by Jay Allan
The war would be over by now…except for Dauntless. I will savor watching its destruction…
“Ambassador Lille?” Calavius’s tone was imperious. Lille found it extremely annoying, but his professional control slammed back into place.
“My apologies,” he said, his voice giving no hint of his irritation. He moved to the comm panel and said, “The Imperator orders the Ram to move forward at once.”
Then he turned back to the display. He didn’t want to miss a second of Dauntless’s destruction.
* * *
“Talon…you’ve got one on your tail.” Stockton was one his way back toward the squadron. The Blues, along with the rest of Dauntless’s interceptor squadrons, were finishing off the last of the Alliance fighters. The battle hadn’t been without cost, and Stockton could see the blank spots on his readout, Blue squadron pilots no longer in action. Casualties had been heavy, and all he could do was hope most of them had ditched. Not that we’ll be able to pick them up. The fighters were winning their fight, but every time he glanced at the long-range scanner, the situation in the battle as a whole had gotten worse. Their side was losing…there wasn’t a doubt about that.
“I’m trying, Raptor…but this guy is good. He’s hard to shake.”
Stockton felt his stomach tighten. Talon was one of his best pilots, an ace and somewhat of a legend in her own right. But he’d heard the tension in her voice. The fear.
“Hold it together, Talon. I’m on my way.” He kicked in his thrusters, blasting at full toward her position. His eyes dropped down to the scanner. Is anybody else closer? No, no one. Timmons and his Eagles were on the far side of the engagement. Federov and the Reds had pushed too far forward. And the other Blues were scattered, off chasing individual targets. It would have to be him.
He pulled back even harder, as if more force on the stick would coax extra speed from his engines. His could see on the scanner that Talon’s pursuer was firing at her now. Her ship was jumping all around, wild evasive maneuvers. She was trying to shake the fighter on her tail, to avoid his shots. But he was getting closer.
Stockton could see Talon had encountered another ace, her equal at least. He watched, hoping to see her break free. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen. The enemy fighter had too much positional advantage…and Stockton could see the Alliance flyer was too good to be shaken.
He had to save her. She had saved him earlier, and now it was his turn. But he was too far out. He shouted, swore at his fighter, called upon every spacer’s god to increase the thrust his engines were putting out, but nothing changed the inevitable fact. It would be two minutes before he was in even extreme firing range, and that was going to be too much. Unless his approach rattled the Alliance pilot enough to scare him off.
No chance of that. This guy is good.
He felt rage, fear, urgency…and worst of all, helplessness. He watched as Talon resorted to ever more desperate maneuvers, trying again and again, unsuccessfully, to break away. “Talon, you can do this,” he said, not believing it as it came out of his mouth.
“I can’t lose him, Raptor…” Her voice was heavy with fear. Corinne Steele was a stone cold pilot, a veteran of the Battle of Santis, and of every engagement Dauntless’s wings had fought since. She had two dozen kills, and every decoration a fighter pilot could earn. But now she had met her match. Stockton knew it…and it was clear she did too.
“Corinne…focus! You can do…” His words stopped abruptly. The icon representing her ship vanished from his screen. He frantically checked his scanners, looking, hoping for the beacon from her ejection pod. But there was nothing.
She was gone.
Stockton felt the rage again, the same feeling that had taken him when Vagabond had been killed. He’d lost two of his oldest pilots in less than fifteen minutes, and his mind tormented him with calculations, with the realization that, apart from him, Blue squadron now had only four veterans of Santis remaining. Unending war and combat had taken their toll, even on his elite warriors. He wondered if any of them would survive the war. But those thoughts were quickly shoved aside, leaving only one thing in his mind. Vengeance.
His eyes focused on the enemy fighter, changing course, accelerating hard. He angled his throttle to match. He couldn’t save Talon, any more than he could’ve saved Vagabond. But he could avenge her.
He stared straight ahead, matching every course change of the enemy. You’re dead, and you don’t even know it yet…
He struggled to suck in a deep breath, aching from the g forces he was enduring. But he wouldn’t ease up, not for a microsecond. There was only one thing in the universe right now. He was Death, and he vowed to himself Talon’s killer would fall.
* * *
“Andi?” Merrick’s voice echoed across Pegasus’s cramped bridge.
Pegasus was hovering in front of the transwarp point, as she had been for more than ten minutes now. She’d still been docked to Dauntless when the enemy fleet began emerging. Barron had ordered her ship to depart immediately, and to get out of the system before they were trapped in the battle. She’d obeyed, though she didn’t hadn’t wanted to. Barron had filled her head with all kinds of reasons she needed to leave—to send back his report and request for aid, to bring the prisoners to Base Grimaldi. But it was all utter crap, she knew…Barron had already sent back word of the situation. No, not utter crap, but certainly exaggerated in importance, his machinations to get me out of danger.
He knew this was coming. He was worried he wouldn’t survive the fight…and he wanted me gone when…
She sat still, silent, not even acknowledging Merrick. She had promised Barron she would go. But you didn’t even get to say goodbye…
She’d planned to see him one last time, though she had no idea what she would have said. But there hadn’t been time. Something the enemy had stolen from her.
“Andi,” Merrick said again, louder but still with a softness. “I know this is difficult, but…”
“No. I can’t.”
Merrick didn’t say anything else. He just sat and looked at her.
“I can’t leave…he’s losing the battle. They all are. You can see that.”
“I can, Andi,” Merrick said, somewhat reluctantly. “But it’s not over yet. Captain Barron and Dauntless are not easily defeated.”
“They’re not invincible either, Vig…” She paused. “Why would Admiral Striker have sent them out here alone?”
“I can’t say what the admiral was thinking, Andi…except that he didn’t order them out here. He sent Dauntless to Archellia. It was Captain Barron who came this far.”
Lafarge understood why Barron had done what he had. The future of the Confederation rode on what happened here. But still, she was angry that he had put himself in such terrible danger.
“I can’t leave, Vig. Not while this is still going on.”
Merrick nodded slowly. “We’re all with you, Andi. You know that. Whatever you decide is fine with us.” He paused. “But what can we do? What action can Pegasus take that will make the slightest difference in a battle like this?”
She looked back at her second and her friend. Finally, she said, “I don’t know, Vig. But I can’t leave. I just can’t.” Another pause. “Bring us back toward Dauntless. Full thrust.”
Merrick took a deep breath. “Whatever you say, Andi.” There was fear in his voice, but determination as well. “Engaging full thrust…now.”
* * *
“Fritzie, we’re sitting ducks here. You’ve got to get me some power. At less than 1g, these three ships are all over us.” As if the emphasize his point, Dauntless shook hard again, and a small console broke loose on the opposite wall and crashed to the deck.
“We’re doing everything we can, Captain. The damage is widespread.” Her voice was distant, staticky. “The central power core has been breached. We’ve got a lot of functional systems that just aren’t getting energy. And the reactors are both on the edge. One more bad hit near either of the
m, and they’ll scrag…and before you tell me to cut the safeties, the only thing that will accomplish is to vaporize us instead of leaving us with no power.”
Barron held the portable unit to his face. The main comm was still dead, but Fritz and her engineers had at least restored emergency power to the bridge workstations. “If those reactors go down, we’re dead Fritzie.”
“I’m doing everything possible, Captain…but it won’t help anything if I blow the ship up.” He could hear the strain in her normally calm voice.
“Just do what you can, Fritzie. If anybody can manage something, it’s you.” He lowered his arm, letting the comm unit drop into his lap. He felt helpless, cut off. He had no weapons online, nothing to even shoot back with. Nothing to do but wait until the ships out there blasted Dauntless to rubble. Fortunately, the engines were still operational. Barely. But enough, at least, for some evasive maneuvers. Otherwise, he knew, Dauntless would be gone already.
He turned and looked over at Travis. “Commander, see if you can get down to engineering. Fritzie will do her best, but she can only be in one place at a time.” He didn’t like the idea of Travis being off the bridge, and he especially didn’t like sending her to find her way through the ship right now. The lifts were all out, and the route to engineering was likely to be a torturous journey down access ladders and around piles of wreckage. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet, and Atara Travis was the next closest thing to his being there himself.
“Yes, Captain.” She jumped up and moved swiftly across the bridge, grabbing one of the portable com units as she did. “I’ll advise you of my progress.” She glanced back at him once, one friend looking at another, almost as if for the last time. Then she grabbed the top rung and climbed down the ladder and out of sight.
Lieutenant Darrow jumped from his own seat and walked across the bridge, covering the station Travis had just left.
“Lieutenant, I want you to…”
The ship rocked hard—a hit, a bad one. Then, almost immediately, another one. The bridge went totally dark, and sparks flew from everywhere, one overload after another blowing out equipment all around.
Barron spun his head, reacting to a loud crash, followed by a short, pinched scream…just as the battery-powered lights snapped back on. A girder, one of the main structural supports, had collapsed, crushing Travis’s station…and instantly killing Darrow.
Barron bit back against the pain he felt. Darrow had been unfairly implicated in his former CO’s treason, and Barron had taken him on Dauntless when no other captain would have him. The officer had repaid Barron with unflinching loyalty and flawless service. Barron had come to rely on his chief communications officer. Now, he was dead. Just one more of Dauntless’s family sacrificed to the war.
He felt sorrow, loss…but it was strangely tempered. Darrow was dead, but Barron didn’t see any way the rest of his people were going to make it out of this fight. He looked around the dimly-lit bridge, and took a deep, unfettered breath. Even the moderate pressure from the engines’ thrust was gone, replaced by zero gravity. The loss of simulated gravity had come seconds too late to save Darrow.
The engines were completely offline. Dauntless was stuck on its fixed, unchanging course. He knew it wouldn’t take the Alliance gunners long to realize they had his ship. One quick calculation, and every incoming shot would hit.
His mind raced, but he came up blank. His people were going to die…Dauntless was going to die. And he couldn’t think of anything to do. Nothing at all.
* * *
“Andi, we should pull back. There’s nothing we can do…and a single shot from one of those battleships will blast us to atoms.” Merrick was staring at the same display Andi was. It was centered on Dauntless, and it showed the three enemy battleships coming at her. Barron’s ship had stopped firing moments before, but now, even the meager thrust she’d maintained was gone. She was continuing on the same course, velocity and vector completely unchanged.
He’s going to die. Now. And I will watch, unable to do anything…
She winced as two more hits slammed into Dauntless. She was shaking, angry, frustrated. But there was nothing she could do. Nothing but watch as Barron and his people died.
She shook her head, some part of her even then unwilling to give up. But there was no way her ship could intervene. Throwing away her crews’ lives wouldn’t buy Dauntless another second.
“Reverse thrust,” she said, her voice cold, lifeless. She retained enough of herself not to risk her crew’s lives for no reason.
“Andi…we’ve got activity at the transwarp point.” Merrick turned and looked at her. “Something is coming through. Something big.”
Lafarge felt cold inside. If the enemy had another force coming in right behind her, not only would Barron die, but she would have led her own people to their deaths…for nothing.
She stared at the screen, even as a new symbol appeared. It was big, almost certainly a huge battleship. Andi Lafarge never gave up…not until now. But the sight of a massive ship coming in from behind her was too much. All was lost.
The second icon only confirmed her misery, and she hardly reacted to the third. It was over. They would all die, and the attempt to support the pro-Confederation faction would fail. The Alliance would invade, their ship’s pouring across the almost undefended Rim border. World after world would fall…millions would die.
“Andi, we’re picking up something on the comm.”
She almost told him to shut down communications. She might have to die, but she didn’t have to listen to the enemy gloat about it. Still, it felt too much like hiding, like cowardice.
“On the main speaker, Vig.”
Merrick turned and hit a button. Then he just nodded.
“This is acting-Commodore Sara Eaton, Confederation navy, aboard CFS Repulse. Dauntless…please respond. Repeat, this is acting-Commodore Sara Eaton, Confederation navy, aboard CFS Repulse. Dauntless, please respond…”
Chapter Forty-One
Free Trader Pegasus
Cilian System
Deep in the Alliance
Year 310 AC
Lafarge froze, staring at the speaker in stunned silence. She’d heard the words, but her first thought was that it was some kind of deception. She wasn’t privy to Confederation military dispositions, but she couldn’t believe Striker had been able to pull three ships off the front. He’d told her it was impossible when she’d met with him at Grimaldi, that Dauntless was all he was able to send until he got reinforcements.
“Get the scanners at full, Vig. Are those really Confederation battleships?” She felt a faint speck of hope, but she suppressed it. She couldn’t bring herself to accept what she desperately wanted to believe.
“They’re big, Andi. Larger than any Confed ship I’ve ever seen. But the beacons check out. The lead ship is transmitting CFS Repulse, just like she said.”
Eaton…the name was familiar. Yes, of course…
Barron had mentioned a Captain Eaton to her, the officer that had fought with him when he’d destroyed the Union supply base, helping to halt the enemy’s initial invasion. She still wasn’t sure it wasn’t some kind of trick, but she let that spark of hope reignite.
“Dauntless, please respond. Captain Barron?” The transmissions continued. “Tyler? This is Sara Eaton. Do you read?”
Lafarge’s eyes darted back to the small oval on her screen, Dauntless, still moving at a fixed course. She was picking up no detectable energy readings.
She grabbed her headset, strapping it on. “Attention Repulse…Attention Repulse. This is Captain Lafarge of the Free Trader Pegasus. Commodore Eaton…Dauntless is heavily damaged and under attack by three hostile Alliance battleships.”
She waited, wondering if this Commodore Eaton would listen to her.
Then: “Captain Lafarge, we read your message. Is it possible Dauntless’s communications are down?”
Lafarge swallowed hard. “Yes, Commodore, that is very possible.” Other thin
gs were possible too, all far worse than comm failure. “Dauntless is under attack. Captain Barron and his people are in terrible trouble. They won’t last long.” She tried to stay as cool as she could, but she suspected a little of her fear slipping into her words would only add to the sense of urgency.
“We’ll see about that, Captain. Dauntless isn’t going down, not if I have anything to say about it.”
The comm line went dead, and a few seconds later Merrick turned toward her. “Andi, the new battleships are firing their thrusters. They’re accelerating at…” He paused for an instant, a stunned look on his face. “…just over 14g.”
She turned back to the main screen, watching as the three ovals moved forward, directly toward the ships attacking Dauntless. She’d never seen that level of acceleration before, but they were still pretty far out. She was glad that help was on the way to Barron, but she still didn’t know if it would be on time.
They’ll have particle accelerators…the range on those is… She tried to remember. Data like that was classified, of course, but she’d seen Dauntless’s primaries in use at Chrysallis. Her best guess was, Eaton’s ships were maybe sixty thousand kilometers out of range. But that distance was dropping with every second of massive thrust the vessels put out.
Fifty thousand…
She looked back at Dauntless on the display. The enemy ships had realized her engines were down, and they were pouring fire into her. She knew Barron’s ship, tough as she was, couldn’t take much more pounding. At first, she thought the Alliance ships were going to ignore the advancing Confederation vessels, but then she realized one of them was changing its vector, moving to intercept.