Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (11 page)

“Captain on deck!” the guard announced as Nathan, Cameron, and Jessica entered the Aurora’s flight operations center. The room was buzzing with activity as a full staff struggled to coordinate the movement of all the additional incoming spacecraft while still maintaining barrier patrols. In addition, Major Prechitt had wisely taken control of the six jump shuttles that Corinari command had been using as an early warning network, maintaining a watch for any incoming FTL ships. The last thing they needed was another Ta’Akar warship wandering in unannounced.

Tug and Mister Dumar were already at the center planning table as Nathan and the others moved toward the center of the room.

“What have you got, Tug?” Nathan asked, noticing the aerial views of a planetary surface that Tug, Dumar, and Major Prechitt were examining.

“It’s the garrison on Ancot,” Tug said. “Jalea has informed me that the garrison has not been at full staffing for several years now.”

“Why is that?” Jessica asked.

“The people of Ancot have a lucrative arrangement with the Ta’Akar to provide them with food,” Mister Dumar explained. “Although they have no love for the Ta’Akar, their lives have improved somewhat since the occupation.”

“For this reason, Ancot has never been a decent recruiting environment for the Karuzari,” Tug added.

“Some years back, as the Karuzari became a greater threat to the empire, the staffing levels at the garrison were probably reduced as the people of Ancot posed little threat,” Dumar continued.

“Jalea reports that, although the garrison is not fully staffed, her armory is still quite full. In addition, there are still more than fifty interceptors based on Ancot, most of which are configured for space combat operations. However, due to the decreased staffing levels, at least half of them are locked down in storage and would be unable to respond to an attack on short notice.”

“So you think we should launch an attack on this garrison?” Nathan surmised.

“Indeed,” Tug stated. “Jalea and her people can take out the power station just east of the garrison. This will leave it without sufficient power to use any of its energy based defenses.”

“No shields and no energy cannons,” Jessica stated.

“Precisely,” Tug confirmed.

“What about the airfield?” Cameron wondered. “There’s still, what, twenty or more interceptors they could scramble? That would put our ships one to one with theirs.”

“Not my favorite odds,” Major Prechitt stated, “but it is better than our last encounter.”

“I may be able to improve those odds somewhat,” Tug offered. “If I can jump into the atmosphere in a position to strike before they detect the Aurora’s arrival, I should be able to destroy most, if not all, of their ready-line.”

“The airbase has its own reactor,” Dumar warned. “It will only take them seconds to lock onto you with their own defenses, and your interceptor no longer has shields. A single hit from their energy cannons would obliterate you.”

“Then I will only take seconds to deliver my weapons, then jump away.”

“That is not possible,” Dumar objected. “It will take at least five to ten seconds for a Corinairan cruise missile to obtain a target lock. The Ta’Akar did not allow them to have more sophisticated weapons for this very reason.”

“All the more reason for us to take them down and get our hands on better weapons,” Jessica commented.

“Those turrets,” Major Prechitt wondered as he examined the images of the airfield’s defenses, “are they mounted on elevated pedestals?”

“Yes, they are,” Mister Dumar said. “There is a considerable amount of heat generated each time they fire. They elevate them to avoid scorching anyone or anything around them.”

“And they are anti-aircraft batteries?” the major asked.

“Yes.”

“Which means they don’t shoot down, toward the ground, I mean,” Major Prechitt stated.

“No, they do not,” Dumar confirmed. “But they are only elevated by ten meters, twelve at the most.”

“The land is pretty flat there,” Major Prechitt commented. “Maybe you could approach eight meters above the surface, just under their firing lines.”

Tug took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Perhaps, but I do not know that my reflexes are adequate for such a task,” he admitted. “I am not the young man I once was.”

“What about you,” Nathan asked the major, “or one of your pilots?”

“None of us has ever even sat in that cockpit, let alone flown her, sir. It would be no problem in one of our interceptors using the auto-flight tied into the terrain following sensors. But since we can’t jump in, we’d be taken down before we got anywhere near them.”

“I don’t suppose your interceptor has auto-flight and terrain following sensors,” Nathan stated.

Tug shook his head. “It is designed for deep space patrol and intercepts, not for skimming along the surface of a planet.” Tug’s expression changed as an idea hit him. “There is one person who might be able to do it.”

Nathan looked at Tug. “I know just who you mean. Start working up a mission plan. I’ll break the news to him.”

“The flight will require a crew of two,” Tug reminded him.

“Then I’ll talk to both of them,” Nathan corrected himself. “Meanwhile, you guys get busy. We need to make this happen as soon as possible.”

* * *

“You want us to what?” Loki asked.

Nathan was a bit surprised by Loki’s response. He had expected some reluctance, but not this much. “It sounds a lot more dangerous than it really is,” Nathan assured him, leaning forward on his desk.

“You have ridden with Josh before, right?” Loki asked. “That alone is dangerous enough.”

“Tug believes Josh can handle it,” Nathan stated.

“It’s not like we haven’t flown that low before, Loki,” Josh insisted.

“That was in a harvester, Josh. It’s a bit slower than an interceptor.”

“No worries,” Josh assured him. “I’ve got that bird dialed in.”

“Don’t forget; they’ll be shooting at us this time,” Loki reminded him.

“They were shooting at us last time.”

“Those were snipers, Josh, not anti-aircraft plasma cannons. The slightest updraft could cause us to pop up into their line of fire. They’d smoke us with a single shot.”

“Not gonna happen, Loki,” Josh insisted. “That ship may not have auto-flight like the newer ships, but it can hold a course true as can be with no effort at all. We’ll be fine.”

“Look,” Nathan interrupted, “I’m not going to order you to do this. I can get someone else to ride second seat.”

“I’d really rather have Loki sitting behind me, sir,” Josh insisted. “Can’t you just order him to go?”

“No, I can’t, Josh. Not this time. Not for something like this.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t as dangerous as it sounds,” Loki said.

“I may have understated the risk a bit,” Nathan admitted.

“Come on, Loki,” Josh cajoled. “It’ll be fun.”

“You’ve always had a really strange idea of what fun is,” Loki commented.

“Jumping in only eight meters off the deck, skimming the weeds at half the speed of sound and then launching a weapon before jumping out again… how is that not fun?”

Nathan smiled, laughing to himself. Josh did tend to have a twisted sense of adventure at times. He often wondered how the little guy had survived to reach adulthood. “I’ll get someone else to ride shotgun,” Nathan decided.

“Oh, come on, Loki,” Josh pleaded.

“I never said I wouldn’t do it,” Loki reminded them both. “I don’t like it, but I will do it.”

“Thattaboy, Loki!” Josh exclaimed, slapping him on the back so hard it caused Loki to take a step forward.

“What choice did I have?” Loki said. “Without me there, you’d probably jump into the middle of a tavern or something.”

“Thank you, Loki,” Nathan stated. “Now I suggest the two of you get some chow and then head for flight ops. You’re going to need to fly some practice runs across the surface of Corinair to prepare for your mission.”

“How soon is this mission taking place?” Loki wondered.

“I suggest you eat fast,” Nathan told him.

“All right then,” Josh stated, “let’s go get something to eat.” The two of them began to exit the ready room. “Hey, do we get to order something special, like our last meal or something?”

Loki did not look amused. “Very funny, Josh. Very funny.”

Nathan tapped his comm-panel on his desk. “CAG, Captain.”

A moment later Major Prechitt answered. “
This is the CAG. Go ahead, sir.
”

“Get Tug’s interceptor ready for launch. And pick out some terrain on Corinair that resembles that around the airfield on Ancot to use as a warm up. Your flight crew will be there in about thirty minutes.”

“
Yes, sir.
”

Nathan leaned back in his chair. Every shot he had fired until now had been in defense of his ship or his allies. Even though he had fired first in the previous battle, it had still been in the defense of the Darvano system that had just declared its freedom from the Ta’Akar Empire. Now, he would not be acting defensively. He was going on the offensive. He was going to start a war. What surprised him most was that it seemed too easy a thing for him to do.

* * *

“Commander,” Nathan said.

Cameron nodded and pulled out a small drawer in the table to access controls for the command briefing room’s tabletop holographic display system. The room darkened slightly as a holographic representation of a binary star system appeared in the air above the table. Commander Taylor began describing the details of the image, pointing to its components as she discussed them. “This is Mellabore, a binary star system that is analogous to the Alpha Centauri system back in the core. Its two stars are Savoy, a G-type primary similar to Sol, and Darvano which, while also a G-type star, is a bit smaller.” Cameron manipulated the controls for the display, causing the image to zoom in on the primary star and forcing its secondary, Darvano, to slide out of the image. “Savoy has four rocky inner worlds and one massive gas-giant, Deikon. The fourth world, Ancot, is its only inhabited world.”

“As most of you know,” Nathan began, “the Karuzari intelligence cell on Savoy has informed us that the garrison and the nearby airfield are understaffed and not well defended.”

“Why is that?” Lieutenant Waddell asked.

“The successes achieved by the Karuzari over the last decade have caused a significant strain on the empire’s resources,” Tug explained with obvious pride. “Savoy has always been the most willing member of the empire, as the Takarans purchase the majority of their food from Savoy farms. It is one of the few worlds that has flourished under imperial rule.”

“Intelligence also reports that there are large caches of energy weapons, power packs, and other munitions stored at the garrison,” Nathan continued. “In addition, the airfield has approximately fifty interceptors, most configured for space intercepts and half of which are in storage and are not capable of immediate response.”

“Sir,” Lieutenant Waddell interrupted, “while I’m sure that those additional fighters would be most helpful, we have more than enough weapons to arm our own forces.”

“Perhaps,” Nathan agreed, “but doesn’t the empire restrict the effectiveness of your weaponry to some extent in order to ensure their own superiority?”

“That is correct,” Lieutenant Waddell admitted. “However, that is exactly why the Corinari train so hard. We believe that a well trained, well practiced soldier, even when armed with inferior weaponry, can still prevail. A point which I believe we demonstrated during the boarding of the Loranoi.”

The statement, although logical, struck Nathan as somewhat ironic, as his ship and her small crew were the exact opposite of the Corinari. Their ability to survive so far had been largely due to their jump drive. On the other hand, the rest of their weaponry was inferior to that of the Ta’Akar—perhaps even more so than that of the Corinari.

“Just imagine what your men could do with weapons of equal strength,” Jessica pointed out.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” the lieutenant assured her. “I’m just not sure the capture of such weapons is worth the risk at this time.”

“I would be inclined to agree with you, Lieutenant,” Nathan said, “if this were to be solely a surface engagement. However, those fighters, as well as whatever ordnance that goes along with them, will be of considerable use in either a space battle or in support of a surface engagement. Therefore, I consider it to be worth the risk. And that requires going after both targets.”

“Assuming we are successful, do we even have the pilots?” the lieutenant asked.

“Of our original twenty-four deep space interceptors, sixteen of them are currently operational,” Major Prechitt explained. “Four were lost in battle, and four more are down for repairs. We also have at least thirty interceptors configured for orbital and atmospheric missions coming up from the surface as pilots report in. So far, we only have four pilots without spacecraft to fly, but we are hoping that more pilots will check in over the next few hours as the call to report continues to spread.”

“So we may end up with ships without pilots?” Lieutenant Waddell said.

“Maybe,” Nathan admitted, “but it’s better to have the extra ships, especially ones that are configured for deep space combat missions.”

“Indeed, sir,” Major Prechitt agreed.

“We are doing this, people,” Nathan reminded everyone, although his statement was aimed at Lieutenant Waddell more than any of the others in the briefing room. Had he been one of his original crew, he might have dressed the lieutenant down a bit. However, as he was a member of the Corinari, he would leave that decision to Major Prechitt, who was currently in command of all Corinari forces both on the Aurora and on the surface of Corinair. Nathan gestured to Commander Taylor to continue her presentation.

“The plan is to launch a simultaneous assault on five separate targets,” Cameron explained. “The first target is the comm-drone platform out here, just beyond the orbit of Deikon. Mister Tugwell and Mister Dumar will perform an EVA and sabotage the platform to prevent any outgoing communications to Ta’Akar command.