Rebel (22 page)

"Mr. Odom, any damage to the engines?"

"None," said Odom.

"Do we still have our structural integrity?"

"So far so good," said Odom. The ship shuddered twice more.

Cole looked up at the viewscreen. All he could see were Navy ships, closing in on him from all directions.

"I think," said Sharon's voice, "that they've figured out who we are."

As if to emphasize her point, the
Teddy R
shuddered from three more pulse blasts.

"Mr. Odom, how are our shields holding up?"

"So far so good," said Odom. The ship shuddered again. "But I won't vouch for them if we take another dozen full-force blasts from Level 4 cannons."

"At the rate they're coming," said Cole, "that gives us about forty-five seconds to think of something."

Two more explosions followed in quick succession. "Make that forty," he muttered.

Cole stared at the viewscreen. He counted fifteen Navy ships, and he realized he was probably missing some.

He thought of ordering Wxakgini to back away, but he knew there were ships behind him too. He then considered asking Jacovic if he had any suggestions, but he knew the Teroni would have offered them if he had.

"Bull?"

"Sir?" said Pampas.

"Jettison every mine we have left."

There was a brief pause.

"Done, sir."

"After the first one takes out a ship, at least they'll approach us a little more cautiously," he said to Jacovic.

"Look at
that!"
exclaimed Briggs, pointing to a viewscreen. "No mine did that!"

They all looked, and saw a ship being torn to pieces by a pair of energy pulses. Suddenly a second Navy ship exploded, and then a third.

"What's going on?" said Cole. "I don't see any of our ships firing at them."

"It's coming from the station," said Christine.

"That's got to be Val," said Cole as another ship was destroyed.

"Why her?" asked Briggs.

"Because she hasn't missed yet."

Three more ships exploded, and suddenly they ignored the
Teddy R
and concentrated their fire on the station.

"Pilot!" said Cole. "Get us the hell out of here before they start firing at us again!"

Wxakgini, who was in constant rapport with the navigational computer, instantly withdrew to a distance of five hundred miles.

"Something's wrong," said Cole, staring at the screen. "I thought the Navy only had three hundred ships."

"That's correct, sir," said Briggs.

"We've only got a thousand, counting all the ships that the Octopus and Lafferty bring to the table."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, damn it, either I'm going blind or I see about three thousand ships out there!"

"I just had my computer do a count, sir," said Christine. "There are three thousand six hundred and twenty-seven ships engaged in the battle."

"Put me through to Lafferty," said Cole.

She nodded that the connection had been made.

"Lafferty, there's too damned many ships out there," said Cole. "Are they ours or the Navy's?"

"Ours," replied Lafferty. "You don't think the Navy can spare three thousand ships just to wipe out a space station, do you?"

"Then who the hell
are
they?"

"They're all the men and aliens who live here and work here and dock their ships here," said Lafferty. "This is their home. It's under attack, and they're fighting to defend it." His image displayed a grin. "I think the Navy bit off a little more than it can chew."

"Well, I'll be damned," said Cole.

"Probably," said Lafferty. "But we're going to send the Navy ahead of us to warm up some seats by the fire."

The transmission ended, and Cole turned to Jacovic. "The Navy blew it this time. If you're going to send out a punishment party, you'd better punish the people you're mad at, and not just the first people you come across."

"Still, our side is too disorganized to take any orders or apply any reasonable tactics," noted the Teroni.

"And they're probably too mad, too," said Cole. "I think we'll stay where we are, and withdraw perhaps twenty of our ships and another twenty of the Octopus's to encircle the battlefield, if that's the word for it and I suspect it's not. Let's cut off all escape routes for the Navy."

Jacovic nodded his agreement. "I'll pass the word." He walked over to Christine and began listing the ships and pilots he wanted pulled.

"Incoming message," said Briggs.

"On yours, not Christina's?"

"She's moving them here while she's sending out Jacovic's orders."

"Okay, let's have it."

"Hey, Cole!" yelled Val, her red hair disheveled, grinning like a wild woman. "I got ten of'em! Does that get me a bottle of that Scotch you were drinking?"

"That's up to the Duke," said Cole. "But I'll buy you a bottle if you get ten more."

"You're on!"

"How much damage have they done to the station?"

"These walls have pretty tight molecular bonding," she replied. "I think they've only been breached in three places, and we've got repair crews working on the damage. The biggest problem I've got now is there are so many of
our
ships out there I can't get any clear shots at the enemy."

"It's better than
not
having anyone on our side," said Cole.

"They're really pissed off," she continued. "I've seen you mad at the Navy before, but not like this. It's as if they all decided at once that you can't ignore these bastards anymore, you've got to get into your ships and kill 'em."

"I just wish more than a handful of them had decent weaponry," said Cole.

"It's not stopping them from trying," she said. "I tried to give them a battle cry—'Kill for Cole!'—but they seem to like 'Save Singapore' better."

"No reason why they shouldn't," said Cole. "Singapore's what they're fighting for."

There was an explosion and the transmission went dead.

"What happened?" demanded Cole.

"The station took a major hit right where she was standing," said Briggs. "She never had a chance."

"Nothing can kill her," said Cole.

"Sir, I saw the energy pulse hit, followed by some kind of explosive torpedo."

"I know what you saw," said Cole. "Just keep watching for her signal. That lady is indestructible."

Briggs looked at him as if he'd taken leave of his senses, then shrugged and went back to his computer.

"That was a hell of a hit, Wilson," said Sharon's voice. "I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Before Cole could answer, a familiar female voice came through Briggs's receiver.

"... and no goddamned motherfucking torpedo is going to slow
me
down!"

Val's image slowly appeared, riddled by static. She was sporting a black eye, blood was trickling down her cheek, the shoulder of her uniform was torn and there was more blood, but she seemed, if anything, more vigorous than usual. "Goddamned shitheel's just lucky he's still on his ship and I can't get my hands on him."

Cole smiled. "That's my girl," he said.

"Hey, Cole, I've got to make way for the repair crews. I'm going up to the top level. There are three Level 4 burners up there. Maybe I'll recruit a crew to man them along the way."

"You're closer to the situation than I am," said Cole. "Do what you think best."

"I'll contact you again after I'm there," she said. Suddenly she looked past the holocam that was capturing her image. "Hey, you! Ever fire a cannon?" Pause. "Well, today's a good day to learn. Get your ass up to the top level."

She broke the connection.

"I'll say it again," said Cole. "Give me fifty like her and I could conquer the galaxy."

"Maybe forty-five," amended Jacovic with one of his very rare smiles.

Cole looked over at Briggs's computer. Forty ships had pulled back after receiving the Teroni's orders, but the battle still raged on around the station.

"Are they positioned the way you want them?" asked Cole.

"Yes," said Jacovic.

"You're sure this is the optimum position?"

"Yes," repeated Jacovic.

"Then let's get back into this fight," said Cole.

"We're strategically placed right now," said the Teroni.

"Yeah, but three thousand ships are fighting on our side right now because I decided the Navy wasn't allowed on the Inner Frontier. Maybe they'll look out here and figure out why we pulled back from the battle, but more likely they'll feel like dupes, fighting our battle while we become spectators."

"Why would they think that?" asked Jacovic.

"Because I would," answered Cole. "Pilot, coordinate with Mr. Sokolov's and Mr. Moyer's ships. Maybe we can do something with them.

As the
Teddy R
was approaching the station, one of the docking arms broke off, a half-mile-long metallic structure with some fifty ships still attached to it. It floated off into space, clipping an unwary Navy ship along the way and heading out of the battle zone.

"Watch yourself, sir!" came Sokolov's voice.

"What is it?" asked Cole.

"A dead ship almost collided with you. It's getting crowded."

"Where's Moyer?"

"I haven't seen his ship in twenty minutes, sir," said Sokolov.

"I have," chimed in Braxite's voice. "He was hit by friendly fire. I don't know if he survived. He seemed in a bad way, though."

"Have you spotted their flagship?" asked Cole.

"Val took it out as soon as she got to the station, sir."

"So we have three thousand ships with no battle plan, and the enemy has lost their command center," muttered Cole. "This is going to get messy."

And it
did
get messy. It was almost impossible to fire a shot in the vicinity of Singapore Station without hitting
something
, whether friend or foe. The ships, and parts of ships, floated aimlessly around the station, colliding with other ships that were too busy concentrating on the enemy. Soon bodies, first dozens, then hundreds, also began floating through space, spinning crazily when hit by a ship or a laser or pulse blast.

"Hey, Cole!" said a familiar voice. "Get that bottle ready! I'm up to fifteen!"

Cole looked at Val's image. There was so much blood, he couldn't believe that she was still standing.

"I'll get the infirmary ready first," he said. "In fact, there's a medical center on the level below Duke's casino. You'd better get down there while you can still walk."

"You're not getting out of buying me my Scotch that easy!" she bellowed.

"I'll buy it anyway," said Cole. "We just don't want to lose you."

"I'll be standing here long after you and—
shit!"

"What is it?"

"Seven or eight of the bad guys got into the station somehow!"

"You mean the Navy?" asked Cole.

"Are there any other bad guys around?" she asked, pulling her burner and firing it at someone he couldn't see. She turned to face still more unseen opponents. "Boy, did you dumb bastards choose the wrong station to board!"

The transmission went dead.

"I wouldn't want to be part of that boarding party," said Cole.

"She's remarkable," agreed Jacovic.

"Just be glad she's on
our
side."

The ship shuddered, and Cole was thrown against a bulkhead.

"What the hell was
that
?" he said. "It sure as hell didn't feel like an energy pulse."

"We were broadsided by a class-L Navy ship," announced Briggs.

"On purpose, or derelict?"

"Seems to be a dead one."

"Mr. Odom?"

"Yes, sir?" said the engineer.

"Any damage from that last one?"

"None."

"Not even a dent in the hull?"

"Not with this molecular structure," replied Odom. "They might disintegrate it, but they'll never dent it."

"While I'm thinking of it, how's our ammunition holding out?"

"You've only used about eight percent of it," said Odom. "We've actually fired our weapons very little."

"Okay, thanks." The connection ended. "Has anyone got a count on Navy ships, living or dead?"

"I can't give you an exact count, sir," said Christine. "But we have destroyed or disabled about one hundred and sixty."

"More that half?" said Cole, surprised.

"We
do
outnumber them ten to one," Sharon's voice reminded him. "Or at least we did at the beginning. We've lost about seven hundred ships."

Cole looked at another viewscreen. Like the first, it was filled with live, dead, and dying ships, illuminated every few seconds by pulse and laser bursts and sudden explosions. The tiny bits of debris he saw floating through the area were actually bodies, most of them dead, the rest soon to be dead.

"This isn't the kind of warfare any of us trained for," he said, staring hypnotically at the screen.

"When will it stop?" asked Jacovic.

"When the last of us or the last of them is dead," said Cole.

"And when will it
end!"

"I just told you."

"I mean, when will the Republic finally leave the Inner Frontier to the people who live here?"

"When they plunder the last world than
can
be plundered," said Cole, "and recruit the last man or woman who can be forcibly pressed into service." He forced a tight smile to his lips. "It
does
bring back all the reasons we're fighting this action."

Suddenly a bulkhead opened up, and David Copperfield crawled out of it, bright pink blood streaming out of what passed for his nostrils.

"What the hell happened to
you?"
asked Briggs.

"I'll tell you what happened," said Cole. He turned to the little alien. "David, how many times have I told you not to hide inside the bulkheads?"

"They were always safe before," said Copperfield.

"We weren't being rammed by derelict ships before," said Cole. He stared at the alien. "Are you badly hurt?"

"No," said Copperfield, shaking his head and simultaneously causing blood to fly in all directions.