The Last Praetorian (31 page)

Miranda was shocked by the story that Paul unfurled,
realising that she had misjudged Jon badly.  She had always assumed that he was
some cocky, golden boy that had everything in life handed to him.  She was
about to respond when she glanced at the scanner again. “Uh oh,” she said.  “We
seem to have company.” 

The scanner clearly demonstrated that the one remaining
syndicate shuttle had broken from the battle and was now racing at full speed
towards the station.  Two fighters had broken off the engagement with the
shuttle and, once clear, had changed their heading towards the escaping
freighter and were now approaching at full speed.  Jon was still busy with the
remaining fighter and damaged syndicate shuttle and was unable to give chase. 

“Yes, we definitely have company,” she said with a newfound
confidence in herself.  She was determined that they all were going to survive
this, and she promised herself that Jon and she were going to have a long talk
when they got back home.  “Those two fighters are going to be on us in less
than thirty seconds, have you got any ideas?”  Miranda directed the question to
Paul.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact I do,” Paul replied cryptically
reaching above the flight controls for a concealed panel.  Miranda had noticed
the unusual panel during her pre-flight inspection prior to leaving
Terra
Nova
, her curiosity having been piqued by a yellow flag attached to the
panel where somebody had scribbled

Use only in the case of extreme emergency!

At the time she had just disregarded it as part of the ship’s
emergency systems, probably a fire suppressant system, she had assumed.  Paul
discarded the yellow flag with a shake of his head and a quick smile of
amusement, before flicking open the panel.  A small row of switches resided
within the panel and Paul started flipping these one by one. 

Slowly, but quickly building in momentum, Miranda noticed
vibrations starting to run through the length of the freighter starting near the
stern of the ship and moving towards the bow.  As the vibrations moved towards
the command deck Miranda started to feel the shudder as explosive charges
detonated along the length of the hull.  In-conjunction with the detonation of
the charges, Miranda started to notice new systems coming on-line as part of
the flight control system…

Throughout the length of the ship, explosive charges
detonated, separating superfluous hull plating from the ship to reveal dozens
of weapon ports along the length of the ship.  As previously hidden weapon
systems started to power up, heavy rail guns and multiple missile batteries slid
smoothly out from the hull into their deployed positions.

“You didn’t think this was just any freighter did you?” 
Paul asked rhetorically with a smirk as the tactical computer reported dozens
of weapon systems and point defence systems along the length of the ship were
now in their fully deployed and active positions. 

“With the dramatic increase in attacks over the past few
weeks on our ships, we decided that it was time to refit a number of our ships
to better protect them.  I present to you the first fully refitted ship, the
Eagle
One!”
 Paul waved his hands in a dramatic impression of a magician who had
just pulled off his greatest trick.  “The
Eagle One
is equipped with
half a dozen heavy rail guns, bow and stern missile batteries and overlapping
point defence weapons.  She can go toe-to-toe with any ship in the system up to
a Confederation Destroyer, and we could give one of those a run for its money,”
Paul winked at Miranda. 

“Now let’s give these guys an object lesson in why not to
mess with us.”  Paul activated the weapons systems, targeting the approaching
two fighters before passing total control of the now fully active weapons
systems over to the ship’s computer…

*****

Having seen the destruction of three of their fellow ships
and the heavy damage inflicted to one of their assault shuttles, the Syndicate
pilots were in no mood to leave any survivors alive on the fleeing freighter. 
Anticipating no resistance they approached at almost full speed, the pilots
waiting until they were within point blank range before opening fire.  Hence it
was already far too late when they recognised the multiple weapons ports on the
ship.  The lead fighter, already well into his attack run continued, strafing
the port side of the ship.

The computer on the
Eagle One
prioritised the lead
fighter and within milliseconds had calculated the approach vector and speed. 
Determining that the ship was too close for an accurate missile lock the
computer activated the port side rail guns.  Sighting the approaching fighter,
all three portside weapons opened fire with massively dense, depleted uranium
rounds.  These super-dense shells had no explosive component, instead relying
upon the kinetic energy of the shell impacting the target at a fraction of the
speed of light.  With all three-rail guns firing at over a hundred rounds per
second, the approaching fighter disappeared in the barrage of gunfire. 

The second fighter, on seeing his lead wingman disappear in
a flash of energy, frantically let loose a missile before he peeled away from
the deadly warship.

While the incoming missile was launched only a few hundred
meters from the
Eagle One
with a transit time measured in seconds, for
the ship’s computer this was an eternity.  Simultaneously directing the ship’s
point defence guns, similar to the rail guns but much smaller and with a far
higher rate of fire, at the incoming missile the ship armed multiple missiles
of its own in the aft launch tubes.

The incoming missile was shredded by the multiple point
defence guns spread across the hull more than a hundred meters away from the
fleeing freighter, just as the responding missiles left their launch tubes. 
Unfortunately the now fleeing fighter did not possess the multitude of
defensive guns as on the
Eagle One
; hence, while the fighter desperately
tried to escape, it was hit first by one missile followed a fraction of a
second later by another.

The engagement between the
Eagle One
and the
attacking fighters had only lasted a few seconds but was being monitored
closely by Miranda and Paul on the bridge.  Both breathed a deep sigh of relief
when the second fighter disintegrated after being hit by the missiles.

“We are thirty seconds to the nearest FTL jump point,” Paul
confirmed checking the navigational computer.  “We only suffered minor damage
to the hull from those fighters,” he exclaimed, relieved.

“What about Jon and the Marines still left on the station?” 
Miranda demanded looking back in the direction of the station and still
on-going battle.  “We cannot just leave them.”      

“We have no choice,” Paul insisted. “We do not know who else
might have picked up that distress call and what sort of reinforcements might
be on their way.  We have used up our element of surprise with this ship; they
are not going to fall for the same ruse again.  In addition we have almost a dozen
crew in the hold that are depending upon us to get them home safely.  It’s just
too risky for us to remain here,” Paul sighed.  “One of the hardest decisions
of command is when to leave people behind.”

With that he started the power-up sequence for the ship’s
FTL engine, now that they were finally away from the gravity field of the
nearest moon.  Paul did not think it constructive to mention that Miranda and
Jon were similar in regard to never leaving people behind.  It had always been
Jon’s belief that nobody got left behind.

Glancing back at the sensors, which showed the still-ongoing
clash around the station with the
Eternal Light.
Miranda whispered. 
“Jon, bring them all back home safely,” with that the
Eagle One
slipped
into FTL.  

*****

Jon was relieved to observe from the corner of his eye that
the
Eagle One
had escaped into FTL.

“At least they made it out safely,” Jon, thought aloud,
darting the ship out of the way of another stream of incoming weapons fire. 
Having quickly destroyed the initial fighters with the
‘Light’
s missile complement
and badly damaged one of the shuttles, the fight had quickly degenerated into a
free-for-all melee.  Unfortunately at this point Jon was at a significant
disadvantage; no matter how heavily armed the
‘Light
was, she was still
a shuttle and not designed for such close-in combat.  Previously the only
advantage that Jon had, was that the opposing ships had to watch their fire to
avoid hitting a friendly, however this advantage disappeared when two of the
fighters and the undamaged shuttle peeled away and set a course directly for
the station. 

The
Eternal Light
was still stuck fending off the
remaining fighter and the occasional shot from the immobilised shuttle.  While
the two fighters had been dispatched prior to the
Eagle One
escaping
into hyperspace, the undamaged shuttle had started to dock at the sole
remaining undamaged docking port of the station.  Jon meanwhile was too far
away to render assistance to the Marines still on-board the station. Activating
a communication channel to the Marines Jon inquired.  “Gunny what is the
situation over there?”  The response was weak due to the distance from the
station but intelligible.

“We have secured the computer core and are making our way to
the backup docking port for extraction.”

“Heads up that you have incoming unfriendlies.”

“Any idea of numbers?”

“Not a clue,” Jon said.  “You have one syndicate shuttle
docking now. I do not have any information on numbers but safe to assume that
they do not want to meet-and-greet.”

“Understood, looks like we have just been handed our ticket
off the station,” Gunny responded.

Jon did not think it worth-while pointing out that it was
unlikely that the Syndicate was just going to hand over the shuttle to the
Marines.

“Acknowledged, I’ll be there shortly,” Jon said, jerking the
Eternal Light
out of the path of another stream of gunfire. “I hope,” he
added. 

*****

Having extracted the computer core several minutes earlier,
the heavily armed Marines had been making for one of the station’s hanger decks
in the hope of finding a functioning ship when they received Jon’s warning. 
Having decided that a fully powered up and docked shuttle made a far more
inviting target the Marines changed direction and hurried towards the secondary
docking ring.

“Ok, fan out and take up defensive positions,” Gunny ordered
as they neared the shuttle docking ring.  The hastily prepared plan was to
ambush the attacking forcing and then capture their shuttle before the crew
realised what was happening.  The tricky part of the plan was where to stage
the ambush; too close to the docking ring could result in damage to the
shuttle, which they planned to capture intact.  Too far away and the shuttle
could depart before they could board it.  Finally Gunny settled on the
conjunction of the docking ring with the main habitat ring.  This was a natural
choke point but far enough away from the shuttle to avoid any damage.

Having ensured that the rest of the team were behind
suitable cover; Gunny ducked behind a bulkhead and checked the magazine on his
assault rifle: he still had almost a full magazine.  Quickly ejecting the
magazine he slid in a fresh one and checked that there was a round in the
chamber.  Gunny had seen enough combat to know that those extra few rounds
could mean the difference between life and death.  Satisfied that his weapon
was ready and that the rest of his team were behind cover, he readied himself
for the appearance of the Syndicate troops, he did not have long to wait. 

With a pounding of heavy boots the Syndicate troops rounded
the airlock into the line of fire of the Marines.  Dressed in the dark tactical
armour frequently used by corporate security and police teams throughout the
sector and armed with a variety of weaponry they were obviously not expecting a
battle hardened and well positioned opposition.  While Gunny had not
specifically discounted the possibility of surrender it was still an option
that was available to the opposing troops.  Unfortunately that option quickly
vanished when the lead soldier, upon sighting the Marines, raised his pulse
rifle and let loose a volley of gunfire.  That was enough for Gunny who
sighting down his rifle depressed the trigger, sending a salvo of bullets back
in response.  The rest of the Marines opened fire at the same time.

Over time armour had evolved to face the different
multitudes of weaponry, from ancient times when heavy armour was first
introduced to combat the threat from archers and lancers, through to the
lighter and more flexible armour designed to combat propellant based weaponry. 
With the advent and wide spread use of energy based weaponry, armour was
suitably adapted.  Modern combat armour consisted of multiple layers of alloys
and synthetic composites all designed to spread and dissipate the focused beam
from an energy weapon.  Unfortunately this armour was far less resistant to the
heavy slugs fired from the Marines’ automatic weapons. 

As a result the lead Syndicate soldier was flung back by
several rounds from different directions piercing his tactical armour.  This
had the result of halting the Syndicate advance as the troopers following close
behind all disappeared into a tangle of limbs on the floor.  This probably
resulted in saving many of their lives, as the subsequent volley of automatic
gunfire from the Marines mostly went high.  Having overcome their surprise at
the sudden onslaught the Syndicate solders started to pull back to the nearest
cover; their responding weapons firing sporadically, at best.

Recognising that the Marines needed to keep the initiative
and that they could not afford to allow the Syndicate troops to regroup and
take-up their own defensive positions, Gunny motioned for the Marines to
advance.  The advantage now switched to the attacking force as without the
element of surprise and the loss of their cover the Syndicate weapons fire
became more frequent and accurate, however the heavy armour and high
rate-of-fire from the automatic weaponry of the Marines managed to keep the
Syndicate soldiers behind there limited cover.