Empire's End: Episode 1: The Senator's Daughter Read online

  “Whatever you say, Kitekh,” JaQuan said with a humorless laugh.

  He attempted to follow her orders, but he wasn’t flying a tiny ship that could jink and juke. At this speed, the maneuverability of the freighter was negligible. The deflector screens had to do most of the defensive work.

  Cataan’s Claw shuddered and complained as the impact of the beamer rays assailed her. The nav system spit out a jump point. The enemy ship was directly between them and it.

  “I’ve got the coordinates, Captain, but that battlecruiser is in the way,” JaQuan reported.

  “Maintain current heading,” Kitekh said. “At the last second you can manage it, you take us under and around her. Understand?”

  “Sure,” JaQuan replied, sarcasm pouring off his tone. “No problem.”

  “Deflector screens can’t take any more of this, Kitekh,” Rorgun said.

  “Return fire. Target their beamer cannon.”

  “Captain!” Cooressa shouted. “That is an Imperial warship! Shooting at them is a first-degree felony!”

  “I know!” Kitekh roared. “And if we don’t get away from them, you can bet we’re all dead! Rorgun, take out those guns!”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  JaQuan watched helplessly as Cataan’s Claw opened fire with two forward beamers. The shots bounced harmlessly off the cruiser’s deflector screens.

  “Torpedoes,” Kitekh ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rorgun said again.

  “Dear God, we are all going to hang,” Cooressa said.

  “Shit,” JaQuan said. “We won’t get the chance to be hanged.”

  “Shut up, both of you,” Kitekh said. “Fire torpedoes!”

  Rorgun launched first one and then a second missile at the big cruiser. Seconds later a distant rumbling echoed through the hull.

  “Direct hits,” Rorgun reported. “Two cannon down.”

  No sooner had he said something than another volley of beamer fire collided with Cataan’s Claw. She shook violently, and alarms sounded.

  “Deflector screens overloaded, Kitekh,” Rorgun said. “We’re defenseless now.”

  “JaQuan, increase speed,” Kitekh ordered. “Get us inside their minimum range.”

  Figuring there was no chance in hell he would be able to successfully pull off the maneuver, JaQuan complied anyway. He opened the throttle to full, and Cataan’s Claw rocketed forward.

  “Kitekh, we’re still vulnerable from behind,” Rorgun said.

  “If the first ship fires at us, they’ll risk hitting their sister,” Kitekh said. “Their dumbass commander didn’t think of that.”

  “And what about when we’ve gone around?” JaQuan asked.

  “Rorgun, prepare a static bomb,” she said.

  “Are you serious?” Cooressa said. “If we set off a static bomb, we will be blind too! We need the instruments to make the jump to hyperspace!”

  “So JaQuan is going to make sure we execute the jump just as the bomb goes off,” Kitekh said.

  “What!” JaQuan cried.

  “You are insane!” Cooressa said.

  “Not if it works,” Kitekh said.

  Collision alarms screamed at JaQuan, ending the argument. Focusing fully on piloting the ship, he put Cataan’s Claw into a dive to try to pull off the captain’s mad ploy.

  “Cooressa, shut up that damned alarm,” Kitekh said. “Rorgun, as soon as we’re inside their shields shoot them with every gun you can bring to bear and make sure that static bomb is ready to go.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  JaQuan would have shaken his head if the G-force hadn’t been too strong. There was no way they weren’t about to die.

  HORAY WATCHED AS CATAAN’S CLAW ONCE again went into a dive. He gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly, his knuckles turned red.

  “Why aren’t you shooting at them?” he asked.

  “They are too close to Magnificent Glory, sir,” Gru replied. “We would risk hitting her if we continued firing.”

  “Then why aren’t they shooting?” he demanded.

  “The freighter is inside their minimum firing range,” Gru said.

  Damn the clever Graur captain! She’d put her ship in perfect position to create a stalemate.

  “We could launch fighters, sir,” someone said.

  “They would be unlikely to reach the vessel before it could jump away,” Gru said.

  “Magnificent Glory could launch,” someone else said.

  “It does not matter,” Zin said.

  Horay turned and stared at him incredulously.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “They have only temporarily neutralized us,” Zin said. “They cannot escape to hyperspace while they’re so close to Magnificent Glory. Her gravity well would burn out their hyperdrive. Additionally, they must achieve a sublight speed of .3C. To do that, they will have to accelerate away from her, which will put them back in her firing range. We have taken out their deflector screens. We will be able to shoot them down before they can escape the system. We just have to wait.”

  Horay nodded. Zin was right. Kitekh Galesh may have been clever, but she was just delaying the inevitable. There was no way out.

  “Bring us in closer,” he ordered. “When they come around the other side, I want us firing as soon as we have a clear shot.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Horay smiled. He couldn’t wait to meet this cunning Graur. He would enjoy interrogating her over her involvement with human terrorists.

  JAQUAN KEPT CATAAN’S CLAW AS CLOSE to the surface of the Imperial cruiser as he dared. The G had increased to 3.8.

  “Keep shooting,” Kitekh groaned as the G-force pressed her into her seat. “JaQuan, ease up on the throttle. I can barely move.”

  “With your permission, Kitekh, I want to keep it here,” he said. “I can build up more speed and momentum if I can slingshot us around the Imperial’s gravity well. We might be able to get away faster.”

  “Fine. Rorgun . . . don’t . . . miss.”

  He didn’t acknowledge her. His feline face showing the strain of the G, he focused on his board and kept tapping the fire controls.

  “Approaching the far . . . side,” Cooressa reported.

  “Prepare to deploy . . . static bomb,” Kitekh said.

  JaQuan watched his board closely. Timing would be important if he wanted to keep the maximum momentum without ripping the ship apart.

  The readout ticked down to his escape trajectory. The G went up to 3.9. JaQuan’s mind started to separate from reality. He focused on the board, ignoring Kitekh’s orders and Rorgun’s grunts as he tried to fire the beamer cannon.

  “Hang . . . on,” he gasped.

  Three seconds to optimum escape trajectory. Two seconds. One.

  JaQuan pushed the stick away from him. Cataan’s Claw broke her orbit from the Imperial battlecruiser and rocketed away at terrific speed.

  “Take out those guns!” Kitekh shouted.

  A second later, explosions roared outside the ship.

  “Direct hits, Kitekh!” Rorgun said.

  “Excellent,” she said. “That’ll make it harder for them to blast us before we can make the jump to hyperspace. Prepare to launch that static bomb. Cooressa, I want to know the second they can fire on us.”

  “Yes, Captain,” she said.

  With a straight heading, JaQuan opened the throttle fully. They were already at .25C and climbing.

  “Captain!” Cooressa shouted. “The other battlecruiser has moved closer. They will have a clear line of fire in . . .” She paused to consult her board. “Five seconds!”

  “Schrisch,” Kitekh swore. “JaQuan, get us to jump speed now.”

  “I’m giving her everything I have,” he responded.

  He checked the speedometer: .275C. It was going to be close.

  “Three seconds,” Cooressa said. “Two seconds. One!”

  “Launch static bomb,” Kitekh ordered.

  Rorgun tapped his bo
ard.

  “Static bomb away,” he said.

  “Imperial battlecruiser is clear to fire,” Cooressa reported.

  HORAY WATCHED THE TACTICAL SCREEN GLEEFULLY. At its current speed and heading, Cataan’s Claw would be in firing range for a full six seconds before they could make the jump to hyperspace. It might as well be an eternity. There was no escape for them.

  “I will have a clear shot in three seconds, sir,” Gru said.

  “Fire as soon as they are in the open. Target the engines.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Sir, the freighter has jettisoned a small object,” Los said.

  Horay’s eyes opened wide. They couldn’t have!

  “The senator’s daughter?” Zin asked, echoing Horay’s thoughts.

  “Hold fire,” Horay ordered. “Scan that object.”

  “Scanning . . .” Los said.

  “Hyperspace portal opening, sir,” someone said.

  “Mr. Gru, target their engines,” Horay said.

  “I have them lined up,” he replied.

  “Captain!” Los shouted, whirling in his chair. “It is a static bomb!”

  A static bomb? Oh, hell!

  “Mr. Gru, fire!” Horay shouted.

  The tactical screen went white, then filled with static. Alarms sounded across the bridge. Everyone started shouting.

  “All instruments are blind!” Horay heard.

  “Get them back online!” Los replied.

  “Captain,” Zin said. “If they managed to jump away before Mr. Gru fired the weapons . . .”

  Or if he missed because the static from the freighter’s bomb blinded his targeting instruments . . .

  “We’ll never find them,” Horay finished.

  There was an uncomfortable pause between the two Elohim. Zin looked grave.

  “Perhaps not ‘never’,” he said. “There may be some evidence of where they went. But it will be exceptionally difficult to track them.”

  Horay swore silently to himself. Galesh had been cleverer than he’d given her credit for. Her reputation as a tactical genius was evidently well-earned.

  Nearly a minute passed before the sensors started reading again. They came back online one at time, slowly accumulating data.

  “Well?” Horay asked.

  Los bent over his board, furiously tapping in commands. At last, he turned to Horay with a grave look on his face. Horay knew what he would say.

  “There is no trace of them, Captain,” Los reported.

  Horay stared stoically at the tactical screen. He was likely to lose his command for this.

  KLAXONS BEGAN SCREAMING AT THEM AS soon as they entered hyperspace. JaQuan felt like he was floating outside his body. Everything looked gauzed over with some strange, white filter. The world seemed to move in slow motion. Even the alarms sounded all wrong.

  What the hell was going on? He’d travelled through hyperspace dozens of times. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

  “Caaaaaptainnnn,” Cooressa said, her voice pitched low and sounding far away. “Struuuuucccccturallllll iiiinnnnnteeeeegrrrrrittyyyyyy . . .”

  What the hell was she saying? Structural . . . structural integrity?

  Oh, shit. If Cooressa was saying what he thought she was . . .

  JaQuan reached for his board. It seemed miles away, like he couldn’t reach it even though it was right in front of him. Summoning all of his concentration, he focused his fingers on reaching the controls.

  It took seconds or years to reach them. He couldn’t be sure which. Still the board hovered a mere inch – Or was it a mile? – from his fingertip. He shoved his shoulder forward, as though he were forcing open a stuck door. At last, he made contact with the board and tapped in the sequence to disengage the hyperdrive.

  Suddenly, everything returned to normal. He could see properly again. He could move. Several alarms screeched through the hull.

  “What the hell happened?” Kitekh said.

  “I pulled us out of hyperspace,” JaQuan said.

  “Hull integrity down to sixty-eight percent,” Cooressa said. “It will take me a minute to determine if we’ve got any cracks.”

  “Cooressa, kill those klaxons,” Kitekh said, her voice covered in irritation.

  Cooressa tapped keys on her board. A moment later the bridge was silent.

  “Thank you,” Kitekh said. “Now, someone tell me what’s going on.”

  “Lanaliel reports smoke in the engine room and wants to know what happened,” Cooressa said. “Rischa says we have a hull breach in the cargo hold.”

  “Stop!” Kitekh growled. “That’s not what I meant. Tell the rest of the crew to assess damage to their respective areas and wait for instructions. Now, someone up here tell me what the hell just happened to us.”

  JaQuan looked over his board. Red lights blinked all over it, indicating various systems down – nav, engine cooling, and the hyperdrive. He ordered the computer to run diagnostics to pinpoint the problems.

  “There is a large gap in the data, since the static bomb knocked out the sensor array back at Daxal,” Rorgun said. “But I think we were hit with a beamer ray just as we jumped to hyperspace.”

  “Where did they hit us?” Kitekh asked.

  “I can’t be sure,” Rorgun said. “I’m still running scans, and again, we are missing data. But if I had to guess, I’d say it was the hyperdrive.”

  “That would fit,” JaQuan said, his heart sinking. “My board indicates nav and the hyperdrive are down. I’m running diagnostics now. Should have the results in a few minutes.”

  “Schrisch,” Kitekh swore.

  Silence descended over the bridge. JaQuan’s heart pounded in his chest. For the moment, they didn’t know where they were. It could be anywhere in the vast reaches of space. And if the hyperdrive was damaged beyond repair, they were stuck, effectively lost forever, doomed.

  “Cooressa, I want a damage control report from everyone on the ship in thirty minutes,” Kitekh said. “We need to know what we’re up against as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, Captain,” she said.

  “Tell Rischa to patch that hull breach,” Kitekh added. “Send Alan EVA if she has to.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Cooressa said again.

  “The rest of you, run your diagnostics. I want information so we can start working on solutions.”

  JaQuan nodded. He hoped his reports showed something positive. Otherwise, they’d have escaped the Imperial battlecruisers only to die slowly in space.

  Horay glared furiously over the bridge as his crew scrambled to get him information. Gru was sweating as he tapped query after query into his instruments.

  “I have a record of the shot, Captain,” he said. “We definitely fired on them before the static bomb exploded. But all the sensors went blind immediately afterward. There just isn’t any record of whether we hit them or not.”

  “Magnificent Glory has scanned the area thoroughly, sir,” Los said. “There is no debris consistent with a destructive explosion. Even if we scored a direct hit on their engines that triggered a total meltdown that destroyed the vessel, there should be fragments of the ship floating in space.”

  Horay couldn’t decide if that was good news or bad. On the one hand, if they’d destroyed Cataan’s Claw, the senator’s daughter was dead. He didn’t like to think what the consequences for that might be.

  But the only other logical explanation was that the terrorists had successfully made the jump to hyperspace. If they’d gotten away, they could be anywhere by now.

  “Let us assume we missed them,” he said. “If that is the case, they jumped away. Calculate all potential destinations based on their pre-jump heading.”

  “We cannot be certain we have accurate data on that,” Gru said. “When the static bomb exploded, we could not see anything. We therefore do not know what their heading was when they jumped into hyperspace.”

  “We know which way they were heading before the bomb, do we not?” Horay shouted
. “Can we calculate based on that?”

  His voice echoed off the bulkhead. Everyone stopped working and stared at him. He let his glare fall on each person, watching them avert their eyes.

  “Yes, Captain,” Gru said, “but . . .”

  “But what?” Horay snapped.

  “But there would have been plenty of time for them to alter course before jumping away,” Gur said.

  Horay sighed. He knew all this. He knew that they had vanished virtually without a trace. He just didn’t want it to be true.

  “Perhaps Daxal Station can help,” Zin said.

  Horay whirled in his direction. Hope lit his mind.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Well, sir, they may have been outside the range of the static bomb,” Zin said. “Their instruments may not have been affected. If they could see through the interference, they might be able to detect what trajectory they were on. And even if they cannot, they would have the ship’s flight plan. Commercial vessels are required to file a destination whenever leaving a spaceport. The terrorists could certainly have filed a false plan or changed their destination after leaving. But it would at least give us a place to start.”

  Horay nodded. It was the only thing they hadn’t tried.

  “Mr. Los, get Daxal’s station chief on the line,” he said. “I want full cooperation in the name of the Empire.”

  “Yes, sir,” Los said.

  Horay prayed this would give him a lead. If it didn’t, he wasn’t sure how we would explain what happened to his superiors.

  JAQUAN SAT DOWN AT THE TABLE in the mess, the only place on the ship other than the cargo hold large enough to accommodate the entire crew. Per Kitekh’s instructions, everyone was present. Second Mate Shinzaa Muur and deckhand Rischa Naar sat next to Rorgun – as though the Graur were closing ranks. Shinzaa had golden hair and blue eyes. Rischa was black like Rorgun but didn’t have a mane, since she was female. Rischa spoke quietly to Rorgun, who listened intently.

  The other two humans in the crew sat together. Brody, talked quietly with deckhand Alan Park. An archetypal good-looking white guy, Brody brown hair, five o’clock shadow covering a square jaw, and piercing blue eyes. Alan was black. Unlike JaQuan, he had light skin, but he still had the wide nose, dark brown eyes, and kinky hair indicative of African descent. Thin and always exuberant, he looked like a kid, even though JaQuan knew he was pushing thirty.