Homeworld (Odyssey One) (78 page)

Carrow grimaced but nodded as he checked the telemetry of the other Confederate ship on reflex. The
Odyssey
had attracted the bulk of the enemy attentions, leaving the
Enterprise
free to complete her immediate mission. They were dry of rounds for the one-meter guns now, and he was actually at a loss for what else he could do.

The news on the
Odyssey
was almost a minute old now, so there was little help he could offer them for the moment. The
Enterprise
had its own problems anyway.

“Get me a flight of Vorpals loaded for bear,” he said. “Grizzly.”

“Aye, sir. We’ve got a heavy strike squad on the deck now.”

“Get them into space and have them communicate my dislike for those pursuing cruisers,” Carrow ordered.

“Aye, aye, sir.”

A heavy strike squad could handle the couple cruisers the
Enterprise
had been deemed worthy of, something that left him wondering if he should be insulted or relieved.

Relieved, I guess,
he decided after a second. Most likely the
Enterprise
just hadn’t annoyed them quite to the point of the
Odyssey
, so they weren’t a priority at this time. He’d take the edge, even if it hurt his pride a little.

“Send to
Odyssey
,” he ordered. “Ask if they require any aid.”

“Aye, sir. Sending.”

That wouldn’t get there soon enough to help solve anything really serious, but maybe the
Odyssey
would need something that the
Enterprise
would be able to realistically provide. Anything was possible, after all.

“The fleet is closing to within five hours of Earth, sir.”

Carrow nodded, though he didn’t really have much he could say or do about it. The
Enterprise
’s guns were dry, they had no FTL strike capacity at this point, and the enemy fleet had an insurmountable lead on them.

Even if they could close, there were still
hundreds
of enemy ships left, far more than the
Enterprise
or the
Odyssey
, or even both together, could handle. Charging in now would only get his crew killed, and it wouldn’t save a single damned soul on Earth.

A deep cold pit of ice was sitting in his gut, and the hell of it was that Carrow knew that it was only going to get colder.

PLANETARY SPACE NEAR
ODYSSEY

CARDSHARP SWORE UNDER her breath as she rolled her fighter to the left to avoid a sweeping beam from a pursuing fighter. The interference had slacked off, and she could now contact the
Odyssey
, but actually getting there was turning out to be a major problem. With her left thrusters blown out, all she could do was fire the right ones and go left, left, and left again.

So far she’d wasted more time going in circles avoiding fire than she had managed to put into getting back to the
Odyssey
.

Somewhere behind her, Stephanos was still flying. She knew that because occasionally his voice would break through the interference, but mostly because his IFF hadn’t gone silent yet, and she was praying constantly that nothing happened to him in the pursuit of saving her ass.

Thoughts like that would have to wait, however, since her warning alarms wouldn’t
shut the hell up,
and she had this bad feeling that ignoring them would lead to bad things.

“This is Angel Three. I’m declaring an emergency,” she said, trying to sound calmer than she was. “I’ve lost
port-side maneuvering thrusters and will need a crash cart. Do you copy?”

When nothing but static filled her channel, Jennifer was about to chuck it all out the window and just pray for a miracle. Training, however, had something to say about that, so she repeated her statement and even got most of the way through before her proximity alarms went off again.

“Son of a bitch, leave me the
hell
alone, you monstrous pricks!” she snarled over her shoulder, eyes searching for the fighter that her craft told her was there.

Her augmented display lit him up and she thumbed her turret into action, bringing it around to engage the target when fire lit up the sky behind her like the Fourth of July.

“What the….”

“Angel Three, this is
Odyssey
control. You are clear for emergency approach, deck two. Confirm.”

She twisted around, eyes lighting up as she spotted the
Odyssey
coming straight for her, the flight deck’s big maw looking as welcoming as anything she’d ever seen before or expected to ever see again.

“Roger,
Odyssey
control. Deck two, confirmed.” Jennifer breathed out a sigh of relief as the big ship loomed ahead, point defense guns blazing.

On the bridge of the
Odyssey
, Eric Weston watched the brief puffs of light that signified the end of enemy fighters ahead of them. They were firing furiously, attempting to destroy the enemy fighters before any of them got any kamikaze thoughts. So far it seemed to be working.

He hoped that it would hold up, but for the moment his thoughts were elsewhere.

“As soon as we have the area cleared and the Angels back on board, lay a course for Earth.”

Daniels nodded, not looking back.

“Earth. Aye, aye, sir.”

This was all just a sideshow. The curtain on the feature was about to go up several light-minutes away.

Eric knew he was going to miss the opening scenes, but he intended to be there for the finale.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Station Liberty

“THE ENEMY SHIPS will enter cislunar space in a few minutes, ma’am.”

Gracen nodded. “Understood. Stand by, orbital defenses.”

“The grid stands ready, ma’am. Orbital defenses are at your command.”

Gracen nodded, walking to a central station and laying her hand on a scanner. “I have command.”

Earth’s orbital grid was a mish-mash of new and old systems, not even a tenth as deadly as it should be due to political considerations that, until very recently, seemed so incredibly important. Most of what was there was down-looking kinetic weaponry and spy technology about as useful as spitballs against what was coming.

Some, however, was new or highly illegal. Both of those categories were of some value, at least. Nuclear missiles, highly illegal but designed as bunker busters to take out Block deep-core command facilities, and newer HVM launchers that were even more powerful but almost infinitely cleaner.