Mutineer (25 page)

“Beat to quarters, Mister Lain,” she said, a bit surprised at how calm she sounded. “But keep the guns inboard. Half those with vacsuits to the sail locker and half to the guns, please.” She waited while the bosun rushed forward to the ship’s mess deck where the guns and the bulk of the men were.

Vacsuits were another thing they lacked. The merchantman normally had a crew of twenty-six, including the captain and mates, far fewer than the number of
Hermiones
now crammed aboard. She’d told the bosun to assign those suits to the sail and gun crews as best he could. Some of the men would be in suits that were ill-fitting and all of them have complaints about the plumbing. Alexis would have no suit at all — there’d be none small enough for her, and as for that plumbing, well,
Trau Wunsch
had an all-male crew.

When the mess deck was cleared for action and the air evacuated, those without suits would have to cram onto the quarterdeck or into the holds as best they could. The thought of going into action in this fragile hulled scow with most of her crew unsuited filled Alexis with dread.

“Keep the Hanoverese colors flying, Moreton,” she said, “but be ready to replace them with our own.” Flying false colors was a legitimate ruse of war, but the first shot had to be fired under their true colors.

Alexis looked at the navigation plot for a moment and shook her head. There was no chance of outrunning the Hanoverese pinnace. Even though
Trau Wunsch
had three large masts to the much smaller pinnace’s one, the maintenance on her particle projector had been neglected and none of the sails could be fully charged.

I do believe I’ve stolen the worst-kept ship in the entire universe.

“Signal
Will Comply
, Moreton,” she said. “They’ll expect us to take a moment to send men out to work the sails.”

The bosun returned, followed by ten of the men all in vacsuits. Shortly after they’d made their way into the sail locker, Captain Neals and the rest of
Hermione’s
officers entered the quarterdeck. Alexis had given them the master’s quarters, crowded though it was. It gave them some privacy and kept them out of the way of the rest of the crew. Alexis herself had been standing watch-and-watch, bedding down for a few hours’ sleep in a corner.

“What are you about, Carew?” Neals demanded. “Why was quarters sounded?”

“Sir, there’s a Hanoverese pinnace after us,” she said. “If you could please —”

Neals rested his hands on the edge of the navigation plot and leaned over, eyes narrowing. “You let him get this close? You incompetent …”

Alexis clenched her jaw.

“Sir,” Williard said. “We may really not participate in the action, we—”

“Oh, bugger the parole, Williard,” Neals snapped. “I’ll not put my life in this … girl’s hands.” Neals continued to study the plot and shook his head. “Look at what she’s gotten us into. We can’t outrun him and there’s certainly no way we can fight with this tub she dragged us onto. Our only hope is to strike.”

Alexis stared at him for a moment, then her stomach clenched with rage. He thought he’d just walk in and take over? Strike without a single shot being fired and send her lads back? Back to whatever work camp the Hanoverese had in mind for them if they were lucky, or to be executed for escaping at the worst?

Alexis leaned close to Moreton and whispered. “My compliments to Sergeant Moberly, Moreton, and he’s to come to the quarterdeck with three marines. Armed.”
Or as much as they can be with what we have aboard.

She squared her shoulders and stepped to the plot opposite Neals. No, she wouldn’t allow it. These lads were her crew now, not his. This ship was hers. She taken it with her crew and this was her quarterdeck. If there was one thing she’d learned of the Navy, it was that a captain was sole master of her ship. No one except the ship’s captain, not even an admiral, gave orders to a ship’s crew. Moberly and three marines had just entered from the companionway.

“Captain Neals,” she said, forcing her voice to remain calm and low. “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave my quarterdeck.”

There was silence for a long moment. Neals slowly raised his eyes from the plot to meet hers. His face red with fury. “
Your
quarterdeck?”

“You are on parole, Captain Neals, you have no authority to give orders.
I
took this ship. It is mine and this crew is mine. I’ll not allow you to send them back to the Hanoverese just because you have no stomach for a fight.”

Williard stepped over to Neals and whispered in his ear.

“Moreton,” Alexis said, not caring what Williard was saying. “Send the lads out of the locker to the sails.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Alexis felt the corner of her lip twitch and her heart swelled. The master of a ship was addressed as captain, regardless of her actual rank. Moreton had just clearly stated where he stood. She resisted the urge to walk over and hug him.

“Allmond, tell me the moment that pinnace comes within range of our guns.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Neals was staring at her, face now white and eyes wide. Alexis could almost sympathize — to him, it must seem almost as though he was facing a second mutiny.

Alexis caught Moberly’s eye and he nodded slightly. Alexis squared her shoulders, the marines would follow Moberly.

“Sergeant,” she said, “Captain Neals and the other officers from
Hermione
are distraught. Please see them safely to their quarters and that they remain safe there throughout the action.”

“Aye, Captain.” Moberly stepped over to Neals. Williard faded back to stand with the midshipmen.

Neals glared at her. “I’ll see you hang for this, Carew.”

“As you wish, Captain Neals, but I’ll see my lads safely home first.”

* * * * *

“On my word, gentlemen, and not before.” Alexis alternated her gaze between the navigation plot and the image of the approaching pinnace.
Trau Wunsch
sat dead in space, her sails doused, but only lightly furled. It would be but a moment’s work for the spacers, still on the masts and fumbling as though they were an incompetent merchant crew, to let them fall again. The pinnace closed, taking in her own sails to heave to close to
Trau Wunsch
. The timing would be critical.

“Guns,” she said. She forced herself to count silently to herself. On the mess deck, the gun crews would be ripping the covers from the gunports. Once those were off, they’d lose communication to the guns except by runner, for this ship carried no gallenium nets to block the radiation of
darkspace
.

“Colors!” she cried. “And sails, now!”

Moreton, on the signals console, stabbed a finger on his console and announced, “Flying the ensign, sir!” just as the first shots flashed out from
Trau Wunsch’s
guns. The sails dropped and charged, filling with a faint, azure glow instead of the bright color shot through with white sparks and lightning that Alexis longed for.
What a piece of shite!
The sails billowed and filled and
Trau Wunsch
began to plod forward, not the rapid leap Alexis had experienced on other ships.

The pinnace fired back,
Trau Wunsch’s
first shots seeming to have done no damage. Her sails dropped as well and flashed azure in the console’s image.
Trau Wunsch
shook and Alexis bit her lip.
Lord, is the hull so frail we can feel a pinnace’s shot strike?

Alexis watched the plot carefully. This action would be a brutal exchange of shot. She couldn’t escape and the pinnace wouldn’t let her, so it would come down to who could pummel the other more thoroughly. The Hanoverese had more and heavier guns, but Alexis had faith in her crew being the faster to reload and fire. Faith that was well justified as the next shots were fired. A trio of light, ineffectual bolts that splashed against the pinnace’s hull with no discernible damage. It was a full forty-five seconds more before the pinnace reloaded and fired again. The ship shook again, the energy of the lasers vaporizing the hull’s thermoplastic.

Damn!
“Target their gunports! We have to reduce their rate of fire.” She watched a runner in a vacsuit hurry off to relay her orders.

Trau Wunsch
fired again, but only two bolts this time and the ship shuddered more than before.
What?
They didn’t fire.

The runner returned. “Targeting gunports, sir, but the number two gun’s tubes have blown!”

Alexis clenched her eyes shut. The gunner had warned her, but she’d hoped they’d last longer. She felt a moment’s fear for the crews on the guns. When the tubes blew, overloaded and worn out from focusing the energy of the lasers, the shot would splinter and fire off within the hull. There was no telling how many had been wounded or killed. The pinnace fired again and
Trau Wunsch
shook, the energy of the thermoplastic hull vaporizing transmitted along her length.

She briefly considered attempting to board the other ship. There were enough men with vacsuits to outnumber the other crew, but not substantially so. The extra fifty or more men on
Trau Wunsch
were useless unless they could be brought to the fight, and all the Hanoverese would have to do was depressurize a compartment to kill them all.

Damn me, but we could outrun them if we only had a decent projector.
But even with its single mast, the pinnace would be able to keep up with them.
A single mast.
Alexis had a sudden thought.
Trau Wunsch
’s guns weren’t heavy enough or many enough to damage a mast in time. They might cut some rigging, but that was all and could be quickly repaired. But without that single mast, the pinnace would have no chance of catching them.

“Everyone in from the sails! All brace for collision!” she shouted, rushing to the helm and hoping the messages could be relayed in time. She waited, anxious, while the order was relayed.
Trau Wunsch
shuddered again as the pinnace fired. She watched the other ship’s position carefully, judging the angles. Another exchange of fire and quarterdeck lights flickered. Somewhere the ship had been holed and some wiring cut. She couldn’t wait any longer.
Please let them be down from the masts
.

“Drop the keelboard! Hard a’starboard, up twenty!”

“Keelboard, aye, sir!” From the bottom of the ship the narrow, telescoping keelboard would be extending. Twenty meters out from the ship, well outside the ship’s field, and containing no gallenium itself, the keelboard would drag and cut against the morass of
darkspace
. Slowing
Trau Wunsch,
but allowing her to turn more sharply and sail at an angle to the winds. The helmsman turned the wheel hard to starboard, toward the Hanoverese pinnace and angling to pass above it. The other ship reacted, but not in time.

Trau Wunsch
slid into its path. The foremast struck first, angled down and to starboard off
Trau Wunsch
’s bow. Its tip struck just behind the pinnace’s bow, yards and rigging entangled. Both ships shuddered and shook, the force of the impact transmitted through their hulls.
Trau Wunsch
kept moving, what she lacked in speed she made up in sheer mass, mass that wouldn’t be stopped by a much smaller ship.

The keelboard struck, crumpling, but also slicing into the pinnace’s hull. Vapor rushed out, forming light colored streams in the ships’ lights. Alexis blinked at the image, it was so odd to see white clouds form in
darkspace
where the sky was full of blackness.

Trau Wunsch
groaned and shook. The images on the console started to roll as she was pulled to the side by contact with the other ship.

“Hard roll a’port!” Alexis yelled. She didn’t want to be pulled into the other ship and become entangled. She needed to crush through it, past it, and be free beyond.
Trau Wunsch
rolled to port, swinging the mizzen mast hard against the pinnace’s bow. Alexis winced as she saw the bow crumple, she’d likely just killed anyone in the other ship’s sail locker. “Everyone up from the guns! Out to the sails and cut us free — save the mainmast, but cut everything else loose!”

Trau Wunsch
ground on through the other ship. Men streamed through the sail locker onto the hull, some even crawled out through the gunports on the mess deck. Rigging was cut, masts and yards cut away without regard to saving any of the materials. The pinnace’s lights flickered once, twice, and then went out completely. Then, when
Trau Wunsch
was loose and again underway, the bosun entered the quarterdeck.

“Mizzen and foremasts are but stumps, sir. The main’s intact but the rigging’s a scandalous mess. Quarter of the keelboard’s gone and another quarter crumpled so’s it won’t retract.” He paused. “Four men dead below when we were holed. Three on the guns when the tubes burst.”

Alexis closed her eyes. She desperately wanted to ask who was dead, who she’d failed to get home safely, but there’d be time enough for that later. Now she had to see to the living.