Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) (42 page)

Fayla practically fell out of the vehicle as the door swung open. “Help me!” she cried out in anguish. “My grandfather! He is injured!”

The first guard saw the attractive young woman in apparent distress, and automatically moved to provide assistance. He was so distracted, that he did not notice the other two men falling out of the open doors on the other side of the vehicle.

The other guard did.

The second guard immediately opened fire, shouting warnings to the first guard as he fired again and again.

Tahri was the first hit, taking a blast to his chest, sending him flailing backwards. Ranin, who had come out right behind him, tried to raise his weapon to fire, but took two shots to his head and neck, killing him instantly.

Brill, staying crouched behind the open driver’s door, eliminated the second guard.

The other guard pushed Fayla aside and brought his weapon around to shoot Oray and Toma as they climbed out of the vehicle, guns in hand. Oray fell to the guard’s first blast, but his second shot went wide as Fayla kicked the man in the knee, causing him to fall. Toma jumped over and shot the second guard in the face, then climbed over his body and charged toward the shuttle, following Brill and firing toward those trying to board the shuttle.

Fayla turned to help Captain Dubnyk out of the vehicle, but instead was handed a weapon.

“Go!” Captain Dubnyk ordered, shoving the weapon in Fayla’s hands. “Help them take the shuttle! It is our only hope!”

Fayla’s eyes widened when she looked at the weapon.

“GO!” Captain Dubnyk repeated.

Fayla turned and headed for the shuttle, shooting at anyone who was not Brill or Toma. She charged to the shuttle’s rear loading ramp, only to find Toma standing inside. There were at least twenty dead bodies around him. Men, women, even children. Toma turned and looked at her, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Toma!” she cried out, as if to ask what had happened.

“
The shuttle is ours!
” Brill yelled from the cockpit. “
I have the pilot
!”

“Get the captain,” Toma instructed Fayla.

Fayla spun around to return to the vehicle, but stopped dead in her tracks after the first step. There before her was Captain Dubnyk, standing taller and more proudly than she had ever seen the old man stand before.

“We must depart quickly,” Captain Dubnyk said. “We are not yet safe.”

“What about the others?” Fayla asked. “What about Kino and Elaz?”

“They are all dead,” Captain Dubnyk said as he walked past her and headed slowly but surely up the shuttle’s loading ramp.

* * *

“
Falcon One, Telles,
” the commander called over the comms.

“Telles, go for Falcon One,” Loki replied.

“
Falcon One, Telles.
We have a fleeing cargo shuttle, believed to be hijacked. It left the surface and is climbing to orbit, but has not jumped. Intercept and destroy.
”

“Did you say
hijacked
?” Loki asked.

“
Affirmative,
” the commander replied, sounding a bit impatient. “
Intercept and destroy, before they figure out how to activate the jump drive.
”

“Yes, sir,” Loki replied.

“Holy shit,” Josh exclaimed, surprised at the request. “I don’t believe it.”

“Neither do I,” Loki said as he scanned the atmosphere of Tanna.

“Who the hell would hijack a cargo shuttle?”

“I have no idea,” Loki replied. “All I know is that we have orders to shoot it down.”

“But what if it’s a mistake?” Josh wondered as he turned to the intercept heading that Loki had just sent to his flight display. “What if…”

“Not for us to worry about,” Loki interrupted. “Telles says shoot, we shoot.”

“Jump this ship, or I will kill you!” Brill demanded, the barrel of his weapon pressed firmly against the shuttle pilot’s head.

Something beeped.

“What was that sound?” Toma asked.

“It came from there!” Fayla said.

Captain Dubnyk came forward and looked at the console. “It is another ship. Most likely an interceptor, judging by its speed. They mean to destroy us.” Dubnyk looked at the frightened pilot. “I would suggest you do as the man asks.”

“I will not,” the pilot said defiantly.

Brill shoved the barrel of his weapon into the pilot’s mouth. “One last chance.” When the man still did not comply, Brill pressed the trigger, sending the back of the pilot’s head splattering across the aft bulkhead of the cockpit.

Fayla screamed, blood spraying across her face and chest.

“What the hell, Brill!” Toma yelled. “Now what are we going to do?”

“Get the body out of my way,” Brill demanded, pulling the dead pilot’s body up out of the seat and heaving him into Toma’s arms. “I will jump the ship myself.”

Captain Dubnyk looked at the sensor screen. “The interceptor is closing rapidly, Mister Daymon.”

Brill climbed into the pilot’s seat, studying the controls.

“You
do
know how to jump this ship, don’t you?” Captain Dubnyk asked.

“I have seen it done during training. It is not difficult.” He looked around the console frantically. “All such ships have an emergency escape jump feature, to get out of trouble quickly…in case the Jung ambush them. If I can just find the…”

“A wise feature,” the captain interjected, trying to engage the young man in conversation to help calm him down.

“…Wait… I think this is it.” Brill’s eyes went wide with recognition. “Yes…first these up here,” he said, flipping several switches. “Then these.” Several red lights turned green. “Yes! Yes! I remember. The jump drive is active.”

“The interceptor has fired missiles,” Captain Dubnyk warned. “The time to jump is now.”

“I think… I think…” Brill repeated, nearly paralyzed by uncertainty. He pressed the emergency escape jump button, but nothing happened. A look of confusion washed over him. “It should have worked.”

“Why didn’t it?” Toma demanded.

“I don’t know…”

“The interceptor’s missiles are closing on us,” Captain Dubnyk warned.

“Wait!” Brill yelled, the answer coming to him. He turned to look at Toma. “Quickly! Cut off the pilot’s right index finger and give it to me! Hurry!”

“Five seconds to impact,” Loki announced from Falcon One’s cockpit. “Three……two… Wait! The target has jumped. Telles, Falcon One. The target has jumped away.”

“
One, Telles. Pursue, pursue.
”

“Falcon One, pursuing,” Loki replied. “Josh, turn to one seven five, up five, and match the target’s speed.”

“One seven five, up five. Accelerating,” Josh replied as he initiated a turn and brought up the throttles.

“Stand by to jump.”

“On course and speed,” Josh reported. “Jumping.”

“They have returned,” Captain Dubnyk warned. “Jump us again, quickly!”

Brill pressed the pilot’s severed finger against the emergency escape jump button again. “Jumping!”

Captain Dubnyk glanced at the sensor screen, as the interceptor reappeared behind them. “They are jumping along with us,” he realized. “How often can this ship jump?”

“As often as we like,” Brill replied.

“Then jump us again, three times!” Captain Dubnyk ordered.

Brill did not ask questions, only did as the captain ordered. He pressed the dead pilot’s severed finger against the emergency escape jump button again. He waited a few seconds for the jump to complete, then repeated the cycle two more times.

“Turn hard to port, then jump six times!” Captain Dubnyk ordered.

Brill initiated the turn, then began jumping again as instructed. “When the pilot’s finger cools down, this may no longer work,” he warned in between jumps. “Once the system realizes that unauthorized use is being attempted, it may lock us out for good, or worse.”

“Worse, meaning, blow us up?” Captain Dubnyk surmised.

Brill said nothing and kept jumping the ship.

“That is why we have Toma,” Captain Dubnyk replied.

“The pilot’s finger will not be enough to unlock and take control of the system,” Brill warned. “It will require the pilot’s authorization code as well. It is how they hand command of a shuttle from one crew to the next. I have seen it.”

Captain Dubnyk turned to look at Toma. “Can you crack the code?”

“I believe so, yes,” Toma replied.

“That’s six jumps,” Brill reported.

“Continue jumping until we are out of the system, and away from both the interceptor
and
the Jung fleet,” Captain Dubnyk instructed. “Make random turns, left and right, and up and down, every so often. And whatever you do, keep that finger warm.”

Brill nodded.

Captain Dubnyk turned back to Toma. “It’s all up to you now, Toma.”

“I will do my best,” Toma promised.

“I’m sure you will,” Captain Dubnyk replied. He turned back and looked out the window to his right, catching brief glimpses of space as the window cycled from clear to opaque and back again with each jump. Soon, the first step in his resurrection would be complete.

“I’ve lost them,” Loki finally admitted. “They must have started executing turns in between jumps, so we’d lose their trail.”

“What do we do?” Josh asked, looking at his partner.

Loki sighed. “What else
can
we do? We jump back to Tanna and report to Commander Telles.”

* * *

Captain Nash had been pacing the floor of the Cobra command center for more than half an hour. He started five minutes prior to the earliest moment that the Jung could come out of FTL and hadn’t stopped since. With each passing moment, he wondered if the Jung were traveling slower than their top FTL speed, or if they were planning to come out as close to Tanna as possible, in order to strike immediately.

A third thought kept nagging at the back of the captain’s mind.
Could they have decided that the system wasn’t worth expending ordnance over?
It was a ridiculous thought, to be sure, but it kept nagging at him, nonetheless. On one hand, the Jung had demonstrated on several occasions their propensity to punish worlds that defied them. However, if, as some suspected, the Jung had their sights set on expansion
outside
the Sol sector, the ships currently passing through their system
could
have more important matters to deal with. So, as ridiculous as it seemed, it still
was
possible…at least remotely.

A young lieutenant stepped up behind Robert, coming to attention and offering a salute. “Lieutenant Elgar, sir,” the young man announced. “I was told you wished to speak with me?”

“You’re a pilot, right?”

“Yes, sir,” the young lieutenant replied.

“How many sim hours do you have?” Captain Nash wondered.

“One hundred and forty, sir.”

“But no actual.”

“Incorrect, sir,” the lieutenant replied. “I have thirty-two minutes of actual flight time.”

Captain Nash looked surprised at first, figuring it out a moment later. “You flew Cobra Three Zero up from the surface, didn’t you?”

“Just trying to be accurate, sir.”

“How’s your crew?” the captain asked. “They doing okay in their simulations?”

“There is room for improvement, sir,” the lieutenant admitted.

“Your crew get any group time in the full ship simulator?”

“A little.”

Captain Nash’s eyebrow went up. “How little?”

“Three hours, but they also have thirty-two minutes of actual, sir.”

“Of course.” Captain Nash sighed. “Have you run any of the standard attack maneuvers?”

“Legally, only the alpha and beta series,” the lieutenant replied. “But we have run most of the others during our open sim time.”

“Good, you’re going to need it.”

“Sir?”

“You and your crew are taking Cobra Three Zero into battle.”

Lieutenant Elgar didn’t respond.

Captain Nash looked at the lieutenant. “Are you alright, Lieutenant?” he asked, noticing the young man’s pale complexion.

“Uh, I’m not sure, sir.”

“You don’t think you’re ready for it?”

“I’m not sure that’s my call, sir.”

“Actually, it is.”

“Then I’d have to say no, sir, we’re probably not ready to go into combat,” the lieutenant confessed, “but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t willing to go.”

Captain Nash nodded. “Well, at least you aren’t full of shit, Lieutenant. Get your crew to your ship, and get out there. Control will vector you to your attack group.” Captain Nash reached out and shook the young man’s hand. “Good luck, Lieutenant.”

* * *

“How did this happen?” Commander Telles asked his master sergeant.

“The jump shuttle was attached to one of the cargo vessels that regularly run passengers and resources between Earth and Tanna,” Master Sergeant Jahal explained. “My understanding is that the crews took it upon themselves to start evacuating people, possibly even for profit.”

“Most
likely
for profit,” the commander agreed. “Despite how
wonderful
everyone thinks these Tannans are, I find them no different than any other human culture, complete with the same flaws and weaknesses inherent to all.” The commander took a deep breath as he looked out across the orderly flow of evacuees to the boxcars waiting on the tarmac at the Cobra gunship production plant. “What about Tannan security?” he wondered. “Where were they?”

“They were en route at the time. Apparently they were delayed due to roadway congestion.”

“These people don’t have airships?”

“Apparently not,” the master sergeant replied.

“Were the shuttle crews at least armed?” the commander wondered.

“They were, and they did kill several of the assailants. However, the attack was well coordinated. They fired into the crowd, killing at least twenty innocent people, causing them to disperse, so that they could ram the barricades with their vehicle. There was a young woman involved as well, as a diversion…”

“Of course,” Commander Telles said, shaking his head.