Kurka bellowed in pain, turned on his heel, and grabbed hold of Sheridan’s sword arm. It was his turn to inflict some pain. His prey was too close for him to use his sword properly so he smashed the hilt of his weapon as hard as he could into Sheridan’s mouth.
Stars filled Sheridan’s eyes. He staggered back from the blow. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. He was sure that he had lost a couple of teeth as well. He tried to pull his arm free from the sergeant’s grip but found that the Kurgan was much stronger than he was. The next thing he knew, he was falling to the ground after Kurka had swept his feet out from underneath him. He landed hard, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Sheridan gasped in pain.
With a deep growl from his throat, Kurka hauled off and kicked his opponent hard in the ribs. He released his hold on Sheridan’s arm and stepped back. A lone soldier began to chant his name; within seconds, one hundred voices called out Kurka. He raised his sword above his head and turned to face his men.
The pain shooting from a couple of cracked ribs reminded Sheridan of being burnt by a red-hot poker. He moaned and rolled over. He could hear the Kurgans chanting. With gritted teeth, he painfully got up onto his knees. He had expected the sergeant to strike while he was down. Instead, the old warrior waited until he was standing on his feet before resuming the fight.
“If you stand still, I can promise you a quick death,” said Kurka as he brought his blade up until it was even with Sheridan’s neck.
Sheridan knew that he was losing the fight. His body couldn’t take the punishment for as long as a Kurgan’s could. He had to do something, or he would be dead in seconds. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Tarina standing there looking frightened with her hands over her mouth. No matter what, he couldn’t let her die. In a flash, he knew he must do. He staggered back a couple of paces to give himself some space between him and his opponent.
“Stand still,” snarled Kurka.
The second, the Kurgan stepped forward, Sheridan dove for the ground. He rolled over on his shoulder and came up on his knee right beside the sergeant. Without hesitating, Sheridan thrust his sword home. He heard the Kurgan hiss in agony when he turned the sword over in his hand. With what little strength he had left, Sheridan yanked out the bloody sword and got to his feet.
Kurka looked over at Sheridan with a disbelieving look in his eyes. He tried to bring his sword up. Instead, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. He was dying and he knew it. He reached for his dropped sword and wrapped his hand around it as the world around him turned dark.
Sheridan stood there with his chest heaving as he fought to fill his lungs with oxygen. He pointed at Kurka’s body with his blade. “He died an honorable death. I now expect you to fulfill his promise and let my people and me live.”
“No,” called out a youthful-looking soldier. “His pledge died with him. You are not a Kurgan. Therefore, we do not have to abide by his agreement.”
Sheridan shook his head. Somehow their unwillingness to honor their dead sergeant’s commitment was not a surprise to him. He knew he was taking a huge gamble when he, a non-Kurgan, challenged the old warrior to single combat.
“I now challenge you,” said the young warrior.
“Sure, why not,” he replied hoping to kill some more time.
“Sergeant, I think we’ve found them,” called out the shuttle pilot.
Cole rushed into the cockpit and looked out. He swore when he saw the Kurgans clustered around Sheridan. “Can the fighters blast the Kurgs off the hill?”
“They could, but they would take your friend with them.”
Cole wasn’t going to give in that easy. He tapped the pilot on the shoulder and said, “Take us down.”
“What are you going to do?”
“You’ll see. Just tell the flyboys to cleanse the hill the second I hit the ground.”
“It’s your skin.”
Cole rushed back, picked up a rifle, and moved to the side door. He could feel the shuttle dropping through the air. He pressed a button and opened the side door. He looked down and saw a Kurgan soldier walking toward Sheridan with a sword raised above his head. Cole flipped the selector switch on his weapon to automatic and pulled the trigger. The Kurgan soldier fell a second later. He turned his sights on the nearest Kurgans and fired until his weapon was empty.
The Kurgans looked skyward and yelled defiantly at the shuttle as they were cut down.
When the craft was less than ten meters from the top of the hill, Cole jumped out of the door and landed on the ground near Sheridan. He rolled over and dove at his friend, hauling him to the ground. He yelled at Tarina to take cover before pulling Sheridan’s battered body in close and covering it with his own.
The Kurgans roared and surged at the two men lying on the ground. Each one wanted revenge for the death of their champion. Most never made it more than a couple of meters before the two fighters hovering in the air opened fire. The shells from the cannons tore huge gaps in the Kurgans’ ranks. It took less than ten seconds to sweep the Kurgans off the hill.
Cole rolled over and looked around at the piles of mangled corpses. He knew that he was alive more to lady luck than anything else. He slowly stood up and waved over at the two fighter pilots in the shuttlecraft to let them know he was still alive.
“Why did you have to lay on me?” moaned Sheridan as he tried to sit up.
“You’re welcome, sir,” replied Cole, offering his friend his hand.
Sheridan took Cole’s hand and got to his feet. “I had them. I’d already killed one; it was only one hundred against one from that point on.”
“Michael, thank God, you’re still alive,” said Tarina as she ran over and threw her arms around him.
“Easy does it.” Sheridan grimaced in pain as she hugged him tight.
“Let’s get out of here,” Cole said, pointing back to the shuttlecraft coming down to land near the small group of survivors.
Tarina put her arm around Sheridan’s waist and helped him make his way over to the shuttle.
At the open door stood Wendy. Tears filled her eyes when she spotted Tarina. She ran out and helped Tarina carry Sheridan inside.
Cole watched as the pitifully small band of former POWs made their way inside the shuttle. The last one to climb onboard was a tough-looking man he had never met before. “After you,” said the man.
“No. After you,” replied Cole with a bow.
“No. I insist. After you.”
Cole shook his head. “Look, mister, unless you outrank a master sergeant, I suggest that you get your ass in that shuttle before I kick it in there.”
Sergeant Lee finally relented and stepped inside.
Cole moved inside and closed the door. He looked up at the cockpit and gave the pilot a thumbs-up. Right away he could feel the craft’s engines kick in. The shuttle darted away from the hellish scene below and headed for the heavens.
The co-pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “Master Sergeant Cole, please report to the cockpit.”
Cole took a second to check on his friend before making his way to the pilots. “What’s up, ladies?”
The young Asian pilot had a look of concern on her face. “The task force is under attack. Our fighters have already left us to join the battle.”
“Damn, how many Kurgan ships have arrived?”
“I don’t know. All I do know is that this rust bucket is probably the slowest vessel in the fleet. We’ll be an easy target for any Kurg fighter that locks on to us. In short, Sergeant, there is no way we can risk trying to make it back to the task force.”
Cole looked over at the flight console. “Is this shuttle jump capable?”
“Yes, but we didn’t have time to load a full complement of perlinium rods into the engine core before coming to get you.”
“How far do you think you can jump?”
“Perhaps six hundred million kilometers,” replied the co-pilot, not sounding too sure of her guess.
“I think I
may be of service,” said Wendy, sticking her head in the small cockpit. “Give me your fuel reading down to the last gram of perlinium. I will also need a star chart brought up on one of the monitors in the back of the shuttle.”
The co-pilot looked over at the pilot who nodded.
Wendy grabbed a pen and began her calculations, writing them down on the back of a discarded ration box.
“Until she finishes her calculations, we’re going to have to stay down here or risk being spotted and destroyed,” said the pilot to Cole. “We’ll use the planet’s troposphere to hide in for now.
“Okay, ma’am, do your best.”
“I always do,” replied pilot with a wink at Cole.
He smiled back before walking back to check on the other survivors. They hadn’t brought out as many people as he would have liked to, but even one person spared a horrible death at the hands of the Kurgans was good enough for him.
Chapter 46
“Status?” asked Robert Sheridan. His voice was as cool as ice water.
“Sir, the Ford has jumped away with the last of the transports carrying the prisoners and the Marines,” replied Killam. The Algonquin is maneuvering to engage the closest Kurgan vessel, a light cruiser.”
“What is the number of enemy ships in orbit?”
“Four, sir. Before leaving, the Ford crippled a Kurgan light cruiser with a salvo of missiles. The largest fighting vessel facing us is an escort carrier. The Saratoga’s fighter squadrons are more than a match for the enemy’s smaller fighter complement.”
“Very well, our job here is done. There’s no need to wait here until some of the larger capital ships arrive. Order the Algonquin and the Saratoga to make the jump back to the RV.”
Roy looked up from her console. “Sir, the shuttle carrying your son and the freed prisoners has not joined us yet.”
“I’m aware of that. However, I cannot risk any more lives waiting for them. Send them an intermediate RV location and pass that to the Algonquin as well. They can link up there.” Admiral Sheridan cursed the Kurgans. All he needed was five more minutes to bring the last of his people up off the planet and they had robbed him of that.
“Message passed,” announced Roy.
“Captain Killam, pull our fighters back and let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Aye, sir.”
Admiral Sheridan walked over to the tactical display and watched as the Saratoga’s fighter broke off their attack and began heading back to the carrier. His eye wandered to the planet below. A small blue icon showed the location of the shuttle and his son. He reached over and placed a hand on the screen for a moment. “Good luck, Michael, I’ll see you soon.” With that he stepped back, put his hands behind his back, and recommenced his customary pacing.
Wendy chewed on the end of her pen for a few more seconds before standing up and making her way to the cockpit. She handed the co-pilot her calculations and stood there to make sure that they were inputted correctly. It wasn’t that she distrusted the young woman, it was just that she was used to doing everything herself. That way if anything went wrong, it would be her fault and hers alone.
The co-pilot double-checked the calculations for the jump before looking up at Wendy. “Ma’am, this will bring us awfully close to K-195. That gas giant is twice the size of Jupiter and has hundreds of moons and large asteroids floating around her.”
Wendy nodded. “I know. We can use one of its smaller moons to mask our electronic signature while we wait for the Algonquin to arrive. Is the jump engine warmed up and ready to go?”
“As ready as it will ever be,” said the pilot. “Don’t forget that this ship was due to be mothballed and hasn’t made a jump in several months.”
Wendy cringed at the thought of the engine stalling in mid-jump. The last thing she wanted was to be captured once again. Death was preferable to the horrors they would face back in the mine with a horde of enraged Kurgans.
Tarina stuck her head in the cockpit. “Why haven’t we jumped? Is there a problem that I need to know about?”
“No. We were just about to make the jump to our RV,” replied the pilot.
Wendy looked into the tired eyes of her friend. “I’ll stay up here. Why don’t you go back and look after Michael and the other passengers? They don’t need two backseat pilots bugging them.”
Tarina smiled at Wendy, turned, and left the cockpit.
The co-pilot activated the jump computer. “Jumping in five-four-three-two-one.”
Enclosed in a black bubble, the shuttle jumped away. Fourteen minutes would pass before they came out of their jump. Wendy sat on a hard metal bench and looked over the co-pilot’s shoulder at the navigational computer. When she saw that they were traveling faster than the speed of light, she sat back and allowed herself to relax for a few minutes.
“How long until we RV with the Algonquin?” Sheridan asked Tarina.
“I think Wendy said about half an hour. The Algonquin was covering the withdrawal of the rest of the task force, so we’ll get there before her.”
Sheridan sat up and looked around the room. The look on everyone’s faces was a mix of joy and sadness. Those that could help were looking after the injured. A couple of med kits had been tossed inside the shuttle before coming down to the planet’s surface. His heart ached when he saw a couple of people kneeling beside a body covered by a blanket. To have come so far only to die when they were safe did not seem fair to Sheridan. Cole had given him an injection for the pain and had taped up his chest so it didn’t hurt too badly when he tried move around.
“What do you think will happen to us when we arrive back with the fleet?” asked Tarina.
“I don’t know. I suspect that after a thorough medical, you’ll all have to go somewhere to decompress. The intelligence boys back home are probably salivating in anticipation of interviewing all of you.”
“Do you think they’ll let us go back to what we were doing before we were captured?”
Sheridan knew that Tarina loved her work with the First Special Warfare Squadron and would be crushed if she couldn’t get back to her old unit. “I don’t see why not. But first you need to take some time off to heal your body and your mind; you’ve been through a lot since you were captured. You really do need to look after yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess I could use a nice vacation by the beach. I wonder if they’ll let me visit my parents?”
“Who knows?”
“What are you two officers taking about?” asked Cole as he took a seat on the floor. He handed over two ration packs and a couple bottles of water.
Sheridan thanked him and turned over his pack to read the menu. “Beans! After all I’ve been through, you give me beans.”
Cole chuckled and took back the meal. “I just wanted to see the look on your face. Here, have my ravioli. I don’t mind cold beans.”
Wendy checked the clock counting down until their jump ended. They had forty-five seconds to go. Nervous excitement began to build up inside of her. She had never rushed through a complicated jump calculation before. With so many objects in orbit around a gas giant, she silently prayed that they didn’t come out of their jump right into an asteroid.
“Okay, coming out of our jump in three-two-one,” said the co-pilot.
In the blink of an eye, the shuttle ended its faster than light journey. The cockpit windows were filled with the planet K-195. Various shades of orange ran like bands around the planet’s surface.
“Any sign of the Algonquin?” asked Wendy.
“No, none yet,” replied the co-pilot. “Wait, I’ve got something appearing on our port side. It’s fifty thousand kilometers away.”
Wendy looked over at the monitor. Her blood chilled when she saw that instead of the Algonquin, it was a Kurgan long-range fighter. “Crap! Get us out of here.”
“We don’t have enough fuel left to make another jump,” explained the pilot. “The best we can do is maneuver at sub-light speed for about ten minutes. After that, we
’ll be out of fuel.”
Wendy looked out the cockpit window and made a snap call. “We can’t stay out here. Take us into K-159’s atmosphere.”
“That’s insane,” protested the pilot.
“Do it!”
The pilot turned and applied full power to the sub-light engines. The shuttle quickly accelerated and raced toward the gas giant. On the screen, the Kurgan vessel took up the pursuit.
An automated voice came over the ship’s speakers. “Warning, you are being targeted. I say again, you are being targeted. Missile inbound. Take evasive maneuvers.”
The pilot gritted her teeth and banked the shuttle over to the right. Without slowing down, she dove between a couple of large asteroids, missing one by less than ten meters. Behind them, a Kurgan anti-ship missile struck one of the asteroids, blasting it apart.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Tarina as she slid down on the bench beside Wendy.
Wendy pointed at the computer screen. “We’ve got company.”
“Where did he come from?”
Wendy shrugged just as the ship rocked as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. In the back, some of the people cried out, unaware of what was going on. Within seconds out of the cockpit’s windows dark orange clouds appeared. All of a sudden, the shuttle was bucked up in the air by the winds surging up from an electrical storm below them. The pilot hurried to slow the descent of the shuttle so she could better fly the craft in the turbulent atmosphere.
The co-pilot said, “We’ve got winds approaching five hundred kilometers an hour coming at us from the starboard side.”
“Where is the Kurg fighter?” asked Tarina.
“He’s followed us down,” replied the pilot. “He’s about three thousand kilometers back and closing.”
“Take us into the electrical storm. It’ll mess with his targeting computers.”
“As well as our ship’s electronics as well. Besides I’m not sure how far we can descend before the pressure outside crushes our hull.”
Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) Page 24