Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (18 page)

"What happened was the Imperial fleet making the jump led off with a ship we had rigged. Their normal protocol is to send their scouts in first. We calculated a full minute before a capitol class ship would enter the event horizon of the jump gates. That was not the case. The first ship to enter the event horizon was a heavy battleship," Gouyen replied.

Jana nodded. "I guess we got caught by a fluke. We took a little damage to the hyperdrive exiting hyperspace. We should be able to have it fixed in a couple of hours. How about the rest of you?"

"We lost the synchronizers; we're gonna have to set down somewhere and drop the hyperdrive initiator to get to them. It's gonna be a real bear, 'cause when they shattered, they hit the surrounding equipment too. Luckily, the shards didn't penetrate the hyperdrive housing," Major Thomas of the Raptor
Gotham
replied. "Finally, we lost the cloaking generator. If we land someplace to make repairs, we can put up a temporary cloak, but until them, we're not going to be able to hide from anyone."

"What other systems got damaged?" Major Carl Mountbatten of Raptor
Dynasty
asked.

"Rear equipment, ramp control systems, and force field controls for the ramp. The top mass driver actuation controller was all but destroyed. It'll still fire, but we can't extend it, or aim it," Thomes replied. "Everything else is okay, but we might be in trouble if we get into a fight like this."

"Our hyperdrive is a fused chunk of junk now. We got hit by a big wave just as we exited. We're gonna have to replace the whole thing before we can jump again. We also lost our rear shields, port side lasers, and have damage to the port side main engine. To complicate matters, we lost the replicator mass in trasition, so we're going to have to find a place where we can do a little mining before we can even start repairs. Like Thomas, we can't hide either. We're pretty much a slow-moving target dummy for the Imps at this point," Major Rathbone of the
Ithica
reported. "Circe estimates repairs would take a minimum of a week if we were at Phoenix Base. Doing it ourselves is going to be a major issue."

"I hate to say it; but we might have to abandon
Ithica
, Rat. Pull Circe's core and evacuate to another raptor so we can get the fuck out of here," Thomas replied. "I'm even considering it for the
Gothem
and Alfred."

"Right now, we're all spread out and vulnerable. The Imps are scattered and confused, but that won't last long. If I may suggest,
Dynasty
and
Acadia,
link up with
Ithica
and
Gothem
as soon as possible. No one can jump until the hyperspace distortion passes, including the Imps. So we have a little time. In the meantime, we should start what repairs we can. Rat, my sensors show a class three asteroid near you. Can you make it there?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, we're already moving that direction. I've had Circe run an estimate based on the minerals we can detect; it isn't good. Once we set down, we'll prepare to evac over to the
Acadia
and rig the ship for self-destruct."

"We may have to consider the same for the Gothem. We do still have our replicator mass, but repairs will still take a week and a half; mostly to tune the synchronizers. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would much prefer getting the hell out of here," Thomas replied.

"You have said little of the estimates of your own repairs, Major Jana," Major Sizani of the Raptor Zulu, the sixth raptor included in the mission, asked. "We have already set course for your location. Nolwazi informs us that we will be able to jump safely in ten hours. We will join you at that time. Now is not the time to seek honor alone, but to surround ourselves with our allies."

Jana nodded to him. "Your presence will strengthen us, Major Sizani." Jana replied. "The Hyperdrive control suite took a power spike during our exit. It fried the control systems, but we got lucky and dropped out between waves. All we need to do is replace our hyperdrive control electronics and we'll be back to a hundred percent."

"Could we not tractor the two damaged raptors with us?" Carl suggested. "I know I would hate to have to abandon the
Dynasty
and I can see the decision is bothering Rat and Thomas."

Rat shook his head. "No, I appreciate the thought Carl, I really do, but it would slow us down too much and put too much strain on your hyperdrives. Jumping home is a long ride, your drives have already been stressed by the emergency exit we had to make. No, we're gonna have to leave them."

Thomas agreed. "Rat's right, Carl. If we try to make repairs, the imps will hunt us down. If we try to tow the damaged ships out of here, the added strain on the drive systems could cause the rest of you to be stranded as well. It's time to cut and run." He paused. "Just remember, I'm allergic to watercress!"

"Good God; who isn't?" Rat replied, jokingly. The rest of the majors all laughed, including the very British Carl Mountbatten.

"Okay, so we have a plan. Anyone have any other issues we need to work out?" Jana asked.

"When we are able to jump again, I suggest Cathy and I jettison our land rails to make room for our brethren," Carl replied. "Otherwise, it's going to be a very cramped ride home."

Major Cathy Timberlake of Raptor
Acadia
nodded her agreement. "Already planned on it, Carl. We got the drones working on fabricating the hook-ups for Circe as well."

"Major, the hyperspace distortion is beginning to pass. I estimate ten to fifteen minutes until hyperspace travel will again be possible in this sector," Gouyen reported.

"That's pretty much in line with your original estimate, Gouyen," Jana replied.

The AI nodded. "We may have underestimated Imperial scanning technology. The remaining imperial fleets that were at the gate location have reformed into larger fleets. Two of those fleets are already moving in the direction of our damaged raptors. One of the other fleets is heading here. They may have orders to capture us."

"What leads you to believe that?" Jana asked.

"The three fleets moving to our locations divided up the troops transports among them. If they did not plan on capture, they would have sent the Marines in Grimaria to assist in rescue and rebuilding efforts," Gouyen replied.

Jana sighed. "That's not good. Do Thomas and Rat know about this?"

"Yes, they are being notified as well. There will be no issues with our escaping undetected as our repairs are completed. However, neither the
Gothem
nor the
Ithica
are repairable in this situation. The
Dynasty
should make it to the
Gothem
in time to effect the rescue, however, the Imperial warships will arrive at
Ithica
's location five minutes before
Acadia
can make the rendezvous. This prediction is assumed based on the earliest jump possibilities for the Imperial fleet as well as our own jump estimates."

"I can't accept that. There has to be a way to get our people out of there before the Imperials arrive," Jana said shaking her head.

"The math doesn't lie Jana. You guys might have to leave us," Rat replied as the comm opened again.

"We're not going to let you be captured by the Imperials, Rat," Jana replied. "It just isn't going to happen."

The other major grinned. "No, it isn't going to happen. We can't let the Imps get their hands on either the AI or the ship. Circe, activate self-destruct sequence. Command authorization for immediate detonation if detailed Imperial scans are detected or Imperial troops board the ship. Set destruct sequence for verbal command and prepare to eject your core."

"Wait! If you raise your shields, it'll keep the Imps from scanning you…" Jana suggested.

"It'll also pinpoint our location for them, Jana. At that point it'll be too late for
Acadia
to get to us," Rat replied. "Jana, we knew this could happen when we left."

"Rat, hang on for a couple of minutes, we're working on something here," Cathy said.

"Planning on changing the laws of physics, Cathy?" Rat asked.

"Not exactly; we're going to jump a little early. If we can time our jump between distortion waves, we can use them to get to you faster. Kinda like surfing in hyperspace," Cathy replied.

Again Rat shook his head. "You won't be able to slow down enough to exit without taking damage to your own hyperdrive, Cathy. Then we'll lose two Raptors instead of one. Look, we're getting geared up. I'll pull Circe and we'll try to steal one of the Imps, landing craft. We'll blast out of here and detonate the
Ithica
. In the confusion we should be able to get some distance on them before they launch fighters. If it gets too hairy, we'll bail out of the lander.
Acadia
can swoop in and pick us up then."

"You honestly think that's gonna work, Rat?" Jana asked.

"Probably not, but it's the best we have at the moment. If Cathy tries her surfing idea, it'll trash their hyperdrive and strand them here.
Ithica
can't even take off now. Our only options left are to steal something or stay here and try to draw them in. We can use the stealth systems of the suits to hide us from their scanners, once they deploy and head for the Raptor, we should be able to take over a landing craft."

"Won't they think somethings up when no one tries to stop them from boarding the Raptor?" Carl asked.

"Ah, they won't get that chance, Carl; we haven't been sitting on our thumbs here. We've deployed our mines, the portable missile launchers, and we'll be setting the guns to automatic when we leave. They should be pretty sure someone is still here," Rat replied. "Since we had planned on blowing up the
Ithica
anyway, I was planning on doing all of this to draw them in as close as possible. So it was already set up."

"That's crazy Rat! The guns will see the landing craft as hostile! They'll be shooting at you as well!" Jana said.

"Yeah, well, this is all we got and time's up. We gotta get moving to get into position before they get here. It's been an honor folks," Rat said and saluted.

On the screen each of the officers returned the salute as Rat killed his connection.

"If anyone can pull this off, they will," Carl replied softly. He didn't sound very sure of himself.

"Strap in kids, we're heading for the rendezvous in thirty seconds," Jana said over the intercom.

"I've reset our exit point to give us some room when we get there," Cathy said. "If they can get off that rock, we'll find them."

"Good luck, Cathy," Jana replied.

"Imperial fleets have jumped," Gouyen reported. "Arrival here in four minutes. Arrival at Raptor
Gothem
in six minutes. Arrival at Raptor
Ithica
in three minutes."

"We're gone," Jana said and initiated the jump. She noticed that Raptor
Dynasty
dropped out of the comm for a moment as they jumped as well.

"Two minutes, Thomas," Carl said.

Thomas nodded. "We're pulling the core and we'll be waiting, Carl. Talk to you all soon." With that, Thomas too dropped out of the comm link.

On the
Ithica
asteroid, Major Rathbone and his team were having difficulties. Because of the heavy fire from the Raptor, the Imperial landing craft did not actually land right away. They flew close to the site and dropped their troops before moving back to land in a place shielded from the guns of the crashed Alliance ship.

Rat's team would have to run further than anticipated to get to the landing craft. While they were moving, several Imperial fighter craft made strafing runs on the missile launchers and ship in an attempt to destroy the weapons systems. The missile launchers were destroyed quickly, but they were having trouble with the ship's guns and four of the fighters were destroyed. It was obvious they had orders to capture the ship and not to destroy it.

Once the missile launchers had been taken out, the Imperial Marines discovered the very well hidden mines and other nasty traps the
Ithica
team had placed to protect their ship. All in all, it served to buy the raptor team time to find a landing craft, kill the crew, and take control.

Just as the team was lifting the big craft off the rock, Imperial fighters performed multiple strafing runs on the areas surrounding the Raptor to clear out the mines and traps for the troops. The Imperial Marines now only had two things preventing them from attaining their prize; the ship's shield and the very nasty high-powered mass driver weapon on the top of the craft that could even shoot through rocks.

Once again the fighters were called in to weaken or knock down the shields, six more fighters were lost before the shields finally gave out. The Imperial Marines concentrated their fire and destroyed the mass driver on top of the craft. The troops approaching from the front and sides of the craft then discovered another mass driver weapon mounted under the nose of the craft. However, it was quickly discovered that this gun had a blind spot and that was used. The Marines approached the Raptor from the rear, placed their boarding charges and blew the hull of the stricken ship open. Two Marines took positions on each side of the hole and carefully turned in, ready to fire at anything that moved.

The
Ithica
team had cleared the asteroid and were accelerating away on the far side when the
Ithica
and the two remaining demolition charges it carried detonated. The explosion did take the Imperial forces by surprise; twenty-two fighters, and a full battalion of Marines were killed instantly, two light cruisers took heavy damage, and one of those crashed into a battleship when it lost steering. The large ship suffered moderate damage but did not impair its combat efficiency.

The landing craft was heavily armored but was still not up to the plasma wave caused by the explosion. The engines exploded, ripping the rear of the craft open to space and venting what atmosphere it had. Two of the team members were wounded by shrapnel from the explosion. The landing craft was now a drifting hulk with no power.