Olik seemed a little out of breath but managed to answer before leaning back inside the vehicle. It was cramped enough for Teresa, and she was surprised he’d managed to find a way to fit. They passed the new line of defenses and hurtled onward to the barricade that guarded the entrance to the hangar containing the Biomech prisoner. The gunner jumped in surprise.
“Holy crap! We’ve got two up top!”
He spun the turret about, but Teresa grabbed his hand.
“No, not yet.”
He didn’t look convinced, but the stern expression of Teresa, combined with the blood splattered and angry looking Olik, quickly deterred him. They carried on with two of the Bulldogs following. The rest pulled to the right and formed up behind the defensive line, waiting for the assault. Those inside watched the two creatures holding on to the top of the Bulldog with fascination. This was the closest any of them had been to the beasts without them trying to kill them. Even as they rushed past the barricade and into the hangar, they stayed on the surface of the vehicle.
“Now?” asked the gunner, his nerves beginning to fray.
Teresa shook her head.
“No, just keep your eye on them.”
As quickly as they had passed the outer barricades, they were inside. The thickened steel barriers dropped down behind them. For a moment they were safe. The vehicle continued forward and moved alongside the massive ship that sat waiting. The powerplant was online, and of the crew and marines she'd stationed there, only a handful remained on guard along the base of the landing ramp.
As soon as the Bulldog stopped, Teresa hit the door button and lifted her weapon. In perfect synchronization, the two Biomech warriors dropped down, their red eyes glowing with evil intent.
"Drop 'em!" she cried.
Those inside opened fire, as well as the gunner that had been monitoring via the top-mounted turret. The two didn't stand a chance and were quickly cut to pieces. Olik laughed at seeing the destruction and forced himself from the vehicle and onto the ground. He groaned when he put weight back on his legs.
"Are you okay?" asked Teresa.
"No problem, let's do this."
She nodded and walked back to the ramp. As soon as her feet hit the metal, the sound of the engines began to build. Major Terson met her at the top and beckoned her inside.
"Colonel, we're all ready for the next phase."
Teresa stopped but only long enough to make sure the rest of them climbed inside. The massive, spacious hangar was now completely empty, even though it was still being guarded from the outside. The door slid shut with a slow groan behind her, giving her just enough time to contact Admiral Churchill. Before that, however, she connected to directly to Osk.
"Commander."
"Colonel Morato, I see you've made your move. Good luck, we'll do our part here."
"Thank you, Gun would be proud."
Teresa then connected to the Admiral. The door now closed firmly, and a loud hiss spread through the vessel as the seals pressurized.
"Colonel. Are you on board?"
"Yes, Admiral. Tamarisk II is ready to leave Prometheus."
"Good. You know the plan. Next time we meet, we'll raise a glass to this little adventure."
"Indeed we will, Admiral."
"God speed, Colonel Morato."
* * *
Admiral Churchill could hear the sounds of battle from his post and from the myriad of camera feeds leading directly to this one place on Prometheus. The bulk of the attention had taken place at the base of the section that Olik had been defending. He tapped the icon near the heaviest fighting, and an image of Osk appeared.
"Commander Osk, what is your status?"
"Admiral, the enemy has launched a final assault with their remaining forces. The main tunnel is full of their foot soldiers."
He looked over his shoulder and watched the external feeds as Tamarisk II lifted slowly from the mighty hangar and ignited her engines. It looked like she might crash into the sheer wall, but the huge section of metal and stone slid apart allowing them access. The ship was out of the base in seconds, moving faster and faster through the shaft as it headed for the surface. He waited until the vessel was clear of the ground before speaking again.
"It is time to end this. Are all your people clear?"
"Affirmative, Admiral, we have fallen back to the plaza."
"Good work, Commander. Enjoy the show."
The signal dropped, and he gave the signal to Captain Horner.
"That's it then. Activate the charges."
The station’s tactical officer turned to his display and ran his hand over a series of detonation icons. They required a specific order and timing, but after four seconds of tapping, the system was ready. He held his breath and then tapped the display. All of them watched with satisfaction as a number of charges fitted along the flanks of the vast tunnel were triggered. Each one sent a great gout of flame, sharp metal, and broken rock into the center where the Biomech horde stormed ahead. When the dust finally began to clear, only a handful of the enemy remained standing, and all of them were badly injured. Admiral Churchill couldn’t have been happier at the result.
“Great work. Send in the marines to finish to job.”
* * *
Teresa pulled on the thick safety straps and locked the buckled. It clamped shut with a reassuring firm clunk sound. From where she sat inside the armored cockpit, she had the perfect view of the escape from the Prometheus facility.
“Come on, pilot, get us out of here, and fast!”
Teresa hadn’t even noticed until now that the man at the controls was none other than Intelligence Director Johnson. The side of his face was unmistakable though, and when he spoke to Captain Tycho, she knew immediately who it was. There were only four of them in the cockpit, and they sat in two pairs, Johnson and Captain Tycho at the front, she and Captain Thompson in the next two. Olik and the other members of his team had moved to the cargo area and joined the platoon of marines already stationed on board.
“Hold on to your hats!” said Director Johnson.
He dumped more power to the engines, so much so that the internal gravity system struggled to match the acceleration, and Teresa could feel herself pinned to the seat. It calmed down a little after a few seconds, but only because the system had caught up with the ship’s escape.
“What in the name of all that is holy are you doing here?” she asked.
Teresa’s voice was hoarse and almost out of breath. Johnson twisted in his seat and glanced at her, smiled, and then looked back.
“Teresa. Good to have you back there, just like old times!”
He wasn’t wrong either. Teresa found it hard to not think back to their time aboard the original Tamarisk. It was the insertion craft for the original Prometheus rescue mission. It made her feel old thinking about that event, especially as it had been so early in the last war. Right when Kerberos had fallen to revolt.
A lot has changed.
She looked at her two captains, both of whom were busy checking the monitors for signs of trouble. It wasn’t really necessary though. She spotted the ships through the mainscreen in front of them and lifted her arm to point.
And a lot has stayed the same.
“Yeah, I see them,” said Johnson.
The ship shared much in common with the basic philosophy of the original Tamarisk. The vessel was relatively small but equipped with armor, powerful engines, and was surprisingly nimble. As they burst out from the low orbit of Prometheus, the engines rumbled even harder.
“Look!”
Johnson pointed slightly to their right where a whirling maelstrom had appeared.
“The Rift,” Teresa said quietly.
“Twenty-three minutes to get there at this speed, assuming there are no problems. Those ships are out of range right now.”
He was referring to the craft Teresa had pointed out to him. The large formation of ships was moving around the planet, but it was hard to tell exactly what was happen
ing from the visual feed alone.
“They might be out of range, but they know something’s up,” said Captain Tycho.
He focused his attention on the largest of the ships, the one that matched the shape of a massive trilobite type vessel. On closer examination, he could see an increase in the glowing around the engines. The numbers alongside the ship confirmed his assessment. The computer performed a very quick series of calculations before giving him a simple figure. It left him feeling numb.
“Director, that ship has changed course. It’s not on a pursuit vector anymore.”
They all knew what he was saying, but it took Teresa to ask the question.
“They’re heading for the Rift?”
He nodded slowly.
“Not just their command ship, their entire fleet. And at that speed, they will arrive at the Rift within two minutes of us.”
Johnson nodded.
“In that case, we’d better make sure we get there with time to spare.”
With almost perfect timing, as he finished speaking, the ship shuddered as though it had just broken the sound barrier. The view from the cockpit shifted slightly and then adjusted to level them off.
“Problem?” asked Captain Tycho.
Director Johnson tried to look at the status screens, but more heavy impacts shook the ship, and he was forced to concentrate on keeping Tamarisk II on a level course. Captain Thompson accessed the gunnery controls and camera units so that he could scan the surface of the ship.
“Nothing yet. I don’t see any ships out there.”
Teresa remembered the images of the battle around the moon of Eos in orbit of Gaxos in the Helios system. There had been many different types of ships, but also a large number of Biomech fighters, something that was new and hadn’t been seen in numbers before.
“Check for fighters. Remember, they are fully automated, no biological signatures, and difficult to spot on the heat trackers.”
Both captains altered their settings and began a detailed scan of the area around the ship. On one screen in front of Captain Tycho was a schematic of the ship, and around it a chessboard type design that showed space in three dimensions. One red dot appeared, and then another, and then a total of seven small shapes filled the unit.
“Oh, crap, we’ve got trouble,” Teresa said, “Get on the guns and bring them down.”
Director Johnson shook his head.
“Sorry, Teresa. That’s one thing we didn’t quite have time to finish.”
“What? You’re telling me we have no guns?”
He turned to her and grinned, an expression that almost matched something she would have expected from Spartan.
“No, the guns and turrets are fine, but there’s no automated computer control of them yet. They need to be controlled and tracked manually via the monitoring station back there.”
He pointed at the small computer room behind the cockpit. It was narrow, and banks of computers filled both sides. Teresa ripped off her straps and immediately bashed her head on the ceiling. Luckily, she’d lifted her hands, but the bewildering array of forces from the gravity generator and the accelerating ship made it almost impossible to move.
“Shut off the damned gravity generator. We’ll do this the old way.”
She then looked to her captains.
“Tycho, you stay here and help Johnson. Thompson, you’re with me.”
The gravity shut off as he unbuckled himself. The two of them carefully entered the next section of the ship, while keeping a firm grip on the multitude of grab handles fitted throughout. Teresa bashed her PDS Alpha armor several times before making it to the seating and dropping in. Captain Thompson went past, but as another strike hit the ship, he lost his grip.
“I’ve got you!” Teresa called out.
She swung him down with one hand. He grabbed another handle and dropped down into the position behind her and facing away.
“Thanks, that could have been…painful.”
Teresa said nothing and turned her attention to the targeting matrix. It was modern, state-of-the-art even. It showed a view from the turret mount on the side of the ship, as well as a radar system for identifying and tracking the movements of the Biomech fighters.
“I’ll take the dorsal mount.”
Captain Thompson nodded in agreement.
“Sure. I’ll take the flank guns.”
Teresa put her hands on the unit and moved it to control the target selection of the weapons. As soon as she tapped it, there was a clump like something had just broken off the ship.
“It’s the turret covers. Don’t forget, we’re supposed to be an unarmed transport.”
The Captain nodded and returned to his own screens and controls.
“Colonel, whatever you’re doing, it isn’t working. We’re taking gunfire to the starboard engine mount. A few more hits like that, and we’ll get to the Rift too late.”
“I know,” she shouted back, “Just give it everything you’ve got!”
Each of the dorsal turrets adjusted to track exactly where she was pointing, and they moved quickly and precisely. Although there was no way for sound to travel outside the vessel, she could certainly feel the grinding of the massive motors as they rotated above and behind the crew module.
There you are.
The shape of a tiny Biomech fighter came into view right behind the ship. For a second, it vanished too low for her to hit, but as it popped up, she flagged it and then hit the burst button. The transport vibrated a little as the row of four turrets opened fire, each of them emptying their cargo of 20mm flak rounds right at the craft. The guns were primitive in design and far less advanced than the railgun or particle beam technology used on almost all warships.
“Come on, they’re hitting the engines again!” shouted Director Johnson.
Teresa ground her teeth and swung the turrets a few degrees to the right. Most of the rounds missed, but at least one struck the lead fighter. The initial impact was less than inspiring. It began to spin. After a few more seconds, it lost control and then spun out of view.
“One down!” she said.
Captain Thompson monitored the flanks from the multiple cameras fitted all over the outside of the ship. While one group of fighters hit the rear, the second larger group zigzagged slightly above and below so that one moment they were on the left, and the next they were on the right.
“Stay still, damn you,” he muttered.
The transport thundered on, its engines continually dumping more fuel into space as they accelerated faster and faster. The Biomech fighters had no problem in keeping up and even after three of the seven were downed, the remaining four split up to harass the aft of the ship.
“How’s she doing?” Teresa asked when one of the fighters vanished once again.
“Not good, one of the fuel feeds is severed. Any second now, and we’re going to lose power to that unit.”
“What about that?”
Although she was seated in the next section, she could still see inside the cockpit and the view out through the main screen. Right in front of them was the unmistakable shape of a Biomech warship. Director Johnson nodded in agreement.
“I know. It’s one of their Ravager class ships. I assumed they would stay in low orbit and continue dropping off troops. It looks like your plan is working after all.”
The clatter of auto cannons persisted as the turrets continued their work against the fighters. From outside, it looked as though a small cloud of flies were buzzing around a sugary treat. Gray streaks shot out from all directions about the ship, as gun after gun picked out at them, and one more fighter exploded in an orange flash.
“Yes!” cried out Captain Thompson, forgetting himself for a moment.
“Great work, now all…” she said before she spotted what the last three fighters were doing.
“Brace, brace, brace!” was all she had time for.
The three remaining fighters must have received a signal because as one they accelerated
at high speed toward the rear of the ship. The two Alliance officers pumped round after round at them, and even though they managed to cripple one, it wasn’t enough to stop the combined wreckage of three Biomech fighters from hitting the rear. They struck with a sickening crunch that echoed throughout the ship. The hum of the engines stopped immediately and was then followed by the sound of alarms.
“We’re in trouble,” said Captain Tycho.
“He’s right,” confirmed Johnson, “Engines are offline, guns too.”
He turned back in his seat to look at Teresa.
“We’re a sitting duck.”
Teresa didn’t say a word. She was busy looking at the image of the large Biomech ship coming at them. She lifted her hand to point at its biological design.
“Now we’re done,” Captain Tycho whispered.
The bitterness and disappointment in his voice was hard to hear. Teresa, on the other hand, looked positively angry, but far from beaten.
“That’s not an attack ship. It’s a Bioray.”
All of them looked as the colorful vessel moved ever closer. Johnson considered it and then turned to the others.
“You’re right. They mean to board us. That means we have a chance. I need anybody with technical knowledge to come with me. We need to get the generators back online. Then we’ll have minimal engine power and guns.”
“What do you want me to do?” Teresa asked.
Johnson had already pulled himself past her before stopping for a brief moment.
“Get down to Olik and the others and prepare to repel boarders. Something tells me we’ll have company very soon.”
* * *
Admiral Churchill watched the shape of Tamarisk II as the explosion enveloped the rear of the ship. He felt his heart almost stop for a moment. It looked like the ship had been destroyed. Unlike other regions of space, this particular point was surrounded by thick energy storms. The deadly unchartered parts of the storms were a block to direct travel, and for the last few weeks the storm area had drifted ever closer to the Rift entrance. The crippled Tamarisk II drifted out of control only a short distance from the deadly tendrils of the storms. Even as he watched, a series of small flashes marked secondary explosions along her aft.
Star Crusades Nexus: The Second Trilogy Page 67
