IRON SPEAR

by Anthony Thackston

  The USS Lucky Liberty still relied on fuel-based engines, and a boat of her size was going to burn massive amounts just to reach velocity. The installation of the Slipstream Regulator would fix that.

  “Now these,” Benjamin said. “I call these ‘Ammo Retrievers’.” He passed a hand gun to Durham. “Their official designation is ICE90.”

  “What’s so special about them?” Durham turned the hand gun over in his hand.

  “They never need to be reloaded,” Benjamin said proudly.

  Lindsay’s head shot up with great interest. Irons turned from Hannah’s infatuation with the Slipstream Regulator to listen in on the crash course in the newest Wartech firearms.

  “Run that by me again,” Syracuse said.

  “There’s moisture all around us. Especially now since we’re still in the water,” Benjamin explained. “These guns pull that moisture into the magazine where it flash freezes into an ice projectile. The rest of it works like a normal gun.”

  Lindsay aimed the gun at a wall. “What’s its charge rate?”

  Benjamin looked from her, surprised at the question, to Irons. “She’s sharp. Very good, Private Brooks. The charge rate is short, fortunately. A few minutes when completely empty. The vacuum is constantly running. As long as you don’t empty it with wild firing, it should, theoretically, never run out of ammo. It will just continue to reload. Hence, Ammo Retriever—”

  “Ice Gun,” Irons said.

  “That’s even better. When this is done, you should be in Wartech’s branding department.” Benjamin smiled.

  “You got a lot of faith in this being done,” Durham said.

  “You don’t? The Iron Albatross is your Captain and you have doubts, Private Durham?”

  “You weren’t in that near cave-in,” Durham mumbled.

  “Shut it, Durham!” Syracuse ordered.

  The near cave-in was the one time that James Irons almost failed. He and his crew were mining for Silvranium ore. Silvranium was worth a fortune in small amounts but the ore Irons found that day was nearly four feet long so its value was astronomical. Normal excavations were still done the old fashioned way with water and pick-axes. But that time Irons was prepared to cheat a little. The laser blast in his Cyber Eye proved to be overkill when he tried to— unsuccessfully— blast out the ore, giving himself a searing headache and nearly collapsing the meteor cavern on his team.

  “Anyway,” Irons said. “This it for conventional weaponry?”

  “We’ve stocked your weapons storage with new, state of the art weaponry.” Benjamin said excitedly. “I can’t wait to show you some of the features—”

  “Save it. We’ll figure out how they work en route. Is that it? Or are you expecting us to stick our arms out the windows to fight the Catters?”

  “No sir. But since there’s only three days, there isn’t enough time to fully arm the Lucky Liberty. However, we did manage to modify the main cannon for high velocity firing.”

  “You turned it into a machine gun,” Irons said, disappointed.

  “We’ll need that, sir,” Lindsay spoke up. “The cannon was too slow.”

  “Fine. At least we’re armed again.”

  “The new cannon will fire Melting Point rounds. They’re designed to—”

  “I’m tired of all the technical jargon, Stevens. Do they work?” Irons looked at Hannah.

  “I’ve seen the research, sir,” Hannah said. “They work.”

  “Good. Now—”

  “Captain Irons.” Mona’s voice broke in over the intercom of the Lucky Liberty. “We have a massive problem about to enter Earth’s thermosphere. I need your crew in the air, now!”

  “What is it?” Irons asked.

  “From these readings, it’s bigger than a tank.”

  The crew of the Lucky liberty all exchanged worried glances.

  “Catters must be using a different clock,” Durham said. “It hasn’t even been 24 hours.”

  “What’s bigger than tank class?” Hannah asked.

  “Tactical has already given it a new designation,” Mona said. “They’re calling it a ‘Fortress’.”

  Seven

  Day One

  The USS Lucky Liberty was approximately three hundred yards from bow to stern with a width of two naval aircraft carriers side by side at roughly five hundred and four feet. It was one of the largest ships at the military’s disposal. Catter ‘tanks’ varied but were comparable in size.

  While the Lucky Liberty was huge at a length greater than three football fields, it was still dwarfed by the Catter Fortress.

  Irons and Syracuse stared at the display screen on the bridge for the ship, eyes wide and mouths agape. Nothing that size had ever entered the planet’s atmosphere before.

  “They start day one with an invasion?” Irons’s mouth formed a snarl.

  “I know Catter time works a little differently than ours but I didn’t think it was this far off,” Durham added.

  “Orders, Admiral?” Lindsay asked.

  “USS L…y …berty, do not let th… th…g touch dow…” The image of Mona flickered and her words were broken.

  “Hannah?” Irons asked. “What’s with the transmission?”

  Hannah Xuyen glanced at him. “I’m not entirely sure, sir. I think the enemy ship is distorting the feed just by its size.”

  “That thing just being there is enough to disrupt communications?” Syracuse asked.

  “That thing touching down is gonna disrupt more than that.” Durham pulled his Ice Gun out of habit.

  “Hannah, get me a clear signal to the Admiral,” Irons ordered.

  “Working on it, sir.”

  Lindsay watched the image of the the fortress as it got larger on the display screen. Its color resembled the moon when out during the day, faded and almost the same blue as the rest of the sky. Being the good soldier, Lindsay was already looking for tactical advantages over the giant vessel. Unfortunately it was like having no enemy to fight. It was a situation that seemed so hopeless there may as well be no battle. A situation like that for Lindsay Brooks, was unacceptable.

  “Captain!” she barked. “Permission to speak.”

  “Brooks, this is not the time for proper decorum. You got a plan, just say it.”

  “Sir, I recommend we head up and fire first.”

  “And then what, Private?” Syracuse asked. “Get barreled over? I know you like to go in guns blazing, but even if we do manage to shoot that thing down, we still gotta worry about the collateral damage when it makes land fall.”

  “Its current trajectory is aimed right for the water, sir.” Hannah’s fingers waved across her control board while numbers and graphs flickered across the display screen. Distance and velocity equations went by so fast that no one but Hannah Xuyen could read them without getting a headache.

  “The wave …ould w….pe out the …tire ea…ern seab…d, Mona’s distorted voice said.

  “How do you wanna handle this, Albatross?” Syracuse asked.

  “If I may?” Another voice spoke up.

  The crew on the bridge looked around, confused at the disembodied voice they all heard. There was no image or audio track on the display screen. And everyone who was supposed to be on the bridge was accounted for.

  “Who said that?” Irons asked.

  “It’s Benjamin Stevens, sir.”

  “You were supposed to evacuate this boat, Stevens,” Syracuse said.

  “I did, Commander Hill. I’m currently in my office watching the show. You’re hearing me because I implanted a Neural Transmitter in each of you.”

  “When did—”

  “When I shook each of your hands, Private Durham. Don’t worry, they’re totally safe. All Wartech managers have such things. It’s more efficient for the company in that we no longer need to have meetings that waste a lot of time—”

  “Like you’re doing now?” Irons said.

  “You’re right, Captain, sorry. The device works neurologically so there’s no way fo
r electrical interference to occur. Distance will eventually become a problem, though.”

  “I got a distance problem right now with that Catter fortress getting closer,” Irons seethed. “If you got an idea, I’m all ears.”

  “Right,” Benjamin said. “Private Brooks is correct.”

  “Elaborate,” Irons said sharply.

  “Whether you shoot it down or it touches down, either way the collateral damage and loss of life will be incalculable.”

  “There’s no way we’re shooting that thing down,” Durham said.

  “And you wouldn’t want to,” Benjamin continued. “A controlled landing is far better than a crash. There will still be heavy casualties but less than otherwise.”

  “No casualties are the only option,” Irons said.

  “That’s why I believe Private Brooks’ suggestion is the right one. I had one of Wartech’s satellites relocate to this section as soon as we knew about the Catter armada.”

  A new image appeared on the display screen. It was a detailed feed of the top section of the fortress.

  “What you’re seeing is the top side of the ship,” Benjamin said.

  Irons walked to the display screen, studying it intently. “Lindsay?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You seeing what I’m seeing?”

  Lindsay stared at the image. Her brow furrowed as she studied the top part of the Catter fortress. Then her eyes widened. “It’s unarmed.”

  “It’s unarmed.” Irons repeated.

  “That’s right, Captain,” Benjamin continued. “Structurally, that thing isn’t even a ship. Just dead weight— well, a projectile, really.”

  “Projectile?” Durham asked, shocked. “You mean something fired that thing? What kind of gun—”

  “A massive one, Private Durham. On an even more massive ship,” Benjamin said.

  “A ship we’re gonna have to deal with.”

  “This ain’t no mining op, anymore, Durham,” Irons said. “I guess you’re gonna get your wish, Brooks.”

  “Sir.”

  “Well,” Irons stared at her. “It was your idea. Get on that cannon.”

  “Yes, sir!” Lindsay dashed to the main gunner seat and put on an Augmented Reality visor.

  Inside the display, green lines moved up from the bottom of her field of view and narrowed at the center, forming into a targeting reticle. Since the main cannon was currently under water, the rest of her sight was filled with a bluish haze and the occasional fish swimming by. Under any other circumstances, it might have been rather peaceful and serene. But to a soldier like Lindsay Brooks it was nothing short of annoying and claustrophobic. Always eager to jump into the fray, patience was never one of her strong suits.

  “Shredding it won’t be enough,” Syracuse said.

  “My readings show that it’s not heavily armored so the new ammo will certainly tear holes through it but that won’t stop it from making ocean fall,” Benjamin said. “You’re gonna have to push it back out into space.”

  “Push it?” Durham said. “Uh…Stevens, that thing is—”

  “I know but there are no thrusters so it’s just gravity doing what it does. You put a stronger force against it and slow it down, eventually making it go the opposite way.”

  Irons stared out, blankly. The size difference was so great that he wasn’t sure the Lucky Liberty would do much more than add to the fortress’s enormity.

  “This old girl hasn’t pushed a meteor that size, James,” Syracuse said quietly. “Certainly not in atmosphere. Even if the cannon could slow it down, we’d have to be up there right now. At this rate, with us still in the water, it’ll hit terminal soon and then we’re really up a creek.”

  “Captain, I have a clear signal,” Hannah said.

  “I repeat, do not let that thing touch down,” Mona said.

  “I got it the first time,” Irons told her.

  “What’s your play, James?” she asked.

  “Well we can’t push it from the top deck.” Irons spoke as if he already had a plan.

  “Oh, I already don’t like where this is heading,” Durham said.

  “I do,” Benjamin sounded excited. “If you’re thinking what I think you are, Captain.”

  “You could sound a little less enthused about it, Stevens,” Syracuse told the Wartech CEO. “If we’re on the same page, Captain, pulling one of those in atmosphere could be messy.”

  “Pushing from her bow is the only way.” Irons walked to the ship’s controls. He input a few key commands on the console and a steering column rose from the floor, complete with an old sailing ship steering wheel. After the Lucky Liberty was decommissioned as a military ship, Irons had a few structural parts replaced with sailing components. The wheel was by far his favorite.

  “Everyone strap in.”

  “You gotta be kidding me,” Durham muttered as he locked his seatbelt over his shoulders.

  “You think fifty percent will do it?” Irons asked.

  “Better make it sixty,” Syracuse told him.

  “With the Slipstream Regulator operating at full capacity, thirty-five percent should suffice,” Hannah added.

  “Thirty-five percent it is,” Irons said as he pushed up the throttle to thirty five-percent.

  “It’s still going to be messy,” Hannah added.

  “I figured that. Hang on, everyone. Engaging launch sequence Boomerang.”

  Eight

  Boomerang

  During the original Ka’traxis Brood war, certain black-operations occurred that much of the military knew nothing about. Operations that a select few were briefed on and no one was debriefed because they didn’t “officially” happen. The USS Lucky Liberty was involved in one such operation. During that mission, James Irons pulled a maneuver that was still discussed by those who were there.

  Earth’s past saw several great wars. The first two World Wars had daredevil pilots pulling seemingly impossible maneuvers just to get the upper hand on an enemy plane. Sometimes those arial acrobatics were just to turn around faster.

  Captain Irons only did such a maneuver in zero gravity once but it was enough of a feat to be talked about years later.

  It was called a boomerang due to the way in which the ship turned to go back in an opposite direction. It was a maneuver guided by sheer instinct and one that could only be performed in a zero gravity atmosphere. To do a full boomerang in-planet with a ship the size of the Lucky Liberty would be suicide to the crew inside.

  The bow thrusters under the ship pushed off the sea bed while the water around the front came to a boil as the compressed flame from the Slipstream Regulator super heated it.

  The whole crew could hear the hull creaking under the force of the lift off. It didn’t happen as gradually as Irons would have liked and he knew the timing on the forward thrusters would have to be perfect. The bow section of the Lucky Liberty rose out of the water.

  “Hold it together, girl.” Irons gritted his teeth.

  The ship finally reached the halfway point of its rise.

  “Fire main thrusters!” Syracuse yelled.

  “Engaging!” Irons flicked a switch and cranked another throttle to max.

  Three thin bursts of flame shot out from the main thrusters of the Lucky Liberty and pushed the steel giant forward through the water.

  Irons cut the throttle on the lower hull bow thrusters, letting the residual inertia carry the ship’s front section up while the rear thrusters pushed the stern side underneath it.

  * * *

  The force of the flames displaced the water in every direction, leaving a crater surrounded by water for the ship to rise vertically from the sea floor.

  As the USS Lucky Liberty rose from its dock beneath the surface, the water rushed back in to fill the hole, crashing and boiling into itself. Admiral Mona Collins raced out to the deck of her ship and saw the water still boiling. She looked up to see the Lucky Liberty flying into the sky much faster than any ignition driven ship. Her only hop
e was that it was fast enough.

  * * *

  The entire crew was thrust back in their seats as the G force of take off pushed them. Irons kept his boat steady while Hannah called out velocity and targeting numbers. James Irons didn’t rely on digital data. He was a man who relied on his own instincts in difficult situations. They’d gotten him this far and there was no reason to change that tactic now.

  “Durham, close the Bull Head!” Irons ordered.

  “At this speed it might be ripped off.”

  “Without it we’ll be crushed like a tin can!” Syracuse yelled.

  “Aye, sir,” Durham said reluctantly as he slid open a panel on his control console and hit a single green button.

  “Brooks,” Syracuse said. “Once that plate is locked. you give that thing hell.”

  “Aye, sir!” Lindsay smiled.

  * * *

  As the ship roared upward, a giant steel plate on the main deck slid forward. It continued to the edge of the bow till it finally crossed over it and swung downward. Two steel arms on the port and starboard sides of the ship caught the plate. Electronic locks secured it in place.

  The top right corner of Lindsay’s HUD notified her the Bull Head was locked in place. She waited for no order before pulling the trigger on the main cannon. Her smile only widened as the bullets fired up at the Catter fortress still coming down on them.

  * * *

  The behemoth of a ship rocketed upward, spewing hot lead along the way. The Slipstream Regulator was extremely efficient at pushing up such a weight as the Lucky Liberty at a speed such a boat was not accustomed to.

  The bullets had no trouble finding their mammoth of a target, hitting the fortress and burying themselves in its hull.

  Hannah noticed the weight increase they were adding to the target but also the fractions of deceleration they were causing.