Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation (17 page)

“Aye, sir.”

“Commander,” Nathan said into his comm-set, “you should expect company at any moment. I don’t think they’d be trying to draw us out unless they had something in mind.”

“
Captain,
” Cameron objected, “
if they want to draw the Aurora away from Metis, shouldn’t you be doing the opposite… staying put?
”

“We don’t really have a choice,” Nathan answered over the comms. “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to get within range and open fire.”

“Sir, at our current rate of closure, we’re going to whiz right past them when we come out of our jump,” Mister Riley warned.

“Put us about a million kilometers ahead of them,” Nathan said. “That will give us about ten to twelve seconds to put a couple of nukes in their path. They won’t have time to maneuver or put up point-defenses.”

“I’ll need to angle the bow downward just before we jump,” Mister Chiles said. “There won’t be enough time after we jump.”

“Good idea,” Nathan agreed.

“Sir, I recommend we jump as close as we can to their course and still have enough clearance to pass over them,” Mister Randeen suggested. “I can use a lower power thrust on the torpedoes, just enough to get them to intercept the cruiser at the right moment. I can angle the plasma cannons upward and get off a round to soften up their forward shields just before the nukes hit.”

“
You probably don’t want to be in the vicinity when those nukes detonate,
” Cameron warned. “
There may be significant debris coming off the target that could end up along your jump path.
”

“So we have twelve seconds to fire a pair of nukes, fire a pair of plasma shots, and jump out again,” Nathan said. “Piece of cake, right?”

* * *

“Jump complete,” Loki said as the Falcon’s jump flash subsided. “Starting passive scans.”

“
What’s our range this time?
” Josh asked as he looked out at the stars.

“Two light minutes. Why?”

“
No reason. What do you see?
”

“I only see the spaceport and four ships,” Loki answered.

“
What do you mean ‘only’?
”

“I mean I only see four ships. There should be seven Jung ships left in the system. We saw one jump away, so there should be six left. I only see four.”

“
Are you sure?
”

“I’ve got the battleship orbiting just beyond the spaceport, and a cruiser and two frigates leading and trailing on the same orbit.”

“
Maybe the missing ships are orbiting on the other side.
”

“Previously calculated ephemeris data indicates that none of the Jung ships could possibly be eclipsed from this vantage point.”

“Okay, mister ‘I attended a flight academy,’”
Josh replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“You wanna explain that in Angla?”

“They’ve been using equatorial orbits, Josh. We’re two light minutes above the Earth’s northern axis. We can see all sides.”

“
Except under the Earth’s southern axis,
” Josh said. “
Maybe two of them decided to use a polar orbit.
”

“Or maybe two of them went to FTL to follow that cruiser,” Loki said. “We should jump to the other side and check.”

“
That’s not on our jump schedule,
” Josh said as he checked the waypoint list given to them by the Aurora’s flight controller.

“We need to check, Josh.”

“
I’m not getting chewed out a second time.
”

“Josh, the captain doesn’t want us to be mindless robots; he wants us to think on our feet,” Loki insisted. “Besides, his orders were to keep an eye out for departing ships. We’re just trying to verify whether or not any ships actually
did
depart.”

“
I’m already on thin ice with the captain, and so are you. Granted, your ice isn’t as thin as mine, but if we go jumping around at will, it just might be.
”

“I’m plotting the first of two jumps to get us to the other side,” Loki stated. “Either bring us on course for the first waypoint or I will.”

“
Fine,
” Josh agreed reluctantly. He brought the Falcon into a smooth turn to port, dipping the nose down in the process.

“Jumping in three……”

“
On course for first waypoint,
” Josh announced as he finished his course change.

“Two……”

Their visors became opaque to protect their eyes from the jump flash.

“One……”

“
At least we’ll be able to keep each other company in the brig,
” Josh mumbled.

“Jump.” The blue-white jump flash washed over them. “Jump complete,” Loki announced as their visors became clear again. “Come twelve degrees to port and hold current speed.”

“
Turning,
” Josh answered as he adjusted their heading for the second jump. “
I can hear the captain now.
”

“It’s not like we’re attacking someone again,” Loki said.

“
Course change complete,
” Josh reported.

“Jumping in three……”

“
Would you really have taken control?
”

“Two, yes.”

“
Really?
” Their visors went opaque again.

“One……jump.” Again the blue-white flash washed over them.

“Jump complete,” Loki reported as their visor’s cleared. “Starting scans.”

“
Maybe we don’t have to tell them about our little course deviation,
” Josh suggested.

“Our flight data is automatically transmitted as soon as we enter the Aurora’s traffic pattern,” Loki explained as he studied the images resolving on his display.

“
Whose idea was that?
”

“Come about and put us on a course back to Jupiter,” Loki ordered.

Josh turned partially around, looking over his shoulder at Loki behind him. “
No one there?
”

“Nope, they’re gone. I don’t see them anywhere in the system, either.”

“
That means…
”

“That they went to FTL as well,” Loki finished for him.

* * *

Commander Taylor stood next to Ensign Delaveaga at the tactical station on the Celestia’s bridge. “If that cruiser is trying to draw the Aurora away from us, then another ship will be coming out of FTL nearby at any moment.”

“We’re already at general quarters, sir,” Luis said, “and the plasma cannon is powered up and on standby. It can be ready to fire in seconds.”

“Just the same, I’d feel better if we had our fighters off the deck and patrolling the area.” Cameron turned to face the comm station at the back of the Celestia’s bridge. “Ensign Souza, tell flight to launch our fighters. Have them orbit Metis for now.”

“Yes, sir,” Ensign Souza answered from the comm station.

Cameron turned and looked at Lieutenant Commander Kovacic standing on the other side of Ensign Delaveaga. “I know;” she said, raising her hand, “I’m probably just being overly cautious.”

“You’re not expecting me to complain, are you?”

Twenty Talon fighters sat lined up in five rows of four in the Celestia’s main hangar bay. Facing aft, the pilots waiting patiently in their cockpits chatted on side channels, read their data pads, or just rested while they waited for launch orders. When the order came, they immediately got to work and began spinning up their engines.

Corinairan flight technicians wearing full pressure suits ran about the Celestia’s open main hangar deck as they disconnected jury-rigged umbilical lines from the first four Talons in the aft most row. As the last technician pulled his umbilical to the side of the bay and clear of the row of Talons, the deck boss signaled the nearest fighter in the first row to proceed aft onto the Celestia’s flight apron.

The pilot of the first Talon rolled his fighter toward the aft end of the main hangar bay, each fighter next in line following the one before him out. As the first fighter in line rolled out onto the apron, he fired his ascent thrusters and leapt off the deck. He pitched his nose up as his momentum continued to carry him aft. Once his nose reached forty-five degrees in upward pitch, he fired his forward thrusters and began his climb out, yawing over to his left and rolling level with the surface of Metis as he brought his ship to a stable orbital velocity around the tiny moon.

The well-choreographed routine of the deck crew repeated itself four additional times, the pressure suit clad technicians moving purposefully about the hangar deck as they cycled the twenty Talon fighters out of the bay and into space in less than two minutes.

* * *

“Ten seconds to jump,” Mister Riley announced from the Aurora’s navigation station.

“
We’ve received your waypoints,
” Cameron said over the comms.

“We’ll strike them on the way out and on the way back,” Nathan told her. “We’ll be back shortly.”

“
Understood
,” Cameron answered. “
Celestial Actual out
.”

“Five seconds,” Mister Riley announced.

“Pitching down,” Mister Chiles announced from the helm.

“Four…”

“Two nukes, high-yield, ready for snapshot,” Mister Randeen reported.

“Three…”

“Plasma torpedo tubes are at maximum upward deflection.”

“Two…”

“We’ll be firing the plasma shots four seconds after the nukes have been launched.”

“One…”

“Very well,” Nathan answered. “Just like we planned, gentlemen.”

“Jumping.”

The blue-white jump flash washed over the Aurora’s bridge, brilliantly illuminating its interior for a split second. The flash subsided, and the cruiser, only a tiny dot on the view screen, began to grow in size with astonishing speed.

“Nukes away!” Mister Randeen announced from the tactical station.

Two Corinairan intercept missiles, armed with high-yield nuclear warheads and modified to launch from the Aurora’s torpedo tubes, left her forward tubes at an unusually slow departure speed. Four seconds later, a pair of bright red bolts of plasma energy shot from the Aurora’s upper torpedo tubes on both sides. As the conventional weapons drifted into the course of the rapidly approaching Jung cruiser, the plasma shots streaked away from the Aurora, striking the cruiser’s forward shields a split second after they were launched. The cruiser’s shields glowed reddish-orange as they absorbed most of the energy of the Aurora’s plasma torpedoes. However, several of the cruiser’s forward shield emitters exploded due to the overload caused by the plasma shots.

Several seconds later, the Aurora disappeared in another flash of blue-white light. The cruiser opened fire with her forward point-defenses, tearing apart one of the two approaching torpedoes. The other torpedo found its target, detonating in a brilliant flash as it struck the cruiser’s already weakened shields. The cruiser’s shields failed, and enough of the blast reached the hull of the cruiser, tearing it apart and sending large chunks in all directions.

* * *

“Jump flash,” Ensign Schenker reported from the Celestia’s sensor station.

“It’s the Falcon,” Luis reported from tactical.

“Flash traffic from the Falcon,” Ensign Souza announced. “They report two Jung frigates are missing from Earth orbit.”

Cameron turned quickly to face the comm station. “Do they know where they went?”

“Current location is…”

“Contact!” Ensign Schenker interrupted. “Just came out of FTL!”

“Jung frigate!” Luis reported. “Two hundred kilometers out!”

“She has weapons range,” Cameron realized, her eyes widening. “Comms, order our fighters to engage the frigate.”

“Contacts!” Ensign Schenker reported. “Four of them moving fast! Probable missile launch!”

Cameron turned to Ensign Delaveaga at the tactical station. “Bring the gun to bear on that frigate, but don’t fire until ordered. We don’t want to hit our fighters.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Comms, tell the fighters to concentrate on the incoming missiles. Tell them to prepare to clear our line of fire once the missiles have been intercepted.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where’s the other frigate?” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic wondered. “They said there were two of them missing, right?”

“Good question,” Cameron said. “Send the Falcon the Aurora’s jump plots and tell them to let her know we’re under attack.”

“Fighters are firing on the incoming missiles,” Luis reported.

“Any more missile launches?” Commander Taylor asked the sensor operator.

“No, sir.”

“One missile down,” Luis reported.

“Falcon has jumped away,” Ensign Schenker reported from the sensor station.

“Two missiles down,” Luis reported.

“Maybe they’re feeling out our defenses,” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic suggested.

“Three missiles down!”

“Quite likely,” Cameron agreed. “Those frigates have multiple missile launchers. They could easily fire eight missiles at once.”

“Another contact!” Ensign Schenker announced, his voice showing signs of panic. “Opposite side!”

“It’s another frigate!” Luis realized. Stress was becoming evident in his voice as well.

“Range on the second target?” Cameron demanded.

“One twenty-five and closing fast!” Luis answered.

“She’s counter orbit to us,” Cameron realized. “Bring the plasma cannon around on the second frigate! Quickly!”

“Bringing the cannon around,” Luis answered. “All incoming missiles from contact one have been destroyed!” Luis declared. He looked at his tactical display. “Half our fighters are coming about,” he said, surprised.

“Flight reports they’re sending half the fighters to act as point-defense against contact two, sir!” Ensign Souza reported from the comm station.

“Get that gun around!” Cameron ordered.

“It’s rotating, sir, but it’s not fast enough!”

“How long?”

“Thirty seconds!”

“Contacts!” Ensign Schenker reported.

“Four inbound missiles from contact two!” Luis reported. “ETA: twelve seconds!”

“Damn it!” Cameron exclaimed. “How long until the Talons can intercept?”

“Twenty seconds!” Luis said, realizing that their fighters would not be able to intercept the incoming missiles in time.

“Sound the alarm! Brace for incoming ordnance!” Cameron ordered.

* * *

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley announced. “We’re thirty light seconds past the target.”

“Hard about, Mister Chiles,” Nathan ordered.

“Hard about, aye,” the helmsman answered.

“Nicely done, gentlemen,” Nathan congratulated. “Mister Navashee, see if you can get a damage assessment on that target as we turn.”