by Ryk Brown
The commander couldn’t believe what had just come out of his mouth. It was a blatant lie, but it was one that his crew needed to hear. He, himself, had no family who would benefit from his sacrifice, but most of his crew did, and the last thing he needed right now was a mutiny. That would surely seal their fate.
“Frigate Two at two four seven, twenty down, four clicks out,” Ensign Weston reported from Reaper Six’s copilot seat.
“Reaper Six, Shenza Seven! How many mines do you have left?”
“Shenza Seven, Reaper Six,” the ensign replied. “We only have one remaining.”
“Six, Seven, toss it at Frigate Two’s aft, dorsal shields!”
“Six copies,” Ensign Weston replied.
“Jumping ahead three clicks,” Lieutenant Haddix announced as he pressed the jump button on his flight control stick. The moment the jump ended, he pulled the Reaper into a tight left turn, pitching down twenty degrees. “Be ready to release and arm,” he warned his copilot.
“I’m ready.” The ensign studied the sensor display for a moment. “They’ve spotted us,” he warned. “They’re setting up a flack field.”
“Hang on,” the lieutenant warned as he made the final adjustments to their course. “This is going to be rough.”
Both men braced themselves as the lieutenant pressed the jump button again. The ship began to shake violently as rail gun slugs and energy weapons fire slammed into their forward shields.
“Shields at forty percent!” the ensign warned.
“Release on my mark!” the lieutenant ordered, holding his course. “NOW!” he finally barked.
“Mine away!”
“Arm it!”
“She’s armed,” the ensign acknowledged. “Arming confirmed!”
“Jumping!” the lieutenant announced as he pressed the jump button, yet again.
The tumbling antimatter mine struck the frigate’s shields, above and slightly astern, detonating in a brilliant, white flash of light. Sparks shot out from all over the frigate’s stern as shield emitters absorbed the sudden surge in energy and failed in spectacular fashion. Seconds later, two Reapers and three Gunyoki jumped in from above and behind the doomed frigate, opening fire with everything they had.
Each impact drove through the frigate’s hull, quickly finding her power plant and propellant tanks inside. The frigate’s back side blew apart in a brilliant flash of yellow and red, causing her forward section to tumble forward. Seconds after that, several more Gunyoki fighters jumped in from the frigate’s port side and pounded away on the target’s still-intact forward section until it came apart, as well.
“Frigate Two is destroyed!” one of the Gunyoki pilots announced triumphantly.
“How are we looking, Kas?” Robert asked over his comm-sets.
“Heavy One is all that’s left,” his sensor officer reported. “But she’s gotten her port shields restored somehow.”
“All ships, Striker One. Concentrate on Heavy One. Gunyoki high, Strikers low, Reapers to stern. Odds and evens on the way out.”
“Gunyoki high, Strikers low, Reapers to stern. Odds and evens on the way out.” Captain Nash’s voice instructed over comms.
“Shenza One to Shenza Flight,” Vol called over comms. “We are attacking Heavy One. Follow me in. We take the high side, odds and evens. Let’s finish this, now!” he added as he turned toward the last enemy warship.
“Commander!” the Amonday’s sensor officer shouted. “The Ensayon has been destroyed!” He turned to look at the commander. “We’re it!”
“Jump drive is operational!” Lieutenant Tolan reported.
“Helm!” the commander barked. “Turn to starboard, heading of zero two zero by zero eight, ahead flank!”
“Zero two zero by zero eight, ahead flank, aye,” the helmsman answered smartly.
“Six new targets!” the sensor officer reported. “Four above, one to port, and one to stern. The one to stern is launching some… ANTIMATTER MINE! ANTIMATTER MINE!”
“HELM!” the commander yelled. “ESCAPE JUMP!”
“Sir, we’re not on…” the helmsman began to object.
“I SAID NOW!” the commander insisted.
“Target is two clicks out,” Kenji reported from Striker Three’s copilot’s seat.
“Reaper Two is starting their attack run!” Sergeant Dagata reported over comm-sets. “They’re dropping an antimatter mine toward the target’s stern!”
“They’re turning!” Aiden realized.
“TARGET HAS JUMPED!” Sergeant Dagata warned.
“DAMN IT!” Aiden cursed.
“Target jumped toward the Rogen system!” the sergeant added, alarm in his voice.
Aiden immediately turned to follow the enemy warship.
“Where are you going?” Kenji wondered.
“Dags!” Aiden barked. “Drop a comm-buoy and tell everyone where the target jumped to and that we’re pursuing!”
* * *
“Jump comp…”
“Pull up! Pull up!” Commander Andreola ordered urgently as the planet appeared, filling their entire forward view screen.
The helmsman didn’t bother acknowledging the commander’s order, instead just pulling back on his flight control yoke as hard as he could and firing the upward translation thruster under their nose in an attempt to increase their pitch rate.
“Sensors! Is that Rakuen?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Find the Aurora!” the commander barked.
“Leveling off!” the helmsman reported, breathing a sigh of relief.
“I’ve got her, Commander!” the sensor officer reported. “On the horizon, passing left to right!”
“Weapons!” the commander barked. “Lock all missiles on that target and fire when ready!”
“Contact!” Ensign Kagan reported from the Aurora’s sensor station. “Unknown type warship! Possible heavy cruiser!”
“It’s the same configuration as the ones the Falcon spotted,” Cameron reported, looking over the ensign’s shoulder.
“From the same battle group or a different one?” Nathan demanded, jumping to his feet.
“They’re launching missiles!” the ensign exclaimed.
“Jump missiles?”
“Activating point-defenses!” Jessica reported.
“Negative!” the ensign replied. “Missiles are not jumping!”
“Can we run point-defenses and shields?” Nathan wondered.
“We can leave the starboard shields up and drop everything else,” Cameron replied as she hurried over to help Jessica at the tactical station. “Let’s just hope that ship is by itself!”
“Ten missiles total!” the ensign reported. “Thirty seconds to impact!”
“Are countermeasures working?” Nathan asked.
“Negative,” Jessica replied. “Point-defenses are firing!”
“Another jump flash,” Ensign Kagan reported. “Behind the first!”
“Helm! Turn into the target and accelerate!” Nathan ordered.
“Coming to starboard and accelerating,” Josh replied, “sort of.”
“I’ll have to rotate shields,” Cameron warned.
“Our forward shields are the strongest,” Nathan insisted.
“Two down, twenty seconds!”
“We won’t have as many guns head-to-head,” Jessica warned.
“I’ll take the stronger shields any day,” Nathan replied.
“Second contact is a Cobra!” the sensor operator reported with glee. “Four down! Fifteen seconds.”
“Striker! Aurora!” Nathan called over comms. “Target inbound missiles! Target inbound missiles!”
“Target inbound missiles!” Nathan ordered over comms.
“I’m pitching up to put more guns on them and jumping forward to catch up!” Aiden announced as he killed their forward thrust and pitched their nose down ninety degrees. He tapped the jump button.
“Targeting missiles,” Kenji reported.
“Six down!�
� Ensign Kagan reported. “Five seconds!”
“All hands, brace for impact!” Nathan warned over ship-wide.
“Seven down! Eight!”
The Aurora shook violently as the last two missiles struck her forward shields and detonated.
“Forward shields down to forty-two percent but holding!” Cameron reported.
“Third jump flash!” the sensor officer announced.
“Two missiles made it through!” the Amonday’s sensor officer reported. “Their forward shields are down to forty percent and falling! They have insufficient power to recharge them!”
“We’re out of missiles, Sir!” Lieutenant Tolan reported.
“Ion cannons!”
“Also down!”
“Then jump us in close and we’ll finish her off with rail guns!” Commander Andreola ordered.
“Another gunship just jumped in behind us!” the sensor officer warned.
“Locking all rail guns on the target!” the lieutenant announced. “Firing all rail guns!”
“Char! Target that ship!” Aiden instructed over comms.
“We’re on it!” Charnelle replied, diving toward Heavy One. “Firing plasma torpedo cannons!”
Red-orange plasma torpedoes streaked out from under their nose toward the heavy cruiser ahead of them, lighting up the target’s shields with each impact.
“They’re targeting us!” Sari warned from the copilot’s seat.
“Our forward shields are down to twenty percent!” Sergeant Kotai reminded them. “We can’t take more than a few seconds of weapons fire before they……”
“Damn it!” Char cursed, pushing forward on her flight control stick.
It was too late. The first dozen rounds of rail gun fire were charged slugs, which overwhelmed their shields and caused a cascade failure. The kinetic energy of the slugs, combined with the explosive energy they carried, overcame their shields, causing them to fail within seconds. After that, the rounds tore through their hull with impunity, shredding the now-defenseless gunship.
Striker Four broke open, just aft of its cockpit, setting off secondary explosions that ripped her open in an instant.
Aiden saw the icon for Striker Four suddenly disappear from his tactical display, and a feeling of despair washed through him. “Oh, God,” he exclaimed.
“Maybe they jumped?” Kenji suggested.
“Dags!” Aiden called. “Did Four jump?”
“Negative!” the sergeant replied over comm-sets. “No jump flash!”
“NO!” Aiden exclaimed, overcome with grief.
“Striker Four is down!” Ensign Kagan reported.
“Shields are down to ten percent!” Cameron warned. “We can’t take much more of this!”
“New contacts!” the sensor officer reported. “Two more Cobras!”
“Strikers, Aurora!” Nathan called over comms. “Get that heavy off of us!”
“Shields at ten percent!” Cameron warned.
“Aurora, Striker One, we’re on it, Captain!”
“Five percent!” Cameron added.
“Josh, roll us onto our port side and show them our belly!” Nathan ordered.
“Rolling!” Josh replied.
“Shields are down!” Cameron reported.
The Aurora began to shake again as rail gun rounds slammed into their unshielded hull. Then, the shaking suddenly stopped.
“New contact!” the sensor officer reported gleefully. “It’s the Glendanon!” he added. “She’s put herself between us and them!”
“I’ve got three rescue transponders!” Sergeant Dagata reported.
“Any IDs?” Aiden asked, becoming hopeful.
“Negative,” the sergeant replied. “Best I can tell, one from forward, two from the rear.”
“The Glendanon is opening fire!” Ensign Kagan reported. “More contacts! Reapers and Gunyoki!”
Nathan watched the tactical display as the heavy warship of unknown origin was pounded by the Alliance ships now joining the fight. There was no way that ship was getting out alive.
“Target has lost shields and main power,” Cameron reported. “They have maneuvering, but cannot jump.”
“Aurora Actual to all Alliance units, cease-fire, I say again, cease-fire!” He turned to look at Jessica and Cameron.
“All units have disengaged,” Jessica reported.
“The ship is dead in space,” the sensor operator declared.
“Dusahn vessel, this is the Captain Nathan Scott of the Alliance ship Aurora,” Nathan called over comms. “Surrender, or be destroyed. You have one minute.” Nathan waited half a minute but got no response. “Jess, how many Ghatazhak are aboard at the moment?”
“At least fifty,” she replied.
“Cam, recall two Reapers for refit with breach pods.”
“Aurora, this is the Orswellan warship Amonday, Commander Stethan Andreola commanding. Better that you kill us now so our families will not be punished.”
Nathan looked at the sensor officer. “Can they fire on us?”
“Negative, sir,” the sensor officer assured him. “They don’t have the energy.”
“Can they blow themselves up?”
“All they have are fusion reactors,” the sensor officer reported. “And I’m not detecting any more missiles so, unless they have a self-destruct mechanism…”
“If they did, why would they be asking us to kill them?” Cameron wondered.
“To trick us into moving closer?” Jessica suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Nathan decided, tapping his comm-set. “Commander Andreola, while I understand your predicament, I’d rather not kill you,” Nathan replied over comms. “I should warn you, however, that I am about to send over an armed boarding party with authorization to use deadly force to secure your ship. Resist if you wish, but I would strongly advise against it.”
“Are you crazy?” Jessica wondered. “You just tipped them off!”
“I don’t think so,” Nathan argued. “If they were trying to set a trap, they’d want to draw us in closer and take our ship out. It does them no good to kill a handful of armed boarders.”
* * *
“Jump complete,” the Mystic’s helmsman announced as the ship jumped into high orbit above Rakuen.
“Multiple contacts,” the sensor officer reported. “The Aurora, the Glendanon, Strikers, Gunyoki, and Reapers…” The sensor officer paused a moment, and his voice became more urgent. “And an unknown warship.”
“Mister Perklin, raise shields and power all defenses,” Commander Kaplan ordered. “Sound general quarters.”
“General quarters, aye!” the officer of the deck replied.
“Raising shields and powering all defenses!” the weapons officer acknowledged.
“What’s the warship doing?” the commander asked.
“Nothing,” the sensor officer replied, sounding bewildered.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing. In fact, they appear to be without main power. Signs of heavy damage on both the unknown warship and the Aurora.”
“What about the Glendanon?” the commander wondered, a bit bewildered herself.
“Minor damage,” the sensor officer replied. “Commander, two of the Reapers are approaching the unknown warship. They appear to be equipped with breach pods.”
“They’re boarding her,” the commander surmised. “Comms, patch me through to the Aurora.”
“Aye, sir.” A moment later, the communications officer added, “I have the Aurora, Commander.”
“Aurora, Mystic, Commander Kaplan here. How can we assist?”
“Good to hear your voice, Lara,” Cameron replied over comms. “Take up position to our starboard side as protection. The Glendanon will stay to port. And be ready with medical and damage control teams. We’re pretty banged up, here.”
“We’ve got your starboard, Cam. Help is on the way. Mystic, out.” The commander turned to the officer of the deck. “Lieutenant, put together a first response te
am. Med-techs, rescue workers, and engineers. Lead them yourself.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied, turning to exit in a hurry.
“Comms, alert Captain Rainey.”
* * *
“They’re on deck four, now,” Lieutenant Tolan announced as he monitored the intruders’ movements through the Amonday.
“We should have fought them,” Lieutenant Commander Vari said.
“With what,” the commander challenged, “blasters and guts?” He laughed. “They’d mow us down in seconds.”
“But our families…”
“We fought as well as could be expected,” the commander insisted. “We even attempted to carry out Lord Dusahn’s orders when we were the last ship in the battle group. We will be seen as heroes.”
“Until they learn that we surrendered,” the lieutenant commander pointed out.
“How will they know? We lost all power, shields, and weapons.”
“They will know.”
“Perhaps, in time.”
“Intruders are on the command deck and headed our way,” Lieutenant Tolan reported. “Security is defending… My God…”
“You see,” the commander said. “Everyone, stand next to your duty stations in the position of attention. Offer no resistance.”
“You’re a fool,” Lieutenant Commander Vari scolded, moving toward the weapons locker.
“Lieutenant Commander!” the commander barked.
The lieutenant commander ignored him, punching in the code to the locker and pulling out blasters to hand to the rest of the bridge staff.
“Put down those weapons, or you’ll all be killed!” the commander warned.
“You may die a coward if you so choose, Stethan,” the lieutenant commander said as he charged his weapon and turned toward the entrance.
The hatch suddenly flew open, and two small silver balls came flying in, bouncing off the deck. A split second later, the two silver balls detonated in brilliant flashes of light, accompanied by a deafening squeal that caused them all to fall to their knees, their hands over their ears.
