Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14

by Randolph Lalonde

  "I'm good!" Flag replied, laughing. "I am so glad you're here, Dame."

  "On my way to you," Ronin said. "Looks like we're alone on this continent."

  Dame scanned the Starskipper thoroughly as she descended towards it, and when she was sure that the Xetima tanks were intact, she put her fighter down right beside the battered ship. No one was moving in the wreck. It was unlikely the pilot survived, judging from the crushed forward section. She reached behind her seat for her rifle, then remembered that she'd handed it off. "I'm going to see if there's anything worth putting into stasis aboard the wreck."

  "Wait, I'm coming down to you," Ronin said. "Flag, join the fleet."

  "All right, you guys have fun down there," Flag replied. "I'll see you in orbit."

  Knowing that seconds counted, Dame didn't listen to Ronin. Her sensors picked up DNA that matched Lucius Wheeler. "We got him," she breathed as she picked her way through the open side of the ship with her sidearm in hand. "Wait, I'm getting an energy reading."

  "Intelligence says he's a framework, capable of regenerating from almost anything," Ronin said. "Fall back."

  "There's a procedure for this," Edda said, quickly loading instructions to fabricate three shells with nanobot twenty-eight into the small launcher in her left command and control unit. "My tactical system says he's regenerating." Every soldier in Haven Fleet was trained to handle Frameworks if they went through the most recent training, especially if they looked through the materials for the Apex program. "I have to get to him before he's fully recovered."

  "You're right, but be careful. No one would blame you if you waited for me, I'll try to get down there as fast as I can," Ronin said.

  "Is there time?" Dame said, rushing to the Starskipper. "Can I afford to wait?"

  "No," Ronin replied. "Proceed with caution."

  With great care, Dame climbed into the main corridor that ran the length of the ship and scanned ahead. A quick burst of rounds struck her, blasting her shields, sending her backwards. Her energy barrier was reduced to five percent, she scrambled through a twisted doorway. It was Wheeler, he had a Knight rifle, it heated the air around it and its target so much that bedding from the captain's quarters was smouldering.

  Another burst put holes through the bulkhead just above her. He was charging. As he came through the door, rifle coming around to aim at her, Dame blasted him in the arm then the shoulder with her pistol. A single round from Wheeler's burst caught her in the hip, blasting through her shields, damaging the armour beneath and burning her enough to trigger emergency medication. He screamed then dropped his rifle. His bare shoulder was burnt through, leaving his arm hanging limp. Wheeler caught himself against the doorway then backed into the hallway, half falling. "God dammit! This is too much regenerating for one day!" he said, pained, frustrated.

  The medical treatment on Dame's hip hurt more than the burn as it itched, gave her the sensation that tiny snakes were moving under her skin, but Edda got to her feet and limped after Wheeler. In the hallway she grabbed the front of his tattered and torn suit before she threw him down. His shoulder was almost completely mended, but her hip was not, and she lost her balance, toppling onto him.

  Wheeler laughed. "They all fall for me."

  With the effects of the healing meds nearing their end, her hip almost completely fixed, Dame rose up onto her knees and pointed her sidearm at him. "Don't move."

  "I don't think we've met," Wheeler said, glancing at the weapon then focusing on her. "I don't know where they found you, but if you help me escape, I can get you major credit with the Order. You'll be rich, and with looks like that, you'll have your pick of friends. I can set you up so you'll be powerful, completely free."

  "You just made this easy," Edda said, firing a round from her left gauntlet at his bare shoulder. The nanobot round burst through the skin there, making a shallow, ragged hole the width of her thumb.

  Wheeler cried out in pain. "What the hell was that? A nano-round?"

  "Welcome back to humanity," Edda said with pleasure as she watched him start to lose consciousness.

  "Now you'll never be free," Wheeler said, his eyes closing, starting to lose focus. "You'll be a legend."

  Sixteen

  Losing Ground

  * * *

  "Shields are back up to twelve percent," Tactical Officer Dormen called from his station.

  Admiral Jessica Rice checked her ship status display and saw that his announcement applied to the entire ship, not just one section. That was better than anyone could expect. "Helm, keep us rotating so we can spread the damage from those long-range attacks out," her First Officer ordered.

  "Acknowledged," the lead Helmsman replied.

  There were heavy capitol ships firing at them from long range, but more importantly, the Sunspire had gotten too close to the last Order of Eden Cruiser in orbit around Tamber. In a way it was a good move; it gave the other four ships in her battlegroup time to regenerate their shields and address minor damage. It wasn't her style, though. The Sunspire was the lead ship, it should not have been the one to close within three kilometres to pound the cruiser's hull, then it's internal structure with every gun they had. The thrill of showing the Order the difference between a ship like the Sunspire - a proven design with advanced upgrades that were well thought out - and their heavy cruiser design - a ship that was made to match a dreadnaught but still a war machine built with little attention to the needs of each individual ship - was a privilege. There was still a firefight going on at relatively close range as the Citadel ships fought from only a few thousand kilometres away. "Admiral McPatrick," she said to Oz's hologram. "The Citadel ships aren't sacrificing themselves here for nothing. They have the ability to break away and flee."

  "They're distracting us," Oz replied, his hologram nodding, glitching for a moment as he nodded. "Doing damage while the rest of the battlegroups in the system are making their way here, taking pot shots from long range."

  "Exactly. We are out of time," Admiral Rice said. "If this were a Strategist game table, I'd predict the Order want to take at least one major ship. They want our technology and enough intelligence to locate the War Forge."

  "I wouldn't bet against that guess," Oz said. "The Triton will take the lead in finishing these Citadel carriers off while you wrap everything else up."

  "Aye," Admiral Rice said. The charge level of the Sunspire's shields jumped to fifteen, then dropped to seven percent on their forward shields. The Citadel vessels were going after their landing bays. "Inform the fleet that our hangars are closed for business," she ordered.

  A glance at her overall tactical display confirmed what she already suspected; nine Order of Eden battlegroups, each with a heavy cruiser and at least eleven destroyers were closing in on Tamber. Their interdiction systems were powered up, the ships carrying them were being shielded by the rest of the group.

  Her group protected the Pelican, which was still in low orbit around Tamber, receiving the last of the shuttles and proving to be a powerful torpedo and gun platform in its own right. "We're running out of miracles," Jessica said to herself as she checked the status of all five of her Sunspire Class Dreadnaughts. They were all fighting, but the Sentinel had a through-and-through hole in its aft section. The shields were still weakened there thanks to a several missing emitters, and it was using the Guardian, its sister ship, for cover. That wouldn't last long in a direct fight with so many Order of Eden ships. Emergency crews were already out on the hull of the Sentinel, placing temporary emitters and wiring them up to make up for the ones that were destroyed. It was a good measure, but it might not be good enough.

  The Triton, along with eight Haven Fleet destroyers, were being forced in closer to Tamber, but they had managed to heavily damage one of the Citadel ships, forcing it to retreat. Admiral McPatrick's hologram was giving orders aboard the Triton. His volume was reduced because he wasn't speaking directly to her, but she listened in as she checked through the Tactical reports on her control boar
d. "Reload all functioning torpedo bays and fire at Citadel Carrier Two. I need our beam systems back up, now, Lieutenant. We need to keep that things' shields down. After this volley, we're switching to long range, we need to start on those approaching battlegroups."

  He was right. Taking the two Order of Eden cruisers and their accompanying destroyer group out was easy compared to the problems they were about to have. If they didn't start giving the battlegroups closing in on Tamber hell, they'd be completely trapped. "Ma'am; the Pelican reports that the last of the rescue ships are aboard. Haven Shore and the Nafalli internment camps have been cleared. The Nafalli ships from the surface are mooring now, securing for transit. They will be jumping out in fifty seconds."

  "That's it, then," Admiral Rice said, opening a channel to Admiral Valent. "Jake, we're finished here. Our primary mission is complete. We have eleven minutes before every battlegroup in the solar system is surrounding and effectively blockading Tamber. I'm about to order the retreat."

  "Good, we're about to break into the bunker down here."

  "You don't have time, blast it on your way out," Admiral Rice said.

  "There could be a couple hundred citizens down there, a few of the people we rescued confirmed that the Order may have been using it as a makeshift prison."

  "Then don't blow it," Admiral Rice said, knowing that Jacob Valent wouldn't leave the storage bunker behind for the Order of Eden to explore. They still weren't sure if their inventory of the multi-level subterranean installation was complete, there could be important secrets inside. "Just get your asses star-side now!"

  "Understood, you're right, we'll get to orbit as soon as we can get clear," Admiral Valent replied.

  "Hurry, I don't…" Admiral Rice started, but was interrupted by her tactical officer.

  "Admiral, a new group of heavy drones are coming in fast, they're emitting interdiction pulses."

  "Mark them as our main priority for our Gunnery Captain. Orient the ship for maximum coverage facing their launch trajectory. How many are there?" she asked, checking her tactical system.

  "Over a hundred so far. We will be unable to use any faster than light technology in nineteen seconds."

  Admiral Rice used the arm control on her seat to order the Pelican to make an emergency jump as she said; "Communications; send this message to the War Forge: 'Rescue mission update; the rescue fleet is trapped. Do not assist.' Send it with our current sensor data and logs using the quad drive system now."

  "Sent," Dobson, her lead communications officer said almost immediately after she gave the instruction. He was always good, not the hacker that the lead on the Merciless was, but he was always quick, clear and had an amazing ear. "Confirmation of receipt is in," he told her. "They have our message, and now we are unable to use that system for communications."

  The tactical hologram updated, showing that the Pelican jumped, leaving three Nafalli ships behind. They weren't civilian vessels, but corvette class ships over a hundred metres long, each filled to the brim with survivors. "Turn us towards Tamber and open our hangars. We need to take those ships on board, let the civilians off so they can be re-launched for combat. Signal the rest of my battlegroup to cover us."

  "We're trapped," Admiral McPatrick's hologram told her specifically. "Our anti-fighter guns are taking some of those drones out, but we won't be able to make a hole before those interdictor ships are in range. This is a new kind of thinking, it looks like they're pretty sure they'll win."

  The guns aboard the Sunspire had been firing heavy rounds for the better part of an hour, their torpedo tubes were constantly pushing deadly projectiles out into space, and the ship's beam weapons drained the shields of every vessel that came close enough. Every ship in her group was doing the same, and the first line of Order of Eden responders, mostly destroyers then a pair of carriers, had been reduced to rubble. Admiral McPatrick's destroyer group was on the verge of finishing off the second Citadel ship, burning and blasting a hole right down through its gunnery deck. As a fleet, they weren't in terrible shape, not by far, but the long-range attacks were about to begin in earnest. The Rassaaga and the Merciless were on their way back up after taking no damage, but that still didn't balance the scales. The Order were about to bring over a hundred capitol ships to bear, and they were holding carrier groups back. They probably already launched hundreds of fighters that were moving from one position to the next, staying behind obstructions on their way to Tamber so they could get closer than the last large fighter group that was sent after them.

  Stealth was not an option for the Sunspire or any Haven Fleet ship. Any vessel that wanted to cloak effectively would have to stop firing every weapon they had, including their point defence guns, which were stopping heavy torpedoes and fighters from overwhelming them. If a ship survived that, it wouldn't be without taking heavy damage. Damage that would probably render their cloaking systems ineffective.

  There was a solution, and it wasn't pretty, but she'd need every bit of firepower they could muster. They had to break the blockade as soon as possible with a fast, brutal rush.

  The second Citadel ship's main power systems went off line. Its gunnery deck was silent, now a gallery of corpses trapped in twisted machinery. It was already drifting away from Tamber orbit as lifeboats - white and blue oval ships - started launching from all sides. "Scan Citadel Two. Are some of the crew still at their stations?"

  "Scanning," reported a woman from her Sciences station. "Hundreds are staying behind, making no move to the escape pods."

  "Could they make repairs? Could that ship be operational in twenty hours or less?"

  "Yes," answered her lead Engineering Officer. "Just a guess, but that ship could be repaired, ready to fire torpedoes and missiles, perhaps even capable of faster than light travel in about a day. There are still thousands of crewmembers aboard."

  "No Geist, though?" she asked Oz's hologram.

  "No, I don't sense a thing," he replied.

  "Ask Merciless Communications if they could send drones out to begin hacking its systems. We want to wipe out the remaining crewmembers and take control of that ship, just in case."

  "Aye," Commander Dobson said.

  "Oh, and inform Admiral Valent; There are lifeboats on their way down to Haven Shore. The occupants are armed," she ordered, hoping that he wouldn't let them delay his retreat. They were trapped, yes, but Admiral Valent wasn't as helpful on the ground anymore. He'd directed the evacuation expertly, no one could expect better, but that task was complete. It was time for him to take his place in command of a ship. They'd probably need his kind of aggressive tactical mind soon.

  "Hangar one reports that all three Nafalli corvettes have landed. They're practically on top of each other, but they're moored well enough," Admiral Rice's First Officer reported.

  Every ship in Admiral Rice's group of five Sunspire Class vessels finished switching to long range mode, and they joined the Triton in firing at the encroaching Order of Eden ships. A second later a much larger response came from the enemy battlegroups. A hail of torpedoes, heavy missiles, and high-speed shells were about to cross each other in space. In only seconds, they would be pummelled, even though they were taking evasive action. "Drain our beam weapon systems, send all power to shields," she ordered quietly. A moment later their overall shield systems reported an increase to seventy-nine percent. The Guardian was having more trouble, however, theirs were still only at twenty-eight. "Put us in position between the enemy fleet and the Guardian and keep firing everything we've got. Give each of the destroyers carrying interdiction systems a full volley. We need to make a hole."

  Seventeen

  The Dread and Hope of It All

  * * *

  The embrace of deep, blissful sleep was broken too soon. Ayan's command and control bracers were sending an emergency signal up her arms. She opened her eyes and looked at Laura, who was snoozing in a little cove of covers surrounding her so she couldn't roll off the bed.

  The memory of the be
ginning of their nap came back to her, and despite the sense of urgency being pushed to her mind, it made her smile. She'd dozed off watching her daughter drift off, it was amazing how they were so in sync sometimes. Daisy entered the room in almost complete silence. "I was alerted that you needed my help. There's an emergency?" She spoke through the sub-dermal communicator in Ayan's ears, her mouth moving but making no noise in the room.

  Ayan stroked Laura's face gently then slipped off the bed, still in full uniform. "I was just about to see what the emergency was."

  "Admiral Limeen Doolth arrived early, she's waiting in your living room. I'm afraid she came in while I was out of your quarters and she saw you and Laura sleeping. She is apologetic, but couldn't stop going on about how adorable you two were."

  That was typical of Limeen, who was endlessly curious about how people were with their families. Lamonthe's single status was probably the biggest reason why the Nafalli admiral didn't trust him, but not the only reason. Ayan and Laura's relationship seemed enchanting, though, and it didn't surprise Ayan that Limeen snuck a peek at them in their natural habitat, even if it meant she had to use her credentials to gain access. "Some of our allies don't have the same boundaries we do," Ayan whispered as she looked at the summary line of the emergency report on her left command and control unit.

  * * *

  THE RESCUE FLEET IS TRAPPED. DO NOT ASSIST.

  * * *

  With urgency, Ayan brought a personal hologram of the critical details up in front of her. It took seconds for her to see that the conditions surrounding the Triton, the destroyer group, and the Sunspire group were about to turn from critical to catastrophic. Not even those over-built, over-powered ships could break through the line the Order was drawing around Tamber. "Daisy," Ayan said in a whisper. "Can you quietly secure Laura? We may have to go on high alert. Make sure the rest of the children and civilians join you in small groups."