“Incoming message from the Ileri escort commander.”
Andini snapped awake and rubbed a hand across her eyes. She glanced at the time display, grimaced, and reluctantly peeled her sleep sack open. “Put it through, audio only.” With pressure restored in perhaps half of Iwan Goleslaw’s undamaged compartments, she’d felt secure enough to sleep without even a softsuit. A T-shirt and workout shorts were hardly fitting attire for a call with the watchdogs Vega had insisted shadow her ship, though she suspected her counterpart would understand. “Andini here.” She didn’t croak, exactly, but she grabbed an energy-drink pouch from the stash she kept by her bunk and took a drink to clear her throat.
“Captain Andini, this is Commander Langiri. The rebels appear to be making a push. They’ve launched a number of shuttles from the surface and all their craft in orbit are maneuvering. We’re going to action stations and respectfully suggest you consider doing so as well.”
She’d wondered when the next phase of the battle would light off. “Thank you, Commander. I’ll do so. Do I have clearance to relaunch my remaining weapon busses?”
“Not at this time, Captain. Please maintain your connections to the task-group tactical net so we can coordinate defensive fires and keep clear from each other’s firing solutions.”
It was the answer she’d expected, but figured it was worth a try. “Absolutely, Commander. Do you advise securing my radiators?”
Langiri hesitated. “Perhaps not immediately. The analysis teams are still working out the rebels’ likely deployment. But we’re well within the probability cone.”
Damn. The damage to her ship’s heat-management systems had turned out to be too severe for her crew to repair, and the lost coolant and phase-change material had to be replaced anyway. If she had to pull in the radiators, her combat power would be limited to point-defense guns and whatever weapons the Ileris permitted her to launch. But if she kept them deployed to keep the lasers and particle cannon operational without cooking the ship, she risked losing all her last good way to dump heat. She’d have no alternative but to beg the Ileris to let her dock, and the thought of that was unbearable. “Understood, Commander. Iwan Goleslaw will come to Condition Two and await further information.” After the briefest of pauses, she added a codicil. “Be aware that I intend to exercise my discretion in defending my vessel.”
Langiri sounded bemused. “I understand completely, Captain. We’ll keep you informed as things develop. Langiri out.”
Andini drained her drink pouch and fancied she could feel the chemical kick-start already working. Imaginary or not, she felt her fatigue recede just a bit. She snapped open a command window. “Attention, my children. Action stations. Bring the ship to Condition Two. Execute.” She heard her slightly muffled voice through her cabin door, along with the alarm buzzer, followed by the sounds of her crew hurrying to their stations. She sighed, grabbed a nutrient bar from her stash, tore it open with her teeth, and started the process of shucking her clothes so she could don her suit as she chewed.
With her yeoman’s assistance, fifteen minutes later she was able to pull herself, fully suited, into the combat center. “Status report!” she barked after the watch officer transferred the con. The news was mixed. Casualties had been fully offloaded at last, and two of her three shuttles were snugged into their bays. The third remained on Ileri Station. Point defense was still completely down on the damaged side of her ship, and only forty percent of her launchers were operational, but she had full maneuvering capability again—as long as the radiators were deployed. “Things could be worse,” she said to Dinata, who joined her in the combat center.
“You should ready the special ordnance,” Dinata said, in her most imperious tone. “We cannot allow this infestation to spread.”
Dinata had never struck Andini as a practical person, and this certainly remained true now. “To what end, Minister? Our conversion bombs aren’t ship-to-ship weapons.”
“The Ileris are clearly dealing in proscribed technologies. You saw the evidence.”
“I’ve seen evidence that a rogue commercial entity has done so,” Andini said carefully. “No evidence has surfaced of widespread contamination, or of collusion on the part of the Ileri government.”
Dinata snorted. “This rebellion is evidence enough. You’ve also seen Mizwar’s report.”
“Are you ordering me to conduct a general planetary bombardment?” Andini said, wondering if this was the moment she’d been dreading. “I’ll happily engage any clearly identified targets, but I’m hardly going to sterilize the planet based on the information to date.” She was grateful her orders permitted her that much discretion.
Dinata huffed but didn’t push further. Andini returned her attention to monitoring the imminent battle.
She didn’t have long to wait. Her tactical officer’s projections told the story clearly enough. “Ears, call the Ileris.” The link came up almost immediately. “Commander, it seems apparent the rebels plan to converge on our formation.”
Langiri, on video this time, looked grim. “That’s our analysis as well, Captain.” A side window popped open to display navigational data. “My orders are that we maneuver on this course in order to link up with reinforcements.”
Andini flicked a copy of his instructions onto the main tactical display. Her tactical officer frowned. “That relief force is smaller than I’d expect,” she said. Andini relayed that concern to the Ileri.
“Higher command hasn’t shared all their plans with me,” he said. Andini thought she detected a note of frustration in his voice, but the expert system reading both his verbal and nonverbal cues gave anxiety a higher score. “However, I’ve been given discretion in the matter of allowing you to launch more busses.”
A-ha. Vega’s plan—and Andini, having studied the new Prime Minister’s career carefully, felt sure it was Vega’s plan—became clear. A mix of anger and admiration for the Ileri leader’s boldness warred within her. “I see,” she said. “Do I have that clearance?”
“My tactical officer suggests waiting until this waypoint,” Langiri said, and the point in question flashed once in the projection. “In case we need to maneuver again. That should preserve their operational time.”
“Very good. Andini out.” She cut the connection and turned to her tactical officer. “We’re bait.”
The tactical officer nodded grimly. Dinata looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Andini highlighted the bulk of the Ileri formations, which weren’t moving to join Iwan Goleslaw and her escorts. “The rebels are coming for us. Vega’s letting them, sending just enough of her own strength to make it a fair fight, and defend against any accusations that she left us out to hang. She’s going to let us bleed her enemies for her.”
“You sound like you approve.”
Andini sighed. “It’s a smart plan. I’d probably do the same in her case.” She ordered the ship control officer to maneuver in concert with their escort and put the launcher crews on standby. “Pull in the radiators and set Condition One. Execute.”
The second Battle of Ileri played out much the way Andini expected, at least at first. Iwan Goleslaw and the Ileri ships with her launched their ordnance at the appointed time, Andini putting everything except for the special weapons and her anti-missile munitions into service. The rebel formations, converging from several different orbits, launched their own array of missiles and weapons busses. Andini and the Ileris knocked most of these down, but some got through. To their credit, Langiri and the other Ileri commanders did their utmost to screen Iwan Goleslaw’s blind side, at some expense to their own point defense. The rebels, for their part, focused the bulk of their fire on the Ileri vessels, and before long both frigates became expanding balls of plasma and debris.
Andini logged a note commending their bravery and turned her attention to killing as many of the rebels as she could, using her impaired ability to maneuver to keep her damaged side away from the enemy.
Strangely, the oncoming flotillas didn’t focus fire on the Iwan Goleslaw itself. Instead they poured most of their attacks into the cloud of weapons platforms surrounding the Saljuan ship. They directed the remainder of their fire at the approaching loyalist vessels. Her tactical officer figured it out first. “They’re going for CQB,” she said. Close quarters battle, where mass drivers and particle beam weapons reigned supreme. Weapons that Andini couldn’t use without cooking her ship.
“Swing the surviving busses to the far side of the ship,” Andini ordered. “If the rebels aren’t shooting at us, we can shield the busses and use our point defense to interdict the incoming fire. Drop the remaining decoys and try to make it look like the busses are still holding station.”
Fist moved to comply. Dinata looked confused. “What are you doing?”
Andini’s mouth set in a grim line. “I’m holding a knife behind my back so I can stab the fuckers when they get close enough.”
Whether the rebels fell for the ruse, or simply didn’t care, she didn’t know. The first wave of enemy vessels bored in, though her escorts managed to kill two before the range closed. She felt like she could practically reach out and touch the enemy ships. Finally, with less than a minute to go before they reached mass driver range, she gave the order. “Now. Dump everything we’ve got at them.”
It was knife-fighting range indeed, at least in space combat terms. The rebels’ point-defense systems had scarce seconds to swat down the incoming barrage, and perhaps half of the Saljuan ordnance found its targets. Flowers of fire blossomed above the planet’s night side, lighting the heavens. Ships and crews died, some before they realized they were in danger.
But some got through, and then the real surprise came.
“Sweet Mother of the Leap, they’re launching shuttles,” the tactical officer said. “They’re going to board us.”
An iron fist gripped Andini’s heart as the rebel’s plan became plain. “How many?” she asked, wondering if her voice sounded as hollow as she felt.
“Depends on how full they are, but I estimate two hundred to two hundred fifty boarders.”
“Target the shuttles,” she said, her lips suddenly dry. “Use the mass drivers, too. We’re lost anyway if we don’t take them out.”
But the short range worked in the attacker’s favor as well, minimizing the time the incoming assault craft were exposed. And now, at last, the rebels engaged Iwan Goleslaw directly, aiming to disable her point defenses with pinpoint fire.
Andini imagined she could feel the moment the first boarding craft clamped on in her very bones, even though it was two hundred meters down the hull. “How long until the reinforcing task force is in range?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Too long. Her despair gave way to grim determination. “Right. Major Nkruma’s people to repel boarders. All other crew, abandon ship.” She locked eyes with her tactical officer as the alarm triggered by her order sounded on the comm of every Saljuan aboard. “Fist. Once the crew is off, we’ll scuttle.” The tactical officer, face pale, acknowledged. Andini turned to Dinata. “Minister, my yeoman will see you to your shuttle.”
Dinata, thoroughly lost, looked back and forth between Andini and the display. “But our mission—”
“Is a failure. So be it.” Andini called up the ship control officer as her yeoman dragged the still-protesting minister away. Most of the combat-center crew followed, but a few, mainly those directing point defense against a new wave of boarding craft, stayed at their posts. Pride in her crew pushed back against a new wave of despair. “I need a course that keeps us between the shuttles and the rebel ships. Highest burn you can manage.”
The massive ship rotated and thrust returned. It was a paltry one-third gravity, but it would have to do. Andini and the tactical officer unlocked the red panels she’d never once imagined she’d need to open. Long minutes ticked by. Finally, the shuttle pilots reported they had launched.
“How long until they’re at minimum safe distance?” she asked. She could hear the fire between the boarders and Nugroho’s troops now.
“Three minutes. They’ve got to kill their initial velocity first.”
Shit. She should have held off on maneuvering until the shuttles launched. Too late now, though. She hoped it would be enough.
Barely a minute remained when the tactical officer cried out in surprise. “Captain! Several of the boarding craft are detaching. They’re burning hard to rejoin their ships.”
“What?” She checked the display, confirmed it with her own eyes. The shooting outside the combat center didn’t let up, though. “Why are they doing that?” She flipped the display to show the internal condition of the ship, grimacing at the red blotches denoting the boarders’ incursions. They were perilously close to the bridge, the combat center, and engineering. But one incongruous tentacle caught her eye, probing deeply but far from the critical stations that would grant the attackers control of her ship.
They had breached the special ordnance store. The antimatter bombs must be aboard the escaping shuttles.
She had one card left to play. She prayed the rebels were still close enough for it to work.
“Now,” she told the tactical officer, and turned the key.
The nuclear scuttling charges buried deep within Iwan Goleslaw detonated, and once again, a new star burned brightly in the Ileri sky. But only for a little while.