Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation (25 page)

“Keep your eye on them, Mister Navashee,” Nathan said. “I want to know the moment one of them goes to FTL again.”

“Yes, sir.”

“They’re going to keep cutting us off and forcing us to engage them on their terms. They’re trying to get us to use up what they
think
is the last of our jump charge.” Nathan smiled as he tapped his comm-set. “Damage report.”

“
Outer hull damage all across our forward section,
” Master Chief Montrose answered over the comm-set. “
The inner hull is still intact. We also lost two forward rail guns.
”

“They’re trying to whittle down our point-defenses,” Mister Randeen surmised.

“How about our jump drive, Master Chief?” Nathan asked.

“
All emitters are good. Jump drive is still online.
”

“Casualties?”

“
None yet. Bumps and bruises mostly
.”

“Very well,” Nathan said, tapping his comm-set again.

“Captain, I can’t find the cruiser,” Mister Navashee reported from the sensor station. “He may have gone to FTL.”

“What’s our current speed?” Nathan wondered.

“Just passing fifteen thousand kilometers per second,” Mister Riley reported.

“Continue full burn,” Nathan ordered. “We need them to keep believing that we’re making a sub-light run for it.”

“Captain, soon we’ll be moving faster than what we believe to be the top speed of the Jung’s ship-to-ship missiles. At that point, they’ll have no choice but to engage us head on.”

“It might sell it a bit more if we keep zigzagging intermittently,” the navigator said.

“Good thinking, Mister Riley,” Nathan said. “The harder it is for them to cut us off, the more it looks like we’re actually trying to escape and not just trying to lead them away from the Celestia. Good thinking indeed. Feel free to alter course at will, including our relative angle. Just keep us in the same general direction. If nothing else, it will keep them from coming out of FTL directly in our path like the last time.”

* * *

Josh was instantly thrown forward, his restraints digging into his shoulders as the Falcon’s jump flash subsided and the interceptor found itself in atmospheric flight.

“
Jump complete!
” Loki called from the back seat of the Falcon’s cockpit.

“No shit!” Josh declared as he struggled to gain control of the interceptor.

“
Three hundred meters and falling fast!
” Loki reported. “
Forward velocity: fifty meters per second!
”

Josh slammed the lift thrust throttles all the way forward, and the Falcon’s four lift turbines screamed to life. The ship’s rapid descent stopped abruptly, pushing them both down in their seats with great force. “Lift turbines at max power!” Josh grabbed the main atmospheric propulsion turbine throttles and started easing them forward. “Come, baby. Time to fly like a birdie.”

“
Multiple contacts!
” Loki announced.

“That was my next question.”

“
All around us! Closest contacts are two minutes out and closing.
”

“Interceptors?” Josh asked.

“
Not fast enough. Probably shuttles. Maybe combat landers or troop carriers.
” Loki expanded his scan range, then refocused on another group of contacts farther out. “
Fast movers are coming as well. Seven minutes out.
”

Josh felt his flight controls becoming easier to move as more air began to flow over the Falcon’s lifting body and partial wings. He continued to add forward power as he pitched their nose up and start a wide right turn. “Pitching up and coming to starboard.” Josh looked outside. “It’s pitch black out there. I can’t see shit.”

“
We’re pointed toward the ocean and turning south,
” Loki explained. “
The city lights are to port and behind us right now.
”

The Falcon’s cockpit suddenly lit up with a blue-white flash.

“
Jumper One! Feet dry!
” the voice announced over their helmet comms.

“
Jumper One, Falcon! Inbound contacts! Minute thirty out! Probably troop shuttles! More contacts, fast movers, maybe six and a half out!
”

Josh continued pulling the Falcon through a wide, climbing turn to starboard while the interceptor buffeted in the turbulent offshore winds as they turned into them.

“
Damn!”
Loki swore.
“Jumper One! Ground activity near the LZ! Probable ground forces moving into the area from the southwest along the road. We’ll try to slow them down.
”

“
Jumper One copies,
” the shuttle’s copilot answered. “
We’ll get in and out quickly. Just keep them off our backs for five.
”

“Which ones you wanna deal with first?” Josh asked as he continued making tiny adjustments to maintain their turn. “The ground units or the shuttles?”

“
Tighten your turn and come about hard,
” Loki said. “
We can strafe the ground units first, then climb up and right to intercept the shuttles
.”

“Got it,” Josh answered. He reduced the Falcon’s main propulsion and rolled the interceptor onto its right side, pulling back hard on the control stick to pull the ship into an even tighter turn to starboard. Josh could feel himself being pushed down in his seat as the ship pulled more than twenty times normal gravity. Without the Falcon’s inertial dampeners, he knew they never would have survived the turn.

“
We’re going to lose altitude turning this tight, Josh!
” Loki warned.

“I’m on it,” Josh assured him as he added thrust out of the right sides of the interceptor to compensate for the loss of lift now that they were on their side.

“
God,
I hate these turns!
” Loki complained. “
Why can’t we dial up the dampeners to full power?
”

“I’ve gotta feel the flight,” Josh insisted. “It ain’t flyin’ if all you do is look at your console!”

“
I much prefer spaceflight,
” Loki grumbled as the turn finished and the ship rolled quickly back to level flight.

“Droppin’ to the deck!” Josh announced. Josh could feel himself become lighter as he pushed the Falcon’s nose down.

“
Ground targets dead ahead,
” Loki reported. “
Bringing the nose turret in.
”

“I’ll put them on our left so we’re not going nose to nose with Jumper One,” Josh said.

“
Good idea,
” Loki agreed. “
Gun range in five seconds.
”

“Light ’em up,” Josh said as he reduced forward power and increased his lift thrust to maintain his altitude just above the treetops.

A stream of brilliant, red-orange balls of plasma energy streaked out of the Falcon’s twin-barreled nose turret as it slowly rotated to the left. The streams of energy tore into the three vehicles as they traveled down the country road at top speed. The last vehicle in the convoy blew apart and flipped over, spreading Jung soldiers and burning debris all over the road and its shoulders. The next vehicle swerved to try to avoid the incoming fire, only to lose control and roll over onto its side. It, too, exploded as the Falcon’s energy weapon found its target. Finally, the last vehicle, the lead in the doomed convoy, slammed on its brakes and swerved to its left, away from the attacking interceptor, as its deadly blasts of plasma energy slammed into the road to its right, sending chunks of asphalt flying in all directions.

“
Damn it!
” Loki swore again.

“I thought you had him!” Josh added.

“
Jumper One, Falcon! One truck got through!
” Loki announced over the comms as the Falcon began to accelerate and climb. “
He’ll be at the LZ in one minute! We have to deal with the inbound shuttles first or you’ll never get out of there in time!
”

“
Jumper One copies,”
Jumper One’s copilot answered over the comms.
“We’ll deal with them. Hurry back.
”

Major Waddell looked out the shuttle’s starboard window as they skimmed the treetops. The trees and brush suddenly gave way to a manmade clearing, in the middle of which was a large warehouse along with several smaller outbuildings. The clearing was poorly lit with floodlights mounted on the sides of the main building. Several large tractors and a few large trucks were parked off to the sides, and the clearing was surrounded by woods with dirt roads at either end of the compound. “Looks like some type of a maintenance yard or farming station,” the major said to his sergeant as they passed overhead.

“Looks like everyone has gone home for the night,” the sergeant answered.

“Fine by me.”

“
Forty seconds,
” the copilot’s voice announced over Major Waddell’s comm-set. “
Coming about for touchdown. LZ is hot.
”

“Understood,” the major answered. He stood in front of the hatch that led from the cargo area to the cockpit of Jumper One. “Thirty seconds!” he yelled at the ten Corinari troops standing along either side of the shuttle. “We’ve got company coming! Drop the door and get ready to welcome them!”

The shuttle crew chief in the jump seat to the major’s right pressed the door control panel. The lights inside the shuttle turned a dim red, and the rear cargo door began to open, its top edge pulling away from the top of the cargo bay as it lowered downward and away from the shuttle. The sound of rushing air was heard as wind blew into the cargo area of the shuttle from outside. Ten seconds later, the door was level with the cargo bay deck, forming a platform that extended three meters beyond the back of the shuttle. The two soldiers closest to the exit stepped onto the ramp as the shuttle finished its turn and leveled off only ten meters off the ground. The two Corinari soldiers on the ramp raised their energy rifles, took aim on the approaching truck, and opened fire. Their barrels flashed in rapid succession as they sent a stream of energy bolts toward the approaching vehicle. The truck stopped suddenly as it took several blasts to its nose, blowing its engine apart. Jung troops began jumping and falling out of the back and sides of the vehicle, quickly running into the scattered woods on either side of the road. The soldiers on the ramp continued to shoot, spraying the area on either side and behind the truck as their energy rifles continued to rain fire down upon the scrambling enemy soldiers. A few shots were returned by the Jung troops as they scrambled for cover but were all wide of their marks.

“Five seconds!” Major Waddell called to his troops.

“
Jumper One, Falcon,
” Loki’s voice called over the major’s comm-set. “
Incoming shuttles destroyed. Returning to provide cover.
”

Jessica watched from the partially open doorway of the main warehouse as the jump shuttle settled down onto the packed dirt. Just before the shuttle’s gear touched the ground, two Corinari jumped from the rear cargo ramp, immediately moving off to either side as they continued to fire toward the burning vehicle at the mouth of the far entrance. In pairs, the rest of the Corinari troopers jumped out of the shuttle, also fanning out as they sprayed both the truck and the surrounding woods with energy rifle fire. The entire scene was bathed in a combination of amber light from the warehouse floodlights, bright white from the shuttle’s landing lights, and the incessant flashes of red-orange from the Corinari energy rifles as they hammered the Jung soldiers in the distance.

She waited until the last two men to exit the shuttle turned and headed toward her position in a crouched run. She grabbed her backpack and pushed the door open, stepping out into the clearing so they could see her and know that she was a friendly. In an instant, she knew that it wasn’t necessary, as she recognized the man coming to get her.

“Nice to see you, Lieutenant Commander!” Major Waddell yelled as he approached.

“Goddamned nice to see you as well, Major!” she answered. “What took you so long?”

“You know how it is with pilots,” the major answered with a grin. “They always need to double-check their math.” He looked at her shoulder wound. “Can you make it?”

“Hell yes!” she answered, handing her backpack over to the sergeant next to Major Waddell.

“We’d better move out,” the major said. “We don’t want to miss our flight!”

Jessica smiled as she crouched down and jogged toward the waiting shuttle, holding her left arm up to shield her face from the shuttle’s engine wash as it kept its lift turbines running just under the level needed to lift off. She followed the major around to the back of the shuttle and up the ramp as weapons fire continued to be exchanged between the Corinari spread out around the back end of the shuttle and the few surviving Jung troops still hunkering down in the woods at the edge of the compound.

Once inside, Major Waddell led her to the starboard jump seat and buckled her in. He then stood up and tapped his comm-set as he turned around and headed back to the open aft end of the shuttle. “Package secure! Orderly withdrawal! Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Jessica cringed as the sergeant cut away the fabric around her shoulder wound. “Damn!” she cried out as he sprayed the wound with a temporary antiseptic sealer.

“That’ll help ease the pain and keep it from getting infected!” the sergeant explained over the sound of the shuttle’s turbines and the weapons fire outside.

“A little late for that, isn’t it?” Jessica mused. She looked aft, trying not to pay attention to the sergeant’s medical aid and watching as Major Waddell stood fearlessly in the middle of the ramp. He laid down cover fire as his men climbed aboard the shuttle from either side in orderly fashion. Each man called off the next number in succession as he boarded, and when the last man called the number ten, the shuttle began to rise off the ground with surprising speed. Major Waddell continued firing into the trees below for several seconds as the ramp began to rise beneath his feet, forcing him to step backward into the shuttle. No longer with a firing line to the surface, the major discontinued his barrage, raised his weapon, then turned and headed forward as the cargo ramp continued to rise behind him.