A Line in the Sand

by Ryk Brown

  “Any sign of the Voss?”

  “Negative. However, there is an unknown object that is also diving toward the planet, ahead of the octo-fighters. The plasma wake created by the object’s interface with the planet’s atmosphere is preventing our sensors from collecting any identifying information. I should point out, however, that the size of the object is similar to that of the Voss.”

  “Jump back to the Aurora and let them know what’s going on here,” Talisha instructed her wingman. “We need help and lots of it.”

  “What are you going to do?” he asked as he turned away.

  “I’m going to see if that fireball is the Voss.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” her wingman told her, just before he jumped away.

  * * *

  The entire command deck of the Voss glowed bright yellow-orange, their ship engulfed in a brilliant trail of burning plasma.

  “You know, this is draining the shields nearly as much as weapons fire from those octos!” Dylan warned as the ship bounced and shook.

  “So, you want me to slow down and let them fire at us?” Josh asked, holding his dive.

  “I didn’t say that,” Dylan defended.

  “We’ll be out of this soon enough,” Nathan said. “But he is right, Josh. We are going to have to slow down.”

  “Why?”

  “You said this ship isn’t as maneuverable as the Seiiki, right?”

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she can’t handle what I’m about to do with her.”

  Nathan shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.” The plasma wake began to abate, the ship’s rough ride subsiding with it. “Gunners, expect octos. Kit, you might want to get that back door open again.”

  “I’m on it,” Kit replied over the intercom.

  “Any chance we’re going to be able to jump soon, Vlad?”

  “I do not know yet,” Vladimir replied.

  “Not the answer I was looking for,” Nathan retorted.

  “Octos!” Mori reported from the dorsal turret. “Lots of them!”

  “Twenty,” Dylan updated, looking at the sensor display.

  “Some of them are jumping!” Mori updated, the screech of his plasma cannons nearly drowning him out.

  “At least the drones are gone,” Jessica commented. Four flashes of light appeared in the distance ahead and far below. “Four bandits ahead,” she announced, taking aim and opening fire.

  “Four more just jumped in to starboard,” Mori warned. “Looks like they’re splitting up to come at us from all sides.”

  Talisha dove through Volon’s atmosphere at higher than normal speeds, protected from the heat of atmospheric interface by her shields.

  “I have identified the unknown contact,” Leta announced. “It is the Voss, as you suspected.”

  “Good thing I sent my wingman back for help,” Talisha muttered.

  “What are your intentions?” her AI inquired.

  “I’m going to see if I can get a few of those octos off the Voss’s back.”

  “Shall I target the Dusahn fighters with our point-defense cannons?” Leta asked.

  “You have fire control,” Talisha confirmed, knowing that her AI would not fire on human-occupied vessels without specific instructions from her human pilot. “If it’s attacking the Voss, light them up.”

  “Understood,” Leta replied.

  Kit had redeployed the overhead mounted plasma cannon as soon as the ramp had come down far enough. Six Dusahn octos were already lighting up the Voss’s aft shields, threatening to bring them down in short order.

  Kit opened fire as the ramp continued to deploy, his field of fire widening as the ramp descended down to level.

  He paused fire for a moment, rolling the weapon further out onto the ramp to get an even wider angle. Once the weapon reached its maximum extension, Kit activated his mag boots, securing his feet firmly to the ramp to avoid falling. Though tethered to the ship, the last thing he wanted was to be flailing at the end of a tether while Josh was maneuvering wildly.

  Again he opened fire, pounding the forward shields of the pursuing octos as their ship continued diving toward the surface.

  Target icons littered his visor display, as well as the targeting screen on his cannon. But among all the dancing, red icons, one was different.

  It was blue.

  “We’ve got a friendly!” Kit yelled over the intercom.

  Nathan leaned forward suddenly, looking toward the sensor screen. “What?”

  “One fighter squawking Karuzari IFF codes!” Dylan exclaimed. “It’s a Nighthawk!”

  “Voss! Razor Three! On your six! Engaging octos! Try not to shoot me!”

  “Three!” Nathan replied over comms. “Voss Actual! Is that you, Sane?”

  “Yes, sir!” she replied eagerly.

  “Please tell me you’re not alone.”

  “Sorry, sir. I sent Six back for help.”

  “Four octos just broke off to take her on!” Dylan announced.

  “Four octos are turning toward you!” Nathan warned.

  “I see them,” Talisha replied. “Suggest you jump ahead to get some range from those octos.”

  “If we could jump, we wouldn’t be in this pickle,” Nathan explained. “We’ll go down low and find a way to line them up for you.”

  “Sounds good!” Talisha agreed. “I’ve got a full load of mini-jump missiles. I’ll shake them up a bit.”

  “How’d you know?” Josh wondered.

  “That you were going low?” Nathan replied. “You always go low, Josh. That’s where you like to be.”

  “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

  Dylan looked at Josh, concerned. “How low are we talking?”

  * * *

  Cameron paced back and forth across the Aurora’s bridge. News of the departure of significant forces from Takara had given her plenty of cause for concern. She had people out there, people who might be at risk, but she could not act without further intelligence. She only hoped that information would come soon.

  “Captain,” Ensign Keller called from the communications console. “Corinari Command has scrambled a squadron of Gunyoki, just in case. They should be in orbit in one minute. They have been tasked to your command.”

  “Very well,” Cameron replied, returning to her pacing.

  “The tendency for Terrans to pace is most puzzling,” her tactical officer stated.

  Cameron stopped in her tracks, looking at the officer.

  “My apologies if I overstepped my bounds, Captain,” the officer offered. “I still have much to learn about your people.”

  “That’s quite all right, Lieutenant,” Cameron assured him. “Yuati, right?”

  “Yes, Captain. Lieutenant Mio Yuati.”

  “You’re from Rakuen, right?”

  “I am,” the lieutenant confirmed. “I am part of the officer exchange program that I believe you instituted.”

  “Of course.”

  “May I ask what it is about walking back and forth along the same route that helps calm Terrans?”

  “It’s just a way to burn off nervous energy, I suppose. A bad habit, really.”

  “People from Rakuen do not do this.”

  “Yes, I’ve noticed. Your people are very…controlled.”

  “It is something we are taught from birth,” the lieutenant explained. “It does have its drawbacks, however.”

  “Such as?”

  “Our range of emotions is very limited. When we do get angry, we tend to explode, as if releasing pressure that has been built up over a lifetime. It can be very unpleasant to witness.”

  “I imagine so,” Cameron replied.

  “It can also be very useful, if channeled properly.”

  “The problem is that most
people have a hard time doing just that,” Cameron stated.

  “There are such people on Rakuen,” the lieutenant agreed. “Perhaps not as many as on other worlds, but we have our share.”

  “Captain,” Ensign Keller interrupted. “Flash traffic from Corinari command. Volon is under attack by Dusahn forces. Razor Six reported a Dusahn frigate, gunships, and octos, as well as two unidentified ships, one of which is badly damaged. Razor Three stayed in the system to seek out the Voss.”

  “General quarters, Mister Keller,” Cameron ordered, moving toward her command chair.

  “General quarters, aye,” the ensign acknowledged as the trim lighting around the Aurora’s bridge changed to red and alarm klaxons began to sound.

  “General quarters, general quarters,” Naralena’s recorded voice announced throughout the ship. Cameron had been unable to bring herself to change the recording now that she was gone. “All hands to battle stations.”

  “Connect me to the Gunyoki flight leader,” Cameron instructed.

  “One moment,” the ensign replied. “Commander Hayashi in Tekka One is on comms, sir.”

  “Tekka Leader, Aurora Actual,” Cameron called over comms. “Are you in orbit yet?”

  “Aurora, Tekka Leader,” Jenna replied. “We just jumped up and received the flash from command. We can be in the Volon system in three minutes.”

  “How fast can you put twenty-four Gunyoki on my flight decks?” Cameron asked.

  “Twice as fast,” Jenna replied. “On our way.”

  Cameron switched channels. “Flight, Captain. Twenty-four Gunyoki will be landing on our decks in the next minute and a half. Let me know once they are all down.”

  “Understood.”

  “Helm, the moment those Gunyoki are on board, we jump to Volon. Put us three light minutes out; that should provide us just enough old light to determine their orbit and speed. If they jumped directly from Takara, they’ll be in an equatorial orbit. I’d like to surprise them if possible.”

  “Aye, sir,” the helmsman acknowledged.

  “Lieutenant Yuati, two shield busters and two nukes in the tubes if you please. I want that frigate destroyed on the first pass.”

  “Loading two shield busters and two nukes,” the tactical officer replied.

  “All hands report general quarters,” Ensign Keller reported.

  “Weapons and shields are charged and ready,” Lieutenant Yuati announced. “Chief of the boat is in damage control.”

  “Flight reports Tekka squadron has jumped in and is setting down now. They should be on the deck in less than a minute.”

  “Course for Volon plotted, jump is loaded and ready,” the navigator reported.

  “Stand by to break orbit and jump to Volon,” Cameron ordered.

  * * *

  Josh held his dive, despite the fact that the surface of Volon was growing closer at an alarming rate.

  “Uh…Josh?” Dylan urged, his eyes growing wide. “Are you planning on leveling off soon?”

  “Define…soon,” Josh replied, a mischievous smile on his face.

  Dylan noticed the devilish look on his pilot’s face. “You worry me, you know that?”

  “You wouldn’t be the first,” Josh replied. “You gonna find me a canyon or what?”

  “Sorry.” Dylan turned his attention back to the sensor display, setting it to terrain-following mode. Within seconds, he had a three-dimensional representation of the surface of Volon in the area toward which they were diving, or as Dylan thought of it, the impact zone.

  He widened the scope, then widened it again and again until he saw something that looked promising. After tapping on the screen, the display zoomed back in on the area of interest, revealing a complex series of valleys and canyons along snaking river systems.

  “I’ve got something,” Dylan announced. “Not exactly a canyon, but a series of narrow valleys. It looks like they were carved out of the landscape by a complex river system.”

  “That’ll do,” Josh decided, glancing at the display himself to get a bearing and immediately adjusting their course toward it.

  “Do you want a bearing?” Dylan asked.

  “I’ve got it,” Josh assured him.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Just don’t let me fly into a dead end and slam us into a wall,” Josh replied. When there was no response, he glanced at his copilot, who now appeared somewhat pale. “Relax, Dylan, I was kidding…”

  Dylan relaxed a bit, although not much.

  “…Sort of,” Josh added.

  “The four octo-fighters are maneuvering to get behind us,” Talisha’s AI warned.

  “I’m aware of them, Leta,” Talisha replied as she maneuvered into position to attack one of the octos currently attacking the Voss.

  “I am targeting all four pursuers with point-defenses; however, they are unlikely to penetrate their defensive shields.”

  “Do it anyway,” Talisha instructed as she armed her internal missile bays. “We don’t want them to think we’re a boring dance partner.”

  “Firing all point-defenses,” Leta reported.

  Talisha glanced at the weapons status screen as all four point-defense cannon icons turned red, indicating they were engaged. She then turned her attention to her targeting screen, selecting all four of the targets directly in front of her. “Locked onto four,” she reported as she moved her right thumb to the missile-launch button on the side of her flight control stick. “Launching missiles.”

  Talisha pressed the missile-launch button, holding it long enough to initiate the first missile launch before releasing it. As the first missile streaked forward from under her fighter, she repeated the process three more times.

  “Four away!” she reported as the last missile cleared her nose and disappeared in a blue-white flash of light.

  A blue-white flash of light appeared twenty meters behind the trailing octo-fighter, revealing a small missile, its engines still burning at full power. A second after it appeared, it struck the octo’s aft shields and detonated.

  Sparks erupted all over the octo, its shield emitters overloaded by the sudden influx of energy from the blast.

  With another flash of light, three of the nearest fighters pitched up and jumped to safety before they too were struck.

  The next two missiles, having lost their targets, were forced to shut down their drives and begin their fall to the surface, their warheads automatically disarming. The fourth missile had enough time to acquire an alternate target, guided by Talisha’s AI, to which it was connected.

  The missile adjusted its course, locking onto the new target, turning further to hold its lock as the newly targeted octo-fighter took evasive action, pitching down and rolling into a corkscrew dive.

  The missile followed the fighter but failed to hold its lock when the fighter pulled out of its dive and jumped away.

  Kit noticed the explosion of the first missile, as well as the shower of sparks it precipitated, and turned his weapon from the lead octo to the trailing one, continuing to fire. Within seconds, the bolts of plasma energy leaping from his barrels burned through the octo-fighter’s armor plating and found one of its internal propellant tanks. The octo exploded, sending debris flying in all directions as the bulk of the wreckage began tumbling toward the surface.

  “Nice shot!” Mori congratulated over the intercom.

  “I guess this gun’s not so bad after all,” Kit decided.

  “You got lucky,” Jokay joked.

  Realizing that her strategy was sound, Talisha quickly dialed up four more missiles, this time setting them to automatically launch in sequence.

  “Aft shields down to fifty percent,” her AI reported as the fighter rocked from the incoming weapons impacts. “Estimated time to aft shield failure is two minutes.”

  Talisha targ
eted two octos that had just come out of a jump to the right of the Voss, and then two of the four that were still on her six.

  “Recommend evasive action to allow shields to regenerate,” Leta continued.

  “How long for full shield regen,” Talisha asked.

  “Forty-seven seconds.”

  “Too long,” Talisha decided. “Voss! I’ll peel’em, you cook’em!” she called over comms as she pressed the missile launch button again.

  “Aft shields are taking a beating!” Dylan warned.

  “Hang on!” Josh warned as he began to pull back on his flight controls.

  The Voss’s grav-lift systems screamed as they fought to keep the ship aloft.

  All three of them stared out the front windows as their ship slowly began to level off, dropping into the narrow valley.

  “Holy crap!” Dylan exclaimed, surprised that they hadn’t slammed into the ground. “I can’t believe you did that!”

  “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Josh giggled.

  Dylan looked back at Nathan. “Is he always like this?”

  “Eyes on the terrain sensors,” Nathan urged, breathing a sigh of relief as soon as Dylan turned away.

  Two blue-white flashes of light to his left caught Mori’s attention as he fired away at the octos to stern. He quickly swung his gun turret to starboard as two more pure-white flashes announced the missile detonations. Both fighters diving toward the Voss’s starboard side erupted in showers of sparks. Mori opened fire with all four barrels, immediately destroying one of the octos and damaging the other.

  The crippled octo streaked overhead, black smoke and flames trailing from its side. Mori swung his gun around to pick the target up on the port side, but the damaged octo slammed into the mountainside, breaking apart. “A hell of a lot easier to cook once they’re peeled!” Mori exclaimed with excitement.

  “Talisha!” Nathan called over comms. “You need to shake the three on your tail and then come back!”

  “I’m good!” Talisha assured him over comms. “Although I wouldn’t mind if your gunners wanted to fire at the guys on my six!”