by Brown, Ryk
“Final jump plotted and locked,” Mister Riley reported.
“Stand by, Mister Riley.” Nathan signaled Mister Randeen to allow the Falcon to land.
“C2 is reporting they have been sending jumpers in one at a time to an alternate LZ. Sending image to main viewer.”
An aerial view of the college square and the amphitheater appeared on the Aurora’s main view screen. Nathan studied the map for a moment. “That’s awfully tight.”
“Loki reports that the shuttles have to come in straight down, jumping in only twenty meters above the ground to avoid being targeted by the remaining air defense batteries.”
“Captain, CIC,” Master Chief Montrose called over the comm-set.
“Go ahead, Master Chief,” Nathan answered.
“Sir, that’s a lousy way to fight a ground war, sir.”
“Can you elaborate, Master Chief?” Nathan asked.
“Even if they can jump all fifteen hundred of them into that LZ—which is doubtful—as long as those guns are working, they’ve got no air support. Even worse, Takaran airships are bound to show up sooner or later, which means they’ll be in even bigger trouble.”
“Suggestions?”
“We need to get our air support down there to cover them.”
“Those guns will rip them apart, Master Chief,” Nathan protested.
“Probably, but there are only two guns left, Captain, and the Falcon damaged one of them. Surely a few of our birds could get in there and do some damage.”
“Captain, CAG,” Major Prechitt chimed in. “That’s not going to work. Those guns can reach all the way to orbit. Our fighters won’t even make it down into the atmosphere to launch their missiles.”
Nathan thought for a moment.
“Captain,” Naralena said, breaking the silence, “C2 is suggesting we try using the quads on the guns.”
“What, is she serious?” Nathan exclaimed. “We have no idea how accurate they’ll be from orbit.”
“The atmosphere will undoubtedly have an effect,” Major Prechitt added over the comm-set, “not to mention the planet’s gravity. The collateral damage could be significant.”
“I’m certain Commander Taylor has considered that possibility, sir,” Master Chief Montrose added from the CIC.
Nathan sighed. “Mister Riley, new plot. We need to be in orbit over Answari.”
“Yes, sir,” Mister Riley answered.
“Major, get the Falcon rearmed and off the deck as soon as possible. I’ve got a mission for him.”
“Yes, sir,” Major Prechitt answered over the comm-set.
“Jump control, Captain,” Nathan called.
“Captain, Jump control. Go ahead,” Abby answered over the comm-set.
“Doctor,” Nathan began, “I have a physics problem for you to analyze.”
* * *
Energy weapons fire slammed into the hillside surrounding the amphitheater as the Corinari troops stayed low, peeking their heads up only enough to return fire.
“They’re trying to encircle us, Captain,” Sergeant Horvath yelled out.
“We need more shooters on those two buildings,” Captain Waddell ordered. “From there, they can keep them from getting around to our right.”
“Impossible, sir,” the sergeant told him. “Those damned students set a fire in the stairwell on our side, and the other side is held by Answari security forces.”
Something exploded nearby, causing the Captain and his sergeant to duck down momentarily as dirt and debris showered them.
“Are you kidding me? Local security? Those aren’t imperial regulars out there?”
“No, sir! Not yet anyway!”
“Tell our shooters up there to blow the top of the other stairway before those Answari troops get up onto the roof. If they take that roof, they’ll have a clear firing line at the jump shuttles as they come in.”
“Yes, sir.”
The fog lit up with blue-white light once again as another shuttle dropped from the swirling fog and came to a quick landing on the amphitheater stage.
“How many does that make?” Captain Waddell asked.
“We’re up to one hundred and eighty with this load,” the sergeant answered.
“Is that all?”
“Sir, shooters on the roof are reporting inbound airships coming from the northeast.”
“Northeast? The palace is in the opposite direction! Where the hell are they coming from?”
Having unloaded her troops, the shuttle lifted off quickly, heading down the promenade directly over the heads of the Answari security forces. The shuttle’s crew chief stood on the shuttle’s still-open rear cargo ramp, spraying the enemy below with energy weapons fire as the shuttle sped away. Several energy weapons blasts struck the shuttle, causing her to bounce violently and nearly knocking the crew chief off the ramp. Once clear of the security forces, the crew chief stepped back inside and closed the hatch. After which, the shuttle pitched up and jumped away.
“What the hell is wrong with that asshole?” Captain Waddell screamed. “Sergeant Horvath! Pass the word back to C2: all outbound shuttles are to exit to the south only. Do not fly over the enemy positions, and do not attempt to engage. We cannot afford to lose another shuttle, damn it!”
“Yes, sir!” the sergeant promised.
Another shuttle jumped in above their heads, falling to a last second landing like the previous one.
“And be sure that one exits south as well!”
Energy weapons fire struck the grass around them, sending dirt flying up into their faces from down around their feet.
“What the hell?” the captain wondered. With a hill encircling their position, the only threat down in the lowest center area should have been from the occasional crowd control grenade launched into their perimeter. Captain Waddell looked around as he crouched down to present a smaller target, following the incoming fire from his eyes. “There!” he shouted to the sergeant. “About ten floors up! Get our shooters to put some fire on those windows!”
“Yes, sir!” Sergeant Horvath answered.
Twenty more men came pouring out of the shuttle as it touched down, all of them immediately taking places on the hill crest to help return fire. The shuttle lifted off and turned south as the sergeant had instructed, pitching up and disappearing in its blue-white jump flash only a few moments later.
Energy weapons fire continued to rain down on them from above. “Sergeant! What the hell is taking our shooters so long?”
“They’re not responding, sir!” the sergeant reported.
More energy weapons fire began to rain down, this time from a different location. Captain Waddell had to scramble behind one of the overturned round metal tables to avoid getting hit by the incoming fire. “Sergeant, isn’t that where our shooters are?” There was no answer. Captain Waddell looked around as the next shuttle jumped in and rapidly descended to its landing on the stage. “Sergeant!” He pulled one of the other tables out of the way and found Sergeant Horvath lying on his left side, his body smoldering. He checked his pulse. “MEDIC!” he screamed out. As the nearest medic ran in a low crouch to aid the fallen sergeant, Captain Waddell looked around. His men were being picked off right and left. Men were falling to incoming energy weapons fire as they exited the shuttle that had just landed. The shuttle itself was even taking light energy weapons fire, and the captain knew that it was only a matter of time before the Answari security forces got something bigger up on one of those rooftops.
Captain Waddell keyed his comm-set. “Jumper five, Jolly! Flash traffic for C2!”
“Jolly, Jumper five. Go with traffic,” the copilot responded over the comm-set as the shuttle began to lift off.
“Jumper five, Jolly! Message reads: Find me another fucking LZ! This one is closed!”
“Jolly, Jumper five copies. Good luck,” the copilot answered just before the shuttle jumped away.
Captain Waddell looked about, finally spotting a corporal that had just gotten off
the shuttle. “Corporal!” he hollered, signaling for the corporal to come to him.
The corporal crawled over quickly, staying low behind the downed tables. “Yes, sir!”
“What’s your name?” Captain Waddell asked.
“Davidge, sir! Corporal Torin Davidge!”
“Not anymore, Davidge,” Captain Waddell told him. “You’re now my platoon sergeant. Now grab that guy’s comm-unit and pass the word; we’re moving out to the south!”
Torin Davidge swallowed hard. “Yes, sir!” he answered as he scrambled for Sergeant Horvath’s comm-unit.
“Jump complete,” Loki announced.
“You know, you can stop saying that,” Josh said. “Especially when we’re jumping into the atmosphere. I mean it’s pretty obvious, ain’t it?”
“Just get our nose on the target so I can launch.”
“It already is, my friend,” Josh announced as they streaked low over the open farmland just beyond Answari.
“Twenty seconds to max range,” Loki announced. “Uh oh, they’ve beefed up their shields.”
“So we throw all four at him again,” Josh announced.
“He’s bringing his last barrel around. They’ll have a bead on us in fifteen seconds.”
“No problem, I can turn faster than they can.”
“Not at this range, Josh. It’s pretty much a tie.”
“Then we’ll have a few seconds lead on him.”
“Not much room for error.”
“Then I won’t make one,” Josh insisted.
“Firing four,” Loki announced.
Josh watched out his cockpit canopy, waiting for all four missiles to streak away before rolling the interceptor into a quick left turn. They held the turn until they were flying at a forty five degree angle to their previous course. Their new angle would make the air defense battery have to track to its right at its maximum rate of rotation, which meant that it should not catch up to them and be able to take a shot before their missiles reached the gun battery and hopefully destroyed it. He had considered pitching up slightly so they could jump away, but that would slow them down, possibly enough for the gun to catch them.
“Impact in twenty seconds,” Loki announced.
In small groups, the Corinari began falling back from the hillside, running back past the backside of the amphitheater stage and out over the hill to its south side. The Answari security forces had not been able to work their way around that far yet in their attempt to cut off their last escape route, which was one of the reasons Captain Waddell had chosen to move out when he had.
As the last ten men withdrew down the hill and back toward the stage in order to make their way to the south exit, two Answari security airships came swooping in low. They slowed to almost a hover as two men leaned out either side of each of the two airships. The men began showering the retreating Corinari with energy weapons fire, burning them down with ease.
Captain Waddell stopped his run and spun around at the sound of the new energy weapons fire. He was still close enough to the amphitheater to see the two airships and the energy weapons fire they were raining down on the last of his men to leave the now closed landing zone. “Everyone against the walls! Stay in cover! Use the doorways! Pay attention to the location of those airships when you move!” Waddell turned to his new sergeant. “Davidge! Send two heavy guns a few blocks ahead, and have them get up on top of something. I want those airships off our backs!”
“Yes, sir!” Davidge answered.
A series of four distant explosions were heard. Captain Waddell turned toward the sound and saw an orange fireball lighting up the last of the lingering fog in the distance.
“Scratch one gun!” Loki announced with glee.
“Hell yes!” Josh cried out as he turned the interceptor toward the city. “Now, let’s go harass the other one.” Josh pulled his nose up just enough to clear the shorter buildings, leaving only the taller ones to weave through.
“Uh, Josh, what are you doing?”
“Trying to draw the other gun’s attention,” Josh explained.
“Of course. And why would that be, again?”
“To keep his attention on us, of course. Is it working?”
“Well, he’s almost got us locked in, so…”
Josh ducked the interceptor back down below the tops of the shorter buildings as a hail of energy bolts streaked over their heads.
“It’s working,” Josh said. “Call my route, Loki. Get us to that LZ. Let’s see if we can’t help out the ground pounders.”
Captain Waddell fell through the glass doors of a clothing store, landing amongst the shards of broken glass and pieces of the door’s frame and sliding into a rack of women’s clothing. Energy weapons fire from above peppered the door frame, the wall, and the main window. It burned several holes in the window before it finally shattered, sending even more glass flying in on top of the fallen captain. As soon as the firing stopped, Sergeant Davidge came running in.
“Captain! Are you all right, sir?!” he called as he scrambled to the captain’s side. He quickly pulled away the women’s clothing that had been knocked off the rack and had fallen on the captain when he fell through the shop’s front door to avoid the airship’s gun fire.
“I’m fine!” the captain assured him. “Where are the heavy shooters?”
“I don’t know, sir. They’re no longer answering,” Sergeant Davidge told him. “The airships must have gotten them.”
Captain Waddell scrambled to his feet and returned to the door, stepping carefully through the mangled door frame to try to get a look at the airships. He looked out, peeking around the edge of the building’s wall. At the far end of the street, the direction they were trying to escape to, one of the airships was circling about, maintaining a high rate of speed to avoid the sporadic energy weapons fire being sent up by his troops as they momentarily stuck their heads out to return fire.
“Those airships are playing us perfectly,” he explained with disdain. One of them draws our fire and the other picks us off when we poke our heads out to shoot. They’re trying to slow us down so the ground forces can get into position and surround us.”
“What are we going to do, sir?” Sergeant Davidge asked.
Captain Waddell leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes to think. According to the original plan, they should have already been approaching the palace by this time, about to engage the palace guards in order to create a diversion and allow the Karuzari insertion teams to do their thing.
“Jolly, Weasel five,” a voice called over the captain’s comm-set.
“Weasel five, go for Jolly,” the captain answered. It was one of the strike teams that had jumped in to deal with the Answari air defense batteries.
“Jolly, Weasel five. We’re two clicks north of your position, assuming those airships are over you now.”
“Yup, that’s us, Weasel five. What’s the good word?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have one, Jolly. According to my recon drone, you’ve got the entire Answari security force coming up the street from behind you. I suggest you double-time it out of there before they climb up your backside.”
“Those birds have got us pinned in good, Weasel five. Anything you can do for us?”
“Sorry, Jolly. We’re too far out. I’m afraid you may have to sacrifice a few lads to get those birds out of your hair.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that. Jolly out.”
“Sir?” Sergeant Davidge wondered, having overheard the comm chatter.
“We need to take down those airships, Sergeant. On my mark, the first four squads jump out and open fire. At the same time, the next four squads run down a side street and try to get a shot from another angle.”
“Sir, those guys are going to get burned,” Sergeant Davidge protested.
“I know, Sergeant. But if we don’t do something soon, we’re all going to end up getting burned. There’s no other choice…” Captain Waddell’s voice trailed off as he heard someth
ing in the distance—the high pitched whine of jet engines.
“Jolly, Falcon. Get your heads down! Engaging in five!” Loki called over the comm-set.
Captain Waddell keyed his comm-set to the entire platoon. “Friendly fire incoming! Everyone take cover!”
Josh pulled the interceptor around the last building, firing his braking thrusters. He came around and ended up face to face with the two airships that had been hammering the Corinari for the last few minutes. “They’re all yours, Loki,” Josh announced as he brought the interceptor to a hover less than ten meters above the street.
Loki swung the nose turret onto the first airship and opened fire, sending a few thousand slugs into the target. The airship disintegrated in midair, small and medium-sized pieces of debris falling from the sky as her fuel ignited in a fireball in the air. The second airship broke away and ducked behind the building, making a run for it.
“I don’t think so,” Josh said as he increased his thrust and caused the interceptor to leap upward. He applied just enough forward thrust at the same time, jumping over the building in between him and the other airship. As the interceptor fell back down on the opposite side of the building, several large energy bolts flew overhead, fired from the other air defense battery not more than four kilometers away. He slid the ship to his left, poking out from behind the next building as the airship came around the opposite side. Again Loki opened fire, catching the tail of the airship and sending it spiraling out of control. It slammed into the building and exploded, burning fuel spilling down the side of the building itself.
“Jolly, Falcon. Bag two,” Loki announced.
“Falcon, Jolly. Thanks boys!” Captain Waddell answered over the comms.
“Bag two?” Josh teased.
“I always wanted to say something like that,” Loki admitted. “Sounded cool, didn’t it?”
“Coming about,” Josh announced as he smiled and turned the airship to the left toward the advancing Answari security forces.
“Jolly, Falcon. New orders. C2 says reinforcements arriving shortly. Head for primary objective ASAP.”