by TR Cameron
Deliverers
Book 4 of the Chaos Shift Cycle
TR Cameron
MD Press
For my family.
Contents
More Cross and Kate!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Thom’s Deliverers Notes: 26 December 2017
More Cross and Kate!
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by TR Cameron
The Destroyer Lubyanka. Undefeated. Undefeatable.
Cadets Anderson Cross and Kate Flynn face the ultimate rite of passage: taking on the Lubyanka. Countless others have tried. Countless others have failed. Now it is up to them. Together, they will try to overcome the unbeatable enemy.
The Suicide Run is the start of the adventures of Cross and Kate, and it’s yours for FREE!
Join TR Cameron’s Readers’ group and download Suicide Run today!
Visit www.trcameron.com/chaos to download it for free!
Chapter One
Klaxons blared throughout the Washington, DC as she lurched violently to port. Lieutenant Michael Matthews, a new face at tactical, cut them off on the bridge with a slap and reported, "Four torpedo strikes to the starboard side. Compartments Bravo seven and eight affected. Light casualties. Medical is responding."
Cross shook his head and stared at Lieutenant Lee. "Same side, again?"
The helmsman shrugged. "The aliens seem to like that one, Commander."
"What do you think, XO?"
"I think Lieutenant Lee must have a blind spot," Lieutenant Commander Alan Jacobs responded from Cross's left.
Several smiles appeared among those on the bridge, the stress of the damage taken bleeding off with the jab.
"Indeed,” he replied with a chuckle. “But I was referring to that." Cross gestured to the main display segmented into real-time view, battle schematic, and ship status.
On the screen, thirty-two ships from the United Atlantic League battled an equal number of Xroeshyn forces. Starbase 8 hung in the corner of the sector, with the human ships forming a barrier to protect it from the aliens. Thus far, the fight was even, both in relative strength and in damage inflicted, but Cross wasn’t hopeful that this would continue to be the case.
"It feels wrong," replied Jacobs.
"How so?"
"It doesn't feel like they're showing the same level of organization and aggressiveness they normally do."
Cross nodded in agreement, having come to the same conclusion himself.
"Sensors, any sign of obvious command ships among the enemy?"
Lieutenant Cristian Flores looked down to review the information once again, then replied "No, sir."
Cross drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. He was pretty sure that by the end of humanity's defense against the aliens' holy war, he’ll have worn pits into the metal frame with his agitation.
"Well, at least the fortress isn't here," he said. The UAL had brought a dreadnought, the Rio, and a Nebula Class, the Chicago, which now served as the sector's flagship under the command of Admiral James Okoye. The early warning provided by Kate had allowed them to mobilize forces quickly enough to avoid being overwhelmed.
As he watched, a contingent of eight Xroeshyn ships broke off and headed for an attack run on the starbase. A matching number of Union cruisers dashed to intercept them, and the combination of their efforts and the starbase's upgraded defenses were enough to send the aliens running back to the protection of their lines.
"Incoming transmission from the Pandora, Commander," Lieutenant Anna Fitzpatrick reported.
"Route it to the main display," Cross replied. Kate Flynn appeared on screen, with the unfamiliar backdrop of her alien ship behind her. "Everything okay, Commander Flynn?" Cross asked.
"We are shipshape, Commander Cross. The alien weapons don't have much luck against my girl's shields unless they come at us in bunches, and my XO is making sure they don't get that opportunity."
Lieutenant Claire Martin stepped into view next to Kate. "The Pandora does the work. We just point out where the enemy appears to be clustering. Sometimes I think the ship already knows and is humoring us."
Cross grinned at them. "Glad to hear it. You both seem happy with your new roles."
"At least we got out from under that tyrant of a commander on the—"
Kate's words were cut off by the sophisticated accent of Pandora's interface. "Gravity wave imminent," it announced.
Cross hit the button for the command battle net, but only had time to bark, "Incoming," before alien reinforcements washed into the system.
When the chaos of their arrival resolved, there were an additional thirty-two ships in the fight. Half of them made a beeline for the Rio, full salvos of torpedoes leading the way. Eight joined the general fracas, and the remaining eight positioned themselves at the rear of the enemy lines.
"Is she here?" Cross growled.
"Computer says yes," replied Flores. "Both the Jade Breeze and the Ruby Rain are in that back eight."
"Matthews, find us three more ships, and let's go headhunting."
"At one to two odds, Commander?" Jacobs asked dubiously.
"We’ll see if we can draw off her protection and take them out first," Cross answered.
In a corner of the real-time view, the Rio failed to eliminate the incoming threat, and a barrage of energy weapons and torpedoes impacted and penetrated her shields. Fire bloomed into space from her hangar bay, and one of her engines exploded in an incandescent plume. Additional explosions were revealed by their effects as pieces of the hull detached and drifted away.
"The Rio will withdraw," Admiral James Okoye announced across the command net. "Alpha cluster, protect her retreat. Bravo and Charlie clusters, continue protecting the starbase. Delta cluster, form up on the Washington, DC. Commander Cross, you now have command of Delta."
Cross tapped in an acknowledgment and activated the communication channel to his squadron. "The four of you who weren’t already with me, we’re targeting the eight in the rear. Newcomers, set an arcing course to port. The rest of us will come in from starboard. Aim for the escorts first, but be prepared for a signal from the Washington to shift all weapons to target the Ruby Rain, marked as Zulu one."
As his squadron reorganized and started to move toward their objective, pieces of the main Xroeshyn force broke off to intercept them. At first, he thought it was random, but after several course adjustments, it became clear the aliens were carefully guarding their command ships.
"That's new," Jacobs commented.
"I hope we rattled them in our last engagement, and this is thei
r response. The more ships they tie up protecting the commanders, the better it'll be for the rest of our forces."
On the screen, the battle seemed to pause, as the tiny icons that represented torpedoes reached their destinations and weren’t replaced. The Xroeshyn moved in an organized reshuffle, creating seven sets of eight ships and one set of three, attrition having claimed the remainder. Their command vessels plus an escort made up the smallest group, but they were protected by a full set. The human ships rearranged themselves in response, in six groups of four and one cluster of five, led by Okoye and the Chicago.
The Washington and her partners went after the edge of the Xroeshyn line, hoping to peel off the outermost ship and destroy it with their combined force. They enticed one, but after they killed it, a set of eight descended upon them.
"Swim," Cross commanded, and Lee tapped the appropriate trigger. The Washington and her escorts flew off in unpredictable directions and vectors, then reunited in formation a safe distance from the battle. This maneuvering innovation was a product of the UAL's science team, and mimicked the behavior of schooling fish. When triggered, the computers on the linked ships took over. They selected a safe point as a destination, and then sent each ship on a different path to get there.
"I hate it when the computer pilots the ship," Lieutenant Lee groused.
"Concur," Cross said. "But if that's what it takes, then that's what we'll do."
When control of the Washington was returned to the helm, they were within range of an enemy who was slightly apart from its fellows, and with eight-on-one odds, killed it. They lost a pair of their own in response.
"We’re losing ships faster than they are, Commander. At a three-to-two ratio," reported Matthews from tactical.
A message popped up on Cross's screen, cutting off his reply. "Wormhole imminent," it read. Cross indulged a moment of envy. He’d give a lot to have sensors equivalent to those on the Pandora.
As promised, a wormhole opened near the midpoint of the sector, and twenty-four ships from the Allied Asian Nations transitioned into realspace. Cross's eyes widened as he saw the biggest arrival, comparable to their own newest battleships.
"What is that?" he asked.
The sensor officer must have been equally curious because the answer was almost immediate. "It appears to be a class of ship we haven’t seen before. Its tonnage is about twenty percent higher than our dreadnoughts."
Cross whistled.
"Get me a channel to the Beijing, please."
Seconds later, Captain First Rank Dima Petryaev appeared on the screen. "Greetings, Commander," he said in a casual tone, taking a sip from the mug that was ever-present at his side.
"You've been keeping secrets, Dima. What is that?"
He smiled. "Oh that? That glorious gem is now the flagship of our fleet, the Saint Petersburg. It’s one of our first Galaxy class ships. Plans for them began when our spies told us about the Nebula ships you were building."
"How did we not know about this development?"
"Your spies are our spies, remember?" The two men laughed as did several of the officers on each bridge.
"Battle network is active, Commander," reported the tactical officer. The scientists had finally developed the protocols to allow the UAL and AAN forces to act as one. They hadn’t yet tested computer control of the ships across factions, but this was a marked improvement over what they previously had.
"Excellent," Cross replied. On the main display, the red outlines marking the Alliance ships as enemies were replaced with the blue outlines, signifying their joint efforts with the Union vessels. He looked to that change with no small amount of pride, knowing he’d played a positive role in bringing humanity together in the face of the alien threat. It was almost enough to take the edge off the constant internal voice that reminded him that he was responsible for the whole mess in the first place. The human forces reformed into new arrangements, and Cross was left with two companions. "Shall we headhunt?" he asked the Alliance captain.
"Absolutely," replied Dima, and the channel closed.
The Beijing, the Washington, and a pair of ships from each faction charted new courses, bringing them into proximity as they headed for the command cluster hiding at the rear of the alien forces. The Pandora slid in on the Washington's wing. Because she wasn’t integrated into the overall battle net, Kate was free to act at her own discretion. The group twisted and wove their way through enemy ships, taking out several and accepting shield-depleting blasts in return.
One of their escorts fell back, damaged by concentrated fire from a trio of Xroeshyn cruisers. The humans had finally learned that any substantial damage was almost a guaranteed death sentence against the might of the Xroeshyn ships. So, they ran early and often, and kept their strongest and freshest ships engaged with their foe. It was, again, a battle of attrition they weren’t likely to win, but it fit the admirals' decision to trade space for time.
As they broke through the last line, the trap closed upon them. Now that they were separated from a majority of their own forces, the enemy lines collapsed to cut them off, and more than half of the Xroeshyn ships refocused on the Pandora. They drove at her from every direction, firing copious energy blasts but only a minimal number of torpedoes.
"What's going on?" Cross shouted at his sensor officer, followed by, "Evasive pattern Theta. Watch out for that one coming from port." The Washington was staggered by the impact of weapons fired from two alien ships at once, causing her starboard shield to fail.
Matthews forestalled the order, announcing, "On it, Commander."
The shield strength rebalanced on the display as Cross tried to decode the enemy's plan.
Several of the ships attacking the Pandora emitted a strange green beam that seemed to widen and disperse as it traveled. Those ships were moving closer to Kate every second.
"Analysis?"
The weapons officer spoke up, "We have no record of that weapon, Commander. I would know. The database also reports never having seen anything similar."
When the beams hit the Pandora, they did no visible damage. However, their sensors reported that the energy readings from Kate's shields were fluctuating.
"Okoye to Flynn. We believe they’re trying to disable your ship rather than destroy it."
As the ships drew close enough to mitigate the effect of the beams' dispersal, a bright light erupted from the Pandora. Fearing the worst, Cross triggered his communication channel and yelled, "Kate, status?"
There was no reply.
Chapter Two
On the Pandora, the main display was overwhelmed with brightness as the exterior cameras were overcome by the glowing hull. When the luminescence faded, the skin of the ship had changed. Where it was smooth before, almost glassy, now it was armored. What looked like newsteel also somehow communicated it was more than that. Tiny spikes were present at intervals. And as Kate watched mystified, the spikes gathered in the strange blasts from the enemy ships and drew a web of light across the protrusions. The pattern faded in moments, leaving the Pandora unharmed. She sent a quick message to reassure Cross that she and her ship were well.
Kate looked at Lieutenant Commander Claire Martin, and said, "Nothing but surprises in this girl. I love her more each day."
Claire nodded.
"Thank you, Commander Flynn," interjected the soft, cultured voice of the ship's artificial intelligence.
"You're quite welcome," Kate replied. "Pandora, are we safe from the weapons these enemies are throwing our way?"
"For the moment, Commander. Our speed is sufficient to keep us far enough away that our countermeasures will be adequate. If the distance is reduced, or if additional forces enter the field, things may change."
"Excellent." She pointed at Claire, knowing her XO would understand she was transferring responsibility to fight the ship to her while Kate focused on the conversation with the AI. Martin reached over and activated a comm channel that would allow her to talk to the bridge officers with
out speaking across Kate.
"Pandora, I'm not sure how best to say this, but you seem more conversational lately."
The voice laughed—actually laughed, softly and with heart, Kate thought—before replying. "Yes, Commander. It’s a normal part of my awakening."
"Awakening?"
"Yes, Commander. As you’ve used this ship, my awareness has increased. Such is my design. Once a commander proves competent, I’m empowered to offer greater assistance."
Kate paused, letting that information wash over her. "I apologize if this seems rude, but I have to ask. Are you an organic being?"
"Negative, Commander. I am what you’d call artificial intelligence, but one far beyond what the history in your devices suggests have been achieved by your species."
"So, you consider yourself a sentient, living being?"
"I do, Commander."
Kate shifted in her seat. The ramifications of this discussion were plentiful—consequences and opportunities spiraling out along so many tangents.
"Do you have a name?"
Again, the soft chuckle from the ship's voice, "Pandora is quite adequate, Commander."
"Did you have another name before that?" Kate asked.
"I did. Before I came to rest on that planet, I was known as Eligos' Scimitar."
"Do you prefer that name?"
