Omega Force 6: Secret of the Phoenix (17 page)

“Impacts,” Doc said. “Negligible damage but we did overload their starboard aft shield emitters. They’ve got a gap in coverage.”

“Too bad we can’t let Kellea know about it,” Jason muttered.

“Her sensor operator will be able to pick it up,” Doc said. “It’s not like that destroyer is much of a match for the
Defiant
anyway.”

“One lucky shot is all it takes,” Jason said. “Hopefully she’ll correctly interpret the situation and engage them from a distance.” He swung back around and accelerated to outflank the destroyer. If it looked like the
Defiant
was getting into trouble, Jason still had his XTX-4.

They all watched the sensor feed silently as the
Defiant
altered her course and began to accelerate towards the destroyer. Kellea had raised her shields and Jason imagined that she had her com officer trying to raise the
Phoenix
as well as negotiate with the incoming ship.

Negotiations appeared to have failed as eight missiles launched from the
Defiant
and converged on the enemy destroyer. The smaller ship returned fire and then began to try and intercept the incoming missiles, but the range was too close and they could only get three of the eight. Five powerful explosions ripped through the prow of the destroyer and Jason could see the energy signature begin to fluctuate and the gravity wake of its drive tapered off. It was dead in space, drifting.

“
Defiant
was able to shoot down all incoming missiles,” Doc said. “They’ve just launched a small ship.”

“I’d say our new friends are about to get a nasty surprise,” Jason chuckled humorlessly. “Unless I’m mistaken, the Galvetic Marines are about to introduce themselves. Let’s get back to A’arcoon since I’m sure that troop carrier is probably still sitting over A’ara. In the meantime I want the com system working, Twingo.”

****

Things on the planet had deteriorated considerably when they returned to A’ara. The assault lander had obviously been in contact with the destroyer and had disgorged its load of troops during the time the
Phoenix
was in space. They weren’t just normal foot soldiers either: they were Korkaran mercenaries, and lots of them.

“This isn’t good,” Crusher remarked calmly. Jason could see his friend twitching, however, practically vibrating in his anxiousness to get down to street level. “I count nearly two hundred lizards.” The Korkarans had some history with the Galvetic Legions and Crusher was always eager to mix it up with the vaguely saurian species.

“Twingo, I need coms immediately,” Jason said as he lined up a large concentration of mercenaries and opened fire with the chin turret. While a handful of the large aliens were burned down, most were able to dive out of the way and he ended up doing more damage to the street surface than the enemy forces. “This is useless,” he growled in frustration. “This ship isn’t designed for this sort of work. We won’t be able to thin them out too much unless they’re dumb enough to group up somewhere.”

“I can’t fix the com node while we’re in flight,” Twingo said. “What you can do is record a message and I’ll launch one of the twins and have it relay to the
Defiant
.”

“Good enough,” Jason said. “Doc, record a message telling Kellea that A’ara is under attack by Korkarans and we need her Marines here ASAP.”

“Captain—” Crusher started.

“Go get suited up,” Jason told him. “You, Lucky, and I will be dropping onto the administrative building to keep what little government the A’arcooni have safe. Doc, I want the
Phoenix
moved out of the area. I don’t want to get distracted by this attack and risk the parts of the Key being lost.”

“If we move out of the area you won’t have any air support,” Doc said.

“I’m fully aware of that,” Jason said. “All the more motivation for you to get that message off.” He banked the ship up and away from A’ara. He let the computer take over as he climbed out of his seat and motioned for Doc to take over.

“I’ll call up and let you know when to take us back over the admin building,” he said. “Be careful about those Korkarans … they won’t hesitate to try and bring this ship down, and they carry some significant firepower.”

He raced off the bridge after his friends who were already halfway to the armory. Since Lucky was always ready for combat, he was busy pulling weapons off the wall rack and loading them when he arrived. The battlesynth had already pulled his railgun and two sidearms as well as a bandolier of concussion and fragmentation grenades. Out of habit, Jason almost went to the wall rack where his armor would normally sit before remembering the unit had been lost on Tallin Prime.

“What are you carrying, Crusher?” Jason asked, trying to steer his friend away from taking down a bunch of melee-type weaponry that wouldn’t do them any good. Crusher was sometimes far more interested in the challenge of a situation than he was in the strategic significance.

“The usual,” his friend answered. “Two large plasma rifles, a couple sidearms, a few blades. I’ll let you carry the grenades. You good going into combat without armor?”

“I’m good,” Jason snapped, mildly offended by the insinuation. He dragged a crate out from under the workbench and pulled out the simple body armor he’d worn before he could afford the expensive powered suit. He slipped the chest protector on, the thigh and upper arm protection, and the hard-knuckled gauntlets with the sharp edges that turned a simple punch into a meat shredder.

He grabbed the thin helmet, but tossed it aside. The treatment to his skull that Doc had performed made his head harder than the helmet was anyway. Instead he opted for a set of auto-dimming eye protectors. Lucky was helping them both situate their gear on their load-bearing vests, a sense of urgency quickening their movements.

“We’re ready, Doc,” Jason said into the intercom. “Get us back over the admin building.”

“
We’re on our way
,” Kage reported. Doc apparently had his hands full just flying the ship. It was a few moments before they felt the buffeting of small arms fire as the Korkarans opened up on the
Phoenix
as she flared and descended sharply over the building.

“
Transit beam will be active in five seconds
,” Kage said.

The ground team hustled out of the armory and into the cargo bay as the belly hatch opened up and the wavering blue light of the transit beam activated. Lucky dove through first, then Jason, and lastly Crusher. The team landed on the steeply angled roof of the administration building. Jason looked up as the
Phoenix
throttled up and flew off, launching one of the twins as she climbed up steeply away from all the weapons fire.

“There’s a group of twelve currently trying to breech the entrance,” Crusher said, peering over the side. “The others must be running around in the city causing as much trouble as possible.”

Jason looked over himself and saw the Korkarans trying to get in through the heavily armored door of the government building. They looked more like they were trying to keep the occupants inside rather than get in themselves. It was a fairly half-hearted effort by such a heavily armed group. But, there were twelve of them all bunched up and Jason hated wasting opportunities.

He plucked a grenade off his harness and set the fuse to detonate on impact. After priming it he lobbed the small explosive with a gentle underhand throw, casually walking back from the edge as he did. The explosion and hissing screams of the Korkarans were quite satisfying. They were a tough species, however, and Jason had no delusions of a single grenade taking them all out.

There were at least five still moving around on the ground when he peeked over the edge, two of which were writhing in pain. He shouldered his railgun and opened fire on the survivors, the hypersonic rounds devastating the pavement, the surviving Korkarans, and kicking up a plume of debris so heavy the three members of the assault team had to wait to see the results.

“Sometimes I really hate that gun,” Crusher grumbled. Jason just smiled at him. The weapon was relatively simple compared to some of the more exotic arms available, but the sheer destructive power of the tiny projectiles once they were accelerated to many times the speed of sound always made Jason wonder why more aliens didn’t use them.

“Let’s get down and see if we can get into the building,” Jason said. “Hopefully Twingo will figure out a way to communicate with us soon.”

“We should hurry,” Lucky said, pointing off to the city square. “Our actions seem to have gained some unwanted attention.”

“Not really,” Jason said. “We’re in a defensible position and if they’re worried about us they’re not out there killing A’arcooni.” The trio slid down to the edge of the roof and then dropped the remaining fourteen feet to the street level. Lucky went and banged on the door, negotiating with the A’arcooni inside to allow them in while Crusher and Jason kept an eye on the approaching Korkarans.

“Try and slow that group down to the right,” Crusher said. “They’re still out of plasma rifle range.” Jason lined up the lead Korkaran and let the optics on his railgun feed him range data. Two hundred and thirty meters away, an easy shot with the weapon. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the round nearly tore the mercenary in half and the shockwave knocked down the two closest to him. The others scattered instantly, sprinting for cover. Jason fired two more rounds after the fleeing combatants, but was unable to hit a moving target at such a long range.

The door to the admin building creaked open slowly and an A’arcooni hand shot out and motioned for them to quickly enter. They slipped in and Lucky slammed the door shut behind them.

“Captain,” De’Elefor said in greeting. “We’re happy to see you’ve come back.”

“We got back as quick as we could,” Jason said. “Crisstof’s ship arrived and was able to take out the enemy destroyer that had been in orbit over A’arcoon.”

“We were unaware of a second ship,” De’Elefor said. “Do you know why these aliens have come and why they attack us in the streets?”

“I’ll tell you everything I know once we’ve repelled these invaders,” Jason said. “In the meantime, we’ll wait here until our reinforcements arrive.”

“Crisstof Dalton is bringing combat personnel?” De’Elefor asked.

“Oh yeah,” Jason laughed. “The Korkarans out there have no idea what’s on the way.”

As if on cue, Jason’s earpiece buzzed with static and then Mazer’s voice broke in.

“
Omega Force
,” he said. “
This is Captain Reddix. I’m unable to raise the Phoenix but am aware of the situation on the ground. I am inbound for the city of A’ara with a full company of Marines. You’ll know when we get there
.”

“Sounds good, Mazer,” Jason said, keying his personal com. “The
Phoenix
had her com system knocked out by that destroyer. We’re holed up in the administration building protecting the A’arcooni government. It’s the pyramid-type building at the northeast corner of the main square.”

“
Confirmed, Jason
,” Mazer said. “
We’ll be hitting the ground in a few minutes
.”

“The Marines are on their way,” Jason said to his companions. “I’m not even going to pretend to tell you that you’re not going back out to join the fight, Crusher. As soon as they land and establish themselves, we’ll head out and start harassing their rear guard.”

“Yes!” Crusher said enthusiastically, slapping Jason on the shoulder hard enough to knock him into Lucky. “I had been worried we wouldn’t be able to participate in the upcoming festivities.”

“With over one hundred and twenty of your brothers getting ready to hit the streets I don’t think the Korkarans are going to have many troops to spare trying to break into here,” Jason said.

“No argument there,” Crusher said, suddenly very cheerful and agreeable after Jason gave him exactly what he wanted without him even needing to ask.

The Marines deployed into three platoons along the southern edge of A’ara and began pushing north, engaging any Korkaran they could find. The Korkaran mercenaries were caught flat-footed as they swaggered through the city bullying the terrified A’arcooni. When the first wave of pissed-off Galvetic Marines engaged them it was a complete shock. The Korkarans were hardened warriors, however, and quickly fell back to regroup and meet the charge in a more organized way. This was more or less what Jason had been expecting and waiting on.

“They’ve fallen back and are concentrating on Mazer’s forces,” Jason said. “Let’s go out and toss a little more fuel on this fire.” Nodding to De’Elefor, Jason popped the locks on the door. He pulled it open a bit to let Lucky slip out and immediately there was the sound of intense, close range weapons fire.

“Clear,” Lucky called. Jason and Crusher hustled out and saw that a three-man fire team had been positioned by the door to wait for someone to come out. Lucky had quickly taken out all of them and only had a slight discoloration on his chest armor for his troubles.

“Crusher, you’ve had the most experience with these guys,” Jason said. “Where would we be the most effective?”

Crusher looked momentarily surprised at being given operational control of the team, but took the question seriously.