Nova (49 page)

“Commander! Reading the launch of several squadrons of
Karukai Starfighters.” Naxos and Chopa reported a moment later, one on top of
the other.

“Eclipse
Scorpions
in class.” Diana added, data
resolving into useful ID a breath later.

“It seems we have our answer. Now, let’s follow–up before
she regains her balance.” Perez remarked, tone grim. “Lieutenant Chopa, set
course for striking distance, above our Drones and their Ring Formation… destination
Quadrant Three, fifteen point four X, nine point one Y, full FTL.”

“Aye, Commander; setting course for Q3, 15.4X, 9.1Y, at full
speed.” Chopa confirmed, toffee–colored fingers rapidly keying the commands
into his board.

With a fluid motion that was gentled by the ship’s dampeners
and gravitational modulation nodes, the
Excalibur
suddenly shot forward
through the black towards the Karukai vessel. The looming battlecruiser glinted
like blood captured in glaciated ice in the cool star light.

Unsurprised yet certainly anything but pleased by her
readings, Diana turned her head in Marcus’s direction and reported “Karukai
fighters closing, Commander. I read thirty in total. They will be within
striking distance of the
Excalibur
in three minutes.”

“Understood, Lieutenant Commander. Belgrum, position Drones…
five miles below our projected coordinates; maintain formation.”

“Immediately.” Naxos answered, tongue flicking.

“Lieutenant Chopa?” Marcus queried, as Diana watched him
switch his focus to their tactical set up.

Releasing the lip he’d been worrying, Claudius answered “One
minute and fifteen seconds until we reach our coordinates. They’re using sub–light
drives in an attempt to shift orientation, and block us from targeting their
Weapons and FTL Drives again.”

Anticipating Marcus’s command as he assessed the tactical
lay–out, Diana turned towards the brown haired Navigation Officer. “Compensate
and maintain relative position, Claudius.”

“Aye, Lieutenant Commander. Compensating. Ninety seconds
until coordinates.”

“Lieutenant Naxos, ready a full missile and cannon barrage,
three second delay between the two. Target the Weapon’s Systems Control alone;
I want to keep ancillary casualties to a minimum.” Perez commanded, finishing
his calculations.

Nodding slightly to herself, Diana considered the logic of
Marcus’s strategy. If
Excalibur
was successful, minimizing the Karukai
fatalities may play favorably to avoid a declaration of war in the aftermath of
this engagement. It was risky during the here and now of unpredictable battle,
but in the bigger picture, a wise course.

“Aye, Sir. Readying Missile Batteries and Quad Cannon for
full barrage, target Deck 17, Weapons Systems Control.”

“Two minutes until fighters reach firing range.” Lieutenant Claudius
Chopa reported a few seconds later. “Destination Q3, 15.4X, 9.1Y reached.”

Just as Diana thought she was going to bite straight through
her lower lip from pounding tension, Marcus cracked: “Lieutenant Naxos, fire
all missiles and cannons!”

“Firing!” The Braxien’s cry snapped like a whip against the
back of an ox yoked to a lumbering cart, jarring the animal forward at a suddenly
break–neck pace.

In the main view screen, Diana watched as forty–eight kobalt
packed missiles cut through the black that separated the two starships, blue
lines trailing like glowing kite strings.

Just before the missiles made contact and flowered into dark
blue–fire blossoms of destruction against the
Watcher’s
hull, the
Excalibur’s
cannons ripped open. A salvo of over two yard long projectiles streaked along
the missile wake to strike the exact same marks.  

Frantically casting her eyes over and interpreting data,
Diana snapped out “Redirected shields negated half the payload, Commander.”

“Damn them! Fire again, Belgrum; three more barrages!” Perez
growled.

“Yes, Commander. Firing now… one… two… three!”

What had been blossoms before now reached volcanic
proportions as gouts of destructive, blue–tinged flame licked in and out of
existence, tearing into
Watcher
like a cyclone on holiday. Glittering
spirals of debris blasted from the Karukai vessel at a speed faster than bullet
fire, streams of garnet and onyx fanning through the vacuum like sheets of hail.

“Two–thirds full impact!” Diana called out, feeling like
someone had puttied her eyelids in place, so intent was her focus. “The
Watcher’s
Shields are faltering… Shields are
down
! Reading significant damage to
Decks 15 through 18. Deck 17 has been blown entirely. Fighters twenty–seconds
away from firing range.”

“Excellent! Lieutenant Chopa, drop her within the Drone Ring.
Rygel, issue a call for their fighters to stand down. Inform them that they
have ten seconds to comply.” Perez ordered briskly.

At the two Officers’ confirmation, Commander Perez absently
tugged on his left earlobe as he added, “Lieutenant Naxos, ready the Drones.”

Diana marked the countdown against the rhythm of her
thudding heart as the entire crew held at the ready.

“Not responding, Sir.” Dane finally reported, the given time
allotment spent.

“Belgrum, initiate Assault Drone attack.” The Executive
Officer ordered, not missing a beat. “Decoys to maintain protective formation.”

“Yes, Commander. Initiating Drone attack.” The Braxien
Tactical Officer responded, aquamarine eyes bright with intensity as he visually
speared his panel and directed the Drones.

Diana rapidly switched her view back and forth between her
station’s board and the view screen, as space was once more ripped open and
cluttered. Immediately after releasing their dual missile payloads, two–dozen
formally stealthed Assault Drones suddenly appeared in the path before and to
the periphery of the oncoming Karukai fighters.

The Ops and Intel Officer watched spellbound as with minimal
preamble, nine Karukai starfighters shook and then exploded with missile
impact. Two other crimson–painted vessels actually careened into each other in
an instinctual effort to avoid the chasing missiles, causing one to spin out of
control in the gravity–free realm of space, and the other to crack and then
burst apart like a clay pot loaded with gun–power lit aflame.

“Eleven out of thirty fighters down, Commander.” Naxos
reported, figures Adeline could read from her own panel.

Having recovered from the sneak attack, the Karukai pilots
now trained their attention on the Assault Drones; Drones that had no more
missiles and only single cannons remaining. Very quickly, the tables began to
be turn as one, two, three, and then four Assault Drones were taken out of play
by expert Karukai marksmanship.

Diana raptly noted that the Karukai were deliberately
refraining from employing their own missiles. She didn’t need to be privy to
their orders to understand that the
Scorpions
were saving their missiles
for their much more critical target, the
Excalibur
herself. Their
strategy would be to knock out weapons and engines just as the Quorum
sanctioned ship had done to their own
Watcher
, then work for outright
capture or destruction.

Given the state of their
Juggernaut
, Diana would lay
odds that the latter attack option would be the winner. Diana knew gambling was
entirely applicable to what the next few minutes would signify: the survival or
destruction of
Excalibur
based on whether the Karukai
Scorpions
landed enough successful missile strikes.

 * * * * *

“Karukai Starfighters are now within range, Commander.”
Diana reported, nerves almost painfully humming with tension.

“Adeline, order
Ghost Squadron
to engage; hit and run
only.” Marcus directed, not wanting to destroy the Drones and the
Excalibur’s
remaining secret advantage, both the hidden Assault models and the defensive
Decoys. Diana understood that Marcus had just made the difficult yet
realistically,
only
choice he could: to not have
Excalibur
fire
her weapons again but rather, switch the star–battle to up close and personal.

“Yes Commander.” Diana responded, instantly issuing the
command code.

Two more drones shattered the dark of space before
Ghost
Squadron
had engaged the Karukai. Moving in what Diana recognized as a
Helix 4 flight pattern, the five Astra constructed fighters were able to
immediately lock–on and destroy two of the Karukai fighters, but then the
tables were turned. In the face of such numerical disparity, only too quickly,
the
Excalibur
fighter pilots found themselves switched from offensive to
desperately defensive maneuvers.

Since it was her job as Operations Officer to monitor and
direct starfighter activity, Diana transferred the majority of her attention to
the small ship to ship combat unfolding within the space between the battlecruiser
and much smaller frigate.

Striving to maintain the necessary modicum of detachment,
Diana watched, mesmerized, as the blood–red and royal–blue and silver
starfighters wove to and fro in a frenetic yet strangely beautiful pattern of
give and take, life and death. Tumbles, turns, climbs, drops, and spirals were
all executed with balletic grace and agility as the best of the Karukai and of
the Quorum tested each other’s limits in deadly appraisal.

With a dizzying dual–flip and reverse, another crimson
Karukai fighter met a grizzly end delivered by none other than Major Maren King
in
Ghost 1
. Yet the cost did not even out.

Seconds later,
Ghost 4
was pinioned by the full
cannon–discharges of three separate Karukai fighters, ripping through the Human
piloted snub–ship like pebbles shot with a hand–sling at a taught sheet of rice–paper.

“
Excalibur
, this is
Ghost 1
; we’ve lost Ensign
Smithson.” King’s voice cut into the Bridge’s open Comm channel a moment later,
her tone carefully blank.

“Understood, Major.” Diana replied, forcing her own voice to
maintain its steady cadence. “Sending Assault Drones in for another strike.”

“Negative,
negative
, Ops. The Vamps are splitting off
to strike home!” King’s smoky–toned voice shot off over the Comm even as Diana
watched her execute a climb, roll, and thruster boost to avoid the three
Karukai fighters trailing her
Striker
.

The
Excalibur’s
third in command recognized Major
King’s claim as truth a moment later. Nine of the remaining seventeen Karukai
Scorpions
peeled away from their comrades to make straight for the Quorum frigate.

“Lieutenant Naxos, ready the Assault Drones for another run;
target between our fighters and theirs.” Diana Adeline ordered a heartbeat
later, decision made as she reviewed probable outcome scenarios.

“Yes, Lieutenant Commander; initiating Assault Drone
Attack.” Belgrum promptly responded.

“Major, it’s too hot for
Ghost Squadron
. Break away
attack and reform within Decoy Drone perimeter, astern of
Excalibur
.”

“But Lieutenant Commander,” King started.

“That’s an order, Major.” Adeline cracked out, knowing that
every second wasted was precious and only too likely to be paid for in lives.

“Yes, Sir.
Ghost
withdrawing and moving to new position.”
The Wing–Commander answered. Adeline could hear King’s frustration, but her
better sense won out over the impulse to argue her orders.

Diana and the rest of the Bridge and CIC crew watched with weighted
breath as the
Excalibur’s
Assault drones interposed themselves between
the remaining four starfighters of
Ghost Squadron
, and the eight avidly
pursuing Karukai fighters. Eight became seven then six as the Drones did the
work they were designed for, yet the price was the entire lot of deployed V.I.
operated assault craft. Still, the strategy was a success in the sense that the
remaining four of
Excalibur’s
starfighters made it to safety, at least
temporarily.

The action was also abetted by the fact that after a
minute’s pursuit, it was clear that the six Karukai
Scorpions
had been
given the order to withdraw as they tore away from the chase to regroup with
their fellows who were closing directly in on the frigate.

“Karukai fighters are firing!” Lieutenant Chopa called out.

Sure enough, over two score of kobalt powered thruster
trails streaked behind Karukai missiles towards the
QS Excalibur
.

Like a heat–fever induced mirage, twenty Decoy Drones, much
smaller than their combat oriented cousins, shimmered into view as they
intercepted the Karukai missile fire. Each decoy captured the navigation and
targeting software of the racing enemy projectiles, individually convincing the
warheads to lock onto a drone as being the
Excalibur
itself. Missiles
and drones alike shattered at impact, creating a fire–work like cavalcade of
detonation and shooting debris. The ploy had caused the
Scorpions
to
spend half of their entire missile load.

Yet the maneuver’s success had not been complete.

Two final missiles streaked forward and collided with the
frigate, the resultant impact causing Diana to be jerked left and right in her station
seat, only her safety harness and the shock–frame of her chair keeping her from
being spilled across the deck of the bridge with bone–bruising force.

“Lieutenant Jaxx, report!” Marcus spat out, coughing like
someone who had just mis–swallowed lunch.

“Shields absorbed much of the impact; minimal damage to Deck
11. Systems and Shields still fully functional.” The red–haired Senior Systems
Officer answered calmly and succinctly, deft fingers flying across his console
as he monitored and managed the results of the hit.