"Okay, I can see the stars! I can navigate manually!" Aaen said subtly. The main viewscreen gradually cleared—it showed most of a planetoid in daylight resembling Saturn, minus the rings, and a bright yellow star towards the upper-right-hand corner that appeared like a larger version of the smaller white stars in the background. No other ship, though, Aaen thought skeptically. He had a funny gut feeling but kept to himself.
"Sensors!" said the First Officer.
"Still nothing but static."
"Okay. I suggest we get closer to that planet. If that other ship's still out there, that planet's magnetic field could help keep us off their sensors until we can repair the damage to Odyssey." Aaen said.
"I didn't ask you."
Aaen faced forward, turning his head. Come to think of it, we should have gone hard to port to make ourselves a smaller target, Aaen thought.
"It's a good idea." said the First Officer. "We're just sitting here and if the other ship is out there, by staying here we're just waiting to get blown up."
"How do we know they weren't damaged when that torpedo exploded?" the Captain asked.
"We were flying into the torpedo," Aaen said.
"That doesn't mean they weren't damaged." the Captain snapped at Aaen. Maybe, but highly unlikely to be anywhere near as damaged as Odyssey, Aaen thought.
The First Officer looked at the Captain. "We need to move the ship, Captain."
The Captain gasped, sat in his chair, and then faced forward. "Fine. Aaen one-quarter impulse. Take us into orbit."
"Aye." Five minutes and counting. . .
"Yes! Thank you, Engineer! We have partial short-range sensors!" said Sensors. "I'm detecting the planet ahead. . .and. . .something else."
"What do you mean?" the Captain asked, turning to stand behind the Sensor Station.
"IT'S THEM! They're coming around the planet from the north-eastern hemisphere at an angle! They're heading straight for us!"
"Aaen! Faster!"
The main viewscreen affirmed the Sensors officer's report. Holy, cow! Aaen thought, looking at the main viewscreen. The white hulk appeared to glare down at the bridge with its white forward light beaming on the forward hull. Aaen could almost read the ship's name and registry painted below the bridge as he alternated his attention between the main viewscreen and his station to adjust the ship's heading with the thrusters as necessary.
—N.C.C. . . . The registry's numbers were indistinguishable at this angle. He tried to read the ship's name . . . . Relentless!
"They're approaching at half-impulse, and closing fast! Their weapons are armed! They're trying to get weapons lock on us!" said Sensors. The same reverberating static hum filled the bridge for nearly five seconds.
"Engineer, start working on the shields and weapons! Hurry!"
"I can only repair one system at a time, Captain!"
"Do the shields! We still have weapons!" Jason said.
"Do it!" said the Captain.
The shields weren't completely offline, just down. Regenerating the shields is faster than fixing their generators, Aaen grinned.
The Captain stood next to Aaen. "How long until we're in orbit of the planet?"
"About ten more seconds. This is as fast as she'll go right now, sir." Aaen said, wide-eyed, anticipating an argumentative response. The Captain instead grunted, and then dropped back in his chair.
Aaen fired the forward thrusters in hopes of even a little increased momentum but wasn't holding his proverbial breath. He looked up at the main viewscreen, the planet was getting bigger, gradually—but so was Relentless, and faster than the planet. "Captain, we're not gonna make it to the planet!" Aaen said.
"They're closing on us!" said Sensors.
The Captain took a deep, hard look at the main viewscreen. "It's the Relentless!" he rushed to the Tactical station. "Lock whatever weapons we have on the Relentless!"
"Do you want me to target any particular subsystem?"
The Captain stood behind the Tactical station. "Maybe target their engines?"
"Sure!"
"They've got a weapon lock on us!" Sensors said.
"Evasive maneuvers!" the Captain yelled at Aaen.
The main viewscreen flashed white as rapid repeating white thunder shot from the twin cannon emitters atop the Relentless.
The sound of multiple sharp explosions filled the bridge. The bridge lights flickered violently, white smoke plumed from the adjacent foot of the bridge entrance.
"Forward shields are gone. We have no more shields! I'm narrowing the cannon beams to see if we can cut through their shields. They might not expect that." Jason said. The bridge filled with the loud, sharp hiss of Odyssey's cannon emitters.
Aaen looked behind him. "Who's firing?"
"I am!"
Aaen went back to the thrusters. Another explosion sound rolled through the bridge.
"Direct hit!" Jason said. "Looks like it worked! We got through their shields and hit their port nacelle!"
The main viewscreen filled with images of flashes of white pulsating thunder, as a black, burning long rectangular mass exploded off its ventral-port pylon. Relentless started rolling to port and drifting to starboard. Aaen fired the port thrusters as the rectangular black mass tumbled toward Odyssey. The mass tumbled off the right side of the main viewscreen.
"Nice goin', Aaen!" said Sensors.
"Did we cripple them?" the Captain asked Sensors.
"Their course and trajectory are completely erratic right now. I'm also detecting their main power levels fluctuating a lot. We should probably put some distance between us. They're leaking coolant from their port nacelle pylon, and the readings I'm getting from their translight core don't look good."
"Aaen, get us away from them!"
"Working in it! We're fighting that planet's gravitational pull."
"Relentless has lost power to its engines. They're starting to tumble on the 'Y' axis—that ship is falling towards the planet!" Sensors said.
"I need more power in the thrusters and impulse engines!"
"Operations!" the Captain said.
"Already on it, Captain!"
"There we go!" Aaen said. The image on the main viewscreen started to shift to the right of the screen. "I've only got about another thirty seconds of impulse power left. It's gonna be close!"
The Relentless started to enter the planet's atmosphere. The hull gradually engulfed in flame—debris from the burning mass drifted backward in its wake.
The sound of a transporter filled the bridge.
The Captain snapped, turning to Operations. "Was that us?"
"No! I didn't do that!"
An alarm filled the bridge. "—Intruder-alert." the Main Computer announced.
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
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