Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (2 page)

“Don’t suppose they’ve been tested,” Jessica said.

“No time. But the Corinairan techs assured me they’ll work.”

“What do you think?” she asked as she watched the boarding teams assemble in front of the three shuttles.

“Don’t be the first one to go through them,” Marcus responded, “nor the last.”

Jessica smiled. “Copy that, Senior Chief,” she answered as she moved past him toward the boarding teams.

“Good luck, sir,” Marcus called from behind her.

Jessica gave him a thumbs-up without looking back. She had not been happy when the captain decided to enlist Marcus and bestow the rank of Senior Chief on the man. She didn’t feel he had earned it, not like the chiefs she had known before him. In fact, she had been bound and determined never to give him the respect due a senior chief, regardless of her captain’s orders. However, the man she had despised had saved seven men from suffocating when one of the Wallach’s fighters had smashed into the Aurora’s port side and ruptured her port fighter alley. The men had been clinging to anything they could hold onto in order to avoid being sucked out into space through the breach. Marcus had risked his own life sealing that breach and had prevented the last of the air from being sucked out into space. That deserved at least some modicum of respect in her book. He still wasn’t a real senior chief in her eyes, but he had shown potential.

As Jessica approached the boarding teams and looked at the man’s name patch, she asked, “Lieutenant Waddle, is it?” She was pretty sure she was reading the Corinairan name incorrectly. “Are your men ready?”

“It’s Waddell, sir,” the lieutenant corrected with obvious annoyance, “and yes, they are.”

“We’re going to need to breach in three places,” Jessica began.

“If you don’t mind, sir, I’ve already got it all mapped out,” the lieutenant insisted.

“Really?” Jessica challenged, eyeing the man from head to toe. He was old enough to be her father, but was tall and lean with a head full of scraggy blonde hair and a week’s worth of stubble. He reminded her of the surfers she had known during her youth—the ones that roamed the Florida beaches—only he was older and more serious.

“We’ve rehearsed boarding actions before, Lieutenant Commander,” the lieutenant assured her.

“Very well, let’s see what you’ve got in mind,” she said, gesturing for him to go ahead and address his troops as to the details of the mission.

“Attention on deck,” the lieutenant called out without pause. He tossed a small, black box onto the deck in front of him. It hit the deck with a metallic thud and immediately activated, projecting a holographic, three-dimensional image directly in between him and his men. The image was a line drawing showing the Loranoi’s exterior. It was nearly two meters long and a meter high, floating more than a meter above the small device on the deck. The clarity of the image was impressive, and it caught Jessica slightly by surprise.

“Sweet,” Jessica mumbled to herself.

“This is our target,” the lieutenant began, “the imperial frigate Loranoi. She is currently adrift without power, weapons, shields, or sensors. However, we do not know how long she will remain in that condition. We do know that, if left alone, one of two things are likely to happen; she will either make emergency repairs—after which she will either bug out or continue her attack—or her command crew will seek to make their escape using their FTL command lifeboat. Gentlemen, we cannot allow either to occur.”

The lieutenant reached up to point at the image as he spoke. “We will take three shuttles, each fitted with breach boxes, and make contact with the Loranoi at her forward boarding hatch, her midship topside EVA hatch, and her stern maintenance hatch. This will allow us to cut off either end of the ship, preventing them from reinforcing one another should they offer resistance.”

“You really think they won’t?” Jessica challenged.

“Anything is possible,” the lieutenant said. “It depends on the number of surviving nobles and the composition of their enlisted crew. The more Corinairans on their crew, the less resistance we are likely to encounter.”

“Seriously? You expect to see friendly faces in there?”

“As I said, anything is possible,” the lieutenant repeated, turning back to his men. “The rules of engagement are: do not fire unless fired upon, and attempt to subdue rather than kill whenever possible. If someone surrenders, quick-tie them and leave them where they lie. Others will come behind you and secure them.” The lieutenant looked at his men for any questions before continuing. “Our objectives are to take control of her command deck, here,” he said as the image changed from an exterior view to show the interior layout of the ship. He pointed to a large room marked in red, located between the forward and midship entry points. “Also the engineering deck, located here, just forward of the aft entry point. Team one will enter at the forward point and head aft to the command deck. With this hatch being the logical point of breach, it will probably be the most heavily defended. Teams two and three will enter from the midship breach, team two heading forward and team three heading aft. Team four will come in from the aft. Teams five and six will also come in through the midship breach point and will hold that position, in case any enemy forces manage to slip past. Any questions?” The lieutenant looked around, scanning the faces of his men once more. “Remember, people, we do this by the numbers, just like we’ve practiced. Low power settings. Disable and detain. Do not eliminate. Is that understood?”

The men responded with a simultaneous, “Yes, sir!”

“Team leaders, review your primary and alternate routes to your targets. I want them memorized by the time we breach, which should be in about fifteen minutes.” Lieutenant Waddell turned to his corporal, one of the few Corinari that appeared to be young enough to never have served the empire before enlisting. “Let’s get them loaded up, Corporal.”

“I have a question, Lieutenant,” Jessica stated. The lieutenant looked at her. “Where did you get that cool intel?”

“You mean the layout of the Loranoi?” he asked. “Hell, we’ve got layouts of nearly every ship in the imperial fleet,” he bragged. “Remember, many of us have served aboard imperial ships, and many of us were smart enough to bring back as much intel as we could. We’ve been preparing for this for decades, sir.”

“Great,” Jessica said, “that’s good to hear. But I was talking about that sweet, little holo-projector. That thing is nice.”

The lieutenant grinned. “I’ll see to it that you get one, sir.”

“One more question, Lieutenant,” Jessica said. “Which shuttle do I ride in?”

“You are going with us?” the lieutenant asked, somewhat surprised.

“You bet. Is there a problem?”

“Yes, sir, there is. These men have trained for this mission.”

“Trust me, Lieutenant; I’ve trained for this as well,” Jessica insisted.

“Not with us you haven’t,” he protested as politely as he could manage. “And you of all people should understand that, sir.”

“I do, Lieutenant, but I’m afraid you’re just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.” Jessica could see the frustration in Lieutenant Waddell’s face. She had worked with the Corinari long enough to know that they took their jobs seriously and that they had the skills to get the job done. “I promise; I’ll hang back and let you run the show.”

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Waddell agreed. “Just don’t get yourself killed, sir, or the captain will have my ass.”

Jessica smiled again. “I’ll do my best, Lieutenant.”

“Shuttle two then,” the lieutenant instructed, pointing toward the appropriate shuttle. “You’ll go in the midship hatch with me.”

* * *

“Captain in CIC!” the watch officer announced. Nathan made his way over to the center display table where Cameron, Tug, and Mister Dumar were examining the holographic image of the Loranoi provided by the Corinari. It, too, was being displayed not by the holographic systems built into the CIC’s display table, but rather by one of the little black portable holo-units used by Corinari field teams.

“The detail in this image is amazing,” Nathan observed as he stepped up to the table. “We really have to see about getting some installed for our own use.”

“I’ve already inquired,” Cameron told him. “It can be done, but it will require tearing the entire podium apart. But it’s not just the image that we need; it’s the entire system. All these black boxes are synchronized through a real-time tracking system. The thing will even calculate and display time lags due to distance. It’s like having a CIC-in-a-box.”

“Then it definitely would be worth the effort,” Nathan commented. “Maybe after we get back to Earth.”

“Commander,” one of the Corinari technicians reported, “the shuttles are ready for departure.”

“Any change in the Loranoi’s status?” Nathan asked.

“No, sir,” Cameron answered. “As far as we can tell, she’s still without power and adrift, and there are still no indications of active or passive sensors in use. Her arrays haven’t moved a centimeter since she went dark.”

“Very well, let’s get this over with,” Nathan ordered, trying to hide his nervousness.

The shuttle rocked slightly, tilting briefly to port as it lifted off the Aurora’s flight apron and rotated to starboard before thrusting forward away from the ship. The small assault shuttle barely had enough room for the two five-man assault teams, the breaching box technician, and Jessica. As it was, they all had to stand in order to fit inside the small passenger compartment. Jessica was the only one carrying a projectile weapon. The Corinari had offered her an energy weapon, but she had chosen to stick with what she knew. Thus far, her guns had served her well enough, and she hadn’t the time to become proficient with an entirely different type of firearm.

As she scanned the faces of the men in the shuttle, she could tell by the look in their eyes that most of them had seen action before today. They had not seen it while serving in the ranks of the Corinari, but rather while serving the empire. She wondered how many of these men might have killed members of the Karuzari during their time in the ranks of the Ta’Akar. She also wondered how these men might react if they suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel of a weapon held by a familiar face in a Ta’Akar uniform: an old schoolmate, a childhood friend… a brother. It was a chilling thought, one that she hoped none of them would have to face. She had read of such events from Earth’s history. Over the last thousand years while the Earth was recovering from the great bio-digital plague, there had been many wars, both big and small. Most of them had been local conflicts: clans against clans, tribes against tribes. Some of them had escalated into full-blown regional conflicts. In some rare cases, they had even become continent-wide wars. But since the plague, the Earth had never experienced another world war, and certainly not a interstellar war.

“Five minutes!” the copilot called from the cockpit.

“Faceplates down and locked,” Lieutenant Waddell ordered. “Everyone to internal life support and comms.”

Jessica closed the faceplate on her helmet and activated the locking mechanism. There was a small hiss of air as the suit adjusted its pressure. She could feel the breathable air blowing through her helmet. She was wearing the same boarding suit as the Corinari, the only piece of unfamiliar equipment she had been willing to use on short notice as their suits were far superior to those carried by the Aurora.

Lieutenant Waddell squeezed past one of the men standing near Jessica to get in front of her. “
Sir,
” he called over the suit comms, “
I’ve set your visor display to show the tactical view. You can control it by tapping the visor and sliding your finger around on the outside of it.
” The lieutenant tapped Jessica’s faceplate visor where he knew the image would be displayed, not being able to see what was displayed on the inside of her faceplate from the outside. He dragged his finger across it, causing the map to scroll, then used his thumb and forefinger, first spreading them apart and then drawing them back together to cause the map displayed inside her visor to zoom in and out.

“Sweet,” Jessica exclaimed. “What else does it do?”

“
It’s extremely intuitive,
” he insisted.
“
Play with it for a few minutes; you’ll get the hang of it.
”

“How do I make it go away?”

“
Double-tap to switch it on and off.
”

Jessica did as he suggested, double-tapping her faceplate and causing the image to disappear completely. Repeating the action brought the image back again. “Sweet. I’m assuming the green dots clustered around me are friendlies.”

“
Correct. Enemy targets will show up as red,
” the lieutenant answered. “
We won’t see them until we breach. Our suit scanners aren’t powerful enough to penetrate the hulls. But once we’re inside, they’ll work great.
”

“We’re gonna need some of these as well,” Jessica joked.

“
I’ll add it to the list,
” Lieutenant Waddell responded with a smile.

“
One minute,
” the copilot announced over the suit comms.

“The shuttles are moving into position to breach now, sir,” Cameron reported.

Nathan stared at the holo-graphic display hovering in front of them. “How are they going to get through those hatches?”

“It depends. Sometimes they can be bypassed electronically from the outside,” Mister Dumar explained. “They can also use a chemical that melts the hatch seals, then inject an explosive foam into the empty space that will blow the hatch free.”

“The problem is that if the crew of the Loranoi knows they’re coming, they might blow the hatch outward,” Tug added. “If they do, it could knock the breaching box off the hull. It could even damage the shuttle. We have lost many men this way.”

“And we have no real way to be sure whether or not they know we’re coming,” Nathan commented.

“We’ll know in a moment,” Cameron stated.