Command Decision (30 page)

“Do we announce ourselves, or just hope that the Mackensee ships assume we’re friendly?” Argelos asked.

“When we blow their attackers, I think they’ll get the picture. But I’m planning to tell them as soon as we’re close in, to less than a one-light-minute range. Oh—and have your communications personnel check the channel we know the pirates use, at least twice a minute. If you pick up anything interesting, record it and pass it on later.”

“Attention all ships.” Ky had no way of knowing if any of them would pay attention to the broadband hail, but someone would hear it. “This is Space Defense Force, Third Fleet, First Squadron. We recognize ships of Mackensee Military Assistance as under attack by unlawful forces, and we order you to desist or be fired upon.” By the time the pirates heard that, her first rafts of missiles should be impacting their shields. Mackensee, she could see, were firing bursts of missiles, but only one of their ships seemed capable of using a beam weapon, in short bursts.

Sharra’s Gift
reappeared on scan, almost perfectly positioned. Ky had her communications tech monitoring the pirates’ ansible channels, and a burst of incomprehensible jargon came from the ansible.

“I think they heard us,” Ky said. She nodded, and Hugh changed the ansible to their private setting.

“Captain Argelos, do you have a firing solution?”

“I do,” he said. “My primary target is the number one first crossing the X.”

Ky nodded to her own weapons officer. “Get ’em, Dannon.”

Their forward beam weapon stabbed out, raising a flare on the shields of the nearest enemy ship just as its shield and the second in that echelon sparkled with the impact of their missiles.

“Not getting through,” Hugh said.

“Not expecting to yet,” Ky said. “This is to get their full attention off the Mackensee ships…”

“Space Defense Force—who the hell are you?” That came from a Mackensee ship. “This is MSS
Metaire,
Colonel Kalin commanding. Who’s your commanding officer?”

“A combined force formed to defend against the common enemy…the pirates commanded by Gammis Turek,” Ky said. “We have representatives of various planetary systems…” Never mind that one of those systems had been destroyed, one was an exile, three were wild-eyed adventurers, and her own ship’s Cascadian registry did not really represent the Moscoe Confederation’s support.

“You’re on our side?”

“Yes. You’re legitimate,” Ky said. “They aren’t. Excuse me a moment…” She turned to her weapons officer. “Phase two, shall we?”

“But who’s commanding?”

“I am,” Ky said. It was harder than she’d expected to say both that and her name in the same utterance. “Kylara Vatta,” she said after a pause. Then quickly, before he could comment, she said, “Can you maneuver? I notice you’re near drifting.”

“Troops outside,” he said. “We’re trying to bring them back aboard, but this way we can at least offer them some protection.” A pause, then, “Are you
that
Kylara Vatta? The one who—”

“Yes,” Ky said.

“I see. Talk to you later.” And the contact cut off.

On the display, the battle shifted abruptly from what had seemed like the easy destruction of an outnumbered static force by a larger mobile one, as the pirates realized they themselves were caught in a pincer formed of the Mackensee ships and Ky’s force. Though Ky could not understand any of the commands their commander gave, it became obvious that they considered the Mackensee ships’ missile batteries less dangerous than the others’, and they tried to close in enough to use the Mackensee ships for a screen.

But Ky had anticipated this; she and Pettygrew both microjumped in much closer. Close in,
Vanguard
’s missile launchers achieved a rate of fire Ky would have thought impossible, hammering at the pirates’ defenses. Shields on the nearest pirate ship brightened to an actinic flare, and the next launch sent a hundred into her unprotected flanks. The optical monitors blanked; others indicated hull breach, fragments blown wide…

“That’s not going to be going anywhere,” Hugh commented. He sounded calmly pleased.

“Good,” Ky said. “Though I wouldn’t mind if we disabled one and captured it.”

That ship’s partner decelerated abruptly.

“Not the maneuver I’d pick,” Hugh said.

“Me, neither,” Ky said. “The debris cloud will be broader when he reaches it. I think he’s hoping to duck it, but it’s not going to work.”

One of the pirate ships ran full into the barrage
Metaire
had launched shortly before, and its shields flared. “I’m on it,” Pettygrew said. He pursued, and a salvo up the bustle breached the after shields. The resulting explosion indicated that at least one insystem drive had blown. The ship yawed, then began a sickening tumble.

“Lost their stabilizers,” Hugh said. “Probably lost all insystem, and all internal power…talk about vomit comet…”

“Is it reparable?” Ky asked.

“By a good shipyard, yes. Jury-rigged, probably not. It’ll never go through jump.”

“Might as well blow it, then,” Ky said. “It’s a navigation hazard as it is. Too bad; I’d have liked another armed vessel.” She looked at Hugh.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s too bad, but I don’t see any way to get it repaired out here, not with our resources.”

Ky nodded at Dannon. “Forward beam.” The beam stabbed out, finding the tumbling ship, and a few seconds later it exploded in a cloud of debris.

The fourth pirate ship, disabled, drifted on its way. Ky sent Ransome to keep watch on it. “Stay out of its range,” she said. “If we can capture it whole, it’ll be useful, but we don’t want trouble while we’re waiting.” If the pirates had contacted their friends by shipboard ansible—and she was sure one of them at least would have—trouble might drop in at any time.

For the moment, though, her concern was for the battered Mackensee ships. She contacted Colonel Kalin aboard
Metaire
.

“Can we assist?” Ky asked.

“Do you have medevac capability for zero-gravity, micro-atmosphere situations?”

“Er…not much,” Ky said. Her medical personnel had been reading the manuals and working on simulations, but had no actual experience. “We have medical personnel and supplies, but not expertise in EVA work, though they’ve been doing simulations.”

“Then no, you can’t. You can keep any more trouble off us, though, if you would.
Verain
’s holed. Internal damage. She’s not going anywhere…”

“If you need crew space,” Ky said, “we have room.”

“We prefer to take care of our own people,” Colonel Kalin said, a bit stiffly.

“Understood,” Ky said. “We’ll take high guard.”

She moved her ships back, except for the transport, which might prove useful. Her scan crews mapped the expanding debris fields and the tracks of live weapons. Though missile drives would run out after a few minutes, the missiles themselves continued as live warheads.

Recovery of personnel outside the ships took agonizing hours.
Verain
’s captain reported worse news: both insystem and FTL drives down, several onboard fires, no power to deliver the fire-retardant foams. The weapons bay crews shoved unused ordnance out the hatches as fast as they could, racing the approaching fires. Finally the captain ordered his crew to abandon ship…and most made it into shuttles or onto the rope tows before the ship blew.

Ky felt helpless and guilty both as they stood off listening to the mounting damage and casualty reports, watching for more trouble that never arrived. Meanwhile, she sent Argelos to the drifting pirate hulk.

“Definitely some hostiles alive aboard,” Argelos reported. “We can pick up the transmission of short-range communicators. Nothing on the ansible—I’m hoping its power source is down; it should be. Can’t understand what they’re saying, though, except for a word now and then. Wait—they’re using regular ship channels now…they want to surrender.”

“Do they indeed,” Ky said. She called the Mackensee ships. “Colonel, the remaining pirate ship is disabled but whole, and they want to surrender. Could you make use of that hull?”

“Chances are they’ll just ambush any boarding party,” Kalin said. “And I don’t have the resources to use right now. We certainly could use the space, if the hull’s airtight, but you blew the engines, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know the full extent of damage,” Ky said. “But I don’t want to leave a shipful of pirates loose, even if they seem to be disabled now.”

Kalin grunted. “I must say, Captain Vatta, that you saved our skins, and I’m grateful. And your tactics were competent. So I guess it’s up to you. You’re a privateer, aren’t you? You’d claim her as a prize?”

“I
was
a privateer,” Ky said. “Now you might want to think of us as another military unit. And you have need. If that ship would be of use to you, and if we can capture it without undue loss, I’d certainly let you use it to get back to a system where you had resources. Then, yes, our force could always use more ships.”

“I don’t know what advice to give you,” Kalin said. “And from what I’ve heard about you, you don’t always take advice.”

“True, but I’m listening,” Ky said.

“Well, then.” From his expression, he was trying out approaches, discarding them. “It’s very, very tricky, doing a hostile boarding. I know you’ve been boarded once—”

“Twice,” Ky said.

“All right. The advantage is with the defenders, usually. They know their ship best. And that ship’s tumbling, which is going to make it harder. You don’t know how big the ship’s company is, so you don’t know if they’re all out, even if you get some of them to evacuate onto tethers. They’ve had plenty of time to set booby traps, too.”

“So your recommendation would be to blow it away?”

“Ordinarily, yes: without hesitation. But you’re right: we are short of space, especially with our wounded. We expect a resupply force in about fifteen days, but until then—”

“Colonel, we have a transport ship insystem; she’s not fully loaded, and there’s space aboard her you could use.”

“Had you planned to be here that long?”

“I was planning to do training exercises here, the same as you were.”

“Did you know we were here?”

“Just before we jumped, one of my scouts reported that he’d seen your ships in the system, and nothing else. It was just over a six-day jump. I didn’t know if you were about to leave, had just arrived, or what—but I didn’t consider you hostiles.”

“I see. If you can take some of our personnel aboard until our other ships arrive, that would be a big help. And if you have extra medboxes and medical personnel—” He turned away for a moment. When he turned back, his shoulders had slumped a centimeter. “Our casualties are very high, Captain Vatta. Any help you can give—”

“Of course.” Ky spared a thought for the remaining pirate ship. With her people out there watching it, it wasn’t going to cause trouble, and the casualties were more important. The plight of the pirates themselves didn’t bother her at all. “Tell me where you want the transport: I don’t want to cause more trouble.”

He gave her the system coordinates; Ky passed them on to the transport, and then ordered
Furious
to stay far out and keep watch over the jump point.

“Do you expect more pirates?” Captain St. Cyrien asked.

“No, but they didn’t expect us,” Ky said. “And anyone down-jumping there is in danger from those mines. We may have to blow them up…” Which would create a debris field wider than the minefield, but a lesser hazard. Only weakly shielded tradeships would be at risk of a hull breach or serious damage.

Their supply ship, unable to perform precision microjumps, followed Argelos’ pattern to place itself within a few hours of the location Colonel Kalin had requested, then edged in with insystem engines.

The first shuttle load of Mackensee personnel that eased up to
Vanguard
’s larger air lock swam the tube with helmets sealed. Ky waited for them herself, with armed guards beside her. Friends they might be, but she was not a naïve space cadet anymore.

The first person into the ship had a row of stripes on the suit arm and
PITT
stenciled on the helmet. Ky fought back a grin. This was entirely too good to be true.

“Master Sergeant Pitt requests permission to come aboard—” Clearly, Pitt was having the same trouble; the corner of her mouth twitched.

“Permission granted,” Ky said. “I understand you have three wounded with you?”

“Yes, ma’am. They’re coming through next.”

“Chief Martin will escort them to our medical facility. Our medical staff is set up and waiting. You and the rest of your personnel will be in our starboard crew compartments. Sergeant Crayle will guide you—” She gestured to one of her escort, who stepped forward. “I’ll be in to speak with you later, when I’ve reported to Colonel Kalin about the status of your wounded.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Pitt said, saluting. She stepped aside. Next out of the transfer tube were the wounded, in enclosed litters; Martin led them away. Ky, glancing through the transparent shields, tried not to show what she felt. It was one thing to imagine what being hit by projectiles when outside a ship might mean…quite another to see the human wreckage up close. She followed the last of the litters to the medical suite they’d set up.