by T. J. Jones
Adrian fought the urge to reprimand her for disobeying an order. She had given him a moment to catch his breath. He bit that feeling down and nodded his head. “Well, since you’re involved now, follow these coordinates and start charging your portion of the lance.”
“Commander, we don’t have the warp core to pull power from to charge it.”
“It’s ok, Mary Jo. Just follow those instructions and everything will sort itself.”
She glanced down at her tablet, quickly read it over, and then back to Sol. “Do it.”
Sol nodded with a grin. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Easy there, Lieutenant. I’m coming back for that seat when this is over.”
“Maybe,” Mary Jo winked playfully and cut the comm.
“You’re going to use both sections of the lance against the Truth?”
“That’s right. I’ll need you to coordinate your fire with Sol back on the fore section. Keep punching the same spot. That shield has to break eventually.”
Jarod nodded and went to work messaging Solamen Kaine over the Odyssey’s battlenet. He settled into his chair again staring intently at the main screen as both sections of the ship were fighting back. “Not so easy with multiple targets to deal with, is it?” Adrian grinned. Dividing Vay’s attention and efforts were proving to prolong the battle quite sufficiently. He didn’t know how much longer they could keep in this fight, just that they had to.
Help was coming, that was all that mattered. They just had to hold out until then. Then again, the odds of them withstanding an assault from the Truth for that long were not very favorable. He was sure Vail would have quoted him some obscene number that was discouraging. Nevertheless, he was a gambler and had learned not to put too much stock in the odds. He had belief in himself, the crew, and his ship that they could get through this. He had to.
He started to type commands into his console again, another series of spiraling maneuvers for Ms. Vail and Hunter to execute along with fire commands for Jarod and Sol. If he was going to get his ass beat, he was going to bloody their noses for it. That was the first thing his father taught him growing up and dealing with bullies. They can have their victory. You will not always be able to fight them off, but god damn you give it your all. You make those bastards earn it. Every inch of ground, every drop of blood.
Vay had caught him with his pants down when this all started. Now he knew who and what he was dealing with. Now he was not holding back. No crew left behind to worry about. Vay had made a mistake in giving back his people. Sure, he had stolen the information about the Alliance’s location and so on. Adrian was going to make him work for his meal, though. There would be no freebies today.
As he issued commands and the crew enacted them, as the ships responded and the explosions bloomed, he recalled his father’s words. A man can go his whole life without knowing himself — knowing his purpose. It was not until he saw red, and everything burned away that the man he was intended to be would emerge. He would cut loose. He used to think he had been to that point. That he had seen red during the Dominus Wars. Fighting with the wings on the Independence.
That was just training. No, he was seeing red now. The essence of who he is, boiled away. Now, he was cutting loose. The Odyssey was his mechanical avatar in space, unleashing weaponized hell on his behalf. Fighting for his people.
“Commander, incoming signals. More ships. White Empire by the looks of the subspace IFF codes. It’s all gibberish, but smart money is it’s the rest of the Truth’s battlegroup.”
Great, bad time for a hand to sour. He might have been able to keep the Truth in play long enough for the arbitrator’s forces to show up. Fighting off a whole battlegroup was going to take some serious guts and skill.
“Ben, look alive. We’ve got three more bogeys incoming. I need you to shift targets and engage at will. Get so close you can wave to them if you have to. Just keep them distracted.”
“Uh, roger that, Commander. Tell me you’ve got a plan.”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got a plan.” He glanced to Tiaahl. “Right?”
Tiaahl looked confused. He opened his mouth to respond and Adrian waved it off. “Just distract those ships, Ben. I’m counting on you.”
The fighter swarms broke off from harassing the Truth and veered on intercept courses for the three other vessels that just dropped out of warp about twenty kilometers away from the battle.
“The fighters and bombers won’t be enough,” Jarod said.
Adrian agreed. They needed more. The Kestrel. “Jarod, take the command. I’m going out in the Kestrel.”
“Commander, I have to protest. The Kestrel’s design excludes a battle this heavy. The shielding won’t offer viable long-term protection.”
Adrian stood up with a grin. “Then I’ll just have to make sure I don’t get hit much.”
Displeased, Jarod was not going to argue the point very much further. Adrian patted the seat. “Go on.”
Jarod shook his head. “With respect, sir, I can make command decisions from here. Besides, I’ll still need access to lay in fire commands.”
“Fair stuff. Happy shooting.”
“Commander, good luck.”
Adrian grinned. He was going to need a ton of luck. “Let’s go, Dekav, you can help me out.”
Dekav stood and bowed softly. “Of course, Commander.”
As they left the battle bridge, Adrian keyed up his comm device. “Computer, activate Kestrel primary power systems, prepare for separation.”
“Kestrel protocols initiated.”
“Commander, what is a Kestrel?”
The lift doors opened and shut once they stepped inside. Adrian shrugged. “Small bird of prey. It flies and eats small animals. Fast. Back on Earth, they can divebomb a target going two hundred miles per hour.”
“That sounds fast,” Dekav commented.
“Yeah, I realize you probably don’t even know what that means. The short of it is that it can almost kill an animal just by diving into it.”
“And your Kestrel craft is it just as effective?”
“And then some. She was designed to be a one-man operation if need be. Very hardened and automated. She’s larger than our fighter craft and shuttles, but small enough to keep a pretty tight and compact hitbox so it’s not a big target. Offensively, it’s got some teeth, with pulse cannons and warhead launchers that put it on par offensively with the Odyssey’s star drive section.”
“And you’ve been holding this ship in reserve?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
The doors opened up on the deck for boarding the Kestrel. Adrian turned to Dekav and grinned. “An old Earth habit. Always keep something in reserve. A strategy that’s proved solid so far. Vay doesn’t know to expect that, and so he can’t counter for it. He’s put his whole hand on the table.”
“I don’t follow,” Dekav said confused.
“Poker. We have gone over this. Anyway. He’s revealed all his forces, his motives, and skill.”
“Right. Yet you have wisely kept secrets to counter his.”
“Exactly. Now we get to make him pay for not taking us seriously.”
The airlock doors parted and revealed a small bridge, nearly the size of the battle bridge, but with much less accommodation. Only a command chair and a passenger chair. Many of the stations were powered off save for the primary console in front of the helm station. Adrian took a seat there. “Computer, load control profile Rain, Adrian. Authorization Alpha One Four Five Four.”
“Authorization accepted. Profile loaded.”
The interface initialized and loaded the control scheme he had predesigned for use with the Kestrel. He had spent the most time with it in the training sim and Captain Garrett had chosen him for the Odyssey in case she needed someone to command the Kestrel. His place was on the Kestrel. Not quite a fighter, yet strangely familiar.
“You can take a pilot out of his bird, but never his love for flying.” He glanced over to De
kav. “Remember those weapon controls?”
Dekav nodded. “Yes, your systems, while different, are most intuitive after a familiarization process.”
Adrian clapped him on the back. “See? You’re getting it.” He keyed in the command codes to disengage the locking clamps in the Odyssey. “Kestrel taking off.”
“Understood, Commander. Happy hunting,” Jarod said on the Kestrel’s main screen.
That made three vessels and the fighters and bombers he had brought to bear. Hopefully, it would be enough. Otherwise, this was going to be the shortest offensive in history. The subluminal drive engines on the Kestrel powered up and flared a dark crimson red as its power emissions red shifted. He backed it out gently as the star drive pulled away ahead of it, weapons slamming the Truth.
“Go get him, Jarod,” Adrian said, wishing him luck. He whipped the Kestrel around and thrusted hard, going vertical as soon as he could. Like a real bird of prey surveying the battlefield. Dekav keyed in on this and glanced over.
“Another Earth tactic?”
“Hmm? Yeah, you could say that. Just seeing what we have. Looks like two cruisers and a frigate. The frigate is giving Ben a hard time. It’s likely to have the softest target profile too. We’ll punch that one up some.”
He lay in a course and locked weapons. Dekav waited. “Wait until we’re within ten kilometers and then fire. That is the cannon’s maximum effective range. Dump everything you have in one salvo. Make them feel it.”
He keyed up the battlenet comm. “Ben, you read me.”
“Yes, Commander. I’m showing your tag on the Kestrel?”
“Yep. We’re coming in hot at your twelve o’clock vertical. We’re going to do a dust and burn. Make sure your boys are clear of the range.”
“Understood. We’ll lay out the welcome mat for ya.”
“Appreciated.”
The Kestrel screamed downward as he pumped full secondary power into the subluminal drives. Brilliant red flares flickered behind the small hawkish ship frame as its flexible pylon mounted nacelles drew in close to the ship as it went into battle mode configuration. He put the ship into a gentle axial rotation and when Dekav opened fire the result was the weapons fire twisted as it descended, smashing a broader surface area of the frigate’s shields. It was over so fast it only lasted a few brief seconds.
“I think we pissed them off,” Adrian mused. The two support cruisers opened fire, trying to pin the Kestrel down, disregarding the steel swarm of the fighters. “Let’s make another pass.”
He whipped the Kestrel around, shunting the power to the engines, causing them to flare brightly. The hull groaned with the rapid change of vectored thrust. Then he rerouted the power to weapons. The Kestrel’s cannons opened fire pounding phased photon pulse after pulse. The onion-skin layered orbs of energy colliding with the frigate’s shields blast after blast. Several mk. XII warhead rounds slammed into the shields as well, causing several deep scars of white hot orange to flare against the frigate’s hull.
“Confirmed hits all around,” Dekav announced.
Adrian was about to say something snarky when the ship rocked. The cruisers had dialed in on him. He bobbed and weaved to avoid their fire again. “Has that frigate ceased fire on the fighters?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Good.” He opened a channel with Ben again. “Hey, Ben, let’s trade dance partners. Time to show those cruisers it’s time to wait their turn.”
“Copy that. Migrating target priority to the frigate. Good hunting.”
“Always.”
The Kestrel came about adjusting its approach vector gently and opened fire on the cruiser, letting loose a blistering volley of cannon fire accompanied by a full warhead spread. The rounds slammed into the first cruiser’s shields like the grand finale of a fourth of July celebration back home.
“Hey, Ben, need to borrow a few of your bombers. Orders via tight beam text.”
“Copy. Got ‘em. They’ll be peeling off and falling in on your wing.”
“Thanks.”
He checked his sensor readings and made sure the two bombers were in tight formation with him. “Ok, boys. You ready to light this ship up?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright, follow my lead.” Adrian just hoped this was all going to work. He was going through his book of tricks quickly. He wouldn’t tell anyone else that. Not yet at least.
Chapter Nineteen
Adrian ran the Kestrel headlong right for the first cruiser taking shots at them, weaving port and starboard. The Kestrel was living up to its namesake as an agile, small bird of prey. The blue tetryon beams emitted by the cruiser streaking out into the space the Kestrel used to occupy made the movement look as though a heavy weight boxer were fighting a featherweight. The larger ships were incapable of striking the smaller nimbler craft. The heavy guns just couldn’t track that fast.
A small grin spread across Adrian’s face as he rocked the ship back and forth dodging the fire. He was flying again and he felt more alive now than he ever had. He glanced over to Dekav who looked tense but was doing his best to work the weapons. He shook his head. He could not understand being that uptight.
Moments like this were to live for. When you could make the ship just dance. He loved the way the mass shifted beneath him. The immediate response of the ship to his commands. Knowing how to make the thrusters pop for the ship, the engines boost, and when to dump the secondary power capacitors into a system for extra that kick of performance. He was well familiar with Alliance engineering safety regs. Hell, his brother had written half of them by now.
He had broken all but a few of them. Everything had a little flex room to it. He had taught Danny that growing up and that in turn became part of Danny’s mantra in the Kaku Institute. He set the regulations to a more cautious level to leave flex room for when it was important. Build the systems to handle more stress than normal.
“Alright, Dekav, we’re on our gun approach. Let’s show ‘em who they are dealing with. Bombers, once we clear the target zone, I want you guys dropping spatial charges. Let’s rattle their chins some.”
Dekav looked at him concerned. “You aim to take out their command center?”
Adrian shrugged coyly. “Well, I doubt it’ll work. Nevertheless, we’ll certainly bang pretty hard on the bulkhead at least. Give ‘em a spook.”
“So you are being deceptive?”
Adrian grinned. “You’re getting it. Bluff. We’re going to bluff them. Convince them it’s wiser to sit back and not get involved in the fight.”
“I see. You are more cunning than I gave you credit for.”
Adrian tweaked the ship, skirting a beam so close the shield bubble must have been tickling the stream of ionized tetryons. “Thanks. We’re gonna need more than that, though. A lot more.” He focused on the target but muttered a silent prayer, “Come on, Arbitrator. Hurry your ass up. Now, Dekav.”
The quad-barreled pulse cannons howled, sending encapsulated bursts of phased photons traveling at just shy of Warp 1 screaming into the shield systems guarding the cruisers command deck. Dekav launched several mk. X warheads as well. Each impact cast a large amber and tangerine glow in rapid succession. The two men had managed to make the airspace above the Imperial Cruiser such a chaotic zone of explosions and carnage that sensor feeds choked the data.
He put the Kestrel on a straight through course, sidestepping any return fire from the Cruiser. The two bombers dropped several spatial charges each that all detonated at the same time in a brilliant white, pastel pink and blue flash.
“Their shields have buckled. Measurable hull damage. The cruiser is backing off. The second cruiser is shifting to engage the Odyssey’s star drive and fore section,” Dekav reported.
Adrian grinned. “There ya go.”
“Commander, I need a hand over here. That frigate is giving us hell.”
“On him.”
The Kestrel came about hard, its red subluminal drives flaring brightly a
s they got a power shunt. The Kestrel came within weapons range almost immediately and Adrian dropped speed to a near coast. Dekav let the cannons go hot. Missiles launched in timed intervals.
The Frigate became a dance partner to Adrian’s delivered hell, the frigate danced with two left feet. Its shields fought valiantly and then flickered out. The cannons began to lance into the frigate’s hull, portions of it glowing orange and white with damage. The missiles slammed into it causing deep scars, yet it still fought. The two bombers were still on his wing.
“Heavies, you’re up. Let’s do it.”
The Kestrel soared past the frigate the quad turrets tracking the frigate as the Kestrel passed by. The two bombers dropped their last heavy ordnance. The frigate tore soundly into pieces as its warp core breached, engulfing it in a feedback explosion that destroyed any trace of it save small unsalvageable pieces.
“Frigate confirmed destroyed.”
“Ben, gimmie a head count. How are ya doing out there?”
“That frigate chewed up half my strength out here. And we’re low on ammo.”
Adrian slammed a fist into the panel so that the computer buzzed an error incorrectly assuming he was trying to make a command. He nodded. “Alright, get back to the Odyssey and see if you can rearm and redeploy. If not, I want you to stay on the ship. Don’t risk any more of your men.”
“Understood, Commander.”
The metal swarm of fighters and bombers broke ranks with the Kestrel and moved for the primary hull of the Odyssey. It was looking thinner and smaller before as they pulled ahead of his ship on the view screen. His heart sank. More funerals. More next of kin notifications. Just like that, he wasn’t a fan of his job again.
“Alright. Let’s go for the head of the snake.”
“The Truth?”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah, if we can take them out, the rest of these ships won’t matter.”
“Commander, as formidable as this craft is, I don’t believe it will be effective enough against the Truth even with the assistance of the two disconnected sections.”