by PJ Strebor
“Loading tubes now. Pulsars are online and fully charged.”
“Excellent work, Lieutenant. Carry on.”
“Commander Krause, drop the shields.”
“Sir?”
“Now would be good.” Krause didn’t reply. “I don’t have time to explain myself Commander, but when I need them I will need them fast.”
“Yes, Captain. Shields are down and on standby.”
“Very well.”
Unless the PLF tech package was extremely sophisticated, which seemed unlikely, in full stealth mode with shields down, Nathan estimated that he could get on top of her before she knew what had hit her.
Nathan glanced over at the Tactical Station. Young Willet concentrated on his readouts with intensity.
Nathan flexed his left hand, which had mostly recovered after four months of convalescence. He tolerated the pain. Waiting until his back screamed danger he cut engine thrust. An occasional burst from the stern mag plating maintained his insane approach speed.
Through his targeting hood he searched for the massive warship. Empty space greeted him.
“Captain,” Willet said, “I’ve spotted her at two-three-eight. She’s going after Odenwald.”
Crap.
Breaking from orbit, Nathan set a pursuit course.
Nathan’s back throbbed with a steady, but not alarming, consistency. Redemption’s stern defenses were as impressive as a heavy cruiser. Four torpedo tubes and six pulsar batteries waited for him to come into range. Outgunned as they were the E boat stood no chance of survival in a standard one on one fight. But he only needed to delay her.
“Captain her forward weapons array is active,” Willet said, “but her stern defenses are down.”
“They haven’t detected us yet,” Krause said.
Closing the range with the PLF cruiser, Nathan targeted all four engines plus two of her launchers.
“Captain, her stern shields just went up,” Willet said. “But very sluggishly. Low power emissions but growing. I don’t think they see us.”
Nathan felt no great threat. No, they haven’t seen us. But now they will.
E 692 bucked as six torpedoes burst from her tubes.
“X-O, shields,” Nathan barked.
“Automatic pulsars just activated,” Willet said.
All six pulsars sent a wall of fire at the E boat’s attacking torpedoes. Nathan felt his focus sharpen and pitched the boat about frantically to avoid the mass of enemy fire.
Two of his torpedoes were destroyed by Redemption’s defenses. The other four hit three engines and a torpedo launcher. The pulsar fire intensified as E 692 closed the range. A blue white beam glanced off the E boat’s armor, another tore through her hull, uncomfortably to close to the bridge.
Not good.
Nathan dived under the wall of fire and took the boat out of range. He sat back, removed his helmet and wiped sweat from his face. For the time being he’d done what was required. Disabled Redemption, protected Odenwald, and bought time.
“Captain, may I make a suggestion?” Ensign Willet asked.
Nathan admired his plucky attitude. “Suggest away, Rudi.”
“I saw what you were trying to do. Take out her weapons. I understand that. But I’ve been studying the scans made of this ship and I think there may be a better way.”
“Go ahead.”
“Well, sir, you want to take out three torpedo launchers and five pulsars. Sir, I believe the enemy’s stern defenses are totally automated. The ship’s computer governs those weapons. So, if you take out the three stern sensor nodes the computer will be effectively blinded. Three targets instead of eight. If you, ah, follow my meaning, sir.”
Nathan grinned. Damn, wish I’d thought of that.
“I like the way you think, Rudi. Well done.”
The tactical officer’s face broke into a broad grin.
Nathan checked his watch. Only forty-two minutes had passed since he delivered the faulty bomb to the People’s Redemption. Tick tock, tick tock.
***
Aboard People’s Redemption, Captain Lennartz tried to contain his fury. His two sister ships had been destroyed and now his command had been attacked. The E boat skipper must be a madman to think he could destroy a ship that outgunned him twenty to one. Yes, he’d done some damage, but nowhere near enough to destroy her.
The question that plagued his waking thoughts was what had happened to People’s Vengeance and People’s Rage? He had set his X-O to that task, but as yet, no answers. Could whatever had happened to those ships happen to his? Questions hung in the air. Questions without answers. Lennartz’s frustration grew by the minute as well as his fear. At any moment his ship could suffer the same fate. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought.
The hatch to the briefing room opened and his X-O stepped inside. Lennartz pushed his drink to one side.
“Captain, I think I know what happened to our ships,” the X-O said.
“Then spit it out, for fuck’s sake.”
“A landing boat from the planet made a delivery to both ships. It’s possible that they smuggled a bomb aboard that led to their destruction. Sir, that same landing boat made a delivery to your ship.”
Lennartz stood, his senses on high alert. “Then how come we’re still alive?”
“That sir, I don’t know. I’ve got crewmen scouring the ship with scanners. If they’ve planted a bomb, we’ll find it.”
Lennartz wondered if it would be found in time. Redemption was a very, very large ship. His fear deepened.
“As an added precaution against future attacks by the E boat, I’ve transferred gunners from the bow weapons to the stern.” He smiled. “That boat will get quite a surprise if they try to attack us again.” He grinned at the prospect.
***
Redemption hadn’t moved or shown any interest in them for the past hour, which was fine with Nathan. The thought of going up against that monster again wasn’t sitting+ at the top of Nathan’s to do list. He’d been lucky to avoid any long term damage to the boat the last time. Nathan leaned back, removed his helmet, and rubbed his eyes. The bridge hatch snapped open and Commander Ryden strode to the helm.
“How’s the boat holding up, Ernst?” Nathan asked.
“She’s fine,” the Pruessen said. “Minor buckling along the upper axis and a couple of holes in section thirty-four, but that’s been patched, so we’re good to go.” He kept his voice down. “Talking of going.” He raised his eyebrows. “We can do little more here.”
Nathan nodded slowly then stood.
“Rudi, keep an eye on our friend. If she twitches, call me.”
He and Ryden stepped into the briefing room.
“We can’t kill her, so why hang around?” Ryden said.
“And Odenwald is out of range,” Nathan said, “so what are we still doing here? How am I doing so far?”
Ryden smiled. “Okay, you’ve got me.”
“I want that ship dead,” Nathan said. “There’s something I haven’t mentioned. I have a nuke sitting on that ship. Our nuke.” Ryden pursed his lips. “But it failed to detonate when I hit the destruct key. Ernst there’s a back-up timer.” He looked at his watch. “In seventeen minutes it will detonate the nuke. I want to be around to see that.”
“Thanks for the update,” Ryden said around a wry smile. “But with all of this commotion, they may have found it.”
“If they have, it’s all the more important to find some way of destroying her.”
***
Captain Lennartz stepped from the lift onto deck nine and proceeded to the cargo bay. His X-O and a tech were scanning the suspect container.
“Captain,” his X-O said, “this is the one. I’m getting definite radiation readings.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
The officer stared at him for a moment. “I don’t want to tamper with it, Captain. It might be booby-trapped.” He rubbed at the corner of his eye. “Perhaps we should simply get it
off the ship?”
“Fuck yeah, we’re going to get it off the ship,” Lennartz bellowed. “And right now, Commander!”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” the X-O snapped. He got very nervous when his Captain’s blood was up. As he should be.
He and the tech fitted the anti-gravs and pushed the contain out of the hold and toward the freight lift.
***
Nathan’s comm beeped. “Captain.”
“Skipper,” Rudi said, “something’s happening.”
Nathan stepped onto the bridge while Ryden left for engineering. Hovering over his targeting hood he saw the cruiser limping away. They’d gotten one engine working. Nathan’s uneasiness grew.
Then the boat bay hatch started to open. What the hell?
Nathan moved the boat almost to within range of the enemy pulsar array, then zoomed his tactical hood into the boat bay. The crew had manhandled the container into the bay and were preparing to dump it overboard.
Nathan sensed the increased danger from Redemption but pushed the throttles ahead. This time they were ready for him. Pulsar fire lanced out and struck the boat. She shuddered under the impact. Nathan fired back but missed the weapons.
“That shooting is too good for a computer,” Rudi said. “They must have switched to manual operation.”
The boat shook again as fire tore into her. Nathan gritted his teeth. The personnel pushing the container were shielded behind it. However, in order to move the container the anti-gravs had to lift it from the deck. Shutting down the starboard pulsar he set the other to extra fine beam setting while dropping the boat so that he could fire under the slightly raised container. He focused on the gap, which was only a few centimeters from deck to container.
Then a familiar popping between his ears. With his knack as his ally, he focused on the gap and fired a fine beam, raking it from starboard to port. A body dropped to the deck on the starboard side, his face warped with agony. The shot had probably separated his feet from his legs. Although it slowed, the contain continued to move sternward.
Again the boat shuddered as pulsar fire raked her.
Squaring up on the container, he estimated the average height of a male and aimed for a point that should hit them in the chest. He fired across the container from starboard to port, effectively cutting the contain in half. Focusing on the port anti-grav he fired. It exploded, causing the contain to lurch over and crash onto the deck. Try moving it now, fuckers.
The boat was hit again. Nathan had had enough. With his concentration absolute he fired only five times. All five enemy pulsars fell silent. He checked the time. The nuke would detonate at any second. Positioning the boat outside the boat bay, he was stunned to see the container moving. Sluggishly, to be sure, but edging closer to the drop-off point. He didn’t want to be anywhere near Redemption when it blew but he couldn’t allow the container to be jettisoned.
There must be dozens of soldiers pushing the container. Pure brute strength. With the container resting on the deck Nathan couldn’t hit them as he had before.
Positioning the boat so that his weapons pointed at an acute angle, he fired at the overhead. The twin pulsars ricocheted off the overhead, struck the bulkhead behind the container and ricocheted again. Two bodies dropped into view. A lucky shot, but he’d take it. Holding his finger on the firing stud he nudged the boat from starboard to port. The container stopped moving.
Nathan’s back flared. Rolling the boat over he pushed the throttles to maximum.
“Explosion from astern,” Rudi said.
Nathan checked his stern feed. The container had exploded but Redemption remain intact. Could the nuke’s energy have been expelled into space?
He was contemplating what to do next when Redemption exploded in a brief flash of nuclear fire. Well clear of the blast zone Nathan throttled back. He removed his helmet and wiped sweat from his face. Krause stood at his elbow, and handed him a towel.
“Thanks,” Nathan said.
“That was the most incredible piece of flying I have ever seen,” Krause said. “Commander Ryden is the best pilot I’ve ever served with but what you just did was, was …”
“Thanks again.” Nathan said. “How badly are we hurt.”
“We’ve been shot up, but nothing that can’t be repaired,” Krause said. “We’re no longer stealthy, I’m afraid to say.”
“As soon as Adroit is repaired we’ll get E 692 stealth-worthy again.” Nathan took a short breath. “Casualties?”
“Two dead, five injured.”
With the adrenaline leaching from his system the weight of post-knack combat took its toll.
“X-O, call the Commander to the bridge,” Nathan said.
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
Once relieved of his helm duties Nathan walked unsteadily to his quarters and collapsed onto his rack.
CHAPTER 71
Date: 23rd December, 326 ASC.
Position: Planet Spinney. Northern Quarantine Zone.
Nathan began his inspection, running his scanner over the boat’s keel, searching for the slightest imperfection. Thirty minutes of painstaking examination revealed a perfectly smooth, stealth worthy surface.
During the last four weeks Adroit had been fully repaired, and her damaged stealth
engine now performed with the sort of faultless precision demanded of a monitor. Now, fully operational, she sat in orbit on picket duty.
Taking the maintenance ladder brought Nathan to the boat’s topside. Technicians crawled over her hull like dozens of industrious ants. A lot had been done in a short time thanks to the efforts of the crew.
Kellerman, as Chief of the Boat, supervised his teams of non-coms. As ever, the chief engineer had supervised all departments and coordinated them with typical Pruessen pragmatism.
“Good morning, Commander,” Nathan said.
“Captain,” Bessel said. Nathan waited. Bessel knew what he wanted to hear. “Failing any hiccups I should be ready for static tests by early afternoon. You can probably take her up tomorrow. If all goes well.”
“You’ve done a hell of a job, Bessel. Well done.”
He didn’t quite smile. “Thanks.”
Bessel was the right man for the job so Nathan left him in peace. Things were finally coming together. All vessels would be ready to go by tomorrow and a thinning of the patrol ships along the frontier boded well for a speedy escape into League space. Nathan returned to his quarters and within two minutes had submerged into a deep state of meditation. Reaching out with his mind he scanned the frontier. More than half of the Pruessen fleets had been withdrawn from the massive blockade, leaving sizeable gaps. The remaining ships were constantly moving, trying to cover as much space as humanly possible. Yes, he could use the openings to get everyone to safety. Slowly, he returned to full consciousness. A smile touched his lips.
Finally, after five months in the north, four being pursued, the way home was clear. Then he felt the presence of another, stepping into his mind.
“No, it can’t be,” he hissed. “I killed him.” The power of Saxon’s mind pressed down on him, irresistible. Try as he did he couldn’t block him. “What do I have to do to get rid of this fucker!” The old frustrations returned anew. He keyed his L-M.
“Adroit – Telford.”
“Adroit, D-O.”
“Put me through to the Captain.”
“She was up most of the night working on the -”
“Wake her up, D-O,” he snapped. “I want you both in the briefing room on a secure comm.”
“Yes, Captain.”
A minute later he got his reply. “What’s up, Nate?”
“Saxon’s back.”
“I thought you -”
“Yeah, me too. He’s located me and that’s bad for everyone.”
“So, what’s the play?”
“Firstly, the blockade has been halved. I guess tying up that many assets for so long finally got too much for them.” Nathan explained the spiral patrol patterns for the enem
y ships and gave her the coordinates for the safest way through. “That course should drop you mighty close to the Cimmerian outer marker.”
“What about you?”
“With any luck we’ll lift-off tomorrow. I want you to take Odenwald and leave here in two hours. Before you go we need to be resupplied. Food and torpedoes.”
“I’ll have Fish get what you need and use one of Odenwald’s big landing boats to bring the supplies to you.”
“Good,” Nathan said. “Then you go. Understood?”
“This is getting to be a habit, Nathan,” Grace said.
“Yeah, next time I kill the bastard I’ll make sure he doesn’t get up.”
“Why don’t you come with us?” Moe asked.
“I’d love to, Moe, but I can’t. Cimmeria has limited defenses since they’ve cut ties with the Brets. If Saxon has a battleship fleet supporting him, it could overwhelm them.”
“So,” she said with weary resignation, “what’re you going to do?”
“I’m going to lead them into the Ebony Corona.”
“Holy fuck!” Moe and Grace exclaimed simultaneously.
***
In the boat’s briefing room, Nathan sat back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head. Both Ryden and Krause couldn’t keep the astonishment from their faces. Ryden cleared his throat.
“So, how long has this Saxon character been on your trail?”
“Four months.”
“And you tell us this now? Krause said.
“As I said, X-O, I thought I’d taken care of the problem.”
“So, the Ebony Corona?” Ryden said. “That’s ballsy. You know, if they have enough ships they could bracket us in there. A hyperspace void sounds good but if things get dicey we can’t use hyper to escape.”
“There’s a risk to it, I know. But I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Both officers chuckled. “So we’ve seen,” Krause said.
“We’ll need a resupply run before they depart,” Ryden said.
“Odenwald is sending a landing boat down with everything we’ll need.” Nathan turned to Krause. “Have our supply officer prepare to receive torpedoes and two months rations.”
