Dreadnought (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 2) (15 page)

-21-

My heart pounded as our two ships squared off. Already, the battle was unprecedented in nature. We were fighting in abnormal space at close range. Worse, my ship couldn’t maneuver without risking a mine strike.

We were thus limited to a confined region. Both ships were very similar in capabilities. This was going to be a duel of two titans trapped in what amounted to a pocket universe.

The Beta ship immediately accelerated, using her most significant advantage over us. Knowing where the mines were located, she didn’t have to sit still and wait for our weapons to lance into her hull.

My diplomatic entreaties had bought us one small gain. Our shields had been given time to recharge after taking a hit from the minefield. They were at ninety percent when Okto’s beams reached out for us again.

“She’s circling around us, sir,” Rumbold said, working the helm controls. “She’s going to try to hit us in the butt.”

Our aft shielding was less formidable for obvious reasons. I couldn’t allow the enemy to strike at our relatively unprotected stern.

“Turn with her, Rumbold,” I said. “Keep her in front of us.”

Our ship began to rotate using steering jets, keeping our forward shields and armor aimed at the enemy.

“If you get a shot at her flank shields, take it Durris,” I said.

“Firing… now!”

Beams leapt out, momentarily connecting our two vessels—but nothing happened.

“We missed,” Zye said. “No more than a hundred meters aft of her.”

“Dammit,” Durris said. “This space is heavily warped. Computing and adjusting.”

“Durris,” I said, jumping up and joining him at his station. “Let’s not hit them with everything we have. Fire our three main batteries in sequence. Adjust for warping errors each time until we get a lock.”

Another set of beams crashed into us a moment later. Firing freely now, Okto’s ship connected again and again while we kept spinning in place to face her. Not all her beams struck home, but she was having better luck than we were. As a stationary target, I supposed we were easier to hit in warped space.

Finally, we landed a punch on her flank. Okto’s starboard shield buzzed and flared orange.

“We drew a few lines on her hull that time,” Yamada said excitedly. “But I’m not reading any debris or venting. We didn’t punch through.”

“Keep trying,” I said. “Work the math, people. We need a firing equation that’s reliable.”

Seeing that we weren’t going to let her get around us for a stern rake, the enemy switched tactics. They came about hard and flew right at us.

“Hold your fire!” I ordered. “When they get in close, our odds of hitting will grow due to proximity. We’ll hit them hard as they pass by.”

Beams lanced toward us, flashing past in most cases. It was nerve-wracking to have an enemy ship charging directly toward us, firing as they came. It was difficult to hold back our own cannon shots. But my crew was well-trained, and they managed it.

At the last moment the enemy closed, and they hit us square-on. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

“They’ve released their missiles, sir,” Yamada said. “Point-blank.”

“Fire all passive-defense systems. Release countermeasures. Time to punch them in the belly—on my mark… Mark!”

All three of our cannon banks gushed power at once. The snap and thrum was deafening. The enemy shields were struck dead-on, and they flickered out. I saw bright blue-white fire as our beams dug into the thick hull beneath, leaving scorch marks and deep furrows in the ship’s skin.

“Direct hit, sir,” Zye said.

“She’s venting,” Yamada called.

“Bring us about, Rumbold,” I ordered.

“Hold on!” Durris shouted. “Those missiles, sir—they’ll ram right up our tailpipe if we turn our backs on them.”

“I’m well aware of that. Helm, proceed.”

Rumbold did as I ordered with sickening speed. We watched as the enemy ship limped away, trailing burning metals and gases.

“Cycle our cannons,” I ordered, “hit them in the stern before they can get away.”

“Weapons charging—I’ll fire the moment they go green.”

“Fire them on yellow, Zye,” I said. “We can’t wait for them to get more distance. We’ll start missing again.”

Our cannons began firing again, erratically. They were cycling and firing as soon as they could without overheating. Each cycle, however, increased the chance we’d overload them and turn any given cannon into a heap of slag by firing it too early.

Long before that could happen, however, the Beta missiles slammed home into our own stern. Our shields were thinnest there, and they went down quickly. They got inside our guard and hit us with more than half the energy of eight close-range, ship-to-ship torpedoes.

The deck lurched under me, and everyone was thrown against their harnesses. The running lights flickered and then dimmed to a deep red.

As I’d been standing, I’d been dashed to the deck. I climbed back to my feet and helped Durris to stand up. He clutched the planning table like a man holding onto a life raft. Blood had filled his mouth, but he barely seemed to notice.

“Damage report, Durris?” I demanded over the clamor.

“Our engines are damaged, but they’re still providing thirty percent of normal thrust. Shields are gone, all quadrants. The aft hold has been breached, and we’ve lost a number of missiles stored there. We’ve lost a fuel cell too, but that didn’t cause an explosion. None of the decks have experienced major decompression—overall, I’d say we were lucky. There are only six reported casualties so far.”

My jaws clenched. Six more were dead due to my decisions. I tried not to think about that part of the game. If we didn’t do this right, we would all be frozen corpses soon—floating in hyperspace.

“Zye, keep hitting their stern,” I ordered. “Give chase, and don’t let up. Stay on their tail.”

I watched the action this time on the forward screen and caught the critical details as they occurred. Three of our beams converged and penetrated the enemy defenses. There, the armor was thin and their vulnerable engines were exposed.

The enemy exhaust port array suffered a direct hit. Our beams dug into the ship’s bowels, and something ignited inside.

“Engine failure!” Durris shouted jubilantly. “We stuck the fork in them that time! I’m surprised they didn’t breach and explode.”

Rumbold spun around to look at me. “They’re dead in the void, sir. Helpless. What are your orders?”

I glanced at him, and our eyes met. He and I had worked together for most of my career in Star Guard. I knew what he was asking me: should he steer in for the kill, or not?

“Stand down, Rumbold. Keep our distance, stay on Okto’s stern. We’ve got them where we want them. Zye, cease fire. Durris, have we got those lower deck fires under control?”

“Huh? Oh, yes sir… I just can’t believe we beat them. That was excellent maneuvering, Captain. They’ll be impressed back at CENTCOM when they review these logs.”

I chuckled, suddenly feeling an excellent mood overtake me. I leaned back in my chair and breathed deeply for the first time in two days. “We’ll have to live long enough to reach home for that, XO,” I said.

Turning to Zye and Yamada, I nodded to them. “Zye, try to talk some sense into them. I see them turning around slowly. They’ve got nothing but steering jets. They must know they’re beaten.”

Zye shook her head. “I probably can’t, sir. Okto is an Alpha while I’m a Rogue. My words will never impress her.”

We stared at one another for a few seconds. “You mean they won’t surrender? They’ll keep fighting until we’re forced to destroy their ship utterly?”

“That’s the most probable outcome now,” she said. “If they’d been damaged badly, but their engines were still operable, they might have run. In this case we’ve crippled them, but left them with fangs. Under these circumstances, they’ll turn like a cornered beast and do what they can to hurt us.”

My good mood evaporated. Earth captains knew when they were beaten. Any of them would have surrendered honorably. This battle should be over. I’d miscalculated concerning Beta psychology.

“All right,” I said. “We’re left with two choices: we can pull Okto’s fangs, destroying her weapons and circling her at short range. Or, we can move to a safe distance.”

“Retreat?” Durris asked incredulously. “But we just won the day!”

“True enough, to our way of thinking. But destroying Okto’s ship and killing her isn’t going to gain us anything. If we stay in range and try to disarm her, she might get lucky with a punch of her own.”

As if to make my point for me, the enemy cannons struck another hard blow to our forward shields. The Beta captain was letting me know she was still in this, and she wasn’t quitting.

“Your orders, sir?” Durris asked sullenly.

I stood up and walked around the command deck, checking screens. “Get us out of here, Rumbold. Circumvent that minefield and move us beyond Okto’s reach. Zye, hold your fire on all weapons systems.”

A few minutes later, we slipped away from the enemy. They still fired, of course, as we were within easy reach. But in hyperspace, our effective ranges had been greatly reduced. Their repeated salvos missed.

Finally, an unexpected development occurred.

“Sir,” Yamada said, “Captain Okto is hailing us.”

I shrugged. “Maybe she’s come to her senses. Put her on the main screen.”

An image of destruction flashed into existence. The enemy command deck was more or less identical to ours, but it was in a state of severe disarray. There were two bodies in evidence, smoke hung in the air, and Okto herself had one eye closed due to a gash across her face.

Her expression wasn’t a happy one. She glared at us with her good eye, generating such a gaze of hatred it was like a force of nature.

“Sparhawk,” she said, “you’re a vicious fighter, but you lack honor.”

“We came on a peaceful mission of exploration and trade,” I said. “We didn’t steal this ship, we salvaged her. You attacked us, so we defended ourselves. Where in this series of events have I acted dishonorably?”

“You’re leaving us here to die in hyperspace. You lack the decency to come back to us and finish what you started.”

I heaved a sigh. “I’m sure another Beta ship will come along sooner or later. We’ll release emergency supplies in our wake. Find them and you’ll keep breathing until your sister ships can come to help.”

She sneered. “Charity? From a Basic? You further stain my honor.”

“Do as you see fit,” I said, “but every captain’s first duty is to her ship and her crew. Put yours back together again. Live to fight another day. Remember Captain: the true enemy is the Stroj. They attack us both, and they’ll never show you any mercy. If we come back this way another time, please talk to us before attacking.”

Her expression was still as malevolent as ever as she stabbed the disconnection button, and we were cut off.

My Aunt Grantholm came forward and nodded to me with pursed lips. She’d been hanging back during the battle, content to let me execute my plans while she watched from a crash seat.

“Not bad,” she said. “It wasn’t effective, but I doubt anyone could have turned that woman into an ally with mere words. I’m impressed, William. I didn’t know you had the heart of a diplomat beating in your chest in addition to the cold logic of a spacer captain.”

“Thank you, aunt—if that was meant as a compliment.”

“It was,” she said, then she smiled and retreated below decks.

I sat back down in my command chair and watched as the image of Okto’s ship shrank steadily down to size of a credit coin, then disappeared entirely.

We’d escaped the Betas, but we had no idea where we were heading next. Still, it was hard to count today’s action as anything less than a victory.

As we tried to find a way out of hyperspace, we found our star charts were useless here. The Connatic had provided us with a list of ER bridges and where they led to, but most of the itemized breach points were connected to the Gliese-32 system directly. There were only a few jumps listed in the Beta system, all of which were apparently major trade routes.

I realized after studying them at length that the Connatic’s knowledge was useful only in her local area. The farther we got from her system, the less useful they’d become.

“If only we’d been given the time to take one of the known routes,” Durris complained. “We wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“How’s the math to determine our exit point going?”

“Miserably,” he said. “This chunk of hyperspace seems to be more warped than usual.”

Rubbing my chin, I considered his numbers. “What about all the firing and targeting data from our battle?”

He looked at me quizzically.

“We recorded every hit and miss, right? The angle of projection, the final landing point of each plasma beam? If you patch all that into the computer as raw data, then begin extrapolating to number-crunch out a formula—”

He grabbed my arm and grinned. “You’re right!” he shouted. “I’m a fool. We’ve got reams of raw data just waiting to be analyzed. I’ll come up with a pattern-detection algorithm right away. Good thinking, sir.”