Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation (34 page)

“
Understood. Falcon out.
”

“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Jump plotted and ready,” Mister Riley added.

“All weapons charged and ready,” Mister Randeen announced.

“Very well,” Nathan said. “Jump us in.”

* * *

“
Loki, I’m authorizing you to assess the situation and determine the risk,
” the captain’s voice said over the Falcon’s comms. “
If you believe you can help her out without losing the ship, go ahead.
”

“Isn’t that what we were already doing?”
Josh wondered.

“Understood. Falcon out,” Loki acknowledged, ending the communication. “Plotting new jump.”

“Coming about,”
Josh said excitedly as he started a turn.

“Don’t get too crazy on me,” Loki warned.

“Who, me?”

“We’ll come in on the same vector as before,” Loki said.

“Why not from a different angle,”
Josh suggested,
“so they can’t guess which direction we’re coming from and shoot us down?”

“If they see us jumping in to the same spot, maybe they’ll move their fighter cover closer to that spot and away from Jessica.”

“Clever,”
Josh said.
“Turn complete.”

“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

The jump flash washed over the Falcon, instantly transitioning her from high orbit above the Earth to only a kilometer above its surface.

“Jump complete!” Loki groaned as he was thrown forward against his restraint harness.

“We have got to find some way to compensate for that!”
Josh complained.
“I’m sure I’m getting bruises on my shoulders!”

“Contacts!” Loki reported. “Two hundred kilometers at our three o’clock! Eight high, eight low!”

“Coming right,”
Josh announced as he rolled the Falcon into a tight turn.

“Wait! More contacts!” Loki reported. “Three slow movers, probable combat shuttles, skimming the treetops! I’m pretty sure they’re headed for Jess!”

“Where are they?”
Josh asked.

“Four o’clock!”

“Adjusting,”
Josh announced.
“We’ll take the shuttles first. The last thing she needs down there is more boots on the ground.”

“Activating nose turret,” Loki reported. “The high eight are turning to intercept. Twenty seconds to weapons on us.”

“On course for the shuttles.”

“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

Loki’s visor went opaque again as the jump flash washed over them.

Josh’s visor cleared instantly after the jump flash dissipated, revealing a formation of three Jung combat shuttles flying across their course and directly ahead of them.
“WHOA!”
He yanked the control stick back hard as he pushed his throttles to full power, spinning the thumb lever on them to increase lift thrust.

The interceptor’s nose pitched up quickly as her engines screamed to full power, and the ship felt as if it had suddenly been pushed upward. The three shuttles passed under them, barely missing the Falcon’s underside.

“A little close, don’t you think?”
Josh yelled as he pushed the nose back down and decreased power.

“Sorry about that,” Loki said as he swung the nose turret around. “Come hard left and give me a shot!”

“Coming left,”
Josh announced as he rolled the Falcon on its side and pulled the nose up hard. The ship came around quickly to the left.

“Firing!” Loki announced as he depressed the trigger.

Bolts of plasma energy fired in rapid succession from the ball turret tucked into the underside of the Falcon’s nose. The turret tracked left and downward as the ship leveled off, finding its first target and blowing it apart with only three hits.

“One down!”
Josh cheered.

Loki glanced at his threat display as he continued to fire. “Low eight are turning toward us!” he reported as another blip indicating the Jung combat shuttles disappeared.

“Two down!”
Josh cheered.

“Fighters are firing missiles!”

“Disengaging!”
Josh announced.
“Standing up!”
Josh pulled the nose up hard and went to full power again, climbing straight up.
“Are they tracking?”

“Missiles are turning up with us!” Loki reported. “Popping countermeasures!”

Twenty decoys quickly dropped out of the Falcon’s wings on either side. The decoys began spreading out and emitting heat and radiation signatures meant to mimic that of the Falcon. Three of the four missiles followed the decoys, exploding as they made contact. The fourth missile blew past the decoys and continued on toward the still climbing Falcon.

“One still coming!” Loki yelled. “Three……two……”

“Hold on!”
Josh yanked his throttles back to idle as he again applied full lift power. The Falcon suddenly translated laterally in relation to the surface, perpendicular to their vertical flight path. The missile passed under them, missing by no more than a single meter.

Josh saw the missile pass beyond their nose. To his surprise, the missile suddenly began to slow, pitching back as if it were attempting to turn into them.
“What the fuck?!”
Josh pushed his throttles forward again as the missile fell back and tried to move closer. His sudden increase in forward thrust shot them above the missile’s path, causing it to pass under their tail and across to their topside.
“They’ve got fucking smart missiles!”
he exclaimed as he put the Falcon into a snap roll in order to bring their gun turret onto the same side as the missile that was still pursuing them.
“Shoot that bitch!”

Loki opened fire with the Falcon’s nose turret, blowing the missile apart a few moments later.

“Damn!”
Josh yelled as the Falcon shook from the missile’s shock wave.
“Pitching over!”
he announced as he pushed the Falcon into a dive again, reducing power once more.
“Get ready to fire missiles at the other four before they decide to join the party!”

“I’m on it,” Loki replied as he armed the Falcon’s close range missiles. He tapped the four icons on his threat display that represented the fighters that were still loitering over the search area. “Targets selected. Hold course.” He armed four missiles and opened the weapons bay doors along the Falcon’s underside. “Firing four!”

Four short, stubby missiles dropped from the open weapons bay under the Falcon’s left wing-body. Their engines ignited in rapid succession as they fell away from the Falcon, sending them streaking across the sky toward their targets.

The four Jung fighters maneuvered wildly, all deploying their own countermeasures. Two of the fighters were instantly blown apart, their burning debris spreading over the forest below. The other two managed to escape by dodging the last two missiles, which then struck the ground and exploded in massive fireballs.

“Two down!” Loki reported. “The other two are at full power and in a wide turn.”

“What about the first four?”
Josh asked.

“They’re coming around behind us! Go to full power and skim the trees while I make contact! Then we jump out and start over!”

“Going down!”
Josh announced as he dove toward the surface again. He smiled. This was the part he loved most.

“Nash, Falcon!” Loki called across the comms as they approached the search area.

“Be careful with those missiles!
” Jessica yelled over the comms.

“We’ll keep jumping in and out. We’ll try to keep them off your back until Telles can figure out a way to pull you out of there!” Loki told her. “How many to pick up?!”

“
One!
” Jessica yelled, panting.

Loki could tell she was running as she spoke. “Say again?”

“
I’m it! Everyone else is dead. I’m fucking wounded, too, damn it! Tell the lieutenant to hurry the fuck up!
”

“The first four are launching missiles again!”
Josh warned Loki.

“Understood!” Loki answered Jessica. “Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

* * *

Jessica stopped momentarily, instinctively looking up as the Falcon jumped away in a brilliant blue-white flash that lit up the area for a brief instant. She could hear the whoosh of air and the thunder-like
crack
made by the Falcon’s departure.

She knelt down a moment and pulled her med-kit from her combat vest. As she opened the med-kit, she continued to scan the trees for signs of pursuit. The two missiles fired from the Falcon had helped her put a little more distance between her and her pursuers, but she knew that the lead would not last long. She was weak and in considerable pain. The Jung soldiers following her were not. They also had the advantage of reinforcements, which were circling around to land troops behind her at the moment… Of this she was certain.

She jabbed herself in her thigh with the mini-ject, sending additional pain medication into her blood stream. She tossed the spent device aside, grabbed the next one—an energy booster—and repeated the process, giving her the additional strength she needed to continue her evasive efforts.

There was smoke everywhere, the result of several fires set off by both the missile impacts and the burning debris that had rained down on the area when the Falcon had destroyed two Jung fighters a few minutes ago. She could hear the crackle of nearby fires and the shouting of Jung troops as they worked their way around and between the blazes. It would slow them down, but it would not stop them. She could hear the sound of the approaching shuttle’s engines as they descended to land and deploy their troops. From the sound, she knew the direction. She would have to change course, no longer able to head for the river. They were putting troops in exactly the right spot, just as they had before, which confirmed her worst fears. Somehow, they were tracking her every move.

As she put her med-kit away, she heard the sound of jet turbines in the distance getting louder with each passing second.

“
Nash, Falcon,
” Loki’s voice called over her comm-set.

“Go for Nash,” she replied.

“
New troops on the ground. Count twelve thermals moving west by northwest, line abreast and spreading out as they advance.
”

“They’re trying to pinch me in,” Jessica told them. “They know I’m heading for the river. They’re forcing me south, and I want to go north toward the city.”

“
We’ll try to ruin their plans,
” Loki promised. “
Falcon out.
”

“Nash out.” Jessica looked behind her, noticing movement in the trees not more than a few hundred meters away. She crouched down low and headed in the opposite direction, starting a slow arc to the south as she moved through the woods and staying hidden behind brush and trees whenever possible. The jet turbines became louder and louder until, suddenly, the Falcon screamed past her, skimming the treetops. She heard its plasma turret as it fired and the
thwumps
and subsequent muffled explosions as the energy tore up the ground, the trees, and with any luck, a few Jung troops.

Once again, she knew it wouldn’t stop them, but it would continue to slow them down. Hopefully, it was all she needed.

* * *

“Pitch-over complete,” Mister Chiles reported from the Aurora’s helm. “We’re now flying stern first.”

“We’re closing on the target at a rate of one hundred fifty meters per second,” Mister Riley added.

“The target is approximately four thousand meters in length, so at that speed, it should take us about a minute from the last stern shot to the first bow shot. Will that give you enough time to complete your yaw maneuver, Mister Chiles?”

“That should do it.”

“Jump is plotted and ready,” Mister Riley added.

“Very well,” Nathan said. “Take us in.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Riley answered. “Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

The jump flash washed over the bridge, momentarily filling the compartment with blue-white light.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Cruiser, dead ahead!” Mister Navashee reported. “Ten kilometers and closing!”

“Snapshot five and six!” Nathan ordered.

“Firing five and six!” Mister Randeen replied as he pressed the firing buttons for both tubes. “Five and six away!”

“Pitch us over!” Nathan ordered his helmsman.

“Pitching over, aye,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.

“Thirty seconds to torpedo impact,” Mister Randeen reported. “Standing by to fire plasma torpedoes.”

“Twenty seconds,” Mister Riley reported from the helm as he continued to pitch the ship over to bring her nose onto the cruiser as they rushed toward her.

Nathan turned to his left toward his sensor operator. “Any missile locks?”

“No, sir. We’re too close. The cruiser’s missiles are long-range only.”

“Not ours,” Nathan said under his breath.

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

“Pitch over complete!” Mister Chiles reported. “Nose on target!”

“One kilometer!” Mister Navashee called out.

“Fire one and three!” Nathan ordered.

“Firing one and three!” Mister Randeen answered.

The inside of the bridge glowed red for a brief moment as a pair of plasma bolts streaked across the spherical view screen toward the cruiser that was growing rapidly in the center of their forward view.

“Translating down!” Mister Chiles announced as he fired the Aurora’s topside thrusters to push her below the rapidly approaching enemy cruiser.

Just as the red glow faded, the bridge was lit with two brilliant white flashes.

“Detonations!” Mister Randeen reported.

“Target has lost aft shields!” Mister Navashee reported.

Nathan leaned forward in anticipation, his eyes fixed on the image of the cruiser’s stern as it rose slightly, moving above the Aurora’s flight path as she translated downward and away from the massive Jung ship. He watched as the fading white flashes were suddenly replaced with a pair of red flashes, then a yellow-orange explosion that tore apart the cruiser’s main engines.