Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (42 page)

“We won’t be able to use that tactic more than once or twice before they catch on,” Mister Randeen observed.

“Once or twice per engagement,” Nathan corrected. “As long as the other ships never have a chance to be warned, we can keep repeating the tactic successfully.”

“I’ve reacquired the cruiser, sir,” Mister Navashee reported. “She’s turned toward Takara and is trying to make best speed with her remaining engines.”

“Adjust your plot as we go, Mister Riley,” Nathan ordered. “We’ll jump as soon as the Falcon is away again.”

* * *

Captain Waddell and his half-strength platoon of eighty men continued to work their way down the relatively empty streets of Answari. Air-raid sirens wailed in the distance, warning the citizens to remain inside for their own safety. This was all the better to Captain Waddell, as it meant fewer civilians that might cause him and his men trouble.

They worked their way down the wide promenade of the central shopping district, four groups of ten men on each side of the plaza, leap-frogging each other along as they continued to move forward. A monorail car approached along the overhead railway, moving silently along the raised track. The men all froze against the buildings and storefronts, their weapons all trained on the short monorail train as it passed over them. It was empty.

“Probably automated,” the sergeant told Captain Waddell.

“Any word from the second wave?” Waddell asked his sergeant.

“No, sir, but would they even call in? Aren’t we supposed to be maintaining a radio blackout?”

“I’m pretty sure they know we’re here by now, Sergeant,” Captain Waddell told him. “Besides, they won’t jump into the same place, not after what happened last time. They’ll have to contact us once they get boots on the ground.”

“I don’t see how they’re going to get back in, sir,” the sergeant argued, “not with those guns out there. The only reason three ships made it was because we surprised them. I’m pretty sure they’ll be ready for the next wave.”

“Commander Taylor will figure something out, Sergeant. Meanwhile, we keep moving.”

A flash of blue-white light appeared above the empty amphitheater in the college plaza. Tables and chairs that were arranged neatly for the next day’s event were suddenly tossed about by a surge of wind as the Falcon dropped from the flash and fell the last twenty meters, her lift thrusters firing at full force. She came to a hover not more than four meters above the amphitheater’s main floor. A few more meters to the right and they would have crashed through the amphitheater’s roof. The jump interceptor settled into a controlled hover, climbing slightly as it turned, and headed slowly away from its entry point.

“Jolly, Falcon, Flash traffic,”
the comm-set called. Captain Waddell signaled his sergeant to hold the platoon’s forward advance.

“Falcon, Jolly. Go ahead,” he called back.

“
Jolly, Falcon. New orders. Rally at point Mary one-four by Robert one-seven. Secure as new jumper LZ. Next wave: ten mikes. End message.
”

“Jolly copies. What about those guns?”

“
We’re working on it, Jolly. Falcon out.
”

Captain Waddell looked on as his sergeant pulled out the holo-map and activated it. He looked at the map, finding the amphitheater at the location specified in the Falcon’s message. “Can we make it there in ten minutes?”

“If we haul ass,” the sergeant responded.

Captain Waddell looked at the sergeant funny, unfamiliar with the expression. “Let me guess, Lieutenant Commander Nash?” he asked, figuring the sergeant must have learned the expression from her.

“She has many colorful expressions, does she not?”

“Yes, she does. Very well, let’s haul ass then,” Waddell agreed, rising from his position.

“Here we go,” Josh announced as he increased his throttles and the interceptor accelerated away from the amphitheater.

“Stay below the buildings,” Loki reminded him.

Josh continued to accelerate as he dodged the interceptor between one building after another. “Just call my route, mate,” Josh exclaimed. “We need to get as close to that gun as we can before we fire.”

“Take your next right, around that big round tower,” Loki ordered.

Josh pulled the ship to the right, banking slightly as they turned around the tower.

“Not too fast, Josh,” Loki reminded. “Go left. We’re not trying to outrun anybody here.”

“Some of them could have guns down there, Loki.”

“Since when do Takaran citizens carry guns?” Loki challenged.

“I’m just saying,” Josh countered.

“Go right around the tan building up ahead.”

Josh continued to bank and turn according to Loki’s instructions as the interceptor raced between the buildings, working its way ever closer to the nearest working air defense battery. For several minutes, they weaved between the myriad of buildings that made up the business district of Answari, working their way toward their target on the outskirts of the city.

“Whoa, did you see that?” Loki asked.

“See what? I’m too busy dodging buildings, Loki.”

“There are several troop transports down there. I think they’re making their way toward the original jump point.”

“We should warn Captain Waddell,” Josh said as he continued maneuvering.

“No time. Prepare to translate up. We’re almost there.”

“Just say when,” Josh answered.

“Ten seconds. Arming missiles,” Loki reported. “One more left coming up, the red building.”

“Got it,” Josh assured him as he started his turn.

“Three……two……one……NOW!”

Josh maxed out the interceptor’s lift thrust, causing the small ship to jump up above the buildings. There, not more than a few hundred meters ahead of them, was their target, one of the two air defense batteries that were still operating.

“There it is!” Josh reported. “Four hundred meters and closing fast.”

“Locking missiles. Preparing to fire.”

Josh continued staring out the front of his canopy. The gun battery was quickly swinging its barrels in their direction. “She’s swinging around to fire on us Loki!”

“Firing four!” Loki announced.

The weapons bay doors on the underside of the interceptor slid open, and four missiles dropped out in rapid succession, each one’s rocket motor lighting up as it cleared the bay. One by one, they sped off toward their target, accelerating rapidly.

“Missiles away.”

“Banking right,” Josh announced as he rolled the interceptor onto its starboard side and pulled the nose hard over. He slammed the forward propulsion nozzles all the way forward, sending both of them back hard into their flight seats as the interceptor began to accelerate hard. The barrels of the Takaran air defense battery continued to track after them, trailing the interceptor by a single degree.

“We’re sliding to starboard, Josh,” Loki grunted. “We don’t have enough lift yet.”

“Oops.” Josh added thrust through his starboard maneuvering thrusters. It wouldn’t be enough to keep them from sliding sideways into the ground forever, but it didn’t have to. It only needed to last long enough for…

The first missile struck the base of the gun battery and detonated. The blast blew a large chunk of the base away as the second missile struck the same exact spot. Its detonation blasted even deeper into the base of the gun but did not yet penetrate the base completely. The third and fourth missiles struck a bit higher, blowing apart the vertical translation track and crippling one of the gun’s double barrels.

Josh leveled the interceptors body and pulled her nose up toward the sky. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

“Wait!” Loki warned. “It’s not dead!”

“What?”

“Its crippled, but it’s not dead. It’s still moving—slowly, but moving. And it still has one working barrel. I think we could kill it with guns this time!”

“We couldn’t last time!” Josh argued.

“Look at its power signature!” Loki told him as the interceptor continued to climb. “I think it may have lost some of its shields!” Loki suddenly turned pale. “Shit! The other gun! Roll right!”

Josh rolled the ship madly to starboard, rolling her over several times before pushing his nose down toward the farmland below. Bolts of energy rushed past them, barely missing them as they spiraled downward.

“What are you doing?” Loki yelled, holding onto the handle across the console hood.

“Gotta get down on the deck!” Josh grunted as the G-forces pushed him back in his seat and to the left side of the cockpit. “The gun’s on the other side! The buildings will block his fire!”

A sharp jolt caused the interceptor to jump sideways. Alarms started sounding in the cockpit.

“We’re hit!” Loki hollered as he frantically scanned the systems displays.

“No way!” Josh disagreed. He struggled to pull the interceptor out of her spiraling dive, pulling her level as she skimmed the tops of the highest trees below. “If one of those energy bolts had hit us, we’d be slag!”

“Checking,” Josh announced. “Maybe it was a bird,” Josh suggested.

“Then that was a big fucking bird!” Loki exclaimed.

“I think they have some big fucking birds on this planet, don’t they?” Josh said. “We are by the ocean. Aren’t ocean birds usually big?”

“How the hell should I know?!” Loki yelled. “I think we’re still good,” he added after scanning all the systems’ displays.

“Great, now how are we going to finish that damned gun?” Josh wondered.

“Well, it can’t track fast enough to hit us,” Loki told him, “at least not the way you fly.”

“Maybe, but the other gun can. Could we stay low in the city again, sneak up on her, and blast her?”

“No way,” Loki said. “The shields are weakest across her top. Plus, she can’t raise her barrel all the way upright any longer. The only way we can take her out is to dive on her, straight down.”

“The other gun will cook us if we try.”

“Damn. We’ll have to bug out. Maybe we can reload and come back.”

“What about that convoy?”

“I almost forgot,” Loki admitted. “Jolly, Falcon,” Loki called over his comm-set.

“Falcon, Jolly. Go.”

“Jolly, Falcon. Takaran troop transports headed for original LZ.”

“Falcon, Jolly. Count?”

“Jolly, Falcon. Count three, maybe four.”

“Falcon, Jolly. Copy three, maybe four. Can you interdict?”

“Jolly, Falcon. Maybe, but we need to rearm to deal with the big guns.”

“Falcon, Jolly. We copy. We’ll see what we can do. Hurry back.”

“Jolly, Falcon. Will do. Falcon out.”

“Where to?” Josh asked.

“We’ll jump back to the C2 first, see what Commander Taylor wants us to do.”

“What do you mean, ‘what she wants us to do’? We need to kill those guns, Loki.”

“I know, Josh! I know! But we’re not running the show here; she is!”

“Fuck!” Josh swore in frustration.

“And right now, she needs to know what the current situation is on Answari.” Loki took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and keep the adrenaline from fogging up his mind. “Okay, come to one-nine-seven, nose up thirty. We jump in five.”

* * *

“Here we go again, Gentlemen,” Nathan said calmly. “Jump.”

The jump flash momentarily filled the Aurora’s bridge.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Contact! Dead Ahead!” Mister Navashee confirmed.

The sensor operator’s confirmation was unnecessary, as Nathan and everyone else could see the target on the main view screen. It started out as only a small white glob, which rapidly grew into the shape of an imperial cruiser as it came right at them.

“Collision in thirty seconds!” Mister Randeen reported from the tactical station.

“Helm, hold your course,” Nathan reminded. “Stand by to translate down.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles answered.

“All rail guns, open fire,” Nathan ordered. A moment later, he could feel the vibrations of the Aurora’s rail guns as they launched their metal slugs at the enemy ship at incredible velocities. He doubted it would have much effect, especially with her forward shields up, but he wanted the cruiser’s captain to believe that the rail guns were the primary threat at the moment.

“Firing guns. Target is holding course and deploying her forward missile battery. She’ll be able to fire in five seconds.”

“Snapshot, tubes three and four!”

“Firing tubes three and four,” Mister Randeen answered.

Nathan watched as the two torpedoes streaked forward on either side of him.

“Helm, translate down,” Nathan ordered.

“Ten seconds to torpedo impact,” Mister Randeen announced.

Mister Chiles applied maximum downward thrust, sending the Aurora sliding downward so that she would barely miss the cruiser. “Clear line of sight, sir!”

“Skip us ahead, Mister Riley,” Nathan ordered. “Tactical, stand by aft tubes.”

“Jumping.”

The bridge filled with the jump flash once again.

“Tubes five and six ready,” Mister Randeen reported.

“Helm, nose down slightly. Bring our stern tubes to bear on the cruiser.”

“Pitching down,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Fire tubes when you get a good shot, Mister Randeen,” Nathan added.

Mister Randeen did not respond, as he was too busy studying his console, watching for the right moment to fire. All of their torpedoes were actually atmospheric cruise missiles used by Corinari fighters. They had been quickly adapted to be fired as torpedoes, but they were slow and had almost no maneuverability in space. They were like throwing spears, albeit spears with warheads, most of which were nuclear. “Firing five and six.”

Nathan waited, holding his breath.

“Torpedoes away.”

“First two nukes have hit!” Mister Navashee reported.

“Helm, come starboard ninety, and trim to the target’s course. Tactical, stand by for another four shot of missiles,” Nathan ordered.

“Coming starboard ninety and trimming,” Mister Chiles answered.

“Impact on torpedoes five and six!” Mister Navashee reported in excitement.