Frontier's End: A Seth Donovan Novel

by Jim C. Wilson

  “Periapsis reached!” called Martine from below, “All drones secured.”

  “Good job!” I called.

  “Leaving combat range!” called the operations deck. In moments the dull thudding of our batteries ceased, and the impact sound of enemy fire died off.

  I turned back to Rego, strapped in at the command suite. “Did you see where Kekkin’s shuttle went?”

  “I tracked it for about two minutes,” he said, “When they were clear of the Xerxes they performed an axial deployment, then I lost them all. They probably made it to the Dreaming.”

  Reza’k broke in. “You’re telling me the Dreaming caught three dozen marines drifting in open space at high speed?”

  “They did have thruster packs,” responded Rego.

  “But still…”

  “Crege is a hell of a pilot,” I said, “I’ve seen him do some crazy stunts before.”

  She just shook her head in disbelief. I had to admit, if that was what happened, Crege out did himself. Reza’k was right – catching that many marines in the rear of the ship was an incredibly precise manoeuvre. I found myself smiling as I imagined Crege’s smug look as Max clapped him on the shoulder as he pulled off that move. I was betting Kekkin had a hand in planning that move as well. Trust a pair of crazy Garz’a to attempt something like that.

  More detailed damage reports started to appear on my displays as damage assessments were performed. Now that the initial combat was over, people were free to move about the ship and confirm the damage. I decided to check in with Gannerson.

  “How’s she holding, Chief?” I said into my chair’s mic.

  “Pretty darn well, I must say.”

  “No loss of capability? No propulsion hits?”

  “None. Looks like those Collumus engineers were worth what the Protectorate was paying them, after all.”

  “You need anything?”

  “Nope, we’re all gold down here, sir.”

  I stood up and stretched, then leant over the rail to watch the operations deck activity. The crew were shaking each other’s hands and hugging. I let them have their moment of elation, I did not need to remind them that in a few short hours we’d be back in combat once more, possibly for a lot longer.

  “First Officer,” I called, “Could you come up and bring the fire controllers, the sensor station operators and the drone squadron leader up with you, please?”

  “Aye, sir!’ she said, grinning.

  I walked over to the command suite and asked Rego to display the recorded battle.

  When everyone had arrived, I started. “Well done, everyone. That strike was well executed by all stations. The battle’s not over yet, though. We’re going to go over the battle, assess the damage to the other ships and work on strategies should they choose to engage us when we come back around. Any questions before we start?”

  Hieron and Reza’k came up to the table, and the Garz’a woman held her hand up. I nodded for her to go ahead.

  “How much time are we going to give the Corporates to capitulate?”

  “Is there a Protectorate policy I need to follow on this?”

  “As far as I know, the exact wording is something along the lines of ‘a reasonable amount of time’.”

  “How about the time it takes for us to come around Eovan again?”

  “That should be enough time for them to reconsider. I took the liberty to record all communications, internally and externally, before, during and after the engagement. In case the Corporates choose to sue for grievances.”

  “Anything I need to be aware of?”

  “Everything looks legal. We issued the warrant on all channels, along with the offer of amnesty. I also recorded the registration of all merc ships that fired upon us. We may have some difficulty explaining the pre-emptive strikes on the Destroyers, though.”

  “Any legal leg room to move around that?”

  She nodded, “I can put it down to a tactical decision. That none of them were destroyed works in your favour. I can put down that you deliberately withheld fire from them, up until you opened up with the port battery. Was that entirely necessary?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but Hieron beat me to it. “That Destroyer had landed fifteen consecutive hits by that time. The bastard is lucky we didn’t put another missile salvo on it. We should definitely target that ship for destruction.”

  Reza’k turned to face him. “That would be unnecessary brutality. We need to give them time to reconsider their attack. Disabling shots only, no more missile salvos on the escort ships. Xerxes only, please.”

  “Listen here, little girl,” started Hieron, raising his finger to jab at her.

  “That’s enough,” I cut in, “Both of you. I’ll consider your advice.”

  The pair continued to glare at each other but remained silent.

  “How many salvos can we build by the time we re-engage?” I asked Martine.

  The missile system, able to launch dozens of missiles at once, had a finite supply of missiles. We’d emptied the magazine during the strike, but the Restitution had a set of manufactories. These automated factories could produce missiles to replace those fired, using stored raw materials and components, but they would take time to manufacture and rearm.

  “We should have three full salvos, and a partial salvo by the time we get within range again,” she reported.

  I looked to the Gunnery Chief, a short and stout near-human with a reddish complexion. “What’s your advice on those shots, Chief Ensel?”

  “Ah, we should probably put them onto the Xerxes, sir. Our batteries can handle the Destroyers, but the hull plating on the organo-ship is an unknown variable.”

  I nodded. “If we can punch a hole in it, we can focus the hardlight batteries there and cut her in two, if need be.”

  The hardlight batteries were split into two groups, port and starboard, indicating their firing arcs. Each battery contained five independent guns, usually linked to fire as a single battery for maximum destruction, but as we were outnumbered we might need to split them into multiple arrays. I addressed the two battery controllers, a male and female human.

  “Whichever arc has a solution on the Xerxes, split your fire between weapon hardpoints and sensor emitters, unless you’re instructed to target a weakened hull point – then link up for battery fire. The other battery will target the Destroyer closest to the Restitution. If the Destroyers are disabled or pull out, split your fire up onto the Corvettes and then Transports.”

  I gestured to the sensor operators, three humans, an Argen, and two Orlii. There was another operator still on station – it would be foolish to completely pull the sensors from their stations. “You were each tasked with monitoring different aspects of the battle. Let’s start with a damage assessment of the targets,” I pointed to one of the Orlii.

  She cleared her throat. “The Destroyers took a beating, the first one is definitely disabled. I believe a second will be close, if not disabled already. I read power fluctuations during the final fifteen seconds of the fight, but it was still firing as we pulled around Eovan. The third suffered only minor damage, but the starboard sensor arcs are almost blind.”

  I pointed to one of the humans. “The Xerxes? What did our salvos do to it?”

  “Without more data on the strength of her hull…”

  “Make a guess based on visual evidence,” I said, slowing down an image captured on the table. Several others leant closer to examine it. The second Orlii was the first to answer.

  “It had difficulty bringing its hardlight weaponry to bear,” she said, “See these two pods? They were the only two to fire. Most of the hits we took were from the escort Destroyers.”

  One of the other humans highlighted a section close to the rear of the main bulge. “Thirty percent of the missiles struck within fifty metres of this location. We didn’t get enough footage to be sure, but if there’s a weak point, it will be there.”

  I gestured to Gunnery Chief Ensel. “Can you tar
get that location?”

  He smiled emphatically. “I can probably hit anywhere on that beast.”

  I nodded and pointed to another sys-op. “No damage to picket ships or other escorts, sir,” they reported.

  “The platform explosion damaged one of them, sir,” said the Argen. The previous operator apologised.

  “It’s okay, there was a lot going on back there,” I said, “Anyone pick up comms? Anyone take us up on our amnesty offer?”

  There was a round of negatives.

  “Worth a shot. How about weapon signatures?”

  “Nothing exotic,” said one of the humans, “Beamers, Class 2 missiles, the Destroyers had hardlight batteries, although their rates of fire were less than ours. So was the number of guns in each battery.”

  Another of the humans spoke up. “Most of the smaller ships didn’t get off any shots, but those that did were limited to Class 1 and 2.”

  “What about those that didn’t fire? Did we get a good look at their capabilities?”

  The last human answered. “The optics picked up similar weapon placements, although I can’t rule out hidden ports. From First Sergeant Kekkin’s report on the Candrus 2nd Battallion and the Rizan Raiders, we can identify seventy percent of the escorts. The ship's database has some intel on them, so I’ll forward that to you within the hour, sir.”

  “Thank you. On to drones…Did we get a count of enemy numbers there? What do the intel reports say about those ship’s drone capabilities?”

  “We should be evenly matched,” said Martine, “Although the enemy will have more experience.”

  “Not on this scale,” corrected Hieron, “We’ll have the advantage – all our drones are controlled by a single ship, they’ll have to coordinate between several.”

  “What’s our drone status?” I asked.

  The drone squadron leader, a Garz’a male, made his report. “All surviving drones recovered. Warriors lost seven drones, two from wings four and five, three from wing one.”

  “Are we able to replenish?”

  “Twenty drones in reserve, kitrak.”

  “When we engage again, I want thirty percent of your forces on point defence, thirty percent on space superiority, the rest can engage targets of opportunity. Preferably the smaller escort ships. We can’t afford to waste hardlight battery shots on them while the larger vessels are operational. We also don’t want to give those Transport free reign. I’ll leave targeting up to you, but be prepared to divert forces to assist other objectives as we call them.”

  He nodded. “Warrior will divert attack wings if needed, superiority drones will be too engaged to respond quickly.”

  “You know what you’re doing, use your discretion.”

  “Aye, aye, kitrak”

  I turned to Martine. “Do you have anything to add, First Officer?”

  She addressed the assembled crew. “Keep those lines of communication going. Talk to each other, don’t just use your station icons. Matherson, you need to keep watching both your sensor streams, so try and switch between them more regularly.”

  One of the human sensor operators nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am.”

  I clapped my hands together. “It was a good start, ladies and gentlemen. Keep it up. Dismissed.”

  When the enlisted had left, I turned to Martine, Hieron and Reza’k.

  “How’d I do?”

  Hieron spoke first. “You did good, lad, but you need to strike while the iron is hot. I reckon you caused more than a few of these Corporate bastards to shit themselves.”

  “Charmed,” said Reza’k, “I have nothing further to add, sir.”

  I turned to Martine. “You’ve had experience on a Danghar Cruiser, before. Am I using her right? My bridge demeanour on the right tone?”

  “Cruisers are fast, heavily armed and, in the case of a Danghar, multirole. I’d say you used her pretty damn well. The addition of the Dreaming to our arsenal is a great advantage – stealth marine deployment! We’ve essentially crippled a ship three times our size while outnumbered and outgunned. Those are good outcomes.”

  “The battle’s not done yet. We did have the advantage, too. Surprise is a powerful force multiplier. We won’t have that in the coming conflict.”

  “Sir, it was intelligent usage of our assets that gave us that surprise. Your mind is our most powerful weapon, never forget that.”

  Reza’k smiled at that last comment, nodding to Martine.

  I pondered her words for a few moments, then gestured at the table. “Okay, we’ve got…two hours and thirteen minutes to plan for this next battle. Let’s see what mayhem we can cause next.”

  41.

  Our planning was limited to what we could guess of the enemy’s placement since there was no way the Corporates would remain in their original locations. Besides the Blade of Xerxes, that was. The only way to get that moving was to tow it. We could not afford to count the second Destroyer out of commission either. Chances were, they had a top notch repair system working to fix any damage we had inflicted. If the Captain of the Xerxes was serious about fending us off, he’d be counting on getting that Destroyer operational at all costs.

  I briefly considered doing a second high-velocity pass, I hated giving them time to repair the carnage we had caused thus far, but tactically it didn’t make sense – without a full missile magazine, our impact would be much reduced. The only way we could control this coming battle was to maintain a sustained damage output.

  Ten minutes into the planning session we were interrupted by Chief Gannerson delivering his report in person.

  “Needed to get my own eyes on a troublesome coupling up this way anyway,” he said, “Figured you might want to hear my recommendations about the girl’s performance.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We might not need to slow down during this orbit, we can just do a full power assist.”

  “You’re not worried about hull stress?”

  “That’s just it. I’ve had scan packages all through the structure during the last few hours. So long as we don’t get too close to Eovan, we should be okay.”

  “Can we decelerate sufficiently to engage?”

  “On the last stage of the orbit, we flip the ship around and burn full thrust as we approach. Flip back just before we reach firing range.”

  “They’re going to see us coming a long way off…” I said.

  He chuckled. “They’re going to be looking for you, anyway. This way you can get into position before they’re ready. Maybe.”

  I had to admit, I liked the idea.

  “How much time will we save?”

  Martine ran the numbers. “We can shave forty-eight minutes off if we start the manoeuvre within the next five minutes.”

  “Do it,” I turned to face the bridge view screens and saw the countdown to the next engagement update. “Just over an hour to go, then. Good work, Chief.”

  The large man nodded and left.

  “That also means we’ll only have two salvos ready to fire in the missile magazine,” reminded Martine.

  “It will have to do,” I said as Alexander entered the bridge, at my request.

  “Sir?” he said, snapping a crisp salute.

  “At ease, Alex. We’re going to have to plan for the possibility that some of those mercs will get boarders through our drone screens. I want you to draw up a troop dispersal plan in order to respond as quickly as possible, without putting anyone at risk. That means they have to be near acceleration couches or crash harnesses.”

  “Might I also suggest arming the crew?” he offered, “Especially here on the bridge?”

  I nodded, thinking back to my time on the Xerxes – the number of unarmed crew I had gunned down. “I’ll get my PX-2 and lurzak. We’ll issue weapons from the bridge locker. You have my authorisation to issue as many crew as you can from the armoury – standard sidearms only, no cowboys.”

  Martine cleared her throat. “Send Glenris for your weapons. You need to be here.�
��

  I shook my head. “You’re right. I suppose he is pretty handy to have around.”

  “Should I show you my plan before implementing?” asked Alex.

  “No. I trust your judgement. Kekkin wouldn’t have put you in charge if he didn’t either. Just put it into effect ASAP. You have less than an hour. Oh, and make sure you keep the Jump Drive compartment secured. I want you personally overseeing its defence if we’re boarded.”

  He threw another salute and dashed from the bridge. Martine spoke briefly with my steward, who was hovering off to one side. He left at a run.

  Hieron grunted. “We should split up those two salvos and take out as many of the smaller craft as we can, fast as we can. We could then use the drones to pinpoint weak spots and hardpoints on the other ships.”

  Before Reza’k could turn on him, I held up a hand to forestall the tirade. “We can’t do that, Hieron. We have to give those ships the chance to stand down. They don’t pose as high a risk as those capital ships. Our drones can keep them busy, and they can provide adequate point defences. Our shields should hold, the marines can take care of the rest.”

  “What if those two salvos aren't enough to crack that organo-ship's armour? It will be a wasted effort.”

  “No. It’s a risk I have to take. The Admiralty will be watching how I behave, so I have to play by the rules for this one.”

  Reza’k seemed pleased by my answer. “You still think the Corporates would make a play for the Drive during combat?” she said.

  I nodded, rubbing my hand over the rough stubble forming on my chin. “If it was me planning the attempt, I’d at least make a play while we were distracted. Seems a likely time for us to be worried about other events going on.”

  “Sorry I’ve not been any use uncovering any of your spies,” she said, “At least you don’t think I’m one of them now.”

  I grunted. “How're the nerves?”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. “Not bad. I’m a reciprocal telepath, so I tend to amplify what other people are feeling. So far the crew’s been tense but confident. They have a lot of faith in you, and it shows.”

  “So if everyone around you is feeling courageous, so do you?”