11
They were still two minutes out from the Beauregard’s cargo deck when the first signs of trouble came. Light attack clippers, the three-man-style ships he and Pomeroy had seen activated in the ship’s hold, came swarming out of the Ark. As near as Clement could tell they were in triangle formations, which was a standard tactic for LACs. The biggest problem, though, was that there were a lot of triangles.
“Estimate of the number of LACs, Pomeroy?” Clement said.
“At least sixty,” she replied.
“We probably saw five times that number on the Ark.”
“Then these are likely only the first group of teams to come out of hydro sleep.”
Clement nodded agreement. “They have way too much firepower for this shuttle,” he said, then called up Yan again. “Yan, I need my ship moving the moment we’re down on the cargo deck.”
“Understood, sir. Based on my observations so far those LACs warm up slow, especially after fifty years in hydro suspension. Likely the crews aren’t very much ‘with it’ either. I know I’d be groggy after sleeping half a century,” she said.
“We can’t make any assumptions, Commander, just preparations. Get those nukes loaded and ready to fire, and set all of our conventional missiles to proximity detonation. There’s too many LACs to ensure we can get them all with individual missiles.”
“Understood, sir. See you in thirty seconds,” replied Yan. Clement looked down at his watch, just to confirm.
“Take us in, Pomeroy,” he said.
They landed hard and fast and Clement immediately made for the bridge, only pausing to let the air pressure between the cargo deck and the air lock equalize. He swept onto his bridge still in his EVA suit and took the center seat from Yan. She had immediately started the Beauregard on an escape path using the Ion plasma drive, but the old girl still took time to accelerate, and those LACs were closing to firing range. He got immediately on the com to Telco in the forward missile room.
“What’s the status of my nukes, Middie?” he demanded.
“Locked and loaded in the tubes, sir,” said Telco.
“Captain, we may want to wait on the nukes as a last resort, not a first option.” This came from Yan.
Clement scanned his tactical screen, which identified the sixty incoming LACs, and it didn’t look like they were coming to negotiate.
“Middie, load the main tubes with conventional missiles first, proximity warhead settings. Keep the nukes on standby, but I want them ready when I need them, Telco, or you’ll be scrubbing the bathrooms all the way home,” said Clement.
“Understood, Captain,” replied Telco.
Clement looked to Yan. “You could have made that suggestion earlier,” he said.
“I know, but—”
“No time, Yan,” Clement said as he waved her off. He stood and started peeling off his EVA suit while giving orders at the same time. “Ivan, plot us a course that will take us toward Bellus. If that Ark wants to chase us they’ll have to break off their original course to follow us. That could save us some time. What do you think, Mika?”
She turned from the pilot’s seat, thinking for a second, then pulled up her plasma screen and made some calculations. “A day, maybe two if they parallel us. But they could also choose to use Alphus as a slingshot without a course change. If they do that, it might be less,” she said.
“Why so little time?” asked Clement.
Ori canted her head a bit, looking at him. “This system is really packed. The planets are very close together compared to the 5 Suns, or even the Rim system, and thus easier to get to.”
Clement nodded as he finished removing his EVA suit and tossed it aside, then sat back down at the captain’s console. “We need another option,” he said. He checked the tactical board, which showed the Earth Ark LACs were within eight minutes of firing range. He called down to Nobli. “Hassan, can we use the LEAP drive inside the system?”
“Well, yeah, you can use it anywhere. You just have to be aware it can cause collateral damage,” replied Nobli.
“At this point that might be to our advantage. Can we navigate with it?”
“You mean use it as the main drive? I don’t know. It was designed to get you from star system to star system, not planet to planet, which is a pinpoint target. Where did you want to go?”
“Bellus,” he said.
“Jesus, Jared, that’s a big ask. The calculations would take—”
“Five minutes, Hassan. I want your best guess to Ivan by that time. And make sure the drive is warm. We could need it at any time.”
“Impossible to do, Captain. But of course if that’s an order . . . ”
“It is.”
“Understood, sir.”
Clement cut the line and then turned to Yan at the XO’s console. “Battle status, XO.”
“They’re faster than us now, sir. They’ll reach firing range on us in seven minutes, thirty seconds,” said Yan.
“Engage the static field, and load up the first volley of missiles, Commander.”
“Aye, sir,” said Yan, scrambling over her board. The static field was designed to protect the ship from micrometeorites or small kinetic weapons like ball bearings, which could tear a ship to pieces if it was going the right speed.
“Prepare to fire on my mark.”
Yan looked up at him. “Sir,” she said, acknowledging her readiness.
The LACs were closing on the Beauregard and Clement had precious few seconds left to make his decisions. He called down to Nobli one last time.
“Do you have my calculation?” Clement demanded.
“I do, sir,” replied Nobli. “It’s rough, but a 0.085 second application of the LEAP drive should be enough to get us clear of the battlefield and propel us in the general direction of Bellus. I uploaded the calc to Ivan and he has the new control app.”
“Very good, engineer. One more thing.”
“There always is.”
“The control app for the MAD weapon.”
Nobli stayed silent for a moment, then said, “Already uploaded to your command console, sir.”
Clement looked to his board and confirmed it was there.
“Do you intend to use it, sir?”
“Only in an emergency. Will it hinder our ability to use the LEAP drive for our escape?”
“Well, I don’t recommend using them at the same time. That might rip a hole in our universe, or explode the whole damn thing. Just remember when you use the MAD it acts like a bypass valve. Once you activate it the power will flow out of the ship until you give the stop command, then the valve will turn off automatically. Like flipping a dead man switch.”
“So I could use it as a weapon, then use the LEAP drive right after?” asked Clement.
“Theoretically, yes, sir.”
“Thank you, Nobli.” Clement looked down and activated the MAD control app. It lit up green on his console, then went to amber as he put it on standby.
“Yan, best guess to enemy firing range?”
She shrugged. “Any second now, Captain,” Yan replied. Mika Ori turned quickly from her pilot’s console.
“Incoming missiles, Captain,” she reported.
“Sound the alarm. Evade and distract,” Clement ordered. Claxons went off throughout the ship as Ori accelerated the Beauregard using the Xenon thrusters on top of the Ion plasma drive to evade the incoming missiles. She also activated her defensive countermeasures at the same time. Clement watched as the initial barrage of a dozen missiles were easily distracted by the Beauregard’s defenses, exploding harmlessly in the jungle of chaff well away from her hull.
“Initial barrage ineffective, sir,” reported Ori. “It appears their weapons use simple heat-seeking targeting. Good thing we warm up our countermeasures. Easily handled by our defenses, sir.”
“So far, Mika. But I bet our friends learn quickly.” He turned to Ivan Massif. “Ivan, program in our escape route to Bellus using a 0.085 second burst from the LEAP drive. I want to be ready to bug out as quickly as possible.”
“Already done, sir,” said Massif. It was the navigator who would control the LEAP burst from his navigation position.
“Shall we return fire, sir?” asked Yan in a rather urgent tone. “They’re prepping another volley.”
Clement shook his head. “Not yet, Yan. Let’s see what our friends do next.”
A few seconds later and the fleet of LACs answered with a second, and then a third barrage of twelve missiles each. Ori turned the Beauregard this way and that, swaying as the missiles approached. Clement didn’t have to call for countermeasures this time. Mika knew her job.
The missile groups had been fired seconds apart, in a crisscrossing pattern to counter the Beauregard’s defenses. The first batch fell prey to the countermeasures again, but the second was more effective, with three of the missiles acquiring a targeting ping on Beauregard.
“Defensive missiles, Yan,” ordered Clement. Without a word Yan launched six conventional missiles to intercept the incoming enemy fire. All three enemy missiles were taken out at a range of five kilometers from the Beauregard.
“Reload conventional missiles,” Yan called down to Telco in the missile room. Then she turned to Clement. “Five klicks isn’t much of a safety margin,” she said.
Clement nodded. “Agreed. Mika, how fast are they closing on us?”
Without turning she replied, “That five-kilometer cushion will be gone in two minutes, sir.”
Clement hit his com. “Missile room, this is the captain. Belay that last missile command. Load two of the nuclear warhead missiles into the launchers. I repeat, load two nukes into launchers. Commander Yan will be down with her activation key.”
“Aye, sir,” said Telco, a bit of quaver apparent in his voice, even over the com.
Clement looked to Yan. “Go,” he said with a nod. “Get Wilcock. I’ll fire the missiles from here.” She went.
Clement turned to Massif at the navigation station. “Ivan, prepare to activate the LEAP drive on the course Engineer Nobli gave you on my order.”
“Sir,” snapped Massif in acknowledgement.
Clement waited as the light attack clipper fleet closed again on the Beauregard. He got a green light confirming the nuclear missiles were locked and loaded. Yan came back to her station presently.
Then the LACs launched their next missile volley.
“Incoming! Thirty seconds!” declared Ori from her station. Clement didn’t have to order the evasive countermeasures.
Five groups of twelve missiles launched in volleys one second apart, streaming in toward the Beauregard in a weave pattern that would be impossible to avoid. They were going to get their target, one way or another. Clement activated the MAD weapon and held his finger over the firing button, but he still had one more card to play.
“Commander Yan, are the nukes ready to fire?” he said over the com.
“Aye, sir,” Yan replied.
“On my mark. Countdown please.”
“Twenty seconds.”
“Hold.”
“Fifteen seconds.”
“Hold.”
“Ten—”
“Fire!”
The ship shook as the nukes rolled out of the launch tubes and accelerated at hyper-Mach speeds, far outpacing the incoming missiles. They all watched on the main tactical display as the nukes closed to proximity range of the enemy missiles in seconds, then detonated.
Nothing.
“Insufficient detonation, Captain!” exclaimed Yan over the com. “Nukes did not explode!”
Clement looked to the incoming countdown clock, which was at 0:03 . . .
“Ivan—” he said.
Then the universe shifted around him.