Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (17 page)

“Shit! Where are they?”

“I’ve got them!” Loki announced. “Twenty kilometers ahead, just inside the upper atmosphere.”

“Falcon one, Talon one. Ten seconds out, just below you hiding in the ionization layer. Continue on present course, and do not break until we engage the hostiles.”

“Copy that, Talon one,” Loki responded. “Glad to see you. Continuing on course.” Loki switched off the transmit button and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God that’s over with. Now let’s get back to the ship and let the fighters handle the dirty work, shall we?”

“What’s the matter, Loki?” Josh teased. “You don’t like flying with me anymore?”

“No, not really.”

“Jumpers two and three are landing now,” the flight boss reported to Cameron. “Three and four just jumped in and will be landing in a few minutes.”

“Let’s have them stand off until the first two are cycling out,” Cameron stated. “That deck isn’t set up to be a troop loading facility. I don’t want to tie it up with too much confusion at this point.”

“Yes, sir.”

“
Command, Bravo one! One and two are pinned down in the fields. Two cannot advance. One can move a little using sonics, but we’re going to run out of them before we make our objective. Request close-air support.
”

“Sir, Talon one reports they have engaged the first six enemy fighters pursuing Falcon one. They have already taken out three enemy fighters and are engaged with the other three.”

“How far out is the second wave of fighters?” Cameron asked.

“Two minutes, sir.”

“Launch Talons seven through twelve to intercept the next wave.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How long will it take us to get air support down to Bravo company?”

“Ten minutes,” the flight boss answered.

“That’s too long,” Cameron decided. “Get me Falcon one.”

“Yes, sir,” the comm-operator next to her answered.

“What are you thinking?” the flight boss asked.

“Go ahead, sir,” the comm-operator told her.

“Falcon one, XO.”

“
Go ahead, Commander,
” Loki answered.

“Do you have guns in that ship?”

“
Uh… yes, sir. We’ve got a rail gun in our nose, but I’m afraid to ask why.
”

“
I’m not!
” Josh added over the comms.

“Bravo one and two need air support back at the airfield, and it will take us ten minutes to get a flight down to them.”

“
Well, we can jump back down there in less than a minute, sir,
” Loki stated over the comms, “
but you do realize we are not trained for this sort of thing, right?
”

“Now’s your chance to show us what you’ve got, Josh,” Cameron said, knowing full well that Josh would never let an opportunity like this get away.

“
Command, Talon one,
” Major Prechitt called over the comms. “
I can send three of my flight down to the surface. We can handle the last three on our own.
”

Commander Taylor looked at the flight boss.

“
I can do this, Commander!
” Josh pleaded.

“It will still take Prechitt’s birds at least eight minutes to get down there,” the flight boss admitted.

“Negative, Talon one,” Commander Taylor ordered. “Stay on task.”

“
Talon one copies.
”

Cameron took a deep breath. “Oh my God, I cannot believe I am doing this,” she muttered.

“Neither can I,” the flight boss agreed.

“Falcon one, XO. Jump back to the airfield. Contact Bravo one on arrival and provide air support as needed.”

“
Falcon one copies!
” Josh answered exuberantly.

“Don’t blow up everything, Josh,” Cameron reminded him. “We need most of the stuff down there.”

“
Yes, ma’am,
” Josh answered. “
Don’t blow up the pretty planes.
”

Eight sonic grenades detonated along the row of buildings on Bravo one’s side of the airfield. Just as they had done the last two times, the disorienting effects of the grenades allowed Lieutenant Waddell and his men to advance a bit more before the men defending the airfield would regain their senses and open fire again. The first time, they had lost another two men when the defenders continued firing. The second time, the lieutenant had anticipated their recovery time and had ordered everyone to hit the deck just before the enemy regained their senses and continued their barrage of energy weapons fire.

He was down to twelve men, however, and the sonic grenade trick would only work one last time as they were nearly out of grenades. If they didn’t get air support very soon, they would have to rush the buildings on the next sonic grenade blast and hope for the best. Unfortunately, by the lieutenant’s estimates, rushing them had a high probability of failure.

“
One, two! They’re rolling four more fighters out. If they get in the air, we’re screwed!
”

“Shit!” Lieutenant Waddell cursed. “Command, Bravo two! We’ve got birds lifting off over here! We need that air support now!”

“
Bravo two, Command. Support inbound, arriving momentarily,
” command reported over the comms.

A flash of light appeared to their right out beyond the distant fence line, followed by a thunderous triple-clap as the jump interceptor broke the sound barrier upon its arrival.

The interceptor streaked over the airfield at only ten meters above the ground traveling at twice the speed of sound for Ancot. Just after it arrived, it banked slightly to the right, barely missing the two fighters that were hovering only four meters above the ground as they began their launch cycle. The shock wave created by the interceptor as it rushed past the fighters caused one of them to yaw uncontrollably to port, smashing into the one beside it. Both the fighters fell to the ground and exploded. The other two fighters that had been rolling out just behind the first two crashed into the exploding hulks and were also destroyed.

“
Holy crap!
” Bravo two called over the comms.
“That guy just took out four fighters without firing a single shot!”

“What?” Lieutenant Waddell asked.

“
He just buzzed the birds that were taking off at twice the speed of sound, I think. I lost track of the sonic booms. He knocked all four of them out!
”

“Who the hell was it?”

“
It’s the jump interceptor! Falcon one!
”

“Falcon one, Bravo one!” Lieutenant Waddell called over the comms.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to blow up any pretty planes?” Loki said as the interceptor pulled up and away from the airfield.

“Uh… I may have come in a little too fast,” Josh admitted as he eased the nose up and backed off on the throttles to allow their airspeed to bleed off as they climbed.

“Bravo one, go for Falcon one,” Loki answered.

“
Falcon one, we need rail gun fire along the backside of the buildings on the south side of the airfield. Come in from the east and fire over our heads, twenty degree down angle.
”

“Copy that, Bravo one. We’ll come in from the east and lay down twenty degree fire in thirty seconds,” Loki answered. “You heard that, I’m assuming,” he said to Josh.

“Coming about,” Josh answered as he banked hard and continued to climb, bringing the ship around.

“Everyone get ready,” Lieutenant Waddell yelled out. “As soon as our air support opens up, we charge their position.”

“Bravo one, Falcon one. Inbound on target. Coming in slow. Will hover and fire at twenty down until you call us off. Firing position in ten seconds.”

Lieutenant Waddell looked behind him. Squinting hard, he could barely make out the interceptor against the morning sun as it closed in on their position. He seriously doubted that the enemy even realized they were about to die.

“Five seconds,” Josh reported. “Speed down to one meter per second.”

“Targets acquired through thermal imaging,” Loki announced. “I count twenty warm targets, and I’ve locked them all.”

“In position and hovering,” Josh announced.

“Engaging,” Loki announced, depressing the fire button.

Josh looked out the front of the canopy as rail gun fire erupted from their nose turret. Sparks flew from the sides of the buildings in the distance as the thousands of metal slugs spewing out of their rail guns struck the building at various angles, some of them piercing the metal while others ricocheted off. Bodies fell as blood and tissue splattered in all directions along the building. “Oh fuck!” he gasped. “Jesus! Cease fire, Loki! Cease fire!”

Loki pressed another button to disengage the rail guns, and they fell silent. He looked at his targeting display. All twenty of the thermal images that represented the Ta’Akar defenders were gone. Instead, there were at least three times that many targets, although they were smaller, irregularly shaped, and a little less warm than the original targets. “Original targets are gone,” he reported.

“Yeah, I’ll say,” Josh agreed. “You cut them to pieces.”

“Falcon one, Bravo one. Nice shooting. We’ve got it from here. Go to the opposite side of the airfield and contact Bravo two for instructions.”

“Falcon one copies,” Loki responded calmly. It had all been just like one of the many video games he and Josh had played together over the years.

Josh moved the flight control stick, twisting it to the right and increasing his forward airspeed. The nose of the ship swung to starboard in response and began to climb slightly. “Do yourself a favor, Loki,” Josh warned. “Don’t look down right now.”

“What?”

“Trust me on this,” Josh insisted.

Loki had never heard such a serious tone of voice from Josh. He chose to heed his friend’s warning.

“Commander,” the flight boss began, “the second wave of fighters are turning back. I believe they have figured out our ploy and are returning to protect their base.”

“I guess Falcon one attracted a bit of attention,” she mused. “How long until our second flight intercepts them?”

“Now that they are returning to their base, it will take a few minutes more than we originally estimated to reach them. However, they should still overtake them before they make it back to the airfield.”

“Nevertheless, as soon as Falcon one finishes up down there, have him jump out, just in case. Shooting at ground targets armed with rifles is one thing. Air-to-air combat is quite another.”

“Yes, sir, it is indeed.”

“Sir, Jumpers two and three have departed. Four and five are touching down now.”

“Good,” Cameron said. “We need to get reinforcements down to that airfield as soon as possible.”

The next time Lieutenant Commander Toral opened his eyes, he was being carried into the back of a jump shuttle by four members of his platoon. His abdomen still hurt, but the pain had somehow become bearable. His head was swimming, and his vision kept slipping out of focus. He was covered with something as well. “What’s going on?” he asked in a raspy, strained voice. He realized that his mouth felt quite dry.

“Don’t move, sir,” he heard a voice say.

The lieutenant commander ignored him, turning his head to his left, toward the sound of the voice. He could make out the image of a field medic, a bag of reddish-brown fluid hanging from his shoulder with long tubing coming out of the bottom of the bag.

“You’ve got a bad belly wound, sir,” the medic told him. “You lost a lot of blood. We’re taking you back to the ship for emergency surgery.”

The lieutenant commander realized why his belly didn’t hurt as much. The tubing with the reddish-brown fluid running through it was attached to him. His vision was blurry, and his head was swimming because of the pain medication the medic had undoubtedly given him. He rolled his head to the right, looking up at the man carrying him on that side. “What’s our status?” The man looked down at him as they continued up the ramp and into the shuttle. He was a sergeant. Lieutenant Commander Toral recognized him. He was in charge of the second wave.

“The garrison is secured, sir,” the sergeant assured him.

They reached their position inside the shuttle and placed him on the deck along with the other wounded. As the men carrying him were about to leave, the lieutenant commander grabbed the sergeant’s arm with his free hand. “How many?”

“Twenty-eight dead, thirty-two wounded, sir,” the sergeant answered before pulling away to return to his duties.

The sergeant’s words hit the lieutenant commander like a hard slap in the face. “Twenty-eight men,” he mumbled.

“Go to sleep, sir,” the medic instructed as he pushed another dose of medication into the lieutenant commander’s IV line. “When you wake up, you’ll be in recovery.”

As he fought to hold back the tears for his dead and wounded, he could feel the shuttle begin to lift off. Once again, his vision failed him, and everything went black. As his consciousness faded into darkness, he could hear someone ask “Is he going to make it?” The medic replied “Doubtful.”

* * *

Two Kalibri gunships flew overhead as they patrolled the area of the airfield, keeping an eye out for any combatants that might have escaped capture and could be hiding in the open fields nearby.

“Give me the numbers,” Lieutenant Waddell ordered the sergeant as they walked across the tarmac toward a waiting Kalibri airship.

“Sixty-five dead, twenty-eight from A company, thirty-seven from B. Thirty-two wounded from A, and twelve from B for a total of forty-four wounded. Total strength of A company is one ninety. B company is down to one hundred forty-one.”

“That means we’re down by more than a quarter of our overall strength.”

“Yes, sir. They did not want to give up that airfield.”

“No they did not,” Lieutenant Waddell agreed. “How’s Toral?”

“Pretty bad, I hear. He’s in surgery right now. You know what that means, don’t you?”