Throttle Forty-Five

Diana gripped the throttle and pressed it forwards. Not all the way to the end. She didn’t want to max out her speed just yet. Still, the acceleration pressed her back into her control seat. “ChaOS, I need targets.”

“Understood. What’s your priority?” the AI asked.

Diana licked her lips. “First priority is reaching the planet. Second is making points while we dart through their fleet. Find me a spot that’s not too crowded, but not a gap. We have some anti-ship weapons on this thing, let’s warm them up.”

“What about me?” Zil Rossi asked.

“That’s up to you,” Diana said. “You can drop whenever you feel ready for it. I wouldn’t unclamp before we hit the blockade though. That’ll just have more ships targeting you.”

“As opposed to all the ships which will target you. Your vessel is one of the bigger ones in the competition. It’s strange looking as well. You won’t be ignored.”

“I do aspire to not be ignored,” Diana said with a grin.

A glance at the system map showed a rainbow of tiny pinpricks moving in towards the planet at the centre. Some ships were pulling ahead, others were forming larger groups, often around a central ship.

The Bolgian armada wasn’t sitting idle either. Their movements were subtle, but it was clear that they were shifting their net to better intercept the oncoming racers.

“Mistress, incoming tight beam transmission. It’s from Abatrath,” ChaOS said.

“Put him on,” Diana said.

A small screen appeared to one side with the Polerin’s face in it. “Diana Slowbane,” he said. “Are you planning to charge in all on your own?”

“That was my plan, yes,” she said.

“I predicted that you would do the most rash thing possible. Might I suggest a counter-offer? We still have some distance to go before we reach the blockade. Slow down and meet up with me halfway. I have a fighter escort which you lack.”

Diana considered it. “Is it just you and your companions?”

“No. A few others who took the same ring have agreed to join us.”

That was both good and not. More ships meant that if Abatrath, who likely had the largest group there, turned against any one of them, the other independents would fight him and his fighters. On the other hand, a large group with questionable and mixed loyalties would mean that everyone there would be watching their back.

“What’s your entry point?” Diana asked.

Abatrath rubbed at his face, then made a few gestures off to the side. “We will be skimming past the Pride of Bolgia.”

“The biggest ship in the enemy fleet?” Diana asked.

“And one that is hardly defended at all.”

Diana brought up the positions of the Bolgian navy and zoomed into their formation. The Pride of Bolgia was near the centre and a bit to the rear. A command position. It had two destroyers flanking it, and not much else. It was protected because it was further back from the edge of the blockade and was central to the formation, but there was still a decently wide gap around the battleship.

“What do you know about that ship that I don’t?” Diana asked.

“It’s a showpiece. Every gun on that vessel is designed to take out a ship of similar tonnage. I would give it even odds against a modern Federation light cruiser. But other than its minor complement of fighter craft and some point-defence weapons, it is woefully under equipped for a close quarters fight.”

Diana looked at the ship’s position again. It was a bit at the rear. “ChaOS, threat assessment.”

“Keeping in mind that the distance precludes a detailed analysis, Abatrath may well be correct. The vessel is well-armed. I count several heavy batteries and a dorsal mounted gun. No closer-range weaponry.”

“Huh… you intend to take it out?” Diana asked.

“No. The best targets are planet-side. I want to make it there while the fools waste themselves against the navy. They’ll make it easier to escape on the way out,” Abatrath said.

Diana grinned. “Okay. I’m down for that. Send me your projected route, I’ll slip into your formation somewhere along the way.”

Abatrath nodded. “See you soon, Diana Slowbane.”

Diana nodded to the alien, then adjusted her thrust and heading as ChaOS painted the route she needed to take across her system map.

The racers were well on their way to the system’s inhabited world. A few ships were pulling ahead, and she was mildly envious of those. She wanted to be in the lead. But the lead were going to be the first ones to meet with the Bolgian armada head on, and a few quick-flying fighters weren’t going to be much more than flies against the windshields of a proper space navy.

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A few ships were flying in erratic patterns behind the front lines of the race. It took a moment for Diana to realise what she was looking at. Reporters. Or at least the ships of those in charge of commentating and likely capturing the race on video to be sent back for eager viewers to see.

She made a mental note to make sure to be extra spectacular. This race would have a lot more attention on it than the Overflow cup. It was going to be her introduction to the wider racing world. Her reputation was on the line here.

“We’re within visual range of the Craggler,” ChaOS said.

Diana glanced to the side where a screen opened up and let her see the Polerin ship cruising closer. The corvette was a flat, disk-shaped vessel, with sharp armoured plates that hid a few gun emplacements. Two fighter craft were ranging out ahead of the corvette, with one above, below, and to either side of it as well.

The smaller ships looked like big engines with a cockpit strapped onto the side and a set of guns on swivel mounts on the other side. They had wings folded into their sides as well, giving the ships a look as though they had two big ears jutting out of the top.

Diana skimmed over ChaOS’ report on all the other ships in the loose formation. None of them were terribly impressive. Racing craft with some guns strapped on, and maybe some higher quality shields. A few fighter craft with larger engines strapped onto them.

Nothing that would stand up to the bigger vessels of the Bolgian armada, but perhaps they were small and speedy enough that they’d be able to slip past the blockade.

Abatrath’s corvette and her own ship wouldn’t be so lucky.

The navy shifted, and Diana sighed as a destroyer and four frigates formed up between them and the planet they were racing towards.

“What’s the plan, Abatrath?” Diana asked.

The frigates were lightly armed, from what she could tell at a glance. They made up for that by being relatively large and fast. The destroyer was probably not too far below her Cerberus in number of guns.

“We fight past them,” Abatrath said. “Everyone, focus fire on the Sledge heavy-destroyer. Wings to attack positions. Smaller craft, this will be your chance to practise your evasive manoeuvres.”

Diana opened a panel with a flick of her wrist. She tapped a few buttons, pushing more energy into her forward shields and some more to her weapon systems.

“Mistress, someone is trying to missile lock us,” ChaOS said.

Diana swore. “Yeah, their gimmick’s overwhelming missile swarms, right?” Diana pushed the throttle up a notch. “Abatrath, I’m going to be moving ahead a bit. Unless you have better point defence than I do.”

“If you want to absorb the missile swarm all on your own, then who am I to refuse you such an honour,” he said.

“Missiles incoming,” ChaOS informed her. “As well as what looks like two fighter squadrons. Mark Seventy-One Heavy Space Superiority Fighters.”

The panoramic view of space before her filled with red lines that arced out of the distant grey smudges that represented the Bolgian ships.

“Mistress!”

Diana jerked the ship to the side, foot ramming into a pedal even as she twisted the yoke around. “Move!” she shouted, hoping that Abatrath understood fast enough.

Her sensors lit up and a dozen cameras mounted on the Cerberus’ hull followed the trajectory of a large black lump of metal which barreled through the spot she would have flown through had her trajectory remained the same.

“Who fired that?” she asked.

“Calculating… the projectile was launched from this specific vessel.” The system map lit up with a circle around one of the frigates way out on the edges of the Bolgian formation.

“No emissions?”

“Minimal light reflection,” ChaOS said. “Nothing but solid depleted uranium on a ballistic course. It will be re-entering the system in a few decades.”

“Well, aren’t they tricky,” Diana said.

The ships behind her started to fly in increasingly erratic patterns. Just in time too, as a second lump intersected Abatrath’s previous path.

“Missile impact ETA two minutes four seconds, Mistress. I’m scanning for additional ballistic projectiles. We’ll be meeting enemy fighter craft in two minutes, twelve seconds.”

“Warm up the welcome cannons.”

***