The Last Charge (The Nameless War Trilogy Book 3) (45 page)

“Strike Leader,” Alanna replied as she flew down a shallow valley, “this is
D for Dubious
, confirming I have ordnance.”

The old Nameless dual-purpose missiles, with which they started the war, had always been a bit of a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. A bit sluggish for anti-fighter work but too small for taking on ships but their new missiles seemed to be dedicated anti-fighter weapons. As a result, flying at an altitude of several kilometres above the surface had proved too dangerous. Perversely it was safer to fly low, where
Dubious
could shelter in the valleys that criss-crossed the surface. Safer but not completely safe – for pilots used to the emptiness of deep space, flying mere tens of metres away from the sides or bottom of a valley was something of which they had no experience. Too many weren’t flying low enough to avoid the fire of point defence type guns abruptly opening fire from the surface. Alanna heard too many pilots’ last exclamation or scream.

“
Dubious
, this is Strike Leader. Make for the Rose and report in once you are on station.”

“Roger that,” Alanna replied as she glanced at the navigation screen for the best route to the target.

“I thought one of
Akagi’
s squadrons was tasked with that,” Schurenhofer said as she rotated the ventral turret in case another enemy battery might be lurking the end of valley.

“Wing, get the hell back onto position,” Alanna shouted across the radio.

Astern, her new wingman kept drifting upwards, toward the false safety of clear space.

“A whole squadron went in,” she replied to Schurenhofer. “Let’s hope they have at least softened things up a bit.”

Ten minutes later they cleared the valleys and entered a broad flat open area. As she saw the carnage Schurenhofer let out a sigh.

“Oh, this will be worth a whole chapter in the handbook on coping with disappointment,” she said.

The Rose was sited in the crater of a volcano, with a dozen cap ship missile launchers protected on all sides by stone walls. More batteries and dozens of point defence guns studded the lip of the crater. Unlike much of the rest of the moon, the area surrounding the Rose was a flat and almost featureless plain stretching at least thirty kilometres in every direction. It was the crown jewel of the Nameless defences and
Akagi’
s pilots had beaten themselves bloody trying to get through. As she skirted the edge of the plain, Alanna could see the wrecks of their fighters scattered below.

On the radio, she heard Strike Leader mustering what remained of their assets.

“Sounds like we’ve got about four anti-ship missiles left between us,” Schurenhofer said as she listened. “We must have given them a kicking everywhere else.”

“Which probably will count for f– all if we don’t get this,” Alanna replied as she surveyed the battlefield.

“Strike Leader to
D for Dubious
,” came across the radio. “We have identified the command bunker, we’re sending imagery now.”

A picture appeared on her communication screen. With the cap ship missile silos taking up so much of the available space, the inside of the crater was crowded. And because the volcanic rock was so difficult to excavate, they weren’t dug in deep. In fact, they stood densely packed
, protruding from the surface.

“They mustn’t have had time to dig in,” Alanna called.

“One missile in and we’ll get a mighty bang,” Schurenhofer replied.

The area around the Rose lit up as the installation’s point defence batteries erupted. Lines of plasma bolts pulsed out, sweeping the space around and above their target.

“Crap on a stick. How the hell will we get through that?” Schurenhofer said, awestruck.

“
Dubious
,” Strike Leader ordered. “Hold at the southern edge for my command.”

“Understood,” Alanna replied.

As she spoke half a dozen Ravens broke cover and made for the Rose. Four ran interference and one laid down covering fire, while the last Raven – the one with the missile – charged in astern.

“Get lower you stupid bastards, get lower!” Alanna urged through gritted teeth.

But they weren’t. They were space fighter pilots – not trained, equipped or experienced at nap of the earth flying. They weren’t like her. They hadn’t flown and fought among the asteroids of Junction Station.

If the fire from the Rose had seemed ferocious before, now it was like nothing Alanna had ever seen before. The point defence guns switched to rapid fire as the Nameless sought to leave the Ravens with nowhere to go. A dozen anti-fighter missiles raced towards them. Alanna flinched as first one, and then another Raven was blown out of the sky. Then a burst of gunfire intersected with the fighter carrying the precious missile and tore its wing off at the root. One engine exploded and the stricken craft plunged downward. At the last moment the pilot managed to spin his plane round and use the remaining engine to kill most of the velocity. The Raven bellied in, throwing up dust and rock as it bounced across the plain, breaking up as it went.

“Strike Leader to
D for Dubious
.”

The strike leader’s voice had the monotone of someone who knew he was ordering another person to their death.

“You’re up. Stand by for me to get planes into position to run interference.”

Madness
, Alanna thought to herself. One of its definitions was to try the same thing but expect different results. To simply throw herself at the Rose in the same old way would simply see her brought down in the same old way. Guiding
Dubious
round the edge of the plain, she searched with her eyes – the old Mark One eyeball offered more than any of
Dubious
’s hi-tech toys. They needed something new. The only visible feature was a small hill roughly to the west of the Rose, but it was thirty kilometres away, in space terms a barely mentionable distance but here, a killing zone without...?

“What’s that?” Alanna asked.

“What’s what?” Schurenhofer replied.

“That,” Alanna said pointing.

Leading from close to the foot of the hill to within a kilometre or two of the Rose was a faint shadow. Pulling back the stick she angled
Dubious
upwards and Schurenhofer turned the ventral turret towards the shadow. On the screen Alanna, could make out the barest dip in the ground, forming a channel from the hill to the Rose’s doorstep.

It was their way in.

“You aren’t?” Schurenhofer said.

“I am,” Alanna replied firmly.

“Strike Leader to
Dubious
, are you ready to make your run?”

“Confirmed Strike Leader, I’m ready. I’ll be making my run from the west.”

“Confirmed
Dubious
, from the west. All units stand by to run interference. This is damn near our last shot people. Make it work.”

“So no pressure then,” Schurenhofer muttered as Alanna turned off
Dubious
’s collision warning alarm. “Skipper, how low do we plan to go?”

“Scarily low,” Alanna replied. “
E for Envy
, join the interference groups, I’m going solo for this one.”

Alanna worked her way round to behind the hill, flying a wide circle to get lined up.

“Tally Ho,” she said quietly to herself before speaking into radio. “
Dubious
to all units, commencing run.”

She pushed the throttle forward and the hill loomed large. Alanna flipped
Dubious
onto its back and dropped lower. Schurenhofer gave her a frightened glance and hunched over her console. The lunar surface flashed past as they gained speed and dropped still lower. The ground rose up to meet them as they reached the edge of the hill and Alanna pushed the stick forward.

Still upside down, they skimmed up the side of the hill with the ground just metres from their heads, the surface just a grey blur now as they sped on. Between the ground and the Raven’s nosecone, Alanna had only a tiny slit of visibility to their front. Cresting the hill, Schurenhofer popped the last of their chaff, just as Nameless targeting radars locked on and their threat detection system wailed. Alanna yanked the stick back and slammed the throttle to full.
Dubious
charged down the hill, the canopy now only centimetres above the unforgiving rocks. The threat detection system cut out as the Nameless radar lost them in a flurry of confusing ground returns.

Missiles erupted from their launchers on the crater lip and flashed across the intervening space in seconds, only to miss wildly as their highly sensitive guidance systems were overwhelmed by the sheer mass of returns. Under Schurenhofer’s control, their ventral turret gun picked off one or two missiles that only through chance ended up heading in their direction.

Alanna search desperately for the depression. Had it been a trick of the light? No, it was there, off to the left. With the lightest touch she pointed
Dubious
toward it. As they slotted in she heard a brief ping from astern as some part of
Dubious
clipped the surface and was ripped away. Alanna didn’t dare glance away as she pulled back on the throttle. The engines were barely at half power. Height, or lack of it, was now their protection, not speed. This was seat of the pants flying no pilot was trained for. They were safe from the point defence fire cutting across the sky above, but as
Dubious
hurtled down the shallow ravine, the fighter was lower than any of them could bear.

“Put the missile to manual,” Alanna grimly ordered as the ground began to rise ahead of them again.

Pushing the stick forward, she rammed the engines to all astern. Beside her, Schurenhofer cried with pain as she was thrown with bruising force against her restraints. Their velocity plummeted just as the fighter reached top of the crater. With their speed suddenly down to only a few metres per second,
Dubious
virtually floated over the Rose. The threat detection system began to scream again as the enemy radar abruptly found the elusive contact right above them, and missile batteries and guns slewed round to engage the enemy in their midst. As Alanna twisted the fighter’s nose downward, Schurenhofer opened up with their turret guns, indiscriminately spraying fire around the crater, shredding radar towers and guns.

Below, at the very bottom of the crater, the missile silos drifted across Alanna’s sights and her forefinger squeezed the trigger. The fighter’s anti-ship missile lanced downwards towards the silos. As it cleared the launcher, Alanna pointed
Dubious
’s nose towards a random edge of the crater and rammed the throttle all the way forward. The fighter leapt forwards like a stung horse. As they plunged over the crater edge, a massive flash from astern lit up the cockpit. Schurenhofer let out a celebratory whoop – and then something swatted them.

The control stick was knocked out of Alanna’s hand as
Dubious
was thrown into a tumble. The entire control board went dead and she lost all sense of up and down.

“Reactor off line!” Schurenhofer screamed as she flailed for the eject handle and missed.

As Alanna struggled with half dead controls, she felt no fear. In fact, she felt only peace. It would be quick, no lingering in a dead fighter, waiting for the air to run out.

But there was no follow up strike. As
Dubious
tumbled, Alanna caught sight of the horizon and wrestled the fighter’s half dead controls until they were at least pointed in the direction of travel.

“Restart the reactor,” she snapped.

“What d’ya fucking think I’m trying to do!” Schurenhofer snarled back, before shaking her head. “No response, we’ve had a full reactor scram. Engines... Christ, they must be hit. We’re not even getting status readings! We’re down to the backup batteries.”

Alanna only half heard. She twisted round in her seat and looked back the way they’d come. The Rose was now an inferno as the crater erupted in a succession of massive explosions. Several of the Nameless guns maintained fire, but they weren’t tracking anything. Locked on whatever had been their last command, they continued to send lines of burning plasma bolts into the sky. Alanna could see other fighters nosing in, checking to see if a follow up strike was required, but she doubted it would be. Nothing inside the crater could still be functional... or alive.

“Skipper,
the ground
,” Schurenhofer said with alarm.

Returning to the matter at hand, Alanna checked her controls. They were still on a ballistic curve from when the engines cut out.

“What have we got in propulsion?”

“Docking thrusters.”

Alanna waited for more.

“Just docking thrusters,” Schurenhofer emphasised.

In the moon’s low gravity it was enough to keep
Dubious
up, at least until the thrusters burned through their propellant. Another Raven, her wingman formed up alongside them.

“
Dubious
, are you receiving me!” the radio crackled.