The 28th Gate Volume 4

Episode 7-1

Episode Seven

I like big guns. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to you. Whether it’s a warlock I can carry on my hip or a ground-based g*n emplacement requiring a dedicated power facility just to charge the thing, I like them all.

And the lunar batteries on the moon orbiting Selma IV were beautiful.

When I’d scouted the things for Quatra before we moved on the Selma gates, I’d been focused on their range because the things were long-range particle cannon clusters, which made them dangerous. See, mid- and close-range particle cannons experience a sharp drop-off in power the farther away the target. By the time they reach the edge of their effective ranges, they aren’t worth much. But particle cannon clusters use multiple cannons to enhance the firepower at greatly extended ranges. Of course, that extra range comes at the expense of a massive increase in power draw, even compared to regular power-hungry particle cannons.

The advantage of ground-based cannon clusters is they don’t have the same Oversight-imposed range limitations as ship mounted guns because they’re stationary—as long as their extreme range doesn’t interfere with a gate, Oversight doesn’t care what that range is. And that means they tend to have much better ranges than ship-mounted munitions.

Of course, cannon clusters are usually dedicated ground emplacements because of their massive size and energy requirements. Even Oversight only has a few ships large enough to carry a couple of the things—first-rate battleships—and those are tuned to Oversight’s specifications.

So, yeah, Fayatt’s lunar particle cannon clusters were beautiful.

But even I wouldn’t have thought of installing them on the Celestial.

I played the mysterious Q-com message for Quatra as soon as she came to the bridge. She still looked haggard after the long night, but I hoped she’d managed to get some sleep.

As the message Gloria had relayed to me started again, the cold, synthetic voice started anew. “You had best be careful, Hunter. Your message has upset some very powerful people, and now they’re coming for you. Unless you ask us to help you stop them.”

Quatra shot me a concerned glance, and I shrugged. “We don’t know where it came from. But it came in through the Essta’s Q-com a couple chrons ago.”

Quatra frowned, looking even less pleased by the news than I was. She wasted no time in calling a meeting of her senior staff, which apparently now included myself and Katherine. As those aboard the Celestial arrived in the small meeting room, I noticed wall screens displaying Q-com connections with Kyrshaw and Gloria still positioned with the fleet at the Selma II Gate.

“I won’t belabor the point,” Quatra started, cutting straight to business. “We have trouble. Yes, our fleets are now both secure at the two gates in this system, and we’re broadcasting Hunter’s message with CUMA’s blessing, all as we’d hoped. But that doesn’t mean we’ve won yet.”

She played the mysterious message for everyone else.

“We don’t know who this new threat is,” Quatra continued, “but the timing isn’t good. We have other sources that spotted a small Oversight fleet mobilizing and heading this way. I had hoped it was in response to Fayatt’s attacks on our fleets, but the Oversight and Review Board has refused to acknowledge any of my communiques since Hunter returned, including a formal complaint I filed during Fayatt’s attack.” Quatra sighed. “I don’t know if Oversight’s lack of a response is at all related to this cryptic threat. I hope this Oversight fleet is the response we’ve been waiting for. But I think we also need to plan for the worst when they get here.”

Katherine looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Quatra didn’t say anything for a moment. “I mean,” she finally replied, “we can’t know for sure if that fleet is coming to help us. And since Oversight won’t respond, we’ll only know once the fleet gets here.”

I was visiting Penjani when the small Oversight fleet came through the Selma IV Gate a few chrons later.

She’d undergone multiple surgeries during the evening, with several more still ahead of her. But she had stabilized and the Celestial’s medical team no longer worried whether she’d survive—they were just fighting to save her mangled legs. As such, she was still only half conscious during my visit. I’m not even sure she understood when I said I had to go because I’d been called to the bridge.

As soon as I hit the main control room of the Celestial, I spotted the Oversight ships on the main screen. There were only four of them, but they were among the best ships in the entire gate network. All of Oversight’s ships were. The largest I identified as a battle-rated Vargesuar warship. But it looked small for a battleship, so it was probably only third or fourth rate. It was flanked by a pair of Maunhouser-designed escort cruisers, thick and angular shapes not as well armed as the battleship. The fourth in the fleet was a Manayan fighter transport, which was smaller than a true battlecarrier, but capable of unleashing almost as many fighters.

You have to understand that Oversight doesn’t build their own ships. The ships and crews of the Oversight fleet come from member corporations. Each corp owes taxes and dues, and while those taxes and dues generally take the form of monetary compensation, the big corps pay in the form of ships and crews. Once a ship and crew has been gifted to the Oversight fleet, they no longer have any ties to their former corporation. Oversight pays them, Oversight feeds them, Oversight decides when to move personnel from one vessel to another. Oversight even takes care of any family members. From what I understand, it’s a solid system.

The power of Oversight’s fleet stems from the loyalty of their crews. There are plenty of stories about Oversight ships forced to face vessels from the corporation they used to owe their allegiance. Of course, I’m sure some of that loyalty comes from the fact that Oversight has access to any technologies discovered or rediscovered by member corporations. And since anything found by a nonmember entity is likely to be taken by a corp, that means Oversight gets just about anything they want for their fleets and crews. It’s why they’d been able to maintain control over the corporations.

Shortly after I arrived on the bridge, the Oversight fleet issued Quatra their ultimatum. “You will stand down and disarm. Prepare for the immediate detainment of your crew and the seizure of your vessels. Any attempt to postpone or resist will result in immediate hostilities.”

“Oversight fleet, this is Quatra Hellan representing the Selma III Independent Militia. We are not hostile. We are maintaining proximity to the gate for unmolested broadcast access, in accordance with Oversight and Review Board regulations. We were attacked by Fayatt Corporation while on a direct course for this position, and we defended ourselves as allowed by Oversight policies. I repeat. We were attacked and defended ourselves accordingly. We are not hostile.”

“Unidentified fleet, you will surrender immediately. Failure to do so will result in your destruction. This is your last warning.”

“Oversight fleet, I have already identified myself,” Quatra responded, frustration sharp in her voice. “We are not hostile, and I have received no response despite repeated appeals to your governing body. I will not relinquish my crew into your custody until I have an official order from your superiors.”

“Unidentified fleet, this is your notice. You have already been warned. In response to your continued failure to stand down, I am designating you a hostile force. Surrender immediately or be destroyed.” As if to punctuate the import of their statement, the Manayan fighter transport began disgorging craft, which swept ahead of the cruisers and the battleship as they started toward the Celestial.

For an instant the bridge was silent. Quatra’s face contorted through frustration and anger and helplessness. She turned and our gaze locked for a michron.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. I think she knew we would back her whatever she decided.

The hint of helplessness fell away, buried under a righteous indignation. “All pilots to their fighters,” Quatra ordered. “Wings One and Two, launch when ready. Gunnery positions, charge particle cannons and prepare to engage. We will defend ourselves.”

As I ran for the Dagger, my thoughts raced through the general capabilities of the fleet arrayed against us. I only knew passing details about the battleship and the carrier, but I knew a little more about those Maunhouser escort cruisers. Of course, I didn’t know if they’d been augmented beyond Maunhouser’s original specifications, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from them. But even so, I knew the pair of escort cruisers alone were little threat to the Celestial. It was the Vargesuar battleship that was going to be the real threat, since it had the firepower to trade shots with the Celestial. Combined with the waves of fighters already pouring from the Manayan fighter transport, I worried there wasn’t a whole lot we would be able to do.

I hit the fighter bay at a dead run and found the deck already engulfed in managed chaos as both wings rushed to launch. A few subchrons later I was prepping the Dagger and organizing the launch plans for Wing Two.

I figured the Oversight fleet’s plan would be to use their fighters to keep our smaller ships busy, while the escort cruisers ran interference and protected the Vargesuar battleship as it drove in after the Celestial. Maunhouser escort cruisers are small for cruisers, but very heavily armored, allowing them to soak up the incoming fire, while the small battleship had likely been designed to maximize its speed and maneuverability. The combination of the three would certainly cause serious damage to the Celestial unless we managed to stop the battleship.

As the Dagger hit open space, I soon saw my intuition had been correct—the Oversight cruisers and battleship had already ignited their engines and were closing range on the Celestial. While they did so, the Manayan fighter transport hung back near the gate, since it was mostly just a mobile resupply platform for the fighter wings it carried. But the use of those mobile platforms allowed Oversight to bring dedicated fighters and light assault craft, unhindered by the added weight of sleeping quarters and living space that something the size of my endurance assault craft hauled around. Even so, my Dagger was more maneuverable than any ship in sight, and I planned to use that to my advantage, even if I didn’t have the firepower most of the other fighters possessed.

Oversight’s fighters pulled ahead of the three warships and formed up to offer a scattering screen against my fighters and Greene’s torpedo ships.

“Hunter,” Quatra called, “take half of your wing and engage those Oversight fighters. We need to make room for Wing One’s torpedoes. Pull the other half back to cover the torpedo ships. I’m having Greene push forward with his heavy fighters. We need to get some ships in range to stop those cruisers and the battleship.”

“Acknowledged,” I said, even as Greene’s heavy fighters swept away from the torpedo ships.

But the Oversight commanders knew that would be the obvious move and must have ordered their fighters to concentrate on our heavy fighters. The Oversight fleet suffered some losses on that count as their fighters remained more focused on Greene’s heavy fighters than dodging my half of Wing Two, but we lost more. Almost half of Greene’s heavy fighters were crippled or destroyed in the first wave, and within a few subchrons we were left with just the few heavy fighters he’d left defending the torpedo ships and the Celestial.

Had Oversight capitalized on that fact, throwing the escort cruisers and the battleship head-to-head with the Celestial, I don’t think we’d have had any ship left by the end of it.

But they didn’t.

Instead, the trio of warships remained cautious, only slipping into range to fire and then ducking back again, avoiding the Celestial’s range and giving them more time to target incoming torpedoes.

But when they did slip into range, the Celestial opened fire.

And it was an impressive sight. Flicker after flicker, flash after flash, lancing out from the armored hull of the ancient beast and driving into the nearer of the Maunhouser-made cruisers. The Celestial’s particle cannons struck almost immediately, their blasts traveling at the speed of light, while the ballistic weapons on the Celestial traveled more slowly but were also harder to track in flight. The smaller ship’s hull lit up brightly as the particle beams collided, boiling away slices of armor, and the ship actually slid sideways from the impact of one of the ballistic shells while its defensive turrets flared to life and managed to detonate the other inbound torpedoes.