Susan watched her bank of displays with a fixed, stony glare. The threatwell showed their situation only too well. On the hull of the once-great Firearrow, the last of the battle-shield projectors flickered and died. The Khaid ships which had survived the reckless pursuit were underway at last, pulling back from the unexpected weapon which had consumed their fellows. From what she saw on her ’well they would be successful in escaping the trap if they just reversed along their own drive trails.
They’re going to figure this out pretty fast, she mused, her thoughts filled with foreboding. They’ve got too much data on hand, and now they have the time to let it all sink in…
But for the moment, her way forward was clear. Behind, however, the flotilla of destroyers that had been nipping at the Naniwa ’s heels was still there, slowly closing range, their beam weapons snapping past or flaring out as the aft point-defense knocked them down. None of these hounds had the missile throw-weight to punch past her counter-missiles and Konev had gathered up fifteen or sixteen remote weapons platforms initially deployed by the Tokiwa and Asama in the early stages of the battle.
The platforms were low on munitions, but still had some capacity left. They were keeping pace, extending both her missile intercept envelope and the battle-cruiser’s sensor range, and in this kind of knife-fight Kosho would take anything she could get. Susan sat stiffly, back ramrod straight, and her eyes flickered across the arrayed data one more time. “We need to determine if there are any survivors,” she said softly, drawing Oc Chac’s attention. “We can take on several thousand, if we triple-bunk.”
The Mayan shook his head in dismay. “ Chu-sa! We’ll overtax environmentals in a few days with that sort of passenger load! Only we remain,” he ventured. “We dare not help them-”
There is no time for reckless gestures, Susan realized, brow furrowing sharply. We have to get out.
“Status of our hypercoil? How long to make gradient?”
The Mayan Zosen stared at her blankly, one dark-complected finger pressed to his earbug. “ Kyo? ”
“How long,” she said steadily, staring at him with a cold, considering expression, “to make transit to hyperspace?”
Oc Chac swallowed, dark eyes darting to his status panel. “Coil is down, Kyo. We’ve taken fragmentation damage along cells nineteen to thirty-six.” He looked up, expression impassive. “I need two hours to make her right, Chu-sa.”
Susan nodded, looking back to the threatwell. “We have no more than thirty minutes before they come at us again, Sho-sa. Take direct command of the repair crews.”
“ Hai, kyo! ” The engineer bolted from Command, speaking rapidly into his throatmike as he ran.
Plasma detonations blossomed in the threatwell, bracketing the Naniwa as she maneuvered.
“They’re getting our range, kyo,” Konev reported, voice hoarse. “We’ve lost two of the remotes.”
Susan’s gaze swept across her console. Though mauled, the battle-cruiser was still game for a fight, but against so many Khaid? Her eyes flicked up, fixing on the long-range sensors. The Pinhole was still abroil with radiation and shattered ships. Their emissions blocked any sign of what lay beyond in the ever thicker dust-clouds. She grimaced, tapping her earbug.
“Medical? Get our Swedish passenger up here-awake- right now! -with all of her possessions.”
Xochitl, the suited creature, and his Ocelomeh arrived at the evac-capsule cluster to find only one pod remaining. The other access-doors showed only empty cradles beyond thick glassite windows. The door to the last capsule was apparently stuck, as a motley collection of officers and ratings was banging away at the hatch with pry bars and other tools cribbed from the nearest damage control closet.
“Is it working?” the Jaguar Knight Cuauhhuehueh demanded, his voice booming on the local circuit.
A pale, sandy-haired man with Engineer’s insignia turned to face the Prince’s party. His light brown eyes registered the unit insignia of the Jaguars and his face grew still. “Yes. The capsule’s intact. The launch rails are clear and the release subsystems are showing green across the board. We just have to get the hatch open.”
Xochitl could see the pod was last in queue on the shared maglev launch tube. A rough ride out of Firearrow ’s guts. And then where?
«Staying mobile and capable of reacting to circumstance improves our chances of survival by several orders of magnitude,» the exo stated, displaying a variety of helpful graphs and comparison metrics on the Prince’s field of view.
Without orders, the Jaguars bulled forward and gestured the sailors away from the hatchway. Two of them-a cook and a midshipman from laundry-started to protest, but the engineer waved his companions back. He was watching Xochitl with a wary expression, his mouth a tight line.
The Prince met his gaze with a level stare. “How many of us will fit?”
The man’s eyes lost focus for an instant, and then he looked down at his hand-comp. “This one holds ten, Great Lord.”
Xochitl’s eyelid twitched. Including his Jaguars, there were twelve people floating in the compartment, most staring at him with suddenly wide eyes. His expression hardened as he considered the larger-than-human-size of his guest with a sidelong glance.
“Three of you must remain behind,” Xochitl declared, his exo whispering details of skills, time in service, and political reliability in one ear. A pistol-model shipgun was already in his hand and leveled on the two cafeteria attendants. They froze. The Prince’s face remained utterly cold as the pistol snapped twice, punching a flechette through each of their suit masks.
Everyone else jerked in surprise, stunned. One of the petty officers cried out, horrified, and jetted away down the corridor. One of the Jaguars raised his shipgun, but Xochitl waved him off. “Let him go-the rest of you, get the hatch open!”
Five minutes later, the Hjo clambered into the capsule, helped by the Cuauhhuehueh. The Prince watched the creature, whose mere existence had caused the loss of two Imperial lives, with barely controlled fury, then followed.
Moments later there was a reverberating bang and the evac capsule accelerated violently down the launch rail.