Mentat Shaina and two of the lower level Indowy had taken up positions in the Battle Room.
Jeff was keeping one eye on the battle holo and one on the Indowy. But there wasn’t much to see in the latter case. The Indowy didn’t do a lotus when they were meditating; they knelt with their hands crossed, palms upwards and eyes closed. They’d been that way for the last forty-five minutes with no real change.
“We are detected,” Shaina said. “Mentat Harris is closing down their communications. I shall be busy. Thuthiri will communicate.”
“Close the target,” Jeff snapped. “Prepare to launch shuttles. Open fire all secondary weapons.”
“What class of ship is that?” Cruiser Master Goglugot said. “And where did it come from?”
Goglugot was a Kotha, as were most ship masters, the commander of the Gorongur. He had made this same run a dozen times so far and was less than pleased. He knew well the axiom of war that one should never develop a pattern. But the Imeg were less than interested in input from a lowly Cruiser Master. The Imeg loved order. Order was the way of the Hedren. So over and over again he had left on the identical schedule and entered warp at the identical point and now he was about to be fucked for it.
And would the Imeg take the blame? Unlikely. Not that he was probably going to face an Inquisition. Given the power of the ship he was up against, he was unlikely to face anything but death.
“A similar vessel was reported by scouts,” the Marro Combat Officer replied. “It appears to be a new class. Capabilities are unknown. It was under cloak and apparently was enhancing with kratki. Thus we only detected it at less than a li. Neither the cloak capability nor the kratki enhancements were known to our intelligence. But the prominences forward are believed to be aesthetic.”
“The prominences forward bother me less than the heavy weapons on its side!”
“Colonel,” the shuttle pilot said. “We’ve been made. Launching in three… two… one.”
There was a slight sideways acceleration and then gravity dropped away. The shuttles had anti-grav systems but most of their power was being devoted to maneuvering and inertial dampening.
Trained human pilots, given the right sort of seats and G suits, could sustain upwards of sixteen gravities of acceleration for brief periods. Maneuvers in Banshees in space could generate up to a hundred gravities. A hundred gravs would turn any human body into red mush.
To avoid being turned into red mush, all space combat vessels as well as ACS used inertial dampeners. The dampeners could reduce the acceleration gradient to nearly earth normal. But they used a lot of power doing it. Using more power to create a notional ‘down’ meant less maneuverability. And the pilots of the shuttles wanted all the maneuverablity they could get.
The space between the two ships was a cauldron of fire. Mass-drivers, grasers and plasma cannons filled the intervening space to the point the pilot wasn’t sure that any of the shuttles would survive.
The Hedren ship used primarily grasers, gamma ray frequency lasers, while the human ship mounted mass-drivers and plasma cannons. The latter two were visible while the grasers were, unfortunately, invisible. They did, however, show up on sensors. And her sensors were showing no way through the fire.
“I thought the mentats were going to shut down the enemy fire!” her co-pilot snapped.
“Guess that plan is out the window,” she replied as the shields shuddered from a direct graser hit.
“The ship has launched small-craft,” the Combat Officer said as the Gorongur shuddered under the power of the Des Moines’ secondaries. “Shuttles or space fighters.”
“Then engage and destroy them,” Goglugot snapped then grabbed his head.
The enemy is attempting to board.
The Imeg’s thoughts lashed the Cruiser Master’s brain with fire. And it wasn’t like he needed the distraction.
“Only one thing on this ship worth boarding for, My Lord,” Goglugot replied, tightly. “I suggest you prepare to defend yourself. The Glandri are yours to command.”
I will order them to deploy. If I or my apprentice are lost, it will go hard upon you, Cruiser Master.
“I doubt any of us will survive to face the Inquisition, My Lord,” Goglugot said. “For that reason, if no other, we will fight hard.”
As the Imeg released him, Goglugot rubbed his cranium with a hand-tentacle.
“You know,” he said, looking that the Combat Officer. “There are times I wish I was a lowly Marro.”
“Too many arms, Cruiser Master,” the Marro replied. “We’re attempting to engage the shuttles but much of our fire is being diverted. I assume by kratki. Grasers are bending in space and splashing off their shields.”
“I think I’ll leave that for our Lord Imeg to deal with.”
“Adept Tuthiri?” Jeff said, calmly. “The shuttles are taking fire.”
“The human team is attempting to shut down the enemy’s guns,” Tuthiri replied, calmly. His fur, though, was rippling in distress. “The Imeg is preventing that. Also attempting to shut down our systems as well as trying to get the fusion drives to explode. We are preventing that. It is the best we can do at the moment. The Imeg is… powerful.”
“Do we abort?” Jeff asked.
There was no reply.
Shaina, Sissy thought. We could use some help here.
We are strengthening the shuttle’s shields, Shaina replied. As well as protecting the ship. We cannot engage the Imeg nor its ship directly.
Well, I’m not sure there’s enough of us to stop this bastard, Sissy thought. Kang, watch your ass.
“Kang?” Jake said. “Mentat Kang? Glasshoppah?”
“Not… now… ” Kang replied, his jaw tight. “This bastard is… ”
“Do we need to abort?”
“Can your forces fight through the defenders without help?” Kang asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, no, we do not need to abort.”
“Failure in mass driver controls,” the gunnery officer snapped. “Mass drivers non-responsive.”
“Track it down,” Jeff replied.
“Back up,” Guns said, looking puzzled. “Continuing engagment.”
“The Imeg is breaking through,” Tuthiri said. “The lower level Imeg is holding reality on his ship while the higher level is attacking the Des Moines and the shuttles.”
“I felt that,” Daisy said, working her shoulder. “He’d better watch it or he’s going to piss me off. And he doesn’t want to piss me off.”
“Maneuvering to dock,” the shuttle pilot said.
The Banshee went through one of those maneuvers that was only possible in space, spinning through three dimensions and slamming its rear into the hull of the Hedren ship. Tractor clamps locked it in place as flexible seals slapped onto the armor of the warship.