Honor Bound

“No, ma’am,” Reno told her, shaking his head. “It’s General McKay.”

* * *

“Listen to me, Commander Kent,” McKay growled into the cockpit mic, “I don’t give a flying fuck about your procedures or your regulations. There is a Protectorate cruiser in orbit and the only thing that’s going to keep it from bombarding our population is if we can get the defense lasers operational.”

“Sir, I understand that,” the harried officer replied, “but I can’t target anything without access to the system and we don’t have that!”

“And I’m telling you that you don’t need to target anything, Mister… I will be giving you the coordinates and you will be firing that damn laser like it was God Himself telling you where to shoot. And if you don’t, and if you are unfortunate enough to survive what happens next, I will find you, Commander George Kent and I will make you wish you’d died in something as painless as a fusion explosion.” Beside McKay, in the lander’s pilot’s seat, Esme Villanueva grinned with appreciation.

McKay cut the connection without waiting to hear a reply, then switched over to another frequency. “Bradley, this is General McKay, do you read?”

“McKay, this is Captain Minishimi,” he heard her familiar voice over the cockpit speakers. “Do you have control of the defense system?”

“No, but neither do they,” he told her. “We have contact with the maintenance crews of the lasers, though-if you can feed me the targeting coordinates, I can get them to the right station and take out that damn cruiser.”

“McKay,” Minishimi interrupted, “the Sheridan is under power, she’s heading for the cruiser and the enemy ship just launched a pair of Shipbusters at her… you need to target the missiles immediately! I’m sending you a targeting vector now.”

“Shit,” McKay muttered. Hitting a slow-moving cruiser was one thing; hitting a missile moving at a dozen gravities acceleration was going to be much trickier. “All right, let’s hope we can make this work…”

* * *

Arvid Patel hit a control on his ‘link and set it on the console by his right hand.

“Dad?” The voice sounded so different than the last time he’d heard it, so much deeper and older.

“Hello, Abshay,” Patel said, trying to keep his voice casual as he stared at the icons of the fusion missiles boosting towards him on the screen. “Are you safe?”

“Yes, sir,” Abshay assured him. “They have us in a shelter here at the Academy. I… I didn’t know you were back insystem, sir. Is the fighting over, then?”

“Not quite yet, son. Soon, I think.” Patel cleared his throat to keep from choking up. “So, I have not been able to speak with you for a long time… I just wanted to make sure you are all right. Does school go well?”

“It’s fine, Dad,” Abshay told him, his tone sounding a bit puzzled at the train of the conversation. “Expectations are high, of course… it isn’t easy walking in your footsteps.”

“Oh, don’t do that, Abshay,” Patel couldn’t hold back the tears now, or the crack in his voice. “Make your own path and you will be twice the man I ever was.”

“Dad?” Abshay said, sounding worried. “Is everything all right?”

Patel opened his mouth to answer… and let it hang open as he watched a brightly glowing track of superionized atmosphere trace a line up from the ground in less than an eyeblink, disappearing as the air thinned to near vacuum, but still simulated by the ship’s Tactical computer as it intersected the route of the lead Shipbuster and speared directly through its fusion drive. The missile disappeared into a miniature star that swallowed up the second Shipbuster as well for a long moment, until it emerged from the huge ball of superheated gas charred and dead, its drives inactive, its course changed from the explosion.

“Yes, Abshay.” Admiral Patel smiled as he answered his son’s question. “I think things are all right. I have some work to do, though. I love you, and I am proud of you.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

Patel was still smiling as he cut the connection.

* * *

“The Shipbusters are gone!” Gianeto announced, excitement in his voice.

“McKay,” Minishimi called, “they got the missiles! Tell them they need to shift aim to the cruiser!” She motioned to Gianeto and he nodded, sending a transmission from his station to Communications. “The coordinates are on the way.”

Drew Franks and Commander Lee were both hanging over Gianeto’s shoulder, trying to follow the battle on the small emergency screen at the Tactical station, which was why the younger officer was still looking when Gianeto had turned away to transmit the coordinates. “Captain!” Franks exclaimed. “The cruiser is turning on her axis!”

Gianeto’s head snapped back to the screen and he touched the screen, magnifying the view of the enemy ship. The image showed the massive vessel slowly spinning end for end, the minute flares of her maneuvering thrusters visible at her bow and stern.

“She’s realigning her weapons pods,” the Tactical officer realized. “Captain, I think she’s…”

Sunlight twinkled off of a long chain of silvery beads that shot out of the cruiser’s weapons pods, each the size of a groundcar.

“She’s firing her Gauss cannons!” Gianeto said. “She’s firing at a planetary target…”

“She’s targeting the lasers,” Franks said, grim certainty in his voice.

“The optics are all shielded and underground, aren’t they?” Lee asked.

“They don’t have to destroy the optics,” Minishimi told her, biting back a curse. “All they need to do is block the emitters. It’s an easy fix, but it will still take time… and that leaves them free to destroy the Sheridan… and us.”

“Captain!” Lt. Reno said. “I have Captain Fox from Fleet HQ on the line. He says they’ve launched a Shipbuster at the enemy cruiser, but it’s going to be almost a half hour till it gets there.”

“One?” Franks blurted, aghast. “Is he saving them for a fucking special occasion?”

“You know Captain Fox,” Minishimi reminded him, shaking her head, too disgusted to even reprove him for his language. “That station is his baby. He’s saving them for the rest of the Protectorate fleet we left out there. We’re lucky he granted us the one.”

“If we live through this,” Franks promised with a half-snarl, “I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to see he’s reassigned to a post more in concert with his abilities.”

You’re just a Lieutenant! Franks reminded himself silently. Then, with a cold amusement, Not if we survive this you won’t be.

“The Sheridan is still heading for the enemy ship,” Gianeto reminded them, staring intently at the screen, as if afraid to turn away again. “She’s at two g’s acceleration now.”

“Lt. Reno,” Minishimi instructed, “try to raise the Sheridan. I want to know who’s piloting that ship.”

* * *

“The Australia defense laser is down, General,” the voice of Captain De Ndinge came over the cockpit speakers of the lander. “We have reports from the maintenance crew that the damage is not too extensive and it should be repaired in a matter of less than an hour, but…”

“I understand Captain,” McKay said. “Patch me through to Mojave… that’ll be the next station the ship passes over.”

“This is Mojave Laser Launch Station,” a female voice said. “Lt. Commander Botha here, sir.”

“Commander Botha,” McKay said clearly but rapidly, “the enemy cruiser is going to be passing through your cone of fire in about a minute and he’s going to be firing on you with KE weapons the second he does. I’m going to relay targeting coordinates to you and I need you to fire along that vector until you can’t fire any more, do you understand?”

“Will do, sir,” the officer said, refreshingly without argument. “Waiting on target vectors.”

“We’re keeping him busy, sir,” Vinnie commented as McKay sent the information stream, “but what are we keeping him busy for? A couple of seconds of laser fire isn’t going to destroy that ship, and sooner or later we’re going to run out of lasers.”

“We’re keeping his attention,” Jason McKay said bitterly, not looking up at him, “to give one of my best