Legacy (First Colony Book 3)

by Ken Lozito

  “Put her in my quarters. They’re closer,” Colonel Cross said.

  Noah changed directions, heading for Colonel Cross’s tent. Lenora kept muttering off and on while he carried her. She needed sleep. He heard the berwolf padding along behind them. Colonel Cross opened the door to her tent and Noah carried Lenora to the small bed inside. He laid her down and pulled a blanket over her. Satisfied that there was nothing more he could do, he left the tent and went back outside.

  “You should stay with her,” Colonel Cross said.

  “But I have to—”

  “It can wait. She needs you. You should be here for her when she wakes up,” Colonel Cross insisted.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Noah said.

  Colonel Cross and the CDF soldiers left him, and the berwolf settled down nearby. He grabbed one of the nearest chairs and sat down. The creature would swing its head toward Lenora whenever he heard her moan in her sleep but then would settle back down.

  “She’ll be alright,” Noah said softly and hoped he was right. Lenora had kept so many things bottled up that he should have known something had to give. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and gazed up at the night sky where New Earth’s rings cast a soft glow. He never got tired of that sight, but tonight he couldn’t take any comfort in it. The Vemus were here and he had no idea how they were going to stop them.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The Vemus Alpha had settled into a geocentric orbit around New Earth, and after the cruisers finished taking out the structures on the lunar surface, they returned to the Alpha. The Vemus seemed to have ignored Lunar Base altogether, and Nathan had deployed small scanning drones from one of the comms satellites they had in orbit. The scanner drones were configured to do a single pass by the Alpha and then send the data through an IR channel to repeaters the CDF had placed nearby. Since the IR signal required a direct line of sight to send the data, there was very little chance the Vemus would detect it. If they did, they could only trace the signal to another repeater. In theory, the Vemus could be patient enough to track the IR signal, but they would have to be in close proximity to the actual repeaters, which they weren’t. The risk was minimal and the CDF needed the data, as it was crucial data for their counterstrike.

  Nathan had deployed armed CDF squads to secure all the locations throughout the base that had access to the lunar surface. He hadn’t accounted for securing those locations when the Vemus arrived and had nearly been discovered. Less than a handful of people had made the foolish attempt to engage the Vemus, which would have put Lunar Base at risk, but luckily Nathan had more levelheaded soldiers in the area to avert disaster. What really frustrated him was that Dr. Kendra Robinson’s death could have been avoided. Struggling to keep the disgust from his voice at the pointless waste of life, he sent out a base-wide update reminding all Lunar Base personnel that the communications receivers were still online and there was no need for anyone to be at the surface installations.

  “It’s the pressure, Colonel. Makes people do foolish things,” Major Shelton said.

  Nathan pressed his lips together. “I know. We just can’t afford it.”

  It had been twelve hours since Phoenix Station had gone offline, and he hadn’t allowed himself to think about Savannah at all. He’d checked the comms logs from the escape pods and her signature hadn’t been among them. The escape pods had ceased broadcasting once the Vemus cruisers entered the area. Unless those CDF soldiers had been able to disable their beacons, it was probable that they’d been captured or killed by the Vemus. Given those options, Nathan hoped they hadn’t been captured.

  He turned his attention back to the main holoscreen. Despite the massive size of the Vemus Alpha, Phoenix Station weapons had bludgeoned it, rendering near-catastrophic damage. The probe scans revealed that the exoskeletal hull was thickest toward the rear of the massive ship where the engines were buried deep in the cavernous hindquarters. The twenty-two-kilometer ship must have had millions of personnel aboard, perhaps more, but those numbers had to have been seriously decimated. Connor had focused Phoenix Station’s weapons on key soft areas that were revealed after the initial HADES IV-B missiles had sloughed off a few layers of the exoskeletal hull. He’d done a lot of damage, but the enemy ship was still flying.

  Nathan had brought in his reserve watches and fed all the data they’d gathered throughout the base. He encouraged anyone with any ideas about how they could attack the enemy to bring them to their immediate superior officers, who would then decide whether the suggestion should be sent up the chain of command. Currently, his normal bridge crew, with the additional presence of operations and tactical units, was gathered in the command area.

  “We need to hit the Vemus Alpha so hard that they can’t recover from it, but we need to be cautious because we can’t have that ship crashing into the planet,” Nathan said.

  Lieutenant LaCroix raised his hand and Nathan nodded for him to speak.

  “Colonel, my team and I have run some preliminary firing solutions, but once we commit fully, there’s no way we can mask our presence here,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Yes, the Vemus will become aware of our presence once we begin shooting at them, so what’s your real question, Lieutenant?” Nathan asked.

  “Our main objective is to take out the Vemus Alpha, but what about the ships that’ll take their forces to the ground? I think we should be trying to prevent that as well, Colonel. What good is a surprise attack if everyone’s dead by the time we come up with a plan to engage the enemy?” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Any minute now the Vemus are going to send in a landing force. We’ve seen them use Talon 5s to storm Titan Station, but they didn’t use them on Phoenix. Please bring your attention to the main holoscreen. That large scorched area is roughly seven kilometers across, and recent scans show that there are separate ships inside. We think their landing crafts will use that area. How can we stop the landing crafts from reaching New Earth?” Nathan asked as his eyes swept over his staff. “This question isn’t just for Lieutenant LaCroix. Once we reveal our presence, there’s no going back.”

  “I have a suggestion, Colonel,” Major Shelton said.

  “What is it?” Nathan asked.

  “We can’t let the Vemus land any craft on New Earth completely unchallenged. They’re in position, and perhaps they believe they’ve won. We need to keep them off balance by striking at the landing craft as they make their descent, letting them know they’re not unopposed and reassuring the people on the ground that we’re still up here fighting for them,” Major Shelton said.

  “Agreed. Given the distance, what could we use that would reach those targets in time?” Nathan asked.

  “We could use our midrange Hornet missiles. They can close the distance quickly, and the Vemus wouldn’t have much time to launch countermeasures, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “That could work. Put your team on coming up with a firing solution for that. We’ll need to use a LIDAR burst to update PRADIS. Work off the assumption that as soon as we fire our missiles, we return to Dark-Star status. I agree with Major Shelton that if we can get the Vemus to look over their shoulders, it might give us some more time to find the soft spots in their armor,” Colonel Hayes said.

  An alert came to prominence on the main holoscreen. Several large pieces had broken away from the Vemus Alpha.

  “Tactical, those are your targets. Comms, set Condition One throughout the base. Ops, commence LIDAR burst on my mark,” Colonel Hayes said.

  “Yes, Colonel, ready on your mark,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  Nathan waited for Lieutenant LaCroix, who, after a few moments, turned and said, “Firing solution ready. Hornets in the tubes and ready, Colonel.”

  “Ops, commence burst,” Nathan said.

  On the lunar surface, massive hatch doors opened and actuators pushed up a large sensor array, which sent out a sizeable scanner burst. There was no way the Vemus would miss the sudden activity. The PRADIS sco
pe updated with targeting information.

  “Fire missiles,” Nathan ordered.

  “Yes, Colonel, missiles fired,” Lieutenant LaCroix confirmed.

  The scanners showed the Hornet missiles leaving their launch tubes, racing toward the Vemus troop carriers.

  “Ready second wave of missiles,” Nathan said.

  Finally, they were in this fight. The first wave of missiles blindsided the Vemus troop carriers, causing the ships to break apart during entry into the atmosphere.

  “Colonel, two Vemus cruisers are inbound. They’ll be in detection range within ten minutes,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  “Tactical, do we have time for one more wave of Hornets, with half of them targeting those cruisers?” Nathan asked.

  “Affirmative, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Do it. Fire when ready,” Nathan said.

  He watched the main holoscreen as their missile tubes were reloaded with the midrange Hornets.

  “Firing third wave, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Retract array and close all missile hatches,” Nathan said.

  Hornet missiles flew away from New Earth’s moon, some darting off toward the inbound cruisers. Nathan watched as the cruisers took out the inbound Hornet missiles. One cruiser escaped unscathed while the second cruiser took multiple direct hits along the prow of the ship, taking out its forward cannons.

  “Colonel, the last scans show that some of the bigger troop carriers got through and are heading toward the planet’s surface,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “What’re their last known trajectories?” Nathan asked.

  “Their trajectories are aligned with colonial settlements. None of the remote emergency bunkers are located at any of those areas, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “That’s something, at least,” Nathan said quietly.

  “Passive scans show more ships heading our way,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Ops, I want the gun batteries hot and ready to go, but keep the hatch doors shut unless it looks like the Vemus ships are about to fire on us,” Nathan said.

  “Yes, Colonel, alerting fire teams now,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  Major Shelton glanced over at him. “How many do you think got through to the surface?”

  Nathan watched the main holoscreen grimly. “Too many. Those troop carriers can hold thousands of soldiers.”

  “Yeah, but the cities have been evacuated. Only soldiers will be there to greet them,” Major Shelton said.

  “Maybe I should have used the few HADES IV missiles we have,” Nathan said.

  “No, you were right to keep them in reserve. Now the Vemus will expend some energy trying to figure out where we are, which buys our soldiers on the ground time to deal with the immediate threat,” Major Shelton said.

  “Colonel, the last scanner burst came back with some strange detections,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  Nathan glanced at her, but the sergeant’s gaze was locked onto her screen.

  “Colonel, I think our scanners detected faint power readings from the Phoenix Station wreckage,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  “You think? I need more than that, Sergeant,” Nathan said.

  “It’s hard to tell because we had our array focused on the Vemus forces, but what we detected is at the edge of the scanner range. That area is where Phoenix Station was,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  Nathan looked at the scanner data on the main holoscreen and frowned. He didn’t want to start hoping when it was likely to be nothing. “Send in a scanner drone from our Bravo installation on the dark side of the moon.”

  “Drone away, Colonel. Estimated arrival in ninety minutes,” Sergeant Martinez said.

  “Very well,” Nathan said and continued to watch the main holoscreen while considering their next move.

  “Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said, “would you and Major Shelton come over to Tactical, please?”

  Nathan walked over to the tactical workstation where LaCroix sat with two members of his team.

  “The HADES IV-Bs were modified to improve their effectiveness against countermeasures, which made them better able to reach their targets in a long-range engagement. We only have a few of them here on base,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “That’s right—only about twenty. Have you come up with a way to use them?” Nathan asked.

  “Since this isn’t a long-range engagement with the enemy, we’re proposing to consolidate the HADES IVs’ payloads, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  Nathan narrowed his gaze while he considered it. “You guys came up with this?”

  Lieutenant LaCroix shook his head. “No, the idea came up from one of the engineering teams—an engineer by the name of Kara Roberts. She said—and I’m quoting here, sir, ‘I have a way to blow those SOBs out of the damn sky.’ She had a few more expletives, but you get the idea.”

  “So, you want to take twenty of the HADES IVs and combine the payloads into one single missile?” Nathan asked.

  “No, Colonel, Major Roberts is proposing that we consolidate them down to four missiles. We cap them with extra armored tips to increase their penetration effectiveness and use countdown detonators since the Vemus can block our command-and-control signals,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “And you think that will be enough to destroy that ship?” Nathan asked.

  “We can’t be sure, Colonel, but it’s our best shot at doing the most damage against them,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  Nathan glanced at Major Shelton.

  “The idea has promise, Colonel,” Major Shelton said.

  Nathan drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily. “How long until they can be ready?”

  “According to Major Roberts, six hours, sir. They need to break down the assembly and transfer the payload to the other missiles,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.

  “Alright, tell Major Roberts she’s authorized to start,” Nathan said. “Major Shelton, I need you to go down there and supervise the effort. No use blowing ourselves up while we’re trying to save the colony.”

  “Yes, Colonel,” Major Shelton said and left the command area.

  Nathan swung his gaze toward the main holoscreen. Vemus cruisers were inbound, and they needed to hold out for over six hours.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Connor was slumped over in his chair with the straps digging into his shoulder as red flashing lights reflected from the smooth surface of the floor. He blinked several times, slowly escaping his stupor. Swallowing the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, he raised his head to look at the main holoscreen. Amidst the flashing alerts was a long list of failed systems. Connor swung his head around and saw CDF soldiers slumped in their chairs. Other soldiers were lying on the floor, their helmets broken. He couldn’t tell whether they were alive or dead. Connor unbuckled his straps, rubbed his shoulder, and stumbled to his feet. He turned and approached Major Elder, who had fallen halfway out of his chair, some of his straps having come unbuckled. Connor’s neural implants showed that Major Elder was alive. In fact, his life signs were strong.

  “John, are you okay?” Connor asked, shaking the man’s shoulder.

  Major Elder groaned as Connor pushed him upright in his chair. He opened his eyes and looked at Connor. “I’m still here, General,” he said, wincing.

  “Just sit tight for a minute and catch your breath. I’ll get a medic up here,” Connor said.

  Major Elder pushed himself up and waved Connor off. “I’ll be fine,” he said and took in the state of the Command Center.

  “Good, let’s see where we stand,” Connor said.

  They started working their way around the command area. The soldiers that had been strapped in their chairs were alive but disoriented. There were more than a few critically injured soldiers lying on the floor, and Connor used his comlink to find Dr. Allen. Fortunately, Dr. Allen had been near the Command Center during the Vemus Alpha attack. The chief medical officer put whoever was standin
g around to work helping to assess the injured soldiers.

  “Ops, I need a situation report. What shape are we in, Lieutenant?” Connor said.

  Lieutenant Rawn rubbed his eyes and peered at his personal holoscreen. “General, I’m showing that sections four, five, and seven are completely offline and aren’t attached to us anymore. We have critical failures in section six, but the bulkhead doors have sealed and are holding. Maneuvering thrusters are offline. Weapons systems are offline. We have life support and artificial gravity but we’re tumbling out of control. We’re leaking atmosphere from multiple impact points. Honestly, sir, I don’t know how we’re still together,” Lieutenant Rawn said, his eyes going wide.

  “Well let’s not start counting our blessings just yet,” Connor said.

  They had life support for the moment. They needed to get the station stabilized so they could figure out where they were and then figure out where the Vemus Alpha had gone. He glanced up at the main holoscreen, which kept flickering due to power surges.

  “Ops, try to reach someone from Engineering. I need to know what the state of our reactor is or whether we’re on backup generators. Tactical, is our scanner array intact?” Connor asked.

  Captain Thorne raced back to his workstation and opened his console. “Scanners are offline, General. The logs don’t show that it was damaged, but with all the systems offline, I’m not sure we still even have the array.”

  They needed to restore main power and get those systems back online. “Understood, Captain. See if any repair crews can check it out. We’re blind until we can get access to that array,” Connor said.

  Major Elder came back to Connor. “We still have people checking in, but preliminary reports indicate that we’re missing a substantial portion of this subsection. Davis, down in Engineering, believes the Vemus Alpha’s primary weapon cut right through our armor. The fact that we were out of control and spinning may be the only reason we’re still alive.”