by Ryk Brown
“Commander Dumar on the line again, sir!” Naralena announced.
Nathan pointed to his headset without looking back at her.
“Captain!” Commander Dumar called over Nathan’s comm-set, “we cannot hold any longer! The Jung are preparing to blast their way into the control center. They will vent our atmosphere and kill us all. There is nothing more we can do to stop them! You must launch a KKV!”
“I already have!” Nathan replied, tapping his comm-set again to end the call.
“Thirty seconds to KKV impact,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Comms! Get me Telles!”
“Fifteen seconds until platform loses their firing solution,” Mister Navashee added.
Nathan glanced at the images streaming from Lieutenant Telles’s helmet camera. The image was shaking and moving so fast and furiously that Nathan could barely make out what was going on. One moment, Telles would be firing his weapon, the next moment he would be ducking incoming fire, a parry by a Jung with a bladed weapon, or the incoming butt of an energy rifle.
“I have Lieutenant Telles,” Naralena reported.
Nathan’s eyes widened, startled by the image from Telles’s helmet camera. A Jung soldier was faceplate-to-faceplate with Telles. The man’s eyes were wider than any Nathan had seen before, full of rage and determination. Then they changed. For a moment, Nathan was confused by the changing look in the Jung soldier’s eyes. Then he remembered the look. It was the same one he had seen in the eyes of the man Nathan had shot on Haven, standing in front of Tug’s home. It was the look of a man who knew that his life had just ended. The stillness of the moment was itself, shocking, as the men fell away from the lieutenant just as Telles’s voice came over Nathan’s comm-set.
“Captain, Telles!”
“Lieutenant,” Nathan replied. “Yes or no. Can you hold?”
The image from the lieutenant’s helmet camera began to move wildly again. As it pitched down, for a brief moment, Nathan could see the face of the Jung soldier the lieutenant had just killed face-to-face.
“We are Ghatazhak,” the lieutenant replied confidently. “The Jung shall not take this asteroid, Captain. You have my word.”
Not once had Nathan ever heard the slightest hint of doubt in the lieutenant’s voice. Not through all the seemingly impossible battles he had been called upon to fight, and not in the words he had just spoken.
Nathan took a deep breath to strengthen his resolve. The violent shaking and the repeated impact of enemy rail gun fire suddenly stopped, casting an eerie silence on the bridge of the Aurora. “Lieutenant, tell your men to brace for impact.”
“Understood.”
Nathan watched the view from Lieutenant Telles’s helmet camera as the link between them ended.
“Impact in five seconds,” Mister Navashee reported.
“All hands, brace for impact,” Nathan ordered calmly.
“Three……”
Nathan gripped the sides of his command chair tightly as the collision alarms sounded throughout the ship, along with the automated verbal warnings that something was about to strike the ship.
“Two……”
Nathan continued to watch the images streaming from the lieutenant’s battle camera as the hand-to-hand combat in the corridors just outside the Karuzara’s control center raged on.
“One……impact.”
Nathan’s eyes moved from the helmet camera feed to the center of the image of the Jung battle platform in their main view screen. A brilliant white light suddenly appeared in the middle of the upper half of the platform’s main vertical section at its center. The back side of the central section sprayed outward as another light flashed on the topside of one of the three remaining arms. As the arm also began to spew debris out from the other side, the center section blew apart, followed immediately by the arm directly behind it. The remaining arms, as well as tons of debris of varying sizes went spewing outward in all directions, with the majority of the debris following the path of impact out the opposite side of the exploding platform.
“Direct hit!” Jessica exclaimed.
“There’s no antimatter…” Nathan began to exclaim.
“…Those last two arms!” Mister Navashee warned. “One of them is headed toward the Karuzara!”
“What about their cores?” Nathan demanded.
“I’m not reading any antimatter eve… Wait! I have them! Thirty-eight antimatter cores, moving away at twenty kilometers per second and accelerating! They’re fanning out, down relative and away from the platform!”
“Incoming call from Scout One,” Naralena called out.
“Scott!” Captain Roselle yelled over the comms. “Are you fucking nuts? If the Jung capture that asteroid…”
“The Ghatazhak will…”
“Ghatazhak my ass!” Roselle interrupted. “I can see the feeds too, you know. It’s a fucking melee down there! And you just destroyed the wrong goddamned target!”
“I’ve still got one KKV left, Roselle,” Nathan said.
“Then you better launch the fucking thing right the fuck now before it’s too late!”
“Telles will not lose the Karuzara,” Nathan insisted.
“Goddamn it, Scott! If you don’t destroy that asteroid, I will, and you know it!”
“The arm will impact the Karuzara in ten seconds,” Mister Navashee warned.
“Hold your fucking position, Roselle,” Nathan demanded as he switched channels on his comm-set. “Telles! Scott! Impact in five!”
“Ghatazhak! Brace yourselves!” Telles called out over his helmet comms. He lunged forward, driving his knife deep into the belly of a charging Jung soldier, driving him backward. As they fell to the deck, Telles twisted their bodies in the air, landing on their sides, and pulling the dead man’s body over his own as cover.
The corridors shook violently. The lights flickered as rubble fell from the rocky walls of the corridor. Conduit along the ceiling snapped and fell, striking those still standing and knocking them down. The lights went out completely, leaving only the light of energy weapons as they continued to fire in the darkness and chaos. Telles pushed the dead soldier off of him as the shaking subsided. He rose to his feet and charged forward, firing wildly as he stepped over the bodies of the dead that littered the corridor. He could see the Jung troops up ahead, preparing charges to blast their way through the airlock door to vent the control center of all atmosphere. He fired into the group of men, killing them instantly, but in doing so drawing the fire of others.
His men rose up behind the lieutenant, following him on his charge down the corridor, stepping on the fallen, both enemy and comrade, determined to finish the battle.
Jung soldiers who had been knocked off their feet by the impact were rising from the bodies on the floor of the corridor, taking aim at the charging Ghatazhak. Men on either side of the lieutenant fell to the Jung fire as he charged forward into the hail of energy weapons fire.
A Jung energy bolt struck the lieutenant in the arm, melting the armor just forward of his elbow and shorting out the control console on his left forearm… Yet still he continued forward, firing madly. Another energy bolt glanced off the side of his helmet, while a third struck his right chest plate, nearly knocking him over… Yet still he continued forward, firing madly. The Jung weapons fire increased as more soldiers joined them.
“Down!” the lieutenant commanded as he dove to the deck, taking cover behind a pair of dead soldiers, one Jung and one Ghatazhak, stacked atop one another. He brought his weapon up onto the back of the fallen Ghatazhak behind which he sought protection, and continued firing with both his energy rifle and the laser on the right top side of his backpack. All around him, his men did the same, together sending a hailstorm of energy weapons fire toward the rallying Jung troops only a few meters away.
The images streaming from Lieutenant Telles’s helmet camera to the display on the Aurora’s main view screen flickered on and off for several seconds, then disappeared complet
ely as the camera suddenly turned toward the deck and dropped rapidly downward.
“Call up the others!” Nathan ordered as the battle platform debris that had been striking the underside of their hull began to subside.
“I’m losing feeds right and left,” Jessica said in disbelief. “I think they’re losing, sir.”
“Comms, get me Scout Three,” Nathan ordered in hushed tones.
“Aye, sir,” Naralena answered.
“Tactical, update the targeting package for KKV One. Target the Karuzara based on current course and speed.”
“Sir…”
Nathan turned to look over his shoulder back at Jessica at the tactical console behind him.
Jessica sighed. “Updating KKV One’s targeting package. Target, Karuzara.”
“Scout Three is standing by to receive, Captain,” Naralena said.
“Target update is complete,” Jessica said.
“Transmit targeting package,” Nathan ordered.
“Transmitting,” Jessica answered.
Nathan’s eyes drifted to the deck at the base of the helm’s center pedestal as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The Karuzara was not just an asteroid. It was not just a base or a shipyard, it was hope. Hope for his crew, and for his world. It was also what his friends were currently fighting, and dying, to protect. “How many camera feeds are left.”
“I’ve lost them all,” Jessica answered, sadness and despair in her voice. “The Ghatazhak, the hallway cameras… All I’ve got left is the one inside the control center.”
Nathan raised his eyes slowly, unable to bear what he was sure he was about to witness… The death of his friends. The image was dark and the camera was not at the same angle as before. He could barely make out any details, only the control room staff scurrying about, no doubt panicking in their final moments of life as the atmosphere in the compartment was about to be removed by their attackers.
“Scout Three confirms they have received the updated targeting package for KKV One, sir,” Naralena reported.
“Very well,” Nathan said. “Message to Scout Three. Launch…”
“Captain!” Naralena interrupted. “Incoming message from Commander Dumar!”
The overhead speakers crackled as Naralena patched through the incoming voice call for all to hear.
“…ora! Karuzara Control! The Jung have been defeated! The Jung have been defeated!”
Cheers erupted on the Aurora’s bridge.
“Comms, cancel last message to Scout Three,” Nathan ordered. “New message. Tell Scout Three to hold position.”
“Aye, sir,” Naralena answered.
“Contact the Celestia, tell them we’ll be back as soon as we deal with the gunships over Earth.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“By the way, the Celestia is finally under way again,” Commander Willard said.
“I’m glad we waited until we could recover and get a few of her cores reinstalled,” Nathan replied from behind the desk in his ready room. “It would’ve taken a lot more than two weeks for them to get back to Earth.”
“When will the Karuzara return?”
“It will take them thirty-seven days to jump their way out to Kuiper Four Seven, loop their way around a few of its planets, then jump back to Sol. That should give them plenty of time to clear out the main transit tunnels and repair the damage to the main docks, although it may take them awhile to get all the airlock doors working again.”
“I am surprised that the commander’s team was even able to find a route that would work,” Commander Willard admitted.
“I’m surprised they found one that was only twenty-seven light years away,” Nathan replied. “Until then, we’ll have to do what we can to make repairs in orbit.”
“Well, now that the scavenger teams have begun harvesting material from the battle debris, we should have all fabricators running around the clock again within a few days.”
“I’m sure Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy will be happy to hear it.”
Commander Willard looked back toward the hatch as Captain Roselle entered the ready room. “If there is nothing else, sir?” he asked Nathan, looking to excuse himself.
“No, Commander,” Nathan replied, “thank you.”
“Sir,” the commander nodded. He turned to face Captain Roselle. “Captain,” he said respectfully as he moved around the captain and exited the compartment, closing the hatch behind him.
“Still not sure how I feel about a mutineer as your XO,” Roselle said as he took a seat.
“It depends on why he mutinied, doesn’t it,” Nathan said.
“I guess that depends on which side of the mutiny you’re on.” Roselle leaned back in his chair, looking at Nathan. “Which brings me to my next question; how the hell did they know?”
“If you’re referring to how the Jung knew where to find the Falcons, the question has already been raised by both Lieutenant Telles and Lieutenant Commander Nash, the latter of which confronted me only minutes after the battle had concluded.”
“So, they suspect a spy as well?”
“It has to be someone on either the Aurora or the Celestia,” Nathan explained. “We were both docked inside the Karuzara for at least ten days, during which time most of our crews had access to the interior of the Karuzara.”
“But not all of your crews.”
“No, not all. We have narrowed the list down to about eighty possible suspects.”
“They must have transmitted the information to the Jung during the battle,” Roselle said. “Surely you can tell from your sensor logs or comm logs if someone sent a message.”
“We have been unable to find any indications of such a transmission,” Nathan admitted, “but we have not given up. We will do everything possible to discover the identity of the spy.”
“The problem with spies, Scott, is that they are usually well hidden. I trust you’re keeping this compartmentalized?”
“So far, the two of us, Lieutenant Telles, and Lieutenant Commander Nash are the only ones who know of the investigation.”
“How do you know I’m not a spy?” Roselle challenged.
“Because neither you nor your crew had ever set foot on the Karuzara, so none of you knew the location of the other Falcons, or that any of them were operational.”
“Just checking. You know, you might want to install some sort of anti-theft devices on those birds.”
“That’s the plan,” Nathan assured him, “as well as self-destruct mechanisms to destroy the jump field generators in case of capture. That was Admiral Dumar’s first order as the new Commander of the Alliance.”
“So, I guess it’s official, then.”
“Yes, all the existing governments of Earth, such as they are, have signed onto the Alliance charter. As of today, we are all officially under the command of the Alliance.”
“How do they plan on sorting out ranks and such?”
“They decided that since all the policies and procedures for the Aurora, the Celestia, and the Scout ships are all written for EDF rank structures, it would be easier to use that than to come up with some sort of a hybrid system.”
“Makes sense, I guess.”
“Too bad you won’t be here for the ceremony,” Nathan said.
“Yeah, I’m real broken up about that one,” Roselle replied. “Wish we could have gotten our plasma torpedo cannons installed before we left, though.”
“The Karuzara should be back and ready to finish your upgrades in a few weeks. To be honest, I’m surprised they didn’t suffer more damage than they did.”
“Sixty kilometer rock versus a twenty-kilometer ship… Rock wins every time,” Captain Roselle said as he stood.
“Leaving already?” Nathan asked with just a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Roselle snickered. “I have to admit, Scott, after all that’s happened in the last few weeks, I’ve got a bit more respect for you than before.” He held up his hand, his thumb and forefinger held only a cent
imeter apart. “Just a bit.” He turned toward the hatch. “Of course, I’m still going to jump your shit every time you fuck up. You know that.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Captain.”
Roselle smiled and headed for the exit, then paused at the hatch. “You know, I was ready to do it. Jump inside that rock and set off my antimatter warhead.” He turned and looked at Nathan again. “I was this close,” he said, again holding up his hand with his thumb and forefinger close together. “If Telles hadn’t pulled it off at the last moment… ”
“That’s why I asked you to take the job, Captain,” Nathan said. “A failsafe isn’t much good if you don’t have the right man’s finger on the button.”
Roselle smiled again. “That’s why I have more respect for you than I did before, Scott.” Roselle held up the gesture with his thumb and forefinger a third time. “Just a bit.”
* * *
Nathan looked out at the Porto Santo base from the vantage point of a nearby hill. The warm ocean air wafted across the hilltop, its slight chill offset by the warmth of the afternoon sun. This was what he missed the most… Fresh air, sunshine, vast open spaces. All of these things were missing from the artificial environment of a spaceship. Even the garden domes being constructed deep inside the Karuzara asteroid could not do it justice. This is what they fought and died for… The ability to stand on a spot such as this, and breathe in the air and absorb the bountiful energy of the sun. Everything else boiled down… It was just that simple.
“You were saying, Captain?” Telles said, breaking Nathan out of his daydreaming.
“I was saying that I’m amazed at how quickly your people have gotten the base fully operational again, especially in only two weeks.”
“There is nothing amazing about it, really,” Telles insisted. “Much like the people of Earth, we too had gone underground, along with all of our assets. The buildings that were destroyed had been baited with radiological decoys to trick the Jung’s targeting computers. They destroyed only that which we wished them to destroy.”
“I only wish the entire planet had fared as well,” Nathan said as he continued walking the ridge line.