Battleship Destroyer (119 page)

Jack swallowed. "Number One do you think you can p
unch a long enough hole out ahead to turn around and add some speed to help out?"

The First Officer frowned as he dodged around a rock even though the guns had vaporized it. "It is worth a try Captain. I did not think I could do what I just did until I tried it."

Jack chuckled. "Ok give it a try. Maneuvering stations Exec." Jack said even though the ship was already at battle station. He had found out early in The Game that issuing a variation of already give orders was never a waste of time when the circumstances have changed."

Th
e First Officer burped the engines power up for a half second and then whipped the ship around in the long coned bubble he had created while switching over too standard thrust mode and pushed the throttles about half way forward for a good 5 seconds then whipped the ship back around and started punching the tunnel again just before they hit the wall at the end of the bubble.

"Well that worked out good Number One. Try it again with a little more force."

The Engines slammed up to full power for a good second and then the ship whipped around  and again the ship jumped forward this time slamming up to 1200 Gees for a good 10 seconds before the ship was whipped back around to start digging again. Though this time the ship hit the end of the bubble before the First Officer could make the engines start digging a cone out in front of the ship again. The ship lurched and alarms started going off.

"
Damage to the Cooling fins Captain. The lower hull heated up a bit but the Alien armor coating did fine. Give me a few seconds and... Cooling reduced 20%.  We were already on the red line Captain, this damage reduces the time we can stay in here considerably sir."

"Well we are in luck then lieutenant. We won't have to stay long one way or another. We will
either be in the clear after the blast blows the cloud away or we will be dead from that blast. Good enough for you?"  Jack shook his head smiling at his stupid little joke. "Try it again Number One. Let's see how long you can make a bubble."

The engine pegged out for several seconds and the ship whipped around and went to 1200 gees and stayed there.

And stayed at 1200 Gees. Jack looked at the navigation sensors as the First Officer started weaving around partially melted rocks too big for the 5(3) to take out until they started crossing their beams without being told to. Then after what seemed like forever, the ship whipped back around and started punching a tunnel again in plenty of time.

Jack heard the Ensign scream as he felt his mind try to short circuit.

The flash of pain through his mind stopped and then. "Core detonation Captain!" Yelled the Sensor Officer next to the Ensign. "Big mother Frigger too Captain." 

"Five Seconds to blast wave
interception Captain." The Officer said as the Ensign straightened up in her chair with her head still lolling around.

"Punch BIG, One.  Then turn our butt to meet the wave and Punch big again. Full throttle."

The ship whipped around inside the new bubble just as the plasma wave hit the cone the ship's engines was trying to punch through it at full power.

It was not entirely successful.
All the ships external pickups turned white as the ship lurched, throwing anyone not buckled in across the bridge. The screens too bright to look at blinding everyone that was looking at them before they could look away or shield their eyes as the automatics dimmed them. Several crewmen just hung limp in their chairs after their unprotected heads had been whipped around like rag dolls.

"Captain, hull at 6,000 and climbing.
" The Engineering Officer said matter fact like he was reporting the weather. "The whole ship is bathed in million degree Plasma sir. Our cooling/landing fins are gone."

Suddenly the screens went dark. "Damage control get the screens back now." Jack ordered.
"Medic to the bridge."

The screens came back on showing bright light coming from the stern of the ship. A haze covered the rest of the screens. Nothing like the dark clouds they had been looking at for hours since entering the nebula. “Damage Control, what is wrong with our screens?” Jack looked around baffled.

"Jack! There is nothing wrong with the screens or the pickups." The Ensign reported.

Jacks eyes started getting used to the reduced normal light level. Turning he watched the wave of
bright plasma sweeping through the cloud away from them. The light from the expanding bubble of plasma lighting up the bridge screens.  While the bright light from behind the ship seemed to penetrate the decks below his feet having nothing to do with the screens.

"Hull temp dropping below 6,000. Senso
rs reading space temp is high but dropping sir." The Engineering Officer said.   "We need to shut down the engines sir. We have no cooling for them. They are starting to overheat sir."

"Shut down Engines Number One. Engineering
, get me some cooling for at least one of the engines as soon as you can." Jack watched the plasma bubble continue to expand into the cloud gas and material in front of them. It looked like it was slowing down from a good portion of the speed of light as it expanded against the mass of the dense cloud. "I hope the Commander was able to get everyone under cover in time. Oh shit. Do we still have anything attached to the hull or did we lose them? The Assault shuttles and weapons."

"All Assault Shuttl
es accounted for though damaged from what I can see, sir. Luckily they were facing back toward the ship's stern, where their reentry shield and thickest battle armor could take the brunt of the plasma wave. I think the engine cone was good enough to deflect the majority of the blast wave around the ship."

Letting
out a sigh of relief. "Get the hatch open in the tanks pronto Exec. And get those people out."

"Jack, Captain
, the bubble is starting to form a wall now that the plasma wave has cooled below 10,000 degrees and stopped expanding. I can’t tell how solid it is, not to mention that it is much bigger than we had estimated. The Spider ship must have had quite a bit more core fuel than we had estimated sir." The Ensign frowned as she studied her screens.  "I cannot detect our captured Spider hulk with our crew aboard where it should be. Where we left it. I can't believe the plasma wave vaporized the entire hulk but it simply is not there or any wreckage. Fact is I can't find any of the hulks. No wait yes I can. 11 of them scattered around the bubble on the other side of the fireball in various stages of slagged. The closer to the fireball the worse shape they seem to be in. And sir, I can't believe the fireball is still a fire ball sir. Registering at a million degrees."

"Captain!" the Tactical Officer turned around. "I have found the transport we just rescued the crew from. I cannot believe it is still in one peace."

"Put it on the main screen." The transport's long hull
along the mass tanks on the side hit by the plasma was pushed back through the decks into the opposite hull forming a concaved channel that was bent back into a curved crescent moon from what was left of the forward personnel section where the hull was simply pushed into a flattened plate with large holes melted through the hull exposing melted and twisted decks and compartments deep through the ship to the other hull. The hulk sailed through space tumbling like a boomerang trying to curve back around where it started but never quite making it as it slowly made its way toward the far away edge of the bubble and the cloud.

"If that is what is left of the transport I don't see much hope of the Spider hulk surviving since we can't even see the wreckage." The Ensign said dejectedly
. “But then it is the farthest away from the explosion and should have survived Jack.”

Jack turned to her shaking his head. "Tell you what Ensign. The fact that we can't see the wreckage just means that there is a chance." Turning to Pan. "See what you and your people can do to help get at least one engine back on line please Pan." Taking a tired breath as Pan left the bridge Jack looked down at where his tea cup had once been which was
nowhere to be found as he looked around.  Shaking his head. "I could really use that tea right about now. Especially since it had two sweeteners in it." Frowning. "Ok People. Sensors, I want a full sweep at extreme range. Put out the last of our recon missiles and net them together to extend our range. We are sitting ducks out here with no engines and I want to know what is out there in that cloud before something puts a torpedo or Godgun bolt up our butts. Like that Command ship that is still Out There!"

Looking around at everyone still in as much shock and as tired as he suddenly
felt and simply looking at him. "Come on people we have work to do. Where are my damage control reports? This is a big ship and we have to have had damage someplace after almost getting slagged. Do we even have weapons? What about casualties? Damn it people I remember problems from hours ago. They all could not have been fixed. Let's go. Move it. NOW! “The Officers turned back to their consoles as Jack smiled at them shaking his head satisfied. They had won an impossible battle and deserved a rest but as with anything else, the job was not done until the cleanup work was finished. Like finding their lost crewmen and the hulk they were on. Jack hit the ship wide comm as he took a deep breath. The ship deserved to hear that as well. "Your attention Please."

After the
announcement that seemed all to brief, too little and too stupid to Jack, the bridge crew seemed to be reenergized and quickly became busy along with the rest of the ship as they started recovering from the Plasma Blast Wave and cleaning up the mess.  Jack got a cup of tea with two packs of sweetener, frowning at the few that were left.

The ship pulled up to the last plotted location of the
Spider Battle cruiser hulk that had over a thousand crewmen aboard it only some 12 hours before. Both human and alien. Now nothing could be seen or detected of them. But then the bright fusion core still radiating massive amounts of light and energy behind them, was making it hard to see anything as it reflected off the cloud that was not there anymore. The Cloud had stopped glowing in the light wave region and now except for infrared it could not be seen at all. The light from the massive million degree fusion ball seemed to either be completely absorbed or to Jack’s growing dread, reflected directly back at the miniature new star at a higher percentage than any mirror ever created.

The ship looked like a wreck with only short
melted stubs of landing and cooling fins left sticking out on the upper roots. The only protrusion still reported intact was the 2
nd
mess deck. If you looked close you could see the stern hulls new crystal armor that had been layered up extra thick to several yards only days before was melted and charred. Gouges and melt streaks ran up the side of the hull.  A pair of Blackened Assault Shuttles looking like they had made quite a few to many planetside landing assaults nestled between God guns that  seemed a little worn around their muzzles with their base towers blackened and streaked with scares.

The
ship was surrounded by every recon missile it had left spread out for thousands of miles in an array to facilitate the ship looking in the direction the blast must have sent the hulk careening since it had no working propulsion itself.  Jack was hoping the hulk had disappeared into what was now a wall of clouds forming a huge bubble around the detonation point of one hell of a temporary sun that was still a ball of million degree fire that was cooling way to slowly if at all. Jack’s hope was that the hulk had survived and not gone nova itself if the hulks fusion core had been destroyed by the shock wave. Mostly Jack was working on ifs. And most of those ifs was not pleasant.

Jack sat looking at the tactical screen showing what the recon missiles combined with the ship's sensors could
glean from the mass of nothing they were receiving beyond the incredible amounts of energy that seemed to be coming off the wall of clouds. Taking a sip of what was his much too sweetened tea after forgetting how many he had put in as he concentrated on the screens of raw none data.

"Sorry Captain but that wall is still too charged to penetrate very far
if we are penetrating at all."

"Very well
Number One. Pilot, half ahead on maneuvering engines if you please. Number One, keep the recon missiles in their place. We need to keep the sensors tuned." The second officer was piloting so the ship's First Officer could fine tune position of the recon torpedoes for the searching sensor array. 

The ship slowly approached the bubble's wall that was proving to be
as impossible to see through as it was to see.

"Comm, any answer to our hails?"

"Sorry sir, no, but our transmissions seem to be reflecting back at us. We may not even be getting through which I have never heard of before.  Any Idea why sir."

"No, I don't have a clue unless it has something to do with the fusion detonation happening inside a fairly dense nebula cloud. I don't remember ever hearing of such a thing but it must have happened someplace." Jack watched the
sensor readings to the edge of the bubble getting closer. "Could it be possible the plasma wave front expanding, cooling and condensing in such a dense cloud forming a physical wall of materials around the bubble's edge?"