by Chris Hechtl
“Very well. We'll have to take it. Signal Lassie to go to Charlie.”
“Charlie Aye sir,” Bounty replied, sending the signal out to the collier.
“Echo and Romeo launch on the frigates and large ships. Keep the packs in reserve,” the Admiral ordered.
“Aye sir,” Bounty said. “The missile packs are hampering their systems Admiral. They are slower and can't fire in all directions.”
“They'll have to cope with it. As we will,” the Admiral replied. “Status on Adrienne?”
“She's still adrift Admiral,” Bounty replied.
The Admiral was torn. On the one hand he wanted to fire, he had eight missile packs on Bounty. But on the other he wanted that ship intact if they could take it. Indecision warred through him briefly.
“Admiral, Adrienne has regained some of her drive controls. She's moving faster. Also, one of the destroyers has come along side her. I believe to render aide.”
“She's turning in on us,” Lieutenant Nobeki reported, looking up.
“Very well. Flush half our reserve pods. Target the Adrienne. That should keep her busy,” the Admiral ordered just as the gunships passed the battlecruiser. The frigates and corvettes weren't far behind.
“Aye sir. I'm not certain we'll get any hits with the gunships out in front. They may choose to intercept,” the tactical officer warned.
“I know,” Irons replied.
<----*----*----*---->
The Arrow Captain fought down panic as his ship came under attack by those missiles. There were only six of them, but they came lashing in from below just as they were about to launch. With his fire control down they had been lucky to see them coming in at all. Point defense lasers in local control danced as they lashed out, firing on the missiles.
But the missiles were elusive things, with their own shields and counter measures. Two were cut down, then a third and fourth, but the last two managed to get through everything his desperate crew threw at them to slam into his ship's shields. One hit at an angle, it's warhead going off to sear the ship's starboard keel as the ship frantically rolled. The rest of the force emitter directed weapon was wasted into the void.
The second missile however cut in behind the first. With the Arrow's shields down she erupted, shredding the ship's keel, scouring away nodes, lasers, sensor arrays, anything on her outer hull and breaching her hull. The hit didn't kill the ship, but she was now lamed.
<----*----*----*---->
The twelve missiles fired on the Queen Adrienne lashed in almost completely unopposed. The tactical department was cut flat footed as the missiles entered their final acquisition phases.
Just as the missiles crossed the ten million kilometer mark traveling around point two C a sharp-eyed point defense laser crew caught their drive trail and began firing. Their fellow defense crews were alerted that something was wrong when one of the missiles exploded from a chance hit. They too started firing wildly and the seemingly helpless leviathan suddenly sprouted laser porcupines.
Lasers and rail gun rounds swept the void. Two of the missiles caught chance hits on their bow shields. They tumbled off course slightly, nearly colliding before the corrected. However the explosion of force on their shields was a marker for the fire crews, one graser lashed out blowing a missile apart. A second graser winged a missile as it spiraled up and around its base course in an evasive pattern.
Flares and Chaff erupted from the missiles as they attempted to confuse the ship's fire control. That unfortunately was the wrong thing to do, it alerted the crew to their positions and gave them something to track off of. Two more missiles were picked off, silhouetted against the bright flares.
“Maneuvering, get us around. Roll!” the exec called frantically.
“No you fool! Give the gun crews a chance!” the Captain snarled turning. It was already too late; the helmsman had started the roll. He brought the ship back on course, but the momentary roll had forced the defenses to lose what lock they had on the missiles.
Despite their best efforts however seven missiles made it through the last line of defense to slam into the ship's port side. Their shields interacted with the ship's shields, turning into awls that bored their way through them, popping shield nodes like ripe melons.
The warheads went off, scouring and blackening the ship. But she was a battlecruiser, designed to take such punishment. She bucked like a wild thing and then drifted as her crews picked themselves up and swung into damage control.
<----*----*----*---->
Each of the two corvettes had two missile packs strapped to their hulls, one mounted on their keel, the other on the dorsal. They each had six cells of missiles, capital ship smart missiles, far more than a lowly frigate or anything smaller than a cruiser could handle.
However there were a dozen gunships, two frigates, and two corvettes coming at them. Too many for all three ships to hit. They needed those missiles to deal with the battlecruiser.
“We'll split the difference. Whoever has the least kills buys the beers,” Ian said over their link.
“Sure,” Mary replied. “That is if we survive this,” she said.
“Pessimist,” Ian replied teasingly. “See you on the other side Mary,” he said, Echo climbing away as Romeo dropped. They were doing a classic scissor attack, also known as a pincer. For a brief minute the enemy force was confused, then split equally between the targets.
When Romeo hit the two million mark the Captain flipped into the weapons station. She watched as the enemy launched her own short ranged weapons. She knew she could die, but it was a distant thing. “Use em or lose em,” Captain Apple muttered, designating targets and pressing the big red button.
The two packs on her ship received the tactical telemetry, acknowledged it, and then fired off explosive bolts, kicking themselves clear of the ship's hull. Suddenly lightened of one hundred and sixty tons of weight the ship lunged forward.
The missile packs drifted clear of their mother ship, oriented on their targeting priorities and then flushed their cells.
Twelve capital ship missiles entered sprint mode as they went after their prey. Four were targeted on the Manta frigate, two on the corvette and the remaining six on the gunships.
The gunships immediately kicked into evasive action, trying to run for it. However at two million kilometers the capital missiles had more than enough time on their clocks to give chase and overtake. Four of the frantically evading gunships were obliterated, one managed to wing it's attacking missile and send it into a premature detonation. The explosion was close enough to kick the gunship into an uncontrolled tumble, overloading her systems.
The other gunship swung close enough to a corvette for the corvette to scratch it's back with covering fire. The missile walked into the fire and exploded.
The gunship attempted to return the favor for the corvette, turning on the two missiles tracking the larger ship. However when the gunship made a firing pass it entered one of the missile's final acquisition range. A link clicked and the trigger went off, detonating the one hundred megaton warhead.
Nuclear fratricide took the other missile with it, but it consumed the gunship and battered the Apollo corvette's shields down and left her drifting.
The Manta frigate rolled and pitched, kicking out Gauss rounds in the path of the missiles. One took a hit and tumbled, after a moment it's drive cut out and it exploded. Its explosion took out one of the other missiles.
The other two missiles overshot when the Manta kicked its RCS and dove away from them. The missiles took a wide turn, coming back around.
The Manta however had found her own target; Romeo was fending off some of the Horathian's missiles. Dumb and practically blind by the lack of telemetry from their mother ships, a few had still managed to maintain lock on Romeo.
Distracted Romeo didn't notice the frigate's firing pass until her bow spinal mount lasers went to rapid fire, digging into the corvette's shields. The weapons turrets on her bow reoriented on the threat just
as the last remaining missile cut its drive and exploded. The blinding flash momentarily distracted the ships and blinded them.
The frigate recovered first, hammering the corvette with her six turrets as she passed. Romeo bucked but fired her own hoarded missiles back, ripping into the stern of her attacker, tearing apart her engines and leaving her tumbling.
Romeo sparkled; her systems failed one by one in a cascade that her surviving crew couldn't stop. Captain Apple was injured, her drive was dead and her reactor scrammed. Romeo was left adrift.
<----*----*----*---->
“Admiral, Romeo is down,” Sprite informed him quietly. Irons looked at the plot and nodded. Romeo was a dead stick, drive down, energy readings flat lining. “Crew?”
“Alive. She took a beating though,” the AI reported. “Unknown number of survivors,” she said.
“Can they get her back online?” Miss Nobeki asked urgently.
“No,” Sprite replied. “She's lost one engine and her reactor is scrammed.”
“Send Echo to get the survivors off if they can,” the Admiral ordered.
“Commander McGuyver has his hands full right now. But I'll let him know,” Sprite replied. The Admiral simply nodded.
<----*----*----*---->
Echo had climbed when Romeo had dropped, forcing the enemy to divide its forces. The Federation corvettes had been overhauled; they were more than a match for half their attackers.
Unfortunately they had double the trouble to deal with. Ian kept his missiles in reserve, but that made his part even harder. Fortunately he had the more experienced crew. Echo took down three of the gunships and scattered the rest before she tangled with her frigate.
“Drop the lower pod. That will clear our belly,” Sindri urged.
Ian looked down at the screen showing the engineer. “You want to come up here and fly this thing?” Sindri shook his head no. “Then let me do my job. You mind engineering. Leave me to fight the ship,” he said, sending the implant codes to target the corvette and frigate with the upper pack and jettison it. Then he flushed his internal missiles at both.
The distraction of the short ranged missiles bought his capital missile pack time to blow clear of his ship, orient, and then fire. Three missiles went for each target. The enemy ships scrambled to run. They exploded as the missiles caught up with them.
“Yeah!” Sindri yelled. Ian snorted, hearing his small crew cheer.
“It's not over yet,” he said, altering the ship's course to intercept Romeo. “We've got some friends to pick up,” he said. He checked the plot and then scowled. It was going to be close; the battle cruiser was headed for the derelict corvette at a stately one hundred kilometers per second. At that rate he'd have less than ten minutes to get the survivors off before the ship got the range. That was, if she didn't fire capital missiles of her own. So far she hadn't.
“Wonder for small favors,” Ian muttered, engaging his drive. He prayed that they would be in time.
Chapter 24
Following the order to go to plan Baker, Phoenix changed course, doing a swing around a rock and made a run for the Pyrax jump point. She had dropped down below the plain of the ecliptic in an effort to cut under the enemy's formation but her course would bring her close to the Horathian fleet train. The crew knew it was a risk. Baker could let them slip by to get the word out as the enemy focused on Bounty and her fellows... or it could split them up, sending some gunships or other ships after the unarmed runners. If that happened it would at least take some pressure off the Bounty, allowing them a chance at defeat in detail.
But it wouldn't do the runners any good if the enemy caught up with them.
<----*----*----*---->
Lassie lumbered, altering course in a vain attempt to get below the ecliptic and away from the battle. Her part was done.
However the battle came to her as surviving gunships moved in for revenge. She was hammered by a gunship when the slow ship tried to turn and run. The mortally wounded collier turned on her attacker, banking into her firing pass to ram the much smaller but faster ship. The gunship tumbled off into the void in pieces. The Clydesdale rolled and slowly tumbled, her bow a mangled ruin.
She didn't kick out a life pod, not one. The crew knew what would happen to them if they were caught, this time they preferred going down with their ship.
CIC wordlessly updated the plot a few moments later. Miss Nobeki's strangled gasp made the Admiral look up to first her and then the central plot. He saw Lassie's icon blink an angry red and then fade. Irons regretted the loss, but accepted their sacrifice. The crew had known the possible outcome.
<----*----*----*---->
Two million kilometers out from the jump point Phoenix passed the Horathian fleet train. The ships were adrift; two of the colliers had bumped into each other, tearing their flanks up.
“What a mess,” Lieutenant Olson said, shaking his head as they passed through the formation. He had chosen to come low in order to use the slingshot. Now he rather regretted it, he realized now that it had put his ship in danger.
“Sir! Port! Incoming!” Barry called out frantically.
“I can't see it!” Olson said, jinking the ship.
“It's too late Lieutenant,” Phoenix replied calmly as the ship shuddered. After that Olson only knew fire and screaming. Phoenix caught a hit from a lurking gunship near the jump point to Pyrax and tumbled, drive dead.
<----*----*----*---->
“Admiral, I regret to inform you, Phoenix has been hit,” Bounty said quietly.
“Raise her,” Irons replied as Nobeki and the bridge crew looked up briefly. The crew returned to their duties as the Admiral frowned.
Irons checked the plot and then pulled up a feed. He caught sight of his beautiful ship briefly as Bounty tried to raise her. “No response Admiral,” Bounty said. “Her reactor is down. Energy levels are minimal,” the AI said.
Irons grunted. She was pretty torn up, her drive pods had been shredded like ripped melons. A yard job for sure he realized, which meant she was a derelict again. He felt a brief pang at the loss and then accepted it. There was nothing he could do for her now, nothing but keep fighting.
<----*----*----*---->
Mary stumbled through the airlock and fell. Hands caught her and dragged her out of the way by her suit harness. She was a mess and knew it. She covered her belly with one hand, she didn't feel any pain anymore there and that was probably bad. She coughed, a ragged liquid cough with a lot of blood in it. The blood sprayed over the inside of her suit visor. She lifted it and coughed again.
“Shit,” Sindri said, checking her suit vitals. She was bleeding internally; he didn't know how long she'd last. They didn't have a sickbay or stasis pod either.
“Chief! We're in trouble here! Incoming! Get that hatch shut!” Ian said through the implants.
Sindri scowled. He peered around the corner. He could see Chuck and Larry's lights as they searched Romeo. The lights moved around in the dark.
“Get back here!” Sindri roared. “Get them out! We're leaving!”
Larry turned and ran through the hatch immediately. Chuck turned reluctantly and then dived through the hatch as Ian triggered it closed from the bridge.
“Is that all?” Sindri demanded.
“All I could find!” Chuck said shaking his head. He looked around. Some were badly wounded like Apple, others were just bewildered.
“Get the others sorted out. Triage. Then get those that can fight to stations,” Sindri ordered.
“Aye sir,” Chuck said, helping with a pressure bandage. “Its got anticoagulants impregnated in the surface so don't pull it off or play with it. Keep pressure on it,” he said to Allen.
They all grabbed for hand holds as the ship bucked. Chuck looked out the airlock window to see the other corvette tumbling away. The outer lock closed after a moment.
“Damn, that was close.”
Allen looked up from the spear stuck in his leg and grimaced. He reached for it but Ch
uck slapped his hand away. “Don't! Leave it in. It's filling the void. You yank it out and it'll gush!”
“Frack! It hurts!”
“I know man, just suck it up. We'll do what we can until we can get you to the doc,” Larry said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Larry, get to engineering,” Sindri ordered, helping sit the Lieutenant on the deck. She coughed again, trying to breathe.
“Sindri! Get your ass to engineering!” Ian growled. “We need everything you've got and more if we're going to survive what's coming up our ass!”
“Shit,” Sindri said, getting to his feet.
“Go,” Apple coughed. “The ship...” she said, coughing and waving weakly.
“Stay alive girl,” Sindri said roughly as he turned and moved quickly out of the companionway. He got to the corner and looked back briefly. Duty told him he had to be in engineering, if the ship failed they were all dead. But his friend...
The ship bucked again. He put a hand out to steady himself. He cursed softly as he broke into a trot and then a run.
<----*----*----*---->
With her pawns down the battlecruiser “Queen Adrienne” entered the range of Echo. The larger ship's myopic sensors picked up the drifting ship. She attacked like a half blinded grizzly. She swung about to take on Romeo and Echo. The two ships split up, Echo clawed to get out of the behemoth’s range leaving the crippled ship alone.
Even with her fire control on local control the BC still had more than enough firepower to torch the fleas. As one turret mount fired the other mount crews noted it and fired on the same target as well. In seconds they had the range and hammered the supine corvette, taking out Romeo, turning her into an expanding ball of plasma in a spiteful attack against a helpless foe.
“Kill the mother fucker!” Admiral Rico snarled, holding a hand to the bloody bandage on his forehead. That missile attack had come close to killing him and the ship. Many of the ship's crew were dead or missing. Some were still trapped in compartments, either dead or dying from lack of air.
“Firing,” the bridge reported coldly. “Force beams only. Grasers are out on the port side,” the tactical officer said.