by Ryk Brown
Josh changed the jump range to ten kilometers as Loki fired the missiles.
“Four chasers…away,” Loki reported.
Josh pushed his throttles to full power again and pitched the Super Falcon’s nose up twenty degrees. He watched the navigational display for several seconds, waiting for his ship’s actual course to match the direction their nose was pointing. The gently curving magenta line flattened out and turned green.
“Four missile impacts,” Loki reported.
Josh pulled his throttles back, pushed the jump button again, then pulled back hard on his flight control stick. His ship’s nose came up and over as they jumped forward ten kilometers along their direction of flight. He continued pitching over as the windows cleared, until the cross hairs on his targeting display went from red to green. He pressed the trigger and held it, sending red-orange plasma torpedoes speeding toward the Jung fighters passing under them. Two fighters exploded, adding to the four other fireballs that were rapidly dying in the vacuum of space as the oxidizer in the Jung fuel was used up.
“Roll us over so I can get the turret on the rest of them,” Loki suggested.
Josh had started the maneuver as soon as he heard the word ‘roll’ come out of his partner’s mouth. Two more Jung fighters came apart as Loki fired on them with the Super Falcon’s nose turret.
“Hell yeah!” Josh exclaimed. “That’s eight! On the first pass, no less!”
“One, Six!” another Super Falcon pilot called over the comms. “Roll left! Roll left!”
Josh didn’t ask why, snapping his ship into an immediate roll to port. As the ship entered its third roll, a bright yellow fireball lit up the inside of their cockpit. The next revolution revealed chunks of Jung fighter streaking past them.
“Sorry about that,” the pilot of Falcon Six apologized. “I didn’t know you guys were going to get greedy. I nearly took off your starboard wing!”
“No problem, Jory,” Josh replied. “I guess they didn’t break as much as we thought they would when they saw our missiles coming.”
“Who says they saw them coming,” another pilot chimed in playfully.
“Cut the chatter,” Loki instructed. “Eight of them got through and are headed into the atmosphere…”
“Command to all Falcons,” the controller at Cobra command interrupted. “More fighters being launched, from the cruisers. All four of them. Twenty fighters from each cruiser, headed for the surface. Break into two-element groups and intercept. Target designators on their way.”
“What about the eight that got away?” Jory wondered from Falcon Six.
“I have a feeling we’re going to be chasing a lot of fighters today,” Loki replied.
“Turn complete,” Cobra Two’s copilot reported. “Jump point in three seconds.”
“That damned frigate should’ve been dead on the second pass,” Captain Annatah declared. “What kind of shields do they have on that thing?”
“Jumping.”
Captain Annatah watched as the auto-flight system initiated the jump. Two seconds later, their windows cleared and the Jung frigate that they were about to make their third attack run on appeared before them. This time, however, her shields were not shimmering from the power drain of recent plasma weapons impacts.
“Yes!” the copilot cheered, realizing that the frigate’s shields were finally down, and the kill was theirs.
“Firing forward tubes!” Captain Annatah announced as he pressed the trigger on his flight control stick to fire the plasma torpedoes. “Light her up, gentlemen!” Captain Annatah continued to make tiny adjustments to his gunship’s pitch, keeping his nose pointed at the enemy ship as they passed under it. Balls of plasma from the gunship’s four torpedo cannons and bolts from her two side-mounted, quad-barreled turrets tore the target’s hull apart, sending debris flying in all directions. Secondary explosions from deep within the frigate soon followed, as each wave of plasma torpedoes found their way deeper into the enemy ship’s hull. Finally, the frigate broke apart in the middle. The main propulsion section at the aft end of the frigate exploded, causing the remaining portion of the aft half of the ship to slam into the broken forward section.
“Oh, yeah!” the pilot from Cobra Three cried out as he came out of the jump and witnessed the destruction of the Jung frigate. “Nicely done, Nolan!”
Red bolts of energy blasted into the tarmac at the Cobra gunship production plant, sending debris flying across the pavement.
Commander Telles and Master Sergeant Jahal were already tracking the attacking Jung fighters with their shoulder-mounted, mini-laser turrets. As the first four Jung fighters dove toward them, the commander and the master sergeant activated their lasers, and raised their rifles to open fire.
Commander Telles ran to the left, the master sergeant to the right. Two of the diving fighters altered their trajectory to follow the commander, as he sprinted across the tarmac, leaping over destroyed vehicles and the bodies of the dead and dying. The diving fighters fired again, sending red bolts of energy into the ground behind the fleeing commander.
Commander Telles dove for cover, flying a good five meters through the air, twisting over, and firing at the fighters as he soared over the generator truck. His shoulder-mounted laser cut swaths across the nose of one of the attacking fighters, but caused little damage. Bolts of plasma energy from his rifle tore into the diving fighter’s left wing, causing gray smoke to trail from it, but the fighter kept on going.
As the commander flew over the top of the truck, he rolled back over, tucking and rolling as he landed, coming right back up to his feet. “Fire!” he ordered.
Two Ghatazhak soldiers who had been hiding behind the truck, out of the view of the attacking fighters, stepped up, raised their shoulder-fired, chaser missile launchers, and fired.
The two Jung fighters, unaware of the threat, had entered a lazy turn to the left, making them easy for the missiles to track. One of the Jung fighters became aware of the threat and dropped several brightly burning countermeasures, pulling into a vertical climb with his engines roaring. The other fighter only managed to get two countermeasures out, having made the mistake of turning as he climbed. One of the chaser missiles found the turning fighter’s starboard engine, and the fighter exploded in a bright orange fireball.
Another explosion sounded to the commander’s left. He turned and saw another fighter falling from the sky, brought down by Master Sergeant Jahal’s team. “Jahal?”
“Still here.”
“Mirai, Telles. You loaded?”
“Last ones are coming up the ramp now, Commander.”
“Get out of here before those other two fighters circle back. You’re an easy target on the ground.”
“What about you?” the Mirai’s pilot wondered.
“We’re not ready to leave yet,” Commander Telles replied. “The fun’s just started.”
“Remind me not to attend any Ghatazhak parties, Commander.”
“We’ll catch a ride with the marines, as soon as the last boxcar departs.”
“Good luck, sir.”
Telles turned and looked at the other two Ghatazhak soldiers. “How many more missiles do you have?”
One of the soldiers smiled. “Plenty, sir.”
“Good. Feel free to light those other two fighters up when they come back around.”
“Our pleasure, Commander.”
Commander Telles started running across the compound toward the last boxcar. A long line of Tannans headed toward the ship, still seeking to escape the attack. “Boxcar still on the deck, this is Telles. You need to get your ass in the air before those two fighters come back around.”
“We’re not even half loaded, yet,” the pilot replied over the comms.
“You can be half loaded and jumping your ass back to Sol, or you can be burning to death in a half-loaded pile of boxcar on the ground. Your fucking choice.”
“Closing up now,” the pilot replied quickly.
To the commande
r’s right, the Mirai’s engines fired, and she began to ascend. He watched the ship climb and accelerate as he continued running toward the last boxcar on the other side of the tarmac.
“All troops around the last boxcar,” the commander called over his comms. “If anyone tries to interfere with that boxcar taking off, take them out.”
The roar of the Mirai’s engines went silent as she disappeared in a flash of blue-white light.
“Jahal! As soon as we get those last two fighters off our backs, get our men to secure the extraction point. Then call in the troop jumpers and order the marines to abandon the perimeter and join up for extraction.”
“Yes, sir,” Master Sergeant Jahal replied.
“Any word from Lazo?”
“No luck at the subject’s residence. Lazo conducted an aerial search of the area using the jumper’s sensors, even had it check for women carrying one or more infants, but came up with nothing. The subject must have left before we even arrived. Do you want him to widen the search area?”
The commander slowed his pace. Something wasn’t right. He stopped and looked around the compound, his eyes eventually drifting skyward. High above the far horizon, he could see orange streaks of light heading toward the surface. “Negative,” he told the master sergeant. “Recall Lazo. Recall everyone. It’s time to go.”
“Another frigate has been destroyed!” the Cobra command center’s tactical officer declared.
“Reports of nuclear detonations on the surface of Tanna!” one of the communications officers reported.
“Where?” Captain Nash inquired.
“The Bellaweise continent, east of Lorrett.”
“How many?”
“Three so far. The detonations suggest an east-to-west pattern, along the middle latitudes.”
“The cruisers,” Captain Nash realized.
“Captain!” the tactical officer called. “The rest of the frigates have gone to FTL!”
“Order all gunships to attack the cruisers!” Captain Nash instructed. “Comms, get me Falcon One.”
“Aye, sir.”
“I’ve got the frigates again,” the sensor officer reported. “They FTL’d to the far side of Lorrett.”
“They appear to be standing off,” the tactical officer added.
“Shall I retask the gunships back onto the frigates?” one of the communications officers asked.
“No, they’ll just go back into FTL,” Captain Nash replied. “They know that their frigates are too vulnerable. They want our gunships to go after their cruisers.”
“Then perhaps it is a bad idea to do so?” the tactical officer suggested.
“You’re probably right,” Captain Nash admitted. “But what choice do we have? If we do nothing, those cruisers will glass the entire planet.”
“Even if we manage to destroy all four cruisers, we’ll never destroy that battleship, sir,” the tactical officer reminded him.
“I know,” Captain Nash replied.
“I’ve got Falcon One for you, Captain,” one of the communications officers announced.
Captain Nash tapped his comm-set. “Falcon One, Captain Nash. The cruisers are targeting the surface with nukes. Can you intercept them before they reach their targets?”
“We can try,” Loki replied.
“Jump point in three…” Lieutenant Borru began.
Commander Rano gave his flight control stick a slight push forward, bringing Cobra One’s nose down slowly as the gunship continued coasting along on its attack course.
“Two…”
As the gunship approached a thirty-degree pitch below its flight path, the commander countered with opposite thrust to stop the ship’s pitching motion.
“One…”
The commander pushed the selector switch on his flight control stick all the way up and held it, setting the stick’s trigger button to activate the jump drive.
“Jump.”
Commander Rano pressed the trigger button, activating the jump drive. Through his front window, he could see the pale blue light flow out in all directions from emitters on the forward section of their hull. He never saw the light completely cover the hull, as the windows turned opaque to protect their eyes against the jump flash.
A second later, the windows cleared, and a Jung cruiser slid down into view from above, as Cobra One began to pass over the enemy target. The commander did not wait for confirmation of a target lock. At this range, he was going to hit the Jung cruiser’s midship dorsal shield no matter what.
The commander tapped his flight control stick, edging it forward slightly to resume a slow but steady decrease in pitch relative to their flight path. He then slid the selector switch on his flight control stick all the way down, selecting the forward plasma cannons, and held it. He pressed the trigger, holding it down as well. “Firing.”
Red-orange flashes of light filled the gunship’s cockpit, announcing the departure of plasma torpedoes. From such close range, the balls of plasma energy struck the Jung cruiser’s shields less than two seconds after leaving their tubes. The target’s shields flashed a bright yellow-orange with each impact, sending shimmers of light out across the shield in all directions. All four plasma torpedoes struck the same shield, as did the next four, and the four after. At the same time, both his gunners opened up on neighboring shield sections with their quad-barreled plasma cannon turrets, while his tactical officer used the gunship’s eight mini-turrets to target various points across the enemy cruiser. Not a single one of their shots would get past the enemy ship’s shields, but they would add to the cumulative weakening that those shields would experience as each gunship followed suit. As long as his ship was within firing range of a Jung target, he would fire every weapon he had.
Cobra One’s nose continued to pitch down to stay pointed at the target as they passed over it. Their own shields began to shimmer in pale blues and whites, as rail gun slugs from the cruiser’s point-defense turrets found them.
A blue-white flash on the opposite side of the enemy ship, and forty-five degrees to Cobra One’s right, announced the arrival of the second gunship in the attack group. Cobra Two would conduct a similar attack pass on the same shield section, but from a different angle.
“Time to go,” Commander Rano said as he pushed his selector switch up and pressed the trigger to execute their escape jump.
The pale blue light again began to spill out across their hull as the windows turned opaque. As they jumped, the commander pressed the auto-flight engage button on the side of his flight control stick, allowing the system to put them on the next attack course by flying them through a series of turns and jumps. It was a repetitive style of attack, composed of a few minutes of automated maneuvers, followed by twenty seconds of terror. It seemed easy to execute, but the cycle of adrenaline-filled tension and relaxation was surprisingly tiring, as each jump into the kill zone was not only an opportunity for them to kill their enemy, but also for their enemy to kill them.
“New target! Bearing one seven zero, forty clicks! Just entering the atmosphere!” Loki reported.
“I’m on it,” Josh replied as he pulled the Super Falcon into a sharp right turn. He quickly dialed up thirty-five kilometers on their jump range setting, pushed the selector switch up, and pressed the trigger. The Super Falcon’s windows turned opaque then clear again, and Josh pulled their nose up sharply, bringing his throttles up to full power.
“Reacquired,” Loki reported. “Four clicks and closing really fast! Going to nose turret.”
Josh instinctively rolled the ship over, giving his partner a better field of fire. Loki wasted no time, tapping the target on the screen to select it and then activating their nose turret. Bolts of red-orange plasma streaked from below their nose, hurtling skyward in search of the Jung weapon falling toward them.
“Four bandits, inbound from the north!” Loki reported as their nose turret continued to fire.
An explosion only a few hundred meters ahead of them lit up their cockpit.
Josh immediately snap rolled the ship another ninety degrees and pulled the interceptor to port, pushing his nose down and reducing his throttle at the same time.
“Fly three four seven,” Loki instructed.
“We got it, right?” Josh asked, wanting to be sure.
“Yeah! Yeah! We got it!” Loki replied. “Bandits are ten clicks out, climbing up from twenty-two five. Intercept in fifteen seconds.”
Josh rolled the ship one last time to get level, as he ended his turn exactly on the intercept heading his partner had given him. “Can you tag them with missiles?”
“Closure’s too hot!” Loki warned. “They’re all yours.”
“Sweet.”
“I’ve got six more bandits descending from orbit off our starboard side, sixty kilometers and closing.”
“How about them?” Josh asked as he flipped his selector switch to torpedoes.
“Break right after your first pass and hold on the second group for ten seconds so I can launch on them,” Loki instructed.
“How many missiles we got left?” Josh asked as he fired the plasma torpedo cannons at the rapidly approaching Jung fighters.
“Two,” Loki replied. “Four, One!” Loki called over the comms. “How many chasers do you have left?”
“One, Four is full up.”
“I’m about to launch two on the six bandits north of us! Can you tap the other four?”
“One, Four. Can do.”
Two explosions appeared less than a kilometer in front of them. Josh broke into a right turn. “Ten seconds.”
Loki tapped two of the six icons on his targeting screen, then pressed the launch button. “Launching two!” he announced. “Falcon One! Two chasers away!”
Josh immediately reversed his turn, dialed up his jump range to ten kilometers, then pushed the selector up and pressed the trigger to jump the ship.
“Falcon Four! Four chasers away!”
“One, Six! I’ve got your other two locked! Disengage!”