Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Pursuit Page 25

  "My problem is so much worse than yours," Web bragged. "There are a dozen or more Primans on the other side of that door who are very angry with us."

  "Then let's get the hell out of here," she said as Web began jogging towards her. He got halfway there before the door exploded out into the motor pool garage, some sort of breaching charge throwing it clear of the doorway in an ear-splitting bang and a cloud of debris.

  A barrage of blaster bolts immediately poured through the doorway. Apparently the Primans were less concerned with collateral damage than in stopping Web.

  Web and Halley were standing between two rows of low-slung hovercars as the air was filled with charged energy bolts. They chopped up the vehicles, punching holes in the doors, panels, shattering window glass and throwing shrapnel up in the air.

  The pair hit the ground between the vehicles and sat with their backs to the door of one car.

  "We need to get the hell out of here!" Web stated the obvious. "Do you have a copy of the ring data on you?"

  "Yeah," Halley responded with a grimace as she shifted uncomfortably.

  "We may need to ditch that in case they catch up to us."

  "Sure," she replied, her breath catching in her throat.

  "What's up?" he started to ask, then looked at her uniform. An ugly, ragged scorch mark blackened the side of her chest under her left arm. Through the torn and darkened material, he saw the uniform was also damp with blood.

  "Oh sheifah," he said, the closest thing he'd ever admit to panic welling into him. "Are you ok?"

  "I'm not actually dead yet," she said through gritted teeth as more glass rained down on them, "but I could use a few minutes to heal up a bit." Though she'd never told him as such, he knew enough about her SAR training and more importantly enhancements that she could affect some first aid using her nanites.

  "We don't have a few minutes," Web cautioned. "You're going to need some time to heal before you can even move." His eyes had been roaming the garage as he talked, but suddenly he snapped his head around to look at her. "I'll lead them out of here. You stay put and hide and let them go right by you."

  "Not a chance, you idiot," she said harshly. "You're not going to risk yourself for me."

  "No, it makes sense," Web reasoned. "They only know about me, all by my lonesome, and that's what they'll be looking for. I'll take them out of here and we'll meet up at our planned rendezvous point."

  "That's crazy," Halley replied, but the realization that his logic bore true welled to the surface. She pushed it down hard. Another SAR operative making the offer would be normal, expected even. Not Web; he didn't need to do this, nor should he. This was her mission, her life to risk, and she realized at that instant that she'd rather die herself than outlive him.

  Web just rolled his eyes, grabbed Halley's blaster and reached over the hood of the hovercar they were hiding behind. With a gun in each hand, he triggered off a dozen rounds from each weapon towards the doorway in order to buy him a minute.

  "Ok Halley," Web said easily, "why don't you just get up and I'll carry you."

  "You'll be too slow," she growled. "They'd catch you before you got a block."

  "Then jog with me." An explosion of concrete shards dropped a pile of debris on the roof of the hovercar next to them.

  "I can barely sit upright!" she yelled, which caused a jagged bolt of pain to shoot up her side and silenced her argument.

  Web ducked down next to her again, set one gun on the ground, leaned in close and touched the side of her face with his palm. "Halley, I'll be fine. Besides, if I don't do this, you'll be captured for sure. I'll take my chances and go. And if things don't go my way, I know you'll bail me out."

  He gave her his most reassuring smile. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her and kissed him. For a fraction of a second, the war for them disappeared. The kiss said everything they didn't have time to say to each other; all the emotions they felt were passed between them in that second. It didn't hurt that it gave Halley the opportunity to pass some nanites over to him with specific instructions, either.

  "Be careful, Web," she said. "I need you to be ok."

  "See you soon," he replied, and slid her gun back to her. He raised his arm over the hood of the hovercar and triggered another round of blasts until the power cell in the blaster was empty. Dropping into a crouch, he hit the ejector and the dead cell dropped out from under the slide, leaving the small hatch open for him to insert his only spare.

  He gave her a wink and then ran down the row of cars, firing a few blasts before hitting the ground and rolling out of the open garage bay doors and into the alley. Halley knew he'd stand a good chance of a quick escape with the fire, smoke and chaos of their distraction going on outside, but her stomach burned with worry. This wasn't his job; he was a pilot, not a covert operative. But she knew he'd do what it took, both for the Confederation and for her. And she loved him for it. She just hoped she'd get to tell him that soon enough.

  For the time being, she grabbed her blaster and rolled under the hovercar behind them, wincing but determined not to make a noise and ruin the chance Web had given her, then crawled and rolled across one more row and hid under the last vehicle against the garage wall, shrouded in shadows and her own gloomy cloud. The data she carried would see the light of day if she had to kill every Priman on the planet to do so.

  Loren jumped into the passenger compartment of the small but expensive shuttle Merritt and Cory had found. It had a cockpit for two, then a plush cabin with seats for six. It was just big enough to have hyperdrive engines, though as was typical of executive transport, it didn't have incredible range and was instead meant to quickly get important or wealthy people from one system to the next.

  He strapped in and Cory already had the ship floating off the deck, rotating in place as she turned for the hangar doors. The thrust pushed Loren back in his seat as they shot out of the place, the jet blast from the engines knocking all sorts of things loose in the hangar and even pushing a small racing hovercar into the vehicle next to it.

  "Good thing the owner's not home," Merritt said as he leaned over to put his eyes up against the windows to see the mansion from height.

  "I hope he has good insurance," Loren replied. He too was turned back, looking at the mansion and wondering if Echo was going to be successful. The AI had said the process would only take a minute, but it had been at least that long since he'd entered the hangar and secured the hatch behind him before heading for the shuttle. He hoped the Primans hadn't gotten to Echo first.

  Loren's worries were interrupted by a flash where the huge home had been which temporarily blinded him. There was no sound; the shuttle was supersonic by now and would outrun the noise of the explosion, but as soon as the spots were gone from his vision Loren took another look and saw a crater in the place where the mansion had been. Echo had been successful. Loren didn't know whether he was relieved or upset. Maybe he wouldn't ever decide.

  "Inbound target from the surface, Captain," Elco heard Lieutenant Caho call out from behind him.

  "IFF?" he asked, hoping the ship was sending some sort of ID tag.

  "No, but there's a new comm request on a Confed navy frequency coming in."

  "On the big screen, please," Captain Elco replied, then turned to look at the main screen on the forward bulkhead, staring through the tiny blips in the 3D holo field between himself and the display.

  Merritt's face appeared on the screen, though Elco could see another person's shoulder next to him. "Captain," Merritt began, "Commander Stone says the mission is over. We can't elaborate on this channel, but he says there's nothing left for either side down there. In the process, however, I think we stirred up the Primans pretty well."

  "Looks like it," Elco replied thoughtfully. "They evacuated their embassy an hour ago and with the exception of the forces they landed by your originating position, it seems their crew is back aboard. Get back here as fast as you can; I have a feeling we'll need to be le
aving quickly."

  "Yes, Captain," Merritt replied, then cut the link. Elco watched the blip representing their ship as it arced up away from the planet amidst a flurry of angry comm transmissions from Faarian traffic control that were noted as a data tag floating alongside the tiny ship in the holo field.

  "Status on the Priman cruiser?" Elco asked Caho.

  "Drives are powered," she began, studying her board intently, "and I'll bet a week's ration bars their weapons are online."

  "Wonderful," Elco muttered. He was waiting on Garrett Drayven's communication that help was about to arrive. According to their follow-up comm messages, Garrett was supposed to signal when their support was about to show up. So far, nothing, and now the Priman cruiser seemed to be getting ready to bring the fight back to Avenger.

  "Status of the Faarian navy?" Elco asked, not really expecting an uplifting answer.

  "They've pulled back from their normal orbit," came the reply from the ops console next to the helmsman. "Normally they'd cross through our area in a few minutes, but it seems like everyone is giving us room."

  "So apparently they think staying neutral will help," Elco mused. "They'll find out the hard way that it won't, but that's not going to do us any good today." He turned to the weapons station at bridge aft. "Shields online. How about weapons?"

  "Starboard laser batteries operational," the tech began, "and aft torpedo launchers with one volley, no reloads."

  "We certainly have our work cut out for us," Elco admitted.

  "Captain!" Lieutenant Caho called. "Inbound hyper signatures. Reversion in three seconds."

  Elco's spirits jumped. Garrett's promised reinforcements were here!

  With a flicker of pseudomotion, two Priman cruisers appeared to starboard of Avenger, putting enemies to each side of her, with the planet behind and open space ahead.

  Elco's face became grim. They meant to steer his ship away from the planet and cut her to pieces before she could get far enough away from the gravity well to escape.

  "More inbound," Caho reported again.

  This time, two more Priman cruisers appeared outbound from Avenger, effectively cutting her off from any escape. Elco passed from acceptance to resignation of their fate. They wouldn't make it easy for the Primans, at least.

  "Helm, plot a course toward the lead cruiser, the one that all the surface-bound shuttles were dispatched from. I'll assume their division commander is on that one. If nothing else, they're going to share our fate."

  "Aye, sir," came the steady reply. Elco knew these people would fight to the end, and fight well, and their attitudes were completely professional and capable despite what they might have been feeling about their fates. He just hated giving an order that seemed an admission of defeat.

  "More inbound signatures," Caho said yet again, her voice losing most of its regular pep. She sounded as weary as Elco felt. "Hang on," she said, worry creeping into her voice. "Whoa, this is going to be close!" She involuntarily cringed and scrunched down in her chair, gripping the edge of her console.

  Elco was about to give a brace-for-collision order but there was no time; the newest arrival was upon them and automatic collision alerts rang harshly through Avenger's bridge and corridors.

  He looked out into the space ahead of them on the camera view of the main viewscreen and at the same time saw a new blip appear in the holo field.

  In a burst of light as the ship dropped out of hyperspace, a Starshaker class battleship materialized right in front of Avenger, placing herself as a large and angry shield between the stricken ship and the two starboard Priman cruisers. The battleship seemed to shift back and forth ever so slightly as the effects of faster-than-light travel dissipated and she matched velocities with Avenger.

  The Friend Or Foe transponder showed it as CSS Majestic, but that threw Captain Elco for a minute. Majestic had been decommissioned after the Battle of Lemuria, the ship too much of a wreck to salvage. Captain Montari had been heartbroken to lose his ship to the breakers, and Elco wondered what the meaning was behind it.

  Lieutenant Caho announced a comm request coming in, and Elco just nodded.

  "Captain Elco," a very pleased looking Captain Oberon Montari said from the cavernous bridge of the battleship. "I received a message that you were looking for help. I even brought along the messenger." The gray-skinned Trin captain indicated a man to his left, and Admiral Bak stepped into view, throwing a rare but crisp salute to Elco, which he returned.

  "Admiral," Elco began, "it's a surprise to see the both of you."

  "No time to waste," Captain Montari continued, "there are Priman ships to destroy. I don't want to overstep, Captain, but your datalink shows functioning starboard laser batteries only. Would you like to hold on our lower starboard quarter?"

  "Lead on, Captain," Elco said, hope returning to him, real hope, for the first time in weeks. "Helm, hold formation low and starboard on Majestic. I'll give the order to break off if need be, but until then we'll stay with the protection she offers."

  "Yes, Captain."

  No sooner had they started to move than two Enkarran cruisers appeared as well, off the rear of the pair of Priman cruisers to Avenger's starboard, now turning the tables and putting those two enemy ships in the middle of an allied formation.

  Captain Elco looked at his displays and saw a waiting private message. He was about to dismiss it when it opened and started playing itself, audio damping field popping into place so nobody but Elco could hear. It was the face of a twenty-something human male, apparently in some sort of bunker or storage space. He looked weary in the way of someone who'd been fighting for too long.

  "Captain Elco," the man began, "my name is, well, Commander Stone gave me the nickname Echo. I like it, so you can call me that. I know you won't have much time to listen to this, what with the Priman ship in orbit, but it's important you listen for these few seconds. I'm an AI, the object of your search. Your mission here led to a dead end, but I can assure you nothing of value will be available to the Primans here. By now, I'm dead, having set off an explosion you probably saw marking the place where Commander Stone's shuttle departed from. My message is this: I discovered the Priman EMP torpedo readouts in your database while I was researching Loren and his associates. Please don't worry; I didn't obtain any information of importance and since I'm gone I can't be a risk to you anyway. The point is that I've discovered a way to nullify their torpedoes. You have to consider their payload as a virus, not a chemical or kinetic weapon. It infects your ship's computers and systems. I apologize for this next part in not obtaining your permission first, but by opening this message a program ran which inoculated your main computer; you are now immune from the torpedoes. There is an attachment to this message that you can send to other ships if you determine you're comfortable with it.

  "That's all, Captain. Your XO, Commander Stone, is a respectable and honorable man. I hope he feels the same about me."

  With that, Echo smiled and cut the connection. Elco was speechless. Who was this person, claiming to be an AI and launching code on his ship? He didn't have time to ponder that, though, as the first Priman laser blasts were sparking off Avenger and Majestic's shields.

  Captain Montari had set Majestic on a direct path towards the two outbound Priman ships, apparently more motivated by engaging two targets at once. Elco considered making an argument for going after the command ship, but there wasn't time to be divisive, add to the fact that he didn't know for a certainty that there was anyone truly important aboard the vessel.

  Halley laid there in silence as the Priman guards bolted after Web. She cursed everything; herself, the Primans, the war, the designers of this building, even Web for being so impulsive. None got more blame, though, than she. She could barely stand up, though she willed herself to do it despite the stabbing in her side and shortness of breath. She also knew that her nanites couldn't fix all of the damage, at least not completely. It had been months since she'd had an infusion of new ones and a reprogr
amming; while they could make more of themselves using resources in her own body, to be truly effective they needed to be made beforehand using exotic materials and power cells. Her own nanites were worn out and not nearly as capable as they once were. She'd simply have to make up for that shortcoming with aggression and cunning.

  The first problem was getting out of the garage unseen, because Web's plan was for nothing if they realized there were definitely two people working together. She knew that the Primans had to have security footage of them coming into the building together, but as far as subversive activities went, only he was on the record. So, no detection was allowed.

  After a minute, she decided the garage was empty and hiked herself painfully to a standing position. Actually, it was more of a doubled-over crouch, but technically she was up and decided to award herself the honor of calling it 'standing'.

  She removed her security hat and outer jacket; she couldn't dump them here or again the jig would be up, but she'd ditch them the first chance she got. The blood-soaked and blackened undershirt wasn't going to help her cause, but she balled up and jacket and held it under her left arm, disguising the area somewhat.

  Cranking up her nanite-enhanced hearing as far as it would go and using every spectrum her contacts allowed her to see, she pronounced the garage and outer corridors clear. Limping to the garage exit, she entered the darkened alley. Normally the area was well lit and used as a sort of loading dock, but her explosives had caused power outages all over the area and the lights out here as well as the entire building next to this one were dark.

  Shuffling through the debris, she exited the only way she could; back onto the main ground level street. This area was devoid of higher level thoroughfares and so all the action was taking place at street level. The area was chaos: smoke, fires reflecting orange light off glass and polished surfaces, sirens, angry voices clamoring over loudspeakers, personnel racing back and forth between various crisis points, and finally civilians, some workers, some just in the wrong place at the wrong time.