by Brown, Ryk
“How is it in there?” Nathan asked Jessica as he approached.
“Lousy,” she complained. “This thing weighs a ton, and it was designed to be worn over a skin-tight jump suit, not the costume they’ve got me wearing.”
“Costume?” Nathan wondered. “I thought you were going down in imperial uniforms.”
“There’s no women in their military, remember?”
“Then what are you dressed as?”
Jessica rolled her eyes in disgust, not wanting to tell him. “Some kind of a serving wench or something. The damn skirt is all bunched up around my ass.”
Nathan smiled. “I hope it isn’t as short as the one you wore to the last Founder’s day party. The idea is to not attract attention.”
Jessica feigned a smile. “Funny.”
Nathan turned serious for a moment. “Listen, Jess, if there were any way I could keep you here…”
“What, are you getting all weepy on me here? I thought I warned you about that.”
“Right.”
“Besides, other than this stupid outfit I’m wearing under here, this is going to be a blast. I mean, come on… I’m jumping out of a spaceship and falling all the way to the surface. That’s going to look awfully good on the old resume, huh?”
Nathan smiled again. “Yeah, I guess it will. Let’s just hope somebody gets a chance to read it one day.” Nathan stared at her face for several moments as she continued fidgeting about, trying to get her bunched up skirt to fit more comfortably.
Jessica noticed Nathan’s stare. “The words you’re looking for are, ‘Good hunting.’”
“Of course,” Nathan answered. “Good hunting, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Thanks, you too. Now, can you close my visor for me?”
Nathan reached up, pulled her visor down, locked it in place, and stopped to look in her eyes once more. Knowing that no one was looking, Jessica winked once and puckered her lips as if blowing him a kiss, then smiled. Nathan patted her on the shoulder and moved on.
He moved past several more of the Karuzari jumpers. Many of their faces he recognized, having seen them in the corridors of the asteroid base. They all had the same look of determination, the ones he remembered from Marak and the others that had come aboard the Aurora just after they defeated the Campaglia when they first ended up in the Pentaurus cluster. These men had resolute conviction, a belief so strong that they were willing to sacrifice their very lives for their cause.
“Captain,” Jalea nodded as he approached her.
“Good luck, Jalea,” Nathan offered with only the appropriate amount of sentiment. Her mysterious hold over him had long vanished. For a moment, he wondered exactly when that had occurred, quickly concluding that it had been the interrogation of the imperial Ghatazhak prisoner that had made him realize the depth of her duplicity. She, too, believed in the cause of the Karuzari, but there was something much deeper within her that was her true motivation. She had lost both her parents and later her husband at the hands of the Ta’Akar empire, and Nathan had always wondered how much of that fueled the fires within her.
“Mister Dumar,” Nathan nodded. “I trust you are ready for this.”
“It may surprise you to know, Captain, that this is not my first space jump,” Dumar answered.
“No, it would not surprise me,” Nathan admitted. He paused for a moment. “I hope we will have more time together in the future,” Nathan stated.
“Time, Captain?”
“I suspect that you, just like Tug, have many interesting tales to share.”
“Indeed,” Dumar agreed. “Keep those ships away from Takara, and perhaps we will all live long enough to finally exchange all of our stories.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Nathan moved next to Tug who, as expected, sat next to Dumar. He had noticed that as Tug and Dumar had become closer, Jalea and Tug had become more distant. He could also tell that Jalea did not care for the influence that Dumar had on Tug, probably because it took away from her own influence over him. Nathan often wondered if he himself had any influence over Tug. He doubted that was the case, as Tug had always appeared to know exactly what he wanted at all times.
“Mister Tugwell,” Nathan said as he stopped in front of Tug.
“Captain Scott.”
“I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. I suspect that you still have many interesting stories to share with us.”
“I promise, Captain, should we survive this day, I will share all of them and more.”
“Just promise me that once you have completed your mission, the empire will fall as predicted.”
Tug could see the lingering doubt in Nathan’s eyes. “Captain, on your world, do your leaders tell you everything? Or do they hide certain aspects of their plans, making only those who require such information have it?”
“Of course we do,” Nathan told him. “They call it ‘need to know’. For example, we did not know about the existence of the jump drive until moments before our first test of it. Even our captain did not know.”
“Then trust in the fact that what I and Mister Dumar know is sufficient justification for the risk we are all about to take, even if neither he nor I can share it with you at this time.” Tug raised his arms, placing them on Nathan’s shoulders. His arms were heavier than normal due to the additional weight of his jump suit, and their weight was clearly felt on Nathan’s shoulders. “We do not withhold the information from you to deceive you, Captain, but to protect you should we fail at our task. You must believe me.”
Nathan looked at the old man’s face. He could see the decades of pain and sacrifice in his friend’s face, but today, he saw something else as well. Hope. Nathan cocked his head to one side and smiled. “I do believe you, old man, but you’re asking me to send hundreds, possibly thousands of men to their deaths. You’re even asking me to risk the billions of people on my own world.”
Tug looked at Nathan, studying him for a moment. He could see the desperation in the Captain’s eyes. He knew that Nathan would go through with the attack. His honor left him little choice. However, the captain’s honor was all the more reason that he should know exactly what they were all fighting for. “Hand me your data pad, Captain,” Tug requested, extending his hand.
Nathan looked at him quizzically. Tug gestured yet again with his extended hand, and Nathan withdrew his data pad from his hip pouch and handed it to Tug.
Tug took the data pad and typed in a short message. He tipped the data pad slightly to his left so that Mister Dumar could see the message as well. Dumar looked at Tug as if questioning his decision to share the information with Nathan. Tug nodded and Dumar nodded his agreement back to him. Tug then handed the data pad back to Nathan.
Nathan stared at the data pad for several seconds before looking back at Tug’s smiling face. “Son of a bitch,” Nathan muttered.
Tug held one finger to his lips, signaling for Nathan to keep the information a secret. It was an unnecessary gesture, as Nathan was well aware of the implications.
Nathan stepped back, a smile on his face, as the technicians led the last of the jumpers to the trailer and locked them into place. It was the most genuine smile he had worn in many days. He looked at Jessica, who wore a suspicious look after witnessing the silent exchange between Tug and Nathan. She looked at him and mouthed the word, ‘What?’ Nathan continued smiling and winked at her, making her even more curious.
The time had come, and Nathan turned, left the main hangar bay, and headed for the bridge.
Chapter Nine
Jessica stood at the end of the line directly behind Jalea, Dumar, and Tug. With her auto-visor set to its darkest setting, she could barely make out the silhouettes of the others in front of her, despite the bright lighting within the starboard transfer airlock. With its outer door open to space, Jessica could see out across the flight apron to the slope of the main drive section directly aft. The two Karuzari teams were lined up in two rows of ten, ready to depart as soo
n as they got the word.
“Five seconds to jump,” Naralena’s voice announced over the helmet comms.
Jessica remembered the last time she had walked out onto the flight deck. Her assault team had been assigned to board a disabled Jung ship just outside the Sol system. That action had not gone well, and she had barely made it back to the ship in time.
“Four…”
She had never been able to accept the astronomical odds of encountering an enemy ship at the exact location of their first jump…
“Three…”
…let alone two of them.
“Two…”
Someone had sold them out. It was the only answer that made sense.
“One…”
Jessica closed her eyes tightly.
“Jump.”
Even with her auto-visor at its darkest setting and her eyes tightly closed, she could still see the jump flash to some extent. As the flash cleared, the entire ship began to vibrate slightly.
“Jump complete. Stand by.”
Jessica reached up and set her visor back to auto-mode. The visor quickly adjusted to the current lighting conditions, allowing her to see normally again. The line had not moved. They waited for the bridge crew to verify that their position over Takara was correct for their space jump. The Aurora had jumped in at less than half the required speed to maintain a low orbit over Takara, so she was literally falling from orbit toward the planet below and had only minutes before she would be overcome by the heat of reentry. It was a risky move, but necessary, as their suits were being used without their ejection seats, which meant they had insufficient thrust to slow themselves down to an acceptable reentry speed. She could feel her heart racing, her breath quickening. Her respirations were the only sounds within her suit.
“Teams nine and ten… jump, jump, jump,” Naralena announced.
Jessica shook her hands at her sides as she waited for her turn to go, the vibrations of the ship becoming more intense. Both lines of Karuzari filed out of the transfer airlock onto the flight apron, breaking into a jog as they turned to port and quickened their stride. Jessica followed the line out. The artificial gravity of the flight apron had been adjusted to enable them to jog while wearing the heavy and cumbersome space-jump rigs.
In pairs, they ran to the port edge of the Aurora’s flight apron and jumped off its edge, their momentum carrying them away from the ship. Jessica and the Karuzari fighter next to her followed the pair before them, running off the edge of the deck to float freely in orbit above Takara. They coasted for nearly a minute in a long staggered line, drifting slowly away from the Aurora.
“Teams nine and ten,” Naralena’s voice called over the helmet comms, “you are clear to activate auto-flight systems.”
Jessica reached over to her left arm and touched a button on the control pad on her forearm, activating her suit’s auto-flight control system. She immediately felt her maneuvering jets fire from various points along her torso, forcing her to spin around suddenly. Her body was reoriented, with her face toward the planet below.
“Stand by for retro rocket ignition,” the computerized voice announced in Corinairan. Jessica’s Corinari suit technician had taught her the phrase while helping her prepare, knowing that it would be the second most dramatic jolt she would feel during her journey down to the surface of Takara. Even though they were already falling toward the surface, they still needed to separate themselves from the ship before the Aurora jumped away, as they had no idea what the effects might be on their suits. Even more importantly, they didn’t want to be on the exact same targeting path that the ground-based air defense batteries might use to engage the Aurora, as that would end their journey just as quickly.
Jessica felt a sudden jolt, like someone had swung a bat and struck her on the underside of her backpack. The entire suit and the torso package that surrounded her felt like it slid upward a few dozen centimeters. She could feel the crotch straps digging in between her legs and pulling tight against her hips. She could also swear that her head was now sitting a bit lower in her helmet than before. Her entire suit vibrated and shook as her retro rockets continued to burn. As she shook, Jessica shifted her eyes to her left and turned her head slightly toward the rest of the line. Each of them were also burning their retro rockets. The entire event only lasted thirty seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. Just as suddenly as it had started, the retro rockets shut down and everything was quiet once again.
“Shit!” Jessica exclaimed to herself. “That sucked.”
Without warning, her maneuvering rockets fired again, spinning her head over heels and rotating her body on its longitudinal axis so that she was diving toward it head first.
A computerized voice announced something in Corinairan. Jessica thought it said something about reentry and fifteen seconds… At least, she was pretty sure that’s what it had announced. That technician had run a lot of phrases past her in a hurry. She hadn’t really understood why he had been trying to teach her the phrases. After all, the entire process was automated. If something failed to happen properly, there would be nothing she could do but wait to burn up or slam into the ground.
The computer made another announcement. That one she did understand, and a sense of relief washed over her as the shield indicator on her visor display lit up, verifying that the energy bubble that surrounded her to deflect the heat of reentry away from her was fully operational.
“Teams nine and ten have begun atmospheric entry,” Naralena reported from the comm-station. “Teams one through eight are ready to go.”
“Time to second jump-off point?” Nathan asked from the command chair at the center of the Aurora’s bridge.
“One minute, sir,” the navigator, Mister Riley, reported.
“Time to critical hull temp?” Nathan asked urgently.
“Two minutes, Captain,” Mister Randeen answered from tactical. “We’re already picking up some heat from the atmosphere.”
“Comms,” Nathan called, “translate the following and broadcast over all known Ta’Akar communications frequencies.”
“Ready, sir.”
“Attention Ta’Akar command, this is Captain Nathan Scott of the United Earth Ship Aurora. I speak on behalf of the Earth-Darvano Alliance. You are ordered to stand down all military forces and relinquish control of all systems other than Takara back to each system’s local government. If you comply, you will be allowed to maintain sovereignty over Takara. If you refuse, all imperial military forces will be destroyed, the Takaran government will be disbanded, and your system will be placed under Alliance control. We will return for your answer in three days.”
Nathan waited while Naralena translated and broadcast the message, watching the time display on the main view screen as the ship continued to vibrate against the thickening atmosphere of Takara.
“Message sent,” Naralena reported. She turned and looked at him. “We don’t really expect them to surrender, do we?”
“If only,” Nathan answered. “I’m just giving them a reason for our brief presence in orbit over their world. If they think we are simply jumping in, transmitting a message, and jumping away, not only will they think we are bluffing, but they hopefully will not realize that we just launched our first strike teams.”
“Ten seconds to jump-off point,” Mister Riley announced.
“Naralena,” Nathan said.
Naralena turned back to her comms, watching the digital time display as she keyed up teams one through eight on her comm-panel. “Teams one through eight… jump, jump, jump,” she announced as the time readout reached zero.
The first group of eight Corinari paratroopers jogged out of the Aurora’s port transfer airlock, turning left and heading for the starboard edge of the flight apron. They ran right off the edge, drifting away in a slightly uneven line. Five seconds later, a second line emerged, also running off the starboard edge of the flight apron. One by one, six more groups of eight paratroopers did the same, each group following fiftee
n seconds behind the other. By the time the last group had left the Aurora’s flight apron, the first group had already fired their maneuvering jets to reorient themselves into position in order to activate their retro rockets and begin their descent. Once the last group was properly oriented, all sixty-four men fired their retro rockets simultaneously.
“Teams one through eight have begun their descent,” Naralena announced.
“They will begin atmospheric entry in ten seconds,” Mister Navashee at the sensor station reported loudly in order to be heard over the increasingly violent rumbling of the ship as they continued to plow through the atmosphere.
“Hull temp?” Nathan inquired. He wanted to give the last group of jumpers time to get clear of the Aurora before he jumped, but he had to get the ship out of there before she got too hot and her heat shielded underside that had been designed for emergency aero-braking maneuvers began to fail.
“One thousand degrees Celsius and rising rapidly,” Mister Riley reported. “Estimate thirty seconds to critical hull temp.”
“Very well,” Nathan answered. “Mister Navashee, are those two closest frigates still maintaining the same course?”
“Yes, sir, same course and speed, five light minutes out.”
“Mister Riley, plot the first jump of a three jump series. I want to end up a few kilometers astern of those two ships when we finish the third jump.”
“Aye, Captain,” Mister Riley answered, immediately setting to his task.
“Tactical, load tubes one and two with conventional warheads, and load tubes three and four with fixed yield nukes. Set all four for snapshot. Also, bring the missile pod online and prepare to fire two pairs.”
“Loading tubes one and two with conventional, three and four with fixed yields, all for snapshot. Bringing missile pod online.”
“Let’s bring all rail guns up as well, Mister Randeen. We’ll fly between the two frigates and strafe them as we pass.”
