Omega Force 5: Return of the Archon (21 page)

“We don’t have access to a ship unless we go and speak with the Praetores,” Mazer said. “I don’t think even Lord Felex could authorize us the use of a ship without too many people knowing about it.”

“Oh we have a ship,” Jason said, winking at Mazer. “We always leave ourselves options. We will need to get an aircar, however.”

The trio moved through the facility as quickly as they could without drawing attention on their way back to the parking facility. A suitable aircar was selected and soon, after a quick negotiation with the warrior who had been watching over the vehicles, they were speeding over the streets of Ker. Thankfully, vehicle guard duty in the Legions was much like it was in any other military: a punishment. The bored-looking warrior could not have been less interested in which vehicle they were taking, or why.

Jason was beginning to see the change happening in Ker that Morakar and Connimon had been talking about. The first time he’d come through the city there had been laughter, music, and lively conversation on every block. Now, grim-faced warriors in full tactical armor stomped about, many fully armed. There was even a smattering of physical altercations between warriors of differing units as they left the main metropolitan area and cruised into the sparsely populated outskirts.

When they reached their destination, Mazer looked over at Jason skeptically. “How are we going to gain access to this ship? It’s locked up tight.”

“Didn’t I say we always leave ourselves options?” Jason said with a large smile. “Kage was kind enough to leave us full access before we left.” He climbed out of the aircar and walked up to the sleek Eshquarian combat shuttle that had brought them to Restaria from Galvetor. The ship, an incredibly expensive piece of military hardware, was sitting in the same spot they’d left it, only now with a covering of dust and leaves. The fact the Order would just leave it lying about meant they were likely very well-funded by someone; he just wished he knew to what end.

When he walked up close, however, he could see that they hadn’t forgotten about it. There were footprints all around the area where the access control panel was located and even some tool marks on the hatch itself as if someone had become impatient and actually tried to pry it open. There were also some impact marks in the hull coating where it seemed once the brute force method failed they began beating the ship with their pry tool. Warriors were nothing if not predictable. He placed his thumb on the glossy black access control panel and waited while the ship began to take biometric readings.

There were a series of beeps and squawks until the rear hatch popped open with a hiss and lowered gently to the ground, creating the entry ramp.

“Gentlemen,” Jason said, “after you.”

“Welcome, Captain Burke,” the ship said as the interior lights of the cargo area came up and the environmental systems began circulating the stale air. “Primary systems are now warming up. Time to flight-ready: seven minutes.”

“Nice touch,” Jason said as he followed Mazer and Lucky through the cargo hold and up the small flight of stairs to the flight deck. “You know, the
Phoenix
could use some better manners.”

“So you had Kage change the command authorization before we disembarked the last time?” Mazer said. “How could you possibly know we would need it again?”

“I didn’t have the slightest clue,” Jason admitted. “I just know our operations usually devolve into a pile of shit no matter how well planned, and this was one of the worst plans we’ve had in years.”

“So what if we hadn’t needed it?” Mazer asked.

“Kage could remotely release the ship anytime,” Jason assured him, “and barring that, the original command authorizations would be restored after two weeks with no contact from us.”

“Impressive,” Mazer conceded. “Will this thing be able to intercept that rescue ship? Even through it’s slow it is heavily armored.”

“Not an issue,” Jason said as he slipped into the pilot’s seat. “The term ‘shuttle’ may be a bit misleading. This is really just a top of the line heavy fighter with an attached cargo bay for inserting troops. The Eshquarians use it for their special operation commandos. Don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of engines and firepower.”

“What is our plan, Captain?” Lucky asked as he carefully lowered his bulk into the copilot’s seat.

“I don’t really have a plan, as such,” Jason admitted. “I’m sure something will come to me before we actually get within range of the rescue ship.” Both his companions gave him looks that ranged from incredulous to downright hostile. He ignored them both as the engines of the new shuttle were already warmed and spooling up, ready to provide power. Not that he would ever admit it out loud, but he did have to admit that the brand new ship being ready to fly in less than ten minutes had some appeal when compared to a grumpy gunship taking over thirty for a cold start and even then complaining through most of the first hour of flight. But one thing the clever, slick Eshquarian shuttle couldn’t match the older Jepsen in was speed or firepower or the ability to take a tremendous amount of battle damage and keep coming back for more.

“All flight systems active,” the ship said over the intercom.

“Lucky, get on the com and start coordinating with Kage,” Jason said. “We’ll fly out of here low and try to catch the rescue ship as it comes in over an unpopulated part of the planet.”

The shuttle lifted smoothly from its concealed landing site and swung north away from the heavy population centers of Ker. As they flew over the outskirts, Jason could see that troop transports were still rolling into the city. Some warriors looked up as the combat shuttle flew over and a few even shook a fist in the air in salute. A few of the convoys stretched on for miles into the distance. Just the logistics of feeding and housing so many warriors was daunting, and Jason had to wonder why they were being relocated in the first place.

“Your first course corrections are on your navigation display,” Lucky said. “Kage would like us to hold there until he is certain the rescue ship will be committing to landfall on that entry vector.”

“Copy that,” Jason said as the fly-to indicators lit up to direct him. “This is where the fun begins.”

Kage had them come to a full stop in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere over an equatorial rainforest. Jason lowered them down until the landing skids were only a couple of meters above the treetops and waited, setting the ship to hold the hover automatically. He let go of the controls and stretched out in the seat.

“Let him know we’re here,” he told Lucky.

“We have a telemetry link open to him,” Lucky said. “He has been monitoring our flight the entire time we have been airborne.”

“How much longer?”

“It will be another hour before the ship begins atmospheric entry,” Lucky reported.

The larger ship had already filed a plan that would have them entering the atmosphere near the equator and landing at a field in the northern hemisphere on the other side of the planet. The rough idea of a plan began to form in Jason’s head as he looked over the topography data stored in the ship’s computer. Just as the ship would be descending through forty thousand feet, they would be over what looked like Restaria’s version of the Great Plains. The computer highlighted some points of interest, but from what Jason could tell it looked to be mostly untamed wilderness and some enormous corporate farms owned by companies on Galvetor. Those farms were almost entirely automated so the entire region had a population of less than six thousand people. If he wanted to force the ship down before it reached its base, this would be the area to do it. He went ahead and authorized the computer to arm the weapon systems. He was dismayed to see that the expendable munitions racks were empty. Whoever had ordered the ship had had it delivered without any missiles. Thankfully the energy weapons were installed and should be more than enough to force an antique ship hauler out of the air.

“We have confirmation,” Lucky said after fifty-two minutes. “The ship is following the predicted track and will pass overhead in four minutes. I am sending speed and heading data to your display that will allow us to intercept the ship just as it overflies the plains region you indicated.”

“I’ve got it,” Jason confirmed as a new set of waypoint indicators popped up on his display with the corresponding velocity changes. He advanced the power and sent the shuttle skimming along the treetops, gaining little altitude as they flew along their target’s intended flight path.

The incoming ship was traveling at nearly twelve times the speed of sound as it screamed through the thin upper atmosphere and would soon pass overhead of the much slower-moving shuttle. Jason was able to watch the intersecting tracks on his tactical display as he slowly brought up the power on the shuttle’s drive.

“The ship has overtaken us,” Lucky reported. “You are clear to intercept.”

“Power coming up,” Jason said in response and brought the drive to full atmospheric power, sending them streaking along the ground after the incoming ship. Mazer had confirmed that the sensor gear on the target ship was as antiquated as everything else on it so there was little risk of detection if they could get up in the drive wake while the ship was still blinded by atmospheric entry.

Jason brought the nose up and allowed the ship to climb sharply toward their intercept point. He watched as the spidery shockwaves appeared along the leading edges of the nose as they transitioned from transonic to supersonic flight. Once past the speed of sound in Restaria’s atmosphere, the engine noise decreased dramatically as they were now outrunning the sound of the bellowing exhaust, and the slipstream could be heard against the large, raked canopy.

Soon they were passing thirty thousand feet and quickly closing the distance to the decelerating ship. Jason checked his position one more time before concentrating on the view outside the canopy, trying to get a visual on his target. His neural implant recognized the speck against the sky before his brain could register what he was seeing and boxed it in a flashing red reticle for him. They were running passive sensors to avoid detection, so the next maneuver was critical as they made the final approach to where they would trail the larger vessel until the next part of their plan.

His implants calculated that the ship was four degrees off course and four thousand feet lower than it should have been, so he made his own corrections and continued his approach. There were two timers counting down on his tactical display, one in red that showed when the target was projected to regain use of its sensors after entry, and one in green that told him how long until they were safely tucked up under the drive section given their current speed and heading. Since the green number was lower than the red number, he kept his control inputs steady and concentrated on not overflying his intersect target.

“Mazer,” he said as the ship began to loom large in front of them, “what do you think the crew complement will be on that thing?”

“It’s hard to say given the unusual nature of its recent actions,” Mazer said. “I remember that it takes a minimum of eight crewman to fly it, so at least eight.”

“Thanks,” Jason said drily. “If you would, take a peek inside that weapons locker on the starboard side of the forward bulkhead in the cargo area and see what sort of toys we’re packing along.” Without a word the warrior unstrapped himself and went down the stairs. Jason could hear him sorting through the arms locker after a moment of messing with the latch.

“If it is only eight, and we maintain the element of surprise, I should be able to easily neutralize the crew, Captain,” Lucky said.

“I’m counting on that since the concealed blaster I’m carrying may not take down a pissed off Galvetic warrior,” Jason said. “But we don’t know for sure it’s only eight and we have no idea if they’re armed or armored … or both. I’d rather not leave anything to chance at this point.”

“We do have the shuttle weapons still,” Lucky pointed out.

“True,” Jason said, “but if we vaporize the crew, getting answers out of them will be that much more difficult.” Lucky simply turned and gave him a hard look at the sarcastic comment, but remained silent.

“Four blaster carbines and six sidearms,” Mazer said, sitting back in his seat behind the copilot station. “No heavy weapons, unfortunately.”

“Lucky has the heavy weapons taken care of,” Jason said with a smile. “We just need to cover him and keep them from concentrating any defense they may be able to raise at him.”

“Sounds like we have it all figured out,” Mazer said glumly, staring at the flaring engines of the carrier ship that was now clearly visible now that they’d closed to within less than a kilometer.

“Try not to sound too happy about it,” Jason said, looking over his shoulder.

“Sorry, Captain,” Mazer said. “But it just occurred to me that those are Galvetic warriors on that ship.”

“Is fighting your brethren such an unappealing prospect?” Lucky asked curiously.

“Not at all, my friend,” Mazer said. “But the fact that we need to fight them because of what they’ve done is upsetting. Legionnaires don’t just blindly follow orders like common foot soldiers. For them to confiscate your ship and abduct your crewmen means that the situation was explained to them and they agreed.”

“I can understand that,” Jason said, not mentioning that his crew may not have been abducted, but rather disposed of. “But the reasons they were given may not have been the truth. We
are
looking at the leading edge of what appears to be a significant power play here on Restaria unless I’m way off the mark, and I don’t think I am.”

“Perhaps,” Mazer said, sounding unconvinced. Everyone fell silent after that, listening to the drone of the engines and each thinking about their part in the upcoming action.

“We are nearly to the demarcation area,” Lucky said, referring to the zone Kage had marked on the map where the foothills of the mountains flowed into the seemingly endless grasslands of the plains. “We will be clear to engage momentarily.”

“Just let me know when,” Jason said, straightening in the seat and making the final adjustments on the targeting script he’d set up for the weapons. He began his final approach to the target and closed to within one hundred meters, causing the shuttle to bounce and rock in the wake vortex of the much larger ship. Now that he was so close, he could see what an antique it really was. The huge outriggers appeared to be flight stabilizers that were equipped with what looked like nozzles for a liquid-fueled rocket assist. The other propulsion components looked to have been upgraded at some time during the ship’s history since the repulsors and main engines were of different vintages.