I have come so far, and yet I do not see an end.
I have little choice now but to defy the will of the Chancellor and the Bishops and ensure that my fleet never falls into Kardiac's hands.
R-403 -En-route to Sentinel Station
Riley made his way forward to the Raptor's cockpit, ducking through the rear door and slipping into the gunnery console, taking a draught from his coffee mug, sufficiently Irish-ed up so that it would hide the god awful taste of Katz's coffee. Someone had obviously never taught the kid how to make a decent pot, something Riley was adamant he would rectify before the end of their journey.
He yawned expressively as he turned, a quirky smile on his face as he stared at the Fighter Ace, who was concentrating on flying. "So." He said.
"So?" Katz asked, not turning from his instruments, adjusting the Raptor's trim as he increased speed a fraction.
"It's a conversation starter," Riley said, sitting back with a sigh, "Looking for a way to break the boredom... You do realize it's been three days and the most I've gotten out of either you or the doctor are one word answers?"
Katz paused, turning trying to think back over the past few days, surprised to realize that the unorthodox General was right. Doctor Kyr had been distracted tending for his patient, and Katz... well, his thoughts had been squarely on how the hell he was supposed to keep his promise to Ashley.
"I'm sorry, I was..." Katz smiled, "I've been distracted."
"Thinking about the party?" Riley asked, nodding out the cockpit window.
"The Amsus have everything they have between us and Sentinel Station," Katz shifted in his seat and stared up at the darkness, his eyes glancing to the jump pod readouts, reaching out to tap the gauge; they'd be able to jump in about five minutes. Each jump brought them closer and closer to the Amsus Armada and potential disaster. There would be no pretending they were part of the same big happy fleet, just another Amsus Raptor. The moment they leapt into the system with Amsus vessels they would be challenged; as soon as they failed to reply they would be targeted by every Amsus ship in the system, and that was when things would get deadly.
"How many jumps to Sentinel?" Riley asked, leaning down to the navigation computer between the two forward consoles and activating its display.
"We have at least a week of jumps," Katz said, "And that's direct here to there. If I try to take us around..."
"The Amsus'll reach Sentinel and we're screwed." Riley mused, "Why does it always have to be the hard way?"
Katz grinned as he unzipped his flight jacket and scratched his chest, "Blame Darien, we all do..."
Riley smiled, "You guys really love him, don't you."
"He's the Skipper," Katz replied, "He's like a good luck charm, you know the moment he comes out with 'I have a plan' or gets that twinkle in his eye, that we're going to be all right. It's just..."
"He's not here this time." Riley surmised, reading Katz's expression, "Well, you know the old expression; the Devil makes his own luck."
"I think that's a mixed metaphor," Katz pointed out, commencing the jump calculations that would whisk them on to the Ge-Han system.
"Shut up!" Riley grumbled, "Punk kids, thinking they know better than their elders. In my day..."
"Engaging jump drive," Katz said, reaching out to depress the actuator.
"We have company," Riley observed as the tactical grids came back online after the jump. He instinctively began to power up the weapon systems.
Katz turned his head to check the sensor board, an annoyed expression on his face. The look of annoyance turned to a wince as R-403's Imperial sensor palate resolved an Amsus Destroyer, nine minutes out and speeding to intercept them.
"We jumped almost right on top of him," Katz groaned, "Shit...shit...shit! Shitshitshitshit!"
"Careful," Riley looked up, "My mother'd wash your mouth out with soap..."
Katz powered the engines up to full, banking the Raptor away from the destroyer, hoping the Polian enhanced drives would give them some kind of edge speed wise. He glanced over at the General. "How can you still be making jokes?"
"I make jokes when I'm nervous... annoyed... surprised..." He paused, "So generally I make jokes all the time..."
"What's going on?" Doctor Kyr climbed his way forward, the small doctor looking at the sensor station behind the pilot's chair and, realizing that they had an Amsus warship bearing down on them, he quickly clambered into the seat, fumbling to do up his seatbelts.
"Can we outrun him till we're recharged enough to jump?" Riley fired across to Katz.
"He's already at flank speed," Katz replied, "We're still accelerating... I don't think we're going to get enough velocity to stay out of his weapons arcs..."
"Can't we bluff?" Kyr asked, pulling himself forward in his seat.
"I don't think they're in the mood for chit-chat," Riley replied, "They never even bothered with a challenge. Probably a new Amsus standing order, shoot any ship appearing where it's not supposed to be... I bet that makes Amsus High Command popular at the Amsus Trooper local six-oh-three meetings..."
"If I turn and we make a strafing run past him," Katz's eyes gleamed, trying to think, "we might be able to hit his engines. The plasma cannons pack one hell of a punch..."
"Yeah," Riley mused, glancing over his boards, "And that'll be one hell of a shot..."
"Get lucky," Katz commented, throwing the Raptor hard over, the small frigate's wings shifting into their attack position as the ship careened on a steeply curving trajectory that would take it on a tight pass with the Destroyer's bulk. Its primary mass driver belched a projectile that slammed into the Amsus vessel as the twin plasma cannons hammered fire along the dorsal side of the destroyer, barely scratching its armour plating.
They hadn't been lucky.
The Raptor shuddered from the impact of the destroyer's point defence cannons as the destroyer rotated on its lateral axis, unleashing missile fire to finish off the brave Raptor that had dared to stand up against him. The warning alerts screamed in the cockpit as Riley detonated the chaff flares, wishing they had a couple of people manning the auto-maser turrets to help keep the missiles off of them.
The missiles had been set to proximity detonation, and all around the hawk-like Raptor brilliant blue-white flares of light exploded. The Amsus destroyer brought its flak barrier online, filling the darkness with yellow flashes of tracer rounds, trying to swat the meddlesome ship from the sky. The Raptor's armour absorbed the concussive force for their first pass, and Katz thanked the Raptor's designers for such sturdy craftsmanship.
He gunned the engines and broke away from the Destroyer's engagement zone, hammering the engines as he drove away from the weapons fire, aware that in a few short minutes the Destroyer would realize they were not making a second pass, and its Captain would begin the chase anew. Katz had, for the moment, bought them a little time.
"What now?" Kyr's melodious voice sounded loud in the cramped cockpit, breaking the deathly silence.
The three officers looked at each other, knowing that an enraged destroyer was only a few seconds behind them.
* * *
"Mistress," An Inquisitor approached her throne in the Battlecruiser's command centre, "We have a report from Ge-Han. You were correct. They detected and are intercepting Captain Taine's Raptor as we speak."
Sephradon let her slender hand slide from her brow, staring at the Inquisitor for a long moment before speaking, her words like ice, "You know my orders, carry them out. Kill Taine!"
"They are attempting to intercept him, however, he managed to elude the Destroyer's initial attempt to secure them..."
Sephradon stared coldly at the Inquisitor. "How can a Raptor elude a Destroyer in open space?"
"He attacked the Destroyer, Mistress." The Inquisitor replied.
"He what?" Sephradon's delicate eyebrow raised subtly, "My my, Captain Taine," she murmured absently, "you are full of surprises, aren't you..." She turned her attention back on the Inquisitor. "Send a Battlecruiser to Ge-Han, and ensure Taine is dead before this day is out. He has already proven resourceful, I have no desire for him to join the battle at Sentinel Station."
"As you wish," The Inquisitor withdrew, leaving his lady to her brooding thoughts.
* * *
"The gas giant," Katz suggested, looking up from his sensor readouts, "If we enter its outer layers, the dense clouds should hide us from the Amsus scopes..."
Riley nodded. The Destroyer was gaining on them again, and while they had taken the brunt of its first attack, he wasn't eager for a second round. There was only so much punishment the sturdy little vessel could withstand before things started to come apart.
"Sounds like a plan," he replied as the Raptor curved towards the large boiling beige planet, an angry titan that resembled Jupiter, the swirling patterns on its surface furious storms tearing through the ammonia clouds. The Raptor plunged through the outer layer of gas, as the first few shots of the Destroyer attempted to stop the Raptor shrieked by them as it vanished into the murky depths.
"I sucked at hide and seek when I was a kid," Riley mused as the sensor displays flickered and became garbled as the intense magnetic fields refracted the scanners. He sat back, knowing that his weapons were now useless; they were trapped, like rats in a cage, the Amsus Destroyer somewhere over their heads trying to catch a glimpse of them.
Katz checked the flight instruments, keeping the Raptor oriented correctly, praying that he wouldn't get lost and dive too deeply where the pressure would be able to crush the small ship's hull like an egg. : He looked up at the swirling earth tones that filled the cockpit window, oranges battling browns for supremacy.
"So," Riley grimaced, "We're just going to sit here till the jump pods recharge and then..."
"We can't jump in here," Katz said glancing up, "That much energy unleashed in one go, combined with the natural high oxygen content of Hyperspace gas... well that would make one hell of a big bang, we'd blow ourselves and most of the planet, sky high..."
"So we're trapped?" Kyr voiced what each of them knew.
Riley nodded. "One good thing though, they can't see us, we can't see them. So the odds are even."
"You, General," the doctor observed, "are packed full of strange anecdotes."
"My mother," Riley replied, "she used to spout them all the time, wicked tongue on that woman, could peel paint with it when she was angry..."
Katz pulled a sharp turn with the Raptor, changing course, seemingly at random. Zigzagging meant that even if the Destroyer did catch a glimpse of them, it would lose them again moments later. But again he knew that all he was doing was buying them time, time to breathe, time to think.
Beside him Riley fidgeted anxiously in the gunnery seat. Even his normally flippant remarks had faded into silence as they sat and waited, watching the minutes and hours tick by on the chronometer's digital readout. Time seemed to crawl to the nervous clicking of Kyr's fingers as he drummed them absently on the rear console behind them. The jump gauge beeped steadily as it climbed, ten percent, twenty...
"Tea..." Kyr said, finally breaking the monotony as he got up, the doctor running a hand through his thick dark hair as he shifted, "We need tea... Tea always helps, it makes things..."
"Tea's a good idea," Katz said, turning and smiling at him. They were all feeling it, the twinge of going stir crazy, each a wound-up ball of anticipation, waiting for...what were they waiting for?
The warning trill went off on the sensor console, all three heads turning as one to face it...
"Brace for impact!" Katz called out, seconds before the titanic roar tore through the ship. Everything and everyone was hurled around, caught in a maelstrom, the shockwave that struck them tossing the Raptor end over end as it fought to right itself, plunging deeper into the clouds, struggling to gain altitude again, as Katz fought with the controls.
The whole ship quivered, the whine of the engines audible to all of them as Doctor Kyr picked himself up from the deck where he had been thrown. He clambered over the shuddering deck to climb back into his chair and re-buckle his safety belts.
"Fucking nuke!" Katz swore, as he slapped the computer console, praying that it would shake off the effects of the EMP. It seemed that the Amsus weren't content to simply wait them out; they had no qualms about dropping nukes into a gas giant, even if they were risking the nuclear explosion cascading through the Hydrogen, turning the gas giant into one huge hydrogen bomb, and possibly themselves in the process.
A second explosion ripped through the planet's slumber, the blast ripping through the atmosphere, pounding the small frigate again, the ship shivering and sinking lower into the depths as several of its delicate electrical systems fizzled out. Each of the crew members ducked their heads, knowing that if they fell too low the pressure of the gas giant would crush them like an egg, all the Amsus had to do was detonate a nuke close by and they were all dead.
"We need to get deeper," Riley bellowed above the din of warning alarms, "Get out of their range, maybe we can catch an air current, get away from the target area, that way if they catch the right pocket of gas won't get cooked ..."
"I don't know..." Katz replied, guiding the ship lower as a third and fourth explosion detonated, "Destroyers don't carry that many nukes... and they can't fire that often..."
"They got backup," Riley nodded, flipping through a quick inventory of the Raptor's weapons. They really had nothing that would be of any use. All they could do was try to get as deep as they could and pray, as another shockwave blew out the lights, plunging them into darkness.
Riley felt his head connect with the edge of the bulkhead, and in an explosion of stars, blacked out.
* * *
"Ow, ow, OW!" he awoke to a stinging on his forehead, fending off the small doctor who was applying something to his head, "Stop that, that hurts more than..." he shook his head and looked up. The explosions had stopped.
"They stopped about six hours ago." Kyr explained, reading the shocked expression on the General's face, helping the General upright in his seat, Riley looking over questioningly at the empty pilot's seat.
"He's up with the jump pods," Kyr explained, "They knocked out practically everything else, but the Raptor's gliding on the lower air currents using its secondary engines so we're not falling any lower into the gas giant..." he shook his head.
"We're pretty screwed, right?" Riley commented, licking his dry lips and feeling the cut on his forehead, knowing that it was going to leave a mark.
"They either think they got us or..." Kyr shrugged.
"Or they're waiting for us to poke our heads up so they can confirm the kill." Riley observed, "I should..." he made to stand up; feeling woozy, he sat back down again.
"Sit tight," Kyr ordered, staring into his eyes worriedly, the doctor the model of professionalism as he checked the wound again, "You might have a concussion."
"Oh I'm cussin' all right," Riley grumbled, "Those fucking sons of bitches better hope we don't pop our heads out, if I get one clear shot..."
Katz came down the corridor lit by the emergency lights. His jacket and fatigue shirt had been stripped off and grease stained his undershirt. He shook his head as he sat on the edge of the sensor console, looking at the General and the doctor examining him, who was perched on the edge of the pilot's seat.
"It's no use, I can get power to the jump drives, but the main engines won't reinitialise." He rubbed his tired face, "We're stuck down here..." He looked up and out of the dark windows at the thick brown gas that curled past the canopy.
"Great," Riley sank lower into his chair, pressing his back against the bulkhead, fishing through his pockets he pulled out a packet of cigarettes. He fumbled with them and pulled one out; sticking it in his mouth, he felt around for his lighter.
Katz surprised him, pulling out his and sparking it up, the General leaning forward to puff a few times before sinking back into his seat, unbuttoning his fatigue shirt and pulling a knee up under his chin.
"You people keep any alcohol on this thing?" He asked, reaching out a hand to fiddle with the radio mounted to the control panel, switching it over to the computer archives. Glad that the EMP hadn't completely fried the system, he pulled back as he found some music files and turned up the beat.
Kyr crossed his legs on the pilot's seat, knowing that they were done. Without engines, they couldn't escape the gas giant's atmosphere, and even if they could the Amsus vessels in orbit would obliterate them before they could achieve a jump vector. There was nowhere to run, no way to call for help with the Amsus blocking all FTL channels.
The three companions sat in silence for a while as Katz reached out for Riley's packet of cigarettes. Lighting one himself, he closed his eyes and took a long drag, sitting back and looking at both of them.
"I want a pizza," he said with a shake of his head.
"What?" Riley looked up, "I don't think they deliver in this neighbourhood..."
"No," Katz grinned, "It's just... you know I never tried one? I usually end up with mess food on the Ex, before that... well, I kind of didn't get much by the way of choice before the war."
"You've never lived till you tried Angelo's pizza on the corner of Third and Main, good old Chicago deep dish..." Riley chuckled, licking his lips, "So greasy your arteries would clog just looking at it. But man, did it ever taste good."
"I wanted to kiss someone..." Kyr unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and loosened his tie. Realizing how pointless ties were at that point, he pulled it off all together, the thin red silk a gift from his mother on his last birthday. He chuckled as he tied it around his head like a warrior's headband.
"One never tried Pizza, and the other's never been kissed?" Riley stared in wonder, "Kids these days. You know what, you're not missing much. All my ex wives had one thing in common, they couldn't kiss to save their lives..."
"Ashley can kiss..." Katz broke in, screwing up his nose as he took another drag, "Though I wish I'd got to see him... at least once."
"He's scrawny," Kyr responded, "I'm breaking doctor-patient confidentiality here, but he makes up for the thin..." he waggled his eyebrows and glanced down meaningfully being uncharacteristically crass, not that it mattered anymore.
Katz got a stupid grin on his face.
"Yeah, you're toast." Riley murmured, shaking his head, "Stupid look like that," he gestured to Katz, "Is exactly what happens to me. It's like a drug, before you know it you're dating, after dating they're shackling you with marriage... followed shortly thereafter by them tearing out your heart, doing a Mexican hat dance around it while their lawyers steal half your worldly possessions. And all the while you know, you just know, you'd do it all again if they so much as smile at you one last time..."
"You're not exactly a romantic, are you," Kyr observed, folding his arms, "I believe in love at first sight..."
"Spend a lot of time in private school, doctor?" Riley asked, "You were picked on, weren't you... came from reading all that poetry."
Kyr smirked. "At least I know how to read," he commented, "I didn't waste my time smoking in the boys' room, wondering if books tasted good..."
"Geek." Riley quipped.
"Brain-dead Neanderthal." Kyr shot back. Both were smiling despite the half-hearted venom in their words.
"So," Riley said, stubbing out his cigarette butt on the edge of the console and sitting upright, "The jump drives are nearly charged. You want to die down here, or do you want to go out with a bang and maybe take those sons of bitches with us?"
"I kinda promised someone I wouldn't do anything stupid, not even if it meant saving the universe," Katz said, finishing his own butt.
"I won't tell him if you won't," Riley winked.
Katz replaced Kyr at the pilot's station, looking down at the Nav computer. "So do I bother putting in jump co-ordinates?" He asked.
"Yes," The new voice in the cockpit made them all jump, Kyr clutching his chest as he took a couple of steps back and nearly fell in a heap on the desk from shock, staring at Prince Edward's form leaning on the doorframe, his arms crossed.
"Who in the sans hells bells are you?" Riley asked, his eyes wide.
"I'm the Immortal Emperor," Prince Edward replied with complete sincerity.
"K and I'm Elvis..." Riley folded his arms.
"Hail to the king?" Edward offered brightly.
"I'm pretty sure those were tobacco cigarettes," Riley mumbled, fishing the packet out and sniffing them just to be sure.
Edward knelt, helping Kyr to his feet, grinning a moment at the bewildered doctor, too stunned to do anything more than stop and stare. He gestured to Katz. "Enter the jump co-ordinates, you're going to be all right, I promise..."
Katz blinked to clear his head, his hands hammering the jump calculations into the computer, looking back again at Elias to be certain. He watched the dark head and the bright eyes as they nodded, the silken bangs falling back across his eye as he mouthed the word, "Jump."
R-403 engaged its jump drives the massive energy opening a hole between the hydrogen filled gas giant and the oxygen rich hyperspace. The gas giant shivered and detonated as the right combination of elements erupted. For an instant the purest white light poured from the heart of the planet, gas clouds flaring and igniting as the explosions cascaded spiralling outwards from the jump event. Roaring, the slumbering titan awoke from its slumber, and it was pissed.
A jet of flame erupted from the surface of the mighty world, reaching out to ensnare the pair of Amsus ships in a fiery embrace, the vacuum cased by the expanding gasses pulling them down into the burning depths as armour plating turned to molten fragments, and secondary explosions rent open their hulls. The skeletal superstructures caved inwards as the metal girders twisted under the intensity of the heat, splintering joints as the ships caved in upon themselves, swallowed by the rush as the fireball died, the planet again returning to its peaceful slumber.
A flash and a roar of flames saw the battered R-403 spill out of its jump, shielded by a brilliant golden light. The ship pin-wheeled end over end as it spun lazily, settling gently as its thrusters fired, zeroing its vector and levelling the ship out.
Aboard the ship, Riley stared at his companions in shock, and looked up again at the strange boy he vaguely recognized from news feeds.
"You're Prince Edward..." he said, sounding awed.
The boy smiled again as he vanished, fading into the darkness once more.
* * *
Sephradon felt Edward.
No longer the timid little presence she had hunted on Karin. The strength of his will was unlike any she had felt before, it eclipsed even... but that wasn't possible...
Rikard!
She seethed, a piece of the puzzle sliding into place as she glared, "Our ships at Ge-Han have been destroyed," she said, rising from her chair, "Send more. And this time... do not fail me!"
* * *
The transfer of power from Colonel Evans to Caldone had progressed swiftly through the shadowy intelligence network that surrounded the Empire. An understanding from Colonel Evans's faction to defer automatically to him had been easy to obtain, Colonel Evans, even inside a prison cell, wielded formidable power through the intelligence community.
Obtaining the support of Walker's faction had been harder, however the Imperial archives inside the tower had proven very useful to a man that had steadily compiled all the information about the various power players in the soon to be reformed Imperial Senate, as well as the current provisional council. Blackmail was still a useful trade.
Caldone squinted through the optical instrument, calculating the relative positions of the buildings around the Black Tower, intelligence headquarters in downtown Karin City. He leaned back again taking careful notes as he turned to the woman standing a few feet away from him.
"You are highly recommended." He said evenly, his soft voice sounding amused.
"I'm the best, if that is what you mean," the Orion female leaned with her arms crossed, sneering at the bookish man taking measurements on the roof of the high skyscraper. The wind cut through their coats, and she shivered, the Orions were never ones to stomach the cold.
Caldone appreciated the advantage it gave him in gauging her for the task ahead of them, she refused to complain, even though she was uncomfortable that high up in the frigid morning air. "You are Dar'Shar," Caldone said adjusting the theodolite he was working with and turning it, sighting in again, looking up mildly perplexed that there was no building there, only an open gap that sat high above the street level. One of the busier shopping concourses adjacent to the mirrored glass and steel office tower belonging to the First Bank of Orion.
"I am Dar'Shar," She confirmed, "Contracted by the guild and available for hire. You have need of a sword, I am it, for the right price."
Caldone rubbed his dark goatee as he leaned back from his measurements, "I will require a team of individuals to accomplish a very difficult task, I wish for you to lead that team. I need your unconditional assent before I tell you of the task."
"That will be expensive." She began, "The guild will expect more..."
"How much?" Caldone inquired walking over to a table and inputting notes into a laptop computer, using it to triangulate precisely where he needed to arrange the transmitters so that they would work correctly.
"Five." She replied.
"Done," he said without hesitation, "you will assemble a team and you will await my orders." He produced a disk, "I would appreciate a level of secrecy in this operation, I am willing to offer a further two million to ensure discretion."
She nodded as she reached for the disk, "as you wish."
He smiled, knowing that a Dar'Shar was a sound investment, returning to his careful work ensuring that she knew he was done with her. When he looked up again she was gone, and he nodded in satisfaction.