The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution (11 page)

“
How long will this take
?
” he asked.

Cat walked over toward the main control console. She placed a hand on it and a small mass of shimmering silver flowed from her fingers into it.

“
The nanites have already been reprogrammed. As far as how long it will take to retrieve the Syndicat
e’
s data? Tha
t’
s a good question. It depends on just how extensive their network is. Fortunately the communications link is not really affected by distance, so it can take as long as it needs to. I suspect the data-mining to figure out what we have got and how to best use it will take considerably longer
.
”

She did
n’
t know it at the moment, but this would be time they did
n’
t have.

Chapter Nin
e
– Disrupt and Deny...

“
Push them hard
!
” General Moss yelled at his command staff. It was
n’
t enough that his imbecile brother had let a massive ship literally sneak up on his position, but now Captain Breakwater and his brethren were failing in their mission to secure the capital. It was intolerable and unacceptable.

“
Do we or do we not have a fully stocked armory under the mountain in Sigon Pass
?
”

Captain Breakwater looked at the general with as blank a face as he could muster. Showing his anger now would gain him little. Fortunately, the young Suhtian he currently rode had exceptionally dark fur, so the blush associated with anger was not easy to spot.

“
We do, sir. It has a full complement of fighters and ground-effect tank
s
…”

“
Then get your hairy trunk up there and take control of that armory. I do
n’
t want to see you or your men again unless you are driving a tank or flying a fighter. You will bomb and shell and blast and otherwise chew up every meter of dirt these GCP mud guppies control.
Am I clear
?
”

“
Sir-
yes,sir
!
”

***

The ride back to the shuttle landing site was uneventful. Nevertheless, Cat could see smoke and small fires about the city where fighting had been taking place. First the East Tree irregulars had taken the city from the local Modos security forces. Then a Modos military unit had come in and almost succeeded in regaining uncontested control of the city before the GCP had arrived and once again secured the city for the rebellion. It was Ca
t’
s plan to make sure it stayed in rebel hands. Unfortunately, plans in war-time have a way of unraveling.

Her comm-link suddenly bleeped with multiple incoming messages. She signaled the one from the shuttle to hold, and instead opened the channel to the GCP
Mador
.

“
Mador,
this is Kimbridge. Go ahead
.
”

“
Admira
l…,
” Jason Ruck said over the comm-link
,“
we are detecting launches from a site about a hundred-and-twenty-five kilometers north of your AO
.
”

“
Are we looking at missiles here, or something else
?
”

“
Definitel
y‘
something els
e
’… These seem to be suborbital fighters. According to the database Captain Running Stream left with us these are very likely modified
Dragonflies
, with kinetics, minimal-beam weapons, and four block-buster ground force suppression bombs each. They could be bad news for our guys with boots on the ground
.
”

“
Understood
,
” Cat responded
.“
Send down a contingent of our own fighters. Le
t’
s see if we ca
n’
t limit the damage they end up doin
g
…”

Ca
t’
s comm-link beeped again. The shuttle was again requesting a priority link
.“
Jason, stay on the line
.
” She signaled her AI to add the shuttle to the open channel.

“
Kimbridge here. Go ahead Puddle Jumper
.
”

“
Admiral,
I’
m sorry to interrupt yo
u
” Lt. Kristi said, quickly
.“
We have a situation here. That active LiDAR   signal has gone mobile. We have twenty-seven inbound craft. If you want to leave before they get here we need to launch in the next couple minutes
.
”

“
Understood Puddle Jumpe
r
… we are approaching the shuttle now. Go ahead and fire up the engines
.
”

“
Jason, Have the
Yorktown
and
Mador
move into geosynchronous support orbits. Target the launch site...
,
”

"
Admiral!
Multiple jump points forming" Lt. Zimmerman interjected from the bridge of the
Yorktown
. "Ten inbound dreadnoughts, ma'am... They did a precision jump into the inner system. Given their relative speed and position, Tactical estimates they are no more than two minutes out."

"Jason, belay that last order. Reposition both the
Mador
and
Yorktown
next to WhimPy 101."

Cat and Commander LeAnder exited the ground vehicle the moment it came to a stop. They ran the twenty feet to the waiting shuttle. Small fires and smoldering bits of plastic littered the surrounding area. In the distance Cat could hear small arms fire. The sounds of the shuttl
e’
s air-breathing thrusters revving up filled the air.

"101 have you been monitoring the situation?" Cat asked.

"Affirmative Admiral. May I suggest as soon as practical you allow me to envelop Naanac in a protective shield? This will permit ground operations to continue unabated while you await reinforcements."

Cat nodded to the shuttle pilot as she and the Lt. Commander hastily entered. Cat made an upward swoosh with her hand indicating Kristi should takeoff. On a small tactical display near the cockpit Cat could see a formation of aircraft rapidly moving in their general direction. It would be close.

Cat continued her conversation with the WhimPy platform. "I assume you are going to launch multiple shield generators into orbit to facilitate a planet-wide shield... Correct?"

"Correct Admiral. I can jump the satellites directly into their proper position with the required momentum to keep them in geosynchronous orbits."

"Very good. Go ahead and implement the shield. Leave me a hole so I can get back to the
Yorktown
then button it up tight."

As the shuttle lifted, Lieutenant Kristi pulled the shuttl
e’
s yoke violently to the left. "Admiral, we have Dragonflies beginning to engage. Please hold on while I try and shake them."

Cat strapped into her seat and noted that Commander LeAnder   had already done so. He was on his own comm-link. She could only assume he was in communication with Lt. McKinney who was in charge of the local ground force
s
… making him aware of th
e‘
world of hur
t
’ that would soon be coming their way.

The pilot jinxed the yoke left again and then right. She was doing her level best to avoid the incoming fire but it was not enough. Cat could hear the kinetic rounds pinging on the hull of the ship. I
t’
s shields, although somewhat limited, should be up to the task. She was more concerned about the beam weapons. They were far more effective against low-level shield
s
– especially when used in conjunction with kinetics. The shields needed to retune themselves for each type of attack and on a shuttle this size they were not especially effective against both at once.

“
I’
m trying to climb above them but they are right on top of us now
!
” Kristi yelled over the din.

“
Lieutenant! They are far more maneuverable at this altitude. The
y’
ll chew us up before you can climb high enough
.
”

“
What do I do
?
”

“
We have a much higher top spee
d
… it just takes us a while to get there. Dive back toward the cit
y
… full thrust then use your forward momentum to climb over them
.
”

The Puddle Jumper nosed down and picked up speed as gravity was now working with them rather than against. Two Syndicate Dragonflies streaked by causing Kristi to roll to the right. Her velocity continued to rise as the ground rapidly approached. At seemingly the last possible moment she pulled back on the yoke and began a ballistic climb.

It looked like the maneuver was going to work when suddenly the entire shuttle bucked wildly and began an uncontrolled end-over-end tumble.

“
WHAT TH
E…,
” Kristi yelled as she fought the controls.

“
They must have used a blockbuster down there. We got caught in the blast wav
e,
” Cat said, as she watched the pilot fight the controls. Finally she got the shuttle under limited control but it was clear they were not going to make anything even approaching orbit. There was a three foot hole in the rear of the shuttle. Cat could hear the air rushing by.

“
We lost the port thruste
r
” Kristi yelled
.“I’
m having to fight to keep the starboard one online.
I’
m not sure how much longer I can keep her in the air Admiral
!
”

Cat unbuckled and grabbed the back of the Lieutenan
t’
s chair for support
.“
Look for someplace soft to land
.
” At the same time Cat sent a signal to the Heshe weapo
n’
s platform
.“
10
1
… button up the shield
s
… we are not going to make our rendezvous with the
Yorktown
.
”

***

Lieutenant Blackwater adjusted the fuel mix feeding the massive air breathing jet engines on his Dragonfly. He liked burning them hot to get the extra little bit of thrust that produced. Ahead of him he could see the Coalition shuttle. It was trailing smoke and having trouble holding its orientation. Clearly it was close to going down. Blackwater decided to see if he could help it along.

“
Compute
r
… bring masers online. Target any active heat sources on the craft ahead. Continuous fire for fifteen seconds. Acknowledge command
.
”

He heard the familiar acknowledgement beep in his combat suit. The suit itself looked like a metallic crab or spider. His symbiot  had
been dismounted prior to boarding the Dragonfly. The symbiotic linkages just were not suitable to combat maneuvers and so the Dragonfl
y’
s were designed to be used with the combat suit that he now wore.

Twin beams lashed out and struck the sole functioning thruster on the struggling shuttle. It was obvious from the way the craft lurched that his attack had been successful. He was going to follow the shuttle down to finish it but his heads-up display flashed an incoming warning. Apparently the Coalition forces in orbit had launched some of their own fighters. He was now taking fire from above. Discretion being the better part of valor, he decided to report the downed shuttle near the space port to his squad leader and break off the attack so he could face the fighters that were above him.

***

Jason Ruck did not look pleased. He paced about the bridge of the
Mador
while the holographic image of Commander Ken Kirkland on the Bridge of the
Yorktown
stood at attention. The Commander had spent the last thirty minutes arguing with the Commodore over the need to send additional ground support troops down to the surface. The problem was the damn Dragonflies were better atmospheric fighters than the ships that the GCP had access to. They were chewing up the fighters they had send down. The
Mador
and
Yorktown
lost a full twenty percent of their aircraft before Jason recalled them. In addition the Syndicate forces had managed to activate an extensive network of air defense batteries located near every major population center. These had been offline up until a few hours ago but were now fully functional and quite capable. Between the two weapons systems the GCP was now unable to gain clear access to air superiority. The GCP ground forces already in place would need to take out one or more of these systems if the Coalition was going to have any chance of landing more support planet-side.