The Raven appeared beside a damaged Teifen destroyer. The huge ship had been trading blows with Admiral Johansen’s flagship, and both were damaged nearly to uselessness. The Teifen destroyer still had its front shield powered, and was heading directly for the admiral, firing everything it had.
“Admiral, warp out of here. We can take this one. You need to get your people to safety,” Sara said to the flagship over the open channel.
Not waiting for an answer, Hon began pummeling the unprotected rear of the destroyer. A full volley of gauss rounds tore at the armored aft of the ship. Cora sent an Aether blast as a follow-up to the gauss rounds, punching a hole through the weakened armor and causing the destroyer to buck and begin to drift sideways. Hon followed up with several rounds of the warheads, which punched deeply into the ship before detonating. The resulting explosion blew off the rear quarter of the ship, ripping the reactor away from the main body. The hulk went dark, and several explosions tore through the remaining sections.
Sara noted that the admiral had warped when she gave him the chance, allowing the ship the opportunity to recover, and letting him replace personnel on the Aether accumulators.
“I thank you for the assist, Raven. The battle is turning, but we are picking up on a cruiser that is attempting to run. As soon as it clears the debris field, it will warp away. We cannot let that happen. I need you to stop it before it escapes,” Admiral Johansen said over their comm link.
“Aye, sir. We’re on it,” Sara said, marking the location on her map. “Cora, jump.”
They slipped through the Aether, appearing directly behind a damaged ship that was maneuvering around a spinning hulk that was once a UHF destroyer.
“Hon, light it up,” Sara ordered, scanning the battlefield for any more runners. To her horror, there seemed to be quite a few.
It seemed, after the first Teifen ship broke away, that several of the enemy took it as a cue that the battle was to be fought another day.
“Admiral, I’m seeing several ships trying to flee. We need to activate the warp dampener,” she said, knowing what that would mean for the fleet. Without the ability to warp, the battle would turn into a slug fest, ships trading blows until one or the other crumbled. It would cost a lot of lives, but Sara knew there was no other way to stop all the Teifen.
She hardly noticed the Teifen cruiser ahead of them, as Hon pounded the aft of the ship with round after round, until there were a number of white sprays, venting atmosphere. Cora followed up his pounding with an Aether bolt right up the rear of the ship. The bolt tore through the unprotected craft, and punched out the front in a burst of metal and fire.
The admiral sighed. “You’re right, make your last jump. I’m activating the device in ten seconds.”
“The warning has been sent fleetwide, ma’am,” Mezner reported.
Sara searched frantically for the best place to be and decided they needed to be close to the dreadnought to retrieve their people. Then she saw a pack of cruisers headed the admiral’s way, and knew she needed to protect the capital ship and the warp dampener onboard.
With a frustrated growl, she marked the location. “Jump.”
Chapter 38
“That’s a lot of horns,” Boon said, peeking around the corner of the corridor they were occupying inside the dreadnought. The five hundred Marines were spread along the wall of the vast, high-walled passage, awaiting orders.
“I was surprised we didn't find any troops along the way; I guess they were all here, waiting for us,” Baxter said, consulting the map on his palm projector. “Gonders, take a look at this,” he said, his second leaning in to study the map. “If this map is accurate, there are several ways around to come in from the sides. If we can flank them, the fight should go a little easier. I need you to make your way around here, and wait for my signal. We’ll hit them from the front, then you can sweep in and overrun their position. We outnumber them two to one, but our numbers mean nothing if we all try to attack from one direction. The corridors are large, but we can still only fit so many in at a time.”
Gonders studied the map for a second before nodding. “You should send Deej with a group of a hundred around this way. Keep the main force with you, and send another hundred with me. That way if the map turns out to be crap, we have a better chance of one of us being in position.”
“Good point. Deej, you copy that?” he asked over the command channel.
“Got it, sir,” came the immediate answer.
“What about Sir Reitus?” Gonders asked, flicking a glance in the Elif’s direction.
Baxter considered. “Take him with you. He could be a help if the intel is bad.”
“Yes, sir,” Gonders said, motioning for the guard captain to join her.
“Right, get going, I don't want to take too long and miss our ride out of here,” he said, checking his clock. They had been on the dreadnought for just under twenty minutes, and he knew the battle outside must be taking a toll on the fleet.
“I think we’re lost,” Boon said, cocking her head. According to the map, they were standing inside a wall.
Gonders motioned for the troops to hold their position. The hundred Marines took up the best defensive positions they could, kneeling beside the walls on either side of the corridor.
“Reitus, the map is no good,” Gonders said, slightly accusingly.
Sir Reitus pulled up his own map, and studied it before saying, “The plans we stole for this ship were preliminary, it hadn’t been built yet; they probably changed during construction. The overall layout should be close, however.”
“I think he’s right. The plans are almost correct, but it’s like the measurements were off. I think we’re actually in this passage,” she said, pointing to the corridor that, according to the map, was fifty meters to their left.
Boon felt a flash of worry come from Gonders as she considered what to do next. Despite their current situation, Boon felt a swell of happiness. Gonders looked up at her, and Boon guessed there was a smile behind her faceplate.
“It’ll be fine. Let’s head this way, and if the corridor ends in a tee, then we’ll know if your guess was right. We need to hurry; it’s been five minutes, and we’re only halfway there,” Gonders said, making the decision.
She motioned for them to move out, and they moved to turn the corner. Gonders was in the lead, followed closely by Boon and Sir Reitus, with the rest of the troopers just behind them. When they were only a few meters into the new passage, a mechanical whirring noise came from behind them.
“Cover!” Gonders yelled, turning and throwing a shield to protect her, Boon, Sir Reitus, and the seven troops that had made it into the corridor with them.
A hail of slugs began ripping into the shield from above. A turret had dropped from the ceiling and was spitting rounds at them as fast as it could. Gonders was a good mage, but the unrelenting barrage was quickly tearing through her shield.
Boon reached out a hand, and powered the spellform Silva gave her from the hip pouch she was riding in. The new War Mage made a fist and jerked her hand downward. The turret and a large portion of the ceiling were ripped out, falling to the floor in a giant pile that blocked the passage behind them, and cut them off from the rest of the Marines.
The air was filled with dust and sparking wires. Boon stood with wide eyes at what she had done. This was the first time she had used her powers for real, and, if she were honest with herself, it scared the shit out of her.
“Durnt? Are you there?” Gonders asked over the open channel. “Anyone, what’s your status?”
“We’re fine, ma’am. Just a little shaken up. That was close. Is everyone okay over on your side?” Durnt responded.
Gonders let out a breath of relief. “Yeah, we’re fine. Looks like you’re going to have to find your own way. I’m sending you an alternate route now. Let the Sergeant Major know when you get there. We’ll try and find another way.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, dropping the line to giv
e the new orders.
“Sorry,” Boon said, chagrined.
Gonders patted her arm. “It’s fine, ba—Boon.”
Boon felt the rush of embarrassment from Gonders at almost calling her ‘babe’ in front of the others. It made her smile.
“Right,” Gonders said, checking the map quickly before saying, “This way. Let’s hope this is the right corridor.”
The ten of them began to cautiously make their way, looking for hidden defenses. After traveling two hundred meters past where the map said there should have been a junction, they came to a turn in the corridor that ended in a four-way intersection.
Gonders gave in. “We’re lost. This map is garbage.”
“I apologize, Specialist. We had no way of checking the accuracy of the map once the ship was done.” Sir Reitus offered a slight bow of apology.
“It’s okay. We’ll just have to find another way,” she said, checking the corridors to each side. Then she looked down the one in front of them. “Well, which way do you think?” she asked Boon.
Boon put a hand to her chest. “Me? Why ask me?”
Gonders shrugged. “Because you’re the War Mage?”
Alicia laughed. “That seems like flawed logic, but…” She stepped up to the intersection and inspected her choices. “I say we go this way,” she said, indicating the left passage.
“Any particular reason?” Gonders asked, signaling the troops left and checking her rifle for the hundredth time.
“It seems nicer,” she admitted in all seriousness.
She had noted that the walls were less dirty, and the doors were painted red, instead of the industrial gray they had seen so far.
Gonders looked down the other two passages, then said, “You’re right…”
“I figure nicer means there are more important things to break. If we can't get to the prison, we may as well start some havoc to draw attention,” Boon reasoned, then she cracked her knuckles. “Besides, I want to try out my powers.”
“You know, for such a shy girl, you can be pretty scary.”
Chapter 39
It turned out that the ancient humans were not as foolhardy as Sara had been led to believe. As soon as the jamming device was activated, Cora got a message from the core saying that warp was disabled, but that jumps could still be completed.
Sara took this news with glee, and they were able to begin systematically jumping to ships that needed the most help. First on the list was the admiral’s flagship. They had taken considerable damage, and were barely staying in the fight. The fleet rallied to their position as fast as their gravitic drives would allow. The Raven disabled the destroyer that had been stalking the craft, and the admiral was able to finish it off. From that point, the battle turned in the humans’ favor, but at a very high cost.
The Teifen were falling to the humans at a rate of two to one, with their superior firepower and shielding. However, two to one was still costly when it was considered that these were all the ships left in humanity’s control, and that the Teifen had nearly unlimited ships in reserve. However, this battle was not to win the war, but to keep from being overwhelmed. The rate of loss was worth the outcome—for now.
Over the next twenty minutes, the balance tipped in humanity’s favor.
As more of the Teifen were destroyed, more UHF ships were able to concentrate fire, and the toll on the Teifen fleet increased. The Raven played her part, covering her damaged sister ships by jumping in and hammering the enemy into submission, so that the defenders could finish them off while she jumped to the next ship in need. It soon became obvious that the battle was won, except for the hulk that was the dreadnought. Despite the constant hammering of the fleet, when they could get shots off, the dreadnought refused to go down.
Sara realized how lucky they had been, punching through the defenses so early on. She figured that the only reason for their success was that the shields on the side not facing the battle had not been powered fully when they attacked. It was a tactic the Teifen used often to conserve their Aether.
Now that it was obvious they could not win the battle, the dreadnought turned and began accelerating away to escape the warp disrupter.
“Captain, they’re running,” Mezner reported, her voice high-pitched with the stress of the situation.
A fleetwide communication interrupted Sara's reply.
“This is Admiral Johansen; all available ships, target the dreadnought.”
“Shit,” Sara said, slamming her fist on the command ring surrounding her, making the image in the viewing bubble waver for a second. “Get me Baxter on comms.”
There was a crackling that she immediately recognized as rifle fire. “Baxter here,” he said, his voice straining slightly.
“Baxter, the dreadnought is running. I need you to get your men back to the rendezvous point. We’re getting you out of there,” Sara said, marking a jump point for Cora.
“Negative. We’re pinned down and can't get away without unreasonable losses,” he yelled over the gunfire.
“If that ship jumps, we’ll lose you all,” she argued.
“Maybe we can send you our location, like the prince did. You could come get us later.”
“If that thing jumps into Teifen territory, our fleet won’t come after you.”
“Well… I guess we’ll just figure something else out,” he said with forced joviality.
Sara watched as every ship not engaged began firing directly on the retreating dreadnought. The shields were strong, but not invincible, and eventually, the aft section’s shields failed. Hundreds of gauss rounds began tearing at the back of the ship, but the craft kept picking up speed.
“Whoa, what’s happening out there? This beast is bucking like a stuck pig,” Baxter said with concern.
Sara bit her lip with worry. “The fleet is targeting the dreadnought’s aft section. Are you guys close to there?
“No, we’re kilometers away, still in the belly of the beast.”
“Try and get to the emperor. I’ll think of something. I’m not leaving you to die out there,” Sara said, fighting back tears at the thought of losing him.
“I’m counting on it, ma’am.”
A huge explosion jetted flames from the top right of the dreadnought’s stern, the color and intensity matching the loss of a reactor. Then space bent around the huge ship, and it slipped into warp, leaving only the fading jet of plasma to mark where it had been.
Chapter 40
“Captain, we’re not done. That concentrated fire left many ships vulnerable, and they need our help,” Grimms said, snapping Sara out of her fugue state.
She shook her head to clear it and wiped the tears from her eyes. When did I start crying? What is wrong with you, Sara?! And then it snapped to clarity in her mind. I…love him. The thought of losing Baxter, now that she was finally accepting what could be, drove her rage.
“Right, sorry. Cora, new jump coordinates. Let’s take these assholes down.”
Pull it together, Sara. You’ll see him soon. Somehow. Focus on the here and now; win this battle so you can chase him down and tell him how you feel.
Grimms relayed the battle’s status as the Raven jumped into the heat of it once again, disabling a destroyer quickly before jumping to a cruiser that had just taken out the last UHF carrier, and sending a full set of twelve gauss slugs into its broadside.
“Twenty-seven… make that twenty-six Teifen ships remaining. UHF has forty-two ships still functional, and seventeen adrift. Six hundred escape pods are sending out requests for pickup, and we are seeing two hundred possible Teifen escape pods.”
Sara gritted her teeth, marking the next position and ordering Cora to jump. They slammed a destroyer with Aether blasts and a volley of slugs, then a second volley, but the destroyer would not go down. Instead, it rolled to present fresh shields on their undamaged side.
How dare they come to my home and try to assert their dominance over my people? And for what? Pride? Greed?
Sh
e realized they had gotten caught up in a war so old, the reasons for it were as lost to time as those who’d started it.
My people are not pawns to be sacrificed on the altar of another’s ambition. I am their protector, their War Mage.
She was greater than they could ever dream to be.
Sara powered a second spellform from Alister, shoving so much Aether into it, she felt a sucking in her soul. She let the torrent loose through the shield amplifiers. The rebellious ship in front of her, the one that had rolled to avoid more damage, bucked—its middle expanding like a balloon before bursting open with a blast of white-hot fire.
She put in new coordinates, and they jumped.
The gall of these pointy-headed little dictators.
They were bugs. A pestilence she would wipe from the galaxy.
She powered another spell, sending it through the amplifiers, and the small Teifen corvette they had jumped to was flayed open with a force blade.
They take and they take, never relenting. They took the Elif from us thousands of years ago, and lately their homeworld. They’re trying to take Earth. And now they’ve taken Baxter from me.
She sent a force blast down like a hammer, blasting the shields of a damaged cruiser before Hon peppered it with slugs, ripping holes through the crippled ship. Its lights flickered out, and she sent another hammer blow down, crushing its reactors, causing them to envelop the ship in white-hot light.
“You can't have him!” she screamed at the micro-sun she had created.
She scanned the area, but couldn't find any more red icons. She checked again, her rage pushing her to find more enemies to kill.
The back of her head itched, but she ignored it, instead expanding the map and continuing her search.
She caught sight of something by her feet, and looked down, focusing on it. Alister.
He was standing with his legs spread in an aggressive stance, and was baring his teeth. Saliva was dripping from his pointy, white fangs. He looked like he should be growling, but she couldn't hear him; she couldn't hear anything but the pumping of her own blood.
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