Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) (20 page)

Ensign Latfee sat in the combat jump shuttle’s copilot seat, leaning against the cool side window of the shuttle’s cockpit, as he stared out at the array of combat shuttles, troop shuttles, and boxcars spread out around them. All of them, as well as three other groups at other rally points, had been waiting for the proper time to execute their insertion jumps.

A small flash of light appeared beyond the furthest boxcar, causing the ensign to perk up. “Jump flash, to port,” he announced straightening up slightly in his seat. He looked down at his console. “Must be a comm-drone. We’ve got an incoming message.”

“Please, tell me it’s a go order,” the pilot, Lieutenant Kainan pleaded.

“Message is valid,” the copilot reported, adjusting himself upright in his seat again to be ready. “It’s a go order. We jump at mission plus two. That’s two minutes and twenty seconds from now.”

“Update our jump plot, Ensign,” the lieutenant ordered, “and power up all weapons. You too, Torwell.”

“Already on it, LT,” the sergeant replied as the plasma generator behind his shoulders came to life in a subdued whine that sent a shiver down his spine. “Damn, I hate this thing,” the sergeant commented. “Feels like ants crawling up my neck every time I fire.”

Commander Telles smiled, quite familiar with the sensation of which the sergeant was complaining. He glanced at the mission clock display in the upper right corner of his visor’s tactical display, as the last few seconds counted down to mission time zero. The Aurora and the Celestia would already be jumping.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported as the blue-white jump flash faded from the Aurora’s bridge.

“Contact!” Mister Navashee reported. “Dead ahead! One hundred kilometers and closing! It’s the battle platform, sir! She’s still intact!”

Nathan straightened slightly in his seat, concerned. “Did we miss?” he wondered, finding it impossible to believe.

“No, sir! We hit her. She’s got heavy damage to her number four arm. That entire arm is without power or shields.”

“Tactical…” Nathan began.

“Locking all forward tubes!” Jessica replied, cutting him off. “Triplets on the mark fours and full power singles on the mark fives. Helm…”

“Turning five to starboard and up three to line up the shot,” Mister Chiles reported quickly, anticipating the lieutenant commander’s request.

“Incoming fire,” Mister Navashee added. “She’s opening up with her big rail guns.”

“Firing all forward tubes,” Jessica announced.

The interior of the bridge lit up repeatedly with red-orange light as multiple plasma torpedoes sped away toward the battle platform.

“She’s launching missiles as well,” Mister Navashee reported. “Wide trajectories, from her opposite arms. I suspect she’s lost targeting on the near side.”

“Another round, Jess!” Nathan ordered. “Mister Riley, a sixty kilometer jump, on my order. Helm, change course to dive us under her, close in, a few kilometers at the most.”

“Captain, there’s a debris field spreading out from her,” Mister Navashee warned.

“Firing!” Jessica announced.

“We’ve got shields,” Nathan replied as the bridge flashed red-orange several times in rapid succession.

“Changing course to dive under, three kilometers,” the helmsman acknowledged.

“Range?”

“Ninety kilometers and closing,” Mister Navashee replied.

“Keep firing!” Nathan urged, calling back over his shoulder toward Jessica at the tactical station. “What about the battleship?” he asked his sensor officer.

“The battleship is destroyed,” Mister Navashee replied. “I’m just now picking up the Celestia’s jump flash in the battleship’s vicinity.” Mister Navashee glanced at his other screen. “Two frigates are spinning up their FTLs for action, as well.”

“What about the cruisers?” Nathan wondered.

“They’re still on the far side of Hartog. The Celestia can see them from her position, though.”

“Course established,” the helmsman reported.

The bridge again lit up with red-orange flashes as the Aurora continued to fire her main forward torpedo cannons.

“First volley has hit the battle platform,” Mister Navashee reported. “Major damage to the unshielded arm.”

“Range?”

“Eighty kilometers.”

“Pitch us up thirty degrees, Mister Chiles,” Nathan ordered. “Be ready to fire all forward tubes, single shots, full power, no locks.” Nathan glanced at the tactical display on the new transparent view screen to the left of his navigator, watching as the indicated range to the battle platform decreased.

“Rail gun fire,” Jessica warned.

Swarms of tiny, pale blue dots appeared and disappeared on the Aurora’s main, spherical view screen that encompassed her bridge. It was almost magical, and would have been entertaining had it not been for the fact that it signaled tens of thousands of rail gun slugs, each of them the size of a city bus back on Earth, slamming into their shields and draining them of their ability to protect the ship.

Nathan glanced at the range readout again, then at the ship’s attitude display on the screen to the right of the helmsman. “Execute the jump…… Now.”

“Battleship has been destroyed,” Ensign Kono reported. “I’ve got two cruisers coming over the horizon of Hartog now. Their shields are up, and their weapons are at full power.” Ensign Kono turned to look at her captain. “They’re ready to fight, Captain.”

“I guess they’ve got comm-sats to relay around that gas giant after all,” Cameron said. “Helm, take us to the nearest cruiser and prepare to jump in to attack.”

“Turning toward the near cruiser,” Ensign Hunt replied.

“Lieutenant Delaveaga,” Cameron continued. “We’ll jump in, fire two full power rounds on the fours and fives from a range of ten kilometers. Then we’ll jump to above her bow and pass over her at five hundred meters, showing her our starboard side. We’ll pound her with all guns, including our broadside cannons, as we pass her length. If she tries to quick-shot her missiles at us as we pass, don’t wait for my order to snap-jump us out of harm’s way, Mister Sperry.”

“Understood,” Luis replied.

“I won’t let them touch us,” the navigator, Ensign Sperry, assured his captain.

“On intercept course,” Ensign Hunt declared.

“Jump plotted and ready,” Ensign Sperry added.

“Execute the jump,” Cameron ordered.

“Visors down, weapons loaded!” Sergeant Lazo barked from the front of the troop shuttle. “Check your safeties. Check the pack of the guy in front of you. We jump in two minutes! Boots on the ground in two thirty!”

Biorgi Saladan pulled an ammo magazine from one of the thigh pockets of his combat armor and inserted it into his weapon. After ensuring that his safety was on, he pulled back the lever to load the first round into the chamber.

“Remember,” the sergeant continued, “single shots, no auto-fire unless ordered. When you have the shot, take the shot. If you don’t have the shot, reposition and get the shot. A round that strikes an enemy has the potential to injure or kill. At the very least, it lets the enemy know that someone is trying to kill him…that a marine is trying to kill him. A round fired in haste that misses its target is a wasted round.”

Biorgi pulled his combat visor down, activating the tactical display. He still didn’t have the knack for absorbing the constant stream of data it provided without having to stare at the display. After weeks of training and one combat landing, he was starting to wonder if he would ever get the hang of it, despite the fact that his instructors assured him the skill would come in time.

Biorgi turned to the man sitting to his left, checking that his pack was secure, tugging at the straps and checking the gear, as he felt the guy behind him doing the same to his pack.

“Remember your training,” Sergeant Lazo reminded them from the front of the troop shuttle, “and remember, you don’t fight for anyone other than the men who fight with you. Kill your enemy, and protect your friends. Live or die, you are all heroes of the Alliance, and protectors of your worlds. Mah-REENS!” the Ghatazhak sergeant barked proudly.

“DO OR DIE! DO OR DIE!” the men replied proudly in unison.

Sergeant Lazo smiled as his comm-set crackled. “
One minute to jump.
”

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported as the jump flash faded from the Aurora’s bridge.

“Got her in my sights,” Jessica reported. “Firing all forward tubes!”

Nathan waited a split second for all eight plasma torpedoes to clear their bow on their way to their target. “Roll us onto our port side and hold this attitude.”

“The guns on arms three and five are swinging in toward us!” Mister Navashee warned.

“Jess!” Nathan called while the image of the battle platform that filled their main view screen rotated from left to right as the Aurora rolled onto her port side. “Hit them with our starboard broadside cannons!”

“Already on it!” she replied. “Rail and plasma quads as well!”

“They’ve got us!” Mister Navashee warned.

The swarms of pale blue dots did not announce the arrival of enemy rail gun slugs as before. This time, the flashes were at least ten times as large, and their color was a brilliant blue, tinged with angry, fiery yellow-orange halos that cast eerie flashes of light across the interior of the bridge as the Jung rail gun slugs slammed into their shields.

“Firing broadside cannons!” Jessica announced as the bridge shook from the impacts against their shields. “Firing quads!”

“All starboard shields are down to fifty percent!” Mister Navashee reported as the bridge continued to shake in the eerie, strobe-like illumination. “Forty percent!”

“I’ve lost the angle!” Jessica declared as the Aurora passed under the massive battle platform. “We’re hitting shields again!”

“Escape jump!” Nathan ordered, the blue-white jump field spilling out over the Aurora’s hull on the view screen just as the words left his mouth.

The Celestia’s bridge flashed red-orange repeatedly as her plasma torpedoes left their tubes.

“Target two is launching missiles!” Ensign Kono reported. “Time to impact: thirty seconds.”

Another round of plasma torpedoes lit up the bridge again.

“Time to first wave?” Cameron asked, despite the fact that she had memorized the jump schedules of every phase of the mission.

“One minute,” Luis replied from the tactical station.

“Mister Hunt, change course for Adlair. Jump as soon as ready.”

“Missiles will impact in fifteen seconds…”

“Turning for Adlair.”

“You don’t want to use the broadside cannons on the second cruiser, sir?” Luis wondered.

“It was a wasted effort on the last one,” Cameron replied. “She was already coming apart. But I would appreciate it if you kept those missiles off us until we finish our turn and jump.”

“Already on it, sir,” Luis replied.

Cameron glanced at the main view screen as the mark two point-defense plasma turrets around the perimeter of the ship continued firing on the incoming missiles as the ship turned away from its attack run.

“Direct impacts,” Ensign Kono reported. “Target two is destroyed.”

“On course for Adlair,” Ensign Hunt reported.

“Jump us to Adlair and get us into our orbital track for attack on the troop base,” Cameron ordered, glancing at the mission clock. “The Falcons are jumping in ten seconds, and the troops in less than a minute.”

“Jumping to Adlair in, three……two……one…”

“Jump complete,” Loki reported from the copilot seat on the right side of the Super Falcon’s cockpit. “Five good flashes. Locking weapons on assigned targets. Hold your course and speed.”

“No problem,” Josh replied as the Super Falcon buffeted lightly in the thin atmosphere of Adlair.

“Picking up twelve bandits, rising from the target area,” Loki reported. “Falcon Flight, One. Bandits in the air. Count twelve. Two, take control of my busters. I’ll take everyone’s chasers and deal with the bandits. The rest of you stay on your primary targets.”

“
Two copies. Taking your busters.
”

Loki opened his ship’s weapons bay doors as the rest of the Super Falcons confirmed his instructions. He watched his tactical display, as his weapons targeting system took control of all chaser missiles in the weapons bays of the other five Super Falcons in his flight, as well as his own. He quickly traced a circle with his index finger on the screen, selecting all twelve bandits headed their way. Then he pressed the auto-assign button to allow his weapons logic systems to automatically assign targets to the chaser missiles in the belly of each of the Super Falcons in their formation. Icons on his weapons display representing two of his four buster missiles turned red as Falcon Two initiated their launch. Loki initiated his own launch a few seconds later, sending four missiles from each Super Falcon, a total of twenty-four chaser missiles, streaking toward their distant targets at more than six times the speed of sound on Adlair. Another six icons appeared from the target area, indicating more bandits had gotten off the ground. Seconds later, the buster missiles hit their target, no doubt destroying the Jung airbase still more than two hundred kilometers away at their current speed. He did not assign more chasers, however. He simply selected the additional targets and instructed the weapons system to vector any leftover chaser missiles that missed their targets to reassign to the new targets. His plan worked. All twelve icons from the first group disappeared as they were picked out of the sky by fourteen of the chaser missiles launched in the first wave. The remaining ten missiles continued on, finding and destroying the additional six Jung fighters that had managed to get off the ground before the buster missiles had destroyed the airbase.

“Threat board from target alpha is clear,” Loki announced. “Falcons Three through Six, vector to target bravo. Two, follow us in to verify the destruction of alpha.”

“
On your six, four right, One,
” Falcon Two reported.

“Like shooting fish in a bucket,” Loki bragged, feeling pleased with his performance.

“A barrel,” Josh corrected. “The expression is ‘like shooting fish in a barrel’.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Josh insisted as he pitched their nose up slightly and reduced power to both climb and slow their ship down to subsonic speeds. “You know, I’m kinda liking this thinner atmosphere. Not as much control authority, but we don’t get our teeth rattled as much when we jump in low.”

“Are you sure it’s a barrel?” Loki challenged. “I mean, that doesn’t even make sense. Barrels have a lid on them. They’re sealed up, right? How do you shoot the fish if there’s no opening?”