<Dammit,> Katrina muttered, worried for the Cavalry agents who should have been aboard.
She was still mulling over what their next options were when alerts lit up across the consoles, and she saw two dozen missiles launch from the cargo pods attached to the Orfa ship, all headed toward the Castigation.
<Jordan!> Katrina mind-screamed, holding her breath as point-defense beams from the Cavalry ships slashed at the incoming missiles.
Four were taken out almost immediately, followed by six more a few seconds later, but with the Melrose’s proximity and the weapons’ speed, that was all the time the Cavalry had.
Nuclear fireballs splashed against the Castigation’s shields in a brilliant cascade of light and plasma. The EM pulse washed over the surrounding ships, temporarily blinding sensors, and Katrina bit her lip, glancing at Ensign Carlie, who was gripping her armrest like she was going to tear it off.
Then the scan suite came back online, and Jordan’s dreadnought was still in place, its cooling fins glowing hotly, though it appeared to have suffered no damage.
That relief was followed by Jordan’s angry voice coming across the all-fleet. <It’s an ambush! Commander DeBough, bring the Dino around before you take fire.>
Katrina’s attention had been so focused on the Castigation that she hadn’t realized that the Dino had already broken formation, moving to flank the enemy ship in anticipation of its surrender and the boarding to come.
The other three frigates were moving closer to the Castigation, prepared to overlap their shield umbrellas to better defend against the Melrose—which Katrina was beginning to suspect was not a freighter at all.
As she made these observations, Jordan directed the Cavalry ships to return fire. Beams lanced out from all six vessels, striking out at the Orfa ship, which had begun to spin on its long axis. The rotation of the ship would make it nearly impossible to aim a beam at a single point on its hull, as the cargo pods continually obscured clear lines of fire.
But that is not where Troy and Sam directed the weapons fire. Instead, the Cavalry ships struck the locations where the nuke-bearing missiles had launched from, with an accuracy that only AIs could achieve.
The resulting explosions that blossomed on the enemy’s hull surprised Katrina; she’d expected the Orfa ship’s shields to be up.
<Think our people disabled their shields?> she asked Troy.
<Either that, or all that crap they have strapped on their ship is giving them trouble,> the AI replied.
Katrina nodded absently as the scan suite updated the status of the Orfa ship, and she saw that, other than the targeted pods, the ship did not appear to have suffered any significant damage.
The Cavalry ships continued to fire on their target, but now its shields were up, and the beams were diffused before they reached the large vessel.
As though in response, two of the pods detached from the starboard side of the Melrose and drifted away, revealing a pair of railguns that were unfolding from their transit configuration and pivoting to align with the Dino.
DeBough’s frigate was not making the turn. The vessel was still on its original course, behaving as though the events of the last five minutes had not occurred.
<Commander DeBough, this is Captain Jordan, acknowledge!>
She was beginning to sound desperate.
Nothing.
Sam’s mental voice came over the command net, addressing Troy and the senior captains. <The Dino’s systems are compromised. My remote access attempts have been rejected.>
<Only someone with command tokens could do that,> Jordan’s tone indicated that she did not seem to believe Sam.
Troy added another option, <Or another AI.>
He didn’t speak any further, as the enemy’s railguns came online and fired at the Dino.
Though every weapon in the fleet was firing at the Melrose’s shields, they didn’t penetrate, and two salvos of tungsten rounds slashed through the black and hit the frigate fore and aft.
Gemma-the-taxi-driver’s uncle, Commander DeBough, along with fifty members of the Cavalry, died as the ship was smashed by the kinetic impacts. No escape pods jettisoned, and something exploded inside the vessel that ripped it to pieces.
Had they even been aware of it?
The thought of the ship’s crew watching with horror as their death approached, unable to even activate shields, sent a shiver through Katrina.
She felt the cold touch of Juasa’s ghostly hand on her shoulder. She turned, expecting to see the apparition’s accusing gaze, but nothing was there. Instead, her mind’s eye saw the smiling face of the young woman in the taxi who had been so excited about the future.
Ensign Carlie half rose out of her seat, gasping quietly as she stared at the forward display, the woman’s movement bringing Katrina’s mind back onto the bridge.
Anger flared brightly inside Katrina, and with a strange lurch, she felt as though Juasa’s memory had let go of her heart. A keen sense of the physical world folded in around her.
She felt her feet planted firmly on the deck, her mind focused on the here and now. A glance at the ensign made her wonder if someone she cared for had been on the Dino.
<Sam, Troy, change all command tokens squadron wide. Command access is limited to you, me and Jordan. There has to be a traitor among us.>
The shift Katrina had felt within happened in the span of a second, but for her, it had felt like hours. The instant she knew that treachery had killed the Dino’s crew, something inside her changed. She wasn’t exactly sure how, but she was more herself than she had ever been.
Several more of the cargo pods on the Orfa ship had detached, revealing more offensive weapons, and the vessel was sending a steady stream of rail-fired slugs and beams at the Cavalry ships.
However, in the time it had taken the Melrose to bring its weapons online, the squadron had initialized its interwoven shield umbrella and was weathering the barrage.
<Boarding that ship is not an option,> Katrina said as Jordan announced, <I’m ordering a retreat. Sam, Troy, get us out of here.>
<We have to move carefully,> Sam replied. <Maintaining our interlocked shields is no simple task. Without it, that thing will tear us apart.>
<Which begs the question, what is that thing?> Jordan asked. <I knew Orfa’s corporate military was well equipped, but that is some serious hardware.>
<Jordan, how far away do you think Commander Thompson is right now?>
<She was keeping a half AU out. I’ve already sent her orders to get the hell out of here. She will be long gone by the time the enemy even notices she’s there. >
<OK, so one down and five to go.>
As they spoke, the two AIs continued to coordinate fire on the Orfa ship, which weathered their strikes just as well. It was like an evenly matched slugfest…. One in which whoever’s reactors overheated first lost.
Angry calls had come in from the three remaining frigates, and all eyes on the Voyager’s bridge turned to Katrina. She folded her arms across her chest and returned each one look for look. Her crew was the ‘now’ and she needed to be present with them, not inside her own head.
She listened to the messages that had come in from the frigate captains they’d locked out after the Dino’s destruction.
<I’m locked out of ship’s systems, as is everyone else on my bridge,> Choopa said angrily. <Why are we being treated like we can’t be trusted with our own ship?>
<Captain Jordan, this is Commander Lipton, my crew and I have been locked out of ship’s systems. Did you plan on telling me what the deal is at some point?>
<This is Commander Guise. What the hell is going on? My ship is firing on that vessel from a remote source. I can’t even see the command sequence. Should we just abandon it and fly over to the Castigation?>
The man’s voice was rife with sarcasm, and Katrina was impressed by the calm aplomb Jordan replied with.
<No, Commander, we won’t be leaving your ship behind. Just sit tight. Everyone is going t
o get home in the same ship they came in. Right now, your ships have to move and fire in perfect unison while we retreat far enough to transition to the DL. Only Sam and Troy can manage that.>
<Well we are locked out of a helluva lot more than engines and weapons. I can’t even communicate ship to ship.> Commander Choopa sounded more furious than worried.
His words built up a fresh fury in Katrina. She had heard what she needed, but before she could discuss her thoughts on who the traitor was with Troy, the enemy ship finally hailed them.
<This is Captain Houston of the BWSS Pemberton. I have a warrant to capture or destroy all ships at these coordinates, identifying them as pirates caught in the attempt to steal goods and destroy or commandeer a freighter registered to Bollam’s World. You will stand down and prepare to be boarded. Otherwise, I am authorized to pass summary judgement and destroy your ships with all hands.>
Gasps came from the bridge crew, and Katrina pursed her lips, speaking on the command net.
<Well, that explains why that thing is so well armed. I rather liked ‘Melrose’ better than ‘Pemberton’.>
<Crazy shields, too. This must be what they’ve built it for,> Sam added. <Pirate bait.>
Katrina saw another salvo of missiles fly toward the squadron from the Pemberton, all but seven being destroyed before they impacted the shield umbrella.
Ship reactors across the fleet moved closer to the red, and the vessel’s cooling vanes glowed as brightly as a star.
<Jordan, we need to buy more time,> Katrina said.
The captain’s avatar nodded vigorously. <Yes, yes we do. So you want him to think we’re going to surrender?>
<He’s been firing a steady stream of beams, rails, and nukes, but hasn’t scorched our hulls. Yet for some reason, he sounds as though he has the upper hand.>
<That’s because Jordan isn’t the only one being hailed.> Sam sounded surprised.
<Katrina...> Troy began.
<Traitor, yes. I already know, Troy. It’s—>
As she spoke, the ship’s scan showed a pair of Bollam’s World cruisers transition out of the dark layer just a light minute away. They were burning hard, and if the didn’t brake, would be able to fire on the Cavalry ships before they could transition to the dark layer.
<Well, that tears it,> Jordan muttered.
Katrina couldn’t agree more.
<Jordan, reply to the Pemberton. Ask how we know he won’t destroy us if we take our shields down. Sam, Troy, slow down the return fire from the squadron—except from the other ship the Pemberton hailed. Have that one stop firing altogether.>
Jordan was already hailing the disguised Bollam’s World vessel before Katrina had finished giving instructions to the AIs.
<This is Captain Jordan of the Castigation. A full surrender without terms is not acceptable. What reason do I have to believe you won’t just vaporize my ships when our shields come down?>
There was a brief silence, and then Captain Houston’s reply came back with the irritation of a man who was following orders he disliked in the extreme.
<Captain Jordan, if it were up to me, you would already be a cloud of plasma, and I would be on my way back to turn in my report without another thought of you and your lawless group. For some reason, someone higher up the chain would prefer you to be alive. That is the only reason we are talking. But please, feel free to continue to resist, make it easier for me and my crew.>
Katrina raised an eyebrow at that.
So this captain doesn’t know everything about why he’s been sent here with those orders.
It made him more dangerous. He would kill them all and never understand why his superiors did not thank him for it.
She commented privately to Troy, <You remember what you told me about escaping Regula’s pull?>
<That would only work if the Pemberton does not realize we are trying to escape—which is not possible. I assume you want the frigates to be able to drop to FTL without time for a nuke to reach them?>
<Yes, and I think I can give Captain Houston a reason to keep the Pemberton where it is.>
<Just what exactly would that be?> Troy’s tone was laced with suspicion.
Katrina didn’t answer. She turned to Ensign Carlie and reached out to touch the woman’s white knuckles as she gripped the edge of her console.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the woman before speaking on the command net. <Jordan when you get clear, take Commander Choopa into custody and put a squad from the Castigation in charge of his frigate. We have no way of knowing who else on that ship has betrayed us.>
<What the hell are you talking about? How do you know Choopa is a traitor?>
Jordan showed no recognition of the phrasing Katrina had used.
Sam sent a grunt of displeasure. <I don’t know how she figured it out, but I know it’s Choopa because hers was the ship receiving the other message coming from the Pemberton. That ship’s AI is either not aware that there are AIs in the Cavalry, or it has underestimated us.>
Sam also gave no indication that he’d caught the meaning in Katrina’s words, but Troy did, and privately he spoke up.
<Katrina, why are you talking like you are not going to be there when we come out of FTL?>
She didn’t really need to answer. Troy would determine her reasoning soon enough. She didn’t want to argue with him any sooner than she had to.
A groan rippled through the ship, and Katrina felt the deck plate shift beneath her feet. Carlie nearly fell out of her seat, and gave Katrina a worried look.
<Troy?>
<We just lost a grav generator. It caused a bit of warping in the hull, but nothing serious. But that Boller ship seems to be all reactor, the way it’s both weathering our fire and giving better than it’s getting. At this rate, not all of the squadron will make it to the FTL transition point.>
<Katrina…> Jordan’s voice had lost its former confidence. <If you have a plan up your sleeve, now would be an excellent time to tell us about it. One of my crew almost cracked his skull on the deck when that last nuke hit the shields.>
The comm board was alight with messages from the three frigate commanders, each more worried than the last. She was about to reply to them, when Captain Houston of the Pemberton hailed them once more.
<Captain Jordan, if you care about your people at all, surrender before you lose your shields completely. You are only delaying that which cannot be avoided.>
But it wasn’t Jordan who answered this time.
Katrina took a cleansing breath before returning to her seat. She flipped over to the all-squadron channel as she responded to the enemy.
<Captain Houston, this is Lady Katrina, lately of the Midditerra System. I am also known as the Warlord, who your military often calls the Golden Age Woman. I have an offer to make in place of surrender.>
She received only silence from the Pemberton’s captain.
Did he think it was a ploy?
<Captain Houston, this really is Lady Katrina, and I have a proposal. Will you listen to it?>
Major Aerns turned toward her, sadness in his eyes. “Ma’am, what are you doing? Even if he believes you, he would take you to your death.”
Katrina smiled gently in return. “I won’t let you die fighting a lost battle when there is a way to save you.”
Was she wrong? Would she die in a flash of white without ever knowing if she had taken Troy to his death, along with hundreds of other souls?
On scan, she could see that the volume of weapons fire between the Boller ship and the Cavalry had diminished greatly, just a token exchange was going on as they waited for the captain of the Pemberton to respond.
She was about to repeat her hail, when Captain Houston finally replied.
<How can you prove you are the Golden Age Woman? If you’re really her, then how have you avoided
half the bounty hunters in known space?>
<Proving I am me will be easy enough…. As to how I have managed to avoid capture, well, a woman has to have some secrets, Captain. It’s the mystique of her secrets that makes her most attractive.>
A moment of surprise went through her mind when she realized she was channeling Verisa. She was flirting with the man who had just killed dozens of her people.
She heard laughter in the voice that replied.
<So perhaps you are who you say. And the price of your surrender, Lady Katrina, is?>
It’s working.
He was intrigued, and that was all she needed.
Katrina stood and triggered the optics to send her image with the message.
<Oh, I really am Lady Katrina, Captain. And if you allow my people to leave in peace, I will give myself up to your custody. You can consider the Cavalry defeated, and I will be the proof of your victory.>
Captain Houston did not return the courtesy by sending his own visual. He was silent for nearly a minute.
Finally, he said, <You will board a shuttle and leave your ship. Comms will stay open, and you will initiate visual once you are on the shuttle. You will dock on this ship, where you will be taken into custody. Then your ships can retreat unmolested.>
<After my ships are safely away, I’ll dock on your ship.>
<Very well.>
As Houston’s words came across the Link, the Pemberton ceased fire, and the Cavalry did the same.
<You have ten minutes to be on your shuttle with live comms and visuals, or the Pemberton and our incoming reinforcements will open fire, and we won’t stop until that shield comes down and everything behind it becomes a dust cloud. Agreed?>
<Agreed.>
Katrina looked around the bridge. The faces staring back at her wore a mixture of surprised and sad expressions.
So, not everyone has forgotten Katrina the Warlord, after all.
<Katrina! What are you doing?> Troy’s voice thundered in her head.
She still couldn’t answer him. She would never be able to do this if she did. The risk that she truly was surrendering to her death was more possible than not at this point.
“All of you are getting home. Troy will get you there.”