Ep.#5 - "Rise of the Corinari" (43 page)

Nathan looked at his watch again in surprise. “Thirty seconds?” he said, rotating his chair around to look at Jessica. “Is that even possible?”

“I suspect everyone was already
at
their battle stations,” Jessica responded.

“Mister Sheehan, new jump plot. As soon as we get line of sight on the Loranoi, I want to jump to thirty seconds directly in front of her, based on our closure rate.”

“Yes, sir,” Loki answered.

“Tactical, load all forward tubes, nuclear with full yield, rig for snapshot, staggered firing.”

“Loading all forward tubes, full nukes, rig for snapshot, staggered firing, aye,” Jessica answered.

“Deploy all rail guns. We’ll start with the forward guns only.”

“Yes, sir,” Jessica answered.

“Helm, as soon as we fire our torpedoes, pitch down under the target and go to full power. As soon as your course is set below the target and you have a clear jump line, kill your burn and jump us one light minute forward.”

“Yes, sir,” Josh answered.

“Mister Sheehan, you’re only going to have about twenty seconds to get us out of there before the nukes go off,” Nathan warned.

“Understood, Captain,” Loki answered.

“I’ll get us pointed under,” Josh insisted to Loki. “You just be sure you jump us in time.”

“Jess, once those torpedoes are fired, I’ll need a countdown of the last ten seconds of their flight.”

“Understood,” Jessica answered.

“Comms, tell the air boss that Tug should be sitting on the apron ready to launch in…”

“Three minutes, Captain,” Loki answered.

“Three minutes,” Nathan repeated to Naralena. “If he doesn’t get off the deck immediately, he’ll have to ride it out and take his chances with us.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nathan took another breath. “Comms, put me ship-wide.”

“Ship-wide now,” Naralena answered.

“Attention, crew of the Aurora. This is your captain. The Corinairan government has transmitted their declaration of independence from the Ta’Akar Empire. In a few moments, we will be backing those words up with our actions. We will be outnumbered and outgunned, but we will have the element of surprise, the jump drive, and the strength of the Corinari on our side. Perform your duties as you were trained, watch each other’s backs, and we shall prevail. That is all.” Nathan gestured for Naralena to kill the channel.

Nathan rotated around again, noticing Jessica’s expression. “Just thought they should know what they’re getting into.”

Tug backed his interceptor out to the port corner of the Aurora’s flight apron in preparation for launch. He made one final check of his systems and instruments before activating his comms.

“Aurora, Tug. Ready for launch.”

“Tug, Aurora copies. Thirty seconds to jump.”

“Understood.”

“Attention, all hands. Stand by for jump,” Abby announced.

“Twenty seconds to line of sight,” Loki said.

“As soon as you get line of sight, start your jump plot,” Nathan reminded Loki.

“I’ve already got the plot, Captain.”

“That plot was based on an assumption of the target’s position,” Nathan warned. “If we’re going to jump into the path of another vessel, we want to be damned sure of its actual course and speed, Mister Sheehan.”

“Yes, sir, but even with line of sight, her track is still going to be fifteen minutes old.”

“It’s the best we can do,” Nathan stated calmly. It was a risky move, and Nathan knew it. He would have preferred to make the sudden jump from much closer, and even with a greater distance between him and the frigate. But their torpedoes were unguided line of sight weapons, so they needed to jump in close enough to hit them before the frigate had a chance to take evasive action. Still, there was no way to know for sure. All they could do was make a guess based on the target’s current course, speed, and deceleration. Since the target did not yet know they were headed for a trap, there was no reason for them to alter their approach from the standard pattern that the Ta’Akar had always used in the past.

“We have line of sight,” Ensign Yosef announced. “Contact. Transferring plot to tactical.”

“I have the contact,” Jessica reported. “Takaran frigate. It’s the Loranoi.”

“Helm, break orbit and head for that frigate, full speed ahead.”

“Breaking orbit and coming to intercept course, full speed ahead, aye,” Josh answered.

“Start your jump plot, Mister Sheehan.”

“Calculating jump,” Loki answered

“Tactical, check the system for contacts,” Nathan ordered.

“No other contacts, Captain,” Jessica reported. “Other than the Loranoi and us, the system is clear. ETA to the Wallach’s arrival is five minutes.”

“Jump plotted and locked,” Loki reported.

“All right, here we go people,” Nathan announced. “Jump.”

“All hands, jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

The brilliant blue-white flash of the Aurora’s jump filled the cockpit of Tug’s interceptor. A moment later it was gone and Tug fired his ascent thrusters at maximum power. His interceptor leapt off the Aurora’s flight apron, and within a few seconds, he was above her topside line, looking forward. In the distance ahead of them, he could barely make out a small white dot, slightly larger than the background stars and more irregularly shaped. What made it stand out most, however, was that it was rapidly growing larger.

“Nathan you crazy bastard,” Tug exclaimed as he pitched his nose up and fired his main engines, reaching for his jump drive control interface as he did so.

“Flight-ops reports interceptor is away,” Naralena announced. “Incoming message from the Loranoi.”

“Staggered snapshot, all forward tubes. Fire,” Nathan ordered.

“Firing all forward tubes, staggered snapshot,” Jessica reported.

“Hold the message,” Nathan ordered Naralena.

“One fired,” Jessica reported. “Two fired…”

“Interceptor has jumped away,” Ensign Yosef reported.

“Three fired,” Jessica continued. “Four fired. All torpedoes away!”

“Helm, pitch down! Loki next jump, one light minute forward,” Nathan ordered.

“Torpedo impact in fifteen seconds,” Jessica reported.

“Pitching down, aye,” Josh acknowledged as he pitched the Aurora’s nose down a few degrees in order to fly under the frigate that was now coming straight at them.

“Calculating new plot,” Loki announced.

“Torpedo impact in ten seconds,” Jessica announced.

“Sensors, are her shields up?” Nathan asked.

“No, sir,” Ensign Yosef reported, “but they’re charging their emitters now.”

“It will take them a few seconds at least, Captain,” Mister Willard advised from the electronic countermeasures station. “Our torpedoes still might beat their shields!”

At that point, Nathan knew that his rail gun rounds would not be fast enough to catch up to the torpedoes before they struck the Loranoi and detonated. Although some of them would probably be vaporized by the nuclear blast, the rest would strike an already damaged target. It might not make a difference, but Nathan knew he might not get another shot at the frigate, and he wanted to make this one count.

“Open fire, all forward rail guns!” Nathan ordered.

“Rail guns firing!” Jessica announced.

On the outside of the Aurora, on her forward section, the six forward-most rail guns opened fire. Burst of pale blue magnetic energy leapt off the rails as the quad guns spat forth a hail of fist-sized metal-alloy projectiles at a staggering rate.

“Five seconds to impact,” Jessica reported from tactical.

“Jump plotted and locked,” Loki announced from the navigators chair at the helm.

“No Count! Jump now!” Nathan ordered.

“Jumping!” Loki reported, the bridge instantly flooding with blue-white light.

The Aurora disappeared in a flash of blue-white light as the four nuclear-armed torpedoes streaked toward the frigate. With only a few seconds notice, the Loranoi had no time to maneuver out of the way of the oncoming torpedoes and took all four of them right in her forward shields, which had barely come up to fifty percent charge when the first torpedo detonated in a blinding flash. Each of the remaining three torpedoes struck the exact same section of shielding at one second intervals, all detonating with the same brilliant flashes of light. The force of the four nuclear detonations was more than the Loranoi’s forward shields could withstand, and all the shield emitters across her bow shorted and fused, making them inoperable. Only seconds after the last torpedo detonated, a hail of rail gun rounds drilled into the nose of the frigate, ripping her bow open in several places and causing numerous secondary explosions within the forward section of her hull.

“Jump complete,” Loki reported.

“Helm, new course. Come sixty degrees to port,” Nathan ordered.

“Coming hard to port, sixty degrees, aye,” Josh answered.

“Mister Sheehan, as soon as Josh finishes his turn, plot another jump, one light minute out along the new course.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Damage report?”

“DCC reports no damage, Captain. The frigate never got a shot off.”

“Jess, load all tubes again, fore and aft this time, just in case.”

“Loading all tubes,” Jessica reported.

“How long until you finish your turn?” Nathan asked Josh.

“Fifteen seconds, sir.”

“Comms, play the Loranoi’s last message,” Nathan ordered.

“Yes, sir.” Naralena tapped her console and called up the recorded message. “
Your declaration is in direct violation of the terms of your surrender. If you denounce this declaration immediately, we will consider your unconditional surrender to the Ta’Akar Empire and spare your world. Failure to do so will result in the immediate unrestrained bombardment of all military and civilian targets…
”

“Turn it off,” Nathan ordered.

“Well, I guess they weren’t planning on withdrawing,” Jessica cracked.

“Turn complete,” Josh announced.

“Plotting next jump,” Loki announced.

“Sensors, keep an eye on the target. I want a damage assessment as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Ensign Yosef acknowledged.

“How long until the Wallach arrives?” Nathan asked Jessica.

“Four minutes.”

“Anything on sensors yet?” Nathan asked.

“I’m tracking the target now. Her light is old, so I just saw us launch torpedoes on her.”

Nathan looked impatiently at Jessica again.

“Ain’t relativity a bitch?” Jessica quipped.

“I’m seeing four good detonations, Captain,” Ensign Yosef reported.

“Were her shields up?”

“Whoa. If they were, they went down awfully fast. I’m seeing secondary explosions in her bow. Looks like our rail guns tore her up.”

“Outstanding.”

“Jump plotted,” Loki reported.

“Very well, Mister Sheehan. Jump the ship again.”

“Yes, sir. Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

The bridge filled with the jump flash again.

“Jump complete,” Loki reported.

“Forty-five more degrees to port, Mister Hayes,” Nathan ordered. “Then increase your altitude to match the Loranoi’s altitude relative to the Darvano ecliptic.”

“Aye, Captain. Coming forty-five degrees to port. Increasing altitude to match the target,” Josh answered.

“New jump, Mister Sheehan. I want to be one hundred kilometers ahead of the target, and one hundred to her starboard. We’re going to fly across her bow.”

“Aye, sir,” Loki answered.

“Jess, as we pass, I want to pummel her with rail guns.”

“Recommend we roll over and put our topside toward the target, Captain,” Jessica suggested, “That way we can get all our guns on her at once.”

“You heard the lady, Josh.”

“Got it, sir.”

“Captain,” Ensign Yosef reported, “for our rail guns to get through to her like that, her forward shields have to be completely down.”

“If they are, a single nuke might finish her,” Jessica added.

“Turn complete, altitude matched to target’s altitude, sir,” Josh reported.

“Plotting jump,” Loki added.

“I don’t want to use our nukes if we don’t have to. We just used four, and for all we know, that might have been overkill. We’ve only got twenty left, and I have no idea if we’re ever going to get anymore. Besides, if we can take her without too much damage we might be able to salvage some of her ordnance,” he added. “And I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

“Guns it is, then,” Jessica agreed.

“Jump plotted,” Loki reported.

“Execute jump,” Nathan ordered. “Stand by to roll, Mister Hayes. Stand by all rail guns.”

“Jumping in three……two……one……jump.”

The bridge filled with the jump flash.

“Jump complete.”

“Target is one hundred kilometers forward and one hundred to port. Cutting across her path quickly.”

“Target is locking weapons on us,” Mister Willard reported.

“Rolling forty-five to port,” Josh announced.

“Can you jam her lock?” Nathan asked.

“Attempting to jam,” Mister Willard replied.

“Open fire, all rail guns,” Nathan ordered.

“Firing all rail guns,” Jessica answered.

“Distance to target is seventy kilometers and closing fast,” Ensign Yosef reported. “Her forward shields are gone, Captain. I’m seeing fried emitters all across her bow, also several hull breaches.”

“She’s firing,” Jessica reported.

The ship rocked as the bridge filled with a red flash.

“What the hell was that?” Nathan asked.

“Energy pulse cannon,” Ensign Yosef answered. “She’s still firing, but her weapons aren’t tracking us properly, sir.”

“Good work, Mister Willard,” Nathan congratulated. “Damage report?”

“Checking,” Jessica answered. “Minor damage to the port side, just forward of the aft torpedo tubes. That fancy coating the Karuzari applied helped.”

“Fifty kilometers and closing,” Ensign Yosef announced.

“Rail gun fire will reach the target in ten seconds,” Jessica announced.