Interstellar War (The Pike Chronicles Book 5) (23 page)

Lieutenant Jarvi raced up the narrow maintenance tube, leaping from one handhold to the next, clearing several rungs at a time. Close behind him came Sergeant Jacobs, the newly freed Chaanisar. Two more of his men were scrambling up the parallel maintenance tube. He heard the explosion below, but didn’t allow it to slow his progress. There were plenty of men down there, and he was confident in their ability to handle the situation.

As focused as he was on the task at hand, he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to AI. He hadn’t realized how much he had grown used to her constant companionship since he let her into his brain chip. It wasn’t the communication. Jarvi valued a quiet mind, so they rarely spoke to each other. It was more the knowledge that she was always there. She somehow filled the emptiness. No more.

Control Center level reached
, said Jarvi over his chip, as he stopped climbing. Jacobs came to a stop just below him.

We are in position
, the other two Chaanisar responded.

Opening hatch. Prepare to enter on my command
, said Jarvi.

Jarvi slowly turned the handle and pushed the heavy hatch slightly open, giving him a one centimeter gap. He pushed a slender, paper thin surveillance device through the crack. The tiny camera projected a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree video feed of the corridor to the Chaanisars’ visors. It didn’t look good.

We are outnumbered
, said Jarvi.
But we have the element of surprise.

It is enough
, said Jacobs, although Jarvi sensed his apprehension. He knew that emotion wasn’t due to fear, but a regret that he would have to kill more Chaanisar. It was something they all felt. The men on the other end of that hatch were not just slaves, or potential team members. They were family. All Chaanisar were brothers. If AI had been successful, these same Chaanisar would be hunting Juttari alongside them.

The gift of death
, said Jarvi.

The gift of death
, the other Chaanisar repeated.

Now
, ordered Jarvi, swinging his hatch open to leap through. The tube hatches were flanked by two groups of enemy Chaanisar. Jarvi threw a grenade at one of the groups and opened fire as it exploded in their midst. Jacobs jumped in, throwing two more grenades, taking a knee, and opening fire as well. From the second tube, the other Chaanisar jumped in echoing the tactic.

The two enemy groups were caught completely by surprise, and even their enhanced speed couldn’t help them. Jarvi’s squad cut them down quickly and mercilessly. The entire attack over in seconds. Wasting no time, the four men raced down the hall toward the staircase with blistering speed. As they neared, the staircase doors swung open and blue energy bolts greeted them.

The four men returned fire, while scrambling for the walls. They were running so fast that they simply moved up the walls, temporarily outracing gravity.  Grenades were thrown. More explosions, and the four were through the doorway, crashing into the Chaanisar stationed there, sending all parties tumbling down the stairwell.

Jarvi had already unsheathed his ion blade, plunging its sizzling point into the visor of the man he was entwined with, as they bounced down the steps. Piercing the visor, Jarvi sunk the blade to the hilt, into the man’s skull. The man stopped moving, but Jarvi had already left him behind, surging up the steps and thrusting his blade into the back of another Chaanisar’s neck, the glowing blade cutting through the armor and severing the man’s spinal cord.

Turning he saw Sergeant Jacobs at a forty-five-degree angle, on his back. An enemy Chaanisar pounded on his visor with his heavy metal gloves. Jarvi leveled his energy weapon and squeezed the trigger, sending multiple bolts into the man’s torso.

The enemy Chaanisar fell backward as Jacobs jumped up, unsheathed his own blade, and drove it home into the man’s chest.

“The gift of death, brother,” said Jacobs, as the man’s body fell limp.

Energy bolts crashed into Jacobs from above. Looking up Jarvi saw two more Chaanisar firing down at them. He returned fire, and the other Chaanisar joined in. The enemy had the high ground, but killing their initial opponents gave Jarvi’s team a two to one advantage. They forced the enemy to back up, an electrical storm of blue lightning coming at them from below.

Chief Henderson got up off the floor and examined his combat suit. It had been charred from the flames, but its integrity held. He looked over at the Diakan who had hit the ground beside him. He too was moving to stand He turned to the stairwell and saw that both doors had been blown completely off their hinges. From up above, he heard the sound of combat, especially the exploding grenades. Lieutenant Jarvi had engaged the enemy.

Behind him stood a mix of Marines, Diakans, and Chaanisar, waiting to storm the stairwell. The station continued to shake from the pounding it was taking from the fleet. Outside, they would have now engaged the new Juttari fleet. Henderson couldn’t know how well the battle outside was going, but he knew that he needed to get to the Control Center. He had to point the station’s powerful weapons square at the enemy.

“Stairwell is secure,” said Jarvi, over Henderson’s comm.

“The stairs are clear. Move out,” ordered Henderson, breaking into a run. The explosion had blown apart the portion of the stairway on this level, forcing Henderson to leap over it. He cleared the gap and landed with a hard metallic thud, momentarily questioning the structural integrity of the remaining steps. With the combat suit on, he could easily make a twelve-foot jump, even more if he was at an all out sprint. He had seen the Chaanisar jump even higher.

Before long he had reached Jarvi’s team, who held the staircase, but were locked in a firefight with the level’s Chaanisar defenders.

“Good work, Lieutenant,” said Henderson, pointing his weapon and adding his firepower to the mix.

“Thank you, Chief,” said Jarvi. “The Control Center is at the other end of this corridor, but these Chaanisar are being disagreeable.”

“Then we need to be more persuasive,” said one of the Diakans from behind. “If you’ll allow me,” he said, brandishing one of the Diakan heavy weapons.

Henderson and Jarvi moved out of the way, as the Diakan pulled the trigger. The muzzle belched white hot flame, and explosions decimated the middle of the corridor, littering the ground with rubble and shards of Juttari body armor.

“Damn, I need to get me one of those,” said Henderson.

“Perhaps we can accommodate your request after the battle,” said the Diakan, in complete seriousness.

Henderson couldn’t help but roll his eyes behind his visor. Several men moved into the corridor, ensuring that all the defenders were indeed dead, before taking defensive positions to allow the rest to advance. They reached the end of the corridor without incident, turned a corner, and arrived at the entrance to the Control Center.

A heavy set of sliding doors blocked their way. One of the Diakans ripped open a panel and went to work on the control system. The rest of the men spread out, all with weapons trained on the doorway, ready to storm the Control Center the second the doors opened.

“No heavy weapons in there,” Henderson said to the Diakans. “We need those systems in one piece.”

“Understood,” said the Diakan team leader.

it was only seconds before the doors slid open, allowing a stampede of armor clad soldiers to charge through. Blue energy bolts streaked back and forth as they engaged the enemy once again. The defenders were a mix of Chaanisar and Juttari. They put up a fierce fight, and the Juttari were particularly lethal, slaying several men each. These Juttari were clad in their signature, invisible armor, unimaginably strong in its shield capabilities.

They weren’t invincible, however, and the odds were against them. In the end, they died just like everyone else. During the firefight, Henderson noticed that Sergeant Jacobs was particularly aggressive. He went after the Juttari exclusively, with a fearlessness that convinced Henderson he would get himself killed. At one point he had taken a Juttari down to the ground, and straddling the alien, he repeatedly stabbed at its face with his ion blade. Even after the alien was dead, Jacobs kept stabbing, releasing a lifetime of rage onto his victim. No one tried to stop him.

With the battle won, the same Diakan who had opened the doors moved to one of the consoles and began to enter the commands to reorient the station’s weapons. He furiously tapped at the screen as command menus came and went, but no matter what he tried he couldn’t take control of the weapons. Instead, the system responded with error codes, continuing to fire on the allied fleet.

After multiple failed attempts, Chief Henderson opened a comm with Admiral Pike. “Sir, we have a problem.”

“Commander Konos, advise all ships to rejoin the other half of the fleet. Focus on the battle station,” ordered Jon.

“Yes, Sir,” said Konos.

“Order bombers to jump in and target the battle station’s weapon systems.”

With the original Juttari fleet destroyed, Jon didn’t want to face this new wave coming through the gates divided. The battle station presented a serious problem, though. The boarding teams were doing a good job securing the station, albeit with heavy losses. None of that helped, however, if they couldn’t get control of the weapon systems. Somebody else controlled those weapons, and Jon was beginning to suspect that person wasn’t an organic life form. That meant they were dealing with a Juttari AI. Possibly one powerful enough to defeat their own AI.

“All ships have acknowledged orders, Sir,” said Konos.

Jon saw the cluster of ships begin moving on his tactical display. On the main viewscreen, Juttari ships were still coming through the jump gates. The two gates were not very close to each other, and the Juttari ships were grouping in a region halfway between them. They were amassing to full force before engaging Jon’s fleet.

Jon switched his tactical display to study the stream of ships coming through the gate. They moved in a straight line from their gates to the halfway point.

“Commander Konos, order the other ships to sync their jump systems to ours. We are going to attack the enemy,” said Jon.

“Yes, Sir. Relaying orders.”

“Helm, prepare to jump to grid coordinates S17.”

“Coordinates loaded, Sir,” said Ensign Richards, the helmsman.

“All jump systems are now synced to ours,” said Konos. “We are jump ready.”

“Weapons status?”

“All weapons are online,” said Ensign Petrovic, the tactical officer.

“Initiate,” said Jon.

The viewscreen shifted and Juttari warships appeared directly in front of them. They were spread out with a fair amount of distance between each ship as they traveled to their rendezvous point. Jon banked on that distance. It would allow his jump squadron to pick off individual ships like a pack of wolves taking down an isolated deer.

“Target nearest Juttari vessel. Fire all weapons.”

The jump squadron burst into action, unleashing a devastating onslaught against the unprepared warship. Energy bolts and missiles hammered the enemy ship, compromising its armor, and breaching the hull in multiple locations. The Juttari ship tried to mount a defense, launching countermeasures and returning fire, but the attack was too fast, and too intense. Blinding light blazed through the viewscreen as the ship blew apart, the force of its explosion turning it momentarily into a tiny sun.

“Jump to grid coordinates C21,” said Jon, eager to keep the Juttari off balance. “Initiate.”

The viewscreen shifted again, and another group of Juttari ships appeared, only this time they entered the system through the opposite jump gate.

“Target nearest ship. Fire all weapons.”

Again the jump squadron’s formidable arsenal tore into the unsuspecting enemy. Again the ship was incapable of mounting an effective defense, and its hull was soon riddled with breaches, the end in sight.

“Contacts!” said Petrovic. “Multiple Juttari warships have appeared just off our stern. Weapons hot!”

“Launch countermeasures. Rail guns in defensive mode. Helm, jump us back to our previous coordinates. Initiate.”

The viewscreen blinked, now displaying the debris field created by the first ship they had surprised. The steady stream of ships heading toward their rendezvous point had paused, and the Juttari vessels below were grouping together to mount a proper defense against the jump ships.

“Contacts!” said Petrovic. “Juttari ships have just appeared off our stern.”

“All ships are ordered to engage the enemy,” said Jon, growing tired of the Juttari jump tactics. “Attack pattern Theta.”

The Juttari were not wasting any time building their own jump ships. Jon would have to massively speed up the retrofit of the rest of the fleet, but that had to wait until they were finished here. Right now he had to make sure these new jump ships were eliminated. He couldn’t allow the Juttari to have a fleet in this system, the battle station, and jump ships.

The Freedom shuddered, as it withstood a punishing attack. Several crew members began to exchange looks of concern.

“Sir, the Juttari jump ships are ignoring the other ships, and are only targeting the Freedom.”

Jon cursed. The Juttari were determined to take him out, one way or another.

“Admiral, the Reiver is moving directly between us and the Juttari,” said Petrovic.

“Jon opened a comm with Jonas, whose face appeared on Jon’s display. “Jonas, what the hell are you doing?”

“Shielding your ship. What does it look like I’m doing?” said Jonas with a scowl.

“Colonel Steeg and Colonel Mace are now moving their ships between the Freedom and the Juttari,” said Petrovic.

“There, you see Admiral, you do not have to thank me alone,” said Jonas. “Now if you don’t mind, I am very busy.” Jonas’s face vanished from the screen, leaving Jon furious.

“Sir, another group of Juttari ships are approaching,” said Petrovic. “They’ll be in weapons range in ten seconds.”

Jon pulled up a tactical display. The grouping ships were now all racing together toward his squadron. It seemed the enemy jump ships had sustained some damage, but it wasn’t enough to incapacitate them. In seconds the other Juttari ships would enter weapons range, leaving his squadron outgunned and surrounded.

“Helm, load coordinates for a jump back to the main fleet surrounding the battle station.”

“Coordinates loaded.”

“Initiate.”

The Freedom landed with the jump squadron back amid the rest of the fleet. The battle station showed signs of heavy damage. The fleet had focused on the weapon systems, rather than trying to destroy it. This proved more difficult, but the station would be a great asset to have in place after they took the system. It would be much easier to repair the weapon systems than to build another battle station from scratch. The station was massive, however, and no pushover. It still possessed a surprising amount of firepower, and as Jon’s ship appeared within the station’s weapon’s range, he discovered just how much firepower it had left.

The first blast almost threw him to the floor. Other crewmembers weren’t so lucky. Another blast rocked the Freedom, this time ravaging its systems. More blasts. Smoke poured onto the bridge as electrical fires wreaked havoc. Emergency fire suppression systems were activated, but new flames erupted as the beating continued.

“What the hell is going on?” said Jon. “Did those jump ships follow us?”

“No, Sir,” said Petrovic, veins bulging at his temples. “It’s the battle station. It’s specifically targeting the Freedom.”

Jon stared at the viewscreen, stunned. He didn’t want to leave the battlefield, but the Juttari were determined to destroy the Freedom. If he stayed with the fleet, the battle station would destroy him. If he jumped away, the Juttari jump ships would come after him. If he jumped out of the system, it would destroy the fleet’s morale. He wouldn’t retreat. There had to be another way. The floor shook violently as the Freedom took another blow from the station’s heavy guns.

His comm display suddenly came to life and a Diakan face appeared.

“Tallos? What the hell do you want?” said Jon.

“Your ship faces imminent destruction, Admiral Pike. I will help you survive.”

“Why would you, of all people, want to help me?”

“I do not help you, Jon Pike. I help the prophecy. I will escort your ship away from the station, and shield it from any attacks. I have two hundred ships at my disposal. I believe that is sufficient.”

“If this is some kind of trick, Tallos,” said Jon, pointing a finger at the screen.

“This is no trick. We don’t have much time. Your ship’s integrity is failing rapidly. My ships are moving into position around the Freedom. You need to get away from the battle station immediately.”

“Helm, move us away from the battle station, in the direction of our jump gate. Three quarter light.”

“Yes, Sir. Moving away at three quarter light,” said Richards, looking as calm as ever. Did anything phase this kid?

On the screen Jon saw the Diakan vessels clustering around the Freedom, creating a shield wall between his ship and the battle station. The station kept firing, and though some of the shots managed to hit the Freedom, the Diakan ships absorbed the brunt of the assault.

It was working, but Jon was putting himself at Tallos’s mercy. If the Diakan wanted revenge, this would be the perfect time to take it.

“You say you’re doing this for the prophecy?” said Jon.

“That is correct.”

“Bullshit. You’re up to something.”

“I admit, considering our history, this may seem suspicious.”

“You knew about the prophecy before, Tallos. When we were on the Hermes. It didn’t stop you then. Why would it stop you now?”

“I did not believe then.”

“What? And now you do? Come on. Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“I have seen the prophecy take shape. You have risen, despite the odds being stacked against you. You went from being one man, with no ship, lost in the colonies, to someone in command of more than two thousand warships, taking territory from the Juttari. You must admit, it is a compelling story.”

Jon considered Tallos’s words. Part of him actually wanted to believe him, despite all he had done. He supposed that if he could forgive the Chaanisar, he could forgive this one Diakan.

“Contacts!” said Petrovic.