Battleship

“Then it’s elbows and assholes all around.” Hopper tapped the link and called up the CIC. “How close is the stinger to us?” he said as soon as he raised Raikes.

“Seven miles and closing fast,” her voice came back. She was trying to sound unconcerned, as if an oncoming, swiftly approaching and seriously pissed-off alien vessel was just another day at the office.

Hopper shifted his attention back to Beast. “No kidding around. Can you do it?” asked Hopper.

“I can try,” said Beast. “Sir, I don’t get it…”

I can try wasn’t good enough. “Can you do it?”

Beast wasn’t going to promise something he couldn’t deliver. He stared at the map, at the area of the current, and he started to mutter a string of numbers. Hopper realized Beast was running engine revolutions through his head, making calculations. Finally he nodded. “I can do it.”

Hopper wanted to sigh in relief, but he kept it to himself. Instead, he turned to Nagata. “Captain Nagata, how’s your aim?”

Nagata nodded slowly. “Excellent.”

Hopper looked back at Beast, who appeared somewhat dubious for some reason. “Problem, Beast?”

“Permission not to be the one who has to tell Raikes that Captain Nagata will be handling guns… no offense,” he added quickly to Nagata.

“We’re going to need her behind the 5-inch,” Hopper said. “I have something else planned for Captain Nagata. Now get down to CIC and get us heading in the right direction. Leave the rest to me.”

“Yes sir,” said Beast.

Nagata watched as Beast headed off. “He is not sure what you have in mind. But he does not question.”

“Of course not. That’s not his job.”

“Yes. His job is to obey you. And your job is to issue those orders.”

“Are you telling me my job, Captain Nagata?”

“No,” said Nagata mildly. “It is simply a pity that your brother is not able to see you do it.”

“Yeah,” said Hopper. “Just think. If I hadn’t made the decision I did, it might well have been me on the Sampson. And Stone would still be alive.”

Nagata studied him and then said, “You are blaming yourself for your brother’s death.” When Hopper didn’t respond, Nagata continued, “That is foolishness. You did not kill your brother.” His voice hardened. “They killed him. And yes, I will tell you your job now. Your job is to make them all pay. Do not lose sight of that.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. As for your survival… I suspect, Alex Hopper, that you would have managed to survive the Great Flood.”

“We may yet have the chance to find out.”

The human vessel is fleeing.

They are under the impression that they can forestall the inevitable.

They believe that succor is possible elsewhere. They think that the Regents will allow them to flee the field of combat. They are under the impression that they have a say in when, and how, the testing will be ended.

Foolish humans. Only the decisions of the Regents commanders—the Land Commander and the Sea Commander—matter. The test is not over until the Regents say it is over.

How wrong they are. How greatly they will pay for their underestimation of the Regents’ resolve.

How utterly they will be destroyed.

The Regent ship is in pursuit. The end for them will come soon.

Diamond Head was a volcanic tuff cone, known to the natives as Le’Ahi, since the shape of its ridgeline was similar to the dorsal fin of an ahi tuna. British sailors had come upon it in the 19th century and, mistaking the calcite in its rocks for diamond, had dubbed it with the name it retained to this day.

The John Paul Jones was now making for it with such speed that one might think actual diamonds were waiting for those who could get to it the fastest.

The stinger was in pursuit and closing in as Hopper and Nagata hurriedly assembled a .50 caliber sniper rifle on the ship’s bow. Nagata glanced over his shoulder at the alien vessel as it drew nearer. “It’s not attempting to close the distance by jumping,” he observed.

“Don’t you get it?” Hopper said. “They’re testing us. Pushing our limits, seeing what we can do. They figure they have us cold, so why not see how fast we can go and how long we can sustain it?”

“Testing us because…?”

“Because they’re sending more, like Sam said. That’s got to be it. They want to see how much of a challenge we present so that they can be sure to be prepared for it.”

“And if we blow them all to hell?”

“Then maybe they’ll figure they’re overmatched and look for easier pickings, like… I don’t know, whatever planet the tribbles come from.”

Nagata’s eyebrows furrowed. “Trib… bulls?”

“Never mind. Not important.” He adjusted the sights of the sniper scope. “If I’m right, their bridge window is three feet wide. It’s inlayed a couple of feet. A 5-inch can’t take it out. Still, that doesn’t mean Raikes isn’t ready to rock.”

Nagata nodded and then glanced up at the bridge. Beast was behind the wheel, handling the John Paul Jones, as the point of the island loomed closer. “And your engineer is steering… why?”

“Because the best man for the job got blown to hell, and Beast’s stepping in.”

“Ah. Of course. I am… sorry.”

Hopper’s eyes glazed over for a moment. The faces of all the men who had been killed by these creatures so far floated in front of him. The creatures would pay. They’d pay for all of it. He forcibly shook himself back to the here and now. “Beast and I go back a ways. He always gets me. It’s like we share a mind. When you’re in this kind of pinpoint situation, that’s who you need. Someone with whom you’re on the same wavelength.”

Beast was grateful that the sea was relatively calm at the moment, considering the slightest surge of the ocean might be something that he couldn’t adjust for quickly enough. Tucking the John Paul Jones close to the shore behind Diamond Head, he glanced down at Hopper on the foredeck, setting up a second sniper gun.

He looked toward Hiroki, who was standing nearby and watching events unfold with clear apprehension. Hiroki was accustomed to rooting around in the depths of the ship; being up top didn’t seem to be wearing well on him.

Beast nodded toward Hopper and said, “Usually I get him. This time… not a clue. Is it the same way with you and your CO?”

Hiroki stared at him and shrugged. Not a word.

“Glad we could have this talk,” said Beast. “I feel like we’ve really bonded over it.” He glanced toward the horizon and frowned. Light was filtering over the ocean.

The sun had risen.

Beast noticed that the John Paul Jones was beginning to drift uncomfortably close to the rocks. If they were lying in wait here for the stinger to show, they couldn’t wind up losing their maneuverability—what little they had—by running aground.

Judging by Hiroki’s reaction, he was seeing it as well.

“Let’s do this,” said Beast briskly, and he handled the wheel with the finesse of a concert pianist.

* * *

On the foredeck, Hopper and Nagata were side by side, eyes on scopes, waiting for the stinger to show its ugly face. Without taking his eye off the impending target, Hopper said out the side of his mouth, “How good of a