John Ringo - Eye of the Storm

And would the Imeg take the blame? Unlikely. Not that he was probably going to face an Inquisition. Given the power of the ship he was up against, he was unlikely to face anything but death.

“A similar vessel was reported by scouts,” the Marro Combat Officer replied. “It appears to be a new class. Capabilities are unknown. It was under cloak and apparently was enhancing with kratki. Thus we only detected it at less than a li. Neither the cloak capability nor the kratki enhancements were known to our intelligence. But the prominences forward are believed to be aesthetic.”

“The prominences forward bother me less than the heavy weapons on its side !”

“Colonel,” the shuttle pilot said. “We’ve been made. Launching in three… two… one.”

There was a slight sideways acceleration and then gravity dropped away. The shuttles had anti-grav systems but most of their power was being devoted to maneuvering and inertial dampening.

Trained human pilots, given the right sort of seats and G suits, could sustain upwards of sixteen gravities of acceleration for brief periods. Maneuvers in Banshees in space could generate up to a hundred gravities. A hundred gravs would turn any human body into red mush.

To avoid being turned into red mush, all space combat vessels as well as ACS used inertial dampeners. The dampeners could reduce the acceleration gradient to nearly earth normal. But they used a lot of power doing it. Using more power to create a notional ‘down’ meant less maneuverability. And the pilots of the shuttles wanted all the maneuverablity they could get.

The space between the two ships was a cauldron of fire. Mass-drivers, grasers and plasma cannons filled the intervening space to the point the pilot wasn’t sure that any of the shuttles would survive.

The Hedren ship used primarily grasers, gamma ray frequency lasers, while the human ship mounted mass-drivers and plasma cannons. The latter two were visible while the grasers were, unfortunately, invisible. They did, however, show up on sensors. And her sensors were showing no way through the fire.

“I thought the mentats were going to shut down the enemy fire!” her co-pilot snapped.

“Guess that plan is out the window,” she replied as the shields shuddered from a direct graser hit.

“The ship has launched small-craft,” the Combat Officer said as the Gorongur shuddered under the power of the Des Moines’ secondaries. “Shuttles or space fighters.”

“Then engage and destroy them,” Goglugot snapped then grabbed his head.

The enemy is attempting to board.

The Imeg’s thoughts lashed the Cruiser Master’s brain with fire. And it wasn’t like he needed the distraction.

“Only one thing on this ship worth boarding for, My Lord,” Goglugot replied, tightly. “I suggest you prepare to defend yourself. The Glandri are yours to command.”

I will order them to deploy. If I or my apprentice are lost, it will go hard upon you, Cruiser Master.

“I doubt any of us will survive to face the Inquisition, My Lord,” Goglugot said. “For that reason, if no other, we will fight hard.”

As the Imeg released him, Goglugot rubbed his cranium with a hand-tentacle.

“You know,” he said, looking that the Combat Officer. “There are times I wish I was a lowly Marro.”

“Too many arms, Cruiser Master,” the Marro replied. “We’re attempting to engage the shuttles but much of our fire is being diverted. I assume by kratki. Grasers are bending in space and splashing off their shields.”

“I think I’ll leave that for our Lord Imeg to deal with.”

“Adept Tuthiri?” Jeff said, calmly. “The shuttles are taking fire.”

“The human team is attempting to shut down the enemy’s guns,” Tuthiri replied, calmly. His fur, though, was rippling in distress. “The Imeg is preventing that. Also attempting to shut down our systems as well as trying to get the fusion drives to explode. We are preventing that. It is the best we can do at the moment. The Imeg is… powerful.”

“Do we abort?” Jeff asked.

There was no reply.

Shaina , Sissy thought. We could use some help here.

We are strengthening the shuttle’s shields , Shaina replied. As well as protecting the ship. We cannot engage the Imeg nor its ship directly .

Well, I’m not sure there’s enough of us to stop this bastard , Sissy thought. Kang, watch your ass.

“Kang?” Jake said. “Mentat Kang? Glasshoppah ?”

“Not… now … ” Kang replied, his jaw tight. “This bastard is… ”

“Do we need to abort ?”

“Can your forces fight through the defenders without help?” Kang asked.

“Yes.”

“Then, no, we do not need to abort.”

“Failure in mass driver controls,” the gunnery officer snapped. “Mass drivers non-responsive.”

“Track it down,” Jeff replied.

“Back up,” Guns said, looking puzzled. “Continuing engagment.”

“The Imeg is breaking through,” Tuthiri said. “The lower level Imeg is holding reality on his ship while the higher level is attacking the Des Moines and the shuttles.”

“I felt that,” Daisy said, working her shoulder. “He’d better watch it or he’s going to piss me off. And he doesn’t want to piss me off.”

“Maneuvering to dock,” the shuttle pilot said.

The Banshee went through one of those maneuvers that was only possible in space, spinning through three dimensions and slamming its rear into the hull of the Hedren ship. Tractor clamps locked it in place as flexible seals slapped onto the armor of the warship.

“On and locked,” she snapped. “Go, Colonel!”

As the lock dilated outward Payback slapped a heavy-duty burn patch onto the hull.

“Clear!”

The patch began to flare with eye-searing brilliance then got even hotter and stronger than normal.

“What the… ?”

“Kang’s reinforcing,” Mosovich said. “All teams, lock and load!”

The patch burned through the refractory hull in mere seconds then the cut section of hull slammed outwards, bouncing off of the interior bulkhead. The seals were not perfect and the gaseous metal from the cutting patch was sucked out to the side in a torrent of wind from the interior of the ship.

The DAG teams ignored the wind, hopping over the low and very hot coaming then spreading out on the interior of the Hedren ship.

“Clear,” Mangler said as he took a knee in the corridor. The light on the ship was low and a weird violet. But his combat goggles quickly adjusted it to human normal. They could do less about the gravity which was a touch high.

A Marro whipped around the corner, a sealing kit in his hand, and hissed to a stop at the sight of the boarders. He barely had time to do more before being cut in half by a blast of razor sharp flechettes.

“Clear,” Mangler repeated.

“Tell the shuttles to blow clear,” Jeff said as the ship shuddered under the fire from the Hedren cruiser.

“Shuttles, blow clear and retreat,” the boats officer said. “Follow assigned vector.”

“Clearing vector of friendly fire,” the gunnery officer said. “They should be able to run right down the side of the ship.”

“Tuthiri, get word to Colonel Mosovich that we’re clearing the shuttles. Don’t bother holding that area. Bridge, maneuver nose forward to the Hedren ship. Guns, warm up the QT. I’m tired of taking fire from this bastard.”