Just as we were about to come free of the towers and provide the frigate with a clean shot, I swooped back hard, staying within the safety of the towers. I needed the longest, safest run I could manage before clearing the towers. There wouldn’t be much time once I was in the open.
Another round from the station’s defensive guns tore through the middle of the towers and ripped into the structure of Tower A. Whoever was manning the guns had absolutely no issues with killing civilians. I had to get out of here and not compound their danger.
We squirted out from between the towers and headed toward the aft section of the frigate. It was the one part of the giant beast that wasn’t heavily armored and didn’t have a plethora of guns they could utilize.
“Hang on,” I said, as we ran out and accelerated away from the frigate. I’d exited the towers at a shallow angle and was directly in line with its rear engines. “Marny, get ready to drop two in his pipes.”
“Aye, Cap.”
I snapped the flight stick back and lined up on the frigate's engines. We were in the open – prime target for the station’s guns. I hoped we could take another hit.
“Missiles away!” Marny exclaimed.
The frigate automatically launched its countermeasures, but one of the missiles made it through and exploded. I wanted to cheer, we’d finally hit the damn thing. Unfortunately, it still had two more operational engines.
Predictably, the frigate started to turn so it could line its weapons up on us. I decelerated so that I stayed aft, keeping in its blind spot at the rear.
Sterra's Gift lurched again.
“We’ve lost atmo in the main section of the ship. Those guns are tearing us apart,” Nick said. It was as excited as he ever got.
“Marny, target that control room, I’m going to rabbit.”
She’d been pouring blaster fire into the rear end of the frigate, but its armor was more than sufficient to fend us off. Sure. Give us a couple of hours and she’d break something, but we weren’t going to last minutes, much less hours.
“Aye, Cap. I’m ready.”
I punched the thruster forward and flew over the top spine of the narrow ship, our heavily armored belly once again between us and the beast.
“Bird's away,” Marny exclaimed. I said a silent prayer for any innocents that might be close to that control station. The schematic showed the entire top side of the tower was for industrial use, but you never knew for sure on a station.
The bridge was quiet as we accelerated past the nose of the frigate. I could imagine Harry Flark watching us through the armored glass below.
“Status?” It was all I could manage, if I didn’t get us out of the way of this frigate we’d be ripped to shreds.
“It was a hit. Those guns should be down, Cap.”
I banked hard, using the towers as a shield from the frigate. Sterra's Gift was limping away, but at least we were going to survive this round. We’d taken away the frigate's ability to chase us and I’d like to say we’d handed out as much as we’d taken, but that simply wasn’t the case.
“That went well,” Tali said dryly.
LIPSTICK ON A BULLDOG
I set in a navigation plan to take us to the rally point where we would have met Ada and Jordy. They were long gone, but we needed a safe spot where we could heave-to and look over the damage to Sterra's Gift.
I didn’t know if Tali was being serious or ironic, but I certainly didn’t feel like anything had gone well since we’d run into Flark in the hallway. “We just got our asses handed to us back there, how could you say that?”
“I totally didn’t take you as a glass-half-empty type of guy. You need to get your head on straight. What do you think the odds were of a lone cutter surviving against a frigate and half a dozen stationary turrets? Oh, and let’s remember we started out by being trapped in a hole and broadsided by the frigate.”
“He got away with Qiu and we’re so full of holes I’m not sure we’ll make it back to Mars,” I wasn’t ready to concede her point, but the way she said it had me reconsidering my point of view.
“You don’t get to set the rules of combat. All you can do is react to the cards you’re dealt. What you and your team pulled off just now was brilliant. I bet there aren’t ten pilots in the solar system who could’ve pulled that rabbit out of that hat.”
I desperately wanted to believe her, but it felt like a loss to me. The ship was beat to crap, quite literally, since when they’d holed Sterra's Gift, they'd destroyed the septic system. Qiu had been battered and taken and Flark had gotten away with it.
“I get where you’re head's at, Liam. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this either, but we’re here and we have a job to do.” Nick said. “Tell us about Qiu and Flark.”
“Tali and I found Qiu in the brig when they locked us up. She was in terrible shape. I don’t know how much longer she’ll last without medical attention.”
“Did she say anything?” Marny asked.
“Something about a base being set up in neutral territory.”
“Not just neutral territory, THE Neutral Territory,” Marny corrected. “Mars and PDC observe a no-fly, no commerce zone. I guess they figure space is big enough that they don’t need to be bumping into each other.”
“What do you think that means?” I asked
“It sounds like maybe the PDC is setting up a base,” Nick said.
“Why does it need to be the PDC? The Chinese are business people first. There’s no profit in war,” Tali said.
“I thought they were trying to expand their fleets,” I said.
“Everyone is expanding their fleets. I’m just saying; don’t be too quick to blame the Chinese just because they’re neighbors. It would take more than ten days of sailing to get into their space,” Tali said.
“Who else would work with someone like Flark?” I asked.
“I think that’s pretty obvious,” Marny said. “He’s Red Houzi.”
It wasn’t as though we didn’t know Harry Flark was Red Houzi. But, implications became clear as we all combined the two conversations. The bridge became very quiet for a few moments, no one wanting to say the obvious out loud.
Nick broke the silence. “What if someone other than Mars Protectorate or People’s Democracy of China set up in The Neutral Territory?”
“Frak. Red Houzi has a base? That’s why Qiu’s out here. She was looking for that base,” Marny said.
“No. She said she wanted Flark. She said she was meeting with a contact who’d give her information on Flark. What if that was just a trap?” I asked.
“To what end?” Marny asked.
“I don’t know. Delay?”
The lights of the bridge dimmed and the red warning lights pulsed around the top of the room. I’d set a proximity warning when I’d engaged the auto navigation system.
Identify ship. I jumped back into the pilot’s seat and my HUD popped up an outline around a ship that was dead ahead.
It’s the Adela Chen. The outline was easy to identify with the string of barges hanging off the front of it.
Incoming hail from Ada Chen, the ship announced.
Accept hail to bridge comm.
“Fancy meeting you out here,” Ada said. Her cheerful voice was discordant with the mood of the ship and the tension we were still carrying.
“I thought you were headed for home,” I said.
“We thought we might give it a few more hours, make sure you all got out of there. Glad you made it, are you ready to get going?” she asked.
“Things have changed and we’ve taken a lot of damage. We were hoping to hide out here and patch things up.”
“What kind of damage, Liam? Is anyone hurt?”
“We couldn’t get Qiu. She’s alive, but I don’t know for how long. Everyone else is fine.”
I pulled Sterra's Gift up next to the Adela Chen.
“Liam … your ship. You’re venting atmo from more than one spot. Do you have enough hull patch?” Ada said.
>
“We’re maintaining pressure, but we’re burning O2 crystals at an unsustainable rate,” Nick said. “If you and Jordy would help us out with your hull-patch material it would save us from replicating it.”
“Nick, what are your priorities?” I asked.
“Engine and hull first. We can worry about the secondary systems after that,” he said.
“Marny, would you get on the comm with Belcose and let him know what happened? Ada, when you get over here, can you meet me outside with your hull-patch? Tali, could you and Marny coordinate a watch to make sure we’re not getting snuck up on? Everyone should treat the entire ship as L-1 until further notice.”
I pulled my helmet up and sealed the face shield. I was used to working this way day to day, so it wouldn’t bother me. Planet-born people sometimes talked about how uncomfortable constantly being in their vac-suit was, but at this point it didn’t really make much of a difference. We were no longer in a predictable environment.
I was sure I was missing something, but the hull venting atmo was all I really needed to know. I followed Nick back through the hallway. The door to BR-2 showed a red status indicating the room wasn’t holding pressure. I wanted to look inside but that wasn't a good idea.
Prioritize hull breaches. My HUD showed a list of eight locations. Frak, but they’d done a lot of damage in a short time. I wondered, wryly if this was what ‘light fire support’ referred to.
I followed Nick back to the engine room. The first thing that struck me were the scorch marks on the walls of the hallway, just past the galley on the starboard side. The large cargo bays flanked the hallway on both sides. The access panel for the starboard cargo bay wasn't functioning, even to show a red status. The cargo bay wasn’t on my list and that was a bigger concern to me.
Status of starboard cargo bay.
No status available, the ship’s AI responded. That couldn’t be good.
The engine room was a mess. Nick’s tidy, organized space was in disarray. Cabinet panels had been jarred open and tools and supplies littered the floor. Ordinarily, that would have been my cue to dig in and help him pick up.
Locate hull-patch kits. The kits were a last-minute addition. I’d initially argued that they were relatively easy to replicate. Nick had pointed out that they were also very resource intensive, chewing up both time and raw materials which, if we had an emergency, would be in short supply. If I wasn’t so concerned for the safety of the crew at the moment, I would have hugged him for his foresight.
My HUD finally showed an outline of the corner of one of the kits. It was under a pile of parts and tools. I slogged my way through the room, trying to not damage anything important as I pushed debris out of the way.
I located two of the half-meter square kits and one of the hand plasma welders. It was more than I could carry out, so I moved each item to the galley one at a time. Once I got outside the ship, the lack of gravity would make moving the awkward equipment and cases much easier.
“Drink something before you go out.” Marny was blocking my path.
“I don’t have time.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion. We’re in combat, Cap. I know it feels like we’re out of it, but we both know that could change in an instant. Don’t make the mistake of taking care of your ship better than yourself.” Marny handed a pouch to me.
I sighed inwardly. She made sense, but I had a million things that needed to get done. I also knew she wasn’t going to be ignored. I plugged the pouch into a small receptacle in my helmet and was surprised at how much I appreciated the slightly sweet tasting liquid.
“Thanks.”
I grabbed a hull-patch kit and walked to the airlock. Marny followed behind, holding a second kit and the plasma welder. For some reason, I was a little annoyed and wanted to ask who was keeping watch for approaching ships, but I bit it off. Marny was more than competent in this situation and I needed to trust her.
We cycled through the airlock. It crossed my mind that it was the first time this particular door had survived a combat encounter since I’d been around the ship. I exited on the port side and placed the hull-patch kit next to the airlock, knowing the hull had a small gravity field next to it, holding it in place.
I jetted out from the ship and surveyed the port side. There were no obvious issues, although atmo was venting from the belly. I needed a full understanding of all the damage before repairs began. Those atmo leaks would be my first priority, but they could wait a few more minutes while I finished the survey.
“Marny, I’ll check out the starboard side first, then we’ll get to patching.”
“Aye.”
My stomach sank as I arced over the top of the ship. The damage was astounding. By my count we’d taken four hits from Jeratorn’s large stationary guns. One of those strikes had shut down the starboard engine. It looked like a giant hammer had swung through the ship, digging out a large trench through the side. Part of the trench included the forward third of the starboard engine. Most of the starboard cargo bay was simply missing.
A second round had hit eight meters forward of that, grazing the side of the ship, leaving a rent that started on the topside and plowed downward, angling toward the center of Sterra's Gift. I pushed my arc-jets and flew around the side toward the belly, I had to see where the round exited the ship.
Predictably, it had exited the ship on the bottom almost at the centerline. It was a perfectly round, one point five meter diameter hole. I wondered at the difference between this nice clean, through-shot and the hammer-like rip that had taken out the engine and the cargo bay.
I put them both out of my mind for a moment and flew away from the ship to gain a larger perspective on the belly. Ada and Marny had followed me around the outside and were inspecting the damage.
The frigate’s guns had done a thorough job of ripping up our new armor and a few comparably small holes were exhausting atmo. Under normal circumstances, I’d have considered the holes alone to be extensive. But at this point, they seemed almost trivial.
“Marny, Ada, do you want to start plugging the smaller leaks?” I figured they all needed to be fixed and I would have to spend more time thinking my way through the bigger issues.
“Aye, aye.”
I moved off of the belly and to the front of the ship. We'd taken a substantial amount of fire when escaping the docking bay into the frigate’s broadside. If I hadn’t already seen the giant gash in the side of the ship I might have been shocked. As it was, my disappointment simply deepened. The nose and everything back had been stripped clean of all non-armor components and much of the armor was buckled and in some cases, shredded.
“Nick. Talk to me, what are you finding in there?”
“Starboard engine is a complete wreck. I can’t get any response from it. Septic system is unrepairable. BR-2 and starboard cargo bay are both showing exposure to space. I can’t get into the cat-walk without decompressing the main part of the ship.”
“Roger that. That lines up with what we’re seeing out here. The front third of the starboard engine and cargo bay are completely missing. It’ll take some creative thinking to figure out how to seal all that. There’s a large, clean hole punched through from topside of BR-2. Looks like it exits just to the starboard of the keel. I think I can patch that. I’ve got Marny and Ada patching the smaller holes in the belly. I’m going to have to salvage some material to close the through-hole.”
“Okay, I’m coming out to work on the engine and cargo bay. We’re mostly stable inside.”
I jetted over to Ada and Marny. They were making quick work of the holes in the belly. The patch kits had a large pouch of expansive foam, but it wouldn't take long before we ran out.
“You mind if I grab the welder?” I asked.
“All yours,” Marny said.
I took the plasma welder that doubled as a cutting tool. Nick was, by far, the better welder, but I had plenty of experience fixing mining machinery. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it’d be strong.
>
“Frak!” Nick said. I suspected he’d just cleared the starboard side of the ship and was surveying the damage to the engine and cargo bay.
I jetted over to the damaged section and met him. He was trying to get a good gauge of how a repair might be applied. With the amount of missing material and the limited tools we had, our goal was simply to restore some level of safety and function. That level was yet to be determined.
“Do the best you can. Like I said, you’ll need to be creative,” I said.
“How is this anything but a total loss?” he asked.
“Baby steps, buddy. Let’s get her safe to sail.”
“Cargo’s lost.” He was still processing the implications.
“Bond will cover that. I need you to focus on getting us back in sailing shape.”
Nick sighed audibly over the comm. I knew him well enough to know that he was doing the math of how bad a loss we’d just taken. I wasn’t going to think about it. We were all alive and that mattered to me the most. I knew that was the case for Nick too, but it was a lot to take in.
I needed a couple pieces of armor that I could cut out and make patches for the through-hole. I’d have to scavenge the armor that was hanging uselessly around the shredded engine. I instructed my AI to project an outline of the top-side hole onto a piece of the hanging armor. The plasma cutter had to work hard to slice through, but in the end I had two decent looking, mostly perfect, four centimeter thick patches.
I grabbed the patches and jetted over to the top side. It turns out that perfectly fitting pieces are really hard to apply since they want to simply slip through the hole. I resolved this by jetting back to the ruined cargo bay and cutting off a thin strap to tack across the opening. This held everything in place while I welded the seams. Pleased with the first patch, I was considerably faster at applying the second to the belly of the ship.
I caught up with Ada and Marny who were working hard to plug the hundreds of small holes in the armor. To me, it looked like they’d taken care of all of the atmosphere leaks and had moved on to the less critical, albeit uglier scars.
Privateer Tales 3: Parley Page 22