by T. R. Harris
“Major, we need to protect our port flank. The shield is just about at capacity.”
Ryan twisted the ship around in an attempt to bring the Biddle more head-on to the attackers. The maneuvering gravity well would suck up most of the bolts coming straight on. The enemy would then try to get behind them or come from the sides.
Although flash cannon bolts were ballistic in nature, they were still influenced by the various gravity singularities in the area. It was possible for bolts launched from behind or the side to be caught in the well’s pull, essentially steering the deadly balls of plasma right up the ass of a starship. The trick was sending the bolts out at the right angle. And the damn Nuoreans seemed to have that part down pretty well.
Ryan was constantly changing course and even killing the gravity-well at times to keep the bolts from following them through space. His head was spinning as the compensators were a split second too slow in overcoming the inertia created by some of his radical maneuvers.
Over all, it sucked being engaged in the space battle. Ryan and his men were surface soldiers, not spacers. They were doing the best they could, but it may not be enough.
The Tobias suddenly swept into view, something that was dangerously close in space distances. A quick series of small plasma bolts streaked out from the nose of the ship and scorched the ass of a vectoring Nuorean fighter. The alien ship exploded before it could unleash a near-point blank shot on the Biddle.
“Thanks, Mister Drake…I owe you one.” Ryan said over the comm.
“Teamwork, buddy. You’d do the same for me.”
Ryan snickered. “Yeah, looks like I picked the wrong ship to command. What are you guys doing over there, sipping tea and eating buttered pastries, while the rest of us do all the real work?”
“Hey, it’s tough duty, but someone has to do it. Honesty, Ryan, it’s pretty weird sitting here letting a computer do all the fighting. Makes me nervous as hell.”
“Understood. Now if you don’t mind, I need to get back to…surviving.”
“Good luck with that.”
Just as Ryan cut the link he felt a deep rumbling throughout the ship. He turned to his damage control officer.
“We lost the aft shield,” reported the E-6. “Took a bolt in the launch bay. Pressure holding…for now.”
“More incoming, sir,” the scanner operator reported. “They’re smelling blood.”
Ryan was the helmsman aboard the ship, gripping the control stick and essentially learning as he went along. He pulled the stick over hard to his left and applied a deep gravity-well. The ship entered the event horizon and disappeared from the battlefield for a moment. He spun the ship around and jumped back in, this time about two million miles from the Tobias and the main conflict. He wasn’t about to leave his friend to face the enemy alone.
That’s when the generator gave a dying surge and fell silent. The maneuvering well evaporated and the ship lost internal gravity.
“Shit! Where are the Nuoreans?” he yelled out across the bridge.
“Closing.”
Ryan activated the chemical jets, which was like using a water pistol to fight a four-alarm blaze. It didn’t do much. He could maybe get to a hundred thousand miles per hour, while the aliens were coming at him at three-quarters the speed of light.
“There’s an asteroid field bearing one-one-zero, sir,” reported the young sailor at the nav computer. “We might make it in time before the Nuoreans get here.”
“Thank you very much, Mister Easterly. Steering one-one-zero, up three.”
The Nuoreans would have to slow down to follow them into the asteroid field. Coming in with gravity-wells intact would pull into too much deadly debris to make for a safe passage. Ryan just might have a chance.
Three of the tiny fighters were closing fast. They would be upon them in less than thirty seconds.
“New contact, bearing three-two-nine! It’s…it’s one of ours.”
“The Tobias?”
“No sir…it’s the—”
“Good morning, Mister Drummond,” said the voice of LtCol. Joshua Nolan. “Thanks for leading the enemy to us. We’ll take it from here.”
The Rutledge came out of the asteroid field on chemical power before cutting in the gravity drive for a shallow maneuvering well. The Rutledge was smaller than the jumpship, but it wasn’t damaged and its flash cannon batteries were fully charged. A few seconds later, the Nuoreans crashed into a wall of flaring energy bolts that incinerated the three vessels in distant puffs of light.
Ryan turned the Biddle and slid in next to the small escort vessel.
“I thought you bugged out on us, sir,” Lt. Ryan Drummond said, rather sarcastically.
“Yeah, sorry about that. We’ve had a change of heart. Seems we’ve been shamed into doing the right thing.”
“What about the money?”
“We just got through stashing a large portion of it on one of the rocks out here to lighten the ship—”
“That’s not what I meant, sir.”
Nolan laughed. “We’re going to share it among all the crews. We’re a team after all, right?”
“That’s what I thought. Just glad to have you back, Colonel.”
Nolan was offline for a moment before returning. “Looks like most of the Nuorean fighters are out of the fight. The Tobias sure is a vicious little ship. It looks like she’s bolted back to the planet.”
“What next, sir? We’re pretty banged up. It would take us years to reach the planet on chem drive.”
“Find a large rock in the asteroid field and lay low. We’ll come back for you later.”
“Yessir. What are you going to do?”
“I’m heading back to the planet; I owe Captain Cain a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah, I’m going to destroy the warehouse where the bounty money is kept. It’s what he wanted me to do—”
“Sir, a new contact!” shouted the nav officer on the Biddle.
Ryan thought the remaining fighters had bugged out, heading for the outer fringes of the system. There couldn’t be more than a couple left.
“Wait one, Colonel. We have a new contact.”
“We’re seeing it too. Damn!”
“Sir?” Ryan didn’t understand Nolan’s reaction until he moved to the nav computer and took a look at the contact.
“Is that a battle-carrier?” he asked the petty officer at the station. He already knew the answer.
“Affirmative sir, all three miles of the freaking thing.” The man leaned in closer to his screen. “And it just gave birth to a hundred new contacts, designated mid-size attack vessels, crew of ten, cannon batteries, nine. They’re coming this way.”
Ryan slipped into the pilot seat. “Colonel, you gotta go. We can’t outrun them.”
“Get into the asteroid field. They probably won’t spend too much time looking for a wounded ship in there. We’ll make for the planet and get Captain Cain. “
“Sir, we could guard the money for you…if you tell us where it is.”
“Good try, Major. But if you don’t know where it is you can’t lead the Nuoreans there. We’ll come back for it when all this is done. Nolan out.”
21
The thing about hand-held flash weapons is that they consist mostly of heat and electricity. As such, they’re very effective against living creatures, but not so much against metal barricades. The Nuoreans were aware of this drawback and when Adam and his team took shelter inside the warehouse, they switched to small caliber ballistic weapons.
These guns didn’t have the impact of an M-101 round, but they did have enough penetrating power to perforate the thin metal walls of the warehouse. Copernicus took a hit to the shoulder. With Sherri’s help, he wrapped a shirt from one of the fallen commandos around the wound and secured it with a utility belt strapped over his shoulder and under his armpit. Then he returned to his firing hole and continued the battle.
In the meantime, Kaylor and Jym were driving the
other three forklifts to the firing positions. The shooters positioned themselves within the super structure of the vehicles, which provided some cover from the shots coming through the walls. With each new hole created, a ray of light entered the warehouse and struck the huge pile of shiny, precious objects. Golden light danced throughout the room.
Adam knew they had to get out of the building; the Nuoreans wouldn’t let them stay here for long before lobbing explosives their way. They’d blown up a building earlier in the fight, so they had the explosives. Some may be placed in the other buildings, which could be repurposed to take out the warehouse. It was only a matter of time.
Throughout the battle, Adam kept testing his ATD to see if he could make contact with his ships fighting the Nuoreans in space. He was in serious need of an emergency evac. But so far, neither of the ships was within the half million mile range of his ATD. Hell, they may have been destroyed for all he knew. In that case, Adam’s luck was rapidly running out on this nameless world in the middle of nowhere.
As was expected after having such a moribund thought, Adam sensed a familiar presence in his mind. It grew stronger, and soon he recognized the ghost program within the Tobias’ computer system.
He channeled his thoughts though the ship’s comm system.
“Tobias, come in!”
Captain Cain, glad to hear you, sir. What’s your status?
“Shaky. We need immediate evac. Where are you, Darrin?”
Closing on the planet. ETA five minutes.
Adam gnashed his teeth. He hoped they would last another five minutes.
Sir, I have other news.
“What’s that?”
There’s a Nuorean battle-carrier at the edge of the system and it just sent out a hundred fighters our way. They’re about fifteen minutes behind us. Oh…and Colonel Nolan is back. He and his crew had a change of heart. He’s coming in behind me.
Adam fell back against the stack of priceless objects. The Nuorean leader Qintis must have brought the massive battleship here. The aliens had been expecting a breakout all along. This was part of their plan all along.
And now Nolan—that fucker—was back. Good. He could use the help. Then Adam amended his thought. For what? What could Nolan—or any of them for that matter—do against a Nuorean battle-carrier?
“And the Biddle?”
Taking refuge in an asteroid field. It was damaged in the initial fight and now’s only on chem drive.
The Tobias was the smallest and fastest ship in Adam’s tiny fleet. It would reach the planet first.
“Mister Drake, bring the Tobias down on the east side of the large building beyond the row of smaller ones. It’s the only one of its kind. We’ll evac from there. Have the Biddle provide cover.”
Yessir. But Mr. Nolan said he has a favor to do for you first.
“What’s that?”
He said he’s going to destroy the warehouse building, whatever that is?
Adam jumped to his feet. “No! Belay that Mister Drake. Relay the message to the Rutledge. Do not fire on the warehouse!”
Sir?
“We’re in the warehouse!”
The others in the warehouse heard Adam yelling to himself. They knew it wasn’t some psychotic breakdown. There was a problem.
Riyad looked away from his firing hole. “What’s up?”
Adam looked around the room until his eyes fell upon the forklift he’d placed across the main door to the building. He ran for it.
Just then something hit the roof of the warehouse and clattered a few times before coming to a rest.
“Take cover!” Adam yelled.
No one had time to do more than cover their heads with their arms before the explosive blew a twenty-yard wide hole in middle of the roof. Metal debris rained down on them, but since the area of the room directly below the explosion was filled with a huge pile of treasure, no one was seriously hurt. However, the next grenade would reach the interior of the building.
Adam gunned the forklift and made for the eastern wall of the warehouse. He pushed the clunky electric vehicle for all it was worth before dropping his head and barreling into the wall. The thin metal gave way, ripping an opening large enough for the machine to plow through. The narrow, four-wheeled vehicle carried enough momentum with it to race onto the rocky soil before it began to wobble. Adam jumped before the forklift toppled over. He rolled once, came up on his feet and rushed back into the building.
Seconds later the area outside the warehouse was bathed in an incredibly hot blast of fire and smoke. The interior of the warehouse filled with the acrid cloud, growing in density within the confines of the building until it was almost impossible to see.
“Over here, everyone out. Go! Go! Go!”
Everyone made for the rip in the wall, abandoning firing holes but taking their weapons with them. Adam sat with his back against the inner wall next to the opening, counting people as they rushed past. Riyad was the last in line. Adam saw him grab a double-handled gold canteen-like thing from the pile before rushing to the opening.
Adam frowned.
“It’ll look good over my fireplace,” Riyad explained.
He rushed past Adam, who leaned into the opening and yelled. “You don’t have a fireplace, dickhead!”
“With this, I can buy one!”
Adam was behind him and through the open rear bay doors of the Tobias a moment later. Lt. Drake had landed the ship a little closer to the warehouse than Adam expected. Of course, the sailor may not have been expecting Adam to have already knocked a hole in the wall. Either way, he was grateful when the ship began to lift off almost as soon as he foot hit the landing ramp.
“Hold on!” cried out.
The ramp was going up, but so was the ship. The Tobias belched out another torrent of gas and flame and angled for the sky. Those in the cargo bay grabbed for whatever they could to keep from falling out the back. Adam kicked out and took hold of the leg of a packing bench, his body sprawled out and his legs dangling in the air toward the rear of the ship.
The door was only half closed when Arieel flew past him. With his quickened reactions Adam reached out and grabbed her long, black hair with his free hand. She screamed from the pain before her hands managed to reach up and grasp his wrist. It lightened the pressure on her follicles, but not much. He continued to hold on until the door closed completely and the internal gravity kicked on. Both bodies fell hard to the metal deck.
“That really hurt!”
“Not as much as a long fall to the surface.”
“Maybe, but I will never have the opportunity to compare that to the pain I did experience.”
Anger flared up in him, until he caught sight of Arieel’s heart-melting smile.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
He looked around the landing bay. There wasn’t much left of Adam’s powerful assault force, and most of those were weary and worn, with half suffering injures of some kind.
Sherri walked over to where Adam sat on the deck. She took the index finger of her right hand and rubbed in along the bare skin of his chest before placing it to her tongue.
“Yum,” she said with smiling eyes. “I love a man who just had most of his clothes blown off. And I kinda like the bald look.”
Adam had forgotten about that. Now he was embarrassed, sitting in full view of his team in a pair of scorched short-shorts and not much else. He felt a change of subject was in order.
“There’s a Nuorean battle-carrier in the system—you know, one of those big three-mile long bitches. There’re also a hundred fighters bolting this way. Everyone find someplace to strap down. Kaylor, Jym, to the bridge with me. We may need some fancy flying to get us out of this mess.”
“So that was the frying pan?” Sherri inquired, pointing toward the deck and the planet below. “And now we’re in the fire?”
Adam smiled, his teeth exceptionally brilliant against his soot-stained face. “I know how easily bored you get.”
Sherri
pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks for keeping my feelings in mind. That’s all I ever wanted.”
Adam and his alien friends left the cargo bay in a sprint. They weren’t out of the fire yet.
22
Lt. Drake was more than willing to give up his seat to Kaylor. The Belsonian was the best pilot onboard, with the possible exception of Adam when he was under the influence of his mutant brain cells.
Jym took over the nav station while Adam found a third work console that didn’t carry a designation. He asked the computer to give him weapons control and a sexy voice in English confirmed his request. He knew the ship could be guided by voice command if he wanted. At this point he trusted his abilities more than the computer’s.
“This ship is incredible,” Lt. Drake commented, his voice dripping with admiration. “We hardly had to do anything.”
“Glad to hear it,” Adam said. “But now we have a hundred enemy vessels closing on us. Not sure if the program can handle that.”
“I am fully capable of repelling a force of that strength,” an indignant voice came through the speakers.
“We’re not here to repel boarders, but to get the hell out of here.” He couldn’t believe he was arguing with a computer.
“Get me Colonel Nolan on the line,” he ordered the computer.
A split second later Nolan’s voice came over the speakers. “Captain Cain, let me begin by saying I and my crew are willing to suffer whatever consequences you deem appropriate regarding our prior acts. They were insubordinate and illegal as far as I’m concerned—”
“You are aware of the shit we’re in, aren’t you, Colonel? There will be time enough for repercussions if we live through this.”
“Yessir.”
“Where are you?”
“About a thousand klicks on your six. What are your orders?”
“We have to exit the system as soon as possible. Are all you systems functioning?”
“They are.”
“Good, follow me. Kaylor, best track away from the Nuoreans.”