Warfare: Rise Of Mankind Book 2 (5 page)

              “Commander Everly,” Redding spoke up. “We have reached the coordinates for the hyper jump. We’re beginning the countdown.”

              “Very good.” Adam tapped his communicator and dialed in the captain. “We’re about to perform the hyper jump.”

              “On my way.” Gray’s voice crackled on the speakers and faded out. He arrived a few moments later and took his seat. Clea sat beside him on the left, Adam on the right. “So…what should we expect? Two ships jumping at the same time…how do we avoid knocking into one another?”

              “Our navigation consoles are synched,” Clea replied. “When the Crystal Font begins their countdown, our system will do the same. Much like the enemy’s approach during their first attack on your planet, we’ll appear in the new system together. I’ve checked the coordinates and we’ll be cutting it close, coming in near the research facility.”

              “How close?” Adam asked. “Sounds dangerous.”

              “Thirty minutes away at most,” Clea said. “Kielan navigation is tuned enough to make such a leap. The planet’s gravitational pull will mask our arrival. If the enemy has long range scans scouring the outer systems, they will not catch the anomaly of our arrival.”

              “Nice…” Adam nodded. “But still sounds dangerous. If their calculations are off even a little bit, that thirty minutes turns into instant death as we appear
in
the planet.”

              “Believe me,” Clea said, “our calculations will be fine.”

              Olly piped in, “I’ve checked the math several times, sir. It looks perfect.”

              “Ten seconds,” Redding announced. “Crystal Font reports all systems are nominal on their end. We are ready.”

              “How long will this jump take?” Gray asked Clea. “Our little hop can’t be a good indication of time.”

              “Time will have no meaning,” Clea explained. “Much like anesthesia, we will simply find ourselves at the destination.”

              “Creepy,” Tim muttered.

              “Stop it.” Redding took a deep breath. “Three seconds.”

              Adam gripped his chair tightly.
Here we go
, he thought.
This is the real test.

              The lights flashed once. The engine whined, shaking the hull then, just as it seemed to reach a crescendo, it stopped. Lights burst over head, making Adam wince with the suddenness of their return. Tim coughed and Olly immediately started tapping away at his console, ever the constant worker.

              “Report.” Gray’s voice seemed strained and choked. He rubbed his forehead. Adam tried to stand up but couldn’t find the strength. He remained in place, actively trying to recover.

              “Coordinates are correct,” Olly said. “But…wait a moment…”

              “Crystal Font is hailing,” Agatha announced. “Emergency frequency.”

              “On speaker,” Adam said.

              “Behemoth, this is the Crystal Font.” Adam wasn’t sure who was speaking…their communication officer perhaps? “Battle stations! I repeat, beat to quarters.”

              “Get the view screen up,” Adam ordered. “What’s going on out there?”

              The screen lit up, revealing pure chaos. Two other Alliance vessels battled six familiar, hostile silhouettes. Fire erupted from ships on both sides as each blasted away at one another. Gray stood, shouting as he did, “full shields, launch all fighters and fast power the pulse cannons! Get on it, people. Now!”

              The crew went into motion. Adam brought Group Commander Estaban Revente on com, ordering the fighters to launch. They didn’t anticipate such an engagement directly out of hyper jump so it would take time for them to launch, time they did not necessarily have. The pulse cannons would have to keep the enemy busy along with the Crystal Font.

             
Surely, four of us can take these guys down but I didn’t think they came in such force. Six ships? What are they doing?

             
“I had the pilots on standby,” Revente said. “They’ll be out in less than five minutes.”

              “God bless you for being prepared,” Adam said, reporting the news to the captain.

              “Excellent.” Gray nodded. “How’s the Crystal Font?”

              “They’ve powered up weapons and are moving to engage,” Olly answered. “The enemy has scanned us but so far, none have disengaged to meet us.”

              “We’re too far to matter,” Clea said. She stood. “We need to push it if we’re going to help those alliance ships. They’re being obliterated!”

              “Full power to the engines,” Gray said. “Drop the speed when the fighters are ready to launch. We’ll come in tight and give them a broadside.”

              Redding tapped the controls. The engines powered up, humming throughout the ship as they accelerated. Adam joined Gray, leaning close.

              “We should use the Protocol Seven,” he said. “It’ll surprise them…we might not have time to save those other ships if we don’t.”

              “We’re already a surprise,” Gray replied. “They had no idea we were coming.”

              “Six on four aren’t even odds,” Adam pressed. “If we don’t use everything at our disposal, we won’t win this.”

              “What’s that?” Gray pointed at the screen, gesturing at the planet. “Do you see those flashes?”

              “On it.” Olly read something before answering. “It seems the enemy has landed a fairly large contingency of troops. They’re in the midst of a nasty battle with planetary defense forces. Man, they’re shelling each other!”

              “I need to speak to Anthar Ru’Xin,” Gray said. “Get him on the line.”

              Kale appeared on the screen. “Captain,” he said. “It seems our simple mission has taken a turn for the complicated.”

              “They’ve got troops on the planet,” Gray replied. “That sounds like they want something to me.”

              “Indeed, I suspect they intend to take our research.” Kale frowned. “We won’t make short work of these battleships but we must extract our scientists. If we cannot save the data, it must be destroyed. Whatever happens, the enemy
cannot
take that facility.”

              “We can shell it,” Adam announced. “Pulverize it from orbit.”

              Clea stood in a rush, her face flush with uncharacteristic passion. “And murder all those people?”

              “Denying the enemy that research is the most important thing, isn’t it?” Adam asked.

              “No,” Clea replied firmly. “No, it is not. Captain, I will personally lead a strike force to the surface to get the data, and the people, out of there. Just give me the word and we’ll prepare right now.”

              “A small force isn’t going to help down there.” Adam gestured to the planet. “There’s no way.”

              “That’s precisely what we need,” Clea snapped. “We can get there undetected, download any data we can, destroy what we can’t and leave with the personnel.” She touched Gray’s arm. “Please, sir. We have to try.”

              Gray looked at Adam who shook his head.
There’s no way it will work. We’re going to throw lives away if we do it
. He chose not to voice his concern. The captain would see reason. Dupont wouldn’t go for it either and he had say over any ground actions. They had enough problems with the ships in space, they didn’t need to add marines into the mix.

              “Contact Dupont,” Gray said to Clea. “Get a team together and depart as soon as you can. We can’t afford any delay.”

              “Thank you, sir.” Clea nodded once and rushed for the door, vanishing down the hall.

              “Captain…” Adam shook his head. “That’s a mistake.”

              “We’ve got some pretty amazing soldiers on board,” Gray replied. “I think I’ll trust them and try to save some lives before blowing the place up. Besides, we can always rain hell down on the location later. That data has a lot of value and those people know too much to throw away. Have some faith and let’s focus on what we’re about to get involved in.”

              “We’re just about in range,” Olly said. “Fighters are reporting launch readiness in less than a minute.”

              “Start slowing us down, Redding.” Gray moved back to his seat. “Get us turned. I want a full broadside just before the fighters launch. Adam, continue to coordinate with Revente.”

***

              Gray watched his first officer sit stiffly. He knew Adam didn’t like his approach to the planet but destroying the research facility should be a
last
resort, not the first. Clea’s passion aside, attempting to infiltrate the base made sense. When they finished the enemy above, they could lay fire upon the invading force.

              “Anthar Ru’Xin, why didn’t the invading force drop directly on the facility,” Gray asked. “It seems odd to me they’d enter an open battle.”

              “One of the technologies at work,” Kale said. “They must be masking the signature of the base, forcing the enemy to search. That works to our advantage and buys us time. But the battle is upon us!”

              “We have range,” Redding stated. “Permission to open fire.”

              “Fire at will,” Gray said. “After the volley, launch the fighters. Olly, prepare the Protocol Seven. I think we need to make short work of these bastards to save the facility.”

***

              Wing Commander Meagan Pointer ran alongside Squadron Leader Mick Tauran. They’d been on standby, waiting near the hangar for a quick launch. Since they did not have the Ready Thirty order, they didn’t board their ships but Revente kept them nearby, just in case. Apparently, his paranoia paid off.

              “You ready for this?” Mick asked. “Seems crazy we should have to throw down this fast after leaving the solar system. Hell, we didn’t even have the chance to look around and be awed by it all.”

              Meagan grinned. “Nothing surprises me anymore, especially when it comes to Revente’s gut feelings. He’s survived things no one deserved to because he listened to his instincts. This time’s no different.”

              They nearly collided with Wing Commander Rudy Hale, head of one of the bomber wings. He was a huge man, just shy of too large for regular fighters, he embodied the look for one of the tough, larger vessels.

              “Lord, Hale,” Meagan complained as she moved around him. “You’re like a moving wall or something. You coming on this mission?”

              “Yeah, capital ships mean pulse bombs,” Rudy replied. “If they use that fancy tech we picked up, we’ll tear em up quick. This will be our first chance to see how the rest of this war’s gonna go.”

              “Don’t get cocky,” Mick said. “This is a whole new game out here.”

              “We’ll see.” Hale grinned at them. “See you out there.”

              “Yeah, just stay out of our way with your slow boats,” Meagan shouted back. “Let’s make this happen.”

              The other members of Panther wing, her squadron, boarded their ships and began hastily running through preflight check lists. Meagan brought them up on coms. “I’m not going to waste your time with a long winded speech, guys. This is the real deal, bigger than before. We’ve got six caps out there and God knows how many fighters.

              “Remember to keep your IFFs hot and pulsing because there are friendlies that don’t know who the hell we are. I don’t want anyone getting shot down over a misunderstanding. Lieutenant Tullefson, welcome to the unit. I wish you would’ve had a little more time to acclimate to the team but I guess nothing beats a crucible.

              “Let’s get out there and take down some bad guys.”

              Meagan’s ship throttled up and as the inertial dampeners kicked in, she felt the cockpit pressurize. The tower cleared for launch in ten seconds, just after the Behemoth’s first broadside to one of the enemy ships. She felt her heart race with adrenalized anticipation and counted down the seconds impatiently in her head…

***

              Gray watched as Redding laid full into one of the enemy vessels, pounding them with pulse cannon fire. Their shields flickered and visible damage across their hull registered. Olly called out, “direct hit!” then began his assessment of what that meant to the enemy. Regardless of how hurt they were, it sure got their attention.

              “They won’t ignore us now,” Gray said, turning to his tablet. The Crystal Font moved in on a different target and a flurry of strange looking pulse beams lit up the sky. They appeared jagged, with purple flickers all along the blue lines. He wished Clea had been present to explain what he was looking at.

              They also tore into their enemy though the damage appeared just as minimal as their own. “Olly, coordinate with the Crystal Font and ensure we both use the Protocol Seven to the fullest. I want to finish these guys quick.”