by AZ Kelvin
“Now, Boss,” CJ hollered.
The Moonshine Special Tactic Option had four burst emitters transmitting so much energy over the audio, visual, and electromagnetic spectrums it temporarily overloaded the sensors of every ship in range. Boss fired the Moonshine, GABI powered down the main engines, and Gina used the Dark Matter Thrusters to move to the new position before their opponent’s sensors recovered.
“Power up—now,” CJ called out. “Cal, fire!”
The main power engaged and Cal let the Freezers fly. The cryofusion warheads linked the molecules of the hull plating to the inner structure and transferred the thermal energy out into space. The super-cooling effect turned the hard alloy of the hull plating into a brittle frozen metal.
“Cannons!”
Cal opened fire on the affected hull plating which blasted away under the fire of the Altered Moon’s particle cannons. The interior fuselage of the frigate now lay exposed to open space and vulnerable to missile strikes.
“Fire the Heater,” CJ said with quiet intensity,
“Aye, Cap, Heater away.”
“Gina!” CJ called out.
“We’re gone,” she responded.
The effect on this frigate wasn’t as disabling as the first, but it would put a hell of a crimp in their response time.
CJ weighed the odds and called the shots. Under his command, Boss constantly scanned the area and plotted out enemy positions; Gina flew with every ounce of her being; and Cal lit up the skies with cannon fire to keep the flight path clear. GABI routed and rerouted power again and again to the systems needing it most. Weapons fire from the frigates and Blood Star fighters came in at them from everywhere.
“Locate the Trit—” CJ was interrupted by three massive blasts rocking the Altered Moon violently. Alarms accompanied warning lights flashing a hull breach alert.
“Shit! What the hell was that?” Boss hollered. He scanned the area the weapons fire came from. Three red plasma missiles screamed from a heavy assault craft that had dropped in behind them. “Incoming!”
“Evasive!” CJ called out to Gina.
Gina flew a pattern with hard angles where CJ would shoot off countermeasures as they changed course. The white-hot flares shot off in different directions to cover the movement of the Altered Moon. The plasma missiles were unaffected by the flares, but detonated before they hit their target.
“Three more comin’ in,” Boss hollered.
“Fighters, bearing one nine two, mark, zero six three!” Cal said.
“Fast attack group closing in fast, port ninety!” Boss shouted.
“Blast,” CJ growled, “Evasive pattern Pinto, execute!”
Gina didn’t take time to verbally confirm CJ’s order; the Pinto pattern carried its own confirmation, of a physical nature. Picture if you will, you’re on a swift horse on an open prairie of varied terrain. You lean down close to the horse’s neck as it speeds up over small rises and down through narrow gullies. You feel the horse’s energy as it flows over the grassland in a random pattern reacting to the surrounding environment. Up, down, over, around, dodge, duck, jump—on and on, the pattern is endless.
The Altered Moon was the horse, Gina was the rider, and the horde of enemies was the open prairie, but this Pinto had thorns. Cal unleashed hell on any and all enemy targets with searing blue cannon fire. All good things however come to an end. One dodge should have been a duck. Two plasma bolts from the heavy assault ship found their target in mid-run, which gave the Blood Stars the chance to pounce.
The new enemy changed the momentum of the battle. CJ was forced to take the ship from one reactive defensive move into another just to escape destruction. Several assault craft and a host of fighters joined the heavy ship to hound the Altered Moon. The pack of enemies closed the noose around the trapped ship. An endless globe of fighters and assault ships swirled around them as Gina tried hopelessly to outrun them.
Streaks of red plasma peppered several of the pursuing assault ships and blew them to pieces. The attack broke the globe of fighters and CJ took the Altered Moon back on the offensive. Gina got in behind an assault ship and Cal put a Heater right up the ass end. The Altered Moon joined the Triton to add their firepower together. The combined attack held off the fray for a short time, but it still wasn’t enough. The frigates and their attack groups closed the noose again, this time with the Triton contained as well.
A message came over the comms from the heavy assault craft. “Evermore! I knew you’d sshow up sshooner or later.”
“McCarthy, you piece of shit,” Che Talos said from her ship.
“Who’ssh that? Taolssh?” McCarthy asked. “You sshtupid bitssh. I’ll desshtroy you too, traitor!”
“Suck my disruptor, you lockjawed asswad!” Che responded. Triton One opened fire and engaged McCarthy’s ship. Triton Two and Triton Three were right behind her.
“Back them up,” CJ yelled, and the Altered Moon joined the attack on McCarthy as the Blood Star forces closed in around them.
A welcome mass of sensor blips appeared on the screen as the Mighty Eighty-Eighth jumped into space around them. The Calibre immediately engaged the main Blood Star frigate, while its battle group burned through the enemy fighters. The damaged frigate attempted to flank the Calibre and bring weapons to bear, but the ship was burned clear through the middle before she could fire by a beam weapon of incredible power.
A second iridescent blue beam shot from the main weapons array of the Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn, as she arrived on the scene, shearing the starboard aft quarter of the frigate clean off from the rest of the ship. Intermittent fires and small explosions led the way to a massive detonation and ball of red plasma fire obliterating the frigate from the inside out.
“Whoo hooooo,” CJ shouted to the universe. “Cal open her up. Shoot down every fighter you can get a reticle on!”
“Aye, sir,” he replied.
“It’s damn good to have friends,” Boss said happily, with a big grin.
“Yes it is,” CJ agreed, “Yes—it—is!”
The influx of new battle forces tore through the Blood Star attackers. The Calibre and the Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn ripped the last frigate apart like two predators devouring a fresh carcass.
“Find McCarthy’s ship,” CJ said to Boss, and then to Cal, “Ready two Heaters.”
“We have only one left,” Cal answered.
“Damn. Very well, load her up,” CJ replied.
It didn’t take long to find one ship that was being run down by three others.
“Cal, target that ship and stand by. Gina, run him down.”
“Aye, sir,” she said, her tone vengeful.
The distance closed and they were almost in range when a sharp detonation went off behind McCarthy’s ship. The Triton ships had to divert their courses to miss being consumed by the explosion.
“Captain, I’m reading a quantum energy surge,” GABI said.
“Fire! Fire!” CJ yelled and Cal fired all cannons and the last thermofusion missile.
The missile and the cannon fire passed through empty space as McCarthy’s ship was able to jump away just ahead of the weapon’s impact.
“Sheeeit!” CJ grumbled as he watched McCarthy’s escape unfold. “I’ll be seeing you again, McCarthy, sometime, somewhere.” He hit the 1MC icon on the comms panel. “Stand down from action stations, people. Looks like it’s all over. Gina, take us to CB.”
“Roger that.”
“Well done, everyone, well done,” CJ told the bridge crew, and then he poked the engineering icon. “Katy, how you doin’ down there?”
“Took a little bit of a beating,” she answered out of breath. “We’ve got some minor hull breaches, but the compartments are secure and we’re not venting air anywhere. All critical systems are operational. How are the kids?”
“Ah—they’re fine, I’m sure.” CJ was caught off guard by her question. “But I’ll check on ’em.”
“Good man!” she said and closed the channel.
&
nbsp; He poked the Squad Bay icon. “Cat, how we doin’ down there?”
“We’re all good, Captain. What’s the situation?”
“Enemy’s been routed. We’re heading back to CB. You may want to grab your bag. There’ll probably be injuries.”
“Copy that. I’ll be ready. What about the kids?”
“Set ’em up in the crew mess and have Pene stay with ’em for now.”
“Understood.”
CJ closed the channel just in time to answer an incoming hail from the Triton.
“Lieutenant, thanks for the help out there,” CJ said, as the screen filled with Che at ease in the tight confines of the fighter cockpit.
“Our pleasure, Captain, and thanks for trusting us.”
“You earned it, Lieutenant, all three of you. Too bad McCrap-ass got away.”
“Not for long,” Che said with a smirk. “Blood Star Command won’t take kindly to—what’d you call him ‘McCrap-ass,’ ha-ha-ha, that’s funny—they won’t take too kindly to him using Blood Star forces for his personal bullshit. He’ll be on the run, with us hot on his ass. He won’t last long.”
“I don’t envy him,” CJ said sincerely. “Good hunting, Lieutenant.”
“Thank you, Captain. If you would, tell the VerNeers that…” Her voice drifted off.
“Don’t worry, Che,” CJ assured her, “the VerNeers will get the whole story. Now you have my word.”
“Thank your crew for their hospitality, Captain. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
“Count on it,” he replied and closed the channel.
The screen showed the Triton One, Two, and Three, a short ways off. Connections on their ventral hulls took hold as the three ships came together and a moment later the Triton slipped from normal space on her way to who knows where.
“Boss, contact CB, see what their status is.” CJ settled back in his chair and watched the view screen as Gina flew the Altered Moon through the debris field left from the battle. The Mighty Eighty-Eighth formed a security perimeter around Tarris, while the Calibre, the Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn, and Horizon’s Call stood together in orbit over Cantankerous Base.
“Nelson, Crissi, and Captain Frasier are all on the planet,” Boss reported. “Control tower and primary doors are totally destroyed. Damage to surface structures is severe, interior base took limited damage. Eight dead, forty-two injured. We’re instructed to use the secondary landing zone, shuttles only.”
“Very good.” CJ poked the 1MC icon. “Doc, gear up and meet us in the shuttle bay.”
“Aye, Captain,” she answered.
“Cal, Gina, you’re with me,” CJ said, as he got up.
“Ah, Gina has to pee before anything else happens,” Gina said, in no uncertain terms.
“Well okay, you take care of that and join us when you’re done,” CJ said with a wave, and then he poked the engineering icon. “Katy, we’re heading down to CB. I’ll be home in time for dinner.”
“In time for you to bring dinner down to me, you mean?” she stated more than asked. “Very well, I accept! Bye, hon.”
“She must be busy,” CJ said with a half-laugh. “Boss, you have the conn.”
“Aye, sir. We’ll be standing by, keep us apprised.”
CJ and Cal met up with Cat in the shuttle bay, and they were soon joined by a relieved Gina, who flew them down to Cantankerous Base so they could give whatever help they could.
*~*~*
Chapter Thirty-Five
The surface of the planet around the location of Cantankerous Base’s massive primary entry doors was blasted by the red plasma bombardment. Detonation craters pockmarked the area where the new control tower had just been built on the surface of the dead planet the previous year. The secondary L-Z was busy with shuttles full of medical and repair personnel from both the Calibre and the Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn coming and going every few minutes. Gina was directed to landing pad four where she set Moonshadow down neatly.
The landing pad sank into the bay and the doors sealed shut above them. They left the landing bay as soon as it pressurized. Emergency systems were activated; the wall panels instructed personnel to the promenade for medical or community services. Small lights pulsed and then trailed away along the top of the corridor showing the way to the promenade. Most of the corridors at this point were undamaged and empty, except for squads of emergency personnel rushing everywhere.
Wispy tentacles of smoke began to stream along the corridor above them, telltale signs of worse conditions that lay ahead. Shouts and yells could be heard not too far off in the distance. The shouts and yells mixed with the more constant drone of orders and acknowledgments, which were edged with the moans of pain and tragedy. They passed by the corridor leading to the control tower; it was lit only when the lights flickered on for a moment and then went dark again. A lingering stale acrid smoke drifting from the corridor immediately stung their eyes.
The emergency lights directed them down the corridor away from the smoke and darkness. The corridor curved and opened onto a walkway between the promenade and the small garden where CJ and Katy were married. The noise grew to an incoherent murmur as they got closer to the area set up as triage. The scene was tough to accept; injured people sat or lay everywhere while medical personnel moved quickly and cautiously among them.
CJ turned to tell Cat to help where she could, but she was already at someone’s side.
“Hey, do you know where Tad or Nelson is?” Cal called out to a security guard walking through the promenade.
“Auxiliary command, dry dock level, north corridor.”
CJ looked at Cat.
“Looks like I’ll be here for a while, sir. Just don’t leave without me.”
“I don’t think your boyfriend would let us,” CJ said with a smirk.
Cal pretended to think that over then threw her his infamous wink and a smile.
“Go away. I’m busy.” She peered at Cal out the corner of her eye.
CJ set off with Gina and Cal in search of the auxiliary command post. They knew the way to the dry dock level like the back of their hands after their stay here during the Altered Moon’s refit. The doors of the transtube opened and the noise hit them like a slap in the face. Several different command teams tackled problems around the base of every nature: air leaks, electrical fires, hazardous materials, toxic gases, and radiation exposure, all of them critical problems.
The planet Tarris had no atmosphere, so Cantankerous Base had to be maintained more like a space station than a ground base. Atmosphere and pressure had to be supplied and secured against the void of space. The only things the planet supplied were mineral resources and gravity.
“Close this end off and open the far end. That should vent it out into space.” They could hear Nelson’s voice from the central hub of auxiliary command. Crissi and Captain Frasier of the Calibre stood with Tad, who leaned against a console.
Tad’s arm was in a sling, securing his arm to his body. Bandages covered where multiple scratches and cuts ran down from his head and across his face. His clothes were torn and spotted with blood. Snow was not at his side. He rose slowly when he saw CJ come in and grabbed him in an unexpected embrace. The man cried openly; CJ couldn’t tell whether the tears were happy or sad or both.
“Things would have been much worse here, Captain, if you hadn’t turned their attack from us when you did,” he said. Tad embraced Gina and Cal just as warmly.
“Snow?” Gina asked quietly.
Tad just looked at her sadly, the tears shining in his eyes, and shook his head. Gina gave him a second hug for the loss of Snow.
“Captain,” Tad said to CJ, “I remember you once told me you and your crew are cursed with always being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Maybe it’s because you’re the right people to be in those wrong places at those times.
“Go to no end to save a friend, right?” CJ said to him, “Sorry we didn’t get here sooner.”
“I’m just damn glad you showed up.” Tad eased ba
ck against the console again.
Crissi introduced CJ to Captain Frasier, as Nelson took a minute from the now-managed needs of his base to join the group.
“Captain Frasier, thanks for the assist in the battle over Century Four,” CJ said, as they shook hands.
“Century Four?” he asked in confusion.
“Ah, that’s the name my science officer gave the planet we were on when the Kang attacked,” CJ explained.
“I see, glad to help, Captain, and you can be proud of your ship and her crew.” Captain Frasier told him of the Altered Moon’s part in the battle.
“I did wonder what happened to all the missiles, but was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth,” CJ replied.
“I understand from Commodore Crissiael that you all here”—he indicated Gina and Cal—“went through the barrage on the planet. You’re all lucky to be alive.”
“Yes, the Commodore,” he said, with a nod to Crissi, “plucked us out of the fangs of the Kang in the nick of time, to our great appreciation.” CJ looked over at his Keect’na friend with raised eyebrows, “Commodore Crissiael? Why didn’t you tell me that you’re a Commodore?”
She responded briefly in Keect’nian, which her personal translator said in common, “You never asked.”
“I’ve never seen you with other ships?”
Crissi responded with smug singspeak; the translator said, “They exist, but Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn is enough for today.”
“Another proud captain,” Captain Frasier said in jest.
“Indeed.” CJ turned to Nelson. “How’s the base?”
“Ah, the loss of friends is what hurts. All else we can rebuild. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but in every disaster there is opportunity.”
“Is there anything we can do for you?” CJ asked.
“No, no, nothing that the Arzian Star Guard and the Keect’na haven’t already provided to us,” Nelson replied thankfully. “Take the children home, Captain.”