Jay ’s jump to my office comp. You know what I need by now.”
As his bridge crew jumped into action around him, Wong turned back to Azure.
“My office, my lord?” he asked softly. “The less we hover, the sooner the ship will be repaired.”
Azure nodded and followed his ship captain into the small room tucked off of the bridge. The space set aside for the vessel’s commander had a viewscreen along one wall that duplicated the main screen outside.
“I apologize for my brusqueness, my lord,” Wong said after a moment, taking one of the two chairs in front of the desk.
“You command my ship, Mister Wong,” Azure replied calmly. “You have earned my trust in your judgment on this matter.”
He met his Captain’s gaze for a moment before Wong glanced away. Both messages heard and received.
“How long until we can pursue Rice and Montgomery?” he continued.
“I would like to take twelve hours to make sure we can finish most of the immediate repairs,” Wong told him after considering for a moment. “I don’t expect to get all sixty launchers back without a shipyard, but we should be able to get back over fifty.
“After that, we can pursue them with a jump every four hours,” the Captain finished. “If Montgomery thinks his little trick has concealed his path, he will likely hold to the standard three jumps a day. We will catch him inside two days.”
“You have three Mages qualified to jump,” Azure objected. “We can almost double that time.”
“If we had three true Jump Mages like Montgomery, yes,” Wong agreed. “If we had Fleet Mages aboard, they would easily be able to jump every six hours each. But finding Mages willing to serve on a pirate cruiser was not easy, my lord. Jourdaine is my only actual Jump Mage. The other two were too weak to qualify, which is how I got them aboard.
“They can jump. But neither can jump more than every twelve hours,” the Captain finished. “We can pursue far faster than the Blue Jay can run, but we must be aware of the limitations of our crew and vessel.”
“And once we bring them to bay?” Azure asked.
Wong shrugged. “Able’s plan was solid,” he admitted. “We are equipped with precision kinetics capable of severing the freighter’s ribs. My and Jourdaine’s analysis is that this will disable the amplifier and allow us to board.”
“We need the ship intact,” the Crime Lord warned.
“There is a risk of the Blue Jay ’s destruction,” Wong told him with a nod. “But we can close to a little over two million kilometers – outside their amplifier range – which will minimize that danger. Unless they have heavily armed the ship, and I doubt they had enough time at Darkport for that, Montgomery will be no threat to us at that range.”
Azure considered the plan. He couldn’t see any way of reducing the risk of blowing away his prize without risking getting into a range where Montgomery would strike at the Azure Gauntlet with the amplifier.
For all that the ship had survived antimatter warheads meters from its surface; he doubted it would withstand a desperate Mage with an amplifier. There was, after all, a reason the Martian Navy tried to keep amplifiers out of the hands of anyone else.
“Very well, Mister Wong,” he allowed. “I am returning to my cabin. Advise me when we are ready to resume the pursuit.”
#
The mirror in the sealed room hidden beside Alaura Stealey’s main quarters glowed with starlight. The eight foot by three foot piece of glass was wrapped in a silver frame that was covered in meticulously carved runes, none of which would have appeared in a Martian Runic dictionary.
Across the room from the mirror, and taking up most of the space carved out of the Tides of Justice ’s backup missile magazines, was a full scanner array that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the outside of the destroyer.
The magic running through the mirror and its frame allowed Stealey to open a window to a space many
As his bridge crew jumped into action around him, Wong turned back to Azure.
“My office, my lord?” he asked softly. “The less we hover, the sooner the ship will be repaired.”
Azure nodded and followed his ship captain into the small room tucked off of the bridge. The space set aside for the vessel’s commander had a viewscreen along one wall that duplicated the main screen outside.
“I apologize for my brusqueness, my lord,” Wong said after a moment, taking one of the two chairs in front of the desk.
“You command my ship, Mister Wong,” Azure replied calmly. “You have earned my trust in your judgment on this matter.”
He met his Captain’s gaze for a moment before Wong glanced away. Both messages heard and received.
“How long until we can pursue Rice and Montgomery?” he continued.
“I would like to take twelve hours to make sure we can finish most of the immediate repairs,” Wong told him after considering for a moment. “I don’t expect to get all sixty launchers back without a shipyard, but we should be able to get back over fifty.
“After that, we can pursue them with a jump every four hours,” the Captain finished. “If Montgomery thinks his little trick has concealed his path, he will likely hold to the standard three jumps a day. We will catch him inside two days.”
“You have three Mages qualified to jump,” Azure objected. “We can almost double that time.”
“If we had three true Jump Mages like Montgomery, yes,” Wong agreed. “If we had Fleet Mages aboard, they would easily be able to jump every six hours each. But finding Mages willing to serve on a pirate cruiser was not easy, my lord. Jourdaine is my only actual Jump Mage. The other two were too weak to qualify, which is how I got them aboard.
“They can jump. But neither can jump more than every twelve hours,” the Captain finished. “We can pursue far faster than the Blue Jay can run, but we must be aware of the limitations of our crew and vessel.”
“And once we bring them to bay?” Azure asked.
Wong shrugged. “Able’s plan was solid,” he admitted. “We are equipped with precision kinetics capable of severing the freighter’s ribs. My and Jourdaine’s analysis is that this will disable the amplifier and allow us to board.”
“We need the ship intact,” the Crime Lord warned.
“There is a risk of the Blue Jay ’s destruction,” Wong told him with a nod. “But we can close to a little over two million kilometers – outside their amplifier range – which will minimize that danger. Unless they have heavily armed the ship, and I doubt they had enough time at Darkport for that, Montgomery will be no threat to us at that range.”
Azure considered the plan. He couldn’t see any way of reducing the risk of blowing away his prize without risking getting into a range where Montgomery would strike at the Azure Gauntlet with the amplifier.
For all that the ship had survived antimatter warheads meters from its surface; he doubted it would withstand a desperate Mage with an amplifier. There was, after all, a reason the Martian Navy tried to keep amplifiers out of the hands of anyone else.
“Very well, Mister Wong,” he allowed. “I am returning to my cabin. Advise me when we are ready to resume the pursuit.”
#
The mirror in the sealed room hidden beside Alaura Stealey’s main quarters glowed with starlight. The eight foot by three foot piece of glass was wrapped in a silver frame that was covered in meticulously carved runes, none of which would have appeared in a Martian Runic dictionary.
Across the room from the mirror, and taking up most of the space carved out of the Tides of Justice ’s backup missile magazines, was a full scanner array that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the outside of the destroyer.
The magic running through the mirror and its frame allowed Stealey to open a window to a space many
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