The Last Stand by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

CFS Dauntless

Sigma Nordlin System

Year 323 AC (After the Cataclysm)

The Battle of Calpharon – Forward to Engage!

“We need those primaries, Fritzie! You’ve got to get them back online somehow.” Barron sat on Dauntless’s bridge, his head leaning forward, doing what he’d done almost as long as he could remember.

Urging Anya Fritz to keep his ship functioning and in the fight.

There was an absurdity to it, of course. Barron’s days as a ship captain were well behind him, and Anya Fritz had long been a flag officer and commander of the fleet’s entire engineering establishment, a position Barron had invented just for her. But Barron was still on Dauntless—and Admiral needed a flagship, after all—and since he’d bumped Atara up to admiral and chief of staff, he’d managed to open up a way for him to act as the battleship’s commander once again. He could have named a flag captain, of course, but there was still part of Barron that couldn’t give up the feeling of leading his own ship. He was an admiral, a successful and decorated one, but in his heart, he was a ship’s captain.

And Fritz’s role as fleet engineering commander ceased to have any real meaning once the fleet went into combat. Ships fought and were damaged as individual units, and there was precious little Commodore Fritz could do to help the hundreds of individual teams on the fleet’s ships. So, she also fell into old routines, effectively bumping Dauntless’s official chief engineer, and immersing herself in her old job with the same deep satisfaction, Barron suspected, that he did.

Taking a hit at such long range had been a surprise, and a very unwelcome one. Barron hadn’t been careless on the approach. He’d implemented full evasion routines, and done everything he could to protect his ship. It was a stark reminder that luck stood tall next to skill, experience, and courage on the list of things determining the outcome of a battle.

“I’m on it, Admiral. I’ll have them back before we’re in range.” Barron knew Fritzie enough to pick up the doubt in her voice. She wouldn’t lie to him, he was sure of that. But she was also less than her usual one hundred percent sure she could get things back online in time. And that was unsettling.

“I know you are, Fritzie. Keep me posted.” Barron was frustrated. He wanted to shout, to insist that she get it done. But if he’d ever commanded anyone who didn’t need to be driven or pushed, it was Anya Fritz. The engineer had performed her wizardry time and time again, and Barron had never seen anyone who drove herself—or her people—harder. He’d seen her engineers more than once, wandering the corridors with a distant, vacant look. Anya Fritz exhausted her people in a way Barron had never seen before.

He turned back toward the display. The bomber attack was still underway. Reg Griffin had done a masterful job at directing the fight, leading the squadrons toward the most vulnerable enemy ships with staggering precision.

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