by Brown, Ryk
His son’s eyes began to open at his father’s touch. He coughed, lightly at first, wincing in pain as he did so. The coughing became worse for a moment, then subsided. Despite the medication given to him by Corporal Durham, the pain was obvious on his son’s face. He stared at his father’s face in disbelief for what seemed an eternity before trying to speak. His voice was broken, his throat dry and his words unintelligible.
“Do not speak, Tanner,” his father told him as he fought back the tears. “You must save your strength.”
Tanner coughed again and again, so much so that his father feared the end was upon them. Finally, he settled down. “Do not tell mother,” he whispered in a dry and raspy voice. “She will be angry with me.”
“Yes, best we don’t speak of this to her,” he agreed, if only to ease his son’s mind.
Tanner began to wheeze, small gurgling sounds coming from his chest as he started coughing again. A look of desperation washed over the young man’s face as he realized his pending demise. He looked to his father for help, seeing hopelessness in his father’s eyes. Tanner’s eyes also began to well up. “Father,” he said as he coughed, “I do not wish to die in this uniform. I do not want to die for the empire.” Tanner raised his left hand. It shook as he grabbed his father’s arm. “I wish to die for our people, as a Corinari.”
“Of course, my son,” the captain told him as he removed his battle vest. “Of course.” Captain Waddell removed his combat uniform shirt and laid it over his son, making sure the patch of the Corinari was visible. His son turned his head slightly to gaze upon the gold and red eagle under the Corinairan star. He smiled slightly as his last breath passed his lips, his eyes fixed on the symbol of his people.
Captain Waddell stared at his son’s still face for several seconds, grimacing to control his anguish. Finally, he pulled the uniform shirt up over his son’s face. His head hung down as he tried to maintain his composure. He had men to lead, a battle to fight, a war to win. But right now, it was all he could do not to break down and cry.
“Captain,” the sergeant’s voice called from behind, “I am sorry, sir, but you are needed in the command shack.”
“What is it?” the captain asked, annoyed by the intrusion during his moment of grief.
“We have breached the palace wall,” Sergeant Davidge exclaimed.
Captain Waddell raised his head, picked up his battle vest, and rose to his feet. As he put the battle vest back on, he turned and headed toward the exit, his composure returning in the face of an even greater challenge. As he came down the ramp, he spotted the Corporal “Durham!”
The corporal came running at the captain’s call. “Yes, sir!”
“See to it that my son is tagged as a fallen Corinari.” The captain looked at the corporal. “See to it that his body is returned to Corinair so he can rest on the Walk of Heroes.”
“Yes, sir.”
The captain patted the side of the corporal’s neck affectionately, remembering the young lad who used to walk with Tanner to their ball games. “Thank you, Miles,” he told him as he strode off.
* * *
“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported. “Calculating attack jump.”
“Very well,” Nathan answered. “Mister Navashee, update the course and speed of target six, and feed the updated track data to navigation.”
“Yes, sir,” Mister Navashee answered.
“Mister Randeen, target six is one of their newer cruisers, correct?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, sir, the Tattarak,” the tactical officer answered. “Her shields have been improved, as have her guns. She still uses the same missile and targeting systems as the other ships of the line. She also carries about fifty fighters and a sizable landing force, including Ghatazhak.”
“Perhaps we should replace the conventional warhead in tube five with a fixed yield nuke,” Nathan stated, “in case she manages to get her shields up before our first torpedoes strike. Then we can launch two back at her after we jump past.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Captain!” Mister Navashee called. “Target six is not where she is supposed to be.”
“What do you mean?” Nathan asked. “Where is she?”
“That’s just it, sir. She isn’t there. She’s gone.”
“Scan the area; widen your scans. She’s got to be out there somewhere. Even if she only recently changed course…”
“Unless she went to FTL,” Mister Randeen interrupted.
The thought had not occurred to Nathan. “She’s too far out to have already received Answari’s distress call.”
“Still one minute until the distress call would reach her, sir,” Mister Navashee said.
“Is it possible we miscalculated?”
“No, sir,” Mister Navashee insisted. “We made our calculations based on the speed of light and the assumption that the distress call went out the moment the Aurora originally jumped into Takaran orbit. We even worked in a twenty percent margin of error.”
“Could she have gone to FTL for some other reason, something unrelated to our attack?” Mister Randeen postulated.
“It’s possible, I suppose,” Nathan admitted. He turned back to the sensor operator. “Anything?”
“No, sir,” Mister Navashee reported. “She must have gone to FTL.”
“Sir,” Mister Randeen began, “since we have no way of knowing where she went, we should assume the worst case scenario, which is that she returned to Takara for reasons unknown.”
“And when she gets there, she’ll see that Answari is under siege and offer support,” Nathan added. “Mister Riley, plot a jump back to Takara and jump when ready.”
* * *
“C2, Falcon,” Loki called over comms.
“Falcon, go for C2,” Cameron answered.
“Avendahl is powering up. Repeat, the Avendahl is powering up. We believe she is making preparations to get underway.”
“Falcon, C2. Locate the Aurora and update. She should be engaging target six by now.”
“C2, Falcon copies. Will contact Aurora at engagement zone four and update. Falcon out.”
Cameron turned her head to look at Ensign Yosef. “The situation just got worse.”
* * *
“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported. “Settling into low orbit over Takara.”
“Threat board?” Nathan asked.
“Same civilian traffic as before,” Mister Randeen reported, “only less.”
“The civies are probably scattering,” Nathan observed. “They don’t want to get caught in a battle. No sign of target six?”
“No, sir. The Tattarak is not in the area unless she is on the back side of the planet.”
“CAG, Captain,” Nathan called over his comm-set.
“Captain, go for CAG.”
“Major, I need to know the back side of the planet is clear, particularly of that missing cruiser.”
“Captain, CAG. I’ll launch a patrol. Should have an answer for you in twenty minutes.”
“Copy that. You might also want to recall any fighters that still have enough fuel to make it to orbit. We should have enough time to recycle them before we leave.”
“Will do, sir. CAG out.”
“Captain, there are fifty fighters in bound from the shipyards,” Mister Navashee reported. “They are probably from the Avendahl. However, they are still more than an hour from Takara.”
“Hopefully this will be over by the time they get here,” Nathan commented.
“Sir,” Naralena called, “I’m receiving reports from Corinari ground forces. They have breached the palace wall and are attempting to push into the compound. Captain Waddell is reporting heavy casualties and is requesting medevac.”
“Have them evac their wounded to us using the jump shuttles, and warn medical. Also, tell the quartermaster to send down additional medical supplies.”
Corinari soldiers stationed on distant rooftops continued to launch precision shoulder-fired rockets at the remai
ning gun emplacements in the palace wall and towers. With ground troops now engaged in a close-quarters exchange of energy weapons fire in and around the breach in the palace wall, the remaining gunners were tempted to fire on the ground troops below rather than targeting the more distant rooftops which were at their maximum effective range. Those that chose to target the ground forces had made a fatal error, as doing so allowed the Corinari rockets to fire unchecked, resulting in the loss of even more gun emplacements.
Captain Waddell stared at the tactical map as icons indicating each of his men in the battle field disappeared one by one. He was losing a man every few seconds. This was no longer a diversion. His men intended to take the castle themselves, regardless of anything the Karuzari insertion teams might do. He supposed it was inevitable, as every man under his command, whether they had lost someone during the vicious attacks on his world or not, sought revenge at some level. It was only human nature.
Despite the ongoing casualty rate, the blue icons continued to mass at the breach point. As the icons continued to blink out, the rest of them surged forward into the breach. Those at the lead disappeared at an even faster rate, but there were many more coming up to take their places. Soon, red icons were beginning to disappear at an equal rate.
Captain Waddell took his messaging unit and quickly tapped out a message, touching the send button as soon as he was done. The time had come.
Jessica felt a vibration in the waistband of her royal serving girl costume. She pulled out the messaging unit and looked at the small, dimly lit screen. The message read, ‘Wall breached. Storming grounds. Attack now.’ “It’s time,” Jessica whispered to the seven Karuzari standing in the corridor with her. She placed the messaging unit back in her waistband. She picked up her tray of medicinals and took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
Captain Waddell continued to watch the tactical holo-map as his forces rushed into the palace grounds through the breach. The red icons representing the palace guards were beginning to disappear at a faster rate than those of his own men. They were getting the upper hand. More importantly, the fact that they were advancing into the palace itself practically guaranteed that the Karuzari attack on the Ta’Akar underground command bunker would drive Caius to his safe room and into the hands of his waiting captors.
“Contact!” Mister Navashee reported. “Just came out of FTL!” he spun his head to look at the captain. “It’s the Tattarak.”
“ID confirmed,” Mister Randeen stated. “She’s launching ships.”
“How many? What type?”
“Landing craft and fighters, sir. Checking configurations,” Mister Randeen answered.
“Helm, put us on an intercept course with that cruiser,” Nathan ordered. “Tactical, lock missiles on the cruiser and fire four. Stand by tubes one and two. Reload all conventionals with fixed yield nukes. Stand by all rail guns.”
“Attempting to acquire target lock,” Mister Randeen reported as he steadied himself against the Aurora’s acceleration.
“She’s jamming,” Mister Willard reported.
“Optical targeting, Mister Randeen,” Nathan ordered.
“Switching to optical. ID’s confirmed. Those are drop ships and close-air support fighters. They’re the type used by the Ghatazhak.”
Nathan felt a cold chill go down his spine as he remembered the stories about the ruthless special forces of the Ta’Akar. The Ghatazhak they had enraged during interrogation was not easily forgotten.
“Good line of sight. Firing four missiles,” Mister Randeen reported.
“Her shields are already up, sir,” Mister Navashee reported from the sensors station.
“Max torpedo range in ten seconds,” Mister Chiles reported from the navigator’s chair.
“Target is spinning up point-defenses,” Mister Navashee reported.
“We’ll fire torpedoes, then translate down and jump forward, just like before. Only this time, we’ll be firing the first batch from further out.”
“All four missiles were intercepted by her point-defenses,” Mister Randeen reported. “All conventionals have been reloaded with fixed yields and are ready to fire.”
“Max torpedo range in five seconds,” Mister Riley reported.
“Target is firing missiles!” Mister Navashee called out.
“Time to impact: fifteen seconds,” Mister Randeen announced.
“Max range!”
“Snapshot tubes one and two. FIRE!” Nathan ordered.
“Firing one and two,” Mister Randeen reported. “Torpedoes one and two away!”
“Helm, translate down! Jump ahead two clicks when clear!” Nathan ordered.
Mister Chiles slid the Aurora downward, quickly getting the ship far enough below the enemy cruiser that they could jump forward. “Clear path,” he announced.
“Jumping!” Mister Riley reported.
The bridge was momentarily flooded with the light from the jump flash.
“Angle on the stern. Line up the tubes,” Nathan ordered. “Tactical, fire five and six when you have a solution.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Comms, scramble our fighters!” Nathan ordered. “Let’s get as many of them as we can before they hit the surface.”
“Yes, sir,” Naralena answered.
“Firing tubes five and six!” Mister Randeen reported. “Five and six away!”
“Torpedoes one and two have impacted,” Mister Navashee reported. “Her stern shields are down fifty percent but still intact. No significant damage.”
“Torpedoes five and six impact in ten seconds,” Mister Randeen reported.
“Flight ops reports fighters are launching now, Captain,” Naralena reported. “They need five minutes to complete the launch cycle.”
“Helm, maintain course and speed,” Nathan ordered.
“Target is firing again,” Mister Navashee reported. “Eight contacts. Impact in twenty seconds.”
“Let’s use what point-defense we have, Mister Randeen,” Nathan told the tactical officer.
“Setting rail guns to point-defense mode,” the tactical officer replied.
“Try to be selective in your targeting,” Nathan told him. “Let’s make every burst count.”
“Torpedo impacts!” Mister Navashee reported. “Two nuclear detonations!”
“Firing point-defense,” Mister Randeen reported. “Two down……three down……four down.” Mister Randeen rechecked his displays before continuing. “Four missiles got through, Captain. Impact in five seconds.”
“All hands, brace for impact,” Nathan ordered. Naralena relayed his warning throughout the ship from the comm station.
“Two……one……”
Four explosions rocked the Aurora, tossing the bridge crew about violently. Nathan was thrown forward out of his chair as if the entire ship had hit a wall in space, sending its loose contents flying. He tumbled forward and slammed shoulder first into the center console of the helm, which sent a wave of pain down his arm.
“Damage report!” Nathan ordered as he scrambled to his feet.
“Still coming in, sir,” Naralena answered.
“I mean to them,” Nathan corrected.
“Their forward shields are down, sir!” Mister Navashee reported. “She’s lost two missile pods as well. She may have some damage to maneuvering as well. She’s trying to turn, but doing so very slowly.”
“How many fighters have we launched?” Nathan asked.
“Only ten!” Naralena reported a moment later. “They had to stop to reset their launch systems. They will resume launch operations in one minute.”
“Too late. Red deck!” Nathan told her. “Mister Chiles, kill mains and flip us end over. Bring our forward tubes onto that cruiser as quick as you can.”
“Red deck, aye,” Naralena answered as she keyed up flight operations.
“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles answered. “Mains at zero. Flipping over.”
“Tactical, fire tubes three and four as soon as you have
a shot!”
“Standing by on three and four, aye,” Mister Randeen confirmed.
Nathan watched the forward view screen as the Aurora flipped end over and the planet Takara slid quickly up over their heads and behind them. When the motion stopped, the imperial cruiser Tattarak appeared on the view screen as a small white blob only slightly larger than the stars in the background.
“Firing tubes three and four,” Mister Randeen reported.
On the main view screen, the two torpedoes streaked past them from either side, quickly shrinking into the darkness as they accelerated away from the Aurora toward their target.
“Twenty-five seconds to impact.”
“Target is still trying to turn, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.
“She’s trying to get her undamaged missile pods on us,” Mister Randeen added.
“Helm, pitch down ninety relative to flight path. I want our nose pointed toward the planet.”
“Pitching ninety down,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Comms, green deck. Warn flight ops of our new orientation and tell them to get those fighters off the deck.”
“Estimate target will complete their yaw maneuver in fifteen seconds,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Time to torpedo impact?” Nathan wondered.
“Ten seconds.”
“Put the cruiser up on the viewer and magnify,” Nathan ordered. A moment later, he could see the Tattarak clearly. Her nose had a lot of damage from the two nuclear detonations, and her two forward missile pods were a mangled mess. He could also see shield emitters sparking and flashing as they tried to establish a connection to their neighboring nodes in order to reform the cruiser’s protective energy shield. The cruiser was indeed turning slowly, but turning nonetheless. Not only was she trying to get her undamaged missile pods in position to fire on the Aurora, but she was also trying to get her shielded side facing her enemy as well.