Overrun: Project Hideaway (29 page)

The entire left rocket arsenal
beneath Barnes' craft separated as one unit and sailed towards the front of the
boarding ship. Parker banked his craft away from the most recent barrage of
ship-to-ship fire. He kept it far enough away to avoid the destruction but
close enough to the Hideaway’s surface to avoid reactivating the radiation
caplets in his skin.

Barnes didn’t pull away and
continued to fly into the coming assault. One of the coming rockets clipped his
tail. Another claimed his wing. His left side entirely on fire, Barnes’
Defender rushed towards the flaming structure of the boarding tube.

A final gasp came across the
ship-to-ship transmitters. And then it was gone.

The small Defender ship
transformed into a ball of hot yellow fire and rammed into the base of the
boarding tube where it attached to the frigate. Its wreckage ripped through the
tube causing it to curl in on itself. It exploded in one solid blast with what
remained of the small Defender ship.

Debris hurtled back through the
short space separating the two larger ships and tore into the Hideaway landing
bay. Whole chunks of ship and flaming metal ripped away. Debris, rubble and
parts of the frigate not protected by the airlock of the ship were sucked out
into space from where the boarding tube had just been attached.

And then it was dark. The vacuum
of space quickly consumed the flames.

"Barnes!!" Parker
screamed pulling his fighter over the wreckage and skimming the surface of the
Hideaway. He twisted his control stick back and forth to avoid the destruction
blasting about the surrounding space.

Parker took his Defender to the
end of the Hideaway where he then pulled its nose away from the ship and
circled back.

Two giant black shredded holes
gaped at the ends of both ships. Debris from the boarding tube floated nearby.
The Hideaway was finally free from the hold of the unidentified boarders.

It was only then that Parker saw
the fast approaching form of a second large ship. And the violent blasts of
flame roaring from its hull.

Another heavy explosion swatted
at the back of Parker's craft knocking him further out into space away from the
Hideaway. Parker gritted his teeth and fought to keep his ship from leaving the
safe zone and activating the vicinity detectors.

Parker piloted his Defender just
above the surface of the Hideaway hull trying to avoid being overcome by the
explosions and fires.

He could feel the force of the
blasts run along the hull of his ship making it groan and gasp and threatening
to cave it in.

Parker flew the Defender towards
the cargo area housing the Beam Cannon Hardware at the rearmost section of the
Hideaway. It was the only section of the ship untouched by the inside battle or
the outside onslaught of the exploding frigate. He brought his Defender past
and circled back to the tentacles leading from the ship ports.

He lined his craft under the
fingerlike protrusions and released the controls to the automatic pilot system
for the final hookup. The port clamp made a loud sucking noise when it secured
its seal over the top of his ship and the cockpit window directly above his
head.

He pulled his helmet from his
face and hit the exit release lever near his left ear. Stale air from the tube
hissed into the cockpit. Carefully, he pulled his wounded body from his seat
and freed his screaming legs from beneath the small ship's command consoles.

He reached over his head for the
rungs stretching through space and the thin tube leading back to the main hull
of the Hideaway.

Using mostly his arms, he hauled
himself up the ladder and out of the craft. His hands held the weight of his
body briefly until his swinging legs found a hold across the last rung at its
base.

He stopped to catch his breath
for a second and leaned against the ladder’s cool metal. Thick red blood seeped
from his wound and stained the wall to his side. Sweat rolled from his face as
he looked up at the door separating him and the main ship.

With solemn determination, he
made his arms continue to pull himself up. When he reached the top, he threw
open the door and let his body fall into the horizontal section leading back to
the ship. He crawled across the narrow passage trying to ignore the pain in his
battered body and hit the switch that lifted the entrance door to re-access the
Hideaway.

When it hissed quietly open,
Parker leaned forward. He tumbled from the porthole and crashed into the
boarding cabin. For many long moments, he remained where he fell sprawled in a
sweat and blood-stained heap across the floor.

When some of the shock and pain
had finally passed, he pressed his arms against the deck and forced his body to
again stand up.

Carefully, he stuck his head
into the hallway and looked towards the tube Barnes had used to board his own
ship. An assault rifle laid at its base on the floor.

Parker bent down to pick it up
and clicked open its chamber. Seeing it already half-loaded, he cocked it ready
to fire. He reached down again to the floor and picked up the few handfuls of
ammunition shells Barnes must have thrown from his pocket before crawling
through the port.

Parker slowly filled the
ammunition chamber while looking towards the porthole from which he had
recently come.

Smoke still hung in the air, and
dust with jagged bits of debris still laid scattered across the floor. A giant
metal safety door had come down and blocked one of the passages. Its release
sensors were most likely triggered by damage caused by the concussion grenades.
Or it might have been dropped by the ship's main automatic command when the
hull had been breached by the explosion of Barnes' ship. When the atmosphere
shield had been broken. When the emptiness of space threatened to destroy the
Hideaway.

It didn’t really matter what
made it fall. He hit its activation control and sent it back into the ceiling.

Parker ducked under before it
was completely up and limped down the corridor. He held the assault rifle ahead
of him. His shoulders were unsteady and sweat dripped across his eyes. He
readied himself at every turn to again meet up with the men that had invaded
his ship.

For the moment no one was in
sight. The passageways were strangely quiet as Parker made his way silently
through.

RadCom grabbed the last rung of
the ladder and swung his legs onto the command level of the Hideaway. Red
lights flashed in short intervals. The loud wail of sirens had finally stopped.
The corridor he stepped into was empty.

RadCom pulled his sidearm from
its holster and walked carefully down the center of the passageway. His arms stretched
rigidly outward. His weapon pointed directly ahead.

He made his way down several
meters of corridor and came to the open door of the cockpit. Just inside he
could see the two empty pilot seats and the view of the shadow of the moon just
outside the command window.

Bright flashes from explosions
outside the ship and blinking switches along the control panels broke the
gloom. RadCom turned around to make sure he was still the only one on the
command level.

He had left the rest of his crew
in the landing bay to pick through the rubble left by the concussion grenades.
He hoped they would find at least one of the pilots buried beneath the
destruction. Alive or dead, they needed one of them to operate the ship
controls.

Having one of the pilots alive
would make the process that much easier. But it wasn’t necessary. As long as
they found a body and the hands were intact. It was all that was necessary to
defeat the signaturization process and bring the Hideaway back to Earth.

Satisfied no one was coming up
on him from behind, RadCom stepped carefully into the small cabin. Gripped
tightly within the palms of his fist, he pointed his weapon in first. He ducked
beneath the low entryway and followed his outstretched arms inside.

The ship command controls appeared
to be online and fully functioning. Lights flashed and monitor screens were
lit. This was not the sleeping ship they planned on boarding.

Looking through the command
window at the moon, RadCom slowly slid his weapon back into the holster hanging
at his knee. He reached down and pushed an equipment monitor hovering over the
left pilot seat back to its resting place in the terminal. He stooped down and
maneuvered his long legs into the small pilot seat being careful not to touch
anything possibly affected by the signaturization process.

He looked around and cautiously
tried to determine what he could touch. He found the small screen of the
holovid. With his heart in his throat, he tapped lightly at the controls.

The screen glowed blue as it
slowly came on. He adjusted its frequency to hail his own ship. Soon the image
of the frigate’s command center slowly came into view. The captain stood at its
center with his back to the transmitter. He was the only one in the room.

RadCom let out his breath. He
had been in the cockpit for about five minutes and so far was still alive and
in contact with his ship. The sound of his exhale traveled through the holovid
and brought the captain’s attention around.

"RadCom," the captain
said turning. He walked quickly from the monitors and controls he had been
hovering across towards the holovid transmitter.

"I’m in the cockpit,"
RadCom reported slowly. "The remainder of the boarding crew is still in
the landing bay. We haven’t found any signs of the pilots. Not since we used
the grenades."

"The pilots are
alive," the captain said his face perplexed. "Two smaller crafts have
broken from the main ship and are on a run for us now. Bring your men in from
the landing bay and have them ready to take the pilots if they return."

"Sir?" RadCom started.

"I'm bringing weapons
systems fully online now," the captain said leaning away from the holovid
to eye up the command console at his side. "We’ll have range on them
soon.”

“Captain, what about…?”

“We have to defend ourselves
against their attack."

The captain stepped awkwardly to
his other side trying to operate the controls at another command station.

RadCom felt a small wave of
panic gnaw at his senses as he looked at the amount of blood streaked across
the left side of the captain’s uniform. Another patch stretched from his
forehead, down his left ear and to the end of his neck. It was dry and starting
to crust.

It was fairly evident it was not
his own.

"We have three dead
already," the captain said turning back to the screen. "Send as many
back here as you can. I don’t have enough left onboard to defend against a
ship-to-ship attack. What’s left of this crew is working or dying down in the
medical ward. Get those people here now."

"Yes, Captain."

"I want you to stay there
and get the ship ready to move...," the captain's voice cut off. Two
flashes of reflected metal streaked across the cockpit window of the Hideaway
towards the frigate. Fire glowed at their rear.

"Ships incoming,"
RadCom said slowly.

He pulled at the comlink
strapped to his wrist and pressed it hurriedly to his lips.

"Boarding Team. Boarding
Team. Stop the search and return to the frigate. Repeat. Stop the search and
return. The pilots are off the main ship and bringing one-man fighters in on
attack runs. They are capable and positioning themselves to fire. All personnel
are to return to defend against their assault."

RadCom pressed his forehead
against the clear turbo glass of the cockpit window to get a better look at the
two small ships.

He watched them speed toward the
front of the Hideaway. And the rockets drop from their undersides. Preceding
trails of brilliant yellow light, the rockets impacted across the frigate’s
hull near the tube connecting the two ships.

"Get across there
now!" RadCom screamed into his intercom. "Get across and seal the
bays. Do it goddamn now!"

He watched in horror as the
explorer frigate recoiled against the rocket blasts. The boarding tube
stretched and jerked between the two ships. The force of the explosions against
the frigate threatened to yank the tube from its seal across the Hideaway.

The two fighters streaked away
and readied themselves for another run.

On the holovid, the frigate’s
command center was in ruin. The captain limped across the room from where the
blast had thrown him. He supported his left arm awkwardly with his right. Flame
licked from various terminals. Exposed wires dangled from the ceiling with
their sparking tips spitting towards the ground.

The captain stepped through what
was left of the command center to the holovid transmitter. Fresh blood covered
his chest and face. This time coming from the wounds of his own body.

"RadCom," he said
wheezing and standing in front of the transmitter. His command seat had been
ripped from the floor and laid in flames just to his side. "RadCom, you
have to disable their ships and bring them in. Kill their power. Whatever you
can do. There has to be something. And get your men over here. We can't handle
a ship-to-ship attack with this size crew."

"Men are on their way back,
sir," RadCom quickly replied.

He reached into his gear and
pulled out two rectangular devices both the size of a balled fist. One had a
small monitor screen at its center. RadCom pulled two cables from each and
jabbed them into the cockpit terminals in front of him.

He then took in a deep breath
realizing what he had just done. Slowly, he pulled his hand back.

"I'm pre-accessing the
controls. Getting a reading on their equipment right now. I should be able to
confirm ship signaturization within the next five minutes."

The two small ships appeared
again outside the cockpit. Both had reversed course and headed again towards
the frigate. RadCom noticed this time their attack formation was not as tight.
Both ships wobbled in space. One nearly turned over on its side.

RadCom alternated his attention
from the battle being waged outside and the readings on the instruments across
his lap. A small green line glowed across the rectangular monitor.

“There’s some energy across the
controls,” RadCom reported into the holovid. “Both the command stick and main
console.”

He adjusted the controls for a
more sensitive reading.

"Captain," RadCom
spoke again into the small holovid screen. The image showed the captain with
his back to his own transmitter as he hunched over some of the remaining
command consoles not yet on fire.

RadCom could see his head nod in
acknowledgement.

The units in RadCom’s lap hummed
quietly still searching the command equipment for signs of the signaturization
process.

“Their fighters are
self-powered, but if I can access the main ship, I can fire weapons at them
from here and prevent them from re-docking. They have limited oxygen and power.
When they’re out, I can talk them in."

"Whatever’s going to be
done, needs to be fast," the captain said not turning around.

An access door to his left began
to open and then stopped before reaching halfway. Two pairs of hands appeared
from the opening. They gripped the sides of the door and shoved it the rest of
the way back into the wall.

The men that appeared were the
returning members of RadCom’s boarding party. RadCom was now the only member of
the explorer frigate left aboard the Hideaway.

"They had a good first hit.
The bulk of our own defense weaponry is just coming online now."

"They're coming again for
another strike," RadCom replied.

He looked in horror at the
multitude of rockets detaching themselves from the bottom of one of the crafts.
The small ship then bobbed and tripped across the frigate’s hull.

"Oh my God," RadCom
said with wide eyes. He looked up from the monitors on his lap and stared at
the rockets flying straight towards the front of the frigate.

Some punched into the ship
beneath the command center, a few punctured the boarding tube, and others
impacted against the Hideaway.

The fighter that had launched
them fell away and exploded across the boarding tube ripping it from its sealed
moorings between the ships.

"Captain!" RadCom
yelled at the holovid hurrying to complete his reading across the ship's controls.
So far there were no signs of abnormal energy across the controls that
indicated that the signaturization process had been activated.

"We're still here,
RadCom," the captain said from behind a thick wall of black smoke. The men
that had left RadCom onboard the Hideaway to re-board the frigate picked
themselves from the rubble across the floor. All quickly stood and retook their
positions at the command center stations.

None of them appeared to be too
seriously hurt.

"That's one. We’ve got one
pilot down,” the captain reported with confidence returning to his voice. “All
weapons up. RadCom, you’ve only got about one more minute to access ship
controls. We’re going to have to shoot the other one down if he makes another
run. And then you’ll have to come up with another way to pilot the Hideaway
back to Earth.

He should be visible on your
portside any second."

"Copy that,
Captain..."

And only then did RadCom see the
appearance of another large ship. Before he could take a second breath, it
swooped at them from the black reaches of space.

No lights marked its hull or
signaled its presence. Other than the glow cast by the lights and fires of the
Hideaway and the explorer frigate, its shape was completely dark. Completely
dwarfing it in size, it descended upon the frigate.

"Captain!” RadCom screamed.
“J.G.U. attack ship in view over your port bow!"

"In sight!" the
captain yelled terror now in his voice.

On his holovid screen, RadCom
watched the men in the frigate command center work in frenzied horror to
address the threat. They bent intently over the command consoles frantically
trying to power up what was left of their ship’s weaponry.

"Firing weapons!” the
captain barked. “Firing weapons now! RadCom, get control of that ship and head
for deep space!"

RadCom jerked his eyes from the
screen back to the Hideaway monitors in front of him. Not even looking out the
cockpit window, he could still feel the enormousness of the third ship outside.

He punched quickly at the two
devices in his lap. The energy pulse readings along the pilot controls were
constant and consistent with readings on the terminals controlling the rest of
the ship. He didn’t see any signs of additional energy or baseline charges. No
extra power that would indicate synchronization had been initiated across the
controls.

Outside, the mammoth J.G.U. ship
slowed its flight until it hovered just above the frigate.

RadCom still worked hurriedly at
the controls on his lap.

"Get the Hideaway out of
there!" the captain ordered again from the holovid. "We have J.G.U.
confirmation on that ship, RadCom. Repeat. We have a J.G.U. confirmation on
that ship."

RadCom kept his attention at the
controls. He listened to the captain bark new orders to his battered and
undermanned crew. He took another quick look at the holovid screen while
waiting for a final confirmation reading on the pilot controls.

Back on the frigate, men jostled
into each other, tripped over debris and dodged sparks and small fires in the
command center.

"Contact? Contact? Any
contact?" he heard the captain bellow at the man at the communications
station. Like all the men in the command center, he still wore his bulky
assault gear.

"None sir," the
officer answered. "No signal. It's just sitting there."

"It’s hitting us with a
full sensor scan," another crewmember yelled from across the room’s chaos.

"Trying to decide who we
are and what we intend to do," the captain said to no one particular in
the room. "I want everything we have ready to fire in the next
minute."

"Captain," RadCom said
from the Hideaway. His final check on the controls almost complete. "Have
you seen the size...?"