David Drake - When the Tide Rises

The aft two-thirds of the hull was partitioned into three separate holds, empty now except for crew stores. The total volume was slight. Bulk cargo would be slung externally, much as the missiles were being carried now.

The nozzle of Thruster Three was paper thin; theColumbine could make this attack using only the fore and aft pairs, but to lift with a full cargo requiring all six thrusters seemed a recipe for disaster. According to their internal diagnostics the four High Drive motors were fine, but a scan of the log indicated that Starboard Aft didn't develop better than 70% of its rated impulse. That could mean the pump was failing, the feed line had a blockage, or for that matter that there was an instrumentation flaw. Again, it didn't matter for now.

Sayer and Braun shambled out of the airlock. Anja Braun, a stocky woman who could kick her heel through a brick wall, looked at Woetjans and asked, "What you want us t'do, Chief?"

"Sit your butts down till I tell you," Woetjans growled. She slapped the come-along into the palm of her left glove. It was an idle gesture, but the two Bagarian spacers winced.

"Look," muttered Captain Julian, staring at his fingers interlaced over his heavy belly. "You can make me the goat if you like, I can't fight you. But it wasn't my approach that screwed the pooch on the first attack. The missiles're bloody useless, it's that simple."

"I agree that you're not to blame, Julian," Daniel said. He spread his hands over the console's virtual keyboard, making sure that he was aware of its subtle differences both from theSissie and from the cruiser he'd been commanding these past few weeks. "It's simply a case of, well-"

He shrunk the display and looked at Julian until the fellow turned and their eyes met.

"-if this attack fails, there'll be a move to crucify the foreigner who planned it, not so? And if I'm going to be hung for failing, then it's bloody well going to beme who fails."

In the air before him communication established pulsed in green letters. Daniel brought up his display and said, "Ladouceur, this is Columbine Six. Can you hear me, over?"

"Of course I can hear you, Columbine Six," Adele's voice rasped from the console's speakers. "If you want to address the squadron, just verbally key them and the relay will work automatically. Otherwise, you'll be speaking through me. As usual. Over."

"Roger, Signals," Daniel said, grinning as he so often did when dealing with Adele. "Ship, prepare to attack."

He cleared his throat, then said, "Squadron, this is Squadron Six. Columbine is taking the place ofHeartsease in the attack rota. Heartsease, set up your attack to follow that ofColumbine. Six out."

Daniel pressed the Execute button; the High Drive motors fired on preset angles, dropping theColumbine toward the surface of Churchyard. Let's see how long the Alliance garrison continues to laugh…

Freighters didn't have true attack boards; Daniel'd adapted the pilotry display as if he were setting up a landing. That was basically what he was doing, except that if things worked out it'd be six plasma missiles landing in Hafn Teobald instead of theColumbine herself.

The vessel began to slide into the atmosphere. The air wasn't thick enough to buffet the hull yet, but Daniel heard theping s of antimatter in the exhaust disintegrating gas molecules in the throats of the motors. He didn't switch out of High Drive yet because he didn't trust the plasma thrusters.

Daniel expected Captain Julian to complain, but the Bagarian simply sat with a glum expression. He might also stay long in High Drive on his approaches, for the same reason.

When the pinging increased in frequency to that of water coming to a boil, Daniel shut down the High Drive, waited three seconds on a ballistic course, and finally lit the thrusters. They came on line raggedly, as he'd more or less expected.

He'd been afraid of a late power blip from one of the motors. If by bad luck only one thruster was making power at the moment when a High Drive motor fired late, the combined impulse could rotate a small vessel like theColumbine on her axis. Better a long freefall than to take that needless risk.

"Columbine Six, the antiship battery at Hafn Teobald is tracking you," Adele said in a cool tone. "This was the battery's practice with earlier runs as well. None of the Alliance communications indicate an intention to launch this time either." A pause. "Ah, Ladouceurout."

Daniel smiled. It no longer struck him as odd that in the middle of an attack he was getting reports on the enemy's internal communications.

TheColumbine was well into the first circuit of her attack and was rocking noticeably. The choppiness wasn't as bad as he'd have expected on thePrincess Cecile, though the corvette was a somewhat heavier vessel; the outboard-mounted missiles were acted as roll dampers.

What would Admiral Vocaine say if I recommended that he recruit librarians for signals duty in all RCN vessels?

Daniel began to laugh. Julian spluttered something which Daniel couldn't make out over the snarl of air jumbling about the rigging. The sound may not have been words at all, of course, just generalized amazement. Woetjans clapped the Bagarian on the shoulder and looked smug.

They'd completed their second circuit and started into a third, going deeper than the previous runs. TheColumbine was slowing, so the roughness wasn't noticeably worse despite the thicker atmosphere.

"Columbine Six, Command Headquarters has put the missile battery on launch warning but haven't directed them to launch," Adele's voice trembled. "Under current protocols they won't launch unless the target drops beneath three thousand meters. Over."

"Roger, Signals," Daniel said as his fingers adjusted flow to Thrusters One and Two, raising the bow slightly. "We're not going to come close to that, over."

The warble in Adele's voice was an artifact of atmospheric distortion on the laser signal. An RCN warship's software would've reshaped the signal into its original form, but theColumbine had nothing so sophisticated. Well, she didn't need it; at least with Cazelet handling commo duties, the freighter's rig was more than adequate.

"Ship," Daniel said, "prepare to launch. Launching one-"

The ship bucked into a roll to port as the lower starboard missile separated.

"Launching two-"

Two was the upper port missile, thrown clear by the ship's rotation.

"Three "Four "Five "Six "Ship, we're pulling up!" Daniel cried as he slammed keys to activate the preset course. "RCN forever!"

His Sissies cheered over the roaring thrusters. Maybe some of the Bagarians did too, though it wasn't the most politic thing to have shouted now that Daniel had time to think about it.

Bloody hell, they were in the middle of a battle. The six missiles they'd just launched were running straight and true as theColumbine lifted back out of Churchyard's atmosphere.

"RCN forever!" Daniel repeated. This time he was sure the Bagarian spacers were cheering along with his own.

Adele noticed the next of the Bagarian ships dropping into the atmosphere while theColumbine was only beginning her ascent. She didn't know whether or not that was a problem, so she said, "Columbine Six, theHeartsease is attacking already. Over."

"Thank you, Ladouceur," Daniel said, his voice a little strained. He was accelerating hard, of course. "I've got them on my display. I didn't intend such close separations, but I guess it's all right so long as one of us knows what he's doing. Six out."

The jabbering on the ground wasn't quite as boastfully contented as it'd been an hour earlier, but the Alliance garrison wasn't really worried. TheColumbine had driven deeper into the atmosphere than the five runs that'd preceded this one, and now theHeartsease was coming in immediately on theColumbine 's heels.