Knights of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Two)

by Lawrence P White

  Mike’s entrance to the net was fairly simple since he’d been there before on other ships. He found it very different working with Kirsten, whose voice was so sexy and earthy that he had trouble concentrating at first. He wondered at Voorhees’ choice of AI, but he got over it and plunged right in with Voorhees to work out a plan of attack.

  He expected Josh to manage the gunners, but to his surprise, both Josh and Sergeant Jacobs declined. Jacobs desperately wanted to join the weapons group, but he admitted, grudgingly, that his primary specialty was that of medic. Though he was good with every form of weapon, there were enough others who were better. Mike thought about inviting him in anyway, he had grown to like and respect the older man, but he decided he could not intervene in Josh’s command. Besides, there might well be a need for medics before this was all over.

  Josh chose the gunners from among his weapons specialists, all senior sergeants, then added Major Washburn and a captain to coordinate their efforts on the net. Everyone had a backup, and backups moved in and out of the primary rotation on command of the coordinators so that everyone was comfortable working together regardless of who was in the net.

  Josh chose to be Mike’s backup, surprising Mike. “Where will I get a better command view?” he asked Mike as they discussed it.

  “Have you ever flown anything before?” Mike asked.

  “Only helicopters. Does it matter?”

  Knowing that Kirsten would not likely die as George had, Mike admitted that Josh was right. He could command anyone on the ship from the net, whether the orders were given over the net or over a speaker. It was an excellent solution for both of them.

  Josh spent endless hours in the net and more endless hours out of the net reviewing the plans and progress of the remainder of his men. Everyone had a job. Those not in the net even practiced belaying boarders, setting up teams of men who could fall back to planned positions as necessary if a boarding occurred, an extremely remote possibility.

  Josh and the others on the net got to meet Jake for the first time. Until now, Jake had been just a part of Mike’s tale. Hereafter, he was a real person to them.

  Voorhees and his men stayed busy everywhere. His gunners stayed in the net with Josh’s gunners while they trained, his engineer taught Josh’s men how to make simple repairs to the most critical parts of the ship, and his medic spent several days teaching Josh’s medics how to work his equipment. Others demonstrated hand weapons new to Josh’s people. The weapons from Earth fired projectiles. They were good weapons, but blasters were better, and they had a virtually inexhaustible energy supply. There would be no running out of bullets for these men. Actual live fires of the blasters could not take place within the ship, but plenty of dry firing took place.

  Mike already knew that Captain Voorhees was competent, Serge held his captains to the very highest standards, but he was surprised at how easily Voorhees agreed to relinquish control of his ship when the fighting started.

  “Not a problem, Mike. I was chosen for this command because I know how to put our mission ahead of everything else. Some of my missions have required pretty innovative thinking. This one might top the list, but only because I’ll be out of the picture, probably jerking around on the floor in agony. But know this: your solution fits. My men and I will be out of the net as soon as the last micro jump is executed. We’re smart enough to know that we could take the whole net down with us if there really are Chessori out there.”

  He pursed his lips in a frown as he rubbed his forehead. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like this, not one bit, but I’m thankful you guys are here. I would not have chosen to engage the Chessori without you. And, Sire . . . you have a reputation. My ship is in good hands.”

  “Maybe we’ll luck out and there won’t be any Chessori,” Mike replied, “because we may end up needing your help in a big way. It seems like every time I’ve been forced to fight, they’ve thrown me a curve ball, something I had no idea was even possible.”

  “And it will probably happen here, as well. One of these days you’re going to have to take the time to get trained as a ship’s captain. It only takes ten or fifteen years.”

  Mike grew more and more nervous as the time for battle approached. Josh kidded him about it, but privately he admitted that everyone always went through the same thing, and it was a good thing, because it focused the mind on the mission. Everything else became extraneous, of no importance.

  Mike had to agree with Josh: his sole focus had become the battle group in front of him, nothing else. His many other concerns about the Empire and Earth had been pushed aside to allow total concentration on the upcoming engagement.

  He wondered if the crews in the ships ahead of him, the ships he was about to engage, were going through the same thing, or were they expecting a relatively easy conquest, at least the space-born part of it? They had no inkling of Serge Parsons micro jump, and they had no idea this ship was anything but what it appeared to be, a simple freighter two weeks behind them. Their focus would be on Brodor. He was confident of that much at least. The element of surprise was definitely in his favor.

  The time grew near. Everyone needed in the net was in the net, and everyone knew their part in the plan.

  Voorhees turned off his beacon and began the hours-long process of micro jumping toward the planet. As they neared the squadron, Kirsten displayed a complex pattern of orbits as the smaller ships supporting the cruiser broke away to encircle the planet. The cruiser moved closer to Brodor than they had expected, probably to use her heavier weapons to more effect, but the lower orbit did not change their strategy.

  Voorhees’ navigation was perfect. After executing the last jump, Stardust was behind and above the cruiser. Voorhees and his crew cut themselves out of the net, leaving the Earthmen on their own.

  No defensive fire came from the cruiser as Mike maneuvered to place his ship exactly where his gunners’ fire would be most effective. He reached just the right spot, and they started pecking away at several gun turrets on the cruiser, all according to plan. To their surprise, Kirsten’s sensors indicated at least one shield going down, then another began failing. Serge’s weapons were considerably stronger than Mike had expected. His men concentrated their fire on those two locations, taking out one of the cruisers large guns. That did it for the Chessori aboard the cruiser. They lost patience. The cicada sound that accompanied use of the scree started up in earnest. Mike sensed no reaction from his men in the net, though he knew the same could not be said for Voorhees and his men. They would be suffering. So, too, would be any non-Chessori aboard the cruiser.

  So, too, was he. Jake was gone, having withdrawn to his left leg, and the leg was on fire. Mike ordered his ship to cease fire and allowed Stardust to drift on her current trajectory, leading the Chessori to believe their scree had done its work. It also gave him time to adjust to the pain in his leg. He wondered how long it would take for the Chessori to take command of the net aboard the cruiser.

  It did not take long. Within minutes, the cruiser began maneuvering to shield its damaged areas from Stardust. As he had hoped, Kirsten’s sensors soon showed the tractor beam powering up, and it powered up at a speed he had not known was possible. He guessed he had maybe half an hour before it became operational. His men held their fire, allowing the cruiser to maneuver at will, turning until its tractor beam was pointed directly at Stardust.

  The waiting was terrible. Josh spoke softly to him on the net, encouraging him to wait. Mike adjusted Stardust’s roll and pitch in minute increments as the waiting continued, bringing his heaviest guns to bear on the area of the tractor beam. They had determined earlier that a 50% power level for the beam would be sufficient to their needs, but they would wait for 75% just to be sure. If their plan failed, they would micro jump away before the beam reached 100%. They all watched as Kirsten’s sensors indicated a higher power level second by second.

  Mike felt a strong sense of déjà vu, as if he was back near Earth waiting for the tractor
beam to snatch him up. But this time he could do something about it.

  Finally the number reached 75%. Mike ordered his gunners to open fire, knowing the heavily shielded area around the tractor beam would be very hard, if not impossible, to penetrate. The Chessori were caught completely by surprise, delaying return fire for a couple of minutes. When the cruiser did return fire, the heavy weapons were devastating. Mike instantly moved the ship, but he could not go far without his gunners losing sight of their target. One shield went down, and Mike rolled the ship to place that shield away from the cruiser. New gunners picked up the target and continued firing repeatedly with Parsons World’s improved weapons into the shields protecting the tractor beam. The Chessori finally realized what was going on and attempted to maneuver away from his guns while shutting down the beam, but they were too late. One shield went dark, followed quickly by another. Stardust, too, was taking many hits, and gunners struggled mightily to hold to the target as Mike maneuvered hard. Soon a third shield gave way on the cruiser, followed quickly by a fourth. Mike lost another shield and rolled further, four gunners losing the target but four new ones picking up the slack.

  Stardust suddenly shook, hard. They were holed, a hull breach in cargo hold four. Kirsten slammed appropriate bulkhead doors closed in the corridors leading from the cargo area before anyone realized what had happened. It was truly wonderful having her assistance. Mike suspected there were soldiers in there, but he didn’t have time to worry about them. They were Josh’s problem. Josh quickly organized a rescue party, but Mike cut that part out of his awareness.

  He rolled the ship again, and new gunners took up the incessant attack against the tractor beam. Its capacitor beam was shutting down as quickly as it could, now at 35% and falling fast. Then his gunners got all the way through. Mike could swear he heard a ‘boom’ through Kirsten’s sensors as the tractor beam capacitor overloaded, though he knew that hearing sound in space was impossible. Looking through Kirsten’s sensors, however, he saw the flare-up as a huge hole was rent in the belly of the ship.

  The cruiser went dead in space. It had not blown up entirely, as they had hoped, but Kirsten’s sensors indicated it could not maneuver. The cicada sound continued for another minute or so, then ceased. He surmised that the remaining Chessori needed assistance from the rest of the crew for damage control. His men kept a tremendous barrage of fire pouring into the cruiser, concentrating on its gun ports. Shields began failing one after another, then flares jetted into space as weapons platforms disintegrated beneath those shields. Sporadic return fire continued after the scree ceased, but it was not terribly effective. Mike constantly jiggered his position relative to the cruiser as he rolled around its length, helping his gunners to take out firing positions one after another.

  Captain Voorhees struggled back into the net, still suffering from the effects of the scree but determined to function in spite of it. He studied Kirsten’s data on the cruiser, informing Mike that its power plant was down, at least for the present, but that many hot spots remained from which retaliation could be directed at Stardust.

  “This lady is proving to be a tough nut to crack,” he announced. “I was certain the disintegration of the tractor beam would take out the whole ship. Nice job by the way. I’ve got to go, you’ve got company. My advice is that the crew aboard the cruiser has its hands full just trying to survive. If necessary, you can come back later and finish her off. Goodbye.”

  Voorhees left the net in case the scree started up again. All six fighters had changed trajectories to intercept Stardust. As Mike watched, those trajectories were refined so that three ships would reach him at the same time. Could Stardust handle three enemy simultaneously?

  They had a little time before the shooting started up again. He ordered Kirsten to run a scan on all ships systems, concentrating on shields and weapons. Repair crews were dispatched throughout the ship as necessary to replace dead or weakened parts while Mike got an update from Josh.

  “We’re still trying to get into cargo hold four. We’re not real proficient with these space suits yet, and it’s a fairly complex procedure to gain entry. There were three men guarding the outer door, but we haven’t heard from them. They were positioned behind partitions and suited up for just this eventuality, but that was a pretty hard hit. I don’t know if they made it or not. Don’t worry about it, you’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  Mike was gratified as warning sensors for his shields turned from amber back to green one by one. They were almost back to full weapons and shields by the time the scree came again. His men would continue their repair work while Stardust fought on.

  Mike’s men got off the first shots. His weapons had greater range than those aboard the small fighters, and it made a difference. Mike reminded Major Washburn of Reba’s tactic of focusing all their firepower on one ship. He instantly took the hint, focusing three guns on the drive of the closest ship. The other two fighters came straight in together, trying to take advantage of Stardust’s concentration on the first ship, but they hadn’t planned on her remaining firepower. The first ship disappeared in a flash of light, then all weapons focused on the two remaining fighters. They tried to flee but were unsuccessful, going out in a flare of light almost simultaneously.

  Mike didn’t wait. He went after the three remaining fighters. They scattered, each splitting off in different directions, knowing Stardust could not follow all of them at once and knowing they would win in a stern chase, but they did not take his micro jumping capability into consideration. Mike chose the ship farthest away and ordered Kirsten to set up a micro jump, or a series of micro jumps, to intercept it. He wasn’t familiar enough with her capabilities to make the calculations himself, but he wasn’t needed for that. She complied, and an hour later that ship ceased to exist.

  It took eight more hours to track down and destroy the two remaining fighters, but in the end, they, too, succumbed. Kirsten then micro jumped back to the cruiser. Mike held station there, hesitant to finish it off, but knowing he must.

  Josh approached him, still within the net, knowing how Mike felt. It was impossible to hide feelings within the net. “Permission to speak, Sire,” he said. Mike sensed an illusory hand going around his shoulder.

  “I’m whipped. How about you?” he asked Josh.

  “Yup, but we don’t pay attention to that, do we,” he stated. “I have a suggestion. How about we board her, take her over?”

  Startled, Mike mentally sat up and paid attention. “She’s done in, Josh. She’s a wreck. Look at her! Let’s finish her off.”

  “We can, but if they haven’t deleted their files yet, she might have some treasures for our intelligence people.”

  “She’s just an Empire cruiser, Josh. We know everything we need to know about them.”

  “You know all you need to know about Empire cruisers, but you might not know everything about this particular one. She has people aboard with knowledge we might be able to use, and she has Chessori aboard. Wouldn’t they be interesting to interrogate?”

  Mike paused. “Josh, what if she has one of the interstellar communications devices aboard?” His pulse quickened. “I’d give everything to get my hands on one of those. How would we go about doing it?”

  “Haven’t a clue,” Josh said with a chuckle. “First we have to get into the ship somehow, then I guess we have to secure one deck at a time, probably the hard way.” He paused for a time, considering. “Assuming we can get aboard, we can do it given sufficient time. What concerns me most is that they might blow up the ship with us in it. We’ll have a hard time protecting the Queen if we’re all dead. I’d still like to give it a try, though.”

  Mike left the net after issuing orders to the gunners to open fire on the cruiser again, concentrating only on taking out the remaining guns. Josh joined him outside the net, followed shortly by Captain Voorhees.

  “Captain, I think you can have the ship back again. We’ll stay right here in case the Chessori decide to try their scree on
us again, but she’s yours until they do. I need your council.”

  “Very well, Sire.” He issued orders to his bridge staff, who staggered back into the net to relieve Josh’s men.

  Mike briefed Voorhees as soon as he finished issuing his orders. “Josh here has a wild idea to board her. I like the idea. She might have information we could use. What do you think? Is such a thing possible?”

  Voorhees was shocked. “I don’t know!” he exclaimed. “Take over a capital ship? I don’t think it’s ever been done before. Let me give it some thought.” He turned away, then turned back to Mike. “What if they just blow themselves up when they figure out what you’re up to?”

  “Can they?”

  “I haven’t a clue. We’d better get the Chief up here.”

  “And we need someone else. Can you set up a tight beam to Brodor for me?”

  “At once, Sire. By the way, well done!”

  “We might not be done yet. The hardest part might be coming up,” Mike replied with a shiver.

  Otis greeted him with his toothy grin again. “Not bad for a cub, Sire. You’re learning.”

  Mike explained their plan and their predicament. Otis’ gaze narrowed to that of a predator as he considered. When he spoke, he focused on Josh. “I look forward to meeting you, Colonel. Your plan is admirable. As to the risk, it is impossible to evaluate. The ship may be capable of blowing itself up, it may just blow up anyway, but you have a couple of things in your favor. One, the survivors are not only in disarray, they are focused intently on damage control. The ship is very severely damaged. I cannot say if they even know you’re out there.

  “Three areas of the ship are critical to secure. First, the bridge. Any self destruct orders would have to come from there. Second, the engineering section. That would be the most likely area to initiate a self-destruct. Third, the communications area. If this interstellar communicator is aboard, that would be the most likely place to find it.”