Bondarevsky fought the temptation to lead the Strakhas out to support the other squadrons. The two intense battles were too far away…and the primary mission was still to cripple the dreadnought. He couldn’t allow himself to be drawn into a sideshow, no matter how bad things might be getting out there.
And he couldn’t do two jobs at once. He could be either a Wing Commander or a squadron CO, and he’d made that choice when he strapped on the Strakha.
“You have the big picture up there, Bifrost. Not me. I trust you to do the best you can. Loki One, clear.”
He cut the channel and focused on the nearest gun turret. The Strakhas continued their intricate dance, but one short now since Lieutenant Kendricks had come out of cloak just as a point defense battery had opened fire. It wasn’t as bad as with some of the other squadrons, not yet, but Bondarevsky knew that attrition was going to take its toll on all of them soon enough.
The monster Kilrathi warship had cast loose from its moorings now, but it was having trouble maneuvering clear of the station on thrusters alone, and didn’t dare cut in the main engines so close. Meantime Tolwyn was performing brilliantly in Mjollnir. He had fired through the intervening barrier of one of the station’s docking arms, and as the structure had come apart more and more of his shots had dug into the Vorghath’s armor. By that time the Strakha hit and run raids on the turret emplacements had begun to leave gaps in the dreadnought’s forward field of fire, so Tolwyn had shifted his tactics and brought the carrier back into the open. Against the bulk of Vorghath even the supercarrier looked tiny, and the difference in maneuverability and precision of control was immediately plain. Tolwyn took the carrier in to point blank range again, maneuvering Mjollnir like she was a destroyer rather than a carrier, and the damage to her massive opponent began to tell.
He could see Mjollnir’s point-defense batteries firing at the dreadnought again, too, and knew Tolwyn was pressing home the attack with everything he had. Bondarevsky’s sensors showed that one of the Cat cruisers, the one the fighters were having so much trouble with, was coming up fast. Once she got into the action Mjollnir would be in serious trouble. She was still held together mostly by patches and prayers, with much of her armor gone, and a sustained battle with a cruiser could only end one way.
Tolwyn had to deal with the dreadnought before Mjollnir had to fight for her very life…
Combat Information Center, FRLS Mjollnir
Near Orbital Station Asharazhal, Baka Kar System
1238 hours (CST)
“Her armor’s finally going!”
Tolwyn almost joined in the cheer that followed the Exec’s hoarse cry. Kittani, his voice all but gone from barking orders, pointed to the main viewscreen with a savage jabbing of his fingers. The beams were indeed penetrating the dreadnought’s thick belts of armor at last, especially in the area immediately abaft the gaping missile tubes that Tolwyn had singled out for special attention from Deniken’s guns.
“Back us off, Mr. Clancy,” he ordered. “If we’ve got this right, this isn’t going to be a real healthy neighborhood in about another thirty seconds…”
The helmsman played his controls like a musical instrument, and the carrier backed away, gathering speed and turning slowly to accelerate clear. Tolwyn had remembered a briefing on the Kilrathi dreadnoughts that noted the missile tube in the bow, designed for the massive planetary bombardment missiles the Cats used to lay waste to entire cities. And behind the tubes were the magazines, stocking scores of the huge warheads…
The bow of the dreadnought erupted in a fireball, hurtling debris outward like the discharge of a mighty cannon. Mjollnir’s shields held against the battering impact of armor and hullmetal, but the indicators on Tolwyn s status board went red as Graham shunted extra power into the grid to compensate for the sudden unleashing of massive quantities of kinetic energy that threatened to overwhelm the whole system.
Even that blast wasn’t enough to destroy the Vorghath. With her whole front end open to space, spilling atmosphere through a titanic hole framed by twisted structural members and blacked hull plating, the dreadnought still rode on its maneuvering thrusters, trying to come about to give the undamaged midships turrets a crack at the gadfly that had stung her so badly. But though the ship was still capable of moving and fighting, it was clear to Tolwyn that the damage she’d just suffered had been devastating. Secondary explosions were rippling down her side, and the power readings tracked by Mjollnir’s sensors had begun to fluctuate wildly. Even the Kilrathi redundant design philosophy couldn’t build in enough alternate circuits and backups to compensate for such massive damage.
Vorghath would live, but crippled. And with the damage the orbital dock had suffered in the battle it would be a long time before the Cats could manage to restore their dreadnought to anything approaching fighting trim. It would be a job that would make the heroic efforts they’d put in to refitting Mjollnir pale by comparison.
The balance of power was restored. Ragark no longer had his superweapon, and without the orbital dock in working order he’d have trouble keeping the rest of his fleet combat-ready, too. That would give the Landreich breathing space, at least. And the delay would ruin the Belisarius Group’s timetable for precipitating a frontier crisis that could give them their excuse for grabbing power in the Confederation.
Now there remained but one thing to attempt…escape. Mjollnir had done her job as best she could. Now she had to win free of Baka Kar, against overwhelming forces of capital ships who were fully alerted to her presence now and no doubt eager to exact vengeance for the daring raid that had penetrated their defenses.
“Maximum acceleration, Mr. Clancy. Course to the outbound jump point. Mr. Kittani, have the Flight Wing recalled immediately. Fighters to take station and screen us from pursuit.”
“Aye aye, sir,” both men responded.
Mjollnir surged forward at flank speed, but two Kilrathi cruisers were in pursuit, and both of them were fast enough to overtake her sooner or later.
Two Commonwealth cruisers had nearly destroyed the carrier at Vaku, and then the Karga had been in reasonably good shape. This time, a few good hits could take her out of action, and there was nothing Geoff Tolwyn could do to save her if the Cats pressed home their attack. The only hope was Bondarevsky’s fighters, but the fighting around the station had already cut deep into the Wings resources of planes and pilots.
Tolwyn was running out of options, and Mjollnir was running out of time.
Strakha 800, VF-401 “Shadow Cats”
Deep Space, Baka Kar System
1255 hours (CST)
The Strakha nestled in tight against the Kofar resupply shuttle, and for a moment Bondarevsky could relax and take his hands off the controls. As fuel transferred from the Kofar’s huge reserve tank, robot arms swung into position opposite each of the fighter’s hardpoints with missile reloads. Slowly, carefully, they fitted the missiles into position. As each one snapped into place an amber light glowed on Bondarevsky’s weapons control panel, and the onboard computer updated its visual display of his ordnance load.