Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron

by Ben Winston

  "You have said little of the estimates of your own repairs, Major Jana," Major Sizani of the Raptor Zulu, the sixth raptor included in the mission, asked. "We have already set course for your location. Nolwazi informs us that we will be able to jump safely in ten hours. We will join you at that time. Now is not the time to seek honor alone, but to surround ourselves with our allies."

  Jana nodded to him. "Your presence will strengthen us, Major Sizani." Jana replied. "The Hyperdrive control suite took a power spike during our exit. It fried the control systems, but we got lucky and dropped out between waves. All we need to do is replace our hyperdrive control electronics and we'll be back to a hundred percent."

  "Could we not tractor the two damaged raptors with us?" Carl suggested. "I know I would hate to have to abandon the Dynasty and I can see the decision is bothering Rat and Thomas."

  Rat shook his head. "No, I appreciate the thought Carl, I really do, but it would slow us down too much and put too much strain on your hyperdrives. Jumping home is a long ride, your drives have already been stressed by the emergency exit we had to make. No, we're gonna have to leave them."

  Thomas agreed. "Rat's right, Carl. If we try to make repairs, the imps will hunt us down. If we try to tow the damaged ships out of here, the added strain on the drive systems could cause the rest of you to be stranded as well. It's time to cut and run." He paused. "Just remember, I'm allergic to watercress!"

  "Good God; who isn't?" Rat replied, jokingly. The rest of the majors all laughed, including the very British Carl Mountbatten.

  "Okay, so we have a plan. Anyone have any other issues we need to work out?" Jana asked.

  "When we are able to jump again, I suggest Cathy and I jettison our land rails to make room for our brethren," Carl replied. "Otherwise, it's going to be a very cramped ride home."

  Major Cathy Timberlake of Raptor Acadia nodded her agreement. "Already planned on it, Carl. We got the drones working on fabricating the hook-ups for Circe as well."

  "Major, the hyperspace distortion is beginning to pass. I estimate ten to fifteen minutes until hyperspace travel will again be possible in this sector," Gouyen reported.

  "That's pretty much in line with your original estimate, Gouyen," Jana replied.

  The AI nodded. "We may have underestimated Imperial scanning technology. The remaining imperial fleets that were at the gate location have reformed into larger fleets. Two of those fleets are already moving in the direction of our damaged raptors. One of the other fleets is heading here. They may have orders to capture us."

  "What leads you to believe that?" Jana asked.

  "The three fleets moving to our locations divided up the troops transports among them. If they did not plan on capture, they would have sent the Marines in Grimaria to assist in rescue and rebuilding efforts," Gouyen replied.

  Jana sighed. "That's not good. Do Thomas and Rat know about this?"

  "Yes, they are being notified as well. There will be no issues with our escaping undetected as our repairs are completed. However, neither the Gothem nor the Ithica are repairable in this situation. The Dynasty should make it to the Gothem in time to effect the rescue, however, the Imperial warships will arrive at Ithica's location five minutes before Acadia can make the rendezvous. This prediction is assumed based on the earliest jump possibilities for the Imperial fleet as well as our own jump estimates."

  "I can't accept that. There has to be a way to get our people out of there before the Imperials arrive," Jana said shaking her head.

  "The math doesn't lie Jana. You guys might have to leave us," Rat replied as the comm opened again.

  "We're not going to let you be captured by the Imperials, Rat," Jana replied. "It just isn't going to happen."

  The other major grinned. "No, it isn't going to happen. We can't let the Imps get their hands on either the AI or the ship. Circe, activate self-destruct sequence. Command authorization for immediate detonation if detailed Imperial scans are detected or Imperial troops board the ship. Set destruct sequence for verbal command and prepare to eject your core."

  "Wait! If you raise your shields, it'll keep the Imps from scanning you…" Jana suggested.

  "It'll also pinpoint our location for them, Jana. At that point it'll be too late for Acadia to get to us," Rat replied. "Jana, we knew this could happen when we left."

  "Rat, hang on for a couple of minutes, we're working on something here," Cathy said.

  "Planning on changing the laws of physics, Cathy?" Rat asked.

  "Not exactly; we're going to jump a little early. If we can time our jump between distortion waves, we can use them to get to you faster. Kinda like surfing in hyperspace," Cathy replied.

  Again Rat shook his head. "You won't be able to slow down enough to exit without taking damage to your own hyperdrive, Cathy. Then we'll lose two Raptors instead of one. Look, we're getting geared up. I'll pull Circe and we'll try to steal one of the Imps, landing craft. We'll blast out of here and detonate the Ithica. In the confusion we should be able to get some distance on them before they launch fighters. If it gets too hairy, we'll bail out of the lander. Acadia can swoop in and pick us up then."

  "You honestly think that's gonna work, Rat?" Jana asked.

  "Probably not, but it's the best we have at the moment. If Cathy tries her surfing idea, it'll trash their hyperdrive and strand them here. Ithica can't even take off now. Our only options left are to steal something or stay here and try to draw them in. We can use the stealth systems of the suits to hide us from their scanners, once they deploy and head for the Raptor, we should be able to take over a landing craft."

  "Won't they think somethings up when no one tries to stop them from boarding the Raptor?" Carl asked.

  "Ah, they won't get that chance, Carl; we haven't been sitting on our thumbs here. We've deployed our mines, the portable missile launchers, and we'll be setting the guns to automatic when we leave. They should be pretty sure someone is still here," Rat replied. "Since we had planned on blowing up the Ithica anyway, I was planning on doing all of this to draw them in as close as possible. So it was already set up."

  "That's crazy Rat! The guns will see the landing craft as hostile! They'll be shooting at you as well!" Jana said.

  "Yeah, well, this is all we got and time's up. We gotta get moving to get into position before they get here. It's been an honor folks," Rat said and saluted.

  On the screen each of the officers returned the salute as Rat killed his connection.

  "If anyone can pull this off, they will," Carl replied softly. He didn't sound very sure of himself.

  "Strap in kids, we're heading for the rendezvous in thirty seconds," Jana said over the intercom.

  "I've reset our exit point to give us some room when we get there," Cathy said. "If they can get off that rock, we'll find them."

  "Good luck, Cathy," Jana replied.

  "Imperial fleets have jumped," Gouyen reported. "Arrival here in four minutes. Arrival at Raptor Gothem in six minutes. Arrival at Raptor Ithica in three minutes."

  "We're gone," Jana said and initiated the jump. She noticed that Raptor Dynasty dropped out of the comm for a moment as they jumped as well.

  "Two minutes, Thomas," Carl said.

  Thomas nodded. "We're pulling the core and we'll be waiting, Carl. Talk to you all soon." With that, Thomas too dropped out of the comm link.

  On the Ithica asteroid, Major Rathbone and his team were having difficulties. Because of the heavy fire from the Raptor, the Imperial landing craft did not actually land right away. They flew close to the site and dropped their troops before moving back to land in a place shielded from the guns of the crashed Alliance ship.

  Rat's team would have to run further than anticipated to get to the landing craft. While they were moving, several Imperial fighter craft made strafing runs on the missile launchers and ship in an attempt to destroy the weapons systems. The missile launchers were destroyed quickly, but they were having trouble with the ship's guns and four of the
fighters were destroyed. It was obvious they had orders to capture the ship and not to destroy it.

  Once the missile launchers had been taken out, the Imperial Marines discovered the very well hidden mines and other nasty traps the Ithica team had placed to protect their ship. All in all, it served to buy the raptor team time to find a landing craft, kill the crew, and take control.

  Just as the team was lifting the big craft off the rock, Imperial fighters performed multiple strafing runs on the areas surrounding the Raptor to clear out the mines and traps for the troops. The Imperial Marines now only had two things preventing them from attaining their prize; the ship's shield and the very nasty high-powered mass driver weapon on the top of the craft that could even shoot through rocks.

  Once again the fighters were called in to weaken or knock down the shields, six more fighters were lost before the shields finally gave out. The Imperial Marines concentrated their fire and destroyed the mass driver on top of the craft. The troops approaching from the front and sides of the craft then discovered another mass driver weapon mounted under the nose of the craft. However, it was quickly discovered that this gun had a blind spot and that was used. The Marines approached the Raptor from the rear, placed their boarding charges and blew the hull of the stricken ship open. Two Marines took positions on each side of the hole and carefully turned in, ready to fire at anything that moved.

  The Ithica team had cleared the asteroid and were accelerating away on the far side when the Ithica and the two remaining demolition charges it carried detonated. The explosion did take the Imperial forces by surprise; twenty-two fighters, and a full battalion of Marines were killed instantly, two light cruisers took heavy damage, and one of those crashed into a battleship when it lost steering. The large ship suffered moderate damage but did not impair its combat efficiency.

  The landing craft was heavily armored but was still not up to the plasma wave caused by the explosion. The engines exploded, ripping the rear of the craft open to space and venting what atmosphere it had. Two of the team members were wounded by shrapnel from the explosion. The landing craft was now a drifting hulk with no power.

  "Acadia to Ithica, please tell me you guys made it?" the team heard over their comms.

  "Acadia, this is Ithica team. It's really good to hear from you. We have two wounded and we're in a dead ship," one of the team members replied.

  "Is Major Rathbone wounded?" Cathy asked.

  "No ma'am. Major Rathbone remained with the ship to keep the Imperial troops occupied so we could escape." He paused. "Ma'am, he ordered us to go and forced us out of the ship at gun point!"

  "I understand, Officer, we're locked onto you and will be there shortly. Keep your stealth systems on, this place is crawling with Imps," Cathy replied sadly. "Is Circe with you?"

  "Yes Ma'am, I'm sure she would have stayed as well, but Rat had her core removed before we knew he was staying," the Officer replied. "Major, we never would have made it to the ship if he hadn't drawn them in."

  "We're just outside now, get ready to jump clear of that mess," Cathy replied.

  "Major, the imperial fleets are redeploying. I'm having difficulty predicting their destinations, but they are all heading back toward Alliance space." Gouyen reported.

  "They're not returning to Grimaria to help repair the damage we did?" Jana asked. "That's odd."

  "Raptor Acadia has retrieved team Ithica. Major Rathbone is not among them. His teammates report he remained with the Raptor to ensure the Imperial troops remained focused on the Raptor while the rest of the team escaped." Gouyen reported. "Sister Circe is with the team."

  Jana closed her eyes at the news of the death of her friend. "Rat, you stupid…" she shook her head. "Are they heading for the rendezvous?"

  Gouyen nodded. "Yes, Sister Circe is still reinitializing and doesn't know about the Major yet."

  "She and Rat were pretty close. She might need help with it when she regains awareness," Jana suggested.

  Again, Gouyen nodded. "We are aware of it and are ready to help as we can." She was talking about herself and the other Raptor AI. "We fear she will wish to purge herself. She still may after we return to base."

  Jana nodded. "That would be her choice of course, but I hope she doesn't; after this nightmare is over, she'll be one of our more experienced AI. We're going to need all of you more than ever. I'm sure the rest of us would be willing to help her in any way we can as well. All of you are part of our family, and family help each other."

  Gouyen smiled softly. "Thank you, Jana."

  Jana nodded. "Anytime, my friend. Now, please keep an eye on those Imperial ships and let us know what they're up to as soon as you figure it out." She paused. "I'm starting to wonder just how good their hyperspace tracking technology actually is."

  "How do you mean?" the AI asked.

  "They knew our exact position when we jumped for the gates. I'll grant they could have figured it out because we made sure they saw us jump, but based on the set-up they had before the gates blew, they knew our exact positions," Jana explained. "After the gates blew, they started after us before the distortion cleared, even though they could have detected our exit, it still seems like they reacted pretty damn fast."

  "I think I see what you mean. Would it not be safe to assume they have tracking at least as good as our own?" Gouyen asked.

  "That has always been the assumption, but let me ask you this; if our positions were reversed, how quickly could you have gotten our positions in both circumstances?" Jana asked. "Remember that the Imperials don't use AI."

  Gouyen looked thoughtful for a moment. "Performing the math manually would take hours. A logic based computer would still take about twenty minutes. Predicting an incoming hyperspace event takes into account certain assumptions of variables that a normal computer would have difficulties with. That being said, using our current technology, it would have taken roughly a minute to a minute and a half to predict both events.

  "Factoring in the amount of distortion created by the detonation of the gates, and the effect it would have on our tracking sensors, target detection would not have been possible until the distortion wake declined to force seven or lower. We only knew of Imperial movements because of the real space sensors we dropped."

  "So they should have lost track of us because of all the distortion from the explosion, right?" Jana asked.

  Gouyen nodded. "We have to assume they have more advanced tracking technology than is currently available to us. Even in hyperspace, a Raptor's signature output has been reduced to that of a much smaller ship. On our current sensors, a raptor would register as a ship the size of a centurion without IFF transponder recognition."

  "So they can track us in hyperspace, but think we're actually centurions?" Jana asked.

  "There is no way to know that for certain. The fact that they can track us even through heavy distortion makes all but one assumption pointless. That assumption is that, in hyperspace, we cannot hide from them," Gouyen replied.

  "That is going to make getting out of here very difficult. We're faster than our size would indicate, but we can't outrun their big ships," Jana said thoughtfully.

  "I have passed this information on to the other AI. We are working on possible escape scenarios based on this new information," Gouyen reported. "However, most of the Imperial ships are still in hyperspace; they all seem to have different arrival points based on they're profiles. If I had to guess, they are setting up a very large net to trap is us in." She paused. "Acadia will arrive at the rendezvous ten minutes after we do. Ten Imperial light cruisers are also in route to that location. We will need to leave immediately if we wish to avoid contact with them."

  "Yeah, maybe not," Jana said. "Please begin replicating ten class IV mines. Alter our trajectory slightly so we arrive where you think the cruisers will drop out and we'll deploy them there. Make sure our stealth systems are fully operational as well."

  "We're going to fight them?" Gouyen asked.

  "May
be, those cruisers are meant to scare us into jumping. Once we do, they'll know exactly where we are. While we're in normal space, they can't track us. The longer we can stay hidden, the better off we'll be," Jana said.

  "Dynasty is already on station at the rendezvous. Major Mountbatten said he will get the mines in position for us. However, he recommends the rest of us go ahead and prepare at least five additional mines for deployment as needed," Gouyen replied.

  Jana nodded in agreement with that plan. "Sounds even better. That way, the Imps won't suspect we left a surprise for them."

  "Yes, but do we take on the enemy that survive the mines, or do we try to escape this trap?" Major Sizani said from the comm. Jana had told Gouyen to allow connection while their ships were traveling together.

  Jana shrugged. "I'm of a mind to destroy them. We already know a light cruiser is no match for a raptor. Our mass drivers blow right through the armor on the light cruisers."

  "I agree; they have sent this force to prod us into making a mistake. I feel the need to show them the error of that assumption," the stoic African said. "The tiger is most dangerous when it is wounded. The hunter must be very careful in order to avoid becoming the hunted."

  Jana nodded. "I think you might be closer to the mark than we know, my friend. They are very definitely hunting us."

  Sizani nodded. "Yes, so we must exploit every mistake while avoiding them ourselves. Sending only ten of their smallest ships after us was just such a mistake. However, it will also show them we are not what they believe we are."

  Carl Mountbatten joined the conversation. "I disagree Sizani; what we did at Grimaria has already done that. I believe these ships are more of a test to see how badly damaged we are. Once they hit the mines, I believe they will withdraw."

  "Perhaps we should continue with our ghost games," Jana replied grinning. "Carl, set the mines for remote detonation after they attach to the ships. We will retreat a small distance to give them something to chase, then detonate them after they are certain we are not near them. If we can continue with the ghost ops, I think we can keep them off-balance and maybe rattle them."