Throttle Fifty-Six

The Hercules rattled as it pushed through the planet’s atmosphere. Gravity was calling her back to the surface, and the thinning air around her ship was pressing down, trying to keep her within the planet’s clutches.

Still, even as her ship rocketed away from the smoking mega-city behind her, Diana’s focus was elsewhere.

With nothing obstructing their scans or anything to do but fly up, ChaOS had the Hercules’ systems running overtime to capture as clear an image of what was happening above as they could. Zil Rossi, in her borrowed fighter, was unknowingly sending back plenty of data as well.

The situation wasn’t too complicated on the surface.

The Bolgian fleet was a mess. The blockade had broken apart, both because of lost ships and as a reaction to the passing racers they’d formed up to block. The disarray wouldn’t last forever, of course. Whomever was in command was marshalling their forces into two groups.

The first, and the one further out, was composed of two Bolgian cruisers and a dozen smaller ships, frigates, destroyers, and a few dozen corvettes. Not as many fighter craft, but there were still a few squads hanging around the formation.

They were unbothered by any of the remaining racers, who were closer to the planet.

A sacrificial shield?

Diana wasn’t a tactician of any merit, but she wasn’t entirely clueless about space-based warfare. The numbers between the Bolgians’ first formation and the Federation fleet heavily favoured the Federation.

The second Bolgian formation changed that. With the flagship at the heart of the group and the rest of Bolgia’s cruisers around it, the formation outgunned the Federation three to one. That didn’t include the many carriers who were hanging back in a third, smaller formation that was even now peeling away while disgorging fighters. More small craft were flitting back to the carriers, likely to be repaired and resupplied before any sort of engagement was met.

“ChaOS,” Diana started after ensuring that no one else could hear her. “Tell me, what’s the outlook here?”

“I predict an eighty percent chance that the Bolgians will come out victorious in this conflict, Mistress,” ChaOS said.

“Only eighty-percent?” Diana asked. Her own estimates, while not quite as numerical as ChaOS’s, put the odds at way better for the Bolgians.

“The Federation’s actions don’t make sense. Therefore, I posit that—assuming that they are not wildly overconfident—it is possible that they are planning something to level the playing field. That conjecture is based in part on the orchestration of the current racing event which was clearly designed to distract the Bolgians and encourage them to expend their resources early and without much cost to the Federation. The ballistic trajectory the Federation ships are using, combined with their stealth-coating and lowered shields and energy readings indicate that they have planned for this event.”

“Right,” Diana said. “Possible ideas?”

“The Federation could be approaching with superior firepower that would bridge the numbers gap. It’s possible that the fleet is larger than I was able to confirm, or that a second one is approaching that I’ve failed to detect.”

Diana rubbed at her chin and weighed the risk for a moment. “The moment we’re out of the planet’s atmosphere, run a hard scan. Something’s fishy here.”

“Understood, Mistress.”

Diana shifted her attention to her comms. The moment she flicked them back on, she was assaulted by a stream of voices talking—and screaming—over each other. She felt a headache coming on almost as soon as she tried to listen in. So, instead, she tuned things so that she was locked onto a single channel.

“Abatrath, what’s going on?” she asked.

The alien rumbled something, then paused. “Diana? Ah, are you speaking to me directly?”

“I am,” Diana confirmed. “What’s all the arguing about?”

“Factions,” Abatrath said. “The expected result of so many differently-minded individuals forced to pick between poor and poorer options.”

“So, what are the big factions, then?” Diana asked. She didn’t like getting involved in drama. She liked causing it, but keeping a finger on the pulse of who-said-what was tiring and rather pointless.

“Some racers think you are a liar and a fool. Others have cut themselves off entirely. Those are no longer a concern; they’ll do what they want, but are unlikely to interfere. There remain three major factions then: those who want to follow your lead, the miscreants and pirates and rebels who joined the race for sport and adrenaline and who have old enmities with the Federation, those who want nothing to do with your mad ideas and who would rather flee, and a middle group, who demand to know more before they make a choice.”

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“Well, I for one would rather not have to fly next to cowards. If anyone wants out, let them run to the nearest jump-gate. They won’t be my problem once they’re gone. Tell those that want to fight that we’ll be doing this in a semi-chaotic way and if they want in, then need to get up here. They can loiter around… ChaOS, I need some coordinates for loitering.”

“Sending now,” ChaOS said.

“Right, thanks. As for those on the fence… how are the Bolgians acting?”

“The Bolgians are pulling back. They’ll still fight, but they’re focused on regrouping by the looks of it,” Abatrath said.

Diana nodded. “Then there’s your proof. If they think the threat’s real, then maybe we should too.”

“Are you certain about this, Diana Slowbane? Facing the Federation, making friends with the very tyrants this race is meant to pit us against? I’m not certain this even counts as a race anymore.”

Diana worked her jaw for a bit before replying. They were almost back in empty space. “If that’s the case, then we just spent a while being on the wrong side of this conflict. And I don’t mean the winning and losing side. I didn’t see much on the planet that made the locals deserve this whole thing.”

“You listen to those conspiracies?” Abatrath asked.

“Conspiracies tend to exist for a reason,” Diana said. She knew that sometimes the reason was that people were nuts, but she breezed past that. “The truth’s usually a lot more complicated.”

“Mistress,” ChaOS said.

Diana refocused. There was nothing red on any of her screens, so nothing urgent there. Her attention drifted to the system map where ChaOS was highlighting some trajectories across the entire solar system which would eventually cross through the system’s inhabited planet.

“What are those?” she asked. “More Federation ships?”

“They’ve come in greater numbers, then?” Abatrath asked.

“Mistress, I’ve noticed several forms moving through empty space. No power or energy emanations, and they’re covered in non-reactive materials. I would have missed them, but continued observation revealed a few dark spots in the distance where the objects moved past light from distant stars. All four objects are moving on a ballistic course towards the planet.”

Diana checked the course. They were coming from out-systems, and none were moving close to the sun or other planets. “Ships?” she asked.

“No, Mistress. I suspect that they are asteroids.”

“They wouldn’t,” Abatrath said. “Using indiscriminate bombardment like that is a violation of a dozen treaties.”

Diana hummed. “Wanna bet the Bolgians haven’t signed any of those? This is outside of Federation space too, they might not be legally obligated to follow through with any treaties. ChaOS, send what you found to the Bolgians. Also, have you got a measure of the size of those?”

“I can estimate their size and mass, but not with a great degree of accuracy. Judging by their speed though, they will deliver a considerable amount of damage to the planet’s surface on impact. I am unaware whether it will be enough to eradicate all life on the surface. At a minimum, we can expect massive infrastructure and environmental damage in the areas around the impacts.”

“I’m heading up,” Abatrath said. “This is unforgivable. I was leery to fight by your side, but… no, there are innocents on this world. Strangers they may be, but they don’t deserve death. This is dishonourable.”

“I’d be glad to have you by my side,” Diana said.

There was a noticeable pause in the movement of the Bolgian fleet, then it broke up once more. Groups formed of a few frigates and corvettes peeled off and flew on straight intercept courses towards the incoming rocks.

A minute or two later, something pinged and Diana watched as a distant zoomed-in image of one of the rocks—a rock that was only visible when it crossed the light of distant stars—caught some additional movement as a pair of corvettes slid out from behind the asteroid.

“They’re guarding the rocks,” Diana said.

“It’s likely that the escorts are the same vessels who installed whatever thrusting equipment was necessary to have the asteroids move in the first place,” ChaOS said.

“Cheeky little bastards,” Diana said.

Now she really wanted to put the Federation in its place. Their plan made a lot more sense now. The Bolgians didn’t have a choice, they’d need to split their forces up to reply to a dozen emergencies, and the smaller Federation fleet could mop them up individually.

***