Synthesis, p.37
Synthesis, page 37
“Kayden, there are 16 Black Company ships remaining in the kill zone: 8 frigates, 4 corvettes, 3 destroyers, and a cruiser. The carrier continues to deploy interceptors and bombers from long range.”
“What about the battleship?”
“The battleship has retreated from the system. It appears they are unwilling to risk their flagship.”
Kayden nodded, and Ali continued. “The Black Company fleet is rallying and moving towards Port Vega. At current speed, they will engage the Port Vega defense fleet in approximately 5 minutes.”
“When is Ashley going to be here?” Kayden asked.
“15 minutes.”
“Fuck.” Kayden replied, spinning the ship and bearing down on a bomber. He watched several explosions bloom around him as both Selina and Dawn shot down more enemies. “We needed more of them to be taken out by the missiles. In 10 minutes, they’ll tear through those corvettes – and we need them intact for the counterattack. We have to slow them down.”
Anna looked up at Kayden, her face a mask of concentration. “I’ve got an idea!”
“What?”
She placed a navigational beacon on their shared tactical map for him to follow. “Get to that point!” She said, unbuckling herself and running out of the room. “No time to explain!”
Trusting her, Kayden focused on the NAV point. It was a Black Company frigate which had been disabled. While the frame was still mostly intact, as he closed the distance he saw that several holes had been punched cleanly through the ship, and sensors showed that there was no more atmosphere left inside – only a faint power signature from a failing engine.
“Get me right on top of it, then open up the cargo bay!” Anna said over the radio.
“Wait, what?!” Kayden replied.
“I’m doing a hard drop, just trust me!”
Shaking his head, he positioned them 5 meters away from the slowly-rotating frame of the ship and opened the cargo bay. He watched on sensors as Anna’s spacesuit-clad body dropped in the slow-motion of zero-gravity onto the hull, her magnetic boots locking her to it as she did. “I’m good!” She shouted, beginning a careful walk along its length.
“Kayden, we’ve got trouble.” Dawn said nervously. “Bombers are tracking us, 2 o’clock, high. They’re going to be on top of us in 30 seconds.”
“Shit. Anna, get back here!” Kayden said over the radio.
“I’m fine! You take care of the bombers and pick me up after!” She replied.
“Fuck!” Kayden swore, peeling away from the ship. He swung around to face the bombers, angling towards the lead one. Selina and Dawn began firing almost immediately, their combined projectile and energy rounds shredding its bulky, armoured frame. Good thing Port Vega gave us extra ammo. Kayden thought as he tracked down the second bomber.
He pitched the ship to the right, allowing Selina to strafe the bomber as they passed each other in the void. Partially cutting one of the engines, he gave his best impression of splitting the throttles in the frigate as he spun around, ending up directly behind the bomber. Dawn finished it off with projectile rounds as he watched the 3rd bomber break off to find easier targets.
“I’m done!” Anna announced on the radio. “Setting a new NAV point – pick me up there!”
“Anna, that’s… there’s nothing around there.”
“I know! You’ll have to catch me!”
Without giving him any more time to think about it, Kayden watched with horror as the sensors showing Anna’s position shot away from the ship. Dawn gasped as she saw it too. “Did you just jump?” She shouted at Anna.
“Waahoo!” Anna whooped as she sailed through the void.
Kayden raced towards her signal, opening the cargo bay doors and activating the reverse thrusters as he neared her. He was very cognizant of the fact that if he caught her too quickly, she’d be smeared across the walls of the cargo bay. If he moved too slowly though, he’d miss her and she’d bounce off the hull of the ship. He had to time the manoeuvre perfectly.
Fortunately for Anna, Kayden was a very good pilot. Like someone catching a ball in a glove, he gently moved the ship around her until she was back in the cargo bay. “Good catch!” She said over the radio, as he closed the doors around her.
Moments later, she was back on the bridge. She tore off her helmet and raced forward to him, kissing him as she did. “That was such a fucking rush!”
“You crazy fucking goblin!” He roared. “What the fuck was that about?”
“Careful Kayden.” She replied with a smirk. “It seems like you’re starting to care about me.”
“I do care about you!” He replied indignantly.
“I know you do.” She said. “I just like to hear it. Now come on, we’ve only got a few seconds until they engage the corvettes. Ali, dump all the contents of my secret folder onto their comms network!”
“Kayden?” Ali questioned.
“Do it!” Kayden confirmed.
“Done.” Ali said.
The Black Company ships finally came into range of the Port Vega corvettes. The initial salvo from both sides lit up the void behind them – energy rounds and missiles were traded back and forth, blooming like stars in the night sky. They watched with horror as the barrage from the enemy fleet closed in on the smaller group of Port Vega defenders, and Kayden was sure they’d be obliterated.
As if by some miracle, the vast majority of the Black Company’s combined munitions went wide – missing the defenders by mere meters in some cases. By contrast, the defenders attacks struck true, taking down several of the Black Company ships. Kayden turned incredulously to Anna, who was smirking.
“Was that you?” Kayden asked.
“Yup! Black Company ships have a joint targeting sensor network. Individually, their sensors are weak, but together they’re able to be very accurate – much more so than most other ships. But if you flood their comms network with junk data, it prevents them from communicating with each other – so they can’t talk, and they can’t form the sensor network.”
“That’s brilliant!” Kayden said, kissing Anna. “How did you think of that?”
“Used it a few times as part of the Void Devils. Never on this scale though.”
“What…exactly did you flood their network with?” Dawn asked hesitantly.
“I used the data from my secret stash.” Anna responded, blushing slightly.
“And what data was that?”
“It appears to be over 100 exabytes of trans-human porn.” Ali chimed in cheerfully, displaying some of it in the corner of a screen. An image of two cat-girls rubbing themselves against each other turned into two lizard-men rutting, which in turn turned into an image of a full-blown goblin orgy. “It will take several minutes for them to sort through.”
“Wait. Did she just DDOS them…with porn?” Dawn asked, cracking up laughing.
Kayden and Selina couldn’t help but laugh too. Even though they were in the middle of a warzone, the thought of using porn to knock out their targeting and communications was just too funny. They quickly refocused though, flying back towards the space dogfight unfolding around Port Vega and beginning to shoot down several more bombers.
“Kayden, Ashley will emerge with the rest of the fleet in the next 5 minutes. She will emerge near the carrier though, and will have to contend with it before she is able to assist the fleet.” Ali said.
“Is the carrier still deploying interceptors or bombers?”
“No – it appears they have deployed all squadrons.” Ali responded. “However, the carrier itself is still heavily armed and armoured.”
“Good. Turn on the stealth drive. We’re going in.” Kayden said, grinning.
Pushing the engines, they raced towards the carrier. As he flew, he had to dodge and weave in and out of the kill zone – the debris from the destroyed Black Company ships was spread everywhere. Behind him, the Port Vega corvettes managed to take down all three of the Black Company destroyers, and the few remaining functional defense turrets on the asteroid were concentrating their fire on the cruiser. They appeared to be recovering from the cyberattack though – he saw that several of their shots were now connecting with the defenders, their shields flashing as they absorbed the impacts.
We’ve almost won. Kayden thought to himself. One final push, then we’ll have them.
“I’m really hoping you have a plan!” Dawn said as they closed the distance to the carrier.
“Yes!” Kayden replied, seeing that they had left their hangar door open.
“Are you going to share it?” Selina asked.
“See that hangar? We’re going inside.” Kayden said.
“What?” Dawn questioned.
“You’re crazy!” Selina added.
“This is fucking awesome!” Anna yelled, as if it were the best day of her life.
As they got closer and closer, the Black Company sensors finally pierced the veil of their cloak and locked onto them. Seeing that the yawning carrier door was still open, Kayden pushed the engines as fast as they would go. Too late assholes. He thought to himself. Far too late.
The Broken Shackle was just small enough to fit through the hangar doors. Kayden killed their momentum the second they were inside, taking in the view around them for a moment. There were many Black Company employees standing inside, frozen in place as if they didn’t fully comprehend what had just happened.
Scanning around, Kayden quickly found what he was looking for and marked it for his 3 women on the tactical map. “There!” He shouted. “Shoot that thing!”
Anna was fastest on the uptake, but she was quickly joined by Dawn and Selina. Together they unleashed a barrage of projectile and energy rounds against his target, which quickly blossomed into an explosion that rocked the ship. The explosion itself triggered another one beside it, as well as a third behind it. “What the hell did we shoot?” Anna shouted.
“Their munitions depot!” Kayden replied, orienting the ship towards the hangar door.
Punching the accelerator again, they sped out the hangar door as a chain reaction of explosions pushed them even faster. They tumbled end-over-end several times, their shields absorbing the brunt of it. Kayden frantically reoriented them, and was grateful when he saw the inky blackness of space surrounding them – they’d made it out.
Changing the view screen, he continued to retreat from the carrier as he watched a series of explosions rip through it. They blew cleanly through several sections of the ship, venting atmosphere as they did. The frame of the ship seemed to shudder and shake, looking like it was about to fall apart.
As if on cue, Ashley and the rest of Kayden’s recovered fleet dropped out of hyperspace behind the carrier. With a moment’s hesitation, they began firing projectile rounds through the wounded ship. There was a token resistance as the gunners on the carrier attempted to return fire, but it lasted only moments – the barrage of fire from the new ships combined with the continued internal explosions was too much, and after only about a minute the carrier cracked into several pieces.
“Perfect timing Ashley!” Kayden said over the radio.
Ashely’s face appeared on the view screen. “Glad to help! We’ve got these sons of bitches dead to rights now – we’re advancing through the kill zone, and we’ll pin them against Port Vega.”
“Sounds good to me! We’ll join!” Kayden replied.
“Wait! We’re getting another transmission.” Dawn interrupted. “This one’s from the Black Company cruiser!”
“On screen.” Kayden ordered.
A new face appeared alongside Ashley. The man was wearing a cleanly pressed black uniform, and his bald head reflected the dim red light surrounding him. His blue eyes locked onto the camera as he began to speak. “This is Captain Yuri Petrov of the Black Company cruiser Undaunted. I seek to parlay with your commanding officer, for the purposes of offering our surrender.”
Chapter 34
08:29, June 13th, 2134
Kayden sat in a boardroom of the former Black Company headquarters on Port Vega. On the surface, Beth Weir’s choice of location on where to run her interim government was an odd one, but Kayden had learned it made sense from both a symbolic and practical perspective. Symbolically, it showed that the old Black Company was gone, and the new government was replacing the physical space it inhabited as well as the power vacuum which was left behind. Practically, it was one of the first buildings captured by the rioters and mutineers – meaning that it was largely spared from the fighting involving tanks and spacecraft. The hangar, communications equipment, and most of the amenities were still intact, making it a good choice of location from which to organise a government.
It still makes me feel weird though. Kayden thought to himself.
He wasn’t given long to dwell on the subject. His thoughts were interrupted as Beth Weir walked into the room. His military training kicked in and he stood, along with Dawn, Anna, Selina, and Ashley. Weir was flanked by several attendants, none of whom looked like they’d slept in the last few days. She motioned for them to sit, and started the meeting without any preamble.
“Here’s the update: we’ve managed to recover the cruiser, a pair of frigates, and a pair of corvettes. The remainder of their ships who surrendered are too heavily damaged to be repaired quickly – we’re salvaging them for parts.”
“And their crews?” Kayden asked.
“Being processed as prisoners of war, as you requested. We’ve created a makeshift work camp helping rebuild Port Vega. They’ll be put to work there, but they’ll receive housing as well as 3 square meals. We’ll treat them fairly.” She responded.
“How about the status of the rest of your fleet?” Ashley asked.
“5 of our corvettes are relatively unscathed, and will be ready to move out in the next 24 hours. The rest of our ships will need more extensive repairs.”
“What’s the total count Ashley?” Kayden asked.
“Adding Port Vega’s forces to ours, we’ve got 3 cruisers, 7 corvettes, 2 destroyers, and 9 frigates.” She responded.
“Is it enough?” Kayden pressed her.
“It should be. We dealt their fleet a serious blow last night, but that doesn’t mean they’re defenseless. According to Selina’s intel, there’s still at least 10 Black Company ships who didn’t take part in the battle, plus the battleship and their defense cannons. We’ll also need to worry about their interceptor and bomber squadrons – we don’t have enough corvettes and frigates to act as an effective screening force, and we don’t have a carrier of our own to launch fighters from.”
Kayden furrowed his brow. “I don’t like the idea of going in without fighter cover. Do you remember that one op we did, out in the Gamma Draconis system where we didn’t have a carrier?”
“The one where we strapped fighters to the side of a cruiser?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah. Can we do that again?”
“They wouldn’t be able to rearm, refuel, or resupply, but…yeah, we could try that.”
“We could attach them using magnetic clamps!” Anna interjected. “I can draw up the plans and get them sent to the shipyards.”
“Do it.” Kayden said. “Ms. Weir, I-”
“Please, just Beth.” She interrupted, waving her hands.
“Beth, I need your help rearming and resupplying all the ships we’ve got. The longer we wait, the more chance they’ll have to reinforce their position. We need to hit them as soon as possible.”
She nodded to one of her attendants, who promptly began typing something into a tablet as he walked out of the room. “You’ll have full rein of every shipyard on this rock. Do whatever you need to.”
Beth stood abruptly, nodding to him before leaving the room without another word. Her attendants followed as Kayden turned to the 4 women. “What we’re going to do is dangerous. If any of you want out, I won’t hold it against you.”
“Kayden, this isn’t your fight alone.” Dawn said.
“We’ve got just as much reason to want to take out the Black Company as you do.” Selina added. “They imprisoned me, remember?”
“Me too.” Ashley added.
“I really don’t feel like I need to justify my revenge story here.” Anna said.
“Besides you heard Malachi Black.” Dawn continued. “He’s not going to stop until he controls all the free colonies. Eventually he’ll figure out the hyperlane coordinates for Sanctuary, and he’ll come for us there too. This is our chance to take them out before that happens.”
“Alright.” Kayden said, raising his hands. “I just didn’t want to force you into something.”
“We’re with you.” Selina said, grinning. “We’ll see this through together.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go check on the status of the repairs.” Ashley volunteered, before Kayden could say anything more. “I also want to make sure the Emancipation gets the work it needs done.”
“Thanks Ashley.” He said as she left the room. Kayden looked at his 3 women – each of them with determined looks on their faces. In that moment, he felt a wave of protectiveness and love crash over him. How did I get so lucky to be with such amazing women? He thought to himself.
“It looks like we’re going to have a little time for R&R.” He said, grinning. “I want to spend some 1:1 time with each of you today, if you’re okay with it.”
And a little time with you Ali. He ‘said’ to her.
“I call first date!” Selina shouted, grinning.
“Aww.” Anna said. “Okay, I’ll take the 2nd date then.”
“I’ll take 3rd.” Dawn added. “I’ve got some running around I want to do anyways.”
[“I don’t mind being last.”] Ali finished.
“It’s settled then.” Kayden said, standing and taking Selina’s hand. “Anna, I’ll give you a call around noon when we’re done? And Dawn, how about 5pm?”
Selina and Kayden both kissed Dawn and Anna goodbye, then headed to the transport tube. “So, where are we going?” Selina asked, her smile broad.
“I know you haven’t been back to Port Vega since… well, you know.”
