Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation (39 page)

“Where’s Combat One?” Nathan asked.

“She collided with a Jung fighter,” Naralena said, “just before we jumped.”

“We can launch another shuttle,” the lieutenant suggested.

“How are you even going to get close?” Nathan asked. “They’ll pick you off as soon as you launch.”

“They’re hitting us with their long-range guns right now,” the lieutenant said. “Why? Wouldn’t missiles be quicker? Maybe the long-range guns are all they’ve got right now. If so, they won’t be able to track a shuttle if she is flying erratically enough.”

Nathan looked at the lieutenant as the bridge continued to shake. “How long?”

“It will take at least ten minutes to reach that battleship.”

“Go.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant answered, turning to head for the exit.

“Lieutenant!” Nathan called after him. “We’ve got two shuttles left. Take them both. The more the merrier.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Naralena, tell flight ops to get some Talons launched as escorts or diversions, whichever works.”

“Roll complete!” Mister Chiles reported. “Our belly is toward the target!”

“View screen is working again,” Mister Navashee reported.

Nathan turned to face forward. The entire front portion of the Aurora was torn open right up the center, all the way from her bow to the forward camera, exposing her inner structure and many of her systems. “Jesus,” Nathan exclaimed. “I’m surprised you have any maneuvering at all.”

“Me, too,” Mister Chiles agreed, his eyes wide.

“Damage control reports we just lost auxiliary heat exchangers!” Naralena announced.

“
Bridge, engineering!
” a Corinairan voice called over the comms.

“Captain here. Who is this?” Nathan asked.

“
Dunbarton, sir! The power from the fusion reactors is fluctuating! If we lose one of those reactors, we won’t be able to hold containment on the antimatter cores. We’ll have to eject them.
”

“Without those cores, we’ll have no way to get back up to full power,” Nathan said. “Any chance you can save one or two of them?”

“
Unknown, sir. We’ll do what we can, but this pounding isn’t helping matters.
”

“Helm, move us away, best possible speed,” Nathan ordered, “but keep our belly to them at all times.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles answered.

The ship continued to shake as the rail gun rounds struck their underside.

“Contacts!” Mister Navashee announced. “Oh, God, they’re firing missiles, sir!”

“How many?”

“Four missiles inbound,” Mister Navashee answered. “Time to impact: one minute.”

“Flight ops reports four Talons have launched,” Naralena reported. “Combat shuttles two and three are launching now.”

“We only have three minis operational, sir,” the systems operator reported. “There’s no way we can spin up an adequate point-defenses.”

“Flight ops, Captain,” Nathan called into his comm-set. “Tell those Talons to intercept the incoming missiles at all costs!”

“Captain, flight ops. Understood,”
Major Prechitt answered.
“Vectoring Talons to intercept.”

“Fifty seconds to impact,” Mister Navashee updated.

“Put the tactical feed up for me,” Nathan instructed the systems officer. A moment later, the tactical display appeared to one side of the main view screen. Nathan watched as four green icons representing the Aurora’s Talon fighters charged toward the red icons that represented the incoming Jung missiles.

“Talons have reached weapons range and are firing,” Naralena reported as she received updates from the Aurora’s flight operations center.

One red icon disappeared from the screen. A few moments later, another one disappeared. Nathan continued to watch as the last two missiles moved dangerously close to the four Talons attempting to intercept them.

“Oh, no,” Naralena said under her breath.

Two of the green icons representing Talon fighters merged with the last two red icons representing the incoming missiles. All of them disappeared, leaving only two Talons and the two combat shuttles on the screen.

“All incoming missiles destroyed,” the systems officer reported solemnly.

“Are they firing again?” Nathan asked calmly. There was no response from his sensor operator. Nathan turned to the left to face him. “Mister Navashee?”

“No, sir, they’re not,” Mister Navashee answered, a curious expression on his face.

“What is it?” Nathan wondered.

“The battleship just lost all power, sir. She appears to be running on batteries at the moment.”

“Incoming message,” Naralena announced. “It’s the Jung battleship, sir.”

“Put it on.”

The view screen switched from its view of space to that of what Nathan assumed was the bridge of the Jung battleship. The entire room was dark, operating on emergency lighting and battery power. The Jung captain turned toward the screen and began to speak in rather poor English.

“
You think to take this ship with big men is possible? You will not succeed. Surrender, or suffer greatly you shall!
”

As Nathan was about to speak, weapons fire erupted on the view screen. Red bolts of energy streaked across the battleship’s bridge, flying back and forth. The Jung captain spun toward the weapons fire just as a bolt struck him in the head. The Jung captain immediately dropped out of the camera’s view, leaving only a puff of smoke from his charred flesh. Nathan could see bodies moving in the shadows, lit by the red light of the weapons’ discharges. Suddenly, the image went dead. Nathan stood, staring at the normal view of space on the forward view screen. “Did you see that? Was that…”

“Incoming message,” Naralena interrupted.

Nathan turned around to face her. “Is it the Jung again?”

“No, sir,” Naralena said. “It is Sergeant Mellek of the Ghatazhak. He says they have taken the Jung battleship and are currently venting all compartments.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No, sir,” Naralena said, smiling.

Nathan felt a wave of relief wash over him. “Raise Telles. Tell him to redirect to Earth to extract Lieutenant Commander Nash.”

“Yes, sir,” Naralena answered.

* * *

“Come right and go full throttle!” Loki demanded. “They’re coming at us from either side!”

“Got it!”
Josh replied as he banked hard right and applied full power. The Falcon immediately began to accelerate, doubling her airspeed in seconds.

“
Falcon, Telles. Do you copy?
” the lieutenant’s voice called over their helmet comms.

“Telles, go for Falcon,” Loki replied.

“
Inbound for extraction. Time on point: ten minutes.
”

“Falcon copies. Four fast movers in the area. Two heavies inbound. ETA: five. Will try to delay. Falcon out.”

“I’m coming back around and climbing,”
Josh announced.
“I’ll get them to climb after us, then drop below them and make another pass over Jess so you can give her the good news.”

“We’re going to have to take out those troop shuttles,” Loki warned. “They’re less than five out. If they get more troops on the ground, the lieutenant’s going to have his hands full.”

“He’s coming with, what, a dozen Ghatazhak?”
Josh said as he pulled into a climbing turn.
“He took on a whole planet of Jung with only one hundred men. I’m pretty sure they can handle a handful of soldiers.”

“Not if they get into firing positions on the ground before the Ghatazhak set down.”

“So you want to go after the heavies first?”
Josh asked.

“Probably.”

“You got it,”
Josh said, breaking his turn and rolling into a dive. Within seconds, the Falcon was down on the deck, speeding toward the incoming troop shuttles.
“Where are they?”

“Shuttles are dead ahead, ten kilometers,” Loki answered.

“I meant, ‘Where are the fighters?’”

“They’re turning in to intercept,” Loki said. “Uh-oh.”

“What?”

“The fighters are accelerating, and the shuttles are slowing.”

“Well that will make them easier to hit, right?”

“They’re slowing down to let the fighters get in front of them to act as a screen.”

“So we just launch on everyone from far away,”
Josh said.

“We only have four missiles left, Josh,” Loki warned.

“You might have told me this earlier, Loki,”
Josh complained.

“They’re targeting us!” Loki announced. “Missiles inbound! Four tracks! Thirty seconds!”

“Fuck, I bet they’re those damned smart missiles again,”
Josh said as he pulled the nose back and started to climb.

“You’re giving those missiles a really good angle, Josh!” Loki warned, alarm in his voice.

“I need some altitude to maneuver.”

“Twenty seconds!”

“Standing straight up!”
Josh announced as he pulled the nose up farther. He pushed the throttles to full power to keep from losing airspeed too quickly as the Falcon’s attitude became vertical.

“Ten seconds!” Loki warned. “Dropping decoys!”

Six decoys dropped from the underside of the Falcon as she continued to climb.

“Five seconds,” Loki warned. “Three……two……”

Josh grabbed the throttle for the main space drive and pushed it forward. The Falcon’s speed quadrupled in a single second, sending both of them into their flight seats despite the best efforts of the Falcon’s inertial dampeners.

A few seconds later, Josh reduced power and pitched the nose back over to start their descent.
“Where are those damned missiles now?”

“They ran out of power,” Loki said. “They’re already falling back to Earth.”

“Why do they even bother shooting those things at us?”
Josh wondered.
“They know we’re just going to pitch up and run for the edge of space.”

“Because evading those missiles keeps us off those shuttles for five more minutes, Josh,” Loki explained. “They will have landed by the time we get back into attack range.”

“Not if we jump back down.”

“You want to jump while we’re diving straight down toward the surface.”

“Sure. Why not?”

“What if I screw up the plot and jump too far?”

“Then we’ll never know it.”

“Great answer,” Loki responded.

“Just don’t screw up, Loki,”
Josh insisted.

Loki rolled his eyes as he entered the jump. “Two kilometers off the deck… that’s as low as I’ll go.”

“Wuss,”
Josh teased.

“Just be ready to pull up,” Loki told him. “Jumping.”

The jump flash washed over them. A split second later, the ride became much rougher as they suddenly found themselves in much thicker air.

“Pulling up!”
Josh said as he slowly pulled back on the control stick.

The Falcon’s nose came up, her jet turbines screaming as they rose to full power. The ship rolled onto its left side as it leveled off and went into a tight left turn.

“Coming left,”
Josh announced.

“Targeting the shuttles,” Loki replied. “Firing missiles.”

The weapons bays on the underside of the Falcon slid open, and a pair of short, stubby missiles fell from the bays. Their engines immediately ignited, sending them streaking ahead of the interceptor and into the darkness.

“Shit! Those shuttles have point-defenses!” Loki exclaimed as their first two missiles were destroyed in mid-flight.

“Well, fire two more!”

“They’ll just shoot them down as well!” Loki argued.

“Then we’ll get in close and attack with guns!”
Josh announced.

“With those fighters escorting them?” Loki said. “Besides, it’s too late. They’re already landing.”

* * *

“We have lost all contact with the Jar-Keurog,” the general’s aide reported.

The general looked at his aide, surprise apparent on his face. “I thought they had finished the Aurora.”

“Her last telemetry showed that she was firing her long-range guns, that the enemy vessel was all but destroyed. Then all telemetry ceased. We have been trying to raise her for several minutes, but she does not answer.”

“Is she still in orbit?” the general asked. “Perhaps she left in pursuit of…”

“The Jar-Keurog is still in orbit, General, and her power emissions are extremely low.”

The general looked at his aide again. “Dispatch interceptors to the Jar-Keurog to determine her status.”

“General, her status is apparent. Her starboard shields collapsed. A large portion of her nose is missing. Most of her weapons are inoperable… I believe it is time.”

The general’s expression turned from concern to controlled disappointment.

“It will take several minutes for the process to begin, and the initial targets are of importance only to the people of Earth. If our interceptors determine the Jar-Keurog is
not
lost, we can cancel the cleansing.”

The general took a deep breath and sighed. “Very well,” he conceded. “You may begin phase one.”

“Yes, sir,” the aide answered.

Eli, who had witnessed the exchange in Jung and had taken notice of the general’s expressions, stepped forward. “I cannot help but notice your dour expression, General. I pray the news was good.”

The general looked at Eli. He had bowed to the traitor for several months now, feeding the would-be leader’s ego and letting him believe he was actually in charge of his world. He smiled. “Only in the sense that your role will soon come to an end, Governor.”

“I do not understand, General.”

“It seems you have underestimated your brother.”

Eli turned pale. “What do you mean?”

“We have lost all contact with the Jar-Keurog, and she appears to be adrift.”

“And the Aurora?” Eli asked, his voice unsteady.

“Badly damaged but still a threat. Enough so that I must play my ‘last card’, as you would say.”

“General, you cannot…”

“On the contrary,” the general interrupted, “I can, and I shall.”

“General,” Eli demanded, his desperation apparent, “I cannot allow you to…”

“You would do well to never raise your voice to me again, Governor, for I have killed better men for lesser reasons.”

“General, it is my understanding that I am in charge of this world, and that you…”

The general snapped, losing his patience once and for all. “You are in charge only because I allow you to play the role in order to placate your people and keep them believing they have some modicum of control over their own destinies.” The general stepped closer to Eli, more so than ever before, his tone low and deadly serious. “I strongly suspect that, after we begin the cleansing, your role shall become of considerably lesser value to the empire.” The general turned away. “Unless, of course, your brother realizes the futility of his efforts. He may be able to destroy a handful of warships,” the general added, turning to look at Eli once more, “but he cannot defeat our ground forces, not from orbit.” General Bacca looked back at the row of display screens on the far wall of the control room again. “I doubt very seriously that your brother carries ten thousand troops aboard that rather small ship of his.”