by Ryk Brown
“That was too fucking close, guys!” the sergeant exclaimed.
“Our hull’s breached!” Lieutenant Latfee reported. “We’re going to be suits only all the way home.”
“For three days?” Sergeant Torwell complained. “Fuck that! I can patch us up!” Several more rail gun rounds slammed into the hull just behind the sergeant. “But not if you keep letting them punch holes in us! I’ve only got so many patches!”
“Raker Flight, Leader!” Commander Jarso called over comms. “Engage and destroy all Super Eagles!”
“Oh yeah!” Sergeant Torwell exclaimed.
“NOW we can jump,” Commander Kainan announced as the jump energy washed over their hull.
“These are Cobra-D gunships,” Roselle explained to Josh over comms. “Didn’t you guys train on the new interfaces?”
“I thought they weren’t going in until they started production on the four hundred group,” Vladimir defended.
“How the hell do I start up the reactors?” Josh demanded. “We’re already moving, here!”
“Calm down, kid!” Roselle insisted. “The layout is basically the same. But instead of having a crap load of separate physical consoles, you just tap the button for the section you want and it appears below the button. You can call up any screen you want, on any console you want. Reactor controls, weapons, sensors, flight systems…whatever.”
“How do you know all this?” Josh wondered as he started pushing the buttons along the top of the console directly in front of him. “I thought you were a battleship captain?”
“I spent nearly twenty years in the scout ships these things are based on, remember? I sorta kept up, for old time’s sake.”
“Thank God,” Josh muttered as he began to get the hang of it.
“Did you figure it out?” Yanni asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Josh said as he continued changing screens. “This is actually kinda cool.” Finally he found the reactor control screen. “Got it. Starting up the reactors.”
“Will they be ready in time?” Yanni wondered.
“I sure fucking hope so,” Josh replied as he reached over to the center console and started cycling through screens there, as well.
Sergeant Dagata sat at his station just behind Cobra Three Eight Three’s cockpit, wide-eyed, staring at the armor-clad Ghatazhak soldier as he stepped from the center airlock compartment onto the flight deck. The soldier carried a complex, and menacing looking rifle with three barrels, as well as an assortment of grenades attached to his body armor at easily accessible locations.
The Ghatazhak soldier’s visor rose, revealing the face behind it. “I am Corporal Chesen, of the Ghatazhak. I am here to ensure your cooperation.”
“Well, I am Sergeant Dagata,” the sergeant began.
Corporal Chesen looked at the uppity young sergeant, raising a disapproving eyebrow.
“Uh…no problem, Corporal. We’re on your side.”
“That is good to hear,” the corporal replied. “We can use all the help we can get.”
The corporal continued forward to the cockpit. Sergeant Dagata watched as he passed by.
“Is he in?” Ledge asked over comm-sets.
“Uh, yeah.”
“What’s he like?”
“Uh…not as big as I expected?” the sergeant replied. “But definitely scary.”
“Put your flight systems and dynamics on the console in front of you, weapons and sensors in the center, and power and propulsion on the right,” Robert suggested over comms. “That way, you can see everything you need to keep an eye on, and then just call up whatever you need to control on the center console.”
“Is everyone supposed to be moving at the same time?” Nathan asked as he started their gunship’s reactors.
“The first eight had to be layered in, because they were on opposite rows,” Vladimir explained. “But the last six all move forward at the same time.”
“Isn’t that going to put more time between launches for the last of us?”
“Trust me, Nathan. I know what I’m doing.”
“Of course,” Nathan agreed as he continued working on setting up his console.
“Be warned,” Commander Ellison started over comms, “stay at least ten kilometers away from the Benakh. Her main sensor array is down, and she’ll be blind beyond that. Her big guns and missiles will be useless without the main array, but her point defenses each have their own targeting sensors. Get closer than ten clicks, and she’ll own you.”
“Good to know,” Nathan replied. “Hey, kid,” he called over comms. “The guy that volunteered everyone. Did you copy all that?”
“Three Eight Three, affirmative,” Aiden replied.
“Three Eight Two, we copied, as well,” Charnelle replied.
“Strike Actual, Raker Leader,” Commander Jarso called over comms. “Eight more Super Eagles just jumped in. We now have a total of twelve bandits in the air. If you can put some people in your gun turrets, it would sure help.”
“Vlad?” Nathan said.
“Are you okay by yourself?”
“I’m good,” Nathan assured him. “The launch sequence is all automated anyway. Go.”
“Raker Leader, Strike Actual. Understood,” General Telles replied. “Strike Actual to all Cobras. Put whomever you have available in your gun turrets and target those Super Eagles.”
“Those Super Eagles aren’t trying to kill us,” Commander Ellison insisted, “they’re trying to scare us.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Nathan asked.
“No way Norath is going to authorize blowing up Alliance assets without orders,” Martin replied. “The kid doesn’t have the balls. But if we start shooting at them, he may grow a pair.”
“We have no choice,” General Telles stated. “Shoot them down.”
“He’s right, Marty,” Gil agreed. “The minute the first gunship gets to the launch deck, those Super Eagles will shoot to kill. It’s standing orders. No jump-equipped ship is allowed to fall into enemy hands. For all they know, we’re Jung operatives.”
“Uh, guys,” Aiden called over his comm-set. “You have to target those Super Eagles.”
“What?” Ali exclaimed from her turret on the starboard side.
“You want us to shoot down friendlies?” Ledge asked from the port turret. “Captain, we can’t do that.”
Kenji grabbed Aiden’s right arm to get his attention. “Aiden, stealing a gunship and going to help fight a war on the other side of the galaxy is one thing, but shooting at our own people?”
“I know, but…”
“We might know some of those pilots,” Sergeant Dagata pointed out.
“Gentlemen,” Corporal Chesen began, “I understand your hesitation, but if you do not defend yourselves, your comrades will kill you…without hesitation. Of this I am certain.”
“He’s right,” Aiden said. He looked at Kenji. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, guys. But those Super Eagles are no longer friendlies, and I’m going to fight them. If you want to live, you’ll all fight them too.”
Ledge sat in his turret, staring at the targeting display on his turret control pedestal. His mind was racing. He hadn’t anticipated this. None of them had. And he wasn’t sure he could do it. He looked to his left, spotting Sari climbing into the starboard turret of Cobra Three Eight Two, not more than six meters away, as both ships rolled along the tracks toward the launch platform in unison. Sari locked eyes with him, exchanging a painful look. He was feeling the same way as Ledge, only he was still doing what had to be done to survive.
Ledge watched as Sari strapped himself in, and swung his turret around to face aft, his barrels rising toward the sky in preparation to defend his ship. “Let’s do it,” Ledge said, grabbing his contr
ol yoke and bringing his weapon around, as well. He looked to Sari, who nodded at him, and Ledge nodded back.
Nathan quickly called up his gunship’s point defenses. A quick look at his available weapons display told him that he had eight, double-barreled energy pulse cannons; four on top and four on the bottom. He selected all four top point-defense turrets, locking onto the nearest attacking Super Eagle and authorizing the system to attack it, and all similar targets. But every time he tried to do so, the system rejected his commands. “What the hell is wrong with this system?” he complained. He tapped his comm-set. “Roselle! Why can’t I assign Super Eagles as targets to engage on the point defense weapons?”
“Automated systems won’t accept friendlies as targets,” Gil replied. “You’d have to hack the code to circumvent it.”
“Shit.”
“Strike Actual to all ground forces,” General Telles called over comms as he setup the consoles in his gunship. “Begin falling back to gunships eight through twelve. Bulldog One, begin ground suppression fire to cover their withdrawal.”
“Bulldog One, Understood.”
“The first Ghatazhak to get to their gunships, man the gunship turrets and target the Super Eagles.”
“Bulldog One, starting our attack run.”
“Strike Actual, Combat One,” Lieutenant Latfee called over the general’s comm-set. “We can come in behind Bulldog One and provide additional cover fire.”
“Combat One, Strike Actual. Approved,” the general replied, continuing his preparations.
Sari fired his plasma cannons repeatedly, doing his best to keep his gun sights on the Super Eagle that was diving on him and firing. Red-Orange energy bolts slammed into the ground around him and into his gunship’s shields, rocking the ship on its dolly as it rolled toward the launch deck.
The diving Super Eagle exploded, passing over him and crashing into the downhill side of the base compound. Sari felt a sudden wave of exhilaration surge over him, replaced a second later by a feeling of guilt for taking the life of someone who might very well be from his own world.
“We’re almost to the launch deck,” Charnelle warned over Sari’s comm-set. “I have to retract the turrets.”
“Understood,” Sari replied solemnly, swinging his turret around to face forward. As he unbuckled his restraints, he looked to his right at Ledge in the port turret of Cobra Three Eight Three next to him, firing away in his own battle with attacking Super Eagles. He hoped the young man wouldn’t have to wrestle with the same guilt he currently felt.
Charnelle glanced out the window to her left as the two-kilometer-long, downhill launch track slid toward her. “Cobra Three Eight Two is approaching launch position,” she reported over comms.
“Three Eight Two, Cobra Two, Did you receive the override codes I transmitted?” Vladimir asked. “You will need them to override your initial jump restrictions and escape the system.”
Charnelle looked to Sari, who nodded. “Three Eight Two, we have them.”
“Three Eight Two, Strike Actual. Immediate launch, no delay. Do you understand?”
“Three Eight Two, affirmative,” she replied.
The launch track slid from the left into the center of her forward window, and her gunship stopped moving. Three seconds later, a green light appeared on her launch status display, indicating the movement dolly her gunship rode on had disengaged its motors and was ready to roll freely down the launch track.
Ensign Charnelle Tegg had spent two years in the Cetian Alliance Academy, and another four months in the Cobra flight school, preparing for this very moment. Never in a million years had she expected it to go this way.
All she had to do now was press the button.
* * *
“Do we still have a track on the Mirai?” Admiral Galiardi asked his staff in the Alliance Command Center.
“No, sir,” Admiral Cheggis replied. “We lost her about three jumps out. She had to have changed course several times for us to lose her track, though.”
“So, they were trying to shake us,” Galiardi observed.
“Undoubtedly,” Admiral Cheggis agreed. “But what does the Mirai have to do with the attack on Kohara? There’s been no sightings of the Mirai anywhere near the Tau Ceti system.”
“A surprise visit from Deliza Ta’Akar?” Galiardi began. “Doctor Sorenson and her family are abducted on the very day the Mirai departs? And now an attempt to steal gunships? Tell me that’s a coincidence, Kyle.”
“It could very well be,” Admiral Cheggis insisted. “Or, two or more of the incidents could be connected. But for all we know, the Jung took Doctor Sorenson.”
“The only Jung left on Earth are sitting in cells in Winnipeg,” Galiardi insisted.
“It could be the Jung trying to steal our gunships,” Admiral Cheggis added. “The Cetians have never been very good at detecting spies.”
Admiral Galiardi sighed, his face a study of concentration. “Dispatch two squadrons of gunships to Tau Ceti, with orders to destroy any gunships that manage to launch from the plant on Kohara, and pursue any that get away.” He looked at Admiral Cheggis. “And they’d better not get away.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And tell Roselle to dispatch two of his quick-response marine units to the Koharan Cobra plant to take control of the situation.”
“Roselle isn’t aboard the Benakh, Admiral,” Admiral Cheggis said. “He was at the plant on Kohara doing a surprise security inspection when the attack started.”
“What about his XO?”
“They can’t find him,” Admiral Cheggis said. “Lieutenant Commander Norath’s in command.”
Admiral Galiardi looked at Admiral Cheggis. “Coincidence, huh?” The admiral sighed again. “Tell whoever is in command of the Benakh to stop whatever, the hell, is happening on Kohara dead in its tracks. Not a single gunship gets out of the Tau Ceti system!”
“Admiral, there’s no way those ships can jump out of the system. We have safety protocols, security codes…all to prevent such a thing from happening.”
“And yet, it’s happening as we speak, isn’t it, Kyle?” Admiral Galiardi said, losing his patience. “Not a single gunship! I don’t care if he has to blow up the whole damned plant to stop them!”
“Yes, sir,” Admiral Cheggis agreed.
“And find the damned Mirai, while you’re at it!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Cobra Three Eight Two is rolling,” Charnelle reported.
Aiden and Kenji both looked out the windows as Charnelle’s gunship began to roll slowly down the hill. Once it began to pick up speed, their own ship started to move again, continuing left to the launch deck.
“Cobra on the launch deck, Raker Five!” Ensign Hebron called over comms. “Two bandits on your six high. I’m moving in for the shot. Open fire and shake them up before they get a clear shot at you.”
“Ledge; Ali!” Aiden called out.
“I’m on it!” Ledge answered from the port gun turret.
“Swinging aft!” Ali added from starboard.
The launch tracks moved into the center of their forward windows, and their ship came to an abrupt stop.
“Three Eight Three is on deck,” Aiden announced.
“I can’t get an angle on them,” Ledge exclaimed. “We need to extend!”
“Not during launch!” Kenji insisted. “It’s too dangerous!”
Commander Jarso pulled his fighter into a tight, descending left turn, rolling out and jumping in a fluid motion. In an instant, the view outside changed from clear dawn skies and rolling farmland, to the Cobra production plant; complete with explosions, energy weapons fire, and a sky full of Super Eagles looking to tear apart the row of closely spaced, slowly moving gunships crawling along the surface on their way to the launch tr
ack.
“Raker Five, engaging two!” Ensign Hebron reported.
The commander glanced at his tactical display, then out the window to his left. “Five, Leader! Two bandits dropping into your six! Take the shot and jump!”
“Five, fi…”
There was a fireball in front of Commander Jarso, about a kilometer away, where Raker Five had just been. The explosion caused the two Super Eagles, the ensign had been attacking, to roll out in opposite directions, forcing them off the attack run on the Cobra gunship parked on the launch deck. The commander’s targeting systems flashed, and he pressed his cannon trigger. Red-orange plasma bolts shot out, striking the lead Super Eagle that had just killed one of his men. The second Super Eagle turned toward the commander, looking to line up a shot of his own.
Commander Jarso waited just long enough to lure the Super Eagle far enough away from the Cobra launch track that he wouldn’t be able to change his mind and attack the surface targets. As soon as the Alliance fighter lined up, the commander pitched up and jumped five kilometers ahead, immediately bringing his fighter into another tight turn to head back to the Cobra plant.
“Five is down, hard,” Ensign Dakus reported. “Moving in to protect the launch slot.”
The mission was a mere fifteen minutes old, and he had already lost one pilot.
Cobra Three Eight Two rocked and swayed as it continued to pick up speed. Charnelle scanned her console displays as they approached the bottom of the downhill portion of their launch roll. Their reactors were at full power, their propulsion and maneuvering systems were ready, and the automated launch sequencer showed ready and was monitoring their progress along their launch roll. All she had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride, at least until they got to orbit.