Bismarck had dropped, shearingpast a torpedo that ripped out a shield and threatened to punch a hole in thehull. Giacomo threw the ship on her back as tracers cut through their wake. Auxiliaries switched back and the helm responded with full power.
Giacomo was much happier now thathe had the port engine under his control. The precious few seconds of escapewere not enough to get them out of any range and it wouldn’t take the enemylong to find and catch them up.
Shields were dropped fully. Everything non-essential was switched off, the power being diverted intomaintaining as much speed as possible. Independence was close. So close theycould almost feel her. If wishful thinking could have made any impact, now wasthe time.
The cruisers caught up. Theywere within firing range. Putting up shields meant reducing speed. Outmanoeuvring meant increasing time. John didn’t like either option. Theship couldn’t afford any more damage. He had to put some shields up. Theywould have to take some hits.
“Independence to Bismarck.”
Tan put the call on audio and itresonated throughout the bridge. The sound of Captain Pemberton’s voice wasjust the incentive the crew needed.
John caught Tan’s eye and noddedhis approval. “Bismarck here.”
“Looks like you’ve got yourselfin trouble.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can you hold out until we getthere?”
“I don’t know.”
It was more than John’s wordsthat affected the crew. He turned to Tan and drew a finger across his throat. Tan acknowledged and cut off the transmission.
“Giacomo, call.”
Giacomo was a little hesitant. “If we didn’t have the ambassadors –”
“Forget them,” John interrupted. “Call it as you see it.”
“Stand and fight.”
“Gillespie?”
“Stand.”
“Tan?”
“Stand, sir.”
“McReidy?” John deliberatelyleft her until last.
“I hate to be outvoted.”
“This is not a majoritydecision.” For a second his eyes softened and he allowed her to read him.
“No, but it is unanimous.”
“Giacomo, turn us about. We’vegot to find somewhere to put the ambassadors down. Mr Tan, let Independenceknow what we’re doing. She can pick them up and take them in. The cruisersare after us. Let’s make them regret it.”
John switched the intercomthroughout the ship. Static blared back at him. He switched it back toengineering.
“I need someone in thetransporter room now.”
“Transporter’s offline,” Kowalskicalled, his footsteps pounding the corridor to the transporter room as clearover his communicator as his voice. “Power’s in the shields.”
“I’ll divert it back when we’reready.”
“That’s a lot to transport,”Giacomo shook his head.
“Shuttles’d be picked off. McReidy, go sort the ambassadors. I’ll take navigation. You’ve got until Ifind us somewhere.”
*
McReidy went to the dining roomwhere she’d left Cush. He wasn’t there. She raced to the cargo bay where allthe ambassadors flew at her, throwing questions and demanding answers. Shedarted her head from side to side, looking around them, over them as shesearched for the Manadosian.
“Enough.” They filled hervision. “Stop. I can’t – Governor Cush…!”
Cush pushed his way in but shecouldn’t even hear herself think amid the noise of voices.
“Back off!” she yelled. “All ofyou or so help me…!”
They silenced and Cush grabbedher arm and dragged her away from them.
“Governor, we’re under attack. We’re going to drop you off –”
“Stop talking,” he told her. “Ican hear your thoughts. They’re a lot quicker than your words.”
She took a breath.
“Understood.”
“I don’t care what you have todo,” she finished, “just get them all to the transporter room.”
*
It didn’t take John long to findsomewhere to put the ambassadors. It didn’t need to be able to support life,just sustain it until Independence arrived. McReidy and Cush had theambassadors completely under control. They were scared, frightened of theunknown, of dying, of their fate being taken out of their hands. A few hadencountered the wrath of the Andromedans; most had not. McReidy’s calm, assertivemanner got results, though Cush quashed any thoughts of not obeying her.
The transporter room was chaos asall the ambassadors suddenly decided they were going to be the first onesdown. McReidy was squashed into a wall as they rushed past her and towards thepads, and she fought her way to the console. “Sam.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just checkingnumbers. All clear, sir. We can probably get them all down in one pass.”
“You better get them down in onepass,” John told him. “Co-ordinate with Giacomo.”
The pilot and engineer switchedtheir communicators on; the side conversation a blur to everyone else.
“McReidy there?” John asked. “Tell her to get back to the bridge.”
“Commander said –”
“I heard him,” McReidy cutKowalski off.
“Ready, sir,” Giacomo confirmed.
John checked the cruisers. Getting the ambassadors off had to be undetectable. A precision manoeuvrearound the planetoid, through a blind spot in the cruisers’ scanners. Theplanetoid was large enough that once behind it and close to the surface,Bismarck would be undetectable – for the precious time necessary.
“Dropping shields. You’ve gotyour power back, Mister Kowalski.”
Giacomo cut the ship behind theplanetoid and took her down to skim the surface. He worked with Kowalski aseasily as if they were in the same room and the ambassadors were deposited inclumps.
McReidy returned to the bridgeand John was almost reluctant to give back the console. As he settled in hischair, he breathed a sigh of relief. He now felt safe to fight on his ownterms.
They cut away from the planetoidat a different angle, catching the cruisers by surprise as it seemed they hadexpected a straight line. Tracers chased along the edge of the planetoid asBismarck veered around and came at them.
The cruisers separated. One camestraight on, the other lagging behind.
“Take on the front one,” Johnordered.
“The other one’s weaker. Herengines were hit and she’s losing speed,” McReidy told him.
“She’s foxing. Straight on,Giacomo. Everything into front shields. Let’s see who’s chicken.”
Giacomo flew to orders. Hisintention to ram the cruiser was perfectly obvious to the Andromedans, whoimmediately reinforced their forward shields; a move confirmed by Gillespie.
“Get ready to drop your nose androll, Giacomo, we’re going under. Token firing head on to divert theirattention.”
John had no idea which way thecruiser would turn, if it did. The most common reaction would be up and away. Very few captains were willing to let their ships be rammed.
“Dive, Giacomo. Drop allshields. Fire everything.”
Bismarck was on her back,scraping the underside of the cruiser. With their shields down, there was noprotection as they bounced off those of the enemy. But it
