Sol Strike (Battlegroup Z Book 3) by Daniel Gibbs (red novels .txt) 📗

were down seven craft, with a few more seriously damaged. He second-guessed pulling out the extra shield generators. The Ghosts were clearly fragile after losing their deflectors. All that matters now is we’re going home.

Then his sensor readout started beeping wildly.

Three wormholes opened between the fighters and their escape route. A League of Sol frigate flew out of each. Within moments, more Shrikes launched and raced toward Justin and his compatriots.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Justin said. Where do they get all these ships? He took a deep breath. Work the problem. One at a time. Don’t let them compromise your OODA loop. “Alpha One to all pilots. Come about zero-nine-zero and follow my lead.”

“What’s the play?” Green asked.

“I’m working on it,” Justin replied. “For now, we trade space for time.”

“Roger that, sir.”

The sensor overlay clearly showed running would only get them so far. League Shrike fighters closed from astern, while more craft and ships maneuvered to cut off access to the Lawrence limit. Even if we get past them, I’ve got four Ghosts that can’t jump. Justin wracked his mind, trying to find a way out. The stealth raiders. He cued his commlink. “Alpha One to CSV Astute actual. Come in.”

“This is Astute actual. Go ahead, Captain,” came the baritone voice of Lieutenant Colonel Fielding a few moments later.

“How do you guys feel about packing a couple of damaged fighters into your shuttle bays?”

“I think my boys are crazy enough to try. Are you clear of the enemy?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Get some separation, and we’ll jump in at the limit.”

Justin stared at the sensor screen, wondering how they would pull it off. The only option was through. “Understood, Colonel. See you soon. Alpha One out.” This is going from bad to worse. At least we’ll take some of the Leaguer bastards with us.

Tehrani stared at the fuel gauge display on the screen mounted into her CO’s chair. It had taken considerable digging to find the readout within the engineering console subsystem, but staring at it was better than asking Hodges every five minutes how full the tanks were. The seconds continued to tick by, each feeling longer than the last. Ninety-eight percent, then ninety-nine, and finally, the monitor showed full helium-3 reserves. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Took longer than expected, but at least we’re able to get underway again,” Wright whispered. “Well, if the reactor starts.”

“Oh, don’t even.” Tehrani turned toward him. “I’ll go down there and jumpstart it myself if I have to.”

“Don’t tell the engineers that,” Wright replied with a chuckle.

“Communications, get Major Hodges on my commlink.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Singh replied.

A few moments later, Hodges’s voice echoed through the speaker on Tehrani’s chair. “Engineering here, ma’am.” He sounded far more harried than usual.

“Our fuel level indicator shows one hundred percent. Timeline to starting the main reactor?”

“Momentarily, ma’am. If you’d like, we can do it now, with you on the line.”

“By all means, Major.” Tehrani stared at her monitor, which was configured to show reactor status. “Don’t wait on my account.”

Mechanical noises filled the commlink. Simultaneously, the power-outlet-level graph increased rapidly.

“We’re back online, ma’am. Call it ten minutes to reach eighty percent output.”

“Outstanding work,” Tehrani replied. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Engineering out.”

The tension level on the bridge, which only a few minutes before had been akin to a pressure cooker, subsided quickly. Invisible weights lifted off of Tehrani’s shoulders. We’re still in enemy territory, but our chances of success are up from zero. She kept telling herself to think positively.

“Reactor output over fifty percent, ma’am,” Wright announced, breaking into her thoughts. “We should jettison the umbilical with the Salinan.”

“Do it, XO.” She paused. “Communications, send my compliments to the Salinan and thank them for their assistance.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Singh replied.

“Umbilical disconnected,” Wright said. “We’re under our own power again, Colonel.”

“Run diagnostics on all critical systems as power is restored.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am.” Wright busied himself with his small screen.

With the crisis averted, Tehrani allowed herself to relax for a few seconds and put her head back. Now, all we need is for our fighters to jump out. We’ll pick them up, form up with the stealth raiders, and head for home. The neat and tidy course of action brought a smile to her lips.

“Conn, Communications. Text-only transmission from Captain Spencer, ma’am.”

“Send it to my viewer, Lieutenant.” As she read, her smile vanished almost immediately.

Colonel,

Situation poor. Combat objectives achieved, but many Ghosts have received enough damage to make Lawrence jumps impossible. Attempting to land as many as possible on the stealth raiders. Remaining assets will jump in thirty minutes, regardless of status.

CAP Justin Spencer

By Allah, a third of their number can’t jump? Justin’s message painted a grim picture. Tehrani reread it twice, thinking through what they could do about it. The most obvious answer was to jump the Greengold in and pick up the pilots. She pulled up a navigation chart of Sol and overlaid the transmission location on top of it then smiled again. “XO, have a look at this.”

Wright bent over and stared at the map. He traced a finger over Justin’s location. “Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Our Lawrence drive hasn’t been used in a week. A jump to get us in range followed by a fifteen-minute cooldown would enable a nearly risk-free double jump.”

“I knew we weren’t getting out of this without you charging in to save the day.” Wright set his jaw. “Trying to persuade you otherwise is pointless, right, skipper?”

“You know me well. Beyond the obvious of leaving so many of our pilots behind, it’s almost impossible to land a fighter in the shuttle bay of a stealth raider, let alone with being under enemy fire.”

“You’re right.” Wright let out a sigh. “Okay. Let’s go get our people and get the hell out of here.”

“Agreed.” Tehrani turned to Mitzner. “Navigation, prepare Lawrence drive jump coordinates to get us in range of Sol then plot a jump into Sol system as close as possible to friendly