Read Online This Starry Deep by Adam P. Knave - Free Book Online Page B

watched as Highball made a sharp cut - his engines must have screamed bloody murder at him for the move - as he shifted around to close in on Echo Chamber. I couldn’t see the actual ships, but the way that the light indicating the enemy ship had just reversed, I could only begin to imagine how the engines must be able to rotate fully around and what kind of stress that would put not only on the pilot but on the ship itself.
    Regardless of stress, the ship had reversed itself and took out Highball. I watched the light marking his position go out, listened to the cries of shock. Those cries were quickly followed by a stone-cold death confirmation by Deep Water. Bushfield was a pro. Of course she was. Same with the rest of her group.
    As Highball died, hopefully quick enough that he didn’t feel it, Echo Chamber turned around and started to fire. The enemy ship followed Highball to the grave. No one cheered.
    “This is Deep Water to strike group. Reform and wedge. Repeat, reform on me.”
    “Deep Water, this is Captain Madison: don’t do it.”
    “Repeat, Captain?”
    “Don’t form up, they’re too fast for you to wedge through. Stay loose and pick them off.”
    “Sir,” she told me, “they’re swarming. Honest-to-God swarming. If we try a pick-off they’ll weed us out. If we form up we can cover each other.”
    “Damn it, this is an order. Stay loose!”
    “Negative, Deep Water out.”
    I looked at Hodges, who only scowled once again. “Hodges, damn it, they’re going to suicide if they try this!”
    “Captain Madison,” he said, “you’re here to advise, not demand.”
    “I’m here to make sure these kids don’t die!”
    “Stand down, Captain.” And with that Hodge straightened, removing his hands from the edge of the table. I wanted to punch the wall. Or Hodges. Maybe both.
    Instead I watched the board. The ships were forming up, quickly, as the enemy moved around them. If the enemy was following a pattern in their movements, it wasn’t immediately apparent. I could sense something at the edges of it, though. Obvious pattern or not, the movements didn’t look good.
    “Hodges,” I asked, keeping my voice cool, “what planet are they coming up on, anyway? How far out is this wave?”
    “Trasker Four,” he said, not bothering to look at me.
    “That’s a system and a half out,” I said, “there’s no way we’ll get there in time to provide assistance to the strike group.”
    “They won’t need it, Captain,” Hodges said.
    We went back to watching the board and listening in to the group’s chatter. It didn’t matter. What we were listening to, it became obvious, would be a live recording of their last moments alive. Boxed in, not able to re-scatter fast enough, they were being picked off by the enemy ships that outclassed them handily in speed and maneuverability.
    I didn’t want to watch, not from afar. I wanted to be in it, then maybe I could make a difference. But from where I was, what good could I do? None, just hearing orders barked and radios squelch as they exploded. I tried to give advice, but my options were as limited as theirs. More so, really. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t see and I couldn’t help and all I could do was try desperate attempts at second-handing a battle strategy against an enemy I didn’t understand.
    A muscle in the corner of my jaw twitched and I felt my anger rise again. Hodges. If he had given me all of his data, maybe this would have played out differently. His secrets, whatever his agenda was, were costing a lot of good men and women their lives. They also cost me time I could be looking for Shae. Unacceptable.
    Hitting him just then wouldn’t have solved anything, though. As much as I wished different. But something else might work.
    “Deep Water, this is Madison. Do they follow you?”
    “Are you…Yes, sir. They follow us.” I knew she wouldn’t like this next part.
    “I need you to lead them away from Trasker Four. Can you force them