“Star Traveler!” he yelled. “What are the transport’s passengers now doing?”
“Forty-two hover bots are now dispersed through the station,” the AI said. “Station’s broadcast power center is now down, due to impact from three bots. Two of three station fusion reactors are also offline. Third reactor is sufficient to provide artificial gravity, light, air and other survival needs of persons on the station.”
“Good.” Bill was glad he had not had to use the thermonuke torp that was buried in the back of the cargohold of the transport. He’d added the torp as a backup, in case the station weapons systems survived the beginning of their attack.
“Alert!” the ship mind called to him over their private comlink. “Collector ship with full crew has now removed ship’s artificial mind from any control of ship weapons!”
“Lofty Flyer!” he yelled to the flying squirrel at Navigation. “Change ship orientation by 31 degrees. Turn us so we are nose-on at the Collector ship that is now firing plasma batteries at us.”
“Change made!”
Seconds in space can be too long for some lifeforms to survive.
Just as the Blue Sky came into the angle for direct laser fire, the enemy ship fired a green beam at them.
“Hull punctured above Containment Cell Chamber!” cried Star Traveler.
Bill fired his nose lasers, sending two green beams at the nose of the enemy ship. Then he tapped a black circle on his control pillar. A black beam shot out and struck the rear of the enemy ship.
Its nose lasers vanished in a bloom of yellow light and red heat. That was followed by a white-yellow flare that resembled a miniature sun.
In the true space holo, his ship’s electro-optical scopes showed the remains of the Collector ship that had fired on them.
White metal fragments now flew away from the middle of what had been an elongated white teardrop. Silvery globules of water shone briefly in the orange sunlight. All that remained of the enemy ship was its forward third. But that third contained the ship’s antimatter projector and MITV torp launcher. Both of which required electrical power to operate. No such power was available as the enemy’s partial disintegration had robbed it of the three fusion reactors that normally occupied the middle and rear of a Collector ship.
The Blue Sky’s rolling rotation now brought his ship’s tail lasers into line of sight of the enemy ship. He fired them at the belly plasma battery that now came into sight. A yellow puff of flame and gas showed the battery vanishing under the impact of one CO² laser. The second laser hit under the front end of the ship, killing the MITV torp launcher. He fired a second time at the top hull plasma battery when the enemy ship’s tumbling in vacuum brought that weapon housing into line of sight. The double green beams bit through and into the top of the ship hull.
“Star Traveler,” he called. “Is that ship’s AI still alive? I tried to leave the Command Bridge portion intact.”
“It is alive,” their ship mind hummed quickly. “It thanks you for allowing it to live. It reports that two crew died in the middle section of the ship, while the captain and two crew are alive in the bridge section. They wear vacsuits and the enemy bridge is still pressurized. They are trying to fire weapons systems that no longer exist.”
“What is the status on the other Collector ship?” Bill asked. “Is its crew trying to fire on us?”
“There is no crew on the second Collector ship,” their ship mind hummed low. “Only the captain is resident on its Command Bridge. He lacks the crew to make physical changes to the control conduits and wireless transmitters so as to remove its artificial mind from control of ship weapons. While the ship captain is standing before its Ship Weapons control pillar, nothing it does there has any effect.”
“Tell me if there is any change in that situation,” Bill said even as the last of the shuttle icons on the system graphic holo disappeared. He tapped the Tracking portion of his control pillar. It yielded the number 58. When added to the 37 compounds with no Captives present, that meant 95 of 97 heat hot spots on the moon were accounted for. Perhaps the last two were scientific or mining sites. He looked back to his wife, who had been watching him.
“Jane, all Buyer shuttles are killed. The single enemy Collector ship that fired on us is mostly vaporized. The second Collector lacks the crew to attack us,” he said. “And all weapons on the Traffic Control station are either dead from my weapons fire, or knocked out by our invading hover bots.”
“Good work, XO,” she said, her tone command serious. She looked aside to her comlink holo with its images of the other three ship captains. “Alicia, Frank and Stefano, how are your ships?”
“Fully operational,” Stefano said swiftly.
“Same for the Chapultepec,” Frank grunted.
“Ready to fight more,” Alicia said.
Jane sat back in her seat, both hands braced on its armrests. “Star Traveler, what is the status of the hull breach above the Containment Chamber?”
“Two repair robots have been dispatched to begin sealing hull opening,” the AI said in a low hum. “It will be atmosphere sealed within sixteen minutes. However, the hull door openings above the containment cells will not be operational until much later.”
“Advise me when repairs are completed,” she said, looking to Bill. Inside her helmet, she shook away black bangs that had drifted over her eyebrows. “Bill? Time for Stage Two of your Buyer attack plan?”
“Yes,” he said, checking his system graphic to confirm that no new Collector ships had entered the HD 128311 system. “Alicia, Frank and Stefano, it’s time to go rescue some Captives from the compounds below. We know which compounds have Captives in them.” He tapped his control pillar top. “I’ve just sent you the backtrack data on all shuttles that came up, plus the 37 compounds with no Captives in them. That leaves 58 compounds to be visited.” The expressions on the faces of his three saloon buddies were priceless as they realized Stage Two of his Buyer assault plan involved ground pounder assault on defended forts. “I’m taking one of our transports down. The second will attack as our wingman.” He looked away from the comlink holo to face the seven Aliens who were watching him and Jane. “Long Walker and Time Marker, will you come with me and Chester and Learned Escape as we assault Buyer compounds and free Captives?”
The black-skinned walking snake turned his triangular head to the left and fixed two blue eyes on Bill. “This one will battle to free Captives,” he hissed.
The segmented worm with the fanged mouth and legs fitted with claws able to gouge metal turned his fleshy head toward Bill. Two black eyes blinked slowly. “Freedom for Captives is desired. This one will assist.”
Bill looked past Jane to their other pilot. “Builder of Joy, are you willing to fly Tall Trees alongside our transport in combat support? Your laser is a ship laser with an effective range greater than any compound laser.”
The brown-furred flying squirrel fixed two yellow eyes on Bill. “This one will fly like a raptor against these compounds!” he chittered.
Since Jane knew all about his Stage Two, he faced back to his saloon buddies in the comlink holo. “Folks, you captains can go. But you have to leave two crew on the ship to maintain control with the help of each ship’s AI. What say?”
Alicia spoke first. “Rangers lead. And I’ve been aching to try out the nose laser on one of this ship’s transports.”
Frank frowned. “Us too, of course. Uh, between our four ships we have only 80 containment cells for freed Captives to occupy, since I assume we do not give Captives the run of the ship. What do we do if we liberate more than 80 Captives?”
“That should be obvious,” Jane interjected. “We take over the nearby Collector ship. That gives us 20 more cells. If we have more than a hundred Captives, well, some cells will get two folks in them. We can head back to Earth if there are more than 100 Captives.” She looked his way, her expression showing worry at his upcoming combat drop. “We can build a habitat dome somewhere on Mars for them, unti
l we can arrange trips back to their home star systems.”
“Ready to assault,” Stefano said from the Seafloat, his expression calm and collected. “Bob is joining me. He wants payback for his shoulder wound.”
Bill gave them all a nod, then looked to the woman in charge. “Captain, we are ready to head out.”
Despite her earlier look of concern, now her face showed only the look of an officer willing to send others into deadly combat. “Go to it.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Bill reached down and grabbed his backpack from where it sat next to his Weapons seat. To the left, Chester did the same, grabbing his own backpack. Like Bill’s it carried both laser and taser tubes, explosive balls and a bar nuke. And since they were landing without vacsuits, in a normal oxy-nitro atmosphere, each pack also contained telescopic monoculars for scouting out access points within a compound. The titanium chest and back plates, thigh-strapped first aid kits, personal handguns and each person’s knife were already inside the transport Talking Skin, ready to be donned during the transport’s descent. To his right, Time Marker and Long Walker turned away from their stations, The tentacle neck fringe on the snake flared and twisted with excitement even as the yellow electrical nimbus around his body expanded outward. For Walker, the giant worm lifted his two front leg-hands and wiggled four fingers at the end of each arm, as some humans might interlace their fingers and crack knuckles. Beyond them the flyer Builder of Joy had stepped off his branch-like seat and was moving their way. To the rear, Learned Escape awaited them, his color-casting skin a riot of color as he shared a private goodbye with Bright Sparkle. As he looked that way, his wife held up a hand.
“Bill, wait. Just realized something we can add to your plan,” she said, looking away to the comlink holo on her right where the other ship captains watched. “Alicia, Frank and Stefano, have your Weapons Chiefs aim your lasers at the 37 Buyer compounds with no Captives.” She tapped the top of a nearby control pillar. “I’ve sent you the backtrack locations of those compounds, with 12 targets for each of you. Fire on them repeatedly until every structure shown in your ship’s electro-optical scopes is down and burning. If there is a spaceship or shuttle at any compound, take it out too.”
“As you command,” Alicia said, turning and relaying the orders to Mark.
Frank grinned hugely. “Just my style! Love doing orbital bombardment with lasers that can cut through storms, typhoons, sand blasts and anything else in the way of my target!” The barrel of a man turned and yelled. “Chris! Show me some Ranger sharp-shooting! You’ve got the boss’s list of Buyer compounds. Take ‘em out!”
Stefano looked briefly amused by the big Marine’s enthusiasm for destruction. Muscles in the man’s classic jawline clenched. “Captain Jane, it will be done. Bob, you heard the boss lady. Fire on them.”
“That leaves one compound not allocated,” Bill said, wondering at his wife’s orbital bombardment rationale.
She smiled quickly. “That one is for the Blue Sky. I think I can remotely handle your Weapons Fire Control.” She read his expression. “As for why I’m ordering this, the reason is simple.” She looked away from Bill and over to the holo of the other ship captains. “Alicia, Frank and Stefano, once you’ve destroyed these compounds, I will make a broadcast to the remaining 58 sites. I will offer the Buyers at each compound a simple choice. Their lives in exchange for handing over their Captives to your transport after it lands.” She tapped on the nearby comlink pillar, likely setting it up for the neutrino and radio broadcast to the compounds below. Which com frequency had come with Flight Wing’s list of the 37 compounds with no Captives. “Naturally, I will demand they shut down the targeting radar and sensors on their compound lasers. Which this ship can detect. If any Buyer says ‘Yes, I will give up my Captives’, but leaves his laser defenses active, then that compound is toast.” She looked back to him. “Bill, think my plan will improve your chances of entry into a defended fortress?”
One more reason Jane was captain and he was XO, he thought. The advance attack option was something he should have thought of. But instead, he’d been too focused on the individual compound targets, their layout within the circular wall of each compound, the likely locations of Captives, and ways of entering and freeing those folks while under offensive fire from the Buyers. He gave her a quick nod.
“Excellent decision, my captain. You can send the data on which compounds are complying, and which are not to our transport and the transports from our other ships,” he said, walking up to stand just below her elevated command seat. He reached up his left hand to touch her warm arm. He squeezed it lightly, then pulled away as her expression went suddenly tender. Swallowing hard, he looked to the crowd around him. “Folks, let’s march! On to the transport and the liberation of Captives!”
♦ ♦ ♦
Three hours later, with 73 Captives gathered from the 46 Buyer compounds that had accepted Jane’s offer of personal survival in exchange for Captive turnover, Bill watched the white clouds of the moon below as they left the Blue Sky after dropping off more freed Captives. The containment cells of his ship and the other three ships were not yet fully occupied, but they were getting close. At Jane’s order to the AI in control of the remaining Collector ship, which only had its captain on board, that ship had moved over to fly in formation with the Blue Sky, Chapultepec Castle, Pointe Du Hoc and Seafloat. Frank and Joe had boarded the Collector ship by way of collector pod, advanced to the Command Bridge, entered holes in the wall to either side of the sealed entry door, and then had caught the spider-like Alien captain in a taser cross-fire. That had allowed Joe to take control of the ship as the only aware bioform able to perform ship functions. That gave them another 20 cells and an extra ship for the Joint Chiefs. Which ship Joe had promptly renamed as Manila Bay, after the valiant action of the Coast Guard cutter USS McCulloch in 1898. Now, in transports paralleling his, Alicia and Mark, Frank and Chris, Stefano, Bob and Cassandra, were following him down for the first assault on a recalcitrant, laser-defended compound. He’d decided that with just 12 compounds refusing to cooperate, it made sense to send four armed transports against one compound. Once more he gave thanks for the wingman transport piloted by Builder. Assault forces on his ship were Time Marker, Long Walker, Chester, Learned Escape and himself. Which meant there would be twelve going up against a fortified compound. A small platoon was fine with him. They all knew him, he knew them and the two Aliens among them had long ago learned his small unit movement hand signs. Each Alien had the means to fire both laser and taser, while Time Marker had his electrical nimbus for close-up combat. The transport bumped a bit as it hit the troposphere of the moon.
“You know,” Chester called from the bench opposite Bill’s bench in the cargohold of the transport, his smoothly shaved face looking a bit pale. “I used to make fun of ground pounders who couldn’t handle the rolling of ships at sea. Now, I wonder if the Air Force types were secretly laughing at us! This sky bouncing is a bit unsettling.”
He smiled at the vice admiral. “You’re right, the air hawks may be best suited for planetary assault trips like this!”
Learned Escape looked their way from the nearby pilot space, his skin colors changing. On his left shoulder the speaker/vidcam unit spoke. “We Megun have never suffered from this motion sickness that seems to bother some humans. Although our early space flights that lacked gravity control did result in some crew illness. Is this similar?”
Bill nodded. “Very similar.” He looked away from the combat-suited Megun and over to the holo floating in the aisle between their benches. It showed the landscape of the moon below. They were heading for a compound on the southern land mass. Based on orbital scope imaging, this place consisted of a circular rock wall that surrounded an area equal to three football fields. Within the central area stood four structures. Thanks to Flight Wing’s secret datafile they knew which was which. The central one was the Buyer habitat where four or five Buyers lived a life of luxury, classy food,
Alien booze and whatever else the rich among Aliens coveted. The building shape resembled a two story Quonset hut from WWII. This one, though, was built of steel. The other three compound buildings were also rectangular in shape with rounded roofs, albeit lower and likely a single story. The building on the left contained the globular cells in which Captives had been delivered by a Buyer shuttle. The structure on the right held vehicles like hovercars and shuttles. The garrison behind the habitat contained a dozen or more hired guards. Who provided plenty of firepower in addition to the four laser mounts on the encircling compound walls. In his mind, he evaluated the options for assault from a distance, then later, in close-up mode.
“Learned Escape,” he called to their pilot over his throat comlink disk that put him in immediate link with everyone else. And they with each other since everyone was now out of their vacsuits. “Use your nose laser to take out those wall laser mounts once our entry steadies. I know the place is 900 miles away but the transport can take them out. The datafile from Flight Wing says the defense lasers have a range of just a hundred miles.”
“Flight is stabilizing,” the color-banded man said over the comlink. “Firing on compound lasers.”
“Hey boss!” yelled Frank from his transport. “Don’t leave us out of the fun. What can we do?”
He smiled, not minding that Chester and the rest saw him. Informality in combat prep time had always been the practice in every SEAL team he’d ever met. “Gunny, you’re piloting so you get to use your transport’s nose laser against the garrison building at the back of the cluster down there. Alicia and Stefano, feel free to add your transport lasers to Frank’s merry making. Builder, hold your laser free for defense against any attacking craft.”
Escape 2: Fight the Aliens Page 25
