Page 52 of Reformation
TheTriumphwas the best ship in the fleet, and they were evacuating. What did that mean for everyone else?
Clumsily, Darrel pulled up his seat’s nav screen. He could have looked over Lieutenant Reyes’ shoulder, but he didn’t want to risk distracting her. He scanned the numbers, desperate for a sign that the general was overreacting, that things weren’t as bad as he feared. But … no, it was bad enough. Their original contingent of eighteen was down to twelve, nothing but the smallest ships and their own annihilator still bringing the fight.
On the other hand, the pirates had gone from twenty-nine ships to fifteen, and even as he watched, another one of their signals flared briefly, then died. They still had their own destroyer, though, and if theTriumphwent down, it would be able to pick off the remnants of the fleet, mostly skyblazers, built for speed but not meant to sustain heavy damage. On the other hand, if they could take out the destroyer first, then the skyblazers would have an even fight ahead of them, slightly outnumbered but better prepared to move and dodge.
There was no way, though. All scans of the enemy destroyer showed robust shielding still holding at fifty percent, and the ship had no compunction about ordering smaller vessels into the path of theTriumph’s fire to save it from more damage. It was a bulky, clumsy thing, but in a toe-to-toe fight right now, it would win. Itwaswinning because Miles was concerned with saving his people’s lives, and the enemy captain clearly wasn’t.
“Pirates, my ass,” he heard Reyes mutter, her hands flying over her screen. “No pirates are this disciplined. They should have cut and run like theHammerfallan hour ago.”
“Update on theCleaver, sir, all crew accounted for and away,” the communications officer called out.
“Including Captain Gorion?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” General Caractacus nodded. “And our own evacuation?”
“Fifty percent and—enemy ship rolling beneath us, sir; we’re going to take fire!”
“Shift all power to ventral shields, maximum thrusters for a portside roll, now!”
TheTriumphbegan its maneuver, but Darrel was positive they were too late. Their belly was raw and exposed, and even a little ship like that could do enough damage to send them reeling. If they hit the engines, the super-destroyer would be blown inhalf. He and everyone else on the bridge held their breath as the nav officer said, “Taking fire in three, two—missed us, sir!” He sounded amazed. “Not entirely, some hit the starboard edge, but we’re doing all right. Ship is—”
“Continue the roll.”
“Sir, then we’ll hit the enemy ship!”
“Exactly.” He sounded darkly satisfied. “All hands, brace for impact.”
Darrel braced, but it still wasn’t enough to keep him from feeling the vibration of the blow all the way into his teeth, the ground-shattering feeling of two enormous vessels of war colliding in an otherwise-frictionless environment. More alarms sounded, but it hardly mattered at that point—they couldn’t get any more distracting.
Vaguely, Darrel felt a fluttering at the edges of his mind that he knew was Grennson, desperate for answers. He should have evacuated already …
“Sir, we’ve lost our portside thrusters, shields down to two percent!”
“Evacuate the essential personnel and pass me helm control. Get yourselves to the escape pods.”
There was a moment of pure, stunned silence on the bridge and then an outcry from every person there.
“We can’t leave you to—”
“I can stay, I can—”
“Let us—”
“Please, don’t—”
“This is not up for discussion!” There was the scalpel voice again, and this time it stabbed Darrel straight in the heart. “Give me control of the helm and get to your pods, now. That’s an order, people, move!” And reluctantly, unhappily, people obeyed.
Reyes touched Darrel’s arm, drawing him out of his distracted state. “C’mon, cadet,” she murmured. “We have to go.”
Darrel didn’t respond, watching the new course Miles plotted on the nav screen. He was heading straight for the destroyer, a lurching, tilted charge thanks to the loss of one whole set of thrusters. The destroyer was already backing away, firing full tilt at the same time. It was a race to see if theTriumphwould reach it before its engines failed, or it exploded.
Darrel? I’ve saved a pod, come meet me!
He sent back a general feeling ofwaitbefore getting to his feet. There was something he needed to do first. “I’ll be right there,” he said. “You go, Lieutenant. Thank you.”
She frowned. “Cadet, I’ll make it an order if I have to.”
