A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (17 page)

              The wolf’s raging ceased and he went stock still.  He turned to face the pickup.  “You think that because you have that ship you are untouchable.  That I will swallow these insults.”

              “I think you will do sso becauze you know that I am right,” the zheen countered.  “Occupying and desstroying the gass mine will do nothing but tie down resourcez and sspend your soldierz’ livez.  In the end you will have little to sshow for their effortss because the battlecruizer will come and blasst you piecez.”

              “You are showing a remarkably silver-plated tongue for one who doesn’t actually have one,” the general spat. 

              Verrikoth considered the lupusan general over the display pickup.  He tilted his head slightly for a moment and then straightened up and spoke.  “What happened to the determined military leader who cared for hiz troopss?”

              “Don’t you speak to me about caring for my troops,” Typhon told him flatly.  He whirled and barked, “End transmission!”  The display blanked.

              Jensen Tyler looked to his lord.  “What now, my Lord?  The General seems not to understand your orders.”

              “He iz not used to following orderz.”  Verrikoth mused.  “But I expect you are correct.  I do not want that mine destroyed.  I want them to be able to fill my cofferz again when I ssend sshipss here again.”

              “He is concerned for his people, my Lord,” Tyler said, considering.

              The zheen turned his head.  “With a battlecruizer that could drop in on uss at any time, he clearly isn’t that concerned.”

              “But he’s fixated on the resistance from the locals.”

              “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have issue with his aggressive nature,” Verrikoth hissed.  “I brought him along for just that reazon, but I want thiss ssysstem relatively intact.”

              Tyler nodded.  “Then in that case, my Lord, you need to shift his attention away from the locals somehow.”

              The zheen turned his compound eyes on his flag captain.  “And how would you ssuggest doing that, Commander?  By sshifting it to me?  I have already losst too much thiss day, I have no dezire to fight General Typhon directly.”

              “My Lord!” one of the sensor officers called out. 

              “What iz it?” Verrikoth demanded, his voice sounding tired.  “I am quite fatigued with ssurprizez today.”

              “There is a ship coming into sensor range at high speed,” the officer continued, pointing to his display.  “They’re decelerating hard.”

              “What kind of ship?” Tyler demanded.  Verrikoth was impressed with how the man managed to keep his posture straight and his shoulders set, despite the fact that the officer’s words probably portended doom. 

             
It seems the battlecruiser has finally decided to join the party.

~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

              “Thirty seconds to battlespace,” Wotan’s voice boomed over the ship’s speakers. 

              “Finally,” Kol Raydor gasped.  The last fifty-seven minutes had been pure agony but now they were here.  Now, they could show the pirates and the rest of First Principles how the strongest ship in their arsenal could do battle.  In the odd moment when he could think clearly (and through the crushing g-forces it was very difficult), he was considering the battlespace.  They didn’t have any updated intelligence packets from the rest of the FP forces; they’d been a bit busy fighting a battle while
Persistence of Vision
was racing to the gas giant.  Which meant, absolute worse case, that the destroyer would be taking on three cruisers and a half dozen corvettes, not to mention any fighters or the gunboats that were hanging around.  It was unlikely that the pirate forces would be completely intact, so there would be slightly better odds, but Kol was not ready to count the pirates out.  From all the intelligence reports he’d read, this pirate lord was tough and cagey.  He certainly had to be if his forces punched out the Republic flotilla at Byra-Kae.  Kol mentally shrugged (it was too difficult to physically do so right now).  Now that things were really rolling, he found himself irritated at the government and really the population’s apathy toward anything not directly involved with this star system.  It meant that the military and security forces were playing a serious game of catch up, sifting through every single piece of information that came into the system, but so far the only info that was coming in was from the various freighters plying their trade.  And from the Republic ship, of course.  That’s where they’d gotten the plans to copy it and built
Persistence of Vision
.  But they’d never even seen Verrikoth’s heavy cruiser before, or that other light cruiser that’d he’d brought in, or the troop transport.  There was so much they didn’t know.  And there was so much they
needed
to know.  Like where this pirate scourge was located, how many ships they had, what kind of revenue stream they had: i.e. did they have a constant stream of goods and money coming their way or did they have to go out and raid planets and ships to get it? 

              But of primary concern at the moment were the capabilities of that heavy cruiser and her escorts. 
Hopefully, the defense ships were able to soften it up a bit.
  He took a deep breath and flexed his arms and legs, trying to keep the blood moving.  He could feel himself wheezing now, as he desperately tried to suck air into his lungs.  Apparently,
Persistence of Vision
was having a similar problem, as Kol could hear the metal of the ship groaning under the strain of deceleration.

              “Five seconds,” the AI said cheerfully.  “Four… three… two… one… now.”  Suddenly, the pressure on Kol’s body ceased as the ship’s main propulsion units powered down.  “Captain, you should report to the bridge.  There is a battle to fight.”

              Feeling as though he’d been battered, Kol heaved himself out of the chair in his small stateroom and rushed out into the corridor.  He was on the bridge in less than thirty seconds, just as the rest of the bridge crew waking up.  Well, as far as Kol could see it
looked
as though they were waking up.  There was a lot of stretching and groaning, which quickly stopped when someone called, “Captain on the bridge!”

              “As you were!” he said, sliding into his command seat.  “Status?”

              “Nothing has changed, Captain,” Wotan said, appearing on the bridge holo projector.  “My systems are online and ready, shields are up, weapons coming on line.”

              “Talk to me, Sensors,” Kol ordered, pulling up his own sensor display.

              “I’m showing the pirate ships, sir,” the aged male lupusan at sensors replied.  But then he frowned.  “There are fewer than I expected.  I’m only showing one pirate corvette, and the light cruisers are regrouping.”

              Kol scanned over the data.  His officer was right.  According to the data packet they’d received from
Cavalier
at the beginning of the battle, there should have been six enemy corvettes, and now there was only one.  There was also only one of the smaller gunships here as well.  The heavy cruiser and one of the light cruisers also looked to have taken a beating, as had that large transport vessel.  The smaller cargo ships (which were still huge) were moving slowly, and the sensors calculated that their bays were probably laden down with stolen goods.

              “Captain, the tank farm,” Wotan indicated, gesturing to the outside of the ship.  Kol shifted the view on the display and then swore.  Apparently, the pirates had gotten what they’d wanted, because the platform where the massive fueling tanks were positioned had been completely slagged.  Bits of metal and carbon composite were forming a small cloud in the very high orbit.

              “Damn them,” he said.

              “Sir, I’m getting the reading from three escape pods, and they’re broadcasting
Cavalier
’s beacon ID.  I’m not showing any sign of the FP defense corvettes,” the lupusan reported.  “Wait, strike my last.  I’m showing
Maitland
coming around the curve of the gas giant toward us.”

              Kol nodded.  “Well that’s something.  Thank you, Bayram.”  He looked over to the man at comms.  “Comms, open a channel to
Maitland
.”

              “Aye, sir,” he replied.  He pressed a few controls, then nodded.  “You’re on, sir.”

              “
Maitland
, this is
Persistence of Vision
.  We’ve arrived on scene and we’re ready to assist.  Report your status, please.”

              “Commander, I’ve got a ship that just came on scene, sir,” the sensor officer called out.  “It just piled on some massive deceleration.”

              “Why are we only just hearing about this now?” Jensen Tyler demanded.

              “The ship was coming in at a very high rate of speed, Commander.  Based on their rate of deceleration, they’ve been slowing for a good while, but their rate of speed has been extremely high.  I’m sorry, sir, I was focused on more local threats.”  The man looked apologetic and unafraid.  He knew the consequences of failure on this ship.

              Verrikoth did not intervene; this was something for Tyler to handle.  He sat in his command seat and considered the data from the new arrival.  It was smaller than his cruisers, but was clearly a warship.  Of course, considering that display of engine power, it could only be a warship.  His antennae waggled as he considered the sensor readings.  The readings were remarkably familiar. 

              “Ssenssorz,” he spoke up.  The man whirled around to face him.  “Compare these readingz with the databassez.  I know I have sseen a sship with thoze characteristics before.” 

              “Yes, my Lord,” the sensor officer replied, pressing several keys.  He frowned as he looked over the data.  “My Lord,” he said a moment later, “You were correct, we
have
seen readings like this before. 
Ganges
had information in her databanks about it.”

              “Yess, yess,” the pirate lord said impatiently.  “What?”

              “Sorry, my Lord.  But we did encounter a ship with those characteristics before.  It’s a Republic design, sir.  A Republic
Adder-
class destroyer.”

              He hissed.  “Republic?  Any other ships nearby?”

              “Other than our own, my Lord, no.  No others are coming in with the destroyer.”  The man frowned.  “Curious.”

              “What?” Verrikoth demanded, his voice getting harsh.  The man blanched. 

              “They are broadcasting a beacon ID for something called First Principles, not the Republic, my Lord,” the man told him. 

              “Yess…” he agreed.  “That iz curiousss.” 
What did this mean?  Did the Republic turn one of their ships over to the locals?  One of their destroyers
had
managed to slip away after his victory in Byra-Kae several months ago.  Perhaps they came here.  With their battlecruiser, I suppose it is possible they managed to capture the Republic ship.  Obviously they fixed it up.  A formidable ship, but it is no match for my cruisers.  Certainly no match for
Nemesis
. 
His antennae curled as he considered his options here. 
I would like to add a ship like that to my fleet.  No, we will continue with the withdrawal.
  “Comms, signal all ships.  We will continue with the withdrawal.  Cargo ships will pull into close formation, warships will escort them out.  Commander Sokann and his Z’gchisss Ssquadron will continue to keep their fighters away from us.”

              “Yes, my Lord,” the comms officer replied.  “Sending now.”

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

              “No!” Typhon raged.  “Order HT 626 and
Byvennot
to withdraw.  Cover the cargo ships as best as possible,” he ordered.  “But we will engage that Republic destroyer.  I will not run away from a ship like that.”  The Republic destroyer was an ugly ship; it was little more than a cylinder with square hammerhead ends.  There was no way he would retreat with a ship like that still in theater, while it was still a threat.  “Bring us around.”

              “Yes, General!”

              “Commander! 
Illuyanka
is ignoring my Lord’s orders and is turning to engage the incoming warship.”

              Tyler cursed, but kept his voice low.  It wasn’t his place to question the actions of Lord Verrikoth’s allies, but the fact that the general was showing such blatant disrespect was so frustrating.  He longed to get him in range and turn
Nemesis
’s heavy weapons on the general’s light cruiser and bring him to heel like the dog he was.  “Keep us on course,” he ordered instead, trying to smooth out the frown creasing his forehead.

              “Very good, Commander,” Verrikoth said.  “If the General decides he wants to engage them, I will not stop him.  We will depart this system.”  He steepled his blunt, mauve colored fingers.  “Continue on course.”