Against All Odds (24 page)

"Aye, Captain Durland. We'll remain here."

The Danube and the Thames built their envelopes and departed so suddenly they appeared to simply disappear. Cross sat in his bridge chair fuming that he had to babysit a wreck and yet couldn't even search his prize and perhaps claim a small souvenir. Space Command looked the other way when officers took souvenirs such as a plastic nameplate or uniform patch. As long as they were not taken from prisoners, the item presented no hazard, and the value was inconsequential. This battle group consisted of the first Uthlaro warships ever encountered by Space Command and Cross was anxious to see what their military ships looked like inside.

* * *

The Space Command ships at the site of the original fight were standing well off from the Uthlaro vessels as the latter were searched for survivors by Marines from the three battleships.

Using the UHF frequency, Commander Durland contacted Jenetta as soon as they dropped out of Light-9375.

"We were able to prevent the escape of the Uthlaro ship, Admiral. The Nile is standing by in case anyone is left alive, to make sure they don't manage to get any IDS messages off. Once it's been searched, it can be towed back here and secured with the others. It's got a lot of holes in it, but it's largely in one piece."

"Excellent work, Captain."

"It was the Nile that actually stopped her, Admiral, with an envelope-merge-and-fire. She didn't respond to our crossing her bow. She either had her collision avoidance system turned off or the sensors had been damaged in the fight."

"I suspect the former," Jenetta said. "The main group never even slowed when they encountered the electronic debris field. Perhaps their sensors are able to identify the electronic nature of the debris field and thus allow their ACS to ignore the signal. They probably deactivate the ACS after that so an enemy can't do what you attempted."

"Aye, ma'am. That's the way it seemed to us."

"Link up with the Boreas and take on a company of Marines, then return to where you left the Nile. Once the Marines search her for survivors, have your tug or the Nile's tug drag her back here."

"Aye Admiral. We'll link up immediately."

"Good. Colorado out."

"Danube out."

* * *

An hour later the Danube returned to where the Nile had been left, but the two ships were no longer there. Durland immediately ordered the com operator to hail the Nile on the UHF band. She knew the Light Speed generator of the Uthlaro ship had been utterly destroyed so it had either been towed away or was using the Sub-Light engines.

"We have a response from the Nile, ma'am," the chief at the com said.

"Put it on the front monitor."

An image of the Nile's bridge appeared a second later. The quality wasn't as good as an IDS band communication, but Durland immediately recognized that the officer in the command chair wasn't Commander Cross.

"Who's the senior line officer aboard the Nile?" she asked.

"I am, ma'am. I'm Lt. Commander Sammuthy."

"Where's the captain?"

"Uh, he's aboard the enemy ship, Captain."

"What's he doing— never mind. Where is the Uthlaro ship?"

"Just ahead of us, ma'am. We're maintaining close surveillance so they can't emerge from our jamming shroud."

"Send your coordinates and speed."

"Yes ma'am."

A second later the com operator said, "I have them, Captain, Routing them to helm."

"Helm, get us there, now."

"Yes, ma'am. ETA, five seconds."

Seconds later the Nile and the crippled Uthlaro ship appeared on the view screen.

"Nile, what your situation?"

"Uh, the Captain went aboard the enemy ship with a small rescue party of six and was apparently taken prisoner. The Uthlaro sent us a message on normal RF saying that if we tried to stop them they'd kill the captain and the rescue party."

"Send me the com frequency they used."

"Yes ma'am," the officer said, nodding to the com operator on his bridge. "Sending".

"I have it, Captain," the com chief on the Danube said.

"Hail the Uthlaro ship," Durland said to the com chief.

A second later the bloody image of an Uthlaro appeared. At least Durland assumed it was blood. It was blue and was dripping from several gashes on the Uthlaro's face.

"I've told you to leave us alone or we'll kill your people."

"This is Captain Durland of the GSC scout-destroyer Danube. Heave to immediately or we will open fire."

"What's 'heave to' mean?"

"It means stop where you are and prepare to accept boarders."

"If you attempt to stop us, we'll kill your people."

"If you kill even one of our people, we'll kill all of yours aboard your ship and all the prisoners we've rescued from the rest of your battle group."

"I don't believe you. Space Command doesn't kill prisoners."

"You don't know my Admiral. Admiral Carver isn't like other Space Command officers and neither am I. If you wish to test me, go ahead and kill the rescue party that boarded your ship. I'll immediately give orders to my Marines that anyone found alive is to be killed in the slowest and most painful manner possible."

"You've already killed most of my crew."

"That was in battle. Once the battle is over, we try to rescue any survivors. That was the reason for the party that boarded your ship. They were there to search for survivors and help them if possible."

"Back away and allow me to send a message to my family on the IDS band— then I'll surrender."

"I'm sorry. Any messages from prisoners must be examined for possible encrypted messages before we can allow them to be sent."

"I'll kill your people if you don't allow me to send my message."

"I see. Then it
is
a message to your command under the guise of a family message."

The Uthlaro scowled at Commander Durland and then muttered something unintelligible. "This conversation is over."

"Tactical," Captain Durland said, "have our gunners take out their Sub-Light engines."

"Aye, Captain," the tactical officer said before activating his CT and speaking to the waiting gunners.

A second later laser pulses flashed out from the Danube's arrays, striking the larboard and starboard nacelles on the Uthlaro ship, then the stern engines. The gunners didn't stop until the engines had been reduced to scrap. The Danube and Nile helmsmen cut power to their own Sub-Light engines and drifted along behind the Uthlaro ship as it lost propulsion and maneuvering capability.

~ March 14
^th
, 2283 ~

"Marine Company Four," Commander Durland said via her CT, "prepare to board the enemy ship. Be aware there are definitely alien survivors. They are hostile and armed, and they have a rescue party from the Nile in captivity."

"Understood, Captain," Durland heard in her CT. "We're moving in. Nevers out."

A few seconds later two shuttles could be seen traveling towards the enemy ship. The Marines chose to enter in a part of the ship that was definitely depressurized. They would already be inside before they were likely to meet any resistance. A patchwork of images from the helmet cams of the Marines filled the bridge's forward monitor on the Danube.

The Marines slowly made their way through the ship, briefly checking all bodies they found along the way. When they reached the center of the vessel, they encountered working airlock doors into a section with atmosphere. They took time to change out of their EVA. suits and into their combat body armor while one squad watched both forward and rear approaches inside the pressurized area.

Moving out, they hadn't gone more than fifty meters when they discovered several dead crewmen from the Nile, their weapons still holstered.

The helmet cam on the Marine company leader, Lt. Nevers, recorded the identities of the crewmen as Nevers said, "These people are DOA. From the readings on their suit monitors, they've been dead for more than ninety minutes. Continuing on."

After walking another twenty meters while checking every room that opened into the corridor and welding the door closed using a tube of special adhesive after the room was searched, the Marine on point found three more Space Command personnel in a heap inside a storage closet. Nevers moved up to check the bodies for life signs.

"These people are deceased as well," he said. "Their suit monitors indicate they died less than five minutes after the others. Their weapons are missing, but there's no sign of damage in this corridor. It looks like they were herded here and then executed. Continuing on."

It was almost another hour before the Marines encountered a live Uthlaro crewmember. As they passed though a closed, airtight door, a laser pulse narrowly missed the Marine on point. He dropped to his stomach and returned fire. The hallway filled with light pulses for a few seconds as the Marines behind him likewise opened up. As the corridor returned to normal, the only evidence of the brief fight were the burn marks that covered the walls in the area where the shots had originated.

The point man got slowly to his knees, expecting another pulse from the end of the corridor, but nothing came. Bent low, he moved cautiously forward and found the body of an Uthlaro around a corner in the corridor. The body, riddled with still smoking holes, was holding one of the Space Command laser pistols. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up straight just in time to receive a laser pulse dead center to the chest.

He stumbled and fell backwards to the deck as another light show ensued when the Marines behind him opened fire on the second shooter. A few seconds later, the body of the Uthlaro crewmember fell out of the doorway where he had been hiding. The Marines were using their weapons on narrow beam rather than wide and the light beams had punctured the composite material of the doorway frame, then continued on through the assailant's body.

"Damn! This new body armor really does work," the Marine who had been on point said as a fellow Marine helped him to his feet.

"Of course it does," the other Marine said. "It's made of the same stuff as the new ships. As long as you take the hit where you're covered, you can't be hurt by either a wide pulse or narrow beam. The LT said Admiral Carver's command is the first to get it."

"If I make it back to my rack tonight, I'm gonna send the manufacturer a message of thanks."

"Send it to Admiral Carver. She's the one who discovered the stuff on Dakistee and then argued with the Admiralty Board until they finally agreed to use it for body armor and APCs. They didn't want to risk having any of it fall into enemy hands, but Carver argued that it wouldn't fall into enemy hands if the Marines wearing it, or riding in it, were still alive to fight."

"Where did you hear that?"

"My cousin clerks at the Admiralty Board. She gets to sit in on all the meetings so they can have her run errands if they need something. She can't talk about a lot of the stuff they discuss, but most of the regular weekly messages from Carver aren't classified. When I was posted to the Admiral's command, Sissy began sending me everything she could. I learned that when she was the base commander at Stewart, Carver must have requested a hundred times that her grunts get new armor made from the Dakinium. The board finally agreed to begin manufacture of the new armor after the Milori attacked Stewart. So send your message to the Admiral with a copy to the manufacturer instead of the other way around."

"Yeah," the Marine said. "I will."

"Logan, you okay?" Nevers asked after speaking with the captain of the Danube.

"Hundred percent, Lieutenant. The armor saved my ass."

"Good. Fall back to the saddle. Sanchez, you're on point. Let's move out, Marines. We have only one man left to find. The Captain of the Nile was leading the rescue party. All other members are accounted for."

"Damn!
The captain
?" Sgt. Sanchez said, "What the hell was he doing in here before we had a chance to clear this ship?"

"I'll let you ask him when we find him," Nevers said testily. "Now move out, Marine."

As the Marines moved towards the center of the ship, they encountered more and more armed Uthlaro crewmembers. Every corridor became a firefight location. They must have been close to the bridge when they discovered the body of Commander Cross. According to his EVA suit monitor, he had been dead since before the Danube returned to find the Nile missing.

Picking up his body, the Marines began retreating to the corridor where they had entered the pressurized part of the ship. They took a few minutes to assemble a collapsible 'oh-gee' carry-all in a protected area, then placed his body on it, adding the others along the way while one squad guarded their retreat.

A half-hour later, they were back at the shuttle. An hour later, they were stripping off their EVA suits aboard the Danube as the shuttle settled to the deck of the shuttle bay. Nevers made his way to the bridge as soon as the bay was pressurized.

"They were all dead long before we caught up with the ship, Captain," he said to Durland. "It looked like they were executed because the three in the corridor still had their weapons holstered and the three in the storage closet were dumped there. All of them were shot at very close range, probably less than two feet. They were probably surprised and captured within minutes of entering the ship."