“Mm, true! Do you want me to give each of them a secure com? One of the magically enhanced ones that’s hard to jam?” Fya asked. “And yes, they decided to join.”
“People are crazy. How can they tie themselves down like that?” Evelyn asked, looking at the ceiling for a moment as she sighed, then nodded. “Yes, do so. I don’t want them getting kidnapped without us finding out.”
“That’s about what I thought,” Fya agreed, then paused, sitting up abruptly as a light flared on the map, then Control spoke.
“Energy weapons fire. Cruiser-grade weapons detected. Raising shields,” Control said, her voice calm as could be. “Orders, Captain?”
“Source?” Evelyn asked, her eyes narrowing as more flickers of red played across the map. None of them were targeting Djinn’s Gift, and they were far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to do much damage if they did, not in astral. The atmosphere caused energy weapons to bleed off too quickly.
“Unknown. Multiple point sources detected,” Control replied, pausing before she added. “Secondary sources detected, destroyer and frigate-grade energy fire identified.”
“Condition Red, get everyone to battle stations,” Evelyn ordered, then paused and added, linking directly to everyone aboard as red lights began flashing. “We’re approaching the coordinates indicated by Fya, and weapons fire has been detected. Everyone except Ryth to battle stations. Ryth, make certain that our guests know what’s going on and are secured with an environmental shield.”
“Yes, Evelyn,” the angel replied immediately, while a chorus of acknowledgements came in response.
Evelyn connected to the ship’s feed designated for the captain, and she winced as she felt all the Dolls rushing to their stations, as well as the implant signatures of everyone else aboard. Fortunately, everyone had been in armor just to be safe, but that didn’t make her happy. She’d rather avoid a fight, if it was all the same to her. At least she got full status reports from the Dolls, which was, with a single exception, all above ninety-eight percent effectiveness. She was curious why the one Doll wasn’t up to normal tolerances, but then she realized it was coming from its maintenance unit. Of course it wouldn’t be at full capabilities if it had been in the middle of a maintenance cycle.
The ship thrummed with power as the weapon systems woke, and Evelyn checked all of the weapons as well. Her one complaint with Djinn’s Gift was that it didn’t have much in the way of projectile or missile weapons, and that it relied primarily on direct energy fire. That could be quite effective, certainly, but she sometimes liked having additional options. Of course, the handful of non-energy weapons the ship had were quite effective.
Slowly they moved forward, and Evelyn’s eyes hardened, her emotions turning icy as they approached combat. If anyone dared attack her, she would not show mercy.
“Hull breach!” Illath called out, the dark elf ducking as a panel exploded above him. “Section Delta-Three is gone!”
“Hellfire!” Captain Relka spat, sending an order to the helmsman, and the Ursus began rolling, trying to put heavier armor between its wounded ventral surfaces and the cannons firing on them. “Guns, take out those heavy emplacements!”
“We’re trying, Cap, but their shields are—” Mathlin began, then the human woman let out a whoop. “Shields went down, they’re smoked!”
“Damned well finally, now get the rest of them!” Relka demanded, waving the smoke out of his face as he scowled at the holotank.
The information they’d been sold was good, that much he had to admit, but there were some things that it hadn’t mentioned, primarily the damnably powerful defenses the station had in place… or even how big the thing was to begin with. He scowled at the screen again, wishing he’d made a deal with another team after all, but he’d thought three ships would be enough.
On the screen was the station, and it had the distinctive, slightly curved and sinister appearance that most senne construction possessed, which was impressive but not enough to make him concerned on its own. The two-kilometer asteroid it was built into, on the other hand… that was surprising, as had been the armored emplacements across the surface that’d opened up on his ships as soon as they came into range, and all of them with cruiser weapons. At least most of them were light cruiser guns, but Ursus had taken a beating despite its heavy shields and armor.
“Shark reports seventy percent effectiveness, and they’re falling back. Orca’s shields are down, but otherwise it’s in good shape,” Illath reported helpfully, wincing as he added. “We’re at… eighty-six percent or so.”
“I figured,” Relka replied, chewing his lower lip as he thought, watching beams slam into shields over some of the emplacements. “Focus on the heaviest ones first and keep those damaged sections away from them! I want—”
“Sir, ship signature!” Danielle called out, the human woman looking up from her console. “Heavy cruiser at ought fifteen!”
“Frack!” Relka swore. “Pull back out of range! We’re in no shape to fight two people at once, and if they’re hostile I’ll be damned if I defang the station for them.”
“Yessir!” Mathlin replied, relief filling her voice. “Relaying orders now!”
In seconds the ships began pulling back, and Relka growled, wincing as another blast hit the ship. He didn’t want to think about the repair bill, and this had better have been worth it. They’d taken several losses as it was, and a heavy cruiser… that would be a dicey proposition even if all his ships were at full strength. It all depended on what they were looking at, though. He wasn’t going to give up without a fight, not after taking this much damage.
A few more seconds passed, then the guns of the station fell silent as he pulled out of their effective range, and Relka let out a breath of relief. He hated to think about the damage they’d taken, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it, and he patted the arm of his command chair, mentally assuring the ship they’d get her fixed up again.
“Out of range of the station. Cruiser is coming into sensor range. Transponder is active, claims that it’s… Djinn’s Gift. Vessel isn’t in our logs,” Danielle reported, worry in her voice now, and Relka’s lips pressed tighter together.
Without a naval designation, it might indicate that the ship was a pirate, or was at least an independent, which made this dicey. If it was a navy, he’d have been able to claim he’d been there first and deserved salvage rights. It might not work, but with an independent…
“Hail them,” Relka ordered, forcing his back to relax as best he could. At least the ship did have a transponder, but that was a small thing at best. Many pirates ran transponders, too, though not all.
“Hailing,” Danielle said, and moments later his holotank sprang to life, causing Relka’s eyebrows to rise in consternation, then confusion.
The bridge depicted in the tank was nothing like any mercenary or pirate ship he’d seen. No pirate would have a smoothly curved bridge of that size, or the gilding and soft colors, for that matter. Almost more confusing was the crew, as only four of the stations were full, at least until the hatch slid open in the background, a celestine woman rushing through it, clad in light armor.
The crew was as odd as the rest of the ship. There were two elves, two humans, and the aforementioned celestine, who was quickly taking a seat. One of the elves was a tall, leggy blonde, while the other was a black-haired woman with a red jewel in the middle of her forehead who wore black and red armor. Something about the second one seemed familiar to Relka, but he couldn’t quite place her, which bothered him. The humans… one was a brunette who had perfect posture, while the other was a bit shorter and had bright orange hair and eyes, indicating body-mods in his opinion, but the second one looked far too eager for his taste.
“This is Captain Relka Yalmor of the Iron Raider mercenary company,” Relka barked out, ignoring his misgivings. “What are your intentions? We have claimed this abandoned station as salvage.”
“The Iron Raiders… Fya, have you
heard of them?” the black-haired woman asked, her red eyes fixed on him, and she looked far too calm for Relka’s comfort.
“Yep! They’re one of the more ‘honorable’ groups, so I don’t think you’re going to be too annoyed by him. Not one of the stuck-up ones, but they don’t take the nasty sort of jobs like the people we took Daggerhound from,” the orange-haired woman replied, grinning at him. “Fortunate for you, Captain Relka!”
Relka scowled, opening his mouth to reply, but before he could, the woman in the captain’s chair spoke calmly.
“Don’t be rude, Fya. Captain Yalmor, I am Evelyn Esendria Tarth,” the woman said, and smiled as he froze, his eyes widening as it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head, the familiarity snapping into place. She continued without pausing. “While I respect your desire to claim the station as salvage, the matter remains that it is not currently in your possession, and it’s outside of any polity’s claimed space. You are not the only one who purchased information regarding the station.”
It was all Relka could do to keep from swearing, and one of his crew, he didn’t care to pay attention to which, didn’t have his sense of restraint. Maybe someone else would be stupid enough to think that it wasn’t Evelyn Tarth on the screen, but Relka knew better. He and a few of his fellow mercenary leaders had spent an evening a few years back going over her campaign to conquer Peldra and discussing what they could have done to keep the nation from falling. He’d seen enough footage to be quite certain that the smiling elf was her, now that she’d rather forcibly reminded him of who she was.
Worse still was the conclusion that they’d come to at the end of the night. The rest of the army Evelyn had put together had been nasty enough, but they’d likely have been able to deal with it, even if the losses would’ve been painful. No one enjoyed taking on multiple dragons if they could help it, but dragons were big targets, and they could easily bring in a ship to provide air cover if they had to. No, the problem was Evelyn herself. Relka had been confident that she could’ve been dealt with right up until Geraldine had brought out some footage of Evelyn pulling a starship out of orbit with her telekinesis. Sure, it’d only been a frigate, but that had curdled his blood when he saw it slam into the ground.
“I’ve heard of you, Lady Tarth,” Relka managed after a few seconds, trying to keep the fear off his face. “I’ll even admit that you have a point about us not being in possession of the station, but we’ve already bled for this, and I’m not willing to give up my claim, no matter how fearsome your reputation might be.”
“Did I ask you to?” Evelyn asked, arching an eyebrow skeptically, and Relka looked at her in confusion.
“What?” he asked, frowning.
“Did I ask you to give up your claim?” Evelyn asked, looking at him pointedly. “I don’t remember those words coming out of my mouth. I simply stated that you do not have the station and no laws of salvage apply.”
Realization dawned on Relka, and he felt his cheeks heat, though he did his best to mask it as he sat up straighter, waving some of the smoke away from his helmet.
“You’re correct, I jumped to conclusions,” Relka admitted, examining her warily. “In that case, what are your intentions?”
“Good, you’re not one of those people who blusters when they make a mistake,” Evelyn said, smiling a little wider. “First, are you the only ones who’ve reached this place so far?”
“As far as I know,” Relka said, grimacing as he added. “We did detect some wreckage of what I think was a frigate, so it’s possible someone else came here first, but they likely fell to the station’s guns.”
“Mm, indeed. In that case, considering the damage your ships have taken, I will offer you a simple partnership,” Evelyn said, glancing at a holographic display of the station on her bridge. “I will assist you in penetrating the station’s defenses, and assuming that there are spoils to be had, we will split it three ways. One portion to me, two to you, as your ships equal the tonnage of my own. For any items which cannot be effectively split, we will pool them, and I will have the first choice, two to you, and so forth. If any others arrive and attempt to claim the station for themselves, we will fend them off together. What do you say?”
For a few seconds Relka stared at her, wondering if he’d really heard her say what she had. Then he shook himself and asked. “May I consult with my officers before making a decision?”
“Of course,” Evelyn said, smiling again as she added, “Though please make it quick. I suspect that others are likely to arrive soon enough.”
“We will,” Relka said, and signaled Danielle to put the ship on hold. As soon as he did, Mathlin spoke up.
“Damn it, who’s she to shoulder her way in like this?” the woman demanded hotly, glowering. “Sure, she’s got a bigger ship, but—”
“Shut your trap, Mat,” Relka snapped. “I’d give her goods odds of crushing us without her ship, with us in this condition. Danielle, get me Robert and Ellia.”
“On it,” Danielle said, and it was only a couple of seconds before the other two captains appeared in the air in front of him via hologram.
Robert’s bridge was clean and untouched, while he was in his heavy red armor. Ellia’s ship was mauled, on the other hand, and lights flickered as he looked onto the amazon’s ship, her armor heavy but so much sleeker-looking than Robert’s. She had her visor up, and the dark-haired woman spoke first.
“What is it? Shark is heavily damaged, and I need to deal with it,” Ellia snapped, glowering at him. “Unless we need to fight that new ship, but I don’t like our odds.”
“They’re worse than you think they are,” Relka said, jerking his chin at the map. “That’s the personal ship of Evelyn Tarth, conqueror of Peldra.”
“Fucking hells, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Robert exclaimed, leaning forward in his chair. “They’re bluffing, right?”
“I wish, but for what it’s worth, she isn’t looking to push us out of the way,” Relka replied, grinning at them mirthlessly, then explained. “She’s offering to help us take the station, and she’ll take a third of the loot, with first choice on any of the unique items, then we’d get two choices, then her, and so on. We’d fend off anyone else together, too. I don’t know about you, but that seems a lot more reasonable than I’d have expected from her.”
“Huh. Yeah… it makes me wonder if it’s actually her,” Robert said, flipping up his visor so he could rub his chin, looking at Relka in concern. “You sure she wouldn’t backstab us?”
“Pretty sure. None of the military actions I saw showed anything like that, and she didn’t throw her troops away, either. She was involved in pretty much every major military action when she was taking the country over,” Relka replied, shrugging. “I think she’s on the level. And based on the gear I saw her using, I doubt we could stop her if she really wanted to just take the station herself.”
“Fine, I agree, but to prove she can pull her weight, she gets to finish off the rest of the emplacements,” Ellia said, growling under her breath. “Assuming Robert agrees, anyway. It isn’t like we’ll be able to take everything we’d find on a station that size anyway.”
“Yeah, that seems like a fair point. We took a risk taking out the emplacements we did, she can do the same,” Robert agreed, looking at Relka. “What do you think, boss?”
“I think that this is a better idea than trying to attack her,” Relka replied dryly, then brought up Evelyn’s ship again. She didn’t look like she’d moved, but the orange-haired woman was chatting with the celestine. “We’ve come to a decision, Captain Tarth. We’re willing to take your offer on the condition that you take care of the remaining defensive emplacements. We took out most of the heavy hitters already but took a fair amount of damage doing so.”
“That is acceptable, Captain,” Evelyn said, smiling slightly as she inclined her head. “As it happens, I would have suggested doing so in either case. While the shield generators aboard Djinn’s Gift aren’t
as powerful as I’d prefer, they’re quite potent. Besides, it isn’t reasonable to put battleship generators aboard a ship this size. The emplacements will be dealt with shortly, Tarth out.”
The line went dead, and Relka blinked, then muttered. “What did she mean about battleship generators? Of course you can’t put those on a heavy cruiser, if you could, then they wouldn’t be battleship shields!”
“I couldn’t say, boss, but what I can tell you is that her ship is on the move,” Danielle reported, then whistled under her breath. “Wow, those are some good shields… wait a second, that’s a Halcyon Yards ship! Shit.”
Relka’s eyebrows rose, but instead of replying, he turned to watch the show as Djinn’s Gift moved in implacably. It’d be interesting to see just how Evelyn Tarth dealt with the defenses.
Chapter 46
“Prime all weapons for combat. Control, analyze all detected defensive weapons on the station and prioritize the highest-threat emplacements,” Evelyn said, pulling out her helmet and seating it properly. “Try to use as little ammunition as possible, but the ship’s safety takes priority.”
“Acknowledged, Captain. Djinn’s Gift is ready for combat, awaiting your commands,” Control agreed, while Fya helped Ilyra get her helmet on. Evelyn took the moment to activate her combat harness, which secured her in place.
“Everyone, we’re moving in to engage the station’s defenses. Brace for impact, though I doubt we’ll be in much danger,” Evelyn said over the implant network, then nodded to Control. “Take us in.”
“Engines at fifty percent,” C1 said in a soft soprano, her fingers playing across her console. “Preparing for evasive action.”
No further words were spoken, not that Evelyn needed them. Instead, as they approached the station, Evelyn watched Fya secure herself in place and put on her helmet, though unlike Evelyn she hardly needed it. Oh, djinni could be killed if struck in the head, but the nature of their magic made even that incredibly difficult. Besides, she’d recover from death quickly enough.
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 32