The Raygin War

by Larry S. Gerovac

  “If you are firing this weapon it means we are in some deep shit. My hope is you don’t have to fire it,” said Mac.

  About an hour later, base camp was set up. Mac tested the helmet radios with the platoon leaders and a member from each platoon.

  “Dreng, take Second platoon and head out at 120 degrees. Dwain, you take Third platoon and head out at 030 degrees. Mr. Phlop, you stay here with First platoon and the pilots. Tinker, you’re in charge of base camp.” The lieutenant’s head responded with an involuntary shake in the negative. Both Mac and Tinker caught the response. He was still resisting. “Be back here at 1900 hours, ship time. I want an update every hour from each platoon leaders.”

  Being a ghost sniper, free to operate behind enemy lines had taught Mac many tactics. On recon of an area he always looked for potential traps or signs that seemed out of place. On the flyover he observed an unusual stack of rocks. They seemed out of place. He decided to investigate them on his own.

  As he made his way through the countryside, his sniper training kicked in. He often used old low-tech methods in the field. He found many times the higher the tech the more apt something is to break down. A typical trick he often used was to lean sticks at the base of a tree or to mark a direction using pinecones on the ground.

  The first hour reports started coming in. Tinker had nothing to report from home base. Dreng and Dwain both found signs of bioengineering. He expected as much. Both Second and Third platoons took plant and dirt samples. If bioengineering had occurred a quick DNA check of samples should confirm it. If they were bioengineered, sooner or later those responsible for planting the crops would be back.

  By the fourth report, Mac had surveyed a large swath of hand and was now three stone throws away from the rock formation located north-northwest of base camp. He sat in some bushes with his body armor blending into the background. After an hour he made his move toward the opening in the ground. The rocks turned out to be the entrance to an underground cavern containing pools of water. It smelled musty like mold. He was standing at the underground entrance when the fifth report came in from Tinker. He had nothing to report. Dreng and Dwain both reported they were heading back to home base. They estimated they would be back in five hours.

  Perfect, thought Mac, he had a few minutes left to explore. He started to move down what appeared to be rock stairs, when he felt his backpack vibrate. It was his link to the micro probes. He walked back outside and pulled his viewer out. Shit, two… no, three alien ships. Like what Dreng described, but they seemed bigger. They looked like flying bugs. If he was seeing the aliens on his viewer, he knew Warhammer and Dagger were watching too.

  Mac flipped his com to private so no one else could hear except Tinker, Dreng, and Dwain. “We have company. The micro probes picked up the arrival of three alien ships in orbit around Rayne. Alert your troops. Get to home base ASAP. Mac out.” Mac cut his investigation short, and began to make his way back to base camp.

  CHAPTER TEN: The Battle of Rayne

  Admiral Harding’s convoy stopped one jump away from Rayne. Mahpee explained the Wasp’s computer system problem to the other ships. He also reinforced his desire to take part in any battle with the Raygin. He asked if he could attach his ship to the Constellation’s surface on the final jump. He would remain there until their engineer could work out the problem.

  The Nomad’s disappearance and the alien ship heading to Rayne were cause for concern. Mahpee told everyone he feared the Raygin might be using the planet for a base of operation. To resolve Mahpee’s concern, the admiral agreed to take a risk. He decided to deploy a mini-popper probe to the outermost area in the Rayne solar system.

  The military designed the probe to be low tech. Detection would require a focused scan. The shielded drive and the old-fashioned high definition camera made it difficult to spot. The Constellation deployed the probe. It stayed seven seconds, and popped back. A small tractor beam recovered the probe. Three alien ships were sitting in stationary orbit near Rayne. The admiral asked the war computer if more ships could be hiding in the Rayne solar system. The computer responded with an eight percent chance there was an additional ship. The admiral asked each ship for tactical input.

  Mahpee was first to speak. “I suggest we have your war computer identify the most strategic spot for our ships to jump so all of us are able to fire on a single alien ship the second we arrive. We also need to be positioned to maximize our firepower. The fighters should launch to distract the other Raygin ships. If we can take one of them out first, I’d feel much better about our odds. Don’t forget, the ship we captured represents twenty-five year old technology. I am sure the Raygin will have a few surprises for us.”

  After some discussion, everyone agreed upon the attack plan. The war computer calculated the best locations to jump. Next, Mahpee had Bodaway attach the Wasp under the battleship. The tiny ship disappeared within the Constellation’s surface structures. All the ships except for the Wasp were ready to fire as soon they jumped. Mahpee could feel the tension in the crew.

  He asked if he could say a few words to those who fought with him this day. The admiral put Mahpee on a com capable of broadcasting to all UFC ships in the convoy. Tens of thousands of crewmen listened to their new ally. “My new friends, I am Mahpee, from the Peoples Nation. We have an old custom I would like to share with you. When death could be imminent, as in the case of today’s battle, we sing our death song. Since you have no death song, I will share mine with you.” Mahpee sang his song.

  “I am a warrior.

  I will not let fear in my heart.

  I will not retreat, not even if I am the last one standing in front of my enemy.

  I will not weep if this is my day to die.

  I know nothing lives forever, so I give my gratitude for the days of my life.

  I will act with courage, that I may come to the Great Spirit without shame.

  Good luck my brothers and sisters. Mahpee out.”

  “This is admiral Harding. Thank you Chief Mahpee. Ships, prepare for sync jump in sixty seconds.”

  The war computer moved the convoy in a perfect synchronized jump. The solar system near Rayne lit up with torpedoes, lasers, and plasma cannons. Every weapon each ship had available fired or was launched at a single Raygin ship. UFC Fighters launched the instant their mother ships jumped into the Rayne solar system. They swarmed the other two Raygin ships. It caused immediate confusion. The UFC fighters had a tactical advantage over any fighters released by the Raygin, at least at first.

  “Look,” said Mahpee, as he pointed at he view screen, “we caught them with their shields down.” The Wasp’s crew watched a big Raygin ship take blow after blow without shields. The ion drive fizzled out. Electrical arcs were occurring all across the giant ship’s body. It came apart in big pieces. It looked like everything was happening in slow motion because the ship was so large.

  Mahpee was itching to join the battle. He dared not move without a functioning computer. The Wasp control panel lit up and the graviton tracking system switched on. A minute later it switched off again. Mahpee called engineering on the com console. In a loud and angry voice he said, “Nashta, I need a report. Now.”

  “Chief, you aren’t going to believe this! It wants to speak to you.”

  Mahpee jerked, and turned to see Nashta standing beside him. “Make sense Nashta. Who wants to talk to me? The admiral?”

  Nashta pointed to the form materializing on the bridge. Mahpee went pale. “Grandfather?”

  “Listen to me Honiahaka. You must destroy the watcher, or your friends will lose the battle.”

  Honiahaka, little wolf, it’s my secret name given to me by my grandfather. He used it when we were alone with each other. He said secret names held much power. “I do not understand? You are not my grandfather. He died years ago.”

  “Yet, I am here. Did you hear my words?”

  “Yes, I heard. Destroy the watcher, but why should I listen to you?”

  “Loo
k,” his grandfather pointed at the screen, “they are escaping your trap. All is not as it seems. What lesson did I teach you when facing a stronger enemy my Honiahaka?”

  “You said I must be more cunning than my enemy.”

  “Good boy. You paid attention. The watcher sits there.”

  Everyone looked at the ship’s viewer. The computer generated a gravity echo, which it painted on the screen. Yet to the eye, nothing appeared to be there. The entity claiming to be Mahpee’s grandfather started to dissolve.

  “Wait. I need my computer,” said Mahpee.

  “Soon, Honiahaka, soon.”

  “Nashta, what was that?”

  “I don’t know, chief. At first I thought it was the computer. It is not, but it is controlling the computer. I hate to tell you this, but it is controlling the weapon systems too. It knew my pass codes. Everything I tried, it countered. I believe if it wanted to kill us, we would be dead. I think it wants to help.”

  “Why doesn’t it destroy the watcher itself?”

  Nashta shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

  The battle still raged. Mahpee struggled to come up with some type of deceptive plan. The entity was right. The Raygin ships were starting to out maneuver the UFC ships. The two remaining Raygin ships were able to keep the battleship at bay while still firing at the cruisers. The fighters on both sides seemed well matched.

  “Aw kondor dung,” said Bodaway. “We lost a cruiser, and another one is taking a beating. It can’t seem to get away from the bugs.”

  As fighting continued, each ship sustained various forms of damage. The single exception was the Wasp. Mahpee stared in dismay. Another cruiser lost its ion drive and drifted away, carried by its own momentum. The bugs were out maneuvering the humans. Their shields seemed to be able to withstand attack after attack. After what seemed like an eternity, the Wasp’s computer and weapon systems came back on line. Both systems looked good from the bridge.

  “Nashta, are we ready for battle?”

  “I don’t know what your grandfather did, but the computer seems faster. It will take me hours to find what he did to the weapons systems.”

  “We don’t have hours, I’m going in now.” Mahpee had a plan. The Constellation was taking a beating from the two Raygin ships. Something had to give. Plus, the Watcher needed to be taken out. “Admiral, I have good news. I have all my systems back. If you can fly straight at the Raygin ship nearest the planet while firing, I will decouple from you and fly under the ship. I’ll try to take out the propulsion drive unit. They may not see us under your weapon fire. If they do see us they may think us to be a torpedo gone astray. Another concern is we have reason to believe there is a cloaked ship nearby. We may be able to catch two birds with one trap.”

  “I’m willing to try anything at this point. If something doesn’t change, we will lose the Constellation, and the battle. You found a cloaked ship?”

  “Long story, we used our graviton tracker. We need to move now admiral!”

  “Okay Mahpee, here we go. Good luck.”

  The Constellation started firing with everything it had. It headed straight for the Raygin ship. The three Federation cruisers fired on the second alien ship. The Wasp used the battleship’s massive firepower as cover as it flew under the enemy ship undetected. The plan worked. As enemy ship made a strategic move backward it exposed the Constellation to additional fire from the other alien ship. The Wasp computer tried to target the Raygin’s ion drive. The Constellation and the three cruisers retreated leaving the Wasp on her own.

  *****

  Smitty and his team arrived at the engineering duct. He could feel the attack on the bug ship had intensified. The individual bugs were scurrying around the ion drives. They were injecting some kind of green luminescent fluid into the primary equipment. They counted twenty-two bugs operating near the drives. There were also four attending to the shield generator and four more moving torpedoes on a cart. There were no weapons visible.

  Tews and Spaz were right. The bugs had two ion drives and two poppers. The single shield generator was in the aft most part of engineering. The ion drives were straining. To an engineer the sound meant the ship was most likely in a backward maneuver.

  Smitty’s plan was simple: disconnect the alarm and remove the air duct cover. A team of four humans with two guns would exit the vent and guard the door. Any bug trying to enter or leave, would meet its doom. The weapon carriers on the human team would exit the vent and start killing bugs. Smitty’s plan was to leave the shields online. He would isolate the drives, leaving them on while cutting power everywhere except for engineering.

  When the humans started firing at the bugs, they scattered like roaches. Twenty-four bugs died in less than one standard minute. A few bugs escaped through a back door the humans couldn’t see from the vent. Smitty posted humans with rifles at each entrance to engineering. He also put a few on a roving patrol and kept a few more by the main drive components.

  The unarmed members were engineers. Smitty got them together and they tried to figure out how to disengage the drives. They followed the various conduits and pipes and found the cut off button. It looked pretty much like those found on human ships. It should cut power by isolating the drive. Smitty hit the oversized button.

  The whine from the ion drive started to slow down. The lights in engineering went out and the battery back-ups came on.

  “What the hell happened?” screamed Smitty.

  The shields dropped off line. Smitty guessed they had about five minutes until the ion drive wound all the way down and stopped. The Poppers had no power going to them, so they were useless.

  “What flaming idiot would connect everything into a single kill switch? That’s crazy,” said Smitty. The ship started moving forward again.

  *****

  Mahpee noticed a flickering in the enemy shield. Something was wrong with the bug ship they were flying under. Time to strike. Before Mahpee could give the command, Bodaway fired at the Raygin’s underside without using the targeting computer. The laser ripped a glimmering gash in the Raygin ship’s bottom. The plasma canon, torpedo, and laser hit the ship’s rear end, blowing off the giant port ion thruster.

  Mahpee didn’t understand why the Raygin shield failed, but it couldn’t have happened at a better time. With one ion thruster still working, the big ship was trying to maneuver to Rayne. Ships that gigantic weren’t made to land on a planet. Without its shield the ship would come apart as soon as it hit the ground. Mahpee reached over and activated the graviton tracker. He took over fire control. This freed Bodaway to concentrate on maneuvering his ship for a clear shot.

  The Wasp dodged a large hunk of nozzle floating in space. On the screen, Mahpee could see tons of metal floating off in every direction. Perfect, he thought. At first, we will blend in with the debris field. It might buy us an extra second or two. The graviton tracking system confirmed the cloaked ship hadn’t moved. Mahpee fired.

  The Wasp’s crew watched on the view screen. The laser hit the invisible target. The cloak fluttered and disappeared leaving the ship for all to see. Mahpee had never viewed such an elegant ship. It was sleek, grey-purple in color, and it looked like a bird in flight with two small stability wings. Did the Raygin have unknown allies?

  Mahpee fired the laser again and hit the now uncloaked ship but not before it launched an energy weapon at the Wasp. The sleek ship became engulfed in a flash, as the Wasp’s plasma canon hit home. The beautiful alien ship and its occupants dissolved into space dust.

  The golden energy fired from the alien ship took the shape of three small rings. They behaved like a spring, collapsing in on itself over and over. It gained speed with every recoil. The Wasp turned toward the planet to evade the energy rings. The rings turned and closed in on them.

  “Brace for impact,” said Bodaway.

  The computer diverted every bit of energy, including life support, to the shields. The rings hit the Wasp, and spread over her entire surface. The shi
elds held, but shorted out as the energy faded. Life support turned back on. Mahpee let out a sigh of relief.

  As damaged Raygin ship attempted to land on Rayne it fired a weakened bank of lasers at the Wasp. It was a last ditch effort, as the big ship sunk into the atmosphere.

  A couple lasers rocked the unshielded Wasp. Mahpee couldn’t believe they weren’t vaporized. The big ship’s lasers must not have been at full strength, but they were still capable of doing great harm.

  “Damage report,” said Bodaway over the ship’s address system.

  Nashta responded. “The ship seems to be intact. We took two laser hits. One strike took out the rear ion propulsion nozzles. The second strike put a hole through the hull in engineering. It looks like the laser also damaged the power supply for the singularity drive. The ship seems to be self-sealing the holes in the hull. It must be Mahpee’s grandfather.”

  The Constellation moved between the Wasp and the remaining Raygin ship. The admiral saved their lives, at least for the moment. Their current problem made them a drifting target. It was just a matter of time until the enemy ship found an opening. Something needed to change.

  “Nashta, is the ion drive still operating?” asked Bodaway.

  “Yes, but as I said, the propulsion nozzles are inoperable. They took a direct hit.”

  “I’m going to try to land on Rayne using the maneuvering thrusters.”

  “I wouldn’t try it if I were you. The computer wasn’t designed to handle the series of calculations and adjustments for a thruster landing. It needs time to learn… what? I can’t. Standby,” said Nashta.

  “Stand-by? Nashta, I can’t stand-by. It’s now or never,” said Bodaway.

  “Uhh… Mahpee’s grandfather’s head just appeared and told me he fixed the hull breach. He claims he can land the ship if we put it in auto mode.”

  Bodaway looked at Mahpee and smiled. “He’s your grandfather. You make the call.”

  “Put her in auto.”

  Bodaway flipped the Wasp’s helm control into auto mode. The thrusters began to fire. The entity claiming to be Mahpee’s grandfather used the Constellation as a shield. It maneuvered using the natural tug of Rayne’s gravity. The thrusters fired in microbursts to line the ship up for an approach. When the Wasp hit Rayne’s atmosphere, the ride got bumpy. Mahpee lost track of how many times the thrusters fired in an attempt to maintain the correct glide path angle. It would have been impossible for a human to make so many corrections.