“We’re gettin’ torched up pretty good, Blazer,” Lee said. “Last count, we’re down roughly twenty-one pilots, with the Eighteenth, Twenty-First, and Twenty-Fourth Squadrons having been hit the hardest. Everybody else is hangin’ in. How’s Alpha Wing?”
“About the same,” Hastings said. “Same with Bravo and Charlie.”
“What’s the call, sir?” Lee asked.
Hastings exhaled. “I say our best bet is to double down on the Alystierian ships. If we can keep them in constant motion, maybe that’ll deter the aliens from taking open shots at us for fear of hitting their allies in the crossfire.”
“Copy that.” Lee sliced past the bow of a dead Alystierian outcutter, Mac on his tail, and hammered down on another pair of Phantoms. “We’re closin’ out thirty-nine now, then it’s on to zone forty, which shouldn’t take us too long, since we’ll only have the Williamson to worry about.”
“Acknowledged,” Hastings said. “Let me know the minute you hit forty-two. Ruah?”
“Ruah, sir. Daredevil out.”
* * *
“What the hell’s the holdup, Briggs?” Danny yelled across the Axius’ CIC.
“Get off my ass, Tucker!” Briggs fired back. “I’ve got no idea what I’m doing here.”
“I thought you said this stuff was similar to yours!”
“I said it all shared the same origins,” Briggs said, fingers racing to form various shapes over a kind of circular sensor pad as if trying to get it to read his hands for instructions. “The problem is we’ve got a hundred years of technological evolution working against us on both sides of the fence. So excuse me if I’m a little out of sorts over how to use the dash!”
“Figure it out already!” Danny roared at the carnage outside. “My guys are getting shredded out there. We’ve gotta get them some help!”
A collection of shouts protested from beyond the CIC entrance.
Danny spun toward them. “How’s it coming with that lock, Chancellor?”
“Almost there.” Zier held the bar-shaped device in place with his left hand and keyed into it a series of commands with his right. A muffled thump followed, and the device’s indicator light flashed green. “Mag-lock’s in place. I’m still searching for barricade material, though.”
“Keep on it!” Danny ordered.
“I think I’ve got something!” Briggs slid his thumb and forefinger in a rudimentary gesture forward then whooped with excitement when the ship began tracking with his finger commands. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it! We’re moving!”
“Yes!” Danny pumped his fist. “What can you do for us?”
Briggs shook his head. “Not much, just basic patterns. But as long as you’re not asking me to chart an FTL jump, I think I can get us around well enough to maneuver in sublight. How about you? What’s the word on tactical?”
“Pretty sure we’re there.” Danny grinned. “Now lay in a course for one of our lovely Kurgorian sisters, and let’s see if I’m right.”
Briggs spun back to his instruments and gave an emphatic tap of the terminal. “Yes, sir!”
* * *
Watching from the bridge of the Kamuir, Chancellor Masterson rose from his command chair and pointed to the Kurgorian ship in his viewscreen. “Lt. Melvin, report.”
“I-I don’t know, sir,” stuttered the visibly overwhelmed tactical officer. He’d been pressed into service when the XO had gone AWOL. “The Axius has yet to fire at all, sir, and now appears to be breaking ranks toward one of its own in zone fifty-one.”
So help me, Briggs, you’d better have a damn good explanation for this. Masterson turned to his science officer. “Lieutenant Ovies. Get me Pralah Kai-Ool of the Vanxus, now!”
Moments later, the alien commander’s hologram appeared beside Masterson’s chair.
“One of your vessels has broken formation,” Masterson snapped. “I demand to know why!”
“You would be wise to mind your tone, Chancellor,” Kai-Ool said in a voice that sounded every bit the warning.
Two Alystierian officers traded looks down front, earning both a glare from the new chancellor.
“You are of course welcome to redeploy your own ships as you see fit, Pralah.” Masterson reined himself in. “However, in the interest of coordination moving forward, an advance notice would be appreciated.”
“We didn’t order the Axius to redeploy,” Kai-Ool said. “We lost contact with her shortly after our exit from hyperspace.”
“Cause?” Masterson asked.
“Unknown,” Kai-Ool said. “We’re trying to raise her now.”
Masterson looked to the viewscreen then back to the hologram. “Shall I dispatch a squad of Phantoms to investigate? If they could be permitted to board, perhaps that would at least give us eyes on-scene to assess the situation.”
At first, Kai-Ool seemed to scoff at the notion. Though for whatever reason—probably in the interests of their budding alliance, Masterson thought—the Kurgorian pralah warmed to the idea. “Send your fighters if you wish, and report their findings to me as soon as you have them. Vanxus out.”
* * *
C’mon, c’mon, where is it? Danny thought, armored fingers racing at the tactical controls.
“You sure you know what you’re doing up there?” Briggs asked from down front. “My tablet says we’ll be in range in less than thirty seconds!”
“I’m working on it! I’m working on it!” Danny shot back.
“Gentlemen, we’ve got another problem.” Zier showed his tablet to Danny. “Multiple fighters, closing fast on an intercept course. And based on their formation, they are not coming to talk.”
“The damn fools think we’re the enemy!” Briggs snarled. “Idiots. Can’t they see we haven’t fired on them yet?”
“Can they hurt us?” Danny asked.
Briggs licked his lips. “Hard to say. My initial thought is no, but there’s a good thirty fighters there, and if they all hit us at once…”
Danny whirled back to Zier. “Do we have any way of communicating with them? What about the comm thing you mentioned earlier?”
“I’m sorry, Sergeant, but no. The ASC operates on an entirely different channel system than we do, and while I could access that system from the shuttle, I can’t do it from the suit comms. They’re just too small.”
“I thought you had access to shuttle ops from your tablet?” Danny pressed.
“Basic shuttle ops,” Zier said, “as in sensors, life support, and propulsion. That’s it.”
“Damn it!” Danny glanced back to the door as the number of multicolor figures protesting Zier’s barricade grew in number and sound. “There’s gotta be a way we can—” And then it hit him. “Briggs, we got running lights on this tub?”
The captain twisted a look. “I think so. Why?”
“Can you access them?”
“Yeah?”
Danny clapped his armored hands and took a hit of his regulator, his thoughts turning to Lee. C’mon, bro. Please be out there. “I’ll explain later, Briggs. But for now, I need you to do exactly as I say.”
* * *
“Daredevil, Daredevil, Daredevil!” Jonesy’s voice rattled out in Lee’s ears. “One of those giant alien ships has altered course, and is heading straight for the heart of Charlie Wing!”
“Jonesy, ETA?” Lee asked.
“It’s got a few ships to go yet before it hits their region, but I wouldn’t dawdle if I was Charlie.”
Lee switched his comm to a new channel. “Layla, Jester. I need a copy, and I need it now.”
“Go for Jester, Daredevil, what’s up?”
“Jester, you’ve got one of those Kurgorian cruisers headed straight for your position. You need to bug outta there, and I mean now!”
“We can’t, Lee,” Layla said. “The Ozarck, the Hopson, and the Paige still haven’t made their jumps. If we bail out now they’ll be left completely defenseless. I’ve already sent two squads along with a pair from the Gordon to intercept.”
Lee ground his teeth and laid in a course for the Baxters’ position then checked his scopes to find Lindsay well within range. “Hey, Sorraia, I want you to cover for me while I—”
“Wing Command, this is Scar,” Vic Mann interrupted. He’d apparently opted to lead the charge on the alien ship himself.
“Go ahead, Scar,” Layla replied.
“I’ve got a little bit of a head-scratcher going on out here,” Mann said.
“How do you mean?” Hastings asked.
“Well, my guys and I just buzzed the hell out of that weird alien ship, and it didn’t even so much as flinch to stop us.”
Mac’s Mako reassumed its place on Lee’s wing. “Wonder what’s up with that? If that thing sneezes, it wipes those guys out. Not that I’m ungrateful, but why’d it take a pass?”
Lee didn’t respond.
“Wait a second,” Mann said with audible confusion.
“Scar?” Layla perked up.
“Um, Wing Command?” Mann’s tone trailed upward. “The running lights on the Kurgorian vessel are…flashing.”
“Flashing?” Layla said. “How?”
“I don’t know,” Mann said. “It’s some sort of pattern.”
Lee rocketed upright in his seat. “How many?”
“Huh?” Scar asked in bewilderment.
“How many flashes?” Lee pressed. “I need a number, Scar, and a tempo.”
Mann began counting them off.
“Two shorts, one long, one short, and a break,” Lee repeated, all the while straining to recall whatever he could of his Morse code training from back home. “Then three, then two…F…S…U…” His eyes bulged from his head.
“Danny!” Mac beat him out.
“Shit yeah!” Link roared.
“All wings, all wings, all wings; this is Daredevil! The smaller Kurgorian vessel is a friendly! Repeat! The smaller Kurgorian vessel is a friendly! Do not engage!”
“Daredevil, this is Praetorian,” Katahl cut in. “You sure about that?”
No sooner had the words left his lips than the spiked alien cruiser made a hard turn to starboard and unleashed a thunderous volley of fire onto the back of one of its sister ships, igniting her in flames.
“Any more questions, Admiral?” Lee asked.
“All available ships in zones forty through fifty-eight,” Katahl ordered. “Redirect your efforts to fall in line with the alien vessel and render all assistance where possible!”
“You heard the man.” Lee soared his Mako into a high-arching loop then leveled out onto its new course and tore off after the pack. “Everybody find your dancin’ partner, and let’s give our boy a hand!”
* * * * *
Chapter 39: Identified
Danny smiled upon seeing several squadrons of Makos form up on his ship’s flanks. “Atta boy, Lee.”
“All right, Tucker,” Briggs said. “We have officially kicked the hornet’s nest, so what’s our play?”
“Are you kidding me?” Danny reached for the tactical controls. “Now we take aim at anything that moves and fire at will.”
Briggs stopped what he was doing and swiveled in his chair, his expression one of stone. “Let’s get one thing straight, Tucker. I’ll put you in position to take out as many of those Kurgorian ships as you want. But I will not, under any circumstances, let you turn the space around us into a shooting gallery versus the Alystierians, just because you can. It’d be a slaughter, and I won’t be a part of that.”
Danny blinked under his mask. “Seriously? And you’re just now figuring out that this might happen? Newsflash, Captain, this is combat. And oh, by the way, you’re a traitor now, which means they won’t hesitate to fire on you if given the chance!”
“That may be so,” Briggs said. “But just because I’m defecting doesn’t make me a traitor. I’m here for my people, not to stand against them. Listen, Tucker, like it or not, most of the guys aboard those ships are just following orders. Hell, up until today, I was one of them. But things change, and while I get your issue with Masterson, I refuse to stand by and watch you take that anger out on three thousand guys who had nothing to do with Madisyn’s death. Are we clear on that?”
Danny’s jaw set as the clamor outside of the CIC escalated.
“The captain has a point, son.” Zier put a hand on Danny’s arm. “Most of the men on those ships don’t want to be here any more than you do.”
“You do realize that Aura and Alystier were at war long before today, right?” Danny said. “A war that your side started?”
“I’m well aware of that, Sergeant,” Zier said. “But there are rules to war, and honorable men like Markus Katahl and Rick Wylon understand that, which is why we also won’t intercede on our people’s behalf either. We’ll level the playing field and monitor ship movements via the enviro-suits’ comms but nothing more.”
Danny snatched his arm free of Zier’s grasp. “Yeah, because Alec Masterson knows all about honor.”
“Indeed.” Zier’s eyes met the ground. “Nevertheless, the captain’s point stands.”
Danny looked at Briggs, who folded his arms. “Guess I don’t have much choice in this, do I?”
The captain shook his head.
“Okay, fine. I won’t fire on any of your brothers, with one exception.” Danny drove a finger into Zier’s chest. “If I get a shot on the Kamuir, she’s dead. And so help me, if either of you gets in the way of that, all bets will be off between the three of us. Deal?”
Briggs traded looks with Zier, who nodded. “Done.”
Danny returned to his post. “How far to the next Kurgorian target?”
“About five-hundred klicks to starboard, aft, high,” Zier said with a glance at his tablet.
“Well all right then,” Danny said. “Unless one of you has another ridiculous objection, I say we go get acquainted.”
Briggs spun into action at the helm. “Heading laid in.”
* * *
“Chancellor Masterson, sir!” Lieutenant Ovies said from the Kamuir’s science station. “The rogue Kurgorian ship that just destroyed one of its own appears to be on the move again.”
“Projected course?” Masterson sneered.
Ovies stared at his terminal. “Looks like toward another one of its sisters.”
“The Vanxus?”
“No sir, the other one. I think it’s called the Vorlend.”
“Signal the Lancetor, the Zelfoy, and the Danton to intercept, as well as anyone else in range,” Masterson ordered. “I want that ship stopped at all costs!”
“But sir, how do you expect our ships to defend against it?” Ovies shifted in his seat with clear unease. “We can’t stand up to the Kurgorians any more than the ASC can!”
Masterson studied the Axius in his viewscreen. “For whatever reason, they don’t appear to be firing on any of our vessels. They’re only attacking their own.” Then pulling up a schematic of the Axius’ battle damage so far, Masterson searched the image for any sign of vulnerability. “Tell our commanders to focus their attack on the Axius’ portside, aft section just above its secondary maneuvering thrusters. Best case scenario, they’ll disable her. Worse case, they’ll slow her momentum long enough for Kai-Ool and his people to clean up their own slaring mess!”
Ovies raced to relay the message then stopped cold. “The Axius just executed an eighteen-degree Crowe Roll. Sir, that’s one of our maneuvers.”
Masterson’s eyes narrowed to slits at the screen. Briggs.
* * *
“Captain, we’re about to have company,” Zier called out.
Danny looked up from tactical.
“Chancellor, what’s the count?” Briggs responded.
“Three Alystierian warships inbound from zone 26.2. ETA, thirty seconds.”
Good, Danny told himself. If they’re coming after us then at least they’re not going after Lee and the others.
“Shots are away,” Zier said.
A mild rumble shuddered at their feet w
hen the shots made contact with the Axius’ hull.
“Tucker, how are we?” Briggs asked.
“Portside, aft armor holding strong at over ninety percent,” Danny said with his best guess of the glyph-meters on his screen. “If that’s all they’ve got then we should be—”
“Kurgorian ship inbound!” Zier erupted. “Shots are away! Repeat, shots are away!”
“Brace for impact!” Danny screamed.
This time, the entire ship rocked hard to port as all three men were hurled to the deck amid a spray of sparks and equipment debris.
“For crying out loud!” Danny growled as he picked himself up off the floor. “Don’t they know we’ve got hundreds of their own people aboard?”
“I don’t think they care.” Briggs climbed back into his seat and checked the nav systems. “As a matter of fact, I think they’d just as soon die as—”
Zier raised a hand to silence them then placed it to the side of his hood where his communications earpiece was located. “Colonel Reirdon of the Lancetor is calling for our immediate withdrawal and surrender. They say any further actions taken by us will incur their full use of force.”
“Great, Reirdon,” Briggs muttered. “He’s been a Masterson lapdog for years. Believe me, he won’t question the order to fire on us if it comes, either.” He turned to Danny. “How hard were we hit there, anyway?”
“The armor in that section took about a thirty percent hit. Give or take.”
“But it didn’t cripple us.”
“Yeah, but the next one might.”
“Pardon my statement of the obvious here, gentlemen.” Zier cut in. “But we need a new plan.”
Danny steepled his metal hands and thought hard as the ruckus outside continued. At best, they could take one, maybe two more hits like that last one before risking hull integrity, and that was assuming that another Kurgorian ship didn’t enter the fray. If that happened, they were screwed. Add to that Briggs’s and Zier’s opposition to firing on their own, and that really complicated things.
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