by Ryk Brown
“It’s a Takaran comm-drone, Captain,” Mister Navashee said. “A jump-enabled comm-drone. It jumped into high orbit twenty seconds ago.”
“Orbit? You mean, a stable orbit?”
“No, sir. It’s a rapidly deteriorating orbit. It will require a burn to stabilize.”
“Incoming message,” Naralena reported. “It’s from the comm-drone, sir. It’s video.”
“Classification?”
“None.”
“Put it up,” Nathan ordered.
A video window appeared on the main view screen, revealing Commander Dumar standing on the observation deck of the Karuzara asteroid’s control center. “Greetings, Captain Scott. I am happy to report that with the safe arrival of this comm-drone, we now have daily communications between the Karuzara asteroid and the Sol system. This is thanks largely in part to the navigational data collected by Lieutenant Montgomery’s advanced jump shuttle’s journey back to Takara, as well as the data collected by the four zero two on its way both to and from Sol.”
Nathan struggled to maintain his composure as he listened to the commander’s message, a smile threatening to form at the edges of his mouth.
“As you know, Prince Casimir, in a surprising bit of astro-navigation expertise, devised a route by which we are able to jump the Karuzara all the way to Sol. I am pleased to report that the journey thus far has gone without incident. Should it continue to do so, we should arrive in the Sol system in approximately eighty Terran days. While en route, we shall continue to fabricate anything that you feel would most benefit your efforts to rebuild and defend the birthplace of all humankind. You should also know that despite the objections of the Takaran Security Council, Prince Casimir has secured an additional one thousand Ghatazhak operatives for your use. To this end, we have modified our production schedule to concentrate on the production of jump-enabled, medium-sized cargo ships called boxcars that are capable of landing on the surface of your world.”
“Call Lieutenant Telles to my ready room,” Nathan told his comm officer as the commander continued to speak.
“As we continue to produce jump-enabled comm-drones, and as we grow closer to the Sol system, the frequency of our communications shall increase. We are establishing similar communication links with both Takara and Corinair as well. Hopefully, this will make it easier for us to respond to your needs as we make our way across the stars. I look forward to hearing from you, Captain. Commander Dumar of the Karuzara… out.”
Nathan could no longer control his smile. “Damn!” he exclaimed as he turned aft to face Naralena. “Play that for Lieutenant Telles when he gets here,” he ordered as he headed aft. “Meanwhile, get me President Scott and put him through to my ready room.”
* * *
Maxwell Dumar sat in his office, looking out over the cavernous interior of the Karuzara asteroid. It had come a long way since Redmond Tugwell had first returned with the lost Aurora and her naive young captain so many months ago. Now the cavern was sealed and pressurized, allowing workers to float about in normal attire. Transport rails lined the walls, allowing motorized carts with long articulated arms to reach nearly every square meter within the bay. Fabrication bays that opened directly into the cavern sat waiting for ships for which to produce parts. Machinery, electronic, and casting shops lined the deeper corridors. The Karuzara asteroid was a veritable shipyard jumping its way across the galaxy. In a mere seventy-seven days, that cavern on the other side of his window would be filled with two Terran, Explorer-class starships, both equipped with jump drives. His people would rebuild them. His people would upgrade them. His people would turn them into the mighty warships they so desperately needed to be.
“Excuse me, Commander,” Mister Bryant called from the office door.
“Yes?”
“Fabrication reports they have completed the production run of the next twenty mini-jump drives. Shall we begin installing them into the remaining four zero twos?”
Dumar stared out the window once more. This time, his eyes drifted to one of the many hangar bays that had been carved into the sides of the cavern. In one of them, he could see the aft ends of a dozen personnel shuttles that had been graciously donated by the Corinairans. “I think not.”
“Sir?”
“Prince Casimir is sending one thousand Ghatazhak to Earth to help restore order. They will need the ability to rapidly move about the planet. We shall give them that capability by installing the first twelve mini-jump drives in the Corinairan personnel shuttles in bay eight.”
“Commander, those are civilian grade shuttles. They were not designed for combat.”
“Look at this,” Commander Dumar said as he called up a file on his data pad. He handed it to Mister Bryant.
“Who designed this?”
“Lieutenant Telles of the Ghatazhak. Apparently they had converted several of the Aurora’s personnel shuttles, which of course were also Corinairan, into that which you see. Unfortunately, they were destroyed in recent battles. We shall replace them, posthaste.”
“They will take longer to complete than the four zero twos, which are already repaired and ready to fly. The shuttles will need to go through extensive refits, let alone the installation of the jump drives themselves.”
“Then we had better get started,” Commander Dumar insisted.
“Of course. Perhaps we should have started with the combat shuttles instead of the boxcars,” Mister Bryant said.
“The boxcars must travel back to Takara to pick up Ghatazhak deployment pods, then jump all the way back to Earth. While they are doing so, we shall create and deliver the combat jumpers.”
“I understand. I shall get them started immediately.” Mister Bryant looked at the combat jumper designs once more before handing the data pad back to Commander Dumar.
Dumar noticed the look on his assistant’s face. “Something wrong?”
“No, sir. I just shudder to think of what a platoon of Ghatazhak could do with the abilities that those twelve combat jumpers will give them.”
“Open the next file,” Commander Dumar instructed.
“Are those cargo shuttles?” Mister Bryant asked, his eyes wide.
“They’ll be troop jumpers when we finish with them. They’ll be able to jump at least two hundred Ghatazhak into a hot zone in the blink of an eye.”
Mister Bryant groaned. “Not exactly the type of security forces I’d want on my planet.”
“You would if your planet was a post-apocalyptic wasteland.”
* * *
“Aahh!” Josh exclaimed as he entered Loki’s stateroom and plopped down on his bed. “I can’t take this!”
“Come in,” Loki said, one eyebrow raised.
“I hate this crap!” Josh continued, ignoring Loki’s sarcasm.
“You hate what crap?”
Josh sat up on the bed and looked at Loki, noticing that he too was studying the material given to them by Major Prechitt. “That crap!” he exclaimed, pointing at the documents on Loki’s view screen. “Seriously, why do I need to know all this stuff? Lift-to-drag ratios, angle of attack, coefficients of lift, delta V. What the hell is delta V?”
“It refers to the amount of thrust…”
“I know what it is,” Josh interrupted, “I mean why the hell is it called delta V? Why can’t they just call it thrust?”
“Because it isn’t thrust.”
“Yes, it is,” Josh argued.
“Yeah, it is, but it’s thrust applied for a certain purpose.”
“Who cares? I thought they were going to teach us useful stuff, like some fancy maneuvers, or multi-element attack strategies or something.”
“That probably will come later,” Loki told him.
“It’s all useless dribble,” Josh protested.
“No, it’s not,” Loki argued.
“Really? And how is knowing Corinairan weather patterns going to make me a better pilot? We’re a thousand light years from Corinair, Loki.”
“Okay, that
might be useless now, but someday…”
“Bullshit, someday. I’m flying spaceships, Loki, not airplanes. When there’s bad weather we just add power and blast through it. A few more bumps along the way, but two minutes later we’re through it and climbing to orbit.”
“I think it’s more about everyone having a similar base of core knowledge, Josh. My instructors at the flight academy told us that understanding the science behind how our ships flew would make us better able to think our way out of situations that were not covered by standard operating procedures.”
“You and I both know that I don’t think when I fly,” Josh said. “I just fly.”
“Yeah, I know,” Loki answered. “And so does Major Prechitt. That’s why he wants you to learn all of this stuff… to try and get you to start thinking.”
“Hell, that’s going to take all the fun out of it.”
“Just suffer through it, Josh. You might learn a few things that will be useful. In the end, you’ll still probably fly circles around every other pilot here.”
“You’re right about that, at least.” Josh looked down at the deck beneath his feet.
“It’s the math, isn’t it?”
“Of course it’s the math,” Josh admitted. “You know how confused I get by all those formulas.”
“I’ll help you with them, Josh.”
“It would be easier if you just let me peek at your test tablet when we take our exams.”
“Major Prechitt knows you, Josh. I’m pretty sure he’ll be watching for something like that.”
* * *
Nathan looked at each of the recon images displayed on the multiple view screens located on the walls of the command briefing room.
“It’s only eight ships,” Jessica said.
“Eight ships and one battle platform,” Cameron reminded her.
“I was kidding.”
“She’s half right,” Nathan defended. “It’s not the ships we need to be worried about. It’s that platform.”
“We were successful against the last one,” Major Prechitt reminded them.
“True, but we have no way of knowing if we won that engagement because the platform’s defenses were flawed by design, by poor readiness, or if we were just plain lucky.”
“Data gathered during our attack runs indicated that their point-defense weapons were incapable of tracking us during close-in, high-speed runs,” Major McCullum said.
“True, but if used correctly, they don’t have to be,” Cameron responded. “They have enough of them that all they have to do is fan them out at set trajectories and keep laying down fire. You’d fly right through their flak walls, which would probably tear your ships to shreds.”
“Which is why we must attack sooner rather than later,” Nathan insisted. “The Jung commander of that battle platform has never faced jump ships. For all we know, he doesn’t even know they exist. If that’s the case, we can’t afford to wait. Once they learn of our tactics, those guns will be lined up exactly as you described, Commander, and we won’t have a chance in hell of taking that platform down, at least not without KKVs.”
“The platform is too close to Kent. A single KKV would crack that little moon in half, killing millions of Kentarans,” Cameron reminded them.
“We don’t have any KKVs anyway,” Vladimir said. He looked at Nathan. “Do we?”
“No, we don’t. Not anymore,” Nathan answered. “We dismantled the ones we had to get at their ZPEDs, remember? I have asked Commander Dumar to put a few in the fabrication queue, however. They’ve got enough of the old Takaran comm-drones on board that asteroid that they can afford to turn a few of them into weapons, just in case.”
“I would advise caution in the use of KKVs, Captain,” Cameron warned. “I’m sure the Jung can, or possibly have already, created such weapons. Escalation is a real concern.”
“I’ve considered that possibility,” Nathan assured her. “Yet another reason to strike now, while we might still have the element of surprise on our side.” Nathan paused to look at the hologram of the area of the Kent moon orbiting the gas giant Rigel in the Alpha Centauri B system. Red icons with varying coded ID tags floated around the small moon. “We will take out the three cruisers first. Jump in close and fire full spreads before jumping out. I want them down in single passes. We’ll take Charlies one and three, the Celestia takes Charlie two and then goes for the nearest frigate.”
“As soon as we attack, those frigates are going to pull in closer to protect the larger ships,” Cameron warned.
“If we execute the attacks quickly enough, they won’t have time,” Nathan told her. “Use the lowest possible combat speeds so that we can come about more quickly. Once we finish off the frigates, we attack the battleship and the battle platform simultaneously.”
“Why not have the Aurora and the Celestia attack them together?” Jessica wondered.
“Because we’re using the same tactics to get inside the shields of each of them,” Nathan explained. “If we attack them one at a time, the second one will know what to expect.”
“Still, two ships have a much better chance of taking down either of those ships than one,” Jessica argued.
“Perhaps, but I cannot take the chance that one of them will escape and bring the fight back here again. The Earth cannot withstand another attack. Not yet. Not that soon.”
“Even if one of them does escape and head for Sol, it will still take them three or four months to get here,” Jessica reminded him.
“Three months or three days, both are too soon,” Nathan told her. He turned to Major McCullum. “Your Falcons will remain outside the engagement area, well beyond the Jung’s immediate sensor range. I want them to believe they are only facing two ships. When the time is right, we’ll send Josh and Loki out to signal you to start your attacks. Your forces will break into two groups. Alpha group will attack the battle platform with the Aurora, and Beta group will attack the battleship with the Celestia.”
“Yes, sir,” Major McCullum answered.
“Target their shield emitters first, big guns second. Once a single section of shielding is down, they’re ours for the picking,” Nathan said.
“Understood, Captain.”
“I want this to be quick and clean, everyone,” Nathan said. “In and out as quickly as possible.”
“What about the Kentarans?” Jessica wondered. “There have got to be Jung troops on the surface. Are they going to take retribution on the locals?”
“Why would they,” Nathan said. “We have no alliance with the Kentarans. As far as I know, we never even established contact with them.”
“Rumor is that we’ve had spec-ops on the surface of Kent for decades,” Jessica said. “Possibly Cygni and Ceti as well.”
“It seems doubtful that the Jung would vent their frustrations on the locals,” Lieutenant Telles interjected. “If anything, they will attempt to maintain tighter control than normal. Should we be successful in eliminating all Jung warships from the system, the Jung on the surface will be isolated and without support. While I have no idea what their numbers are on the surface of Kent, I would expect that they are not sizable as the world itself is not that big.”
“From what I heard, it’s all underground and inside surface domes,” Jessica added.
“Intelligence gathered by the latest cold-coasts confirms that,” the lieutenant agreed.
“Are you suggesting that the Ghatazhak attempt to take the surface of Kent?” Nathan wondered.
“No, sir,” the lieutenant admitted reluctantly, “not with only twenty-four combat-ready men and a single combat jump shuttle. Our chances of success would be slight at best. Perhaps later, after more Ghatazhak arrive.”
“We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it,” Nathan said.
CHAPTER THREE
Nathan sat in his command chair at the center of the Aurora’s bridge as his crew went about their preparations for the upcoming battle. Despite their diminished ranks, reduc
ed even further by the need to staff two Explorer-class ships, they were ready. They had the training and the experience, as well as the confidence that came with it. They even had a battle plan, one that had been rehearsed at least a dozen times in just as many hours. However, this time, unlike those of late, the battle would occur at the time and place of their choosing. This time, luck prevailing, it would be the Jung fighting for their survival.
Nathan’s mind wandered as he thought about this very scene, now being played out on the Celestia’s bridge. No doubt, Cameron was fighting the urge to micromanage every position on her bridge. He wondered how his friend, Luis—the Celestia’s tactical officer—was dealing with his new captain. Nathan’s old roommate had always been blessed with far more patience than Nathan himself. In fact, Nathan’s own impatience and wry wit had earned him more than his fair share of reprimands during their days together at the academy.
“Falcons One Three and One Four are away,” the Aurora’s own tactical officer announced.
Nathan glanced up at the spherical main view screen that surrounded the entire forward end of the bridge. The next group of Falcons to depart disappeared in flashes of blue-white light, as they began a short series of jumps that would take them to their rally point four light years distant.
“Two more Falcons to launch, sir,” Lieutenant Eckert added.
Nathan glanced over at the time display to his right. In ten minutes Josh and Loki would return. “Very well.”
* * *
“Are you kidding me?” Jessica exclaimed. “Even our spec-ops are not as hard-core as the Ghatazhak.”
“With proper training, that could be somewhat compensated for,” Lieutenant Telles argued.
“There is no way in hell you can teach a Terran to act like a Ghatazhak,” she insisted, “at least not before the war is over.”
“They don’t need to act like a Ghatazhak,” he pointed out. “They only need to perform as one.”
“I understand that,” Jessica said. “It’s still a stretch, though. I’ve seen the battle footage from your helmet cams. Nothing fazes you guys. Nothing.”