“Captain, I’m also picking up a fluctuation in his aft shields, along the bottom edge under his main drive section.”
“If he is contouring his shields, it would put additional strain on the emitters. If some were damaged, the contouring would make it more difficult for emitters to compensate for neighboring malfunctioning ones. That fluctuation may in fact be a hole in his shields. If it is, you may be able to get a shot through and take out his propulsion plant.”
“It would have to be a very good shot.”
“Not really. They depend too much on their new shields. Their hulls are not as robustly constructed as they once were.”
“You mean they don’t build them like they used to?” Nathan said, making fun of the way that the Angla language seemed to always use the most complicated way to say something. Vladimir had once described it as ‘reaching around with your right hand to scratch you left ear.’
“Isn’t that what I said?”
“But we’ll still have to jump in close, to avoid his guns, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Abby plot a jump to a position as close in as possible, behind and below him.” Nathan turned to face the helm. “Josh, reduce your speed to one thousand KPH.”
“Are you serious?” Josh protested. “I’ve done docking approaches at faster than that.”
“One thousand KPH, please.”
“One thousand KPH, aye.”
Nathan turned to Jessica, an idea forming in his mind. “Jess? Can you slave all the rail guns to target as one?”
“Sure.”
“Just how good a shot are you?”
“With a rifle? Damn good. With rail guns? If you can get your pilot to get us in close and hold her steady, all I’ve got to do is put the little red dot on the target. The fire control system will do the rest.”
“Can you show her where to put the dot?” Nathan asked Tug.
“Yes. I believe so.”
“Abby, let me know when you’re ready to jump. Josh, as soon as we jump, you have to pitch over again and fire the mains at full thrust so that we can change our direction of travel as quickly as possible so as not to fall too far behind the enemy.”
“I don’t know, Captain. Maybe you’d better do it?”
Nathan knew exactly how Josh felt. It was the way he felt right now about being Captain. “You can do it, Josh. You’re already better at flying this thing than I am.”
“But I don’t know all the tricks. I mean, that guy got over on me real quick, you know?”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ve got instincts. Trust them. That’s what flying is all about.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh answered.
A few moments later, Abby spoke up. “Jump is plotted, Captain.”
“Very well. Everyone ready?” Nathan looked around the bridge. Seeing no signs of objection, he gave the command. “Let her rip.”
“Jumping,” Abby announced.
Another brief flash of blue-white light and the view screen suddenly showed the Yamaro up close and personal, just above their heads as she streaked past them.
“Pitch over one eighty and all ahead full, Josh!” Nathan ordered.
Josh pitched the nose up and over sharply as he rolled the ship over to put her guns on the target ahead of him. As soon as his pitch over was nearly complete, he fired the main engines at full thrust. Even with one thrust port out of service, the other three were more than powerful enough for the smaller and more maneuverable Aurora to quickly reverse her direction of travel and catch up to the Yamaro as she tried to escape.
“Range to target, three kilometers and closing,” Jessica reported.
“Pick your target out as soon as you can and open up, Jess,” Nathan instructed. “As soon as he figures out what we’re up to, he’s either going to roll over and deny us a shot, or try that braking maneuver again.”
“Yes, sir,” she answered. She had already called up one of the ship’s forward cameras and was using it to zoom in on the target and let Tug inspect it to find the exact point she should aim for. “Two kilometers and closing.”
Nathan watched as the enemy ship continued on its course, making no evasive maneuvers whatsoever. “Why isn’t he maneuvering?”
“Captain!” Kaylah shouted. “His aft sensor array is in shreds! He can’t see us!”
“Hot damn!” Nathan declared, realizing they had just gotten the luckiest break they could ask for.
“One kilometer!” Jessica reported.
“There,” Tug stated, pointing at the image on the tactical console and zooming in. Aim there.”
“Target acquired and locked, Captain,” Jessica reported. “Waiting for optimum firing range.”
“Come on, Josh. A little bit more.”
“Five hundred meters.”
“A little more,” Nathan coaxed.
“Two hundred and fifty meters.”
“Close enough. Fire!” Nathan ordered.
All remaining eleven rail guns fired their explosive hull penetrating rounds at the same time, and on the same exact spot on the underside of the Yamaro. The first few hundred rounds tore away at the outer hull enough that the following rounds were able to penetrate the hull and wreak havoc inside the engineering section of the warship. Within moments, secondary explosions began to rock the ship, sending sections of her outer hull spiraling away.
“Cease fire! Disengage and peel off!”
The Aurora dove down and banked to starboard, turning away from the damaged warship as more explosions rocked her aft section.
“Her shields are down, Captain!” Kaylah reported.
“She’s slowing as well,” Cameron reported. “I think she’s losing power,” Jessica reported.
“Maintain full power, Josh. Get us away from her guns.”
Nathan rotated around in his seat to look at Jessica. “Nice shootin’ Tex.” Jessica just winked, and then looked back down at her console. “She’s launching fighters.”
“So, this would mean that he’s desperate, right?” Nathan asked Tug.
“I’d say yes.”
“New contact!” Kaylah reported. “Transferring to tactical.”
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“It’s multiple contacts,” Jessica corrected. “I’m picking up at least three more squadrons of Ta’Akar fighters coming from Corinair, sir.”
“What the hell?”
“Yup, they’re definitely coming in on an intercept bearing.”
“So we’re caught in between two waves of fighters?”
“Yes, sir. That’s the way it looks.”
“Any chance we can hold them off with rail guns?”
“A slim chance.”
“Damn it.” Nathan turned to Abby. “Abby, whenever you’re ready.”
“One minute.”
“What do you plan to do?” Jalea asked.
“I guess we’ll just have to keep jumping out of range until we can reposition and jump back into the vicinity of the Yamaro and finish him off once and for all. Then we can just stand off until those fighters run out of fuel and have to land.”
“Captain, is there no way that we can capture that ship in one piece?” Tug begged. “Even if she cannot be repaired, the weapons and technology on her could be added to your ship. It would be a big help.”
It was an idea that Nathan had already considered. But in light of new developments, he just didn’t see a way to make it happen, especially if the Yamaro was actually getting support from Corinair.
“I don’t get it,” Nathan said. “That ship was bombing them back into the stone age. Why would they come to their rescue?”
“Perhaps to prove their loyalty to the Empire, despite their treatment, in the hopes that the captain of the Yamaro might spare them out of gratitude.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“We’re ready to jump, Captain,” Abby reported.
“Very well-”
“Captain, wait!” Jessica interrupted. “The incoming fighters aren’t adjusting their intercept course to stay on us.” Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. “The fighters from the surface aren’t coming after us, sir! They’re going after the Yamaro’s fighters.”
“You’re kidding!” Lucky break number two, Nathan thought.
Although a few of them took passing shots as they streaked by, the Yamaro’s fighters mostly ignored the Aurora as they continued on and met the incoming Corinairan fighters.