The blue-white jump flash faded as quickly as it had occurred, the main view screen automatically readjusting its brightness back to normal settings.
“Jump complete,” Abby reported.
Nathan looked at the main view screen. “Opticals on the target, insert and zoom in.”
Kaylah immediately pointed the ship’s long-range optical sensors on the Yamaro and magnified the image. She then put the view in a separate window and placed it in the middle of the main view screen at the front of the bridge for the captain to see.
Nathan turned his head toward Jessica, behind him at the tactical station. “Range to target?”
“Seventeen point nine million kilometers,” Jessica reported. “Three thousand kilometers per second closure.”
“Tug. What’s the max range of their missiles?”
“As you know, Captain, in space, there is no maximum range. However, their effective range is limited by their maximum velocity as well as the amount of energy expended to reach that speed. Generally speaking, you are currently at the extreme limits of their effective range. It is doubtful that any Ta’Akar captain would waste a missile from this range. And even if he did, it would take nearly two full minutes for the weapon to reach you. As you can see, not very effective.”
“Very well. Jess, we’ll call twenty million kilometers their max missile range from now on.”
“Got it.”
“Captain,” Tug said, “in order to ensure that he extends his shields to their maximum effective radius, you need to get him to launch his fighters. Doing so will require expanding his shields. It is standard procedure for them.”
“And how do we do that?”
“You must convince him that you intend to face him head on. It is a matter of pride for a captain to win a battle with as few scars to his ship as possible. If he believes you are about to attack, he will try to preoccupy you with his fighters, allowing him time to move closer and finish you with his main gun batteries.”
“So his order of battle is missiles, fighters, guns?”
“Correct.”
“So how do we get him to come after us?”
“Simple,” Jessica chimed in. “Pick a fight.”
The pristine landscape of Corinair’s capital city disintegrated with each blow from the warship orbiting high above the planet. The unprovoked attack which had begun only ten minutes ago had already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, with ten times as many unaccounted for.
Similar scenes were playing out in cities all over the planet’s primary continent. Those that were unlucky enough to lie under the attacker’s orbital path were the first to be targeted. Massive balls of red-orange energy streaked down from above, vaporizing everything within a kilometer of impact. That which was not vaporized was demolished by shock waves that extended several more kilometers beyond.
Aitkenna, the planet’s capital, had received the blunt of the initial attack, with most of its suburbs being equally targeted. The bombardment, which seemed to strike every ten seconds, was slowly making its way across the sprawling city as the attacking vessel progressed on its orbit. In a few more minutes the attack on this city would end, at least for now. Eventually, the warship would complete its orbit and once again be over the capital.
In the secret underground churches of the Order, in the homes of those afraid to venture out, and even in the battered streets, people huddled together and prayed as destruction rained down upon them. They prayed for reprieve, forgiveness, and for rescue. But mostly, they prayed that the sign witnessed the night before was indeed the sign of their salvation.
“Helm, reduce speed to ten thousand KPH.”
“For this ship, that’s a crawl,” Josh objected.
“A crawl is what we want right now.”
“Yes, sir. Reducing speed.”
“Ready to broadcast on all frequencies, sir,” the comm-officer reported.
Nathan stood up in front of his command chair. After straightening his uniform shirt and running his hands over his hair, he gestured to the comm-officer to begin recording.
“Attention, warship Yamaro. This is Nathan Scott, Captain of the United Earth Ship Aurora. I order you to cease your attack on the planet Corinair and stand down, or we will open fire and destroy your vessel. You have one minute to comply.” Nathan froze, staring coldly at the main view screen, trying to look imposing as he waited for the comm-officer to report the transmission was over.
“Transmission ended,” the comm-officer reported.
“How was that?” Nathan asked no one in particular.
“Very threatening,” Jessica answered, trying unsuccessfully to hide her sarcasm.
Nathan sneered at her. “So what now? We wait a minute and then head towards them?”
“Actually, sir,” Kaylah corrected. “You need to wait almost three minutes. We are nearly a full light minute out.”
“Of course.” Nathan turned and stepped up onto the back upper level of the bridge and moved around to stand by Tug. “How many people will die on Corinair over the next three minutes?” he asked.
“In times such as this, it is better not to dwell on such details,” Tug advised.
Nathan contemplated Tug’s words, wondering if that were even possible.
In a desperate attempt to thwart the attack, the leaders of Corinair launched their meager defensive forces. Wave after wave of attack squadrons, once loyal to the Ta’Akar, now targeted their weapons on the powerful vessel laying waste to their world. But the warship’s shields were too powerful and their attack squadron’s weapons simply exploded harmlessly upon impact. Not a single weapon ever came closer than a kilometer to their target.
As the small ships continued their attack, the warship began picking off the attacking fighters one by one with her guns. Of so little threat were the attacking swarms of combat spacecraft, the warship deemed it unnecessary to use her own fighters to dispatch them. To the captain of the Yamaro, the attacking fighters proved good target practice for his gunners.
As the Corinairan squadrons were rapidly reduced in number, the planet’s leaders were forced to launch their defense missiles. Unfortunately, this only angered the captain of the Yamaro, who thus far had chosen a rather languid pace at which to rain destruction down on their world. His intent had never been to destroy the entire planet. He had only hoped to punish them sufficiently while using the attack to draw the Earth ship into a fight that he was confident he would win. But now, these lesser subjects of the great empire which he served were committing the ultimate betrayal. They were attacking a Ta’Akar ship of the line-not only with pesky fighters, but with nuclear weapons as well.
As a result, the pace of the bombardment increased. Strikes began to happen every few seconds, leaving no gaps in destruction, no safe harbors in which to hide. It was apparent to the leaders of Corinair that the warship was now using all its delivery systems in order to quickly finish the job it had started. There was no longer any hope.
Then suddenly the bombardment stopped.
“Captain, the Yamaro has disengaged and is breaking orbit,” Jessica reported.
“You mean it worked?” Nathan said, finding it too good to be true.
“Not unless he’s trying to surrender in a hurry. He’s headed our way at full power and accelerating fast. I’m pretty sure he’s starting an attack run.”
“Incoming message,” the comm-officer reported.
“Put him up,” Nathan ordered.
A moment later, Captain de Winter’s image was again on the main screen, displayed in a separate window overlaying the exterior view of space.
“This is Captain de Winter of the warship Yamaro. In the name of Caius the Great, you are hereby ordered to surrender unconditionally. You are to power down all systems and prepare to be boarded. Failure to comply will be dealt with swiftly, surely, and in a manner most unpleasant.” The image immediately disappeared.
“I say,” Josh began, mocking the captain, “disagreeable chap, isn’t he?”
“Quite,” Loki responded in similar fashion.
“I guess we got our answer,” Nathan concluded.
“Do you wish to answer them, captain?” the comm-officer asked.
“No. I think he’ll understand our answer shortly.” Nathan returned to his command chair. “Helm, full speed ahead. We’ll take him head on.”
“What?” Josh questioned.
“Yeah, what?” Jessica agreed.
“At higher speeds, we’re less maneuverable-”
“Yeah. And head on we have fewer guns on the target,” Jessica pointed out.
“I want him to continue thinking that I’m young and dumb.”
“Well, he’d be half right,” Jessica muttered. Nathan rotated his command chair slowly around to look at her, one eyebrow raised. “You are young,” she added.
“Hopefully, he’ll also think that we either can’t or don’t want to use our jump drive. The longer he thinks he’s in a conventional ship-to-ship engagement, the longer it will take him to start thinking about how to defend against a ship with a jump drive.”
Josh increased the main engine’s thrust to full power, causing the ship to lurch slightly as it began to accelerate. “Main engines coming up to full thrust.”
Nathan turned back to Tug. “Missiles, fighters, guns… right?” Tug nodded agreement.
“Target is also accelerating,” Jessica reported. “He’ll have missile range on us any moment now.”
“How long do you think he’ll wait until he fires?” Nathan asked Tug.
“If it were me, I’d wait until my odds of a strike were better. But I tend to be more prudent in my use of ordnance.”
“Incoming,” Jessica announced. “Four missiles, all conventional, no nukes, accelerating hard. Impact in three minutes.”
“I guess he doesn’t mind wasting ordnance,” Nathan said.
“Curious,” Tug observed. “At this range, the missiles are easily defeated using rather simple maneuvers.” Tug considered the alternatives for a moment. “He may be hoping to lull you into a false sense of security.”
“A curve ball,” Nathan said.
“A curve ball?” Tug wondered.
“A slow pitch, looks easy to hit, then it changes direction at the last moment and you miss.” Tug still looked puzzled. “Never mind.”
“Captain? You want me to evade those missiles?” Josh asked.
“Nope. Hold your course.”
Josh looked over his shoulder at the captain, then at Loki.
“Helm, current speed?”
“Uh, twenty thousand KPH.”
“Reduce thrust to one percent.”
“But Captain, it’ll take us forever to accelerate-”
“I don’t want to accelerate. In fact, we’re going to want to go slower.”
Josh was now even more confused, but followed his captain’s orders nonetheless. “Reducing thrust to one percent.”
“Still trying to look stupid?” Jessica quipped.
“Indecisive would be more accurate. Send the missile track to Abby,” Nathan ordered. He then turned to Doctor Sorenson at the jump control console. “Abby, calculate your first jump from a point a split second before those missiles hit us, to a point like we talked about-five hundred meters forward and five hundred meters to port of that ship.”
“Understood.”
“Can you do that in two minutes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Great,” Nathan told her. “Josh, just before we jump you’re gonna pitch over so we’re flying backwards, and you’re going to bring the mains back up to full thrust. We need to slow down as much as we can so we get a chance to do some damage before we blow past him.”
“Okay,” Josh answered, trying not to look nervous. “And that won’t screw up our jump?”
Nathan had assumed that it wouldn’t matter, as long as their flight path remained the same. But as he wasn’t entirely sure, he looked to Abby.
“It shouldn’t be an issue,” she promised. “Just don’t start your deceleration any sooner than necessary, as an abrupt change in speed could slightly alter our arrival point.”
Nathan gestured understandingly at Abby as he continued instructing his new helmsman. “You’re also going to have to roll us over just enough to get our topsides facing the target as we slide past her. We need to get as many guns as possible on her.”
“No problem,” Josh told him. He looked at Loki, who didn’t look any more confident than he felt.
“Missile impact in ninety seconds,” Jessica reported.
“When do you think he will launch his fighters?” Nathan asked Tug.
“Only when he believes he has severely wounded you… or when he becomes desperate.”
“I’m hoping for the second reason, myself,” Nathan told him. “Kaylah, what’s the current radius of the target’s shield bubble?”
“One point five kilometers, sir.”
“Excellent, plenty of room,” Nathan reassured himself. “Jessica, spin up the rail guns, kinetic rounds only, fastest fire rate they can muster. And point them all straight up.”
“Aye, sir. Kinetic rounds, full rate auto-fire. Pre-aiming all batteries straight up.”
Nathan noticed a smile on Tug’s face.
“I imagine that Captain de Winter is wondering why you are not firing your long-range weapons at him as well.”
“Yeah, he must think I’m a real idiot. He doesn’t know that I don’t have any left,” Nathan answered, also smiling.
Tug’s expression changed to one of concern.
“Missile impact in sixty seconds,” Jessica reported.
“Helm, main propulsion to zero thrust. Abby, prepare to jump.”
“Helm answering zero thrust. Speed twenty five thousand KPH.”
“Jessica?” Vladimir’s voice called over Jessica’s comm-set.
“Yeah, Vlad, go ahead,” she answered through her comm-set.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, but we’re a little busy up here-”
“Are you aware we are at zero thrust?” he asked, his voice curiously concerned.
“Yeah, we’re trying to look stupid.”
“Of course,” Vladimir answered, still confused.
“Don’t worry. It’s all part of the plan. Gotta run.” Jessica switched off her mic and returned her attention to her console. “Missile impact in thirty seconds.”
Nathan let out a long, slow exhalation. He was about to take his ship into battle against a vastly superior enemy who had already demonstrated hostile intent not only to his ship, but to his own empire’s subjects on Corinair. There was no longer any doubt in Nathan’s mind that what they were doing was right. Now all his doubts centered on whether or not his plan would work.
Abby flipped open the safety cover on the jump button to begin her countdown. “Jumping in five,
“Now, Josh! Pitch over and roll!” Nathan ordered. Josh immediately pushed the Aurora’s nose down and her tail up, as hard as he could, starting a slow roll at the same time.
“Four-”
“I hope this works,” Nathan muttered to himself.
“Three-”
“Pitch and roll complete,” Josh reported gleefully.
“Two-”
“Mains to full power!” Nathan ordered. “Jess! Fire all rail guns!”
“One-”
“Mains at full power,” Josh reported.
“Jumping,” Abby reported as she pressed the red jump button on her console.
The incoming missiles were met with a sudden flash of blue-white light, after which their target vanished, leaving nothing but an empty hole in space before them. Having lost their target lock, they simply continued forward at break-neck speeds, their acquisition systems automatically changing back to search mode.
A blue-white flash appeared approximately five hundred meters ahead and to port of the Yamaro. When the flash quickly subsided, the Aurora could be seen, her main engines ablaze and her rail guns spewing out projectiles in tight streams as she slid past the surprised Yamaro.
“Jump complete,” Abby reported.
“Main viewer to topside!” Nathan ordered.
The image on the main view screen suddenly switched to the view of the topside cameras, looking directly upward. The scene showed a swath of destruction being ripped across the side of the Yamaro as the Aurora’s rail guns blasted away at her indiscriminately. The increased rate of fire as well as the increased rail velocities were making a huge difference, as the Aurora’s guns were now able to inflict twice the damage in the same amount of time. But at the speeds the two ships were traveling, their closure rate on one another was even faster. The first pass gave them only a few seconds of attack at the most. As soon as it had started, they found themselves sliding past the Yamaro and rapidly falling behind her.
“Jesus!” Nathan exclaimed. “Did you see that?”
“Damn, that was nice,” Jessica agreed.
“Kaylah, how do his shields look?”
“Weakened, sir. He lost quite a few emitters along his port side, but they’re still holding.”
“Helm, kill the mains and pitch back over.”
“Aye, sir. Pitching over.”
Jessica switched the main view screen back to its default view from the forward facing cameras.
Nathan turned to Tug. “Do you think we’ll get another pass?”
“If he does not adjust his shields too quickly, then yes. But do not delay your attack.”
“Kaylah,” Nathan called, “keep your eyes on his shield radius. Let me know if it changes.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Pitch over complete, Captain,” Josh reported.
“Go to full power and come about on a pursuit course. I want to be just a little faster than him on our next pass.”
“Yes, sir. Full power,” Josh announced as he pushed the throttles forward. “Coming about.”
“I’m feeding a pursuit course now,” Loki reported.
“Contact is turning to port,” Jessica reported. He’s trying to bring his guns to bear.”
“Helm, reverse your turn,” Nathan ordered, noticing that with the Yamaro now turning to port, they were turning into him instead of with him. “Drop your speed and come about to port as fast as you can. He’s got a lot more speed up than we do, so we should be able to turn inside him and set up for another jump pass before he comes around. And we can do more damage if we pass him in the same direction.”
“Yes, sir.”
The ship immediately began to lean back over to the left, the stars on the view screen rolling slightly in a clockwise direction. The inertial dampeners, still not at full operational strength, only partially compensated for the ship’s movement and acceleration. Even though he had been dealing with such sensations for days, it still required conscious effort.
“Abby, we’re going to try and get in position behind him for another jump pass. But he’s turning, so you’re going to have to try and anticipate his position at the time of the jump. This time, preferably just barely inside his shield perimeter. Since he’s turning, we may need room to maneuver,” he told her.
“Yes sir,” she answered.
“Oh, and put us below and astern of him.”
“Yes, sir.” Abby began pre-plotting the next jump, trying to use the navigation info currently being fed to her from Loki and Jessica. She knew she could calculate a tentative jump based on the data using her best guess at exactly where both they and their enemy would be at the time of the jump. She could even calculate a small margin within which a jump would be safe even if either target were slightly out of position. At such short jump distances, the timing could be slightly more inexact without the consequences being too dire.
“Good boy,” Nathan commended Josh. “You’re getting inside his turn.”
“Contact is reducing speed, trying to tighten his turn.”
“Stay with him, Josh. How’s the target’s shields, Kaylah?” Nathan asked.
“No change sir, still at one point five kilometers.”
“Set your distance from target to one kilometer, Abby.”
“One kilometer, aye.”
Nathan smiled slightly, noticing that Abby was beginning to sound more like a bridge officer each day.
“He’s launching missiles again,” Jessica reported from tactical. “Four more. Still no nukes.”
“Time to impact?”
“Four minutes. Looks like he can only launch them forward. They’ll take a little longer to reach us. They have to make their turn first.”
“That’s okay,” Nathan said. “In one minute, we won’t be on his tail any longer.”
“Contact is reversing his turn!” Jessica reported.
“Come back to starboard, Josh. Keep pointed slightly off his starboard side.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh answered as he reversed his turn to starboard.
“Abby?” Nathan asked, wondering if she was ready to jump.
“Ten more seconds,” she pleaded. “I had to update for his turn.”
“Don’t bother with a countdown, Abby. The word jumping will do.”
Abby watched as the progress bar on the transition plot calculations screen passed through ninety-six percent, ninety-seven, ninety-eight. Come on, she thought. The progress bar showed complete and the screen displayed the phrase Transition Plot Locked. “Jumping!” she announced as she hit the button.
The bridge again filled with the flash of the jump.
“Jump complete!” Abby announced, a wave of relief washing over her.
“He’s reversed his turn again!” Jessica yelled from tactical.
Nathan looked at the main view screen. They had jumped to a position only slightly astern of the Yamaro and just off her port side. They were considerably closer than one kilometer, and were only a few meters below the enemy warship at best. “Pitch down! Hard to port! Fire all guns!”
“Oh shit,” Josh mumbled as he pushed the Aurora’s nose down sharply, diving underneath the Yamaro as she moved over them from right to left. As soon as he knew they weren’t going to smash into the enemy ship’s underside, he leveled off his pitch maneuver and turned hard to port to try and match the Yamaro’s turn.
Nathan looked up at the portion of the view screen that was directly overhead. As the Yamaro passed within a few meters of them, he was pretty sure that if he understood their language, he could’ve read the lettering on one of the access panels on her external hull.
“A bit more roll, Josh,” Jessica called out, not bothering to waste time going through Nathan. “I need a better angle to get the starboard guns on him.”
Josh also didn’t wait for Nathan, rolling the Aurora slightly more to port in response to Jessica’s request.
Their speeds almost equal, the Aurora eased ahead of the Yamaro ever so slightly. “Watch your speed, Josh. Let’s try to keep our guns on him as long as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Abby, tell me you’re already plotting an escape jump.”
“From the moment I said jump complete,” she assured him.
“When the time comes, we’re going to break to starboard and run,” Nathan announced for the benefit of both Josh and Abby.
They all watched the upper portion of the main view screen as their rail guns ripped apart the underside of the Yamaro. As close as they still were, pieces flying off the enemy’s underside occasionally struck the Aurora as well.
“He’s turning tighter than us,” Jessica reported. “He’s starting to pull away. Range fifty meters and increasing.”
“Stay with him, Josh,” Nathan ordered.
“I’m trying.”
“Why isn’t he firing back at us?” Nathan asked Tug. They had already had their guns on them for over ten seconds, more than three times as long as on their first pass.
“His guns can’t target anything this close. They never expected a ship to be able to get inside their shields.”
“What about his fighters?”
“He can’t launch them while he’s maneuvering. It’s too dangerous. Besides, as long as you can still go to your maximum sub-light velocity, or jump, his fighters won’t be able to catch you. He needs to slow you down first.”
“And we won’t stay in one place long enough for him to hit us.”
“Correct.”
For a moment, Nathan felt that he was doing pretty good. But only for a moment.
Suddenly, the Yamaro began losing speed, and she quickly disappeared from the view screens as the warship slid behind them.
“Target is braking hard!” Jessica reported.
Nathan stood suddenly from his command chair. “You’re over-shooting-”
“Firing braking thrusters,” Josh reported.
“Range to contact, one kilometer!”
“Shit, she’s moving away too fast,” Nathan declared. “Helm hard to starboard, full speed ahead! Abby, emergency jump as soon as you’re ready!”
“Range to contact, one point five kilometers!” Jessica updated.
The ship began to vibrate and hum, with several systems shorting out and throwing sparks.
“We’re passing out of his shield bubble, sir!” Kaylah added.
The Aurora began to shake violently as the Yamaro’s main gun batteries began to pound their hull.
“Josh, zero thrust, pitch over and show them our belly!”
Feeling guilty for having let the enemy ship slip away from them, Josh followed orders without hesitation, even though he didn’t really understand why.
“I can’t get any guns on him at this angle,” Jessica warned.
“I can’t afford to show him our tail,” Nathan protested. “If he takes out main propulsion, we won’t stand a chance.”
“Jumping!” Abby yelled. Nathan felt a wave of relief wash over him as the room filled with the light from the jump. The sounds of the explosions that had been rocking the ship were suddenly gone, leaving only the sounds of comm-chatter and condition alarms from the various consoles.
“Jump complete,” she reported a moment later.
“Damage report,” Nathan ordered.
“Lost three of the four aft rail guns. And engineering reports the number four main drive thrust port is damaged and offline. Maximum sub-light velocity is now estimated at half light.” Jessica looked up from her console. “Other than that, mostly just outer hull damage.”
“A few of the aft emitters aren’t answering, Captain,” Abby added. “But since we did successfully jump, they are either working but not reporting, or nearby emitters were able to compensate.”
“But we can still jump, right?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, I believe so,” she answered, “and we still have more than eighty percent charge.”
“What’s our position?”
“About one light minute out,” Jessica reported. The Yamaro is at our eight o’clock.
“Josh, take the main drive to one percent thrust and come about, slow and easy.”
“One percent thrust, coming about.”
“Kaylah, his shields?”
“Give me a minute, sir. I’ve gotta wait for the light to catch up.”
“Medical, bridge,” Nathan called over the comms.
“Medical,” the voice answered.
“This is the captain. How is Commander Taylor doing?”
“She’s in surgery now, Captain. Would you like me to check on her condition for you?”
Nathan could hear the sounds of chaos in the background. Although they had only taken a few injuries thus far, Medical had already been overflowing with patients.
“No, thank you. Please let us know when there is news.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nathan clicked off the comm.
“She’ll be all right,” Jessica softly assured him.
“Yeah.”
“Captain,” Kaylah called, “the enemy ship has pulled in their shields. They’re at one hundred meters now, and contoured to his basic hull shape.”
“We can’t jump inside of that,” Nathan said. “That’s way too close.”
“True,” Tug agreed. “But it’s also too close for him to launch his fighters.”
“Captain, I’m also picking up a fluctuation in his aft shields, along the bottom edge under his main drive section.”
“If he is contouring his shields, it would put additional strain on the emitters. If some were damaged, the contouring would make it more difficult for emitters to compensate for neighboring malfunctioning ones. That fluctuation may in fact be a hole in his shields. If it is, you may be able to get a shot through and take out his propulsion plant.”
“It would have to be a very good shot.”
“Not really. They depend too much on their new shields. Their hulls are not as robustly constructed as they once were.”
“You mean they don’t build them like they used to?” Nathan said, making fun of the way that the Angla language seemed to always use the most complicated way to say something. Vladimir had once described it as ‘reaching around with your right hand to scratch you left ear.’
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“But we’ll still have to jump in close, to avoid his guns, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Abby plot a jump to a position as close in as possible, behind and below him.” Nathan turned to face the helm. “Josh, reduce your speed to one thousand KPH.”
“Are you serious?” Josh protested. “I’ve done docking approaches at faster than that.”
“One thousand KPH, please.”
“One thousand KPH, aye.”
Nathan turned to Jessica, an idea forming in his mind. “Jess? Can you slave all the rail guns to target as one?”
“Sure.”
“Just how good a shot are you?”
“With a rifle? Damn good. With rail guns? If you can get your pilot to get us in close and hold her steady, all I’ve got to do is put the little red dot on the target. The fire control system will do the rest.”
“Can you show her where to put the dot?” Nathan asked Tug.
“Yes. I believe so.”
“Abby, let me know when you’re ready to jump. Josh, as soon as we jump, you have to pitch over again and fire the mains at full thrust so that we can change our direction of travel as quickly as possible so as not to fall too far behind the enemy.”
“I don’t know, Captain. Maybe you’d better do it?”
Nathan knew exactly how Josh felt. It was the way he felt right now about being Captain. “You can do it, Josh. You’re already better at flying this thing than I am.”
“But I don’t know all the tricks. I mean, that guy got over on me real quick, you know?”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ve got instincts. Trust them. That’s what flying is all about.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh answered.
A few moments later, Abby spoke up. “Jump is plotted, Captain.”
“Very well. Everyone ready?” Nathan looked around the bridge. Seeing no signs of objection, he gave the command. “Let her rip.”
“Jumping,” Abby announced.
Another brief flash of blue-white light and the view screen suddenly showed the Yamaro up close and personal, just above their heads as she streaked past them.
“Pitch over one eighty and all ahead full, Josh!” Nathan ordered.
Josh pitched the nose up and over sharply as he rolled the ship over to put her guns on the target ahead of him. As soon as his pitch over was nearly complete, he fired the main engines at full thrust. Even with one thrust port out of service, the other three were more than powerful enough for the smaller and more maneuverable Aurora to quickly reverse her direction of travel and catch up to the Yamaro as she tried to escape.
“Range to target, three kilometers and closing,” Jessica reported.
“Pick your target out as soon as you can and open up, Jess,” Nathan instructed. “As soon as he figures out what we’re up to, he’s either going to roll over and deny us a shot, or try that braking maneuver again.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered. She had already called up one of the ship’s forward cameras and was using it to zoom in on the target and let Tug inspect it to find the exact point she should aim for. “Two kilometers and closing.”
Nathan watched as the enemy ship continued on its course, making no evasive maneuvers whatsoever. “Why isn’t he maneuvering?”
“Captain!” Kaylah shouted. “His aft sensor array is in shreds! He can’t see us!”
“Hot damn!” Nathan declared, realizing they had just gotten the luckiest break they could ask for.
“One kilometer!” Jessica reported.
“There,” Tug stated, pointing at the image on the tactical console and zooming in. Aim there.”
“Target acquired and locked, Captain,” Jessica reported. “Waiting for optimum firing range.”
“Come on, Josh. A little bit more.”
“Five hundred meters.”
“A little more,” Nathan coaxed.
“Two hundred and fifty meters.”
“Close enough. Fire!” Nathan ordered.
All remaining eleven rail guns fired their explosive hull penetrating rounds at the same time, and on the same exact spot on the underside of the Yamaro. The first few hundred rounds tore away at the outer hull enough that the following rounds were able to penetrate the hull and wreak havoc inside the engineering section of the warship. Within moments, secondary explosions began to rock the ship, sending sections of her outer hull spiraling away.
“Cease fire! Disengage and peel off!”
The Aurora dove down and banked to starboard, turning away from the damaged warship as more explosions rocked her aft section.
“Her shields are down, Captain!” Kaylah reported.
“She’s slowing as well,” Cameron reported. “I think she’s losing power,” Jessica reported.
“Maintain full power, Josh. Get us away from her guns.”
Nathan rotated around in his seat to look at Jessica. “Nice shootin’ Tex.” Jessica just winked, and then looked back down at her console. “She’s launching fighters.”
“So, this would mean that he’s desperate, right?” Nathan asked Tug.
“I’d say yes.”
“New contact!” Kaylah reported. “Transferring to tactical.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“It’s multiple contacts,” Jessica corrected. “I’m picking up at least three more squadrons of Ta’Akar fighters coming from Corinair, sir.”
“What the hell?”
“Yup, they’re definitely coming in on an intercept bearing.”
“So we’re caught in between two waves of fighters?”
“Yes, sir. That’s the way it looks.”
“Any chance we can hold them off with rail guns?”
“A slim chance.”
“Damn it.” Nathan turned to Abby. “Abby, whenever you’re ready.”
“One minute.”
“What do you plan to do?” Jalea asked.
“I guess we’ll just have to keep jumping out of range until we can reposition and jump back into the vicinity of the Yamaro and finish him off once and for all. Then we can just stand off until those fighters run out of fuel and have to land.”
“Captain, is there no way that we can capture that ship in one piece?” Tug begged. “Even if she cannot be repaired, the weapons and technology on her could be added to your ship. It would be a big help.”
It was an idea that Nathan had already considered. But in light of new developments, he just didn’t see a way to make it happen, especially if the Yamaro was actually getting support from Corinair.
“I don’t get it,” Nathan said. “That ship was bombing them back into the stone age. Why would they come to their rescue?”
“Perhaps to prove their loyalty to the Empire, despite their treatment, in the hopes that the captain of the Yamaro might spare them out of gratitude.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“We’re ready to jump, Captain,” Abby reported.
“Very well-”
“Captain, wait!” Jessica interrupted. “The incoming fighters aren’t adjusting their intercept course to stay on us.” Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. “The fighters from the surface aren’t coming after us, sir! They’re going after the Yamaro’s fighters.”
“You’re kidding!” Lucky break number two, Nathan thought.
Although a few of them took passing shots as they streaked by, the Yamaro’s fighters mostly ignored the Aurora as they continued on and met the incoming Corinairan fighters.
“Yes!” Nathan exclaimed.
“The two groups are now engaged,” Jessica reported.
“What about the Yamaro?” Nathan asked. “Where is he now?”
“He’s trying to run behind Corinair, sir,” Kaylah reported.
“Josh,” Nathan started.
“I’m after him,” Josh interrupted as he changed course.
“Captain, if he gets too close to the planet, we won’t be able to jump in close any more,” Abby reported. “The planet’s gravity will make it too risky.”
“And he’s still got guns, so we can’t just run up to him at sub-light.”
“But he doesn’t know that, does he?” Nathan asked, not really expecting an answer. “Abby, plot a jump to put us behind him again. Let’s take advantage of his blind spot once more.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Comms, hail the Yamaro. I want to speak to Captain de Winter.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What are you going to say to him?” Jalea asked.
“I’m going to offer him a chance to surrender,” Nathan said.
“Nathan,” Jalea said, “I highly doubt he would even consider-”
“She is correct, Captain,” Tug interrupted. “His honor is at stake, as is the honor and security of his family.”
“So, he’d rather die than be dishonored?”
“Death before dishonor. It is the way of the nobleman,” Tug explained.
“Well, you may be right. But offering someone an opportunity to surrender is our way. It’s something that we consider honorable. In fact, we consider it just as honorable to surrender against inevitable defeat, rather than sacrificing your forces needlessly.”
“Also a noble sentiment,” Tug agreed.
“I’ve got the captain of the Yamaro on the comms sir.”
“On screen,” Nathan ordered. A moment later, the pompous image of Captain de Winter filled their main view screen once more.
“You’ve done surprisingly well for yourself thus far, Captain Scott. I congratulate you.”
“I’m offering you a chance to surrender, sir. There’s no need for you or your crew to die in the cold of space.”
“My, but you are an overconfident young man, aren’t you?” he said with a laugh, after which his transmission ended.
“I’m the overconfident one?” Nathan muttered.
“Jump is plotted,” Abby reported.
“Rail guns ready, Jess?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Josh, when we come out of the jump, flip us over and pull us in over the top of him. We’ll linger there as long as we can before jumping out.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jess, concentrate fire on his guns. We need to remove his claws. Maybe that will deflate his ego a bit.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” she answered.
“Abby, I’m going to need a really fast escape jump. Even a few light seconds will do.”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right then. One more time. Jump.”
“Jumping,” Abby reported.
Again the flash filled the bridge. Suddenly, the main view screen was filled with the image of the Yamaro, not more than a few hundred meters away, and the planet Corinair, which was now filling nearly half the screen.
“Whoa! Up and over, Josh!”
Josh pulled the nose up and rolled the ship over as they pulled up over the top of the Yamaro, matching her speed as he did so.
“Open fire,” Nathan ordered calmly.
The Aurora’s rail guns again began ripping apart the exterior of the Yamaro. Targeting her main guns, which were of no use to her at such close ranges, the rapid strikes of the explosive projectiles shredded the enemy’s weapons in seconds.
“She’s lost most of her main guns, Captain. Only about six of them left on her forward half,” Jessica reported.
“She’s launching more fighters!” Kaylah announced.
“Helm, back us away. Jess, re-target all guns on the fighters. Try to pick them off as they launch.”
Josh began shaving off speed in order to slowly back away from the enemy ship. Fighters began shooting out of her sides. The rail guns were able to pick of the first few fighters, but their pilots quickly caught on and began ducking down under the Yamaro for cover immediately after launch.
“It’s no good, they’re too fast,” Jessica admitted. “I can’t track them all.”
“Raise the Yamaro again,” Nathan ordered.
Again the main screen displayed the image of Captain de Winter from the bridge of the Yamaro. However, this time, the visual was distorted, as was the audio.
“You have one more chance to surrender, Captain.”
“I am a nobleman. Better to die in space than in a prison cell. You’ll have no surrender from me,” he responded before ending the brief transmission.
“Ready to jump, sir,” Abby reported.
“Captain,” Jessica said, appearing somewhat puzzled. “The fighters. They’re breaking off. They’re not coming after us.”
“Where are they headed?”
“Out into space, apparently.”
“What the-”
“Uh oh,” Jessica interrupted. “I’m detecting multiple missile launches on the surface.”
“From Corinair?”
“Yes, sir,” Jessica answered, just as confused as Nathan.
“Are they targeting us?”
“I don’t think so. At least I’m not detecting any weapons locks on us.”
“Incoming message from the Yamaro, sir,” the comm-officer reported.
Nathan looked at Tug, another puzzled look on his face.
“Put him on,” Nathan told him.
The image of a different man came onto the screen. He was standing on the bridge of the Yamaro. He was younger and not as spit and polished as Captain de Winter had been. Although Nathan did not understand the Ta’Akar rank insignias, it seemed obvious that this man was of a subordinate rank.
“To whom am I speaking?” Nathan asked.
“I am Ensign Willard. I offer our immediate surrender.”
Nathan had to fight to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. “I thought noblemen didn’t surrender,” he said. He knew it was probably not the best response as it left his lips.
“The nobles who previously commanded this vessel have been forcibly detained. I am now in command of the Yamaro. Again, I offer it to you in unconditional surrender.”
Nathan could tell that the man was very nervous about something. “Very well. We accept your surrender. Power down everything except your flight deck and life support. A boarding crew will be on its way to you shortly.”
The Ta’Akar ensign on the screen nodded respectfully just before the transmission ended.
“Now what do you think prompted that?” Nathan asked.
“It could have something to do with the dozen or so nuclear missiles that are currently locked onto them,” Jessica smiled. “Impact in three minutes.”
“Comm, contact the Corinair leadership, and ask them to abort those missiles. Let them know we are taking possession of the Yamaro, and we will be delivering her captain to them to face whatever charges they deem fit.
“Yes, sir.”
“Jess, prepare a boarding team.”
“You want us to fly them over, Captain?” Josh asked.
“If you guys leave, who the hell’s going to fly this ship?” Nathan said with a smile. “Tug, can you fly the shuttle?”
“Of course.”
“Kaylah? Are they complying?”
“Yes, sir, I’m showing systems shutting down all across their ship. Weapons were first.”
“Very well. Jess, collect their command staff. We’ll hold them in our brig for now. Once you get that ship secure in orbit, lock their crew up on their ship until we can figure out how to get them to the surface.”
“Yes, sir,” Jessica said. A smile started to creep onto her face as she left the bridge. She finally felt like she had a captain.
“She is seriously injured.” Doctor Chen paused to check the readings on the monitor display above Cameron’s bed. Nathan looked down at his friend. She was still unconscious. Her face was swollen, her head bandaged, and she was intubated, her breathing controlled by machines. She had a multitude of tubes and wires coming out of her, and there was a considerable amount of padding around her pelvis to stabilize her. Despite the fact that she was stable for now, she looked a hell of a lot worse than Captain Roberts had right before he had died.
“She has fractures of the pelvis and ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. She may also have some brain damage. There was quite a lot of intracranial pressure that had to be relieved in a hurry. And we’re still draining blood from her peritoneum, so there’s still some unresolved bleeding that we didn’t catch the first time around.”
“Why not?” Nathan asked, realizing too late that it might have sounded accusatory.
“She was just too unstable. It was better to close her up and let her stabilize a bit. We can keep giving her blood-there’s no shortage of donors on board-and we can keep draining the blood out of her abdomen. But eventually, we have to go back in and find the bleeders.”
“But you can find them, right?”
“Probably. But you have to remember, Captain; I came on board this ship to start my residency. I am not a trauma surgeon, not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“You’re all we’ve got, Doc.”
“Maybe not. Have you considered seeking medical assistance from- What was it called? Corinair? I mean, didn’t we just save their world? Surely that’s got to be worth something. And if they’re as advanced as I suspect, they could probably take considerably better care of her down there, in a real hospital, than I can up here.”
“It’s complicated,” Nathan said softly, as he stared at Cameron.
“Well you need to find a way to un-complicate it, Captain, before she dies.”
Nathan stood at her bedside for several minutes, thinking about what the doctor had said.
“How is she?” Jessica asked as she entered the room.
“Not good,” Nathan said. “Get everything squared away?”
“Yup. Got all the noblemen locked up on our brig. The rest of their crew is locked up in one of their cargo holds for now.”
“How many?”
“Only a couple hundred.”
“For a ship that size?”
“Seems a lot of it is automated.”
“What about the fighters that were still out?” Nathan asked.
“Most of them tried to bail out over Corinair. Most were captured from what I could tell. But a few may have gotten away. If they did, I suspect they’ll try to just blend in and disappear-ride it all out, so to speak.”
“Yeah.”
Jessica paused to look at Cameron. As tough as she was, she couldn’t help but feel something at seeing her friend and commanding officer in such condition.
“Listen, Nathan, there’s another problem. Enrique caught me on my way over here. He showed me some news footage he collected over the last day or so. It’s pretty crazy.” She handed him her data pad, activating it and showing him the video footage she had spoken off.
Nathan watched for several minutes before speaking. “This is not good,” he admitted, a chill washing over him.
“Yeah. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen after that little incident in the interrogation room the other day.”
Nathan sat in the cargo area of the shuttle. Captain de Winter sat next to Nathan, and the twelve members of his command staff sat along each side of the cargo bay, chained together in rows of six.
Jessica, Enrique, and two marines, all of them armed, had accompanied them on the way down to Corinair, as had Tug and Jalea. All were dressed in the best attire they could muster, which wasn’t much considering the circumstances.
“You know, Captain, the Ta’Akar will never stand for this,” Captain de Winter said to Nathan.
“What? The imprisonment of a few arrogant noblemen?” Nathan asked. “I doubt there is a shortage.”
“No, of course not,” the captain admitted. “I speak of the civil war you have sparked.”
“If anyone sparked a civil war, Captain, it was you. Did you really think you could bomb an entire planet, and the people on it would just lie down and die?”
“While that may be true, Captain, it is you the Ta’Akar will hunt down, not I.”
“No. I suspect you’ll meet your fate far sooner,” Nathan told him as he rose to move to another seat.
Nathan walked carefully across the bouncing shuttle as it made its way to the spaceport of Corinair’s capital city, taking a seat at the far end next to Marcus.
“Captain,” Marcus greeted. “Kinda ironic, ain’t it?”
“How so?”
“Just a few hours ago, we was shootin’ our way outta this place, and now they’re welcoming us back with open arms.”
Nathan nodded silent agreement.
“Five minutes!” Tug called out from the cockpit. He and Jalea had chosen to fly the shuttle on this trip as well, leaving Josh and Loki aboard the Aurora as her flight crew. Although Vladimir had wanted to come along, Nathan had to leave someone in charge that he could trust.
Nathan had wrestled with his decision to come down to Corinair for several hours. In the end, the Corinair forces had come to his aid and assisted in the defeat of the Ta’Akar warship that had devastated their world. But other than some communications through official channels, he had not had any direct conversations with any of them. And based on the video and audio recordings gathered by his makeshift Sig-Int staff, he feared what his visit to this world might lead to.
His decision had finally come down to one issue. Cameron was unlikely to survive without better medical care than Doctor Chen could provide, and these people, with all their advanced technologies, were her best hope. When put into the simplest of terms, his decision had been easy.
The shuttle came in smooth and easy, the spaceport’s auto-flight systems remotely piloting the ship to a perfect landing in the middle of the tarmac just outside the main terminal building. The ship rolled up to the terminal and made a quick one hundred and eighty degree turn so as to point its rear loading ramp towards the terminal itself.
“We have arrived,” Tug announced from the cockpit as he began shutting down the shuttle’s systems in order to secure the ship. He had no idea how long they would be on the surface of Corinair this time around, but he was quite sure it would be for at least a few hours.
Nathan stood, as did everyone else on board the shuttle. The two marines began checking each prisoner’s bindings to ensure that all were secure.
After checking his bindings, Enrique brought Captain de Winter to the rear of the shuttle and prepared to lead him out behind Nathan and Jessica.
“Enjoy your moment in the sun, Captain Scott,” Captain de Winter told him. “It may be your last.”
Nathan took a deep breath and nodded at Marcus standing at the side of the main rear cargo hatch. Marcus hit the button and the rear hatch began to open, the top swinging slowly away from the ship on its way downward. The smell of smoke, death, and destruction wafted into the shuttle from outside. As the hatch began to come down, Nathan could see the destruction and the crumpled skyline of the city beyond the main terminal building. As the hatch descended below their eye line, it revealed a huge crowd of people massed in front of the main terminal building. There were literally thousands of them, all jammed in together. They were holding some kind of artifacts or religious symbols in their hands. And there were signs, lots of them in fact. He couldn’t read their language, but many of them seemed to say the same thing. Then he noticed that a few of the signs were written in Angla. The lettering was somewhat different than the English he was accustomed to, but he was pretty sure he could make out the words ‘savior’, ‘legend’, and ‘origin’. Nathan felt a shiver go down his spine.
The crowd was bordered on both sides by at least fifty armed soldiers. In front of the crowd were several official looking gentlemen in suits. They were standing on a raised platform that was polished to perfection despite the mangled condition of the rest of the city. Flanking them on either side were at least a dozen more armed men. Nathan was sure these men were some sort of leaders or local dignitaries. Suddenly, a row of twelve military drummers to his left began tapping their drums in a unified pattern and tempo. The row of drum wielding men had been so far back as to be almost even with the back edge of the shuttle. Had they not started playing, Nathan might not have even noticed them.
Again, without warning, another row of men on the opposite side began playing instruments Nathan had never seen before, at least not in person. They were some sort of bags held under one arm, with a lot of pipes coming out. The musicians were squeezing the bags that Nathan assumed were full of air with their arms. They manipulated a long pipe that came from their mouths down to the bags of air. The sound they created was haunting: a single, constant base note, with a dancing melody playing over it.
Nathan remembered having seen something similar in recordings from the Data Ark. There had been a country on Earth, before the great bio-digital plague. It had been called Scotland. It was one of the countries of old Earth that had been completely decimated by the plague and had never recovered. The few that had survived and fled the island had moved to mainland Europe. To this day, only a few thousand people still lived on that island. But that instrument-he remembered seeing it, hearing it.
The haunting music squealed from the instruments as the drums pounded along, compelling Nathan to march forward confidently. It felt as if the music had been intended to evoke that feeling of pride that now seemed to take him over.
Nathan strode down the ramp and onto the tarmac with Jessica, in her full combat armor and her weapon slung over her shoulder, walking beside him and a step behind. Enrique, dressed and armed in similar fashion, followed them, pulling the bound Captain de Winter along with him. As they reached the bottom of the ramp and began to walk forward towards the official looking men, one of the men held up a microphone and began speaking to the crowd. He was telling them something, possibly describing the people that approached.
Tug and Jalea followed next, although in a manner that seemed to be designed not to draw attention to themselves. Finally, the two marines in the shuttle came out next, leading the two rows of prisoners in two chains out of the shuttle and down the ramp, coming to a stop once they were all off the ramp and onto the tarmac.
Nathan and company made their way up onto the platform, stepping up to the dignitaries. Upon arrival, Nathan held out his hand in greeting. As he spoke, Jalea translated. “I am Captain Nathan Scott, of the United Earth Ship Aurora.” Nathan’s words rang out through hidden microphones on the platform so that the entire crowd could hear them. “I present these prisoners to you, so that they may face charges for the crimes committed this day against your world.”
The leader of the group of dignitaries shook Nathan’s hand enthusiastically. His eyes were wide, as if he were greeting a celebrity. He began speaking in his own language with such emotion that Nathan feared the man might start crying and hug him at any moment.
“On behalf of the people of Corinair, and of all the worlds in the Darvano system, I thank you,” Jalea translated. “You have delivered us from evil, exactly as told in the Legend of Origins. Because of you, there is life. Because of you, there is hope. Because of you, Na-Tan, there is freedom.” The man turned to face the crowd, grabbing Nathan’s hand and holding it up high above his head as he shouted something at the crowd.
The crowd erupted in cheers at the man’s words as he turned and hugged Nathan so hard he thought he would burst. As he did so, the rest of the men began hugging Nathan, Jessica, Jalea, and Tug.
As the crowd continued to roar, Nathan leaned closer to Jalea and yelled in her ear. “What did he just say?”
“He said, ‘He is the savior of legend. He is Na-Tan.’”
Nathan felt a knot developing in the pit of his stomach.
Jessica leaned towards him as she too was having the life hugged out of her and yelled, “When Cameron wakes up, she’s gonna kill you!”