by Ryk Brown
“Why didn’t you take the main road?” Rorik wondered.
“The main road is wide, and clear of trees that might hide us from satellites and aerial patrols,” Travon explained to his son. “The back way goes through the forest, making us less visible.”
“Hang on,” Jerrot warned. He slid the window closed and put the truck back in gear, starting up the bumpy dirt road.
Immediately, the occupants in the back of the truck realized that their driver had not been exaggerating.
“Jesus!” Yanni exclaimed. “Fifteen minutes of this?”
“You will survive,” Travon promised him. He looked over at the two Nifelmian doctors, both of them wide-eyed, as they clung to the rails for dear life.
The truck suddenly ran over a large rock, bouncing Travon several centimeters in the air. His eyes grew wide.
“That’s it,” Loki announced. “That’s the last jump. We’re just over one light year from Corinair. The next one will put us in the cave.”
“We hope,” Connor added. He tapped his comm-set. “Marcus, we’re at the final jump point.”
“Copy that.”
“Relax, Cap’n. We’ve got this,” Josh insisted.
“You know, I never would have agreed to this if I didn’t know you two had done this kind of thing before.”
“You told him we’ve done this before?” Loki asked, casting a disapproving glance at Josh.
“Well, we sort of did,” Josh argued.
“What?” Connor was not amused.
“We did this exact same maneuver to sneak onto Nifelm to extricate Sato and Megel,” Josh replied. “Well, almost the same maneuver.”
“Is it exact, or almost, Josh?” Connor demanded. “Because they’re two entirely different things, you know.”
“We jumped into a very tight valley, coming out only a few hundred meters from the cave entrance,” Loki explained.
“Same thing,” Josh insisted.
“It’s not the same thing, Josh,” Connor argued.
“Technically, it is,” Loki agreed with Josh. “At least from a jump calculation standpoint.”
“And I slid us in and parked us in that cave quite nicely, didn’t I?” Josh added.
“Yes, you did,” Loki admitted.
“You see, Cap’n, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t believe this,” Connor muttered to himself.
“Relax, Cap’n…”
“I swear, Josh, if you say we’ve got this one more time, I’m tossing you out the airlock.”
“Well, what are we going to do, turn back?” Josh asked.
“No, we’re not going to turn back,” Connor replied. “I’ll tell you one thing, though. You’re getting a cut in pay, that’s for sure.”
“I’ve gotten updated sensor scans,” Loki announced, trying to change the subject. “Our insertion jump calculations are good. Our jump point is coming up in one minute.”
Both Josh and Loki looked at Connor.
“Well, you’re the captain,” Josh said.
Connor sighed. “Of course, we go,” he said. “But you and I are going to have a talk after this mission is over,” Connor warned Josh.
The old cargo truck continued to bounce and shake as it climbed the winding dirt road leading up to the rendezvous point at the crystal caves. Its occupants, tired from their long, arduous journey, struggled to stay firmly seated, despite the vehicle’s efforts to eject them into the surrounding wilderness.
A strange sound suddenly echoed through the canyons. A muffled eruption, much like a crack of thunder, only contained inside something.
“What the hell was that?” Rorik exclaimed, looking around frantically.
Travon looked at his son, annoyed. For all of his son’s insistence that it would be safe for him and his wife to remain on Corinair, he appeared to be the most nervous. “A jump flash,” Travon answered.
Rorik looked unconvinced. “I’ve heard jump flashes before, and they do not sound like that.” He looked around some more, as if looking for a ship that might spot them. “It was like an explosion inside of something.”
“Like a cave?” Travon replied, a knowing smile on his face.
Rorik looked at his father in disbelief. “A cave? You’re saying they jumped inside a cave? That’s impossible!”
“We shall see.”
The Seiiki shook violently as the displaced air from their jump bounced off the surrounding cave walls, slamming back into them with incredible force.
“Fuck!” Loki exclaimed before talking quickly. “Lift at forty!”
“Decel at full!” Josh announced, speaking over Loki as he pushed the deceleration thruster throttles all the way forward.
“Jesus!” Connor exclaimed, holding onto the overhead rails for support.
“Negative clearance eight seconds!” Loki warned.
Connor stared out the forward windows in terror and disbelief. The cave entrance had been more than wide enough, but it narrowed quickly the deeper they went, and the concussion of their arrival had shattered most of the crystals hanging from the cave’s ceiling, creating a sparkling rain. Almost immediately, the sound of broken crystal striking their hull filled the cockpit.
“Forward speed dropping,” Loki reported, his voice calm, yet still talking quickly. “Five meters per second. Gear coming down.”
The cave continued to narrow, as the Seiiki slid low over the cave floor, brushing the pointed tips of the numerous crystal columns that grew upward from the floor of the cavern. Josh eased the deceleration throttles back to zero as he twisted the flight control stick to the left, causing the Seiiki to yaw quickly to port.
“What are you doing?” Connor demanded, his eyes widening.
“Again?” Loki queried, not at all surprised, “Gear down and locked.”
Josh nodded. “Gear?”
“Down and locked,” Loki replied, shaking his head. “The floor is not exactly level, though.”
“Oh, well,” Josh replied, unconcerned.
A moment later, the Seiiki’s landing gear touched the cave floor.
“Contact, on three!” Loki announced.
Josh eased the Seiiki’s lift thrusters, allowing the ship to settle down gently on the uneven surface.
“Contact on one,” Loki added. “Four…… We’re down!”
Josh quickly pulled the thrust levers back to zero.
“Killing all engines,” Loki reported. “Bringing the reactor down to one percent.” He glanced across the console, checking the Seiiki’s critical systems. He hadn’t flown this ship in some time, and felt compelled to check everything twice. “We’re good,” he finally reported, then let out a long sigh of relief. “Leveling the gear,” Loki added.
The cockpit began to move slowly, its low side rising upward as its landing gear adjusted to level off the ship. It stopped a few seconds later, however, still low on the starboard side.
“That’s as level as we’re going to get,” Loki reported.
A big grin came over Josh’s face. He turned to look back at Connor, whose color had not yet returned to his face. “So, Cap’n, you still wanna cut my pay?”
The Seiiki’s cargo ramp made contact with the floor of the crystal cave on its starboard corner only, the ship still listing to one side because of the uneven landing surface.
Jessica was the first down the ramp, her weapon held high and ready. It was unlikely that anyone was inside the crystal cave when they had jumped in, as it had been closed to the public since Corinair was liberated from the Takaran Empire eight years ago. Even if someone had been there, they would not have survived the concussion of the Seiiki’s jump insertion. Still, she and her team had been tasked with the security of the mission, and it was not
one that she took lightly.
The four of them moved quickly and skillfully down the ramp, hopping down onto the floor of the cave. They constantly looked upward, to watch for crystals falling from the ceiling.
“No one exits without headgear,” Jessica instructed over her helmet comms to the others still on the ship. “There are still a lot of cracked crystal formations hanging from the ceilings, waiting to fall.”
“Copy that,” Connor replied from inside the Seiiki.
Jessica continued forward toward the mouth of the cave as two of her team fanned out to the right, and the other one to the left. The floor crunched under her feet as shards of crystal shattered under her armored boots. “Camo up,” she ordered as she touched her wrist controller.
The Ghatazhak combat armor began to sparkle, as its exterior changed color to blend in with its surroundings.
“Camo check,” Jessica added, stopping dead in her tracks. She slowly rotated her head to her left, looking for Sergeant Todd. “Todd, move a little, I can’t see you.” It took her a moment, but she noticed a distortion moving up and down against the background. “Damn, this shit is good,” she muttered. “Let’s take up positions outside the cave entrance,” she added, continuing her advance.
Connor, Josh, and Loki all stared out the forward windows, trying to spot Jessica and the rest of the Ghatazhak, who they knew were walking ahead of the ship toward the cave entrance.
“I can’t see them, can you?” Josh asked.
“I’ve got nothing,” Loki admitted.
“There,” Connor said, pointing to the left. “Look for the distortion moving slowly forward across the wall.”
“I’ve still got nothing,” Loki said.
“We’re almost at the mouth of the cave,” Jessica reported. “It’s clear inside, and there doesn’t appear to be any more crystals falling, but I’d wear headgear just in case.”
“Understood,” Connor replied over the comms. “Everyone assemble in the cargo bay. We need to inspect the exterior of the ship for damage.”
“Once we get outside, we’ll set up a sensor range extender, to monitor the immediate area,” Jessica added.
“Understood,” Connor replied, as he started down the ladder, with Josh and Loki climbing out of their seats to follow.
Four tiny flashes of light, almost imperceptible against the bright noontime skies, appeared low on the horizon. A moment later, the sound of distant thunder filled the canyons that led up to the crystal cave.
From behind the flashes of light, four tiny, metallic objects appeared just above the ridgeline, their surfaces glistening in the midday sun. The dots seemed motionless at first, but quickly grew in size as they approached.
“Oh, no, no, no,” Dalen cursed as his pace across the top of the Seiiki’s starboard wing-body quickened.
“What is it?” Connor called over the comms, noticing his engineer’s alarm.
Dalen knelt down over the object of his concern. A large shard of crystal had landed point-first into the middle of one of the jump emitters.
“Oh, fuck!” Marcus exclaimed as he came to look over Dalen’s shoulder at the damaged emitter.
Dalen looked up at Marcus. “We don’t have any spares.”
“Cap’n,” Marcus called over the comms, “we’ve got a problem here.”
Jessica kept her eyes focused on the tactical display inside of her helmet’s visor, as the tactical logic computer in her system identified the four targets that had just appeared in the distance.
“Shit,” she cursed under her breath. “Todd, you seeing the same?”
“Yup,” the Ghatazhak sergeant next to her confirmed.
“Seiiki, Nash. We’ve got incoming.”
“Stop the truck! Stop the truck!” Travon ordered from the back.
Jerrot slammed on the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a skidding stop in the middle of the dirt road.
“Everyone out of the truck!” the admiral ordered.
“What is it?” Rorik asked. He had also heard the distant thunder, but thought little of it since it seemed so far away.
“Those were jump ships arriving,” Doran explained as he helped his wife and daughter down out of the truck. “Head for those rocks, over there,” he instructed his family.
“Shouldn’t we keep going?” Rorik asked. “If it’s only one ship, maybe the trees will provide us cover?”
“It was multiple ships,” Travon told him, helping Doctor Sato down. “Probably fighters, which means they have sensors that will see through the trees. We must get behind cover, quickly!”
“Can we jump without it?” Connor asked, standing next to Marcus and looking down at the damaged emitter.
“No way, Cap,” Dalen replied. “It’s right in the middle, between the central topside emitter and the emitter on the top of the starboard nacelle. There will be a gap about two meters wide without it.”
Connor sighed. “Which means we’ll end up with a two-meter hole in the top of the ship, right over the starboard cabins.”
“I’ve got a truck about half a click down the road, stopped, with a bunch of people spreading out from it,” Jessica reported over the comms. “Different sizes, most of them moving in uncoordinated fashion. It’s got to be them. We’re going to move closer. They’re going to need help if those shuttles land.”
“Understood,” Connor replied after tapping his comm-set. “Josh, Loki, Neli; take up defensive positions at the mouth of the cave.”
“On our way,” Josh replied.
“We could seal off either end of the aft starboard corridor,” Marcus suggested. “At least it would keep the entire ship from depressurizing.”
“No good,” Connor disagreed. “Half the control lines for the starboard nacelle run under the hull here. We’d lose them all, and probably the main power trunk below it, as well.”
“We wouldn’t be able to land,” Dalen realized.
“I don’t suppose you could fix all of that in space, could you?” Connor asked.
Dalen looked up at his captain. “I…I don’t know, Cap. Maybe?”
“We could move one of the bow emitters a bit further back, then remove the one behind it and relocate it here,” Marcus suggested. “They’re closer together than they need to be, anyway.”
“But will their fields still connect if we remove it?” Connor wondered.
“They should,” Dalen replied.
“May have to boost the power to them, though,” Marcus added. “Gonna make for an inaccurate jump, that’s for sure.”
Connor sighed. “Better an inaccurate jump than a gaping hole in the top of my ship. How are you going to route the power if you move that emitter back?” Connor asked, pointing toward the bow.
“The conduit runs along that center channel all the way aft,” Dalen explained. “It was added when they fitted the ship with her jump systems. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
Two more claps of thunder, each only a split second apart, echoed through the cave from outside, causing them all to turn toward the mouth of the cave.
“Two more inbound,” Jessica reported over the comms. “Troop shuttles.”
“Fuck,” Connor cursed. He turned to Marcus and Dalen. “Work fast. No points for pretty.”
Four Jung jump fighters streaked low over the treetops, heading straight for the mouth of the cave.
“I don’t like this,” Jessica muttered. A warning alarm flashed on her visor, and an alert tone sounded in her helmet comms. “We’re being painted! They know we’re here! Move! Move! Move!” she ordered, rising and running for better cover just as the approaching fighters opened fire with their energy cannons.
Debris surrounded them as the impacts exploded dirt and rock, and cut through massive tree trunks. Jessica heard an ear-splitting
crack. She glanced back as she ran, only to see one of the towering, centuries-old trees crashing through the surrounding canopy, falling toward her and Sergeant Todd. “To the right! To the right!” she ordered, pushing the fleeing sergeant in that direction. They jumped toward cover, their enhancement undergarments accentuating the strength of their legs, allowing them both to leap forward several meters, clearing a large cluster of rocks before they tumbled to a landing on the other side.
Both Jessica and Sergeant Todd came up shooting at the fighters as they streaked over their heads, skimming the tops of the massive trees near the mouth of the cave. “This just became a firefight!” Jessica announced over the comms. She glanced at her tactical display again, noticing that both shuttles were preparing to land on the roadway between the cave and the stopped truck, in an attempt to block their advancement.
“I don’t understand!” Connor cried out over the comms. “How did they know we’re here?”
“They may not know about the Seiiki,” Jessica replied, as she and Sergeant Todd ducked down behind the rocks to avoid being struck by fire from the next two approaching fighters. “But they definitely know about the four of us, as well as Dumar and the others! They’re putting troop shuttles down between us and Dumar!”
“Oh, my God!” Loki cried out, rising from his covered position on the left side of the cave opening.