“Can you mirror it in the galley?” William asked.
“Done,” Tero said with a tap of his fingers.
Williams eyes began to ache. He had to force himself to blink and watch. He wondered if they would see those little orbs of super-dense rhenium waiting for them. As far as the numbers showed the marauder pointed straight on for the corvette. They might, just might, plow into one.
William leaned over the console and browsed through the weapons stockpiles. They had enough railgun projectiles and mass driver pellets to last them long after the hull was gone.
“Do they know it’s there?” Crow asked.
“Maybe. They might not care, or maybe they know the position and are going to steer clear of them. The might not have long range scanners,” William replied with a shrug.
“This should be about it,” Tero said as his eyes looked upwards.
The marauder sat in the center of the display a blotchy gray form with an orange nose. Then something happened. A slice of white spread along the side of the marauder. The heat scale peaked.
Cheers went up through the room followed a second later by cheers echoing from the galley. The white scar dimmed slowly into an angry red and finally a light yellow before winking away to nothing. The acceleration was constant.
William held his breath. His left hand tickled. He rubbed the stub gently on his leg and waited. He strained his senses and willed another sphere to strike. The seconds winked by and nothing happened.
Everyone shifted on the bridge as if stretching from a crouch. The immediate excitement gave way to a subtle tension. They’d get a fight, and soon.
“We have 10 hours till we can blink. They’ll reach us in 9,” William paused and thought. “Get everyone rested, hand out emergency suits and seal up any unused areas. I’m going to sleep.” He stood and walked slowly out of the room. He felt a dim sense of failure but he chastened himself for expecting a miracle.
Sebastien knocked on the thin alloy plate door. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d decided to bring up the past. He disliked remembering, but felt he owed William a piece of his past.
The door opened.
William stood with tired eyes in a tired pose and waved him in with a bandaged stub. “Sebastien. C’mon in.” William stumbled across the room and slid a bench out from the wall. “Sit, I’m sure there’s something to drink in here.” He looked around poking into drawers and cabinets.
Sebastien sat. “Don’t worry about it, a stiff drink would knock me out.”
William nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked around him. “One hell of a ride.”
“It is, I don’t know my ships well, but Tero walks around like he’s in church.”
William smiled. “It’s old, or at least pieces of it are. Our ships aren’t ever this clean as when the K build them. The Gracelle though, they make works of art. I’ve never seen one though, only pics.”
A silence grew between the pair. The sort of silence that can only exist when two people are comfortable enough to not need to breach it with idle talk. The ship hummed quietly around them.
“How old are you William?”
“24. Why?” William leaned forward and rested his elbows on his hips.
“Four years old when you left Farshore, right?”
William nodded. “That’s right, twenty years ago. Why?”
Sebastien looked down to the floor before bringing his gaze back to William. “I was there.”
“It was a big deployment, I’ve met a few from the mission,” William replied.
“No, I mean I was there when it ended.”
William looked at Sebastien in silence. His eyes looked pained. “Go on.”
“Once they took out the Flagship we sent an assault team down to destroy the launcher.” Sebastien looked down at his feet. “They couldn’t let it stand that a little colony whooped us. The plan was to destroy the launcher, blast the elevator and dictate terms from orbit. It was a mistake trying to fight guerillas on the ground.”
“But they burned it from orbit…”
Sebastien shook his head. “The fleet blinked out and left us in low orbit. Farshore thought they won. We came into the mountains and stormed through. I believe your father was in command of the installation. They fought, oh did they fight.”
The room was still. William was locked in position with his eyes on Sebastien.
“Your father asked us to take you out with us. We we’re going to blow the whole place. He was shot through, you were in the complex...”
William shifted his feet and looked down to the floor.
“After we set the charges we left drones to keep anyone out. The launcher had a reactor tied into a magma pocket. We didn’t think it would erupt like it did.”
“The whole planet burned,” William whispered.
“We were up in orbit when we realized it. At first we thought it’d just be a normal eruption but it kept getting larger. We couldn’t evacuate anyone, the fleet already blew up the elevator.”
Sebastien hated those days. He’d been a Private then, a member of a heavy weapons team. The charges that blew the reactor were charges he carried. The guilt always burned at him, but he always carried on. Nothing more that could be done. “They said it was a ship mounted weapon, make it seem like secret weapon. They got back and the outrage led to the UC. You know the rest.”
William looked up slowly. “Why are you telling me this?”
“You deserve to know. You’re a good Officer. For me it was another mission, one that went wrong. I’ve carried this with me a long time.”
William stared at stump where his left hand was. “Will the pain ever go away?”
“No. It will always be there, that nagging feeling.” Sebastien stood and walked to the door.
“Thank you. I don’t remember much, but I’m glad you told me.”
Sebastien nodded and walked out into the white light.
William walked through the ship after pasting a fresh nanite patch onto his shoulder. The itching was so intense that it had waken him up. The nanite patches on the corvette didn’t last as long as the UC issue patches.
After speaking with Sebastien he felt a deep sadness, but a deep respect as well. He didn’t blame him, how could he. He awoke a new man, a man with a tie to his past. A man who would do those proud who came before him.
The bulkheads throughout the ship were sealed tight. Only the main passageway was open. The flimsy emergency suits were laid out on the tables of the galley like over sized paper cutouts.
The Haydn Drive was tucked into its armored cocoon, humming gently. He ran his hand over the textured exterior and wondered how old it was. What had it seen on so many a starry field?
William walked onto the bridge and saw Eduardo kneeling at the side of the room. His arms were bare, a wooden beaded rosary hung from his fingers. The tattoos were subtle, shifting, smoky.
Eduardo stopped his prayer and stood up slowly and unashamed. He retreated to a console and sat in silence. His face was smooth and serene with a slight smile. “Good Morning.”
“Good morning indeed,” William said as he scanned the console. The Hun marauder was decelerating hard. When they came into range they’d still be at a higher velocity, but not so fast that they couldn’t pummel the corvette. He keyed the comm link. “In about 30 minutes we engage. Grab a bite to eat and just relax.”
Tero and Xan walked onto the bridge silently and sat at the consoles. Von Hess limped in later and sat quietly with the carbon leads on his chest. Sebastien entered last and dropped a heap of the emergency suits in the corner of the room. He stood beside the heap and nodded to William.
The marauder wore a rough nose that had the look of dimpled sand.
“Here they come,” mumbled Tero.
“Von Hess, if you please,” William said without taking his eyes off the display.
Von Hess scooted himself deeper into the cradle and attached the leads to his temples. The view rotated slightly as he danced
the corvette about.
The marauders railguns swung out and opened fire. The repulsor fields winked and shuddered with each and every impact. Von Hess dodged and shifted and avoid many of the impacts. The railguns fired for fifteen minutes before the missiles launched.
The floor shuddered as the mass drivers pulsed out round after round to try and shatter the missiles. They did well, but not well enough. The display was filled with incandescent flashes as nickel slugs collided with the incoming barrage.
The missiles exploded upon the field and redlined the repulsors. A split second later one of the railguns landed a glancing blow onto the armor. The heat generated caused alarms to appear on the edges of the display.
The corvette rotated slowly and the fresher side of the field faced the enemy. Alarms dropped away as the nanites swarmed the damaged armor and worked to mend the seam.
William felt relief that the first wave was intercepted but as the marauder came closer more missiles would strike. The mass driver would have less time. Worst of all the railguns would eventually strike them in a broadside. He glanced at Von Hess. “Dodge as best you can, but keep us moving towards the blink point.”
Von Hess smiled and nodded. The ship continued to roll and pulse on all axis’s.
William waited to fire. He had the advantage of picking his shots while they would be forced to pass by. He checked his program and laid it into place. “We’re going to fire in about 30 seconds. They’ll respond before we can fire again. I need us as close to them as possible.”
The tactical display laid out the planned course and Von Hess agreed with a grunt.
“Nanites are working, but we’re down 25% on that section. The repulsors are going to, uh, overload on the next barrage,” Tero said.
William nodded. They needed to survive one more blast, one more good hit and they could at least leave them with some scars. He felt strangely liberated as he watched the program activate.
The pellets strafed along the hull of the marauder in green flashes. A moment later the railguns opened up with a pair of rounds that sizzled against the marauder. The mass driver slowed and paused. Both weapons needed to cool.
William turned and nodded to Sebastien. “Close the bulkhead please Mr. Villeneuve.”
The bulkhead slid shut and the pressure rose just slightly. The room felt warmer, tighter, as they awaited the next barrage.
The mouth of the railguns glowed on the display with the rounds landing a moment later. Alarms flared. The missiles were inbound in a sea of glowing flame. The mass drivers shuddered and sent more nickel downstream but there wasn’t enough time.
The ship was rolling as the missiles struck but it wasn’t enough. The blasts punched through the already weakened fields. Expanding fields of shrapnel and plasma etched at the nickel armor dissolving and punching through the outer layers before creeping inwards.
It’s easy to think of a starship as a great hulking animal, but in all realities it is a fragile and subtle creature. Once you let the vacuum in it begins to fail. Systems throughout the ship winked alarms as the power was routed around the breach.
William watched the display scroll through the disabled systems. Every single one was critical. There was no such thing as a non-essential piece of equipment. The most critical systems blinked loudly on the display. Half the ship was without any power and the grav drive was running at reduced capacity. The mass driver showed as a gray line. Unknown.
“Tero?” William asked.
“I see it. I don’t know, it has power, but wait. Yes, shit. It’s jammed, the tracking servo,” Tero slammed on the console.
William felt his face flush. They had one chance, one lucky chance. If they could stop even a few of the inbound missiles they might blink out. Without the mass driver they’d be torn apart. He knew if he had a full compliment of engineers they could EVA and clear it.
“I don’t know if I can spread the next blow onto both fields,” Von Hess said in a low tone. Perspiration sparkled on his forehead.
The air shifted on the bridge.
William turned and saw Sebastien running out with one of the emergency suits under his arm.
“You’ll have to direct me,” Sebastien clicked through. “I don’t know the way.”
Tero looked to William.
William’s heart dropped. The augment would be outside when the Hun marauder began the next barrage. The corvette might survive one more blast, but no one outside would. Without the mass drivers they would all die. “Mr. Tero, guide him out please,” he ordered.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Redemption
The display slowly ticked down until the marauder could fire again. The two ships moved forward towards the falling edge of the crest.
William listened with dread and guilt as Tero walked Sebastien through the narrow confines of the ship to an airlock that was yet functioning. His eyes darted from the countdown to the weapon status.
“Once you’re out, there will be a guidewire. Snap onto it and follow it forward. You should see the mass driver,” Tero said as calmly as he could manage.
Ragged breathing came through the comms. “Got it. I see the guide, moving now.”
The corvette was almost parallel with the marauder. The pair would slide by in a few more moments. The next barrage would smash into the corvette just slightly behind it. The repulsors were still maxed out while the nanite repair systems flashed error. The corvette was seriously wounded, but not yet dead.
“Oh wow,” Sebastien said.
“He must have came over the curve,” Tero said.
“It uh, there’s a big hole. I need to unclip.”
William felt the hair on the back of his neck tingle. He hated working in zero-g. He hated doing it without a tether even more. A blackness washed over him as he truly realized that Sebastien would be dead in under a minute.
A heaving and grunting sound came over the comms. “Oof, she’s stuck.”
“Sensor banks are dead for most of the ship, we’re blind, we have to keep that side facing him or we can’t respond.” Xan said.
William ran his hand through his hair. One more volley. Would it even matter if they couldn’t stop it?
The corvette rocked as the Hun railguns opened fire once more. Error messages and warnings flashed onto the display faster than they could be read.
“They launched!” Tero yelled.
The marauder blossomed into a halo of flame as the missiles approached. Each burned at high velocity towards the corvette.
An animal roar bellowed through the comms. Sebastien. The display for the mass driver winked a bright green and it fired.
William engaged the weapons control and everything fired.
The Hun marauder was slightly past the ideal point when the railgun burst out a single round. It flew across the narrow gap and pulsed against the repulsor field. Every generator on the Hun marauder fought and strained but couldn’t maintain the field against a single point with that much force. It blinked white for a moment and buried itself into the hull of the marauder.
The wound gushed atmosphere. The edges of the hole burned with nanite fire. The round had punched deep into the marauder and delivered a wicked blow. Had it been followed by a half dozen more the marauder would have been destroyed, but one wasn’t enough.
William stood and laid his hand on the console. He took a deep breath and watched the impact timer hit zero. The mass driver didn’t have enough time to knock out many of the missiles.
His friend was stuck outside and had nowhere to go. He turned to look at those around him and saw all eyes on him. It was his command, his loss, his failure. He wanted to call out and warn him but he knew that Sebastien had a better view than anyone. His last connection to his past would be dead in moments.
Alarms flared. The entire corvette shuddered as the missiles burned through the and remaining repulsor fields and burst upon what was left of the armor. Atmosphere vented. The ship suddenly found itself in zero-gravity as the inte
rnal generators were destroyed. They now simply drifted.
Systems turned gray. William could tell that whatever they did now would not matter. He looked down at his hand and steadied himself in the absence of gravity. He was surprised that he didn’t feel more, nothing but a slight sense of regret.
“If you can hear this get into your suits, they might come for survivors,” William clicked through the comms. He hoped it would make it to anyone who was alive. He steered himself slowly down onto the chair and clipped himself in.
“Get up!” Eduardo howled. His arms burned in a shimmering fire of nanite rage.
William turned away and watched the screen. He failed his friends. He failed his duty. The ship was lost and he’d go with it.
Eduardo crashed into the wall next to him a suit clutched to his chest. “Hey, hey! Wake up!”
William blocked out the sounds around him and tried to picture his father. The caverns, the toy horses, the day he left. Sebastien and the other Marines leading him from Armageddon.
Eduardo slapped him full on. The blow spun Eduardo back into the wall. “Enter the codes! They’re here!”
William blinked and snapped his head up. The Hun marauder glittered as projectiles impacted the hull. Atmosphere blew out from multiple points as converging fire gutted it. He focused and realized everyone was yelling. The corvette wasn’t firing.
“We need fleet codes and now! Codes!” Xan shouted as he hovered over the console.
William unclipped himself and pushed off with his feet. He caught the edge of the comms console and punched in his personnel code. The fleet? Here? He couldn’t believe it. “Everyone hole up! We’ve got friendlies inbound!”
The display flashed an acceptance code and continued to scroll alarms and error codes. The ship was shattered and broken, coasting through space totally blind to where the fleet was.
“They’re talking,” Xan said.
“-orvette please identify yourself and confirm ID code. Corvette please identify yourself and confirm ID code. This is the United Colonies Ship Yosemite.” The message continued.
Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far) Page 24