AMP The Core (14 page)

I smiled as I raised the Colonel on the comm. "Colonel, I have a gift for you. The camera sensor on these helmets has a filter or circuit that allows us to see through the Durians’ cloaking mechanism. I’m looking at a command ship right now that I could not see at all without the filter. I think you should pull someone back from York’s team and get your techs analyzing that. I’m seeing about triple the number of Durian ships out here when I have that circuit running."

The Colonel replied, "I’ll bring back Cominsky. He is much better at bashing heads than destroying ships. We have had two transports hit the ground already. They were contained, but rumbling through those ships would be something Cominsky would excel at. I’ll put him back in a hybrid suit."

I floated onto the bridge of the Durian command ship and brought myself to a stop. A Durian captain stood as his command staff sat around an oval-shaped table that was covered with display consoles. Larger displays covered the outer walls of the room.

As I began to turn towards the charge well, a thought occurred to me. I pointed my BGS glove towards the starboard side of the ship, and several seconds later I was once again out in free space. Using the HUD, I ordered the Swift to return to my position. The Durian command ship quietly slipped away.

When the Swift arrived, I boarded her and made my way to a storage locker in the hold. I retrieved four small passive probe sensors and slid them into the exterior pockets that lined the legs of my BGS. Once back out in free space, the Swift was again sent off to continue the sweeps of any ship located in the outer funnel area. Forty-seven Colossun and Durian ships had perished under its relentless assaults.

I scanned the area around me and found the closest Durian command ship. After three minutes of full power with my BHD, I was able to catch the ship and float aboard. I set the activation level of my BGS to a setting that would allow me to remain largely unseen while still having the ability to carry the microprobe. I found a secure location, blinked in, and pulled the first sensor from its pocket. I stepped from the security of the corner in which I had hidden and placed the probe in a position where it had full view of the displays that lined the walls. I smiled as I fully blinked out and floated away.

I hailed the Colonel over the comm. "Colonel, I’m sending you the sequence number for a probe I just dropped on a Durian command ship. Tell me if your guys can make use of the info. If not, I’ll go back on and destroy it."

The Colonel replied, "Give me a minute, Mr. Grange."

I floated patiently alongside the command ship until the Colonel returned. "Excellent intel, Grange! If you can do any more of those, we can make use of the data."

I scanned the area for another command ship and was soon rewarded with a find. The newly spotted ship was larger by half than the previous two I had boarded. As I stood on the bridge, planting the microprobe sensor, I took note of one of the displays. The Durians had a wire-frame funnel shape on a central display that almost perfectly mirrored the one the Colonel had shown me before.

The Durians were directing their assault ships down into the dead spot as the Colonel’s team had predicted. That one instance validated for me all of the prior planning sessions I had attended with the Colonel and others. Events didn’t always play out as planned, but when they did, the results made it all worthwhile.

As I continued to move from ship to ship, the battle raged on in the funnel. The Colonel’s defense plan was working as designed. Three more Colossun troop ships had made it to the surface only to be overwhelmed by the forces that were waiting. The Swift had moved on to its seventy-seventh kill as I polished off my eighth. We were holding the line.

I exited my eleventh ship as it self-destructed behind me. As I moved towards my first Colossun battleship, it turned and rapidly moved away. The ships attempting to enter the funnel and the surrounding staging areas did the same. The Durians had changed tactics to a full-on assault of the Gonta Carions.

I raised Commander Grita on the comm. "Sir, how are you holding up? Is there any assistance we can offer?"

The Commander replied, "We are managing, but I don’t know how long we can hold out. The Durians are targeting only the Bulgar ships. If this continues, I fear they may turn and flee. They have been close allies; however, no commander is going to sit idle while his men and ships are being slaughtered."

I ordered the Swift back to my position. "Commander, if you can think of any way we might assist, please contact Colonel Harper and let him know."

When the Swift arrived, I floated aboard and moved up to the pilot’s chair. With the skin again active, I set the program to attack the Durian ships surrounding the Gonta stations. Special parameters were entered to adjust the Swift’s trajectory so that any debris would be thrown in a direction away from nearby Gonta ships or Carions.

After a long arc, my first pass took out fifteen ships. Their clustering near the Gonta fleet made them better-aligned targets. As I looped around for a second run, the Bulgar fleet began to turn away from the battle, just as the Gonta Commander had feared. The Durians immediately turned their efforts towards the Gonta fleet.

The Colonel came over the comm. "Grange! We need you to come back and pick up a few passengers. York’s team wants to stay involved in the fight. They will be waiting for you in the quad."

I replied, "Be right there, Colonel. I think we can double our kill count while also doing the ship hopping. The Gonta are taking a beating, and I don’t know how long they will last."

As I landed and the rear hatch opened, York and the others came aboard.

York sat in the copilot’s chair. "OK, Mr. Grange. Let’s go do some damage. The Colonel says we have forty-eight thousand ships to contend with. And more have been trickling in every hour. With all the fighting, we’ve only managed to cut their numbers by 5 percent."

I nodded as we lifted off. "Yeah, seems like an endless supply. I just hope the Gonta can hold out long enough for us to make an impact. If we lose them, that whole fleet will be involved in a planetary assault."

York spoke. "Sir, I believe we need to target those command ships. They are all linked together, and the Colonel thinks they will be key to a ground assault."

I replied, "That’s what I have been trying to do. If we take out their coordination, they will become much less effective."

The Colonel came over the comm. "Grange, it looks like the Gonta have decided to commit troops to the fight. That mega-ship the Colossuns have—they are sending troops through the wormholes to assault it. The scans you sent back didn’t reveal much for personnel. It looked like a container ship, a supply ship for the fleet."

I shook my head. "Have you straightened out the deep ultraviolet sensor and unmasked all those Durian ships?"

The Colonel replied, "We are still working on that. We have been relying on the feeds from those microprobes you planted."

I looked over at York as I spoke. "If the Gonta want to raid ships, it should be those command ships. Can you send the feeds to Commander Grita and ask if he can focus his assaults there?"

The Colonel was silent for a moment, then replied, "My only concern is with Gonta security. If the Colossuns have spies on there, the Durians will know we can see them. We might lose any advantage we have from that."

I slowed to a stop near the massive attacking fleet. "I think that’s a risk we have to take, Colonel. We need to coordinate the best we can with the Gonta while they are here. They could pick up and run at any time."

The Colonel replied, "Understood, Grange. I will forward that information on to Grita."

The Duke came over my comm. "Well played, Mr. Grange. Your reasoning is sound, and your people will benefit from that move."

I sighed. "Huh, I thought I was done with you, Duke. What let on to you that I was still here? Or did you get tired of jerking York around?"

The Duke spoke. "In an interesting twist, Mr. Grange, I have found it increasingly difficult to track your position. I’m wondering if there is a parameter of the sodium-skinned suits that I have not accounted for, perhaps a modification that you made?"

I shook my head. "Even if we had made a mod, do you think I would be telling you here and now? Come on, Duke, if you are having trouble playing your dirty game, you will have to work that out for yourself."

I sent the Swift on its way as the others dispersed towards nearby ships.

The Duke continued to hail me. "Mr. Grange. Do you think it wise to be floating around out here now that you know I have been following?"

I responded as I floated towards a Durian cruiser, "You said yourself that you are just an observer. It has been one of the few things in which I felt you were genuine in what you were saying. I don’t know your reason for it, but you seem to have stuck to it. Although, you seem to have broken that rule in the past with that ion drive you sold me."

The Duke replied, "I have not broken the rules, Mr. Grange. I have, however, bent them slightly if the occasion called for it. In your case, Humans seemed to be stuck in a rut of fight and run. Through the agents of my agents, I was able to prompt you into action, that’s all. Your species was primed for it; you only needed someone to help pull the trigger."

I shook my head. "So, you pulled the trigger and launched us into a fight we were not prepared for. And now, you took away our best defense by stripping us of the Grid. A station that you put us on to begin with."

The Duke laughed. "The Grid was merely a training tool. Something to offer you time to collect yourselves before all the real fun began."

I replied, "You are sick, Duke. I have work to do, so you are going to have to go philosophize with someone else."

I closed the channel to the Duke as I entered the Durian cruiser. As I approached the charge well, I suddenly found myself back out in space as the cruiser quickly shifted positions. After several more attempts to board a ship, a pattern emerged.

York spoke over the comm. "Sir, these boats aren’t sitting still for us anymore."

I replied, "I’m getting the same thing. Either they have figured out what we are doing or the Duke tipped them off. I think we may need a change in tactics. When you get aboard, drop your suit activation level to a point where the ship’s gravity will take you along with it. Head for the charge well and wait for the right moment to blow it open. If you catch the ship stopped or at a constant velocity, you jack up your suit and blast away."

As York maneuvered herself into position on a new ship, she spoke. "Sounds like a plan, Sir. I’ll pass it along."

With our minor adjustment, we were once again killing Durian and Colossun ships. The Swift continued its relentless loops of death and destruction. Again, for at least a short while, it seemed we were holding our own against the attackers. The Gonta troops were invading the command and control ships one by one.

The armor on the Gonta ships was a good match for the powerful Durian guns. For each Gonta ship destroyed, a Durian or Colossun ship would limp out of the embattled area. A war of attrition, however, was a war that we would not win. The enemy fleet was far too large.

As I moved from a previous target towards the next one, I took note of a heavily damaged cruiser passing in my direction. I floated aboard as it passed, and reduced my active skin until I was standing in the ship as it proceeded. On the far side of the last planet in the system, the Durians had set up a repair yard. A dozen portable space docks were running, and a line of damaged ships had taken shape in front of them.

I notified the Colonel. "This is Grange. We have a new problem. The Durians are repairing their ships as fast as we are tearing them apart. Just behind the last planet, they have a dozen space docks running. I’m heading towards one now."

I contacted the Swift on my HUD and programmed a new set of targets. Five minutes later, the first of the docks imploded and then exploded as the Swift shot through it at twice the speed of light. As I took in the scene, I had a sudden realization that the ships to be repaired were all lined up in a nice neat row. I again signaled the Swift, and a new target was run through its tactical algorithms. Three minutes later, I was rewarded with the complete destruction of seventy-six enemy vessels in a single fly through.

As the cruiser I was on slowed to a stop, I proceeded to make my way back to the charge well. Less than a minute later, I was floating in space with debris moving in all directions away from my position. When the last of the space docks had been destroyed, the Swift stopped for a pickup to deliver me back to the bulk of the fighting.

I checked in with the Colonel. "Repairs are now offline, Colonel. Any ships leaving the battlefield won’t be coming back soon."

The Colonel replied, "Roger that, Grange. Nice work!"

When I had returned to the battle, I wanted to commend the Gontas on their effective defenses and their fighting spirit. That desire only lasted minutes before the first Gonta ship turned away from the battlefield.

I yelled to myself, "No! Not yet! Just hold on for a little longer!"

In a mass move, the Gonta fleet turned and sped towards a destination deeper in their territory. I wanted to pound my fist on something, but I floated in the dead of space between Durian ships.

For the next hour, York, her team, and I were kept busy jumping from ship to ship. The Carions were now heavily engaged in the fight, the great guns of the stations taking their toll on Durian, Colossun, Dakar, Prassi, and Bulgar ships as they darted in for a strike and then quickly turned away. The Carions were tough, like the Grid, but they were taking damage.

After dispatching a Durian destroyer, I set my sights on a Colossun battleship that had a familiar look to it. It was the type the Duke would be riding on. When I set foot on the deck, I performed a quick scan for the Duke and was rewarded with a hit. I moved through four decks before reaching the level he occupied.

When I floated through a wall into the Duke’s room, I rolled my eyes at the attention to detail of everything that decorated the room.

I spoke as the Duke turned towards me. "Beautiful room, Duke. I almost hate to destroy it."

The Duke smiled. "Mr. Grange, am I to infer that you actually have culture?"

I shook my head. "I never was one for the museums and such. Funny, though, I loved reading historical works and tooling through the drawings in our archives. Thanks to you, I have never seen a live chicken. Not that it’s high on my list or anything, but it would be nice to see some of those things, if they still exist."

The Duke waved his hand. "You know, Mr. Grange, if the time comes when you are able to defeat the forces that pursued you for a thousand years, I may be able to arrange for a nice, opulent life for you. I could surround you with beautiful things and beautiful people who would cater to your every whim. All you have to do is win!"

I raised my left hand towards the Duke. "The only way I win is if you lose, Duke. I’m tired of your babble; it’s time you got reset again."

The Duke pointed. "Mr. Grange? What have you done to yourself? Whatever it is, you should keep it up, as your skin looks absolutely radiant! You have a more youthful zeal to your facial expressions!"

I squeezed off a round at the Duke. He anticipated my action. He sprang upwards as the tungsten round went just below his feet. The far wall of the room exploded. A second and third round also missed their mark as I jumped across the room towards him. When I came to a stop, I evaluated the movement of the ship and determined that it had a constant velocity. I set the active skin to full and then moved slowly to my right.

The Duke spoke. "Now, that is hardly fair, Mr. Grange. You can see me, but I cannot see you."

I replied, "I guess those are the hard facts, Duke. Anyway, this conversation is over."

The Duke made two additional jumps in an attempt to remain alive. His second jump landed him beside my position. I moved again slightly to my right until we occupied the same space. When I blinked in, the Duke’s android body, except for an outlying shell, vanished. The remnants of the android fell to the floor.

As I turned to head for the charge well on the Colossun battleship, Frost came on the comm. "I got this one, Sir. I followed you on when I saw the gold-encrusted bridge armor. I’m hitting the charge well now. If the Duke’s replacements are on this boat, he is going to be out of luck for another week."

I nodded as I aimed my BHD glove and headed for open space. "Glad to see you in the mix, Frost. I’m guessing it has been tough having to live in York’s shadow for a while."

An intense ion stream ripped through bulkhead after bulkhead as the giant battleship began to disintegrate.

Frost replied, "Yorkie casts a big shadow, Sir. There’s no getting out of it. You just have to bask in the glory of it with her."

I smiled as I headed towards the next ship. "Where would I be without the two of you rampaging all around me?"

Frost laughed. "I’m sure you would find enough trouble on your own, Mr. Grange. As it is, you set ’em up and we’ll knock ’em down!"

With the Duke again missing from the action, the forty-seven-thousand-ship fleet began to once again retreat. As the Swift stopped to pick us up, I looked over at the Orienta. The battle scars were evident on her outer hull, but everything looked to still be intact. As we began to pull away, I had to once again smile as the Gonta fleet showed up on tactical as it made its way back into the Tresha system.

I raised Commander Grita on the comm. "Looks like we have a little time on our hands for repairs if needed. Glad to see your fleet is coming back."

Grita replied, "I’m not sure what just happened, Mr. Grange, but we could certainly use the repair time."