Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (37 page)

The president stopped for a moment, turning toward the admiral. “If we time their return to the day of the broadcast, the night
before
the election, I believe it will have the greatest impact.”

“Spoken like a true politician,” the admiral replied, smiling. “And I actually mean that as a compliment.”

“Interesting,” the president commented, an inquisitive look on his face. “So politicians are disliked on
all
worlds?”

“Not
all
worlds,” the admiral clarified, “and certainly not
all
politicians.”

President Kanor smiled back at him. “You’d make a good one yourself, Admiral.” The president shook the admiral’s hand.

“Good luck to you, Mister President.”

“To us all, Admiral. To us all,” he replied as he turned and headed for the shuttle.

“Admiral,” Gerard greeted as he approached.

“You know what to do, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir. I will not let him near any Jung scanners, and I will not let him be captured alive.”

“You have three days to gather your men and be ready for evac.”

“We will be ready,” Gerard promised. “And I will make sure the president is secured until after the operation is over, sir.”

“Very well. Good luck, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you sir,” Gerard replied, saluting the admiral.

Admiral Dumar stood and watched as the president and Gerard boarded the shuttle, followed by Kata Mun and Karahl Essa, and finally the shuttle’s crew chief, who retracted the boarding ramp and secured the hatch. They had one chance to pull off a miracle, and it all hinged on a forty-eight year old spec-ops lieutenant, and his band of ex-Jung soldiers turned rebels.

* * *

Nathan stood on the lowest platform of the Karuzara’s prim
ary dry dock, gazing up at the Celestia floating before him. He had not been here since she had originally docked almost two months earlier. At the time, she had been a mess. Her entire front end had been mangled, with sections of her hull torn away to the point that one could scarcely make out the line of her bow. She had been scorched and battered, and had hundreds of holes punched into her outer hull from heavy rail gun fire from that last Jung battle platform. She had given her all in defense of Earth. It was only fitting that she was now being given a new lease on life.

And now, she was a completely finished ship.

Not only was she finished, but she was better. Better even than her original designs. Although they still had additional weapons to add, she now had four mark five plasma torpedo cannons peeking out from a slit across the underside of her new bow, and rows of heat-exchangers under her midship dedicated to keeping the massive plasma generators that powered those cannons, cool during battle. Even more noticeable were the numerous emitters all over her hull. Primary and secondary arrays of jump field emitters, each of them tied into separate field generators and energy banks, giving her twice the usual jump range between charges. More important were the equally numerous shield emitters, an entirely different system, designed to protect the ship from rail gun fire by robbing them of their kinetic energy as they passed through the shields so that they would bounce harmlessly off her outer hull.

“Come to wish us a
tor tuyasya mayeeth
?” Master Chief Montrose asked as he approached the captain.

“Excuse me?” Nathan said.

“I believe the translation would be ‘good voyage’,” the master chief replied.

“Something like that, I suppose.” Nathan looked back up at the Celestia. “Actually, I just wanted to take one last look at her while she was still in dry dock. It’s still pretty amazing to look at her this way.”

“Indeed, she is an impressive sight,” the master chief agreed, his heavy brogue tainting every syllable.

“Especially just hovering there, like magic.”

“Aye. It has been something to work on her in this fashion. You know, I have actually walked across her topside, stem to stern. Let me tell you, the climb up her drive section is not an easy one, even in zero gravity and mag boots.”

“Really?”

“Indeed. My legs were sore for a week.”

“Stem to stern, huh. You realize that’s almost fifteen hundred meters, Master Chief? In mag boots, no less?”

“I won’t be doing that again, Captain. Trust me. Just figured I’d do it once, while I had the chance. It gives you an entirely different perspective on her, I’ll tell you that.”

“Then why didn’t you walk her bottom side as well?” Nathan wondered. “Stem to stern.”

“I’m not crazy, Captain,” Master Chief Montrose replied. “Besides, after walking her topside, I’d had enough.”

“Of course,” Nathan agreed. “Pretty nice looking cannons you got there.”

“You noticed, did you?” the master chief replied. “We’ll be firing them tomorrow, after we pull out of here, that is.”

“When do they start the depress cycle?” Nathan asked.

“In a few hours.”

“Then she passed her final exterior checks?”

“Mostly, yes. But it takes fourteen hours to depressurize this bay, so they’ll finish up in suits while they’re sucking the air out of this place.”

“I see.”

“You’ll be pulling the Aurora in here in another week.”

“Indeed we shall,” Nathan confirmed.

“It’s about time she got a good overhaul,” the master chief said.

“I’m sure Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy would agree with you, Master Chief.”

“She deserves it. She’s done a lot, and so have you. You both deserve some time off.” The master chief looked at Nathan. “Are you taking a vacation, Captain, while your ship’s in repairs?”

“I was thinking about it,” Nathan admitted. “Although it will probably feel odd to be away from her for more than a few hours.”

“It’ll do you right, sir. Bring you back fresh, and ready to fight.”

“Let’s hope, Master Chief,” Nathan replied. “I suspect there’s still a lot of fighting left to do.”

* * *

Gerard and his men squatted in the bushes along the clearing, deep in the mounta
ins along the northernmost tip of Kohara’s main continent. It had taken them nearly a full day’s travel, using various vehicles, to reach this valley. It was as far from Cetia as they could get in only a day. The ranges were tall, and this particular valley was quite deep, requiring a three hour journey along narrow, winding roads that had been carved into vertical rock faces. It was a place only the most dedicated wilderness enthusiasts ventured, and even then, not during the more frigid months.

Gerard took his hands from his pockets and rubbed them together vigorously to warm them, blowing on them repeatedly afterward. He could see the breath of all his men as they waited in the darkness.

“You are sure about your friend, Doran?” Gerard asked the man next to him.

“You worry too much, Gerard.”

“I do when it is this important, Tomas.”

“The president is unconscious, and will be for days,” Tomas reminded him, “locked away far from any Jung scanners.”

“He is old,” Gerard said. “I hope he will survive the procedure.”

“He chose to undergo the procedure willingly,” Tomas said.

“But he did not know that he would not be allowed to awaken if the procedure was unsuccessful.”

“Better he is unconscious anyway,” Tomas pointed out. “If I remember correctly, it was most unpleasant.”

The cry of an animal sounded from the far side of the meadow. It repeated a second later.

“That is the signal,” Tomas said. “Nyle has completed the perimeter check, and all is clear.”

Gerard looked at his watch. “With very little time to spare. We have but thirty seconds.”

“They are so precise?” Tomas wondered, finding it difficult to believe.

“If you had seen them in action, you would not ask that question.” Gerard looked at his watch again. “Everyone, eyes tightly closed, heads down.”

Gerard’s men closed their eyes tightly, then curled down into balls on their knees. Gerard made the same animal call as they had heard a moment ago, making it three times, each of them evenly spaced. He then closed his eyes and assumed the same balled-up position as his men.

A brilliant flash of light illuminated the valley, lighting up the steep walls of the mountains on all sides. There was a thunderous clap and a roar of rocket turbines, followed by wave of displaced air that washed over them as the light quickly subsided.

Gerard looked up, peering through the bushes as the cargo jump shuttle hovered only two meters above the flowing grass of the meadow.

“Oh my, God,” Tomas exclaimed in Jung. “How is this possible?”

“Exactly,” Gerard agreed in the same language.

The shuttle hovered above the ground, rotating a full three hundred and sixty degrees, its cargo ramp opened to a level position, as Ghatazhak soldiers jumped to the ground in pairs. As they landed, they ran outward, establishing a perimeter. The shuttle stopped its rotation and waited, its engines roaring to maintain position.

Gerard pulled out a small signal laser and activated it. He pointed it at the nearest soldier, tracing it up to the man’s visor as he had been instructed. The soldier immediately turned toward Gerard and his men, and gestured for them to advance. “Let’s go,” he ordered his men, again in Jung.

Gerard was the first out of the bushes, staying low in a crouch as he ran across the open meadow toward the shuttle. The ship descended and touched down, its engines immediately spinning down to idle.

Gerard ran up to the now standing Ghatazhak soldier.

“Sergeant Targus?” the soldier asked.

“Targus is the name of a poorly made car on Earth. My name is Bowden, and I am a lieutenant.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant. I’m Sergeant Lazo. I have orders to take you and your men to the Jar-Benakh.”

“Lead the way, Sergeant,” Gerard replied.

Tomas grabbed Gerard’s arm, a look of panic and confusion on his face. “The Jar-Benakh?” he asked, his eyes wide. “You did not say anything about a Jung battleship.”

“Trust me, Tomas,” Gerard replied as he led the way to the waiting shuttle.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“New contact,” Mister Navashee reported, “just out of FTL. It’s the Ja
r-Benakh, Captain
. She’s twenty kilometers to port. Her shields are up and her weapons are hot.”

“Sound general quarters,” Nathan ordered calmly. “Helm, full power. Climb to higher orbit and give us some maneuvering room.”

“Climb to higher orbit, aye” Mister Chiles answered smartly as he brought the Aurora’s engines up to full power in order to accelerate and climb.

“General quarters, aye,” Jessica replied from the tactical station. “Powering up point-defenses.”

“More contacts,” Mister Navashee reported. “Eight missiles inbound. Impact in thirty seconds. They’re not exactly pulling punches, are they?”

“Well, I told him to make it look good,” Nathan replied.

“Tracking all eight,” Jessica announced. “Firing point-defenses.”

“Jar-Benakh is firing her main rail guns, sir!” Mister Navashee looked over his shoulder at the captain. “Low velocity.”

“Two down,” Jessica reported, “three…four…”

“Missile impacts in fifteen seconds,” Mister Navashee added.

“Recommend rolling forty-five to port to put more guns into action!” Jessica urged.

“Forty-five roll to port!” Nathan ordered.

“Forty-five to port, aye,” the helmsman acknowledged.

The planet Kohara, below, began to rotate and slide up the left side of the Aurora’s spherical main view screen as the ship rolled onto its port side.

“Ten seconds,” Mister Navashee warned, “still four inbound!”

“I’m working on it,” Jessica muttered as she brought additional weapons from the Aurora’s starboard side onto the incoming missiles.

“All hands report general quarters!” Ensign Waara reported from the communications console.

“Five down!” Jessica reported, “six…”

“All hands brace for impacts!” Nathan ordered. “Helm! Kill your mains, full decel burn and barrel roll us down and to port!”

“Two detonations!” Ensign Marka reported from the Jar-Benakh’s sensor station. “She’s decelerating and in a descending barrel roll. I’m picking up debris as well… A lot of it!”

“That close enough for you, Scott?” Captain Roselle muttered with satisfaction. “Ventral guns, keep firing, low-velocity.”

“Uh…right,” Sergeant Shugart replied. He leaned toward Sergeant Garza, who was operating the Jar-Benakh’s ventral weapons. “How do you adjust the velocity again?”

“Sugar?” Roselle inquired.

Sergeant Garza reached over and made the adjustments for Sergeant Shugart. “Got it?”

“I got it, I got it,” Sergeant Shugart replied. “Firing ventral guns, low velocity,” he told his captain.

“Target is killing their decel burn and pitching around… She’s trying to bring her main plasma cannons on us, sir.”

“Shields at full strength?” Roselle checked.

“Yes, sir!” Commander Ellison replied from the main tactical station.

“Then let’em,” Captain Roselle said. “Queue up another round of missiles, Commander. We need to slap them around a bit.”

“Forward tubes in ten seconds!” Jessica reported from the Aurora’s tactical station.

“More contacts!” Mister Navashee announced. “Eight more inbound!”

“Point-defenses are firing again! Need to put our topside toward the incoming missiles again!”

“Do it!” Nathan ordered his helmsman. “Fire all forward tubes when ready!” Nathan instructed Jessica. “Mister Riley, stand ready on the fake escape jump.”

“Yes, sir,” the navigator reported.

“Mister Lawrence, be ready to release another batch of debris,” Nathan added.

“Both lifts have been reloaded and will be topside in ten seconds,” Mister Lawrence reported from the port auxiliary station.

“Missile impacts in twenty seconds.”

“One down!” Jessica announced. “Firing all forward tubes!”

Nathan glanced at the main view screen as eight red-orange balls of plasma streaked away from either side toward the Jar-Benakh.

“Four down! Five! Six!”

“Detonations!” Mister Navashee reported. “Two nukes, two kilometers above us!”

“Release debris!” Nathan ordered. “Standby to detonate charges!”

“Debris away, both lifts!” Mister Lawrence replied.

“Detonate charges!” Nathan ordered.

“Detonating charges!” Mister Lawrence replied.

“Execute fake escape jump,” Nathan instructed his navigator.

“Executing!” Mister Riley replied.

Nathan watched the main view screen as the blue-white light spilled out in all directions from the field emitters on the Aurora’s forward section, but failed to spread out and establish a stable jump field.

“More missiles launched!” Mister Navashee reported. “Sixteen of them! Two separate tracks! He’s targeting both our ventral and dorsal sides!”

“Jesus,” Nathan muttered. “I’m glad he’s on our side.”

“And he’s holding back,” Jessica reminded him.

“Missile impacts in thirty seconds!” Mister Navashee warned.

“This is it, people,” Nathan announced, shifting in his command chair. “Let’s make it look good.”

“Keep our topside to the targets,” Jessica reminded the helmsman. “Firing all point-defenses, firing all quads.”

“Remember,” Nathan warned, “You need to let half of them get through.”

“I’m trying,” Jessica promised. “It’s a lot harder to purposefully
miss
an incoming target than you might imagine.”

“Impacts in twenty seconds!”

“Four down!” Jessica reported.

“Keep our nose on them as well,” Nathan instructed, “and keep firing those torpedoes.”

“Firing forward tubes,” Jessica replied.

“Final loads of debris are ready,” Mister Lawrence announced. “Both lifts,
and
we’ve got the flight apron packed as well. Charges are all armed and ready.”

“Standby on the
real
snap-jump, Mister Riley,” Nathan instructed.

“Ready to snap-jump, sir.”

“Ten seconds!” Mister Navashee warned.

“Six down!” Jessica reported. “Firing all forward tubes, triplets and singles!”

“Five seconds! Three…”

“Seven down!” Jessica reported.

“…two…”

“Nine still inbound!”

“…detonation!”

“Eight down!”

The entire interior of the Aurora’s bridge was filled with brilliant white light, as eight nuclear warheads detonated both above and below her, only two kilometers away.

“Release all debris!” Nathan ordered. “Dump the forward propellant tanks!”

“Releasing debris,” Mister Lawrence replied. “Dumping forward propellant tanks!”

“Detonate all charges! Snap-jump!”

“Detonating all charges!”

“Snap-jump, aye!” Mister Riley replied.

The jump flash washed over the Aurora, this time in proper fashion.

“Snap-jump complete,” Mister Riley reported, audible relief on his voice.

“Position?” Nathan asked, not yet ready to feel safe.

“Two light years outside the Tau Ceti system,” Mister Navashee replied.

Nathan’s entire posture changed as he practically melted into his chair, an enormous wave of relief finally coming over him. He turned aft, toward Jessica. “Good thing they weren’t firing antimatter warheads at us,” he told her. “Who knows where we’d end up?”

Jessica smiled. “Let’s just hope the Jung on the surface of Kohara don’t have very good sensors.”

Nathan took a deep breath and sighed, straightening up into a normal posture once again. “Stand down from general quarters,” he ordered. “Mister Riley, set course for our rendezvous with the Celestia. It’s time to do it for real.”

* * *

Ten Jung troop shuttles approached what was left of the Jung airbase just outside of Cetia. The first ship came in qu
ickly—almost too quickly—touching down with a slight bounce not more than fifty meters from the formation of Jung troops on the tarmac. The rough landing drew a look of concern on one of the Jung officer’s face, however, when the troop shuttles that landed after them also made such imprecise approaches and landings, he attributed it to the urgency of their mission.

Josh and Loki both bounced in their seats as the troop shuttle touched down rather abruptly.

“Jesus, Josh,” Loki exclaimed, “you might want to wait until you get a gear contact light before you kill your landing thrusters.”

“Which one is the damned contact light?” Josh wondered. “I can’t read any of this shit!”

“I told you, those four lights over there, just above the range controls.”

“Well why the hell aren’t they above the gear status lights, like every other fucking ship in the galaxy?” he exclaimed in frustration.

“You want me to fly this thing?” Loki asked.

“You just look out the window and look like an adult for the crowd of Jung out there, Lok. You’re the only one of us that can.”

Loki looked out the starboard window, peering down at the group of Jung soldiers lined up in perfect formations on the battered tarmac. “Damn, there sure are a lot of them out there.”

“Please, don’t talk about it,” Josh begged. “I just want to get this crappy fucking assignment over with, and get back to flying Deliza’s psychotic engineering experiments.”

“That makes two of us,” Loki agreed. “Just be glad that our passengers won’t be able to speak to us.”

Boarding hatches on both the forward and aft sections of the first massive troop shuttle to touch down, immediately lowered to their loading position. Gerard appeared in the hatch, dressed as a Jung commander. He started down the boarding ramp in a hurry, his sergeant, Tomas, close behind. Upon reaching the bottom, he marched smartly toward the assembled men waiting to board.

“Lieutenant Commander,” Gerard began speaking in Jung, as he approached the young officer.

“Sir!” the lieutenant commander replied smartly, snapping to attention and offering a crisp salute.

“Is this it?” Gerard inquired. “I was under the impression that there were several thousand of you?”

“Three thousand, four hundred, and twenty-eight, sir,” the lieutenant commander replied.

“Then where are they?” Gerard asked impatiently.

“We were told that only one thousand men could be evacuated at a time, sir. I thought it best to assemble only those about to be evacuated, so as not to expose all of our remaining forces to a concentrated attack.”

“Attack?” Gerard wondered, almost laughing. “By whom? The Koharans are pacifists, are they not?”

“Pacifists
can
grow teeth, if provoked, sir,” the lieutenant commander explained. “Word of our withdrawal will spread rapidly, and it will take time to conduct four rounds of evacuation, sir.”

“Yes, yes,” Gerard nodded. “Good thinking, Lieutenant Commander. I take it you have arranged a method to cover the evacuations?”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant commander replied. “The last group is maintaining the perimeter. They have wired it with mines and automated defenses. We have also shut down all public transit. Very few will be able to make it to this base, if so inclined.”

“Excellent,” Gerard congratulated. “Well done.”

“Sir, if I may?” the lieutenant commander asked, leaning closer to Gerard.

“What is it, Lieutenant Commander?” Gerard wondered, turning his ear to the Jung officer.

The lieutenant commander glanced right and left, as if verifying that no one other than the commander could hear his words. “Commander, we can hold this world. I know we are few, but as you said, the Koharans are mostly pacifists. Now that the Jar-Benakh has defeated the enemy ship that has so plagued us these past weeks, we can…”

“Captain Tahn has given the order to sterilize all three of the Cetian worlds,” Gerard explained. He was careful to appear unaffected by the nature of such an action.

“But, sir…”

“Haven’t you been killing suspected collaborators in the streets?” Gerard asked. “Were you not telling the people of Kohara that the enemy who destroyed our ships could not have done so without help from those collaborators?”

“Yes, sir, but…”

“So, you can see how the sterilization protocol
is
warranted in this case?”

“Yes, of course, Commander…but all three worlds?”

“If we sterilize only the one, then we will be seeding even greater rebellions on the other two,” Gerard explained, becoming impatient. He cast a suspicious look on the lieutenant commander. “You are not
questioning
Captain Tahn’s orders, are you?”

“Of course not, sir,” the lieutenant commander replied vehemently. “I…”

“What is it?” Gerard wondered, appearing even more irritated.

“It’s just that…some of the men…they have taken girlfriends, wives. Some of them even have children.”

“So?” Gerard wondered, appearing indifferent.

“Some of the men may
not
want to leave.”

Gerard looked at the lieutenant commander, one eyebrow raised in discontent at his remarks. “Then let them remain. They can perish along with their garbage wives and their half-breed children,” Gerard declared with obvious disgust.

“Yes, sir.”

“On second thought,” Gerard said, “Assign anyone you believe does
not
wish to be evacuated to the last group, and have them provide security. Tell them… Tell them that Captain Tahn will
allow
them ample time to gather their families and seek shelter. Then, when the last group of
loyal
Jung soldiers are about to leave, have them shoot those who wanted to remain with their little rodents, rather than serve the empire.” Gerard pretended to look pleased with his impromptu decision. “It will send quite a strong message to the rest of your men, don’t you think?”

The lieutenant commander said nothing, instead just stood there, staring at Gerard with his mouth open, in shock.

“Lieutenant Commander, don’t tell me that
you
have a little Koharan whore yourself?” Gerard asked as he removed his gloves.

“No, sir,” the lieutenant commander insisted without hesitation. “Of course not, Commander. I live to serve the empire!”

“That’s what I thought,” Gerard replied indignantly. “Now, will you please get the first group of men aboard my ships so we can get on with this. I am so looking forward to finally getting out of this god-forsaken system.”

“May I inquire as to our new destination, Commander?” the lieutenant commander asked.

Gerard smiled. “We are going home, Lieutenant Commander. We have captured one of the enemy’s new propulsion systems, and we are going to deliver it,
personally
, to our caste leaders.”

The lieutenant commander looked as if he would burst with excitement.

“That’s right, we’re all going to be hugely rewarded for our contribution to the empire,” he said, tapping the lieutenant commander on the chest with his gloves as he strolled past on his way to watch the embarkation.