"I know how we can disable them!" Danielle shouted over the commotion on the bridge. Everyone suddenly turned to look at her.
"How is that, Major?" K'oron asked calmly.
"We launch our fighter craft," she replied. "Dreadnaught-class ships don't carry fighters since they are usually escorted by Pathfinders which do. So the fighters should be safe unless they take a stray hit from the Dreadnaught's cannons. We need to swarm the ships firing at them. They'll ignore it once they realize that the fighter weapons can't penetrate the shields. They'll focus their firepower on the Stak'zar and Mur'daz. We then need to back our ships out of range of their cannons so that they'll have to maneuver toward us to reacquire a target fix."
"I do not see how making them chase us while our fighters are uselessly attacking them is a plan," snapped Br'dar. "We need a way to get past their shields!"
"Which our fighters will be able to do when they maneuver." Danielle ignored Br'dar's aggressiveness and continued. "We have a couple of fighters swarm the rear of each of their ships. They won't pay any attention to them, thinking them to be useless. When they engage their thrusters to chase us, the thrusters will cause a very small disruption in their shields around the locations of the thrusters. We have the fighters target the thrusters and fire. They won't be expecting it. Launching fighters and retreating is a common Pathfinder tactic taught in the Commonwealth Fleet Academy. It's better to lose a few fighters and give your larger ship a chance to retreat from combat. They'll think that's what we are doing. I know it's not much, but it's more than we have right now."
K'oron thought over the plan that Danielle had just offered. If it offered a chance it was worth the risk. "Commander, launch your fighters. Have the Mur'daz do the same."
"Are the fighter controls the same as the controls in your ship, K'oron?" Danielle asked. "If they are, I'm going out with them. I'm a good pilot, and I know exactly what to target."
Once again, K'oron was seeing the reckless and impulsive side of Danielle come out. He could have argued that her place was with him and that there were enough pilots that were already familiar with the fighters, but he knew that look all too well. Since they escaped Mars, she had changed, it was as though her life meant less to her. She was taking chances with her life that he didn't approve of, but he knew there was no way to stop her.
"Yes," he nodded, "the controls are similar. Though I wish you would not steal the glory from the pilots that trained for missions such as this."
She looked into K'oron's eyes. His voice might have been asking, but his eyes were begging her not to go. He doesn't understand. I need to do this. I need to take back the fire that No'tok stole from me. Still, she could see that he was worried about her.
"If you insist," she sighed. "I'll talk the pilots through it from here." She could see the relief in his face. For a moment, she wondered if he worried about everyone in the Order this way, but she knew that wasn't the case. The two of them had been through a lot together in the past few months. They had formed a special bond of friendship. Once, she had thought it might have been more, but since their return from Mars, K'oron never seemed to want anything more than her friendship. This isn't the time to let your mind wander, Danielle. We've got
to stop those Commonwealth ships.
***
Admiral Hawthorne still did not know why the Poseidon had fired without his orders, but that was a puzzle to solve later. At the moment, all three Dreadnaughts were taking fire from the Dominion ships, although the Dominion's blasters were hardly straining their shields. He had ordered to return fire, and the Dominion ships were getting the worst of the fight.
"Admiral, the Dominion ships have launched fighters," Sanburg announced. "They are attacking all three ships."
"The weapons of their fighter craft are so weak that they are not even causing shield fluctuations, sir." Lt. Cmdr. Charles Everson stated. "They're wasting their efforts."
"The Dominion ships are slowly reversing their position," Sanburg informed Hawthorne. "Sir, I think they are retreating."
"Makes sense," chimed in Cmdr. Svenson. "They've realized that their weapons and fighters are of no value, while our weapons are causing them some damage. It's what I would do. Use the fighters as cover to allow me to get away. Then recall the remaining fighters."
Hawthorne could see that this was a one-sided battle. The Dominion ships were too inferior to his Dreadnaughts. He didn't want to destroy them, but if he let them escape, they could call in more ships. Ships that might have weapons that would penetrate the Poseidon's shields.
"Move to follow," Hawthorne ordered. "Attempt to disable their ships. Take out their engines. We will take them as prisoners. I'm not going to slaughter them."
"Aye sir," replied first officer Svenson. "You heard the Admiral. Shoot to wound, not kill. Mr. Dominguez, go after them."
The Poseidon, Apollo, and Athena all began to close the distance on the retreating Dominion ships. Suddenly the Apollo's engine section exploded. The Athena had also taken damage to its engine section. The bridge of the Poseidon shook violently and they lost all but emergency power.
"Status report, Lucas! What happened?" Hawthorne demanded. Svenson was already on the ship-wide comm system trying to get answers. Somehow the Dominion ships managed to gets shots through the shields of all three ships at roughly the same time. No, it wasn't them. Only their fighters were shooting at us. They must have had a weapon that could penetrate the shields all along. They just made us think their weapons were ineffective.
"Admiral, we've lost main engines," Svenson was relaying what engineering was telling him to Hawthorne. "Auxiliary power is keeping life support, sensors, the holo-core, and comms working, but that is pretty much it right now. We're adrift, but mostly undamaged. No loss of life. Same with the Athena." He paused for a moment to listen to the comms headset before continuing. "The Apollo suffered a core breach that destroyed the entire engineering section of the ship. They've suffered major decompression on all decks near the engineering section. They are checking for survivors in the affected areas, but know for certain that they lost twenty-three in engineering alone."
Hawthorne was disgusted. They lulled me right into a trap. They made us think that they were too weak to pose a real threat to us, only to take all three of my ships out.
"Admiral, the Dominion ship is signaling us again," Rawlins interrupted his thoughts. "It's a video signal this time."
Hawthorne sighed. "On screen."
The primary display flickered to life, and the screen was filled with the image of several V'drellians and a Terran female.
"Admiral Hawthorne," it was the image of Danielle Hart speaking. "Your ships are disabled and your weapons offline. Prepare to be boarded. If any of the boarding parties report resistance, that ship will be fired upon. Without your shields, you won't survive a direct hit. Please surrender peacefully. I give you my word that none of your crew will be harmed as long as they cooperate."
Hawthorne glared at the woman on the screen. "Your word? What good is the word of a traitor?"
The image of Danielle Hart shrugged. "Honestly, Admiral, it's all you've got right now. I'd suggest you take it."
"You do have a point, Lieutenant," Hawthorne conceded. "We will not resist." She nodded and the screen went black.
About an hour later the door to the bridge was forced open. A group of five Dominion soldiers entered. The leader of the group looked around, as though he was searching for someone.
"Hawthorne?" The group leader asked in barely passable Terran.
"I am Hawthorne," the admiral replied.
The soldier looked him over. "Come." He motioned for Hawthorne to follow him, and he started back for the door.
Hawthorne didn't know what was going to happen to himself, but he was hoping that Hart would keep her word concerning his crew, and the crews of the other two ships. He followed the V'drellian group along the various corridors and down a ladder crawlspace. They eventually came to a stop in f
ront of an airlock door that was open and connected to some type of tube.
The soldier pointed at Hawthorne, then at the tunnel. "Go." Hawthorne walked the length of the tunnel and exited into a corridor on one of the Dominion ships. There were three figures waiting for him. One was Danielle Hart, the other two were V'drellian men.
"I'm sorry that you and I are meeting under such difficult circumstances," Danielle offered. "It was my hope that I could have prevented things from reaching this point. K'oron and I tried to stop Hobarth's assassination as well, but we were only able to save the Queen. Maybe if I had stayed I could have told everyone what was really happening, but Lakeisha was about to kill me, and she would have if K'oron hadn't saved my life."
"Lakeisha? You mean Lt. Lakeisha Johnson, your former partner don't you?" Hawthrone clarified. "She told us exactly what happened. She told us that she caught you trying to help the V'drellian assassin escape. She killed him when he tried to fire at her and tried to arrest you, but you managed to escape when someone hit her in the back of the head. So, we know what happened." Hawthorne was glaring at her. "The Queen trusted you, and you betrayed her!" He tensed his body as though he intended to lunge at her in anger. The soldiers that had escorted him immediately pointed their weapons at him. Danielle shouted something in V'drellian at them and they lowered their weapons.
"Admiral, please don't make any more sudden, hostile movements," she instructed him. "Next time, they might shoot before I can stop them."
He relaxed the tension in his body, but the anger was still very present in his eyes. "So tell me, Lieutenant, how does a Terran become so highly regarded in an alien military? I suppose offering up your own people to them probably helps."
Danielle's patience for his insults was about to expire. Her jaw tensed and she inhaled deeply while closing her eyes. After a brief moment, the tension in her face seemed to relax. She looked at the man who had once commanded the entire Commonwealth Fleet and motioned with her hand. "Follow me, and I will tell you everything. Whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you."
The airlock they had used was on the main living deck of the Strak'zar. Danielle led Hawthorne along the corridor towards the central area of the main living deck. This area was often used as a meeting place for various members of the crew when off duty. There were several sets of tables and chairs, and Danielle walked over to one and sat down. Hawthorne followed her lead and sat down at the table across from her. K'oron, Br'dar and the others had been following them closely, not trusting their Terran 'guest'.
"I'll be okay, K'oron," Danielle offered a smile to him while speaking in V'drellian. "I promise. The Admiral and I just need to talk without any distractions. You and everyone else are welcome to go stand over by the wall, out of the way. If you don't like anything you see, you're still close enough to intervene." She could tell by the look on his face that he didn't approve of this situation, but he trusted her and gave a nod of his head as he and the rest of the group gave her some space.
Switching back to the Terran language she looked at Hawthorne. "You think you understand what has been going on, but you don't. There is a war that we are all involved in. The Commonwealth, the Dominion, and the Protectorate are all being used as pawns in a game of chess by forces that we didn't even know existed. The real enemy is called the Legion, and they are everywhere." She paused. "Now, let me tell you what you didn't know."
CHAPTER 11
Admiral Dale Hawthorne's mind felt numb. He had been sitting at this table for close to thirty minutes, listening to Danielle Hart tell him a tale of conspiracy and intrigue the likes he had never heard before. Part of his brain was still telling him that she was a traitor to the Commonwealth. Another part was telling him that she had gone insane and actually thought she was helping her people. The smallest part was beginning to tell him that this wild tale might just possibly be true. He was trying to dismiss that thought, but it was difficult to do under the circumstances.
During the time he had been sitting there he had seen numerous V'drellians come and go through the area. Not just military personnel, but what appeared to be civilian men and women, and even a few children. Hart was right, this didn't seem like the blood-thirsty monsters the Protectorate had been warning them of for years. The more he considered the outlandish tale he was hearing, the more it began to make sense. Yet, some parts were just too insane to be true.
"I know it's a lot to take in and process," Danielle admitted, "but I give you my word that everything I just told you is true."
He rubbed his temples with his fingers. Could it all be true? Or maybe a better question is: Do I want it to be true? He looked into the eyes of the woman sitting across from him. She definitely believes it.
"Do you have any questions?" She asked hesitantly, knowing that he probably more questions than she had answers.
"In order for all of this to be true," his mind was still trying to process this revelation as he was forming his question, "some of the highest ranking people in the Commonwealth and Protectorate would have to be involved." She nodded in agreement. "I mean, the highest people, those who have a lot of power and authority. People like..."
"Like Prime Minister Gaelon of the Rylan Protectorate?" She answered. "In the Dominion, it was Legate Th'arn. I'm sure the Capital Police recovered his body after the assassination. I'm sure there are others as well."
"You're not suggesting that Queen Constance.." he couldn't even finish the sentence. The very thought of Queen Constance, his little Connie, being involved in something this monstrous was just too much.
"The Queen? No, I don't think she was ever involved," Danielle reassured him. "If she had been, they wouldn't have tried to kill her with Hobarth. Th'arn became expendable because he tried to back out of their plan. I do have my suspicions about Regent Zhi though."
Hawthorne hated the Zhang Zhi. He gritted his teeth just at her mentioning his name. "He surely isn't loyal to the Queen, that much is certain. Why do you think he is involved in this?"
"K'oron and I believe that the original assassination was aimed at both Hobarth and the Queen," she explained. "If she had died, the Council of Barons would have appointed her nearest living relative as ruler. Since she has no children, it would be Zhang Zhi. When the assassination failed, Zhi simply convinced her she was a failure and pushed her out. He might not be involved, but things definitely worked out in his favor."
Hawthorne's fury against Zhi was kindled to an all-time high. He clenched his fists until his knuckles were pale. "He cannot be allowed to continue to rule the Commonwealth! That throne rightfully belongs to Queen Constance!"
"Now you know everything that we do," Danielle concluded. "So, I have to ask you a question, and I need you to consider carefully. Are you willing to help us stop the Legion? Before you answer I want you to know that you and your crew are free to return to the Commonwealth. We have no desire to take you prisoner, nor will we hold you hostage."
Hawthorne gave her a puzzled look. "We're not prisoners of war? We can leave whenever ever we want to?"
She nodded a confirmation. "As soon as you can repair your ships enough to safely return to the Commonwealth. I am sorry about the ship that was severely damaged. We were only trying to disable it. The engine core breach was not intended. How many people did you lose?"
"Thirty-one, dead or unaccounted for on the Apollo," he replied quietly. "Another forty-three injured across all three ships. All loss of life is to be mourned, but it could have been far worse. What about the ship we attacked?"
"The Mur'daz lost seventeen from the initial attack and subsequent decompression, and another nine injuries from other damage," she conceded. "I agree, things could have fared much worse." She paused trying to decide if she wanted to ask the question that was on her mind. "Admiral, why did your battle group invade the Dominion? You had to know that the V'drellians would respond with force, that it would start a war."
The man across from her dipped his head. "Yes, I knew they wou
ld, but I had my orders." He leaned back in the chair, and let his head fall back. "When I was Fleet Admiral, I never would have ordered my soldiers into a situation like this. I think Zhi's new Fleet Admiral, Capshaw, however just does whatever Zhi wants without question. I did question Capshaw about the mission but was told quite clearly that if I failed to carry out my orders a court-martial would be in my immediate future. I wasn't afraid of the brig, or even execution, but I didn't want to leave my wife dishonored and without my pension. So, I decided that if I carried out the mission, I might survive. If not, at least Felicia would believe I died a hero." He looked at the woman in front of him. "I've always prided myself on being an honorable man, but I think you may have more honor than I have. Your entire world has turned it's back on you, yet you still fight. How do you do it?"
Danielle contemplated the question. "My entire world hasn't turned it's back on me," she replied, "the Commonwealth did. My world has become more than just the Commonwealth, or even the Sovereign Angels. I've been betrayed by those that I thought were friends and made friends of those that I thought were enemies. I fight because someone has to. If I do nothing, the Legion wins, and I can't let that happen. They have to pay for what they have done."
Hart Of Vengeance: A Danielle Hart Novel (Book 2) Page 13
