Zak Jahns

by Gregory Anderson

  When Harm finally made it to Agra Foods he was shocked at level of security at the food giant. He and his partner had tried several gates and could not get in under any pretext. Agra was huge place where the bulk of the workers lived on site, it even had shops and schools. You just did not get in for no reason or verification. The landing fields were not even visible from outside the perimeter. Harm thought about flying over the landing fields but they had spotted laser emplacements so, not a good idea. He needed to get back to Barc with some information so they decided to hijack someone at gunpoint and and forcing them to take Harm into the compound. This was not hard to do, just stand in the road with a gun and they would stop. Only the hover with two woman only slowed down, sort of. Harm dived out of the way but his partner was not so lucky. The transport continued down the road as Harm called for help for his friend lying awkwardly on the side of the road. He made a decision to contact Barc and give him information that he did not have so he would make it up. He was not being paid near enough for this level of danger so all he had left was to decide what to tell Barc. Since he did not believe that any old containerships had four main thrusters he would so he would say it only had one.

  “No, I am not sure it was impossible to get really close but even in silhouette it only looked like one. That is the best we could do. Agra's security is very good, we barely escaped with our lives.”

  Barc replied.

  “If you are wrong I will find you and end you.”

  Barc disconnected and shrugged, no sense getting concerned about it. Even if the ship was Panther they would catch it on it's way up. It never occurred to Barc that he could get a fairly close visual of the landing area from orbit. This was all good for Panther. At the plant, loading the containers was going at a slow and steady pace while the crew did some shopping at the company stores. Zak was contacted and informed of the incident on the road leading to the facility. This in itself did not mean much yet Zak knew Federated was behind it. Zak had already ordered the crew to stay on Agra grounds and this was fine as it had the stores and entertainment. It also made it quick when Zak called the crew back. When they were all assembled he explained the situation.

  “Federated knows we are here and their orders are to stop us using any means available. They will not fire on us on the ground and probably not until we break out of atmosphere. As soon as loading is complete we will leave and try to slip between the two ships if possible, any questions.

  Gina, who had worked for Federated asked.

  “Do you really that they will stay in that patrol orbit knowing we are here. One is surely going to take up position right above us.”

  Getting off planet with two ships looking for them was going to be a challenge that Junes had an answer for.

  “I will be taking the new shuttle up before Panther, they will never suspect a shuttle. Even if they notice they would not expect it to be armed so I should be able to get close enough to disable one of those ships making the odds better than even.”

  Zak nodded.

  “How are you going to get the shuttle out of the landing bay in gravity. Using the thrusters in the bay will destroy it.”

  “While everyone was enjoying themselves I took some time watching them load another ship. They used a huge forklift which looks like it will fit to lift the shuttle out of the bay.”

  So it was settled. They had a plan. Even before the containers were finished loading one of the huge forklifts came over. Very carefully the forks squeezed into the fore shuttle bay and picked up the shuttle. Gently it lifted it clear of Panther and set it on an adjacent launch pad. The grax built executive craft was fast, highly maneuverable and a formidable weapons platform. Uhr had managed to squeeze in an auxiliary anti-mater power supply to operate the laser canon. This made it as powerful as those on bigger ships. Junes was looking forward to taking it up and out of atmosphere.

  Barc was remaining cautious but did not alter orbit. He had managed to get a feed from ground radar in the area of Agra Foods so he would know of any ship lifting off and what size it was. When a small shuttle lifted off he paid it no mind. Junes felt good because it felt just like piloting a Cyrillium fighter. The shuttle cockpit had two seats that were separated from the rest of the ship, it handled very well. She headed into an orbit just below and behind the Federated ship. Her position would not be unusual for a shuttle going to the space station or to the other side of the planet. Even so Barc gave pause before dismissing it until he reasoned, no weapons no problem. Junes commed Panther.

  “This is Junes, in position and ready to lock and fire at your command.”

  “Acknowledged, it will be another five minutes before they are in position and then we lift off. Just be ready, Zak out.”

  The plan was for Panther to launch when the ship Junes was following was closest to their position then if Federated changed course Junes would take out an engine. Even if she missed the ship would surely respond thus giving Panther time to make orbit while engaging the other frigate if necessary. Picking up Junes was the tricky part and if looked like it wouldn't Junes could go back down and wait until their next trip to pick her up. Either way Zak figured they could cut through orbit and run before either Federated ship could get in firing range. Not the best of plans perhaps but one thing was sure, they could out run them. On board the frigate that Junes was following they saw Panther boosting out of atmosphere and he commed Barc.

  “Boss, we got a ship boosting out and it is moving too fast so it has to be Panther.”

  “Destroy it as soon as you have a lock, destroy it.”

  The frigate captain ordered to change course, intercept and fire as soon as in range. Before the navigator could respond.

  “We have incoming.”

  Junes had fired two missiles as soon as she saw the course change catching them totally unaware. Waiting almost a minute she fired a third missile as insurance. The frigate had dropped flak as defense but it did not fool Panther's smart missiles so only one was destroyed while another hit the port main thruster. Before they could go evasive another slammed into the starboard side. Junes stopped firing and headed away from the planet as the Federated ship rocked from the attack. The captain had commed Barc.

  “We lost the port main thruster and engineering is venting. Who is firing on us, there is no one out there. We are out of the fight.”

  The crew was freaked because the missiles came from nowhere, Junes had come up in the blind spot of their ship.

  “Idiots, who fired on you and why did you not see them.”

  “Must have been some kind of stealth ship we can't find anything. We have to stop and repair, we lost some men.”

  “I will review this later, we are in pursuit of Panther, fix your ship, Barc out.”

  As Panther slipped by the frigate Zak smiled, Junes had done her job well. He started to slow in order to match Junes shuttle speed in order to bring her aboard. Had it been anyone but Junes or himself it may not of been possible to pull off a high speed docking like this. About the time Junes was in position Hart called out.

  “Federated frigate in weapons range in twenty seconds.”

  On board Barc's ship.

  ”We have weapons lock boss.”

  “Fire a spread of eight, fire, fire, fire.”

  On board Panther.

  “Incoming, eight missiles, releasing decoys.”

  Zak kept the ship steady as Junes delicately maneuvered the shuttle into the fore bay. As soon as she was firmly docked she called.

  “Secure and clear, let's get out of here.”

  Zak replied.

  “Hang on, going evasive and full burn.”

  Between the evasive maneuvers and the decoys none of the Federated missiles hit but one did get a proximity that shook them a little. There was no real damage and Panther moved out faster than Federated could go. Barc was livid as Panther pulled out of range, there was no way to catch up. Failing to stop Panther would not set well with the big boss, Hallbrook.

>   “That was an excellent job you did Junes and thank you. I do not know of anyone who could pulled that off as well as you did.”

  Zak was not big on giving praise but in this case it was well deserved. To make it off planet with two ships gunning for them was amazing. Not only that but there was no major loss of life that they could tell. Junes replied.

  “That was fun. I never got the chance to do anything like that in the Cyrillium forces.”

  Zak reflected back on how something like that would not have been possible with Pete as his second. As much as he hated to admit it his feelings for June were coming back.

  “Hart, plot a course for the gray nebula and make sure we steer clear of any planets. I am sure Federated will be looking for us.”

  Junes spoke.

  “Zak, coming at Edahni from the backside will help but they have to know we will show up there. Hallbrook will put two and two together since we just picked up two containers of food.”

  “Perhaps, but we still have the element of surprise.”

  Hallbrook was not happy at all when he got the news. The report from Barc put the blame squarely on his subordinate on the damaged ship but he knew better. He did not rule his fleet by trusting his captains anyway, they were nothing more than pirates anyway. He put out the word again to destroy Panther and upped the bonus for doing so. MayBell was responsible to confirm this order and it made her sad. Zak had been her lover for years and it was hard to play on both sides of the game. She felt no real loyalty to Hallbrook and realized if she tried to leave he would kill her. Sill she kept reporting to Zak and the high council and hoped Zak would take her away someday. Zak on the other hand was conflicted with these rekindled feelings for Junes were getting him away from the carefree times he had with MayBell. All of it got in the way of the mission ahead and the twenty one days travel to the nebula did not help maters.

  At Colisus Two station Hallbrook was at a loss because he could not find Panther anywhere.

  “MayBell, tell me you have heard from your boyfriend Zak Jahns.”

  “I have not. And that is strange because he always finds a way to contact me when in the Colisus system.”

  “You will tell me if he gets in touch because that is the only way I might spare his life. There is no hope for him if he tries to break the blockade of Edahni with three of our ships waiting.”

  “I do not think he would contact me if, if he is going to Edahni because he would not want to put me in that position since you put out the contract on him.”

  And it was true that Zak would not contact her until after he left Edahni if, that is, he made it out. This was a big worry because the last ship that made it to ground on Edahni had been bombed out of existence. Right now three of the most ruthless captains Federated had were orbiting Edahni. What MayBell did not know was that Panther carried a signed contract for the lode of Azurite that the small colony had discovered. In time the colony would be able to afford their own protection if they did not starve first. For twenty one days the crew of Panther tried to think of a way to get down on Edahni and then back out. The best plan came from Gina who suggested they create a deadly diversion with the cargo shuttle. Uhr understood her thoughts about piloting the shuttle remotely and crashing it into one of the Federated ships. This started a line of thinking that included Junes using the small shuttle to disable another ship at the same time while Panther fired on the third. This was all very complex and assured loss of life. In the end Zak decided to keep it simple with a straight in and out approach. This had as good a chance as any and Panther had an ample supply of smart missiles. The crew was solid and seasoned, they knew how to work under pressure so that is was the plan. Junes sent out a comm to high command detailing what had transpired and what was about to happen. On the planet food was close to being gone and even though an entire greenhouse was set up just for manna the results were not promising. They were all on half rations and it was starting to show. With no outside comms despair was setting in. On Panther they were making final calculations for the best straightest approach to the planet. This was not easy as they had to take in consideration the rotation of the planet and had to time it so they hit it in between the three orbiting ships. It was hoped that no one would be looking towards the gray nebula, Hart started the countdown till Zak cried out.

  “Execute.”

  -13-

  Panther slammed them back at five gee over dampers, this would get them into Federated's scan range at maximum speed. This would lessen the time they had to see Panther as she went in and this time they were not watching very close. They caught Panther on radar just as she entered atmosphere. It was a mater of seconds when Zak commed ship-wide.

  “Hang on we are going to flip.”

  Everyone braced as the ship reversed position and the main thrusters fired full. The gee force made them feel like they would be crushed and a few passed out from the extreme pressure. The ground near the mine came up so fast that it looked like Panther would surely crash. Zak brought the ship to horizontal and down quite hard.

  “Release containers, send info pack and get what they have.”

  June responded.

  “Data comm coming in, ours sent and received, let's get out of here.”

  “Lifting off, Hart find us a window.”

  With three ships coming after them they need to be as far away from them as possible coming out of atmosphere.

  Bing, the captain of the primary Federated ship wanted to bomb the containers but they were too close to the mine entrance. Now the ship that had dropped them was angling away so they could not get a lock. He called on the other ships to fire as soon as they had a lock but had to wait until Panther cleared atmosphere. Zak also called for missiles as soon as they cleared, they would not wait to be fired on first. As it happened two of the Federated ships were close to having firing solution as Panther punched out moving straight from the planet at full thrust. At ten gee over dampers the crew was barely able to function but still managed to get off eight missiles at the two Federated ships before they could return fire.

  “Ten incoming, prep and deploy countermeasure, hang on for evasive maneuvers.”

  Zak belted out orders as best he could under the extreme pressures. Hart could barely be heard as he shouted.

  “Incoming, brace for hits.”

  While countermeasures took care of most two of the enemy missiles made it through as Panther corkscrewed away. One of the missiles missed and went by but the other glanced off the spine and detonated. Without containers the spine was vulnerable. Panther shuddered and started a slow cartwheel as one of the Federated ships pursued. The hit on the spine interrupted the main conduit so the bridge had no control and the backup had not been repaired from the last encounter. In engineering Uhr figured out what happened and cursed as he took over helm control. This is something that had been neglected by Zak for far too long. Panther straightened out as Federated loosed another volley. Gina was already on weapons before Uhr could say anything, locking and releasing another round of counter measures. Dihr locked and fired four smart missiles. The bridge crew could only sit and watch, helpless to even talk to the crew aft. They could see the Federated ship drop off as it took a hit from Panthers smart missile. Panther had disabled two Federated frigates and was pulling out of their range. As soon as they were clear of the threat Zak got up to head aft. There was no telling the conditions in the spine so he donned an evac suit. As he left the bridge the automatic door stuck and would not close completely Zak looked on with a hopeless look. Junes got up and went over to the door and gave the bulkhead next to it a solid smack, it closed the rest of the way. Zak continued back through the spine finding all airtight doors were closed as they should be and the atmosphere intact. Nothing was leaking or had sealed back up but there was a noticeable bulge in one bulkhead. Once he was back in engineering he was faced with three very agitated people. Gina was loaded down with tool bags as Uhr looked directly at Zak.

  “I told you all co
nduits needed replacing or upgrades yet you did not listen.”

  With that Uhr shoved Zak sending him across the room and bouncing off the wall.

  “Come Gina, let us go fix this mess.”

  As Zak recovered he looked at Dihr who turned away and got busy with something, never saying a word. This had been an ongoing feud between Uhr and Zak but now it had come to a head. Zak decided to check on the rest of the aft crew before going forward again. There was one thing that was clear, Zak would have to take Panther somewhere to be repaired properly so the bridge controls would operate. On his way up the spine he saw Uhr.

  “Uhr, I am sorry, you are right. We will be going somewhere to get repairs done straight away.”

  He did not stop for a response. As he stepped onto the bridge the door once again did not close properly so he reached over and gave the bulkhead a smack and it closed.

  “Set a course for Colisus Thirteen and again avoid any populated ares or shipping lanes. I will be in my quarters going over the data bundle we received. Junes, you have the con.”

  Junes had a sad smile, Zak was finally doing what he should have done a long time ago. It would be some time before helm worked from the bridge so she sent a runner with the orders. The entire crew relaxed some, it had been quite stressful these past few hours. The next stop, Colisus Thirteen was a small sparsely populated world that even Federated seldom bothered with.

  Hallbrook was beyond mad and resigned himself to having incompetent captains, he really did not want to have to deal with Panther himself. Zak Jahns had bested three frigates and left two severely damaged and vowed it would not happen again. Figuring that Panther would return to Edahni he sent eight ships that way with orders to destroy Panther at all costs. He was now convinced that Edahni had a producing Azurite mine although he did not know how much that mine was capable of producing. He did have one thing to go on, Zak dropped the containers by the mine and not the villages.