AMP The Core (17 page)

I entered the massive cannon that had been selected as my target with a Marine corporal by my side. "OK, Corporal! Let’s rip this place apart!"

We pulled to a stop and began firing tungsten rounds at everything that looked critical while we alternately blasted anything that moved with ion bolts. I held out my BHD and shot through a bulkhead to the next deck and repeated the carnage that I had previously unleashed. There were no thoughts of mercy for the soldiers who operated such a vile and sinister weapon.

I continued on, deck after deck, until a large power conduit caught my eye. I passed through another bulkhead and came upon a second and a third conduit that fed into a large tube. I had found one of the power amplification tubes that fed energy directly to the cannon.

I yelled, "Corporal Dice! Mark my position and distribute it to the others! If we take out the power that feeds that cannon, we shut it down!"

I took aim at a conduit as I raised my glove and powered up my BHD. Just before passing through the nearest bulkhead, I fired a tungsten round into the conduit I had sighted. The explosion was more than I was prepared for. My feet had yet to pass through the bulkhead before the expanding ion energy caught up to my position. The sodium skin covering my prosthetic feet was blown away, and my legs were vaporized up to the knees.

I was alive, but I now had a new problem. The active skin of my BGS was offline, and I was deep inside an enemy ship. As I began to fall towards the closest deck, I stuck my fist in the air. My descent was stopped two meters from the deck plating. As I held steady, suspended in the air, a Colossun soldier came around a far corner carrying fire gear. I raised my left hand, and a tungsten round blew him into a thousand tiny bits before he could react.

The alarms on my HUD flashed continuously as my suit evaluated its condition. I held up one of my stumps as best I could and took note of the BGS suit sealing itself off. I set myself gently down on the deck and queried the built-in Help files about the self-repair of the suit.

After a short read, I came upon a solution. I reached to a section of my abdomen just below my beltline. I felt until a small protrusion was found. Three quick presses, followed by two short and then six quick ones, released my left leg from my torso. An identical protrusion for the right leg yielded the same results.

I pulled and pushed at the released prostheses with no luck. They would not come free from the self-healing BGS. I looked at my surroundings and identified a local ion conduit running down a nearby wall. Using my glove, I powered myself close beside the conduit and set myself down on the deck. With a single shot from my blaster, the conduit split and a stream of ion energy shot across the deck in front of me. Using the BHD, I again elevated myself. I slowly lowered my torso until the ion stream was mid-thigh to my disconnected legs.

As I swung myself from one side to the other, the ion stream cut through the inactive sodium skin of the suit and through the disconnected prosthetics. I dropped myself to the deck on the other side of the stream and quickly pulled the remaining prosthetic parts from the sodium-covered suit. I pinched my pant legs shut with my hands until the suit sealed itself shut. I had lost nearly 40 percent of my bio-gel, but the active skin once again covered my entire body and quickly came to life. I shook my head over the disbelief in my luck. Don Grange was back in the game!

Using the BHD, I lifted back into the air and looked for the next amplifier conduit.

Frost came over the comm. "Scratch one cannon, Sir! Moving on to the next!"

I checked the stats from the Swift, and two other massive cannons had gone silent as they imploded and then exploded from a faster-than-light series of tungsten rounds. Then came word of a second Gonta Carion exploding from within. I again shook at the thought that another billion lives had been lost. The cultural sect’s Carion had been lost to the massive cannon fire.

The corporal that accompanied me into the cannon that we occupied came on the comm next. "Mr. Grange, start for the next cannon, Sir. I’m about to blow the second amplifier tube."

I replied, "Make sure you are out of the way of that ion plasma. It can overpower that suit."

The fourth massive cannon went silent as the corporal’s efforts shut down the second ion amplifier. As I moved towards the next cannon, I hesitated as I took note of the Swift’s projected path.

I spoke over the comm to the corporal. "Hold up, Dice! The Swift is targeting that cannon!"

The corporal replied, "Too late, Mr. Grange. I just crossed into the main chamber. I’m heading for the nearest amplifier tube now, Sir."

I aimed my glove towards the near end of the massive cannon. The Swift would be coming from that direction, and any debris field created would exit from the other end.

Powell spoke. "Cannon five is offline! Moving on!"

Maxwell followed. "Cannon six is done!"

Frost then spoke. "Cannon seven just shut down, but I think we may have lost Fields and McGraw. Oh, and Mr. Grange, the Duke has been badgering me nonstop. I haven’t given him the pleasure of a response."

I replied, "That will do nothing but irritate him, Frost. Keep up the good work!"

Dice spoke. "Amplifier one is offline, Sir!"

At that moment, the cannon before me imploded, shrinking down to a long, thin line before exploding outward towards the far end. The eighth cannon had gone silent. Corporal Dice had perished with it.

I pointed my glove at the next cannon and set the BHD to full power. I had five minutes to stop its destruction before the Swift came back for another run.

As I glanced back towards the Carions, I shook my head. The great stations were beginning to move under the power of their gravity drives, but the move came too late. The third Carion, carrying over a billion Gonta citizens of the scientists’ and builders’ sect, disintegrated in a white-hot ball of hydrogen fire and flame. Only the Orienta remained of the powerful Gonta Federation. The final four massive cannons fired against her relentlessly as she too attempted to pull away.

I entered the next cannon with vengeance in my heart. The first amplifier went offline without incident. As I passed through the second tube, I took aim and fired on the fly. The conduit split as I passed through the next bulkhead and on into the safety of the black space beyond.

The ninth, tenth, and eleventh massive cannons shut down as our BGS teams did their work. I was too far from the final cannon to reach it before the Swift would circle back around.

Frost came over the comm. "Heading for that last cannon, Mr. Grange. I don’t think the Gontas are going to make it!"

I checked the Swift. "Frost, hold up! The Swift has that one targeted. It should get hit in just under two minutes!"

Frost replied, "The Gonta don’t have two minutes, Sir!"

I looked back at the Orienta as it slowly picked up speed. Fires raged and flame spit from several dozen holes in her surface plating. The cannon continued to fire its devastating bolts of ion energy, each shot cutting deeper into the Orienta’s decks. Bulkheads collapsed; thousands if not millions were being incinerated with each shot.

Frost spoke. "Amplifier one offline!"

I checked the Swift’s estimated position on my tactical. "Frost! Get your ass out of there! The Swift is coming in! Let it do its job, Frost!"

A final bolt shot from the cannon’s focuser. It entered deep into the Orienta’s infrastructure.

Frost yelled, "Scratch cannon twelve!"

Eight seconds later, the massive cannon shrank inward and then exploded violently outward. As I turned back towards the Orienta, I took in a deep breath as a small, white-hot explosion took the gravity drives offline. Without hesitation the waiting armada took the opportunity to pounce on the crippled station.

The Swift stopped and picked me up as the Durian fleet sent a relentless barrage of ion weapons fire into the severely damaged Orienta.

I sat in the pilot’s chair as I spoke to the team. "The rest of you try to get back to Tresha. I’m going to offer what help I can to the Orienta!"

A voice came over the comm. "Rip ’em a new one for us, Sir!"

It was Frost! She had exited the cannon with no time to spare!

My BGS suit continued to pump chemicals in and out of the bio-gel in order to counter the high emotions I was feeling. Billions dead, York and her team lost. Our only close ally since we had come to this galaxy was soon to fully perish.

As I entered the first set of targets at just above light speed, seventeen Durian and Colossun ships disintegrated. The Swift made a wide arc as it built speed and turned for the next run.

Commander Grita came on my comm. "Mr. Grange. It has been an honor to ally with Humans. I am afraid we have reached the end here. I thank you for your valiant efforts. Carry with you into battle the resolve of the Gonta Federation and all her people. Our spirits will be behind your continued efforts. Goodbye and good luck, Mr. Grange. I’m placing my final bet on the Humans!"

Before I could reply, the comm channel went silent. As I raced in towards the grand fleet, I again saw the spark of a white-hot explosion. As I feared, the large hydrogen store had been breached. The white-hot explosion spread slowly throughout the great ship. In less than fifteen seconds, the entire structure was burning as hot as a small sun. The Orienta, and all who called her home, were no more.

I ripped through another dozen ships in the Swift and turned back for Tresha. The Gonta were gone. The Duke had won the first round of the immensely complex game he was playing. I shook my head in disgust as I thought of the smile that would be on his face. I gathered up Frost and the others and landed at the quad to prepare for the coming ground assault. There was no time to grieve, no time for reflection. A larger fight would soon be upon us, a fight that we could not lose.

I maneuvered into the Colonel’s command center, setting myself down in a chair.

"Grange! Great work on those cannons. What happened to your legs?"

I replied, "The legs didn’t make it, Colonel. I have an order in for a new pair, but they won’t be trained in time for me to use them. So, I’ll have to make do with what I have. We couldn’t save the Gonta, Colonel. Grita called me on the comm to thank us just before the Orienta went up."

The Colonel shook his head. "The Commander left us with a parting gift. Eight hundred fifty thousand of his best troops came through the portals before the Orienta exploded. I’m repositioning our men from an entire city. I figure the Gonta will fight harder if they are working together and if they feel they are defending their own soil. They are being briefed now on how we planned to defend it. I have our troops moving to other locations that could use the help."

I squirmed in the chair next to the Colonel’s console. "Grita was a good soul. I’m sure his men could have used his leadership."

The Colonel pulled up a list of the Gonta soldiers who had come through. "Looks like your friend Meecha made it through. If you wanted to pull him up on the comm, I’m sure he would appreciate it."

I powered up my glove to move to a quieter room. "Thanks, Colonel, I could use the lift myself."

Captain Meecha answered the hail. "Mr. Grange! Glad you are still with us!"

I replied, "Likewise, Meecha. Commander Grita called me just before—before the end. He thanked me for all we had done to try to save the Gontas. I just wanted to pass on to you and your troops that we too appreciate the sacrifices your people have made, and the coming sacrifices that we will all make. You are a true friend, Meecha. I hope our defensive plans keep you killing Colossuns for the foreseeable future."

Meecha spoke. "The Commander was a great man. His staff tried to get him to leave, but he was determined to be the last Gonta on the Orienta. There aren’t enough of us like him. I place you in the same mold as the Commander, Mr. Grange. A man for the people, a man who stands up against the wrong in this universe. I am honored to have fought beside you, Sir. Thank you for your efforts."

I shook my head as I smiled. "Meecha, your ancestors would be proud of the fight you have given against those same wrongs. And, I’m sure you will dole out continued punishment against their ground troops. Good luck, my friend, keep safe!"

As I floated back into the Colonel’s command room, he waved me over. "Grange! Get your ass over here! We have York calling in on an RF channel. She started broadcasting a half hour ago, and the signal is just getting here. We should have triangulation on its origin any second. What a break for us, Grange! If I was the tearing-up type, I would be on the floor bawling right now!"

I blinked out and pointed my glove towards the Swift. Fifteen seconds later, I was sitting on my stumps in the pilot’s chair with the rear hatch closing behind me. The Swift lifted silently from the ground and seconds later closed on York’s position. The armada was closing in.

York’s image came up on the tactical display. She was clinging to a piece of debris.

I flipped my comm technology to RF and spoke. "York! Hang on. I’ll be beside you in a second!"

The Swift came to a stop and the rear hatch opened. I floated out to a waiting York.

"Thank you, Sir. I thought I might die up here. Not the glorious exit I had always hoped for!"

I replied as I grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards the Swift, "I can’t tell you how happy this makes me, York! This is such a huge relief!"

As I released her in the cargo hold, I settled back into my pilot’s chair and closed the hatch. Seconds later, we were landing in the quad.

York spoke. "What happened to the legs, Sir?"

I replied, "Lost them out there on those cannons. How about you? Tell me what happened."

York removed her helmet. "I turned the transport to try to evade the beam, and I had everyone blink out. The only thing I can think of that saved me is that I had my BHD aimed right at that incoming ion bolt. It must have somehow protected me. I lost my weapons, my comm, my BHD, and most of my HUD. The active skin is barely functional. After floating along there for a few minutes, I grabbed onto that ship part."

I paused and continued, "I didn’t know these suits had RF."

York replied, "They do, Sir. I worked through a few of the Help menus, and the backup RF comm popped up on the HUD."

I smiled as I reached over to grab her shoulder. "Very glad to have you back, York. This fight coming up is where you might be most needed."

I followed York to the command center, where the Colonel had a big grin on his face. "Yorkie! Outstanding! I have a ton of work for you. I need you to proceed to Fort Dead and link up with Major Titus over there. We are expecting that zone to be one of the first targeted. You and the major will need to hold the line at these fortification points."

York looked over the image on the Colonel’s console. "Fort Dead, Sir? They couldn’t come up with anything better than that?"

The Colonel smacked the major on the back. "Ha! Just think of it as dead for the other side, Major. I’m sure you will dish some of that out for our friends when they arrive!"

York replied, "You know I will, Sir. Given what they just did to the Gontas, I’ll be giving them an extra dose of me."

The Colonel spit a wad of Omega juice on the major’s leg.

York nodded. "Thank you, Sir!"

With her new orders in, York moved off to her new post. The Colonel sat in his chair and began looking over diagrams of troop positions.

I spoke. "How long before they start coming down, Colonel?"

The Colonel sighed as he continued his defense evaluations. "Staff says in as few as ten minutes. The fleet seems to be taking positions that encircle the whole planet. I expect them to start testing our defenses for a crack at any time. If they find something they like, expect a shift in their positions and an all-out attack on that sector."

I leaned back in the chair and looked over the Colonel’s screens as he moved through the strategic centers that had been identified. Waiting for the action to begin had always been the worst part of war for me. If I was fighting, I wasn’t thinking about how we might die. My BGS suit worked hard to counteract the anxiety that I was feeling.

Several minutes passed before the Colonel’s prediction began to show true. Small raids of five to ten ships were probing our defenses. One such raid made it all the way to the ground before being obliterated by local fire. It was adjacent to the city of Nevil, the base the Bulgars had been assigned to. Ironically, it was a rival Bulgar ship that had made it to the ground.

The Colonel spoke. "That spite is going to get them killed and open up a front for the Durians."

I replied, "Spite, Colonel?"

The Colonel pounded his fist on the table. "That ship should have never reached the ground. They had the means to take it out before it hit the atmosphere. Instead, they chose to let it land so they could make it personal. Doomed themselves is what they did. That fleet is massing for an attack of their base right now."

The Colonel opened a comm to his staff. "Looks like they are going to hit the Bulgar at Nevil. Pull in what troops you can around her perimeter. If that base falls, they will have their foothold!"

I spoke. "Colonel, if you want, I can take the Swift out there. I can create some havoc for any ships that are lining up for an assault."

The Colonel took a heavy breath. "Hanging back here is killing me, Grange. I like to coordinate from the front lines. Sitting here watching all this unfold is going to be like torture to my soul. Take the Swift and see if you can deter their initial action. I’ll keep you on call if other needs arise."

I replied as I powered up my glove BHD, "You got it, Colonel. Call if you need me."

I blinked out, and fifteen seconds later I was setting down in my pilot’s chair. I pulled a seatbelt around my midsection to counter my missing legs. The hatch was closed, and seconds later I was rounding Tresha to the point in the sky directly above Nevil. I shot straight up and hit light speed just before encountering the pocket of five hundred ships that were grouping in high orbit. As I blasted through a pair of destroyers, my tactical display lit up with new ship arrivals into the Tresha system.

I hailed the Colonel.

"Grange, we just saw the same thing. I need you to evaluate their purpose."

I replied, "Roger that, Colonel. I should have that for you in less than a minute."

I turned the Swift towards the incoming ships and pushed her throttle to full. I was soon braking as I neared the new threat. It was fighter carriers, a ship that we had seen little of for many, many years.

I spoke to the Colonel. "This can’t be good, Colonel. Are you picking up my video feed?"

The Colonel replied, "We are. The computer is showing two thousand fighters per carrier. They are still entering the system. Two hundred twelve so far."

I punched a few commands into my holo-display. "I’ll do a few swings through them, Colonel. Maybe I can disrupt whatever strategy they have planned. At least for a short while."

The Colonel agreed, and I knocked out a quarter of the fighters on the first carrier as I accelerated outward.

As I looped back around for my first full run, several hundred new ships dropped below light speed just behind the carriers. A grid of ion beams suddenly formed a wall directly in my path. I had no chance to turn before I would impact the bright blue pattern in the otherwise dark space.

I attempted to steer the Swift towards a hole in the grid pattern, only to see the ion beams begin to oscillate in random ways. The scattered field in front of me would be hit or miss for the Swift.

I braced for an impact and was rewarded with only a glancing blow by the closest beam as it swept away from me. The active skin on the Swift shot up to 60 percent. A query of the Help system showed that I was vulnerable to a direct hit. My free lunch at the Durian cafeteria was over.

I spoke to the Colonel. "I don’t know if you caught that or not, Colonel, but I am now vulnerable out here. At the speeds I’m traveling, I can’t avoid a pattern like that. It’s too broad."

The Colonel replied, "Bring her home, Grange. They won’t be able to reproduce that pattern in this thick atmosphere. Try to focus on ships directly involved in an assault, like taking out their carriers before they start dumping those fighters."

I pushed the throttle to full and fired, taking out another carrier as I passed their position.

As I approached Tresha, I ran the calculations on the maximum speed I could sustain in high orbit. The display showed only one-thirtieth of light speed, just over one revolution per second going around the planet. I programmed in an algorithm to keep the Swift circling the globe while firing at targets as they became available. The damage would be far less significant than that of a full shot at twice the speed of light, but I now had limited options.

As the Swift dropped into its programmed mode, I popped the rear hatch and exited. As I slowed, I drove with my glove towards the nearest newly arriving carrier. After powering myself aboard, I sought out the ion charge well. Once it was located, I used the same tactic we had used against the Durian command ships. A bright stream of ions soon ripped through the carrier from the back to the front, destroying all the fighters attached to its hull as they attempted to power up for deployment. As I powered towards the next carrier, the two thousand fighters aboard her jettisoned and headed for the planet’s atmosphere.

I yelled over my comm, "Colonel! The fighters are coming in!"

In under a minute, nearly four hundred thousand Durian fighters had aligned in a formation above Nevil. It was a sight unlike any I had ever seen, nearly eclipsing the light of the sun from reaching the city of Nevil below.

I spoke. "Tell me we have something that is useful against those fighters, Colonel. I can mix it up with them, but I won’t be very effective against that many. What do we have on the ground?"

The Colonel replied, "The Gonta had a significant amount of air defenses that they left us with. A concentration of those fighters in one sector will be overwhelming. If they drop through onto Nevil, those Bulgar are going to have a very bad day, as will we."

I coded new programming for the Swift on my HUD. "I’ll have the Swift take a few swipes at them, Colonel, while they are all lined up."

As I powered myself towards a troop carrier that was in stationary orbit, I asked the Colonel a new question. "Colonel, why are they not blasting away on us from orbit?"

The Colonel replied, "All these cities have ion inhibitor domes that prevent high-orbit beams from reaching the ground. Fighters can slip through those domes and fire on a ground target without issue; they are just much smaller cannons. Larger ships could do the same, but these ground cannons would cut them to pieces, being that they are such big, easy targets. Our biggest concern is ground troops. If they breach the outer defense walls, they can take out the inhibitor generators."

I floated into the ion well of the troop carrier as I spoke. "So, our main focus will be keeping the ground troops beyond our walls. Isn’t there danger of the fighters taking out the generators?"

The Colonel replied, "The individual generators have a small inhibitor field of their own. The worry for the fighters is if they wise up and start pounding our outer defenses."

I fired a tungsten round from my left-hand glove. "Scratch one more troop carrier. Colonel, how protected is everyone else, our people?"

The Colonel hesitated as he passed commands on to his troops. "Did no one tell you? We have everyone capable of fighting manning the defenses. Everyone else is belowground in the massive bunker systems the Gonta had. They will be continuing our sustained farming, our hospitals, even educating our kids. If we stop life for war, we will all wither away. The others are protected in the bunkers. Until the city walls fall, they will not be in danger."