Maybe they’ve weakened that other ship enough that we can take it out.
The Steadfast soared towards the portal. As far as he could see the colony ships were flying away from the line of fire. It was the only thing they could do, until the coast was clear and they were able to enter the portal.
“If they’re equipped with Urzhai blasters ...” Argus said.
“We’ll take the chance,” Conrad replied. “We’ve got to. The Gambier ships can’t stay here.”
Argus growled in acknowledgment. “I’ll have engineering boost the shields,” he said.
The Vehn ship took notice of them. It veered away from the portal, ignoring the remaining patrol ships.
The brilliant white of Urzhai blasts shot forth from the Vehn gunports. Conrad didn’t even need to make a command; the helmsman reacted instantly, twisting the Steadfast to evade the lethal blasts.
“Well done,” he got out. “Argus—fire two missiles.” At this distance, it was impossible to target the airlocks, but there was a chance it could slow the ship down.
Then something occurred to him.
The Vehn had underestimated the patrol ships.
“On second thought, fire as many missiles as you can get out at one go. And the neutron guns, when we’re close enough. I’ll prep directions for the patrol ships.”
Conrad held his breath as the Steadfast flew ever closer to the Vehn ship, dodging fire.
The entire ship shuddered as a blast grazed its starboard side. Conrad clenched his teeth. Argus hunched over the weapons console, tense.
The Kazhad worked quickly, his paws darting over the weapons console. The tactical display honed in on the Vehn ship. He was waiting for the perfect moment: neither too close to the Vehn nor too far.
Conrad opened the comm line to the remaining patrol ships, feeding them a string of instructions.
Argus let loose the missiles, the sleek shafts speeding towards their enemy. Taking this as the cue, the helmsman shot the Steadfast forward a half second later behind the protective curtain of the missiles.
The moment the missiles impacted the Vehn ship, Argus fired the closeshort-range neutron guns at the same time. Bright fire seemed to consume the Vehn ship for a moment—but only a moment.
The Steadfast pulled back, away from the portal.
As the explosions began to fade and die down Conrad stared at the tactical display. Argus gave a verbal report, his tone urgent.
“They did it,” he said, with some degree of disbelief. “The patrol ships. Residue signatures indicate that they were able to approach the Vehn ship at close quarters and blow several airlocks at once.”
The Vehn ship was beginning to break apart before their eyes. Conrad took a single breath of relief.
“Where are those patrol ships now?” he asked.
“Two survived. They’re headed towards the first colony ship.”
Conrad’s fists clenched and then unclenched. Two. Out of forty-three. Still, they’d done as he’d asked, and made possible the only escape the ships could have.
“The first ship can set a course for the portal,” he said.
“Captain,” Argus said, his voice tight with alarm. “The three remaining Vehn vessels are advancing on the colony ships.”
Chapter 2
“Turn us around,” he ordered. “Put us directly in the path of the Vehn ships.”
He could feel hot sweat trickling down his neck, staining his captain’s collar. They had no choice but to clear the portal—but that meant that they would leave the colony ships unguarded.
It was an unavoidable risk, but a risk nonetheless. They’d given the three Vehn ships a chance to advance on the colony ships, and they’d pursued the Gambier ships over a thousand kilometers. The tips of their umbilicals already beginning to emerge; the Vehn were already anticipating the slaughter ahead.
Good, Conrad thought. If the umbilicals were even partially opened it made the airlocks even more vulnerable to attack.
The colony ship in the lead was curving away from its initial flight path, aiming for the portal. The other two colony ships were poised to follow. As the third ship began to alter its trajectory, the Vehn ships leaped forward with an incredible burst of speed.
Conrad jerked forward, his eyes wide. “What in all the—”
Argus was growling with confusion. “I—maybe it’s an Olmescha engine jump,” he said. “But ... the Vehn have never ...”
First the Kazhad blast guns. Now this. What’s happening to the Vehn?
Whatever it is, it wasn’t good.
Later, he promised himself. We’ll figure all this out ... but right now, we’ve got to stay alive.
“Get us over there—now.” Conrad was almost out of his chair.
He could feel his heart pounding as the Steadfast turned swiftly, desperate to beat the odds.
The colony ships were already at top speed, and the Vehn were gaining on them. They were almost in in range.
“They’re not going to make it,” Argus barked. Conrad gritted his teeth. He knew that Argus was right.
Suddenly the Gambier ship in the lead turned, breaking away from its course towards the portal.
“What are they doing?” Argus said, his hair standing on end.
Conrad pounded on his armrest, activating the comm line. “Gambier One—what in all the universes are you doing?”
“Steadfast—we’re going to engage the Vehn. Time for some doom and gloom, finally.”
“Stop. That’s an order,” Conrad said. “By the authority of—”
“No,” came the curt, firm reply. “Listen, corpsman. Ship two is all that matters. Those are our children. Our future. Get them through that portal. Do you understand?”
Conrad took a slow, heavy breath as the grim reality of the stakes settled in.
Ship two. That means ship one and three ...
“Patch me through to the captain of Gambier Two,” he said to the comms officer. “Keep the line open for the duration.”
The Steadfast dove into the fray.
Colony ships one and three had put ship two behind them as they moved to confront the Vehn.
“Ship two, we’re almost there,” Conrad said into the comms. “We’re transmitting a flight path to you now—follow it if you can. Whatever you do, get to the portal. We’ll be right there with you.”
“Acknowledged,” came the tight, worried response.
He turned his attention back to the Vehn. The umbilical tips were exposed now—they were fitted with a cap of explosives, meant to blast through the surface of the colony ships.
There was a faint amber glimmer around the colony ships as they activated their shields. Shields could repel some neutron-based weapons, Conrad knew, but if a physical object like another ship drew close enough the shields would mean nothing. And they were useless against Urzhai guns.
The first Urzhai blasts hit the colony ships. The Vehn were targeting engines with great precision—they needed to keep the ships and all the lives aboard them intact.
An alarm sounded in Conrad’s mind as he saw one of the Vehn ships fall away. It was the smallest ship—the fastest ship.
It had to be aiming for ship two.
Confident sons of bitches, he thought to himself. They thought they could catch all three.
“Attack that ship before it gets to ship two,” he said. “Now!”
The Steadfast shuddered as the helmsman rapidly changed their trajectory. Argus’s paws moved with shocking speed, re-energizing the guns and preparing their missiles for launch.
The larger Vehn ships were kilometers away from the colony ships now. Conrad spied the remaining patrol ships skimming over the ships, searching for weaknesses.
“Engines disabled on Gambier Three,” Argus reported. Conrad’s fingers tightened on his chair.
“Their umbilicals in?”
“Not yet. Conrad—we’ve got our own problems,” Argus said. With those words, he fired a salvo at the small Vehn ship.
The attack only turned the ship mildly off course. It responded in kind with three Urzhai blasts.
The Steadfast shook as one blast hit the underside of the ship.
“If we can get near enough to them, they can’t use those blasts,” Argus said.
“How close can we get?” Conrad demanded.
“Safely, sir?” the helmsman replied. “Maybe within a hundred meters. Even moreif we don’t mind ramming ‘em.”
“Get us as close as we can,” he said, eyeing the Vehn ship. “Argus—do your best.”
The Kazhad growled in the affirmative. The Steadfast accelerated. The Vehn ship seemed to wheel around in surprise, as if shocked that they would dare to take such a risk. It fired at them with its stolen Urzhai guns.
The Steadfast took another hit. “Hull integrity is critical on decks eight and nine,” the ops officer reported. “Sending ‘bots to repair it, but they’ll be spaced if we get another hit in the same spot—”
“Focus on that ship,” Conrad ordered. “If they survive, they’ll take out ship two.”
The helmsman twisted the ship around towards the Vehn ship. It was enlarging on the tactical display rapidly.
Conrad exhaled when the Urzhai guns fell silent. They were too close now—the Vehn ship risked a suicidal ricochet if it fired now. It used its close-range guns instead, aiming at the sore spots on the Steadfast’s hulls.
It pushed its umbilicals out, preparing for another kind of attack.
Not a chance in hell, Conrad thought.
“Argus,” Conrad said, voice full of warning.
The Kazhad roared as he let loose the full force of the Steadfast’s weapons system, the tactical display turning a blinding white as the fire hit the Vehn ship.
The Steadfast quaked the moment before it impacted the Vehn ship.
Instead of the neck-breaking collision that he expected, Conrad felt the Steadfast push through.
That was unexpected.
Argus had done his best—or perhaps it was his worst. Their desperate attack on the Vehn ship had broken the ship into pieces—pieces that were now smashing into the Steadfast.
“You did it, Argus,” he gasped. There was only enough time for a moment’s pause before he returned his attention to the tactical display.
“Ship two,” he said into the comms line. “Status?”
“We’re almost there,” the captain replied. “Steadfast, you’re—”
“Don’t worry about us,” Conrad cut him off. “Get to that portal.”
He studied the tactical display, his heart pounding. The paralyzed ship three had rolled onto its side. They were now within striking distance of the Vehn umbilicals.
“There’s no time,” Argus said, as if reading his mind.
“We have to try,” he insisted, even as he processed the logic of Argus’s viewpoint. If by some chance they didn’t survive, then they would be leaving the colony’s children at the mercy of the Vehn.
Argus began to speak, but an incoming transmission interrupted him.
“Steadfast,” came the rough, exhausted voice. “This is Gambier One.”
“Captain,” Conrad said, struggling to keep his voice even.
“I’m going to ask two more favors of you, Steadfast. First—get Gambier Two back to Sanctuary safely. Which means that you need to get the hell out of here. Second—before you go, do you have any missiles left?”
Conrad watched with dread as he saw the Vehn ship penetrate Gambier Three with its umbilicals. The Vehn were already boarding.
“They’re almost here,” the captain said, her voice breaking slightly. She cried out suddenly.
“The Vehn’s got a tractor lock on Gambier One,” Argus reported.
The raw horror of what was about to happen—and was already happening aboard Gambier One—was unavoidable. Conrad swayed slightly.
“Take us to the closest colony ship,” he ordered.
“Conrad,” Argus began, daring to use his first name. “It’s too—”
“Helm, now,” Conrad snapped.
The Steadfast seemed to groan as the helmsman obeyed. A dull throbbing began to grow in the back of Conrad’s skull. His logical mind warned him that everything he was about to do was futile, but there were thousands of lives onboard the massive colony ships.
As the Steadfast soared towards Gambier Three, he could sense a low, constant growl from Argus behind him.
“Target the engines,” Conrad ordered. There were already Vehn aboard the crippled colony ship, connected via the Vehn umbilicals; if they fired on the umbilicals they would destroy the airlocks and leave the colony ship exposed to the vacuum of space.
Argus rumbled as he calibrated the Steadfast’s weapons systems. The first volley barely scraped over the top of the Vehn ship. The umbilicals shook, but stayed in place.
“Captain, the Vehn ship near Gambier One is retracting its umbilicals,” Argus warned. “It’s coming towards us—”
They were too close to escape the Urzhai blasts that burned into the Steadfast’s hulls.
“Damage to decks four, seven, eight and nine,” the ops officer reported. “Sir, I’ve boosted shields there but weapons are draining the power we’ve got left. A breach is imminent.”
“Conrad,” Argus rumbled. “We can’t stay here.”
Feelings of fury and futility warred in Conrad’s gut.
My God. I’ve failed them all.
There was only one act of mercy left to them.
Chapter 3
“Take out those umbilicals,” Conrad ordered.
Argus didn’t wait another second. He fired the neutron guns as the Steadfast curved around the Vehn ship attached to Gambier Three, the umbilicals blazing up.
Conrad swallowed, his mouth gone dry. Nothing he had ever done in his service to Sanctuary had prepared him for this. He’d been through simulations of course—unwinnable situations, suicide scenarios. But this was different.
He was about to do the unthinkable—kill thousands of Sanctuary citizens in order to keep them from being eaten alive.
His head pounded as he prepared to fulfill the Gambier captain’s final request.
“You know where the engines are on those colony ships?” he said to Argus, his eyes fixed on the tactical display.
The Kazhad grunted in the affirmative.
Conrad wanted to hesitate, but each moment they waited their chances of saving Gambier Two dwindled even more. “Fast as you can, Argus. Don’t let ‘em suffer even one extra second. Fast as you can,” he repeated. He turned his head. “Helm,” he continued. “One more pass.”
The Steadfast skimmed close to the belly of Gambier Three. Argus fired at strategic targets—through umbilicals, exhaust ports, and vulnerable spots throughout the body of the ship.
Conrad held his breath, every muscle tense. Gambier Three rolled under the impact of the Steadfast’s fire.
Then the explosions began, from deep within the enormous ship.
By pure force of will Conrad watched without flinching as Gambier Three collapsed and exploded.
Witnessed, he thought, a dull numb feeling spreading through his chest.
The helmsman reacted quickly, guiding the Steadfast away from the dying ship. The Vehn ship began to pull away, its damaged umbilicals trailing as it was forced to abandon the dying colony ship.
Conrad manipulated the tactical display, checking on Gambier Two. It was now closer to the portal, but still moving too slowly to be safe.
He flicked the display back to Gambier One. The Vehn ship that had been attacking One was now focused on the Steadfast, aware of what the Protectorate ship had done to its counterpart. It had left Gambier One unguarded.
Conrad exhaled. Again, he thought with dread and despair.
“Argus,” he said. “Status?”
“Neutron guns are at half charge,” Argus reported. “We’ve got ten missiles left.”
Conrad calculated the odds in his head. Whatever happened here, if they were goin
g to escort Gambier Two to safety, they couldn’t use up the entirety of the Steadfast’s weapons. They would have to use what was left to them with surgical precision.
“We’ll hang on to the guns,” he said. “Use the rest of the missiles for Gambier One. Be clean, Argus.”
The Kazhad rumbled low in his chest. Conrad could only guess at what his first officer was feeling, firing on ships filled with thousands of innocents.
“Helm,” he said. “Plot a course for the portal to rendezvous with Gambier Two, but swing us as close to Gambier One as you can without taking us too far off course.”
“Yessir,” the helmsman replied.
The Steadfast began to pick up speed, the two Vehn ships triangulating and converging on their rapidly changing position. If the Steadfast had been at full power, it would have been a very different strategy indeed—but damaged as the ship was by Urzhai blasts, speed was now their greatest advantage.
Conrad focused on the pure abstraction of the tactical display. He watched as they drew closer to the apogee of their arc towards Gambier One—and inhaled as Argus fired off the last of their missiles.
The explosives raced towards the doomed ship as Conrad prayed silently for forgiveness.
The missiles hit their mark. Gambier One went up in a hot flash of fire and shrapnel, one bright burst before the remnants of the colony ship faded into dark oblivion.
Witnessed.
A hot glow of fury burned in his chest. Conrad closed his eyes briefly before turning his attention back to the tactical display, suppressing the black-tinged emotions surging through him.
Not now.
Despite it all, Gambier Two was still intact. The last of the colony’s hope was still alive.
Now it was a race for the portal.
“Quick as you can,” Conrad said to the helmsman, his voice rough.
Cheated of their prey, the Vehn ships were turning, their malevolent intent now focused solely on the Steadfast. They were moving fast.
“Conrad,” Argus warned. “We can't engage both of them with guns at half charge.”
“I'm aware,” he snapped. “Keep 'em at the ready regardless. If they get too close, do what you have to do.”
Sanctuary's Gambit: The Darkspace Saga Book 2 Page 2