Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (58 page)

The general finally let me out of the pilot seat for the break, and I headed back to see the gang by the main entrance. Blackie leaped up and licked my face through the open visor.

"Prophet! Way to go, man," Smiley said. "What's going down? Is everything fixed with the stargate drive?"

"Good question, Smiley. Autorepairs are allegedly underway. I don't think we're going to wait for the stargate drive. My guess at this point is we're going to attack anyway. And hope the repairs will be done by the time we return to the jump-off point for the stargate. Bees, any intervention by higher powers would be greatly appreciated."

"I'll be praying, Prophet."

"Good work, Prophet," Doggie said.

"Tear 'em up, man," Arie said.

"Prophet," Scout asked, "if it’s the, uh, stabilization unit that's screwed up, does that mean we can't go into autocombat mode if necessary?"

"Well, we checked the autocombat module and it is one hundred percent fine and dandy, according to the ship. So all we can do is assume it's going to work if we are forced to use it."

"I guess this is another of those leaps of faith that the Prof was talking about."

"Yeah, I guess so. Well, I got to go wee. Excuse me."

"Damn it," the general said.

"Everything else is fine," Bird said. "We're all set to hit the target. But once we hit it, we've got to hightail it, fast. We can go DX stardrive to the exact point that the autoprogram has selected for us to enter the stargate. But the stargate launch will probably not work if the stargate program is not up and functioning normally. And so far, it isn't."

"This autofix seems to be taking its time," I said.

"That's all I can get out of it," Bird said. "For all we know it’s just stuck and will never complete the task."

"In which case…" I began.

"In which case we're stuck in Mid Haven, forever. There's no other way out."

"Well, I don't plan on cruising around here in the middle of nowhere forever," the general said. "We've got a mission to complete. And the longer we drift around like flotsam, the higher the chances that some Demon patrol will spot us."

"So you plan to get started on the mission?"

"I'm about to order that, unless somebody can give me a good reason why I should not. I tried the Q-link to contact the Prof, but it's dead."

"I'm afraid I can’t come up with anything," Bird said.

I pressed the tab again:
AUTOFIX UNDERWAY
, it read again. "Neither can I," I said.

"Fine by me," Saka said.

"Attention all hands," the general said. "Prep for stardrive. We are now launching DX stardrive to proceed to our target. When we exit stardrive, we will attack the target immediately. May God be with you all! Prophet, activate the DX stardrive."

I did it, and we launched into the dark as a warm thrill ran lightly over my flesh. Into the future, into whatever is to be, victory or defeat, triumph or disaster, life or death. I was ready for it, whatever it was. I felt great.

"No worries, Prophet," the general said. "This isn't the first time my wife has worn funeral clothing to bid me goodbye. She's done it several times before. And I've always returned. So maybe this time it will be the same."

Honeyhair, I thought. God, I miss her! And if I die and she is alive, she will miss me, I know. It will be like a vacancy in her heart. I can only hope that whatever we achieve, it will slow down the D advance into our universe.

Δ

We were using the D’s tactics against them. We exited DX stardrive almost within Kratar's atmosphere, and dropped immediately into the at, our initial antimats launching once we reached effective range. They were targeted directly on the IDAG starcraft factory, so we figured even if they blasted us out of the sky within a few fracs of our stardrive exit, we would still have erased the factory and could die happy. As we dropped into the atmosphere, flaming like a meteor, I got a good view of the world of Kratar. It was stunningly beautiful from space, a blue-green paradise with lots of startlingly blue oceans. No wonder they settled there; no wonder they resented the Brights attacking them. And it must hurt, having to migrate to another universe. Yeah, and it will hurt worse when we cripple their main saucer production facility.

The general was piloting this segment. He was the fighter pilot, and my main contribution at this point was to keep my hands lightly on the controls to ensure the DX connection was still there.

I watched our missiles falling almost straight down. The ship produced a monitor on the main instrument panel that showed us a birds-eye view of the factory and the installation.

"Look at all those ships!" I cried out. The factory was surrounded by huge storage yards completely full of presumably brand-new IDAG starcraft. There must have been hundreds of them!

The
Golden Lotus
jerked once, sharply. The general was now in manual control, spiraling us in towards the target, unleashing another barrage of antimats, then another. The factory erupted in a blinding flash, dazzling the monitor. Then the yards went up as well, multiple titanic blasts, the entire installation blown to atoms, all those parked saucers blasted to bits, giant ugly black oily mushroom clouds erupting into the sky, wreathed with swirling orange and gold flame, millions of phospho tracers ripping everywhere. Then the general took us down almost to the deck, whipping over the target spraying antimats and opstars, and we left giant nuclear blasts in our wake, annihilating everything. Thirty fracs over Kratar. And Kratar's saucer factory no longer existed.

An alarm sounded from the instrument panel. We could see it on the intruder alert monitor. Four Demon saucers, coming at us from high altitude.

The general stayed low, treetop height, shooting off towards a range of black mountains, doing a series of violent maneuvers to shake off the pursuit.

"They've launched!" Bird called out. "Time for autocombat!" Our techs had done great work in allowing the
Golden Lotus
's autocombat unit to target D saucers as enemies and not as friends. An important detail!

The general responded wordlessly, activating the autocombat mode and popping straight up in a vertical climb. He was going for the vac, where we could launch into DX stardrive. He didn't seem worried about the enemy missiles. I could see the missile tracks on the monitor, coming after us. Then the view spun around wildly in the simport. The maneuvers slammed us around in our restraints but we were still alive – a good sign that the stabilization mod was working in autocombat mode. The view out the simport was swirling around so fast that it made no sense. Clouds whipped past, we seemed to be firing, we were heading right for the forest, then the forest was above us, rising, falling, more firing, the mountains whipped past us in a blur, now we were shooting into the clouds, now falling wildly, more firing, and then aiming right for a river cutting through a field, then up, up, up – an enemy saucer shot right past us, almost colliding.

Another alarm. Red alerts flashing. "We're hit," Bird said, calmly. "Shielding no longer 100 percent effective. Better get out of here."

And yet another alarm. "More enemy," Bird said. "Seven more enemy IDAG starcraft approaching and firing." My adrenalin was at max.

"Hit! Another hit!" Bird said. "Shielding now at sixty eight percent."

The general deactivated the autocombat and we headed straight up, spiraling up towards the vac. We were going so fast that the skin began to glow and we were leaving a fiery trail.

"Four enemy ships pursuing. They've launched! Sixteen missiles are locked on us. All right, our defenses have deflected four of them away from us, hot deceptors launched, drawing these missiles away from us, two continue on course, nearing us, oh shit."

The
Golden Lotus
shuddered as a sharp crack rang through the ship. More alarms. "Two antimat hits, partially effective," Bird reported, "shields down to thirty four percent, heavy damage, ship is compiling a damage report and autorepairing what it can. How about stardrive?"

"Prophet, I've entered the coords," the general said. "Please do DX stardrive now."

I did it.

The simport blacked out as we successfully launched into DX stardrive. Did it! I felt a great relief.

"I want damage reports," the general began.

Another alarm sounded, and a monitor filled with info.

"Pursuit!" Bird reported. "Something is following us in our DX starworm!"

"Damn it!" the general said. "I didn't know they could do that. Can we counter it?"

"Ship is autoacting," Bird said. "Leaving debris in our wake to destroy the intruder if it runs into it. Uh-oh, the intruder is gaining. Stand by!"

A deep boom rang out and the ship shook violently.

"Impact," Bird said. "It hit us."

Another alarm rang out, shrieking its message. "Warning, it says, starworm collapsing, exiting starworm!" Bird said.

With a deep shudder, we exited stardrive and the simport was full of stars.

"Get our position," the general ordered. Bird was already working on it.

"Look at that damage report. No good news I can see," the general said.

"Can we go back into stardrive?" Saka asked.

"We can try," Bird said. "If it's inadvisable, I believe the ship will warn us. Where do you want to go, General?"

"We need some time to…"

Another alarm. "Intruders, exiting stardrive, two four five saucers, exiting, we'd better go," Bird said.

"Get me coords for the nearest yellow world," the general said. The five enemy craft had evidently spotted us. They were coming at us, already launching. The missiles were on their way. I could see them, gliding over the screen, twenty little evil crimson specks, headed right for us.

"All right, coords set, go Prophet," Bird said. I activated DX stardrive, at about the same time as the enemy missiles reached our position. The simport went black just as the
Golden Lotus
shuddered from another hit.

STARDRIVE ENTRY UNDERWAY. SHIELDING INACTIVE. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILING
. The translations were burnt into the screen, and into my brain.

"Where are we going?" the general asked.

"Vezhedak, status yellow, recently captured by the Brights."

"Think we'll make it there?"

"Don't know."

"Attention all hands," the general said. "Our mission was one hundred percent successful. We annihilated the entire industrial complex, then engaged in combat with the defenders. We suffered several hits and have serious damage. We are in stardrive heading for a Bright world in hopes of eluding further D attacks. Our shielding is down. Our antimat drive is failing. We don't know if we’re going to make it. I'd like you all to know that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve with all of you. If we should crashland downside successfully, don't wait for orders – just abandon ship as soon as you can."

The ship shook, vibrating wildly.

"Prophet, check the DX stargate autofix," the general ordered. I did.

AUTOFIX UNDERWAY
, it said. Great. My blood was icy in my veins. I knew we’d fight to the end, just as Bees had promised the gods. I thought of Honeyhair. I thought of Delta, all of them – my blood brothers and sisters. The thin black line. Invade our universe, will you? How do you like that, D's? Think you're safe from us in Mid Haven? Think again! Think we won't die for our cause? Think again!

Δ

STARDRIVE EXIT UNDERWAY. SHIELDING INACTIVE. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILING. NINE MAJOR PENETRATIONS UNDER REPAIR
. That was what the translations read on the instrument panel. The
Golden Lotus
was shaking, but she was holding. I was sweating icy sweat. Just a little longer, babe, I thought. Just a little longer. The simport filled with stars. There! We're out of stardrive.

STARDRIVE EXIT SUCCESSFUL. ANTIMAT DRIVE FAILURE. ON EMERGENCY POWER
. The instrument panel was glowing red. There were so many problem areas it was getting very confusing to sort them out. The ship did not suggest a further course of action.

"All right, what do we do?" I asked.

"We go on momentum," the general said. "The emergency power should get us there at least." We could see our target planet out the simport. Vezhedak, seemingly covered in thick grey clouds. We were headed for it like a laser beam. The
Golden Lotus
was performing its last task.

"And once we're into the at, we control it with the antigrav?" I asked.

"The flight controls should work fine once we're in the at," the general said, "and the antigrav should allow us to touch down safely. Attention all hands. We are attempting an emergency landing on the Bright planet Vezhedak. Be prepared to abandon ship in event of a hard landing."

"Are you expecting a hard landing?" I asked.

"No, I'm expecting adulation and congratulations for the soft landing. However, it's better to be prepared for the worst."