Casserine (30 page)

“I am a slow learner,” Adrian admitted, looking over at Mercer and Dougherty, who waved at her, and nodded their heads in unison.

“The General here never tires of reminding you of your place though,” Mercer observed.

“It could be worse, Ma’am,” Dougherty put in. “Jake reprimanded a miner on Omaha, who decided to challenge his authority there. He’s still taking his meals by way of a straw.”

“Thanks for the analogy, Tim, but the General wouldn’t hit me, would you, Dear?” Adrian asked innocently.

“You never know,” Jake replied, shaking his head. “I may say no now, and later, yes. Not all punishment has to be delivered with a fist to the face.”

This statement provoked another bout of laughter, which Adrian joined, as she gripped Jake by the ear. “In your dreams, buster.”

“Two minutes to touch down,” Colonel Peters said over the intercom, his voice cracking from trying to deliver the information without laughing.

“Jason Peters,” Adrian said, indignation in her voice. “You have the intercom open, don’t you?”

“Ah, sorry, Captain,” Peters apologized sheepishly. “I figured if the General had anything to tell me on the way down from the Intrepid, I would make it easy for him.”

“I’ll bet,” Adrian replied doubtfully.

“I have a standing order for my Drop Ship pilot to have the intercom open at all times,” Jake admonished. “Also, the proper manner to address my Drop Ship pilot would be Colonel Peters, Captain.”

“I am beginning to see I will remain the butt of official protocol, whether I like it or not,” Adrian sighed. “I apologize, Colonel Peters, it won’t happen again.”

“Oh yea,” Mercer broke in. “At least not until the next time the Captain opens her mouth.”

“I wish Sara was here,” Adrian remarked. “This old boys’ club you guys have is wearing on me. We need more female voices of authority.”

“You have contaminated the Executive Officer of the Intrepid quite enough, Captain,” Jake replied with a grin. “She needs no further instruction, or encouragement from you in these matters.”

“Amen to that,” Colonel Peters said under his breath.

The hatch opened, and Jake saw Colonel Tokoru standing with Nick Richardson, waiting impatiently for them. Richardson was shifting from one foot to another, as Tokoru looked from one side to another. Jake led his little group off the Intrepid’s Alpha Drop Ship, coming forward to shake hands with the two men.

“You guys look like you’re ready to launch into orbit without a ship,” Jake remarked. “What the heck.”

“Jake,” Nick said excitedly, motioning the group to follow him. “You have got to see this.”

Colonel Peters had joined the group from the cockpit, waving his hands in surrender as Adrian shook a finger at him. They all followed Richardson and Tokoru away from the Drop Ship. Richardson turned just as they reached the edge of the landing zone surface. He was holding a portable control panel. As Jake’s group turned with him, Richardson pressed one of the panels, and a dome enclosure just larger than the Drop Ship closed around it. The material of the dome sparkled, and Jake could see something shimmering throughout the cover surface. Richardson pressed another panel, and everything on the landing zone disappeared.

“Holy shit,” Mercer exclaimed in awe.

The others were already carefully moving closer to the dome shield to touch it. Jake lightly ran his hand over it as the others did, and felt a slight charge. He looked back at Richardson. “My God, Nick, what have you done now?”

Richardson and Tokoru both started laughing. Jake walked over, and put his arm around the young weapon’s officer. “Please tell me you can do this magic trick to a ship in flight.”

Richardson nodded his head proudly. “I could make this whole planet disappear if I had enough of the right ingredients, and sufficient power. The shield is made up of a combination of exact amounts of the Queen’s birthing chamber liquid, and her cavern shielding material. I added a minute particle beam charge evenly to the mixture, and it sets up a visual resonance as it tries to dissipate the charge. The constantly flowing ions the material dispels, makes everything within its sphere take on the characteristics of whatever environment the object is in. The object appears invisible, at least to human sight. I have to hope the Aliens will have similar visual difficulty seeing through it.”

“You make it sound so simple,” Colonel Peters said. “I don’t know where they’ve been hiding you, Major, but you are incredible. With this new shielding applied to a Command Wing Fighter, and the Drop Ship we hope to tow it with, we can leave for the Alien Jump Gate as soon as you can adapt it onto a Fighter.”

“Already done, Colonel Peters,” Tokoru stated with a big smile. “The Tennyson rounded up the quantities we needed, and Nick worked around the clock, merging the technology onto one of our Command Wing Fighters. He just finished yesterday. Nick has a team now ready to start on anything else you want adapted.”

“We just need someone to test it,” Richardson added, “and by the looks on your faces, I guess we don’t have to go any further.”

“I’ll work with your team, Major,” Dougherty put in right away. “I want to know this inside out before we take off through the Alien Jump Gate. This Drop Ship has already been fitted with the extra weapons array, so why don’t we stick with this one.”

“Sounds good, Tim,” Richardson agreed. “I wish I was going withyou.”

“I am promoting you to the rank of Brigadier General as of this moment, Nick,” Jake cut in, “and I’ll give you anything you want in the way of perks: credits, living quarters, anything, but I cannot spare you for dangerous missions on a lark. I can be replaced. You can’t. Ask me for anything else and it’s yours. I’ll just need to get Governor Risling to okay a General grade promotion with the US Congress.”

“I’m glad you said that, General,” Richardson replied. “I wouldn’t go with you guys through that space hole, looking for Aliens, for anything. I was joking. What I really want is a state of the art lab right here on Omaha of my own design, and to bring my wife and kids here, after all this is over, from Genoa.”

Jake stuck out his hand, and Richardson grasped it. “You have my word on it, General. Yuri will draw up the whole order for my signature before I leave. We will be building a new military base here anyway, so this will be a perfect spot for your lab. Thank you for your dedication.”

“It’s a dream come true for me, Jake,” Richardson said happily. “There are unlimited possibilities for this stuff. It will take some time, because of the problems with nearness to even a slight particle beam charge over a long period of time, but I hope to incorporate it eventually into our personnel armor.”

“Oh man,” Mercer exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We would be like an invisible plague on the fuel pirates. We could.”

“Easy, Charlie,” Jake broke in. “One War at a time, huh? Nick, do you think we’ll have any trouble going through the Jump Gate with a Command Wing in tandem with a Drop Ship?”

“Nope, it’s been done before, during the uprising at the Tarawa Jump Gate a while back,” Richardson answered. “They needed a quick strike force launched from Genoa, with some way to do surface battle, and provide cover from something with more fire power than a Drop Ship. I heard the Marines on the Drop Ship were buffeted around more than usual, but other than some space sickness, it went smoothly. They don’t even have to go through in tandem. With the proper field set up, the Command Wing has enough surplus power to maintain a locking field between ships, and still go through the Gate with a minimum amount of turbulence.”

“Outstanding,” Jake remarked. “Can they detect a ship coming out of the Gate?”

“No more than we can,” Nick replied. “Remember, a Jump Gate is actually a hole in the space, time continuum. When a ship exits the Gate, it simply appears. That’s why it was so hard to triangulate the location of the Alien’s Gate. You did time at the Tarawa Jump Gate, Jake. Don’t you grunts pay any attention to what goes on around you?”

Amid the laughter at Jake’s expense, he sheepishly nodded his assent. “I admit it. I spent very little time watching, or even wondering how the ships moved through the Gate. No one else here knew it either, right guys?”

Dead silence reigned until Jake sighed. “Okay, I was the only Jarhead in the quadrant who didn’t pay any attention. In other words, if we’re cloaked when we come out, and the Command Wing powers down just before we exit, they’ll have a hell of a time detecting us, even if they’re watching.”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Richardson agreed. “We’ve detected their scans the last couple of times they’ve appeared, so you’ll know right away if they think something’s there. I don’t believe their scanners will pick up the ships anyway with the new shielding. Ours couldn’t when I tested it.”

“How do you bond the stuff to the ships,” Adrian asked.

“We spray the stuff on like a paint. It hardens in a translucent form, except for the vague shimmering effect it has in the light. The microscopic filaments we inject into the mix carry the small particle beam charge, which activates it. We feed the particle beam charge into the hull from the weapons system. The visual resonance, I call the effect, does draw on the power, so I’ve added an independent fuel cell feed into the weapons system to take the extra load.” Nick paused, and then said, “If you don’t have any other questions, I’ll take Tim here with me, and we’ll get started on your Drop Ship.”

“One other thing, Nick,” Jake added. “How does the stuff hold up? I mean, you know, it doesn’t flake off or anything, does it?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Nick replied with a grin. “When the solvent is added to the chamber brew in the proportionate amount, it adheres to anything. It becomes a chemical part of the host surface. You don’t want to get any on you in its liquid form, because I know of no way it can be removed.”

“Jake might,” Mercer broke in, as Jake groaned in anticipation of Mercer’s comment. “He loves that stuff. Maybe you can coat him, and make him into the invisible man.”

“I’ll get to work on it, Major,” Richardson joked, as the others laughed.

“That won’t be necessary, Nick,” Jake put in, pointing a finger at Mercer, “but I could use a small sprayer with enough for one oversized mouth.”

Chapter 29 

Alien Excursion

“Are you sure you want to ride in the Drop Ship, Jake?” Peters asked as he entered the side hatch on the Command Wing Fighter. “We can tow it by remote control.”

“I’m confident I can pilot it now, thanks to you,” Jake replied, as he and Dougherty stood alongside. “I’m not going to be hell on wheels like you and Sara, but I’ll get us there. This way, if we do find their planet, and it’s not too far for the towing idea, Tim and I can zip on down while you watch our backs from orbit. We may not even have to have you power up at all on this trip, unless we find a nice, sweet target for you.”

Peters nodded. “Okay, but let’s test out the communications all the way through the gate. I don’t want to get cut off right in the middle of an Alien armada. By the way, you were a natural on learning to fly the Drop Ship. I’m surprised you never tried piloting.”

“I never really wanted to pilot anything until now,” Jake explained. “I learned quickly because of your teaching. Maybe you can show me how to fly one of those Command Wing’s when this is all over, when we don’t have to do it in three days.”

“It would be my pleasure, Jake. You have a good Co-Pilot there. Tim hardly needed any training at all with the time he’s spent as a Deck Gunner.”

“On long patrols, there really wasn’t anything else to do, so Sara would bring me up to speed on the controls, and all the basics,” Dougherty replied. “Most times, we couldn’t spell two pilots, so the Deck Gunner needed to relieve the pilot at times. Anyway, we’ll do fine, Colonel.”

“Guess we better get moving,” Peters said, with a little salute. “Be talkin’ to ya.”

Jake waved, as he watched Peters climb into the ship. When Peters was settled in the cockpit, Jake and Dougherty walked to their Drop Ship. It shimmered in the light, just as Peters’ Command Wing, coated with the new shielding material. A figure approached them from the Omaha main habitat, dressed in full battle gear, and carrying a particle beam rifle slung on his shoulder. Jake smiled at Dougherty, recognizing the familiar gait.

“Well, well, well,” Jake commented. “Look what we have here, Tim. I believe it’s that disrespectful Chief of Staff, Major Mercer. What brings you out here, Charlie?”

“I’m goin’,” Mercer said, as he came abreast of Dougherty, and gave him a shoulder butt, which threw the smaller Dougherty off balance.

“What happened to the ‘I ain’t goin’ under any circumstances’ speech you gave us?” Dougherty asked. “You know of course, Jake’s driving.”

“You can’t be serious,” Mercer replied. “I spend some time with the troops up on the Intrepid, and suddenly Jake’s piloting? I have to watch you every minute. I hope to God you’re co-piloting, Tim.”

“Hey, Jas has me doing pretty well,” Jake said defensively, as Dougherty laughed. “He says I’m a natural, didn’t he, Tim.”

“He did say that, Charlie,” Dougherty agreed.

‘Tea, but a natural what?” Mercer asked. “He probably meant screw-up, but was too polite to say it.”

“Very funny,” Jake said, as he pushed Mercer towards the entrance ramp. “If you’re going, let’s go. Just keep the whining down to a minimum. We have to keep in contact with Jas, and I don’t want your bellyaching to interrupt.”

“Tim, you got anything to use as a blindfold?”

“We’ll come up with something, Charlie,” Dougherty promised.

“Did you say goodbye to your wife, Jake?” Mercer asked, as they entered the ship.

“Sort of, but neither of us likes to say goodbye, so she just kissed me when I left this morning just like I was going out to gather samples on Casserine,” Jake replied quietly. “She’ll be staying busy with the construction of the new Med Lab, I hope.”

“You must be glad you’re not back on the ‘Rock’,” Mercer noted, as he stowed his gear and followed his friends up to the cockpit.

“Actually, Adrian and I are going back, if this thing ends well,” Jake told him, as he sat down in the pilot’s seat, and pressed the panel which started the auto diagnostics before takeoff.

“They love it on Casserine, Charlie,” Dougherty put in. “You ought to see the two of them. It’s a wonder Risling found one masochist, but it’s a miracle he found two. The General here is a freak; but you should see Adrian walk back down to the surface after spending even five or six hours on the Tennyson in artificial gravity. It’s brutal. She can barely walk.”

“Thanks for your assessment, Tim,” Jake laughed. “When I first took Adrian down there, I thought she’d give up in half a day. She’s incredible.”

“Well, when I come to visit, it will be on a ship you can come see me on,” Mercer stated. “I’ll miss you, you freak, but I ain’t torturing myself to break bread with anyone.”

“That’ll do, Charlie,” Jake agreed, “but hell, we don’t even know if we’ll live through this mission, so what’s the deal with putting down my planet of choice. You guys have a lot of nerve calling me a freak. Tim dances while he kills things, and your best friend, Major Mercer, is an inanimate object you use to torture people, named Mr. Snappy. Yea, I’m the freak.”

Mercer whipped out his torture device from the pocket of his armored vest, and held it caressingly in his hands. “Don’t listen to the bad man, Mr. Snappy, he’s just jealous.”

As Dougherty tried to breathe through his laughter, Jake looked up, gesturing with his hands as if in supplication. “Why me Lord? I rest my case.”

Another laughing voice came through the Drop Ship’s com panel. “If you goofballs are ready, I’ll take off and lock on to you. We could stick around for a while though. The Alien menace ain’t nearly as entertaining as you three.”

“I take it, Colonel, you still haven’t found a way to turn off the two way when not in direct contact,” Mercer observed.

“What, Charlie, and miss all the fun?” Peters noted.

“We’re ready, Jas,” Jake said finally. “Let’s go try out Nick’s toys.”

“Aye, aye, Sir. I’ll let you know when to power up, before we come out of the Gate,” Peters said.

“Good enough,” Jake replied. “Engage.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Mercer said, striding over to put both hands around the back of Jake’s neck. “I’m going to strangle you, and then go find that damn Johnson, so I can shoot him. If I hear one more
Star Trek
command, I’ll introduce you to Mr. Snappy.”

Jake fended Mercer off half heartedly while watching Peters’ Command Wing maneuver into position above them on his monitor. “Sit down, Charlie, or I’ll start singing too.”

Mercer dove into his seat behind the two pilots. “Man, don’t even joke about something like that.”

“I’ve signaled to Sara, and Anton, we are heading into the Gate,” Peters said, chuckling. “It’s freaking them out that they can’t see us. Nick’s on board the Gallant, and he says the only thing they can scan from us is my power signature. He says to fire up your Drop Ship, and he’ll check whether he can read anything with you powering us.”

“Will do, Jas,” Jake replied, as he throttled up.

“Powering down now,” Peters said, tying communications in from all the ships. “Okay Nick, how do we look?”

“Oh man,” Richardson exclaimed. “I don’t know how fast you have it up to, but I can’t detect you at all, and I’ve tried every range of…wait a minute… I’m bouncing a wide range sonic beam at you. I’ve found the weak spot. Although I can’t detect anything inside, I can form an outline of your two ships when the audio tracer bounces off.”

“Let’s hope they don’t do that on the other side of the Gate,” Jake said. “I doubt they would, since they would have to have some reason to suspect it. Even if they think to bounce audio waves off us, it won’t do them any good without some direction, and they have no reliable range.”

“Very good, General,” Richardson agreed. “Long range, the sonic waves would be disrupted by everything in between; and just as you say, if they’re up close, they will need a direction. It looks like you’ll be good to go.”

“Thanks, Nick,” Jake replied. “It’ll be nice to know the Intrepid and Gallant will be waiting on this side if we come back hot. Sara, did you.”

“Yes, Jake,” Corey finished for him, “I remembered to have round the clock Command Wing patrols flying while we’re gone.”

“Thanks Sara, did my wife teach you to interrupt and finish my sentences like that?” Jake kidded her.

“Major Corey does not need any help in that category, General,” Peters put in knowingly.

“We’ll discuss that misconception upon your return, Colonel Peters,” Corey fired back. “Good luck, guys.”

“We’ll have the Gate zeroed, General,” Colonel Stavros added. “If you can make it through, we’ll handle anything on your tail.”

“Thanks,” Jake said simply. “Colonel Peters, engage.”

The last thing Stavros and Corey heard before Peters launched into the Alien Jump Gate was Mercer’s angry voice, and a loud crackling sound.

“Sixty seconds to exit, Jake,” Peters said as he powered down the Command Wing. “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

“Don’t think I don’t recognize those old Earth colloquialisms, Colonel,” Mercer said. “You know Jake repeats everything like a little baby. Now you’ve given him more ammo to torture me with.”

“Thirty seconds,” Peters laughed. “I thought you really zapped him, Charlie.”

“If Tim hadn’t hit my arm, I would have given him a good one,” Mercer growled.

“He was waiting for Tim to grab him,” Jake offered, as he increased the Drop Ship’s power slowly. “The prick still made me jump when he lit it off.”

“Fi.ve,” Peters laughed, “four, three, two, one…here we go folks.”

An Alien vessel, just larger than a Command Wing Fighter, floated in visual range of the group as they came out of the Gate. Jake peered at the nearly black oval outline on his monitor with surprise. “Is this the same thing you blew up, Jas?”

“Yes Sir, I…ah oh…she’s powering up.”

“Steady, it may have read a blip as we passed through, Jas. Let’s trust our shields. Don’t power up weapons yet,” Jake said. “I’ll keep us on coast until we see if it reads us. Our MAG50 rounds are coated in the Bug Queen solvent anyway.”

“I’ve got a lock on them, Jake,” Tim stated from the Drop Ship gun turret. “If they sneeze, I’ll blow their nose for them.”

“Good,” Mercer added. “We’d never make it out of the blast radius if Colonel Peters lets loose with one of those retro shots he ginned up the last time.”

“Ginned up? Ginned up,” Jake laughed, “and you holler at me about.”

“They’re powering back down, Jake,” Peters interrupted. “They don’t see us.”

“Hey, I have an idea boys,” Jake offered.

“Ah oh,” Mercer sighed.

“Want to pay an up close and personal visit to our Alien friends? The Drop Ship has a sealed hatch orifice for boarding a ship in space, when the ship’s too large. Why don’t we detach from Jas, and let him bring his front pulse cannons to bear on them while we drift on up and lock on to them. Come on, it’ll be fun,” Jake encouraged.

“You know, Jake,” Mercer sighed, as Peters and Dougherty were laughing at Jake’s presentation, “when you get out on your own, you start to get more than a little flaky. That has to be the goofiest, scatterbrain piece of strategy you’ve come up with yet.”

“So, are you in or out?” Jake asked.

“What the hell, I’m in,” Mercer said, turning to Dougherty. “You better be ready to get us the hell away from the hull of this ship if things go the way Jake’s ideas usually go.”

“I don’t know, Charlie, Jake executed an Earth Command General right in the United States Congressional meeting house, against the direct orders of the President,” Dougherty pointed out. “Even after that, look at us now.”

“I’m lookin’”

“I see your point,” Dougherty nodded. “I’ll be ready.”

“There’s never a dull moment hanging out with you three,” Colonel Peters said. “I’m releasing you now, and I’ll use battery power to get aimed in the right direction. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Jas,” Jake called out, as he scrambled out of the pilot seat, allowing Dougherty to slip over from the co-pilot position. “Start working her over to their ship, Tim, while Charlie and I get ready for action. I’ll bring your armored suit up from the back just in case we have to exit a little on the rough side.”

“I’ll pick a likely spot on their hull, and then start matching their drift speed for lockup,” Dougherty replied. “What the heck are you going to use to put a hole in their hull?”

“We have the solvent gun, Nick made up to dissolve the Queen’s chamber shield in the back. Once we get locked on her hull, I’ll use the solvent gun on their shielding, and Charlie can immediately blast through with his particle beam rifle. It’ll be a little risky, depending on how tightly Charlie can hold the pattern.”

“A little risky,” Mercer echoed sarcastically. “Boy, this just keeps getting better and better. Well, come on Ke-mo sah-be, let’s get our costumes on.”

“Hey,” Jake stopped immediately. “Where the heck did you get that Ke-mo sah-be stuff…I…Tim?”

“Ah…you better get moving, Jake,” Dougherty called out. “I’m getting pretty close.”

Jake turned back to Mercer. “You’ve been saving up on me.” “Heh, heh, heh”