Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2 (44 page)

Several of the shuttles
were destroyed within seconds of passing the stern of
Sergiov
, swept
through by laser beams the enemy ships were firing as they tried to kill the
shuttles on the way from the battleship to the battle cruiser.  More vaporized
under the intense power of capital ship and cruiser class lasers.  Some of the
beams got through to the evacuation shuttles, which were darting and dodging to
avoid targeting.  The beams were sweeping more or less at random, because of
the distance they had to travel and the blocking field they traversed.

*     *     *

Sean sat in the cockpit
of the shuttle, having used his rank to gain a place where he would not feel
completely helpless.  He wondered if that was a good choice as the shuttle
juked and dodged on the way to the battle cruiser.  Here he could see
everything the enemy was sending his way in an attempt to kill him.

A nearby shuttle, less
than two hundred meters away, went up in a cloud of vapor as a laser struck it
through the stern.  The Emperor's shuttle's pilot pulled his joystick over
hard, sending the ship away from the explosion, then pulled up on the stick to
avoid a collision.

These damned ships are
too close together
,
thought Sean, his hands clamping down on his armrests.  But there really wasn't
a choice if all the shuttles were to get away.

“Here we go,” said the
shuttle pilot, reducing his acceleration as he changed his vector for the stern
port shuttle bay on the battle cruiser.

Sean wished they would
head for the bay nearer the bow, so that another shuttle could make it to the
safety of the ship instead of him.  He knew that thought was foolish.  His
shuttle had as many wounded and evacuees as any of the others.  And the whole
mission was to get him to safety.

The pilot was good,
going in under his own control faster than the autopilot would allow.  The
shuttle barely cleared the opening and came to an almost stop, moving to the
rear of the deck.  The shuttle set down perfectly on the lift pad, the landing
struts thudding down on the deck.  The elevator immediately started on its way
down, making room for more ships.

Sean felt himself take
a breath of relief.  He knew that he did not want to die, no more than any
other man or woman in this engagement.  And his chances to survive had just
increased astronomically.

*     *     *

“We have the last
aboard, ma'am,” said the tactical officer from his post, his face pinched in
concentration.

“Helm, accelerate at
full power,” ordered Captain Dame Mei Lei, feeling the tension building in her.

“Aye, ma'am,” replied
the helmsman, his fingers dancing over the controls, setting the
Jean de Arc
to accelerate at over three hundred gravities.

“How many did we lose?”
she asked the tactical officer, rubbing her face with her hand.

“Four, ma'am,” replied
that officer with a grimace.

The Captain clenched
her teeth as she thought about the over two hundred souls that did not make it
to her ship.  But over eight hundred more had made it, including the most
important passenger.

“Get those people into
tanks,” she ordered, her eyes scanning the tactical holo.  “Or stasis if they
are too wounded to tank.  We go to emergency boost in five minutes.”

“Aye ma'am,” replied
the com officer, getting on the circuit and sending the orders.

“And tell Ngano that we
have his package and are running with it.”

The com officer nodded
at the orders while she sent the first, intership, message.

Now it's up to Sergiov
, she thought, looking
at the battered battleship on the viewer.

*     *     *

“The Emperor is aboard
the
Jean de Arc
,” called out the com officer, looking over his shoulder
at the Captain.

“Tactical,” shouted the
Captain, feeling the rush of adrenaline hitting his system.  “What is the
status on the missiles?”

“We have moved all that
were capable of movement to the working launchers,” said the officer, a thin
smile on his face.  “That gives us fifty-three offensive weapons.”

“Very well,” said the Captain,
letting out a shallow breath.

“Fire every missile at
the enemy force,” he continued.  “All beam weapons capable of firing target
those vessels.”

“That's only the B
ring, sir,” said the tactical officer.  “But they are at seventy percent.”

“Very good,” replied
Ngano, knowing that his ship could still sting in electromag.  “Helm, full acceleration
toward the enemy.”

“Aye sir,” said the
helmsman, his eyes wide, but his fingers moving as ordered over his board.

“I am proud to have
served with you,” said Ngano to his bridge crew.  “You have made me proud.  You
have made the Empire proud.”

The crew looked at
their Captain, shoulders squaring as they nodded at his pronouncement.

“And we are proud to
have served with you Captain,” said the tactical officer, his face solemn. 
“Aboard the best ship in the fleet.”

*     *     *

“The ring is fully charged,
chief,” said the tech manning the status board.  “Power is flowing smoothly
through the remaining emitters.”

“Thanks spaceman,”
replied Gorbachev, looking over her own status board.  There was nothing they
could do about the emitters that were not feeding into the ring.  Nothing short
of complete replacement would accomplish that.  And that was unlikely to happen
this side of hell.

The board showed that
the ring was releasing its energy in a single beam, sweeping it across the
enemy formation.  The ship shuddered once again from a near miss.  Gorbachev
cheered silently as the sensor returns indicated a hit to one of the enemy
destroyers.  And a secondary detonation on that vessel blew out most of its
bow.

“Do us proud, Lieutenant,”
said the chief in a whisper as the ship shuddered once again.  She could feel a
tear rolling down her cheek, behind the faceplate, where she couldn't reach
it.  “Do us proud, my Emperor.”

*     *     *

They had hooked Sean
into the battle cruiser’s systems as an observer as soon as he was aboard, at
his insistence.  The tank he was in was much the same as the one he had vacated
on
Sergiov
.  The AI of the computer was much the same as well.  But he
knew he was not on the battleship anymore.  He could see the battleship on the sensors,
absorbing punishment as it decelerated back towards the enemy ships.

Sergiov
took a major hit,
spinning on its axis as she vented atmosphere and fluids.  Pieces of ship flew
off into space.  The remaining laser ring fired, a sweep that scored a hit on
one of the super destroyers that seemed to serve the enemy as scouts.  The bow
of the ship erupted into space as the beam superheated the matter of the
vessel.  Sean noted that the one working laser was the B ring, and he cheered
on his old teammates as he thought about Gorbachev, who was most likely in
control of the ring.

Sergiov
jumped from a pair of
near misses, more of her hide vaporizing under the attention of some
multigigaton warheads.  The B ring went dark, and Sean hung his head, thinking
about the people he had known that were most likely dead.  A plasma torpedo,
probably the last functioning weapon on the ship, fired a blast.  The remaining
enemy cruiser, closing on the battleship and hitting her with the cruiser's one
remaining laser dome, caught the plasma blast full on.  Superheated plasma cut
through the hull, channeling into the corridors beyond, incinerating everything
in its path.  The cruiser blew into hundreds of large fragments, and
innumerable small pieces.  One of the spinning pieces hit the heavily damaged
super destroyer, knocking it off course as it shattered the hull, sending more
pieces of alien ship spinning off into the blackness.

The human battleship
absorbed a score of fragment hits, setting it on a permanent spin while opening
most of the port side of the ship to space. 
Sergiov
spun into the void,
while the remaining super destroyer, generating no power of its own, continued
on after the path of the battle cruiser, which was leaving it farther behind
every second.

It's over
, thought Sean, bowing
his head and saying a quick prayer for his dead comrades. 
Sergiov
was a
complete wreck.  If anyone survived they had to be trapped deep in the ship. 
But the alien task force was wrecked as well, and the
Jean de Arc
had a
clear path for the outer system.

Chapter 20

Most wars start with a
bloody nose.  Yours or theirs, someone starts out being hurt.  That doesn’t
mean you lost, only that they have now got your attention.

Admiral Jo En
Walenstein at the commencement of the First Elysium War.

“I don't like the looks
of this, Captain,” said Commander Xavier Jackson over the com link.

Jean de Arc
was continuing out
system at maximum emergency boost, crew still in the tanks.  The enemy had two
task groups coming after them.  One consisted of three cruisers and a pair of
super destroyers, while the other only had two cruisers, but had four of the
super destroyers as consorts.  Both were more than enough to destroy the
Jean
de Arc
in an open battle.  The battle cruiser was staying away from both of
the groups, using her acceleration advantage to best effect.  But she would not
be able to decelerate to go through hyper at the limit.  She would have to plow
on into interstellar in normal space, hoping she could shake off pursuit.

Now she was picking up
the emissions from ahead as other enemy ships vectored onto intercept courses. 
They couldn't tell how many or what type yet.  But anything that got in the
battle cruiser's way could cripple her before she left the system.

“Anything we can call
on for help,” said the Captain, studying the system schematic in her mind. 
“Some of the ships based here were out on patrol when the enemy struck.  Isn't
that correct, your Majesty?”

“That is correct,” said
the Emperor, his mind's voice low.  “There was at least a battleship division,
and some three cruiser squadrons on patrol.  We were expecting them back any
day.”

The poor kid is still
in shock
,
thought Mei Lei as she pondered what he said. 
Soon will come the survivor's
guilt, then the depression.  He needs to be active in this thing if he's to
heal.

“Those ships could have
met with this enemy and been destroyed,” said the tactical officer.  “Or they
could come in on the other side of the system, doing us no good at all.”

“I don't see where we
have much choice in our vector,” said Mei Lei to the others.  “It's the only
one that avoids our pursuit.  We need to keep going on this vector until we
figure out what lies ahead of us.”

“That is a wise choice,
ma'am,” said Jackson.

“Your Majesty?”

“I leave the decision
in your hands, Captain,” said Sean, giving a mental nod.  “Now I need to think
about other things.”

I hope those other
things aren't how useless you feel right now, you Majesty
, thought the Captain,
giving him a mental smile.

“So now we wait,” said
the tactical officer.

“So now we wait,”
agreed the Captain.

*     *     *

“Transmission from a
courier, Admiral,” came the call over the net.

“What's the message,”
said the Grand Fleet Admiral Duke Taelis Mgonda, looking up from his desk while
a holo formed in the air above the heavy furniture, showing the face of a young
Lieutenant, a busy claim center behind him.  “Is it from Massadara?”

“No sir,” said the com
officer.  “This one is from Klassandra System.  Pretty much the same as the
last six couriers sir.”

“Another massive attack
out of nowhere by forces unknown,” said the Admiral, remembering those last six
ships and their frightening news.

“Yes sir,” agreed the
junior officer, nodding his head.  “With vids of the Ca’cadasan ships.”

“And still nothing from
Massadara,” growled the Admiral, slamming his hand on his desk.  “Still nothing
about the safety of the...”

Admiral Mgonda shut his
mouth quickly, earning a curious look from the Lieutenant.  It was still not
common knowledge out here that Prince the Lieutenant Sean Ogden Lee Romanov was
now the Emperor of the Empire of New Terra.  And that his life was at risk, if
not already ended.

“Send the message up
the hyperlink net,” he ordered the officer.  The Lieutenant nodded and cut the
connection.

The Admiral ordered
another link with a thought.  A handsome woman, her ebony face shining,
appeared on the holo.

“Sir,” said the woman,
snapping to attention.  Mgonda could see the busy flag bridge behind the woman,
the command staff of a squadron preparing for deployment.