Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance (42 page)

“Target has gone to FTL,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Damn it; that was only three minutes.”

“Scout One’s targeting solution is no longer valid,” Jessica warned.

“What have we got on deck that can jump?” Nathan asked.

“Multiple contacts, coming from the platform!” Mister Navashee reported.

“Flight reports two jump shuttles,” Naralena replied.

“They’re launching fighters,” Jessica reported. “Dozens of them… Make that at least a hundred.”

“Flight! Captain!” Nathan called over his comm-set. “Launch a jump shuttle, now! I need them to relay a new firing solution to Scout One!”

“
Aye, sir,
” Major Prechitt responded over his comm-set. “
They’ll be off the deck in one minute.
”

“Comms. Notify the Celestia; high low, thirty out, we have first pass high.”

“High low, thirty out, we have first pass high, aye,” Naralena answered.

“They’re still pouring out fighters, Captain,” Jessica warned.

“Mister Riley, set us up for our first pass.”

Commander Dumar watched the view screen on the far wall of the Karuzara’s control room. The asteroid’s track around the Earth was displayed, as was the track of the incoming battle platform as well as the Terran ships that were attacking the intruder. Numerous other tracks represented the gunboats, troop shuttles, and fighters currently on their way to Earth via the side opposite the Karuzara itself.

“We’ll have clear line of sight in ten seconds,” Mister Bryant reported.

“Have the Aurora and the Celestia been warned?” Dumar inquired.

“Yes, sir,” Mister Bryant replied. “Both ships are aware that we are going to open fire with our plasma cannons. They will attack from outside of our targeting zone.”

“Very well,” the commander said as the angle displayed on the screen turned green to indicate that the Karuzara’s main guns now had a clear line of sight to the target. “You may fire when ready.”

On the surface of the Karuzara asteroid, four massive, double-barreled plasma cannons raised and adjusted their barrels to take careful aim at the distant Jung battle platform. One by one, the barrels took turns firing at ten-second intervals, hurling massive bolts of high-intensity plasma energy streaking toward their target. It would take nearly twenty seconds for their rounds to reach their intended victim, during which time the intensity of the charges would diminish by nearly half. It would not be enough to bring down the enemy battle platform’s shields, but if they could maintain the barrage long enough, it might diminish the platform’s shield strength to the point that the attacks by the Aurora and the Celestia might be enough. If they were lucky, it would prevent the enemy from making yet another FTL jump that would move it even closer to Earth.

“The Karuzara’s plasma shots are reaching the target,” Mister Navashee reported, “however, the drain on the platform’s shields is negligible. They’re just too far away from them.”

“Time to KKV impact?” Nathan asked.

“One minute.”

“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Jumping in three……two……one……jumping,” Mister Riley said.

The blue-white jump flash washed over the Aurora’s bridge yet again, as the ship shifted from their point more than two light seconds distant to only thirty kilometers away from the target.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported as the bridge shook.

“Incoming rail gun fire,” Mister Navashee reported.

“They must have been firing before we even jumped in,” Nathan observed.

“Our nose is on the target, continuing yaw to track,” Mister Chiles announced.

“Firing all forward tubes,” Jessica followed. “Firing plasma cannons.”

“Continue firing,” Nathan ordered.

“Target is fanning her main rail guns in all directions,” Mister Navashee reported.

“They’re shooting blindly because their main guns can’t track fast enough to keep up with us,” Nathan said. “They’re going to make us earn every shot.”

“Target’s forward shields are down to fifty percent,” Mister Navashee reported. “Thirty seconds to KKV im… Damn it!”

“FTL?” Nathan asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes, sir. Target is now eight hundred thousand kilometers from Earth and continuing on same course and speed.”

“We’ve only got one more chance at this,” Nathan said. “Mister Riley. I want to be directly in that platform’s path of travel, ten kilometers out.”

“Confirming
ten
kilometers, sir?” Mister Riley asked.

“You heard correctly.”

“Aye, sir. Ten kilometers, dead directly in front of them.”

“Comms. Message to Scout Two. Transfer targeting information for current track to KKV four and launch as soon as possible.”

“Transfer targeting for current track and launch ASAP, aye,” Naralena answered.

“They’ll jump right past us,” Jessica said in a low tone. “We’ll get spit out the back just like those antimatter mines were.”

“Maybe we will, maybe we won’t,” Nathan said. “And maybe we’ll give them just enough pause to buy us time to finally hit them. Just be ready with all plasma weapons.”

Commander Dumar looked at the tactical display on one of the large view screens on the far wall of the Karuzara control center, noticing that the Aurora had jumped again. His eyes squinted as he examined the Aurora’s new position… Along the battle platform’s course; two light minutes downrange and a few hundred kilometers higher than the platform relative to the system’s ecliptic plane. He glanced at the screen that showed their current position along their orbit around the Earth, from a polar view, and the angle between them and the battle platform. “Mister Bryant, new jump.”

“What?”

“New jump, quickly. We only have seconds.”

“I’m not even sure how much charge we currently have in the…”

“Do we have enough to jump eight hundred thousand kilometers?”

Mister Bryant looked at the officer in charge of the jump drive, who until now had nothing to do. The man nodded. “Yes, sir,” Mister Bryant replied.

“An eight hundred kilometer jump, then,” Commander Dumar said as he looked at the orbit tracking display again, “in twenty seconds.”

Mister Bryant noticed where the commander had been looking and glanced there himself. “Commander, the platform is only seven hundred and…”

“I gave you an order, Mister Bryant!” Dumar yelled. “Jump now!”

“Jump control!” Mister Bryant bellowed. “Emergency jump! Eight hundred kilometers! Snap jump! Now, now, now!”

“Snap jump! Eight hundred kilometers! Aye!”

Technicians scrambled as they quickly fired up the asteroid’s array of jump field generators and prepared to charge the array. Although they had simulated a snap jump in case they had come out in an inopportune position during their journey to Sol, they had never actually executed one.

“What’s the delay, Mister Bryant?” Commander Dumar demanded.

“Jumping now!” the officer in charge of the jump drive reported.

A pale blue wave of light emanating from the Karuzara’s hundreds of emitters spilled out across the rugged, uneven surface of the sixty-five kilometer diameter asteroid. The waves quickly joined together to surround the asteroid, after which they rapidly grew in intensity until the enveloping field became a brilliant bluish-white. The field flashed a brilliant white a split second later, and the entire asteroid disappeared.

The battle platform began to shimmer, its features becoming slightly distorted as its FTL fields began to fold the space ahead of it in preparation to transition into FTL travel one more time. The distortions increased, and the platform began to fade from view at an increasing rate.

A brilliant blue-white flash of light appeared only a few hundred meters before the platform, and slightly to starboard of its forward arm. A moment later, when the flash of light subsided, the Karuzara asteroid appeared. The fading image of the Jung battle platform reversed, becoming normal once again as the platform plowed into the side of the massive asteroid in a glancing blow. Two of the platform’s arms tore away from its main body, the arms sent tumbling over the surface of the asteroid. The platform began to rotate, as if rolling across the surface of the asteroid, spinning slow from the force of the impact, as did the asteroid itself. Debris was thrown in all directions, as were huge sections of rock blown from the surface of the asteroid by the force of the impact.

“Jumping in three…”

“Contact,” Mister Navashee announced.

“…Two…”

“Jump flash.”

“…One…”

“CAPTAIN!” Mister Navashee yelled.

“Hold your jump!” Nathan ordered.

“Oh, my God!” the Aurora’s normally calm sensor operator continued.

“Jump aborted,” Mister Riley acknowledged.

“The Karuzara, sir! They just collided with the battle platform!”

“What?” Nathan exclaimed, rising to his feet.

“They jumped in right in front of them. Maybe a few hundred meters at the most, sir,” Mister Navashee explained.

“A head-on collision?” Nathan wondered as he moved quickly over to Mister Navashee to see the sensor displays for himself. “Is there anything even left?”

“It wasn’t head-on, sir. They were just to starboard of the platform when they came out of the jump. It was a glancing blow, but a bad one, I’m sure.”

“Mister Riley,” Nathan called out, “Jump us in. One hundred kilometers downrange and a few above relative to the target.”

“One hundred downrange and a few above the target, aye,” Mister Riley answered.

“Comms. Tell the Celestia to hold position.”

“Aye, sir.”

“How bad is it, Mister Navashee?” Nathan asked as he turned back toward his sensor operator.

“Two whole arms have been torn off of the platform. She’s also suffered extensive damage to her central structure, but she’s still got power and weapons.”

“Shields… What about her shields?”

“She’s lost all shields on her impact side, but she’s still got them on her remaining three arms on her outboard side.”

“We should attack now, while she’s still shaken up,” Jessica suggested from the tactical station.

“They just collided with an asteroid three times their size,” Nathan said. “Trust me, they’re not going to become ‘unshaken’ any time soon. Besides, they’re still too close together. With half her side opened up, our weapons could easily breach her antimatter containment fields and take out the Karuzara as well, and we
need
the Karuzara.”

“Jump plotted and ready, Captain,” Mister Riley announced.

“Jump us in,” Nathan ordered.

“Target is launching more ships,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Jumping in three…”

“You’re kidding,” Nathan replied in shock.

“…Two…”

“Gunships,” Jessica added, “and troop shuttles. I count six each.”

“…One…”

“Where are they headed?” Nathan asked, already knowing the answer.

“…Jumping.”

“For the Karuzara, sir,” Jessica said as the jump flash washed across the bridge.

“Jump complete.”

Nathan turned forward again as the jump flash subsided. “Forward ventral cameras. Zoom in on the target.”

The main view screen changed, revealing the battered battle platform and the Karuzara asteroid.

“Oh, my God,” Nathan said under his breath.

The Jung battle platform was missing two of its six arms, presumably where the Karuzara asteroid had impacted them. The entire side of the platform’s main central structure was open to space in several sections, with obvious hull damage nearly to its peak. Fields of debris glistened in the light of the distant sun as the pieces of the platform spun away in all directions.

“What about the Karuzara?” Nathan wondered, noticing debris that looked more like chunks of rock than pieces of hull.

“Limited power readings. No emissions. Lots of dust and rock floating about. Slight reduction in the asteroid’s overall mass.” Mister Navashee turned and looked at the captain. “She looks dead, sir.”

Nathan continued staring at the view of the heavily damaged battle platform, noticing the tiny black and red ships as they disappeared into the Karuzara’s main transit tunnel. “Well, that explains why they aren’t firing.”

Warning sirens wailed in the distance, alerting all of Porto Santo Island of the approaching danger. Automated defensive turrets swung into action, guided by tracking systems situated on the highest hill on the island. The turrets located on the small, rocky islands that lay just off either end of the island were the first to open fire even before the approaching Jung fighters could be seen by the naked eye.

Civilians all over the island scrambled for the underground bunkers that had been excavated and prepared for just such an attack. The Ghatazhak had known full well that such an attack was possible, and had chosen to provide at least some manner of shelter for the locals who had shared their island with them.

The first wave of black and red Jung fighters dove straight down at the main airfield, firing energy weapons in rapid succession. The balls of energy slammed into the tarmac, leaving craters everywhere. They slammed into buildings, collapsing their roofs and setting them ablaze. The incredible heat melted the steel beams, and caused the concrete floors to explode, sending out showers of rubble in all directions. By all appearances, the attack was devastating, except for one thing… None of their aircraft or equipment was there to be targeted.

Once the Porto Santo air defenses had been destroyed, two Jung troop shuttles were next to descend from the skies. They came in low over the ocean, approaching from the beach side of the island, coming to a hover over the middle of the devastated tarmac of the airfield. Amid the smoke of the burning buildings, the two shuttles set down to allow the Jung troops within to begin off-loading. That’s when they struck.

Four combat jumpers appeared in flashes of blue-white light, hovering a few meters above the tarmac on all four sides of the two troop shuttles. The Jung soldiers already in the open immediately raised their weapons to return fire, but it was too late. The double-barreled energy weapons on either side of each combat jump shuttle tore them and the shuttles that sought to deliver them to pieces, while the turrets on top opened fire on the fighters flying cover above. The engagement lasted only a few seconds before the four combat shuttles flashed again and were gone, leaving nothing but two burning troop shuttles surrounded by the bodies of dead Jung soldiers.