Ep.#3.6 - Evolution , page 19
“Dragons and shuttles don’t know that one,” Nathan told her as he moved to the tactical console to determine the ship’s current condition. “Sima, use a comm-drone to get a message to the Atlantis instructing them to meet us at the gate to Libertara. Point-to-point laser comms only.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Nathan, General Telles said this is not yet over.”
“Telles is alive?” Jessica asked.
“He is.”
“I’m sure he also said the Zhulati will have reinforcements on the way,” Nathan said. “Gunships are fast series-jumpers. Larger ships will be following.” He turned to Sima again. “Tell the Dragons and shuttles that we’ll be taking them in on the fly during delta five two, starting at the fourth jump in the series.”
“Aye, sir,” Sima replied.
“Marcus is reupping the Mirai. I’ll jump to the Atlantis and meet with Telles and give him an AICC node while you get our forces out of here.”
“You got it,” Cameron agreed. “And by the way, Nathan, it’s good to have you back. All of you.”
Nathan smiled. “Thanks for not giving up on us.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Captain,” Breyanna called to Nathan as he and Jessica walked across the hangar bay toward the Mirai. “I demand to know why I’m being detained here.”
“I don’t know,” Nathan replied. “Why are you being detained here?” He looked over to Kit.
“Telles wants her on the Atlantis,” Kit replied. “He says all of this is about her, not us.”
“Who is Telles?” Breyanna demanded. “Why can’t I stay here?”
“Look,” Nathan began. “There is something special about you. Something that the Zhulati are willing to kill to retrieve.”
“I’m a computer specialist,” Breyanna pleaded. “Or at least, I was.”
“A computer specialist who’s unaffected by a stunner blast,” Kit pointed out.
“They did something to you,” Nathan said.
“Yeah, they gave me blonde hair!”
“Come on, let’s go,” Jessica insisted, pushing Breyanna toward the boarding ramp.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Breyanna replied, knocking Jessica’s hand away. Her body became tense, as if she expected to have to fight for her life at any moment.
Kit sensed her chance in stance, and drew his sidearm, as did Mori, Jokay, and Abdur.
Breyanna began to settle into a combat pose, a menacing look in her eyes. “Something tells me I can take you,” she said ominously.
“All of us?” Jessica chuckled, pointing at Kit and the others, all of whom had their weapons aimed at her.
“Stunners don’t work on me,” Breyanna reminded them.
“Mine isn’t set to stun,” Kit told her.
“Neither is mine,” Mori added.
Breyanna locked eyes with each of the Ghatazhak, sensing no reluctance to mow her down if necessary.
“The only way any of us will cause you harm, is if you force us to do so,” Nathan told her.
Breyanna crouched a bit further, getting ready to strike.
“Please, Breyanna,” Nathan begged. “These men are the most highly trained warriors in existence. They will try to spare your life when subduing you, but I cannot assure your safety unless you cooperate.”
Breyanna shot him a confident look, one that was reminiscent of the very men she was about to face. “I can take them,” she declared as if she were stating an indisputable fact.
Nathan stepped forward, slowly extending his right hand and putting it on her shoulder. “I believe you,” he told her. He stared into her eyes, remaining calm. “Please, come with us, so we can find out what they did to you.”
Breyanna looked unconvinced.
“Tactically speaking, it would be better for you to make your move inside the shuttle, after we’re already en route,” Jessica suggested. “That way, you’d have a way to escape.”
Breyanna began to relax, coming out of her combat stance. “Very well.”
“You do realize that the shuttle’s AI would never give you flight control,” Nathan stated.
“I know,” Breyanna replied, turning to head up the ramp.
Nathan looked at Jessica. “Really? Giving a potential attacker tactical advice?”
“Relax, Nathan. They’ve all got their blasters on full power.”
Nathan looked at Kit.
“Yup,” Kit acknowledged.
“Same here,” Mori added.
Jokay and Abdur both shrugged, holstering their weapons as they headed up the ramp.
“Keep a close eye on her,” Nathan suggested.
“She’s not leaving the cargo bay,” Kit assured him.
* * *
A subdued flash of blue-white light revealed the black and crimson Atlantis. Seconds after she came out of the jump, a series of jump flashes appeared all around her. With speed and precision, the incoming troop shuttles rotated around so they could back into their respective launch bays. It took them less than fifteen seconds to recover all ten of the shuttles, then the Atlantis jumped away.
At another point in the system five light minutes distant, another flash of light appeared from where the Atlantis had reappeared. This time, she was surrounded by more than one hundred tiny flashes of light as her drones arrived and found their respective docking ports. This too required only fifteen seconds to complete, despite the larger number of simultaneous recoveries taking place. When it was over, the Atlantis again disappeared in a flash of light.
A minute later, four Zhulati gunships jumped in, expecting to surprise the Atlantis. They found nothing but empty space.
* * *
“Where are they?” Erica wondered, staring out the Mirai’s forward windows.
“Are we at the right coordinates?” Nathan asked Aiden.
“Right where they told us to be,” Aiden stated. “But according to their timetable, they won’t be here for another…well, three……two……one…”
A flash of blue-white light filled their forward windows, translating into the Mirai’s cockpit.
Nathan, just like the others, was slightly taken aback. Before them was the Atlantis, so close they could see the seams in her hull plating. He glanced down at the navigation display, then at the jump nav-com, which still displayed their last arrival coordinates. “Man, that is some precise jumping,” he stated.
“Mirai, Atlantis,” a man’s voice called over comms. “Release controls to us and we’ll bring you into bay three. Time is critical.”
“Understood, Atlantis,” Aiden replied. “Controls are yours.”
The shuttle suddenly rolled sharply to starboard, diving and accelerating toward the Atlantis. It was an aggressive maneuver, especially for a shuttle, and for a moment, Aiden was tempted to take control back.
Nathan grabbed the overhead, bracing himself. Even though inertial dampening systems removed the forces of flight, the body often replaced them. Just seeing things outside shift suddenly could throw you off balance.
Thrusters fired, and the shuttle slipped through an opening in the Atlantis’ hull that barely seemed large enough for them to pass. A second later, the inside of the bay outside flashed blue-white as the Atlantis jumped away. The lights in the bay were red, but changed to pale blue a moment later, indicating the space was repressurizing.
“Keep things warm,” Nathan stated as he turned to exit. “I want to be ready to depart on a moment’s notice.”
“I’ll keep her fires burning, Captain,” Aiden assured him.
* * *
“Oops,” Josh commented as they came out of the jump. “Looks like we’re early.”
“Better early than late,” Nikolas commented. “I just want to get out of this thing and stretch my legs. Maybe even close my eyes for an hour.”
“I’m going straight to mess,” Josh declared. “I’ve been eating nothing but flight rations for two days now.”
“I like flight rations,” Nikolas said.
“That’s cuz you never tasted Neli’s ‘clean out the galley’ stew’.”
“That doesn’t sound very appetizing.”
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” Josh insisted. “Kusya said she just put a batch on the line today.”
“I thought you didn’t like Neli’s cooking?”
“I just say that to piss her off,” Josh admitted.
His cockpit filled with blue-white light, and the Aurora appeared before him, already rolling into her next turn.
“I can smell that stew now,” Josh said as he turned to follow the Aurora, increasing his forward thrust to start closing on her stern.
“Dragons One and Two, combat landings,” Sima ordered over comms. “We’ve got gunships on our tail. Dudder and Mop almost didn’t get aboard.”
“Got it,” Josh replied. “Sweetie, you’ve got the landing,” Josh instructed his AI.
“Understood. Executing Combat landing.”
“Let’s get down quick, Remo.”
“Just make sure you stay on your half of the landing bay,” Nikolas joked.
Josh glanced out his forward windows as his AI dropped his fighter down behind the Aurora, lining up for a rapid landing cycle on her landing deck located on her stern between her main drive nacelles.
“On final, ten seconds to touch down.”
Threat alert lights began flashing on Josh’s tactical display, located in the pedestal between his legs. He glanced down at the view screen as it suddenly filled up with dozens of small icons, all of them barreling toward the Aurora from all directions. “Fuck. Abort! Abort!” Josh ordered, grabbing his flight controls. “I’ve got the controls,” he added as he pulled back hard on his flight control stick and gunned his throttles.
The Aurora rolled to the left as Josh’s nose came up.
“Dragons! Jump three! Jump three!” Sima warned.
The Aurora disappeared behind a flash of blue-white light, leaving Josh and Nikolas alone, with more than fifty incoming missiles headed their way.
A quick glance at his tactical display showed him that Nikolas had maneuvered in opposing fashion, pitching down and going to full power. This would split the target selection algorithms between the two fighters.
“Time to go, Remo,” Josh insisted.
“Meet you at omega four,” Nikolas replied just before the icon representing his Dragon fighter disappeared from Josh’s tactical display.
Josh came out of his pitch up maneuver and immediately rolled left, touching his jump button a second later to escape. His jump flashed washed over him, and Josh started a turn toward the omega four rendezvous point that Nikolas had referenced. But before he could punch in the coordinates, twenty plus missiles appeared on his display.
“Twenty inbound,” his AI warned. “Three seconds to impact.”
Josh had already reached for the jump button before his AI had completed her warning call. He jumped his fighter ahead five light seconds, then rolled into a starboard turn. The twenty icons that had been on his threat display had vanished when he had jumped but reappeared a few seconds later. “What the fuck?”
“They’re still with us,” his AI warned.
“Are these…”
“Jump tracking? It appears so,” his AI confirmed.
Josh pressed his jump button again, barely escaping destruction. “If so, they can’t have much range,” he decided, verbalizing his thoughts aloud, as usual. “We have to out-jump them”, he added as he dialed up a one light year jump. He waited for the missiles to reappear, but didn’t have to wait long. Again, they jumped in only a few seconds from impact, forcing him to jump yet again.
When his jump flash faded, he didn’t bother taking evasive maneuvers, instead dialing up a five light year jump, and jumping once more as the missiles returned.
Josh dialed up a ten light year jump, just in case, but after waiting a full ten seconds, no jump missiles appeared. “Looks like that did it,” he decided. “Sweetie, plot a course to omega four and get us there. Aurora, Dragon One. Time to point three?”
“Dragon One, Aurora,” Sima replied. “Forty seconds.”
“Be advised, the enemy has jump-following missiles. But it looks like their range is limited to maybe a few light years.”
“Thanks, we just discovered the same,” Sima answered.
“Jumping to omega four,” his AI announced as the jump flash washed over them.
“Hey, Rem’s, did they chase you as well?”
“A-firm,” Nikolas replied. “It took three point five light years to lose them.”
“We’ve got about twenty seconds to get to jump point three.”
“We are way long, Josh,” Nikolas pointed out. “I’m getting low on propellant.”
“Yeah, me too,” Josh admitted. “Sweetie, calculate the lowest consumption turns and jumps to reach the target jump point in Aurora’s current delta five two that will get us there in fifteen seconds and still have enough propellant to land.”
“Done, but there are problems,” his AI warned.
“Execute.”
“Executing,” his AI confirmed as it began a turn. “Would you like to hear the problems?”
“Let me guess. We’re not going to have enough propellant left to land?”
“Your wingman will, but we’ll run out of propellant during our turn to final,” his AI explained. “The Aurora will have to adjust her course and speed in order to safely recover this ship.”
“That’s impossible,” Josh protested. “The stern is too far from the ship’s center of gravity to have that precise of control, especially if she’s still got gunships on her ass.”
“That is why we’ll be landing on her main flight deck.”
“Oh, that’s so much better,” Josh moaned.
“Don’t worry, Josh,” Nikolas said. “They’ll just match your course and speed, and then thrust up to get close enough for the flight deck’s gravity fields to get hold of you and pull you in. Basic rendezvous and docking.”
“With gunships attacking,” Josh added.
“Just to make it a little more exciting, right?”
“Just another first in space jock history by Josh Hayes,” Josh said, rolling his eyes as his AI finished their final turn and jumped both ships.
The jump flash cleared a second later, followed by another as the Aurora jumped in directly in front of them.
“Both Dragons are on parallel courses. Dragon Two is low and starboard,” his AI reported. “Dragon Two will land first on the Dragon recovery deck. Then the Aurora will maneuver into position to pull you in.”
“Don’t worry, Josh. You’ve got this.”
“I’m not worried at all,” Josh insisted.
“See you on deck, boss,” Nikolas said.
“Aurora, Dragon Two, on final, combat landing.”
“Dragon Two, Aurora, cleared for landing,” Sima replied over comms.
Nikolas extended his landing gear but didn’t fold in his wings like usual. Combat landings meant quick and dirty, and Dragons only had full maneuverability when their wings were fully extended. He glanced down at his auxiliary flight display, which currently showed his approach corridor to landing. He was slightly high, but chose not to adjust his flight path just yet. He was still low enough to slip into the landing bay and he didn’t want to use the last few seconds of propellant he had left unless he had no other choice.
“Ten seconds to touch down,” his AI reported. “You are slightly high, but still within safety margins. Shall I correct?”
“Negative.”
The threat warning light on his tactical console began blinking furiously, drawing his attention to the tactical display screen. In rapid succession, more than a dozen inbound missiles appeared.
“Josh! Incoming!” Nikolas warned over comms as the Aurora’s point-defense turrets opened fire, laying out explosive intercept flak in the paths of the incoming weapons.
“One of the inbounds has locked onto us,” Josh’s AI reported. “Impact in five seconds.”
“Uh, Aurora? I could use a little help here.”
“We’re fully engaged here,” Sima replied. “Recommend you jump clear.”
Josh glanced out his front window. The Aurora had already started translating upward. “Negative. I don’t have a clear jump line!”
“Impact in five seconds,” his AI warned.
Nikolas fired his translation thrusters, causing his fighter to pop up above the Aurora’s dorsal surface. “Micro jump! Put us between Josh and the incoming!”
His AI responded immediately, the jump flash washing over them. Nikolas immediately pitched his nose up, using the last of his propellant to end his pitch maneuver, opening fire with his forward torpedo cannons. At the same time, his AI also engaged their forward-facing turrets, but it was like trying to hit the head of a pin coming straight at you, with another pin.
“Two seconds!” his AI reported. “Jump…”
The missile exploded only meters away, and the ship shook, shifting to port violently as something slammed into them. Warning lights began lighting up as critical systems began failing. In the blink of an eye, running out of propellant had become the least of his problems.
“Mayday-mayday-mayday,” Nikolas announced over comms.
Josh shifted his view overhead just as Dragon Two exploded. “Remo!” Josh yelled over comms. “Aurora! Dragon Two is down!”
“Two meters and falling,” his AI warned.
Josh grabbed his grav-lift throttle, easing it up just enough to soften his touch down on the Aurora’s flight deck. A jump flash washed over him as the Aurora jumped away. “Wait!” he exclaimed. “What about Nikolas!”
“Dragon One, confirm touch down,” Sima insisted.
“I’m fucking down, okay! Now what about my wingman?”
