Eighteen
Nebula N-3472
Near the Val-kyrie Border
As soon as the transport cleared the nebula, a narrow-beam message was fired off in the general direction of the Starship Eternia. Captain Majourny was almost certainly on her way as fast as the ship could travel without blowing up. Instead of jumping back into hyperspace, Colonel Markson ordered Corbin to proceed in normal space at top speed. Overshooting the Eternia would not help them if the Horde destroyer called for assistance, which it most likely did the moment the transport appeared on their sensors.
The human liberators did have one advantage, though. The approaching horde ship had no idea the Ladyhawke was sitting in the transport's hangar bay. The Horde had an idea of the little ship's firepower, but Adrian had not used any of the quantum torpedoes the Val-kyrie had armed it with. He had no real idea as to how powerful even one of the torpedoes was and the Val-kyrie were not sure, either. They had said only to be selective in choosing his targets. If even the miniature weapons works half as well as the Val-kyrie scientists believed, then mass production of full-sized weapons would begin immediately. Who knows, they might even share a few to arm the Eternia.
Teelana and Adrian strapped into their seats and ran the preflight checklists. There was no banter or cracking of jokes this time in the cockpit. Each knew that the coming battle would be intense and the focus had to be equally intense. Questions and answers were short and to the point as they ran down the list. When they completed the checks minutes later, there was nothing to do but wait.
To her surprise, Teelana found she disliked the waiting as much as Adrian outright hated it.
A chime for the comm system announced an incoming transmission. Colonel Markson's voice issued from the hidden speakers. "Just sent a message to Captain Majourny. If that Horde ship didn't know we were here, they do now. I have an idea on how we can take them by surprise. It's risky and unconventional, but it may work."
Adrian and Teelana exchanged knowing looks. "This whole mission as been an exercise in risky and unconventional," Adrian pointed out. "Let's stick with what we know."
"And because it annoys the hell out of any Horde commander who survives an encounter with us? All right. Here's what I have in mind." The colonel explained his thoughts in detail. Adrian listened intently, liking what he was hearing. It was a risky move, being that the transport would act as bait, but the element of surprise was definitely on their side. The destroyer would not suspect the little bounty hunter ship would be here. And even if that ship's captain did account for it, he had no idea just how much power was packed into such a small space frame.
Silence descended when the colonel finished pitching his plane. Adrian and Teelana eyed one another, but said nothing verbally. Suddenly, startling Teelana in the process, Adrian exclaimed, "I like this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it. Let's do it."
"Right," Markson replied, sounding dubious. "Be ready to launch in five minutes. Out." The connection closed.
"Never a dull moment with you," Teelana said with a slight smile.
"Hey, I like to keep things lively."
"Well, you are definitely lively. Almost to a fault. However, I think the safest place is near you." Teelana held up a hand to forestall Adrian's comment. "Yes, I have confidence in Colonel Markson and the others. I would not still be with Guardian Command if I had any doubts. I meant what I said about us finishing this together."
"Besides that fact that relations between you and He-man and She-ra are so frosty right now that spending a week in Siberia would feel like a heat wave," Adrian said matter-of-factly.
Teelana surprised him by saying, "Yes, there is that."
Adrian turned to look Teelana in the eye and said, "I'll always be there for you whenever you want. I mean that."
"I know," she whispered. "Let's just get through this first. We can deal with He-man and She-ra later."
Adrian nodded and turned back to the console in front of him.
The destroyer detected the encrypted transmission as soon as Colonel Markson ordered it sent. It didn't take long for the ship's robot crew to trace the source back to the stolen transport. Bat mech fighters launched from the hangar bay and formed a wedge in front of the destroyer. The normal compliment was twelve fighters, but Adrian's earlier attack reduced that number by three.
Captain Xarr watched the monitor carefully for any sign of a trap. The transport continued away from the nebula at full speed. Xarr snorted in disgust because it did not have the engine power to outrun his destroyer. He also wondered why the enemy didn't simply engage the hyperdrive. They were heading toward the Val-kyrie border so if was reasonable the enemy had help, probably already on the way.
It dawned on the captain suddenly that help could be closer than he thought. "Charge weapons! Activate shields. Dispatch the fighters to disable that ship. We have to take them now before their allies show up."
Troopers jumped to execute the captain's orders.
In moments, nine fighters broke formation and roared off after the transport. Red drive flares from their engines marked the fighters against the blackness of space, but only for a few brief moments before being swallowed up by the eternal night. They approached the target from behind in groups of three. Two groups peeled off to flank the transport while the third set up position directly behind. If the other groups drew laser fire, the third would open up on the engines and weapons.
The first two groups did indeed draw fire, though it was largely ineffectual. The transport was not equipped with the latest tracking systems the warships carried because usually slave transports were escorted. None of the offensive fire came close to even scorching paint as the wings sped by.
The third group primed their weapons to open fire. They never got the chance to strike. Red plasma bolts lanced out from seemingly out of nowhere to impact the rear of the lead fighter. Thin armor plate peeled apart exposing vulnerable fuel tanks. The bat mech disappeared in a fireball that was quickly snuffed out by the vacuum. The surviving fighters never had a chance to do more than register the danger before twin lines of plasma bolts swept across them. Two more fireballs and clouds of debris marked their passing.
Before the destroyer had a sensor lock on the transport, the Ladyhawke had been maneuvered out of the hangar bay using only its attitude thrusters. Once it was safely away from the mother ship, Adrian shut down all systems to standby mode and waited using only passive sensors. Ladyhawke quickly fell far behind as the transport continued its flight at full sub-light thrust. The effect gave them the prime position to get the jump on the enemy fighters without sending a stray burst into the transport's engines. Once they had the optimal position and range, Adrian and Teelana powered up the ship and locked onto the fighters in less than fifteen seconds. Five seconds after that, all three fighters were expanding debris clouds.
Distracted by the demise of their three companions, the remaining robot pilots failed to keep their surroundings in perspective. The defenders on the hijacked transport scored a hit on one fighter damaging it enough to force it to return to the destroyer. Concentrated laser fire from the gun mounts on the transport's starboard side locked on and finished it off.
Ladyhawke flew down the port side after the trio starting to cut across the transport's bow. Adrian took the trailing fighter out with a brief burst from the plasma guns mounted in the Ladyhawke's forward wind pods. The remaining pair broke formation and peeled off in opposite directions. It was a ruse designed to bring him into laser range of the pair of surviving bat mechs on the transport's starboard side.
Adrian pulled up hard on the control yoke barely getting out of the way in time are streams of laser bolts sizzled around the starship. Snapping the throttles back to their rearward stops and twisting the cargo ship around, Adrian got weapons lock on one of the attacking fighters and blew it out of existence. More laser fire erupted around the ship, much of it impacting the rear shields. They were an easy target because Adrian's maneuver had brought the ship to a near complete halt. Slamming the throttles forward, Adrian struggled to get out of range, or at least make it difficult for the enemy robots pilots to further deplete the Ladyhawke's shields.
Ace brought the Eternia out of hyperspace on the edge of the battlefield. They had arrived just in time to see the Ladyhawke get caught in a crossfire only to slew around and blast one fighter into floating debris. The ship roared away from a dead stop pulling off some stomach churning maneuvers even Ace would have been hesitant to attempt.
"That guy's either a piloting genius or a certifiable waco," Ace commented. Another fighter exploded when the robot pilot veered the wrong way and drifted into the Ladyhawke's gun sights.
"Adrian Cobretti and the Sorceress are flying that ship, Ace. Remember?" Captain Majourny said, impressed with the action thus far. She swiveled her chair to face Lieutenant Satori and tossed her a small data crystal. "Transmit that message and await a reply." Returning her attention to the battle pulled on the tactical screen displayed against the clear steel canopy, the captain ordered the ship to battle stations.
Torpedo ports opened along the sloped edge of the bow, railguns warmed up, and panels on the dorsal and ventral surfaces in the middle of the hull parted so the quad guns could extend into position. The gunners immediately began tracking the remaining four fighters as the Ladyhawke tried to draw them into position for a kill. Quad guns opened up when they had a lock and each blew a fighter into expanding gas clouds. Now there two of the original nine to contend with.
"Harley, get me a firing solution on that destroyer," Captain Majourny ordered.
"I can't. That other ship is in the way. It's on a collision course," Lieutenant Denton reported, disbelief evident in his voice.
"What's Adrian doing? Trying to commit suicide?" Ace rambled.
"Get them on comms," Jo-Jo said tightly to Satori.
The lieutenant shook her head in frustration. "They're not acknowledging."
Anti-aircraft fire opened up on them as Adrian continued his power dive straight at the enemy warship. Exploding plasma globes caused the ship to buck and shake violently.
"Wonderful idea you had there, Tee," Adrian growled, struggling with the bucking control yoke. "Weapons aren't doing jack against their shields."
"Stop firing for a moment. What's all this exploding around us, anyway?"
"Anti-aircraft fire," Adrian answered, grudgingly ceasing fire.
"We're in space," Teelana said smoothly, fingers working a console in front of her, on the side panel to her right, and she even flipped a few switches on the overhead panel.
"Okay, anti-spacecraft fire," Adrian retorted. "What about my guns?"
"Now!"
Adrian mashed the firing studs in the tops of the control yoke arms. Red plasma bolts lashed out at the enemy, only they were no longer red. They were green. Adrian also noticed his volley was penetrating the destroyer's shields as if they weren't there.
"What the hell?"
Teelana continued working various control panels. "Later. Fly straight through."
"What?"
Teelana turned a pleading gaze upon him. "Trust me," she said as gently as she could manage under the circumstances.
Shaking his head, Adrian pressed on. He raked plasma fire across any laser gun mount he could even vaguely identify as the distance closed at a frightening rate. Incoming fire slackened a bit as a result of Adrian's direct hits on the destroyer's starboard side. He narrowed his eyes in anticipation of an existence-ending impact and explosion. What he got instead was a slight bump and their shields contacted and the Ladyhawke blasted on through. Adrian almost plowed into the destroyer's armored hull in shock.
Recovering quickly, he rotated the ship so that he was skimming the enemy ship's hull. He continued to pour plasma fire into any protruding structures in his path. Boiling explosions marked his wake are he sped down the enemy's length unabated. Within seconds, Ladyhawke slammed through the destroyer's aft shields and away in the only blind spot a warship had where weapons could not effectively defend.
"Torpedoes ready," Teelana replied, and odd flat tone in her voice.
Maintaining momentum, Adrian chopped the throttles back and flipped and rotated the ship so that they were travelling backward while still on a horizontal plane to the enemy. He caressed the triggers under his pointer fingers firing a quantum torpedo from each of the two launchers. Teelana touched a control to darken the canopy windows against the glare she knew was coming.
Like the plasma weapons and the Ladyhawke itself, the miniature torpedoes plowed through the destroyer's shields as if they didn't exist. The weapons homed in on the exhaust cones for the main engines and sped inside until they struck the engines. The initial detonations were spectacular for something their size, but the cascade of energy caused secondary explosions that traveled back up the length of the warship in seconds. Armor plates, mangled support structures, and other odd bits of debris blasted away in all directions as the bulk of the shattered hulk 'sank' in freefall.
"Well, that was…" Adrian struggled for the proper word.
Teelana supplied, "Fun?"
"No, not quite. I was thinking more like intense."
The comm system beeped for attention. "Captain Majourny again. I guess we don't have an excuse to ignore her this time," Teelana sighed. There was a whimsical note to her voice when she said that.
A screen materialized over the console forward of the throttle quadrant. Captain Majourny's tense expression stared back at them.
"Are you two trying to put me and my crew out of a job?" she demanded.
"Captain!" Adrian said jovially. "We're fine, thanks. How are you?"
"Are there anymore bad guys around that we need to know about?" the captain asked, glancing at the status board on the right arm of her chair.
"Not right now, but we expect more company before too long," Adrian said. He made a few minor adjustments to his ship's orientation to the other ships, but made no attempt to approach.
Jo-jo turned to Lieutenant Satori. "Any response?"
Satori nodded. "It just arrived. It's a text message. One word. Imminent."
Jo-jo nodded. "Company is on the way, Adrian, so you might want to keep your distance."
"Roger. We'll cruise the area and keep an eye out for Horde ships," Adrian said. He closed the connection and throttled up the engines while Teelana plotted and patrol pattern.
"Contact Colonel Markson and tell him to get ready to abandon the transport," captain Majourny ordered. "Harley, keep and eye out for inbound ships."
They didn't have long to wait. Three hyperspace disturbances appeared on Lieutenant Denton's sensor panel at the same moment the Ladyhawke called in the contact. Ace had positioned the Eternia about five-thousand meters of the transport's bow where Colonel Markson's crew could see them. The hyperspace contact was over one-hundred kilometers off the transport's starboard bow. Nothing appeared visually and wouldn't until the lightning storm created by hyperdrive engines manifested. The expected storm and gas cloud formed larger than anything Jo-jo had ever seen. What emerged into normal space shocked everyone.
Three Val-kyrie battlestars jumped smoothly into normal space in formation. No weapons were activated, but no one looking at the giant battlecruisers would miss the twin barrels protruding from the forward end of the landing bays on the sides of the main space frame. Two more barrels were set on the each sloped side of the wedge-shaped bow with two more under the bow section for a total of eight primary guns. Just looking at them, Jo-jo could well understand why no Horde vessel has yet survived and engagement with even one of those ships; or so the rumor went.
It was also rumored that no more than one Battlestar-class warship was ever seen at any one place at any one time. Yet, here were three in one place!
"Incoming transmission," Satori reported. "It's Commander Fontaine of the Battlestar Logoss."
The viewing screen projected in front of the clearsteel canopy changed scenes from that of the slave transport parked in front of the Eternia to a shot of the commander of the Logoss.
The beautiful woman on the screen appeared to be about Jo-jo's age, maybe a few years older. If Anyssa was anything to judge the warrior race by, Commander Fontaine could be at least a decade older and not show it.
"Greetings, Captain Majourny. Time is short, so we can't engage in pleasantries. We are preparing to launch shuttles to start evacuating the transport," Commander Fontaine said. "Our sensor net indicates that several Horde warships may change course in this direction at any moment."
"Agreed. I'll have my people begin the preparations. There is one hangar bay, but there are several airlocks that can be used," Jo-jo said. Remembering what Colonel Markson said about Adrian's hunch, she added, "One of my people has reason to believe General Rongar has been trailing the mission since the landing on the planet Wayfarer."
The commander glanced briefly to someone off screen, nodded, and returned her attention to Captain Majourny. "One of the ships in the area appears to be the Hoscar. Seems that ship has been in a hurry for over a day, now."
One Jo-jo's left-hand command panel, sensors displayed shuttles beginning to deploy from the battlestar's landing bays. Jo-jo contacted Colonel Markson and told him to prepare for arrivals. She quickly outlined the plan and let him go about supervising the evacuation.
"What will we do if any Horde vessels show up? Adrian's ship is powerful, but it can't handle more than a destroyer, I think," Captain Majourny said.
"I will be dispatching the other two battlestars in decoy pattern. We will take on your ship and the freed prisoners and withdraw to our space. If the Horde should be foolish enough to follow, we will destroy them," Commander Fontaine declared. "I should like to see the results from Adrian Cobretti's battle. We equipped that ship with certain experimental weapons and systems for him to try out if the situation arose." She continued before Jo-jo could lodge an objection. "He was fully briefed on the modifications by Anyssa and was told it would be his option whether or not to use the systems."
"I see. Well, we will accept your offer for a landing space only after the transport has been evacuated. If any Horde ships arrive, we will do what we can to assist," Jo-jo proposed. She knew her ship couldn't take out a Horde ship bigger than a cruiser, but the quad guns were excellent for neutralizing enemy fighters.
It was agreed. Logoss moved in a close at possible and wheeled about to shorten the transit distance for the shuttles. Ace backed away from the transport and joined the Ladyhawke in patrolling the area. The remaining battlestars moved off in different directions, issued noisy comm chatter that the Horde would be sure to intercept, and then both ships jumped into hyperspace.
Adrian was surprised when Commander Fontaine called him directly. "Commander, it's good to see you."
"Especially since you aren't shooting at us," Teelana added.
The commander cracked a slight smile. "I'm sure that you can appreciate that a certain amount of realism had been required at the time, Sorceress. We have the technology to direct the force of the impacts to make it look real enough. Now, did you have a chance to use any of the weapons? How did the weapons perform?"
"There is a cloud of wreckage that used to be a Horde destroyer," Adrian said. "Two of those torpedoes up the engine exhaust were all it took." He nodded to Teelana, who transmitted a data burst to the Logoss. "That should keep your scientists busy for a while."
Commander Fontaine nodded. "We can clear you to land in our Alpha landing bay," she said, knowing what Adrian was likely to say already.
"No thanks. We'll stay out here just a little longer. The mission isn't complete until those people are safe," Adrian replied. Even if a few of them don't appreciate it, he added to himself. "Who knows? I might get a chance to try out those torpedoes again."
"Very well, but take any unnecessary chances. We will have to move quickly if the Horde ships we detected converge on our location."
"Roger that," Adrian said, closing the channel. All they could do now was hope that their luck holds out long enough to complete the transfer. Yeah, right. Like God is going to go easy us now.
"Colonel Markson, shuttles are inbound. Prepare to evacuate the transport. Acknowledge," Captain Majourny requested.
The colonel keyed the walkie-talkie on his shoulder that was tied in to the channel to the Eternia. "Acknowledged. Takamora! Apone! We have friendlies on the way. Get that hangar bay door open. Someone go tell He-man to get his people ready to move." He took one last look out the bridge view port before leaving the bridge.
He found Apone directing the efforts in and around the hangar as two Val-kyrie shuttles lined up on final approach to dock. The first shuttle drifted through the force field, turned around to point out the way it came in, drifted sideways to clear the way for its companion, and settled to the deck on stubby landing struts fixed to the hull. The second ship approached and performed the same maneuver as the first. The third shuttle locked onto the airlock port ten meters further forward of the hangar bay.
The ramps at the back of both shuttles lowered almost simultaneously, disgorging a squad of Val-kyrie warriors from each ship. All were strikingly beautiful, dressed in armor that was function, but left much bare to varying degrees depending on the people's preference, and all were likely heavily armed. With the exception of the tall brunette who approached Colonel Markson and Sergeant Apone, every one of the warriors carried a case approximately twelve inches square.
"Where is your leader?" the warrior asked. She had the loveliest tone of voice despite her commanding demeanor.
"Colonel Markson at your service," Jon announced. "This is Sergeant Apone." The sergeant nodded.
"Major Noin," the warrior introduced herself. "Are you prepared to evacuate this ship?"
"We are gathering them up as we speak. My people will make sure there isn't a stampede to the shuttles," Markson replied. Out of the corner of his eye, Jon spotted the orderly filing of people into the bay from the slave pens. He knew there was a similar scene in the airlock corridor.
"Good," Noin replied. "My people will be setting charges to scuttle this ship as soon as the last shuttle is clear. If you will oversee the evacuation, I will see to the ship. Also, if there is anyone else on the not in the immediate vicinity of the hangar, call them back."
Markson nodded and keyed his walkie-talkie. "Jackson, you still in the engineering spaces?"
"Yes, sir," the young man's voice crackled from the speaker.
"There are some Val-Kyrie on their way down there to rig the ship. Your job is done. You, Wardman, and the rest come back up to the hangar bay and assist with the evac."
"Roger that. We're on our way."
Noin nodded her thanks and joined her people. The shuttle pilots were supervising the loading of people on the ships while the Earth people maintained order. Everything seemed to be going fine so far. As the first shuttles left, people milled about waiting for the next shuttle to dock for loading.
"Anything that we can't absolutely live without comes with us. Everything else stays to blow up with the ship," Colonel Markson said to Apone.
"No problem. I had the essential equipment set aside in the corner of the hangar," Apone said with a toothy grin. He gestured to the small stack of cases in the near corner.
"Mind reader," Markson said sourly.
"Working for you one sometimes has to be."
Ladyhawke continued its patrol looking for Horde ships. Although nothing showed up on long range scans, Adrian was certain General Rongar was closing in on them. He couldn't explain how he knew it, he just did. Teelana did not dispute her companion's feeling. She'd had the same feeling that someone had been pursuing them for some time. It was not that much a leap in logic to assume General Rongar would be in this sector of space. It was near his fleet's area of responsibility according to Val-kyrie intelligence.
So it was only a matter of time until the Horde caught up. Hopefully, they would all be away long before then.
Adrian leaned back as the autopilot continued the planned patrol route. "So what did you do to alter the weapons?"
"Falcon discovered this ship was equipped with an anti-proton generator. It seems Cirandar, Falcon's previous operator, was something of a scientist. It was easy for Falcon to talk me through charging the weapons and shields with anti-protons," Teelana explained. She did not understand even a tenth of the alterations Falcon had talked her through, but she was glad they worked.
Adrian stared at her critically. "That's a bit out of character for you. Providing me with the means to destroy that ship is not in keeping with your ideals, is it?"
"I merely gave you the tools," Teelana countered. "How you use them were up to you."
"Convenient."
"Very," she agreed with a slight smile. "In a life or death situation the choice was pretty clear. I have no more wish to die a second time than you do a first."
Adrian thought about that for a moment. Her reasoning was sound, but the way she said made him wonder once again if her time on Earth wasn't being more of a bad influence than he suspected. On the other hand, it was probably better than the way she was being cooped up in the castle day after day.
"I'm not sure how to respond to that," Adrian finally said.
The operation went smoother than excepted, which just made everyone involved wondering when the dung was going to hit the fan. Shuttles continued to dock with the transport and left minutes later with a full load of people. Twenty minutes into the ferrying operation, more than half of the rescued people were safely on board the Logoss in the starboard landing bay. Medical teams examined the people on the spot before they were transferred elsewhere within the great ship.
The decoy operation had mixed results. Some of the patrol Horde ships took the bait and followed while others stayed in their assigned sectors. There were several ships continuing to patrol ever closer to the nebula. It wouldn't take long to get a detailed scan of the area and discover a collection of ships where there shouldn't be any.
Colonel Markson's people continued to load people onto the shuttles with Major Noin's warriors. He-man and She-ra stubbornly refused to leave until everyone else was safely away. Eventually, the population of the transport dwindled until only the military people, He-man, She-ra, and the Guardians remained.
Charlie platoon boarded the shuttle at the airlock while the remaining personnel scrambled on board the two in the hangar bay. What little equipment they would not leave behind was secured in the back of the nearest shuttle. The pilot's made sure everyone was seated and strapped in for the short trip while a warrior closed the loading ramp.
The pilots returned to their cockpits, strapped in, and fired up the engines. Thrusters pushed the craft through the force field. Once clear, the main engines fired and propelled the ships away toward the waiting Logoss. Each one entered the landing pattern for the port side landing bay and executed a perfect landing about a minute apart.
Eternia followed the shuttles after making one last circuit of the area. The quad guns were retracted back into the hull and the landing gear struts were extended. The battlestar's core command issued instructions for Ace on how to shoot the approach, since it was his first time. The opening to the bay was wide, but the height was narrow. There was plenty of room for the ship, but miscalculating on approach had taken the life of many pilots even in small fighter craft.
Ace glided smoothly into the bay following the lines of flashing lights not unlike what a pilot would see on Earth approaching an airport runway. He never noticed passing through the atmospheric shield, but he did make a smooth rolling landing one-third of the way along the bay. Reverse thrusters flared brining the ship to a halt a few yards from the three shuttles that had preceded them.
"Well, done, Ace," Jo-jo said. "Power down all stations. Get Colonel Markson and his people back on board as soon as possible. No one leaves the ship for the moment. I'm going to meet with Commander Fontaine. Lieutenant Denton, the ship is yours until I return." She got up from the command chair and made her way to the hatch at the back of the bridge.
"Aye, captain. Should we expect the Ladyhawke to be arriving, as well?" Lieutenant Denton asked.
Jo-jo hesitated. "I'm not sure. Those two have been on their own throughout this mission. They may follow along with us, though I can't imagine why. I wouldn't worry about Adrian or the Sorceress." She left the bridge without further comment.
A warrior was waiting for Jo-jo at the bottom of the ramp. She called herself Major Noin, and that she had been sent to escort Jo-jo to the bridge.
The trip was not long despite the size of the battlestar. A list took them from the landing deck up into the central service support strut. From there, they had to take several brisk tube rides and another elevator ride before arriving at the central corridor running the length of the ship. The bridge was about one-quarter of the way up the sloped surface of the bow and was only two levels up relative to the flight deck. Noin explained that there had been another route to use, but it took more time without as many tube rides. The central corridor would take you anywhere in the ship that you wanted to go, Noin had explained. She pointed out maps in key locations in the event one became lost. Noin admitted to getting turned around more than once when she was first assigned to one of the great ships. It happened to every crewmember at least once whether they admitted to it or not.
Jo-jo marveled at the size of the corridors. People could pass by one another comfortably even in the smallest passages. The central corridor was truly massive in areas to allow for the transfer of equipment and supplies about the ship. It narrowed to personnel size as the pair approached the bridge.
The bridge was approximately the size of Eternia's drop bay. The entire bay, ammunition storage bays, and locker room all rolled up into one massive unit. The layout was in tiers with what appeared to be science stations along the parameter. A platform ran the circumference the bridge allowing access to all areas as well as three exits. The core area consisted of a twin pilot station two meters back from the main viewing port, a 'pit' area to the left and right of the pilot's station, and a dais in the center with the commander and executive officer area.
The bridge bustled with activity as warriors moved about on errands. Noin guided Captain Majourny to the stairway down into the pit area, across to the command dais, and up another stairway to the platform. From here, Jo-jo noticed the large, clear rectangular space map similar to that used at Guardian Command. She did not recognize any of the stars, but guessed it was a map of the local space.
"Commander Fontaine, I have brought Captain Majourny as requested," Major Noin announced.
Commander Fontaine swiveled her chair around to face the pair as Colonel Darius looked up from her boards. "Thank you, major. You are dismissed. Welcome aboard the Logoss, captain. May I present my executive officer, Colonel Darius? She is a first officer in your rank structure, I think." Jo-jo nodded. "We will be departing the area shortly. May I ask why the Ladyhawke refuses to land in one of our bays?"
"I was not aware they were refusing to land. They may be planning to follow us in hyperspace," Jo-jo said neutrally.
One of the techs manning the sensor station suddenly spoke up. "Commander! New contacts just rounding the nebula. Classification appears to be bat mech fighters. Approximately twelve on an intercept course."
"Any sign of the mothership?" Commander Fontaine queried.
After moment, the tech responded, "Negative. It could still be hidden by the nebula or inside it."
Fontaine turned to Colonel Darius. "Any chance of our intercepting them?"
"None. Even if we launch fighters, we'll still lose time getting them back on board to jump out if even a few Horde ships show up," Darius answered grimly.
The sensor tech reported again. "Commander, the Ladyhawke is moving to intercept the approaching fighters. They say they have caught glimpses of what may be a Horde carrier within the nebula."
"We've just run out of time," Fontaine said. "Send a coded message to the Ladyhawke. Give them rendezvous coordinates at our border. They are to break off as soon as possible and meet us at those coordinates. And tell them…good hunting."
"I thought you were going to order them back, for a moment," Jo-jo commented.
"I was, but I figured Adrian Cobretti would ignore such an order." Fontaine invited Jo-jo to have a look at the status board on left arm of her chair. The status boards on the chair arms were similar in function to those on the Eternia. "Several of those approaching ships are bigger than normal for a bat mech fighter." At Jo-jo's confused look, Fontaine added, "That's what the Horde calls them. Anyway, several appear to be bombers, which can do significant damage to us if they hit the right spot. Normally, I would launch our own fighters to deal with them while turning to engage the mothership, which is likely a carrier, but that isn't our mission."
"And more ships are likely on their way even now," Jo-jo said.
"Precisely. Adrian and the Sorceress are giving us time to get away before that carrier gets a positive identification on us, though they will know who and what we are by the hyperspace footprint we'll leave once we jump," Commander Fontaine explained.
"There's nothing we can do?" Jo-jo implored.
"If you are thinking of launching your ship to assist, I would advise against it. Adrian's ship is fast, maneuverable, and power. He can break away and meet up with us later," the commander replied. Jo-jo got the impression the commander would rather turn around and engage whatever Horde ships showed up in the next hour or two, but they all had their orders. There were larger considerations, and the many of the freed prisoners had to reach safety.
Looked up to the main view port, Jo-jo thought, Good hunting, Adrian. Don't you and the Sorceress go getting dead.
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