Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) (44 page)

The roar of the Mirai’s engines went silent as she disappeared in a flash of blue-white light.

“Jahal! As soon as we get those last two fighters off our backs, get our men to secure the extraction point. Then call in the troop jumpers and order the marines to abandon the perimeter and join up for extraction.”

“
Yes, sir,
” Master Sergeant Jahal replied.

“Any word from Lazo?”

“
No luck at the subject’s residence. Lazo conducted an aerial search of the area using the jumper’s sensors, even had it check for women carrying one or more infants, but came up with nothing. The subject must have left before we even arrived. Do you want him to widen the search area?
”

The commander slowed his pace. Something wasn’t right. He stopped and looked around the compound, his eyes eventually drifting skyward. High above the far horizon, he could see orange streaks of light heading toward the surface. “Negative,” he told the master sergeant. “Recall Lazo. Recall everyone. It’s time to go.”

“Another frigate has been destroyed!” the Cobra command center’s tactical officer declared.

“Reports of nuclear detonations on the surface of Tanna!” one of the communications officers reported.

“Where?” Captain Nash inquired.

“The Bellaweise continent, east of Lorrett.”

“How many?”

“Three so far. The detonations suggest an east-to-west pattern, along the middle latitudes.”

“The cruisers,” Captain Nash realized.

“Captain!” the tactical officer called. “The rest of the frigates have gone to FTL!”

“Order all gunships to attack the cruisers!” Captain Nash instructed. “Comms, get me Falcon One.”

“Aye, sir.”

“I’ve got the frigates again,” the sensor officer reported. “They FTL’d to the far side of Lorrett.”

“They appear to be standing off,” the tactical officer added.

“Shall I retask the gunships back onto the frigates?” one of the communications officers asked.

“No, they’ll just go back into FTL,” Captain Nash replied. “They know that their frigates are too vulnerable. They want our gunships to go after their cruisers.”

“Then perhaps it is a bad idea to do so?” the tactical officer suggested.

“You’re probably right,” Captain Nash admitted. “But what choice do we have? If we do nothing, those cruisers will glass the entire planet.”

“Even if we manage to destroy all four cruisers, we’ll never destroy that battleship, sir,” the tactical officer reminded him.

“I know,” Captain Nash replied.

“I’ve got Falcon One for you, Captain,” one of the communications officers announced.

Captain Nash tapped his comm-set. “Falcon One, Captain Nash. The cruisers are targeting the surface with nukes. Can you intercept them before they reach their targets?”

“
We can try,
” Loki replied.

“Jump point in three…” Lieutenant Borru began.

Commander Rano gave his flight control stick a slight push forward, bringing Cobra One’s nose down slowly as the gunship continued coasting along on its attack course.

“Two…”

As the gunship approached a thirty-degree pitch below its flight path, the commander countered with opposite thrust to stop the ship’s pitching motion.

“One…”

The commander pushed the selector switch on his flight control stick all the way up and held it, setting the stick’s trigger button to activate the jump drive.

“Jump.”

Commander Rano pressed the trigger button, activating the jump drive. Through his front window, he could see the pale blue light flow out in all directions from emitters on the forward section of their hull. He never saw the light completely cover the hull, as the windows turned opaque to protect their eyes against the jump flash.

A second later, the windows cleared, and a Jung cruiser slid down into view from above, as Cobra One began to pass over the enemy target. The commander did not wait for confirmation of a target lock. At this range, he was going to hit the Jung cruiser’s midship dorsal shield no matter what.

The commander tapped his flight control stick, edging it forward slightly to resume a slow but steady decrease in pitch relative to their flight path. He then slid the selector switch on his flight control stick all the way down, selecting the forward plasma cannons, and held it. He pressed the trigger, holding it down as well. “Firing.”

Red-orange flashes of light filled the gunship’s cockpit, announcing the departure of plasma torpedoes. From such close range, the balls of plasma energy struck the Jung cruiser’s shields less than two seconds after leaving their tubes. The target’s shields flashed a bright yellow-orange with each impact, sending shimmers of light out across the shield in all directions. All four plasma torpedoes struck the same shield, as did the next four, and the four after. At the same time, both his gunners opened up on neighboring shield sections with their quad-barreled plasma cannon turrets, while his tactical officer used the gunship’s eight mini-turrets to target various points across the enemy cruiser. Not a single one of their shots would get past the enemy ship’s shields, but they would add to the cumulative weakening that those shields would experience as each gunship followed suit. As long as his ship was within firing range of a Jung target, he would fire every weapon he had.

Cobra One’s nose continued to pitch down to stay pointed at the target as they passed over it. Their own shields began to shimmer in pale blues and whites, as rail gun slugs from the cruiser’s point-defense turrets found them.

A blue-white flash on the opposite side of the enemy ship, and forty-five degrees to Cobra One’s right, announced the arrival of the second gunship in the attack group. Cobra Two would conduct a similar attack pass on the same shield section, but from a different angle.

“Time to go,” Commander Rano said as he pushed his selector switch up and pressed the trigger to execute their escape jump.

The pale blue light again began to spill out across their hull as the windows turned opaque. As they jumped, the commander pressed the auto-flight engage button on the side of his flight control stick, allowing the system to put them on the next attack course by flying them through a series of turns and jumps. It was a repetitive style of attack, composed of a few minutes of automated maneuvers, followed by twenty seconds of terror. It seemed easy to execute, but the cycle of adrenaline-filled tension and relaxation was surprisingly tiring, as each jump into the kill zone was not only an opportunity for them to kill their enemy, but also for their enemy to kill them.

“New target! Bearing one seven zero, forty clicks! Just entering the atmosphere!” Loki reported.

“I’m on it,” Josh replied as he pulled the Super Falcon into a sharp right turn. He quickly dialed up thirty-five kilometers on their jump range setting, pushed the selector switch up, and pressed the trigger. The Super Falcon’s windows turned opaque then clear again, and Josh pulled their nose up sharply, bringing his throttles up to full power.

“Reacquired,” Loki reported. “Four clicks and closing
really
fast! Going to nose turret.”

Josh instinctively rolled the ship over, giving his partner a better field of fire. Loki wasted no time, tapping the target on the screen to select it and then activating their nose turret. Bolts of red-orange plasma streaked from below their nose, hurtling skyward in search of the Jung weapon falling toward them.

“Four bandits, inbound from the north!” Loki reported as their nose turret continued to fire.

An explosion only a few hundred meters ahead of them lit up their cockpit. Josh immediately snap rolled the ship another ninety degrees and pulled the interceptor to port, pushing his nose down and reducing his throttle at the same time.

“Fly three four seven,” Loki instructed.

“We got it, right?” Josh asked, wanting to be sure.

“Yeah! Yeah! We got it!” Loki replied. “Bandits are ten clicks out, climbing up from twenty-two five. Intercept in fifteen seconds.”

Josh rolled the ship one last time to get level, as he ended his turn exactly on the intercept heading his partner had given him. “Can you tag them with missiles?”

“Closure’s too hot!” Loki warned. “They’re all yours.”

“Sweet.”

“I’ve got six more bandits descending from orbit off our starboard side, sixty kilometers and closing.”

“How about them?” Josh asked as he flipped his selector switch to torpedoes.

“Break right after your first pass and hold on the second group for ten seconds so I can launch on them,” Loki instructed.

“How many missiles we got left?” Josh asked as he fired the plasma torpedo cannons at the rapidly approaching Jung fighters.

“Two,” Loki replied. “Four, One!” Loki called over the comms. “How many chasers do you have left?”

“
One, Four is full up
.”

“I’m about to launch two on the six bandits north of us! Can you tap the other four?”

“
One, Four. Can do
.”

Two explosions appeared less than a kilometer in front of them. Josh broke into a right turn. “Ten seconds.”

Loki tapped two of the six icons on his targeting screen, then pressed the launch button. “Launching two!” he announced. “Falcon One! Two chasers away!”

Josh immediately reversed his turn, dialed up his jump range to ten kilometers, then pushed the selector up and pressed the trigger to jump the ship.

“
Falcon Four! Four chasers away!
”

“
One, Six! I’ve got your other two locked! Disengage!
”

“One, disengaging!” Josh replied, pulling the Super Falcon’s nose hard right and upward as he slammed his throttles forward.

“
Falcon Six! Two chasers away!
”

Loki watched as the four bandits to the north disappeared from his screen, as did the two below them. Before he could report the destruction of the last six enemy fighters, more targets appeared on his screen. “Shit! Multiple targets! Fighters and nukes! Who besides us is empty?” Loki asked over the comms.

“
Six is empty!
”

“
Five is empty!
”

“Six, One, take the nuke to our north!” Loki instructed. “Five, take the one to our south! We’ll take the ones directly ahead of us. Everyone else go after the fighters and keep them off of us!”

“Fuck, this is fun,” Josh exclaimed.

“No kidding,” Loki replied. “Command, Falcon One. It’s getting a bit sporty down here!”

“Debris! Dead ahead!” Lieutenant Borru exclaimed as they came out of the jump.

Commander Rano glanced at the display in the center console, noting the debris field almost upon them. He pushed the base of his flight control stick to the left, causing the gunship to fire its starboard translation thrusters. He pulled their nose to starboard and pitched down to bring the gunship’s nose onto the Jung cruiser passing below them.

“It’s Cobra Eight!” the tactical officer reported. “I’m picking up their emergency beacon!”

“That’s four ships lost!” the copilot exclaimed. “On
one
cruiser!”

Commander Rano paid no attention, his concentration focused on the enemy cruiser just beyond the debris field passing between them.

“Her shields are down!” the tactical officer reported.

“Open up!” the lieutenant ordered.

Commander Rano pressed his trigger, sending four balls of plasma into the unprotected hull of the cruiser. The hull tore open, exposing her secondary hull underneath. The commander fired again, and again. Each wave of torpedoes plowed deeper into the enemy ship, setting off additional explosions.

The commander kept firing as his ship passed over and cleared the target. His nose still pitching to stay on the cruiser, he continued firing until a jump flash announced Cobra Two’s arrival. The commander ceased firing and pushed his selector switch upward into the jump position, but did not press the trigger to execute the jump. Instead, he stared at the cruiser as they drifted away from it. He watched as Cobra One’s shields shimmered from rail gun impacts. Cobra Two fired every weapon she had at the damaged area of the cruiser’s hull.

“What are you waiting for?” the copilot wondered. “Jump!”

The commander just kept staring. “Wait for it…”

The Jung cruiser split in half just forward of her main propulsion section. More secondary explosions rocked both halves of the crippled ship, setting off an unstoppable chain of events leading to her complete destruction.

It was an awe-inspiring sight to behold. A handful of tiny gunships had brought down a Jung warship more than two kilometers in length. A day ago, he never would have believed it possible, but now, it gave him hope. He knew they could not destroy the battleship, not even with fifty gunships, let alone the twenty-six they had left. However, if they could destroy everything else, it would take hours for the battleship to fully destroy the surface of his world. And the Aurora was less than an hour away.

“Got it!” Josh exclaimed as the weapon exploded a few hundred meters in front of them.

“Break right and dive!” Loki ordered. “Two bandits on our six!”

Josh rolled the Super Falcon to the right and pulled the nose up, forcing the ship into a tight right turn, as energy weapons fire streaked past them to starboard.

“
One, Three! I’m on them!
”

“Make it quick!” Loki exclaimed. “One of the nukes got past us and is heading for the surface!”

“No fucking way,” Josh said as he twisted the interceptor back around to chase the Jung weapon below them.

Energy weapons fire slammed into the port shields, shaking the ship and causing her shields to flash bright yellow. A nearby explosion lit up the cockpit.

“
Splash one!
” the pilot of Falcon Three cried out over the comms.

“Where is it?” Josh wondered.

“Five more to port! Three thousand meters below us!” Loki replied. “Impact in ten seconds! It’s too late, Josh! You gotta break off and jump clear, or we’ll…”

Josh knew what Loki was going to say, and had already begun to pull out of his dive. Just as he leveled off, there was a brilliant white flash below them. Josh pushed the selector switch on his flight control stick up and pressed the button, jumping clear of the blast a split second before it reached them.

There was a moment of silence after the jump.

“FUCK!” Josh shouted.

“I’ve got eight bandits to the west, twelve to the north, and six more to the east,” Loki announced. “Anyone got any chasers left?” he asked the other Super Falcons.

“
We can still go after them with guns and plasma torpedoes,
” the pilot of Falcon Three suggested.

“How many cruisers are left?” Loki wondered.

“
Last I heard, two were left.
”

Loki looked at the tactical display. Among the numerous icons representing Jung fighters coming after the Super Falcons were six more nukes descending rapidly toward the surface of Tanna. “This is never going to work,” he realized.

“
Cobra command to all Falcons,
” the controller called over the comms. “
The last evac ship has departed. Falcons One and Two, provide cover for the Cobra plant until the Ghatazhak get clear. Falcons Three through Eight, climb to orbit and try to draw the fighters away from the gunships.
”