Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) (43 page)

“
Telles, Falcon One,
” Loki called over the commander’s comm-set.

“One, go for Telles.”

“
The shuttle got away, sir. We tracked them jump for jump for the first few, but they must have started doing multiple jumps, possibly even turning between jumps, in order to evade our pursuit. Recommend we take a few more Falcons and start a grid search, while there is still time.
”

“Those shuttles are protected against such things,” Commander Telles commented.

“They are,” the master sergeant agreed. “Could they have been hacked?”

“Doubtful, but not impossible. More likely the pilot was a willing accomplice.”

“However, the maneuvering the ensign described
would
suggest a level of training above basic cargo shuttle operations,” Master Sergeant Jahal pointed out.

“Indeed,” Commander Telles agreed with the master sergeant’s observation. “
That
is what I find most curious.” Commander Telles tapped his comm-set. “One, Telles. Take three more Falcons with you and conduct your search. If you do not find that shuttle within two hours, return to Tanna, understood?”

“
Will do, sir,
” Loki acknowledged. “
Sorry, Commander.
”

“Just find that shuttle, Ensign.”

“
Yes, sir.
”

Master Sergeant Jahal looked at his commander. “You do not believe this was just a bunch of Tannans wanting to escape certain death.”

“We cannot afford to,” the commander replied. “Vector Lazo to collect the bodies of those attackers and bring them back here. We will attempt to identify them later. That may bring us some answers.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Multiple contacts,” the sensor officer at the Cobra command center announced. “Eleven FTL signatures.”

“Position?” Captain Nash asked.

“Six hundred kilometers and closing. They’re on course for standard orbits over Tanna.” The sensor operator paused for a moment to verify the data, then turned to Captain Nash. “Their shields are up, sir.”

“The cruisers are separating from the battleship,” the tactical officer added. “They appear to be headed for lower orbits. Frigates are headed for higher orbits.”

“The cruisers will conduct the bombardment, and the frigates will fly cover,” Captain Nash surmised.

“They’re going to have a tough time hitting our gunships with missiles, Captain,” the tactical officer insisted. “They should know that by now.”

“They do,” Captain Nash agreed. “What they
don’t
know is whether or not we have anything
other
than gunships…like something bigger.”

“
Break into six-element groups,
” Cobra command instructed over the comms. “
Five groups total. First element in each group takes lead. New group designators are One-One through One-Six; Two-One through Two-Six; and so on. Frigates first. Transmitting target designators and assignments now.
”

Commander Rano looked at his new copilot, Lieutenant Borru. “Are you ready, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied, swallowing hard.

Captain Nash was next on the comms. “
All gunships, keep your jumps tight, no more than ten light seconds. There’s going to be so much traffic, we don’t need to be adding comm-buoys to the mix. And for God’s sake, keep your time in the kill zone as short as possible… Good hunting.
”

Commander Rano glanced at the tactical screen on the center console as the target designations came up. “One Leader to Group One. We’ve got frigate one. Fly the attack patterns assigned by command. We’ll start with pattern beta seven, offset splits, fore and aft, with variable intervals between five and ten seconds.” Commander Rano took a deep breath. “Follow me in, gentlemen.”

Alert sirens began to blare all across the Cobra gunship production plant on Tanna.

“
Commander Telles, Cobra command,
” the voice called over the commander’s comm-set.

“Go for Telles,” the commander replied.

“
Jung ships have come out of FTL. ETA to orbit is fifteen minutes. Recommend you clear the area immediately.
”

“Understood.” Commander Telles turned to Master Sergeant Jahal. “How long until those boxcars finish loading?”

“Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”

“Tell them to hurry it up. I want them off the ground in twelve, and jumping one minute after that.”

“They won’t be full,” the master sergeant warned.

“I don’t care. Wheels up in twelve…period. I don’t care if they have people hanging off their ramps. Anyone left in Tannan skies after fifteen will be a target.”

“What about the troop shuttles? When that last boxcar leaves, the crowd is going to rush the shuttles, just like last time.”

“Just before the last boxcar launches, have the Ghatazhak fall back to the troop shuttles and the Mirai and hold. Once they secure those ships, have the marines on the fence line fall back to the shuttles for evac.”

“And if the crowd doesn’t cooperate?”

“Anyone who doesn’t do what they are told, dies…understood?”

“Yes, sir,” the master sergeant replied without hesitation.

“Captain,” the sensor operator called. “The Jung battleship is launching fighters.”

Captain Nash moved to get a closer look at the tactical display. “How many?”

“At least fifty of them, sir.”

“That battleship is still twelve minutes out,” the tactical officer commented. “That’s a long ways out to be launching fighters from, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Captain Nash agreed.

“Besides, we don’t have any surface defenses, or interceptors. Why do they need fighters?”

“To assert their dominance,” Captain Nash realized. “It’s not enough to destroy Tanna. They want to scare the crap out of anyone who might survive, so others will know what the Jung are capable of doing to those who stand against them.”

“All gunships are starting their attack runs,” the tactical officer reported.

“Here we go,” Robert mumbled to himself grimly.

“I’m picking up at least fifty of them,” Loki told Josh. “It looks like they’re all headed for the planet.”

“
Cobra command to all Falcons,
” one of the controllers called over their comms. “
Intercept and destroy all enemy fighters.
”

“
All
of them?” Josh repeated in disbelief. “All fifty of them?”

“
Transmitting target designations now,
” the controller added.

“Relax,” Loki said. “That’s only six or seven fighters per Falcon.”

“In that case, no problem… Piece of…”

“Don’t you dare,” Loki interrupted. “Adjust course ten degrees to port and five down relative.”

“Ten to port and five down,” Josh replied as he adjusted their Super Falcon’s course.

“Selecting four targets.”

“On new course,” Josh reported as he finished his turn.

“Dial up eight hundred thousand clicks,” Loki instructed. “As soon as we come out of the jump, turn hard to starboard, forty degrees, dial up one hundred and jump again. I’ll launch, and then you pitch up twenty and jump ten more clicks. That will put us passing over them, fore to aft…”

“And I pitch over and fire at whoever is left,” Josh finished for him. “I know what a right dogleg with overhead cleanup is, Lok.”

“Jump point in three…” Loki began.

Josh dialed up the first jump’s distance and pushed the selector switch straight up and held it, his index finger barely touching the jump button.

“Two…”

Then he put his hand on the throttle and waited for Loki to finish the count.

“One…”

As the word ‘jump’ came out of Loki’s mouth, Josh pressed the jump button, holding it a full two seconds before releasing. As the windows cleared, he pushed his throttles to full power and put the Super Falcon into a tight right turn. As the ship turned, he dialed up one hundred kilometers for the next jump. “Turn complete,” he reported as he rolled level. He pulled his throttles back to zero, killing the main engines. “Jumping.” He pushed the jump button again. The windows cycled.

“Weapons bay doors open,” Loki reported. “Four good locks. Launching four chasers.”

Josh changed the jump range to ten kilometers as Loki fired the missiles.

“Four chasers…away,” Loki reported.

Josh pushed his throttles to full power again and pitched the Super Falcon’s nose up twenty degrees. He watched the navigational display for several seconds, waiting for his ship’s actual course to match the direction their nose was pointing. The gently curving magenta line flattened out and turned green.

“Four missile impacts,” Loki reported.

Josh pulled his throttles back, pushed the jump button again, then pulled back hard on his flight control stick. His ship’s nose came up and over as they jumped forward ten kilometers along their direction of flight. He continued pitching over as the windows cleared, until the cross hairs on his targeting display went from red to green. He pressed the trigger and held it, sending red-orange plasma torpedoes speeding toward the Jung fighters passing under them. Two fighters exploded, adding to the four other fireballs that were rapidly dying in the vacuum of space as the oxidizer in the Jung fuel was used up.

“Roll us over so I can get the turret on the rest of them,” Loki suggested.

Josh had started the maneuver as soon as he heard the word ‘roll’ come out of his partner’s mouth. Two more Jung fighters came apart as Loki fired on them with the Super Falcon’s nose turret.

“Hell yeah!” Josh exclaimed. “That’s eight! On the first pass, no less!”

“
One, Six!
” another Super Falcon pilot called over the comms. “
Roll left! Roll left!
”

Josh didn’t ask why, snapping his ship into an immediate roll to port. As the ship entered its third roll, a bright yellow fireball lit up the inside of their cockpit. The next revolution revealed chunks of Jung fighter streaking past them.

“
Sorry about that,
” the pilot of Falcon Six apologized. “
I didn’t know you guys were going to get greedy. I nearly took off your starboard wing!
”

“No problem, Jory,” Josh replied. “I guess they didn’t break as much as we thought they would when they saw our missiles coming.”

“
Who says they saw them coming,
” another pilot chimed in playfully.

“Cut the chatter,” Loki instructed. “Eight of them got through and are headed into the atmosphere…”

“
Command to all Falcons,
” the controller at Cobra command interrupted. “
More fighters being launched, from the cruisers. All four of them. Twenty fighters from each cruiser, headed for the surface. Break into two-element groups and intercept. Target designators on their way.
”

“
What about the eight that got away?
” Jory wondered from Falcon Six.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be chasing a lot of fighters today,” Loki replied.

“Turn complete,” Cobra Two’s copilot reported. “Jump point in three seconds.”

“That damned frigate should’ve been dead on the second pass,” Captain Annatah declared. “What kind of shields do they have on that thing?”

“Jumping.”

Captain Annatah watched as the auto-flight system initiated the jump. Two seconds later, their windows cleared and the Jung frigate that they were about to make their third attack run on appeared before them. This time, however, her shields were not shimmering from the power drain of recent plasma weapons impacts.

“Yes!” the copilot cheered, realizing that the frigate’s shields were finally down, and the kill was theirs.

“Firing forward tubes!” Captain Annatah announced as he pressed the trigger on his flight control stick to fire the plasma torpedoes. “Light her up, gentlemen!” Captain Annatah continued to make tiny adjustments to his gunship’s pitch, keeping his nose pointed at the enemy ship as they passed under it. Balls of plasma from the gunship’s four torpedo cannons and bolts from her two side-mounted, quad-barreled turrets tore the target’s hull apart, sending debris flying in all directions. Secondary explosions from deep within the frigate soon followed, as each wave of plasma torpedoes found their way deeper into the enemy ship’s hull. Finally, the frigate broke apart in the middle. The main propulsion section at the aft end of the frigate exploded, causing the remaining portion of the aft half of the ship to slam into the broken forward section.

“
Oh, yeah!
” the pilot from Cobra Three cried out as he came out of the jump and witnessed the destruction of the Jung frigate. “
Nicely done, Nolan!
”

Red bolts of energy blasted into the tarmac at the Cobra gunship production plant, sending debris flying across the pavement.

Commander Telles and Master Sergeant Jahal were already tracking the attacking Jung fighters with their shoulder-mounted, mini-laser turrets. As the first four Jung fighters dove toward them, the commander and the master sergeant activated their lasers, and raised their rifles to open fire.

Commander Telles ran to the left, the master sergeant to the right. Two of the diving fighters altered their trajectory to follow the commander, as he sprinted across the tarmac, leaping over destroyed vehicles and the bodies of the dead and dying. The diving fighters fired again, sending red bolts of energy into the ground behind the fleeing commander.

Commander Telles dove for cover, flying a good five meters through the air, twisting over, and firing at the fighters as he soared over the generator truck. His shoulder-mounted laser cut swaths across the nose of one of the attacking fighters, but caused little damage. Bolts of plasma energy from his rifle tore into the diving fighter’s left wing, causing gray smoke to trail from it, but the fighter kept on going.

As the commander flew over the top of the truck, he rolled back over, tucking and rolling as he landed, coming right back up to his feet. “Fire!” he ordered.

Two Ghatazhak soldiers who had been hiding behind the truck, out of the view of the attacking fighters, stepped up, raised their shoulder-fired, chaser missile launchers, and fired.

The two Jung fighters, unaware of the threat, had entered a lazy turn to the left, making them easy for the missiles to track. One of the Jung fighters became aware of the threat and dropped several brightly burning countermeasures, pulling into a vertical climb with his engines roaring. The other fighter only managed to get two countermeasures out, having made the mistake of turning as he climbed. One of the chaser missiles found the turning fighter’s starboard engine, and the fighter exploded in a bright orange fireball.

Another explosion sounded to the commander’s left. He turned and saw another fighter falling from the sky, brought down by Master Sergeant Jahal’s team. “Jahal?”

“
Still here.
”

“Mirai, Telles. You loaded?”

“
Last ones are coming up the ramp now, Commander.
”

“Get out of here before those other two fighters circle back. You’re an easy target on the ground.”

“
What about you?
” the Mirai’s pilot wondered.

“We’re not ready to leave yet,” Commander Telles replied. “The fun’s just started.”

“
Remind me not to attend any Ghatazhak parties, Commander.
”

“We’ll catch a ride with the marines, as soon as the last boxcar departs.”

“
Good luck, sir.
”

Telles turned and looked at the other two Ghatazhak soldiers. “How many more missiles do you have?”

One of the soldiers smiled. “Plenty, sir.”

“Good. Feel free to light those other two fighters up when they come back around.”

“Our pleasure, Commander.”

Commander Telles started running across the compound toward the last boxcar. A long line of Tannans headed toward the ship, still seeking to escape the attack. “Boxcar still on the deck, this is Telles. You need to get your ass in the air before those two fighters come back around.”

“
We’re not even half loaded, yet,
” the pilot replied over the comms.

“You can be half loaded and jumping your ass back to Sol, or you can be burning to death in a half-loaded pile of boxcar on the ground. Your fucking choice.”

“
Closing up now,
” the pilot replied quickly.

To the commander’s right, the Mirai’s engines fired, and she began to ascend. He watched the ship climb and accelerate as he continued running toward the last boxcar on the other side of the tarmac.

“All troops around the last boxcar,” the commander called over his comms. “If anyone tries to interfere with that boxcar taking off, take them out.”