“Report!” Rudy shouted. “Violet, what was that?”
“We were hit by the enemy’s beam weapon,” Violet explained, “a lot of them. Dropped our shields down to forty percent… probably would’ve knocked them out completely if we hadn’t been moving. Half of their attacks whiffed. We’re lucky. The energy readings from those weapons are just as wild as their shields.”
“All the more reason—” Titus started the comment as a second barrage slammed into them. Even while in motion they were tagged by twice the force of the first attack.
Ronin’s console burst into flame. Fragments cut through his suit, bringing a strangled cry out of him as he slumped in his seat, straining against the safety straps. A fire broke out in a panel behind them, filling the air with the stink of burnt wire and electricity. Rudy shouted commands but as more systems popped around them, his voice was drowned out.
“We… shields…” Violet’s report didn’t make it over the carnage. The HUD on the viewscreen flickered off so it became little more than a glorified window. As the tactical programs went offline, so too did their weapons and likely defenses as well.
Titus checked his screen. Fortunately, he still had power. Sensors throughout the ship showed different systems offline. Key parts remained. Life support, engines, and artificial gravity continued to function for the moment. Shields dropped but recharged back to eight percent already, meaning the cast arrays remained intact.
That might save us. As the sound died down, Rudy continued shouting.
“Jane, get us moving! Now! Pull us away from the targets!”
“Belay that,” Titus countered, “take us closer to the planet, Jane. Maximum speed.”
“What’re you doing?” Rudy glared at him. “We have to withdraw.” He coughed several times, leaning into his straps. Blood flecked his lips, covering his hand. Part of his console smoked. He’d taken shrapnel to the chest, possibly from Ronin’s terminal. “We have to… get back…”
“If we don’t put something between us and them, they’ll finish us off in short order.” Titus turned back to Jane. His shoulder stung but he refused to even look. Ignoring the injury, however bad, was the only way he’d get through the next few minutes. “Fly erratically. Violet, redirect power from artificial gravity to the rear cast arrays.”
“That will make movement unpleasant,” Violet said.
“I think we’d rather be uncomfortable than dead.” Titus watched the viewscreen. “Can we get a rearview?” The image changed, showing the two vessels. They hadn’t started an intercept course quite yet, which gave him some hope.
We might survive long enough to get out of here.
“They’re attacking again!” Violet called. “Move point three three degrees starboard!”
Jane complied, but the ship didn’t respond fast enough. They took a solid hit, one that brought about a deep whine from somewhere within the ship. It continued, grinding like an old combustion engine. Titus had last heard something like that as a child when his uncle had tried to fix one of their threshers.
I hope that’s not our reactor. If so, they had only seconds to live. When that thing went, they’d all die. No escape pods, no surrender… they’d suffer the same fate as the two destroyers. A battleship reduced to a debris field. And our shuttle will follow shortly after. With nowhere to go, they won’t stand a chance.
“This isn’t going to work!” Rudy shouted. “We have to—” An electrical surge from his chair interrupted him, wringing a scream out of him that came from his core. Titus disengaged his safety harness, fumbling with the clasp before dropping to the floor. He scampered back as the captain danced in his seat for a good ten seconds.
The relay line popped. Rudy stopped moving, half his body smoldering from burns that blackened his skin. Titus climbed to his feet, staring at his commander’s body. Parts of his face and neck melted, revealing charred internal bits. Titus swallowed, forcing himself to look away at the viewscreen.
“Violet, get the medics up here now! Jane…” Titus cleared his throat. “Jane, how much longer before we’re out of their range?”
“We’re reaching the curve now,” Jane replied. “They’d… they’d have to… to…”
“It’s okay.” Titus put his hand on her shoulder. “Focus. What do they have to do?”
“Pull wide.” Jane took a deep breath. “Leave orbit and come at us from another angle. Or they can give chase but we do have a head start. I can keep this up for a while. Unfortunately, we’ve got major power drains from all over the ship. Engines are taxed by it. And the helm’s sluggish… I can’t make quick maneuvers.”
With the artificial gravity diverted to shields, Titus felt the g-force of their motion. He needed to take a seat. He moved to the terminal opposite Violet, strapping in. “Can the cast arrays take another shot?”
“Based on the first couple hits,” Violet said, “yes. At least one more. But I wouldn’t want to push our luck much beyond that, sir.”
“Understood.” Titus considered the planet. Their ship was too big to enter the atmosphere. His best bet was to keep the enemy away until the shuttle returned. “What about warp? Can we get out of here?”
Violet sighed. “If we had a gate… yes. But without one out here, I mean, we’re barely flying right now, sir. Going into warp with our shields in this state means we might not be able to keep the radiation from killing everyone on board. I’m working with Engineering right now to get them back to a reasonable standard.”
The bare minimum protection to go into warp should be around twelve percent. Titus found himself more concerned with their FTL drive’s status than charging shields. He’d divert all power from other systems to defenses if it meant surviving. He
