used his forward thrusters to slow his speed. He wanted to do more gliding than powered flying to minimize his signature to anyone who might be watching from overhead.
Seconds later, the Mongan ship had sailed on, and he was out in the open. “LT,” he asked tensely, “have you spotted me?”
“Yes sir,” she replied, “Come ten degrees to port, and begin your descent. You should see a very narrow defile between two hills just ahead. It opens up into a dead-end canyon. Set her down there.”
Jadar glanced at his ground-imaging radar, saw the gap and muttered to himself, “Very narrow, LT? I’m going to have to turn this bird practically on its side to slip through that.”
Nevertheless, at just the right moment, he pitched the craft’s nose down and without slowing, flew the Zephyr straight down the narrow gap.
On each side, scant meters away, rain-eroded dirt cliffs swept past the ship in a blur. In a flash, the scouter sped through the gorge and with an abruptness that caught Jadar by surprise, he was in the box canyon.
And scrambling to apply full braking power to the forward thrusters to avoid plowing into a hundred-meter-high cliff.
Slicing the nose around and straight up, he made the ship pirouette on its tail, pushed her nose hard over, straightened out, and hit his main thrusters hard. With a roar, the plas-energy from the engines splashed against the granite rock leaving it glowing cherry-red.
Coming to a stop mere meters from the rock wall, he cut his mains and with judicious use of his belly thrusters set the ship gently down on its landing tripod.
He cut all power and heard a soft whistle of, “Whew,” from behind.
“That was some flying, colonel,” Stinneli ground out as he unclamped his crash bars and rose from his chair. “Remind me next time that when you tell me that we’re going for a little ride to get off at the first station.”
“Don’t worry, doc,” Jadar breathed, “you couldn’t have been more scared than I was. Staley forgot to tell me that the canyon ended way too soon.”
He opened his comms, “Staley?”
“Inbound, sir!” she answered. “By the way, I forgot to mention that the canyon was on the short side and you might want to slow down a bit on your approach.”
“Thanks, LT,” Jadar growled. “I hadn’t really noticed.”
Jadar rose from his seat and motioned toward the airlock. “Let’s give’em a hand, doc; you’ll probably have some business.”
The two slipped outside to stand at the ramp’s bottom with drawn weapons. It wasn’t long until Jadar spotted movement in a greenbelt that skirted the enclosed and rocky canyon’s base.
“There they are,” he said softly.
Two scouts, crouching, and keeping low, stepped from the brush with weapons aimed outward. They knelt, surveyed the open ground and Jadar heard over the comms, “It’s clear, Lieutenant Staley.”
In ragged file, a group of scouts came out of the darkness, some that hobbled along, and two who carried a makeshift stretcher between them. They hurried toward the Zephyr with the first two scouts leading the way.
Jadar and Stinneli ran to the group, with Jadar grabbing one scout around the waist who limped along with a bad ankle. “What happened, Vlad?” Jadar asked. “Step in a rabbit hole?”
“Something like that, sir,” the young scout replied. “It sure is good to see you; we thought you’d bought the farm on us.”
“Almost did,” Jadar grunted in reply. “But I guess it just wasn’t my time yet. Where’s Lieutenant Staley?”
“Covering our six,” Vlad replied.
As the group converged on the ship, Jadar ordered, “Let’s get loaded up.”
He motioned toward his companion. “This is Doctor Stinneli. If you’ve got wounds that need attending, let him know.”
The marooned scouts began to cycle through the airlock just as Staley appeared out of the dark. Jadar gave her a quick smile. “Are we clear, lieutenant? Everyone accounted for?”
“All clear, and everyone’s here, sir.”
“Good. Once aboard, hop in the copilot’s seat and help me get us out of here.”
“I’d like nothing better, sir.”
Jadar followed Staley through the airlock and pushed his way through the now crowded Zephyr to the craft’s front. “Listen up,” he ordered. The group, already subdued, became silent.
“Here’s the score,” Jadar began, “as I don’t want anyone to have any misconceptions over what we’re facing. A long story made short—we commandeered a Mongan ship and flew it in here with this Zephyr in its belly. We’re going try and get us all out the same way.
“There’s perhaps two dozen or more Mongan patrol ships in low and high orbit around the planet.
“They didn’t bother us on the way in, but I can guarantee that that’s not going to happen on the way out. You see, we came here to not only rescue you, but to hit their Kolomite-processing complex, too.”
His voice and eyes were firm as he glanced around at their somber countenances. “And we’re going to wallop it plenty hard.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Star date: 2443.095
The Alpha Prime Planet
Grim-faced, Jadar continued. “Once that happens, they’ll know they’ve got a Trojan horse in their midst, and they’re probably going to send every last one of their ships after us. We’ve learned how to operate their weapons system, so we can fight back, but several dozen against one aren’t very good odds.”
He motioned toward the airlock. “Anyone want to stay here and take their chances?”
No one moved at his offer. He nodded approvingly at their response. “We’ll be lifting off in a few minutes.”
Jadar seated himself into the pilot’s seat and opened the comms, “Dani, we’re ready, make your turn.”
“Coming about,” she replied. “ETA, ten minutes.”
“ETA ten minutes,” he acknowledged. “Any of our neighbors topside getting curious?”
“No sir, not yet.”
He spoke to Staley. “We don’t power up until the very last minute, and only the bare minimum to give us enough boost to make rendezvous. The Zephyr controls are the same as the old scouter models,” he leaned over to point at the panel to her front, “but this is your weapons control center.”
Brushing his fingers across the several buttons and sensor pads, he explained as he went along, “This powers up the ion cannon and the two next to those are the fire control toggles for the cannon. The next set sets up your fire and control program for the Mark IV torpedoes.”
He let her run her fingers over the board, getting a feel for the weapon controls and display readout. Finished, she turned and said, “Easy enough, sir, and wow, what won’t they think of next?”
“My vote,” Jadar rumbled, “is ration pacs with more dessert and less vegemite.”
“I’ll add my vote to yours,” she smiled.
“Good, while we wait, what can you tell me about the Mongan complex?”
“It’s grown, considerably,” she quickly responded.
“More of everything; there’s now five or six ships parked on the surface at any one time, more equipment, more buildings.
“In the center, there’s an enormous dark pit; similar to a giant mine opening that goes straight down with all sorts of tubing running into it from all sides.”
“The tubes? Same as before?” Jadar questioned.
“Yes sir, the very same.”
“And the spider-bots?” Jadar asked.
“Tenfold of what they had previously,”
she answered. “They’re constantly going in and out of the pit. Plus, the Mongans have their devil dogs practically nose to nose on the perimeter, and they’ve got canine patrols extending out to several kilometers.
Biting down on her lower lip, she said, “We tried to get in close one time, cost us Hadji.”
She took a breath, let it out in a soft sigh. “After that, we could only do long-distance surveillance; it was just too dangerous otherwise. Fortunately, some of the surrounding hills are high enough that with binos we were able to get a pretty good look down into the complex.”
“Any sign of electronic surveillance devices?” Jadar inquired.
“I think so, sir,” Staley replied. “Their lighting system has expanded outward, increasing the perimeter’s lighted portion quite a bit. Each light tower has several hexagon panels pointed outward, so—”
“They’ve gotten wise,” Jadar interjected, “and layered their defensive posture and probably added electronic security sensors into the mix.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “That’s how I read it, too.”
Jadar remained silent for several seconds contemplating her report. “Sorry about your lost scout. But what you’re implying is that after we hit’em the first time, they really beefed up their security measures.”
“It would seem so, sir,” Staley returned. “They may be slow learners, but it does appear that they learn.”
Jadar ran a hand over his mouth. “Maybe. Still, there’s a certain arrogance about the Mongans, something that tells me that they think that we, or the Sha’anay might be able to hurt them every so often, but we cannot ever defeat them.”
Staley was about to answer when Dani’s voice came through the comms, “Colonel, we’re closing, thirty seconds out.”
“Roger that,” Jadar replied and brought the Zephyr to life. He fired up his belly jets, lifted the ship off the ground so that its nose pointed straight toward the defile.
Over her shoulder, Staley called out, “Those of you who can buckle up, do so, the rest of you get down on the floor and hang onto something.”
Moments later, a dark shadow passed straight overhead. Jadar waited a few seconds and then engaged his main thrusters. Once again, the little ship sped through the narrow canyon before lifting and matching his speed with the Mongan cruiser.
