Homeworld: A Military Science Fiction Novel (22 page)

Border Crossing

Abigail regained consciousness and found Dinah Ridge sitting in front of her pouring a cool liquid down her throat which she greedily swallowed.

“Slowly now,” Dinah said in a calming voice as she lowered the canteen. “You’ve been out a long time and some things have changed that you need to be made aware of. So I want you to do a favor and just shut up and listen for awhile, okay?”

Abigail felt weak as if she had been sedated and the world blurred slightly. “Where are we?” she asked.”

“We’re in someone’s apartment on the second floor of a tenement building. We’re safe for the moment, but there are more important things you need to know. So can you just listen to me for a while? I promise to answer your questions when I’m done telling you what you need to know.”

Abigail nodded and noticed that she seemed to be on a rather comfortable bed and the thought of drifting off to sleep sounded so nice that her eyes started to close.

“None of that now,” Dinah barked, jerking her back awake with her voice. “You remember how we were outgunned and outnumbered and you had been shot?’ Abigail nodded and said, “Not one of my happier memories, but yeah, I remember. How did we get out of that mess?

“Well, we wouldn’t have if a very important ally hadn’t stepped in to help us,” Dinah began but was quickly cut off as Abigail tried to sit up in bed and scan the room for the man she remembered from her brief moments of consciousness. She remembered they had fought or rather she had tried to and he had fended off her attempts. “Where is he?” Abigail demanded.

“He’s standing watch. Now listen, Abigail, he has proved himself an ally. Look at your leg and my forehead.” Abigail looked down and noticed that she was wearing someone else’s undergarments but that her leg was also stitched up. Glancing up at Dinah’s forehead, she saw the neat stitching that had closed her wound. It looked like the work of a professional.

“Why would he do that?” Abigail asked with a wary and confused look in her eye. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I can tell you he single handedly killed all but one of the Coalition bastards, who I sent to the beyond, who had us surrounded before he did it. Then he helped me carry you 7 klicks to Alpha Base, but it was under attack and we were not able to get to them.”

Dinah hurried on before Abigail could cut her off again. “Now whoever was in charge at Alpha broke through the Coalition’s line and our Infantry are spread throughout the city and the Coalition are hunting them. We need to move and I need to know if you can walk and keep from killing our new ally?”

Abigail gave her a sour look and with Dinah’s help, she stood from the bed and took a tentative step. It hurt like hell but she could move. “You still got the med kit?” Abigail asked. Dinah handed her the bottle of “reds” and the canteen. Abigail slugged back two more pills and swallowed them before handing both the pills and the canteen back to Dinah.

“So you’re telling me that this super soldier appears out of nowhere, lets us go when we first met in the alley without killing us and I’ll admit he could easily have done so. Then he follows us when we’re ambushed and kills his fellow Coalitionists? That doesn’t make any sense?” Abigail said, sitting back down on the bed waiting for the painkillers to kick in.

“No, no it doesn’t, but that’s exactly what he’s done and more. I have no idea why he is helping us but he is the only thing that has kept us both alive. He says he wants to help us get back together with our company and I believe him. Then he will willingly surrender to our forces. He, and I, just need your word that you won’t go yelling and shooting in a misguided attempt to kill him while we’re sneaking through the city.” Dinah said digging through draws and finding a t-shirt and pair of pants that looked like they might fit Abigail.

“Dinah,” Abigail said in a quiet voice “just answer me this and I want the truth. Did he stop what those bastards were doing to me?”

Dinah stopped and turned towards Abigail and looked at her closely for about five seconds before answering “Yes. Yes he did, Abigail. I saw Drake put a knife through the neck of the bastard who was doing it to you too.”

Abigail began to cry which was not at all what Dinah had expected but she rushed over to try to comfort her but Abigail stopped her with an upraised hand. Though the tears continued to roll down her face, she said in a steady voice “Then I guess I can’t kill the bastard. I owe him one. Now give me those clothes and please tell me you haven’t lost my weapons and armor.”

A few minutes later, Dinah and Abigail exited the apartment room armed and armored their weapons at low ready. Drake stood at the end of the hall smoking a cigarette and silently watching the two approaching. “Do we have a deal, Private Rain, or are we going to have to try to kill each other?” Drake softly asked as he took another drag off his cigarette.

“First off, Drake, let’s get two things straight. One, I owe you. We’re never going to talk about what, but I owe you. Two, can I bum a smoke?” Abigail said with a blank expression and Dinah was happy at least it wasn’t her normal expression of rage when she saw a Coalitionist.

“Here,” Drake said tossing her a pack and a lighter. “You might say I came into a windfall recently and can spare the smokes”

Abigail opened the pack, took out a smoke, and lit it, inhaling deeply before offering Dinah the pack. When she refused, Abigail stuffed both the lighter and the cigarettes into an empty pouch on her armor. “Dinah tells me you’ve led her through quite a few close calls. Have any plan for getting us back together with our company?” Abigail asked exhaling.

“As a matter of fact I do. If you two wouldn’t mind capturing me, we can walk down the road and reunite with them,” Drake said, finishing his smoke and crushing the butt against the concrete floor. “There right down the block in a warehouse doing their best to be stealthy, but in my opinion they’re failing miserably. I think they could probably use an extra pair of soldiers too.”

Drake handed Abigail his rifle, sidearm, and ammunition and gave Dinah his knives and carton of smokes with a silver lighter tucked inside saying, “I’d like these back if at all possible. Now make with the capturing and let’s get going and please don’t forget the right way to link up with friendly patrols or we could all end up dead. They’re a bit trigger happy right now and I don’t blame them after what they just did.”

“Okay, consider yourself captured. Now keep your hands clasped behind your head and lead the way,” Abigail instructed, crushing her own cigarette butt out on the carpeted floor of the apartment complex.

The trio made their way out of the apartment and skirted the building alongside the road approaching the remains of a giant warehouse. “They’re just around the corner trying to decide whether or not to shoot us. I’d call out to them about now,” Drake whispered. His voice was so quiet, she barely heard it over the chaos in the distance around them, but it still startled her.

“Rain and Ridge from Tau squad Omicron company with one prisoner. May we have permission to approach?” called out Dinah in a crisp clear voice

Two men in Earth Infantry armor appeared in an alcove at the end of the alleyway they were headed down. Behind them, two more stepped out of the darkness.

Drake muttered, "It took you boys long enough."

Two rough looking Infantrymen, one with a black and gray beard, approached them, their rifles aimed unwavering at Drake.

“What do you two have here? He questioned.

“He’s a Coalitionist, but he killed his own to save our lives and then patched us up before leading us both through the hell around here to find you,” Abigail responded, her own rifle trained on Drakes back.

“What’s your deal?” One of the two Infantrymen who had approached from behind sneered at Drake. “You get confused as to whose side you’re on, you Coalition freak?”

Drake kept his hands clasped behind his head and his mouth shut.

“He saved our lives more than once,” Dinah said, stepping up to confront him. “Back off.”

The man looked her over. “You got a lot to learn before you start giving orders, greenie,” he laughed.

“Let her be,” the bearded man ordered. “We can sort these things out later. Let’s get these three inside. Colonel Miller will want to talk to them.”

Colonel Miller watched a group of his men escort two young Infantrymen, both female, and a rough looking Coalition trooper into the warehouse where his command had taken shelter.

“And who do we have here?” Colonel Miller asked as he approached the two Infantrymen and their Coalition companion. He noted that all the markings of the Coalition including rank and name badge had been ripped from his armor.

“Private Dinah Ridge, sir,” Dinah said, snapping to attention. “Private Abigail Rain, sir,” Abigail responded from the same position of attention. Colonel Miller smiled but it quickly left his face as he looked over at their companion. Stepping over in front of him, Miller looked him up one side and the other, his face mere inches from Drake.

“And just who the hell are you?”

Without flinching, Drake said, “Drake, and if you don't mind stepping back out of my face, sir, I don't appreciate smelling what you had for lunch three days ago.”

Staying close to him and fully aware of the discomfort he was causing Drake by invading his personal space, Miller continued, “Dare I ask how you ended up with these Infantrymen, Mr. Drake?”

“Just lending a helping hand is all,” Drake smirked at him at him as he bumped the Colonel with his chest. Leaving Miller with the feeling, he would rather walk through his guts than speak with him.

Stepping back slightly, he said, “I see. So you’re a deserter then?” Colonel Miller pressed.

“If you want to call it that,” Drake shrugged, “I prefer the term traitor myself.”

“It’s true,” Dinah cut in. “He saved our lives by killing his own as they were about to commit war crimes upon our person. With my own eyes, I watched him take out maybe a dozen of his own men sir.”

Colonel Miller turned away before stopping to look back at Drake as he scratched at five days worth of beard. “Well, Drake, I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell us what you know about the Coalition’s troop deployments and plans here?”

“As a matter of fact, Colonel, I would. I’m up for just about anything that gets this whole damn war over with that much faster.”

Colonel Miller laughed. “In that case, I have someone I would like to you meet.”

Miller led Drake over to where an older man sat resting in a chair. Several of Miller‘s men followed them keeping their eyes on Drake and their weapons at the ready.

“This is Admiral Clarkson.”

The older man stared up at Drake for a moment. “You are a Rapier Commando, aren’t you?”

The surprise on Drake’s face was painfully clear. “Yes sir, I was. I mean, I'm not with them anymore.”

“This man says he’s here to help us, Admiral,” Colonel Miller told the Admiral.

Clarkson smiled. “Good. It could be things are finally starting to go our way.”

Clarkson motioned for another chair to be brought over for Drake. “Take a seat, son. The two of us have a lot to discuss, I think.”

Homecoming

The huge armada moved towards the Null Point with the Darian vessels taking the lead.

The First Warlord Sattar had respectfully requested the honor of Nullin in first due to the fact that they had joined the combined Darian and Republic armada right when they were most needed.

Admiral Casa did not quite understand why the request was made but he been careful to concede to the request feigning disappointment. He believed he had a lot to learn about Darian culture and hoped he got the chance to do just that in the near future.

Admiral Casa watched the Darians approach the Null Point from the bridge of the Athena. While his fleet followed close behind them. The admiral said a silent prayer of thanks as the Darians arrival and willingness to help retake Earth had clearly been a Godsend.

Even so, based on the scans the Gener drones had sent back, they were all going to be in for the fight of their lives but the Admiral liked their odds a lot better now than before.

The Null Point flared to life as the first Darian warships passed through it. Casa’s ship, the Athena, followed them thirty seconds later. Reality blurred and twisted as the Athena reemerged in the middle of chaos.

Ceramics that had failed to make contact with the Darian ships they had been aimed at came at the Athena in a hail of Ceramic death.

“Hard to port!” Casa screamed.

Mitchell, his Weapons Officer, was already launching counter measures consisting of hardened flack designed in fragment incoming Ceramics and thus lesson their destructive capability. A massive amount of point defense lasers also lit up their section of space with a vibrant red light as they blew apart the enemy Ceramics that had made it through flack and the wave of the Athena’s own Ceramic barrage to counter them and the Athena escaped undamaged.

Hundreds of warships spun, rolled, and spat death at each other in the relatively small area surrounding the Null Point.

Darian Claws swarmed a Coalition cruiser to starboard. The tiny, one man fighters made lightning fast strafing runs over its hull, ripping through its defenses and causing multiple hull breaches.

Several sections of the Coalition vessel leaked atmosphere from their efforts as its close in defense lasers reduced two of the fighters to blossoming balls of orange plasma and shards of metal were sent tumbling out into the darkness of space.

The Athena suddenly found itself directly engaged by three Coalition battleships. The lighter, more maneuverable capital ships came at her in a loose delta formation which allowed them room to roll while maintaining an overlapping, shared Ceramic defense envelope.

“Sir!” Mitchell warned.

“I see them!” Admiral Casa snapped harshly. “Empty the tubes!”

Like bullets from a belt fed machine gun, Leap Frogs roared from the Republic Super Dreadnaught at the approaching enemy. The barrage was overwhelming despite their combined defensive power. One’s fusion reactor ignited taking it and the closer of the other two to the beyond in a blinding flash created by the super hot plasma of the Coalition ships’ main engines going critical.

The remaining battleship was so badly mauled, its main power went offline leaving it drifting helplessly until the Athena closed in, finishing it with a short burst of Ceramics.

Casa couldn’t allow himself time to appreciate the fast won victory. A Coalition Super Dreadnaught had fallen in behind the Athena and was closing quickly at full fighting speed.

“We’ve got birds incoming!” someone screamed.

Admiral Casa was thrown to the bridge floor as scores of Ceramics hammered the Athena’s rear armor.

“The main engine took a hit, sir. We’re at forty percent power,” Mitchell informed him. “There are hull breaches on several decks and astronavigation is offline!”

“Damn it,” Casa muttered, getting to his feet. “Return fire! All aft launchers!”

“All aft launchers are out of commission, sir. Those hits crippled us,” Mitchell shouted back at him.

Casa blinked. They were royally and totally screwed.

There was no way the Athena could turn in time before another wave of Ceramics rained down on her.

First Warlord Sattar hissed the word, “Fire.” A bright blue beam of extremely intense and concentrated energy flashed from his command ship, striking the port side of the Coalition Super Dreadnaught closing in on Admiral Casa’s vessel.

The beam quickly tore into and through its thickly armored hull like a hot knife through butter. Sattar was thankful for the Darian scientists had recently perfected the new beam weapon capable of carving through modern armor plating. It took a tremendous amount of power and the power generators alone for the weapon took up three decks of his vessel. Sattar was certain that if the Super Dreadnaught had not noticed his approach before, their attention being completely focused on the Athena, then they surely noticed him now.

The massive Coalition vessel began a slow roll to bring itself about to confront the Darian battleship.

Sattar flashed his teeth in a wicked grin. His battleship was no match for a Super Dreadnaught but it didn’t need to be. The fool in command of it had reacted just as Sattar had hoped, coming after him and ignoring Admiral Casa’s wounded flagship.

The distraction gave Casa and his crew the time they needed to come to bear on the enemy Super Dreadnaught. The Earth flagship let loose with every functioning Ceramic and Leap Frog that Admiral Casa could target it with. As they burnt away large sections of its hull, Sattar signaled his weapons officer and Darian Ceramics streaked forth to finish the Super Dreadnaught off.

Its death throes were nothing short of spectacular. Orange, red, and yellow plasma bursts spotted its hull before it finally erupted in a nova-like flash of light as the tremendously powerful power generators of the massive vessel went critical and took the ship with them in their death throes.

“Open a channel,” Sattar snarled. His communications officer gave him a quick nod to let him know he was connected.

“Admiral Casa, do you require assistance?”

“Negative,” the intriguing human answered. “Just keep killing those Coalition bastards. We’re all fine here.”

First Warlord Sattar whirled about to Zaran, his second in command. “Tell the hanger crew to prepare my personal fighter. You have command.”

As Sattar moved towards the lift, he was confident that Zaran could more than handle the overall direction of the fleet, especially with the Earth Republic Fleet Admiral Casa’s guidance, now that it was engaged with the enemy, as was his place. In the Darian military, rank had its privileges including the rush of joining your Claw pilots out among the stars where the real battle was taking place, one on one, to the death.

“Besides,” Sattar thought as his blood warmed at the thought of real battle, “Zaran had had his turn piloting a claw last time, in a border skirmish with the Ra-tids.”