Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (51 page)

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“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported from the navigator’s chair.

“Scanning for the Avendahl,” Mister Navashee announced.

“Load all torpedo tubes with fixed yield nukes, Mister Randeen,” Nathan ordered.

“Aye, sir. Loading all tubes with fixed yields,” the tactical officer answered.

“I’ve got her, Captain,” the sensor operator reported. “Three light minutes from our current position. She’s about five hundred thousand kilometers away from the shipyards on course for Takara. ETA is one hour at current speed, but she is accelerating smoothly, sir.”

“Assuming a constant rate of acceleration, as well as enough time at max deceleration in order to fall into orbit, what’s your best guess?” Nathan asked his sensor operator.

“One moment, sir.”

Nathan looked puzzled.

“Captain?” Mister Willard inquired, noticing the captain’s puzzled look.

“The Tattarak went to FTL to get across the system in minutes,” Nathan observed. “Why doesn’t the Avendahl do the same?”

“The Tattarak was at least twice as far away,” Mister Randeen speculated. “Perhaps she didn’t feel it necessary given her proximity.”

“With your homeworld under attack?” Nathan commented.

“Best guess is thirty-two minutes, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.

“See, that’s just too long,” Nathan insisted. “She should have gone to FTL.”

“Maybe she cannot,” Mister Willard suggested. “She wasn’t due to leave the shipyards for at least another week, after all. Perhaps her FTL is still offline?”

“Mister Navashee, what type of power signatures are you detecting?” Nathan asked as he paced to his left toward the sensor station. “Is she running her anti-matter reactors, or is she using the zero-point energy device?”

“Checking now,” Mister Navashee answered as he studied his displays.

“All torpedoes loaded, Captain,” Mister Randeen reported.

“Jump plotted, sir,” Mister Riley announced. “I can put us one kilometer out if you like.”

“Her anti-matter reactors are online, sir,” Mister Navashee reported, “but she’s running her ZPED as well; at least I think so. I’ve never seen readings like this. And her anti-matter reactors are at minimal output levels.”

“Like she’s got them lit just in case,” Nathan muttered. “Yeah, she’s running on her ZPED.” Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out with a sigh. He had hoped that the Avendahl would not be operational, and that if victorious, they would be able to study her or possibly even borrow her ZPED technology in order to get them back to Earth more quickly. However, if that was not to be the case, he knew he had but one acceptable course of action.

“Gentlemen,” Nathan began, “the Avendahl is by far the most powerful ship in the empire. If she is allowed to reach Takara, not only will this mission fail, but the entire Darvano system, and possibly the Savoy system, will suffer greatly for our failure. She is far more powerful than us, and she knows that we’re coming, so she’ll be ready. What she doesn’t have is the jump drive. That is our advantage. We will strike fast and hard, then jump away quickly. We’ll repeat this process until we either wear her shields down or find a weakness in her defenses that we can exploit.”

Nathan stood in the middle of the bridge and looked at the faces of his bridge crew. There was doubt, and there was fear, but there was also confidence. Until little more than a month ago, he hadn’t known any of them. Six months ago, he hadn’t known any of them existed, especially this far out in space. Yet here they all were, brave men about to hurl themselves into battle with the odds against them. These were the types of moments Nathan had studied in history. These were the type of men who had made those moments. Although he did not feel worthy of the moment, he certainly felt honored.

“Stand by to jump, Mister Riley,” Nathan stated calmly.

“Standing by.”

“Mister Chiles, as soon as we jump in, line us up for a forward shot. Once those shots are off, translate up so that our belly is toward her guns.”

“We know the maneuvers, Captain,” Mister Chiles assured him.

“Of course.” Nathan turned to Mister Randeen. “You fire as soon as he gets the tubes lined up. All four forward tubes.”

“Understood, Captain,” Mister Randeen replied.

“Mister Riley, jump us in,” Nathan ordered as he took his seat.

“Jumping.”

The bridge filled momentarily with the blue-white flash of the jump. When the light cleared, the Avendahl loomed large on the view screen in front of them. Even at a kilometer away, she was big enough to make out plainly, and she was rapidly growing in size.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Lining up,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Target is firing missiles,” Mister Navashee reported.

“She must have already been at battle stations,” Nathan muttered to himself.

“Firing one through four!” Mister Randeen announced.

“Twelve missiles inbound!” Mister Navashee reported.

“Twelve?” Nathan asked, somewhat shocked. Apparently, that ship really wanted them dead and gone.

“All torpedoes away!” Mister Randeen reported.

Mister Chiles quickly applied as much upward thrust as possible, pushing the upward in relation to its flight path. “Translating up. Clear jump line in fifteen seconds.”

“Missile impact in twenty,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Torpedo impact in twenty-five seconds,” Mister Randeen added.

“Can you translate any faster?” Nathan asked in frustration. They were cutting it too close for his liking.

“Sorry, sir, the Avendahl’s a much bigger ship.”

Nathan could kick himself for not taking that into consideration to begin with. “Stand by for a two click jump.”

“Five seconds,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Ten seconds,” Mister Navashee added. Mister Randeen chose not to add to the list of countdowns. The torpedoes would hit regardless, and the captain had other things to worry about at the moment.

“Clear jump line,” Mister Chiles reported.

“Jumping,” Mister Riley announced.

Just before the bridge filled with the jump flash, Nathan could swear he could see the tips of all twelve of the Avendahl’s missiles coming right at them.

“Jump complete.”

“Translating down and lining up the stern tubes.”

“Standing by to fire tubes five and six.”

Nathan smiled. His crew was doing everything by the numbers without having to be told.

“Torpedo impact in five seconds,” Mister Navashee announced.

“Bring up the rear camera and magnify,” Nathan ordered.

The image on the view screen changed to the view from the rear camera just as the first torpedo impacted the Avendahl’s stern. The image magnified as the second torpedo flashed, marking its detonation. Two more flashes followed.

“Four good hits,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Firing tubes five and six,” Mister Randeen reported.

“Damage assessments?” Nathan asked.

“Five and six away,” Mister Randeen added. “Twenty seconds to impact.”

“She’s firing again!” Mister Navashee announced. “Six missiles this time.”

“Escape jump, Captain?” Mister Riley wondered.

“One light minute ahead, Mister Riley. Jump on my order.”

“Yes, sir. Plotting.”

“Time to missile impact?” Nathan asked.

“Fifteen seconds,” Mister Navashee answered. “I’m not showing any damage, sir. Her shields in the impact area are showing a significant drain, by maybe thirty percent.”

“Jump plotted and locked,” Mister Riley reported.

“Five seconds to missile impact.”

“Jump,” Nathan ordered.

“Jumping.”

“Main viewer to standard,” Nathan ordered as the jump flash cleared.

“Jump complete.”

“Helm come one hundred degrees to port, twenty degrees down angle,” Nathan added. “Mister Riley, the next jump should put us off her port beam and about forty-five degrees below her, one light minute off the target.”

“Yes, sir. Plotting.”

“Coming about now, Captain,” Mister Chiles answered as he started his turn to port and lowered the Aurora’s nose according to orders.

“Torpedoes five and six should have hit by now, Captain,” Mister Randeen reminded him.

“Get me a damage assessment as soon as you can, Mister Navashee.”

“Yes, sir, but it will take a minute since we’re a light minute out.”

“I’m well aware of that, thank you. As soon as Einstein allows you,” Nathan stated, forgetting that his Corinairan crew might not understand his reference.

“Uh, yes, sir.”

“Tactical, reload all tubes, fixed yields again.”

“Reloading.”

“Let’s see if we can’t get off some missiles as well,” Nathan added.

“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported from the helm.

“First jump plotted,” Mister Riley added.

“Jump when ready,” Nathan ordered.

“Captain, the Avendahl suffered no discernible damage,” Mister Navashee reported. “However, her stern shields did suffer a thirty percent decrease in strength.”

“Jumping.”

The jump flash swept the bridge.

“Not much of a drain,” Nathan commented as he did the math. Between his fixed and variable yield nukes, he only had a total of sixteen torpedoes left. Even if the Avendahl did not recharge her weakened shields, which was unlikely, it would take the majority of his weapons to wear her shields down to the point of collapse. If he used up his torpedo arsenal on the Avendahl, he would have nothing left to engage other ships. In addition, if Tug’s plan was unsuccessful and Caius remained in power, he would still need to deal with the four ships that were currently on their way to punish the Darvano system.

“Jump complete,” Mister Riley reported. “Plotting attack jump.”

“Captain, those strange readings have increased,” Mister Navashee reported from the sensor station. “Her energy levels are off my standard scales. I’m picking up some minor gravity distortions as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Is it possible she’s increasing the output of her ZPED?” Nathan wondered.

“It’s hard for me to speculate, sir. I don’t know how a zero-point energy device works,” Mister Navashee admitted.

“Send your readings to jump control,” Nathan ordered as he tapped his comm-set. “Doctor Sorenson, Captain.”

“
Go ahead, Captain,
” Abby answered over the comm-set.

“Abby, we’re sending you some sensor readings that we can’t make sense of. They’re coming from the Avendahl. We think she may be increasing the output of her ZPED. Will you take a look and see if you can make sense of it?”

“
I’ll do my best, sir.
”

“Captain, the Avendahl is extending her shields,” Mister Navashee reported.

“How far?”

“Five hundred meters and still expanding.”

“Is she going to launch fighters?” Mister Randeen wondered.

“Why?” Nathan asked. “She’s got to believe that she’s more than powerful enough to deal with us on her own.”

“Perhaps she doesn’t want to be bothered, so she’s sending her fighters to deal with us.”

“She could be preparing to go to FTL,” Mister Willard suggested.

“That would make more sense,” Nathan admitted. “Leave a bunch of fighters behind to harass us while she FTLs it to Takara to save Answari.” Nathan turned to the sensor operator. “Has she launched any ships?”

“No, sir, and her shield radius is up to fifteen hundred meters and still expanding,” Mister Navashee reported.

“What?” Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Captain, if the Avendahl has analyzed our torpedoes and our attack strategy, she may be attempting to compensate,” Mister Randeen said. “If they have discovered that our torpedoes are unguided weapons, her captain may believe that they have a maximum effective targeting range of one kilometer.”

“But why extend shields?” Nathan wondered.

“Our last attack did drain their aft shields by thirty percent,” Mister Randeen pointed out. “Maybe her captain is trying to increase his intercept zone…”

“In case one of our nukes gets through his shields,” Nathan realized. “That would also explain the increase in his ZPED output… to extend his shields so far out.” Nathan turned back to the sensor operator. “Mister Navashee, are his shields still expanding?”

“No, sir. They’ve stopped at two kilometers.”

“That’s plenty of room to intercept an incoming torpedo using point-defenses,” Mister Randeen stated.

“Yes, it is,” Nathan agreed. “But it’s also plenty of room to maneuver,” he added with a smile. “Mister Riley, new plot. Jump us one light minute astern of her. We’ll come about and jump in from behind again. Only this time, we’ll jump inside her shields.”

“Yes, sir,” Mister Riley answered.

“Helm, we’ll go in slower than before. I want plenty of time to maneuver and jump away this time.”

“Aye, Captain,” Mister Chiles answered.

“Mister Randeen, I intend to launch a full spread of nukes and missiles as soon as we jump in.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sir, we’ll need to make another jump to get aft of her before we can jump in and strike again,” Mister Riley reported from the navigator’s chair.

“Understood. Get us where we need to be, Mister Riley.”

“Yes, sir, jumping.”

As the jump flash washed across the bridge, Nathan remembered the last time the Aurora had jumped in so close to a ZPED powered imperial battleship. It had not been on purpose, but rather the result of a desperate blind jump to escape an anti-matter explosion. That ‘super-jump’ as he referred to it, had thrown them a thousand light years from home and started a chain of events that led to this very moment.

“Jump complete. Plotting attack jump,” Mister Riley reported.

The destruction of the battleship Campaglia had only been possible by the unavoidable collision between the Aurora and her adversary. That collision had caused severe damage to the Aurora and had killed half her crew, including their captain and executive officer. Nathan had no intention of repeating that event.

“Are her shields still expanded?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, sir, holding at two kilometers.”

“He will expect us to make another run at his stern, sir,” Mister Randeen stated.