Rynd winced.
Rigney nodded.
“We’ll see what the spread is, but you’ll probably have to launch in another three hours.” Tepper turned in my direction. “You’re the designated rescue pilot. Once we engage, you’ll be suited and in shuttle one, but you’ll stay cradled in the bay unless and until you’re needed.”
“Except for Lieutenant Chang, you can all go back to whatever you were doing until ten hundred. Then I expect you back here, ready to fly. If we need you sooner, you’ll be alerted.”
Major didn’t say a word until we were alone.
“Commander Morgan picked you for this, Lieutenant.”
The way she said it meant she didn’t agree. Would have bet she’d done the pickups before. “Yes, sir. I didn’t know.”
“I wouldn’t have expected you to. You know how all the equipment works, and you’re the best overall shuttle pilot we’ve got. It’s basically a close and grapple and return operation. No armor to armor, and you never leave the controls. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Lieutenant, if you’re launched, your only task is to pick up any disabled needleboats and bring them back, as quickly as possible. We can’t afford delays. You will not recover any enemy artifacts or boats unless specifically ordered. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Wasn’t stupid. Bringing a needleboat that still carried an antimatter torp inside the Magellan’s shields was suicide. Hell, Sunnis had been known to strap antimatter bomblets in place of one of the recycler packs on their space armor. Never understood suicide tactics. Doubted I ever would. Just accepted that some idiots were like that.
“Good. Do you have any other questions?”
“Bringing back disabled boats… what bay do you use?”
“Fourth bay for salvage and repair. It will be the only bay open on your return. That makes it easy.”
“The ship will be maintaining heading and acceleration?”
“That’s the plan, Lieutenant. Delays might provide opportunities for others.”
“How many others?”
Tepper looked like she wasn’t going to answer. Then she nodded brusquely. “We don’t know. We’ve learned of a major security breach. There are… religious implications… we believe.”
Religious implications? What did aliens have to do with religion? If someone believed in an all-powerful god—or goddess—the damned deity had to have power over aliens and us. Who believed in a deity that wasn’t all-powerful? Didn’t say anything, though. Never did understand why people believed that crap. Life after death? Even the words were a contradiction.
“If you don’t have any more questions, Lieutenant…”
“No, sir.”
Tepper left. So did I.
Did a quick workout, then got a shower and a big breakfast No telling how long I’d be standing by.
At ten hundred, I was back in the ready room, and by ten-thirty, I was strapping into shuttle one. Wore full armor, except for the helmet, racked just back of the couch. Had to be able to reach it in instants, but links didn’t work well through armor, unless you used a habitability connection like they did in the needles. Glad I wasn’t running a needle. They piloted in full armor, helmets and all. Went through the prelaunch checklist and put everything on hold. Didn’t carry a tech on a recovery. Nothing a tech could do.
Navigator Control, this is Porter Tigress. Standing by at prelaunch.
Porter Tigress, Control, stand by until further notice. Estimate bogeys in operating area in fifteen plus.
Control, Porter Tigress standing by.
While I waited, called up the Magellan’s farscreens through the links, and the lower command net. Could see the Sunni cruiser and frigate, closing. Alwyn—D.S.S. battle cruiser escorting us—could have outrun both. So could the two couriers, Bannister and Owens. They’d run for the Gate. No reason not to. They didn’t carry but four torps and light shields. Magellan had too much mass to make that speed in a short time. Gate was too far. We wouldn’t make it before the Sunnis reached us.
Alwyn moved to intercept. Sunnis split. Frigate accelerated plus fifteen on a course thirty relative. Would try to intercept from the port forequarter. Magellan should have screens to hold off a frigate. Had to wonder how many needleboats the two Sunnis would launch. They’d need plenty to offset the Alwyn’s firepower.
The Sunni cruiser turned on a tail chase directly toward the Magellan. Alwyn altered course, dropping back slightly, but maintaining position between the Sunni cruiser and the Magellan.
Frigate kept accelerating, trying to draw abreast of the Magellan.
I ran the parameters through the shuttle’s comps. No frigate had enough fusactor mass to keep up that acceleration for long, not even with augmentation from photon nets. Good question as to whether the AG drives would melt down or the fusactors would shut down. Frigate had to be figuring on a one-way attack or a later pickup from another ship. Farscreens only showed the other two Sun-nis—heading toward a stand-off near Deep Find Station. They’d be able to reach the frigate before any Comity ship could. There weren’t any other ships anywhere close in our out-sector of Hamilton system.
Sunni cruiser began an accel-run toward the Alwyn. That didn’t seem right. I checked again. Cruiser was aimed at the Magellan.
I could see the Sunni tactics unfolding. Cruiser would shift all power to acceleration and forward shields. Alwyn would have to shift power to screens and block or destroy the cruiser. That would slow the Alwyn. If the Alwyn didn’t have to protect us, she could have just cut back at an angle, and the velocities would have been great enough that the Sunni wouldn’t have been able to bring torps—or anything else—to bear for more than instants. With the Sunni cruiser on a collision course with the Magellan, the Alwyn had to stand and fight. Both couriers were well clear, closer to the Gate.
I kept listening on lower command band.
Bandit one, closing. Range is one-point-three kilo-kay ETC is eight minus. Bandit two, closing on Navigator, terminal vee. ETC is eleven plus.
Both Sunnis were working on a simultaneous attack, one on the Magellan, the other on the Alwyn.
Bandit one, all shields forward. ETC five plus…
Couldn’t figure why there was so little on the lower command, but realized that the Alwyn was a warship, and the captain of the Alwyn was probably senior to Captain Spier. Meant that he was commanding and using upper band—why it was blocked. They had to give me access on lower for recovery ops.
Farscreens showed a reddish blip that was the Sunni closing on the blue ovoid that was the Alwyn. Magellan was a larger oval, with the smaller red triangle that was the frigate coming in from the port side.
Magellan’s internal shipnet came up with a warning. All personnel! Secure for null grav, Secure for null grav. Probably went out over all audio speakers, too, but I wasn’t where I’d hear that.