Cookie shifted to the side to clear her field of fire and opened up with her pellet gun. One of the Duck soldiers was raising a radio to his mouth and she shot him twice in the face. The pellets lacked the sheer force of a sonic rifle or the precision of a flechette gun, but they did the job all right. The soldier’s head splattered backward and the radio handset went flying. She looked around. All of the Dominions were down. Beside her, Wisnioswski was grinning broadly, holding up the bloody spear.
“Oh, I like this!” he roared.
“Get one of their pistols, Wisnioswski,” she barked.
He held one up in his other hand. “I got one, Sarge, but can I keep my spear, too?”
“I’ve created a monster,” she muttered. “Everybody, keep moving! Don’t stop!”
More Marines joined them and they surged forward. Somewhere ahead lay the Bridge.
The Vengeance fired its heavy lasers and shot twenty missiles at close range, leaving no time for the Galway to dodge. The Galway was well out in front of the other ships and radiating loudly on the Vengeance’s sensors. It never stood a chance. Its last missile had barely left the launch rails when six lasers sliced into it, leaving the Galway’s forward missile rooms open to vacuum. It explosively vented air and bodies and debris and began to roll over. But not for long. Of the twenty missiles, fourteen struck it, penetrating deep into its interior before detonating. The result was catastrophic.
The H.M.S. Galway broke in half like a rotten stick. Its stern section spun off in one direction while its torn and mangled bow compartments cart-wheeled off in another. Seventeen crew members were still alive, locked in a small cabin that was airtight. They ran out of air before the cold could kill them.
“Chaff and decoys!” Emily screamed. Both her hands were shaking now and she tucked them into her armpits. “Get back into the minefield!” Sensors had finally located the Dominion battleship that had ambushed them from less than a thousand miles. “All ships, lock onto the Duck battleship and fire lasers! Now!”
She felt the ‘thrummm’ of the giant capacitors discharging, followed by the familiar screeching whine as they began their recharge cycle. On the holo display, she could see the high-speed trail of the Galway’s Code Omega drone as it sped from the ruined hulk toward the space station Atlas, where itwould report that yet another Victorian ship was lost.
“We are back in the minefield, Captain,” Rahim Bahawalanzai reported from the pilot’s seat. Even the unshakeable pilot sounded rattled.
Emily nodded, already pushing the Galway from her mind as she took in the next threat. Behind them the Dominion battleship had launched another volley of missiles at their last location and she watched as they destroyed several mines. The explosion of the Galway acted like chaff, she thought. The Ducks couldn’t see where we ran to. On the far side of the battle display, the Galway’s Code Omega drone finally disappeared off the screen. Then there was another series of explosions, this time closer, as the Duck cruisers joined in the fun.
“Message from the Kent,” Betty announced. Emily nodded at her to put it on. In a moment a very angry Captain Stein was facing her.
“You’re killing us, Tuttle!” she snapped. “We cannot trade ship for goddam ship with these guys and expect to win.”
Grant Skiffington joined the conference, his face grim. “What are we going to do, Emily?”
“We are going to fall back to the Atlas!” Stein jumped in. “That’s the only card left now. Suffering Christ! We sure aren’t doing any good out here.”
“Emily,” Grant Skiffington began, but Emily held up a hand to silence them both.
“We’re moving to the inner edge of the minefield, nearer to the Atlas. Once there, we’ll position ourselves to shoot the first Dominion ship that sticks its nose out of the minefield.”
“Shoot them! Shoot them with what?” Stein shouted. “I’ve got six missiles left. Six! Half my lasers are gone and my capacitors are taking ten minutes to recharge.”
Emily looked at Grant. He smiled mirthlessly. ““I’ve got half my lasers. I’ve got nine missile tubes functioning and enough missiles for two volleys.”
Emily nodded. The New Zealand had thirteen missile tubes and twenty missiles left, but only five laser batteries still functioning.
“We follow the plan,” she said evenly. “Fall back with me to the inner edge of the minefield and get ready to fire when the first Duck comes through.”
“We won’t survive that,” Stein said flatly.
“The goal is for Atlas to survive,” Emily replied.
“Sweet Gods of Our Mothers,” Stein muttered.
“Listen, Emily,” Grant began. “If we fall back to the Atlas, maybe we can re-arm and-”
“Merlin!” Emily called.
“Captain Tuttle?” the AI replied.
“Launch the Code Omega drone.”
“Order accepted.” A pause. “The Code Omega drone is launched.”
Emily looked at her two other captains. They stared back grimly. Perhaps a little defiantly? They knew what she was doing. “Launch your Code Omega drones, then power down and go as stealthy as you can and follow me. If we get separated, meet at-” She gave the coordinates. She cut the communications before either of them could object.
Emily sat back in her chair, careful not to let any of her inner turmoil show on her face.
A long minute later, Merlin reported: “Sensors reports Code Omega from both the Yorkshire and Kent. Do you wish to commence rescue operations?”
Emily took a deep breath and held herself in check. Do not shout at the computer, she told herself. “Merlin, what is the status of the minefield? How long to breach by the Dominions?”
“The minefield will be breached in approximately forty minutes,” Merlin said.
The New Zealand went to stealth conditions and moved slowly toward the inner edge of the minefield. Alex Rudd came to stand beside her. “Alex?” she asked softly. “Are the Yorkshire and Kent following us?”
“Yes, Emily,” he reassured her. “They’re close behind us.”
Thank God, she thought. Her hands trembled. She tucked them under her thighs and sat on them.
Further behind them, the Dominion ships resumed blasting their way through the minefield.
Emily wondered how Cookie was doing.
The Sensors Officer on the Dominion Vengeance turned to Admiral Mello. “Sir! The Victorian ships just launched their Omega drones. But they’re still alive, Admiral. Sensors caught a glimpse of them before they went into stealth mode.” The Sensors Officer looked bewildered. “Why would they do that?”
Mello grunted, stroking his chin. He nodded to himself. He admired this Victorian, whoever he was. “The Victorian admiral leading those ships just told us that they will fight to the death. They will not run away.” Then, mindful that his bridge crew was watching him, he smiled wolfishly.
“So, we’ll just have to kill them all, won’t we?”
Chapter 70
On the Dominion Vengeance
Cookie dove for cover as a fusillade of flechettes pinged off the bulkhead just above her. The two Marines immediately in front jerked backwards, blood spurting in waves as their headless bodies crashed to the floor. Cookie snatched up their air guns and passed them back. “Give these to someone who only has a spear,” she told the private behind her. Gods of Our Mothers, what she would give for a powered battle suit. Armor. Weapons. Amplified sensors. Medical support mods. March right through the bastards and take the bridge in ten minutes. Kill ‘em all.
If wishes were horses, she thought ruefully, beggars would ride. She turned to the soldiers behind her, thirty or more, all armed with air guns, and all staring at her wide-eyed. “There’s only three or four of them in front of us. You, you and you-”she pointed. “Lay down suppressing fire. The rest of you run right at them. We are running out of time. Now move!”
Two minutes and five dead later, they moved another corridor closer to the Bridge. Off to their left and behind th
em, they could hear the steady tattoo of gun fire and the intermittent crackle of a heavy energy weapon. Cookie smiled ruefully. Using a heavy energy weapon inside the ship? We must have really pissed them off.
“Keep moving!” she told her soldiers. A private skidded around the corner, saw her and flopped down beside her, breathing heavily. “Sergeant, Master Sergeant Zamir told me to tell you that the second wave did not transport aboard.”
“What!” Cookie said, biting back a scream of frustration.
The runner nodded. “Master Sergeant thinks something must have gone wrong, but no more troops came through.”
Cookie’s mood swung between panic, anger and disbelief. “Where is the Master Sergeant?”
“Well, that’s the second part,” the private said. “The Ducks have some soldiers in powered armor. They’re somewhere behind us but moving up. Master Sergeant says we can’t stop them with the pop guns we have, so you have to take the bridge real quick. He says he’ll try to buy you some time, but that you need to, uh, well, he said you need to move your ass.”
Unbelievable, thought Cookie. She stood up. Somewhere in front of her was the Dominion Bridge.
On the Space Station Atlas, Hiram Brill’s assistant, Nina, approached him hesitantly. “Commander, this just came in from Sensors.”
Hiram was trying desperately to move more missile mines from the front of the Atlas to its rear, where the Dominion force was threatening them. “Can you handle it, Nina?” he asked distractedly, not taking his eyes off the hologram.
“Commander,” she began, and then stopped. He looked up in alarm; uncertainty was not one of Nina’s traits. “Hiram,” she said softly. “We’ve had four Code Omega drones. The Galway, Kent, New Zealand and Yorkshire. They’re all gone. I’m sorry.” She turned and left.
Hiram sat numbly in the chair, staring at nothing. In all of his life he had had only one real friend, and in all of his life he only loved one woman. Now they were both dead? He couldn’t understand it. Wouldn’t understand it.
“Nina!” he shouted. From across the room she looked up, startled and worried. “Send the data from the Omega drones to my console,” he told her. Dammit, they weren’t dead until he saw it with his own eyes.
On the battle bridge of the Vengeance, Captain Pattin leaned over to Admiral Mello. “I’m getting reports of enemy soldiers onboard. There is shooting around the mess desk and in some of the corridors.”
Mello looked at her, eyebrows raised. “How?”
Pattin shrugged. “They must have gotten close enough to land a shuttle on our hull and cut through. I don’t think there can be very many of them. I’ve alerted DSD and they’re hunting them down.”
Mello turned back to his battle display. A few men with guns were an annoyance, but not a threat. The Security Directorate thugs would hunt them down. The lucky ones would be killed; those not so fortunate would be captured. The Dominion Security Directorate had a certain, ah, reputation when it came to prisoners. Well, not his problem, was it?
He pointed to the display of the Dominion warships grinding their way through the Victorian minefield. “Won’t be long now.”
Two thousand miles behind the Vengeance, on the Dominion battleship Fortitude, there was a knock at Admiral Kaeser’s door. He took that as a good sign: if Captain Bauer were treating him as a prisoner, he would have just opened the door and come in. Knocking was a touch of civility, a sign of respect. It meant there was hope.
Admiral Kaeser opened the door personally, rather than simply barking “Come!” as was the general practice. “Come in, Captain,” he told Bauer, then ushered him to a chair. Bauer sat down, looking nervous and distracted, more nervous than he would have been just because he was visiting his admiral under house arrest.
“Perhaps you should tell me, Fritz,” Kaeser said.
“It’s Admiral Mello, sir,” Bauer said in a rush. “He’s lost another cruiser to a Vicky raid. His attack force is down to the Vengeance and four cruisers. I think he’s got enough force to break through the rest of the minefield, but if the Vicky ships return from the worm hole, Admiral Mello’s force will be overwhelmed.”
Kaeser nodded. Mello was bull-headed and unrelentingly aggressive, and a firm believer that every war culminated in a “decisive battle.” If Mello thought this was the decisive battle with the Victorians, he would risk everything for it. Kaeser sighed. How was it that fools like this always seemed to reach positions of power?
“What is our status, Captain?” he asked.
Bauer took a deep breath. “The Fortitude has been ordered forward to join the Vengeance. We are about to enter the passage they’ve blasted through the minefield.”
“Reinforcements? Are any more ships coming from our force around the Vicky home world?”
“Six cruisers, Admiral, but they are two to three hours behind us.”
“Just so,” Kaeser sighed. He ran his hand through his hair, feverishly calculating the number of hulls available and the throw weights they represented. God damn Mello to hell for eternity and a day for squandering his forces to break through the minefield! Mello spent his entire career treating every problem like a nail and himself the hammer. And now this.
Whine or lead, Admiral, Kaeser chided himself. Which will it be?
“What are you going to do, Fritz?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know!” Bauer blurted. “I–I think Admiral Mello is going to get us all killed, but if we don’t try, the space station Atlas will escape. But if we are all destroyed and it does escape, then who will be left to protect Timor and the rest of the Dominion? And if I do the wrong thing, DSD will arrest my family…” He stopped, breathing hard, his face fluid with mixed emotions of doubt, fear and shame. “I don’t know what to do, sir. I honestly don’t.”
Kaeser stood and buttoned up his uniform tunic. “Fritz,” he said kindly. “I think it would be best if you and I went back to the bridge together.”
Relief showed on Bauer’s face. “What are you going to do, sir?”
Kaeser smiled ruefully. “I don’t know yet, Fritz, but when the time is right, I’ll do it.”
The H.M.S. New Zealand reached the inner edge of the minefield. Space Station Atlas was a mere sixty minutes away at a high speed run, visible now on passive sensors. In fact, it was as stealthy as a bonfire in a dark room.
Worse, there was still no sign of Admiral Douthat and the rest of the Home Fleet.
“Send a courier drone to the Atlas, Alex,” Emily said. “Let them know we’re here and we are preparing to attack the Dominion ships as they come through the minefield. Tell them if they have any ships available, we urgently need reinforcements.”
The Kent and the Yorkshire called in that they were on station. Emily had Merlin project the point where the Dominions were most likely to break through the minefield, then ordered the other ships to use their tractor beams to move nearby missile mines to that area. For the fifth time, she obsessively reviewed their weapons inventory and came to the same conclusion: they might get lucky and take out one more Duck cruiser, but that was it. The rest of the cruisers and that gargantuan Dominion battleship were going to break through and reach the Atlas. Her battered ships just didn’t have the firepower to stop them.
An idea struck her then, but it was so dark and repulsive she didn’t want to consider it. She certainly didn’t want to say it out loud in front of her Bridge crew.
“Minefield breach imminent!” Merlin announced.
“All ships, go to battle stations!” Emily ordered, working to keep her voice calm. “Merlin will identify the target. Fire all lasers and missiles on my order.”
On the battle display, she watched as the last line of missile mines blinked rapidly and disappeared. Then there was the telltale red symbol of an enemy ship emerging into open space.
“Mine field has been breached,” Merlin said solemnly. “Enemy missile cruiser is emerging.”
Gods of Our Mothers, help us now, Emily thought. She thumbed the com
m button. “All weapons, fire! Fire!”
On the Dominion battleship Vengeance, Cookie peeked cautiously around one corner. Nothing. There was a large sign on the far wall with an arrow pointing to the left. She turned to her troops. “Anybody read Dominion?”
A private held up his hand. “I do, Sergeant. Lived on Timor for a year with my grandparents and learned it pretty good, I guess.”
“Get up here,” she hissed. He trotted up and she saw his name tag read “Albert Meyer.” “Can you read that sign, Meyer?” She pointed to the end of the corridor. He peeked around, then pulled back.
“Says the Combat Command Center is down there to the left,” he reported.
“That sound like the Bridge to you?”
He nodded. “Actually, the Bridge on a Dominion ship is just used for docking and stuff like that. The CCC is where they control the ship when they’re in a battle. That’s what we want, Sarge.”
Cookie looked back. She had about thirty men, all armed with either Tilleke air guns or captured blasters from the Ducks. Many of the Savak air guns had run out of ammo or air, and most of the captured blasters were getting low as well. Wisnioswski still carried a spear; his ‘lucky charm,’ he called it. She had lost about half of her force, but had just teamed up with the survivors from another. There was some pretty heavy fighting going on behind them, and the sounds of gunfire were steadily moving closer.
Time to move.
“The room we want is just up ahead,” she whispered to the others. “Once we get in, shoot everybody you see, got it? That’s why we’re here, to take out the people in that room.”
Everybody nodded. Some looked scared, some excited, some like they just wanted to finish it one way or another. Another deep vibration ran through the deck; the Vengeance had just fired its main batteries again.
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