Deeper and Darker (Deep Dark Well Book 3)

by Doug Dandridge

  And they’re only one megaton yield, she thought, shaking her head. She had the capability to hit with hundred megaton weapons, though there seemed to be no need for that at the moment. The weapons she was dropping were enough to take out any air or light space craft on those fields, and any missile batteries that had raised to fire, while not doing too much damage to the buildings around the fields. Built of materials that were super tough, even if several generations behind the tech she was using, it would take a much more powerful blast than what she was unleashing.

  “All enemy ships in firing arc of us have been destroyed or disabled,” called out Satyapathy.

  The tactical holo showed a half dozen enemy ships, blinking red to show both their side and their status. All were adrift, except one that was making slow acceleration away from the gas giant, Odin. A few had been captured by the gravity of the huge planet, and would eventually fall into the gravity well, though that would take weeks to months.

  And the tactical holo also showed the many ships that were coming in from the space the moon was shielding them from. They didn’t have a shot at the Confederation ships, yet. But soon some of them would.

  That’s not strictly true, she thought, looking at Avenger, the only ship not being shielded by the moon, making her way here and striking at the enemy ships from long range. Avenger’s icon was showing varying acceleration figures, and a zoom in on her position, transmitted through several of the many probes that were in that section of space, showed that she was going through heavy evasive maneuvers. Every beam weapon fired at her missed, or, if scoring a lucky hit, only touched long enough to do no or superficial damage. She was knocking down every enemy missile, they not being launched far enough away to build up to more than sub-relativistic velocity. While Avenger’s missiles were building up to from point four to five light before they entered their final attack envelop. Most were still being knocked from space, few were getting through. But those who came through were kills.

  And soon they will start taking hits themselves, thought Mandrake, considering ordering the ship away, to keep range and head for the outer system. Unfortunately, the holo showed that Avenger was now surrounded, and any path she tried to take out of the system would lead her into effective beam range of enemies. And she only has so many missiles, thought the Captain, bemoaning the fact that they had used so many of them while engaging Tounces’ force. They didn’t have enough to fight off this entire force, and would be reduced to beam weapons themselves on the way out. And when they reached effective range of the enemy, they would also be within that enemy’s effective range.

  “Come on,” she whispered to herself, looking over at the holo that was showing the shuttles and fighters sweeping down to the surface and turning on a heading into the city. Two shuttles and three fighters were gone, taken out by the enemy. They had killed more than a hundred enemy aircraft, but in proportion their losses were more damaging. The enemy had many more aircraft to launch into the fray, and some of those would be coming into range at hypersonic speeds.

  And then her craft were into the city, going low and fast through the buildings, using them for cover against many of the enemy antiaircraft weapons, while exposing themselves to weapons of lesser capabilities. Madrake cursed right after that thought crossed her mind, and one of the shuttles flew into the building, a moment after being hit by a powerful particle beam in the rear.

  “Signal the Commodore that she needs to be ready to evacuate in,” Dasha checked the timer she was accessing with her implant. “One minute. In one minute they need to unass that building.”

  The Com Officer nodded and started transmitting, a moment before the ship shook with the hit of a powerful beam weapon.

  “We’re taking fire from the planet’s surface,” shouted Satyapathy, glancing from his board for a moment before going back to work. The holo of the planet’s surface lit up with the blinking icons of shore batteries, ten of them, all well away from any city. “Eat this,” shouted the Tactical Officer.

  Niven shook again, then in a sympathetic vibration that told of several hits. Mandrake checked the damage status and cringed when she saw that one of the laser rings was out, as well as a section of electromag field projectors.

  Bright dots appeared on the planet, much larger than the one that had struck the airfields. Three, moments later another three, then another, and finally a last strike.

  “What the hell did you use, Tactical,” she called out, looking over at Satyapathy with wide eyes.

  “The biggest thing we had,” said Satyapathy with a smile. “Hundred megaton penetrators. Five from us, five from Vengeance. We each have three left, if needed.”

  The penetrators were basically a thousand tons of steel that fell into the planet on a programed course. They had built in grabbers that set them on the proper approach and sped them on their way, before burning off in the atmosphere. They could penetrate several kilometers of rock, of scores of meters of the toughest armor, imparting their kinetic energy into the targets. Those in the batteries hadn’t stood a chance. Even if they had hit a penetrator, even if they had put enough energy into it to turn it into a molten mass of metal, it still would have hit with enough power to vaporize everyone in the control center.

  And, Gods, help me, I may have to use those we still have to get us out of here.

  Chapter Twenty

  The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.

  Maximilien Robespierre

  “What the hell are you doing, General?” demanded the Emperor, looking through the semi-transparent holo of the man to the city beyond. There was smoke over the center of that city, mostly near the courthouse, which was most likely a complete wreck by now. But much of the city had been hit by misses, tank shells, missiles that had been knocked out of the air, crashed aircraft.

  “We’ve sent everything we have against them, my Lord,” said the man, his lips quivering with fear. All know it was not a good thing to fail, and so far every action had resulted in failure.

  “Nuke that fucking courthouse, General,” he yelled at the man. “Hit it with the heaviest warhead you can get on it in the next minute.” At least I can still kill Watcher and that damned woman, he thought. A million casualties will be satisfactory collateral damage. I’ve got a lot more where they came from.

  “Are you sure, my Lord?” said the General, his face turning whiter still. “My family lives in the center of the city. And all of my men in that area?”

  With a thought the Emperor switched the com to the General’s second in command, a Brigadier who had been raised to his position by Kitticaris himself. “Brigadier Leon. You are ordered to arrest and execute General de Sosa. And I am ordering you to hit the courthouse with a nuke. Now. Do you have any problems with that, Brigadier?”

  “No sir,” said the man, nodding to someone off the holo. “It will be taken care of.”

  “Don’t fail me, Major General Leon,” said the Emperor, enjoying the smile that appeared on the face of the man on hearing his new rank. And someone I can trust in the future to carry out my orders without question. If not, then there are others who would love to have that position.

  * * *

  The eight shuttles still in operation weaved through the streets of the city, a hundred meters above the pavement. Tall buildings towered to either side of the wide street, over fifty meters in width. The shuttles, with a wingspan of fifteen meters, would have seemed to have plenty of space, until one factored in the need to keep maneuvering to avoid the fire coming up from the ground. Most of it was simply nuisance fire, personal weapons and light vehicle mounts that didn’t have a prayer of penetrating the shuttles. Some were heavier weapons, and when it was coming up at a shuttle it all looked much alike.

  Chopra targeted a pair of vehicles that were sitting on the tarmac ahead, firing heavy particle beams up the street while the missiles launchers on top rotated into position. She lit both of them up with tar
geting laser, then dropped two assisted smart bombs which streaked into the targets and sent them flying into the sky. One hit a building, punching through the steelglass sides before dropping back down to the street. The other flew higher, and the Petty Officer cursed as he pitched to the left to avoid the vehicle. The wing of the shuttle struck the hard steelglass of the buildings, sparking the glass as the even harder alloy of the craft scraped along it. The PO pulled the shuttle back into the street, dropping a little more.

  “We’re almost there,” said the Ensign, looking at the map on the HUD. “I want us directly over the courthouse.”

  “That’s going to attract a lot of fire,” said the PO, grinning.

  “Then the others might not have as much directed toward them,” she said, returning the grin.

  The remaining fighters, nine of them, put on the acceleration, shooting over the plaza while releasing smart weapons and waves of microrobot bombs. Explosions rocked the plaza as tanks and APCs went up in furies of flame, and the microbots homed in on any suited human who was not giving out the proper IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). Each fighter shot a split second of particle beam into the troops gathered over the building, then banked to turn back over the city, speeding away, then turning for another run.

  “Where the hell are they?” yelled the PO. Another shuttle took a hit from a missile and went down, veering to the right and going into a building at one of the lower levels. The side of the building collapsed, dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of structure on the shuttle.

  The top of the dome exploded outward, and Chopra was sure the people they were after would be coming through that hole any instant. “Over the hole,” she shouted to the PO.

  He nodded and flew toward the dome, decelerating to come to a perfect stop in the perfect place.

  * * *

  “Blow another hole in the dome,” yelled Pandi. “And I mean a big one.”

  Major Sengupta acknowledged with a quick word, the relayed the order to the two heavy support Marines that were still standing. Those men flew to position in their oversized suits as the twin rocket launchers on their backs rotated up on extending arms and swiveled into position. The first man fired, a rocket streaking out of each launcher and striking the stonework of the ceiling. They burst through, then exploded as their penetration reached the optimal thickness.

  The second Marine fired two rockets as well, hitting to the right of the first man’s shots and widening the hole. The first fired again, and the hole grew wider, while stone rubble and pieces of steel support rained to the floor. The second fired again, then his launcher rotated back out of the way so his backpack storage could reload the weapons. The first man had more weapons in his launchers, and fired another pair, followed by his last rocket.

  “Everyone out,” called out Pandi over the com. “Our ride is here.”

  The suits started rising into the air, the first couple hesitating for a moment so they could form an outward oriented square. They shot through the hole with particle beams blazing, spreading out so more could rise behind them.

  “Time to go, lover,” she told Watcher, as she lifted into the air.

  “I would prefer for the Marines to board first,” said Watcher, taking a look around the room and feeling a stab of guilt at the death and destruction this rescue had already cost.

  “No fucking way, you idiot,” growled Pandi, grabbing the shoulder of his suit in a gauntlet and pulling him into the air. “These men and women died to get you out of here, because you are important. Don’t waste that sacrifice.”

  Watcher nodded, and lifted into the sky right behind her. He knew she would be using her suit to cover him when they rose out of the building. He wanted to protest, but knew her suit could take a lot more punishment than his. And she would just get furious at him if he even opened his mouth.

  As he rose through the dome he spun his suit, taking in a panoramic view of the city. What he saw made his heart sink further. All of the buildings around the plaza were wrecked on the lower floors facing, and many had damage further up as well. There were bodies all over that plaza, and his quick mind identified them as soldiers in suits, robots, and some civilians. Here and there a robot still fought on.

  Fighters roared overhead at hypersonic speed, rippling rockets into the enemy positions that still surrounded the plaza.

  “Get moving,” yelled Pandi in his com.

  Watcher shook his head and rose to the shuttle that Pandi pointed to. She circled around him like a sheepdog as he ascended, her suit taking some minor hits from beam weapons that might have killed him.

  “In you go,” she shouted, actually shoving him into the hatch, following closely. A half dozen Marines crowded in behind them, while the rest went to the three other shuttles nearest the dome.

  “Everyone,” called out a woman’s voice over the com. “Prepare for acceleration.”

  Everyone started heading for a suit cubby, locking in as soon as they got there. The shuttle was already moving, boosting upwards at hundreds of gravities, passing the sound barrier in seconds. The inertial compensators protected the people aboard from those gee forces, but there was always the possibility of some internal turbulence as the craft juked and dodged on the way out.

  “Do you have a working implant,” said Pandi over the com.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head even though she wasn’t in sight. “They ripped it out of my head.”

  “Bastards,” growled Pandi. “We’re going to make them pay.”

  “Just get us out of here,” said Watcher, wishing he could touch the woman who had risked everything to give him freedom. Even if we don’t make it from here, I’m still free.

  * * *

  “Everyone, get moving,” ordered Chopra over the com. The Lt. Commander who had been the mission leader had been killed on the way in when his shuttle had been splattered across the sky. None of the other officers on the mission seemed to be taking over, so it was up to her. “Maximum boost toward the ships.”

  The acknowledgements came back quickly, no one questioning her authority, and the remaining seven shuttles stood on their tails and shot into the sky, the eight fighters still with them falling behind to shield them with their own craft. The holo showed missiles rising from the surface, scores of them, just before lasers came down from above to obliterate the batteries. More beams reached up, missing the madly dodging shuttles. A fighter converted to mostly vapor mixed with small pieces of debris. Then another, and a shuttle was hit and veered off to fall in a curve back to the surface of the moon.

  “We’ve been hit,” called out the PO, wrestling with the joystick that was used for such violent maneuvering. The damage blinked on the ship schematic that appeared on the HUD, showing that one grabber had been taken off the stern of the ship, and the hull pierced just above it. Thank the Gods everyone in the passenger compartment is in battle armor, she thought, lowering her own faceplate with a thought.

  Something bright flashed in the area they had just occupied within the city. The flash expanded into a ball of fire, which rolled out in a blast wave through the city. Already damaged buildings crumbled to the ground, while those still structurally sound weathered the blast, though many of their steelglass windows were blown out.

  “That wasn’t us, was it?” asked the horrified Pilot.

  “No, I don’t think so. They were trying to take us out before we could get away.”

  The shuttle shook as the mushroom cloud rose and the blast wave reached to them. They were too far away to be destroyed, but the turbulence was still fierce, and the shuttle started yawing on its path.

  “I’m having some trouble controlling her,” called out the Pilot.

  “Can you get us to the ship?” she asked, knowing that if her shuttle didn’t make it the entire mission was a bust. Not even worrying about her own life in the stress of the moment.

  “Missiles on final approach,” called out the ship’s computer, and Chopra stared in horror as the weapons cam
e up on a path that avoided her one working stern laser.

  “Turn us,” she yelled at the Pilot. “Get me a working laser on target.”

  “I’m trying, ma’am,” said the Pilot, his sweating face visible through his faceplate. “The turbulence from the lost grabber is fighting me.”

  We’re dead, thought the Ensign. And all of this is for nothing.

  Just as that thought finished going through her mind one of the fighters turned in midair and blasted two of the missiles out of the sky. A quick veer and the fighter slammed into the last weapon, taking it and itself out of the battle.

  You will be honored by the Gods, thought Chopra, her mouth hanging open in surprise at the display of courage she had just witnessed. Your rebirth shall be glorious.

  The surface of the moon dropped behind, while the viewer showed the ships ahead. Niven was her target, and the Pilot nudged the shuttle in that direction, while the other shuttles made way for her, coming in on her tail, the fighters still behind them.

  “That doesn’t look good,” said the Pilot, catching her attention. She looked at the tactical holo on the HUD to see a cloud of space fighters coming after them. More than they could handle.

  “All craft,” blared out the com. “Stay on final approach. Do not deviate from your course.”

  She acknowledged, and a moment later a couple of missiles streaked out, one from each ship. They passed the group, heading toward the enemy fighters. Those craft, a hundred kilometers below, started to go into evasive maneuvers while firing on the missiles. One was hit, and tumbled to the altitude of the rising enemy craft. The other flew a perfect course into the swarm. And, as they both detonated their fifty megaton warheads, they had the same effect on the enemy no matter their path of arrival.

  The fighter formation was broken, over a hundred craft falling from the sky, some in pieces, others looking intact but otherwise not working. And twenty or so veering away, with no chance now of catching the shuttles.