Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (24 page)

He took the lift down to the flight deck and began prepping his fighter. He was almost done when the bridge contacted him. It was Graves. “Change in plans, Captain. There isn’t a probe. Breckenridge left one of the destroyers. It’s sitting right in the middle of the flip point.”

Jared stopped what he was doing. That did change things. “Do we know which one? Is it actively scanning?”

“We can’t tell which one it is. We programmed the probe to stop the moment it detected another vessel. The destroyer isn’t actively scanning. It’s just sitting there watching.”

“That’ll make my job easier.”

He dressed quickly in his flight suit and launched. The destroyer would probably be there a while, keeping watch while the other two ships scanned the far system for more flip points. If he could take it out without incident, they’d be in a position to lure the other ships back into an ambush.

The first sight he saw after he launched was the colorful ringed planet and its moons that
Courageous
was using as cover from detection. He took a moment to admire its beauty as he glided just above its atmosphere. Spectacular. He made sure his implants recorded the event. If he lived through the attack, he’d share it with Kelsey.

Jared built his speed as quickly as he could while staying below the point where the destroyer could detect his grav drives. He’d be going too fast to get more than one shot, so he needed to make it count. Once he disabled the ship, they’d have a few hours to secure everyone aboard and tow it away from the flip point.

They probably only had a day or two before Breckenridge found the flip point leading to Harrison’s World. They had to stop him before that happened.

At the proper point in his course, he cut his drives and arrowed in on a ballistic trajectory. He double-checked that his stealth field was on maximum.

His passive scanners had the destroyer sitting right there ahead of him. Since it had no active scanners operating, there was virtually no chance that it would spot him before it was too late. A countdown clock in his implant vision spun slowly down toward zero.

Which, of course, is when things went wrong. Twenty thousand kilometers in front of the target, another ship appeared out of nothingness. The other destroyer had flipped in. There was no way that Jared could take them both. He had to pass them by and hope neither of them noticed him shoot past.

That’s when they did something completely unexpected. The first destroyer accelerated at maximum and the other one turned and began boosting in the opposite direction.

He figured out what they were doing just as the third ship flipped into the system almost in his face. It wasn’t
Spear
. It was a Rebel Empire destroyer.

Jared acted even before the Fleet destroyers opened fire, locking onto the enemy vessel with his active scanners and firing both his anti-ship missiles. He followed up with his stun beam, but he knew the other ship’s screens would block their effectiveness if they got them up in time. His hope was that the missiles would knock the screens down just long enough for him to have a chance.

At that ridiculously short range, the other ship never had a chance to fire its defensive weapons. The two missiles slammed into its screens and almost took them down, but not quite. Jared made a last second decision and altered course, slamming his fighter to maximum acceleration and triggering his emergency ejection system.

The fighter cockpit opened like a flower and an incredibly small grav drive blasted him straight up. He was facing just the right direction to watch his fighter smash into the central section of the destroyer. The weakened screens did nothing to stop the impact and kinetic energy did the rest.

He expected the ship to incinerate him, but it only tumbled away from the flip point. It still looked like it had power, but it wasn’t firing. It seemed dead.

Of course, he was in much the same condition. Clad only in his flight suit, he shot away from the flip point and toward infinity.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Kelsey watched the unfolding disaster from
Courageous
’ bridge. Everything seemed to be going so well, right up to the point where it went down the toilet. Their probe gave them enough information to know their plan was blown and then Jared’s fighter smashed into the enemy ship.

“Get us in there right now!” she shouted.

Graves took
Courageous
to battle stations as it leapt to maximum acceleration. Their ETA was far too long to make any difference in the unfolding situation at all. She could only pray her brother ejected before he hit that ship.

“I’m picking up a distress beacon from the captain’s flight suit,” Zia said, relief flooding her voice. “It’s shooting past the Rebel Empire destroyer. We’re also being signaled by
New York
.”

“On screen,” Graves said. Kelsey stepped up behind him as the tactical schematic vanished and the destroyer’s captain appeared. Graves inclined his head. “Captain Kaiser. Are you going to object to our help?”

The short woman allowed a hint of a smile to grace her lips. “I doubt you were sending that little ship over to help me, were you? Well, we have to work out our differences right now. The destroyer looks like it’s out of action, but it still has power. It could fire right now, but it’s just floating there. And that isn’t the worst news.”

Kelsey put her hand on the back of Graves’ chair. “That thing came out of the system ahead. Where’s
Spear
?”

“Highness. There were three of those things. They popped out of a flip point we hadn’t found yet.
Spear
was too far into the system to escape. Captain Breckenridge ordered
Ginnie Dare
to retreat while he slowed the enemy down.”

“That didn’t work,” Kelsey said with certainty.

“No, ma’am. The three of them shot
Spear
up pretty bad. One of them came after
Ginnie Dare
. The other two have
Spear
. Ma’am, we can take them.”

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. “We? I thought you had objections to my command authority.”

The other woman straightened. “I followed the orders of my superior officer. Circumstances have changed.”

“Yes, they have. It’s possible that
Courageous
might be able to take two of those things, but the first thing you need to do is send a cutter after Captain Mertz.” She felt her lips thinning. “And let me be clear. If you try to take him prisoner, this will not end well for you.”

“Understood. I promise to return him to you at once. Kaiser out.”

They watched a cutter depart to retrieve her brother. With his built up speed, it would take a while for the small craft to catch up with him. The enemy ship took no action while
Courageous
closed in.

Kelsey headed for the lift. “I’m scrambling the marines. We have to board that ship before they get their act together.” She held up a finger when Graves opened his mouth. “Do not argue with me, Commander. Those destroyers have eighty marines each and I’m the only person we have that can wear powered armor.”

Graves deflated a little. “I can see why Jared drinks. Be careful, Kelsey.”

He must’ve called ahead, because the marines were gearing up as she came in. Lieutenant Reese came over, still strapping on his unpowered armor. “The target ship is just like the destroyer we captured?”

“It looks like it from the outside. Jared hit something important. It has power, but it’s not maneuvering or firing weapons. Hell, it’s still inside the flip point. Why hasn’t it flipped back? He broke it. We need to get what we can while we can. If the computer core is still intact, we might get priceless intelligence on the Rebel Empire, Harrison’s World, and Boxer Station.”

She changed into her skinsuit and slid into her armor. It came to life at her command. She linked it into
Courageous
’ systems. The enemy destroyer was still just drifting there. The cutter had almost caught up with Jared.

Courageous
had launched a probe through the flip point and they were waiting for it to come back. She watched the countdown timer as everyone loaded onto the marine pinnaces. When it popped back, she drew the data straight into her implants.

“We have data from the other system,” she said. “There’s no sign of ships close to the flip point. Unless they’re sneaking up on it, they stayed with
Spear
.”

“Or went to call for support,” Reese said.

Commander Graves came over the marine command channel. “The boarding action is a go. At the first sign of overwhelming resistance, you are to break off and we’ll take it down with missiles. The Fleet destroyers have withdrawn from the area around the flip point. Remember, we’re after information, not capturing the ship.”

“Aye, sir,” Reese said. “We’re loaded up and ready to launch.”

“Good hunting. Come back safe. Princess, try not to get killed.”

“That’s my plan every morning. Wish me luck.”

The pinnace detached and began a high speed run at the enemy destroyer. Kelsey tensed, waiting for targeting systems to light them up, but the ship didn’t seem to know they were there.”

As they got closer, Kelsey noticed something odd. “Do you see that? There are no small craft in the docks. The one we captured had a couple of marine pinnaces and some cutters. Did they eject any of them while we weren’t watching?”

“No small craft in detection range,” Reese said. “They must not have had any attached when they flipped into this system.”

“That’s weird,” Talbot muttered. “It’s like a ghost ship. How would they bring prisoners aboard?”

“Good question,” Kelsey said. “Let’s go find out. If they haven’t shot us, why don’t we use one of the marine docks to try to gain access?”

“Maybe we should signal them we’re coming, too.” Reese snorted. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. If they’re expecting us and heavily armed, we won’t push. Get ready.”

“I might be able to use the ship’s systems to see what’s waiting for us once we’re locked on.” Kelsey knew the pinnace locks had the capability. If the enemy wasn’t expecting them, she might get a reading before they locked her out.

The pinnace came in fast and hard, braking only at the last moment and docking with an impact that would have sent them tumbling if not for their restraints.

Kelsey probed the dock as soon as the connection went live. No one was waiting for them on the marine side. In fact, it was dark. Not even emergency lights.

“Something’s off,” she said. “It’s pitch black in there.”

Talbot threw off his restraints and stood. “It might be an ambush.”

She probed the other side in more detail. “I think…not. There’s no atmosphere and the ambient temperature is almost absolute zero. It wouldn’t have had time to lose that much heat. It was already cold when this ship flipped into the system.”

“Let’s go and find out what’s going on,” Reese said.

They entered the destroyer ready to deal death to anyone who opposed them, but marine country was empty. Literally stripped of all furnishings. No weapons in the armory, no bedding on the bunks, and no sign that humans had occupied it at any time in recent memory.

The ship proper was in the same condition. No lights, no heat, no atmosphere. No gravity, either. In one improvement from boarding
Courageous
, there were also no bodies. Since they were so close, they went to engineering first.

The hatch stood open and not a single light gleamed inside. No consoles were active. She could feel a gentle vibration in the deck that spoke of power. She floated over to the one of the consoles and pinged it with her implants. It didn’t respond to her connection request. Not even to reject it.

“No joy with direct interface.” She touched the console and it came to life. She didn’t have the codes to unlock it, but it showed the ship’s status. After the trick that Commander Baxter had pulled on her when she first came on board
Athena
, she’d made it her business to know what the most general screens of data looked like in engineering. Enough to grasp what she was seeing, anyway.

“All systems green except for the main computer. I think Jared killed this thing’s brain.”

Reese linked back to
Courageous
and passed the information along.

Graves’ image popped up in the corner of her vision as he responded. “I won’t believe it until you poke into every area of the ship. Verify the computer is dead and that no one else is aboard.”

The teams spread out over the ship. It only took a few minutes to tell the computer was gone, nothing but a hole in the ship remained where it used to be. Since the ship had no active life support, the isolation hatches hadn’t deployed.

The bridge was just as empty as the rest of the ship. Kelsey floated there shaking her head. This made no sense at all. Why send a ship with nothing but automated controls? What if something broke down?

The ship had a plaque by the lift just as
Courageous
did. It had the ship’s name, system of origin, date of construction, and the names of the first senior officers.
Dart
. Built ten years before the Fall at Boxer Station.

“I found something,” Talbot said. “Come to the main cafeteria.”

Kelsey led the marines with her down to the cafeteria. Only it wasn’t a cafeteria. The massive chamber before her encompassed a good section of the crew housing space. Racks stretched out to the distant bulkheads. They held machines that looked like mini grav cars. Heavily armed and armored mini grav cars. There were a lot of them.

“What the hell are these things?” Talbot said as he peered into a rack. “Autonomous weapons platforms?”

Reese slapped Talbot’s hand as he reached for it. “The ship’s computer probably controlled them, but let’s not tempt fate. They look capable of extravehicular activities, too. There’s a hatch for them in the hull. These things can probably come swarming out of a ship at close range. They won’t have as much speed as a cutter, but their weaponry is close range, too. Flechettes, stunners, and plasma. These are this ship’s marines. And, look at those folding arms. They can carry things.”