Defiant (Lightship Chronicles) Read online

  “I make it about fifty thousand kilometers per minute,” she said. “At that speed they will overtake us in about twelve minutes.”

  “Have they stopped accelerating?” I asked.

  “It’s not like they ever did accelerate, sir. They just started moving and seemed to be up to speed in seconds, sir,” Karina said.

  I turned to Serosian. “At that acceleration level, everyone in that thing should be a blood spot on the wall,” I said.

  “Obviously they have solved the acceleration curve problem,” he said. I turned to Duane Longer at Propulsion.

  “You know what I’m going to ask, Lieutenant. How much more speed can we take?” I asked.

  “Not much, Captain,” he replied. “We’re maxed out as it is. Inertial dampers can’t go much higher.”

  “Mr. Layton, start varying our course. Move us around, don’t let them get a line of sight on us.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Layton. Finally I turned to my astrogator.

  “Mr. Arasan,” I said to my astrogator. “Program us a jump to Minara. I need it ready in two minutes. We have no idea of that thing’s range.”

  “Yes, sir,” replied Arasan, then quickly turned to his board and began running frantic calculations.

  We watched as the minutes clicked by. Arasan had his jump calculated. Layton was moving us in every random direction possible. Everyone else was quiet, and I assumed they were as scared as I was.

  The Colony Ship just kept coming. I went to Serosian’s station and spoke to him in a whisper.

  “Can we combat this thing?” I asked.

  “Uncertain,” he replied in an equally quiet voice.

  “Best guess,” I came back at him. He looked up at me with a very serious look on his face.

  “Founder technology is at least hundreds—if not thousands—of years more advanced than our own. That makes them dangerous beyond measure. Beyond this one vessel, we’ve only ever surveyed one other Colony Ship in my experience. It was a derelict, and as near as we could tell it had only been stopped by a barrage of asteroids,” he said.

  “Flung at it somehow? Some form of advanced gravity weapon?”

  “We believe the civilization it was attacking destabilized their own magnetic core and . . . exploded their own planet to stop it,” he finished. I was astonished by that.

  “That doesn’t seem like a viable option for us. Unless we could do the same to Corant,” I speculated.

  “We do have the torsion beam,” he reminded me.

  “Indeed we do. But from what I saw at Drava, it can destroy a world but not explode it. That would have to be some other type of technology.” He merely nodded at me. “We have to get that particle field down, don’t we?” I finished.

  “We do,” he said. “Or get inside its range somehow.”

  “So it’s not solid? Could a fully shielded ship make it through the barrier?” I asked. He shook his head.

  “By my calculations, doubtful. And that field extends out to five hundred thousand kilometers around the Colony Ship.” That set my mind to whirling. A tactic we had used before . . .

  I nodded to Serosian and then went to my astrogator’s station. “Mr. Arasan,” I started, motioning him toward my office. I activated the aural shield, then gave him the rest of his instructions.

  “I can do it, sir,” he said when we concluded.

  “Then go program it,” I said.

  “Aye, sir.” With that he was gone back to his station. I came out of my office, stepping right into our next crisis.

  “The Colony Ship is turning away from our path, sir,” Babayan reported. I quickly took my chair and scanned my console.

  “To where?”

  “Bearing down on Valiant now, sir.”

  I sat quickly and looked to my tactical display. She was indeed bearing away from us. And bearing down on Valiant.

  “What will happen when Valiant crosses their field?” I asked Serosian.

  “You’re talking about two different kinds of high-energy fields, both run on energy from higher dimensions. Simply put, anything could happen,” he said.

  “Longscope officer, how long—”

  “Fifty-five seconds until Valiant crosses the threshold, Captain,” said Karina, anticipating my question. “The ’scope indicates that the Colony Ship is scaling up a massive HD energy curve, sir.”

  “Is it a weapon?” Neither Karina nor Babayan answered, so Serosian stepped in.

  “High likelihood, Captain.”

  “She’s got to jump. She’s got to get out of there! Raise Maclintock—” I stopped, stunned at what I saw on my tactical screen.

  A massive bolt of green energy traveled the incredible distance between the Colony Ship and Valiant, half a million kilometers, in just a few seconds. The energy pierced the particle field and seemed to accelerate even more. It missed Valiant, striking instead at her five support Wasps. They sparked and recoiled for a second as the energy beam struck them head-on.

  Then all five ships disintegrated.

  “I have the Commodore on ship-to-ship, sir,” said my com officer, Ensign Lynne Layton.

  “On speakers,” I said. Maclintock’s voice came in scratchy and ruddy from all the interference the Colony Ship was causing.

  “What do you want, Captain?” he asked curtly, no doubt impatient as he fought for survival, retreating in the face of an implacable enemy.

  “Sir, according to Serosian’s calculations, we can’t allow our ships to be overtaken by the Colony Ship’s particle field defenses. It could cripple us all. We just saw what it could do through fully protected Hoagland Fields on those Wasps, sir,” I said.

  “Our Lightships have much stronger Hoagland Fields than those Wasps, Captain,” he said.

  “With due respect, Commodore, these weapons are so powerful they don’t even register on our scales.” This came from Serosian, who had left his station and stepped up to the railing behind me.

  “Sir, I recommend all ships jump immediately to our safe haven at Minara, then get home as quickly as possible. We don’t know—”

  “My orders stand for now, Captain,” said Maclintock, and with that he cut the line. I looked up at the tactical display.

  “Longscope, report,” I said. Karina’s answer was quick.

  “Valiant will cross the threshold in fifteen seconds,” she said. We all watched helplessly as the Colony Ship and its extended particle field enveloped Valiant. Seconds passed as her Hoagland Field sparked and then collapsed against the force of the enemy. A second beam of green energy launched at Valiant.

  Within a few seconds, she too was disintegrated. Her captain, Devin Tannace, and her entire crew, gone.

  The Colony Ship changed course again, this time bearing down on Avenger and her captain, Ozil.

  “Can we penetrate that particle field with any of our weapons?” I demanded of Serosian.

  “Best guess would be the gravity push beam. It might be strong enough to punch a hole in that field,” he responded.

  “Fire it up, XO,” I ordered Babayan.

  “Ready, sir,” she responded a few seconds later.

  “Fire at your discretion, XO.” She did. The nearly invisible beam impacted the particle field fifteen thousand kilometers from Defiant. On the tactical display, the particle field started to weaken, bending, forming a divot. “It’s working!” I said.

  “Not fast enough,” said Serosian. “Indications are that field is at least two kilometers thick. We’re only 25 percent of the way through.”

  “Keep at it, XO,” I said.

  “Aye, sir.”

  The Colony Ship seemed unfazed by our attack. She continued to track Avenger. Seconds later she fired again, this time right through her own defensive field.

  Avenger disintegrated a moment later. We watched as the dreadnoughts and
HuKs split the field seamlessly and then began picking off her supporting Wasps. The Union fleet was being annihilated. I looked to Ensign Layton.

  “Get me Maclintock again,” I said. She did. This time he was both visual and on voice.

  “Commodore, we have to get what’s left of this fleet out of here,” I said.

  “We have to defeat it here, Captain,” he said through heavy static.

  “Not possible, Commodore. Staying only ensures our destruction. We have to jump to Minara, now!” I yelled. He said something else, but the message was garbled and then we lost the com link. I didn’t bother to ask Ensign Layton to restore it.

  On our screen the tactical display had come back up. We watched as our flagship was destroyed by a single blow from the enemy.

  Starbound was lost.

  I’d seen enough of this carnage. “Fleetwide com, Ensign,” I ordered.

  “You have a fleetwide longwave com, sir, but I don’t know how long it will hold,” Ensign Layton said.

  “Just has to be long enough, Ensign. Put me on.”

  “Ready now, sir,” she said. I could hear the fear in her voice.

  “All ships. This is Captain Cochrane of Defiant. Starbound is destroyed. Commodore Maclintock is dead. I am taking field command of the remaining fleet. Your orders are to jump to the precoordinated safe haven. I say again, full retreat to safe haven. Execute immediately. Your arrival at the safe haven will be your acknowledgment. Cochrane out.”

  Then I sat back down and watched as the Colony Ship closed and took aim on Dietar Von Zimmerman and Fearless. “Jump, damn you, jump!” I said out loud, and she did, just seconds before the destructive energy beam would have disintegrated her. Her support Wasps jumped seconds later before the Colony Ship could recalibrate on them. Then I watched as our own Wasps and Resolution, followed quickly by Vanguard, went as well. I pitied the poor auxiliaries. They were retreating, but without their own jump point generators, they were doomed. There was no jump space in the Corant system, and no jump gate ring either.

  I looked down on Lieutenant Arasan. “Now, Lieutenant,” I ordered, and in another second we were gone through the aether to an unknown fate.

  We arrived at Minara microseconds later. I brushed off the usual disorientation of the jump and sprang immediately to my feet. I counted. We had four Lightships and thirteen Wasps left in our fleet. The three auxiliaries Wesley had left for us here sprang to life, ready to receive damaged ships. I ordered the Wasps to self-triage and make for the auxiliaries for repair. They all did, having taken a beating from the dreadnoughts and HuKs.

  I called up the remaining three captains of Resolution, Vanguard, and Fearless on my full bridge display. There would be no more private conferences while this fleet was under my command.

  “Status reports,” I demanded. Zander reported first.

  “Vanguard is 88 percent operational, Captain,” he said. Then Dobrina chimed in.

  “Resolution is at 84 percent, sir. Fully operational on all systems with minimal degradation,” she said. Dieter Von Zimmerman was not so optimistic.

  “Just 64 percent operational here on Fearless, sir. And we’ve exhausted almost 70 percent of our missiles and torpedoes. Gravity systems are offline, but we still have the anti-graviton beam and coil cannon arrays,” he said. I looked at his young face and red hair. He was probably my age, but in terms of experience, he seemed like a child to me.

  “Dietar, you’re to use Fearless to defend this safe haven with all battle-capable Wasps at your disposal,” I said.

  “But, Captain—”

  “Sorry, Dietar,” I cut him off. “But Fearless is not operational enough to continue this battle. You will stay put and defend Minara. If we do not return within two hours or enemy ships jump into this system, your orders are to make for jump space and return to Levant at the first opportunity. Are we clear, Captain?”

  He nodded reluctantly. “We are, sir,” he said.

  “Then I’ll leave you to it.” I waved my hand at Ensign Layton, and Von Zimmerman disappeared from the display, leaving only Dobrina and Zander.

  “What’s your plan?” asked Dobrina. I looked down to Arasan, and he gave a nod of acknowledgment.

  “I’ve just started a five-minute clock. At that time Defiant will jump back into Corant space, where we will engage and take on the enemy Colony Ship with our torsion beam,” I said.

  “That’s insanity!” said Zander. I shook my head as I faced my two closest comrades in the fleet.

  “Not really, Captain. Mr. Arasan has made such a jump before, and based on that Colony Ship’s known speed and mobility, it’s at least possible we’ll end up jumping inside of its particle field defenses and be able to lock on it with the weapon before it can respond,” I said.

  Zander looked over my shoulder at Serosian. “Can this work, or is he as mad as I suspect?” Zander asked.

  Serosian smiled, the first time I’d seen that in a long while. “He may indeed be mad, Captain, but his plan has a chance to work, perhaps our only chance against this vessel,” he said. Then Zander turned his cold gray eyes on me.

  “And if you fail?”

  “Then we’re just as doomed as we are now, Lucius,” I said.

  “And we’re just supposed to stand by and let you go to your death?” cut in Dobrina, her Carinthian anger on the rise.

  “No. I need Resolution and Vanguard to follow Defiant two minutes later, but not inside the particle field. I need you to protect our auxiliaries and deal with any dreadnoughts or HuKs that are threatening them. You are to observe the battle with the Colony Ship but not interfere. If Defiant is destroyed, your orders are to evacuate the auxiliaries and get back here to Minara, then go home and await orders from Admiral Wesley,” I said. “You will be in command, Captain Kierkopf. It’s your job to get everybody home.”

  “Aye, sir,” she said, quiet and reluctant. I looked at the ship clock.

  “Three minutes to jump, on my mark,” I said. “. . . .ark!” I looked to the screen one last time.

  “Good luck, my friends,” I said.

  “And to you, Peter,” Dobrina said. Zander merely nodded. I waved my hand again to cut off the conference line, then sat back in my chair.

  “Countdown from thirty seconds, Mr. Arasan,” I said.

  “Aye, sir.”

  Then I sat and waited like everyone else, praying for a miracle but planning for the worst.

  Arasan was once again worth his weight in gold. We jumped in only fifty thousand kilometers from the Colony Ship, and she was facing away from us, retreating back to her regular place in orbit over Corant, her work of destruction accomplished.

  A quick scan of the battlefield showed our auxiliaries retreating from a much faster pursuing group of dreadnoughts and HuKs. The enemy fleet had left the security of the Colony Ship’s particle field in their greed to finish off our abandoned auxiliaries. They’d be in for a big surprise in about two minutes. So much the better.

  I sat back in my chair and ordered battle stations, and everyone locked in.

  “I’ll pin the medal on your chest when we get back to base, Arasan. In the meantime, good work. XO, spool up the torsion beam and transfer firing command to my console,” I ordered.

  “Aye, sir,” said Babayan.

  “She’s detected us,” warned Karina. “Starting to turn toward our position.”

  “Captain,” came Serosian’s voice from behind me.

  “Historian,” I replied.

  “She’s deactivating her particle field. My guess is she has to shut it down and then bring it up again at closer range to protect herself from us,” he said.

  “Let’s not let her. XO, is the torsion beam ready?”

  “On your console, sir,” Babayan said.

  I targeted the Colony Ship’s enormous HD drive, buried inside a kilometers
-wide artificial crater in her stern. If there was a magnetic core to this thing, it would be there.

  “Getting massive magnetic resonance readings now from the Colony Ship, sir,” said Karina. “And bio signs. Scope estimates over twenty-three thousand people, humans, on board.” I absorbed that for a second. A second was all I had.

  “She’s powering her particle field, Captain,” warned Serosian.

  I looked down at my console, at the pulsing red Phoenix icon of the torsion beam. Without hesitating, I pressed it. I’d never been so sure of any action in my life, regardless of the potential human cost.

  We tracked the beam on the tactical display. Within seconds it was apparent we had the Colony Ship in our grip. She began to list, her helm controls gone. A few seconds later she began to rotate about her central horizontal axis. I increased the rotation speed as quickly as the system would allow.

  “Speed of the vessel now four rotations per minute and climbing,” said Serosian. I watched as the Colony Ship spun ever faster. Two minutes later her features were indistinguishable, as she was spinning at least once per second. I pushed the bar to the max, the twisting power of the torsion beam rotating ever faster. Once I’d reached maximum power, I stood up from my console and watched with the rest of the crew. Anyone living inside that thing would have been crushed by gravity by now.

  Then, in a sudden and explosive instant, the Colony Ship tore itself apart from the inside like a gale force wind ripping apart a paper wasp’s nest. Pieces of the deadly behemoth scattered everywhere. I watched as the rotating mass splintered into a massive cloud of dust, completely annihilated.

  I cut off the beam.

  I looked to Ensign Layton. “Send a com to Resolution and Vanguard. Tell them . . . tell them target destroyed. They may clean up those dreadnoughts and HuKs at will,” I said.

  “Aye, sir!”

  I sat back down in my chair. Serosian was at my shoulder in a second, speaking quietly but not whispering.

  “No regrets about the loss of life?” he asked.

  “None,” I said. “They were the enemy by their own choice.”

  “Me neither,” Serosian replied in a more casual manner than I was used to. Then his board chimed a warning and he went to check on it.