Emergency power had kicked in.
Avery glanced at the tactical readout. The speed of the Outer Rim Alliance ship increased rapidly, and it was vectoring for Constellation.
His chest tightened. Something was very wrong.
“Helm,” Avery called, “watch that Alliance ship. Do what you can to position us between them and Constellation. We’ll be sluggish without main power, but do the best you can.”
“Aye, sir. Endeavor shifting ventral and relative to Alliance vessel’s approach vector,” Wiggins acknowledged.
“XO, broadcast on open frequencies. I want everyone to hear this.”
She signaled the comm was open.
The ship’s computer had diverted some of the emergency power to the environmental systems. It wouldn’t do to have the crew suffocate.
Avery’s eyes still stung but at least he could breathe. “This is Commander Alvarez commanding Endeavor, to Commander Outer Rim Alliance. Your ship is on a direct vector at an unsafe speed towards a United Fleet ship. Break off immediately, or we will interpret your actions as hostile, and we will respond accordingly.” He waited and then looked at O’Brian.
She shook her head. “No response, sir.”
Avery stood. His mind was racing. “Damn him . . . what does he think he’s doing?”
“What’s the status of the other ships?”
O’Brian responded. “They were much farther away relatively and appear undamaged. Pilum is moving towards us. The Union vessel has reversed course.”
The Union vessel was making its intentions clear, they wanted no part of what might be about to go down, but they would observe the outcome.
Avery wasn’t entirely certain he could count on Decimus to assist him in any confrontation. Did the Imperial officer’s wish to repay a debt, include opening the Empire to hostilities from this Outer Rim Alliance?
He would soon find out.
“XO, open secure comms to Pilum,” Avery ordered.
She nodded and gave him the thumbs up.
Decimus appeared on the viewer.
“It is clear, Avery, that the Alliance ship doesn’t have good intentions towards your survey ship.”
“We don’t have time to debate it, Decimus. There’re two people who might know why—this Outer Rim vessel and Constellation. Doesn’t look like the former wishes to talk. We have to protect Constellation.”
“Agreed. We stand ready to assist you, Avery. I would suggest you withdraw to a safe distance and let us handle the ORA ship. Your vessel is in no shape to do battle.”
“I can’t argue with you there, Decimus, but somehow I don’t think the ORA commander will be content to let us all go.”
“He’s certainly a mad man if he believes he can destroy all three of our vessels.”
“That’s the thing with madmen, Decimus. They’re unpredictable. We won’t be much trouble for him in our current condition, the Union vessel is making it clear they’re not fighting unless attacked, and that leaves just you.”
“I assure you, Avery. Just—us—will be sufficient. Pilum out.”
“Massive power surge on the Alliance vessel. Their weapons are priming. Targeting lasers are painting us and Pilum!” Richards said.
“How effective can we be?” Avery asked.
The look on O’Brian’s face said it all. “We have emergency and auxiliary power. Enough to power twenty-five percent of our weaponry, our defenses, or maneuver at severely reduced combat speeds. One of those three choices, sir.”
“Commander, the anomaly . . . it’s surging again!”
No one could turn away from the holo-viewer, as it depicted its interpretation of the telemetry from the ship’s advanced sensor suite. A swirling mass of pure energy formed and this time it didn’t dissipate. There was no time to think about it now. The sensors would record everything.
The Alliance ship was six-hundred thousand kilometers and closing. Tactical’s announcement shocked them all back to the present.
“Missiles in the black!”
The enemy had made his choice for him.
“Divert the remaining power to point defense batteries. Take out that ordnance!”
Avery expanded the tactical display. The missiles angling for Endeavor were standard anti-ship heavy-missiles. Nothing special. But enough to destroy any ship without its defenses activated.
While starship point defense should work well in this situation—a one-one skirmish—sitting dead in space ensured a swift demise.
A skilled combat pilot maneuvered to force missiles to chase, overshoot, decelerate and realign with its target, which all the while gave point defenses more time to track and destroy them. Especially when the missiles slowed to alter trajectory along a different vector.
“Alliance ship is vectoring around on a wide angle, Commander.”
Avery gritted his teeth. The ORA commander was at least a capable tactician. He had exploited Endeavor’s crippled status and fired another missile volley.
The point defense screen intercepted the first volley without worry. The second volley came too close for comfort. The Alliance ship, hoping to make short work of Endeavor, wasn’t conserving ammunition.
Another volley from knife-fight range rocketed towards Endeavor.
Twelve missiles now reached out to embrace his ship. The point defense batteries did an admirable—if improbable job—of destroying another six.
Pilum was burning as fast as she dared to join the battle, careful not to exceed the threshold of intercept speed, which would render them in capable of decelerating to combat speeds in time to help.
“Pilum is firing!”
Several more missiles exploded, but not done in by Endeavor’s point defense. Deities bless Imperial lasers!
Because Pilum was chasing the Alliance ship’s missiles, its conventional point defense would never have intercepted the missiles in time. But thanks to the Imperial reliance on lasers as their primary form of offensive weaponry, the light speed weapons had no trouble melting the missiles before they reached Endeavor.
All but two. There was no way to avoid it.
Avery tightened his harness. “All hands—brace for impact!”
Within seconds the first missile struck Endeavor’s outer armor and gutted it deep. The horrendous ripping sound of starship armor tearing away from the ship crawled his skin. Without the polarization to strengthen the armor on a molecular level, it couldn’t withstand too many hits in one section. The second missile struck near the first.
“Hull breach! Ventral rear section, one deck deep. There’s not enough power for emergency force fields. We’re venting atmosphere.”
Avery didn’t want to think about any crew still in that section. No one would survive if the section took another hit while exposed to vacuum. “Seal it.”
“Structural integrity is severely compromised . . . ventral armor plating has buckled!”
“Pilum is engaging, Commander!”
Everyone held a collective breath as Pilum charged down the Alliance ship, pouring everything it had into it. An unexpected flash brightened between the hull of the ship and Pilum’s laser strikes.
“They’ve got some type of refracting field deflecting Pilum’s laser strikes,” O’Brian said.
Avery could only watch. He was a helpless bystander to his ship’s fate. The Alliance ship decided it had enough of Pilum. It broke off from its attack on Endeavor and unleashed full fury on the Imperial destroyer. It fired some kind of charged particle weapon, which flared bright and dissipated rapidly as it travelled towards its target. Pilum seemed unaffected.