The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (19 page)

Alanna jerked the control column round.
“
Might as well take a closer look, since you
’
re so interested. And it
’
s the only thing round here that isn
’
t a rock.
”

“
They must have tried to run to hide in the ring when the Nameless arrived,
”
Alanna observed as they closed on the harvester,
“
The Nameless took out the engines and they couldn
’
t stop themselves from coasting forwards and into that rock. God, I hate being in here.
”

Dubious
’
s light played across the hull of the harvester, throwing into sharp relief the rips in the metal work that ran forwards from the staved in bows.

“
They sure aren
’
t going to salvage anything here,
”
Alanna muttered to herself as she surveyed the damage.
“
Even if anyone survived impact, not a single compartment would have held pressure afterwards.
”

“
Yeah, well here
’
s the thing Skip. I
’
m reading heat off that thing,
”
Schurenhofer said.

“
Seriously?
”

“
Take a look.
”

Alanna twisted round to look at the display. It was indeed indicating a weak heat signature from somewhere within the hulk.

“
That ship should be in deep cold,
”
she muttered.
“
Casper, this is Dubious, are you getting a weak heat reading from the wreck?
”

“
Dubious, this is Casper. Yeah we
’
re just about picking it up. We were wondering about that.
”

“
Wondering
? Jesuusss!
”
Schurenhofer muttered as she fiddled with the controls.

“
Stay sharp back there, Casper,
”
Alanna snapped back, agreeing with her weapons controller
’
s sentiments.
“
Can you get a better lock on location?
”

“
No,
”
Schurenhofer said after a few minutes of fiddling with the controls.
“
It
’
s seriously weak. It could just be residual heat from the reactor Skip. It could be something operating off a battery.
”

“
After all these months?
”
Alanna replied dubiously as she continued to move the spotlight over the hulk.
“
Any idea where the reactor is on this thing?
”

“
Not a clue, Skip. And we don
’
t have any civilian ship
’
s details in our database.
”

Alanna gently chewed her lip. Off the top of her head she could think of at least a dozen very ordinary things that could be causing it, yet there was definitely something about this heat reading that was setting off her mental alarm. Certainly there was no shortage of people who thought she was already a burn-out and she wasn
’
t entirely convinced they were wrong. But that didn
’
t mean she was wrong now.

“
Zeus
, this is Dubious.
”

“
Receiving you, Dubious.
”

“
Do you have schematics for Junction
’
s harvesters on file?
”

“
Hold on Dubious.
”
There was pause on the connection. She was glad whoever was on
Zeus
hadn
’
t asked why she wanted to know.
“
Dubious, that is a negative,
”
came the reply after a few minutes.
“
We do not have the exact type on file. We do have those of a similar class from the same shipyard. Transmitting now. Over.
”

“
Thank you,
Zeus
, Dubious out,
”
Alanna replied as the file appeared on her communications console. She quickly flicked through it, and then compared it to Schurenhofer
’
s screen.

“
I swear that heat reading is coming from the cargo spaces. There shouldn
’
t be anything there to cause heat, not even emergency equipment,
”
Alanna said eventually.

“
Do you think we should ask
Zeus
to send a search team over? Speaking of which, they must have finished sweeping the station.
Zeus
is moving in from the outer marker.
”

“
What, already?
”
Alanna exclaimed twisting round to glare back in the direction of the cruiser before switching to radio,
“
Zeus
, this is Dubious.
”

“
Receiving you Dubious.
”

“
We
’
ve picked up a weak heat reading from the wreck of the harvester.
”

“
Understood Dubious,
”
came the reply after a few moments.
“
We
’
re moving to the inner marker. Keep an eye on it. The Captain may decide to send a team over to investigate.
Zeus
out.
”

Alanna shook her head in disbelief, before turning back to her controls.

“
Skip, how do we want to…
”

“
What
’
s that?
”
Dubious
’
s spotlight had illuminated something that seemed out of place. A rough square of plating had been cut out of the harvester and welded back into place.

“
A repair maybe?
”
Schurenhofer said, but her tone was doubtful. She then glanced back at her display,
“
Jesus! Power spike!
”
As she shouted there was a burst of explosions from within the hulk and the square of metal was launched outwards. Straight at Dubious!

Alanna yanked the stick over. Thrusters fired along Dubious
’
s flanks as the fighter slid sideways. There was a bang in the cockpit as the hull plate clipped and carried away the starboard side thruster assembly. Alarms sounded as the Dubious was spun violently round by the force of the impact. Then first one, then another and then yet another missile burned past them.

“
Zeus
! INCOMING!
”
Alanna screamed as she slammed the engines into all ahead. Another missile passed her and a stream of gunfire poured from Casper into the hole in the wreck. As Dubious accelerated away after the missiles, a massive flash of lit up the cockpit from behind. Now focusing on the missiles, Alanna ignored it.

“
Weapons hot!
”
Schurenhofer shouted as her fingers danced across her control board. Alanna didn
’
t reply as she locked the guns onto the first missile and fired. It blew as the plasma bolts slammed in. Alanna switched target to the second. Ahead,
Zeus
had been moving slowly forward, now she could see the cruiser
’
s engines go all astern but her guns stayed silent. Over by Junction Station the cruiser
’
s own fighters were scrambling to get into position. A third missile blew as another shot from Dubious grazed it. Finally
Zeus’s
own point defence grid sparkled into life and stopped the fourth and last missile only a few kilometres short of the cruiser. In Dubious
’
s cockpit there was no time for relief because now the collision detection alarm was sounding loud and shrill. Dubious rocketed past
Zeus
as Alanna dragged the nose round again. When they were making their way through the rings to Junction, she hadn
’
t fired the engines at more than fifteen percent power for longer than three continuous seconds. Now, chasing those missiles, she
’
d gone full burn for nearly twenty seconds. A wall of rock and ice loomed in Dubious
’
s path. Alanna pushed the engines to one hundred and ten percent and a glance at her navigation screen confirmed what her gut was already telling her.

They weren
’
t going to stop in time.

“
Hold on,
”
she muttered as tail first Dubious raced out of the clear area and into the rings. The navigation system frantically tried to find a way through before crashing under the weight computations. Twisting round, she frantically tried to weave through, but with the starboard thrusters smashed, the handling had gone to pot. Alanna was barely aware of Schurenhofer swearing and gasping as they skimmed within metres of one asteroid after another. Dubious
’
s radiators began to glow as the waste heat from the engines was dumped into them. Schurenhofer started jettisoning missiles, gun ammunition, fuel and even their reserve O2 tanks. Anything that would reduce the mass of the fighter. Around them there were flashes as the jettison materials impacted the asteroids.

As the engines began to overcome the momentum, each manoeuvre became less frantic than the last. It couldn
’
t have been more than a minute or two, but when she finally brought Dubious to a relative halt, it felt like she
’
d been holding her breath for hours.

Alanna took her shaking hands off the controls and gasped for breath. After a few minutes she became aware of the radio squawking.

“
Dubious, this is
Zeus
. Can you hear me? Please respond. Dubious, can you hear me? Please respond.
”

“
Zeus
, this is Dubious. We
’
re still here. We
’
re going to sit here fore a while until I feel better. Dubious over and out,
”
she replied. It was hard to slump in microgravity but Alanna managed it.

___________________________

“
We
’
ve definitely established that the station is clean,
”
said Captain Lokke. The
Zeus’s
captain looked chastened across the holo and well she might, Crowe thought to himself. Her first outing and she
’
d damn near got
Zeus
shot up.

The rest of the squadron were now holding position in orbit just beyond the planet
’
s rings while the support ships moved in to reactivate Junction station. If the days
’
events had proved anything, it was that this was indeed the frontline.

“
I guess that was the point,
”
grunted the Admiral.
“
Leave the station unbooby trapped, then leave a missile battery pointed at it to take out the first ship that comes to it. Did we get much of the launcher?
”

“
No sir. We
’
re guessing that at least half the missiles were still in their racks when Casper hit them. There was nothing left.
”

“
Oh well,
”
the Admiral shook his head,
“
just as long as we learn from the experience.
”
He turned to Crowe,
“
And my compliments to Lieutenant Shermer, that was fine work. When Dubious shot past us, I really didn
’
t think they were going to survive. That was some serious flying. Please pass along my thanks.
”

As the holos shut down, Crowe leaned back in his seat, staring into nothingness. The centre of the Junction Line was now established and only time would tell whether the Nameless would challenge it and, if they did, whether the fleet could hold it.

And I guess I
’
m stuck with Lieutenant Shermer as well, he mentally added.