'They're firing sir,' Agameg announced.
The tactical hologram in the middle of the bridge highlighted a group of five ships, all heavy battlecruisers. Three were the trio they had initially attempted to escape, and their energy shields were already low from being so close to the flaming front edge of the planetoid. The other two were part of the new group, and filed in between the others as they gave chase, firing their high powered beam weapons.
'Frost, begin firing flack rounds in a high density pattern so we can mitigate some of this heat damage,' Oz ordered.
'Aye sir, changing firing method.'
'Torpedo rooms, finish that battlecruiser off then load for long range. We have to give our ships enough cover so they can get away.'
“We have breaches, section Q14 to S12. No one reported in those areas,” Agameg reported as passively as he could manage. “Their particle beams are sweeping sections of our hull, probing for weak spots.”
“All right, we have to change tactics here, we won’t make the edge of the nebula. Helm, reduce thrust and keep the hangars away from enemy fire. We’re redirecting as much power as we can to shields.” Oz dropped into the command chair and brought up his own, more detailed control interface. The smaller holographic displays surrounded him as a two dimensional control board closed over his lap. His own tactical display was far more complicated than the one in the centre of the bridge, made to be an overlay on the visual representation for the primary commander aboard. The first piece of information he found useful was how much the thick nebula's particle field was reducing the effectiveness of the particle beams. Their shields were holding up to the punishment again but the new main thrusters had taken real damage already. They were losing momentum quickly thanks to the thick particles of the planetary nebula, and it was all Oomal could do to keep the Triton drifting slowly away from the planetoid cluster.
“What if we use the asteroids behind us as cover?” asked Jason.
“They’re shedding too much material, it would reduce our shields too fast and we’d be open.”
“Then we’re out of options,” he whispered as he began calling up software from his personal drive.
“Looks like.”
There was a raise in spirits as the first battlecruiser they had seen was obliterated. The space around it was filled with escape shuttles as the final volley of torpedoes struck it. That was the morale booster the Triton’s crew needed for what was to come.
'Security, lock the Botanical Gallery down tight,' he said quietly. “I don’t want anyone to have access until we have a ship wide all clear.”
'We haven't completely evacuated medical yet, sir,' Kameri replied.
'Then lock that down separately. We're out of time.'
'Yes sir,' he replied.
'Torpedo rooms, Gunnery deck, target the furthest battlecruiser and finish him off. She’s still showing extensive damage from earlier. When they’re dead in space, shut down and get into position. Engineering, prepare to shunt all power to charge our reserves then shut down all core reactions. Flight Operations, launch all ready vessels. Tell them to head for the edge of the nebula and proceed from there. Use the Triton as cover.'
All the departments acknowledged his orders.
'Are you sure about this?' Jason asked. “Last chance to cancel this and keep the crew together.”
'We're not going to escape as we are, and the crew is already separated from their rightful commander.' Oz whispered back hurriedly. 'Panloo, angle the ship so our top side is facing the incoming cruisers and cut all thrust. We need to give our pilots cover.'
'Just tell me when you want me to work my magic,' Jason said as he worked at his station, preparing several programs.
Oz watched as the fighter launch systems activated like a wave across the bottom of the ship, sending two dozen Uriel and Ramiel fighters into the nebula. Two other vessels they had salvaged from the raiders launched from the main hangars. 'Is that everything Chief Vercelli?'
'No, there are two launches left. We need another minute.”
Oz looked at his small Flight Deck status screen and watched as Uriel and Ramiel fighters were loaded into the punter system. He’d never seen the crew work so quickly. The Skimmer, a captured raider vessel reported that it was loaded and was launched straight away.
“Ripped that one up, taking care of the second one’s engines. We found a soft spot!”
Oz looked to the tactical screen to see internal explosions in the previously damaged battlecruiser, she was finished. The gunnery crew had moved on to focus on the nearest ship’s engines. “Frost, I told you to cease fire as soon as you disabled the furthest ship.”
“Just about done, son. Just a few hundred rounds and we’ll finish off this target’s engines. She’ll get dragged into the nearest planetoid’s gravity and pulled out of the picture.”
Oz’s attention was drawn to a group of fourteen fighters who broke from the main group and began accelerating towards the enemy battlecruisers. He checked the details and was alarmed at who was leading the strike. “What’s Dent doing?”
“I’m calling him back now, Commander.” Chief Vercelli announced.
The fighters each fired a pair of nuclear missiles and veered away. “Just lending the gunnery deck a hand.” Dent announced as the group of fighters moved to rejoin the assembled ships.
“That never happens again, understand?” Oz told him.
“Aye, aye.”
The high speed projectiles finished closing the distance to the lead destroyer and with a flash of light, the damage was done.
“The gunnery deck’s rounds are striking,” Agameg announced. “Taxing their shields.”
Oz watched the tactical screen as several of the small nuclear missiles were destroyed by defensive fire and the grit of the nebula cloud. At long last there was a white flash thousands of kilometres away. “Three detonations out of twenty eight launches. Major damage to the lead battlecruiser,” Agameg reported. “Their shields were already quite depleted thanks to the gunnery deck. Chief Frost is resuming fire.”
“Looks like they’re still coming, but they’ll be sensor blind for at least a few seconds,” Agameg declared. “We bore the shockwave well, shields down to seventy three percent ship wide.”
“We’ve got this round, Commander,” Frost reported enthusiastically. “Sure we don’t want to give this a real go? We might just take ‘em all on.”
Oz looked to Agameg, who shook his head slowly. “We’re taking too much damage and the three most fit battlecruisers are moving away from each other.”
What Oz saw on his command screen verified it. The battlecruisers were just beginning to open fire as a group, and the only reason why they weren’t taking severe damage in the ship’s central sections was because he was sacrificing the rest. The damage monitoring system was already reporting impending hull breaches in several outer compartments. “Sorry Frost, I’m counting the seconds until your guns get shut down.”
“All done, just watch the fireworks,” Frost said before all his teams’ rounds finished striking.
The battlecruiser listed to one side, the energy emissions from her engines dropped off drastically, followed by the rest of the ship. “Good work. Now let’s hope their friends don’t take it personally.”
Oz returned his attention to his command holograms and watched as the last four, smaller captured raider ships from Ossimi Ring launched. Using the Triton as cover, several Uriel fighters opened large wormholes, and the captured raider ships, filled with evacuees, escaped into compressed space. The fighters were next, following the larger ships, and before he knew it, the Triton was left alone.
The enemy vessels began to intensify their fire, sending volleys of particle pulses and sweeping their shields with energy beams, trying to break through.
“All posts secure weapons. Jason, signal our surrender.'
Chapter 11
