"Jump complete, Captain," Patrick reported. As he spoke, the central display changed to show the Thule system. As planned, we had arrived a mere ten thousand kilometers from the refinery, on the edge of the accretion disk of the black hole Thule. I also noted the presence of five ships around the refinery.
I turned to the newest member of the bridge crew. Eitan had told me that Christine had thrown herself into her studies since Joe's death. Let's see what she's learned, I thought. "Ensign Tang, please give me a sensor analysis."
Christine's fingers flew over her console. Display screens flashed in and out. She studied the readouts for a moment, put in a few commands, and turned to face me.
"Captain, I make two warships and three civvies. Both warships are destroyers, probably Attilas. One of the civilian ships is probably a repair ship, and the other two are definitely freighters. My guess is the civvies are here to fuel up and the destroyers are protecting the refinery."
I glanced back at the central display. Two of the ships' light codes were now red, indicating enemy warships. Both were out some distance from the station, where sensor interference from the black hole would be limited. The other ships were orange, indicating that they were civilian ships under enemy control. They were legitimate military targets, but not threats in their own right. If this were a simple raid, their destruction would be a priority. But not today. My primary objective was to capture - if only briefly - the refinery itself. Taking out the destroyers was necessary for the plan. The civilian ships were incidental.
"Commander Mears, suggestions?" I asked. I already had a basic plan, but I wanted Eitan's input.
"The Attila class is a fairly old one," he said. His tone was calm, almost relaxed. "They were introduced before the last war, before the Draconis ever clashed with the Auroran Empire. They carried plasma cannons, not barragers. It's possible their weapons have been upgraded, but they can't mount powerful shields. I think our best approach is to take them out quickly, so they can't interfere with the boarding operation."
I nodded. That was more or less what I had in mind. "All hands, battle stations. Commander Mears, designate the nearest destroyer Bogey One, and the other Bogey Two. Charge plasma barragers and bring shields to full power. Lieutenant Giscard, set an intercept course with Bogey One. Lieutenant Rurikovich, get me Lieutenant Reeves in the armory."
After a chorus of "yes, ma'am," from the crew, I turned my attention to Hilary's image, which had dutifully popped up on my console. "Lieutenant, is your strike team ready?"
"Yes, ma'am. Everyone's in their armor and we're going through the final checks now." It was the first time I had actually seen her in battle armor. Her face was clearly visible through the crystoplast visor. I could just make out "REEVES" on her nameplate at the lower edge of the screen. She lifted a rifle into view and examined it critically, before sliding it into place in the rifle holster on her back. Then she looked back at me and gave me a thin smile. It sent a slight shiver down my spine. Hilary was ready. The terror of the lacrosse team had become a soldier. All the jokes we had made before games about her leaving no survivors suddenly became a lot less funny. This time, it was no joke. My friend was going to kill people.
And so was I.
I turned back to the master plot. The destroyers had come together, and were now moving at full speed straight at us. Coming together made sense - it would allow their point defense systems to cover each other, and they could concentrate their fire on the same portion of our shields. But why were they charging? If I were a pair of destroyers facing a battlecruiser, I'd try to stay at range, where my maneuverability would be most useful.
Tenzil figured it out. "Looks like they haven't upgraded their weapons since the last war."
Vladimir turned to look at him. "Excuse me, sir?" I noticed a slight hesitation before he said "sir" but I let it pass for now.
"Plasma cannons are extremely short-ranged," Tenzil explained. "But if that's what they have, then their only chance is to get within range as soon as possible, before we destroy them."
That was it. Which meant, of course, that we had to take them out as quickly as possible. "Commander Mears, target all barragers on Bogey One. Hold your fire until we reach six thousand kilometers. Lieutenant Giscard, close to engage, but make sure they don't get within range."
On the master plot, a long, narrow blue cone extended from Revenant's position, displaying the area where all nine of our plasma barragers could target. The Draconis destroyers were no longer headed straight for us. They were curving around, trying to come at us from the side. As they did, Revenant itself maneuvered, swinging around the cone like a giant blade to intercept the destroyers. I glanced at Patrick as he manipulated the controls. Eitan entered a command into his console, and faint yellow spheres appeared around the destroyers' icons, indicating the probable range of their plasma cannons. It was like fencing, only they had knives and we had a sword. The destroyers were more agile, but they had to coordinate their maneuvers to stay together. And the range of their cannons was pitiful. And once we got them in our sights...
Bogey One passed within the blue cone.
"FIRE!" I shouted. Even as I said it, all nine barragers fired as one, spewing hundreds of white-hot plasma bolts at the enemy. Bogey One tried desperately to maneuver, but she had only a few seconds before the storm hit. Point defense cannons blasted away, but it wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. Her shields were never designed to survive an assault on this scale. Not from a Defiant-class battlecruiser.
Bogey One vanished from the main plot. The destroyer hadn't simply been crippled; she'd been torn apart.
"Target destroyed!" Eitan announced. A chorus of whoops and cheers went around the bridge. But the battle was not over. We still had a second destroyer to deal with. And it would take sixty-eight seconds for our plasma barragers to recharge.
The destroyer had no real chance to win this battle. My opponent had to know that, no matter how brave or capable he was. But that wouldn't stop him from doing his duty. He would try to destroy us, or at least cripple us. Anything to buy time for the civilian ships he was charged with protecting to escape. Maybe he could damage us enough that the next Draconis ship we encountered would be able to take us out. And if he did get close enough, that plasma cannon might be enough to do some damage.
"Target Bogey Two, all particle cannons. Go to maximum continuous fire. Focus fire on his plasma cannon... now."
Our particle cannons opened up on the second destroyer now. They didn't have nearly the firepower of our plasma barragers, but they were much more accurate. Where the barragers gave the destroyer a few seconds to evade, particle cannons gave them effectively no time at all. Beams of charged particles traveling at nearly the speed of light stabbed across space. Bogey Two's shields degraded the beams, but what got through still had enough power to do some damage.
"Enemy plasma cannon destroyed," Eitan announced calmly. "Bogey Two still closing."
"What the hell is he thinking?" Vladimir asked. "His particle cannons can't possibly hurt us. Why not try to escape?"
"He's also got missiles," Eitan suggested. "Our point defense would take them out if he tried to launch them, but if he closed to point-blank range and detonated the warheads, he could actually do some damage. He'd kill himself in the process, but a Draconis captain wouldn't run if he had any chance left to hurt the enemy."
"Lieutenant Giscard, can you evade?" I asked, trying to keep the tension out of my voice.
Patrick shook his head. "He's faster than us. He'll reach point blank range within thirty seconds at most."
I glanced at the readout from the plasma barragers. Twenty seconds until we could fire again. It would be close. The blood-red numbers counted down. Seventeen. Sixteen. Fifteen. Fourteen. Particle beams continued to tear into Bogey Two, but they didn't do enough damage. That ship was on a kamikaze run.
The readout reached zero.
"Firing!" Eitan announced. I watched Revenant pivot on a dime to bring our weapons to bear on the destroyer. With seconds to spare, the barragers opened up, reducing the destroyer to an expanding ball of plasma.
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