Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (31 page)

It was the aft section that caught her interest.

“Can I help you?” a man asked as she walked toward the tail of the apparatus.

“No, I’m just…”

“You’re Deliza Ta’Akar, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” Deliza answered, her attention still focused on the tail section of the apparatus.

“Nathan told me about you. I’m Lieutenant Tillardi. Jonathon Tillardi,” he said, holding his hand out in greeting.

Deliza shook his hand, still without looking at him. “That’s a jump drive, isn’t it?”

“Admiral Dumar told me you had been asking to visit our lab.”

“Where’s the reactor?” she asked, still ignoring his attempts at conversation.

“There isn’t one.”

Finally, Deliza turned her head. “Where is the power from the jump coming from?” Deliza suddenly looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Jonathon Tillardi. I’m in charge of this project.”

“Deliza Ta’Akar,” she replied. “I run the project next door.”

“Yeah, I heard. I can’t wait to see what you’re doing to those Falcons.”

Deliza’s attention returned to the apparatus. “You’re building a kinetic kill vehicle…with a mini jump drive, aren’t you?”

“That’s right,” the lieutenant confirmed with no small amount of pride. “Eight of them, in fact. Nine, including the prototype here,” he explained, gesturing toward the apparatus she couldn’t stop staring at. “We call them ‘Jump KKVs’, or ‘JKKVs’ for short.”

“Did you build all these from scratch?” she asked with amazement, as she moved closer to the tail of the prototype.

“Actually, they’re built from unused missiles,” Lieutenant Tillardi explained. “The Aurora still had a few left when her launcher was destroyed, and there’s a few hundred of them stored in an underground bunker on Earth, still waiting for warheads. The Jung never even knew about them.”

“You still never told me where your mini jump drives are getting their power,” Deliza reminded him.

“From energy banks, located all along the sides, from stem-to-stern. Eight of them, all together. Each energy bank feeds directly to a single emitter, instead of all of them feeding into a distributive array.”

“But energy banks are heavy,” Deliza commented.

“Weight is good, in a KKV,” the lieutenant reminded her. “Granted, the presence of the energy banks doesn’t really increase the destructive potential of the KKV all that much, but every little bit helps, right?”

“So, how does it work?” she asked.

“It’s really just a big slug of mass. A ship will get the KKV up to speed along an intercept course, say, about fifty to seventy-five percent the speed of light, and then release it. The prototype’s jump drive is only capable of making a single, fixed-distance jump of one light day, but the rest will be programmable with a range of as much as a light month. They just have to be fed their targeting parameters prior to launch.”

“Why the maneuvering systems?” Deliza wondered. “They couldn’t possibly create enough delta V to alter course at that speed.”

“Actually, those tanks are empty. We just didn’t bother removing the maneuvering systems. We probably will in the production models.”

“I see,” Deliza replied. “And the other eight? Are they different prototype variants?”

“No. The admiral wanted us to get a head start on getting some jump KKVs ready for use in actual attacks, since we’re down to only three of the conventional FTL KKVs, and probably won’t be getting…” The lieutenant stopped mid-sentence, realizing his blunder. “Oh…that was just…rude. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s quite all right,” Deliza insisted. “Please, tell me more about jump systems, Lieutenant Tillardi.”

“Please, call me Tilly.”

* * *

Naralena
woke with a start as a hand clamped down tightly over her mouth. Her eyes popped open in terror. It was dark, but she was able to make out Gerard’s face not one hundred centimeters from hers.

Gerard put his index finger against his mouth, indicating she should remain silent. He then slowly removed his hand from her mouth and rolled silently out of bed, picking up his sidearm from the nightstand as he stood.

In a semi-crouch, he moved across the small cabin, heading for the nearest window.

Naralena fought back a scream as she saw shadows moving outside the window. Gerard sidestepped immediately, putting his back against the wall as he gestured for Naralena to get out of bed and follow him.

Naralena moved off the bed as quiet and careful as possible, and moved to the wall behind Gerard.

The door burst open and two shadowy figures, back-lit by only moonlight, rushed into the room. Gerard fired three shots, two of the red, needle-like bolts of energy striking the man on the right, dropping him instantly. The man on the left returned fire, his energy bolt slamming into the wood wall between Gerard and Naralena.

Gerard fired again as he crouched down and grabbed the edge of the bed frame and heaved it upward onto its side to provide some cover. Two more men rushed into the room, also firing.

“
Alive!
” someone yelled from outside. “
I said, alive!
”

The men stopped firing but continued rushing toward Gerard and Naralena as they crouched down behind the mattress. “The window,” he instructed calmly and in a low voice. “Go!” He rose and fired at the charging men as Naralena moved quickly to the window, picking up the chair by the table and heaving it through the glass.

Gerard continued to fire as Naralena climbed out the window, but his shots seemed to bounce off his attackers.

“She’s going out the window!” one of the charging men cried out.

Gerard rose to a fighting stance, taking one of the men diving toward him, and in a smooth twisting motion, guided him past and head first into the wall behind him. The second attacker threw his entire body into Gerard’s chest, knocking him backward. As he fell, Gerard pushed the muzzle of his weapon into the attacker’s side, feeling the give of his left flank and pulled the trigger.

The man screamed out in anguish as they both fell against the wall. Gerard, his weapon knocked from his hand, pushed the injured man off of him to his left, rolling right to retrieve his weapon. As he scrambled for his sidearm, he could hear the footfalls of others as they rushed into the room. His fingers touched the handle of his weapon, and he felt a sudden, tremendous pain in the back of his head.

Naralena fell to the ground, rolling several times down the small incline along the backside of the cabin. She could hear men yelling in Jung, “
She went out the window! Quickly!
”

She scrambled to her feet and began running down the dimly lit dirt path, not knowing where it led. She could hear men running after her…not far behind, and the voices, yelling in Jung.

“
She’s getting away!
”

“
She’s headed for the pond!
”

“
Two right, two left, we’ll follow up the middle! Do not let her get away!
”

She stumbled, falling to her knees, tearing her trousers… Pain, in her knees and palms. She got back up, hardly missing a step, and continued running as fast as she could, struggling to see the trail in front of her in the darkness. The trees gave way to a beach. She was in the open.

“There she is!”

The dirt gave way to sand.
No, no, no…
The sound of a single energy weapon shot and a sudden burning sensation in her right leg. She fell, tumbling forward, her right leg no longer working. She lost her balance on her way down, spinning to her left and falling into the water.

Foul smelling water filled her mouth as she tried to breathe. Her head broke the surface. She coughed, she gasped. She was underwater again. Hands grabbed her. Pain in her right leg. More hands reaching, pain in her upper back and head as she was struck repeatedly. Then…

CHAPTER NINE

“
You sure this t
hing’s not gonna blow up on me?” Josh wondered as the technicians finished strapping him into the Super Falcon prototype’s cockpit. “This ain’t a simulator, you know.”

“It’s not going to
blow up
on you,” Deliza insisted from the top of the boarding ladder next to the Super Falcon’s cockpit. “Just be gentle with her. Try to fly her like a…”

“If you say ‘normal pilot’, so help me… I got no problem punchin’ a princess.”

“Stop it,” Deliza replied, taking him in jest as she turned to climb down. She paused a moment, looking back at him over her shoulder. “You were joking, weren’t you?”

Josh smiled at her, saying nothing.

“Don’t fuck up, kid!” Marcus called from the deck a few meters away.

Deliza climbed down the ladder as the Super Falcon’s primary reactors began to spin up, their slow whine building with each passing second. The deck hands moved the boarding ladder away.

Josh watched his systems display as the power levels climbed. “If this thing ain’t gonna blow up on me, then how come you’re not coming with me, Loki?” he asked over his helmet comms.

“
Uh… Procedures?
”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He glanced at his power levels again. “Power’s up, closing her up,” he announced as he activated the canopy.

“
You’re clear on deck, sir, good to roll
,” the ground crew chief announced over the comms.

“Thanks, Chief.” Josh added another channel to his comms as his canopy came down and locked into place. “Karuzara Control, Su-per Falcon, ready for departure, bay zero,” he called as he released his parking brake and flipped the selector switch to change his control stick from flight to taxi mode.

“
Su-per Falcon,
” the controller mimicked, mocking Josh’s initial callup, “
Karuzara Control. Clear for direct departure, bay zero. On departure, fly one seven zero, four up relative for Earth orbit intercept. Be advised your test area is clear of all traffic.
”

“Super Falcon, cleared for departure, bay zero, one seven zero and four up, and I copy the area is clear of all traffic.” Josh pushed his control stick forward, sending power to the electric motors that drove all four pairs of wheels. The ship moved forward and turned to the right as Josh pushed the control stick to the side.

A minute later, he brought the Super Falcon to a stop inside the transfer airlock. He activated his parking brake again and set his control stick back to flight mode, as the big door behind his ship began to close.

Josh cycled through his screens one at a time as he powered up his engines and maneuvering systems. Without Loki in the seat behind him, he would have to keep an eye on a lot more than just his flight data displays, especially since he was flying a ship that had just had all its engines and internal systems completely reorganized. Although he knew the technicians in the black lab were there
because
they were the best, it only took one nut that wasn’t tightened properly, or one valve not calibrated to spec… Josh had joked many times that he could easily operate the Falcon without Loki’s help, but this was one time he wished he didn’t have to, at least not this
Super Falcon
.

“
Telemetry looks good, Josh,
” Loki’s voice called over Josh’s helmet comms. “
Engines and maneuvering systems are online and at normal power.
”

Josh glanced through his canopy into the transfer airlock. The interior of the bay was bathed in red light, indicating it was depressurizing. Finally, the outer doors split down the center and began retracting into the walls. As they parted, they revealed a long, dark tunnel, lit only by four rows of dim lights, outlining the interior dimensions of the tunnel to guide the pilot during transition. Since bay zero was on the outboard side of the black lab complex, and did not open into the center spaceport cavern of the Karuzara asteroid, its exit tunnel to the outside was considerably shorter. It was also the only tunnel to the outside that was completely straight, and Josh could make out the stars at the far end.

“
Okay, nice and easy, Josh,
” Deliza reminded him as the outer doors reached their fully open position.

“
Airlock gravity down to twenty-five percent,
” Loki announced.

Josh applied a tiny burst of upward thrust, lifting the Super Falcon from the deck. As the ship rose slowly, he applied a bit of forward thrust as well, imparting forward motion to get his ship out of the airlock and into the much wider transition tunnel.

Josh looked up as the outer door threshold slid over him and aft. He looked down at his flight data display, watching as the dotted line that represented the threshold slid clear and behind him. “Here we go,” he muttered as he eased the throttle forward.

The Super Falcon began to accelerate, slowly at first, picking up speed more rapidly as he advanced his throttle. “What the hell,” he mumbled, a smile creeping onto his face. He pushed the throttle forward to nearly twenty-five percent. The rows of lights along the interior of the tunnel quickly turned into solid streaks as he blasted down the tunnel and out the far end.

“
JOSH!
” Loki yelled over the comms.

“Hey, you want this thing tested or not?” he said as he did a snap roll to the left, rolling one and a half revolutions before stopping his roll and initiating his departure turn. By now, his smile was ear to ear. “Guess I’m not gonna blow up after all,” he added, chuckling to himself. “You know, it still doesn’t have the acceleration that the old Falcon had.”

“
It’s not supposed to,
” Deliza explained.

“Hardly seems right to call it
super
then, doesn’t it.” Josh looked at his displays. “Orbital intercept in twenty seconds.”

“
Go ahead and put yourself on a course for Porto Santo,
” Loki advised. “
It should be coming up on the horizon.
”

“Got it,” he replied, calling up Porto Santo as his jump destination. “Hey, this interface is pretty slick, did I tell you that?”

“
It was your idea, remember?
” Deliza reminded him.

“That explains it.” Josh could imagine her rolling her eyes and commenting about his character to Loki. “Yes, I am,” he added.

“
You are what?
” Loki asked.

“Nothing. Got Porto Santo dialed in, coming to course now,” he reported as he adjusted his course to meet the one specified by the jump navigation computer. He reduced his throttles to zero just before the course indicator turned green. “Green lines,” he reported. A moment later the ‘Jump Ready’ indicator illuminated. “Jump is ready. Hey, this thing is faster than you, Lok,” he declared as he activated the jump sequencer. “Jumping in three……two…”

The Super Falcon’s canopy turned opaque.

“…one……jumping.”

The ship began to shake violently as it came out of its jump. The canopy cleared, revealing a clear blue sky above him and a vast ocean below.

“Damn,” he exclaimed. “Bumpy ass ride!”

“
Is there a problem?
” Deliza wondered.

“Negative,” Josh insisted. “I think the winds ain’t what they were forecasted, that’s all.” He glanced down at his flight displays. “Airspeed is falling, mach twenty and falling. Altitude is twelve thousand meters and falling. Pulling the nose up to slow her down a bit. Hey, next time, remind me to start from further out and come in more like mach five or something. Any mach in the single digits will do, I suspect.”

“
I’m pretty sure that the flight parameters said something about mach two as your jump-in speed.
” Loki reminded him.

“Flight parameters are for normal pilots,” Josh teased. “Not gonna find out what she can do if we fly her by the numbers, now are we?”

The shaking began to smooth out, until it finally became just small bounces and shakes. “Mach ten, ten thousand meters. Mach eight, six, four, two…… subsonic,” he finally announced, a wave of relief washing over him. “Hey, Deliza! You can tell your guys to rest easy. It appears they didn’t forget to tighten anything. Hell, if she can take that much shakin’ she can take anything.”

“
That’s good to hear
,” Deliza replied over the comms.

“Still doesn’t qualify as
Super
though,” he mumbled. “Porto Santo is about one hundred out. Speed is down to eight hundred KPH, altitude four thousand meters. Looks like I’m on a really long final.” Josh fiddled with the controls, rolling the Super Falcon left and right, checking her responsiveness to control inputs. “You know, your guys smoothed out her handling nicely. She feels pretty good at this speed. I’m still falling like a rock, but that’s okay.” He checked his displays again. “Four hundred, three thousand, and eighty out.” He twisted the control stick slightly, first left and then right. “Rudders feel weak, though. I think you were right about it needing more surface area.”

Josh looked around outside, enjoying the view as his ship continued to descend toward the main runway at Porto Santo airbase. “You know, we could have jumped in a lot closer.”

“
Especially if you would’ve jumped in at mach two, like we asked,
” Loki replied.

“I can see the runway now,” Josh reported. “I’m a little high, though.”

“
But I see you’re making up for it by being a little fast, so…
”

“That’s what air brakes and flaps are for,” Josh insisted. “Dirtying her up,” he said as he deployed them both. “Speed is coming down, and so is my altitude.”

“
You might want to add some power so you don’t slam into the runway, Josh,
” Loki suggested. “
Remember, you don’t have lift fans on this one.
”

“I know that,” Josh replied. His expression said something else entirely as he eased his throttle forward a bit. He strained to see over the forward console as the runway numbers disappeared under his nose. “We’re gonna need some forward facing cameras under the nose,” Josh said. “With my nose up this high, I can’t see shit.”

“
The new cockpit design will make up for that,
” Deliza assured him.

“Over the numbers,” Josh reported as his ship began to buffet.

“
You’re still a little fast, Josh,
” Loki warned.

“Any slower and I’ll stall,” Josh insisted. “I’m already picking up a lot of buffeting here.” Josh braced himself as he watched his altitude above the ground indicator rapidly approach zero. “And…… Ug!” he grunted, as the ship hit the runway rather hard. His nose quickly came down, and his forward gear hit hard as well. “Jesus!” he exclaimed. “Activating auto-braking.” Josh could feel the ship slowing as the automated braking system tried to slow the Super Falcon. “Half my runway is gone,” Josh warned. “I’m still pretty fast.”

“
Did you land long?
” Loki wondered.

“Hell, no. Right on the marks. I don’t think these brakes are…” A red warning light came on. “Uh, I think I may have broke something on that landing. My brakes are overheating, and I’m running out of fucking runway.” Josh slammed his throttle all the way forward and deactivated his braking system, all in one motion. “Screw this, I’m taking off!” he announced as the Super Falcon began to accelerate down the runway. “I am
still
running out of runway,” he warned, “and I do
not
have enough airspeed to rotate!”

“
Dial up an escape jump!
” Loki instructed. “
Select one hundred kilometers!
”

“Is that going to give me enough…”

“
Just do it!
” Loki ordered.

“Fuck, tell everyone to duck!” Josh exclaimed. He quickly rotated the distance selector wheel on his flight control stick so that one hundred kilometers showed as the selected distance to jump. “Snap jump!” he announced as he closed his eyes tight and pressed the button on his control stick.

The canopy became opaque only a split second before the flash. When he came out of the jump, Josh found his ship at three thousand meters above the ocean and falling, without enough airspeed to maintain straight and level flight. He immediately pushed his nose down, with his thrust levers already at maximum, allowing both his thrust and the pull of the Earth’s gravity to accelerate him more quickly. The ocean came rushing up toward him, the ripples turning into waves, their crests clearly distinguishable as he dove toward them.

“
Pull up! Pull up!
” Loki ordered after finally reestablishing contact after the jump.

“Not yet,” Josh replied, watching his airspeed tape climb. He started easing his nose up, little by little, so as not to over-stress the airframe that had just been torn apart and put back together in less than a week. His muscles tightened and his eyes squinted as he leaned his head back into his flight seat, waiting for his ship’s belly to impact with the waves below.

But it did not.

“Whoa, yeah!” Josh cheered as the Super Falcon leveled off only a few meters above the cresting waves. “Level flight and accelerating! Good call, Loki!” Josh quickly dialed up ‘high orbit’ as his jump destination and waited for both jump lines and jump-ready indicators to turn green before jumping.

A wave of relief washed over him as the canopy cleared to reveal the familiar sight of a star field in front of him. “All right, boys and girls. What’s next?”

“
Bring it home, Josh,
” Loki instructed.

“Already?”

“
Yup. The engineers will make a few more modifications, and then install an upgraded weapons package on her for her next test flight.
”

“But we’ve barely flown her,” Josh insisted.

“
Doesn’t matter,
” Deliza replied. “
The admiral wants a weapons test as soon as possible. I think that’s how the admiral wants to make the Falcon ‘Super’.
”

“Works for me,” Josh said, as he initiated a turn to head back to the Karuzara asteroid.

* * *

“Talk to me, Kamenetskiy,” Captain Roselle said as he entered the Jar-Benakh’s b
riefing room.

“FTL systems have been thoroughly inspected, Captain. I believe it is now safe to use them, should you so desire.”

“You
believe
?” Roselle said as he took his seat at the table with everyone else.

“I am sure?”

“You don’t sound sure,” the captain replied.

“I
am
certain, sir. The FTL systems are safe to use.”

“Great. So we can fly, we can shoot, we’ve got shields,
and
we can travel faster-than-light. Now, if we just had enough crew to do them all at once, we’d be set.”