Before I could ask her for clarification, the ship was rocked by a powerful blast.
“More trouble from your insurgents?” Lara asked, concerned.
I shook my head. “That was a bigger boom than anything their weapons could generate. I don't think it came from the surface at all.”
16
Dashel
Natalie and Lara hurried onto the command deck just as Ranel, Lehar, and I were taking our positions. A large fleet of Alliance vessels filled the viewscreen like a swarm of angry wasps ready to strike. The various factions were clustered together: Pax, Moset, Coovooan, and Vence, plus about a dozen assorted smaller groups of vessels from the less-influential planets in their empire.
“It looks like you brought some friends with you,” Ranel said to Lehar dryly.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed, horrified. “If they'd been following us this closely, our sensors would have detected them!”
“Unless they had some form of cloaking apparatus,” I pointed out.
“According to our spies in the Alliance, they shouldn't have been able to achieve that level of technology for at least five years, let alone outfit their strike ships with it!” the helmsman said.
“Then either our information was faulty, our spies are double-agents, or the Pax stepped up their efforts when they found out we'd breached their blockade to get here,” I replied. “We can figure that out later. Right now, we need to get a message to our people on the surface so they can help us fight them off.”
The helmsman tapped a series of commands into his console and a thin microphone protruded from it. He spoke into it urgently: “This is the Wyvern, signaling all drop-shuttles and planetary forces! We're under attack! Mobilize and meet us at the coordinates I'm transmitting to you, at once!”
“Did they get the message?” I asked. “Are they on their way?”
The helmsman shook his head. “I...don't know, captain. It looks like the Pax are jamming our communications array.”
“Re-route power from all non-essential systems to boost the signal and try to reach Tarion's forces,” Ranel ordered.
“They're too far away, sir! They'll never make it in time!”
“We'll have to buy time until they do, or there's no way we'll survive this onslaught.” Ranel turned to Lehar. “You can transmit orders to your fleet from the tactical console. Hopefully, they've still got some life left in them.”
“They're manned by skeleton crews,” Lehar said, running to the tactical station and pushing buttons on it quickly. “Almost half my people are in your sickbay right now.”
“We'll have to make do,” I answered, leaning down to address the crew through the ship wide comm. “All hands: We are under attack from a Pax fleet. Man the escape pods immediately.”
“We've barely taken any fire, and you're ordering them to abandon ship?!” Lehar balked.
“No, but that's probably what the Pax will think, which should at least give us the element of surprise. We've made a few unorthodox modifications to our hardware since we got here, Lehar. I think you'll approve.”
Suddenly, the lights on the ship darkened, and a booming voice filled the comms: “Hielsrane forces. You have committed acts of trespassing, thievery, and violence against the Pax Alliance. Our numbers and weapons systems are vastly superior to yours. You cannot prevail in this conflict. Surrender, and your lives will be spared. Resist, and you will be destroyed.”
“Burn in hell, you worthless bastards,” Natalie said through gritted teeth, reaching out to take my hand. I gave hers a light squeeze, then released it. I admired her bravery tremendously.
“Are the pods ready?” I asked.
The helmsman checked his console. “Yes, all accounted for.”
“Then deploy them. And if this is our last stand, then by the stars, let's make it count.”
There was a series of heavy thumps and whooshes as the pods detached, and a moment later, they were drifting all over the viewscreen. The Pax ships kept blasting at Lehar's vessels and ignored the pods completely, which was predictable. While other hostile races tended to use escape pods for target practice, the Pax preferred the tactic of letting them go, so the wounded and terrified survivors could return to their people and spread fear of the Alliance.
It gave us exactly the edge we needed.
“All pods,” I ordered, “engage engines and fire at will.”
The newly installed repulsor drives on the pods came to life, glowing a savage shade of red as they propelled the tiny fighters at the Pax ships like a hail of bullets.
The Pax tried adjusting their targeting apparatus to correct their mistake, but it was too late – the pods were too close to be effectively dealt with using long-range cannons, and they began strafing the outer hulls of the command ships in earnest. Explosions bloomed on the metal surfaces like fiery roses, then were immediately snuffed out in the vacuum of space, leaving smoldering craters visible in their wake.
The main Pax cruiser shuddered, lurched, belched out thick plumes of black smoke and cracked in half, spilling its crew into the black void like grains of rice from a ruptured sack.
The crew on the command deck of the Wyvern cheered.
Then another Alliance cruiser stabbed out with a thick proton beam, lancing through one of Lehar's damaged ships and tearing it to shreds.
Lehar's shoulders slumped miserably at his station. How many of his crew mates had been on that ship? How personally must he have felt that loss, knowing he'd been charged with protecting them?
“We're not out of the woods yet, people,” I said. “Lehar have the rest of your ships engage the Vence and Coovooan vessels. They're smaller and armed with lighter cannonry, so you should be more evenly matched. While you keep them busy, the pods can keep flying inside the heavy cruisers' firing range and stinging them to death.”
“What about the Wyvern?” the helmsman asked.
I turned to Natalie, grinning. “Feel like doing a little Moset hunting today, human?”
She smiled back, even though her eyes were frenzied with fear. “Blow the trumpet and tally-ho, dragon-man.”
17
Natalie
The Wyvern's close-range engines flared, moving us into position to face
