Pearl of the Stars

Captain Grace Ifhans arrived on the bridge. She’d ran from her quarters and as such was a little short of breath. The two Lieutenants on watch saluted, a gesture she returned as she concentrated her breathing.

“What is it Lieutenant?” she asked. Sleep was a rare commodity on board a battlecruiser, and Grace attempted to shake the remnants of the forty minutes or so she’d managed to get.

“Status report Ma’am,” the Lieutenant replied. “Radar shows a fleet jumped in from the Hel System.”

“How long ago?”

“Six hours Ma’am,” the Lieutenant replied nervously. “We picked up on their arrival so late due to the highly ionised atmosphere of the ice giant.”

“How far from us?”

“A little under forty-three minutes.”

“Fick!” she yelled, the comment directed at no one in particular. “Get hold of the Unit Commanders. I want them in a conference in five minutes.”

“Aye Ma’am.”

***

The wall directly behind Grace showed minutes old footage of the enemy fleet as they sped towards the Council Fleet. Grace had no need to look at it, not again. She could tell by the looks upon the faces of those digitally gathered their chances were not good.

The footage ran it’s course and Grace lit a cigarette before she spoke. When she did so, she spoke directly to Captain Holding.

“What do you think, Frank?”

“I think we’re ficked, Ma’am,” he replied. “Looks to me like their entire fleet, and then some.”

“Re-con counts six thousand vessels, give or take a hundred,” Grace stated, and watched as those on the screens around her winced.

“If we can get past them and jump to Hel, it’s possible we might be able to lure them too close to the black hole,” Captain Casper suggested.

“They’re capable of travelling at least twice as fast as we are Danielle, in open space at any rate,” replied Grace. “And even if we were able to get the jump on them and make a run for Hel, I’d wager those vessels are capable of getting much closer to the dead star than we are.”

“We’ve no choice but to fight,” said Captain Hubbard. “Though I can’t say I fancy our chances.”

“Do you have anything Major?” Grace asked, turning to face Hynes’ screen. “After all, you managed to escape their home system with one of their own vessels no less.”

“I’m afraid to say Captain, I don’t have so much as a fickling clue.” The Major paused and on screen, Grace saw him light a cigarette. “Our weapons are pretty much ineffective against their shields. We can’t run, we can’t hide...” He allowed the sentence to tail off, shaking his head slowly. Silence fell, and remained for a few minutes until Grace spoke again.

“Well then ladies and gentlemen, I would say it’s time for us to make our final stand.” Her words were met with mumblings of agreement all round. “We’re not going to make it easy for them though, and we’ll take as many of the ficklers with us as we possibly can.” She turned her head back towards the screen showing Frank Holding’s image.

“Frank, you are in possession of the only vessel that stands so much as a chance against these bastards. Take half the battlecruisers in wide arc. By my reckoning you should be able to swing back and attack the edge of their formation. The rest of us will split into three separate formations. Captain Casper, Captain Hubbard. Your formations are to act independently. I’ll keep the Pearl here along with ten of the remaining battlecruisers and twenty battleships. We’ll hit the ficklers head-on.” Her comments were met with applause from all in attendance. They were warriors after all, and what better way to go out than in a blaze of glory.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Grace repeated. “This may well be the last time we’re gathered, it has been my absolute honour to serve with each and every one of you.” Her words were met with smiles and salutes, and she felt an overwhelming sense of pride. “These vunts may take our lives but I’ll tell you this right now... we’re going to give them fickling hell before they do!” The final part of her rallying speech was met with a single word, shouted back at her simultaneously by all gathered, and she had no doubt that same word would soon echo through the halls and corridors of each and every ship in the Fleet.

“Oorah!”