Weapons of War

by M. R. Forbes

  "Second Lieutenant Celia, ready."

  "Second Lieutenant Gerhardt, ready."

  "Captain Sturges, ready."

  Gabriel smiled when he heard the older officer's voice. They had scrambled to get one more of the fighters online and then scrambled again to find a pilot to fly it. Sturges was past his prime, and hadn't flown a fighter in years, but they needed every extra hand they could get.

  The General had a plan, and it was a doozy.

  It was also already underway. Theodore had taken them all by surprise, barking orders from his wheelchair down in the science lab. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, as crazy as it was, and there was no time to waste in doing it. They had a small window of opportunity to get this right.

  "Alpha Squadron, prepare to launch." Theodore's voice cut across the comm channel. Gabriel had never heard his father so determined.

  The main hangar door began sliding open.

  "Roger," Gabriel said. "Alpha Squadron is loaded and ready."

  "Good hunting, Major," Miranda said through his channel.

  "Remember," Gabriel said, taking the fighter's controls in his hands. "We're going to be moving out of the dead zone. Once we do, they'll be invulnerable."

  "Yes, sir," the other pilots replied.

  "Alpha Squadron, you are go," Miranda said.

  "Roger," Gabriel said. "Let's do this." He reached up and squeezed the crucifix below his flight suit. "Give me strength."

  The fighters added thrust as one, bursting from the hangar in the Magellan's side and making a quick right turn. They spread apart, taking up a large diamond formation above the starship as the General cut the main engines and fired the vectoring thrusters, rolling her over at the same time. The turn wasn't quite as tight as it had been the last time, but the result was identical.

  It left the Magellan pointing straight at the Dread fortress.

  Gabriel watched as a stream of superheated plasma poured out from the rear of the starship, the mains firing at full thrust. It pushed the craft forward once more.

  "Let's stay ahead of her," Gabriel said, pushing his thrusters.

  The fighters shot forward, swooping down in front of the Magellan and continuing to add velocity.

  Five seconds passed. Then ten. They rocketed toward the fortress without a response, the fighters closing the gap much faster than the Magellan.

  Gabriel's fighter beeped, the targeting computer picking up new obstacles. A dozen bolts of plasma suddenly lanced the sky, streaking past a little too close.

  "Here we go," Gabriel said. "Stay alert."

  The Dread fighters came into view a moment later, a dozen in all. It was a much smaller number than Gabriel had been expecting.

  He didn't want to be ungrateful, but why?

  There was no more time to think about it. The first of the Bats began shooting at them.

  "Take evasive. Celia, Gerhardt, Bale, you're on the fighters. Keep them off the Magellan." His father was going to have a hard enough time evading the fortress' plasma without having to worry about them, too. "Sturges, you're with me."

  "Roger," Captain Sturges replied.

  Gabriel opened fire as the Dread Bats approached, sending his fighter into a sine-wave flight pattern and adding a bit of spin. Plasma streaked around him, the flashes bright enough to be blinding if he wasn't careful. He blew past one of the fighters, throwing his craft into a tight flip and triggering his guns. His rounds caught the Dread Bat in the tail, the dead zone stealing its shields and allowing the energy to penetrate. It exploded a moment later in a short fireball that Gabriel didn't see. He had already flipped his fighter back toward the fortress.

  "We're coming up too slow," Sturges said.

  Gabriel checked his screen. He was sure his father saw the same thing. "We're almost there. Stay alert."

  The fortress drew closer, looming over them within seconds. It was even larger in space than it had been on the ground, a large part of it having been settled within the earth. Gabriel gasped at the sheer immensity as his fighter came within a few kilometers of the side and he adjusted his thrust to keep from crashing into it.

  "How do we fight this?" Sturges said.

  "We are fighting this," Gabriel replied.

  "Bale, I need assistance," Celia said through the comm. "I've got two Bats on my tail."

  "I'm coming," Bale said. "Hard port, drop ninety degrees."

  "Roger."

  Gabriel's computer beeped again. He looked ahead as another squadron of bats appeared ahead of them, launching from the fortress. They cut immediately, vectoring right toward them.

  "Major," Sturges said.

  "These are ours," Gabriel replied. "Keep them busy." He checked his screen. "We've got thirty seconds."

  "I can't get them off me," Gerhardt said. "Celia. Bale. They've got me in a cross-"

  His signal vanished.

  Gabriel cursed under his breath, hitting the trigger on his cannons as they swept past the incoming Dread bats, keeping his starfighter rotating and vectoring as he did. A plasma blast scorched the side of his cockpit, leaving a dark stain to his left. It had missed by centimeters at best. He had to focus. Forget about the others. His mission was to clear the way here.

  He dropped his thrust, rolling the fighter over again. Sturges had turned around ahead of him and was shooting away, putting distance between them while the Bats gave chase. Gabriel slammed on the thrusters, watching his power levels drop as he moved up on the enemy. One of them slotted in behind him at the same time, and he zigged and zagged to stay out of its crosshairs.

  Plasma bolts took aim at Sturges' craft, dozens of them bypassing the fighter as the old Captain showed himself to be closer to his prime than anyone had thought. He maneuvered like a pro, moving across every plane to keep the Dread fighters close.

  "We're running out of time," Sturges said. "I'm going to bring them to you. You hit these; I'll get the one on your tail."

  Gabriel checked his screen. "Negative. You can't make that pattern without leaving yourself wide open."

  "Already doing it, son," Sturges said. "Be ready."

  Gabriel felt his heart lurch. Damn it.

  Sturges' fighter rolled and flipped, a burst of the rear thrusters sending him on a collision course with Gabriel. Gabriel stopped watching the screen, scanning the field ahead of him for the enemy fighters. It wasn't his decision to make. Not now. It was his job to ensure it wasn't for nothing.

  The two human fighters closed within seconds of one another.

  "Now," Sturges said.

  Gabriel bounced his fighter up as the older pilot's fire trailed below, slamming hard into the oncoming Dread Bat. Gabriel tracked the three Bats on Sturges' tail, trying hard to ignore their fire as the straight line allowed them an easier target. He held the trigger down while he rocked his starfighter, sending a stream of ion blasts on a collision course with them.

  Sturges' starfighter exploded.

  His rounds hit the Bats. One of them exploded while the other two lost power. The path was as clear as he could make it.

  Gabriel checked his screen.

  Time was up.

  Where was his father?

  FIFTY-THREE

  Theodore shifted in the command chair of the Magellan's bridge. "Colonel, get me a status from Guy and Reza."

  "Yes, sir," Choi replied.

  He returned his attention to the view ahead. The Dread fortress was growing larger and larger, its defensive plasma fire growing more intense.

  "Come on, Maggie," he whispered. "We made it off Earth; we can make it through this. For her sake."

  The starship shook slightly as it took another hit.

  "Deck L," Abdullah said. "It pierced the armor. Emergency bulkheads are sealing."

  Theodore cursed to himself and renewed his focus on the controls. He fired starboard vectoring thrusters six and nine, then port four and eight, then hull number seven, his fingers working an intricate pattern across the controls. Flying a starship like the M
agellan was supposed to be easy. The vectoring thrusters had always been intended for docking, not for war, and using them this way was akin to playing a musical instrument. Some people couldn't play a note. Some were adequate amateurs. Some were cool and professional.

  He was a virtuoso.

  Gabriel would be too, he knew, with more experience. He had done well the first time, managing to handle the ship with one hand tied behind his back because he didn't know the intricacies of managing the separate thrusters, or how they would affect the ship's overall vectors and profile. Gabriel could be better than him if they survived long enough.

  Hell, he was sure Gabriel was already better than him. He felt a sense of pride in that. The pride helped him focus.

  His boy was out there, and he wasn't about to let him down.

  He triggered more of the thrusters in an uneven sequence, kicked the Magellan's stern out to the left, then up, bringing it around and down. Plasma bolts streamed around her, most passing in the spaces left behind by the evasive maneuvers, some striking the heavy armor plating.

  "Colonel," he snapped, still waiting for an answer.

  He hadn't given the scientists much time to prepare, but he also had a feeling they would work better under pressure. They had already accomplished so much in so little time after he had set them straight. He didn't fault people for occasional weakness. He had been forced to deal with his own, and nobody was perfect. Infidelity? That was one flaw he couldn't stomach. It had made even looking at the Larones and Reza difficult.

  "They're hooking everything up now, sir. Guy wants you to know that none of this has been tested, and the odds of success are relatively low."

  "Not what I want to hear, Colonel," Theodore said. "Tell him he has to make it work, or we're all gonna die."

  "Yes, sir."

  There was a chance they would all die anyway. Their part of the plan was only the first part. But what a victory it would be in itself to make it that far.

  "We just lost Gerhardt," he heard Bale say over Alpha Squadron's comm. "We can't keep this up for long."

  "You don't need to keep it up for long," Gabriel replied. "General, the path is clear. Passing coordinates."

  "You got that, Maggie?" Theodore asked.

  "Data received," Maggie said.

  Theodore looked down at his screen. The Dread fortress was covering most of it, but now a red target had appeared against it.

  The Magellan shook again. A warning tone sounded.

  "Life support systems were hit," Abdullah said. "Main control is down."

  "Initiating emergency support systems," Maggie said.

  Theodore forced himself to stay calm. Even a virtuoso couldn't get through the fire they were taking without a scratch. He knew his plan was a risk, a Hail Mary chance to get them out of the situation they were in. He had to trust in himself, and in God.

  The way he saw it, the Man Upstairs owed him for taking Juliet away, and this was his moment to cash in.

  "Time?" he shouted.

  "Ten seconds, General," Spaceman Locke replied.

  He smiled to hear her voice. Gabriel had been spending more time with her lately. That was good. They had been friends for a long time, but Jessica's death had hit his son hard and kept him away from romance all of these years. He trusted Gabe not to get involved in anything that would diminish his capacity as a soldier. He also knew from experience that the love of a good woman could be the difference between being mediocre and being exceptional.

  "Mr. Larone," he said, opening a channel and communicating with the scientist directly. "You have ten seconds."

  "Ten seconds?" Guy replied. "General-"

  "Do it," Theodore shouted.

  The fire was getting more intense. The Magellan shook again. The closer they came to the fortress, the larger their profile, and the less time they had to avoid the attack.

  "Five seconds," Spaceman Locke said. "Four seconds. Three seconds."

  "Got it," Guy shouted over the comm. "We're active. I hope this works."

  "Two seconds."

  The main plasma cannon on the Dread fortress lit up, a bright blue light way too close for comfort. Secondary plasma peppered the hull, and a second warning began sounding.

  "We're not going to make it," Choi whispered.

  "Yes we are, damn it," Theodore growled.

  The Dread cannon erupted, a bright beam of energy only a thousand kilometers away. It arced toward the Magellan in a path that made it unavoidable, the light of it becoming blinding as it reached them.

  There was no sound. There was no impact. There was no explosion. The plasma struck the front of the Magellan, vanishing into a black void that appeared along the surface of the bow. The force of it slowed their velocity, pushing against them, but the energy, the destructive power, disappeared beneath the darkspace shield.

  It was over within a second, the main cannon's fury absorbed. Secondary fire was caught along the other painted edges of the Magellan, the hull, and the nacelles.

  Nobody cheered. Nobody even breathed. The tech worked, but they weren't safe yet.

  "Power levels critical," Maggie said

  Power. It was all about power. The Dread fortress was huge in front of them. For all the size of the Magellan, it was nothing in comparison.

  "The left nacelle is gone," Abdullah said.

  Theodore nodded. He knew they weren't getting home that way.

  "Gabriel, what's our status?" Theodore said.

  "Still clear, General," Gabriel replied. "Follow the target. I'm holding them off."

  He fired the vectoring thrusters, managing the distance between the Dread fortress and the Magellan. The enemy plasma stopped coming as they moved in too close to be targeted.

  It was working. As impossible as it was. As impossible as it seemed. His plan was working.

  The Magellan continued to drop as the fortress moved closer, from hundreds of kilometers to less than a dozen within seconds.

  "Let's hope we have enough power for one last push," he said. "Gabriel, clear out."

  "Yes, sir," Gabriel said.

  The hangar appeared in front of them a moment later, as Theodore aligned the Magellan with the target. They were close now, so close they had no other options. As if they did before.

  A single starfighter streaked out of the hangar, whipping past the viewport. Theodore cringed when he saw the number of plasma burns across the fuselage, and against the cockpit. It made him as sure as anything that his son was blessed.

  "Power levels at ten percent, General," Maggie said.

  "Brace for impact," Theodore said.

  The fortress' hangar was big. So was the Magellan, and it was coming in hard. He had no idea what would happen when their shields struck the enemy's shields.

  They were about to find out.

  He fired reverse thrusters, pushing them to full. It would help, but it wouldn't be enough. The fortress vanished into nothing but a solid line of black with a giant open mouth. He could see the inside of the hangar now, the Dread tech keeping the atmosphere contained and gravity in place. He could see the soldiers that Gabriel had killed, the unpiloted ships he had destroyed.

  The Magellan passed into the hangar, the gravity instantly pulling it to the floor. It hit with a deafening, grinding whoomp, pulling them hard in their seats, the din continuing as momentum dragged the starship across. The rear of the hangar approached in a hurry, and Theodore couldn't help but close his eyes as the impact grew imminent.

  He felt and heard the crash as the shielded bow of the Magellan struck the shielded interior of the fortress. The noise was louder than anything he had ever experienced, the forces involved threatening to break every bone in his body. If the seeming magic of the dark shields hadn't reduced the overall impact, he was sure it would have.

  He opened his eyes. The black material ahead of him rippled outward, the shockwave of force spreading across the fortress, being distributed throughout the alien ship like an earthquake. The rumbling continued
for another ten seconds as if they were sitting in the center of a volcano.

  And then everything was silent.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  They left an hour later without much fanfare, and with a surprising ambivalence from the residents of Hell at the idea of losing their leader.

  "I took them in and made them tough," Kraeger said. "They're too strong to give a shit about me, and Fox will do a better job than I ever did."

  They numbered nearly three-dozen, having accepted over forty volunteers from the ranks of both the community and the scavengers and cutting some back out after a rudimentary examination of their overall health. Just because someone wanted to fight didn't mean they would be an asset over a liability, and Donovan discovered that Kraeger did have a sharp mind for making that determination. They were fewer in quantity because of it, but greater in operational efficiency and strength.

  They were also greater in overall firepower. Beyond the bek'hai plasma rifles, the community had access to a massive supply of guns, ammunition, and explosives. It was all military grade, the type of equipment the resistance had run out of or lost control of a long time ago. It was nothing that could damage the enemy's armor, but it would be effective against clones.

  They were careful up until the point they left the base, filing out into the night, making a quick, concerted dash across the open highway to the tractor cab of the now defunct Monster. A lookout was keeping a close eye on the cameras back in the bunker, ready to transmit a signal to Kraeger in the event of an emergency.

  They scaled the industrial machine, taking position along its sides and top, dropping prone and keeping their rifles aimed out into the night. If the Dread were close enough they would be sure to take notice as soon as the rebels powered on the machine and heated it up, but there was no sign of them anywhere nearby. The brush was thick but relatively flat, giving them a long line of sight in every direction.

  There was nothing. At least not yet.

  "Start it up," Donovan said.

  Ehri pressed the button to begin sending power from the battery to the huge, studded wheels. She tapped another button to release the brakes and allow the tractor to move again. It went forward, accelerating smoothly as she increased the throttle and began turning it to the west.