Strike Battleship Engineers (The Ithis Campaign Book 2)

by Shane Lochlann Black

  “Atwell,” Annora said. “If this technology or phenomenon or whatever it is responds to scanner energy, what would happen if some ship pointed their SRS bank at whatever Atwell found on Raleo Two?”

  “Maybe that’s enough to make them visible to here, wherever here is,” Moo replied.

  “Transmitting a beam of energy like that? Across the orbits of two planets? Instantly? It’s impossible!” Hunter exclaimed. “There’s no science that can do that!”

  “Nevertheless–” Annora interrupted.

  “Ships appearing and disappearing. Entire crews appearing and disappearing. What’s the connection? What are we missing!?” Zony asked.

  Yili snapped her handheld shut. “When the Copernicus lost altitude, we were hit by an energy wave that originated at the Lethe Deeps base. If it was the same kind of wave that we’re seeing here, it could have affected Argent too.” Yili replied.

  “Your boat’s crew disappeared?” Moo asked. “And Argent’s? At the same time?”

  “Affirmative. I found my crew on the surface. Starhaven took custody of their guards...” Yili’s voice trailed off. “Probably from the same group that Zony waylaid before they set up their transmitters.”

  “We had them taken back to Starhaven!” Zony exclaimed. “What if they took this technology with them? What if they used my scan of the spaceport to–?”

  “Whatever they’re doing, Bayone Three is their base,” Hunter concluded. “Atwell said they were still studying the Raleo obelisk. What if that’s what they set up on Bayone Three? We just saw what happens when you get too close!”

  “Bayone Three is the closest habitable planet to the Raleo primary,” Annora said.

  “Then what about the Saratoga, and the freighter column?” Moo asked.

  “I don’t know how they are connected, colonel, but if there are people on Bayone Three who have control of this thing, whatever it is, then that’s where we start,” Hunter said. “All of you, get back to the Bayone system as quickly as you can. Our target is the planetary defense base at Lethe Deeps.”

  “What’s the op, Cap?”

  “Find my crew.”

  Forty-Two

  Zony turned and crouched down so she could speak at a nine-year-old’s eye level. She tugged on the girl’s flight jacket and fastened another button. “Aibreann, this is very important. What did you see just now? Where did I go?”

  “There was a bright light. I could see you. I said your name but you couldn’t hear me. It looked like it was night time all around.”

  “That’s very good. You did a really good job. I have to go back to the ship, but first we have to take you home.”

  “Can I go too?”

  “It’s too dangerous, honey. We might run into more bad guys and I don’t have any spare gunships for you this time.” The hurt look on Aibreann’s face was almost too much for Zony to take.

  “Awwwww..” The young girl frowned, then turned and walked away, folding her arms. Zony smiled. Aibreann looked adorable. Her bundled up little flight jacket with the enormous Red Buccaneers Squadron pirate face emblazoned on the back almost enveloped her completely.

  “But I do have a message for you from the captain.”

  Aibreann turned, her face alight with sudden curiosity. “The captain?”

  Zony nodded. “Mm hmm. Remember where we landed? That’s his ship. His name is Mister Hunter and he’s in charge of everyone on board.”

  “Even you?”

  Zony nodded. “Even me. He’s our captain and since we’re on his ship we have to do everything he says. All of us in the pilot’s club do.”

  Aibreann’s pouting was forgotten at once. “What did he say? Did he really have a message for me?”

  “The captain is so proud of you. He wanted me to tell you he has a special commendation for you when he gets back, and he even gave you a callsign.”

  Aibreann’s face lit up like it was dawn on Christmas day. “Really!? What’s a call sign?”

  “It’s a special name that only you get to use on our big ship’s radio. Any time someone uses that name, it means they are talking only to you. Your new call sign is ‘Parakeet.’"

  One would have thought Aibreann had been presented with an all day pass to the biggest amusement park in the galaxy.

  “Now, the captain says we all have to get ready to go fight the bad guys, and his orders for Parakeet are to report to her parents and guard her home base until further instructions. Understand?”

  “Affirmative!” Aibreann shouted. Then she saluted. Zony returned her salute, overlooking the fact Parakeet used her left hand. The two members of the Argent Pilot’s Club hurried towards Starhaven’s residential district.

  Forty-Three

  “Whatever that was, it blasted the innards out of the Nightwing. She’s a total loss. We have evacuated the crew. I instructed Brogan to wire her up with detonators. We’re on our way to rescue the boarding party aboard Saratoga. As soon as we break range we will destroy the Nightwing to prevent her recovery.”

  “Negative. Under no circumstances is Minstrel to approach this ship. We’ve already encountered hostiles aboard and our last full set of readings indicated the Saratoga’s power systems are unstable and getting worse,” Captain Islington replied.

  “With all due respect, ma’am–”

  “You have your orders, Lieutenant.”

  “–our top priority is to protect you and the boarding parties!”

  “XO, your top priority is to protect my ship. Clear?”

  The communications net crackled over the silence.

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  “Very well. We will use the shuttles and evacuate the Saratoga in five minutes. Stand by to receive the Nightwing’s Angels and prepare sickbay. We have casualties.”

  Islington keyed her commlink to wideband reception and returned to the Saratoga’s boat bay. Commander Doverly was putting the finishing touches on a treatment for one of her crew member’s wounds.

  “I am correct in recalling the Angels can navigate in open space? I’ve stationed the Minstrel at one thousand miles off our port quarter to receive wounded.”

  Doverly nodded. “They are slow, but fairly reliable as long as we don’t ask them to brave hazards or gravity wells. It will take about 80 minutes to cover that distance.” The doctor patted the shoulder of one of the able crewmen. “She’s ready to transport. See if Joss needs any assistance powering up the shuttle.”

  The two men carried the wounded officer towards the remaining Angel. Doverly keyed her commlink. “Attention boarding party, this is Commander Doverly. All hands abandon ship. The last bus leaves in four minutes. Acknowledge by data key only. Doverly out.”

  “I got the rest of your crew,” Islington said quietly. “Sorry about the Nightwing.”

  “Couldn’t be helped, captain. But I have to say we were all glad to see the Minstrel. Another half hour and we might have lost it all.”

  “What about Saratoga?”

  “Going to have to leave this one to a proper salvage team. I had no idea she was this bad off. She’s down across the board port side. The best we can muster is 40% power from one reactor and no drive field. Too dangerous to try and maneuver, and we have no chance of navigating the jump gate.”

  “That bad?”

  Commander Doverly looked around. “Something happened here, captain. Something I can’t explain, even after what we just experienced inside that energy wave. My best guess is the physical structure of this ship is breaking down somehow. I think by the time we get back here, Saratoga will have disappeared. Maybe right through the same doorway as the Dunkerque and that frigate we saw outside the Raleo system.”

  “We should try and get the answers.”

  “We don’t have time. Captain Hunter is moving on the Lethe Deeps planetary defense base on Bayone Three, and he’s going to need all hands.”

  Forty-Four

  Chief Engineer Yili Curtiss stared intently through the mounted rangefinders at the
edge of her rapidly growing landing zone just south of the Lethe Deeps perimeter.

  “Copernicus, tie me in to Argent’s data net and make it quick. I need a ground unit identification.”

  There was a short delay as Ensign Boswold made the necessary connections. It wasn’t his primary station, so there were a couple of misfires as Argent rejected the Copernicus designator for improper configuration.

  “Third setup, Lieutenant. Try it now.”

  “Yili queried the command net library computer interface and finally got a response. She downloaded the series of images she had captured through her rangefinders and fed them to Argent for analysis. What came back didn’t make her feel any better about the situation.”

  “Ensign, listen carefully. That base is active, and they’ve got heavy mechs on the move forty clicks north of our position. They are lining up a column to cross the stone bridge at Gunfighter’s Quarry.”

  “Why aren’t they simply launching an airlift?” Boswold asked.

  “If it were my command, I’d stay on the ground too. Their commander is betting we have better atmospheric air defenses than space based offensive weaponry and at the moment he’s right. Argent can’t risk bombarding that facility until we know what happened to our crew.”

  “You think they’re inside that base?”

  “It’s a distinct possibility, and until we know for sure, our big guns are out of the fight. We need to force their mech column into the air so we can engage.”

  “And how do you propose we do that, ma’am?”

  “We’re combat engineers. That means there’s only one way we can stop them. We’re going to blow the bridge.”

  “That’s a big risk, ma’am. There’s only six of us.”

  “But we’ve got the best demolitions guy in Skywatch, ensign. Saddle up. We move out at sundown.”

  Yili switched her commlink over. “Spades to Diamonds. How’s the weather in town?”

  Zony was running full tilt across the expansive tarmac at the Starhaven spaceport. After being congratulated by at least two dozen members of Aibreann’s family and being offered the key to the village by the mayor, the Argent Signals Officer excused herself as politely as she could and double-timed it back. She keyed her headset.

  “I’ll be back in the air in three minutes, Copernicus. Transmit your LZ coordinates on scrambled frequency to my designator and I’ll set up a patrol perimeter at twenty miles.”

  “Affirmative, Jackrabbit 994. Confirm reception of demolition target coordinates. Combat engineering one one seven moves in four hours. Target Gunfighter’s Quarry. Copernicus out.”

  Forty-Five

  Commander Hunter closed and locked the door to her quarters. With all the new construction and upgrades going on, most of her officers and crew were planetside. There was little chance she would be interrupted. But there was one thing she needed to take care of before she answered the priority channel hail DSS Fury had received moments before.

  “Proceed, petty officer.”

  Two signals specialists from Fury’s crew swept the captain’s quarters once more. This had become standard procedure since it had become clear both Task Force Perseus and Argent had developed an enthusiastic and devious faction of detractors at Skywatch Command. The rapid dissolution of Strike Fleet Perseus and the movement of all of Argent’s support craft to a repair base as far from Gitairn space as practical told the Hunters everything they needed to know about preparing for the worst.

  “Anything?”

  “Negative, ma’am. There’s nothing in or near these quarters capable of transmitting anything off the ship. We can raise our battle screens if you prefer. That would be the suspenders to the belt.”

  “We don’t need to go that far,” Jayce replied, mindful of the potential for attracting unnecessary attention. “But make sure Commander Mallory keeps a watch on our outbound frequencies. Anyone who sees anything unusual reports to me immediately. Understood?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Commander Hunter saw the two specialists out and re-locked the door to her quarters once again. She sat at her desk. The priority hail was still blinking. From where she was sitting she had a spectacular view of Core Nine’s orbit. She could even see the sleek lines of DSS Constellation not far away, parked at the same spacedock facility as Fury. She activated the channel.

  “Fury, Hunter.”

  “So what color flames did you paint down the sides this time?”

  Jayce smiled. She knew her twin brother had personally vouched for Fury’s crew and put in for his sister’s ship to be awarded at least three battle stars, one of which was awarded. No brother had ever been prouder of a sister-in-arms. But he also never missed a chance to needle her about her ship.

  “We ran simulated war games yesterday. Our fusion torpedos are some serious stuff.”

  “That’s good news. Are we encrypted?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Very well. We’re headed back to Bayone Three. I didn’t get what I came for, but we might have lucked out on intel. I’ve got solid evidence Atwell’s holed up in the planetary defense base at Lethe Deeps. Argent has combat engineers already on site with an LZ south of the complex. They might have my crew, and all of my officers watched another ship vanish like smoke just outside the Raleo system. I’m transmitting you everything we’ve learned so far.”

  “Vice Admiral Rickenhauser is looking for you. So is Admiral Darrow. I have new orders if you want to hear them.”

  “I think I can guess their contents, even from this far away.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty much what we would expect. The closer we get to Atwell and his magician’s act, the more attention we attract from Admirals. These two were on the agitator’s side in the schism. My XO is pretty sure they are fully committed to a war in Gitairn space, even if they have to start it themselves.”

  “The Sarn are in on it.”

  That one made Jayce lean back in her chair to catch her breath. “Say again?”

  “Remember that hot shot Captain Islington you sent out here to keep an eye on me?”

  “Never heard of her.”

  “Well, she’s had two run-ins with Sarn warships already. My third wing sank one of them and Minstrel sank a second. Everywhere we find shenanigans out here in Sector Two we find a Sarn squadron.”

  “Why would they be working with the pro-war Skywatch faction?”

  “My guess? It’s for exactly the same supposed reward. The more I watch this thing unfold the more it looks like ‘let’s you and him fight.’ Maybe Atwell and the pro-war group think if they can get everyone else shooting at each other they’ll have more time to wall off their little science experiment on Raleo Two. They can already zap ships and crews back and forth. There’s no telling what they’ll come up with next.”

  “What’s your plan, captain?”

  “To stop Atwell, we need tonnage. The ship that winked out at the Raleo beacon was attached to Task Force Ares, which is operating in Sector Three. I think they are stationed there to be within striking distance of us.”

  “Under the command of Admiral Darrow. The guy who is looking high and low for you as we speak.”

  “Exactly. Ares is well within striking range of Argent and whatever I can muster in the next 48 hours, and they outgun us by a wide margin, especially when I don’t have a crew. The first shot fired over Lethe Deeps is going to kick off the Mount Everest of space battles. Atwell is going to bring everyone and everything from the pro-war side. I need the right ships at the right strike points to hold off the bulk of their firepower until I can take Atwell into custody, dismantle their ooga-booga tech and quarantine the Raleo system.”

  “Is that all? How about a steak dinner and a date with General Macklinson’s daughter? I hear she just signed an all-systems deal as a top makeup model.”

  “Tell her thanks for thinking of me, but I’ll have take a rain check until all of known space stops pointing guns at us.”

  “What are the chances
this thing turns into a ground war?” Jayce asked, her tone becoming more serious. “I’m thinking Perseus needs to schedule a return engagement.”

  “I’d say about 200%.”

  “I know someone in the marine armor section. She’s an operations specialist. Goes by the name of Komanov.”

  “For the time being, let’s keep this among commanders and colonels. We need people who can work the bureaucracy and move men and machines without attracting too much attention.”

  “She’s a Skywatch marine major. Her current command gives her some pretty wide latitude, and I just happen to know there are three heavy transports departing Core Nine for her base of operations tomorrow morning.”

  “That sounds tempting. See what you can chase up. If we can hold the right territory planet-side, it will make things a whole bunch less advantageous for Atwell’s space buddies. I have one other thing I need you to do for me. I’m going to need reinforcements aboard ship.”

  “Name it.”

  “I need you to discreetly get a message to Admiral Benjamin Powers. He was CINC Eastern Banner last I heard. Tell him to rally everything he can get his hands on. Aside from Hughes he is just about my last friend at HQ. He will need to send an envoy to Jupiter Five. Go to the bar and ask for Sergeant Chuck Wagon. He will have a datapak for him with the tactical situation out here.”

  “Why that particular admiral?”

  “He’s a four-star, so he’s got the juice we need. His daughter also vanished along with the crew of the Northumberland this morning.”

  Forty-Six

  “Diamonds, we’ve got a big problem.”

  Zony’s Jackrabbit modified fighter was flying fast over the lowlands west of Starhaven’s furthest range. The yellow star had already set and the big orange giant was well into its slow climb below the horizon for the night. The “suns-set,” as it had been dubbed, was as spectacular as any Zony had ever seen, but it didn’t help keep the blood in her arms from running cold at the tone in Yili’s voice.