In order to muddy the waters for Chessori investigators later, O’Brien would bombard the Chessori ships and the facility as they left the planet, focusing on the Chessori offices and living quarters. The goal was to create so much destruction that no one would ever know the computer was missing.
Admiral Mzdak was misled into believing the cruiser would be taken immediately after the Chessori completed the hypercom installation two days hence. He resisted, but he was reminded that a Knight’s word was the Queen’s command on all worlds of the Empire.
Akurea led the Terrans into the facility. She was dressed in a fresh uniform, and the teams were dressed in flowing robes that hid weapons. She led them on a long tour of the facility, pretending they were visiting dignitaries, and they ended the tour in front of the entrance to the Chessori offices. Three Chessori stood guard outside the door.
Akurea, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary, walked up to the door and entered her code into the lock. The moment the door slid aside, three Terrans stunned the Chessori, and the team entered the engineering office. Two more Chessori guards inside glanced up and were stunned before they even knew there was a problem.
She immediately went to the computer and disconnected it, then motioned to one of Washburn’s men to carry it out. They would not risk Akurea dropping it to the ground if the scree sounded. They made their way back out, passing several Rebel guards and workmen who had been stunned by other members of the team while they were acquiring the computer. No alarms had been raised, and the teams loaded onto two skimmers and made it all the way back to Resolve without discovery.
Washburn and his men immediately went to the bridge and plugged in. Now all weapons were fully manned. O’Brien lifted the ship and made one slow pass over the Chessori facilities allowing Resolve’s guns to obliterate the Chessori work spaces, living quarters, the hangar, and several nearby ships. The scree sounded strongly, but they were away quickly. Port gunners were slow to react, and they never got a shot off before O’Brien headed toward space.
Stven and M’Sada joined O’Brien on the net. “We can just jump away, you know,” he said to them.
“It would be nice to be free of all this, but we’re not giving out the secret of fast ships,” Stven completed his thought. “It’s still a last resort.”
“Stick with the plan,” M’Sada said. ”The operation has been a success so far, and there will be a lot of confusion among Mzdak’s men. He wasn’t expecting us to move for another day. His assets will be in place, they just have to get the order to move. We can expect ships from all over the planet, and there will be more ships farther out waiting for a signal, probably just a short jump away. Whether they’re Chessori or Rebel, we don’t know, but we do know they won’t be fast ships, so we’ll have some time. For the moment, our concern is ships on and near the planet.”
George’s sensors filled as they left the planet. Six Chessori traders were inbound to the planet, but they were still far out. Two full Rebel squadrons were about ten days out from the planet, but they were positioned in such a way that Resolve could easily remain clear of them.
A group of Chessori military ships came racing around the planet, and Chessori traders began appearing on their screens, all of them headed in their direction. M’Sada now had a reasonably complete picture, and he went to work with George to compute an escape trajectory that would reach the nearest jump point in the shortest time. That entailed them heading perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, the plane in which all the planets traveled, and if they did have to jump early, it would give them the best margin of safety. The trajectory was determined, and he locked it in, then reviewed what he had done with Stven and O’Brien.
“The trajectory I’ve chosen lets the ships from the planet cut the corner a little. They’re going to catch us, but we have a couple of hours. If they slow down to form up, they’ll never catch us.”
The Chessori military ships adjusted their courses and gradually gained on them. Stven waited as long as he could, then Krys was squeezed into the tank with Flan. It was probably against all approved medical procedures, but it was the best they could do. Stven and M’Sada left the net, and the ship was O’Brien’s.
Long before the Chessori were in firing range, the scree sounded, and strongly. O’Brien left all settings as they had been before the scree sounded in hopes it would lull the Chessori into carelessness. Washburn unplugged long enough to stun M’Sada and Stven, and he ordered a Great Cat to do the same for Gortlan, the engineer, and the two gunners, Gordi’i and Kali’i. He and O’Brien conferred and selected targets for each battery. He was fairly certain his guns had greater range than the Chessori’s, but he held his fire until two closed in on Resolve, then O’Brien gave the okay.
Resolve’s guns opened up, and to their utter amazement, the two Chessori were destroyed instantly, before even getting a shot off. Their shields must have been completely down. Were they that confident of their scree?
Four more trailed, and they slowly gained on Resolve. They split up into a box pattern but remained fairly close to each other. O’Brien knew there was no way he was going to fool them again, but he was fairly confident that they did not know the range of his weapons. He told Washburn to hold his fire until the Chessori were well inside the range of Resolve’s guns.
“We don’t know the range of Chessori guns, particularly these military types,” Washburn calmly informed him. “We’ve never engaged them from a distance.”
“Use your best judgment, Terry. Akurea tells us it will be less than the range of Empire guns. I’ll start my evasive dance as soon as you open up.”
“Okay, but I think we’d better try to end this quickly. You know what the scree does to Krys.”
“Good call, Terry. New plan. I’m going to slow down just a touch. It’ll speed things up. Be ready.”
Resolve slowed slightly, and the Chessori moved well into Washburn’s firing range. His gunners opened up and quickly took out one ship while it was still outside its own gun range, and another broke off, possibly damaged. Only two remained. They pulled back slightly and just held station. The scree still sounded strongly.
O’Brien studied the display for a time. The two trailing Chessori just held position, slightly inside his firing range, but outside their own. “I want to force them closer,” he advised Washburn. “I’m going to hit the brakes. Tell your guys to lock onto their targets and be ready. If the Chessori react quickly, they’ll hit the brakes a second or two behind us, and we’ll be well positioned. If they react slowly, they’ll get out in front, and they might manage to pull away. I’d rather they didn’t.”
He counted down from ten to zero so the gunners would be ready, then hit the brakes. The Chessori were quick. They, too, slowed, and the three ships merged. Resolve’s guns were ready, and shields quickly lit up on the Chessori, but they were ready, as well. Two shields on Resolve, one on each side of the ship, took a beating, and their capacity indicators began falling rapidly. Before George had to bring backups into operation, Washburn’s gunners got one Chessori, then all guns focused on the last. A shield on Resolve failed just as the Chessori disintegrated. They were suddenly alone, and the scree ended.
“Get working on repairs to that shield,” O’Brien ordered as he concentrated on his scanners. Several Chessori traders still trailed them, but they soon turned back and the scree was not felt. Other traders from farther out in the system were headed toward an intercept with Resolve, but they were far out of position, and the two military squadrons would never be part of the picture if he held to his course.
Stven and M’Sada joined him on the net, both shaking off lingering effects of the scree.