“Thank you.”
“Pozhaluysta. Now stop bothering me!”
Darian was attempting to open a panel inside one of the maintenance tunnels when she heard a whirling noise coming from below. When she looked down, there was a robotic arm attached to a rail network along the tube, and it was heading straight for her. Quickly unhooking her tether line, Darian tried to push away to an adjoining tunnel, but the artificial limb quickly caught up and managed to grab her ankle. The articulating metal arm increased its grip on her foot, causing Darian to cry out in pain. Reaching down, she began pounding on the device using her multi-tool but it was no use, the remorseless, robotic limb refused to let her go. She was stuck, and unless she could somehow loosen its crushing grip, the blood flow to her foot would cease. Darian was caught in a robotic bear trap, and was now easy prey for her enemies.
“We’re within two thousand klicks,” Lawson said. “They haven’t fired yet.”
“They know we can dodge ‘em, that’s why,” Ruthven said as he pushed forward on the control stick. “Beginning dive maneuver now.”
Lawson continued to observe the virtual blips in his console. “They’re reacting. Enterprise, Ranger, and Austin are accelerating, trying to come down on top and behind us. Closing to maximum weapons range with the Drummond in five seconds. It’s trying to pull back while still facing us.”
“I got them,” Ruthven said. The Drummond was using its H-LOX maneuvering thrusters to keep its front side facing them. The moment he received the buzzing tone for target lock, he fired off several streams of tungsten shells using the forward gauss guns before banking the Virago to a hard starboard turn. “Guns, guns, guns. Use the howitzers on two of the topmost ships.”
Lawson kept his eyes at the three Orion spacecraft trying to surround them from above. CAIN had a thought-controlled weapons system, and he could target the enemy by just looking at the blips on the screen and thinking about it. His brainwaves were filtered through the receptors on his helmet and collated by the Virago’s AI to conform to its combat parameters. The moment he received the warbling tone that indicated a positive lock on the target, he manually toggled the firing button.
“Fox Five,” he said, using the age-old Air Force code every time a pilot released a munition. Fox was short for foxtrot, which was the military lingo for “fire.” Since the casaba howitzers had multiple guidance systems, the brevity code was set to the new designation of “five.”
Just as Vlad received the confirmation on his smartglass that the fifth missile had been armed, the weapon bay doors suddenly swung open, revealing the black void of deep space. The four armed missiles in question were individually mounted on racks, and these sliding frames had quickly elevated until they jutted out of the opening.
Vlad shrieked in terror. They were supposed to warn me before they fired these things! He twisted his body away from the direction of the bay exhaust ports while simultaneously holding onto the missile rack that the weapon was mounted on.
The hypergolic fueled thrusters of the four missiles instantly ignited, sending out invisible waves of plasma through their rear nozzles as each one fired off into space, bringing its deadly payload against their enemies. Vlad grimaced as he felt the burning heat across his entire body. It felt like he was on fire. He let out a muffled scream.
Although his visor had automatically gone opaque to prevent flash blindness, Vlad had the sinking suspicion he might have forgotten something. When the fifth missile he was hanging onto suddenly began to shift while being loaded onto a firing rack, he cursed out loud. The line, I’m still tethered to the missile!
Pulling his body back around to the missile’s access panel, he quickly detached the tether line before pushing off, hoping he could reach the safety of the opposite bulkhead before it fired away.
The first two casaba howitzers streaked towards their target using the hypergolic first stage, before detaching to a solid-fueled second stage for added delta-v. The moment it got to within one hundred kilometers of the opposing spacecraft, the missile’s unique warhead detached and used tiny maneuvering thrusters to make sure it had the proper angle of attack. Once the target lock was centered, the missile detonated, sending a highly charged particle stream of nuclear energy at speeds of over one hundred kilometers per second to the hull of the Austin. Since the missile had detonated well beyond the range of the spacecraft’s point defense systems, there was no way to counter the attack.
The effects were instantaneous and devastating. The Enterprise and the Ranger each took one missile hit, while two struck Austin’s side. The Orion battlecruisers had light composite armor with Whipple shielding, but the nuclear beams of the casaba howitzers melted right through them, bathing their crews with high-intensity X-rays and creating huge holes in their hulls. The second missile that tore into the Austin penetrated the spacecraft’s magazine belt, which contained the shaped nuclear charges for its Orion drive. The concentrated heat and radiation from the casaba howitzer detonated a half dozen of them, completely destroying the spacecraft from within.
Colonel Dennon shook his head violently to stave away the dizziness and fatigue. Looking around the bridge of the Enterprise, he noticed a number of his crew were crying out in pain. There was a half-melted hole in the bulkhead at the far end of the chamber, clear evidence the casaba howitzer had penetrated the heart of the spacecraft. He glanced over at the ship’s pilot. “Matt, you okay?”
The chief pilot’s voice was slow and halting. “Yeah, just … feeling mighty tired, Scotty.”
“Can we still maneuver?”
“She’s sluggish,” the executive officer said. “But still serviceable, I think.”
“Try to get in range to the target,” Dennon said to him before punching up his com-link. From his console he had observed the Austin disappearing into multiple flashes of light, while the Ranger seemed to just drift without any attitude maneuvering. He switched com-link channels to the Ranger. “Paul, are you there?”
Colonel Reno’s voice came online. “Scotty … that crappy hit took out our drive. My gunner’s still popping a few at them with the railguns since we’re out of missiles. Doubt we’ll hit anything at this range though. How did our barrage do?”
“Not sure,” Dennon said softly. “That damned thing’s still going, so maybe we didn’t get a hit on it. We’ll keep trying though.”
“I’ll hold the fort here as long as I can,” Reno said. “Hey, if we don’t talk again, can you tell Cathy for me?”
“I sure will.”
“Damn, I can hardly think. Did we get hit by X-rays?”
“Yup, that’s exactly what happened,” Dennon said.
“Looks like Cathy won’t need her pills anymore,” Reno whispered. “We won’t be having any children, except through adoption.”
“You’re lousy with jokes. Over and out.”
Chapter 27
The Virago’s AI had too much to handle. As the fusion powered spacecraft passed through the gauntlet of missiles and solid metal shells fired at it, the tracking of multiple incoming munitions overloaded CAIN’s memory core, causing it to slightly miscalculate an evasive course through the maelstrom. Despite Ruthven’s furious maneuvering, two 155mm depleted uranium shells from one of its opponent’s railguns struck the Virago along its side. The first shot was deflected away by the sloped armor, but the second solid projectile tore through the Whipple shielding and penetrated the hull, tearing through several lines of cooling tubes, creating an internal leak. Almost immediately, the Virago’s acceleration began to slow down, as the fusion drive was unable to vent the excessive heat being generated by its core.
Colonel Ruthven cursed. “I’m not getting a lot of delta-v now.”
Major Lawson continued to check the ship systems using his console. “We got a coolant leak. The AI is partially shutting down the drive- otherwise the heat will melt through the reactor.”
Ruthven grimaced. There were still over two dozen missiles trailing them. He had ma
naged to veer away after firing a few bursts against the Drummond, and it seemed like the main guns had taken it out. The Ranger looked like it couldn’t accelerate anymore and the Enterprise was sluggish when it came to making more minute adjustments to its course. Only the Marauder was still giving chase at full delta-v. “I’m turning her around, have we got any casaba howitzers left?”
Lawson nodded. “Yeah, one just came online. Looks like the Russian is still alive.”
“Okay, turning now,” Ruthven said while shifting the control stick to his left. “Fire when you get a lock.”
“Locking to target,” Lawson said. “Fox Five.” He toggled the firing button.
“Guns, guns, guns,” Ruthven said, less than half a second after his subordinate.
The Marauder seemed to veer off slightly to starboard as a sudden flash of light stabbed into the side of its hull. A few seconds later the tungsten shells from the Virago’s gauss cannons seemed to do the trick. The Orion battlecruiser had stopped reacting to them as it continued to drift forward while they circled around it.
Lawson bit his lip. Everyone in that spacecraft must either be dead or dying from the radiation or the superheated shrapnel. He was about to say something, but his words suddenly failed him. All he could imagine were the dead bodies in the bridge floating around in microgravity. The sense of guilt hit him like a freight train, and his hands started shaking uncontrollably.
Noticing his subordinate’s jerky movements, Ruthven glanced over to him. “You okay, Vince?”
It took him ten seconds to answer. “Yes, sir.”
A beeping alarm sounded on Ruthven’s console. The fusion drive was dangerously overheated and it recommended a complete shutdown. The enemy missiles still trailing the Virago had already run out of propellant, and would surely never catch up to them. The Enterprise and the Ranger were still too far out from engagement range.
Letting out another curse, Ruthven pulled back on the throttle while punching up his com-link for the missile bay. “Vlad, are you reading me?”
The Russian answered almost immediately. “Ty che blyad? You nearly killed me when doors of bay opened. I am burned!”
“If we didn’t fire the missiles we would have been dead,” Ruthven said. “I need you to divert CAIN to repair the coolant leak. We got to do this right away. There’s still a couple of spacecraft that are out there. Make sure it’s the main priority over all else.”
“Da, da. I will do that. Give me minute.”
“You did a good job with those missiles,” Ruthven said. “A couple more ought to do it.”
“Let me get AI to work on Virago, then I shall continue with missiles.”
“Okay, over and out.”
The robotic arm that forcefully held Darian Arante’s ankle suddenly slackened, and she reacted immediately by pulling her foot back. The metal limb began zooming along the track of the tunnel before disappearing into an intersection behind her.
What in the hell caused that? Pulling herself into the opposite access tunnel, Darian ran her gloved hand along her boot. The foot was painfully swollen and she figured it was either a sprain or a micro-fracture along with the bruising. Either way she was lucky because it seemed that the mechanical arm had other priorities. She remembered the entire ship reverberating when a noise of crushing metal seemed to emanate from all around the tunnel just a few minutes before. The spacecraft must have been damaged, and the AI was prioritizing repair work over her capture, so it needed all the robots it could muster.
Now’s the chance, she thought. If the AI is too busy fixing the ship to notice me, then I can do even more damage to it.
Ganz cursed as he floated into one of the access tunnels. His video link with the robotic arm that held the imposter in place was suddenly cut off. He tapped on his helmet to activate his com-link. “Vlad, what the hell happened? I had the bitch restrained, but someone pulled the plug on my bot control!”
“Ask that colonel,” Vlad Utkin said through the com-link channel. “He told me to prioritize repair on ship, so I gave command to CAIN to stop all other work.”
“You idiots! I had her restrained. I could have finished her off by now!”
“You had her?”
“Yes!”
“Dermo, that is too bad. Once the repair is finished we will hunt suka again.”
Ganz angrily shut off the com-link. His right arm could still function, but the torn ligaments in the biceps limited his overall strength. It was twice now that the accursed woman in Kate’s skinsuit had escaped from him. He swore to himself that there would not be a third time. Ganz couldn’t help but wonder at the feistiness of this unknown enemy; she seemed to know how to fight and maneuver in microgravity, which gave her a distinct advantage since he had never operated in space before. His lack of a gun also made things harder for him. If only that damned colonel had lent him a sidearm, this would have been over by now!
The bridge of the Enterprise had taken a direct hit. Colonel Scott Dennon floated over to the lead pilot’s console. The controls seemed okay, but the Air Force officer manning it was dead, a piece of metal from the collapsed bulkhead had ripped through his helmet and split open his skull. A few other crewmembers had been torn away from their chairs, their bodies floating in the microgravity like dead babies still tethered to their oxygen hoses. Globules of blood lay suspended in the air, like shiny crimson gumballs. Dennon gently unstrapped the deceased pilot from his chair, pushed the body away and sat down on it. He engaged the general com-link channel in his helmet. “Sound off. Is anybody still with me?”
A tired voice coming from the weapon systems officer at the other side of the bridge came online. “Colonel … I’m here, sir.”
Dennon checked the readouts on the console. The Enterprise had taken heavy damage. The Orion drive was still functioning, but the attitude thrusters could only rotate the ship to one side. It meant that he would have to rotate a full circle for any minor adjustments in heading. No matter, if the battlecruiser could move then it could still fight. He gripped the control stick and activated the drive. Less than a second later, a thunderous bang came from somewhere behind them, and the Enterprise lurched forward. For once, Dennon didn’t feel the need to clench his teeth anymore.
He glanced over at the remaining live crewman. “Wizzo, how’s the weapons?”
The weapons officer gave him a thumbs up. “One railgun turret still operational, Colonel. Let’s give ‘em hell.”
Dennon smirked. “Yeah, let’s do that,” he said, before activating the Orion drive again.
Ruthven couldn’t believe it. Even though it could barely maneuver, the Enterprise was still coming at them. He punched up the com-link and his voice blasted on all optical channels. “Give it up, Scotty! You can barely move. I have you in my sights. Stop accelerating towards me!”
As if on cue, the Enterprise made another detonation behind it, bringing the spacecraft ever closer to them. Ruthven gritted his teeth as he locked on target with the gauss cannons. “Guns, guns, guns.”
There was a warning tone against incoming enemy projectiles as Ruthven used the last of the throttle for more evasive maneuvering. A few seconds later, the tungsten shells from the main guns of the Virago reached the Enterprise, and the latter spacecraft had now stopped its maneuvering. Less than a minute went past, and the fusion battleship was now behind it while the wrecked Orion spacecraft continued to drift sideways.
“They’re gone,” Lawson said softly.
Ruthven shook his head. “I warned him. You heard me, didn’t you?”
“Is it finished?”
Ruthven nodded solemnly. His console indicated that the Ranger had also stopped making attitude adjustments. They were free and clear. “Yes. There aren’t any threats to us out here anymore. You did great work, Vince. You’ve always been the best XO I ever had.”
Lawson’s demeanor changed. The adrenaline was gone and a creeping lethargy began to overwhelm him. He wanted to sleep for several months, at least. �
��So now what?”
Ruthven unstrapped himself from the command chair, floated over, and patted his shoulder. “Take a break. I’ll see what can be done on the repairs.”
Lawson’s eyes were closed. His brain was shutting down. “I mean … what do we do once that’s done?”
“I don’t know,” Ruthven said as he pushed himself towards the battlesphere’s airlock. “One step at a time. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
Lawson was already asleep when he opened the hatch.
Ganz found Ruthven near the APU module, right where the main coolant leak was. The colonel glanced in his direction briefly while instinctively placing his hand on the holstered pistol at his hip before nodding in acknowledgement. Several robotic arms had converged on the leak from the maintenance tube, and were placing patches and welding them in place with deliberate, mechanical precision.
Ruthven’s visor was closed due to the globules of liquid coolant in the air, so he activated his direct optical com-link. “Did you find her yet?”
Ganz shook his head. “I had one of the robotic arms pin her down in a maintenance shaft, but she was released the moment you prioritized repair work for the AI.”
Ruthven took out his pistol and gave it to him. “Okay, finish her off once and for all. I’m heading back to the battlesphere since it looks like CAIN has got this fix-it job taken care of.”
Ganz checked to see if there was a bullet already loaded in the pistol’s chamber. There was. “She’ll be dead in a bit.”
“Make sure this time,” Ruthven said. “You’re supposed to be an experienced operative. Yet she made a fool out of you not once, but twice.”
Ganz grounded his teeth. “She’s had astronaut training and she knows how to fight. I think she might be an Air Force space trooper. I’ve had no experience fighting in this environment.”
Virago One: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (Ace of Space Book 2) Page 25