Badger (40 page)

Cheers broke out on the bridge of the
Wolfhound
, but now it was
Beagle
’s turn. The disorganized ships of the frigates and corvettes coming at the squadron slid into the range of the high-speed railguns. All four banks of them on
Beagle
opened fire. They fired sequentially, each battery tracking a target with one shot at a time, something Jacob could see the wisdom of. At such range, a full barrage was less likely to make contact than a stream of shots that continually moved with its intended target. Isaac had not lost any of his skill during the time he had been away, something Jacob felt immensely grateful for.

Beagle
’s shots whipped out at the enemy. One frigate after another was battered into submission. Three of them fell victim to Isaac’s pinpoint accuracy, vomiting debris and flames from gaping holes as they swerved drunkenly away from the engagement or simply went dark. A corvette blundered into a shell not aimed at it and spun away with a pair of ragged, fiery tears in its slender frame, unable to recover. The remainder started to shift back into formation, forced out of their shock into something resembling discipline again as they closed to normal engagement range.

Then it was
Wolfhound’s
turn. Jacob felt the deck shudder under his feet as the heavy railguns spoke, lashing out at the incoming targets with waves of shells. The high-speed guns located in
Wolfhound
’s lower gun deck joined their heavier brethren. The enemy returned fire, their railguns spraying shells across the length of his squadron. His fingers clenched on the arms of his chair as he watched the incoming shells. He gritted his teeth as he remembered the explosions that had claimed
Terrier
.

Point defense on both sides laced vacuum with brilliant gouts of plasma fire. Explosions marked the spots where incoming shells had been destroyed, while fragments of intercepted shots peppered the armor shielding the destroyers. Jacob watched the images of all four of his ships begin to show the yellow of minor hits, at first speckling the images like a fine golden mist. Streaks of golden damage reports appeared as glancing hits made themselves felt. One shot made it through to explode on
Beagle
’s top armor, but the ship did not seem to have suffered terrible damage.

The Odurans had not fared as well. Two more frigates had been chewed apart by
Wolfhound
’s fire, and a pair of corvettes had been knocked out as well. Jacob bared his teeth in a feral grin as the corvettes closed to point blank range, their guns swiveling to target
Wolfhound
this time.

Darts sprang from all four ships, bright projectiles that swept out toward the lighter craft. Jacob’s smile grew fierce as the sailjammers detonated near their targets. The DE sails on six of the Oduran ships went suddenly dark. Helpless to do anything but continue forward, the smaller craft swept past, firing frantically at the destroyers as they went. Their brethren who were still under power managed to put in a few more effective strike, including a shot that exploded on
Wolfhound
’s ventral armor and a shot that actually pierced the armor on
Setter
, but neither ship was crippled.

Then the last of the Oduran destroyers swept in. It was a
Warmace
class vessel, intended for close range combat with heavy banks of railguns. The two Oduran frigates with it were
Hatchet
class ships that were formidably armed as well. It sidled past
Beagle
, firing a pair of volleys which Leon rolled his ship to avoid, and then headed straight for
Setter
. The Oduran was obviously intending the cripple Flint’s ship and steal the long-range firepower it bore from the squadron.

Yet it had forgotten about the last destroyer in the squadron, the one whose guns had remained so far silent.
Feist
sped past
Setter
at the last moment, diving in at the enemy craft from above. The Odurans opened fire, though their chosen target was no longer available. They rained shells down on Commander Kenning’s ship, pelting the destroyer with a merciless barrage. Jacob’s eyes widened as the
Feist
’s defense turrets picked off nearly all of the shots; Laurie had definitely not forgotten her craft either.

Then the
Feist
was in range, and both plasma lances fired. Twin beams of destruction carved through the
Warmace
class ship, gutting it as they twisted through its armor and hull with brutal ease. The frigates that had accompanied it did not escape either. At nearly point blank range, the heavy railguns on
Feist
’s upper and lower gun decks opened up with a triple volley that punched through their defensive fire and blasted through their armor. All three Oduran ships staggered past the
Feist
, and then the enemy destroyer tore itself apart in a massive explosion. The two frigates followed suit a moment later when
Feist
’s railguns reversed their aim and fired into the ships again.

Squadron 43 continued past the wreckage of the Odurans that had attacked them, leaving only nine corvettes and one frigate functional in their wake. With six of those ships unable to maneuver effectively, the Celostian ships trailing behind Jacob’s squadron found the remaining Oduran craft easy targets. Commander Earley’s corvettes swooped in on the incapacitated enemies and sprayed them with precise bursts of railgun fire. The
Knife
class frigates under Commander Gibson engaged the remaining active ships. A roiling dogfight ensued as the Celostian ships hunted down the frantic remnants of the Oduran screen, and it was clear the Celostians would come out on top.

Satisfied, Jacob turned his attention to the remainder of the Oduran chase element. He studied the situation, then activated his communications again. “
Beagle
, fall back and join up with
Setter
. Your target will be the damaged destroyer and the
Brute
class cruiser.
Feist
, accelerate and close with
Wolfhound
. Both ships set a course to intercept the
Scythe
class cruiser.”

Acknowledgements rolled back from his ships as
Beagle
’s long-range guns opened fire again. The wounded
Crossbow
class ship tried to evade the shower of shells, but with its previous damage and the concentrated fire Isaac and Leon focused on it, the Oduran ship had no chance. Shell after shell hit home, tearing through the weakened armor and opening compartment after compartment to space. Explosions sowed the space around the ship with more shrapnel until its DE sails finally died and the destroyer was set adrift, broken beyond recovery.

Meanwhile, the duel between the cruisers had not gone nearly as well. The
Richard
had been able to fend off a few of the incoming missiles from the Oduran cruisers, but at least two of them had gotten through.
Richard
’s decks were awash with flame, and Jacob could see ragged gaps in the ship’s armor where the enemies’ fire had breached the hull. It wasn’t likely the Celostian ship would survive another brutal wave of fire, and even as Jacob watched, Captain Carson brought the cruiser on a shorter intercept course, as if trying desperately to at least close to gun range and engage the enemy before his ship was destroyed.

There was only one bright spot in the situation.
Richard
’s damage meant the Odurans were completely focused on its destruction.
The
Scythe
was already lining up another wave of missiles to expand on the previous damage, and the
Brute
class ship which had so far remained out of range was now rapidly trying to close to bring its heavy railguns and plasma lances to bear on the Celostian cruiser. Neither noticed the threat descending on them from above, and that was just fine with Jacob.

Setter
and
Beagle
had formed up already, and their course bent toward the
Brute
class ship. They would come in slightly behind the cruiser and be forced to swing around in order to pursue it, but Jacob was fine with that. Those ships would hardly last for long at close range under a
Brute
class cruiser’s fire, and Jacob had no desire to lose anyone today.
Wolfhound
and
Feist
lined up a similar course to intercept the
Scythe
class, and then Jacob frowned. He shook his head and tapped his communications. “
Feist
,
Wolfhound
, bring your ships around on a more solid intercept with your target. That class of ship is vulnerable in close, and that’s where you’ll be strong.”

Al-shira glared at him, but she nodded sharply. “Yes,
captain
, adjusting course.”

Jacob grunted and waited for
Feist
to make a similar adjustment. For a long moment, it seemed he was waiting in vain.
Feist
continued to pull away from
Wolfhound
, following its previous course as if it had not heard the orders. The ship broke formation entirely before Commander Kenning finally responded.

“Yes, Captain Hull. Engaging the enemy more closely.”

Jacob released a sigh of relief as Kenning’s ship returned to
Wolfhound
’s side. Even with
Wolfhound
distracting her, he couldn’t have guaranteed the
Scythe
would not have lashed out at
Feist
if the distance had been large enough. He also could not have prevented the pounding
Wolfhound
would have taken facing the cruiser’s guns alone, and he needed both ships functional.

Then
Setter
launched her missiles again, and Jacob’s attention was caught by the Odurans’ reaction. Both torpedoes shot out ahead, leaving the slower missiles behind as they accelerated up to maximum speed.
Beagle
opened fire a moment later, sending successive waves of high-speed railgun fire hurtling through space. The shells caught up to the missiles and passed them by before the torpedoes made contact with their target.

The
Brute
class had barely awakened to the barrage descending on it from above when one of the torpedoes slammed into its hull.
Setter
’s projectile drilled straight through the layers of cerrafiber armor, plowed through the hull and decks beneath it, and then burst from the opposite end of the cruiser in a plume of debris and fire. Unfortunately, the second torpedo missed, slashing past the cruiser’s wounded bulk before swinging around on a course meant to bring it back to its target. Before it could make the turn, anti-missile flechettes caught the projectile, and bursts of electromagnetic fury burned the guidance systems to a crisp.

The nightmare was not over for the Odurans yet.
Beagle
’s shells arrived a moment later. In most circumstances a few shells would have been harmless. However, Isaac seemed to have predicted the path of the torpedoes and targeted the general area of their impact. Shells slammed into the armor that had been torn and weakened by the torpedo, ripping the opening wider and punching still more holes in the cruiser’s skin.
Jacob watched explosions wrack the warship and the defensive turrets swiveled to burn the incoming shots from space. The
Brute
class ship was soon awash in shrapnel, shell fragments and fading lines of plasma.

Through the chaotic wave dove the three missiles launched from
Setter
. The cruiser’s sensors had to have seen them, but the flechettes it launched in response must have had trouble tracking them through the wave of debris. With a much larger—and more importantly, slower—target, the missiles had little trouble maintaining their own sensor contact as they shot through the cloud of metal and fire to impact.

One missile exploded short of the target, a victim of a drifting shell fragment that had ripped it open. A second had the misfortune of curving too close to a defense turret; a twitch and a burst of plasma detonated it early, reducing it to a wave of shrapnel that gushed along the cruiser’s armor. The third missile, however, exploded right on target, igniting a gigantic fireball just forward of the hole the torpedo had punched. Jacob saw the cruiser stagger free of the explosion still intact, but the still-burning crater in its armor promised very little of the topside armament was still functional.

After seeing the fate of its companion, the other Oduran cruiser tried to dive away from the approaching destroyers. Missiles sprayed from its dorsal hatches, curving around to track on the destroyers. Flechettes sprayed back in response from all four ships. None of the six projectiles made it any closer than halfway to his ships, and Jacob smiled as
Wolfhound
and
Feist
closed the distance to their target. He looked up and smiled at Al-shira.

“Our turn, Commander.”

She nodded, and a pleased smile formed on her lips. With a flick of her wrist, she activated her own communications. “Guns, target the cruiser. I want as many hits as possible on her top-side and the forward blade where she keeps her DE sails. Commander Al-shira out.”

Jacob turned his attention back to his own projection as the destroyers dove in. Railguns spat a vicious burst of fire from
Wolfhound
’s gun decks, with the three heavy batteries targeting the missile bays on the
Scythe
cruiser’s upper hull and the high-speed guns firing at the forward DE sails. Plasma seared through space in response as the cruiser tried to stop the incoming shells, followed closely by counterfire from the small complement of railguns aboard the Oduran ship.

The incoming shells focused mainly on
Wolfhound
and, to Jacob’s regret, the Countermeasures officer on his flagship was nowhere near Laurie’s equal. Most of the initial salvo was hastily aimed and quite a few shells shot off into space without coming close. Seven shells came in on angles which would guarantee direct impacts, however, and the defensive fire only got four of them. Even as their companions exploded short of
Wolfhound
’s hull, two more of them bounced off of the armor and detonated, spraying the cerrafiber plates with fragments and fire.