Light flashed around the enemyflagship as the collectors built into the vast wingsactivated.
“I wish I knew how that worked,”said Captain Regina.
“It’s a solar wind collector,”said Chief Engineer Linus, “Of that I am certain.”
The two officers looked back at him ashe shrugged.
“But how they are using it todevelop high interstellar speeds in sucha short time is beyond me. Our drives are already complicatedenough and run on the cutting edge of known science.”
As they lookedback, the sail glowed brightly, withenergy rubbing down the veins to the bulk of the colossal ship.Captain Regina gently her head as it began to move away. It startedslowly, but in seconds the forward velocity had increased tenfold.It was moving away quickly, soon shrinking to less than a tenth itssize as it moved faster and faster. And then it was gone, leavingthe attack ships and the fields and clouds of debris as the onlysign they had ever been in the system.
“Captain,” said Chief EngineerLinus, “Just as they powered up theirengines, I picked up strange readings from inside her lowerhull.”
“What kind ofreadings?”
“That’s just it. They were garbled andincomplete, but I’m certain they were Alliance transponders.”
“From inside the ship?”
The XO almost choked as shelooked to the gleaming dot as it left the star system.Captain Regina pointed to the ship justas it finally vanished from view.
“You’re telling me that they have our people onboard?”
Chief Engineer Linus nodded.
“It is possible, Captain. I amalmost certain they were naval transponders…”
He looked back to his bankof displays and continued running throughthe data. Columns of icons flashed past, and it looked as thoughhe’d completely forgotten that they were in the middle of aconversation.
“Chief?”
He continued for several moreseconds, and then grunted as if he’d just discovered, or at leastunderstood more than he’d already let on.He looked back at the Captain who waited with her hands on herhips.
“Well?”
“Captain, it’s confirmed. One ofthe crew was broadcasting a message nearto a heavily damaged part of the hull. It was a narrow band,encoded, and focused message targeting our ships.”
“They knew we were here,”Captain Regina said in hushed tones, “And stillwe were unable to help them.”
She walked from her position towardsthe front and between the Engineering and Tactical stations.
“Show me our recorded footage of the Ski’lig ship.”
Video footage overlaid with tacticalscans and estimated schematics expanded before her eyes.
“Rotate and show me the source of thetransmission.”
Lieutenant Zimmer rubbed his chinas he struggled overlay three sets ofdata to show as much of the hull as possible. Then he zoomed incloser and waited for the computer to fill in theblanks.
“There.”
None of them had looked thisclosely at the alien ship so far, but as they didso, it was clearly unlike any of theothers they had encountered. The basic style was little changed tothe much smaller attack ships, but there were domes andembellishments never seen on the other craft.
“This must be a transport ship ormothership of some kind,” said the Captain, “It’s clearly designed to carry a lot of people for a verylong time.”
“Like the Worldships at Taxxu?” Lieutenant Zimmersuggested.
“Maybe. Now pull back from thedamage…slowly.”
Each time he movedback, it took a few seconds for thecomputer to render the missing data, but as it finished they couldall see the damage.
“Okay, that isn’t from gunfire,”said Lieutenant Zimmer, “And that…rightthere. That’s wreckage from an Alliance ship. The computer says itis eighty-eight percent certain it is ANS Coventry. Part of herhull is still there embedded in the Ski’lig ship.”
“They rammed the Ski’lig ship?”
“Unlikely. There’s less than fifteen percent of the shipleft, and it is all heavily embedded into the side of the enemyship. And the damage to the lower side…”
He scratched his head and then looked back. Captain Regina lifted ahand to silence him and studied the forward view from the ship. Theenemy attack ship had run into the path of the main line ofAlliance ships and was paying the price. She smiled as beams oflights ripped into its hull, causing significant damage. Oncesatisfied her ship was no longer in danger she lookedback.
“Go on.”
“Captain, if I had to put moneyon it, I would say Coventry overloaded her engines and detonated.The hull damage and burn markers to theSki’lig ship, and the hole in her hull, match that blast pattern ofa nearby ship. I would guess Coventry made it close to the ship andthen exploded. The blast tore open the Ski’lig ship’s outer hulland ruptured scores of compartments.”
“But if that’s true, how did we get a message?” First LieutenantMeredith asked, “A blast of that magnitude would have killed allonboard, and we have found no pods or lifeboats anywhere in thisarea.”
“That’s because they were never onboard,” said CaptainRegina.
They all looked back to her, but none could work out what she wasthinking.
“It’s not so complex, if you think about it,” she said with a smile,“How can you be onboard an enemy ship at the same time as your ownvessel explodes?”
“Of course,” said her XO, “They boarded the Ski’lig ship beforedetonation. And that must mean they are still inside theship.”
“Wow,” said LieutenantZimmer, “The crew of a frigate boarded aship as big as a space station. Her captain must have balls ofsolid steel.”
Captain Regina’s eyebrows rose in surprise at his words.
“Captain Nektaria Zacharias is anexperienced officer and skilled captain. There’s a reason hecommanded a squadron of warships out here.”
Before she could say more,a burst of fire struck the portside bowof Nautilus. She scowled as the attack ship turned away, trying toescape as it came under fire from the dreadnoughts. Two turned andaccelerated away, while the third remained where it was andcontinued to fire.
“Tactical. Give them avolley. Nobody fires on my ship and getsaway unscathed.”
“Aye,Captain. Firing,” said Lieutenant Zimmer.
The array of guns fitted on theupper superstructure flashed once as the quadruple255mm particle cannons delivered apowerful burst of fire. Part of the enemy ship broke away, and thenmore split apart as other ships joined in. It returned fire onlyonce before succumbing to heavy damage. The hull remainedsignificantly intact while scores of small explosions crackledabout the outer hull as the vessel explosively
