"All right, everyone to battle stations," Hope ordered as they quickly stood up and rushed to their stations.
The Padre left ahead of them and was right in front of Doc Beilor and Mike.
"God help us," he said, his voice sounding unsure whether it was a prayer or simply a comment.
Behind him both Edie and Mike said, "Amen!"
Fleet Mistress, the Lady Na-Win of the House of Na, could not believe what had befallen her fleet. In just a matter of an hour her fleet laid broken before her. Three of her four destroyer escorts and both of her destroyers were destroyed. Life signs still emanated from the aft section of the KD 1303 destroyer, but the bridge and forward half of the ship had been utterly annihilated.
The two human cargo freighters were dead in space with moderate damage to their engine’s in-system drives. One of the smaller vanguard ships was riddled with particle cannon holes and had taken heavy casualties to her crew. The small ship was drifting and without power. Only the battle destroyer, one vanguard, one destroyer escort and her own super destroyer remained unharmed.
"Damn, those humans to the borax mines!" she swore as the casualty reports came in. Her bridge crew remained focused on their jobs and wisely avoided the great lady's attention.
"Send the KED 2010 to help the freighters and the KVG 1569 to help KVG 867," she ordered, sending her two fastest remaining ships to help those furthest away.
"If only that cruiser had stayed a little longer," someone muttered nearby.
Lady Na-Win didn't need to look up to know that it was her ship mistress who was complaining.
"A true pity," she agreed, knowing that the Earth cruiser was no match for her super destroyer or even the smaller battle destroyer. Now she would have to face a tribunal of fleet mistresses and maybe even the Council of Houses to answer for her losses.
"Yes, we would have swept it from the stars, but as it is we never came within range and the cowards left without facing us," her second officer agreed from the fire control center.
At this comment the fleet mistress remained silent. A human ship that engages twelve enemy' ships and manages to destroy half of them and escapes without major damage could hardly be called a coward. She wondered what kind of commanding officer such a ship must have?
"Great Lady, what should we do next?" the ship mistress asked, not wanting to arouse her anger.
Scanning her view screen, it wasn't hard to guess.
"Send the KBD 131 to check for survivors on the KD 421. We will move to help those still left alive on the KD 1303."
"Your will be done, Great Lady," the ship mistress said, trying to remain respectful.
Though all of her will had not saved their fleet and the ship mistress just hoped that she would not be tainted by the Great Lady's impending fall.
The super destroyer altered course and raced to the remains of KD 421. It had been the first ship attacked by the human cruiser and had taken heavy damage both as the cruiser entered the system and as it had left.
It was a savage and uncalled for second attack, one that was intended to kill all of those left onboard. Approaching the wrecked destroyer, the KBD 131's sensors indicated that no one was left alive within the shattered hull of the once proud ship.
The KSD 019 had closed the distance to the remains of the KD 131. The super destroyer’s sensors were picking up forty life-signs trapped in the rear compartments of the ship. Repeated hails failed to receive a response from the halved ship. Moving closer the super destroyer prepared to launch rescue personnel from her port shuttle bay as a huge explosion from the destroyer washed over the super destroyer.
On the bridge, the fleet mistress was thrown from her dais and fell down to the hard metal floor plating. With a sudden shock of pain followed by an involuntary yelp she knew that her left arm had been broken from the fall. The bridge's lights went out and the room was as dark as night until the emergency power kicked in.
"What in the name of the Bright Lady was that?" she demanded as she was helped up from the deck. Her arm pained her greatly, but her ship's safety was what concerned her the most.
The ship mistress had also been tossed to the metal decking and was only now being helped to her feet. A junior officer operating the sensors managed to respond before anyone else could speak.
"Sensors are reading massive amounts of radiation and it appears that the humans must have left a nuclear device on the side of the KD 421."
"Damage report?" the Ship Mistress called out, holding a cloth to her bleeding forehead. The air on the bridge was starting to become smoky as several panels shorted out overwhelmed from the nuke’s electromagnetic pulse.
"The KD 421 has been completely destroyed. We have taken hull breeches on our entire portside armor and have casualty reports coming in from all over the ship. Shuttle bay four has been destroyed and there is a fire on decks twelve through fourteen."
"Order the battle destroyer to aid us at once," Na-Win said sitting back on her command chair as she realized her life as a fleet mistress was over. There was no way the Council of Houses would forgive her for this loss. She sat there numb as more damage reports filled the smoky air of the bridge while quietly wishing she were dead.
Across the crippled super destroyer, the battle destroyer moved to help.
"Bring us about and make best speed to the KSD 019," ordered the battle destroyer's ship mistress.
In all her years of battle and warfare with both her own kind and the humans she had never personally seen such a disaster. The super destroyer had walked right into a clever trap and had taken the brunt of the atomic weapon's force.
What made matters worse was that the remains of the KD 421 had focused the blast outwards and towards the super destroyer. The human captain must have been clever indeed to devise such a trap within the limited time of their hour-long battle, one that their enemy had fought so well.
This thought made the ship mistress pause even as her vessel completed its 180-degree turn and rushed to aid the damaged capital ship. What would he have planned next she pondered?
"Emergence turn! Bring us back around, all thrusters full burn 180 degrees!" She ordered in almost an indiscernible scream as she realized the enemy captain's next move.
The Wolf couldn't have asked for a better sight, as it emerged from the gravity well. The enemy ships were in the second possible scenario that the command staff had devised. The super destroyer had tripped the nuke and was listing to her starboard side.
It looked as if the massive ship had taken heavy damage to her entire portside. The remaining destroyer escort was across the system with the two damaged freighters. The vanguard ship was preoccupied with rescuing survivors off of the second sloop.
The best sight though was the battle destroyer. Hope had wanted to surprise the larger ship and hit it at point blank range before they even knew what was going on.
Instead, what he saw was a perfect broadside target as the battle destroyer was caught in mid turn. Only an ass shot would have been better, but he wasn't complaining.
"Time to firing?" he inquired, taking a sip from a fresh cup of coffee.
"Twenty seconds until our main gun is in range," Richards reported, sounding rather calm and collected.
"Sir, the battle destroyer is in the middle of a turn?" Mister Lewis announced from the maser panel.
"Very good," Hope chuckled, nothing like stating the obvious he thought.
Lewis looked back to the old captain with a pained expression on his face. Mike had been standing nearby and quickly caught onto what he was saying.
"No sir, she is trying to turn her bow back towards was us."
Hope stared at the screen and nodded in agreement.
"Someone onboard must have second guessed us. No matter, spinal cannon prepare to fire and all guns commence firing when in range."
"Aye sir," cried both Daley and Dover. Martin was in charge of monitoring the power levels from engineering and Alister actually got to align the bow, lock the m
ain weapon on target and then press the fire command.
In another moment, the Wolf fired sending her energy discharge directly into the exposed side of the trapped battle destroyer. The blow tore through the larger ship's armor and deep into her interior.
Quickly closing the distance, the Wolf continued her attack on the now all but helpless battle destroyer.
"All forward particle turrets open fire, all fusion turrets to fire when in range," the first officer called out as the attack cruiser ripped into the now exposed hull of the battle destroyer.
The super destroyer watched on as their smaller sister ship was blown into two parts and the human ship flew past her remains, while still firing into the two separate halves.
"Bring engines online and get us some power, now!" yelled the Ship Mistress taking command as Na-Win sat in muted shock at what had befallen the KBD 131.
"My Lady, the human commander is asking for our surrender," the communications officer reported, sending a chill of dread through the entire bridge crew. Opening the channel for all to hear she transferred the visual images to the main view screen.
The picture was quite different than the bridge of her ship. The human bridge looked entirely intact and was without flashing lights, sparking panels or clouds of smoke. The captain was an elderly man, with gray hair streaked black and round, hard features. The crew around him was an odd mix of young and extremely older men. No women were among them and they were all armed with pistols and surprisingly ship swords. The enemy crew looked confident and unafraid. Their captain casually took a sip from a cup of steaming liquid before he repeated his demands.
"This is Captain Sir Randolph Hope, Commanding the ISS Star Wolf. To all Karduan ships, surrender your forces immediately or we will continue to fire on your ships. You have no hope of winning or escape, and any further combat will only result in the needless deaths of your crews. You have fifteen seconds to respond."
The channel then closed leaving only a blank screen. All eyes turned to the fleet mistress who had watched the enemy captain's demands without a word or even a single movement. She continued to watch the black screen until the tactical picture was restored.
The Star Wolf as they had called their ship was heading right for the super destroyer and with such rapid speed that most human cruisers were not normally capable of. Whatever type of cruiser this was, it was fast and had sharp teeth. What was worse was that she had a captain who knew how to use both.
"We have little choice, but to surrender," the Ship Mistress announced, seeing that the fleet mistress was paralyzed in some form of shock. It was a great dishonor to lose, but that would fall on the fleet mistress's shoulders not hers. Now all that mattered was saving her own life and those of her crew, of course preferably in that order.
Na-Win stood up from her chair, "No, we fight, this human ship must be stopped here and now!"
"Great Lady, we have nothing to gain from further conflict, we have hull breeches throughout our ship. Most of our systems are offline and there is no other ship capable of defeating a cruiser of this strength," the Ship Mistress argued and then added in a lowered voice, "Please don't make me relieve you of command."
Such a dishonor was rare, but not unheard of and the threat of it was something never taken lightly. The bridge was as silent as a winter's night as the crew held their breaths and watched for the fleet mistress' reaction.
Old as she was Na-Win was still a formable warrior. She had spent her entire youth studying not only warfare, but also the Vorooshin sword art of the patar. It was something her people shared with their former masters, a delicate love of the fight arena and the patar's dance of death.
With unusual speed she quickly drew the patar at her side and in one stroke she decapitated the ship mistress before she knew what had happened.
"Now that the chain of command is clearly established, I want as much power from the engines as possible. Ready main energy cannon to fire and lock onto that human ship!"
The crew had frozen with fear and shock, but the collapse of the headless body of their former ship mistress stirred them into action. On a Karduan ship the mistress's word was law and all obeyed or faced the consequences.
"What's the status of the super destroyer?" Hope asked, after the channel had closed.
Martin paused for moment and then looked up from his sensor panel, "I'm reading a buildup in her engines and in her spinal cannon's buffer coils."
"Damn stupid bitch!" Richards commented to himself, but a little too loudly for privacy.
"Agreed, first officer," Hope said, "Prepare to fire the spinal cannon."
Richards moved closer to Dover. "Helm change course and come twenty-five degrees to starboard, flank speed."
The course change was to try and get them out of harm's way. Spinal mounted weapons had to be aimed by moving the entire ship. If they could get far enough off to the side of the super destroyer’s bow, then the enemy wouldn't be able to get a good shot at them.
"Sir, I'm reading a weird buildup in the super destroyer's main cannon," Martin declared, which was quickly followed by a blinding flash on the bridge's main viewer.
"What the hell was that?" Mike asked as the screen filled for a moment with bright white light.
When the flash died down they saw what had happened. The KSD 019 had blown itself up.
"Sir, it appears that the nuke had damaged their ship's super structure and had bent or warped their cannon's buffer coils. When they tried to fire, it was like shooting a gun with a bent barrel and they had a chamber explosion," Daley reported, as the Wolf's bridge crew grew quiet watching the death of the immense capital ship. It was something that one didn't see everyday.
Hope watched along with the rest of his crew and shook his head in a weird mixture of pity and regret. It was always sad to see people die that could have lived. It also tended to make everyone wonder about their own destinies. When would their luck run out or how would they face death when he came calling their names?
After a minute Commander Richards snapped them back into action. "All right, where are the remaining Karduan ships?"
Pacing back and forth, the Lady Seil-Ca had to admit that she was bored to death. Her cell was small, these humans smelled and their food was barely tolerable. It was a surprise that these men could even walk upright let alone give the Great Houses such difficulties.
Still, the young officer she had met, Lt. Collins, was so different. He smelled, well good, even better than good. His presence made her feel warm and tingly all over. She couldn't read him and that in itself was a novelty, but there was more to it than that. There was something almost animal about her attraction to him.
Even though the ship had inertia dampers she could feel that the vessel had been making fast changes in direction and speed. Now, the ship was once more smooth and even in its flight.
Throwing herself onto her bed, she picked up the human palm pad computer and opened the e-novel she had been reading. In her opinion it wasn't a very good piece of literature, but it would take her mind off of the humans and their smelly ship.
The book was written in an older version of English and was hard to follow at first as well as the story dragging on and on. It was by some ancient author named William Shakespeare and was about a man who marries a woman of a good house for her position or maybe love but she doesn't want him or the arranged marriage. Everything he gives her he takes back saying that it isn't good enough for her. Scrolling to the title page she still didn't understand its meaning, “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Just as she was starting a new page the door to her cell slid open with a swooshing sound. In the doorway was Commander Hutton, one of her interrogators. Looking past him she could see that he was alone.
"Please come with me," he said in slightly accented Karduan.
This had surprised her, not only the door suddenly opening, but that her visitor had spoken to her in Karduan. Never in any of their talks had he let on that he spoke her language.
>
"Where might I ask are we going?"
"The captain has need of you on the bridge," he replied as he led her out of her cell.
Following him out and into the brig proper, she tried to probe his mind with her power. Letting out a soft sigh she stopped, sensing that this human officer was well trained at blocking her scan.
If he had not been so focused she was sure she would have read him, but instead all she could read was the image of the color red or anger. Had she been able to openly meditate and chant maybe she would have still defeated his block but they had blasted her with horrid music ever time she tried. Finally, she gave up settling for meditating while pretending that she was asleep.
Reaching the bridge, she was surprised at how many people were present. Almost all of them except Hutton and young Lt. Collins were open to her reading their surface thoughts. For a moment she staggered and then paused, reaching out to the bulkhead to steady herself as a rush of random thoughts from a multitude of unshielded minds came crashing towards her. It was too much to make sense of and she had to breathe in deeply as she tried to close them out.
Mike saw her swoon at the bulkhead and moved to help her. He knew that no one would risk having their thoughts invaded by touching the telepathy. Grabbing her arm he helped steady her on her feet until she looked up at him and smiled a thank you. Together he and Commander Hutton escorted her to the captain's chair.
"So you are the Captain," she said, catching her breath and collecting her wits.
He was a very old human with gray hair faintly streaked black and deep brown eyes. He was tall by human standards and even though old he was still in relatively decent shape. His face was a star map of lines and wrinkles. At the moment that old face was as serious as his gaze locked on the Karduan ambassador.
"I am," he answered and then introduced himself, "Captain Sir Randolph Hope."
"You have much to answer for," as she started in on the protest she had practice since the day of her capture. The human simply looked at her hard and held up a hand. By habit she quickly read his surface thoughts and gasped.
The Log of the Gray Wolf (Star Wolf Squadron Book 1) Page 26
