“You three make sure everything’s locked up,” Moretti continued to the cockpit. He typed out a message, changed the transcoder in a way that no one but those on a very specific band would recognize and that many didn’t know existed.
He slotted a data chip into the freighter’s computer adding its contents to the file and sending it. He keyed the cube to destruct. It smelt of ozone and heat fizzing slightly. Some melted substance fell out from it as he threw it under the opposite console.
“How are we looking?” Moretti asked the three that were still messing around in the cargo bay of the ship.
“Good sir, the airlock isn’t disengaging,” one of them said.
Moretti input some commands and the freighter sagged slightly.
Idiots unclamped the landing feet before the airlock.
He was half a mind to shoot the morons. Instead he checked fuel levels and pushed power to his engines.
“Hold onto your lunches, this is going to be one hell of a ride.” Moretti pushed away from the freighter and aimed his bow straight at the gas planet. He needed a cover story and simply running away when the freighters were still warming up was not an option.
“Got to risk it for the biscuit,” Moretti said, pushing the power higher as adrenaline and fear drove his mind.
Chapter 17
EMFC Reclaimer
Moving to Gas Planet, Masoul System
9/3240
“Captain it looks like the intelligence was right. The Harmony freighters are powering their engines from full stop. The transports are racing down to the planet in order to gather their forces and pull out,” Lieutenant Denaski said from her position at tactical.
Captain Leonard Conti, hid his smile at Lieutenant Denaski’s obvious excitement. An Earth’s Military Forces Carrier had not been in direct engagement in five hundred years after the rim-ward fiasco.
He knew that General Wai would want to recover those Freighters no matter what, their worth was more than Conti could count on his and his crews fingers and toes.
“Captain, what do you want us to do?” Denaski asked. Conti held up a hand asking for patience.
“We have twenty minutes until we’re in engagement distance Leanne,” he said with a weathered smile.
He stroked his beard in contemplation.
The target coordinates had done well to make sure that the EMFC’s would be behind the planet as they crept into the system.
Otherwise they would have never got so close.
“Captain Ozols, would you and your crew be able to keep this track, coming in along the freighters and destroying any ships trying to reach them?” He said, on a channel to Fearless’ captain of the watch.
“Certainly sir, what will you be doing?” Ozols asked respectfully. She was a new Captain but a solid one.
“I will use the planet’s gravity to swing around, destroying any ships coming up from the planet’s surface and join your little shooting exercise closer to the planet’s atmosphere,” Conti said, drawing out his idea on a holographic model and sending it to the other captain. After the maneuver they would both be shooting into the direct path to the freighters. Hopefully they’d catch any ships trying to pull out Harmony members to the massive ships.
“I agree with the plan, but if I may suggest using the EMP warheads against the freighters as soon as their engines start working? Don’t want them getting away,” Ozols said with a wicked edge to her voice. She had become captain after the other watch crew had been killed and replacements were needed.
“I believe that would be a fine addition. I will also be sending word to my medical staff to begin the revival process immediately. I don’t want anyone trying to board my ship,” Conti said, sending his rough drawings to the navigator who would turn the idea into truth.
“Having a few hundred thousand troopers running around might not be a bad idea at all,” Ozols said, her voice dark. She was probably seeing the same images of Harmony’s vessels clamping on to the surfaces of the carriers. The heat signatures told of the breaches they’d opened up in the freighters hull to gain entry. If they could do it to a freighter, then they could to it to a carrier.
“I will have my communications officer make sure that our battlenet is secured. Let’s see about hunting some Harmony bastards,” Conti said.
“Damn right sir,” Ozols replied.
“Lieutenant Neves, make sure the medical staff are working to revive the troopers and make sure the armories are opened,” he said, pausing.
For the flight crew it had been three and a half years since they left Fearless, to the rest of the universe it would be four years. For the troopers, it would be minutes.
Conti sometimes wondered just why in the hell he’d applied to be a carrier captain.
“Understood,” Neves said.
“Also, make sure no one starts pressurizing areas of the ship we don’t want pressurized, don’t need a blow out,” Conti said.
“Yes sir,” Neves said, waiting a few seconds longer than necessary to make sure the Captain had nothing else to say.
Conti found Denaski looking at him with a strained expression, he smiled, drawing the moment out longer.
“Very well Lieutenant Denaski, power weapons and prepare for combat. I want reports on all systems.”
“Yes sir!” She practically yelled a bright smile cracking through her dark skin.
“Lieutenant Tamm, how are we looking on our course adjustments?” He asked his navigator.
“Already input the commands to the controls. Reclaimer is making adjustments as we go, time to engagement pushed back six minutes,” he checked his console briefly, “to twenty-four minutes.” He looked up to the Captain.
“Very good Lieutenant,” Conti said, rewarding the young man with a nod.
“Thank you sir,” Tamm admonished.
Conti looked to where the windows had been. Well they were still there, but they now had armor plates covering them both inside and out, with an extra band of armor on top. After seeing what had happened to Fearless, the captains of Reclaimer had agreed that not armoring the windows was just a bad idea.
Projectors showed more information than the windows anyway. They could also show the outside if needed. Right now they showed the mass of Gas Planet in front of the ship and their course around that bulk.
The carriers were based off of freighter designs. It was easier to keep the bridge in the same place than remake the whole ship with the bridge in the center. So they got windows instead of view screens. It also made them vulnerable as hell.
Company penny pinchers, Conti thought.
“Railguns are looking good, Seawhizz are online and functional. Only three railguns are bad and twelve of the sea whizz aren’t responding,” she said, talking about the main weapons and Close in Support Weapons Systems, shortened to Seawhizz.
“Very good, engage targets closest to the freighters and work down towards the ships coming up from the planet,” Conti said. The order was simple, the cold blooded logic behind it would make a number of people squirm in his seat.
Letting them go down and grab their people meant that there were more targets moving around. Waiting for them to try and get out of the planet’s gravity well made them easier targets. It also meant that they would be full of fleeing Harmony people. The more he killed in their light. The less the troopers had to fight and the faster they could be about securing this system.
It was damned cold, but to him Harmony was already dead. The EMF decreed it, and the EMF didn’t let people go. Even if Reclaimer and Fearless failed, more troopers and carriers were on their way and they would end Harmony.
“Targets are coming into range,” Denaski said, her eyes for her console only.
“Fire when ready, also see if the engineers and techs can’t see about getting more of those weapon systems online,” Conti said.
“Sir,” she answered her hands moving over the console with movements that came with years of practice.
Let’s se
e how that practice turns into reality, Conti thought as the railguns sent their rounds screaming towards the shuttles and freighters racing especially towards the larger freighters.
Tamm had the ship flip and go into a steady burn, there were no solar sails to help the ship, they were too delicate for combat.
With the ship only having one side filled with weapon systems, his flip turned them upside down. It didn’t matter to the computerized weapon systems.
They fired through out the maneuver.
“We have hits,” Denaski said, her excitement melted away into a mask of professionalism.
Conti felt pride towards her, then alarm as the rail cannon’s round didn’t just hit the intended freighter. It tore it apart, gouging deep into it’s unarmored hull. It looked like there was only a single hole in the ship, but Conti knew that kind of destruction must have been terrible. Atmosphere, flames and objects that could have been part of the ship, or the people in it were outgassed. Then it went up, the power plants careful equilibrium broken by the kinetic forces.
Other rounds landed, most with similar results. The ‘lucky’ ones didn’t turn into miniature stars.
“The Troopers are being woken up,” Neves reported, as the shock of the destruction they were reaping faded.
Fearless cleared the planet’s outer atmosphere and added their own fire into the mayhem. None of the Harmony ships had armor or more than simple machine guns. They valiantly tried to kill the EMFC but to no avail. They had armor and it would take millions of rounds to pierce their hulls.
“I have what looks like ships breaking of from the retreat and heading straight towards us,” Denaski said. “I’ll engage them with cannons and sea whizz,” her words turning to actions as sea whizz moved from their resting positions and fired tens of thousands of rounds at the oncoming ships.
“Neves, it might be an idea to tell the Troopers to hurry the fuck up,” Conti said.
“Yes sir,” Neves said, tapping something on his console before talking through his implants.
The sea whizz got through the shuttle’s outer skin, but their destruction was nothing like the rail cannons. They could take a number of hits and keep on. Their targeting changed and they aimed for the cockpits of the ships. A railgun finishing them off as they started drifting.
Conti opened his mouth to complement Denaski’s quick thinking. One look at her told him that his words would be more of a distraction than help.
“Welcome to fucking Masoul,” Denaski muttered under her breath. Conti didn’t know if she knew she’d said anything. Though he found no fault with her words. He was also feeling his ship in a way he had never felt it before, as the juggernaut of hellish fire and impenetrable armor that she was made to be.
If they get close enough, or get to our unarmored sides, it’s not going to matter what’s on the outside.
***
Mark got out of his cryo pod and it felt wrong. He fired up his implants, opening his important messages as he clawed his way down the spine. His legs were coming to life but they were taking their sweet time about it.
Though it was his fifth time coming out of cryo. He didn’t really have all that much understanding of it, or experience coming out of it.
Then his thoughts clicked together.
He realized what was wrong, the ship was shaking.
Which means we’re either attacking or under attack, or both.
He looked at the medics who were giving people quick checks before waking troopers up.
“Three section! Up and moving, we’re going to the armory,” Mark’s voice cut through the mumbling confusion of those around him.
He heard Jerome, Tyler and Zukic yell the same commands, all of them heading to the armories. It wasn’t a long walk and Mark’s augments got his body working by the time he palmed open his section’s gear panel.
“The hells going on Sarge?” Ko asked.
“We’re shooting on those Harmony fuckers. Seems the squids didn’t think to wake us before we came into contact and range where they can board us,” Mark said back, pulling on his vest and clamping it together. He’d been reading reports since waking up.
The word passed like wildfire and people shut up and got to the important business of getting their armor on and their weapons ready.
Warrant Haas and Second Lieutenant Wen came into the armories, ready to yell orders when they found their platoon already in their gear and making last minute adjustments.
“Sergeants on us,” Haas said, both of them turning to open their lockers and slap their gear on. Mark and Zukic being closest helped them get it on to speed the process up.
“What have you heard?” Wen asked as they pulled his armored shoulder plates tight to his arm.
Mark told him what he’d told everyone else.
“That’s about the gist of it,” Wen nodded, moving to make sure he wasn’t completely restrained by his armor. “Since we were woken up in the first batches, and we’ve actually got our shit together. We’re going right to the bridge. If Harmony gets on here, we’ll need the bridge to keep shooting the shit out of their ships,” Wen said hooking his arm covering armor on.
Haas was already done and moving about.
“Oi, fuckheads, get ready to move out, two lines!” Wen barked as he grabbed his rifle.
Kim continued to talk to his Sergeants as Wen made sure the rest of the platoon was ready to go. Making sure mag boots were on, they had space tape, extra batteries and air bottles.
“Unless the bridge or the surrounding area is breached we are the lowest of the low. Make sure your people don’t touch shit or get in the way of the command crew. If Harmony breaches, then protect their lives as if they were your own troopers. If they can do their job, we might be facing a hell of a lot less of these Harmony fucks then we would have, clear as mud?” He asked, looking to them.
“Yes sir,” they all replied, not with the quickness of ingrained reflex but of friends acknowledging their leader.
“Good, then let’s get moving.” Kim started for the door.
“Never understood that saying, ‘clear as mud’ dunno bout you but never found mud to be clear at fucking all,” Tyler ground out as Jerome haggled his people to get moving.
“Come on two section,” Tyler said getting his people after Jerome’s, all of them double-timing it out of the armories. More troopers were flowing in as racks opened.
Troopers flipped that little switch which made them stop being humans and turned them into weapons of armor, faceless helmets, E-12’s and repulsors. It was a reassuring sight to Mark, he didn’t think it would be so comforting to any Harmony prick that thought about trying to make an entrance.
People moved out of their way, flowing to the armories at a run. Other armed and armored platoons were heading off to the carrier’s strong points. Mark nodded to those he knew from being on the ship.
They passed through an airlock, exiting the spine and adjoining armories. There was no ambient noise other than their monotonous footfalls that resonated through the deck as they headed up to the bridge, which was in reality upside down from it’s usual orientation when in-system.
Mark hoped that the systems wouldn’t fail. He fucking hated free fall. He was good moving in it, but his guts and their contents, felt like they were being pushed out of his head.
They travelled through the officer’s equivalent of the spine, the carrier’s officers that is. Wen picked up the pace, getting some annoyed and angry looks. They probably wanted salutes and at least a few noses browned in their rears.
Then they were past and up where the elusive command crew lived. It was a lot nicer than the rest of the ship, but then they did spend anywhere from twenty-seven to fifty-two years between systems up here.
The command crew were wearing their full protective and sealed gear, teams of fifteen headed in various directions.
“Where are they going?” Mark asked Wen.
“In case the command crew on deck right now falls, we’re g
oing to need replacements. Having them all in one area is not going to give us many fallback crew if Harmony gets to them,” Wen said.
They got the doors into the command deck Wen went up to the door as Haas started detailing people out to various locations.
“Weapons det, you’re going to be sitting pretty out here ready to shoot anything coming from either direction. Three, get in that room across the hall. You’ll be our surprise reinforcements, hold strong weapons det’s right flank. One and three you will be inside the command deck. Mark you’re in charge. Wen and myself will be here coordinating our efforts.
“One section, you will be support if we need it and making sure the command deck is secure. Qi, you will be with three section. If our people get hit, sort them out in the command deck. The doors will be closed unless support or wounded are moving around. Understood?” Haas asked.
Some were confused but they knew they’d piece it together or get put in the right spot. The command decks door opened to the bustling of the crew. They looked to the troopers with a mix of distaste, interest or barely acknowledged they were there.
Mark saw that they were all wearing their helmets and looked to be sealed up properly. This was acknowledged by the fact that no atmosphere had bled into the hallway.
There was one woman, all of her concentration focused on the console in front of her. Another officer was working the console from the other side.
“Looks like some of the fuckers are going to get through the sea whizz and rail cannons defense,” the woman said, her voice tight with anger.
“Neves, alert the troopers in the areas of where the ships look to be heading. Tamm could you help with figuring out where they’re going to breach?” The man who must have been the Captain said from his seat that was raised and close to the door.
“You take right side, I’ll take left,” Mark said to Tyler, they went about getting their people out of the way of the crew, dumping their ammunition packs and running through their checks they hadn’t been able to do on their rushed timeline.
“Seven have made it past the weapons front, they look to be heading for the hangars, and, us,” the man called Tamm said, he was looking up to the Captain. Mark caught the glance over to the troopers.
Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) Page 12