Captain Raoko Torenth stood on the bridge and watched the enemy ship come closer. Most of his tactical displays were out. The Arcadia had lost too many sensors. He didn't bother to order an evacuation; there was no point. They'd seen the Federation ships firing on shuttles from the crippled Concord vessels. It was warfare without rules. The Federation crews thought the Concord guilty of killing one of their worlds, and the battle had had too high a cost, on both sides, for mercy.
The Federation would give no quarter this day.
Suddenly, missiles flashed by the Arcadia and smashed into the Federation vessel. Planetary strike lasers targeted and destroyed the primary weapons on the hull, at close range. The Federation ship tried to turn away, but it was too late. A multi-megaton fusion warhead struck it in the open launch bay, and it burst like a ripe fruit, spewing atmosphere and tumbling past the Arcadia, barely missing her.
When the FSS Manticore positioned itself between the Arcadia and the rest of the battle, Torenth could barely believe his eyes. His com light began flashing, and he answered it without thinking.
"Greetings, Arcadia. You looked like you could use some assistance," Captain Jin Rai said with a grim smile. "I don't suppose the Concord could use another ship and crew, could it? I doubt we'll be welcome back in the Federation after this."
Torenth's laugh had an almost hysterical edge to it. "I didn't think that I would be happy to see a Federation ship so close, but I am very glad to see you."
"Ex-Federation ship."
"Indeed."
"Is your drive operational?" asked Jin Rai.
"We're working on it."
"Well, get it fixed and get out of here. The Concord has lost this battle, and we've got three cruisers bearing down on us."
"You're far into the system to jump away," Torenth pointed out.
"Let us worry about that," Jin Rai replied. "We'll hold them off, but you need to get out of here."
"I'm not going to just leave you, Captain."
"We wouldn't be here if you hadn't saved us at Prism. I don't expect to go out without a fight. Am I right in guessing that the Federation ships have depleted their missile complements?"
"You are, indeed."
"Good," Jin Rai said with a wicked smile. "We're near full strength, and we have the codes for their ECM."
"Admiral!" Captain Viknorov shouted. "Look!"
The rear of the Agamemnon exploded. Wreckage blew out in all directions, and the mostly intact forward section collided catastrophically with another Federation battle cruiser. The second ship exploded moments after the impact.
"Who took her out?" asked Admiral Macklin.
"There wasn't anyone near her. Admiral Shadovsky's ace?"
"I don't know. Speaking of which, is the Arcadia still with us?"
"She's not fighting anymore. There is a Federation destroyer near her, but..." Captain Viknorov paused for a moment. "The destroyer near her is the Manticore. She's actually firing on the Federation cruisers that are moving closer! I think they're trying to save the Arcadia."
"I suggest it's time we assist them, Captain."
"Absolutely, sir."
"God help us all," Captain Hutchinson said quietly as the Descubierta transited from hyperspace into Concord space. Glowing wreckage was strewn across the system. The planet was covered with swirling clouds that told their own story. There was still sporadic fighting, but it was clear that the Concord had actually won the battle.
Hutchinson wasn't sure he could say that the Federation had lost it, though.
"Any idea who we should try to contact?"
Tebrey made an anguished noise from beside him. He was wearing new armor he'd cobbled together from the ship's armory, and had insisted on staying on the bridge. Now all his attention was on the devastated planet.
"You said they had bunkers," Hutchinson pointed out. "I'm sure she's fine."
Tebrey nodded. "My contact here was Admiral Mandor Shadovsky. He'd probably be aboard the CSS Arcadia, if it's still intact."
"Communications?" said Hutchinson.
"Working on it, Captain. There's a lot of com chatter. Wait." The lieutenant held up his hand. "Got it, sir. They're close to us. That ship over by the large debris cloud, two light-minutes in, the one with the Federation destroyer next to it."
"Has it been captured?" Tebrey asked tensely.
"I don't think so, sir. They seem to be working together."
"Helm, plot a course for those two ships and engage any ships that attack them," said Hutchinson. "Lieutenant, get me a channel to those ships."
"Good to see you, Captain," said Admiral Mandor Shadovsky. "You're more than welcome to join us."
"What's the tactical situation, Admiral?" Hutchinson asked.
"Stalemate at the moment," Mandor answered. "Commodore Ffoulkes is dead. You just the missed the Agamemnon blowing up. We're not completely sure what took her out, but it was spectacular. She took the Archibald with her. No one seems to be able to agree who is senior in what's left of the Federation Fleet. I'm sure once they do, they'll order the rest of their ships out of the system as fast as they can."
"I doubt anyone wants to take responsibility for this ratfuck," Torenth added. "Admiral Macklin has issued orders to let the Federation ships leave if they'll stop firing on our ships. I'm not sure they're all listening, though."
The Descubierta eased into position next to the Manticore and joined its defense net. It would help defend the wounded Concord ship.
"We also have a couple of people with us who would like to transfer over there and talk to you, Admiral."
"Oh?"
"Namely, one Lt. Commander Hrothgar Tebrey."
"Well, well. We've been waiting to hear from him. Tell him his wife and friends are aboard and are doing well," Mandor replied. "He's more than welcome over here."
"I'll let him know; he'll be greatly relieved. He also has a new friend with him, sir, and they may arrive by an unconventional method," Hutchinson said dryly.
"Oh?"
Tebrey, Hunter and Lyra appeared on the bridge of the Arcadia with a whoosh of displaced air and the scream of the intruder alert. The bridge crew had been warned, but they still jumped in surprise when the three arrived. It wasn't a way anyone there expected people to board a ship.
Tebrey was holding his helmet under his left arm. He saluted Torenth smartly and said, "Permission to come aboard, Captain?"
"Permission granted, Lt. Commander," Torenth said with just a trace of irony.
"Admiral," Tebrey said, nodding.
"You are your father's son, aren't you?" said Mandor.
"Sir?" Tebrey asked, caught off guard.
"Never mind," Mandor replied. "Your wife is in the infirmary. She's okay, just a light head injury. Mason and Bauval are fine. We didn't know if we'd ever see you again, Commander. You were reported killed in the massacre at Prism."
"Yes, sir. That's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. The Theta situation is severe, sir, worse than we thought. Admiral Meleeka is dead."
"I know, Tebrey. How did you escape the destruction of Prism?"
"I had help from a friend," Tebrey replied, nodding toward the tall woman next to him. "Please allow me to introduce Lyra, a member of the Circle of Aurora. Her people are fighting the Thetas as well. They have some techniques we could use. She only speaks English, by the way."
"It's nice to meet you, Lyra, although the Thetas are not our main problem at the moment, to be honest."
"Sir, if I may...?" Tebrey looked embarrassed.
"Go, Commander. She's waiting for you." Mandor gestured to one of the marines stationed on the bridge. "Escort this man to the infirmary," he said.
"Thank you," Tebrey said sincerely.
"Marine," Mandor said as they turned to leave. "This man is one of us now. At ease."
"Sir."
"We've heard a little about your people," Mandor said to Lyra as Tebrey and Hunter left the bridge.
"Really?" Lyra said, sur
prised. "I wouldn't have thought that possible."
"One of our operatives met a man named Deegan. He told us a little before he left, and we also had a report on Tebrey's whereabouts from his father," said Mandor. "It seems he went looking for him."
"Is that who that was?" Lyra said wonderingly. She'd heard the report on the battle from Emerald. The Mo'Ceri had been impressed at the strength of the man who'd come looking for Tebrey on Aurora. They were even more impressed that he hadn't killed anyone while there. If the man had been Tebrey's elusive father, that explained a lot. "I see we have much to talk about."
Ana was rubbing her head uncertainly when she felt the presence of her husband. She looked up, eyes suddenly filled with tears, as Tebrey rushed in to embrace her.
"I missed you so much," he whispered. His voice was muffled by her hair.
Hunter pressed his head against her hand. Me too, the large cat added.
Ana pushed Tebrey back and took his face in her hands. "I'm pregnant," she said simply.
"You're what?" he exclaimed.
She laughed. She could sense that the sound was delightful to his ears. "That was my reaction," she said.
"But how? When? Do you know if it's a girl or a boy?"
She laughed again. She'd been worried about his reaction after what the doctor had said, but she saw that he had no doubts about her at all. "I don't know how it's possible. It had to be from back in June, when you came home on leave. And it's a girl," Ana answered in a rush.
"I can't believe it." He gave her another crushing hug, and then suddenly released her. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't hurt you did I?"
"I'm not that fragile, Hrothgar," Ana replied, crushing him back, armor and all. "You never hurt me. I would like you to meet my friends, Lt. Commander Tonya Harris and Ghost; they've been looking out for me."
Tebrey looked across Ana, just then noticing the dark-haired woman and her neo-panther. Ana noted that Tonya's blue eyes held a curious challenge.
"Pleased to meet you, Commander Harris, Ghost," he said with a nod.
"I'm pleased to see you alive, Commander Tebrey, Hunter. I'd heard otherwise." She didn't sound particularly pleased.
She's beautiful, Hunter thought.
She's not bad, but she's not Ana, Tebrey thought back.
Not her, dipshit – her.
Tebrey realized Hunter was talking about Ghost. He hadn't thought about the fact that Ghost was a female neo-panther. He wasn't really thinking all that clearly.
Go slow, Hunter, she might be with someone.
Then I'll fight him for her.
I don't think that's how it works, brother.
It didn't look like it was going to be an issue; the two panthers had already moved away from them and were touching noses.
"Hrothgar," Ana said, calling his attention back. "Have you seen your father yet?"
"Who?" he asked, standing straighter.
"Your father! He's been looking for you."
Tebrey sat down suddenly on the deck. "I..."
Tebrey didn't have any words for how he felt, but what he felt was strong and so good it made him want to cry with joy.
"I'll take that as a no." Ana carefully got out of the bed and knelt in front of him. "He's very nice and a little scary. He's a lot like you. You'll like him."
"But..." Tebrey gestured vaguely. "Why now?"
"He didn't know you were alive, love," Ana replied, caressing his face. "He thought you died as a little boy. He only found out recently that he was mistaken."
Tebrey nodded. That made sense. "What do you mean, he's scary?"
"He can do things," Ana replied. "He knows about the Thetas. He's not afraid of them."
"Is he just stupid?"
"No. There's something about him, Hrothgar. I don't think he has any reason to fear them, but I bet they're afraid of him."
Chapter Seventy-Four
The remaining Federation ships were massing at the edge of the system.
"They can't possibly be going to try again, can they?" Torenth said with exasperation.
"They've got tenders out there," said Captain Jin Rai over the secure com channel. "They could be re-arming."
"Gods, does it ever end?"
Admiral Shadovsky sighed. "I'm afraid it's worse than that, old friend. Admiral Macklin is going to order all ships to fall back to Steinway. The Federation has lost all of their troop transports. They can't invade Dawn. He thinks if we aren't here to fight, they may cut their losses and leave."
"Did you tell him we still don't have hyperdrive? Considering the shape our hull is in, I doubt we'll have it anytime soon."
"He knows that, Torenth."
"Is there time to evacuate my crew?"
Mandor shook his head. The Arcadia had taken a beating, but most of her crew had miraculously survived the battle thus far, although most of them were wounded. They wouldn't survive another wave of attackers, though.
"Captain?"
"What?" Torenth snapped.
"I just got a massive hypertrace on the far side of the system, sir."
Torenth glanced back at his screens. "I didn't think the Federation had any more ships to send," he said to Jin Rai.
"They don't," he replied. "They can't be Federation ships."
"Get Admiral Macklin on the com," Mandor ordered. He waited for his screen to activate. "You seeing this, Joseph?"
"I am. The drives aren't Federation. I think we just got our first break of the day."
"Admiral, I'm picking up a system-wide broadcast, sir." Lieutenant Christian interrupted. "It's from those ships."
"Put it on."
"This is Captain Gnarr of the Sentient Concord battle cruiser S'renth. Non-allied Federation vessels have until our taskforce crosses the system to leave. Any enemy vessel failing to leave or engaging in hostilities will be hunted down and destroyed."
A cheer sounded on the bridge.
"You weren't expecting them?" asked Captain Jin Rai.
"No," replied Torenth. "We didn't think the Rhyrhans would make it here in time."
"Admiral Shadovsky?"
"Yes, Admiral Macklin?"
"We're going to go greet our saviors. Can you coordinate sweeps for survivors in this section?"
Shadovsky waited for Torenth's nod before he answered. "We'll need the Descubierta and the Manticore. We don't have any small craft left."
"Do what you can. We are closing in on the maximum time limit for a suit's oxygen supply."
"We're on it."
"Commander?"
Tebrey looked up at the admiral from where he sat on the deck with his wife.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Tebrey, but we need your help."
"What can I do for you, Admiral?" Tebrey asked, standing up.
"The Rhyrhans have shown up. The fighting is over. The remaining Federation ships are jumping away. We've got a lot of wreckage out there. There are probably a lot of people trapped in air pockets, not to mention crew in suits drifting free. We need to get out there and get them inside. We don't have a lot of time, and we don't have a lot of people left to search for survivors."
"Of course, Admiral," Tebrey replied. He hesitated. "Ana?"
"I'll be fine. Go."
"I'll leave Hunter here with you," Tebrey said. Keep her safe, fur-ball.
"Admiral," Tonya interrupted. "There isn't reason for me to be here when I can join the rescue efforts. I'll leave Ghost with Hunter, since they seem to be getting along. Ana can talk to both of them, so she'll be fine."
"I think that's a good idea. Commander Harris, work with Commander Tebrey. We'll be using the small craft and available crews from the Federation ships that joined us. I think you'll make a good team."
The search for survivors was heartbreaking.
No ship had come through the battle unscathed, and there were not enough personnel to search through all of the wreckage, even with the Rhyrhan taskforce lending a hand. There was the additional problem of trying to find enough room for the wounded
, burned, and traumatized personnel they did find.
Tebrey found two pockets of survivors that he had been forced to leave behind. In both cases, they had people with them with holed suits who couldn't be exposed to the vacuum of space. Work crews were busy erecting temporary airlocks, but there were just too many trapped personnel to save them all.
Storms of shattered hull-metal and areas of intense radiation hampered the efforts, as well. The Concord had used antimatter and graser weapons in the battle; both of those weapons irradiated everything around them. It would be days before some of the wrecks were safe to explore.
Anyone still alive in those wrecks would be long dead by then.
Dawn itself didn't look much better. Over twenty missiles had gotten through to the planet. That was over a hundred warheads. Nuclear weapons were much more devastating on the surface of a planet because of the thermal flash of superheated atmosphere. Thankfully, a few of the cities had been spared. Even so, civilian casualties were estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.
A lot of dust had been blasted into the atmosphere. It was going to be a long time before the climate recovered. Ash-laden snow was already falling in the equatorial zones. Only a major recovery effort stood any chance of staving off an ice age.
Three days after the Battle of Dawn, Admiral Macklin reluctantly called off the search for survivors and ordered the damaged ships to fall back to Steinway for repairs. The Rhyrhan taskforce stayed behind to defend the system – not that anyone expected another attack. Considering how low morale was amongst the Concord survivors, who had won, it had to be abysmal in the remnants of the Federation Fleet.
Chapter Seven-Five
Steinway sat at the center of a vast network of defenses. Admiral Shadovsky watched Captain Torenth's displays from over his shoulder. They were covered with a scrawl of symbols, each denoting the position and orbital velocity of a mine, a ship, a station. The chill planet was the Sentient Concord's primary industrial complex for military starships and equipment. There were six massive automated ship factories in orbit, and freighters carried a steady stream of raw materials into the factories from the smelters and refineries further out. Several small moons in the outer system were being dismantled. The entire volume of near-planetary space, from the inner hyperlimit out to twelve light-minutes, was seeded with bomb-pumped mines and automatic missile defense platforms.
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