In Earth's Service (Mapped Space Book 2) (38 page)

Jase sobered. “Someone’s signaling us.”

“From where?” According to our sensors, there were
no ships close by.

“Seventy meters to starboard,” Jase said surprised,
then opened a channel.

The astrographic projection on the main screen was
replaced by Gern Vrate’s face. “My people are on that ship, Kade.”

“I figured they were.”

The only way the
Mavia
could be powering
the Hrane tunneler was with the siphons and they needed to be close to their Kesarn
symbiotes to function.

“I’m going aboard to get them,” Vrate said simply.

“That wormhole’s threatening my homeworld.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to shut it
down.”

“I would do the same.”

“Just so we understand each other.”

“I will protect my people,” Vrate said, then his face
vanished from the screen.

“Who’s side is that guy on?” Jase demanded.

“His own.” It was one thing we had in common.

Jase’s attention was drawn back to his sensors. “Four
more ships just arrived.”

“How close?”

“They’re a long way out, over a billion clicks.
The transponders are faint, coming in now.” When the call signs appeared on his
personal screen, his eyes widened in surprise. “They’re navy ships! The frigates
Nassau and Delhi, the heavy destroyer Kirishima, and … a battle cruiser! The Vigilant.
What’s she doing out here? What are any of them doing here?”

So, Gern Vrate wasn’t quite the hardass he made
out. I’d told Jase and Izin everything about my meeting with the Kesarn tracer,
except my request that he give Lena Voss my destination. And from the looks of
the navy squadron, Lena had told me only what I needed to know – keeping the
fact she was joyriding in an Earth Navy battle cruiser a secret. Even so, her
squadron was heavily outgunned by the Separatist fleet.

“Trust the navy to turn up when you need them
most!” I said, converting their distance to light minutes.

The navy ships had taken up position between both
Duranis stars, giving them room to study the two systems before committing to
either one. My spirits sank when I realized they’d only just be receiving the
Silver
Lining’s
transponder signal from when we were alongside the
Aphrodite
,
making Lena believe we were still in the red giant system. She wouldn’t see us in
our present position for at least another hour – the time it took our current emissions
to reach her location!

By then, it would be all over.

* * * *

The flight deck screen was split into fore
and aft perspectives, with the wormhole mouth on one side and the two Super
Saracens racing to catch us on the other. The rest of the Separatist Fleet had
rolled as one and were now decelerating, showing they were as cautious about
flying through the wormhole as I was. Beyond the wormhole was the
Mavia
,
its image greatly magnified by strong gravitational lensing from the singularity.
Inside the
Silver Lining
, our internal acceleration fields were
performing a delicate juggling act, counteracting the heavy gravity spilling
from the wormhole while offsetting what little was left of our own
deceleration.

“They’re entering weapons range,” Jase warned,
“closing
real
fast!”

“Shield up,” I said, bringing our battle shield
online as the two converted merchant cruisers entered extreme range. Unlike us
and the rest of the Separatist Fleet, they hadn’t rolled to decelerate, but
were bearing down toward us with engines straining at full power, following a
course aiming to pass the wormhole rather than enter it. They were using their
acceleration toward the wormhole to offset the pull of the micro-singularity’s
gravity, reducing the strain on their inertial fields and allowing them to accelerate
at a rate far beyond what they would normally have been capable of. It was a
clever move that would send them hurtling past us so fast they’d only have a
moment to fire, followed by a long braking run once they were past the
Mavia
,
but it would give them time enough to wreck the
Silver Lining
.

“Why aren’t they shooting?” Jase asked. “It
doesn’t get any better than this.”

“They’re going to hit us as they fly by so there’s
no risk of damaging the Mavia,” I said. No matter how good our shield was, it couldn’t
stand up to the combined firepower of two cruisers at point blank range.

“Charge up the burster,” I said, certain our single
cannon’s expensive capacitor insulation would prevent the Super Saracens from
seeing us prepare to fire. Unfortunately, its short range would force us to
wait until we were on top of the tower – the same time they were on top us. Our
only hope was to maneuver, but fighting the pull of the wormhole, it would take
everything we had just to keep the ship under control.

Or did control matter? I wondered, then ran a
quick theoretical for an idea I had through the autonav.

“I know that look,” Jase said warily. “What are
you thinking?”

“Trust me,” I said, ordering the autonav to plot
the specifics.

“Now I’m really worried!”

We were heading for open space starboard of the
Mavia
,
while the two Super Saracens were on a parallel course that would ensure they
gave the tower’s arms and the depot ship’s big shield a wide berth. Hoping to
put as much room between us and the cruisers as possible, I angled the
Silver
Lining
in close to the tower’s nearest arm, putting us on a collision course
with the
Mavia’s
upper works.

“Skipper,” Jase said anxiously, “that’s too close.”

“No, it’s just right,” I replied as we plunged
stern-first toward the tower arm and the separatist cruisers grew rapidly in
size, their main weapons glowing hot.

“Plot a firing solution on the closest tower arm,”
I said, letting Jase handle weapons while I focused on flying. “Don’t let the
mount rotate until the last second.” I didn’t want to spook the Super Saracens
and have them start shooting early.

“Ready,” Jase said after he plugged in the targeting
instructions.

The dark curve of the wormhole mouth now filled
one side of the screen, fed by a stream of lightning pouring from the arm
almost dead ahead.

“Skipper! More thrust!” Jase said as a collision
warning sounded.

“Less is more,” I said throttling down our main
engines.

Jase eyes bulged when he saw what I was doing.
“Skipper! We’re too close! We’re going to hit!”

We swept toward the tower arm, pulled in by the
micro-singularity’s gravity, then I said, “Rotate and fire.”

Jase released the burster. Its turret mount swiveled
and unleashed a high intensity proton blast that would have punched a hole
through most ship hulls. A ball of white energy momentarily enveloped the tower’s
arm then quickly faded harmlessly away.

“No damage!” Jase said.

When the tower arm filled our screen, I let the
autonav take control. It immediately yawed the
Lining’s
bow away from
the wormhole, aiming our engine thrust at the singularity, fighting it’s gravity.
We balanced on a tightrope, skating alongside the arm, following its curve down,
pulled sideways by the wormhole’s gravity as the Super Saracens swept up to us.

“They’re firing!” Jase warned.

Rapid energy blasts flashed at us from the
separatist cruisers, curving off course at the last moment toward the wormhole,
grazing our shield and either striking the tower or flying on through to vanish
into the dark sphere cradled in the tower’s arms. Before the Super Saracens could
adjust for their mistake, they hurtled past the
Mavia
while we thrown
sideways above her upper works. When we passed out over the depot ship’s port
side, the two Super Saracens were already out of range, rolling to decelerate,
but it was all too late. I resumed piloting control from the autonav and fired
the maneuvering engines, killing our velocity and sending us back toward the
Mavia
while Jase stared at the screen with an open mouth.

“A gravity assist?”

It was the oldest trick in the celestial mechanics
handbook, I’d used the micro-singularity’s gravity to perform a ninety degree
course change, pulling us away from the Super Saracens just as they fired. The
same effect that threatened to destroy Earth had saved us. “More than that,” I
said. “The curved space around the wormhole deflected their shots, like rolling
cannon balls down a hill.”

Jase looked at me incredulously. “The singularity
screwed up their targeting!”

“Our burster only hit the arm because we were so
close,” I added.

The screen hissed with static briefly as we pushed
through the
Mavia’s
shield, then we leveled off and began gliding
towards the Hrane tower emerging from the center of the depot ship.

“You could have warned me,” Jase said.

“And missed that look of sheer terror on your
face. Not a chance,” I said, gratified by his scowl.

We skimmed the
Mavia’s
upper works for a
few more seconds, then nosed over her side and angled for the airlock nearest
the Hrane tower. The closer we got to her hull, the more the old depot ship’s oversized
acceleration field enveloped us, nullifying the singularity’s gravity, making
flying easier.

When we stood barely fifty meters from the
Mavia’s
port side, I said, “Blast that lock open.”

There were ten airlocks on each side, each above a
rectangular cargo door once used to resupply and repair docked navy ships.
Depending on the pressure discipline inside the
Mavia
, ripping open an
airlock might have no effect or it might cause ship wide explosive
decompression. Before our burster had fully charged, all ten port side airlocks
opened together.

“Are they surrendering?” Jase asked, surprised.

“Unlikely.”

An incoming signal, audio only, forced its way
onto the flight deck. “Hold your fire, Kade,” Gern Vrate ordered, “or you’ll
kill my people.”

I couldn’t tell where the signal was coming from,
but he had to be watching us from somewhere close, close enough to override the
Mavia’s docking system.

“Power down the burster,” I said, “and rotate it
away from the Mavia.”

Jase did as I asked, then Vrate’s voice sounded
again.

“Wise decision,” he said in a way that left me in
no doubt, his finger was on the trigger and we were in his sights.

“Now what?” Jase asked.

I slipped off my acceleration couch. “You take
her. When we’re suited up, open the belly door.”

Jase nodded. “I’ll keep you posted on the position
of the Super Saracen fleet.”

“You’re not staying.”

“I’m not?” Jase asked surprised.

“You’re going to find those Earth Navy ships and bring
them here.”

It might take an hour for our neutrino emissions
to reach Lena’s squadron, but Jase could fly out there in a fraction of a
second and tell her where the action was.

He glanced at his tracking console. The Earth Navy
squadron was still there, or they had been, an hour ago. “What if they’ve
moved?”

“They won’t leave Duranis. If they’re not there,
bubble around until you find them. If the wormhole’s still up when you get
back, tell them to destroy the Mavia. Ignore the Super Saracens. Kill the
wormhole.”

Jase hesitated. “What about you and Izin?”

“Send us a warning, but don’t wait for us.”

He opened his mouth to protest.

“It’s Earth,” I said, cutting him off. “And every
second counts!”

Jase nodded soberly. “OK, Skipper.”

“We’ve got the battle suits. We’ll make it, but if
we don’t, the Lining’s all yours.” I gave him an encouraging wink. “Treat her
like a lady."

* * * *

The battle suit sealed shut
around me, this time without the hiss of escaping air, proof Izin had patched
the hole behind my neck. The interior had been cleaned of blood spatters, the
power cell fully charged and the suppressor still showed plenty of ammo.

“No holes this time,” I said over the
communicator. “At least my eyes won’t pop.”

“Being exposed to space is the least of your
worries, Captain,” Izin said as his suit came to life.

“Depressurizing the cargo hold,” Jase informed us,
then moments later, a rectangular section of deck hinged down into space
revealing the gray hulled
Mavia
floating nearby. Each of her airlocks
had large white numbers painted beside them, eleven to twenty.

“Jump for sixteen,” I said.

“Do you want me to control both suits?” Izin
asked.

“Not this time.” I replied as we moved down the
ramp on magnetized boots to the edge. “I was wondering, with all the gravity
that micro-singularity’s pumping out, are we being hit with time dilation?”

“That’s a surprisingly insightful question, Captain,
coming from you,” Izin replied, ever the master of wrapping praise and insult
together.

“I thought so,” I said accepting the compliment,
ignoring the tamph condescension.

“The acceleration fields, ours and the Mavia’s, are
offsetting the singularity’s gravity. The only time dilation we’re experiencing
is what we’d get on Earth.”

“Right, one gravity. OK! Glad we got that sorted,
now let’s go shut this alien monstrosity down before it turns Earth into an ice
cube.”

Izin pushed off, gliding toward airlock sixteen
with barely a flicker from his thruster. When he’d almost reached the
Mavia
,
I demagnetized my boots and kicked off after him. I soon found flying one of
these tin robots was harder than it looked as I feathered the thruster one way
then another, overcorrecting each time. It was certainly nothing like bouncing
around in zero-g in a low mass pressure suit.