“I give them five minutes,” said TAC Officer Myers. “I can see them massing on the far side of the science building.”
“My scans aren’t what they used to be,” admitted TAC Officer Trevor. “How many?”
“Too many,” TAC Officer Myers said. He looked around him. The cadets’ defensive line was thin, but he had faith in them. Despite what the Deloris Conglomerate said, these were wizard scout cadets. He’d taught them all he could during their time on Velos. He’d soon find out if it was enough.
“Sir, cadet 35, sir,” said a nearby cadet with a light, anti-tank rocket launcher cradled under her arm. TAC Officer Myers noticed the odd angle of her second arm and the blood leaking from a hasty field bandage.
“What is it cadet?” TAC Officer Myers said in the strongest voice as he could muster. He was tired, but he had to stay strong for the sake of the cadets.
“Sir! Will there be more of those magic user types?” said the cadet. “Our weapons can’t get through their shields, sir.”
TAC Officer Myers noticed several of the nearby cadets listening for his answer. They didn’t look scared, but he could see the concern on their faces. They assumed they were going to die. They just wanted to make their deaths count.
Without answering the cadet directly, TAC Officer Myers walked around the broken pieces of concrete and steel that used to be the administration building. He stepped into the parade field among the bodies of three score cadets and TAC Officers. They hadn’t made the relative safety of the rubble before the Crosioians’ armor and infantry had mowed them down.
Turning to face the living cadets, TAC Officer Myers spoke over his battle helmet’s external speaker. He set the volume to maximum.
“You’ve all done well,” he began. “The commandant would be proud of you. Your TAC officers are proud of you. I… I am proud of you. The sign over the entrance to this Academy says ‘Through these gates pass the best scouts in two galaxies.’ You have proven that today.”
TAC Officer Myers gestured towards the science building located a thousand meters away.
“In a short time, the Crosioians and their mercenary scum will come charging around and through that building. When they do, those of you with heavy weapons will concentrate your fire on their armor. The rest of you will engage their infantry.”
Pointing to a black-robed corpse who had fallen a few meters away, TAC Officer Myers said, “You saw their magic users in action. But their balls of fire and bolts of lightning are no different than the Crosioians’ plasma and phase weapons. They’re just weapons in another form.”
With a kick to the corpse, TAC Officer Myers said, “Their shields are no better than a scout’s. This piece of smoldering filth is proof of that. Concentrate your fire on any magic users and overwhelm their shields. When their Power fails, they’ll die.”
After a short pause, TAC Officer Myers continued. “Most of you TAC officers don’t have battle suits. Let those of you who do have armor take on the magic users in hand-to-hand if possible. You unarmored cadets will support them with your weapons as best you can.”
Raising his fist in the air, TAC Officer Myers shouted, “You are wizard scouts. Our orders are to hold the power plant. That’s exactly what we’ll do. It will be a cold day on Sirius when wizard scouts let a bunch of bats and their mercenaries take over our Academy! You are all wizard scouts, every one of you. I salute you, my brothers and sisters!”
TAC Officer Myers stood at attention and gave a parade-ground perfect salute to the Academy’s defenders.
Cadets and TAC Officers all along the line of defense stood and saluted him back. They erupted in cheers. The cheers were almost loud enough to drown out the roar of engines from dozens of armored vehicles. The Crosioians were on their way.
* * *
The intern brought the message to Acting Fleet Commander Bistos. The fleet had just started its second jump. They’d break out in the Velos system in less than six minutes.
“Sir,” said the intern. “Message from the Imperial High Command.”
Liz took her eyes off the hologram of the star chart long enough to acknowledge the intern.
“Read it to me, Mr. Silas,” Liz said as she looked back at the star chart.
“From Imperial High Command,” said the intern nervously. “All ships districts three and four. Make all speed to Velos system and engage Crosioian invasion fleet. Use of emergency military override of hyper-drives is authorized.”
“Well, looks like there won’t be a court martial after all,” said Trinity. “Someone’s looking out for you.”
“Is that all, Mr. Silas?” Liz said choosing not to reply to Trinity’s remark.
“No, sir,” said the intern. “To Acting Fleet Commander Bistos. Engage enemy fleet posthaste. Commodore Alden will arrive with the 14th Fleet eighteen minutes after your arrival. You must hold Velos at all cost until then. Good hunting. End message.”
The intern saluted and departed back to her communication console.
Liz looked up from the star charts. Lieutenant’s McAfee and Author were looking at her expectantly. So was her friend Trinity.
“Hold at all costs,” Liz said quietly. “To put it mildly, sirs, our fleet is expendable.”
“If the information we’re receiving from Velos is correct,” said Lieutenant Author, “we will be outnumbered eight to one.”
“True,” said Lieutenant McAfee. “But we’ll have surprise.”
“And the ground-based weapons systems on Velos won’t be idle,” said Trinity. “At least half of the Crosioian fleet will be busy engaging them.”
“They’ll still be plenty to go around,” Liz said. “They have six dreadnaughts, and we have two. As soon as we break out of hyperspace, I want both dreadnaughts and all four of our heavy cruisers to engage the nearest enemy dreadnaught. If we can put one out of action quickly, it will narrow the odds.”
Liz looked at Trinity. “I have a tough assignment for your wizard scouts, Trinity.”
“Tough assignments are nothing new, sir,” said Trinity flashing a grin. “What’s this one?”
“Dreadnaughts are too tough to take out quickly even with fire superiority,” Liz said. “But, I believe we can put a hole in one large enough to put a shuttle through.”
Trinity locked eyes with Liz, but Trinity didn’t say anything. She merely nodded her head.
“You will take a tactical nuke with you,” Liz said. “If you can get it near one of the ship’s engines or its main isotopic batteries, the nuke should destroy the ship.”
“Extraction?” said Trinity.
Liz looked hard at her friend. She needed to give them some kind of hope.
“Once the nuke is set,” Liz said, “contact Telsa’s battle computer. She’s holding the backup teleporter at the airfield. If it’s undamaged when you’re ready, her technicians may be able to teleport your scout’s to her location.”
Liz didn’t apologize for sending her friend on what was almost certainly a suicide mission. As far as Liz could tell, she was leading her entire fleet on a suicide mission.
“I’ve had worse odds,” said Trinity with a tightlipped smile as she gave Liz a salute. “I’ll see you on Velos, sir.”
* * *
The commandant squeezed Chief Instructor Winslow’s hand in a sign of assurance. The booted feet of the Crosioians’ mercenaries had marched past the air duct without discovering their presence. He hadn’t expected them to find them.
I might be old, the commandant thought, but it’ll take more than the likes of them to break through my best stealth shield.
The commandant was a protector. Only a wizard scout who specialized in protector skills could protect multiple people with their stealth shield. The commandant had always been good at it. He’d only been detected once in his life. But even at an age when his Power was fading, the commandant was confident he could protect those around him.
He’d arrived at the DNA center just before the Crosioians took over the
building in a blaze of plasma and phase rounds. Most of the center’s technicians had escaped, but not all. The commandant could make out a pair of bloody legs through the slits in the vent.
There had been too many to fight. When the commandant had arrived, there had only been time to grab the chief instructor and one of her technicians before the Crosioians burst into the building’s entrance. They’d been hiding in the air duct system since.
The commandant could see the edge of the glassed-in room where the DNA gas vent met the surface of Velos. Crosioian troops were hurriedly hauling equipment in and out of the room.
As the commandant continued to peer between the air vent’s slits, two pairs of legs in black leather boots came into view.
“How long before the atomics are ready?” said a voice.
“All should be ready in another five minutes, Lord Crendemor,” said a second voice.
“That is well,” said the first voice. “Have your troops ready to board the shuttles as soon as your nukes are set. We’ll remote detonate once the shuttles are clear.”
“Yes, Lord Crendemor,” said the second voice. “And, sir. The admiral has requested an update on the recovery of the DNA gas vials.”
“I’m sure he has,” said the first voice.
The commandant thought he detected a note of irritation in the voice.
“Tell the admiral I have recovered twenty-nine vials of the DNA gas,” said the first voice. “They’ll be returned to the flagship on the first shuttle.”
The two sets of legs walked out of view.
The chief instructor looked at the commandant and whispered, “There were thirty vials, Thomas, not twenty-nine.”
The commandant nodded his head. Someone was obviously keeping one for themselves.
“We need to stop them,” whispered the DNA Center technician on the far side of the chief instructor. The technician gripped a small Deloris blaster in one hand. The commandant noted the man looked scared but determined.
“No,” whispered the commandant. “Not yet. We have to wait for them to leave. Then we can try to disable whatever explosives they’ve left at the DNA vent. We can’t let them destroy it.”
The DNA gas vent was unique. The future of the wizard scout corps depended on the refined DNA gas. Without it, there could be no DNA baselines.
Despite the manipulations of the Deloris Conglomerate, the commandant had high hopes his wife, Janice, could convince the Imperial High Council to reverse their decision to close the Intergalactic Wizard Scout Academy. The DNA gas vent was the Academy’s key to the future. It had to be protected at all costs.
The idea of hiding like a frightened rabbit grated the commandant to no end. But he forced himself to endure the shame of hiding. His passive scan detected too many lifeforms for him to prevail in any kind of fight.
The commandant could sense the blaze of Power with his passive scan from the first speaker that had stood in front of the vent. He was a powerful magic user. The commandant thought he might be the most powerful magic user he’d ever encountered. And he was not the only dangerous foe in the area. There were other magic users as well.
How did they all get here? he wondered.
The commandant shrugged off the thought. At the moment, it was not his greatest concern. He had to prevent the destruction of the DNA gas vent. The commandant forced himself to wait until the enemy departed the building. It wouldn’t be long now.
Chapter 57 – The Heavy Cats
_____________________________________
As the first of the Crosioian cats smashed its way through a nearby warehouse, Richard sensed a smaller cat moving to his right. It was a Warcat. Richard noted a Deloris Conglomerate insignia on the side of the Warcat.
That pilot is either very brave or very stupid, Richard told his battle computer.
I calculate a forty-two percent chance he may be both, said Nickelo. Maybe the pilot’s death will distract the Crosioian cats long enough for you to do something.
Richard had no desire for the conglomerate pilot to die. The pilot was not his enemy; at least not yet. Richard respected bravery, and this pilot appeared to have plenty of guts.
Changing course, Richard ran towards the Warcat.
Are you crazy? said Nick. What do you think you’re doing?
I haven’t got enough Power to spit much less fight, Richard said. I’m going to try and even the odds a little.
When Richard got close to the Warcat, it spun and trained its chain gun on Richard.
Tika growled by his side and shifted into the void ready to attack in defense of a member of her pack.
“No,” Richard growled back. “Wait.”
“Don’t fire,” Richard yelled up at the Warcat. “You’ll just irritate her.”
The pilot didn’t fire, but the chain gun moved slightly to better cover the dolgar.
“Are you planning to take on three heavy cats all by yourself?” Richard said. “You know that’s suicide.”
“I’m not running,” said a high-pitched male voice out of the Warcat’s speakers. “My family has never run from a fight.”
Very admirable, said Nickelo, but very stupid. Only an idiot would try to take on three heavy cats with a single Warcat.
“You know what I am?” Richard said. He was pressed for time, but he needed the Warcat intact, and he didn’t want to have to kill the pilot to get it.
“You’re a wizard scout,” said the pilot.
At that moment, three assault shuttles bearing conglomerate insignias flew by low overhead and made a strafing run on the approaching Crosioian cats. A blaze of plasma rounds and chain gun tracers from the cats returned fire. One of the shuttles exploded in midair.
To their credit, the two remaining shuttles reversed course in order to make a second pass.
“There’s no time to argue,” Richard shouted. “I need your Warcat. You can’t hope to beat them. I can. If they destroy the power plant, we’ll all be dead as soon as the fleet overhead sends the first nuke.”
“I’m not running,” said the pilot determinedly.
“Then don’t,” Richard said impatiently.
Just then, fire from the three heavy cats damaged a second shuttle. The shuttle turned to leave the area as it trailed smoke behind it. The remaining shuttle gamely turned for a third attack run.
“You can have my M12,” Richard said. “Join my friends at the power plant. They’re there now preparing to make a last stand.”
The pilot appeared to hesitate.
“Being a soldier is more than just being brave,” Richard said. “You need to be smart as well. Do the smart thing.”
It took two heartbeats, but the hatch of the Warcat popped open. A young boy no older than sixteen climbed out of it.
“I’m not running,” the boy said as if trying to convince himself as well as Richard.
Richard had no time or inclination to argue. He threw his M12 at the youth who caught it handily enough.
As Richard squeezed through the hatch, he yelled over his shoulder. “Do what you want, but they could use your help at the power plant.”
The hatch sealed. Plug me in, Nick.
Richard’s heads-up display lit up with views of the outside world. Fast moving streams of data scrolled down the right side of the screen. He ignored it. Richard sensed all of the cat’s information from his shared space. Nickelo was feeding him a lot more data than was available through simple readouts.
Nice cat, Richard said as the Warcat quietly shifted into high gear.
It’s a top of the line Warcat, said Nickelo. I wonder what a sixteen year old was doing with it. It’s four years newer than the Academy models. I’ll say one thing for the Deloris Conglomerate. They don’t skimp on things when it comes to cost.
Richard checked his heads-up display. The young pilot was running in the direction of the power plant. From his passive scan, Richard knew Stella and some of his fellow cadets were already there. They appeared to be locked in battle with a large
group of enemy infantry.
Nothing you can do about it, Rick, said Nickelo. Stella and the others can take care of themselves. You’ve got to do something about these three heavy cats. Those two medium cats of ours took out that light cat, but five more Crosioian light cats and a medium have joined the battle. They’ve already got their hands full.
What’s happening at the hangars? Richard asked worried about the rest of his friends.
They’re being hit by a second wave, answered Nickelo. Jerad’s got the cadets organized, and they’re holding their own. If it wasn’t for Jerad and his cadets, the power plant would be swamped already. By the way, it looks like Jerad’s convinced some of the conglomerate’s troops to fight under his command.
Richard headed the Warcat towards the closest cat. A stream of plasma rounds from multiple anti-personnel weapons came his way. Richard kicked the Warcat to the left. It responded easily. The enemy fire tore up the asphalt to his right, but the Warcat was untouched.
The remaining conglomerate shuttle finished its turn. A series of anti-armor missiles and phase cannon rounds shot out from its front. The force field protecting the second cat in line stopped most of the fire. However, two of the missiles slammed into the cockpit. A large fireball erupted from the front of the heavy cat.
At almost the same time a ball of energy rose from a knot of soldiers running alongside the third cat in line. Richard recognized the energy as a spell of some type he didn’t recognize. The spell hit the shuttle. A web of energy enveloped the shuttle. A second later, the shuttle collapsed inward on itself until it was a ball of crumpled metal. It fell from the sky and hit the dirt somewhere behind a stand of trees.
Richard targeted the group of soldiers and the hidden magic user as he thought the command to fire the Warcat’s chain gun. The stream of light slugs tore into some of the soldiers. The rounds tore holes in their armor and left death in their wake. Other rounds stopped in midair as if hitting an invisible shield. Richard switched to the Warcat’s plasma rifle. The green streaks of energy also stopped in midair.
Wizard Scout (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 3) Page 54
