The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict (43 page)

Ella had insisted not only on flying the shuttle, but also on accompanying the marines once inside. She seemed to know the station backward and forward and Paul hadn’t been able to think of a reason to deny her. However, he had insisted that she wear an AAU suit once they were inside.

Paul replied, “Okay. I trust you.”

Even though the wait was only 4 minutes, it was frustrating Paul. He was ready to go.

……………

Solear hurried up a level to his quarters. He removed his short sleeve smart suit and replaced it the long sleeve version. He attached the gloves just past the wrists on the outside of his forearm. He could reach them immediately if needed. Next he removed his slippers and replaced them with the heavy boots. Finally, he attached the helmet to the back of his neck. The helmet was fabric and was rolled up. It looked like a collar on the shirt.

Solear went back to the bridge proper. A minute later the other 4 bridge officers walked in wearing their full smart suits. He thought he detected just a little swagger as they walked to their stations. Good, he thought. This time we will be prepared.

The
Sunflower
exited hyperspace as far into the gravity zone as they could travel. They had maintained a velocity of .12 light. They just missed the meteoroid strike, but arrived in plenty of time to watch Alpha squadron destroy the frigate.

Lexxi checked the passive scan and located the last known location of the Hiriculan command carrier before it was shrouded by the dust cloud. She requested 10 shield buster missiles. Once loaded, she targeted that location and said, “Now firing first 10 missiles.”

Ella programmed input the pre-programmed semi-circular flight path into the navigation system and maintained the speed at .12 light. The
Sunflower’s
route will take it toward the asteroid, loop around the space station, and head back out of the system toward the hyperspace lane. When she completed the course she raced down the caribou corridor to the waiting shuttle.

The shuttle was already under power and waiting for take-off. She climbed into the pilot’s seat and launched the shuttle. They headed directly for the space station. Ella felt calm and at ease. For some reason having 5 humans standing behind her didn’t seem to bother her. She wasn’t sure if it was because they were in armor and she couldn’t see their faces or because she was concentrating on flying.

Ella checked the navigation system and the scanner. She had a clear board and a 4 minute flight path. Nothing could intercept them before they reached the station. When they were 30 seconds from the space station, Ella contacted traffic control.

Ella received a reply. She activated the translator inside her mouth and linked it to the computer. The Hiriculan said, “Traffic control here.”

Ella replied, “This transport 1123 from the frigate
Bloodlust
. We managed to evacuate the ship just before it was destroyed by Alliance fighters. Request permission to land.”

Traffic control responded, “What happened?”

Ella replied, “The Alliance must be launching an attack. They blew up the defensive asteroid and destroyed the frigate. We were in the hangar when the frigate was attacked and were able to escape.”

Traffic control responded, “Hold there for a moment.”

Ella was concerned. It seemed like the delay was taking forever. She was about to turn to the marines to tell them that their ruse had been detected when traffic control responded, “Permission granted. Please proceed to the transport docking bay.

Ella responded, “Thank you for your assistance in our time of need” and broke connection.

Ella received a last minute update from the
Sunflower
. She quickly listened to the information. She thought it was very risky of them to send a message, but the information contained was well worth the risk.

The transport docking doors opened almost magically and Ella carefully, but quickly landed the transport in an empty area. The doors closed behind them. Ella pressed the button to open the transport’s rear door and left the pilot area. She carefully walked between the marines to the AAU. She laid down on the floor and wiggled into the suit.

She leaned her head back against the helmet to activate it. The helmet automatically sealed and took control of her extremities. She could no longer move her arms and legs. The helmet intercepted the signal from her brain and sent it to the corresponding limb. She felt entombed inside it.

The marines helped her stand up and balance herself. She took one small step and then another until she was off of the transport. The marines exited the shuttle and closed the rear door and locked it. Even though they weren’t planning to use the shuttle again, they didn’t want the transport searched and their deception detected.

………………..

The minute that the transport safely cleared
Sunflower’s
hangar bay, First squadron launched. They used their rapid exit strategy first employed during the battle in Trilon. Typically, only one row in the elevator is exposed at a time and the fighters launch one at a time in alternating directions.

They exposed two rows of fighters instead of one. They then launched all 8 fighters at once, 4 in each direction. It was a tight squeeze, but the hangar launch bay is just wide enough for all 4 to exit at the exact same time. The first 8 fighters took 8 seconds to launch.

The elevator indexed up two rows and the second set of 8 launched 22 seconds later. The elevator indexed a final time and the last four fighters launched. The total launch took 52 seconds.

Solear moved from the captain’s chair the pilot’s seat. He doubted that he would need to make a course correction, but was ready for that eventuality. Solear focused on active scanner. He needed to closely monitor the area beside the asteroid so that they would know the moment the command carrier emerged from the dust cloud.

Lexxi announced, “The shuttle is away.”

Clowy said, “Ordering the fighters to launch now.”

After a short silence Putat announced, “The first 8 fighters have launched. They are forming up.”

Another short silence and Putat announced, “All fighters have launched, we are being hailed. I am putting it on the main monitor.”

Jim Donavan appeared and said, “Orders.”

Clowy looked down at her notecard taped to the back of her communication pad. They had meticulously planned the entire operation, including this conversation. Clowy had rehearsed her line several times. She replied, “Engage all enemy combatants in the area. At time 0 mark 22 rendezvous with the
Sunflower
. Good Hunting.”

Jim acknowledged the orders and ordered the squadron toward the command carrier.

Solear noted how different his crew was responding in this battle. This time, they had a clear plan of attack and were the aggressors instead of always responding to Hiriculan traps. Each crew member knew his or her job and what they needed to accomplish together as a team.

Lexxi said, “All fighters are away. Beginning clockwise ship rotation at 12 degrees per second. Firing now.” Lexxi pressed the button. She continued, “Now setting the firing controls to fully automatic.”

Lexxi overrode the manual activation switch. The system gave her several warnings, but she dismissed them. Finally, Captain Solear had to enter a special verification code. It really didn’t make sense for Lexxi to sit at her station and press a button every 15 seconds for the next 20 plus minutes. There were other things that needed her attention.

The interlock at the actual missile launcher was still in place though; if the humans failed to press the button in time, the missile launcher would skip that cycle.

…Captain Solear, I have a private message for you…

Solear activated his privacy screen and said, “Computer play message.”

…There are hidden subroutines in my core. These are encrypted and concealed. I cannot access them. They would be deleted if my system were hacked. One just revealed itself…

Solear said, “Okay, so there are some hidden protocols.” This wasn’t new information to him. “What does it say?”

…That the admiral’s communicator pad contains a secret long range transceiver. According to the specifications, we will be within the device’s range in two minutes…

Solear lowered the privacy field and said, “Did the first set of missiles hit anything?”

Lexxi replied, “They exploded inside the dust cloud. Sensors did not detect any shifting mass, but then they may not be able to detect anything with all of the interference.”

Solear said, “Delay firing more offensive missiles until we can positively identify the location of the command carrier. Use the next 90 seconds to launch 30 defensive missiles.”

……………….

Colin and Becky were manning missile launcher #1. Colin was reaching for a second shield buster missile when the missile change order came through.

Colin yelled, “This isn’t what we planned.”

Becky had the hoist poised over the pyramid stack of shield buster missiles. She moved the hoist to the next stack, grabbed a defensive missile, and swung it toward launcher. They wrestled it into the loader and Colin pressed the palm button at 27 seconds.

Becky started to reply, but paused as the missile launcher went thump. This time they could feel and hear the weapon fire now that they had an atmosphere. Becky was already grabbing another defensive missile.”

Becky replied, “At least they aren’t changing every other time.”

Colin replied, “We couldn’t make the takt time if they did.”

Becky said, “Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?”

Colin shoved the missile into the launcher and palmed the ready button. He asked, “What?”

Becky laughed and answered, “They are about equal.”

……………….

Solear looked at the time on the overhead monitor. Two minutes had passed and the command carrier still had not exited the cloud. Both sets of fighters were approaching the dust cloud from opposite directions and should reach the command carrier in another two minutes.

The Hiriculan convoy ships had sped up significantly, but they still wouldn’t arrive for another 30 minutes. However, 30 minutes was too long – these ships will not be a factor. If the rescue mission succeeded as planned, then the late arrivals should get an excellent view of the Alliance fleet jumping to Opron.

Solear debated whether or not to attempt calling Admiral Dolen. In the end he reasoned that the potential gain of giving Dolen advance notification of the rescue attempt far outweighed the potential risk that the Hiriculans would learn of the secret technology.

Solear said, “Computer, try to contact Admiral Dolen.”

…Attempting now. At this distance there will be a 10 second delay. Contact has been established…

Solear said, “Admiral Dolen, this is Captain Solear. We are here to rescue you.”

If Admiral Dolen was shocked or surprised, he didn’t show it. He asked, “Where did you get a fleet?”

Solear answered, “We brought every ship that was available.” That was technically the truth. There was no need to bother the Admiral with the minor detail that he brought only one.

Dolen responded, “Who’s in charge?”

Solear said, “There were no Admirals available to lead the rescue mission. I am the senior captain.” Solear carefully avoided saying the word fleet.

Solear continued, “Admiral, there is very little time. In just under 6 minutes marines are going to open the door and free all of you. They will then lead everyone back to their respective ships. All of the ships are still docked at the station except for your battleship.

The time delay had fallen to 8 seconds. Dolen’s interruption came through, “What’s a marine?”

Solear ignored the question for a moment and continued, “There will be a transport waiting to take the officers and engineering staff to your battleship. There isn’t enough room for the fighter pilots. They will have to disperse among the other ships until we reach Opron.

Solear took a breath and said, “A marine is an elite human soldier. They spend years training for combat and are some of the best warriors on the planet. You should consider them extremely dangerous.”

Admiral Dolen replied, “There are at least a dozen HAS units in the hallway and 6 inside the chamber where we are being kept. There is no way these humans can reach us.”

“Admiral, listen. The marines are already landing on the station. In a couple of minutes they are going to burst through that door and kill the Hiriculans and possibly anyone else who accidentally gets in their way.”

Solear sincerely doubted that the humans would choose this moment to go on a killing spree, but he wanted to scare the Admiral into action. However, the Admiral still wanted to debate.

Dolen asked, “How many marines did you send?”

Solear responded, “Five.” He wanted to say more, but hesitated.

Dolen replied, “A shootout between powered armor units will take forever. The Hiriculans will be able to send massive amounts of reinforcements and stop your AAU’s long before they reach us. Five is a laughable number. You needed to send at least 40.”

The delay was almost gone now. Solear said slowly and softly, “Admiral, I didn’t send AAU’s, I sent marines. They will be there in a couple of minutes and they will kill everything in their way. Please use the next few minutes to organize your team and tell everyone to back far away from the door.”

Solear broke connection just as Putat announced, “The command carrier has cleared the dust field. They are moving on a least time intercept course toward the station and are launching their fighters.”

Lexxi said, “They have detected us. They are launching missiles at us.”

Solear said, “Begin rotating the ship again and resume firing missiles. Make the pattern 10 offensive missiles followed by 10 defensive.” He took a breath and asked, “Computer, analysis, how many missiles did the command carrier fire?”