Ep.#4 - "Freedom's Dawn" (The Frontiers Saga) (17 page)

As he headed up the ramp, the view of the back of the medevac shuttle was not what he expected. All the usual equipment was there, along with his three teammates that had gone up the ramp before him. However, the shuttle was packed with Corinari troops, all dressed in combat armor and heavily armed. Including the two guards that followed him up the ramp, there appeared to be more than a dozen men on board. Sixteen he counted as he took his seat next to Doctor Galloway, and it appeared there were two more up in the cockpit with the pilots.

“Are we on the right shuttle?” he asked the crew chief. “The one headed up to the Earth ship?”

“Yes sir,” the chief added nervously.

The doctor was surprised to see the chief so uncomfortable. He had flown missions with him before, and he always seemed like such a relaxed sort. He assumed it was because they were flying with a ship full of armed troops. It was certainly enough to make him nervous.

The loading ramp at the back of the shuttle rose slowly up into the rear of the ship, the outer doors closing over the outside of the ramp once it had fully retracted up into the tail of the shuttle. The whine of the idling engines began to increase as the ship prepared to lift off and begin its journey to rendezvous with the Earth ship in orbit.

“What’s with all the troops, chief?” the doctor asked, hoping that a little idle chitchat would ease the chief’s obvious tension.

“We’re just hitching a ride up, Doc,” one of the troops informed him.

The trooper that spoke appeared to be younger and fitter than most of the others. In fact, the doctor noticed that the majority of the troops seemed a bit old to be serving as basic foot soldiers. However, most members of the Corinari served for life, so it stood to reason that there had to be some older men still mixed in with the lower ranks.

The trooper that had spoke noticed the puzzled look on the doctor’s face, and offered further explanation. “We’re going to transfer over to the Yamaro once you’ve been delivered to the Aurora. There’s a few hundred Takarans on that ship that are gonna need to be transferred to the surface. We’re just going up to provide security.”

“I see,” the doctor said, nodding slowly as the shuttle lifted off the tarmac, her engines screaming outside. He turned and looked at Doctor Galloway. “Well I feel safer. How about you?”

* * *

Nathan and the others watched as the aide translated their words to the Prime Minister of Corinair. Nathan wondered what was going through the mind of this man. He had the future of his entire world on his shoulders. Nathan had been a student of history, studying the events of the past, most of which had been buried for a thousand years back on Earth. Until this moment, he had never thought that he would witness history in the making. The decision this man made today would become either the greatest moment in Corinairan history, or the beginning of its doom.

It was an amazing metamorphosis to witness. Over the last hour, this elderly public servant’s expression had been one of despair and hopelessness. Over a time span of less than a minute, however, he had changed. Gone was the look of anguish, gone was the despondent expression. It had quickly been replaced with a look of courage, a look of honor. It was a look of hope.

The Prime Minister said something to his aide, something that his aide was surprised to hear. So surprised, in fact, that the aide even questioned the Prime Minister-something that the leader did not appreciate and he made sure that his subordinate understood his incongruity.

Nathan had a feeling that Tug’s words had changed the mind of the de facto Corinairan leader, for Tug’s demeanor suddenly changed as did Jalea’s. They both spoke the Corinairan language and had already understood what the Prime Minister had told his aide.

The aide turned his attention back to Nathan. “The Prime Minister of Corinair would like to know what we can do to aide you in our defense.”

Nathan finally felt like there was a chance, not only for the people of Corinair, but for himself, his ship, and his crew. With the help of the Corinairans, they actually had a chance to defeat the Ta’Akar and obtain the zero-point energy device. With it, they also had a good chance of getting back to Earth in time to help defend her against invasion by the Jung.

“We need people,” Nathan began, “technicians, engineers, troops, munitions, ships, supplies… Hell, we need a crew.” Nathan took a breath, realizing that he was rambling. “What we need more than anything right now, is help repairing and rearming our ship. The sooner the better, as we have no idea how long we have until the Ta’Akar will send another ship to investigate the disappearance of the Yamaro.”

“The Prime Minister could not commit to such an action,” the aide explained. “Only the president can make such a decision, and even then only with the backing of the council of representatives.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but you are mistaken,” Tug argued. “The Prime Minister is currently the most senior government official known to still be alive on all of Corinair. He does have the power to declare a state of war, after which he would have full and unrestricted decision making powers.”

“But we are not at war,” the aide defended. “Technically, we have only been punished by our rulers for our open defiance of the Doctrine.”

“Funny, it looks like a war to me,” Jessica chimed in.

“We have yet to verify that the Prime Minister
is
the most senior member left—”

“Then perhaps
that
is a good place to start,” Nathan interrupted, not wanting to waste any time.

The aide quickly translated Tug’s words, to which the Prime Minister nodded agreement as he spoke.

“The Prime Minister admits that your knowledge Corinairan law is quite impressive. It appears you have chosen your guides quite well, Captain. However, it will take time to invoke the official state of war, no matter how quickly we work. And our current crisis requires all of our resources. It will be days, maybe even weeks before we can offer you any significant assistance.”

“We may not have that long,” Nathan objected.

“It will take the Ta’Akar some time to realize that something is amiss with the Yamaro, and even longer for a ship to arrive to investigate. Your guide said so himself.”

“That is true. But we have no idea how long the repairs might take.”

“We will do what we can, when we can,” the aide insisted.

“But sir—”

“Captain, please. At least allow us to stop our capital city from burning to the ground. We have riots in the streets and half the people are calling for the heads of our leaders. We have problems right here, right now, and deal with them we must; or come morning there may not be a government left to help you.”

Again the aide conferred with his leader, leaving Nathan feeling a bit frustrated at the inaction of the Corinairans.

“Talk about denial,” Jessica whispered.

“He just doesn’t get it,” Nathan mumbled.

“Captain,” Jalea began, “these people haven’t fought a war in over thirty years. You cannot expect them to suddenly pick up the guns and fall into line behind you.”

“She is right,” Tug said. “The Corinairans are quite rigid in their governmental procedures. They will follow the letter of their laws right up until the end.”

* * *

“Aurora, Aurora. This is Corinairan Medevac Shuttle one four seven, requesting permission to approach for landing.”

“
Medevac Shuttle one four seven, this is the Aurora. You are cleared for landing. Approach from astern and well above our longitudinal axis. Begin your descent once you have cleared our stern thrust ports. Upon landing, use transfer bay one for entry
.”

The pilot looked a bit confused by the instructions. “Understood, Aurora. Requesting auto-landing frequency for AFCS approach.”

“
Uh, Shuttle one four seven, you are instructed to land manually. Repeat, manual landing. No auto-landing system is available.
”

The pilot of the medevac shuttle looked at his copilot. “Manual landing?”

“Maybe their auto-flight systems were damaged in battle?” the copilot said.

“What’s the problem?” Captain de Winter asked.

“They want us to land manually,” the pilot explained.

“Then do it,” de Winter insisted. “You do know how to land this ship manually, do you not?”

“Of course,” the pilot assured him. “I just haven’t had to do it in some time, except in practice simulations.”

The pilot turned his attention back to the comm system. “Aurora, Shuttle one four seven. Understood. Beginning approach for manual landing. Will enter through transfer bay one.”

Captain de Winter left the cockpit and made his way back to the cargo area. He surveyed the passengers. “Well, this is a bit of a wrinkle.” He turned to Andre, who had followed him from the cockpit. “They sent two women.”

“So?” Andre asked.

“I was planning on having us change clothing with the medical team. That would get us deeper into the ship without raising suspicion.”

“Did it ever occur to you that the Corinairans would probably send a security team with their medical staff? I mean, they are sending them into a ship full of strangers, right?”

“Good point,” de Winter agreed. He looked at the two men. “You two, remove your clothing.”

“What?” Doctor Pantor objected. “We’ll do nothing of the sort!”

Captain de Winter turned to Andre. “Can you kill them without mussing up their medical attire?”

“With pleasure,” Andre said, taking a step forward.

“All right, all right!” Doctor Pantor agreed.

Minutes later, the two men had removed their medical uniforms and were standing in their underwear.

“Ladies, I assume you have some sort of medical agent that will render these two unconscious for a while?”

“Yes, but—” Doctor Galloway started to say.

“Excellent. About four hours should do it.” Captain de Winter noticed Doctor Galloway’s hesitation. “Or we could just kill them… Your call.”

Doctor Galloway immediately reached for one of the medical bags to do as she was told. A minute later, both men lay unconscious on the deck.

“Stow these two in the forward equipment locker until we’re done with them.” As two of the anti-insurgency agents began to pick up the first unconscious male member of the medical team, Captain de Winter turned to the women and began to remove his uniform. “Now, ladies, I promise you that if you cooperate in every way, you will all come out of this little adventure unharmed.”

Doctor Galloway and Nurse Brymer averted their eyes as both Captain de Winter and his cohort, the sergeant, began to undress.

Captain de Winter picked up the pile of clothing that had been worn by Doctor Pantor. “I believe my mother always wanted me to become a doctor.”

“She would be so proud,” Andre said in deadpan fashion.

The medevac shuttle fired its topside thrusters briefly, just enough to stop its ascent to a position just above the top of the Aurora’s main drive section. Still closing on the Earth ship, the shuttle eventually passed over the top of her main propulsion section.

As the shuttle moved forward of the Aurora’s drive section, it again fired its topside thrusters and began a brisk descent. Its rate of descent combined with its closure rate on the touchdown marker on the landing apron put it on a sixty degree attack angle-steep enough that the shuttle had to perform a slight flaring maneuver in order to decrease it closure and descent rate sharply just before touching down on the Aurora’s aft flight deck.

Despite his lack of practice at manual landings, the pilot of the medevac shuttle had placed his ship perfectly atop the touchdown marker, at which point the weak artificial gravity generated by the deck plates kicked in to hold her against the deck as she rolled forward. She passed under the hood that extended out over the forward end of the flight deck to shield the transfer bay doors from the outside. The shuttle rolled toward the port side of the deck as it moved forward, aligning itself with the approach path markings on the deck that led to transfer bay one.

The massive door to the transfer bay was already rising to allow them to enter the airlock. The shuttle passed cleanly under the door as it rose, with room to spare, coming to a stop once it was completely inside the transfer bay. As the bay door reversed and began coming back down, they received a message from the Aurora’s comm-officer. “
Welcome aboard the Aurora.
”

* * *

Vladimir had not slept in days. His ship had been put through so much in the last week. In order to keep her operating, he had been forced to circumvent many repair protocols. One by one, it seemed like each of his previous repairs were beginning to fail, and he secretly feared that his ship might come apart at any moment.

“
Chort,
” he cursed. “We will have to bypass the entire control run until it can be completely replaced.”

“Do you even have enough cabling on board to replace it?” Deliza inquired.

“I do not know,” Vladimir admitted. “I have not yet had a chance to fully inventory everything on board. There are still so many unopened containers in the cargo holds.” Vladimir looked at the schematic displayed on the large monitor built into the top of the console. “We will have to reroute all bridge command and control signals through these lines,” he said, pointing at the schematic. “Through here, here, and then finally here.” He breathed out a small sigh. “It will cause a small signal delay, but there is no other way. We cannot repair that bundle. It will take too long and there is no guarantee that it will be working at one hundred percent efficiency when we are done.”

“How do we do it?” Deliza asked. She recognized the location on the schematic. “We don’t have to go back into the dirty tunnel again, do we?”

“No, we just—”

“
Cheng, Comms,
” the voice interrupted over Vladimir’s comm-set.

“Go ahead,” Vladimir answered, raising his hand to indicate to Deliza to give him a moment.

“
The medevac shuttle from Corinair has just landed and is rolling into the hangar bay now, sir.
”