Far From Home: The Complete Series (50 page)

Slavin responded to the order by unleashing the
Defiant
‘s main batteries. They strafed the hull of the Naxor Dreadnought.

“That’s it, Rogers, take us under them. We have one thing on our side. We’re smaller. More agile,” Chang said. “Slavin, when we get under there I want you to fire all tubes against their lower hull.”

“Aye,” Slavin said. The Ensign’s eyes flicked from the screen to her readouts at the weapon’s station, her hands ready against the controls.

* * *

“Evasive to starboard, fire lateral cannons!” Carn ordered.

The Naxor Captain relayed the order, and the crew at the helm responded an instant later, rolling the ship to the right. Again the Dreadnought reverberated from the recoil of its own weapons.

* * *

The
Defiant
ducked beneath the Naxor ship, the Dreadnought’s fire exploding in multiple eruptions of energy against their shielding.

The
Defiant
shivered from the hits but the defences held. Ensign Slavin shot everything they had at the underbelly of the Naxor whale, several of the warheads slicing through whatever protective shielding the larger ship had and tearing into the hull.

“Direct hits,” Beaumont reported.

“Good work. Rogers, cut power and take us up, right behind their engine mantles,” Chang ordered.

Rogers didn’t have time to question the order, though he did manage to raise an eyebrow at the unorthodox manoeuvre. They tore past the Naxor ship, and Rogers pulled the
Defiant
up. The Union ship creaked around them at the sudden exertion, as it shot vertically through the backwash of the Dreadnought’s engines.

“Slavin, get ready to fire again,” Chang said. “Helm, tip us back so we’re horizontally aligned to their dorsal, and put us in a barrel roll.”

Rogers bit his bottom lip with concentration as he threw the
Defiant
backwards, and around in a spin. Two systems blew out around them, showering the bridge momentarily in a confetti of white sparks.

“
FIRE!
” Chang yelled.

Ensign Slavin unleashed the might of the
Defiant
‘s weaponry against the bigger opponent, and Chang watched with satisfaction as explosions bloomed across the Dreadnought’s hull.

* * *

Carn gripped a hand rail as the Dreadnought shook around him.

“Do not toy with them. Blow them away. Fire your warheads.”

Seconds later, dozens of swirling balls of glowing energy spat forth from the sides of the massive ship.

* * *

“Incoming!” Beaumont shouted as they once again left the Dreadnought behind them.

Commander Chang didn’t have a chance to say anything before the enemy’s firepower impacted against the
Defiant
‘s shields. It was as if the old ship had slammed into a blast door. The shields buckled beneath the strength of the Dreadnought’s warheads, and fires broke out over the bridge.

“Sprinklers!” Chang yelled to no one in particular. The sprinkler system doused everything with water, dampening the multiple fires around them. At the back of her mind, Chang was silently thankful that each console and control was water and air tight, hence the feasibility of such a safety device.

“Commander, we have damage reports coming in. Shields are down,” Beaumont said.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Chang said. She patched herself through to engineering. “Chief! How’re we holding up?”

The comm. system hissed and gargled static.
“Working on it. You’ve got hull plating, but the shield’s kaput.”

“Understood, Chief, do what you can.”

* * *

Captain King grimaced when she saw the
Defiant
take the crippling hits from General Carn’s ship.
Now,
she thought.
Now’s the time.

“Activate the decoy. Signal Captain Praror we’re a go,” King ordered.

“Takin’ us out,” Hawk said. The
Warrior
rumbled underfoot as he piloted them away from the protective magnetic interference of the planet’s north pole toward the battlefield.

“Decoy activated,” Commander Greene reported. “Controlling the mirror independently as discussed.”

“Excellent.”

The decoy device was another experimental piece of tech loaded onto the
Warrior
back in the day. It mapped the exterior of the ship and created a holographic duplicate that could be manipulated and controlled separately to create the illusion of more ships than there were. However, where it differed from previous attempts at the same technology, the
Warrior
‘s device registered as a real ship to enemy sensors. Not as a hologram, or blip on their readings. But as an actual vessel. For all intents and purposes, the decoy was really there.

“Captain Praror is moving on ahead, as planned,” Greene said.

“Let’s do this,” Jessica said. “Hawk, go to full thrusters. Let’s pounce on them.”

7.

The Dreadnought gave chase to the smaller, but faster,
Defiant
. Inexplicably, the Union ship was still holding up.

“The enemy has partial energy shielding back online,” one of the officers on the bridge reported. The Captain moved to relay the order, and General Carn grabbed him by the lapel, the Naxor’s feet dangling inches off the deck. As with all of the other Naxor on the bridge, he was not of the lower class, the more brutish Naxor who constituted the soldiers and manual labour of their society. He was of the higher class, the more intelligent offshoot of the Naxor race. They were almost human . . . almost.

“I heard him you fool!” Carn snapped, then tossed the Captain to one side. He skidded along the deck backwards, slamming into the bottom of a series of consoles. His head made an audible crack against the metal console housing and he was out cold.

Carn paced to the front of the bridge and watched their weapons fire past the
Defiant
once again.

“Open a communications channel with the
Defiant
. I want to see her Captain,” Carn said.

A moment later the front viewscreen changed to show the bridge of the
Defiant
. He didn’t recognise anyone there.

“I am General Carn, of the Draxx Dominion.”

“I’m fully aware who you are,”
the woman in charge said.
“What do you want?”

“To look you in the eye. To see my opponent.”

The woman smiled.
“I hope you like what you see. Shame I cannot see your own face, General.”

“You will die here, earthling. You and your ship.”

“Strong words,”
the woman said and made the cut signal. The connection was severed.

Carn took a deep breath. “Fire every available weapon at -“

“General! Three more enemy vessels! Closing fast!” a Tactical Officer cried to his right. Carn stormed over to where he was sitting to look at the readouts. On the sensor screens were three clear signatures.

“So . . . it’s an ambush. Bring us about. Lock weapons on the lead ship and open fire as soon as they’re in range.”

* * *

“They’re turning,” Greene said.

“Dolarhyde, draw every bit of power from other systems and have it rerouted to the forward shielding and the engines,” King ordered.

“On the case,” Captain Dolarhyde said, his hands working the controls as if he’d never been away from them.

The
Warrior
thundered beneath them, its engines working at full capacity for the first time in decades. They rushed upon the Naxor Dreadnought.

“They are locking weapons,” Commander Greene said. He looked up. “They’re firing.”

“
OPEN FIRE!
” Jessica yelled.

Hawk let loose the
Warrior
‘s arsenal of warheads and guns as they sped over the top of the Dreadnought, narrowly missing what was shot at them. The Naxor’s fire streaked past in a blur. Hawk swung the
Warrior
left and right, lifting her wings as if she were a bird in flight. At the same time, he rained weapons fire down on the bigger ship. The hull erupted here and there behind them, the
Warrior
‘s firepower disintegrating the Dreadnought’s hull as if it were paper.

Jessica turned to Dolarhyde. “Don’t tell me these are standard weapons, either?”

Dolarhyde shrugged. “I must’ve forgot.”

Jessica laughed. Hawk dipped them down, took them around the
Defiant
in a wide arc.

“They’re firing at the decoy,” Greene said.

“Good work. Have the decoy veer away from us, give us some breathing room for a moment.”

“Aye.”

She watched the holographic ship split from formation alongside the
Warrior
, drawing the Dreadnought’s fire away from them for the time being.

“Make contact with the
Defiant
. Get a status update,” King ordered.

“Aye,” Green said.

She watched on the viewscreen as Captain Praror’s ship buzzed about the Dreadnought, inflicting punches of damage wherever it hit.

“I have them on audio,” Commander Greene reported.

* * *

The
Defiant
gained distance from the Dreadnought as it engaged the other ships.

“I have the Captain, sir,” Beaumont said.

Chang frowned. She watched the smaller ship as it flew past them, demonstrating speed and agility. “Put her on, Ensign.”

“Commander?”

“Yes Captain,” Chang said. “It’s good to hear your voice.”

“And yours. Do you have reinforcements on the way?”

“Yes but they’re still a while away,” Chang answered.

She heard Captain King draw in a sharp breath. “What’s your status?”

“Energy shields are back up and running, but only at fifty percent. We have damage all over the ship, but all systems are still working. We’re doing okay, Captain.”

The
Defiant
jolted from an impact to her side and Chang gripped the arms of the command chair.

“Keep her together, Commander, you’re doing great,” King said.

“Thanks. I will.”

The line went dead. The
Defiant
took another hit. This time the lights flickered before returning to full strength.

Chang looked dead ahead. “You heard the Captain, everyone. Hold your nerve.”

* * *

“The enemy is attempting to retarget us,” Greene reported. “Luckily, they’re struggling to keep up with us, but that won’t last.”

“I understand, Commander,” Jessica started to say, then stopped mid-sentence.

She felt herself go slack-jawed. Her words tumbled away without sound, like a handful of marbles dropped on a floor. She sat there, unable to speak, unable to move for the voice in her head.

Captain.

It could only be one person. She knew that voice. And in a strange way – in a way she couldn’t possibly explain – she’d been expecting it. Subconsciously, Jessica had waited to hear Dana’s voice.

Captain. You must hear me.

I do,
Jessica thought.
I hear you, Dana.

I need more time.

I’m doing my best,
Jessica told her.

Trust me, I will have the artefact out of harm’s way, but it’s taking longer than I hoped. Each one is different. They work entirely separate of one another, though connected by some means I still don’t quite understand.

The
Warrior
vibrated around her, and Jessica was faintly aware of someone saying something about a direct hit, but that was as far as it went. In a way, it was akin to hearing muted conversation in another room. It wasn’t immediate.

But Dana’s voice was. Because it was right there, straight away, in her brain.

In her thoughts.

We’ll hold them off as long as we can. But the minute he releases craft to land on the surface, I’ll be hard pressed to stop them and fight him at the same time.

Understood, Captain,
Dana said.
Best of luck to you.

Everything was coming back to her now. The sounds, sensations, smells of her surroundings coming back into focus. Becoming sharper, more defined.

Dana…

Yes Captain?

When will you come back?