Page 7

“Matzen! Dive! Dive now!” Jack cried.

Matzen’s ship was between the Osiris and a Hive. The Thaf’ell warrior had played a game of tag with the Hive, coming near enough to excite the Khul that they had a chance to take out the lead ship of the Alliance. The Khul had chased right into range of the Osiris’ main weapon. Matzen’s ship dove and the Osiris fired.

The Khul realized their mistake at the last moment, but they could not retreat out of range in time. Instead, the searing golden beam bored into the Hive’s center. Like a paper wasp’s hive the hull of the Hive glowed gold and peeled back as it burned away. Jack could see a slice of black space on the other side. The destruction radiated out until the Hive sheared in two and debris--and Khul--were ejected into space.

Matzen appeared on the comm, still bloody, but with a faint smile on his lips. Jack took that for a wild grin on someone else.

“Good job, Matzen,” Jack said.

“There are still three Hives and you only have two shots left, I believe. The math has not changed,” Matzen reminded him. “And the other three are keeping well away from each other and the Osiris.”

Just like a logical Thaf’ell to douse us all with cold water, Jack thought.

“What is the status of your ships and the others?” Jack asked. “I thought I saw a new hole in your skin after that last chase.”

Matzen looked bland and his voice was even as he answered, “One more shot and I fear my ship will not survive it. As to the others, the Orsan and Lantuk have the most shield capacity at 47% and 35%. The Orsan is down to one engine and the Lantuk has lost its most experienced pilot. The others are just managing to keep their crews alive and out of Hive range, but I am not certain how long they will succeed at this.”

“So, basically, the Orsan and Lantuk have one to three hits left they can take before it's the end for them? And the others have even less?” Jack confirmed.

Matzen gave a nod. “Without the Osiris and your son having strengthened the planetary defenses, I fear that Haseon would already be overrun.”

“True, but my son and the Osiris are here, so let’s not think of an alternative reality where we aren’t,” Jack said. “You can thank me over whatever alcoholic beverages the Thaf’ell drink after this.”

“If we survive, it will be a time for celebration, but also much work. So we may have one beverage,” Matzen offered.

Jack’s lips twitched into a smile. “One it is, and then back to work. Okay, here’s the plan. Have all the ships converge on the Osiris. We are going to go low, as close to the Big Gun as possible,” Jack said. “The Hives don’t want to come near us so they’ll be safer.”

“They will also all be in one spot,” Matzen pointed out, but he sent the commands anyway. That was one “good” thing about Thaf’ell. Once they agreed he was leading, they would follow his craziest commands.

“I know. I’m counting on the Khul being too eager to get a kill to hang back,” Jack answered. “We need them to come close to us and your ships--”

“Are the prey in the trap?” Matzen lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, I can see the value in this.”

Jack contacted Diane and filled her in on the plan. She nodded.

“Our shields are at 60%, better than theirs, and all our engines are working,” she said. “We’ll help protect them as well.”

Jack swallowed the words that wanted to come out of his mouth then about how he didn’t want her ship anywhere near the fighting. Instead, he said, “We’re trying to lure them to us and that gun down there. The math is still not in our favor. We need them close and together.”

Unless we use our shields to fire one more shot…

“Understood.” Diane nodded, then a smile quirked her lips. “I could have sworn you were going to say something else.”

“If I had, would you have done anything different?” Jack asked.

“If it was you asking me to stay safe while everyone else faces danger, no.” She smiled at him. “Is there no chance that some of the worse off ships can get on the other side of the planetary shield?”

He shook his head. “Everything’s still locked down on our end and we can’t reach anyone on the planet to take down a part of the shield. And as the Osiris just reminded me, we cannot risk another Khul ship slipping down too.”

His eyes swung over to the array of small Khul ships that hovered just outside of the shield. They gave the planetary defenses a wide berth, but still. They were fast and agile and one or more could slip inside.

“Has the Osiris or Dai come up with any other plan about the math problem?” Diane asked.

The AI on the ship was communicating to him in only short sentences. One word or less. It was like it knew that if it spoke more that would give him an opportunity to argue his case that they needed to fuel another blast from their main weapon with the shields.

“No, I’m going to check in with Dai again, but I’m sure it will be like the last ten times I asked,” Jack responded. “The shields are the only way.”

No, the Osiris said.