Klaas paused his scan of the navigation screens and glanced at Rausch. “Got anything?”
“Nothing yet.” Rausch remained motionless with his gaze fixed on the wobbling traces and scrolling data. “Saw some static bursts. I’m still searching and—” He grew still and silent for a moment. “Hold on. Just picked up a signal, but it’s faint. Azimuth, starboard ten-point-five, elevation minus fourteen.”
Klaas punched in the course corrections. Like her mythical namesake, Pegasus pitched down and rolled to the new heading.
“Signal strength increasing. Good. Hold this course.” Rausch’s face screwed into a satirical grin, clearly pleased by the prospect of a fight.
Klaas tapped the seek icon, and the ship’s auto helm locked onto the pulses. “Bob, can you identify the signals? Are they Khepri?”
As Rausch fidgeted with his panel icons, symbols rolled across the display. “Here’s what we’re getting. Looks like scrambled lines to me.”
Klaas grabbed his fellow pilot by the shoulder and hissed, “Buffer the data and have the computer filter for a scarab symbol.”
“A what?” Rausch’s fingers froze over the icon panel.
“A scarab,” Klaas shot back. “It looks like a beetle. You’ll find it in the symbols file.”
Rausch sequenced the control icons and the lines of symbols slowed to a crawl across his display. “There they are!” In his excitement, he rose a bit off his chair. The symbols made no sense, but in every few dozen, the shape of a beetle flashed in yellow. “Khepri, by God.” His voice level jumped. “Signal strength is increasing. Hot damn, it’s gonna lead us straight to them.”
“Let’s get the bastards!” Rausch bellowed.
Khepri Frontier, Star Cluster Coma Berenices
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Pegasus
~~~
In his peripheral vision, Commander Klaas Van der Meer caught the flashing message on Pegasus’ threat detection screen. The hair on the nape of his neck stiffened as sensors on the outer hull flashed a warning of nearby Khepri.
A millisecond later, Rausch shouted, “Intermittent pulses. They match Khepri search mode. From the intensity, I’d say they’ve spotted us.”
The signals left no doubt in Klaas’ mind. “They must have detected our search pings. Time to get on with the deception plan.”
Both men gripped the armrests on their seats and a shield wrapped part way around them.
A broad smile filled Bob Rausch’s face as he rubbed his hands together. “The wolf is hungry, and we’re the bait.”
Klaas rolled the throttle icon forward, and the little corvette accelerated toward the pulse source.
Before their departure, Emeka Kamau had briefed them for the better part of an hour about the tactics the Khepri had employed against her during her battle. She described the Khepri as unpredictable and aggressive.
Rausch angled his head in Klaas’ direction. “Closer. I want to see what their ship looks like.”
“We might not survive your curiosity,” Klaas muttered. “Besides, our mission is to lead them back to the fleet.”
“Off our port bow!” Rausch’s pinched voice betrayed the adrenalin surge in his blood as he repeatedly stabbed his finger at the display space. “I can’t tell if we’re dealing with a single ship or not. The return intensity is too dim to be from a fleet.”
Klaas leaned over to get a better look at the ranging screen. “Let me know as soon as the image resolves. I want numbers of ships, location, everything, before one of their heavy ships jumps us.”
“We’re closing on him damn fast, but there’s no sign he’s activated his fire control, at least not yet. Hellfire hadrons!” Rausch’s eyes went wide. “A single ship, a small one, no bigger than us. Got to be one of their pickets. I’d bet he’s already signaled our presence to their fleet.”
“But where are their big ships?” Klaas gave a confused shake of his head.
Rausch gripped his pod restraint support. “Dunno, but who cares. Let’s get him. He’s all by himself and small enough. We can take him.”
“Our orders are specific. We are not to engage.”
“Klaas, we can’t sit out here on twenty-four hour watch waiting for the rest of them.”
Klaas quietly shook his head.
Rausch persisted, making no effort to hide his impatience. “We’re supposed to bring back the big fish. If we tangle with this one, he’ll call the others. Then we can lead them back to our fleet. After all, that’s our objective, right, to bring the entire enemy fleet back to Aurora?”
“You’re going to get us both killed, or court-martialed,” Klaas snapped back.
“Damn, Klaas, show some cojones. This is our only opportunity to get into a real fight with the bastards. Once they bring in their heavies, we’re out of the action. Drumond will order us away from the battle area. We’ll never get another chance as good as this one.”
“Yeah, I see how you got the Banzai Bob nickname. Okay, just this once. Give me a heading.”
“Heading starboard fifteen more, elevation plus twelve. I’m on the cannon.”
Pegasus swung right and nosed up, closing rapidly on the enemy picket.
The Khepri jinked down and began a sweeping turn away from Pegasus.
Klaas kicked up the acceleration, and both men strained in their pods as the Khepri ship grew larger in the visual.
“Good to know we’re the faster one,” Klaas said, his rules of engagement playing out in his mind. “Drumond will be glad to hear they can’t keep up with us.”
The Khepri ship’s twin engines joined to what appeared to be a single thorax, further connected to an odd head-like appendage.
Rausch stabbed his finger at the video. “Look at that. From this angle, he looks like a double-tail wasp. Before he turned, I got a look at the bow. It has a reflective dome with a thin, vertical stripe down the middle.”
Klaas wiped away the sweat forming on his forehead. “Start sending the images to Aurora, but don’t tell them we’re engaging, at least not yet. Jeez, he is one ugly son of a bitch. Cannons... Bob, did you see anything that looked like a weapon?”
“Behind the head on each side of its midsection, it has some long fairings.” Rausch slapped the console. “Christ, we’re in for it now. His fire control just activated. He’s going to shoot. I’ve got him in range and lock. We’re loaded for the kill. We fire, agreed?”
Klaas reached up and furiously rubbed his neck. “Do it.”
In the lower section of Pegasus’ bow, clamshell doors retracted and a burst of violet light poured out in a narrow beam.
A bright spot, red then white, bloomed on the aft, port side of the Khepri ship. A second later, the enemy craft spun and tumbled in a half circle. White vapor spewed out of nozzles in the sides of the damaged craft, stopping its end-over-end flip. The ship drifted away, frozen in a crazy, backward angle.
Klaas whipped the throttle icon back and Pegasus coasted. He reversed the throttle and the little ship’s engines re-vectored, initiating a sharp deceleration as Pegasus slowed in the direction of the crippled prey.
“Got him, by God!” Rausch whooped. He released his battle harness and did a jig around his station. “Damn, if we had Marines with us we could board him and find out what these bastards really look like. Hell, I’ll go myself.”
“Stop with the heroics and get back in your pod. He’s damaged but not destroyed, and the ranging lasers show we’ve got company coming on strong.” A fuzz ball of dots glowed on the ranging screen. “Looks like we’ve accomplished this part of our mission. We got their attention, and I bet they’re madder than hell. Time to make our exit, and I mean now.”
Klaas hit the icon controlling the side thrusters, and in a maneuver similar to the stricken enemy ship, Pegasus did a half tumble, stabilized, and presented her exhaust to the approaching Khepri fleet.
Rausch gripped the bar above his headrest as his feet flew out from under him. He twisted his way back into his pod and was still fasteni
ng his harness buckles when Klaas shut off the side thrusters and again rolled the throttle icon full forward.
“For Christ’s sake, Klaas, let me get into my battle pod before you pin me against the bulkhead again.”
Khepri fleet filled the stern view as they dogged Pegasus’ plasma plume, accelerating along with the little craft as she sped toward Aurora and the fleet.
Klaas dug his feet into the bottom of his pod to counter the acceleration. “Rausch, time to let the big boys take the playing field.”
Rausch keyed the transmitter. “Falconer, this is Ferret. Eureka!”
Aurora
~~~
In the confines of the combat deck, Scott switched the display over to Tanner in the CIC. “Time to spring the snare. Order the fleet to battle status and into tactical formation. You have permission for engine settings of two percent over red line until we reach attack velocity. You have the heading?”
Tanner pointed to the message screen. “It’s in the information Pegasus sent. Rausch also reports spotting a lone Khepri preparing to fire on them. And get this, he reports they fired on and damaged the Khepri ship.”
Scott angled toward the display and slammed his fist on the workspace. “Dammit. My orders were specific. They were not to engage. Did Rausch report any damage to Pegasus?”
In the reflction of the display, Tanner shrugged. “No, he reports they came out of the fight unscathed. The report also says the enemy fleet is in a formation roughly the shape predicted by Emeka.”
“Charge Prometheus. When do you estimate contact?” Aurora hesitated as engine power diverted to the antimatter generator.
“Given our closing speed, we’ll be on them in fifteen minutes.”
The duty officer keyed his intercom transmitter. “Khepri search lasers have triggered our sensors. The signal’s still weak, though.”
“Now it gets dicey.” Scott cycled a slow scan of the displays throughout the ship. He paused the scan on Tanner. “In a few minutes, they’re bound to spot us. Have the CIC commander let us know the minute he sees their fire control lasers light up.”
Tanner relayed the request.
The combined approach velocity of the two fleets neared one percent of light speed.
Tanner and Scott activated their battle pods, and shields wrapped their back and sides. They exchanged worried looks in their respective displays, and Scott knew they were agonizing over the same question: How much time do the Khepri need to aim and accurately fire their weapons?
Aurora pulled ahead of her companions. Above and slightly aft, da Silva maneuvered Targelion to the top point of the triangle, while Vesper dropped low to starboard. Bauer swung Plexaure low on the port side.
“We’re receiving heavy activity on the Khepri frequencies,” the duty officer warned over the comm net.
“Enemy strength estimated at seven ships equivalent to our strike cruisers. They’ll be in range of Prometheus in two minutes,” the CIC officer called out. “Khepri Fire control signals detected.”
Two Khepri ships spewed streams of plasma, and dancing veins of yellow and blue coursed around Aurora’s outer hull as magnetic fields diverted the streams of ionized particles. Engines groaned, lowering in pitch as they strained under the power demands of the shields.
Scott eyed the clock. “Seven of their heavies against our four plus our one small corvette. Tanner, order our companions to begin their circling maneuver, and tell them to fire on the Khepri as they acquire in-range targets. Have them begin deceleration as soon as we have the enemy formation within range.”
The little Pegasus blew past Aurora and the rest of the fleet. Within minutes, she decelerated and arced around to join the hive of activity surrounding Aurora.
The intercom now carried the ship-to-ship channel.
Targelion discharged her hadron cannon first. Blue-green light from atoms stripped of electrons, blazed out of her tubes and faded just short of the target.
“Couldn’t reach him,” da Silva’s voice complained over the net. “Makes no nada, there’s another one, a little closer.” His ship fired again, and a flash of light flared on one of the outer Khepri ships.
The stricken craft slewed into an uncontrolled, ballistic drift directly into the path of another Khepri. Both shredded in a flash. Debris streamed in vectors away from the collision point of the two shattered ships.
The visual screens zoomed out, and the full Khepri formation sprang into view.
Tanner’s voice sounded over the comm.. “Scott, damn if they haven’t formed just as Emeka said.” He gave a thumbs-up. “Seven, no, make that five—da Silva got lucky and took out two in the outer ring. Check out the two ships in the center of the formation.”
Scott gripped his pod restraints and leaned toward the display space. “The one in back is the one we want. Take him out with Prometheus.”
A series of brilliant lines darted out the turret tucked under Aurora’s prow, and Scott rotated his torso as if body english could provide the outcome he wanted.
The first burst grazed the Khepri ship, tossing it into a momentary wobble. The second struck the hapless vessel on the beam, and a ball of fiery debris spun out in all directions.
“We got their attention,” Tanner said. “The three in the outer circle are spreading out from the center. There’s one left in the center, falling back.”
“The one we destroyed was their primary command and control. The one pulling back has taken over C and C for him. As soon as Prometheus is charged, take him out as well.”
“They’re regrouping for another attack,” Tanner barked. “In a tighter circle.”
Vesper and Targelion pulled away from Aurora, firing bluish streaks of atomic particles into the remaining Khepri fleet.
A yellow-blue bolt struck Aurora near the aft warp ring. She shuddered, as the shields sent a web of electrical discharge around the hull, and went dark.
In the silence, Scott reached for his console as the screen images faded to black. He caught the bitter smell of ozone from arcing circuits mixing with a momentary blast of hot air from the ventilators. Emergency lighting bathed him in a soft reddish glow, and a second later, the screens reappeared in a kaleidoscope of colors, and the communications chatter resumed.
“Tanner,” he said, “what’s our damage?”
“Our shield diverted most of the energy, but overloaded. One hadron is completely out and one is generating thrust at less than forty percent. The third is undamaged. I’ve switched to auxiliary power for our internal systems, but sorry to say we don’t have enough power to rearm Prometheus.”
The port side visuals showed a large object slide in next to them.
“Vesper, you’re out of your assigned position,” Scott growled into his implant. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Saving your derrière, my friend.” Emeka’s calm voice sounded in his ear, and her face appeared in the ship-to-ship visual.
The next voice Scott recognized was Rigus Bauer’s, calling Aurora by her code name. “Falconer, you’re under attack. Vesper has positioned herself between you and the Khepri.”
Scott fumed. “Emeka, back in formation!”
In the visual, a broad smile formed on Emeka’s chocolate-brown face. “Falconer, you’re breaking up. I didn’t get your last order.”
He knew the ploy. Hellfire, he’d even used it himself. He wasn’t fooled by Emeka’s ruse.
Da Silva’s voice blared over the ship-to-ship comm. “Scott, she’s holding position, taking fire intended for you.”
Plexaure
~~~
Starboard of Aurora, Rigus Bauer had his hands full as Plexaure engaged in her own firefight with a Khepri ship. Despite the intense action, he kept one eye on the drama unfolding near Aurora’s port side as he circled up and over the flagship. With Aurora crippled and barely maneuvering, Vesper held her position between the attacking Khepri and Aurora.
In that moment, Vesper took a hit. A plume of gray vapor erupted from her port q
uarter and her aft warp-space ring gyrated in a wild ellipse. Without it, she couldn’t get back to Earth within several lifetimes of her crew.
Vesper bucked with yet another hit.
She can’t survive much more of this. As the thought flitted through his mind, another object streaked in next to Vesper, absorbing a bolt of atomic particles that would have finished her if it hadn’t struck the corvette first. He recognized Pegasus as she sped by and took the full energy beam meant for Vesper. The beam slashed a wide gash in the corvette’s hull running from bow to stern. A cloud of debris spewed into space from the lethal wound.
Bauer jerked upright in his seat as a Khepri ship streaked across his targeting screen. He’s going in for the kill. Bauer’s instincts cried out. Pegasus is lost. If Vesper falters, Aurora will be the next to fall. His own targeting system howled out lock, and he fired.
The Khepri split open like an over-pressurized hose.
His spirit lifted when Aurora’s lights came on and she maneuvered into a firing position.
Aurora
~~~
In the CIC, Tanner spun his pod around to get a better view, and keyed his transmitter. “Scott, we got a break. Prometheus is armed and holding the charge we loaded before the power cut out. We can bleed off enough power from the engines to support the fire control, just enough to launch one antimatter round.”
In an instant, Scott barked his order. “Aim for the remaining command and control ship, the one in the center of the Khepri formation.”
One last bolt of Prometheus’ antimatter streaked from Aurora.
The Khepri ship quivered, and a cloud of brightly lit debris illuminated the surrounding space.
The two remaining Khepri formed up and sheared off in a wide arc.
Scott watched the receding images on the screen until they disappeared among the stars.
Khepri Frontier, Star Cluster Coma Berenices
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Shroud of Eden (Panhelion Chronicles Book 1) Page 29