“Okay,” Josh answered, trying not to look nervous. “And that won’t screw up our jump?”
Nathan had assumed that it wouldn’t matter, as long as their flight path remained the same. But as he wasn’t entirely sure, he looked to Abby.
“It shouldn’t be an issue,” she promised. “Just don’t start your deceleration any sooner than necessary, as an abrupt change in speed could slightly alter our arrival point.”
Nathan gestured understandingly at Abby as he continued instructing his new helmsman. “You’re also going to have to roll us over just enough to get our topsides facing the target as we slide past her. We need to get as many guns as possible on her.”
“No problem,” Josh told him. He looked at Loki, who didn’t look any more confident than he felt.
“Missile impact in ninety seconds,” Jessica reported.
“When do you think he will launch his fighters?” Nathan asked Tug.
“Only when he believes he has severely wounded you… or when he becomes desperate.”
“I’m hoping for the second reason, myself,” Nathan told him. “Kaylah, what’s the current radius of the target’s shield bubble?”
“One point five kilometers, sir.”
“Excellent, plenty of room,” Nathan reassured himself. “Jessica, spin up the rail guns, kinetic rounds only, fastest fire rate they can muster. And point them all straight up.”
“Aye, sir. Kinetic rounds, full rate auto-fire. Pre-aiming all batteries straight up.”
Nathan noticed a smile on Tug’s face.
“I imagine that Captain de Winter is wondering why you are not firing your long-range weapons at him as well.”
“Yeah, he must think I’m a real idiot. He doesn’t know that I don’t have any left,” Nathan answered, also smiling.
Tug’s expression changed to one of concern.
“Missile impact in sixty seconds,” Jessica reported.
“Helm, main propulsion to zero thrust. Abby, prepare to jump.”
“Helm answering zero thrust. Speed twenty five thousand KPH.”
“Jessica?” Vladimir’s voice called over Jessica’s comm-set.
“Yeah, Vlad, go ahead,” she answered through her comm-set.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, but we’re a little busy up here-”
“Are you aware we are at zero thrust?” he asked, his voice curiously concerned.
“Yeah, we’re trying to look stupid.”
“Of course,” Vladimir answered, still confused.
“Don’t worry. It’s all part of the plan. Gotta run.” Jessica switched off her mic and returned her attention to her console. “Missile impact in thirty seconds.”
Nathan let out a long, slow exhalation. He was about to take his ship into battle against a vastly superior enemy who had already demonstrated hostile intent not only to his ship, but to his own empire’s subjects on Corinair. There was no longer any doubt in Nathan’s mind that what they were doing was right. Now all his doubts centered on whether or not his plan would work.
Abby flipped open the safety cover on the jump button to begin her countdown. “Jumping in five,
“Now, Josh! Pitch over and roll!” Nathan ordered. Josh immediately pushed the Aurora’s nose down and her tail up, as hard as he could, starting a slow roll at the same time.
“Four-”
“I hope this works,” Nathan muttered to himself.
“Three-”
“Pitch and roll complete,” Josh reported gleefully.
“Two-”
“Mains to full power!” Nathan ordered. “Jess! Fire all rail guns!”
“One-”
“Mains at full power,” Josh reported.
“Jumping,” Abby reported as she pressed the red jump button on her console.
The incoming missiles were met with a sudden flash of blue-white light, after which their target vanished, leaving nothing but an empty hole in space before them. Having lost their target lock, they simply continued forward at break-neck speeds, their acquisition systems automatically changing back to search mode.
A blue-white flash appeared approximately five hundred meters ahead and to port of the Yamaro. When the flash quickly subsided, the Aurora could be seen, her main engines ablaze and her rail guns spewing out projectiles in tight streams as she slid past the surprised Yamaro.
“Jump complete,” Abby reported.
“Main viewer to topside!” Nathan ordered.
The image on the main view screen suddenly switched to the view of the topside cameras, looking directly upward. The scene showed a swath of destruction being ripped across the side of the Yamaro as the Aurora’s rail guns blasted away at her indiscriminately. The increased rate of fire as well as the increased rail velocities were making a huge difference, as the Aurora’s guns were now able to inflict twice the damage in the same amount of time. But at the speeds the two ships were traveling, their closure rate on one another was even faster. The first pass gave them only a few seconds of attack at the most. As soon as it had started, they found themselves sliding past the Yamaro and rapidly falling behind her.
“Jesus!” Nathan exclaimed. “Did you see that?”
“Damn, that was nice,” Jessica agreed.
“Kaylah, how do his shields look?”
“Weakened, sir. He lost quite a few emitters along his port side, but they’re still holding.”
“Helm, kill the mains and pitch back over.”
“Aye, sir. Pitching over.”
Jessica switched the main view screen back to its default view from the forward facing cameras.
Nathan turned to Tug. “Do you think we’ll get another pass?”
“If he does not adjust his shields too quickly, then yes. But do not delay your attack.”
“Kaylah,” Nathan called, “keep your eyes on his shield radius. Let me know if it changes.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Pitch over complete, Captain,” Josh reported.
“Go to full power and come about on a pursuit course. I want to be just a little faster than him on our next pass.”
“Yes, sir. Full power,” Josh announced as he pushed the throttles forward. “Coming about.”
“I’m feeding a pursuit course now,” Loki reported.
“Contact is turning to port,” Jessica reported. He’s trying to bring his guns to bear.”
“Helm, reverse your turn,” Nathan ordered, noticing that with the Yamaro now turning to port, they were turning into him instead of with him. “Drop your speed and come about to port as fast as you can. He’s got a lot more speed up than we do, so we should be able to turn inside him and set up for another jump pass before he comes around. And we can do more damage if we pass him in the same direction.”
“Yes, sir.”
The ship immediately began to lean back over to the left, the stars on the view screen rolling slightly in a clockwise direction. The inertial dampeners, still not at full operational strength, only partially compensated for the ship’s movement and acceleration. Even though he had been dealing with such sensations for days, it still required conscious effort.
“Abby, we’re going to try and get in position behind him for another jump pass. But he’s turning, so you’re going to have to try and anticipate his position at the time of the jump. This time, preferably just barely inside his shield perimeter. Since he’s turning, we may need room to maneuver,” he told her.
“Yes sir,” she answered.
“Oh, and put us below and astern of him.”
“Yes, sir.” Abby began pre-plotting the next jump, trying to use the navigation info currently being fed to her from Loki and Jessica. She knew she could calculate a tentative jump based on the data using her best guess at exactly where both they and their enemy would be at the time of the jump. She could even calculate a small margin within which a jump would be safe even if either target were slightly out of position. At such short jump distances, the timing could be slightly more inexact without the consequences being too dire.