by Brown, Ryk
The bridge filled momentarily with the blue-white flash of the jump. When the light cleared, the Avendahl loomed large on the view screen in front of them. Even at a kilometer away, she was big enough to make out plainly, and she was rapidly growing in size.
“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.
“Lining up,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Target is firing missiles,” Mister Navashee reported.
“She must have already been at battle stations,” Nathan muttered to himself.
“Firing one through four!” Mister Randeen announced.
“Twelve missiles inbound!” Mister Navashee reported.
“Twelve?” Nathan asked, somewhat shocked. Apparently, that ship really wanted them dead and gone.
“All torpedoes away!” Mister Randeen reported.
Mister Chiles quickly applied as much upward thrust as possible, pushing the upward in relation to its flight path. “Translating up. Clear jump line in fifteen seconds.”
“Missile impact in twenty,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Torpedo impact in twenty-five seconds,” Mister Randeen added.
“Can you translate any faster?” Nathan asked in frustration. They were cutting it too close for his liking.
“Sorry, sir, the Avendahl’s a much bigger ship.”
Nathan could kick himself for not taking that into consideration to begin with. “Stand by for a two click jump.”
“Five seconds,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Ten seconds,” Mister Navashee added. Mister Randeen chose not to add to the list of countdowns. The torpedoes would hit regardless, and the captain had other things to worry about at the moment.
“Clear jump line,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Jumping,” Mister Riley announced.
Just before the bridge filled with the jump flash, Nathan could swear he could see the tips of all twelve of the Avendahl’s missiles coming right at them.
“Jump complete.”
“Translating down and lining up the stern tubes.”
“Standing by to fire tubes five and six.”
Nathan smiled. His crew was doing everything by the numbers without having to be told.
“Torpedo impact in five seconds,” Mister Navashee announced.
“Bring up the rear camera and magnify,” Nathan ordered.
The image on the view screen changed to the view from the rear camera just as the first torpedo impacted the Avendahl’s stern. The image magnified as the second torpedo flashed, marking its detonation. Two more flashes followed.
“Four good hits,” Mister Navashee reported.
“Firing tubes five and six,” Mister Randeen reported.
“Damage assessments?” Nathan asked.
“Five and six away,” Mister Randeen added. “Twenty seconds to impact.”
“She’s firing again!” Mister Navashee announced. “Six missiles this time.”
“Escape jump, Captain?” Mister Riley wondered.
“One light minute ahead, Mister Riley. Jump on my order.”
“Yes, sir. Plotting.”
“Time to missile impact?” Nathan asked.
“Fifteen seconds,” Mister Navashee answered. “I’m not showing any damage, sir. Her shields in the impact area are showing a significant drain, by maybe thirty percent.”
“Jump plotted and locked,” Mister Riley reported.
“Five seconds to missile impact.”
“Jump,” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping.”
“Main viewer to standard,” Nathan ordered as the jump flash cleared.
“Jump complete.”
“Helm come one hundred degrees to port, twenty degrees down angle,” Nathan added. “Mister Riley, the next jump should put us off her port beam and about forty-five degrees below her, one light minute off the target.”
“Yes, sir. Plotting.”
“Coming about now, Captain,” Mister Chiles answered as he started his turn to port and lowered the Aurora’s nose according to orders.
“Torpedoes five and six should have hit by now, Captain,” Mister Randeen reminded him.
“Get me a damage assessment as soon as you can, Mister Navashee.”
“Yes, sir, but it will take a minute since we’re a light minute out.”
“I’m well aware of that, thank you. As soon as Einstein allows you,” Nathan stated, forgetting that his Corinairan crew might not understand his reference.
“Uh, yes, sir.”
“Tactical, reload all tubes, fixed yields again.”
“Reloading.”
“Let’s see if we can’t get off some missiles as well,” Nathan added.
“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported from the helm.
“First jump plotted,” Mister Riley added.
“Jump when ready,” Nathan ordered.
“Captain, the Avendahl suffered no discernible damage,” Mister Navashee reported. “However, her stern shields did suffer a thirty percent decrease in strength.”
“Jumping.”
The jump flash swept the bridge.
“Not much of a drain,” Nathan commented as he did the math. Between his fixed and variable yield nukes, he only had a total of sixteen torpedoes left. Even if the Avendahl did not recharge her weakened shields, which was unlikely, it would take the majority of his weapons to wear her shields down to the point of collapse. If he used up his torpedo arsenal on the Avendahl, he would have nothing left to engage other ships. In addition, if Tug’s plan was unsuccessful and Caius remained in power, he would still need to deal with the four ships that were currently on their way to punish the Darvano system.
“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported. “Plotting attack jump.”
“Captain, those strange readings have increased,” Mister Navashee reported from the sensor station. “Her energy levels are off my standard scales. I’m picking up some minor gravity distortions as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Is it possible she’s increasing the output of her ZPED?” Nathan wondered.
“It’s hard for me to speculate, sir. I don’t know how a zero-point energy device works,” Mister Navashee admitted.
“Send your readings to jump control,” Nathan ordered as he tapped his comm-set. “Doctor Sorenson, Captain.”
“Go ahead, Captain,” Abby answered over the comm-set.
“Abby, we’re sending you some sensor readings that we can’t make sense of. They’re coming from the Avendahl. We think she may be increasing the output of her ZPED. Will you take a look and see if you can make sense of it?”
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
“Captain, the Avendahl is extending her shields,” Mister Navashee reported.
“How far?”
“Five hundred meters and still expanding.”
“Is she going to launch fighters?” Mister Randeen wondered.
“Why?” Nathan asked. “She’s got to believe that she’s more than powerful enough to deal with us on her own.”
“Perhaps she doesn’t want to be bothered, so she’s sending her fighters to deal with us.”
“She could be preparing to go to FTL,” Mister Willard suggested.
“That would make more sense,” Nathan admitted. “Leave a bunch of fighters behind to harass us while she FTLs it to Takara to save Answari.” Nathan turned to the sensor operator. “Has she launched any ships?”
“No, sir, and her shield radius is up to fifteen hundred meters and still expanding,” Mister Navashee reported.
“What?” Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Captain, if the Avendahl has analyzed our torpedoes and our attack strategy, she may be attempting to compensate,” Mister Randeen said. “If they have discovered that our torpedoes are unguided weapons, her captain may believe that they have a maximum effective targeting range of one kilometer.”
“But why extend shields?” Nathan wondered.
“Our last attack
did drain their aft shields by thirty percent,” Mister Randeen pointed out. “Maybe her captain is trying to increase his intercept zone…”
“In case one of our nukes gets through his shields,” Nathan realized. “That would also explain the increase in his ZPED output… to extend his shields so far out.” Nathan turned back to the sensor operator. “Mister Navashee, are his shields still expanding?”
“No, sir. They’ve stopped at two kilometers.”
“That’s plenty of room to intercept an incoming torpedo using point-defenses,” Mister Randeen stated.
“Yes, it is,” Nathan agreed. “But it’s also plenty of room to maneuver,” he added with a smile. “Mister Riley, new plot. Jump us one light minute astern of her. We’ll come about and jump in from behind again. Only this time, we’ll jump inside her shields.”
“Yes, sir,” Mister Riley answered.
“Helm, we’ll go in slower than before. I want plenty of time to maneuver and jump away this time.”
“Aye, Captain,” Mister Chiles answered.
“Mister Randeen, I intend to launch a full spread of nukes and missiles as soon as we jump in.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sir, we’ll need to make another jump to get aft of her before we can jump in and strike again,” Mister Riley reported from the navigator’s chair.
“Understood. Get us where we need to be, Mister Riley.”
“Yes, sir, jumping.”
As the jump flash washed across the bridge, Nathan remembered the last time the Aurora had jumped in so close to a ZPED powered imperial battleship. It had not been on purpose, but rather the result of a desperate blind jump to escape an anti-matter explosion. That ‘super-jump’ as he referred to it, had thrown them a thousand light years from home and started a chain of events that led to this very moment.
“Jump complete. Plotting attack jump,” Mister Riley reported.
The destruction of the battleship Campaglia had only been possible by the unavoidable collision between the Aurora and her adversary. That collision had caused severe damage to the Aurora and had killed half her crew, including their captain and executive officer. Nathan had no intention of repeating that event.
“Are her shields still expanded?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, sir, holding at two kilometers.”
“He will expect us to make another run at his stern, sir,” Mister Randeen stated.
“Yes, he will,” Nathan confirmed, “and he’ll probably have every gun he’s got on his backside ready to fire the moment we appear.” Nathan turned to Mister Randeen. “We will take a beating; of this I have no doubt. But I need him to believe he can out think us. I need him to believe that we will do what is expected.”
“A risky strategy,” Mister Randeen said.
“Perhaps,” Nathan admitted. “We have an expression on Earth, Mister Randeen. ‘If you don’t bet big, you don’t win big.’”
Mister Randeen smiled, responding with something in Corinairan. “We have a similar expression.”
“Jump plotted, sir,” Mister Riley reported.
“Very well. Mister Randeen?”
“All weapons ready, sir.”
“Jump when ready, Mister Riley,” Nathan ordered.
“Jumping in three……”
Nathan set his eyes on the forward view screen.
“Two……”
In a moment, the Avendahl would appear as a small object that would grow to fill the screen in less than a minute.
“One……”
“Captain, jump control,” his comm-set called.
“Jumping……”
The bridge filled momentarily with the blue-white flash of the jump drive. When it cleared a split second later, the Avendahl filled the screen.
“Jump compl…” Mister Riley’s words trailed as he realized they had jumped in closer than expected.
“Helm! Hard to starboard! Roll forty-five degrees as you turn!” Nathan ordered. By the time he finished his command, the ship was already rolling over to her starboard side and turning hard. Rail gun fire pounded the Aurora’s nose as she turned and rolled, the slugs walking across and down her length onto her more heavily reinforced underside.
“Taking fire!” Mister Randeen reported.
“Return fire! Helm, keep turning until our aft tubes are on her! Tactical, stand by to fire five and six!”
“Sir!” Mister Randeen called out. “We’re only two hundred meters out. If we use nukes…”
“Aft tubes coming onto target in three seconds,” Mister Chiles called out.
“We’ll take our chances!” Nathan insisted as the Avendahl’s rail guns continued to rock the ship.
“Two……”
“Five and six ready,” Mister Randeen confirmed. “Rail guns are firing.”
“One……”
“Stand by, two click jump!”
“Zero……”
“Fire torpedoes!” Nathan ordered.
“Captain, jump control,” Abby called over the comm-set again.
“Firing five and six,” Mister Randeen answered.
“Clear jump path ahead,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Helm! Full speed ahead!”
“Full speed ahead, aye!” Mister Chiles responded as he brought the Aurora’s main drive up to full power.
“Five seconds to torpedo impact!” Mister Navashee reported.
“Jump!” Nathan ordered. Nothing happened.
“Three seconds,” Mister Randeen reported.
“Jump, Mister Riley!” Nathan repeated.
“Two……”
“I tried, sir! The jump drive isn’t responding!”
“One……”
“Alert all decks! Incoming radiation!” Nathan ordered.
“Impact.”
For a moment, the rail gun fire all but ceased, only to pick up again from a different angle as it continued to pound away at their underside.
“Radiation levels spiking across our stern!” Mister Navashee reported.
The bridge suddenly shifted under their feet, sliding violently from left to right and nearly knocking Nathan out of the command seat. “What the hell was that?!” Nathan asked as the bridge shook several more times.
“Debris!” Mister Navashee reported.
“That means we hit something,” Mister Randeen added.
“Mister Riley, why aren’t we able to jump?” Nathan asked.
“Unknown, sir. The jump fields don’t to want to form.”
“Damn! Helm, continue course and speed. Get us as far away as you can,” Nathan ordered.
“Captain!” Abby’s voice called over the comm-set a third time.
“Yes, Doctor?!” Nathan finally responded.
“There’s something about the Avendahl’s ZPED that interferes with our jump fields!”
“What?”
“Our jump fields! They will not engage as long as we are in close proximity to that ZPED! You must get some distance between us and that ZPED in order for the jump fields to generate!”
“How far?!” Nathan asked.
“Based on their current output, maybe five kilometers!”
“Distance from target?” Nathan asked.
“Fifteen hundred meters and increasing!” Mister Navashee answered.
“Could that explain why we jumped in considerably closer than expected?” Nathan asked Abby over the comm-set.
“Possibly, I don’t know yet,” Abby admitted.
“Captain!” Naralena interrupted. “Engineering reports damage to our secondary heat exchangers. He is taking reactors three and four offline to reduce our heat output.”
“Is that going to affect our main propulsion?” Nathan asked.
“Main drive is still showing full power, Captain,” Mister Chiles reported.
“Then shouldn’t we be moving off faster?”
“Yes, sir, we should,” Mister Chiles agreed. “I can’t explain it!”
“Two kilometers from the target
and increasing,” Mister Navashee updated.
“Medical reporting casualties, sir,” Naralena reported.
“Close the secondary heat exchanger doors!” Nathan ordered, chiding himself for not ordering them closed when he rolled the ship to show the Avendahl their underside.
“Target is firing!” Mister Navashee reported. “Four missiles inbound!”
“Switch rail guns to point-defense mode!” Nathan ordered.
“Rail guns to point-defense,” Mister Randeen responded.
“Missile impact in fifteen seconds!” Mister Navashee updated. “Distance from the Avendahl is twenty-five hundred meters and increasing.”
“One missile down!” Mister Randeen reported from the tactical station. “Two down!”
“She’s firing again. Four more inbound.”
“We’re down to three hundred thousand point-defense rounds,” Mister Randeen reported. “Three down. First wave defeated. We can’t keep this up for much more than ten minutes, sir, even with selective firing. Sooner or later, we’re going to run out of point-defense rounds.”
“The Avendahl is accelerating!” Mister Navashee interrupted. “She’s trying to keep up with us.”
“Engineering reports heat levels are reaching critical levels. If they get much higher, they’ll have to take reactor two offline as well.”
“If we lose another reactor, we won’t be able to use all of our rail guns at once,” Mister Randeen warned. “Second wave of missiles has been defeated. Point-defense down to two-fifty.”
“Is she firing again?” Nathan asked.
“No, sir,” Mister Navashee reported. “Current range from the Avendahl is three kilometers and still increasing, although at a slightly slower rate.”
“She’s probably waiting to finish her turn in order to use her forward missile batteries, Captain,” Mister Randeen suggested.
“When she finishes her turn, she’ll be able to accelerate faster,” Mister Chiles added.
“You think she’ll be able to keep up with us?” Nathan asked.
“Under normal circumstances, not a chance,” Mister Chiles assured him, “but I still don’t know why we’re not pulling away from her as fast as we should be.”
“She’ll finish her turn in twenty seconds,” Mister Navashee reported.
“We’re starting to take a lot of rail gun fire on our stern, sir,” Mister Randeen reported from tactical. “She may be trying to take out our main drive.”
