Calvin put a trio of rounds into an engineer who jumped up in front of him but not before the man fired a burst of bullets into his armor. “Gotta give these guys credit. What they lack in ability, they make up for with guts.”
The corporal covering his flank smirked. “Well, knowing your family will be killed if you surrender must be a driving factor.”
Calvin grunted. “Good point, Corporal.”
As he reached the main reactor housing, he took note of a couple of Goliaths—League Marines in their version of power armor. They were crouched around a technician who was frantically working on a console.
When Calvin brought up his arm in the signal for “Stop,” the corporal and another Marine behind him froze.
Calvin signaled them to engage the Leaguers and took up a firing position. Like a well-oiled machine, the friendlies with him assumed flanking positions stealthily. Then on his signal, they opened fire.
Unlike the uniforms of other League troops, the Goliaths’ suits soaked up repeated hits. The League Marines dove behind cover and returned fire, and a lucky shot caught the corporal to Calvin’s right in the helmet, killing him instantly.
Son of a bitch! He yanked a high-explosive grenade from his belt and pulled the pin then tossed it at the nearest Goliath. The explosion momentarily blinded Calvin, and the Leaguer tried to move but was clearly wounded. Calvin pumped rounds into his back until he lay still on the ground. Another enemy popped up from cover and opened fire on Calvin, hitting him repeatedly. With the wind knocked out of him, he fell backward, firing blindly. After a moment, the incoming fire ceased.
Calvin caught his breath and stuck his head up. The other League Marine lay motionless, blood flowing out of his helmet. Wow, there is a God.
He stood and advanced on the League technician. “Step away from that console and show me your hands. Now!”
The technician snarled at him, and Calvin’s finger rested on the trigger to his rifle. He didn’t want to shoot an unarmed man.
“Screw you, zealot!” the man shouted as he brought his hand down on a computer screen. A split second later, Calvin pulled the trigger, sending three rounds into the man’s center mass.
He collapsed in a heap as Calvin advanced and looked down at the screen. The words “Self-Destruct Enabled—05:00” in red stared back at him. It took him a moment to notice that the numbers were counting down. He keyed his mic. “Get Uzun over here. We’ve got a problem.”
* * *
Sheila rounded a corner and came upon a couple dozen soldiers in fire-retardant suits who lugged hoses and fire-extinguishing equipment. “Report, Master Chief.”
“About to breach, XO. Get your hood on.”
He looks like he was he born in the CDF. “No time. I’m here to coordinate anyway.”
“Stay back, then. I expect some flashing.”
Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. It’s been a decade since I did damage control, and a fire spreading over our heads isn’t my idea of fun. She’d briefly considered putting on a zero-G suit but decided against it, as time was of the essence. In the old days, crews had to contend with zero-G fires, which behaved strangely compared to a fire in gravity. But artificial gravity generators had solved the problem a century ago for the Terrans.
“Understood, Master Chief. Breach that hatch, and let’s get this fire out.”
Smoke wafted through the edges of the hatch, giving some indication of the seriousness of the situation. Sheila fell back to the rear of the formation as the master chief dogged the hatch open. Flames shot out of the entryway, engulfing a fireman. The team was quick to hose him down in CO2, and his protective suit did its job. She hung back for a few seconds before entering at the rear of the team. What she saw shocked her. Massive plumes of flames shot through the large bay. The fire was out of control.
“Master Chief! Clear the way to the controls for fire suppression system. That’s our best solution.”
“Yes, ma’am. Corporal, put down a wave of foam. Mathews, check those controls.”
For a few minutes, the team frantically sprayed CO2 foam and slowly beat back the flames. Upon reaching the manual controls, the private detailed to the task started his work.
“We got a problem here!” he screamed above the din of firefighting efforts. “The keypad isn’t functioning. Looks like the heat melted it.”
“Cover me, Master Chief,” Sheila said and picked her way through the path of twisted metal and slippery deck plating. Sliding next to the young private, she rechecked his diagnosis. Dammit, this is what we get for not having an actual shakedown cruise. “Okay, plan B. Get a crewman down here in a zero-G suit, and we’ll manually open the space to vacuum.”
“Away zero-G damage-control party. Emergency!” the master chief said through his commlink.
“Acknowledged,” someone Sheila didn’t recognize called back.
“It’ll take them five to ten minutes to get here, XO.”
“Spread the team out and keep the flames beaten down,” Sheila said as she continued to try to get a response out of the keypad. She even resorted to hitting the stubborn piece of technology.
A shout from halfway across the magazine attracted her attention. As she glanced up, a warhead fell off its protective rack as the metal alloys began to melt. My God, if one of those cooks off, it’ll destroy the ship from the inside!
“Master Chief. That rack of shells is melting. Get CO2 on it now!”
The team was already engaged. Three soldiers lined up, spraying foam from large hose nozzles. While they were successful, the racks on either side of the one that had failed were bending forward.
Mathews lifted his head from the underbelly of the console, his jaw dropping. “Oh Jesus.”
One after another, warheads spilled off the racks and crashed to the deck. A feeling of panic was palpable as it threatened to engulf the team.
“We’d better pull back,” Sheila said quietly.
“I’ve got this, XO,” Mathews said then stood and took off as fast as possible through the smoke and flame toward the manual venting controls. They were next to a pair of doors that opened directly to space and were used to reload the magazine while in dock.
He almost made it.
A beam that crisscrossed the upper reaches of the space and was responsible for holding up several sections of catwalk broke free and crashed to the deck. Mathews was directly in its path and went down hard, crushed under its weight.
Time almost stopped for Sheila as she took in the scene and realized her path to safety was blocked by debris.
“XO, hang tight. We’ll get you out!” the old master chief yelled from the other side.
What Sheila had to do was suddenly crystal clear. “Negative, Master Chief. Pull the team out.”
“Say again, ma’am?”
“I said pull the team out. I’ll vent the space manually.”
“You don’t have a suit, ma’am.”
For several moments, Sheila considered allowing them to retrieve her. If I do that, I’ll cause incredible risk to the ship, not to mention all these soldiers. I can’t do it. “I know. No time. Now get these soldiers to safety and close the hatch behind you. That’s an order, Master Chief.”
Sheila couldn’t see the man for the flames and smoke, but the sadness in his voice was impossible to miss. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You heard the XO. Clear the area! Move it!”
The sounds of foam being sprayed echoed through the magazine before the loud clank of the hatch closing left her alone.
Sheila made her way across the fallen catwalk to the manual control panel. When she ripped off the cover, she was confronted by a yellow lever marked Danger.
“Godspeed, XO,” the master chief said through her commlink.
“Thanks, Master Chief. I’ll see you on the flip side,” she replied with false bravado.
Sheila pulled on the lever with all her might, but it didn’t move. She picked up a fallen piece of pipe and wedged it into the area
between the lever and the back of the panel. Slowly and almost imperceptibly at first, it began to move. Yellow warning lights flashed, and a klaxon sounded, indicating imminent exposure to vacuum. Of course I forgot my safety harness. She groped around wildly through the smoke, looking for anything to hold on to. As the doors creaked open, she flung herself onto the fallen catwalk and held on as tightly as possible.
When the doors had gotten roughly halfway open, the force field that protected them snapped off. The effect was instantaneous. Smoke, fire, and the remaining air in the room raced through the opening into the vacuum of space. Warheads, pieces of metal, Mathews’s body—all of it flashed by her. For a few moments, she thought that by a miracle, she might just survive. Then the catwalk, which had been wedged in tightly, ripped free. As the doors passed by and she entered the blackness, her mind still functioned.
I guess this is it. A tear rolled down her face, freezing instantly as her mind ran through the memories she wouldn’t be able make, the child she would never have, and the love of her life she would never make memories with. She hoped David would find the video she’d made for him just before taking the XO position on the Rabin. Maybe he’ll understand how much I care for and love him. In the seconds just before Sheila passed, she silently repeated the Lord’s Prayer and hoped that there was truly something more for her in heaven.
34
While the Lion and her crew were busy battling the League capital ships, Amir and his wing had been making short work of the remaining League bombers and fighters. Though their losses were much higher than he would expect to see in a fight between nearly equal numbers of League and CDF craft, his wing had finally come out on top.
When he turned his attention back to the League’s capital ships, it was clear from the chatter on the command channel that the Lion had taken significant damage. Amir pulled up the integrated command-operations picture in his HUD and studied the battlefield. The he cued his communications net and spoke into the mic. “Tulleny, how are you doing?”
“Just peachy, Command,” Tulleny responded in her clipped British accent.
“Form up the bombers. We’re going to hit the nearest League cruisers. They’re identified as Masters Three and Four in your HUD,” Amir said. “The Reapers will cover the bomber flight on its way in and engage point-defense emplacements with our neutron cannons.”
“Understood, Reaper One. When we get back, you owe us all a drink.”
Amir smirked. “You know I don’t drink.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
* * *
While the battle raged outside the Lion of Judah, a different battle was being fought within the engineering spaces. Hanson struggled to get the forward shield generators back online and recharged with energy because of damage to the Lion’s energy conduits. Unable to route power to the proper capacitor, he slammed his fist into the console in frustration.
Dr. Hayworth took notice and laid a hand on Hanson’s shoulder. “Calm yourself, Major. This amounts to our first test of the reactor and power system in a real-world situation. Naturally, problems are bound to happen.”
“Doctor, to state the obvious, we’ve got to get power to the forward shield generator. I don’t see how to do that with the number of relays currently blown.”
“Simple. We reroute the power around the damaged relay using the junction control panels. They function much like large power supply breakers.”
“One problem—those compartments are flooded with high levels of radiation.”
Hayworth shrugged, incredible calm showing through. “Well, there’s a solution for that. Sure, we might get some kind of strange cancer twenty years from now, but it beats spending our lives in a League gulag.”
“I’ll get a corpsman down here to administer treatment before we enter the lockers,” Hanson said then pulled up his wrist device. “Medical bay, this is Major Hanson. We need a corpsman with radiation exposure medication to the main engineering room ASAP.”
A second later, Hanson’s wrist device crackled. “Yes, sir. We’re sending someone down now, sir.”
Hanson tapped on his engineering tablet, pulling up a schematic of the ship. “We’ll need three more volunteers, Doctor. I’ll take the one closest, but we need to reroute four different relay points at the same time.”
Hayworth looked over Hanson’s shoulder. “Only two more. I’ll take this locker,” he said, pointing.
As they talked, a couple of contractors who had been listening in walked over.
“Sir,” one of them began, addressing Hanson. “We helped configure the system last week. More than anyone here, we understand how they’re laid out. We’ll take the other two.”
“I can’t allow you to do that,” Hanson said and looked at the man’s name badge. “Tomilison. It’s too great of a risk for a civilian.”
Tomilison grimaced. “We can handle it, Major. Time is of the essence, and we know exactly what to do.”
Hanson turned Hayworth, hoping for his approval, but his demeanor was inscrutable.
“Okay. Take the other two.”
As the two men nodded and began to walk off, Hanson called after them, “Godspeed.”
Hayworth cleared his throat. “I can’t stand that saying.”
“It doesn’t hurt you to hear it said, Doctor.”
“It annoys me.”
“Why don’t we focus on the job at hand and debate religion later?” Hanson replied with a forced smile. “Now, let’s get this done.”
35
While Amir and his flight group were busy taking the fight to the League, David had the task of waiting until the shields were recharged and the fire was out in the forward magazine. Of all the things I’m good at, waiting isn’t one of them. With nothing else to do but monitor the situation, he studied the tactical plot and made plans to reengage the League ships as soon as the Lion was able. He also pondered whether Seville had an elite group of crews he could call on, as the League ships currently opposing them appeared to be far from the inferior opponents he was used to fighting. It all pointed to an elaborate plot to drive a stake into the heart of the Terran Coalition. If the Ark Royal had engaged this battle group, it would’ve been destroyed, but at least with the Lion, we’ve got a chance to win.
Looking over at the empty XO chair, David prayed Sheila was having success fighting the fire.
Ruth’s voice cut into his mental reverie. “Conn, TAO. Friendly fast movers have destroyed Master Four.”
David’s gaze snapped back to the tactical plot. “Acknowledged, TAO. What’s the status of the remaining contacts?”
“Our fighters are engaging Master Three, sir, though roughly twenty percent of them have been disabled or destroyed.”
David frowned. A twenty-percent-loss rate among small craft was very high, though it stood to reason that the League fighters were also manned by elite pilots, so perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Hopefully, our search and rescue teams can save our pilots after this battle.
Taylor spoke up from his station. “Conn, Communications. Damage-control reports that the fire in the forward magazine is out, and the fire relight watch has been set.”
Inwardly, David breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Way to go, Sheila. That’s going to be worth a nice bottle of something. He turned his attention back to the tactical plot. As he watched, one of the icons for the League cruisers winked out.
“Conn, TAO. Master Three has been destroyed,” Ruth said immediately.
“Acknowledged, TAO.”
David watched to see what the two remaining Rand-class cruisers would do. They formed up near the League dreadnought but did not attempt to move forward to engage the Lion. He believed that they were trying to provide point-defense covering fire for the Destruction.
An incoming message from engineering blinked on David’s personal communication panel. He pushed a button to open the channel.
“Conn, Engineering. Forward shields are back online and will recharge ov
er the next thirty seconds,” Hanson said, his breathing labored.
“Understood. Overall power-plant status?”
“We had radiation leakage through our coolant system and some of the power conduits that overloaded. Several of us, including me, have been treated for radiation exposure. No casualties, sir.”
At the mention of a radiation leak, David’s mind went into overdrive about yet another problem. “Understood, Major. Cohen out. Conn, TAO. Shield status?”
“Back to eighty-five percent of charge, sir. We’re ready to engage the generator.”
“TAO, raise forward shields. Navigation, intercept course on Master One. Let’s end this.”
David turned to Taylor. “Communications, get me Colonel Amir.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Colonel Amir patched into your console.”
David spoke into his mic. “Colonel Amir, how’s your wing holding up?”
Amir’s voice crackled through the speaker. “We’re hanging together, sir. About to take another run at the Leaguers.”
“Stand by on that, Amir. We’re going to engage the remaining League vessels. The TAO will vector you in as we begin our assault.”
“Understood, Colonel Cohen.”
“Lion out.” David clicked off the communications channel.
“Conn, Navigation. Intercept course laid in for Master One, sir,” Hammond interjected.
“TAO, how many Hunter and Starbolt missiles do we have left in our forward missile launch array?”
“Twelve Hunters, one hundred Starbolts, sir,” Ruth said.
With only twelve Hunters remaining, David would have to be judicious in their use. Starbolt missiles were fusion warheads with a rudimentary LIDAR-based tracking system, at least compared to the Hunter variant. They were great weapons but were far more susceptible to jamming and point defense. Despite their shortcomings, they could fire the entire salvo off in one shot, overwhelming the point-defense systems of the League’s flagship. First things first. Gotta take out those Rands and clear the battle space.
Coalition Defense Force Boxed Set: First to Fight Page 46