Ep.#6 - Head of the Dragon (The Frontiers Saga)

by Brown, Ryk

  The flight operations center was massive, spanning nearly the entire width of the hangar bay. On either side, there were rows of workstations where technical specialists monitored every aspect of operations. As simple as the process of launching and recovering spacecraft seemed, running such an operation was extremely complex, as everything had to work perfectly every time, or disaster could be the result. The Battle of Darvano had been executed perfectly from a flight operations perspective. In fact, it had gone a lot better than he and his staff had expected, especially considering the limited amount of time they had been given to become accustomed to flying off the deck of the Aurora.

  The forward wall of the room was covered with small cubicles from where various junior officers could work in semi-privacy while still being close by to monitor their areas of operations. This was where he could usually find his various staff members, either in their cubicles or walking the rows of tech stations for which they were responsible.

  “How are we doing with preparations?” Major Prechitt asked the watch officer, Lieutenant Commander Iverson.

  “Very well, sir,” Iverson responded. “We are pretty much ready to go at this point. We are just waiting for Senior Chief Taggart to finish installing a mating collar around the forward hatch of the main hangar bay.”

  “He can’t do that later?” Major Prechitt asked, somewhat annoyed at the delay.

  “No, sir. He has to drill holes through the main forward bulkhead and weld them in place in order to attach the mating collar and ensure a proper seal. As the Chief of the Boat explained it, to drill those holes with an open deck, he’d have to seal off the main central corridor and both side corridors, which would put a serious crimp in our operations.”

  “More so that running with an open deck?” the major wondered.

  “If the COB says it needs to be done…” the lieutenant commander began.

  “Then we do it,” Prechitt admitted. “How’s it going to work?”

  “Sir?”

  “The mating collar.”

  “As I understand it, it is little more than a piece of I-beam bent around into a square designed to fit inside the walls of a breaching box. Senior Chief Taggart has a team removing the mating wall of one of the boxes now. Once they’re ready, they’ll mount it to the mating collar, and that will give us an airlock on the forward hatch.”

  “I see,” the major said. “You know, I’m surprised they didn’t design an airlock there to begin with.”

  “According to the Aurora’s flight operations procedures, the open deck was never meant to be used with such large shuttles.”

  Major Prechitt nodded. Although he wasn’t too excited about having to operate from an open deck, he wanted as much time as possible for his crews and pilots to become accustomed to the idea. More importantly, he didn’t want to anger the Aurora’s executive officer, Commander Cameron Taylor. So far, she had seemed relatively easy to work with, but he knew she had been treading lightly while his people learned their way around the Aurora’s flight decks. Members of the Aurora’s original crew, the few that had survived, had all advised staying on her good side. As the CAG, he pretty much ruled the flight deck, but there was no sense in testing her limits at this point in time.

  Major Prechitt glanced up at the wall clock. They had fifteen minutes left before it would be time to open the deck. “Just make sure they are done and out of the way in ten minutes.”

  “Yes, sir,” the lieutenant commander responded.

  “CAG, Comms,” Naralena’s voice sounded over the major’s comm-set.

  “Go for CAG,” he answered. Even though he had been the CAG for over a month now, it still felt odd to use the unfamiliar acronym.

  “Sir, Lieutenant Commander Nash is reporting in from the surface, sir. The captain is also on the channel and requests that you be conferenced in on the report.”

  “Very well,” Major Prechitt answered, moving away from the center of flight ops toward the forward wall where it was quieter.

  “Major Prechitt is connected, sirs,” Naralena reported.

  “Go ahead, Lieutenant Commander,” Nathan ordered.

  “As I was saying,” Jessica continued, “Corinari command is gone. There’s nothing her but a crater and about a dozen survivors.”

  Major Prechitt felt his skin grow a bit paler as his pulse quickened. “Are you sure?” he asked. It was a stupid question and he knew it, but it was one he couldn’t help but ask.

  “I’m looking at a smoking hole where it used to be,” Jessica reported. “From what we’ve learned from the survivors, it was probably one of the first targets to be hit. They think it was a cruise missile. They’re also pretty sure the strikes were not random, that there was a target list. At least at first, anyway. They’ve been using short-range radio relays to establish contact with other units. So far they know of at least five or six groups in and around the area of Aitkenna, or what’s left of it, that is.”

  “Any idea how wide spread?” Major Prechitt asked. “Are we talking local, continental, or planet-wide?”

  “Unknown. From what we saw on our way in, I’m pretty sure it’s more than just one continent. But I haven’t heard back from the other two shuttles yet.”

  “What about the government?” Nathan asked.

  “Also unknown, sir,” Jessica answered. “The survivors we’ve spoken to said the government went into an underground bunker as soon as the battle started. No one here has heard from them yet.”

  “Captain, that bunker has full communications capabilities, just like Corinari command had,” Major Prechitt added.

  “Could they have been taken out as well?” Nathan asked.

  “It is possible, but not likely,” the major answered. “Their bunker is even deeper, and their comm-lines are as well. In fact, their transceivers are more than a kilometer away and have several redundant units. In order to cut them off, the Ta’Akar would have to know the location of all those transceivers.”

  “We need to know, Major, one way or another.”

  “Yes, sir, we do. I recommend we send out fighters in pairs to do flyovers of all areas on the surface of Corinair and to transmit instructions to any surviving Corinari on how to report in.”

  “Can’t we use the comm-sat network?” Nathan asked.

  “No, sir,” Jessica reported. “Most of the comm-sats were taken out by the Wallach as soon as she entered orbit.”

  “Very well, Major,” Nathan agreed, “make it happen.”

  “Yes, sir.” Major Prechitt had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He did not like where things were headed.

  “Officer of the Watch,” he called out. The lieutenant commander immediately turned his attention to the major. “Prepare to launch all fighters, low level reconnaissance and contact over Corinair.”

  “Yes, sir,” the lieutenant commander responded smartly. “Shall I open the deck first, sir?”

  “No, we’ll do that after we get our birds away. Tell the senior chief he gets an extra fifteen minutes.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  A moment later, the status lights on the walls of the flight operations center turned blue, signifying that flight operations were underway, and an alert klaxon sounded through the corridors and the hangar bays. Major Prechitt worried about his pilots. Although they were not about to go back into combat, they were going to fly over the devastated cities of their homeworld. It was going to change them; of that he was sure.

  * * *

  “Captain on deck!” the Corinari guard at the entrance to the flight operations center announced. As flight ops was an active duty station, no one currently working a console was expected to acknowledge his entrance, and Nathan much preferred it that way. He made his way aft toward the main windows, peering down into the hangar bay. Major Prechitt moved from the center of the room aft to join him.

  “Captain,” Major Prechitt greeted.

  “Major Prechitt. You know, I’ve never been in here,” Nathan admitted. Nathan felt a litt
le odd about that fact, but then again, flight operations was not run by the captain of the ship. That was the CAG’s domain. Nathan made a mental note to himself that, at some point, he should try to familiarize himself with every compartment on his ship.

  “What brings you to flight ops, sir?” Major Prechitt inquired.

  “Same as most of them I imagine,” Nathan said, pointing to the numerous technicians and junior officers who were standing around trying to look like they were there for a reason. “I’ve never seen an open deck before.”

  “Apparently, none of us has,” Major Prechitt stated.

  “How long until you begin?” Nathan asked.

  “We just finished depressurizing all bays. It took a while for us to override the safeties in order to begin depress while the doors were open between the main hangar bay and the fighter alleys, but with the help of Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy, we were able to manage. Now we’re just waiting for clearance from the deck chief.”

  “Senior Chief Taggart?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes, sir. Since the fighter alleys were not designed to run open to space, he’s got teams locking down all the hatches that lead into the fighter alleys and painting them red to make sure no one accidentally pops open a hatch that leads to a vacuum.”

  “How are people going to get in and out of the alleys?”

  “Through the tool rooms at the aft end of the alleys, sir. The Senior Chief has turned them into airlocks using breaching boxes. They’ll serve as changing rooms for the deck crews as well.”

  “Makes sense,” Nathan admitted, “but that’s a long haul for someone to make in an emergency, especially if they’re at the forward end of the bay.”

  “We’ll have another breach box airlock forward, sir. We’re also going to bring up a few passenger pods from Corinair to put along the sides of the hangars to be used as emergency pressure shelters. That way, unless someone has a complete visor breach, they should be able to make it to an airlock before they lose all breathable air from their suit.”

  “Good idea,” Nathan agreed.

  “Chief of the Deck reports all pressure doors are sealed and ready. Deck crews are suited up and standing by,” Lieutenant Commander Iverson reported.

  “Very well,” Major Prechitt stated. “Notify the bridge that we’re opening the deck, and stand by to open all inner doors.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  A moment later, Naralena’s voice came across the ship-wide address system. “Attention all hands. Stand by to open the flight deck. Repeat, stand by to open the flight deck.”

  “Sound the warning,” Major Prechitt ordered.

  Nathan could hear the warning klaxons in the corridors. He knew they were sounding inside the hangars as well, but no one would hear them as all the bays were now in a vacuum.

  “Open inner doors for transfer airlocks one, two, and three,” Major Prechitt ordered.

  Nathan watched as all three of the inner doors began to rise. Normally, they would rise just enough to allow whatever ship was in the bay to pass under them. This was actually the first time he had seen them lift all the way up.

  “Inner doors up and secured, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Iverson reported.

  “Very well, open all outer doors.”

  “Opening outer doors.”

  The Aurora’s current course and attitude had her back to the Darvano system’s sun as they made their way toward Corinair. As the three massive outer doors rose, light from the Darvano sun came spilling into the main hangar deck, casting a pattern of light and shadow that the deck had previously never seen. It then occurred to Nathan that, although the main drive section blocked most of the direct sunlight from entering the hangar bay, they might need to pay attention to such angles in the future, especially during flight operations, as the unfiltered light in space could be somewhat blinding.

  Everyone in attendance watched in awe as the final step began, and the two walls that separated the three transfer airlocks were lowered into the deck. A minute later, the entire aft end of the main hangar deck was open to space. Nathan thought about the pros and cons of operating an open flight deck. The flight decks on the Earth’s larger Defender-class ships were all open design, with the deck opening from both the bow and stern of the ship with transfer airlocks and hangar bays on either side of the deck. Of course, those ships were much larger and had plenty of space for such an operation. His Explorer-class ship was considerably smaller, and her flight deck had been intended for primarily defensive and support operations.

  As soon as the deck was completely open, deck hands in full pressure suits began to come out from the aft end of the flight deck on either side. Most of them went directly to their work, but more than one took the opportunity to walk out onto the flight apron and look out into space. Nathan understood their curiosity, as this might be the only opportunity they would ever have to witness the vastness of outer space first hand.

  A minute later, two fighters landed on the flight apron and rolled into the main bay. The major had launched several fighters in order to run recovery drills. He had every intention of getting the bugs worked out of their open deck procedures as soon as possible, which was just fine with Nathan, as they had no idea when another imperial ship might appear.

  The two fighters split, one rolling to starboard and the other to port. They entered the mid-deck airlocks on either side, the doors closing quickly behind them. Nathan watched the monitors showing the view inside the mid-deck transfer airlocks as the platform descended to the lower level as it pressurized. By the time it reached the bottom, the atmospheric pressure within the tube was normal, and the door to the lower deck opened allowing the fighter to roll into the cargo bay below.

  “We were able to move most of the cargo to other compartments,” Major Prechitt stated, “so we have enough room in the cargo deck to use it as a hangar. We’ll be able to use the fighter alleys for quick recycles during combat, which we’ll be practicing fairly heavily for the rest of the day. Otherwise, we can do most of our work down below.”

  “Excellent work, Major,” Nathan praised. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  As he made his way out, Nathan watched the next two fighters roll in from the flight apron and immediately turn into the fighter alleys where they would be recycled and launched again. He wished he could jump into the cockpit of one of those Corinari fighters and go shooting out the launch tube, even if only to turn around and immediately land, but he was the captain now, and he had other responsibilities.

  * * *

  “Based on the time it took them to repair the hull breach in our bow, Vlad estimates it will take at least two weeks to patch the hole in our port side,” Cameron reported. “And that’s if we are docked inside the Karuzari asteroid base.”

  “I don’t see that happening any time soon,” Nathan said. “From Jessica’s initial report, it sounds like we won’t be getting any more help from the people of Corinair—at least not from their industrial sector, that’s for sure.”

  “Well, we’re still pretty good on rail gun ammunition,” Cameron stated. “Simple slugs, but plenty of them. We’ve also got more than forty missiles and ten nuclear torpedoes.”

  “Yeah, those missiles didn’t seem very effective. Their point-defense systems kept taking them down. We need torpedoes more than anything else. It takes at least two of them to take down one of their ships, and that’s if the first two are lucky shots. With what we’ve got, we can take down five ships at the most, less if they’re heavy cruisers. How many ships do the Ta’Akar still have? About a dozen?”

  “I think they’re down to fourteen now,” Cameron clarified.

  “So we can only take out about a third of their fleet,” Nathan surmised. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough to bring them to their knees.”

  “Maybe we’ll find something of use on the Loranoi,” Cameron suggested.

  “Doubtful,” Nathan disagreed. “You saw her; she was
all missile batteries.”

  “Nevertheless, we should send a team over to check out her armaments and weapons stores. We should check out her weapons targeting systems and electronic countermeasures while we’re at it.”

  “Send Mister Willard along with them,” Nathan ordered. “He knows the Takaran systems pretty well.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cameron acknowledged.

  The hatch alarm beeped. “Enter,” he called out.

  Major Prechitt stepped through the hatch, closing it behind him. “Excuse me sir, but we’ve completed our initial assessment of the Corinari forces still operating on Corinair.”

  Nathan could see the distress on the major’s face. He could hear it in his voice. “What is it, Major?”

  “They must have known exactly where to hit us, sir,” Major Prechitt began. “They knew where every command center was located across the entire planet. As best we can tell, they hit them all at once.”

  “How bad is it?” Cameron asked.

  “The most senior man to report in so far has been a captain running an ordnance disposal unit. According to the survivors on the surface, Corinari Command has been off the air planet wide since the initial attack. We’ve flown over all major continents on the planet multiple times and made contact with over a hundred groups of Corinari, but they all tell the same story. There are men left to fight and some equipment and weapons to fight with, but there is no one to lead them.” Major Prechitt took a deep breath, looking the captain straight in the eyes. “Right now, I’m the most senior Corinari officer known to have survived the attack.”

  “What does that mean?” Nathan asked.

  “It means, sir, that as of now, I’m in command of all remaining Corinari forces.”

  “You’re kidding me,” Nathan responded, his mouth agape.

  “No, sir, I’m not.”

  “Any word on the government? Did anyone survive?” Cameron asked.