She made no effort to evade the bolt. She simply disappeared, the plasma blast exploding harmlessly on the bulkhead behind her.
Sammael looked around, confused. She hadn’t moved, she had simply ceased to be there. He shrugged. Such matters were better contemplated when there wasn’t such urgency involved.
He turned and hurried to catch up with his men.
Behind him, molten droplets from the bulkhead dripped slowly onto the floor of the docking bay, the only sound in the now empty bay. A strange breeze suddenly sprung up, rippling the hardening surface of the floor. Just as quickly, the breeze disappeared, taking the hint of the strange presence with it.
Chapter Eleven
The data input coming from the ship’s AI, his personal AI and the visual tactical analysis up on the bridge screen was getting towards overload. Asel sat back in his command chair with a frown. Events were coming to a head and despite his meddling, it didn’t look like he would end up with any appreciable advantage.
Even with all the processing power at his command, his ship could still not tell him whether Gabriella would escape, and with her the precious Overdrive data. If push came to shove, he’d rather she got it rather than the Gitanians; his father could negotiate for an exchange later on, loath as the head of the Watchers would be to do so.
Of course he’d blame Asel for it and consign him to some hellhole in a petty planetary governor’s position for the next century or so. No thanks. Of course, he’d rather he ended up with the data over everyone else and would happily see Gabriella go down in a giant ball of fire, burnt to a crisp re-entering Gitane’s atmosphere, screaming as she fell into oblivion. Wishful thinking.
He looked over the tactical display again, just to be sure that he hadn’t made some infinitesimal mistake that would come back and bite him on the arse later on. No. No mistake. It still wasn’t looking good. He hadn’t quite anticipated the heated armed response from the Gitanians. After tipping them off about the hostile takeover of one of their stations, he had assumed they would take it reasonably seriously and dispatch perhaps 2 or 3 frigates to investigate. He hadn’t counted on the Gitanians bellicose parochialism.
There was now a plethora of ships in his local space with enough firepower to take out the Solar system.
Not including himself, there were 2 PDS stations, 6 frigates and a variety of smaller, warlike craft under power and heading his way in a hurry. Things weren’t looking good for Gabriella or himself. He’d hoped Gabriella would be sufficiently weakened after a skirmish with 2 or 3 frigates that he could swoop in and take Felix and/or the Overdrive data out of her winsome hands. That was before everything had turned to custard.
He could move in now and risk a head on encounter with all and sundry in an open bid to secure the Overdrive, or he could run back to his father and report that he’d failed, despite that worthy’s machinations and covert deal makings over the last four years. Or he could sit on his hands and risk loosing everything. He took option 3 and dithered.
Thankfully, option 3 seemed to be working out.
The Captain, seated below him on the main bridge floor, turned around, nodding at Asel significantly and pointing at the tactical display. At the Captain’s command, the display zoomed in on the station, the icons indicating two small ships leaving the beleaguered PDS. One small shuttle was heading for Gabriella’s mammoth Valkyrie now lurking some 10,000 kms away in a higher orbit.
The other craft, a small armed yacht, was hurrying away, all indicators pointing to the fact that it was getting itself clear for a jump into nospace.
He paused to consider, allowing his AI to conduct yet another tactical analysis. The other PDS and the frigates were in firing range of the crippled station. As predicted, the PDS was moving to dock with the other station, a protective shadow over its wounded fellow. The six frigates were heading up into higher orbit to engage Gabriella.
The information Asel had given the Gitanian authorities had directly implicated Gabriella in the attack on the station and Gitanians did not take such attacks lightly.
Gabriella was in a thorny position. From the looks of things, she was awaiting the arrival of her shuttle and could not move until that shuttle was on board; if it continued at its current velocity, it wouldn’t dock with Gabriella for at least another 9 minutes. The Gitanian frigates would be in range in 7.
Unfortunately for Asel, at least 4 allied merchantman of the Gitanians, all on combat status, were heading in his general direction. AI analysis indicated that he had a 60 percent chance of success if he engaged them directly.
It was still somewhat doubtful whether Gabriella had secured the Overdrive. The shuttle currently on its way to her present position could conceivably contain those precious contents. On the other hand, the small yacht, now leaving the station and looking to jump clear into nospace was equally likely to contain the data. Asel felt sure that if Gabriella even had a hint that the Overdrive data was within the other shuttle, she would be launching a full out bid to secure it. That she was not doing so was a telling factor. His male intuition was telling him the exact opposite however. He felt sure that the key to success lay in the other ship.
He smiled grimly. Gauche as it may sound, there was no prize in this race for second place.
He met the expectant look of the ship’s commander.
“Captain. Bring the fields up to full strength. Open the doors to the slipmissile batteries and bring the cannons on-line. Target the nearest ship and disable it."
The Captain looked at him quizzically.
“The yacht now leaving the PDS is our eventual goal," Asel said by way of explanation. “Nothing must stand in our way. Target engines and weapon systems of any ships that do and disable them."
The Captain nodded and turned away, doubtless consulting with his crew and the ship through his AI. Some Captains preferred to have more of a hands on approach but with Asel on board, this Captain wisely chose to maximize efficiency at the risk of compromising his human resource management. Asel was comforted by that. He couldn’t risk loosing now due to some hopelessly inefficient Captain who was incapable of utilizing the magnificent tool he had be provided with – the ship and its godlike AI.
Commands given, Asel’s ship brought its Ion engines on-line, increasing speed rapidly and powering in towards the incapacitated PDS station and the escaping yacht. Almost immediately, all four of the approaching merchantman changed trajectories slightly, compensating for the sudden increase in velocity of their target, placing themselves more effectively between the attacking ship and the crippled station. Sensors on board the Sweet Bejesus indicated that the weapons systems on board all 4 ships were suddenly ramped up to firing status.
Asel ordered the Captain to take a more indirect approach; one that would hopefully give them more maneuvering room. His AI, linked to the ship, told him the nearest merchantman had launched its full complement of slipmissiles at them.
Asel’s ship, doubtless in consultation with the Captain’s own AI, immediately brought its slipdrive on-line, disappearing into the gray rift appearing before it, only to reappear seconds later some five hundred kilometers distant from its last position.
Twenty four slipmissiles, programmed to search for a ship along fairly basic parameters, appeared in the predicted location of their quarry, only to find their quarry gone. In a fit of pique or perhaps with some forlorn hope that they might take their target out by luck, they detonated, sending a tsunami wave of superheated plasma 50 kilometers in every direction. The detonation was clearly visible to all vessels within 100,000 kilometers. Captains of each ship in the vicinity hastily upgraded their combat status, bringing fields up to maximum strength.
The Sweet Bejesus was already powering away again, this time to a position that kept the incapacitated PDS station between them and the hostile merchantmen. Predictably, 2 merchantmen engaged their slipdrives, one emerging a safe 1,000 kms away, the other, presumably with a reckless Captain, an incompetent AI or both, emerge
d less than 200 kilometers from the Sweet Bejesus.
A 300 kilometer buffer between a ship and another object was the sacrosanct minimum distance observed by any Captain worth his or her salt. To engage your slipdrive or emerge from nospace at a distance anything less would result in a slightly more severe penalty than a slap on the wrist from local space administration.
Rather than closing behind them, the rift in space generated by the merchantman continued to grow, reaching out almost to where the Sweet Bejesus was desperately accelerating away.
The grey of Nospace swept out of the rift, enveloping the merchantmen and its horrified crew, rapidly condensing again until a solidified mass of it was centered upon the hapless ship. The grey nonmatter swelled again, pulsed once and then disappeared taking the merchantman with it. No one knew where any ship caught like this went, not one having ever being seen again.
On the bridge of the Sweet Bejesus, Asel laughed a throaty, hearty laugh. With idiots like these after him, he stood a good chance of reaching the escaping yacht before anyone else.
He gestured at his Captain, requesting an update. Details swam into his vision through his AI. The one merchantman in range had launched a full complement of slipmissiles at them before opening another rift and disappearing into Nospace. The other two merchantmen on the far side of both PDS stations were taking a more conservative tact, staying within defensive range of the station.
The escaping yacht was now almost 300 kilometers away from the PDS and preparing for the jump into Nospace. The frigates intercepting Gabriella’s ship were almost in range and preparing to fire. If Asel jumped in now along the escape trajectory of the yacht, at the bare minimum of safe emergent distances, they could power in and stop the ship from escaping to safety. This however, would place them at the tender mercies of the frigates, the PDS’s and Gabriella.
Asel, his wings suddenly extending from his back like some grotesque erection and looking calmer than he felt, gave his orders.
◊
Gabriella paced and fumed. She sat down in her command chair, tapped her fingers impatiently on her armrest and then got up to pace and fume some more.
Sammael’s shuttle was only a matter of minutes away. With him was her hostage; Felix’s crony, Tarquin. Once the shuttle was safely on board, she could move out of range, contact Felix - supposedly still on the planet, and make her offer; the Overdrive for his friends life.
Gabriella was confident that the naïve and innocent boy would jump at the chance to save his friends life – at any cost. She’d read over his file and realized quickly that he was an idealistic fool.
Over the centuries she had dealt with countless idealists; she’d learnt to recognize them; manipulating and exploiting their weaknesses for her own advantage. Felix was a prime example; strong moral centre, a desire to help humankind, prepared to make whatever sacrifice necessary for the good of others. Gabriella hated him.
For now though, she had other things to worry about. Six Gitanian frigates were bearing down on her and would be in firing range before she had the shuttle secure. Until that time, she couldn’t jump clear if the frigates launched a slipmissile assault against her as the shuttle was less than 300km distant.
She looked up at the tactical screen that dominated one wall of her command centre. Another blip had appeared, moving rapidly away from two larger blips representing the stationary PDS stations. The information coming in indicated that it had left the incapacitated station.
“You!” she said, pointing imperiously at her Captain on the command floor below. “What is that?”
The terrified Captain hastily consulted the ship’s AI. Of course Gabriella could have just as easily done that herself but that was hardly the point. What point was there in having lackey’s when one couldn’t order them around?
The Captain opened his eyelid and looked at her nervously. “Its a small ship my Princess.”
Gabriella glared at him, toying with the idea of having him thrown out the airlock.
“I know that you idiot. What’s it doing?”
The Captain swallowed and measured the distance to the nearest exit. He tried hard to hide his disappointment when he realized he’d never make it.
“Leaving the PDS and attempting to get clear for a jump into Nospace?," he suggested hopefully.
“That much is obvious Captain. What I want to know from you is this; who is on board and where they are going. Fail to provide me with this information will result in all your cavities being filled with molten hot plasma.” She grinned encouragingly.
It was a smile that could launch more than a thousand ships. On that face, Helen of Troy would have had to beat ships off with a large stick. Harbors would have been full. Men would have clamored and fought to have the privilege of rescuing her.
The effect on the Captain was equally profound. The poor man couldn’t think of anything more hideous. He cowered further, developing a nervous tic in one eye which was seriously hindering his ability to communicate with the ship.
After two frantic attempts to lower his eyelid, all the while watched by Gabriella still sporting her dreadful grin, he finally succeeded, communicating with the ship and extracting information that the ships AI had squeezed from the PDS during their brief takeover. As a matter of course, The Blazing Trumpet’s AI had copied all files relating to arrivals and departures after the station had been compromised. Hopefully it would be enough to placate the Princess.
“Its a..a..a..modified sports yacht," he said, compounding his already serious tic problem with the beginnings of a stammer. “Reports in..in..in..indicate that it arrived from the planet roughly at the same time as our boarding party." He looked up, meeting the gaze of his now straight faced Princess and expected the worse.
“Rest assured Captain," said a grim faced Gabriella, “that you will pay for this mistake. You can ameliorate this somewhat by your performance in the next few hours. Serve me well and you will only lose one of your testicles.”
The Captain, looking somewhat relied, groveled in abject terror and relief. He’d expected worse. A small whimper escaped his quivering lips.
“Quiet!” growled Gabriella, sitting again in her command chair. “I’m thinking.”
And indeed she was. The yacht intrigued her. How it had been overlooked in the first place made her furious. Her mood could easily be turned into a killing frenzy and although it would have been pleasant to kill her Captain slowly, she could ill afford to lose the man when they were about to engage the enemy.
All but forgotten and unregistered at the time were reports of a ship disappearing as it tried to leave Gitane. Gabriella had presumed it had been destroyed by the PDS station. Perhaps not then. If it were the same ship, then it could conceivably contain both Felix and the Overdrive. If that was the case, she could hardly overlook them. But then she couldn’t leave Sammael and his hostage either.
In the corner of her eye she could see her Captain waving at her nervously. His whole body shook and the tic in his eye had worsened dramatically. She turned a baleful eye on him. “Yes?”
The man shuddered violently before answering.
“G..g..g..g..Gitanian frigates have launched a full salvo of slipmissiles at us your Highness. Impact in t..t..t..t..twenty seconds. Oh, and another ship has ap..ap..app..appeared out of Nospace on an interception course with the yacht.”
Gabriella sat forward in her command chair. This complicated matters.
“What did you say?”
“G..g..g..g..”
“Oh, never mind.” She interrogated the ships AI directly. In the state her Captain was in, she’d have a better chance of getting the information more effectively if she went directly to the source.
The information coming from the ship was interpreted by her own AI. What she discovered made her already foul temper even worse. Asel had finally chosen to enter the fray and at the most inconvenient time too. She might have know. Even though she had negotiated a joint venture with the Watchers; with
Semyaza himself; it was only a matter of time until he double crossed her. She knew full well that Semyaza was behind this. He would have told his son Asel to grab the Overdrive at all costs. It was what she would have done so she couldn’t really hold it against him too much.
Asel was on an intercept course with the unknown yacht. He’d aligned his jump through Nospace exactly, appearing along the escape route of the small craft and effectively blocking it from jumping. Good tactics.
If Felix and the Overdrive were onboard that ship then Asel would have it.
She turned to her Captain again. He seemed to have settled down, a slightly glazed look on his eye indicating that someone had administered a large dose of sedative.
“Field’s at full strength," she commanded. “Hold off those slipmissiles until Sammael is on board and then target the Watcher ship. Do not, I repeat, do not fire on the small yacht at any costs.”
The huge Valkyrie pivoted in space, meeting the incoming slipmissiles head on where its fields were the strongest. Each of the six frigates had launched upwards of 30 slipmissiles.
Fired from only a few thousand kilometers away, the missiles only briefly disappeared into Nospace, emerging 300km away from the turning Valkyrie. Within seconds, they closed the gap and detonated against the ship’s fields. Any other ship would have either struggled to repel an assault of such magnitude of simply been destroyed. Gabriella’s Valkyrie, arguably the most powerful ship in the known galaxy, withstood the attack with only a slight reduction in its field strength. A combined assault of disruptors, plasma cannons and slipmissiles had a far greater likelihood of penetrating the great ships defenses which the Captain’s of the Gitanian frigates were only now realizing.
Sensors on board the Blazing Trumpet indicated that the frigate’s were preparing to fire their full complement of weaponry. Gabriella didn’t know how long they’d last under such an attack although it didn’t look like it would come to that. The ship’s AI informed her that Sammael and the shuttle were now safely on board. She was now free to move the ship to whatever location she desired.
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