“She’s all yours. I need to replenish my shields,” Gavit growled. His computer registered several hits to his armor and his sensors were filled with noise. “What’s our status Matt?”

  “Shields are almost gone. The forward targeting array took a hard hit as did our upper port sensor pod. I also registered a major hit to our port wing. A metra closer and it would have sheared the wing off.”

  Gavit winced at that. The lead fighter in a shelled assault always ran the risk of heavy damage. At least it had paid off.

  “Sharks out,” Nip Three called.

  “I’m hit,” Nip Six called out and Gavit twisted their fighter about. Low shields or not, he was not about to lose a craft under his charge. “Engine three is out. Get over here Nach Six.”

  “On my way Deniv.”

  “I’ve given the shields all I can. Just hit ‘em fast.”

  Gavit dove back towards the transport, Porc forming up on his wing. “Five. Split attack, break at three klicks.”

  Porc replied with a double click as the two fighters bore down on the aft turret and it swiveled around to engage them. Coherent light greeted them and Gavit’s shields collapsed. He fired his belly thrusters hard, sliding his vector up several hundred metra. He made sure to keep his nose on the turret the whole time, firing away as he continued to slide his fighter left, right, up and down. Porc mirrored his maneuvers. The turret gunner seemed intent on taking Gavit out. “Five. Hit that last engine turret before it engages you. I have this one.”

  “Frag that. I have this one,” Porc called before the turret went silent.

  Gavit nodded and rocketed away again. His roll had been slowed by the blast which had disabled his wingtip mounted bio-cannon. “I’ll never get Blazer to shut up about that will I?”

  “Nope,” Matt replied.

  “Blue Force fighters, Nobgal Actual. Do you copy?”

  Gavit swallowed, keyed the link. “We read you Nobgal Actual. I show that your engines and most of your weapons are disabled. Shall we continue?”

  “Negative Markus,” the cadet captain called, hanging his head. “You’ve got us.”

  “Copy that. Any real casualties?”

  “Just some stained pants from when you slid through our rings.”

  Gavit couldn’t help but smile. He was glad that he’d skipped breakfast, otherwise he might have joined the brown trousers brigade. “Copy that Hollis.” Gavit cut the link and breathed a sigh of relief. “All Blue Force craft. Form up on me. Matt. Can you set up a link back to Zithe?”

  “Already on it. Go ahead.”

  Zithe himself appeared in a holographic link window beside Gavit as he vectored towards a holding position off the jump point. “Report Six.”

  “Space is clear. The Nobgals were waiting for us. We splashed both of their fighters before we disabled their ship.”

  “Splashed or disabled?”

  “Disabled,” Gavit corrected. “We disabled both fighters but Nobgal Two will need a refit. Five was a little too exuberant.”

  “Hey they chewed me up too,” Porc replied.

  “Copy that. Any losses to our side?”

  Gavit grimaced. “Five and I both took some hits. We’re flying but will need repairs. Nip Six lost her upper starboard engine. Deniv can limp home.”

  Zithe didn’t look pleased. “Understandable. What is the extent of the Nobgal’s transport capabilities?”

  “She’s got two intact turrets, some damage to her launchers, and her engines are down. I’d give them a decle to repair the engines, less if their engineering crew is as good as ours.”

  “Copy that. Hold position. We’ll be through in twenty pulses.” Zithe motioned to Bichard and the holo shifted to another view of the bridge..

  Gavit breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s this?”

  “Bichard kept the link open.”

  On the display, Zithe turned to Tadeh Qudas. “Opinion sir?”

  Gavit, zoomed in as Tadeh Qudas turned to address Zithe. Oh this should be good.

  “It was not how I would have done it. Why leave them alive?”

  “Strategy. The Nobgals have some of the best gunners in our class. If I’d sent any other crews against them, then we would be down four fighters.”

  You bald son of a critch.

  “Again. Why leave them alive? They’re a Red Force ship and are sure to report the attack to Chertsin.”

  Thank you, Gavit thought. I was wondering when someone would ask that.

  “That was the plan. Gavit, please explain.”

  “Well um…, we were told to a… show mercy if possible,” Gavit stuttered, not expecting to be put on the spot.

  Zithe stepped in. “I’ve shown that we can be merciful. For some commanders that is something to be respected. It may weaken Chertsin’s support base.”

  “It could also reinforce it. Otlian cadets, for instance, will see you as weaker now.”

  “Giving them a false sense of security should they decide to attack us. They won’t expect us to go for the kill next time.”

  Tadeh Qudas nodded.

  Son of a bug, that’s almost brilliant.

  “Also, I know that the Nobgals were one of the last transports to enter into the Red Force’s alliance. I’m willing to bet that I can sway them to our side. Why else would I have ordered our forces to leave their sensors alone?” Zithe continued.

  Gavit raised a curious eyebrow at that. His opinion of Zithe was growing, rapidly.

  “The Nobgals are all planetary science heavy and we could use their support. I will offer them a place in the Blue Force. They are, after all, defenseless right now and we have the two best engineering crews in the fleet. Best case; we add another member to our forces, and gain valuable intel on the Red Force. Worst case; they get stuck at the jump point effecting repairs and staying out of our way. Win-Win.”

  “Interesting ploy. I’ll have to put that in my report,” Tadeh Qudas replied as he turned towards the hatch and left the bridge.

  Zithe looked at Gavit. Gavit swore that for just an instant the Lycan almost smiled. He signaled and the link cut out.

  “Okay then. Matt, get the microbots out there effecting repairs and prep to land.”

  “Already on it. Hey isn’t that girl Nolis you dated last annura on the Nobgal’s ship?”

  “Hmm, yeah. I might have to go pay her a visit if they join up.”

  UCSB DATE: 1003.164

  Monstero Nach 05, Jump Point Brave, System: T-18-E-38

  Porc groused.“And once again, a whole crapload of nothing,” he said as their fighter approached the jump point. “Is it just me or is this a terrible waste of resources? I signed on to kill Geffer’s not play explorer looking for some shit that ain’t there.”

  “The Space Forces mandate calls for the organized exploration of newly discovered star systems for resources and scientific knowledge. So guess what? You did sign on for it,” Nash replied.

  “Sure, hold the fine print against me. What the shreg are we doing out here anyway?”

  “Trying to triangulate the position of that rogue probe that’s been jamming everyone’s sensors the last couple of decles.”

  “Figures that Chertsin’s boys would leave something like that behind to mess with us. I just wish that the academy would activate some fragging targeting drones. I’m getting bored flying around with nothing to shoot at.”

  “Scuttlebutt is that the Admiral had them all recalled. Probably need to be reprogrammed due to the Gorvian incursions. With everyone on edge, who knows if he’ll send them back at all?”

  “Yeah well the Admiral can…”

  “Hold that. I’ve got a query from the jump point.”

  “Finally. Just tell me it’s hostile.”

  “Holy scrat! It’s the Vices! They’re coming in hot from thirty-seven and they’re on fire. They’re declaring an emergency. They have a breach in their reactor core… Porc, it’s not simulated!”

  Porc’s blood ran cold. If the Black Vices lost their reactor core while in hyperspace they would lose their shields and that was a death sentence. “Copy that. Vectoring away from the jump point to give them clearance. Contact the observer corvette and all transports in-system. Inform them that this is real and they will need immediate assistance.”

  “Already on it.”

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27415, Hyperspace

  Dolian Pesh hacked as he stood over the opened communications console. I should have kept some breathers up here instead of sending all of them to the DC parties in engineering. The cadet captain of the transport manned the communications console as smoke wafted through the space. He was thankful that the ventilation system had at least kept the smoke from stagnating. He rubbed his eyes for a moment and flipped the circuit breaker powering the console. Electronic snow washed across the screen and the communications display appeared behind it.

  The sound of a popping circuit breaker behind him caused him to turn around. His helmsman Nolen dove under his control board to reset it. “Frag me! Dolian. The breaker’s fused. I’ve got nothing.”

  Dolian hung his head and looked up through the dome. “Tell me we have enough momentum to make it through.”

  “We’ll be a dead drifter, but we’ll make it through.”

  “Attention Black Vises, Monstero Nach 05. Do you copy?” a static-filled message asked.

  Dolian turned back to the screen. Nash’s face appeared there, his eyes closed. “Copy that Nach Five, Black Vice Actual. You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

  “We copy you broken and weak Vice Actual. We are at the jump point and have relayed your distress signal. How can we help?”

  Dolian looked around the bridge. Half of his crew were with the damage control parties. The rest were working at a feverish pace to bypass every safety they could find to keep the ship limping through the jump point. “We’re coming through hot and have lost helm control. Stay clear.” The console beside Dolian went dark a moment later. A rolling ball of zero g fire seared its way through the display. “Retardant, now!”

  A cadet across from him tossed the bottle his way. Dolian caught it and sprayed the torched edifice down. It was too late. The environmental panel was roasted; the ventilation fans cut out as if to punctuate the point. “Frag me. Nach Five. We have no choice. We are abandoning the bridge. Smoke is too thick and we have no breathers up here.”

  “Copy that, Actual. Will render what assistance we can. Get someone in one of your fighters. Have them contact us on one of their links.”

  “Bugger me sideways. Why didn’t I think of that? Everybody out! Nolen, fire up the link on Vice Two.” Dolian waited as the rest of the bridge crew escaped into the cargo bay behind him and turned back to the viewport as the jump point encompassed them. “Nash, we’re coming through now.” The ship lurched around him, knocking him from his feet before he could get a better grip.

  “We copy. Dolian you look to have had a breach near the aft ring. You’ve lost half a shadow shield and are holed in segment six. No spin.”

  Dolian turned to the damage control board. The smoke was too thick to make out anything other than some colored lights filtering through. “Damn it all to Sheol! What’s the ETA on an assist? We need more support.”

  “They’re slipstreaming in now. Your core is past critical Actual.”

  Dolian’s macomm beeped a moment later and he snatched it up; the ship’s intercom had fried in the initial power surge. “Dolian, Chief Pordens. We need to eject the core. Are we clear of hyperspace?”

  “We’re clear chief. We have a Monstero Nach Firehawk alongside.”

  “Link them to get clear. We’re dumping the core now.”

  “Five. Get clear of the emergency core vents.”

  Before Nash could reply, the ship bucked, throwing Dolian across the smoke-filled bridge. The core vents opened and star-hot plasma fires erupted into space, kicking the ship sideways. The ship’s fusion core dumped its fiery heart into space and the fuel to the reactor was cut off. The plasma fountain ceased a moment later. Battery-powered emergency lights sprang to life in response, plunging the bridge into semi-darkness. Dolian tried to get his bearings, but the smoke burned his throat and eyes. Before he could react he crashed head first into the dome. Pain wracked his head as he turned to glimpse the stars beyond. His vision blurred and one thought went through his mind, we’re done. And then only blackness.

  Medical Bay, UCSBTS-27413, System: T-18-E-38

  “I need another burn pack!” Marda shouted over the din of the medical bay. She looked up at the Black Vise’s transport outside the viewport as it rotated into view. She shivered at the sight. The ship just looked wrong; its rings static, clouds of smoke hanging about the ship’s purge points and debris shrouding everything. Most of the cadets sent to medical still smelled of the acrid smoke aboard the disabled craft.

  She laid a soothing hand on the forehead of a Lodran cadet and looked back down at what was left of his arm. The sedatives weren’t strong enough. He’d been in the aft ring, segment six, when the hyperspace shield had failed. The influx of hyperspace particles had washed into the space and flowed across his arm before he could get away. It was called a hyperspace burn, but it looked like no burn she’d ever seen. The flesh of his arm was simply gone, stripped down to the bone. The few bits that remained were grey and lifeless. At least he’s alive. Two other cadets had been in that segment. They were classified Missing In Action.

  Blazer ran up, handed Marda the burn pack. The volume of injured coming in mandated that even he and his damage control team had to report back to medical. Anyone with even basic first aid training was needed. The observer corvette’s corpsman even worked in their ship’s medical bay as their damage control parties assisted in saving the damaged ship. Blazer took one look down at the blanched bones and turned back to Marda, his face pale. “Can you save it?”

  Marda waved him in closer, unsure how much the cadet could hear. “I’ll do what I can, but I need a grafting tub. Set it for a Lodran. If it works, he’ll regain maybe ninety percent function.” She looked back towards the viewport as the damaged ring segment came into view again. Only the spirit orb that called that transport home was visible. Whatever happened to the other two cadets, they didn’t leave even a spirit remnant behind.

  Marda looked across the bay. She’d never even had simulations with this many injuries. Most were burns, cuts or smoke inhalation, but the volume and severity of it… She just didn’t feel ready, not yet. She looked at Blazer. “The grafting tubs are in the closet over there. Get a purple one and set it for…,” she looked down at the cadet’s face. She needed his name so Blazer could have the tub access his medical records. Unfortunately, his macomm had been in his lost hand, and his uniform had been cut away.

  She turned towards their ship’s orb and motioned to the Lodran. It zipped past then whispered his name into her ear. “Set it for Cadet Colesin Fyur. Go!”

  Blazer rushed off and Marda turned to find Tadeh Qudas and Chief Porden making their way through the bay. She grabbed her commander’s arm. He turned to look at her, staring at her with that impassive death mask. She stood her ground. She needed answers and wasn’t about to let him intimidate her. “What in the Sheol happened out there? Did the Red Force attack them?”

  Chief Porden’s shook his head. “No. There wasn’t another ship within half a light-hect of the jump point when we left the system. It all looked normal until the alerts rang out.” The officer suddenly looked old and unsteady, and wiped at his brow. A trio of fresh burn marks razed his cheek. “It was just an old reactor core. The primary plasma shunt burst right after we’d entered hyperspace. By the time we dumped we had less than a pulse before it would have flooded the whole engineering bay. We were lucky to keep the hyperspace shields up at all. If the jump points hadn’t been so close together in hyperspace...” He looked down at the Lodran cadet before him; shuddered.

  Tadeh Qudas turned to the man. “Your crew did well. They reacted as they were trained and saved their ship. There’s nothing more you could have asked of them.”

  “Excuse me,” Blazer said as he ran back up with a tub filled with thick purple liquid. The two officers stepped out of the way and Blazer slid the clear rectangular container onto the service table beside the injured Lodran cadet.

  A holographic display over the case revealed the cadet’s name and even the injured body part. Marda nodded, impressed that Blazer had known how to operate the device without direction. She walked around the table. “Okay, Blazer, this is what’s going to happen. I’m going to lift his arm. When I do, I need you to gently push the tub onto it. Do you understand?”

  Blazer nodded and pulled the safety cover off the port on the end of the case.

  Marda took a deep breath and lifted up the remains of the cadet’s ruined arm. Despite the sedation, the cadet’s face scrunched up in pain. “Now Blazer.”

  Swallowing, Blazer pushed on the tub and the few digits that were left on the skeletal remains of the hand punched through the self-sealing port. There was a moment’s resistance and the tub almost slipped out of Blazer’s hands. It engulfed the whole of the appendage.

  “Make sure it gets up to the remaining intact flesh,” Marda ordered.

  Blazer soon had the tub all the way up to the cadet’s shoulder.

  She caught the look of fear on Blazer’s face as some of the thick purple liquid spilled out across the cadet’s chest and back. She waved off his reaction. A moment later the outer layer of the fluid hardened, forming a tough outer skin that effectively contained the rest of the fluid.

  Marda gave Blazer a gentle push out of the way and tapped the holographic interface. She quickly programmed the system, providing instructions to the nanobots filing the stem-cell infused fluid. She watched for the nanobots to begin converting the bath from inert proteins into viable replacement cells. She continued to observe as the bones thickened and the first layers of muscle formed. She pulled up the data from the cadet’s last physical. She entered another command and ordered the nano-bots to match the specifications before she turned to Blazer. “Watch them. Make sure they don’t start building the skin too soon. He needs to have the musculature, tendons, etcetera in place first or we’ll have to strip the arm back down and do it again.”