There was a momentary pause before the Admiral responded. “Come to think of it, that actually makes a strange kind of sense. Whatever you plan, do not let the Craing get hold of Ricket. He knows far too much.”
“I’m guessing they’ll be looking for some kind of trade.”
“Don’t even think about doing that, Jason. Ricket is far too important—.”
Jason cut him off, replying, “Agreed, Admiral. Any chance you know where you’re being held? Which vessel?”
“I’m in their Fleet Command Battle Dreadnaught vessel. This ship is immense. You can’t defeat it in battle. You know that, don’t you? Anyway, I just had a personal visit from their High Priest. I believe I’m on the menu for tonight. Consuming their conquered is a big deal for them.”
“Yes, we’ve had the pleasure of talking with High Priest Lom ourselves. For now, I’m going to ask you to sit tight, sir. This new development shakes things up a bit. I’m going to ask you to trust my judgment on what action we take.”
“You do what you have to do. I had my chance. And we know how that turned out.” Jason cut the connection and put his attention back on matters at hand.
McBride looked over to the captain. “Sir, we’re within three thousand miles of the tip of the fleet. The fleet itself is widespread, over seventy thousand miles.”
The XO, Lieutenant Commander Perkins, moved away from his seat at one of the consoles to sit in a chair next to Jason. “I’m sure you realize we’ve been provided with an excellent opportunity—one aspect of our plan we hadn’t figured out yet.”
Jason nodded, “Uh huh, an opportunity to get in close enough to phase-shift—I know. But it’s still a double-edged sword, XO. The Lilly will be right in the middle of that hornet’s nest. For much of the maneuvering about, you’ll have the con. I’m counting on you, that if it comes down to it and you can’t shift away, just know The Lilly cannot be taken.”
“Understood,” Perkins replied, his expression acknowledged the implications.
“We’re being hailed, Captain,” McBride reported from the helm.
Priest Sol, now alone on the display, was back to his smiling self. “Captain, please accept my apologies for the delay. We have been in contact with Emperor Quorp. He wishes, in all haste, to have Emperor Reechet brought onto our vessel. It is for obvious reasons that we will not release our prisoners, or forestall the inevitable invasion of your planet.” Jason noticed their fleet was on the move again and Craing vessels were already encircling The Lilly.
“In a rare exhibition of kindness,” Priest Sol went on, “the Emperor will allow you to live, albeit subject to imprisonment, and your crew as well. Admiral Reynolds will survive the day. Emperor Reechet must be brought to our Council of Priests immediately. Any attempt to avert the capture of your ship and crew will result in its immediate destruction.”
“That would result in the death of Emperor Reechet as well,” Jason replied, but understood their intent.
“As mentioned earlier, there has never been a time when two emperors walked amongst the Craing simultaneously, and there never will be.”
Jason watched the display. Sure enough, the massive cube-shaped Battle Dreadnaught was moving closer to The Lilly. But still not quite close enough.
“What would stop us from just self-destructing right now?”
“That would be unfortunate, but you must do what you feel best, Captain. If you wish to save yourself and your crew, you’ll ready your ship to be boarded. If not….” the Craing priest, with the same patronizing smile, held out his palms and shrugged. Jason smiled at the universal gesture for oh well, you’re fucked. “A transport vehicle has been dispatched. Prepare to be boarded.”
Typical of their other smaller craft, the Craing transport looked like an insect, but this one more like a squat green ladybug. It was infinitesimally small compared to the mass of the Battle Dreadnaught, as the entire bridge watched it disembark and head out towards The Lilly.
“How much time do we have before that bug reaches us?” Jason asked Ensign McBride at the helm.
“About ten minutes, sir.”
The wrap-around display was now segmented. Multiple feeds came in from throughout The Lilly. On the flight deck, five of the six fighters were manned and ready on the forward end of the deck. Close behind were the two large shuttles, with their rear gangway doors open.
“XO, you have the con. It’s game time everyone.”
* * *
When Jason entered the flight deck he wore a hardened combat suit with a plasma pulse side arm. At the rear of the deck, Billy had assembled fifteen separate teams. Each team consisted of ten SEALs and fifteen rhino-warriors. All were equipped with advanced plasma pulse rifles. The rhino-warriors also carried their heavy hammers. Billy ushered one of the teams onto a shuttle on the port side, a tight fit, but with some jockeying around and angry remarks from the huge rhino-warriors, they all squeezed in. Once the shuttle’s rear gangway was secured, Jason helped Billy repeat the same boarding process onto the other shuttle. Billy crammed in with the others, while Jason stepped back to let the hatch close.
The Pacesetter fighter was moved away from the bulkhead and prepped for preflight. Lieutenant Craig Wilson stood directly below the fighter’s cockpit. “Sir, I highly recommend you let me pilot this mission, or at least come with you. No offense, but this is your first time behind the stick,” Wilson said, his frustration evident.
“Thank you, Lieutenant, but the nature of this mission is personal. If I fail, it’s on my head.” With that said Jason climbed the inset footholds leading up to the cockpit. Once strapped into the seat, the effect of his HyperLearning kicked in. He sighed in relief. Jason had experienced before the staggering amount of information made available via the HyperLearning sessions. The information only became assessable when it was actually needed, or specifically retrieved. He looked at the myriad of flight instrumentation controls and virtual displays laid out before him. “No problem, I got this—I think,” Jason murmured, as he attempted to bring the Pacesetter into formation with the other fighters. He completely missed the mark and the Pacesetter hovered at an off-angle. The other pilots looked over at him; all were grinning and several gave the thumbs- up sign. Jason answered an incoming hail.
“Go for Captain.”
“Captain, the Craing transport has arrived and is hailing us,” said the XO
Jason had to smile at the prospect of The Lilly disappearing right before their eyes. “In that case, go ahead and phase-shift.”
“Phase-shift complete, we’re now in the primary hold of the Dreadnaught, mid-ship.”
Chapter 20
The Dreadnaught’s mid-ship cargo hold was easily twice as large as the holds on the other Craing vessels. A virtual schematic representation of the massive ship now hovered in front of Jason. He pulled at the virtual corners and enlarged the center section, revealing the sites where their coordinated shifts would situate them. At this point, the two shuttle pilots and the five fighter pilots were doing the same thing. A predetermined phase-shift coordinate location for each vessel was indicated in various colors. Jason’s Pacesetter phase-shift location was marked as a violet circle. The shuttles were given numerous drop locations. Once they dropped off a load of SEALs and rhino-warriors, they would return to The Lilly’s flight deck for another load. As Jason studied the wide corridor with miles of cages, he couldn’t help but think he’d brought Mollie and Nan right into the lion’s den. Jason looked over to the other pilots. They glanced back at him, waiting for his signal. He nodded once, and one by one, they all disappeared. Then Jason phase-shifted as well.
* * *
Jason’s Pacesetter phase-shifted into the mid-section of the Craing prisoners’ confinement corridor. Looking out past the nose of the fighter there was the typical Craing sooty haze, a foreboding dark cloud. The open corridor he now hovered in was several hundred feet wide and miles in length. And both sides of the escalating space were lined with multiple decks—row afte
r row of containment cages. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack, Jason thought to himself. He hailed his father.
“Go for Admiral Reynolds,” came back the older man’s tired voice.
“I need you to do me a favor, if you have a second?”
“I think I can work something out, what do you need, smart ass?”
“Tell me when you see me.” Jason pushed the joystick and the fighter abruptly kicked forward, gained speed too quickly, and nearly veered into a side support bulkhead. He repositioned the stick and tried again, realizing he needed to work on finessing his touch. After several moments, Jason reached the end of the corridor, U-turned, and headed back the way he'd come, only now he was positioned several decks higher. In spite of the dire situation, Jason was enthralled with flying, and he knew he was hooked.
“If you’re the idiot flying one of The Lilly’s fighters inside this corridor, then I guess you just passed me. I’m back about one hundred yards.”
Jason looped again with an ass-over-teakettle maneuver and slowed to a crawl as he passed by the cages. Up until then, he had been moving too fast to make out any details, see into the cages. Faces stared back. Some human, some bizarre-looking aliens; all appeared desperate and scared.
“Hold up there, hot shot, you’re almost in front of me,” his father said. Jason looked to his left and saw the large stature of his father standing at the bars of a cage. Attempting a bit of his newly-acquired finesse, he instigated a tricky horizontal lateral movement, which scooted the fighter right up to the deck’s catwalk. He locked down the controls, opened the cockpit canopy, and crawled back down to the catwalk.
“I specifically told you not to bring The Lilly into harm’s way,” the Admiral bellowed.
“Yeah, well, I was in the neighborhood. If you’d rather catch the next cab, I have other places I can be,” Jason said.
“Smart ass.”
Jason looked for the release lever on his father’s cage door. This one was configured differently than the latches on the older Craing vessels.
“No, it’s up above, see? Just pull the damn metal pole.”
Jason saw what he was pointing to and gave it a tug. The metal latch mechanism at the front of the cage clanged open. Jason removed his helmet.
Now, standing face to face with his father after a fifteen years’ absence, he was unsure what to do next. For some inexplicable reason his eyes welled up and a lump the size of a golf ball filled his throat. Admiral Perry Reynolds, appraising his son, slowly nodded his head and, with equally moist eyes, engulfed Jason in a long overdue hug.
“Listen, before we go, we need to release someone else and bring him with us.” The Admiral gestured to the nearby cage.
“What the hell are you talking about, Dad, there’s no room for—”
Holding up his hand, the admiral cut him off. Then looking toward the next cage, he gestured for Jason to look. A small boy, no, not a boy, an alien approximately Mollie’s age, gazed back at Jason. Like Dira, the boy had the same violet skin and long lashes. But the similarities stopped there.
“What are you looking at?” the boy asked him, with the meanest scowl Jason had ever seen.
The admiral shrugged. “He’s a little rough round the edges, but basically he’s a good kid. We can’t just leave him here.”
“I’m not planning on leaving any of them here, but right now there’s no room in the fighter.” Jason saw the disappointment on the child’s face.
“All right, give me a second.” Jason moved to the front of the boy’s cage and opened the latch. Just then an alarm claxon sounded in the far distance. He was familiar with the sound, and how it caused an overwhelming sense of impending dread in those who heard it. “I guess they know we’re here,” Jason said. “OK, kid, get in the back. Dad, you’re in the front.”
“I don’t know how to fly that thing, Jason.”
“I expect it was part of your HyperLearning, but you won’t need to fly it. Hop in.” The admiral frowned at Jason and proceeded to climb into the front cockpit seat. “Wait, what about you? We can’t leave you here, they’ll kill you the second you’re discovered,” his father said, distress in his voice.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll catch a ride.” Jason replaced his helmet, and accessed his coms.
“Go for Billy.”
“Billy, I need a ride; can you pick me up at this location with the next shuttle load?”
“You got it, hang tight, Cap,” Billy replied.
Jason closed the cockpit canopy and accessed the fighter’s controls via his HUD. He gave his father a quick nod and remotely phase-shifted the Pacesetter back to The Lilly. Hopefully, no one would be standing at the drop location.
When Billy’s shuttle arrived it was a mess; hundreds of energy weapon blast marks scorched her outer hull. As the ramp came down, Jason boarded the ship. He contacted the XO for their latest status.
“The fighters have begun phase-shifting to nearby Craing vessels,” Perkins said. “It's a slow process. As we did with The Lilly, one by one they are targeting the Craing weapon systems from their interior holds. After that, they target their propulsion systems. So far, they've disabled ten of their nearest ships. Unfortunately, the element of surprise is gone and at this point the Craing are waiting for them when they arrive, and our fighters are taking a pounding.”
“What about our Battle Dreadnaught drop teams?” Jason inquired.
“The news isn’t any better there. The first two teams that tried to take the bridge have been taken out. And, in addition to their highly-effective security hover drones, it’s been reported the Craing patrol their confinement decks with some kind of lizard.”
“Come again?” Jason asked, not sure he heard his XO correctly.
“That's right, maybe closer to a small dinosaur, although these are blue and have hands.” Jason remembered Mollie talking about these creatures at the Zoo.
“There called Serapins. They’re sacred to the Craing.”
“Not sure how they managed it, but they don’t attack the Craing. In fact, they walk right by them. Captain, if we can't secure that bridge, our plan falls apart.”
Jason thought about the Serapins and saw the logic. Having grown up with stray dogs frequenting the scrapyard, vicious towards strangers and yet like family pets toward Gus and Jason most of the time, it was a system that definitely could keep the riffraff out. Jason cut the connection.
"Billy, we need to change direction. To the Dreadnaught’s bridge.” Billy nodded and several moments later the shuttle banked to the right, then rose up to the upper decks. The shuttle’s back ramp lowered as they approached the new drop off, and Jason skittered down. Another team was already there, taking cover, wherever possible, from bright plasma bolts. Four Craing hover drones were guarding access to the forward fifth deck, which was the only access to the bridge. Jason stole a quick peek around a corner while the closest drone was engaged by the other team. The drones were white, cylindrical in shape, but smaller than he'd expected, at about three feet in length.
Two rhino-warriors lay dead on the catwalk as well as a SEAL. All three had taken blasts to the head. Jason snatched up the dead SEAL's plasma pulse rifle and scrambled for cover behind a bulkhead. The weapon's charge level was still at 80%. The drones not only could hover and spin in any direction, they could target and fire from their two separate mini-pulse cannons simultaneously, making it damn near impossible to get a clear shot.
Billy was on comms: "There is no way in hell we're going to take this bridge, Cap. And even if we could, the inside corridors are teaming with those raptor things.”
Jason had already noticed their icons on his HUD, approaching on the other side of the bulkhead. A flurry of energy blasts erupted mere inches from Jason's head and all around his teammates. Ducking low, he witnessed several rhino-warriors go down. The catwalk shook with three thousand pounds of dead weight hitting the deck plates all at once. He shook his head. The rhino-warriors tended to attack straight on,
relying on their size, brute force and bravery, which, unfortunately, were no match for the drones powerful mini-pulse cannons. Jason hailed Lieutenant Wilson.
“Go for Wilson.”
“I'm programming your clearance to fly the Pacesetter as we speak. Wilson, lock onto my coordinates and shift over here ASAP. We have a drone problem. Ensure your shields are up.”
“Aye, Captain, on my way,” the lieutenant replied excitedly.
Jason figured Wilson may have been sitting in the cockpit, because when he looked up the Pacesetter was already hovering nearby in the corridor and powering up its weapons.
Jason had just enough time to yell for the team to take cover before the Pacesetter’s plasma gun blasts tore through much of the forward fifth deck. Like the rest of the team, Wilson’s HUD indicators revealed where friendlies were positioned versus enemy drones. When the firing stopped, the hover drones were nothing more than smoldering scrap metal on the deck.
"Nice shooting, Wilson. OK, you're now on continual rover duty. Help out the various teams as needed and take out any hover security drones you come across."
With that Wilson was gone.
"Cap, behind this bulkhead and through that access hatch is the primary conduit to the bridge,” Billy said, as he helped his men to their feet and reassembled his battered team.
Jason looked at his HUD. "There are eight left, four other SEALs and four rhino-warriors. And what about those ten other life forms I'm seeing?"
"Yeah, those are the…? What did you call them?”
“Serapins,” Jason replied.
“Yeah, anyway those raptor creatures are extremely fast. And they definitely work in teams. We made the mistake of underestimating their strategic capabilities on Deck 2 and lost half our team."
Jason didn’t like the thought of going up against those creatures. But one thing was certain: without taking down the Battle Dreadnaught they wouldn’t stand a chance of defeating the remaining five hundred Craing warships.
Scrapyard Ship Page 20
