Ep.#9 - I am Justice (The Frontiers Saga - Part 2: Rogue Castes)

by Ryk Brown

  “You’ve got this, Deta,” Captain Tobas added, trying to calm the young captain’s nerves. “Just keep your shields toward any attackers, and keep your guns firing. If you lose your shields, jump to safety and return once your shields are back up.”

  “Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you.”

  “Gannimay, Tavi,” Captain Tobas called over comms, “take position at the Sakuma transition point and defend the Gunyoki platform.”

  “Tavi, Gannimay, defend Gunyoki base from the Sakuma transition point. Good luck, Effry,” the captain of the Gannimay replied.

  “To you, as well, my friend,” Captain Tobas replied. Effry glanced at his helmsman’s console to his right, noticing their flight path was askew. “What are you doing, Geo?” he asked. “You are leaving the approach corridor.”

  “I thought we could avoid taking additional fire on the way in, if we dove below the approach path, jumped forward, then translated upward toward the transition point, guns firing.”

  “Good thinking,” the captain agreed.

  * * *

  “Whoa!” Josh exclaimed as they came out of the jump, only a few hundred meters from a battle between a Dusahn gunship and half a dozen Gunyoki fighters. “A little close, Lok!”

  “Sorry,” Loki replied. “I’m still getting used to the Sugali jump control interface. Shit!” he suddenly exclaimed. “Break left and dive!”

  Josh immediately complied, pushing his flight control stick forward and to the left as he went to full thrust.

  “Gunyoki! Gunyoki! This is Razor! Do not target us! We are friendly! Check our squawk! Check our squawk!”

  Josh pulled out of his dive, then turned toward another Dusahn gunship not far from them. “Guess we have to prove ourselves,” he declared as he jumped forward just enough to get into weapons range. The icon on the forward window screen, around the visible enemy gunship, flashed green, and Josh opened fire with his main cannons, sending streams of bright red plasma into the shields of the target, causing them to flash repeatedly. Their own shields flashed, as well, as the Dusahn gunship returned fire, and Josh pushed the Sugali fighter into a continually-widening-corkscrew roll as he continued to pound the enemy. After several revolutions, he broke off his attack, pitching away from the target, again pushing his throttles all the way forward, glancing at his tactical display to check his jump line, and then jumped a light minute ahead to the opposite side of the target.

  “That was a sweet move,” Loki complimented.

  “Thanks, I just thought of it. Gets a little hard to keep your guns on target after a few revolutions though.”

  “I can program that maneuver into the auto-flight if you want,” Loki suggested.

  “And take all the fun out of it?” Josh exclaimed as he brought the ship around to jump back into the fray.

  “What are you doing?” Loki wondered. “We’re supposed to be doing recon, remember?”

  “Party pooper.”

  “Uh-oh,” Loki said as he studied his sensor display.

  “I really don’t like that phrase.”

  “A Dusahn battleship just jumped in over Rakuen.”

  “And that’s why I don’t like uh-oh,” Josh declared. “It never precedes good news, only bad.”

  “We’d better jump back and report this,” Loki decided.

  “But it hasn’t been two minutes yet,” Josh argued.

  “I’m pretty sure the captain would want to know about this sooner, rather than later.”

  Josh sighed. “I hate recon.”

  * * *

  “I’ve got three octos at nine high!” Ledge reported over comm-sets. “They’re coming across to you, Ali!”

  “Striker Two! Break right! Break right!” one of the Gunyoki pilots barked over comms.

  “I’m ready for them!” Ali announced.

  Striker Three’s shields flashed repeatedly as energy weapons fire, from at least six different enemy targets, pounded the gunship from every angle.

  “Jesus!” Aiden exclaimed as his gunship shook violently from the impacts.

  “Starboard jump field generators are showing intermittent power fluctuations,” Chief Benetti warned.

  “Shields are down to fifty percent across the board!” Kenji reported. “Get your shots off, and let’s jump the fuck out of here, while we still can!”

  “I’m trying!” Aiden replied as he struggled to get his nose onto the Dusahn gunship, directly ahead of him. “Ash, lock that shit down, or we’re done for!”

  “Three octos just jumped in directly astern!” Sergeant Dagata reported. “They’re firing!”

  “What the hell do you think I’m doing, Aiden!” the engineer replied.

  A Dusahn octo fighter suddenly jumped in directly in front of him, blasting away and lighting up their forward shields. “FUCK!” Aiden exclaimed, instinctively ducking.

  “Hold your course, Aiden!” Kenji urged.

  “I AM!” A split second later, his targeting reticle flashed green, and Aiden pressed and held the firing button on his flight control stick. Waves of red-orange plasma torpedoes leapt out from under their bow in columns of four, streaking toward the enemy cruiser, and slamming into the shields, causing them to glow brilliantly with each group of impacts. Yet still, the cruiser’s shields held. “DAMN IT!” Aiden cursed, pitching down and left to get a clear jump line.

  “They’re coming over now, Ali!” Ledge warned, the sound of his own plasma cannon nearly drowning him out.

  “Wait!” Kenji warned. “You’re not clear!”

  “I know! I know!” Aiden replied, maneuvering back and forth until he found a clear path along which to jump. He pressed the jump button, and his threat board immediately cleared once they jumped out of the engagement area.

  “Strikers Three and Four, Striker Leader,” Robert called over comms. “Attack target foxtrot four. High-low, opposing odd and even. Two-ship attack. One and Two will take foxtrot three. Once your target is destroyed, engage the next odd foxtrot.”

  “We’re giving up on the cruisers?” Sergeant Dagata asked in disbelief.

  “It’s about time,” Aiden stated, adjusting his course to attack the new target. “Somebody bigger than us is going to have deal with those cruisers.”

  * * *

  “Rakuen and Neramese are both getting pounded!” Loki reported over the loudspeakers on the Aurora’s bridge. “Strikers are keeping up the attack, but the heavy cruisers’ shield-recharge rate is keeping pace, and the frigates guarding them are making it impossible for them to stay on target for more than five seconds! Striker One ordered all Strikers to switch their attack to the frigates escorting the heavies!”

  “Understood,” Nathan replied. “Razor, return to the engagement area. Continue to jump between Rakuen, Neramese, and the Gunyoki platform. Update Cam every minute, starting at whiskey four in three minutes, point rotation alpha two.”

  “Three-point, quick recon, update every minute, starting with whiskey four in three, rotation alpha two,” Loki confirmed. “Razor, out.”

  “XO, Captain.”

  “Go for XO,” Cameron replied over comm-sets.

  “Cam, we’re about to jump in. Get to Reaper Six and jump to whiskey four. Razor will update recon data every minute, starting in three. Point rotation alpha two.”

  “Already on my way,” Cameron replied.

  “Lieutenant Commander Vidmar,” Nathan said, “take the XO’s place in Combat Command.”

  “Aye, sir,” the Lieutenant Commander replied, heading for the exit.

  “As soon as Reaper Six launches, we jump,” Nathan instructed his flight team.

  Cameron ran toward the stair ladder at the end of the corridor. “Down ladder! Make a hole!” she barked, warning anyone on the ladder to move to the outs
ide edge to give her room. Since most of the crew were already at their combat stations, there were only two crewmen on that particular ladder. Cameron whizzed past them both, without saying a word, taking the steps in rapid-fire fashion. She reached the bottom, ran across the corridor, and through the starboard personnel airlock leading to the main hangar bay. After passing through it, she entered the bay only a few meters from Reaper Six, standing just inside the starboard, aft, transfer airlock’s inner door. Its engines were already spooled up, its top and bottom beacons flashing red every second.

  Without missing a step, Cameron jumped through the hatch into the main hangar bay and then sprinted across the open deck, ducking between the starboard transfer airlock’s inner doors just before they closed. She could already hear the air being sucked out of the airlock as she jumped up into the Reaper’s open port hatch. “Let’s go!” she barked as she moved inside, and the crew chief closed the door behind her.

  Cameron took her seat in the middle of the tactical bay, facing the plotting table in front of her. Two other officers were already at their workstations at the aft end of the bay, and the crew chief was moving to his seat at the front of the bay, after closing and securing the port hatch.

  “We’re rolling,” Lieutenant Haddix announced over comm-sets.

  Cameron secured her restraints and spun her seat around to face forward, sliding herself up to the plotting table. She peered past the crew chief, through the narrow passageway that led to the Reaper’s cockpit, looking through the front windows as the outer doors opened to reveal the aft, starboard flight deck. She glanced at her watch as the Reaper pulled out of the transfer airlock and turned aft toward the open end of the flight deck. Exactly two minutes and fifteen seconds had passed since Nathan had ordered her to the Reaper. They would barely get to the first intel relay point in time.

  “Reaper Six is away,” Ensign deBanco announced from the Aurora’s comm-station.

  “Tactical, weapons free, engage targets at will. I’ll call our torpedo shots,” Nathan instructed.

  “Aye, sir. All weapons ready,” Jessica replied.

  “Take us in, Lieutenant.”

  “Jumping to the approach-end of the Nonaka corridor,” Lieutenant Dinev replied from the helm.

  The subdued, blue-white jump flash washed over the Aurora’s bridge. A second later, new tactical data began popping up on various display windows, which floated on the main spherical view screen to the right and left of center.

  “Jump complete,” Ensign Bickle reported.

  “Gunyoki platform directly ahead,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported from the sensor station.

  “Several dozen targets to choose from,” Jessica reported from the tactical station behind Nathan.

  “Let’s clear a path as we pass,” Nathan instructed.

  “Targeting gunships with plasma cannons and octos with point defenses,” Jessica reported. “Nothing larger in the immediate area.”

  “I’m still showing a heavy cruiser and two frigates at both Rakuen and Neramese,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “Multiple surface detonations on both worlds.”

  “Is either one getting the worst of it?” Nathan asked.

  “I’d say Rakuen is getting the worst,” the lieutenant commander replied. “Neramese has far more land and is more spread out, making them more difficult to target. Rakuen’s floating cities are much easier to take out.”

  “As soon as we pass the Gunyoki platform, turn toward Rakuen and prepare to jump in just ahead of the heavy cruiser, five kilometers from the intercept point.”

  “Aye, sir,” the helmsman acknowledged.

  “Weapons range,” Jessica announced. “Engaging all targets.”

  “Comms, warn the Gunyoki, the Aurora is plowing through.”

  The Aurora continued straight up, toward the underside of the Gunyoki race platform, her forward plasma cannons and point defense turrets firing away at the enemy targets buzzing about the fighter base. One by one, Dusahn octos took multiple point defense strikes. Those that jumped away likely survived and would return to the battle in seconds. Those that did not, were quickly overcome by the incoming fire, lost their shields, and exploded.

  The Aurora veered slightly to port and rolled to the left, putting her belly toward the Gunyoki base and her topside guns toward its swarm of attackers. She plowed through the ships, her shields slamming into several octo fighters that failed to notice her approach in time, breaking them apart.

  As they passed through the swarm, the Aurora’s massive, topside rail guns joined in, plowing through the Dusahn gunship’s inadequate shielding, which had been designed to withstand plasma and laser energy, not kinetic. Three gunships were destroyed within seconds, two more jumping away as the Aurora cleared the top of the Gunyoki base and pitched over toward Rakuen, still firing with all available weapons.

  “That was for Torlak!” Jessica exclaimed with satisfaction.

  “On course for intercept over Rakuen,” Lieutenant Dinev reported from the helm.

  “And this is for Dalen,” Nathan added. “Jump.”

  Again, the blue-white flash washed over the bridge, and Rakuen appeared before them, filling the bottom-third of the view screen. Three tiny, black dots appeared in orbit against the white clouds and brilliant topaz oceans below.

  “Lock onto the heavy, and prepare to fire,” Nathan ordered. “Layla?” he said, summoning the opinion of his sensor officer to his left.

  “The heavy’s starboard, midship shields are the lowest, at fifty percent and climbing.”

  “That’s your target, Jess,” Nathan instructed.

  “Got it.”

  “Prepare to jump forward, one kilometer at a time,” Nathan added.

  “Aye, sir,” Ensign Bickle acknowledged.

  “Good lock!” Jessica announced.

  “Full power, single round, on my command only……FIRE!”

  “Firing four!” Jessica replied as four red-orange balls of highly-charged plasma streaked out from under their bow.

  Nathan waited two seconds, then spoke again, “Jump.” The bridge flashed blue-white. “Another round……Fire!”

  “Firing!”

  More red-orange torpedoes streaked away.

  Nathan waited again. “Jump……FIRE!”

  “Firing.”

  “Be ready to pull up to a clear jump line after the next round,” Nathan ordered. “Jump…and…FIRE!” he barked as their next jump flash cleared.

  “Firing!” Jessica replied.

  “Incoming missiles!” Lieutenant Commander Kono warned.

  “Turn to a clear jump line and ahead two clicks!” Nathan ordered. “Stand by, all aft tubes, full power triplets!”

  “Aft tubes, aye!” Jessica replied.

  Lieutenant Dinev was already pulling her flight control stick backward and to the right, flying manually just as Nathan would have.

  “Clear jump line!” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.

  “Jumping,” Ensign Bickle announced.

  “Ready on aft tubes,” Jessica reported as the jump flash washed over the bridge.

  “FIRE!” Nathan ordered.

  “Torpedoes away!”

  “One of the frigates just exploded!” Lieutenant Commander Kono announced. “It must have been one of the Strikers!”

  “What about the heavy?” Nathan asked.

  “Multiple shield failures!” the lieutenant commander replied. “She’s hurt, but she’s still in the fight!”

  “Helm, ninety to port, roll onto our port side,” Nathan ordered. “Jess, rail guns on the heavy’s unprotected areas.”

  “Ninety to port…” the lieutenant stated.

  “Rail guns, aye,” Jessica acknowledged.

  “Rolling to p
ort,” the helmsman added.

  “Flash traffic from Tactical Command,” Ensign deBanco reported. “They’re sending us targeting coordinates for jump missiles……over Neramese.”

  “Jess?” Nathan called.

  “I’m on it,” she replied. “How many are they asking for?”

  “Four,” the ensign replied. “All on the heavy.”

  “The target’s shields must already be weakened,” Nathan realized. “What about the frigate escorts?”

  “TAC COM reports the frigates over Neramese have already been destroyed,” the ensign reported.

  “What about our gunships?”

  “No Strikers have been lost as of yet,” Ensign deBanco assured his captain.

  “Firing rail guns,” Jessica reported. “Jump missiles are loaded with the targeting coordinates.”

  “Launch the missiles,” Nathan instructed.

  “Launching missiles.”

  “Four octos just jumped in at our three high,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported.

  “Point defenses already have them acquired,” Jessica assured him. “Missiles are away.”

  “Multiple secondaries on the heavy cruiser,” Lieutenant Commander Kono reported. “She’s losing main power.”

  “Keep pounding her,” Nathan ordered sternly, the face of Dalen Voss in his mind. “Add plasma cannons.”

  “Adding plasma cannons,” Jessica acknowledged.

  The Aurora flew past the wounded Dusahn heavy cruiser, passing in the opposite direction over Rakuen. Plasma fire streaked from the Aurora’s forward guns as her massive midship rail guns sent a constant barrage of exploding slugs the size of a man’s torso into the target.

  More secondary explosions came from all over the doomed cruiser, and within seconds it began to break apart. First in two sections, then three, then five, and then several of the sections exploded, starting a chain reaction that quickly consumed the entire ship.