“Where’s the rest of the team?” I asked not expecting an answer.
“I don’t kn—” Nevin began.
“Right here!” Sergeant Pinkip answered.
All of the Lambda Raiders except Joseph Hays stood in front of us, walking in from either side of the doorway.
“Hi…” I said wearily.
“Where’s Joseph?” Nevin asked.
“He was hit with the photon beam that burned through our transport. He died before the transport even hit the ground. We parachuted out of the transport. Timms was killed by the blast,” his brother answered.
“Let's go find Beta Squad,“ Sergeant Pinkip ordered.
As we headed back toward our transport we explained what we learned, including Robert. We traveled much slower this time than the first time. Sergeant Pinkip was more relaxed than the strict Sergeant Johnston.
After about thirty minutes of walking down the sandy beach we began to hear small bursts of gunfire.
“Hurry! They may need help,” I said.
I had been leading the group since the Raiders hadn’t been to the transport yet. But then Nevin, who was faster, zoomed ahead. I held my trigger tightly, ready to fire at the first sign of the enemy. We started up a hill. Our transport was parked nearby. I reach the top, right after Nevin. We looked down in the small valley we saw the transport and the rest of the Rangers. Scott Keys was the only member of the Beta squad in sight. Then I saw the Vorgians had surrounded half of the round valley. I sat down my L-10, pulled out my SR-4 and took aim. Nevin followed my lead and did the same. The Lambda Raiders hurried down to the battlefield before shooting, to avoid giving away our position. My first shot hit an SAS. My second hit sand. My third hit a tree. But then I hit a Vorgian in the head and he fell over.
Philip appeared to be working on the transport’s engine. Ryan was shooting his H-81 into the waves of Vorgians. Max occasionally stuck his pistol out of the transport and fired a couple of shots. Then he would pull back his hand and head and hide. The battle raged for another minute, then the Vorgian’s stopped coming. My SR-4 only had five of the thirty rounds that I had taken to Sontonos. I clipped it back on my small backpack and scooped up my stolen L-10. Nevin and I charged down toward the transport at full speed.
“James! Nev!” Ryan shouted. “’Bout time, we were worried about you.”
“We were in prison,” I told him.
“We have bad news,” Ryan said.
“So do we,” I said.
“Robert’s a Vorgian”, we said together.
“We’ll discuss it later, I have a feeling the Vorgians aren’t giving up,” Ryan announced as he tightened his sweaty grip on the H-81.
No sooner had he said that, the Vorgians began to come over the hill once more. We opened fire, but they were pushing us back. Suddenly, we heard a long burst of assault weapons fire. A hole was torn through the Vorgian line and seven Marines rushed through. They continued to spray the Vorgian line with bullets.
“It’s Staff Sergeant Lawrence,” Ryan called.
“Yes it is!” one of the soldiers announced as he released another burst of rounds.
Several Vorgians began to tumble down the gently sloping hill. Staff Sergeant Lawrence hurried down to the transport.
“How much longer, Phil?” Max yelled down from within the transport.
“About four minutes!” Phil answered.
We continued to fight for nearly two minutes, bullets pounding the ground around us, as well as several dinging off of the transport. That is when I noticed a deep, but faint rumbling in the distance.
“What’s that?” I asked Lawrence.
I looked over at him. He was a mid-sized man with a thin, wispy mustache. His hair came down to his glasses, though it was mostly covered by his desert camo hat,which was much like Ryan’s. He didn’t respond to my question.
Nearly thirty Vorgians lay dead on the ground.
“Almost done!” Phil called.
“Good!” Ryan returned. “Keep it up!”
We fired several more shots into the line.
“Done!” Philip yelled excitedly. “At least I believe it is now functional!”
“Get in!” Ryan ordered.
Everyone started to dash toward the two transports. I managed to get on behind Nevin. Ryan was right behind me. I heard an explosion and looked back out of the transport. A Vorgian Preston-Class Tank was rolling over the mound. Then, an SAS threw a grenade toward our transport. The Marine who had earlier announced their arrival caught it and tried to get it away from the transport. He pulled back his arm and was midway through throwing it when it exploded. He flew forward from the impact and landed in the sand.
Staff Sergeant Lawrence was the last person who was still outside the transport. As he was getting on he turned and saw his second in command, sprawled out and bloodied, in the sand.
“No! Zihark!” he screamed.
Then, a Vorgian sniper shot him through the stomach and he fell. Scott Keys reached out and pulled Lawrence’s limp body inside. The doors of the two transports closed. Then, the two ships began to rise off the ground. I heard a terrible whistling as a high-explosive tank shell whooshed by our transport.
“That ’un woulda hurt!” Wanda called from up front.
We continued out ascent and were soon out of the effective range of the Preston Tank.
“So James? What happened down there?” Ryan asked.
I told him about our capture, Lt Davis, the prison, our escape, the armory, and finally Robert.
“You did good…very good” Ryan said. “Due to the fact I’m Sergeant and I need an X.O. I’m promoting you to Corporal for your efforts and successful escape.”
“Thank you,” I accepted, feeling honored that he would pick me.
“Thank you,” Ryan said back to me. “For performing well down there.”
“Where’s Beta Squad Sir?” I asked respectfully.
“I’ll explain…” Ryan offered. “We sniped the guards and pushed forward. Gonyon used the A-Z Gun to put a hole in their door. We went in and continued the process. In fact, he even shot a Vorgian’s head with the A-Z Gun. It was interesting… Then it took a turn for the worse. The alarms started and those SAS started showing up everywhere. Thanks to the A-Z Gun we managed to infiltrate his command center. That’s when Robert went sinister. I had my gun pointed at Korth's head. Johnston had his pointed at the guards. Robert turned off the lights and activated the fire valves and put some water in the room. In the darkness, Robert, Rigel Korth, and the SAS all escaped. By the time the lights came back on, they were gone, and Johnston was soaked. He wasn’t very happy. Then we hurried out to try and find them. We made it to the front door and turned. He had escaped through it. We all ran outside and then Robert ran right back in, pushing through us before we realized it was him,” Ryan explained.
“Wow…” I replied.
“We tried to shoot,” Ryan said. “But only took out some SAS. When we went back inside the building, Robert stood there, just down the hall, with his H-81 pointed at us. He fired once, hit Johnston’s arm, and slipped behind the corner. Dylan did some serious screaming and then barreled down the hall. About then, more Vorgians than I took the time to count, came out in place of Robert. That made us run. As we scrambled back up the hill, Francis Gonyon was shot in the leg and fell over. Plus, I have no idea what happened to Johnston,” Ryan concluded.
I began pondering where Francis was.
“What about the A-Z?” I asked.
“Probably in Vorgian hands…” Ryan sighed. “Oh yeah… probably right were it doesn’t belong.”
We began to leave the atmosphere of Sontonos.
“Fella’s… we have a major problem!” Wanda informed us in her Elpheran accent.
“What might that be?” Ryan asked.
“Only rubble remains... Sensors show there is quite a bit.”
Once again I climbed up the central ladder. In the distance I could see the Vorgian Fleet. Several Friga
tes, Cruisers, Destroyers, and the two Avenger Class Battleships representing all that was left of the Vorgian defense. However, that was far more than enough to destroy our transport. I slid back down the ladder and heard the COM crackle on.
“This is Captain Palmer… Are you there?”
“Yessir!” Airman Xavier said happily.
“We warped back to the fleet at Enphuerzo, which by the way, is mostly controlled by us. The Marines are doing their job. On a grimmer note, the Sontonos warp beacon was destroyed during the battle. That means the only way to get back is via Ultradrive. Your orders are to warp here ASAP,” Palmer ordered.
Then, an unfamiliar voice came over the COM.
“We are under fire from the laser satellites! Shields are terribly low! We have…” the COM produced a string of static. “…Drive,” The COM suddenly spat out.
“Wah? Repeat last transmission,” Wanda requested.
“Warp…down… need to… quickly!” the voice said in between static.
“Sir?” Wanda said as she resumed communication with Captain Palmer.
“Yes?” Palmer asked. “Our warp drive is out and I think that the Raiders just lost theirs.”
“Curses…” Palmer answered. “Attempt landing on Tronadan. Wait there for rescue.”
“Understood sir!” Wanda exclaimed, as she pulled hard on the controls.
I felt the ship lurch to the side and ahead I could see Tronadan, the habitable moon of Sontonos.
“Um… whappening?” Max asked.
“We can’t warp and these new transports don’t use Ultradrive.” Ryan explained. “We’ll be forced to await rescue on the moon over there.”
“Oh… Why don’t they just warp in and pick us up then?” Max questioned.
“Do you ever listen?” I yelled at him. “The warp beacon was destroyed!”
“Who… how am I s’posed to know how that silly thing works? “
“We do!” Nevin, Ryan, Phil, and I said.
“Oh…” Max mumbled.
“And I’ll gladly explain it,” Phil said excitedly.
“Oh no,” Nevin said. “Not again.”
“Alright, let's begin,” Phil stated, ignoring Nevin’s comments. “There are eleven… correction… ten warp beacons in the Jerico System, one at each planet. It produces a field around it large enough to encompass multiple dreadnaughts. This field prevents ships from warping on top of each other. Now this only registers recently warped ships. A flaw in the current system is if a ship travels through normal space over the Beacon, such as those fighters, the field will not detect it. It was designed primarily for warping in fleets. That way every ship in the fleet has it’s own place to appear after a warp,” Phil explained.
“Make sense?”
“Oh… what?” Max asked. “Do you need me to repeat that?” Phil asked.
“Oh! Um… I get it. Yeah, that’s it. No, no repeating needed,” Max said, obviously unaware of how it really works.
“Ok,” Phil said.
“We’re ‘bout to land on Tronadan!” Wanda called. ”We’re going through its atmosphere now.”
I remembered that Tronadan had much less atmosphere than most planets and was barely habitable. It was only after one and half revolutions of terraforming that the first colony began to look like a city. Four hundred and fifty days of terraforming just to get a hot, volcanic moon as a place for people to live. Currently, only fifty thousand people even live there. I only knew of two cities, Tronadan City and York. I didn’t know of or expect any military bases.
“Almost thar!” the airman exclaimed. “This atmosphere didn’t take near as much shielding as most planets. ‘Course it’s not really a planet,” she babbled.
Then we felt the transport lurch as the resistance of the upper atmosphere gave way to the troposphere. I wondered why it hadn’t done that on Enphuerzo or Sontonos. I assumed it was due to the damage to our transport’s engine. Soon the transport was easing toward the dark brown ground. It was a cracked, dry land, as Tronadan received little rain and relied on shipments of additional water to survive.
We heard a soft bump as we touched down on the ground. The transport’s door opened and Ryan stepped out. I followed him and watched as the other transport landed. We looked up as we heard the roar of an atmospheric dropship. That is when we saw a Vorgian Wildcat dropship soaring by. Surely it couldn’t be Gonyon, since he was coming from Sontonos.
“James…get in!” Ryan screamed as he hopped back into the transport.
I quickly followed, unsure of Ryan’s intent. Ryan barked some orders at Wanda and the transport began to lift. I was somewhat worried about what his plan may be. The transport’s only defense, or offense as I feared he would make it, was an L-101 scaled twice as large as normal mounted on the front. The transport turned and sped the same direction as the dropship.
“Full speed!” Ryan ordered.
“Yessirree!” Airman Xavier called out.
Since the transport was designed for space it would naturally be faster than the atmospheric drop ship, likely enough to catch up. Whether or not that was a good thing I had yet to find out. The dropship likely had missile pods and a chin-mounted minigun. Fortunately though, the minigun would probably be fixed into position, making it only a forward defense weapon. It should be useless on a target behind the dropship.
“Target their port engine,” Ryan commanded.
“Yepperdo!” Wanda exclaimed.
Beams of laser shot from the bow of our transport. In an instant they impacted, melting the engine. The dropship wobbled as its pilot tried to keep it steady. I could see the warm blue-orange thrust decrease on the two starboard engines.
“They’re re-stabilizing!” Philip said as he looked out the cockpit’s window with Ryan and Wanda.
“Go for the aft-starboard engine,” Ryan said.
Another column of light shot from the transport in a split second. The engine sizzled as the impact melted it. The thrust weakened to nothing as power to the engine cut off completely. The remaining starboard engine powered back to full to equalize with the port engine.
“Try and contact them, “ Ryan said.
“Okay,” Wanda agreed, surprisingly not adding anything unnecessary. The COM crackled to life and Ryan stated his demand.
“Land your ship immediately or we will disable it. Our sights are set at your next engine,” he said nudging Wanda.
“Okay, I see,” Wanda whispered as she aimed the laser at the engine.
“It is in your best interest to land.”
Nothing came over the COM. Suddenly, the dropship’s engines pointed down and the dropship began to hover in place. Our transport zoomed past, our pilot unable to react in time.
“We overshot it!” Phil announced.
“Pull this back around Airman!” Ryan ordered.
“Jus’ call me Wanda!” she replied, immediately pulling hard on the controls.
The transport’s shields began to take minigun fire. That was followed by several missile impacts, shaking the ship.
“Engine systems are only thirty-two percent operational!” Wanda yelled.
The transport jerked violently as another pair of missiles hit. Finally the transport swung around and approached the oncoming dropship.
“Controls are functioning at twenty-five percent standard response time! I feel like I’m flyin’ a slug!” Wanda yelled.
Our transport fired again, melting a hole in the dropship’s window.
Wanda began to pull back hard on the controls. We were heading straight for the dropship. Bullets bounced off our shields. Another laser burst melted the dropship’s front-port engine. It began to spiral as it became limited to one side propulsion. Then I realized we were seconds away from impact, getting way too close to the enemy. With the last burst taking out the engine, the tail end of the dropship swung around. It crashed into the bottom of our ship ripping off our L-101 laser defense system.
“There go our shields!” Wanda exclaimed.
As my mind raced at the thought of what just happened, I climbed up the ladder. I saw the dropship spinning as it descended. Then one of the engines exploded. The flames soon enveloped the entire dropship.
“That was close,” Philip said as he slowly shook his head.
“But it worked,” Ryan pointed out.
“Had that been one of our Corsair Dropships, we’d be dead now,” Phil said.
“And that’s why I’m glad to be technologically superior,” Ryan responded. “More importantly though, let’s head back to the other transport. If the A-Z Gun is in Vorgian hands… we need to take it back.”
After about four minutes, we arrived back at the location that the other transport had been waiting. Due to extensive damage to the engines, the return trip was slower. The ship slowly descended toward the cracked surface of Tronadan. I heard a light thud, as we hit the ground.
“Everyone outside!” Ryan ordered.
We all stepped out onto the ground.
“According to James, Gonyon will be taken here,” Ryan said. I smiled briefly, happy that I helped. “So we’re gonna get him back.”
“Oh…we are?” Max asked.
“Yes Max, we are.”
Scott Keys shook his assault rifle in his arms. “I’m ready,” he commented.
“We’ll split into two groups. I’ll lead one and Deborah can lead the other,” Ryan instructed.
Pinkip merely nodded in agreement, seemingly willing to let Ryan give some commands despite her rank.
“Then, we’ll search the sky for one of their transports. Do not engage civilian craft. Understood, team?”
“Yeah,” we answered.
“Okay,” Ryan said.
Then, we divided into groups. Nevin and I were with Ryan, so were Mikel and Carl. I could see sadness in Carl’s eyes at the loss of his brother, yet through it all he fought on. Then I thought of what we’ve been through. I’ve stood beside two of our men as they were killed, and despite the fact I barely new Steven or Ben it still bothered me. I should have done more. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
Ryan was on his way back to Wanda’s transport. I hurried to catch up with Nevin. We then hopped on and prepared for anything. I could see the other transport departing in another direction as we left the ground.
The War Across the Stars Page 6