Hellfire - Autonomy

Chapter 3-1

3

They travelled through the jump point without any problems and everything stayed quiet as they continued towards the next. That left Drake with the time he needed to think.

One decision he managed to make was the rest of the crew should know the same lie he’d told Sonia about the Phoenix Conglomerate device which had knocked most of them out. He didn’t want any of them to start thinking in directions which might lead them to the truth so he sent Sonia a message asking her to pass the information on.

As cover he said he didn’t want the crew worrying what had happened might happen again. As far as he could tell Sonia thought it was a reasonable idea. Ten minutes later he checked in with Jacobs who confirmed the crew seemed to be accepting the explanation. Drake wasn’t happy about having to mislead them but for the moment it was the only option he felt he had.

Drake returned to the bridge as the Dagger approached the next jump point. Space ahead remained clear but he was still on edge. Although no threats emerged as they drew closer, he still made certain the crew were fully combat ready before ordering the Dagger to jump.

Transition through a jump point was almost instantaneous, allowing ships to travel immense distances in a moment, but it wasn’t without its drawbacks. The main one being the disorientation a jump caused. For a few minutes after making a jump no one was able to see and even thinking took more effort than normal.

The effects were generally referred to as being starblind. The time needed to recover varied from person to person, with the fastest generally recovering within two or three minutes and some taking five or six. Drake had been one of the fastest to recover when he was younger but it was an ability which degraded over time. Or more accurately that degraded with every jump someone went through.

Moments after entering jump the Dagger emerged at a point that would have taken many years to reach at normal speeds. With none of the crew able to see for several minutes after a jump they had to rely on simplistic automatic detection systems.

This time alarms went off warning of nearby ships as soon as the Dagger arrived. The tone of the alarms indicated the ships weren’t right on top of them, thankfully, but they were close enough to be a threat.

Drake cursed. This was what he’d been afraid of. Was it a large ambush? Was it just a few ships hanging around on the off chance of finding a soft target? No, he very much doubted anyone would happen to be out here where the jump points only led to where the Acolytes had gathered and a few other dead-end jump points.

“Get us moving,” Drake said. “And let me know the moment any of you can see what we’re facing.”

This was always the hardest part of encountering a threat after jumping — the time between knowing there was possible danger and being able to tell what was out there. In some ways being attacked could be a relief, at least it confirmed they were facing someone who was hostile.

Drake found himself listening for Jensen’s voice. He had to smile at himself. Recently Jensen had been by far the fastest to recover. Drake suspected Jensen’s natural abilities were now being boosted by the link to the Azimuth. While reminders of that link were painful, Drake couldn’t deny that at times like these it was useful to have someone recovering from jump so quickly.

Time dragged past slowly. Drake sat there waiting, listening, wondering whether or not they’d be attacked. There was no way to tell what force was opposing them or where it was. No way to start taking decisive actions. No way to even know if the other ships were hostile unless weapons fire started to strike the Dagger’s shields.

This was about as tough as life ever got for Drake. No matter how bad the odds were, if you could see what was happening at least you could try and do something about it. But this… this was absolute hell.

For what felt like a long time nothing further happened, then Drake jumped as weapons fire started impacting the Dagger’s shields. Not a huge amount, none of the pre-set alarms to warn of shields dropping too far had gone off, but he didn’t know if this was as bad as the attacks would get or just the start.

Drake tried to count the seconds under his breath, figuring it was the only way to mark the speed at which time was passing. He got to one hundred and ten with the attacks continuing but not getting any worse. Then Jensen’s voice rang out.

“I can see! It’s just two ships, Captain. They’re a little bigger than the Dagger but their weapons aren’t all that much. My guess is they’re Dark Acolyte ships. Both were on approach to the jump point but we’re right on top of it so they’re coming close to us as well.”

Drake relaxed a little. Things could have been worse. A lot worse.

“Turn us towards them,” he said. “Pick one and hit it hard with our beam weapons. No torpedoes for now.”

“Aye, Captain,” replied Jensen.

“Do we have the names of the ships yet?”

“Yes, Captain. The Torment and… and the Dementor. Captain, haven’t we faced that ship before?”

“We faced a Dementor,” said Sonia. “That was a big ship, though. Seems the Dark Acolytes aren’t particularly imaginative when it comes to ship names.”

“Says the first officer of the Dagger!” said Drake, smiling slightly even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to see it yet.

“I didn’t say my captain was any more imaginative!” she replied.

“They’re not going to give us any trouble, Captain,” said Jensen. “I’m targeting the Torment and its shields are already dropping below fifty percent. Forty now. It’s not moving quickly either.”

“It doesn’t feel like their attacks are very powerful,” said Drake. “I think we’ve got a couple of stragglers. Ships with some major problems which didn’t make it to the meeting in time.”

“Do you want any prisoners?”

“No. There’s no point. Just destroy them. We can handle them easily but they could still overwhelm a civilian ship in the future.”

“Don’t get too close to them,” said Sonia. “We don’t want them to try and take us with them.”

“Good point,” said Drake. “Let me know if…”

He broke off, surprised his sight had returned to normal. That made him the second person on the bridge to recover, and that hadn’t happened in a long time.

“Captain? Were you asking for something?” asked Jensen.

“I was. I was just a bit caught out by my sight returning. How’s everyone else doing?”

“Still starblind here,” said Sonia.

The rest of the crew checked in. Other than Jensen no one else on the bridge had recovered yet. Drake pursed his lips, suspecting the Azimuth was behind his quick recovery in some way but not being able to prove it.

He focused on the battle, if that was the right word for it. It was so one-sided it really didn’t deserve the name. The Torment’s shields collapsed even as he watched, letting the Dagger’s fire dig deep into the ship itself.

“Captain,” said Jensen. “It looks like they’re setting their powerplant to overload and destroy the ship.”

“I think we’ll have destroyed them before they get to that point,” replied Drake. “They’re going fast.”

“Not the Torment, Captain. The Dementor.”

“What? Why would they do that?”

“They don’t want to be captured,” said Sonia. “Maybe because they think we’ll ask them questions about where they were going and what they planned to do there?”

“The damn Acolytes really are screwed in the head.”

“The Torment’s powerplant has been set to overload too,” said Jensen. “It was hard to tell at first because of the damage they’re taking.”

“Well,” said Drake. “Let’s help them on their way. Keep firing and make sure we don’t get too close.”

“Aye, Captain.”

A few moments later Tak and Dalesh reported having recovered from jump.

“Jensen, switch our fire to the Dementor,” said Drake. “The Torment will be easy enough to finish off if for some reason they choose not to blow their powerplant. Let’s make sure the Dementor isn’t bluffing.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Like the Torment, the Dementor’s shields dropped more quickly than even the Dagger’s powerful weaponry could account for. Both ships were definitely suffering with damaged systems yet they’d still struggled on trying to make it to the rendezvous.

The Dementor’s shields were almost exhausted when it suddenly ceased to exist, replaced by a blinding explosion. A few moments later the Torment went the same way.

“If only all the Acolyte ships were that easy to destroy!” said Sonia.

“I don’t know,” said Drake. “It would make boarding them when we need information rather tricky!”

Sonia laughed. “Yeah, that’s a good point. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one on those missions! Though they did keep blowing themselves up until we let them think they were boarding us.”

“True. Anyway, those nuisances are out of the way. Get us moving towards the next jump point. The sooner we’re out of this dead-end branch of jump points the better.”

“Aye, Captain,” said Jensen. “With pleasure!”