Exploration (22 page)

"Incoming!" Sassi yelled again.

This time they were ready. "Jink us hard to port!"

"Fire our lasers again, continuous fire until we drain the capacitors or burn them out."

"Firing lasers. No effect...wait! They lowered a window in their shields to fire a kinetic charge and we snuck a beam through it."

The holographic display showed a big piece of one of the dreadnaught's firing batteries explode and separate from the main craft. Rather than slow the dreadnaught down, however, the lucky shot seemed to make them mad. The
4400
shook as multiple beam and kinetic weapons vied for a chance to take down her shields.

WHOOMP! WHOOMP! WHOOMP! WHOOMP! WHOOMP!

The lights of the bridge flickered and this time stayed out. Sparks showered the bridge in brightly colored but rapidly fading stars. Smoke filled the bridge as the environmental systems struggled to keep up with fire suppression. The floor shook so violently Running Stream was afraid it might break apart under them.

"Shields are down! Propulsion is down. Primary and secondary fusion reactors are offline. We are batteries only right now. Multiple hull breaches on decks 6, 7, 8, 11, and 13." Sassi reported gravely as soon as his board cleared up.

Running Stream hit the comm button on his chair.

"Engineering! I need power. Half our boards are blown up here and we are dead in the water!"

"Bridge. This is Kirkland. We are going to attempt a cold restart on reactor two. Reactor one is toast. Once we get it started, I'll see what I can do to reroute some control feeds for you. Standby."

Ben saw a welcome sight on his status board. "I have a restart on reactor two. We are at 28 percent power and holding."

"Can I get shields?" Running Stream asked.

"I can give you 12 percent but they won't do much at that strength against that," Ben responded while pointing with a middle paw at the holo-screen.

On the main screen, the bridge crew of the ill-fated
4400
saw the
Dreadnaught
line up to take what everyone assumed would be the final shot of their rebellion.

Chapter Twenty Two: New Hope...

Farnin had seen enough. The weapons being used by these ships were outdated technology. Neither of the vessels posed a serious threat to the home world.

"Send out the fighters. Tell them to engage personal cloaking fields. I want the power systems on those larger ships disabled and the fighters neutralized."

Admiral Tuti gave the necessary orders but before he told his troops to execute them he turned to his long-time friend. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? Up to this point they have given no indication they know we are here."

"Of course they do. Those are enslaved Suhtian out there in an ancient Suhtian Expatriation ship. Even the aggressors are using old-style Suhtian technology. Of all the races in the known universes, why would our relatives be here, of all places, except to find us?"

"Very well, sir," Admiral Tuti gave the order.

For the first time in close to a millennium the Suhtian military launched a mission in direct defense of their home world.

***

Cat jinked her fighter just in time to avoid a salvo from one of the new fighters. She gritted her teeth. They had almost won this engagement when the new ship and its compliment of fighters had arrived. Yhsif and his squad of fighters quickly beat a retreat. A few of the
Bluefin
pilots apparently didn't like the idea of running and were attempting to reengage the enemy, but the bottom line was Cat and her remaining four drones were vastly outnumbered. Only her Heshe enhanced reflexes and Cal's constant monitoring had allowed her to last as long as she had.

A stray bit of flotsam found one of the many holes in her tattered shields and impacted with her canopy. The transparent aluminum shattered with spindly cracks appearing up and down from the point of impact. Cat could hear the tell-tale sound of an atmospheric leak.

She instructed the nanites in her skin to build a hard shell around her body. If she lost atmosphere the shell would protect her as well or better than the best space suit.

"Cal, any suggestions?"

"Regrettably Admiral I have none. The drones under my control are virtually out of fuel. Your fighter is operating with 20 percent of its shields. Although we have successfully dealt with one hundred and four enemy fighters there are over twice that many remaining. The
4400
is severely damaged and leaking atmosphere from multiple locations.  This is a battle we cannot win."

"I had pretty much come to the same conclusion. Open a wide-band commlink."

"Channel open, Admiral."

Cat cleared her throat. "Attention all ships. This is Admiral Cat Kimbridge. We are standing down. Repeat we are standing down."

As Cat was about to ask for terms of surrender the surrounding space began to shimmer. She was baffled. Whatever was happening it did not seem to be something the Syndicate ships were doing.  Before she could ask her AI for an analysis, over two hundred sleek aircraft of an unknown configuration faded into view in a ring that completely surrounded the battling ship
s—
including the
MS Maelstrom
and the
SXS 4400
.

***

"Why aren't we dead?" Ben asked as the
Dreadnaught
continued to point its weapons at the disabled
4400
. It had not fired the final killing shot that everyone had expected it would.

The turbolift door to the bridge opened and Ken Kirkland, along with a small team of
Bluefin
engineers, entered the room. Ken immediately went over to one of the auxiliary panels and removed it. The other engineers went to navigation, weapons, and sensor stations.     

Captain Running Stream watched Ken, who was completely consumed by what he was working on.

"Captain," the engineer mumbled while pulling some wires from wall.  "We'll have your systems back online just as soon as I..." Ken paused speaking as he reached further within the bulkhead and strained to reach something "...can bypass this hub and reconfigure the feeds," he finished. Immediately the various bridge systems that had been dead came back online. At each of the stations one of the
Bluefin
engineers adjusted something and the stations came back online.

"We have sensors back!" Sassi announced. "Oh...that's not good."

"What's not good, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, we have more company. There are 204 unknowns holding position in a sphere surrounding both groups of fighters."

"What do you mean by unknowns?"

"They are a little smaller than the fighters we found on this ship, but sensors are showing energy signatures much more powerful, more on a par with GCP aircraft."

"Are they GCP then?"

Sassi adjusted some controls on the sensor panel in front of him. "If they are sir, i
t’
s not a configuration I'm familiar with and they are not transmitting GCP ident codes."

***

Captain High-Tide was furious. Who were these intruders? What gave them the right to interfere with a Syndicate police action? As soon as they had appeared, a probe from one of them had latched onto the
Maelstrom
and destabilized the magnetic containment field around the fusion reactor. It had automatically SCRAMed as a result. The ship was operating on emergency reserves. It seemed these intruders were intent on stopping his ship from attacking the rebels.

High-Tide hit the intercom button on the control panel next to his command chair. "Engineering, how long will our batteries last?"

A static-filled voice answered. "Sir, if we shut down everything but basic life support we can keep the lights on for about six hours. We only have about 52 percent of our normal reserves because of battle damage. Of course, I could bleed some energy out of the weapons systems and that would keep us going longer."

High-Tides trunk, which had been swaying in agitation, suddenly froze. "What do you mean 'bleed some energy from the weapons?' Are the weapons still hot?"

"Well sir..." came the tentative reply. "Both the railguns and the beam weapons use a super capacitor to hold their firing charges. Those capacitors are still fully charged."

"Damn it man!" High-Tide yelled. "Can we fire or not?"

"We can, Sir, but you would have no shields and no way to recharge the weapons for another shot."

"It won't matter. Weapons target that rebel ship. Remove it from my sky!"

***

Cat's AI was the first to notice the change in the
Dreadnaught
. "Admiral, the
Maelstrom
is actively targeting the
4400
."

Cat toggled her internal commlink to contact the
4400
. "Captain Running Stream, this is Cat. My sensors are showing changes in the
Dreadnaught's
targeting systems. My AI's believes they are preparing to fire on you."

"That's unfortunate, Admiral," Running Stream said. "Our newest friends just took down our single working fusion reactor with some type of magnet damping field. We have no shields and no way of moving. We are, as you say, 'fish in a barrel.'"

"Understood, Captain. I'm going to pursue other options. Kimbridge out."

Cat scanned her display. Her drones were just about out of both fuel and ammunition, but perhaps they could still mount one last defense.

"Cal, I need you to redirect the remaining drones. Plot the most likely path of fire for that
Dreadnaught
assuming it is targeting the
4400
. Place three of your drones with the least fuel in the direct path of their weapons. Take the last drone and accelerate at best possible speed towards that railgun. I want you to ram it if you can." 

"It is unlikely that the drone will be allowed to reach the weapons platform before point-defense systems take it out of play."

"That's OK, Cal. I'm playing a hunch."

***

Final-Freedom
monitored the unfolding situation 63 AU away. His prime directive, to protect the Suhtian, was at odds with his curiosity. The combatants were both apparently enslavers, but the one group contained representatives from multiple races. More than that, there were clear signs of compassion in this group even in the face of a relentlessly aggressive opponent.  
Final-Freedoms'
analytic mind realized that there were unknown factors controlling the flow of events. These unknowns could potentially impact the safety of the Suhtian people and so he was determined to gain a fuller appreciation of the current situation.  

His remote drones, which were deployed along with the piloted fighters, remained fully cloaked. They circulated freely among the various ships, scanning each and faithfully sending the details back to
Final-Freedom
.

He noted four of the
Expatriation
ship's old-style Suhtian fighters moving toward the Modos
Dreadnaught
. Without warning, one of them accelerated forward toward the Modos ship. It seemed intent on ramming the larger ship. He scanned the fighter and was surprised to learn it was not manned. He detected no communications being directed at the ship, so either they were using an unfamiliar technology or it was not remotely piloted, which would imply an advanced AI computer technology. Either scenario warranted further investigation.

The more pressing question was, why was it attacking the Modos ship? The little fighter would barely scratch that ship's paint. Curious,
Final-Freedom
ordered a probe to scan the
Dreadnaught
. The results were interesting, to say the least. If he were a Suhtian he would have been rocking back and forth on his feet.  

It seemed the Modos ship was attempting to fire its main weapons using a stored energy charge. The target was the ancient SXS which, at this point, was defenseless.  It was unlikely
Final-Freedom
could stop the Modos from firing. It was equally unlikely that the fighters from the SXS would be able to stop the attack. That said, three of the unpiloted drones from the SXS had positioned themselves in front of the weapons systems of the Modos ship. They were using their drones as a passive shield of sorts. Clearly they knew it would be inadequate, but in point of fact the entire defensive ploy was inadequate...unless they were hoping to send a message to him.

He quickly placed several shielded drones between the aggressor and its target. The probes would extend their shields to deflect any weapons fire.

Final-Freedom
turned on his audio interface. "Elder Farnin. I am monitoring unusual activity with my probes."