Alieha sat back up and locked eyes with Marda. Her expression looked cold and free of emotion, like she’d just shut them off. “I hope that you’re right. I just, I don’t even know if I can feel that same love back for him, or anyone. It’s so intangible.”

  That set Marda aback. How can anyone not understand love? It was such a basic emotion and it influenced so much. “What are you talking about?”

  “I think I know what love is. But I don’t know if what I feel for Arion is love. It is stronger than the love I feel for my sisters and my uncle, stronger than the love I feel for others, but how do you quantify it?”

  Marda nodded. Alieha’s uncle, the scientist. From what Alieha had told her before, the man had quantified and qualified everything. The way she’d described him in the past revealed that he did everything with machine precision. He wouldn’t have raised Alieha and her sisters on myths and fairy stories but on math and science and hard facts. No wonder this is so hard for her. “Alieha, anyone can love. And its inability to fit in some little box is what makes it so special. It’s not like its some subroutine in a computer.”

  The door opened before Alieha could respond and Blazer strode in, alone. “I couldn’t get him to come with me.”

  “What happened?” Marda asked.

  “I caught up to him at Tadeh Qudas’ quarters…”

  “You didn’t volunteer did you?”

  Blazer shook his head, his eyes on the deck. “I tried, but Tadeh Qudas denied my request. We’re needed with the evacuation ships to ensure that the jump buoy we’ve rigged up works. Without that, we doom everyone on the decoy ships.”

  Marda breathed a great sigh of relief. She felt sure that she would have lost her mind if something happened to Blazer right now. She motioned towards Alieha. “Where’s Arion?”

  “Currently getting chewed out by Tadeh Qudas. He wasn’t thrilled by Arion’s treatment of Alieha.” Blazer turned towards Alieha. “Give him a hect. He’ll have cooled down by then.”

  UCSB DATE: 1003.209

  Bridge, Gorvian Corvette-1036, System: T-18-E-37

  Ship Lord Kemshick felt mor growing belly and smiled. Though the wall of mor bridge carried no new trophies from their tribute to mor latest brood’s sire, the offering of one of the Confederation’s escort carriers had been well received. They’d managed to destroy the ship with all hands; over a thousand Dondick had died in one fell swoop.

  The gift did not come without a price however. The evidence of their fight still marred the walls. They’d been on the run from the carrier’s escorts and only managed to lose them three jumps ago. They’d almost overtaxed their hyperspace shield in the process.

  To find that lone corvette in the last system and chase it here was good fortune indeed. They were close to home, so close that Lord Gondish, or better, High Lord Gondral, might come to feast upon their find. Twenty Dondick transports, each one armed and carrying fighters meant one thing: officers in training. The new trophy hanging from the command chair, the registry placard of the UCSBS-Narick, revealed that the craft had been assigned to an academy protection fleet. From here they could carve the heart out of the next generation of Dondick officers. So Kemshick did all moe could to blockade the system, intending to hold it and their prey for as long as possible. Maybe I should let one or two escape to lead us back to their home.

  “Ship Lord. The Dondicks are on the move.”

  “Finally decided to come out of their pitiful hidey hole have they? Where are they headed?”

  “We show ships on multiple vectors throughout the system,” the tactical officer replied, then scoffed. Its amphibian physiology made the sound wet. “The fools use sensor-masks. They try to make us think that each one is many.”

  Kemshick snarled at the scene. “That any could be so easily fooled is an insult. How many are on the move?”

  “Thirteen my lord. Seven more transports remain in the ice rings with the corvette. One transport appears to be powered-down. Readings indicate it to be the slower one we tracked to their hiding space last cycle. It is still bleeding radiation.”

  Kemshick leaned back. These Dondicks were no fools. They’d left behind their most damaged craft and had sent out decoys disguised as many. Since they’d left the corvette as well, that meant that those left behind would wait until their ship gave chase. Those six craft must contain the majority of their number. “Keep a track on the craft in the ice rings. They will contain those unfit for combat, so lay in an intercept course towards one of the transports heading to the other jump point. Prepare to reverse course however once those in the rings start their escape.”

  “Yes Ship Lord,” the navigation officer replied. “Slipstream drive coming online.”

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27501

  Alieha didn’t take her eyes off her display while they slipstreamed on a direct course towards the jump point to system 38. The Gorvian were on the move and the strike corvette’s course would either intercept her craft or transport 16, the Pogrin’s Payback. She didn’t know how to process that. I would rather give my life to save the others, but what about my crew? Officer Marmeh has a family and Oric, even if he is one of Chertsin’s men, has a promising career ahead of him. I don’t even know who’s aboard 16, but I doubt that Felain would give up her ship. Will it crush Zithe if she dies? The two of them have gotten close.

  Oric shot back into his seat. “Officer Marmeh. The corvette appears committed to us. Orders?”

  “Are we far enough out that the escaping transports will have a clear shot at the other jump point?”

  “Yes sir. Just.”

  “Good then,” Officer Marmeh commented and tapped the link. “Escape craft, Transport 501. The Gorvian Corvette has committed. Make your run.”

  “Copy that, good luck,” Captain Malridge’s voice rang over the link. “We’ll come to assist as soon as we’re able. All other decoys, maintain courses.”

  Alieha let out a tiny sigh of relief. Perhaps she could convince Officer Marmeh and Cadet Oric to go to one of the shuttles now. It might save their lives. What if they refuse? Can I force them to go? Maybe if it was just one of them, but even then she might have to subdue them. Maybe… Oric interrupted her line of thinking.

  “Sir. I’m picking up something odd,” Oric commented.

  Officer Marmeh turned to Oric’s sensor display. Alieha pulled it up on her own console as well. “What is it cadet?”

  “Well sir. I detected a sudden power surge from the Gorvian Corvette and then it began to slow. I wonder if it might have a damaged slipstream drive.”

  Alieha studied the sensor display. The readings were consistent with a faulty slipstream drive, but the dark energy readings were off. Her eyes went wide. “Sir. They have a secondary slipstream drive. They’ve slowed to gather more dark matter in order to convert it.”

  “What? I’ve never heard of such a thing!” Officer Marmeh replied.

  “It’s theoretically possible, but no one’s ever tried it before that I know of; not with any success, anyway. But this Gorvian ship appears to be doing just that. Check the dark energy readings.”

  “Hold on. New reading,” Oric called. “Slipstream torpedo! They’ve fired on us!”

  Alieha turned back to her screen; Oric was right. A slipstream torpedo was streaking straight towards them at ninety-nine percent the speed of light. At that speed, it didn’t even need a warhead. The kinetic energy alone would destroy them. They had precious little time. If that torpedo was set to home in on their dark energy signature then they were dead. “Sir. Recommend we evacuate to the shuttle.”

  Officer Marmeh nodded, but stared at Alieha, her voice too calm for the situation. “Agreed cadet. Oric. Spin up shuttle 1.”

  “Yes sir. Sir! The corvette has reversed course. It’s headed back towards the jump point.”

  Alieha checked her screen. “Oric’s right. They must have seen through our plan.”

  “Damn!” Officer Marmeh stabbed at the link key. Nothing happened. He tried again. The link refused to respond. “What’s going on?”

  Alieha checked her scrambled link. “The torpedo’s jamming us. Unless the escape group sees the corvette themselves, they won’t know what’s coming.”

  “Shreg me backwards,” Oric snapped and clambered towards the hatch back into the main bay.

  “No Oric wait,” Alieha called, but it was too late. If she could save anyone, she had to act now. Keying in the command, the transport lurched to the side in an attempt to avoid the torpedo. The motion was too much for the acceleration compensators and all three of them felt the effects. Alieha and Officer Marmeh slammed into their harnesses, but poor Oric flopped across the cargo bay like a rag doll. Alieha didn’t need to look to know what had happened; she’d heard his neck snap through the bulkhead.

  The impact that came next rocked the ship, but didn’t destroy it. Alieha looked ahead. The torpedo had glanced off their aft spin ring to continue going ahead. She heard Officer Marmeh sigh in relief, but that relief was short-lived. The torpedo shed its dark energy in one massive burst, buffeting the transport, and disrupting the navigational deflector. The damaged torpedo then hung, dead in space only a few light cents ahead of them. Alieha reached for the control to restore the shield but it was too late. Travelling at three-quarters the speed of light they collided with the massive weapon.

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27413

  “All ships,” Captain Malridge’s voice rang over the link. “On my mark, all craft are to revert from slipstream and release a full spread of torpedoes on that mine.”

  Zithe tensed, this is it. He checked the tactical display, the sensor image revealing only a narrow sliver of space ahead of them. The transports maintained EMCON Condition 2 in an effort to remain hidden. The mine had to know they were coming, but with any luck, its crew thought them just another group of transports decoys.

  The fact that they’d received no further word from transport 501 worried him though. Even he saw the fluctuation on the passive dark matter scanner. He looked around the bridge; everyone was tense, even Gadcon as he awaited the order to fire.

  Zithe tapped the intercom key back to the main bay. “Blazer. What’s the status of that buoy?”

  “I’m not making any promises about how long this thing’ll keep transmittting. But if we can deploy it then it should light up every guild receiver out there with a distress signal. What’s our time to reversion?”

  Zithe looked up at the counter. “Less than a pulse.” He tapped the intercom key for the rest of the ship. “All hands. This is your captain, prepare for combat reversion. Repeat prepare for combat reversion.”

  Zithe looked over at the status board: all areas reported back blue, even the fighter launch. He flexed his hands one last time. “Acknit. I want a full sensor picture the cent we drop off slipstream. Light up the sky.”

  “Copy that Zithe.”

  “All ships, Gudell Actual. In three, two, one—revert!”

  Zithe nodded to Mikle and the stars around snapped back into shape, exploding out of the dark tunnel surrounding them. Zithe examined the tactical picture; no one was ahead of them. The Gudell hung off to the side giving them a clear shot at the mine. It was little more than a dot at this distance. They dared not revert any closer.

  “All ships. Fire!” Captain Malridge ordered.

  “Gadcon!”

  “Torpedoes be away, probes be away!”

  Zithe remained fixated on the tactical display. The first sensor pulses had already returned. Torpedoes and munition-packed probes raced ahead of the seven ships towards the mine. Energy lanced out as point defenses engaged the warheads. Zithe turned towards Gadcon. “Tell me that the WSOs have good telemetry.”

  “They be on it. All sharks be maneuvering to counter the point defenses.”

  Zithe turned back to the display and focused on the massive probe that Gokhead controlled. They were unable to get their hands on a photon detonator, but the clever Drashig had built and packed a mini-nuke into the core of that innocuous casing. Then he’d strapped two of their fighters’ fully charged crystallic fusion photon energizer crystals to it. That should pack one Sheol of a punch, if it makes it through.

  Half of the torpedoes hadn’t even reached the halfway mark before the mine picked them off. Zithe grimaced, much longer and they’d be in reach of that thing’s beam cannons. As he watched, a dark spot appeared on the tactical display. “Acknit. Have we got a blind spot?”

  “Not sure, something’s obscuring my sensors in that region.”

  Zithe shook it off; the torpedoes were almost to the jump point. The first handful of cadet torpedoes slammed into the shields of the mine. Their tiny warheads disrupted but did not threaten the shields. Zithe scowled. Then the first torpedoes from the Gudell met the almost invisible barrier. Photon detonators lit up space around the mine, disrupting the shield. Zithe had to resist jumping to his feet as the Gudell’s anti-matter torpedoes raced towards the gap. “Gokhead! You have an opening.”

  “I’m taking it, believe me,” Gokhead’s disembodied voice rang back.

  The first antimatter torpedo disappeared under a hail of plaser fire, igniting its warhead. The blast carved a chunk from the mine’s side. That was all the opening Gokhead needed. His probe surged ahead into the gap. The sensors of the point defense turrets were blinded by the blast. The probe punched through the mine’s hull. The energy stored within the two power crystals exploded, amplifying the blast of Gokhead’s improvised atomic weapon.

  The mine shattered. A moment later another antimatter torpedo dove into its exposed power core and exploded.

  The bridge of the transport erupted in applause.

  “All ships, Gudell Actual. Good work. Monstero Nach Transport. Deploy that buoy of yours. All other craft. Break for the jump point.”

  Zithe breathed a sigh of relief but that dark spot ate at him. It had grown larger and closer, and it was almost right on top of them. His eyes went wide in realization. “Gudell Actual, Monstero Nach Actual. That Strike Corvette reversed course!”

  It was too late and Zithe looked up through his dome to watch the rear end of the Gudell disappear. The impact of a slipstream torpedo obliterated the ship’s engines mere cents before the Strike Corvette reverted back to normal space only a few kilometra away. The Gudell floundered, venting atmosphere. The glow of its beam cannons went out one by one as its power core failed.

  Zithe felt his stomach drop; he had to do something, but what? Their weapons would be ineffective against that behemoth. Excavation charges and medium plaser cannons had no hope against it. The strike corvette came about on the display, bringing its massive beam cannon to bear on the Gudell. Zithe’s mind rang with a thousand thoughts at once, there was no instructor to consult: he was in command. The decision was his and the responsibility.

  He swallowed hard. “All ships, Monstero Nach Actual. Launch all fighters and engage that Gorvian corvette at extreme range. Keep out of the line of fire of that beam cannon.” Zithe checked his display to see what fighters he had at his disposal. There were only twelve: two Splicer 1000s, two Splicer-2000s, four 3000s, and four 5000s. “Cutters, take point. Try and take out that beast’s point defenses. Let’s hope that Gudell can at least get some torpedoes off. Firehawks, give cover to the Markers and do what you can about the defenses as well. Markers—concentrate your fire on that beam cannon. Your antimatter cannons are only half-charged. Make every shot count. Daggers: try and draw their fire and give support to the Markers.”

  Zithe felt the ship lurch as his own fighters deployed, vectoring in to cover the Splicer 3000s from the Nip Tails and Black Vises. Please let their sacrifice not be in vain. He, and they, knew it was a suicide mission. There wouldn’t be time to recover the fighters before they jumped. Unless they rendezvoused with the decoys, they didn’t have enough lifesupport to last until reinforcements had arrived. “All ships. Make for the jump point.” He took his hand off the key and turned to Bichard. “Contact the decoys, let them know what’s happening and to get back here.”

  “Sensor contact,” Acknit hollered. “It’s transport 501.”

  Bridge, UCSBTS-27501

  Alieha stared at the sensor image. She shook with rage as she drove the transport towards her target. A shuddering vibration ran through the ship again. Alieha’s last ditch maneuver had saved them from destruction, but the torpedo had still caused tremendous damage. The glancing blow had ripped open the side of the ship and had sheared away half of the spin rings and thermal radiators. Even the bridge lay open to space.

  Not that any of that mattered anymore. She was dead no matter what she did. Her suit had closed and sealed on impact. It had also sealed the holes punched in it by the shrapnel and debris from the collision. Her body however, was not able to self-repair. She could feel the effects of the rapid decompression and the leaking bodily fluids inside her suit. Officer Marmeh and Cadet Oric were gone.

  She made a minute adjustment to her course. The Gorvian thought themselves so clever, using multiple slipstream bulbs to turn and move almost as fast a slipstream torpedo. But she cleverer. She had taken their idea and turned it against them. Small though they might be, she had eight slipstream bulbs at her disposal: four aboard the two fighters and four more in the shuttles. She used them to turn her transport and follow the corvette at .8 light.

  Her sensors lit up. The corvette had brought its beam cannon to bear for one last strike against the Gudell. Alieha made an adjustment, bleeding away the dark energy but retaining the ship’s speed. There was nothing even she could do now. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. “I loved you Arion. I know that for certain now.”

  She felt tears form in her eyes, such a strange feeling. Then she felt a tickle, a feeling of some other presence near her. She opened her eyes, saw her first orb. “Did I do good?”

  The orb twinkled back at her.

  “I don’t understand, but maybe Marda was right. Maybe…”