“I’m reading a nuclear detonation!” Jessica announced. “At least ten megatons!”
“Why would they fire a nuke?” Nathan asked, baffled at what had just happened.
“I don’t think the Takarans fired it, sir,” Jessica warned.
All the pieces fell into place in Nathan’s mind. He turned back to Jalea, who stood unwavering, unaffected. “Do your ships carry nuclear weapons?”
Jalea looked at Nathan for a moment, contemplating her response before she spoke. She could no longer hide this fact from them. Our ships do not carry nuclear weapons, Captain. They are nuclear weapons.”
Nathan stared at Jalea again. “You mean to tell me, that all your ships are basically nuclear missiles? Even the one still in our hangar deck?”
“Yes. But it is only used as a last resort. And it has proven effective on several occasions.”
“It makes sense, Sir,” Jessica told him.
“Are you kidding? How in the…”
“…No seriously,” Jessica tried to explain. “I mean, when all else fails, use yourself as a nuclear torpedo. At least you won’t miss.”
“What is the disposition of the Takaran ships?” Jalea asked indignantly.
Jessica looked at her tactical display. “I’m only picking up one ship, Sir. And it’s sustained quite a bit of damage as well.”
“Is it still a threat?”
“I’m not sure. We’re way out of her range at the moment, but if her main propulsion is still operable, she might still be able to catch us before we jump.”
“They will not be able to prevent our departure,” Jalea insisted.
Nathan turned halfway back toward Jalea and Marak. “You know, I’ve got half a mind to shoot the both of you once we get out of this mess!” he stated angrily, turning to completely face them. “You both knew damned well that this was the way it was going to play out from the beginning, didn’t you?”
“New contact! Off our port beam!” Ensign Yosef interrupted. “Just dropped out of FTL! Transferring track to tactical!”
Jessica began analyzing the new contact as Nathan turned back around to look for himself. “Crap,” Jessica swore. “It’s another Takaran warship,” she announced, her optimism falling along with everyone else in the room. “And it’s bigger than the last two.”
“How long until they can…”
Nathan didn’t have a chance to finish his question. “…We’ll be inside their weapons range in two minutes,” Jessica said.
“Time to safe jump?”
“Eight minutes,” Cameron answered. A split second later Marak spoke through his communicator, and the two remaining rebel ships that had been flying alongside the Aurora suddenly pulled ahead of them and angled to port on an intercept course with the third Takaran warship.
“You know, you could at least act like it was difficult to send your people off to die,” Nathan remarked, obvious anger in his voice. As expected, there was no response.
Nathan felt emotionally and physically exhausted. They had all been working for nearly eighteen hours now, and during that time his emotions had bounced from one end of the spectrum and back again at least a half dozen times. But he knew that he couldn’t give up now. He couldn’t ever give up. The stakes were just too damned high.
“Helm, turn us into the new target. Let’s bring our tubes to bear and give the enemy as little a silhouette as possible,” Nathan ordered.
“Coming to port, ten degrees and down slightly,” Cameron announced as she changed course. “Same speed, Captain?”
“Same speed,” he confirmed. “Jess, make sure all the rail guns are ready to fire as well. The only chance we’ve got is to blast our way through.”
“Yes Sir.”
Moments later, the rebel ships got close enough to launch their long range missiles at the third Takaran warship.
“Rebels ships are launching missiles,” Jessica announced. “Enemy is spinning up her point-defense screen. “Eight rebel missiles are on their way,” Jessica reported. “Impact in thirty seconds.”
“How many missiles do they carry?” Nathan asked Jalea.
“Four each.”
“They just fired their whole load,” he told Jessica.
“Takaran ship is firing missiles, but only two.”
“They’re either more conservative or they have better missiles,” Nathan decided.
“Rebels are launching decoys again,” Jessica announced. “We have got to get us some of those,” she whispered. “Rebel missiles have reached the enemy perimeter.” Jessica paused a moment before continuing. “Only two missiles made it through, impact in five seconds.”
Nathan watched the tactical display as the two lines representing the paths of the rebel missiles eventually connected to the symbol representing the Takaran warship.
“Impact.” Jessica checked her readouts on the enemy ship. “Only minor damage.”
A small orange and yellow fireball erupted on the main view screen. “One rebel ship has been destroyed. The other one is still advancing and is firing her flechettes.”
“Do you think our torpedoes will work any better?”
“Sure, if they get through. But that bastard’s got great point-defense systems.”
“Get firing solutions for all four torpedoes, Jess.”
“Yes Sir. Suggest we fire them consecutively, sir.” Jessica could see by the confused look on Nathan’s face that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “If we fire them all at once, they have to spread out to avoid knocking each other off course. That means they all hit the same point-defense flak wall at the same time. If we fire consecutively, with each one following the one in front of them, they all go through the same hole. If the first torpedo gets nailed, it’s blast will make a whole in the flak field for the next one to get through. Theoretically, that is. I mean, I’ve never actually done it before,” Jessica admitted sheepishly.
“Sounds good to me,” Nathan agreed.
“They’re firing missiles again,” Jessica added.
“Are we in weapons range yet?”
“Yes, wait…” Jessica double-checked her readouts before continuing. “Inbound ordnance! That last missile launch was at us! Tracking four!”
“I thought we weren’t in range yet?” Nathan snapped.
“Guess I was wrong?” Jessica admitted. “Not like I’ve seen a whole lot of Takaran warships before. Impact in two minutes.”
“Launch torpedoes!” Nathan ordered. “Then bring the turrets online, point-defense mode!”
“Firing one!” Jessica announced. Everyone watched as the first torpedo appeared on the left side of the forward view screen as it streaked past, turning to port as it departed.
“Firing two!” The second torpedo streaked across from the right side.
“Firing three!”
Marak leaned in closely to Jalea, giving her hand a squeeze as he whispered something in her ear. For the briefest of moments, the cold, pragmatic look in her eyes softened, turning sad. She turned and looked at him, respectfully, as he let go of her hand, after which he turned and left the bridge.
“Firing four!” They watched as the last torpedo streaked away. “Rail guns coming online, point-defense mode, firing all turrets.”
On the outside of the Aurora, in eight different locations along the upper side of the ship, doors slid open and rail-gun turrets popped up into view. Once fully deployed, the turrets once again raised their barrels and pivoted until they were pointed in the proper direction and began rapid-firing the special point-defense rounds. The turrets danced back and forth, as they attempted to fill in the gaps in the defensive field of flak left by the turrets that had either been damaged, or had not yet been installed.
“Point-defense perimeter established!” Jessica announced. “Torpedo one is, shot down. Torpedo two, also shot down.”
Nathan could feel his hope fade with each torpedo that was intercepted and destroyed before reaching its target.
“Torpedo three…damn!”
Nathan closed his eyes as he waited for the report on their last torpedo.
“Torpedo four…has made it through! Impact in five!” Jessica exclaimed. Suddenly, a warning indicator flashed on her tactical threat display. “Oh shit…Brace for impact!”