“Simplicity in itself to get in there, Trammen,” the helmsman pointed out. “But to do it fast enough, we’d have to pour on enough speed and accel that we’d be visible to that warship. The freighters might not detect us though.”
The commander considered it. “Hold off for now. If an opportunity presents itself, then we’ll go in.” It was a hell of an opportunity, and the tech that might be gained from such a capture was incalculable. Lord Verrikoth would definitely want to get his hands on it.
Dozens of tugs carried back rocks to the behemoth vessel over the next several hours. The rocks pulled in were small, only a few meters in diameter, but they were very fast and efficient. Neither the Kingston nor the pirate cutter Toroj were able to get a good scan of the rocks being taken, due to the gravitational distortion so no one had any idea what the big ship was taking on. They could get good scans of the rings but there was such a variety of minerals and trace elements that no one had any idea what it was that the aliens were actually after, but with the repeated runs by the tugs it was clear that they needed a lot of whatever it was.
Hours later, that opportunity both sides were looking for finally revealed itself. Both the sensors on the corvette and the cutter were monitoring the activity of all the tugs, whizzing all over and through the rings of the planet. The gravitational anomalies provided propulsion and the ability to yank the rocks along behind. From any attacks from the front, the little tugs were invulnerable.
It was a small rock, only ten meters in size, roughly wedge-shaped, and it was tumbling along on its somewhat random course along some path around the planet. One of the tugs was passing by this one chunk of rock on precisely the right vector, and was caught in the gravity field of the forward microsingularity, only for a few seconds. The pull of the gravity was strong enough to accelerate the chunk of rock in just the right manner.
The rock slipped past the forward singularity and slammed into the side of the tug. For all of the vaunted protection the artificial singularity gave, the hull of the tug was incredibly fragile. The rock punched into its side, lodging there like a dagger. The singularities, both of them, immediately collapsed and the force of the impact drove the tug off course and into the rings.
“Captain!” the sensor watch called, jerking Kreighton’s attention back to the bridge and away from the report he had been reading. “Tug 27 was hit by a rock and it seems to be off line. It’s floating into the rings.”
Kreighton sat up straighter in his command seat. “What’s the status of the other ships?”
“They’re not moving, sir,” the sensor watch replied immediately. “None of the freighters have changed position. Wait, strike my last,” he replied, shaking his head. “One of the freighters is powering engines, but…”
“But what?” Kreighton asked, leaning forward.
“The ship is the Josephine Bellerophon out of Ulla-tran,” the sensor watch reported. “They’re reversing course, heading away from the planet and toward the hyperlimit, on a vector for Heb.”
“All right. Sensors, helm, plot us a course that will take us into the rings. I want to move in and see if we can’t grab that tug and pull her out. Then once we’re out, we’ll figure out some way to get it back home.”
“Aye sir.”
“Trammen, they’re going for it.”
“I see it, Hovin,” the zheen said, sitting up in his chair. He’d rubbed his hands together when he’d seen the tug take the hit. It was their chance. The mothership wasn’t doing anything to try and recover the tug, so perhaps they hadn’t seen it, or were just writing it off. Either way was fine by him. “Keep our emission signature low, I don’t want to spook them. But be ready to move in on my order.”
The helmsman sighed, but rolled his neck to loosen up his shoulders. There was the prospect of some combat and a high-speed pursuit. He wanted to be loose and ready.
Gokon let out a long buzz of a sigh in anticipation, getting up from his command seat and moving to the back of Toroj’s cramped bridge. There were already three people in the compartment, and for economy’s sake there was almost no space to move around. He wanted to go into one of the aft compartments, get a snack or a drink, but he knew it wouldn’t take long for the Seylonique Navy ship to get into the rings and nab the tug. He didn’t want to get a call from the bridge and then have to rush forward.
“I hope they hurry.”
Maneuvering through the rings of the gas giant proved to be difficult, but it wasn’t impossible. The helmsman knew his craft and gripped the control levers. It was far from a smooth ride as the rocks and other particulates, which varied from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a small shuttlecraft. All of them were sliding along, over and under each other, occasionally colliding. It didn’t make for the easiest area to fly a ship into, even a ship as small as a corvette. One hundred and twenty-four meters wasn’t a lot of ship and the helm and engines were well-tuned, but the field of space that the Kingston needed to fly through was constantly changing. It was certainly a test for the helmsman’s skill and training.
One that he was showing every sign of passing.
“How you holding up, Jackson?” Kreighton asked.
“Fine, sir,” the man replied through gritted teeth, trying to ignore the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He couldn’t release the control levers, not without letting various bits of debris slam into the hull of the ship.
Kreighton checked the status feeds. The shields were under heavy strain; dust and small rocks the size of bullets were hitting the shields, forcing them to keep them up and at full power. “Two hundred meters,” he muttered to himself. “Tactical, ready for the tractoring beam.”
“Ready, sir. As soon as we’re within range, I’ll get locked on.”
“Can you?” the captain asked, glancing over at the zheen seated there. “There’s a lot of dust and junk in the way. Can you capture the tug, Kiexek?”
The zheen’s antennae curled and then straightened. “I can do it, Captain,” he assured him.
Kreighton grimaced, though the zheen had his back to him and couldn’t see his captain’s doubts. He wasn’t sure if Kiexek was trying to convince his captain or himself.
“Closing to forty meters,” Jackson at the helm reported, wiping his forehead with one sleeve, his other hand still holding the control lever.
“Helm, maintain our position here,” Kreighton ordered. “Kiexek, get a lock on the tug, if you please.” He mentally crossed his fingers.
“Locking on,” the zheen answered, his mouthparts writhing. After a moment, he nodded. “Ready, Captain.”
“Do it, Mister Kiexek,” the man ordered, grimacing at the anticipated failure.
Kiexek pressed the activation control and the beam emerged from the tractor emitter on the Kingston’s ventral side. It took two firings to actually catch the tug with the tractoring beam. The beam slid off the alien device on the first shot; there was simply too much particulate matter and dust in the way. The first shot swept it clear from the tractor’s range and the second shot caught the device and held it tight. He let out a sustained buzz, then slumped back in his seat. “We have capture, Captain. Tractoring beam is locked on and we are ready to depart the rings.”
“You heard him, Jackson,” Kreighton ordered.
“Engaging engines, Captain,” the dark-skinned pilot replied, his voice energized. “Can you clear me a path?”
“Kiexek, don’t lose the lock, but see if you can’t blast us a clear lane,” the captain ordered, glancing over at the now nervous looking zheen, whose antennae was whirling around.
“On it, Captain.”
Toroj watched as the Navy corvette cut loose, her forward weapons tearing open space in front of the ship, blasting apart rocks and vaporizing a lane of dust in front of the ship. The energy cannons, lasers and heavy lasers, kept firing while the corvette accelerated through the open lane.
“The moment has come,” Gokon declared. “Helm, take us in on an attack vector. Tact
ical, target their engines; hit them with everything we’ve got.”
The cutter’s stealth suddenly dropped, and while it would still be difficult to detect the small ship, her power output and engine emissions increased exponentially. They didn’t quite light up like a beacon, but anyone who wasn’t asleep at the switch would quickly note that something had just appeared in the system. Toroj closed the distance in a matter of minutes, just as the Navy ship was clearing the rings.
“In range,” the zheen at tactical reported.
“Open fire!” Gokon ordered fiercely.
The cutter’s two forward laser cannons and two forward rail guns fired, coherent bolts of crimson energy lancing forward to connect the two ships. Toroj was coming in on a high angle, pouncing on the Navy ship and with a gorgous shot at her engines. It was made slightly more difficult because of the captured tug being towed behind and below, since Gokon didn’t want any of Toroj’s shots to hit the prize, but as it turned out, he needn’t have worried. The tactical officer’s aim was perfect; six shots from the lasers impacted the weakened shields and the hammering by the rail guns tore a large hole. The next salvo from the cutter’s weapons hit and disabled the engines, sending the corvette reeling.
“We’re hit!” the sensor watch all but screeched. “Engines two and three are out, engine one is showing minor damage. Aft shields are at eleven percent.”
“Damn it!” Kreighton swore, pouding his fist on the arm of his chair. “Return fire!”
“Trying sir,” Kiexek replied, as another hit shook the ship. “They’re past us and that second salvo damaged our tractor emitter.”
“What?” Kreighton demanded, clenching his fist. “They attacked us from above, the emitter is on the ventral side.”
“Sorry, sir,” Kiexek said, his antennae curling so low they were almost folded down to his head. “The engine damage caused additional problems in the power systems, which apparently affected the emitter. I’m losing the lock.”
“The cutter is coming back around!” the sensor officer called. “Firing!”
The ship rocked. Kreighton cursed his decision to shift most of Kingston’s shields forward. It had made sense at the time, since there had been no attacker within sensor range and the biggest threat had been from the rocks and debris in the rings. Even using the ship’s guns to cut a path out of the debris field hadn’t reassured him too much, he’d not wanted to even out the shields and then ram into a rock that hadn’t been vaporized by the forward cannons.
“All engines off line!” the sensor officer called, sounding panicked. “Hyperdrive nacelles have been destroyed!”
“Shoot that thing!” Kreighton all but screamed at his tactical officer.
But it was too late. The cutter raced in, perfectly timing the run. They let off another salvo, hitting the dorsal side of the corvette, then cutting acceleration, flipping 180 degrees and braking hard, the pirate ship got in range just for a moment and in that moment, fired bucking cables and grapples. The grapples hooked on to the tug and in that exact instant, the cutter flipped around and raced away, their prize hooked securely in their net.
“Go, helm!” Gokon shouted.
The helmsman jammed the levers forward and the cutter accelerated at maximum military power, as much as was possible while towing a large mass behind them. The corvette attempted to fire at them, but their shots were uncoordinated and ultimately ineffective. A cheer went up among the crew of the entire ship as Toroj tore off away from the planet and the rest of the ships.
After a few minutes under acceleration, Gokon nodded. “All right. Helm, cut acceleration. Bring us back under stealth. I know that the cargo won’t be shielded, but we don’t need to worry about that. In a short while, we’ll be out of sensor range of anything there. And alter course four degrees to port, two degrees down below the plane of the ecliptic. I don’t want them to know exactly where to find us.”
“Sir,” Hovin said, turning to face him. “We have a problem.”
“Skekt! I was so close, Hovin. Do not ruin my otherwise perfect day with bad news.”
The man gulped. “I’m sorry, Trammen, but it’s important.”
“What is it?” Gokon snapped irritably.
“The tug,” he said. “It’s too big for us. We can’t bring it aboard and simply latching it onto the hull will prevent us from going into hyper. The same if leave it hanging on the bucking cables.”
Gokon froze, thinking. Then we have no other choice. I’ll have to go home and get help. “Very well. We’ll get to the hyper limit, come to a complete stop, drop a beacon on our prize and then release it. We’ll need to make sure we mark the point where we drop it and then we jump for Tyseus. Once there, we get one of my Lord’s larger vessels to come back here and pick up the prize. It’s a bit beat up,” he was willing to admit, “but there must be something that the tech can use. Continue on course.” A palpable victory.
“What’s the damage, Chief?” Kreighton asked. Using maneuvering thrusters, they’d managed to bring the ship on a vector away from the planet, reducing the Kingston’s speed to a crawl and pointed the ship away from the planet. They had emerged from the rings on a course going ”up” from the rings, which would have carried the ship on a course away from the planet, so it really wasn’t a worry.
“It’s not good, Captain,” the man answered over the comms from engineering. “Engines two and three are a total loss. But with a few days work, I think we can get engine one back. But it’s the hyperdrive that’s the biggest problem.”
“Both nacelles were destroyed, were they not?” Kreighton asked, rubbing his temples.
“I’m afraid so,” the engineer said, clearly worried. “And we don’t have the parts or equipment to fabricate new ones. Kingston isn’t going anywhere without either a hyperspace tow or a whole whack of new parts. We need help from back home.”
“Do what you can with the other repairs, Chief,” the captain told him. “Bridge out.” He cut the connection. “Comms, contact the freighters. The Idelle Ganymede, she’s from one of the civilian companies back home, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes, sir, what am I to tell them?”
Kreighton gritted his teeth before he answered. It galled him to have to give the order. “Tell them out situation and request that they make a run home to request help.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell them we’re going to try and make a run to the habitable world in this system, since it’s going to take them the better part of a month to get back there. I want us in a place where we can more easily get help and we know that any ships that come into the system will have to stop there to buy and sell goods and resupply.”
“Understood, sir,” the comms tech replied, sending the message.
[We have lost one of the gatherers.] Golkakchuck-Golden-Entropy noted. [A rock strike at a precise angle. There was nothing that could be done.]
Torinal-Winged-Harmony floated ponderously over to its fellow. [Is there any chance of recovery?]
[No. The Grienien worm inside the gatherer shell was killed on impact. We could recover the shell and perhaps we should, but…] He paused. [The vermin are moving. One of them is moving to intercept the gatherer.]
[Intercept?] the Decider replied. [What do they expect to do with it? The Grienien worm is dead. The gatherer is a dead construct, it can no longer project gravity fields, why would they want it?]
[They are vermin.] Jocana-Swift-Soaring put in. [Who knows why they do anything, Decider?]
[Perhaps they want to discern how the gatherers can create artificial micro singularities.] Torinal-Winged-Harmony replied. [You were the one of us to notice that the vermin constructs do not use projected gravity fields as a form of propulsion.]
[But that will prove futile. The gravity drive is projected by the Grienien worms, not through any sort of technology on the gatherers. They will learn nothing.] Golkakchuk-Golden-Entropy grumped.
[They are vermin.] Jocana-Swift-Soaring repeated. [They are
barbarous animals. Perhaps they want the gatherer so they can eat the Grienien worm inside.] There were amused EM pulses from everyone aboard the great vessel.
Chapter 20
“Colonel, we have a ship coming in toward the shipyard and they’re asking to speak with you,” the comms officer reported and Gants looked up from his reports.
Gants heaved a sigh of frustration. There was always something, something to keep pulling him away from these damned reports. He didn’t want to be working on them anyway, but they were necessary. He pressed the control on his desk. It never ends. “What ship?”
“Idelle Ganymede, sir. A freighter based here, sir. It’s a Rotheram Transport ship, sir, and they’ve just come back from Bimawae.”
Gants blinked. “Are we expecting to get a resupply shipment from them?”
“Nothing on the schedule, sir.”
He sighed heavily. “All right, put them through.” This had better not be a waste of my time. The display activated and he saw a human woman of middle age, who looked nervous to be addressing the commander of the system’s largest warship. “Gants here.”
The woman cleared her throat. “This is Porphyria Rotheram, captain of the Idelle Ganymede.” Then she paused.
Gants nodded. “Yes, Captain, how can I help you today?”
She seemed to quail under his gaze but then she rallied. “Yes, Colonel. I have a message for you from one of your ships at Bimawae. The Kingston?”
“What about the Kingston? What happened?” His heart was hammering in his chest. Stars, did I sent that ship to its destruction? Is the crew dead? Speak quicker, woman!
“They were attacked. There was a pirate ship that showed up, hit Kingston and then raced away.”
Gants let out a breath. “Wait, you said you had a message?”
“Yes, actually. Kingston had taken damage in the attack and their hyperspace engines were destroyed, so obviously they weren’t going to be making the trip back to Seylonique. Captain Kreighton wanted me to bring back the message to you.”
A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 Page 49
