“Not yet,” she said.
She tapped me on the shoulder, but I didn’t look around.
“Can we use shields to get their shields down?”
“Yes. But the stronger shield wins, and the loser gets vaporized.”
“Fine. Challenge accepted.”
She rose, and walked back to the airlock. A cam showed me her going in. The inner door shut, and the airlock cycled. A cam inside showed her standing there calmly, waiting until the outer door was open.
“Hold her steady for a moment, George,” she yelled at me. “And drop the shield on this side.”
I held Gorilla steady.
I dropped the shield.
Willow launched herself out into space.
When she was far enough away, I put the shield back up, just in time for a massive hit on the airlock side coming down from above.
My suit went into space suit mode, and connected to the chair life support. Red all along that side showed the airlock was gone, as was the wing. Suddenly I had no control, and Gorilla started pin wheeling.
A screen was still showing me Willow, and I watched her shift into her dragon form, and come back for me. More hits on the other side, and suddenly I had no shields, but shields sprang up further out as dragons tried to protect me.
The cam lost sight of Willow, but suddenly there was the screech of ripping metal, and the ship’s movement stopped. I chopped the speed off immediately, and Gorilla came around in a curve, hanging from Willow’s talons.
There was nothing I could do now. I couldn’t fire missiles, not that I had many left. As far as this fight was concerned, I was done. Or not.
Scimitar came into view as Willow changed our course to run straight at her.
“Brace for impact,” said Sim, and I wondered what the hell she meant.
But not for long. Shields formed behind us and to both sides, and the shields in front of us vanished.
“You’re not…” was all I got out, before Willow threw Gorilla into the broken front end of Scimitar.
“Fuck!” I screamed, just before Gorilla hit the temporary wall sealing in the maintenance deck, and went through it as if it hadn't been there.
Metal screamed across metal as Gorilla hit the deck, I could feel the vibration of it through my feet and seat, and then we slid most of the way down the ship, before coming to a stop, and falling over onto the undamaged wing. The HUD died. I sat there for a few moments, still in space suit mode, still strapped into my chair.
“Imperium ship!” exclaimed Sim.
Forty Two
“Where?”
“Appeared just now, right on top of that incoming fleet. And holy shit!”
“Talk to me,” I said, unbuckling, my suit disengaging from the chair, and standing up.
I headed straight for the airlock. Or where it used to be. The crystal was shattered.
“It took out two battleships with one run. And there go another two.”
“What ship?” I asked as I looked out the hole, judging if it was safe to jump down.
“Chaos.”
“We don’t have a ship called chaos, just Grace.”
I jumped, and pulled off a blinder of a superhero landing. I stood and started running for the access shaft.
“And we have … SHIT A BRICK!”
I stopped running and almost fell over.
“What?” I yelled.
“Navmap is up for the entire Imperium, and a great deal more. There’s battles going on across a half dozen systems. Get up here George.”
I sprinted the rest of the way to the access shaft and leapt up much too fast. The benefit of being a fighter pilot who knows no fear, is we always did this too fast, and I swung out onto deck one without any problems. And ran head first into a wall which shouldn’t have been there.
The middle of the wall had a hatch, so after picking myself up, I pulled it open, and stepped into a hastily assembled airlock. It cycled, I stepped out the other side, and made an attempt at a dignified stride onto the bridge, my suit shifting to uniform.
“Third pair of battleships out there are gone, as are the cruisers. And we have Pelican showing up with Chaos.”
“Pelican? Eric’s here?”
“So’s Jessie and Slice, but they’re at the jump point. Claymore is in the next system with Galactica.”
“What’s our status here?”
Sim shook her head.
“Willow has formed a group of the best shielded dragons still in play. It’s raining dragons below us as ones which can no longer hold a decent shield are returning to the ground. Willow’s using the remainder like a battering ram against destroyers. It’s taking too much time and she keeps having to reform the group to avoid killing one of her people each time. I’m giving you control of Scimitar back, so get your arse seated, captain, sir.”
I sat, and buckled up. The controls were really badly responsive, and it took me a bit to get a feel for her.
“Transports are gone. In fact that whole fleet is just gone, and Pelican has gone back to the jump point.”
“What’s Chaos doing?”
“Tell me that’s you, George,” said Amanda’s voice.
“That’s you, George,” I parroted back, grinning.
“We just saw two white dots merge, and hoped that was you landing.”
“No. You know me. Never land when you can be flung in through the hull by a dragon, and crash.”
There was silence for a few moments, during which I pulled Scimitar around to aim at a battleship, changed the guns to fire full broadsides, and waited as the range closed.
“Are those really dragons?” asked Alison.
“Yes they are, and I’m glad to see you and all that, but I’m a little busy right now for chit chat.”
“We’ll be there shortly George,” said Grace. “Only I’ve got no shields just at the moment. Can you hold out a little longer?”
I pulled the trigger, noting the shields allowed the fire out through careful holes, the remaining shielding on the battleship collapsed, and a half dozen cap ship missiles finished the job, ripping the ship in half. I only just managed to avoid the debris given how sluggish the ship was to turn now.
“Maybe,” I grunted. “Maybe not. Anyone else coming to this party?”
“Not that we know of,” said Amanda. “But we didn’t know any of them were coming until they came.”
I was trying to pull us around towards another battleship, when we were hit in the side, and one of the dragons on the lower hull lost its grip and spun away. It left a hole in the shielding, and cruiser pulses charged through, ripping a large hole in the lower and side hull. Maneuvering was immediately a bit worse.
“Sim, can we communicate with Willow?”
“Send only.”
“Tell her it’s time we pulled back. Help is on its way, and getting ourselves killed is no longer required to protect the planet.”
“Will do.”
Nothing happened. The fight went on. Willow and her group took out another destroyer. If she’d heard, she hadn't agreed.
“CLEAR MY LINE OF FIRE!”
Forty Three
A large rift opened in space.
“Tell Willow to get her people the hell out of here, and right the hell now!”
I yanked the stick in the direction of the least cluttered bit of space I could see in a hurry, and pushed in every bit of speed I could get. Scimitar groaned from the course change, but picked up speed again. The dragons all scattered, heading away in whatever direction was safest for them. But all the same it took a full minute to clear the area of the rift, and the plants used it to punish us.
BigMother came through like an enraged beast, her titan and battleship guns gutting the plant battleship in the best shape, and firing everything she had in all directions. Sim gave me a series of views, and except for firing my guns at targets of opportunity as I headed away, I had a grand seat to the show.
Relentless and Dauntless appeared together, g
oing left and right, turrets firing at anything which moved near them. John Wayne followed, which meant all our dreadnoughts were now in play, with Katana, which to my surprise started launching Excalibur fours. Behind them came two super-Gunbus, and a veritable cloud of more Excalibur fours.
What had been almost a slug it out to a standstill draw, now became a slaughter. I watched as ship after ship was reduced to debris. Once I was far enough away, I brought Scimitar around to head back to an orbital slot, and dragons started forming up around me. Their heads were all turned to watch the remainder of their enemies being chewed up.
“What the…?” said Sim suddenly.
A screen popped up, and I could see a dragon on a collision course for the side of deck one. At the last possible moment, shields around that section vanished, the dragon turned into Willow, and she sailed straight into a hastily opened by Sim airlock. I gaped at Sim.
“Close,” she said.
“The impact should have killed her.”
“She’s a dragon. Probably dented the damn inner hatch, and won’t even bruise her.”
A few minutes later, Willow walked onto the bridge looking quite satisfied with herself.
“Damned fool stunt,” I said.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like that,” she grinned back.
She took the seat Aleesha usually sat in, and then flinched back as a set of hollos popped up next to her.
A pink ship which looked a bit like a Scimitar, but without the titan turret, and having a lot of hull mods, had popped into existence in front and to the left side of us. The rest of the alpha team looked at me.
“That’s a hell of a mouse problem you have there George,” laughed BA.
Ha, ha. I’d like to see the mouse which could chew through ship hulls. Then again, maybe not.
“How are you even flying?” asked Alana. “Don’t tell me those dragons are holding you up.”
“Not quite that bad. I’m damned glad to see you all, but hell, that pink is hard on the eyes. Whose idea was that?”
“Bob’s,” said Grace, looking serious.
“Going to introduce us?” asked Amanda.
She had the type of expression on her face which implied enormous relief being hidden behind a serious situation.
“This is Knight Colonel Willow, commander of the dragon forces you see around me. I’ll do proper introductions when we meet up in person.”
“Is she…” asked Alison.
“Yes.”
Jon’s head and shoulders popped up.
“I think we’re done here. All ships clean up your battle area as best you can, and RV here in orbit. Anyone who needs to can stand down. I’m heading straight to bed myself. We’ll debrief over dinner this evening aboard BigMother.”
Gor popped up.
“Actually sir, that will be lunch time down planet, and everyone is invited to a celebration feast. The king insists.”
“Far be it for me to pass up a good feast. So be it. We’ll debrief in the morning, assuming something else doesn’t go pear shaped in the meantime. Great work everyone. Goodnight.”
And he vanished.
“You want to come over here, George?” asked Grace. “We’ve got spare suites for you and Willow. I’m not sure I’d trust what I can see over there enough to sleep there.”
“I really should be getting back groundside,” said Willow.
“Why?” I asked her. “Your people don’t need you to lead them home. Stay and enjoy our hospitality for a while. Sim will keep you in contact with your king through Gor.” She looked undecided. “I insist.”
She grinned and nodded.
“You coming too, Sim?” asked a girl I didn’t know, but assumed was Chaos’s avatar.
“I may as well. We can leave Scimitar in a stable orbit, and there isn’t much I can do up here on my own. We need a shipyard.”
“You think?” laughed Alison.
Everyone laughed, including Amanda.
“You ready?” asked a male voice, I thought sounded like Tanith.
I hastily unbuckled and stood, motioning Willow to do so as well, and waited for Sim to also stand.
“Ready,” I said, and winked at Willow.
A blink later we were standing on an identical bridge, although not in the same places. Willow’s eyes were wide, but I startled at seeing a cat tree built into the console and view screen, and a hell of a lot of pink in the view beyond. Grace’s ginger cat was sitting there looking at the three of us, and trying to decide if it should be afraid of Willow or not.
I turned to the captain’s chair, and yes, Grace was sitting in it, grinning at me.
My mouth opened to start proper introductions, when a man appeared on the bridge in an open space. He was wearing dirty robes, which had rips in several places.
“About bloody time you got here,” exclaimed Pangbornd. “Someone organize me some food, drink, and clean clothes!”
He stalked off the bridge, leaving the rest of us with our mouths hanging open.
Forty Four
The look on George’s face was priceless.
Given his mode of arrival, I assumed this was George’s mage. From the look on George’s face, it seemed pretty obvious he’d thought the mage was dead. Tanith on the other hand seemed annoyed.
George shook it off, and made introductions for us all, after which he was mob hugged. All but Tanith left, making noises about food and drink before getting some sleep. I needed it myself, but settled for a quick dash into the bathroom off my ready room. Bodily functions catered to, I took my seat again, where I found a bottle of water waiting for me. I slurped it as I kept an eye on what was still going on.
Search and Rescue droids were bringing in wounded dragons, and I watched the first of them land the dragon on BigMother’s flight deck. It was met by a medical team, who put a belt suit around a talon, and stood back while the dragon shifted back into a person, and the belt shifted into a space suit. The figure was bundled onto a grav stretcher, and rushed through an airlock to the medical bay.
Dragon shifters. Who’d have guessed? Jon maybe, but I thought they were a myth. From the look on his face, so had Tanith. I wasn’t sure what he was still here for, but likely it was like me, just in case I could be useful still.
One of the last dragons in was already back in person form, and had a suit on. The suit ended at the top of the thighs. It wasn’t moving, but the medical team rushed it inside all the same, so it must still have been alive.
Salvage droids were doing their thing, collecting up all the debris.
Chaos settled into orbit not far from Scimitar, and BigMother formed up on both of us. George’s ship was a total wreck. The front third was missing entirely, the titan turret gone with a giant hole indicating it’d been ripped clean off. The patched front end had an Excalibur sized hole in the middle of it, and scans showed Gorilla looking not much better. Several large holes were in the sides, and the entire outside length of the top and bottom had slash marks.
Alana had been right. The ship shouldn’t have been able to fly, let alone fight. One of the remaining dragons landed in the middle of the top deck, and made a show of sitting down and relaxing. As I watched, fascinated by it, a chunk of debris hit a shield and vaporized. The dragon grinned. The rest of them still in space began moving off towards wherever they called home.
At which point I began to crash. I staggered down to my suite, Nut following me at a distance, went straight into my bedroom, shifted my suit to a belt, and flopped.
Several hours later I became aware of warm on both sides of me, one larger than the other, but sleep claimed me again.
Chaos woke us late in the afternoon. Nut was curled up against my tummy, and Chris was pressed up against my back. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time for nooky, as we were due down on the planet for whatever passed as a feast in these parts. We had time for a very fast shower together with stolen kisses, before we joined the others in the main living room, all of us in dress unif
orms. George’s mage was the only one not present.
Tanith asked if we were ready, and suddenly we were on the ground. Or rather, high in the air on top of a city embedded in a mountain.
In the distance I could see Scimitar’s titan turret, perched on the side of another mountain, with a huge scar running all the way down. I stood there and gawked at it, and the others did so as well as soon as they saw what had my attention.
Willow coughed, and led us to a door. Security gave us a look over, and we were waved through into what seemed to be some sort of medieval court. An usher led us to seats at the front. Jon was already there, with his parents on one side of him, and John Slice on the other. The captains of the other ships involved yesterday were also already seated. We took ours.
A door to the side opened, some finely dressed dandies and their ball gown dressed ladies came through, taking seats just behind ours. Once they were seated, a short man and a tall woman, both wearing gold crowns, although hers was more like a tiara, entered and sat in ornate thrones facing everyone else. He was also wearing an ornate sword. There was silence for a few moments.
I was expecting a master of ceremonies to start things off, but the king himself rose again.
“We gather today in celebration of our deliverance. We are humbled to find our people have gifts long forgotten, and those among us who in spite of us, still loved us enough to risk their lives in our safety. We mourn our dead, and will do all we can for our wounded.”
He paused and looked across all of us.
“We are indebted to Imperator Hunter and the Imperium for your timely help. I’ve been in contact with the other sovereigns, and have their leave to thank you on behalf of the whole planet.” He paused. “Thank you. On other things we cannot agree, with but a single exception. While we welcome meeting the people of the Imperium, we wish our isolation to continue. We came here to get away from other species, and nothing has changed since then. We ask your indulgence in this matter.”
Imperium Knight Chaos Rising (The Hunter Imperium Book 6) Page 19