Chapter Twenty-Five – Predator’s Attack
“Time to black hole?” Holas asked calmly.
“Twelve minutes,” Alexander replied, striving for the same level of calmness.
“Time to Brenog interception?” he continued in the same pattern that had been used for the last fourteen hours.
“Thirteen minutes,” Alexander answered.
Since their flight from the Dramazan system had begun, the Brenog had wasted no time in cutting their lead down. They’d started with a lead of over twenty minutes; now it was down to just one. Pete and Zheen had worked overtime, coaxing more speed out of the valiant merchant vessel than either one of them had thought was even possible in her condition. Ace, too, had barely taken a break, using every trick that he could think of to outfly their pursuers.
Sfolan and Alexander had moved from one system to another, shoring up connections between some and cutting power to others. Anything that they could think of to give the ship as much power as possible. Tran had spent hours crawling through access tunnels hoping to find enough power for even just one more shot from his cannons.
Captain Lornicaan had moved between each of them, bolstering their faith in themselves and their ship, bringing them food and drink when it looked like they’d forgotten and getting his hands as dirty as the rest of them as they worked on the Star Runner.
Now, it all came down to the next dozen or so minutes. Alexander knew that once they came out of hyper-space, Predator would be right there behind them, ready to blast them apart. He’d managed to get a good look at the Brenog ship through his scans. He wished he hadn’t.
She was large, much larger than the Star Runner and bristling with weapons. Along each side were four ‘arms’ set at regular distances but at differing heights along the hull. Three curved backwards, while one curved forward around the bows, giving Predator the appearance of a great space-going crab.
Each arm was dotted with pulse cannons, making Alexander even more nervous. The hyper-light engines were located at the end of a circular pod that rose above the stern.
Looking at the efficiency of the engines, Alexander could tell that in a fair race, Star Runner would be able to easily outstrip the larger vessel.
Unfortunately, with the Star Runner already damaged, this fight was going to be anything but fair.
As the minutes ticked by, Alexander noticed his crewmates taking up position. He opened a comm to Engineering so that Pete and Zheen could hear or pass on anything useful.
“Black hole in thirty seconds,” Ace announced.
“Prepare to cut FTL engines and bring the ion drive on-line,” Holas ordered. “A nice tight orbit, if you please, Nick.”
“A tight orbit, aye,” Nick responded. “Alex, is your data as accurate as it always is?”
Alexander frowned. “Of course.”
---
Ace grinned. Alex always allowed a margin of error of eight to ten percent. His hands blurred as his monitor counted down to one. Star Runner shuddered as she was brought out of hyper-space far quicker than her tolerance levels allowed for. She curved in a tight arc, the pull of the black hole having a greater impact than he’d expected.
Ace fought the controls, applying more thrust to the port engines in an effort to stop her from spiralling out of control.
One wrong move now, he knew, and it’d all be over, sucked effortlessly into the black hole.
Star Runner responded, shakily, hesitatingly. Ace’s grin broadened as he knew that he’d won the fight. He brought her to a relative stop, exactly one eighty degrees from their entrance point.
“Tight orbit achieved,” Ace reported breathlessly, his hands still moving as he kept the ship away from the pull of the black hole.
“Well done, Nick,” Captain Lornicaan replied.
“Predator has taken up orbit of the black hole,” Alexander announced. “They’re in a much higher orbit, an extra five hundred kilometres further out than we are. I might add that we’re in an orbit about twenty kilometres too low.”
“You’re always too cautious,” Nick retorted.
“Keep us on the far side of the black hole from the Predator,” Holas ordered. “Pete, Zheen, how are the engines holding up?”
“Stressed, but holding,” Pete replied.
Ace kept his eyes on his console. With the black hole between them, his sensors were fairly distorted and he was forced to rely more on his instincts. It flashed around. Ace’s fingers blurred as he increased speed and once again took up position on the far side.
Predator whipped around again and once more Ace increased speed, this time shaving a couple of kilometres from their orbit.
Sweat beaded across his brow as the pull of the black hole increased and he was forced to wrestle with the engines to keep her in orbit. The Brenog vessel closed again, this time from the other direction.
Before Nick could respond, she had loosed a salvo of weapons fire.
“Incoming!” Tran shouted.
---
Alexander watched his readouts in disbelief as the energy pulses curved from their target. A clean miss. The shots didn’t even come anywhere near Star Runner.
He backed up the readings to look at them again. The black hole was having an effect and the Brenog didn’t seem to be compensating. A second salvo was fired at them on the next pass and again the devastating weapons veered from their course.
Brows furrowed, Alexander worked his console.
“We need them to fire at us again,” he announced.
“What? Are you crazy?” Tran screamed at him.
“No, but we need them to fire at us again,” Alexander insisted. “I’ve got an idea, but I need to verify my readings.”
“Make it happen, Nick,” Holas ordered.
Alexander watched his readouts closely as Nick deliberately let the Predator stray close enough to fire. Once again, the shots veered wide, pulled towards the black hole. Smiling, Alexander ran a quick simulation.
“Guys, the engines are starting to overheat,” Pete announced from Engineering. “We need to end this soon.”
“Acknowledged,” Holas replied. “How long do we have?”
“I don’t know,” Pete replied, sounding frustrated.
“What would A.B. say?” Nick asked from the helm.
“He’d tell me to feel it,” Pete replied quietly.
“And?” Nick prompted.
Pete paused. “She can handle another ten minutes. Max.”
“Very well,” Holas said calmly. “Alexander, what is your idea?”
“We hit the Predator before she hits us and knock her into the black hole,” he said firmly.
Dead silence met Alexander’s announcement.
“You’d better explain that one,” Tran said sharply, “because from where I’m sitting, there’s nothing that we can do that’ll hurt them.”
“We got it right before. The Brenog’s biggest weakness is the fact that they don’t understand the black hole,” Alexander quickly explained.
“I’ve been watching their shots. None of them has come anywhere close to hitting us. The gravity from the black hole is pulling their shots off course. But we can use that! I know what the effects of the black hole are. I can calculate the trajectories that will ensure a hit.
"And the beauty of it is, they’ll never even see it coming.”
“Why not?” Tran asked.
“Because it’ll just look like we’re shooting wide! The only problem is that we’re going to need them closer to the gravity well.”
“How much closer?” Nick asked.
“Two hundred kilometres,” Alexander said.
Another silence met his announcement.
“Can you do it, Nick? Can you draw them closer?” Holas asked.
“I think so,” Ace answered.
“Then let’s do it,” Holas decided. “Nick, draw them in. Alexander, work with Tran on making those sho
ts count.”
---
Ace swallowed nervously. Gradually, he began the cat and mouse game again. This time, he slowly edged the Star Runner into a higher orbit. He grinned as his opposite number took the bait.
Predator dropped lower, obviously hoping to catch her prey. Ace let his movements become riskier, giving the Brenog more and more time to close with them. He kept his feints and dodges coming, fractionally dropping speed, trying to be as enticing as possible.
Gradually, Predator dropped lower and lower and Ace was certain that he’d done it.
“That’s it,” Alexander shouted excitedly. “They’re in position.”
“Tran, FIRE!” Holas ordered.
---
Four pulses of yellow light erupted from the Star Runner’s forward cannons. Alexander’s eyes were glued to the screen. Their shots went wide. Slowly, they started to swing back in, right on target, pulled by the black hole.
Just as he’d calculated.
The Brenog held position and Alexander could imagine the laughter at their seemingly wild shots.
The points of light increased their curve. At the last second, the Brenog must have recognised the danger for Alexander saw an increase in their engine levels. All four shots hit home with amazing accuracy. Two slammed into the engines, crippling them; one exploded against their starboard hull and the last hit one of the ‘arms’.
It was this last shot that did the most damage. Huge explosions rocked the larger vessel as their own weapons exploded in their bays.
Predator spun wildly. Half her running lights were gone and her engines were dark. Great vents of air gushed out her sides. She was crippled and she knew it. The black hole reached out, seizing her. Alexander watched as the ship started to elongate with the fierce energy ripping at it.
In a last act of desperation or perhaps defiance, Predator launched the last of her energy pulses at her former prey.
More than two dozen random shots spun towards them. Alexander watched as Nick’s hands flew across his board. From this distance it was going to be next to impossible for him to dodge them all.
---
Star Runner shuddered, spun and screamed as two shots hit home. Every alarm shrilled out, competing for attention. Alexander picked himself up off the floor. Cables sparked around his head and he ducked to avoid them. Through the smoked room, he caught sight of Nick fighting with the helm. The fact that he’d managed to stay in his chair was probably the only thing that’d saved them.
“I need power!” Ace screamed.
“On it!” Sfolan yelled back.
Alexander worked his way across the room. He watched, helplessly as their new comrade begged, borrowed and stole every ounce of power the ship had left. Life-support, weapons, lights, gravity, even the power to the doors was taken and channelled into what was left of the engines.
“That’s all I can get you!” Sfolan called back a minute later, holding on to his console with one hand as he floated in front of Alexander.
“Ion drive’s failing fast,” Pete coughed over the intercom. “FTL is still okay for a short jump. And I mean a very short jump.”
“Engaging FTL drive, NOW!” Ace shouted.
The Star Runner shuddered and groaned as she tore herself away from the death grip of the black hole. Alexander had just enough time for a quick look at the monitor. There was no sign left of the Predator.
Star Runner Page 25