Battlecruiser Alamo: Malware Blues

by Richard Tongue

   “I’m not sure I want it. Decisions like this. I’ve watched the Captain tear himself apart over it. Hell, I’ve been there myself, on Hercules.”

   “I saw the movie.”

   Closing her eyes, she counted quickly to ten in Russian, throwing in a couple of swear words, before replying, “Don’t ever bring that up again.”

   “It was somewhat over-sensational. I suppose only you know whether or not you want it or not. There will be those who tell you that you have a duty to take it, but in this specific case, I don’t agree. When you put on the uniform, you’ve already gone further than most ever will." He paused, then said, “You will think about it, though? Not dismiss it out of hand?”

   “Oh, a part of me wants it. But not yet, not now. I don’t think I’m ready.”

   “That might be a good sign.” He rose to his feet, and said, “I suppose we’d better get back down to the bridge. I foresee some very complicated trajectory plots in my near future.”

  Chapter 17

   While the deck crews frantically stripped down two of the orbital shuttles, Cooper looked across at his hand-picked assault team. Under normal circumstances, he would simply have selected a squad, but casualties during the battle had been liberally spread around the platoon, enough that any he could have picked would have needed to be reinforced.

   “Listen up,” he said. “This is a snatch-and-grab operation. We’re up against unknown hostiles, ones that we know are resistant to bullets.”

   “How can they be armor-plated, sir?” Watkins asked.

   “Not being an xenobiologist, Private, I couldn’t tell you. Perhaps you can talk with the science staff when we get back. I’m certain that our plasma weapons will work just fine, and if you are stuck with projectiles, aim for the eyes. Sub-Lieutenant Salazar assures me that those are their weak spots, and he’s killed one of them with a combat knife.”

   Gurung looked at Hunt, and said, “We don’t expect any stupid stunts like that from any of you. Just blow their bloody heads off with your plasma carbines, and keep fire discipline. We’ll be operating in an artificial environment, an undersea base, and you already had your baths for the week.”

   “The enemy are fearless, and don’t care about cover. You’ve got your combat armor, so that should help if you get into hand-to-hand combat. Watch out for the stingers, and the tentacles.” Cooper smiled, and said, “Just shoot them before you get close. And watch out for friendlies. Remember this is a rescue operation.” Glancing at his watch, he said, “Go get your equipment stowed away. We take off in four minutes. See to it, Sergeant. I’ll be along presently.”

   “Aye, sir,” Gurung said. “Come on, you apes! Who wants to live forever, anyway? Besides, you’ll be getting free drinks on the back of this story for years.”

   As the troops filed into the shuttle, Cooper raced over to the side, where his wife was supervising the technicians as they removed all the extraneous weight, others fitting auxiliary fuel tanks.

   “They’re going to be slow as hell,” she said. “Who decided that Grant should be commanding this operation?”

   “Don’t ask me,” he said, “I only work here. Don’t worry, as soon as we’re down on the deck I’m in charge.”

   “You’ve got to get there, first. Never mind the fact that we’ve got a ship armed with particle beams ready to blow us to bits, that swarm of broken junk we’re flying into is going to be murder to navigate.”

   “Baker’s a good pilot. He knows what he’s doing. And you recommended Manning for promotion last month.” He shrugged, and said, “I hear even Grant knows a little bit about flying.”

   “I ought to be taking you down myself.” Shaking her head, she said, “This is my job, Gabe, and I don’t like watching someone else forcing their way in. Grant’s a fighter pilot, not a shuttle pilot, and it’s a different skill. Trust me, I’ve done both.”

   “I assure you,” Grant said, stepping out of the elevator behind them, “I am fully certified as a shuttle pilot, and have passed all the usual tests. We will complete the mission. I guarantee it.”

   Her face sour, Bradley said, “I know you are my superior officer, and you can court-martial me for insubordination if you want, but if this mission goes wrong because of you, I will see not only that you are held responsible, but that you are thrown out of the nearest airlock without a suit!”

   “Your husband…”

   Waving her arm at the pilots as they boarded, she said, “All of the people climbing into those shuttles are my responsibility. My pilots, my technicians, my platoon. I will not see them put at unnecessary risk. Is that clear?”

   Raising an eyebrow, he said, “Perfectly. Now if you excuse me, I need to complete pre-flight. You’d better come along, Ensign.”

   “In one minute,” he replied, watching Grant climb into the pilot’s airlock. “You really built up a head of steam there, Barbara.”

   “Something about him brings out the worst in me,” she replied. “Just take care of yourself down there, you hear? All of that applies to you, as well. Don’t take any stupid risks.”

   “I’m going down to an unknown planet to fight giant monsters,” he said. “Nothing about this mission is sane.” He smiled, and said, “I’ve got a fully-charged plasma rifle and nine very scary troopers with me. We’ll be fine.” Looking over in the corner, he saw Scott watching the troopers board, almost seeming to shrink into the corner.

   “Here to wish me luck, Sub-Lieutenant?” he said.

   She looked at the troopers, and said, “Most of the friends I’ve got on this ship are heading down to the planet. I volunteered to pilot one of the shuttles, but I suppose that was never realistic.”

   “I can see their point,” Bradley said. “I can always use a hand down here in the hangar deck, if you want.”

   "I don’t have anything else to do,” she said, with a sigh. “I’ll try and stay out of the way.”

   “Go and take a look at Orbital One,” Bradley said, gesturing at a transfer shuttle. “Control systems have been playing up. I’ve had people working on her for hours, but can’t seem to find the fault.”

   “I’ll see what I can do,” Scott said, walking over to the far side of the deck. “Good luck, Ensign. Bring them back. Maybe something can be salvaged from this mess.”

   Watching her walk away, Cooper said, “Keep an eye on her, Barbara.”

   “Haven’t you got more important things to worry about at the moment?”

   “She saved my life, and risked her own to do it. Which means I owe her one.”

   “Skipping over that she took me hostage…”

   “As a favor, to me,” he said.

   Shaking her head, she replied, “Fine, I’ll hold her hand. Now get out of here, you’re going to miss your ride.”

   He gave her a quick hug, kissed her on the cheek, then ran for the airlock, one of the technicians giving him a cheer as he leapt on board. Sirens began to sound, and he quickly strapped himself down to the nearest chair, glancing up to make sure his equipment had been stowed.

   “I saw to it, boss,” Hunt said. “Thought you might want a few minutes.”

   “Thanks, Corporal. Everyone ready?”

   “All tucked in,” Gurung said. “This is what we all signed up for, isn’t it?”

   “Too late to request a transfer, Sarge?” Watkins asked.

   “I hear waste management needs a new filter repair technician,” Cooper said. “Fancy a career change?”

   “Only if I get to take this baby with me,” he replied, patting his plasma rifle, and a chorus of laughs echoed around the cabin.

   The overhead speaker barked into life, and Grant said, “Cycling elevator airlock. Stand by for variable acceleration and rapid course changes.”

   Cooper watched through the side viewport as the shuttle dropped down through the decks, smiling as he saw the angry burn mark that he’d caused w
hen he’d forced his way through the emergency hatch. The damage might have been repaired, but there had been no time for aesthetic changes.

   With a lurch, the shuttle dropped down, spinning around on its thrusters as the engine roared, hurling them towards their target. As their acceleration boost, Alamo quickly receded into the distance, the view now dominated by the tumbling planet ahead.

   “What’s the plan, sir?” Rhodes asked.

   “We get down on the deck then blow away anything we see with claws and tentacles. They’ll be a submarine waiting for us, and we take it down to the undersea base and rescue our people. If all goes well, Salazar and his group will be waiting close to the airlock.”

   “How do we drive it?”

   “It can’t be that difficult,” Cooper said.

   “Don’t worry,” Gurung replied. “I’ll handle it.”

   “When did you learn how to drive a submarine?” Hunt asked.

   “Pilot,” he said. “I did a tour on Thalassa, a few years back. Lots of undersea settlements there. We used submarines on that deployment like we use shuttles here. Controls will probably be different, but I’m sure the principles are the same.”

   The shuttle rocked, and he looked out of the viewport. Grant was piling on the acceleration rapidly, and already they were approaching the outskirts of the planetary swarm. It felt strange to be seeing a world from the inside, jagged rocks tumbling around each other, trails of particles torn and twisted.

   “What’s that?” Mododkis, one of the new Neander recruits asked, pointing at a moving star. As Cooper watched, it seemed to be growing brighter, a thin trail behind it,

   “Damn,” he said. “That’s Wyvern, and by the looks of it, on an intercept course.”

   The hatch to the pilot’s compartment opened, and a white-faced Garland stepped out, saying, “Lieutenant Grant’s complements, and will you join him up on the flight deck?”

   Cooper raced past the paramedic, pushing him out of his way in his haste. Grant was sitting calmly at the controls, gesturing for Cooper to take the co-pilot’s seat.

   “I understand you have some knowledge of countermeasure systems, Ensign.”

   “A very limited knowledge, sir.”

   “More than Garland, I suspect. Fire up the electronic defenses, and try and contact Alamo. We’re getting a lot of interference, though whether we’re being jammed or we’re getting some sort of effect from that mess around us, I don’t know.”

   “Aye, sir,” he replied, sliding into the station and strapping himself in. Sliding a headset on with one hand, he began to bring up the electronic warfare controls with the other, a series of panels lighting up. Since his last fumbling efforts in the station a year ago, he’d taken a couple of courses in countermeasure control, and this time he was far more sure of what he was doing, concentrating on his work.

   “Shuttle One to Alamo, come in, please,” he said, working the communication controls, trying to find a window to punch his message through. Grant was weaving the shuttle around fast enough that trying to aim a laser would be an exercise in futility, but he’d try it as a last resort. “Shuttle One to Alamo, please respond.”

   “This is Alamo,” a voice said, fighting over a crackle of interference. “We read you, Shuttle One, very faint. Be aware that Wyvern is vectoring in on your position. We are engaging full thrust, but will not catch up in time to help you.”

   “Understood, Alamo. Will attempt evasive maneuvers.”

   “Hold on,” Grant said, diving towards a nearby fragment of rock, close enough that Cooper make out every detail of the surface. The other shuttles followed behind them, as near as they dared, and for a moment Wyvern was out of view. Then a light flashed on the side panel, and Cooper cursed under his breath.

   “Wyvern’s got a missile lock. I’ll try and throw it off.”

   Frantically, he began to type in a series of commands, trying to scramble the lock, to hack into the enemy systems, but it was quickly obvious that they had someone skilled working for them. Any attempts he made were easily parried, and he hastily shut down the connection before they took control of the shuttle. One glance across at Grant told the pilot everything he needed to know.

   “Go for the physical countermeasures. We had the same trouble on Alamo.” He looked down at the surface, already perilously close, a tangle of peaks and valleys, and said, “The other shuttles can ride ahead. We’re going down.”

   With a long burst of the thrusters, he slowed the ship enough to pull it down towards the surface, the altimeter terrifyingly switching from miles to meters as they approached, warning alarms sounding that he turned off with a contemptuous flick of a switch. A smile began to spread across his face, the first time that Cooper had ever seen him smile, and Grant’s focus was totally on the task at hand as he dived between the peaks, skimming around outcrops of rock as though daring himself to see how low he could get.

   “They’ve lost lock,” Cooper said.

   “Pulling up,” Grant replied, his voice filled with regret. “Haven’t had as much fun as that in ages. All that paperwork they’re throwing at me up on Alamo is a lot of crap. This is what I joined up for.”

   Shaking his head, Cooper glanced across at his panel, and said, “I’d start doing it again. Wyvern is right on our tail and closing fast.” His eyes widening, he added, “They’re cranked up to full acceleration.”

   “The benefit of spending a few months watching these rocks tumble. Hold on,” he said, and they dived again, even closer than before. Skimming across a long-dead sea, the shuttle banked through a plume of debris, and Grant threw the engines up to fill, targeting a nearby fragment, a larger piece.

   “Two and Three are well ahead of us,” Cooper said. “They must have worked out which one the strike team is on.”

   “Or they’ve got something against me personally. I’m heading for that rock. With a little luck we’ll be able to skip from one to another. It’s not a long burn from there to the one we’re aiming for.”

   “I’m picking up Wyvern,” Cooper replied, looking down at the sensor display. “We’ve gained a little distance, but they’re still closing fast.”

   “To hell with it,” Grant said. “If they want to race, let’s race.” He tapped a control, and the engines roared up to full power, safety alerts screaming as he exceeded the mandated limits for the cluttered environment they were in. The shuttle lurched forward, Wyvern struggling to keep up as they dived for the barren rock. Cooper’s eyes widened as he realized what Grant was doing, going for a gravity-boost at a low level. The computer seemed to be as worried as he was, flashing warning after warning as Grant rapidly calculated the trajectory.

   “Got to get it right,” he said. “If I don’t, we could end up damn near anywhere, and they’ll have an easy shot.” The shuttle dived towards the rock, a tangle of craters and peaks worse than the last one, and Wyvern seemed to hang back, as though the ship itself couldn’t quite believe what Grant was trying. Something Cooper could well believe.

   “You ever done this before?”

   “No, but I’ve seen it done. With about a thirty percent success rate. Hold on.”

   The planetoid was only a few hundred miles across, and the chronometer told him that they’d been in close proximity for only a matter of a few seconds, a brief flash of gray against the cold black of space. His heart skipped beats, and he held his breath as he waited for closest approach, a readout giving it at a mere ninety meters.

   When they emerged around the far side, side-swiping a jagged mountain with a quick tap of the thrusters, they’d gained speed, but more importantly, thrown their trajectory out of the predicted path, out of any track a computer could have guessed.

   “They’re starting from scratch, now,” Grant said. “I make it ten minutes until we hit our target. The other shuttles will be down a minute or two before that. What does the computer give us as an estimate for Wy
vern’s intercept, or have they given up.”

   “Oh, ten minutes,” Cooper said, shaking his head. “I guess we wait.”

   “Yeah. You got a deck of cards?” He shrugged, and said, “Either we’ll get there first, or we won’t. There’s nothing we can do about that now, and as my old flying instructor once said, there’s no point dying all tensed up.”

   “Just out of interest, what happened to Lieutenant Grant?” Cooper asked. “I get the feeling I'm meeting someone new here.”

   A frown on his face, he replied, “They grounded him.”

   “Big mistake.”

   “Tell me about it.”

  Chapter 18

   Harper shook her head, watching the tiny sensor display as the shuttle raced over the nameless planetoid, Wyvern still inexorably closing on it. Behind her, Tramiel was squinting at his monitor, a frown spreading across his face. A series of calculations flashed on another panel, and after entering a few commands, he sighed.

   “Weapons range twenty-one seconds before they enter atmosphere. And all they’re going to need is one shot.” He slammed his hand against the wall, and added, “They probably don’t even know it. We’ve got a better baseline for Wyvern’s performance.”

   “How long?”

   “Nine minutes, twenty-six seconds.”

   “Then I’ve got time to save them.” Unstrapping from the hammock, she started to swing out, Tramiel placing a restraining hand on her arm.

   “Wait a damn minute. What do you think you are doing?”

   “I can’t do enough damage to their systems from here. If I can get to one of the bridge access stations in auxiliary control, there’s a chance I can play merry hell with their trajectory.”

   “You’ve never flown a ship in your life before.”

   With a smile, she replied, “I don't need to know. All I have to do is press buttons at random for a few seconds and spoil their course. Even I should be able to do that much. We’re only talking about a few seconds, remember.”