Ep.#7 - Who Takes No Risk (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  Josh laughed. “Stop worrying. After all, you’ve got the best pilot in the galaxy on stick. No matter how screwed up things get, I’ll get us out alive. You’ve got my word.”

  “Still not helping,” Loki mumbled.

  Josh adjusted himself in his seat. “I’m ready to fly the fuck out of this thing!” he declared. “Command me, Master!”

  “Don’t call me master,” Loki replied.

  “Well, I’m sure as hell not calling you ‘sir’.”

  * * *

  It took considerable concentration for Suvan to go about his workday rituals in a manner that would not raise suspicion, but so far, everything had gone just as usual.

  Until now.

  “Ops, Four Four Two, I’m having a problem here,” Suvan reported over comms. “I’ve got a stuck anchor latch.”

  “We’re not showing any problems on your status board, Four Four Two,” the operations controller replied.

  “Well, trust me, the thing is stuck. I’m gonna reorient to get my hands on it,” he said as he bent the crawler over so his arms could reach the bulkhead in front of him.

  “Understood. Would you like us to start a rescue crawler?”

  “Negative,” Suvan replied. “I’ve only been out here two hours, so I’ve got plenty of time before I’ll need extraction.”

  “Maintenance suggests you do a full reboot if you can’t free yourself.”

  “I’ll save that as a last resort. I’d prefer not to free-float for five minutes, bouncing around off the inside of this flight deck, if I can avoid it.” As he spoke, Suvan reached under his console and rerouted several power feeds. After a few minutes of tampering, he called back. “Ops, Four Four Two. No joy. I’m going to reboot. I’ve rerouted power to the mag-plates in my secondary arms, so I won’t float away during reboot. If everything is good after the reboot, I’ll keep working.”

  “Good thinking, Four Four Two. Rescue will be standing by, just in case. Pop a rescue strobe if your crawler fails to restart.”

  “Understood,” Suvan replied. “Four Four Two is rebooting. Talk to you in five.” Suvan reached under his panel again and pulled the circuit breaker for his crawler’s communications and data transceiver, breaking off all voice communications, as well as the data telemetry from his crawler. Then, he shut down the power to his crawler.

  Suvan inserted his arms into the flexible extruded arms, pushing his fingers into the gloves at the ends. He now had four minutes to complete his task.

  * * *

  General Telles watched from the front of the Aurora’s main hangar bay as one hundred of his men boarded the collection of Reapers, Ranni shuttles, and the Aurora’s only cargo shuttle. Once again, he would be taking his forces deep into enemy territory. He knew there would be losses, both on Corinair and on the Teyentah. Such was the nature of battle. But with each engagement, his forces were reduced, and there were no reinforcements. These men, and the hundred or so who were staying behind, were the last of the Ghatazhak. Once they were gone…

  It saddened him to imagine an end to the Ghatazhak. Although it was unfortunate that humanity needed such men, need them they did, and now, more than ever. He only hoped that when this war was over, there would be enough of them left to train new generations of Ghatazhak.

  “Our forces are nearly loaded, General,” Corporal Eliason reported.

  “Very well,” the general replied. He glanced at the time display on the starboard bulkhead as the corporal turned to board himself. There was still fifteen minutes until the battle would begin. “Eliason,” he called before the soldier got out of earshot.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Anyone in your fire team worthy of a promotion?”

  “Mitchell, sir. Calm under fire, clear thinker, always has your back. I think he’s due. Why?”

  “Because you’re a sergeant now,” the general replied, “and you’re out of uniform,” he added, tossing a small packet of stripes for the corporal to add to his body armor.

  Sergeant Eliason caught the packet, looked at it, and smiled. “Yes, sir,” he replied, clenching his fist around the packet of stripes.

  “Take Parkett from technical to replace you on team three, and take command of fire teams three and four.”

  “Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied.

  “Get the Corinari out of there, Sergeant,” General Telles stated firmly.

  “Do or die, sir,” the sergeant replied, snapping a salute to the general.

  General Telles returned the salute, wondering if the newly minted sergeant would be one of those who would not return this day.

  The general took a breath, looked around one last time, then headed for the Ranni shuttle that would take him and his team to the Teyentah.

  * * *

  “Those lines aren’t rated for that much instant energy transfer, Commander,” the engineering tech warned Vladimir.

  “That’s why we have doubled up all the runs,” Vladimir insisted.

  “They still won’t take a full, instant transfer load, sir. You know that.”

  Vladimir put his arm around the young technician, leading him over to one side of the auxiliary engineering space, which was now stuffed full of additional energy banks taken from several cargo ships just a day ago. “Of course, I know this. That is why we are not going to use them to directly power a jump. We will trickle their power over to the main banks after each jump, at a rate that will not exceed their safe energy transfer levels. I have been doing this for many years, Mister Hayden. You must trust me.”

  “Uh, of course, I trust you, sir,” Mister Hayden assured Vladimir, embarrassed that his superior had assumed otherwise.

  “Very well,” Vladimir replied, patting the young man on the shoulder. “Now, go check the secondary banks on the other side of the compartment. Make sure those connections are secure. I expect we are in for quite a shaking.”

  “Yes, sir,” the young man replied, departing as instructed.

  Vladimir waited until the young man disappeared behind the stack of energy cells, then turned and walked quickly in the opposite direction, tapping his comm-set. “Jump Control, Cheng. Make certain you do not use the additional energy banks to directly power any jumps. Only use them to trickle charge to the main banks. I do not want the transfer lines overheating in the middle of battle. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Vladimir breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced at his watch and headed for main engineering. Only ten minutes before the attack would begin, and there were still a hundred things he wanted to double-check, yet again.

  * * *

  “Only you would actually be excited about the prospect of jumping into the middle of an enemy-held system and attacking a heavily-guarded shipyard,” Kenji commented as he double-checked his instruments.

  “Come on,” Aiden insisted. “They’re going to be talking about this battle all over the galaxy, for decades to come. How can you not be excited about being part of it?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because there’s a very high probability that we’ll all get killed. But I’m funny that way.”

  “We’re not even jumping in that deep,” Aiden argued. “You worry too much.”

  “Not that deep? We’re jumping in less than a kilometer from the shipyard, Aiden. How much deeper can you go?”

  “The Gunyoki get to fly through that thing,” Aiden reminded. “Lucky bastards.”

  “You should be flying with Hayes,” Kenji insisted. “You’re both crazy.”

  “How much time left?” Aiden asked, ignoring his copilot’s comment.

  “Five minutes,” Kenji groaned.

  Aiden tried to contain himself but failed. “This is gonna be awesome!” he burst.

  “Batshit crazy,” Kenji said
.

  * * *

  Boxcar Four coasted along its course from a position well outside the Takar system, on an intercept trajectory with the Dusahn shipyard orbiting high above Takara. Inside her massive cargo pod waited six crawlers, taken from the Glendanon and the Mystic, and repainted with the same yellow coating used on the shipyard’s crawlers.

  There were only two differences between these crawlers and the ones used in the shipyards. The first difference was that these crawlers were fitted with single-use jump drives, taken from several of the Aurora’s jump missiles. The second difference was that each crawler carried a Ghatazhak soldier, instead of an assembly technician.

  The massive door to the boxcar’s cargo bay opened, lowering slowly until it was level with the bay’s deck, forming a platform beyond the gaping bay door. Once fully opened, the six crawlers executed their ungainly march out the door and onto the platform, in preparation for deployment.

  * * *

  Nathan splashed cold water on his face several times, then stood there, hunched over the sink as the water dripped from his nose and chin. After a moment, he reached for a towel and dried himself off. He looked in the mirror. He really did look noticeably younger than he had been as Conner Tuplo.

  So young, and so much responsibility. How can anyone look at this face and take me seriously?

  The intercom beeped. “Captain, Tactical,” Jessica called. “Three minutes.”

  Nathan took a deep breath and sighed, pressing the talk button on the wall-mounted intercom. “On my way.”

  Nathan stepped out of the head and walked through his bedroom, picking up his uniform jacket and donning it on his way out. The captain’s quarters was only a few steps from the bridge, on the port side.

  “Captain on the bridge!” the guard barked.

  “Time to mission zero?” Nathan asked as he entered.

  “Two minutes, now, Captain,” Jessica replied from the tactical station.

  “Cheng, Captain,” Nathan called over his comm-set as he continued forward. “How are the new auxiliary energy banks looking?”

  “They are ready,” Vladimir replied. “They will be trickling energy over to the main banks as we go. I believe we can squeeze an extra eight to ten light years total jump energy out of them. But our single-jump range will still be limited to twenty light years.”

  “Just make sure we keep at least three to four light years worth of energy in them,” Nathan insisted. “I don’t want to get stuck behind enemy lines without any jump juice left.”

  “Understood.”

  “One minute,” Jessica warned.

  “Sound general quarters,” he ordered as he sat down in his command chair at the center of the bridge.

  “General quarters, aye,” Ensign deBanco replied from the comms station at the back of the bridge.

  The trim lighting all around the bridge changed from blue to red as the alert klaxon sounded.

  Nathan turned in his seat to look at Jessica, a worried look on his face. “We never got to hold our pre-battle ritual, you know.”

  “I’d rather hold a victory party,” Jessica replied with a reassuring wink. She glanced down at her tactical display. “All departments report general quarters. Lieutenant Commander Vidmar is in combat, and the chief of the boat is in damage control. All weapons are armed and ready. Shields at maximum.”

  “Ten seconds to the initial jump point,” Ensign Bickle announced from the navigator’s chair.

  “Clear to jump,” Nathan ordered.

  “Clear to jump, aye,” the navigator replied. “Jumping in three…”

  “Time to go to work, people,” Nathan said, half to himself.

  “…Two…”

  An impish grin formed at the corner of Jessica’s mouth as she armed the Aurora’s plasma torpedo cannons, setting them for full power triplet shots.

  “…One…”

  A million things flashed through Nathan’s mind in that last second. The distance they were about to jump, the trajectory at which they would appear in relation to their prospective targets, how many seconds it would take to complete their initial firing pattern before jumping to the next target, and more importantly, the various things that could go wrong and how he would deal with each of them. So many thoughts and calculations; they would surely overwhelm most people.

  A small, nearly imperceptible, smile formed at the corner of Nathan’s mouth as a swell of confidence washed over him. He wasn’t most people. He was Na-Tan.

  “…Jumping…”

  The blue-white jump flash translated through the semi-spherical main view screen that wrapped around the forward half of the Aurora’s bridge and, subdued by her filters, quickly washed over the bridge, causing Nathan to squint ever so slightly. When the flash faded away a second later, the stars before them had shifted. Most would not have noticed the change, especially when jumping only two light years. But to Nathan, the change was obvious, especially along the sides of the view screen, where their movement was more pronounced.

  The most obvious change, which everyone did notice, was the sudden appearance of a Dusahn battleship, directly ahead of them, filling half the view screen.

  “Jump to Darvano, complete,” the navigator announced, restraining his enthusiasm.

  “Super Eagles are launching,” the systems officer reported.

  “Multiple contacts,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported from the sensor station to his left. “Battleship, two frigates, four gunships.”

  “Firing solution on the battleship,” Jessica reported from the tactical station behind Nathan.

  “Weapons free,” Nathan instructed.

  “First wave of Super Eagles is away.”

  “Firing plasma torpedoes,” Jessica announced. “Combat is locking jump missiles onto the frigates.”

  Red-orange flashes of light filled the bridge as plasma torpedoes streaked away from under the Aurora’s bow.

  “Missiles away,” Jessica added.

  Nathan glanced at the mission clock. Their first shots had been fired a mere five seconds after jumping, and their first wave of missiles had been launched at eight seconds in.

  “Turning to next jump line,” Lieutenant Dinev announced as the ship rolled slightly to the right and began a three-degree turn to starboard.

  Nathan watched the main view screen as the first round of plasma torpedoes slammed into the unshielded battleship.

  “Second wave of jump missiles is away,” Jessica announced. “Headed for the battleship.”

  “Frigates are changing course and raising shields,” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned. “They’re locking their missiles onto us.”

  “Jumping in three…” Ensign Bickle began.

  “Direct hits with all plasma torpedoes,” the lieutenant commander added.

  “…Two…”

  “…Heavy damage to her number four main engine and her aft, dorsal shield array…”

  “…One…”

  “…Multiple hull breaches, as well.”

  Down but not out, Nathan thought, mentally cataloging the damage to their first target.

  “…Jumping…”

  “No damage data on the frigates,” the sensor officer stated as the jump flash washed over the bridge.

  “Jump complete,” the ship’s status officer announced from the front of the makeshift command center on board the Glendanon. “We are now in the Pentaurus cluster.”

  “Launch the Gunyoki,” she ordered.

  “Command to all Gunyoki,” the comms officer called. “Launch, launch, launch.”

  “Start the algorithm clock,” Cameron ordered.

  “Clock is running, aye.”

  “Gunyoki are away.”

  “Very well.” Cameron glanced at the mi
ssion clock, which read zero plus fifteen seconds. “The Aurora has already attacked,” she realized. “We’re behind the clock,” she warned her second officer.

  “This old bird takes a little longer to spool up and execute a jump, Captain,” he admitted. “It’s my fault, sir. I should’ve given the order a bit sooner. It won’t happen again.”

  “Thankfully, we’re not a combat element in this mission,” Cameron said, only half meaning it. The truth was, she wished she was in the thick of it, along with Nathan, Jessica, and Vladimir.

  Robert didn’t bother to look out his windows when his Cobra gunship jumped into the Darvano system only seconds after the Aurora. He didn’t care what was out there, at least not visually. Instead, his eyes were glued to his console. His flight displays, his tactical screen, his target and weapons systems; those were what he fought with, not the view outside.

  Two seconds after they arrived, his targeting display began to plot a firing solution on the Dusahn cruiser three kilometers directly ahead of them. The aiming computers adjusted the angles on the plasma torpedo cannons, and the lock-status light turned green. Captain Nash pressed the firing button on his flight control stick, sending three waves of plasma torpedoes, four red-orange balls of plasma in each wave, streaking toward the distant target. A split second after the third wave of torpedoes left his cannons, he turned two degrees to starboard, pressing his jump button as the torpedoes he had just unleashed slammed into the unshielded cruiser. Although his twelve plasma torpedoes would not be enough to bring it down, he took solace in the knowledge that the torpedoes about to be fired by the next gunship, and the ones after that, likely would.

  And all in the first twenty seconds of the battle.

  “Jump complete,” Loki announced as the Seiiki’s cockpit windows cleared.

  “Holy shit,” Josh exclaimed, looking out the forward windows. To his left, a Dusahn battleship was experiencing secondary explosions in its number three and four engines, its aft shields were flickering on and off as the warship desperately attempted to stabilize the protective layer of energy around its stern. “Talk about a black eye.”