DOWN THE WELLES
or
Deep in a hole...
Scott Kellogg
- VII -
Jietlshaiepr strolled onto the bridge and gazed longingly at
Niedrsha. "So, how are we doing?" she whispered softly.
Miakr stared into the sensors. "Three of the SDBs have
altered course to attack the VIXEN, leaving two still after us...
The VIXEN is coming into range... in two minutes."
Miakr raised his eyes from the sensors for a moment and
stretched his neck, "I directed her to make one pass to draw them
off and then continue on an intercept course to the Spindleman.
They're jerks, but they are fighting the right people."
Jietlshaiepr sighed and became businesslike with a tinge of
regret. "Time to get in range of the Spindleman?"
"Ten minutes... just after the SDBs get there."
Niedrsha shook his head. "The Chekbas has jumped out. The
Shoolist is just about to try. Fuck, they're nuts!"
The Shoolist was just a speck on the scopes. The chronometer
ticked off the seconds till they gambled their lives. Even if they
came out in an star system, they had no way to refuel. They had a
one way ticket on a mystery tour to nowhere.
Niedrsha found himself counting quietly to himself, "Four...
Three... Two... One... Ze...", he was cut off as the dot
suddenly flared brilliantly and vanished.
He checked the instruments, "She's vaporized..."
Jietlshaiepr took a deep breath. She leaned over Miakr to
look into the readouts, "Ok, let's see how our little VIXEN makes
out."
- VIII -
The VIXEN charged into missile range and released her deadly
cargo. Four flights of missiles fanned out like streamers
towards their targets.
Another blossom of missiles surged into the vacuum as the
space around the VIXEN surged with laser light from the SDBs.
A flash, a surge, lanthanum boiled into space as the VIXEN was
illuminated momentarily by a 750 megawatt laser battery.
- IX -
"She's hit!" Miakr half shouted. "It's all confused... All
right, the jump drives been hit, probably totaled. It was in
pretty bad shape anyway... Maneuver drive's damaged, down to
five point three G's acceleration... Number two turret seems to
be slow... but it's still in action!"
Jietlshaiepr breathed, "Right, Miakr, get the robots to work
on the..."
"Already done.", he shot. "I've had them programmed for
damage control since we entered combat."
"Good boy."
Niedrsha grinned, "Here comes missile intercept..."
The screen flashed briefly with fission fire. Smaller
flares went up as high explosive crashed into the SDBs.
Miakr read off the sensors. "One SDB took a nuke... she's
sluggish... hit in the maneuver drives... The other two are
hit... Can't get a good reading at this range, but they took
some damage."
"Hold on to your hats, there goes the second flight of
missiles." smiled Niedrsha.
More flashes, barely visible at five million kilometers
range lit the screen.
"Another nuclear strike hit..." grinned Miakr, "Can't get a
reading this time... No engine damage, that's for sure. They're
still pursuing at the same speed. No change in power generated.
Probable weapon damage."
Jietlshaiepr drew a deep breath, "Maintain firing."
The VIXEN continued to spiral missiles towards her
opponents. A brief flare showed her silhouette against the stars
as she twisted to escape.
Miakr stiffened, "Number three turret damaged... Still in
action.
"Another strike got through. One SDB losing fuel... Blast
these sensors, I can't tell if we're doing anything or not!"
"Check out the Spindleman," cautioned Niedrsha. "She's
about in range of the other two ships."
"Viepchakl!" Miakr's eye's grew wide. "They're plastering
the Spindleman... Multiple damage... Fuel leak... I read
vaporized lanthanum: their jump drive's out... Maneuver drive's
out... I wonder if there's any one left alive..."
The SDBs turned their attention to the onrushing VIXEN just
as she laid her nuclear eggs. A geyser of fuel fogged the vacuum
momentarily obscuring her outline but she flew on with her wings
paralyzed.
"Shit!" screamed Miakr. "The VIXEN's maneuver drives are
dead... Can't get anything from the engine room! She's out of
control!"
The VIXEN's missiles continued to fly. Slugging all her
remaining strength into her weapons, she swung at her enemies.
"She's still hitting them." read Miakr, I can't really see
what she's doing to them but she's still firing."
The SDBs couldn't miss a drifting target. The VIXEN
continued to pour missiles out of her turrets and bay as they
pounded her. The missile bay with it's nuclear missiles was
their first target. It was quickly reduced to glowing metal.
The final end came when her last fuel tank ruptured under the
punishment of the mass attack of the five SDBs. Low on fuel
after the jump, her power plant strangled as it's blood ran into
the vacuum.
Jietlshaiepr looked up from the display. "We're on our own
now."
- X -
"Missiles away!" Gresha barked as six nuclear tipped
missiles flared from the Flamboyant's racks.
"Impact at this range: thirty one minutes." calculated
Niedrsha, "We'll be down in thirty two. I'm headin' for the
ocean: it's on the night side. We'll put down and submerge.
That ought'a give their gunners a few headaches."
"How long till they touch down?"
Niedrsha's holographic head's up display flashed. "One hour,
forty minutes, eighteen seconds. We've got ten minutes before they
reach missile range... laser range in ten seconds. Laser
batteries stand by."
"Laser one ready." called Kaezorr.
"Laser two ready." grumbled Rackan.
Jietlshaiepr studied the range, "Niedrsha, evasive action.
Lasers commence firing!"
The Flamboyant wound itself into a knot as Niedrsha jerked
the controls into a tight roll.
X-ray lasers began blasting into the night seeking targets,
but the SDBs flew on untouched by the onslaught of power.
Moment's later the SDBs own lasers flicked on seeking the
fleeing Escort. The visible spectrum lasers flashed on into the
clouds of Welles below them.
"Brrrraaacht... A laser strike at this range'll only be by a
stroke of luck." growled Kaezorr.
"Keep at it," Jietlshaiepr breathed, "and hope they're not
any luckier..."
Laser light blared back and forth as the gunners played a
vicious game with seven hundred fifty megawatts of power. "I
can't tell if I'm hittin' 'em or not!" barked Rackan.
More missiles dropped from the Flamboyant's tubes and burned
their way to the enemy.
"I hit one!" called Kaezorr.
Miakr read off the sensors. X-ray radiation emanated from
the first SDB. "The leading SDB was hit. Can't verify any
damage, but it hit."
Jietlshaiepr bit her lip, "Good job, maintain fire."
Time after time the lasers streaked out into space. "We
can't hit 'em." barked Rackan.
"They can't hit us either." called Miakr. "Concentrate fire
on the wing SDB: the leader has ceased fire. That hit must have
damaged their lasers."
"Roger."
Minutes dragged as the SDBs closed. Wildly slashing beams of
photons flared; the superior targeting of the Flamboyant balanced
by the superior agility of the SDBs. At a range of five hundred
thousand kilometers where light takes three and a third seconds to
go and return, only luck could result in a solid hit.
Rackan began cursing the lasers in unintelligible Gevueg
quietly but soon it got loud quickly. "Grraph ersharrrfphessh
shreeelipf GARRCHT! Verrsh! I hit the veersheg!"
"Hit to their laser batteries." called Miakr. "They've
ceased laser fire. Their missiles are still after us though."
"That's stupid." laughed Niedrsha, "We'll be underwater
before they can possibly get anywhere near us."
"They're still closing."
"Maintain fire." ordered Jietlshaiepr.
The lasers kept firing as the silent SDBs pursued but not a
single more hit was made.
- XI -
"Cease fire, we're heading into the atmosphere." called
Niedrsha, "We're gonna be a fireball in a few seconds. We'll
show up on their infrared sensors like an imposter at an
invisible man convention.
"Engine room, divert power to overdrive engines. We need
emergency agility."
"You got it Niedrsha." announced Shtam, "Emergency power
available on your demand."
"Here we go!" The Flamboyant surged like a thing alive,
invigorated by the diverted power and the guidance of Niedrsha's
hands. She rolled and soared with a dancer's grace through a
choreography as much pleasing to the eye as confusing to a
gunner.
"Altitude: one hundred forty nine kilometers." Niedrsha
announced, "Touch down seven minutes. Passengers will please
fasten their seat belts..."
The fringes of the atmosphere began to glow on the windows
of the ship.
"We've lost radar contact. We're in radio blackout." said
Miakr tensely.
"Viepchakl!" breathed Jietlshaiepr, "We're a shooting star.
How can they miss?"
Niedrsha caught her eye and grinned, "Just watch me,
sweetheart."
The Flamboyant glowed cherry red as she twisted into Welles
atmosphere.
- XII -
A few minutes later the radio crackled. "...ones. Come in
Flamboyant. 'mergency... 'mergency... Come in Flamboyant. 'is
is Surgeon Lt. Jones o' the League o' Suns."
Jietlshaiepr took the radio, "Flamboyant here, go ahead Lt."
"Requestin' tight beam communications. Change course,
repeat, change yer course... yer current headin' will take ya in
an 'ostile area. Mercenary company `ats thick wi' the pirates.
Avoid island ot five degrees south, one forty eight east. Heavy
defenses."
"Gotcha." mumbled Niedrsha.
"We've lost contact with the Spindleman." continued Jones.
"What ya got on her?"
Miakr read off, "Uhhh... Spindleman took heavy laser damage.
maneuver drives out, jump drives too, I think. Her power plant
was still going, but she was losing fuel."
"Thank ya, Flamboyant. Request rendezvous wi' ya ot eleven
degrees north, zero degrees east. Thot's seventy kilometers
north o' the starport. We're going te need each other."
Jietlshaiepr sniffed, "Have you got anything to deal with a
ship of the line?"
"Ah, Negative, Flamboyant."
"Ok, Jones, but don't wait up for us. We're busy. We'll
give you a signal code burst... Uhhh... Stat Code Blue."
"Affirmative, good luck. Lt. Jones out."
Miakr read the sensors, "Missile intercept coming up...
now!"
Nuclear flowers blossomed in the night, lighting the
darkened side of the planet as the missiles crashed into the wing
SDB, flooding the spectrum with static.
A moment later the second flight of missiles flew among the
SDBs. The lead SDB flared as the missiles blazed into it.
"They're hit, but still flying." called Miakr. "Too much
interference from the blast. I can't tell what it did to them."
"Hold on!" growled Niedrsha, "Here comes the water... We're
going in."
The Flamboyant lurched as she hit the water. Inertial
compensators strained to keep the stress down, but still it was a
rough ride. The hull rattled and rang as water boiled off the
surfaces of the ship, blazing hot after the wild ride through the
atmosphere, sending billowing steam into the night. Finally, she
stopped pitching as she lost weigh and drifted in the water.
"Dive! Dive!" called Jietlshaiepr, "Engine room, open fuel
stop cocks. Take us down."
- XIII -
Missiles smashed into the surface of the water where the
Flamboyant had landed sending plumes of water hundreds of meters
in the air.
Protected by the depths, the Flamboyant sank unharmed to the
bottom with her eyes wide open. Jietlshaiepr studied the
sensors; densitometers and neutrino detector taking the place of
radar and ladar, not as accurate, but still workable. "We're
safe down here for the moment... We have fifty eight minutes
before the SDBs are in down. The other five SDBs have followed
us down. They will be here in one hundred and two minutes. Star
Rider is still heading for the Kivas. They'll rendezvous in...
two hours thirty seven minutes. The other SDBs have turned to
rendezvous with the Star Rider. Looks like they finished with
the... Hold on... I'm picking up movement. I can't identify...
It must be the Spindleman. They're alive. She's in a descending
orbit. Dragoon must be crazy. With all the damage, she'll burn
up."
"Hold on." Niedrsha examined the sensors. "I think they're
coming in for a EVA re-entry."
"Combat drop." thought Jietlshaiepr, "Viepchakl, what a
ride. They're gonna need a recovery team."
"That ain't us. Leave 'em to Jones." snorted Niedrsha.
"They'll be in position to try in in three hours forty four
minutes."
"Seven SDBs: two damaged, five fresh."
"Well, in this atmosphere, they can't go any faster than we
can, and on the deck, we can go faster than they in a nape of the
ground mode."
"That's not very comforting, but it's something." sighed
Jietlshaiepr. "There's an ocean trench forty kilometers east.
We'll take them there."
- XIV -
The SBDs skimmed the surface, landed, submerged and came
hunting.
Miakr read it off, "We've got one forty kilometers off to
the north east and one fifty to the south south east."
"All right, let's go." Jietlshaiepr breathed. The
Flamboyant was ready: high explosive missiles loaded and the
power plant throttled down to minimum to avoid detection.
The ship looked out into the murky depths. Her densitometer
scanning the waters, she sought out the enemy power plants with
her neutrino detector.
"Maximum range of our missiles is about fifteen kilometers
underwater. We're gonna have to be awfully close." commented
Gresha.
"They can't see as well as we can in water, their sensors
are not as good as ours: those SDBs are only tech level twelve."
commented Shtam from the engine room.
"Agreed, but at this range it won't help us that much."
interjected Kfoks.
"One's breached the surface and is coming in overhead."
called Miakr. "Forty three kilometers and closing bearing one six
three degrees. Speed: one thousand two hundred kilometers per
hour."
"Ready missiles." called Jietlshaiepr.
"Forty one kilometers... time to range mark: one minute
ten seconds... Mark! The other one's following suit, bearing
five zero degrees, time to range mark: one minute twenty five
seconds... Mark!"
"Niedrsha take us up to forty meters and put us over on our
starboard side. Gunners stay sharp, dorsal turret take the east,
ventral take the south target."
The SDBs bore in skimming the water meters over the surface.
Sending up huge blasts of water as their sonic booms blasted the
surface of the water setting up wakes that shone in the
moonlight.
Seconds dragged by as the sensors counted the rapidly
decreasing range.
Jietlshaiepr breathed heavily, "Begin evasive action.
Range?"
Miakr read the sensors nervously, "Twenty two and thirty
kilometers respectively."
"Open fire when the second is at twenty kilometers."
"Thirty seconds." counted Miakr. "Here they come... Speed
one thousand... Range twenty five... Fifteen seconds... Ten...
Range twenty two... They're slowing down."
"Damn the range, get 'em while they're airborne. Open
fire."
Six missiles left the tubes and speared through the water.
"Intercept: four seconds..." swallowed Miakr.
"Niedrsha, take us down! One hundred meters!"
The Flamboyant dove for the bottom as the SDBs came
barrelling in. Missiles smashed through the water and blasted
the after underbelly of the leader. Caught, she flipped and
tumbled bow first into the water at nine hundred kilometers per
hour. The bridge wind screen shattered and flooded the bridge.
The inertial compensators collapsed as the ship hit sending the
full force of the hypersonic crash throughout the ship. End over
end the ship tumbled, spinning and spreading wreckage over a two
kilometer strech of open ocean.
The second SDB caught a missile on her port bow throwing the
starboard side stern into the water. Caught by the dragging
water she slewed around to starboard, spinning like a disk and
smashed her engines into the concrete hardness of the water at
the speed of sound. She bounced and planed to a stop.
She was badly twisted and riddled with gaps where armor
plating buckled and bent. Quickly she filled with water and
sank.
"She's going down..." called Miakr. "Densitometer says
she's half full of water... What's left of the hull won't hold
in the depths. She's at two hundred meters and going down
fast... Two fifty... Hearing straining bulkheads... three
hundred meters..."
A huge explosion set the hull ringing. The inertial
compensators took out most of the rocking.
"She's blown up! The magazines went!"
Jietlshaiepr took a deep breath and flopped back in her
acceleration couch. "Two down... Five to go. It isn't going to
be any easier: they won't make that mistake twice."
- XV -
Two SDBs stayed in orbit. Three came in lower.
The Flamboyant lurked forty meters under, safe from
bombardment. Every few minutes a lone missile came down and
exploded as it hit the surface.
"They keep inching lower, but that's all." yawned Miakr
shaking with fatigue and nerves. "Viepchakl, we've been at this
for nearly five hours. Seven hours and fifty one minutes since
we received the Droyne distress signal."
Jietlshaiepr smiled weakly, "Just be glad they aren't firing
nuclear rounds."
Shtam, sighed over the intercom, "They are probably out of
nuclear missiles. They only fired one: that being at the Droyne
cruiser. They have not used one more. We on the other hand Have
used them. That must be why they are staying off until they can
get the big guns to bear on us: the Star Rider's spinal mount
meson accelerator."
Niedrsha brushed the hair from his forehead, "That's not for
a while yet, they're still fifty minutes away from the Kivas. I
hope they don't find your work Shtam."
"Ok!" barked Jietlshaiepr jumping to her feet. "Gresha, you
awake?"
"Rrrrrrrrooff!" yawned Gresha, "Yeah, I'm still on my feet."
"How many missiles have we got?"
"Oh, we've still got quite a few. Plus the ones still in
the Vipers, oh... eighteen fission rounds, thirty one high
explosive."
"Ok, what loads have you got in there now?"
"Fission."
"Right. In forty minutes I want you to reload with high
explosive."
"Why?"
"They don't know how many missiles we have. If we convince
them we're out of nuclear rounds, we can coax them down for a
good shot at them when they're in the atmosphere."
Niedrsha smiled getting the picture, "And if we convince
them when they're taking the Kivas on board the Star Rider..."
Jietlshaiepr nodded, "They'll be too busy to find Shtam's
handiwork."