by TR Cameron
This craft was an Alliance fighting ship, a small, older generation destroyer. It looked to have lost about half its armaments, and he wondered if someone had stolen it off the scrapheap after decommissioning or if it had disappeared during a battle. He figured there’d be time to sort out the details later. The weak point on this one was uncomfortably close to the engines, and he felt the vibration of the ship under his feet as he moved toward the vulnerable spot. When this mine went off, it would punch a hole in a place where a hole definitely shouldn’t be, allowing the engines’ output to escape in a direction the designers never intended. That would almost certainly render the ship unusable if the crew reacted quickly enough or potentially ram it into other ones nearby and render it useless if they didn’t.
They repeated the process and sabotaged several vessels until Jax had only four mines left. He had his eye on one particular ship, the largest in the array, and asked Athena if they could reach it. She replied, “Not easily. How crazy are you feeling?”
He laughed. “About as much as usual, why?”
The AI looped Cia into the channel. “To accomplish it, the Grace will have to cross near us. We’ll grapnel her, then use that momentum to swing out toward the other ship. You’ll have to release and reel in the projectile, re-arm the weapon, and shoot it again, all in about fifteen seconds, or we’ll overfly our mark and wind up tumbling off into space.”
He shrugged. “Which isn’t that big a deal since Cia will be able to pick us up if that happens.”
The pilot snorted. “Hell, no. I’m going to blow this place up with you in it and enjoy every second of it.”
Athena replied, “The problem is that we’ll be moving fast enough that we might register on a ship’s defensive computers. Defense cannons are nothing to take lightly.”
Jax sobered. “Well, when you put it that way, let’s not screw it up.”
Cia questioned, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
He stood staring out of the collection of ships before him, counting them subconsciously. There were a lot. Dozens, some of them big enough that in a group they could easily threaten the Cronus and his people on board her, which he knew in his gut was where they were headed. “I think we have to give it a try. Cia, be ready to sweep around and pick us up or to put the Grace in the way of a cannon if it starts shooting at us. I presume that it wouldn’t do too much damage.”
“This isn’t a warship, you know.” An alarm blared in the background as she set the ship to combat readiness. “Try not to make it necessary, all right?”
“I’ll do my best. Athena, lead us.”
The AI gave commands to the pilot, who brought the Grace in. Again, the target illuminated in his display, and she helped him as he fired. The grapnel locked on and he was yanked from his feet and swung in the direction of the ship. Athena ordered, “Release.” He hit the button on the rifle to kill the magnetic flow and triggered the motor to reel the projectile in. The dart folded back up as it returned, and he grabbed it and shoved it into the barrel to reset the firing mechanism. All the while he kept his eyes locked on what he was doing to avoid becoming disoriented by space whirling around him. She declared, “Target’s up.”
He saw the big ship farther away than he expected. Jax lifted the rifle and pointed it but was unable to keep it on the mark. He tried for several seconds, then stated, “Okay, Athena. It’s all you. Trigger, too.”
“Acknowledged. Lift your shoulders slightly.” He complied and discovered that watching his arms move without his instruction was a rather surreal experience. The prosthetics lifted the weapon, pointed it at the ship, and pulled the trigger. It hit true, and less than a minute later he was on the vessel’s upper hull. His display marked four points. He jogged to the nearest and secured one of the mines, then moved on to the next. He repeated the process until the mines were gone and the ship was decidedly in danger.
Without warning, six drones swarmed over the left side of the hull. Athena warned, “Down,” and Jax dropped to the deck. Their initial blasts missed, and they circled for another approach. He pulled out his pistols and fired, taking two down in the first volley, then two more with the second. He sensed Athena’s assistance, but it was a less intrusive, more natural feeling than it had been in the past. The remaining pair got off their shots, and he felt bullets rip through the material of his suit and dig into his torso.
He gasped at the pain and automatically dug for the pouch on the back of his right thigh that held patches. The bullet holes were small enough to be self-sealing, he realized once he took a second to look down at them, but the energy blast that had scored along his artificial left arm was not, and that’s what was triggering the alarms in his helmet. Although the attack hadn’t done any real damage, it had compromised the suit.
He slapped two patches on, then focused on the drones as they came around for another attack. He acquired the targets faster than he should’ve been able to, thanks to the assistance of the AI and the boost from the adrenaline she pumped through him, and the threats went down before they could shoot at him again. “Looks like they’ve discovered us. Cia, come get us.” He pulled the grapnel gun off his back and ran in the direction of the ship.
The pilot replied, “On it.”
Jax watched the Grace grow larger as it neared and hoped it would reach him before any other counterattack materialized. He fired the grapnel gun at the target Athena gave him, a couple of feet away from the side hatch and the airlock it secured, and the rifle pulled him in. As he approached, it became obvious that several ships were turning in their direction. They’d apparently noticed that a troublemaker was among them. “We can’t wait, Athena. Blow it.”
She cautioned, “Debris is a possibility. Shockwave, too.”
“I know. But we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do. I’d rather not get shot down.”
“Acknowledged.”
The ships they’d mined went up all at once, explosions occurring along an uneven line. The extra damage he’d hoped for failed to materialize since all the crews shut down the disabled vessels quickly enough to avoid injuring the others. Jax laughed as he thought about the fact that he’d messed up the arrogant pirate captain’s plans quite effectively. That’ll teach you to condescend to me, jerk. He shook his head. “Okay, let me in, people. We need to talk to Stephenson and Maarsen right away. Our allies are in danger.”
Chapter Twenty
After a little time in the Grace’s medical compartment getting various bruises and lacerations attended to, Jax and the crew gathered in the galley. The only one missing was Trianna, who was piloting the ship toward the nearest jump point. Their pursuers had fallen away to respond to the chaos of the exploding ships, leaving them safe to proceed.
He paced in a slow pattern, unable to still his motion. Cia stood, complaining that she spent enough time sitting down. That left the table for the other four members of his team. The AI’s avatar occupied the display mounted on the wall. He requested, “Athena, please connect to Maarsen and Stephenson.”
“Acknowledged.” Informal conversation filled the minute or so it took for her to include the others, and when they were both present, Jax got straight to the point. “Thanks for joining us. Athena will bring you up to speed on what we discovered.”
Her avatar shared the screen with the remote participants’ faces. She informed everyone, “While on the tender, I was able to compromise their systems. Fortunately, their codes were old, and I had access to all of them. The pirate ships and the others in the system are planning to head to the Lorennsten system.”
Stephenson cursed. “What a coincidence. So are we.”
Jax nodded. “So, we can see what Arlox is thinking, anyway. He’s finally going to make an overt strike against us, or more specifically against my Special Forces team and the Cronus.”
The major shook her head. “Captain Jensen will be ticked.”
He laughed at the mental image of the Cronus’s commander receiving the news. “That’
s quite an understatement. So, the question becomes, how do we think Arlox will play it?”
Maarsen advised, “We have to assume that Zavian has multiple plans in place. In his shoes, I would have one trap ready for the troops deploying to the planet, and another for the Cronus and whoever is with her.”
Stephenson nodded. “Same here.”
Cia shrugged. “It seems logical. But, for the sake of conversation, wouldn’t it be more effective to attack the ship before the soldiers launched?”
Jax shook his head. “If the primary objective is to get my team, and secondarily to hit the Cronus, getting them away from her protection makes a lot of sense. That’s the game in my opinion, based on the other attacks that have taken place on me and my allies.” He thought again of Juno and hoped she was safe.
Maarsen chimed in, “I agree with Jackson. In any case, it doesn’t really matter. If we prepare for both and only one materializes, then we’re still in good shape. If we only prepare for one, however, and two are in play,” his words trailed off, and Jax was sure the others imagined the same dire consequences that he did.
Verrand asked, “Why is the bastard bothering with this little stuff anyway? Isn’t he powerful enough to pretty much do what he wants without worrying about it?”
Stephenson replied, “Paranoia. The powerful are particularly susceptible to it.”
Maarsen nodded. “Simply winning isn’t sufficient for Zavian. He needs to eliminate his enemies in the process. Any victory is only half as sweet if threats still exist to endanger his desires.”
Sirenno asked, “Major, could you cancel the mission? Or, you know, not show up?”
She shook her head. “He’s got us boxed in on that one. Aside from the fact that it would be dereliction of duty and whoever was involved would wind up court-martialed, we’d also be leaving the people following us in without cover. We can’t do that. We have a job to do, and despite whatever else is going on, it’s a real job. Even if Arlox is messing about in our sandbox.”
Jax asked, “Is the plan to deploy all three teams?”
His superior officer nodded. “Those are our instructions. We anticipate there will be fifteen or twenty times that number of enemies on the planet. There’s no question that we need to set the battlefield ahead of time.”
“What’s your ETA?”
“Well, that’s confidential, but I suppose I can share it with you all. Please promise not to tell the aliens when we’re coming, though.” A couple of laughs sounded in response, and she continued, “Two days. The main attack group will jump in about twelve hours after we go in and soften the place up.”
He asked, “Do you have reconnaissance on the planet?”
“Funny you should ask that. No, we don’t. All our satellites in the system have been knocked offline, and aside from the initial signals that the Confederacy base was under attack, there’s been nothing else coming off the planet.”
He nodded. “Jamming, probably. Another sign of Arlox’s involvement.”
Stephenson shrugged. “Or the aliens achieved victory quickly enough to preclude any more. There’s always an outside chance that Arlox is simply taking advantage of something that was happening naturally anyway.”
Maarsen shook his head. “I hate to argue with you, Anika, but this smacks of his style. There’s no question in my mind that he’s behind every piece of this.”
Marshall said, “So what I’m hearing is that not only is this guy a total bastard, he’s also a traitor.”
Jax nodded. “Yep.”
The other man growled, “Well then, we need to mess up his party, hard.”
Jax couldn’t have agreed more. “Here’s what I think we should do. The Grace can deliver me to the planet, and I’ll do a little work preparing the ground for the teams from the Cronus. I should at least be able to acquire enough intelligence to make sure they can overcome whatever surprises have been set for them. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll be able to turn some of those tricks back on the bad guys.”
He looked up at the monitor again as he addressed his superior officer. “Then, when you deploy the teams, you send them down with heavier gear than usual. Normally, we want to be more flexible than deliberately overpowered,” he explained to the others. “But in this case, adding in some heavy weapons might tilt the scales in our favor. As long as I’m there to check out the situation ahead of time, we can afford to sacrifice a little bit of flexibility for a lot more boom.”
Everyone looked thoughtful, but no one replied. Finally, Stephenson broke the silence. “I can’t say it’s the smartest idea you’ve ever had, but it certainly sounds like the best one we’re going to get. I sure as hell don’t have anything better. Anyone else?”
Athena replied, “I believe this is the optimal path. And don’t forget, with me along, Jax will have an improved chance of correctly assessing the situation that awaits your teams.”
Stephenson nodded. “Yeah, I get that he’s smarter with you in his head, but there’s only so much you can improve on with the raw material available. And let’s be honest, he’s not exactly a brain trust to begin with.” The familiar quirk at the corner of her lips brought a smile to his face.
Jax laughed. “I learned it from the best, Major. Just trying to emulate my superior officer.” He waited until she opened her mouth to respond, and spoke quickly to interrupt her. “Anyway, I don’t hear any arguments against, so I guess the question is, what assistance can the Academy and the Cronus offer us?”
Stephenson said, “My people will put together a care package for you. Should help with your insertion into the planet.”
“If they could coordinate the pickup with Cia, that would be perfect.” Both women nodded. “Okay, now how much time do we have to play with?”
Athena replied, “Our best time to the system would be about eighteen hours. Depending on where we have to drop out to pick up the equipment the major mentioned, it will probably add another six to eight hours to our trip.” The AI doubtless assumed the same thing Jax did, which was that the Cronus would already be nearing the system and would drop something off in reasonable proximity to it. Major Stephenson nodded, seemingly unconcerned.
He clapped his hands together. “All right then, we have a plan. Any last suggestions, Professor?”
Maarsen frowned. “You all try to stay safe. Remember that our enemy is strong, smart, and highly resourced. Don’t take anything at face value. Like a chess grandmaster, he’s always working multiple moves ahead.”
Jax waved a careless arm at the screen. “He’s met his match in Athena, trust me. She can out-think anyone in the universe.”
In his mind, the AI observed, “That’s an unlikely compliment.”
Yeah, I’m trying to fill everyone with some confidence, so don’t get too excited about it. I think we’ll find ourselves challenged, but together we can overcome whatever we face. He clapped once. “Okay, people. Let’s get this thing underway.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The Grace came out of jump long enough to secure the care package the Cronus had left behind for her and immediately jumped again, this time headed for her true destination. Jax reviewed the content of the crates, which included weapons, other gear, armor, and most exciting to him, a trio of jump suits. He joined the rest of the crew in the galley and shared the information with them.
Athena had taken over the monitor to use in her mission briefing, and one-third of it showed her avatar while the other two-thirds illustrated her points as she made them. “We’re headed for the Lorrensten system, to planet Canian. The system has been in Confederacy hands for some time but is one the Alliance has kept an eye on, given its position on the border between our territories. It’s also conveniently close to Alien Coalition space, ensuring that their interest in it could seem legitimate rather than the result of Arlox’s action. Truly, it’s an excellent location for a trap.”
The image zoomed in from the system view to show the second planet. “Until yesterday, this habi
table world was in the hands of the Confederacy. Despite its prime spot, it was never substantially developed since all parties realized any significant construction would be an invitation for another faction to take it over. That outcome occurred most recently a day ago when the Alien Coalition invaded and eliminated the Confederacy troops on the planet. One message got out at the start of the battle announcing the attack. Since then, there have been no transmissions we’re capable of detecting.”
Kimmel asked, “Which means the signals aren’t Confederacy, right? We wouldn’t be able to detect the Coalition ones as easily?”
Athena replied, “Not necessarily. We’ve recorded and decoded various alien signals in the past. But we’ve discovered none on any of the expected frequencies. So, there could be a signal present we haven’t previously encountered, but it’s equally possible none have been sent.” The computer expert nodded, and she continued, “The Confederacy did build a small installation during this ownership cycle, however.” Beside her, the image zoomed in from the view of the entire planet as if it were a ship falling to the surface and stopped at an angle that showed the facility. “They appear to have borrowed from designs of the distant past and created a walled city.”
Marshall nodded. “Not a terrible choice, as long as an attack came from the ground rather than the air. I think I’d probably have gone with a dome, myself.”
Jax laughed. “Yeah, but domes have their flaws too, like the fact that a single EMP can ruin a defending force’s day. No solution is perfect.”
Athena continued, “The outer walls appear to be about twelve feet high and create a perfect square. There are gates to the north and south and a reinforced building in the center of the area. Outbuildings of various sizes surround it, purpose unknown.”
Sirenno frowned. “You’re saying we don’t have past surveillance of this place?”
Jax shook his head. “Seems like any we did have was somehow erased from the system, according to Major Stephenson.”
