A Woman Warrior
Copyright© 2018 by Allan Joyal
Chapter 34: Entering Leoat
Twenty hours later I was back in my command chair and checking the displays. All of the crew were at their stations as a timer counted down the last three minutes until we emerged in the Leoat system. I verified that all stations had reported ready before activating an all ship communication.
“Everyone, we’re about to emerge into the Leoat system. We know the system has fallen to the Sa’arm and that there are scouts and other small ships patrolling the system. As soon as we emerge we’ll need to release the Jarl and Aesir teams onto the grid. Thane and Vanir will be held back so we have a reserve. It may be that there will only be a few scouts and if that holds it will be better to rotate teams rather than flood the grid when fewer gunballs can handle the load.”
“Some won’t like not getting to go out with the first wave,” Philip muttered. “But let’s see what the tracking tells us.”
I nodded in my chair as I looked at Else who was at the helm. “Else, I’m not going to complain if we drop a few seconds early as long as we are in the system. If we’re a bit farther out that gives us more time to react to any scouts.”
“And more time for them to react to us,” Luther complained.
I was going to spin in my chair to glare at the man, but Tilly immediately snapped at him. “We should have no issue with any scouts, and having time to dodge a full hive sphere sounds wise to me.”
“Damn, you tell him girl,” I heard Else mutter. “We’re ready to emerge. Projections have us entering the system outside the orbit of the fifth planet. Planet should be to our port side by a quarter of its orbit. The fourth planet is the occupied one and it should be one astral unit away off the starboard bow, at about eighteen degrees.”
“Good placement,” I said. “As soon as we emerge turn forty-five degrees to starboard and maintain seventy percent thrust. This is a scout raid and not a deep dive into the system. We’ll want to circle around the occupied world before leaving the system.”
“What’s the next destination?” Else asked.
“The Tuftsat system,” I said. “Its another system formally part of the Leo District, but with the capital of the district now occupied, there is a need for someone to check the planets they once held.”
“Wonderful,” Luther said. “I’ll make sure our damage control teams understand that they might be working through the next transit.”
“They’ll hopefully have little to do,” I said. “But make sure they are prepared to replace or repair grid sections.”
“Can do,” Luther said.
“We’re in our final minute. We can no longer abort an emergence,” Else said. “Warp bubble is stable.”
“Helm, call the breakout,” I commanded. “Engineering, we’re about to breakout. Make sure the jump capacitors are charging immediately.”
“We’ll have power to jump in one hour,” I heard Herb call out. “At some point we need to install a second set of jump capacitors so we can jump immediately after an emergence.”
“Why did we not already have that installed?” I asked.
“Standard engineering policy for the Confederacy,” Herb replied over the comm. “The jump drives can require additional calibration, and having a second set of jump capacitors makes calibrating the drive significantly more difficult. Central Command has a policy that new ships launch with only a single capacitor bank when first starting out to ensure that there are no calibration issues.”
“Understood,” I said. “Make sure that the calibration is not delayed unnecessarily. Meanwhile, be prepared for battle we’re about to emerge.”
Else’s voice rang out over the comm system. “Warp bubble degradation has begun. Stern projectors have shut down. Bubble is opening. Ship will break out into normal space in three ... two...”
I turned to watch my displays. Else had just started to say breakout when I moved. “Jarls to the bow elevator, Aesir to the stern. Emerge on the grid ready to fight. Tracking, I need a scan towards the fourth planet. We are not going stealthy, so active pings are allowed. Trackers, call out targets as soon as they are identified.”
Tilly turned to her station as the screen in front revealed a spacescape. We were more than two astral units from the system’s star. It appeared as a bright yellow ball almost directly ahead of us.
“That’s a small sun,” Else said absently as the ship started to turn away from its direct dive at the star.
I peeked at the holographic display. The display confirmed what I suspected which was that the star was larger and hotter than Sol, but the size we saw was smaller due to being so far away. “We’re more than twice as far from the star as Earth is from Sol. Of course it looks smaller.”
“Sol?” Else said.
“That’s the actual name of the star we all called The Sun. Technically every star is the sun for any planets in that solar system. But when humanity lived on just one planet, no one cared,” I said. “Tracking? What are we seeing? Guns?”
“Jarl team fully deployed,” Tilly called out. “Este, can we swap out Vanir ten for Aesir six?”
“What’s the problem with Aesir six?” I asked.
“Project cannon overloaded during the initial power cycle. No injuries, but damage control is still performing triage on the unit,” Tilly called out.
“Luther, give me good news,” I said.
“I just heard about it,” Luther said. “Checking my displays and comms. We do have replacement cannon, so the repair will be possible.”
“Get to it,” I said. “Tilly, what was the call?”
“Vanir ten is headed to the grid. Thane four is down as well, polarity shift in the motivation units caused one of the wheels to lock up and then strip the treads,” Tilly said.
“Todd is already moving that gunball to a hoist. They need to pull the axle and the bad motivator. Fifteen minutes to get it started, probably forty before we can return it to service,” Luther said.
“Repeat that Janet!” Philip shouted. “How many scouts and where are they in relation to Freya?”
I touched a comm so I could listen into Janet’s report.