Steel Apocalypse

by Rodney Hartman

  The cockpit intercom crackled.

  “—any resistance, and I’ll blow your ship to pieces,” said a less than cordial voice. “You’ve got no defensive weapons, and those fool escorts of yours are still in the nebula running after our bait. You will assemble the remainder of your crew on the bridge. My troops will board shortly. You’ll do what they say, or you’ll all die.”

  “Why should we bother surrendering?” said Captain Yardov. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”

  “Now don’t get ahead of yourself, Captain,” said the pirate. “Resist, and I will kill you all here and now. Surrender, and I only may kill you.” The sound of laughter came over the intercom.

  Jake looked out the still lowered ramp of the cargo bay. The approaching assault ship was close enough to see the clamshell doors on the front of the starship open. Visible through the pirates’ open doors were squads of storm troopers with rifles at the ready, waiting in the cargo bay.

  “Analysis?” he said.

  Maggie returned to her cross-legged position on the control console in front of Jake. “My sensors are picking up seventy-five armored soldiers in the pirates’ cargo bay. They’re mainly armed with rifles and pistols. However, I am picking up four shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons. I’ll outline them in orange on your gunsights.”

  Four of the storm troopers near the back of the assault ship’s bay glowed orange on the windscreen.

  “Are there any UHAAVs?” said Casey.

  “There are two Warcats standing next to the portside hull, near the doors,” said Maggie. “Those three-meter-tall cats are hard to beat when it comes to recon, but they suck as assault cats. Their light armor wouldn’t stand a chance against my 30 megawatt plasma cannons.”

  Coming to a decision, Jake turned to Casey. “You ready for a fight?”

  A smile spread over the Trecorian’s face. “I was born ready.”

  Jake looked at his AI. “Maggie, when I give the word, disengage the cargo chains securing us in place and revert to combat mode. We’re going for a little walk.”

  Maggie jumped to her feet and saluted. “Sir, yes, sir!” She laughed. Her eyes sparkled blue. “May I ask where we’ll be going?”

  Maybe it was due to the adrenaline, but for whatever reason, Jake laughed. “We’re going to take a little tour of that assault ship.” He glanced over at Casey. “I think it’s about time we showed those pirates what a Paladin can do.”

  Casey gave a mock salute. “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Chapter 14 – Full Assault

  ____________________

  An orange beam reached out from the front of the assault ship, forming a bridge of pure energy between the pirate ship and the freighter’s rear ramp. One of the pirates’ storm troopers stepped onto the energy bridge and aimed a shoulder-launched rocket at the magnetic field protecting the freighter’s cargo bay. The anti-armor missile shot out, striking the energy field. The field flickered a few times before disappearing.

  Jake felt his body grow light.

  “Artificial gravity’s been disabled,” said Maggie. “I’m activating my footpads’ magnetics.”

  With the loss of the magnetic field, every loose item in the cargo bay was sucked out into space along with all the air. Thanks to the numerous cargo straps and chains, most of the items in the bay remained where they were.

  Armored pirates led by the two Warcat UHAAVs rushed across the energy ramp, firing plasma beams and phase rounds as they came. Jagged pieces of storage containers shot into the air, bouncing off the ceiling. Some of the debris floated in the air while the rest flew out into space.

  Despite the fact that she was a hologram, Jake felt Maggie’s eyes on him as he gripped the control stick. He relaxed his grip slightly.

  Maggie nodded. “You’ll need to compensate for the footpad’s magnetics by using more servo pressure during combat maneuvers.”

  “Roger that,” Jake said, grateful for the reminder. He risked a glance at Casey. “You still ready?”

  She wrapped her hand around the gun controls. “Ready and willing. I’ll take out the two Warcats with the plasma cannons when you give the word with no problem. Who’s going to be handling the plasma rifles? You or Maggie?”

  “I’ll handle the first few salvos, then he’ll take over,” said Maggie without giving Jake a chance to answer. “Computers are too predictable. I can’t help but do logical things. The pirates’ tactical computers will anticipate my moves. That’s where you two come in. I can help tweak your aim, but you need to be the ones picking out the targets and deciding where to go next.”

  Casey grinned as she stared at the sight reticle on her windscreen. “It’s nice to be needed.”

  Maggie laughed. “That’s what I keep telling our Jake.”

  A beam of green plasma energy ricocheted off the pilot’s windscreen.

  Jake instinctively ducked his head but recovered quickly. From experience, he knew it would take more than small-arm’s fire to penetrate the thick glass-steel of the Paladin’s windscreen.

  Speaking to himself as much as Casey, he said, “Each of the Warcats has two anti-armor missiles mounted to the left of their cockpits. Three of the storm troopers still have their shoulder-fired anti-armor rockets. We’ve got to take out the Warcats and the remaining shoulder-fired weapons in our first salvo.”

  “This ain’t my first rodeo,” said Casey, using an old Earth saying Jake had heard some of the old-timers at the spaceport use on occasion. “I’ll take care of the two cats. You handle the shoulder weapons.”

  The first of the storm troopers and the two Warcats were just passing the front of the Paladin. Since Maggie had darkened the filter on the windscreens, Jake wasn’t worried about being seen by roving eyes. What he was worried about was missing any of the anti-armor weapons on the first salvo.

  Taking a roll of the die, Jake said, “Now, Maggie! Full combat mode.”

  The sound of chains and securing bands clattering to the floor was accompanied by the whine of leg-servos as the Paladin rose to its full five-meter height. The top of the cargo bay was just high enough that Jake didn’t have to bend the cat’s knees to keep the Paladin’s cockpit from hitting the ceiling.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The sound of the 30 megawatt plasma cannons firing beams of red energy echoed off the cargo bay’s bulkheads, then was drowned out by two larger explosions. Pieces of Warcat arms and legs flew past the windscreen.

  The quad plasma rifles mounted beneath the windscreens opened up, shooting balls of red death at diving storm troopers. They returned fire, but the beams of green plasma energy and phase rounds bounced off the Paladin’s thick armor.

  Jake stepped out, almost tripping the cat’s legs as the magnetized footpads tried to stick to the metal deck. Increasing the servo pressure in the legs, he kicked out with a steel foot and knocked a trio of armored pirates into the far wall of the cargo bay. A shoulder-fired weapon flew out of a pirate’s grasp and fell to the deck.

  Stomping down with the Paladin’s foot, Jake left a flattened version of the anti-armor weapon in his wake. He glanced at the gun reticle on his windscreen, trying to pinpoint the other two shoulder-fired weapons.

  “I’ve taken out the other two storm troopers that were carrying the anti-armor weapons with the plasma rifles,” said Maggie. “The pirates’ computers are starting to anticipate my firing pattern with the rifles. You should take control of them now.” The miniature version of Maggie seemed to glance out the pilot’s windscreen. “Oh yeah, I should probably mention if I was the assault ship’s computer, I’d be recommending they deactivate their energy bridge so you can’t get the Paladin onto their ship. Just a little FYI. Thought you’d like to know.”

  Realizing Maggie was right, Jake spun on the Paladin’s left leg as he fired off bursts of plasma rounds from the anti-personnel rifles. He moved the cat’s throttle full forward. Running at top speed, he knocked pirates out of the way as he made for the energy bridge. He got to the very edge of
the freighter’s ramp just as the pirates’ energy bridge disappeared.

  Moving too fast to stop, Jake extended the leg-servos at max speed in a diving jump. At the same time, he hit the ion thrusters built into the Paladin’s legs. Although the thrusters were only intended to slow the cat’s fall when jumping down embankments, he took a risk that they’d work just as well to give the cat an extra burst of speed in the weightlessness of space. In an all-or-nothing jump, he made straight for the open front of the Balorian assault ship.

  Whether by luck or skill, he guided the Paladin dead-center through the still open clamshell doors and hit the deck inside the assault ship’s bay area. Jake rolled the Paladin head over heels in a trick Maggie had taught him, squashing a squad of pirates in the process. Coming up out of his roll, he continued running toward the back of the bay. Squads of storm troopers hid behind any available cover they could find, firing for all they were worth. Their small kilowatt plasma beams did little to no damage to the Paladin’s armor.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The 30 megawatt plasma cannons raked the back of the bay area as Maggie took out teams of pirates attempting to escape. Return fire from the pirates came fast and furious, but again it proved ineffective against the cat’s brerellium-steel plate armor.

  Jake noticed the beams of energy from the 30 megawatt plasma cannons ricocheting off the bulkheads of the bay area. “The walls must be reinforced with an energy shield,” he said. “Maggie, see if you can hack into the ship’s computer and shut their force field down.”

  “Compliance.”

  Casey fired another salvo of cannon fire. The 30 megawatt energy beams struck the bay’s back wall, blasting fist-sized holes in the metal.

  “Now we’re talking,” said Casey as she fired another burst of plasma beams. “Maggie, pull the schematics of the ship out of their databanks and find me some key targets.”

  Maggie’s hologram crossed her arms as she glared at the Trecorian officer. “You’re not my pilot.” She shrugged. “But…considering the circumstances. Compliance.”

  Three orange outlines appeared on the copilot’s windscreen. Jake was too busy firing at or stepping on armored pirates to take a good look, but at least one of the outlines resembled an ion engine while another looked like an isotopic battery for a hyper-drive.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Red energy shot out of the phase cannons in the direction of the outline of the isotopic battery.

  Maggie rolled her eyes and snorted. “You missed. Uh, do you want some help?”

  “Yes!” said Casey still sending 30 megawatt plasma beams in the direction of the battery as fast as her finger could pull the trigger. “Help would be greatly appreciated.”

  Spotting a braver-than-he-ought-to-be pirate trying to pick up one of the fallen shoulder-fired anti-armor weapons, Jake sent a burst of plasma rifle fire in the storm trooper’s direction. The rounds caught the pirate full on the face shield of his helmet, obliterating the flesh on the other side. The anti-armor weapon fell back to the metal deck. None of the other pirates made a try for the weapon.

  A salvo from the Paladin’s plasma cannons shot out, tracking straight for the outline of the isotopic battery.

  Boom!

  The entire assault ship shook. The few remaining storm troopers left in the bay area were thrown against the walls, some drifting out the open clamshell doors. The shaking grew so violent, the magnetics on the Paladin’s footpads lost their connection to the deck’s metal plates. The cockpit hit the ceiling, denting in the bay’s metal roof.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” said Maggie. “Someone on the bridge has activated the ship’s self-destruct. She’s going to blow in twenty seconds.”

  “Can you deactivate the self-destruct?” Jake said, doing his best to regain control of the Paladin.

  “Negative,” said Maggie. “Not in twenty seconds.”

  Jake glanced out the open clamshell doors of the bay. Although the energy bridge was no longer connecting the assault ship to the freighter, the two vessels were only a hundred meters apart.

  “We’re too close,” said Casey. “Even if we make it back to the freighter before the self-destruct goes off, both ships will be destroyed.”

  Heading for the open clamshell doors, Jake opened the Paladin up to full throttle. “Maggie, hack into the pirates’ flight controls. Use their ion thrusters to back as far away as possible.”

  “Compliance.”

  The roar of engine’s sounded. The assault ship jerked. The Paladin twisted to one side and bounced off the starboard bulkhead. Jake caught a glimpse of the freighter growing smaller through the clamshell doors.

  “Ten seconds to self-destruct,” said Maggie, sounding a little too matter-of-fact for Jake’s liking.

  “It’s now or never,” said Casey.

  When the Paladin reached the end of the assault ship’s ramp, Jake activated all leg-servos at max velocity. They shot through the clamshell doors, into the nothingness of space. The freighter was already a thousand meters away and appeared to be drifting to the right.

  “We’re off course,” said Casey. “We’re not going to make it.”

  Jake activated the ion thrusters in the Paladin’s legs. The cat sped up and turned toward the freighter, but he could tell it wasn’t going to be enough. “Maggie. A little assistance, please.”

  “Compliance.”

  The control stick went limp in Jake’s hand as everything went to automatic. Maneuvering thrusters built into the sides of the cat expelled compressed ion gas, twisting the Paladin a hundred and eighty degrees so it was facing the pirates’ ship. Streams of ion energy was shooting out of the assault ship’s thrusters as it backed ever farther away from the freighter. The pirate vessel was now almost three kilometers away.

  The 30 megawatt phase cannons on the sides of the Paladin’s cockpit began firing at a rapid rate, sending red beams of phase energy into empty space. At each blast of the phase cannons, the Paladin jerked.

  “What are you firing at?” Jake shouted. “There’s nothing there.”

  The miniature hologram of Maggie on the control console stood up. “I’m not firing at anything. I’m using the recoil to correct our course. Self-destruct is in four seconds. Now, do you wanna drive this thing or let me do it?”

  Jake didn’t have time to answer. A flash lit up everything. The light was so intense it triggered the filter on the Paladin’s windscreens to max.

  Rubbing his eyes, all Jake could see were red spots dancing across his field of vision. Finally, the red spots disappeared and the filter on the windscreen went back to normal. Far off in the distance, Jake saw glowing bits of wreckage drifting ever farther away. He heard the sound of compressed air from the cat’s maneuvering thrusters.

  The Paladin spun a hundred and eighty degrees.

  Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

  Five hundred meters away, the freighter was in one piece.

  “We’re headed straight for it,” said Casey.

  Maggie laughed, her eyes sparkling a bright blue. “And that, my friends, is why it’s always wise to leave the Paladin’s override activated.”

  “Amen to that,” said Jake.

  Chapter 15 – Impossible Repairs

  ___________________________________

  A full hour after the destruction of the pirate’s assault ship, the Covian escort fighters finally returned. Major Maksim didn’t even try apologizing for skipping out and leaving the freighter to fall into the pirates’ trap. Not that Casey gave the man a chance. The major had barely climbed out of his fighter when the mad-as-hell Trecorian lieutenant put a fist in his face, knocking him out cold. She’d have probably done worse, but Jason wrapped all four of his arm tentacles around her and held her in place until she calmed down.

  Jake had a feeling the now black-eyed major wasn’t going to try stealing a kiss from any Trecorians in the near future.

  After Tilley helped him secure the Paladin in its storage position nex
t to the Macron, Jake looked around for Casey and Jason. They were sitting on a bench on the opposite side of the cargo bay, in deep conversation. Glancing around, he noticed four of the Covians preforming post-flight checks on their fighters but no sign of Major Maksim.

  One of the freighter’s crew walked up.

  Jake recognized him as one of the burly men that normally stood guard at the cargo bay’s hatch. He’d always been a surly fellow, just like the rest of the crew.

  “Excuse me, sir,” said the crewman, sounding unusually respectful. “I, uh…the Captain requests Lieutenant Bistoria and you come to the bridge when you get a chance. That is, if you’re not too busy, sir.”

  “I’ll grab Casey, and we’ll be right with you,” Jake told the man. “I assume you’ll be taking us there.”

  “No need in that, sir, unless you don’t know the way.”

  Jake eyed the man. “I thought we weren’t supposed to go to the bridge on our own.”

  The man’s cheeks turned a little red. “Look, uh…Mister Striker.” He glanced around before looking back at Jake. “We all know what the two of you did for us. We’d be dead for sure if you hadn’t taken out those pirates. That fancy-pants major would’ve gotten us all killed.” He glanced at the deck before raising his eyes. “You’re all right in my book, Mister Striker. If’n there’s anything you need while you’re on board, just let me know. The name’s Riko.”

  “All right, Riko. I’ll be sure and do that. Thanks.”

  The crewman moved his right arm almost as if he were going to salute. Seeming to think better of it, he spun on his heels and beat a hasty retreat to the exit hatch, closing the steel door behind him.

  Jake sensed someone step up beside him.

  “Well, that was unexpected,” said Tilley, grinning. “By the way, thanks for nothing, letting Jason and me stay locked up in our quarters until everything was over. We might’ve been able to help.”