Scrapyard Ship 3 Space Vengeance (23 page)

“
Let’s go to general quarters, XO.”

“
Aye, Captain. The outpost fleet are in the process of calling up wormhole coordinates from the interchange, sir.”

“
As soon as the admiral has made the transition, open a channel to him.”

“
Aye, Captain,” Seaman Gordon said from Comms.

His father’s decision to personally command the outpost’s fleet, as well as the entire contingent of Allied forces, was of concern to Jason. Selfishly, he didn’t want his father placed in harm’s way. Sitting as he was there in the Dreadnaught Independence, he and his crew would immediately be targeted by the Craing. But he knew his father needed to redeem himself after their devastating defeat to the same Craing fleet months earlier. The truth was, the crew knew their odds of survival were slim. Jason’s thoughts turned to Nan and Mollie back home. With their near certain impending defeat here in deep space, how long before the Craing would bring a hell-storm down on Earth?

“
The outpost fleet has made the transition, sir. A channel is open to the admiral.”

His father’s face appeared on the forward segments of the display, but something was wrong. The admiral’s attention was on someone else on the Dreadnaught’s bridge.

“
Admiral?” Jason asked.

“
Just hold on,” he snapped back, still working something out with his crew.

“
Captain, um, we have a problem,” Orion said from Tactical.

The admiral’s face had turned grey. “Jason, we’re still trying to figure things out here, but we’re not where we’re supposed to be.”

“
What do you mean? Where the hell are you?”

Orion chimed in again with, “Cap, they’re three sectors away, forty-five light years’ distance.”

“
Jason, we’re nowhere near where we’re supposed to be,” the admiral repeated.

“
Maybe you entered the wrong coordinates; try again,” Jason said a bit more forcefully than he’d intended.

“
You think?” the admiral barked back. “Do you have any other commands for me to follow, Captain?”

The admiral’s attention was on someone off-site again. Jason could see his father was close to losing it. “What the hell do you mean we’ve lost our connection with the interchange?”

The admiral and Jason both looked to each other and said the same thing simultaneously: “Granger!”

“
Contact him!” the admiral shot back to someone off screen.

Granger seemed to know whenever we were looking for him, Jason thought. It wasn’t an accident he was nowhere to be found.

“
I’m betting he already knows about this,” Jason said.

“
Captain, the Craing fleet—they’re splitting into three groups.”

“
Put it up on the display.”

The admiral’s video feed moved to the left as a new segment, showing the virtual battle logistics, came alive. In green, and to the right, were The Lilly and the two Mau ships. Red icons filled two-thirds of the screen, revealing three distinct groups; two of them were following separate vectors.

“
They’re attempting to flank us on two sides, Captain,” said Orion. A sobering realization hit Jason.

“
They knew, Captain,” she added.

“
Jason,” the admiral spoke again, “We’re heading your way via FTL. Get out of there. That’s an order. We’ll fight another day.”

Jason, not ready yet to respond, continued to look at the virtual battle logistics. Three groups of Craing warships approached from their front and would soon be alongside; behind them was the beautiful Alcara system, with its three Earth-like planets, two uninhabited gas giant planets and one white dwarf sun. Escaping now would be so easy … live to fight another day. Jason concentrated on Trumach, the home of Traveler, the rhino-warrior who had endured so much for them, so much for Jason. The thought of the Craing fleet annihilating these beautiful, gemlike planets, with their populations in the millions, was horrific. Did he have a choice? No, not really.

Jason and his father held each other’s stare for several moments before Jason slowly shook his head. “Sorry, Dad. Get here as fast as you can.”

“
I’ve given you a direct order, son.”

“
I understand that. But I’m pretty sure if our roles were reversed, you’d proceed similarly. Take a look at what sits behind us. There comes a time when you need to make a stand. Today is that time for me.”

Jason watched as his father looked at the same spacial representation of Alcara; he slowly nodded his head in agreement.

“
We’ll get there as soon as we can. Good luck, son.”

Jason signaled to cut the connection.

The Lilly’s bridge was quiet, and all heads were turned in Jason’s direction. His crew had followed him into battle before, but never had they fought with such terrible odds stacked against them. Well, once again they’d just have to trust him. And, if they survived the day, he would have his revenge. He’d find Granger, follow him into hell itself, if he had to, and then kill him.

Jason sat up straight, smiled back at the faces turned his way, and said, “Who’s ready to kick some Craing ass?”

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Causing mayhem, plundering the vessels of the wealthy in open space was one thing, but attacking a planet? Bristol watched as Earth, with its blue oceans and large continents of brown and green, filled the display. This was so beyond wrong! Eston’s hatred of one man and the desire for what wasn’t his to have had consumed him like nothing Bristol had ever seen.

Pike broke the silence. “Captain, this is strange. Their defense amounts to five Craing light cruisers in upper orbit, and five more of the same lifting off from one of the larger continents.”

“
So they’re aware of our presence. Good. Let’s see how they react to two hundred warships encircling their world.” Stalls stood up and crossed over to the display table. The five cruisers had merged into a tight formation.

“
Smart! When facing insurmountable odds, rally together, pool your resources,” Stalls said aloud. “Not that it will do them any good,” he chuckled.

“
We’re being hailed, Captain,” Pike said.

“
Of course we are. But I’m not in a particularly talkative mood today. Destroy the cruisers. Five nuclear-tipped missiles should do the trick.”

“
Eston! Just wait a minute; you can’t start a war like that,” Bristol yelled, getting to his feet.

“
I can and I will. And I told you, don’t call me that,” Stalls snapped back, immediately losing his smile.

“
Missiles away, sir,” Pike announced.

Bristol watched as the tight missile group moved across space, separating as they closed in on their targets.

“
They’ve countered with a barrage of five of their own, Captain.”

Bristol joined his brother at the table and they watched in silence. Three of Her Majesty’s missiles were eliminated, but two continued on toward the cluster of cruisers. The remaining missile icons blinked out.

“
Missiles ineffective; no damage to the cruisers, Captain.”

“
I can see that. You see me standing here looking at the same fucking icons you’re looking at, don’t you?”

“
Aye, Captain, I can see you,” Pike replied matter-of-factly.

“
I’d forgotten about those damn Craing shields,” Stalls said.

“
Incoming, Captain. Sixty nukes, targeting different ships.”

“
Well, instruct our fleet commanders to defend themselves. Hopefully they’ve figured that one out for themselves.”

Again they watched in silence. Before the first round of their nukes reached one-third of the way to their targets, an additional barrage, followed by another, was headed toward the pirate ships.

“
Why aren’t any of our ships firing? What the hell are they doing?”

Pike and two bridge crewmen were on comms, speaking with elevated voices.

Bristol stopped looking at the display table and slowly turned to his brother. “This is what happens when you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, big brother,” he said.

Stalls whipped a backhand across Bristol’s mouth. “I won’t warn you again. Brother or not, you will show me respect or find yourself in the brig.”

Bristol wiped blood from his split lips and looked at it. He smirked and looked back to the table. One by one the outpost ships’ missiles not only found their intended targets, but destroyed them as well.

“
We’ve lost twenty-seven and counting,” Pike said.

With the first wave of Craing missiles succeeding, it was clear they were going to lose the battle. Stalls fumed, his face getting redder by the moment.

“
Bristol, get the toric-cloak initiated. Pike, put us right in the middle of those cruisers!”

Bristol casually walked to the newly added control panel and tapped in the command.

“
We’re now invisible. You do realize, though, that once you fire anything, our position will be revealed to them.”

“
Yes, I know that,” Stalls spat back. He then looked over at Pike and said in a lowered voice, “Make sure you hold fire until we’re in position.”

“
Aye.”

Stalls looked down to the table. Her Majesty’s icon, now a faint yellow, continued on an intersecting course with the five Craing cruisers.

“
Load every missile we have—”

“
Captain, we’ll be in too close, we’d blow ourselves up!”

“
Rail-guns then; charge all rail-guns and utilize every plasma cannon we have.”

“
One hundred and thirty-two of our ships are destroyed so far. We’re getting multiple distress calls. There’s survivors out there, Captain.”

“
Well, they’ll just have to wait, won’t they?”

Her Majesty moved into the middle of the Craing cruisers’ formation. Stalls smiled, excitement showing on his face.

“
One hundred-eighty vessels lost. The remainder of our ships are deserting, Captain,” Pike said.

“
Cowards, all of them, cowards.”

“
Shall we engage the enemy, Captain?”

“
Hold a moment longer, let them think they were victorious. Let them put their guard down.”

Bristol watched his brother in disgust. They would have not only lost allied ships today, but family members, too … an uncle, several cousins, and others. Hell, complete clans were wiped out in a matter of seconds. Bristol realized he wasn’t alone in his contempt. There was hatred also in the eyes of Stalls’ own bridge crew as they watched their captain go totally off the rails.

“
Fire! Fire everything we have!”

First, a blaze of plasma bolts, then a continual hail of rail munitions erupted from Her Majesty’s impressive array of weaponry. The large ship shook to the point Bristol wondered if it could hold together.

The Craing cruisers were caught off guard. Within seconds, three of their five ships were either dead in space or coming apart at the seams. But the two remaining cruisers were returning fire.

“
We’re taking damage to decks three through eight. One drive is down and we’re open to space at so many locations I can’t count them all. Suggest we move out of here while we still can, Captain,” Pike said, his easy demeanor completely gone.

Stalls hesitated.

“
We need to get the fuck out of here. Now!” Bristol screamed. “Pike, stop firing. Move us out of here and go systems quiet—and pray our toric-cloak doesn’t take a shit right in front of them.”

Pike didn’t wait for Stalls to agree, and he made the course adjustment by engaging the one remaining drive. Slowly, Her Majesty moved off into open space.

“
Let’s just hope they’ll stay put and lick their wounds before pursuing us,” Bristol said.