Dark Space: Avilon (38 page)

Chapter 30

H
off watched the scene unfold like something out of a bad dream. Explosions blossomed all around them, clearly visible through the simulated viewports running around the bridge.

“Shields are coming and going, sir!”

“Boost the power!”

The deck shook with a violent series of explosions, and the lights flickered out.

“Our power core is already ten percent past maximum output, sir! To increase the power draw any further would risk catastrophic failure of the containment field.”

“So funnel the power from someplace else!”

Beside him Okara spoke through gritted teeth as another explosion rocked the deck. “There isn’t anywhere to funnel it from!”

Hoff scowled and stood up from his command chair. He watched out the viewports as gleaming lavender starships circled them like carrion birds, firing steady streams of missiles and lasers.

Sirens wailed. Crewmen yelled at one another. The deck shook. Return fire
thumped
and
hummed
from the battleship. The overhead lights came and went. Hoff turned in a slow circle, looking from one viewport to the next.

Suddenly something changed. The enemy switched from firing spinning purple stars to firing dazzling blue spheres.

“Sensors! What is that?”

“I don’t know, sir . . .”

Just a few seconds later those weapons began impacting on their hull. The roar of exploding warheads continued, but this time the ship didn’t shudder violently with every hit.

“Power levels are dropping!” engineering reported.

“Did they hit our reactor?”

“No, sir . . . something is interfering with energy conversion and transmission from the core. I think they’re disabling us, sir.”

“Helm! Where is that jump I ordered?”

“We have to stop maneuvering, or our calculations will be off! We could end up jumping into the middle of a planet or a sun!”

“Power output dropping below eighty percent.”

Too late for a jump now.
Hoff’s eyes narrowed to deadly slits. “They’re trying to capture us. Everyone to armory! Prepare for boarding!”

* * *

Atton saw the sudden shift in the Sythians’ strategy, and he was the first to call out the alert.

“They’re trying to capture us!”

No one argued with that assessment. Instead, Gold One ordered them to keep an eye out for any Sythian transports trying to get to the
Dauntless.
Maybe they wouldn’t be able to win the fight for Dark Space, but at least they could draw it out and force the Sythians to suffer greater losses.

“I’ve got nothing yet! Just thousands of fighters,” Atton said.

“Be patient,” the chevalier insisted. “They’ll be here soon. We need to buy time for our crew to fortify themselves. Save your Thunderbolts for the transports.”

A pair of stray laser bolts hissed off Atton’s shields, bringing him back into the moment.

“Watch it, Eight!” someone warned. “You’ve picked up a dozen Shells on your six!”

Atton dropped a cloaking mine behind him. A split second later, there came a flash of light and a titanic
boom
. His fighter rocked in the explosion, and two Shells winked off the grid. The others scattered.

“I’ve got transports, incoming!”

The coordinates were highlighted on Atton’s star map, and he began tagging targets. The other members of his squadron did the same, broadcasting their choices to avoid overkill.

“Targets marked?” Gold One asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Affirmative.”

“Locked in and standing by,” Atton added.

“Open fire!”

Atton pulled the trigger three times fast, dropping ordinance two at a time. Half a dozen Thunderbolts went teleporting straight to their targets, and the grid lit up with fire. The first wave of enemy transports disappeared without a trace.

“Hah! Take that!” Gold Seven said.

A grim smile sprang to Atton’s face as he realized that transmission had come from his wingmate, former
Captain
Caldin.

“Keep that enthusiasm, Pilot!” the chevalier said. “We’ve got more incoming! Same routine people! Mark your targets!”

“I’ve got enemy fighters on my six!” Gold Nine interrupted.

“Shake them off!” Two replied. “You’re lightning compared to them.”

“I . . . they’re everywhere!”

“Twelve, go help Nine and Ten! The rest of you, stand by . . .”

“Already on it . . . Sir!” Twelve replied, sounding like he was speaking through clenched teeth.

“I—”

A scream of static followed that transmission, and Atton saw both Twelve and Nine wink off the grid amidst dozens of Pirakla missiles. Atton saw Gold Ten go flying out the other side of that engagement, hounded by dozens of enemy fighters.

Gina.
He eyed her fighter as it bobbed and weaved between enemy fighters, lighting them up with her lasers and ventral auto-cannon.

“Motherfrekkers!” Gina gritted out over the comms. “That’s the second time you’ve killed my wingman!”

“Language, Pilot!” Gold One said.

“Frek you, sir!” Gina replied.

Atton felt a grim smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
You can take the mortal out of mortality, but you can’t take the human out of humanity.

“Can I get a little help over here? Someone?” Gina went on.

“Stay on target!” the chevalier replied. “It’s going to take all of us to stop this next wave.”

Coming to a sudden decision, Atton began tagging the squadron of Shells still chasing Gina. He launched three thunderbolt missiles at them, and then he
slid
and
twisted
his flight stick to the left, engaging lateral thrusters and maneuvering jets simultaneously to bring Gina’s fighter under his sights. Explosions tore through the group of fighters chasing her as his missiles reached their targets.

“How’s that, Ten?” Atton asked, pushing his throttle to the max and racing up behind the other fighters still chasing her.

“Well, well, making up for lost time, are we, Iceman?”

“Better late than never.”

“You two will be facing disciplinary action when we return to Avilon!” Gold Two reported.

Atton hassled the remaining fighters on Gina’s tail with his pulse lasers, while she fired backward on them with the same. Two more Shells flew apart, and the remaining ones broke off their attack.

“I’m clear,” Gina reported. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Three transports got by us thanks to you!” Gold One continued. “Get back in formation now!”

“Yes, sir,” Atton replied, banking back the way he’d come and firing his afterburners to catch up. The battle was a confusing mess to look at from afar, but the HUD projected over Atton’s ARCs helped by bracketing and magnifying only the nearest enemy targets.

Atton handed his evasive flying over to the autopilot for a moment and released the flight stick to flex his aching hand. Temporarily freed from having to think about evading all the random swarms of Shell Fighters and Pirakla missiles swirling around him, he turned to look over his shoulder at the
Dauntless.
Once a majestic covenant-class cruiser at over eight klicks long, she was now riddled with molten, jagged holes, her outer decks flayed open and exposed. She lay slowly drifting through fuzzy black clouds of her own debris. Absent was the subtle blue glow of energy shields, and her thrusters were dark and dormant.

As Atton watched, one of the holes leading into the ship lit up with small arms’ fire, and three silvery specks were silhouetted in the flashing crimson light of those lasers.

The drones were firing on the three transports they’d let through.

“Incoming!” Gold One roared. “Another wave of transports! Get ready Gold Squadron!”

Atton grimaced and went back to hands-on flying. They encountered heavy resistance. A shimmering purple wave of Pirakla missiles raced out toward them, followed by dazzling streaks of laser fire. Hundreds of Shells concentrated their fire. As Atton watched, several streams of fire intersected on their targets, and at least half a dozens warheads found their marks.

Gold squadron evaporated before his eyes.

“Holy frek!” Gina said. “Where did that come from?”

Atton shook his head, stunned to silence.

Gina went on, “Looks like saving me was a good idea, hey Iceman?” That could have been you!”

Caldin’s voice came crackling over the comms a moment later. “Listen up, Golds! There’s just three of us now, and we won’t last long if we stay out here!”

Atton was relieved to hear her voice. He spotted her fighter on the grid, racing toward the
Dauntless
with countless fighters on her tail. A siren screamed inside Atton’s cockpit, and his ship’s computer highlighted a wave of incoming missiles. Gritting his teeth, he waited until the last possible second, and then juked hard left, pushing down on the stick for a dorsal twist. The missiles went spinning by, so close that they bathed his cockpit in an eerie purple light. Atton finished the maneuver with an upward spiraling loop that brought him onto Caldin’s tail. He pushed the throttle up past the stops, using afterburners to catch up.

“What do you mean
out here?”
Atton asked now that he had time to breathe. “All we have is
out here!
We’re in space for frek’s sake!”

“They’re not firing on the
Dauntless
anymore,” Caldin replied. “And if they want to capture her in one piece that’s not about to change. Form on me, Golds, we’re going in.”

Atton shook his head.

“She’s gone skriffy!” Gina said over the comms, as if Caldin couldn’t hear. “You know how much debris is floating around that ship? We’ll be lucky to survive the approach.”

Atton was inclined to agree. Despite that, he didn’t have any better ideas.

“Ruh-kah,”
he whispered to himself in Imperial Versal.
Death and Glory.
Atton supposed now, thanks to Omnius, that battle cry was more like
resurrection and glory
. That was some consolation.

Maybe they wouldn’t win the battle, but at least they couldn’t die fighting it.

* * *

Strategian Hoff Heston stood behind a shattered bulkhead, wearing his assault armor and watching the crimson glow of lasers flashing in the dark. The drones were fighting valiantly, but Hoff knew they wouldn’t be able to hold out forever. The Sythians had the numbers to suffer any amount of attrition and still keep coming.

“We should have blown the core while we had the chance,” Tactician Okara said as she crouched down beside him. “Sooner or later we’re going to die, and this ship is going to fall into enemy hands.

“Omnius could have blown the core at any time, Okara. The fact that he didn’t means he’s not worried about the Sythians capturing what’s left of our fleet. Not only is this ship derelict, but without Omnius they can’t hope to control it.”

“They might not care. They’ll have our technology to study. Given enough time they might be able to reverse engineer it.”