“Conn, TAO. Master Six destroyed, ma’am.”
Watching the carnage and picking a new target, Tehrani knew they were in for the enemy’s counter-attack. Her chair seemed to pitch up as she gripped the sides. “TAO, set primary fleet target as Master Seven.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.”
The remaining four corvettes swept through the small battlegroup. Rather than split their fire, they concentrated everything they had on the Vasco da Gama. The Saurian-turned-CDF frigate initially bore the attack well, rotating to present its ventral shield to the enemy. Between a stream of bright-red plasma balls and a missile that made it through the vessel’s point defense, the ventral shields failed, and small explosions from the plasma balls dotted the hull.
Wright tapped Tehrani’s arm. “Skipper, Sierra Three’s taking damage to her engines.”
His voice held concern. She shared it, as speed was a fast space-warfare vessel’s true advantage.
As she watched, the da Gama slowed further. “We’d better order her out.”
“Conn, Communications. Flash traffic from Major Whatley, ma’am. He’s engaging the pirate’s fighter cover and requests we avoid neutron-beam fire as his wing approaches.”
“TAO, warn the fleet to avoid firing in the direction of the CAG’s formation.” While a space-superiority fighter easily avoided most weapons in a CDF warship’s arsenal, neutron beams moved at the speed of light and could destroy small craft with even a glancing blow. Better not to take the risk.
“Ma’am, we can’t afford to reduce our firepower,” Wright said as he leaned in. “Everything counts right now.”
“And if a power conduit blows from the engine to the reactor on the da Gama?” Tehrani shook her head. “I won’t be responsible for the needless deaths of two hundred soldiers.”
Wright pursed his lips and finally nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Communications, signal Sierra Three to jump out to deep-space rally point Charlie.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Singh replied.
On the tactical plot, Whatley and a mass of small craft engulfed the nearest pirate corvette. Tehrani prayed he would be successful before having to break off to engage the inbound enemy fighters. Two down would even the odds, if only for a few minutes. Allah help us.
18
Rolling away from another burst of energy-weapons fire, which was barely discernable against the backdrop of the nebula, Justin got dizzy. He blinked a few times as the world spun from multiple barrel rolls. Keep it together. Affixing his gaze on a gas cloud and steadying his right hand on the flight stick, Justin tried to regain the initiative. First, I’ve gotta find this guy.
The scanner was next to useless. Sensor echoes, false readings, and energy signatures littered the display, but when Justin zoomed in, a persistent blip seemed to be following him. Maybe that’s the enemy fighter or drone or whatever the hell they’re using. He pulled back hard and sent his Ghost into a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn.
Immediately met with more red bolts of incoming fire, Justin squeezed the trigger on his neutron cannons. He fired blindly in the general direction the bolts originated from, with no illusions of hitting the target. His sole hope was to give the hostile something else to think about besides him.
The commlink beeped with an incoming message. Justin glanced at it for a split second and realized it was on the guard frequency. Who’d be transmitting on that out here? Hopeful that perhaps one of the freighters had seen him or could help somehow, he toggled the channel. “This is Captain Justin Spencer, Coalition Defense Force. Go ahead.”
A bitter laugh hit his ears. “Did you think someone was here to help you, Terran?”
Shivers shot down Justin’s spine as he realized the voice belonged to the person trying to kill him. “Well, color me surprised. I wouldn’t expect a pirate to up and surrender.”
“I’m not surrendering, Terran. Why are you here in our nebula?”
Justin scanned his HUD. No contacts beyond the flickers. “I wasn’t aware you’d formed a nation-state and laid claim to it. My bad. Did I miss the border inspection station?”
More laughter issued from the commlink. “You’ve got some spunk, Terran. That’s better than most of you God botherers. Always blabbering on about how everyone else isn’t as good, and the Terran Coalition is the ultimate arbiter of justice.”
Mildly confused, Justin hoped the conversation was distracting the other pilot. Because it's sure as hell distracting me. He looped around, avoiding gas clouds and searching for the hostile craft. “We’re here to protect innocent freighter crews from being blown out of space by the likes of you.”
“Not so innocent, though, are they? Carrying materials for your war machine.”
“What’s it to you?”
The other man snickered. “So, tell me this, Terran. Why do people who cling to faith in some fairy-tale man in the sky go around killing people? Your ship has murdered dozens of my friends in the last few days. I thought killing was against your supposed Godly laws.”
“We kill in self-defense against enemies that attack us. That’s not murder.” With a start, Justin realized he’d not even thought to challenge the pirate’s assumption he was a believer. Wow. I have changed.
“Allow me to share some wisdom with you, Terran. The fairy-tale man doesn’t exist. All that’s out there is what we can hold with our hands and see with our eyes. Nothing else matters.”
“I used to think that,” Justin replied. He whipped around an energy discharge and reversed direction yet again. Wait. Triangulate the comms signal! Suddenly it made sense why the other pilot was engaged in the conversation. “But I’ve changed my mind.” Justin quickly configured his sensor array to lock on to the other signal.
“A Terran that doesn’t believe?” The pirate’s voice shot up an octave. “Surprising. Not surprising that you were forced to change.”
“No one forced me. I… I realized there’s proof of a higher power in the beauty of the universe. In how everything fits together and how
