by Daniel Gibbs
"Coming up on weapons range now," Piper said. "And I've got a good destination for our double jump as well."
"Send it to the helm."
"Doing so."
After Piper hit several keys, Cera spoke up. "Coordinates loaded into th' drive, Captain. We'll jump when Pieter gives th' word."
"Retracting cover plates," Piper added.
She was referring to the plates at the bottom of the ship, just forward of the bow-facing holds. They covered the end of the extended section of hull plating that ran the length of the Shadow Wolf, stern holds to bow. It was an obvious modification compared to the standard Holden-Nagata Mark VII, and most would presume it contained a cabling trunk of some sort.
When the cover plates finished retracting, they revealed the actual contents by uncovering the barrel of a cannon emplacement.
"Neutron and energy capacitors at full," Piper said. "Shooting."
A white-hot lance of blue energy stabbed out from the barrel. In the space of a second, the channeled, packed neutrons in the shot crossed through the void and slammed into the deflectors of the Tash'vakal pirate ship. The deflectors resisted the blast, mostly, but at the cost of straining themselves beyond endurance.
Piper followed up with a second shot. Slightly weaker than the first, this one was still strong enough to smash through the Tash'vakal deflectors and slice through the main hull of the ship. The beam worked its way up into the pylons attaching the upper starboard pod to the Tash'vakal ship, severing one and nearly severing the other.
The Pahknabi had never endured such a terrible strike, before or during Jastavi's reign on the vessel. The entire ship rocked as if it were a wounded beast. He could only stare in shock at the result of the enemy shot.
"Scanners confirm. The humans are using a neutron cannon, cruiser-grade," said the weaponeer. "Our deflectors cannot resist repeated shots."
"Reroute all power, blast you! Begin evasive maneuvers!"
"My Lord, the supply pod's connections are too severely weakened, even with inertial compensators, we might shear it off!" protested his engineer, while the helmsman obeyed the order anyway to avoid his commander's wrath.
"Then let it fail! We will reclaim it!"
The Pahknabi was maneuvering hard when the third shot came, the weakest yet. It still punctured the weakened deflectors with enough power left over to carve another gash across the Pahknabi's starboard side, just barely missing the lower starboard pod. Jastavi watched the damage indicators and felt fury at the human ship, indeed, their entire damned race. Chantavit Li had not warned him of this! His ship absorbing such severe damage would weaken Jastavi's political power, Lamat would never choose him now!
Still, there was pride. He was a Ship-Lord of the Mek'taman. His honor, the honor of the Pahknabi, and that of the Clan demanded he retaliate. "To the ethereal wastes with Li and all Humans. Weaponeer, hold fire until we have optimal range on them, then fire all available weapons on that ship! I do not care if it survives!"
"Gladly, my Lord!" the weaponeer replied, even as another shot from the humans carved another wound in the Pahknabi.
Jastavi hissed lowly as the next shot came. I will return the pain in kind, human. I will make you pay!
Henry watched with quiet satisfaction as a fifth, and final, shot from the neutron cannon finished dealing another blow to the Tash'vakal vessel. This shot did the least damage of all, as it had little power left after penetrating the compromised deflectors on the other ship.
"Capacitors are low," Piper said. "And heat buildup's at the redline. Do you want me to go for another shot?"
Henry was looking over the holotank intently, judging the position of the other Tash'vakal ships. Finally, he answered, "Not right away. Cera, alter course heading to three-three-five, degrees mark negative fourteen."
"Aye, sir."
"That should open up the range a little, just in case they try to return fire," Henry said. Looking at the distance on the holotank, he figured it wouldn't take them out of weapons range of the stricken ship, but it would keep them from coming under fire from other threats. We're committed to this run, have to see it through.
"So far, I've got nothing from their weapons." Piper shook her head. "We may have knocked out something vital."
"Reinforce deflectors to face them as we pass."
"Doing what I can, but they took some hits already…" Tia gave him a worried look. "Jim, even if we took out some of their weapons…"
"I know, but we're on the horns of a dilemma here, Tia," he replied. "Ambushes have a way of causing that."
As soon as he spoke, Henry realized he'd touched an old wound for Tia, and it wasn't hard to guess what it involved. He could see in her stormy gray eyes the memories of urban battle, a revolution betrayed.
"I see your point," she said.
As their range to the damaged Tash'vakal ship came as close as it would, Henry got on the intercom. "I'd enjoy a jump any time, Pieter."
"Stand by, Captain. Just a couple more minutes."
Piper sighed. "We really need to hire him a—" Her instruments lit up and diverted her attention. "They're locking weapons and shooting!"
"Evasive!"
Given their speed and acceleration, they were in an excellent position to evade a lot of incoming fire. But the Tash'vakal ship, despite being wounded, was equally capable of throwing a lot of it. Missiles streamed from launchers while particle lances lashed out through space, glittering cerulean beams of murderous energy that stabbed at the Shadow Wolf.
Some missed. Some hit. The Shadow Wolf's deflectors endured the impacts with decreasing capability until they started to cut through enough to scorch hull.
The missiles came roaring in behind the lances, hitting acceleration that quickly overtook the hauler even with her unique fusion drives pushing her along. The auto-turrets engaged them, as did the manned quad turrets, with the sapphire pulses and unseen strips of magnetically-accelerated metal ripping into the approaching missiles. Between the ship's speed and this defensive fire, most of the enemy missiles were eliminated.
Most.
One missile, on the verge of missing, fired thrusters to correct its course, bringing it back around to the port side of the Shadow Wolf. An auto-turret round failed to destroy the warhead of the missile, which impacted on the deflectors and exploded. Another came in from "below" before it hit the deflectors, then two from starboard. Bursts of energy, courtesy of high-energy reactions from the xaser-pumped warheads of the missiles, pounded the Shadow Wolf on all of these sides.
The abuse was too much. The deflectors failed.
With the distance growing, more and more of the particle lance fire from the Tash'vakal was missing, but the successful hits told on the Shadow Wolf's dark gray hull. Even glancing blows left scorched, half-melted hull material in its wake. One beam sliced through the mid-starboard hold into the mid-port hold, exposing both. Another carved a chunk out of the ship's aft section on the upper deck. One missile went off just before reaching the impact point, bathing the forward lower deck in enough energy to melt through and cause a hull breach.
For all of their bad luck in these hits, the Shadow Wolf was fortunate. Her engines, still straining to keep her ahead of the approaching mass of fighters, hadn’t taken serious damage. The lances did nothing more than a single glancing hit on the rear starboard hold, ensuring her fusion drive systems went undamaged.
This fortune was little comfort for the crew, however, as their ship shuddered under the repeated impacts. Alarms wailed, and Tia swallowed at seeing the red showing up on various sections of the damage control display. "We've taken multiple hits to bare hull, both middle holds are hulled completely, structural damage on both decks fore and aft." She glanced briefly at Henry.
Henry knew she was thinking about her previous warning not to get too close and didn't begrudge her those thoughts as he fought his frustration with everything. He regretted having anything do with Lusitania at this moment. But regrets wouldn't get them
through. His finger found the intercom again. "Pieter, we're taking hits! We've got to jump, now."
"If you double jump, I can't guarantee the drive will hold, I need at least a minute to finish heat-proofing this component!"
The ship shuddered again. "Forward starboard hold hit and hulled," Tia said.
Piper gave another warning. "More missiles inbound; the auto-turrets can't get them all!"
"Pieter, I'm not sure we have thirty seconds!"
"Stand by!" Invective in Afrikaans came over the line.
"Maneuverin' as best as I can!" Cera said.
After a glance at the holotank, Henry decided to take a risk. "Don't worry about my prior heading order, Cera. Evade in any heading you can!" He gave the order, knowing that to break from the general direction would drastically cut the time to intercept for the approaching fighters.
"Aye, sir!"
Cera broke the Shadow Wolf into a twist "upward" and to port. The maneuver threw off several shots from the Tash'vakal ship and further opened up the range. She ended up turning a full hundred degrees, which in turn meant that their new heading reduced their distance from the approaching fighters. Henry looked at the range and knew he was cutting it close.
Jastavi was pleased to see the damage inflicted on the human ship. He was delighted to see the ship panic enough to change its heading enough that the fighters' intercept time shortened. This did have the effect of making the Pahknabi's fire completely inaccurate, but the fighters could finish them off. And if they jumped, well, that would just add time to the chase. He triggered the tactical comm line and said, "Pilot-Lord Neshas, the prey is yours."
"I thank you for this honor, my Lord," his lead pilot replied. "They will suffer for harming our home."
"I will give you first choice of meat when we cook their captain," Jastavi promised. Such honor did well to keep the loyalty of his subordinates, and he would need such given the damage the humans inflicted. Jump, fool. See what it does for you.
The thought made Jastavi wonder. Just why hasn't the human jumped yet? Indeed the fool suspects we're tracking their ship, but they have no hope of victory remaining here.
The fighters were looming ever closer on the holotank in Henry's eye. The vessel now behind them continued to fire, although now none of its shots were hitting, and its missiles were having trouble keeping up with their maneuvers.
"Captain, I can't maintain this acceleration for much longer," Cera warned. "I'm showin' stress indicators on th' fusion drive."
"Just a bit longer," he said. Then he called up Pieter again. "Pieter…"
"Damn you, I'm going as fast as I can!" The exasperation was evident in Pieter's voice. "Just let me finish this up."
"The fighters are almost to weapons range, Jim," Tia pointed out.
"I'm aware of that." Henry let out a breath, as hard as that could be given they were still pulling 2Gs from the effort of the fusion drive. His eyes went back to the holotank as the cloud of red dots came closer and closer to the center. His vision was clouded by sweat dripping down into his eyes from his brow. The seconds seemed to elongate as he wondered if he'd miscalculated somewhere, if this was how it would end for them. If he had let his crew down.
Ahead of him, Cera started speaking softly, her voice slightly choked. "Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee—"
"—blessed art thou amongst women," Piper added, eyes closed, and her face pale with fear and worry. "...and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
From her seat, Tia looked from them to Jim, while the holotank showed the fighters mere seconds from range, seconds that went by far too quickly.
The Tash'vakal fired a missile volley right at them.
"Jump!" Pieter's voice thundered over the intercom.
Cera's finger went to the control and punched it within a second.
The Shadow Wolf's Lawrence drive came to life, drawing power from both her regular reactors and her still-running fusion drive reactor. Energy flowed from the drive core invisibly, coalescing ahead of the ship until it punctured a hole through space-time. Color blossomed in the void of space to form the mouth of a short-lived wormhole.
The Shadow Wolf plunged into it just as the missiles drew closer.
In the system on the other side, the Shadow Wolf's acceleration carried it on. Behind it, the escape wormhole closed. Half of a missile came through before the universe finished sealing the gap, left to drift uselessly without its engine.
By that point, the next set of coordinates was fed into the projectors of the Shadow Wolf's Lawrence drive. Hot from the tremendous energy necessary to pierce the fabric of the universe, the drive became hotter still as energy yet again surged into it. Another wormhole blossomed open, and the ship rushed through it.
Once through the second wormhole, everyone nearly stopped breathing, as if waiting for something to go wrong. For something to explode from exotic particles, or the enemy ships to appear, any such problem. After ten seconds passed, Henry broke the silence by asking, "Any sign of pursuit?"
"None," Piper said.
At the helm, Cera crossed herself and let out a tense breath.
Henry was about to ask where they were, but he stopped at seeing the holotank display the incoming IFF information for a nearby station. "Trinidad Station," he said softly.
Piper nodded. Color hadn't quite yet returned to her face. "Figured we'd need somewhere we trust for repairs," she said. "Even if we're not coming with cargo for them this time."
"Even if we had been, we'd have lost it," Tia said. "Only one active hold still intact. It's going to take days to get the ship back in shape, and a lot of credits."
"I know." Henry let out a long sigh of relief and frustration. Regardless of whether Caetano or Vitorino paid him, or even both, he could see his accounts draining away at the repair expenses. "Take us in, Cera. On standard drives."
"Aye, sir," she said. "Plasma drives engaging."
The Shadow Wolf, wounded but intact, started her way back to one of the few ports that might properly be called her home.
Few times in his existence had ever seen Ship-Lord Jastavi's rage so hot. He looked at the holotank display showing the current location of their prey and felt the urge to encourage the Clan to attack anyway. Not that it would do him any good.
"Ship-Lord Tresak is offering to send us aid, as is Chief Lamat," his communications officer informed him. "They have noted our battle damage."
"Tell them our crews can handle—" Jastavi stopped himself. That was his pride talking, and only his pride. While pride was so crucial to a Ship-Lord, so was obligation. His Clan was weakened if the Pahknabi was not repaired in due time. He had to face that the Pahknabi's crew needed help due to the deaths and injuries they'd endured. "Tell them I am honored by their assistance," he said forcefully, knowing full well Tresak would never let him forget this. At the same time, his ambitions were certainly set back.
"Doing so now. What of our fighters?"
"Other Ship-Lords will recover them," Jastavi said. "Focus our efforts on repairs. The Pahknabi must be restored to strength."
"As you command, my Lord."
That meant little to Jastavi's rage. He didn't know whom he wished to slaughter more, the human captain who had just bested him or that damned Chantavit Li, who said nothing about the mettle of their foe. Bested by humans, tricked by humans… may the gods of the Void drag their souls to oblivion, and I will gladly free them from their bodies to provide the opportunity!
24
While Cera and Vidia minded the bridge, the rest of the crew met in the galley to take stock of their situation. Tia delivered the damage report with little emotion. Three hulled holds would have to be repaired so they could continue working. Several hull breaches, at least three of them major. The survey of the damage would take days of repair work and a lot of credits to properly repair.
Henry listened to the report while nursing a small shot glass of bourbon. He found the substance useful, given his feeling
s and nerves. Like always, he monitored himself carefully to ensure he wasn't becoming overly reliant on it. The last thing he wanted to do was become an actual alcoholic.
"I think I can sum this all up by saying we got away without quite getting our asses handed to us," Tia remarked. "We'll probably spend a week on Trinidad getting everything fixed. If not more."
"And don't forget the Lawrence drive," Pieter added. "We blew out half the bloody thing with that second jump."
"Our priorities will be major hull breaches, the drive, and the holds, in that order," Henry said.
"I think the drives can go last," Tia said. "We're at a safe harbor now, and we can afford to wait."
"Not everyone on Trinidad Station is trustworthy, as you well know." Henry gave her a knowing look. "We need to be able to leave if things get hot."
"Well, it's going to be a while," Pieter said. "I can only do so much. All of the coolant seals need inspecting, and most will probably need replacing."
"There are repair hands we can hire on once we make dock," Tia assured him. She looked almost as haggard as Henry felt.
"You'll want to talk to your friend too." Pieter turned his head to face her. Dark brownish smudges from the chemicals he'd employed in his work showed on his jumpsuit as it did on his skin, including his face. "We've never run the fusion drive that long or that intensely before. We may need to replace the plasma manifolds at the very least."
Tia acknowledged Pieter with a nod. "I'll speak to Khánh."
Throughout the meeting, Miri remained silent. To Henry, she seemed not so pleased to hear about their destination. "Trinidad Station is a pirate station, I thought?" she asked.
"Yes, and no," Tia answered. "It was put into orbit over a gas giant a hundred and fifty years ago to support a helium extraction operation for some corporation few people remember. But the company failed. And because it turned out to be a marginal operation, nobody bothered to buy the station out. The profit margins were too thin."
