Space Chronicles: The Last Human War (32 page)

A small speck in the distance showed on a monitor near Kelly. At first, it was impossible to discern the nature of the speck, but audible comm signals gave them the answer.

“Unidentified vessel. This is ARAD six, three, nine. Identify yourself. You have six seconds to comply.”

“What are you waiting for, Simon? Tell him who you are,” Dr. Boroski coached.

“Uh . . . ARAD six, whatever. This is Simon of Striker Twelve. How can I help you?”

“I’m sending course coordinates. Land your craft and prepare to be boarded. If you deviate from the assigned course, you will be destroyed.”

“Dr. Boroski, what do I do?”

“I’d suggest you comply. He won’t harm us as long as we appear cooperative.”

Shilgar felt the shift in direction as Simon altered course. Various scenes
from the outside world panned as the ship turned.

“I thought you said we did
n’t have to worry about weapons,” Simon spoke with a touch of anger directed at his mentor-hologram.

“That is not what I said. I said we don’t have to worry about energy weapons. Atmospheric interceptors use mass-inertial devices called rockets. They get close to a target and explode, sending out thousands of shrapnel pieces. Those projectiles are capable of damaging this ship’s hull. Normally, we would just outrun their rockets, but we do not have enough energy stored to get away. The hull has been recharging since we exited the mountain. As soon as we
achieve enough energy, we will simply outrun their rockets and head into space.”

“How much longer will that take?”

“We’re close. It will take six minutes to reach their landing coordinates. By my calculations, we can safely head out to space in two minutes. Until then, do not give them any reason to fire on us.”

The radio comm link from the Tanarac interceptor crackled to life again.

“Unidentified ship, my command center has no record of a Striker Twelve. Please advise your origin and destination. ARAD six, three, nine. Out.”

Simon asked Dr. Boroski a second time. “Are you sure we can outrun their rockets in two minutes?”

“Yes, maybe a little sooner. I will tell you when, but you’d better answer him.”

The young pilot
thought for a second before replying. “What’s the matter with you guys? I already told you who we are. Do I have to repeat myself?”

“Unidentified vessel. We have orders to shoot you down if you do not cooperate. Identify your origin and destination immediately
, or we will fire on you. ARAD six, three, nine. Out.”

Kelly watched the monitor as two more interceptors took menacing positions behind their space ship.

“Look ARAD whatever, you’re not gonna believe this, but it’s true. We are humans and we’re heading out to space to find a new home world. Dr. Rosh Hadje can verify this.” Simon mocked the military formality, “Simon of Striker Twelve. Out.”

Kelly and Shilgar were startled by his response.

“Unidentified craft, enough of your nonsense. You have ten seconds to comply or we will destroy you. ARAD six, three, nine. Out.”

Simon jumped on their transmission the only way he knew how
—honestly.

“This is no joke, you idiot
. We ARE human! We’re trying to get off your damn planet before the Heptari ships attack us. If you don’t believe me, contact Dr. Hadje or General Tragge. They can confirm our identity.”

Simon figured the truth was probably better than anything else he could conjure up.

Striker Twelve, continue on course. ARAD six, three, nine. Out.”

A tense minute passed.

“Striker Twelve, land at the designated coordinates. We have orders to escort you, but if you deviate from the assigned course, our orders are to fire on you. Do you understand? ARAD six, three, nine. Out.”

“Okay, okay, we’re complying. Why don’t you guys back off a little? You’re crowding my airspace. I wouldn’t want
—”

“Got it!” Dr. Boroski interrupted. “We have sufficient power for evasion. Scan the area for other fighter interceptors and set a course to avoid interception from above.”

Simon followed instructions and reported.

“I see three more fighters at high elevation. I locked them into the nav-track system. What do you want me to do now, Doc?”

“I just brought up their rocket specs in our computer. Can you access them?”

“Yeah, but what do I do with the information?”

“Calculate potential intercept vectors. You will fly the ship manually, so you have instant maneuvering capability. Are you ready, Simon?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Events happened so fast, the young man did not have time to question his own abilities.

“
Prepare to make a sharp course change upward. Accelerate to three thousand keratomes. Any faster in the atmosphere will damage our hull. I’ll block radar and sensor reflections while you’re flying. You may initiate when you are ready.”

Simon did not hesitate.

Everyone on the command deck felt enormous inertial pressure from the ship’s course change and rapid acceleration.

Kelly watched the rear-facing monitor as the escort fighters fired their missiles. For an instant the rockets looked like they would find their marks, but fighters and their rockets became distant points on the screen, no match for the acceleration of the human ship.

“Dr. Boroski, one of the fighters above is cutting off our path to space. He will be in rocket intercept range if we hold this course.”

The hologram
spoke with sarcasm, “Perhaps you should find another course.”

Simon began making adjustments. His ability to maneuver the spaceship was growing
rapidly.

“
This is easier than following a vein of ore.”

One interceptor after another showed up on various screens, only to disappear as
soon as Simon spotted them. All fired rockets to no avail.

The human ship approached the upper edge of the atmosphere.

“We made it!” Simon was jubilant. “What now, Doc?”

“We’re not free
, yet. Are you monitoring those fleet fighters just below the first shield?”

“Yeah, I see em.”

“Those are Vipers. They patrol outside in near space and are much faster than planetary interceptors you just outran.”

“But, we’re in space now. Can’t we outrun them,
too?”

“Oh yes, easily, but you can’t run through Tanarac’s planetary shields at high speed. You must slow down for shield penetration and suspend our hull polarization so we don’t
disrupt Tanarac’s protection. That is when we are vulnerable.”

“Are they armed with particle beam cannons?”

“Yes.”

“Then, we don’t have to worry about them, right?”

“Well, yes and no. Particle beam weapons should be no problem, but a certain number of Vipers are cross-armed with conventional rockets. We must assume they all have mass-inertial weapon capability. Navigate accordingly.”

“I knew this was too easy
,” Simon muttered.

“As I said,
”
Dr. Boroski continued, “the speed of the Vipers is far greater than the Interceptors below. Their rockets are no faster, but because of the Viper speed, intercept points become more critical. We’re approaching the first shield. Wait until the last possible moment before decelerating and suspending our hull polarity. Are you watching those two Vipers?”

“Yeah, I have two on the western horizon closing fast. Should I change course, now?”

“Can you get into the planet’s shield before they reach firing range?”

“I think so. Hang on.”

Shilgar and Kelly almost lost consciousness as their spaceship slowed forcefully. A shower of energy flashes blocked their views of the outside world when they engaged the shield. The command deck jarred twice from rockets exploding in the Tanarac force field behind them.

“That was close. We’re almost through the shield.” Simon kept everyone informed. “Doc, Vi
pers all over the place up here.”

“
Use Tanarac’s shield for our protection. Stay close to the shield and duck into it every time a fighter gets too close.”

Simon made several evasive course changes, as he flew dangerously close to the first planetary shield with hull polarity in absorption mode. Several times, he slowed, suspended polarity and dropped into the shield as his only safe way to avoid impact. As soon as he re-emerged, he pushed velocity as high as he dared, easily outrunning trailing space fighters.

“Doc, we’re faster than the Vipers, but there’s so many of them we’re trapped next to this shield. I can’t get deeper into space.”

Dr. Boroski knew he had to calm his pilot.

“You’re doing a great job. We’ll be able to make a run for the next shield shortly. Be patient and just keep doing what you’re doing until the right opportunity develops.”

As predicted, the nearest Viper soon blinked out of sight on the trailing horizon. Simon did not need further instructions
as he took the initiative to make a run for the second shield.

They were on the dark side of the planet now and nearby space appeared especially black and ominous.

The holo-scientist kept up his encouragement.

“Excellent,
young man. We’re approaching the second shield. After we penetrate it, there will be another flight of Vipers on the far side and one final shield to penetrate. You can use the same approach on this group as you used on the last. Remember, be patient and stay close to the second shield until we have a clear path to the top force field.”

When the human ship passed through the second
protective barrier, they found the entire Tanarac fleet on the other side. Some warships were immense, bigger than anything the Simon could have imagined.

Vipers closed on them from every direction while
he followed his now familiar tactic, accelerating past a half dozen fighters, only to duck into the safety of the planetary shield when rockets approached.

These
fighters fired particle beam volleys in addition to rockets. Energy weapon pulses simply vanished into the hull of the human ship, just as Dr. Farnthal predicted.

Simon brought his vessel around the planet to the sun side. He thought he saw a break in Viper coverage, and
, without hesitation, changed course upward toward the final shield.

The human spacecraft accelerated so fast
his passengers passed out. Even the rugged Kerl-Ga got lightheaded from the maneuver.

Dr. Boroski saw the danger first.

“It’s a trap!”

“I see it. I’ll get back down to the second shield.”

Again, the young pilot made extreme course changes trying to avoid a dozen Vipers that suddenly dropped down from hiding within the sensor-blinding top shield.

“Doc, there’s more!”

Another ten Vipers emerged from the shield below cutting off all paths to safety. They were caught between two fighter forces with no avenue of retreat.

Rockets came at them from multiple directions. Simon used his extraordinary spatial skills to dodge one rocket after another but the situation became desperate.

“Tanarac ships, Tanarac ships . . . we surrender. Stop firing on us.”

Simon continued avoiding rockets while waiting for an answer to his offer of surrender. The time had come for them to accept the obvious.

The attack stopped.

“Human ship, come to a dead stop.”

Simon complied, bringing his craft to a complete stop midway between the second and third planetary shield. Several Viper squadrons took sentry positions orbiting the human ship while others closed off every possible path for escape.

A giant deep space warship settled in above them.

“Human ship, this is Viper squadron commander, Tal Jand. We are waiting for instructions from command. Do not move from your position.”

Dr. Boroski spoke slowly.

“Thank you for your efforts, son. We were close, very close indeed, but you made the right decision. There was too much risk to continue. Follow Tanarac instructions, and, when you reach their base, select a place to land as far as possible from any buildings. I will restrict access to this command bridge while Kelly restores our passengers from stasis.”

The newest human pilot
listened to the hologram but continued to watch the nearby Vipers. He was ready. If they left him an opening, even for a split second, it was all he needed. The doctor may have thought Simon had given up, but he was mistaken. The hologram had yet to see the young man’s full strength of will. Quitting was never in his character.

Dr. Boroski continued discussing preparati
ons for an impending surrender.

“
When the ship is empty, I will erase the database and initiate a self-destruct sequence. Please warn the Tanaracs about this process. I do not wish to harm them, but I cannot allow this technology to get into anyone else’s hands. It has been a pleasure knowing you.”