“Malfunction?” Drik questioned uneasily from behind us.
“Wait for it,” Kalaya advised calmly, as she raised the magnification on the display showing the cruiser.
I missed it the first time it flickered, but a few seconds later, I noticed a trickle of purple flame or plasma dancing along the outer edges of the warship. An open flame? In space? Not in the universe I live in! It had to be something else; perhaps something based on all those mystery elements that Kalaya would never deign to explain.
My pondering was interrupted by activity on the screen that still showed Admiral Kittson. One of his bridge crew was frantically whispering in the Admiral’s ear. Of course, Kalaya, being her usual accommodating self, upped the game and amplified the conversation for our ears.
“Admiral, the Champlain and the two destroyers are reporting their shields have been deactivated. Should I…”
Before the conversation could continue, the second stage of the missiles arrived in proximity to the three warships and detonated. Huge clouds of phosphorescent green material expanded rapidly across the view screen. They hung there for a period of pregnant silence, then began to move on their own, seemingly drawn to the three ships like iron dust to a magnet. It appeared that one of the destroyers attempted emergency maneuvers to escape the clouds, but the anomaly was too large and moving too fast. As soon as the leading edges of the clouds touched it, all external lights winked out and directed movement seemed to cease.
I watched as, engulfed by the curtaining green, the other ships went dark one by one. Kalaya zoomed in on the Champlain as the light from the sun penetrated the dissipating haze. I gasped to see that the warship was no longer the uniform gray that I was accustomed to seeing, but was now entirely covered in a fuzzy green mold.
Oddly, the clouds nearest the Geoffrey Laird just hung there impotently. An invisible egg-shaped field surrounded the science vessel, visible only because of the absence of clouds surrounding her hull.
“Admiral, we have lost all contact with the Champlain and her escorts,” the bridge officer announced nervously. “Also, we are no longer picking up any heat signature indicating that their reactors are still functioning. Thermal imaging of the Geoffrey Laird, however, now shows all three of her reactors are at full capacity. I don’t see how that is possible. A few minutes ago, two of the three were stone cold dead, and the Jeff seems unaffected by the alien weaponry.”
“Deception and trickery!” Kittson roared. “Obviously, the Geoffrey Laird has been compromised by the aliens and is a threat to the fleet!” Kittson turned away from his crewman and glared at us through the camera lens. “You bitch! What have you done to my ships?
“Bitch? Careful, Admiral, you are dangerously close to anthropomorphizing a ‘fancy computer program,’ as you so elegantly phrased it,” Kalaya smirked. “To answer your question, the 550 crew members on those three ships are fine, for the moment. However, your ships have lost all power, including life support. They will remain unpowered until every particle of that green goo you see them encased in has been meticulously scraped off. Your space dock expenses are about to go through the roof, Admiral. I advise you to send tugs to tow the Champlain and her escorts back to your fleet and begin evacuations immediately before the darkness and stale air begin to make things uncomfortable over there. Don’t worry, I will grant your tugs safe passage to retrieve your disabled vessels. Now, for the last time, are you willing to withdraw and let us leave peacefully?”
“Not a chance. That was a cute trick you played, but you don’t hold all the cards in this game. I will have that ship!”
“You will have only death and destruction!” Kalaya thundered angrily. “As you enjoy pointing out, I am not a living being. I have no conscience…no moral prerogative to save the baby seals…No concern about the weeping and lamentations of the loved ones who will never see their brave sailors again. You imply this a game? It is one you cannot win. Aurora out!”
I was momentarily stunned at this new facet of my friend’s personality, I had never seen her quite so pissed or scary before. The historical quote of Robert Oppenheimer regarding the creation of nuclear weapons played out in my thoughts, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Was she insane enough to do just that? How well do I really know her?”
Apparently Kalaya had made it appear that the communications were severed between the Redoubtable and us, but Max and Drik were still focused on a screen that continued to show the Admiral and his staff conversing.
“Admiral, should I send the tugs over to retrieve the Champlain and the destroyers?”
“Leave them where they sit. Fire a brace of Makos at the Geoffrey Laird. I want that alien-loving traitor Kumeiga to burn!”
“Nuclears, sir? But without shielding or warning, the Champlain and her escorts could get damaged by the debris ejected by the destruction of the Jeff!”
“Follow your orders! There isn’t time to drag their carcasses out of the way. They still serve some purpose to restrict the escape lanes available to them, if indeed the wreck does manage to lift off. I’m not leaving a ship compromised by aliens at our backs during this operation.”
“But, sir, with no power, they are practically entombed out there.”
“Ignore them and press forward with the attack, that’s an order!”
“Aye, sir. Fire control lock on and launch.”
We watched in horror as two labeled icons denoting missiles separated from one of the frigates holding close to the main fleet. Rapidly, they came up to speed and began to curve around the planet toward the Jeff!
“Kalaya!” I gasped pointing at the screen. The image of the Geoffrey Laird’s bridge moved to the center of our viewing area. Captain Kumeiga was watching the approaching missiles as were we; he was outwardly calm, but his hands were nearly white with tension as they grasped the armrests of his command chair. The rest of the bridge crew was frozen in apprehension as well. I watched as the communications officer closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. Kumeiga looked up at Kalaya and nodded as if resigned to his fate.
Kalaya merely smiled back confidently, never taking her eyes off the screens in front of her. She lifted a hand in my direction and whispered. “A little faith, Laree.”
Chagrined, I turned my attention back to the screen just in time to watch the destruction.
It never happened! A couple hundred yards from the hull of the Geoffrey Laird both warheads impacted on something, detonating in a flash of bright light. In a few seconds, it was over. Without the destruction of the ship, no damaging debris was ejected. They simply went out as if someone flipped a switch.
I glanced back at the screen showing the bridge of the Redoubtable to see Kittson and the rest of the bridge crew watching their own displays, mouths agape in shocked silence.
“Impossible!” the fire control officer breathed. “Orders, Admiral?”
Anything he was about to say was interrupted by an incoming message from the Geoffrey Laird that didn’t even bother to route itself through the Redoubtable’s communications officer. A glowering Captain Kumeiga filled the screen.
“You rotten bastard! You deliberately tried to kill 120 unarmed civilians. How exactly are you protecting Earth’s interests by these actions? You and your fleet are nothing more than pirates! We are finished with you, and I intend to make it a personal mission to make sure Earth learns of your treacherous actions.”
“Empty words, Kumeiga!” Kittson spat. “You still have no way home without my fleet.”
“Perhaps,” the Captain smirked. “But I will have my say, and with or without the Geoffrey Laird, you will have some explaining to do when you reach the homeworld. By the way, I’m putting my credits on the Quetanae to kick your ass in this battle! Kumeiga out!”
One of the station officers leaned away from his console. “Admiral, another one of those high-speed anomalies just departed the system in the general direction of Earth.”
Kittson paused as if suddenly
seized by an especially bad taste in his mouth. “I want a full report explaining why the Makos didn’t destroy the Geoffrey Laird! Obviously, they have been compromised by the alien menace. We’ll deal with them later. Now, we’ve wasted enough time! Proceed with the main attack,” he growled.
I shifted my attention back to our own bridge and my friends there.
“Talk to me, Kodo,” Kalaya breathed from the command chair, her eyes flickering from side to side taking in all the screens. I knew that she really didn’t need to be putting on this type of show for us at all, but it was part of her personality to interact with us. “You’re the one with the tactical experience; normally my supply chain components don’t shoot back.”
The man at the station next to me sighed sourly. “We have waves of atmospheric craft approaching, shielded by the mountain range to the north. Kittson isn’t fooling around; I have no doubt that his strike force was loaded and ready when they dropped out of FTL. Obviously, he wasn’t counting on wasting any time with a possible diplomatic solution.
“On the bright side, engine warm up sequence just completed. Once we have positive ignition, we can pull ourselves up out of this hole and be on our way. Starting engines now…”
All our ears strained to hear something to indicate the mains had fired, but nothing happened! At least, nothing that I could see other than several flashing red screens threatening to overtake Kodo’s workstation. They winked like nighttime billboards on a busy urban street.
“Kodo?” Kalaya squeaked in alarm.
“Ignition failure! Dammit! I knew we needed to test those engines! Resetting, but it will be at least an hour before we can initiate a second try. I will see if I can pinpoint what went wrong.” His fingers flew over the controls.
“No time…” I whispered to myself, my eyes casting over the wall displays showing the icons that detailed approaching forces. As if to punctuate my thoughts, the heavy shielding snapped closed over our observation windows, and a few seconds later, tremors cascaded through the flooring beneath me. I looked up at the exterior cameras showing the four massive cannons surrounded the ship. Each was obscured by a cloud of dust, dirt, and flame.
“Mobile artillery from behind that ridge to the northeast,” Kodo nodded sagely. “Smart munitions, trying to take out our defenses before they send in the troops.” He looked over at Kalaya. “We’ll need to do something about that; I’m less concerned about the ground forces than the artillery. An errant artillery round could hit our engines.” Just then, we felt rather than heard a massive detonation impact the hull somewhere close to the superstructure masts at the rear of the Aurora. This generated flashing lines of alien text on Kodo’s board. “See, just what I was talking about!”
Kalaya exhaled and nodded sadly. “I guess that means we move to step four then.” Looking up at the screens showing the external cameras, I still couldn’t see much of the gun platforms as explosions were tearing up the landscape in huge gouts of spray. Beneath the display, some of the metrics started to move, indicating the individual battery changing direction. A few minutes later, they stabilized and froze. “They have landed a forward fire control base and concentrated their artillery pieces there. I have received your grid coordinates. Firing in three…two…one. ”
Again, the heavy weight of the discharges slammed into us. I was ready for it this time but still had to steady myself against the console in front of me. Cameras mounted on areas of the hull not in close proximity to the cannons recorded pictures of the air warping around the projectiles as they sped away. An instant later, the frame shifted, and before my eyes could even fully register the view of the long rocky ridge in the distance, the screen went white. When the visual returned, I could see what looked like an entire mountain of rock, dirt, trees, and other debris raining back toward the surface. The detritus seemed to fall and fall and fall. Even when it seemed like it should be hitting the ground, it didn’t. The ridge was no longer there…just a string of deep craters. Perhaps a three-count later, the shock wave blasted into the side of the Aurora and, even with our massive size, I felt her rock.
I shook my head in disbelief, my eyes drawn to Kalaya still sitting absolutely still in the command chair. She seemed almost to be in a state of shock. Unbuckling and getting up from my chair, I walked over and gently placed my hand on her holographic shoulder. Absently, she moved her opposite hand over to cover mine, and I felt the familiar tingle of my arm hairs snapping to attention.
“I am so sorry, Laree, I didn’t want to resort to that, I truly didn’t.” Her voice had a hollow, shattered quality that I had never heard from her before.
“You did what you had to do,” I countered simply.
“The Quetanae believe that all sentient life is precious.”
“You did not pick this fight. You are not responsible for their deaths; they followed a madman. You did everything humanly or inhumanly possible not to kill anyone. However, I think we all know that won’t be possible if you are going to keep us alive and the Aurora from falling into the wrong hands. We trust you, Kalaya.”
She turned slightly to look at me over her shoulder. “Thank you for believing in me, Laree.”
I smiled at her. “Always will, girlfriend.”
Chapter 23
“Well, they’re persistent, I’ll grant them that,” Kodo growled from his position at the tactical station. It had been perhaps thirty minutes since the cannon devices outside had obliterated the low hills secreting the marine force’s artillery and forward station. Most of us just paced or waited quietly to see what would happen next. “Incoming flights of ground-hugging troop transports, hover bikes, and light armor.”
“Anything we need to worry about?” Kalaya fretted.
“Not immediately. It will take them more time than they have to cut through our hull, if they can manage it at all. Plus, I’m betting their military dogma will force them to expend most of their energies on disabling our cannons first. I’m more concerned about why our engines didn’t fire the first time. I’ve set up several new monitoring points in the ignition sequence, which should give us a better picture of what’s happening. We should be able to try again in twenty-five minutes.”
We all watched helplessly as streams of transports floated in and disgorged waves of troops in heavy armor and weaponry before zipping away to pick up more. As predicted, more than half of the soldiers immediately surrounded the four cannons, while the rest attempted to find a way in. From this resolution, they appeared like swarms of fire ants.
“They are planting shaped charges,” Kalaya informed us. “Targeting the wyvern tread bodies. I guess it’s time to give them something else to worry about.” One of the displays on the wall showed hatches on the topside of the Aurora springing open and security drones flying out to engage the enemy. As they cleared the ship, they began to fire down on the marines surrounding the cannons. Streams of small flechettes sprayed out of tubes protruding from their hovering bodies. The initial barrage seemed to catch the marines flat-footed, and a number of them went down with darts that seemed to target only legs and feet.
“Why are you limiting the drones to leg shots?” Max queried, getting caught up in the action.
“The age-old axiom of – kill an enemy on the battlefield and you remove one, wound an enemy on the battlefield and you remove three.” Elleen snorted dismissively from her perch behind us. “Everyone knows that,” Max just gaped at my roommate, and I chuckled at the fountain of seemingly random information that occasionally slipped out of her mouth.
“Yes, well,” Kalaya continued, “that seemed to give them pause.” With the exception of Kodo, we all scanned the display screens and watched a firefight erupt between the marines and the drones. “That is, except for these guys…” She expanded one of the screens and a red circle appeared around a group of heavily-armored individuals creeping alongside the Aurora near the hatch we generally used. “Their armor seems to be proof against my drones’ shots, and their weaponry is different.
” She zoomed the camera in slightly to pick out a single individual taking aim and firing a solid, cohesive beam at our ship. The rest of the squad seemed to be firing the unusual rifles as well.
“Wait a minute,” Max choked, moving closer to the screen to peer at the display. Before he could say more, a klaxon sounded over the bridge speakers.
Kalaya silenced it before it become annoying, but she turned to us all gravely. “Imminent hull breach! They are degrading the first airlock; they’re almost through!”
“They’re MURGs,” Max finally blurted out.
“MURGs?” Drik echoed. “What do you know about this, Maxwell?”
“MURG – Marine Unlisted Recon Group. Even their name tells you absolutely nothing, not that many people have heard that either. They are the military’s top-of-the-line black ops soldiers, the best of the best! They have armor and equipment that make the ordinary field issue marine stuff look like sticks and rocks. You need a cabinet-level security clearance to even know they exist.”
“And how do you know so much about them if they are so secret?”
“Umm, well,” Max looked very uncomfortable for a few seconds, but then sighed in resignation. “Ok, you know a lot of gamers are military, right? Well, one night I fell in with a new group and we were drinking heavily and playing Red Star Battalion all damn night. I started bragging about the new ion blaster I had just unlocked and how awesome it was. One of them told me it was a piece of crap and couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing. Then he let slip that he was training on a new rifle that employed alien tech. Of course, I asked him where they got it, and he claimed they found an abandoned alien ship years ago. Apparently, this ship was a treasure chest of fancy body armor and handheld weapons. And only MURG Special Forces have access to it.”
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