He leaped back from the airlock, staggering as the boat crashed into the outer door. The impact buckled the gateway and the boat careened off. As it spiraled away, Liam saw the shattered canopy and lifeless interior. The bowsman was gone, but the coxn was still hunched forward in his seat, hands flash-frozen to the controls as the icy vacuum of space consumed him.
Tearing his eyes away, Liam saw that the entire boarding party was looking back at him. They’d felt the bump, heard the wrenching of metal.
“Hold your ground,” he said instinctively, even as his mind raced frantically. Without the boat, what options did they have left? “The pirates may try another assault.”
That focused them, and turned their attention forward again.
Sky crouched down, pulling out her pistol and checking her bullets. She eyed him questioningly.
“Boat was destroyed,” he said, low enough for her ears only.
She nodded, holstering her pistol. “How many reloads do you have left, sir?”
“None.” He patted his right holster. “And this one’s empty.”
She stepped forward, reaching for the belt of the casualty laid out on the deck. Grabbing a cartridge, she handed it to him.
“Load up, and stay in the rear.”
“I fight with my sailors, Chief.”
“You accomplish our mission,” she said firmly, pointing at the memory core. “You find a way to get that back to the ship.”
“With respect, I’m probably the best swordsman on the team. You want me up front.”
“With respect, sir”—she leaned in close, running her fingers across the acid burns on his breastplate—“I want you alive. If you go down, they lose all hope. If you’re alive, they believe that there’s still a way out of this.”
He made to protest, but her detached professionalism dampened any sense of misplaced honor. She was brutal and unsentimental, but she was right. No one doubted his courage, but what they needed now was inspiration. He needed to think. Where were Bluebird’s boats? Could they fight their way down and steal one? And even if they did, how would they get past the snipers on the outer hull?
He glanced out through the porthole again, wondering crazily if they could use space suits and swim across the distance? If they could capture even a couple of personal thruster pods, could the rest hang on and . . . ?
His wild train of thought dissipated as he noticed that Daring was visibly turning. She’d been keeping up her chase all this time, her two bow turrets staying in play while protecting the bulk of her hull. But now her aspect was clearly shifting, her starboard beam coming into view. Liam saw the first shot from her top midships beam turret, followed seconds later by the bottom midships turret. Then, moments later, both stern turrets fired. By shifting to a beam aspect, Riverton had opened the arcs on all six of her turrets, and the weapons lanced out at targets high above him on Bluebird’s hull. Each turret could fire only so much before recharging, but between the six, they maintained a constant rain of fire on the pirates exposed outside their ship. It was clever, but it also exposed Daring’s full hull to counterattack. Ships in battle only presented their full hull if they were planning on . . .
Down the length of Daring, cannon ports swung open. Liam felt his jaw drop. She wasn’t.
Fire rippled down the hull as Daring unleashed a full cannon broadside. He felt the deck beneath him shake under the impact.
“Covering fire from the captain,” he shouted back over the din. “Stay ready for a renewed attack.”
His team braced themselves as best they could, hanging on as the ship rocked under a second round of impacts. Distant alarms sounded, and Liam knew the pirates were in trouble. Their own cannons were pointed port and starboard, useless against a foe behind them. With no one on the bridge, even turning Bluebird would be a challenge—let alone maneuvering her for battle. Daring had free rein to pound away. The frequency of impact slowly increased as Liam looked out the porthole again.
Daring was closer than she’d been before. Even with Bluebird’s sails propelling her forward, she was being overtaken by the broadsided warship. Liam could see the glow of Daring’s portside thrusters as they, incredibly, pushed the frigate closer. Cannon fire rippled again. Ship-wide alarms now sounded within Bluebird, and Liam guessed there was an uncontained breach on the decks below. Daring was essentially in a shooting gallery, pinpointing every shot against the helpless pirate vessel.
He could hear the blasts of cannon impact below him and could still see the flashes of turret fire above him. Daring’s bulk now filled Liam’s entire view; her starboard thrusters fired, slowing the imminent collision of ships, but Liam made ready to order his troops to run.
Then, to his astonishment, he saw one of Daring’s main airlocks open. A standard gangway tunnel extended, just as if the ship were coming alongside a Navy dock. The tunnel bumped against the wreckage of his outer airlock, sealing down. Daring’s own inner airlock opened, and he saw Lieutenant Swift frantically gesturing for them to move.
He jumped to his feet, slammed up the airlock override level, and smacked the controls. The airlock hatch slid open. He heard startled shouts from his team, cut off midexclamation as they saw what he saw. He grabbed the memory core.
“Withdraw!”
Sniper shots thumped against the gangway and he knew there was no time to waste. He sprinted down the passageway and cleared into Daring’s hull. He glanced back to ensure his team was following, waiting long enough to see Sky bringing up the rear. Another broadside thundered. But this time it was the reassuring roar of fire, not the ominous crush of impact.
“Nice plan,” he gasped at Swift. “Yours?”
“The captain’s,” Swift answered, running his hands over his shaved head as he watched the perilous retreat. “You owe that icy bitch a kiss, I think.”
Too relieved to take offense, Liam patted his propulsion officer on the shoulder and raced for the nearest ladder heading up.
The bridge was thick with tension, the focused quiet broken only by the steady pounding of the guns. Riverton was sitting forward in her chair, eyes flicking between displays, but her gaze shot up at Liam’s approach, her dark eyes luminous in her stony face.
“Do you have the memory core?” she asked.
He held it up, struggling to control his breathing.
“Gangplank detached,” Brown reported. “We’re clear.”
“Full thruster starboard,” Riverton ordered. “Maintain broadside attack.”
The ship rocked as the thrusters fired again, opening the distance from Bluebird.
Liam noticed Amelia hovering at the back of the bridge, watching the battle over the shoulder of the damage-control crews. She caught his gaze, and the relief in her face sent a spark of warmth through him. But aside from lifting the two data drives for him to see, she remained motionless. He nodded to her with a tiny smile then turned back to the screens.
“Casualties?” Riverton asked him suddenly.
“Five dead or wounded. Most came back with the first boat—with the boat.”
“What sort of pirate strength on board?”
“Heavy. We were under nearly continuous attack the entire time, until the boat left on our first return. They shifted their focus at that point.”
“Agreed. We’d had harassing fire only, until suddenly their outside crews tripled in number.” She’d been half watching her displays, but now turned her full attention to him. “So would you assess this as a major pirate vessel?”
“Yes, ma’am. Heavily manned, well armed, and probably well supplied with cargo. We never got far enough to really assess that.” He lifted the memory core again. “But this will probably tell us.”
“We’ve damaged them,” she mused as another cannon broadside fired, “but they’re still mostly intact.”
“If we can examine this data, we can determine whether to reboard them, and where to target.” He stepped forward, gripping her arm gently. “Ma’am, they used Sectoid weapons against
us. We didn’t see any, but there might even be Sectoids on board. That would be clear proof of Sectoid collusion—if we could capture them.”
She frowned down at his hand but didn’t move. She examined her screens again, which indicated that Daring had opened to the maximum effective range of her cannon.
“What kind of Sectoid weapons?” she asked. Liam described the grenades, watching as her face paled.
“Cease broadside,” she ordered. “Ready missile, salvo size one.”
Liam stared at her in shock.
“Ma’am, even a single missile could destroy the entire ship.”
“Optically target the shattered stern,” she said to Brown. “I want maximum damage.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brown said, manipulating her controls.
Highcastle was beside Brown and clearly saw the implications of the order as well. He cast Liam a desperate look.
“Captain,” Liam said quietly, “this ship may have more intelligence for us to gather. Not to mention much-needed supplies.”
“You can pick through the wreckage if you want,” she said. Her voice was steel, the touch of friendliness vanished from her manner. “And get your hand off me.”
“Missile ready,” Brown reported.
“Fire,” Riverton said.
Liam watched on one of the external screens as a blazing pinprick of fire rocketed away from Daring, clearing the distance in little more than a second before vanishing into the shattered stern of Bluebird. The pirate ship cracked like an egg under the sudden force of the internal explosion, breaking apart as wreckage flew in all directions behind the rush of fire.
Silence descended on the bridge. Highcastle’s fists clenched, and he again looked at Liam.
Liam kept his face impassive, not meeting anyone’s eye.
“Secure from general quarters,” Riverton said to Brown. Then she tapped Liam on the arm. “Good to have you back, XO. Well done.”
Her words were light, but her expression was as dark as the Abyss. She climbed out of her chair and strode aft for her cabin.
He nodded mutely at her retreating form, not daring to speak.
Chapter 18
Liam took his seat at the head of the table, surveying the grim faces down both sides of the broad oak. Riverton had just sat down at the opposite end and nodded for him to begin. Liam had sent the stewards down to the galley for the next hour to avoid any junior ears eavesdropping and gossiping to the ranks. This conversation was for the senior staff only. Templegrey had the watch on the bridge, but otherwise everyone was here.
“This is a command meeting,” he said simply. “The captain needs to know the facts—all the facts, good or bad—to help her make the best decision. Your expert opinions are also welcome, so speak freely. There will be no repercussions for dissent around this table.”
He indicated the chart spread out before them, showing their local corner of space out to thirty days’ sailing.
“I’ve had the chance to analyze the pirate navigation records and logs, and I’ve pinpointed several journeys over the last twelve months which seemed to end in the middle of deep space.” Four fine lines traced across the chart, each one stopping and then doubling back. “Comparing these to our small-objects chart, I matched these journeys to a large comet nucleus on a wide orbit around the Silica system. This particular comet is far enough out to have a fairly stable orbit and has been circling Silica for centuries.”
“Ideal for a permanent base,” Chief Butcher commented.
“Exactly, Coxn. The location of this comet in its orbit ties into other pirate activity we’ve pulled together over the past few months, suggesting that multiple ships are using it as home port.” He leaned forward, clasping his hands on the table. “I think we’ve found our target.”
“It looks pretty far,” Swift said. “A good fifteen days’ sailing. How are we for supplies?”
“Food supplies are fine,” Amelia replied. “With emergency rations we have over forty days stocked. Air is between thirty and forty days, depending on usage. My real worry is water—we only have fifteen days. Twenty-five if we really ration.”
“It’s that far just to get back to Windfall,” Brown exclaimed.
“I recommend we sail for Windfall immediately,” Swift said, looking first at Liam and then at the captain. “Our hull repairs need more work, if nothing else to stop the leaks, and then we can resupply and set out in strength.”
“I agree,” Butcher added, pointing at the comet on the chart. “The pirate base isn’t going anywhere.”
Liam recognized the advice as both sound and reasonable, but he looked down the table to Riverton. She straightened in her chair.
“We can’t go back to Windfall,” she said. “We haven’t the money to pay for further repairs or resupply, and we’d use up everything we have just to get back.”
“I hate to suggest it, ma’am,” Butcher said, “but couldn’t we use the prize money to pay for it?”
“We already have,” Riverton replied, “for the last set of repairs and supply.”
“There’s nothing left?” Swift blurted, unable to keep the shock from his face.
“Not enough to restock for a voyage out to the pirate base.”
“What about the cargo we’re carrying? All that fancy gold and jewelry?”
“There’s no one willing to buy it at Windfall,” Amelia explained, “and no one at Silica 7 with enough money to do so. That shipment is intended for a specific dealer in the Iron Swarm—she’s the only one with the cash to buy it.”
“Well,” Highcastle said, “damn it all. If it’s just money we need, I’ll pay for it!”
Riverton turned curious eyes to him.
“Do you have the money on board, Mr. Highcastle?”
“Of course not. But I’ll just arrange for a credit note at the local bank. My family’s name is well regarded.”
“That would give away our identity,” she replied, already turning away.
“It would bring too much attention to us and our ship,” Liam added, “alerting the pirates to our presence and making it impossible for us to sneak away again.”
It would also, he and Riverton both knew, send a strong message to the admiralty that Daring’s mission was failing and was becoming a potential embarrassment. With so many Navy ships in the area, it would only take a single offended captain—such as the idle Silverhawk—to commandeer Daring and ruin everything.
“We’re already halfway to the pirate base,” Riverton continued. “At the moment we have the advantage of surprise, as the pirates won’t yet know of Bluebird’s fate, and possibly not even that of the Golden Wind and her sisters. As news of their lost ships starts to trickle in, though, the pirates will increase their guard, and perhaps even abandon their base. We won’t get a better chance to strike.”
Her words filled the room. Liam watched Sky nodding to herself, and Butcher silently accepting the decision with new resolve. Swift and Amelia both looked concerned but they remained quiet. Highcastle’s brow furrowed in thought. It was Brown who finally spoke.
“We still have that Sectoid ship out there, and it appears to be closing us. What do we think its involvement in all this is?”
“What do we know for sure?” Riverton asked in response.
“We know the pirates have Sectoid acid, and we’ve seen the Sectoid ship nearby during several pirate attacks. We know there was a Sectoid-encrypted signal from Windfall before we sailed, and we intercepted at least one other from the Sectoid ship when we were chasing down Bluebird.” She glanced at Highcastle for confirmation.
“We think it was aimed at Bluebird,” he added, “though there’s a chance it might have been aimed at another target further down our bearing.”
“But based on strength, we think it was aimed at Bluebird,” Brown concluded, “strongly suggesting collusion between Sectoids and pirates.”
Riverton’s expression remained impassive.
“And,” Highcastle interjected, “we
have traces of another signal with the same encryption, sent just before we attacked Bluebird. It might have come from the pirates.” He paused. “It also might have come from Daring.”
Liam stared at him in astonishment. What was Highcastle suggesting, precisely?
“We don’t know that,” Brown interrupted, raising her hands to quell the shock rising around the table. “We just caught a trace echo, and it was after the fact. With the ships as close together as they were, it’s impossible to pin down exactly where the signal originated from.”
“But it’s important,” Highcastle said with a glare at her, “to report all information.”
“Yes”—she glared back—“but the captain asked what we know—not what we guess.”
“That’s fine,” Riverton interrupted calmly. “We will continue to monitor for any other signals. If one originates from Daring now, we’ll know for sure.”
Liam struggled to keep his own expression as stoic as the captain’s, but he didn’t quite succeed. Could it be possible there was a spy aboard Daring? That one of their crew had betrayed them?
No, he reminded himself. There was just an uncertain piece of information.
Still, the tension in the silence around the table now was palpable.
“Anything else?” Riverton asked, looking around the table.
“Hull integrity is good,” Swift said. “We’re in solid enough shape to see action, but I’m concerned about taking cannon fire to the starboard side—I can’t guarantee that our fixes will hold as expected under that kind of assault. I recommend we fight with port broadsides only.”
“Very well.” Riverton nodded.
“The boarding team is understrength after the last attack,” Sky said, looking at Butcher. “I’ll need to draw from the remaining crew and start training right away.”
“We’ll look at the watch rotations right after this,” the coxn replied.
“And we have no boats,” Sky added simply.
Liam frowned at the reminder. Inserting a boarding party without boats was a challenge he’d already spent time trying to solve. Unsuccessfully.
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