“Sir,” said the lead engineer. “We’ve disabled the jamming signal. We can signal the Princess any time.”
“What?” the admiral exclaimed. “How dare you disable that signal?”
“Admiral,” Lee responded. “There are no Ch’Tauk anywhere near here. We’re safe to signal the Terran Princess.”
“You don’t understand, Pearce,” the admiral said, advancing on Lee to stand over him. “You’ve killed us all.”
12
“Admiral,” said Commander Pearce. “I think you may be over-exaggerating.”
Hathaway grabbed Lee by the collar and pulled him tightly to him. Henry raised his rifle and aimed it at the admiral’s head. The other security guards also prepared themselves. The soldiers on the bridge looked as if they were ready to fight the armed guards despite their weakness.
“You don’t understand, Commander,” said Hathaway. “They will be here any minute. That jamming signal was the only thing hiding us. When they enter the system, they’ll see us, that damn cruise ship of yours, and everything else!”
Lee pushed the taller man away from himself. He knew that if the admiral had been in a healthier state, he would not have been able to shove him back, but in his current state Hathaway was too weak to hold his ground. The older man stumbled backward from the push, still full of rage.
“Admiral Hathaway!” Lee said with his best command voice. “Control yourself. Tell me what you are talking about now or I will have you arrested and put in the brig in your own ship.”
Hathaway looked stunned. His hands made and unmade fists at his sides. He looked as if he would jump at Lee and start throwing punches. It was rare that Lee was afraid of another man, but Hathaway was proving too unpredictable and dangerous. The admiral stood for a few more seconds before he seemed to blink away the anger that had gripped him. He stood tall and squared his shoulders, regaining some of his composure.
“Commander Pearce,” he said, calming visibly. “I apologize, but you have to get that signal back on. The Ch’Tauk sends patrols through this system regularly. We can practically set our clocks by them. When your ship came through the jump point, we thought you were them.”
Lee glanced at Henry again. He had still not lowered his weapon, but appeared to be listening intently to what the admiral was saying. Lee reached out and placed a hand above the barrel of Henry’s rifle, lowering it from its target. The security chief looked back at the pilot and nodded. He stepped back and signaled his men to stand down once again.
“Admiral, are you trying to tell us that we are about to be under attack from a Ch’Tauk patrol?” Lee asked.
“You had better call the Princess and tell her to stop showing off all those lights,” said Hathaway. “The Ch’Tauk will be drawn to her like moths to a flame. Get those lights out fast and get that jamming signal back on now or we are all dead.”
Lee stepped back and activated his radio. He needed to let the Princess know of the danger right away and get them to safety. If what the admiral was saying was true, they might have only minutes to get to safety.
“Pearce to Princess,” he said, “Kama, are you listening?”
“We copy, Commander,” replied the voice of the communications officer. “Good job. What’s the situation over there?”
“Listen up, Kama,” said Lee. “Tell the captain to shut off the running lights now. The enemy is making a patrol run through this system any minute.”
“Please repeat last message, Commander,” replied Kama Yu. “I don’t think I caught that.”
“Shut off the damn running lights now!” ordered Lee. “We are about to be attacked.”
There was a long pause on the other end before the voice of Ortiz was heard. Lee could hear the sound of activity in the bridge behind him. He was satisfied that his orders had been heard, even if they weren’t understood.
“Pearce, this is Ortiz,” said the captain. “Do you mind telling me why you are yelling at my crew?”
“Captain,” replied Lee. “I have made contact with Admiral Hathaway on the Baal. He has informed me that this system is due for a Ch’Tauk patrol any second. We need to get you out of here fast.”
“Hathaway?” the captain asked. “Omar Hathaway is in command of that ship?”
“Not this again,” said Moore.
“Captain Ortiz,” said Hathaway, coming around Lee and speaking into the radio. “This is Hathaway. What the commander is telling you is true. You must get those civilians to safety.”
“Understood, Admiral,” said Ortiz, after a moment’s pause. “Ortiz out.”
Lee looked at the admiral with relief. He made a mental note to ask the captain what was between him and the admiral when he got back. Right now, though, he needed to see if there was anything he could do to help defend the Princess or Baal. First, he looked at the engineer who had deactivated the jamming signal. He looked at the man’s thin dark face and tried to remember his name.
“Ragu?” he asked, pointing at the man. I need you to get back in there and turn that signal back on now.”
The man waved and ran back down the hallway where he had been working. Next, Lee looked to Henry and the admiral on the upper command deck.
“Henry, let’s see if we can get something out of those consoles. I need to know if anything is trying to sneak up on us. Admiral, I saw fighters on the hangar deck. Do any of them still function?”
“The fighters function, Commander,” replied Hathaway. “We have been draining power to keep our life support running, though. Also, most of our pilots are either dead or incapacitated.”
“How many do you think can still fly?” Lee asked, not caring if the admiral answered with pilots or ships. He realized that the situation was desperate but was determined to make a stand.
“I think I can get you five ships, Commander,” said the admiral. “Maybe I can scare up that many pilots, but it’s a hopeless battle. Our first duty is to evade battle. If we engage them, they will destroy Baal and then the war is over.”
“The war is over,” said Lee. “We lost. Now call your pilots to the hangar and get those doors open before we lose everything else.”
Hathaway had obviously never been spoken to like that on his own bridge. He seethed anger as he stared Lee down. The two men stood there, glaring at each other. Finally, the admiral blinked and his shoulders slumped. Lee breathed out slowly as he realized that was the first time he had acknowledged the defeat as well.
“I’ll get the pilots down there, Commander,” said Hathaway. “You just get that cruise ship out of here safely. Once you are outside, we can’t help you, though. The Baal doesn’t have the power to join the battle. I’m sorry.”
Lee shook his head at the man. He had obviously suffered much in the last three years, and having Lee issuing orders on his bridge seemed to be making the admiral lose his grip on reality.
“Save the apology for when I get back, Admiral,” Lee said, walking down the ramp towards the engineering console. “Henry, have you got anything?”
“Nothing yet, Commander,” said the security man. “Wait … I’ve got a jump point forming on the far edge of the system. I show a scout class ship and about two dozen fighters.”
“Here we go,” Lee said, his heart racing in his chest. “I need to get to the hangar, Henry. Keep an eye on things here, okay?”
As Lee started for the door, Alice stepped into his path. She looked calmer than she had a few minutes ago, but there was a new excitement in her eyes. Lee was beginning to wonder about this woman he had spent the night with. He tried to step around her, but she blocked him again.
“Alice, I need to get to the hangar,” he said, trying to push her aside. “I don’t have time for—”
“I’m coming with you,” she said, cutting him off. “I can fly one of those fighters.”
“Alice, this isn’t the time to train you on one of those ships. This is serious.”
“Lee, I am coming with you,” she said, standing firm. “And I
will be flying one of those fighters even if I have to push it out the doors myself.”
“Fine,” he said. “Just get out of the way so we can get through that door.”
Alice stepped aside and Lee stepped past her to the door. The woman followed closely at his heel down the corridor. They stepped into the lift and rode it down to the flight deck level. The hallway was littered with debris and twisted metal and the air smelled strongly of smoke. Lee counted the doors until he came to the right one. There was no plate by the door, but when it opened he saw that the transit sled was waiting for him.
He and Alice stepped onto the sled and he grabbed the controls and started the device before either of them had gripped the rails. Alice stumbled back into him, but he recovered and pushed her back to the rail.
“Not now, flyboy,” she said, a hint of her humor resurfacing. “We’ve got work to do. Maybe later.”
He smiled back at her despite himself. They hurtled down the transit tube at full speed until the sled slowed down on its own and stopped at the other end. Alice leapt off the sled, not even waiting for the transport to come to a full stop, and ran into the corridor outside. Lee raced after her into the long corridor leading to the Hangar.
When they arrived, Lee saw a few men standing in the hangar. They were emaciated and drawn, but looked ready to fight. Lee noticed that there were four of them.
“Alice, I need you to start the shuttle and get it ready to evacuate.”
She rounded on him in mid stride, causing him to stumble before he ran into her. “No, she said, all traces of humor gone. “I am flying one of those fighters, Lee. Look at those guys, they can barely stand. Send one of them with the shuttle.”
Rather than face her wrath, he acknowledged that she was right. He pointed to the man furthest from them. He was leaning against a fighter and seemed unsteady on his feet.
“You,” he ordered, “get that passenger shuttle prepped. I want you ready to evacuate this ship if we can’t defeat the enemy.”
The man snapped to attention but looked relieved to be avoiding the fight. The others stepped forward to meet him. Each of them wore a dark vacuum suit like his, but with the demon logo stenciled over their chests. They all had the same facemasks as well.
“Alright men,” he started, and then looked at the woman beside him. “And Alice. We’ve got five fighters against twenty Ch’Tauk fighters and one scout. Follow my orders and stay tight. We haven’t got time for much preflight, so get your ships buttoned down fast. We leave in sixty seconds.”
The men raced off to their ships, pulling their helmets over their heads and securing their uniforms. Lee looked at Alice. She was pulling on her own helmet and starting for the closest ship. Lee hoped that he wasn’t making a mistake with her. He looked back at the pilot heading for the shuttle.
“Hey you,” he called. The man turned back to look at him. “Whatever you do, take care of that ship. If there is so much as a scratch on her, you’ll have to deal with Alice.”
The pilot waved back at him and then hurried off to the ship. Lee suddenly felt an impact on his shoulder. Alice had come back and punched him. Through her mask, Lee could see a sly smile on her face. She pressed her gloved fingers to his facemask.
“You bring yourself back, flyboy,” she said. “Or you will have to deal with me as well.”
13
Five fighters shot from the hangar bay of Baal at near maximum speed. They were not the Crowned Eagle class fighter like Lee had flown from the Princess, but a smaller, quicker ship known as the Peregrine II. It had the same magnetic thrusters of its larger cousin as well, as the same swept wing shape, but had room for only a single pilot and only four cannons.
As they cleared the Baal, Lee banked his ship hard and the rest of the pilots followed. He used his heads-up to find the Ch’Tauk ships that had now sped up and were heading directly for the carrier and the cruise ship. The Confederate fighters formed up in a standard flying V pattern, with Pearce in the lead.
“All ships, give me your call signs,” Lee ordered, realizing that he didn’t know the names of any of the other pilots besides Alice. “Stay on me and be ready. Warm up your cannons and activate shields.”
“I’m Wizard,” crackled the voice of one of the other pilots.
“They call me Aztec,” said another. The two men had taken up a position on the right side of Lee’s fighter with Alice and the other man on his left.
“I haven’t got a call sign, Lee,” said Alice over the radio. “Can you come back to me?”
“Right,” he replied, a smile forming on his lips. “We’ll call you Princess.”
Alice’s fighter swerved in closer to Lee and made him pull up slightly to avoid a collision. She moved back into position, allowing Lee to drop back down into the lead.
“Watch it, Princess,” said Aztec, an obvious joy in his voice.
“For this mission, only,” she replied. “After that, if I ever hear you call me that again….”
“Cut the chatter, flight,” ordered Lee, trying to get back into focus. “Five, I need your sign.”
“They call me Fluffy,” said the final pilot after a moment’s pause. There was nothing but silence for a full ten seconds until finally Alice keyed her radio.
“Fine, Princess it is,” she said. Lee could almost hear peals of laughter from the other pilots even across the vacuum of space.
“I’ve lost a lot of weight, okay,” said the voice of Fluffy, sounding embarrassed. “I haven’t had time to change it.”
The pilots enjoyed the nervous laughter for a few moments as they sped towards the enemy ships. They each could see the forces against them and realized that they were outnumbered at least four to one. Looking at his scanner, Lee saw the Ch’Tauk fighters accelerating towards them, leaving the scout ship behind. Lee wondered why the jamming signal hadn’t been reactivated yet, but decided to keep using his radio as long as he could.
“Alright,” he said, devising strategy as he looked over his readout. “Fluffy and Princess break left and try to separate some of those fighters from the main group. We have to keep those ships away from Baal and … um …the civilian ship.”
Lee realized that he had almost called out Alice’s call sign. Although the joke was a needed break from their coming battle, Lee vowed to change the call sign if he ever flew with Alice again. He saw the two ships break off and split, one high and one low.
“Aztec and Wizard break right, same plan,” ordered Lee to the other two pilots. As they sped off, Alice’s voice came over the radio again.
“By the way,” said Alice. “You can call our leader, Flyboy.”
Lee chose not to challenge her on the call sign. He was far too busy adjusting his own attack angle for the coming battle. He hoped that Fluffy would keep an eye on Alice for him. He had no idea if she really knew how to fly the Peregrine or not.
Lee pushed hard on the accelerator, coaxing as much speed as he could from the magnetic propulsion. He suddenly pushed the controls forward, nose-diving the fighter down. He watched the battle on his screen, seeing the Ch’Tauk fighters splitting formation. Of the almost two dozen fighters, eight veered left, towards Alice and Fluffy, and ten left to chase Aztec and Wizard. That left five still barreling straight for Baal. He flattened out his course along the plane of battle, but several kilometers below the oncoming enemies.
He timed his maneuver as closely as he could. When the Ch’Tauk insectoid ships were about to pass over him, he pulled up hard and set his sights on the lead alien. He was racing at an incredible pace towards the underbelly of the ship. Just as it seemed that he might crash into it, he opened fire, tearing a deep hole in the Ch’Tauk ship and causing it to tumble out of his flight path.
The other four alien ships split wide and turned to pursue the Confederacy fighter. Lee tipped the Peregrine up on its nose, twisting in space as he tried to accelerate past the disabled enemy. As the four alien ships reacquired him, he cut his engines and coasted on momentum. The
two Ch’Tauk nearest him began to fire plasma bolts at his ship. He hit the thrusters on his nose hard, flipping his ship back towards the approaching ships. He was now flying backwards, facing the aggressor ships. He slammed his engines back to full, bursting past the surprised enemies. Once again, the Ch’Tauk were forced to execute a wide turn to follow him. This time, however, Lee was ready.
He repeated the maneuver again, turning his ship hard over. Instead of stopping his turn facing where he had come, he allowed the ship to turn further, bringing another of the alien ships back into his sights. He fired his cannon, tearing a deep hole in the armored Ch’Tauk fighter. As the ship vented atmosphere, he saw it explode in a bright orange ball.
Before Lee could celebrate, though, a plasma bolt splashed his cockpit screen green for a few seconds. Without thinking, Lee pushed his throttle fully forward, narrowly missing the two fighters who had swung around and were now firing at him. The other fighter had fallen back and seemed to be retreating to the scout ship. Lee realized that he couldn’t keep flipping his ship forever and changed tactics.
He tightened the turn he had entered and came about to face his attackers. He tried to pull up directly behind one of them, but the other fighter kept shifting its position in space. Before he could anticipate the alien’s next move, his partner reversed his speed and flew backwards behind Lee. It was obvious that these two were pilots who knew what they were doing.
Lee twisted his ship in space, twirling his ship hard. As the trailing fighter pulled up tight behind him, Lee pulled out of the spin and pulled straight up relative to the battle. The two pursuers hesitated only a moment and then pulled up as well. Lee checked his scanner and saw his next target.
Resolute Omnibus (The War for Terra) Page 10