He chuckled lightly and murmured, “Who would have thought it, a Valkyrie in space.”
He didn't look over as he watched his controls and I said, “Truly.” Then I shook my head and said, “And who would have thought it, a Ragnarok with a sense of humor.” This got boisterous laughter from the big man.
A few minutes later he started flying an erratic, evasive path toward our destination. The Dreadnaught was inching up on us as we crossed its T. At least only their forward cannon could fire on us unless they sacrificed acceleration for rotating on their axis to fire broadsides. But they were falling deeper and deeper into Folkvangr's gravity well as the minutes ticked on. They were already dead and they knew it... but by the Tree of Ages, they were determined to take us with them.
I calculated the time they would need to transport the estimated hundred thousand men to the planet. Even if they had as many transport beams as the Ragnarok lined their vessels with, just organizing them on the ship and sending batches down would take close to five hours judging by the slow speed of their transport, they had four hours before they hit Folkvangr's atmosphere at the maximum. With their current engine power, they wouldn't be able to stay aloft or decelerate enough to land. With their armor, they would survive re-entry but not the landing.
The first blast from their main cannons sent blinding energy crackling off our port side where we were moments before a random course change. Intark was gritting his teeth. A second shot clipped us, and we were lucky to be at their extreme range as it did little more than strip off the outer hull on our starboard side. He growled like a wolf, and said, “They have us bracketed Valkyrie. It has been an honor to...”
He was cut off by proximity and collision alarms when a behemoth shadow passed over us as a Vengence Class Generational Transport slid in between the dreadnaught and the drop ship. Every turret and asteroid mining laser on that transport were belching fiery death toward the Frost Giant vessel! Odin's beard! They were targeting their gun ports... undoubtedly because we had shown their vulnerability. The only weakness of the enemy ship.
Powerful beams of energy tore through the Ragnarok ship as the face of a female Ragnarok commander appeared on our main viewscreen. She had fire in her eyes as she hissed loudly like a Terran cat as they were struck again. She spoke, “Intark, this is Commander Kenessa of the Overguard. Get to the Shamir and to the planet surface while we show these krothing Frost Giants the fangs of the Ragnarok!”
Intark stood and growled menacingly like a wolf with a predatory sneer on his face as he replied, “May the War Gods be with you Kenessa! For Ragnarok!”
She echoed, “For Ragnarok!” She then cut the transmission as she let loose her battle cry. I was amazed, all the centuries of fighting these people and I never knew how valiant they really could be. Kenessa had come out of hiding in the asteroid field to help us. Sacrificing her ship and herself to buy us the time we needed.
I watched the battle on the holo screen as Intark put us back on course for the Shamir. It was pretty one-sided, the Overguard was being shredded, but they were still spitting fire in defiance, a couple of the gun ports on the dreadnaught were sparking and smoldering pits on the surface of the ship.
I saw hundreds of photon tractors lowering crew members to the surface of the planet. Good, at least Kenessa's people would survive as she took on the Jotunn.
I turned when Intark growled and slammed a fist on his console. I looked at him and tilted my head in question. He spoke through gritted teeth, “Our docking ring was destroyed in the attack. We’ll have to do this the hard way.” He stood and opened an access panel and grabbed another set of magnetic boots and threw them to me.
Both of our heads swiveled as the cabin bloomed with light. I saw on the screen the dreadnaught ramming the Ragnarok generational vessel and shearing it in half. The antimatter containment failed on the transport and in a blinding fury of energy, the Ragnarok ship passed to the ages. There was some minor damage to the armor on the bow of the Jotunn ship, and what we assumed was its forward sensor suite was damaged, but not destroyed. Our ship shook as the energy shockwave passed us.
We both took a deep breath and he turned back to his controls as I looked at the boots. I quirk an eyebrow and asked, “What do you mean by 'the hard way' Intark?”
He answered only with a toothy, dangerous, grin at me. Oh Kroth! I was quickly putting on the boots as the Shamir filled our forward viewports. The Frost Giants started firing at us again, but the shots were going wide. Their forward targeting sensors must have taken damage.
Intark swooped down and followed the hull of the Shamir and he hit a button and our forward turret started belching laser fire as we hurled toward a hydroponics dome. The meter thick plasti-glass cracked then shattered, sending atmosphere and plants belching out into space as the bay decompressed. He swooped us into the breached dome after the debris dispersed into the vacuum of space. We landed by a set of pressure doors of the airlock and he cut the thrusters and donned his helmet and looked at me. I nodded to him as I read the green positive seal tell tales on his suit.
The vehicle started to float away from the bulkhead and he looked at me. I nodded once and took a deep breath and brought up my lattice. He hit the control and the bridge decompressed. Then he used his suit's thrusters and flew over to me and grabbed me around the waist and flew us to the pressure door, it cycled open and he flew us out into the corridor, I blinked twice. Where the docking ring used to be was a gaping hole in the hull of the drop ship.
He flew us through that and down to the floor of the hydroponics bay beside an airlock door and my boots attached themselves to the grating, as soon as my boots attached themselves to the metal, he released me and hit the control to cycle the door, the yellow light lit and we passed through into gravity. It must be on different subsystem than the dome. I was almost at my limit, needing air as he hit the control and the door cycled shut and the airlock pressurized. As soon as I saw the green lights I exhaled then inhaled sharply.
Intark looked out the portal and saw the dreadnaught looming closer as it rotated on its axis to fire broadside. Energy cannons started hitting the transport. That seems to have solved their targeting problem. The giant Ragnarok ship shuddered under the relentless fire. Intark said over coms to me, “I intend to be far away in the last escape pod when the krothing Frost Giants lay waste to my Shamir. What say you Valkyrie?”
I nodded and said, “Indeed.” as the second pressure door opened and we ran into the corridor beyond. Into the chaos of alarms and klaxons as we sprinted across the grating toward the last escape pod.
Chapter 11 – Death of a Valkyrie
I woke up suddenly. My hand searched the empty bed beside me for Kara, but I already knew what I would find. Even before we went to sleep. My mate could no more change who she was at the core of her being than a zebra could change its stripes. I concentrated a moment and felt her hurtling up into orbit as a single tear rolled down my cheek.
None could match the bravery of my mate. The one thing that defined her, down in her soul was that she... was Valkyrie. I, Kate the Raging Storm, First Valkyrie of Earth was a pale copy of that spectacular woman. I had gained my strength through happenstance, but she has always been Valkyrie.
I knew as she spoke with the children and me last night, and when she made love to me, that she had decided to do the one thing she could think of to save the innocents here on Folkvangr. We all knew that we couldn't possibly evacuate Heildfine in time, some would be left behind to die. But Kara, of all people, would NEVER let that happen. She had been left by Valhalla once herself and that still tore at her soul even today.
The only Valkyrie with the power of Thor, the one thing that could damage the Jotunn vessel, were her and me. She would never allow me to attempt it. I loved her so much it hurt my chest thinking about where she was going. That she was sacrificing all to save the people, she loved.
I reached over and hit the coms in our room. “Odin?”
He an
swered immediately, I knew he was already aware, he knew his own daughter better than anyone. His voice was soft, answering my unasked question, “Yes Kat.”
I nodded. “She's gone.”
He nodded sadly and said, “We couldn't not have stopped her if we had tried. She is the true definition of Valkyrie.” Then he softened and added, “Join us in my workshop, we are monitoring the mission.”
I fought back another tear, cut the transmission, and donned my armor. My hand hesitated, then I put on my dress cape, it seemed oddly appropriate just then. I took a deep shuddering breath, steeled myself, then marched out into the great room and toward the door. I hesitated when I saw the Three Embers standing by the door, all in their finest ruling caste garments, and Talia in her hybrid armor with her four crests on it, Valkyrie, Valkfela, Heildfine, and Valhalla. They were waiting for me?
Talia did not share our link, but she nodded and spoke for them all, “Cha. She is Kara. Of course, we knew aunt Kate.”
I tried to fight the tears back again but put on a brave face and puffed up my chest in pride and nodded once at these girls I loved more than life itself. I understood Kara's decision as I realized that I would die for these girls.
Brunie opened the door. “Shall we go to grandfather's workshop?” I smiled and lead the way. The children were all stronger than me.
When we entered Odin's workshop, I was not surprised to see Arina, Inatra, Mist and Tyr already manning telemetry consoles. I was a little surprised to see that Geiravor had used the Bifrost again to join us here from Earth. Of course she would be here, they would all be here, they knew Kara as well as me.
Mother held out her hand and the children joined her at her station. I nodded to acknowledge everyone in the room and silently took my preferred station in father's workshop in front of the central holo-display. Talia stayed at my side.
I reached out with my hand and made a grabbing motion toward each person's screens and pulled their data streams to the main holo-display. I enlarged Inatra's in the center. She was visually tracking the drop ship as it was performing a deceleration burn toward the Shamir. I dragged Arina's up next to it. She had the enhanced sensor readings with a crisper view of the vessel. I placed Father's below them, he had a broad view of the orbital paths of all three vessels displayed. Then above it all I flicked Tyr and Mists data... Kara's vitals and nanite telemetry.
When I was satisfied I slapped my arms together then spread them wide in a grand gesture and everything grew to fill the center of the room. This got everyone's attention and they moved from their stations silently and formed a ring around the display and each pulled up virtual consoles. Father projected it onto the dome shield for all of Vallhalla to bear witness.
It was odd for it to be so silent in Odin's workshop. Normally everyone would be chattering and joking. We were all of one mind here. That blinking red icon over the Jotunn dreadnaught and that krothing energy beam it was assaulting the very planet with.
I had to look away as I saw tears brimming in Arina's eyes as she singlemindedly tended her station. I sent warm, loving feelings toward my second across the nanite link only us evolved Valkyrie and our children share. Though she has lived thousands of years longer than me, I still see her as one of my children, or at the very least, a little sister. She glanced up at me and smiled shyly before redoubling her efforts with her scans at her console.
We watched the drop ship dock with the mile long transport. It looked to be a flea on the back of an enormous beast. The knot in my stomach threatened to incapacitate me and I pleaded with Kara through our nanite link, “Kara! What are you doing? We need to talk about this!”
She responded quickly in my head, “You know it had to happen to save the innocents, there isn't enough time to evacuate them all before the planet becomes too unstable. You and I are the only ones with the Power of Thor and you know I would never allow you to do this. I love you, tell the children I love them, and am so proud of them.” I pleaded with her again and she seemed to block me out.
I hoped she could feel my love. My head buzzed and I looked down at my wrist console, a message was scrolling from my Verr. “Fear not... Deadly Dancer. Fire Soul... knows... your love.”
We sat in silence just watching and waiting. For an hour, nothing happened but then Kara's coms were reactivated again. She was all business in her deathly serious Valkyrie role. She laid out their plan in minute detail. Then added, “Mist If I should... if anything were to... you would be First Valkyrie in my stead.”
Mist stood tall and I could see her fighting tears as well as she shouted, “Raugh!”
Then father broke the tension in the atmosphere by addressing Kara, “We will monitor from the ground daughter. May the fates smile upon you.”
We watched as the drop ship detached from the vessel and move behind the asteroid. A minute later some ungodly powerful tractor beams threw the asteroid on a collision course with the Frost Giant vessel half way around the planet. The drop ship rocketed after it, keeping in its shadow. All telemetry from the ship ceased, but our visual tracking and scans were sending information to us. If we hadn't known where they were, even Asgard systems would have lost them.
My anxiety was eating away at me. All I could see on the screen as the vessels inched closer to each other was my mate flying to her doom. I was starting to panic but suddenly there were many soothing voices in my head and the girls, Arina, and Inatra were surrounding me, sharing loving touches. I fought off the sobs that threatened and instead concentrated on my fury toward the Jotunn. I knew in my heart, without any doubt, that my mate would take the krothing enemy with her.
I turned to the screens with a hard look on my face. I glanced over and Geiravor had a concerned look on her face. I turned back to monitoring the ships and slowly, everyone else joined me. I bared my teeth, these Frost Giants were about to learn the cost of crossing swords with the woman who defined all Valkyrie.
We watched as the asteroid entered the red zone of the dreadnaught’s firing envelope, it traveled almost the entire distance to the yellow zone of proximity cannons before one of the main cannons fired upon the incoming rock.
We lost track of the drop ship in the brilliant explosion as the asteroid was blown into rubble. For a moment, I thought the worst, but a second later all of the drop ship systems came online and we watched them blast forward through the cloud of debris.
In the seconds that followed there was a frantic exchange of fire. Mist whooped when a gun port on the enemy vessel was actually taken out! The first damage to the vessel that didn't involve a mile long craft crashing into it! I bared my teeth like fangs again.
Then we watched as they descended into the quarter mile deep crater in the dreadnaught’s armor. All firing ceased and it looked almost tranquil as the drop ship lowered into place. At the angle of or view, we could just see the edge of the bay door lower, our scans filled in the scene. Kara was standing in the opening, exposed to space with her nono-lattice crackling with energy as it fought off the harsh environment of space.
I said a silent prayer and we watched that spectacular woman let loose the Power of Thor into the enemy craft! She rained brimstone and hellfire directly into the heart of the engine. Alarms started going off and her vitals were flashing. She was drawing, more than two point five terrabars of energy. Her lightning almost doubled in intensity.
Odin was suddenly there, I heard him whisper to himself hoarsely, “Have at them daughter.” He adjusted the Valkyrie power feeds. I felt stronger suddenly and I looked to the screen as Kara's power peaked at two point eight terrabars and the lightning arcing from her hands looked like coherent, chaotic energy lancing out.
Then it happened. We all winced as the screen went white as the engine blew up in a raging torrent of energy and debris. The sky brightened outside and the windows dimmed automatically as yet another small sun bloomed in the heavens.
Kara was on coms. “Father, status report?”
He quickly replied, “The ener
gy weapon has ceased its assault on the planet. Their energy readings are down forty percent. They seem to be struggling against Folkvangr's gravity well, but are able to maintain orbit at this time.”
By the time we picked up the drop ship again they were hurtling out of the crater like a bat out of hell. Twisting and turning as they emerged to exchange fire with the proximity cannons again. Intark was an amazing pilot, possibly rivaling Arina herself. He actually got them safely into the shadow of the dead engine and into the debris trailing it, where there was no chase armament at that close of a range since a powered engine would be impossible to get close to.
The minutes ticked by, they were just sitting there, what were they up to? They'd emerge within the firing envelope in mere seconds. I looked to Inatra, she'd be most likely to understand what they were up to. “Why are they just sitting there? They'll be sitting ducks!” Just as I said that the drop ship became a hole in space as all the systems powered down.
Inatra curled her fingers toward the the display and it zoomed in, we could just barely pick them out amongst the debris and Inatra chuckled. “They are using the debris field to obscure their location, hopefully until they are out of range of those accursed energy cannons.” She nodded as she hissed in appreciation.
We were all taken by surprise when Intark started singing the Ragnarok Valkyrie battle song. He was staring death in the face and was singing the song that helped their warriors prepare to battle the Valkyrie. Only now, the words meant something else. The Valkyrie were now their race's instrument of vengeance. It was fitting. I remember Ina singing this to the girls as they grew.
When the chorus rang out Kara's strong voice joined in and everyone present added their voices too. It was like a defiant thunder in the room. Then the coms went silent.
I swear we were all holding our breaths as the distance between the vessels slowly increased. They were in the firing envelope now and nothing happened. The distance increased to one hundred miles, then two hundred. I looked at Mist. “What is the effective range of those krothing main guns on that dreadnaught?”
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