Dubious Heroes: a novel

by Nicholas Blue

  "What?" I said, too busy to look at anything beyond the thirty-plus aircraft we were playing tag with.

  "Eng just took another missile", she said. "Drive area. Looks to me like they're losing thrust. Must have hit either a ramjet, or a fuel line. Hard to say, from here. Yes! Angie just nailed the frigate with the rail gun. Blew big fuckin' chunks off of em, not sure which module. They're still trading shots."

  "Get Eng again", I said. "Tell em I said to head for space. We'll be right behind them."

  "If they can still make it", Kyra said. "Uh oh... they're not answering."

  "Keep trying", I said, instantly realizing she would, anyway.

  "Revenge here", Angie said.

  "Head for space", I said. "We'll follow you up and try to provide some cover fire."

  Her response was broken, either from commlink problems, or, more likely, all the jamming everyone was using.

  "... fuel lines... Cozi's working the prob... ", she said, and then that was it, nothing else but static.

  "The frigate is starting to tumble", Kyra said. "It isn't the only one with problems, though; looks like the ramjets on the Revenge just flamed out. Fuck."

  I switched over to visual to take a quick look, and noticed the Revenge was streaming plumes of smoke, and what had to be fuel.

  "I think they lost the main fuel lines", I said.

  "Cozi should be able to reroute to the backups, and fire the engines again", Kyra said. "I doubt they'll be able to reach orbit, though."

  "Probably not", I said. "But, if he's fast enough, maybe they can still land her."

  "Which doesn't save anyone, if the Princess hits Geneva", she said.

  "I have to believe he's bluffing", I said.

  "God, I hope you're right", she said. "Mac has been known to-"

  We were both thrown hard against our harnesses, and the Bonny Lass went into a dizzying flat spin. I feathered the thrust and wing surfaces, and slowly regained control, even as the ship continued to fight my efforts to maintain a straight flight path.

  "What the fuck was that?" Kyra asked.

  "We just lost our rear stabilizer", I said. "Shot off. My fault. I was watching the Revenge and not keeping an eye on those damned fighters. I still have control. Sort of."

  "Can we get out of here?" she asked. "Reach orbit?"

  "Don't think that's gonna happen", I said. "I've lost about three-quarters of our control. I may be able to bring us in for a crash-landing. Provided we don't get shot down, first."

  "Oh, it'll definitely be a crash-landing", Kyra said, looking at the three-dee terrain view on her screen. "Emphasis on the crash part. There's nothing but mountains under us."

  "Shit", I said. "Where's the Revenge?"

  "To our west", she said. "Between us as Geneva, about sixty clicks away. I just lost sight of them."

  "Still dropping?"

  "Yeah, they were", she said. "Goddamn it, Doon, this wasn't supposed to happen. This is turning into a real cluster fuck. If we live through this, I'm gonna find Mac and kick his ass."

  "And I'll help", I said, as I dodged another missile, and barely avoided throwing us into a spin again. I'd had an idea that we might not come back from our mission, but I figured the Revenge would be okay. "Look, we're landing in about a minute. Tell Cisco and Donner."

  "Landing where?" she asked, looking ahead out of the cockpit windows. "Crash might even be too mild a term."

  "You're welcome to take over anytime you like", I said, as I picked out a stretch of mountainside ahead of us that looked a little less vertical that the others around it.

  As the white mass of the mountain seemed to rush toward us, I reversed thrust on the engines. We dropped thirty feet in less than a second, and the Bonny Lass tried to slew sideways. A missile streaked by us, and slammed into the rocky face of another peak.

  "Good dodge", Kyra said, as she snugged down her harnesses for maybe the fifth time.

  "Wish I could take credit for it", I said. "I was trying not to lose control, again. Just a little longer.... there. That's our spot, dead ahead."

  "Lovely choice of words", she said. "At least all that simulator time is paying off."

  "I can't see how", I said. "I spent the time flying, not crashing. Be ready to bail out as soon as we come to a stop. Those guys aren't gonna stop shooting just because we're on the ground."

  I barely glimpsed another jet, as it slid in behind us and fired another missile. I raised my left wing at the last instant, and the weapon zipped by under us. It made a valiant effort to turn back toward us, and might have succeeded, if a mountain hadn't gotten in its way.

  Another fighter opened up on us with his cannon, peppering our six with rounds. Our engines seemed to soak up most of it, which was okay with me; in a moment, we wouldn't be needing them anymore.

  The manual yoke suddenly extended from the console in front of me, even though I hadn't activated it. I was barely done wondering why, when the IR system died.

  "Shit", I said, grabbing the yoke with one hand. With the other, I flipped the switches to engage all the air brakes we had. The lander lurched hard and sickeningly dropped, as the flaps caught the air, almost jerking the flight yoke from my hand.

  The section of mountain I'd picked was a slope maybe a third of a mile long, with an incline of twenty-five or thirty degrees. It was steep, but less so than anything else I could see, and seemed to be fairly clear of stuff we might run into. Other than the ground, anyway.

  I brought us in low on the slope, then tried to parallel the ground, as it rose to the summit. By some arcane logic, or maybe just gut instinct, I thought it might be better to slide in uphill, rather than downhill. Not that I had anything to base this on, since this was not only my first crash-landing, this was my first landing of any kind, period.

  We plowed into the surface with a bone-jarring crunch, and the view from the cockpit windows instantly turned white, blocked by the wake of snow our prow was kicking up.

  Tearing metal screeched at us as we slid along, like some otherworldly banshee. Or, more accurately, a gutsy little lander giving up her life for us. I was beginning to think we were going to run out of mountain, when we finally ground to a stop.

  "Ha", I said. "Any landing you can walk away from..."

  "What?" Kyra asked, as she unfastened her harnesses.

  "Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing", I said. "Hey, you're the one who brought up Chuck Yeager. He said that."

  "Wonderful", she said. "So you can read, after all."

  I heard a muted popping sound, as did she; gunfire.

  "I'd suggest you run, not walk", she said. She was out of her seat and gone before I could even undo my harness.

  I was almost at the hatch, when I heard the fighters scream overhead, the noise of their engines briefly drowning out the sound of small arms fire. I seriously doubted anyone could bring down a jet, even a low-flying one, with just a pistol, but someone was out there trying, anyway.

  I exited the lander to find my three companions all getting away from our crash site as quickly as possible. This struck me as one helluva fine idea, so I did the same. Cisco and Kyra were both headed uphill, toward several rocky outcroppings near the summit. Donner went sideways, rather than up, and vanished amid a jumble of rock and ice, fifty yards from me. In the distance, I noticed another pair of jets lining up for another run at us.

  It was only about a hundred feet to the summit, though it seemed infinitely longer, as I soon discovered that sticky shoes don't stick to snow or ice at all. I fell several times on the way up, but I always managed to find a sharp rock to break my fall. I dove behind a chest-high outcrop, expecting the hail of bullets to begin at any moment. I looked around for Cisco and Kyra, but couldn't see either of them.

  Sitting there, shivering in the cold, I realized I was actually on Earth for my very first time. So far, I wasn't enjoying it all that much.

  I peered over my rock. The jets were coming, but were still a mile or so out. They wer
e also low; very low. All the better to strafe us, I figured. I saw the flashes of their guns, before I could hear them firing. One jet sent a missile into what was left of the Bonny Lass. We'd left pieces of her strewn up the mountainside. The explosion showered me with smoking debris.

  I looked again, just in time to see Donner pop out from behind a rock, drop to one knee in the snow, and shoulder her rocket launcher.

  I never saw if she fired or not, but one of the jets certainly did, loosing another missile in her direction. It never came near her, though it looked like it might hit me, instead. I ducked, as it slammed into the mountain, fifty feet below me. The jets roared overhead, even as I was being pelted by more debris. As they raced by, they seemed close enough to reach out and touch. The noise was deafening. In the blink of an eye, they were gone.

  Looking around, I spotted Kyra hunkered down behind a sizable outcropping of her own, thirty feet to my right.

  "I'd find a bigger rock, boss", Cisco said. I turned to find him looking over another rock, just uphill from me. The summit lay only fifteen or twenty feet above him. I glanced downslope, but couldn't see Donner anywhere. The jets were speck on the horizon, circling for another pass, and taking their time about it.

  I walked over and joined Kyra behind her rock.

  "You okay?" I asked her. Her jumpsuit was torn across one thigh, the normally smooth white skin red and abraded, though not bleeding.

  "I'll live", she said. She tapped her ear, touching her commlink. I touched my ear, and realized I'd lost mine somewhere.

  "Donner?" she said. "Cisco?" She tapped her ear again, the turned to where Cisco was hiding, and shouted to him. "Where's Donner?"

  He raised both hands in an exaggerated shrug, as he yelled down to us.

  "Don't know", he said. "She's not answering her commlink."

  "They may not be working", Kyra said, yelling back to him. "Look."

  She pointed to the north, where a huge plume of smoke rose into the cold blue sky.

  "The Princess of Arabia?" I asked.

  "Too soon by ten or fifteen minutes", she said. "It'll be bigger than that, too. A lot bigger."

  "Oh shit", I said. "The Revenge."

  "And the other frigate", she said. "They were both going down. At least Eng took those bastards down with them."

  I thought of all the people aboard, and couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that they were gone, that I'd lost all of them. Cozi was the closest thing I had to family, and thanks to me, he'd been aboard the Revenge.

  I realized I was sitting in the snow. Kyra took my arm, and helped me up. There were tears in her eyes, wet tracks down her cheeks.

  "Doon", she said. I turned away from her, and made my way up to the summit of the mountain, my legs wooden, the rest of me numb. I didn't want to talk to her; I didn't want to talk to anyone.

  The icy wind plucked at my clothes, but I ignored it, not wanting to feel it, not wanting to feel anything. The sound of the jets echoed across the surrounding mountains, as they lined up on our position again, coming in for another pass. We were unfinished business.

  The wind atop the mountain was even stronger, but the footing was better, the snow only a few inches deep. I looked north toward the crash site, but it was too far away. All I could see was the same column of smoke, and the growing dots of the approaching planes.

  I'd been here before, and I knew what was to come. I also knew now that it was the fate I deserved. Below me, I saw that Cisco had joined Kyra. They appeared to be talking, though I couldn't hear their voices, the sound carried away on the wind. The fighters continued to close. The Bonny Lass was destroyed, and we were next.

  A movement downslope, maybe a hundred yards below, caught my attention. Donner had emerged from hiding. She dropped to one knee again, shouldering and arming the rocket launcher, her movements precise and determined. The jets came in, low and slow. When they were about a quarter-mile out, Donner fired, her rocket streaking toward the jet on the right, the plane on the left only meters away. The projectile missed, the jet sliding out of the way at the last second. Their cannon flashed as they returned fire, kicking up snow all around her. She never wavered, as she took aim, and fired again.

  The flash was blinding, and the jet on the left exploded, its nose dropping sharply, the tail of the plane lurching forward. This was not an angle conducive to continued flight, and it slammed hard into the mountain below us.

  I watched, mesmerized, as it tumbled up the mountain, in defiance of logic, gravity, and one very pissed-off mercenary. Onward it came, a fiery ball of fury, come to deliver me into the breast of my destiny.

  This was the moment I'd lived through before, in a place where time and space had no meaning. The wind howled my name, and something hit me hard.

  After that, there was only darkness, and silence.

  Chapter 48

  "He's fine", Kyra said.

  I opened my eyes, and found myself flat on my back in the snow. Cisco, Donner, and Kyra were bent over me, looking down. Donner looked as though she'd recently been on fire, a little charred around the edges, and sooty everywhere else. She was smiling broadly, oblivious to the smoke still coming from parts of her clothing.

  "Good shootin", I said.

  "Thanks, boss", she said, still grinning. "Sorry, but one of them got away. Maybe it'll come back."

  "God, I hope not", I said, as I sat up. Cisco grabbed my arm, and helped me to stand. I wobbled a bit.

  "Donner bagged one of the fuckers", Cisco said, sounding slightly in awe of her. "Almost bagged you, too."

  "I saw", I said. "So, what hit me?"

  "That", Kyra said, "Would have been me. You were just standing there like an idiot, with this ball of flaming jet rolling up the mountain right at you. We yelled for you to get down, but you just stood there. So, I moved you out of the way. Sorry, but there wasn't a lot of time to be gentle about it."

  "Thanks", I said, "I think."

  "Damn, but she's fast", Cisco said. "You should have seen the wicked tackle she hit you with. It was a thing of beauty."

  "Thanks", Kyra said, actually blushing.

  "That's okay", I said. "While I didn't see it, I think I got a little more out of the experience than you did."

  "I'll bet", he said, smiling, then cocked his head. "Hey, I hear jets. Donner may get another shot at them, after all."

  "That's not a jet", Kyra said, looking up. We followed her gaze, and watched as a medium-sized starship quickly descended to the mountainside below us, its landing struts already deployed. It landed hard, almost tipped downslope, then righted itself with a blast from the attitude jets.

  The big ramjets cut off, their roar and whine winding down to silence. The ship sat in a circle of bare rock, the ice and snow blasted clear by the engines.

  "I think I know that ship", Cisco said.

  "I know I do", I said. "Anyone have any idea what the Erebus is doing here?"

  "Rescuing us, I'd imagine", Kyra said. "It's kind of what they do, you know."

  "I know what they do", I said. "They just normally do it in the vicinity of Triton, and last time I checked, we're hell and gone from Triton."

  "Beats me, then", she said. "Go bang on the hatch and find out."

  We began walking downhill toward the ship, when its external speaker clicked to life.

  "Captain Doon and company", a male voice said, echoing from the mountaintop. "Wave if you can hear me."

  We waved at the ship.

  "Good. You need to get aboard as quickly as you can. We lift in three minutes, whether you're here or not. Something is about to hit Geneva, and we don't want to be here when it does."

  I waved at them again, and we continued to pick our way down the mountain.

  "We suggest you run", the voice said, as the engines began to whine to life.

  We ran.

  "What are you guys doing on Earth?" I asked, as Kyra, Captain Scott, and myself rode the lift up to the Bridge.

  "Looks as though we're savin
g your ass again, mate", Scott said. "Getting to be something of a habit."

  "Touché", I said. "What I meant was, how'd you even know where we were? We only crashed a few minutes ago. And by the way, this is a Deep Space Rescue Vehicle; you're supposed to be in deep space, not hanging around on Earth."

  "We can always drop you off and let you catch the next ride", he said, the peculiar New Zealand accent heavy. Maybe they were just visiting home.

  "Sorry", I said. "We appreciate the rescue. We've been having something of a bad day. We were just shot down, strafed, bombed, and we lost the Revenge and her crew. I'm beginning to wonder what can go wrong, next."

  "That would be the people of Geneva, having an even worse day, themselves", he said. "From what we hear, a sizable portion of western Switzerland and eastern France are about to be vaporized in just a few minutes. This is going to be a very bad day for a few million people."

  An alarm claxon sounded, as the lift opened onto the Bridge. Cisco and Donner were already secured in accel couches below, but Scott had wanted us on the Bridge with him.

  "Accelerating to two gees", the ship's AI announced. I stumbled a bit, as the thrust increased, and the gravity doubled in just a matter of seconds.

  "How long do we have?" I asked, as Scott pointed me toward one seat, and Kyra toward another.

  "Three minutes, more or less", the XO of the Erebus said, from his station.

  "Our altitude?" Scott asked, as he took his seat and strapped in.

  "Three miles and climbing", the XO said. "We should get moving, unless you want to stick around for the show."

  "Let's not, eh?" Scott said. "Hit it."

  "Aye, Captain", the AI said, and within moments, the g-forces tripled.

  "Acceleration holding at six gees", the AI said.

  "Everything we have, please", Scott said, as the ship rattled and shook, fighting both the thick atmosphere, and the iron grasp of the Earth's gravity well. The roar of the engines, far beneath us, increased measurably.

  "Eight point three gees and holding", Daniel, the AI said. "Engines are at one-hundred-three percent."

  My vision dimmed around the periphery for a moment, as the immense weight on my chest made breathing almost impossible. I panicked for a moment, then remembered my training; quick, shallow breaths would keep me conscious. I wasn't going to suffocate.