Rise of the Altered Moon: Altered Moon Series: Book One (The Altered Moon Series 1)
Page 7
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Chapter Ten
JP kept Lunar Mare’s ISE at point zero one percent, which allowed the engine to idle while the ship was stationary. He monitored flight system readouts and ran sensor scans. The scans did little good; the static electric charge from all the sand and dust in the high winds made it impossible to get a decent reading. At least it gave him something to do instead of twiddling his thumbs and counting the seconds. Jump pilot, yeah right, glorified taxi driver is all I am. All I do is punch buttons on a computer panel. Star pilot drives the ship, now that’s where it’s at! I could be a damn good star pilot, too, but no, the captain’s squeeze gets the position. An incoming comms alert startled him out of his mental whining.
“JP!” a call came over the comms. “JP! Com
“Lunar Mare here, Captain,” JP answered.
“We are und
“Roger that,” JP replied and keyed a command into a flight panel.
“We read yo
“Understood, Captain,” JP said. “Lunar Mare is standing…”
An MT&T security strike squad opened the landing bay hatch and opened fire on Lunar Mare.
“Shit! Captain, I have hostiles in the landing bay, repeat, hostiles in the landing bay,” JP called into the comms.
Before the squad could advance very far, he triggered the grenades by the hatchway. The blast stunned the security team and triggered the emergency venting system that opened the outer bay doors in case of fire. JP quickly engaged the security fields and retracted the landing gear and the entry ramp. He spun Lunar Mare about-face and purged hydrogen through the ISE ports, which sent a blast of rocket fire through the landing bay hatch.
“That’ll slow you bastards down,” he said to himself.
A sensor beep drew his attention to the bio signs that approached the landing pad. JP dropped the security fields, extended the ramp, and positioned Lunar Mare closer to the group. Boss and the others scrambled to the entry ramp. JP watched on the visual feed as two people went up the ramp together; the other two covered the smoldering hatchway then ascended the ramp as well.
JP read that the entry ramp was up and the hatch sealed, so he gunned the engines and put Lunar Mare into a steep climb.
The Canalar spaceport shrank to a spec as the shuttle sped away through the atmosphere. There was no sign of pursuit from the surface, but JP knew the real danger of the Predator was still ahead of them.
“Altered Moon, Altered Moon, this is Lunar Mare,” JP called into the comms. “Alert one, alert one! We are comin’ up and we are comin’ up HOT!”
No response.
“Altered Moon, do you read?” he called again.
“We read you, Lunar Mare,” Trigger’s reply was mixed with chaotic background noise. “Be advised, we are under attack. Take evasive action after clearing the atmosphere. Rendezvous at coords fifty-two, three-twenty, one seventy-five! We may have to pull off a little barn burner to get you home. Be ready to execute a ‘Boss nine’ at first chance.”
“Copy that, Trigger,” JP prepared to make the switch from atmospheric flight to space flight. “Breaking atmosphere in ninety seconds.”
“Understood” Trigger’s reply was short.
JP thumbed the master comms button. “Strap yourselves in back there. We have trouble poppin’ up everywhere and things may get rough!”
JP maneuvered Lunar Mare up through Canalar’s atmosphere and emerged into space half a planet away from the rendezvous. He could see the weapons fire taking place between the two ships off in the distance. JP knew that Trigger expected him to have Lunar Mare in position before the Altered Moon got there. The cockpit hatch opened and Boss came in and took the copilot’s seat.
“Whoa,” he exclaimed at the sight of Boss’ bandage-wrapped face. “What happened to you? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Boss answered. “Just thought I would test the hardness of the local plascrete…with my face. Sit-rep?”
“The Moon is under fire and taking evasive action to give us time to make the rendezvous. The plan is to pull a ‘Boss nine,’ then blast out of the system. We are eighteen minutes from coordinates,” JP informed him.
“Good…good,” Boss said as he hit the ship-to-ship comms. “Trigger, this is Boss. How do you read?” There was no response. “Altered Moon, come in.”
“Trigger here, Captain. A little busy at the moment,” his reply came over the comms.
“Understood. Green light on ‘Boss nine.’ Repeat; green light on ‘Boss nine.’ Execute evasive pattern five. Initiate full moon burn as soon as we’re in, then go to ground, repeat, go to ground!”
“Aye, Captain!” Trigger called out. Boss’s crew knew that ‘go to ground’ meant getting as far away from major star systems as possible and finding a place to hide out.
“All right, JP, let’s get to the rendezvous,” said Boss
“Roger that.”
Boss turned the visual sensors toward the area where the two ships engaged each other. Nothing of either ship could be seen as both of them had low-signature stealth-style hull plating. The blue-and-green flashes of particle beams and plasma bolts could be seen as the two ships fought for a death grip on the other.
The space battle continued as JP brought Lunar Mare to the rendezvous coordinates and raged on until an ultra-bright light flared like a supernova and then went dark again. Trigger had just set off the Moonshine STO to turn the tide of the battle.
The glowing tails of two missiles stood out in the black of space like candles in a darkened window. The flash of impact was followed by what looked like blue lightning that floated in space, the telltale sign of a ‘Goose’ missile. Trigger had used the electromagnetic pulse of the missile strike to disable the Predator
“Good job, Trigger,” Boss nodded and relaxed back in his chair. “JP, set an intercept course for the Altered Moon.”
“Roger that!” JP said. “ETA: two minutes.”
“Lunar Mare, this is Altered Moon,” Trigger called over the comms. “How do read?”
“Altered Moon, this is Lunar Mare,” Boss replied. “What is your situation?”
“The Predator is temporarily disabled. I suggest we expedite our departure.”
“Roger that, Altered Moon, I wholeheartedly agree,” Boss replied. “We are on approach…shuttle bay doors are open…Lunar Mare is in…down…and locked…bay doors are closed…we’re home.”
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Chapter Eleven
“G, hang back a little bit,” said Trigger. “Let ‘em drift out of sight, then keep ‘em on the other side of the planet. We don’t need to draw any attention.”
“Copy that,” Gina answered, as she adjusted the necessary flight controls to slow the Altered Moon.
“The Predator is out of visual,” she reported. “Sensor readings on its position are intermittent. I can’t get an exact fix on her.”
“Do what you can,” Trigger told her. “We’ll rendezvous with the shuttle when the Predator is on the far side of Canalar. Once the shuttle is secured, set an elliptical course out of the system that keeps Canalar between us and them. Set a secondary course for hidey-hole twenty-one, as well, just in case.”
“Aye, sir.”
The Altered Moon cruised over Canalar. Gina made sensor and flight adjustments in an effort to track the elusive security ship and keep it on the far side of the planet. The Predator would appear randomly on the sensor scans and then it would vanish again. Sometimes there would be two signatures, heading in different directions and back to nothing again. One of the vanishing times extended quite a while and Gina worried about not ha
ving sensor contact. She readjusted the sensor again and suddenly alarms went off and the HUD flashed a weapons alert.
“Trigger!” Gina reported urgently. “I’m reading a weapons scan off our aft port quarter. They’re trying to get a lock on us.”
“Evasive maneuvers!” Trigger ordered. “Energizing defense fields…transferring secondary power to weapons…killing transponder! Bob and weave, G! Keep us moving!”
“Cat, to the bridge!” Trigger called into the comms.
“On my way!” came the reply.
The Altered Moon shuddered, tilted, and then righted as plasma bolts detonated within meters of the ship. Gina quickly redirected the ship in a random pattern so the Predator couldn’t get their targeting scanners locked on them.
The Moon was a quick ship with a low-power signature, which made it a difficult ship to get a sensor or weapons lock on. Trigger noticed the hatch opened and Cat hurried onto the bridge. Another shudder and a heavier rumble shook the ship as a plasma bolt hit their dorsal shielding.
“Cat, take weapons!” Trigger called out.
“I’m on it!” she answered, and quickly moved to the tactical station.
“Charge particle cannons and load two EMW’s in forward tubes and two thermals in the aft tubes,” ordered Trigger.
“Charging cannons, geese forward and heaters aft, aye!”
“Fire cannons at will…missiles at my command,” he said.
“Unable to lock on to the Predator,” she said.
“Best guess! Spread pattern, Cat. Don’t let him get in behind us, Gina,” he called out.
“Cannons firing…missiles are standing by,” she confirmed.
“Altered Moon, Altered Moon, this is Lunar Mare,” JP’s voice came over the comms. “Alert one, alert one! We are comin’ up and we are comin’ up HOT!”
“Altered Moon, do you read?” JP called again.
“We read you, Lunar Mare,” Trigger replied tersely, occupied as he tried to evade the Predator. “Be advised, we are under attack. Take evasive action after clearing the atmosphere. Rendezvous at coords fifty-two, three-twenty, one seventy-five! We may have to pull off a little barn burning to get you home. Be ready to pull a ‘Boss nine’ at first chance.”
“Boss nine, copy that, Trigger,” said JP. “Breaking atmosphere in ninety seconds.”
“Port shields down to twenty percent,” called out Cat. “Dorsal shields down to sixty percent.”
“Trigger, this is Boss. How do you read?” Boss’ voice came from the comms unit. “Altered Moon, come in.”
“Trigger here, Captain. A little busy at the moment,” he replied.
“Understood. Green light on ‘Boss nine.’ Repeat; Green light on ‘Boss nine.’ Execute evasive pattern five. Initiate full moon burn as soon as we’re in, then go to ground, repeat, go to ground!”
“Aye, Captain!” Trigger yelled as the Moon was rocked by another plasma blast.
“G, evasive pattern five,” Trigger called out. “Cat, ready the Moonshine and stand by on forward tubes!”
“E P five, aye,” answered Gina.
Gina brought the Moon around and made a strafing run along the Predator’s belly. Cat blasted the ship’s ventral shields with the particle cannons. Gina turned the Moon to fly along the bottom of the opposing ship toward the bow. She brought the Moon up in a hard vertical ninety directly in front of the ship risking fire from the Predator’s front battery.
“Now, Cat!” yelled Trigger.
Cat executed the Moonshine device that emitted an ultra-bright light blast combined with a sensory overload burst that left the target vessel without visual or electronic scanners for a short time.
“Spin us about, G! Bring us to bear on the Predator,” ordered Trigger. “Cat, fire forward tubes!”
“Forward tubes, aye! Two geese away.”
The evasive move worked and the electromagnetic warheads slammed into the hull plating of the security ship before it could recover from the overload. The blue crackle of the missile’s EMP crawled over the Predator’s hull. The drive systems pulsed on and off as the ship began to list to the starboard.
“Yes!” exclaimed Cat.
“Ahhh,” Trigger sighed as he sat back in the command chair and wiped sweaty palms on the thighs of his pant legs. “G, head to the rendezvous and plot the shortest course out of this system. Use the reverse full moon procedure to cover our ISE trail.”
“Roger that, Trigger.”
“Thanks Cat!” Trigger said, as he turned toward the tactical station. “Job well done…you, too G. That was some sweet flying, there.”
“Thanks, but I’ll wait to celebrate until we are far away from here,” said Gina. “Shuttle is fifty kilometers and closing.”
“Lunar Mare, this is Altered Moon,” Trigger called into the comms. “How do read?”
“Altered Moon, this is Lunar Mare,” came Boss’ voice over the comms. “What is your situation?”
“Predator temporarily disabled,” answered Trigger. “I suggest we expedite our departure.”
“Roger that, Altered Moon,” responded Boss. “We are on approach…shuttle bay doors are open. Lunar Mare is in…down and locked. Bay doors are closed, we’re home.”
“Copy that, Lunar Mare,” Trigger said. “G. turn ‘em and burn ‘em…I’ll be in the shuttle bay.”
“Roger that!” she said.
Gina put the Altered Moon on the shortest course out of the system and hit full burn on all thirteen engines. She brought the Altered Moon up to one hundred thousand KPH and then set up for the shift over to dark matter propulsion.
“Prepare for full power down. ISE cut off in thirty seconds,” Gina alerted the crew over the comms. She cut the inner system engines and powered down the flight systems. She engaged the DMITS and altered their trajectory so the Altered Moon would drift out of the Canalar solar system without so much as a sensor blip.
She sat back in her chair, closed her eyes, and felt the muscles on both sides of her spine unknot and let loose. Even though she believed in Boss with all her heart, she couldn’t help but feel like things had begun to unravel around them. Tears of stress rimmed her eyes as the events of the last few days overwhelmed her. Please just let us get out of this.
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Chapter Twelve
The planet Keenaw was the second planet of the Krelle star system, located on the edge of a high-radiation field between the Marlacuer Star Empire and the Ronarian Sovereignty. Marlacuer military forces had never been able to break the defenses of the Ronarian rebellion. A nearby sector of space emitted a high-energy radiation that interfered with scanners and tracking systems, making it difficult to engage in space battles. The Ronarians were a fiercely warlike people with a strong military. The Empire beat them back to this small area of the galaxy over many decades of war, but the radiation leveled the playing field in space and the Marlacuer ground troops were no match for the Ronarians.
So, there was a Mexican standoff of sorts; the Ronarian Sovereignty sat on one side of a no-fly zone and the Marlacuer Empire sat on the other. The Ronarians’ tendency to destroy any unknown ship that wandered into their space and the threat of military action that loomed between the two sides made the area rather unpopular with travelers and pilgrims. There were other sorts, however, who appreciated a bit more ‘solitude’ shall we say and found it just right. No outposts or colonies were permitted in the no-fly zone or in the systems of the Imperial blockade. There was no life on Keenaw; it was a desert moon with a thin, breathable atmosphere. Rough and jagged landscape told of ancient lava flows cooled by time and carved by the wind.
Gina nestled the Altered Moon into a cave system on Keenaw’s surface; it made a perfect hangar for the uniquely shaped ship. The Moon’s generous wingspan and tall crescent dorsal fin made the ship a bit tricky to maneuver in close quarters. Boss and the crew made a fallback go-to-ground plan if things ever got hairy during one of their heists: to come here and hide in this cave system on Keenaw. Boss c
alled that plan into action back at Canalar after being ambushed by an MT&T security strike force. Three of the thirty-four-hour local solar days had passed, hurt had been patched up, and damage had been repaired.
“How we doin’ out there, Wilks?” Boss asked as Wilks came in the entry hatch and unsealed the helmet of her welding suit.
“Just about done, Cap. We’ll have the last of the hull plating on by the end of the day.”
“Ahhh…good…good,” he said. “Excellent work, Wilks.”
“Well…I did have…some…help.” She raised her eyebrows and playfully acted snooty. “Actually,” she continued, “that CJ is a pretty good mechanic. He doesn’t know the jump tech stuff, but he knows the inner system engines inside and out. I kept him away from the DMITS until I could talk to you about it. You know, depending on how this all turns out, Cap, he could be a great help around here.”
“That good, huh? Well, there’s a lot between here and there, right now. Let’s take it one step at a time. The dark matter technology, as well as the Moon’s other capabilities, are restricted knowledge. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir. Absolutely.”
“Very well, thank you, Wilks.” He gave her a wink to take any sting out of his words. “Carry on and keep me updated on the repairs.”
“You got it, Cap,” she said, and continued on her way to engineering.
Boss walked through the squad bay and along the corridor to the crew quarters. Thoughts of Gina floated among others as he came to his quarters and tapped the entry icon Gina’s been quiet since we’ve been here…Trigger just relieved her on the bridge…Gar and CJ are outside…Everybody else is in engineering…It would be a good time for a quiet talk…just her and me. The door swung in; he stepped through and saw Gina already there, sitting on the couch along the far wall.