'What's wrong? Have a flameout with someone on your last ship?'
Buster would have hated her callsign if it didn't sound so good. Sonya had been named thusly after waking up the Wing Commander and reporting evidence of nocturnal activities near her bunk. He had her point out the offending bunks and all he did was ensure that the privacy curtains sound dampening systems were activated then went back to bed after giving her a grin and a thumb’s up. She wasn’t aware of Wing Commander Minh Chu’s offbeat sense of humour until then.
She was embarrassed and irritated by his solution. Hatter, of all people, was the one to point out that ship policy allowed fraternization while off duty. He spread the word that she'd bust couples sharing a bunk if they left their sound dampeners off or curtains open. Before she knew it, Buster had been laser etched onto the side of her starfighter. 'I'm not going to dignify that question with an answer, Hatter.'
'It wasn't very dignified in the first place, but whatever.'
Their diagnostic cycles completed and the fighters were moved down from the track into the punter. In the dim light all Buster could see through her cockpit window was the thick launch bay hatch.
'I know why you took me on this mission, I'm your Sensor Intercept Officer and an experienced pilot, but why did you snag Hatter?' asked Hood on a private channel.
'Hatter's got reflexes beyond the curve and he’s a savant at compression mechanics. He calculated a wormhole manually for his final qualification and he's got his FTL ticket.'
'Wow. I haven't calculated a jump manually since college. Even then, it was table top, not in a sim. How'd he get his ticket anyway?'
'Ask Ronin. Something in his file convinced him he could be trusted with a fighter equipped with a faster than light system. Hell, he's even cleared for shuttle and drop ship service.'
'I'm not cleared for drop ship service. I wonder what Ronin knows about him that we're not cleared for?'
'This is Ronin we're talking about. He's a friendly mystery wrapped in a weird little wise package. It's like flying beside a Zen master who's one bottle short of a six pack.'
Hatter burst out laughing. 'But I think everyone likes him, and he can lick anyone in a simulator while spouting off proverbs. He's a rare one.'
'Guys? My comm still working?' Hatter asked on the public channel.
'It's working fine, we're just deep in quiet contemplation,' Buster replied.
'Couldn't help but notice there's no departure time set on this mission. Know how long we'll be here?'
Buster checked her command and control unit for status information from the bridge. 'Looks like the Triton’s about to start decelerating, we could punt at any time.'
Chapter 5
The wounded on the bridge had been tended to, several of the staff had been replaced and the atmosphere was quiet, tense. Only a few small sections of the deck glowed red, emergency inertial dampeners had been installed to replace most of the burned out units. Everyone knew that there were three battlecruisers searching for them, that they were moving at great speed on a course that took them in a wide curve, and that the safe haven they sought could be more dangerous than their attackers.
Oz watched as the broad scale hologram began to display the Triton in relation to a pair of planetoids and a massive cluster of large asteroids behind.
'We have to slow down,' Laura advised from her field control station.
'How much?'
'A lot more, relative speed of under one hundred klicks per second before we enter the dust cloud.'
'Panloo?'
The nafalli finished listening to her navigator and nodded. 'It will be close, I'm increasing our reverse thrust now.'
'We're going to show up on their scanners like a small comet,' Agameg advised. 'They'll have our exact position.'
'What about when we're deeper inside the micro-nebula?'
'Laura is right. If we are not moving slowly enough for our gravitational repulsion shield to move the dust away from the hull it will cause friction and we will look much like this, only smaller,' Agameg brought up a hologram of the asteroid they were looking to touch down on. The leading side was red hot, behind it trailed scorching particles. 'It's not actually a real comet, only a large asteroid in a group that's moving through the nebula and colliding with dust and gas, causing friction and a great deal of heat.'
'What kind of dust is it? Any chance of mass combustion?'
'No, it's only an interstellar dust cloud. In nine years it'll be absorbed by a planetoid.'
'Lucky we found it here then,' Oz watched the holodisplays as a counter came up, indicating that they'd be entering the miniature nebula in less than ten seconds. With a glance he could see they were still moving a little too fast. He looked to Liam Grady's holographic representation to his right. 'How are the thrusters?'
'Operating below tolerances, but straining. I can't give you more power than Panloo is using.'
'Long range projectiles incoming,' Agameg announced as he marked over fifty incoming missiles on the main tactical hologram.
Oz looked at the shield status and was satisfied that they read at ninety three percent of full charge. 'No evasive manoeuvres, just decelerate so we don't turn into a great big flare when we hit the dust.'
The projectiles swept past the Triton, the closest of them came within five kilometres. 'I just confirmed, they're using hyperspace torpedoes.'
'It's like these guys are collecting a bounty on our hull and we just don't matter. Has this crew built hyperspace torpedoes before?'
'No, there's an order for manufacturing to make them, but they're backlogged,' Agameg reported.
'Damn.'
'Do you want me to move them up in the queue?'
'No, we're better off evading and having the manufacturing crews help with work outside the ship. I just hope they can't get a fix on us after we've taken cover.'
'Sir, if those torpedoes struck-'
'I know. We'd have breaches across the ship. Whoever launched that group of fifty isn't too happy right about now. That's an expensive miss.'
The trio of battlecruisers were incoming just under the speed of light. The tactical information accompanying them informed him that they were using hyperspace to catch up.
'They're trying to get to us before we enter the dust cloud,' Oz muttered. 'They're coming in too fast for evasive manoeuvres. Fire what you can Agameg, no torpedoes, they'll be too slow.'
'Yes sir,'
The ship was enveloped by the thick nebula and everyone could hear the inertial dampeners strain for a moment as the Triton met the resistant field of particles.
'We're flaring. Slow down,' Laura advised. 'Unless you want to sandblast through several millimetres of our outer hull.'
'Thruster three's pylon is showing above tolerance stress. We can't keep this up,' Engineering Chief Grady's hologram announced.
'Ordering Gunnery Chief Frost to fire high velocity slugs for thirty seconds,' Agameg announced. 'Most of them should make it through the edge of the cloud and have a good chance of striking the lead battlecruiser unless they change course.'
'Price, you sure this mark is right? We're firing into open space,' Chief Frost said over the tactical comm.
'Use his mark, Chief.' Oz reinforced. The Triton finally slowed down enough so their gravitational shielding was able to repel the nebula's thick dust and the impact shields began to recover.
'Aye, on the mark.'
