“One moment, Captain.” Ricket, working away at the Comms station, added a few more keystrokes and nodded. “I’ve tied Traveler’s NanoCom into multiple channels. As I said, we will only get this opportunity once.”
“Okay, Traveler. Do it. Do your horn-call now.”
Jason’s eyes widened and he put both hands to his ears as the loudest sounds he’d ever heard filled his head. Ricket too held his ears. The horn-like bursts continued and got even louder as Traveler conveyed his message.
When Traveler stopped calling, Jason continued to hear echoes for several moments.
Chapter 36
Chapter 36
The Lilly’s three rail-guns continued their onslaught, only pausing for cooling at separate and select intervals. With an unlimited supply of JIT rail ordnances, the guns kept up with whatever the Craing threw at them. The Craing fleet, in its current formation, was utilizing only a fraction of their combined firepower and had yet to bring into the fray their three Dreadnaughts. But as Jason watched, the three enormous ships were slowly maneuvering toward the front of the fleet’s formation.
Traveler’s horn-call didn’t seem to have much of an effect. Not at first. It was only when several ships started to fall out of formation that it became evident rhinos were indeed on board a significant number of those vessels, and they were taking Traveler’s call to rebel in earnest.
“Cap, at least fifty Craing warships have left the fight,” Orion said.
“And with Craing bridge crews killed or in hiding, they’ve got multiple ships adrift. Several have actually crashed into each other out there,” Perkins added.
All this was good news to Jason, but they were playing defense. They needed more ships.
The Lilly’s bridge went quiet as Ti’s face appeared on the display. Even Jason, who had gotten somewhat accustomed to the Mau, figured he would never fully get used to their unusual appearance.
Jason said, “We’ve relinquished control back to your helm. The Red rhinos you’re transporting should be a reminder that you’re only safe as long as you keep to your agreement to fight for the Alliance.”
“No need to threaten me. I’ve already given you my commitment.”
“Good. One more thing I need to ask of you, Ti. It’s time to let the other Mau within the Craing fleet know what you’re doing.”
“All that will do is get us killed that much quicker. The Mau don’t take kindly to deserters.”
“Then I suggest you appeal to their sensibilities, their emotions, whatever it takes. Every warship that flips and fights for the Alliance increases our odds of survival.”
Ti’s face, as if cut from stone in a perpetual scream, was motionless.
“Is that a yes?” Jason asked.
“Yes, I will try.”
As Traveler had done earlier, Ti called out to the other Mau commanders to break away from the malevolent clutches of the Craing. The response back to her was a tangle of back and forth bickering along with overt threats. Jason hadn’t expected much success, and was quite surprised when ten Mau warships jumped formation and headed in their direction.
“Let’s keep an eye on them,” Jason said. “They could just as easily deceive us.”
Ti responded to that. “Captain, deception is not possible. All ten vessels have relinquished their command to me.”
The Craing fleet began targeting the rogue Mau vessels with plasma fire and missiles. Two ships were struck and exploded. The turned eight ships soon fell in behind The Lilly and joined the two original Mau vessels in returning plasma fire at the Craing.
“Cap, one of our rail-guns is showing signs of stress. It’s taking longer intervals to cool,” Orion said. “I don’t think they can keep up the barrage; it’s just a matter of time before all three give out.”
Frustrated, Jason stared at the display. It would be so easy to take The Lilly into hiding—phase-shift into the hold of another ship. But without her presence here to fend off the Craing fleet, undoubtedly the ten Mau warships would be destroyed in mere minutes—not to mention both Trumach and soon after Dira’s home planet of Jhardon would both be annihilated within hours.
“We’re not going to defeat their fleet,” he mused aloud. “Not with eleven warships, and even with The Lilly’s capabilities, we will lose.”
“What do you suggest, Captain?” Perkins asked.
“We steal a Dreadnaught. Increase our odds of staying alive until help arrives.”
“What about our new Mau friends? It’s not like they can phase-shift along with us.”
“Maybe not. Ricket, can our shuttles, or even the Pacesetter, phase-shift along with a Mau warship to another location?”
“Only the Caldurian shuttle, Epcot, and The Lilly have the long-distance phase-shift capacity to do something like that.”
“We’ve lost rail-gun number one, Cap. Second one is now faltering,” Orion said. “And shields are down to eighty-two percent.”
Jason continued to study the display. Three Dreadnaughts—which one … It really didn’t matter.
“How long can you jam communications once we’re on board?”
Ricket shrugged. “I don’t know. Not long.”
“Can you give us enough time to secure the ship, take command of her bridge?”
“Based on the last Dreadnaught we captured, it will take us quite a while, Captain,” Perkins said.
“Well, not this time. I’ll do it in less than two hours.”
“Shields are down to fifty-six percent and falling fast, Cap. All three Dreadnaughts are in the fight,” Orion said excitedly.
Two more explosions flashed white on the display.
“We’re down to eight Mau ships. Lost two of the last ones that joined us.”
“I can get you two hours, maybe three,” Ricket said.
Perkins was on his feet and looked nervous again. “How? Take a Dreadnaught in two hours? I’m sorry, Captain, but that’s just not possible. We should cut our losses and phase-shift out of here. That’s all we can do.”
“No, it’s not. What we’re going to do is unleash one thousand Red rhinos, along with two hundred-plus Greys, right inside one of those monster ships.”
“Shields down to thirty-one—”
Jason raised a palm up in Orion’s direction, halting her updates. “We need to move quickly, everyone. XO, get Billy queued up with a thirty-man assault team. Ricket, put what you need together for jamming comms on this Dreadnaught, and Helm, remote phase-shift the Epcot into an open area on the first Mau ship—the one commanded by Ti … Let’s move it!”
Ensign McBride at the helm station turned toward Jason. “Captain, there’s too many rhinos. I can’t find enough free space to phase-shift the Epcot into.”
“Seriously?” Jason, two fingers to his ear, hailed Traveler.
“Yes?”
“No time to explain, but I’m connecting you so you’ll be heard by the Reds in one of the ship’s holds. You need to tell them to huddle closer together, squeeze in, and make room for a shuttle.”
Seaman Gordon gestured that he’d made the necessary comms connection on the Mau ship.
“Go ahead, Traveler,” Jason ordered.
The horn-call was a short four bursts.
McBride, over the past few days, had familiarized himself with the upgraded point-and-plot phase-shift positioning system. At present, he had all three wireframe virtual models going: Ti’s Mau vessel, The Lilly, and the Dreadnaught. His hands moved fast as he expanded or decreased the size of the wireframe models as necessary. As he selected internal sections on each ship, colors changed and numerical coordinates hovered in the air. Seemingly satisfied, McBride turned to face Jason. “Seems there’s enough room now, but barely, sir. The rhinos are right on top of each other.”
“They’ll have to put up with it for a few minutes. Go ahead and phase-shift the Epcot.”
“Epcot’s now on board the Mau vessel, sir. Which Dreadnaught are we sending them to?”
“That one
there,” Jason said, pointing to a Dreadnaught located within the grouping at the left of the screen. “Find an open hold, phase-shift the Epcot, along with a Mau ship, and repeat the same process with the other Mau ships. But get the ships holding rhinos over there first.”
“Aye, Captain.” McBride returned his attention to his virtual models and expanded the selected Dreadnaught frame, zooming in on what looked like a large open area. “The hold area there has the easiest access to the central corridor, Captain.”
“Go ahead, Ensign.”
Jason saw Orion staring at him.
“Gunny?”
“Shields down to five percent.”
“Helm, phase-shift us now, out of range, but stay within three thousand miles of that Dreadnaught. Go!”
“Aye, sir.”
The overhead logistical view shifted to coincide with their new coordinates.
“Captain, Mau One is secure in the Dreadnaught. I’ve phase-shifted the Epcot to Mau Two.”
“Keep at it, Ensign.”
“Shields are back up to fifty percent, Cap.”
“Helm, put us back in front of the remaining Mau vessels.”
Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Nan recognized the sound: a ship, or maybe a small shuttle, was moving above the house.
“What is that, Teardrop? Is it one of ours?”
“Repeated hails have been ignored. Scans of the vessel reveal it to be a small shuttle, piloted by one humanoid.”
Nan and Mollie followed Teardrop into the great room, where the big screen showed six different security video feeds from outside. Three of the cameras tracked the shuttle as it hovered over the driveway, lowered its landing gear, and slowly descended.
Nan noticed a familiar symbol on the side of the craft and took a step closer. “I know that symbol. It’s the pirates who took me hostage. You can’t let him land. Don’t just hover there, do something!”
“I’m scared, Mom,” Mollie said, sliding under her mother’s arm for security.
Repeated pounding shook the house and the floor beneath their feet.
“Is he shooting at us, is that what that is?”
“No. The plasma cannon is firing at the shuttle,” Teardrop replied. “You will need to arm yourselves.”
“Arm ourselves? What are you talking about?” Nan asked, incredulous at the prospect.
“We know how to shoot, Mom. Orion showed us, remember?”
Teardrop was on the move again and heading for the hallway leading to the bedrooms. With Nan and Molly close behind, it disappeared into the first room off to the left, a spare bedroom.
“Where are you going? You’re supposed to be our security, damn it!”
Teardrop accessed a compartment behind a false panel at the back of the closet. An assortment of energy and other types of weaponry filled every inch of the back wall. Two side- walls also were shelved and contained sidearm belts, ammunition, an assortment of edged weapons, and things of which Nan had no knowledge.
Teardrop handed Nan and Mollie belts with attached sidearm holsters. She had no doubt that both belts would fit them perfectly. Next came small energy pistols, and then, the larger plasma rifles.
The pounding outside had increased.
“What’s that?” Mollie yelled above the noise.
“The shuttle is returning fire,” Teardrop said, moving out of the room and back toward the great room.
Close behind, Nan and Mollie followed. On the big screen, multiple feeds showed the shuttle maneuvering itself, quickly dodging left and right, as it continued to fire down on the plasma turret in the back yard.
The top of the plasma turret exploded in a shattering blast that shook the house. They watched and listened as the shuttle returned to the front side of the house and set down on the driveway. Moments later, a tall man emerged. Again, Nan leaned in to get a better look. She knew that face, and the way he tied his hair back in a long ponytail.
“That’s Stalls. Oh my God, that’s Stalls.”
* * *
Brian awoke to repeated licking. Not all that unpleasant, he thought to himself, regaining his wits. Wet and sloppy, something continued to lap at him. Opening his good eye Brian followed the action of the hopper’s long tongue as it delved deep into his open eye socket. With each penetrating thrust, it came back out with less and less blood and pus. The hopper stopped, noticing that Brian was not only awake, but watching its every move.
Sitting up, Brian pushed the hopper away, figuring it was better not to talk about the licking, at least for now. Betty, slouched down in a chair, watched from across the room.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite that disgusting,” she said. “Here, take this …wrap it around your head. I can’t look at that open socket another second. And I’ll never, ever, be hungry again.”
She tossed him a long strip of cloth from where she was seated and turned her attention to the hopper.
Brian did as he was asked and covered his eye socket, tying both ends of the cloth behind his head. “How long has it been doing that?”
“Too long.”
“Seriously?”
“You’ve been out for six hours. The hopper goes at it once or twice an hour.”
“Well, nobody said you had to sit there and watch.”
Betty shrugged, but didn’t say anything.
“I have to admit, I do feel better.”
“Saliva. My saliva kills the infection,” the hopper added.
Sitting up, he felt a little woozy. Brian looked around the bridge and then at Betty.
“We were attacked. Someone fired on your ship?”
“Yeah, pirates,” she answered. “They’ve gone, but not before destroying our propulsion system. We’re now hurtling though space with no way to stop. We’re dead, we just don’t know it yet.”
“Show me.”
Reluctantly, Betty unfolded herself from her chair and sat down at one of the consoles. After a few keystrokes she looked over at Brian.
“You want to see, or not?”
Unsteadily, Brian got to his feet and walked over to where she was seated. He crouched down and looked at the small display.
“None of this looks familiar to me. Zoom out a bit?”
Betty changed the view and sat back. Brian recognized several of the star systems now. He looked at her and smiled.
“What? Something funny in all this?”
“Just that on our current course we’re headed toward my home planet.”
Betty adjusted the zoom level in more and brought the Sol system into view. “Here? That’s your system?”
“Yep.”
“Well, you can wave as we pass right by it.”
“Are you always so negative?”
“No, only when a mountain of shit lands on my head.”
“Maybe we can figure out how to slow down, or even stop. There have to be positioning thrusters on a ship like this.”
“Of course, but you’d expend the propellant in a nanosecond at the rate of speed we’re traveling.”
“What kind of shape are the drives in? Any chance of repairing even one of them?”
“Hardware’s not my thing. They pretty much look like scrap to me.”
“Well, it just so happens I grew up in a scrapyard,” Brian said. “Let’s go take a look.”
Chapter 38
Chapter 38
All eight of the remaining Mau vessels were tucked into various holds within the Dreadnaught. Ricket had determined the frequencies used by the Craing fleet and was jamming their local in-ship communications.
Jason placed Traveler in charge of rhinos—Greys and Reds alike. Those that protested, or compromised the mission, would be dealt with immediately; the stakes were just too high for infighting. Communications had been tricky. Traveler, the only rhino with a NanoCom, had managed to work out a system with Seaman Gordon on Comms. His voice, or horn-call, was now broadcasted where needed. Multiple rhino teams were organized, and a
captain assigned to each one. Jason was impressed with Traveler’s ability to lead with little handholding. Truth was, once the rhino teams were let loose, they needed little guidance. They were told to keep on going until they’d eliminated all adversaries.
Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance Page 19