Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (11 page)

The debris outside suddenly lit up, reflecting a far-off light source. It wasn’t from any natural light source, Nash was sure of that. They were too far out from Tau Ceti’s sun. It was coming from a ship…
But from whose ship?
He twisted his torso, struggling to look behind him to see where the light was coming from, but he couldn’t catch a clear view.

Suddenly, the source of light flew right past him, not more than fifty meters away.

“Hahaaaa!” he cried out triumphantly as he saw Scout Two coast by. He pounded on the window and waved his glow stick, but something was wrong. Their engines were burning at considerable power. They were accelerating, and turning hard, and their laser turrets were rotating to point aft.

Then they began to fire.

Something streaked past him, striking a nearby piece of debris and sending it spinning toward him. “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” He braced himself as the wreckage slammed into the maintenance crawler, causing it to tumble and spin at a slow rate. Then he saw them. Four shuttles… Black hulls with broad red bands along prominent edges… And guns, lots of them, all firing at Scout Two as it turned hard to starboard and pitched up, returning fire.

A sick feeling hit Nash in the pit of his stomach as the maintenance pod continued to rotate and spin. He spotted a large section of the hull, the starboard side, the portion forward of the propulsion section… Right where the starboard jump field generator was located.
Oh God, at least one of them is still intact.

“Four of them to starboard!” Ensign Marka reported. “They’re firing rail guns!” he added as the ship shook from the impacts.

“I kinda figured that much out, Weedge,” Captain Roselle said as he brought the ship around. “Garza! Shugart! Target every piece of debris large enough to hold even part of a jump field generator!”

“What about those attack shuttles?” Sergeant Garza replied.

“You let me worry about those fucking shuttles, Flash. You just make sure there’s nothing left for them to recover!”

“Plasma cannons are charged and ready!” Lieutenant Oliver reported.

The ship shook violently as more rail gun slugs tore into their outer hull.

“We’re venting propellant!” the lieutenant reported. “Starboard side! No fires!”

“I’ll have tubes on the first one in five seconds,” Captain Roselle assured them. “Be ready with that escape jump, Commander.”

“I’ve got a firing line!” the lieutenant announced.

“Let them have it, Ollie!” the captain ordered.

“Firing forward tubes!” the lieutenant replied.

“Direct hit!” Ensign Marka reported from Scout Two’s sensor station. “Target destroyed!”

The ship shook even more violently as rail gun slugs peppered the outside of the scout ship, walking across the hull in multiple directions and creating a deafening rumble.

“Fuck! The other three have got us locked!” Ensign Marka warned.

“Escape jump!” the captain ordered.

“Jumping!” the commander replied. “Jump complete.”

“Coming back around,” the captain announced. “Gunners, when we jump back in, target the enemy ships first, get them to turn off of us to avoid your fire. When they do, switch to debris and keep blasting away until there’s nothing bigger than your fist out there!”

“New jump line is one four seven by two one, by four one,” Commander Ellison advised. “Maintain your rate of turn and add four degrees down relative.”

“Mas!” the captain barked as he pushed their nose down four degrees and continued turning. “Send word to the Aurora!”

“Our last two jump comm drones are down, Captain!” the communications tech replied. “They took a beating on that last barrage.”

“What about point-to-point?” the captain asked.

“At this distance, it will take at least five minutes for the signal to reach them, sir.”

“That’ll have to do.”

“Jump line in five seconds,” the commander said. “Think we can last five minutes?”

“Fuck yeah,” Roselle replied confidently.

Captain Nash watched in frustration as three Jung attack shuttles moved into position around his ship’s debris field. He twisted and turned, straining to keep his eye on the events around him within the cramped confines of the tumbling maintenance crawler.

A blue-white flash of light appeared in the distance to his right. A few seconds later, two bolts of red-orange plasma energy streaked toward the debris field from the distant speck that was Scout Two. One of the bolts flew past, missing everything, but the second bolt found one of the Jung attack shuttles, landing a direct hit.

“Yes!” Nash cheered in excitement, as secondary explosions from the damaged enemy shuttle finished the job. “Give’m hell, Roselle!” Captain Nash’s eyes squinted as brilliant red lights flashed repeatedly from four evenly spaced points on Scout Two’s enlarging hull. Pieces of debris exploded into smaller bits. “Oh fuck,” he gasped in horror as he realized Roselle’s plan. “No, no, no!”

The remaining two attack shuttles turned and accelerated, firing their rail gun turrets at Scout Two as it turned and jumped away.

“Jesus, I gotta get this thing working!” Nash shouted urgently to himself as he started searching frantically for the cause of the maintenance crawler’s lack of electrical power. He continued to glance out the window every now and then, noticing the two shuttles had moved back into the debris field and were approaching one of the larger pieces of rubble.
They’re trying to recover a jump field generator,
he realized.
How much did you tell them, Donny?

Another jump flash, this time from his left.
They’re making another attack run
, he realized. Both shuttles began to accelerate and maneuver erratically, as a pair of red-orange bolts of plasma energy streaked by, barely missing them. One of the shuttles opened fire on the approaching scout ship, the other shuttle disappeared as it transitioned into FTL flight. More flashes of bright red light appeared on the hull of the approaching scout ship and more debris started exploding around him. “No!” he cried out in desperation, fearing that the next bolt of laser energy from Scout Two’s turrets would find his crawler and end his struggle to survive. The larger piece of debris, the one containing the starboard jump field generator, exploded into hundreds of smaller pieces. “Yes!” he cried out.
One down, one to go,
he thought as he continued to try to determine the cause of his crawler’s electrical failure. He caught a glimpse of the other shuttle coming out of FTL in the distance, entering in from Scout Two’s port side. It opened fire as Scout Two turned away. Blue-white light quickly enveloped the scout ship, but it did not jump. Instead, its jump fields flickered sporadically in several places, then faded away without ever flashing.

“NO!”

“Negative on the jump!” Commander Ellison reported.

“Hull breaches! Aft of bulkhead four, top side!” Lieutenant Oliver declared. “Reactors three and four are offline! Reactor two is at half power!”

“Port jump field generator is down!” the commander added.

“Son of a bitch!” Captain Roselle exclaimed as he struggled to control the ship. “I’ve got no lateral controls!”

“Accelerators on the port drive are fluctuating! I’ve got to shut her down or the whole damn thing will fry!” Lieutenant Oliver continued.

“They’re closing in on us!” Ensign Marka warned. “They’re firing!”

The ship lurched to one side, shaking with the impact of the rail gun rounds slamming into their hull.

“They’re coming at us from both sides!” Ensign Marka exclaimed. “They’re targeting our forward section!”

“I’ve lost all weapons!” Sergeant Shugart reported.

“Mine are dead too!” Sergeant Garza added in frustration.

More rail gun rounds smashed into them, reverberating through the hull.

“Breaches, topside!” Lieutenant Oliver reported. “Right above us! Christ! They’ve taken out our boarding hatch! All pressure in the topside airlock is gone! I’m losing number two reactor!”

“Everyone in ops, head for your tubes and punch out!” Captain Roselle ordered.

“We can still hold her…”

“They’re not trying to take us out,” Roselle interrupted, “they’re trying to
take
us. That’s why they’re only targeting the forward section now. Kill us and take the prize.” Roselle fired his last remaining operational thrusters. “Well, fuck that!”

“What are you doing?” the commander wondered.

“Putting us into a tumbling spin,” Roselle replied. “Mas! Send a mayday and then get aft and punch out. That goes for everyone. We’re abandoning ship.”

“I’ll set up the self-destruct on the jump field generators on a one minute delay!” Lieutenant Oliver exclaimed. “Just punch the button on your way aft, Captain!”

“Got it!” Roselle looked over at Commander Ellison and said in an urgent voice. “Go Marty, make sure they get out.”

The commander looked back at his captain with worry. “You
are
coming, right Gil?”

“Hell yes!” Roselle replied emphatically. “Don’t worry, I’m not the
go down with the ship
type.”

“Mayday is broadcasting,” Ensign Jullen reported. “All channels, omni-directional. I’m headed aft!”

“
Garza, ejecting!
” the sergeant announced over the comms from his pod.

“
Shugart, ejecting!
”

“
Tucker, punching out!
”

“Self-destruct is set!” Lieutenant Oliver reported. “Head aft!”

Captain Roselle continued adding thrust in an attempt to make his ship’s tumbling rotation as wild as possible. More rail gun rounds slammed into them, zigzagging their way across the forward section and midship.
They’re targeting midship
, he realized. He added more thrust to make them tumble more end-over-end, making the middle of the ship more difficult to target.

“
Marka, ejecting!
”

More rounds blasted against the ship, nearly knocking Roselle out of his seat. A shrill tearing sound filled his ears, followed by a rush of escaping air. He felt a terrible sucking force, pulling him deeper into his seat. There was an explosion, followed by more shredding noises. He looked down at the self-destruct interface on the center pedestal. He punched the override, canceling the delay timer. “Sorry, guys,” he muttered as he pressed the detonation button.

Another explosion. The captain felt himself tossed to one side, his restraints tearing away from the seat. He felt an excruciating pain in his left shoulder. The air continued to be sucked out of the cockpit. There was a loud clang of metal striking metal as the hatch at the back of the cockpit automatically closed and the whoosh of escaping air suddenly stopped. Another explosion caused the cockpit to spin wildly. The artificial gravity ceased to function, and Roselle found himself free-floating, bouncing off the consoles and bulkheads within the wildly spinning cabin. More explosions…rail gun rounds slamming into the hull…his head striking something hard as one last thought echoed in his mind…

At least they won’t get my jump drive
.

* * *

“I’m barely getting anything from teams Two, Four, and Six,” Ensign Souza told the captain. “What little I am getting sounds like
a slaughter.”

“Us or them?” Nathan wondered.

“Us, sir.”

“Play back what you’ve got.”

The overhead speakers crackled with broken, garbled transmissions, filled with bursts of static and the sound of energy weapons fire in the background. “
Four…check…heavy fire…I’m down to…and Lankin! We’re…Six! We can’t hold…back! Fall…copy? Fu… no way to get back to…hold at…over! … too many of them! … Six! Say ag… Six! … read me? Six! … Four…contact with Six! … fall back to…”

The playback ceased. Nathan looked at Ensign Souza. “Is that it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sounds to me like they were being overrun,” Jessica said.

“How long ago was that transmission?” Nathan asked.

“Two minutes, sir,” the ensign replied. “Nothing else since.”

Nathan sighed. “Let Telles know that we’ve lost all contact with the aft teams.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Captain, if they don’t capture engineering and main power…” Jessica began to say.

“…It won’t do any good to capture command and control,” Nathan finished for her. “I know.”

“Multiple contacts!” Mister Navashee reported. “They’re launching more attack shuttles, Captain. Four of them, accelerating smartly.”

“Comms, order Falcon Four to pursue and engage!”

“
Aurora, Falcon Four copies,
” Loki replied as he punched in a jump.

“Coming to two four seven, three down,” Josh announced as he brought the interceptor into a hard left turn and pitched their nose down slightly.

“You read my mind.” Loki finished entering the jump coordinates, and then locked in the jump. “Jumping in three……”

“On course and speed,” Josh announced.

“Jumping.”

The Falcon’s canopy became opaque for a moment, protecting them from the brilliant flash of the jump, then cleared a moment later.

“Jump complete,” Loki reported. “Four targets, dead ahead, five hundred meters. Locking missiles on the closest two. Firing two!”

Josh peeked up over his forward console at the two glowing white nozzles on the tails of the missiles as they sped away and quickly disappeared.

“Their mass is changing,” Loki added. “They’re going to FTL. Remotely detonating lead missile.”

“What? Why the hell would…”

A yellow flash of light appeared ahead of them.

“Yes! Impact in three……two……one……”

Another flash of yellow appeared in the distance directly ahead of their flight path, followed by an even bigger flash of yellow, orange, and then red, all of which disappeared a second later.

“What the hell just happened?” Josh asked.

“The EM pulse from the missile detonation fucked up the closest ship’s FTL fields!” Loki explained with excitement. “That bought the second missile just enough time to catch him before he could rebuild his fields and slip away.”

“Damn,” Josh exclaimed. “That’s some serious tactical warfare shit right there!”

“
Falcon Four, Aurora. Track and pursue remaining shuttles if possible. Captain wants to know where they’re going,
” Ensign Souza ordered over the comms.

“Aurora, Falcon Four, Track and pursue the bad guys. We’ll keep you updated,” Loki replied. “Parallel their last course and speed, while I dial up a jump.”

“Got it.”

“At the speed they were going when they went to FTL, if we jump ahead in fifteen light-second increments, we should be able to tail them without them ever detecting us.”

“Like I said, some serious thinking going on back there.”

Loki smiled. “Jumping in three…”