“No sir. There were too many ships, too close, to perform an effective scan.”
“You got that right,” the DSO muttered.
“Contact!” the OSO exclaimed. “I’ve got a bogey in the vicinity of the nearest planet. It’s turning toward us…cruiser-sized…the engine signatures are…Shaitan!”
Overhead the Bridge, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Jotunheimr System, December 22, 2021
Greetings, uncle,” Captain Magnusson said to the giant on the view screen.
“Welcome home, nephew,” the Jotnar replied. “It is good to see you, although I hadn’t expected you quite so soon. Have the Ssselipsssiss been eradicated?”
“I believe they are almost extinct. They cannot have more than a planet or two left, and their fleet has been all but eliminated.”
“If the war continues still, why have you returned?”
“Our ducts have been infested with some sort of creature that finds the wiring for our shields tasty. They keep chewing through the wires faster than we can replace them. We have returned to get the ducting swept and the vermin exterminated.”
“The bugs are eating your wiring?”
“No, it is a different type of creature. Something furry.”
“I’m sure the shipyard can clean them out quickly enough,” the giant said. “There is a bigger war coming, and you will need your shields.”
“That is certainly true, uncle. How are things with you?”
“Ho, ho, ho,” the elder Jotnar laughed. “They go very well.” He laughed again. “I captured a Shaitan ship, and now we have the secret of how they are able to travel between universes.”
“And how is it done?”
“There is a piece of machinery they use to make the transit. We swapped the engines from the ship I captured to one of our frigates, and now we can go to the Shaitans’ universe, too.”
“How were you able to take one of their ships?”
“I tricked them, of course.”
“That has always been your style, uncle.” Both Jotunn laughed.
“Sir!” one of the bridge watch called. Calvin knew from experience it was the Jotunn communications officer. “We just received word from the stargate. The Terran frigate is here.”
“And they killed it, I assume,” Captain Magnusson replied.
“No sir, the Terrans got away. Apparently the Long Serpent hit it several times but was not successful in keeping it from transiting to the other universe.”
“Those sheep-fucking oskilgettin! I will sew their testicles to my shield and let every enemy I know beat on them at will!”
“The Terrans?”
“No, our worthless sacks of rotten flesh guarding the stargate. How could they let one tiny frigate escape? They must have been too busy pouring salt water down their pants to keep their crabs fresh, those worthless, fatherless bacrauts.”
“Fear not, nephew; I will get your revenge.”
“Did you not hear my communications officer, uncle? The modur helviti Terrans have transited to the universe of the Shaitans. They are beyond our reach until they choose to come back, and they will not come back to fight. Even they are not that stupid.”
“You forget about my new ship. I will cross over and put an end to their meddling in our affairs. They cannot escape me. Consider your revenge…fulfilled.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“Captain, the Jotunn vessel, the Huggorm, is calling us,” the communications officer said.
“On screen,” Captain Sheppard replied.
The screen lit up with the visage of a giant who was unlike any Jotnar the CO had seen previously; the giant’s skin, while bluish-tinged, was closer to the hue of a Caucasian Terran than any Captain Sheppard had seen before. The Jotnar could have passed as a human who had been out in the cold too long…if he hadn’t been about 14 feet tall. He wore a long woolen tunic and trousers, held up by a belt with a large golden buckle. A cape flowed from his shoulders, held together in the front with a golden brooch. Although his hair and beard were long like the rest of the Jotunn that Captain Sheppard had seen, the giant was well-groomed. He exuded charm and charisma, and Captain Sheppard instantly took a liking to him.
“Welcome to Jotunheimr,” the Jotnar said. “Or, what would be Jotunheimr if we weren’t in this other…place. I am Loki of the Saekonungar, the rulers of the seas between the stars. Unfortunately, I am not able to offer you the hospitality due someone who has journeyed as far as you have. Your race has proven to be a thorn in our side, and I am afraid it is my duty to remove that thorn. You killed our previous Odin, my brother, and I am honor-bound to return the favor. Defend yourselves, strangers; Loki is coming for you.”
With that, the screen went dead.
“How long until they are in missile range?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“About four hours,” the OSO replied.
“Good,” Captain Sheppard said. “We have time to prepare.”
“We’re going to fight him?” the DSO asked.
“I don’t see any other possibility. We can’t go back through the stargate we came through; they’ll be waiting for us. We didn’t have time to survey the system before we jumped into this universe, so we don’t know where the other stargates are. Even if we did, the Jotunn are probably blocking them to keep us from leaving. We could move around in this universe and jump back to find out that information, but our movements are currently impeded by the Jotunn ship headed toward us. Our choices are to either fight or run. If we run, they will chase us, and we’ll have to fight them on their terms. If, however, we attack them now and defeat them, we gain a flexibility and mobility advantage over the rest of the Jotunn. If they don’t have any other ships that can jump to this universe, once we kick their asses, we can move around here however we want.”
“What if they do have other ships that can jump into this universe?” the OSO asked.
“Then we’ll kick their asses too. It’s the only way we’re going to get out of here.”
No one said anything else, but Captain Sheppard could see the crew looking around nervously. The situation was bad, but not unrecoverable. Captain Sheppard stared at the screen, picturing Loki’s face on it. He might have to rethink liking Loki after all.
CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“All right, we’ll start with Steropes,” the CO said. “What can you tell us about where we are?”
“This system is the Keppler-20 system. Kepler-20 is a yellow star just slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun. The system has six planets, of which five are inside the habitable zone. The sixth planet is on the outside edge of the habitable zone. Although too cold for us, based on what we know about the Jotunn, it would not be too cold for them. The sixth planet in this universe is uninhabited, but I believe it to be the planet Jotunheimr in our universe. It is on almost the opposite side of the star from our current position.”
“Anything interesting we can use to our advantage here?”
“No sir; there is nothing out of the ordinary in this system.”
Captain Sheppard turned to the operations officer. “What’s the latest on Loki and friends?”
“They continue to head straight for us. They will be in missile range in about 2.5 hours. They continue to ignore all communications.”
“Well, it appears they are determined to fight, and we’re going to give them everything we’ve got. Yes, I know we could stealth up and try to hide from them, but I don’t want to have to try to outmaneuver them the whole time we’re trying to get Calvin back. I want to take care of them now and be done with it.”
“What about the stealth modules?” the OSO asked. “Are we going to keep them on?”
“No,” the CO said. “We’re not going to fight handicapped. Blow them now and get everything ready for full broadsides. I want a fighter strike to precede us, then we will close to missile range. They have probably seen the Shaitan’s missiles
before, but I’ll bet the Jotunn haven’t had the missiles used on them yet. I want to stay just inside missile range, and we’ll see what their capabilities are. If we need to rearm the fighters and send them back in, we will. I do not want to get in close with the Jotunn ship until we know more about their capabilities.”
“We are working to replicate more of the jump units for our missiles,” the operations officer said, “but we will only have about two broadsides worth of them, as well as enough to give the capability to about half of the fighters’ missiles. Do you want us to use all of the ones we have?”
“I do,” Captain Sheppard said with a nod. “My goal is not to give them a fair fight, but to smash them to wreckage as quickly as possible so we can go after Lieutenant Commander Hobbs. Loki has already delayed us too long. Any questions?”
Cockpit, Viper 01, Anti-Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“All Vipers, launch on my mark,” Lights transmitted. “Stand by, stand by, mark!”
She jabbed the button that released Viper 01’s missiles and received five good launch indications. Her system showed all but one of the squadron’s missiles had launched; 59 missiles raced toward the Jotunn ship.
“You play with fire, you’re going to get burned,” she muttered as she changed the navigation system to the holding point where the fighters would wait until they were needed. She hoped the Jotunn liked it hot because there was a hellstorm headed for them.
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“Sir, the fighters have launched,” the OSO said. “59 missiles tracking outbound toward the Huggorm. 10 minutes until we’re in range.”
“Have they turned broadside yet?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“No sir. They are still heading toward us. I’m not sure what they’re doing. They’re launching anti-missile missiles (AMMs), but only from their chase armament; they haven’t turned to use their broadside defenses.” He watched as two of the fighters’ missiles jumped out of the universe and came back, avoiding the AMMs targeted on them. “They’re going to eat a bunch of these. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“It might if they didn’t have a lot of anti-missile defense,” the CO commented. “Maybe they knew there were going to be a bunch of leakers, and Loki decided to sacrifice the bow of his ship to get past the fighters. They’re going to take a lot of hits, but their engines and most of the back end of the ship is protected. It’s pretty smart, actually. They get a look at our missile capabilities, without our special missiles being able to do a lot of damage to them. They’ll have to rotate to fire at us, though, and then they’re ours.”
“You’re right sir; they’re rotating,” the DSO said. “And they’re firing!” His voice was a little higher this time.
“Defend the ship,” the CO ordered. “Missiles free.”
“What the hell…” the DSO muttered, staring at his system.
“What’s wrong, DSO?”
“Uh sir, they only launched five missiles. That’s it? Five missiles?” Incredulity tinged his voice.
“We’re in range,” the OSO noted. “Firing.” The ship jolted at the anti-ship missiles (ASMs) launched.
“AMMs launching,” the DSO noted. “Three missiles killed…second round launching…all incoming missiles destroyed.”
“Missiles running true,” the OSO commented. “The Jotunn are launching AMMs against them…not very many…BAM! At least seven hits on the enemy ship!”
“Oh, I get it!” the DSO exclaimed.
“What’s that, DSO?” the CO asked.
“Their ship is the same size as us, and I automatically figured it would have about the same capabilities, but it doesn’t. Even though the ship is the same size as the Gulf, it’s a Jotunn frigate, not a cruiser. The Jotunn are a lot bigger than us, so the living spaces on board have to be a lot bigger too. By the time you upsize everything, the ship is only going to have the same weapons capability as a much smaller ship. The Jotunn’s missiles are going to be a lot bigger than ours, but there aren’t going to be as many as there would be on a Terran cruiser. That’s what we’re seeing. We can fire a lot more missiles than they can.”
“Good,” Captain Sheppard said. “Kill them, please.”
“My pleasure,” the OSO said. “ASMs launching.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“Sir, the Jotunn are calling.”
“On screen.”
Loki’s face appeared on the screen. A thin haze of smoke partially obscured his face, but Captain Sheppard could see he was smiling. “You have gotten the better of us,” the Jotnar said. “We cannot defend against your missiles. I believe it is time to discuss a truce.”
“A truce?” Captain Sheppard asked.
“Yes, a truce. Unfortunately, your last volley destroyed one of our engines and the machinery we need to make the transit back to our world. The transit technology isn’t ours, and my engineering section doesn’t believe they can fix it, which means we will be trapped here with no hope of rescue; this is the only ship we have that can make the transit here.”
“So what do you propose?”
“We need your assistance to return home, and I am requesting you send over some technicians to help us repair our transit capability so we can return home. If you will fix our ship, we promise to transit back with you to our world, where we will give you free passage out of our system.”
“You can guarantee free passage for us?”
“I cannot guarantee free passage, but I give you my word that if you help us return to our world, I will do everything in my power once we are there to get you safe passage out of our system.”
“I would want to have safe passage for all Terrans and all of our allies that are currently in-system.”
“Of course,” Loki said. “All of your forces.”
“Do I also have your word that you won’t fire on us, and that you will return any of my men and women who come over to restore your jump capability?”
“Yes, any Terrans who come over will be allowed to return to your ship any time they would like to leave. On my honor, I so swear. I also give you my word that my ship will not fire on you; in fact, I will take all of my weapons systems offline, and if you do not fire on us, I will not bring them back online while we are in this system.”
“But once we make it back to your home world, you will use them on us?” Captain Sheppard asked.
Loki grinned. “I did leave out that possibility, didn’t I? But I am not trying to trick you. I have already given my word that you will have free passage out of our system if you help get us back to our world. We can’t get there without your assistance, and if it makes you feel better, I will promise not to use any of my ship’s weapons against you in that system too.”
“Ever?”
“Well, I don’t know that I can promise not to use them forever, since the gods only know what will happen in the fullness of time, but I will promise not to use them against you until after you have been allowed to leave the system of our home world.”
“I think that will be sufficient. Remember, you’re going to help get all of our people the ability to leave.”
“I give you my word,” Loki said. He smiled and added, “Trust me.”
“I don’t know that I can do that,” Captain Sheppard replied; “however, I know I can’t leave you here without the ability to return to our universe. I will trust your word is good, and we will close on your position and send over a party to help repair your motor.”
“We appreciate your assistance. Getting stuck here, wherever here is, is not where I hope to meet my end.”
Captain Sheppard broke the transmission.
“Do you trust him?” Steropes asked.
“Not as far as I can throw him,” the CO replied. “However, stranding them here is a death sentence to them, and if we can help him get his crew back, he will be honor-bound to not only give us free passage out of the system, but to
help us get Calvin back, as well. I wasn’t sure how we were going to accomplish that.”
“It’s a dangerous game you’re playing.”
“It is…but it’s the only way we get everything we need.” He turned to the OSO. “I want you to keep a close eye on the Jotunn. If you see any of their weapons start to power up, blast ‘em. If they even flinch, I want to know about it. But only after you blast them, first.”
Ducting, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Jotunheimr System, December 23, 2021
“I hope we hear something soon,” Calvin said. “I’m beginning to get worried.”
“Do you suppose your friends won?” Burkuri asked.
“I don’t know,” Calvin replied. “I certainly hope they did.”
“I don’t know whether your friends won, or if the battle continues,” Farhome said, “but I doubt the Jotunn have won. If Loki had been victorious, he would have come back by now to gloat. It’s what Jotunn do.”
“Well, perhaps the battle is still going on then,” Karver said. “Or maybe the Jotunn won and are staying in the other universe to gloat over your fr—oof!” Burkuri’s elbow to his chest cut him off.
“My brother didn’t mean that like it sounded,” Burkuri said.
“It’s not something I haven’t already thought about,” Calvin replied. “I just wish I was there to help.”
“Bad news!” Paxton exclaimed as he came running up. “We are less than a day from the shipyard. The bridge crew said that everyone is going to have to leave the ship on arrival so they can fumigate it. There is supposed to be enough gas to kill a punton, whatever that is.”
“It’s a four-legged animal almost as tall as the Jotunn,” Farhome answered. “If it will kill one of those things, our odds of surviving the gas are…considerably worse.”
“What’s worse than dead?” Karver asked.
“I don’t know,” Farhome replied. He paused, and Calvin could tell from the way he cocked his head that he was discussing it with himself. “The best we can come up with is being dead faster. Or maybe dying more slowly and in great pain. Either way, we’re going to die.”
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 17