Ler-Traken’s image nodded. “I see him. Don’t worry, Commodore. I would bet he thinks we’re unarmed. We’ll take care of him. You concentrate on those destroyers.”
A battle cruiser is an awesome vessel. A 500-meter globe, she carries fifty Strengl in-system fighters, fifty Wasp long-range fighters, and bristles with over a hundred weapons emplacements, including lasers, particle beams, missiles, and even mass drivers. Her shields are powered by their own fusactor, and are much stronger than those of a destroyer. Fully crewed, Rekesh could simply brush aside one destroyer, and would have no trouble handling two.
However, Rekesh was not fully crewed. She was running with less than a tenth of a full crew. Her hangar deck was stocked with Strengls, and Wasps, but there was no one to fly them. Even drafting the civilians and any crew members not required for other duties, there would not be enough crew to keep the missile stations and mass drivers supplied. In addition, there were not one or two, but three destroyers.
Kas turned to To-Ling. “All right, San. We can’t let them encircle us. We could handle them one at a time, but even a battle cruiser is no match for a coordinated attack by three destroyers. Recommendations?”
The tiny woman looked grim. “You’re right, sir. We cannot just sit here. I’d say pick one and charge them.”
Kas grinned savagely. “Right. I… What the Sheol is Var doing?”
Starhopper was driving away from Rekesh ’s side, heading away from the oncoming frigate at an angle. “I’d say he’s trying to draw that frigate away from us,” To-Ling replied.
“Damn it! I told him to stay close! Get me Starhopper… No, belay that. It’s too late now. He’s on his own.
“Helm!” He continued. “Aim for the flagship and boost max. Weapons! Monitor the other two, and keep them busy, but I want all available weapons focused on the flagship. Engineering! I want every meter per second of delta-vee you can give me. Push redlines and strain safety margins. I want this big bitch to drive like a destroyer!”
“Aye, Aye, sir!” and “Yes sir” were followed a split second later by a crisp “Engineering Aye, sir!” in Tremling’s voice. Kas and To-Ling had time to exchange a surprised glance.
Kas turned back to To-Ling. “All right. We’re going to charge the flagship, but I assume he will retreat and stay ahead of us. What I’m really hoping for is that one of the others will get careless and give us a chance to jump him.”
To-Ling looked dubious, and Kas continued, “We’ve got to keep them from forming a circle that’ll let them just sit there and pour on the fire until our shields fail. Our advantage is that they want to capture Rekesh, not destroy her.” His eyes narrowed. “I have no such limitations.”
The two destroyers that had been boosting to encircle Rekesh tried to respond to Kas’ tactic of attacking the flagship, but they were accelerating in precisely the wrong directions, and could only launch a few missiles and fire a few despairing laser blasts before Rekesh was past them and firing at the flagship.
However, the Wielder-of-Swords was no novice. A destroyer is much more maneuverable than a battle cruiser, and he was able to retreat with only moderate damage from Rekesh ’s awesome weaponry. Of course, “moderate” damage from a battle cruiser’s weapons was still serious. Kas had ordered his gunners to concentrate on the destroyer’s drive tubes and maneuvering jets. All he’d need do would be to slow her down a bit…
Experienced crews evidently manned the other destroyers as well. Instead of trying to decelerate to a halt and reverse course, which would take them light-hours away and give Kas time to destroy the flagship, the ships swung toward each other, describing a large circle and allowing them to again threaten Kas with encirclement.
Kas cursed. Unless the enemy began making mistakes, they would eventually succeed in their encirclement maneuver; and when they did, the battle would be all but over. If only Rekesh were fully manned, and carried pilots to fly her fighters…
No sense wishing for the impossible. Perhaps defeat was inevitable, but he would make it an expensive victory for the Glories.
He turned to To-Ling. “We’ve got to keep chasing that flagship. If we can force her to keep maneuvering we can keep them from completing the encirclement — and if we can interfere with her maneuverability, we’ve got her! They can’t encircle us with two ships. All we need is a few lucky hits.”
She looked at him, expressionless. “I don’t believe in luck, sir.” She leaned toward him and lowered her voice. “You know they’ll get us, eventually.”
He nodded. “I know. I’ve been thinking about getting Tremling to rig a self-destruct to at least keep them from getting a usable ship. But with civilians aboard, I’m not sure I have the right to make that decision for them.”
She shrugged. “You know what capture by the Glories means. Torture to force confessions of espionage and blasphemy, followed by ‘The Lord’s Mercy’; either death or imprisonment. Even those that survive are crippled for life. They’d be better off dead.”
Kas sighed and nodded again. “You’re probably right, San. But, damn it… All right. You get down to Engineering and have Tremling get busy on something that can trigger enough fusactors simultaneously to totally destroy the Rekesh. And hopefully to take one or two of those bastards with us…” There was a slight quiver as a nuclear missile impacted Rekesh ’s shields, and the viewscreen image faded for a moment. The Glories were using nukes to overload the shields. It was an effective tactic, and cut their available time. Kas and To-Ling exchanged a serious look, and To-Ling headed for Engineering. His order to build a self-destruct was not one he could trust to the intercom.
Kas returned his attention to the enemy. The one off to starboard had been tending to slowly close with Rekesh. If Kas could lure him just a bit closer…
“Engineering,” he called. “If we can bring that one bastard just a little closer, I think we’ll have him. Stand by. At any moment, Helm will signal ‘full starboard’. What I’ll want is maximum effort. Essentially, I want to fire every maneuvering jet and anything else that will move us in his direction quickly. I know maneuvering isn’t a battle cruiser’s specialty, but even if we can just jerk or lurch toward him, it’ll help.”
Again Tremling’s tone was crisp and military. “Aye, sir. We’ll give you everything she’s got.” Kas clicked off.
“Weapons,” he said, turning toward Lieutenant Commander Bru Raskin, “lighten up on the starboard destroyer slightly. We want to coax him in. But on my order, fire every projectile weapon on the port side, and then hit him with everything we’ve got on the starboard side. Maybe the recoil from the port weapons will help us move toward him. This’ll be our best chance to even the odds.”
“Aye, Skipper,” the outerworlder replied with a predatory grin. “We’ll get ‘im!”
Kas frowned at the man’s words, but said nothing. This was no time for commenting on a subordinate’s manner and speech.
“Helm,” he said, “On my command, full starboard. Ready… Ready
… Not quite… NOW!” he shouted. “Now! Now!” The helmsman muttered into his communicator.
There was momentary hesitation, then a sudden lurch. Retribution ’s captain suddenly found himself dangerously close to the big battle cruiser. He frantically ordered his helm to pull back but before the order could be obeyed, Rekesh ’s starboard side erupted in a storm of weaponry.
The destroyer’s shields blackened, flickered, then disappeared, overwhelmed by the might unleashed against them. In less than a second, the destroyer became a rapidly expanding ball of incandescent gases.
Kas did not stop to admire his work. “Helm! Full ahead. Weapons! Hit that flagship hard!”
However, the Glory Wielder-of-Swords was no amateur. Sword of Fire was already retreating quickly, swinging to circle to Kas’ starboard. Obviously, the Wielder was trying to catch Vir Rekesh between his two remaining vessels. Kas noted that the ship to port also retreated to a respectful distance, but they kept firing, probing for a weak spot in the battle cruiser’s shields. Sooner or later, they would find one. And from where he stood, Kas could glance at the weapons console and see the red lights announcing missile emplacements and mass drivers needing replenishment, and the blackened ones telling of weapons stations no longer operable.