by Ryk Brown
“Clear of bravo,” Mister Riley reported.
“Bring the mains up, one percent burn, Mister Chiles,” Nathan ordered.
“One percent on the mains, aye,” his helmsman answered.
Nathan tapped his right control panel, switching his starboard view screen to the aft cameras just in time to see the Karuzara asteroid fall away, shrinking as the distance between them grew.
“Coming up on ten kilometers,” Mister Riley announced.
“Coming to course two one seven, up twenty,” Mister Chiles reported as he initiated a starboard turn.
“Let’s head for the first test waypoint, gentlemen,” Nathan ordered. “We’ve got a lot of systems to shake down.”
“Aye, sir,” Mister Riley replied.
“Speed?” the helmsman inquired.
Nathan smiled. “Indulge yourself, Mister Chiles.”
* * *
“Jump complete,” Loki announced.
“Seriously, Lok, you gotta stop saying that,” Josh protested.
“Sorry. Old habit.”
“I mean, I know the jump is complete. I can see through the windows again.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
“You’re such a geek.”
“Contact,” Loki reported. “Five kilometers out, ten up and twenty to port. It’s the Aurora.”
“I should hope so.”
“Aurora Flight, Falcon One,” Loki called over his comm-set. “Three Super Falcons inbound for landing.”
“Falcon One, Aurora Flight. Sensor contact. Four point five clicks to stern, eighteen to port and nine up. Approach from stern, port side. Land single file, one-minute separation. Intercept auto-flight control beacon at two clicks out, one up.”
“Intercept ACB at two by one, Falcon One.” Loki keyed his secondary comm-channel. “Falcon Flight, Falcon One. Proceed on current heading for two minutes to intercept the Aurora’s flight path astern of her. Space out to one-minute intervals. Follow our turn.”
“Falcon Two copies.”
“Falcon Three copies.”
“I fucking hate auto-flight,” Josh grumbled.
“It saved our ass, remember?” Loki reminded him. “Besides, they’re not going to make you use it every time. They probably just want to test it out with a multi-element flight.”
“It’s probably just because it’s us. Prechitt has it in for me. He’s always finding something to bitch at me about.”
“It’s not like you make it difficult,” Loki commented as he finished checking the ship’s systems in preparation for landing.
“Ha, ha.” Josh fired his thrusters to change the ship’s attitude and then fired their main engines to initiate a slight turn to the left. He watched his flight display, as his ship’s predicted flight path lined up with the Aurora’s port landing approach path. He killed his burn and fired some counterthrust to stop his turn, just as the lines matched and turned green. “On approach.”
“You could have just input the turn and let the auto-pilot perform it,” Loki told him.
“I need the practice.”
“You need to practice flying both hands on, and hands off the stick, Josh. There’s a time and place for both.”
“You sound like Prechitt,” Josh said.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You would.” Josh yawned. “I like flying the old Falcons better. Although I don’t miss those helmets. They made my head itch.”
“You just have to think of flying the Super Falcon like the Aurora. You have to fly her more like a ship than a fighter.”
“Might as well be a shuttle pilot.”
“In a lot of ways, it’s very similar. It’s about the mission.”
Josh stopped watching the stern of the Aurora grow larger in their front windows, and turned to look at Loki. “It’s always been about the mission, Lok.”
“Not for you, it hasn’t,” Loki disagreed. “For you, it’s always been about the act of flying, not the reason we were flying.”
“I don’t see why there has to be a difference.”
“That’s why you’re always getting chewed out, Josh. You don’t always have to push your ships to the edge, not in every moment of every flight.”
“But it’s more fun, and it keeps my skills sharp.”
“Then do it in the simulator, Josh, and not on missions.”
“Simulators aren’t the same.”
“Falcon One, Aurora Flight, ten seconds to intercept. Call the beacon.”
Loki glanced down at the auto-flight status display, just as the beacon capture light illuminated. “Falcon One has the beacon,” he called over the comms. “Auto-flight has control.”
“And the computers land the ship,” Josh moaned.
“You are the only pilot in the universe that could find something to complain about when flying such a ship, Josh.”
Josh turned and grinned at Loki. “I gotta be me.”
* * *
Master Chief Taggart smiled and walked up to the first Super Falcon as it rolled off the port forward elevator pad. He watched the ship pull into its parking spot. The topside hatch just aft of the cockpit opened a minute later, and Josh climbed out.
Marcus said nothing, pretending to keep a watchful eye on the ground crew to ensure they were doing their jobs correctly. In reality, he was just happy to see his boy.
Josh climbed down off the Super Falcon’s wing and walked up to Marcus. “Master Chief,” he said, unable to control the wide smile spreading across his face.
Marcus stiffened up into a stance that somewhat resembled standing at attention, and then offered the young officer a half-hearted salute.
Josh smiled, raising his hand to salute, but instead feigning a light punch to Marcus’s gut. “How’s it goin’, old man?”
“I’ll show you who’s old, you little shit,” Marcus said, feigning a few blows of his own. He put his arms around Josh and gave him a hug. “I missed ya, boy.”
“Surprisingly, I missed you too.”
“You hungry?”
“When am I not?”
“I got the captain’s cook to whip up your favorite.”
“Fried molo and dollag steaks?”
“Yup. We didn’t have any churubo fat, so they had to use pig fat. Tastes pretty much the same, though.”
“Hi, Marcus,” Loki greeted as he joined them.
Marcus stood even straighter and offered a salute to Loki as well. “Welcome aboard, Ensign Sheehan,” he added, as he reached out to shake Loki’s hand.
“Thanks, Marcus. It’s good to see you again.”
“Hey, Lok, Marcus has fried molo and dollag steaks for us. You want some?”
“We’ve still got to debrief, you know.”
“That’s right,” Josh said with a frown, realizing he had forgotten about the briefing. He turned back to Marcus. “Meet you in an hour?”
“I can wait,” Marcus said. “I’m just happy to see you.”
“I hope Kaylah feels that way,” Josh said.
* * *
Biorgi Saladan had been standing in line for nearly an hour. First, it was the line to receive his inoculations, then the line to receive his prophylactic dose of Corinairan nanites. After that, it was to receive his weapons and his tactical helmet. And now, finally, he was waiting for his final inspection before boarding one of the four troop shuttles waiting for them on the far side of the tarmac.
Biorgi looked at his weapon again. It felt identical to his training weapon—same weight and balance, the same controls. It even looked like it, and kicked the same when fired. There were only two things that made it different. First, it had no wear marks on it, as it was fresh from one of the Earth Defense Force’s hidden armories. The second was that it fired real bullets. It was not like his training weapon. When a shot from one of them hit you, you felt nothing more than a little sting, just enough to let you know you’d been hit. This one could kill.
His weapon had come with ten additional magazin
es of ammunition. Combined, he carried five hundred rounds. When one of his fellow marines had asked their instructor if it was enough, the Ghatazhak soldier told them, “If it isn’t, then you have bigger problems to worry about.” Not exactly reassuring, but then again, the Ghatazhak were not exactly the nurturing type.
“Are you nervous, Saladan?” the Ghatazhak sergeant asked as he stopped in front of Biorgi.
“Sir, no, sir!” Biorgi barked out of habit, while standing straight and stiff.
“Stand at ease, Private,” the sergeant insisted. “A simple ‘no, sir’ is all that is required. You’re not a recruit any longer. You’re an Alliance Marine.”
“A killing machine,” Biorgi replied proudly, a smile creeping onto the corner of his mouth.
Sergeant Lazo grinned. “Damn right. Show me your weapon, Private.”
Biorgi unslung his weapon from his shoulder, checked that the weapon was unloaded and the chamber was empty, then held it up for the sergeant to inspect.
Sergeant Lazo took the weapon from Biorgi and looked it over.
“Are these weapons going to be enough?” Biorgi asked, his voice low.
Sergeant Lazo glanced up at him curiously.
“I mean, the Jung have energy weapons, like you.”
“You put a round in the right spot, and your enemy will die,” the sergeant told him flatly. “Projectile or energy weapon…dead is dead, Private.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sergeant Lazo handed the weapon back to Biorgi. “Remember, the Jung body armor is designed to stop energy weapons, not bullets. Especially not the armor-piercing stuff you’re carrying. Face, neck, abdomen, and thighs. Never the chest or back, as they are the most heavily armored areas.”
“Where would you aim, Sergeant?” Biorgi asked.
Sergeant Lazo smiled, placing his hand on Biorgi’s shoulder. “The neck. Nothing freaks people out like blood gushing from a neck wound, especially from one of your fellow soldiers. Then, while the Jung next to him is staring in disbelief at the amount of blood spurting from his friend’s neck, you can kill him as well.”
Biorgi nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Is it the real thing, Sergeant?” the marine next in line asked. “Are we really deploying?”
“Hell yes, Marine,” Sergeant Lazo replied, “hell yes.”
* * *
“Jump flash,” Mister Navashee announced from the Aurora’s sensor station. “Comm-drone.”
“Incoming message,” Naralena added. “The Celestia reports all bravo group elements are in position and ready to jump.”
“All alpha group elements show ready as well,” Jessica reported from the tactical station.
“Mister Riley?”
“Jump plot to low orbit over Niorai, plotted and locked,” the navigator replied.
Nathan glanced up at the battle clock. It read one minute to zero hour. “Comms, message to all elements,” he began calmly. “Cleared to execute jump at zero, zero, zero, battle time.”
“Aye, sir,” Naralena replied.
“Comm-drone has jumped back to the Celestia,” Mister Navashee reported a few moments later.
Nathan sat patiently as the seconds ticked by. The liberation of 82 Eridani was to be the easiest of the many liberation missions planned over the next few months. The Jung fleet that had once occupied the Eridani system had departed for Earth more than three months ago. That battle group was still nearly nine months away from the Sol system. Meanwhile, 82 Eridani had no Jung space forces to protect them. There was nothing more than a couple airbases, and a handful of troop bases on the surface of Niorai. Intelligence estimates put the Jung troop strength at less than ten thousand, most being housed safely away from Niorain populations.
“Thirty seconds to jump,” Mister Riley reported.
Although the Aurora and Celestia’s role in the liberation of the 82 Eridani system was low risk, for the Ghatazhak and the new Alliance Marines, it was not. They would be facing well-trained Jung soldiers, who would be fighting desperately for their very lives. Desperation made greater by the knowledge that reinforcements would not be coming any time soon, if at all. Such knowledge would make them either easy, or extremely dangerous, to deal with. Commander Telles expected the latter.
“Ten seconds,” Mister Riley reported.
Biorgi Saladan sat alongside his fellow marines on the deck of what had once been the Aurora’s main cargo bay. Located directly below the old main hangar deck, the massive bay had been converted into the main hangar bay, allowing the old bay above it to remain open to space at all times, instead of just during combat operations.
All one thousand marines, the entire first graduating class from the Alliance Marine training base on Porto Santo island, had been brought up to the ship more than an hour ago. They sat on the deck in the forward corner of the hangar bay the entire time.
“Listen up!” Sergeant Lazo of the Ghatazhak barked. “First eight rows will now board the troop jumper shuttles on the far side of the hangar. You will board in two columns of twenty-five. Rows one and two to the fourth jumper. Rows three and four to the third, and so on. Once inside, you will buckle in. Do not unbuckle until the jump shuttle is on the ground, and you are ordered to disembark. Double-check your weapons and your ammo. Your weapon should be unloaded, chambers empty, safeties on. Check your tactical helmet and comms before and after you board. Rows nine and beyond, if you haven’t taken a leak recently, I suggest you do so now.”
An alarm horn squawked loudly, and blue beacons on the wall flashed.
“What’s that?” the marine next to Biorgi asked nervously.
“It means the ship is jumping,” Biorgi explained. “Where were you during the last jump, the one from Earth to the staging area?”
“I was in the head,” the marine admitted, sheepishly. “I wasn’t feeling well.”
The blue beacons stopped flashing.
“All right! First eight rows! Mount up!” Sergeant Lazo ordered.
“In orbit above Niorai,” Mister Riley reported from the Aurora’s navigation station.
“Scanning the surface for targets,” Jessica announced from the tactical station.
“Multiple contacts,” Mister Navashee reported. “Three Jung shuttles, one just leaving orbit, the other two appear to be on approach from elsewhere in the system to Niorai. No weapons.”
“I’m picking up three Falcons and ten combat jumpers, average altitudes of four hundred meters,” Jessica said. “I’ve got the first two targets, Captain. An airbase, and what looks like a training base, about two clicks south of the airbase. I’m picking up two more targets as well, but I can’t make them out.”
“Light up the first two targets,” Nathan ordered. “Green deck. Launch the utility shuttles.”
“The other two targets are surface-to-orbit missile launchers!” Mister Navashee reported. “They’re powering up now!”
“Proximity to civilians?” Nathan asked.
“Embedded, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Topside quads locked on primary targets,” Jessica announced. “Firing.”
“Flight, redirect the Falcons to those two missile launchers,” Nathan ordered.
“I’ve got three more of them to the north and west,” Mister Navashee warned.
“Flight?”
“I’m on it, sir.”
“Why didn’t we know about those launchers?” Nathan demanded.
“Our cold-coasts only pick up emissions, Captain,” Jessica explained. “I only spotted them because we’re using active scans.”
“Utility shuttles have launched,” the flight operations officer reported. “We’ll have a full CNS-sat deployment in five minutes.”
“Missile launches,” Mister Navashee reported. “From the surface.”
“Point-defenses are charged and ready, Captain,” Jessica declared. “No way they’re getting anywhere near us.”
“Falcon One reports first launcher in twenty seconds,” the flight officer repor
ted.
“Twenty seconds to missile impact,” Loki reported from the right seat of Falcon One’s cockpit. “Locked on to second launcher. Firing… Missile away. Thirty seconds to impact. First missile impact in five.”
“Falcon One, Aurora Flight, new targets. One eight five, five hundred clicks, then one two zero, two-twenty. More launchers. Engage and destroy.”
“Flight, One. Targets one and two have been destroyed. Receiving data for three and four. Vectoring now.”
Josh turned the ship to the left, rolling level on the first course that the flight controller on the Aurora had given them. “How far out you want me, Lok?”
“One hundred clicks.”
“You got it,” Josh replied, dialing up his jump distance. “Jumping.”
The canopy turned opaque for a moment.
“Range to target three, ninety-eight and closing,” Loki reported. “I have a lock. Firing… Missile away.”
“Turning to one two zero,” Josh reported as he started his turn. “Dialing in one hundred for the next jump.”
“I’ve got the fourth one on sensors,” Loki reported. “I’ve also got eight bandits, just off from the airbase.”
“Jumping.” Josh announced as the canopy turned opaque again. “I thought the Aurora already destroyed that base?”
“Target lock on four. Firing… Missile away.”
Josh pulled the nose of the ship up to climb and get a little more altitude under them.
“They did,” Loki explained. “Those eight must have been the ready birds. They probably launched the moment the Aurora jumped in. I’m surprised it was only eight of them.”
“Falcon One, Aurora Flight. Eight bandits to the southeast. One up, four hundred out. Vectoring Falcon Two to assist.”
“Flight, One, three and four destroyed,” Loki called over the comms. “Falcon Two, One. ETA to bandits?”
“One, Two… ten seconds,” the copilot on Falcon Two replied. “Jumping in five.”
“Come to one four seven and jump three-fifty,” Loki instructed.
Josh immediately made a slight course correction to the right, as he changed his jump range to three hundred and fifty kilometers. “Say when.”
Loki watched the data feed from Falcon Two. Once his jump drive indicated it was activated, he shouted, “Now!”