"Make it a close one," Henry said. He keyed the intercom. "Brace for high-G combat acceleration, everyone."
By then, Cera already had the fusion drive going again. The Shadow Wolf accelerated toward the League destroyer, weaving with lateral thrusters as she did to provide the League gunners a tougher target. Plasma cannon fire lashed out at them. The streaks of lethal red energy missed repeatedly with a few exceptions. Those exceptions showed on Yanik's boards. "Deflectors are degraded but holding."
It was good news that wouldn't, really couldn't, last. "They're firing missiles!" Piper called out.
"Evadin'!"
Cera made good her reply, weaving the Shadow Wolf around the incoming fire. The missiles proved particularly difficult. Henry noted their maneuvers with trepidation: the League clearly had advanced even further in missile armament, with these missiles having maneuverability and tracking closer to more advanced Coalition models. The weapons pursued doggedly, refusing to be spoofed or thrown off by Cera's maneuvering.
To make matters worse, the vibration was returning in full force, as the tremendous power of the ship's rigged fusion drives subjected the Shadow Wolf's structure to forces beyond her designed endurance. The entire crew was being subjected to over two Gs of force now as the inertial compensators failed to keep up with the power of the drives.
"Damage to the ship's structure is increasing across all sections," Yanik warned.
That information was important, but Henry's attention was on the missiles. The first volley was making their terminal approach. The Shadow Wolf's auto-turrets tracked and engaged, sending slivers of metal into the incoming weapons. Missile after missile disappeared from the holotank as the defensive fire eliminated them.
The League destroyer had plenty more, though, and already a second salvo of missiles was incoming, joined by yet more plasma cannon fire.
Henry checked the location of the Majha. She was still at least ten minutes from the L5 jump zone, and half a day from the Hestia system's main limit. At this rate, we'll fly apart before she can get away, much less before we can break off. We need to end this fight now.
There was only one way to do that.
"Cera, bring us in, close range," he ordered. "Miri, prepare the cannon."
"Takin' us in, Captain," Cera answered. Miri gave a shorter "Yes sir" as her reply.
It was their best shot, but it was a gamble. The closer range would make the League gunners' job easier, as it reduced the probabilities involved in anticipating their movements. The missiles would be under less overall fire from the auto-turrets. It would be easier for the League ship to land hits.
And it did, as Cera's best efforts couldn't keep a number of plasma shots from partial hits on their deflectors. She cranked the fusion drive up to match, trying to gain greater speed and acceleration to throw off the League's aim. The ominous vibration intensified. Soon the shriek of tearing metal would come back.
For a brief moment, Henry regretted letting the Majha break off. Why should his crew be the ones to risk their lives for this? Why couldn't Captain Chagger be doing this? She and her crew signed up for this. His crew signed up to be cargo runners, not soldiers. This shouldn't be our job!
But the decision was made, and all he could do was see it to the end.
"Shot comin' up, Miri!" Cera cried out over the growing vibration and the intensifying G-forces. "Give me ten more seconds!" On the main bridge monitor, the Cobra-class warship loomed ever larger. The closed fist in a sunburst insignia showed openly on the League ship's hull.
"I'm ready!"
The League ship's fire intensified. Several plasma shots struck the deflectors of the Shadow Wolf, draining them steadily, while their ship's own drives continued to strain her metal bones to the point of tearing. One missile nearly impacted, just to be shot by one of the quad turrets at the last moment, showering the strained deflectors with energy from the blast.
Henry noted the status of the ship and swallowed. This run would succeed, or they would be destroyed one way or the other.
"Firing!"
With that announcement, Miri triggered the Shadow Wolf's neutron cannon. The cruiser-grade weapon was mounted on the ship's belly, in a covered trunk between the starboard and port holds. In the moments before she triggered the shot, the covering plates for the cannon's barrel moved away. Now unmasked, the cannon fired. A beam of pale blue energy lanced across the void and sliced into the League destroyer. Because of the power behind the shot, its relative intensity, and its cross-section, it overwhelmed the deflectors on the League destroyer at the point of impact. The beam sliced through the armored hull into the Cobra’s vitals. Flame blossomed violently from the destroyer, leaving behind gaping wounds spewing atmosphere and debris into the empty void.
Miri wasn't done. Another beam lanced out, slightly weaker than the first. It still had the strength to pierce the deflectors of the League ship, this time playing over one of the missile cells. An explosion consumed the side of the vessel. Henry watched the damage and felt hope that they'd pull this off after all.
The third shot went off. This one, yet weaker, initially failed to penetrate the deflector, but the League ship's power loss allowed the beam through in the end, slicing through hull and armor. A plasma cannon emplacement facing them went silent.
The fourth and final shot lashed out. With Cera maneuvering to avoid an incoming missile, this shot nearly missed, ultimately striking along one of the main engines of the destroyer. The gutted plasma drive died, leaving the League ship lamed if still capable of some thrust.
"Neutron capacitors empty," Miri said. "We won't get another shot for a couple of minutes."
"Break us off," Henry said. They've lost power and weapons. We just have to get away!
"Breaking for th' L5 point."
Under Cera's command, the Shadow Wolf, battered as she was, turned away from the League ship. Under the power of the fusion drive, she was dying by centimeters, but Cera dared not cut the fusion drives until they had enough speed and distance from the League ship.
The vibrations still filled the ship, and Henry could hear the shrieking becoming louder and louder. The fractures were growing. The structural members of the ship were tearing. His ship, Uncle Charlie's ship, was dying.
Just hold together, girl. Hold together until we can jump!
"Majha's almost to the L5 point, she'll be jumping in five minutes." Piper's report was unnecessary, but he let her give it without comment. It was something for her to do, given the tension they all felt. "Heat plume from the destroyer. They're firing missiles!"
"I'm evadin'!"
Missiles again flew from the League destroyer, stricken as she was. They turned within a second of launching, skimming across the surface of the League ship to chase the Shadow Wolf. Henry watched them approach on the holotank while Cera maintained evasives. The shrieking and vibrating of the deck intensified.
"Structural failure imminent on port quad turret," Yanik warned.
"Clear the turret!" It was all he could do.
Seconds passed. The lead missiles screamed in to meet the auto-turrets' fire. They corkscrewed around the ship, guided by their targeting systems in trying to get a clean hit outside of the turrets' firing zones. Cera kept the Wolf spinning and weaving to always present defensive fire. Streams of projectiles met the approaching missiles, destroying them whenever their paths crossed.
There was a lurch in the ship. "Port turret is lost," Yanik said.
Before Henry could ask about the Majha crewer manning the weapon, a second, stronger shake filled the ship. The red lights on Yanik's board grew. "What was that?"
"The quad turret collided with the aft port auto-turret as it came free," Miri said. "The auto-turret has been torn away."
Henry's heart skipped a beat. A lost auto-turret meant a loss in anti-missile coverage. And with the rest of those missiles homing in…
He didn't have time to suggest anything. He could only watch on the holotank as one of the
missiles seized its opening. It came at the new weak point in the Shadow Wolf's defenses. The other port auto-turrets couldn't track that far to stern and Cera was occupied keeping another missile from crashing into their starboard side.
The missile struck home.
* * *
The blast was the worst Samina had ever known in her years on the Shadow Wolf. There was a great shaking that crescendoed over the vibrations and shrieking of the Shadow Wolf's failing structure. The roof of the upper engineering deck fractured, and a low, vicious whistle filled the chamber, the whistle every spacer dreaded: atmosphere was being lost to the vacuum of space.
But Samina had other concerns. The stress caused by the blast broke free some of the coolant and fuel piping for the ship's fusion cores. The same wound drawing their air saved the ship from the lethal coolant and fuel, at least, but the piping was another matter. The wounds in the ship's hull weren't large enough for the atmospheric decompression to overpower the Shadow Wolf's artificial gravity systems.
So instead of being sucked into space, the thick pipe that normally transferred helium-3 into Reactor Core 2 instead fell backward onto her, pushing her into the stern wall and trapping her against it. Only the shell of her engineering hardsuit protected her from getting her ribs broken. She struggled to push the piping away, but the G-forces were too great, the mass too much.
Sparking came from ahead. Despite her intense discomfort, Samina could see that the blast also caused stress damage to the jump drive's housing. Pieter, who'd been braced forward of her location to watch the drive, struggled in his softsuit to lower into the drive core. "Samina! The drive's down! I'll need to inspect the damage!"
"Help!" she called out. "I'm stuck!"
Pieter navigated the mess of piping around Core 2 and approached her. "Samina!" With the G-forces pressing him toward the stern anyway, it wasn't hard for him to reach her.
"I can't slip free!"
Pieter grappled with the piping, trying to pull it loose, but it wouldn't budge. He pulled out his link and keyed it for the ship's intercom system. "Pieter to anyone, I need help!"
* * *
After the shaking ceased, Henry felt a deep sickness in his gut. Yanik quickly justified it. "Direct hit to stern quarter. Damage in main engineering. Reactor Core 2 has shut down. The jump drive is signaling critical damage."
That was that. No jump drive meant no escape, and the loss of a third of the ship's main power supply would undermine the inertial compensators. And that didn't count the structural damage from the strike and how the wound would worsen their situation with the fusion drive. They would either fly apart under the fusion drive's power or the League ship would pummel them to death with missiles.
For that same reason, the Majha couldn't come back. It would be under fire too, and the League missiles would only need one lucky shot.
"The League ship's stopped firing. They're burning towards us." Piper's voice quaked with fear. "Given the speed we've built up and their shift in delta-v, they'll be in range to grapple us in about six or seven minutes."
We can't get away. We either die here or they catch us. And if they catch us… If they were caught, Henry knew, all of them would likely end up with those implants in their necks, just like Tia.
A desperate idea came to mind, one way they could get free. "Shadow Wolf to Majha. Captain Chagger, standby on jump."
"Captain, I'm sorry, but I can't," she replied. "My ship can't fight that destroyer, even as damaged as it is."
"You won't need to. Just be ready to pick up our survivors."
There was a brief silence before she spoke again. "...I'll give you all the time I can, but if their missiles threaten my ship, we're jumping. The data is too important."
"I understand."
"Captain?" Yanik's yellow eyes focused on Henry.
Henry was about to answer when Pieter's voice came over the line. "Pieter to anyone, I need help! Samina is trapped and we've lost a reactor core!"
"Captain? What are you planning?" Yanik's voice took on a nervous tinge to the usual hiss in it.
"Yanik, see what you can do for Samina." As soon as he said those words, Yanik jumped from the seat and rushed for the door. Henry keyed the intercom system. "All of you, get to the holds, prepare to separate them from the ship," he said. "If you can't get to a hold, get to the nearest escape pod." He released the intercom button before continuing. "Cera, when I say, you're going to leave the helm to me and use manual astrogation as an escape pod."
"Captain, what're ye doin'?" she asked.
"The only thing I can do," he said. "I'm going to ram them."
25
Henry's announcement didn't surprise Yanik. It couldn't. Their situation was severe and, in the Captain's eyes, Yanik saw what he had planned. He will give his life to save ours.
In his own way, he envied Henry that end. It was a worthy one. Such a death is the best for any Krasshash. He will uphold his obligations and his soul will ascend to the embrace of the Divine. There is no greater way to die.
He had other concerns as it was. The further he got toward the rear, the more obvious the damage. When he arrived in Engineering, he could hear the whistle of air that revealed a hull breach. It was not a severe one or the crew would've been drawn out into space, but over time, it would cost the compartment its oxygen supply. Of greater concern was that it strengthened slightly in the seconds after his arrival. The breach was growing steadily, and might yet be powerful enough to draw anyone in Engineering out into the void.
The groaning and arguing led him to the rear of the section. Samina was trapped by a large chunk of reactor piping now wedged between coolant and fuel trunks. Pieter had a crowbar he was trying to use to pull the piping free while Linh was messing with a plasma torch. "We don't have time!" Pieter protested. "It'll take too long to cut through."
"Cutting through is our only option!" Linh's voice betrayed panic.
"You have to leave!" Samina's voice was desperate. "You can't get this off!"
"I'm not leaving you to die, fetcher," Linh swore.
After looking it over, Yanik drew in a breath to steel himself. He knew how to approach such things, but the best way ruled out his left arm and shoulder. Still, Samina's life was more important.
The others finally noticed him. "Yanik, please help," Linh pleaded.
"You need not ask." He stepped up to Samina and pressed himself in beside her, his right shoulder against the section of pipe wedged in. "Pull now," he ordered the others. They went to work with pry bars while he pushed his arm against the pipe with all of his strength.
His right shoulder protested with pain that quickly escalated to excruciating lengths. The repairs to the joint by Oskar weren't enough to deal with the strain. Every instinct demanded he abandon his efforts to prevent further damage. But to abandon them would be to abandon Samira, and this he would not do.
The hiss his efforts drew became a roar as the pain in his shoulder refused to relent. Neither, it seemed, would the pipe. Yanik felt like his arm would tear off first.
There was a loud shriek of protesting metal. Centimeter by centimeter, the pipe started to give way. Yanik felt it giving and put everything he had into moving the pipe further.
When it gave, it gave suddenly and violently. Pieter fell back into the wall and Linh hit the floor. The pipe itself, dislodged, flew forward until it slammed into the afflicted reactor and came to a stop.
Samina stumbled forward. Yanik saw the tears of gratitude through her hardsuit's faceplate. No words had to be spoken, nor was there time to. Not with the ship lurching back into motion.
The whistling grew louder. The hull breach was expanding again.
"The escape pods, we must reach them," Yanik reminded them, trying to ignore the throbbing pain consuming his right arm and shoulder.
"Right." Pieter's voice trembled. "This way."
They made their way to the exit. Yanik noted the pained glances Pieter and Samina gave toward their workspace o
f so many years before they departed with him. We will all feel this loss.
* * *
A sea of panicked faces greeted Tia when she arrived in the middle holds with Oskar and Brigitte. Her fellow liberated prisoners were crying out, asking to know what was going on, what to do.
She couldn't blame them. Despite her own years of experience as a spacer, this situation was unprecedented for her. That was terrifying in of itself. They need me to show them how to cope. The world is turning upside down.
"Will the holds keep their atmosphere?" asked Oskar.
"They're designed to, although each hold will be isolated from the others." Tia leaned over the catwalk and started shouting. "Everyone, find a secure arm hold, now! When the hold separates, you'll be rocked around, and we'll lose gravity!"
Her voice broke through the tumult. They went into motion, obeying her instructions.
Nothing else to do now but wait and see how this goes, she thought grimly. Good luck, Jim.
* * *
At Henry's instruction, Miri and Piper departed the bridge for the forward holds. He remained with Felix and Cera. "With th' structural damage, ye won't have long before th' fusion drives tear th' ship apart," Cera warned. "Th' G-forces might knock ye out. Ye should let me—"
"No," Henry insisted, knowing what she was about to ask. "You two get down to manual astrogation. I'll separate you once the hatch is sealed."
"But, sir!"
"That's an order, Ms. McGinty." Henry's voice was firm.
Tears filled the younger woman's eyes. "Yes, sir," she finally said, standing from her beloved helm station. She took his hand. "I'll pray for yer soul."
"I'll probably need it. Go." Henry turned his head toward Felix. "You too, Felix."
"Jim, you don't have to do this."
"I'm the captain of this ship," he replied. "It's my responsibility."
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 20