Frontline sf-4

by Randolph Lalonde

  Down several hallways, around several corners he rushed until his sensor package told him that there was a large group of soldiers just around the corner in a security office busied with the task of tracking him down.

  To his dismay there was a slight difference in gravity and a vapour barrier conducting a small current just down the hallway. They actually have a system in place that can detect when I cross that threshold while cloaked! I've never seen anything like it, but it's so simple. The vapour leaving the nozzles at the top is measured and if it doesn't match what's being pulled in through the bottom the alarms go off. If I find my way around that, the current being measured all around that water vapour will be off enough to alert them. If I were to find a way around that the gravity plating on the other side would measure a large difference as well. It's like what we accomplished on the Overlord Two with the early version of our cloaksuits made Hampon paranoid. Seriously paranoid! That's unless all Regent Galactic ships have anti-stealth technology surrounding command centers.

  He looked down the hallway, watched the security officers checking sensors at the outer perimeter and scrambling between two and three dimensional monitors to find him and tried to figure out a way to get to their systems without noticing. If they have gravity plating that's monitoring pressure in there my cloak suit isn't worth a damn, and I can sense that there are thirty eight of them inside. Big office.

  Jake shrugged, drew a nanoblade hilt from its holster at the rear of his belt, set the blade to extend one meter and then drew his sidearm. The black blade appeared, a grisly triumph of nanotechnology. Turned one way it was invisible to the naked eye, comprised of millions of nanobots caught in a turning magnetic field it was only a few molecules thick and would cut through anything softer than itself. The nanobots, aside from being sharper than any cutting surface known, would all work to push through whatever they came in contact with except for Jake's vacsuit. If they came into contact with materials harder than themselves they would cut into them quickly, but there were only so many nanobots in the hilts of the weapons, once they were exhausted, the weapon needed to be reloaded. He had only used one theoretically, in simulations and if the representation of the weapon's effects were at all accurate, it would be a very effective tool of intimidation.

  He tapped into the leisure network for the ship once more. It was broadcasting an alert, displaying his image on every entertainment display on the ship. It didn't matter.

  He began broadcasting what he saw across the ship's entertainment systems, deactivated the cloaking systems and activated the personal shield built into his vacsuit and long coat.

  He became visible as he strode down the hallway to the security office. His black face plate, crimson and black long coat and armoured vacsuit were the focus of everyone who could see the open main doors to the security office.

  “That's him!” shouted a desk clerk who ran for cover.

  Jake opened fire. Looking down the sight of his heavy sidearm with his mind's eye he couldn't miss as he made three head shots in quick succession, ruining the first three guards who were caught in the open, just bringing their rifles to bear.

  He crossed the threshold into the security office and was immediately hit with several heavy energy rounds from his left. Energy shield absorbed the damage, spreading the electrical component of the rounds across its surface and showing some weakening from the high velocity impact of white hot particles. Without looking he swung the nanoblade blade at head level. His gaze followed a second behind the strike, just in time to see the blade pass through the center of a guard's head from ear to ear. The gel they wore to protect them from extreme thermal damage did nothing to stop the weapon.

  “Helmets! He's got a blade!” Called out one soldier as he ducked behind a cubicle.

  The room was filled with partitions, rows of plastic cubicles for numerous security officers. They were using them for cover, a few took quick shots at him but missed as he strode right out in the open.

  Jake concentrated on his thermal spectrum of vision so he could see right through the thin partitions and picked out a target who was getting ready to stand and fire, the shape and temperature of the soldier marked him as crouching in thick armour with a long rifle. He took quick aim and fired through the thin plastic partition five times. Screams filled the room as he picked another target who was standing to fire and shot him once in the neck and once in his open mouth.

  As he was struck by another energy bolt and his personal shield was reduced to ten percent power. Jake darted across the room, turned, dropped behind the main security terminal beside an unarmed officer and took sight of the soldier who had shot him. The man was ready, just waiting for him to peek out. The officer right beside him stared open eyed, in utter shock.

  “Get anyone unarmed into that corner, you have three seconds.” Jacob instructed loudly, pointing towards the corner to his right.

  The officer nodded and stood up only to be cut down by mistake by his own soldier.

  “I tried,” Jake said to himself, taking advantage of the opportunity by raising the barrel of his sidearm up onto the desk, looking through the video sight and taking several shots at the man's grey helmet. The first shot was resisted, the two that followed it broke through.

  He took an energy clip from his trench coat pocket and jacked it into his control and command unit, mentally instructing his personal energy shield to drain the device and recharge. After two seconds it was done and Jake stood up.

  Two soldiers were waiting. They fired through the thin walls of the cubicles, one caught him several times with his lower powered automatic energy rifle. It didn't make a difference. Jake could plainly see who was armed and who wasn't using his new senses. He ran forward, down the center aisle and ran his sword cleanly through a cubicle and the arm of the soldier behind it.

  He trained his sidearm sight on the nearest soldier and he fired several times, breaking through his armour. Taking aim at another armed man he repeated the act and when the soldier hiding just behind him started taking aim at his back Jake was ready.

  He spun on his heel and cut through the cubicle wall just under the woman's helmet, cutting through her throat. Jake followed through with a single shot to her helmet, flinging the woman's head back and opening the wound to gaping. Blood surged into the air. What do I have to do to intimidate these people into surrendering? Jake thought to himself as self disgust threatened to overtake him.

  As if in direct answer to his notion, two soldiers stood up and flung their rifles to the ground. “Surrender! We surrender!”

  Jake trained his sidearm on the nearest of the two soldiers and set it to full automatic. “Open this section and let me out on the port side of the ship.”

  “I can't, they'll execute me for that.”

  Jake squeezed the trigger for less than a second and five shots struck the man's upper breastplate. The first three rounds didn't penetrate all the way through, the last two opened great gaping, flaming wounds inside the man's ribcage. The sparking fire and smoke from the thermite rounds flared from the large wounds as he fell to the deck and for several minutes after.

  Jake's aim was immediately brought to bear against the other guard, who nodded. “Let me go with you.”

  “Do you have the codes and clearance I'll need to get off the ship?”

  “Yes, I have my own codes and my Lieutenant's.”

  “Good, get to work.” Jake directed, slowly gesturing towards the large security control booth in the center of the room. “The rest of you get out of here! Anyone left in this room besides me and my new friend will be killed!” he caught sight of a soldier hiding several meters behind him start standing up, brandishing his rifle.

  Jake spun, took aim with his sidearm and just as the soldier got his first shot off he killed him with the last three rounds in his thermite clip. He clicked the release, let the clip fall to the ground and put the weapon behind his back, where the loader inside his long coat fed a fresh clip into the weapon.
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  “Now, where were we?” Jake asked the soldier who had volunteered to help him escape.

  As the unarmed security office workers and surrendered soldiers hurriedly left the room, lockouts across the center of the command carrier started to come down.

  Riding The Needle

  None of them ever thought they would see the inside of a rail cannon. The deck and repair crew had pointed one of the planetary cannons so it was aimed over the surface of the island. To everyone inside the Needle it looked like their trajectory would take them between two of the largest buildings.

  A near miss at that speed has to have repercussions. Oz found himself thinking. “How long are they taking the shield down for?” He asked over the sound of the capacitor coils humming at the base of the cannon. The electromagnetic field was building up all around the long cylindrical ship.

  “A little less than a quarter second. More than enough time to get through at the speed we'll be moving,” Ayan replied as she checked the inertial dampeners using her command and control unit. It was tied into the ship with well insulated wires, so there would be no chance that any jamming or wireless signals could interfere. “The dampeners are all ready,” she told Minh, who sat ahead of her at the main flight controls.

  “Are you sure that's enough time?” Oz asked.

  Jason chuckled and shook his head.

  “The math is solid, it's more than enough,” Ayan answered.

  “You know, I used to watch a cartoon with a monkey and a panda. The panda loaded the monkey into a cannon once, and until now I thought that cartoon was hilarious,” Minh said just loudly enough for everyone inside the small craft to hear. “That episode isn't quite so funny now.”

  “I'm guessing it didn't end well for the monkey?” Jason asked.

  “Monkey all over the place.”

  “You know, I think of it more like sky luge. We're all lined up in a relatively thin shell, have one pilot, and the only thing we have for control are brakes,” Jason commented, knowing he was only making Oz more nervous. “Biiiiig flaming breaks.” He was so frightened he was about to start shaking as well, but torturing Oz made him feel better somehow.

  “It's not too late to do this the hard way, you know, with refurbished tanks and soldiers and the biggest guns we can find,” Oz offered.

  “It is too late, the cannon's fully charged, count down is down to fifteen seconds, oops, fourteen, thirteen…” Minh teased as he took a firm grip on the controls.

  Everyone braced themselves, the sound of the inertial dampeners whining at their highest setting and the rail cannon building an intense magnetic field around them filled the small cabin. Before anyone but Minh was ready they launched. Even with the intense inertial control field inside the cabin, everyone was pressed into the backs of their steel frame seats. Their vacsuits protected their hearing from the sonic boom that erupted as they erupted from the barrel.

  Then there was relative silence. The sound of air moving over the sleek pointed shell and the hum of the inertial dampeners running were almost soothing. The night sky above was filled with stars, and a strange, momentary serenity settled over the four of them.

  The needle flipped upside down, all the crew members but Minh-Chu watched the city below go by in a dizzying blur. They missed some of the taller rooftops by what seemed only meters. “Pull up!” Oz called from the rear seat.

  “No one likes a back seat driver!” Minh replied through clenched teeth. “Deceleration thrusters in three! Two! One!”

  Ayan pulled two levers above her head hard and the afterburners from the Warpig fired, filling the forward view with thick smoke and flame. Everyone was slammed into their restraints as the ship began decelerating from its incredible speed. Minh expertly guided the path of the tiny speeding ship between the two largest buildings. Transparesteel windows broke free of their fastenings, parts of the structures were torn apart and scattered across several city blocks of the city below as the fireball passed.

  “Oh God,” Jason whimpered.

  “Don't worry, we're on course,” Ayan called over her shoulder, not sounding nearly as sure as Jason and Oz would have liked.

  The thunderous sound of the large afterburners mounted on the front end of the ship increased in pitch and the inertial dampeners whined even louder as they struggled to compensate for the gravitational forces being exerted on them. “We've hit the loose pack fuel! I don't see the landing zone yet!” Minh yelled.

  “It's coming up, right on the other side of the spaceport,” Ayan answered.

  “It better be, or they pointed us in the wrong direction!”

  The large spaceport passed underneath just then, they had slowed enough so it wasn't just a large, round grey blur, but a more well detailed complex of landing bays, debarkation and embarkation ramps. Half a second later they were over an extensive sugar cane field.

  “Should we be upside down?” Asked an alarmed Oz.

  “Hold on, we're hitting!” Minh warned as he flipped three switches in sequence. As he hit the third the needle was engulfed by flame as the last of the fuel in the afterburners was expended in a massive burst. Something exploded inside the cockpit, showering them with sparks the instant before they hit the ground.

  The vessel dug into the earth and all light turned to darkness as the ship careened through the field filled with green sugar cane stalks, leaving a trial of deeply turned black soil in its path. The night was alive with the sounds of violent explosions and the rumble of the ship coming to a halt seconds after impact.

  The four of them hung upside down in their restraints, each of them checking for injuries. Despite the sounds and explosions, the impact had been very mild for the passengers. “I'm all right,” Oz said in the relative silence.

  “Me too, not a scratch,” Jason replied.

  “I'm okay, don't ever want to do anything like that again, but I'm okay,” Ayan said quietly.

  “I think I peed a little,” Minh said as he reached to something between his feet and pulled it sharply. “Thank God for indoor plumbing.” A loud pop filled the air and a bottom plate just in front of his seat flipped outward so he could push himself out through the bottom of the ship.

  “We really were supposed to land upside down?” Jason said in astonishment.

  “That explains why the exit hatches are set up in the bottom of the craft,” Oz agreed as he pulled his own handle. “Didn't make much sense before but I was afraid to ask.”

  “It was the only way. The transparesteel we scrounged up was the strongest metal on this thing, so we had to make it the impact side,” Ayan explained.

  “Sort of counter intuitive.” Minh said as he helped Oz out of the craft. The gravity from the inertial dampeners still pointed to the bottom of the vehicle, so it was easy for them to get through the bottom hatch to the waist, but then the gravity from the planet had hold of them, trying to push the majority of their bodies back inside.

  After Oz finished extracting himself from the craft he moved on to help Jason, whose legs were fully out of the ship's egress hatch. Minh helped Ayan and when they were all out, they pulled the plate of metal on the back of the ship away, revealing the packs each of them were to carry along with long coats for all but Ayan, who preferred her longer poncho. All their extra clothing was made with a higher density than their vacsuits, providing extra armour while sharing the same capabilities.

  “You know, I've never worn the finished version of a cloaksuit before,” Ayan mentioned.

  “I have, they're amazing. They don't do much for us in this field unless we stay between the rows though,” Jason commented as he finished putting his long coat on over his slim, long equipment pack. He checked his sidearm and the nanoblade they'd have to use instead if they wanted to remain undetectable.

  “When did you get to wear one?” Oz asked as he secured his heavy rifle across his chest.

  “On a couple little runs for Fleet Intelligence, maybe once the Triton gets here I'll fill you in and bust open a coup
le Freeground secrets.”

  “What blew when we hit by the way?” Asked Minh.

  “One of the inertial dampeners, I expected at least one of the four I installed to go,” Ayan answered nonchalantly.

  “How many redundant dampeners did we have?”

  “One, we needed at least three to come down without a scratch.”

  “Well, looking at what's left of the ship, anyone might think that there were no survivors,” Oz said, looking at the beat up hull. One of the afterburners had been ripped off, left behind in the field somewhere along the scar they had made on the rows of sugar cane. The other looked like a torn and crushed up box of metal, half torn from the main body of the ship. The vessel itself was dented in several places where the transparesteel joined the main body.

  “It's almost too bad we have to use it as a trap,” Ayan said as she activated her cloaksuit. She disappeared from sight completely, even her footfalls were silent and invisible, covered and wiped away by compensation systems built into her boots.

  Everyone else followed her example, the display in their vacsuit visors made up for the darkness of night and showed an outline of each of the cloaksuit users. They would no longer communicate audibly, instead their messages would be sent via millisecond laser pulses outside of the normally visible spectrum of light. Secrecy and stealth still demanded that they keep such traffic down to an absolute minimum, especially since a great number, if not the majority of their opponents were machines that could see more of the colour spectrum than an average human.

  Oz took up point as they heard a machine start in the distance and rustle the sugar cane stalks. They made their way at a slow jog down one of the rows leading to the broadcast center in the middle of the field. It was marked clearly by several focusing dishes and burst transmitters, all pointed at the stars like wide white concave eyes surrounded by long antennae like multicoloured rods.

  Behind them several objects were making their way to their ship and once they had put a kilometre between them and the craft, Oz slowed to a stop. When he turned around his targeting system outlined a large machine and several smaller ones. Two were identified as automated security, one was some kind of technical assistant and there were several small maintenance bots.