Out of the Black (Odyssey One, Book 4) (78 page)

Eric didn’t bother turning around. He was more focused on the action behind the ship right then and he trusted the crew to do their jobs without his micromanagement. Right then, what he was really missing, was the antimatter weapons of the
Odyssey
. He understood why the Priminae might not like the technology. It made him grit his teeth sometimes as well, but with the power generation on the
Odysseus
and the short, close-range action they were now engaged in . . .

By
God,
they could ravage the enemy forces beyond all sanity.

“Second strike! We’re losing air. Deck twelve, section one one three nine,” Susan said. “They’ve got our range.”

Eric nodded. “Do something about that, would you, Commander?”

“Aye aye, sir.” Steph grinned a little too widely, suddenly through full acceleration to the space warp, dropping the ship toward the Sun like a stone.

They were headed right into a small squadron of the enemy, which would seem to be in flagrant violation of Eric’s “request,” but he didn’t flinch. At the last moment, almost literally, Steph twisted the
Odysseus
out and around the group, then ducked in behind them and away from the lasers of their more ardent
admirers
.

“Don’t shoot these guys, Milla,” Steph called over his shoulder, a gesture highlighting half a dozen of the closest drone ships. “I have a use for them.”

“As you say, Stephane,” she uttered softly. “I have many others to choose from.”

That
much was an ironclad truth, Eric admitted. Despite the fact that the
Odysseus
was powerful and sophisticated enough to slaughter
dozens
of the enemy ships, they were dealing with
hundreds
of them. It was just a matter of time before
the damage grew too severe for them to continue, and it was equally clear that the Drasin had no intention of letting them get out of the system and into any position to initiate a transition.

That made his job easier. It was the same job he’d had the last time, really.

Savage the enemy forces until they dragged him down, and hope against hope that he did enough damage to give everyone else a chance to survive.

Not really the ideal position to be in, but if you were there at least there was no complexity to your task.

“Watch your nine o’clock, Steph,” Eric noted. “Incoming.”

“I see them,” Steph said, putting the
Odysseus
into a flat spin to bring the forward lasers to bear. “Nail ’em, Milla!”

The lasers pulsed, lashing across space as the enemy ships fired in return. The beams crossed space and one another with nearly unimaginable power. The
Odysseus’
beams struck true, three more enemy ships vanishing in the now-familiar zero gravity explosions, even as the Drasin beams burned into the armor and hull of the much larger
Odysseus
.

“Three strikes!” Winger called. “We’re venting atmosphere all across the forward decks . . . casualty reports pending!”

“Get rescue teams up there,” Eric ordered. “Milla, keep firing!”

The slim Priminae woman shook herself from the shock she’d felt, hand coming down on the command to unleash the weapons once more. The beams lanced out at new targets, boiling away the armor and hulls of the smaller Drasin ships instantly, lighting up the black of space with more death and destruction.

“They’re coming around on us. We’re about to get mobbed, Captain!”

“Steph . . .” Eric didn’t even have to finish.

“Aye Captain, evading!”

A space-warp drive allowed a ship to do some incredible and, frankly, incredibly counterintuitive maneuvers. Without turning, or banking, or anything that might be familiar to a terrestrial pilot or observer, the
Odysseus
simply shifted hard to port at maximum acceleration.

Flying sideways was actually a bit of a confusing motion for Steph, however, so he pivoted the ship in the direction of flight. This wasn’t because he had to. The
Odysseus
was quite capable of flying in any direction with equal power and efficiency, but it was slightly disorienting to plan maneuvers unless the ship was more or less aligned with his own perceptions.

He could
do
it, just not as well, so Steph did the best he could to keep the front more or less pointing in the direction they were traveling.

Their sudden shift in movement bought them a few seconds lead on their enemy, mostly due to the scant light-speed delays between the
Odysseus
and her foes, but it was enough to drag the fight out just a little longer.

The lasers of the big ship continued to lance out, bringing her kill total to just under twenty since the fight had begun, and everyone could hear the almost subaudible background whine of the laser systems causing sympathetic vibrations through the hull. It was a teeth-gritting sound, but under the circumstances Eric personally found it rather soothing.

“They’re regrouping, sir,” Winger told him. “Coming around, this time in greater numbers.”

That was the true teeth-gritting element of the current situation, the fact that the enemy had unlimited reinforcements . . . effectively . . . and he, well, didn’t.

“New signal! Captain, it’s the
Big E!
”

Eric twisted, eyes falling on the gleaming light reflecting off the armor of the
Enterprise
now that the ship had dispensed with stealth mode. They were coming in fast and hard, and it was clear that Captain Carrow wasn’t in any mood to play around.

“Watch for torpedoes!” Eric ordered Steph, as well as Winger. “The
E
is packing!”

Of course, just because he didn’t have unlimited reinforcements . . . well, it didn’t mean that he didn’t have
some
.

“Stand by to launch fighters,” Carrow ordered, coming to his feet. “Status on torpedoes?”

“Charged and ready, Captain.”

“Targeting solution locked in, sir!”

“Fire!”

The
Enterprise
launched its little payload of the hellish weapons on a widespread scattershot. It was slightly risky, but Carrow trusted Weston to know what to watch for, and they needed to tear these bastards up as much as they could.

“Pulse torpedoes away!”

Carrow nodded. “Put Alpha into space.”

“Alpha Flight launching, Captain.”

The
Enterprise
’s first flight, loaded with ship killers, was indeed already streaming from the decks. He knew that if there were air to conduct the sound, their twin power plants would be screaming as they raced away.

“I want Bravo moving as soon as Alpha clears those decks,” Carrow ordered. “I want
everything
we’ve got in this fight! Nothing held back!”

“Aye aye, sir. Bravo is already being taxied to launch positions.”

Carrow would hope it was enough, but he knew deep down that it wasn’t. Of course, the goal wasn’t to win. The goal was to make the enemy quote Pyrrhus when it was all over.

We’ll undo you lot yet,
he thought savagely.
Just you wait and see
.

It was clearly quality versus quantity, Commander William Briggs noted as he led from the vanguard position of his squadron.

It’s too bad that quantity has a quality all its own,
he thought wryly, completing the quote in his head as he focused on the job of picking out the targets his squadron was about to service.

“Alphas, stand by to fire,” he ordered. “Remember, we’re not going to saturation fire here. Make every shot.”

His team acknowledged the orders as he finished assigning targets, picking ships from around the edges of the swarm where they weren’t likely to double up with the ships the
Odysseus
or even the
Enterprise
’s own torpedoes would strike.

They didn’t have enough weapons to saturate the enemy, so it was going to be a snipers’ game.

“Alpha Lead . . . Fox Three.”

Carrow watched the tracks of Alpha Flight even as Bravo poured from the flight decks like water from a hose. He noted their choice of targets, as well as the restraint on Briggs’ part, and approved.

They wouldn’t be able to guarantee that there would be anyone around to reload the Vorpals in just a few minutes, so making every shot count was just good sense.