Ep.#3.6 - Evolution , page 18
The Maturo’s bridge was filled with the sound of alarms and urgent reports of catastrophic failures from all over the flagship of the Zhulati.
“Ground forces report they are surrounded,” the comms officer reported. “They are caught in a crossfire and are losing forces rapidly.”
“We’ve lost number eight port shield,” the tactical officer warned. “Hull breaches, port side, section one five, deck three.”
“Engineering reports loss of primary reactor,” the comms officer added. “We’re running on emergency power.”
“We’ve lost power to weapons,” the tactical officer added. “More shield failures are imminent.”
Captain Hyam stepped in close to General Gogol, speaking in hushed tones. “If we do not disengage now, this ship will fall.”
“We had them,” General Gogol said, unable to accept the loss.
“We did, sir. But the situation has changed.”
General Gogol thought for a moment, finally resigning herself to the inevitable. “Direct all forces to the rally point and get us out of here,” she instructed.
“Helm! Jump us out of here, then head for rally point delta five!” the captain ordered. “Comms, send a signal to all forces to abort mission and flow to the rally point.”
“Jumping!” the helmsman replied.
“Flowing all forces to rally point delta five,” the comms officer acknowledged.
The jump flash washed over the Zhulati flagship’s bridge, and the incoming fire that had shaken the ship to its core for the last five minutes, stopped.
“Enjoy your brief respite, Captain Scott,” the general said to herself.
“The Zhulati cruiser has jumped away,” Laza reported from the Aurora’s sensor station. “Their forces over the LZ are departing as well.”
Cameron felt a wave of relief wash over her.
“The Dusahn forces have defeated the Zhulati ground forces and are advancing on the captain’s position,” Laza added. “However, they are not firing.”
A jump flash filled the bridge with blue-white light, catching Cameron off-guard. The main view screen was filled with the image of the Dusahn cruiser, now less than a kilometer away and directly in front of them over the fifth planet.
“Captain, Lieutenant Vasya is yelling something I can’t quite make out,” Ensign Dass reported. “I think he’s saying ‘Rezhik? It’s Rezhik?’”
“What?” Cameron couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“The Dusahn ship is hailing us,” Sima added.
Cameron was still trying to add up all the pieces, but the answer she was getting wasn’t making sense. “Put them through.”
“Aurora, this is the Atlantis,” a familiar male voice called over the speakers.
“It can’t be,” Cameron said.
“They’re offering video,” Sima told her.
Cameron gestured to her comms officer to accept the video. A moment later, the very face she had refused to believe would be there, was there. “Telles?”
In an uncharacteristic moment for the general, a smile came across his stoic, chiseled face. “I am happy to see you, Captain Taylor.”
“Not as happy as I am,” Cameron replied, also smiling.
“It has been a long time.”
“Not for us.”
“Of course,” Telles replied, his smile fading as his thoughts went back to the demands of the current situation. “Please recall your forces and prepare to get underway,” the general instructed. “This is not yet over.”
“We have people on the surface,” Cameron stated, realizing the general was most likely aware of that.
“We will cover your evac, but we must move quickly,” the general warned. “The Zhulati have called for reinforcements, which will arrive shortly,” he added, ending the conversation abruptly.
Cameron slumped back in the command chair. “I did not see that coming.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Mirai, Aurora. LZ is warm. Repeat, LZ is warm. Evac immediately.”
“What?” Aiden couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Aurora, Mirai. What’s going on? How did the LZ go from hot to warm so quickly?”
“The Dusahn ship is on our side,” Sima explained. “It’s operated by the Ghatazhak. They’re holding the LZ for us while we get our people out.”
“How is that even possible?” Erica wondered. “I thought our Ghatazhak were the only ones left.”
“If you’re going to fly for Captain Scott and the Free Fleet, you learn not to be surprised, even by the impossible,” Aiden told her as he prepared the shuttle to jump back into the LZ.
The boot steps on the porch were followed by a knock on the front door.
Kit might have been eager to see his old friend, but Mori, Jokay, and Abdur were more cautious, each of them taking aim at the door as Kit opened it.
Captain Torren Rezhik entered, his entire helmet now retracted back into the collar of his combat armor. “Looks like you got yourself in over your head…again.”
“Nah, we had them right where we wanted them,” Kit insisted.
“Kit?” Mori prompted.
“Oh yeah,” Kit replied. “Okay, what was the name of that wealthy socialite I hooked up with on Pentus Three?”
“Jaisa Fanella,” Rezhik answered. “And you didn’t hook up with her. She shot you down cold. In fact, she laughed at you.”
“I don’t remember her laughing at me,” Kit argued.
“Oh, she did,” Mori insisted, relaxing and lowering his weapon.
“Good to see you, Lieutenant Commander,” Kit said, shaking Rezhik’s hand.
“Good to see you as well, Lieutenant,” Rezhik replied. “And it’s Captain, now.”
“Captain,” Kit replied. “How many of us survived?”
“There are eighty-eight of us left.”
Kit was shocked. Both by how many had survived, as well as how many had been lost. “How…”
“We’ll talk later,” Rezhik told him, turning to Nathan. “Captain,” he nodded.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you,” Nathan said.
Jessica stepped forward and hugged him.
“Time is critical, for multiple reasons,” Rezhik said. “We have secured the LZ, and our ship has run the Zhulati cruiser off, but Zhulati reinforcements are on the way. It would be best if we left as soon as possible.”
“Gladly,” Nathan replied.
“Can you believe it!” Josh exclaimed as he brought his Dragon fighter around back toward the engagement area.
“Did they say how many Ghatazhak are still alive?” Nikolas asked.
“Well, if all those red dots on the surface scan are Ghatazhak instead of Zhulati, then it looks like most of them.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Dragon Leader to all Dragons. Perimeter cover positions. Ten-click radius, Angels three. Remo and I will fly low cover.”
After the rest of the Dragon pilots acknowledged their new orders, Nikolas spoke again. “Josh, do you ever feel like we’re characters in a really crazy sci-fi vid-flick?”
“All the fucking time,” Josh chuckled as he pushed his nose down slightly and pressed his jump button.
Kit led Nathan and the others out of the house, with Mori, Jokay and Abdur at the rear, keeping an eye on Breyanna.
Captain Rezhik stood to the side of the door on the front porch as they passed. As Mori passed, the captain took him aside. “Is she the one?”
“That was in the SA pod?” Mori replied. “Yes.”
“Keep a close eye on her,” the captain urged. “She’s why we’re here.”
“And here I thought it was for us,” Mori joked.
“You guys were just a bonus,” Rezhik replied with a wry smile.
Kit had to fight the urge to hug every Ghatazhak he saw outside. These were his brothers. These were the men he had trained with, fought alongside, and lived with, since puberty. But the situation dictated restraint. They were still in a combat situation, and the Zhulati could jump back in just as quickly as the Ghatazhak had. Instead, he just exchanged smiles and nods with all the comrades he was able to make eye contact with as they made their way over to the Mirai which had just set down.
Jessica felt the same as Kit. Although she had only spent five years living and training with the Ghatazhak, she too had fought alongside them. In fact, the Ghatazhak had saved her from herself. They had taught her to control her anger and rage, turning what had been a negative into a positive. To put it simply, she owed them her life. “Hey, guys! Looking good!” was all she had time for as they crossed the short distance from Gillis’ home to the Mirai twenty meters away.
“We need to go,” Aiden warned over Kit’s comm-set. “We’ve got incoming.”
“Double-time it, people!” Kit instructed, pumping his fist in the air as a visual prompt.
At the same time, Captain Rezhik got the same message, as did the rest of the Ghatazhak on the surface. They immediately took up fire positions, preparing for the sudden arrival of the enemy.
Nathan and Vladimir carried the litter containing Gillis, with Doctor Barra practically jogging to keep up with the men’s longer, faster strides. Jessica followed, with Breyanna and the other three members of Kit’s squad close behind.
The group hit the ramp, continuing straight up into the Mirai’s cargo bay.
Abdur was the last man to step on the ramp. “We’re aboard!” he notified Aiden.
The ramp immediately began to rise. Two seconds later, the shuttle’s grav-lift systems began humming and the ship rose, climbing away. A few seconds later, its nose came up slightly as it began to accelerate forward, and then it disappeared in a blue-white flash.
The sky only a few hundred meters above their heads was suddenly filled with tiny flashes of light, followed by a cacophony of the thunderous tearing sounds that accompanied jumps into the atmosphere.
“Incoming!” Captain Rezhik yelled, dropping to the ground so that all his shield energy would automatically divert to covering his vulnerable backside. As he hit the ground, explosions detonated all around the battlefield as jump-enabled anti-personnel missiles struck.
“The LZ is under attack,” Laza warned from the Aurora’s sensor station. “At least one hundred jump missiles have detonated all about the engagement area. Based on their lower yield, I believe they were anti-personnel weapons.”
“What about the Mirai?” Cameron asked.
“They jumped away seconds before the attack.”
“Sima, get me the Atlantis,” Cameron ordered. A moment later, the image of General Telles on the bridge of the Atlantis appeared on the main view screen.
“Captain,” the general began, not waiting to hear what Cameron had to say. “Jump away, immediately. You are about to be attacked.”
“General, your people are…”
“We have things under control,” the general assured her, ending the communication.
“New contacts,” Laza reported. “Twenty-plus jump missiles. Five seconds to impact.”
“Aurora…”
“Jumping,” the Aurora’s AI reported as the jump flash washed over the bridge.
Cameron was a bit taken aback. She did not care for the ship’s AI’s tendency to act on its own if it perceived an immediate threat. However, she knew, at least in this case, that action had saved the ship. “That was close,” she said. “Where are we?”
“Two light minutes from our previous position,” Aurora reported. “Shall I come about for a return jump?”
“Negative,” Cameron replied. “Stay put, but channel all available power into recharging our shields, starting with the weakest sections.”
“Understood.”
“Sima, update all forces with our new position and order them to RTB ASAP,” Cameron added. She turned back to Laza. “The Atlantis.”
“We are two light minutes away,” Laza reminded her.
“Right,” she sighed. “Remind me to give them one of our AICC nodes…assuming they survive.”
The Mirai came out of her jump in orbit over the fifth planet, turning toward the Aurora’s new position two light minutes away.
Nathan entered the cockpit, with Jessica following him in.
“Damn good to see you guys,” Nathan told Aiden and Erica.
“Good to see you, too,” Aiden replied. “We almost didn’t make it in. If the Ghatazhak hadn’t shown up, we’d still be trying.”
“If they hadn’t shown up, we’d all be prisoners,” Jessica insisted.
“Where the hell did they come from?” Aiden wondered.
“I have no idea,” Nathan replied. “But I’m sure it’ll be a hell of a story.” Nathan noticed something out the forward windows. “Is that it?”
“Mirai, zoom in on panel three,” Aiden instructed.
The forward window immediately right of the center post changed focus and the Dusahn cruiser appeared. It was under fire and was responding in kind.
“Zhulati gunships,” Jessica said, recognizing the attacking ships.
“Considering the beating that ship gave the Zhulati cruiser, I doubt those gunships are going to be much of a threat.”
“Anything is a threat, if there are enough of them,” Nathan commented. “Where’s the Aurora?” he asked, looking out the other windows.
“She came under jump missile attack and had to jump out two light minutes,” Aiden explained as the view through the number three window reverted to normal. “We’re jumping out to her now.”
“Good. The sooner we get out of here, the better.”
Only moments after the Mirai jumped away, the Ghatazhak shuttles appeared, jumping in only a few meters above the heads of the men waiting for them. They jumped in directly over each group of Ghatazhak spread all around the LZ.
As the shuttles descended, the Ghatazhak below them spread out just enough to provide the room the shuttles needed to land. Once they touched down, the troops boarded, and within less than half a minute of appearing, the shuttles began jumping away again.
Captain Rezhik was the last man to board, and his shuttle was the last to depart. As the commander of the Ghatazhak’s expeditionary forces, he was the first man in and the last man out. It had been a long time since his troops had seen real action. Nevertheless, they had performed flawlessly, just as he had expected.
Captain Rezhik paused just beside his shuttle’s open sides, scanning the area. It was littered with bodies and dropped weapons, all of which would end up in the hands of the locals once they came to investigate. The Zhulati did not waste time collecting their dead or recovering their technology. They were convinced that even with their weapons, no one could best the Zhulati.
Torren smiled as he stepped inside the shuttle. The Zhulati were wrong. They had been bested, and with ease.
“The Mirai is on the deck,” Sima announced from the Aurora’s comms station. “Dragons and the remaining shuttles are at rally point four, awaiting orders.”
“Tell them to stay put; we’ll come to them,” Cameron instructed. “I want to be completely sure we’ve shaken the Zhulati before we try to cycle them in.”
“Aye, sir,” Sima replied.
“The Atlantis is still engaged over the fifth planet,” Laza reported from the sensor station.
“The Zhulati cruiser returned?” Cameron assumed.
“Negative. They’re engaged with twenty Zhulati gunships. They’ve deployed some kind of combat drones that are forming swarms around each gunship. Very small, very fast, and very maneuverable.”
“Can the drones take out the gunships?” Cameron wondered.
“If given time, possibly,” Laza replied. “But their weapons are not very powerful. I suspect their intention is to keep the gunships busy defending themselves, thus inhibiting their ability to conduct offensive operations.”
“That won’t work for long,” Cameron insisted. “The commanders of those gunships will quickly figure out the drones aren’t that big a threat and ignore them.”
“The Atlantis is using it to their advantage,” Laza reported. “They are targeting gunships that are completely defensive, easily taking them out. They have already reduced their numbers by half.”
“Mirai is inside the bay,” Sima reported. “Doctor Barra is requesting a medical rescue team.”
“Did they say who’s injured?” Cameron asked.
“Negative.”
“Contacts,” Laza announced. “Jump missiles inbound.”
“Aurora, hard about into the incoming. All power to forward shields,” Cameron ordered.
The Aurora’s AI had anticipated the second part of her orders, based on the first, and had already rerouted all shield power to the forward shields as she came about hard to port.
“Those didn’t come from the fifth planet,” Cameron stated as the ship shook from the incoming missile impacts.
“Forward shields down to twenty percent,” Aurora warned. “Aft shields at thirty. Recommend escape jump.”
“More contacts!” Laza warned. “To starboard! Three seconds!”
The Aurora’s AI didn’t wait for Cameron to order an escape jump. Its primary responsibility was to ensure the safety of the ship and her crew.
“Aurora!” Cameron began, but stopped midsentence when she realized her AI had already executed the order she was about to give. “Pos…”
“One point five light minutes from last position. Still within the Nishida system. Recommend evasive jumps, or we will be attacked again.”
Nathan walked briskly onto the bridge, with Jessica and Kit following close behind. “Aurora. Execute evasive pattern delta five two.”
Cameron turned to look at him. “I would have chosen bravo one five.”
