The pirate cruiser was also moving slowly, but it wasn’t accelerating. They’d had no incentive to since they were immediately lined up for perfect shots. But they had almost certainly underestimated the Outworld Ranger’s capabilities.
“Pirate ship firing railguns,” Artemisia called out.
Kyralla “saw” the shots coming. Their current course had them lined up to meet the pirate ship dead-on, head-to-head. She had yet to decide whether she wanted to go under or over the cruiser. However, since the railguns were firing from the top of the enemy vessel, she plunged the Outworld Ranger downward to try to duck under the shots.
One rail-shot glanced off their shields, reducing them to fourteen percent.
The second shot missed and continued on.
Kyralla hadn't even considered where the shot might go if it missed them. And so in her HUD locator, she watched the blip representing the shot in horror as it sped toward the research vessel.
"Rosie, bring up the video feed of the Argos Alpha in my HUD."
The railgun shot plowed into the midsection of the research vessel. A brief explosion flared, and then the Argos Alpha ruptured, breaking apart into a dozen large fragments.
“Bishop!” Kyralla cried out.
Oona gasped and stood up from the command chair. Tekeru looked at them in confusion, then winced and covered his mouth as he realized what had happened.
“I hate to bear worse news,” Artemisia said. “But a G-class destroyer just entered the system at maximum speed. And according to data Silky left with us, the destroyer is a fully-armed, World Bleeder command ship.”
34
Karson Bishop
It took nearly fifteen minutes for Karson and Octavian to clear the doorway of enough debris so that they could move into the corridor beyond. Octavian was the first through, climbing over the remaining rubble. Karson, however, had to carefully pick his way across.
“Sir, I’m no longer receiving a signal from the Outworld Ranger.”
“Did something happen to them?”
“I believe it’s interference, sir.”
“Octavian, what do you make of that?”
The cog paused and cocked its head. Bartimaeus translated the responding beeps and clicks. “Sir, he says the fusion core’s containment field just started leaking. That’s causing interference.”
“Are we safe?”
“For now,” the cog responded.
Struggling to keep up with the nimble cog, who didn't have a spacesuit to worry about, Karson followed Octavian through the main corridor. The dots on his HUD tracking their progress through the ship showed them as halfway to the cargo bay when Karson heard a tapping noise.
He paused and listened. Nothing. He almost chalked it up to his imagination and continued on toward the cargo bay, but curiosity got the better of him. He backtracked a few steps. There it was again. The sound was coming from behind a closed door to his left. The fact that he could hear it through his helmet, with the ship creaking and groaning all around them, was a testament to his excellent hearing.
He swiped a hand across the keypad beside the door. It slid open to reveal a second door, this one coated in diamondine and bearing a second keypad.
“Sir, a second ship has suddenly appeared.”
“Appeared?! From where?”
“Unknown, sir. I still can’t make contact with the ship.”
“We’ve got to get out of here. Is the docking tube still deployed?”
“It is, sir.”
“Octavian! We have to go!”
“Sir, the second ship has opened fire on the Outworld Ranger.”
“Damn it,” Karson cursed.
“We should stay,” the cog responded through Bartimaeus. “Let them disconnect the tube and fight. Waiting for us to run back to the ship is unwise.”
Karson considered it a moment. Octavian was right. As long as the Outworld Ranger remained in a static position, waiting for them to run back through the tube, they’d be sitting ducks. To fight, Kyralla needed to be able to maneuver.
“I guess we’re not going to be priority targets for the pirates anyway.”
“No salvage to be had if they destroy this ship, sir,” Octavian said, agreeing with him.
“The pirate ship has them flanked, sir. The Outworld Ranger is out of position to return fire.”
“That settles it then. Kyralla, Oona, I don’t know if you can hear this, but we’re going to stay aboard the Argos Alpha. Detach the tube and deal with the pirate ship first. Come back for us later.”
“Message sent, sir.”
“Did it get through?”
“I have no idea, sir. We’re not receiving confirmation that it did.”
“Keep sending the message every thirty seconds, until they move on.”
Karson focused. He needed to continue his mission and trust that Kyralla and Oona would be okay. In the meantime, there were people here on this ship who needed saving.
He touched the keypad for the second door, but nothing happened. The system must have lost power.
The tapping stopped, and then it started again. It was louder now that the primary door was open.
“Can I breathe the atmosphere in here?”
“For a short while, sir. But I don’t recommend doing so.”
He took a deep breath, retracted his helmet, and placed an ear against the diamondine door. Tap. Tap tap scratch. Tap. Tap tap tap. Scratch.
“Is it a repeating pattern?”
“Not one that I can detect, sir.”
He rapped his knuckles against the door. “Is there anyone in there? Can you hear me?”
The tapping and scratching stopped. After a few moments, the sounds resumed.
“Octavian! I think someone might be alive in here!”
The cog paused at the end of the corridor, glanced back, shook his head, and issued a series of beeps.
As Karson redeployed his helmet, Bartimaeus translated. “Sir, he says he cannot detect any lifeforms in that area, and so he must focus on rescuing the ones we do know about.”
“Someone’s trying to communicate, I’m sure of it! But I can’t check because there’s no power coming to the door.”
Octavian beeped a response and trundled out of sight around the corner.
“If you feel it is worth the effort, reroute power from the primary door to the secondary door.”
“Do you need my help in the cargo bay?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Okay. I’m going to make sure no one is in here. Then I’ll come help you.”
Karson examined the keypads of both doors as well as the frame from top to bottom. “Do we have schematics for doors of this type?”
“Pulling some up, sir.”
Karson rushed over to a functioning control panel several meters down the hall. By accessing the ship’s mainframe, he digitally rerouted power from one door to the other. While he was there, he tried to pull up the ship’s sensor readings and video feeds of the room. He growled in frustration when all his attempts were met with error messages.
"Barty, can you maintain a link to this station?"
“I believe so, sir. As long as you don’t go too far.”
Karson rushed back and swiped a hand across the keypad. Nothing happened. It looked as if he were going to have to fix the problem manually.
“Sir, the Outworld Ranger retracted the docking tube and engaged the pirates. Both ships have sustained substantial damage.”
Karson took a deep breath and muttered a prayer for their safety. "Keep me informed of their status."
“Yes, sir.”
Going as fast as he could, he popped a panel off the wall and pulled out wires. It was immediately apparent what had happened. An electrical overload had fried a power relay for the second door.
“Tell the ship to override the primary door’s programming and have it remain open.”
“Done, sir.”
Luckily, he'd brought a toolkit along with him. Foll
owing the schematics Barty had pulled up, he rerouted wires from one door to the next. The procedure was simple but time-consuming, especially since one of the wires was also fried, requiring him to splice in a new one.
“Octavian, how’s it going?”
“I was unable to restore power to the cargo bay’s door, so I am cutting my way in. The cargo bay walls are reinforced, so it’s taking longer than expected.”
“I’m about to open the door here. If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll be there to help you ASAP.”
Karson finished his repairs and swiped the keypad, hoping it wasn’t locked. The pad flashed red. Damn.
“Barty, ask the ship for a lock override.”
“I’ll try, sir, but… Got it. But only because Octavian placed the ship in emergency rescue mode. Normally this is a highly secure area.”
Karson swiped the keypad again. The secondary door slid open to reveal a reinforced storage vault. Cryo-units of various sizes, a few containing plant and animal specimens, filled the shelves lining the walls. Two closed plastic crates sat beneath a command terminal in one corner. A fire extinguisher lay atop them.
At Karson's feet, a starkat kitten mewed in distress and pawed at his leg. Like all of its species, the bioengineered feline had a long, fluffy, prehensile tail and tufted ears. This one had pale orange fur and intense brown eyes. Starkats were popular with many spacers who spent all their time living and working in space.
The starkat locked eyes with him then looked deliberately toward the corner of the room. Karson followed its gaze. A young, blue-haired woman covered in burns and with a massive cut across her abdomen lay slumped on the floor, half-conscious. Blood pooled beneath her.
Karson rushed over and knelt beside her. “Are you okay?”
She coughed up blood. “Peachy.”
“Octavian! We have a badly wounded woman here.”
The cog requested the scan data of her vitals.
“Can you beam your health data to my chippy?”
“Sure…” she answered in a whisper “…but it doesn’t…matter…”
Bartimaeus did the best he could with an external scan, and they relayed that data along with the information from her chippy to Octavian.
The cog responded simply. “Comfort her.”
“You’re not going to help?”
“She only has a few more minutes to live. I am entering the cargo bay now.”
“What’s your name?” Karson asked, taking the woman’s right hand. Cuts and burns had rendered her left hand a tangled mess.
“Doesn’t matter…I’m dying.”
Karson didn't know what to say. Someone trained in medicine would. He considered telling her that she wasn't going to die, to give her hope. But that was a blatant lie.
“It’s…okay,” she told him. “I know.”
The starkat purred and rubbed its face against the top of her head. She tried to smile in response. Then she flicked her eyes toward the little creature.
“Peachy. Can you…take care…of Peachy? Get her off…this ship…somewhere safe.”
"Of course." Karson peered into the starkat's big, round eyes and nodded. He could easily do that for her. "I'll take her back to my ship. She'll have loads of space onboard to roam around and plenty of people to love playing with her."
As he talked, the woman closed her eyes and smiled in relief. Slowly, her smile faded…then disappeared.
The starkat bumped its head against hers, mewling in grief.
Karson squeezed her hand a few more moments then rubbed the starkat’s head. “Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll get you to safety. But first, we have to go help save—”
“Sir, the Outworld Ranger just evaded a railgun projectile, and that projectile is on a direct course for this ship.”
Karson rushed to the door and slammed his hand on the inside keypad. The door snapped shut.
“Octavian, take cover!”
35
Kyralla Vim
Kyralla marshaled her emotions. She couldn’t worry about Bishop, not right now. She had to keep Oona and herself alive. That came first. She had to focus.
“ETA on that destroyer?” she asked.
“Four hours,” Artemisia replied.
“That should give us enough time to escape, right?” Oona asked.
“Maybe. But we have to survive this and rescue Bishop first. And I have no idea how long that will take.”
The Outworld Ranger zipped under the pirate cruiser. Kyralla pulled the nose up enough to line up another attack.
“Enemy shields at twenty-one percent,” Artemisia said.
Their plasma cannons flashed, and the flaring bolts splattered against the pirate vessel’s shields. She waited for the railguns to rock the ship, but nothing happened.
“What the hell!” Kyralla snapped. “Why haven’t we fired the railguns?”
“The ship can’t line up the shots,” Tekeru Jones, the scientist they had rescued, told her. “You would have to bring the nose up further.”
“I can’t do that without running into their shields directly.”
“Then we can’t fire them,” he replied.
“I’m picking up an emergency signal from Octavian,” Rosie said over the ship’s comms. “His processor’s still active. He is unharmed and awaiting rescue.”
“What about Bishop?” Oona asked.
“He does not know where Mr. Bishop is, madam. And we can’t get a life-force reading. Too much interference in the area.”
“Oona, can you sense whether he’s okay?” Kyralla asked.
“Not while I’m plugged into the ship like this,” Oona replied. “Even if I wasn’t, who knows?”
The Outworld Ranger cleared the underside of the pirate vessel. Kyralla cut the ion engines, pulled the nose up, and activated the port thruster to rotate the ship around to line up more shots.
Suddenly, a pair of plasma bolts flared into them.
“Shields at nine percent,” the ship announced.
“What the hell was that?” Kyralla asked.
“The pirate cruiser has a rear-mounted dual plasma cannon,” Artemisia said.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about that?”
“You didn’t ask,” Rosie said. “And it’s in the specs I pulled up in your HUD.”
“Kyra,” Oona said. “You’re asking too many questions and talking too much. None of this stuff matters if you can’t focus on the moment and use your abilities.”
Kyralla nodded, took a deep breath, and began reciting the Fibonacci sequence. Oona was right. She didn’t have enough skill to handle this without Silky and the others. Their only advantage was her ability to see and react to the enemy’s actions before they took them. She had to use it if they wanted to survive.
The ship had rotated ninety-two degrees, following the trajectory she'd set them on before cutting the engine when the pirate vessel hit them with another round from their dual plasma cannons.
“Shields to two percent,” the ship said.
"Can we divert any more power?" Oona asked.
“Only if we cut life-support, sensors, and the flak cannons,” the ship said.
“None of those will matter if they hit us again,” Tekeru said.
“Do it,” Oona ordered.
“Shields at four percent.”
Kyralla considered activating the ion engines to maneuver them away from the next volley. But the engines would have to first counter inertia. They didn't have time for that. And she had to make their own shots count. Disabling the pirates would be far more effective than trying to evade them. The pirate ship had more weapons and a crew that had a lot more experience fighting space battles.
“Divert power from the ion engines,” Kyralla said.
“Are you certain?” the ship asked.
“Yes! Do it!”
“Shields to thirteen percent.”
“That’s all?” Tekeru asked.
“It’s impossible to reroute all power designated for the ion engin
es,” Artemisia explained.
The pirate vessel’s plasma cannons struck them again.
“Shields to six percent.”
The Outworld Ranger completed its rotation and opened fire. The pirate vessel never saw it coming. All four plasma shots and both diamondine-tipped railgun shells struck the enemy ship dead center.
“Enemy shields down,” Artemisia said. “Minimal damage to their hull.”
“Target those plasma cannons and their engines,” Kyralla said.
“Quad-plasma targeting their engines,” Tekeru said. “Railguns aimed at their dual cannons.”
“Is that optimal?” Kyralla asked.
"I have no idea," he replied. "I'm just relaying information and loaning brainpower to the system like you told me to do."
“Which one recharges first?” Oona asked.
“The plasma cannons,” Artemisia said.
“Then switch the targeting around,” Kyralla ordered.
“Targeting switched,” Tekeru reported.
Kyralla waited tensely, gripping the control-stick and accelerator until her knuckles turned white and her hands cramped. She wished to hell they had a supply of missiles.
The meters in her HUD registering the recharge rates for the plasma cannons and railguns ticked steadily upward. A third meter showed that the pirates’ guns would be ready to fire a full ten seconds before theirs.
The enemy meter hit green. Kyralla inhaled and braced herself. But nothing happened.
“Did we damage their plasma cannons?” she asked.
“We only scarred their hull,” Rosie said.
“Then what’s going on?”
“They’re overcharging their plasma cannons,” Tekeru said.
“How do you know?” Oona asked.
“That’s what we did on the Argos Alpha right after they took out our shields. We were desperate.”
“Enemy overcharge confirmed,” Rosie said. “I adjusted your meters, madam.”
Kyralla stared in terror at the meters for the plasma cannons. Theirs and the enemy’s matched. The exchange of fire would be simultaneous.
“What happens when you overcharge them?” she asked. “That wasn’t covered in the manual I read for our weapon system.”
Shadow Agents Page 25
