“Be my guest, Walters.”
Walters pulled the helmet over his head. Nothing happened for a while, but then he felt the net coming alive, just as he had on ships. He experimented for a while, then found a mental switch and talked to his men.
“Hey, this is pretty cool. Hodgson, get in here with me.”
He and Hodgson met on the net and carefully waded their way through various channels. They eventually located targeting computers, shield controls, and firing commands, then they figured out how to open the firing ports.
“I need two more of you in here with me,” he called to his men.
It took a while to get the newcomers up to speed, but he soon had them aboard. Then he sent a thought to the AI. “We need some training.”
The AI responded instantly. The scene outside changed to simulation, then targets appeared. The AI carefully led them through the necessary processes to control shields, identify targets, track them, and fire when ready. After three hours, Walters felt ready. The AI wanted to tie him into the rest of the net guarding the spaceport, but Walters hesitated. He didn’t know if those guns were secure yet. He assigned two men to keep an eye out for real targets, then he and Hodgson exited the net.
“Captain Jordan,” he said into his communicator, “we’re secure here, and we think we know how to work the guns. How are things out there?”
“One building at a time. You know how it is. We haven’t found many Chessori, and the scree is still sounding, so they’re out here somewhere. We’ve taken two more gun positions, but we can’t get into the last one. The door is locked, and no one’s available with the codes to open it. Stay where you are, and I’ll pass the word that your cannons are manned. We might be able to do the same with the others. Good job, Walters.”
“Can you send some back-up? I’d like to get all my men into the net here.”
“I’ll detail squad two back to you. I might need them back later.”
Waverly was advised of the situation, and he smiled. “Pretty sharp guys, huh?” he said to Reba.
“I didn’t know they were so creative,” she said. “I’m worried about that last gun emplacement. If there are Chessori in there, they might shoot me down if I have to use a ship. I wonder if we can take it out with Walters’ gun?”
Waverly’s lips pursed. “You might lose Walters and his men in the process. The guns are probably evenly matched.”
“Then maybe we need to tilt the scales a little. See if your men can get up to speed on the other two guns. I’m going to talk to Walters. Which one is he in?”
“That one,” Waverly said, pointing. The fighting had been going on for hours, and Reba was exhausted, but she left in a hurry, limping as fast as she could. Val was never far from her thoughts, and she knew he was suffering from the scree, but the only thing she could do to help him was try to end it.
Then she had a thought. She spoke into her communicator to Waverly. “Do you think you could send someone to find Val and stun him?”
Waverly understood instantly. “He’s at headquarters. I’ll see it gets taken care of. We might do the same for Korban and his men.”
When she reached the gun emplacement, she had no idea how to get in. Waverly, though, had anticipated her need and called ahead. The door opened, and she stared into the muzzles of two blasters.
“Sergeant Walters at your service, Ma’am.”
“Walters, you deserve a medal,” she announced. “I expect I’ll be taking a ship up soon, and I don’t want the last gun emplacement shooting me down. Think you can take it out?”
His eyebrows rose in surprise. “I don’t know!” He considered, then said, “We’ll have to see if this thing can fire that low. The AI is probably programmed to prevent shooting its own facilities.”
“Let’s find out,” she invited.
The gun could angle itself low enough, but the AI was programmed to prevent shooting its own guns on the space port. Reba went into the net with Walters and worked with the AI. It was not in the same class as the AI’s on ships, but the job was not nearly as complex, so it didn’t have to be. Nevertheless, it was still a computer, and it could not overcome its programming. Reba tried another tack.
“Computer, it’s time for maintenance. You’re going to shut yourself down. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Can we use the gun while you’re shut down?”
“Yes, but only under manual control.”
“Okay, I want you to aim at the gun emplacement we’ve been talking about. You are not going to fire.”
“Done.”
“Okay, you’re going to shut down, but bring yourself back in five minutes. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“Execute,” she commanded.
The AI’s presence evaporated, but the shields, targeting, and firing controls still functioned. It would be much more difficult to hit a moving target under these conditions, but their target was not moving.
Reba and Walters left the net. He was pretty concerned. “You know, that gun will be an even match for me.”
“I know. You’re going to give me two hours, then open up on it. I’ll be in a ship somewhere out there, and I’ll open up on the gun as soon as I see your first shot. See if you can get the two other gun emplacements to join you.”
“You’re going to fire a ship’s weapons from the ground?” he asked in surprise.
“If I can. If I can’t, I’ll get word back to you before your first shot.”
She took off at a fast limp and rounded up a crew of experienced gunners, then headed for the largest ship on the field, a frigate. Reba had never been on, let alone flown, a frigate. Frigates were multi-storied fortresses literally sprouting with guns. The guns of a frigate were not as powerful as those of a cruiser, but what the frigate lacked in power it made up in numbers. The very presence of a frigate moving in on bands of smugglers or pirates brought instant surrender.
Reba had to ask the AI for directions to the bridge. Along the way, she found Empire crewmembers scattered around the ship, all in the throes of the scree. Her men stunned everyone they found, and Reba speeded up the process by directing searchers from the net. Then everyone plugged in, got situated, and Reba prepared to lift the ship.
She didn’t want to take off in case the gun emplacement had orders to shoot her down, but she had no choice. She had to lift her ship above the ships parked between her and the gun emplacement. She lifted, and the moment she did so, she came under fire. The gun crew must have been watching her power up her shields and known she was going to take off.
The shot was devastating, immediately causing a shield to fail. The next shot followed immediately on its heels, and the ship was holed. She was in serious trouble, and she had another half hour before Walters would be ready. She lifted higher and turned the ship until it pointed directly at the offending gun. She never had to issue an order to fire – her gunners opened up with every gun under their control.
Walters must have been watching her power up. The moment the battery opened fire on her, he opened fire on it. The battery shook hard, but it kept firing at an incredible rate. Fire from her ship and Walters’s battery poured into the enemy battery, but the defenses were too strong to penetrate. Then the other two batteries joined in. The Chessori shields quickly failed, then an immense fireball rose from its location, followed closely by a huge explosion.
When the air cleared, there was only a smoking hole in the ground with a few remnants of structure poking out of it.
Reba set the ship down, but she kept her crew together, issuing orders to move to the only other frigate on the line. She no longer wanted this one, it was damaged. Someone else would have to see to repairs.
She got settled into the other frigate and waited to see what developed. She and Waverly stayed in constant contact; anything he knew, she would know.
It took a full ten hours to clear the military side of the port. Waverly glared wearily at the civilian ships standing on the other side of the field. The scree still sounded, and it had to be coming from there.
“Only one way to do this,” he said to his adjutant, now truly exhausted. “One by one.”
