by Damon Alan
Jace glowered.
“It’s good, Jace. Just think about this.” Orson reached over and patted Heinrich’s arm. “She’s saving our lives so you can have your own private harem for the rest of your life. Girls to rub your back, bear your children, serve you food… and your more primitive needs.”
Conflicting emotions raced across Jace’s visage.
Orson laughed. “Today she saves us, benefiting you. Tomorrow, when we’re far away from here, she bears my children.”
“She’s dangerous,” Jace grumbled.
“Not at all,” Andersott interjected. “Not as long as Captain Orson doses her properly.”
“Danger…” Orson said wistfully. “Danger is what makes us alive, Jace. Danger is what drives us to action. Danger,” Orson said as he looked longingly at Heinrich, “is what makes our victories so precious.”
* * *
Sarah Dayson - Hinden
Sarah watched the tactical readout on the main screen. The comet fragment was near the closest point in its trajectory.
“Battle stations. Alert One,” Sarah ordered.
Combat klaxons sounded as Seto barked the alert status over the intercom.
“Captain Malveaux and the secondary command crew to Auxcon,” she ordered over the sound of the alarms.
That one was new to her. Being an attack ship, the Hinden had an auxiliary control that would take control if the bridge was out of commission. The Stennis had not, because despite his punch, he wasn’t meant to be in the heart of the battle.
The comet fragment was eating at her. Roiling her gut. She hadn’t survived so long taking chances.
“Bring a full spread to bear on the fragment,” she ordered. “Mr. Harmeen, prepare to launch our decoy shuttles.”
“Captain, I have a signal, three-four-zero mark three-five-eight. Seventeen million kilometers.”
“What signal?” Sarah barked.
“The Schein, sir. It’s a standard maintenance log transfer, automated and in the clear. Sent to the Fyurigan, of all things.”
“Details?” she asked.
“Fuel levels, combat stores, hull status, and the levels of consumable items,” Harmeen said. “Permission to go active?”
Sarah considered her options. Going active would reveal her location. She’d have to change course immediately.
“Go active.”
He smiled as he pushed their sensors to full power.
“Mr. Harra, plot a burn to put us between the Schein and that cometary fragment. We’ll use it to alter our outline and confuse his sensors should he survive our attack.”
The bridge burst into activity. Sarah stared at the tactical screen, as a new target bloomed into existence. Yellow, indicating it was of unknown disposition.
“Mark that bastard red, Mr. Seto.”
“Aye, sir,” Seto answered.
“The target is parked next to an eleven kilometer wide comet body, Captain,” Harmeen said. “They’re not even trying to hide the reflectivity of their ship. It’s outlined perfectly against the dark surface.”
Sarah was puzzled. This was an easy kill. “This isn’t even slightly fair.” The Schein was far too distant to utilize railguns. “Mr. Harmeen, spin up two of the FTL nukes. Let’s end this now.”
“Aye, captain. Spinning up FTL missiles one and two.”
The Hinden groaned slightly as gravity waves coursed through her hull from the newly activated singularities within the missiles.
Good thing we’re not carrying an adept.
“Set target and fire when able,” she ordered.
“Launch one, launch two,” Harmeen answered. The viewscreen flared as the missiles raced forward from the Hinden, followed by two small gravitational lenses as the weapons rose to highspace.
“Away, Captain.”
“Shut down the sensors, Mr. Harmeen. Back to passive only.”
“Right away,” Harmeen answered.
“Mr. Harra, execute that course change you plotted. Put that fragment behind us. Use minimal thrusters.”
“Burn in two… one…” Harra said. “On minimal thrusters we’ll sit in our new position in thirty-four minutes, Captain.”
“Very well,” Sarah said.
Now the game was wait and see.
* * *
Garrette Orson - Schein
“They’re scanning us much harder,” Jace said.
“They’ve gone full active,” Heinrich added. She looked at her watch. “At the expected time.”
“What the galaxies are you babbling about?” Jace asked.
The panic was starting to make Orson wonder if Heinrich was right. Maybe Jace was the wrong officer for the bridge.
“You’ll see,” Heinrich replied.
“They’re launching missiles!” Jace screamed.
Orson felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face. “Heinrich? We should attack.”
“We should not. Not yet.”
“Orson, stop her! Take over,” Jace pleaded.
Orson studied Heinrich. She wasn’t even perspiring.
Could she betray him?
Andersott said no.
The medic had been right so far.
“We’ll do it her way,” Orson said. “So shut your face,” he said to his co-conspirator.
Jace groaned.
Andersott let out a sigh of relief. Apparently he trusted Heinrich more than Orson or Jace.
That was amusing. But he also realized that if not for Heinrich, they’d still be bouncing off that asteroid trying to learn to fly this ship. And if not for Andersott, they’d not have Heinrich.
“Two lens flares, zero seven zero mark zero zero two,” Jace uttered. The sound of his voice betrayed his tattered nerves.
“Just as planned,” Heinrich said. She was still expressionless, and when she had nothing to do, she stared blankly ahead into space.
“If they are targeting us, we’re dead,” Andersott said. Probably to taunt Jace as much as anything else.
Orson approved. The weak should be driven to their breaking point. He’d just always assumed it would be Andersott that would be broken.
A sigh of relief escaped Jace. “They’ve shut off their active sensors.”
Even Orson knew that a commander doesn’t shut down sensors in an active ship battle. Dayson clearly considered herself to be safe.
“Well done, my queen. Well done.”
The edge of Heinrich’s lips rose at the praise.
“Prepare our attack at your discretion,” Orson ordered.
Several minutes passed in silence, with Heinrich staring at her chronometer. Then she burst into activity.
“Battle stations. Battle stations. Set condition one,” Heinrich ordered on the ship PA.
* * *
Sarah Dayson - Hinden
Detonation flares lit up the tactical screen. The missiles had reached their destination and exploded. A megaton of nuclear force followed shortly after by another must have shredded the Schein. Even if it survived, the radiation would be overwhelming.
Sarah would have liked to have captured the ship, but she didn’t see a way to do that without risking her last undamaged cruiser. And she wasn’t about to do that. The Hive would be here eventually. She could feel it.
“Set course for the comet, I want a minimum safe distance flyby,” Sarah ordered. “One gee acceleration.”
“Setting course, burn in one minute,” Harra answered.
“Mr. Harmeen, full sweep of the Hinden, all decks. I want her in top shape by the time we search the comet. She is our one remaining capital warship, we will take care of her.”
“Permission to leave the bridge?”
“Granted. As soon as the burn begins.”
Harmeen detached his telemetry feed from his grav couch and waited for the weight from acceleration to hold him to the floor.
Walking to the damage control centers would tax him a bit after being weightless for days, but it would do them all good to move around some.<
br />
“Order off duty crew into their burn time exercise regiments, Mr. Seto.”
“Right away.”
Sarah leaned back and closed her eyes. She inwardly mourned the loss of the Schein’s crew. She had no idea what the conditions were on that ship with a madman in charge. She hoped without reason that she’d done them a favor and ended their suffering. It was easier than thinking the entire crew had turned on her.
* * *
Garrette Orson - Schein
“They have destroyed your decoy and begun a burn toward where they think they’ve killed us,” Jace reported.
“Well done,” Orson said to his bridge crew. “Their sensors?”
“On passive,” Jace answered.
Was that contrition in his voice? It didn’t matter. Heinrich had proved her worth.
“You have command,” Orson told her. “Kill Sarah Dayson.”
Heinrich looked at him with her cold eyes and hesitated a second before she started barking orders.
“Sensors, go full active on the Hinden. Railguns fire at will when you have full lock. One thirty second burst on target, then saturate the possible thrust vectors the enemy might take. Those vectors will be provided to you by navigation.”
Jace answered the confirmation calls coming into the bridge.
“Activate sublight missiles eleven and seventeen,” Heinrich ordered.
One by one weapons systems went green on the tactical board.
The Schein rang with vibrations as the railgun banks opened fire.
“On visual,” Orson barked.
The screen flared with orange tracers that disappeared into the distance.
“Time until impact?” he asked, well aware that his voice was likely half an octave higher and five decibels louder than normal.
“Three minutes,” Heinrich reported.
“They are taking evasive action,” Jace said. His voice was strained as well.
“Fire the active missiles,” Heinrich said.
The Schein hummed as the flames of the missile engines licked against her hull before racing off to the target.
“Activate missiles twelve and eighteen,” Heinrich ordered. “Stand by to launch on my order.”
“Aye, on your order,” combat ops replied.
She closed her eyes and waited.
Orson wished for the patience to do the same.
* * *
Sarah Dayson - Hinden
“Weapons fire, two three four mark three five six,” Harra commented as Harmeen started to disappear through the floor hatch.
“The fragment?” Sarah asked, incredulous. “Evasive! Emergency burn, full reverse and full down!”
“Aye, Captain,” Harra answered as he altered the engine parameters.
“Emergency burn in less than ten seconds,” Sarah called into the PA.
Crewmen that didn’t secure themselves were going to be seriously injured or killed.
Stars be damned. There was nothing to do about it.
“Seto, you’re on sensors. Full sweep of that fragment.”
“Aye.”
Harmeen jumped up to the deck, and raced toward his gravcouch. He looped a leg and an arm into the mesh weave of the harness just as the high energy burn started. He jerked straight away from the plane of the couch, dangling toward the ceiling and forward.
Sarah had wanted to wait, to see him secured. But each second wasted increased the chance of enemy ordinance finding its target.
“Navin!” Seto exclaimed through clenched teeth.
If he lost his grip, he would be dead an instant later.
“Battle stations! Set condition one, all sections,” Sarah ordered into the PA. “Railguns, fire in the blind, two degrees off two three four mark three five six in a cone.”
Within a few seconds the first stutter of railgun fire reached the bridge.
“Status!”
“Two minutes until the enemy fire is here,” Seto said. “They’re launching missiles.”
“Target lock,” Harra added. “Our railguns are zeroing in.”
“Great.”
“Mr. Harra, stop the burn for five seconds. Override the failsafes on the engines, then ignite them at maximum thrust, same vectors,” Sarah ordered. “Mr. Harmeen, use that five seconds wisely.”
“Stopping burn,” Harra reported.
Harmeen scrambled into his couch and hit the emergency secure mechanism. The containment webbing slapped across him like whips.
That’s going to leave a mark.
“Launch one of the automated shuttles, Mr. Harmeen. Don’t activate it yet.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Suddenly the Hinden bucked madly with a force Sarah had never experienced before in a ship that size. Anyone unsecured by this point was certainly dead.
“Spin up all missiles,” Sarah ordered Harmeen. “Fire four when able.”
“Wilco,” Harmeen grunted.
Tears spotted his face. That webbing must have really stung.
Now it was a waiting game. She looked at the weapons panel. Her missiles showed red. Until they showed green, she had almost no chance of winning this fight.
* * *
Garrette Orson - Schein
“They’re firing on us,” Jace practically screeched.
“You’re relieved,” Orson snapped. “Andersott, take his position.”
“I don’t—”
Orson shot Andersott a look that clearly said he wasn’t in the mood for excuses.
The medical officer relieved Jace.
“Go to sickbay and wait there,” Orson ordered. “Unless you can be quiet. If so, take your place at communications.”
Jace, humbled, slid into the comm position.
“Are you ever planning to evade?” Orson snapped at Heinrich.
“No.”
Orson’s mouth dropped open. “What do you mean no?”
“They were on passive sensors. Even though they’ve gone active, it takes time for the area that might contain us to be narrowed down effectively. They’re firing blind, in essence. We’re just a probability right now, as safe in this spot as any other.”
“That will change soon,” Orson reminded her.
“Yes, it will. But with our current mass, we are in no condition to evade anything. We can’t move fast enough. We’re just going to have to hope that the only thing they hit is cometary material.”
“And when they fire nukes?”
“In space a nuke has to be detonated very close to be effective. There is no pressure wave, just a burst of radiation. Besides, our first strike may hurt them enough they can’t fire,” Heinrich answered. “Battle is never certain, Captain. We have surprise, we have the upper hand. But they have the superior vessel and we may yet be defeated.”
Orson smiled wanly. “Of course.”
Jace audibly gulped.
How did he ever get on a spacecraft in the first place?
* * *
Sarah Dayson - Hinden
The first impacts were terrible. Six ship to ship railgun rounds impacted in the aft engines, destroying the Hinden’s ability to maneuver. The explosions rocked through the vessel and data feeds from the aft half of the ship failed. Acceleration dropped to a few gees downward.
At least this ship doesn’t carry antimatter.
“Damage report,” Sarah said calmly. There was no sense being upset. Unless the return fire from the Hinden got lucky, Orson had just defeated the remaining war capacity of the Seventh Fleet.
“Reports are spotty, Captain,” Harmeen said. “Massive venting to space in the aft sections. Some to control fires, but a lot of it is battle damage. We’ve been shredded back there.”
She smiled weakly at the outstanding young officer. “Is that the official report? We’re shredded?”
“For now, ma’am. Engineering reports that they don’t have enough living crewmen to count the dead.”
That hurt here where it mattered. For a moment she felt as if tears might burst out.
In anger. Tears of rage and helplessness. But she managed to keep her professional demeanor, although her eyes were probably red.
“Defensive railguns?” she asked, her voice weak.
“The few we have are firing in point defense mode, Captain. We estimate the chance we’ll stop both of the enemy missiles at less than five percent. The Hinden was designed as an attack ship, not to protect itself.”
“So noted,” she responded quietly.
Sarah looked at the chronometer. The missiles would be here soon. “Launch your shuttle, Mr. Harmeen. Full speed. Activate it immediately.”
“Launched.”
An explosion rocked the ship, and acceleration dropped to zero. The loss of control resulted in a slow end over end tumble.
Klaxons blared. “Critical systems failure,” a soft female voice uttered.
“A ruptured oxygen tank at the rear,” Harmeen informed her.
Sarah stared at the speaker emitting both the alarm sound and the AI’s speech. She stopped herself, realizing her hand was on the hilt of her service pistol.
Just once I want to shoot the AI. Not that the speaker is where the AI is stored.
“Blasted artificial intelligence. Misnomer if I ever heard one,” she muttered to herself.
She wished she could momentarily share their lack of emotions as she silenced the alarms via her control station. The thought of her dead crewmen was hammering her.
She bit her lip and regained control of her emotions. “Stabilize, Mr. Harra?”
“No response to controls, Captain.”
“Captain. Our back is broken. The Hinden is in two pieces,” Harmeen reported.
Emotion surged inside once again, some spilling out. She’d been in losing battles before, but she’d never lost her own ship. “Do we have anything left?” she raged.
“Auxiliary power. Sensors are down. Gunnery is offline. We’re blind and toothless.”
Images of the Samville at the battle of Hamor flashed into her mind. She’d watched that ship die. Did the Hinden look like that now?
She tried to think of any plan that might save the situation. None came to mind, something she wasn’t used to experiencing.
The ship jolted, then a few seconds later jolted again. The klaxons began anew. “Radiation in the outer compartments of the ship has exceeded lethal dosage. Report to medbay immediately if you are in starboard gun cont—”