So It Begins (33 page)

  He was bringing
Merlon
around again as more warnings erupted. “Another wave of Syndic missiles inbound. Syndic light cruisers four minutes from contact.”

  The red marker glowed and Geary fired his wraiths again. “I’m giving you release authority for the third wave,” he told Decala. “Punch them out as soon as they’re ready to fly.”

  “Yes, sir. Captain, if we continue around like this we’ll be heading right into the teeth of the Syndic missile barrage, and we’ll be hit by all four light cruisers as we pass through their formation.”

  “I know. We have to stop those light cruisers and we only have a small window of time to do it in, so we have to ram straight through them.” Geary shook his head. “It’s going to cost us, but it’s the only way so we’re going to do it.”

  Decala nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Two more missile hits staggered
Merlon
. “We lost the port wraith launchers,” Decala reported. “Firing remaining wraiths.”

  The light cruisers and
Merlon
tore past each other, the heavy cruiser hurling out hell lance fire and grapeshot to all sides as she went between the Syndic light cruisers at a slight down angle and a sharp side angle. At the same time, fire from the Syndics lashed at
Merlon
, the heavy cruiser wobbling in her course from the impacts of three more missiles as well as hell lances and grapeshot hitting from every direction.

  It took
Merlon
’s battered sensors a few more moments than usual to evaluate damage to the enemy this time. Three of the light cruisers were out of the fight, their propulsion systems too badly damaged to allow them to catch the convoy now. The fourth light cruiser was in fairly good shape, but Geary was bringing
Merlon
back again on a long curve, aiming to get in a firing run.

  “Forward and amidships shields have failed, hull armor is breached in multiple locations. All wraith launchers out of action,” Decala reported. “Hell lance batteries two bravo, three bravo, and four alpha out of action. Grapeshot launchers three, five, and six are out of action. Heavy damage amidships. Propulsion capability reduced to fifty percent. Seventeen dead confirmed, wounded total unknown.”

  Geary felt that curious detachment again as he stared at the display where the damage to
Merlon
showed as growing patches of red, then to the three disabled Syndic light cruisers, still throwing out long-range fire at
Merlon
, to the operational light cruiser firing missiles again, and then to the track of the Syndic heavy cruisers and corvettes coming on, steadily closing the distance. Doctrine called for pulling clear now, gaining distance and time for shields to rebuild, for damage to be repaired, to get up velocity shed by the turns. But if he did that, the last Syndic light cruiser would make it to the transports before they jumped, and
Pommel
and the destroyers wouldn’t be able to stop it before it crippled a bunch of the transports. Which left him only one option. “All nonessential personal abandon ship.”

  “What?” Decala shook her head, then focused on Geary again.

  “All nonessential personnel abandon ship,” Geary repeated. “Get them moving.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He concentrated on the remaining light cruiser as
Merlon
bore down on it. The Syndic light cruiser was beginning to draw away, but Geary brought
Merlon
across her stern at close enough range to blow apart the enemy’s main propulsion and leave her out of the battle.

 
Merlon
had saved the convoy, but the price for that victory was about to go a lot higher.

  A moment later two more missiles hit
Merlon
and the lights dimmed as circuits fought to automatically reroute themselves. “Propulsion down to ten percent.” Decala’s voice had grown mechanical, as if she were walling off emotion. “Only hell lance battery one bravo remains in action. All shields have failed. Engineering requests permission to retain all personnel aboard for damage control.”

  “Negative. Get them out. Get everyone out.” Decala stared at him again. “Not just nonessential personnel. Everyone. Abandon ship. Now! Those heavy cruisers are going to tear this ship apart and I don’t want my crew dying when they can’t fight back!”

  She passed on the orders and then shouted “get out of here!” at the remaining personnel on the bridge. As the others left at a run, Decala faced him, pale but determined. “I’m staying. I can handle the remaining working systems on the ship from the bridge.” Another Syndic missile hit rocked
Merlon
, and both Decala and Geary had to grab for support as more damage alerts blared urgently.

  “No, you’re not,” Geary insisted. “I’m the commanding officer. It’s my responsibility to stay. I’ll keep her fighting as long as I can. You don’t need to be here.”

  “I won’t leave you alone, Captain!
Merlon
is my ship, too!”

  He reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “Cara, if this is really the start of a major war, the Alliance is going to need every experienced officer it’s got. My duty requires me to stay here and keep
Merlon
fighting as long as possible, so the convoy and you and the rest of the crew can get clear. When the last combat systems go dead, I’ll set the power core for self-destruct and I’ll abandon ship, too. I promise. But if I don’t survive this, then you have to. Because you’re going to be needed. The rest of the crew needs you at this moment. Thank you for being an excellent officer and a friend. Now get out of here!”

  She wiped an angry tear from one eye, then saluted. “Yes, sir.” Decala appeared about to say something else, then turned and ran.

  He sat down, then carefully checked the seals on his survival suit. The well-protected bridge in the heart of the ship still had atmosphere, but according to the readouts which continued to function on
Merlon
, most of the rest of the ship was in vacuum. A flock of escape pods was accelerating away from the heavy cruiser, carrying those of her crew who hadn’t died already, a few more escape pods following at irregular intervals.

  He hadn’t had time to be scared before this, caught up in the fighting and responding to events, but now he was alone on the bridge, there was a brief interval before the rest of the Syndic warships got within range, and Geary had to fight down a wave of dread as he faced the reality that he and
Merlon
might die together.

  But he still had a job to do. He had to keep the Syndics focused on
Merlon
, and not on the escape pods carrying most of her crew. He wouldn’t let his crew be captured, to be made prisoners or even hostages on the Syndic warships heading to attack T’shima. The Syndic heavy cruisers and corvettes were ten minutes from firing range as Geary entered maneuvering orders.
Merlon
staggered in a wide, slow loop, trying to come onto a course facing the enemy.

  He checked on the convoy. Almost to the jump point. The lone operational Syndic HuK had veered off, and Geary realized that it was trying to lure the convoy ships into chasing it. But Commander Lagemann could be trusted to use his head and follow orders.

  More alerts, warning of the oncoming Syndic heavy cruisers. Geary targeted
Merlon
’s last functioning hell lance on the leading cruiser, setting it to fire automatically as the Syndics raced past. Outnumbered four to one, with his cruiser’s shields down, almost all of her weapons knocked out and her armor already breached in many places, Geary had no illusions about his chances.

  Syndic hell lance fire tore through
Merlon
, riddling the cruiser from one end to the other. Every remaining combat, life-support, and maneuvering system was knocked out, atmosphere rushed out of the bridge where holes had been punched through consoles and bulkheads, and the stricken Alliance warship began an uncontrolled tumble off to the side. The final hell lance battery was dead, but Geary felt
Merlon
tremble as more Syndic fire ripped through her. It must be the nickel corvettes making firing runs now, the scorned nickels able to pound the stricken Alliance cruiser with impunity.

  He pulled open a special panel on his command seat, accessing the emergency self-destruct system. Geary punched in the authorization code with trembling hands. As far as he could tell,
Merlon
’s power core still had enough left to blow the ship apart. The Syndics wouldn’t capture her intact. Though whether he needed to blow the heavy cruiser to pieces was a good question with the Syndics continuing to pound the Alliance warship into fragments. Why not just take her apart with a volley of missiles? But the Syndics probably wanted to save those missiles for the attack at T’shima, and perhaps hoped that prolonging
Merlon
’s death throes might entice the convoy to try a despairing rescue.

  Code in and acknowledged. Enter confirmation code. Confirm again. Accepted. He had only ten minutes before the power core overloaded and
Merlon
exploded. More Syndic hell lance fire and grapeshot pummeled
Merlon
, and the local backup systems for bridge functions failed, the last virtual displays fading into the darkness.

  He had no time to lose, but Geary hesitated before he left the bridge, gazing around at the deserted, ruined compartment. His ship. His command.
Merlon
had died fighting, but now he had to leave her and he hated it, cursing the Syndics who had reduced his beautiful ship to a hulk which would soon destroy itself.

  Moving through the ship was a nightmare of another kind, the uncontrolled tumble making the bulkheads, decks, and overheads rotate erratically and seem to swing in and out as Geary propelled himself through passageways choked with wreckage and in some cases the heartrending remains of those of his crew who hadn’t lived long enough to abandon ship.

  But it got worse, as he found every escape pod access showing either a pod already ejected or the red glow of a status light indicating the pod had been too badly damaged to launch.

  Finally he found a pod with a yellow status light over its access. It was damaged, but with less than five minutes before core overload Geary couldn’t be picky even if he had known whether or not any other functional escape pods remained aboard. He pulled himself inside, sealed the hatch, strapped in as fast as he could, then slapped the ejection control.

  Acceleration pinned him to his seat as the pod raced clear of
Merlon
. The pod lurched wildly, more damage lights blazing to life on its control panel, and Geary realized it had been caught in the edges of the blast from
Merlon
’s core overload.

  The pod’s propulsion cut off abruptly in the wake of the additional damage. It should have kept going a lot longer. Geary, feeling numb, tried to read the status display. He had ample power reserves still functional, but no maneuvering controls. Communications were out. The life-support systems on the pod were damaged too and, while still working, wouldn’t hold out long.

  Maybe he hadn’t escaped after all.

  Then his seat began reclining and Geary realized the pod was activating the emergency survival sleep system. He’d be frozen, kept in a state where his body needed only the tiniest amount of life support.

  The panel which should have displayed an image of the outside was dark, not that he could have physically seen any of the ships already far distant from his pod. Surely the convoy had jumped by now. Lieutenant Commander Decala would be assembling the other escape pods from
Merlon
, keeping them together, heading for the emergency station orbiting Grendel. His crew, those who had survived to abandon ship, should be safe.

  The lights on the panels above Geary were going out one by one or dimming into dormant status. He hadn’t noticed the injections preparing his body for survival sleep, but felt lethargy stealing over him as his metabolism began slowing down.

  He hated being cold. The idea of being frozen was far worse. But it would only be for a little while.
Pommel
would bring to T’shima the news of the Syndic attack here. The Alliance would counter-attack, resecure Grendel star system and rescue everyone from
Merlon
.

  A war had begun, though he had no idea what had led the Syndics to launch surprise attacks. How long would it last? His last conscious thought as the cold took him was that surely it couldn’t last too long. Sanity or the firepower of the Alliance fleet would prevail. Maybe by the time he was picked up, the war would already be over.