Free STARGATE UNIVERSE: Air by James Swallow Page B

okay for Air Force. If Young had something to say, he’d get to it.
    “I need every able body I can spare.” The colonel had a G36 and a gear belt in his hands, and without ceremony he tossed the weapon and the kit in Greer’s direction. The sergeant caught them with ease. “Consider the charges dropped. Now go take your anger out on them .”
    Greer strapped the belt about his waist and checked the assault rifle’s ammunition clip. Locked and loaded . “Yes sir,” he said, and bounded out into the corridor, without looking back.
     
    A firestorm of energy streaked down through the darkness and slammed into the shields of the U.S.S. Hammond , the invisible bubble of force suddenly flashing into existence as exotic radiations collided with one another, spilling out jagged ripples of lightning.
    The angular carrier ship powered into a turn, coming about to present its stronger ventral barriers to the enemy onslaught. Hammond ’s attackers crowded in toward it, like a trio of street thugs moving in to take down a victim. The vessels were towering brass pyramids ringed with planes of black steel; the Goa’uld who built them called them Ha’taks, and these three ships had once been warcraft in the service to a minor System Lord called Zipacna, but his sigil had been burned from their hulls a long time ago.
    The bombardment was unrelenting, each shot pounding the Earth ship, harrying it wherever it turned. White streaks of missile fire lanced out, scoring retaliatory hits, and Hammond ’s railguns spat high-velocity kinetic kill rounds into the void on flickering tails of tracer. Close by, fighters hastily scrambled from the ship’s launch bay wheeled and turned as they engaged Death Glider elements launched by the Ha’taks. The battle was brutal and swift, but the balance of it was turning fast, and not in the favor of the Earth forces.
     
    Here we are again.
    The bitter thought crossed Samantha Carter’s mind as she pressed herself back into her command chair, her arms flat on the panels at the side. Through the wide viewport that filled one side of the Hammond ’s bridge, she could see nothing but the hot orange flares of energy transfer as the Ha’taks swept around for another fusillade of beam fire. Circuit-breakers sparked and flashed and jumping-jack shorts lanced through the support systems. She took a breath and coughed, her throat seared by the acrid stink of burnt plastic.
    “Missile status,” she snapped.
    “Reloading…” reported Major Marks, her second-in-command. “And ready. Green lights from all gun decks, ma’am.” Marks had recently transferred over to Carter’s ship from the U.S.S. Daedalus , and like his new commander, he was no stranger to the brutal dance of space combat.
    “Return fire. Hit them hard.”
    “Firing!” Marks stabbed a control and Carter felt the Hammond shiver as the ship released another wave of nuclear-tipped fury at her enemies.
    “Colonel! I have Icarus Base on the comm!” called a voice from over her shoulder.
    Carter nodded. “On speakers.” She heard the crackle over the bridge intercom as the channel connected and spoke again. “Icarus, this is the Hammond . What’s your status, over?”
    “ About to ask you the same thing, ” came the reply. Carter didn’t know Everett Young all that well, but she was familiar with the man’s reputation as a careful, calm operator. Young didn’t say anything to belie that now, but Carter could still sense the tension brimming in his voice. “ Who crashed our party? ”
    “Three Goa’uld motherships. They started shooting the second they came out of hyperspace. Dropped out almost on top of the planet. We had no warning.”
    “ Lucian Alliance? ” said Young.
    Carter nodded as her ship rocked again under another barrage. “That’s my guess.” Her lip curled. “They haven’t introduced themselves and they don’t respond to any hails.” She didn’t add the question that was burning at the back of her