She showed no doubts, carrying out his orders with conviction. Orcades liked that. She had played a pivotal role in their attack on the Obsidian, working covertly to undermine their defenses. Valine had taken risks to get the job done. She showed great potential, enough to get her this promotion over more experienced officers. Orcades sensed a thick seam of self-preservation running through her, an overwhelming desire to succeed. Perhaps, he hoped, this Commodore might survive longer than her predecessors.
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
‘Why has he not responded?’ Wynn mused as he stared at the dark shape of the arkship Fenrir through the flight deck windows.
‘Should we resend?’ the Lord Chamberlain suggested.
‘Message was received,’ the coms officer replied.
Bara stepped closer to Wynn’s side. ‘He’s going to attack,’ she said quietly.
‘What makes you think that?’ Wynn asked.
‘A hunch. This doesn’t feel right, does it?’
Wynn agreed. ‘No, it doesn’t. Lord Chamberlain?’
‘We can’t make any overtly hostile moves,’ the Lord Chamberlain replied, ‘but we can make preparations.’
‘Agreed,’ Wynn said, feeling a sensation of dread deep within him.
‘Charge the Gilgore Grid,’ Bara said as she made for the exit.
Wynn called after her. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To get Lexica ready for battle,’ she replied, a hint of finality in her voice. ‘The more guns out there the better. You should get your fighters ready as well.’
‘You can’t go out there, not alone,’ Wynn said, walking towards her.
‘My prince,’ the Lord Chamberlain called after Wynn. ‘Your place is here, on the flight deck, commanding your people.’
Wynn hesitated, torn between his sense of duty and his desire to go with Bara. He turned and saw Gofal, observing the discussion. He had been there all his life, a constant companion, bodyguard and confidant. He was no mere hunter bot; Gofal was a trusted friend. ‘Go with her,’ he commanded.
‘A bot?’ Bara said contemptuously. ‘I don’t need a bot.’
‘Gofal is more than that,’ Wynn said, his hand touching her arm. ‘Please, let him come with you. For me.’
Reluctantly, she conceded.
Wynn smiled, wanting to hold her in his arms. But he was aware of the eyes of his officers upon him, waiting for his command. He let her go, watching as Bara and Gofal left the flight deck, then turned to join Tanis at the operations map.
‘Still no response,’ the Lord Chamberlain said. ‘Gilgore Grid is at twenty eight percent. They’ll detect the radiation once it gets to eighty. We need to be ready before then.’
‘How long?’ Wynn checked.
‘Ten minutes. I’ve scrambled both hanger bays. Three squadrons are tanked with feet in the seat, ready to launch on our word. All cannons are charged, ready to deploy, but we’ve not locked on the target yet.’
‘Anything else we can do?’
‘We could begin the civilian evacuation to the shelters,’ the Lord Chamberlain replied.
‘Do it.’ Wynn checked the holograph. ‘There’s no cover nearby?’
‘A few asteroids. Nothing of strategic value.’
‘What about the cube drive?’
The Lord Chamberlain summoned one of his staff. ‘CUCOM? Drive status?’
The officer reddened, speaking quickly. ‘We can do a cold start in thirty minutes.’
Wynn sighed. ‘You can’t do it sooner?’
‘I’m sorry, that’s as fast as I dare go. Any faster and we risk tearing the ship apart.’
‘Okay, so we stand,’ Wynn said, looking back to the dark shape of the arkship Fenrir. ‘Make all preparations.’
‘New contacts!’ a nervous voice shouted from the far side of the flight deck.
‘Confirmed,’ an officer at the operations map answered. ‘Six hostile targets inbound.’
‘Set Battle Condition throughout the ship,’ the Lord Chamberlain announced. ‘Authorization to engage the enemy is given.’
‘Authorization received,’ another officer barked. ‘All guns, target the enemy. Load missile launchers. Scramble fighters.’
Orders and responses overlapped as the flight deck officers prepared for battle.
‘GGO!’ Lord Chamberlain Tanis shouted.
‘Grid at sixty six percent,’ the Gilgore Grid Officer responded. ‘Plotting inbounds trajectory and prioritizing those locations. Anticipate eighty plus at those points before impact.’
‘Not good enough,’ Tanis muttered.
BATTLE PLAN
As Bara climbed into her flight chair the alarms began to sound across the hanger bay.
‘The Ark Royal Caerleon is under attack,’ Gofal noted as he strapped himself into the chair next to Bara.
‘Really?’ Bara replied sarcastically. She thumbed the control panel, bringing the ship’s systems online.
‘I can shave off thirty-six seconds from our launch, if you let me have direct interface,’ Gofal offered.
‘Stay away from Lexica,’ Bara growled. ‘I’ll do the flying.’
Gofal did not protest. He settled into the chair and pulled the harness over his ill-fitting body.
‘We’re clear for launch,’ Lexica announced.
‘Good,’ Bara replied. She pulled on the yoke and the ship lurched off its landing platform.
‘Do you like poetry?’ Gofal asked.
‘What?’ Bara replied, trying to keep her focus on the approaching hanger threshold.
‘I don’t like poetry, but there are many associated with the eve of great battles. Perhaps you would like me to read some to you. It might help to calm your–’
‘I’m calm! Very calm!’
‘You don’t sound very–’
‘Can you fire a gun?’ Bara asked through gritted teeth.
‘I can manage both of your ship’s guns simultaneously.’
‘Good. Do that and shut up.’
The ship cleared the hanger bay and shot into space. Already a squadron of single-person fighters and drone guns had launched, flying in formation ahead of her. The radio crackled with their chatter as Bara informed the Caerleon’s flight controller of their safe departure.
Gofal plugged himself into the ship’s console and turned his glowing blue eyes to Bara. ‘Do you have a battle plan?’
Bara laughed. ‘Plan is a strong word. We’re going to try to take out their grid generator.’
Gofal turned to stare out of the windows. ‘Gilgore grids are typically very generalized with distribution points across the hull.’
‘I’m an engineer,’ Bara replied testily. ‘I know what I’m looking for.’
Gofal stretched his right arm in front of him, flexing the fingers, studying the shapes his hand made against the stars outside.
Bara glared at him. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I don’t like my arm, not since the repairs,’ Gofal noted. ‘It’s different.’ He compared it to his other arm, placing them side my side.
‘Can you please just focus on your job?’ Bara asked.
‘I am. Both guns are primed and standing by. I have targets locked but they are not in range yet.’
‘Well, you’re distracting me!’
Gofal lowered his arms. ‘Sorry.’
Bara brooded, watching the small dots of light ahead take on the slender shape of missiles hurtling towards the Caerleon. She brought the engines up to full power and throttled the ship towards the Fenrir.
‘Missiles in range,’ Gofal announced. ‘Weapons free.’
The windows caught the flashes of the gun turrets mounted above and below the rear of the bridge, followed quickly by bursts of light far in front of them. Bara glanced at the console holograph and saw that Gofal had taken out three of the incoming missiles already.
‘Weapons lock,’ Lexica announced. ‘Evasive action.’
‘I’ve got it,’ Bara pulled on the control yoke handles as a new flash
ing icon appeared on the holograph.
‘I’ve got it,’ Gofal echoed, activating the ship’s guns again. A few seconds later Bara spotted an eruption of light ahead, and the holograph icon died.
She turned to look at Gofal. ‘You’re good.’
‘I was better with my old arm,’ he replied.
FIRST STRIKE
‘Turn us to face the missiles,’ Tanis cried over the chaos. ‘Give them the smallest target possible, and keep our engines hidden.
‘First wave impact in ten seconds!’ an officer shouted.
Wynn checked the operations map. Many of the missiles had been taken out by the waves of fighters, or by the arkship’s own defenses, but a handful had made it through.
‘Grid is at eighty six percent,’ Tanis shouted to Wynn. ‘Brace yourself.’
The room began to shake, setting off alarms and causing the lights to flicker. Wynn felt eight impacts, the last one the closest to the flight deck. He checked the holograph: they had fared better than some other parts of the arkship.
‘What about our missiles?’ Wynn asked Tanis.
‘Their grid is at full power, we wouldn’t make a dent.’
‘And our guns?’
Tanis shook his head. ‘We’re out of range here.’
‘Then take us in.’
The Lord Chamberlain stared at him as if he was mad.
‘We’re a sitting target here,’ Wynn explained. ‘They’ll pick us off before we have time to get the cube drive online. At least if we get in close we can control which part of us they’re hitting, and we can do some damage to them as well.’
Tanis took a deep breath. ‘It’s a risky move, Prince Halstead.’
‘I know it’s risky, and it scares me to death. You have far more combat experience than I do. You know how quickly they’ll pick off our defense system from here. You know how soon they’ll launch their boarding party. You’re able to calculate the chances of us holding out until our cube drive is ready. Moving us closer might be crazy, I don’t know. So, you tell me, Cam. What should we do?’
The Lord Chamberlain stared into Wynn’s eyes, then he glanced out of the windows at the battle, and a devilish smile grew on his face.
‘Bring us about,’ he shouted. ‘Full power to the engines. Take us in.’
SIGNS
‘Clever,’ Commodore Valine mused. The Ark Royal Caerleon had grown from a distant shape to almost fill the windows of the flight deck. She could make out details on the other ship’s surface; hanger bays, the scars in the hull from their attack, she even saw the light from some of the windows.
Orcades Draig stared at the approaching arkship in disbelief. ‘What do they think they’re doing?’
‘They’re hoping for a tactical advantage. We can’t use our missiles at this range, the shockwaves could damage us.’
‘But neither can they.’
‘They would never have made it past our grid anyway. Now it’s down to our gunners, and our pilots.’
‘He makes no sense,’ Orcades muttered. ‘He has no experience in battle.’ He turned to Valine. ‘Prepare boarding rams.’
Commodore Valine almost laughed, checking herself at the last moment. ‘Sir, we must break the ship first, then land our troops. It is not time.’
‘They are in range, are they not?’
‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘Then it is time.’
Valine faltered. ‘Are those your orders?’
Orcades reddened. ‘Of course they are! I want to see him, I want to look him in the eye and show him that I have beaten him.’
‘Of course,’ Valine smiled, then turned to one of her subordinates. ‘Prepare the rams, but hold the troops back until we have a firm tether.’
She walked away to compose herself, suppressing her anger at the ignorance of the Valtais. Many troops would die because of this. She didn’t particularly care about them as individuals but the infantry was a finite resource and not to be wasted. Orcades was a fool. She didn’t know him well but she had been around him long enough to notice the recent change in his behavior. He had all the traits of a gravel head. He was hiding it well, but Valine had spent her youth around addicts and knew the signs well. Orcades Draig was addicted to some form of narcotic, his decision-making was flawed. If things went wrong Draig would look for someone to blame, and that someone would be her.
Valine cursed. She would have to tread carefully if she was to come out of this alive.
RAMMING
Bara pushed Lexica into a nosedive towards the surface of the Fenrir, turning the ship as it fell to keep its belly gun pointed at the hull. At the last second, she pulled the control yoke towards her and the ship lifted from its dive. She felt the pull of gravity increasing, pressing her into her seat, blurring the edge of her vision, as the ship gained height. Beside her, Gofal continued to fire the ship’s weapons, picking targets with consummate skill. Bara couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘There,’ she said, pointing to a faceted tower ahead on the surface of the Fenrir. ‘That’s a Gilgore substation.’
‘Consider it history,’ Gofal replied, making Bara laugh.
‘If we can knock out enough of them maybe it’ll destabilize the grid,’ Bara said and she pulled the ship into a dangerously-close skim of the Fenrir’s hull. They blew through the debris cloud from the destroyed Gilgore substation tower and thundered towards the next target.
‘I’ve noticed your heart rate rising,’ Gofal said conversationally. ‘Perhaps some music might–’
‘No!’ Bara replied sharply, then added, ‘thank you,’ in a softer tone.
Ahead, another tower fell to Gofal’s strafing. Bara turned the ship, scanning for the next target, avoiding the attention of an enemy drone fighter. Something shot out of the arkship’s hull and flew past Lexica. Bara yanked the control and the ship fell into a spin.
‘What was that?’ Bara asked as she levelled the vessel. She could see it now: an extending cylinder that was aimed at the nearby Caerleon.
‘A believe it’s a boarding ram,’ Gofal said.
Bara gasped. ‘Being fired at a moving target?’
‘It would seem so. Eyes ahead, lady.’
Bara glanced from the extending conduit and saw another tube emerging ahead. Bara responded and the ship dipped violently to the left before levelling off again, avoiding the obstacle.
‘Thanks,’ she said breathlessly as she navigated towards the next target.
CONTACT
‘Boarding rams, incoming!’
Wynn looked up from the operations map and saw a tube-like projectile rushing towards the Caerleon. The arkship rocked from the impact, then steadied itself.
‘Can those things latch on at this speed?’ Wynn asked the Lord Chamberlain.
Tanis stared in disbelief. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never see it tried before.’
Another tube fired towards them, followed by a third. The ship swayed, their progress slowed.
‘Contact!’ an officer shouted.
‘Hull breech on level thirty-two,’ another reported.
‘Increase power to the engines,’ Tanis ordered. ‘Pull us away.’
The flight deck vibrated, then, with a jolt, the arkship broke free of the cable.
‘We’re clear,’ an officer reported.
‘Put some distance between us and the Fenrir,’ Tanis shouted.
‘More contacts.’
The ship slowed again, snagged on the lines.
‘Hull breech on levels fifteen, thirteen and three.’
The arkship juddered as more and more boarding rams slammed into the hull.
‘All fighters, target those rams. We need to break free!’
ATTACK RUN
Bara heard the Lord Chamberlain’s urgent call for help and began to turn Lexica away from the Fenrir. As the ship was buffeted by explosions she glanced at Gofal. ‘You know what to do?’
‘Already in hand,’ Gofal said.
Ahead, Bara saw the great
mass of the Ark Royal Caerleon swing into view. In between it and the Fenrir were a dozen barely-visible cables. As they approached Gofal trained both guns on the first tether, ripping it in two. As the chain of explosions dissipated Bara saw bodies adrift in the maelstrom.
‘They have boarding parties in the tubes,’ Bara said, feeling sick.
‘This is war,’ Gofal replied unsympathetically.
‘I know,’ Bara replied, trying not to think about it as they approached the next line. As Gofal trained the weapons on it they were buffeted by a barrage of fire.
‘The Fenrir is targeting us,’ Gofal noted.
Bara threw the ship into a series of deft maneuvers. As she did the Weapons Lock warning beeped intermittently. Volley after volley of explosions rocked the ship as she flew closer and closer to the Fenrir.
‘Take out those damned guns!’ Bara shouted.
‘I’m trying,’ Gofal replied, ‘but at this speed those damned guns go by very quickly.’
‘Would you like me to slow down?’
‘No.’
The bridge lit up with a blinding flash as a deafening rumble shook Lexica. Smoke filled the cabin as the power flickered, plunging them into darkness.
‘Lex, are we hit?’ Bara asked.
The ship didn’t respond.
‘I’ve lost contact with Lexica,’ Gofal said. ‘The ship is dead.’
DESPERATION
‘There’s too many lines,’ Tanis shouted over the noise. ‘We can’t break free.’
‘What about our fighters?’ Wynn asked. ‘They’ve cut through some of the rams.’
‘We’ve lost contact with most of our ships. The Fenrir is picking them off.’
‘Lexica?’ Wynn asked, dreading the answer.
‘I’m sorry.’ The Lord Chamberlain hesitated, then added. ‘We don’t have long. We’ve had a report of a boarding party on level forty-one already. We need to prepare for surrender.’
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