Storm Force: Book Three of the Last Legion Series (23 page)

“Hit one,” the officer at the hyperdrive controls exulted.

But then another
velv
vanished.

“Now they’ll destroy that last escort, and come after us,” the first officer moaned.

“Shut up,” Garvin snapped. “What’s going on in the engine room?”

“Sorry, sir.” The officer recovered, touched a sensor.

“Engines,” a somewhat shaken voice came.

“What’s your status?”

“Goddamned stardrive’s out … secondary drive’s in fine shape. I think.”

“Do you still have compartment integrity?”

“That’s affirm,” the engine room said.

“Good,” the officer said. “We’re breathing vacuum up here.”

“Screw that,” Garvin said. “Set us a nice, irregular orbit, generally out of here, generally toward C-Cumbre.”

“And quickly,” Jasith added from the acceleration couch.

“Yes, Ms. Mellusin,” the man said.

Garvin checked the screen, was amazed to see only one blip, ID’ed as the last surviving
velv
.

“Well kiss my moneymaking ass,” he said. “The Larissans took off on us. Wonder if somebody hit them.”

“I’ll cheer,” Jasith’s voice said in his ear, “after we actually get somewhere solid. I’m not as fond of spaceships as I used to be.”

She appeared utterly unruffled.

• • •

Darod Montagna was yawning heavily, trying to keep her eyes from blurring as she stared at the screen. It was cycling from system view to local. They were closing on K-Cumbre, maybe two, three ship-days out.

Lir’d ordered three on duty, one off, which didn’t give much time for sleep, after eating and ‘freshing. Montagna had two shifts to go, and didn’t think she was going to make it.

There was something on-screen for an instant, then it vanished.

Reflexively, she triggered an alarm, and then the object appeared again.

Hell, it’s almost in my lap
.

She triggered the ID sensor, and it flashed twice, then said
UNKNOWN SHIP.

She damned the freighter’s less-than-current
Jane’s
, decided that the unknown ship had to be Larissan. One of the raiders. But what the hell was it doing?

Again the ship ceased to exist, then came back, and she realized it was flashing in and out of hyperspace, for some unknown reason.

The bridge behind her was suddenly full of people.

The com to the patrol ship came alive.

“We have contact … ship positively identified as Larissan … Lan-class.”

Their
fiche was up-to-date.

The com came back.

“
Brns
, full drive toward destination.” Then a pause. “I shall take position on your stern.”

Montagna supposed it wasn’t entirely logical to expect the patrol ship, about a quarter the size of the Larissan, to do something stupid like attack, even though that would have been the ship captain’s orders.

“Oughta just jump,” somebody said behind her, and Lir was there.

She read the screen.

“Sorry bastard in that spit-kit,” she said. “It’ll haul past us, leave us in the rear, and that goddamned Larissan’s got legs on both of us.”

“What about,” Montagna said, “we dump a Goddard out after it?”

“The damned thing’s way out of range — what the hell’s the matter with it, jumping back and forth like that?”

“Maybe somebody hit it with something?” Montagna offered.

“Yeh,” Lir said. “Yeh. Of course. I’m not awake yet. Hit, and trying to limp back home, jumping as far and as quick as it can.”

“If I put a Goddard out now,” Montagna persisted, “say with a Shadow beside it, let it lie doggo until the Goddard says it’s in striking distance …”

“I’m not half-asleep,” Lir said disgustedly. “I’m half-goddamned dead. Sure, Darod. Put it out there. And if that frigging destroyer jumps right on out of our area, that’s just fine, too.”

The missile was launched, drive at minimum.

As predicted, the patrol ship quickly moved past the
Brns
, showed no sign of reversing thrust.

“If that frigging Larissan doesn’t nail us,” Lir said, “I’ll have the whole goddamned crew of that runner hung by the balls they don’t have.”

A light flashed on Montagna’s panel.

“The Larissan’s in range,” she reported. “Standing by to drive … Target Acquired … Full drive …”

The other Forceman at his controls nodded. “Shadow under drive …”

The two missiles drove toward the Larissan.

“Now, don’t go and jump on me, baby,” Montagna whispered. “Come on, come on, come on …”

The Larissan ship vanished in a flash of light.

“Hit!” Montagna shouted. “I
got
the pigola!”

“Indeed you did,” Lir said. “Congrats and all that. Four more and you’re an ace.”

“But what am I gonna do with that Shadow that’s hanging out there?” the other soldier said. “It’s too far out to bring back, and those bastards cost money!”

“I’ll sign the chit,” Lir snarled. “Blow it in place! And when we get on the ground, you’re buying for being a cheap sourpuss.”

Montagna was paying no attention, but smiling contentedly at the screen where a Larissan ship had been.

That
, she thought,
was a lot better than killing them one at a time with a blaster
.

• • •

The
Godrevy
wobbled toward the field, the field controller talking it down.

“
Godrevy …
you’re doing fine … pick that nose up … you’re a little low, can you pick it up … not that much …”

“The drive’s sloppy, like I said,” the pilot said.

“That’s all right, all right,” the controller soothed. “You’re doing fine. Skids down if you’ve got all three … I see them, looking good, looking good, ‘kay, you’re over the fence now, you’ve got a nice big bunch of nothing to set it down … nothing expensive to hit … nose up, nose up … the emergency lifters are on their way … anytime you want to put it down … anywhere …”

The
Godrevy
hit hard on its bow skid, crumpling it, bounced back into the air, then slammed down and skidded, turning, almost rolling, the screech of metal against concrete loud even in the distant tower.

Dust boiled around it, and the fire and ambulance lifters sped toward the careening starship.

The
Godrevy
spun twice more, rocked back and forth, then slowly came to rest.

Down on the field, an airlock opened, and people in space suits dropped out, staggered away from the ship, then stopped. One knelt and kissed the field’s tarmac.

“I didn’t think they’d make it,” the controller said, forgetting he had an open mike.

“Neither did we,” Garvin’s tired voice came back. “Neither did we.”

The Larissan convoy was big — twenty merchant ships, escorted by ten patrol ships and eight destroyers. They’d made their first jump from Kura to Larix and emerged in normal space, when the Cumbrians hit them.

High “above” the convoy, two
velv
came out of hyperspace, then two of the Kane attack controllers, then five more
velv
and half a dozen Kellys.

Five Larissans broke away from the convoy on interception orbits, expecting the usual head-on combat.

Ho Kang, aboard the first Kane, the
al Maouna
, issued orders through a scrambler:

“Vann Four, Vann Five, this is Vann Control One. N-space, one-point-five seconds, R-five-seven-eight-six-slash-N-three-five-three-three, jump and immediate attack, on command, Go!”

The leading two
velv
went back into hyperspace, jumping back out between the five destroyers and the Larissan convoy.

“Vann One … launch on destroyers … Vann Two … try for the convoy rear elements.”

Three
aksai
spun off each
velv
. Nana-patrol boats broke away from the convoy to intercept the second element, while a Larissan destroyer’s stern blew off as an
aksai
missile took it.

“Vann Six, Seven,”
Tweg
Jenks Farrel said from the other Kane. “This is Vann Control Two. Attack N-space point nine, R-five-seven-eight-zero-slash-N-three-five-three-two, frontal attack on merchantmen, Go!”

Two Kellys vanished, came out in front of the convoy, and drove in, missiles firing.

The convoy commander was shouting orders, but his com was blanketed by interference, as were commands from the escort commander.

The added midsection of each Kane, a large single compartment, was a swirl of motion, as technicians reported, checked sim screens, fed data into the ships’ computers. Kang sat in a boom-controlled seat overhead, trying to watch only the main screen showing present ship positions, and the secondary screen that showed ships’ orbits, assuming they continued at their present trajectory/drive. She made herself ignore the bustle below, her chair dipping to an individual station only when she wasn’t sure of something, then lifting away.

A Cumbrian ship would attack a Larissan, and seconds later, hit or miss, another target would be given to the Cumbrian, often on the other “side” of the convoy, along with precise navigational data, generally including a momentary jump in and out of hyperspace.

The Larissans fought hard, but they were confused, not knowing when or where to guard as the raiders appeared in mid-convoy, launched, killed merchant ships, and were gone.

This deepest space became a tapestry of light, as if so many stars were being born, as missiles struck or blew up automatically at the end of their runs.

In half an E-hour, the Larissan escorts were destroyed or crippled.

“All Vann elements,” Ho ordered. “This is Vann Control One. Reassemble in fighting formations on Control Ships.”

The
velv
and destroyers obeyed, and the eight surviving Larissan merchantmen had an instant to hope.

“All Vann elements,” Kang sent. “Targets of opportunity … attack when ready.”

Again, tiny suns blossomed as the raiders smashed at the merchantmen, then there was nothing left to shoot at.

“All Vann elements,” Ho ordered. “Assemble on me, and return to base.”

The entire Larissan convoy, and its escorts, had been obliterated.

Loss to Cumbre: two
aksai
and one
velv
destroyed, one Kelly damaged.

“Maev Stiofan, put your hands on the flag,”
Caud
Angara ordered. Maev touched the Force guidon.

“Repeat after me, using your own name. I,
Caud
Grig Angara, do swear by all that I hold sacred, whether God or gods or my own honor, I will obey the lawful commands given me by my superiors and swear to defend the Confederation, its life-forms and its way until death, or until I am released from this vow.

“I also swear I shall conduct myself as befits a Confederation officer, to issue no laws violating the standards of the Confederation nor common humanitarian standards, and to uphold the laws of the Confederation Parliament?”

“I so swear,” Maev Stiofan said, surprised her voice was a little hoarse.

“I now commission you, Maev Stiofan, as
Aspirant
in the Armed Forces of the Confederation.”

Stiofan, like Angara, Yoshitaro, Jaansma, and Hedley, wore the dark blue dress uniform of the Force. Angara handed her a leather box, which held the Force. Angara handed her a leather box, which held the Force emblems, the single silver crown of her rank, and a very lethal combat knife.

Stiofan saluted smartly, and Angara returned it.

“If we still had a band,” he said, far less formally, “it should be playing. And this ceremony should be done on the parade ground, with the entire Force as witness. But these are parlous times. Perhaps later …” His voice trailed away.

“Thank you, sir,” Maev said.

Angara studied her carefully, then nodded.

“Dismissed.”

He and Hedley about-faced, and left the briefing room.

“You may kiss the
Aspirant,”
Jaansma said.

Njangu obeyed.

Maev pulled back after a minute or so.

“I’m not committing any breach of etiquette or regulations, am I, by kissing this officer? I mean, nobody told me just what I’m going to be doing, where I’ll fall in the Table of Organization, and I’m not sure — ”

“You’re not in any sort of violation,” Njangu said, grinning. “And I’ve saved your new job for last. You’re going to be one of
Caud
Angara’s personal bodyguards.”

“Allah’s claws,” Maev said, astonished. “No wonder he gave me that weird look, me being one of the Protector’s Own, once. How’s he know I’m not under some kind of deep conditioning to rip his throat out the first chance I got?”

“He knows,” Garvin said. “Where do you think the last Second-Day went?”

Maev thought, blinked, realized she really was missing a day.

“You were colder than a flash-frozen fish,” Garvin went on. “Every security tech in II Section was up to his elbows in your soul, making sure you weren’t anything other than what you say you are.”

“Oh,” Stiofan said in a small voice. “I’m not sure I like that.”

“I don’t either,” Njangu said. “I remember when … never mind.”

“At least,” Garvin said, “it’ll never happen again. And whatever the techs came up with was destroyed, after they analyzed it.”

“Did you scan it?” Maev asked Njangu.

“Only the dirty parts.”

“You’d better be lying,” she said, just a touch grimly. “Or there won’t be any more dirty parts for you, buster, not ever.”

Njangu looked at Garvin.

“You see why I love her?”

Maev looked very surprised, as did Garvin. He was the only one who’d caught the momentary hesitation before Yoshitaro said “love.”

• • •

The wolfpacks went out again, and again, savaging the convoys from Kura. Then pickings grew leaner, as the Larissan convoys assembled just out of Kura’s atmosphere, then jumped to new, unknown nav points.

Sometimes, but not often, the packs could follow them and attack. Once again, the Larissans learned from loss. The question now was which side would come up with a new tactic?

• • •

“The problem, Doctor,” Ho Kang said earnestly, “isn’t with the wolfpacks themselves. We seem to have that system working very well, and improving it with every mission.

“It’s finding the convoys, once they make that first jump. We can’t track them too closely or with too big a starship on initial takeoff, because if we’re detected, they abort and return to Kura.

“When we use a smaller ship, an
aksai
, it gets ambushed a lot of the time.”

“Let me show you,” Danfin Froude said smugly, “Stage Two of the wolfpack/convoy situation, to solve your problem, which I was already well aware of. That is why I asked you to drop by.”

He slid open the door. Two identical globes, each about two meters in diameter, were on stands in the otherwise bare conference room.

“Call this one … oh, Ohnce, and this other one Bohnce,” he said. “Those were, by the way, two stuffed animals I had when I was a boy. I suppose I wasn’t very imaginative.

“Ohnce and Bohnce both have small hyperdrives. Essentially, they’re small, fairly sophisticated robot trackers. They can be planted in either normal or hyperspace. Initially, we’ll most likely use normal space deployments. When an unfamiliar — i.e., Kuran — convoy is detected, the drives on both robots are activated. When those Kurans enter hyperspace, the first will jump with them. After a moment, the second sphere does the same. The first sphere exits hyperspace when the convoy does, signaling to the second. Thus, we have established the second nav point the Kurans are using. Hopefully they use no more than two or three, for these have just enough power to do their little tricks twice.

“If the Kurans are being very clever, and making several jumps, it should be a simple matter to plant another set of these — call them spy-spheres if you wish — in normal space at the second nav point. Then that set will follow the Larissans to the third, and so forth.

“Of course, each satellite can be keyed to report to you, as well as to its brother.”

“That is clever,” Ho Kang said.

“I rather thought so,” Froude said. “We’ll have the first production units ready for issue in the next few weeks. And there are further nasties yet to come.”

“So we have reason to celebrate,” Ho said. “At least for the moment.”

“Uh,” and the scientist looked slightly nervous, “yes. We do. Uh, would you care to help me celebrate our cleverness over dinner?”

Kang took off her old-fashioned glasses, looked at Froude in surprise, then smiled.

“Why … yes. I think I would.”

The convoy was only five merchant ships, with three destroyers as escort. The wolfpack had been waiting in real space, waiting, its control officer having studied the situation and realized the Larissans used the old nav points one convoy in three.

There were one Kane, four
velv
, two Kellys in the pack.

“Charner One, Two, Six, point three, Y-two-three-four-eight-nine-eight, Three, Four, Five, remain in normal space, attack inward flank.”

The ships attacked, and the controller watched as first one, then a second Larissan destroyer was destroyed. She was about to give the order to savage the merchant ships when a technician below her hit an emergency sensor, and the controller saw a new blip on-screen.

She cut to the tech’s frequency.

“Unknown ship, no details, no
Jane’s
, entered real space three-point-nine-nine seconds ago,” the tech droned. “Dopplering … estimate speed and dimensions to you. Two escorts accompanying unknown ship.”

The controller’s eyes widened as she saw the size of the new ship as it arced toward the battle. It was unbelievably huge, twice the size of any Larissan ship her
Jane’s
held, almost the size of some of the old Confederation warships she’d read about.

“We have five missile launches from this unknown ship,” an electronics officer said. “All aimed at this ship. Five spoofers launched, no effect. Making counterlaunch.”

The Kane’s antimissile battery tracked the incoming missiles, blew up four of them. The fifth exploded close in, and circuits in the war room flashed into black, then secondaries recovered.

“All Charner elements,” the controller began, realizing the battle was lost, then a pulse swept all frequencies, and she lost contact with her ships.

The ECM was enough to alert the attacking Cumbrians, though, and they broke contact with the Larissans and went for hyperspace, even as missiles from the great ship exploded around them.

The two Kellys and one
velv
, against all orders, stayed in normal space, and counterlaunched. Their first strike was destroyed, and a second made as the lighter ships attacked the huge Larissan vessel.

One missile blew up close to the monstrous new ship, and very suddenly it, and its two escorts, disappeared.

“Son of a bitch,” a Kelly’s CO marveled into his com, realizing he was still alive. “He ran out on us.”

“Must’ve been a mistake, Charner Five,” the CO of the
velv
said. “His, not ours. You want to give me a hand with these freighters and that other destroyer? It’s just lying there, leaking.”

“Backing you, Two. I guess we’re living right.”

The three Cumbrian ships went after the scattering Larissans.

The first of the kilometer-long Naarohn-class battle cruisers that Redruth had dreamed of was a reality.

But no one with the Force could understand why the cruiser had retreated, with victory clear in its sights.

“Thank you for dinner,” Ho Kang said. She and Danfin Froude were outside her quarters, a small apartment in a BOQ block.

“Certainly my pleasure,” Froude said. “It was nice to not have to talk just about science, which is what usually happens when I dine with my colleagues. An old widower like myself loses his social graces fairly easily.”

“You could have talked more,” Ho said. “Better that than the usual barracks chat. I just realized I haven’t said anything obscene since we went out.”

“Yes, well …” Danfin Froude looked around. “It’s a very nice night, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“If I weren’t three times your age,” he said wistfully, “I’d feel like kissing you.”

“You’re only two-point-seven-four times that,” Ho said. “And I wouldn’t mind at all.”

She slid her glasses into her uniform pocket, then leaned forward. After a time, her arms went around his, and the kiss went on.

When it finished, Kang found herself breathing a little hard.

“Would you,” and her voice was a little throaty, “like to come in?”

Danfin Froude smiled. “I would, Ho. I would very much.”