Last of the Immortals (The Jessica Keller Chronicles Book 3) (33 page)

There was a man over her. He had a gun. Looked like a gun. Hard to tell what kind when you was looking up the barrel, but certainly weren’t a nice thing. Same uniform as before. Station maintenance. Drab. Boring. Chameleon. He were certainly no local.

“Where is the
Sentience
?” he growled down at her. The gun never moved, so she didn’t bother doing anything stupid enough to get her killed right now.

“Yer too late, bucko,” she chirped. “She done gots away.”

That were dumb. He nearly shot her in his sudden rage.

“You’re lying,” he rasped after he got hold of himself. “Take me to her.”

Well, crap. Technically true. But it were only a little lie. Eminently forgivable, all things considered.

“Well, fine,” Moirrey said. “But you won’t like it.”

“Why not,
Aquitaine
?” he snarled.

“Because I’m already here, assassin,” Suvi’s voice rang in the tiny chamber, making everything right with the world.

Moirrey watched the man start to spin, suddenly standing between two women as Suvi in her new android babe body emerged from the hallway,
Sentience
made semi–organic flesh.

Moirrey went to kick the man in the ankle, figuring she could at least try to knock him down, but she hadn’t taken into account how fast that android body could move.

Suvi surged forward and wrapped her hand around the man’s fist and gun, stopping him cold.

Moirrey heard bones crack as Suvi crushed his hand. A second later, a fist lashed out and Moirrey heard bones in the guy’s head and neck rupture. It were like popping a chicken. At least Suvi didn’t actually rip his head off. Blood everywhere woulda sucked about now.

Moirrey blinked as Suvi dropped the man’s corpse and stepped close.

“Moirrey, are you hurt?” Suvi said.

Moirrey looked up and smiled. Suvi had originally looked just like the picture on the screen, but then they’d gone all makeup and style. You could still see Suvi under there, but ya hadta know she were there to be sure. Anybody looking at her would see just another cute redhead on the street.

“I’m fine,” Moirrey said as Suvi took her hand and pulled her upright. “We gots to get gone. Red Admiral’s coming.”

“Agreed,” Suvi agreed. “Follow me.”

Chapter LXII

Date of the Republic June 16, 394 Above Ballard

The projection didn’t lie, much as Jessica wished it did. The Imperials had split, two of them obviously running uphill to the edge of the gravity well as fast as tired legs could carry them.

The Blackbird had turned inward, towards the planet. It was obvious what he was about. And her team was entirely out of position to stop him.

CR–264
had turned to port to come around, so she was facing exactly the wrong direction. The flight wing was at almost a dead stop, relative.
Stralsund
was fixing things as fast as she could, but still getting the cobwebs out of her head.
Rajput
was entirely unresponsive. At least
Brightoak
was on something like a useful line, if she could kill enough momentum, turn fast enough, and engage in a stern pursuit.

“Bridge, this is Keller,” she said urgently. “Come to zero–seven–five and prepare to go after him.
Brightoak
, get here as soon as you can.”

“Engineering,” she continued after a beat. “Oz, I know you keep a checklist of stupid ideas that you reviewed before we started. I need everything you can give me, right now. If you have to blow the engines apart to catch that man, do it, under my authority.”

“We shall endeavor, Commander,” Oz replied crisply.

Jessica took a deep breath.

“Someone send Moirrey a warning that she just ran out of time.”

Ξ

Furious
let her fighter drift as everybody got organized.
Jouster
’s team had gotten hammered by the escort going by, but had managed to avoid getting killed.
Uller
,
Vienna
, and
Starfall
were all looking at major repair work before they flew again. Everyone else had blasted the battlecruiser and then high–tailed it for safety, waiting for the order to return to base and take a shower.

And now that bastard Imperial was going for broke.

The math was new. She’d never flown something with this much power before. It took a second. Helpfully, there was a little indicator on her panel that crunched the numbers faster than she could.

Yeah, she could do it.

It was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard of, but it was also the only way.

“
Jouster
,” she said brightly. “Back soon.”

And then she spun on her gyros, got her nose around, and redlined the engines.
Bitter Kitten
had taught her how to do that trick just right. It helped right now.

“
Furious
,”
Jouster
called back, not angry, but surprised. “What are you doing?”

“
M–6
has enough power to catch him, boss,” she replied. “
M–5
doesn’t. Somebody’s got to try.”

“You’re taking on a battleship by yourself, youngster?”

She stuck her tongue out at the universe in reflex.

“Something like that. Dragon Lady needs all the help she can get right now.”

“Good luck, then,”
Jouster
said. “The rest of you, stay close until we’re sure that the other two aren’t coming back to play.
da Vinci
, you’re on. Give me a hard pulse scan for lifepods, escape boats, and survivors in suits so we can help coordinate rescue teams after they get people to
Rajput
.”

Furious
was amazed at the amount of acceleration she was under. Around her, the little fighter actually started to shimmy until she tweaked a few settings and deadened all her drift. The Imperial battleship was a gray whale in the distance, monstrous on her scanners and slowly resolving itself into a man–made object as she watched.

They might be able to accelerate to a stupid top speed, but she was coming in on an angle that cut his corner and would let her blast across his butt, hopefully before he started shooting at the station. What she’d do when she got there was a matter of conjecture.

Seriously, he’s a battleship, and I’m a melee fighter. Guns and attitude? Am I really that crazy
?

“Hey,
Furious
,” Bitter Kitten called over the private team comm. She sounded like she was lifting a ton of weight. “Come left a couple of degrees and up a shade. Trust me.”

Furious
dialed her scanners back a notch.
Bitter Kitten
was behind her. Not far, but maintaining almost the same acceleration, and on a slightly different line.
Furious
brought her nose around the requested amount. The other woman’s inertial compensators must be overloading to hold her steady.

“How are you doing that,
Kitten
?” she asked. “Those fighters can’t output that much power.”

“They can,” Bitter Kitten slurred back slowly under the force of the weight on her chest. “If you don’t mind cooking the engines. Was going to spring this on
Jouster
sometime in a sim run. Red Admiral’s almost as good. ’Sides, we’re either dead or heroes at this point.”

Furious
had to agree. But nobody signed up for flight school to live forever. Missiles would be really nice about now, though.

She watched a swarm of missiles slowly close on the battleship from both
Auberon
and the destroyer leader. It was a losing proposition at this speed, since he could slowly pick them off before they got to him. Still, that was energy not in the guns or the shields. Every erg might help. He had to be hurting from all the previous damage.

Maybe it would be enough.

She was chasing an Imperial battleship in a melee fighter.

But at least she had friends.

Chapter LXIII

Imperial Founding: 172/06/16. Ballard system

Emmerich blinked and actually checked the numbers on his readout a second time.
Auberon
was somehow closing the gap, chasing him from astern as he went full speed. He would not have believed that that class of vessel had that much
power
available. That went double considering that it had been through a jousting pass with
Petrograd
.

Jessica Keller might actually catch him before he was able to pulverize the station and kill the
Sentience
.

For a mad moment, he considered halting his acceleration and letting the woman catch him. If his crew had trained for it, now would be the exact moment to pull the trick the little destroyer
Rajput
had done on him at
Sarmarsh IV
, killing the engines and spinning in place to race backwards at full speed with all the guns pointed aft to engage
Auberon
. That was what the moment demanded.

Alas, to do so would be to court destruction right now. He might kill the carrier and the woman, but the destroyer leader
Brightoak
would be able to catch him if he did that. After everything else, to die so ignominiously, on the verge of escape, would be the final insult to his crew and their loyalty. And especially to his Emperor.

To add insult to injury, launching missiles backwards was almost as futile as
Aquitaine
launching them at him.
Amsel
was moving so quickly now that the missiles would have to come to a dead stop relative, in order to lunge at
Auberon
, giving her ample opportunity to swat them down like annoying insects.

And damage had reduced the throw to only three tubes right now. It would probably be possible to repair at least two of the launching systems, but to do so would divert damage control resources that were currently keeping the shields and engines running as he raced inwards.

Perhaps, he could swing around after the station was destroyed?

No. Best to leave well enough alone. He was without his frigates and in terminal danger in this vicinity.

The local defense fighter squadron included a pair of small patrol cutters, as well as a dozen fighters. They could not catch him on this path and at this speed, but his vessel could not survive many more encounters with that much firepower at close range.

“Navigation,” Emmerich said sternly. “Time to engagement range.”

“Four minutes, Admiral,” the pilot replied instantly. “We will remain in functional range with the primaries for approximately three minutes before we begin to power out of a close orbit and set course for the edge of the gravity well.”

“Very good, man,” he said. “Maintain.”

It would be close. Primaries did an amazing amount of damage against unshielded hulls, but the station was huge. It would be like lancing a boil, hoping to open the skin of the place up. Fortunately, he could send missiles ahead of him to keep the defenders busy. Not enough to succeed, most likely, but it never hurt to try.

“Missile officer,” Emmerich continued. “Begin launching your missiles at
Alexandria Station
now. Fire at will, as fast as you can reload and plot courses. Do not wait for the order to fire.”

“Acknowledged, Admiral.”

Yes. The
Sentience
, at least, would die today.

Chapter LXIV

Date of the Republic June 16, 394 Above Ballard

Jessica had heard about Tomas Kigali’s run into
Ballard
orbit. For actual velocity, she had long since blown by his mark for violating acceptable orbital safety speeds. It was a good thing that there were no other craft in orbit right now.

Very little chance of an orbital collision.

Pity the militia’s station had no missile turrets. A little offense right now would be nice, instead of all the defensive batteries protecting it against pirates and raiders.

Something in her projection got her attention.

“Enej,” she called out to the flag centurion. “What are those two maniacs doing?”

Most of the flight wing was much farther up–orbit, protecting
Stralsund
and
Rajput
and looking for survivors. Two of them, however, were actually overhauling the two big warships.

Her flag centurion actually turned to look at her and mutely shrugged.

She checked the icons.

Bitter Kitten
and
Furious
.

Yes, she should have known.
Jouster
might have gotten most of the crazy knocked out of his flying. These two seemed to have swept it up when nobody was looking. Like eating your enemy’s heart for power.

Still, it was another blade in her hand. Now, to use it.

“Tactical, this is Keller,” she said.

“Tactical,” Tamara replied instantly.

“I’m sending you an engagement solution that includes
Bitter Kitten
and
Furious
. Launch the two remaining Archerfish–Threes along this arc and prepare to go to guns with
Amsel
.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Acknowledged and programmed, Commander,” Tamara said.

Okay, one down
.

“Flag, this is
Auberon
,” Denis said suddenly into her private comm. “
Brightoak
has just gone ballistic.”

She checked the icon on the side of her projection.
Brightoak
was slowing down. No, she was remaining at the same speed, and everyone else was still under power, slowly pulling away from the destroyer. Two missiles launched, but they were nothing more than an insulting gesture at this point.

“
Brightoak
, this is the flag,” Jessica said. “What is your status?”

“Flag,
Brightoak
,” Robbie Aeliaes replied quickly. “We’ve suffered an engine event. I’ve shut everything down until we can stabilize and make repairs. If he slows down enough, I’ll be able to fire at him, but no more chasing until we fix things.”