Warborg - Star Panther (15 page)

“Plus ninety seconds.” The voice droned.

“As if anyone cares.” Martin muttered. He glanced at Prowler and smiled.
Bless you Cyber Pets.
It turned out his little buddy was a magnificent piece of Artificial Intelligence programming. So good in fact that after considering the options it was decided that Prowler was deemed the watchdog, or cat as the case may be. His little buddy alone, had the code that would trigger all the Federation ships to jump in an instant. Fleet Command decided that Martin’s ship was going to have the best vantage point and Prowler was smart enough, and fast enough to get the fleet out of the area if the killer ship appeared. All that would be left to engage it would be the Star Panther and three warborg missile frigates.

Martin contemplated the warborg missile frigates. They were a brand new concept rushed into service by the fleet command. The frigates were warborg medium transports with most of the hull plating stripped away leaving the exposed superstructure. Where the transports once had bays there were now missile launchers. The concept worked out very well, the original transport design had massive engines due to their gross weight, making the much lighter frigates incredibly fast and remarkably agile. The three frigates staying behind with him each carried four Hyper-Vel
[6]
missile launchers and so far were the only ones of their kind in service.

Martin frowned as a hundred more Koth warcraft phased into the battle. “Prowler, show me the battle statistics . . . lost ships.” A list of figures rolled down a display next to him. He grimaced as he read the Federation losses, but the Koth losses were staggering. “What in hell are they thinking, they’re getting their butts kicked bad?” His eyebrows came together. “And they just sent in some more ships instead of getting the hell out of Dodge.” He shook his head in disbelief and shrugged at Prowler. Martin got a glazed look for a second. ^Commander!^

Briton appeared in a hard link. ^Yes Major.^

^The killer ship’s on its way.^

^What, where? I don’t see it.^

^No, it’s not here yet.^ Martin responded.

^Then how do you know?^ Briton looked doubtful.

Martin nodded out toward the raging battle. ^Because they’re stalling. And it’s a damned expensive stall.^

Briton studied Martin for a second. ^Bloody right this is expensive. They should have bailed long ago when they first saw the trap.^

. . .

Admiral Chinn slapped the high priority comm connect button by reflex and did a double take when Briton and Martin’s faces split the display. The tense silence of the command center of a few minutes ago was replaced with the controlled bedlam of a battle in progress. “Yes.”

“Admiral, we think the killer ship is on the way.” Briton snapped.

They had her undivided attention now. “You think? Why?”

“The Koth are stalling for time.” Briton glanced away for a second. “They’re waiting for something. It’s the only reason that any makes since of them still being here.”

Chinn puckered her lips. “They are taking a hell of a beating, they’ve lost almost a thousand ships and more are still coming in.” She shook her head. “I don’t get it. What’s here that makes keeping this fight going worth the cost. I refuse to believe they’re willing to throw away so many ships waiting just because they can spare them.” She was answered with two blank stares. “Even if they came in right now and destroyed the entire fleet it would be a one for one exchange in losses, not exactly an overwhelming victory. Losing the ships that are here would reduce, but far from eliminate the Federation presence in this sector.”

Martin hesitated. “No you’re wrong. They’re after us.”

“Us?” Briton shot a questioning glace.

“Us, Commander, the warborgs.”

Briton looked puzzled for a second then his eyes flew open and he sucked in a breath. “Very good Major.” He shifted his attention to the Chinn. “Admiral, you may only have twenty five percent of the fleets fighting ships here, but you’ve got seventy five percent of the sector’s warborgs. What would happen if you lost THOSE ships?”

A look of horror passed over Chinn’s face. “We’d lose control of the sector in a week if they pressed their attack.” She straightened up. “Commander, get your people out of here now!”

“No wait.” Martin interrupted. The two senior officers stared at him. “If you pull out the warborgs I bet all the Koth will be gone in seconds and the killer ship won’t attack.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Chinn groused.

“Yes, right now we’re set for it. We may never get another shot like this. We KNOW it’s on the way, no surprises this time.”

“But the risk Major, and it could be here any second.” Chinn was torn with indecision.

Briton studied the other two officers, both had valid points. “Martin,” he asked quietly, “how will it attack?”

Martin’s face went blank for a moment as the memories of the destroyed fighter squadrons and Brian’s suicidal attack flashed before his eyes. He mentally shook himself out of it. “It’s going to come in hard and fast from outside the battle area. They’ll sacrifice all their damaged ships and maybe the fighters, but they’re going to pull any surviving heavies.”

Admiral Chinn felt goose bumps and her hair stand on end as if an icy finger had run down her spine.
My God, he’s been fighting them so long he knows how they think.
There was no doubt in her mind whether Martin was right.

“So when all their heavies jump at once, we jump.” Martin shrugged.

Briton nodded. “I agree, I say we go as planned but jump the fleet when their ships jump.”

“Risky gentlemen, risky.” Chinn wiped a sweaty strand of hair from her face. “Ok, Major inform your cat,” she seemed to stumble over that thought, “of the changes.”

“I already have, Admiral.” Martin gave a toothy grin.

“Very well, thank you gentlemen. Chinn out.” She hit the disconnect and gave a little confused shake.
Cyborgs are just plain weird!
She thought while looking at the holotank. “Ship status in area one, stat . . .”

. . .

Martin noted that no new Koth had shown up for fifteen seconds. ^On your toes guys, I think we’re about to have company.^ He stated quietly through a voice hardlink to the frigate warborgs. Some muted acknowledgments came back. The tempo of the battle slowed.

Prowler’s yowl jarred Martin, in a single blink all the Koth heavies along with most of the fighters vanished and the Federation fleet disappeared a barely perceptible tick later. Less than a second later his virtual heart skipped a beat in the grip of a cold fist when the ship appeared, a nightmare returned. The wave of energy searing everything in its path as the mammoth ship sliced into the battle area.
The grim reaper whose scythe destroys all before it.
The involuntary vision sent a chill down Martin’s back.

Martin silently watched the warborg missile frigates start their runs. They attacked from three different directions, timing their micro-jumps so they would appear just long enough to fire a few dozen hypervels before jumping back out between passes of the sweeping energy blade. Three ships phased in, but only two jumped back out in the blink of an eye. One of the frigates mistimed its exit by mere milliseconds, and that minuscule mistake got him killed.
Damn,
Martin thought as the Koth ship micro-jumped before the hypervels could strike.

^That bastard is quick!^ One of the frigate warborgs muttered through the hardlink.

^Yeah . . . well let him try this on for size.^ The other frigate warborg grated.

Before either of the other two warborgs could say anything one of the missile frigates jumped in almost on top of the Koth ship. Too fast for the eye to follow the frigate appeared, fired a hand full of missiles before it was destroyed by defensive ion cannon fire from the Koth. The hypervels slammed into the Koth doing considerable damage, but it was far from being out of action.

^That was a crumby trade off.^ The remaining frigate warborg sputtered. ^The son-of-a-bitch didn’t even bother to jump.^ She was silent for a second. ^Any idea why that bastard’s still here, Major?^

Martin contemplated the situation. ^I think he’s daring you, Lieutenant.^

^What!^ The Lieutenant seemed confused. ^Daring me to do what, go in there and get my ass blown away?^

^Yes . . . or come up with something else.^ Martin hesitated. ^Keep him busy for a minute and let me think about this. Just don’t get careless Lieutenant.^

^I don’t think you have to worry about that.^ She jumped in fired a few futile missiles and jumped back out, forcing the Koth to make a micro-jump. ^Just don’t take to long or I’ll run out of bullets . . . or he’ll get tired of it and leave.^ She gave a tight little laugh.

^Gotcha.^ Martin quipped, then studied the situation.
Why in the hell is that ship still here? I can’t believe it would hang around for a single lousy warborg.
He absently scratched Prowler’s back as he thought. ^I got an idea Lieutenant. I have an eerie feeling he want’s to see what we’re, the fleet I mean, are going to do next. I think he’s daring us to come up with something . . . or some way to attack. It’s like he’s flaunting his invincibility.^

^Ok, I’ll buy that.^ She sighed. ^Because as far as I can tell he’s damn right.^

^Lieutenant, I don’t think he knows I’m here . . .^

^A possibility, but what’s your point, Major?^

^I’m carrying a class three missile.^

The Lieutenant whistled. ^That’d wake his fat ass up. But how are you going to get in close enough to use it? The son-of-a-bitch is dodging my hypervels, and they move a hell of a lot faster than a class three.^

^I need to get in close, really close.^

She didn’t answer for a moment as she feigned in with a quick micro-jump then jumped to the other side of the Koth, fired a spurt of missiles and jumped back out. It almost worked with the Koth jumping when her missiles were just a few meters from impact. ^Damn! . . .Well, if he can’t see you the cannons won’t be an issue but the main weapon will be. There’s no way you can get in, fire your missile and out. A type three just won’t launch that fast. And what’s going to happen if your missile runs into this energy field?^

^Theoretically the missile should survive. It’s been dummied down with no guidance, a mechanical impact detonator and an old fashioned time delay self-destruct initiator. All shielded to hell and back. But you’re right, I’ve got to be right on top of him to use it.^ He looked at Prowler. “Any ideas on how we can get in close and survive long enough to get a shot off?” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “If there was just some way to shield us from that damned energy field . . .” His mutter faded.

Prowler looked up at Martin blinked a few times then chirruped. A display lit up on Martin’s control console.

“What’s this?” Martin studied the new display and frowned. It was a close-up of the frigate destroyed by the ion cannons. “I see it, but what’s your point?” The display parameters shifted to a spectral analysis of the ionized particle content of the area.

Martin leaned forward and scrutinized the display. The area was littered with unfired hypervel missiles. Every time the energy weapon passed through the missiles would emit a burst of residue creating a dense cloud of ionized particles. But those toward the center of the cloud were reacting very little to the weapon. “Well, I’ll be damned. Good boy, Prowler.”

^Lieutenant, do you think you can herd the Koth?^

^Herd the Koth?^ She mumbled. She thought about how the Koth ship had reacted to her prodding. ^You know what Major, I think I can to some extent. And just exactly where am I supposed to take him?^

^Over by the frigate he blew away with his cannons. It’s got a dense ion particle cloud around it that looks like it should be enough to protect my ship from the energy weapon. I wouldn’t risk it in a normal ship, but this one is pretty heavily shielded.^

The Lieutenant contemplated Martin’s proposal. ^It’s your show Major. How close?^

Martin hesitated. ^Five thousand meters max, five hundred would be better.^

^Oh, you’re not asking for much,^ the Lieutenant laughed. ^I’ll try, maybe I’ll show him some leg or something, sheesh.^

^And Lieutenant, my passive sensors ain’t going to work for squat in there,^ Martin thought for a second, ^and I’m not counting on any comm at all. I’m sure I couldn’t miss something the size of that ship, so be forewarned if anything big shows up within range I’m gonna’ fire.^

^Copy that, Major.^ She paused. ^How am I going to know if you’re still alive in there?^

Martin started to reply then stopped before continuing. ^I guess you really won’t know. When I’m in, keep working the Koth. If he gets within five thousand meters of me and I don’t fire get the hell out of here, and likewise if I don’t see anything for fifteen minutes, or the pulses disappear, I’ll bail.^

^Sounds like a plan, Major. Good luck.^

^Thanks Lieutenant, and you watch yourself. This guy is dangerous.^ He looked at Prowler. “Take us in fella, and if it’s too hot in there get us right back out.” Instantly the displays turned to hash and noise. Martin blew out a sigh.
This is worse than I thought it would be.
A display on the side of the console showed to periodic sweeps of the energy weapon. The pulses were ugly, but within the design tolerance of the ship. “Ok, fella. If you see anything big fire and get us the hell outta’ here as soon as the missile clears the chute. He may not be able to see us but he’ll sure as hell see the missile coming out of the cloud and probably blow this area to bits if the missile doesn’t knock him out.”
So now we wait.
Martin leaned back in his seat trying to relax, idly watching his displays.

. . .

What does she think she’s doing . . . and where in the bloody hell is Martin?
Briton pondered as he watched the feeds from the surveillance ships. He initiated a hardlink to Martin, there was no response. An icy knot formed in his gut. He tried again, and again got not response. He contacted the missile frigate warborg with a voice only hardlink.

^Yes, Commander.^ The Lieutenant replied instantly.

^Lieutenant Hayes, what happened to Mar . . . Major Morgan?^

^He’s in that field of ionized gas, Commander.^ Her reply was unsteady reflecting the fight she was in. ^Damn, he almost got me that time. This is getting more interesting by the second.^ She grated.

Briton raised his eyebrows. The Koth energy field was still making regular sweeps, but now the axis of the sweeps was changing at random intervals making it impossible to predict the interval of the sweep at any given point.
They’re learning
, was his sour thought. ^Is he all right?^

^I think so, I can’t communicate with him either, Sir.^ She hesitated for a moment skittering through a couple feints. ^I’ve just got to lure this bastard close enough for the Major to fire his class three.^

Briton said nothing for a few seconds as he watched his Lieutenant fight her very lopsided cat and mouse battle. He closed his eyes with a sigh.
God, be careful young lady. The plan’s a little harebrained and you’re too good to get your self killed in a forlorn fight.
He studied the area where they were battling to see if there was anything he could do, he gritted his teeth with a start and rubbed his temples. ^Lieutenant, you’re about to drift through a debris field.^
If you can call passing through with a relative velocity of a thousand meters a second drifting.

^I see it, Sir . . . but the Major can’t.^ She hesitated for a second, ^and he’s not going to leave the ion field until we’re through it.^

Marvelous, just marvelous. That ion field may stop the Koth weapon, but it’s no protection from a piece of debris you can’t see coming.
^Will he come out if the Koth leaves, I imagine he can see the energy weapon passes?^

^That’s the plan sir,^ she sighed.

Briton puckered his lips as they entered the edge of the debris field. ^Break it off, Lieutenant.^

^Give me a few more seconds Commander,^ Lieutenant Hayes snickered. ^I think I just came up with a way to show this turkey a little leg. Wish me luck.^

A little leg? Whaaa . . .

. . .

              The waiting was killing Martin as he watched the digital clock on his console tick off the seconds. The only thing he could sense were the regular sweeps of the Koth weapon. He sat up with a start when their cadence changed and became irregular. “I don’t like this.” He muttered to Prowler. The clock had ticked off ninety seconds since he entered the ion field.

Prowler hissed and his tail stub lashed. Martin watched the replay of a fist sized piece of something flashing through the ion field just a few meters from his ship. “That was too close for comfort.” A few seconds later something a lot bigger streaked through the haze a couple hundred meters away. “What the hell was . . . oh shit we’re going through a debris field. Prowler, if the energy pulses stop for more than five seconds get us out of here.”

Prowler blinked and gave him a lazy mewl.

Martin settled back in his seat chewing on his lower lip in nervous frustration. Without warning his ship spun and fired the missile, before it really registered what happened they had jumped clear.

. . .

^. . . sucking, pillow biting, Koth loving, rat bastard.^

Martin blinked in surprise at the Lieutenant’s tirade. ^Ummm, I take it we didn’t get him? Come on over and fill me in, I missed it.^

A tall woman appeared on the yacht with classic Mediterranean appearance, long black hair and very tan with stunning green eyes. She was livid, stalking around the bridge waving her arms in the air, basically ignoring Martin and Prowler. “You had him Major, you had the son-of-a-bitch dead to rights. But no, that sleaze-wad Murphy just couldn’t stand it and had to stick his pecker in the works . . .”

Martin and Prowler just looked each other in the eye, at least she wasn’t yelling at them . . . yet.