Lee Pearce looked at his scanner; locating the other two Ch’Tauk ships closing in from both sides. He pushed his throttle to full and watched as the enemy fighters tried to adjust their own course to follow. As he came within firing range of the other fighters, Lee pushed the nose of his ship down fast, evading the first bolts that the enemy had fired and giving himself some breathing room.
The banded metal shapes of the enemy fighters leapt forward and down as they followed Lee in a nose dive relative to the battle. Lee pulled back on his throttle, slowing his ship and allowing the Ch’Tauk fighters to close. He felt his ship shudder as both of the pursuers slammed plasma bolts into his rear shields. The Silver Eagle had been upgraded by the Elves steadily over the past year, enabling to take the hits without any real damage to his ship.
The trailing fighters came closer to Lee, still firing the red-orange bolts of energy into his shields. Lee allowed them to come closer before pulling his nose back over and tumbling around to face his pursuers. He slammed his throttle back to full and felt the pull of inertia pull him back into the acceleration chair. Although the little creatures had upgraded most of the ship’s functions, they had never quite been able to upgrade the inertial compensators enough to keep up with his maneuvers.
As he sped straight towards the Ch’Tauk fighters, he pulled a small lever on his control panel. A hatch opened on the underside of the Eagle, dropping twenty small rocks from the underside of his ship. Inertia kept the stones flying at the same speed as the Eagle. Lee adjusted the flare of his magnetic drive, splitting the effect into two pulsating shells that pushed him through space. As he passed the two fighters, he pulled up sharply and extended the drive field. The pebbles slammed into the unshielded enemy ships like missiles, shredding the hulls and ripping the ships to pieces.
Lee pulled his ship around to locate the Resolute on his scanner. The big ship took up a large portion of his sensor screen as he headed back. His first officer had once again requested that he not lead the fighter squadron in defense of the battleship, but Lee had again refused. Although he had been made captain of the battleship, Lee was a fighter pilot at heart and preferred the feel of the throttle in his hand than a command chair against his back.
Resolute had turned broadside to a Ch’Tauk cruiser and was blasting the bigger ship with a row of cannons. The Ch’Tauk ship was returning fire with its powerful forward array. The battleship glowed a hazy blue as its shields absorbed the fire and redirected it back out to strengthen the ship. The Ch’Tauk ship’s armor was beginning to show signs of blackening in places, but had not given in against the barrage.
“Flyboy to Resolute,” Lee signaled his ship using his pilot call sign. “Status report?”
“Flyboy,” replied the voice of Farthing. “Shields are holding, but the starboard hull plating is beginning to heat up. We need clearance to turn.”
“Acknowledged, Resolute,” Lee replied, switching channels to signal his squadron. “Demons, mama needs help, can you assist?”
Multiple clicks over the open frequency signaled back the readiness of the other fighters in his squadron. He searched his scanner for the tell-tale blue blips that indicated the location of his squadron. He saw that they were still flying in smaller groups with Aztec and Baron flying together against three pursuers and Jackal, Princess and Merlin tightly chasing four fighters of their own.
Lee aimed his fighter towards the pair of Peregrine’s flying in formation away from the Ch’Tauk pursuit. Although his heart cried for him to come to the aid of Alice as she flew against greater numbers, he knew that the two men needed his help more and that she would probably kill him if he tried it. Although she had been flying the modified fighters for over a year, Lee still couldn’t help but remember the deckhand that had greeted him back on the Terran Princess. She had proven to be an excellent pilot, having trained on a gaming simulator on board the cruise ship, but he still wanted to rush to her aid.
Flying in fast, he angled over the other two pilots and their pursuers. Turning on his port wing, he nosed his ship down and aimed straight for one of the Ch’Tauk fighters. The ship flew apart under the hail of plasma fire, scattering debris directly into the path of its partner. The second ship sputtered and began to break off pursuit, but Baron had slipped over and fired his own cannons into the belly of the enemy ship. Lee had to twist his own ship to avoid flying through the explosion as the second ship detonated.
“Good job, Baron,” congratulated Lee. “Let’s get back to Big Mama.”
“Roger, Flyboy,” acknowledged the pilot, falling into formation with the Silver Eagle.
Aztec had already pulled into a wide arc and joined the other two fighters quickly. Together, the three fighters aimed themselves at the besieged battleship. Each had shed their original brown and green paint scheme that denoted their affiliation with the former Confederation. The elves had stripped the ships of all marking except the demon face on one wing and left the bare silver skin gleaming against the blackness of space.
“Flyboy,” the voice of Alice came over the radio. “We’ll be there in a minute. Merlin’s shields failed and he needs the girls to come and get the bug off of his tail.”
“Roger Princess,” Lee replied. “Have Merlin back off and wait while we run the cruiser.”
A double click signaled the woman’s assent to the order. Lee checked the scanner to see one of the blue dots move off as the other two closed on a single remaining Ch’Tauk fighter. The red blip that indicated that the enemy fighter turned to face the two Peregrine fighters, but was soon gone from the scanner as the human fighters erased it from existence. Lee saw Merlin’s ship veer off and away from the battle. He veered his ship over to face the Ch’Tauk cruiser.
The ship was larger than the Resolute by almost fifty meters. It had a wide, banded metal hull that made it resemble a segmented beetle. Projections from under the hull further strengthened the insect-like shape as they provided propulsion. Further hair like cannons lined the upper edges of the hull. The ship had pointed its most powerful weapons, the two large plasma accelerators, directly at the exposed broad side of the battleship.
“Alright Demons,” Lee ordered. “Ladies first, keep their attention focused on anything but Mama. Aztec, Baron, follow my lead.”
Jackal flew in fast, laying down fire along the topmost spine of the Ch’Tauk warship. Alice flew higher, alternating to the left and right of Jackal’s line of fire. The two had worked out this pattern during a training exercise months ago and its effectiveness as a distraction seemed to bear out in practice. The Ch’Tauk began firing the smaller cannons upwards, trying to hit the small shielded fighters. The women spun over, evading the fire and coming up underneath the big cruiser. As the Ch’Tauk ship attempted to open new firing patterns using extended cannons along its side, Lee and his escorts barreled straight at the bog cannons, pouring fiery plasma down the barrels. The three silver fighters flew off to port, drawing fire away from the Resolute and towards their own retreating backsides.
As the cruiser turned to follow the small ships, Princess and Jackal came up hard from under the nose of the ship, once again directing fire at the cruiser’s big cannons. The metal on the front of the ship began to glow as the plasma melted the outer armor covering the barrels. The woman arced up and over the back of the big ship speeding around the return fire.
Lee led his escorts back at the glowing barrels on the nose of the cruiser. He directed his fire to the nearest barrel, trying to cause a reaction as the gun heated up. Aztec and Baron followed suit and the port weapon started to warp under the directed fire from the augmented fighter ships. A return pass from the two women finished the metal off and caused the gun to droop like a dripping candle. The big ship tried to fire the other gun, but the plasma stream was weak and ineffective.
Lee directed his view screen back to the Resolute, seeing that it had completed its turn while the fighters kept the big ship busy. The Demon squadron formed up again and flew in formation to
the far side of the cruiser. Lee watched as the silhouette of the cruiser began to glow from the renewed barrage from the battleship. As the fighters met up with Merlin, he saw the largest band of armor peel off of the big ship as it attempted to turn itself away from the battleship. There was a bright flash and the cruiser seemed to come apart in segmented components. Finally, the plasma fuel ignited inside the warship and the cruiser burst apart like an over-ripe melon.
“Good work, Demons,” Lee said over the radio. He switched to the general broadcast channel. “Good Work Big Mama. Flyboy is coming home.”
“Captain,” replied Farthing. “I do wish you wouldn’t refer to this ship a ‘Big Mama’. She is a ship of the line and a veteran of many great battles.”
“Alright, Resolute,” said Lee with a grin on his face. “Open the doors and get ready. Merlin needs repair.”
“Acknowledged, Flyboy,” replied Farthing. “Engineering teams are standing by, Resolute out.”
Lee considered the progress of their mission. They had found a relay at the rendezvous coordinates that Commander Marin had provided. The Commander had joined the battleship for the mission and had proven valuable in decoding the information on the buoy. When they had jumped to the next set of coordinates, however, they had exited M-space almost directly on top of a Ch’Tauk cruiser gathering hydrogen for its plasma weapons.
Lee had wanted to stay and fight on the bridge of his ship, but when the cruiser ejected a dozen Ch’Tauk fighter ships, he knew he had to take a personal hand in the battle. He had joined the Demon Squadron just after they had launched and taken on four of the enemy ships alone. His own ship was larger and more powerful than the smaller Peregrine fighters so the risk was not as great as his First Officer had assumed.
On a hunch, he tuned his scanner to a different range, trying to find any evidence of a hidden buoy. As he passed through the different wavelengths, a sudden energy spike caused him to tune the device narrower. The spike broadened into a static-filled code that beeped over Lee’s speakers. The code seemed to match the one they had found in the previous marker.
“Farthing,” Lee said. “Scan across the high band for the marker buoy signal. I think I have found it. Lock on and we’ll go retrieve.”
“Aye sir,” replied the felinoid. “We’ve got it. We are sending coordinates to the squadron now. Should we keep the doors open?’
“Affirmative, Resolute,” replied Lee. “Merlin is coming in.”
“Flyboy,” Merlin keyed in over the channel. “I can come along for this. It’s just my shields.”
“Negative, Merlin,” ordered Lee. “I don’t want to take the chance on an overload in your core systems. Make for Big mama and wait for us there.”
“You take all the fun out of this,” replied Merlin. “Merlin is returning to Big Momma.”
Lee saw the fighter move off and accelerate towards the battleship. As he flew with the remaining Demons, he thought of Alice, holding steady on his starboard wing. His earlier thoughts of flying to her rescue were beginning to bother him. He knew the dangers of getting too close to his subordinates, but Alice was different. She had been with him before Resolute and before his command.
As he approached the hidden buoy, concealed in a small asteroid field that hung in space, he reached up and felt the pocket of his flight suit. The small box had been with him since he had left Perigee station, but he had not looked at its contents since he had purchased it. He was waiting for the right time to be alone with Alice, but that time seemed to move farther away with each passing jump. He vowed to talk to Alice that evening in his quarters and finally open the box for her to see what she would say.
Despite the battle and the apprehension regarding their current mission, Lee felt his stomach churn about the conversation. After all, destroying enemy ships was easy, asking Alice to marry him would be nearly impossible.
9
The battleship Resolute orbited the single moon of the planet Vadne. Nearby, a Vadne destroyer hung menacingly between the human ship and the orange planet below. Although the destroyer was smaller than the battleship, its array of high energy weapons was vastly superior and could reduce the Resolute to debris in a matter of minutes if needed.
A transport shuttle, dispatched from the alien ship, touched down in the cramped landing bay of Resolute and waited for the hatches to seal. The sleek efficient lines of the ship were a sharp contrast to the bulky, decorative style of the shuttles that Lee had used to rescue the prisoners on Alzerack. As a pilot, he admired the lack of adornment on the ship and the ability of the vessel to appear to be moving even when sitting on his deck.
“Captain,” said Farthing, standing at his side. “I must warn you not to engage in any frivolous conversation with the planetary governor. My people do not like useless conversation.”
“But Farthing,” replied Lee.” I’ve always thought you irked our banter.”
“Well, to be honest,” the first officer replied. “I am considered quite talkative by my people.”
Lee looked at the white furred feline with a smile. He had inherited the alien officer when he took command of Resolute and had never had cause to regret the decision. He had discovered that it had been Farthing who had begun launching encoded buoys for his fleet to find and follow. When Resolute had become separated from the carrier group, he had needed to continue the practice in the hopes that Baal could find them later.
The airlock cycled open and the doors slid aside, allowing the familiar puff of cold air to enter the corridor outside the landing bay. Lee stepped through the doors followed by his greeting party and into the small deck that housed the transport shuttle and his own Silver Eagle fighter. The Vadne transport took up almost the entire bay space and Lee admired the skill displayed by the pilot in fitting the ship in without making contact with any other ship.
Lee stopped just inside the door and waited for the Vadne transport’s door to open. The hatch cracked open with a hiss of warm air and the door rotated down, forming a series of short steps. The first Vadne representative to emerge was obviously a guardian soldier. The male feline had dark fur that had a reddish tint as if he had spent too much time in the sun. He carried a mean looking rifle that hummed slightly against the alien’s fur.
Next out of the ship was a tall female with smooth, silky fur that seemed to have been carefully combed and styled. The crest of fur that stood on top of her skull had been trimmed closer to her head than Lee had seen in the species. She wore long crimson robes that made her brown fur seem more auburn in the light of the landing bay. She stepped aside and looked back up to the entrance of the transport.
Farthing tapped Lee’s shoulder as the third alien to exit the vehicle stepped down from the ramp. He was a massive feline with white fur running down his neck and across his powerful broad chest. The thick fur of his back was jet black and oiled to a high sheen. Even if his first officer had not pointed him out, Lee would have recognized the regal bearing of the Planetary Governor of Vadne.
“Governor Kopek,” said Lee, bowing slightly to the large feline. “Welcome aboard the battleship Resolute.”
“It is small for a battleship,” replied the Governor. “Our ships are larger.”
“What she lacks in size, Governor,” Lee replied, trying not to be insulted by the man’s blunt comment. “She makes up for in tenacity. I am Captain Lee Pearce.”
Lee extended a hand to the big alien, but the other man simply ignored him. Instead, he walked over to Farthing who had been standing several meters away and sniffed the air. The first officer kept his head lower, but repeated the sniffing gesture. Although he had served with many of Farthing’s people, he had never seen the exchange before and made a note to ask the Commander about it. The two aliens stepped apart and the Governor turned back to Lee, apparently satisfied at the introduction.
“If you would follow me, Governor,” Lee said. “I will take you to our conference room so that we can discuss our business.”
The big V
adne nodded and looked to his party. Another soldier had exited the craft after the Governor and the four felines stepped into line. Lee and Farthing, along with Wellick, Alice and Marin, lead the way from the landing bay and into the narrow corridor. Resolute was not as spacious as the modern carriers, having been built strictly for battle almost five decades before and the journey to the conference room was short. Several of the crew was forced to press themselves against the wall as the party passed by.
“Your crew is not human?” Kopek asked. “Your Terran Confederacy lacks crew of your own species now.”
“The Confederacy no longer exists,” Lee replied. “Resolute represents a new alliance, Governor. My crew is made up of many species from all over the galaxy.”
The Governor sniffed the air again as they passed several more crewman. He seemed to find the proceeding amusing as if the ship was a toy that a child might have been playing with. Lee reminded himself that the Governor meant no disrespect, but that he came from a very pragmatic species.
The group reached the small conference room and Lee ushered the dignitaries into the room. Wellick stood by the door and glared at the two feline guards and their rifles. On orders, the porcine soldier was not wearing a weapon himself, but Lee suspected he had one secreted on his brawny person somewhere.
Once seated, Kopek allowed the female alien to introduce herself. She was his top advisor as well as his wife. Lee looked at Alice while she spoke with a nervous smile. Although he had planned to ask Alice to marry almost a week ago, he had not quite gotten around to the task. As he sat at the table, he idly reached up and patted the upper pocket of his shirt where the ring box still rested.
“The Governor was surprised at your arrival, Captain Pearce,” said the female advisor. “He was unaware that there were more humans still operating warships after your planet were invaded.”
“Madam Ringgit,” replied Lee. “We have been operating in secret for the last few years for our own protection. Recently we received information that there were more ships still out here and began following a trail that led us here.”
Resolute Omnibus (The War for Terra) Page 30
