Desperate Times (Lost Planet Warriors Book 1) (5 page)

T
he thing coming
through the particle cloud was enormous. At first I thought I could register scale from the small cloud of fighters it launched. Then those little ships launched smaller ships, and I realized that I’d completely misread the size of the mothership. The six smaller ships it had launched weren’t fighters at all. They were each about the size of the Ariel. I swallowed hard. The bridge was silent.

“Are those your spider-crab friends?” I asked.

My speaking seemed to rouse the Cymtarrans. I wondered why the hell they were all so shaken up. I mean, yeah, it was a big ship. They had a big ship too. I’d seen these gold-plated guys fight. They were good at it. If there was a scuffle coming our way, and that seemed like a good bet, then I knew I was in good company.

“They are called the Skree,” Bran said, his voice soft and full of emotion that I couldn’t quite read. Hatred and mourning and grief and despair all wrapped into that one word.

“What’s the plan?” I asked. “You guys beat them the other day. How can we do it again?”

Something I said shifted the mood in the room. Every Cymtarran present looked away from me. Even Bran couldn’t meet my eyes. Clearly the Skree were bad news, bad enough that even my Cymtarran friends were feeling overwhelmed by their sudden arrival.

“The Skree - that’s who damaged your ship, isn’t it?” I asked.

Bran nodded.

“You were running from them?” I asked.

“We hoped that we’d lost them, and would have time to repair before they found us again,” he said.

“Well, you didn’t,” I snapped. “You brought them here. To my world.”

Was I being too harsh? Maybe, but it was them who'd brought their troubles to our doorstep. I didn't think it was too much to ask that they get their act together and help clean the mess up. Bran's expression remained bleak, though. The other Cymtarrans were silent. Was that guilt, or anger? They seemed to be waiting to see how their commander responded.

"Yes, we did. That was not our intent or our hope," Bran said. "If things were different... Perhaps we might have been able to beat back at least this attack, if our ship was whole. As it stands, we have little hope. But perhaps we can do enough damage before we are destroyed that they are persuaded to leave."

Destroyed? "Is their ship that much stronger than yours?" I asked.

"In our current state? Yes," Bran said. "This is a battle we cannot win."

I chewed on that a little. There had to be some way to turn things around, to twist this battle into a victory. I wasn't into giving up. I looked around the room and saw utter despair etched in all of the faces around me. They'd been hurt, smashed, beaten badly. I'd seen wounds like that before in humans. It was the look of someone who'd been clutching at the last strands of hope, only to see them slip out of reach.

"You could run," I suggested softly. I had the feeling that if they did, humanity was lost.

Behind me another of the Cymtarrans scoffed. "We may have fallen low, but not that low, Terran."

Bran and I turned to face him.

"We are warriors," the Cymtarran said. "If nothing else, we can live, fight, and die with our honor intact."

"You speak the truth, Carrick," Bran said. He whirled back toward the screen, his eyes narrowing. "We may have lost Cymtarra, but we are still Cymtarran. I want a tactical readout displayed on all enemy vessels. Lock in targeting solutions on the nearest. Helm, evasive patterns. Keep us at the edge of their weapon range."

The bridge was exploded with practiced activity now. Gone in an instant was the torpor which had filled them all. They might be wounded, but I was watching the result of thousands of hours of training and drill.

What Bran said sank in, then. They might have lost Cymtarra? That sounded like more than one damaged spaceship in a firefight. What the hell had happened out there?

The Cymtarran Empire was huge, powerful enough that even this far away, Earth had still heard tales of them. If I took what Bran was saying literally, these Skree had just taken out the biggest kid on the block. If I was understanding him right, where did that leave Earth?

Up shit creek without a paddle, was my guess. Oh, we were well off the beaten path. It might take a while for empires to come rolling through this system. But any sort of power vacuum out there in the galaxy was going to have massive repercussions. And that of course assumed that these Skree didn’t just blow the Earth to bits as they passed through, out of spite. I wasn’t ready to gamble on that.

“Bran, I need to get back to my ship,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. Why was his expression so pained? “We should get you to safety. I can spare a shuttle and pilot, but I doubt they will be able to get back here. We’ll be too heavily engaged by then.”

“I’ll take care of your pilot,” I said.

“Very well. Carrick, escort our guest to the shuttle bay and get her a pilot. Then get yourself back up here,” Bran said. “I’m going to need you shortly.”

“Aye, sir,” Carrick replied. “This way, Terran.”

I turned to follow Carrick, then whirled back to Bran and touched his hand. He pulled his focus away from the tactical display now filling the main screen and looked into my eyes as I looked up into his.

My heart froze, then thawed in an instant inside the warm amber. Windows into a soul indeed. I could see him there: the pain he felt, the loss. Also the determination and sense of honor.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said.

“I hope so,” he replied, but there wasn’t really much hope in his voice.

Then I turned away and followed Carrick down to the shuttles. He grabbed a youngish looking Cymtarran and barked out some orders. The young man seemed about to object - probably didn’t want to be kept out of the fighting, but I couldn’t tell because neither of them was speaking Universal. Carrick growled something back and the younger Cymtarran backed down instantly. Then he turned to me, straightened his back and picked up his pride as best he could, ushering me toward the shuttle.

I got inside and buckled myself in place. This might be a rockier ride than my trip to get here. The pilot was seated next to me, fingers tapping touchscreens on his console, entering commands. The bay doors opened and the shuttle lifted off, drifting toward space. Once we were clear of the ship, the pilot engaged the shuttle’s main drive and we jetted off toward my ship at top speed.

I watched the dashboard, able to make out some of the instruments. We would overtake the Ariel in a few minutes. It wouldn’t be long, but my pilot was already tapping his foot anxiously on the floor.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Flight Officer Aeron,” he said.

“Wanting to get back there to get into the fight?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“I understand,” I replied.

“Do you?” He looked at me, eyes roving up and down. “You’re the one running away. You are unworthy of that armor you were given.”

Part of me wanted to bitch the kid out over his words. This wasn’t our fight. They’d brought the Skree here and put my world in danger in the process. We were doing just fine until they showed up.

But were we really? Sure, we managed some minor trade agreements. And so far nobody had conquered us or wiped us out. How long was that going to last? Earth was fighting to catch up with the other races out there, but we were too damned far behind. We had eight billion people on the planet, and a few little colonies. Lots of bodies, but the technology wasn’t up to snuff. Trying to defend our world against something like this Skree ship would be like fighting a battle tank with a handful of rocks.

Then again, the right rock in the wrong place could stop even a tank.

Instead of yelling at the pilot or getting defensive, I laughed, which earned me a confused look.

“You really think that’s what I’m doing?” I said, smiling sweetly at him. “That’s my ship over there,” I added, pointing ahead. “I’m taking my command back. But who said anything about running away?”

T
he shuttle was away
. Part of me wished that she had stayed. She was a warrior. I'd seen her rush into a battle headlong, without regard for the possible consequences. It would have been good to have her alongside me when we inevitably had to repel Skree boarders.

All the same I was glad that she was gone, off to someplace safe. Safer, anyway - nowhere in this system was secure, now that the Skree had arrived. If I couldn't destroy this ship and annihilate their smaller craft, they'd infest and destroy the worlds here just as they had in dozens of other star systems. Anywhere was better than being aboard my ship right now, though. The odds of my succeeding without being destroyed were slim at best. At worst... Well, with luck maybe we could get close enough to wipe out the mothership by overloading our ship's engines. The Terrans would still have some of the smaller ships to deal with, but it would give them a fighting chance.

"Shields are at full power, sir," Carrick said.

"Very well. Close with the enemy," I ordered. "Plasma battery fire to target their smaller ships." The more of those we could take out, the better the chance the Terrans would have. If the gunners thought the command strange, their sense of discipline didn't allow them to question the order. Darting flames licked out from our ships, obliterating a few of the small fighter craft which had strayed too close, then working against the screens of the mid-size craft. Already two of those ships showed screens fluorescing into yellow as they tried to absorb the immense incoming energy and shed it as light.

"Fighter wave incoming from our port flank."

"Redirect battery fire to intercept them," I ordered, watching the screen for more surprises. The mothership continued its plodding progress toward us as its smaller ships kept us busy. The craft was huge, the size of a small moon. It would be difficult to destroy. If we could get close enough....

"Ahead flank," I said. "Prepare to engage the enemy mothership. Call all hands to prepare to repel boarders."

"Sir, if we engage at close range the smaller craft will be able to encircle us," Carrick mentioned. He kept his tone casual, but it was a sign how disturbed he was that he questioned my command at all.

"We will need to be very close to destroy that ship," I replied, keeping my voice even with difficulty. This was truly the end of our species here. If we were the last, then this would be the final brilliant moment of our existence. At least we could finish the race preserving another race, allowing them to go on.

"Ah," Carrick said. His eyes grew wide, then narrowed again. "I see, sir."

He knew what I was planning. The rest of the crew would figure it out before long as well. They were smart, capable - among the best that our civilization had to offer. I didn't worry that they would protest the decision. They would follow orders, right up until the final moment.

"Enemy ships are beginning to close around us in a globe configuration," Carrick warned.

Which was a classic strategy. They'd surround us in a sphere of enemies, able to fire at us from all directions. They wouldn't be able to focus their fire at any one point of our screens, but with that many ships firing, they wouldn't need to. Our screens would overload and collapse quickly, and then their plasma fire would tear the Nova Song to atoms.

I wanted them close, of course. I wanted the explosion of our engines to annihilate as many Skree ships as possible. Aside from the strong desire to give the Terrans a fighting chance against any that we missed, I simply wanted to take as many of the bastards down with us as we could. But I didn't want them too close before we were ready. If they drew their sphere around us quickly enough they might be able to destroy my ship before it was able to take out the mothership, and that would be intolerable. We could not afford to fail here.

"Helm, bring the ship toward that point of their globe," I said, marking out a spot on the main display. I was taking my ship 'up' and away from the mothership at a slight angle. The Nova Song responded to the commands, and the small Skree ships scattered like prey fish as we tried to close. Their sphere more or less dissolved into chaos as the ships attempted to course correct and reform. I'd bought us a little time.

"Incoming transmission, sir," called Galadrin, my communications officer.

"From whom?" I barked. Perhaps a little too harshly, but it seemed unlikely the Skree would be calling to chat right now.

"From the Terran ship," Galadrin replied. "Their captain insists she speak with you."

My heart leapt for a moment at the thought of seeing Kim one more time. She'd obviously made a much deeper impression on me than I'd originally thought. I smiled a little wistfully at the thought. I couldn't afford to lose my focus on the battle, not even for a few moments. There would be no visual of her face gracing my main screen this time.

"Put her on audio," I said. It would be nice to hear her voice. Already I found myself selfishly wishing she were back aboard with me. I shoved aside the thought. It was unworthy of me.

“Commander, can you hear me?” Kim said over the bridge speakers.

“Yes, your transmission is coming through. You are safely aboard your ship?” I replied.

“Yes, I made it back fine.”

“I cannot speak long,” I said. “I recommend you fall back to your planet, and cooperate with whatever local defenses your species has in place to fight off the remnants of this force. We will attempt to destroy the mothership, but some smaller vessels will likely survive.”

There was a moment of pause, then she replied. “I thought you said your ship was too damaged to take them out?”

“I’m attempting something unconventional,” I replied.

Another pause. “I see your course. Bran, I know what you’re trying to do, and if I know, the Skree likely do too.”

“They may, but it won’t help them.” It would be next to impossible for them to stop a ship of this size from getting close enough to annihilate them in its death throes.

“Bran, there’s another way. Can you make them chase you?”

“Probably,” I replied drily. The Skree were trying to encircle us again. I barked orders for another course change, and watched as our plasma batteries destroyed another squad of enemy fighters. They’d done damage to our port screens though, and we’d be weak in that spot for a little while until they vented the energy. Chase us? The Skree hunted us across half the galaxy. They would hunt us down wherever we went.

“Good. I am sending you coordinates and a time stamp now,” Kim said. “We’re jumping. Be back in a flash. Just make sure that mothership is at the coordinates at the right time. And make sure their shields are down.”

I gave the communications officer a questioning look. He nodded.

“Transmission received, sir. Unlike the voice, she sent this data via direct laser. Unlikely that the Skree picked it up. Plotting on screen,” he said.

The coordinates were a good distance away. What in the name of the Goddess was she planning? I understood that she couldn’t give me much more than she had. Anything broadcast in the open would be picked up by the Skree, and the Terrans didn’t have access to our encryption.

“Kim, I need more than that,” I said. There was no reply.

“Sorry sir - the Terran ship has entered jump space,” Carrick said. “Unsure of their destination.”

She was going to try to jump her ship on top of the Skree vessel, to blast it with her jump wake. That was why she was so particular about the coordinates. If I could maneuver them into just the right position, then it just might work. It was an insane plan. The blast of high energy particles that sped ahead of a ship exiting jump space could be damaging to a ship or even to a planet, but no one used jump wakes that way. There was too much risk involved.

First, the target would have to be directly on top of the destination coordinates, or the wake would be too far away to do any damage. Space was huge. If the target was off by even a little, the trick wouldn’t work. Then there was the risk factor for the jumping ship. They could arrive light seconds away from the target - or meters away, and smash into the target at high speed, annihilating both vessels. Finally, ships in space were screened against such particles - the same screens that would block plasma bolts could fend off the jump wake with ease. For the trick to work, the target would have to be shieldless in the moment that the jumping ship exited. It was almost impossible to orchestrate.

The risk to reward involved was insane. No one would do such a thing. But that seemed to be precisely what Kim Kenson had just done. I had to decide now if I would back her, or continue with the original plan. I hesitated only a moment, then took the leap of faith.

“Make a course for that general area,” I said. “Let’s see if the Skree will take the bait.”