Kinnit toggled the engines, trying to get them to catch, but they kept flaring out and dying. Her sensors were still wonky, and the few things that actually worked were flickering and stuttering.
Ion cannons really wreaked havoc on a ship.
"Come on, Digger," she said. "You can do it, I know you can!"
She tried the reaction control system again, to try to regain directional control and stop tumbling through space. The reaction control wouldn't even respond.
To her relief, however, the sensors finally stabilized.
"Sir!" she yelled at the console. "I've got sensors back online!"
"Very good, Kinnit," he said, his face somber. "Keep me apprised. We're working through some issues with the Fifth here."
She nodded and walked away from the console, looking for the tool kit and a maintenance hatch.
Repairs were not her strong suit, but she could swap fuses and look for broken connections, at least.
The little utility torpedo shuttle twirled through space, unpowered. The sensors were feeding her data now, but since she was digging through the tool kit, she didn't notice that Digger's speed was slowly increasing.
She finally found the maintenance hatch in the floor of the shuttle and pulled it open. The cabin filled with the acrid stench of burned electronics. Kinnit recoiled and covered her nose.
"Digger, you made a real stinky," she said, trying to hold her breath as she worked. She quickly gave up and started breathing again, since there was no escape from the stench on the tiny shuttle. The reclaimators would eventually clean up the air. She'd just have to endure until then.
She pulled a fuse out of its place in the maintenance hatch. It was so cooked that it crumbled to pieces as she removed it.
Kinnit picked through the finger-length fuses in the tool kit, finding an appropriate replacement. On the main viewscreen, stars wheeled by as her shuttle spun gently.
She slotted the fuse into place, and hopped up. She checked the console. Her face lit up as she saw the RCS system powering on.
"Sir!" she exclaimed. "I'm regaining directional control!" She tried toggling the engines again. They still fluttered and wouldn't come on, but the response was stronger now. The self-repairing nanites were doing their work, but would still take some time.
She glanced at the sensors and grew alarmed.
"Sir, why is the Fifth Fleet powering up their weapons?"
Grimthorn came back online.
"Something's taken control of the Fifth," he said. "Somebody's figured out a way to override the remote module protocols. The fleet's being directed... somewhere. We don't know where. They're aiming for the spinward jumphole."
Kinnit pulled up the local jump maps. The shuttle was not equipped with much more than a high-level emergency map, but it was enough to give her a rough idea of what was nearby.
"There are at least three military targets in range," she said to Grimthorn, "but none of them are through that jumphole."
Grimthorn frowned.
"Whoever's controlling them may be pulling the fleet into an empty sector. Line them up quietly to let the bugs attack them."
"But then why charge weapons?"
"Good point. Hmm."
Kinnit scanned the jump routes, and her heart sank.
"Sir?" she said. "I think I have might have figured out where they're headed..."
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Dash Komad chuckled at the latest episode of "The Odder Pod." It was his favorite comedy, and now that he'd arranged his career to his satisfaction, he never missed an episode.
He leaned back in his chair, with his feet up on the console. Technically he was flight management coordinator for the bustling commerce planet of Devaris, but realistically he spent most of his time watching videos on his scanner.
Devaris was a peaceful, quiet place, home of the finest shopping in the galaxy. At least, that's what the brochures said. And that meant there was rarely anything for Dash to do.
Most of the flight control systems were automated. The only time he really had to work was when a ship was so old that it didn't have flight management systems compatible with Devaris' systems. And also, in rare cases of disputes on docking precedence.
His office was in a small, static comms station outside Devaris' planetary orbit. It had a clear line of site to every major jumphole in the system, and the tightbeam from the planet's surface made sure he had a constant connection to the planet's network. That also meant he had a constant feed of videos to keep himself occupied during his month-on/month-off schedule.
Life was good.
The "incoming vessel" tone sounded, and a light blinked on his console. It indicated that a ship would be coming out of one of the jumpholes soon.
It didn't even register for Dash; it was something that happened dozens of times a day as ships came in. The vast majority were routed to a dock by the automated system. The ship would ping him on comms if they needed manual assistance.
The incoming tone sounded again. Then again. Then again. Frowning, Dash looked up at the console. That was a lot of ships to come in all at once.
Suddenly the console lit up like a solar flare, and the incoming tone sounded so quickly and relentlessly that it turned into a buzzing sound. Dash sat bolt upright, and popped on the scanners.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
He watched in bewilderment and shock as the entire Fifth Fleet began streaming into his sector.
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"Get in there after them!" Grimthorn barked, gripping the rail around the captain's dais. "All ships, follow the Fifth! All possible speed!"
Grimthorn felt sick. He had to remember that they were not just fighting a war of blasters and ships, but of morale and faith in the Imperium. If what Kinnit said was right-- he shook his head.
It was diabolical. If the Fifth Fleet turned their guns on a civilian planet-- especially one as highly populated as Devaris-- the loss of life would be unthinkable. To have Navy weapons kill citizens...
The Imperium protects her citizens.
The negative impact would be catastrophic. And the jackals of the press would be only too happy to paint the Navy as the real villains.
Grimthorn swallowed his fears. None of that could be allowed to come to pass. Period. He set his face toward the last departing elements of the Fifth Fleet.
His first instinct was to simply blow the Fifth fleet out of the sky. But the thought of attacking other Naval vessels was only very slightly less repugnant than the thought of those vessels attacking civilians.
"Focus on the ISS Astral," Kinnit said. "That's where I was held. That's where the traitor is. At least one traitor."
"That's a good thought, Kinnit. We'll do that." He talked to her absently while he scanned the fleet's stats, making sure they were prepared for any circumstance. "We may have to leave you behind for now, and come back and pick you up later, unfortunately. Will you be okay here in this sector for a couple hours?"
"I got the engines working, sir."
He turned to the monitor. Something about the tone of her voice had changed. She looked like she was about to be sick.
"What's wrong?" he said. "Is something wrong with your shuttle?" He quickly looked at the scans. "Kinnit... your speed is too high..."
"Yes, sir." She sounded on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, sir."
"Kinnit... no..."
"I'm in the gravitational pull of the black hole, sir." she said quietly. "The engines aren't powerful enough to pull me out. I've got them going flat out right now. Digger's trying his very hardest for me."
Grimthorn looked through the scan data, willing her to be wrong. He wanted with all his heart for her to be completely, utterly, fundamentally wrong, just this once.
He shook himself. Problem-solving time.
"Kinnit, if you manually override the safety locks, you can get more power from the engines. Hit it hard, and the Swordheart will blast across the apogee of the black hole. We can lob some torpedos, use the blast wave to push you--"
"Sir... sir!" she interrupted. "You don't have time for that. The Imperium needs you. You have to stop the Fifth Fleet."
"Kinnit... no..."
The color drained from him as he gazed at Kinnit's determined expression on the flickering monitor.
For the first time in his career, he knew exactly what he needed to do, but he could not bring himself to do it.
When Kinnit spoke again, her voice was steady and clear.
"Sir, I know what you will choose. And it is the right thing to do." She stepped back from the comm so she was fully visible. She stood straight, her eyes clear and bright. "It has been the greatest honor of my life serving with you, sir. Labor, Honor, Gloria. All hail the Imperium!"
Admiral Stonefist was trembling. He re-scanned all the data. He looked at the departing Fifth. He ran the mental calculations.
Finally, he forced himself to stand fully upright. He carefully saluted back to Kinnit.
"All hail," he said quietly.
"Thank you, sir," she said, "for everything."
And the monitor went dark.
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The ISS Swordheart turned slowly toward the jumphole to follow the Fifth Fleet.
Digger struggled against the overwhelming force of the black hole. Its engines fired bravely, but the little shuttle was getting sucked backward faster and faster. In the distance, invisible, relentless, was the crushing force of the black hole that would snuff out the one bright light of Grimthorn's life.
The one nice thing about traveling in jumpspace is that you could scream as loud as you wanted and nobody would ever know.
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The Fifth Fleet moved clumsily into place, spreading out slowly. They made a glittering array aimed at the planet.
Dash Komad was nearly in tears as continued screaming into his comms.
"Any vessel, please respond! This is flight management for Devaris, respond immediately! Devaris is a civilian planet, please stand down and respond!"
The silent, ominous fleet ignored him and continued forming up.
The incoming tone began buzzing again, and a fresh spate of warships spewed from the jumphole.
"What in Geina is going on?" Dash cried in despair.
Finally a long, proud ship emerged from the jumphole, one even Dash recognized. Like any citizen of the Imperium, he'd seen his share of hero and war movies, and he immediately recognized the ISS Swordheart.
"It's the Admiral!" he cried in relief and disbelief. "Admiral Stonefist has come to save us!"
On the bridge of the Swordheart, Admiral Stonefist was barking out orders.
"Every ship of the Ninth, full forward shields. Get in front of a ship of the Fifth! Stand between them and Devaris! Take the damage to protect the people! I don't want so much as a dirty look to make it to the planet's surface."
He turned to his Infography officer.
"Find the ISS Astral. Hard scan them. Gunnery, prepare me a full spread of ion cannons. When we find the Astral, give her the whole works up her tailpipe. I want those shells kissing armor before they go off."
The Fifth had had more time to set up, but they moved slowly, stiffly, and almost in unison, as though it were nearly impossible any one ship to move on its own. The Ninth Fleet swooped in, each ship of the fleet adroitly finding a vessel of its own class to pair off against. Their shields glowed brightly, all their energy pouring into protecting Devaris.
The two fleets faced each other over the helpless planet.
"All ships," Grimthorn said, "Prepare your ion cannons. If we can't shut down the signal, we must be prepared to disable the entire FIfth Fleet."
The long minutes stretched out. Neither side opened fire.
"Sir," said Lieutenant Renning at long last. "The Fifth Fleet is powering down weapons across the board!"
Grimthorn did not relax one whit.
"Then there's some new devilry afoot," he said.
With a rumbling of engines, the entire Fifth Fleet began trundling forward.
"They're trying to crash into the planet!" Grimthorn cried. "All ships, engines up, prepare to ram!"
"Sir, we've found the Astral!" the Infographer shouted.
"Zero six five, mark seven. Fire!"
"Ion shells away, sir!" said the gunnery officer. The pale streaks crossed the cold, empty miles of space toward the ISS Astral. The Fifth Fleet continued creeping forward.
With a beautiful spray of blue ionization, twelve ion shells detonated, each within a hundred feet of the ISS Astral.
"Hit her again!"
Again, the streaks of white shot forth.
"Again!"
In total, the ISS Astral took 36 direct hits from the Swordheart's ion cannons. She floated dead in space.
Still the Fifth Fleet crept forward. Admiral Stonefist hung his head.
Now came the expensive part. How many would give their lives today?
But he was determined that not one civilian would be harmed.
"All ships, prepare to fire ion cannons and ram your target," he said, his voice grim. "Your goal is to push them out of the gravity well of the planet. All casualties are acceptable to keep ships off plant. On my mark. Three... two..."
"Admiral, wait!"
Grimthorn looked up in surprise. Admiral Cora Din's thin visage appeared on the main screen. She looked as though she had aged ten years in the few minutes since he'd last seen her.
"We are regaining control of the ships," she said. "Please give us a few minutes to flush the remote module system."
"Belay that order," Grimthorn said. "All ships, stand down. Match speed with your target and keep your shields up."
After a few tense minutes, the ships of the Fifth Fleet began to slowly back away, taking a defensive grouping away from the planet.
Admiral Cora Din took a shuddering breath.
"Admiral Stonefist. That was a... bold maneuver. I suppose I should thank you."
"Yes," he said, then muted her. He pulled up another comm channel. A blocky, unshaven face appeared.
"Sergeant Charr," Grimthorn said. "How would you and your Marines like to arrest an entire ship?"