Wong…”
“We won’t.”
#
Damien struggled to maintain the cloaking spell. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t his power that was the problem but his concentration . The spell wasn’t overly demanding in terms of energy and even his limited strength could handle it, but tracking all of the complex components of burying the Blue Jay ’s energy signature in other ships took a lot of focus.
He’d had a moment of hope when he’d watched Darkport’s first missile salvo strike home, but when the radiation flare of the multiple antimatter explosions had faded, the massive Syndicate cruiser was still there, still advancing relentlessly on the station.
Around the Blue Jay , the other freighters were slowly beginning to scatter. Each of them had a different destination where they would try and lie low before rebuilding their business. Based off what he’d seen on Darkport, Damien couldn’t help but hope that most of them would fail and fall into Protectorate hands.
“Darkport is not winning this, Damien,” David said quietly over the bridge intercom. “Are we clear to jump yet? I don’t like anyone in this fight, but I’d like to be gone before Azure has time to hunt us.”
Still keeping most of his attention on the stealth spell, Damien checked the space around them. Were they this close to a planet, they wouldn’t have been able to, but Darkport had almost no gravity to warp the space flattened by the LaGrange Point.
For most civilian ships, a LaGrange Point wasn’t flat enough for jumping. Damien’s training suggested he had to be significantly further away from the gas giant than they were. With the amplifier, however, he should be able to push through.
“We’re clear.”
“Get us out of here,” David ordered.
Damien took a deep breath. Releasing the stealth spell, he reached for the magic of the amplifier again as quickly as he could, funneling it into the jump he’d prepared days earlier.
In a collapsing bubble of magic, the Blue Jay vanished from the center of the fleeing gaggle of freighters.
#
“There they go,” Hu reported, the scanner tech highlighting the sudden appearance and jump flare of the Blue Jay from the middle of the fleeing freighters. “Damn, he’s jumping in close.”
“He has a fully functional amplifier, and has had reason to learn his limits,” Wong said sharply. “Monroe, time to next salvo?”
“We’ll be loading and firing in thirty seconds,” the gunner replied. “Their next salvo is forty five seconds out.”
Darkport’s salvos were weakening as the Gauntlet destroyed their surface platforms, but the cruiser wasn’t invulnerable anymore either. Two more missiles had got through, detonating just clear of the warship’s hull and searing sensors and weapons from the surface.
“Jourdaine,” Wong snapped, turning to the Mage. “Jump us to the rendezvous point as soon as Monroe’s birds are in the air. We have enough holes to patch up!”
Azure remained impressed by the sheer survivability of the ship he’d stolen. Five one gigaton antimatter explosions had happened on or near the Azure Gauntlet ’s hull, and while they’d lost weapons and surface emplacements, there was only one actual breach. Only fifteen of the cruiser’s crew were dead, about the same injured.
“Firing!” Monroe announced, and the ship lurched as another forty-plus missiles blasted away from her.
“ Jumping! ” Jourdaine snapped, and Azure shivered against the indescribable sensation of teleportation.
The screens blanked for a moment, and then returned with the image of deep space, a light year away from Darkport’s dead home system.
“Monroe, get on the repair crew – I want to know how many tubes and turrets we can get back online,” Wong ordered sharply. “Jourdaine, check in with the other Mages. Hu, go over the sensors – make sure we’ve got as much of the array working as we can. Once you’ve done that, send the data on the
“We won’t.”
#
Damien struggled to maintain the cloaking spell. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t his power that was the problem but his concentration . The spell wasn’t overly demanding in terms of energy and even his limited strength could handle it, but tracking all of the complex components of burying the Blue Jay ’s energy signature in other ships took a lot of focus.
He’d had a moment of hope when he’d watched Darkport’s first missile salvo strike home, but when the radiation flare of the multiple antimatter explosions had faded, the massive Syndicate cruiser was still there, still advancing relentlessly on the station.
Around the Blue Jay , the other freighters were slowly beginning to scatter. Each of them had a different destination where they would try and lie low before rebuilding their business. Based off what he’d seen on Darkport, Damien couldn’t help but hope that most of them would fail and fall into Protectorate hands.
“Darkport is not winning this, Damien,” David said quietly over the bridge intercom. “Are we clear to jump yet? I don’t like anyone in this fight, but I’d like to be gone before Azure has time to hunt us.”
Still keeping most of his attention on the stealth spell, Damien checked the space around them. Were they this close to a planet, they wouldn’t have been able to, but Darkport had almost no gravity to warp the space flattened by the LaGrange Point.
For most civilian ships, a LaGrange Point wasn’t flat enough for jumping. Damien’s training suggested he had to be significantly further away from the gas giant than they were. With the amplifier, however, he should be able to push through.
“We’re clear.”
“Get us out of here,” David ordered.
Damien took a deep breath. Releasing the stealth spell, he reached for the magic of the amplifier again as quickly as he could, funneling it into the jump he’d prepared days earlier.
In a collapsing bubble of magic, the Blue Jay vanished from the center of the fleeing gaggle of freighters.
#
“There they go,” Hu reported, the scanner tech highlighting the sudden appearance and jump flare of the Blue Jay from the middle of the fleeing freighters. “Damn, he’s jumping in close.”
“He has a fully functional amplifier, and has had reason to learn his limits,” Wong said sharply. “Monroe, time to next salvo?”
“We’ll be loading and firing in thirty seconds,” the gunner replied. “Their next salvo is forty five seconds out.”
Darkport’s salvos were weakening as the Gauntlet destroyed their surface platforms, but the cruiser wasn’t invulnerable anymore either. Two more missiles had got through, detonating just clear of the warship’s hull and searing sensors and weapons from the surface.
“Jourdaine,” Wong snapped, turning to the Mage. “Jump us to the rendezvous point as soon as Monroe’s birds are in the air. We have enough holes to patch up!”
Azure remained impressed by the sheer survivability of the ship he’d stolen. Five one gigaton antimatter explosions had happened on or near the Azure Gauntlet ’s hull, and while they’d lost weapons and surface emplacements, there was only one actual breach. Only fifteen of the cruiser’s crew were dead, about the same injured.
“Firing!” Monroe announced, and the ship lurched as another forty-plus missiles blasted away from her.
“ Jumping! ” Jourdaine snapped, and Azure shivered against the indescribable sensation of teleportation.
The screens blanked for a moment, and then returned with the image of deep space, a light year away from Darkport’s dead home system.
“Monroe, get on the repair crew – I want to know how many tubes and turrets we can get back online,” Wong ordered sharply. “Jourdaine, check in with the other Mages. Hu, go over the sensors – make sure we’ve got as much of the array working as we can. Once you’ve done that, send the data on the
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