Queen of Chaos, page 30
part #3 of Sequoyah Series
“Least I get ta do somethin' now,” Palmer muttered.
The robo–ships were fully engaged by the Toren front ships. Ennis did a quick sweep of the readouts while strapping in to the gunner's chair and making sure his shipsuit was sealed. Given their positions, they must be taking a tremendous amount of fire. One appeared to be damaged so badly it could no longer move. Still no sign that Toren knew they were fakes. He watched the screen carefully while he did his prechecks, wincing when he saw every single robo–ship jog just a bit in the same direction. Something must have twitched in the ad–hoc controller, but if it happened again Toren might notice—and figure it out.
The Toren ships were now as spread out as they were likely to be until the visible threat was dealt with. It was time.
“Move out!” Ennis yelled. “Get us between that first freighter and the third ship in the line!”
Palmer never needed to be told to move fast. The freighter was closest, so Ennis took as many shots as he could until the suspected command ship was in range. Now that they were out in the open, he signaled Control dirtside and gave them his quick assessment of the various Toren ships they were facing.
“One remote ship is completely unresponsive,” Control replied. “Another has severe damage and limited mobility. The rest are only slightly damaged. Toren is using one of their standard encryption schemas. I've put it on the second nav channel. There's a one–minute delay since we don't have their gear to decrypt with.”
“Better than nothing,” Ennis grunted, trying to get a lock on the third Toren ship. He knew where the reactor was on that ship, and a lucky shot would render it useless. He could see Moire's ship on the scanner now. She was weaving through the front of the Toren fleet, skimming low over the ships so if the others fired they would be just as likely to hit each other rather than her.
It was all chaos now. He could only focus on his guns, switching occasionally to the decrypted Toren channel to gauge their reaction. He felt Raven shudder, taking a hit. Palmer would have to deal with it. The Toren voices had an edge of unfocused panic. They'd gotten that part right, anyway. Ennis listened carefully now, until he started to hear signs of a growing understanding. That was dangerous.
“Palmer!” he yelled. “Time to do it!”
“WOOHOO!” came the answering yell.
Ennis grinned. Another scan of the display…only two of the robo–ships were still capable of moving. Frankenstein was coming out of the shadow of Sequoyah to its last–ditch defensive position. Moire had scored a direct hit on the second ship and encouraged more friendly fire on the third, but the Toren warships were still very much in action.
Then he saw the flash indicating a large energy burst from the position of the hindmost ship. Palmer's pet project, the missile hidden in old wreckage, had scored the first complete hit of the war.
“Yes!” Palmer screamed. “I knew they wouldn't scan their own wreckage! Wish I had a hunnert of 'em!”
“They'd figure it out after the first fifty or so,” Ennis said.
“Yeah, yeah, but it'd be fun!”
As he had hoped, the surprise attack where there was no enemy ship threw Toren into confusion again. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the last of the clever ideas the Sequoyah defenders had. Everything else would have to be done the hard way.
“Time for missiles,” he sent on the defenders' frequency.
“Was that Palmer's toy that just went up?” said Moire. The relief of hearing her voice was like water in the desert. She sounded busy, but not desperate. Well, she never had, if he remembered correctly from their days on Canaveral. Even when she should.
“Looks like he got first blood. Let's mop up, shall we?”
She laughed, and then things got busy. The ship she had been firing on drifted slowly, as if it no longer had the ability to maneuver. Then he saw two large bays opening up.
“Look alive, they've got fighters or something coming out!” Ennis yelled.
“We're showing multiple ships on scanner,” Control said.
“Yes, I see them,” Moire snapped.
“Ships are entering the system now, from the other arrival point,” Control continued.
Well, it was nice that the crab fighters had shown up finally. Ennis felt a rush of relief. Now they could get something done.
“Hey, they are firing on our ships!” someone said. It sounded like the pilot of Frankenstein.
“Control, did the welcome message get sent?”
“Yes!”
Ennis swore. “Well send it again! Oh crap…” A large crab fighting ship was bearing down on him. “Somebody left out the important bit about who the friendlies are!”
Chapter 16
Anacreon in Heaven
Moire skimmed close around the surface of a damaged Toren freighter, dodging fire. She heard Ennis yelling something about the crabs shooting the wrong ships. She'd been so busy with her own fights she hadn't even noticed their arrival.
“Send it again!” Ennis yelled. “I didn't get a damn thing, so they sure won't!”
Moire switched the comm to pick up Control. “We're sending it the same way you're getting this,” Alice snapped. “We see the signal from Radersent too. I don't know why it isn't working!”
“Don't run translator signal through the encoder,” Moire said. “You're probably stripping out some of the higher frequency data.”
“Encoder is hardwired, I'll have to reroute–”
“Just do it! We need to get those crab fighters shooting at the right targets.”
More chatter, and Moire had to shut down the Control link. They could raise her if they really needed to, and she had enough to worry about. Such as the tragic lack of ship–killing missiles. They'd used up the few they had, and the remaining ordnance couldn't penetrate to reactor cores. The best they could do now was take out the engines, and that required a lot more precision and luck. Why had Toren sent so many ships, anyway?
She had the feeling the freighter wasn't going anywhere soon. It was moving but not in a way that indicated it could maneuver, and she'd already taken out all the guns on one side and the big ones on the other. There were other targets requiring her attention, and too many Toren fighters giving her all of theirs. She'd taken some hits but nothing significant, no doubt due to the lack of combat experience the Toren pilots had. You couldn't learn everything in a simulator.
Wreckage had increased—most of it, unfortunately, from their remote ships. It slowed her down, but also gave her something to hide behind now and then. New target, new target…who was shooting at her most? The ship that had been third in the original formation seemed to fit that description. She also didn't like the way it had moved back from the main fight and let the others take most of the damage. That sounded like the Toren higher–ups were aboard.
She wished she could hear Ennis yelling about something so she would know he was alive.
There was her target, and right coming up to it from the other direction were three crab fighters. Had Control managed to get the message out by now, so they knew which side they were supposed to be on? Only one way to be sure.
Moire swung about and cut across the crab ship's line of approach. This put her in line for the forward connection of the engine nacelles on the Toren ship, and she toggled the heavy shells. Moire fired four times and then pulled up to avoid the defensive fire. Heavy shells would have enough visual impact the crabs could see it, especially in the infrared. She dodged and spun behind a chunk of wreckage, intending to make sure where everyone was before she tried it again.
Now only one crab was forward of her. The other two were behind and in flanking positions, showing no indication of attacking her. “Looks like I just got some wingmen,” Moire muttered. Now, how was she going to tell them what to do and why? They hadn't even considered that possibility. Well, point and grunt had gotten them this far, point and shoot should be even easier. She hoped that the message from Control had done the trick and not her four–shot signal.
She accelerated out from behind the wreckage for another attack run. Sure enough, the two crabs were following her, staggered–ragged. Moire aimed for another engine to spread the love around. Hopefully her two new friends would understand that was the desired target. She kept one eye on the crab fighters as she pulled away again, and contacted Control.
“I've got crab helpers now,” Moire reported. “Did you get through? Do we have any live comms with them?”
“Only with the main ships,” Alice said. “Fighters don't have translators. Latest arrival doesn't have much experience with it, so we have a lot of confusion. Don't have any crab comm gear for Radersent either.”
“Terrific.” They had to do a better job with their communications for the next war. This was ridiculous. Why bother having alien allies if you couldn't tell them what to do?
“Hey, Ennis. What's it look like?”
“Too many of them can still move—at least five. We have to change that or we're dead.” He sounded tired. “Control, set the remotes that aren't moving to Last Call—but make sure the crabs know to stay away.”
Moire flipped her attack ship over and went after the keel gun on the Toren ship. It was firing accurately enough she had all she could do to dodge. One of her crab fighters wasn't so lucky. “Control. Status on the ships launched from enemy ship number two?”
“Tracking six targets. Data to command ship. They are moving between originating ship and enemy ship number three. They have not engaged.”
“Looks like a variant of our latest intrasystem fighter,” Ennis commented. “Standard load is two missiles, plus heavy cannons forward and a light cannon aft. Can just kiss the top of the atmosphere, but no farther.”
Moire sighed. So that's where all the missiles were. The enemy had them.
“Wait a minute, I'm seeing some strange behavior from the back half of the convoy. They are holding or pulling back,” said Ennis, sounding interested. “I wonder why?”
“They don't have as much in the way of weaponry as the front ships,” Moire said. “Control, confirm that crab main ships are closest to them?”
“Confirmed,” Alice said. Her voice was thoughtful.
“They're spooked!” Ennis yelled. “They never faced crabs in combat—they are running! Control, get one of those main ships to move flanking enemy ship number six, the light commercial freighter. Have the other maintain course, and if they can get there maintain position between enemy ship number three and Sequoyah.”
Moire raised her eyebrows. Unconventional, but it could start a stampede. She thought further and frowned. Panic was desirable, but not a stampede. If any of them escaped into webspace they would bring a much better prepared fleet back with them, and the defenders would have very little left to counter them with.
“We can't let any of them leave,” she said. “They need to be crippled or killed.”
“Got it,” Ennis said tersely. After a moment, he snapped, “Attack ship and Raven on remaining forward Toren military ship. Frankenstein and any remaining ships with movement attack the rear with the help of one crab main ship. Crab fighters attack the Toren fighters. Control, get the word to the allies. Primary objective is still to defend the planet, but keeping the enemy here is a close second. Execute!”
Moire swung around for another run at her designated target. It made sense—Raven and the attack ship were much better choices to face down warships, instead of the repurposed freighters like Frankenstein—but that didn't make it easy or fun. Getting the big crab ships out of the gravy was also smart, since panic could cut both ways. Better to have them hunt multiple terrified targets.
The lower guns were still firing, but with a slower repetition that told her they had been damaged. Another run could take them out entirely. As she made her run she caught motion from the corner of her eye. A new, darker patch on the underside, and just when she understood what was happening her scope picked up the approach of the no–longer–motionless Toren fighters. They were coming straight for her. Moire dodged to put the bulk of the ship and then a freighter between them and hoped her crab shadow would follow.
“Toren ship, launching shuttles!” she called out on the comm. “Enemy fighters defending. They're trying for a landing!”
Ennis swore. “What mental midget is in command there? What good will that do? They can't possibly have enough people to hold a whole planet.”
The shuttles were going all–out, direct for Sequoyah below. Moire squinted at the outline of the islands just visible on the twilight edge, since the darkside was nearest to them, trying to orient herself. Then she froze. The shuttles, and their fighter escorts, knew exactly where they were going. Moire fought the sudden sick feeling. Toren wasn't trying to force a beachhead on the whole planet, just one specific location.
“Brace for impact, Control. They found you.”
¤ ¤ ¤
Carlos Montero was confused. There had been a party, he was sure of that. Everyone was happy, and while he was happy too he didn't like crowds very much. He'd just assumed the big war wasn't coming for some reason and decided to have a nap in the warm sun. When he woke up it was dark. He went for a walk along the beach to admire the light of the moons on the water and get some fresh night air before going back inside. There were songs his grandmother had sung about sweet night air and moonlight, in the old tongue, and he wanted to see if it would be like that on this different world. Then it got cold and he went back, but all the people were gone and so was the captain's ship. Even the door inside was hidden and closed.
It would be better not to make a fuss. Eventually the door would open again and people would come back to the cave and he could simply…merge back, like he'd always been there. Carlos didn't want to trouble anyone, or get in trouble himself. That was when he got noticed, and that often was uncomfortable. It was still cold, though, and he couldn't find anything to keep warm in so he decided to keep walking. It was clear, with none of the horrible smelly plants, and he liked the sound of water trickling and rustling on the shore. He went far, farther than he'd ever gone before.
Even though he was walking it was still cold outside, so cold he was relieved when he saw a group of people ahead and waved, walking faster so they would see him and not leave. He didn't recognize any of them. He didn't think much of it; there were so many new people all the time. They were surprised to see him, he could tell. They didn't yell at him, not at first. That made him wonder. Then—then he knew they didn't belong on Sequoyah. The captain would yell when she was angry at him, but she never tied him up, or hit him. These must be the ones they were supposed to fight. It was confusing. Wasn't the party because the fighting was done? So much happened when he wasn't paying attention. Maybe this was a different fight.
It didn't really matter, in the end. The important thing was the captain would be angry about this. Very angry. The strangers wanted him to show the way in. They'd hurt him, hard, to make him say yes. He remembered that sort of thing from Nova Curacha, that was why he left. Stay on a ship, fewer gangs there. He had been confused by gangs too. Why would they never leave him alone?
This new gang was talking among themselves, about him. Carlos didn't want to tell them anything. But gangs didn't work that way, they'd kill him or hurt him so bad he would say something he shouldn't and it was hard to remember what you shouldn't say when the pain was bad. So first, he had to make them think he was telling them something they wanted. Then he had to find a way to hurt them, to make them stop.
He sighed, feeling gloomy. Even when he was young he had never been good at fighting, and he was tied up and injured, too. It didn't matter, though. This was his fault so he had to make it better. Not let them use him to hurt the people here.
“Thought it over?” said the leader. Carlos hadn't heard him, he'd been thinking so hard, and he gasped in fright. The leader smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. “Yeah, you're in the deep shit. Only thing that will keep you alive is showing us the way in, and we don't need you for that. It would be quicker if you helped, sure. Maybe we'd be grateful. Maybe. But your buddies are getting nulled one way or another, so why be a hero for nothing?” The leader glanced at him again, shrugged, and chambered a round in his pistol.
Carlos started to babble. He let it happen, knowing it would make the strangers think he would agree. “Bbbut…I…I'm lost! 'S why I'm out here, an…and I thought you were coming f–for me, and the chupalitros come out soon!”
“The what?” said a dark woman. She was holding a large wrench meaningfully.
“They are…they fly in the night. Warm things draw them, living things. It is true our blood poisons them, but by then you are dead, no?” Carlos shuddered, remembering when the flying thing had collided with his face. Without any harm to either, but if he remembered being frightened it would show, and they might not believe, but they would wonder.
“So let's get inside where it's safe, then.”
“I don't know where I am!” Carlos wailed, as loudly as he dared. It was true enough, even though he wasn't really lost. He could follow the beach back and find the cave, but then they would too.
“Keep it down,” snarled the woman and hit him in the ribs with the wrench. Carlos felt something snap, and a sharp stab of pain. He sobbed.
“D'ya mind not killing him just yet?” the leader said sourly. “I think he's feeling more cooperative, aren't ya, beb?”
He couldn't speak around the pain, so he just nodded. The leader went to one knee beside him, holding out a handheld display. It showed a rough scanner outline of the island. There was a white circle on the island, but it wasn't where the cave was. “We know your boss is sending signals from here. It is just up the slope from this position. Memory coming back?”
Carlos thought hard, staring at the display. The signal came from there. They didn't send signal where the tunnel was, so the bad people couldn't find them. The tall woman who knew so much about comms had found a way to fool them, make it seem like that was where they were. So, the people were safe for now. But he could see the beginnings of dawn, and if he didn't lead the strangers away they would see his footprints and maybe follow them back, and then they would find the cave.
