“Sir!” the OSO called. “The troops must have made it to the asteroid as I have activity in the shipyard. A number of power sources just came online.”
“Any idea what they are?”
“So far it looks like a collection of old alliance systems,” Steropes replied. “Based on the acquisition systems, they are large caliber helical railguns.”
“What’s a helical railgun?” the helmsman asked.
“It is a type of railgun that is, in effect, a cross between a railgun and a coilgun.”
“Wonderful,” Captain Sheppard said. “If it’s a railgun, it’s just a giant slug thrower the energy field won’t have any effect on. The Shaitans will be able to shoot at us, but we won’t be able to shoot back at them.”
“That is correct. Until our troops remove the energy field, we are largely unable to help them.”
“So if they can’t get the shield down?” asked the helmsman.
“They’re doomed.”
Chapter Thirty
Shaitan Asteroid, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
Unlike most people, Lieutenant O’Leary knew the exact hour and minute he was going to die. Although there were plenty of times he should have died in his life, this time it was for sure. He looked at his watch. In 90 seconds, the trident would self-destruct in a 42-kiloton explosion. He had no idea what the minimum safe distance was in space, but he was pretty sure that 100 yards wouldn’t be enough to survive an explosion double the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Even if he somehow survived, the asteroid wouldn’t, and he would be explosively rocketed in some direction…and probably have the life smashed out of him when he collided with something else.
It didn’t really bear thinking about, much, so he thought about the kiss Staff Sergeant Loftis had given him. The thought was a lot more pleasant. It was the first one he’d had in a while…a long while.
“Hey! Lieutenant O’Leary!” Someone was shaking him. “What are you doing?”
Not someone, something. One of the Ssselipsssiss. The comm system registered the voice as Burkuri, which he was pretty sure was the female one. “What do you mean? I’m waiting for the trident to blow up.”
“But you aren’t holding on or protecting yourself. You are acting as if you don’t think you’ll survive the blast.”
“No, I don’t, so leave me alone.”
“Are we all going to die?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Well, would you at least like to talk to the Shaitans and see if they’ll surrender and open up the door?”
“I’d love to. Got their phone number?”
“No, but Paxton has their radio frequency. They are trying to call for help.”
“Can he transmit as well as receive?”
“Yes.”
“Well why the fuck didn’t you say so?” He got up and turned his jets on high. “Be right back; I’ve got to stop the explosion.”
His foot caught the lip of the tunnel and he cartwheeled down the passageway, finally slamming into the wall where the passage made a 90-degree turn.
The impact stunned him, and he came to his senses to hear a cacophony of voices.
“Anyone know what he’s doing?”
“Anyone got comms with O’Leary?”
“How much time until the trident blows up?”
Trident blows up? He looked at his watch. 15 seconds. Shit.
He gunned his thrusters again and made it to the end of the tunnel, slowing his travel just enough to keep from knocking himself out again.
He grabbed the trident and aborted the self-destruct sequence. Three seconds left. Lieutenant O’Leary let out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Holy shit, that was close.
“Uh, Lieutenant,” Calvin said on his external speakers, standing above him in the passageway, “would you care to tell me what the hell you’re doing?”
“Yes sir. The Ssselipsssiss have the communications frequency of the Shaitans inside the asteroid. I thought we might ask them nicely to see if they’d like to open up and surrender before we blew ourselves up. Sir.”
“Well that makes sense.”
“Who’s got the Shaitan frequency?” Calvin asked over the comm system.
“Paxton, sir.”
“I should have known. What’s the frequency, Paxton?”
“It’s not a standard frequency, and it has to be slightly modulated,” Paxton replied. “I’ve got it set up. Just talk, and I will relay it.”
“Okay…uh…Shaitan soldiers in the asteroid, this is the leader of the Terran force outside the door in the tunnel.”
“Yes, we see you.”
Calvin took the trident from Lieutenant O’Leary and held it up. “Do you see what I am holding?”
“It appears to be some sort of weird three-headed spear.”
“It is an antimatter grenade launcher, which still holds almost a gram of antimatter. I don’t know what measure of force you use, but if we set this off, like we were about to do, it is going to destroy the asteroid and all of us that are currently on it.”
“So you say.”
“If you can see us, you know we just all ran outside after leaving it here. That is because we are prepared to blow up the asteroid if we have to. If you turn off the energy field and surrender, we promise not to kill you. Instead, we will release you on a habitable planet of our choosing. If you do not, we will detonate this weapon, and everyone on the asteroid will perish in flames or be thrown throughout the system to die slowly, by themselves as they run out of air.”
“We have allies coming who will wipe you out. Your time is limited. If you surrender to us, you will be well treated.”
“No thanks,” Calvin commed. “I’ve seen how you treat prisoners. I’d rather take my chances with the bomb. Your choice.” He nodded to Lieutenant O’Leary and commed, “If they don’t want to come out, we’ll all die. Blow it up.”
O’Leary sighed. Déjà vu, all over again. “Okay sir, but this time I’m just going to set it for one minute. I get all tired and shit from running.” He reinitialized the autodestruct sequence. “60 seconds to the end of this asteroid starts…now.” He pushed the initiate button. “Here we go again.”
Bridge, Jotunn Ship Falcon, GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“Both of the Shaitan battleships are coming in from the port bow,” the sensor technician said. “There are a number of smaller ships in company with them. Looks like all of the ships from the stargate.”
“Reverse course,” Captain Magnusson said.
“Reverse course?” the helmsman asked. “We’re going to run away from them?”
“Of course we’re not going to run away from them!” Captain Magnusson exploded. “I am maneuvering the ship so that we can destroy the greatest number of them. I know something they don’t.”
“What is that, sir?” the sensor operator asked.
“I have been in many fleet battles, and the Shaitans haven’t. I want them to think we’re afraid of them because they now have shields on their ships. We will lure them in and then, once they think they have us, we will crush them like the insignificant beasts they are!”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“Damn,” the OSO said. “I hope the boys and girls on the asteroid hurry. It looks like they’re going to have company. Two shuttles just took off from one of the larger replicators heading their way; the Shaitans must have had some troops on it.”
“Comms officer, please let them know about the shuttles when the energy field drops,” Captain Sheppard ordered. “I’m sure they’ll be expecting company, but I know they’ll appreciate the heads-up, if not the actual message.”
“Yes sir.”
“OSO,” the captain continued, “set up firing solutions on the shuttles. When the shield drops, which it will, I want you to blast them with the lasers before they get to the asteroid. I realize you have a lot going on, but that takes priority.”
�
��DSO, as soon as we drop stealth, there’s going to be a world of shit coming at us. Kill the big ones first if you can.”
“Helm, if they start firing rounds from the mass drivers, make sure you keep changing our course. Some projectiles may have guidance systems that will try to track us, but others will be dumb rounds that will just go on by.”
“Solomon, if the Shaitans start shooting rounds at us that can jump between the universes, jump us to the opposite universe just before they will hit.”
“Does anyone not understand what I am expecting them to do?” Captain Sheppard asked. “Good, then be ready. One way or another, it’s about to hit the fan.”
Shaitan Asteroid, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“You’re really going to blow us all up?” the voice from inside the airlock screeched.
“Yes,” Calvin replied. “You’ve already used up a quarter of your time. We will all be dead in 43 seconds.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because we need the energy screen down, and we need it down now. If you won’t take it down, then we will blow up the asteroid in order to do so. 25 seconds.”
“We need more time to discuss it!” a new voice screamed.
“You don’t have any more time. Open the door now, or the asteroid will be destroyed. Last chance. 13 seconds.”
There was a long pause, then the door slid open with a grinding noise. Lieutenant O’Leary aborted the self-destruct sequence again. He held it up for Calvin to see. Two seconds remaining.
Calvin shook his head. “Too damn close.”
“No kidding.”
“They just opened the door,” Calvin commed to the platoon. “Come on down before they change their minds.”
The rest of the platoon assembled quickly, and they entered the airlock. The pressures equalized, and the troops stepped out to find six Shaitans waiting for them. A seventh lay on the floor with a cloud of blood slowly condensing on top of him. The only Shaitan with a weapon dropped the plasma rifle, and it floated slowly to the deck.
“We surrender,” the one who had the rifle said.
“We need you to turn off the energy field,” Calvin said. “Now!”
“It is already done,” the Shaitan replied.
“Then get into your spacesuits quickly,” Calvin ordered; “we’re going for a ride.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“The energy field is down!” the OSO exclaimed. “They did it!”
“Detach the stealth modules!” Captain Sheppard ordered. “Fire all weapons!”
“Stealth modules detached,” the duty engineer replied. “Weapons ports clear!”
“Firing on the shuttles with starboard lasers,” the OSO noted; “missiles launching to preprogrammed targets in the shipyard.”
“Sir, we have incoming from the railguns,” the DSO said. “The cruiser also just launched on us. There’s only one missile; that ship is pretty messed up.”
“Understood,” Captain Sheppard said. “Try and kill it with the jumping AMMs; if that doesn’t work, turn into it, and we’ll try Lieutenant Commander Hobbs’ poles.”
“Yes sir, jumping AMMs and then the poles. Just so you know, sir, we’ve only got 9 of the jumping AMMs; that was all the unobtanium they had left.”
“Understood. We’ll worry about the later ones when we get to them. Let’s concentrate on stopping this one first.”
“Projections show the initial railgun rounds are dumb rounds,” the DSO said. “Our maneuvering should cause them to go high and left of us. I’ve got a second launch from the Shaitan cruiser. Standing by to fire AMMs…dumb ones first…launching!”
“Last of the disintegrator missiles launching now,” the OSO announced. “Shifting targeting to the cruiser.”
“Normal AMMs ineffective against the Shaitan missile. It jumped. Launching a jumping AMM...lasers firing…ineffective…the missile worked! The Shaitan missile jumped and our AMM jumped after it! Neither came back! It worked!”
“Nicely done DSO. Let’s get the second one too. Just use a jumping AMM from the start.”
“Aye sir!”
“Launching on the Shaitan cruiser,” the OSO said. “Normal missiles.”
“You’re not using the silver and gold ones?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“No sir, the cruiser’s already beat up, and I don’t want to waste them.”
“Good plan.”
“Second Shaitan missile destroyed with a jumping AMM,” the DSO reported.
“Careful,” Steropes said. “The new railgun rounds have some sort of guidance. They are turning to intercept our course changes.”
“Harder to knock those down,” the DSO said. “It would be easier to jump the ship and let them go on by.”
“Solomon,” Captain Sheppard said, “work with the DSO and helmsman to keep those from hitting us. Hopefully those can’t jump.”
“Missiles should hit the Shaitan ship….damn it!” the OSO exclaimed. “It jumped. Right as the missiles were about to hit it.”
“Keep watch for it,” Captain Sheppard said. “They may be back. Speaking of back, what’s going on with the shuttle? Comms, find out what the holdup is and tell them to shag their asses back here!
Bridge, Jotunn Ship Falcon, GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“Pop-up!” the missile technician said. “The Shaitan cruiser is back!”
“Targeting…got him!” the laser technician said. “Right through their motors. They aren’t going to be jumping again.”
“Good,” Captain Magnusson said without looking up from the tactical plot. “Finish it off.” The icons continued to shift into the correct alignment…there! “Reverse course!” He ordered. “Come left 15 degrees and down 10. All ahead flank! We’ve got them right where I want them!”
“But this is going to take us right down the middle of their force!” the laser officer exclaimed.
“Aye, it is. You’re finally going to earn your pay today. You’ll be so surrounded by targets that maybe even you can hit one or two of them!” The rest of the bridge crew laughed.
“They would never expect us to turn and face them,” the CO continued, “and they have no idea how shields work. As soon as we knock them down, they’re going to run, and the Terrans can hunt them down in the other universe for us and force them back to face us.”
“What if the Terrans have been killed or don’t show up to help us?” the missile technician asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about them not showing up to help; the Terrans have been in more fights than even we have. And if they’ve been killed? It’s more targets for us!”
Shaitan Asteroid, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“Lieutenant Commander Hobbs, Vella Gulf. The CO wants to know how much longer you guys are going to be. It’s getting kind of hot up here.”
“We’re on our way,” Calvin replied. “We’re loading our prisoners, and we’ll be right there.”
“Vella Gulf copies. Hurry home.”
“Wilco.” Calvin turned to Night. “Are the Shaitans loaded yet?”
“No, they won’t all fit. We’re either going to have to leave some behind or put them down.”
“We’re not killing enemy troops that have surrendered, so make room. Pull the seats if you have to. We rode on the exterior to get here; we can ride home that way too, if needed.”
“Yes sir, I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. We’re leaving in two minutes. Lieutenant O’Leary?”
“Yes sir?”
“Take Sergeant Walker and go back down to the Shaitan command center and leave Sergeant Walker’s trident set to destruct. I don’t want to have to do this again if we ever come back.”
“Aye sir, once was enough for me too.”
“We’re leaving in two minutes; don’t delay.”
Task Force O’Leary, Shaitan Asteroid, Anti-GD 165 System, January 8, 2022
“You heard the man,” Lieutenant O’Leary
commed, “Let’s go blow this thing up.”
He turned and accelerated down the tunnel leading into the asteroid with Sergeant Walker close behind. They sped down the passageway, barely slowing for the turn, but O’Leary stopped after passing through the airlock.
“What’s wrong?” Sergeant Walker asked.
“See this big blood stain? There used to be a dead Shaitan in it.”
“Maybe they moved it so it wouldn’t be in the way.”
“I was one of the last people to leave, and the body was here when we left.”
The airlock doors slammed shut.
“I guess it wasn’t quite dead yet,” Sergeant Walker commed.
“I guess not. Either that or it has friends who were hiding. Stay close.”
O’Leary turned and jetted deeper into the complex, slowing to check the corners as he came to them.
“Lieutenant Commander Hobbs, O’Leary here. We’ve got a problem. There’s still at least one alive down here. We’re in, but the airlock door just shut behind us.”
“Find it, kill it and get up here quick. The ship needs us back right now.”
“Working on it.” He switched the comm to Sergeant Walker. “So, Doc, if you were a cowtaur, where would you be right now?”
“I’d be resetting the energy field,” Sergeant Walker replied.
“Yeah, me too. Happily, I know where that is. Follow me.”
O’Leary led the trooper past two more cross passages to a door with an inscription. “This is it,” he commed. “I’m guessing that means ‘Keep Out.’”
O’Leary looked at the door and frowned. Normally, he’d kick the door in; however, that was going to be tough to do in zero gravity.
“We don’t have time for this shit,” he commed. “We’ve got to hurry. Move back.” He mounted a grenade to the door, pulled the pin and jetted for the next corner, just making it before the grenade detonated with a gold and silver flash. Lieutenant O’Leary killed his momentum and came back around the corner to find Sergeant Walker already going through the smoking doorway.
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 30