Dreadnaught

“I’ve just been informed that the scout unit leader believes one suit failed to brake velocity enough and overshot the asteroid,” Carabali said tonelessly.

Ancestors preserve us. Geary activated another circuit. “Eleventh Light Cruiser Squadron, Twenty-third and Thirty-second Destroyer Squadrons, detach from fleet formation immediately, proceed to attempt intercept and pickup with one Marine scout who is believed to have overshot the asteroid.”

Carabali let out a breath. “Thank you, Admiral. My scouts will be blowing the airlock any moment now.”

Geary took a moment to take a long, calming breath himself, thinking of that lone Marine plummeting through space, life support slowly being expended. “Whether we can manage an intercept is going to depend on how much that Marine’s velocity was slowed, General. If that scout kept going at four thousand kilometers an hour, we may not be able to get there in time.”

“If the enigma warships go after the ships you sent—”

“I doubt that will happen, General, once the aliens realize that we’re cracking open their human cage.”

Desjani sent another order. “Immediate execute, all units in Task Force Lima reduce braking velocity to point nine maximum.”

The strain on Geary eased a bit, and he could have sworn he heard the structure of Dauntless also sigh with relief. He spared a glance at the display, where the path of the battle cruisers arced toward the asteroid, the time to intercept constantly backing off as the ships slowed their velocity.

“Marines are inside,” Carabali reported. “Possible booby-trap triggers identified. They’ll have to neutralize before proceeding.”

Damn. “We don’t have much room for delay, General.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

“Immediate execute, all units in Task Force Lima reduce braking velocity to point eight maximum,” Desjani ordered.

Sixteen minutes after Desjani gave her first order, and after several more adjustments to their braking, the battle cruisers slid to a halt relative to the asteroid, surrounding it. “All shuttles launch,” Desjani commanded.

From every battle cruiser, shuttles rocketed out, heading for the asteroid. Each carried a few Marine engineers loaded with breaching equipment and other gear, some medical personnel, a fleet engineer to identify any alien equipment that could be looted in the time available, and empty seats for the human prisoners who would hopefully be found within the asteroid. “Five minutes to first shuttle docking at that airlock,” Desjani told Geary.

“General Carabali,” Geary began.

“They’re past the traps,” Carabali announced. “Passing empty compartments. Equipment. Another airlock. Traps visible on this side. Estimated time to disarm two minutes.”

Desjani had her eyes on the alien warships. “We slowed down, they didn’t. They’ll see the light from our maneuvers in another ten minutes.”

Geary nodded. “I guess that’s when we find out if there’s still a way for the aliens to blow up this asteroid.” He eyed the main body of the fleet, still braking, the distance between it and the task force growing by the second. He didn’t need to run maneuvering calculations to know that he couldn’t turn those ships around and get them back here in time to make any difference. “It looks like it’ll be sixteen battle cruisers versus thirty-five alien warships.”

“Piece of cake,” Desjani remarked.

The main body’s formation was stretching oddly, though. Geary highlighted that area and saw that Dreadnaught was braking harder than ordered, Dependable and Conqueror matching her attempt to slow down. “Captain Geary, you’re overstressing your main propulsion units. Ease off and remain with the fleet.”

Desjani had noticed and shook her head. “She’s trying to keep those battleships close enough to support us. They can’t brake that fast.”

“And she should know that.”

He took another look at the light cruisers and destroyers still accelerating toward the area where the Marine might be. “General, if you can order that scout to light off a beacon, it would help.”

“Already done, Admiral. The scout should have already received that order, but we’ve seen no response, so he might still be in a slowed metabolism state. We just sent a remote activation command to the beacon.”

“Distress beacon picked up,” Lieutenant Castries reported.

Geary did a quick mental check of the position of the beacon and its movement relative to the cruisers and destroyers. “That Marine did slow a lot before his suit’s braking equipment failed. I think they can manage a recovery.”

“Someone owes a few thanks to their ancestors,” Desjani remarked.

“We’re past the airlock,” Carabali reported. “Another airlock, sealed, no traps. Blowing it now.”

“They’re moving,” Desjani announced.

“Alien warships accelerating onto intercept with our current position,” Lieutenant Yuon cried.