Opening Moves (26 page)

“
Report!” she croaked. “Damage report!” Pyshana managed a little louder, and then realized the sensor officer was nowhere to be seen, the memory of his rapid departure stabbing her mind and forcing her to get back with the program.

With atmospheric pressure normalizing, her helmet snapped open again. Her command chair's instruments were still working and she remotely called up SUNBURST's status display. She stifled a shocked gasp at what she saw. The entire port side of her ship was in ruins. Nearly all sections on that side were flooded with lethal doses of radiation. Incredibly, the core functions of the dreadnought were still operational. The reactor was being restarted and power was flowing again through her ship, but it seemed she was one of the lucky ones despite the tremendous damage. Most of the ships ahead of SUNBURST were nothing but wreckage.

A message was filtering through on all channels. It called for a general retreat.

* * * * * * *

“Hot damn, what a show!” Rául hooted. “That was amazing!”

The Érenni were renowned for their mine warfare, and apparently with good cause. Tarek had to admit that even he was surprised at how sudden the reversal had been. The best ships in the Ashani assault were broken wrecks and the survivors were turning tail to run. He could see the ships attacking the battle station, including what he expected was the fleet commander's vessel, were utterly destroyed. All together something like two hundred ships of various classes had been annihilated in seconds.

The Érenni success was based on cheap proximity mines, the type common across the galaxy. The only difference was the Érenni mines were so sophisticated as to be almost invisible to anything except pure minesweepers, unless activated, which had meant the Ashani fleet cruised right past them until they were right in the thick of them. At which point the Érenni commander had chosen to detonate them, with staggering consequences.

“
Guess we won't need to run away just yet,” Tarek grinned. “But we're still going home after this!”

* * * * * * *

“The Strategos is dead!” a frantic crackly voice screamed on the fleet wide communication net. “We must withdraw!”

“
We do not run!” Pyshana shouted with a force she didn't know she had possessed. The very effort of breathing pained her. Compared to that, shouting was like a kick in the chest. But she knew she had to keep the fleet together. “We won't get another chance, press on!”

“
It's hopeless!”

“
Nonsense!” she roared. “They have sprung their little surprise and we still live! We have survived their worst and come through breathing! We will take the war to them. Don't you understand? That was their trump card! They have nothing else left. We need to push the attack now!”

“
With what? Our fleet is tattered!” the voice of doubt kept talking.

“
We are still Ashani! While we have our bodies we have a weapon. Our courage and determination are all we need!” she snarled. “All I ask of you is to follow me!” she cut the connection.

“
Orders, Ma'am?” her navigator asked formally. The bridge was slowly warming up again after its sudden depressurization, and the warmth gave Pyshana an infusion of spirit.

“
All ahead full! Hit them with whatever is left, and if we die, then we die well.”

The SUNBURST labored forwards, its hull as charred as the wrecks surrounding it. With supreme effort of will it was moving again, now at the head of the attack. For a while she was alone, a single crippled ship ready to face the Érenni lines, but then more vessels fell in beside the crippled dreadnought, and then even more. Fighters once more blazed through space and the battered assault echelons regrouped into
ad hoc
battle groups. The reserves watching the outer perimeter were summoned and hurried to join their comrades in the second assault. With a fresh sense of purpose, driven by revenge for their dead and a need to honor their memory, the attack was renewed. Pyshana didn't even consider that it was she who now led these ships. She just pointed her dreadnought at the enemy and advanced with all guns blazing.

* * * * * * *

The sense of elation aboard the PERISAI evaporated faster than ice on Kom. Where in one instant the Ashani fleet had been in full retreat and utterly broken as a fighting force, it had suddenly rallied and was heading back into the firestorm of the well prepared defenses. Natara didn't understand the minds of such a race. How could they advance past the shattered remains of their comrades without realizing the exact same thing would happen to them? Why didn't they understand that?

“
They're coming into range again,” Batal pointed out unnecessarily.

The Ashani fleet was in a poor state, with most of the leading ships already one or two hits away from exploding, but the Érenni lines weren't looking much better. With no more hidden mines and heavy losses to their satellites there was nothing to keep the Ashani ships away from the Érenni defenders. It looked like it was going to come down to whichever side had the greatest determination to win, and despite her feelings on violence Natara would make sure the Ashani did not desecrate the colony below with their presence. She actually found herself getting mad.

“Power up our full electronic warfare suite and load up our hack packs. Begin jamming their sensors. Let's not make this easy for them,” she stated with cold professionalism, the sights she had seen today turning her from a police captain into a naval officer. “The moment they come through I want a missile barrage right in their path. Fire at the earliest instant and don't stop until they run or die.”

Batal obeyed, mildly pleased that his commander finally seemed to have gotten in touch with her inner fighter. Maybe the Érenni weren't such easy pushovers after all.

* * * * * * *

A tightly clustered group of
Swiftpaw
-class fighters whirled through the wreckage of their brethren. Space this close to the planet was choked with the dead and the debris of the previous attacks and was interfering with long range fire. Pyshana praised all gods of the Ashani pantheon for that. With that much debris out there, much of it particles of armor and hyperalloys from inside ships enemy lasers would find it hard to unfold their full destructive potential, especially in light of the still impressive Dominion electronic warfare cloud. Firing a laser in the debris field would be like trying to pinpoint a torch's light in a room full of tiny mirrors.

The fighters ran into the rear portions of the mine field and lost three quarters of their number in the blink of an eye, but they did show Pyshana where the last batch of mines began. “Our primary target is still the station,” she resolved, intently studying the bridge's flickering tactical display. “But first we need to get there, preferably in one piece.”

“We don't have enough fighters left to adequately screen us, Fleet Captain,” her second officer warned. “And our point defenses aren't good enough to stop a full attack.”

“
They don't need to be. Comms, get me our bombardment ships.”

For a few moments the comm officer tapped his board, and then a voice came on the line from somewhere behind the main fleet.

“Group Captain Farwalker responding,” a female voice stated.

“
This is Fleet Captain Pyshana. I am in command of the fleet following the strategos' death.”

“
Acknowledged, Ma'am,” the other officer said flatly, her voice betraying no hint of the Fleet Captain's opinion on her self-appointed promotion.

“
Captain, by our records you have fifty missile ships, correct?”

“
Correct, Ma'am,” she replied immediately. “My squadrons are armed with neutron charges and kiloton-range nukes for surface attack.”

“
Very well, commence long range fire with half your ships. You probably won't hit anything but it'll force the enemy to get out of the way and disrupt defensive perimeter. Try and get a hit on the battle station.”

“
I'll get on it immediately.”

“
Also deploy the rest of your missile ships to the front lines.”

“
Ma'am, with respect, they won't be much use there. At these short ranges they won't be at their peak efficiency and are way too vulnerable to the enemy. That's not a role they've been designed for. Worse, their load-out of anti-ship missiles is extremely limited and...”

“
I know, they're geared for planetary bombardment,” Pyshana interrupted the officer. “I need them all the same.” She looked at the ever decreasing range to the front. “As quickly as possible.”

“
Understood, Ma'am. They will fight and die with honor,” Farwalker stated without a trace of emotion in her voice...

“
Good, but they may also be the key to our victory,” the new commander of what was left of the Dominion's 8
th
Fleet answered. “Make it quick.” She nodded to the comm officer who ended the transmission.

“
Now, tell all ships to hold positions and commence long range fire. We'll trade blows with the Érenni for a while and then proceed with the attack.”

“
Captain, our fighter scouts report the Érenni are moving defense satellites from the other side of the planet. They'll be here in a few minutes.”

With extra defense satellites Pyshana realized the Érenni could quickly repair the damage to their lines the first attack had inflicted and render the Ashani losses worthless. She had to act quickly before they were smothered in laser fire. “Then we better hope those missile ships show up quickly.”

* * * * * * *

“
They've stopped,” Rául scowled. “Why would they stop?”

“
I don't know,” Tarek gave the MAIDEN's sensors an uneasy stare. “I've never heard about a battle like this. By all rights these guys should have run by now.”

“
They were in full retreat, broken and fleeing,” Annie commented quietly. “Now they've turned around and are attacking again. Say what you will, but I gotta respect that.”

“
Respect isn't the word I'd use,” Llyr stated from his station with a rumble. “I hate to admit it, but fear would be the better term.”

Alexej and Tarek exchanged a short meaningful glance. That the grizzled Tuathaan even spoke about fear was a measure of the impression made on him from what he was witnessing. In the distance, the lines of energy weapons and flicker of fire started again as the battered fleets clashed anew. Despite the casualties, the vigor of the battle had not been lost. Both sides were still fighting fiercely. In all honesty, Tarek had never believed the Érenni had the nerve for a real all-out battle. He was glad to be proven wrong, though.

“So, boss,” Rául piped up. “Should we, y'know, run away?”

“
Far side of the planet looks fairly open,” Alexej noted. “We could exit on the other side of the defenses with a nice head start. Even if the Dominion suddenly chooses to send ships after a lone freighter in the middle of a battle like this we'll have an advantage in speed.”

“
Not yet,” the IRON MAIDEN's captain calmly shook his head. “We've seen Ashani fighter patrols in that area, and we can't guarantee that the Érenni mines won't hit us as we leave. We wait.”

“
And pray,” said Llyr solemnly.

Tarek nodded, his eyes fixed on the developing battle, not knowing what deity Llyr even prayed to. The fight should have ended in a clear Érenni victory five minutes ago. They had surely earned it – and were deserving it – but it looked like fate was being cruel today.

* * * * * * *

“
Gotcha!” Batal yelled with glee as an Ashani frigate collapsed in on itself as his main laser batteries burned through it like a hot knife through butter. The frigate had weighed less than a hundred and fifty thousand tons, less than a tenth of their own ship. Even a full alpha strike of the small vessel would have done little more than do minor damage to their cruiser. Still, it was one enemy less that wanted to kill them.

“
Nice shooting, Mr. Batal,” congratulated Captain Natara, aware that she was endorsing the act of killing. She found herself not really caring, though. The Ashani were not normal. They did not meet the same expectations and limits of every other race she had encountered in her long years of duty for the Republics. No, they attacked like machines or perhaps even demons. For each one who died, another stood fearlessly in its place and continued to make war, forcing Natara and the other defenders of the colony to keep on killing them.

But a little bit of Érenni civilization died with every new dead Ashani attacker Captain Natara, deep down inside, realized with a feeling of immutable dread. She and her crew were only the very first to experience the change, but in time all of the Érenni would follow. If they wanted to survive, their pacifism would have to disappear in the fires of war or they themselves would perish. Natara hated the Ashani, not because of who they were or because they were bringing war to the Pact or even because of their frightening ruthlessness. She hated them because whatever the outcome of this war was to be, Érenni society as she knew and loved it would no longer exist at the end.