Beyond the Shroud of the Universe (18 page)

“The modules have been installed and are being tested,” Lieutenant Bradford said in summation. “Solomon, the ship’s artificial intelligence, will control the jump. We learned the hard way with the
Terra
that everything has to be done perfectly, or the ship won’t make the jump.”

“When will you be ready to go?” Queen Glina asked.

“Within the hour,” Captain Sheppard replied.

“When the platoon was in the other universe, were they able to get an idea of the forces you will have to fight?” Queen Risst asked.

“No,” Captain Sheppard said, shaking his head. “Based on historical patterns, we expect there will be an Efreeti destroyer in orbit, although we don’t know if it will have the time-based weapons we’ve seen from some of their ships. My cruiser is more than a match for their less-capable destroyer class. Now that we can make the jump between universes like they can, the fight will be a lot more even if we have to fight one of their better destroyers too.”

“We don’t know if their torpedoes will be able to track us when we jump back and forth between universes,” Lieutenant Bradford added, “but it’s one of the things we want to try to defeat that technology.”

“One of the things?” Queen Glina asked. “There are more?”

“Yes, we have several options we’re working on,” Lieutenant Bradford said as he looked at his shoes. “Unfortunately, it is taking a lot longer than expected to convert our existing technology to do what we want it to.”

He looked up as a thought occurred to him. “Although, with all the unobtanium the platoon brought back, I’ll be able to conduct some experiments I had to put off. They will give us some new capabilities…if they work.”

“Whether they work or not, our positions haven’t changed,” Queen Glina said, with a nod to indicate Queen Risst’s agreement. “If you get the chance to destroy their world while you are there, take it.”

Captain Sheppard looked around the bridge. The air was electric with sweat and adrenaline, but no one seemed scared. Just professionals going into combat with the unknown. Again.

Captain Sheppard had decided to make the jump from orbit, rather than pulling away from the planet. It was a gamble that the Efreet wouldn’t have anything the
Gulf
couldn’t handle waiting on the other side, but it was a gamble he was willing to take. They would have to fight the Efreet in the system at some point; better it was on his schedule than the Efreet’s. Besides, fighting them in the anti-world ensured that if anything fell from orbit, it would land on the Efreet and the Sila, not on the Domans. The queens had been very clear on that.

One thing made Captain Sheppard uncomfortable; this would be the first time he went into battle without Calvin. The aviator had been the ship’s good luck charm; everyone knew Calvin would pull something out of his hat to save the ship when things looked worst. Not having that little corner of security blanket made him…not frightened, exactly…just a little bit apprehensive. He shrugged it off. They’d get through the fight; they had to. And if they had to throw the planet into a black hole to carry the day…it wouldn’t be the first time the Terrans had destroyed a world on his watch.

Not that he was proud of that fact.

“All right,” Captain Sheppard said. “Around the bridge, is everyone ready?”

“Helm’s ready and standing by,” the helmsman reported from the front console. “Solomon is standing by to make the jump at your command.”

“Engineering reports ready,” the duty engineer said from his seat next to the helmsman. “General Quarters is set, and all repair lockers report manned and ready. Shields are at full strength.”

“Sensor operator ready,” Steropes replied. “All equipment operational, with a full spread of sensors ready to launch after we make the jump.”

“Anti-ship missiles (ASMs) ready in all tubes,” the offensive systems officer (OSO) said. “All gamma ray laser (graser) mounts extended and ready, except for mount 15 which is being worked on.”

“Anti-missile missiles (AMMs) ready in all tubes,” the defensive systems officer (DSO) said. “All defensive laser mounts extended and ready.”

“All fighters manned and ready,” Lieutenant Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson said. The squadron’s acting executive officer, he had drawn the short straw of having duty on the day they went into combat. Captain Sheppard knew Guns had been in the majority of the squadron’s combat missions and could tell he didn’t want to sit this one out. If there was anyone who looked more intense on the bridge, Captain Sheppard couldn’t see him. “The platoon is onboard
Shuttle 01,
which is waiting for your command to launch.
Shuttle 02
is also ready for launch.”

“Very well,” Captain Sheppard said. “Comms officer, please let Domus Control know we will make the jump in one minute.” He switched to the ship-wide comms network. “
All hands, this is the Captain. In 30 seconds, we will jump into the Jinn Universe. We do not know what is waiting for us there, but we know Lieutenant Commander Hobbs and his abductor are in the system. It is our mission to track them down, rescue Lieutenant Commander Hobbs and apprehend Captain Nightsong.
”

“
It is likely there will be enemy ships in the system,
” he continued. “
We will deal with them first, and then land on the planet if necessary. Captain Nightsong is an Aesir Eco Warrior, so we know he is armed and dangerous, even when he doesn’t have any weapons. No one is to communicate with him until we are ready to apprehend him. Once we get him onboard, take no chances with him.
”

“
We’ve been in combat many times together, and I am confident in your abilities. The Efreet nuked our planet; it’s time to get some back.
For Terra!”

“Helmsman, make the jump!”

“System entry,” Steropes said. “Launching probes.”

“Fighters launching,” Guns said.

“Contact!” Steropes said. “Starboard bow, 300,000 miles! Designate contact as ‘Sierra One.’ Contact is destroyer-sized.”

“Fire starboard missiles and grasers at Sierra One!” Captain Sheppard ordered. “Have the fighters stay clear. We’ll take this one ourselves.”

“Taking Sierra One with starboard batteries,” the OSO said.

Captain Sheppard could feel the ship shudder as the ASMs began launching. 

“Second contact!” the DSO called. “Port beam. Just coming over the curvature of the planet. Also destroyer-sized. Designate contact ‘Sierra Two.’”

“Port batteries fire on Sierra Two,” Captain Sheppard ordered.

“Aye, sir,” the OSO replied. “Taking Sierra Two with port batteries.”

Captain Sheppard looked at his tactical display. “Is that it? Just the two destroyers?”

“Holy shit!” the DSO exclaimed. “I’ve got activity on the moon, sir, and there’s
lots
of it!”

“Coming on screen,” Steropes said. He put the image on the front view screen.

“Oh, shit,” Captain Sheppard said under his breath. Louder, he added, “Better get the fighters on that.”

“We were just ordered to strike the moon,” Lieutenant Commander Sarah ‘Lights’ Brighton said.

“Just ‘the moon?’” her pilot, Lieutenant Denise ‘Frenchie’ Michel, asked as she yanked the fighter around toward the moon ‘above’ and ‘behind’ them. “Not, ‘Strike the missile facility on the moon?’”

“They said the Sea of Serenity but didn’t specify after that,” Lights replied. “Just a second; I’m looking.” She peered into her weapon system’s monitor. “Oh, bloody hell…that’s no moon. That’s a fucking military base!” She frantically searched for the best target among the forest of antennae, buildings, weapons and craft. The center of the crater held the largest base she had ever seen. As she scanned, a missile lifted off from an underground silo. An anti-ship missile from the size of it. “
Vampires inbound from the moon!
” she commed back to the
Vella Gulf
.

She was at a loss. Too many targets; not enough missiles. Think, Sarah, think…They can’t shoot us if they can’t see us… “
All Asps, synch up with my targeting. Asps 01-06, target your missiles on any radars you see, especially if they look like tracking radars. Asps 07-12, shoot the fighters on the ramp. We need to thin them out before they come up to play. After that, strafing runs by section; we need to hit them hard before they can respond! Fire when ready!
”

She peered back into her monitor. The fighters sitting on the ramp next to the runway looked like bugs, squat and ugly. If it weren’t for the missiles hanging on some of them and sitting next to others, she might not have recognized them as such. She picked five of the armed fighters in a group of 16. Figuring they were the alert squadron, they needed to be the first to go. She designated them to her individual missiles, then transmitted the targeting to the other fighters so no one else would target them.

“Master armament panel is ‘on,’” she said to Frenchie. “Targets designated.
Fire!
”

Frenchie squeezed her trigger and their missiles began launching, leaping out to begin the assault. Lights wished she had more…but that’s what the laser was for.

“Both targets destroyed,” the OSO said. “Looks like we surprised them, sir; they never even got their shields up.”

“Understood,” Captain Sheppard replied. “Comm, any luck reaching the government or the military?”

“No sir,” the communications officer replied. “No replies so far. I think I found the frequency they are using, but my system is unable to break into their comms.”

“Solomon, can you break in?” the CO asked.

“Without a complete database of their language or communications systems, it is difficult. I believe they are also using some level of encryption. I will attempt to decipher their communications, but it will take some time.”

“Sir, the facilities on the moon are responding,” the DSO replied. “I’ve got a mass launch inbound. Still trying to get an accurate count, but there are almost 100 missiles inbound. I’ve also got fighters launching from there, as well.”

“Didn’t the fighters hit their base?”

“Yes sir, they did,” Guns said, “and they are continuing to do so, but from what I’m hearing, the base is immense. There were
hundreds
of fighters on the base and more targets than we had missiles. Most of our fighters are now engaged in dog fights, rather than attacking the base. I ought to be out there.”

“Launching AMMs,” the DSO announced. “There are going to be leakers.”

“More missiles launching from the moon,” Steropes said.

“Thanks,” the DSO muttered; “I
so
needed to know that.”

“Two more behind us,” Lieutenant Tobias ‘Toby’ Eppler warned.

“Damn,” his pilot, Lieutenant Phil ‘Oscar’ Meyer, swore. “Where the hell did
they
come from?” He pulled hard on the stick to get the enemy fighters out of his blind spot as Toby destroyed one with the fighter’s laser.

“No idea,” replied Toby, “but they’re everywhere. At least 300 must have made it off the moon.”

“Individually, they suck as fighters,” Oscar noted. “I can run rings around them. Literally, rings. Their technology sucks. They must not have any of the thrust vectoring and inertial dampeners we do. I mean, they can’t turn at
all
; they have to stop and then accelerate in the opposite direction.”

“Yeah, but there’s just
so
freakin’ many of them,” Toby said. “I can’t keep up with them all, even with assistance from the targeting computer.”

“No shit!” Oscar exclaimed, swerving to the left to avoid two more Efreeti ships. “Their missiles are crap too,” he added as he continued the turn, “but there is a metric ass-ton of them out here.” He didn’t see the two missiles coming from the left.

“Gotcha, you little bastard,” Lieutenant Jim ‘Sweets’ Sweeny said as he destroyed the fighter he was chasing. The Efreeti had made the mistake of missing his fighter with a two-missile salvo, and Sweets had spun it in a tight 360-degree turn, looping in behind the Efreeti fighter and his wingman as they flew past. While they frantically tried to slow their fighters, Sweets had rolled in for the shot.

“And now for your little brother too,” Sweets added, switching to the wingman.

“Hurry up!” his WSO, Lieutenant Poon ‘Harpoon’ Yee, urged. “There are three coming from the right!”

“No problem,” Sweets replied. “This won’t take but a second.”

“Two coming from the left, too!”

“Got this…”

“They’re launching!”

“I know, just a second, almost done…”

“We need to turn
now!
”

“Got him!” Sweets exclaimed as his laser speared through the cockpit of the Efreeti fighter. “One dead salamander! Pulling out!”

Three missiles impacted the starboard side of
Asp 10
, a second before two more from the left detonated in the debris.