Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (47 page)

Again, Jessica hated the subservient role she was forced to play, and it took every ounce of self-control not to break the arm of the officer when his hand reached behind her and squeezed her ass. Instead, she offered no reaction other than a slight smile so as not to raise suspicion.

The officer glanced at the rest of the line, then turned to the door guard and barked a command. As the door opened and the line began to move forward into the final section, Jessica made a mental note to come back later and break the officer’s arm.

* * *

Streams of energy weapons fire spread outward from the gun towers on the palace wall as the Corinari troops attempted to advance on the palace itself. Without any cover, the Corinari were forced into the nearby buildings where they worked their way to the upper floors in order to get better lines of fire. However, the palace guards had little regard for the buildings themselves, and continually blasted away at them, sending debris and sometimes entire walls crumbling to the ground in order to get at the men attempting to hide within. Even those that attempted to fire shoulder-launched rockets from a building several blocks away failed. So thick was the air defense layer that even a rock thrown in anger toward the palace would be obliterated by the rapid-fire, mini, air defense turrets located strategically along the palace walls. Within minutes of the attack, it had become apparent that, although the empire’s original defense planners cared little about protecting the city of Answari itself, they cared deeply about protecting the palace against attack. It was also apparent that the emperor did not trust his own subjects that surrounded him on a daily basis.

Everything they threw at the palace was intercepted. Only direct energy weapons fire made it through, and the walls of the palace had been designed to resist such weapons. The Corinari had lost one hundred men in the first ten minutes of the attack, and the situation did not appear to be improving. Six fighters had been lost attempting to destroy the palace’s anti-aircraft defenses, and the attack had only resulted in the destruction of one of the palace’s may guns. Captain Waddell knew he dared not commit any of his close air support Kalibri airships to the attack lest he lose them all in short order. However, at the current rate of attrition, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his entire invasion force became combat-ineffective. The most frustrating aspect of it all was the knowledge that they were not fighting and dying in order to capture the palace, but rather to convince its defenders that such was their intent, all in the name of diversion.

Major Prechitt studied the holographic map of the airspace surrounding the greater Answari area, specifically the air battle that was just concluding on the outskirts of the city itself. A flight of twenty-five of his fighters configured for atmospheric operations had been sent down to deal with the incoming threat to the ground forces in Answari. It had been more difficult to obtain air-superiority over the capital city, and he was not about to lose it.

Fortunately, his fighters had been successful in their interception efforts, but not without losses. Nearly a third of their numbers—eight fighters—had been lost. However, the enemy had lost more than twice as many and had been forced to retreat for the time being. It was a victory, but a small one at best. In another forty minutes, a second wave of fighters from a more distant airbase would challenge their control of Answari airspace. Twenty minutes after that, a third wave would do the same. They might successfully repel the second attack, and maybe even the third. However, the Ta’Akar had hundreds of fighters spread out over a dozen airbases around the planet, and the Corinari had only thirty-eight atmospheric fighters left at their disposal. He, too, was fighting a war of attrition, and it was one he would undoubtedly lose if asked to continue at length.

“We have successfully repelled the first wave,” the flight operations officer reported triumphantly.

“Yes, we have,” Major Prechitt acknowledged, “but let’s not get too happy, not just yet. This is far from over, Lieutenant.”

“Of course, sir. Your orders?”

“Has the first group finished refueling?”

“Yes, sir. They are launching now.”

“Have them make planetfall and return to Answari. They are to stage on the ground outside of the city, away from all possible threats, to conserve fuel until needed.”

“I apologize, sir, but I do not understand.”

“We must get all of our atmospheric fighters refueled and back down to the surface, ready to fight, as the Aurora must return to action elsewhere in the Takaran system. Therefore, our fighters must conserve fuel by remaining on the ground until needed. We do not know when we will be able to return.”

“Of course, sir. I will instruct them to reserve enough fuel to return to orbit.”

“If possible, yes,” the major added. He knew full well that would not likely be the case.

* * *

“
C2, Falcon,
” Loki’s voice called over the speakers.

“Falcon, go for C2,” Cameron answered. Despite the fact that she had comm-techs to handle such matters, she preferred to get the information directly.

“
C2, Falcon. The first wave of imperial fighters was successfully intercepted. However, we lost eight fighters.
”

“Anyone eject?”

“
Unknown, sir. They’re probably maintaining comm silence for now. Not a bad idea, considering.
”

“And the second wave?”

“
Still thirty minutes out. Major Prechitt had all remaining thirty-eight atmospheric fighters refueled and ordered them parked on the surface for now to save fuel. I think he’s worried that the Aurora won’t get back before his birds run dry.
”

“What about the jumpers?” Cameron asked. “We expected them back by now.”

“
Captain is using them to funnel additional medical supplies down to the staging area. Captain Waddell’s forces are taking heavy casualties now that they’re attacking the palace directly. That place is heavily fortified. Apparently, he’s getting wounded civilians as well as a few imperial troops along with his own wounded. The shuttles are going to take our wounded back to the Aurora before she jumps out to start engaging ships again. I suspect the shuttles will become available after that.
”

“What about air support? Are they able to help out with the palace?” Cameron asked.

“They lost four fighters trying and couldn’t even get close. The palace has a lot of triple-A; makes it hard. Besides, the major doesn’t want to waste the fuel as he’s saving it for the intercepts coming up. The Kalibris are up and running, but they’re being used more for rearguard protection as smaller imperial units try to flank our guys. But they’re fusion-electric and can run for months.”

“Falcon, C2 copies. How are your fuel levels?”

“
C2, Falcon. We’re good,
” Loki answered. “
We’ve just topped off, and we don’t burn much jumping around
—
only when we go down into the atmosphere.
”

“Very well, jump back to the Aurora and verify her next engagement zone,” Cameron ordered. “After that, recon the shipyards again. I want to know the status of the Avendahl, as well as those fighters your spotted last time.”

“
C2, Falcon copies. Will verify Aurora’s next target, recon shipyards, and return. Falcon out.
”

“Well, we’re certainly neck deep now, aren’t we?” Cameron stated. “Are you getting a data stream?”

“Yes, putting it up now,” Ensign Yosef reported. The holographic view floating above the plotting table changed, its information having been updated.

“He wasn’t kidding about the heavy losses,” Cameron admitted. She watched as one of several side videos played in midair next to the main battle map. She saw images of fighters getting blown out of the sky as they attempted to make high-speed attack passes, followed by images of heavy gunners and Corinari attempting to fire shoulder-launched rockets, all being gunned down by heavy energy weapons fire coming from the palace walls. “Jesus, do these men even know this is a diversionary action?” she asked. She knew they did, but she also knew that the Corinari were too proud to hold back. They would take the fight to the palace as if they meant to topple her walls by themselves.

* * *

“We’re running out of time,” Nathan told Captain Waddell over the comms. “We need to get back out there and continue running interference against those warships, or your situation down there is going to get a lot worse.”

“Understood, sir,”
Captain Waddell answered.
“We should be okay until you return. Just don’t be gone too long.”

“We’ll be back as quick as we can. Meanwhile, the shuttles are on their way back down to you. We put as much aviation fuel as possible in them for your fighters, but it’s only enough to completely refuel maybe six or seven of them at best.”

“Thank you, Captain. We transferred all the remaining fuel from the heavy cargo shuttles into one. The three empty shuttles are being used as medical aid stations right now.”

“Good luck to you, Captain,” Nathan said. “Aurora out.” Nathan tapped his comm-set again to place another call. “Cheng, Captain.”

“Captain, go for Cheng,”
Vladimir’s voice answered.

“How are we doing?”

“Number two heat exchanger is back online, but it is only running at sixty-two percent capacity.”

“Will that be enough?”

“Da, as long as we do not lose more.”

“Good work.” Nathan switched off his comm-set and turned his attention to the tactical display on the main view screen. “Mister Navashee, how long until that group of fighters coming in from the shipyards reaches Takara?”

“Eighty-two minutes, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Very well. Mister Riley, new jump plot. I want to be one light minute astern of targets six and seven. Once we verify their position and course, I intend to run another stern attack, just as we did with those first two frigates.”

“Aye, captain,” Mister Riley answered.

“Helm,” Nathan continued, “take us out of orbit and in the general direction of targets four and five. Tactical, how are we loaded?”

“Conventional warheads in tubes one, two, and five. Fixed yield nukes in tubes three, four, and six,” Mister Randeen reported. “We still have eight working mini rail guns with eighty percent of our ammo load and seventy-nine ship-to-ship missiles at our disposal.”

“Very well.”

“Jump plotted and locked, Captain,” Mister Riley reported.

“Jump when ready,” Nathan ordered.

Mister Riley watched the ships position on the navigational display, as well as the countdown timer for their arrival at the jump point. Although his jump plot was calculated based on jumping from a certain point in space and at a certain speed on the proper course, the effect of jumping a few seconds too early or too late would make little difference in their arrival point, especially at the slower speed they were traveling now. Still, he preferred to keep it as accurate as possible, saving the ‘seat of your pants’ stuff, as the captain called it, for those moments when there was no other choice.

Seconds later, the jump flash once again washed through the Aurora’s bridge, subdued just enough to protect the bridge crew’s vision by the filters built into the main view screen.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Position verified,” Mister Navashee reported. “We are one light minute directly astern of the target. However, the target has changed, sir.”

“Changed how?” Nathan asked.

“It’s no longer showing as two ships, Captain—only one.”

“Mister Navashee is correct, sir,” Mister Randeen agreed. “I’m only seeing one contact as well, but it doesn’t match anything in our database. Wait, one moment. I’m getting matches, Captain.”

“Matches?” Nathan wondered. “I thought you said it was one contact.”

“It’s showing as one contact, but it has parameters matching two different ships—an imperial cruiser and a frigate.” Mister Randeen looked at the captain. “Sir, I think it’s the same two ships, targets four and five, only docked together.”

“Docked?” It seemed an odd thing for two ships to do during a war, but then again, these two ships had not yet received word of the battle raging in the heart of their system. “How long until those ships receive the distress call from Answari?”

“Two and a half minutes, sir,” Mister Navashee answered.

“Captain,” Mister Willard interrupted, “they can’t power up their shields while they’re docked. In fact, they can’t power them up until both ships are at least one hundred meters apart. If they attempt to raise their shields before then, their shield energy will jump between ships and overload the emitters on both ships.”

“So if we attack them while they’re docked, they’ll either have to wait to power up their shields, by which time it will be too late, or they’ll power them up anyway and fry their own shields, allowing us to attack after their shields have completely failed.” Nathan smiled, not believing his luck. “How long will it take them to move apart enough to activate their shields safely?” Nathan asked.

“Assuming they uncouple and begin thrusting the moment they see us, maybe thirty seconds,” Mister Chiles answered.

“Mister Riley, new jump plot. Put us one kilometer astern of the target.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Mister Randeen, stand by to snapshot tube one.”

“The nuke, sir?”

“Yes, the nuke. Better to use one nuke than two conventional torpedoes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We’ll target the cruiser. We’ll fire, then jump ahead one kilometer to watch the fireworks. If necessary, we’ll fire from the stern tubes as well.”

“Yes, sir,” Mister Randeen answered.

“Mister Riley, did Doctor Sorenson get those overrides in place?”

“Yes, sir,” the navigator answered. “We can jump up to five kilometers using a pre-written jump algorithm.”