Dubious Heroes: a novel Read online

  I looked back over at Kyra, searching for the love in her eyes, but once again it was hidden, replaced with a sadness I suspected I might never understand. I took her hand.

  "You asked me once before if I loved you", I said. "I wasn't sure then what I felt, or even if it was wise for me to say anything. I know the answer now, and it is yes, I do love you."

  She smiled, and sighed again, as she released my hand.

  "Captain Orel Doon", she said. "This is not news to me. I've known how you felt, probably even before you knew how you felt. Would you like to know how?"

  "Sure", I said, feeling a bit baffled.

  "You fall in love with every woman you spend more than ten minutes with, Doon. Even the ones that aren't human."

  I thought about this for a moment, before responding.

  "There could be an element of truth in that", I said. "Just another one of my character flaws, I suppose."

  "Oh, it's true", she said. "As for it being a character flaw... I don't think so. A lot of people might even consider it a positive trait."

  "Would you be one of those people?" I asked.

  "I'm not saying", she said, smiling.

  "I really do love you", I said.

  "I know you do", she said, as she buckled her flight harnesses. "You ready for the ride of your life?"

  "As ready as I'll ever be", I said, as I put my headset on again. "Send the signal, Angie. We are go for launch."

  "Acknowledged", Angie said. "Drop window coming up in... sixty-two seconds."

  "I've always wanted to see Switzerland", I said, as I flipped a switch, and the landing bay doors began to slide open, to the accompaniment of flashing red strobes, and a loud claxon. "Hell, I've always wanted to see Earth."

  "You'll have your chance in less than a minute", Kyra said. "The UP ships are powering up weapons, and moving to intercept."

  I keyed the cabin intercom, via IR.

  "Strap in back there", I said. "It's go time."

  "We're set", Cisco said. "Kick some ass, Captain."

  "You know it", I said.

  "All systems online", Kyra said. "We're hot."

  "Bridge, patch me to Eng", I said.

  "You have Mister Eng", Angie said.

  "You have the conn, Mister Eng", I said. "Take good care of her."

  "Aye, Captain", he said. "You'll have my best. Watch your asses down there."

  "You do the same", I said. "Last one back in orbit buys the beer. Doon out."

  "Hostiles will intercept us in forty-two seconds", Kyra said. "That's just before we get to the insertion point."

  "Tell Eng to step on it", I said. "They'd really like to keep the Revenge in orbit. Out here, she's just another hunk of metal floating around. Once she starts to drop, she's a three-hundred ton kinetic energy weapon, just like the Enigma."

  "More incoming transits", Kyra said, as I closed my eyes, and became the Bonny Lass. I fired the engines, and felt them whine to life. Kyra spoke again, her voice sounding peculiar, near at hand, yet somehow distant, as the IR rig blanketed my senses.

  "The cavalry has arrived", she said. "We have the Bismarck, and the Defender of the Crown. Both are powering up weapons, and vectoring to flank the hostiles."

  "Launching in three, two, one... ", I said, my own voice sounding alien to me. I was slammed back into my seat as we shot out of the landing bay, into a vision of light and darkness; the brilliant glow of Earth to my left, the starry black veil of space to my right.

  To our rear, I watched as the quicksilver flash of the Revenge plunged away from us toward the planet, a glittering sliver of metal cast into an eye of light.

  Our route would be less direct, skimming through the high atmosphere, and hopefully outrunning anything we encountered.

  "The Bismarck and Defender are engaging the UPDF ships", Kyra said. "Looks as though Arris kept his word."

  "Did you think he wouldn't?" I asked, as we began to bounce along, buffeted by the thin atmosphere.

  "He hasn't always", she said, which was news to me. I wondered exactly what had transpired between the two of them, back on Triton. "The Revenge is being fired upon."

  "Damn, so soon?" I said. "By whom?"

  "Suborbital interceptor", she said. "Doesn't look like they're hitting her, though. Jesus, Eng is really hitting the brakes. Looks like about a six gee decel."

  "That's gotta suck", I said. "Bogey's coming up in maybe thirty seconds; half a dozen of them."

  I checked our airspeed; we were still zipping along at nearly fifteen-thousand miles an hour, which was only a little less than escape velocity. The very fastest aircraft, or even a suborbital interceptor, could only do about half that. The latter would be the first ones to reach us, as they had with the Revenge.

  They had no choice but to stop us. If they failed, we would land in Geneva, and attempt to capture the United Planets Secretary General. The whole idea was nothing more than pure fantasy, which the media, ever the theater of the absurd, reveled in. I'd even boasted that the UPDF was simply too incompetent to stop us.

  The UP had been forced to respond, telling the media that they weren't concerned in the least, and that the Secretary General would not vary from his usual schedule. I sort of doubted he'd actually be there, particularly since it was now evident that we were in fact coming.

  We continued to knife through the air, a fiery halo encircling the planet.

  "Two suborbs to port, ten seconds", Kyra said. I'd already spotted them several seconds earlier, using the sensors and radar of the lander. While I didn't see them, per se, I just knew they were there.

  The interceptors launched a phalanx of missiles toward us, but they were far too slow. I returned fire with missiles of our own, as we blew by them like they were sitting still.

  "One miss, one hit", Kyra said, sounding excited. "One Archangel interceptor, falling to Earth."

  "Lucky shot", I said. "Didn't really expect to hit any of them. They call those Archangels, huh?"

  "Yes, they do", she said. "Which seems to me like an open invitation to try and splash them."

  "How's the Revenge doing?"

  "Busy thinning the herd", she said. "They've already nailed half a dozen fighters who strayed in too close. You'd think the UP would have warned their own forces of the punch the Revenge packs."

  "It's probably classified", I said.

  "Incoming transit", Kyra said. "Looks like one of the new class frigates. It's already vectored for reentry. Eng is going to have some company, shortly."

  "Damn it", I said. "I didn't think they'd risk a shooting match between descending starships."

  "You can't be right about everything", she said. "They're a good crew, they can handle it."

  "I hope so", I said. "What about our friends in orbit?"

  "Better than expected", she said, reviewing the radar and sensor data. "I don't know who's commanding the Bismarck, but they're good. Very good. They've disabled one of the frigates, and damaged the other. It's withdrawing, heading into space. That just leaves the Dominion, and a handful of cruisers."

  "What's Vassily up to?" I asked, as I nudged the Bonny Lass into a quick snap roll, dodging a missile which had been approaching us head-on. I heard Kyra groan, next to me. I opened my eyes and glanced over, and saw that she was a couple of shades paler than normal.

  "You okay?" I asked, as I threw us into a hard right bank, the gee forces mounting as the wings clawed for purchase in the thin air. I could feel the pressure on them, and hoped like hell they would hold, since we were still moving along at over ten-thousand miles an hour.

  "I'll live", she said. "Just trying not to urp. That last flip was wicked."

  "Urp?"

  "Have you really led that much of a sheltered life?" She asked, looking over at me. "Vomit, hurl, puke, toss your cookies."

  "I think I get the picture", I said. "Sorry about that."

  "Don't worry about it", she said. "You're doing a fine job. I never even saw that missile."

  "Or the
other three", I said, trying not to sound smug, and failing. I eased us back into a flat trajectory. "They were all ground-based, and probably smart-as-hell, which was why they approached us head-on; it eliminated our speed advantage. But, don't sweat it, you're busy with other things. Speaking of which, what about Vassily?"

  "Sorry", she said. "It looks like the Defender is busy annoying our friend Hans in the Dominion. Vassily is hanging back out of range of the battleship's heavier weapons. The Dominion keeps trying to close, but Vassily's not having any of it. Neither of them seems to be landing many shots, or doing much in the way of damage."

  "That won't last", I said. "Vassily will run out of weapons a long time before that behemoth does. Then Jorgensen will hammer them."

  "We ought to be done with this by then", Kyra said. "We'd better be, or it'll be getting ugly down here, too."

  "Talk to your granddad, not me", I said, as I swung us onto a heading that would bring us nearer the Revenge. She was now descending slowly, still fairly high up, and a good distance around the planet from us. Not much of an issue, though, when you're doing nine thousand miles an hour.

  "What's our fuel situation?"

  "We're still mostly burning off our reentry speed, at this point", I said. "Fuel shouldn't be a concern. All we have to do is outpace the fighter jets; we won't need any real speed until we decide to leave. I'll be sure to leave us enough to hit escape velocity."

  Or, so I hoped. I figured she had enough to worry about already. Half of our initial weight was fuel, and while we still had most of it, once I began using the ramjets in earnest, it would go quickly.

  "That other frigate is dropping like a rock, trying to catch up to the Revenge", she said. "Eng's also dealing with about a dozen fighter jets swarming around, trying to overwhelm his defenses."

  "That other frigate is in for a surprise", I said. "Alongside the Revenge is not a healthy place to be, assuming Cozi's cannon still work."

  "I don't know why they wouldn't", Kyra said. "They might have a bit less punch in an atmosphere, though. Still, a load of high-speed scrap could really fuck up your descent."

  "Which is what I'm about to do to a couple of jets", I said, as I let fly with four of the Demon missiles, targeted on two of the fighters who were trying to intercept the Revenge.

  I'd sneaked up behind them so quickly, they only had a split second to decide whether to veer off and protect themselves, or press on with their attack. It wasn't enough time for them. Both planes violently exploded, as the missiles tore into them from behind.

  "Yes!" someone yelled, then I realized it had been me. Embarrassed, I looked over at Kyra, who was smiling.

  "Good shootin', Tex", she said. "You're gonna get to do a lot more of it in just a minute."

  "Thanks", I said. "I wish we could find out what the hell Mac is up to."

  "It's a pretty safe bet he's doing something", she said. "Otherwise, the rest of the UPDF would be showing up, by now. Until we get the signal, we need to keep on… oh, shit."

  I hated it when she did that.

  Chapter 47

  "Sorry about that", she said. "It isn't bad news, just surprising. Whoever is commanding the Bismarck definitely knows what the fuck they're doing. Arris must have had a few dusty navy guys stashed out there on Triton."

  "So what happened?" I asked.

  "The Bismarck destroyed that other frigate that was trying to retreat, and nailed two of the cruisers as well, almost as an afterthought. The Dominion is the only real threat left up there."

  "And the Bismarck is probably headed right for it", I said.

  "Bingo", she said, sounding a lot like Mac. "Whoever is in charge up there is not fucking around."

  "Company coming", I said, as I 'saw' the formation taking shape around us.

  "Incoming hail", Kyra said. "It's Vassily."

  "Doon here", I said. "You copy?"

  "We copy", Vassily said. "Just thought you should be aware that another ship has transited in, still out beyond Luna, but she’s headed this way at a very high rate of speed."

  "Another one of their frigates?"

  "Negative", he said. "Not unless they're using ice freighters, now."

  "Son of a bitch", I said. "What the fuck is she doing here?"

  There was only one ice freighter I knew of, that also had an upgraded star drive; the Princess of Arabia, piloted by Winifred.

  "No clue", Vassily said. "She isn't responding to our hails. She's on a vector for Earth, and she's moving at about ten percent of the speed of light. And she's still accelerating."

  "Find out what you can", I said.

  "Will... ", he said, his transmission breaking up. "Sorry...we're... jammed."

  "We copy", I said, but there was no response. "Did you hear that?"

  "I did", Kyra said. "And no, I don't know anything about it."

  "Wonderful", I said. "Hang on, that company is here, and they brought plenty of help. I'm counting at least two dozen fighters, running flat out to keep up with us. I think the ones up ahead are trying to get me to dodge left or right, into their flankers. Time to teach em a lesson on linear thinking."

  "Shit", Kyra said, which was about all she had time for, as I popped open our air intake scoops, hit the air brakes, and pointed our nose vertical, exposing our belly to the rush of oncoming planes and missiles. The lander shook violently, the stubby delta wings unable to get any lift at such an extreme angle.

  I fed the ramjets everything we had, and quite literally, we took off like a rocket, almost straight up. The missiles flew beneath us, unable to make the sudden turn. UP jets converged in the same airspace as UP missiles, and the next few seconds were probably very exciting for them.

  "Those missiles will turn and chase us", Kyra said, looking at little wan again.

  "By the time they figure out where we are, we'll be gone", I said, as I leveled out, then threw us into a tight turn, back toward the Revenge.

  "I have Vassily again", Kyra said.

  "Go", I said.

  "I just spoke to Mac", he said. "The Princess is his doing; he says it's just a contingency plan."

  "Did he bother to explain the plan?" I asked, as it occurred to me what he was going to do. "Oh, shit, he wouldn't really do that ..."

  "Yes, he would", Vassily said. "My AI confirms it. The Princess of Arabia, all quarter million tons of her, is on a course to impact with Geneva."

  "How much damage would she do?"

  "A substantial amount", Vassily said. "Large yield nuclear weapon damage, if our math is correct. She's like a small asteroid, but she's moving at ten times the speed of one. We have her hitting Earth atmosphere in twenty-three minutes, and the ground about two seconds after that. She's already doing over forty-thousand miles per second, and she's still blasting with everything she has."

  "Mac wants the UP to surrender, or else", Kyra said.

  "That's about it", Vassily said. "If they surrender, he'll have her transit out, before she reaches Earth."

  "Any chance the Dominion can shoot her down?" I asked.

  "None", Vassily said. "By the way, the word from a friend on the Admiral's staff is that he gained Winifred's cooperation by telling her you're, um... dead."

  "Tell Mac I said to call it off", I said. There were at least a couple million people in the city. This was not the kind of thing we'd signed on for.

  "He isn't responding", Vassily said. "We're still being jammed intermittently, but he may just be ignoring us. I kind of doubt he's going to take any orders from either of us, anyway."

  "Good point", I said. "See if you can raise the Princess yourself. If you get her, patch me through immediately, and I'll call her off. She'll listen to me, regardless of what Mac told her."

  "We'll try", he said.

  "Doon out", I said, as we neared the Revenge.

  "The other frigate is in position", Kyra said. "They're matching Eng, course and speed. Shall we screw with them?"

  "In a lander?" I asked. "No thanks. I may be a little
inexperienced, but I'm not stupid. Let's see how many of these fighters we can take out, instead."

  "Eng is trading shots with the other starship", she said. "They're about a half a click apart. I show another squadron of fighters approaching. We're about to be seriously outnumbered."

  "We're already seriously outnumbered", I said. "But, we're too damn fast to catch, and the Revenge is a tough ship. Anything from Vassily?"

  "They're jamming all of our commlinks", she said. "The Revenge may be tough, but she's going toe-to-toe with another ship that's almost identical. Looks like they're getting in some hits, too."

  "Keep trying to raise Eng", I said, as we blasted through a group of fighters as though they were moving in slow motion. I fired off another volley of missiles, and even took a few shots with the plasma cannon. I might have hit a couple of them, but I wasn't sure. I was too busy trying not to collide with any of them.

  "Revenge here", Eng said. "Make it quick, we're kinda busy."

  "That makes two of us", I said, as I targeted a couple of fighters who were firing on Eng's engines. As I locked onto one, the other exploded, probably nailed by Angie, using one of their big plasma cannon. While I was spectating, I lost my target.

  "Shit", Eng said. "Angie says we just took a missile in the Science Module from someone. Cozi's yelling about something, too. I gotta go. Revenge out."

  "That was productive", Kyra said. I banked hard right, then left, slaloming through the UP defenders. I throttled the engines back a bit, but did so too quickly, and we lost some of our maneuverability. I leveled out, and Kyra continued.

  "We're just about in over our heads here", she said. "We only have six missiles left, and I don't think Mac can reach us. If we're going to leave, we need to do so. Soon."

  "I know, I know", I said. "I was hoping to hear something from him, first. I'd hate to break off prematurely."

  "I don't think the Revenge can keep this up much longer", she said. "We never counted on their having to fight another frigate."

  "Shit", I said. "I don't think we can hang on much longer."

  "That was never a ... oh, fuck ", she said.