Torian Reclamation 3: Test of Fortitude

by Andy Kasch

  “Yes,” Kayla said. “Good eyes, honey. You’re right—there’s only one. Too small to be one of the horned aliens, but doesn’t look like a native, either.”

  Alan found the circling bird and lowered his eyes until he saw the rockslide near the tree line. Something metal flashed from the sunlight and then Alan saw the figure hovering up the mountainside.

  “It’s Shaldan!” Alan said.

  “You sure?” Kayla asked as she and Jumper shielded their eyes and squinted.

  “Yes, that’s him! I wonder why he’s alone. Come on, let’s get going. At that slow pace we can meet up with him before he gets to the top.”

  Alan led the way forward this time without waiting for agreement. He wasn’t sure how he knew that was Shaldan, but he knew it with all certainty. The rocks on this side of the mountain were easy to negotiate. Alan found a path that led back down to dirt and brush again.

  The mountain sloped downward in such a way here that it seemed the peaks came down along with them. Looking back, it appeared they had crossed over at the highest point. But that was an illusion. From the south side, the peaks were fairly even and the place they crossed was the easiest place to do so.

  The path Alan followed seemed to be a natural trail. After zigzagging through a tight mass of structure, it suddenly opened to a wide flat area. This was an interesting geological oddity. It would be a great place for a camp; a clearing on an unusually large mesa up high on a steep mountain, hidden on all sides by rocks and trees. Alan stopped when he saw a cave at the back of the clearing.

  “Look.” He motioned at the cave to Jumper and Kayla behind him. “That could come in handy. Might be a good place to hide, or even make a defensive stand from.”

  “Think I’d prefer to keep going and get back to the ground,” Jumper said, “rather than stay up here and try to defend a hole. We’re outpacing them now and can probably make it back to the city. Besides, check out the loose rocks perched above that cave. They look like they wouldn’t take much convincing to fall and block the entrance. Then it would be a tomb, not a refuge.”

  Alan saw the boulders halfway out over the cave opening, about ten meters above it. One of them seemed to be held in place by nothing more than some downed trees.

  “You’re right. That looks a little hairy.”

  “Jumper,” Kayla said. “Look at this.” She pointed to the ground, where Casanova was now sniffing. He had his ears back again.

  “What it is, honey? We need to keep moving.”

  “Footprints. Big ones. Different. I think they’re from the horned aliens.” She took several steps forward. “They seem to lead towards the cave.”

  Alan and Jumper both instinctively pulled their lasers from their belts and pointed them at the cave mouth. Everyone stood still for a moment.

  “Hear anything?” Kayla asked.

  “I hear Shaldan’s hover boots now,” Alan said. “He’s getting closer. Nothing in the cave. Jumper’s right. Let’s keep moving.”

  The trail resumed on the opposite side of the clearing. From there, it twisted its way downward in a westerly direction. The three of them hurried along. After turning through a patch of dead trees, they found themselves out in the open.

  And there was Shaldan, hovering up the slope directly below them. He held an object in one of his hands. When Shaldan saw them he raised his other hand, causing him to lose his balance and waver. Alan almost wanted to laugh.

  “It takes a while to get used to those,” Jumper said.

  Shaldan shortly reached them and set down. He wasn’t good with the boots and would have fallen backwards if it wasn’t for Jumper grabbing ahold of him. That’s when Alan noticed that the object in his hand appeared to be a laser weapon.

  Shaldan leaned on his knees, winded.

  “I’m being followed,” he said between breaths. “Three or four large, dark-skinned aliens. Unfriendly. They’re armed. Coming up after me. I don’t know why.” He pointed downward.

  Jumper frowned. “Big heads, yellow eyes, horns curling back from their foreheads?”

  “Yes.” Shaldan stood upright. “You’ve encountered them?”

  “Yes. Unfriendly is a serious understatement.”

  “Did you find any help?” Alan asked.

  Shaldan nodded and pointed down again.

  “Five natives. But we were attacked and pursued at a low elevation. That’s why we came up this side of the mountain. A couple of the natives are injured, not sure how bad. They all went into a cave entrance. Said it leads through the mountain and they know the way. I decided to come over the top to try and find you. Might not have been such a great idea, because the aliens all followed me. I hope they’ve given up by now.”

  “They haven’t,” Kayla said. “I can hear them. Still coming up. Our way down is blocked, guys.”

  “We’ll have to try and pass around them,” Alan said, taking two steps forward as he spoke.

  “No,” Jumper and Shaldan said in unison.

  Jumper motioned westward. “Nothing but open rocks over there. The kind we wanted to climb today. But we’d be easy targets exposed on the mountainside.”

  “Well what, then?” Alan turned back around. “We can’t go backwards.” He faced Shaldan. “We’re being pursued from behind as well. From two possible directions.”

  “That only leaves the southwest slope,” Jumper said. “And it’s also more exposed than I prefer, which is why I came down farther in the canyon, where I found you two.”

  “Good thing you did.” Alan gave Jumper an appreciative nod.

  “Did you find Threeclack or Fardo?” Shaldan asked.

  None of them answered. Jumper gave Shaldan a disturbed look and only shook his head back and forth once. Nothing more. Shaldan cocked his head slightly and frowned, but he asked no further questions about them. Perhaps he understood.

  “We’re going to have to face them,” Kayla said. She held her laser with both hands and looked about the area. “Somewhere. Even if we make it down from the mountain, we’ll probably then have a running fight across the open ground if we’re to get back to the safety of the city. Personally, I’d rather choose the terrain to fight on up here.”

  “Agreed,” Jumper said. He turned to Alan and Shaldan. “I don’t see a good alternative.”

  Shaldan didn’t object. He kept nervously glancing down the slope. “If these aliens are here for invasion,” he said, “we’re probably better off trying to survive in the mountains anyway. The ‘safety of the city,’ as you put it, is a misnomer. They have no defenses there.”

  Jumper cocked his head. “Seriously?”

  “I’m afraid so. They have no military—and very little police force. I’m sorry I was gone so long, but it took me all this time just to find a small party who was willing to help.” Shaldan lifted his weapon. “Arming ourselves was even more of a chore. The Sulienites are simply not a security-minded people. They’ll be an easy rollover for any race wanting to conquer them.”

  “Guess they don’t figure anyone would be interested in this small gray planet of theirs,” Alan said. He turned to Kayla.

  “What about that clearing with the cave? Lots of structure for fighting around. No way to drop in from above without being visible. We might be able to defend it as high ground.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, too.” Kayla pointed in that direction with her laser. “Let’s check it out.”

  They hiked their way back up to the hidden plateau. Once there, Jumper and Shaldan explored the perimeter while Kayla, Casanova, and Alan went to look inside the cave. Kayla brought a mini-spotlight with her that Jumper had in his pack.

  “This is shallow,” Kayla said. “The crevices are all dead ends. Doesn’t lead anywhere. No escaping into the mountain. If we end up in here it’ll be a final, desperate defense.”

  “Shine the spotlight in front of me, Kayla.” Alan squatted on the floor.

  “What? What do you see?”

  “Isn’t this one of those bi
g alien footprints?”

  “Looks like it, yes.”

  Alan thought for a moment. That meant the horned aliens had been inside this cave, and knew it didn’t lead into the mountain. Something didn’t feel right. Alan absentmindedly held the quarner stone on his necklace through his shirt as he considered the situation.

  “It’s a trap,” he blurted.

  Several minutes later, he and Kayla emerged from the cave.

  “Jumper, Shaldan, come here,” Kayla said.

  They both ran over.

  “I can hear them coming now,” Jumper said. “From both directions. The ones following us have cleared the peaks, and there’s two or three more coming directly from the east on this side.”

  “Listen!” Kayla pointed at Alan. “Listen to what Alan says now, everyone.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  One of the unique features of the new Torian Interstellar Transport Fighter 2 was the placement of a third seat in the cockpit. It wasn’t meant to be something of permanent use, as it folded into the wall of the corridor to stay out of the way of the two regular pilots. As one might suspect, the third pilot seat wasn’t tremendously comfortable. Brandon was reminded of the fold-down bulkhead seats stewardesses sat on during landings and take-off on the passenger jets of Earth. But comfort was the last thing on Brandon’s mind at the moment.

  “I’m open for suggestions on the best way to get close enough,” Brandon said. “As long as we actually get close enough. We need to be within 50 kilometers.”

  “That’s …pretty close,” said the Amulite in the pilot-2 seat. His name was Borsk7. He was supposedly a good gunner, and had seen some action in the enemy attack on Tora five years ago. Borsk7 was small for a Torian native, thin and on the short side with bright silver skin. This was in stark contrast to his partner sitting next to him in the pilot-1 seat, a large bronze Banorian by the name of Lut5.

  “I know,” Brandon said. “Well within effective laser range. That’s why we need to get this done before any shooting starts.”

  Lut5 spoke. “They don’t yet know we possess a vessel with a virtual dag, so that should buy us some time when we pop in amongst them. They’ll probably mistake us for one of their own, at least for a few precious seconds. How long do we need?”

  “It depends on the radiogenic emissions from their craft.” Brandon shook his head as he spoke. “Maybe seconds, maybe minutes. We’ve never had a chance to study one of their ships.”

  “Let’s hope it’s not minutes.” Lut5 engaged the hover engines and lifted the ITF2 just as the hangar doors began to open. They moved across the deck and fired the main thruster. The transition from hovering to thrust was as smooth as Brandon had ever felt. He realized he was in the company of skilled pilots. That didn’t stop him from having a sudden severe desire to be the one flying. But he had no cause to relieve Lut5. That would be foolish. And he had an important job to oversee.

  They came out and swung around to the front of their transport ship, where they slowed to a near drift. Brandon knew the flight crew on his bridge would appreciate seeing them there.

  Brandon pointed to his left. “Ease us out into the no man’s land between us and the Azaarian fleet. Not too far. That’ll be a good place to plot our maneuvers.”

  “We’ll be coming in from the wrong direction,” Lut5 said as he positioned the ITF2 accordingly. “And we’ll have to use manual dag plotting from this short distance.”

  “That’s no good.” Brandon studied the dark enemy’s formation. “So we’ll dag out to the far side of Dirg first, and then come back in from a more conforming angle.”

  Lut5 nodded. “Should we try to sneak up behind them then, and stay in their rear?”

  “No,” Brandon said. “They’ll be watching that. Let’s see. Where should we infiltrate them? How about that sparse area near the top of their far right? It’s a decent hole. They have only two or three squadrons beyond it, nearest to the Dirg front. Those must be the cowboys with itchy trigger fingers. See where I mean?”

  Lut5 pinpointed a spot on his targeting screen. “There, Commander?”

  “No. Let me show you.” Brandon leaned forward and adjusted the local destination target. The red blip blinked in a new place. “There.”

  “That’s a good spot,” Borsk7 said. “The lower turret gunner will have the bulk of the enemy position below him within easy firing range. We can get those directly in front of us with the cockpit lasers. And the squadrons to the right will make nice targets for our missiles with only a slight turn. The REEP gunner can protect our rear reasonably well there, too.”

  Brandon had to smile listening to the enthusiastic young gunner. Borsk7’s tactical assessment was good, but the success of their foray depended more on staying out of a skirmish than on engaging the enemy with optimal weapons allocation. Still, Brandon didn’t want to discourage Borsk7. His calculations might end up being what brings them back alive.

  “Only if we have trouble,” Brandon said as he patted Borsk7 on the shoulder.

  “Of course. That’s what I meant, Commander. Should we find ourselves in need of …defensive actions.”

  Brandon pointed back to the local dag plotting screen.

  “Set it, Lut5. There’s our arrival point, from a two-leg approach. Pick a random place on the far side of Dirg for the first stop. Alert the rest of the crew. Borsk7, get the mine targeting program active.”

  “It’s active, waiting for a mark objective. The small screen above my left knee. Commander, I’m getting a communications request from the command ship now.”

  “Ignore it. Are we ready?”

  “The crew’s been briefed,” Lut5 said. “We’re ready.”

  “Go.”

  The planet Dirg distorted and stretched out before them as a square shape, and then condensed to a globe again behind them. Yellow lights in the cockpit came on. Lut5 turned the ship. They were now on the other side of Dirg, just outside orbital range. An opening in the cloud cover below revealed a circular land mass. No, wait. The continent became fuzzy and was replaced by ocean. Brandon found himself blinking at it. That was strange.

  “Are the distortion drive indicators working properly?” Brandon asked.

  Lut5 checked several instruments as he continued to adjust the angle of the ship. “Yes, Commander. All systems functioning properly. Final destination now aligned.”

  “Take us in.”

  A few seconds later, the yellow lights came on again. Dirg was now smaller and off to their right, behind a massive formation of spaceships. Brandon looked outside the cockpit window. The fiery virtual dag around them was beginning to fade.

  There they were: enemy ships, everywhere. Brandon and his ITF2 crew were in the midst of them. The closest were below and to their left.

  Borsk7 spoke. “The mine targeting screen has multiple fixes, Commander.”

  “Take the first three,” Brandon said. “Lock and analyze.”

  “Done,” Borsk7 replied. “Most threatening targets identified by the ship’s computer and being fed to all weapons stations.”

  Brandon took another look at Borsk7. This kid was good.

  Brandon then turned to the mine targeting screen. It was laid out as a regional map, showing the ship’s immediate surroundings. The blips on the screen all around them were enemy vessels. They were close. Should the enemy notice them and decide to engage, they were within easy laser and missile range of at least a dozen fighters. This was a bit insane.

  Three of the blips on the targeting screen were now highlighted in red with circles around them. The circles were a faint overlay that displayed the progress of the target identification process. The progress was indicated by the circle filling in with a slightly darker shade of red in a clockwise direction, like a pie chart with the piece of pie continually growing. When the whole pie filled, they will have captured the data they needed. One of them was already 25% full.

  Brandon realized they were on the verge of success. The radiogenic emissions of
the enemy were being properly gathered. It was happening quickly, too—but extat, it still seemed too damn slow.

  A third of the fastest-filling circle was now complete. Brandon couldn’t take his eyes off it.

  “Commander!” Lut5 said in a panic. “A bogey on our left is turning towards us.”

  “I can get them,” Borsk7 said. “Shall we turn and defend?”

  The circle Brandon was fixated on wasn’t quite half full yet. If they began an engagement now, they might not complete the data gathering process.

  “Negative,” Brandon said. “Fire our dag back up.”

  “Destination?” Lut5 asked.

  “No destination. We’re not dagging out. Just fire the ring. Do it now!”

  Borsk7 spoke again, rapidly. “Two of them now, Commander. Both turned towards us and are slowly approaching.”

  “The dag is fired,” Lut5 said.

  Brandon strained his neck to see behind him as much as he could. It was difficult, because the cockpit window was made to see forward. But he could make out the reflections of a ring of fire around the hull of their ship now. The dag was re-lit. To the enemy, it would appear they were about to dag out. Would any of the dark fighters take a pot shot? Brandon was hoping beyond hope they would not be able to positively identify them as an enemy target and stay temporarily confused. Temporarily should be all they need.

  “They turned back,” Borsk7 said. “No weapons fired. But the dag ring seems to be interfering with data collection.”

  Brandon looked back to the mine targeting screen. The three circles were all blinking and making much slower progress. The most complete reading was still only a little more than half complete.

  “Cool the dag again, Lut5.”

  “You got it.”

  Lut5 turned off the virtual dag ring and the circles on the mine targeting screen stopped blinking. Progress resumed.

  “We only need another thirty seconds or so by the looks of this,” Brandon said.

  “Enemy ships coming at us again,” Borsk7 said. “Five this time.”

  “Wait,” Brandon said. “Just wait a few seconds.”