Nova (32 page)

“Acknowledged, Captain.” Adeline responded. “Keep safe.”

The grim irony of the Ops Officer’s words at that moment was
not lost on Avara. “We’ll do our best, and you do the same; Serros out.”

The route up was an endless nightmare of flame, smoke and
vapor, protesting wiring, and groaning sheets of metal punctuated by numerous
close calls that were in turn, emphasized by the accumulation of more
contusions than Serros could quantify. The lack of stability as well as the
plethora of shifting obstructions and obstacles meant the two couldn’t activate
their DSA Enhancements to speed up their travel rate, either. It would have
been practically suicidal to attempt. 

Just before reaching Deck 3, a gout of electricity–spawned
flame swept into the shaft and sheeted the two crewmates with scorching heat. Feeling
like she was a sardine being cooked in a tin–can, Serros and Z’arr were able to
climb four and a half feet through the fire and exit the maintenance–way onto
Deck 3.

Despite the protection provided by their armor, by the time
the two managed to crawl out of the duct, Avara was half–blinded by the salty–sting
of sweat dripping from her plastered hair and running down her face.

“Captain, we’ve repaired a life–pod and are ready to launch.
What’s your ETA?” Commander Perez’s voice was fuzzy but audible as Avara
reflexively sucked in deep breaths of air.

“K’llan and I are on Deck 3; the maintenance shaft is
impassible.” Serros answered as she and Z’arr made their feet and immediately
worked to open the disabled lift’s doors. Gyroscopes entirely inoperable, with
a thought, Avara triggered her Physical Potency and Vitality Arca Enhancement.

Then in an act of extreme exertion, flexed until she was
able to pry open the lift’s double–doors with a protesting metallic groan.  Moving
quickly, Avara hoisted K’llan up, with the Vosaia carefully balancing on the
Shield’s shoulders in order to reach and then pop–off the lift’s emergency exit
hatch on the elevator’s ceiling.

“We’re working our way up the lift–shaft to Deck 2.” Serros
continued her report to Perez as she and K’llan climbed through the aperture to
then find their feet on its durexium roof–top. “Finish repairs on a second life–pod
and then I want you
out
; we’ll follow.”

“
What
? No way! I’m staying until you’re here; you’re
not that far.” Marcus’s voice whipped back over the Comm, that stubborn tone
that Avara knew so well clearly sounding through.

Catching her balance due to yet another grinding tremor that
threatened to spill the two squadmates over the side and into the narrow shaft,
Avara replied, “Repair a second pod and leave immediately. We don’t have much
time, Marcus.”

“But…”

“I mean it, Marcus.” Serros cut off as she and Z’arr began
their climb up the narrow emergency lift–shaft ladder, her voice uncompromising
steel as she added, “That’s an order, Exec.”

 “Understood, Captain.” Perez answered a moment later, his
tone clipped resignation.

Ignoring the sting of sweat in her eyes, by cricking her
head as she climbed, Avara was able to spy their destination, Deck 2’s lift
doors. In less than two minutes time after Serros’s order, Perez reported, “Pod
4 has been fully repaired, Captain. We are evacuating to Pod 3 now.”

“Acknowledged, Marcus. We’re almost there. See you on the
other side.”

“See you on the other side, Avara.”

Just seconds after Marcus had finished his sentence, a
persistent
hissing
sound swept up the shaft like an angry arrow. Out of
the corner of her eye Avara caught sight of what looked like an up–falling acorn
of yellow, orange, and blood–red.

A moment later, the seed blossomed into an explosion of dark–defying
light and fire. Searing heat swept Avara and K’llan up into a smoldering
embrace even as a rocketing
kish–kish–boom
tossed the battered frame of
the
TS Ardent
. With what felt like the force of two sky–cars speeding
with reckless abandon before meeting head–on in a deadly kiss, Serros felt
herself wrenched from the ladder and slammed into the shaft’s side wall.

Her vision a crescendo of splintering stars, Avara was vaguely
aware of free–falling through flame like a comet questing for an earthly
embrace, even as she could feel her right hand firmly gripping K’llan’s forearm.

Then, as night and light married, Avara was no longer aware
of anything at all.

CHAPTER 17

“Jaxx, report.” Diana Adeline’s voice whipped through the
Bridge like the crack of a gun–shot.

“We… hull breach on Decks 1 and 12, Lieutenant Commander. Emergency
seals activated. The Port Docking Tube is completely
gone
, Adeline. Still
assessing the extent of damage.” The Lieutenant reported, freckled face pale
but voice steady.

Struggling against the turbulence of the shifting deck–floor,
Diana made it to the frigate’s Command Chair and having activated her safety–harness,
she thumbed the display to screen in–coming data. “Lieutenant Chopa, are we
operable?”

“Navigation and Flight Control is fully functional, Lieutenant
Commander.” Chopa answered without hesitation, “But sensors seem to be off–line,
so really, it would be dicey to actually move her.”

Once more, the
Excalibur’s
entire frame shook like a
speared whale trying to free herself from a harpoon.

“Lieutenant Commander, confirmation that the Long Range and
Short Range Sensor Array and FTL Communications Node are fried. Cannon
Batteries 1 and 2 are also completely gone.” Tildon Jaxx announced.

“All other Weapons Systems, Batteries and Shields are still
functional, Lieutenant Commander.” Ensign Gabriel Ambrose reported a moment
later from the Tactical Station that Belgrum Naxos typically manned when on–board
and on–duty. Adeline could see that his hands were shaky as he worked.

“A bit of good news; keep on it, Gabriel.” Adeline replied,
taking the time to reassure the second most junior bridge officer, and by extension,
the entire Bridge crew, just as she knew Avara would have done.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Engines are still humming, Lieutenant Commander.” Philips’s
announced a moment later, voice digitally amplified due to his far larboard and
stern CIC station position.

“Casualties, Ngai?” Diana then asked, turning towards what
was Adeline’s usual post on the Bridge.

“Still not fully accounted for, Lieutenant Commander. Two
fatalities and half–a–dozen reported injuries so far.” Lieutenant Marel Ngai responded,
hazel eyes stark, matching the soberness of her voice.

Feeling the only too familiar pain of loss that accompanied
naval service, a reality that was mercilessly driven home during the horrors of
the Margrom War, Adeline offered a brief nod in response. “Understood, Marel.” 

“Lieutenant Commander, Shuttle Bay is reporting significant
damage. Reports coming in seem to confirm that debris from the
Ardent
impacted the sector. Shuttle and fighter launch and dock are not viable until repaired.”
Jaxx reported, head cutting a negative. “We should be reasonably stable now,
with no more significant turbulence.”

“Very well.” Adeline responded, and with a sense of
foreboding, turned to the short statured Ensign Ling sitting at Communications.
“Ling, open a channel to Captain Serros.”

“Aye, Sir.”

“Captain Serros, what’s your status, please?” With an
exertion of exacting self–discipline, Diana managed to keep her tone steady
even as her heart thudded inside her chest like a drowning man pumping for air.

“Here, A.” Avara’s strained voice answered a moment later. Diana
found that she could once again breathe.

 “Ship’s half–torn to Hell; docking tube’s gone and we’re
making for the escape pods. How’s
Excalibur
?”

“We have taken a significant amount of damage. The hull is
ruptured on Decks 1 and 12, though emergency shields have locked.
Communications and Sensors are down and Batteries 1 and 2 are blown. Still
assessing casualties.”

 “Focus on the hull–breach and Sensors, Diana; communication
is secondary since we don’t want the wrong people listening if we’re not up to greeting
hostiles. The ship is definitely Karukai and military; slavers. There were no
survivors.” Knowing Avara as she did, Diana could almost see the look of grief
and searing fury in her rich blue eyes, as if the Captain was standing before her
on the Bridge.

“Acknowledged, Captain.” Adeline responded. She wanted to
scream at Avara to focus on her own safety, to return to the
Excalibur
now
.
To tell her how deeply she loved her. Instead, with a measured calm she did not
feel but was well–practiced at employing, Diana simply said “Keep safe.”

 “We’ll do our best,” Adeline could hear effort in the
Captain voice, like a runner striving to make the finish–line. “And you do the
same; Serros out.”

“Lieutenant Commander, report from Deck 1 and Dr. Argos.”
Marel announced a moment later.

“Put her through, Lieutenant Ngai.” Diana replied. “Doctor,
this is the Bridge. What’s your status?”

“Lieutenant Commander, we’ve suffered some heavy casualties
here.” Jenna’s normally lilting voice sounded raw yet was still crisp over the
tinny on–board Comm. “At least three crew confirmed dead, including Medical
Tech Ensign Sasha. The entire six–person Avernus Marine Squad guarding the outer
Docking Tube is missing. It’s possible some are in vacuum and in need of pick–up.
Eight crewmembers are seriously wounded yet stable. I’m now proceeding to Deck
5 and Med Bay.”

“Understood, Doctor, and good work.” Adeline responded
coolly, slipping fully into her role as Acting Captain. “I’ll pull personal
with secondary Medical Training to assist. Keep me informed.”

The channel cut, Diana looked towards the officer who she
worked so closely with on a daily basis as her second. “Ngai?”

“On it, Adeline.”

“Lieutenant Commander,” Chopa began, his Old–Terran, English
style syllables unusually slowly enunciated and drawn out as he avidly stared
at his station’s readings. “With the sensors down, I can’t be sure, but…”

Whatever the
Excalibur’s
Navigation Officer was about
to say slipped away as a second later, three separate plumes of flame, each
igniting one after the other, broke through the blackness of space to bleed
from newly rendered gaping holes in Karukai raider, then sheet across its hull
like a writhing shroud.

Breaking the spell of fire and fear, Adeline started to snap
out “Ambrose, bring up shields…” Only to have her words cut from her like a
limb being torn from body. Without a murmur of protest sounding through the
dead–silence of space, the
TS Ardent
seemed to
suck
into itself
then burst into millions of fragments.

The sight looked like nothing less than a clutch of orange,
cherry, and saffron colored fireworks lit and let loose over Thames on Pax in
celebration of Concordia.

Once more the
Excalibur
rolled in the concussive
blasts sweeping in all directions while the
Ardent’s
explosions vibrated
across the void and the millions of pieces of material that once constituted
the freighter, showered the Human frigate.

“Ling, get me Captain Serros.” Adeline ordered into the following
hush encompassing the Bridge. With precisely controlled movements, Diana
slipped free of the Command Chair’s restraints and stepped forward towards the
already fading fire grazing the dark before her.

“No answer, Lieutenant Commander.” The short haired Junior
Communications Officer informed.

“The last report from Commander Perez was that he had boarded
and was launching one of the Ardent’s life–pods, Pod 4.” Marel Ngai
interjected, hope and disbelief dancing one atop the other in her voice.

“Open up Nova’s channel.” Adeline ordered Ensign Ling, then spoke
into the heartless dark. “Captain Serros, please read. Nova Squad, this is the
QS
Excalibur
; report. Marcus, do you read? Avara,
report
!”

Nothing, not even the
shush
of static sounded over
the deck as the Bridge and CIC Staff looked into the beyond and Diana Adeline
watched as the last flickers of flame struggling against the inky–night of
space were extinguished, the final traces of oxygen consumed by the cold of
vacuum.

With the leaden feeling that often envelopes one’s body just
before the last moments of life drain away and death releases suffering,
Adeline quietly ordered “Lieutenant Ngai, please focus crew and techs on hull
and sensor repair. Secondarily, I want launch capabilities restored ASAP so we
can organize shuttle and fighter sweeps for any of our lost crew that may still
be out there. Double–rotations until we’re there.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Lieutenant Jaxx and Ensign Ling, I don’t care what you have
to do; get short–range communication up and up
now
.”

At their confirmation, Adeline swept her dark eyed gaze
around the Bridge and CIC. “All right then, let’s get to it. We have people to
return and a ship to tidy.”

 * * * * *

“Communications are up but Sensors are still a no go,
Lieutenant Commander.” Junior Operations and Intelligence Officer Marel Ngai
reported as she stood to attention before Adeline, seated, in Diana’s mind,
like an interloper behind’s Captain Serros’s desk in the Captain’s Room.
Portable data–screens and paper sheafs of technical schematics and sector
charts dotted the smooth glass table surface, and her sixth cup of coffee
rested cold and half–drained at her left hand.

It had been fourteen hours since the destruction of the
TS
Ardent
and still no word of Avara, Marcus, or the rest of Nova Squad. She
had pushed both herself and the crew to the brink of exhaustion and beyond, and
though they had as always performed marvelously, it still just wasn’t
enough
.
Though the eventual repair of the Sensor Array would certainly help, sensor
abilities would still be reduced due to the heavy sonite deposits in the area,
making readings spotty at best. And despite Dr. Argos’s best efforts, they had
lost another crewman four hours ago; concussion complications resulting in a
brain hemorrhage. Several more members of the crew were still inactive as they
were either being treated and monitored in the Medical Bay or recovering in
their own quarters.