Ep.#1 - "Escalation" (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

of them,” Doran replied, “but not many.”
    Yanni watched as an enemy fighter dove toward them, with two of the Avendahl’s fighters in close pursuit. The lead fighter opened fire, sending red, needle-like beams toward the diving fighter. As it did so, two more enemy fighters appeared behind flashes of blue-white light, and quickly opened fire. The two fighters of Takaran design came apart, and what was left fell to the surface.
    Yanni and Doran ducked as the diving enemy fighter pulled level and flew directly over them at a low altitude. Yanni looked at Doran with his eyes wide. “Wasn’t that…?”
    “A Jung fighter.” Doran finished for him. “It sure as hell looked like one.”
    “But I thought the Jung didn’t have jump technology.”
    “Last I heard, they didn’t.”
    Another flash occurred nearby, followed by the familiar thunderous tearing sound. Doran turned and spotted one of the Avendahl’s jump shuttles on a rapid approach to their position. Then three more flashes appeared above and behind the descending shuttle.
    “ Montrose, Rescue One Five, ” the pilot’s voice crackled over Doran’s comm-set. “Inbound for Ranni pad. Wheels down in two. Stand by for extraction. ”
    Doran stared at the three new arrivals, trying to discern their shapes in the darkness. One of them passed directly in front of the rising moon, casting a perfect silhouette. His expression changed, and he tapped his comm-set. “Rescue One Five, Montrose! Three bandits, five high! Suggest you…”
    It was too late. Streaks of reddish-orange lashed out from two of the three enemy fighters, striking the descending jump shuttle high on the starboard side. The shuttle’s aft engine pod exploded, taking a portion of the shuttle’s hull with it. With the lift suddenly removed from the back corner of the ship, the shuttle’s back-right corner dropped rapidly, and the shuttle rolled to its right as it entered a sharp, uncoordinated right turn. The shuttle spiraled down, smoke pouring from its aft, then clipped a building, and fell the last twenty meters to the street below, exploding on impact.
    Yanni stared in horror, frozen in fear.
    “We’ve got to get out of here!” Doran insisted, as more troop ships appeared behind flashes of blue-white light.
    “They’ll send another shuttle, right?” Lael asked nervously. “Shouldn’t we be here when…”
    “When it gets shot down?” Doran said. “Those are troop ships,” he said, pointing at the flashes of light in the sky. “We have to get someplace safe!”
    “Where?” Doctor Sato wondered.
    “Someplace outside of the city!” Doran said. “Someplace that the Jung are not likely to be!”
                  
    “Jump complete,” the Avendahl’s helmsman reported.
    Commander Golan discreetly breathed a sigh of relief. Jumping a heavily-damaged ship was a risky move.
    “Multiple contacts,” the sensor officer announced. “Very large, but only point-defenses.”
    “Troop ships,” Commander Hyams surmised. “You were right.”
    “Lieutenant Rogal, target those troop ships,” Commander Golan ordered.
    “Flight reports Rescue One Five is down,” the communications officer reported.
    “Targets acquired,” the weapons officer announced. “Firing!”
    Commander Golan glanced at one of the many view screens on the overhead in front of him, quickly picking out the view from one of their main rail gun’s cameras. Brilliant balls of red-orange plasma slammed into the target’s shields, turning them an opaque amber. As more plasma charges impacted their shields, the amber color intensified, until finally the shields failed. Pieces of the enemy troop ship began to break off as the slugs from the Avendahl’s massive rail guns slammed into her hull. Debris spread out on the opposite side of the target, as the kinetic energy of the slug impacts sent debris flying away and downrange. After a few seconds, the rail gun slugs found sensitive elements deeper inside the