“To my ship, just like you asked,” she said. “If we’re lucky, they haven’t shut down the spaceport yet.”
Chapter 22
“Target locked. I got him dead to rights, Captain,” Fara said.
“Fire,” Victor said.
The
Alexander
’s spinal gun spat out a burst of hypervelocity rounds. Three seconds later, two rounds hit the Lysandran destroyer they were engaging, knocking out the vessel’s drives.
“Target disabled,” Fara said.
“Finish them off, Fara. No prisoners,” Victor said. He had no mercy for any Lysandrans.
Fara closed in on the crippled destroyer and, a few minutes later, fired a point-blank burst just before flying past the ship, shattering its hull to pieces.
With that, the board was clear; the destroyer had been one of the few ships to escape the kill-zone the Alliance had established around the Janus jump point. All the rest had been destroyed under the guns of the Alliance’s battleships in the biggest turkey shoot since the Fall of the First Civilization.
“Plot a return vector to the fleet, Fara,” Victor said.
“Roger that, Captain,” Fara said.
The first battle of the Free World’s war against the Lysandran Empire had been devastatingly one-sided, in no small part due to the treachery of Uther Solari and the incompetence of Grand Admiral Tolen Phane.
Victor suspected the second battle would be more difficult.
The First Imperial Battlefleet, the cream of the Lysandran Empire, led by their greatest living admiral, Thera Loris, the woman who broke the Republic of Savannah’s defenses and left it exposed to the wrath of her emperor. An emperor who was with her even now, almost within reach.
Victor clenched the fingers of his artificial hand into a fist at the thought of killing Magnus Lacano. Admiral Loris too perhaps. The reinforced polymer creaked under the strain.
The memory of that awful day flashed in his mind once more. The fire consuming his world, the unbreakable grip of the Imperial Marines holding him to the observation window, and the emperor’s perfect teeth as he bared them in a hateful smile.
When the
Alexander
was just a few minutes out from the Alliance fleet, a transmission came in from the
Gryphon
. It was, unsurprisingly, from Holace Quill.
Victor accepted the transmission. “High Councilor.”
“Captain Blackhand,” High Councilor Quill said with a grim smile on his face. It made him look a little like Magnus Lacano. “I would say this battle had gone quite well, don’t you think?”
“I think we’ve still got another battle to fight,” Victor said.
Quill nodded. “Indeed, we do. Which is why I’m calling you. I thought I would give you the honor of playing an integral role in the next battle.”
“I’m listening,” Victor said.
“Dock with the
Gryphon
. My engineers will install some equipment on your ship,” Holace said.
“What kind of equipment?” Victor asked.
“A Lysandran IFF transmitter, along with modified drive rings that will change your ship’s drive signature to look like that of a Lysandran frigate,” Quill said.
“You want to disguise my ship as a Lysandran warship?” Victor asked. “To what purpose?”
“I’ll tell you when you come aboard,” Holace Quill said. “I’d rather not detail my plan, even over an encrypted channel.”
“Understood. I’ll dock with the
Gryphon
as soon as possible,” Victor said.
“Excellent. I’ll see you then, Captain Blackhand.”
The transmission ended.
“Fara, put us on docking approach with the
Gryphon
,” Victor said.
“Already done, Captain,” Fara said.
Victor called engineering. “Cormac, get ready to let some Mustanger techs aboard. They’ll make a few modifications.”
“What kind of modifications?” Cormac asked.
“New drive rings and a Lysandran Identify Friend or Foe transmitter,” Victor said.
“I see. So Holace Quill wants to disguise the
Alexander
as a Lysandran warship,” Cormac said.
“That’s about the size of it, yes,” Victor said. “I just hope the good guys realize it’s us.”
“Yet another hazardous mission then,” Cormac said. “I will be ready to receive the engineers when they arrive, as well as supervise their work.”
Victor smiled. “In that case I’ll know it’ll be done right.” He closed the channel and settled back to wait.
The
Alexander
plunged into the Alliance fleet as the multiplanetary collection of warships remained clustered around the Janus system jump point. Closing with the
Gryphon
, Fara communicated with the battleship’s bridge, requesting permission to dock, which was quickly granted.
Its cavernous hangar opened, and the frigate slipped inside.
Once the
Alexander
was secure inside the belly of the battleship and her engines shutdown, hangar techs in space suits swarmed from the airlocks and flew toward the
Alexander
under the power of their suit thrusters.
Among them were a pair of heavy-duty utility robots, their grasping claws folded into their bodies like the pincers of a crab.
“They’re not even waiting for the engines to cool,” Fara said.
“No, they’re not,” Victor said. It was clear they were working on a tight schedule. Otherwise, why risk the hazard of working around hot engines? He called engineering. “Cormac, looks like they’re not wasting any time. They’re already moving to work on the engines.”
“I see, Captain. I’m flushing the engines with coolant to make them less dangerous to work with,” Cormac said.
“Won’t that damage the containment rings?” Victor asked.
“Yes,” said Cormac. “But we are getting new ones.”
“Okay, go ahead, Cormac. I’d like to think of my ship as a safe working environment,” Victor said.
Fara snorted. “Right, safe.”
Victor shrugged. “It’s all relative.” He rose from his seat. “You have the bridge, Fara. I’m going to the docking bay to let in our guests.”
Fara kicked up her feet onto the control console. “In that case I’ll take a nap.”
“Industrious as always,” Victor said, leaving the bridge.
When Victor reached the main airlock at the front of the
Alexander
, he opened the inner and outer doors; the pressure between the
Gryphon
and
Alexander
was already equalized by the time he got there.
“Permission to come aboard, Captain Blackhand?” asked a nervous engineering officer, leading a team of techs carrying a sealed crate.
Victor nodded to the crate. “Is that the IFF?”
The engineering officer nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Victor sidestepped them. “Welcome aboard. Please confer with Chief Engineer Cormac before you start pulling things apart. He’s rather protective of his ship.”
The officer nodded and saluted. “Yes, sir.” The engineering officer and his team marched in, just barely squeezing through the airlock hatch while carrying the crate.
When the engineers cleared the hatch, Holace Quill awaited outside.
“Captain Blackhand,” the high councilor said.
“High Councilor Quill,” Victor said, walking through the airlock until he stood at the threshold dividing his ship from the
Gryphon
. “I assume you have the details of my mission for me?”
The high councilor gave Victor a predatory smile and said, “Why, yes, Captain Blackhand. I think you’ll like it.”
“Don’t leave me in suspense, High Councilor,” Victor said.
The high councilor handed Victor a tablet. “The mission details are here. Right now the First Imperial Battlefleet is completely ignorant of the destruction of the rest of their forces. Therefore, I want your ship, disguised as a Lysandran frigate, to jump into the Gaddon system and give them the all-clear.”
Victor grimaced. “If you’re planning to lure them to Mustang and do to them what we just did to the Second and Third Imperial Battlefleets, it won’t work. Thera Loris is too cautious to fall for a trick like that.”
Holace Quill shook his head. “I’m aware, Captain. I don’t want you to lure the First Imperial Battlefleet to Mustang. Just draw them close to the jump point. Close enough they can’t escape when the Alliance fleet jumps through.”
“How am I supposed to signal the Alliance fleet to spring the ambush, to jump back through? It’ll look suspicious if my ship is loitering near the jump point,” Victor said.
“You’ll be carrying a small jump drone with you. It’ll wait inside the jump point. Just send the signal, and it will jump back to Mustang to tell the fleet to move in,” the high councilor said.
“So I just need to get them close enough to make escape impossible but not close enough to shoot at Allied ships while they jump in.” Victor looked down at the tablet and then back to the high councilor. “This will be a tough fight, High Councilor. Much tougher than the one we just fought. The First Imperial Battlefleet will be in combat formation the whole time. You can’t catch Thera Loris with her pants down like you did Tolen Phane.”
“I don’t doubt it will be a hard fight. But after destroying two of their fleets, the Lysandrans will be outnumbered by almost two to one. I’m fairly confident in our chances of victory,” Holace said. “And there’s one more thing to consider. Emperor Magnus is with the First Imperial Battlefleet. With your ship disguised, you might get close enough to his flagship to strike a fatal blow.”
A quiver of vengeful anticipation ran through Victor’s body. “So, this isn’t just a mission. This is the ultimate payment you promised me.”
Holace nodded. “After all your years of excellent service to Mustang, after all we have accomplished together, I have not forgotten what I said to you years ago. This will be your best chance to make Magnus pay for what he did to your world. And, after today, I will make sure his empire pays as well.” Holace said the last sentence with particular venom.
“I’ll need to replenish my munitions,” Victor said.
“Take whatever you want. My armory and magazines are at your disposal,” Holace said.
“In that case, High Councilor, show me your inventory,” Victor said.
***
Victor felt uneasy about having dozens of Mustanger engineers swarming around the interior and exterior of his ship, pulling out and replacing far more bits of equipment than he thought was really needed to make the
Alexander
look like a Lysandran vessel.
But the fact that every change was made under the supervision and approval of Cormac put Victor at ease, though he did feel a bit guilty that the starchild had to spend his time frittering about the ship.
Victor himself had taken up the much less noisome task of loading the new weapons aboard the
Alexander
, replacing the weapons expended during the previous battle and loading a few special weapons just for taking his shot at Magnus Lacano.
Mines too. Four of the biggest mines the
Alexander
could carry. They were too big to fit in the missile tubes, so they had to be carried externally.
Even with the Lysandran IFF transmitter and other changes, Victor knew he’d never get close enough to Emperor Magnus’ ship to attack the battleship directly. However, if he somehow did, the
Alexander
didn’t have the firepower to have a realistic chance at destroying a battleship like the
Spear of Lacano
.
But the big mines had a chance. Victor just needed to drop them where the
Spear of Lacano
would pass close enough to set off their proximity detectors.
“The
Gryphon
’s engineers are almost done, Captain,” Cormac said, his lanky frame covered in a space suit, and his blond hair soaked in sweat.
Victor nodded. “Good work, as always, Cormac.” He nodded to the screen he had been studying, showing the installation of the mines. “Do you think the extra munitions will be an issue?”
“We’ll be flying heavy, probably heavier than a frigate that just fought a battle should. But, as long as we don’t get too close, I doubt the Lysandrans will notice.” Cormac nodded toward the screen Victor stood by. “I assume those are for the emperor?”
“That’s the plan,” Victor said. “We just need to set the warheads to home in on the
Spear of Lacano
’s IFF and then drop them in her path.”
Cormac nodded his long head. “Understood, though we’ll have to be careful not to look like we’re laying mines in the path of the emperor’s battleship.”
“If our disguise holds up, then that shouldn’t be a problem,” Victor said. “They’ll be moving toward us anyway.”
Cormac nodded again. “It seems you have thought this out. I am glad you settled on a plan that does not involve a suicide attack.”
Victor gave Cormac a grim, lopsided smile. “It wouldn’t have been fair to you and the crew. And, besides, Gaz would’ve felt left out.”