by John Ringo
“Mentat Kang,” Jeff said. “Imeg ship is on course and we’re about to enter detection range. One hour to intercept. Time for you to work your magic.”
* * *
Can you sense the ship? Mentat Shaina asked.
There are several, Sissy replied. But that must be the one.
Powerful, Kang thought. Very powerful sohon.
Note the particles, Shaina thought. Note the build-up of energy associated with their acceleration, the flex of the universe at their increase in mass. Even with our cloak, we give off traces. We must eliminate every trace. And we must do it invisibly. We do not want the Imeg sensing us as we sense it.
I must go ready my team, Kang thought. Ensure no trace.
We will do our very best, Shaina replied.
* * *
“You up for this, Skank?” Redman asked as he strapped into his seat.
The three Banshee shuttles were lined up and prepared for launch. As the teams approached they spread out, distributing themselves so that if one of the shuttles was destroyed on approach, at least some of the teams would make it to the ship. The mission was still a go if they lost one shuttle. Two was an abort.
The interior of the shuttles was tight. Four ranks of seats ran down its interior, two outboard and two inboard. The boarders faced each other, knees interlocked. What with body armor, suits, battle-rattle and weapons, there wasn’t enough room to swing a mouse much less a cat.
“I’m beginning to wonder,” Adept Pawle replied, calmly. “I can sense the power of the Imeg even here. It is powerful. Very powerful. And that is not the only problem… ”
* * *
“There are two Imeg on the ship,” Kang said, his eyes closed and apparently meditating. “One is a mentat in truth. Very powerful. The other… barely an adept. But he will still be a problem.”
“We’ve got, what? Sixteen sohon adepts and mentats?” Jake replied, his eyes closed as well. “Surely you guys can keep two under control.”
“Colonel Mosovich,” Kang replied. “Were I using sohon, and I assuredly am not, I’m not sure that the Imeg would notice me from this distance. However, it is impossible to miss. I do not want to reduce your confidence, but the relative disparity of force is that of, say, a battlecruiser to a battleship. We have two battlecruisers, a couple of cruisers and a dozen destroyers.”
“Well, you guys better think about what it takes to become battleships, then,” Jake replied. “It’ll work out. And if it don’t, we’ll hardly know it.”
* * *
Mentat Shaina and two of the lower level Indowy had taken up positions in the Battle Room.
Jeff was keeping one eye on the battle holo and one on the Indowy. But there wasn’t much to see in the latter case. The Indowy didn’t do a lotus when they were meditating; they knelt with their hands crossed, palms upwards and eyes closed. They’d been that way for the last forty-five minutes with no real change.
“We are detected,” Shaina said. “Mentat Harris is closing down their communications. I shall be busy. Thuthiri will communicate.”
“Close the target,” Jeff snapped. “Prepare to launch shuttles. Open fire all secondary weapons.”
* * *
“What class of ship is that?” Cruiser Master Goglugot said. “And where did it come from?”
Goglugot was a Kotha, as were most ship masters, the commander of the Gorongur. He had made this same run a dozen times so far and was less than pleased. He knew well the axiom of war that one should never develop a pattern. But the Imeg were less than interested in input from a lowly Cruiser Master. The Imeg loved order. Order was the way of the Hedren. So over and over again he had left on the identical schedule and entered warp at the identical point and now he was about to be fucked for it.
And would the Imeg take the blame? Unlikely. Not that he was probably going to face an Inquisition. Given the power of the ship he was up against, he was unlikely to face anything but death.
“A similar vessel was reported by scouts,” the Marro Combat Officer replied. “It appears to be a new class. Capabilities are unknown. It was under cloak and apparently was enhancing with kratki. Thus we only detected it at less than a li. Neither the cloak capability nor the kratki enhancements were known to our intelligence. But the prominences forward are believed to be aesthetic.”
“The prominences forward bother me less than the heavy weapons on its side!”
* * *
“Colonel,” the shuttle pilot said. “We’ve been made. Launching in three… two… one.”
There was a slight sideways acceleration and then gravity dropped away. The shuttles had anti-grav systems but most of their power was being devoted to maneuvering and inertial dampening.
Trained human pilots, given the right sort of seats and G suits, could sustain upwards of sixteen gravities of acceleration for brief periods. Maneuvers in Banshees in space could generate up to a hundred gravities. A hundred gravs would turn any human body into red mush.
To avoid being turned into red mush, all space combat vessels as well as ACS used inertial dampeners. The dampeners could reduce the acceleration gradient to nearly earth normal. But they used a lot of power doing it. Using more power to create a notional ‘down’ meant less maneuverability. And the pilots of the shuttles wanted all the maneuverablity they could get.
The space between the two ships was a cauldron of fire. Mass-drivers, grasers and plasma cannons filled the intervening space to the point the pilot wasn’t sure that any of the shuttles would survive.
The Hedren ship used primarily grasers, gamma ray frequency lasers, while the human ship mounted mass-drivers and plasma cannons. The latter two were visible while the grasers were, unfortunately, invisible. They did, however, show up on sensors. And her sensors were showing no way through the fire.
“I thought the mentats were going to shut down the enemy fire!” her co-pilot snapped.
“Guess that plan is out the window,” she replied as the shields shuddered from a direct graser hit.
* * *
“The ship has launched small-craft,” the Combat Officer said as the Gorongur shuddered under the power of the Des Moines’ secondaries. “Shuttles or space fighters.”
“Then engage and destroy them,” Goglugot snapped then grabbed his head.
The enemy is attempting to board.
The Imeg’s thoughts lashed the Cruiser Master’s brain with fire. And it wasn’t like he needed the distraction.
“Only one thing on this ship worth boarding for, My Lord,” Goglugot replied, tightly. “I suggest you prepare to defend yourself. The Glandri are yours to command.”
I will order them to deploy. If I or my apprentice are lost, it will go hard upon you, Cruiser Master.
“I doubt any of us will survive to face the Inquisition, My Lord,” Goglugot said. “For that reason, if no other, we will fight hard.”
As the Imeg released him, Goglugot rubbed his cranium with a hand-tentacle.
“You know,” he said, looking that the Combat Officer. “There are times I wish I was a lowly Marro.”
“Too many arms, Cruiser Master,” the Marro replied. “We’re attempting to engage the shuttles but much of our fire is being diverted. I assume by kratki. Grasers are bending in space and splashing off their shields.”
“I think I’ll leave that for our Lord Imeg to deal with.”
* * *
“Adept Tuthiri?” Jeff said, calmly. “The shuttles are taking fire.”
“The human team is attempting to shut down the enemy’s guns,” Tuthiri replied, calmly. His fur, though, was rippling in distress. “The Imeg is preventing that. Also attempting to shut down our systems as well as trying to get the fusion drives to explode. We are preventing that. It is the best we can do at the moment. The Imeg is… powerful.”
“Do we abort?” Jeff asked.
There was no reply.
* * *
Shaina, Sissy thought. We could use some help here.
We are strengthening the sh
uttle’s shields, Shaina replied. As well as protecting the ship. We cannot engage the Imeg nor its ship directly.
Well, I’m not sure there’s enough of us to stop this bastard, Sissy thought. Kang, watch your ass.
* * *
“Kang?” Jake said. “Mentat Kang? Glasshoppah?”
“Not… now… ” Kang replied, his jaw tight. “This bastard is… ”
“Do we need to abort?”
“Can your forces fight through the defenders without help?” Kang asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, no, we do not need to abort.”
* * *
“Failure in mass driver controls,” the gunnery officer snapped. “Mass drivers non-responsive.”
“Track it down,” Jeff replied.
“Back up,” Guns said, looking puzzled. “Continuing engagment.”
“The Imeg is breaking through,” Tuthiri said. “The lower level Imeg is holding reality on his ship while the higher level is attacking the Des Moines and the shuttles.”
“I felt that,” Daisy said, working her shoulder. “He’d better watch it or he’s going to piss me off. And he doesn’t want to piss me off.”
* * *
“Maneuvering to dock,” the shuttle pilot said.
The Banshee went through one of those maneuvers that was only possible in space, spinning through three dimensions and slamming its rear into the hull of the Hedren ship. Tractor clamps locked it in place as flexible seals slapped onto the armor of the warship.
“On and locked,” she snapped. “Go, Colonel!”
* * *
As the lock dilated outward Payback slapped a heavy-duty burn patch onto the hull.
“Clear!”
The patch began to flare with eye-searing brilliance then got even hotter and stronger than normal.
“What the… ?”
“Kang’s reinforcing,” Mosovich said. “All teams, lock and load!”
The patch burned through the refractory hull in mere seconds then the cut section of hull slammed outwards, bouncing off of the interior bulkhead. The seals were not perfect and the gaseous metal from the cutting patch was sucked out to the side in a torrent of wind from the interior of the ship.
The DAG teams ignored the wind, hopping over the low and very hot coaming then spreading out on the interior of the Hedren ship.
* * *
“Clear,” Mangler said as he took a knee in the corridor. The light on the ship was low and a weird violet. But his combat goggles quickly adjusted it to human normal. They could do less about the gravity which was a touch high.
A Marro whipped around the corner, a sealing kit in his hand, and hissed to a stop at the sight of the boarders. He barely had time to do more before being cut in half by a blast of razor sharp flechettes.
“Clear,” Mangler repeated.
* * *
“Tell the shuttles to blow clear,” Jeff said as the ship shuddered under the fire from the Hedren cruiser.
“Shuttles, blow clear and retreat,” the boats officer said. “Follow assigned vector.”
“Clearing vector of friendly fire,” the gunnery officer said. “They should be able to run right down the side of the ship.”
“Tuthiri, get word to Colonel Mosovich that we’re clearing the shuttles. Don’t bother holding that area. Bridge, maneuver nose forward to the Hedren ship. Guns, warm up the QT. I’m tired of taking fire from this bastard.”
* * *
“The shuttles are leaving,” Mueller said as Payback slapped another charge on a door. “Maybe we should open this up… ”
The blast door slid to either side, revealing an empty corridor.
“Like that. Thanks, Kang.”
“Actually, that was Skank,” Kang said, his face sweating. “I’m trying to keep the Imeg from killing us.”
As he said that the shuttles blasted clear and there was a moment of wind again, quickly cut off.
“I hate vacuum,” Mueller said as he trotted forward. “It really sucks.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” Skank said. “I’m having a hard enough time concentrating.”
* * *
“Tuthiri, tell your people to make sure the QT guns are not interfered with,” Jeff said as the ship maneuvered. It took a moment to pivot it to face the Imeg ship and it was taking fire the whole time.
“QT in target basket in five seconds,” the Gunnery officer said. “We’re getting pounded. Twenty percent drop in fire on the port side.”
“That is about to change,” Jeff said. “Honey, I think you’re the gunner on this.”
“QT guns charged,” Daisy said.
“Fire on bearing.”
“I have lock,” Guns said.
“Firing,” Daisy replied.
* * *
“What the hell?” Mangler shouted as the corridor bucked and the air began to howl with depressurization again. Between the shuddering deck and the wind he slid into a sprawl which was a good thing since a beam of green fire flashed over his head. “Glandri!”
The porcupine-like beings were spilling into a cross-corridor, laying down a withering fire with their neural whips. Mangler grabbed a stanchion and slid backwards, angling his rail-gun around the corner and firing. He wasn’t blind, though. The scope on the rifle fed to his goggles and he could lay down some pretty accurate fire that way.
Glandri blood was blue. That became apparent as it splashed all over the corridor.
Recto and Stalker stacked up on him, firing from a kneeling position and standing respectively. Stalker, though, leaned a little too far out getting his shots and Mangler suddenly had a thrashing body on top of him.
“Stalker’s down!” Recto snapped.
“Got ’im,” Fudge replied, grabbing the ankles of the clearing specialist and dragging him backwards. As he did Stalker quit convulsing, shuddered once and then was still. “Fuck.”
“Fuck this,” Mangler said, reaching behind his back and pulling out what looked like a flare gun with a thick grip. “Suicide-bars! Clear!”
The anti-matter grenade launcher did not have the same connection to his goggles but he didn’t care. He just aligned it with the corridor, fired all five rounds in the magazine and ducked around the corner.
A moment later the cross-corridor flashed with fire. A Glandri, most of it anyway, hit the starboard bulkhead and flopped to the floor.
He slid his rifle back around the corner, got a good look then stood up.
“Clear. But I don’t think we’re going to be using this route.”
* * *
“Enemy fire had dropped to minimal,” the Tactical Officer said. “Only two grasers firing… Make that none,” he finished as the ship shuddered from mass-driver fire.
The enemy cruiser’s surface had been stripped. It was open in multiple places and all of its gun emplacments were toast.
“That’s an ugly weapon,” Jeff said. “I like it.”
“Fire again, sir?” Guns asked.
“We want the ship to keep functioning until we get the teams back,” McNair replied. “So, no. Maybe later.”
* * *
“What just hit us?” Goglugot asked.
“Unknown weapon,” the Combat Officer replied. “Apparently generated by the ‘aesthetic’ forward prominences. All starboard weapons inoperative. Four port-side weapons operative. Multiple hull breaches. Weapon caused a positive reading on the kratki detector. A large positive reading.”
“Can we still warp?”
“Negative,” the maneuvering officer replied. The Hotha raised four tentacles in the race’s equivalent of a shrug. “Engines are functional but all external warp nacelles are down. We have normal space drive capability and that is all.”
“Begin maneuvers to attempt to return to Caracool,” Goglugot said. “Continue to try to call for support. Surely someone must have noticed that there is a space battle going on around here!”
* * *
“Fuck,” Jake muttered.
; Where the Himmit thought the Imeg might be hiding was a bulkhead. They could cut through it, but that would take time. Time they didn’t have.
They’d lost seven guys so far to the Glandri defenders and the Marro were starting to weapon up. They had to find the Imeg, grab him and get the hell out.
Worst, their sohon supports were starting to look rocky.
“Kang, can you figure out how to get to the Imeg?”
“Right, I think,” Kang said, his face sweating. “Right, left, down two crossings then left again.”
Jake sketched that out on the plans they had and sent it out.
“Let’s move people.”
* * *
“The target is attempting to slingshot around the jovian,” the Tactical Officer said. “Probably trying to run for home. Or maybe for support. Other ships in the system are attempting to close this position. Thirty minutes, minimum, before the first one comes into range. And that’s a destroyer. Easy enough to take out.”
“Cloaked ships?” Jeff asked.
“None apparent,” the TACO replied. “But we can’t detect them at more than five light seconds.”
“Stay alert,” Captain McNair said. “And get word to the colonel that he needs to either get the Imeg and get out or abort.”
* * *
“Clear,” Payback said as he fired the cutting charge. He opened his eyes and looked at the charge which was just sitting there. The initiator had gone off, but not the charge. “Dust Devil!”