Chapter 13 - Spectators at a Bull Fight

Just then the AI started to sound an alert. "We have ship entry jump points forming."

"One or two," James shouted as he stood up, carefully lifting me up and setting me down as he did.

"Three," the AI stated. "One is along the vector leading to Borneo. The other two ships jumped from within Sa'arm controlled space."

My master barely paused. "Tyson, Linus, to the gun controls. I'll take laser one, gunners, get to the laser chambers and suit up. Tam, Tif, get to the command center and get us information."

Everyone was immediately in motion. James was one of the first out. Janice and I dashed after him. Behind, I could hear Yvette giving additional orders.

I caught up with James at the airlock leading to the laser room. Tyson followed us in. "Well, I guess we're now getting some excitement," he said.

My master said nothing, only nodded as the door to laser one opened. We all dashed inside, Janice and I sprinting to the armor rack to pull out my master's battle armor. He sprinted to the armoring chair as Tyson began cycling the weapon.

"I've got tracking fully up," Tamara said. "The Confed ship isn't a corvette, the jump pattern isn't right. Probably a battlecruiser."

"What about the other ships?" James asked as Janice tossed the armor undergarments at him.

"I don't recognize the patterns at all," Tamara said. "I don't think they are hive spheres, but they are bigger than the scout we saw when we were first visited. They will emerge in ten. The Confed ship in about four."

My master had removed his regular garments and was slipping the armor undergarments on. The pants went on smoothly, but the stiff shoulders of the shirt were giving him trouble. I was going to alert Janice when Kitty and Cleo dashed in. They rushed up to James and started pulling the armor down.

"Fred's already getting his armor on," Kitty said. "We saw Brad and Debby rushing this way. They said they will get into armor as reserve."

"Good," James said, as the finally got the shirt settled. He stood up and accepted the first armor plates.

The next few minutes passed in a series of grunts and groans as Janice, Kitty, Cleo and I brought over pieces of armor and helped James put them on. We worked at a frantic pace, but I had no idea how fast until I carried over the helmet.

"I've got a clear signal from the Confed ship," Tiffany shouted. "It's Freya."

Tyson whistled. "Wait, a Goddess Class arrived here with working communications?"

James and Tyson both laughed. My master was activating the seal test on the armor. So far everything had gone smoothly. In the corner of my eye I could see Kitty and Cleo collapse at the front of the armor rack, gasping for breath.

"Good communications, and reporting no damage," Tiffany said. "Commander Tanya Walker reports that she jumped here after a raid at Wolf three-six-seven. She took the ship a bit too deep into the system."

"So she could have fought her way out, or jumped here," James said with a nod. The seal test display had come up all green and he was now relaxing in the chair, his helmet on his lap.

"Exactly," Tiffany responded. "She was going to ask for one day of rest for her crew, but...."

"I have a good scan on the Sa'arm vessels. The Confed calls them Volturnus class. They outmass Freya by quite a bit," Tamara said.

"Don't worry," a new voice called out. It was silky, feminine and confident. "My einherjar will take care of them."

"Your what?" Tiffany called out over the comm.

The response was a laugh. It was a silky, feminine and smoky laugh full of amusement. "I have forty feisty fighters sitting in hamster balls running around the surface of my ship. In myth Freya led the valkyries in choosing valiant warriors to take to Valhalla. Those warriors joined the einherjar. I figured my gun crews deserved the name."

"Damn, I have to meet the owner of that voice," Tyson said quietly. Cleo stomped over to him and smacked him on the arm. He swept her onto his lap as he continued to check the laser function.

"Freya is turning to engage the Sa'arm ships," Tamara called out.

"Tyson, how's the laser looking?" James asked.

"All green and ready to fire," Tyson said. "I've ghosted the main tracking to see where the Sa'arm are. Right now they are still too far for a reasonable shot. We need to allow them to come closer before we send the lasers up."

"I concur with that assessment," Linus said. "You might manage to hit them from this distance, but even if you did, damage would be minimal."

James nodded. Just then the silky voice broke through. "Einherjar, it's time to earn our pay again. Aesir team, you get target one, Vanir, you have target two. Thanes help as you can. Jarls are on defense."

There was silence for a moment. Then we could hear soft chatter in the background. I tried to make it out, but Tiffany interrupted it. "James, we can hear Freya's tactical frequency. Do you want me to route that through the loudspeakers?"

"It will be like listening to every player on a football field," James said with a groan. "Do it anyway. We might get an idea of what we need to do."

"Medical is up," Shawna said, cutting in.

"Teleport room is functional," Terrence said. "Please note that Freya is too far for me to perform a teleport draw. They'd have to have power for me to grab anyone."

"You won't need it," the silky voice commented. "Now I don't know who does what on your little planet, but please only chatter if it's part of the fight. The Einherjar need the channel."

"Understood," Tiffany said. "James, I've sent a pulse to Borneo to alert them. No response so far."

"Keep me posted. I'm on standby at laser one."

I was going to say more, but Debby burst in followed by her concubine Orlando. He walked over to the armor rack, but then paused, confused, so Janice and I began to help him. We concentrated on that for the next few minutes.

"The Volturnus ships are launching missiles at Freya," Tyson reported. "Long range, but even at this range I count at least sixty missile traces."

Just then the speaker started squawking loudly.

"Jarl Three, you've got port side high. Four and Seven back up Three. Two, take port low, Six will support. Eight you have starboard high."

"All Thanes cluster at the bow, I want a wall of particle beams when the missiles first are in range."

"Aesir, target one is breaking to port, probably going to try to set up a broadside. I want it to glow as soon as we can range on it."

"ECM activating in three...two...one..."

"ECM burst. Twenty missiles have lost lock, repeat two zero have lost lock."

"Fire as soon as a missile is in range, we only have time for four shots before they hit us."

Activity in the laser room paused. We looked over at Tyson who counted missiles on his small tracking screen, counting off each one destroyed. He got down to ten and then sighed and sat back. "They just got all ten at once. Sixty missiles and not one got through."

"And Freya is a new ship," James said. "I think she's got to be on her first or second patrol."

I wanted to ask more, but Tyson sat up again. "More missiles from target two, looks like twenty this time. Target one has been closing, they should be in range of Freya's weapons in thirty seconds.

The speaker continued to squawk a constant litany of comments.

"Jarls! The missiles are headed for the starboard stern, get over there fast!"

"We have reaction cannon firing from target one!"

"Aesir! Fire at will! We need to stop those cannons!"

"Helm, come starboard thirty degrees, close the gap with target two! Este, your guns won't stop reaction shells. We need to take out both targets fast!"

"On it! Vanir, target two is still out of range, join the Aesir and take out target one!"

James looked over at Tyson. "Can we help at all?"

Tyson shook his head. "They are still just outside the orbit of Kali!"

"Kali?" I heard Fred call out over the private channel used in the laser rooms. "They are that far out. Could they have been trying a stealthy entry to the system?"

"Nope," Tyson said. "They would have to have been quite a bit further out. As it is, they did manage to find a vector that we didn't have covered with our system defenses."

Everyone sat quietly again. The confusion of voices calmed for just a moment, but as I slid over to whisper to Janice, the voices from the speaker rose in pitch again.

"Lucy! Este! Thane one just took a hit!"

"Amy! Aesir three, respond!"

"Vanir two and four just went red! Looks like a shell hit directly between them!"

"We have damage at the rear elevator!"

"I've lost power! Grid integrity at port seven is down to fifteen percent!"

"Hit on target one! Vector change suggests massive decompression!"

"Target two just increased speed. She'll be in range in five seconds!"

"Commander, we only have Jarls two, seven and nine on the starboard side at the moment. It won't be enough."

The last comment generated a chorus of responses. All signaling that they were breaking off from target one to range on target two. I looked over at Tyson, but he was shaking his head.

"Target one has no energy signature. Don't ask me how, but Freya took her out," he said.

"Not completely," Tamara said. "But target one is definitely out of the fight. Louis says he can send a missile swarm at it from our defenses in about forty minutes; he wants to be sure it's dead."

James stood up and moved over to the display. He looked at Tyson who shrugged. "Don't look at me," Tyson said. "I don't know enough about the ships to tell which one has the advantage."

Both men looked up at the speaker, and I realized that the rapid and frantic battle calls were still going out.

"Breach in the grid at starboard six. Vanir seven is not responding."

"Thane six and nine, report status!"

"Este! How are we doing?" the commander's voice cut in.

"Eight guns definitely down, nine more damaged but moving. We can't get responses from five others. Can you start recovery on the port side?"

"Both elevators are now down. That last volley from target two killed the one in the bow. Damage control needs five minutes."

"Some of my gunners might not have five minutes!"

"Target turning to show broadside."

"Fuck! Scans show heavy particle beam cannons! We can't let it fire!"

The last comment was followed by a scream of primal fury. It silenced all other chatter. The silence and the scream seemed to go on forever and then there was a cry of anguish.

"Maxine! Dear god, her gun overloaded!"

"Tanya!"

"Vincent! Get the bow elevator open now! I don't care if you have to use space suits. I want a recovery team to Thane seven's last known location on the grid in the next minute!" the commander's voice rang out.

The immediate response was a deep boom. I realized I was holding my breath.

"All Einherjar, this is Einherjar one. Use group links to call in. Group captains, I need a roll call." I heard the voice of Este call out tiredly.

"What about target two?" Janice asked, looking over at Tyson.

"Dust," he said quietly. "Fifty seconds of continuous particle beam fire at the same location tends to break things."

"Is that what happened?" Debby asked as she stood up in her armor.

James nodded. "At least that's what it looks like. Hard to say, but the only way to overload a particle beam cannon is to fire it continuously for about a minute. And our friend screamed for fifty seconds over the communications link before we heard the whisper that a gun had overloaded."

"So fast,' Orlando said.

"Forty seven minutes from first shot to the finish," Tyson reported. "It just seemed fast because of the chatter of the gunners."

I wanted to say more, but the silky voice was back. "Ishtar control. We have casualties. Can you accept a teleport?"

"We are ready to handle a teleport. How many?"

"Three so far," the voice said. "We're still getting a count."

James waved for Janice and I to help him out of his armor. "Terrence, get the teleport link running. Shawna..."

"On it," I heard Shawna reply. "My hunky concubine is already heading to the teleport room with gurneys."

James nodded and sat down. I jumped to start removing the armor. Overhead the speaker continued to squawk.

"This is Aesir one, Aesirs five, seven and eight are down. Amy has just got three running again, but she had a power surge take out all her computer support and communications. We found her visually. All other Aesirs report operational.

"This is Vanir one, Vanir two, five, seven and eight are down. Jason in five and Horace in eight are confirmed dead. Four has no cannon, but has managed to move to the stern elevator for recovery.

"This is Thane two. Lucy in Thane one is dead; her gun took a direct hit from a shell. Thanes three, six, nine and ten all report heavy damage, but are mobile and will move to the stern elevator for recovery."

"This is Jarl one, Maxine overloaded her gun in Jarl three. Vincent has a recovery team at her gun. Jarl four and seven are down. Douglas from Jarl four is confirmed dead. All others report operational, but all have at least minor damage.

"Thanks," the tired voice of Este rang out. "Einherjar, Aesir and Vanir will gather at the bow elevator, Jarl and Thane will move to the stern. Priority should be given to damaged guns. Commander Walker, I have the status report."

"I heard," the silky voice rang out. "Four confirmed dead, and eleven guns out. Bad, but it could have been worse."

"Those two ships fought stupidly," Este said. "They never seemed to throw their full weight of fire."

"Volturnus class are normally freighters," Tanya said tiredly. "Considering the planets here, they probably were here to deliver an attack on Ishtar and the colony there."

"And we thank you from the bottom of our tunnels that they never got the opportunity," James said as he removed the last piece of armor. "We should have your first three crewmen into our medical pods. We have five more pods, and a couple of our citizens are trained in emergency medicine. They can't bring back the dead, but we can stabilize some injuries until a medical pod opens up."

"I have two more for pods," a crusty voice called out. "One is critical. Anne, can you get a portable teleport pad out here. Maxine is alive, but we need to teleport her straight to a pod."

"What's the problem?" Shawna asked over the link.

"I've got two shards of her gunball piercing her abdomen like some kind of spear. The suit sealed around the punctures, but moving her will tear the suit," the man said.

"We don't have anything we can use!" I heard another voice say.

"Maggie!" James called out. "Get to command and get the teleport pod running. Shawna, you or Donna needs to suit up. We'll teleport you to the damaged gunball and you can help Vincent cut the girl free."

"James, even if Freya turns and starts to move toward us, you are talking forty minutes at the top speed of our mobile teleport. Can Maxine last that long?" Tamara asked.

"I don't know," Vincent said. "But it's better than the alternative. Maxine's suit is holding and her nanites appear to be keeping the pain and bleeding down. Do that, I'll have one of my people keep a beacon on so you can route your teleport."

"On it!" I heard Shawna say. James was now working on putting on his usual uniform. Debby had also slipped her armor off and was helping Orlando put it back on the rack.

"James," I heard Yvette's voice call out. "We need to contact Borneo and give them a full report."

"On my way!" my master called out. He assisted Janice and Kitty in putting his armor back on the rack and then headed to the door. I raced after him, joining my sister concubines as he entered the laser room airlock. Tyson and Debby joined us as the door closed with a hiss.

"Well, we didn't have to shoot anyone today," Tyson said with a laugh.

"We might still have problems," James reminded. "Freya is a new ship with a new crew. I'm not sure how receptive they will be to our rules down here."

Tyson shrugged. "You'll handle it. You always do."

The door exiting the laser room opened, allowing us into the hallway. Tyson grabbed Cleo and stepped out of the chamber. Then he danced off with her, his feet moving to music no one else could hear. Kitty and Janice giggled as we watched him twirl and spin her down the corridor.

James turned the other direction and started jogging towards the command center. I scurried after him as he sped through the currently empty tunnels. Above, I could hear communications with Freya continuing.

"My crews will have the bow elevator working in five," I heard Vincent call. "The stern one will take another ten minutes. Some of the circuitry is burnt out, and I don't have enough personnel trained in that kind of repair."

"Understood," the silky voice of the commander rang out. "Ishtar. We have done as complete a roll call as I can right now. I have one more to send to your pods, which should fill six of your medical pods. Also if you can really handle injuries without pods, we have nine concubines with bruises and broken bones. Their refuge took some damage from a secondary explosion after Maxine's gunball overloaded."

"So that makes three more to transfer to medical pods and then Maxine once we can get the teleport pod there?" Ed asked.

"Yes," The commander responded. "And the concubines if you can."

"Terrence? How is the teleport link?" James called out as he entered the command post. I followed closely behind, sprinting to the far wall and taking a seat on a bench that had been added after the visit of Tintagel Castle.

"Solid," Terrence said. "Any sign of additional Sa'arm ships?"

"None," Tamara reported. "The missile salvo from our system defense platforms destroyed target one. No sign of any escape craft."

"Someday the Sa'arm will stop visiting," James muttered.

"Well you think you'll find a way to post a big sign to warn them away?" Yvette asked?