The Technician's Fight, Draft 1, CH33

“Still unable to contact the shuttle,” comms said, and Gralgiran nodded, forcefully setting aside the desire to order full thrust toward the station so he could rescue his Heart.

The role of an Alpha was to coordinate first, fight second. While he relished those hunts where all the details were small so he could take active part, this wasn’t turning into one of them.

And Jer had training, as well as two packs to support his. Short of locking him in their apartment, Gralgiran had done everything he could to keep him safe, and he had to hope the gods would still Meddle in their favor.

The conversation between Comms and her two support stations increased, then ebbed in disappointment. Whatever they’d thought they’d managed hadn’t worked out.

“I’m getting ships powering up!” sensors said. “Twelve, the six on this side of the station read as low to medium class cargo. I don’t—belay that, I’m reading weapons coming on line.”

“The station?” While he had people there would be the best time for them to join the fight. Force him to chose between stopping them and risking killing his people, or having to deal with their attacks on top the more mobile ships.

“Still negative. Nothing there registers as weapons. The ships are leaving the station.”

“Weapons, all stations are active. We are about to be under attack. Orders are to destroy.”

“Confirming all civilians are within safe zones,” secondary sensor said.

“Pilot, evade, let Weapons find their own targets.”

“Yes, Captain,” she answered. “Engineering, can I get priority after weapons? I’m going to need everything you can give me if I’m to stay out of the way of ships that light.”

“Engineering,” Gralgiran added. “Bring the backup online and dedicate that to ship propulsion.”

“Oh, really?” his friend replied, tone dripping with sarcasm. “Like I didn’t bring that online three hours ago. What, you think I don’t know how to do my job?”

“I’ll make it up to you for the slight once this is over, Engineer.”

“You bet you will. Pilot, you do what you have to and let us worry about ensuring you have the power needed. You are so lucky we did a complete over all of the….” The voice trailed off.

“Comms, terminate the connection to Engineering.”

“Done, Alpha.”

“Weapons,” he said, as the ship vibrated under his feet and the position of the station shifted on the screen as they moved. “The hunt is on. May you bring your mates the best kill.”

*

A ship exploded far too close to the Bane for Gralgiran’s comfort. A smaller one, giving it the agility to avoid incoming fire, set on a collision course.

“Kinetic debris, on deck eight through twelve,” one of the sensor hunters said. “Sections eighteen through twenty-six.”

“Weapons, how many did that cost us?” he demanded.

“Eight guns on that side are out. Too early to say if we can bring them back. Repairs is sealing their suits to look over the damage.”

“Engineering here. I’ve cut power to that section until Repairs tells me there’s no chances relays will overload. That’s taking six more of them out of use.”

“Weapons, can you compensate?” He’d order the Engineer to power them if needed, but overloads could take more of the weapons out, and they wouldn’t be easily repaired in the middle of a battle.

“Sensor,” the weapon’s beta said. “Any other ship like this one?”

“Negative, Weapons. Nothing that nimble. And everything else is staying well away.”

“Not that it’s helping us,” the pilot muttered. “Too many of them.”

“Weapons, status of the hull for you?”

“Diffusion plating’s taking most of the high energy output attacks, and we’re putting destroying anything kinetic above everything other than blowing up the ships, Alpha.”

“Maintenance, overall status report.”

“All safe zones are on low power draw, none of the hull hits indicate they are trying destroy their way to them, Captain. Overall integrity is still above ninety percent, weakest point is the hold, at eighty-seven.”

“Quartermaster they are—”

“I’m well aware what they’re trying to do, Captain,” the male replied in a surprisingly serious tone. “I’m having as much of the supplies moved deeper as I can.”

“What? I want you and anyone you bribed to do that out of there. I won’t have any civilians walk the Forest just because you’re too trusting in your namesake.”

“Really? You think I’m that careless with other people’s lives? I’m the only one here. We have automation for this kind of stuff when I don’t feel like having company.”

Gralgiran bit back his reflexive reply on assuming the male would put others at risk.

“What? Not going to offer to make it up to me? I’d think that you thinking I’ll have people die would at least be worth one night in your bed. And you already know your Heart’s okay with it, Captain.”

“Don’t put too much of your trust in your namesake, Quartermaster. If you are ordered to vacate, you do so.”

“Got it. Make my way as fast as I can to the bed of whoever tells me to leave my territory.”

He allowed himself three seconds to close his eyes and mentally curse the male, because he had no doubt he’d do it. Then he looked at the screen and studied the ship’s movement.

“Sensor, those six ships forming a wall. What are they hiding?”

“Trying to find out, Alpha. There’s a lot of interfering energy from them, I can’t get detail.”

Plasma blasts fired at them. The ship disrupted some, but didn’t move out of the way otherwise.

“Yep,” the pilot said. “That’s not good.”

The side of one ship bowed out, and the explosive decompression sent it drifting away from the others.

“There’s something, but can’t tell what yet. Low energy, I think. Or maybe it’s just far?”

“Weapons, I need that wall broken,” he ordered. “Anything that can be spared focus on that.”

“On it, Alpha.”

The plasma blasts were so rapid they were nearly sets of lines, then they stopped.

“That’s all we can give, Alpha. Those guns are out of power and Engineer can’t spare us enough for a fast recharge.”

He watched as the lines reached their destination. He expected those ships had tried to disperse as much of that energy as they could, but there was only so much any of those systems could take.

Light bloomed, then a second.

“Two of the ships have exploded.” Sensor said. “Can’t tell if it’s from the blasts or self destructed. Can’t tell what’s happened the others with all that released energy.”

Gralgiran waited, glancing at the rest of the battle, but counting on the pilot and Weapons to be aware of the important events there.

The explosion turned dim, and all he could see were the ships, drifting away from each other.

“All ships have been disabled,” Sensor said.

“What were they hiding?”

“Trying to get something through that left over energy.” There were curses from sensor, then. “Got it, shifting to mass distortion….”

The screen changed. Multiple pale blue dots, a handful of large ones in greens. And two red ones. One, stationary, and a larger and deeper one where the wall had been.

“What is that?” the Pilot asked.

“Pilot, focus,” he reminded her. But he wondered the same thing. To be in the reds, and deeper than the station, its mass outclassed the Bane by orders of magnitude.

“It’s blue shifted!” Sensor yelled.

“Pilot, get us out of its path.”

“Moving, Captain.”

Sensor cursed. “I’m getting energy outputs from it.”

“I think….” The pilot tapped her controls. “Captain, it’s altering its course to stay on us.”

“Weapons, as much as you can on what’s coming at us. Engineer, propulsion needs all you can spare, we have something big heading for us.”

“Where the fuck did they hide that thing?” someone on the comm said asked.

“No motion,” someone from Sensor replied. “No energy output. Unless we specifically scanned for mass, we couldn’t see it.”

“Oh, I am so making mass scans standard,” someone else on Sensor muttered.

“Pilot.”

“Doing all I can, we’ve red shifted it, but it’s turning bluer. It’s got more power to put on propulsion than we do.”

“Can you out maneuver it?”

“If I try, we’re sacrificing our speed without a way to know if it will be enough.”

Why had he sent Toom with Jer? He needed his knowledge of ships.

“Alpha, I’m getting a signal from the station. It’s faint, and breaks up. I think it’s one of ours. Putting in audio.”

“Arrakm….dred…..engin…..”

There was something in the static. “Loop it.”

The words repeated over and over, and he focused on making out the static, and thanked which ever god had Meddled and made him send his friend out.

“Is that Arrakmas?” someone asked.

“That is definitely engine…I think.”

Too long, he couldn’t make out what Toom said, but he made out that it was longer. “Alix! It’s Toom, telling us about the ship aimed at us. Can you make anything from it?”

“Since when am I some ships expert!”

“Found the Arrakmas!” comm yelled. “Taournian dreadnaught design! One was reported destroyed eight years ago within unclaim territories between them and the Earthers.”

“Alpha, scan confirm no life forms on that ship.”

“Found the design,” Alix said. “Okay, their reactor is under, eight decks in.” He cursed. “Weapons, I’m sending you the schematic with the highlighted target.”

Thuruksamian, protect your hunters. “Engineer, divert all power other than maneuvering to weapons. Pilot, give them the shot.” Xeniila Haran, I don’t call on you often, but be with us for the sake of everyone under my protection. He sighed. He didn’t like bargaining with the gods, since they were always the only only ones who gained from that, but he had one thing he could put in play. And I will work toward being more accepting of your favored lover.

He waited.

The voices droned, sending each other instructions, new details. Weapons asked questions, someone answered.

There was nothing left for him to do, other than wait and hope.

Their angle to the ship changed, and he made out some of its underside. Then it adjusted and its nose pointed at them again.

“It’s got automated system to protect weak point,” sensor cursed.

“Firing test blast,” Weapon said, and a long plasma blast fired.

It diminished until Gralgiran couldn’t make it out anymore.

“Impact,” Sensor said, and they were far enough he didn’t see it. “No disruption field.”

“Captain,” the pilot asked, looking at him with desperation in her eyes. “Permission to invite Gezbiliam at my side.”

That silenced the bridge.

He read the readings on the screen. Nothing there indicated what they were doing was in their favor. He had asked for gods to Meddle, and to be fair to her, for all the headaches she’d given him, she had been on his side, so…

“Why not. Permission granted.”

“Engineering, Weapons, I need all the power we have to reset our course.”

“Any chance you’ll share what she’d whispering?” sensor asked.

“Only if the Captain orders me to.”

The dreadnaught blue shifted brighter.

He really didn’t want to know what Gezbiliam was inspiring. But…

“I order you to.”

“Well, that’s automated to stay lined up with us. But what can it do if we accelerate at it.”

“It’s not going to have to do anything,” comms said. “It’s trying to hit us. If she’s telling you to make its job easier, I’d rather you stop listening.”

“It’s more massive, so its reaction time has to be slower than us.”

“Only if it’s got a comparable reactor to us,” sensor said. “I’m with comms. This isn’t sounding like she wants us to survive. Alpha?”

He let the pilot continue.

“If I change the Bane’s trajectory at the last moment, it can’t adjust and we end up under it, and Weapons gets their target.”

“Before you tell her to stop,” the Engineer said, as Gralgiran was about to do that. “I’ll remind you ships don’t explode like in the ballads. Or even like the one that nearly hit us. We’re going to be well past it before something that size finally ignites something that will cause shrapnel, if it even does that. It’s more likely to just stop having power and continue on its way toward infinity.”

Which also pointed out another advantage of this strategy. The dreadnought would never be able to turn in time to be a threat after this.

“Proceed.”

Others on the bridge muttered prayers to their preferred gods, and Gralgiran waited and watched.

Outline section 

Gral would, on any other day, really like to swoop into his heart’s rescue. But right now he has his hands filled with a half dozen ships bearing down on them weapons hot. Strangely not all the ships. If they get time to do a sensor scan they’ll discover those ships are either empty or with little crew; getting time for scans will be difficult, however, as their attention is elsewhere.

Putting the station between the Viper’s Bane and the attacking ships is the most important thing. Second is making sure to knock out a few of their weapons when they’re in the line of fire. Third they can finally worry about extra details like non-combat sensor scans and trying to contact the teams on the station.

Addition 

No Addition

And... yeah. This chapter is space combat, pure and simple. It’s mostly here to show what Gral and his crew are doing rather than assuming while the people are the station are running through corridors and having light skirmishes.

This….was both more complicated and less complicated than I thought it would be. The first part, the setup. Went easy. But I got stuck after that because of teh rules I set for ships.

The outline is very much written with ship combat being ‘from the movies’ with fast movement, ships impossibly agile. And I decided a while back I wanted my ships a bit more realistic. I have relativistic travel, but not instantaneous. The bigger teh ship, the more inertia it has, the larger the dime it needs to turn on. And so on.

So I needed to come up with something to keep things interesting, keeping in mind Gralgiran couldn’t leave the bridge.

Ultimately, I’m pleased with what I wrote.