Attack Ships, page 13
part #2 of Starwing Elite Series
“Captain was pretty angry,” Shaunice noted. She was good at noticing things, but anyone who saw or heard that transmission would know what happened. “What did you do to make her that way? I worry when she starts to lose control. Haven’t seen it happen much, but it can happen to anyone with enough stress.”
I briefly went over what took place when I let Queen Dredge in my mind. She didn’t need to know the specifics. I saw Shanice’s eyes widen as I told her about the way I’d communicated with Dredge over the vast distances of space.
“Any you could see inside her mind?” she asked. I knew what she meant and felt the sensations from her.
“Not directly,” told her. "I notice most people’s thoughts just by patterns. Most people won’t let you probe too deep. It’s a natural reaction to anyone who tries to invade your thoughts. Dredge is different. Sometimes people want me to be in their heads.” I didn’t mention Precious. “So, no, I can’t tell what you’re thinking right now, although I feel a lot of anxiety. Hell, anyone could tell that just by looking at you.”
She squeezed my hand and looked me in the eye. “So you don’t know what other people feel every night?”
“No, I don’t care to find out. You appear a bit tired, so I’m guessing it was with one of the younger ones?”
“Your buddy Tran, and I had to share him with Adri, and she wasn't on her cycle either. He kept us busy for hours, but we all slept like babies afterward.”
“Then I'll make sure he comes back safe so you can have another round,” I told Shanice and kissed her on the lips. “That was for luck.”
She returned it three times. "For the other men with you,” she laughed.
“Shaunice wanted to talk with you about something?” Tran asked as I shut the hatch behind me and sealed it. I could tell he was a bit concerned over our conversation.
“No, I had to unburden myself, and she could be the last woman I ever see,” I told him.
“That make her concerned?” he asked.
“Your packmate wants to make sure you come back safe, so she can put in for you right away. Guess the assignment with her and Alyx has made her want more where that came from.”
He smiled and returned to the console in front of his hands. Orlando sat next to Tran and tried to pretend that he’d not heard a thing.
15
We fell to the surface faster than I liked to see, but it was important that the FAS be over Prime in due time. I had Alyx on the line as we made the drop and kept Captain informed of our progress.
“Appears to be a lot of fighting down there,” I told her from the observations I made. "Flames and smoke all over that place. It’ll make it hard to approach, but we should be able to reach the surface without much trouble. I don’t sense the presence of anyone who can take us out during the descent. I guess the Udies have air superiority or something like it down there.”
“Captain says to be careful,” Alyx let me know. “All it takes is one missile from the ground. Remember what happened to Shelly and his crew.”
“I can't forget it. No one will ever be able to forget it.”
A few minutes later, Tank’s face appeared inside one of my helmet screens. “Good news,” he let me know. “I'm all done over here. It means I can come over and help. Have you found the pirate ship yet?”
I was relieved to hear we’d have some help. One FAS against a cruiser the size of Thunder Horse wasn’t a good idea. With Tank and my crew working together, we at least had a chance to take it down, especially if we ignored the ban on ship-to-ship rockets in atmosphere. I didn’t think Queen Dredge would detonate a nuclear device close to her own ship inside an atmosphere, but I also knew that she wasn’t rational. Dredge was capable of anything.
Any kind of nuclear explosion on the surface was considered an abomination. It wasn’t just a war crime of one side against the other. The prohibition against nuclear weapons was so severe that anyone who used them planetside was immediately declared beyond the laws of society. It only took place a few times in the entire history of humanity. The penalties for first use in an atmosphere were so great that no one contemplated them. This is why Dredge was such a concern to the UDF and the Orders. If she could detonate that nuke, the entire UDF would spend years making sure it never happened again. They would hunt down everyone even vaguely connected to her. It would be genocide of her and her entire line. And anyone who was with her at the time. The retribution carried out on the rebels of Steel Planet Wars was a warning that no one ever forgot. None of us wanted to part of another Avenger Crusade. My father went off to fight that war and never came back, I only made it thanks to Shelly's courage under fire.
Delios’ Prime City was built at the intersection of three rivers and extended toward the nearest ocean on a peninsular outcrop. It was flat land for the most part, with the spaceport located further south. I picked up the movements of UDF troops skirmishing with various cartel goons and merc squads trying to flee the city with loot as we skirted and tried to pick up the trail of Queen Dredge. Tank joined me as I made the second pass over the sea platforms. I tried to figure out where Dredge might make her attack. There were too many UDF forces around us for her to make it a surprise.
“Thunder Horse dead ahead!” I heard Tank yell through the audio. I turned to look in the direction of the coordinates he sent me. One thing I hated about flying an FAS in the atmosphere is that took you into the gravitational pull of the planet. I had to make sure I was strapped in secure before we made the descent, least I end up on the deck of the FAS. You knew when the gravity well was there by the sudden increase in weight about you and the tug on whatever supports you’d used prior to the drop.
I could see the pirate ship on the screen in front of me and increased the magnification to get a better look. There she was, the Thunder Horse, with its big lion-headed monstrosity painted on the prow. I didn’t know who’d put that thing together. It was made out of all the leftover parts and bits from crashed ships. It didn’t matter; if Queen Dredge set off a nuclear weapon on the surface, everyone who’d helped her in the past would be declared an outlaw. They’d all be the victims of a mob vengeance.
“Think we can take her out in one pass?” Tank asked me from his FAS, which flew in close support to mine. “I really don’t want to risk the missiles and the lasers won’t work in this atmosphere. We get close enough; the chain cannons will do enough damage to take that ship down. The crash will cause a ton of collateral damage, but way less than those nukes she's carrying. Your call brother.”
I thought about what would happen if she set that bomb off. “Let's do this,” I told him. "Follow me, I’m going in low. The navy and marines know we’re here. I go down far enough so she’ll think we’re local and we’ll fly up fast when we’re under the main fuselage. You break to the left after I break to the right and she’ll be caught off guard.”
“Got it!"
“You guys hear that?” I asked my crew who knew to listen into the open feed. They all acknowledged.
“Good, Orlando, let’s power up hard. Tran, pull the trigger when I give the order and not until. Don’t quit firing until your ammo goes dry, we won't get another chance. Medoro, you keep that auto-feeder clear and full.”
I felt the force of the FAS toss my seat against the tower as Orlando pushed us hard into the thick air around us. The plasma torches burned hot as they sent us several levels above the speed of sound while Tank followed in close support. In minutes, I could see the main fuselage of the Thunder Horse over us. It was long and drab in appearance, made from whatever Queen Dredge could scrape together from thousands of junk yards across the systems. It wouldn't matter the pretense that allowed her to buy. If she detonated that bomb, all of her enablers would find their backs the wall and their necks in a UDF noose, unless the mobs reached them first.
I had Orlando break to one side as we continued under the pirate ship. One advantage we enjoyed on the planetary surface was speed and rapid maneuverability. Queen Dredge’s ship, on the other hand, was stuck moving through the thick atmosphere on the surface. It was plain to me that she didn’t know how to work the Thunder Horse in gravity well. In orbit, we had to fight against the pull of the planet’s gravitational forces to keep us from falling into the atmosphere. Now, we were close enough to the surface to use what we’d fought against. The Thunder horse was out of its natural environment and struggled to maintain altitude as it approached the city. Electrical storms lashed out from its prow due to the sheer amounts of mass and energy that the ship was forcing into the planetary system. Thankfully its lasers would be just as pointless as ours in this thick soup of storm-ridden atmosphere.
We still had to watch out for its missiles and projectile weapons.
“Tran," I yelled over the audio, “Keep a look out for anything that swings in our direction. She’s got more than those nukes to use down here.”
It was the nuclear option that still had me worried. All Queen Dredge needed to do was drop something and flee. She could put a timer on it. Once the bomb landed, we’d only have so much opportunity to disarm it. With the constant battles raging down below us, I doubt anyone would notice something big and nasty fall from the sky. So long as she didn’t attempt to flee, I had no worries about a dropped bomb. But it could all change.
I waited until the face of the lion thing was right overhead. Tank was flying behind me at the same height off the ground. We were about five hundred feet from the surface when I ordered Tran to open up with the chain cannon.
I felt the FAS shake as the cannon delivered its shells into the underbelly of the Thunder Horse. I couldn’t tell what kind of damage it did, but it had to be significant from where we flew. The beast of a ship was already sporting a bullet riddled hide thanks to Tank's first attack run. The AI scored a ninety-five percent hit rate as I watched a series of explosions take place on the hull and across the face of the lion creature. Shards of metal rained down as we banked off.
My rear screen showed the FAS Tank flew as more burning metal fell behind him while he tried to keep pace with us. The AI recorded a hit rate of ninety-one for him, not as good as ours, but enough to put serious pain on the Thunder Horse.
We circled around as the pirate ship attempted to hit us with its projectile cannons. It fired off a few bursts but stopped from some reason. I initially thought it was because we were too fast for whatever tracking system Dredge used.
And then I found out the real reason.
“Tank," I transmitted to my packmate. “We’re going to pull back and see what she plans to do. I think we hit that ship pretty good back there.”
“Yeah," he sent back. "Tore the belly of that beast wide open. Don’t think she’ll be able to make orbit in the current condition.”
We flew up to a higher altitude and observed the Thunder Horse as it changed course and moved away from the Prime City. Fires continued to burn below us. The AI indicated troop movements all over the ground. I prayed the civilian population was gone, but it was hard to tell. I watched two battalions of tanks shoot at each other over a river, until a VTOL swooped over and bombed one side. I wasn't quite sure which one was the mercs and which were the UDF, as there were so many defectors. I saw snipers fire away at ground troops who retaliated with mortar fire. Prime was a beautiful city before war came to it. I wondered how many memorials would line the rebuilding and whom they would honor. It wouldn't be the Black Mirror cartels if I had anything to say about it.
“Hey, boss,” Orlando told me over the audio. “That pirate ship is unstable. Did you follow its flight pattern? I don’t know what we hit, but she’s coming in for a landing.”
I had the AI bring up more screens and watched as the Thunder Horse settled over a patch of forest. It wasn’t the most ideal of landing sites, given the breadth of the starship Dredge had at her disposal, but she didn’t seem to have any choices. The gravitational repulsors could only do so much next to the mass of the planet. Once they went out, the Thunder Horse would fall faster than a rock down a well. I doubted anything would remain if it struck the ground from its height. The nukes wouldn’t detonate, but there were enough of them to cause a major radiation contamination when they ruptured.
The Thunder Horse was on the final descent when it turned to the left and made for another location. I looked at the map next to me and saw a farming community of some type. I realized Queen Dredge wanted to take her ship down into an open field. Less possibility for damage that way. It would still sink into the ground, but this was a better option than setting a forest on fire. Flames poured out of the rear fuselage as the fire control system of the ship poured foam out of the compromised hull to stop the burn.
“Just circle it out of range,” I told Tank. “We’ll see what she has in mind before making a move.”
“I don't think she’s the type who’ll surrender,” Tran let me know. I had to agree, "Could be a suicide bomber situation again."
So long as she didn’t decide to take out the entire countryside setting off those nukes. I didn’t detect the background radiation that would indicate it.
“Captain says to keep it up,” Alyx let me know. "She says the Udie Marines are on the way to the landing site.”
I decided to probe the thoughts inside the Thunder Horse, but not too deep. All I wanted to know was the general level of anxiety of the crew and whoever else was inside. It would let me know the state of mind they were in at the moment. I knew better this time than to attempt any merger with Queen Dredge’s thoughts.
I almost screamed out when I saw the image of three naked pirate women covered in blood with knives in their hands. I’d accidentally tapped into the mind of one of the captives. I shut it down quick and blocked any other probes.
16
The Thunder Horse made one final pass over the field before it went down. I was coming in for the final approach when it began to tilt to one side. I watched the fire die down in the rear where we’d hit it. Still, there were more internal problems than the fires. I could tell the repulsors were malfunctioning and Dredge needed to get that thing on the ground fast. It was built to make planet fall but hadn’t done it in a long time. I had no idea what kind of maintenance schedule she had it on, but, from the appearance of the exterior, the Thunder Horse was long overdue for a dry dock.
First, the rear went down in the field, which was muddy from a recent down pour. I turned on the exterior audio to hear what kind of sound it would make. We circled at least a thousand feet off the ground, but it was possible to hear loud noises from this far up.
It went down with a loud crack that echoed up to the skies. The front of the ship slammed down minutes after it deployed the landing gear, a series of skids designed for any topography. I knew whoever was on the inside would be jolted around. I was more worried it would topple over, but the Thunder Horse stayed upright. If it fell over, the ship would never be able to make orbit again. The UDF would be stuck hauling it out with a mass driver. I knew they’d wait a long time before one was brought to this place.
“She's down,” I heard Modero observe from his loader position. He had a screen back there he could use as well. “I don’t think that pirate ship will be moving soon.” I nodded in agreement.
I tried to analyze the image that had flooded into my head a few moments before when I reached out to whoever was on the pirate ship. I’d tapped into the mind of one of the victims of a raid they kept on board for whatever the women planned later. I could only imagine what kinds of horrors were routine on that ship. If I recalled right, the man was in some kind of kitchen or mess hall when he saw those naked women. It was a gruesome vision that I didn’t want to experience again. Even after the trips into the damnation inside Queen Dredge and Precious’s heads, I wanted nothing more of this kind of experience. There is a reason most paranormalists go mad after a few years. At least that what Goat Squad's propaganda division kept telling us, as a way of coercing those with talents to reach out and make themselves known.
From the altitude, we could see the city held firmly in the grip of civil war. That was the inherent problem with the cartels, they made so much money, and did so in impoverished communities, that they could raise armies with the push of a button. Mercs and standard citizens alike were taking up arms to protect the crime bosses, or at least that's what the official reports said. I know from what I saw that these were militarized Black Mirror cults, only marginally loyal to the cartels, and that something much more sinister had emerged in the Delios system. The rampage of the Thunder Horse had only dragged it out into the light of day.
By now, the UDF troops had established a defensive perimeter around the city to keep any of the cartels or their cult allies from sneaking back inside it. I watched as several troop ships made a quick landing and dispatched their cargo of new recruits. I could tell they were green from the way they charged out of the bays and by the sensations I felt from them. These were the young lads that made up the core of any fighting force, eager men from backwater towns and villages who wanted their share of glory.
“What's the official word down there?” I asked Alyx on the scrambled channel.
“We're told it’s a mop up operation and the situation is under control,” she replied. “The additional forces are just to control the current situation on the ground.”
“Okay," I continued. “What is the real reason they’re sending all those troop carriers down here?”
“Our best guess, because they won't tell us anything for real, is that the cartels allied with the mercenaries for one final stand. Toss in some Roka sleeper cells that started conducting bombing raids yesterday and you have a whole flaming ball of shit down there. Nobody’s in charge and people are shooting at anything that moves. There are requests for refugees in the camps outside the city, but the UDF control those and won’t let anyone into them who might be with the other side. So, you’ve got civilians who need help on the outside and can’t get it. Something weird is going on down there. Reports about some of the insurgents having all black eyes. Not sure how much of that is real and what is battlefield chatter.”
