Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (46 page)

“This is the worst plan everrrrrr!!!!” cried Heckubus.

“Oh, now ya agree with me!” yelled Scallywag.

“Repair the steering!” screamed Jack as the ship narrowly
avoided flying into a massive cannon jutting up from the Deathlord’s hull. 
“Hurry up and fix it!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” responded the robot with a slight
sense of annoyance as he frantically urged the ship’s auto-repair systems to
get their work done.

Jack focused as hard as he could on trying to pilot the
ship, but it was responding sluggishly and erratically.  Everything was upside
down, control-wise.  It was a miracle to him that they weren’t dead already.

Suddenly, the ship began to become more responsive, and the
minute he could, he peeled away from the Planetkiller.  Nervous laughter erupted
from Jack as relief washed over him like a splash of cold water.

“I got it!” exclaimed Jack.  “Control is back!”

Scallywag and Heckubus slumped back in their seats,
relieved, as Jack turned off the ship’s alarms.  Jack looked at Grohm who had
been standing stoically beside him the entire time.

“Settle down, big guy.  The worst is over,” joked Jack.

Grohm simply glared at Jack in response.

 “I think I just about browned meself,” muttered Scallywag.

“Well, before you change your pants,” said Heckubus, “you
may want to feast your eyes on… this!”

On the ship’s viewscreen, Heckubus put up the image of the
Deathlord Planetkiller as the space bugs tore through it, causing it to break
apart and disintegrate before their very eyes.  Even the shards that tried to
launch before the ship was completely consumed couldn’t escape from the deadly,
and now growing, swarm of space bugs.

“Blimey,” said Scallywag.  “Yer bloody horrible plan is
actually working!”

“Was there ever any doubt?” snooted Heckubus, completely
disregarding the last couple of chaotic minutes.  “Bask!  Bask in my genius! 
Mwuhahaha!”

“Wow, that was fast,” said Jack as he checked his sensors. 
“It’s like… the space bugs are multiplying…”

“Yes, it seems the more they consume, the more they are able
to reproduce,” said Heckubus.  “That would explain their hibernated state near
that nebula.  They probably are quite active while there’s material around to
help them increase their numbers.”

“Which means, hopefully, they’ll be right busy with all the
other Deathlords while we make it to the planet,” said Scallywag.

An alarm beeped on Heckubus’s console.  “Uh-oh,” the robot
said.

“Uh-oh?” sneered Scallywag.  “I don’t like ‘uh-ohs.’ ”

“Sensors say the other Planetkillers have launched their
fighters to intercept us.”

“How many?” asked Jack.

“From these readings,” replied Heckubus, “I’d have to say…
all of them.”

“Perfect,” frowned Scallywag.

“Battle,” rumbled Grohm.

“No, no battle,” said Jack as he turned the ship toward the
planet.  “We’ll let the bugs deal with them.  We need to get on that planet. 
Heckubus, are the hyperspace calculations ready?”

“Yes,” said the robot.  “I’ve estimated how far the shield
is from the planet.  We should be able to pull this off.”

“Great,” replied Jack.  “Get ready to open the hyperspace
windows.”

“Not so fast,” said Heckubus, as he pulled up a star chart
on the holoscreen.  “We need to be approximately right here if we’re going to
make this work.”

A red dot appeared on the edge of the blue nebula’s oasis. 
Scallywag scratched his head.

“Um… that’s in the nebula cloud,” he said.

“Yes, it would appear so,” replied Heckubus.

“The one that’s full of mines and booby-traps,” Scallywag
clarified.

“The very same.”

“We don’t have any
bloody shields
, ya twit!” sneered
the pirate.

“Well, nobody said this plan was perfect,” replied Heckubus.

“Yes,
you
did!  Many times!”

“Look, you simpleton, we’re too close to the planet to open
a hyperspace window to bypass the planetary shield.  If we do it any closer
than that, we’ll be flying right into its gravitational shadow, and if we do,
we’re dead.”

“Yeah, and if we fly into that bloody minefield, we’re
dead!”

“And if we wait for those shards to reach us, we’re dead,”
said Jack.  “So we don’t really have many other options, do we?”

“Yeah, we do,” said Scallywag.  “Let’s hyperspace out of
here and come back after the bugs have eaten all the Deathlords.”

“I doubt the space bugs will be much friendlier than the
Deathlords,” said Jack.  “Besides, we can’t waste any more time.  Who knows what
they’re doing to Anna down there.”

Jack turned the ship and began heading for the cloud.

“This is suicide!” protested Scallywag.

“The Ancients put those mines out there, right?” said Jack. 
“Well, the Ancients also made this ship, so I’m willing to bet our sensors are
going to be able to tell us where those mines are.  So stop whining, get ready
to shoot at anything that attacks us, and Heckubus…”

“Yes?” replied the robot.

“Shields,” said Jack.  “I don’t care how you do it, just get
me those shields back!”

Heckubus and Scallywag both slumped at their consoles and
grumbled.  Jack looked at his viewscreen as the overwhelming blue cloud of the
surrounding nebula rushed up to greet him. 
C’mon ship
, he thought. 
Don’t
let me down now
.

Jack called up the long-range sensor readings on his
holoscreen.  A group of Deathlord shards was closing in behind him fast.  He
tried not to get distracted by that, however, focusing his attention instead on
the readings in the nebula cloud.  Sensor data was going to be limited, that
much Heckubus had made clear to him before they had set out.  But he was hoping
that his ship’s sensors were advanced enough to navigate the cloud without
hitting any of the mines.

Can you see anything?
Jack asked his ship. 
Where
are the mines?

Tiny red blips began to appear intermittently on his sensor
readout, indicating the positions of the mines hidden in the heavy blue cloud. 
The red indicators flickered in and out of existence, though, no doubt due to
the interference of the nebula.  But they were there, and that meant there was
hope Jack wouldn’t get them all blown up.

“Yes!” exclaimed Jack.  “Sensors are picking up the mines!”

“Sensors are also picking up five shards closing in fast,”
said Scallywag as he opened fire using the Earthship’s rear plasma cannon.

Jack pulled up another holoscreen right next to his sensor
readings, giving him a rear view of the ship.  Sure enough, five Deathlord shards
were within firing distance and red needles of death were coming right toward them.

Jack banked the ship and weaved through the thick dust and
gas of the nebula, hoping the Deathlords’ sensors were useless enough to keep
them from getting a good enough bead on the ship.

“Heckubus…” groaned Jack, trying not to take his attention
off his screens.

“I know, I know,” said the robot.  “Ha!  Shields at 15%! 
That should be enough to—”

Suddenly, a red blip appeared on Jack’s screen directly in
front of him.  He jerked the ship as quickly as he could, but they still hit
the mine, a loud boom bouncing off the hull and causing the entire ship to
shake.

“Ugh.  Never mind,” muttered Heckubus.

“I don’t care what you have to do, Heckubus,” yelled Jack. 
“Get me more shields!”

“Well, try to stop flying into mines, you twit!” yelled
Heckubus back.

Scallywag continued to fire as the Deathlord shards pursued
them, but he was having a hard time locking-on with Jack maneuvering the ship
all over the place.  The pirate was just about to get annoyed when one of his
blasts hit the mark and a shard exploded in a puff of sickly green fire.

“Got one!” Scallywag cheered.

Jack glanced at his screen and saw the other shards spread
out as they continued their pursuit.  One of them was trying to come up on his
wing.  Jack glanced at his sensor reading and adjusted his ship a little.  The
shard turned along with the Earthship, just as Jack hoped he would.  Suddenly,
there was another green-tinted explosion as the shard ran smack-dab into a
mine.

“Got another,” said Jack.

“Good flying, lad,” said Scallywag, still focused intently
on firing at their pursuers.

Jack looked at his readings.  They’d flown far enough into
the nebula to make the turn for their trajectory toward the Ghost Planet. 
Keeping a watchful eye on his read-outs, Jack began to bank the ship.  If they
could make the maneuver to bypass the planetary shield soon, it wouldn’t matter
if they still had a few Deathlords on their tail.

“Shields at 30%,” reported Heckubus.  “And don’t ask for
more, because unless you want to stop breathing for a while, there’s no more
power to redirect.”

“That should be enough,” said Jack.  “Moving for approach to
the Ghost Planet now.”

Jack rolled the ship into a tight turn, allowing the three
remaining shards to shoot past him further into the nebula.  He glanced at his
rear readout and saw a flash of green puff up in the deep blue mist, signaling
another win for the mines.

We just might pull this off
, Jack thought to himself
with a smile… right before his ship’s alerts started going crazy.

Scallywag and Heckubus looked up at the alarm and Jack glanced
at his sensors.  Two red blips were now moving across his screen and heading
straight for him.

“Uh-oh,” said Jack.

“I told ya I don’t like ‘uh-ohs,’” said Scallywag.

“Um… I think we have two missiles honing in on us,” said
Jack.

“Uh-oh,” muttered Scallywag.

“You must have passed by one of those hidden weapon
platforms,” sighed Heckubus.

Jack gritted his teeth and poured on the engines, kicking
the ship into high gear, hoping to outrun the new threat.

“Scally, try to shoot those things,” said Jack.

“Shoot ‘em?” frowned Scallywag.  “I can’t even see ‘em!”

“Then just keep firing and hope you hit something!”

Scallywag began firing the ship’s rear plasma cannon
blindly, strafing it behind them as best he could.

Jack banked the ship, sharply turning to miss another mine
in their path.  Jack glanced at his sensor readout.  One of the missiles was
starting to get really close.

“Scally, one of them is closing in!” Jack said.

“I don’t bloody see it!” the pirate yelled, continuing his
pattern of firing.  His eyes were glued to his targeting readout, but all he
saw was blue and purple dust and gas.

Jack glanced at his sensors again.  The missile was almost
to them.

“Here it comes!” said Jack.

Scallywag focused intently on his screen and saw a small,
slender shadow in the nebula, coming up at them fast.  In the split second it
took for his eyes to register the movement, Scallywag aimed the cannon and
fired.

The ship’s blasts streaked all around the shadow as it
rocketed forward.  Small enough to evade the cannon fire, the missile barreled
directly toward them.  Alarms blared incessantly throughout the bridge,
signaling the impending approach of the weapon.

Scallywag had just enough time to recognize the thin,
pointed warhead of the light blue missile as it closed in directly behind them
before one of his blasts finally caught it, mere feet away from impact.

The missile exploded, causing the ship to shake violently as
the instruments on the bridge flickered on and off in protest.  Jack groaned trying
to get back control and straighten out their course as the ship banked and
weaved because of the explosion.  He checked his readings and saw the shields
had absorbed most of the blast, but it was clear they weren’t going to survive
a direct hit.

“Got it!” smiled Scallywag, quite pleased with himself.

“Don’t celebrate yet, there’s another one out there, and
it’s coming our way!” said Jack, checking the readouts again and seeing the
second red dot heading right for them.

Scallywag’s smile disappeared.  “I swear, can’t even have
one bloody victory…” he mumbled as he went back to searching his screen for
impending doom, part two.

Jack checked his trajectory.  They were coming up on the coordinates
Heckubus had laid out before entering the cloud.  “We are all set for the hyperspace
maneuver,” said Jack.  “You ready Heckubus?”

“Yes, yes,” said Heckubus, sounding rather bored.  “Prepare
for jump to hyperspace in approximately 90 seconds…”

Jack looked at his viewscreen as the nebula cloud before
them started to thin.  In the breaks within the cloud, Jack saw a litany of red
plasma fire lighting up the sky.  Planetkillers surrounding the Ghost Planet
were all firing wildly in every direction, some of them breaking apart while
doing so.

Black tendrils swarmed through the air. Some followed tiny
Deathlord shards while others focused on tearing through the larger vessels. 
From what little Jack could make out, the entire scene was one of pure chaos.

But the closer they got to the edge of the cloud, the more
it became clear that something wasn’t right.

Jack checked his sensor readings and sure enough, he saw a
group of close to twenty Deathlord shards heading straight for them.  And to
make matters worse, right behind them was a large, angry cloud of space bugs.

“Oh, crap,” said Jack. 
The shards must be heading into
the nebula cloud to try to escape the bugs
, he thought.

Then, the proximity alarm sounded, and Jack noticed the
second missile was closing in fast.

“Oh, crap!” he said again.

“Sixty seconds,” said the robot.

Jack was looking at his readings.  He was heading right into
a wall of Deathlord shards, and if he could somehow get past them, he’d be
running right into the space bug swarm chasing the fighters.  And if that weren’t
bad enough, any minute a deadly missile could hit them from behind.