Prime Selection (37 page)

Luckily for the Alliance, the pirates tended to fly fission-powered ships, because they were more easily bought or stolen. Only the home guards of signatory planets to the Galactic Alliance, the Alliance Military, and now the Prime Military, who’d recently upgraded their fleet, had the newer fusion-powered ships.

“Nadia.” Mel stood behind her. “Have you been able to lock onto any of their ship’s engines yet?”

“No.” Nadia swore under her breath. “There are extensive modifications, and the power sources are well shielded. We need to get closer. The long-range sensors aren’t powerful enough to break through the physical shields the enemy has in place.”

“Well, hell. Let us know as soon as you get a lock.” Mel hurried away. With the recent increased sensitivity in her hearing, Nadia heard her friend relay the information to Wulf.

“Sound battle stations, Commander Dakkin,” Wulf ordered. “Advise the rest of our ships I want six fighter ships from each starship to harry the enemy so the
Galanti
can get in close enough to lock onto the enemies’ energy signatures.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.” Joen sounded battle stations.

Nadia recalibrated her sensors and attempted to zero in on the enemy battleships attacking the planet where the
Picarus
and the
Renard
had gone to ground. The ships profiles read as Volusian C-class battle cruisers and should have fission engines.

As the
Galanti
neared the action, she cursed softly. The enemy had not only made physical mods to the three C-class ships, but they had also upgraded their engines to fusion. How they’d acquired such military technology and the wealth to do so would be for the brain trust in the Alliance Military to figure out.

“Captain Wulf! Put some distance between us and the enemy, sir. The three ships attacking the planet are reading as possessing fusion engines. I recommend evasive maneuvers until I double-check my data. Hold on, sir. I’m getting something else.” She fiddled with her sensors and found echoes of other power signatures. “Sir, I believe the enemy has other ships in orbit around the besieged planet. They should be coming onto the screen in the next standard minute.”

The low murmur of shock which swept the Command Deck was understandable.

Three ships in a pirate fleet was about one ship too many; most pirates didn’t play well with others and worked alone or in pairs. To have additional ships orbiting the planet was so far out of the norm to cause a high degree of concern and a re-evaluation of whether these were actually pirates or whether they were mercenaries acting under orders—or were they Antarean ships disguised to appear to be pirate ships?

As Wulf ordered evasive action, Nadia sent her data to Huw and then connected with him mentally.

“Huw?”

“Yes, Nadia.”

“Check the shielding and energy readings I just sent you on what seem to be
decommissioned Volusian C-class battle cruisers. Do you see what I see?”

For several seconds she heard only silence along their connection and was barely aware of the white noise of the activity around her as Wulf and the Command Deck crew took evasive action and fired at the enemy. Then Huw swore and her heart fell into her stomach. He’d seen what she had. Damn!

“Yes, they’ve upgraded their engine systems. Have you checked the other ships
coming into sensor range yet?”

“Just now. The other ships are smaller light battle cruisers that our fighter pilots can
take out. I wanted to stop the larger ships dead in space with the beta-protean weapon if
we could.”

“I understand. But if the smaller ships possess older engines it will save our fighters
and the planet’s inhabitants some grief.”

The smaller light battle cruisers were now strafing the planet’s surface since the three larger enemy ships had now turned their attention to the
Galanti
and the rest of Gold coming to the planet’s rescue.

“I’m checking the light battle cruisers’ energy signatures now.”

“I’m here if you need me,
gemate
.”

“I know.”
She felt the love he sent her along their connection and returned it in kind.

“Report, Nadia,” Wulf said.

“Huw has concurred with my conclusions—the enemy’s large battle cruisers have advanced engine technology. We can’t use the beta-protean ray. I’m running the sensors over the enemy’s light battle cruisers now. We might be able to use the weapon on them.”

“Let me know as soon as you have finished your scans.” Wulf turned to face the monitor, which showed the three large vessels approaching in standard V-attack formation. In the background, the planet was under attack by seven smaller cruisers.

Nadia got back to work. Her fingers flew over her panel touch screen as she listened to the co-captains’ discussion.

Wulf said, “Melina, please advise our fighters to concentrate on taking out the weapon systems of the three lead enemy ships and weakening their shields. Also, order our light battle cruisers to harry the smaller enemy ships keeping them occupied until we can…”

“Captain Wulf?” Nadia turned to look at her captains. “Pardon, sir. All the smaller enemy ships are reading as the older technology with no unusual physical mods. We can take them out en masse from the
Galanti.
”

Wulf grinned. “Excellent. Melina, please advise the
Leonidas
to have their light battle cruisers assist the fighter pilots in damaging the battleships heading for us. Advise our light battle cruisers to continue to engage any enemy ships that attempt to strafe the planet’s surface. I will advise Gold’s remaining starships to create a perimeter. We won’t let these
apayebote
escape.”

“Yes, Wulf.” Mel turned to issue his orders.

Nadia turned back to the monitors. She inhaled sharply. Where in the hell had that ship come from? “Sir. We have a large battle cruiser coming up on us from behind. It must have hidden behind one of IP 568’s moons. It has armed and locked onto us.”

“Throw all power to the aft shields. Take evasive maneuvers. Fire the laser cannons and keep those other three bastards back.” As the crew responded to his orders, Wulf split the view monitor to show 365-degree-views of the
Galanti
. “Report, Nadia. Power signature?”

Nadia scanned and assessed data as fast as she could type. Huw was in her head and duplicated her actions on his own panel. “Huw and I have concluded … fission energy pattern.” The sigh of relief on the Command Deck was audible. “I’ve sent the reactor coordinates of the ship coming on us from behind to Weapons for a firing solution.”

“Weapons, once you have locked onto the enemy ship’s engine fire the beta-protean ray. Get that fucker off our ass.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.” The weapons officer programmed the data both Nadia and Huw had sent to his station. He only had to adjust for speed and trajectory of the
Galanti
’s evasive maneuvers. “Firing.” He touched the Go button.

The release of the ray shook the ship.

Nadia held onto her station, her gaze locked onto the large view monitor in front of the co-captains’ chairs. The resulting explosion made her wince. But the blinking out of the lights on the enemy’s ship gave her a warm feeling in her stomach. One less enemy to worry about.

“Direct hit, Captain.” The weapons officer announced.

Nadia checked her monitor and relayed the readings from the darkened ship as it floated without power along a trajectory away from the
Galanti
, a path forced upon it by the explosion. “Engines are dead. Shields are down. Weapons systems are dead,” Nadia reported. “They’re losing environmental. They don’t seem to have any emergency power.

They’re drifting away from us very slowly.”

“Estimate as to when the ship’s environment will become lethal to the crew?” Mel asked.

Wulf continued to direct Gold’s attack on the rest of the enemy as Nadia fed the dead enemy ship’s specs into her computer along with the number of carbon life-forms her sensors advised were on the ship. “They have maybe two standard hours before the ship’s air becomes toxic. Temperatures will fall rapidly over that time period and should be just above standard freezing. They’ll be within range for a tow within the same time period.”

“They’ll keep then,” Wulf said, his gaze never leaving the battles playing out on the monitor. “If we can’t take out these three battle cruisers in the next two hours, we don’t deserve to be patrolling space.”

The crew on the Command Deck murmured their agreement.

“Nadia,” Wulf said, “coordinate with Weapons’ Control and feed them the data on the smaller enemy ships’ reactors. Let’s freeze them in space and make the odds even better for us.”

“Anticipated your order, Captain. The enemy ships’ engine room coordinates have been fed to Weapons. I took the liberty of programming the firing solutions from my station. Weapons can fire at your order.”

“Weapons has them, Captain. Permission to fire?”

“Fire.”

The big ray fired seven times in as many seconds. The ship vibrated with the echoes of the potent streams so much so that Nadia’s teeth ached from the energy transmitted through the titanium framework of the
Galanti
.

“Status?” Wulf asked.

“All direct hits, sir,” the weapons officer stated.

Nadia scanned the smaller ships. “All engines are dead. Shields are down. Weapons systems are down. Emergency backup is active in all seven ships. Carbon life-form activity indicates panic on at least two of the seven ships.”

She turned to look at Wulf, who grinned like a fierce beast ready for a meal. “Sir, I think some of the crews have decided to mutiny against their captains. There are indications of elevated body temperatures and heart rates akin to combat conditions.”

“Well, good, maybe those rioters will tell us something about who hired them to attack Alliance scientific outposts.” Wulf turned back to the view screen. “Because these aren’t pirates—they have to be mercenaries masquerading as such.”

Gold’s fighter ships and light battle cruisers concentrated on attacking the three enemy ships left mobile. Nadia winced at several near misses by the enemy ships’ light cannons.

“Melina,” Wulf spoke in a conversational tone, “please advise our ships to back off.”

Nadia smiled in anticipation of Wulf’s next order. While the beta-protean ray wouldn’t work against the modified battle cruisers, the
Galanti
and the
Leonidas
had ship-killer laser cannons with one hundred times the firing power of normal light laser cannons. She gave Wulf the information he needed before he asked for it.

“Captain, I will confirm that according to my sensor readings, the three remaining enemy ships do not have ship killers.” It went without saying if they had, they would’ve used them by now. But Wulf would want documented data, not gut feelings. “With full-shielding, we should be able to get close enough to do some serious damage without any to us.”

Wulf chuckled. “Are you reading my mind now also, Nadia?”

Nadia smiled. “No, sir. Just my training.”

Wulf nodded and made a call over intership communications. “Captain Nowicki?

Did you hear Nadia’s conclusions?”

“Yes! Ard concurs with Nadia’s conclusions. What are your orders?”

“Once our ships are clear, use your laser cannon on the ship closest to you.
Galanti
will take out the lead two. You back us up if we miss one of our targets.”

Nadia knew that wouldn’t happen as did everyone else, but Wulf was smart to cover all bases.

“No one gets off those three battle cruisers.” Wulf’s voice was stern.

“Aye-aye, sir.” Nowicki’s voice sounded as if someone had awarded him a million credits, all the women he could want, and a resort home on Tooh 2.

“Nadia, how far away do we need to be to survive if we happen to hit one of their fusion reactors?” Wulf asked.

She winced as did every other command deck crew member. She’d be careful with her coordinates so that really bad scenario would not occur, but then again … shit happened.

Nadia did a calculation. “With full shields, we should fire from a distance of at least five hundred kilometers.”

Nowicki’s voice. “Ard concurs.”

“Weapons, engage full shields and then lock onto the coordinates Commander Nadia will provide.” Wulf looked at Nadia. “Plot in the coordinates for the closest enemy ship’s weapons control. That should be amidships. With their weapons cut off and a big hole in the middle, the captains will have to surrender or die. Do the same with our second target.”

Nadia allowed a slight smile to twist her lips. Weapons control was close enough to the engine room to cause collateral damage, but not create a fusion explosion. “Aye-aye, Captain. Coordinates and firing solution are at weapons control.”

“Weapons control is ready, sir.”

“Fire.” Wulf turned to watch the laser fire hit the first and then the second ship. The percussion of the energy wave hit the
Galanti
’s shield along with debris.

Nadia checked
Galanti
’s status. “Shields holding. No damage reports.”

“Status of the enemy ships, Nadia?” Wulf idly caressed Mel’s nape as he focused on the view screen.

“All three ships have lost weapons control. There’s extensive damage to their fusion reactor engines, but they don’t seem to be in danger of exploding. All three ships have auxiliary engines online. Environmental is down to fifty percent on all three, due mostly to the large holes amidships.” Nadia switched to life-form sensors. “Those alive are moving to areas where I would assume they have escape pods or small shuttles, Captain.”