Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens

by T. Jackson King

  Bill’s system graphic showed the 12 enemy Collector ships with full weapons control were pulling away from the six enemy ships where crews were installing bypass circuits. Those six ships could not fire for another two hours at least. By which time something had to break in this battle. Then he noticed something that surprised him.

  “Captain! Five subs and all seven of our other Collector ships are speeding up to 11 percent of lightspeed.” The five red sub dots changed position. “Uh, correction. The subs are moving up to 12 percent lightspeed. Shit. Their fission reactors must have all the control rods pulled to generate the power needed!”

  In his comlink holo, Jane frowned. Her clear helmet glinted as she looked aside at one of her holos. “Those subs are the Minnesota, the Louisiana, two Russian subs and a Chinese sub. What the hell are their captains thinking?”

  Humming came from the ceiling.

  “Incoming signal from Peterson Air Force Base,” Star Traveler said, his near-human voice sounding surprised.

  In the comlink holo there now appeared the image of Poindexter. “Captain Yamaguchi, we’ve been watching this battle. As has the president, the leaders of China, Russia, Britain and France, and their military staffs. Those five subs are preparing to ram the enemy ships. We cannot allow any enemy to reach Earth.”

  “I know that!” groused Jane. Her image showed anger on her face. That anger quickly disappeared and a neutral command expression replaced it. “I appreciate the assistance of the JCS and our other fleet members. However, my tactical response is still evolving. I expect to disable or destroy all enemy ships. Now let me do that!”

  “Understood,” the black woman said, her expression equally neutral. “Departing.”

  Bill’s comlink filled once more with the image of Jane. The image icons of their five ship allies also showed. He refocused on the groupings of ships in the system graphic. He licked his lips. The 12 enemy ships were just 53,000 miles from Jane’s ship grouping. Five more minutes and both ship groupings would be in laser firing range of each other.

  Yellow-white energy flared in his true space holo. Five more fireballs happened.

  “Captain! The six laggard enemy ships with no weapons have lost their engine sections!” He pulled his eyes away from the holos in front of him and sought his wife’s tense face. “Love! Jake’s Collector ships hit them with antimatter beams.”

  Jane looked surprised, then more intense. “That means the other fleet ships and subs are within 4,000 miles of the laggard ships. How soon before they are in target range for the 12 pursuing us?”

  “Two minutes,” Bill said as his fire control panel showed him readouts on every enemy ship, the other Earth fleet ships and their smaller fleet of six ships. “I suggest our ships should disperse sideways. To force the enemy ships to chase us individually. That will prevent them from combining their laser and AM beams against us!”

  Jane nodded. “Navigator, take us out at a right angle to our current vector. Avoid any of Jupiter’s moons but get us up and out from this vector! Captains, do the same with your ships!”

  Stefano, Alicia, Frank, Joe and Learned acknowledged the order.

  Bill knew this sideways vector change would cause the 12 enemy ships to do the same. Which meant their torp minefield would likely not hit anyone. Except maybe for the six enemy ships without weapons access.

  “Captain, see the minefield threat to the six enemy ships that have lost their engines?” Bill called.

  “I see it.” She looked up. “Star Traveler, send a neutrino comlink signal to those six ships. Now!”

  “Complying. Signal sent. Responses incoming.”

  A creature who resembled a giant green frog with bulbous eyes appeared in the comlink holo. It rested on an elevated bench atop its command pedestal. Two narrow arms were touching nearby control pillars. Five other enemy captain images also appeared. Two were green praying mantises, one a cockroach like Diligent and two were black-furred grizzly bears with four arms each.

  “Captains of the weapons disabled ships,” Jane called loudly. “You have no engines. Your ships are approaching a minefield established by my ships. Surrender to me and I will have those mines deactivated. If you continue trying to regain weapons control from your ship AIs, I will let the mines seek you out. They are mobile!”

  Bill knew that was a lie. Only the Earth-made thermonuke mines had the hydrogen peroxide jets that allowed them to move toward a sensed magnetic field. Their torps were outstanding Hunter-Killer vehicles well able to sense enemy ships by way of neutrino tracking. But once the warheads were launched, there was no control over their trajectory. However, his fire control panel was able to send shut-down signals to the warheads. He’d never used that option. Would now be the first time?

  “I surrender the ship Elegant Pond,” called the green frog.

  Bill noticed the ship with Melody as its ship mind was heading away from the battle at five percent of lightspeed. What to do with it?

  “Weapons Chief, disable the mines in front of that ship,” Jane ordered. “Anyone else wish to surrender? Or do you choose to take chances with three megaton warheads?”

  In seconds the other five captains surrendered to Jane. Who nodded slowly. “Your current vector will take you out of the gravitational field of the planet Jupiter. Humans will come later to salvage your ship. Captains and crew will be allowed to live with other prisoners of war at a habitat dome on Mars.”

  Bill tapped his fire control panel to shut-down the warheads fired by his railgun. His ship mind-linked panel showed his buddies on the other five ships were doing the same.

  The comlink holo suddenly filled with the image of Death Leader.

  “Female Human, shortly you will feel the caress of my lasers,” the snake-gorilla snarled. “Then my antimatter beam will kill your engines. Are you prepared to die?”

  Strangely, all Bill could think of was the fact that they had managed to disable 18 enemy ships by destroying their engines. That left lots of Alien ships to scavenge for the rebuilding of some of them. But the remaining 12 now closed on his six ships. Which were flying outward from their earlier course vector. In the system graphic, he noticed how the enemy ships were now splitting into two-ship pairs. So two ships could combine their laser fire on a single human Collector ship. Where were the seven Collectors and five subs from Jake’s fleet? Ah. They were 90,000 miles out from Death Leader’s ships but closing. The five subs were somewhat ahead of the Collectors. Nice. But the snake-gorilla’s ships were now within 12,000 miles of the Blue Sky and its five sister ships. A few seconds and—

  Green streaks filled the true space holo on Bill’s right. The Blue Sky shuddered.

  “Hull penetrated above the Transport Exit Chamber,” Star Traveler hummed. “Sending hover bots and repair robots with structural beams to—”

  “Dive!” Jane yelled.

  “Diving,” chittered Lofty Flyer.

  Just as Bill fired his two tail lasers at the two ships pursuing them, the Blue Sky shuddered again.

  “Spine plasma battery vaporized,” the AI hummed.

  His system graphic showed hits on the bulbous noses of two chasing ships. One of them spun sideways. Spectroscopic sensors said the ship was venting air and water.

  “We’re hit!” cried Alicia. “Mark is gone. His Navigator station vanished. We got a hole from ceiling to floor. I’m taking over nav controls!”

  Pain hit Bill. He’d liked Mark. The Ranger had been one of the most enthusiastic boarder recruits. Before that the man had stood round after round of beer pitchers at Jack’s Deep Six saloon. Now, his fellow fly fisherman was gone. Turned into vapor particles thanks to the deadly green beam fired by their enemy.

  He tapped his laser fire control. His two tail lasers joined ten other green beams from their five allied ships. Their laser fire was co-located on four enemy ships, thanks to the target cross-tracking of the ship minds in their six ships. All Bill and the other Weapons folks had to do was tap the Fire patch on top of
their Weapons control pillar.

  In the system graphic holo, three of the remaining eleven enemy ships spun off to one side or another, their ships leaking air, water and fusion isotope fuel, according to his spectroscope sensor readings. Added to the earlier ship he’d just zapped that removed four enemy ships from the fight. Leaving eight death-seekers.

  Amidst the wild jinking, jerking and random movements of enemy and allied ships, green beams crisscrossed the space between them, reaching for invisible hulls.

  Bill saw Jake’s seven ships and five subs overtake the four wounded enemy ships. The enemy ships fired lasers at Jake’s group. They missed. Then Jake’s Collector ships fired. Black antimatter beams reached out and demolished the engine sections of the four enemy ships. Those ships stopped their laser fire and focused on recovering ship control.

  Which left eight enemy Collectors raining green Hell on the Blue Sky and the ships of his saloon buddies.

  Two green beams touched the rear end of the Musan, killing both of its Magfield engines.

  Alicia’s ship stayed on its sideways escape route at eleven percent of lightspeed, thanks to already established inertia. But she had no ability to maneuver out of the way of more laser beams. Or an antimatter beam once the enemy closed to within 4,000 miles of the Musan.

  “Reverse course!” cried Jane to Lofty Flyer. “We’re not leaving Alicia to the wolves!”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Too much happened all too quickly.

  Bill tapped his nose lasers as the Blue Sky flipped heads-to-tail so its nose faced the oncoming enemy ships. Their allied ships copied Jane’s flip-over maneuver. Magfield engines did not care which direction any Collector ship was aimed. The magnetic field-based engines either pulled or pushed against the magfields of the Sun and nearby planets. Now, with their flip-over, Chester changed their engine setting to attraction toward Jupiter. And the onrushing enemy ships. In seconds they would fly past each other. Black antimatter beams and green laser streaks would flash out. Ships would be hit. Lives would be lost and—

  “The subs!” cried Chester. “They’re running up the tails of those ships!”

  Bill swallowed hard even as he fired their nose lasers at the rapidly nearing enemy ships. Two green flares showed hits. What the hell were their allies trying to do?

  Jink. Jink. Triple jink the subs moved.

  Yellow-white plasma balls filled the true space holo.

  “Fuck!” cursed Bright Sparkle.

  He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Nor, judging by the sudden silence, could Jane or his crewmates.

  The subs Louisiana, Minnesota, Vladimir Monomakh, Alexsandr Nevskiy and the Chairman Mao Zedong had rammed the rear ends of five enemy Collector ships. The impacts had breached the antimatter reservoirs on those ships. Unleashed antimatter had just consumed five Collectors and five human subs. Six hundred or more people were dead. As were 25 on the enemy Collectors. Those ships had fired their tail lasers at the closing subs but the sideways jinking and spiraling of the sub navigators had kept them whole until impact. But why hadn’t the subs first tried launching their missiles at the enemy ships?

  He blinked. In five seconds the remaining three enemy ships would reach antimatter beam range. As would the Blue Sky, the Musan and the four other ships run by his saloon buddies. Ahhh. The Musan, unable to reverse Magfield thrust due to its dead engines, sped away from them on a vector that would take it south of the planetary ecliptic. Leaving the Blue Sky, Fallujah, Moberly, Harken and Neil C. Roberts to tackle Death Leader and his two remaining ships. Five versus three. Bill gave thanks that at least Alicia and Howard would survive on the Musan. Whatever happened now, the remaining subs and ships of the other Earth fleet would surely—

  “Look!” cried Jane.

  In his system graphic the Fear Arrives and its two surviving allies changed their vector angle by 70 degrees, sending the enemy away from Bill’s fleet ships even as they closed to within range for their antimatter projectors.

  He tapped his fire control panel.

  A black beam instantly zipped out faster than he could blink.

  It missed.

  Black beams from their four Collector allies also reached out, but fell short as the three enemy ships increased the distance to them beyond 4,000 miles. Bill tapped his lasers, as did his four ship allies. Green streaks chased after the fleeing enemy ships. Two were hit but the impacts were at a bad angle. The adaptive optics seeded into those hulls deflected most laser power away. At best the ships were scorched. They now passed beyond the 10,000 mile range of ship lasers. And their new vector track had them headed straight for Earth!

  “After them!” yelled Jane. “Change our vector to match theirs. Chester, match their speed!”

  “Vector changing,” chittered Lofty Flyer.

  “Working on it,” rumbled Chester. “Eleven percent is all we can safely sustain.”

  Bill felt a chill run down his spine. “Captain, the enemy is managing 12 percent of lightspeed. They are pulling ahead of us.” He checked his system graphic. “Jake and his six Collector ships are changing their vectors too. As are the remaining boomer subs. None of us are matching or closing on the enemy.”

  His heart beat fast. Then faster. If Death Leader and his two Collector allies could maintain their hyper-fast speed, they would reach Earth before the Blue Sky and other Earth ships reached them. Which meant Earth would be hit by MITV thermonukes and antimatter beams fired by the three surviving enemy ships.

  The horse-like head of Wind Swift turned and looked back at Jane. “What do we do?”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Jane saw the reality of what faced her in the system graphic holo at her left. Even as Jake and six other Collector ships, plus 17 surviving subs pursued Death Leader from one angle, and her Blue Sky plus four ships pursued from her angle, the Mokden monster’s three ships formed the peak of a vector triangle that had hers and Jake’s fleets at either foot of the triangle. Even as she watched, the triangle grew slightly longer as the extra speed of the enemy ships drew them further away. And, eventually, closer to Earth.

  “I will not allow the deaths of Joshua, Leonard and their three sub allies be for nothing.” An electric tingle coursed along her arms and out to her fingertips. “Bright Sparkle, maintain overload power flow from our reactors. Chester, push us up to 12 percent of lightspeed.”

  “Working on it,” Chester muttered.

  “Captain Jane,” hummed the voice of Star Traveler. “No Magfield engine in any Collector ship cannot long sustain the strain of exceeding the rated thrust of those engines. While 11 percent of lightspeed can be maintained for a lengthy period, 12 percent is dangerous. You risk engine meltdown. Or explosion. If an engine explosion reaches our fusion isotope fuel tanks, we could lose the rear half of this ship.”

  She sucked air in deep. “Ship mind, our two Magfield engines were repaired by Megun engineers during our stopover at Harken. Do those repairs improve the survivability of our two engines?”

  “The repairs do not improve survivability,” the AI hummed low. She thought its voice tone sounded almost fearful.

  Options. What were her options?

  “Star Traveler, can this ship make an Alcubierre space-time jump to get near Earth? So we can be there before the enemy ships arrive?”

  “Alcubierre transit deep within the magnetosphere of a star has never been attempted,” the AI hummed long and low, sounding puzzled. “My computations suggest such an attempt would result in the vaporization of this entire ship upon emergence. Disintegration may also happen upon activation of the stardrive. We are deep within the magnetosphere of the star Sol.”

  “Why!” she yelled, not giving a damn what Poindexter, Hartman or anyone else thought of her temper.

  “Because the artificial space-time modulus created by the Alcubierre stardrive is not compatible with the space-time fabric that lies within a star’s magnetosphere,” the AI hummed. “That is why all Alcubierre star travel begins and end
s outside the magnetosphere of a star.”

  “We’re at 12 percent of lightspeed,” Chester rumbled from up front. The crewcut man looked back her way, his clean-shaven face showing tight-clenched muscles. His gray eyes fixed on her.

  She gave the man a thumbs-up. “Outstanding, vice admiral. Transmit your engine settings to our other ships. In both fleets.”

  The stocky husband of Sharon turned back to his control pillar. He tapped on its surface. “Engine settings transmitted.”

  Jane looked at the system graphic which showed the positions and distances of all ships. Fear Arrives was now 23,317 miles ahead of the Blue Sky. As were its two ship allies. Who seemed able to maintain 12 percent of lightspeed. The graphic showed Jake’s ship Tangi Valley, which was in the lead ahead of the other Collectors and the 17 surviving subs, was further away. Its range to Death Leader’s ship was 32,187 miles. She watched a moment. Those numbers did not change. Yes!

  “Fleet captains, we are in chase mode now. Death Leader and his ships are not pulling ahead of us. While we are not closing on them, I am willing to see how long the enemy can maintain this overload speed.” She licked her lips and told her heart to stop thumping so hard. “Give your people a food, drink and rest break. I do not anticipate imminent combat.”

  Her Collector ship captains acknowledged her order. As did the captains on the 17 subs that were trailing Jake’s ship. Or, rather, 11 subs acknowledged. Six had not, including the British and French ships. Why not?

  “Incoming encrypted signal from Peterson,” hummed Star Traveler.

  What the fuck? Poindexter again? “Accept the signal. Share it with all ships.”

  “Accepted. Imagery displayed.”