Beyond The Frontier Page 15

  He reacquired the firing solution on the missile caches the computer located.

  If he could eliminate those, and keep his distance, they might just be able to hang in there until the others signaled. If there was no objective on the planet, he’d have disengaged long ago. Space combat wasn’t an honor duel, sticking around to the death. If you found yourself outmatched, before you took a disabling blow, you lit your engines and headed for the hills.

  Or whatever counted for hills in space.

  “Ensign, maintain our distance. Firing solution is laid in. We’re going to use the remaining havocs and defang that thing.”

  “Aye, Commander. I’ll make adjustments as needed on the attack run, while trying not to compromise your shot. I’ll of course abort if necessary.”

  Phoenix once again lined up for a pass.

  The comm flashed. It was the insertion team.

  “Phoenix, Commander, respond.”

  “I hear you, Lee, barely,” Aaron said. “Things are rough up here. Lots of interference.” In more ways than one.

  “We’ve got them, Commander. Things are rough down here as well. We’re surrounded.”

  “I understand, stand by. We’re coming to get you.”

  Flaps pushed the engines hard. They needed to get in and out fast. It wasn’t necessary to get close, only to get a lock on the caches located around the vessel. Too slow and they’d get hammered, too fast, and they’d overshoot too quickly.

  The first havocs were away and found their mark.

  Phoenix accelerated along the dorsal structure too fast for the dreadnought’s turrets to track. The computer handled the firing. It was too much of an instant for a human to keep up.

  Another havoc found its target, another missile cache down.

  Flaps triggered a hard braking maneuver as they approached the dorsal bow of the ORA ship, Phoenix pitched down to get a bead on the underside cache locations. The deceleration allowed some peppering turret fire from the dreadnought to burn away more of her battered rear armor.

  Several more missile volleys and they’d destroyed all caches the computer identified. Only two reloads of tungsten for the railguns remained.

  As Phoenix accelerated away, Aaron held his breath. No more missiles came. It’d been long enough for the behemoth to reload based on previous attack runs.

  “Commander . . . enemy attack craft!” Herman called.

  “I see them. Damn, the launch bay is behind and we don’t have any more missiles.”

  The dreadnought was launching small attack craft, and they were heading towards the planet.

  Aaron fired a burst from the railguns but they sailed harmlessly past the small, nimble craft.

  He pounded the console. “They’re too quick. We’ll never hit with tungsten from this range.”

  “Commander, I have a suggestion,” Ayres said.

  “By all means, XO.”

  “Ensign,” she said. “Take us above relative to the dreadnought. Bring us over in a wide intercepting arc. Zane, ready the kinetic barrier. I’m sending the targeting areas to your board.” She swiped her info across. “Execute.”

  Zane worked his station and fired the kinetic charges. They exploded and created a gravitic wall directly ahead of the accelerating fighters’ vector.

  Aaron didn’t need any prompting. With the fighters slowed by the opposing force of the gravitic charges exploding in front them, he fired the railguns at maximum firing rate.

  The enemy craft were blown off their course and into the path of the streams of railgun fire. The gravitic charges had considerably slowed their forward speed. A tungsten slug traveling at point-seven of light-speed equated to enough kinetic energy to obliterate the tiny craft. Several more bursts from the railguns nailed forty of the nimble fighters, but one had escaped.

  They had enough tungsten slugs for one more volley.

  “Take us wide around, Ensign. I want a good shot at that launch bay.”

  Phoenix fired her last salvo of tungsten and destroyed the launch bay.

  “Yuri, bring our people home.”

  Flaps nodded. “On my way.”

  Ayres took the helm.

  ***

  Flaps scurried from behind the helm as the XO tucked herself in.

  “Watch for that fighter craft, Yuri,” Aaron said. “Remember, Hammerhead is out of ammo and we’ve got none to give you.”

  Flaps vaulted for the hangar deck.

  The lift speed made him want to tear his eyeballs out. Finally, he arrived. He bolted up the ramp into Hammerhead’s cargo deck, up the ladder and behind the helm.

  Already the bay doors were open. The craft was in standby mode, no need to power it up now.

  He lifted off the deck and into the black.

  ***

  Indri-3

  “Stand by . . . we’re coming to get you.”

  “Stand by? What does he mean stand by? We’re surrounded on all sides.” The corporal said.

  As if on cue more pulse laser blasts lit up the dark.

  The enemy had managed to penetrate the dampening field, and got their weapons partially working but their weapon fire was inaccurate—countermeasures still messed with their aiming systems. They had to aim manually.

  Ahead of them, the mangled barricades smoldered with the occasional hit. To the right a large fjord blocked any movement in that direction. The enemy advanced. Some no doubt, flanked.

  Dawes projected above the chaos. “We need to abandon this position. Everyone hold your fire. We know they still can’t detect our thermal signatures. They’ve only just got their pulse weapons working.”

  Dawes was right.

  The survivors of Endeavor cowered close by. Fear, stims, and the instinct to survive fueled them now.

  “Everyone!” Dawes shouted above the ruckus. “We’re falling back. Chen, Ubu, you’re on point push ahead.” He gestured to Endeavor’s crew. “Stick close to them, no matter what, understood?”

  They both clicked their acknowledgement.

  Lee folded up the deployable turret. The only working one left. The other positions had been overrun. Corporals Ubu and Chen retreated to Dawes’ position.

  “Sergeant,” Lee said. “This is your show. Get them home.”

  The sergeant called after him but Lee ignored him. He slung the folded turret on his back and sprinted through the dark. The enemy had numbers. But Lee and the marines held one advantage, with the heat and motion shielding on their armor, they could move undetected.

  It didn’t seem these people were any good at this kind of fighting. Everyone knew you brought the old school stuff along in case of energy dampening. If the roles were reversed, the marines would have spotlights.

  That’s the thing with technology, in some ways it made you lazy to critical thinking. Too much reliance. It was good when it worked. When it didn’t, then you needed a fall back. Horses came to mind.

  He continued his sprint towards the enemy base. They were only a half-klick beyond it. He occasionally stopped to check for enemy movement.

  His jump-pack had taken a blast from a pulse weapon and was out of commission. The trusty grappler wheeled him to the top of one of the base walls and he positioned next to the remains of a turret. He shoved a melted turret off the tower and deployed his own pulse turret.

  Their HUDS could still see the thermal movements of the enemy soldiers in and out. He raised Dawes on the comm. “Sergeant, give me a direct tactical feed, your HUD to mine.”

  The interference from the enemy jammers still hadn’t completely blocked them. He linked the turret into his own HUD. Its threat board populated with the movement of the enemy thermals.

  Dawes was linked to Lee’s suit and the turret. Friend or foe software would ensure their safety, but Lee made sure to designate the area around Dawes as a friendly zone so the survivors from Endeavor wouldn’t get hit as they moved.

  He activated the turret.

  Immediately it started blasting away at all the hostile mot
ion and heat signatures. One by one the elevated turret vaporized the advancing ORA troopers.

  A few minutes later, the turret was still pulverizing enemy positions forcing them away from Dawes’ position. Lee had programmed it to protect that area.

  Then a thunderous roar echoed throughout the battlefield. He tracked the source. His heart sank—not their ride. The small craft banked. Damn. It was headed for him. He’d hoped the turret would continue to incinerate the advancing ORA soldiers.

  He stepped off the tower and rolled when he hit the ground.

  The craft’s plasma cannon silenced the turret, then banked and headed for the survivors. It must have spotted them visually, or it possessed more powerful sensors.

  The craft dove and strafed the ground. Lee’s stomach churned. All this to be cut down from above.

  Another sonic boom echoed in the sky.

  “I’ve got you, Lee! Just hold on a little longer!”

  Flaps!

  Hammerhead soared through the cloud cover, but it wasn’t firing.

  Something was very wrong.

  Chapter 30 – Incoming

  Hammerhead

  Flaps rocketed for the battle zone on the ground.

  He could see the thermal signatures of the ORA soldiers surrounding the green friendly outlines. The scattering of pulse blasts criss-crossing the din.

  Then Lee’s transponder moved toward the ORA base. Wrong direction Lee. What was he up to now?

  Then he saw. Another green icon appeared on the tactical console. A deployable pulse turret. It began to pound the enemy positions.

  Right on, Lee!

  He hadn’t seen any sign of the enemy fighter. He shook it from his thoughts. He had to get the survivors.

  Minutes later there was an explosion near Lee’s position. The turret vanished. Hammerhead shook, and the fighter blew past.

  The armor held for now. The damn thing was quick. It banked away. Its signature was flashing in and out of the tactical display. It appeared again this time near Sergeant Dawes’ position.

  Hammerhead’s point defense turrets would have made short work of that thing. If it had any left.

  The small ORA fighter decided it didn’t have the firepower to take down Hammerhead, so it’d target his friends instead.

  But Yuri had one weapon left.

  He decelerated hard and banked. He could see the fighter on the display now. Sergeant Dawes must be lighting it up for him. Bless you Dawes.

  He aligned.

  The fighter slowed to bank for another pass on Dawes and Endeavor’s survivors.

  It wasn’t something you should do in an atmosphere, not with engines capable of accelerating to an appreciable percentage of light-speed. It would turn the ship into a ballistic rocket making it impossible for the enemy pilot to react.

  Flaps poured full power into the engines.

  ***

  Lee had caught up with Dawes. The enemy no longer advanced. Half had been cut down by the turret, the other half dared not move, they couldn’t be entirely sure what was happening. They’d taken fire from the direction of their own base.

  The enemy fighter had strafed them once already. Vaporizing six people on the first pass.

  Dawes looked at Lee. “Why doesn’t Flaps shoot him down?” he asked.

  Lee shook his head. He didn’t have an answer. He just knew something was very wrong.

  “It’s possible he can’t. Hammerhead took some heavy hits during our insertion.”

  They watched as the little fighter blipped and strafed Hammerhead then angled back towards them.

  “Incoming! Everyone scatter, don’t group up!” Dawes yelled.

  Even if they had wanted to, the wee men and woman of Endeavor just didn’t have it left in them.

  The fighter loomed large. Another deafening sound. An elongated streak ended abruptly with an explosion on the end of it.

  Hammerhead and the ORA fighter were both gone.

  Chapter 31 – For Yuri

  “That boy . . . would have made a fine marine” – Randall Dawes

  Phoenix

  “Commander, I think I have it!”

  Zane beckoned for him.

  Aaron unclasped his harness and moved to see what had the ops officer so excited.

  “I believe we can detect the mines,” he said. “Just a final—there.”

  The mines—little red blips—populated the tactical display. The dreadnought had been moving like a snail across the desert, it’d only maneuvered a ten-thousand klicks from the mines it dropped. Surely, mines wouldn’t detonate and hurt their own mothership.

  They’d need a little convincing. If he destroyed the matter-antimatter containment, it would detonate. The problem was the mines were too far to inflict any real pain to the dreadnought.

  He’d have to nudge them along. Now more than ever, he was glad he saved the remaining gravitic charges. “XO, bring us to the extreme range of the kinetic barrier.”

  The dreadnought wasn’t firing missiles, but it still had flak and plasma cannons in excess. If he got too close, it would be enough to knock out Phoenix after the pummeling she’d already sustained.

  “Ayres, align us to the same plane as the dreadnought and those mines, with the mines directly between us and it.”

  “Zane, I’m sending you new coordinates for the gravitic charges. Maintain a point-two-five firing rate only. We don’t have much left.” He swiped the information to the ops station.

  Zane nodded. “I’ve got it.”

  “Fire.”

  Zane complied and gravitic charges pushed the mines towards the dreadnought. It didn’t take long to build their momentum to a couple hundred meters a second.

  It didn’t take long for the dreadnought captain to figure out the intent either.

  Point defense erupted from the dreadnought.

  “XO, starboard thrusters—gently. Push us a couple thousand meters to port.”

  She complied, giving Herman a clear line of sight. The ops officer fired the gravitic charges at the designated coordinates—ahead of the mines. Not close enough to slow their progress, but instead, along the incoming vector of fire from the dreadnought. A kinetic barrier between the dreadnought’s point defense barrage and the mines.

  The gravitic charges continued to drive the mines forward. Close enough.

  The mines couldn’t get closer without the gravitic charges exploding ahead of them which were protecting them, pushing them back and they couldn’t stop protecting them yet.

  Aaron fired the final tungsten rounds from the railgun magazines shredding the mines’ containment.

  The destructive energies washed over the dreadnought. It listed out of control, going into a lateral spin. Its maneuvering thrusters no longer fired. Secondary explosions tore away at its rear section. Severely, wounded but not defeated.

  Aaron refocused the ship’s sensors on the battle on the planet. He didn’t like what he saw.

  “Hammerhead’s in trouble. That fighter is a problem. I’ve got to get down there while Flaps keeps it busy.”

  “XO, the ship is yours. I’m going to get our people.”

  Aaron entered the lift. Someday he had to make some kind of emergency tunnel to the hangar deck. Waiting on the lift to take him somewhere in an emergency would soon cause his head to explode.

  His people needed him. It didn’t matter if he was about to cruise into a thousand ships of the Baridian Empire or charge a line of infantry with his bare hands. There was only one barrier that could stop him. That was death itself.

  And he’d been dead before.

  Dad always said there was no greater love a man could have—than to lay down his life for his friends.

  He slipped behind Star Runner’s helm. He was off the deck and into the black.

  ***

  Indri-3

  Lee’s eyes lied to him.

  Flaps . . .

  Hammerhead and the ORA fighter vanished in a fireball. The debris rained down near their positio
n. Several hot shards nearly pierced him. Sergeant Dawes was looking up too.

  Lee felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “That boy . . . would have made a fine marine,” Dawes said.

  “Indeed.” Lee responded.

  Lee swallowed hard. The lump in his throat ached. His knees felt weak. Pulse blasts ripped around them. It seemed the enemy had found a renewed footing. He had one scramble grenade left. Nearly thirty soldiers closed.

  He’d retreated to defend the new extraction zone, now the area smoldered with the flaming remnants of Hammerhead. Along with his friend—the little brother he almost had again.

  The enemy still moved with caution. So near now, he could probably see them without the HUD.

  He threw the scramble device, and it detonated. It scrambled and drained all energy weapons within a half-kilometer radius.

  Lee looked at Dawes. “For, Yuri.”

  “For Yuri,” Dawes repeated.

  Some of the ORA soldiers finally charged.

  Dawes and Lee met them head on.

  ***

  Three slammed into Lee and took him down.

  Dawes leapt into the melee with arms out stretched and hooked all of them with his momentum, landing on top the one in the middle. He drew his plasma blade and drove it into the chest of a soldier. Another trooper tackled the sergeant from the side.

  Lee was up and swung his arm under in a wide motion and knocked away the ORA soldier who tackled Dawes. Dawes scrambled to his feet as another six crashed into him.

  Another mass of troopers took Lee down from behind. A rifle butt hit his nose. Lee’s flesh arm gripped his plasma blade, and he drove it straight up the chin of the closest one. A rifle slammed against his wrist.

  He struck the offender with the full might of his bionic arm and impaled the man. The man dangled on the arm and Lee swung it to bat away the ones over him. Then another rifle end to his forehead dazed him. His vision sparked. It went dark.

  They crushed him to the ground. Sudden screams filled the air and the weight on him shifted.