Chapter 13

"The targeting sensors are now back online. The bad news is that while the range of the ion cannon is virtually unlimited, our aim is not that good. The Hayward is effectively out of range." Joe was clearly unhappy and frustrated.

Colonel Haddis nodded at the news, "I understand Mr. Donovan. Pity, I could rather use an ion cannon at the moment. Well, in talking with your Captain on the Didgeridoo — odd name that, you'll have to tell me the origin of it sometime — he has something just as good as an ion cannon. He's coming from the other direction. They should be in range of our wayward General soon. I rather think Dumitrescu will be suitably surprised. Your boy's stealth shields are exceptional."

"That's an understatement. But the Hayward is a capital ship. She was our most powerful starship before the Dumitrescu staged his coup and stole her. She's old, but has a lot of bite in her and strong shields."

"She took damage when she tangled with the Agamemnon. An AP lance is nothing to laugh off either."

"AP lance?"

"Your blockade runner didn't share the extent of the armament of his starship?"

"The Didgeridoo is an independent. I don't believe blockade runners are known for volunteering much information. They tend to play things pretty close to the vest."

Haddis returned a cool smile, "Indeed. Well, things are about to get interesting as they say. We'll be in touch later. Good day."

Joe sat back in the moonbase's command chair in the op center. He stared at the holo-table that was reporting where the various unstealthed ships were in the system. The Colonel's ships were not closing on the Hayward. She had too much of a lead to overtake now. If they got the FTL drive back online, his daughter would be gone.

Dumitrescu had not responded to any of his or the Colonel's hails. He wasn't surprised. Dumitrescu didn't see any reason to reply; he could read a holo-table as well as anyone. The only hope that they had left was the Didgeridoo, James and Luke. It would have to be enough.

An AP lance was a very dangerous weapon, to both its wielder and its target. He had to trust that James had once again done something special to reduce the risks of using such an unstable weapon. There was little to be gained by calling them again. They knew what needed to be done and they understood the risks. All he could do now was worry. He was getting far too much experience at that unwanted skill.

The Didgeridoo was fast approaching the Hayward and was just minutes away from being in weapons range. Due to the lack of inherent velocity from the conventional drive is was possible for the Didgeridoo to essentially "stop on a dime" and change or even reverse course.

James' plan was to come in fast and strafe the Hayward with the AP lance. They would then stop, match course and attempt to close with the Hayward. All the time they would be attempting to bring down their shields.

Surprise was their greatest advantage. It would take some time for the Hayward to return fire. James was hopeful that that delay coupled with the unexpectedness of successive AP lance hits would be enough.

Return missiles were his biggest worry. The Didgeridoo was too small to carry missiles of her own. The plasma cannon could operate effectively as a point defense against the missiles. Too many simultaneous inbound tracks would overwhelm that defense. The energy from successive missile hits would be enough to overload even his very powerful shields.

He and the Colonel had discussed the best approach. They had both ultimately agreed that no warning and an all out attack to first remove their ability to flee was the first priority.

"Weapons range in 30 seconds," the report from Didgi put both James and Luke on higher alert.

"Ready all shields and weapons - execute as planned," James ordered. Luke was sitting in the sensors/weapons console intently watching the readouts. James had run him through several simulations so he could get used to any idiosyncrasies of the Didgeridoo's displays. James had been duly impressed with his reaction time and tactical instincts. Didgi would be doing the actual targeting and was in charge of the initial salvo.

"Weapons range in 3... 2... 1. Shields at max. Initial AP lance salvos away. Changing course to maintain weapons range." Didgi continued to report as more energy poured out into the Hayward.

The anti-proton beam from the Didgeridoo was having a devastating effect on the shields of the Hayward. Before the shield could fail however, return fire from the Hayward stabbed out at the Didgeridoo. Two large 20-cm plasma cannon bolts ripped into the front shields of the Didgeridoo.

"We are taking hits. Shields are holding at better than 95%," Didgi said.

"We have inbound missile launches," Luke called out.

"Targeting plasma cannon on missiles, firing."

The 10-cm bolts tore through the vacuum and managed to destroy two incoming missiles. A third came through and impacted on the Didgeridoo's shields.

"Missile hit, front shields down to 73%"

James spoke evenly, "Didgi, keep pouring on the AP lance beam. Looks like their shields have just about had it. Ready the plasma cannon. Target the FTL engines. As soon as the shield fails, fire - then walk the plasma rounds into the conventional drive area. I want that ship dead in space."

"Aye, aye Captain. Predicting enemy shield failure in 9 seconds."

"More missile launches. Looks like five inbound."

"Damn, take out the missiles with the cannon. But retarget to the engines as soon as the shield fails."

"Targeting, two missiles down. Enemy shields are down, firing on engines. Hit, retargeting on remaining missiles."

Too late, one plasma round managed to take out an inbound missile but the resulting explosion still managed to impact the shields. The remaining two missiles struck almost at the exact same time. Massive energy poured out from the double hit and enveloped the entire ship.

"Shield failure is imminent. Power sumps are at max." The indicators showing the amount of power being dumped into the three power sumps were glowing red.

Normally a ship only had one power sump. More than one just was not needed for most systems; you could only bleed power off of the shields or from inertial dampers so fast. The units were also large and expensive to maintain.

James, building on research that he and his parents had done, had been able to eliminate many of the limitations that prevented increasing the rate at which energy was removed from the shields and inertial dampers. He had also improved the power sumps themselves, making them much more compact and easier to maintain. One net effect was a dramatic improvement in shield capacity. That capacity saved their lives.

"Shields are still holding. Resuming weapons fire on engines."

Didgi walked successive cannon rounds through the engine compartment of the Hayward. Explosions rocked the targeted ship and the conventional drive failed bringing the Hayward to a stop.

Two more missiles fired out of the Hayward. Didgi blew them both away before they had barely cleared 100 meters from the firing tubes.

"Give their front shields a 2 second burst from the AP lance. I want to send them a clear message," James said.

"AP lance is firing."

"Luke, as we planned, you do the talking — hail them." James stood up and moved to the door of the bridge.