by Ryk Brown
“She’s going to try and slug it out with them,” Nathan realized. “Mister Navashee, how long can…”
“Not long, sir,” Mister Navashee replied.
“Who’s going to win?”
“No way to tell, sir,” Mister Navashee said. “Two different kinds of energy, Captain, and two different kinds of shielding.”
“Best guess, Mister Navashee,” Nathan urged. “I need your best guess.”
Mister Navashee shook his head in frustration. “The Jung, sir. By sheer firepower alone. That battleship can concentrate massive amounts of firepower on multiple points at the same time. In this situation, the Celestia can only concentrate on one shield section. Even if they manage to get one of the battleship’s shields to fail, they still have to take her out. And don’t forget, the Jung can extend their shields—not just outward, but in different directions. They can practically cover a downed shield section with neighboring sections.”
Nathan sighed. “Then that’s it.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Mister Navashee apologized, feeling as if he’d failed his captain.
Nathan turned to face aft, looking Jessica directly in the eyes as he gave the order to his communications officer. “Ensign Waara. Call to all sections…” Nathan swallowed hard. “…Abandon ship. All non-essential personnel to the jump shuttles. The rest will use the escape pods.”
Jessica looked crest-fallen. “Nathan…”
“We’ll fire our mains and ram them, detonating our antimatter reactors as we impact,” he explained. “There will be nothing left of either of us.”
“But…”
“It’s a good trade, Jess,” Nathan insisted. “One ship for several billion lives…innocent lives, and we’ll get two more ships to replace this one.”
“Two measly frigates,” Jessica argued, half-heartedly.
“Two frigates that the admiral will fit with jump drives, shields, and mark fours and fives. They’ll be every bit as tough as any ship out there.”
“Not as tough as this one,” Jessica insisted.
Nathan took a deep breath. “Comms get me the Celestia.”
“Nathan, there has got to be another way,” Cameron pleaded over the comms.
“There isn’t, Cam, and you know it,” Nathan insisted.
“Maybe we can alternate sides…show them our port side, then starboard…”
“You don’t have enough guns,” Nathan reminded her. “Your only effective weapons are your plasma torpedoes, and you’ve got to be facing forward to use them. It’s only a matter of time before they collapse your shields and blast through you to get to us. The only chance you’ve got to defeat that bastard is hit-and-run, and even then it’s a long shot…and we’d still be destroyed. At least this way, the Aurora will die for a reason…for a victory.”
Cameron sighed. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can, Nathan. Get your people out.”
“The shuttles are leaving in two minutes. The rest are going in escape pods. Bridge staff will be the last to eject…but…”
“I know.” Cameron looked down at the deck. “Good luck, Nathan.”
“The blast range,” Luis said, “…they won’t have enough time to get clear.”
“Not the last pod, no,” Cameron said.
“The last of the shuttles have jumped away,” Mister Navashee reported from the Aurora’s sensor station.
“Remaining crew are ejecting now,” Ensign Waara reported.
“How many pods are left?” Nathan asked.
“Two pods, sir,” Mister Lange reported.
“Everyone, get to the escape pod,” Nathan said. “I’ll get to the last pod before impact.”
No one left their station.
Nathan looked around. “That was an order, people.”
“Sorry, Skipper, but we’re not leaving,” Jessica insisted.
Nathan turned around to look at her. “Jess…”
“You need us, Nathan,” Jessica insisted. “You need me. I’m a Nash, remember? Nash’s are hard to kill.”
Nathan laughed. “Damned near impossible, I’d say.” He looked around the bridge at his crew. “If you don’t leave now, it’s highly unlikely you’ll make it to a safe distance before the antimatter reactors detonate.”
“Beg your pardon, sir,” Mister Navashee interrupted, “but it’s likely we won’t make it to a safe distance, even if we do leave now. I’ve done the math.”
Nathan looked at his sensor operator. “I’m sure you have.”
Vladimir entered the bridge and took a seat at the auxiliary station.
“Vlad…”
“And if the detonators do not work, like on Scout Three? Do you know how to override the containment field controls and force them to collapse on command?”
Nathan took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “No, I suppose I don’t.” He sat back down in his command chair. “Very well. How long do we have, Mister Navashee.”
“Two minutes.”
“Vlad, make sure those escape pods are warmed up and ready to launch,” Nathan said, mostly in jest.
“They are escape pods, Captain. They are always ready to launch.”
“Comms, patch me through to the Celestia.”
“Aye, sir,” Ensign Waara replied.
“Go for Celestia Actual,” Cameron replied over the loudspeakers.
“Captain,” Nathan began. “In just over a minute, you’re going to jump away, and we’re going to fire our mains and plow into that ship.”
“That is not leaving you much time to get to your escape pods, Captain,” Cameron argued, “let alone to get clear of the blast radius.”
“No time for bullshitting each other, Cam. That’s the plan. You can either get out of the way or go out with us.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Time?” Nathan asked Mister Navashee.
“One minute.”
“We go in fifty seconds, Cam. I’ll call your jump,” Nathan told her.
“Understood.”
Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. It had been a long couple of years. He had left Earth in order to escape his family, to escape responsibility, yet all he had done over the last two years had been to be responsible, to do what had to be done, no matter how terrible the consequences might be.
“Thirty seconds,” Mister Navashee updated.
Nathan kept his gaze straight ahead on the main view screen, the image of the Celestia growing ever larger in his screen, already stretching halfway across at zero magnification.
Another deep breath. “It’s been an honor to lead you all,” he told them. “No captain could dare ask for a better crew.”
“Self-destruct is armed,” Vladimir announced. “Enter your code, Captain.”
“Twenty seconds,” Mister Navashee added.
Nathan pulled out his data pad to enter his authorization code.
“New contact,” Mister Navashee announced. “Oh my God, it’s another Jung battle… It’s the Jar-Benakh!”
“We’re being hailed!” Ensign Waara reported as he piped the call through to the overhead loudspeakers.
“Aurora! Peel to starboard! Celestia to port, and fire on me!” Captain Roselle called over the comms.
“Hard to starboard!” Nathan ordered. “Full power!”
Nathan watched the main view screen as the Celestia pulled off to the left and the Aurora started her turn to the right. “Stand down the self-destruct!” he ordered. “Jess! Target the Jar-Benakh and open fire!”
“Jar-Sino! Jar-Sino!” Gerard called over the comms in Jung. “This is Captain Tahn of the Jar-Benakh! We have come to join the fight, but our shields are down!”
“Jar-Benakh! Where did you come from?”
&nb
sp; “We were also attacked,” Gerard explained in Jung. “We were nearby, on our way back after destroying a recon ship. We will maneuver alongside you so that you can extend your shields to protect us while we combine our fire power and destroy the enemy. We can capture their crippled ship and take their propulsion technology back to the homeworld, together!”
There was no immediate answer.
“What’s going on?” Captain Roselle asked.
“I don’t know,” Gerard admitted. “Maybe he’s not buying it?”
“Can we go toe-to-toe with that ship?” Commander Ellison wondered.
“Not without shields, we can’t, not unless we get lucky.”
“Jar-Benakh, pull along our starboard side, one hundred meters distance, and we will extend our shields to include you.”
“Jar-Sino, understood. We shall comply.” Gerard turned to Captain Roselle. “They bought it, sir. They told us to move in close, one hundred meters, and they’ll extend their shields around us.”
“Hot damn!” Roselle exclaimed. “Looks like we just got lucky!” he added, patting his XO on the shoulder. “Weapons, keep firing on the Celestia as she passes, and don’t pull any punches. We’ve gotta make this look good.”
“Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?” Luis wondered from the Celestia’s tactical station.
“Not a clue, Lieutenant,” Cameron admitted. “Just keep firing at both ships equally.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied as he continued firing.
“The Jar-Benakh is moving in alongside the enemy battleship, sir,” Ensign Kono reported.
“Our shields are dropping fast, now that there are two battleships firing on us, Captain,” Mister Lange reported. “Dorsal shields are at thirty percent, port and ventral are at twenty-five.”
“Just need another minute,” Cameron replied, “I think I know what Roselle is up to.”
The bridge shook violently as rail gun slugs again pounded their battered hull.
“I hope Roselle is pulling his punches!” Nathan exclaimed.
“No, sir, he’s not!” Mister Navashee replied.
“Be sure to return the favor, Jess!” Nathan ordered.
“They don’t have any shields, Captain!” Jessica reminded him.
“Neither do we!”
“The Jar-Benakh has pulled in tight to the enemy target, along her starboard side,” Mister Navashee reported. “The target is extending her starboard shields around the Jar-Benakh!”
“The Jar-Sino is extending her shields around us,” Ensign Marka reported.
“Hold on, everyone, wait for my call,” Captain Roselle warned. He stepped up behind Ensign Garza, who was running the Jar-Benakh’s port guns. “Okay, Flash. It’s going to be you. On my mark, sweep all your guns over to port and blast that Jung bastard all the way back to Eridani, understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Ensign Garza replied, nervously.
“Wait,” Roselle told him. “Wait…”
“Jar-Benakh’s shields have fully formed,” Ensign Marka reported.
“Now, Flash,” Roselle ordered. “Let’er have it.”
The Jar-Benakh’s port guns swung to the side, still firing. Their massive rail gun rounds tore through the Jar-Sino’s hull, destroying everything in their path. Debris shot out in all directions. Secondary explosions went off inside her hull, sending sections of her spewing into space, some of it slamming into the side of the Jar-Benakh.
The loudspeakers blared as the communications officer yelled something vile over the comms at the Jar-Benakh.
“What the hell did he say?” Roselle asked.
“Something about our scrotums rotting painfully for all eternity, and something about our mothers being whores,” Gerard said. “I didn’t quite catch it all, to be honest.”
“Jar-Sino is trying to get some distance between us!” Ensign Marka reported. “All her starboard shields are down, sir.”
“Helm, move us off, quick as you can,” Roselle ordered. “She’s going to try to put missiles on us since she’s got no turrets left on her starboard side.”
“Aye, sir,” the helmsman replied.
“Mas, tell our ships to pound that fucker’s starboard side, quick!”
“Jar-Benakh is ordering everyone to target the Jung battleship’s starboard side!” Ensign Waara reported.
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Jessica declared as she brought the Aurora’s quads onto the target. “Firing quads!”
“Celestia is firing her mark fives,” Mister Navashee reported. “Target is coming apart!”
“Back us away, best speed,” Nathan ordered. “Last thing we need is to take a large chunk of debris in the face.”
“Backing away, best speed,” Mister Chiles replied.
“Target has broken up into three pieces,” Mister Navashee added. “Multiple secondaries. Her cores are ejecting. She’s done, sir!”
Nathan fell back in his command chair, a wave of relief washing over him.
“Looks like Roselle just saved our ass,” Jessica said as she powered down the Aurora’s weapons.
A small laugh escaped Nathan’s lips. “It had to be Roselle, didn’t it?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Nathan once again stood on the lower platform of the Karuzara asteroid’s massive, pressurized dry dock, staring upward at a massive ship. This time, however, he was looking at his own ship.
The Aurora looked nearly as bad as the Celestia had over two months ago, although her bow was pretty much intact. Her underside, of course, was a different story. The massive Jung rail guns had taken their toll on his ship, nearly costing her life… All their lives.
“Looks a lot worse than it is, Captain.”
Nathan turned toward the gruff, familiar voice to see Master Chief Taggart coming toward him. He looked back upward, as he continued to survey the damage. “A captain doesn’t often get to look at his own ship in this way. She’s usually just technical drawings and plans, specs, reports… Sometimes, you forget that she’s this massive, mechanical resemblance of a living entity.”
“She’s not a resemblance, sir, she is a living thing,” Marcus replied.
Nathan cast a skeptical look the master chief’s way.
“Maybe not in the way we normally think of life,” the master chief explained. “I mean, it’s not like she thinks and all. But she’s got fluids coursing through her, and air, and all sorts of electrical impulses and such. More importantly, if she gets too tore up, she dies.” Marcus sighed. “If that ain’t life, well…”
Nathan was suddenly seeing the gruff old ring miner he had practically kidnapped nearly two years ago in an entirely different light. “A rather profound statement, Marcus.”
“Yeah, well, I have my moments, I suppose.” Marcus smiled. “Just don’t tell anyone. You’ll ruin my reputation as a hard-ass.”
Nathan smiled back. “Your secret is safe with me, Master Chief.” Nathan looked back up at his ship one last time before leaving. “I never did thank you and your men for doing such a good job on damage control. We never would’ve gotten her back if it weren’t for your efforts.”
“Just doing our jobs, Captain.”
“Guess I was right making you a chief to begin with,” Nathan said, a satisfied smile on his face.
“Maybe you can remind the lieutenant commander about that, once in a while,” Marcus suggested. “She still rides my ass on a daily basis.”
“She’s just doing her job, same as the rest of us,” Nathan replied as he started walking toward the exit.
“Suppose you’re right,” Marcus admitted, following the captain. “Did you get a chance to watch that Koharan lady’s broadcast?”
“I’ve got it on my data pad. I’m going to give it a look on the way d
own.”
“I think I came off rather proper and respectable,” Marcus boasted. “I even managed not to swear…much.”
“I’ll be sure to pay attention to that part,” Nathan replied, smiling.
“Have a good trip, Captain. I’ll keep an eye on her while you’re away.”
“Thank you, Master Chief.”
Nathan left the dry dock and made his way to the elevators, riding up to the main concourse level, where he caught one of the many, automated transit cars that constantly circled the core of the asteroid base. He was amazed at how complex the interior had become since they had first set eyes on her. What was once a small mining base inside a half-hollowed-out asteroid was now a thriving facility boasting a staff of nearly a thousand technicians, engineers, scientists, and a host of other disciplines. What had once been a rather compact facility stuck into the side of the central cavern had grown to encircle an even larger central cavern. What once took minutes to explore by foot would now take days, if not for the automated transportation systems that the admiral and his staff had wisely installed.
Another elevator ride, followed by a ride on a mechanic’s cart, and Nathan found himself in yet another hangar bay, staring at yet another ship.
The Mirai was an odd ship. She was a bit larger than a scout ship, somewhat triangular in shape, and had an extension added to her back end. She had two massive engines perched on the port and starboard points that rotated downward to provide lift for takeoff and landing, along with a third, smaller engine pointing downward hidden just behind her flight deck. Upon closer inspection, he wondered if her designers had intended for her to be able to glide to landing during total engine failure. He suspected, however, that such a landing, although possibly survivable, would not be pleasant.