his subconscious.”
“There was no way we could have known Doctor Marcelles built a hidden backup into that framework. Now that we’ve finally gotten this far, we don’t need Marcelles, and we don’t need to retrieve Jacob Valance. I can’t thank you enough, Nora.”
Eve regarded Lister Hampon with a smile. “I’m sure I’ll find a way for you to thank me eventually.”
Chapter 10
The blurry privacy barrier surrounded Oz, Jason and Agameg as they sat in the command seating and viewed a tactical hologram of Hood's scans. 'I haven't seen a carrier group like that since I was back on Freeground. They have nine of those hardened battlecruisers,' Jason observed. “Looks like you were right. There’s no way we’re not in for a losing fire fight if we manage to get out of this nebula.”
'Do you think Frost's last volley at the battlecruisers we've already come against hit, Agameg?' Oz asked.
'It's quite likely. His people were right on target for the most part and there's little chance that the lead cruiser could manoeuvre in time,' Agameg replied, his big, singular coloured green eyes were in a half squint as he examined the tactical hologram closely. 'The only weakness I see in this carrier group's formation is their proximity to each other. Considering the speed the ships we've already encountered have exhibited, it's something they could solve at a moment's notice.'
'That's why I'm thinking we try to go in the opposite direction. I'd rather come up against the three battlecruisers we've already bruised and get by them instead of running into that carrier group. Even if that carrier was alone she'd have us if she could keep up,' Oz pointed at the five kilometre long, four kilometre wide carrier. It was a rectangle with concave sides, evidence of hangars and launch ports dotted the top and bottom while the sides were reserved primarily for heavy long range weaponry. 'Just this beam emitter on the port side was enough to wreck a Uriel with full shielding in a tenth of a second burst.'
'Not to mention it struck Buster's fighter at a range of tens of thousands of kilometres. That indicates a high ratio of particles to energy, something that would tax our shields heavily.'
'How long would we last under the pressure of a focused beam?'
'No more than a minute.'
'Not enough time if they have half our thrust.' Oz thought for a moment, looking at the tactical diagram. 'It's been four hours. Chief Grady had better have those thrusters installed.' He looked to his personal command and control unit and scowled. 'Pending.' A channel opened between him and the Chief. 'Times up. We have to make a run for it before we have a nebula full of ships scanning for us.'
'We're still decontaminating. I don't want to run these pods while there's a risk of burning through the main transfer conduits.'
'Can you speed it up by flushing them somehow?'
'I can try, but the abrasion damage to the interior of the conduits will make them more delicate and there could be clogs or worse.'
'You have thirty minutes. Then we're making a run for it.'
'Yes sir.'
'You're thinking what I'm thinking,' Jason said quietly.
'If you mean I'm guessing that's not the only carrier group in the area, you're right,' Oz said quietly.
'I'm sorry sirs, but I have to ask; why would they dedicate so many resources to finding us? I’m aware that this is a wanted ship, but the pursuit will eventually cost more than the reward,' Agameg asked, his green oval eyes widening.
'I'm not sure. If I were in the command seat on the other side I'd say the motivation has to be political.'
'That's the only reason I can see,' Jason agreed. 'Jake’s being accused of killing billions of people, who knows how many governments want to get their hands on him. He’d be a powerful token in interplanetary negotiations.'
'It's a good thing Edward and Leland failed to recruit enough people to man a ship. They may have given away our position,' Agameg smiled. His soft, thick lipped mouth stretched in a wide smile that seemed exaggerated in comparison to a human’s.
'Hope they're enjoying their stay in the hold of that ship. The pilot we put in charge forced them back there when evacuees started boarding. '
'Sensors just detected a battlecruiser just outside the asteroid cluster,' Agameg announced, bringing up a hologram of the grouping of moving asteroids and planetoids the Triton had taken shelter in. There was a ghostly outline of a battlecruiser following just outside.
'Chief Grady,'
'Yes Commander.'
'You're out of time. Get everyone to damage control stations immediately.'
'Yes sir. It'll take a minute to finish getting my people out of the thruster pods.'
'Will the pods be useful?'
'Start slow, I'll try to keep them together down here but if we have a blow through you could lose an entire main thruster.'
'Noted, send your recommendations to the helm,' Oz closed the channel.
'Frost reports his people have a clear firing solution on the battlecruiser,' Agameg announced, monitoring his department from his command and control unit.
'Tell him to keep his systems powered down but to load with the heaviest non-nuclear munitions he's got. He'll be firing at their engines.'
'I'm going to patch Minuteman into our helm. It should help them calculate a faster than light course when the time comes,' Jason informed him.
'Gotta love a supercomputer without an artificial intelligence. No risk of it going rogue on us.'
'That's why he only links to one or two systems at a time,' Jason agreed. 'What's your plan if they block our escape Oz?'
To Agameg's surprise the commanding officer didn't pause for a second. 'We initiate the ghost ship strategy.'
Agameg looked it up in his command and control unit and skimmed the summary. 'That's drastic. If you'll pardon me saying so,' he whispered as he finished reading.
'If we lock up the Botanical Gallery and evacuate everyone we can we'll have a real chance of making it work,' Oz replied. 'Flight Command, ready all fighters and keep power emissions to an absolute minimum. I want everyone to be ready to run at a moment's notice. When the punters are loaded, start moving the rest of our ships into launch position.”
“Sir, only a few civilians in the upper berths have reported to the main hangar. They’re mostly former raiders,” replied Chief Vercelli.
“I was going to tell you about that, Oz,” Jason interjected. “About seven hundred of the slaves we liberated have volunteered to remain aboard to help defend the ship.”
“You didn’t think it was important to bring that up a little sooner?”
“Well, you were busy, so I just accepted their offer. David Penton is speaking for them.”
“All right, have someone from security work with him to get them organized.”
“We don’t have many Officers left, mostly Aucharian grunts and a couple bridge staff, like Agameg.”
“Ever want command of a small army, Agameg?” Oz asked.
The issyrian’s eyes flexed suddenly, at first becoming as round as saucers then narrowing down until they were two thin, mischievous slits. “How did you know my birthday was coming up?”
“All right, then as soon as things die down in tactical I want you to take whoever you can from security and get those people organized. You know what the ghost ship tactic requires, so put them where we need them.”
