Badger (2 page)

His first hint of disaster came as the enemy destroyer rolled up on one side. The
Crossbow
class had been given its designation by the Celostian Intelligence Service due to its shape more than any solid knowledge of naming conventions among the Oduran military. Two curving arms branched out from a single rectangular central hull. Missile bays lined the dorsal hull, with a railgun mount on each arm to supplement its close range defenses. As it continued to roll, bursts of flame shot out from the ventral surface of the ship. Ensign Remmers, at the Sensors station, jerked in alarm. “Three incoming missiles from Oduran craft.”

“Instruct Lieutenant Delarouge to begin countermeasures. Continue on course and keep an eye on the missile ports on the destroyer. If it fires again, I want to know.” Flint glanced at Jacob, and his eyes were cold. “Time to firing range?”

“Seven minutes.”

Silence fell as the missiles closed, their feeble sensor contacts flickering in the hologram. Answering flechettes spat out from both destroyers, filling space ahead of them with a quick-moving wave of counter fire. All three missiles were caught well short of their targets as the flechettes exploded and ruined their poorly shielded guidance and tracking systems. The missiles continued to close for a few moments more as whatever onboard electronics struggled to recover, then gave up. The missiles detonated in a flash, leaving a sudden grey area on the sensors as the fragments spread chaos through the void.

Jacob frowned as the grey spread over the course of the Oduran ships. For a heartbeat, the small flotilla grew hard to track, moving along the projected courses the computer had calculated for them.
They had to know we would stop the missiles. Why fire now?
He looked to Flint. “Get ready. I think that they’re trying something behind that cloud.”

Flint nodded, but said nothing. Jacob sighed and turned to the communications ensign. “Ensign Dukoff, contact the
Beagle
. I want them to swing slightly out to starboard and try to get a better view of the enemy ships. We need to know if they are still incoming.”

“Yes, Captain Hull.” The bridge once again fell to silence as the ships continued on their respective courses, with
Beagle
diverting slightly to peek around the edge of the approaching cloud. For a few minutes, it seemed little had changed.

On Jacob’s projection, the enemy destroyer vanished. Jacob searched the screen, wondering if the Odurans had managed to riftjump out, but then it reappeared on the screen, far more distant than its previous track. The enemy destroyer was swinging on its own wide course, obviously avoiding railgun range. He wondered what the rest of the Oduran ships were thinking about the destroyer’s reluctance to weather fire with the rest of them.

He got his answer a second later. The frigate and the corvettes disappeared from their previous positions and reappeared horrifyingly close, on the verge of sweeping up over the debris and down on the
Terrier
. His eyes widened. “Flint!”

The commander’s reaction was instant. “Helm, climb now! Guns, open fire!”

Terrier
began to climb, but the Odurans already had the advantage of momentum and position. As the corvettes swept by, their single railgun peppered the
Terrier
with shots. Defense turrets sprayed plasma to intercept the shells, sweeping through the incoming wave of fire and leaving explosions in their wake. They did not catch all of them, however, and three shells came through to slam into the
Terrier
’s armor, just back of the bow.

Explosions rocked the destroyer. Jacob was thrown into his restraints. He grunted in pain as the straps cut into his shoulder, but he kept his eyes on the incoming frigate. Slower than its quick-moving allies, the axe-shaped ship came in firing, but it was too late for the ship to get away unharmed. All three of the upper gun decks opened fire, blasting railgun shells at the incoming frigate even as it returned fire.

At such close range, there was no hope of a last-second dodge. The enemy’s defense turrets intercepted four of the first nine shells, and another three missed completely. The remaining two shells blasted holes in the smaller ship’s armor.
Terrier’s
second volley was harsher. Five shells ripped into the bladed edge of the frigate’s bow. It warped beyond repair, and even as the third volley reached it a moment later, the Oduran frigate began to tumble apart in a spray of wreckage.

It had its revenge. A final pair of railgun shots exploded off the ventral armor of the
Terrier
, punching more holes in the armor and hull. Jacob felt the tremors reach the bridge and gritted his teeth. Each hit meant more of his people were dead and dying, and they were doing so because he had again ordered them into battle. The fact that he was nearly helpless to prevent it only made the losses worse.

The three corvettes continued to dive past the
Terrier
, putting more distance between them and the larger destroyer they had just strafed. The long-range gun battery fired at them as they pulled away, but their maneuvers and point defense made hits impossible. They began to sweep up and around to come in at the
Terrier
again, this time from behind, but Jacob had no intention of allowing that to happen. He turned to Ensign Dukoff. “Open a channel to the
Beagle
. Tell Commander Nivrosky to bring his ship around and engage the corvettes.
Terrier
will continue toward the enemy destroyer.”

With impressive speed, Ensign Dukoff set to work. As he spoke into the communications console, Flint half turned toward Jacob. “Why can’t
Terrier
finish them off? The destroyer is running. We’ve won.”

He shook his head. “The destroyer isn’t running, Commander Flint. She’s gaining distance. You don’t need to close when all you need to do is— Damn .” Jacob pointed at the destroyer. “Look.”

The
Crossbow
had fired another missile volley, rolling so its ventral surface faced its targets. Three more missiles jetted toward the Celostian craft, but this time they weaved their way toward the
Beagle
. Both destroyers spat flechettes toward the volley of projectiles, but this time their fire was spread out, uncoordinated. The
Beagle
’s fire arrived first, and one of the missiles died in a flash of light. Then the missiles attempted to evade the
Terrier
’s countermissiles, which arrived much later.

A second missile died in a burst of fire and fragments. The final missile continued to weave and dodge, avoiding incoming flechettes with pugnacious ease. Jacob felt his throat constrict as the missile drew close to the other destroyer. One direct hit would snap
Beagle
in half like a pathetic twig. As the missile dove the last short distance toward the ship, Jacob turned his face away, unable to watch.

Then a short shout of triumph went up from the Sensor station, and Jacob looked back to find the missile speared by the fading remnant of a plasma stream. The defense turret had scored a near direct hit, eviscerating the weapon with a stroke. It tumbled toward its former target and exploded, showering the length of the ship with superheated fragments. Minor explosions swept across the
Beagle,
and Ensign Dukoff called out to Jacob from his station. “Commander Nivrosky reports damage along the port side. He requests a confirmation of his previous orders.”

“His orders are confirmed, Ensign Dukoff.” Jacob turned to Flint. “Do you feel confident about getting the destroyer?”

Flint’s eyes glittered. “Of course, Captain Hull. The
Terrier
will do her best.” He turned back to his console and tapped a communications link. “Lieutenant Osborne, I want a firing pattern for the destroyer now. We should reach maximum gun range soon.” He paused. “Helm, I need as much acceleration as you can give me. We can’t afford to allow them to get another volley off.”

As Flint’s officers responded, Jacob watched the
Beagle
continue to turn back. The
Beagle
was still leaking broken armor plating and a small amount of air from its hull, but the warship still seemed relatively spaceworthy. He only hoped that if the damage was worse on the inside, the ship would hold together long enough for the battle to end.

The Oduran corvettes seemed to sense the danger to their larger companion and accelerated into their turn. All three began to draw up into
Terrier
’s wake, their railguns swiveling to target the DE sail rigs on the destroyer’s aft. Without those, the destroyer would be a drifting target for the Odurans, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the loss of both ships as a result.

Beagle
gave them no chance. Leon brought his ship in hard across
Terrier’
s course, turning into the path of the oncoming Oduran ships. Both destroyer and corvettes opened fire, railgun shots streaking between them in streaks of light. Defense turrets opened up a heartbeat later, and explosions showered the surrounding area with shell fragments.

Then
Terrier
’s guns opened fire. Each gun fired sequentially. The shots tracked out across the destroyer’s course in a pattern meant to anticipate its possible dodges. At maximum range the chance of a hit was small, but Jacob had to admit it was better than nothing.

As the first shells neared their target, the destroyer’s defense turrets swatted them easily out of the void. The fragments of the shells rained harmlessly across the thick armor that shielded the
Crossbow
as more and more shells arrived and exploded short of their target. A shell slipped through, and then two more as the destroyer’s defenses began to be overwhelmed. Even those glancing hits failed to do much more than cosmetic damage to the Oduran craft, and Jacob watched as it continued its course undeterred.

The
Crossbow
pivoted to turn the openings of its missile launchers away from the shower of fragments. A handful of moments later, another trio of missiles shot out from the destroyer, curving around the
Crossbow
to track in at the
Terrier
. Delarouge launched flechettes, but Jacob could see they would not account for all of the incoming projectiles. He was unfortunately correct; none of the three missiles died en route.

Before they reached the destroyer, the countermeasures officer had one last trick. A decoy shot up from the
Terrier
, flooding the sensors with a wave of signals and heat. All three missiles curved up toward the flare, their systems failing to distinguish between their true target and the distraction. The missile’s high speed turned to their disadvantage; by the time controllers onboard the Oduran craft could redirect the errant weapons, they had flown past the
Terrier
. A second wave of flechettes caught them as they tried to turn, and all three died in blasts that filled empty space with lethal shards of metal.

Terrier
’s gunnery officers rained shells on the Oduran ship. Only one shell had managed to hit the ship directly, but it appeared one had been enough. The craft swerved away from the
Terrier
so sharply the railguns had to readjust their aims completely. It sped away at what had to be maximum acceleration, wanting to run rather than continue the long-range duel.

Jacob raised his eyebrows in surprise. Then he turned his projection, and understanding dawned. Of the three Oduran corvettes, only one continued to maneuver freely. Both of the others had been badly mauled by railgun fire. One was leaking air from a vicious gash in its hull and broadcasting a surrender signal; the other was hurtling through space a half-burning wreck with shards of metal and whispers of flame trailing in its doomed wake. Their compatriots did not stop to aid their stricken brothers, however. The last corvette took off on a rigid course for the nearest available riftjump area.

For a heartbeat Jacob considered ordering a pursuit, but his rational side fought down the impulse. He shook his head. “Instruct
Beagle
to break off its attack and recover prisoners from the destroyed ships.
Terrier
will assist.”

Commander Flint nodded without argument and began issuing orders to his bridge crew. They began to coordinate their efforts at damage control and receive reports of casualties. In the midst of the chaos, the battle ready alerts faded. Jacob unbuckled himself from his restraints and stood. The spot where the belts had cut into his shoulder still ached, and he spared a moment to massage the growing bruise. He and everyone else on the ship had been lucky if that was the only hurt they had suffered. If even one missile had made it to its target, no one would have survived.

Jacob shook his head, walked to the bridge’s exit and left. The Marines gave him a proper salute, which he returned, while the bridge crew continued their efforts. Before he could begin to fret over everything that had gone wrong, he turned to the access ladder, climbed down and sought out his quarters. He wanted a little rest before he received the call that would inevitably come.

Chapter Two

“In your opinion, Captain Hull, the Oduran craft needed to be engaged by your squadron. Is that correct?”

The doubt in Captain Upshaw’s voice was clear, even transmitted across millions of kilometers. Jacob had learned not to trust questions asked in that tone of voice and to think carefully before he responded. He considered possible answers for a moment, and then chose the one least likely to prolong the lecture. “In my judgment, yes sir. The merchantmen running from the Oduran patrol would have been overtaken long before we reached them, and no other task force in the area was close enough to come to their assistance in time.”

Upshaw’s gaze sharpened. “So the damage to your ships was not the result of your decisions, but the fault of the lack of coverage provided by the forces under my responsibility?”

Jacob sighed. He had no idea how his statement could have been twisted that far out of line. Ever since he had returned from Reefhome with the rest of the remaining crew of the
Wolfhound
, his words had turned into unruly snakes in his mouth: hard to predict, impossible to control, and liable bite him out of spite. “No, Captain Upshaw. I was merely pointing out the fact that without our assistance, the merchants in those haulers would have been either dead or captured by the Odurans. Any damage to the ships under my command is my responsibility as the squadron commander.”