Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron Read online

  The Damocles called in and said they would drop off their passengers in Alpha bay, so that's where Ian headed. He and Alex arrived in the small visitors lounge just off the main bay to await their arrival. Alex had called for a liaison officer to be present as well, and she had arrived before Ian and Alex. They didn't have to wait very long. In fact, Ian suspected Cindy had been pushing the limits of the Raptor's engines in order to get them to the ship this fast.

  When the Damocles arrived, Cindy spun the ship around and landed so the side passenger hatch was only few feet from the access hatch to the lounge. As Ian watched, one of the team helped a tall woman and two men out of the Raptor and pointed to the lock doors for the lounge. The trio were wearing isolation headsets to protect their ears and, following instructions, ran to the indicated hatch. The Damocles waited until the trio were inside the airlock before lifting off and flying back out of the landing bay portal.

  Once inside the lounge, one of the men turned and saluted the ship's colors imprinted on one bulkhead, while the tall Benesian woman bowed to them. They turned back to Ian and the woman bowed to him. She spoke first, "Good day Admiral, I am Shies M'orel of Benesia. We request permission to come aboard."

  Ian returned the bow. "Granted, Madam Ambassador. Please excuse the lack of a formal welcome, but we are rather busy at the moment. On behalf of my ship and crew, welcome back to the Alliance."

  She smiled. "Thank you, Admiral. Please allow me to introduce my consorts, Lieutenant Commander Haskin late of the Talosian Defense Force and his brother Trante." As she introduced him, Haskin saluted Ian and Ian returned it.

  Ian smiled and waved to the Liaison Officer. "May I introduce Senior Lieutenant Samantha Farnsworth of our Liaison Office. She will act as your guide and take care of anything you might need while you’re with us. If there is anything we can do to make your stay with us more comfortable, please don't hesitate to ask her."

  The woman stepped forward and bowed to Shies before speaking her greeting in Benesian.

  "My Lady, I must apologize for being horribly rude, but I am needed back in the command center. The Lieutenant will show you to your quarters and see to your needs. As soon as we are able I would be honored if you and your mates would consider joining me for dinner, although I fear that might have to wait for tomorrow," Ian said.

  "There is no rudeness, Admiral. People’s lives are at stake, go and liberate this world. It would be our honor to join you for a meal when you are finished." Shies replied. She was still smiling, and so was the man she had called a Lieutenant Commander.

  Ian smiled a thank you at her and turned to the Liaison Officer, "Lieutenant?"

  "I've got this, Sir, go on. Kick some butt for us, too," she said and shooed him out of the room.

  Ian arrived back at the CIC with about five minutes to spare.

  "Cutting it pretty thin, Admiral. I was afraid we were going to have to do this without you!" Chloe said teasing him.

  Ian snorted. "What do you mean? You guys do this without me anyway! I'm only here to blame it on if it all goes to hell!"

  Chloe nodded to a grinning Major Eischans. "See? I told you we had him trained well!"

  Ian just shook his head and looked into the tank. "Okay Chloe, it's time to go to work, get 'em moving."

  "Aye, Sir," she replied and touched a stud on her ear-piece. "All units, this is the Umpire. Batter up!"

  In the tank, Ian saw the Centurions move into position to attack the Imperial ships. Down in the landing bays, flight control was rapidly launching fighters. Normally, they would have already had the fighters launched and in position, but this time, they wanted the planet to be able to call for help. Down on the planet, Major Corvis and the Icarus Raptor team began their assault on the regional government offices in the city of Rominy. That attack was a diversion to make the Imperial commanders think the Alliance force made a mistake by attacking the wrong city. Of course, that city was also home to the division of troops stationed all over the planet and was the real target for the Icarus.

  Damocles would be making an assault on the main communications complex in the city of Starlight, which was the real planetary capitol. Their mission was a simple search and destroy. They were to destroy the communication array but do it slowly enough to allow the Imperial leadership time to call for help.

  Almost to the second, the Centurions hit the Imperial ships without warning, doing heavy damage, but failing to destroy them. The Centurions continued to work on the cruisers, pounding on them relentlessly.

  At the moment the Centurions began their attack, Star Dancer, Prometheus, and the Zephyr all began active sensor and targeting sweeps of the system. The action made certain that the Imperial ships would be able to detect them. In the case of the Zephyr, she launched missiles against the light cruiser furthest from the planet as if it were simply assisting the Centurions. When they got in range, the Prometheus did the same against the ship in orbit. Neither Imperial ship survived impact, but they had plenty of time to warn the planet.

  "Damocles and Icarus both confirm civil defense sirens going off in the cities of Rominy and Starlight. Damocles reports the scrambled launch of fighters from the spaceport," an operation officer reported. "The civilians are running for the shelters."

  "Sphinx flight reports spotting heavy armor being deployed in Rominy!" Ian heard over his ear-piece.

  Chloe typed on her terminal. "Warn the Icarus they have heavy playmates. What about Starlight? Can we confirm any troop deployments there?"

  Then, it got really busy. So many reports were coming in that Ian was almost dizzy, but somehow he managed to keep track of what was going on and helped Chloe and Major Eischens keep a handle on the flow of battle.

  It was going pretty well until Ian got a call that broke his concentration and scared him.

  "Medical emergency on the bridge! The Commander has collapsed! Admiral to the Bridge!" The XO called on the open comm.

  Ian ran from the room. The guards had already begun opening them for him and turning sideways, slipped though. When he got there, Jenny was sitting in her chair, unconscious. Colonel Poul Festun, Jenny's executive officer, had taken charge. He was on the battle bridge in another part of the ship, and only his hologram was present. One of the Marine guards had gotten Jenny back into her chair and was doing what he could for her.

  Ian picked her up in his arms. "I'll get her to the ready room, Poul. Send the medics in there please."

  "You got it Sir," the man replied. "Please keep us informed?"

  "Count on it, Poul," Ian said as he left the command dais and headed for Jenny's ready room. One of the guards from the bridge door was already there and had opened the door. Star accompanied Ian.

  "There is nothing physiologically wrong with her or the baby, Ian," Star replied. "However, she is showing signs of mental distress. In my opinion, she had a vision; judging from her reaction, it wasn't a good one."

  "It wasn't," Jenny said weakly. "Ian, we're in trouble. The Empire is coming to murder the planet and I couldn't see how to prevent it!"

  The medics arrived then and gently but firmly pushed Ian to the side.

  "How soon, Jen?" Ian asked.

  "I don't know Ian. When they arrive we'll think they are an Imperial infantry unit. They'll drop from orbit while we destroy their ships, they're brutal, heartless killers. Their targets are Starlight and Rominy; they have a chemical of some kind that utterly destroys organic matter," Jenny said.

  "Admiral, we need to get her to medical," one of the medics said trying to get him to get out of their way.

  "A moment, this is important," Ian replied, but his eyes never left Jenny. "Tell me everything, love."

  "They'll arrive close and fast. They'll ignore the big ships and fighters and push to the planet. They'll drop in groups of smaller pods surrounding a larger pod. The Rominy group will make it to the ground without the larger pod.

  "The Starlight group will fall short of their target, but land short of the city. The small
er pods aren't pods at all but large powered armor suits. Four of them will pick up the large pod and they will head for the city killing and destroying everything in their path.

  "The vision jumps then to a building in Starlight, a hanger I think. They open the large pod they carried and activate what's inside. They get into the ship there and wait. The pod is some kind of chemical weapon but the chemical dissolves anything living. It goes off and the grass and tress just…melt. Everything, Ian it's horrible, animals…… the people… they all die screaming. The winds from the ocean pick it up and carry it inland. It gets into the streams and rivers, spreading to the oceans. It all dies." She began sobbing again.

  "Sir, we really need to get her to medical," the medic said urgently.

  Ian nodded and moved back. "Jenny, was it clear? Was the vision real to you?"

  "Yes, it's all real," Jenny replied, and began sobbing again.

  "Admiral," Chloe's voice called over his earpeice. "We have the confirmation from the Raptor teams that the gates are destroyed, but we are tracking six inbound hyper-wakes at normal speeds originating in Imperial space. Their E.T.A. is about an hour. I'm sorry, Sir, but we need you back here."

  Ian stared after his wife for a moment. "I'm on my way back, Chloe. New orders for our reserves. Take out those inbound ships at all costs. We can't let them get close to this planet. Destroy them by any means necessary."

  TDF Star Dancer

  Assault Orbit

  Hyperion, Aurigae System

  Commander Jennifer Williams, Commanding

  "Things are gonna change fast, Chloe. We're gonna have to keep up or we'll lose the planet," Ian said as he entered the CIC.

  "What's happened, Admiral?" the woman asked, concerned. "Is Jenny alright?"

  Ian nodded. "She had a very strong vision of what's about to happen to us, and it overwhelmed her. For now, Poul's got command. Those incoming ships are carrying some kind of super-elite Imperial Shock Troops coming here to kill the planet. Which doesn't make any sense unless there is something here they really don't want us to find. Jenny said their targets will be the cities of Rominy and Starlight. She didn't say what they were after in Rominy, but their target in Starlight is that freighter I mentioned earlier. They are also armed with a very nasty chemical weapon and mechanized combat suits.

  "What’s the status of our Marines?" Ian asked.

  "Full deployment. They've all either hit their primary targets or are about to," Major Eischens replied.

  "Double fighter cover for both cities. If they haven't engaged an enemy, get the Marines back on their shuttles and get them back to one of those cities," Ian said as he pulled up the continental map and battle areas for the planet. Tell Majors Corvis and Williams to prepare for the possibility of a massed attack by heavy armor. Have them coordinate with the Marine commanders to prepare for the attack. If even one of the enemy transports makes it into the system I want all our people to assume biological combat protocols."

  "What about the civilians, Sir?" Chloe asked. "It's gonna be impossible to help all of them."

  "I know, we're going to have to stop them before they get to the surface. At the very least we have to destroy the large pods those transports will be dropping. That's what the fighters are for. If and when any of those fuckers make it here, they will drop out of hyper insanely close to the limit and come in hot. I want all three ships to focus on destroying them. If they make it close enough to drop their pods, then the fighters are to immediately ignore everything else but the large pods. We cannot allow even one of them to make it to the ground. If it does; the planet's finished," Ian said.

  "Large pods?" Chloe asked.

  "According to Jenny's vision, they will drop two types of pods as groups. Several smaller pods and one large pod. The smaller pods are actually heavily armed powered armor suits. But the larger pods are carrying the chemical bombs. No matter what, we cannot let any of them make it to the surface of the planet. I'd prefer not letting them into the atmosphere at all since we have no idea what they are comprised of," Ian said. "The armored power suits are going to be problematic all by themselves, but those large pods are game enders."

  Chloe looked back at the display in the tank. "Okay, we can do this…" she said and began typing on her terminal She touched her earpiece. "All units, this is Command; stand by for mission change." She changed channels. "Weapons command, we need as many AM hypermissiles as you can launch put on the inbound tracks. You are authorized to launch on target acquisition." Still typing, she changed channels again. "Reserve fleets, this is command. Immediate return to n-space and assume defensive formation in system. In bound hypertracks are priority targets and must not be allowed near the planet. They are equipped with highly toxic chemical weapons."

  Chloe and Eischens both continued to redeploy their troops based on Ian's orders. He watched as the structure of what they were planning was plotted out on in the big tank.

  "Admiral, Admiral T'rolith is on a private comm for you," one of the comm techs called.

  Ian nodded. "Thanks, I'm pretty sure I know what's he's calling for, so please make sure it is very secure."

  "You're gonna tell him the truth?" Eischen asked.

  Ian nodded. "They'll find out sooner or later anyway, so it might as well be now."

  In front of Ian, a small window opened displaying an Alliance Admiral of the same race as H'joles. The window was bordered with red and black stripes indicating a scrambled, secure channel.

  The new Admiral nodded a bow to Ian. "We are deploying as requested Admiral. With respect, I would know your information on these incoming ships."

  Ian nodded. "I completely understand Admiral. That's the reason I asked for the secure channel. We have deemed this information to be highly classified and wish to be careful with its release." Ian paused to frame his response. "As you know, the Terran people are genetically close to the Talosians as well as the Benesian races. As a result, we have begun to develop certain special abilities of the type the Benesians have developed." He paused because of the look of shock on the large being's face. "We do not know why the Talosian people have not developed similar abilities, as we do know they have the correct genetic make up for it. However, one of the abilities certain rare individuals have developed is precognition. My wife, Commander Jennifer Williams, is one of those people. Although she does not have such visions often, when she does they are accurate nine out of ten times. We do have a person that is more accurate as well as more sensitive, however she is not with us on this mission. Fifteen minutes ago, Commander Williams had a vision of this battle." Ian said and told the other leader of the vision.

  "We do not know if this outcome can be avoided, but I refuse to standby and do nothing to prevent it," Ian finished.

  The shaken commander nodded. "I can understand your actions now, Admiral. We will do our very best to prevent this vision from becoming a reality. Let us pray that this is one of the times the Commander is wrong." He stood proudly. "On my blood I swear that this knowledge will not be passed to anyone without your leave to do so." He relaxed again slightly. "Admiral, I thank you for the trust you have shown me, I will not betray it. Guard well this secret, Admiral. If it ever gets out, you will have more than just the Empire to worry about. I would ask that you consider trusting H'joles as you have me. He is of my mind on such things and will work to protect you as well. I know of no one else in the Alliance worthy of that trust at this point."

  "I understand, we must keep this from the Empire, but the Benesians can detect it in us. Surely the other leaders are trustworthy?" Ian asked.

  "Not to let the Empire know; yes, but there are other issues involved. I fear even my own people would not respond well to this knowledge. I would be pleased to advise you more on this after the battle," T'rolith replied.

  Ian gave him a half grin. "Yes, we are a little busy for such a discussion. The rudeness of the Empire knows no bounds."

  T'rolith snorted. "Neither does their utter contempt if they
have come to murder this world. That is a crime unforgivable to all the races of the Alliance. These worlds are our life; to intentionally kill one of them is to kill a part of ourselves. I will tell my people you had one of your Raptor teams watching the closest systems, that is how you know of the attack. Most believe your teams to be almost supernatural anyway."

  "Reserve fleets are dropping out of hyperspace and moving in system. Tiamat is moving to the planet and will assume Combat ATC functions," Chloe said so it could be recorded into the logs.

  Ian nodded. "Good, we'll need her fighters for this." He brought up a plot of Starlight and the surrounding area, including the starport. "What's the status of the Damocles?"

  "They're through the shield and are moving to their drop point," a tech replied.

  "Put me through to Major Williams, please," Ian asked.

  "Damocles, what's up boss?" Cindy's voice said in his earpiece.

  "When you get finished with your current mission, I would like you to head over to the starport try to clear out the people. We may have to hit the place from here, so I want to make sure we have a clear target," Ian said.

  "Chemical weapons and now this? Is there something we should know about?" Cindy asked.

  "Nothing I have time to tell you about, but the faster you can clear that starport, the better off we'll all be," Ian replied.

  "Understood, we'll get it done," Cindy replied.

  "Good, keep us posted. Guardian out." Ian closed the channel and tried to figure out which of the large hangers was the one holding the freighter. "Operations, contact the resistance and see if they can begin the evacuations of the target cities. Give them as much assistance as we can spare."

  "That will expose the local resistance to the Imperial troops. But, since we have Marines already heading for the cities, we should be able to protect them," Major Eischens replied. "I'll get them together to work it out."

  Ian nodded. "Good, please tell them they need to hurry. I know it'll take time to evacuate an entire city, but the sooner we can get people moving the safer they'll be."