"Jump," Sara said, selecting a location nearly at random.
The Vitas arrived only a second later, once again blasting them from behind. Sara was having trouble maintaining the shielding in the aft of the ship, and selected another location, this one a few million kilometers away.
"Jump," she commanded, and the ship slipped through the Aether to arrive far out in the system.
"I can't keep up the current pace of all these jumps, eventually I'll be tapped. We need to come up with another strategy," Cora said in frustration.
“How long do we have before they get here?” Sara asked, watching as the Vitas went to warp.
“Maybe thirty seconds, ma’am,” Mezner said.
Sara saw that the Vitas ship they had disabled was having difficulty hitting the defending ships. In fact, it didn't seem to be hitting anything; all the damage was coming from the masses of Galvox that were hunting down ships in packs.
"They can't see them," Sara said, almost to herself.
"Merp?" Alister asked from between her feet.
"The Vitas. They can't see the Rim worlders’ ships. It's that stealth coating they use," Sara said louder, catching Grimms’ attention.
He leaned in and watched for a second. "You're right. They only target the ships we can clearly see, the ones without the stealth coating. I think they're blind to the others," he confirmed.
"That’s why they joined forces with the Galvox. They need them to see the Rim world ships. Oh my god. That's why they're out here in the first place. They don't want them to become a threat later, so they're trying to take them out first," Sara said, the entire invasion suddenly making sense to her.
"Mezner, send a message to Grand Admiral Bok. Tell him about the stealth coating the Rim worlders are using and that we think the Vitas are out here to eliminate the threat. It's a weakness we have to exploit if we want to defeat them," she said, a plan forming in her mind.
She marked another set of locations. "Cora, we're going to do a short series of jumps as soon as the Vitas show up. We need to buy some time," she said, finding the ship she was looking for in the menagerie of attackers and defenders.
Chapter 47
"Cap, it's the Raven," Bestin said, flicking the controls and rolling the ship out of the line of fire of a dozen Galvox, who were unable to keep up with the quick maneuver. "They want us to meet them at the coordinates they've sent."
"We're a little busy, here," Gerrold said, using his chair display to look at the message. He scanned through the text quickly, getting the gist and cocking his head in consideration.
Bestin banked them around a group of Vitas, peppering their flanks with PDC fire and ripping the aft sections from two of them with the main cannons. They wove through the enemy like a sewing needle through cloth, leaving a path of burning and floundering Galvox in their wake.
The Rizz came around a particularly tight formation of Galvox only to find another pack of them heading directly for the ship. Bestin did his best, but was not able to pull up in time to avoid the hail of slugs headed their way.
Restin grunted as his shields were quickly burned to an angry red in the wake of three sequential impacts.
"We can't take this much longer, Cap. There's just too damn many of them," Restin said through gritted teeth.
"Warp here, brother," Bestin said, marking a location on the holo display.
"Belay that, warp here instead," Gerrold said, marking the coordinates the Raven had sent.
"Are you sure? You heard what Reggi said. You think you can trust the War Mage?" Bestin asked.
"Warping now, we can't stick around here," Restin said, gritting his teeth as another slug struck them a glancing blow.
The small view screen mashed down, then began expanding quickly.
"I guess we'll find out," Gerrold said with a frown.
"The Rizz just went to warp, ma'am. They should arrive at the coordinates in ten seconds," Mezner reported.
"Hon, get ready. Connors, we are going to have to draw the Vitas in. Be prepared for some of that fancy flying you do so well," Sara said from her viewing bubble in the command ring. "This is going to hurt, so let's make it count."
"Aye, ma'am," chorused throughout the bridge.
The Vitas appeared off to their starboard, and Cora jumped them the short distance to the preplanned coordinates, before the particle beams could rip through the still-recovering shields.
Sara watched as the Vitas ship almost immediately went to warp to follow. The Raven was jumping short distances of only a few thousand kilometers, letting Cora use a minimum of Aether. The distance was short enough, though, that it took longer to actually enter the warp thread than to travel down it. The few seconds they had before the Vitas warped in and began firing again was mostly taken with the mechanics of actually going to warp. This meant that the Vitas were only blind to what was happening while in the warp thread—too short a time to execute a surprise attack. If the Raven jumped further out, the Vitas would just warp in further away from them, and move via gravitic engines, allowing them time to see any incoming attacks.
The Vitas were nearly perfect opponents. They learned to avoid attacks after the first successful attempt, so Sara needed to come up with a new plan every time; they’d showed no true weaknesses.
But now they’d exposed a blind spot, literally, and Sara was planning on exploiting the hell out of it. She just needed to put her trust in a small ship full of pirates.
In truth, this was not one of her most risky plans. It just seemed that way to her because she wouldn't be the one pulling the trigger.
Trust. I really need to work on that, she thought, watching as the Raven made its last preprogrammed jump.
Restin was shaking his head. "There is no way we can take that ship on, have you seen the struggle the Raven is having? We won't stand a chance."
"She says they can't see us due to our stealth coating. I’ve been watching the disabled Vitas ship; it never takes a shot at a stealthed ship. I think she's right," Gerrold said, hoping it was true.
"What do you think, Reggi?" Bestin asked. He seemed calmer than his brother, but was still rather tense.
Reggi was pale and had been since her conversation with the War Mage, but she had also been paying attention.
Reggi swallowed hard and watched the holo projector for a few seconds before answering. “I think this War Mage is different. I don’t know if it’s because she’s not as powerful as the War Mages I’m used to, or if she actually cares,” she said, wringing her hands. “She’s been fighting. Like really fighting, and taking damage to protect this system. I think she’s telling us the truth. Or at least, the truth as far as she can see.”
Gerrold nodded, “My thoughts exactly. Well, maybe not ‘exactly’, but pretty close." He flipped a switch on his command chair. "Hooper, Sitrix, prepare for rapid fire. We need to get as many shots off as we can, as quick as we can."
"Aye, Cap," Sitrix said.
They watched the Raven vanish and reappear a few hundred kilometers away from their position.
I need to figure out how they do that, when this is all over.
"Bestin, full speed ahead," Gerrold ordered, and the ship shot forward, taking a circular approach to the target area.
"There it is," Reggi said, pointing at the Vitas ship coming out of warp.
It was further away than Gerrold would have liked, but it was what it was.
“Hooper, Sitrix, wait ‘til the last second. We need to get at least two shots off, but we can't fire too early, or they will see the slugs coming."
“Got it, Cap,” Hooper boomed over the comm.
"We've got a squad of Galvox closing in," Bestin reported as the ship neared their target.
"Great, one more thing to worry about," Gerrold growled, glancing at the holo projector and seeing the squad closing in from the side. "Focus on the Vitas. Set the PDCs to full auto. Hopefully we can warp out before they get too close."
He knew this was a false hope.
The enemy would be peppering the Rizz's aft section before they could get their shots off.
"A squad of Galvox are closing on the Rizz," Mezner reported.
Just then, the Vitas dropped out of warp and began firing. A dozen particle beams streaked through the black, fizzing and spitting power the whole way.
Sara had known they would need to take a few shots from the Vitas to give the Rizz enough time to take her shots, but now it looked like they would also need to provide cover.
"Connors, give me a heading to intercept those Galvox. We need to protect the Rizz," Sara said, gritting her teeth and dumping as much Aether as she could spare into the shields. "Hon, take shots as they present themselves."
"Aye, ma'am," he said, targeting and firing almost immediately.
The Raven shot off toward the Rizz and her closing enemies. Several Galvox exploded as twelve large slugs from the Raven’s cannons smashed through their formation. The Vitas took the opportunity to focus fire on the Raven’s aft section with concentrated fire, and the Raven shuddered as the particle beams blasted into her shielding.
Sara began to sweat with effort, and she dumped power into the defense at incredible rates, but it was not enough to keep up with the unrelenting barrage. With a scream of effort and pain, she felt the shields burn out and she fell to her knees.
The ship bucked and began to roll, as several particle beams ripped into its armor and eventually punched through the hull.
Hon never hesitated, continuing to fire on the Galvox—who, not expecting the ferocious attack, folded under the pressure—and those that could, scattered.
The pounding from the particle beams cut off nearly as abruptly as it had started, and through bleary eyes, Sara could see the Vitas ship drifting with several holes through its hull. It wasn't dead, but its focus had been taken by the Rizz, which was coming back around for a second attack. The Vitas fired blindly, missing the Rizz by a huge margin.
Then it was the Rizz's turn.
Her two cannons were smaller than those on the Raven, but they were still slinging chunks of solid steel at a considerable percentage of the speed of light. They punched through the Vitas, creating fountains of debris and plasma as they passed out the backside of the ship.
"Hon, let’s help the Rizz out and send a volley of the warheads into that piece of shit," Sara said. She was still on her knees, but her head was clearing.
"Aye, ma'am," he said with a big smile.
Twelve warhead-equipped slugs shot out of the still glowing barrels of all three turrets, and a split-second later, they detonated inside the Vitas ship, turning the fearsome enemy into a cloud of superheated gas and irradiated chunks of debris.
Chapter 48
"We need to take out the last Vitas ship before they can get back into fighting shape," Sara said, pulling herself to her feet with Grimms’ help, as he reached into the command ring and gave her a hand.
Alister had moved to her shoulder, completely exhausted but still able to hang on as she rose.
She gave him a scratch. "Great work, Alister," she praised, butting heads with him affectionately.
"Ma'am, I'm not seeing the damaged Vitas ship on scans," Hon reported.
"I'm playing back the last five minutes," Mezner said, and the holo table projected a second image that was grayed out slightly, to differentiate between real-time and playback.
Sara found the Vitas ship where it had been sitting disabled the entire battle. The recording moved forward quickly, as Mezner scanned ahead. The ship suddenly spun on its axis and began heading toward the Raven, but stopped when the second Vitas ship was destroyed. It seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, then it turned and warped out of system.
"They ran?" Sara asked, her forehead wrinkling. "I have to say, I didn't see that coming."
"Ma'am, the Galvox are pulling out as well!" Mezner said, her face splitting into a huge grin.
Sara watched as the small ships began warping out in groups of fifty or more. They seemed to be taking the same direction as the Vitas, but she wouldn't know for sure until they analyzed the data more closely.
"How many of the Rim worlders survived the attack?" Sara asked, remembering why they were there to begin with.
"My quick estimate is that nearly seventy percent of them survived, though it looks like only the ships with the stealth coating managed to avoid destruction," Mezner said.
"We need to get together with the Rizz. Connors, give me—"
Mezner cut her off. "Ma'am, a ship has just warped in. It's sending UHFC codes," she said, scanning her console. "It's the Catagain, ma'am. They're hailing us."
"Get me in touch with the Rizz first. We can't let our prize slip away," Sara said, rolling her eyes at the lateness of their ‘ally’.
"I have Captain Grenolt on the main screen, ma'am," Mezner said, as the view screen switched over from the starfield to the cramped bridge of the Rizz.
"Captain Sonders. I have to say, you really saved our skins on that last attack. I wasn't sure we were going to make it," he admitted, his forehead glistening with sweat.
"I dare say you wouldn't have. Those Galvox are aggressive, if nothing else," she said with a smile. "We need to meet and have a nice long conversation. I think there is a lot we can accomplish, if we put our heads together."
"I agree, Captain. I think we should take care of this newcomer first, though," Gerrold said, squinting down at his holo projector.
"Don't worry about them, they’re here for me. Let me take care of this, and we can set up a meeting," she said, glancing down at the Catagain's icon. The battleship was speeding toward them.
"Be careful. We'll be here when you're done," Gerrold assured her, then cut the channel.
"Ma'am, the Catagain is powering weapons and shields," Hon said, confused.
"Mezner, get those assholes on the line," Sara ordered, narrowing her eyes at the holo image.
The screen flipped over to the black-haired War Mage, as he paced back and forth on his large bridge. When he saw that the call was connected, he stomped to the center of the view.
“What the hell do you think you are doing out here in Teifen space, fighting other races’ battles? Have you completely betrayed your people to work for the enemy?" he roared.
"I see you are late to the fight, Reese. Good work. It seems every time we need you, you aren’t around; must be all the time you spend trying to smuggle explosives onto other people’s ships," Sara said with a steely calm.
Reese seemed slightly taken aback, but his eyes betrayed him. He knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Ma'am, we're receiving a signal from the Catagain. It's the same one they used to try and detonate the bomb before." Mezner wasn’t even trying to hide the contempt in her voice.
"Who told you to murder us?" Sara asked, not beating around the bush.
Reese took a step back. "I don't know what you're talking about. I have been sent here by the Admirals’ Council to collect you and your ship."
" ‘Collect’ us? Are you saying we're under arrest? Because the last I heard from the admirals, we were to continue the search for human colonies."
Reese barked a short laugh. "You mean Franklin’s orders? Yes, the UHFC is aware that he basically issued a blank check for you to do whatever you wish without proper supervision."
"Proper supervision? Like we are children?" Sara raged.
"From where I stand, you're worse than children. At least a child responds to a firm hand; you just seem to push back harder," he said, a look of disgust on his face.
"Are you planning on carrying out Smith’s orders, then? To fire on us when we resist? Or will you try to smuggle another bomb onboard? What's your plan here, Captain?" Sara asked, cocking her head.
Reese Rodgers smiled without any warmth. "You will come with us and cause us no problems, or we will be forced to destroy you. You are a problem for the brass. You have too much power and not enough sense to know who your betters are."
"Sir, I'm getting
multiple warp threads coming in," one of the bridge officers on the Catagain interrupted.
"I'm seeing them too, ma'am," Mezner said. Then after a second, she added, "They're Teifen. It’s the Grand Admiral's fleet."
Sara watched as fifty ships warped in, headed by Bok's battlecruiser, which was now carrying even more scars than the last time she had seen it. Several hundred more ships arrived in the following seconds. It seemed like the grand admiral had not brought his entire fleet, just a portion of it.
"The Admiral is hailing..."
That was as far as Mezner got before her jaw dropped, and she looked up at Sara.
"The Catagain is attacking the fleet!"
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War Mage Chronicles- Part One Page 73