Resolute (Guild Series Book 4), page 18
Outside of a few test firings during the last stages of the reactor tests, the heavy railguns attached to the Vagabond’s hull had never been used. With more power flowing through the magnetic coils and increasing acceleration of the tungsten rounds, he was hoping they would prove highly effective. He selected the button on the screen to commence the automated weapons program. The freighter shuddered as the first gun launched a fifty kilo round.
Tracking the individual shot was difficult amid the ordnance being fired by the frigate and other freighters, but he managed to keep his screen locked on the projectile until it impacted the cruiser amidships. “Woo!” he cried out joyfully. “We hit her!”
“Uh, cap, we’ve got torpedoes incoming.”
Erik turned his attention to the missiles targeting his ship, cursing their lack of defensive weaponry.
The ship tilted sharply to the side as Mira threw the freighter into a roll. The chair restraints cut into his chest as they took the bulk of his weight.
On the screen he saw one torpedo overshoot the ship, but a second stayed in their wake.
“That torpedo is closing!”
“I’m working on it, cap.” Mira sounded strained.
He was thrown back into the gel layer as she increased power to the ion engines, accelerating fast enough to stay ahead of the torpedo. On the large display covering the wall at the front of the room, the Indomitable grew larger as they rocketed toward it.
“Mira?”
The cruiser continued to grow on the screen, and he could make out hull plate seams as they got far closer than he’d ever hoped to be again.
“Mira!”
“No worries, cap,” she assured him, half a second before throwing power into the ventral thrusters and pushing the Vagabond into a rising path. For a moment, Erik was afraid it was too little too late.
He closed his eyes and then forced one open in a tight squint to watch the view from the bow camera as they barely cleared the bumps and projections across the cruiser’s hull. Small caliber rounds impacted the freighter, quiet pings sounding throughout the ship.
Behind them, the torpedo adjusted too slowly and slammed into the ship that had fired it.
“Hold on,” Mira called out, as she kept the ship moving on a perfect arc. She cut the engines just as they flipped to face the cruiser again, this time accelerating away from it while the railguns fired as quickly as they could. Fifty kilo rounds were impacting around two targeted railgun emplacements on the Syndicate ship, destroying their ability to return fire on the Waterloo.
Fynn opened the ship-wide comm channel. “Erik, change targeting to the gun emplacements I’m sending over to your screen. I got a look at the others on our close pass, and they look to be disconnected. Probably repairs that haven’t been completed yet, so they shoved some guns in there to look more dangerous than they are.”
“That would explain the lack of return fire.” Erik shifted their guns’ focus, then typed in a quick message and sent it off to the frigate, hoping they’d already seen the same thing and were accounting for it in their targeting.
The other five freighters approached at that moment, following the Vagabond’s lead and firing as quickly as their railguns would allow. The Indomitable had shifted their attention to the incoming ships, flinging rounds and torpedoes in their direction.
The first freighter got off a couple of shots, but then a bloom of fire engulfed the ship and sent it flying off on a tangential course. He hoped they were okay, quickly logged the ship for a check once the action was over.
By the time the others were firing at the Syndicate ship, the Vagabond was out of range and Mira was pushing the engines hard to reverse momentum and get them moving toward the cruiser again.
Erik was absorbed in watching the action, celebrating each hit his fellow Alliance ships scored. He was cheering on the Montford, a ship he’d enjoyed working with, when a railgun round found her fusion reactor and created a small sun in the midst of the battle. It was a brilliant explosion, purple-edged blue fire from the deuterium reactor that had just been installed.
“Shit,” Mira said quietly, her attention riveted on the screen. The display had darkened to protect their eyes, and as it slowly returned to normal they could see that the explosion had taken out two other Alliance freighters. A large chunk was gouged out of the Indomitable, exposing more than a dozen decks to vacuum.
“Bring us in so we can fire into that hole,” Erik said with a tight voice. He’d lost some great friends to the reactor detonation, and added their names to the long list of deaths that the Syndicate had to answer for.
Vegley raised a hand to the bump forming on the back of her head. She’d been thrown over the rail and into the main bridge below after the massive explosion. A brief thought of alarm passed through her as she wondered which parts of the ship had been damaged, but then she started to wonder which parts of herself had been damaged. She could feel a trickle of blood in her hair, and her left arm was starting to scream with agony where it had landed underneath her torso.
An ensign stumbled over to help her to her feet, and she winced as she saw how crooked her forearm looked under her uniform sleeve. A medical team was entering the bridge at that moment, but she knew others would need assistance more urgently than she did. Vegley held her arm against her stomach and waved away the orderly who was hurrying over.
She climbed the stairs to the command deck, having to stop halfway when a dizzy spell overwhelmed her. Panicked voices filled her ears, from above and below. Swallowing back the nausea that came along with the dizziness, she forced herself to continue up the stairs.
“Alliance ships are concentrating fire on our exposed sections!” the weapons officer cried out, looking around with wide eyes for someone to acknowledge the danger.
Vegley searched for Yumata, finding him laying in a heap against a wall. The communications officer was bent over him, and she felt the blood drain from her face at the thought that he could have been killed in the chaos. Without the admiral, she didn’t know if she could hold the ship together.
A shower of sparks and a fresh jolt as the ship was shaken by another explosion brought her back to the moment. “Keep firing!” she cried hoarsely, pulling herself the rest of the way up the stairway. “Concentrate on that damned frigate!”
“No,” a weak voice said. Vegley was relieved to see it was the admiral, being helped into a sitting position. “Get us out of here.”
“Are you sure, sir? We can still win this fight.”
“They have some kind of new weapons. We’ve done enough,” Yumata said, his eyes closed in pain. A pair of medical orderlies hurried up the stairs, rushing over to look at him. He waved them away. “It’s just a bump on the head. Look to those with more urgent injuries.” His eyes fell on his XO, holding her injured arm protectively against herself.
As one of the orderlies checked on the other officers, the second approached Vegley and pulled her arm out to get a look. She gasped as a lightning bolt of pain shot through her arm, and again when her sleeve was forced up to show a broken bone pushing against the skin. She looked away as the medic administered a local anesthetic, ignoring his advice to report to the medical bay immediately.
Yumata was on his feet now, leaning heavily against a bulkhead as he directed the attempt at retreating from the battle. Vegley glanced at the damage control station, amazed at the size of the hole torn in the side of the cruiser. “What the hell did that?” she asked under her breath. The orderly looked up, but then turned his attention back to her arm.
Vegley felt her center of gravity shift as the Indomitable turned away from their previous course. She heard orders being passed through the bridge below, and people scrambling to lock down their stations before hurrying from the bridge. A glance over to the admiral showed him standing with a resigned slump to his shoulders, and an expression she had never seen on his face before. Defeat.
Mags was stunned by explosion, instinctively turning her eyes away from the screen even as it darkened to dim the brightness. The bridge fell quiet below, and the admiral sighed as the shock of it pushed the air from his body.
“Focus all fire on that!” Captain Andrews bellowed. She looked to see his outstretched arm pointing at a hole in the side of the cruiser. There were sparks of electricity around the ragged edges, bodies and debris floating into space. It was a huge cavity, creating a weak spot in the hull they could take advantage of.
Turning away from the main screens, Mags rushed to the weapons station and leaned against the back of the chair as the weapons officer changed the targeting focus. Tungsten rounds were fired through the hole, penetrating deep into the cruiser. She could see tiny fireballs appearing with many of the hits.
“The Indomitable is changing course,” the sensor station called out.
“Are they returning to Earth?” Holgerson asked, turning from his place at the rail.
“No, admiral. Projections show they’re moving onto a course for the outer system.”
“Keep firing,” the admiral said. He turned to Captain Andrews, speaking loudly enough that Mags could overhear. “We’ve done damage, but not nearly enough to cause them to flee. What is Yumata thinking?”
The cruiser turned its attention back onto the Waterloo, torpedoes and railgun rounds pouring in their direction. The sounds of impact filled the air, as the damage control station verbally listed each hit location. Casualties were mounting up quickly as the frigate turned to keep the Syndicate ship in her sights.
“Commander, the remaining Alliance ships are converging on the far side of the Indomitable. They continue to focus their fire on the section of compromised hull.”
“Good, tell the Vagabond to give them hell.” Mags paced behind the stations, her eyes roaming across the displays that showed the status of their own hull and the progress of the AI firing programs that were targeting the cruiser.
“Target the engines once they’re in view,” the admiral ordered.
“Yes, sir,” she said, stopping at the weapons station to ensure the command was relayed through the targeting systems. The cruiser was picking up speed, and the Waterloo would soon be facing the rear of the large vessel. If they could take out one or two of the ion thrusters, they could slow the acceleration enough to keep pace and continue pumping rounds into it.
“Kestrels are launching.” Mags heard the shout, but pushed it aside in her mind. The half dozen fighters they carried would try to place bombs along essential systems, but they were far too few in number to do much good against the Syndicate cruiser.
“Commander,” the sensor station said urgently. She rushed over to look at the indicated display. “The Indomitable’s engines are overloading!”
“Recall the fighters,” Captain Andrews yelled. “Get us away from that cruiser before it…”
The bridge was filled with a violent flash of light as the first of the behemoth’s reactors exploded under the onslaught of fire from the frigate and freighters. The Waterloo shuddered under her feet, and Mags had to reach out to grip the nearest chair to prevent herself from being thrown to the deck. Her bioprosthetic arm had more than enough strength to keep her balance, and she reached out to steady those nearby.
Her ears were ringing from the overwhelming sound of the concussive shock wave hitting the frigate, and her balance was seesawing as she tried to stay on her feet. Mags knew there were people around her shouting in shock and pain, but her brain refused to process it. Her entire body felt numb, and she stared at the screen where the Indomitable had been only a minute before. The display was filled with an expanding cloud of debris, some almost as large as the frigate itself.
She fought against dizziness to pull herself along the row of stations, sliding into an empty seat. With shaking fingers, she tapped on the screen until the navigation controls appeared. The ship was in grave danger, and she knew she couldn’t make herself heard to order someone else to get them out of it. Mags focused all of her willpower on the screen as she keyed in course changes. She sent the ship on a curving path out of the plane of the debris, adjusting course every time she saw some chunk of twisted metal and plastic intersect their path.
Mags didn’t know how long she worked at the station, only that her vision was growing darker with every moment. Soon, the only thing she could see was the display. Her fingers were typing blindly, from long years of experience. The Waterloo was close to escaping the wreckage when she blinked and felt her body slump.
The last thing she registered before falling into unconsciousness was the muted blaring of a proximity alarm sounding through the bridge.
Twenty Seven
Tuya was laying in her bunk, hands behind her head, staring up at the wooden slats of the bed only a few feet above. The room was growing dim as the light through the canvas walls faded. It was the end of her third day in the detainment camp, and boredom was killing her. There was nothing to do every day but sit around talking with the same people about the same things. The food was dull and never enough to do more than cut the hunger pangs for a short while.
She kept expecting the guards to drag her and Altan out to a shuttle to transfer them back to the Indomitable, but nothing had happened yet. She hoped that meant Guildersen had failed in his attempt to retake control. Or he forgot about them while thinking about his next meal instead. She could imagine that being a large part of his thought process every day.
Altan was snoring softly above her, his arm hanging over the edge of the bed with his fingers clenching and relaxing spasmodically as he dreamed. She laughed to herself, thinking of how the dog they’d had as kids would sometimes run in her sleep. Tuya couldn’t resist the impulse, reaching up to lightly tickle her brother’s palm until he snorted and pulled his arm back up onto his bed.
“It is good that you are together,” Uju whispered from the bed beside her. “I do not have any brothers or sisters, but I imagine it is hard to be apart for so long.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t a fun time. Of course, thinking he was dead made it harder. If we’d been talking through video messages or whatnot, I would have at least had that minimum of contact.”
They lay silently for a while, each lost in different thoughts. “What do you think it was?” Uju finally asked.
Tuya knew she was referencing the light show they’d witnessed the previous evening. It started with a bright flash in the sky to the northwest, visible even with the sun low in the sky nearby. The guards had let out whoops and hollers of joy as they watched flashes of meteors falling through the atmosphere. It took a while for word to get around that it had been the Indomitable destroying the Coalition’s orbital station. She thought for sure it meant Guildersen had regained control, and was finally moving to wipe away any trace of Coalition presence beyond Earth.
Half an hour later, she’d seen people pointing up at the sky again. Twilight was deepening around them, and the sun had just dropped below the horizon. That made it easier to see the bursts of light that were appearing near the sliver of moon. Lights that flashed and faded quickly at first. But then there was a bright flash that made her think of a nuclear reactor exploding, though it seemed a larger explosion than she would have expected. Not long after was another bright flash, even larger than the first.
She had stared at the sky for hours after that as it became a deeper black speckled with stars. There was no information passed around this time about what they’d seen, only rumors that ranged from wild nonsense to plausible speculation. The consensus was that there had been a battle between the remnants of the two fleets, though few of the people in the camp could say how many ships each side had at this point. Tuya felt pretty sure the Syndicate was down to just the Indomitable, but didn’t know what kind of strength the Coalition had left.
“I think it was the end of something,” Tuya whispered. “I just hope it wasn’t the end of all our hopes.”
“We must always hold onto hope,” Uju said firmly. “What else do we have if not hope?”
“You could be right. Hope has never been a specialty of mine. Too many years spent with my face shoved in the dirt every time I dared to hope for something. It didn’t take long to realize that it was easier to expect nothing, so that I could never be disappointed.”
A guard strolled by at that moment, causing them to fall silent. Whispered conversations were common amongst the hundreds of people who shared the building, but everyone quickly learned to stay silent when the guards were nearby. You only had to watch someone beaten once to understand what would happen if you were caught breaking the camp rules.
The man lingered near them, and Tuya watched through slitted eyes as he looked over the people lying on the beds with his night vision goggles. She knew that some of the guards like to stand around and watch the half naked women. Some detainees even woke to find one of their few pieces of clothing missing if they were foolish enough to take it off at night. Tuya hated the prison clothes she still wore, stiff and smelly with dirt and grime, but she would never take them off even to attempt washing them for fear that she might not get them back.
By the time the guard moved on, Uju was breathing softly and steadily. Tuya didn’t want to wake the woman, so she rolled onto her side and folded her arms under her head. She closed her eyes and tried to still her racing mind, but she couldn’t stop thinking up escape scenarios. Almost all of them started with somehow wresting a gun away from one of the guards, and usually ended with a lot of bloody corpses strewn about as she led all the other detainees away from a burning camp.
She must have drifted off at some point, because the fantasies became more vivid. They also became crazier, with giant armored grunts marching at her side fighting off soldiers with red eyes and flaming swords. She was in the middle of one such dream when shouting and shots from flechette rifles jerked her eyes open.
Tuya sat up, banging her head against the slats of Altan’s bed. Cursing and holding a hand against the top of her head, she swung her legs over the side of the bunk and blinked her eyes several times to get the sleep out of them. Her vision was still slightly blurry as she looked toward the canvas flaps at the end of the building. Shadowed figures were running across the opening, all seeming to be moving in the same direction.
