Twin Stars 1: Ascension (33 page)

* * *

“Ping An, your turn my dear,” whispered a voice in the pirate captain’s ear.

Ping An smiled. “Thank you, your Ladyship.”

And, the word was given.

* * *

Too late, they were too late!

A moment before, Tysen’s scan had found the ships, all eight of them sitting just beneath the debris. He had begun to issues orders, to tell Esther to warn the other ships, when the enemy had opened fire.

The air was filled with the roar of thunder as a stream of white-hot energy cut the
Silverthorne’s
bridge in two.

* * *

The assault was brief and devastating.

Under a storm of missiles and plasma cannons, there was little the Cutters could do- but die.

“Fleet reports all five ships destroyed- no causalities on our side.” Leederman called out.

“Well alright then.” Ping An allowed herself a smile. So far, so good. “Get me Captain Michaels.”

A moment later, the scarred face of the other pirate captain appeared in a window in front of her. “Well lady,” Michaels said with respect in his voice. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

“Why thank you, Michaels,” she accepted. “You think you can hold the fort here outside the field while we go in to collect the prize?”

“Sure. Just don’t try to sneak out the back way, okay? Remember this system only has two jump points in or out.”

“Oh don’t worry, Michaels.” Ping An said. “I’ll make sure you get what you deserve. I’ll leave Haskett with you to keep you company.”

“Ah, and the day was starting out so well.” Michaels said in false annoyance. “Fine, just don’t damage the merchandise.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Ping An out.”

Then the captain looked at her crew. “Betsey, use the nav data I gave you and take us back in. Slowly.”

“You don’t like to make life easy for me, do you Captain?” Said the navigator as she swung back around and got to work.

“If you didn’t like challenges, you signed up for the wrong job.”

“Ha!” The morphic woman laughed. “I’ll show you. I won’t even chip the paint.”

“Now that’s the girl I hired, but at this point I’ll settle for getting there intact. Leederman, have the assault teams begin prep, tell them to pack stun weapons. We need those people alive.”

* * *

“What? Is that true?” Admiral Veers was so shocked he didn’t even bother to reply through the link, speaking his aloud. “Thank you, pilot.” Then, the white faced man stood and looked at the assembled delegates. “Gentle people, we have a problem- my shuttle pilots report they’ve lost contact with our ships. Please check your own links and see if any of them can connect.”

As the membership was lost in silent worried focus, Sir Fawn leaned in.

“Admiral, I believe we may have underestimated St. Rail’s perspicacity.”

“Yes,” nodded the Admiral gravely. “I’m afraid so. We’d better prepare to evacuate before they come for us.”

Sir Fawn raised an eyebrow. “With our ships gone, where do you plan to evacuate to?”

“They may not all be gone,” the Admiral considered. “Some may have escaped into hyperspace before the assault. We can only hope they’re able to find a way to come back and get us.”

“Playing the long shot, Admiral?”

Veers sighed. “In this case old friend, there’s no other one to play.”

* * *

The two pirate ships guarding the alpha jump point were destroyed almost instantly.

Neither of them was prepared for the arrival of the Volkstag Clan Fleet, and they spent what few seconds they had debating what to do in the face of overwhelming odds. In the face of Two-Hundred and Fifty-Six warships, this was a natural reaction.

Once all of the ships had come out of hyperspace, Volkstag, standing on the bridge of his flagship
Manticore
, ordered the fleet into formation. He was pleased he had come, it really had been too long since he’d gone into space and he was enjoying the feeling of direct command.

“My lord,” said one of his bridge officers. “I’m picking up another tracking beacon, it’s coming from the inner asteroid belt. Scans report there’s radiation signatures from a battle there as well.”

“Ah, they’ve already struck.” Volkstag mused. “Any signs they left?”

“No, my lord.” The officer shook his head. “Dragonov’s tracking signal is still strong, and coming from within the asteroid cluster you see on the monitor. It’s moving deeper in.”

Then, Volkstag decided, that must be where the bounty was.

“Inform all squadron leaders we’re moving in. Surround the asteroid field and the jump point to make sure no-one escapes.” Then he added- “Tell them to get me my prize.”

CHAPTER NINE

2718, Day 215

Kip slid down the vertical access shaft, letting his hands slide along the smooth guide-rail until he was nearing the bottom and then tightening on it to slow his descent. He pushed off when he was almost at the bottom and then hit the deck running.

The ship still had gravity, and although they flickered, the light panels still worked as well. He prayed that the hit wasn’t bad, that this was all from a glancing blow, but he knew better.

He’d been in the forward missile bay when the alarms sounded, and then the sounds of distant thunder echoed through the ship as he’d been thrown against the wall. When he’d come around and seen to the other crew, he’d called up to the bridge- only to get no answer. The ship’s Linkspace net was down.

He found Ensign Helgi standing outside of the door to the bridge trying frantically to get it open.

“Helgi, what’ve we got?”

“Lieutenant!” She looked at him with panic in her eyes. “I think the bridge took a hit.”

“Outta the way, Ensign.” He gently nudged her aside and checked the door’s access monitor. Dead, not good. Then he knelt down and popped the access hatch underneath it. He could see the char on the crystals where there’d been an energy surge- maybe half of them were fried.

But he didn’t need most of them working to do the job.

Quickly he began swapping out components, replacing the damaged ones with the others that had been spared and re-routing circuits to the places he needed energy to go. As he did, he could hear Helgi talking behind him.

“I went to get coffee for the captain from the mess,” she said, her voice wavering. “I was just gone a few minutes. I was coming back and…”

“Well you got lucky, kiddo,” Kip said as he worked. “Let’s see just how lucky.”

He finished and stood up, his hand reaching for the control to open the door when suddenly he stopped himself. What was he doing? He didn’t know what was on the other side.

Instead he activated the monitor next to the door, which flared to life and began displaying a sea of red.

”My god,” Helgi gasped. “Sir! The front half is completely gone!”

Kip nodded sadly, feeling all the energy in his body suddenly desert him and leave him feeling heavy and weary. “There’s no way they could have survived that. If the impact didn’t get them, the decompression would have. They’re…done for.”

He stepped back and away from the monitor, trying to fight the sobs welling up inside. “Dammit Al!” He slammed the side of his fist into the wall next to him.

“Sir,” said Helgi in surprise, staring at the readouts. “Look at these reading- we’re in hyperspace!”

“What?” Kip looked at her a moment, trying to focus past his grief. “Oh,” he concluded. “Yeah. We must’ve jumped out at the last second. I guess Esther pulled it off one last time.”

The ensign nodded in wonder. “Amazing.”

Kip sucked in a deep breath. There’d been a sacrifice, and he wasn’t going to waste it. He let himself breath out slowly, and then looked up. There were things to do, and they may not have much time.

“C’mon,” he told the young shipman. “Let’s get to the…”

Then he stopped. Was that…knocking?

He looked around, it sounded like someone knocking on a metal door, but where?

“Do you hear something, Helgi?”

The crewman had obviously heard it as well, for she too was looking around. At last, she pointed to a nearby hatch. “Sounds like it’s coming from the airlock, sir.”

Both of them scrambled for the armored airlock door, with Kip reaching it first. He checked the pressure gauge next to it to make sure there was an atmosphere and found there was- then he slammed the pad to open it.

There was a loud hiss as the airlock door slid up and away, and then someone was falling out at Kip. Instinctively he caught her, and was surprised when he discovered he was holding the naked form of Esther.

“I believe…” She said weakly. “We will need your assistance.”

“Sir!” Cried Helgi, pointing inside the airlock. “It’s the Captain, but he’s…”

Kip took one look inside and the breath caught in his throat.

“Helgi!” He yelled as soon as he could. “Get to the medical bay. I need a team up here- NOW!”

* * *

“Well, this certainly bites the goat, doesn’t it?”

Keith Ulstead peered at the form floating in the frosted glass of the healing tank and shook his head. He’d known the ship had been hit, but until a moment ago he hadn’t known what the cost had been. “Bleedin’ miracle he’s still alive.”

“Not a miracle,” said Kip from beside him. “Esther pulled him out and brought him around to one of the airlocks. She also got us into hyperspace and used the cover explosions of their own missiles to hide it. That Squire deserves a one heck of a reward.”

Ulstead let out a low whistle. “I’ll say. She’s welcome to bunk with me anytime!”

Kip laughed. “Yeah well, you can talk to the Captain about that when he wakes up. They’ve got him out to help with the healing process.”

“So, who’s in charge then?”

Kip thought about it a moment. “I guess that would be me.”

“Alright then, what’re we going to do next?” Said Ulstead, looking concerned. “Since they don’t know we’re gone, I’d say this is a fine time to get away.”

Kip shook his head. “We can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“When they took out the command pod, they also took out our navigation system.” Kip explained. “We’re too far away to find the beacon, and we’re blind as a cave rat. We try to move from here and all we’ll do is get lost in hyperspace- really fast.”

Ulstead rubbed the back of his head and let out a low growl of frustration. “So, you’re saying we’re stuck? Well that’s just great! Next you’ll tell me you’re thinking of trying to rescue those high-ups before the pirates get ‘em.”

There was a pause as the two men looked at each other, then Ulstead shook his head.

“No.”

“Yep.”

“How?”

Kip gestured for the door. “Let’s go, I need to check a few things first.”

* * *

In a shadowy corridor aboard the Ares Hammer mining colony, a group of figures huddled together, trying to keep warm in the minimal heating the station offered. Few had worn the temperature-controlling skinsuits that one normally wore in space, instead opting for fashion and style in front of their peers. A decision many had now come to regret.

Soft footsteps approached, and Admiral Veers raised a hand to silence the group. With his other hand he quietly drew his plasma pistol from its holster, all the while keeping an eye on the corner just ahead of them.

After a few tense moments, the lanky form of Sir Fawn appeared.

Lowering his weapon, Veers stood up.

“What did you see?”

Fawn shook his head sadly. “There are six pirate assault shuttles in the hanger, and our pilots are prisoners. I’m afraid we’re not getting out that way. Do you have an alternate plan?”

Veers thought a moment.

“This isn’t the only hanger- there might be some old shuttles in one of the others we can use.”

Fawn raised an eyebrow. “Another long-shot?”

“If you’d prefer the alternative?” Veers gestured ahead towards the hanger.

The knight raised a hand. “No. No. I’ll follow your lead on this one. You are the military man.” Then he peered around, looking over the assembled membership. “Say, have you seen Lady Whitcombe?”

The Admiral too looked around, puzzled. “Now that you mention it, she was with us when we left the conference room but I haven’t seen her since.”

Fawn nodded, then surprisingly- smiled. “Well, if the pirates capture her it’s their loss. Perhaps they’ll shoot her and put us all out of our misery.”

There was quiet laughter from among the delegates, and even the Admiral had to grin. “Fawn, you’re terrible.” He said, then motioned back the way they’d come.

“Let’s go, I’ll take the lead.”

* * *

The Cutter
Silverthorne
had a command and planning room for military operations that could also double as an auxiliary control room in times of crisis. Kip had assembled what remained of the senior staff in the room, including Ulstead and the recovering Esther, to lay out his plan.