A Show of Force (40 page)

The shuttle’s windows all became opaque.

“Jumping.”

Although the shuttle’s windows had turned opaque, a small amount of light translated into the cabin of the combat jump shuttle, providing them with instant positive feedback that a transition event had taken place. The windows immediately became clear again.

“Jump complete,” Latfee announced. “Come new course… one three eight, sixteen up relative. Decelerate to five zero zero.”

“One three eight, sixteen up. Decel to five zero zero,” the lieutenant acknowledged.

“Jump series to Kohara in thirty seconds,” Ensign Latfee announced.

Sergeant Torwell looked about outside. They were departing a high orbit above the Earth, and were surrounded by twenty other combat jumpers, as well as several troop jumpers and ten boxcars. “We are bringing a whole lotta hurt to the Jung today, boys and girls,” he commented.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.

Nathan glanced at the threat board display in the lower right of main view screen, as it repainted with updated information after the Aurora’s jump. The icon representing the second Jung cruiser they had attacked and just jumped away from blinked red several times, then faded away.

“New contacts,” Mister Navashee announced. “Jung cruisers, charlie three and charlie four.”

“Locking forward tubes on target charlie three,” Luis reported.

“Target charlie two confirmed destroyed, Captain.”

Nathan did not respond, instead just watching the status displays on the main view screen, and listening to his crew report their actions as the attack progressed.

“Forward tubes locked on target charlie three,” Luis reported. “Firing triplets, tubes one through four.”

More red-orange balls of plasma streaked across the main view screen, from both sides toward center.

“Adjusting course to intercept target charlie four.”

“Multiple jump events in the vicinity of Kohara,” Mister Navashee added. “Our first wave of ground forces has arrived.”

“Acquiring new target,” Luis said. “Locking forward tubes onto charlie four.”

“Target charlie three has been hit, but she is not destroyed,” Mister Navashee announced. “She must have started raising her shields as we fired, sir.”

“Damage?” Nathan asked.

“Firing triplets, tubes one through four,” Luis reported.

“Direct hits to main propulsion, direct hits midship. Power emissions… Captain! Charlie four is going to FTL!”

“Note her course and speed,” Nathan ordered. “Helm, match her course but give us at least a few kilometers breathing room.”

“Turning to parallel charlie four, five kilometer separation,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.

“Mister Riley, prepare to jump one light minute along our new course,” Nathan continued. “Lieutenant, ready aft tubes, in case we come out ahead of her.”

“One light minute jump, aye,” Mister Riley acknowledged.

“Ready on all tubes, fore and aft,” Luis replied. “Ready on main plasma cannons as well.”

“Jump plotted and ready,” Mister Riley reported.

“On parallel course,” Mister Chiles added.

“Jump.”

“Jumping.”

Nathan closed his eyes momentarily out of habit as the Aurora’s jump flash washed over the interior of the bridge. “Where is she at, Mister Navashee?”

“Scanning,” his sensor officer replied, his face buried in his console displays. “Got her! Astern, ten to port, four down, range thirty kilometers!”

“Helm, ten to starboard, four up,” Nathan ordered without hesitation. “Tactical, triplets, stern tubes, fire at will!”

“Turning starboard ten and four up,” Mister Chiles acknowledged as he initiated a quick course adjustment to bring their stern torpedo tubes onto the Jung cruiser behind them.

“Locking stern tubes on target,” Luis reported. “Firing triplets, tubes five and…”

“Target is going FTL again!” Mister Navashee interrupted.

“Did she change course?”

“No sir,” Mister Navashee replied.

“Snap jump, present course, ahead thirty light seconds,” Nathan ordered.

“Snap jump, thirty light seconds, aye,” Mister Riley replied.

“Kill mains and yaw twelve to port and pitch eight down, Mister Chiles,” Nathan continued as the jump flash washed over the bridge.

“Mains to zero, yawing twelve to port, eight down angle,” Mister Chiles replied as he brought the Aurora’s nose back left and down relative to their direction of travel.

“Be ready on all forward tubes, Lieutenant.”

“Just get them to stay in one place for five seconds,” Luis replied.

“Contact! Charlie four! Five hundred kilometers, same course and speed as before!” Mister Navashee reported.

“Damn it!” Nathan exclaimed as he stood. “Lock on and fire!”

“Locking all forward tubes… Firing!”

“Charlie four is turning to starboard and pitching down relative,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Helm, new course, twenty to starboard and fifteen down relative. Stand by snap jump, another thirty light seconds,” Nathan instructed. He turned aft to face Luis at the tactical station directly behind his command chair, as his helmsman and navigator acknowledged their new orders. “Stern tubes again, triplets, wide spread,” he ordered. “I’m going to try and put our stern tubes on her port side by jumping across her course.”

“Clean miss! All torpedoes!” Mister Navashee reported. “Target is going to FTL again.”

“Snap jump, thirty light seconds! Kill your mains and pitch the nose up level relative!”

“Jumping,” Mister Riley reported.

“Killing mains, nose up to level relative,” Mister Chiles announced as the next jump flash washed over them.

“Charlie four, ten kilometers directly aft, four up relative,” Mister Navashee reported with earnest.

“Adjusting pitch four down,” his helmsman announced without prompting.

“Locking stern tubes on target. Firing triplets, wide spread, all tubes.”

“Aft cameras!”

“Target is firing!” Mister Navashee reported. “Rail guns and missiles. Impact in ten seconds!”

“Escape jump!” Nathan ordered.

“Escape jump, aye!” Mister Riley replied as he initiated a preprogrammed jump of one light minute along their current course.

Nathan looked at the main view screen which still showed the view from the Aurora’s aft cameras. Just as the jump flash lit up the screen, he thought he saw at least one yellow flash of light where the enemy cruiser should have been.

“Jump complete.”

“Scanning for target,” Mister Navashee announced.

“Helm, come about on a reciprocal heading,” Nathan ordered. “Tactical, stand by all forward torpedoes.”

“Coming about,” Mister Chiles acknowledged.

“Message from command,” Ensign Souza announced. “Scout One reports twelve frigates, not eight. They’ve killed three so far.”

“Find me that cruiser, Mister Navashee,” Nathan urged.

“She’s not there, Captain,” his sensor officer replied. “I’ve got debris where she was last we fired. She must have gone to FTL right after we hit her.”

“Then she’s at least damaged,” Nathan said. “She’ll probably FTL for a minute or two to get clear, then assess her damage before returning to the fight.”

“Should we jump ahead along her last heading, maybe pick her up again and finish her off?” Luis suggested.

“Her captain is quick on his FTLs,” Nathan commented. “He’s just going to keep hopping out of our line of fire, just like we would. We’ll just wait and deal with him later, if and when he returns. Meanwhile, let’s go help the Scouts with those extra frigates.”

Jump flashes appeared all over the evening sky above Cetia. First came twenty small shuttles, appearing behind bright blue-white flashes of light, skimming in low over the city. The small shuttles were heavily armed and carried troops within their central compartments, as well as men aiming large energy weapons out the side doors at the ground below.

Behind them, only a few seconds later, came fast-moving fighters that looked like triangular flying wings, with engines mounted above and below. The fighters streaked overhead and launched missiles before pitching back up and disappearing behind more brilliant flashes of light.

Then came larger shuttles, without weapons, that also came in low, following the smaller, armed shuttles down in between the taller buildings.

The smaller shuttles quickly came to a hover at various points about the city, each dropping four men clad in flat-black combat armor to the ground beneath them. As soon as the men were away, the shuttles began to climb, then disappeared into the night sky behind the same blue-white flashes of light that had punctuated their arrival.

Two men sitting in the front of a parked delivery truck watched as the flashes of light appeared in the skies above, and the first shuttles swooped down upon the city. Distant explosions could be heard and felt, followed by rising clouds of burning gases peeking out from the buildings deeper in the city.

The two men looked at each other, eyes wide. The driver pressed his accelerator pedal and pulled out into the street as the other man began to bang repeatedly against the rear wall of the cab. The vehicle accelerated down the street, turned the corner, and ran through the closed gate arm, ignoring the guard at the entrance waving for them to stop. The vehicle continued up the drive and across the square, causing pedestrians whose attentions were on the spectacle overhead, to jump out of the way at the last second to avoid being run down.

The delivery truck charged up the path, crashing through the glass doors that led into the broadcast studio.

Jessica bounced around in the back of the dimly lit delivery van, slamming into the man beside her as the truck came to a crashing halt.

“Go! Go! Go!” Gerard ordered.

The man directly across from her pulled a lever, causing the rear doors to spring open, and the inner door to drop down like a ramp. The man charged out, and Jessica followed, turning on the power cell on her weapon and deactivating its safety as she jumped down out of the vehicle.

Amber needle-like bolts of energy slammed into the side of the truck as they jumped out, fired by the guards running up the pathway from the entrance. Jessica quickly returned fire, along with two other men, dropping the three charging guards with ease from their slightly elevated position. Jessica turned and ran around the side of the truck, as more amber bolts streaked past her from inside the lobby. She reached the front of the cab and fell in behind Gerard, who was returning fire. Seconds later, the firing stopped, and they charged forward, moving deeper into the building.

Two Jung frigates turned away and accelerated to get clear of the third frigate as it began to break apart. Two jump flashes appeared, revealing two Scout ships, aft and above the fleeing frigates, less than a kilometer away. The Scout ships immediately opened fire, each targeting one of the two frigates that were already returning fire. The Scout ships fired three bursts of plasma energy from their top-mounted torpedo tubes, repeating the pattern three times before pitching up and jumping away, just before the incoming fire reached them.

Balls of red-orange plasma splashed against the frigates’ shields, one after the other. After four direct hits, one of the frigate’s starboard aft shields collapsed, allowing the next volley of plasma energy to reach her hull. The impacts tore the frigate open, igniting secondary explosions deep within the frigate’s stern section, breaking her in half. The second frigate, her shields still holding, tried to pitch up and avoid the forward section of the other frigate as it tumbled toward them, but they were too late. The second frigate collided with the forward section of the first, causing her own shields to collapse. The nose of the first frigate slammed into the second frigate, tearing open her port side. Small bursts of fire spewed out from her open decks as electrical energy met combustible materials and oxygen, igniting fires that flashed and disappeared moments later as the oxygen that fed them was sucked out into the vacuum of space.

“Jump complete,” Commander Eckert reported as Scout Three came out of her jump. “Target is turning and climbing. Come thirteen degrees to port and pitch up two.”

“Foxtrot six has no shields on her port side, and has decks open to space!” Ensign Agari reported from the ship’s sensor station.

“I said two up, sir,” Commander Eckert said as he noticed their nose had already come up four degrees.

“Micro-jump,” Captain Nash said as he counter-thrusted to stop his course change. “Single kilometer in ten seconds.”

“Target is locking rail guns on us!” Ensign Agari reported.

“Pitching over,” the captain announced as he cut his forward thrust and pulled back hard on the ship’s attitude control stick. “Be ready on those forward tubes, Skeech.”

“Jumping in three……two…”

“Target is firing!” Ensign Agari reported.

“…One……jumping.”

The Scout ship’s only windows, situated directly in front of Captain Nash and Commander Eckert turned opaque for two seconds, protecting their eyes from the intense light of the jump.

“Jump complete,”

“Stand by to fire,” the captain said as he watched his flight displays. He glanced up at the window as their nose came over. The shrinking image of the damaged Jung frigate slid into the upper edge of their forward windows. The captain fired his attitude thrusters again, ending their pitch-over and putting their forward tubes onto the frigate that they were now coasting away from.

“Light ‘em up,” the captain ordered.

“Firing triplets,” the XO replied.

Three bursts of three balls of plasma streaked from the outboard edges of their forward windows toward the center, converging on the damaged frigate just as it shrank down so small that they could barely distinguish it from the rest of the stars in the sky.

There was no mistaking the impact of their weapons. Small distant flashes of red-orange light obscured the tiny dot of light that was the damaged Jung frigate, followed immediately by yellow-white flashes indicating greater explosions.

“Nice,” Captain Nash said under his breath as he began to pitch their nose back over to their direction of flight.

“Multiple secondaries,” Ensign Agari reported. “Foxtrot six is destroyed!”

“How’s our next scheduled target?” Captain Nash asked.

“No idea,” Lieutenant Commander Nash admitted. “They’re scrambling in all directions,” he added as he studied his threat board. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows they’re under attack, now.”