The Consuming Fire (The Interdependency #2)(69)

“I think we already have the answer to that. Funny thing, when these ships are decommissioned, a lot of them get bought by pirate sorts. I think the reasoning there is they can outrun or fight the navy ships sent after them.”

“Does that work?” Chenevert asked.

“The navy just sends bigger ships.”

“More missiles,” Hanton said.

This time the beehives launched their payloads early and one of the smaller missiles got within ten clicks of the Auvergne before Chenevert destroyed it.

“You’re still toying with them, right?” Gamis asked.

“If it makes you more comfortable if I say yes, then yes,” Chenevert said.

“It doesn’t when you put it like that.”

“I’m sorry.”

When the Auvergne was two hundred klicks out the ship hit them with its own particle beams. They were on the Auvergne for a full tenth of a second before they were gone, and small puffs of debris were visible coming off the attacking ship.

“Oh, nice,” said Gamis.

“What just happened?” Marce asked Chenevert.

“I was waiting for the ship to open fire to confirm which features on the ship were the beam weapons. Once I knew, I took them out. And then also took out every other feature on the visible portion of the ship that resembled the beam weapons. Just to be safe.”

“More missiles,” Hanton said, pointing at the command screen.

“Mind you, that doesn’t get rid of every defense they have,” Chenevert said. “Excuse me for a moment.”

Fifty klicks out and small details of the ship were clear to Marce and the rest of the crew on the command screen.

“Are we close enough?” Marce asked.

“Almost,” Chenevert said.

Forty klicks.

“Anytime,” Marce said.

“Getting there.”

Thirty klicks, and the ship was visibly growing in the command screen without magnification.

“I’m getting a little nervous,” Marce said.

“Soon,” Chenevert said.

“Missiles,” Hanton said.

“That was nervy,” Chenevert said, a second later. There was a tinkling sound as the debris of one of the missiles collided with the Auvergne.

Ten klicks.

“Now,” Chenevert said, and fired his beam, not at the engine itself, but at a small area up and to the right of it on the hull. The beam bored a hole into the hull, and lanced at the inside of the ship. Air and steam and a small amount of debris vomited out. Marce heard a thrumming inside Auvergne, a sign of adjustments being made so the Auvergne would be stationary relative to the other ship and not ram into it, destroying them both.

“That’s it?” Gamis asked.

“That’s enough,” Chenevert said, and turned to Marce. “I needed to get close enough to get an idea of how energy routed through the ship,” he said. “We assumed the engine was already damaged, so I didn’t want to risk that. I sent the beam through what looked like a central energy exchange route. My guess is that it stops functioning, and the engines and power systems shut down to avoid an explosion, until it’s repaired.”

“How long until it’s repaired?” Marce asked.

“Well, I destroyed it, so, never. At this point I assume they are running ship systems on their emergency power setup.”

“That’s enough to keep them alive for now, but not enough to run their field generator,” Sherrill said. “If they go through the Flow shoal without a space-time bubble they’re screwed.”

“They’re still on a glide path into the Flow shoal,” Hanton said. “They’ll hit it in nine hours, fifteen minutes.”

“What do we do now?” Gamis said.

“Have a protein bar and wait for their call,” Marce said.

*

The call came four hours ahead of the shoal.

“Unidentified ship, this is The Princess Is in Another Castle,” the voice said, over the radio connection. Hanton had given Chenevert the frequencies that were most likely to be used for communication, and Chenevert had set the Auvergne the task of cycling through them until something came through. “Captain Cav Ponsood speaking. Please respond.”

“Hello, Princess,” Marce said. “This is the Auvergne. Lord Marce Claremont here.”

There was a long pause. “You said Lord Marce Claremont.”

“That’s right.”

There was an even longer pause this time.

“What the hell?” Gamis said.

“Lord Marce, you have disabled our ship and we are adrift,” Ponsood said when he returned. “We are without main power, and our emergency power is drawing down.”

“Acknowledged,” Marce said. “Also, your current path takes you directly into the Flow shoal in”—he looked at the command screen, where Chenevert had helpfully set a timer—“three hours, fifty-two minutes. Please be advised that if you enter the shoal in your present condition, without your field generator, you will be instantly rendered into nothingness.”

“Uh, yes,” Ponsood said. “We are aware of that information, and thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Lord Marce, it has come to our attention that despite disabling our ship, you have not elected to destroy us.”