With his final command, the bow lit up again, and only a half second elapsed. Stunning!
“What did it do differently?” Angela asked.
Feathers replied, “If it does not have to seek and destroy, individually, it blankets. That was one shot, one hundred thousand miles across at two million miles. Seek and destroy delays the shots, briefly, but for saving friends and such, it can be handy. Learn to shorten your orders but be precise.”
The rest of that evening was a joy to run. Hard turns, turnarounds on the fly, reverse and go, the big ship was indeed literally dancing half the time. The straps held her in place, lest she and the others collide in the middle of the bridge. Even the Commander was carefully strapped down.
They experimented with the lasers, loosed a few photons, tried reading Jack’s wing out to almost a million miles, though they did not want to hard x-band him. Everything was far better, far stronger, and Resolute was a hell of a lot more dangerous. She had moved from a simple, lumbering battlewagon to the Navy’s strongest multi-platform, yet nimble destroyers, a giant step in mobility, even surpassing Hope, though that ship was being refitted, also. Progress never stops.
By what might pass for midnight on Renewal, they were back in orbit, holding stationary above Capitol City.
And, oddly, there were no lights at all on the planet surface beneath them.
None at all…
CHAPTER 15
“OHMIGOD!” came a sudden cry from Radar, uncharacteristically. “They’re… GONE! Everyone is gone, Captain!”
This, of course, created a mad scramble to battle stations. Anything capable of taking out a planet, even clearing one off, was a hell of a threat.
Hope was only minutes behind them, and Feathers transferred quickly. Angela called up a surface scan, dismayed to find no life forms under their ship. It was as if some giant hand had crushed Capitol City into dust.
“Oh, my God, Jack! What are you going to do?” She knew his family was in Capitol City. He was sure to be distraught.
He came back controlled, calm, saying, “Patience, love. I am on secure channels, checking.”
Love… sentiment, even during this traumatic event… No, do not go there. Not now.
Angela almost held her breath, but not entirely. She ordered weapons on full standby, ready for almost instant work, and the system scanners searching in all directions. The sons of bitches could not have gone that far! Unless this happened early in the afternoon. At the speed the Zephroan could move, they might already have headed home.
Jack’s voice came in, then, a little less calm. “No life as far as we can see, perhaps some distant native species. Capitol City, the buildings, everything is gone. There is no response from any of the major cities, Angela! I think the Zephroan turned it all to dust! Let’s get these bastards!”
“Jack, we need to be sure…”
Just then, four fighters back, in Jack’s wing, a ship went to dust in a bright flash of a blue laser bolt. Her scanners, his scanners, no one saw a thing!
“ROLL OUT!” screamed Jack to his wing. Then, even as he was doing so, himself, he called, “Angela, go hot straight and circle. Feathers, go!”
Automatically, in the middle of a battle, the Captains followed the command of someone who sounded like they knew what they were doing. The big ships did their best to get the hell out of the fighters’ playground, fortunately, both going in opposite directions.
The fighters rolled out in their flower formation, all up and peeling out like an open blossom, all stealth, all weapons hot and went hunting. They were relying on the system to keep them from running into their fellow wing, or accidentally shooting each other. Decisions made in microseconds, not like humans at all.
Resolute, all scanners up, all stealth, shields, went straight out, accelerating all the way, and then up in a long, looping overhead.
Hope picked up distant bogeys escaping toward the edge of the system. She went around the planet, gaining altitude and speed, in hot pursuit. She was on high stealth, shields up, impossible to see. She took six of Jack’s backup wing with her. Thankfully, almost all were up while the exercises were being run, earlier, else they would all be lost.
Resolute came out of her overhead loop two million miles up from Renewal, which was now merely a blue ball in the distance. And immediately, Radar, still Nance, spoke up, hurriedly, “Bogeys, Captain, nine, up off our plane by forty-five degrees, one point six million miles, ma’am.”
Rogers, defending his turf, started to repeat it, and Angela cut him off. “You will have your turn, Commander, wait for it. Stay alert. How far apart are they, Radar?”
Ranges vary, Captain, each about a quarter of a million miles above and below each other. All are facing, I think, directly toward Renewal. There is no forward motion, though all are in an orbit velocity to the planet. They will be overhead in one hour… ma’am.”
The orbit was pushing them to Resolute, who was no longer interacting with an orbit. Resolute did not need it; she was at a third the speed of light. Angela dare not wait. None of the Zephroan had forward velocity.
She sent out a call to Jack, who responded quickly on an encrypted channel, “We got six more about six million farther around the planet. I think Hope is engaging more, but she is out of position for us. Take them, Angela!”
Well, the lasers had taken all the balloons at two million, easily. A ship at one and a half million should be easy, too. “System see all bogeys in front of us, forty-five degrees up plane. Remove them, now!”
Radar just barely managed to yell, “CAPTAIN!” as the nose lit up in wide flash, followed by unnecessary photons, one to a ship. The front was empty. But the blue flash that followed cut across Resolute’s nose by a whisker, and rocked the big ship.
“Higher, behind us, one hundred sixty off the bearing, Captain. Two bogeys! Range two hundred and twenty thousand miles and closing!”
“System dive down to starboard, ninety degrees, now!”
She knew she had thirty seconds before the enemy could fire, if there was only one. Her own stealth was perfect, so they had fired at her front laser, misjudging the speed of the big ship.
The Resolute lurched and dropped away, and shortly thereafter, another huge, blue bolt lit up her leftover dust as she poured the coals to the run. It struck the dust exhaust… It was a long way back there, so the stealth was holding!
Radar managed to hang on, and finished her thought, “Two still above us, Captain, barely two miles apart, on our previous bearing toward the ones we took out. We took a damned close blast from their belly guns. I… I think they lost us… uhh, Captain!” Radar was trying hard to get control of nerves and heartbeat… too.
Angela had no such problem. Energized, yes, distracted, no. “System, two bogeys… aft, remove them!”
She had just managed the aft turnabout, as the ship was turning down, and that put the enemy on Resolute’s butt, but a long way off.
The wider display of sheer killing power went out in one shot, only, and a mere half a second later, two monster explosions meant success. Thankfully, she nodded to the missing Feathers for teaching her that trick…
“System, lift plane ninety degrees, place Renewal bottom keel.” With relief, they felt the ship level out. Not that they could tell inside, but a high sense of disorientation occurred with the vid showing Renewal in the upper right corner.
Nance put her hands close over her headset, staring in panic at Angela. Hastily, she flipped the switch to room audio, “…day …Mayday… to Accoster, mayday Hope. All lost, under…” followed by a terrific explosion… then nothing… It was Feathers’ voice.
“Shit!” There went a good friend in Feathers, and a damned good crew, not to mention nearly irreplaceable equipment. “Radar, anything more?”
“System screens are clear of enemy to six million miles, Captain! Hope and her flight are… missing, too, ma’am. Accoster’s wing is four and a half million out below our plane by twenty one degrees, off our be
aring, port side, twenty eight, and receding. I think they are in pursuit, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Radar. Commander, run all damage, injury and system reports, now!”
“Yes, Captain,” and he so ordered the system.
-----
The bridge was still with audio on. As if far away, Angela heard Jack’s cry for help.
“Chips… mayday…Shot to shit, Angela… All ships to dust. I have air, but no propulsion, minimal system. Find the beacon, frequency 22.5 gigs…” and he faded out.
She reacted quickly, “System find beacon, 22.5 gigahertz, now!” Her heart was back in her throat. For the first time in her life, she was feeling real fear for another person.
“Beacon found, Commander. Bearing three hundred thirty-two degrees off the bow, down plane twenty one degrees, seven hundred thousand miles, receding, Commander.”
“System, pursue that beacon!” At least the system was consistent. “Full ahead!”
“Yes, Commander, full ahead.” The announcement to the occupants to prepare followed, but they were all in battle stations. If not, well, Darwinian Principle. Too stupid to live.
The Resolute suddenly squirted in hard acceleration, passing two light speed, then three, overtaking Jack and his flight, quickly.
She was very breathless when the big ship flattened out at four point one light speed. They were going to overrun Jack. She called out, “System, match Accoster’s speed, now.”
Well, logically, that meant NOW. So, the system did so. The deceleration was terrible.
Radar, barely clinging to consciousness herself, an iron grip on her desktop, reported the speed, “One light speed and holding, Ma’am!”
“System, range to beacon.”
“Six minutes, Commander.”
“System, decelerate to match beacon! Jack, can you hear me?” she called urgently. No answer.
CHAPTER 16
Jack, leading the seven remaining members of his flight, which was spread out over nearly a hundred thousand miles, had come in under and to the left side of six more fleeing Zephroan craft. They were barely visible against the haze of the Milky Way, and they were dead meat. One of them had killed one of his wing, and six souls upon it. His friends, as well as his command.
His ship carried a full complement, an Admiralty flagship, with twenty-one. The little fighters were more efficient, faster, and less staffed.
They started firing while still one and a quarter million miles away, hoping to cut off the Zephroan retreat before they could get up to speed.
Laser and photon bolts went out in a steady blanket up into the fleeing Zephroan and every single ship went to dust in less than half a second. Just as Jack was feeling cocky and triumphant, two of his wingmen were gone, blown to smoke and atoms in a pair of very narrow, bright blue bolts, one down, one up, and Chips calmly reported it. It was not like the old time movies he had seen, these simply… vanished! He was down three ships, and now they were in a fight for their lives.
Rolling out in their typical flower fashion, up and over, one of the wing members simply drove right through a nearly invisible Zephroan above him, hidden against a black blanket of space, the canopy of darkness when up out of the glow of the galaxy. Another huge explosion! The Zephroan could not be seen without the backlight!
Four left, Jack thought, desperately, his hard x-band radar lighting up a couple of million miles around him. He spotted two Zephroan on a pair of his wingmen and screamed an order for them to dive, but it never made a difference. Two more down. Shit, there were just two left…
He nailed both Zephroan, coming in hot and heavy at light speed, catching them as they were gearing up for their escape. His photons made quick work of them, and he did not allow himself time to gloat for his revenge. He was still in battle!
And was immediately nailed in the forward wing block just under his port window by a narrow laser aiming for his own, still that apparent weakness. He hurled his craft starboard and down, almost vertical, toward far away Renewal, and witnessed another ship exploding, realizing that he did not even know whether it was his or theirs.
“Chips, wing status!” He almost ducked, sensing the answer, which came too quickly.
“One unit, Commander. The wing is removed.”
He slammed a hand against the false steering wheel. His first serous encounter and he lost his entire wing…
“Commander, fire report, port wing block. Engine is not responding.”
The wing block also housed the hydrogen scoop, an intake to provide extra power from stray hydrogen molecules of which the universe was full. Anything over light speed fed that scoop with plenty of extra fuel, but below light speed, they’d found that the atoms were too far apart. But with no intake, the engine could not pull from the extra, and it began to stall.
Suddenly, the top thruster blew to pieces, shaking the Accoster like a child tosses about a toy. This, in turn, blew out one side engine and quickly crippled the craft. Suddenly, everything shorted out. The instruments went black, no lights, only the dim emergency lights mounted on the back bulkhead.
Without steerage, he was a mere rock on a long, long, light speed flight. And no power, no air handler, no… nothing.
Immediately, on the emergency backup communications system, he sent out a distress signal, direct for Angela, hoping she got it. Then the lights dimmed, and then Chips said, emotionlessly, “Total failure, Commander. Thirty-one minutes to life extinction mode.”
He tried the radio, again with no luck. No power, no transmit or receive. He could hear a click above his now very silent bridge, and two others seated on his bridge looked back at him with fear in their eyes.
“That’s the emergency beacon. Our last hope, people! If they hear it, we will be fine. Don’t give up, yet!” He tried to keep his voice even, but truth be told, he could not tell.
One of the crew announced, “Radiation leak, Sir. One or more of the nuclear engines is in shorted mode, and will overload in minutes. Not in the danger zone, but increasing. Estimated time to danger is eleven minutes… Sir.”
The nuclear engines, both of them, were now right under the bridge. Any spill was certain to affect the crew. Damn, when it rains, it pours, Jack thought, ruefully, angrily punching buttons, trying will his craft to life.
Andora was in the co-pilot seat, running the system on auxiliary, a weak battery system that also suffered damage, but might be enough to power the radio. But the switch refused to respond, though the gauges showed one quarter power. She was attempting to cross wire the radio system to that power. So far, no luck, but she did not stop trying. A simple malfunction of a switch, and it might kill them all.
Chips, now running at half speed, said, with an odd pacing, “Life … extinction … horizon …in … seven … minutes … Commander.”
And then, right before their eyes, as they looked out the cockpit front view, just a little upwards, was the prettiest sight he had ever seen in a space ship. The Resolute was moving in close, though that was relative. She had to be a few hundred miles out, but still, gorgeous, and a breath of good news!
In groups all over Accoster, people disappeared from their seats, in ones, twos, even threes, leaving behind empty harnesses.
As he and Andora, on oxygen masks, were just feeling the first tingle, the system announced, “Extinction … event … horizon… Oxygen … level … three … point … four … percent …. Self … destruct … ten … seconds.” It was deep voiced, emotionless. And the two were gone before it finished.
Which was why the Resolute stayed far away. The Accoster went to dust all on its own, but every member of the crew was in Resolute’s hold, hugging one another, slapping backs, and laughing.
My Chips, Jack thought, it is good to be alive!
And there, hurrying through the hold personnel door, came the light in his life. Angela literally jumped him in her abandoned decorum, full of excited happiness and relief, her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and nearly bowled h
im over!
“Good God, but it is good to see you, Jack. I thought I was going to lose you! I just found you! I cannot lose you!”
He untangled her from his neck, a bit embarrassed by the over-exuberant greeting, but she was smiling and laughing with the rest of them.
“Radar says the space for six million miles is clear. Let’s get back to Renewal and see what happened. I fear the worst.”
“Me, too. But they did have underground bunkers. First thing they put in every building. I think we will find at least some of the people. God, I hope so. But that… that was one hell of a thrill. Close shave, but what a damned… rush!”
“Typical fighter jockey, you! So, how did they get to you?” she asked, as they hurried up to the bridge.
“Chips, sneaky bastards. They came in hidden, spread, with a half dozen holding bait position. They held that position against the dark part of the overhead, and they were quick. They chased down every one of my wing, including me. They fired on our laser points, but we took out all of the remaining bastards, too.”
“We got that, too. We have to fix that weakness, somehow. It is one they have learned to exploit. You lost three ships on the ground. Hope had six others with her on the other side, pursuing Zephroan. They are gone. Damn, Jack, I am soooo sorry. Hope, Feathers, all gone.”
“Damn it! How did they take Hope?”
“Spook reports that the Zephroan were fleeing and only Hope could try to catch them. She ran into an ambush and unwittingly sucked all six fighters into it. The Zephroan, as you said, are sneaky bastards. A lousy deal. Shit happens, Jack! You know that. This is space. It can kill you! We will honor our dead when there is time.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw too many people die in this, what ten minute battle?”
“That is the way it works. Some live, some die, and you are always glad to be doing the mourning. Everyone dies, someday. I suspect with these Zephroan, you never feel a thing.” She was keeping her voice level, grounding him, and he was coming around.
The Resolute Page 33