Chapter 35
Rossi’s Ingenious Plan
Specialist 1st Class Wald Grugger woke to an alarm going off on his console. He blinked a few times, trying to focus. It was dark and there was no power, so he groped for the emergency power button. He found it and the bridge lit up. Looking around, he saw debris scattered everywhere and noticed that everyone was unconscious. Then he looked at the big screen over the bridge and saw Earth’s moon looming as large as he’d ever seen it. He looked at the image a moment, mesmerized; then he realized it was getting bigger by the tik. The moon’s gravity was pulling them toward itself at an alarming rate. Glancing down at the instruments, panic overcame him. They didn’t have much time to take action before they crashed.
“Commander!” he screamed, getting to his feet with much difficulty. He staggered over to Tam, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him. “Wake up! Wake up! We’re going to crash!”
Tam moaned for few tiks and then opened his eyes. Blood was oozing from a gash to his forehead. He touched the wound with his hand and took it away again. He looked at the blood on his hand curiously. It took him a few tiks to recognize Grugger.
“What happened?” he finally asked.
“The explosion—we attacked New Age—remember?”
“Right,” he replied, dabbing his bleeding forehead with a handkerchief.
“The FTL drive is down,” Grugger said. “We’re going to crash into the moon if we don’t do something quickly.”
Tam looked at the big screen and winced. “Skutz! Wake up Rossi. We’ve got to get the engines back on line immediately.”
Grugger ran over to Rossi and shook him. Tam pushed his com button and barked, “Engineering. Damage report.”
There was no answer.
“Engineering! Damage report.”
Rossi opened his eyes and looked around. Then he saw the moon on the monitor. “Holy Sandee! I’ll go down and check the FTL drive,” he said and ran off.
“How long have we been out?” Tam asked.
“Over a kyloon, sir.”
“Are your scanners working?”
“Yes, sir. I turned on the emergency power.”
“Anything showing up?”
“Nothing but the moon, sir,” Grugger replied, nodding toward the menacing image on the monitor.
“Right.”
Crew members started moaning and groaning as the noise and activity awoke them. Colonel Belmoht stood up. “What happened?”
“We almost got blown up along with New Age,” Tam said. “Go wake everybody up who’s still out and bring me back a damage report.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tam punched the com button. “Sincini, report.”
“We’ve found three ruptures in the main power core. It’ll take at least a kyloon to fix them.”
“We don’t have a kyloon. We’re going to crash in half a kyloon if we don’t do something.”
“I know. But if you fire our auxiliary thrusters for about five loons, that should slow us down long enough for the repair.”
“Why not fire them for ten loons and guarantee we won’t crash?” Tam asked.
“We can’t. The exterior fuel tanks were breached. All we have is the fuel in the interior lines. I’ve capped it off but there will only be enough fuel for a five-loon run.”
“Wonderful,” Tam moaned.
“I’ve got more bad news,” Sincini advised.
Tam braced himself. “What now?”
“We lost our plasma cannons. The turrets have been blown clean off. It took me months to build them.”
Tam closed his eyes. His wound began to throb. “So, how are we going to destroy the last two battle cruisers?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“All right. First things first. I’d better fire the auxiliary thrusters before it’s too late. Should I let them burn until they run out of fuel or stop at five loons?”
“Stop at five loons,” Sincini replied. “We may need them to stabilize the ship later.”
“All right. Firing the auxiliary thrusters.”
The ship shook as the thrusters came on line. Tam fired them for exactly five loons and then shut them down. He looked over at Grugger. “How’s it looking?”
“That slowed us down a lot, sir. I’ll find out precisely how much time we have as soon as navigation is back in business.”
Tam nodded and pushed his com button. “Medical officer. Report.”
“Everyone has suffered injuries, most not severe. There have been two deaths—crewmen hit by flying objects. Seventeen unable to perform their duties but most are back at their stations.”
“Get somebody up here to patch me up. I’ve got a gash on my forehead.”
“Right away, Commander.”
Colonel Belmoht walked back onto the bridge. “Most everybody is back at their stations,” he reported. “We should be fully operational within five or ten loons.”
“Good. Did you hear we lost our plasma cannons?”
“I heard. That’s disappointing.”
“To say the least,” Tam said. “What’s the situation with our fighters? Has anyone tried to make contact with them yet?”
“Yes, we’ve made contact with thirteen of them. I’ve ordered them to sit tight until we can go pick them up.”
“So, we have sixty-three left?”
“Give or take one or two.”
“Not enough to take Relentless?” Tam asked rhetorically.
“No. Probably not,” Colonel Belmoht confirmed.
Tam had a thought. “Except they don’t know our plasma cannons are out of commission,” he said. “They’ll probably still run from us.”
“Yes, but what’s the point of pursuing them if we have no way to finish them off?”
“There’s always a way, Colonel. You just have to think of it.”
“Okay, I’ll give some thought to it and talk to Sincini about it. He may have some ideas. He usually does.”
“Good. We need a battle plan ready the moment the FTL drive goes on line.”
Colonel Belmoht left to find Rossi Sincini. He found him on the FTL maintenance deck, where several crew members were working furiously to repair the damage the FTL drive had sustained.
“How’s it coming?” Colonel Belmoht asked.
“Slow. You can’t rush these kinds of repairs or they won’t hold,” Sincini said.
“Are you going to make it in time?”
“It will be close, but I think so.”
“I hate to bother you when you’re already up against a tight deadline, but Commander Lavendar wants me to come up with a new attack plan against Relentless.”
“Without a plasma cannon?”
“Right,” Colonel Belmoht replied.
“Hmm. Well, they’ll run the moment they see us, just like New Age.”
“Right, and we know how to stop them from going FTL.”
“True. So, the question becomes, what do we do once we ensnarl them in our web of fighters?”
“I don’t know. Is there a place on the cruiser that might be vulnerable?”
“No. The exterior is solid. They only way in and out is through the launch platforms. They are heavily guarded with lasers so any intruder would be immediately destroyed.”
“Could we shoot a missile into the launch platform like was done to Earth’s Destiny?”
“No, the ionic shield wouldn’t allow it,” Rossi said thoughtfully. “But I have another idea.”
“Really? What’s that?”
“What if we disguised one of our planes to look and act like a Purist fighter?”
“You mean repaint them?”
“We’d have to do that, but we’d also have to alter the electronic signature of the fighter to match one that was on Relentless. That way when the fighter approached the launching platform they’d let it in.”
“Do you know their codes?”
“No, but I could program our fighters to intercept the codes as they are radioed into
Relentless’s computer. Then our plane could use that same code to obtain clearance to land on the launch platform.”
“Wow! Wouldn’t they know they had two planes with the same codes?”
“No,” Rossi said. “The program doesn’t have any redundancy protection. Twenty planes in a row could land with the same code. Frankly, until just now I never thought that could be a problem.”
“Were you involved in writing the program?”
“No, but I worked closely with the engineers who installed it. It wasn’t an issue because normally the codes could not be intercepted by the enemy.”
“Normally?”
“Right,” Sincini said, grinning. “I’m one of only a few that could do it.”
Colonel Belmoht laughed. “Boy, did they make a big mistake letting you live.”
“Yes, in their rush to leave Clarion they made a number of serious blunders.”
“Thank God and Sandee for that. I’ll go tell the commander.”
“Right, you do that. And don’t come back until these repairs are made. Any more distractions and attacking Relentless will be the least of our problems.”
Colonel Belmoht returned to the bridge to give the good news to Tam. A medical officer was working on his cut when he arrived. When she was finished, Colonel Belmoht explained the battle plan they’d devised against Relentless. Tam was pleased and left Colonel Belmoht in charge while he went to confer with Lt. Lamh about the plan. When he returned to the bridge, Rossi Sincini was there.
“Are the repairs done?” Tam asked.
“Yes, sir. The FTL drive is ready to power up.”
Tam nodded and then pushed the ignition button. There was a whirring sound, but after a moment it stopped. He looked at Rossi.
“Try again,” Sincini suggested. “The drive’s hard to start sometimes. There may be some residual debris in the coils that need to be burnt off.”
Tam hit the button again and there was the same sound but no ignition. He looked worriedly at Rossi.
“Try again,” he urged.
An alarm sounded from Grugger’s console. “One loon to impact!” Grugger yelled.
Tam looked at Grugger and then pushed down hard on the button. This time, the FTL drive whirred, sputtered, and then came to life. Tam breathed a sigh of relief as the moon began to shrink and then suddenly disappeared in a dazzling flurry of lights.
He grinned at Rossi. “Okay, let’s start looking for Relentless.”
Grugger nodded and punched in some codes into the ship’s computers. They began a search similar to the one that had led them to New Age. Along the way they picked up their stray fighters, and then work began on disguising three of them to look just like the enemy’s. It wasn’t a difficult task since their T-69s were identical to the ones on Relentless except for their markings.
Finding Relentless proved to be more difficult than locating New Age had been, since it had been so long since they’d known her position. Nevertheless, by working a grid methodically, they found her within three kyloons.
As expected, when they confronted her she fled. They tracked her down seven more times to give Rossi the data he needed to predict her final position. When that was done they jumped to the expected location and waited for the final showdown. Because the fighter mission was so dangerous, Tam met with the pilots before they were dropped off to begin their infiltration run.
“This will be the most dangerous mission we have yet embarked upon,” he told them. “When we attacked New Age we lost thirty-seven pilots, and it’s likely the attack against Relentless will be even more costly. I can’t order you to fly when the odds against you are so high, so I am going to ask for volunteers for this mission. You probably are asking yourself why are we even undertaking the mission if it’s so impossible. That’s a good question and one I want to address.
“In the past few days the Purists have taken over the government of the United States of America by deception, deceit, and murder, just as they did on Tarizon. Their control, however, remains tenuous. If the people find out the truth soon, the Purists can still be stopped. However, as things stand, they have two attack cruisers and hundreds of fighters standing by to provide the new government with the military support it needs to survive. So, it’s imperative that we remove that support, by destroying these last two attack cruisers and the fighters they have aboard.
“I’d like to send fifty fighters on the mission which would leave thirteen on Earth’s Destiny. If you choose not to volunteer it will not be held against you, and no record of your election not to fly will be made. You need to decide now. Those who desire to fly on this mission stay in your seats. The rest of you may go back to your quarters to await further orders.”
The room was quiet, and no one made a move to leave. After a few tiks there was movement in the corner of the room, and a pilot got up quickly and left. Two more followed him out. Tam paid no attention to those who left. After a few loons he said, “All right. I thank you for your courage and honor and pray I’ll see you after Relentless is destroyed!”
After the fighters were deployed, Earth’s Destiny once again confronted Relentless to force the next FTL jump. As expected, Relentless immediately went FTL. When she reached her anticipated location, the fifty Loyalist fighters immediately attacked. Barely a tik later, Earth’s Destiny appeared and closed in on Relentless.
In the confusion of the attack, the three disguised fighters surreptitiously intercepted the electronic signature of three Purist fighters, and the signatures were entered into their onboard computers. Then they fell into a long line of fighters waiting to reenter Relentless to be rearmed.
“L1, report,” Tam said.
“L1, in line and waiting our turn,” Lt. Lamh replied.
“Any sign of detection?”
“No, sir. But if anybody gives us a hard look they’re going to wonder why were returning fully armed.”
“I know. If you’re challenged you can abort at any time. This isn’t a suicide mission.”
“Understood.”
The three Loyalist infiltrators flew past the ship’s huge laser guns with great trepidation, fearing their true identity would be detected and they’d be obliterated in an instant.
“L1 to ED1,” Lt. Lamh said.
“ED1 here,” Tam replied.
“Entering the launching platform, getting some curious looks.”
“Too late to abort now. If they try to stop you, just start firing your missiles straight into the ship.”
“Affirmative.”
Once they’d made it to the launching platform and were inside Relentless, the plan was to leave two planes laden with explosives and missiles on the platform and then escape in the third fighter. After they’d cleared the launch area, the explosives could be detonated remotely.
Unfortunately, as soon as the three intruders entered the launching area the specialist in charge challenged them angrily.
“R122, what are you doing? You can’t come in here fully armed, you dirkbird!”
“My computer’s down and my sensors aren’t working right.” Lt. Lamh replied.
“So, didn’t they teach you to fly manually in flight school?”
“Yeah, but . . . ”
“Turn around and get out of here, now! That’s an order.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Lt. Lamh said as he began launching missiles at the Purist fighters in front of him. An instant later, the launching bay exploded into a fiery inferno as dozens of fighters burned and exploded. Thick black smoke filled the area, cutting visibility to near zero. In the confusion and with the cover of the dense smoke Lt. Lamh and a second pilot climbed out of their cockpits and rushed to the third fighter. Then they made their escape.
For almost a kyloon, firestorms raged through the ship’s interior, destroying everything in their path until one of them reached the ship’s fuel stores and Relentless was blown into oblivion.
Once Lt. Lamh and the other infiltrators had made their
escape, all Loyalist fighters were recalled to Earth’s Destiny; most were clear of Relentless when it finally exploded.
“L1, requesting permission to dock,” Lt. Lamh said.
“Permission granted. Fine job, Lieutenant!” Tam said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“There’s a victory party already getting underway. As soon as you get cleaned up I’d like you to sit at my table.”
“I’d be honored, sir,” Lt. Lamh replied.
“Good. See you soon.”
As each fighter made its landing it was greeted by a welcoming party. The pilots were then escorted to the dining hall, where the victory party was in progress. Tam and Colonel Belmoht mingled with them, congratulating each and thanking them for their heroism. While the party raged on, Rossi Sincini watched with great satisfaction. They’d managed an impossible feat—the destruction of four attack cruisers. But his spirits were dampened by the knowledge that he had no more tricks to use on Videl’s Revenge, and unless they could figure a way to destroy it, all might yet be lost.