BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 50
 

“Impact in five…four…three…two…one,” Cerise counted down. On the main display of the SPF Righteous and every other ship in the fleet, a magnified view showed weapons fire from the defensive batteries attempting to clear the storm of debris that hurtled towards the planetoid. Impacts spewed gouts of dust and rock in large plumes or balls of flame as ammunition stores were struck along with pulse cannon capacitors.

  Immediately behind the debris comprised of ship hulks, bits of hull, engine housings and more than likely a few bodies the rescue crews had been unable to locate came the warheads. Like a rolling wave the atomic conflagration swept over the surface of the celestial body. In its wake of overlapping detonations the surface glowed for a few minutes before cooling, showing the dirt and rock as a slightly dimpled sheet of fused and melted dark glass. Had any observers been closer, they would have seen the occasional recognizable item protruding from the molten surface such as a gun barrel, the wing from a short range trans-atmospheric shuttle, a helmet.

  “Scan for emplacements and correlate firing arcs to our approach vector,” Elias instructed as he continued to watch the display, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  The fox wondered idly what the scientists that detonated the first atomic bombs felt. The destructive power of a star unleashed, the devastation and lingering death in the form of radiation that poisoned the very ground over which it was used…how did they feel? Granted, nuclear energy was utilized by every planet in the Alignment. It was the power that enabled them to reach the stars. But despite the benevolent applications, the first uses had been weapons. Did they feel what he did now? Did they experience the feeling of sickened fascination, like watching an accident that you couldn’t stop, and at the same time couldn’t look away from?

  “Scans inconclusive, Captain,” Cerise said. “At the moment there’s too much interference from the detonations.”

  “Scan at intervals of fifteen minutes and keep me informed,” Elias said and continued to watch the display.

  “Aye, Captain,” Cerise said. Even as she ran through different sensors arrays to try and get the information that her mate wanted, the vixen continued to watch the surrounding area around the ship and the nebula in general. A contact that wasn’t part of the fleet showed up and she was able to lock in on it and identify before the computer slaved to the sensors did. “Be advised, the SPF Mother’s Arms and escorts have joined the fleet.”

  “About bloody time,” Sandy growled.

  “Now, now. That’s a lot of ship to navigate through the nebula,” Elias commented quietly enough so it didn’t carry past where he and the lion sat. Elias didn’t say it, but he was relieved as well. “Cerise, open a channel to Mother’s Arms, please.” The vixen complied and a familiar raccoon appeared in a smaller window on the display. “Good to see you again, Horace,” the fox said with a wide smile.

  “Looking good, Elias,” the raccoon replied with his own answering grin. “Though I have to admit it’s a little odd to see you in uniform again.”

  “You know how it goes. They put you in a registered ship and the next thing you know you have to get rid of all your comfortable clothing and put on a uniform. As soon as we can get an accurate reading on the surface, we’ll begin the operation. We’re still not sure how many civilians there are, though I would bet my entire month’s salary that they’re going to be in pretty rough shape. Same with any females. The Legion tends to look at them as maybe a hair worse than slaves.”

  “I don’t think that will be a problem. We have beds for five or six hundred, depending on their condition. Our medical and psychiatric crews are on stand-by and about an hour or two behind us are two starliners that will also be working as hospital ships. We’d have been here sooner but we encountered some hostiles on the way in. We got a helping hand from a human freighter captain…some ship named the Crown and Thistle. The captain of that vessel seemed to know that I’d be meeting with you and told me to give you his regards.” The last was added with a quick wink.

  “I think I know who you’re talking about.” Elias tapped a few commands into the keypad of his chair. “I’m sending you our operational plan. We might need some assistance in shuttling the civilians.”

  “Say no more. I’ll go ahead and have the flight crews finish prepping their ships.”

  “Thanks, Horace. We’ll keep you updated. Righteous out.”

  “I’ve always liked him,” Sander said with a nod. “Good solid officer that takes what he does very seriously.”

  “Horace is one of the good guys, that’s for sure,” Elias agreed.

  Everyone went back to waiting for a clearer picture of what had happened on the surface and during the wait Elias tried not to indulge in too many cups of coffee. He also fought from pacing or snapping at anybody that approached him, though it was easy to tell that the waiting was starting to wear on his nerves and those of the rest of the crew. He almost jumped out of his seat with an exclamation when Cerise finally spoke out.

  “We have a clear reading,” she said and brought up the information before it could be asked for. The weapons emplacements and gun batteries were gone, and it looked as if the electromagnetic pulse had knocked out defensive points further out than they had anticipated. “Power is minimal at the berthing selected for infiltration and defensive batteries are neutralized. We can begin the operation at any time, Captain.”

  Elias nodded. The tension that he was suffering from dissipated, though he did feel a certain tautness to the rest of his body as he readied for action. “Roger that. Cerise, give the order to begin. Saul, you have the con.”

  The jaguar stepped up and nodded. “I have the con,” he confirmed before putting his hand out. “Good luck, Elias. Get ‘em home safe.”

  “I’ll do my best,” the fox said with a smile. He waited while his mate finished sending the call to action and walked with her to the area where the assault troops were preparing their equipment, Brees falling into step with them.

  “I might not know what’s going to happen, but at least I’ll know that you’re going to get there in one piece,” Sandy said with a bit more emotion than he normally let show, even in moments where there weren’t others around to hear. “Don’t take any stupid chances, son.”

  “You know me better than that, Sandy,” Elias said as he stepped up to the suit of power armor made for the SPF by Binfurr Arms. “Just keep things smooth on this end. We’ll get the civilians and smash the rest of the Legion. In, out, piece of cake.”

  “Right. Just the way we planned it,” the lion agreed. He turned to look at Randal Mercks who’d stepped up along with Treena, Odette, Sonja and Lemuel. The doctor was wearing a red environment suit that would also serve as armor and clearly marked on the front, back and both arms with gold caduceus symbols. He also had a backpack that contained more than his usual satchel of medical supplies. “You all keep each other safe.”

  “I thought I was still under orders for that,” the wolf said, his expression serious.

  “Bloody well right you are,” Sandy told him with a smile.

  Randy nodded. “Alright, let’s get you suited up. You both have the standard dual ten millimeter auto rifles on the right forearms and stunner. The left is a combination shotgun and grenade launcher with gas rounds. In the cargo section is the standard ditch kit if the armor’s rendered inoperable with submachine gun, pistol, spare ammo, two concussion and two gas grenades. The kit also includes soft combat armor, radio, light, and first aid pouch and rebreather. The radios are already synched to the net so you won’t have to worry about that.”

  Elias nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said pausing to give Cerise a lingering kiss.

  “I didn’t know officers could smooch in front of us enlisted,” Tyra Delian said with a wide grin as she stepped up to the small group.

  “Captain’s prerogative, Del,” the fox said with a chuckle. “You the one tapped to babysit us?”

  “I wouldn’t put it that way, but you’re on my team, Sir,” the tigress said with a laugh.

  “Uh-uh. Not this trip. Call me Elias on this run, alright?”

  “Shuttles are ready for boarding,” the intercom above them informed the assault troopers. “Boarding teams to the port hangar, boarding teams to the port hangar. Good luck all. Bridge out.”

  “Was that Jenna?” Randy asked as he stepped to his suit of armor. As had become the custom to a lot of the SPO’s assigned to the boarding teams using the new armor suits, many had decorated the right pauldrons with personal artwork. The wolf’s had a rather good rendition of Lena in revealing lingerie a la Terran 1940’s pin up style sitting on an old fashioned rocket with the words ‘Hugs and Kisses!” underneath it.

  “Yep,” Cerise said. “She’s been taking extra lessons in comm and sensors with me, so she’ll be taking my place on this.”

  Randy smiled. “I feel better already.” He looked to the rest of the contingent. “Suit up!” he bellowed to the troop compartment and twenty six furs and humans scrambled to their armor while Elias and Cerise brought the number up to twenty eight.

  Elias slid into the suit and brought the systems up, the power feeds from the storage cubicle automatically disconnecting as the back section closed with a hiss. Readouts for power, atmosphere, weapons, and icons denoting the other members of the contingent showed up on his Heads-Up-Display.

  Small air bladders inflated around his limbs and torso ensuring he didn’t bounce around inside if things got rough, and would also help minimize impact trauma. Like the others of the group, Elias ran through a series of movements that would test the suit’s actuators and fit. When the status light blinked green he stood straight and waited to follow the others to the landing bay.

  “Looking good, Lover,” Cerise’s voice said to him over his radio. He smiled knowing that even while she could monitor all communications from the suit, the vixen could also isolate particular units for private conversation.

  “Cerise, be careful. I love you and don’t want you to get hurt,” the fox said twisting so he could look at the suit his wife was in.

  “I know. I won’t. And I love you too. You be careful yourself, Lover.”

  He flashed her a thumbs-up gesture before turning and following the others.

  The shuttles that would deliver the assault teams were similar to the standard trans-atmospheric craft in use all over the Planetary Alignment, though these were equipped with larger engines to compensate for the armor plating and also had limited weapon systems. The fuselage of each one was equipped with large hatches that recessed into the hull when opened and had soft-seal universal docking rings that enabled them to mate with virtually any hatch configuration. One shuttle could even connect to a ship and act as an airlock for another shuttle if they had to cut through a hull or hatch. Security for the shuttle was provided by four armature mounted infantry support pulse cannon that would be operated by the support crew.

  The heavy assault troops would go in the first shuttle while the rest of the boarding contingent followed on the second. Rovi and Lena, both in flight suits and opened helmets watched as the heavily armored SPO’s filed in and locked into positions along the sides of the cabin.

  “Alright guys, here’s how we’re going to do it. Just before we latch onto the hatch that’s our target, we’re going to blow it,” Lena told the troops. “We can’t be sure of what they have waiting on the other side, and this will be something that they won’t be expecting. Coming in fast and hot should be enough to scramble any resistance they have waiting. We’ll lock on and seal with the port docking ring and hatch open. The door gunners will throw suppression fire down until you start to disembark. After that, you’re going to be on your own for dealing with threats.

  “Because they may have civvies here, we’re going to keep our fire high to cut down on the possible danger to non-combatants. There’s going to be some turbulence once the hatch is blown, and there might be some debris, so watch out. Once we do get locked, go EVA as quick as possible as other shuttles will be coming in to dock with us so their personnel can disembark. Now, everyone’s secure and we’re wasting time. All of you be safe, good luck and come back home.”

  They all watched as the rabbit stepped up to her wolf lover, planted her fuzzy lips on the faceplate of Randal’s armor before stepping away, her gloved fingers trailing in an unfelt caress. She sealed her own helmet on and entered the flight deck, the hatch closing behind her.

  A few moments later there was a vibration that ran the length of the small spacecraft as the engines came on line and the lights in the cabin dimmed slightly. There was the sensation of motion, but it was hard to tell what was happening as there weren’t any windows in the troop compartment. It was easy to tell when they exited the Righteous as there was a moment of null-G before the shuttle’s artificial gravity kicked in. There was no chatter as they ferried over to the docking berth that would be their point of entry.

  Sooner than Elias was anticipating the illumination in the cabin switched from standard lighting to red and Lena’s voice came over their internal communications systems.

  “Prepare for cabin depressurization. Limpets attached to hatch. Port side docking in five…four…three…” As Lena spoke the atmosphere was removed from the compartment. Seconds later the shuttle was rocked slightly by a mild buffeting. The door slid open and the two flight crew members opened up with their weapons, doing their best to keep their fire high in case there were innocents. “two…one!”

  No sooner had the rabbit reached ‘one’ in her countdown than the shuttle snugged up to the coaming around the blown hatch. The ring of the universal seal performed its job as designed, locking the small craft to the alloy surface. Randal and Sonja were the first ones through the hatch and took positions to the left and right, covering the fairly large room as the others boiled out of the shuttle forming overlapping defensive positions. The chamber itself was sixty feet by one hundred and twenty with a heavy, armored pressure hatch on the far end.

  “Activate mappers,” Randal ordered. The mapping program would take information that the power armor picked up and turn it into a transparent overlay on the HUD and work in conjunction with the suit’s programmable compass. “Sonja, Del, drop a couple of beepers just in case someone gets turned around.”

  “Radiation’s nominal,” Cerise said. “Doesn’t look like this section got saturated like we thought it would be.” She looked at the reading again. “It shouldn’t be too bad for the troops that don’t have environment suits or the civilians as long as the time here is limited.”

  “How limited?” Elias asked.

  “One, maybe two hours tops.”

  The fox nodded. “We’ll see what’s past this corridor. We may be able to use that point for mustering the evacuees.”

  One of the other troopers came forward with the carry handle for a blocky case in one gauntlet. He trotted to the end of the room and opened up the case. The lid had a flat display that was integrated into its design. In the main part of the case were the triangular forms of four FloBots specifically designed for the Spatial Police Force for use in rescue operations of derelict spacecraft. They had simple, sturdy bodies with sensors and a camera that could send a feed back to the case/control box. Thermal sensors, simple Geiger counters and chemical sniffers were part of their standard equipment. Most of their bulk was claimed by the armored plastic shells they were encased in.

  The trooper, SPO Cabot, activated the four bots, each one hovering at head height, and gave Randal a thumbs up. “Looks like the door is getting power,” Cabot informed the others, “but not enough to trip the actuators. The shellacking on the surface must have tripped a breaker or caused a short in the feed. We’ll have to pry it open.”

  Three troopers automatically arranged themselves to face the door while Randy and Sonja stepped to either side and grabbed hold of a panel each and hauled it open. The corridor that was on the other side had been cut out of the material of the planetoid and coated with a liner of plastic sealer. It ran perpendicular to the door. Though there wasn’t anyone on the other side, no one was taking any chances, and Randy and Sonja took alternating peeks around the edges, on high and one low. Both were met with fire.

  “I guess they’re home after all!” the spaniel exclaimed as she readied a gas grenade and sent it sailing down the right hand corridor.

  While the wolf and cocker spaniel female took care of things at their end, Elias put the call out that any personnel that would be joining on the operation would need protective gas masks before stepping up to SPO Cabot. “Get the bots out there. I want a visual. Make sure there aren’t any civvies with these yay-hoos.”

  “Yes, Sir!” Cabot replied and sent the four bots out.

  With the FloBots running scout, they had intelligence on the positions the Legion mercs had taken. Portable ballistic shields had been set up and the rogue mercenaries used those for firing positions. The information also indicated that there were no weapons heavy enough to cause anything more than superficial damage to the outer shells of the power armor units.

  Elias saw this and stepped up to the door with a snarl. He went out through the door and began firing as he walked steadily to the position on the left while Randal and Sonja had to scramble to catch up to their Captain and other troopers went to the right. The firefight only lasted a few seconds.

  “Clear!” Elias called over the suit’s radio and was answered with the same from Randy. “Good. Cabot, get the bots moving to the next intersections at both ends of this corridor. Randy, form a detail to get those shields moved to the next junction. Del, get your people to me and we’ll move these. We’ll set up rally points as we go. Now move! We got evacuees to rescue!”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.