Star Crusades, Michael Thomas [the lemonade war series .TXT] 📗

sides. Thrusters on their suits helped moved them through thedebris between the ships.

“Captain,” said the tactical officer, “New contact. It’s…massive. Idon’t know how it go so close without our scanners picking itup.”

The view shifted to show aship bigger than anything Captain Zacharias hadseen before. It dwarfed their frigate, making them look littledifferent to a fighter alongside a battleship. The ship was soclose and so vast he could only make out part of it from where theywere.

“Motherof God,” he said, crossing himself, “It’s bigger than abattleship.”

“It looks like gunports are opening. Dozens of them.”

Captain Zacharias turned to theothers.

“All hands, brace for impact!Tactical, prepare to return fire.”

Gunfire tore down fromthe ship as hundreds of armour-piercingprojectiles crashed into the four Alliance ships. Chester took somuch fire it disappeared under the massed bombardment. Cairo wasnext, but Captain Zacharias refused to wait to beattacked.

“All power to engines. Getus out of here.”

“Captain!” Commander Campbellyelled, “What about ourmarines?”

The ship rolled to the left and beganmoving away. Gunfire raked the rear hull, with dozens ofprojectiles embedded into the armour plates.

“They’re already dead, Commander.And if we do not escape, we will jointhem.”

The sound of the screamingmarines drowned out the gunfire for a second, until the Commandergave the signal to switch it off. Captain Zacharias look back atthe monstrous alien vessel as Chester and Cairo werepicked apart by the gunfire.

“Where to?” asked the helmsman.

“Backto the Rift. We have to warn Command. Epsilon Eridani is going tobe more difficult to retaken than we thought.”

ANS Calgary wasa few kilometres off their starboard flank andaccelerated away while still firing at the alien ship. Gunfirehammered into its hull, and massive chunks of its outer platingtore away. Then the crew gasped as pulses of lights crashed intoher hull, followed by a series of powerful explosions. CommanderCampbell looked to the Captain and shook his head.

“We cannot outrun that thing. What canwe do?”

“There’s only one thing wecan do,” said the Captain.

He licked his lips and thenstraightened his uniform.

“Stand down weapons immediately.Stop firing!”

“Captain!” said a stunned Commander, “You willsurrender?”

The Captain did not look amused as he sat back down.

“Turn us around. We’re not running fromthis thing anymore.”

“Turn?”

Captain Zachariasshook his head.

“No, wait. Cut theengines…and thrusters. Give theimpression we’ve been knocked out and disabled in battle. Take themain powerplant offline.”

The helmsman respondedinstantly. One moment the ship wastearing away from the massive alien ship, and then next it began todrift. Venting gas from breaches along the portside pushed the shipinto a slow spin, while trails of gas, dust, and debris spilled outbehind.

“Record everything you can andtransmit it directly to the Rift relaybeacon. Maybe some good will come of this. Command must learn ofwhat happened here today.”

“And what then?”

“I want all power cut through the ship.Let her go cold.”

“They won’t fall for that,” saidthe XO, “Look, they’re coming in rightbehind us.”

“Indeed. And they’re not firing.”

He ran his fingers through hisbeard once more and then reached for theintercom.

“This is the Captain. We are dead in the water and with the enemy at ourdoor. Arm and armour yourselves for the coming battle.”

“Captain,” said a stunnedCommander Campbell, “We cannot defend this ship.”

“No.” He reached down and checked for his sidearm, “I have anotheridea.”

His eyes looked to the rest of the crew.

“This fight isn’t over yet, notby a long shot. We’ll do what they wouldnever expect.”

He looked to his pistol and gentlyshook his head.

“Never once did I think Iwould be called on to use it.”

“What is the plan?”Commander Campbell asked.

The Captain nodded towards the alien ship.

“Help is coming. We just need to holdon a little longer. So we’re taking the fight to their ship.”

“Captain? You mean to board her?”

“Exactly. They’ll never expect it.”

“What about the ship?”

“If we can’t have her, nobody will.Chief, I need a silent timer for detonation.”

“You want to kill her?”

“It’s not what I want to do, it’s whatI have to do.”

“Yes,Captain.”

“And comms. Send out apassive tracker buoy with our logs anddata. Fleet will come looking for us. Let’s make their job as easyas we can.”

CHAPTER ONE

Martian Moon Deimos, Sol System

Valentine knew she was halfasleep, and she knew that it was time to wake. She’d been back to this place nine times now over the lastmonths here, and the surgeries had left her feeling numb to thedamage throughout her body. She was so used to the feelings thatshe found it difficult to tell pain from pleasure anymore, with itsimply registering as a stimulus, and little more. She had no ideaif she’d been here for hours, days, or weeks.

Tell me this is thelast time? This is toomuch.

Her Cortex was offline, but she’dspent enough time in and out of different realities and connectingup to different equipment to know whather body and mind was now doing. For some the transition betweenforms was close to a nightmare, but for her it was little differentto putting on a change of underwear. But this time was different,and she knew it. The nightmares of the last days were slowing herrecovery, and the sights and smells of the battle too much to takefor much longer. She could smell and taste the smoke and fire allaround her. Her throat felt dry and raspy, and she started tochoke.

“Lance Corporal,hold on,” said a nearby voice.

One eye began toopen, and Valentine could almost feel the reliefof returning to the real world. But then Valentine spotted her, andeverything changed. Since becoming a Nova she had learned to shutoff control of her body as needed, a useful ability in combat orwhen injured, but also important when it came to removing andreattaching various body parts.

Jane!

A confusing battle raged, but shebarely acknowledged the fighting, andlooked directly towards the bloodied face of Corporal Jane Bennett.Bennett was one of the few people she’d befriended on the moon, andValentine knew she had to help her. But as she looked to her, thebackground shifted and then transformed to the interior of a ship.For a second it was dark and unfamiliar, but then it changed again,and there before her was a face she knew only too well.

Father!

He was a middle-aged man,dressed in a smart suit that borebloodstains on the shoulder. And in