Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (8 page)

“
Oh my God!
” Loki exclaimed over the comms from their vantage point above the action. “
The front half of Eight is down four clicks to the northeast.
”

“Any survivors?” Telles asked, already knowing the answer.

“
No way, sir,
” Loki replied, confirming his suspicion.

“Four, Telles. Did you spot where those chasers came from?”

“
Yes, sir,
” Loki replied.

“Four, Telles. Waste the entire fucking block.”

* * *

“I’ve got the starboard field generator setup and ready to go,” Commander Eckert reported.

“They’ve got to be getting ready for something,” Cap
tain Nash said.

“Like what?” the commander asked as he continued to work on his data pad. “You think they’re going to blast their way in?”

“And run the risk of accidentally blowing us up? Not likely. They must know about our jump drive, otherwise they wouldn’t be wasting their time with us. More likely they’ll find a way to tap into our environmental system and pump in gas or something.”

“Or they could just wait for us to run out of oxygen,” Eckert commented. “Not like it will take very long.”

“They can’t take the chance,” Nash argued. “Too many things can go wrong. We find a way to detonate, the Aurora catches up with us, a KKV strike… They can’t afford to waste time here, but they can’t afford to take unnecessary risks either. The captain of the Jar-Ba-something out there is probably drooling over the prospect of handing a jump drive to his leaders. Probably get himself a fat promotion.”

“
Attention, Captain Nash of the gunship Pequod. Can you hear me?
” The voice was female, with a slight yet different accent than the Major that had previously called.

“That’s a surprise,” Nash commented.

“I didn’t think the Jung had any women on their crews?” Eckert said.

“Neither did I,” Nash replied as he tapped his comm-set. “This is Captain Nash. To whom am I speaking?”

“
My name is Kaya Allemahn. I have been authorized to speak with you on behalf of the Jung.
”

“Authorized by who?” Nash asked.

“
By the commander of the Jar-Benakh, Captain Tahn.
”

“What do you want to speak to me about? Are you offering to surrender? Because that would probably be a really smart move on your captain’s part. Save us all a whole lot of trouble.”

“
I expect Captain Tahn would disagree with you, Captain. You are aware that the Jar-Benahk has many times your firepower, and could destroy you in an instant, are you not?
”

“I am,” Captain Nash replied, “and
you
are aware that doing so will cause
our
self-destruct system, which is currently armed, to destroy this ship, as well as your own…are you not?”

There was a pause.

“That got them thinking,” Nash muttered. “How much longer?”

“A minute or two, tops,” Eckert replied. “You realize that even if we
are
able to jump away clean, without tearing ourselves apart, we have no way of knowing if we damaged the Jung ship on the way out. They could catch up to us in minutes.”

“I know.”

“
It seems, Captain, that we are at an impasse,
” Kaya finally replied. “
You have something we want, and we have something you want.
”

“I know what
you
want,” Nash replied. “What is it that
you
think
I
want?”

“
To live.
”

“Good guess, but in all honesty, life back on Earth kind of sucks right now. Your people made sure of that.”

“
They are not my people, Captain. However, perhaps had your people not
ignored
the blockade, had you not attempted to infect other worlds…
”

“What the hell are you talking about, lady?”

“
It is well known throughout the Cetian worlds, as well as the rest of the core, that the Earth is the source of the great plague, and that it is still infected. Your people have been trying to escape your dying world for some time, with no regard to the health and safety of the billions…
”

Nash looked at Eckert. “Lady, I don’t know where your people are getting their intel, but the bio-digital plague on
Earth
died out more than nine hundred years ago.”

“
If what you say is true, then why are you attacking my worlds?
”

“What worlds?”

“
The Cetian worlds.
”

“She’s not Jung,” Nash realized.

“A local collaborator, maybe?”

“Maybe.” Nash tapped his comm-set again. “We are not attacking your
worlds
. We were attacking the Jung forces
around
, and
on
your worlds.”

“
And why are you attacking the Jung?
”

“Because they invaded our world,” Captain Nash explained. “It took us months to drive them off. They nearly destroyed our entire planet. They killed billions. And it’s not just on Earth, it’s all over the damn sector! They took out an entire moon in the Alpha Centauri system. Killed millions there as well. Apparently, it’s what they do. We’re just trying to stop them. But hey, if you’re happy living under their boot heel, then by all means, continue to do so. We’ll just take our fleet and go about our merry way.”

Commander Eckert shook his head in disbelief as he continued to work on his data pad. “I’m seeing a whole other side of you today, Captain.”

“Just hurry up and jump us.”

“You know, you and your sister are a lot alike.”

“Attitude runs in our family,” Captain Nash replied. “Mine tends to come out when I’m about to die.”

“
Captain Tahn does not believe you,
” Kaya finally said. “
And…and neither do I. However, Captain Tahn admires your bravery. He would like to offer you your freedom.
”

“To go back and live on an irradiated world? As a traitor?” Captain Nash chuckled. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“
You can live on any world you wish. The Jung can provide you with wealth, power, women… Anything you desire.
”

“How much longer?” Captain Nash asked the commander.

“I’m syncing the field generators now. Just a few more seconds…”

“Interesting proposition,” Nash replied over his comm-set. “Mind if I think about it for a few minutes?”

“
You will decide now,
” Kaya demanded, her tone indicating it was not up for debate.

“How much wealth are we talking about?” Nash asked, stalling for time.

“
Decide now!
”

“I don’t like pushy women, Kaya,” Captain Nash chided.

“
Captain Tahn tires of your games! He has decided that you will die!
”

“We’re ready,” Commander Eckert said.

“No matter,” Captain Nash replied over his comm-set. “I was going to tell you to fuck off anyway.” He looked at the commander and nodded his head. “Do it.”

“Initiating emergency snap-jump,” the commander replied, pressing the screen on his data pad with his forefinger.

A low rumble quickly turned into an intense, high-pitched shriek as the jump field generators on either side of them quickly pulled the last of the power from the system’s energy banks and distributed it to the emitter arrays on the exterior of the scout ship’s hull. A split second later, it went silent.

The ship jerked hard to port, rolling slightly. There was a terrible sound of metal beams and bulkheads under tremendous strain, followed immediately by a series of muffled explosions and the frightening sound of structures being torn apart.

Captain Nash found himself bouncing off the port bulkhead, his head slamming into one of the overhead pipes that had pulled away from its brackets and fractured. As he spun about, he caught a glimpse of Commander Eckert, his body careening off the number three reactor column, blood spurting from a gaping hole on the back of his head, and one of his legs torn away mid thigh.

Another horrible tearing sound filled the room… The sound of air rapidly escaping. There was a tremendous sucking sensation that suddenly pulled Nash aft, sending him slamming sideways into the number three reactor column.

The hull’s been ruptured,
he realized in horror. He tried to take a deep breath as he tumbled helplessly aft, but found very little oxygen available. His left foot slammed into something and got stuck. It felt as if his leg was about to separate from his hip. A large piece of metal paneling came tumbling toward him. Nash flailed about, barely able to dodge the panel as it flew past him and slammed into the aft bulkhead.

The suction pulling him aft suddenly weakened. The metal panel had partially covered the crack in the aft bulkhead, but the last of the pressure was still rapidly spilling out into space, along with his precious oxygen.

A terrible pain shot through his left foot and up his leg, and Captain Nash found himself tumbling again, albeit with far less acceleration than before. He flailed about as he tumbled, the deafening sound of his ship coming apart fading away as the last of the atmosphere that carried it was sucked into the void.

He held his breath as he grabbed a section of conduit that had been pushed away by the buckling of the bulkhead it was connected to. He reached out for the rail around the tunnel above him that led upward to the maintenance crawler. He struggled to pull himself upward into the tunnel, just as everything went silent.

As he ascended, the ship shook violently in the deafening silence, tossing him back and forth within the narrow tunnel. He glanced downward as the ship below him tore away, exposing a sea of stars beneath his feet as he ascended the last meter.

The captain could feel himself losing consciousness as he reached the top of the tunnel and passed through the small hatchway into the back of the maintenance crawler. He slid in clumsily, headfirst, slamming his skull into the top of the canopy. He pulled his feet in next, struggling to get them past the hatchway behind him and into the cramped crawler. As everything began to go dark, he managed to flip open the safety cover and activate the hatch control. Fumbling for the environmental controls, he slipped away.

* * *

Josh rolled the Falcon onto its left side, pulling into a tight, descending, ninety-degree turn. As he completed his turn, he rolled back out and pitched down, putting hi
s nose onto the same area as the chaser missiles that had brought down Combat Jumper Eight a minute ago. “On course and speed,” he reported as he glanced at his flight data display.

“Jumping,” Loki replied as their canopy turned opaque for a second. “Weapons bay opening, missile armed. Firing.”

Josh peeked up over his console as the missile streaked out from under their nose, speeding ahead of them toward the buildings below.

“Swinging nose turret onto… Combat Three! Chasers to your four o’clock! Bank left! Full burn, and jump!”

“
Three taking evasive!
” the pilot replied. “
Deploying countermeasures!
”

Loki glanced out to port as Combat Three turned left and pitched up, her four engine pods at full thrust. A string of bright, glowing decoys shot out in all directions as she disappeared in a blue-white flash. With nothing left in front of them, all three chaser missiles that were following Combat Three locked onto the decoys and exploded on impact seconds later. “Three made it!” Loki announced as he turned to his threat display. His eyes widened. “What the… Telles! Falcon Four! Multiple targets! Airborne! Coming in fast!”

“
What?
” the commander replied, genuine surprise in his voice. “
From where?
”

“From everywhere!” Loki cried. “They’re coming at you from all directions!”

“
What the hell are they?
”

“I don’t know, but they’re going to be on you in thirty seconds!”

“
How many?
”

“At least a hundred of them! Twenty seconds!”

“
I thought we owned the god damned skies?
” the commander cursed.

“They’re not fighters, sir, they’re too small… They’ve gotta be drones!”

Commander Telles looked up, scanning the skies beyond the nearby rooftops. Swarms of small black objects came over the tops of the buildings in the distance, headed straight for them. “Incoming drones!” he yelled, raising his energy rifle. “Bulldog One! Lift off now and jump the hell out of here!” he added as he opened fire on the incoming swarm.

The shuttle’s engines roared to life as the last of the men on the ground jumped onto the shuttle’s rear loading ramp.

“We gotta go!” Master Sergeant Jahal yelled to his commander.

Telles continued to fire at the incoming drones. The nearest drones opened fire, sending needle-like bolts of blue slamming into the ground all around them. The bolts slammed into the commander’s body armor, striking him in the chest, arms, and abdomen. He could feel the warmth of the beams getting through to his skin, as well as the kinetic force of the impacts, but he continued firing. He felt someone grab his shoulder and pull him forward.

“Let’s go!” the master sergeant yelled at the top of his lungs as he pulled at his commander.

They ran toward the shuttle as it slowly rose from the ground. Several drones dove straight down toward the rising cargo shuttle, firing all the way in, until they slammed into the top of the shuttle. First one, then two, then three, and finally a fourth one slammed into the shuttle’s forward engine pod. The pod exploded, and the shuttle’s nose dipped as the ship rolled to starboard and struck the ground. Its forward right landing gear buckled and snapped as three more drones slammed into the crashing shuttle.

Commander Telles felt a wave of heat and air pressure hit him head-on. It lifted him off the ground, sending him flying backwards a good fifteen meters. He slammed into the side of the command bunker, the thousands of tiny tubules in his assistive undergarment stiffening to protect him from the impact.