Black Fleet Trilogy 1: Warship (21 page)

"Engine four has been blasted clean off the ship," Davis confirmed. "Half the pylon was taken with it. Emergency shut-off valves engaged and saved most of our propellant."

"We're in a tumble, ma'am," the helmsman reported. "I'm trying to straighten us out."

"Where's the target?

"Not showing up on our sensors," Barrett said. "Radar shows it disappearing right as we were hit. I can't confirm with optics because they were washed out by whatever hit us."

"It jumped to FTL," Jackson said, struggling to get to his feet. Blood was running freely down the left side of his head and he looked to be in considerable pain. "Helm, straighten this damn ship out. Nav, set course to take us back around the system towards Podere. OPS, prepare a com drone for Nuovo Patria. We need to warn them about what's coming."

"Com drones are unavailable," Davis said apologetically. "The hit on the starboard side partially liquefied the upper armor of the hull. The hatches for the com drones are welded shut."

"Can we cut through them?" Celesta asked.

"I'm receiving no status from any of our remaining drones, ma'am," Davis said.

"Have Commander Juarez deploy a crew in EVA gear to the internal maintenance hatches for the drones," Jackson said. "If they're still viable we'll worry about cutting the hull away then. Am I to understand we're down to three engines?"

"Yes, sir," Celesta said. Jackson went to run his hand over his head and winced, pulling away a hand covered in blood. "You need medical attention, sir."

"No argument there," he said. "I don't think a compression bandage will help with this. Commander, you have the bridge. I'll be in Sick Bay and then we'll figure out what we're going to do to unfuck this mess."

He turned before he could see Celesta's jaw drop at his profanity.

As the rolling battle moved along, the forced professionalism of the captain in front of the crew was beginning to crack and peel. The mutiny had shaken him up more than he was letting on, and he wanted nothing more than for this nightmare to be over. Unfortunately, a happy ending didn't seem to be in the cards. If he could only catch a break on this cursed cruise ... he'd give anything for just one thing to go right.

****

"Captain! Are you okay?" Commander Owens, the
Blue Jacket's
chief medical officer, just happened to be walking by the entrance to Sick Bay as Jackson walked in.

"I've been better," he admitted. "Can you get one of your techs to patch me up?"

"Of course," Owens said. "This way, sir." The doctor led him back into a room and indicated a chair for him to sit on. He began inspecting the wound and pushing around the affected area, causing Jackson to grit his teeth.

"It's deep, but nothing a new skin bandage can't take care of," Owens said. "I'll have Specialist Ki come in and take care of it and then we can talk.”

"Thanks, Doc," Jackson said. Specialist Ki, a woman so youthful looking he would have sworn she was too young to wear the uniform, gave him a shy smile as she entered the room and began cleaning the wound and getting it ready for the bandage coated in an organic substance that would promote healing.

For so much blood the cut was actually fairly small, barely an inch long and not especially deep. The med tech had him patched up and out of the room within twenty minutes. He hadn't heard any klaxons or announcements indicating the enemy ship had come back to finish them off. He debated just leaving, but he'd sort of agreed to talk to Commander Owens. When he found the doctor, and who he was attending to, he was glad he had stuck around.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good, Captain," Daya Singh said. "They're just keeping me here as a precaution. I heard you lost one of my engines?"

"I'll get you a new one," Jackson promised.

"So what's the plan?" Singh asked, trying to prop himself up.

"Right now we're simply trying to staunch the bleeding," Jackson admitted. "We're beaten up, missing an engine, and streaming atmosphere from about a hundred places. Currently we should be back on course for Podere to check on the population there."

"Starships are always leaking atmosphere," Daya said, waving him off. "That's why we carry so much oxygen and nitrogen on every cruise to replace it. I heard a rumor that ship may have jumped to FTL heading for another Alliance planet."

"How the hell are you hearing all these rumors?" Jackson asked, only half-joking.

"I still have my comlink," Daya said. "You gave me access to the ship's log last year and I've been reading the entries. That's not the point. What are we going to do about that ship going after another human planet?"

"I don't know what we can do at this point," Jackson said, spreading his hands helplessly.

"The warp drive is still functional, isn't it?" Owens said, speaking up for the first time.

"I'm under the assumption it is," Jackson said.

"Then I think you know what has to be done," Singh said. "We need to loop back around and hit the Nuovo Patria jump point and try to get there before this thing does."

"So you two called me in here for a pep talk and to encourage me to continue on with this suicide mission?" Jackson said, rising from the seat. "I'll keep what you've said in mind. When we pass by Podere and are lined up for a run, assuming the
Blue Jacket
can even achieve transition velocity at this point, I'll make my decision." He nodded to them both and walked out of Sick Bay.

As he walked down the corridors, his utilities caked with dried blood, he passed a score of crewman hustling about their duties. Each gave him a respectful nod as they rushed off to perform some task to keep the destroyer flying. He didn't see panic or sullenness. He didn't even really see much fear. If he had to put a name on it he would have to say the faces of his crew were set with a grim determination as he passed them.

He felt his resolve begin to harden as he watched them, nodding back to each in turn but offering no empty words of encouragement. They didn't need it. They may have started this cruise as a collection of castaways that were just waiting out their time or looking for the easy road, but now they were the most battle-hardened crew in the Fleet. A cynic would point out that fact was true when the first shots were fired in anger, but Jackson could see the truth of it while walking through the lower decks. Despite the mutiny and the horrific damage the
Blue Jacket
had suffered, the crew would follow him no matter what he decided. As the lift doors closed to whisk him back up to the bridge he knew exactly what it was he had to do.

Chapter 18

"OPS, give me a status on the warp drive," Jackson said as he strode onto the bridge.

"Ordering a diagnostic on the drive components now," Davis said, yawning hugely. "But I can say for certain the starboard hatches are welded shut over the emitters. Also, Commander Juarez confirms all our remaining com drones are damaged beyond repair."

"Get Engineering to put a detail on it," Jackson said, ignoring the news about the drones. "It doesn't have to be pretty, just cut the damn hatches off and jettison them if they have to. Just free up the emitters."

"Yes, sir."

"The warp drive, sir?" Celesta said. "Are we taking a trip to Nuovo Patria?"

"We are," Jackson said.

"It would probably help if you addressed the crew now," she said.

"I was thinking the same thing, Commander."

****

"Hello." Captain Wolfe's face appeared on every non-essential monitor shipwide, prompting everyone to pause what they were doing and pay attention.

"As you all are well aware, we have been in a prolonged and costly battle with an unknown alien ship that has invaded the Terran Confederacy, leaving a path of unimaginable destruction through the Asianic Union and into the Warsaw Alliance.

"We've lost crewmates along the way. Friends. The
Blue Jacket
has been battered and is limping across the Podere system now, barely able to defend herself. The logical thing to do would be to make orbit over Podere and wait for help, or possibly push on to Haven ourselves, but there's a problem with that. The enemy ship has left the system on a course that will almost certainly take it to Nuovo Patria, an Alliance planet with over thirty million people living on it. It might run into the Eighth Fleet there, it might not, and we have no way of warning them what's coming.

"Things have not gone our way in this battle. We've had to fight outdated systems, fight poorly maintained weaponry, and even fight ourselves. But I've watched this crew rise to the occasion in spite of all that. I've watched spacers swallow their fear and do their duty in the face of an implacable and terrifying enemy. I have no right to ask any more from you than what you've already given. But I'm not asking. The people of Nuovo Patria are asking. The people of Podere are screaming for justice as they pick through the ruins, and the memories of Xi'an and Oplotom are demanding vengeance.

"It doesn't matter that we've had more than two centuries without armed conflict. It doesn't matter that most of you joined with no expectation or desire to see combat. Despite all of that ... this is still a warship, a ship of the line, and the fight has been brought to us. We will not shrink from our duty and we will
not
fail in our mission." His voice had been rising as he spoke, and every officer, every enlisted spacer could feel the will of their captain emanating from the monitors and speakers.

"We will be coming around for a pass of Podere to gain velocity for a warp transition," Jackson said, calming down as he began the details portion of his briefing. "We'll hit the Nuovo Patria jump point and hopefully get there in time to stop the enemy. We've already done significant damage and I'm fully confident we can disable or destroy it during the next engagement. Listen to your officers. Get the ship, and yourselves, ready to finish this mission. Your names will be talked about for generations ... the crew of the
TCS
Blue Jacket
, the destroyer that stood alone against an alien juggernaut. Let's get to it. CO, out."

****

"How was that?" Jackson asked after the camera light winked off.

"Very good, sir," Celesta said. "It set the right tone, I think."

"We'll see," he groused. "If they storm the bridge again we'll know it wasn't all that inspirational."

"Coms has been pulling in messages from Podere," she said, steering the conversation into a different direction. "Three cities are a total loss, but they've gotten some good data on what it was that turned all those other cities into the slicks we found on Xi'an."

"That's something I suppose. That was beyond luck that the aliens pulled their ground troops before breaking orbit. We have nothing onboard to try and rout out an enemy on the surface, and Podere has no standing army."

"Luck had to break our way sometime," she shrugged. "Do you want to respond to Podere?"

"No," Jackson said after a moment. "We've got enough problems as it is without trying to deflect some regional governor's plea for aid. If they have a smart one he'll invoke a little know treaty clause that would more or less force us to stay and help out."

"I think we're well beyond playing by the rules at this point," she reminded him.

"True," he conceded. "Even if the
Blue Jacket
survives the two of us are screwed."

"That's the way I see it as well."

"Go get some sleep, Commander," Jackson said. "You can relieve me in four and then we'll both be fresh for the transition. After that we have a fifty-two-hour warp flight, assuming the drive and powerplant can sustain our highest velocity."

****

"The crews are almost done cutting the hatches off the starboard drive emitters," Singh said, slowly stirring his tea. "The emitters themselves along with the deployment arms look completely undamaged. I had been worried that heat great enough to liquefy our hull armor would have fused the joints on the arms, but we appear to be in business."

"How much longer?" Jackson asked, his eyes feeling gritty from being up so long. He was on the bridge by himself until Celesta and Barrett came back on duty. He had ordered Davis to her quarters despite her strident protests that she was fine. With Peters in the brig she had been on shift for nearly thirty-six hours.

"A few hours," Singh shrugged. "We're not even near the jump point yet. What's the hurry?"

"I can't begin to accelerate to transition velocity until they're off the hull," Jackson said.

"Why are you accelerating so soon?"

"We're missing an engine, in case you forgot," Jackson said, slightly exasperated.

"Three main engines is more than enough," Singh said, still unconcerned. "Even if another drops off we have the auxiliary boosters."

"I'm not sure I trust a fifty-year-old rocket booster to fire when I need it," Jackson said, his vision beginning to blur from the fatigue. "How shorthanded are you after we rounded up that mutiny?"

"Unfortunately there were a lot of my people involved," Singh said, wincing as he did. "That doesn't say much for my ability as a Starfleet officer I'm afraid. You really shot Chief Cullen in the head with that 1911?"

"Yes," Jackson said. "That's not something I'm especially proud of, but I'd have been less proud to have millions die because I let six traitors bludgeon me to death in the corridor."

"True," Singh said. "Well ... as much as I'd love to keep you company I'm afraid this is where I must leave you. I'd like to at least get a few hours of sleep before we see if the warp drive will transition us or shred the ship to individual molecules."

"I'm not really sure which is the worse option there."

"Goodnight, Jack."

"Sleep well, Daya."

****

"Here goes nothing," Jackson said, settling into his seat and feeling immensely better after a shower and a hot meal despite only getting a couple hours of sleep. As Singh had said, the
Blue Jacket
easily surged to transition velocity on her three remaining engines. The warp emitters had successfully deployed and were beginning to glow a bright blue, going on pure white.

"Five seconds to transition!" the chief at Nav said far more loudly than necessary. Jackson watched as the distortion ring began to form around the front of the ship and a few seconds later he felt the violent buffeting as the
Blue Jacket
transitioned out of the Podere system.

"We're on our way, everyone," Jackson said, standing up. "Continue what repairs you can while we're at warp. XO, let the department heads know that I favor resting the crew over any heavy maintenance or repairs they may want to make. I'd like to be on normal watches by the time we hit Nuovo Patria."

"I'll let them know, Captain," Celesta said.

"Captain, I don't have a relief watch anymore," Lieutenant Davis said.

"You and Lieutenant Barrett will alternate watches with each other until we're ready to transition back into real-space," Jackson said. "When we arrive I obviously need you both on duty. You have first watch, Davis. Barrett, take a walk with me. XO, you have the bridge."

Lieutenant Barrett rose out of his seat with a concerned look on his face and hustled off the bridge to catch up with the captain.

"Yes, sir?" he said, falling in beside Jackson.

"I just wanted you to know that your performance after our last talk has been exceptional," Jackson said. "I held off entering the previous incident into your record since you accepted full responsibility, and I figured that alone earned you a shot to prove me wrong. You've done that and then some." He stopped in the hallway and held out his hand to the young lieutenant. Barrett shook it with a bit of a shocked look on his face.

"I've never been so happy to be wrong about a junior officer," Jackson said. "If we make it through this I'll be putting you in for a promotion."

"Thank you, sir," Barrett said. "When this is over, I hope I have the opportunity to continue to serve under you."

"I would like nothing more myself, Lieutenant," Jackson said, keeping his face neutral. "Carry on."