Black Dawn (21 page)

The plan was for the
Rook
and the
Blackbird
to circle the outside of the asteroids, using their scanners to try and pick up the escape
pod. The two shuttles they had would be flying through the field doing
the same. The good thing was that the field was not overly large. The
bad thing was that it was very high in ore content, which played havoc
with their scanners.

This was going to be much more slow and tedious than Ken
had first envisioned. The information from Victoria had included exactly how much air and supplies were in the escape pod. Those numbers kept ticking down in the back of Ken’s mind as the search went
on.

“You’ve got something?”
Butler asked hopefully, jogging in
from the bridge to join him.
Instead of answering directly, Rebel pointed to the holo-field.
“Look here, sir. Every ship has had a higher metallic reading from this
area. The ore is still making it impossible to pinpoint, but it’s definitely more concentrated here than anything else we’ve picked up.”
“Hmm,” Butler scowled as he thought. “Why doesn’t he just
turn on his beacon?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, an
alarm went off.
“Incoming!” Bard called from Weapons station on the bridge.
“I guess that would be why,” Rebel answered Butler’s question
before shouting. “Shields at full! What have we got coming?” What
was coming was evidently a low powered warning shot, for it bumped
harmlessly against the shielding.
Ken let Rebel deal with the hostiles for a moment while he
continued to figure out the rescue. “Butler to Schiff.”
“Schiff, go ahead,” came the answer from one of the shuttles.
“Suit up. Your troopers are going to have to go out and finetune this search after all. I’m sending you the most likely area to check.
And by the way, it seems like we’re not the only ones looking for this
guy.” The possibility of an asteroid by asteroid search had come up,
and Schiff and his people were prepared.
“Understood. Schiff out.”
“We’re being hailed,” Com announced.
“In here,” Butler told him.
In a second a face came on the tac room vid. “Out of our way,
freighter. You can haul your ore later. We got business here.”
Given the
Rook’s
appearance, the mistake was understandable.
For a moment, Butler wondered whether keeping up the deception
would buy them any time. Not a lot, considering the
Blackbird
would
be joining
in quickly if the fighting got real. But it might confuse them for a little
longer, and give Schiff a better chance at being undetected.
“Well, actually, we have business here, too,” Butler responded.
“And I would appreciate it if you didn’t get in
our
way.”
The other man laughed. “And what exactly are you going to
do? Throw rocks at us?”
Butler muffled the audio just long enough to shout at Rebel,
“Adrian, you and Drake pick a point as far away from the search area
as you can and rendezvous to ‘protect’ it.”
“And keep them away from Schiff. Got it.”
He turned the audio back on. “I’m sorry, can you repeat…”
“Cut the clownin’,” the man said angrily. “If you won’t move
on your own, then we’ll help you.” The vid went blank.
“He’s firing!” Bard told them.
The bridge was jarred only slightly as shields absorbed
their opponent’s blast.
“Throw a rock at him,” Butler said, coldly.
Bard touched three buttons on his panel simultaneously. The
large, shielded door on the bow of the armed freighter slid open. Targeting systems locked. And the
Rook’s
eight cannons spat energy at
the destroyer that had sent the ‘warning.’ The enemy ship’s main front
shields flashed, flickered and died.
“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” Ken sneered.
The destroyer spun its damaged shielding away from the
Rook
,
but its companion craft darted forward.
“Three scout-class ships advancing rapidly!” Bard called from
the bridge.
“I see ‘em. So we tag ‘em Beta, Delta and Gamma,” Butler
said, closely watching the holo-display in the tac room. His mind
kicked into ‘academy-exam’ overdrive. “Rebel, hold on the misdirection. Stay on that Alpha ship. Give them a heavy broadside with all
guns when we’re in range. Drake, focus fire on the Beta ship and run
some interference for us.”
“Aye, sir,” came the reply from the
Blackbird
. The destroyer
continued to distance itself from the
Rook
, keeping its still-functional
rear shields toward her. Jordan, the
Rook’s
young pilot, continued to
follow it, trying to loop around the approaching scout ships. And then
the
Blackbird
came charging in, firing all her guns at the foremost
scout ship. The enemy craft twisted and darted, attempting to break
away from the new source of fire, but stay in firing range on the
freighter.
Ken listened in approval to Drake’s steady voice giving commands over the tac com.
“Stay with him, keep firing!”

The
Blackbird
looped and turned, mirroring the scout ship’s
evasions as it closed in. The
‘Bird’s
well-timed entry had its effect.
The lead scout ship left a more than big enough hole in the maneuver
for the
Rook
to charge right through in its pursuit of the destroyer.

“
Back in range of the lead ship,” Bard called.
“Fire port broadside cannons,” Rebel ordered.
This time, the
Rook’s
guns hammered at a point on the upper

surface of the destroyer, severely weakening shield power in that area.
Although the
Blackbird
was keeping one of them quite busy, the two
remaining scout ships had turned to follow the
Rook
.

Now, weakened shield power came back up on the bow of the
destroyer, and it turned back to fire upon the
Rook
.
The armed freighter shook violently.
“Multiple hits on port, bow and stern shields,” Bard reported.
“Shield power down overall 38 percent.”
“Take us back to the ‘protection’ coordinates Adrian,” Ken ordered. “Drake, follow us and prepare to execute Firing Maneuver
Twelve.” Both Rebel and Drake signaled agreement, and the two
BlackFleet craft knifed in the same direction, firing back at their attackers. They wheeled through the asteroid field, trading shots with
the enemy ships, and again drawing them in the opposite direction
from Schiff and his team.

“
Power down all shuttle systems,” Schiff ordered. He stood by
the rear hatch, fully suited up in the trooper’s space armor. Lights
dimmed within the shuttle and the ship itself slid to a stop behind a
large asteroid.

“
Depressurize cabin and open the hatch. Tight beam transmissions only,” the Major added.
When this was done, six troopers from each of the two shuttles
leapt into space. They touched off their thruster packs, and headed off
in pairs to continue the search.
* * * * *

“
Lead ship detaching two shuttles,” Bard reported. Sure
enough, Butler saw on the tac holo as two small blips left the destroyer.

“
Leave them for now,” Ken ordered. “They’ll be looking in
the wrong area anyway. But let me know the second they start to head
in Schiff’s direction.”

“
Aye, sir.”
“Execute Maneuver Twelve, targets Beta and Gamma.” Butler
commanded. Suddenly, the
Rook
and
Blackbird
veered off in completely opposite directions. One of the scout ships veered to follow the
yacht, while the other three ships followed the freighter. The tac room
shook and shook again as the
Rook’s
shields were battered.
“Shield power on the port side down 70 percent,” Bard reported. “Stern shields down by 76 percent. Bow shielding down 47 percent.”
“Reinforce port and stern shields with all energy reserves,”
Rebel ordered. “And present our starboard only to the destroyer.” The
pilot officer quickly rolled the ship to comply.
Then, exactly twenty-five seconds after the initial order, both
BlackFleet ships turned sharply back to head directly at one another
again. And in that twenty-five seconds of approach time, in which one
of the scouts had been drawn temporarily outside the fight, both
BlackFleet ships pounded mercilessly on the shielding of the other two
scout craft. The shielding on one of them ebbed to a dangerously low
level on the icon in the tac room. The other showed that its shields had
completely fallen. It began trying to move away from the fight.
“Rebel, don’t let that one get away!” Ken ordered.
“Bard, target their engines with the forward turret!” Adrian
barked.
The
Rook’s
guns fired once more, and just before the scout
moved out of weapons range, Bard tagged it. It spouted flame from
damaged engines and began tumbling helplessly. But the third one
rejoined the fight, firing heavily on the dwindling rear shields of the
Rook
. Meanwhile, the destroyer was trying to loop around the freighter to get a better shot at its more weakened shield areas. Jordan twisted and turned the ship madly to deny the shot.
“Drake, link up with us, maneuver four, portside,” Ken said into the tac room link.
“Aye, captain,” the
Blackbird
commander replied.
In a now time-honored BlackFleet ship maneuver, the
’Bird
sidled up to the
Rook’s
shield-damaged port side and stayed there, even
through the
Rook’s
evasive maneuvering, acting as both a shield and an
extra set of guns.
“Rebel, Drake, target Delta,” Ken said. “Drake, prepare to detach; reciprocal course, on my order.” Butler barked out the orders
with a calmness he didn’t feel. The
Rook’s
shields were dropping fast,
despite all that Rebel was doing to reinforce them. And the
Blackbird’s
shields, though amazing for a craft her size, were dropping too.
This had better work.

“Major! I’ve got something!”
Sren Erhardt’s voice came over
Schiff’s helmet. “High metal reading…minimal power output…it’s
gotta be the pod!”

“
Good work, Lieutenant. Team, hold positions while we verify. Shuttle One, stand by.”
“Standing by.”
Schiff maneuvered over to the rock Erhardt and Rachel
Deszell were hovering near. Sure enough, the silver form of the escape pod was wedged into a crevice of the small asteroid. There was a
round port set into the hatch, which Schiff peered into. The dim interior lighting showed a man in a spacesuit, although his helmet was still
clamped into its holder on the wall.
“Mr. Vice President?” Schiff used his short range transmitter.
The man in the pod nodded warily. “I am Major Walter Schiff of the
BlackFleet Mercenaries. We have been commissioned by the government of Victoria to bring you home.”
The Vice President closed his eyes in a brief display of gratitude, indicating that he heard and understood. His lips were moving,
but nothing came over Schiff’s receivers.
“Sir, I am not receiving you. Can you hear me clearly?”
The man nodded again.
“Put on your helmet. We will open the hatch and escort you
with our thrusters to a waiting shuttle. Understood?”
The man nodded again and reached for the helmet.
“Shuttle One, pick up at our location. Shuttle Two…”
“We have company!” Liz Gressel announced. “Armed enemy
shuttle, heading our way…”
“Target Delta, execute!” Butler ordered.
Both ships concentrated fire on the scout ship directly ahead of
them, leaving off firing at the destroyer completely for a few seconds.
The scout’s shield power dropped quickly.
Butler stared at the tac display as the icons representing his
ships and those of his enemies danced around one another. And as the
destroyer continued trying to slip around for advantage, the moment
came that Ken had been waiting for.
“
Blackbird
, detach! Rebel hit that sucker’s topside shields!”
The
Blackbird
, with its greater speed and maneuverability
blasted ahead of the freighter to take another shot at the scout ship
ahead of them. The scout ship’s shields failed completely.
Then the
‘
Bird
performed an
‘overhead’ loop that sent it straight back at the scout ship astern of
them, firing as it went. It scored a lucky hit on a weakened portion of
that scout’s shields with its first shot, and that enemy craft went into
wild evasive maneuvers while the
Blackbird
pursued it.
At the same moment, the
Rook
opened fire once more on the
destroyer. Although the enemy ship had reinforced its front shields,
they had never managed to do so with the already weakened shields
covering her top surface. And in their attempt to jockey into position
on the
Rook
, they had just exposed their own weakest shield area again
for the first time in several minutes.
Ken didn’t miss it. Neither did Bard.
Starboard broadsides and the forward turret hit the destroyer’s
weakened shield area with perfect precision. Its shields went out as
quickly and efficiently as if they’d been turned off by a switch. Another three rapid shots tore into her unprotected hull. She belched flame
and her engines abruptly went out. Coasting and on fire, her commander came back on the tac room com.
“You’re the BlackFleet, aren’t you?”
Butler’s smile was anything but friendly. “As a matter of fact
we are. And you are..?”
“Go to hell,” was the reply before going blank.
“Sore loser,” Ken mumbled.
“Sir! Enemy shuttle heading Schiff’s way!” Bard called.
Drake, still tied into the tac com, heard it and answered. “On
it!” he said and sped his ship in the direction of the rescue efforts.
Schiff looked up to see the approaching threat on the scanner
inside his helmet. The scout craft had apparently picked up some energy emission from them somehow, although they’d been very careful
not to leak much. It seemed to be heading right for them.
“Schiff to Butler…” he began on the tight beam frequency.
“Requesting assistance.”
“Already on the way,” Butler replied. “Hold on.”
“Copy.” Then to the troopers, “All squads, take immediate
cover. Hostiles en route.”
“Roger,” came a dozen replies.
Schiff saw Erhardt and Dezell quickly jet to a large outcropping in the face of the asteroid, and hide behind it. Schiff found a large
crevice and hustled himself and the V.P. inside. Scanning his helmet
display again
he found the reason for their enemies’ sudden interest. The escape pod
was now transmitting a distress beacon.
“Great”, he thought to himself. “Knew this was goin’ too
smooth.”
The scanner image blurred in Schiff’s display, then faded altogether as the enemy shuttle passed behind a clump of heavily packed
asteroids. When it emerged once more, it was right on top of them.
The shuttle came to an abrupt stop directly above the escape pod.
Schiff took note of the cannon it sported in its nose.
The Major pushed the Vice President behind him in the crevice, and pulled out his plasma weapon . If the enemy happened to notice where they were, maybe he could protect the VP until help arrived.
Maybe.
The shuttle touched off its maneuvering thrusters and edged
lower, coming very close to the empty pod. It seemed to hover there
for just a moment, then swivelled to face the crevice where Schiff was
hidden. For a moment, time seemed to stop as he stared into the cannon.
Suddenly, the shuttle turned to face the oncoming
Blackbird
.
The
‘Bird’s
forward cannons smashed into its lesser shielding, and tore
it to pieces. The flaming debris scattered in all directions as the sleek
black yacht soared past.
The Major emerged as the
Blackbird
circled back making sure
that the troopers were all okay.
“Schiff to Butler,” he called.
“Butler, go ahead.”
“Objective accomplished. The VP is alive and well. Returning
to shuttle… And thank you Commander Drake, for the assist.”
“Good work, Major. Good work all around. See you at rendezvous.”