Defiant

by Dave Bara

  Before I could finish my order, we were hit broadside by a volley of Vixis’s missiles. I tried to call up the tactical display, but it wasn’t working. In fact, a lot of systems weren’t.

  “Shield damage?” I asked.

  “None, sir,” replied Babayan. “Those weren’t the frequency-busting missiles, just standard tactical nukes.” If you could call a ten-kiloton atomic warhead “standard,” well, then we were doing fine. No way they’d get through our Hoagland Field defenses with those.

  “You can bet the next volley will be frequency-busters. We caught them by surprise, XO, but we won’t again.” I turned my attention to my helmsman. “You need to get us to at least a thousand clicks away to fire our missiles, Mr. Layton,” I said.

  Layton shook his head. “The HD impellers went offline during the double jump, sir. They’re coming back now, as are most systems, but we’re running on chemical thrusters, and I make it . . .” He looked down at his console.

  “Eighteen seconds to safe firing range, Captain,” interrupted Longer.

  “Resolution is moving, sir, and so is Vixis,” reported Babayan.

  “Where?” I demanded.

  “Vixis is moving off slowly, but Resolution is ramping up speed to pursue her,” she replied. “Vixis must have been damaged by our displacement wave when we jumped back in.”

  “But fully shielded, and even at two hundred meters, she’s still together. Just surprised and stunned a bit,” I said. I turned to my wife. “I need a longwave com, and I need it quick. Tell Resolution to back off. We’re targeting Vixis, and if she stays in range . . .” I said.

  “Understood, sir,” Karina replied and went to her work. I turned to Babayan.

  “XO?” I asked, looking for a second-by-second tactical update.

  “Nine seconds to firing range. Resolution is now backing off—looks like she got the longwave message,” said Babayan.

  “That was quick work,” I said.

  “Five seconds to firing range on Vixis,” said Babayan.

  “Don’t wait on my order, XO,” I said.

  “Aye, sir.” A precious few seconds later, the volleys were away. We all watched on the now-functioning tactical as our own shield-busting missiles impacted Vixis’s Hoagland Field and detonated, followed seconds later by the MDW torpedo explosion. It was blinding for a second until the light filters on the main display rebalanced. When the screen cleared, we could clearly see Vixis limping along, her amidships burned and interior fires registering on our heat scans.

  “We got her, sir!” declared Babayan. I ran through the tactical scans on my console. Her weapons and main propulsion were still active.

  “Not yet, Commander. Mr. Layton, plot intercept. Mr. Longer, full impellers until we catch her,” I said. Longer shook his head.

  “We can’t catch her, sir. Our HD impeller systems are still coming back up to full capacity from the double jump. I might be able to get you a shot with the anti-graviton plasma, sir. Might,” he replied.

  “Do it. Lieutenant Feilberg, report on the battle at the jump gate ring?”

  “Commodore Maclintock reports a standoff, sir. Those dreadnoughts have a new type of defensive field, likely taken from Vixis. No progress in moving those beasts off their line,” she said.

  “And you can’t score if you can’t get the goalkeeper off his line,” I responded. Then Babayan came up to me.

  “Vixis is pulling away, sir. She’s only twenty thousand clicks from the jump ring, and with our sub-light impellers still coming back up, we can’t match her course and speed,” she said.

  “But the plasma weapon—”

  “You could destroy everything if you fire it in these close quarters, sir. Vixis, Resolution, Starbound, those dreadnoughts, even Artemis station. As XO, I say the risks are too high.”

  I switched the main display to tactical. Starbound was backing away from the dreadnoughts, Resolution was halfway between Artemis and the jump gate, and we were in between all of them and Vixis, who was rapidly pulling away toward the jump gate ring. “That’s twice we’ve engaged her, XO, and twice she’s gotten away,” I said. Babayan said nothing to that but stood beside me as we watched Vixis activate the ring and slipstream through, followed closely by her companion dreadnoughts.

  “Are there any suicide drones or HuKs left fighting?” I asked.

  “Two drones and one HuK,” reported Babayan, pointing them out on the display.

  “Then let’s go get them, Mr. Layton. I believe Artemis Station will be able to resupply whatever missiles we use up,” I said.

  “Aye, sir,” said Layton with a smile. Then I sat back in my command couch, frustrated as ever.

  Three hours later I had Defiant docked at Artemis Station along with Resolution and Starbound, and Wesley and Maclintock had called for another strategy session. Karina was invited to represent Carinthia’s vote, and my friend Prince Sunil Katara of Levant had called in from the surface. It was, after all, his planet we were orbiting.

  “This is obviously a trap,” I said once the session commenced, not bothering to wait for Wesley to start with any formalities. “We know where the jump gate ring is preprogrammed to take us.”

  “Unless they found a way to reprogram it,” retorted Captain Dobrina Kierkopf from down the conference table. She was sitting in on the conference call along with all the other Lightship captains. Their images were displayed in individual frames on the conference room screen, which was much smaller than the enormous one in Maclintock’s office on Candle. “They could be baiting us right into the teeth of their entire navy.”

  “They’re probably doing that anyway,” I said. “It doesn’t change the obvious. They want us to follow them.”

  “If it’s a trap, we shouldn’t go,” Karina said. Wesley looked up from his battle reports long enough to comment.

  “Regrettably, Highness, this is a military decision, not a political one. Your opinion is noted, but it will not be critical in our decisions about what this fleet does or doesn’t do next,” he said.

  Karina looked perturbed and said, “Understood,” then pushed back slightly from the table.

  “Opinion, Commodore Maclintock?” Wesley asked.

  “As you can see from the reports, Admiral, those dreadnoughts are a match for us with their new defensive fields. They’re similar to Hoaglands but seem to have a slightly less robust design. Probably a field upgrade done on the fly. One thing for sure is if we go after Vixis, we’re going to need a larger fleet,” Maclintock said.

  “I disagree,” I said. “The fleet we’ve seen is not that large. It is possible that Prince Arin and Vixis are being allowed to run rogue raids on the Union without the full cooperation of the Imperial fleet, the actual size of which we still don’t know. And one more thing: we do know where Vixis went. She could have jumped out at any time, to any system, but she went through the ring. She wants us to follow her to Altos. Or at least Arin does.”

  “And again,” said Dobrina, “if we do so, we play right into their hands.”

  Wesley looked up at the many faces of his captains on the screen. “Opinion, Captain Zander?” he asked.

  Zander cleared his throat. “Captain Cochrane is correct, Admiral. This is a trap. But they know that we know it. My guess is that they’re betting we’ll send a small force through, and they’ll take that force out. We’ll send another force to find out what happened to the first, and so on, and so on. Pick us apart by attrition. When they know we are weak, they’ll come through and take over. End of the war.”

  “So, what’s your suggested strategy, Captain?” asked Wesley with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

  “We go, but not with a small force. All in, everything we have: Lightships, Wasps, cruisers from the local navies, everything. And we beat them. Then we come back through that damn gate and blow it to hell so they can never use it again,
” Zander said.

  “I agree,” I said. “Trap or not, we must go. And with everything we have.” Karina grasped my hand while Dobrina shook her head.

  “It’s too much of a risk,” she said.

  “Like the one you took with Impulse II at Pendax?” I said. She fumed but said nothing back to me.

  “It’s insanity,” said Maclintock. “Leaving the Union worlds defenseless is not an option.”

  “We’re defenseless anyway, Commodore,” said Zander, showing anger for the first time. “If we try and wait this one out, we’ll get picked apart. They let us grow our fleet up over the last year not out of kindness but because they didn’t care. They have overwhelming numbers, and thanks to the fucking prince regent of Carinthia, they know everything they need to know about Lightships. The math is simple. They have the numbers, we don’t.”

  Wesley waved his hand to cut off the debate. “This rancor is pointless,” he said. “The Admiralty has already made up its mind on this.” By “the Admiralty,” he clearly meant himself. “The following orders are final. The Lightships Starbound, Defiant, and Resolution will make the jump through the gate at 0900 Union Universal Time tomorrow. The Lightship Vanguard will relocate to Levant, as will all other Lightships and available Wasp frigates. This second flotilla will await orders in the Levant system until battle reports are received from Altos,” he dictated.

  “And if there are no reports from Altos?” asked Dobrina.

  “Then the jump gate ring will be destroyed. You’ll have twenty-four hours to get it done and get back,” he said with finality.

  “And if we’re still fighting for our lives on the other side?” asked Maclintock. “How will we get home from some 244 light-years away?”

  “The old-fashioned way: point to point. If you survive, Commodore,” said Wesley. And that was that. But I had more to say.

  “Sir, if I may—why do we have to wait until 0900 tomorrow? That’s almost twelve hours from now,” I said. “If there’s going to be a fight, then let’s get on with it.” The Admiral looked up sharply at me.

  “You have three missile launch tubes that need replacing, Captain, and the other ships need minor repairs. Don’t be in such a rush to reap the whirlwind, son. It’s coming soon enough,” he said.

  “There is one more thing, Admiral.” This time it was Captain Devin Tannace of Resolution speaking up. “I must protest your previous order turning my command over to Captain Kierkopf. You said Resolution and her crew was untested on the battlefield, but that is no longer so. We fought against the enemy today, and we acquitted ourselves well.”

  “I agree,” chimed in Prince Katara. “Resolution is Levant’s Lightship, and Captain Tannace is our leader. I must insist that she be allowed to go on this mission with her own captain at the con, a captain that her crew knows and trusts, rather than replacements from another ship that was destroyed in battle against this very same enemy.”

  Wesley looked at both men’s images on the screen, then simply said, “Denied. We need our most experienced officers on this mission. Captain Tannace will run the Levant Planetary defenses until Resolution returns. Captain Kierkopf’s assignment is temporary. Now, if there’s no more debate?” He looked at everyone with an intimidating stare that I’d seen before. It was well practiced.

  “One final question, Admiral,” I said, annoying him one more time. He looked at me, his face red, but said nothing, so I continued. “All Union worlds save one are represented here by a Lightship captain, a royal, or both. Where is Historian Serosian? Doesn’t he represent Earth’s interests in these matters?”

  Wesley deferred to Maclintock, who said, “The Historians are holding their own confab, as far as I know. Something about policy decisions to be made.”

  “What policies?” I asked. Maclintock looked perturbed.

  “I’m not sure, but I assumed they were none of our goddamned business,” Maclintock said, glaring at me. I said nothing to that but turned back to Wesley.

  “Sir, with respect, I propose that we leave all our Historians behind on this mission. We are heading into a battle, and their . . . peculiarities might not be a positive addition at this time,” I said.

  “I agree,” said Dobrina quickly. Her support was welcome but unsurprising. Wesley looked to Maclintock.

  “I’ll let the Commodore make that decision. This is his mission,” said Wesley.

  “The young Captain Cochrane may not value Mr. Serosian’s presence, sir, but I do. I wouldn’t fly Starbound without him,” he said. “And I insist that they all go. Or perhaps the other captains would like to withdraw from the mission?”

  I looked down the table at Dobrina, and she looked at me, but neither of us said anything.

  “Then if there’s absolutely nothing else, your mission briefs will be downloaded via longwave packet by midnight. Good luck tomorrow, Captains. We are adjourned,” Wesley said. And that was that.

  I walked back to Defiant hand in hand with my wife. Neither of us said a word.

  I prayed that my intuition about this mission was wrong.

  To Altos

  Even after a vigorous night of lovemaking with Karina, I didn’t sleep well. We never knew, in these circumstances, if each time would be our last time together. She was worried about the mission, but I was more worried about her. This mission was dangerous beyond belief, and I didn’t want to risk her at all. But the fact was that she’d earned the right to be here, and I had to respect that, even if I didn’t like it much. At all.

  I went to meditate in the early hours of the morning and found everything quiet and peaceful. I prayed to the Universe that my ship would remain in the same condition on this mission, quiet and peaceful, but I knew that was an unlikely outcome. I showered early and gently woke Karina, who had slept much better than me. I guess I had worn her out more than a bit.

  By 0830 the bridge was crawling with the day shift crew, everyone running down their checklists one more time. I had a feeling this would be the last High Station break we would be seeing for a while.

  Precisely at 0900 Maclintock ordered us to break dock, and we did, proceeding in an orderly manner to the jump gate ring for a trip into the unknown. Starbound led the procession, followed by Resolution in the middle and Defiant farthest aft. I had protested this position, as I felt Resolution, still nicked up from her encounter with Vixis, would be best protected by entering last. But Maclintock thought differently, feeling that she could be best served by being bracketed by the two most powerful ships in the fleet. We all had the upgraded weaponry at our disposal, including the gravity weapons, the anti-graviton disintegration plasma, the local jump point generators, frequency-busting missiles, coil cannons, and advanced atomic torpedoes. Defiant alone retained the power of the torsion beam. It was the best we had. I just wasn’t sure it would be enough.

  Nor was I sure about Captain Dobrina Kierkopf. We had been comrades, friends, and lovers, but my affection for her had come to a breaking point with her actions toward Vixis in the battle at Pendax. I wasn’t sure I trusted her on the battlefield anymore, and I’d made no secret of the fact that I’d have preferred Zander and Vanguard on this mission, even if she didn’t have the full upgraded weaponry suite yet.

  I tensely watched as Starbound slipstreamed through the ring and presumably into the Altos system, the former home of the once-hated Sri, a scientific order that had been reviled under the old empire and whose abuses had led directly to the conflict that started the Imperial Civil War. It was not a place I had ever contemplated visiting, and my only previous experience in that system had been aboard Starbound, when I’d used the original, crippled Impulse as a weapon to destroy an automated Imperial dreadnought.

  Next went Resolution, three minutes behind, and I started our own countdown clock.

  We were on full alert, locked down tight as a drum and ready for battle the moment we entered Altos space. I e
xpected the Imperial fleet to be there and for our ships to be under immediate assault. I hadn’t prepared a battle plan, though. How could I? We had no idea what to expect from the enemy on the other side of that singularity.

  I was tense and sweating. I checked all our systems one more time; we were as prepared as we could be. I managed a look at my wife, but she was under the ’scope hood and too involved for me to disturb with a last romantic “I love you.” She knew, and so did I, and that would have to be enough.

  Ten seconds.

  “Field on maximum,” I ordered. “All stations: final report.”

  “All weapons systems ready,” called out Babayan from the weapons console.

  “Propulsion set to engage at .0005 light on your order, sir,” said Longer.

  “Jump protocols also engaged,” called Lieutenant Arasan.

  “Helm active and responding,” finished George Layton. I looked down at my friend. Whatever we found on the other side, I was sure George would find us the battle space we needed to respond.

  At two seconds I gripped my chair tightly. Then we slipstreamed instantaneously through the jump gate ring and into open, empty space in the Altos system, 240-plus light-years from the Union and Levant.

  Starbound and Resolution were in their standard formation, IFF signals coming in loud and clear, and the tactical display showing them functioning at 100 percent. There was no Imperial fleet of any kind.

  I hit the ship-to-ship com and joined in with Maclintock and Dobrina.

  “Not exactly what I expected,” I said.

  “Nor me,” replied Maclintock. “Early scans indicate the system is clear of HD signatures. We will continue to scan and advise, but right now this looks like a dead end.”

  “I can’t believe that, sir,” I said. “Vixis—”

  “Vixis could have used Altos as a waypoint to somewhere else, like Corant or god knows where. We did give her twelve hours while we refitted. There’s no way to know,” said the commodore.