Riss Series 4: The Riss Accession (18 page)

Chung looked pale.

Zhang was expressionless.

Damaass laughed. "Dummies?"

"Yes. Cut your engines and release
a Dummy on vector two-seven-zero by two-six-zero."

As I cut the connection, Damaass was laughing.

for essential power.>

one-tenth power.>

< One Dummy at zero-nine-five by zero-six-five.>

I sat back and watched the VTM as the
Minerva’s
and
Mnemosyne's
Dummies streaked away in what would appear an attempt
to avoid the oncoming cruisers and their fighters. The
Mnemosyne's
Dummy vector was to the starboard side of the cruiser
closest to it, and the
Minerva's
Dummy vector was to the port side of the cruiser closest to it. Thus, the bait
would draw the cruisers and their fighters to the outside of our positions.
Within seconds, the fighters took the bait, and soon the cruisers followed.

That was the result I had hoped for, but
what I didn't expect was the deadliness of the Dummy. It took out two fighters
with its fifty-centimeter lasers. Two rammed it, and another three were close
enough that the resulting explosion caused them to fail. The results were
similar with
Minerva
's Dummy. When
the dust cleared, only seven fighters remained. The cruisers collected the
fighters and headed in the direction of Dong. I waited ten minutes before
contacting Damaass.

"That was spectacular,"
Damaass said as he appeared on the monitor. "I think I can hear the
cheering all the way from the Ghosts' area."

"Yes, Freeland did it again. We owe
the clans much," I acknowledged. "Now that we are rested, it's time
to visit the
Medusa
. Contact me via
tight beam when you are in position for a three-second skip."

Medusa
.>

Half speed. Execute vector on your board.>

* * *

 
On passive sensors, it was difficult to
determine exactly what was happening to the main force closer to Dong, but it
was obvious the fight was still going on. I idly wondered if the
Medusa
had additional cruisers it was
keeping in reserve. It knew the scout had been destroyed. Would the
Medusa
stay and fight or attempt to
return to its home base with the information it was collecting?

"Minerva
in position,"
scrolled
across the monitor.

Minerva
: three second skip to twenty-five kilometers off
Medusa’s
port side.>

kilometers off
Medusa
's starboard
side.>

Minerva
: skip in thirty seconds from receipt.>

your board in… ten, nine... three, two, one, skip.>

The Bridge personnel briefly faded into ghosts
and then reappeared. The
Mnemosyne
shuddered twice as two banks of missiles exploded towards the
Medusa
, and we faded in and out almost
instantly.

<
Medusa
still operational.>

I had mixed emotions as I watched the
results scroll across the screen. Three Riss wounded, one dead. It was far
better than last time, but one dead Riss was one too many. One of the Ghost
bays had been briefly opened to space and two Ghosts had sustained minor
damage. A bank of lasers was destroyed. One engine had to be taken off line.
Level three took several hits, but they would be easily fixed when time
permitted.

The Aliens had fired sixteen missiles,
too late. They might be hoping the missile sensors would find targets. I decided
to do nothing. Our stealth coating should preclude any missiles finding us
except by accident, whereas active ECM may give the
Medusa
a good location to target.

Minerva
.>

Damaass's face appeared, thoughtfully
looking back.

 
"Damaass, damage report." I
crossed my fingers mentally.

"Not bad. Several wounded, no
deaths. Lots of minor damage, but we are fully operational."

"How do you feel about intuition?
"

 
"Better than luck. "

 
"Tell me when you're in a position
for a two second skip. When you are, we will each launch a Duster to detonate
one kilometer from the
Medusa
, then
skip to within two kilometers, unload, and execute a final two-second exit
skip. I’m hoping the Dusters will deflect the laser beams enough to degrade
their effectiveness. "

 
"Interesting idea. I’ll let you know
when I’m in position. "

Ten minutes passed as the
Mnemosyne
maneuvered into position.

duster.>

Duster.>

I sat back hoping I wasn’t wrong. That
close, the Aliens’ thirty- and fifty-centimeter lasers were deadly, as we had
learned at Fools Landing. I opened my SID and punched in Byer’s code.

He answered immediately.

 
"Commander Byer, prepare your
squadron. We’re making another run. If we can disable the
Medusa
, I want your squadron in position to clean up anything still
functional. There may be cruisers still docked. "

 
"Yes, ma’am. "

<
Minerva
in position.>

Minerva
, release Duster in thirty seconds from receipt. Skip on
release.>

nine, eight, seven... two, one, fire.>

In less than a heartbeat after the Duster left the tube, the Bridge
personnel turned translucent for two seconds. The
Mnemosyne
shuddered as twelve Demons exploded from the ship, and
everyone again faded
into ghosts and back again.

<
Medusa
lost power.>

Minerva
release Ghosts.>

I hit my SID connect to Byer. "Byer,
release your Ghosts. The
Medusa
has
lost power."

"Ghosts exiting now."

My eyes went reflexively towards the
VTM, but of course there was nothing to see. The
Medusa
had lost
power
, and the Ghosts were invisible to our sensors.
We could do nothing but await Byer's report. The damage monitor showed only
minor injuries and no equipment failure. Time seemed to go into slow motion;
the minutes dragged by.

My SID lit with Byer's smiling face. "Captain
Reese, Commander Katlin reports four Alien cruisers on the
Medusa
destroyed. They were apparently being held in reserve.
Ghosts destroyed them in their launch bays."

"Send my congratulations," I
said and activated Seng's SID.

"Seng, Send two boarding parties to
the
Medusa
. The power is down, but
let's make sure it doesn't come back on again."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and a
minute later, "Shuttles on their way."

Minerva
.>

Damaass appeared.

"Damaass, drop two shuttles of
Scorpions. I want to make sure the beast is dead."

"Done. Your intuition was good,
dybbuk
." He smiled. "Our
damage on this run was much less than the first one. Light damage here and
there, and a few minor injuries. Are we going to join the battle on Dong?"

"No. They need the practice. Our
responsibility is to ensure that the
Medusa
and everything in it is dead."

"Why do you think one of those two
cruisers didn't continue going and return to the home base after they
discovered the scout dead?" Damaass asked.

"Poor judgment, orders, tradition, or
they thought they were winning. Many would think leaving a battle was cowardly."

Damaass laughed. "Before becoming a
Riss-human and knowing Adiona, I would have thought that. Now, my guardian
angel would have me considering the greater good."

* * *

Several seconds later, Sakaata's face appeared on the overhead monitor.
 
"Reese, you had us worried.
Your entire area of space looked dead. Obviously the
Medusa
lost power, but since we can't see your cruisers, we didn't
know if you were alive or dead. I was particularly concerned when I noticed two
explosions and then two alien cruisers joined us right afterward."

"They managed to find, engage, and destroy two Dummies. If we had
engaged their cruisers, the
Medusa
would have been alerted to our presence. It's dead along with four cruisers it
had in reserve. We've been waiting to see if you let any leave your
party."

"Makes sense now that I hear what happened. Fighting with three
nations is tricky. It would be convenient if someone were in charge, like the
Gardners of SAS want, but that isn't practicable, as you've just demonstrated."

"How did things go for you and your task force?"

While he formulated an answer, I wondered why the
Medusa
had elected to keep four cruisers in reserve. Did the commander
misjudge the number of ships in the system, or did it have something to do with
who commanded the
Medusa
? And was
each
Medusa
commanded by the same
individual? Damn, the concept of a robot-host gave me a
Medusa
-sized headache.

That shocked me into silence. I knew the Riss didn't want to leave
their normal host... Oh. If the Riss could transfer a copy... Interesting. The
Aliens could be a very small group of organic material.

Image of Thalia in a sound-proofed room with no windows
while many little Thalias were involved in hundreds of activities.

Sakaata's voice brought me back to the present. "We had the
overwhelming force by three to one, but between a faster reload capability, an ECM
equivalent to an SAS Heavy, and those damn fighters with their kamikaze
tactics, it's like fighting Hunters. In total, four Lights and a Heavy were
destroyed, three additional Lights are non-operational, and most ships have
light to moderate damage. It would have been worse if my Riss-certified ships
hadn't destroyed two Alien cruisers before they discharged their fighters. In
my task force, I lost an unmodified Light, another is barely operational, and
have moderate damage to another Light and my command ship, the
Condor
. What about you?"

"Better than last time. Have to; we don't have copies to throw
away."

* * *

We arrived back in Dong air space early the next morning. I had chosen
to return at half speed with our radar active, knowing many in the various task
forces would be rightfully nervous and that the Riss cruisers looked more alien
than the Aliens' cruisers. On the way back, I held a meeting with the senior
personnel on the
Mnemosyne
and
Minerva
.

When I entered the room, Jaelle called "Attention," and
everyone rose. Most were smiling.

"At ease." I said, and to my surprise everyone started
clapping.

"To Captain Reese," Damaass said, raising his glass.
"The leader of the
meanest, baddest fighting elite in the galaxy
." As he finished, everyone cheered. My
face must have turned scarlet because it felt on fire.

"Yes. It is my privilege to serve with the elite of the services.
Not only comrades-in-arms, but friends." I sat. "Who would like to
start the debriefing?"

"My pilots went wild over the Dummies. They sucked the Aliens'
fighters to them like a black hole. It was very satisfying after the carnage at
Fools Landing." Byer said.

"I agree," Commander Clarkson said, nodding. "What I
love about the Riss ships is that you have us tied into the VTM, so we are more
aware of what is happening."

"I agree," Seng said. "Usually, the army has to learn
everything second and third hand and after the fact. Here, I feel like we are
part of the team."

"You are," I said, trying to catch everyone's eyes. "Any
idea why we managed to catch four cruisers on the
Medusa
?"