by M. D. Cooper
“Priscilla, get the ship’s C wing prepped and on their ladders. Also, find out if there is any elevated comm traffic between the groundside colony, the station and the platforms. If we’re about to be hit from one of those locations, I want to know in advance.”
“You got it,” Priscilla replied.
The Orkney and Dresden, two of the ISF’s new thousand-meter cruisers were in low Victorian orbit and Ouri raised their captains on the main holo tank.
“Colonel, We’ve been following the feed on the command net,” Ophelia, captain of the Dresden, said the moment her image shimmered into view. “What do you need us to do?”
“We need to drop a platoon, but the clouds are too dense to provide cover from up there,” Ouri said.
“We can drop below the clouds,” Captain Peabody spoke in his gravelly voice. “I assume you’re prepping a wing to come down as well?”
“They’ll be on their ladders in under ten minutes,” Ouri replied.
The two captains exchanged a look. “Then we better get moving,” Ophelia said and cut the connection. Peabody was gone a second later.
“Colonel,” Priscilla said. “There is no increased comm traffic from the platforms, or internally on them as far as I can tell, but there is an increase with the station. Nothing that seems suspicious, except that it’s a higher volume than normal for this time of day—it’s station night. Also—. Oh! President Tom for you.”
Ouri brought the Victorian president up on the bridge’s holo display.
“Colonel Ouri,” the president was a clean-cut, well-spoken man in his fifties. He always had the right tone, and knew just what to say. That was one of the things that had always bothered her about him the most. Nothing ever seemed heartfelt.
She didn’t let him start with whatever he had planned. “Mr. President, I understand that there’s been some sort of shooting. I’m also having trouble contacting the Intrepid’s away party.”
“Yes, there was an attack by a group of citizens who are upset with the current state of affairs in the Kap system,” President Tom replied evenly.
Ouri couldn’t read any concern or alarm in his tone, nor did the Victorian president offer any gesture of concern or assurances of effort.
“You appear to have gotten free, why is it that my people have not?” Ouri asked frankly.
“I was protected by our security forces; I also was not the target—that appears to have been your people. My police have since have moved in and secured the area.”
“Very well, are my crewmates safe?” Ouri asked, growing upset. This was the first piece of information the president should have provided.
The president appeared to pause and consider her question.
“It’s pretty dangerous out there and I do not want to put any more Victorians at risk. I suppose that what I could do is offer to protect them from the angry citizens who are after them and return them to the Intrepid. But I think that a trade would be in order. Perhaps access to what you’re building at your secret research site.”
She wondered if he knew of the Gamma site, or if he just assumed there was secret research going on in the labs on Tara.
Either way, she wasn’t surprised it had come to this. She was well aware that the Victorians wanted more of the Intrepid’s tech. They didn’t seem to understand that even in Sol—where advanced technology was not withheld from any group—it still wasn’t free for the taking.
Tom’s generation seemed to have no care that the deal struck with the Hyperion was for repair and resupply in exchange for specific technologies and the terraforming of Victoria.
As far as she was concerned the Victorians were making out like bandits. At best, the boost their mining platform and labor force provided only shaved a decade off what it would have taken the Intrepid to do on its own.
Despite her hard exterior, Tanis was really a bleeding heart.
“It sounds like you’re detaining crew from the Intrepid. Is that the case?” Ouri asked. “If you are offering this trade, I want to see them.”
President Tom paused again and Ouri felt certain he did not have anyone to present. It wasn’t surprising, taking out Tanis, Joe and the rest would be no small task. Throw in a dozen Marines and Landfall would be a warzone before it was over.
“I’m calling your bluff, Mr. President. Not only am I not going to respond to your weak attempt at extortion, but I am invoking section 3.17 of the charter of Victoria. This grants the ranking officer aboard the Intrepid authority to take all and any means necessary to protect crew of the Intrepid from unlawful duress and detention on Victoria—unless you believe they are being lawfully detained...”
The president glanced outside the holo’s view and scowled. “You told me they wouldn’t do this,” he muttered.
“I’m not sure who your advisor is, Mr. President, but they’re wrong, I will do it.”
Ouri cut the connection. Best to let him stew for a bit. Tom was the sort of man who only responded to threats and action. His smooth tone wouldn’t help him when kilometer-long cruisers took position over his city.
Priscilla flicked accumulated scan data onto the main holo and Ouri looked it over. A heat signature bloomed near the park where the service had been held and she zoomed in, examining the terrain as best they could through the ES shield’s glow.
A building was on fire across from the park, but there were no IR signatures matching the Intrepid’s party.
Another satellite passed over Landfall and the resolution increased. She could see a number of Victorian’s fleeing the building while others moved toward undercity access points.
“Bob, what do you think their plan is?”
As Bob spoke he pivoted the city view and highlighted the possible egress locations the planetside crew would head for.
Ouri nodded. “That makes sense. We’ll need to get them transport out from there.”
Ouri shook her head, having the conn of the Intrepid and being called sir by majors was not something she was used to—even after all these years.
“Looks like something is up, the pinnace at the spaceport appears to be prepping for takeoff,” Priscilla said.
“Did they make it there?” Ouri was surprised, even for Tanis making it ten kilometers through hostile territory so fast was impossible.
“No, it’s empty. I suspect that Tanis got a nano package to it and is sending it to her egress location.”
“Handy. Make sure Major Qhung knows so he can follow it.”
“Faster than I thought,” Ouri said.
The Victorians claimed to have built the air force to deal with a possible incursion from Sirius, but Ouri had often suspected it was as much for their temporary neighbors as their Sirian oppressors. The atmospheric fighters were complemented by a respectable number of defense batteries.
“I guess the debate over who
the planetary defenses are for is over,” Ouri sighed.
“C-wing’s ETA?” Ouri asked.
Ever since the incursion of the Sirian scout ships Joe had maintained three wings in a state of high readiness—shoot suits and all. This wasn’t the planned action, but she was glad they were ready.
Ouri rose and paced across the Intrepid’s bridge. The ships would be playing a dangerous game. The Victorian defenses had been constructed with the intention of destroying mid-size cruisers just like the two moving into position. Their tactics would require C wing to eliminate any enemy fighters and in-flight artillery so the cruisers could focus on the batteries.
The holo updated, showing the two ships just over fifty kilometers above the city—moving in random patterns to avoid laser fire. She could imagine what the ride was like. Jinking in atmosphere, even one as thin as Victoria’s, was a gut twisting experience.
Ouri thanked the stars that the Victorians had not charged their batteries in advance—probably because the Intrepid would have detected the buildup. Instead the ground lasers were running off the city’s main power grid, making for lower powered beams and longer recharge times.
“They’re raising their reactor output to compensate,” Priscilla said, also looking at the holo.
Ouri admired their moxie. The fighters were boosting toward the planet at maximum thrust. The atmospheric entry was going to be brutal, but the maneuvers to avoid crashing into the ground would be worse.
The loyalty Tanis inspired was nothing short of amazing.
“Godspeed,” she whispered aloud.
Observers in Landfall watched in mixed awe and horror as a pair of thousand meter cruisers broke through the clouds and rained laser fire on the city’s defensive emplacements.
It was unlikely that any onlookers appreciated that the ships avoided launching missiles and made their strikes as surgical as possible, as the sky lit up with ionized particle streams.
Maneuvering thrusters held the ships in stationary positions, and ES fields directed the engine wash away from populated areas.
On the northern horizon a forest ignited under the intense heat and burned to cinders in minutes.
Ground batteries unleashed laser fire and missiles at the ships, which responded with point defense beams. Missiles exploded in the air over the city and no small number impacted the ship’s shields.
The Victorian jets buzzed around the cruisers like angry gnats, peppering the ships with their beams and projectiles. The combined assault kept the cruisers more than busy.
Over the course of a long three minutes, hundreds of missiles spilled fire into the sky and thousands of lasers released their photon streams. The cruisers made only a few shots against the ground batteries, reserving most of their energy for defensive measures.
The Dresden suffered a shield failure on its port side, and an explosion bloomed on its hull as a missile made it through.
Below, most of the city appeared vacant, the citizenry huddled indoors or retreated to the undercity. A few Victorians were in the streets and on rooftops and those few let loose loud cheers at the sight above them.
An Edener retreat seemed imminent.
Yet the ISF ships did not move, and seconds later two dozen sonic thunderclaps tore through the air, flattening vegetation and shattering windows for miles.
C Wing had arrived.
The space fighters were less maneuverable in atmosphere than the Victorian jets, but what they lacked in finesse they made up for in raw power.
The ships slammed through the cloud cover at a thousand kilometers per hour, pivoted and braked mere hundreds of meters above the ground. Their pion engines screamed in the atmosphere and their engine wash tore craters in the earth beneath them.
Pools of molten rock filled the craters starting dozens of brush fires in the surrounding countryside.
The Victorian jets never knew what hit them.
C Wing unleashed withering beam fire from beneath, tearing the jets to pieces. Half the Victorian air force was gone in seconds, the remaining jets put up a brief fight, but a minute later the few survivors were in retreat.
Through the smoke and fire the Marine transport appeared. It angled toward the far side of the city and a pair of C Wing fighters moved in to provide escort.
With the Victorian jets gone, the cruisers directed their full energy against the surface to air batteries. Explosion after explosion shook the ground as one after another were destroyed.
The Victorians on the streets and rooftops of Landfall looked up in horror as the menacing warships of their once-saviors began a slow acceleration back into the clouds, leaving the land for dozens of kilometers around Landfall ruined and aflame.
Though the Edeners had won the battle, there would be no victor this day.
Tanis ducked behind a stone balustrade as shots rang out and the zip-ping of ballistic rounds echoed around her. She eased around the barrier and let fly with several suppressing rounds before ducking back.
Her nano had a perfect picture of the battlefield, but the tiny bots themselves were otherwise ineffective. All of the enemy’s weapons were chemical ballistic and the Victorians they fought had no AI or internal systems to disrupt.
“So close,” Tanis muttered.
“Yeah, one more building and we’re out of this mess,” Joe said from across the alleyway as he let fire with his own barrage.
It had been a slow, arduous battle to get this far. Andrews had taken a bullet in the leg, Lieutenant Smith was nursing an in-and-out shot in his shoulder and Tanis had been thrown across a hall at one point from a pulse blast.
The Victorians were putting everything they had into the fight. There was no doubt in Tanis’s mind that President Tom was behind this. He must have thought he could make a quick grab for Intrepid’s leadership and negotiate additional tech and concessions from Bob and Ouri.
Now that the initial attempt had failed miserably, his only option was to hit them as hard as he could and take whoever survived as the hostages.
“We have to get through that choke-point,” Sergeant Lee said. “I just don’t see a viable plan where we don’t lose a lot of people.”
“Too bad none of us brought grenades to the funeral,” Trist grinned while changing the charge cylinder on her pistol.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Brandt growled.
A low rumble shook the tunnel around them and Tanis glanced at the rock over her head.
“Things must be getting hot up there,” Tanis said before glancing at Katrina—the woman’s face a mask of worry.
“They’ll be careful,” Tanis said. “I crafted no contingencies that involve harming civilians.”
Katrina cast a hard look in the direction of their attackers. “I hope they can tell who the civilians are. I don’t know if I can… stupid kids, and that asshole Tom, you know he has to be behind this.”
Tanis nodded. “I would be shocked if he wasn’t.”
“I just hope we can put this thing back together—I hope there’s something left to put back together…”
Tanis considered her options and turned to one of the Marines.
“Lieutenant, send one/two back to that access we spotted a quarter-klick ago. Let’s flank this mess here.”
Lieutenant Smith nodded. “It seems like our best shot. Turin, you heard the lady, make it happen.”
Sergeant Turin nodded his assent and huddled with PFC Nair for a moment before one/two moved back down the corridor toward the access to the city above.
A moment later a new voice came over the combat net.
&n
bsp; In response, pulse blasts rang out from behind the Victorians. Several fell and moments later the rest surrendered.
“Right here,” Qhung said, as he walked through the debris with a smile.
VICTORIA IN PERIL
STELLAR DATE: 3288931 / 09.08.4292 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Landfall, Victoria
REGION: Victorian Space Federation, Kapteyn’s Star System
A Marine handed Tanis a rebreather and she stepped out of the warehouse’s rear dock into a cluttered equipment yard. Even through the breathing apparatus the air reeked of carbon and ozone, it burned her eyes and she double-timed to the waiting shuttle.
Above, ISF fighters circled; beyond them lightening flashed through the clouds, striking the surrounding hills and the city’s ES dome in an attempt to equalize static charge in the clouds. The volume and intensity of the strikes indicated that quite a battle had taken place over Landfall.
Tanis shook her head and shared a sorrowful look with Katrina. This was a sad enough day without witnessing the destruction of their work, the potential end to their people’s friendships.
“We’ll fix this,” Tanis said.
“We have to,” Katrina replied solemnly.
They boarded the assault transport and Tanis felt the team’s combat net Link to the Intrepid.
Ouri paused her report for a second and when she resumed her mental tone was steadier.
Tanis glanced down the ramp of the transport at the smoking ruin of the Pinnace only a dozen meters away. She was genuinely surprised that Tom took things this far. His plan must have hinged on killing her quickly and seizing the rest as hostages. When that looked increasingly improbable, he had taken every effort to keep them in the city and bluff Ouri.