by Ryk Brown
“Then we shouldn’t have any problem procuring one, should we,” Nathan decided.
Dylan looked at him with skepticism. “Captain, I love the XKs, but we have newer ships that I’m sure corporate will let you use.”
“Even if I’m likely to destroy it?”
“On purpose?”
“No, but I do plan to take her into harm’s way,” Nathan warned. “Are you saying the XK is a bad choice?”
“Not at all, actually. They’re rugged, have plenty of power, and plenty of cargo space. And they’re very easy to work on, even while under way.”
“Then they sound perfect,” Nathan declared enthusiastically.
“But any XK you get is going to need a lot of upgrades,” Dylan warned. “Even if you get one that’s still in service and has been well taken care of.”
“Then it’s a good thing I have access to an XK expert, isn’t it,” Nathan said, smiling.
Dylan’s eyes widened. “Me?”
“Who else?”
Dylan laughed. “I’m honored, Captain, really, but my mom will never let me go flying off on some dangerous mission with you.”
“She let you come here, didn’t she?” Nathan countered. “Where we’re going next isn’t any more dangerous than that… Well, not much, anyway.”
“Uh, she thinks I stayed on Rakuen while the Aurora went into battle,” Dylan admitted sheepishly.
Nathan looked at Dylan crossly. “You’re going to have to tell her the truth sooner or later, Dylan.”
“I know…”
“But perhaps you shouldn’t lead with that confession when you ask her for permission to help us on the XK missions,” Nathan added, his smile widening.
Dylan looked at Nathan, his eyes wide in disbelief. “I’m betting you got in trouble a lot when you were my age.”
“I got into my fair share of mischief,” Nathan replied, rising from his chair.
“I’ll bet.”
“Pack your bags, kid. We’re wheels up in thirty,” Nathan added as he headed out the door.
* * *
Multiple jump flashes appeared in the sky above Aitkenna, each one followed by faint booms as the air at their arrival points was suddenly displaced. Two seconds later, alert sirens began blaring all over the city, alerting its residents of the danger coming from above.
“The Glendanon is pulled in tight along our port side,” Cameron told Nathan as they entered the Aurora’s bridge. “She’ll stay there until we get our port shields back up. We’re close enough to the planet that nothing bigger than an octo is going to be able to hit us from planet-side.”
“You’ll probably need to work out some sort of a separation maneuver with Gullen, in case you have to get under way in a hurry,” Nathan suggested as they turned the corner to head for the ready room.
“Already done,” Cameron assured him.
The trim lighting all around the bridge suddenly turned red, and an alert klaxon sounded.
“General quarters,” the Aurora’s AI announced. “Incoming missiles. Point-defenses activated. First impacts in fifteen seconds.”
Both Nathan and Cameron immediately turned on their heels, heading back into the bridge. Cameron went straight for the tactical console, as there was no tactical officer on duty at the moment.
“Eight inbound,” the sensor officer reported.
“Corinari are reporting octos over Aitkenna, attacking the spaceport,” Naralena reported from the comms station as the captain passed.
“Shields have already come up,” Cameron announced as she stepped up to the tactical station. “Point-defenses are firing…two down…”
“Glendanon’s point-defenses are firing, as well,” the sensor officer reported.
“…Three down…”
“Comms, confirm that everyone on Aitkenna is scrambling,” Nathan instructed.
“The Glendanon is asking if they should break formation,” Naralena reported.
“…Five down!”
“Negative,” Nathan replied. “This could be a ruse to get us to expose our port side. Tell Gullen to stay put.”
“Three seconds!” the sensor officer warned.
Nathan tapped the comms console on the arm of the command chair next to him. “Brace, brace, brace!”
The ship rocked as the last two missiles made it past the point-defenses of both ships and slammed into the Aurora’s dorsal shields.
“What the hell is going on?” Jessica exclaimed as she stumbled onto the bridge, bracing herself against the comms station as she made her way to tactical. “Didn’t we just kick their asses?”
“Apparently they don’t see it that way,” Nathan commented. “How bad?”
“Dorsal shields took two hits,” Cameron reported. “They’re drained, but still good.”
“Another wave!” the sensor officer reported.
Dusahn octos dove toward the Aitkenna spaceport, their four twin-barreled turrets spitting bolts of plasma energy at the rows of fighters parked on the surface. Dozens of vehicles raced across the tarmac, ignoring the red rain of death as they tried to get pilots to their ships.
Four Corinari combat tanks, wisely positioned to defend the makeshift fighter base, swung into action before their operators had even climbed aboard, their AIs snapping into action due to the foresight of their programming.
The AIs of the Sugali fighters were equally capable, firing up their reactors and flight systems in anticipation of the arrival of their pilots. Unfortunately, many of them would never get off the ground.
The ungainly looking octo-fighters targeted the fighters first, tearing through the unprotected Gunyoki and Eagles, and pummeling the AI-activated shields of the Nighthawks. The octos attacked in groups of four, jumping in from high on one side, sweeping across the compound as they fired, then pitching up and disappearing behind blue-white jump flashes. Their attack was relentless, with the next wave appearing at random cardinal points before the previous wave had completed their pass.
“Port shields are down to sixty percent!” the XO warned from the Glendanon’s tactical station.
“They’ll hold,” Captain Gullen insisted as the ship rocked from another missile impact against their shields. “As long as you don’t let any more missiles get through.”
“It’s not like I’m not trying, Edom,” the XO defended. “This would be half as hard if we could break formation and get more guns in play.”
“You know we can’t do that, Justan.”
“I’m just sayin’.”
The Nighthawk pilots jumped from the open-top vehicles as they slowed, running as they hit the ground. Red bolts of plasma walked across the surface, blowing holes in the tarmac and sending debris flying in all directions.
Talisha flinched as bits of concrete sprayed across her as she ran, chased by the bolts of energy raining down from the enemy fighters approaching from behind. All around her, she could hear the sounds of Sugali engines spinning up, and the metallic ringing of energy bolts striking their shields. Suddenly, the shields of a nearby Nighthawk failed, flashing brightly, its shield emitters bursting with sparks as they overloaded. The next shots found the fighter’s unprotected hull, slicing into it and finding its propellant tanks.
The shock wave knocked Talisha to the ground, nearly rendering her unconscious. Scarred, scraped, bleeding, and ears ringing, she managed to get to her knees, despite the numerous points on her body screaming in pain.
Talisha tapped the comm-unit on her wrist, yelling into it. “Leta! Drop aft shields! I’m coming in!”
“Understood,” her AI acknowledged.
The bombardment suddenly ended, the attacking fighters having reached the far side of the spaceport and starting their climb in preparation to jump. Talisha fought through the pain and climbed to her feet, stumbling toward the aft end of her fighter as
two nearby Gunyoki fighters began to lift off the ground.
The lack of incoming fire lasted only seconds, as four more Dusahn octo-fighters jumped in, attacking this time from the west. Talisha picked up her pace, breaking into a sprint as the two Gunyoki fighters turned to climb but were met with a barrage of red bolts of plasma as nearly every weapon on each of the four fighters targeted them. Their shields flashed brilliantly, but their lack of an AI to power up their reactors prior to their pilots’ arrival meant that they had insufficient power for both liftoff and shields. Both ships would never get under way. Their shields failed, and their hulls were torn open by the incoming fire. One ship exploded outright, the shock wave knocking the other already unstable Gunyoki sideways. The second Gunyoki fighter took debris hits from the first, causing its port engine nacelle to fail. The ship leaned over, struck the ground, and then plopped down, its hull rupturing on impact. Its canopy automatically jettisoned, and the pilots tried to climb out, but they were consumed by the fireball that was ignited by the next few weapons impacts.
Talisha continued running as hunks of red-hot metal from the exploded Gunyoki fighter fell around her. Her hands over her head, she managed to cross under her Nighthawk’s aft shield line, just as a large piece of burning debris slammed into the shield above her, causing it to flash brightly. “I’m inside the shield perimeter!” she yelled over her wrist comm as she continued around the fighter to the open clamshell cockpit.
“Raising aft shields,” her AI reported. “Reactor at ninety percent. All systems are ready for departure.”
“Auto-launch as soon as I’m in!” Talisha replied as she reached the open cockpit. “Jump once the cockpit is sealed!” she added as she climbed up inside.
The clamshell cockpit still wide open, and Talisha only halfway up into her seat, the Sugali fighter began to lift up off the ground, her grav-lift systems humming loudly. The ship rotated toward the southeast, turning toward the next wave of fighters that had just jumped in.
Talisha climbed into her seat as the ship rotated and began sliding forward. With her left hand, she pulled her restraint bar down over her, while with her right, she slapped the cockpit-close button. Her eyes widened as she looked in her ship’s new direction of flight, spotting the four Dusahn octos heading directly toward them, plasma turrets blazing. “What the hell are you doing, Leta?” she wondered as the two halves of the clamshell cockpit closed around her.
“Dusahn targeting systems are less effective at higher closure rates,” Leta explained as the interior cockpit lighting snapped on and the inside of the canopy seemed to become transparent. The view of outside now restored, her cockpit lit up with the bright flashes of red as the incoming fire slammed into her forward shields.
“Jumping,” Leta announced. A second later, she added, “Clear of attacking craft. Shall I come about?”
Talisha breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, she was out of danger. But only for a moment. “I’ve got it,” she replied, grabbing the flight controls and entering an aggressive turn to port.
“They’re pounding our dorsal shields,” Jessica warned from the Aurora’s tactical station as the ship rocked from another missile impact with their shields.
“If they bring down our dorsal shields, we’ll only have two shielded sides left,” Cameron added. “We’ll be vulnerable.”
“Naralena,” Nathan called, “tell the Glendanon we’re going to start a slow, ninety-degree roll to starboard, and we’d like them to maintain relative position to us as we roll.”
“Aye, sir.”
“That should help keep those missiles off our dorsal shields.”
“Ready when you are, Captain,” Josh said.
“As soon as…” Nathan stopped mid-sentence, realizing that the incoming ordnance warning alarms were no longer sounding. “Sensors, status?”
“No targets other than the octos in the atmosphere over Aitkenna,” the sensor officer replied.
Nathan turned to tactical next, looking at Jessica and Cameron.
“Threat board is clear,” Jessica reported.
Talisha rolled out of her turn and immediately pressed the jump button on her flight control stick, transitioning ahead fifty kilometers and back into the area of the Aitkenna spaceport. But instead of finding four to eight Dusahn octos actively attacking the base, she found nothing. Nothing but fires, secondary explosions, and multiple plumes of smoke rising from the destruction below. So short and recent was the attack that the smoke had yet to move downwind of the battered spaceport.
“There are no enemy contacts in the area,” her AI reported.
“Leta, expand your scan range. Are the octos in orbit?”
“Negative,” Leta replied. “I have also tapped into Corinair’s global surveillance satellite network, and there are no enemy contacts anywhere over the planet.”
Talisha keyed her transmit button. “This is Razor Three. Who else is up?”
“Razor Thirty-two is up.”
“Razor Fourteen is up,” another pilot replied.
“Tekka Nine and Ten are up, climbing to orbit,” Suli Noma reported from her Gunyoki fighter. “Dota Five and Eleven should be up shortly. We’ll take high cover for now.”
“Understood,” Talisha replied. “Control, Razor Three. Get anyone you can up, and keep them up until we know this is over.”
“How bad?” Cameron asked Naralena.
“Four Eagles destroyed,” Naralena replied. “Also, eleven Gunyoki and six Nighthawks. Forty-three dead, fifteen wounded, so far.”
“Still no contacts,” the sensor officer updated.
Nathan sighed. “They’re going to keep hitting us at random intervals.”
“Why?” Josh wondered aloud. “I thought we had a cease-fire?”
“Because he’s got Takara wired,” Jessica pointed out. “He knows he can lash out at us anytime he wants, and we can’t do a thing about it.”
“He plans to chip away at us a little at a time, just like we did to them in the beginning,” Nathan added. “That’s why I have to fight him.”
Josh turned around. “You’re going to fight him? Isn’t he some kind of expert in hand-to-hand combat?”
“That’s what I hear,” Nathan replied.
“Uh, no offense, Cap’n—I mean, you can fight and all—but you’re not, like…”
“Like what?”
“Well, if it weren’t for Marcus and Dalen and me, you would’ve gotten your ass kicked on more than one occasion over the last five years.”
“That was Conner, not Conathan,” Nathan joked. “But that is a good point. I guess I’ll have to take you with me.”
“Where, to fight Lord Dusahn?” Josh exclaimed in surprise.
“Maybe not that far. But I do need a pilot to fly me to SilTek. I have a lot of studying to do along the way.”
“That I can handle,” Josh replied.
“You too, Loki,” Nathan told his navigator.
“Ranni shuttles only need a single pilot,” Loki reminded him.
“Someone’s got to keep an eye on Josh while I’m in the back studying.”
“You’re still going?” Cameron wondered.
“You said it was a good idea to talk to Commander Bowden first, just to be certain my plan was feasible,” Nathan reminded her.
“I believe I said your insane plan,” Cameron corrected.
“Then I guess everything is as usual,” Nathan said as he headed for the exit. “Call your relief crew, gentlemen,” he called back to Josh and Loki. “We’re wheels up in ten.”
CHAPTER TWO
Josh followed Loki onto the Ranni shuttle and into the cockpit. “What are you doing?” he asked when Loki took the pilot’s seat.
“I’m far more qualified to fly these than you are,” Loki replied as he began powering up the ship’s systems.
�
��You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not,” Loki insisted. “Now sit down and get comfortable, it’s going to be a long flight.”
Josh stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do.
Loki finally stopped what he was doing and looked at him crossly. “Sit.”
“This ain’t right,” Josh complained as he plopped down in the copilot’s seat.
“You need to fly second-seat more often if you’re going to be a well-rounded pilot,” Loki commented as he continued starting up the ship’s systems.
“Hey, I spent five years flying second-seat to Connor, which wasn’t easy.”
“What wasn’t easy?” Nathan asked as he entered the shuttle.
“Nothing,” Josh replied, looking back over his shoulder as Nathan, Jessica, and Dylan climbed aboard. “I hope you packed a lot of food. It’s nearly four days’ journey to SilTek,” he added as he turned to face forward again.
“A few sandwiches are all I had time to pick up,” Nathan replied as he took his seat.
Josh turned back to look at Nathan again. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“Relax, Josh,” Nathan chuckled as he strapped in. “We’re hitching a ride on a boxcar. We’ll be at SilTek in an hour, tops.”
“I’m still gonna need that sandwich,” Josh grumbled, turning away again.
* * *
A blue-white flashed revealed the now-familiar shape to SilTek’s defense grid. The cargo pod hauler commonly referred to as the boxcar flipped over as soon as its jump flash faded, then fired its main engines to slow down to the lower orbital velocity. The difference was slight, and the initial burn lasted only a few minutes, after which the cargo bay door opened, and a Ranni shuttle emerged, pulling away smartly. Once the shuttle was clear, it pitched down toward the planet and disappeared behind a flash of light of its own.
* * *
Miss Bindi was standing on the other side of the hangar bay door when it opened.