Dark Fate, Chapter 90

Chapter 90 – Under Pressure

(Bridge, CRN Hellspawn)

We executed a quick jump to FTL, emerging within standard weapons range of the cruiser. I stood back, and let the Captain and her crew fight the ship. They were the experts, after all. That’s why I bought them.

“Target locked!”

Slave-Captain Elalana nodded at the report. “Fire everything! Get that bastard’s attention off the Renegade.” Looking over her shoulder at me, she said, “The fact that they’re still alive is amazing.”

I chuckled. “I didn’t recruit just anyone for this job, you know. They might not be military, but all my Renegades and Rogues are some of the best at simulated dogfights. And they’ve been competing against each other to try and be the very best they can be.”

Looking back at the plot, I watched as the ion cannons raked the enemy shields, before the grav-lances and Tiamat torpedoes struck home. One of the torpedoes actually managed to get through the shields, hitting the enemy vessel on the bow. Secondary explosions indicated that something important was hit.

And then the Hellfire Cannon hit. A 100 kg projectile magnetically accelerated to a significant fraction of the speed of light. It was every bit the ship-killer that the pulse torpedoes were, but, being ballistics, their effective range was much shorter, unless you were sniping. And it showed.

The round tore into the enemy, and then through it, leaving a hole that one could see straight through the stern, at an angle that clearly cut across several decks. The ship’s power fluctuated, and then died, as it began tumbling in space. Elalana nodded. “Good hit, Tactical. Looks like we got their power runs, maybe even knocked out the reactor.”

I said, “Unfortunately, this engagement has shown me that we still have a long way to go. There’s too few of us to effectively take out a fleet like this. We need more ships. And we need a way to board ships in battle.”

Elalana nodded. “Some species use a teleporter array to launch boarders on enemy ships. Or you could create specialized boarding craft, but those are vulnerable to enemy weapons and point defense.”

“I think the teleporters would be best. Like I said, there are too few of us. But that’ll be something for the new ships the designers are working on. I am pleased to say that Hellspawn and her crew are performing beyond my wildest expectations.”

Elalana smiled. “And I believe I can speak for my entire crew when I say that we are glad to serve, Master. This? Defending a world from pirates? This is righteous work, and better than any we could have expected when we were collared.”

“Captain! Eight targets have made landfall on the planet. All other targets incoming. I think picking off their leader made us the primary target.”

I took a breath, and said, “Have Rogue Squadron attack any of the ships that made it to ground. Focus on their engines, so that they can’t escape. That will force them to defend, rather than spread out too far, raiding. We probably won’t be able to prevent all of these ships from escaping, but we will at least be able to keep them from hauling off any slaves.”

“At once, Admiral!”

Elalana looked at the plot. “Mostly corvettes and frigates. A couple destroyers in the mix, but nothing we couldn’t handle, one on one. Twenty of them, though? Even with the Renegades, that will be tough.”

I grinned at her, the beginnings of an idea coming to mind. “I know we can’t block their FTL, but can we blind their sensors temporarily? Even if it is only a moment.”

“A tachyon pulse across all wavelengths should do the trick. But it will leave us blind, as well.”

“That’s fine. It is like throwing a flash-bang. When you know it is coming, you can cover your eyes and ears, so the enemy gets wrecked, and you don’t.”

“Understood.” She turned to one of her officers. “Ensign, how long to make that happen?”

“Thirty seconds, for the pulse, Captain. You want us to avoid damage to the sensors, it will take two minutes to set up. I just need to program a quick shutdown and startup sequence.”

“Contact the Renegades, then, and pass the program to them. When their weapons are recharged, we’ll use a flash to blind the enemy, and do a quick jump. The Renegades will jump as well, into stealth, setting up an ambush on the enemy when they follow us.”

Elalana nodded to me. “As you wish. What about Renegade 4?”

“What is their current status?”

“FTL still offline. Same with stealth. They won’t be able to fix it that quickly.”

“How long will the enemy be blinded by the pulse?”

“Ten, twenty seconds at most.”

“Have Renegade 4 get close to the debris of the dreadnought. When the pulse goes off, they are to use the magnetic clamps to lock on to it, and cut power. Everything but life support and comms. Once we draw the enemy away, they can work on whatever repairs they can manage.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

(Bridge, Huntship Brethak Claw)

Hasluh wiped the blood from his eyes. The consoles had exploded under the sudden assault. The ringing in his ears drowned out the sirens, as the emergency lighting saw him floating freely on the bridge. Looking around, he saw that most of his bridge crew was still alive, if injured. “Sighter, what was that?”

“It was the one warship. Multiple weapon systems in close proximity, including a kinetic at fractional light as the last hit.”

“Damage report.”

“Main power offline. Reactor went to safe mode, but primary leads to the engines have been severed. Life support is on emergency backups. Weapons are at fifteen percent. Shields offline. Hull breaches on all decks. Structural integrity is at fifty-eight percent. Combat capability is ten percent. Stealth is offline.”

Hasluh nodded. “Very well. Who is senior of the Hunters remaining?”

“Greythak, on the Vurla Fang, Huntleader.”

“Then use whispercoms. Tell the fleet that, as tradition demands, I, Hasluh, having been wounded in battle and forced to drop out of the fight, turn command of the fleet over to Greythak, and I will not participate in the honor duels for leadership of the clan until my wounds are healed.”

The bridge crew all bowed their head, and the Farspeaker began sending the message out. Looking to the rest of his bridge crew, he said, “Have the enginetenders see if they can get our engines online again. And find out if we have FTL capability.”

His breath pained him as he pulled himself into his command chair. Tying the restraints into place, he said, “We must return to Clan space, so that the Weaponmakers and Shipbuilders can find some way to defend against these weapons. We will consult the System Shop, and see if there is any lore there on what these weapons are.”

Slowly, he shook his head. “We were ill prepared for this fight. Like hunting a Yethdar Venomsting, without getting the proper defensive gear. The only reason we yet live is because the enemy no doubt thought us dead, or dying, and turned their attention to the rest of the fleet.”

“We will have to treat it as a defended world, and use stalking tactics to get in and out unseen, if we are to have any success here.”

(Rogue Leader, New York City)

QT, otherwise known as Rogue Leader, took a moment to calm herself as she listened to the chatter from space. Renegade 4 had gotten surprised by the enemy cruiser, but fortunately the ships were vulnerable to excessive amounts of violence straight to the face, so they’d survived, so far. That wasn’t her problem though, not right now. She needed to concentrate on making sure that none of the enemy ships got the chance to run away with any human slaves.

To do this, she started by keeping two flights in reserve, in high orbit over Earth, just in case any more raiders decided to make a run for slaves, or wanted to help out the people on the ground. The rest of her flights, she split into pairs, with each pair hitting a different ship. Hopefully without hitting the cities they were going after.

“Rogue 7, on me. Keep it tight, Coppertop. The locals are all kinds of jumpy because of a fucking pirate ship landing in Central Park. All flights from JFK and La Guardia are grounded, but we have Air Force burning in fast. We have shields, but they’ll only do so much if they really start getting trigger-happy.”

“Copy that, Rogue Leader. Didn’t command tell them who we are?”

“Yeah, they did. But whether they were believed or not is another story. Remember, we’ve been hiding up until now. So, we don’t assume anything. We’re not on a normal server, like in the tournaments. This is a hardcore server, and permadeath takes your whole account down.”

“Understood. On your five.”

QT smiled, and then switched frequencies. “Rogue Leader to Squadron. All flights, primary targets are the engines of enemy ships. Assist local forces at your discretion. Do not fire on civilians or local forces. This isn’t a game, and there are no re-dos. Get it right the first time.”

The engines screamed as they flew down, into the atmosphere. With the grin that only a nerd saying a line they’d never thought they’d get to say for real, she said “Locking S-foils into attack position. Beginning my attack run.”

“Enemy ship on screen. It is a corvette, as expected. I’ve got Air Force jets three minutes out.”

“Scan for local frequencies.” A bit of scanning with the comms systems brought a burst of static, and then a very angry voice.

“Unidentified craft, this is the United States Air Force, Flight 114. You are entering restricted airspace. Identify or be destroyed.”

“Flight 114, this is Rogue Leader, Ceres Royal Navy. We have orders to disable enemy vessel landing in Central Park. We will attempt to limit damage, but we will not allow the Ouran to escape with human slaves.”

“Ceres Royal Navy? Never heard of you. Regardless, this is US airspace. Army and National Guard units are en route to secure enemy vessels. Your ‘assistance’ is not required.”

Of course, I wasn’t surprised when the military boys didn’t want to let us stroll around shooting up the place. They probably had orders to expressly not let me do stuff like that. Just as I thought things were about to start causing an incident, I saw blaster fire reach up above the skyline, and take out a police helicopter that was circling the park. A moment later, a new voice broke into the channel.

“Flight 114, this is Control. Issuing an Intelligence Command Override. Confirmation code Lima-One-Three-Sigma-Seven-Two dash Able. Mission changed. Observe and Report. Active anti-air capability in target zone. CRN is allowed first chance to disable unidentified craft.”

“Roger that, Control. Observe and report. Climbing to Angels 3.”

“CRN, you are cleared to attack raider vessel. Minimum collateral damage.”

“Affirmative,” QT took a breath, and switched channels. “You heard that, Coppertop?”

“Loud and clear, QT. What’s the plan?”

“Targeting computers have a lock on the ship, but if we come in from above, we’re going to get ALL the AA on us. Shields rigged for atmospheric. Slow to subsonic. We’ll drop in, follow 7th Ave all the way to the park. That will keep them from spotting us until it is too late. Altitude two-fifty feet.”

“You sure? We won’t have much room to maneuver in that ‘trench’.”

“We’ll be fine. Missiles armed and ready. Drop back on my six, and get ready.”

“Roger that, Rogue Leader.”

They dropped down over Greenwich Village, and continued flying in a straight-line formation as the buildings got taller around us. Finally, they burst out over the grass and trees of Central Park, and the targeting scanner confirmed a hard lock.

“Rogue Leader, Fox Three.” She hit the trigger, and saw the trail of my two missiles launching. Without thinking, She pulled up, hard and a bit to the side, to clear the firing line and not give the enemy AA a sitting target to aim at.

“Rogue 7, Fox Three.”

Coppertop’s call came just a moment after hers. As they gained altitude, just above the rooftops, she read the sensor reports. “Good hit. Good hit. All missiles hit target. I’m seeing damage to enemy engines. No visible collateral damage. Can you confirm, Rogue 7?”

“Confirmed, Rogue Leader. Enemy vessel disabled. Power readings going down. I believe we took out their shields there.”

“All right. Let’s get out of here, and let the locals get some glory.” Changing channels, she said, “Rogue Leader to Flight 114. Mission accomplished. We are leaving US airspace.”

Before the pilot could respond, she switched back to the other channel. “Rogue 7, let’s give these boys a show. Full power to engines.”

She could hear the laughter in Coppertop’s voice as he said, “Copy that, Rogue Leader.” Right before they jumped to Mach 3, on a sixty degree climb for space.