Ep.#4 - Freedom's Dawn (The Frontiers Saga), page 17
The louder voice continued speaking. The more distant voice immediately answered.
“Oh no,” Deliza whispered as they heard the sound of the hatch sliding closed. In the total darkness, they also heard the sound of the tunnel hatch locking mechanism being engaged. “Now what do we do?”
“Let me think,” Vladimir said as he panted in the blackness.
* * *
The medevac shuttle rolled briskly out of the transfer airlock and onto the exposed flight deck. It came to a stop in the middle of the deck and then fired its thrusters to push it gently upwards and away from the Aurora. As it rose slowly, the shuttle rotated quickly to port until it was perpendicular to the Aurora’s flight path. Another blast of its rear-facing maneuvering thrusters and it began to move away from the Aurora on its way to the Yamaro.
* * *
“Aurora, Aurora. This is Ensign Mendez aboard the Yamaro. Do you copy?” Enrique sighed in frustration. “It’s no use. I get nothing but static.”
“Maybe the batteries are dying?” Sergeant Weatherly wondered.
“No way,” Enrique said. “These things will last a week without a recharge, and this one came off the rack only a couple days ago.”
“May I listen?” Ensign Willard asked.
“To what?”
“Please?”
Enrique shrugged and handed him the comm-set. “Suit yourself.”
Ensign Willard placed the comm-set onto his ear and listened intently.
Enrique and Sergeant Willard both spun around with their weapons high when someone appeared at the hatchway.
“Jesus,” Enrique exclaimed. “You guys scared the shit outta me!” he added, lowering his weapon. “I thought I told you to call in.”
“We tried,” Marcus defended. “Nobody answered.”
“Did you manage to make contact with the ship?”
“No,” Loki said. “No one’s answering. Not on the Aurora’s channels or anything else. We got nothing but static.”
“Yeah, us too,” Enrique said.
“Oh no,” Willard interrupted. Everyone turned to look at him. “It’s not static; it’s white noise.”
“What?” Enrique asked.
“Like the kind generated by a Takaran jamming pod.”
“A what?” This time it was Marcus that asked.
“Very simple devices. Multi-band high-power transmitters. They transmit white noise on all frequencies. It interferes with all transmission within a ten kilometer range. It is standard practice to deploy one during any Takaran assault action.” Ensign Willard’s voice showed genuine concern. “That means they are here.”
“We didn’t see anyone,” Marcus insisted.
“Yeah, the hangar bay was clear.”
“There’s two hangar bays on this ship, right?” Enrique asked Willard.
“Yes, port and starboard.”
“They could be on the Aurora,” Sergeant Weatherly pointed out.
“Maybe, but if they are there’s nothing we can do about it,” Enrique said. “Hell, we can’t even warn them as long as that jamming pod is active. We have to assume they’re coming here. That’s all we can do.” Enrique turned to Sergeant Weatherly. “You, Marcus, and Loki go back down and check both hangar decks. Pick up the two goobers you left guarding the prisoners in the cargo bays and go check out the starboard hangar bay.”
“Why are you sending us down there?” Marcus asked, not terribly crazy about the idea.
“You still have that big ass gun in the back of the shuttle, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Point the back of the shuttle towards the entrance. If they land, blast the shit out of them.”
“And if that don’t stop them?”
“Then blast a whole in the hull and depressurize the whole damned bay,” Enrique spelled out for him.
“Case you hadn’t noticed, we ain’t got no spacesuits neither,” Marcus protested.
“I do,” Loki said. “Or I did. Do you think there’s time for me to put it back on?”
“Shut up, kid.”
“If it comes to that, just close your back hatch as soon as you take your last shot.”
“The ramp don’t come up that fast—”
“Then hold your fucking breath,” Enrique said, getting frustrated.
“Come on,” Sergeant Weatherly told Marcus, pushing him toward the exit. “Let’s move out.”
“Your plan sucks,” Marcus protested on his way out.
Loki glanced at Enrique as he followed them out. “It’s better than most of the plans Josh comes up with,”
“If they make it aboard, they will head straight for the bridge,” Willard told him.
“The bridge? Wouldn’t they try to free their crew first?”
“Doubtful, as most of them are not Takarans. In fact, many are from Corinair.”
“But still, why the bridge? This ship is too busted up to go anywhere.”
“But her weapons systems are still mostly intact. If powered up, she could do considerable damage to your ship before they had a chance to escape. She could even resume bombarding the planet below.”
“The Aurora’s main reactors are offline for repairs. She’s not going anywhere right now.”
* * *
The medevac shuttle slowly rolled into the Yamaro’s brightly lit port side hangar bay, coming to a stop just before it reached the mining shuttle the Aurora had been using since they escaped the Haven system a few days ago. Its clam-shell rear doors already opened, the cargo ramp came down as the shuttle rolled to a stop, the ramp touching the deck a split second after the shuttle had stopped rolling.
The sound of the metal ramp striking the deck reverberated throughout the empty hangar bay as six heavily armed men came charging out, down the ramp, and into the hangar bay. Just as soon as the last man’s foot came off the ramp, it began to retract back up into the medevac shuttle.
The two groups of intruders split out in opposite directions as they left the ramp, three to each side. The group on the right immediately took up fire support positions to cover the team on the left as they made their way to the ragged-looking mining shuttle. One man positioned himself on one knee and stood guard at the bottom of the mining shuttle’s ramp as the other two charged up the ramp and inside the shuttle.
Less than a minute later, the two men came running back down the ramp, moving quickly away from the mining shuttle with the last man rising from his kneeling position beside the ramp to follow. A moment later, there was a loud bang accompanied by a flash of red-orange light from inside the mining shuttle and black smoke started pouring out the back of the shuttle, wafting its way out into the massive hangar bay.
The first team made its way across the bay and joined up with the second team, after which they continued across the hangar bay, disappearing through one of the many exits that led deeper into the Yamaro.
Chapter Six
Bright flood lights illuminated the tall grass that surrounded the compound as it swayed in the late night breeze. For at least thirty meters in all directions, the night appeared as day. Normally, the perimeter would not be so brightly lit, as doing so always drew complaints from the surrounding towns. However, roving spotlights were insufficient when the missile base was in a high state of alert, and on this night, all Corinairan military installations were in such a state.
The guards monitoring the perimeter detection systems behaved no differently tonight than from any other night. Their eyes jumped from one display to another, keeping an eye on the various video feeds, motion detection systems, and automated gun turrets located strategically around the base. Everything appeared as it usually did, just more brightly lit.
In the tree line just beyond the grassy perimeter, four teams of men, all dressed in predominantly dark colored civilian clothing, hid amongst the rocks, fallen trees, and heavy brush. The missile base had been built in the middle of a dense forest full of extremely old Jespin trees. Most of them never lived beyond a century, toppling when their bases weakened due to various molds found on the forest floor. Once fallen, their dead trunks remained for decades before significantly decaying. This collection of fallen timber made the approach through the forest an arduous task at the least. Trying to make the passage through the thick forest bed at night was nearly impossible, unless you were properly equipped.
Each three-man team had made their way through the thick forest in relatively short order using standard issue visual-enhancement systems. The maneuver had been well rehearsed over the years in similarly wooded areas. In fact, some of the areas they had chosen to train in had been more densely packed, making tonight’s passage seem easy by comparison.
The teams had all taken up well hidden positions along the edge of the tree line, one team on each of the four sides of the small base. Each team had a sniper, a tech operator, and a leader who also acted as the spotter.
“All teams are in position around the Aitkenna missile base, sir.”
Commander Dumar showed no emotional reaction, as usual. “Start your hack, Lieutenant.”
“Yes sir.” The lieutenant signaled the technician sitting at a terminal nearby with a simple nod. The technician immediately started typing furiously at his keyboard as streams of computer code flowed across his screen. The little green status light on the implant at the base of his neck flickered madly as streams of data moved back and forth between the computer system and the operator’s implant. His eyes didn’t seem to move, only stared straight ahead at the screen full of scrolling code, as if in a transcendent state.
Back in the security station at the Aitkenna missile base, one by one each of the video displays on the wall before them went dark. No sounds, no warnings. They just shut off.
“What the—”
Technicians began to scramble to determine the cause of the problem as their controls also began to rapidly shut down. The shift commander immediately picked up the comm-set to report an emergency when all the lights went out, leaving them in total darkness.
“Hello? Hello?” the shift commander called through the dead comm-set as the emergency battery-powered lighting flickered to life, bathing the room in a dull, red glow.
Outside the base, the bright flood lights suddenly shut down, allowing the darkness of the night to return. There were no sirens, no alarms, only the distant shouts of guards calling out to each other over dead comm-systems. No one knew what was happening, but they all knew what to do; they each stood their ground and prepared for attack.
One by one, each of the guards that had been walking the perimeter began to fall to enemy sniper fire. Invisible pinpoint beams of focused energy bored instant holes through their foreheads, dropping them into the tall grass. There were no cries of pain, no shouts for help, only instant death.
The automated turrets, however, each had their own internal power sources. Independently controlled by artificial intelligence algorithms, they frantically tracked back and forth along their designated fire zones, searching for targets of opportunity.
The tech operators in each team tossed small devices up into the air. The devices, each similar in proportion to a human finger, flew up and made their way in high arcs to the automated defense turrets. Each one attached itself to a turret’s control boxes. Seconds later, the operators activated the small devices. A flash of bluish-white light came from each device as it released its destructive energy into the turret’s control boxes, rendering them useless. The turrets stopped their frantic search for targets, no longer having any algorithms to follow. They would still be able to fire, but unless a target just happened to wander across their targeting point, they would be ineffective.
The teams all exited the tree line and dashed across the grassy perimeter, dropping at the edge of the outer fence. The first team’s tech operator pulled out a small canister with a twin nozzle applicator. He quickly sprayed a circle on the fence about a meter in diameter. The two chemical agents mixed and immediately dissolved the metal fencing, creating a neat series of cuts. The other team member pulled the loose piece of fencing back and laid it aside, creating an opening through which the tech operator passed, after which each of them followed. The process was repeated two more times in order to quickly pass through all three layers of the perimeter fence that was supposed to keep the missile base secure from intruders.
Within minutes, the intruders had swept through the small missile base and had executed the three dozen men inside. The entire operation had taken less than five minutes and had been virtually silent.
“Strike teams report Aitkenna missile base is secured, sir,” the lieutenant reported.
“Excellent,” Commander Dumar said. “Restore their operational controls and tell them to begin preparing their strike packages.”
“Yes sir.” Again the lieutenant signaled the operator whose implant light began to flash as he started restoring functionality to the Aitkenna missile base that was now under the control of the Takaran Anti-Insurgency Command.
* * *
Another aide burst into the room, announcing his urgent news in Corinairan as he entered. Before he could finish passing his message to the Prime Minister, the elder leader turned and exited the room, also in a hurry.
“Gentlemen, ladies,” the aide who had been acting as translator said in brisk fashion, “forgive us, but a matter of some urgency requires our attention.” He signaled the guards to withdraw before continuing. “We will return as soon as the situation allows.” With that, the aide also left the room, followed by the last two guards who closed the door behind them.
“Anybody feel the need to check the lock?” Jessica asked sarcastically.
“What the hell was that all about?” Nathan asked Tug.
“I did not hear everything,” Tug told him, “only the first few words before his superiors chastised the carrier of the message for speaking too openly.”
“They said something about the Aitkenna missile site,” Jalea added. “I believe it is under siege.”
“Yes, that’s what I heard as well,” Tug agreed.
Nathan could see the deep concern on both their faces. “What missiles?”
“The nuclear ones?” Jessica surmised, hoping she was incorrect.
“The ones they shot at the Yamaro?” Nathan said as he made the connection.
“Yes. If the Corinari have lost control of those missiles—” Tug began.
“I’m not liking the sound of this,” Jessica interrupted.
“Whose got control of them then?” Nathan asked.
“I did not hear them say,” Tug admitted. “Perhaps because they did not know themselves.”
“Any guesses?” Jessica asked.
“If the Followers of the Order have taken control, they could use them to destroy the Yamaro in an act of vengeance,” Jalea said.
“Possibly,” Tug said, although it was obvious by his tone that he did not feel that was the case.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Jessica argued.
“Vengeance seldom does,” Tug told her.
“But that ship is an asset,” she added. “Even without propulsion, it’s still an effective orbital weapons platform.”
“To you and I, yes. But to a group of angry Followers who just had their friends, family, homes… their very lives destroyed, that ship is a symbol of oppression. Destroying it would serve as a symbol of rebellion, a rallying cry if you will.”
“That doesn’t make it any less stupid,” Jessica said.
“But would the nukes even do the job?” Nathan asked.
“In its current state, without any shields to protect it, yes,” Tug assured him.
“We could call up to the ship, tell them to power up their shields,” Jessica suggested.
“That might be interpreted in an unfavorable light,” Jalea warned.
“Quite possibly,” Tug agreed.
“You said if it’s the Followers…” Nathan said.
“Yes. I do not believe the Followers of the Order are so militant in their nature. It’s more likely the Loyalists,” Tug said. “Which would mean their goal might be to destroy the Aurora.”
“After we saved their asses?” Nathan found the idea to be preposterous.
“They see you as the enemy of the Ta’Akar. Destroying you after a Ta’Akar ship failed to do so would be looked upon as an extreme demonstration of loyalty on the part of the Corinairans.”
“So the Ta’Akar wouldn’t come and finish the job the Yamaro started.”
“Yes.”
“There’s one other possibility,” Jalea offered with some hesitation.
Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to explain.
“The Loyalists could also use the missiles to strike other nations on Corinair.”
“What?” Nathan looked confused.
“She’s right,” Tug said, realizing the implications. “Captain, you have to understand the complexity of the Corinairan politics.”
“How about you give us the short version,” Nathan insisted. “I don’t think we have time for the long one.”
“There are five nation-states on Corinair,” Tug began. “Some are fiercely loyal to the Empire; others only pretend to be so. The division is roughly equal.”
“I thought this guy was the Prime Minister of the entire planet,” Jessica said.
“He is. Again, the politics are complex. There exists a structure of unity and cooperation between the nations, but it is somewhat delicate.”
“Sound familiar?” Jessica commented to Nathan.
“Unfortunately, each nation has its own missile bases. They are supposed to be for defense of each nation against aggression from space.”
“Aren’t the Ta’Akar supposed to do that?”
“Yes, but the Ta’Akar are not always close at hand, and interstellar communication, even within the cluster, takes weeks. And since the Karuzari have weakened the Ta’Akar over time, they were forced to provide the missile systems in order to appease the Corinairans as well as to live up to the terms of their original surrender.”
