by Ryk Brown
The Aurora creaked and groaned as her structure resisted the external forces threatening to break apart a ship not designed for atmospheric flight. Nathan clutched the sides of his armrests, confident that his ship could take the pressure.
“Three thousand meters and falling fast!” Loki warned.
“All ventral thrusters at full power!” Josh added. “Not that it’s doing much!”
“Engineering reports structural integrity down twenty percent!” Naralena announced.
“Shield strength is falling fast!” Kaylah warned, holding onto her console to steady herself. “External hull temperatures are climbing rapidly!”
“Targets acquired!” Jessica reported.
“Damn!” Josh exclaimed. “She’s flying like a brick! Lok! Can you put some more umph into the ventral thrusters or something? I need more nose up or we’re headed for a terminal dive!”
“We don’t have any more umph!” Loki replied.
“We’re being targeted!” Kaylah warned.
“Launch four!” Nathan ordered.
“Multiple defense turrets and missile launchers are locking onto us!” Kaylah added.
“Launching four!” Jessica replied, pressing the missile launch button.
Nathan focused his attention on the lower left corner of the main view screen, at the point in the Aurora’s hull where the jump missiles would exit their launch tubes. All he saw were blue-white flashes of light, the missiles jumping just as they crossed the departure threshold.
“Missiles away!” Jessica announced, holding on to the tactical console with her left hand while she entered commands with her right.
“Standard missile with a nuke!” Nathan ordered. “Target their missile plant!”
“Ten seconds to impact!” Loki warned.
Four blue-white flashes appeared on the main view screen just ahead, over one of SilTek’s automated industrial areas. A split second later, there were four massive explosions on the surface of SilTek as all four jump missile launchers protecting the production facility were wiped from existence.
“Five seconds!” Loki warned.
“Missile ready!” Jessica announced at the same time.
“Launch the nuke!” Nathan ordered. “Jump us out of here!”
“Nuke is away!” Jessica replied.
“Jumping!” Loki added as the jump flash washed over them.
The violent shaking stopped.
Josh felt relief wash over him. He looked at Loki and giggled. “That was different.”
“Scott Alpha Two,” Nathan ordered without hesitation.
“Scott Alpha Two, aye,” Loki replied.
“Turning to new jump heading,” Josh reported.
“Please tell me we’re not doing that again,” Kaylah begged.
“Four more standard busters,” Nathan instructed Jessica.
“Loading four more shield busters,” Jessica acknowledged.
“I need damage assessments,” Nathan reminded his sensor officer.
Kaylah quickly responded. “All of SilTek’s defenses are lit up. The missile plant is completely destroyed. The nuke took out everything in the area, including three neighboring districts. Estimate civilian casualties in the tens of thousands.”
“Understood,” Nathan replied calmly.
“On course for Scott Alpha Two,” Josh reported.
“Jess, load four more shield busters. Set their targets as the primary defenses around the Sugali fighter plant. If they’ve got fighters, they’ve got pilots for them.”
“Loading four more busters,” Jessica replied.
“As soon as those are away, get ready to pound everything in sight when we jump back in,” Nathan added. “I don’t want a single defense turret left standing.”
“I’ve got the location of every defense turret from Kaylah’s scans,” Jessica assured him. “I can assign the targets before we even jump in, but they’ll be expecting us,” she added, assigning targets to the Aurora’s ventral gun turrets.
“But they won’t know where,” Nathan replied.
Nathan tapped his comm-set. “Flight, Captain. Eagles and Reapers will have twenty seconds to launch once we jump back into the atmosphere. Remind them to use full power out the door and to expect unstable air as soon as they cross the threshold.”
“They’re ready, Captain,” the flight control officer assured him.
“Missiles are ready,” Jessica reported.
“Helm, execute Scott Alpha Two,” Nathan ordered.
“Executing Scott Alpha Two,” Loki announced as the jump flash washed over the bridge again. “At launch position.”
“Launch missiles,” Nathan instructed.
“Launching four,” Jessica replied. “Missiles away.”
“Missiles have jumped,” Kaylah confirmed.
“Execute attack jump Scott Alpha Two,” Nathan instructed, pressing the all-call button again. “All hands, brace for impact,” he repeated calmly, grasping his armrests tightly.
“Executing Scott Alpha Two attack jump,” Loki replied.
“I love this shit,” Josh said, only half under his breath.
“You would,” Loki replied as the jump flash washed over the bridge once more.
Again the ship lurched due to the sudden deceleration, and the bridge was bathed in sunlight.
“Fuck!” Josh exclaimed, nearly falling out of his seat.
“Green deck!” Nathan called over his comm-set. “Launch all Eagles and Reapers!”
“Twenty-nine hundred meters and falling like a rock!” Loki warned.
“Eagles and Reapers are launching,” Naralena announced.
“All shields over the fighter base are down!” Kaylah reported. “Two of the six missile launchers are also down! Twelve turrets are locking onto us!”
“I’ve got ’em!” Jessica announced as she activated the Aurora’s automated ventral plasma cannon turrets.
“Her nose is falling,” Josh warned, fighting with his flight control stick as he struggled to keep the kilometer-and-a-half-long starship from going into a nose dive.
“Maybe you should pitch up a little before we jump!” Loki exclaimed.
“I did!”
“Firing all turrets,” Jessica reported.
“Structural integrity down to sixty-four percent!” Naralena announced. “Forward dorsal hull integrity has dropped by forty-eight percent!”
“Shields are down to sixty percent!” Kaylah warned as the ship shook violently.
“Ten seconds to impact!” Loki warned.
“Eagles and Reapers are away!” Naralena reported.
“Mister Sheehan,” Nathan began.
“Jumping!” Loki replied, not waiting for the entire order to come out of his captain’s mouth.
The ship calmed once again, allowing Nathan to breathe a sigh of relief. “How many of them did you get?” he asked Jessica.
“All but maybe two,” she replied. “We were firing when we jumped, but I don’t know if we took the last two out or not.”
“That will have to do,” Nathan replied. “Prepare to launch six shield buster, multi-jump missiles. Targets will be all six inner system defense control points.”
“I was wondering when you were going to get to those,” Jessica replied.
“Flight ops reports only six Sugali fighters made it off the ground,” Naralena announced. “Eagles already have air superiority over the fighter base.”
“Tell them they’re welcome,” Jessica bragged.
“As soon as those are away, set up for a three-pronged, time-on-target attack, using two waves of multi-jump conventionals, and one of single-jump conventionals.”
“Scott Alpha One?” Jessica asked.
“Scott Alpha One,” Nathan confirmed, “but put a jump delay of one m
inute on the six missiles targeting the inner system defense control points. I need them to see our time-on-target attack being launched.”
“Angles on the TOT?”
“West, east, and north,” Nathan replied.
“Got it.”
“Uh, that’s going to leave us coming straight down the valley toward SilTek HQ, going south to north,” Loki warned. “The mountains at the north end of that valley are going to cut into our fall time by about…” Loki paused to check his calculations before continuing. “Twelve seconds, minimum.”
“Double our entry altitude,” Nathan instructed.
“That will put us in their missile attack sphere,” Jessica warned, “and without enough distance to intercept with point-defenses.”
Nathan turned to his left toward his sensor officer. “What’s our shield strength?”
“Fifty-seven percent,” Kaylah replied. “The next jump into the atmosphere will knock them down another twenty percent.”
“That’ll only protect us against two, maybe three missile impacts,” Jessica warned.
“How long to get our shields back up to full strength?” Nathan asked.
“At least ten minutes,” Kaylah replied.
“We’ll have a hundred missiles coming at us from all directions by then,” Jessica commented.
“Then let’s hope at least some of our TOT missiles find their targets,” Nathan commented. “Have two nukes on the rails and ready to launch when we jump in.”
“Two?” Jessica questioned. “A little much, don’t you think?”
“You want to do Scott Alpha One a second time?”
“We don’t have enough missiles to do it a second time,” Jessica replied as she finished entering the attack sequence into the missile control system.
“Coming up on the first launch point,” Loki warned.
“Four multi-jump missiles with conventional warheads on the rails, ready to launch; two more in the quick queue,” Jessica reported.
“Jump us to the first launch point,” Nathan told Loki.
“Aye, sir.”
The jump flash washed over the bridge.
“Launch the first wave,” Nathan ordered.
“Launching first four,” Jessica replied, pressing the launch button. “Four away, two loading.”
“Twenty seconds to our turn,” Loki warned.
“Missiles will be loaded in ten,” Jessica added.
“We are definitely being scanned,” Kaylah announced. “Inner system defense network is targeting us.”
“Launching last two,” Jessica announced. “Two away.”
“Eight inbound missiles!” Kaylah reported urgently.
“Turning!” Josh announced.
“Five seconds to impact!”
“Firing point-defenses!”
“Screw the turn!” Nathan ordered. “Escape jump!”
“Jumping!” Loki replied, the order barely out of Nathan’s mouth.
Again the blue-white flash washed over the bridge.
“Finish your turn and recalculate,” Nathan instructed. “Jess…”
“Loading the first wave of TOT missiles,” she assured him. “I’ll be ready when you are.”
“Recalculating,” Loki announced.
“Turning,” Josh added.
“Another wave!” Kaylah warned. “Six to starboard! Five seconds!”
“Firing point-defenses!” Jessica repeated.
“Four…”
“Turn complete!” Josh reported.
“Three…”
“Jump ready!” Loki added.
“Two…”
“Jump!”
The jump flash washed over the bridge. A split second later, Jessica pushed the launch button, sending the first wave of multi-jump missiles racing down the launch rails. “Four away!” she reported. “Loading the next wave.”
“Twelve missiles inbound!” Kaylah reported. “First ones will hit in ten seconds!”
“Firing point-defenses,” Jessica reported. “Next wave will be ready to launch in five seconds,”
“It’s going to be close,” Loki warned.
“Four…”
“Don’t wait for my command,” Nathan told Loki.
“Three…”
“Launching four!” Jessica reported.
“Two…”
“Missiles away!”
“Jumping!” Loki reported, as the jump flash washed over the bridge again.
“Hold your turn!” Nathan instructed. “Jump us ahead ten light years!”
“Ten light year escape jump, aye!” Loki replied.
“Eighteen inbound!” Kaylah warned. “Five seconds!”
“Damn!” Jessica exclaimed. “How many do they have?”
“Four…”
“Any time, Mister Sheehan,” Nathan urged.
“Three…”
“Jumping!” Loki announced as the jump flash washed over them.
“Now you can execute your turn,” Nathan instructed Josh.
“Turning.”
“As soon as the turn is finished, we’ll jump twenty light years across, then turn back to the attack leg,” Nathan explained.
“Recalculating,” Loki acknowledged.
“Final wave is loaded,” Jessica announced. “Four single-jump conventionals on the rails, and two nukes in the quick queue.”
“Have every turret and every point-defense ready,” Nathan urged. “This one’s going to be hairy.”
“Maybe that general had good reason to be confident,” Kaylah commented.
“Maybe so,” Nathan agreed.
“I still think he’s just an ass,” Jessica chimed in as she finished setting up the next wave of missiles. “First wave jump delay will expire in twenty seconds,” she added.
“Finishing our turn now,” Josh reported.
“Jump to the far side recalculated and ready,” Loki added.
“Jump us across and then execute your turn to final attack leg,” Nathan instructed.
“Jumping across,” Loki acknowledged.
“Targets assigned, missiles ready to launch,” Jessica reported before the jump flash.
“Executing turn to final attack leg,” Josh announced.
“So far, I’d say we’re doing well,” Nathan opined.
“We’ve barely made a dent in their defenses,” Jessica reminded him.
“But we haven’t suffered any damage yet.”
“There’s still time.”
“Delayed wave should be jumping now,” Kaylah reported.
“Let’s hope that provides us with a little breathing room while maneuvering in the system,” Nathan commented.
“Don’t count on it,” Jessica warned.
“On course for Scott Alpha One attack run,” Josh announced, as he completed his turn.
“Twenty seconds to time-on-target attack,” Jessica reported.
“Launch the final four and quick-load the nukes,” Nathan instructed.
“Launching four missiles,” Jessica acknowledged. “Missiles away. Loading nukes.”
Nathan glanced at the time-on-target timer displayed in the tactical window on the lower right side of the main view screen.
“Nukes loaded,” Jessica announced. “TOT in five…”
“Prepare for attack jump,” Nathan instructed Loki.
“Four…”
“Jump ready,” Loki assured him.
“Three…”
Josh braced himself with his left hand, his right palm against the base of the flight control stick, ready to grab it the moment they entered the atmosphere.
“Two…” Jessica continued. “One……all missiles jumping.”
Four blue-white flashes appeared on the main vie
w screen a few kilometers ahead of them as their last four missiles jumped ahead.
Nathan counted three seconds in his head as he pressed the all-call button. “All hands, brace for impact.” He switched off the all-call and added, “Execute attack jump.”
“Jumping,” Loki acknowledged.
Again the ship lurched as atmospheric drag suddenly reduced her speed. Nathan held on tightly as the bridge filled with daylight, bracing himself against the sudden deceleration.
“Six thousand meters and falling!” Loki yelled over the creaking and groaning. “Twenty-nine hundred meters to minimum jump altitude!”
The forward view screen was filled with at least eight massive explosions on the planet’s surface, their initial fireballs spreading out and billowing upward as they consumed the structures within their blast radius.
“Shields at fifty percent and falling!” Kaylah reported. “At least half of SilTek HQ’s defenses are still operating! Main shield over HQ is down to twenty percent, but still up!”
“Launch the nukes,” Nathan ordered. “Fire all turrets.”
“Launching two!” Jessica replied, pressing the launch button. “Firing all ventral plasma cannon turrets!”
Two quick, blue-white flashes in the lower corners of the main view screen reported that their missiles had jumped the moment they reached their exits through the Aurora’s hull.
“Missiles away!”
Two more flashes appeared a few kilometers ahead as the missiles arrived at their targets, followed by blinding white nuclear detonations.
“I sure as fuck hope we’re not going to have to fly through that!” Josh exclaimed after glancing up and witnessing the rising mushroom clouds ahead.
“Shields down to forty-five percent!” Kaylah warned.
“Ten seconds to minimum escape jump altitude!” Loki warned.
“Multiple missile launches!” Kaylah warned! “Impacts in three…”
“That’s it!” Nathan exclaimed.
“Two…”
“Get us out of here!”
“One…”
“Jumping!” Loki reported.
Again the Aurora returned to her natural environment of the vacuum of space, and the violent rocking that had threatened to tear her apart stopped.
“Second jump,” Nathan immediately ordered. “Ten light years, then come about hard.”