five minutes as the ship bucked and fought its way free of the atmosphere. Finally he shook his head. “I’m not sure, Vas. That’s an honest answer. They weren’t anything I’ve ever seen.” He freed a hand from the rails to wave off her objections. “I’m being honest. I’ve never seen ships like those, nor ships that could do what those were trying to do in my life. But there are places I haven’t been to in probably two hundred years.” He sighed. “There are places the Commonwealth has never heard of. People who could have advanced to those ships had they wanted to.”
The Warrior Wench stopped bucking, so Vas released her straps, carefully ignoring the way her hands shook.
“Fine,” she said with a frown. She would have to count on him giving her what he thought she needed to know at this point. He didn’t know those ships any more than she did. However, he brought up a good point; maybe asking some of her crew who were originally from outside of the Commonwealth would help narrow things down.
“Keep me updated if you think of anything. You don’t know what might be important.” She turned and made her way out of the bowels of the ship and up to the bridge. A few vents hissing into the ship’s interior told her the Warrior Wench definitely hadn’t come out completely unscathed. But as long as the tears weren’t life threatening, they wouldn’t worry about them yet.
“Gosta, did those ships do anything as we took off?” Vas slid into her chair, calling up as many images of the gray ships as possible. “Xsit, did all our transports make it out of the system?”
Xsit nodded, but Gosta’s face became pinched in pain as he keyed in new images to be sent to her screen. “Only this.”
The heavy ships wiped out the entire battleground in under five minutes. It was a good thing her transport ships got off before she did; not a single ship got off after the Warrior Wench . The lumbering gray ships had turned their sensors to the Warrior Wench . The logs indicated a low-level scan had been bounced off right after liftoff, but they hadn’t launched an attack. Most likely they knew they couldn’t maneuver fast enough to catch a Gallant-class cruiser with a lead on them.
The slaughter on the ground horrified even Vas.
“Keep recording. We need to send the data to the Commonwealth.” She’d also be contacting the holder for this contract. Or she would have had they not most likely just been blown apart with their planet.
Vas turned as she heard a collective gasp, or imagined she heard it, from her command crew. “Yes, I know. Me sending something to them besides ‘go to hell’ messages.” She studied the frozen images on her screen. “This isn’t a normal fight. It’s not one nobleman hiring a group of thugs to rough up the thugs hired by another. They were slaughtered. We owe it to the mercs who died down there to let someone know. There are dictates of battle for a reason. Those bastards just made themselves an enemy.”
Chapter Eight
The bridge went silent as images of the slaughter on the ground held their attention. Vas let them watch; she believed in letting her people know what was going on. However, after a few minutes she cut it off. They also needed to re-group.
Right now she needed to get her people as far away from this system as possible. Since they were already doing that, and no pursuit had appeared, she felt it was safe to leave the deck.
“Gosta, I’ll be in my ready room, if anyone needs me.…” Vas let her comment trail off with a sigh as Terel came up the ramp to the bridge with Deven right behind. “Not again. Aren’t I done with those damn shots? There are a few other things going on right now.”
Deven frowned. “No, we’re not done, and those ships didn’t follow us. I told our troop transports to head to Home after they regroup. They’ll be running scans to make sure no one trails them.”
Vas gazed longingly at her
The Warrior Wench stopped bucking, so Vas released her straps, carefully ignoring the way her hands shook.
“Fine,” she said with a frown. She would have to count on him giving her what he thought she needed to know at this point. He didn’t know those ships any more than she did. However, he brought up a good point; maybe asking some of her crew who were originally from outside of the Commonwealth would help narrow things down.
“Keep me updated if you think of anything. You don’t know what might be important.” She turned and made her way out of the bowels of the ship and up to the bridge. A few vents hissing into the ship’s interior told her the Warrior Wench definitely hadn’t come out completely unscathed. But as long as the tears weren’t life threatening, they wouldn’t worry about them yet.
“Gosta, did those ships do anything as we took off?” Vas slid into her chair, calling up as many images of the gray ships as possible. “Xsit, did all our transports make it out of the system?”
Xsit nodded, but Gosta’s face became pinched in pain as he keyed in new images to be sent to her screen. “Only this.”
The heavy ships wiped out the entire battleground in under five minutes. It was a good thing her transport ships got off before she did; not a single ship got off after the Warrior Wench . The lumbering gray ships had turned their sensors to the Warrior Wench . The logs indicated a low-level scan had been bounced off right after liftoff, but they hadn’t launched an attack. Most likely they knew they couldn’t maneuver fast enough to catch a Gallant-class cruiser with a lead on them.
The slaughter on the ground horrified even Vas.
“Keep recording. We need to send the data to the Commonwealth.” She’d also be contacting the holder for this contract. Or she would have had they not most likely just been blown apart with their planet.
Vas turned as she heard a collective gasp, or imagined she heard it, from her command crew. “Yes, I know. Me sending something to them besides ‘go to hell’ messages.” She studied the frozen images on her screen. “This isn’t a normal fight. It’s not one nobleman hiring a group of thugs to rough up the thugs hired by another. They were slaughtered. We owe it to the mercs who died down there to let someone know. There are dictates of battle for a reason. Those bastards just made themselves an enemy.”
Chapter Eight
The bridge went silent as images of the slaughter on the ground held their attention. Vas let them watch; she believed in letting her people know what was going on. However, after a few minutes she cut it off. They also needed to re-group.
Right now she needed to get her people as far away from this system as possible. Since they were already doing that, and no pursuit had appeared, she felt it was safe to leave the deck.
“Gosta, I’ll be in my ready room, if anyone needs me.…” Vas let her comment trail off with a sigh as Terel came up the ramp to the bridge with Deven right behind. “Not again. Aren’t I done with those damn shots? There are a few other things going on right now.”
Deven frowned. “No, we’re not done, and those ships didn’t follow us. I told our troop transports to head to Home after they regroup. They’ll be running scans to make sure no one trails them.”
Vas gazed longingly at her
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