Ep 3 6 evolution, p.1
Ep.#3.6 - Evolution , page 1
The Frontiers Saga Part 3: Fringe Worlds
Episode #6: Evolution
Copyright © 2023 by Ryk Brown All rights reserved.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
CHAPTER ONE
“What have you got?” Nathan asked as he and Jessica walked onto the Aurora’s bridge.
“A mayday relay, sir,” Sima reported. “A cargo ship in the Tunc system is under attack.”
“Pirates?” Nathan inquired as he came to stand by his command chair.
“Unknown,” Sima admitted. “The communications tech on Tunc picked up the distress call. All he could make out was that they were under attack by several small ships, and one larger one.”
“Tunc is on the edge of Brodek space,” Aurora stated. “Only four light years from the border with Morden territory.”
“That’s the third time this week,” Jessica commented. “I’d say the Morden clan has figured out the Brodek aren’t around any longer.”
“They’re testing us,” Nathan said. “Recon drone?” he asked Laza.
“Link coming online now,” Laza replied.
“We can just send Dragons,” Jessica reminded him.
Nathan paid her recommendation no attention, instead waiting for Laza.
“Link active,” Laza reported. “Three raiders and an assault ship. The cargo ship is powered down. It looks like they’ve surrendered, sir. The assault ship is moving in to board her.”
“How many souls aboard?” Nathan asked.
“The cargo ship; fifty-four,” Laza replied. “Fifty of them are grouped together in the same compartment, so they’re probably passengers.”
“How many on the assault ship?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Dragons in the tubes?” Nathan inquired, taking his seat.
“Stacked and racked,” Jessica replied.
“Sound general quarters,” Nathan ordered. “Aurora, set course for Tunc system and prepare to jump us in close,” Nathan added as the bridge trim lighting changed from blue to red, and the alert klaxon echoed in the ship’s corridors beyond the bridge.
“Changing course for Tunc,” Aurora acknowledged. “Spinning up all weapons and shields.”
“Launch the alert Dragons,” Nathan added. “Keep the rest in the tubes for now.”
“Alert One, cleared for launch.” Sima announced over comms.
“Light’er up, Sweetie,” Josh instructed.
His AI immediately complied, and Josh’s Dragon quickly accelerated forward into the launch tube, shooting out of the forward end into space alongside the Aurora’s bow.
“Alert One, away,” Josh announced as he took the controls, but waited for his wings to unfold before maneuvering.
“Alert Two, away,” Nikolas announced over comms as his fighter was spit out of the starboard tube.
“Alert Three, away,” Allet announced next.
“Alert Four, away,” Tika followed.
Josh glanced at his tactical display, which was linked to the recon drone the Aurora had sent to the Tunc system. “Looks like three raiders and a big boy.”
“Alert One, Aurora Actual,” Nathan called over comms. “Engage the raiders. Standard R.O.E. We’ll take care of the assault ship.”
“You got it, boss,” Josh replied. “You heard the man. Let’s go de-claw some raiders.” With his wings now fully deployed, Josh rolled his fighter onto the intercept course. “One’s got jump lead,” he announced, glancing at his display to ensure that the other three Dragons in his flight were linked up.
A second later, he pressed the jump button.
“Dragons are away,” Sima reported.
“On course for the Tunc system,” Aurora announced. “How close to the assault ship would you like to arrive?”
“Close enough to scare the piss out of them,” Nathan replied.
“Will five hundred meters be close enough to cause them to void their bladders, or should I jump us in closer?”
Nathan recognized sarcasm in her tone, even if it wasn’t really there. “Five hundred meters will be fine.”
“Jump plotted and ready.”
“Drone link shows that Dragons have engaged the raiders and are leading them away from the cargo ship,” Laza reported.
“The moment we jump in, target their weapons and fire to disable,” Nathan instructed.
“I know the drill,” Jessica assured him.
“Aurora, jump us in.”
“Jumping in three……two……one……”
The jump flash washed over the bridge and the Morden assault ship, along with the cargo ship they were docked with, suddenly filled their forward window screens.
“Jump complete,” Aurora reported. “Holding relative position.”
“Locked onto their guns,” Jessica announced. “Firing to disable.”
The Aurora’s two forward ventral fixed gun emplacements opened fire, sending both plasma bolts and rail gun slugs into the assault ship’s main gun turrets, ripping them apart. Being so close to their prey, and having been caught by surprise, they were unable to adjust their shields and bring them online to protect themselves in time.
The array of smaller guns, rolling down the tracks along the Aurora’s grav-lift wing on her ventral side, moved into position and opened fire as well, picking off smaller point-defense turrets, comms arrays, and other items that would help disable, but not destroy, the enemy ship.
A single missile launched from the Aurora’s port tube. It pitched up over the Morten assault ship, passing overhead before coming about and detonating near her single main engine thrust port at her stern.
“Assault ship’s weapons are neutralized,” Laza reported. “Their main propulsion is offline, and they are running on backup power.”
“Can they jump?” Nathan asked.
“I do not believe so,” Laza replied.
“Sima, open a channel.”
“Channel open.”
“Attention unidentified vessel. This is Captain Scott of the free ship, Aurora. You are committing an act of piracy in free space. Power down all systems and prepare to be boarded, or we will destroy you.”
“Go to hell! We were here first!”
“Wrong answer,” Nathan said, closing the channel. “Jess?”
“Locking main guns on the target, increasing strike power to maximum,” Jessica replied.
“Assault ship is undocking from the cargo ship,” Laza warned. “They’re firing maneuvering thrusters. I believe they’re making a run for it, sir.”
“Which means they can still jump,” Nathan surmised. “Jess, take them out.”
“With pleasure,” Jessica replied.
The Morden assault ship thrust away from the cargo ship and then pitched up, firing her aft forward translation thrusters to give herself enough of a course change to clear the Aurora and get a safe jump line.
The Aurora’s main guns opened fire again, this time at full power. The rail gun slugs tore through the assault ship’s hull and the plasma bolts plowed deep inside her, setting off secondary explosions that tore the ship apart.
“Target is breaking up,” Jessica announced.
“Captain, I’m now detecting sixty life-signs aboard the cargo ship…make that fifty-nine. Six of them are armed,” Laza reported.
“They’ve been boarded,” Jessica realized.
Nathan tapped his comm-set. “Kit, six boarders on the cargo ship. Can you take them?”
“Just hold position,” Kit replied. “We’ll take care of them.”
Kit and the other Ghatazhak gathered in the starboard boarding foyer, dressed in their pressurized combat armor. “Ready to fly,” Kit announced over his helmet comms.
“Activating inner and outer pressure shields,” Jessica reported over comms.
The opening from the boarding foyer to the corridor filled with a pale blue haze as the pressure shield activated.
“Opening inner and outer doors,” Jessica announced.
The inner door to the boarding airlock opened first, followed by the outer door, each of them sliding into the bulkheads.
“Alpha, in three…” Jessica began.
Kit turned and nodded to the other three men in his team. All of them nodded back, ready to go.
“Two…”
“Alpha Team, stand ready,” Kit instructed.
“One…”
Kit crouched slightly, ready to spring forth.
“Alpha, deploy.”
Kit ran across the foyer, through the airlock, and leapt out into space, firing his suit’s maneuvering thrusters as soon as he cleared the hatch. Three more Ghatazhak followed, all of them maneuvering in the same way.
Kit checked the tactical display in his visor, noting that he was on course for the forward breach point. “Touchdown in thirty second s.”
“Bravo, in three…”
Kit fired his thrusters again, rotating just enough to land feet first.
“Two…”
“Two more passengers have died,” Laza reported over comms.
“One…”
Kit didn’t care. His job was the same: save as many as possible. There was nothing he could do about those who were killed before his team was in play.
“Bravo, deploy,” Jessica instructed.
Kit glanced at his tactical display as four more friendly icons appeared on his display behind him, headed toward the aft end of the target vessel. “Fifteen seconds to touchdown.”
His thrusters fired again, this time to slow him down, to avoid slamming into the cargo ship and breaking his legs. Instead, he landed hard, but not so hard that his combat suit couldn’t absorb the excess energy. He immediately pulled the bag he had slung from his hip up and removed eight small emitters, sticking them to the hull in a three-meter diameter circle.
Mori was the next one down. He pulled out a wiring harness and began plugging it into each of the emitters, securing the wires outside of the imaginary circle the emitters formed.
Jokay landed immediately after Mori, squatting down and connecting a small, self-powered pressure shield generator to the wiring harness. As soon as he was down, he flipped the switch, and a pressure shield formed along the hull in between the eight emitters.
Abdur was the last down, immediately deploying a breach ring. “Fire in the hole,” he announced over comms. All four stepped back, their mag-boots holding their feet to the ship’s hull. There was a small flash of light, and a meter-wide section of hull drifted away, leaving an opening to the interior of the ship, the pressure shield preventing decompression.
Wordlessly, Kit turned around and stepped through, dropping inside, pulled by the ship’s artificial gravity. As expected, he was greeted with low-yield blaster fire which simply bounced off his combat armor. He calmly walked toward the aggressors, clearing the drop zone so that Mori could follow.
The two pirates who had fired at him holstered their weapons, realizing they were useless, instead pulling sabers and grinning.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kit chuckled as he continued toward them. He reached down and pulled out two combat knives nearly as long as his forearm. One in each hand, holding them with the tips down, bending his wrists so that the blades were nearly parallel to his forearms.
The two men charged, their sabers up over the heads, ready to slash Kit when they reached him. Both men did exactly that, and Kit deflected them both with his blades. He spun around as he passed between the two men, flipping the horizontal blades in opposite directions as he rotated, so that the knife in his right hand pierced the left chest of the attacker on his right, and the knife in his left hand entered the right flank of the man to his left. He withdrew both knives as he continued his rotation, continuing down the corridor and leaving the two wounded men for Mori to finish off.
Weapons fire sounded in the next compartment, red-orange blasts lighting up the corridor as Kit approached the entrance. The compartment was full of passengers, all of whom were now climbing out of their seats in panic as two more pirates began firing on them. Kit launched the knife in his right hand, sending it across the room between two fleeing passengers and into the face of one of the attackers.
His action drew fire from the other pirate, who immediately grabbed a female passenger, holding her in front of him as a shield as she screamed in terror.
“Back off or I’ll fry the bitch!” the pirate threatened.
Kit just kept walking toward the man as passengers scattered left and right, inadvertently clearing a path for him.
At that moment, two more pirates came rushing in from behind the one holding the hostage as a shield. Kit quickly drew his side arm, bringing it to bear on the man and firing a single shot that whizzed so close to the hostage’s head that her hair was singed by the tiny plasma bolt. The shot landed exactly where Kit had intended, entering the man’s left eye and burning through his skull, brains, and out the back of his head. The man dropped, and the woman fell to her knees.
Kit swung his weapon to take out the two pirates who had just entered from behind, but both men succumbed to weapons fire coming from behind them before he could get another shot off. A moment later, Chief Anson stepped into the compartment, followed by Uray Teece.
“Bravo, clear,” the chief announced calmly.
“Alpha, clear,” Kit reported. “Bravo, sweep aft. Alpha, sweep forward.” Kit stepped up to the female passenger, opening his visor so that he could speak to her. He knelt down, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Are you injured, ma’am?”
The woman, still severely shaken, checked herself over briefly. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Think you can help check for wounded passengers?”
“Yes, I think…” The woman looked at him. “Who are you people?”
Kit smiled. “We’re the Free Fleet, ma’am. We’re the good guys.”
“The ship is secure,” Jessica reported. “Eight dead, sixteen wounded, including two pirates.”
“What about the crew?” Nathan asked.
“Two survivors,” Jessica replied. “The captain, and the chief engineer.”
“What about the raiders?” Nathan asked Sima.
“Alpha flight reports all three raiders bugged out.”
“Tell them to fly cover while we rescue the passengers,” Nathan instructed. “And get both shuttles over there to evac.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nathan tapped his comm-set. “Medical, Captain.”
“Medical,” Doctor Chen answered.
“You’re going to have sixteen wounded coming in about fifteen minutes,” Nathan warned.
“We’re ready,” Melei assured him.
“Launch Beta flight, and put them on extended barcap,” Nathan told Jessica. “I don’t want any surprises.”
“You got it,” Jessica assured him.
“I’m going down to the flight deck,” Nathan said as he headed for the exit. “I want to talk to the captain of that ship. You have the conn, Jess.”
“I’ve got the conn.”
* * *
Robert studied the shuttle’s sensor screen as Cameron piloted the ship over the surface of Libertara. “Let’s look at grid one five seven, next.”
“What was wrong with this one?” Cameron wondered as she entered the course change.
“Not enough open grassland, and not enough water flowing through it,” Robert explained.
“It was pretty, though.”
“Yes, it was. I’m looking for something a little less hilly, and without forests bordering the open range.”
“What’s wrong with forests?”
“That’s where the predators live.”
“Aren’t you going to use shields?”
“In the beginning, yes, but eventually it will become too large to fully shield. Besides, I’d prefer to keep it as ‘low-tech’ as possible.”
Cameron looked at him as if he was crazy. “Why?”
“Fewer problems, less dependency.”
“And more work,” Cameron pointed out.
“Hard work is good for you,” Robert argued. “Besides, a reliable supply of meat will be essential for a new settlement, especially this far away from the rest of civilization.”
Cameron seemed to accept his reply, which surprised Robert.
“Why did you volunteer to come along?” Robert wondered. “I mean, you, of all people.”
“Because I’ve always been opposed to eating animals?”
“I believe the correct phrase would be radically opposed.”
“Yeah, well, radical changes require radical adaptations,” Cameron explained. She looked at him. “Don’t tell anyone, but I really like the taste of dollag, especially when its barely seared, and still raw inside.”
Robert was shocked. “Just when I though there was nothing left that could surprise me.”
“I’m still opposed to eating animals,” Cameron insisted. “And maybe someday, I’ll be able to go back to an animal-free diet, but for now—well, a girl’s gotta eat, you know?”
