by Ryk Brown
“Divert all available power to forward and ventral shield sections,” Nathan ordered.
“Already done,” Jessica assured him.
“Don’t forget to hold your fire until you have a lock, Josh,” Nathan said. “There’s a planet on the other side of that battleship.”
“I got it, Cap’n,” Josh assured him.
“Ten seconds,” Loki warned.
Nathan pressed the all-call button on the intercom panel, located on the right armrest of his command chair. “All hands, prepare for action.”
“Attack jump in three……”
“Pitching down ten degrees,” Josh announced as he pushed his flight control stick slightly forward.
“Two……”
“Full power triplets loaded in all forward tubes,” Jessica added.
“One……”
“Weapons free,” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping.”
“Helm trigger is hot,” Jessica replied as the Aurora’s bridge flashed with blue-white light.
When the flash cleared, a split second later, the Jar-Razza filled the main portion of the Aurora’s massive, semi-spherical view screen with the planet Orswella directly behind it.
“Target acquired,” Jessica reported calmly. “Five kilometers and closing fast.”
“Good lock!” Josh reported. “Firing!”
The Aurora opened fire, sending waves of red-orange plasma torpedoes streaking from the openings under her bow into the old Dusahn battleship below and ahead of her. As the initial impacts slammed into the enemy ship’s shields, the battleship’s point-defenses immediately responded. Dozens of turrets, located all over the old battleship, popped up out of the hull and spun around to face the Aurora. The turrets opened fire, sending streams of rail gun slugs toward the Aurora, lighting up her own shields.
The battleship’s main cannons also came to life, albeit much more slowly. They struggled to keep pace with the Aurora as it passed over the top of the battleship; the attacker adjusting her angle in relation to her flight path, to keep her nose on the target, and continue pounding the Dusahn ship. By the time the main cannons could get a target lock, the attacker disappeared in a flash of blue-white light.
Reaper Six rocked violently as it came out of the jump in the lower atmosphere of Orswella.
“Damn, this is some thick air,” Ensign Weston exclaimed as he quickly selected targets on his weapons display.
“I’m picking up targeting beams from the surface,” Lieutenant Haddix reported. “They’ve got some sort of defenses down there.”
“Six, Five, are you being painted?”
“Affirmative,” the lieutenant replied.
“Where the hell is it coming from?”
“The surface!”
“I’m picking up anti-aircraft emplacements powering up!” another Reaper pilot reported.
“Take ‘em out, Wes,” the lieutenant urged.
“The AAs or the bases?” Ensign Weston asked.
“Fuck,” the lieutenant cursed, glancing at the clock. They had been in the attack zone for less than thirty seconds, and they already had problems. “Someone needs to target those AAs!”
“Two, Four, Six, target AAs!” Lieutenant Commander Manes ordered from Reaper One. “Everyone else keep your original target packages!”
“Two copies!”
“Four copies!”
“Six copies,” the lieutenant replied.
“Targeting anti-aircraft emplacements,” Ensign Weston announced.
“What about those other bases?” Ensign LaValla asked.
“Evens will switch to their original targets on their second pass. Odds will handle the stations,” the lieutenant commander instructed.
“Incoming fire!” Ensign Weston reported as the sky around them lit up with explosions, rocking their Reaper.
“What about the checkpoints?” Lieutenant Taren wondered. “We’re not going to have enough ordnance.”
“We’ll have to attack with guns,” Lieutenant Commander Manes insisted. “Otherwise, the Ghatazhak are going to be screwed!”
“Weapons away,” Ensign Weston reported.
Lieutenant Haddix rolled the ship onto its right side, pulling the nose up hard as he pushed his throttles to their stops. “Give me a new vector,” he instructed. “We’re winging it from now on.”
“Two two five, angels one five,” Ensign Weston replied, “then come hard to port, back to one four three, so I can get new target locks.”
“Two two five, angels one five,” the lieutenant acknowledged. “Jumping.”
“Whoa,” Vol exclaimed as they came out of the jump, his eyes suddenly widening as he pulled back slightly on his flight control stick to keep from slamming into the surface of the asteroid. “That’s close.”
“That’s why I never look outside when you jump,” Isa said.
“Probably wise,” Vol agreed as he checked his threat board. “Uh…”
“I see them,” Isa replied. “Better go lower.”
“Tekka Leader to Squadron, they’ve got point-defenses on the surface. Take it down to the deck. Use the canyons as much as possible. If you have to pop up over a ridge, be ready to evade fire, and get back down quickly.”
“Just like the Convay challenge!”
“Except they’re shooting real slugs!”
“Their targeting systems are lighting up!” Isa warned. “They know we’re here!”
“Someone’s intel sucks!”
“Focus, boys and girls,” Vol urged as he guided his Gunyoki fighter down into the deep canyons. “Focus.”
“Yes, Shenzai.”
“Can you map these canyons, Isa?” Vol asked as he snaked their ship through the narrow valley.
“The surface is full of heavy metals including radiologicals,” Isa replied. “The best I can do is to give a few-seconds warning before you hit a dead end… LIKE NOW!”
Vol pulled up sharply, barely clearing the vertical wall that appeared at the last second after coming around a bend. The moment he cleared the ridge, rail gun slugs began to pound his shields from all sides, causing them to flash brilliantly with each impact. “Old school isn’t going to work,” he decided. “Micro-jumps!” he added, quickly adjusting his jump-range dial. “Random range, keep them short, and don’t overshoot the target, or we’re going to have to do this again!”
Vol pressed his jump button, causing his ship to jump forward a single kilometer. The move gained him five seconds of rest while the surface defenses recalculated and adjusted their aim. Again, his shields flashed and, again, he pressed his jump button; this time, jumping only half a kilometer.
Vol continued the process, staying a few meters above the surface, jumping ahead short, random distances, and pitching down slightly between each jump to maintain his altitude above the relatively rounded surface of the asteroid.
“Target coming up,” Isa announced. “Suggest a two-kilometer jump to firing point.”
Vol didn’t hesitate to follow his partner’s recommendation. He quickly dialed up a single two-kilometer jump and pressed the button. The ring suddenly appeared before them, and he pressed and held his firing trigger.
The main plasma cannons on the front of his port and starboard engine nacelles flashed repeatedly, sending streaks of red-orange plasma toward the unshielded ring. Explosions erupted as the bursts of energy struck the ring’s hull, tearing sections of it open.
A split second later, his wingman joined in the attack, adding his own plasma cannons to his leader’s. Seconds after that, more fighters joined, and by the time Vol was forced to break off and jump away, every fighter in his squadron was pounding away at the massive shipyard ring.
The fighter came out of the jump, and Vol immediately pitched tail over nose, so he was flying backward. A few kilometers behi
nd him, the massive ring encircling Agosti One Four Seven began breaking apart at the point of bombardment. Secondary explosions spread quickly, expanding outward around the ring, itself. Large sections of the shipyard began breaking away from its connections to the asteroid, drifting outward, and spinning wildly from the explosions.
Cheers were heard across comms as, one by one, other fighters jumped forward to join Vol, each of them also pitching back over to witness the results of their efforts.
“We’ve got two cruisers coming towards us,” Isa warned. “Ten kilometers, one five two, closing fast.”
“Thirteen through twenty-four, engage the cruisers. Everyone else, return to finish off the rest of that ring,” Vol instructed.
“Isn’t it damaged enough?” Damus asked from Tekka Three.
“Our mission is complete when the entire facility is destroyed,” Vol insisted, flipping his ship back over and initiating a turn.
“Reapers report surface air defenses,” Naralena reported from the Aurora’s comms station.
“Relay that to the Ghatazhak,” Nathan ordered. “Target damage report!”
“Target’s port midship shields are down by sixty percent,” Kaylah reported.
“Turn complete,” Josh reported.
“Ready to jump back,” Loki added.
“Negative,” Nathan replied. “Attack jump to the port side, passing under.”
“There’s not a whole lot of room between the target and the atmosphere,” Loki warned.
“Which means they won’t suspect it,” Nathan replied. “I’m betting he thinks we’re going to keep pounding the same shield.”
“Dota Squadron is attacking the target’s starboard side,” Kaylah reported. “Target is rolling over to protect his weaker side.”
“See,” Nathan said.
“Ready to thread the needle,” Loki replied.
Nathan smiled. “It’s good to have you back, Loki. Do it.”
“Jumping in three……”
“Adjusting pitch,” Josh stated, pulling the Aurora’s nose upward.
“Two……”
“Target has rolled one hundred and eighty degrees,” Kaylah reported.
“One……”
“Target is slowing,” she added.
“Jumping.”
Gunyoki fighters repeatedly appeared off one side of the Dusahn battleship, opposite the planet, opening up with their nacelle-mounted plasma cannons the moment they appeared. The battleship’s shields flashed reddish-yellow with each impact of the enemy plasma weapons, as it flew upside down, slowing down to fall into a closer orbit.
Each Gunyoki fighter slid across the top of the old Dusahn warship, pitching continually downward as they passed to keep their guns on the target until each ship jumped away, alternating forward and aft with each departing fighter.
A blue-white flash of light suddenly appeared above the Dusahn battleship, and at least two kilometers closer to the planet, revealing the Aurora, sliding sideways between the target and Orswella. The Aurora’s forward torpedo tubes immediately began spitting out triple shots of brilliant red-orange plasma energy, pounding the battleship’s beleaguered shields into submission. After only ten seconds, shield emitters all over the side of the ship’s hull began to explode in bursts of sparks, and her shields failed.
The Aurora continued to pitch up as she passed downward, sending the next wave of plasma torpedoes directly into the battleship’s unprotected hull. Sections of the ship’s black and crimson hull came off, torn open by the massive amounts of plasma energy being dumped into her.
“Picking up secondary explosions,” Kaylah reported.
“Losing the angle,” Josh added.
“Jumping clear,” Loki announced as the blue-white flash filled the Aurora’s bridge.
“Bring us about and prepare to jump in directly astern of the target,” Nathan ordered.
“The Aurora reports our Reapers are encountering anti-aircraft defenses!” Lieutenant Latfee reported over comms as the cargo jump shuttle rocked violently with each nearby explosion of anti-aircraft fire.
“No shit!” Sergeant Torwell exclaimed while holding onto the overhead rail near the open end of the shuttle as the next squad of Ghatazhak jumped out the door. “Clear!”
“Jumping to next deployment point,” Commander Kainan announced.
The back of the cargo shuttle filled with blue-white light as General Telles and his squad stepped up to the back door, preparing for deployment.
As soon as the jump flash dissipated, the ship began to rock from the nearby explosions, once more.
“Have fun down there, General,” Sergeant Torwell joked.
“Don’t get your ass blown out of the sky, Sergeant,” General Telles commented as he followed his men out the door.
“You heard him, Commander. Orders are orders.”
General Telles stepped off the ramp of the cargo shuttle, twisting around as he fell the fifty meters to the surface. He immediately spotted a group of four Dusahn soldiers, running down the street toward their landing point, and opened fire on them as he fell.
As he continued to fire, he raised his feet slightly and bent his knees, angling the soles of his boots forward. At ten meters, the thrusters attached to the sides of his armored boots fired, slowing his rate of descent at the last second.
Two enemy soldiers immediately fell to the rain of energy weapons fire from above, with the rest of them diving for cover.
The general’s thrusters shut down the moment he landed, assuming an immediate crouch as the thrusters disconnected from his boots and fell to the sides.
General Telles charged ahead, changing his tack every few steps while he continued firing on the enemy positions. Within seconds, he overcame the enemy, jumping up and over them as he pulled a grenade from his belt, activated it, and dropped it into the middle of the group of men.
The general tucked and rolled as he landed, the grenade detonating as he came back to his feet, and continued on his way, confident that he had eliminated the most immediate threat.
“Contact!” Corporal DaPra reported over the general’s helmet comms. “One Red Alpha One! One block east of checkpoint one five! Twenty-plus hostiles in tactical vehicles!”
“One Red Alpha One! Reaper Four! Heads down! Coming in hot!” Ensign Paszek warned.
General Telles glanced up as Reaper Four streaked low over his head, its side cannons blazing. Explosions erupted in the distance as the Reaper pounded the enemy position.
“Say bye-bye to the tacticals,” Ensign Paszek declared as his Reaper broke off its attack and disappeared in a blue-white flash of light.
General Telles paused momentarily, checking the myriad of red icons displayed on the tactical map on the inside of his helmet visor. “Tac One, on me,” he ordered. “Checkpoint two seven, three blocks southwest.”
The door of a nearby shop opened suddenly, an old man looking out at him in shock.
“Stay inside, and take cover!” the general barked at the old man, hoping he understood.
The old man’s eyes bulged, and he immediately turned around and hurried back inside.
“Tac One Leader, Reaper One,” Commander Manes called over the general’s helmet comms. “Primary targets destroyed, working on secondaries, now. We had a bit of a distraction with the AA cannons, but we took care of them. Give us a few more minutes, and we’ll have things softened up for you.”
“Good work, Commander,” General Telles replied as his men joined up with him. “Let’s move out, gentlemen.”
Vol steered his Gunyoki fighter beneath the Orswellan cruiser, hugging its shield as he passed underneath, accelerating at full power so the cruiser’s nearest point-defense cannons could not keep up with him.
As they passed, Isa channeled the majority of their available energy from their dorsal
shields to those protecting their stern, just in time to protect them against the point-defenses further out on the cruiser’s bulky hull.
“Pods,” Vol ordered.
“Missile pods are hot,” Isa replied. “Targets acquired.”
Vol pressed the firing trigger on his flight control stick, sending a flurry of self-guided, close-range snub missiles from the large missile pods on either side of their fuselage.
The missiles spread out as they raced toward the, yet, undamaged portion of the shipyard ring still surrounding at least a portion of the Agosti asteroid.
Dozens of explosions appeared all along the massive ring as Vol’s missiles reached their targets, causing it to break apart even further.
“That’s it, baby,” he said as he pitched up and pressed his jump button again, “you’re goin’ down.”
“Where?” Lieutenant Haddix yelled over comms. “Two Gold Charlie One! Where do you want the fire?”
“Reaper Six! Two Gold Charlie One!” Corporal Mullins finally replied. “Four hundred meters south of my marker! A whole fucking platoon of unfriendlies in the tan, three-story building.”
“Any civilians in there?” the lieutenant asked.
“Unknown!” the corporal admitted. “If there are, they’re probably already dead, just like we’re going to be in a few minutes!”
“Fuck!” Lieutenant Haddix cursed. “You got their marker?” he asked his copilot.
“Grid one five by two seven,” Ensign Weston replied. “About twenty degrees right of our current heading.”
“Two Gold Charlie One! Heads down!” the lieutenant called as he rolled his Reaper into a turn to starboard. “Coming in hot! Ten seconds!”
“Two Gold Charlie One! Heads down, roger!” the corporal replied.
“Fuck!” Lieutenant Haddix cursed again as he dove toward the target and unleashed his Reaper’s vengeance on the building in question, blowing the front of it wide open, and sending Dusahn body parts flying in all directions along with the building’s debris.
“Two Leader! Two Blue Leader!” Sergeant Morano called over comms as Reaper Six ceased fire and pitched up to clear the building. “Twenty goons just charged into the hospital in sector four! They’re shooting up the place!”