“Thank you, XO. Gunny?” Jason asked.
“I’ve come up with several approaches and worked through them with the XO. Logistically, moving the outpost fleet here will take a full day. If we can move two ships at a time, obviously that cuts the time in half. I’ve contacted Ricket and he’s working on it.”
“So we’re looking at six hours minimum before we can instigate any kind of attack?” Jason asked her.
Orion gestured to the overhead display. “Let me show you. If we go with two flanking group attacks, the first being a combination of EOUPA and Allied vessels on one side, and the Mau ships, The Lilly, and the Meganaught on the other, we hem the Craing fleet in on two sides.”
Jason watched as the scenario played out with icons on the overhead display.
“I don’t see how we can maintain a perimeter around them that way, Gunny. Three, or better yet four, flanks would keep them from running—keep them in the fight.”
“Agreed. The second scenario provides for four separate attacking flanks,” she said, nodding toward the display again. “As you can see, the admiral and the Independence, with a small complement of heavy cruisers, will hold the rear quadrant. We’d position the Allied forces here on the left quadrant and the outpost fleet there on the right quadrant. The Lilly, Mau ships, and the Meganaught hold steady where we are at the forward quadrant.”
“I like it; show them both to the admiral and let him decide. But there’s little doubt he’ll see things the same way we do.”
Jason looked up to the display again and shook his head. “None of this works unless we can take the other two connected Dreadnaughts. Give me the corridor feed again, Gunny.”
Jason hailed Billy.
“Go for Billy.”
“Your teams ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
Jason hailed Traveler.
“Yes, Captain?”
“Be ready.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Seaman Gordon, contact Commander Han Di. Ask him to open the first corridor bulkhead.”
Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Her Majesty was running quiet with the toric-cloak miraculously still operational. Pike stood at the display table while Bristol paced nervously at the back of the bridge, scratching at the pimple on his nose—his fingertips coming away bloody.
“They know we’re here, Bristol.”
“You really think so, Pike?” he retorted sarcastically, wiping his fingers on his pants. “We’re venting atmosphere from multiple locations, and radiation levels around us are through the roof. They know exactly where we are. I’m just not sure why they haven’t finished us off.”
Bristol joined Pike at the table. He looked at the five remaining outpost warships and at planet Earth beyond. He said, “What do we have left in the way of weapons?”
“We have a lot of missiles. Rail-guns are shot to shit. We have four plasma cannons still online.” Pike’s eyes held on Bristol, glancing at the blood on his nose. Self-consciously, Bristol wiped at it and returned to his seat. He thought about their predicament.
“How many pirates do we have on board?”
“Few hundred. Not all are fighters … you know, the cook staff, all the whores on the lower deck …”
“Fighters, how many fighting pirates?” Bristol barked.
“Hundred and fifty, give or take,” Pike replied looking up, his interest piqued.
“Listen, Pike. I’m not the fucking captain here. So you don’t have to do what I say. But you have to realize we’re not going to defeat those Craing battle cruisers. There’s just no way.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“We board one of them, take the helm, and make a run for home.”
His comment evoked disbelieving stares from the entire bridge crew.
Smiling, Pike stood up tall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you keep quiet until you have something to say that makes sense.”
“Look, if you can get one of those cruisers to come alongside Her Majesty, I can get a team into their bridge.”
“You can?”
“Fine, then Knock can lead the team. But I can breach her hull.”
“You have one of those devices? One of the ones we used to board The Lilly,” Pike mused, more as a statement than a question.
“I have one that was defective. I think I can fix it. So, can you come up with a way to bring one of those cruisers alongside us, or not?”
“Sure, we can surrender.”
“Whatever. Give me an hour to debug the optical substrate on the device.”
Pike, obviously not knowing what Bristol was talking about, shrugged and leaned back over the table.
* * *
Testing of the small phase-shift device went surprisingly well. Bristol had found a location on board Her Majesty where there was a large enough area not to expose the ship to open space. Given that she was a refurbished luxury liner, Bristol knew there were large areas, such as theaters and swimming pools, but the expansive mid-ship dance floor turned out to work best for his needs.
Similar to the devices he had used on board The Lilly, this one had a simple timer mechanism that would allow Bristol to set the duration for phase-shifting to a constrained area in the multiverse. If placed correctly, the subsequent void left behind would later provide access from one ship onto the other.
Bristol placed the device onto the large two hundred square foot dance floor. He rechecked his settings—and ensured the device would stay activated for exactly ten seconds. Running backwards, Bristol got all the way back to the dancehall’s outside bulkhead. With the small remote transmitter in hand, he took one more look around. Perfect. He pressed the activation button.
As expected, a section of the dance floor disappeared. Four seconds into the test, things went terribly wrong. He’d set the radius too wide, maybe by fifty feet. The sound of rushing water only confirmed his worst fears. The pool, one level up, and of equal dimensions to the dance floor, was quickly emptying into the now open void and into the dance hall. When the timer elapsed, the missing dance floor returned from the multiverse, but thousands of gallons of water, albeit only knee-high, remained in the dancehall space around him.
Bristol smiled. “Fuck it. The test worked.”
* * *
With the toric-cloak taken offline, Her Majesty was visible again. Their surrender came via a hail to each of the outpost vessels. Pike took on the negotiations and, to Bristol’s surprise, put on an excellent performance. Pike balanced just enough indignation, along with trepidation, to sound convincing. He agreed to all their terms with one exception: the ship’s personnel leaving via life-pods.
“Although we do have adequate pods available, release of them would be impossible. Too much damage, too many interface mechanisms destroyed,” Pike said.
“Fine. You will constrain your crew to one area of the ship. We see one weapon, you die,” the stern voice commanded over the broadcast comms channel.
Bristol watched the display as three of the Craing battle cruisers moved across space and saddled up close to the liner’s broad starboard hull. It was Bristol’s cue to head on down and join the assault team, and the rest of the crew waiting close behind.
Wearing his battle suit, Bristol carried the phase-shift device in his open palm. On comms, Pike had relayed to him the position of the most forward battle cruiser. It was situated at one of their larger mid-ship hatchways.
An explosive charge shook the ship.
“What was that?” Bristol asked.
“They didn’t even wait, they blew the hatch wide open. We’re being boarded. You better move it along, Bristol. And don’t even think about leaving me behind,” Pike warned.
Bristol cut the connection and concentrated on finding Knock and the rest of the team four levels down. He heard Knock’s voice over his comms. “I see you. Keep coming, we’re up ahead.”
Heavily armed and wearing battle suits, Knock and ten other pirates sto
od at the outermost bulkhead.
“Where’s everyone else?” Bristol asked.
“Close by in an air-locked compartment. This better work, Bristol. I wasn’t in favor of this whole surrendering bullshit—just so you know.”
Bristol, now at Knock’s side, looked at the bulkhead behind him.
“You’re sure this location is forward, close to the bridge on the cruiser?” Bristol asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
In the distance there was another explosion, along with the sounds of multiple energy weapons being fired.
“I thought there wasn’t anyone left up there except Pike,” Bristol said.
“Not everyone went along with your plan.”
“Whatever; stand back. No … further … ten yards minimum,” Bristol said, shooing the pirates back with both hands. “Okay, that’s good.”
Finding a flat section halfway up the bulkhead, Bristol affixed his phase-shift device onto the metallic surface. He stood back and appraised his work, then joined Knock and the others further down the hallway.
“Ready?”
“Just do it,” Knock replied, irritated.
Bristol pressed the activation button on his remote. The bulkhead disappeared and the surrounding atmosphere immediately began to escape out into space between the two vessels. Knock and his team rushed forward, pushing Bristol into the opposite wall. Once they had passed, Bristol followed. At the opening, he stopped mid-step. He’d have to leap over the expansive void to the walkway within the cruiser. Shit! Bristol was not particularly athletic; he took several hurried steps backward and then ran for the other side, realizing only half of a walkway remained within the Craing cruiser. One foot made it across, the other slipped off the edge. With nothing to grab on to, no handholds, Bristol started to fall backwards into the void. A hand reached for Bristol and caught one of his flailing arms.
“What the hell you doing? We don’t have time for this!” Knock yelled, as he pulled Bristol all the way into the cruiser. “Stay behind us.”
The team moved forward up ahead and Bristol stayed close behind. Looking back over his shoulder he activated the device again, closing the void.
Knock was right. He’d positioned them perfectly and the team was already moving into the cruiser’s bridge up ahead. The last to enter, Bristol was surprised to see so few crewmembers manning the bridge. From his early days as a seaman aboard The Lilly, he was well aware that these outpost ships would require at least some Craing crewmembers. But he was still surprised to see human and Craing working together. One of the two humans, wearing a captain’s jumpsuit, was out of his chair and, like the others, had his hands up. He looked young to be an officer, let alone a captain.
“You won’t get away with this,” the captain said.
Bristol moved to the front of the team. “I think we already have. Get over there with the others.” The pirates disarmed the captain and then the other human.
“We are taking this vessel. Resist and you’ll be killed,” Bristol said flatly. “Order everyone still on board to get off the ship. Do it now or you all die.”
“And who will pilot this vessel if you kill us all?” the captain shot back.
“I will. Now do it.” The captain and the other human Bristol assumed was the first officer looked at each other.
“He won’t be able to help you, Captain.” Knock took two long strides and coldcocked the first officer with a fist to his jaw. He fell to the deck in a heap.
Reluctantly, the captain opened a channel to his crew.
“All hands, this is the Captain Gould. The Bright Star has been boarded and the bridge has been taken. You will not surrender. I repeat, you will not surrender under any circumstances. Fight, take back—”
Knock fired a plasma bolt into the captain’s head, killing him mid-sentence.
Neither Bristol nor the other pirates were aware that a detail of eight Outpost Marines had made their way to the bridge’s outside entrance. It was only when four flash grenades hit the deck that Bristol turned to see what was happening. Their battle suit helmet visors were not sophisticated enough to shield them from the painful, piercing glare. As hands flew to cover their eyes, the Marines moved in, weapons raised. Bristol staggered and fell backward to the deck.
“Drop your weapons, do it now!” yelled one of the Marines.
Knock and the other pirates dropped their weapons and were quickly kicked or pushed to the deck. Bristol, without even thinking about it, ran from the bridge as plasma fire erupted behind him. Still half blind, he followed the same route they’d used earlier. He had a small lead but he heard running behind him. Bristol picked up his pace.
They were gaining on him. Up ahead there was nowhere to run. Bristol fumbled for the small key fob-sized remote and pressed the button. A ten-yard-wide void took the place of the hallway and outer bulkhead. Plasma fire flew by inches from his helmet. In one running stride, Bristol leapt into the void. He grimaced.
Chapter 44
Chapter 44
“Damn it!” Jason was on his feet, furious. “Didn’t I make myself clear? Why the hell is he opening both corridor bulkheads?”
“Han Di’s not responding to repeated hails, sir,” Seaman Gordon said.
Billy was hailing him.
“Go for Captain.”
“You didn’t order the cages to be opened, did you, Cap?”
“Cages? What are you talking about? No, of course not.”
“Then we have a problem, Cap,” Billy said, sounding out of breath.
Jason watched as the teams of rhinos, stationed on three levels, and Billy’s SEALs charged forward into the second Dreadnaught. Sure enough, the cage doors on both sides of the main corridor, on each of the eight levels, were open or in the process of opening.
“Captain, our security team on Han Di’s bridge is not responding. And we’ve got major hostiles coming out of those cages,” Orion said.
Jason took several steps closer to the forward display feeds. “What the hell are those?”
Orion, now also on her feet, zoomed in the forward video feed.
“Pill bugs. Hundreds of them,” Orion said, making a face and sticking her tongue out. “They’re truly disgusting.”
“XO, get our pilots prepped, I want our fighters out there providing support for our teams along the corridor.”
“Aye, Captain, they’re ready to deploy now.”
“Captain, we have Serapins coming from the third Dreadnaught—more than a thousand of them, and on all levels,” Orion said.
Jason watched the display in shock. This was no accident. It was planned. Granger. Jason wasn’t sure how, but he knew this was the work of Granger.
“Massive casualties reported, sir,” Orion said. “Pill bugs are squirting that acid shit on our guys. We don’t have a defense against that stuff.”
Paralyzed, Jason continued to watch the inevitable happen. It was a slaughter in process.
Orion pounded a fist down on her station. “Sorry, sir. Hydrogen cannons. No less than ten of them along the corridor have been deployed. They’re targeting our fighters.”
“Hydrogen?”
“They’re used for short-range combat. Highly effective, they pummel targets with sub-temperature bursts. Similar to rail munitions, but it melts prior to hitting key hull areas.”
“Have our fighters target the cannons.”
“Shields are failing on all fighters, Captain. We don’t have an adequate defense against those things.”
“Bring the crew back in, at least until we figure out a new plan.”
“Captain.”
Jason tore his gaze away from the display and found Ricket looking up at him.
“Captain, I haven’t fully tested it yet, but I think I’ve managed to make it work.”
“Managed to what?”
“Start generating stable wormholes—to bring the outpost fleet here.”
“You have perfect timing, Ricket.” Jason made a fist. “Finally some
good news!”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Okay, Orion, which outpost fleet vessel has our largest complement of ground troops?”
Orion checked her console and looked up. “The admiral’s Dreadnaught, the Independence. It has over three thousand Marines, and close to two thousand Army Rangers.”
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