He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (43 page)

“On my way, sir.”  He chuckled.  “You should see the mess that solar furnace is making.”

“Think I’ve found something.”  Carmichael Called.

Rice and Mike looked round, seeing one of the Marines signaling them for the far end of the bay.  As a precaution, Rice closed the second bay doors and destroyed the keypad.  That should slow anyone down.  As he turned to leave, Rice triggered the remaining of the charges, and Mike felt the deck under his feet vibrate. Whatever the last ones were attached to, they set off a string of secondary explosions.  By now, the upper decks should be in a complete panic.  Racing across the bay, they found three more guards knocked cold, and one of the female Marines had a nasty looking knife pressed to the last one throat.  With a shaky finger, he punched in the combination to unlock the door as the knife pressed into his windpipe.  In thanks, he got a stun bolt instead of his throat slit, and deposited on the floor along with his sleeping friends.

“I’ve located launch bay ALPHA-6, sir, bringing her in now.” Conner reported.

“Conner’s bringing the mining ship in, so be careful what you shot at out there.”

“Aye-aye, sir, wouldn’t want to piss CPO Blake off.”

“Yes, not good for your long term health Marine.”  Mike chuckled as he walked passed.  “We need to keep a clear path back to here from wherever we end up so as not to cut off your line of retreat.”

“On it, Skipper.”

“Found the fighters, sir, and they don’t look as if they’ve been stripped or anything.”  Mike looked around, and saw one of the Marines pointing across the hanger bay.

As he walked through the mass of LAC’s, Mike counted eight different types of fighter and assault ship, and it looked as if the Sirriens were in the process of copying them. All were new, many of them he didn’t recognize at all.

“Looks like we weren’t the only one the Sirriens been stealing from.”  Mike muttered.

“Yes, sir, you want to make sure they don’t use them anymore?”

“Yes, something positive and lethal, I want this bay and its contents completely destroyed.”

“Consider it done, sir.”  Rice answered, grinning from ear the ear.  Now he was in his element. 

“Mercer and Carmichael, you are with me, Jerkins and Ward, see if you can find an ammo locker, missile storage, fuel cells or fuel outlets.”

“Aye, Sarg.”  The Marines spread out and started searching, just as Conner came through the door, weapon in hand.

“Good to see you, sir.”

“Same here and cover the Marines line of retreat.  Any trouble?”

“Nothing that I couldn’t handle, sir.  What now?”  He asked, looking around the bay.  Someone had stuck his nose into the mining ship and paid the price.

“I’m going to go and see if we can get those ships power up and check them out, and launch then if possible.  If not, blow them up.”

“Right, sir.  I’ll stay here and keep watch.” Upon reaching the two fighters, he walked around each, inspecting them for damage or missing parts. The only way to tell if they would fly would be getting into the cockpit and firing them up.  He turned to the Marine pilot who were performing his own pre-flight check.

“Start checking the flight status. I’ll take this one and let’s see if we can get them ready. Be quick, I don’t know how long we have before all hell breaks loose.”

“Aye, Skipper.” The Marine snapped him a quick salute and ran for the other craft.”

“Sergeant Rice.  While we are checking out the ships, take the plasma torch and weld up all the entrance hatches.  That should slow the peckerheads down a bit.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.” 

They climbed into the cramped cockpit, it quickly became evident that the ships hadn’t been tampered with.  Probably because the Sirriens’ were still flight-testing them.  Whatever the reason, Mike found the fuel tanks full and all the avionics in working order.  It didn’t take long to perform a standard checkout, at least for the normal items.  As quickly as possible he checked out the engines, instruments, navigation and weapons systems, but other than that, he had no idea what else to check, not that it mattered.  All they had to do was get them out of here and fly them to wherever his ship was and bring them aboard, not fly them in combat.  The question was, could he and the Marine pilot fly them at all.  Nothing in the cockpit was standard, and he had no idea what functions many of the instruments served.

“Sir!  Found a ready room back here, and there are two flight suits here with Union Jack shoulder patches on them.”

‘Shit!’  Mike muttered to himself.  That put him on the horns of a dilemma.  Should he just fly the ships out of here, or risk the mission by going to look for the two pilots.  Mike pinched the Bridge of his nose and sighed, knowing he really didn’t have a choice.

“Conner.” He called on the TAC net.  “I’m going to go look for those two pilots.  I’m better they are still here so the Sirriens can extract as much information out of them about the ships, before… well, who knows what the Sirriens would do with them.”

“Aye, Skipper, I copied that.”

“They have to be here somewhere close.”

“You’d better hurry up Skipper, we don’t have much time.  I can hear people pounding on one or two of the hatches already.

“It's also a question that we might have to find them.  These ships are so advanced I’m not sure either of us can fly them out of here.”

“Sergeant Rice!”  Conner called, you see anything like an information terminal around here?”

“Yes, Chief, saw one on the far bulkhead, near some offices.”

“Let's check it out, Chief.”

“On my way, Skipper.”  Mike hit the deck running, heading in the direction Rice was pointing, reaching the terminal the same time as Conner.

Thankfully, they didn’t need a security clearance to use it, and punching up the directory in English, and began looking for a brig or holding area.

“There, Skipper.”

“I see it,” he muttered, “it's on this level, all right, through that hatchway over there.  Let’s go.”

“Should we take the Marines?”

“No time, I want them here to finish wiring this place, welding hatches shut and guard our rear.  We may be coming back in a bit of a hurry.”

“You copy that, Charley?”  Conner asked.

“Understand, Chief.  I’ll finish up here and keep everything secure.”

“I think it’s time to get lethal.  I’m here by authorizing weapons free.” Mike added.

“Copy that, Captain.  Weapons free, aye, sir.”  Mike could almost hear the laughter in his voice as he answered.  Trust a Marine to feel all warm and fuzzy with a live, lethal weapon in his hands.

As he spoke, Mike pulled his out service blaster and flicked the safety off, seeing Conner do the same.  They couldn’t afford to play around now.  For some reason, the place was surprisingly empty, and they didn’t run into anyone until they entered a second complex.  Here they found mostly civilian types, all running around or heading for the main exit and elevators.  So much the better.  They did get a few odd looks, but people were so pre-occupied with what was happening to the station to worry about them.  They could still feel and hear additional explosions in the distance, and they began to smell smoke.  That started people panicking even more.  Following the map in his head, Mike turned left and headed down a broad corridor, but even as he did, two men in military uniforms came round the corner at the other end.  Mike and Conner slowed, wanting to get as close as possible before the shooting started.  It was good that they did, as two more men came round the corner, both shackled and followed by two more men and an officer.  Both looked the worse for wear, and it was clear they’d been beaten.

“HIT THE DECK!”  Mike yelled as he brought his weapon up and fired.

His first shot took out the guard on the right, and he immediately aimed at the second guard behind him as the two men in shackles dropped to the floor.  Conner fired, twice in quick succession, downing one man and winging the second.  It happened so fast, that none of the guard managed to get their side arms out before all four were down.  The officer didn’t even try, but simply raised his hands.

“How did you know it was them, sir.”

“I didn’t, just suspected, that's why I yelled in English, if they hadn’t of dropped then it probably wasn’t them.”

“Took a bit of a chance, sir.”

“True, but we don’t have time to play around now, let move.”

“Who are you?”  One of them men asked, struggling to his feet, looking Mike and Conner up and down.  Still dressed as mercenaries, they didn’t look much like a rescue squad.

“First of all, who are you?”

“Flight Leftenant Harper and Collins.”

“Good, you are the men we are looking for, I’m Leftenant Mike Gray, and this is CPO Blake.” He could see the doubtful look on their faces, but didn’t have time to go into a long-winded explanation. He said, pointing his weapon at the security officer.

“Where’s the key to the shackles?”  He demanded in French.

For a moment, the officer hesitated, but the look on Mike’s face said he wouldn’t waste time asking a second again.  Without a word, he reached into his pocket and produced the electronic key.  With Conner guarding his back, Mike slid the key through a slot, unlocked the shackles, and just out of spite locked them around the officer wrist and ankles and broke the card key.  The man gave him a look of fury and gritted his teeth but said nothing.  Without the code key, they’d have to cut the shackles off.

“Present for you.”  He grinned.  “Let’s go people.”  They made a beeline back the way they come, Mike in the lead and Conner bring up the rear.  The moment they were out of sight, the officer began yelling his head off.

“Step on it, Skipper, we have company.”  Two blaster shots sounded behind as Conner spoke.

“You two up to flying?”  He called over his shoulder.

“Yes, anything to get out of this hell hole.”  One answered.

“Good, we did a pre-flight check on your ships, and I think they are ready to fly, but it was hard to tell.”

“They didn’t start dismantling them yet?”

“No, they are still in one piece as far as I can tell.”

“Great, it won’t take us long to get them ready.”

“You won’t have time, other than putting your flight suits on.”

“That bad, huh.”

“Worse, unless I miss my guess.”  Mike answered as he dived through another doorway.  “Sergeant Rice?”

“Aye, sir, I copy you.”

“We have company behind us, so get ready to seal that door the moment we come through.”

“Aye, sir.”

All four pounded down the last passageway, and thankfully, Rice had the last door open for them.  As they dashed through it slid shut with a clang, and one of the Marines welded it closed.  Even as he did, someone started pounding on the other side, and with a tight grin, Rice triggered his comm unit.  Two loud explosions occurred and the pounding stopped.

“Don’t think they’ll be so quick to try and get that door open again, sir.”

“No, but they will try to get through another one, and we don’t know how many there are.”

“We welded as many of them as we could find, sir.”

“That should buy us a few minutes, so let’s get those ships ready and get the hell out of here.”  As they dashed to the fighters, the two pilots came back zipping up their flight suits, helmets in hand.

“We need an auxiliary power unit to start the ships, Leftenant.”  Collins said, looking around the bay.

“Show Sergeant Rice what they look like and we’ll get them hooked up.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where are we going when we get out of here, Leftenant?”  Harper asked.

“For now, follow us, and we’ll put you on a heading for my ship, we should meet it along the way, or just before the warp point we used.”

“Thank God for that, neither of these birds has their warp engines working yet.”

“Warp engines?”  No wonder the Sirriens wanted to get their hands on these.  “We’ll give you the heading once we are out of here.” They cut his a quick salute and ran to the waiting ships.

“What now, sir?”  Conner asked as he came back.

“You get back to the rock hopper and have it ready for us to leave the moment we close the hatch.”

“Aye, sir.”  He answered, and took off running.

Even above the muffled explosion and other noises, Mike could hear people hammering on hatched, wondering how long it would be before they found one they could get through.  At last, Sergeant Rice and his man came back, giving him the thumbs up sign, and he saw the pilots climbed in.

“All right, the ships seem to be working, so clear the boarding ladder and the auxiliary power units the moment they’ve got then started.” The engines thundered into life, and a few seconds later, they lifted clear of the deck.  The moment they did the Marines moved the boarding ladder and power unit away and signaled all clear. 

“Time to get out of here.  Everyone back to the ship.”  Mike ordered as he started running.  Just then, a blaster bolt bounced off the side of a parked ship inches from his head, leaving a smoking trail.  Instantly everyone fired back in the general direction it came from.

“Time to get out of here, Sergeant Rice!”

“Protect the Captain!” he shouted, “and fall back to the mining ship!” Rice snapping two quick shots at a running figure.

It was difficult to hit anything in here between all the ships and equipment, and he missed.  With the Marines surrounding him, they ran for the ship and climbed aboard as the volume of incoming fire increased.  Conner immediately lifted her as the last man dogged the hatch, hearing blaster bolts hitting the outside.  Conner headed down the launch tube as fast as he could, and out into space through the air barrier.

“Both fighters have launched, sir, they’re right ahead of us.” Conner reported.

“Good!”  He turned in his seat, “all right, Sergeant Rice, let’s see if you are a man of your word.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”  He smiled and pressed several keys on his comm unit.  The radio signal reached the explosive charged in the launch bay, but for a moment Mike was disappointed, nothing happened.

“Hmm, that’s one demerit for you, Sergeant Rice.”

“Oh, that was just the secondary charges, to stop anyone else launching, sir.”

“Oh, and the primary?”

“Now, sir.”  He said, pressing his comm unit again.

Flame, steel, and bits of spacecraft vomited out of the launch tube in a spectacular display, then part of the lunch bay bulkhead itself disintegrated.

“Good God!  What on Earth did you blow up?”

“The hydrogen fuel tanks and the ammo storage depot.”

“Nicely done.  That should set their development program back a touch.”

“I hate to interrupt the celebration, sir, but I think some people have taken notice of us.”  Mike swung round and looked out the view port first, then at the screens.

The whole Star base complex was a mess, with internal fires raging in many of the construction stations and fitting yards.  The solar array had torn itself apart as the increasing violent oscillations straining the support gantry to breaking point.  Before it did, the concentrated beam of sun lights scorched and chard its way through the surrounding facilities.  Some were completely destroyed, others nothing more than a blackened ruin, including ships and space docks.  It would be many months, if not years before they got everything back online.  The main Star base was a mess as well, with explosions and fires raging around the upper levels even as they watched.  Shuttle craft, launches and freighters of all sizes as well as escape pods were detaching themselves from the station, all fleeting the spreading fire and confusion.  In all, there were hundreds of ships of all sizes trying to get away, hopefully covering their departures as well.  This tiny corner of the universe, so tidy and peaceful a few hours before was suddenly turning into a nightmare of ships trying to escape the impending destruction of the space station.  It was as if someone have poked a stick into a hornet’s nest.  To add to the confusion, the warship had launched dozens of SAR shuttles and were now busy rushing back and forth scooping escape pods out of space.   The heavy units remained in place, as if expecting an attack of some sort, while the frigates and destroyer raced about as if unsure what to do, or where to go.  The cause of the Chief’s concern were two picket ships that broke out of formation and headed their way.

“How long before they get here, Conner?”

“Oh, I’d say twenty minutes before they are in range to do anything, sir.”

“Yes, we could be just some ships bugging out of the base for all they know, so I don’t expect them to start firing on us just yet.”

“Hope not, unless someone got the word out before the launch bay blew.”

“Make as much speed as this bird will do, Conner.”