“Thirty seconds until shield collapse,” Valerie said. “I can’t give you any longer than that.”
“I won’t need any more.” Keith fingers played upon the piloting board like a master pianist.
“Twenty seconds,” the lieutenant said.
“Come on,” Keith said between gritted teeth. He slapped a control. Gravity shoved him hard against his seat as he overstrained the dampeners. He was pushing the starship. He hoped everyone had strapped in.
“Ten seconds,” Valerie said.
“I’m reversing thrust,” the ace said. “This could get rough.”
It did. The gravity dampeners howled. The bridge shook with strain. With the grace of a ballerina, the huge starship slid behind an asteroid only a little larger than it was. The vessel came to a dead stop behind tens of thousands of tons of granite shielding. The drones no longer had a direct-line-sight on Victory. That allowed the lieutenant to begin an emergency shield-bleeding operation to bring the deflectors back from critical.
“I’m launching a probe,” Valerie said. They couldn’t see the drones anymore because the asteroid was in the way. Ten seconds passed. “I’m bringing the probe’s data onto the main screen.”
Keith looked up with interest. He expected to see the drones sneaking up on their asteroid. Instead, each of the drones aimed at the professor’s asteroid.
The ace swore, staring at Valerie.
“You were right about their wanting to attack the asteroid base,” the lieutenant said.
“I usually am,” Keith said, “although this time, I’d like to be wrong.”
Valerie concentrated on the shield, trying to speed the energy bleeding process. But after a certain point, it was simply a matter of enough elapsed time to bring the shield back.
“We have to attack the drones,” Keith said. “We can’t let them kill the professor.”
“I think you’re right,” the lieutenant said.
“If we had the disruptor cannon…” Keith said, his gaze falling on the sergeant.
Riker held the ace’s scrutiny without flinching. The sergeant wasn’t going to risk his life on a thirty percent chance of success to get Villars out of the disruptor control chamber.
“Well…” Keith said. “We don’t have the disruptor right now, do we?”
“We do have collapsium armor as you pointed out,” Valerie said.
“Armor with missing plates,” the ace said.
“Keep jigging as we attack. Try to throw off their aim at the exact soft points.”
“Aye,” Keith said. “I can’t think of anything better. Ready?”
“As I’m ever going to be,” Valerie said.
“Here we go,” Keith said.
Tapping the panel, the ace slid the vessel sideways just a little. He caused Victory to act like a sniper behind a bulwark. From the new location at the side of the asteroid, the neutron cannon could fire at one drone but not the others. That meant two enemy drones wouldn’t be able to hit Victory from their present location.
Keith laughed as he targeted the silver object. The neutron beam lanced across the distance, striking the shield of a previously un-hit drone.
Instead of maneuvering to fire back at its tormentor, the drone ignored the starship’s neutron ray. The other two also ignored Victory.
“This is perfect,” Valerie said. “I think we’re going to win this one.”
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, the targeted drone’s shield went from red to brown. At the same time, the drone accelerated. The thrust coming from its engine port lengthened a considerable degree.
“What’s it doing?” Riker asked.
“Looks to me as if the drone plans to ram the asteroid,” Keith said. He slapped the panel in frustration. “I need more power. I need the disruptor.”
The neutron beam darkened the enemy shield. Then the drone reached the professor’s asteroid, taking it out of the line-of-sight of its fellow attackers. As the drone smashed against the granite surface, it exploded in a nova-blinding flash. The drone became an atomic fireball then ceased to exist. The terrible force blew away granite, causing the rest of the rocky object to shake violently. Gigantic cracks appeared in the surface, showing an interior light. Amazingly, atmospheric vapor hissed up between the asteroid’s zigzag lines.
The remaining two drones had escaped the majority of the blast, although their shields absorbed what did reach them. They beamed between the cracks as if they could widen the openings.
“With one gone, the odds have turned in our favor,” Keith said.
Tapping the controls, the ace brought the starship out from behind its asteroid. Expelling masses of energy from the engine ports, the ace attempted to build up velocity fast. All the while, the neutron beam struck the next drone, trying to beat down its shield.
Unfortunately, the targeted drone did the same thing the first one had. As its shield reached critical, the drone drove into the professor’s asteroid, out of the line-of-sight of its fellow attacker, and exploded.
This time, Victory didn’t have the shielding meteor-mass to run interference for it. The force of the thermonuclear explosion reached the starship’s weakened shield and caused a collapse, with the rest of the radiation and heat washing against the collapsium armor.
Valerie’s board began to beep wildly.
Keith glanced at her.
“Parts of the ship are getting hit with radiation,” the lieutenant said. “Some of us will have to take treatments when this is over.”
“How long until you can bring the shield back up?”
“A half-hour if I’m lucky,” Valerie said.
Keith bared his teeth in frustration. The starship couldn’t take another of those explosions. He backed the vessel away from the remaining drone, heading for the safety of the shielding asteroid.
As Victory retreated, the last drone beamed Ludendorff’s asteroid. It was like a cat at a mouse hole, furiously determined to win its rodent. With relentless vehemence, the red ray stabbed into the widening cracks. It seemed as if the drone hunted for the professor.
***
Maddox stood in the corridor before the control room hatch. He gripped his long-barreled gun. On the other side of the door, Villars waited with a slarn rifle.
From time to time, the corridor shuddered. Once, motion caused Maddox to stumble forward. Then, a shock caused the captain to go to one knee. After regaining his balance, Maddox backed up, with his gun trained on the hatch.
Finally, Galyan appeared before him. “Why aren’t you entering the chamber?” the AI asked.
“I don’t want to die,” Maddox said.
Galyan stood motionless for a moment, finally saying, “Your answer meets the condition Villars gave me concerning you. I am to relay a message.”
“Go ahead.”
“He told me to tell you that he is better than you. There is no way you can defeat him in this kind of conflict.”
Maddox forced himself to laugh. “You tell him I’m going to use his own knife on him and skin his hide. The professor is gone, so now’s my chance.”
“You have become bloodthirsty,” Galyan noted.
“That’s right,” Maddox said. “Villars threatened my woman.”
Galyan disappeared, no doubt to report the exchange to the slarn hunter.
Is Meta ready? Maddox wondered. If not, none of this is going to work.
***
Meta flexed her power gloves. Beside her, Dana fitted the space marine helmet onto the exo-skeleton suit.
“Have you used one of these before?” Dana asked.
“A few times,” Meta said. “I don’t have a professional’s skill, but I should be able to walk down the halls in this without crashing into everything.”
Dana checked a chronometer. “We’re almost out of time.”