The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (31 page)

“
Oh dear God,” a shocked voice came. Parks saw that Mandeep
was covering her mouth, her breathing coming short, her eyes wide
with disbelief.

“
Commodore.” It was Meyers. “We need to
begin our counter-offensive as soon as possible. If we do…
could… t… Spirit.” The signal broke up like a television signal
in a thunderstorm. On one of the remaining feeds, Parks
saw
Leviathan
buffeted by the expanding shock wave. “We cannot risk losing
any more vessels to that cannon,” Meyers concluded.

Although Parks knew that it would be quite some time
before
Dragon
was
able to muster the energy required to use such a weapon again,
whilst it remained, the cannon was a formidable threat. He found
himself in agreement with but one of Meyers’ statements.

“
Abort the mission!” he barked. “All ships,
prepare to jump out of the system! Mr Davies, order the launch of
all available fighters, to cover our retreat!” There was an
unpleasant awareness that he was almost certainly condemning those
men and women to death. But at this very moment, he had to follow
protocol - and that meant that
Griffin
,
Ifrit
,
and
Leviathan
came first.

He heard a console begin a frenzied jingle.
“What
’
s
that?”

“
Sir, jump point forming!” the operator responded.

Parks
felt his stress level spike. “Where?”

“
Stern, port side!”

* * *

Dodds halted in his departure from the bar, running to meet
the call for pilots, as a brilliant flash lit the room, light
reflecting off the windows and wooden furnishings. Many of the
other occupants had already left, but he, as with his fellow
Knights
, had found it
hard to tear his eyes off the scene beyond.

There had been applause when
Dragon
had been shut down, gasps
upon its recovery, and then cries as it opened fire. Dodds had
looked on in horror as the hail of green bolts, clear even from
where
Griffin
stood, flew around in every direction, striking targets and
triggering explosions as they fell. He saw then, as Chaz had said,
the fighter’s attempts at returning fire was but a token gesture at
best, their weapons no match for the tough defences of the
Confederation flagship.

“
What’s that?” Enrique stopped beside him, staring out the
tall port side windows.

“
Jump point!” Chaz said.

Dodds
swore as he saw the bow of a large vessel come into view,
accelerating out from the point and coming to bear right alongside
them. An arrangement of four red triangles came into view; the
insignia of the Imperial naval forces.

“
It’s one of the frigates!” Chaz added.

“
Dear God, that thing’s close!” Dodds staggered back. He was
able to read the vessel’s designation along the side, with no
trouble whatsoever. Never in his life had he seen a manoeuvre such
as this. The frigate was so close to them that it was - in
astronavigational terms - within spitting distance. It could not
have been four hundred meters from them, if that. One tiny error in
its heading and the sides of both ships would have been
touching.

But the frigate
’
s heading was precise and its course put it perfectly in line
with
Griffin
.

“
No, no, no, no!” Dodds cried as the he saw cannons turn to
face the carrier.

The words had not even left his mouth when the frigate opened
fire, engaging its entire starboard battery at once and strafing
the carrier’s broadside. The first volley of fire was quick to cut
down
Griffin
‘s
shielding, leaving the salvo that
followed free to slam into the unprotected hull of the ship and
tear a gaping hole in the armour. There were cries from the crew as
fires and explosions engulfed them, before several interconnecting
corridors were then exposed to the vacuum of space. Emergency
systems sprung into action and sealed off the affected areas, but
not before several unfortunate personnel were jettisoned through
the gap.

Griffin
lurched violently and Dodds
crashed to the floor, the air being forced out of his lungs. Kelly
and Enrique fell down beside him. Of the few that remained in the
bar, Chaz was the only one who managed to steady himself against
the jolt. Dodds rolled onto his side to watch the frigate pass by.
Its fat, cylindrical body reminded him of an assault rifle, the
long shaft of a cannon affixed to the underside of the bow making
suggestions of a bayonet.

Seconds later, a slew of starfighters joined it, streaking
past the bar
’
s
windows. Dodds could only assume that they had all entered into the
system together and hoped that there were not more jump points
surrounding the carrier. He had no time to find out - the view
became obscured by the closing blast screens, sealing off the
vulnerable glass windows, in case they should shatter and expose
the ship.

“
You all right?” Enrique said, helping Kelly to her
feet.

“
Yeah,” Kelly said.

Dodds
got up, seeing Chaz attending to another of the bar’s occupants,
who appeared to have suffered a more serious fall.

“
Chaz,” he said, making his way over towards the body that was
sprawled out across the floor.

“
He’s okay,” the big man looked around at him. “Just
unconscious.”

“
Simon - Estelle,” Kelly said.

“
Yeah, we need to find her,” Dodds said and started towards
the deck lift. “She may have been hurt.”

* * *

From the bridge of
Dragon
, Admiral Zackaria watched the
ensuing carnage with no emotion. He was neither pleased nor
displeased with what had occurred, only satisfied that the enemy
were being destroyed.

To his second in command, Commodore Rissard, he ordered
that
Dragon
should deploy her own fighters, to join the others that had
just arrived with the frigate. Rissard acknowledged the request and
followed the orders through.

All about
Dragon
‘s
flight deck, feet ran to board
waiting Imperial starfighters, the pilots dressed head to toe in
black suits. Upon their heads they wore dark helmets, piercing
ruby-red eyes shining like those of a vicious predator. Their
movements were regimented, almost machine-like, and they all acted
without question, nor hesitation, as they prepared for
launch.

* * *

Parks
pulled himself to his feet as others returned to their positions.
He looked to the main viewport at the front of the bridge, to
reassess the standings following the assault on his ship. He saw
that the frigate was past them now, accelerating away to come to
rest in between the three front-line carriers. The request for
pilots was still ringing.

“
Give me a damage report,” Parks said,
glancing from the frigate to
Dragon
. Some information he did not
need: he could see parts of his ship drifting away, bodies floating
in amongst the wreckage, already dead and rigid in the cold. “Poor
bastards.”

“
Shields returning, some structural damage to the midsection.
Weapons and other major systems have not been affected,” he was
told.

“
Grendel
’
s Mother
and
Leviathan
are deploying cover teams,” Liu said.

“
The fighters that arrived with the frigate
are looping back around on attack vectors,”
O
’
Donnell
added.

There
was very little for Parks to consider now. His number one priority
was to ensure that the allied forces could exit the combat zone and
minimise losses.

“
Target those incoming fighters and make ready to bring the
jump engines on-line,” Parks ordered. “Get every spare pilot we
have out there to cover our retreat. And get me Commodore Hawke!”
He was determined to see the man fulfil his role in this
battle.

* * *

Anthony Hawke continued to observe the scene from the safety
of
Ifrit
, the
carrier far detached from the battle that had erupted around the
allied forces. From where he stood, he could see
Griffin
‘s
guns blazing, firing at attacking enemy targets.
He felt no sense of shame in watching.

“
Captain, fighter support are asking whether or not they
should engage the enemy forces,” a young man seated close to where
Hawke stood asked of him.

“
Tell them to hold position,” Hawke said in a flat
tone.

“
Sir, begging your pardon, but I think we
should offer our assistance,” the man protested.
“
Griffin
just suffered a major attack and I don’t think we should be
just sitting here doing nothing.”

“
We
wait
, Lieutenant. Only one frigate
has jumped into the system and we were expecting two. If we move
forward now, then we could be playing straight into the
enemy
’
s hands. We
have already been tricked once by
Dragon
and we don
’
t want to walk into another one of
their traps.”

“
But, sir, if we remain here and wait for a
frigate that might not even show up, then
Griffin
could be
destroyed. I really think we should assist.”

Hawke
looked at him through cold eyes. “If you question my command one
more time, Mr Parsons, I will find you guilty of mutiny and have
you locked in the brig. Now follow my orders and tell those
fighters to remain where they are.”

“
Yes, sir,” Parsons said, lowering his own eyes to his
screen.

“
Sir,
Griffin
is requesting
communications,” Hawke heard.

“
Put them on,” Hawke said, folding his arms and carrying a
look of impatience. A holographic screen sprang up on front of him,
Parks appearing on the display.

“
We could use your help up here, Anthony,”
Parks said earnestly. “The additional firepower will help us to
withdraw all the sooner. We will need to ensure that as many
vessels as possible can be accounted for, including
Grendel
’
s Mother
.”

“
I don
’
t think that’s such a good idea,”
Hawke said. “Moving all our forces up front could leave us even
more vulnerable. As already agreed,
Ifrit
will hold position here, to
prevent enemy forces from being able to surround us.”

“
But… Are you serious?!” Parks spluttered.

“
My position is clear,” Hawke said. Ahead
of him, he could see small explosions dotted around
Griffin
,
where starfighter fell and missiles
connected.

Parks’
face became stern. “Commodore Hawke, your commitment to this
operation has been nothing short of disgraceful! You leave me with
no choice but to force the chain of command - and as the senior
officer in charge of this operation, I order you…”

Parks
stopped talking, his holographic image turning away as someone
interrupted him. The communication came to an abrupt
end.

“
They seem to have things under control,” Hawke said quietly,
his face impassive. “Hold position,” he called to the bridge, not
taking his eyes off the scene outside.

An explosion appeared towards
Griffin
‘s
bow and the carrier’s once-stable course began to
deteriorate, many of the lights all about the ship flickering,
before they extinguished altogether.

Hawke
’
s
nose was bleeding once again, but this time he did nothing about
it, letting the blood trickle from his nose and drip down onto the
floor of the bridge.

“
Hold position,” he whispered.

XIII

—
A Light in the Dark —

P
arks opened his eyes to find that
the bridge lay in almost complete darkness, and was filled with
smoke. The events that had led him to finding himself sprawled out
on the floor escaped him, and he realised that he must have blacked
out for a few seconds. He noticed a man on the floor next to him,
with a glazed look in his eyes. A trail of blood glistened as it
trickled from his head. Parks became aware that he was staring into
the face of O
’
Donnell, his CCMO. The man was dead. The commodore pulled
himself to his feet and looked to the frontal viewport, to the
continuing scenes of battle outside. He then remembered what had
happened.