by Ryk Brown
“General!” Sergeant Anwar yelled as he and his men approached. “What are your orders?”
General Telles looked surprised at the question. “We fight! What else?”
“Telles, Falcon One! Do you read?” Jessica’s helmet comms crackled. “Falcon One! Go for Nash!”
“Lieutenant! Twenty-one fighters from the Avendahl just jumped in to join the fight! They’re attacking the Dusahn ship now!”
“What?” Jessica called back. “Where’d they come from?”
“Did you not get the word?” Sergeant Anwar wondered.
General Telles checked his comms, but found them dead.
“The Glendanon is here! Near Aluria! They are standing by to evacuate us!” Ensign Lassen explained.
“The Glendanon is here!” Jessica told General Telles. “Twenty-one of the Avendahl’s fighters are attacking the Dusahn assault ship in orbit.”
“They must destroy that ship,” the general said as he removed his damaged helmet, tossing it aside.
“Nash! Combat One! Is the general all right?”
“He’s fine!” Jessica replied. “His comms are fried!”
“We managed to push the bastards back a bit! And it looks like there’s a lull in the landers for the moment. We can extract you now.”
“General, Combat One says they can pick you up, but it’s got to be now.”
“Yes, yes. Now, we have a chance.”
“Combat One, Nash! Go for extraction!”
“Combat One, inbound!”
“We will take to the air,” the general decided. “From there, we can coordinate the evacuation.”
The combat jumper streaked overhead again, blasting away at the nearest Dusahn troops before turning back to start their descent.
“One of the cargo shuttles is ready to depart,” Sergeant Anwar told the general. “They are carrying Ghatazhak families.”
“At least they now have a nearby destination,” General Telles commented. “That should speed up the process.”
The combat jump shuttle came down behind them, bouncing slightly as their gear touched the tarmac.
“I’m not going,” Jessica told the general.
General Telles looked at her, ready to scold her for her insubordination, but knew what she was about to say. “Very well. See to your family. Get them back here if you can. If not, get them someplace safe, until we can come back for them.”
“You know there’s no place safe for them, none of them. Not on Burgess,” Jessica argued. “Even if we destroy that ship, they’ll send another! And just as soon as they can, they’ll glass this world, and kill every living thing on it! All because of us!”
“Not because of us!” the general disagreed. “Because they are Jung!”
“We gotta go!” Sergeant Torwell called over Jessica’s helmet comms.
“We will go with you,” Sergeant Anwar told Jessica.
“What about your families?”
“I have no family on Burgess,” Sergeant Anwar told her. “And neither do Jorsen or Basquer.”
“What about you?” Jessica asked, looking at the fourth Ghatazhak.
“My wife and son are already on the cargo shuttle!” he replied. “Now, let’s go and get this done so I can join them!”
“Retreat to the backside of the hangar!” General Telles suggested. “Take one of the haulers!” He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder armor. “Good luck, Lieutenant!”
Jessica watched momentarily as the general turned and walked confidently to the combat jumper.
“Shall we, Lieutenant?” Sergeant Anwar urged.
“Let’s move out!” she yelled over the sound of the combat jumper’s engines as it lifted off a few meters away from them.
* * *
Five Takaran fighters appeared from behind five simultaneous flashes of blue-white light, only a few kilometers to starboard of the Dusahn assault ship. The ships began maneuvering erratically to avoid being tracked by the Dusahn defensive turrets. As they maneuvered, they fired their main plasma cannons, timing their shots to target the same shield, in the hopes of overloading the emitters that formed it.
But the Dusahn defenses were swift and accurate. Within seconds of appearing, the Takaran fighters were taking multiple direct hits on their own forward shields, forcing them to break off their attack run earlier than hoped, and jump to safety.
Undaunted, the pilots from the once-proud ship Avendahl, continued their attack, jumping in from multiple angles with the hope of confusing the Dusahn defenses. But their weapons were not powerful enough to disable even a single section of the enemy assault ship’s shields.
“This is getting us nowhere, fast!” Ensign Capra complained over comms.
Commander Jarso rolled right and pitched up, ending his latest attack run, activating his jump drive once he had a clear jump line. Eyeing his tactical display, he waited until the other four ships in his group jumped in behind him to reform before keying his comms. “They are channeling their power to the side we attack.”
“How the hell do they know?” Ensign Defforo wondered.
“They do not. They are maintaining just enough power in all shields to prevent them from falling under a single attack pass. Once we jump in, they shift power to beef up that shield, replacing the drain as we jump out,” the commander surmised.
“What if we swarm attack?” Ensign Oppert suggested. “All twenty-one ships at once, on the same shield.”
“The attack corridor on a single shield is too narrow,” Commander Jarso explained as he completed his turn inbound. “We would be too clustered, and would be easy to target.”
“No room to maneuver, either,” Ensign Dakus added.
“Precisely.”
Commander Jarso sighed. “We must divide further… Attack from as many different angles as possible, simultaneously. We must make it impossible for them to accurately target our ships. We must force them to distribute power equally to all shields.”
“That will take forever!”
“Deaf follows Opie and attacks ventral port side. Rat follows Peanut, ventral starboard.”
“What are you going to do, Rubber?” Ensign Oppert wondered.
“I’ll loiter until I pass the word to all Rakers, then I’m going to target those landers as they come and go. If we can’t kill that ship, maybe we can impede her ability to put troops on the surface,” the commander explained. “Break formation and get to work. I’m going in solo.”
Commander Jarso did not wait for an answer, but tapped his jump button several times in succession to move ahead ten kilometers at a time. He much preferred the “skipping” method of jump combat, as it allowed him to be more creative.
A few more jumps, and he was bearing down on the Dusahn assault ship again, coming at her from behind and slightly above. As he opened fire on her stern, five jump flashes appeared below, to his left. He glanced at his tactical display to ID the Rakers as he jinked his fighter about to avoid being targeted by the Dusahn’s defensive weapons. “Gio flight! Rubber! Next jump to delta tango four and hold for me.”
“Gio to delta tango four and hold,” Lieutenant Commander Giortone acknowledged. “Gio flight, Leader. I have jump control.”
Commander Jarso pitched his fighter downward toward Burgess, sliding underneath the aft end of the Dusahn ship. With landers jumping in and out of the assault ship’s ventral bays, the amount of defensive fire was greatly reduced to avoid taking out their own spacecraft. The commander picked his targets of opportunity, firing at landers as they dropped from the assault ship’s bays. He picked off four of them with ease, before two of the forward ventral guns locked onto him and lit up his forward shields.
The commander rolled his ship to the right as his shields were quickly dra
ined from the weapons fire, placing his fully charged port shields toward the incoming attack. As soon as he had a clear jump line, he pressed the jump button on his flight control stick, jumping toward the rendezvous point where he would relay the new attack plan to Lieutenant Commander Giortone and the rest of his flight.
The commander’s new attack strategy would take a considerable amount of time to produce any tangible results, but it would keep the assault ship busy defending itself, instead of being free to pummel the planet below. Even better, it gave his men a better chance at survival. For it was now a numbers game, and since the enemy had more, he had to protect the few numbers they had.
“The next wave of landers is jumping in,” Lieutenant Latfee told the general.
“Willem, Telles. You still alive?”
“Are you kidding?” the sergeant replied, the sound of multiple energy weapons fire nearly drowning out his voice. “I’m just starting to get a good sweat on, Sir!”
“Good to hear, Sergeant,” the general replied. “Move your men to the east side of the hangar. The next cargo shuttle will land there. I’m calling in another strike to the north of the hangar. Two passes by Two and Three. That should give you time to get the next group aboard the transport and away.”
“Understood,” the sergeant replied. “Moving now.”
“Combat Two and Three, Telles. Strike! Pads four, five and six, to the north and west! Caution! Friendlies on the east side of the hangar. More friendlies moving from south of pad six to east side of hangar. Strike in two mikes!”
“Combat Two, acknowledged.”
“Combat Three, acknowledged.”
“Where do you want us, General?” Commander Kainan asked.
“Circle around the backside of the hangar, down low, out of Two and Three’s line of fire. Then pop up and provide cover for the cargo shuttle while they load.”
“Got it!”
General Telles leaned to his right as the jumper started a left turn, the view out the port side hatch giving him a clear sight line to the nearby Dusahn positions that were about to be attacked by his combat jumpers. His forces had done well so far, managing to evacuate nearly half of their families. But, his forces were rapidly dwindling.
As the combat shuttle rolled out of its turn back to level flight, the general caught sight of the city of Lawrence on the far side of the spaceport. Although the orbital bombardment of Burgess had been slowed considerably by the efforts of the Avendahl’s fighters, there were still continuous plasma blasts descending from the sky. And they were not focused entirely on Lawrence, but on the surrounding areas as well. The Dusahn captain had parked his assault ship in geostationary orbit above Burgess, giving him the ability to pummel the area at will. Their only advantage was that the Dusahn captain had also chosen a low orbit, which restricted the area that his guns could reach. This meant that others on Burgess would be spared bombardment, at least for the time being. There was no doubt in his mind that, as soon as the Dusahn had gotten rid of the Ghatazhak, they would finish off the rest of the planet, making it an example, just as they had Ybara. Even if they somehow managed to rid themselves of that assault ship, more would follow, and the people of Burgess had neither the ability to defend themselves, nor sufficient transportation to evacuate even a tenth of their population in time.
Regardless of the outcome of this battle, Burgess was doomed, and only because, eight years ago, the Ghatazhak had chosen it as their new home.
Commander Jarso came out of his jump, headed straight for the underside of the Dusahn assault ship, on her starboard side. He rolled left and right, adjusted his pitch to vary his path of flight, and translated from side to side as an extra measure. His last two passes had earned him extra attention by the Dusahn defensive turrets, as he had managed to kill fourteen landers in only four passes. He rolled the jump range selector dial on his flight control stick two more clicks, taking it down to five-hundred-meter hops.
Just as the Dusahn ship’s ventral and starboard defensive turrets were about to swing onto him, he pressed the jump button again, leaping ahead half a kilometer. Suddenly, the four landers that had just appeared under their host ship to return and reload were right in front of him.
Commander Jarso pressed his cannon trigger, sending blasts of plasma energy toward the helpless landers. They came apart in a rather unsatisfying fashion, as they were both low on propellant and empty of bodies. At least, the Dusahn were now short four more landers.
Another press of the jump button got him clear of several volleys from the Dusahn defensive turrets, just before they impacted his already weakened shields. Four more flashes of light appeared just above and ahead of him. A glance at his tactical display identified them as Dumdum, Razz, Mother, and Hedge- Lieutenant Commander Riordan’s group.
The commander rolled right, pulling his ship into a quick, ninety-degree turn, then pressed his jump button again, bringing him nearly to the nose of the assault ship. He twisted his flight control stick back to the left as he came out of his turn, swinging his ship around to face back toward the center of the enemy ship. Now flying backwards, he blasted away at three more landers that were departing the assault ship, but only managed to hit two of them.
As he was about to press his jump button to begin his evade and escape maneuvers, he saw eight Dusahn fighters fly out of the port side of the assault ship. They immediately pitched down toward the surface, then disappeared behind blue-white jump flashes. “Rio flight! Rubber! You still nearby?” he called over his helmet comms.
“Rubber, Dumdum! We’re still here!”
“Rio flight, Rubber! New targets! Eight fast movers just launched out the port side and jumped down into the atmosphere. They have to be headed for Lawrence. Pursue and destroy.”
“Understood.”
Jessica held on tightly as the vehicle bounced violently, barreling down the dirt road at top speed. They were headed away from Lawrence Spaceport, into the hilly countryside where her family had established their farm when she had brought them here from Earth over six years ago…a decision she was now beginning to regret.
Though the battle was now falling far behind them, there was still the threat of plasma strikes from orbit, which even now occasionally landed nearby. Although the majority of the strikes seemed to be targeting Lawrence, its spaceport, and its surrounding infrastructure, the Dusahn seemed to have a penchant for sending every third or fourth volley into arbitrary locations. It was as if they were trying to ensure that everyone within the sound of the attack was equally terrified.
As they bounced along, she fought off visions of Ania huddled in the bunker her father and brother had built, clutching her grandmother in terror. The thought tore her up inside, a feeling she did not care for, as she knew it might inhibit her ability to make good decisions under fire. She had learned a lot over the last seven years, but she still lacked the emotional control that the rest of the Ghatazhak possessed. It was a fact that constantly annoyed her mentor, General Telles, although he himself admitted that there had been more than one occasion where her emotions had guided her toward an outcome that turned out to be more favorable than originally planned.
She feared that this would not be one of those times.
“Jump flashes,” Sergeant Anwar said, his eyes gazing at the distant horizon as he drove.
Jessica scanned the horizon, unable to spot anything. A moment later she heard the screeching, thunder-like sound that always accompanied jumps into the atmosphere. “Sounds like multiple ships,” she commented as she continued to look around. “There!” she exclaimed, spotting several small black dots passing low over the hilltops. They were firing at something on the ground, a fact that she almost missed as their energy bolts were disappearing behind the hills between her and the targets, only a split second after they were fired. “They’re firing at…” It hit her. “They’re firi
ng at my family’s farm!”
“Why would they fire at a farm?” Sergeant Anwar wondered.
“I don’t know!” she replied. “Maybe they’re clearing their guns or something!”
“More likely they have orders to fire at any target they see, regardless of its value,” the sergeant surmised. “Poor strategy.”
“Who cares about their strategy!” Jessica exclaimed. “They’re shooting at my family!”
“They are shooting at everyone’s family,” the sergeant corrected.
His calm control of his emotions was pissing her off more so than usual. “Can’t this thing go any faster?”
“It’s a cargo truck, Lieutenant, not an assault vehicle.”
Jessica turned and slid the back window open. “Fast movers dead ahead!” she yelled to the three men in the back. “Open fire as soon as they get in range!”
“You will only draw their fire, Lieutenant,” the sergeant warned.
“That’s the idea, Deno.”
“More contacts to the west,” Lieutenant Latfee announced. “Eight fast movers! ETA ninety seconds!”
“I was hoping that their fighter escort was more limited,” the general admitted, as he watched two of his combat jump shuttles pass over the Ghatazhak fight operations ramp, blasting away at the Dusahn ground forces in an effort to keep them from advancing toward the hangar.
“Four more landers just popped in!” Sergeant Torwell warned as he swung his gun turret to the left. “Port side! Half a click!”
“Three more directly ahead!” Lieutenant Latfee reported.