“Armor’s gone from sections sixty-four through seventy-one,” Lindstrom went on. “Maneuvering drives are off-line. Fusion generator’s still functioning, but we’ve got multiple ruptures in the power grid. Damage control crews are re-routing now, but we don’t have weapons power until we get the grid hooked up again. Estimated repair time is ten minutes. Shields are still holding except around the burn-through point. Graham’s deploying portable shield units to protect engineering from radiation effects.”
“Repair estimate on the drive?” Tereshkova snapped.
Lindstrom looked grim. “An hour…maybe more.”
“We don’t have an hour, Commander,” she said quietly. “Tell Mr. Graham-”
“We nailed him! We nailed the bastard!” The shout from someone on the far side of the bridge brought a wave of cheers from the stunned crew, and Tereshkova turned in her chair to study her monitor screen again.
The computer-enhanced image showing there was subtly different, but it took a few seconds forher fatigue-numbed brain to interpret what she was seeing. She raised her eyes to meet Lindstrom’s again, and this time she had a savage smile on her lips.
“Her shields are down,” she said. “She’s helpless out there….”
“And us with no weapons power,” Lindstrom replied with a frown.
“But without shields, Mr. Lindstrom, those Cats are going to fry in a matter of minutes,” she said. “They’re even closer to Vaku’s weird star than we are, and that means they’re getting a full broadside of radiation sleeting right through their hull as we speak. Unless they get their generators back on-line pretty damned soon, they’re all dead meat over there…unless they surrender and let us try to extend our own shields around them.”
“Let ‘em fry,” Lindstrom said harshly. After thirty-five years of warfare people didn’t talk much about compassion for the enemy. Not after the losses inflicted on Earth herself, or the plague on Locanda, or any of the other atrocities the Kilrathi had carried out over the years.
But Tereshkova shook her head. “We’ll give them a chance to surrender, Commander,” she said. “Just think about the propaganda value of leading that big sucker in to port back at Landreich…with her surviving crew as prisoners. It’ll be the biggest thing since Ralgha nar Hhallas defected. Might give some people the idea it’s worthwhile keeping up the fight a little while longer. God knows we’ve had few enough victories, large or small, to boost morale back home.“ She turned again. ”Lieutenant, let someone else look after Mr. Martinez. Get back to your post and put a message out to those Cats. Surrender, and we will impose our shields against the star’s radiation until they can get their damage control sorted out.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” the communications officer said.
Tereshkova slumped back in her chair. It was almost over….
Flag Bridge, KIS Karga
Near Vaku VII, Vaku System
1356 hours (CST)
“Surrender! Would the apes see us dishonored? Would you, Lord Admiral?”
Largka Cakg bared his teeth at the Fleet Intelligence Officer but did not reply. His eyes found Murragh, and he gestured his sister’s son forward. “Status?”
“Shields are down and cannot be restored short of a full-scale overhaul, Lord Admiral,” Murragh said. “Lethal radiation dosages will be reached within the next ten cycles; it is already too late for many in Engineering or who have already received significant doses of radiation previous to this. We still have maneuvering drive and limited weapons availability, but we cannot run from the radiation fast enough to save the crew, and we cannot fight the cruiser with the weapons we have left.”
“And the apes?”
“Damage assessment suggests they have lost their maneuvering capability. There would appear to be gaps in their power distribution grid. Their shields are intact except in their Engineering section. We have no way of estimating the extent of their damage, Lord Admiral, save by observation, and they may be holding back….”
Largka cut him off with a claw-grasp. “Without other capital ships we cannot even abandon ship and hope to survive. Lifepods would shield us from the radiation for a few hours at best, but that would be insufficient without other ships to perform search and rescue. Nor do we have adequate powered craft to evacuate the entire crew with the launch bays out of action. A few lifeboats are all that can escape; the rest of Karga’s crew will the without shields.”
“Would you actually consider surrender to the apes?” Khirgh demanded, snarling.
“No, Lord Khirgh, I would not. Murragh, pass orders for the Cadre to evacuate in available lifeboats. Senior officers to remain at their posts, but get the designated Cadre out. The inner moon of Vaku is marginally habitable, and we saw Frawqirg heading there when they broke off the action.” The Cadre-fifty specialist officers and petty officers out of the five thousand aboard the supercarrier-would survive to carry their individual skills back to the Fleet. “You will act as my deputy, Murragh,” Largka added. “Take charge of the Cadre until you meet a senior line officer to pass the command to.”
“But my place is here-”
“You are the last of our branch of the Clan,” Largka told him. “You must survive to carry on the Clan’s name and honor. There is no shame in obeying orders.”
“There is no shame,” Murragh repeated formally. “I obey.”
As Murragh hastened from the flag bridge Largka slumped back in his chair, trying to control the reflexive movement of his fingers and claws. He did not want any of his crew to see him betray weakness at this of all moments.
By the God of War, they had come so close. And now the whole crew was condemned to a slow and agonizing death, because of a lucky shot by the ape cruiser.
There was nothing left now but to let Karga end his service in glory.
“Helm, plot an intercept course with the Terran ship. Get us everything you can from the engines. We will ram the apes if that is the only way to ensure they don’t see home again. Engineering, coordinate with the helm. I want self-destruct systems rigged to explode the ship as we reach the cruiser. Full destruct-reactors, ordnance, auxiliary generators, munitions and fuel stores…everything rigged to the computer destruct program.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The engineering officer looked shaken, but raised no word of protest.
“Communications, I will record a message.”
“Ready, Lord Admiral.”
Largka paused for a moment in contemplation before speaking into the microphone at his side. “This is Admiral Largka Cakg dai Nokhtak. Karga is the last ship of the squadron, and we have lost shields while passing close to an anomalous brown dwarf in the Vaku system. As a result, lethal dosages of radiation will soon render the ship’s crew dead, something the apes who have attacked us could not do themselves.”
He paused, seeing the orange jungles of Kilrah again in his mind’s eye. One last hunt would have been pleasant, but the God of War demanded otherwise. “Even in death we have a last chance to grasp the enemy in our claws. Our last surviving opponent appears incapable of maneuver, and I have ordered an intercept course. We will destroy the ship once it is close alongside the Terran cruiser, so we will not go to the afterlife without a proper escort of our dead and defeated foes. Weapons stations should continue to fire as they are able, until the end. We the for the glory of the Empire, and to honor the hero whose name our vessel bears. Remember the words of the Tenth Codex: Even in Death there can be Victory!”