Ice War, page 16
Yajain stepped between Mosam and Pansar.
“Cut this out, you two. Neither of you is killing the other on my watch.”
“Yajain.” Mosam sounded surprised.
Pansar’s grip on his cane remained tense.
“Doctor Aksari, this is a matter of honor.”
“And what about logic?” Yajain asked. “We need to work together to fight the tyrants.”
Pansar’s stance and grip relaxed.
“You are right.” He swallowed visibly. “Take us to see Savar.”
Yajain glanced at Mosam. He stepped back from Savar.
“This way.”
He led the group toward the exit of the hangar. Yajain waited as they streamed past her. Senn DiBaram emerged from the Razor Crow in his hunter armor. He strode to Yajain and offered her a set of small disks she recognized as her hunter’s ears.
“These certainly come in handy.” His face turned dour as Kidann Odyide scrambled past them to catch up with rest of the group. “But I hope those two can keep from killing each other long enough for us to save everyone and everything out here.”
Yajain looked after Mosam as he got further and further away.
He’s putting on a show, a tough act. I can’t let him do the same thing to Lin again like he did back on Castenlock.
Yajain sighed, took the hunter’s ears from Senn, and then turned to follow the group.
“Me too.”
The scythe-shaped harvest corsair banked on its thrusters and then glided in a low circle over Ambana Reef’s last settlement. On the bridge of the vessel, Yajain belted herself in at the navigation and communication terminal and watched Solna light play and clash on the ice below from the bridge windows. At the helm, the skinny young Radun Velis guided the ship, while behind him, near Yajain, Mosam sat in the command chair. Behind them, the Razor Crow flew, flanked by two squadrons of four fighters from the harvest fleet.
The sleek mass of Savar’s lone banner ship flew near the rear of the formation, visible on Yajain’s scanners as a green oval flanked by two small ovals, two more scythe corsairs. The fleet flew past the reef’s edge and angled downward, Yajain’s corsair in the lead. She took a deep breath as they hit mist.
“Helm,” said Mosam. “More power to thrust. Give the core a workout.”
“Aye, doctor.” Velis adjusted a few controls. “Thrust building.”
Mosam nodded to him, then turned to Yajain. “Yajain, any trouble on radar?”
“Not yet, but…” The massive pale silver shape of the gatehouse’s upper dome emerged from the reef behind them. It appeared adrift, freshly unmoored from the reef, but Yajain could guess how massive the power it used to move now must be. She frowned down at it out the window. Dara and Kidann, as well as Joth and Enna along with all civilians from the reef settlement, were now on board the ancient ship.
Dara, in particular, returned to Yajain’s mind. She and Kidann were to transport themselves, using the gatehouse’s smallest portal, to contact the fleet waiting in the corridor to transit once the harvest fleet disrupted the tyrant blockade. The plan was risky, but it was all they had, and at least Dara would be safe until the larger allied fleet began its transit.
I’m the one of my friends going into the heart of the battle. But what about that huge sphere we saw in that blocked corridor? That sphere controls storms. It, forget the fleet around it, could be enough to crush us all.
Yajain focused on her breath for a moment.
Time for fight, not flight.
The corsair’s thrusters received cruising power and the ship shot away from the reef, followed by the rest of the fleet. Their course took them straight toward the blockade from the opposite side it was prepared for an attack. Beyond that blockade awaited Firio’s fleet, and with them, Lin and the Ghost Hammer. Yet all those ships, the entire DiKandar Redocate and whatever reinforcements the Empire had been able to scrape together to send, would be doomed if Yajain and Mosam and Savar’s tiny fleet couldn’t disrupt the blockade effectively.
Yajain’s scanners picked up the rear units of the fleet that formed the blockade, among them the form of the former-Dilinian Governor Tirel Sovilan’s massive personal battleship, which appeared on the sensors as a red triangle marked with the name, Ectoros. Further ahead, several other large ships spread across the end of the corridor, red circles and ovals, with clusters of red dots, small escorts and the specks of fighters at their sides.
A ring of corsairs and banner ships circled just over the hot zone of Calaim Hub’s yellow Solna, currently on the side of the pillar facing Yajain. The corridor read clear of storm clouds, but a vast front already moved over Ambana Reef behind the harvest fleet. That storm must have been sent by the tyrants, and it would arrive in less than the three hours at its current rate of approach. The combined fleet’s transit down the corridor would take less than half that time from their current position at Quelentra Hub.
We need to hurry.
Mosam stood up from the command chair.
“We’re about to close with the blockade. Yajain get me Savar.”
Yajain hit a few keys to call the banner ship behind them. A static-laced connection established between the two vessels.
Mosam glanced at her, face grim. She gave him a small nod. He spoke into his headset.
“Master, I am prepared to engage.”
Savar’s voice returned, distorted and blanketed in noise, completely unreadable. Mosam took the message as the permission he needed. He returned to his seat corner to Yajain.
“Break the connection,” he said.
She did without a word, but couldn’t help wondering if Savar actually gave them the order or if Mosam, like Yajain, simply saw no other way but to fight. Mosam pulled the main beam weapon’s sights toward his eyes.
“Take us closer, Radun. I’ll aim for Sovilan’s battleship,” he said. “Firing in ten seconds.”
The corsair swooped under a slender strand of drifting float trees.
Yajain swallowed. She hurriedly typed a message to the Razor Crow and then sent a copy of it to Savar’s banner ship as well. It read simply, engage large ships first. Then she returned her gaze to sensors as the corsair flew past Calaim Hub at a distance of fifty kilometers. Two enemy rangers floating in defensive loops around the pillar broke from their routes to pursue.
Mosam gritted his teeth.
“I’ve got a firing solution, keep us steady.”
“Will do,” said Radun.
Yajain checked one of the exterior viewers on the navigation terminal that showed the battleship Ectoros. The ship’s long central peak blossomed with fire in the wake of a stream of burning blue light slashing from the corsair across the larger vessel. Mosam released both beam triggers with an audible click as they snapped back into firing position. The corsair sliced through the air over the burning battleship.
“You missed the bridge,” said Radun.
The two rangers accelerated after the corsair.
“I intended to.” Mosam sat back, brow furrowed. “Sovilan is a politician, not a commander. If he is afraid for his life he’ll call more ships to defend him.”
Yajain scanned the echoes and radar and found Mosam was right. Two dozen ships from Sovilan’s personal fleet moved from the blockade toward them. Added to the ones circling Calaim Hub, she couldn’t help but think Mosam had just bitten off more than the whole harvest fleet could chew.
“What now?” she asked.
“Send word to the gatehouse. Tell them to get Dara and Kidann on their way.”
Yajain nodded, then turned to the communications portion of her terminal. She activated her connection with Savar’s Gatehouse. A beam blazed past the corsair’s viewing window. Yajain grimaced.
“Dara, you there?”
“I’m here,” said Dara.
“Get going. It’s time.”
Dara took a deep breath.
“Good luck, Yajain.”
Yajain forced a smile though Dara couldn’t see her.
“You too.”
Their connection terminated. More energy shots flashed around the corsair. The ship shuddered with impacts.
“Radun, bring us around. We’re going to lead them back toward the banner ship.”
“We won’t be able to hold for long, doctor.” Radun flinched as another blast rocked the corsair. “Aft armor is gone.”
Yajain and Mosam glanced at each other. Mosam exhaled visibly.
“Angle toward Calaim Hub and climb. Make us look like we’re headed for the settlement. Yajain, call Adya’s corsair to cover us.”
“What are you planning?” Yajain switched the communications to the next closest corsair before Mosam could reply. “Adya, we’re in trouble.”
“You look pretty cooked,” Adya said. “I gotcha covered.”
Yajain turned to Mosam. He grinned as the ship hurtled toward Calaim settlement. Yajain held onto the terminal despite the belts. They entered the arc field around Calaim Pillar. Two rangers still pursued them, but a flurry of coil fluid from Adya’s corsair melted one and sent it spiraling out of control. The other ship closed with Yajain and Mosam’s corsair.
Mosam glanced at Radun and then turned to Yajain.
“Time for phase two.” He hit the warning klaxon and addressed the crew. “People, prepare to abandon this ship. We’ve got the trap set. Now we just need to get out of it ourselves.”
Sovilan’s ailing battleship turned toward the pillar, lights flaring along its bow as weapons powered up. Ballistics and flickers of coil fluid shook and seared the corsair. The transplastic dome of the bridge cracked in places. Yajain hunkered down as reports of the crew’s evacuation filtered in over the text filler.
Mosam surged out of the command chair.
“Helm, set this ship to neutral in this arc field.” He chuckled. “So ends my short captaincy. Radun, Yajain, let’s get off this ship.”
Yajain glanced at him. Their eyes locked.
“You first, Mosam.”
He shook his head.
“I wasn’t thinking of going down with the ship, Yajay.”
The ship shuddered again. Sections of the dome broke free and air whistled into the bridge.
Radun scurried from the controls.
“Let’s go you two. Now is not the time.” He activated his lifts and kicked off down the passage leading off the bridge.
Mosam inclined his head and grinned at Yajain.
“These past few shifts have been amazing.”
She smiled but looked down at the sensors. The display had cracked. The enemy ranger was closed in. Her eyes returned to Mosam.
“Let’s beat these tyrants, then go for the future.”
His hand clapped to her shoulder, rough skin. He activated his lifts with a press to his opposite palm.
“Let’s fly.”
She activated her lifts and they swam down the passage to the ports on either side of the ship just behind the bridge. Yajain hit the controls on one. The door flew open and a burst of flame erupted in front of her. She stumbled backward a step into Mosam’s chest, hands raised to hold off the flames and turned her head.
“Other side,” she said.
He slapped his palm against the opposite door control and the door flew open. The white stony side of Calaim pillar appeared. Yajain took his hand and kicked off. The corsair listed. They shot upward through the port as the ship rolled onto its side. A trailing shard of debris flew along Yajain’s shoulder. Pain flared and her ship suit tore. A trickle of blood emerged from the cut. She winced but stayed on course.
They glided free of the ship and swam higher toward the bottom terrace of the settlement. Below them, the dimming core of the corsair flared and stuttered against the brilliance of the yellow Solna circling the pillar below.
Mosam flew awkwardly at her side, still using both arms and legs to climb through the arc. The shapes of other crew members from their corsair shot past all around them, too small for the targeting solutions of the battleship to lock on anyone. Blasts of hot coil fluid spat through the sides of the corsair below. The ship broke apart from core to hull down its entire length.
The enemy ranger climbed toward the evacuated crew, trailing burning fire on its sides. About four hundred meters below them, a missile from Adya’s corsair connected with the ranger’s center. The fifty-meter long ship burst along its sides even as it continued to streak upward. Blackened material and smoke blotted out the light below as the ship spiraled into pieces.
Yajain grabbed Mosam around the waist with both hands and jerked both of them out of the path of the wreckage. Debris scattered from the ranger into the abyss. The crew from the doomed vessel streamed out of its escape ports on their lifts.
Yajain’s hand fell to the coil pistol at her belt.
“Look for the tyrant,” Mosam shouted over the roar of the dying ranger. “If we kill it, these people can become our allies.”
Yajain nodded. They flew to the ship together as the ranger began to stall from flying vertically on thrusters. They raced alongside the ship, climbing higher and higher. The cracked transteel viewer of the ranger’s front bridge came into view parallel to Yajain and Mosam. Within, the tentacles eel-like shape of a tyrant remained latched to the controls.
“My pistol won’t get through that armor,” Yajain said. Her cut shoulder ached. Perhaps the wound there went deeper than it looked.
“Just hold me steady,” said Mosam. He stopped his movements to fly with his arms and pulled back the sleeve of his ship suit. The freshly reloaded biocompartment in his arm sprang open, revealing a red glowing core.
Debris from one of the ranger’s wings scattered through the air. Yajain kicked twice and maneuvered out of the way. Fragments of blackened metal and plastic hurtled through the air, but none of them struck either Yajain or Mosam.
A beam of red energy shot from the miniature core attached to Mosam’s arm. The light pierced the ship’s armor and the tyrant beyond. An eruption of pale red steam filled the ranger’s bridge. The ship stopped climbing and began to sink, now lacking the tyrant’s direct thruster control.
A cloud of survivors from both the corsair and the rangers swam began to alight on the terrace above. Yajain and Mosam flew over the edge and landed on the terrace. The red uniforms of Sovilan’s fleet surrounded them. The core beamer snapped back into Mosam’s arm, but Yajain kept her hand on her pistol. The ranger’s crew continued to land all around.
Mosam stepped forward, arms raised and palms out.
“People, this terrace is about to get hot. We need to move inside the shell of this pillar.”
They stared at him, in the daze that came from being relieved of tyrant control. Yajain walked past Mosam.
“Listen to us. We’re on your side here.”
More crew from the corsair began to land all around the terrace, including young Radun with gray dust in his blond hair. A man with a tei officer’s markings on his uniform stepped forward.
“We’re going people.” He glanced at Yajain and Mosam. “I have a feeling we’re about to get some answers.”
Yajain nodded to the tei officer and the whole group started across the terrace. As she walked, Yajain looked back. The blockading fleet circled the harvest fleet as Savar’s ships approached Calaim Hub. She waved more crew on ahead of her to shelter and hoped their distraction would be enough.
Crouched by the open passage leading to the open air outside, Yajain gazed over the terrace at the battle. Burning strands of chemical propellant and threads of cooling fluid from coil discharges arced and hung and floated in the mist. Thunderous sounds of ballistics echoed in the air, counterpointed by the sizzle of energy weapons. Burnt air tinged the entryway with bitter scents.
Ships fell under fire, plummeting into the abyss, others reared back under fire, caught in the arc fields of two other nearby pillars visible from Yajain’s vantage point. The tyrant controlled fleet appeared reluctant to break enough ships from the blockade to clash with the harvest fleet. In the passage behind Yajain, a collection of crew members from both Mosam’s corsair and the ranger that destroyed their ship clustered. The rest went with Mosam to the interior of the pillar to investigate the place further. Yajain began to worry after the first few minutes, and soon wished she had gone with them rather than staying to watch for the combined fleet.
Adya’s corsair descended over the barren terrace and Yajain’s communicator chimed with a message. She turned down the sound in her hunter’s ears, which she’d plugged in after the crash. She waited.
Senn DiBaram spoke over their connection.
“Doctor Aksari, my team is preparing to drop onto the terrace by your position.”
“It’s all clear.” Yajain scanned the air for signs of encroaching enemy fighters. She spotted two approaching, having broken through a stream of fire from Savar’s banner ship. “But hurry. Enemy fighters are on their way.”
“We’ll be quick.” He terminated the connection.
Yajain glanced behind her to a team made up of former enemies.
“People, we’re getting reinforcements. Anyone with a rifle, follow me to help cover them.”
Two of the ranger’s former crew nodded and raised long-arms. Yajain led the two of them out onto the terrace, keeping low. The drop doors of Adya’s corsair opened and four troopers from Ambana settlement descended, guiding a boxy arc mover between them. Senn DiBaram in his three-armed armor and with his sol blade sheathed at his hip flew beside them. Fighters swooped in as Adya’s corsair moved again to peel off from the terrace.
Yajain tracked the fighters with her finger.
“Give them something to dodge.”
The two riflemen opened fire on the screaming fighters high on Yajain’s left, searing them with bursts of fluid. Yajain ducked and drew her pistol as Senn’s team swam past to her right. The fighters returned fire with flickering beams, each weapon-port dividing into a splintering curtain of hot beams of light. Yajain didn’t have time to raise her pistol before the lasers raked the terrace in front of her and made her step back to avoid a spray of molten dust.
The riflemen on her immediate left took a bolt in the leg. His uniform blackened. He staggered, then fell.
