"Damn it, 'Major, they knew we were coming!" gritted Raan.
"It was the boy, Tomas," put in Raemond, "You know, the lad whose brother you saved."
"He made a deal with Farrell for his brother's life," added Erion. She saw the look in Raan's eye and raised a hand to stem the words unsaid. "Now isn't the time, Captain. We have to get to the Grennig and prepare for war." Raan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and nodded.
"Any word from the Rising Star?"
"Nothing yet, but we don't have a powerful enough receiver here. We might have more luck aboard the ship."
"Yeah, they might still be in hyperspace," added Raan. It didn't occur to him that Jed would not have been able to get the Planet Killer. He stifled a yawn. "Let's get up there." Erion motioned to the tall man by her side,
"Raan, this is Captain Jakoral. He's going to be our gunnery officer."
"Call me Jak," the lanky Captain held up a hand and Raan copied the gesture. Erion turned to face Rigondal and Raemond.
"You know what you have to do," it was more of a statement than a question.
"We won't let you down, Major," Raemond answered, grimly. "Whether you come with the weapon or not, we will rise up tonight."
Chapter 21
Erion, Raan and Jakoral reached the hidden crater just before noon. They used the tunnel system under the town, then travelled by Robograzer using the forest as cover. Raan disengaged the camouflage damping shield and the Grennig shimmered as the sunlight caught its metal body. It wasn't a full shield; they didn't have the power for that, but solar refractors all over the hull shifted and muted the light when sunlight hit the hull so that it didn't shine or glare when viewed from above.
"Come on," said Erion as she lowered the ramp, "we'll grab a meal, then Jak and I will check out the ship's systems while you get some rest."
"Sounds fine to me," answered Raan. "When do we lift off?"
"I pre arranged a time with Jed. He's going to hide in the shadow of Lumis till twenty hundred Aurian Standard Time then do one quick orbit every two hours to try for communications.
"I'll get a shower then get my head down. Don't let me miss the fun." Erion woke him at seven that evening and they had a quick coffee, then took their places in the pilot section to await word from Raemond. It came within minutes and all four screens lit up to show his smudged face. The sound of laser fire could be heard in the background, along with raised voices shouting commands.
"That's it guys, we've disabled the auxiliary tracking station at the Pinnacle Port. It's overloaded the main scanner, just like you figured. You're clear to go."
"Thank you, Raemond," answered Erion. "We're on our way." The Grennig lifted noisily from its hiding place at nineteen thirty that night. Raan sat in the pilot chair, Erion was co and Captain Jakoral manned the guns. Clouds of red dust rose around the ship as it lifted slowly from the basin of the crater and the big setting sun coloured the shining steel in bands of red and gold as it cleared the crater. Raan kept the big ship low and the Grennig cast a black shadow over the tree tops and grassy fields as it flew over them. Then, with a thunderous roar, it turned and headed upward towards the darkening canopy of the night sky.
"Standard orbit confirmed," called Erion from her position of co pilot.
"No signs of pursuit," added Jakoral.
"There's nothing in orbit, either," muttered Raan. "I would have expected something. What's going on?"
"They don't expect any resistance," said Erion. "I'm guessing they thought this planet would be a walkover."
"Well, they'll soon be finding out just how wrong they were," snarled Jak. "Every man and woman over twelve is out for war. We'll take 'em easy."
"Yeah, it's keeping the planet that'll be the hard part," put in Raan. "They'll have called for back up at the first sign of major trouble. It'll get here within eight hours or so."
"Make that just under two hours," called Jed's voice over the com.
"Jed!" exclaimed Erion. "It's good to hear your voice. Repeat that last message, would you?"
"Expect enemy ships within two hours," he said. "The real Rimek turned up just as we were leaving. Things got kinda busy."
"I can imagine," she smiled. "What about the Planet Killer?"
"Starfire's ready to launch it at your command," answered Jed. Erion and Raan exchanged shocked glances.
"Say again, Jed," she commanded.
"Something wrong with your com or what?" asked Jed. "I repeat, Starfire and Hal are ready to launch the Planet Killer at your command."
"My god, Jed, we thought they'd been killed!" shouted Raan, leaning forward into the comlink in his excitement." They heard Jed laughing,
"Oh no, man. They got into a life pod and sent that launch on its way empty. Everyone's here and okay."
"Starfire?" called Erion, "Come in, please."
"This is Starfire," she answered.
"We thought you were dead," said Erion.
"No chance of that," she answered, "Raan still owes me fifty creds."
"Forty five," he called over the com, grinning like an idiot. There was a joyful silence for a few seconds the Erion pulled herself together.
"Hal, are you there?" Erion decided to get back to business. "How long will it take you to detonate the weapon?"
"At least and hour, maybe two, Major. It's an updated version of a terraformer but it's real quick." Erion and Raan exchanged a look. Terraformers were machines used to change the general make up of planets; perhaps to find and divert water or introduce more fertile soil. Days or weeks was the usual timescale, not hours.
"Shit!" said Raan, impressed despite himself.
"We'll have to land on the moon, prime it and start it running. It'll have to burrow into the core of the moon before it can start changing stuff down there," continued Hal. "Jed's going to land and pick us up"
"Raan can get you off with the Little Dragon," began Erion. "Just get that thing planted and get over here," ordered Erion.
"We should stay with the Rising Star, Major. We'll leave Jed and Lon short handed if we do that."
"I've got a gunnery captain for Jed. He's willing to go over there if that's all right with him."
"It's fine with me as long as the boy can shoot," put in Jeddoh Cloud.
"Champion shot in the Palace Air Force three years running," put in Jakoral.
"The Palace has an air force?" asked Starfire.
"A whole squadron of Tiger Sharks," answered the young man, proudly. He saw Erion and Raan exchange glances and continued, "I know they're old, but we're good."
"You better be," put in Hal, "there are two squadrons of Wasp fighters on our tail."
"Never mind us, mister. You just fire off that damned thing and save our planet." The Grennig and The Rising Star met in space behind the little moon and The Grennig crew watched as Jed lowered the belly hold and the Planet Killer floated out. It looked like a huge piece of scrap metal.
"What the hell is that?" asked Raan, his mouth open in astonishment. Starfire's instincts had been correct and the Planet Killer's underpowered engine had overheated on the fast dash to the Rising Star. When Delta Ten checked it out, he found the couplings and moving parts had melted to such a degree that the engine was useless. They soon realised that they couldn't risk its unstable superstructure by towing it with the Rising Star or landing and dragging the thing out onto the surface with a cargo loader. Delta Ten and Thirty Seven had come up with the answer and they had cobbled together some thrusters out of spare parts, mounted them on a cradle and attached it to the underside of the Planet Killer. As haste had been the main consideration, they had been forced to improvise and the resulting effect looked like the aftermath of a collision in space.
"I'll tow it down there," stated Raan, rising from his seat.
"We do not have time for that, Captain," put in Thirty Seven. "We have to get it running as soon as possible. I have every faith in Delta Ten and his engineering expertise." It was typical of Thirty Seven that he gave all
of the credit to Delta Ten.
"We'll test it in flight," said Starfire, sounding a lot braver than she actually felt. "All we have to do is land without breaking it. There's very little gravity on this moon so it should float down like a feather. Anyway, Del's got the tricky part. He's the brakes."
"You have no brakes?" gasped Erion.
"Course we have brakes," stated Starfire, "Del will fire the thrusters by remote control to slow us down."
"They're insane," muttered Jak, watching the descent with wide eyed fascination.
"This is quiet for them," grinned Raan, "they do this kind of stuff for fun." Despite Raan's levity, Jakoral noted that Raan's eyes never left the vid screen in front of them, watching intently as the strange craft floated towards the little moon. The thrusters fired and clouds of dark red dust rose to envelope the ugly little ship.
"Detaching thrusters," Delta Ten's calm voice filled the pilot section, and all on Grennig watched as the planet killer and its makeshift thrusters parted company. The ugly little ship drifted slightly and landed on the planet's surface with a bump amid another cloud of dark red dust and rolled to halt on its solid wheels.
"We're down, Grennig," called Starfire. "In one piece as far as I can tell." The forward ramp lowered and two suited figures emerged, one carrying a hand held device. This was pointed at the ship, which rose slowly on four shining pillars. It stopped rising three feet from the surface and a circular hatch opened underneath it. A large laser drill emerged and began to rotate slowly, churning thick dust as it met the surface. The taller of the two suited figures appeared to check something with the hand held device and then nodded his head in satisfaction."
"Is that it then?" asked Jak.
"What did you expect?" retorted Erion," a fanfare of some sort?"
"I dunno, Major, I thought it'd be more dramatic somehow." The lanky pilot shoved his fingers through his thick, copper coloured hair in his embarrassment.
"Stick around and you'll get your show in a couple of hours," Raan looked round from his station.
"Come on Jak, I'll take you over there." Captain Jakoral slid Hal's seat back, stood up and bowed to Erion.
"Good luck, Major,"
"You too, Captain. See you on the other side." Jakoral threw Erion a very laid back salute and followed Raan out of the pilot section.
Raan carefully manoeuvred the Little Dragon towards a waiting Hal and Starfire and it landed next to them in a cloud of dust. He engaged a force wall at the rear of their little planet hopper and opened the starboard hatch. Erion and Jed watched the air gush out of the ship as white mist, then Hal and Starfire made their clumsy way inside and Raan closed the hatch. As soon as the inside of the Little Dragon was pressurised, Raan deactivated the force wall and Hal and Starfire released their helmets and gratefully removed them. They didn't wear the black, bulky armoured suits that plugged into the Planet Killer, but standard space suits. These were lighter and self contained but they were still uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Just to get the helmet off was a relief. Raan didn't give them time to take off their suits, but rushed over to them, gave Starfire a fierce hug and shook a surprised Hal warmly by the hand, Terrellian style.
"We've been thinking you were dead all week," he said by way of explanation. Raan went back to the pilot seat and took off, heading for the Rising Star. Using the landing thrusters he docked with it, just aft of the pilot section on the starboard side. The hatches on both ships opened as soon as it locked and Raan met Delta Ten in a similar six sided hall to the one on the Grennig.
"Yeah, we missed you too," he said, touching palms with the android to his own surprise. Raan stepped into the pilot section, said hi to Jed, Lon and Thirty Seven and introduced Captain Jakoral.
"Welcome to the Rising Star," said Jed.
"We gotta get back," said Raan. "See you on the other side." Raan made the ride back to the Grennig as gentle as he could so that Hal and Starfire could change out of the bulky, white space suits. By the time they reached the Grennig, Hal was dressed in the bloodstained white shirt and black jeans and Starfire had just finished brushing down her flight suit.
"Good to see you back," said Erion, warmly. She turned in her seat and was grinning like an idiot.
"What's our status?" Hal spoke curtly and the air of frivolity was shattered.
"And welcome back to you too, Hal," smiled Erion, sweetly.
"Half the damn Aurian Federation is headed our way," muttered Hal, pressing studs on his firing console, "we can play happy families if we get out of this."
"Frag it, he's right again," Starfire busied herself with flight checks. A chime on the console in front of Raan caught everyone's attention.
"Multiple ships emerging from Hyperspace. Don't worry, they're ours." The crew breathed a silent sigh of relief.
"Howdy big brother!"
"Hi there, Buck," answered Jed. "Got Callon with you?"
"Yep, all the Cloud Brothers are back in the game. What's your status?"
"At the moment, we got The Grennig, The Rising Star and four Tiger Sharks."
"Tiger sharks, huh?" the voice at the other end was clearly not impressed.
"Ole Tranter modified this tanker we're flyin'. We got ten wasps in the hold and we're towin' another ten. She don't have much in the way of fire power though."
"Buck, I need you to stay with the tanker," began Erion. I know you want to get out there, but if this plan works, those pilots are going to need a good man to get them out."
"Sure, Major," Buck's voice was full of disappointment. "It sure galls a man to miss a good fight though."
"They'll be other fights, little brother," called Jed.
"Yeah," added Callon Cloud with glee, "and I'll be sure to tell you every little detail when we get back."
"They only have a few wasps," said Raan into his com. "We probably outgun 'em anyway."
"We don't know exactly what's heading our way. Could be a whole strike wing," called a voice.
"Hal, that's gotta be you," answered Buck Cloud.
"We'll know soon enough," stated Erion. "Buck, how's that replica planet killer?"
"Wouldn't fool anyone close up, but it'll pass on a fly by."
"Except it won't fly," added Callon's voice from his brother's side. "Tranter only had time to make the shell. It don't have no guts."
"We figure to tow it," said Buck. "Hell, in all the chaos, nobody'll notice."
"You'll be needed in those fighters," mused Erion, rethinking her battle strategy. "Can't spare pilots like you to tow that thing."
"I'll tow it," drawled Hal from the gunnery station. "If I take the Little Dragon, I can still use her forward guns." Erion nodded quietly.
"No, I'll tow it," said Raan. "Hal's too good in a fight and you'll need him here. And I'm the better pilot." Erion looked up. She had made her decision.
"Hal, stay with us; Raan, take one of Jed's fighters and tow that thing. Make it look good. Callon?"
"Yes Sir?" asked Callon
"Take two fighters and cover him."
"Consider it done, Major."
"Raan, contact Raemond for a status check." A few seconds later, Raemond, face dirty and smeared with mud and blood, appeared on the view screen. Rigondal stood just behind him, still dressed as Starfire and looking just as dishevelled.
"What's your status, Raemond?" asked Erion,
"Just like you thought, Major. We took 'em by surprise. We've managed to secure the whole of Pinnacle Flats but the Palace compound is too strongly defended. They've pulled back inside the grounds. We'll never be able to winkle them out of there."
"Get your people to safety, Raemond," began Erion. "It's time to head underground. You've done more than we could have hoped."
"It is better than that, Major," put in Rigondal. "As you suspected, the majority of the troops were called in to guard against an attack on the Coronation. There wasn't much resistance at Pinnacle Flats and we captured four wasp fighters intact. We hotwired them, like Raan showed u
s and they're all painted up in Alliance colours. Our best pilots are sitting in them as we speak, waiting for your orders."
"Well done, Your Highness," said Erion. "That adds four good fighters to our side. Get everything that can fly up here. We have less than one hour now."
"Rigondal led the attack on Pinnacle Flats," said Raemond, gazing down Rigondal with pride.
"Well done," answered Erion. "Now get your people underground. You've done enough."
"They've all gone already, Major," said Raemond. "I will wait until we have our last communication, then I will join everyone else under Pinnacle Point."
"Good luck to you all," called Rigondal.
"And to you, Princess."
"Could be a good thing Rimek was out of the way," mused Raan after they cut the link.
"Yeah," agreed Starfire. "He must have left that preening idiot Farrell in charge. Looks like he pulled most of the troops back to save his own skin." A warning chime sounded on Raan's console.
"Long range scanners," he called, peering into the screen. "Looks like one cruiser, and a couple of fighter squadrons."
"Thirty two fighters," mused Erion, "We should be able to handle them."
"Depends how good they are, and how good these Katraians can fly," said Hal without looking up from the gunnery console, where he was calibrating his sights.
"How long till they get here, Del?" called Starfire.
"Forty eight minutes, Lieutenant."
"We'd better get into formation then," she said to Erion.
"You're right, Lieutenant." Erion waved a hand across the crystal rods in front of her and her voice arrived at every Alliance Ship. "This is Grennig to the Alliance Fleet. The Federation will be here in forty seven minutes. As far as they are concerned, the Alliance will be trying to destroy Katraia to stop it falling into Federation hands. We have to make Rimek believe we intend to destroy Katraia for this to work. All Katraian fighters have been painted to look like Alliance ships. All Katraian pilots must follow my orders, despite what you hear on your com. I am now going to patch in Commander Raemond on a secure channel." There was a brief period of static and Raemond's voice came on.
Starfire and The Planet Killer Page 23