Resurrection (The Inherited War) (39 page)

“Push the men up to the edge of the open area.  Have them hunker down behind anything that offers cove and cover the open area.  I will be there in a moment.”  West acknowledge his orders and Cole heard him reissue them to his men.

Cole turned back to the monitor.  He watched as four more Esii ships got battered to death under the relentless drive of the two unknowns.  The yellow blips finally broke through the rear of the Esii fleet and
had empty space between them and Cole’s camp.  The remaining six Esii cruisers where on the unknown’s tail and hammering it with brutal fire.  Cole watched as the unknowns penetrated the planets outer atmosphere.

“Shields,” Cole got their attention.  He waited.  He watched.  The blips got closer.  He turned the array off and bolted out into the open.  He looked up and saw the massive vapor cloud that heralded the arrival of something very big moving very fast into what remained of the atmosphere.  “Now!”  Cole shouted.  “Drop the shields now!”

Cole watched the two massive ships as they plowed through the gasses that made up the toxic atmosphere of this planet.  Cole ran to take up position next to West at the leading edge of the open area on the south part of the plateau.  He could hear the screaming of the ships engines as they attempted to reverse thrust to avoid slamming into the level top of the plateau.  Gusts of wind began to pummel the humans hunkered down near the landing area.  Bits of debris swirled around and slammed into men and equipment.  Cole heard a few grunts as his men got pelted with the detritus.

The two massive ships strained to stop as they slammed into the plateau.  Cole began to scream over the com.  “Shields up!  Get the God damn shields back up.”

A fraction if a second later the shields crackled back to life and began to absorb the fire intended for the two ships that had just crash landed into the plateau.

“Everyone stay here.”  Cole ordered as he rose and walked out to show himself.  The ships were massive.  Long and cylindrical, Cole had designed them in the shape of a bullet.  Their noses tapered to a point and there was a raised edge of a corkscrew that ran from stem to stern.  Those noses were glowing red hot at the moment.  On the front of each ship, just under the nose and painted in heat resistant paint were sharks mouths, ala World War Two fighter planes.  Both ships had a word painted down inside the leading part of the corkscrew.  The one on the right said Smash
, and the one on the left said Grab.

Cole looked over the two massive ships with pride.  They had done exactly what he and Hal had designed them to do.  These were blockade runners.  Massively armored with oversized normal space drive engines in the back to move the massive ships as fast as possible in normal space.  There were auxiliary thrusters in the rear that sent the ship into a spin when it was near a target.  The ships could bore through anything in space.  The curved surface also made it nearly impossible to get a solid hit anywhere except the back.  Since the ship had no energy weapons, all the extra power went to its rear shields.  It would take the concentrated fire of hundreds of ships to take one of these bad boys down. 

The Smash and Grab, as Cole liked to call them, had been his brain child.  After finding out that the Esii used other beings for a food supply back when he had first started the war, he had decided that he needed to make a few prototypes that were capable of quick strike rescue missions.  He had planned, before his capture, to come here to this very planet and try to rescue as many slaves as possible.  He hadn’t known he would be one of them but he didn’t mind at all.

Cole slowly circled around the closest ship until he got to where he thought he remembered the bulkhead door was.  Cole’s mind was racing.  These were his ships.  His rescue ships.  He was leaving.  He was about to see Sky again.  The ship was still putting off a massive amount of heat.  Even his suit was having a hard time cooling his body so Cole backed off and waited for the outer hull to cool enough he could get close.

“What's up boss?”   West’s voice startled him over the com.  “This ride home?”

“Shut up and keep all channels clear.”  Cole was edgy and it slipped out in his harsh tone.  He heard a slight crackle over his com.  He turned the gain up as much as possible.

“No…too much….ferance…ing...oor.”  The signal was no good.  The ship was radiating too much heat and electromagnetic interference.  Cole’s suit picked up the hiss of pressure equalizing and zoomed his optics in on the outer door being slowly opened.  Cole noticed he was holding his breath and slowly let it out.  His nerves were strung tight and had him on edge.  The door opened all the way and nothing came out.  Cole waited and watched.  The temperature around the opened door was down well within range of the suits to handle yet no one was coming out.

“Stand by, no one fire unless I give the order.”  Cole hissed over his com.  Cole unslung his rifle and began to creep forward.  Suddenly a light began to flash quickly on and off.  Cole stopped and took a knee to lower his profile.  His mind was racing.  These were his ships, their names were written in English.  No one but him or Hal could have gone and gotten them from the ship yards.

That’s when he realized what was going on.  Only him or Hal.  Hal was the only one on board and that is why no one came out to greet him.  Cole slung his rifle and ran to the open door.  As soon as he broke the plane of the doorway and got inside the protective shell of the ship did the broken static voice of Hal boom to life.

“Hi Cole, did you miss me?”  Hals overly cheery voice echoed around in his head.

“Buddy, you know I did.”  Cole lay his hand reverently on the smooth wall of the ship.  “I have ten, eleven thousand friends I would like you too meet.”  Before Hal could respond Cole stepped outside and radioed to the last of humanity.

“Everyone grab what you can, it’s time to go. Half on one ship half on the other and don’t forget to load the cryo containers that hold our past and future.”  Cole stepped back inside The Smash and reconnected with Hal.  Hal remained silent waiting for his friend to speak.  Cole couldn’t, he was overcome with relief, joy, and disappointment all at once.  Where was Sky?  Thalo and Jeth?  What about the Nixa fleet and the Worlders?  It was something he would have to discuss with Hal once everyone was loaded.

Cole had zoned off waiting for his people to gather and move toward their ships.  He was brought back the present when he heard Hal’s imitation of a whistle in his ear.

“Wow,” he said as the pregnant women of Earth filed out of the camp and into open ground, “you have been busy since I last saw you.”

Cole snorted a laugh, but he couldn’t stop.  Soon he was doubled over with his laughter and Hals ringing in his ears.  Cole stood at that door for almost two hours until he got the all clear that everyone was on board, to include his still comatose father and the three containers with all the Earth DNA.  It wasn’t going to be a comfortable ride but it was better than being here.  Cole insured everyone was safe and secure for lift off before he moved to the bridge. 

Split had taken command of The Grab and was awaiting Cole’s orders.  The ship had bled off the excess static and heat, and was once again able to communicate to its sister ship.  Cole settled himself into the Captains chair and relished the soft form fitting feel as he sunk into the plush cushion.  He lay his bare hand over the bond point and let himself flow into the ship.

Hal appeared in front of him in the appearance he had chosen earlier before Cole was captured.

“Sorry buddy, you’re going to need a new form.” Cole started before Hal interrupted.

“I know, I saw him.  Congratulations, right?”

“I guess, I don’t know.  We have to talk about it someday.  Hal where is she?  Where are they?  Why is it only you?  Don’t get me wrong I am grateful you came, but where are the others?”  Cole asked softly.  Their thoughts and actions moved at the speed of light when they were connected like this so even a lengthy story would only take moments to tell.

“I am sorry Cole.  I was badly damaged when I was ejected from the Retribution; I was out of commission and was unable to tell the others about your side project.  When the Justice finally woke me up it was too late.  The others were on some silly quest to find some long lost allies of yours and the Esii had moved their fleet into a blockade around the Worlder System.  I downloaded all the relevant information from the Justice’s files and stole a ship.  None of the other AI’s would leave the Worlder System; they feared that leaving would invite attack that the Worlders could not repel.  To top it off, Fury took the Reckoning and convinced its AI to help him and he stayed at Nixa.  I was the only one who could go for help.  I did the best I could Cole, honest I did.”

“I know you did Hal, I always knew I could trust you to have my back.”  Cole turned his attention to the ship and prepared it for takeoff.  “How did they do under fire Hal?”

“It was awesome Cole; they did what they were designed to do.  Oh man, it was so fun to smash into those Esii birds.  They had no idea what was coming at them.  I can’t wait to get back and stomp some more Esii in the Worlders system.”  Cole smiled at his giddiness.

“One thing at a time.  First, we get my people to safety.  Then we plan our next move.”  Cole began to bring his power online and charge his engines.

“But Cole, the others.  They have to be back to the Worlder fleet by now.  They are going to need our help.”  Hal sounded confused.

“Hmm I guess I am going to take a page from their play book and help them when I'm ready.  Damn it Hal, do you know what I went through down there?  Take a look if you want to, I have learned a few tricks.”  Cole shut out everything around him and concentrated.  He dredged up everything that had happened over the last months of his captivity and let Hal see.  Made Hal see.  When he was done Cole continued.

“And damn it Hal, this is it.  These are the last of my people and I am not going to take them into the middle of a battle field.  We are going Home and we are going to leave them there where it’s safe.  Once they are all safe at Home, well then we will see about rescuing the rest.”  Hal didn’t have a response but he knew his friend.  Cole was hurting now, but once he got his people safe at the shipyards it would eat at him to do something to save his other friends.  Cole wouldn’t let anyone down the way he had been let down by them.

~

Cole brought the ship to full power.  He did a quick systems check and with everything in the green he gave a little power to the anitgrav lifters.  Just enough to clear the ground they were currently resting on.

“Split, on me. When I blow the charges, we go straight up.  I laid in a course once we are clear of atmo, stay tight on my side.  We go through anything that doesn't move fast enough and make for the warp limit.”  Cole finished relaying the orders to Split who acknowledged them and made ready to fly.

Cole looked around himself; he flew the human ships differently than everyone else.  He was the ship when he flew.  He didn’t use a VR bridge.  The ships sensors where his eyes and ears.  The Ships skin was his skin; he felt the cold of space or the heat and pressure of incoming fire.  He moved the ship with his mind.  If he willed it to go forward, it went forward.  Every piece of data produced by the ship was fed directly into his brain.  The crew, when there was one, was shoved in the back of his mind and was only really useful in combat.  Cole opened the internal com system.

“We will be leaving shortly; I have the inertial compensators turned all the way up so you shouldn’t feel a thing.  Once we break into space, we will head for the nearest warp point.  That you will feel.  It is a very odd feeling and will seem to be over both fast and slow.  It is hard to explain, just be ready for it.  Once we revert back to normal space, we will be at our temporary home.  The Esii cannot follow us so we will be safe.   That’s it folks, try and relax and enjoy the ride.”  Cole turned off the com.

Cole sent the signal to the explosives they had pre-placed around the camp.  Multiple explosions rocked the plateau as the buried charges detonated.  The plateau fell in on itself, taking the shield and power generators with it.  The shield disappeared and Cole surged upward.   The ship felt heavy and sluggish as it hurtled through the thick atmosphere of the planet.  A few seconds after starting his ascent, Cole saw the Esii ships zeroing in on his position.  Cole adjusted his trajectory slightly so he was now heading straight for the remaining ships of the fleet.

They tried their best to bring him and Split down, but their ships were not up to the task.  Cole and Split blew through two of them a piece, and left the last two far behind.  They moved at full speed away from the gravity of the planet and the systems star.  Hal estimated ten minutes till warp exit point.  Cole checked the surrounding area and seeing it clear of hostiles gave Hal his orders and relayed them to Split.

Cole disconnected from the ship.  That was one thing Hal always warned him about, never stay bonded to the ship during warp.  Cole felt himself fall back into his own mind.  He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear them.  He saw someone sitting next to him, it was Anastacia.

“Too crowded in the back for me,” she said when she saw he was back in his own body. “Did we make it through?”

“Yup, should be home free in a few minutes.  Then a few more in warped space and the final leg into the Home system.  In a few hours we should have everyone off loaded and moved into their temporary housing.”  Cole replied.