Last Measure of Devotion (TCOTU, Book 5) (This Corner of the Universe) (20 page)

As
Hawk
withdrew from 5
ls
, Selvaggio issued a hushed reminder to maintain their
evasive efforts until a full fifteen light-seconds separated the combatants.

Covington
looked up to Heskan, as if seeking permission before ordering a detailed damage
report.  Heskan placed a reassuring hand on the captain’s shoulder and
complimented, “Well done, Clayton.  You fought your ship well.”

A contagious
grin broke over the Seshafian’s face.  “That was incredible!  I’ve never seen a
combat like that before.  It was so… fluid.”  He looked up at his mentor.  “Is
that what it was like against the Commonwealth?”

Heskan
cringed at the question. 
I talked to him privately for a reason,
he thought
. 
If it becomes common knowledge that we’re Brevic, then it’s going to leak
across the media and that means, eventually, Bree will find out.
  He
furrowed his eyebrows at Covington, who wilted before him.

“I’m
sorry,” Covington whispered and he ducked his head.  After a moment, he
covered, “I meant, was that what it was like fighting
for
the
Commonwealth?”  His face had turned a deep red.

Heskan
shook the man’s shoulder congenially to knock him from his self-rebuke.  “You did
great, Captain, and yes, the battles we fought in the Hollaran-Brevic conflict
were a lot less scripted than corporate warfare.”

“It’s
so different,”
Hawk’s
weapons officer confided as he shivered from the
adrenalin dump.  “We weren’t just trying to damage each other’s ships; we were openly
trying to kill each other.  We weren’t even hiding that fact.”  He looked up at
Vernay.  “I’m sorry I stopped firing, ma’am.  I’m just used to ceasing all hostilities
after a pass.  I was taught you have to give your rival time to surrender.”

Vernay
smiled at him.  “It’s okay.  I overreacted.  Where I grew up, it’s taught that
you don’t give the enemy anything except as swift a death as possible.”

“We
need to send a distress message out to the nearest Federation ship,” Covington said. 
He looked up at Heskan.  “Do you want us to dive when we reach the tunnel
point?”

Heskan
scanned the tactical plot.  Absent-mindedly, he ordered, “Full tactical.  Jack,
forward your damage analysis on that salvage ship to the first officer when it’s
complete.” 
Hawk
was 19
ls
from the pirate ship and that distance
was expanding.  One light-minute ahead, the tunnel point to Nyx waited for
them.  “We won’t get dive clearance, Clayton.  I’m sure tunnel point control will
order both Hawk and that pirate ship to heave to while they try to sort this
mess out.”

Covington
nodded.  “We have to keep our distance from the pirates though.”  He looked up
questioningly again and mouthed uncertainly, “Right?”

Heskan
chuckled lightly at the unwavering deference. 
Clayton Covington has two
corporate battles under his belt.  He’s a talented ship captain.  Why is he
acting like I’m the universe’s gift to Seshafi?
  He nodded to the seated
captain.  “Definitely.  Also, good thinking on sending that distress message
out.  We’re the injured party here.  They attacked us.”  He made sure he gave
the young captain an approving look.

Hawk’s
operations officer reported in during
the slight pause in conversation.  “Captain, the preliminary damage report is
compiled.  It’s a little worse than I thought.  We’re down to roughly half of
our propulsion.  The starboard quad has been destroyed.  A number of our AIPS components
have burned themselves out.”  She looked away from her panel and stated, “I know
this isn’t a corporate skirmish but by regulation I have to recommend striking
our lights.”

Vernay,
watching from across the bridge, seemed discontented with the report.  She
waited half a beat and then finally said with a sharp annoyance, “Casualties,
Lieutenant?”

The OPS
officer flinched.  “Oh.  I’ve got eleven killed or injured, including Midshipman
Piper from the quad control room.”  Her eyes widened at Vernay’s continued
glare and she added, “I’ll get more specifics now, ma’am.”  The sub-lieutenant
spun in place back to her station.

“Understood, Trish,” Covington interjected. 
“Let’s set a course toward the nearest Federation system defense ship.  Power
down the weapons but charge the AIPS up as much as possible.  I want to keep as
much distance between us and that pirate ship as we can.  If the range starts
to shrink, tell me immediately.”

Selvaggio and her apprentice bobbed their heads
in unison.

“Sorry about the AIPS generators, sir,”
Hawk’s
sensor officer apologized.

“Better to burn it out than take extra hits,”
Heskan noted.

“Yes, sir,” the Seshafian concurred.  “With two
ships, I thought there’d be a second pass.”  She shrugged. “It’s not easy to think
outside a box you’ve trained in for your entire life.”

Vernay and Heskan nodded in agreement.  The
petite commander offered supportively, “That’s an understatement.  I’m still
struggling with corporate warfare, Lieutenant, so don’t worry yourself one bit
that this type of engagement seems strange.  Honestly, I think your ways are
better.”

Heskan stared, shocked by his friend’s admission.

She merely returned his look with a thoughtful
one of her own and explained, “How many of our friends would still be alive?”  The
look darkened.  “How many on Salus?”

Truesworth, still standing at the sensor panel,
announced, “Message from tunnel point control, Captain Covington.  Playing it
now.”

Hawk’s
wall screen divided and the baffled expression
and desperate words of the space traffic controller easily translated over the
one light-minute distance.  “CSS Darlane Salvage One-One and CDS Hawk, you will
cease hostilities immediately!  I say again, cease fire!  Both vessels will
immediately heave to.  Truncheon will close with both vessels and provide
further guidance.  Acknowledge receipt of this order immediately!”

“System plot, please,” Covington ordered.

Heskan glanced at the expansive map on the wall
screen and saw
SFS Truncheon
, a standard fast ship, transiting from the
Nyx tunnel point to Enyo’s main orbital.  She had yet to come about… the light
from the recent combat would not reach her for another seven minutes.  However,
once she reacted, Heskan knew that the corvette’s engines would push her rapidly
toward them. 
Hawk
had finished her turn toward
Truncheon
.  The
maneuver placed the brig slightly outside the normal shipping lane between the
Nyx and Ophion tunnel points. 
Salvage One-One
had continued past
Hawk
and was speeding toward the Nyx tunnel point. 
She’s not stopping,
he
surmised. 
No surprise there.
  A quick check of the surrounding space
made it clear that no ship was in a position to prevent the pirate’s dive. 
Even the tunnel point orbital was unarmed.

“Confirm receipt of their order,” Covington
commanded.  “Helm, you can start your rotation to bring us to relative rest but
be lazy about it.  I want that pirate’s uncertainty zone a little farther away
before we kill our momentum.”

“Aye, sir,” came the reply.

Lieutenant Selvaggio uttered a final compliment
to
Hawk’s
navigator before straightening her back.  “Well, that was
exciting for a moment, wasn’t it?”  She stepped away to stand near the bridge
door.  As if on cue, Truesworth and Vernay likewise relinquished their
positions near their novitiate counterparts.

By the time the group assembled, Lieutenant Ivers
finished entering commands into his arm console.  “Captain, do you still want
that preliminary damage estimate on the pirate?”

Covington judged the tactical plot on the wall
screen.  “No.  I don’t think they’re stopping.”

Ivers looked over to Covington and asked, “Then can anyone
explain why those ships attacked us?”

*  *  *

Hawk’s
delay in the Enyo system totaled twenty-one
hours.  Six of those hours were spent in transit to and from the main orbital where
Covington issued his sworn statement to Federation authorities.  After an efficient
investigation by local law enforcement,
Hawk
was determined to have no
culpability in the combat and was released from Federation custody.

Additionally, Covington was invited back to
Enyo when the individuals deemed responsible for the attack were arrested. 
SFS
Truncheon
had sent immediate word of
Salvage One-One’s
criminal
attack to Nyx via standata carried on the next vessel diving to the system, a
Federation freighter named
Res Ipsa Loquitor
.  The delay between the
pirate vessel’s arrival in Nyx and news of its actions would be only ninety minutes,
leading
Truncheon’s
captain to conclude that the
Salvage One-One’s
detention
was simply a matter of time.

Heskan was not so sure, stalwart in the belief that
the pirate crew must have formulated an escape plan.  He kept his reservations
to himself though, unwilling to make waves in the Federation lest the local
authorities take interest in him or his friends.  The last thing he wanted was
Federation bureaucracy digging into his past.

During the investigation,
Hawk’s
engineering and operations sections worked slavishly to repair the brig as best
they could.  The privately owned repair yard on the Enyo orbital, although
sympathetic to the small warship’s situation, had apologetically quoted outrageous
prices for its services. This was necessary because
Hawk
was not a
Federation vessel and therefore not entitled to the terms of the yard’s
contract with the major government.  Charging less than full price now would
prove counterproductive to all independent repair yards when future treaties
and agreements were negotiated with the corporate systems.  “After all,” the
manager explained, “what incentive would you corporate folk have to think
long-term if I gave you a deal now?”

Despite
the inconvenience, Covington secured the necessary materials to make his ship
spaceworthy enough to continue their voyage. 
Hawk
would certainly need
several weeks moored to Seshafi’s repair dock when she returned but, barring
catastrophe, the brig would sail safely back to her homeport.

Even
with the necessary material, the Seshafian general approach to repair efforts
was a discernible contrast to Heskan’s Brevic expectations.  He found it almost
lackadaisical.  Immediately following the battle of Seshafi, Heskan and Vernay
had insisted on nearly despotic attempts to bring
Elathra
up to a state
vaguely resembling battle-readiness.  To their amazement, the Seshafian crew
simply did not have the same sense of urgency.  At the time, it seemed the crew
felt it was obvious the ship would be decommissioned and there was no reason to
expend such a mammoth effort to attempt repairs.  Heskan later found that indifferent
attitude prevailed through the entire fleet.  After his promotion to fleet
commander, his first meeting to discuss the timetables for Seshafi’s fleet
repairs had been met with astonishment and disbelief.

It
was not until Archduke Covington offered a reason for the seeming apathy that
Heskan gained some perspective.  Corporate battles were waged so infrequently
and over such long timeframes that there was seldom good reason to scramble
through repair efforts.  Each skirmish was decisive in bringing about a
resolution to the issue at hand and corporations engaged in war on a basis measured
in years, sometimes decades.

The
clarification both quelled Heskan’s fury at the apparent lack of support and
armed him with the counterpoints needed to create the sense of urgency he felt
the situation warranted.  When his fleet had insisted repeatedly how incredibly
swift the regenerative efforts were already taking place, Heskan’s riposte was
that if that were true then enlisting assistance from the Lagrin system would
have been unnecessary.

Sitting
in his guest cabin on
Hawk
as they tunneled toward Nyx, Heskan recalled the
butting of heads and verbal scuffles in the briefing rooms regarding fleet
repairs as he reviewed the brig’s status.  Next to him, Vernay studied the same
report.  It was clear that Covington was pleased with the amount of work his
crew had accomplished during the short time afforded them.  All hull breaches were
sealed, and not just by containment fields but by actual, alloy plates.  Full
power to the center propulsion unit had been restored although the starboard
Prattwhitt-43 drive would never run again.  Further, Covington had proudly
pointed out his crew’s effort to remove the entirety of the starboard quad GP
laser turret to speed its inevitable replacement when back in Seshafi.

Heskan
had complimented the young captain on his initiative while secretly questioning
the wisdom of removing remains that could serve minimally as protection to the
compartments behind it while still in “enemy” space.  When Vernay showed no
such discretion, Heskan softened the blow by telling the dejected captain that
he understood the likelihood of further combat was remote.

His
eyes settled on the report’s summation. 
Hawk
was down to two-thirds
propulsion and firepower. 
It won’t matter,
he told himself. 
We can simply
take a different route back to Seshafi if I’m that concerned the Roberts Clan
will make a second attempt.

The ambush
itself was far more disconcerting than
Hawk’s
current condition.  Heskan
had avoided giving Lieutenant Ivers a lengthy explanation of just who the
pirates were and, mercifully, the Federation authorities did not request a
statement from him or any of his friends.  As protocol instructed, they were only
interested in the bridge officers of both ships, not their passengers.

Heskan
looked away from his datapad.  “What do you think?”

“I
think we still need to teach these people about repair priorities,” Vernay said
matter-of-factly.  She gestured down at her datapad.  “At least they take
firefighting seriously.”

“Beyond
that, Stacy.”

Vernay
dropped her head as she thought briefly.  After a moment’s consideration, she replied,
“Well, it really won’t matter if Hawk is ready to fight on the way home because
if the Roberts Clan had more ships available, they would’ve used them back in
Enyo.”  She placed her datapad on the desk and ran a hand through her blonde
hair.