by Terry Mixon
Jared was impressed. That was a lot of punch for that small a vessel. More than the missiles they normally carried when used at short range. It wouldn’t be very safe for the pilot, though. At beam range, a bigger ship would kill them all too easily.
“What about the third one?”
The boat in question looked nothing like a normal wedge-shaped pinnace. Instead, it was more of a disc.
“It’s a stealth testbed,” the other man said. “It’s slow, but the damned thing is almost invisible to regular scanners until you get right on top of it. It’s completely unarmed and only has room for two. It’s also, I hesitate to say, a screaming bitch to fly.”
That brought a smile to Jared’s face. “Is that the voice of experience?”
The other man nodded. “Oh, yes. It’s prone to spinning and wobbling. We’ve been working on it to bypass the orbital bombardment stations, but there hadn’t been a driving need to act just yet. I think the time has come.”
“Does it have a standard docking rig?”
“I’m afraid not. This was only a proof of concept. For a real mission out to one of the orbital platforms, we’d build a larger ship. And, we still might not have included a docking setup. That would pretty much announce its arrival to the station.”
“Having examined the stations,” Jared said, “I’m not certain they would’ve noticed or cared.” He turned to Kelsey and Lord Hawthorne. “I think this is where I take my leave of you. Be careful, Kelsey. As much as I want our people back, we can’t lose you.”
She gave him one final hug. “I’ll be fine. They can’t kill me if they can’t find me.”
“I’m not reassured.” He looked at Captain Black. “I’ll need a pilot and a suit.”
“I’ll have someone meet you there, Admiral. Have a good flight.”
Jared shook his hand and then Lord Hawthorne’s. He took the indicated walkway and went down to the floor of the hanger. He spent a few moments admiring the atmospheric craft. They looked wickedly fast and as deadly as a supernova.
When he arrived at the saucer, a man in a vacuum suit was waiting for him. He was short and thin, almost boyish in size. He held out his free hand. The other had a second vacuum suit in it.
“Admiral Mertz, I’m Roger Walton, one of the test pilots. I’ll be taking you up.”
He shook the man’s hand. “Roger. You’re a civilian?”
“Through and through. It’ll take me a few minutes to preflight the critical systems, so I’ll let you put your suit on.”
Jared slipped it on and waited patiently for the man to finish. The very last thing he wanted was for anything to go wrong.
After a few minutes, Roger climbed up into the ship via a slender ladder. He didn’t invite Jared up, so he was probably still looking at things. He stuck his head down after a bit and waved for Jared to come up.
“Everything looks good, Admiral. It’s somewhat tight in here, so watch your elbows. Are you a pilot?”
Jared nodded. “Sure am, but I have no intention of being a backseat driver.”
That made the man smile. “That’s good. I’ll give you the rundown, but unless I’m somehow incapacitated, please keep your hands off the controls.”
The cockpit was even tighter than Jared had imagined. No wonder they’d picked such a small man to pilot it. Jared felt like he couldn’t move at all without being in danger of touching something he shouldn’t.
“Not a lot a room, is there?” Roger asked. “It takes a lot of space for everything they have to have to make the stealth field work.”
Jared strapped himself in to the couch. “How does it work?”
“Damned if I know. The brains tell me it’s need-to-know. And that I don’t.”
The man brought a console between them to life. The piloting controls did look somewhat familiar, but Jared hoped he didn’t have to try them out during an emergency.
“How do we get out? And how do you keep the locals from wondering what all the strange aircraft are?”
“Most of the people in this area are friendly. There also aren’t many folks feeling a burning desire to move to the country and grow crops. Those that do come along, well, let’s just say that the locals make them feel very unwelcome.
“As for getting out of here, there’s a shaft leading to the surface inside an abandoned grain silo. It’s reinforced to take the stress of grav drives moving inside it. The roof opens like a flower. We launch at night—usually very early in the morning—and steer clear of town.”
That made sense. “And the planetary traffic control network?”
“We have some people in the loop. They add us to the expected traffic—while changing our origin point to somewhere safe—or cover for us if we’re seen while testing any stealth mods. We keep flights to the very minimum, though.
“Today, we’re not on any flight lists. We’re going outside the atmosphere and there’s just too much risk of someone seeing us. We’d rather not leave even a fake electronic trail this time.”
Without another word, Roger brought the craft to a hover and nudged it toward a massive hatch in the wall. The thick metal slid aside revealing the shaft the pilot had mentioned. It went horizontally into the ground for several kilometers before it curved upward.
They shot out of the silo at low speed and accelerated into the sky. Jared wished the craft had implant interfaces. The view must be spectacular, even at night.
“We’re taking it slow,” Roger said. “Half an hour to orbit. We don’t want to chance anyone seeing us. We especially don’t want to risk one of the orbital bombardment platforms shooting us down. That would ruin our evening.”
“The platforms won’t engage inside the atmosphere,” Jared said. “Once we’re high enough, I’ll enter the clearance code into our transponders.”
Roger grinned. “While I’d love that, we don’t have any transponders. That sort of defeats the whole idea of a stealth ship. I guess none of the brains thought it likely we’d ever get our hands on something like that.”
Jared couldn’t see anything in that to make him smile, so he kept his mouth shut and let the pilot focus on his work. The ship rose to the very edge of space without anything disastrous happening.
“Scanners from the orbital platforms are still safely below detection thresholds,” Roger said. “We’re angling to pass beyond them in the northern polar region. Their coverage there is slightly weaker. Of course, if they see us, all three of them will be able to take shots at us.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
It felt like it took hours for them to climb close to the level of the platforms. Roger’s cheerful commentary trailed off to nothing as he focused on his work. Jared gripped his seat and prayed.
“Approaching maximum scanner strength from platform three. It’s going to be closer than I’d prefer, but I think we’ll squeak by. The brains allowed for some leeway, so even if it hits detection threshold, the platform might still miss us. Not that I want to count on that kind of luck.”
This was far more hair-raising than Jared had planned. He sat with his heart racing as they inched into the top of the orbital’s envelope and beyond. He knew the moment they were safe because Roger visibly relaxed.
The other man turned to him with a look of pure joy on his face. “We did it! The scanner strength is dropping off. They’re focused on the planet, so we’re safe.”
Jared clapped the man on the shoulder. “Very well done! Now we need to get to Invincible. Preferably without letting anyone down below know we’re here.”
“I’m picking up her active scanners. I verified what her orbit was before we took off. Setting course now. We can signal them when we get closer.”
Jared was actually curious how close they could get without letting Invincible know. This was very similar to the approaches he’d done on Courageous in a fighter before they got to Harrison’s World. Except, that kind of stealth relied on high speed coasting.
“I’ll set up a channel and be r
eady to respond if we’re challenged, but I want to see how close we can get.”
Roger gave him a dubious look. “We kind of pushed our luck with the orbital stations, don’t you think? We’re already way inside your ship’s normal detection range. Isn’t that enough?”
“I thought you were the daring pilot looking for some adventurous stories to tell. How many free drinks will slipping up on a Fleet superdreadnought earn you?”
“Zero if it blows us out of space. Okay, we’ll try it, but I don’t want to risk getting shot. If the scanner strength spikes, call them before they get too worked up.”
The man was right. If they’d had missiles, they could’ve opened fire and almost certainly have gotten the first salvo in before the startled bridge crew could raise the battle screens. Perhaps even before the AI could react. Of course, it helped to have a handy planet screening their approach.
Unlike the bombardment stations, Invincible wasn’t putting out a constant stream of targeting scans. She relied on a number of detection criteria in which another ship would reveal itself so it could focus on it for more detailed readings.
Propulsion was a big factor. Large ships required massive grav drives. Those distorted space enough to detect a ship long before they’d otherwise see it.
“We’re coming up on five thousand kilometers,” Roger said. “We’re still below detection threshold, but someone observant might still spot us.”
“How close do you think you can get before they see us?” Jared asked.
“That depends on the angle of approach. We’re above them now. If we come straight in, maybe three or three and a half thousand kilometers. If we pass them by and come in from their stern, their own grav drives will mask us until we’re maybe two thousand kilometers away. Give or take.”
Jared gave the pilot a decisive nod. “Come in from astern.”
“Aye, sir.” Roger gave him an exaggerated salute and a smile.
In the end, they beat Roger’s best estimate and Jared’s worst nightmare. They slipped right up to the ship and attached to her hull just forward of engineering without any challenge.
Once the magnetic clamps locked down, Roger turned to Jared with a huge grin. “Now this is worth a lifetime of free drinks for sure!”
“Yes, it is,” Jared said glumly. “I’m going to have to find out what the brains’ secret is and update our scanning profiles. We’re obviously at risk. Put us into standby mode and we’ll go surprise a few people. I’ll buy the first of your well-earned drinks, too.”
“After all this stress,” the pilot said, “make it a double.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Once Jared was safely away, Kelsey turned to William and Captain Black. “Okay, now it’s time to find our missing people. Actually, I’d like to make sure that the others get safely to this island, first. I have a Fleet com unit. Jared said that he slipped his to Commander Meyer, so we need to get close enough to reach them. The booster my marines have only works on my end.”
William considered that. “With the cordon of military around the island, you’re not likely to get that close. But perhaps there’s another way. If we get back into the city, I can arrange for us to hack into one of the orbital transceivers.
“Those would be the ones that Olivia used to contact you before all this mess got out of control. We won’t have long, but you should be able to call your ship and have them verify they made it to the island.”
“How are the prisoners going to get through that cordon without drawing attention?” Captain Black asked. “The forces on the island will have to drive our military back to get them under protection. No offense, but I’d prefer to see no loss of life here, on either side.”
Kelsey considered the situation and had to admit it posed a few challenges. “What we need to do is get the military to allow them to pass through. Maybe when Olivia makes her counter move, she can order them to stand down?”
“That’s a big maybe,” William said. “It might be best to intercept the prisoners and get them to a safe location to sit out the fighting. Then, once the coup is dealt with, they can go in safety.”
Captain Black nodded slowly. “That might work, but only if we can figure out where they are and get word to them. Once we locate them, we can slip them into one of the ports closest to the island. I’m thinking of one that has a large warehouse that they can hide inside.”
“If we can get close, my com should connect with theirs,” Kelsey said. “Close being within twenty kilometers. How about one of those stealth atmospheric craft?”
“It’s a risk, but not a terrible one,” Black said. “Still, I’m not sure Admiral Mertz would be pleased if I send you right out to the military.”
“Perhaps we should try a different method,” William said. “The press will have any number of air cars circling the island in case there are developments. If we masquerade as one, we don’t even need to use a stealth craft. We can mix with the crowd.”
Kelsey liked it. “Fortune favors the bold. Let’s make that happen.” She turned to Captain Black. “Now, I believe you promised me some powered armor. If this all goes into the crapper, I want to have some protection. And if it goes smoothly, then I’ll have it with me when we find the missing prisoners. That makes rescuing them a lot simpler.”
The dark-skinned man shook his head. “I think I see why you give Admiral Mertz grey hairs. I believe we have something that will work for you. It’s has some upgraded features when compared to the original Fleet Marine armor, but that shouldn’t stop you from using it without training.”
“I’ve gotten quite good at figuring things out on my own,” she said. “As for Jared, you have no idea. He’s my half-brother, you see. I’ve been making him age prematurely for decades.”
William raised an eyebrow. “He’s from the other side of the sheets, is he?”
“That galls both him and Ethan, for entirely different reasons. Jared would rather not have his parentage hanging over his head and my twin looks at him as a threat because of it. To my shame, I shared Ethan’s point of view for entirely too long.”
“That’s completely understandable,” William said seriously. “I’m surprised he doesn’t see you as a threat. I assume you were born after him by some few minutes?”
She nodded. “Ten whole minutes. And thank God for that. I’d rather be doing something interesting.”
“Interesting isn’t precisely the word I’d choose for what you do,” Black said. “Come with me.”
He took them on another trek through the facility to a massive armory. Kelsey was impressed. It was even bigger than the one aboard Invincible. Row after row of full size marine combat armor stood ready for use.
Compared to her lean Raider armor, it was thick with artificial muscle. It looked exactly like the marine armor they’d recovered from derelict Imperial ships orbiting around Boxer Station. Only these suits weren’t in desperate need of refurbishment.
These suits were heavy enough that they stood without the need for a rack. Unfortunately, whoever had lined them up had them facing out from the wall. With the entrance at the back, that might prove inconvenient if people needed to get armored in a hurry. She’d obviously been spending too much time around marines over the last year.
She ran her hand down one of the heavily muscled arms. “Tell me these are implant controlled.”
“They are,” Black said. “And they come in a few different sizes, one of which should be short enough for you. The armorers normally use their implants to move them. Give me a minute to get some of the men to bring it out so we can fit it to you.”
Considering that most marines towered over her, she was glad she didn’t have to make do.
“There’s no need,” she said, wrapping her arms around one. She grunted, lifted the massive suit, and walked it out into the open. It was heavy enough that she had to turn off the governors on her artificial muscles, but it still didn’t max her out. It came close, though.
At only a me
ter and a half, no one expected to see feats of strength from her. Yet the Old Empire Marine Raider bone reinforcement and artificial muscles increased her power tenfold. She could only imagine how strong a similar enhancement would make someone like Talbot. Her lover was not a small man by any measure.
Captain Black blinked at her. “Okay, then. I knew about your enhancement, but it’s so easy to forget. Climb in and these gentlemen will begin fitting it.”
Kelsey entered the armor from the rear and ordered the suit to close up via her implants. They must not have expected many people to come in and just take a suit, because it didn’t require any authentication at all. Something else Talbot wouldn’t approve of.
The supports that held her were set wrong for her height, so she’d need to come back out for the techs to adjust them, but she could look at the armor first.
The systems came online and began feeding telemetry right into her implants. The dark interior of the helmet vanished and she found she could see everyone just fine. She tried to turn on the interior cameras to project her own image on the faceplate, but found the armor didn’t have that capability.
Maybe that was what the designers intended.
That’s exactly what they intended.
Kelsey flinched. “Dammit! Don’t do that!”
She found speaking aloud made her feel better, and inside the privacy of her new suit, no one would think she was crazy. Well, any crazier than they already considered her.
I’m sorry. I was just trying to be helpful.
“We’re going to need to work out some rules of the road. It’s kind of creepy having you in my head watching everything I do.” That’s when it occurred to her that the program was running when she went to the restroom. Christ.
Well, it was too late now. At least she hadn’t had sex since she’d taken him into her head. She really needed to get him moved into some other system. If she could.
“It’s okay, Ned. I’m going to call you that, okay?”