51
Fixers swarmed over every damaged Alliance ship in the midst of the brief lull.
Wrecks and debris got collected and towed back to the shipyards.
Try as they might, the Allied Teks couldn’t stabilize the tiny jump warheads to be able to fit them onto any existing ordnance. The mining techs had been right. For the moment, their grim delivery system was the only way to utilize them.
Millions of miner men and women volunteered to suit up and give their lives.
For the sake of freedom.
But they were held back strictly as a last resort, to keep the enemy guessing.
Three busy hours ticked by. Many tried to grab some rest.
Most couldn’t.
Then a couple hundred small ships emerged from jump.
“Are we too late to join this here shindig?”
Captain Bully’s fat, greasy face filled the screen. His armada surrounded by a nebula of billions of fixers. “We ain’t been sleepin’ back on Boon-3. No suh. Everyone’s been a dumpin’ their junk down on us for such a long time. Now we’s gone ahead and made good use of it all. We iz here to hep. Gonna hep make thoze shiny Corps ships pay da price.”
The typhoon of fixers worked their way throughout the reminder of the Alliance fleets.
More ships swept in on other vectors.
Another Shadow Fleet arrived, led by
The Alamo
.
Aunt Sleak’s ships had already joined her unit with the first wave.
Naero’s friends transferred onto her command cruiser,
The Brightstar
, even as the fixers swarmed over it and her fighters, putting many back together after being shot up.
Chae and Saemar took charge of Naero’s battered fighter wings and immediately began to advise the new replacement pilots. Zhen stayed in sickbay to assist with the wounded. Tyber worked with the teks, still gaping at the fixers and their handiwork.
There still hadn’t been time for anyone to say anything about Gallan missing from their group, but Naero guessed that, like her, they all felt it.
They all had to stay focused on the battle at hand.
All of them could perish within the next hour.
A coded message reached them from Baeven, flooding all of their screens.
Triax means to finish you all off in one final, all-out assault. They’ve waited only to analyze your new attack methods and adjust the flux of their deflector screens to resist your suicide bombs. You could try to adjust those devices to these new pulse frequencies I’m sending you. I can’t be certain they’ll work, but it’s better than nothing at all. The old ones will definitely be useless. Unfortunately, you face twenty-five new fleets closing in on Nuratine-5 from Omni, Stellar, Matashi, Krupp, and Gelden.
Might I humbly suggest that this is the exact time to get Naero, Jan, and the Kexxian Data Matrix out of this area before the Corps capture them? That might be extremely prudent. Let me know if I can be of assistance. Fight well.
Baeven broke off, as abruptly as he broke in.
Klyne cut over the secured link. “I hate to agree with the outcast, but he’s right, Naero. Whatever happens here, one ship won’t make a difference either way. Take Jan and the Kexxian Matrix and jump out of here while you still can.”
“No…I won’t leave you all,” Naero said. “I have the right to fight beside my Clan. With my friends and allies.”
Aunt Sleak came up, her face set. “Captain Naero, as your admiral and Clan leader, I am giving you a direct order. Get out of here. You’ve done all that you can and more. But for now, it is your duty to get the Kexxian Data Matrix safely into the hands of our people and keep it out of the hands of our enemies.”
Naero did not blink. She stood up out of her command chair and saluted. “Aye-aye, sir. I’ll see it done.”
Aunt Sleak smiled. “I know you will. Safe journey, Captain.”
“Fight well, Admiral.”
Aunt Sleak put on her battle face and nodded. “You know we will. Sleak out.”
Naero didn’t hesitate to give the command.
“Jan, take us around the planet and clear us for jump. We’ll pass through Joshua Tech and head for Spacer skies. Get us out of here.”
“Aye, Captain. Several Gigacorp fleets moving to encapsulate Nuratine-5. But we’ll be well away before they can attack.”
Naero bit her lip, keeping silent about the overwhelming odds their friends and family were about to face.
Everyone could guess what was about to happen against such odds.
“Ready to jump,” Jan noted.
“Hit it.”
The Brightstar
went dark and lost all power.
It lurched to starboard as if it slammed into something hard, but they still floated in open space.
As if something invisible had swallowed them up.
Naero received a hurried transmission from Baeven on her wristcom.
“You’ve been overtaken by an enemy stealth ship. They’ll board you shortly. Fight your way free if you can and get away. They’ll jam all of your–”
Baeven broke off.
What sounded like huge doors slammed shut around them.
Explosions rocked the ship’s hull, most likely from boarding parties trying to gain entry.
“Fire all weapons,” Naero ordered. “If we’re in the belly of the beast, then let’s blow a few holes in it. Maybe we can blast our way out. Launch fighters if we can.”
Jan and the bridge crew worked frantically to bring up any of their systems.
“We can’t get anything online,” Jan yelled from the helm. “They hit us with that new ion pulse weapon that disrupts everything.”
“Even our wristcoms are out,” the com officer said. “Only the fixers are still working.”
Naero punched up the hardwired intercom, her voice carrying through the ship.
“Prepare to repel boarders. All troops. Arm yourselves to the teeth and repel boarders at all costs. We’ve been paralyzed and caught up in an enemy stealth ship to be captured. They will most likely try to take us alive at first. Use that to your advantage. Escape if you can.”
She turned back to Jan. “Can’t our fixers do anything?”
“They’re trying. We’ve lost all power.”
One of the weapon teks shouted. “The fixers are bleeding power from the enemy vessel surrounding us. Main gun, back online. We think the capture ship swallowed us head first, Captain.”
“Then fire. Fire at will. Stealth ships are complex. Let’s blow a few holes in this one and see what happens.”
But they quickly discovered that the capture bay they were being held in was ray-shielded.
The blasts from their main gun bounced around and struck them instead, causing serious hull damage.
“Keep at it. We have to overload those shields.”
A female crew member shouted a warning over the intercom, from down in their holds. “Enemy boarders have penetrated the ship. They have stealth suits. We can’t see them. Repeat, enemy boarders have–” The woman’s voice cut off and the intercom went dead after a flurry of weapons fire.
After the sixth shot from the main gun, the ray shields finally buckled.
Two more blasts rocked the ship holding them.
Explosions erupted.
From the G-forces, Naero guessed they started spinning out of control, pulled back into Nuratine-5’s gravity well.
“Get me eyes, sensors, anything. Tell me what’s happening. Is there any way to break free?”
The com officer piped up again. “We can see out of a rigged chain of linked fixers outside a rent in the enemy’s hull. The stealth ship’s on fire and falling back into Nuratine-5’s atmosphere. The enemy crew’s have their hands full trying to control the descent and keep from burning up or crashing us all to death. Their ship may absorb most of the re-entry damage.”
“Any chance of breaking free?”
“None yet, sir. We don’t even have flight power.”
“Defend the bridge. Everyone get ready for a fight after we crash. If we survive.”
“Sir, their jamming is down,” her XO said. “Something is firing on us from nearby, but we can’t make anything out.”
“Another stealth ship? A cloaked ship?”
Baeven.
Naero sent out a call. “Cease fire. Stop firing on the enemy stealth ship. We’re disabled and crashing back onto the surface of Nuratine-5. You’re going to kill us all.”
Baeven cut in.
“Try to survive Naero. The Clans have come. Each one sent ships. The battle’s a toss-up now. Both sides will try to retrieve you and Jan from the crash site. See you down there.”
“Wait, wait! How many ships did they send?”
Baeven laughed. “A thousand.”
Naero gaped.
She heard their voices booming over all channels.
“Enemies of the Clans take heed. Clan Patton sends twenty-two warships to fight beside Clan Maeris. Death to all foes. Remember
The Omaria
!”
“Clan Aztec sends fifteen ships. We will fight beside the daughter of Lythe and Tarthan!”
“Clan Wilde will bleed for Clan Maeris. Death to Triax!”
“For freedom! For
The Omaria
! Clan Donovan sends a dozen ships.”
“
Haisha
! We are with you, Clan Maeris. Clan Apache sends forty of our finest warships!”
Each of the forty-nine Spacer Clans had responded to her call for help.
Sending the combined equivalent of twenty fleets.
Twenty fleets of advanced Spacer warships, closing in on Triax in fury and vengeance.
Naero wanted to weep for joy. For the pride and honor of her people.
But at the moment, she needed to find a way to keep her and her people from dying.
Baeven’s transmission broke up as they entered the atmosphere.
They were about to burn up and die along with their enemies.
Naero called upon Om.
52
Om. We’re about to die. Any suggestions?
The enemy vessel surrounding us is heating up rapidly. You are correct. With all of our shields down, our current form will not survive the re-entry, or the crash.
Options.
I can do little. Only you have the ability to save us now.
Me? What can I do?
You must take control of both ships, repair and use their systems to slow our descent, and keep us from being destroyed by the crash. The same way you took over that fighter.
I can’t, Om. That fighter was small stuff. This is big. Two huge, disabled warships, one trapped inside the other. Both of them out of power and out of control.
The principle is the same. Much more complex than that of the fighter, but based on similar concepts. The size of the objects does not matter. All that matters is that you become one with them and direct their potential with your force of will. This is a level far beyond that of mere fixers. They are mere tools and toys. You are fully aware.
I’m not even a fixer.
Correct. You are far more…a
teknomancer
.
How do I begin?
Follow my thoughts as before. Then trust yourself, your core knowledge, wisdom, and instincts. Concentrate. Focus.
She calmed herself and allowed Om’s thoughts to direct her.
The first sensation she felt once more was searing, unbelievable pain.
It hurts so much, Om. Much worse than before. I can’t do this. Even a portion of the pain is too great.
Your pain is based in fear and ignorance. Use your strength to shield yourself from the pain and the unknown. Push forward.
I can’t.
Then everyone dies. Including us. All our friends. Everyone–if you are weak and give up.
Naero couldn’t allow that.
She steeled herself.
In her mind, she felt bands of armor encase her.
The pain lessened, but she could still feel it scorching her.
Shield yourself further. That’s it. Now touch everything. Grasp the essence of both ships and fully comprehend their potential. Take full control of them down to the smallest element.
In the flash of an instant, she merged with both ships, becoming one with them.
Naero became them. Even as the re-entry forces burned and tore her apart.
Naero vaguely sensed the people on board both vessels, their minds and thoughts. But that was not her focus.
The ships. Save the ships.
Neither ship functioned properly. The enemy ship, heavily damaged, her ship, neutralized by the enemy’s secret ion pulse weapon. A tek far beyond the Corps.
She tapped into both power cores and merged them, boosting them with her own rapid-fire modifications and force of will.
The parts and components re-configured in an instant, both ships merging and melding into one, a new craft under her direction, the direction of pure thought and intellect.
A pure working knowledge of how starships functioned, or should optimally function.
The Brightstar
became the new bridge.
She shielded the new hybrid vessel. Hull temperature dropping rapidly from critical, explosive levels.
Yet they still plummeted through the atmosphere too fast, and she needed all of the energy present simply to maintain the shields.
She boosted their gravitics and repelled against Nuratine-5’s gravity field, aiming squarely for one of the two main continents. Not the oceans.
Still not enough.
Finally, she had it. Recalling footage from an Old Terran vid.
Spolymer sails billowed out, caught the wind, and ripped free.
She puffed out more parachutes like breathing. Several more, made of much stronger plasteel fibers.
Finally, their descent slowed appreciably.
Just as Naero felt her strength failing.
She was spent and losing control.
Naero blinked and flashed back into her own body on the new reconfigured bridge.
Well done. We will survive now. But there are still enemies on board. Too bad you didn’t jettison them.
Haisha
, I barely managed what I did. How many foes remain?
I count two hundred and thirteen, against your crew of seventy-one. But beware. These enemies have suits that cloak them from normal sight, even though prolonged use is fatal to the wearer in the long term.
Triax won’t care about that. They just want to capture me and Jan. They’ll slaughter anyone else. Have the fixers spray our foes with paint, fibers, barbecue sauce–anything that will make them visible.
Complying. It’s working.
Be advised, we are about to touch down in a forest of huge conifer trees.
The ship crashed to a jarring halt and then the aft section dropped through the broken trees and smashed into the ground.
Their com units worked again.
“All troops, out the hatches,” Naero ordered. “Regroup in the forest. Bring what weapons and gear you can.”
Threescore made it off the ship, under fire from the enemy strikers.
Jan wasn’t among them.
Naero nearly panicked. Somehow they’d gotten separated during the confusion fleeing the ship.
“Everyone load up,” she said. “We’re going back in after Jan.”
Explosions rocked the area.
Corps and Alliance close-attack craft swept in from nearly every angle.
The huge trees toppled like sliced reeds, crashing every which way. Drop troops poured in.
Naero led her crew, fighting their way from the crash site, which seemed about to be wiped out by both sides.
“Damn it!” Naero screamed. No going back into that death trap.
Her only choice was to get her and her people to safety.
Even if the Corps captured Jan, they couldn’t make any use of the Kexxian Matrix without her half. But she still feared for her brother.
A company of Triaxian Marines attempted to cut them off.
Naero activated her gravwing and spearheaded the Spacer attack. She never stopped moving. All of the enemy strategy seemed focused on trying to capture her.
She shot foes in the face. Deflected and sprang off trees and crushed helmets and armored chests with her fists and feet, leaving the dead and dying in her wake.
She threw her blades with ferocity.
They ripped through troops. They ripped through thick trees and shattered stones.
She drew her energy cutlass and sliced through arms, legs, and throats. Through energy shields and armor, cutting bodies in half. She scythed through them, a death-dealing, unstoppable force.
A blur of destruction among the enemy, tearing through their ranks.
Her friends and crew charged behind her, cutting down and blasting anything that moved or got in their way.
A hundred foes, taken down in a matter of seconds.
And Naero’s rage only grew. At the loss of her brother, Gallan, her parents.
All the senseless loss.
Kill them. Destroy them all. Wipe them out completely.
The intense urge was nearly overwhelming.
Naero stopped herself.
Struggling to get a grip on reality before she lost it entirely and went insane.
Mad with the overwhelming lust to destroy. Everything. Everyone. Friend or foe.
She caught her breath. Jan. Focus on Jan. Find him. Rescue him. Get him back. That was all that mattered. Her brother.
Air blasted down on them from nowhere.
A round hatch irised open. No ship visible, yet they could see inside the open hold of a bizarre craft, whose outside they could not see.
Baeven appeared at the hatch. “They’ve taken Jan. Load your people in. We have one chance to catch them and take him back.”
“We’re with you, N,” Chaela shouted. “Let’s go.” They packed into the hold and checked their weapons.
Baeven left them and went forward to his sealed bridge.
The cloaked ship they rode in lifted off, almost completely silent.
Naero had never seen a ship like it; every shape and panel and hatch of the design completely alien and strange. Weird controls and symbols.
Up in space, Baeven’s unique ship tossed them back and forth, maneuvering and zipping forward in ways no other ship could move. Tremendous explosions rocked them from all directions.
Om, what’s happening out there?
The Clan Forces are blasting their way through the Corps Fleets. But the enemy is standing firm. I
’m scanning terrible damage and heavy losses on both sides, but the Spacers seem to have the advantage at the moment.
They’re trying to give their forces a chance to get away with Jan. Have you analyzed who or what Baeven is tracking?
His advanced systems elude my analysis, but we appear to be pursuing an enemy gunship. It just rejoined a fast corvette, which is preparing for an immediate jump out of this region.
They must have him.
That seems logical. The enemy fleets are blocking the way, and that is the only ship leaving the system.
We can’t lose them.
The corvette just jumped. The one you call Baeven is tracking them through jump space. We are only minutes behind them.
No one has the tek to track and follow another ship through jump space. No one.
Somehow he and his ship and crew are doing so.
All right then. Where are we headed?
There appears to be a secret Triaxian forward naval base hidden on Durris, the fourth moon of Hellenda-6.
A Triaxian fleet is waiting there.
When will we arrive?
It’s a short jump for one of their fastest ships, mere minutes. Yet our ship is passing ahead of it.
No ship can pass another in jump space.
Again, this is actually occurring while we speak. We will arrive at the destination just ahead of the corvette. I sense unusual weapons powering up. Baeven also left a coded message for your aunt’s forces to follow hard upon our trail. But at best they will arrive in one half hour.
You said Baeven has a crew. How many are they?
Only a handful. I sense they are not human. You should prepare your assault forces. We will arrive at the secret enemy base in minutes.
Threescore Spacers and a handful of aliens on an invisible ship, against an entire fleet and thousands of heavily armed foes. Most of her friends and crew rested, conserving their strength. Naero alerted them all.
“We’ll be coming out of jump soon and making an assault to free my brother and make good our escape. Everyone glacier out and stand ready. Things are going to move fast.”
Saemar locked and loader her heavy blaster rifle. “Tell us what to do sweetie. We’re ready.”
“We’ll follow you into hell,” Chaela said.
“Good, because I’m pretty sure that’s exactly where we’re headed.”