by John Walker
Clea held her breath, wondering if she was still alive.
“Thank you for flying Zeta Airlines,” the pilot announced. “We have landed safely and are ready for you to disembark. Please camouflage this vessel on your way out and good luck on your mission. We’ll be waiting for your call.”
One of the marines removed Clea’s straps and pulled her to her feet. “C’mon. It’s time to get moving.”
Clea nodded, slinging her weapon and heading unsteadily for the door. Hoffner stopped her, allowing her to walk slower with him. “Easy there. I didn’t want to say anything in front of them, but I’m guessing you haven’t done a combat drop in a long time.”
“No,” she replied. “I sure haven’t.”
“I can tell. Regain your bearings here. We’ve got a few minutes while they get the ship covered. Do you know where we’re going?”
“It’s on our scanners. When we get outside, I’ll plot us a course to keep us safe from the plant life. I haven’t been specifically here before, but I have dealt with this type of terrain. Providing we’re careful, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I’ll hold you to it.” Hoffner moved to the ramp and checked his scanner. “Surface temperature’s no treat. Thirty-two celsius. Going to be a sticky romp to the base.”
“The environment in jungle settings helps mask technology,” Clea explained. “Casual scans pick up so much life interference they can’t distinguish the fake from the real. It’s just one more security measure.”
“Pity there’s a traitor out there who screwed all those things up.”
Clea’s heart burned at the thought but she nodded. “I can’t imagine what they’re thinking but I hope to find out why they did it.”
“I’ve been around long enough to know betrayal rarely has a good reason,” Hoffner replied. “And even when there is one, finding out doesn’t satisfy the victims. Best to just deal with it and move on. It’s the one time motivation doesn’t make any difference.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Captain.” Clea stretched. She felt a semblance of normalcy falling over her. “I’m ready. Let’s get out there and figure out what direction we’re going. As you said, it’s going to be a hike so we’ll need to move as quickly as possible.”
Hoffner nodded and gestured for her to go. So the mission begins, Clea thought. Let’s hope my survival skills aren’t as pathetic as my drop ship experience.
Chapter 7
The Crystal Font kept their distance from the ship they were battling, hammering it with ordinance Gray had never seen. He checked the readings and couldn’t believe the power output but it didn’t detract the vessel who took the blows. The enemy didn’t care about taking damage, only winning. It gave them a slight and dangerous advantage.
Their own opponent backed off, returning to formation to blast at the four alliance ships protecting the planet. They must have an operational parameter not allowing them to get too far from their objective. The Behemoth weighed more than any other vessel in the system and they probably possessed more armor but if they had to endure what those alliance ships did, they wouldn’t survive.
They needed to relieve the pressure as soon as possible.
Their allies protecting the planet gave as good as they got, holding the line like true professionals. Gray directed Redding to take the flank of the enemy, moving for a firing solution on their engines. The shields should’ve been weakest back there and they had to pick who they wanted to show their asses to: the lone ship or the four holding the line.
“Captain, the Crystal Font just tore down the shields of their opponent,” Olly announced. “It’s…hold on. I’m picking up a massive energy surge.” Gray stepped over to look over his shoulder but didn’t know what he was looking at.
“What is it?”
“Oh my God!” Olly tapped at the controls. “Agatha, I just took operational control of the coms.” He shouted into his headset, “to all alliance vessels and Behemoth fighters, scatter! Get away from the advancing warship. It’s set it’s reactor to overload! It’s going to blow!”
“Are you sure?” Gray stared at the screen, eyes narrow. “Why? What’s…”
“I read Paul’s report,” Olly said. “That’s why I knew what the increase in power output was. They’re going to sacrifice themselves to open a lane to the planet. If all those ships don’t get out of the way, they’ll be crippled at best or torn apart…”
“Did they respond to your hail?”
“Agatha, back to you,” Olly said. “I’m transferring back to Agatha.”
Agatha tapped her controls. “Sir, they’ve acknowledged and are attempting to move.”
“They’re not going to make it!” Olly shouted. “I’m trying to access the enemy drive…see if I can shut it down.”
“Can you do that?” Adam asked.
Olly swallowed hard and shook his head. “I doubt it but it’s the only thing I can think to try.”
“Do whatever you can.” Gray watched the scanners. “They’re not moving fast enough. Agatha, emphasize the importance of getting the hell out of there.”
“On it, sir.” Agatha started speaking firmly into the microphone.
“Olly…” Adam said. “Come on!”
“This is pretty much impossible, sir! I mean, I’m trying to hack an alien technology totally on the fly! I’m sorry!”
“Go back to working on Protocol Seven,” Gray said. “They’ll move in time.”
“Our fighters report they are out of the blast radius,” Agatha said. “Crystal Font reports the same.”
“What about the other vessels? Have they even given the order?”
“Yes, sir.” Agatha “The smaller ships have retreated.”
“That’s good for something.” Gray turned to Redding. “Are we in range?”
“Five seconds.”
“Fire at will as soon as we’re in range.” Gray sat back down. “See what we can do to distract them at least. I don’t want to get close to that damn bomb.”
They watched on the view screen, seemingly in slow motion as the enemy vessel plowed in the midst of the four alliance ships. Redding depressed the trigger, firing on the nearest enemy with a full barrage of pulse cannons. Shields flashed, the engines flared and popped causing the target to list.
At the same time, the enemy vessel exploded in a spectacular fashion, sending a shockwave out in every direction. Gray turned away as the flash of light filled their screen, nearly blinding him. Internal communications went crazy, turning to static for a good five seconds. When their visual came back, the carnage was unbelievable.
The alliance ships may not have been destroyed but they didn’t look good. “Olly, report!”
“Three of our ships are totally crippled.” Olly shook his head. “The fourth…”
“What?” Adam prompted. “What is it?”
“Life support is down, engines are offline, power is fading fast…” Olly clenched his fist. “It was closest to the enemy ship when the reactor blew.”
“But the other ships?” Gray asked. “Life signs?”
“They’ve taken casualties and I can bring up individual damage reports soon but they are still marginally functional. Not combat effective.” Olly checked something. “No, but with some repairs, they’ll be mobile again.”
“Okay,” Gray motioned to Agatha. “Get the Crystal Font back online.”
“They’re on speaker, sir.”
“Thanks.” Gray cleared his throat. “Crystal Font, we need to organize a search and rescue for those ships but it looks like we’re it now. Opinion?”
“It looks like you managed to severely damage one of them and they took care of their own. We’re down to three of them with a fourth out there somewhere.” Anthar Ru’Xin paused. “I believe we can handle this situation still. The majority of my people’s fighters survived the explosion. We can resupply them here.”
“Okay.” Gray nodded, turning to Olly. “Did we truly disable that ship?”
; “No,” Redding answered for him. “I got at least one if not two of their engines but they’re moving now. They’ve been pelting us with turrets but so far, minimal damage.”
“I concur,” Olly said. “But if they turn, they’re going to hit us with their cannons…and they’re definitely turning.”
“Redding, try to keep us behind them as best you can.” Gray pointed to Adam. “Contact Revente. Get his bombers over here so we can finish this guy off.”
“On it.” Adam returned to his station.
The other ships began shifting their attention, two turned to face the Crystal Font and the Behemoth. Their damaged ship stopped attempting to turn and used what engine power it could muster to press toward the planet. “Keep on that bastard!” Adam shouted. “Don’t let him get away!”
“Belay that,” Gray said. “Much as I want to wipe them out, we have bigger fish to fry. I want you to collaborate with the Crystal Font so we can keep them busy while we perform the search and rescue operations. If there are any people left out there, they won’t have much time. Let’s put it to good use.”
***
Meagan spun at the last second, narrowly avoiding debris from the final drop ship. As it disintegrated off to the left, she redirected her course for the enemy soldiers causing so much trouble on the ground. Mick pulled up beside her and the two Tai’Li fighters took up the rear. They dropped down low, skimming the tops of the tallest trees.
“Estimated time to theater of operation,” Meagan checked her scan. “Thirty seconds.”
“Panther One, this is Giant Control.”
“Go ahead,” Meagan said, “but make it quick. We’re about to unload on some runners.”
“You only have time for one volley,” Giant Control replied. “Afterward, break atmosphere and get your ass back up here.”
“What happened?”
“The enemy pulled a kamikaze and took out three of the alliance ships. We’re trying to keep the rest of the bastards busy while we perform some search and rescue. I need you guys to rejoin your wing and get on patrol.”
“Understood.” Meagan shook her head. “Sorry, ground pounders. We’ll do what we can. You heard them, Mick…Tai’Li…um…guys? One pass and we’re back topside.”
“Seems a shame,” Mick said. “We could really do some damage.”
“They might have some real ground to air ordinance,” Meagan replied. “So we probably should be thankful we won’t be giving them juicy targets to pop.”
“The battleground’s coming up on visual,” Mick said. “Jesus Christ, do you see them all?”
Meagan squinted then leaned back in her seat. There were hundreds, possibly more, soldiers on the ground charging a fixed emplacement set up by the alliance. Their IFF lit up, showing blue on the left where a much smaller contingency tried to fend them off and red where the massive force congregated.
“Good lord, you’re not kidding.” Meagan sighed. “Let’s do what we can.”
She jerked her control back to avoid topping a tree then plunged down, firing her pulse cannons into the densest part of the crowd. Mick did the same and the Tai’Li fighters spread out to either side for maximum spread. They weren’t quite close enough to see the whites of their eyes, but she sure saw them react.
The first blasts threw bodies high into the air. It caused panic and the soldiers began running, trying to spread out to avoid the heaviest casualties but there was nowhere for them to go. While they might’ve overrun the position they were taking with sheer numbers, those numbers provided a target rich environment.
Craters appeared where bodies once were. Corpses became obstacles they had to clamber over to escape their own deaths. Two passes would’ve been devastating. Meagan thought as she came to the end of the line. Half of her considered trying another fly by on their way out when her scanner picked up an incoming missile.
“Do you see that?” Meagan called out. “Mick?”
“Yeah, some prick down there had the weapons you were worried about. I’ve got one on me too.”
“Us as well,” Tai’Li added. “We have countermeasures.”
“Yeah, us too.” Meagan sighed. “Alright, let’s follow orders and get topside. Allow their stupid missiles to get close then drop your ECM. Sync up on that too.”
Their countermeasures would distract the missiles and give them a chance to pull far enough away from the missiles to avoid being blown to hell. However, if they didn’t all drop them, there was a good chance the attacking rocket would change course and go after the bigger target. What was worse would be if they didn’t sync up, the missile could bounce between targets, not allowing any fighter to escape.
Her scans beeped, giving her a countdown. As the clouds above broke way to blue sky, she gunned her throttle. “Countdown,” Meagan shouted. “Three…two…one, fire!”
They dropped their ECM and pulled away from one another, separating out to allow their defensive measures to do their jobs. As the sky turned from blue to gray and eventually to black, the scans suggested her missile drifted back and went after her defense. “I’m clear!” She called out. “Mick, report!”
“Mine’s good.”
“I haven’t dropped mine,” Tai’Li One said. “It’s tight on my tail.”
“I’ll try to cut it off,” Tai’Li Two replied. “Stay on course.”
“Don’t try it,” Meagan said. “You won’t be able to target that thing at this speed while climbing with gravity. Chances are good it’ll turn on you.”
“You aren’t in command of us.” Tai’Li Two spoke again. “If I don’t help him, he dies. He’d do the same for me. Continue on course, Human. We’ll meet you if we can.”
“Tai’Li?” Meagan couldn’t see what was happening specifically but her scanners showed blips approaching the friendly vessel. They’d turned their coms to a different frequency. “God damn it, Mick, can you see them?”
“No, but that missile’s really freakin’ close…”
Meagan felt her ship shake just as she broke atmosphere. Her wings retracted and she tapped her scanner screen for a rear view. A massive explosion sat a thousand feet or so behind her. Was that one of them or the missile?
“Panther One, this is Tai’Li One.” Meagan let out a sigh of relief. “We have destroyed the missile and are heading for the rendezvous.”
“Way to cut it close there, Tai’Li,” Mick answered for her. “Good work and we’ll see you on the other side.”
“Not the best choice of words, Mick.” Meagan shook her head. “But point taken.” She looked out over the carnage around them, the damaged alliance ships drifting nearby and the brilliant lights of conflict raging off in the distance. It gave her a heavy feeling in her stomach, a sense of grandeur she didn’t get in their last engagement.
As they passed by the conflict zone, she throttled up. “Let’s hurry up,” she said. “I want to be closer to allies ASAP.”
“Yeah…” Mick sounded somber. “I know exactly how you feel.”
Chapter 8
Clea watched as the men finished camouflaging the ship. From the air, it would be impossible to see it and the cloth provided protection against active scans. Someone would have to literally stumble upon it. Providing they hurried, there’d be no risk of that. The enemy soldiers were occupied with fortified emplacements, at least for a while.
Hoffner turned to her. “Okay, now that we’re ready, what’s the plan?”
Clea checked her computer. Once she disembarked the vessel, she initiated a program to plot a course through the jungle to the facility. It worked off of satellite scans, taking in the most recent data and calculating all available paths to their destination. The lines were color coded with green being the easiest and red being nearly impossible.
“It depends,” Clea said. “If we do not want to do any trail blazing, we’ll have to stick to a couple of specific routes. Unfortunately, those are established through activity by the inhabitants of the planet and thus closer to what I’d call t
he current battlefield. It could put us at risk of enemy encounters, though perhaps not large enough to matter.”
“Okay, what about the not so easy ones?”
“Those require us to cut through some of the jungle ourselves, which presents a hardship as well. You see, some of the foliage is dangerous and can be as bad as having to fight. Personally, I prefer and recommend we go for something in the middle. Limit the amount of cutting we have to do.”
“What about predators?” Hoffner asked. “Do we have to worry about alien animals giving us a hard time?”
“Survey of the planet suggests most animals are afraid of people and won’t be a bother,” Clea explained. “There are enough of us living on the planet who venture out into the wilderness for research or recreation to keep them at bay but that’s not to say we won’t encounter something. I’ll have my active scanner going the whole time.”
“Okay.” Hoffner turned to the men. “Listen up, people. We’re moving out. This place isn’t safe. We’ve got enemy soldiers, killer plants and God knows what else. Our objective, as you know, is rescue and recovery. Let’s stick together, be wary and stay alive. If any of you die out here, consider yourself on report. You got it?”
“Yes, sir.” They didn’t shout but still managed to include some enthusiasm in their voices. Hoffner nodded once. “Alright, Jenks and Walsh, you take point. The rest of you stagger back two by two. An’Tufal, you’re with me.”
Clea took up a position beside the captain, her head on a swivel. One of the most important tenants she remembered from her survival training involved situational awareness. You can’t rely solely on scans, the instructor said. Eyes and ears are just as important. You may not have your other senses in armor or environmental suits but use what you’ve got. It could save your life.