Chapter Twenty-Five

Progress Report

“You know, I think that is getting easier,” Nellie said with a wry smile between bites. “I hardly feel like I’m going to pass out at all this time.”

“Not exactly a ringing endorsement,” Salem replied. “But I’m glad it is better than the first time, at least.”

“The changes to the infusions and I.V. supplements have really helped,” Nellie said. “And the rest.”

“Yes,” Salem said quietly. “But how long can we keep it up for?”

“Long enough, I hope,” Nellie said ruefully. “We don’t have a lot of choice.”

“No, I suppose not,” Salem sat straighter. “Right, want to hear how we are doing?”

“Go for it,” Nellie nodded.

“We’ve lost three of the automated cruisers to attacks from the Ore belt. One of them they towed away, so we sent a kill command to the nanites, just in case. As for the rest, it has been quiet enough. Paren has sent a single update saying she is ‘fine.’ but that is all.”

“No details about how it’s going down there?”

“The message was a word ‘fine’ and the word ‘Paren.’ That accounted for the entire message.” Salem said drily. “That’s all we got.”

“What about Brix?” Nellie asked, downing her third HyperDrive.

“He reports that the training of the crew for the new ship is going well and relayed his thanks for sending over confirmation of the designs.” Salem smiled. “As for Boone and his crew, they are patrolling the jump points with the Talon. No signs of any activity as yet, but they did find the mines had been partially cleared from one.”

“We need to keep an eye on that,” Nellie nodded. “They might be preparing the way for another big incursion.”

“I will make a note of it and compare the jump points to the suspected bases,” Salem promised. “I’ll send the data to Crush as well.”

“Good thinking,” Nellie sighed and rolled her shoulders. “Anything else?”

“We got some more messages, and have been sending back the all okay message, but the messages are intended for you,” Salem hinted. “I think she would like to hear from you, personally.”

“And I will try and make time to send one,” Nellie promised. “But I have been in there for almost a week, and the thing is not even half finished yet.”

“I could send a response myself, if you would permit?” Salem offered.

“Of course,” Nellie smiled. “You don’t need my permission.”

“Still, I wanted to check.”

“Right, I need to sleep for a few hours, then I’m heading back in,” Nellie said with a sigh.

===<<<>>>===

“Crush to Boone, watch the port side!”

“I see them,” Boone called back. “Can you assist?”

“Moving now,” Crush answered, nodding to Tri, who moved the Talon under the huge ship and cleared the sight lines to cover the port side of the carrier.

Three destroyers were coming in hot from the asteroid belt, which was worrying. There should have been a maximum of two in the whole system.

“Looks like they slipped a few more ships into the system,” Crush growled.

“Unless we missed a few extras in the battle?” Cara offered. “It was busy.”

“Quad, power the forward laser arrays,” Crush ordered. “Focus fire on the last destroyer.”

“The last?” Quad asked.

“They’ll think we already consider the others taken care of,” Crush told him. “Fire!”

The Talon’s powerful arrays tore into the shields on the final destroyer, but it kept coming. Quad reported the shields were still up, which was a surprise.

“They must have stripped one of the lost cruisers for parts,” Sec advised. “They all have shield readings way higher than a destroyer should have.”

“Cheats! That’s our trick!” Prim yelled at the viewscreen.

“We have others,” Crush said mildly, “Inform the Sparklight of our readings. We have a fight on our hands.”

“Movement on the other side of the ore belt!” Sec said a second later, “Looks like a pair of destroyers heading for one of the derelicts.”

“They want more parts,” Crush sighed. It was always a nasty surprise to learn your opponents were creative and capable. It was so much easier to fight the lazy and stupid.

“Sparklight wants to jump over; do we object?” Prim asked.

“Tell them to have fun,” Crush said, smiling as he sat back in his chair. “I want to try something Nellie told me about.”

The Sparklight vanished in a flash of light, leaving the Talon facing off against the three boosted heavy destroyers alone.

“Tri, take us through them and into the ore belt,” Crush called out orders, “Quad, fire at will. Sec, find us a small asteroid to use.”

The Talon skewed sideways, the engines quiet as they moved on thrusters only.

The destroyers had taken the bait, trying to take them out while the Sparklight was otherwise engaged.

Divide and conquer was a common military strategy. Crush was willing to bet the enemy commander would be happy with either outcome. Either they salvaged the derelict cruiser for parts or kept one ship busy while this strike force took out the other.

It was a win/win situation as long as you didn’t lose at both.

Well, Crush was not intending to lose. He had a taste of that when he was captured by the Feds. It didn’t agree with him, so he decided to try not to do that again.

Not that the enemy was making it easy on him.

The opposing pilots were bloody good, having dodged every attempt to corner one of them and even ambushed the Talon twice.

“Sec, anything?” Crush whispered although he had no idea why. It was just what you did when sneaking.

“I have the edge of a scan to our starboard side, but I can’t get a fix on the source. It’s passive, just like ours.” Sec said loudly, making Crush wince a little.

“Inside voice, Sec,” Prim hissed.

“Kiss my metal ass, Prim,” Sec replied even louder.

“Enough,” Cara growled.

“Top left!” Tri called and spun the talon through ninety degrees, avoiding a cluster of laser fire.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Light them up,” Crush yelled at Quad, and the Talon returned fire, once again raking one of the enemy destroyer’s shields before it rolled away behind another asteroid. “Tri, get us out of here, full burn.”

As the Talon wove through the asteroid belt, Crush had an idea. It wasn’t what Nellie did exactly, but it was close.

Close enough, anyway.

He smiled.

“Here we go!” Tri cheered as he scraped the Talon around the outside of a large asteroid, the hull only barely missing the rock. He whooped as he swerved away, shooting across to the next one, also flying inches from contact as they curved around it.

Behind them, two of the destroyers were in hot pursuit, the third having tried to go around the first asteroid to cut them off. It was burning fuel to catch up but was in a losing battle as they zig-zagged from rock to rock.

“Rear shields are almost down! Quad warned.

“Almost there,” Crush said calmly, his fingers flying over the controls on the arm of his chair. “Next one, Tri.”

“Gotcha, Boss!” Tri whooped and swerved the Talon between two smaller asteroids.

“Now!” Crush grinned as he fired the Grav Tow lines onto the two smaller asteroids. The lines caught thanks to the practice he had been doing as they moved from one asteroid to another.

The Talon shot forward, coming to a sudden and juddering halt as the grav tow caught.

The speeding destroyers broke to avoid slamming into the rear end, meaning they were just slowed enough to still be between the two asteroids as they slammed together.

“Ouch!” Andy winced as the ships buckled.

“Worst case of the clap I’ve ever seen,” Berenice offered with a straight face.

“I don’t get it?” Quad protested as Cara and Andy broke out in laughter.

“I’ll explain it when you’re older,” Crush said with a smile. “Now, let’s go see to that third destroyer.”

It was a tough bastard, Crush thought as it shrugged off another salvo, rolling to port just in time to avoid the rail-gun round.

It shot off, heading for cover, as the Talon chased.

The Talon was a light cruiser, built to be fast, but the destroyers were simply in a different speed class.

“We aren’t getting through the shields,” Sec confirmed. “And it is too fast for the Rail Gun to hit.”

“Okay,” Cara sat forward, “Boss, I have a crazy idea…”

Fifteen minutes later, the destroyer came at them again. The Talon cut engines, going ballistic as it dropped shields, running all power through the laser arrays in a blinding volley that stripped the shields, armor, and pierced the hull on the destroyer.

The attacking ship veered off, finding it could not escape as the Grav Tow lines were holding fast to the rear of the vessel as it tried to drag the much heavier Talon.

“Crush to destroyer, cut engines, and prepare to be—”

The Line destroyer began to turn hard.

“Shit!” Tri yelled, trying to get the engines back on before they slammed into an asteroid.

Crush cut the tow lines, and the destroyer fled into the asteroid belt again.

“Whoever that is,” Cara said. “We should see if they want a job.”

“Tri, plot us a jump over to the Sparklight,” Crush growled, irritated the last destroyer had gotten away. “We’ll check on them, then head back and collect those two destroyers.”

“What are you thinking, Boss?” Andy asked.

“That I want to see what they did to those ships,” Crush barked. “And how. We might have a real problem if they can do that to the rest of their fleet.”

“Jumping!” Tri called.

===<<<>>>===

Paren watched the man twitch and shiver on the floor. The nanites forming the chair had stopped him from falling and lowered the body down gently, but she was still unsure if this would work.

“I am still not sure how I feel about this,” Robot said from the doorway.

“Don’t worry, Robot,” Paren said. “If he ends up as a sub-drone, I promise he will never even wake up.”

“Good. Better to kill him than make him a prisoner in his own body.” Robot said, crossing his stone arms.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Paren asked, raising her eyebrows in irritation.

“Do not try that look on me,” Robot laughed. “I know you.”

“Come on, I’m scary!” Paren growled. “Look at this place!”

“You hung the skin deliberately so he would agree,” Robot accused.

“No one can prove that.” Paren grinned. “And I did not threaten him.”

“You suggested his other option was to become parts in a tank, and skin hung on the wall.” Robot pointed out.

“I didn’t suggest anything of the kind!” Paren said with a sweet smile. “If he inferred that from a misunderstanding of the context, is that my fault?”

“Yes,” Robot nodded. “It is.”

“Do you know how exhausting it is being the good guys?” Paren asked. “I could have the nanites force-convert that entire base if I was a bad guy!”

“But we are not the bad guys, are we?” Robot asked.

“No!” Paren kicked the ground in irritation. “Fucking morals! They get in the way of so much fun.”

“Please do not say that in public,” Robot offered.

“Ooh!” Paren grinned as a message popped up on her implant.

Drone - Carl Edwards - Conversion complete!

“I did it!” Paren cheered as the man groaned and got unsteadily to his feet.

“My head is killing me,” Carl complained. “Is it supposed to hurt this much?”

“I had to install a lot of tech in there, don’t bitch! It’s not my fault you were so basic.” Paren said shortly. “Now, do you feel unwavering loyalty to me, the Nanite Imperium, and the Queen?”

“No,” Carl hissed. “Ow, this really hurts.”

“Sucess!” Paren laughed. “Now, how about this… Stop complaining.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Carl straightened.

“Uh-oh,” Paren frowned. “Did you feel compelled to obey that command?”

“Yes,” Carl nodded and winced at his sore head.

“Why? What did it feel like?” Paren pressed.

“Well, you are the Prime Drone, and I feel like I should do what you want, but mostly it was because I’m terrified and don’t want to end up in a vat in the corner,” Carl said testily. “No offense.”

“Don’t be silly,” Paren said sternly. “That tank is for grown flesh. The tank for recovered flesh is in the next room.”

“You aren’t joking, are you?” Edwards asked, feeling his color drain away.

“You can always go look and find out.” Paren offered with a wicked smile.

“No, thank you.” Edwards sighed. “Um, I have a lot of things popping up in my vision. Am I okay, or is this some kind of stroke?”

“That is your implant and other bits coming online,” Paren said. “Robot, can you take him and explain everything while you find him a room?”

“Of course,” Robot gestured. “This way, please, Mister Edwards.”

“Umm, sorry to ask,” Edwards said before he left, “But what exactly is my job?”

“Your job?” Paren looked confused.

“Yes, I wasn’t here just to be… a… test… subject.” he trailed off. “Oh.”

“Are you going to betray us to the Imperial Line?” Paren asked.

“If I get captured, maybe,” Edwards answered honestly. “No offense, but I hardly know you, and you just used me as a lab rat.”

“Honesty is good,” Paren grinned again. “I could use an assistant. Once you have a handle on things, report back here.”

“Oh, shit,” Edwards muttered.

“Pardon?” Paren asked.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Edwards said quickly.

“Good boy,” Paren grinned. “Off you go, shoo.”

===<<<>>>===

Hellena stood in the hold of her own ship, The Birdsong, and stared at the transmitter. This could either be her greatest triumph or her worst mistake. The only way to know was to take the next step.

“Captain Hellena to Queen Bonne Chance,” Hellena pressed the transmit button, expecting to get a message telling her to wait. It would have given her time to settle a little, but the holo-projector lit immediately, and she was suddenly there, in the room with her.

“You called?” Queen Bonne Chance asked.

“Yes,” Hellena nodded. “I have news that you might want to know.”

“Go ahead.”

“They are planning to send a group through a jump point when the bases in the asteroid belt are close by. It will be a big group.” Hellena said quickly. “I don’t have exact numbers, but it will include at least three Capital ships.”

“They want a beachhead,” The Queen rubbed her forehead. “Fucking wonderful. When?”

“In about two weeks, I might know more closer to the time,” Hellena offered. “Just to be clear, what is a beachhead?”

“A staging area inside enemy lines that is forced open and kept that way to allow free flow of troops and materials into the area,” The Queen explained.

“Then, yes,” Hellena said, looking at the orders in surprise. “That is almost word for word the stated intent of the mission.”

“Thank you for telling me,” The Queen nodded. “Is the hostage ship involved?”

“No,” Hellena ground her teeth. “The Ten Suns are being kept back this time, so they don’t need it.”

“Fine, keep trying to get a location or other information on it,” The Queen sighed. “Not that I really need to tell you that. If you do, let us know as soon as possible.”

“Keen to help?” Hellena almost spat, her emotions running away for a second with all the repressed rage she had been tamping down for weeks.

“Actually, yes,” The Queen laughed. “The sooner we get your people out, the sooner you lot get off our backs.”

“How do I know you won’t keep them?” Hellena asked, the question having been on her mind a lot since she made the deal.

“Because we don’t need them,” The Queen said simply. “We give them to you, you leave. We keep them; you’re a problem in the future.”

“We would be,” Hellena promised. “The Confederacy does not forget.”

“Anything else?” The Queen asked, utterly unbothered by the attempted threat.

“That is all for now,” Hellena nodded. “Good luck, Queen Bonne Chance.”

“If you only knew how funny what you just said was,” The Queen said, cutting the line.

“What did I say?” Hellena asked the empty air.