Homeworld (Odyssey One) (60 page)

“Weston was a loose cannon in the Marines, he was a loose cannon in the Archangels, and he’s been a frigging
loaded
loose cannon since they put him in command of that damned ship,” Parker said in a low voice, her impression of the man practically dripping from every word.

Carrow wasn’t going to counter her on that. Weston’s actions outside the system were just short of infamy at this point, though the Block captain had certainly managed to overshadow him this time around. That said, there was no question why the
Odyssey
captain had been given tactical command of the fight, particularly further out in the star system.

Weston knew the enemy, and with light-speed lag being what it was, there was no possible way that military command on Earth could do more than watch the fight until it got far too
close for comfort. That left, realistically, only Eric Weston and himself up for the job. Whatever else could be said, Weston was the senior officer on scene and he was also the one who had the best working relationship with their Priminae allies.

The two Priminae big ships were flanking the
Odyssey
, with the
Enterprise
taking up the drag position in their little convoy. Taken as a group, he had to admit that the power represented was almost frightening, despite the fact that it was all aimed away from him and the Earth.

Almost. Only almost, simply because the power aimed
at
us beggars it without trying.

“Do we have a ship count yet?” he asked, glancing over to his instrumentation technician.

“No, Captain. The mutual interference between incoming ships is still too strong.”

“We’ll have them on visual in a few hours,” Parker spoke up, “so it hardly matters.”

Carrow nodded. “I know, but I’d just like to
know
, you know?”

His first officer grimaced, causing him to chuckle softly.
Andrea hates wordplay almost as much as she hates puns.

“What do you suppose our odds are here?” Parker asked after a moment, choosing to ignore his last statement, apparently.

“You’ve seen the stats on their weapons capabilities,” Carrow said, his voice lowering so he wouldn’t be overheard by anyone. “We’re just waiting to see how many they’ll throw at us now, but if there are more than a couple dozen ships left after we empty our long guns….”

He trailed off, but she nodded beside him.

Even optimistically, once they got down to knife range they could only splash a few ships apiece. She’d seen the reports of
what these things did to worlds to which they had unrestricted access, so he was certain that she understood what was going to happen when they fell.

God, I’m being a depressing little shit even in my own mind. Can’t let the crew see me even thinking like this.

“I can’t believe the Block ship ran like that,” Parker admitted, changing the subject away from the uncomfortable truth. “Don’t like those bastards much, but I’ve never seen a coward among them.”

“They have their fair share,” Carrow said, “but not too many of them make captain of a ship. Most of the ones I’ve run into were generals.”

Andrea made a strangled sound and he glanced sideways, watching in amusement as she clamped down on any effort to so much as smile. He did find it amusing to wind up his serious and stoic first officer.

“That said, you’ve got a point. I’ve crossed steel with Captain Sun before. He’s no coward,” Carrow said. “Best guess there are secret orders. We weren’t watching them too closely during repair and refit. I bet they could have fit a few thousand people on board if they stressed the life support.”

Andrea raised an eyebrow. “Colony attempt, sir?”

“Maybe,” Carrow said. “We don’t have enough details to guess, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few empty offices in the Block’s upper echelons right now.”

“Well, that makes me more optimistic already,” she replied dryly.

“Doesn’t it, though?”

N.A.C.S.
ODYSSEY

THE
ODYSSEY
HAD taken the vanguard position of the convoy, her armor set to the gleaming white-knight settings used earlier while her sensor sails were fully unfurled, surrounding the ship in a cloud of metallic silver.

Eric hoped it was a sufficiently impressive sight, since everything he had was riding on them getting the complete and undivided attention of the Drasin ships once they entered Sol system.

Everything everyone else has is riding on it, too.

“Newest estimates on enemy numbers, sir,” Michelle offered from the side.

“Are they any lower than the last revision?”

“No, sir.”

“Didn’t think so,” Eric sighed. “Well, it’s going to be one for the history books.”

“Wouldn’t mind being around to write those books, sir,” Roberts said quietly beside him.

Eric smiled. “Can’t promise that.”

“No, sir, I don’t suppose you can,” Roberts sighed. “Would be nice though.”

“How about I promise you that, no matter what, this one is going to be a…bang,” Eric offered with a wide smile.

“I suppose it’ll do,” Roberts nodded grimly.

In deep space, just outside the heliopause of the star known to Terrans as Sol, the Drasin fleet slowed to sub-light speeds and took a moment to examine the immediate area around them. Finding nothing of threat to them, they turned their focus inwards to the target star and its planets, finding instantly what their lost brethren had reported.

The red band burned through this system like a burning rash, illuminating several planets, some sub-planets and moons, and even some areas of
empty space!

The entire system would have to be destroyed. Every planet, every rock, every ball of ice and mud. Nothing less would be acceptable, given the severity of the contamination they were looking at, and it might even have reached the star itself…though that was a rare event to say the least.

The fleet hesitated for a moment, judging tactics and attempting to prioritize targets, and then light-speed scanners made their decision for them.

The ship.

It had plagued them practically since operations began in this arm of the galaxy, and there it was in plain sight. None of the frustrating hiding, as it had done so many times before, just a blazing challenge to the swarm.

Challenge accepted
.

On the
Posdan
, Captain Kian watched her screens with growing nervousness. The computers on the
Posdan
and the
Nept
were linked, using the few light-seconds spacing between them to help filter the interference they were getting from the multiple bowshock signals so they could see what they were really facing.

It was a nightmare.

It could only be a nightmare, because she was firmly convinced that nothing in the waking universe should be so horrendous as what she was looking at. The numbers were still estimates, but they were also low-end estimates, and they were growing.

“Fourteen hundred enemy ships, still counting, Captain.”

Kian, for her part, acknowledged the report dully, barely able to comprehend the numbers in context. They were looking at as many Drasin as there were merchant ships in all the colonies, including in-system mining vessels and local passenger craft! It was just mind-numbing, staggering…it was
impossible!

If they had this many ships, then
why
were they assaulting us with one ship, two ships, at most six?

None of it made any sense to her, not their actions, and certainly not a universe that would
allow
such numbers of Drasin to even exist.

“They have seen us, Captain.”

Kian felt a chill at those words, even as she had been expecting them. After all, they’d hardly been hiding their presence, had they? For whatever reason, Weston seemed intent on
providing
the enemy with a target this time, something that was entirely out of character with what she knew of his combat operations in the past. She had to wonder what he was holding back?

“Have they adjusted course?”

“Yes, Captain, as Captain Weston predicted. They’re now approaching on a direct intercept for our location.”

“Good. Send our predictions to the
Odyssey
,” she said, trying to appear confident, even as her mind raced with concerns and fears.
I just hope that Captain Weston knows what he’s doing.