by Ryk Brown
Finally, just as he feared he would lose hold, the pressure reached zero and the suction faded away. His breath now completely expelled from his lungs, Josh pulled Yanni the rest of the way into the airlock compartment; his friend’s body falling in a limp pile on the deck. Josh could feel the cold encircling his entire body, his fingers rapidly becoming numb. Barely able to maintain consciousness, Josh stumbled over to the hatch and swung it closed. He twisted the handle to lock it, then slapped his hand clumsily on the pressurization control pad next to the hatch, collapsing to the floor himself as precious oxygen began to return to the compartment.
“Three Eight Three, Cobra Two!” Nathan called over comms. “Did Cobra Three make it?”
“I’ve got them,” Sergeant Dagata reported. “They just jumped in, but they’re not accelerating. They haven’t lit their mains yet. They’re drifting! They’re already losing altitude! They’ll hit the atmosphere in a few minutes at the most!”
“We have Cobra Three!” Aiden replied over comms. “But they’re adrift and losing altitude fast!”
“I’ve got a pair of bandits coming over, Ali!” Ledge reported as he and Ali continued to ward off the attacking Super Eagles.
“I’m coming around to cover them,” Aiden decided. “Char, you get your jump drive overridden yet?”
“We just got it online!” she replied. “We’re good to go!”
“Then get the hell out of here!”
“To where?”
“Corporal Anson will know,” Corporal Chesen told Aiden.
“Your Ghatazhak dude should know,” Aiden told Charnelle. “For now, just jump anywhere! Anywhere but here!”
“Copy that,” Charnelle replied. “We’ll see you there!”
“I’ve almost got the safeties on your point defenses overridden,” Corporal Chesen announced.
“My what?”
“The safeties that prevent your automated weapons from targeting friendly ships,” the corporal explained.
“You can do that?” Sergeant Dagata asked.
“Of course,” the corporal replied. “I am Ghatazhak.”
Cobra Four’s windows cleared as they completed their launch jump from the surface of Kohara, into low orbit. Alarms immediately sounded and Loki yanked the flight control stick, putting the gunship into a roll to avoid a collision with Cobra Three, which was tumbling end over end in front of him.
“Oh my God!” Deliza exclaimed, watching the out of control gunship that her husband was on.
“Josh!” Loki yelled. “You still with us?” Loki waited for a response as he fired up his engines to accelerate in order to hold orbit.
“Cobra Four, Cobra Three Eight Three!” Aiden called over comms. “We’re coming in over the top of you to fly cover. There are at least six Super Eagles inbound, and we have full weapons capability, including point defenses. Get your jump drive working and get the hell out of here! We’ll cover Cobra Three!”
“Copy that, Three Eight Three.” Loki looked at Deliza. “Do as he says.”
Deliza wiped the tears from her eyes as she started typing in the long code string to override the jump drive lockout that prevented their escape.
“Cobra Three is firing thrusters!” Aiden announced over comms. “They’re coming out of their roll.”
“Please tell me it isn’t designed to do that automatically!” Loki replied.
“I fucking hate auto-flight, and you know it,” Josh declared over comms.
“Josh! You’re alive!” Loki yelled.
“No shit.”
“Is Yanni alive?” Deliza asked, almost afraid of what the answer might be.
“He’s still breathin’, princess,” Josh replied. “He’s gonna need a whopping dose of nanites as soon as we get to the Tavi, though. So am I, for that matter.”
“Get your engines burning, Josh,” Loki advised. “You’re only ninety seconds from atmospheric interface.”
“I’m on it,” Josh replied.
“I’ve got them, Four,” Aiden insisted. “Get the hell out of here!”
“Copy that,” Loki replied. “See you at the Tavi, Josh.”
“Four is down! Raker Four is down hard, no chute!”
“Damn it!” Commander Jarso cursed to himself. He had just lost his third pilot, and in only five minutes time. Now there were only three of them left, and there were still six more gunships to launch.
“All Rakers, jump to rally point echo two and form up on me. We’re going to attack as a three-ship element from now on.”
Gil watched Martin’s gunship roll down the tracks as his own ship moved sideways to line up with the launch rails.
“Four more bandits, inbound from the south,” Lieutenant Latfee reported from Combat One, who was jumping about and acting as an aerial surveillance platform, and air support.
“Port Gunner, swing south,” Gil ordered.
“On it,” the Ghatazhak soldier in Cobra Six’s port gun turret replied.
The tracks moved into the center of the windows, and the gunship’s sideways motion stopped. Gil scanned his displays one last time, then pressed the launch button on his console. The motors in the dolly that carried his gunship applied power one last time. The nose of his gunship came down as they rolled over the lip of the launch deck. The dolly’s motors disengaged, and they began to free-roll down the hill. “Cobra Six is rolling,” he announced over comms.
“Cobra Five! New bandits! Four just jumped in from the east! Dead ahead! One click! On the horizon!” Lieutenant Latfee warned from Combat One.
“I see them,” Sergeant Notoni said, pointing out the forward windows.
Commander Ellison glanced up, barely able to make out the approaching fighters against the lightening pre-dawn sky. “We’re coming to transition.”
“Torken, Deplaz! You got’em?” the sergeant asked.
Sergeant Torken swung his plasma cannon turret around to face forward, adjusting the weapons pitch to lock onto the approaching fighters as they opened fire. He pressed his trigger and held it down, sending a barrage of red-orange plasma bolts skyward toward the targets. The enemy fire walked along the ground of the level transition area right up to the gunship, pounding her shields and causing them to flash red-orange as they absorbed the incoming energy. Sparks began to fly from shield emitters along the hull in front of the sergeant’s gun turret, and the shield in front of him disappeared.
All the sergeant saw was red and orange, and finally black.
“Port shields are gone!” Sergeant Notoni reported. Red-orange plasma continued to vault skyward from their starboard side as the Super Eagles ahead of them continued with their diving barrage. The ship shook as their shields took a pounding under the bombardment from all four attacking fighters. “We’re losing dorsal shields, as well!”
“We’re losing speed!” Commander Ellison warned. “I’m going to try to override and fire maneuvering thrusters to give us a…”
A deafening blast drowned everything out, and a blast of air slammed into his face. Pain everywhere… Face, eyes, arms, chest… So much pain he couldn’t focus… His vision was blurry, and the noise and the wind were overpowering.
“Marty!” a voice called.
Martin struggled to open his eyes, but the wind and the blood made it difficult. From what little he could see, the entire cockpit was open to the outside, all the way back to the airlock compartment. Twisted metal surrounded him. Warning lights were flashing on what was left of his consoles. He looked at Sergeant Notoni. His head and the right half of his torso were gone, the remainders of his armored body, limp and lifeless.
“Marty! Are you there?”
Martin looked forward again, his eyes squinting against the wind in his face. They were starting up the ramp, but they were slowing down…rapidly.
“Marty! Are you there?” Gil called over comms as his gunship continued picking up speed down the launch rails.
“They’re not going to make it,” Sergeant Ayers warned from the copilot’s seat. “They’re losing speed too quickly.”
The same barrage of red-orange plasma that had devoured Cobra Five was walking its way up the hill toward Gil’s gunship. His gunners were tracking the attacking Super Eagles, firing away with everything they had.
An explosion appeared at the opposite end of the barrage. “I got one!” Sergeant Morano exclaimed.
“Marty! Can you jump?” Gil called in desperation.
“Strike Leader, Cobra Seven is holding!”
“Negative!” General Telles insisted. “Start your roll!”
“Gil,” a weak voice called over his comm-set.
“Cobra Seven is rolling.”
“Marty!” Gil yelled. “Can you jump?”
“Oh my God,” Sergeant Ayers exclaimed. “They’re coming to a stop, and they’re not even at the top.”
“Marty! You have to jump, now!”
The overhead shields continued to flash red-orange as enemy plasma bolts pounded them relentlessly. Three blue-white flashes appeared to their right, without warning.
“Rakers! Fire at will!”
Plasma bolts fired by the Rakers diving in from the south slammed into the fighters directly ahead of Cobra Five, tearing them apart, sending burning hunks of debris spreading down and forward along the targets’ path of flight.
“Cobra Five, Strike Actual,” General Telles called, his voice calm as usual. “Charge torpedo cannons and prepare to take the shot.”
“Marty!” Gil cried out, his voice becoming more desperate.
“Gil!” Nathan urged. “You have to take the shot!”
“NO!”
“Don’t let me be the one who causes everyone’s death, Gil,” Martin’s weak voice begged. “Take the shot.”
Gil was silent. Chunks of destroyed Super Eagles rained down upon them, bouncing off their shields.
“Charging plasma torpedo cannons,” Sergeant Ayers said, his tone solemn.
Gil looked out the forward windows as their gunship entered the transition stretch and leveled off. At the other end of the level run, the burning hulk of Cobra Five was rolling toward them.
“Plasma torpedo cannons are charged and ready,” the sergeant reported. He looked at Gil. “I can take the shot, sir. You don’t have to.”
Gil closed his eyes and swallowed. “No. I’ll do it,” he said, his voice trembling as he reached for the flight controls. He opened his eyes again, looking straight ahead at the burning wreckage rolling toward them. “Goodbye Marty,” he whispered, pushing the fire button.
As their gunship rolled in line toward the launch deck, their shields flashing with each incoming blast from the Alliance marines, Robert and Jessica witnessed the destruction of Cobra Five, more than a kilometer away. Neither of them said a word, both of them feeling the pain that Gil Roselle had to be experiencing at that moment.
Gil and Sergeant Ayers kept their eyes straight ahead, holding on tight as they slammed through the fireball and wreckage they had just created. The ship shook violently, pieces of the destroyed gunship that had carried his friend bouncing off their shields. Burning propellant and plasma energy spilled across their shields, illuminating them in brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows. Their ship bucked, pitching to starboard as if they were about to come off the rails, but then settled back down with a thud a second later.
They broke through into the clear and started up the ramp. Sergeant Ayers looked down at his displays. “We lost some speed,” he warned. “We’ll make it to the top, but if we jump short of orbit…”
“We’ll make it,” Gil stated calmly. He reached down and tapped several items on his display, then fired his forward translation thrusters, accelerating them up the ramp.
A few seconds later, the shaking stopped as their gunship ran off the end of the ramp, becoming airborne. A metallic clunk from underneath and the concussion of the separation thrusters announced their dolly dropping away, headed toward the recovery lake below.
Gil glanced down at the auto-launch sequencer as it read zero, and their windows turned opaque.
“Cobra Six is in orbit!” Sergeant Ayer’s voice reported over comms.
“Yes!” Vladimir exclaimed from the copilot’s seat of Cobra Two.
“Mains are burning!” the sergeant added.
“Cobra Eight is rolling,” Commander Kellen reported.
“I’m hit!” one of the Raker pilot’s cried out.
“Two is hit!” another voice reported. “Raker Two is hit!”
“Two! Punch out!” Commander Jarso ordered.
“I…”
“Two is down hard!”
Nathan looked up, his attention drawn by a massive explosion as Raker Two plowed into a parked propellant truck. “How much propellant do we have?” he asked, an idea coming to him.
“We’re fully loaded,” Vladimir assured him.
“Cobra One, Cobra Two,” Nathan called over comms. “How much propellant are you carrying?”
“We’re topped off, why?” Jessica asked.
“Cobra Nine, Propellant status?” Nathan continued.
“All tanks are full,” Lieutenant Commander Lazo replied.
“Cobra Ten?”
“Also topped off,” General Telles, the last crewed gunship in the line, answered.
“Vlad, if one gunship stops moving, what happens to the one up track?” Nathan asked.
“It stops, as well,” Vladimir replied.
“General, have your starboard gunner shoot the dolly on gunship thirteen, the one next to you. We need it, and the gunship beyond it to stop moving,” Nathan explained as a blue-white jump flash appeared in the distance just beyond the ramp nearly two kilometers away.
“Those gunships are acting as barriers between us and those marines,” the general argued.
“It’s not the marines that are killing us, General. Our shields can handle anything they can throw at us. It’s those Super Eagles! We’re down to two Rakers! If any more Alliance fighters show up, the rest of us won’t make it out of here!”
“Cobra Seven is in orbit!” Lieutenant Jessup reported over comms.
“I’m receiving the weapons safeties override code from Corporal Chesen,” Sergeant Ayers told Gil. “I can have our point defenses up in less than a minute.”
“Good,” Gil replied, turning his ship around to help defend the others.
“Cobra Seven, Three Eight Three,” Kenji called over comms. “You’ve got three Super Eagles on your six!”
“Cobra Seven, I can’t maneuver yet! I don’t have enough speed!”
“Use your thrusters and spin around to bring your plasma cannons on them!” Gil instructed. “You damned Ghatazhak may be able to fight, but you sure can’t fly!” he grumbled to Sergeant Ayers.
“Cobra Seven is taking fire!” Lieutenant Jessup reported. “We’re taking…”
“Cobra Seven’s aft shields are down!” Kenji reported.
“Three Eight Three is turning toward you, Seven, we’ll be in firing range in one minute!” Aiden assured them.
“They don’t have one minute!” Gil yelled to no one in particular.
“Seven is breaking up,” Sergeant Ayers reported solemnly.
“God damn it!” Gil burst out. “Three Eight Three! Fly that thing like a jump fighter, not a gunship!”
The Ghatazhak corporal in Cobra Ten’s starboard gun turret swung his plasma cannon around to starboard, lowering it until he was lined up directly with the base of the motorized dolly that was carrying the next gunship in line. He pressed the trigger,
firing several shots into the dolly. The entire gunship shook, coming to an abrupt stop as its dolly shutdown.
“Gunship thirteen is stopped,” the Ghatazhak sergeant reported
“The last two gunships are no longer moving,” General Telles reported, looking out his starboard window and seeing the distance between his gunship and gunship thirteen increasing.
“Strike Actual, Cobra Six,” Gil called over comms. “Six gunships just arrived. They’re going to try to ambush you once you reach orbit. Three Eight Three and myself will try to keep them busy while you enter the jump drive override codes and make your escape.”
“Cobra Nine is rolling,” Lieutenant Commander Lazo announced.
“That means more fighters will be headed our way,” the general realized. “Strike Actual to all gunners, more fighters will be arriving any moment. Stand ready to defend.”
“More?” Jessica quipped from her position in the copilot’s seat of Cobra One. “When did they stop coming?”
Robert just shook his head. Things weren’t going as well as they’d hoped.
“Why can’t we enter the override codes now?” Jessica asked.
“We can’t take the chance,” Robert explained. “It might screw up the auto-launch program.”
“Can’t we launch manually?”
“Gil and I could,” Robert said, “but the others don’t have the training. Not in gunships, anyway. It’s too risky.”