by C H Gideon
The crew acknowledged the orders and got to work as Reynolds examined the fast-approaching cruiser.
“Let’s cripple that ship so we can go pay them a visit,” he told Tactical.
“Gladly!” the AI personality replied, and Reynolds could practically hear him grinning.
Chapter Eleven
The enemy cruiser had no intention of going down easy.
It had seen and recognized the tactics deployed by the SD Reynolds with the mines, so its first act was to flash the entire field. Tracers of energy brightened the blackness of space, the resulting explosions only adding to the flickering brilliance between the opposing ships.
“I hate when they’re smart,” Asya said, grunting as the viewscreen adjusted to the brightness outside.
“Just takes a little longer to punch holes in them, that’s all,” Reynolds countered. “Speaking of which…”
“On it,” Tactical replied.
The SD Reynolds unloaded on the cruiser as Ria took advantage of the other ship’s focus on the mines.
The cruiser’s shields sparked as it deflected their efforts, the SD Reynolds veering off and peppering the port side of the enemy craft.
The cruiser returned fire, and the bridge trembled under the fierce assault.
“Swing us about and threaten them with the ESD,” Reynolds ordered.
The Reynolds turned instantly, angling to bring its nose about. The cruiser seemed unimpressed, holding its ground and firing hordes of missiles in return.
XO grunted. “So much for that bluff.”
“It’s only a bluff if I don’t actually pull the trigger,” Tactical shot back.
“We can’t risk wiping the ship out. We need it in one piece,” Reynolds warned. “Kill the ESD and save the energy. We’re not going to out-poker-face this captain, obviously.”
“ESD down, much to my regret,” Tactical reported.
The bridge rattled again as the cruiser continued to pound the SD Reynolds. Tactical returned fire as the two ships streaked past each other, each side doing its damndest to take the other out first.
“It’s packing more heat than a normal cruiser,” Jiya called. “It’s not on the level of the Pillar, but that cruiser isn’t stock. The cult has upgraded it.”
As the two ships came about to face each other again, Reynolds examined the ship. The two traded fire, neither side having a distinct advantage at a distance, despite the fact that the SD Reynolds packed more firepower.
The enemy’s shields had been enhanced similarly to those of the Pillar, and it was shrugging off enough of the hits that what little crept past did effectively no damage to the armored hull.
It was as if the two ships were jousting in space, each side’s lances clanging off the armor of the other.
On the third pass, seeing the ineffectiveness of their current tactics, Jiya raised her hand.
“We’re not in class, First Officer Lemaire.” Reynolds smiled. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”
“If that’s not an invitation to disaster, I don’t know what is,” Tactical muttered.
“I’ve got an idea,” Jiya said.
“Then spit it out,” Reynolds told her.
She did, and the AI chuckled when she finished.
“I used to think that most of you not having had any structured tactical training was a bad thing, but I’m starting to believe it’s an advantage,” Reynolds said with a grin. “You think up some crazy shit.” He motioned to Jiya. “Do it.”
“Doing it,” she replied, grinning broadly, and triggering the comm to relay her orders.
“Coordinate with Jiya when she’s ready, Tactical,” Reynolds ordered. “Until then, let’s keep this prick occupied so he doesn’t suspect anything.”
“You don’t think their captain isn’t contemplating a new way to come at us, the same way we are them?” XO asked.
“Of course they are,” the AI answered, “but I can guaran-fucking-tee they’ll stick to the handbook until they run out of pages. No one does crazy like the crew of the SD Reynolds.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment, however you meant it.” Asya laughed.
The cruiser came about again, and true to Reynolds’ prediction, its only response to the relative stalemate was to come at the SD Reynolds from another angle, showing clear signs that it intended to veer suddenly and try to deliver damage while minimizing the amount of return fire it absorbed.
Reynolds told Ria to let it come on. They didn’t need to make any radical adjustments to their path for Jiya’s plan to play out. They only needed to be close enough to make it a surprise.
“Ready!” Jiya announced. “Launch systems green.”
Reynolds acknowledged the statement with a nod, but he held his tongue, waiting for the right moment to launch their plot.
The cruiser streaked toward them, then did as he expected, veering quickly as Tactical engaged it, feinting to avoid return fire as it moved along the starboard side of the SD Reynolds.
“Hard to port, Ensign!” Reynolds called.
Ria maneuvered the superdreadnought smoothly, angling off to open up space between the two ships.
“Pods away,” Jiya reported.
“Those poor Pods,” Tactical commented.
Packed with mines, the trio of cloaked Pods shot free of the hangar bay, which was positioned directly in line with the enemy ship. Piloted remotely by Jiya, they streaked straight at the cruiser in a tight formation before the enemy could slip away.
The shuttles exploded as they collided with the cruiser’s shields, a flash of vicious energy erupting before flaring out.
It took out a swath of the enemy ship’s shields along with it.
“Now, Tactical!” Reynolds commanded.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Tactical replied as he hammered the hole in the cruiser’s shields.
Perfectly placed, the exploding Pods had taken out the cruiser’s defenses near its aft end, leaving its engines undefended. Tactical tore it a new ass, a variety of weapons fire battering the back end of the cruiser and wrecking its engines and a large portion of the ship beyond that.
There was a sudden influx of debris clattering across the SD Reynolds’ shields as they watched the enemy cruiser’s engines flare and die.
A quick burst of atmosphere vented from the other side of the engines, but it was almost immediately quelled, showing that the majority of the ship’s system were still online.
That was something Reynolds would have to remedy.
“Bring us around and hit it again,” the AI ordered. “Be surgical. I want their guns down but their bridge intact.”
Tactical laughed. “That’s greedy of you.”
“Just do it,” Reynolds countered as they came back around, easily closing on the wrecked ship.
The cruiser fired all it had to keep the SD Reynolds off its back, but it didn’t stand a chance. Its blows were deflected by the gravitic shields easily enough.
Tactical took his time and picked at the enemy ship, piecing it up until nothing remained that posed a danger to the superdreadnought.
“Stripped and ready for a cavity search,” Tactical announced once he was finished.
“Then let’s board her and see what there is to find. Put us in position, Ensign. Tactical, provide distractions with boarding umbilicals to keep them guessing as to where we’re really coming in,” Reynolds said. “Asya, you have the conn. Maddox and Jiya, you’re with me.”
The three left the bridge and marched down to the hangar bay, where Ka’nak and Geroux met them.
“We flying in?” the Melowi asked.
“Why not?” Jiya countered. “Their shields are down, their hangar bay is cracked open, and they think we’re coming in through the boarding tubes.” She ushered Ka’nak into the Pod.
The warrior grunted affirmatively and stomped inside. The others followed, and Jiya brought up the rear. She plopped into the pilot’s chair beside Reynolds and waited for the crew to strap in.
Once they had, she triggered the Pod’s cloak, eased out of the hangar bay, and started toward the enemy ship. Debris floated around the cruiser, bits and pieces being stirred up by Tactical as he pecked away at the ship with low-powered bursts of fire, further degrading their systems and doing what he could to distract and take out the enemy crew.
Invisible to the enemy sensors, whatever remained active, Jiya piloted the Pod around and easily slipped into the cruiser’s hangar. Crew rushed about, preparing their escape shuttles, but it was clear they’d never had to abandon ship before.
The hangar bay was total chaos.
Ships and people were everywhere, automated bots confusing the process as everyone scrambled to flee. It was taking three times the amount of time to get things done than it should have.
“Let’s give them something else to worry about,” Reynolds said with a grin. “Park the Pod over there,” he told Jiya, pointing to a position where it would be out of the way but close enough to do what he needed it to.
She did as ordered and the Pod set down quietly, engines stilling unnoticed in the frenzied din.
“Cloak yourselves, and let’s go,” Reynolds told them.
The crew vanished, leaving nothing but their vague outlines, then exited the Pod and slipped around the far end of the hangar bay, avoiding the clusterfuck.
“We should have just transported in,” Ka’nak said. “Feels like a missed opportunity to test the system in a real-world situation.”
“We’re still not sure if we can cloak in transport or if it disrupts it,” Geroux said. “Besides, we don’t have a good layout of the cruiser. While they don’t have any shields to deflect us, there’s still a chance we can beam into a wall or person.”
She shuddered at that thought.
“And we wouldn’t be able to do this,” Reynolds said, grinning wildly.
The Pod ramp retracted, and the hatch closed. The ship’s engines started up, then suddenly it was no longer cloaked.
“Uh, what are you doing?” Jiya asked.
“Taking a page out of your tactics book,” Reynolds answered.
The Pod shot forward.
The crew in the hangar bay saw it then, the strange ship appearing out of nowhere and shooting straight toward the thickest congregation of them.
Shouts and screams rang out even above the clatter, but those didn’t last long.
“We might want to move around the corner,” Reynolds suggested as the Pod crashed into the crowd of enemy shuttles and crew.
“Oh, shit!” Jiya smirked as they darted around the corner.
There was a loud crash, then explosions rang out behind them. Reynolds had triggered the Pod’s self-destruct system as it collided with the crowd.
The ground trembled under the crew’s feet as their ships went up in a chain reaction. The massive door that separated the hallway from the hangar bay slammed shut, alarms whooping overhead. Rattling explosions continued from the other side, only slightly muted by the sealed hatch.
“What the hell are you guys doing over there?” Asya called over the comm.
“Reynolds is renovating the hangar bay,” Jiya answered with a barked laugh.
“We’re going to need a Pod-printer similar to the aggro-printer if these guys keep this up,” Maddox commented. “We’re going to run out of Pods.”
“Well, I hope it was worth it,” Asya went on, “because you’ve drawn attention to what was supposed to be a quiet entry. Scanners show people headed your way.”
“That means there will be fewer on the bridge when we get there,” Reynolds replied, shrugging. He waved the crew on.
They jogged down the corridor, stepping to the side and squeezing into doorways or repair alcoves in order to avoid the cultists storming past in search of them.
One of them stumbled over Ka’nak’s invisible foot and toppled to the ground at the back of his group. He grunted and clambered to his feet, glancing around to see what happened as his brethren left him behind.
He never did figure it out.
Ka’nak stepped out of his doorway and drove a fist through the cultist’s visor. There was a sharp crash of plas-glas breaking, then the meatier crunch of the cultist’s head following suit, and Ka’nak stood there with a helmeted head wrapped about his fist.
He shook his arm, and the body toppled to the deck with a thump.
“Stuff him in that alcove so no one spots him right away,” Reynolds told the Melowi.
Not that it mattered much. They were nearly to the bridge, and it would be damned obvious that the enemy cruiser had been boarded in a few more minutes.
Ka’nak stashed the body and the crew started off again, reaching the bridge after only having to hide a couple more times.
“Pop the door,” Reynolds told Geroux as they arrived.
Geroux got to work, hacking into the simple door-locking mechanism and giving a thumbs-up a second later. “We’re good.”
Reynolds motioned for them to go and Geroux hit the door, sliding it open. The crew darted inside…
Directly into a group of outgoing cultists.
They slammed into them before there was a chance to realize what was happening and avoid them.
Cultists stumbled backward at the collision, eyes wide, but these people were fanatics. What surprise they suffered was replaced immediately by suspicion and action.
They opened fire at the same time the Reynolds’ crew did.
Jiya hissed as she was struck in the shoulder. She stumbled backward and edged behind the wall, Geroux at her side.
Reynolds was struck twice, as was Maddox.
The general fell to the deck with a pained groan, facing away from the enemy. Ka’nak positioned himself directly in front of the general and went trigger-free.
The Melowi’s vicious attack drove the cultists back into the cover of the bridge. Reynolds joined him, cutting down several of the cultists as they ran. The entire bridge turned on the crew at that point, and the corridor was filled with shrieking death.
Ka’nak grabbed Maddox by the ankle and flung him around, sliding the general into the wall and out of the line of fire. Then the Melowi, shrugging off several more blows, thanks to his armor, leaned out of the way, pressing his back to the wall.
Reynolds stood his ground a moment longer, making the cultists pay for their aggression. It was only when the enemy started to get a bead on him that he pulled back to avoid return fire.
“You okay, Maddox?” Jiya asked, staring at the general, who lay on his back on the other side of the corridor.
“I’m…good,” he answered, although it was clear he was breathing heavily.
“Biometrics tell me he’ll be fine,” Asya reported from the SD Reynolds. “Cracked rib, but no internal damage.”
“Are my ribs not internal?” Maddox asked, holding his side.
“We can’t stay here long,” Jiya told the crew. “There’s no doubt that the captain has summoned every able body to the bridge to deal with us.”
Reynolds agreed. He eased out and sprayed the bridge with covering fire, using his enhanced senses to survey the layout of the stations and the positioning of the remaining cultists.
He didn’t like what he saw.
“There are twenty-two cultists packed onto the bridge, the majority of them taking cover behind the command stations,” the AI reported.
“Grenade?” Ka’nak asked, holding one up.
“Seeing as how we came here to raid the computer systems for intel, I think a grenade might be overkill, don’t you?” Jiya asked.
Ka’nak shrugged. “Maybe just a little.”
“No grenades,” Reynolds affirmed, not wanting the Melowi to toss the weapon onto the bridge before he could give clear orders not to.
“I’ve got another way,” Geroux said.
She reached into her pouch and pulled out a handful of tiny drones like the ones they’d used in Jora’nal’s hideout. The tech activated them, letting them hover in the air around
her until they were all ready to go. Then she cupped them back into her hands and threw them into the room.
The drones scattered.
They shot across the bridge, strafing cultists and wreaking havoc everywhere they went.
The cultists, unsure what they were up against, opened fire on the tiny drones to try to take them out. The drones were too fast; they zigged and zagged and hurtled straight at the faces of the cultists, stealing their focus and driving them out of cover in some instances.
“I’m thinking now would be a good time to go inside,” Geroux suggested, waving to the bridge door as if she were inviting the crew to dinner.
Ka’nak was the first one inside.
Still cloaked, and having regained the element of surprise, the warrior was on top of the cultists before they realized the drones were nothing more than a distraction.
A deadly one.
Ka’nak angled around the stations to clear his line of fire, and he opened up. Rounds ripped through the unarmored cultists and tore them apart, bodies dropping between the consoles.
Reynolds strode to the opposite side, keeping the angle to avoid friendly fire, and did the same. The cultists pushed toward him by Ka’nak’s onslaught ran into Reynolds’ barrage.
Geroux and Jiya moved in front of the door and targeted anyone who stepped out from behind cover to shoot or try to escape.
Maddox rolled onto his stomach and kept watch on the corridor at their back while the Reynolds’ crew made short work of the cultists on the bridge.
A smoky moment later, it was all over.
Jiya ran over and grabbed Maddox and helped him to his feet. Cultists turned the corner then, and Jiya let off bursts of gunfire to keep them back as she pulled the general onto the bridge and out of the line of fire.
Geroux sealed the bridge and scorched the lock so it wouldn’t open.
“We’ve got a few minutes,” the young tech told them, “but not much longer than that.”
“Should be all we need,” Reynolds answered. He waved Geroux over to him. “Ka’nak, you and Jiya on the door. If the cultists start getting through before we’re done, give them hell.”
“Yes, sir,” Jiya and the Melowi answered in unison as they posted themselves on either side of the bridge door.