Living in Freefall (Living on the Run Book 1) (22 page)

Grinding his teeth, Fulvus went to his office and slumped in
his chair.

A moment later the door chimed.

Fulvus took a calming breath. “Come!”

The door hissed open. Cdr. Johnston stepped into the room
and the door closed behind him. “Your orders, sir?”

Fulvus scowled, and spun his chair to face the window.
Pushing to his feet he peered out the wall of glass at the insanely massive
asteroid field. There seemed no end to it.

Johnston stepped to his side and stared out into the
darkness, watching the stars perhaps, or perhaps the asteroids as they tumbled
and bumped into and off one another.

If not for the commander’s company, Fulvus would have felt
alone, too damned alone. But he dared not show it.

“Cold,” Johnston said at long last. “Cold and lifeless. Who
in his right mind would choose such a place to live?”

“Yes,” Fulvus said, “even when there is no chill it makes a
man shiver.”

“Saigus does indeed do that, Admiral. Its slow, tumbling
asteroids remind me of my childhood.”

Fulvus shot an irritated at him look but said nothing.

“Reminds me of a time when,
on a bet
, I had to walk
slowly passed a certain graveyard at night.”

“Slowly tumbling tombstones, Commander?”

“Actually, I was thinking about the feelings it gave me. I
remember the stories told back then of people who went in, never again to be
seen.”

The corners of Fulvus’s mouth rose a little. “Really?” He
chuckled derisively.

“I was a kid. Back then I didn’t get it. Funny though, even
today recollections of that night send shivers through me.”

Annoyed, Fulvus took a breath, but decided to see where
Johnston was taking this. “Did you win that bet?”

“Almost, until I heard a twig snap. Then I never ran so fast
before or since.”

Amused, his frustration vanished. He looked at his First
officer. “Your point, Commander?”

“This is like that. In went our Talons. Now, like that
graveyard, Saigus has swallowed them up ship and man alike.”

“When I took this assignment, I believed there wasn’t a
place I couldn’t go to get at that ghost ship . But look out there. That
damnable asteroid field goes on forever. This is Confederation space, but
Saigus has never been ours, not really. We could call every Confed fleet here,
and it would promise us nothing but grief.”

Like that scared little boy Johnston had just described, Fulvus
felt his heart pound in his throat. He swallowed. It sounded loud in his ears, loud
enough for Johnston to hear. But Johnston didn’t seem to notice.

“Giving up. Sir?”

“Gods no.”

“Sir, should I launch the second Talon squadron only to lose
them to the asteroids as well?”

“I have no desire to throw good weapons after bad,
Commander. But I think I have an idea. What if we keep the Talons just one pace
ahead of my bigger ships, not the big ones mind you, but the small cruisers—
Gorgan
and the like
—to keep them under a watchful eye?”

“I don’t know, sir. What’s to prevent our prey from escaping
out the other side if it is indeed still in there?”

Fulvus touched the windows edge and a schematic appeared holographically
within the glass. He tabbed several icons in sequence, and a small target blip
appeared. “As you can see, Commander, the beacon’s signal still emanates from
the heart of this rock nightmare. She’ll be in there alright.”

“Yes, sir, but what does it matter now? Saigus does provide
the Ghost with ample protection. Trying to fish it out could tie us up for months.”

Fulvus sighed. “We don’t have months,” he said, no longer
sure he could stomach going in after it. But to accept defeat? He didn’t
believe he could stomach that either. He took and released another breath. It
sounded nervous and shaky, and he found himself swallowing again.

This time Johnston looked his way. “Don’t want to lose more
men, sir?”

“Damn. I wasn’t even thinking about that.”

“What were you thinking about, sir?”

“To bring home this prize will gain me admittance into the
PM’s inner circle, Mr. Johnston. And with that comes unparalleled prestige and
wealth. I don’t even want to think about what failure will do me.” He chin
jutted toward the asteroids. “It’s in there. Getting it at all costs was my
original goal. Now it just sounds callous.”

“Nothing wrong with aspiring to better yourself, sir. But
isn’t there another way?”

Still feeling his heart pound in his throat and thrum in his
eardrums, Fulvus turned from the star field and plopped unceremoniously into
his chair.

“To come into the Parandi Spaceport with the phantom in tow,
Mr. Johnston. That would be something, wouldn’t it? You could be a part of
that. Share in the victory.”

“That would give you a chance at a senate seat. But to do
this, to bring
in
this troublesome nightmare, you’ll have to split your
force. I’m pretty certain that’s not wise.”

Fulvus ran a hand down his tired face. “What if I send my
larger ships around the asteroid field to cut off any escape? I could then send
in my remaining Talons, followed closely by his lesser Battle cruisers. They
could cut straight through Saigus’s center to where the homing-beacon awaits.”

Apprehensive, he messaged his brow to drive away a growing
headache. Nothing but the end of this pursuit would sooth his tensing nerves.

Uneasy, Fulvus shifted his weight in his chair.

“And the
Homanju
and
Rutledge
?”

“Certainly everyone can see that his flagship and the
carrier are too cumbersome to be of aid in either action, Johnston. The two
large ships will have to remain where they are. To be safe, though, the four
Kodiaks will have to stay behind to protect the large ships.”

Johnston didn’t look convinced.

“Yes,” Fulvus said, “that just might work.”

“You sound settled on this idea, sir?”

He turned to Cdr. Johnston. “Take it to the bridge.”

Certainly the tales of the old ship being a Ghost were just
myths, weren’t they? Perhaps he could sell that as the truth to the Prime
Minister (PM). Perhaps not. To face this unknown was bad, but it would be worse
to return to the PM empty-handed. It would have been better to remain anonymous
than to, after this, fall into the Prime Minister’s disfavor.

Despite his attempt to shove such thoughts aside, he felt
himself die inside and whither a little.

On top of all that, if he chose to return empty-handed, how
would he explain the damage already done to some of his ships? None of this was
working out like he had planned. Nothing for it now. It was too late to tell
his First officer he’d changed his mind. He was committed. His fleet was
committed. And if he managed somehow to survive this, he’d have himself
committed. This little adventure thing was just beginning. And already his
nerves were shot.

Under heavy fire Riley dodged and worked his way to the
Noble
Sun
. He was determined to make Hammond pay for his betrayal and pay dearly.

Ericca roused and shook herself. “What happened?”

“I stunned everyone in the hallway. It was the only way to
save you.”

Ericca rolled her head and pushed herself upright and
straightened in her seat to look around. “Thanks, little brother. What are you
doing now?”

“I’m going to the
Noble Sun
to kick Hammond’s butt.
Threaten you, will he. I’ll show him.”

Ericca looked around as the hail of fire coming at them
intensified. Abruptly the weapons stopped firing.
Viper
had entered the
safe zone. They were now too close to
Noble Sun
for it or the other
ships to hit without tearing into the big ship as well.

Skimming mere feet above the big ship’s deck Riley made his
way to the conning tower.

“Don’t do this, Archer.”

“No? Why not?”

“They’re going to join Kori and French to fight the Confeds.
They’ll pound each other. Just let that happen.”

“Yes, well, I still want to make a point. Let me at least do
that.”

“Exactly, what do you intend?”

“No time to go into that now, sis. Just trust me.”

Uncertain, Ericca took a breath. “Fine. Just be careful.”

Reaching the conning tower Riley followed it up to the
ship’s bridge. Then, before using his turret cannons to open a hole in the
bulkhead, he reached out and attached a small shield emitter like the one
they’d used to get into the
Rutherford
. It would be enough to contain
the internal air and keep it from rushing out when he blew the bulkhead open.
The only person on the bridge needing to be punished was the dillhole in
charge. He turned his guns and fired. The new hole went straight into
Noble
Sun’s
bridge. Riley eased
Viper
through it. Facing a defiant Hammond
who glared at him from his command chair Riley spoke through his external
speakers. “Apologize.”

“Go to the devil, boy!”

“You first, fasech.” Riley calibrated one gun, aimed, and
fired. The charged micro-particle ripped through Hammond’s shoulder. The man
jerked and slumped. “Now, apologize. I’ll not ask again.”

Clutching his shoulder which had been torn open, Hammond
glowered at Riley and defiantly shook his head slowly.

“Hammond, if ever our paths cross again, I
will
kill
you.”

Easing
Viper
out the way he’d come, Riley cleared the
ship and headed away. “Coredei?”

Ericca nodded. “All you wanted was an apology?”

“That’s all I wanted, and the man was too stupid to give it.
I let him off easy. I should have wrecked his other shoulder too.”

Ericca sighed. “Coredei sounds good. Let’s do it.”

After he saw Fulvus, Cdr. Johnston gnashed his teeth and
took a seat in the command chair. He had his orders, however moronic those
orders might be. That it was he who had to deliver those orders to the squadron
command to implement rubbed raw his last nerve. The admiral’s scheme, hatched
out of ignorance, would insure they lost men. But what was he to do? Disobedience
would mean a long walk out of a short airlock.

The asteroid field was huge. Sending the larger ships around
it would separate them from each other and leave each vulnerable to attack. No
one knew what really awaited them in the asteroid field itself. If it were a
pirate’s lair then this inane plan could cost them several ships. A vessel
under attack might need more time than could be given before it received any
aid from the others.

Damned Fulvus and his harebrained ideas
.

Johnson watched the huge Battle cruisers move away to
circumnavigate the asteroid field. He would have to let them gain some distance
before he sent the others, the smaller cruisers, into Saigus itself.

Political appointees like Fulvus would be the death of the
Confederacy, thought Johnston. Of the sixteen Confed fleets, only two were
commanded by military men, and neither were even remotely close to this sector
to lend aid if needed. Capable men, military men, usually didn’t schmoose well,
and that kept them off Fleet Command’s short list. Fulvus had the connections.
He just didn’t have the real knowhow. And it showed.

Buck watched from a distance as the enemy fleet split up and
moved off. As Jordon foretold the admiral’s greed made him predictable. Greed
enticed whoever led that fleet to take risks a clear thinking man simply would
not. So far the operation worked as planned. Soon Buck would spring the trap
and, in one fell swoop, cut off the first head of this vile hydra. By his own
hand this fleet’s leader had separated himself from the safety of numbers—
and
hope
.

After the larger ships had moved off some distance the Talons
launched and formed up as a broad net to insure no escape for the mythical
vessel. They moved ahead slowly to allow the light cruisers to stay with them.

But it’s a small thing to hide even a Galleass amongst the
massive asteroids in a field as large as this. Buck chose such ships as he had
because, unlike the large Confederation cruisers, his vessels could go from
cold engines to running full bore in a matter of moments. If the Confederation
ships scanned ahead for engine signatures they would find none and make the
false assumption that there were no pirates or the like near at hand. Buck and
his captains had all night long to fasten their vessels to choice asteroids and
let the engines grow cold. And in all these years of the hunt the Confederation
had never discovered this trick nor assumed it was even possible.

But as went the engines so went the synthetic gravity.
Everyone was belted into his seat, and every loose item was stowed or tied
down. If a misplaced tool should inadvertently float into a bulkhead now, it
could spell disaster. That little bit of noise, if detected, could give them
away.

The wave of Talons soon passed Buck’s well-hidden ship. Next
came the light and medium cruisers. As they eased by, Buck’s spotter gasped and
turned from the window. “Captain, you should see this.”

“What is it, Saunders?” In the utter darkness, Buck made no
attempt to move to the man’s side.

“The
Protius
, sir. It’s already seen battle. Looks
like several guns were blown off, and it has scorch marks all over it. I wonder
what did that.” The spotter turned away, to peer back out. “And the
Gorgon
,
sir. It has similar damage. Looks like they faced something pretty fierce.”

Buck smiled at that. So, the mighty were vulnerable after
all. “There was nothing in Ericca’s report about damaged ships. I wonder why
she left that out. Perhaps, between there and here, they scuffled with
pirates.”

“But, sir, to lose guns? That doesn’t seem likely.”

The larger ships passed by, and like clockwork, the rebel’s
plan unfolded before them. It was now time to strike. The rebels cut the
tethers that bound each ship to its asteroid, fired up their engines, and
headed in force out of Saigus toward their desired prey, the flagship and the
carrier.