Starbound (33 page)

The main bridge tactical display showed a clear view of the ring as we swung out of Sidon's shadow and into optimal firing range.

“Five minutes, sir,” called Lena from her station.

“Thank you, XO,” I replied. I switched my coronal overlay to show me an infrared view, and the screen looked dark, cold, and quiet, just as everything had been since
Valiant
was attacked at Sandosa.

I switched back to the visual display just as everything changed.

I did a double take at what I saw. The ring lit up with a blinding white light as it powered to life.

“Did we—” started Duane Longer.

“Red alert!” I jumped to my feet. “Defensive fields to maximum!” I shouted. The visual display switched automatically to a tactical view as the ship's battle AI rushed through the adversary ship catalog to identify the intruder. It did.

“Imperial HuK! Accelerating toward us, sir!” called Layton.

“Lock forward coil cannon Mr. Marker,” I ordered. My Master Chief was doubling as my Weapons officer and marine commander.

“Aye, sir,” replied Marker. “Cannon locked on, sir.”

Just then a second flash came from the ring.

“Second HuK, accelerating rapidly,” called Layton from his station.

“Keep the lock on the first, Commander. On my order Mr. Marker!”

“Sir!” replied Marker.

“Fire!”

An orange wave of coil cannon energy lanced out at the Imperial ship and hit her head on. The small ship's shielding buckled and overloaded at the impact of our improved power and weaponry. The small ship absorbed a heavy blow, but not a killing one, yet.

“Recalibrate on the second ship,” I ordered to Marker. “Mr. Longer, straight on to optimum firing range on the jump ring, I want full impellers, and engage the hybrid drive!” Now we knew why this ancient construct was so dangerous. It had to be destroyed.

“Aye, sir,” said Longer. “Three minutes forty seconds to optimum range.”

“You have a firing solution on the second HuK, XO?” I said.

“Affirmative, sir. On tactical,” replied Babayan.

With a wink my coronal overlay switched to the tactical display. We had a dead-eye lock on the second HuK.

“Execute!” I ordered, just as yet another flash came from the jump gate ring. I scanned the tactical display again.

Now there were three.

“Orders, sir?” asked Babayan.

“Carry out the attack, XO.”

She didn't acknowledge me but instead forwarded her firing solution to Marker, who immediately set and fired on the second HuK. The result was the same as the first, destruction of her shielding, but she still maintained her maneuverability.

At that moment,
Starbound
's Historian came bounding on to the bridge.

“Did I miss anything?” he said. I gave him a glare but said nothing as he took his station directly behind me.

“Transfer weapons control to the Historian's station,” I ordered. Marker complied. “Status of the helm please, Mr. Layton,” I said.

“The third ship is moving off away from us, sir. None of them seem to be much interested in attacking us,” he reported.

“Longwave scans indicate life signs aboard the HuKs, sir,”
reported Babayan. I was faced with the prospect of taking human life. I didn't hesitate. These ships were the enemy. I scanned the tactical display again, the three HuKs moving rapidly to equidistant positions.

“Serosian—” I said.

“They're triangulating on us!” he called from his station.

“Feeding stellar coordinates via longwave to a dreadnought, just like with
Valiant
at Sandosa,” I said calmly.

“Likely,” replied Serosian.

“Torpedoes, Mr. Serosian. Take out those HuKs,” I ordered.

“It's probably too late to stop them from sending the coordinates,” he said.

I snapped around to my friend and former mentor. “I want them gone now,” I said. I had no hesitation when it came to protecting both my crew and the world below us. “Fire at will.” He had to know by now that I was his former student, and was now firmly in command of
Starboun
d
.

He fired.

Three separate sets of torpedo volleys branched out from the ship in different directions. Those volleys used up most of the supply of atomic torpedoes that I had planned to use to destroy the jump gate ring.

I sat down and strapped myself into the captain's couch. The tactical screen showed our torpedoes syncing in on the HuKs, who without their primary shielding were probably doomed. A second later and their destruction was confirmed.

“Prepare for incoming fire,” I commanded. Commander Babayan looked back at me from her XO's station.

“From where, sir? My screen is clear,” she asked. Right on cue, a massive Imperial dreadnought winked into existence, barely ten kilometers off our starboard side. Our Hoagland Field absorbed most of the hyperdimensional displacement effect, but we still rattled and rocked. And she was closing on us.

“She's arming weapons!” called Serosian.

“Evasive maneuvers Mr. Layton, but keep us on course for that jump gate ring,” I ordered.

“Aye, sir!” Layton struggled with the helm as the dreadnought battered our shielding with a mix of coil cannons and atomic torpedoes. They ignited against our field, but we managed to hold our course. For the moment.

“Repressing fire, Mr. Serosian. Commit all remaining torpedoes to the dreadnought,” I said.

“What about destroying the jump gate ring?” he asked.

“We'll have to use the coil cannons.”

“But we can't guarantee destruction—”

I swiveled in my chair. “Carry out my orders, Historian, or I will return control of the weapons system to Chief Marker!” I demanded. Serosian gave me an emotionless look, but nodded and programmed the launch sequence.

“Ready, Captain,” he said.

“Fire!”
Starbound
emptied her torpedo launchers in a steady stream of ordinance, both torpedoes and short-range missiles, some fired directly broadside at the dreadnought, some having to course-correct and pursue. I checked the tactical board for damage to the dreadnought.

Our combined torpedo and missile barrage hit her on all sides; more than a hundred explosions rocked her massive edifice. I watched as her shields absorbed much of the ordinance, but then a second wave broke through her outer defenses and exploded on her hull. It would have been enough to take out a High Station in a single attack, but it barely slowed the dreadnought down.

“It looks like our Imperial friends have made some improvements. Do they have a functioning Hoagland Field?” I asked Serosian.

“Not exactly,” he said, “but something of a similar nature, it appears.”

“Mr. Longer, what's our course and speed relative to the dreadnought?” I asked.

“We're pulling away, sir. Accelerating past her ability to catch us. That doesn't mean we aren't in her missile range though, sir,” Longer said.

“Noted,” I replied. “Mr. Serosian, recalibrate our coil cannons forward. Target the jump gate ring.”

“We can't destroy the ring with just our cannons
a
nd
fight the dreadnought at the same time,” he said.

“I'm aware of the tactical situation, Historian. My intent is to disable the ring since we can no longer destroy it with our torpedoes. It may not be to the letter of our orders, but the effect will be the same, at least temporarily,” I said.

As our attack ended the dreadnought resumed its barrage of
Starb
ound
, but against our hardened defenses the practical effect was negligible. It couldn't stop us from destroying the ring, but we couldn't stop
it
using only our non-atomic weapons. It was a dilemma.

“Time to the ring, Mr. Layton,” I asked.

“Twenty-five seconds to optimal firing range,” replied Layton. The ship shuddered with the effect of another nuclear missile from the dreadnought exploding hopelessly against our Hoagland Field.

“Take us as close to dead center as you can, helmsman. I want two cannon bursts, Mr. Serosian, one each from port and starboard. We'll break the ring at two points, which will disable it from use by either side until it can be repaired. Are my orders understood?” I said.

“Yes, Captain,” replied Serosian. Babayan confirmed and then counted down the seconds to firing range, and I gave us two seconds extra before I ordered the cannons to fire. The effect was perfect, the ring being split widely in two places, half a click apart as we shot past the inside perimeter of the ring. The broken section of the ring drifted off into open space. We had disabled the threat, for now.

The dreadnought was still pursuing us, but losing ground, and we
were now out of her effective missile and coil cannon range and accelerating away. She was still a threat to Levant, even if they now had a protective planetary Hoagland net to defend against the anti-graviton plasma disintegrator
Starbound
had fought against the last time we were in this system.

“Track the dreadnought, Mr. Layton. She may follow us all the way to the jump point but she'll never catch us. If she changes direction, I want to know immediately,” I said.

“Aye, sir,” said Layton. “Where will you be, sir?”

“In the Command Briefing room, with Mr. Serosian,” I said. Then I turned and walked off the bridge, not looking to Serosian but expecting him to follow me, which he did.

“Do we have a problem?” I said to Serosian as soon as the Briefing Room door was shut behind him.

“I don't think so,” he said back to me, his jawline firmly set in a way I had seen many times before. I continued.

“Three times you either refused to execute my orders immediately or you questioned them in front of the crew. Three times, Serosian,” I said.

“I did,” he replied, then went silent again.

“Why?”

“My role is to give you options, remind you of your duties and command orders, as I have always done,” he said.

“Circumstances have changed,” I said flatly. “I'm no longer your student and you are no longer my mentor. I am captain of this ship, and when I give an order, especially on the bridge of my ship in a battle situation, I expect it to be followed. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No,” he said. I nodded.

“Good. The time for bringing up questions on my strategies and carrying out my orders is not when we're in a combat situation. It's now, at times like these, when I welcome your insight. But once I've chosen a direction and we are on that bridge, I expect you to follow my commands without challenging me,” I finished.

“Yes, Captain,” he said to me with respect in his voice. I went over to the table and sat down in a chair, motioning for him to join me, which he did.

“We have a dilemma,” I said.

“Yes, sir.”

I rubbed my face. “We've disabled the jump gate ring, so we've accomplished part of our mission. But I don't fancy our chances of getting to the jump point generator if we have to deal with the dreadnought all the way,” I said.

“I agree.”

“As it stands we can't really leave Levant with the dreadnought still here. Their planetary defenses are adequate for a standoff but it would take a fair sized conventional fleet to take the dreadnought out.”

“Also agreed,” he said.

“Therefore I have determined we must destroy it,” I said. Serosian eyed me, but said nothing for a long while, so I continued. “It's my intent to use our gravity-based weapons to achieve this goal. Only that way can we leave Levant safe and free ourselves to join up with the Union fleet at Pendax.”

Finally he responded. “But the dreadnought is chasing us, not threatening Levant,” he said. “It is just as likely that they will follow us through the jump point, possibly to some Imperial-held system.”

“Or possibly to Pendax, where we will have to fight them again, along with Gods know how many other ships. We have to get back to Pendax, Serosian, and I can't leave Levant to defend itself against a dreadnought, nor can I allow that dreadnought to join in an attack at Pendax. In my mind there's only one choice,” I said.

Serosian's jawline began to twitch at this. He obviously disapproved, but I didn't have time to argue with him.

“There are ten thousand souls, human souls, on board that ship, Peter. You'll be snuffing out their lives with impunity,” Serosian said.

“But they threaten thirty million souls on Levant, and countless others if they get to Pendax, or Quantar,” I retorted.

“You don't know that!” he said, angry. Things were escalating now. “They might just make for their home base!”

“And how likely do you think that is?” I challenged him.

“Peter, if you do this, you'll have to live with this decision for the rest of your life. You saw how precious life is at Jenarus, don't you feel
anything
about killing that many people?” he said. I had a ready answer.