Part 8 | Star Frontiers

AboardASWUnbroken22.64 kilometersfrom Azul(Isabella V), Isabella System05/04/70, 12:48:52 "Pilot Major, override the warp enginesafeties,” Stevie said, in a voice which did not betray theknotting of her stomach and the tightening of her chest.“Launch a salvo oftorps,” she added,”and jump the ship.”No acknowledgemnt,no reports, no objection to the dangerous course of action the masterof the Unbroken had just ordered.Prue simply carriedout her orders, even as Meliza sang out:"Vampire, vampire, vampire! Raidcount one-zero-zero Rapiers inbound for Unbroken,along projected vector of enemy flagship, estimated time to impact—"No longer mattered, asthe ship of the Watch entered warpdrive with a whining hum of herRittermark generators."ETA to Hammarskjold, thirty hours Zulu,” reported Unbroken'spilot major,”twenty-two and a half seconds ship’s cl—” "Evasive maneuvers, PM!” Steviehad just enough time to shout. ”All guns, fire!” Graserpulses sizzled past Unbroken alongboth her flanks on her return to normspace, herpilot major wrenching the stick in every direction, RCS thrustersfiring fitfully to throw off the Marzie battlewagon's aim."Vector is true,Shipmaster,” Prue reported, even as she kept raining fire into theenemy warship’s massive flank. "We are now ninety millionklicks from Hammar—""Punchit!” Stevie barked out, evenas her ship staggered under the weight of incoming fire .”Dropship, scramble,I say again—" AboardASWUnbroken89.99 millionkilometers from Hammarskjold, Christina System05/05/70, 18:48:06 "—dropship, scramble!” the Old Manrepeated over the 1-MC, even as Alicia dropped herself into theDragonfly IV’scockpit, belted and sealed herself up, and stabbed the command on thepiloting holodisplay which initiated the launch sequence. The diamagneticfield jenny kicked on at full power, when the rails spat theDragonfly IV out ofUnbroken at well overcritical velocity, the warp engine's antimatter torch kicking in theinstant she was clear of the destroyer, Alicia slewing the ship roundon her RCS thrusters, looking straight down the gaping maw of a400,000 ton Sand Creek-classbattleship's launch deck, the drop ship's master holodisplay showingher exploded bodies and twisted junk floating inside the dimly-litchasm.Unbroken must'vevogged the bastard where it hurts the most,before entering warpdrive, Aliciathought to herself, before slamming a pair of torps into the enemybattlewagon to vog the Ticoup some more, and kicked the Dragonfly IV intowarpdrive after working up a quick vec on the navicomp.The hundred-tonBumblebee-classdropship re-entered normspace, skinning the starboard side of theMarzie heavy cruiser closing on Unbroken fromdead astern, as Alicia cut loose with two more torps and thethirty-thirties, punching briefly-flaming holes into the spaceframe,ripping open two of the enemy cruiser's eight warp engines as shestreaked past him, Alicia turning her ship nose on to the heavycruiser’s stern, arming hafnium bursting charges in another pair oftorps, before she let them loose to shred two more warp engines,multiple gashes bleeding antimatter and warp engines coolant intospace, even as the Marzie started slewing himself around on his RCSthrusters, firing torps from four of his eight launchers to try andrip the Dragonfly IV apartwith shrap, as Alicia waited until the last possible second to takeher ship into warpdrive.Thumb and forefingerached, as they fired torps and the thirty-thirties into the belly ofthe enemy cruiser the instant Alicia had re-entered normspace, herfusillade boiling away nano-reactive carbon steel plating, andshrivelling up thirty-terajoule graser barbettes like paper in fire,her guns then lancing into the exposed interior, gouging out evenmore firey bits of Marzie heavy cruiser and flinging them headlonginto space. AboardFSSLewis B. Puller89.99 millionkilometers from Hammarskjold, Christina System05/05/70, 18:55:30"Gods damnit!” Pendry sworethrough clenched teeth, as his bridge continued crashing down allround him, alarms by the freakin' millions screamingthroughout the shattered deck, the ship’s sparkchaser not evenbothering rattling off the litany of disaster, as he was too busybeing a charred lump hanging limply by the straps which bound hiscorpse to his chair."XO!”he screamed,”Noexcuses, just—"Anotherexplosion ripped and thundered through the bridge, sendingmen—screaming like little gynt—to burn and splat against thebulkheads, stations disintegrating to the left and right of thePuller’s skipper, showering Pendry with gore and burningshrapnel, as he took one look at the wreckage and carnage, beforetaking the stick which had slapped itself into his left palm, jerkedit hard to port, and slowly turned his ship around on its damaged RCSthrusters."Godsdamn you!”barked the Traitor’s holoimage as it floated in front of Pendry’sright eye. "Staythe vogout of our—" AboardFSSOkinawa89.99 millionkilometers from Hammarskjold, Christina System05/05/70, 18:57:08Thebridge lights dimmed, at the same time the Okinawa’sgraserskilled the heavy cruiser who dared interfere. Theventilators damn near roasted Park with blast furnace air, while theOkinawa'schief flight engineer reported via Link,”we've lost three of eightradiators, severe damage to radiators two, three, five, seven, andeight, internal temp forty degrees and rising rapidly, auxiliarycoolant system has sustained a heat casualty, deflector array hassustained a heat casualty, surviving torp launchers have sustained aheat casualty, all surviving grasers have sustained a he—""Canwe make warpdrive?!” Park’s coward of a flag captainshrieked."Atpresent rate of heat buildup,” the ship’s sparkchaser replied,”wewill have a warpdrive range of precisely fifteen seconds, before thewarp engine safeties force us to re-enter nor—""Weare notleaving!” Parkscreamed. "All hands, this is the fleet commander! Seal up yoursuits, engineering, blow out the ship on my mar—""Starcraftexiting warpdrive,” theOkinawa'ssensorman shouted out,”bearing zero degrees by one-two-zero-zero Zulu, 3,000 klicksdownrange!”” Nine-sixtangos,” he then said,” positively IDed as HammarskjolderSkjold-classlong-range fighters, closing rapidly at three thousand KPS.”"Doesn’tmatter!” Park snapped, trying to convince himself he couldstill win this.”We can take—"Themain bridge exploded beneath him, hurling screaming, burning men fromwrecked stations to their deaths."Sir,”said his chief of staff, still by his admiral’s side. "Thereare almost a hundred lerfs, plus the Nak destroyer, and the MasterGod Himself only knows how many other—""Additionalstarcraft exiting warpdrive,”the damnable sensorman just hadto say at that point,” alongvector taken by the enemy lerfs!New hostiles aresix Hammarskjolder Stockholm-classheavy cruisers, plus two full squadrons of Slepiner-classdestroy—oh, holy vog, vampire,vampire, vam—””Jumpthe ship!” udun-Khonyat bellowed at the Okinawa’sflag captain, as he took over piloting."Getus back to where we belong!”he spat, the Abysar as disgusted with that order, as his admiral. “Aye, sir,” thebattleship’s skipper replied, as Okinawa retreated intowarpdrive.AboardASWUnbroken89.99 millionkilometers from Hammarskjold, Christina System05/04/70, 18:59:47 “Enemy battleshipentering warpdrive,” Meliza reported.”Opening launchdeck doors,” Prue reported,”recovering drop ship.”“Hammarskjoldercommander on the line for you, Shipmaster,” Anayah said.Stevie nodded, andthe holo of a handsome dark-haired woman with flag officer's stripeson her green shipsuit appeared on the master holodisplay, comingstraight to the point:“Anacreonian shipUnbroken, this is Commodore Ella Thorsen, commanding HerMajesty's Ship Götehafen, and Cruiser Squadron 25 of theRoyal Hammarskjold Navy. Are they all right?”“No, sir,” themaster of the Unbroken whispered huskily, fighting the shakesthreatening to rip through her body.”They're alive, but, beyondthat....”“Understood,”Thorsen said tersely, swallowing a couple of times, before adding:”You have beencleared for priority docking at High Fortress Swedenborg; my shipswill provide escort.””Thank you,” theHammarskjolder flag officer then added.“For bringing herhome,” she added.” Götehafen, out.” “P-pilot M-major,” Stevie stammered, as her shaking hands fumbled with the releasefor the seat's restraints,”flip ship and initia-ate d-decel burnfor High F-fort Swedenborg; N-nukes, effect whatever repairs aren-necessary.”Her legs almost wentout from under her, as Stevie stood up, managing to get out the words“Pilot Major has the conn,” before staggering her way to the corelift, collasping in a quivering heap against the back wall of thelift car, as it descended toward the wardroom. —endit—