They tracked the mass charge of the Saknussemm’s drive coils until it dropped out of cruise just over thirty light-minutes away. When they fell back to sub-light their field level reduced to the point where they virtually disappeared. In the middle of nowhere.
“That’s about the same place the shuttle went dark,” Nuko said.
“Once their coils go down at this range, they’ll be hard to see,” Ethan said. “Hiding in plain sight.”
“They have to know we’re watching them,” she said. “Well, we’re watching where they’re sitting, even if we can’t see them.”
“They don’t care,” Ammo said.
“Would be nice to know what else is sitting there,” he said.
“Maybe they’re waiting for something?” Nuko offered.
“You mean like a Shan Takhu warship?” he said.
“Like the Tahrat Shan Che?” Ammo asked, her eyes shooting to full shock value. “Holy frak! Is that what Kaycee’s freaking over?”
He turned to face her. He’d assumed that she already knew from the way she reacted when they were talking with Makhbar.
“The Tahrat Shan Che? You mean the ship they stole from the Tacra Un at L-4 Prime to end the Odysseus uprising?” Nuko asked.
“If Jetaar’s got one of those, we’re so screwed,” Ammo said. “I did a history unit on that battle in college.”
“My grandparents were there,” Nuko said.
Slapping her palm to her forehead, she grinned. “Nuko Takata? I never put your last name together with them,” she said. “That makes you nearly famous.”
“Yah, this is all well and good, but if Jetaar is bringing one of those to the party, should we just give up?” Ethan asked.
Ammo shook her head. “This would all be over already if he had one. The Tahrat Shan Che could cloak completely and supposedly had a way to transport people between points like magic.”
“It actually did,” Nuko said. “The doors in the Tacra Un can do that too. Grandpa said they could walk through one on L-4 Prime and end up in the Armstrong like the two points shared opposite sides of the same door.”
“Well then that proves he can’t have it,” Ammo said. “If he did, they wouldn’t have tried to push the Saknussemm past us. They’d have marched in through a magic gateway and it would have been over before we knew they were there.”
“I agree. I think if Jetaar’s got it he doesn’t have it all working yet,” he said. “Some of what Kaycee told me about it sounded like they might be able to use some of its technology even if everything wasn’t fully operational. Apparently, the ship takes some people with special training to access all the features.”
Ammo blinked several times as she chewed over what he said. “Now I understand why she’s shitting herself. She’s got that training?”
The captain nodded.
“I knew she studied at STI, but I thought it was all biomedical,” she said. “I wonder what she knows?”
“She wouldn’t say, and it might be better if we don’t know,” he said. “She did insist that if Jetaar captures her, it would make him the most dangerous man in the Coalition.”
“No shit. A pirate that could walk through walls,” Nuko said.
“There is another vessel approaching,” Marti announced.
Ethan’s heart froze. “Does it look different?”
Ammo shook her head. “It’s got big coils and is pushing hard but looks conventional. It’s aiming for the position where the other ships are sitting and will be there in about one minute.”
“Is it the Blackwing?” he asked.
“It is impossible to tell at this range however it does have a similar power configuration,” the AA said.
“Two other ships in the hole just lit up,” Ammo said. “One small and one medium displacement. Probably the shuttle and the Sak. They’re both accelerating back in our direction.”
“The new ship is altering course to parallel them and is dropping out of cruise,” Marti said.
“He’s awfully cavalier about it isn’t he?” Nuko said.
Ethan pulled his seat back into position and nodded.
“They appear to be setting velocity at eighty percent light speed,” Ammo said. “That gives them an ETA of thirty-seven minutes if they stay together.”
“He’s giving us a chance to retreat,” the captain said.
“Why would he do that?” the pilot asked.
“It’s the path of least resistance,” he said. “He doesn’t know how well we scanned the Saknussemm, so he thinks we’ll be over our heads trying to cover two ships. More importantly, he’s betting we’ll realize that and withdraw. If he takes his time and makes sure we see him coming, he’s hoping to chase us off and take the prize without firing a shot.”
“So, what do we do?”
“We give him what he wants,” Ethan said, grinning. “We leave.”
“What?” they both asked at once.
“We retreat,” he said. “And then we disappear. Just like they did.”
Nuko leaned back in her seat and eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”
“What did we do while they were sitting and doing whatever it was they did?” he asked.
She shrugged.
He smiled. “We watched them. We burned the clock.”
She glanced at Ammo, who shook her head.
“If we move off and drop off his sensors somewhere close enough that we could jump back in without giving him time to react, he’ll be forced to watch for us,” he said. “Because he doesn’t know what kind of firepower we’re packing, he’ll be trying to figure out what we’re doing. That means he’ll have to hold back and not commit everything to his attack.”
“Ah. It divides his attention,” Ammo said, nodding.
“Since our objective is to delay him until the artillery is online, we need to keep him guessing for as long as we can. He doesn’t know we’re not actually going to fight him.”
“He’ll eventually decide to put boots on the ground anyway,” Nuko said.
“Right. He will. When he does, we up the stakes.”
“If you say so,” she said. “But you’re still bluffing.”
He shrugged. “Marti give me a timer to show us how long until the power grid comes back up.” A countdown appeared on the main screen. Thirty-six minutes.
“Open the link to Rene,” he said. “I want to let him know we’ll be out of touch for a bit.”
“What’s up, Boss?” he asked, coming online almost instantly.
“Are their defenses ready?” Ethan asked.
“We’re just waiting for juice,” he said.
“Bad news. You’ve got three ships closing with a thirty-six-minute ETA.”
“Frak! We’re still looking at forty-five minutes before we get any power,” the engineer said, stress rolling out of his voice in waves.
“Copy that,” the captain said. “That only means we have to buy you eight or ten minutes.” He tried to sound calm although he knew Jetaar wasn’t likely to give that much ground to a conversation.
“We are assuming that the grid comes back up as soon as the transit ends. Just remember nothing says it will,” Rene said.
“Always the pessimist,” Ethan said, chuckling. “We’ll do what we can to keep them busy. You just make sure you all do your part.”
“Aye, Boss,” he said. “I’ve made sure that Eriksen’s people know enough to keep the power running until they can get the right engineer in here. Assuming we make it that far.”
“You’ve still got time to pull out and get back to the ship,” he said.
“I can’t. If something blows out, they’re going to need me,” he said. “I didn’t have time to teach them to do major repairs, only maintenance and minor stuff.”
“You’re sure you want to stay down there? If they make it to the surface, it will get messy quick-like.”
“I don’t know that I have much of a choice, considering,” Rene said.
“That’s fine, your life
expectancy might be longer, anyway.”
“What’s your plan?”
“We’re going to be leaving orbit and try to split their attention,” the captain explained. “If we can make Jetaar nervous enough, hopefully he’ll slow down.”
“Good luck with that,” he said. “Have you told Makhbar?”
“Nope. I figured he’d be hiding in the dark by now.”
“He was here about twenty minutes ago in his rover office,” the engineer said. “He didn’t look like he was planning to hide.”
“Makhbar’s not there now?” Ethan asked.
“He moved on. I think he was inspecting the defenses,” he said. “He had three smaller runabouts with him and maybe twenty security types.”
“Advice. Try not to be where he is, in case we can’t slow them down. He’s likely to be ground zero for a lot of ugly if they get to the surface.”
“That’s what I figured,” Rene said. “I packed the gear and will sit it out in the shuttle. It might not make any difference, but I think I’d rather die like a coward. Running and screaming.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Ethan said. “You’re on your own for now. Keep your head down and if we all get lucky one more time, we’ll see you on the other side.”
“Cando.”
After the link shut down Ethan sat for several seconds thinking about the real possibility that he might not see Rene again. It was a sobering thought.
He shook his head and looked over at Nuko. She appeared to be thinking the same thing. He reached out and squeezed her arm. “You ready to do this?”
She shook her head but put her hands on the controls.
“We want to make as much sensor noise as possible,” he said. “Set course toward the threshold beacon and run us out slow and easy. No more than twice light for fifteen minutes.”
“Aye, Boss,” Nuko said.
The planet dropped below and behind as the ship accelerated away.
Clearing his throat, he tapped into the commlink. “All hands. If you notice out your windows, we’re moving away from the planet. In about fifteen minutes, we’re going into low-power mode to try to drop off Jetaar’s sensors. If we’re lucky and that works, sometime after that, it’s likely we’ll have to dance.”
One last time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The countdown timer ticked over nine minutes.
“Your strategy appears to be working, Captain,” Marti said. “The ship we assume to be the Blackwing is dropping behind and taking up a defensive position on our side of the planet.”
“What about the other two ships?”
“They swung once around and are now moving in,” Ammo said. “They’ve separated, but the shuttle will make atmospheric entry in under a minute. The Saknussemm is falling back about five thousand klick.”
“The shuttle is the sacrificial goat,” he said. “They want to make sure the dig doesn’t have some kind of defense in place.”
“We can’t let that shuttle make planetfall,” Nuko said.
“I know.” Ethan shook his head. “Bring up the coils.”
“Let’s go be heroes,” Ammo said.
“We’ve got to stay in cruise until the last possible instant. If we can, I want to drop us in front of the shuttle with the repelling lasers hot and on him.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Nuko said. “I don’t think I’ve got the reaction time to get us within a hundred klick, let alone the five that the lasers can do.”
“I can pilot us in,” Marti said. “I should be able to get within range. If we proceed at full cruise, my control response rate will allow me to place the ship within five hundred meters of the shuttle.”
“Ammo arm the lasers,” Ethan said.
“This is going to be risky as hell,” the pilot said. “There are a lot of excellent reasons you don’t fly a ship close to a planet near the speed of light, let alone several thousand times that.”
“At least if we hit something it will be over with quick,” he said.
“For us and half the planet,” Ammo said. “This will be fun.”
“No, it’s not, but do it.”
Their engines pulsed for less than a second, and then the planet filled the front screen. The shuttle hung directly in front of them. The photon cascade flashed up through the spectrum and the reflection bounced back off the shuttle in a dazzling explosion of white light. It was blinding, even reflecting off its dark gray hull.
“Fire,” Ethan barked before his vision cleared.
The low-power lasers were designed to hit small slow moving boarding shuttles, but at close range, they were effective. As they shot across below their target, they raked the underside of the shuttle, tearing out ribbons of its underbelly like giant claws. It wasn’t enough to do much real damage, but it would make them think hard about doing an entry until they were sure the lasers hadn’t holed them through to their inner hull. Even a pinhole could suck the air out of a ship when it plunged through the atmosphere. More than one crew had died that way.
“Bring us around and above them,” he said.
Nuko was blinking and rubbing one of her eyes, but she hit the controls and had the ship twisting around although she was probably seeing spots too.
“Where’s Jetaar?” he asked.
“Eighteen thousand klick to the rear. He hasn’t reacted yet,” Ammo said.
“The shuttle is breaking off approach and climbing,” Marti said.
“One down,” Nuko said.
“I never even thought about the photon boom.” Ethan shook his head and blinked several times trying to read the timer.
Seven minutes and thirty seconds.
“They’ve got to be stone blind for the moment,” Nuko said. “They never saw what hit them.”
“What’s the Sak doing?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Ammo. She’d been facing away from the front window at the engineer’s console and missed most of the flash.
“The Sak is on the brakes. She was five thousand klick back. Their pilot’s probably cleaning the shit out of his seat at the moment.”
“The Blackwing is coming around,” Marti said.
“What’s their weapons range?”
“Effective range on the lasers is three thousand kilometers. The plasma turret would be no more than five thousand,” the AA said.
“Do we have any idea on whether the Sak is carrying guns?”
“I still don’t see anything with range to reach us,” Ammo said. “They’ve got the standard repelling lasers, but nothing else visible.”
“Give them some clearance anyway but focus on the Blackwing.”
“He’s closing slowly,” Nuko said. “Looks like he’s a little gun-shy.”
“Let’s use that,” he said. “Put the main coils on standby and bring up the DSL power. Push them to redline and hold them there.”
“Kill the coils?” she asked looking at him like he’d blown a processor.
He nodded, tapping into the commlink. “Angel, you and Quinn get Kaycee and position yourselves in MedBay. We’re on the backup coils from the DSL and if we have to maneuver hard, I want you three where the field is strongest.”
“Aye, Boss,” she said. “What about the window washer? He’s tied to his bed.”
“Leave him there. He’ll be fine,” he said. “Just get moving. We might be maneuvering at any moment and I don’t want you three taking the beating for it.”
“Cando.”
Ethan nodded. “Bring us to the edge of Jetaar’s weapons range and stand by to open the hangar doors. Keep the lights off.”
“You’re really going to try to bluff again?” Nuko asked.
“When you’ve got nothing else to play with, it’s your only choice,” Ammo said.
“Just keep pressing forward a little at a time. We want to push him over the artillery. If he thinks we’re ready to go nose to nose, maybe we can herd him around while we wait for the timer to run down.
Six
minutes and twenty seconds.
“Ping him once with the active sensors to get his attention.”
“I think we’ve already got that,” Nuko said.
“A good bluff is all in the details,” Ammo said. “If he thinks we’re working him over from the top chair, he’s got to wonder what we’re doing.”
“Exactly,” the captain said. “I think somebody I know said, the more time you give somebody to think their choices over the more likely they are to talk themselves out of it.”
“I never thought about that as a battle strategy, but why not,” she said, grinning.
“We are receiving a comm from the Blackwing.” Marti said. “Captain Jetaar is requesting a visual channel.”
“Decline the visual, but let’s talk to him,” Ethan said.
“Captain Walker, you do know how to make an entrance,” Jetaar said. “Do you really want to do this?”
“That’s up to you,” he said.
“We’ve got three ships and you’re just a freighter. We’ve got you outgunned. And outmaneuvered.”
“That’s a bluff,” Ethan said. “You’ve got an old science ship pretending to be a troop carrier with no guns, a shuttle that’s leaking air, and you. Maybe you should go get some reinforcements if you want to party with me.”
Jetaar laughed. It was a sound that made Ethan’s skin crawl. “It will be a shame to kill you, Walker. In a different reality I’d buy you a beer and we could be friends.”
Five minutes and thirty seconds.
“I doubt it,” he said. “It’s not me that going to be doing the dying. You ever look at the specifications of a Percheron Class cruiser?”
“I’ve actually been aboard several, as a guest, you could say,” he said. “You haven’t got the eggs.”
“If you look real close, you’ll notice my coils are off. Care to guess where all my extra power is going?” he said. “Oh wait, you might remember how our last encounter went.” He tapped the mute on the comm.
“Marti, power up the shuttle in the hangar. Give him something energetic to look at down there.”
“Then how do you plan to maneuver when I come at you?”
“They’re pinging us,” Ammo said behind him.
Ethan let off the mute. “Let me introduce you to Miracle Mike. You know what a DSL is, don’t you? It has some rather serious coils of its own, but I’m sure you saw that when you took a peek.”
Wings of Earth- Season One Page 36