Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens (20 page)

He tapped his laser fire control. His two tail lasers joined ten other green beams from their five allied ships. Their laser fire was co-located on four enemy ships, thanks to the target cross-tracking of the ship minds in their six ships. All Bill and the other Weapons folks had to do was tap the Fire patch on top of their Weapons control pillar.

In the system graphic holo, three of the remaining eleven enemy ships spun off to one side or another, their ships leaking air, water and fusion isotope fuel, according to his spectroscope sensor readings. Added to the earlier ship he’d just zapped that removed four enemy ships from the fight. Leaving eight death-seekers.

Amidst the wild jinking, jerking and random movements of enemy and allied ships, green beams crisscrossed the space between them, reaching for invisible hulls.

Bill saw Jake’s seven ships and five subs overtake the four wounded enemy ships. The enemy ships fired lasers at Jake’s group. They missed. Then Jake’s Collector ships fired. Black antimatter beams reached out and demolished the engine sections of the four enemy ships. Those ships stopped their laser fire and focused on recovering ship control.

Which left eight enemy Collectors raining green Hell on the
Blue Sky
and the ships of his saloon buddies.

Two green beams touched the rear end of the
Musan
, killing both of its Magfield engines.

Alicia’s ship stayed on its sideways escape route at eleven percent of lightspeed, thanks to already established inertia. But she had no ability to maneuver out of the way of more laser beams. Or an antimatter beam once the enemy closed to within 4,000 miles of the
Musan
.

“Reverse course!” cried Jane to Lofty Flyer. “We’re not leaving Alicia to the wolves!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Too much happened all too quickly.

Bill tapped his nose lasers as the
Blue Sky
flipped heads-to-tail so its nose faced the oncoming enemy ships. Their allied ships copied Jane’s flip-over maneuver. Magfield engines did not care which direction any Collector ship was aimed. The magnetic field-based engines either pulled or pushed against the magfields of the Sun and nearby planets. Now, with their flip-over, Chester changed their engine setting to attraction toward Jupiter. And the onrushing enemy ships. In seconds they would fly past each other. Black antimatter beams and green laser streaks would flash out. Ships would be hit. Lives would be lost and—

“The subs!” cried Chester. “They’re running up the tails of those ships!”

Bill swallowed hard even as he fired their nose lasers at the rapidly nearing enemy ships. Two green flares showed hits. What the hell were their allies trying to do?

Jink. Jink. Triple jink the subs moved.

Yellow-white plasma balls filled the true space holo.

“Fuck!” cursed Bright Sparkle.

He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Nor, judging by the sudden silence, could Jane or his crewmates.

The subs
Louisiana
,
Minnesota
,
Vladimir Monomakh
,
Alexsandr Nevskiy
and the
Chairman Mao Zedong
had rammed the rear ends of five enemy Collector ships. The impacts had breached the antimatter reservoirs on those ships. Unleashed antimatter had just consumed five Collectors and five human subs. Six hundred or more people were dead. As were 25 on the enemy Collectors. Those ships had fired their tail lasers at the closing subs but the sideways jinking and spiraling of the sub navigators had kept them whole until impact. But why hadn’t the subs first tried launching their missiles at the enemy ships?

He blinked. In five seconds the remaining three enemy ships would reach antimatter beam range. As would the
Blue Sky
, the
Musan
and the four other ships run by his saloon buddies.
Ahhh
. The
Musan
, unable to reverse Magfield thrust due to its dead engines, sped away from them on a vector that would take it south of the planetary ecliptic. Leaving the
Blue Sky, Fallujah, Moberly, Harken
and
Neil C. Roberts
to tackle Death Leader and his two remaining ships. Five versus three. Bill gave thanks that at least Alicia and Howard would survive on the
Musan
. Whatever happened now, the remaining subs and ships of the other Earth fleet would surely—

“Look!” cried Jane.

In his system graphic the
Fear Arrives
and its two surviving allies changed their vector angle by 70 degrees, sending the enemy away from Bill’s fleet ships even as they closed to within range for their antimatter projectors.

He tapped his fire control panel.

A black beam instantly zipped out faster than he could blink.

It missed.

Black beams from their four Collector allies also reached out, but fell short as the three enemy ships increased the distance to them beyond 4,000 miles. Bill tapped his lasers, as did his four ship allies. Green streaks chased after the fleeing enemy ships. Two were hit but the impacts were at a bad angle. The adaptive optics seeded into those hulls deflected most laser power away. At best the ships were scorched. They now passed beyond the 10,000 mile range of ship lasers. And their new vector track had them headed straight for Earth!

“After them!” yelled Jane. “Change our vector to match theirs. Chester, match their speed!”

“Vector changing,” chittered Lofty Flyer.

“Working on it,” rumbled Chester. “Eleven percent is all we can safely sustain.”

Bill felt a chill run down his spine. “Captain, the enemy is managing 12 percent of lightspeed. They are pulling ahead of us.” He checked his system graphic. “Jake and his six Collector ships are changing their vectors too. As are the remaining boomer subs. None of us are matching or closing on the enemy.”

His heart beat fast. Then faster. If Death Leader and his two Collector allies could maintain their hyper-fast speed, they would reach Earth before the
Blue Sky
and other Earth ships reached them. Which meant Earth would be hit by MITV thermonukes and antimatter beams fired by the three surviving enemy ships.

The horse-like head of Wind Swift turned and looked back at Jane. “What do we do?”

♦   ♦   ♦

Jane saw the reality of what faced her in the system graphic holo at her left. Even as Jake and six other Collector ships, plus 17 surviving subs pursued Death Leader from one angle, and her
Blue Sky
plus four ships pursued from her angle, the Mokden monster’s three ships formed the peak of a vector triangle that had hers and Jake’s fleets at either foot of the triangle. Even as she watched, the triangle grew slightly longer as the extra speed of the enemy ships drew them further away. And, eventually, closer to Earth.

“I will not allow the deaths of Joshua, Leonard and their three sub allies be for nothing.” An electric tingle coursed along her arms and out to her fingertips. “Bright Sparkle, maintain overload power flow from our reactors. Chester, push us up to 12 percent of lightspeed.”

“Working on it,” Chester muttered.

“Captain Jane,” hummed the voice of Star Traveler. “No Magfield engine in any Collector ship cannot long sustain the strain of exceeding the rated thrust of those engines. While 11 percent of lightspeed can be maintained for a lengthy period, 12 percent is dangerous. You risk engine meltdown. Or explosion. If an engine explosion reaches our fusion isotope fuel tanks, we could lose the rear half of this ship.”

She sucked air in deep. “Ship mind, our two Magfield engines were repaired by Megun engineers during our stopover at Harken. Do those repairs improve the survivability of our two engines?”

“The repairs do not improve survivability,” the AI hummed low. She thought its voice tone sounded almost fearful.

Options. What were her options?

“Star Traveler, can this ship make an Alcubierre space-time jump to get near Earth? So we can be there before the enemy ships arrive?”

“Alcubierre transit deep within the magnetosphere of a star has never been attempted,” the AI hummed long and low, sounding puzzled. “My computations suggest such an attempt would result in the vaporization of this entire ship upon emergence. Disintegration may also happen upon activation of the stardrive. We are deep within the magnetosphere of the star Sol.”

“Why!” she yelled, not giving a damn what Poindexter, Hartman or anyone else thought of her temper.

“Because the artificial space-time modulus created by the Alcubierre stardrive is not compatible with the space-time fabric that lies within a star’s magnetosphere,” the AI hummed. “That is why all Alcubierre star travel begins and ends outside the magnetosphere of a star.”

“We’re at 12 percent of lightspeed,” Chester rumbled from up front. The crewcut man looked back her way, his clean-shaven face showing tight-clenched muscles. His gray eyes fixed on her.

She gave the man a thumbs-up. “Outstanding, vice admiral. Transmit your engine settings to our other ships. In both fleets.”

The stocky husband of Sharon turned back to his control pillar. He tapped on its surface. “Engine settings transmitted.”

Jane looked at the system graphic which showed the positions and distances of all ships.
Fear Arrives
was now 23,317 miles ahead of the
Blue Sky
. As were its two ship allies. Who seemed able to maintain 12 percent of lightspeed. The graphic showed Jake’s ship
Tangi Valley
, which was in the lead ahead of the other Collectors and the 17 surviving subs, was further away. Its range to Death Leader’s ship was 32,187 miles. She watched a moment. Those numbers did not change.
Yes!

“Fleet captains, we are in chase mode now. Death Leader and his ships are not pulling ahead of us. While we are not closing on them, I am willing to see how long the enemy can maintain this overload speed.” She licked her lips and told her heart to stop thumping so hard. “Give your people a food, drink and rest break. I do not anticipate imminent combat.”

Her Collector ship captains acknowledged her order. As did the captains on the 17 subs that were trailing Jake’s ship. Or, rather, 11 subs acknowledged. Six had not, including the British and French ships. Why not?

“Incoming encrypted signal from Peterson,” hummed Star Traveler.

What the fuck? Poindexter again?
“Accept the signal. Share it with all ships.”

“Accepted. Imagery displayed.”

Shock hit Jane. Appearing in her comlink holo was not the middle-aged face of Harriet Poindexter. Instead, it was Melody Hartman. She stood up and saluted her commander in chief.

“Madame President, my two fleets are pursuing the enemy. The enemy strength is greatly reduced,” she said quickly.

Hartman, sitting in the Oval Office on a Monday afternoon, not long after rain had drenched the green shrubs visible through the window behind her desk, leaned forward. The woman’s luxuriantly curled brown air framed an expression of rectitude and determination. Her blue eyes fixed on Jane.

“Captain Yamaguchi, you and your fleets have done outstanding work in this space battle,” the Anglo woman said in a low soprano. “However, three enemy Collector ships are heading for Earth. Which lies just five AU from Jupiter. Those ships approach at 12 percent of lightspeed. Which means they will be here within six and a third hours.”

“Six point one hours,” Star Traveler interjected.

“You must be a saint to cope with that AI,” Hartman said, her lips compressing. “Captain, I have sent orders to six boomer subs to run their reactors at overload. They will try to attain 13 percent of lightspeed. Which means they will overtake the enemy. They will either destroy the enemy with lasers, with missiles or ram him. As the five subs did earlier. We mourn the deaths of those good sailors.” Hartman sat back and rested her arms on her wooden chair. Her look was one Jane had come to know. It was the look on one’s face when you knew you sent people to possible death. “It was my decision, in consultation with the leaders of Russia, China, France and Great Britain, to order those subs to make this effort. You are still in command of the remaining forces. If an enemy ship’s engines fail, or they fall within your targeting range, attack them!”

“I will, Madame President,” Jane said, hoping her salute held steady.

Hartman nodded. “At ease, captain. Your advice to the other ships was good. Take a break. Eat and relax. Then prepare for the final battle.”

“We will, Madame President,” she said, lowering her right hand and sitting down in her command seat. In front of her, Chester, Bill and Bright Sparkle also lowered their salutes and sat at their work stations. Lofty Flyer and Wind Swift had stayed focused on their stations.

Hartman’s image vanished. Poindexter did not appear. Nor did JCS chairman McAuley. Perhaps the rest of this battle really was up to her. She looked down and ahead.

“Chester, move our engines up to 13 percent of lightspeed.” She paused, thinking things through. “Captains Stefano, Frank, Joe and Learned Escape, you are free to join me or remain at 12 percent acceleration.”

“I and my crew are joining you,” called Stefano.

“So are we,” Frank muttered. “Can’t let you have
all
the fun!”

“Me too,” said Joe.

“Us also,” called the artificial voice of Learned. “We are your allies. Whatever danger you face, we too will face.”

Jane felt a brief surge of happiness. Then surprise as other ship captain images spoke.

“Captain of the fleet,” called Jake. “My ship is increasing speed to 13 percent lightspeed.”

“So is mine,” reported Mack.

“Mine too,” called Janice.

The other four Collector ships captained by new people also said the same.

Which meant 12 Collector ships now pursued three enemy Collector ships. Along with six boomer subs. It looked as if she was indeed a leader. Now came the time to figure out a way to kill the three enemy ships without losing another sub or ship to ramming or antimatter. Too many humans had died in the ships led by Joshua, Paul and the Russian and Chinese ship masters. She had started this war against Alien slave-masters with just one ship. Perhaps her
Blue Sky
could end it.

♦   ♦   ♦

Forty minutes later Bill came back from a quick meal in the Food Chamber and sat at his Weapons station. Everyone else was already back. Bright Sparkle sat to his right, then Chester, Wind Swift and Lofty Flyer. Sparkle was intensely focused on the performance of her three fusion reactors that ran down the middle of their ship. No doubt they were sucking in loads of deuterium and tritium fusion isotopes. Which was not a big deal, especially since America had placed an isotope extraction plant in low orbit just above Jupiter’s cloud deck. The automated plant was a copy of the plant they had refueled at during their first visit to HD 128311. He looked past her. Chester, wearing his tube suit like all of them, showed sweat on his forehead. Clearly the man was anxious over the performance of their two Magfield engines. Which, Bill reminded himself, had been repaired by Megun engineers. Those color-talking near humans were incredibly talented people. Maybe their repairs
had
improved the overload tolerance of the engines, despite what Star Traveler had said. Maybe 13 percent of lightspeed could be maintained? Beyond the vice admiral stood Wind Swift. The scaly kangaroo was closely monitoring both the Life Support and Collector Pods stations. Beyond her sat the brown-furred shape of Lofty Flyer. The Aelthorp flying squirrel touched her nav controls now and then, making tiny vector adjustments to keep their ship exactly on the same vector track as the three enemy ships. Which, he noticed from his system graphic, now had a change in their formation.
Fear Arrives
was slightly ahead of his two ship allies by perhaps a few hundred miles. Did that mean anything?