by Ryk Brown
“Three Eight Three, start your roll now!” Nathan ordered over the comms.
“But the track isn’t clear yet!” Aiden argued.
“It will be by the time you get to the bottom of the hill! Now get going!”
“Char!” Sari exclaimed as they entered the short, level portion of the launch track, just before it started to pitch up to put them on a skyward trajectory. “The towers!”
“Three Eight Three is rolling,” Aiden announced.
Charnelle looked at the towers streaking past them as they started the uphill portion of their launch run. The automated weapons turrets at the top of the towers were moving, and they were swinging around to take aim at her. “Leader! Three Eight Two! The weapons towers are active!” she reported as her ship rode off the end of the track.
The rocking and swaying suddenly stopped as the gunship became airborne. There was a sudden clunk, and what sounded like several tiny explosions under their hull, as their launch dolly disconnected and was pushed downward toward the approaching recovery lake. A split-second later, their windows turned opaque and the gunship’s auto-launch sequencer triggered their jump to orbit.
“She made it!” Aiden exclaimed, reaching over and shaking Kenji by the shoulder.
“Three Eight Three! Target the towers! Target the towers!” Nathan instructed.
“Hey, Captain…” Ledge started.
“Shoot the weapons towers! Shoot them now!” Aiden instructed as he looked out the forward windows and saw the nearest weapons atop their towers turning to take aim on them as they rolled down the track, picking up speed.
Aiden’s eyes widened as the weapons at the top of the approaching towers on either side of the tracks brought their barrels to bear on them. Before they could fire, streaks of red-orange plasma streaked forward from behind them, from both port and starboard, slamming into the menacing weapons, blowing them apart.
Two Alliance shuttles jumped in just above the gunship yard, one on each side of gunship row. They descended quickly, touching down only long enough to deploy two teams of quick-response marines. Men jumped out of the sides of the shuttles, five at a time, two waves each, deploying a total of twenty armor-clad soldiers from each specially-designed shuttle.
The marines deployed in choreographed fashion, the first wave of men holding blast shields, the next tucking in behind them to one side, the third to the other. They spread out in formations, extending further out toward the fence line to improve their firing angles on the enemy tucked in beside the moving gunships.
The fourth wave of soldiers carried much larger weapons, powered by packs on their backs. Each of them dropped to one knee, after which legs telescoped out from their weapons, followed by blast shields that deployed around the weapon itself thereby shielding the soldier.
These larger weapons were the first to open fire, sending rapid-fire streams of bright-orange plasma bolts toward the moving gunships.
Ghatazhak soldiers scurried under the moving gunships as they rolled toward the launch deck. While some fired on the newly arrived marines, others climbed up the gunships’ ventral access hatches, scrambling to quickly reach the gun turrets to defend against the attacking Super Eagles.
Three Ghatazhak soldiers climbed up into the airlock compartment of Nathan’s gunship.
“Permission to come aboard, sir,” Corporal Estabol joked, leaning forward into the flight deck.
“Permission granted,” Nathan replied. “Would you mind getting on those guns, fellas?”
“We’ll get right on it, sir,” the corporal assured him, turning to head down the access tube to the port gun turret.
Several energy bolts slammed into the top of their hull, just forward of the windows, ricocheting up and over their heads, causing both he and Vladimir to duck.
“Christ!” Nathan exclaimed. “What the hell are they shooting?”
“HFR personal assault weapons,” Vladimir explained, flinching as another round glanced off the side of the ship, causing it to shake slightly. “High fire rate, high power, their own automatically deployed tripods and shields. Very deadly.”
“Can they hurt us?”
“Yes, if they score several direct hits in a critical area. And they know where those areas are, trust me.”
“Corporal, can you guys get a firing angle on those HFRs?” Nathan asked over his comm-set.
“Negative sir,” the corporal replied. “Only Cobra Ten’s starboard turret can engage them, and I don’t think it’s manned just yet.”
“I hope someone gets in there soon.”
“Cobra Line, Raker Two!” Ensign Viorol called. “Four bandits coming in low, treetop level, from your six. Suggest all guns engage!”
“We’re on it!” the corporal assured Nathan.
“Can we use our plasma torpedo cannons while we’re on the ground?” Nathan wondered.
“Yes, but we can’t really aim, and there’s a city in that direction, about twenty kilometers. We might blow the hell out of it,” Vladimir warned.
“Cobra Three is rolling,” Josh’s voice announced over comms.
Nathan looked out the windows, leaning forward to see to his left. He could barely make out Josh’s gunship at the far end of the line as it started rolling slowly off the launch deck and down the tracks.
“Strike Actual, Alpha Blue Leader!” Sergeant Yanna called over General Telles’s comm-set. “All Tangos are in the yard! All Tangos are in the yard!”
“Alpha Blue Leader, Strike Actual, understood,” General Telles answered. “Strike Actual to all Cobras. Raise shields, raise shields!” He reached over to the center console, tapped the screen control button at the top, and then activated all his gunship’s shield segments, except the ventral shields.
“There’s three more weapons towers on your side,” Josh explained over comm-sets as Yanni climbed into the gun turret and sat in the gunner’s chair. “You have to take them out before they take us out!”
“No pressure, no pressure, no pressure,” Yanni kept repeating to himself as he tried to figure out how to power up the plasma cannon that he was practically straddling. He tried not to look outside, but he was surrounded by a clear bubble and the ground was passing under him at an ever increasing rate, which wasn’t helping. “Ah,” he exclaimed, finding the power switch. The weapon began to hum and the entire apparatus pitched up and swung outward when he grabbed the control yoke with both hands to hold on. He quickly fastened his restraints, then grabbed hold of the yoke again.
“Start shooting, Yanni!” Josh insisted. “The first tower is coming up!”
“I’m working on it!” Yanni pulled the yoke back, twisting it to the left. The weapon pitched up and left, but too far left. He brought it back down and right.
“Would you fire already!” Josh pleaded as they picked up speed.
Yanni glanced up and saw the first weapons tower, the turret at the top swinging around to take aim at them. He pressed the firing trigger and held it. His cannon began spitting out red-orange bolts of plasma that slammed into the ground just ahead of them. He struggled to get the weapon to come up and slightly left again, intending to shoot the weapons turret. Instead, his plasma bolts struck the base of the tower, causing it to fall toward the tracks…and them.
“Oh shit!” Josh exclaimed.
Yanni didn’t let go of the trigger as he continued to try controlling his plasma cannon. The tower was falling right toward them and he was certain it was going to hit their gunship, at the very least derailing them, possibly even destroying them.
As the tower fell, it passed right through Yanni’s plasma bolt barrage, blowing it apart just before it hit their ship. Burning debris bounced harmlessly off their hull.
“Hell yes!” Josh exclaimed. “Do the same thing to the two at the…”
&
nbsp; Yanni flinched at the deafening sound of an explosion to his left as the inside of his turret lit up. He looked to his left as the nose section of a Raker bounced off the ground, its fuselage a burning broken hulk behind it, headed straight for him.
As Yanni instinctively raised his hands in front of his face to shield himself, he caught a glimpse of the pilot, a look of horror on the officer’s face as he met his fate.
“Yanni!” Deliza screamed in horror from the cockpit of Cobra Four.
“Cobra Four…rolling,” Loki announced, calmly. Josh and Yanni’s ship was already half a kilometer away, too far for them to see exactly what happened, but it didn’t look good. “Josh?”
“Oh my God,” Deliza exclaimed in shock as she saw debris spreading across the top of Josh and Yanni’s gunship down the hill ahead of them.
“Josh!” Loki called again. “Strike, Cobra Three is hit, but they still appear to be rolling.”
“Cobra Three, Cobra Two,” Nathan called. “How do you copy?”
Loki tried to stay calm. He didn’t know if Josh and Yanni were alive or dead, nor did he know if their ship would be able to jump or even clear the end of the launch ramp and make it to the recovery lake beyond. The only thing he did know was that he needed to be ready for anything.
“Combat One, Strike Actual. Do you have a clear visual on Cobra Three? They’re approaching the bottom of the hill on the launch roll,” General Telles said.
Lieutenant Latfee tapped the controls on the side of his helmet, causing his visor to magnify. He looked to his right, spotting the rolling gunship. “Affirmative. Cobra Three is still at speed. She’ll clear the ramp.”
“Damage report,” the general requested.
“Cobra Three’s starboard turret is obliterated, and it looks like she’s got hull damage just aft of her turret. She’s leaking propellant, and it’s burning. Her slip stream is the only thing keeping the fire from igniting her starboard propellant tank.”
“Sarge!” Commander Kainan called. “Two more weapons towers at the end of the run. I’ll drop down and take the one on the left, you take the one on the right!”
“Got it,” Sergeant Torwell replied.
“Cobra Three,” Nathan continued to call. “Talk to me, Josh!”
“We’ve got to raise shields!” Jessica insisted over comms. “We’re getting pounded!”
“Can we do that on the ground?” Nathan asked Vladimir, as their gunship continued to roll in line toward the launch deck.
“I don’t know,” Vladimir admitted, throwing up his hands. “They were not designed to be used in contact with the surface. The energy may damage the tracks.”
“General, Vlad says the shields may damage the tracks,” Nathan warned over comms.
“These tracks are designed to take direct plasma hits!” Gil said. “The most the shields are going to do is fuck up the grass……and maybe set the launch deck on fire!”
“No choice,” the general decided. “Strike Leader to all Ghatazhak. Get under the gunships so they can raise their shields. All gunships, cycle the appropriate shields off and back on as they pass over the launch deck.”
“Seems like we should’ve thought of that before hand,” Vladimir commented, as he reached for the shield controls.
Ghatazhak soldiers crept under the gunships, crouched low, staying close to the dollies to use them as cover as they returned fire against the advancing marines. Energy weapons fire streaked back and forth, slamming into buildings, the ground, and the gunships themselves.
Two Ghatazhak soldiers fell to enemy fire and were helped to the access ladders and up into the gunships.
Suddenly, the enemy weapons fire began bouncing off invisible shields, causing the barriers to shimmer in reds and oranges as the enemy weapons fire slammed into them. The grass sizzled and burnt as the shields of the moving gunships slid across them, creating an acrid smoke that wafted about within the shielded area under the gunships and beyond.
Now protected, the Ghatazhak soldiers clinging to the cover of the moving dollies were able to move out into better firing positions. They immediately found strategic points along the inner perimeter of the shields, being careful to stay in unison with the movement of the gunships, firing away at the enemy, preventing them from advancing any further than they already had.
Aiden braced himself as their gunship started up the launch ramp at the end of the run, their ship vibrating and swaying as it sped up toward their final destination. He was finally going to get there…outer space.
The last two towers at the end of the run disappeared in fiery explosions, his gunners yelling triumphantly.
Aiden glanced at Kenji, “Here we go!”
The gunship rolled off the end of the launch ramp, the vibrations stopping suddenly as they became airborne. The mooring clamps on the dolly beneath them automatically released their hold on the underside of their hull, and their separation thrusters fired their brief charges in unison, causing the dolly to fall quickly away from Cobra Three Eight Three.
Aiden felt his pulse quicken. He held his breath as his ship’s momentum carried it skyward. Then, their windows turned opaque, and their auto-launch sequencer triggered their jump.
A moment later, their windows cleared, revealing the black, starry background of outer space.
“Oh my God!” Aiden exclaimed.
Alarms started sounding, ones he hadn’t expected.
“Multiple contacts!” Sergeant Dagata called from the sensor station behind them.
“Where?” Aiden asked.
“Everywhere!” the sergeant replied.
“Three Eight Three, Three Eight Two!” Sari called over comms. “Break left and go to full power! You have three Super Eagles diving on you from your three o’clock high!”
“I’ve got them in sight!” Ledge announced.
“Four more to port!” Sergeant Dagata reported. “Below us, ten kilometers and closing fast.”
“Powering up,” Aiden said as he pushed the throttles to full power.
“Extend us!” Ali pleaded.
“Extending the turrets!” Kenji announced. He glanced at the threat display. “Char’s got six chasing her, Aiden. She’s maneuvering wildly.”
“She doesn’t have any gunners,” Aiden realized. He yanked his flight control stick hard to the right. “We’re coming to help you, Char!”
“Enter the override codes for the jump drive!” Corporal Chesen insisted as he unbuckled Chief Benetti’s restraints and pulled her unconscious body out of her seat, with one hand, dropping her unceremoniously on the deck. He took her seat and started punching commands into her workstation, scrolling through various screens as he searched for something.
Josh shook his head, dazed by the blow that nearly derailed his gunship. Regaining his wits, he quickly scanned his primary systems. Jump drive, auto-launch sequencer, propulsion…everything was still in order, except… A hull breach!
“Cobra Three,” Nathan called. “Talk to me, Josh!”
Josh tapped his comm-set as he unfastened his restraints and quickly climbed out of his seat, running aft. “I’m here!” he replied as he jumped through the open hatchway into the airlock compartment and turned right. The view took him aback for a moment.
“Can you still jump?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah!” he replied over the roar of the air rushing in through the torn open starboard side. “Auto-sequencer is running! All primary flight systems are…”
At the end of the access tunnel to the starboard gun turret, the entire side had been torn away by the impact. The turret was gone, and the hull and supports were torn and twisted. The air rushed in through the breach, howling in through the access tunnel. “Yanni,” Josh said solemnly, realizing that he was gone. He was about to close the inner hatch, when he saw a
hand reaching up onto the floor of the access tunnel…from outside the ship.
Josh’s eyes widened. He glanced forward, seeing that they were starting up the launch ramp. He only had seconds. Josh jumped into the tunnel and crawled quickly to the end. “I gotcha!” he yelled over the roar of rushing air as he grabbed Yanni’s hand. He twisted himself around and placed both his feet against the bent, twisted metal and pulled as hard as he could, dragging Yanni’s bloodied body up into the access tunnel. “Come on!” he yelled as he felt the ship’s pitch change, realizing they were heading up the launch ramp. “We gotta move!”
Josh grabbed Yanni by the back of his jacket collar half-dragging him as both men clumsily crawled back toward the airlock compartment at the inboard end of the access tunnel. Josh fell through the hatch, into the airlock compartment, just as the motion of the ship stopped.
We’re airborne.
There was a metallic clunk, followed by several simultaneous explosions outside. Josh spun around and grabbed Yanni, just as the access tunnel filled with brilliant blue-white light.
The blue-white light disappeared a split-second later and the compartment began to explosively decompress, the outboard end of the access tunnel open to space. Josh pulled on Yanni with all his might, determined not to allow either of them to get sucked out into the void, but the suction was too great and the best he could do was maintain their position and not slide out any further.
Josh breathed out slowly, trying to get as much pressure out of his lungs as possible as the pressure inside the compartment approached zero. Yanni was limp, most likely unconscious either from his injuries, lack of oxygen, or both. But Josh refused to let go, not even to save himself.