The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 33.4

[Gabriel]

The acceleration forces pushed back on Gabriel, compressing his chest and making him dizzy, feeling like a massive sand dune had collapsed on him. In response, the space suit squeezed his extremities to ensure adequate blood supply to vital organs. He was grateful that the technicians thought to place limits on the g-forces so that he and Eshe did not turn into bloody goo. Normally, a drone was not so constrained by human endurance.

It seemed to take forever, but eventually the drone looped around and positioned itself in the path of the Invictus, avoiding other Commonwealth warships. The thrusters fired again to slow it. The dreadnought became visible in the distance, looming larger as it closed in on them. 

No doubt they were aware of the drone, but hopefully, not us.

"Umm, Eshe?" he said, speaking through the closed com system. "Shouldn't we disconnect? I would really like to not get turned into space confetti."

"Not yet," she replied. "They are not as close as they seem. And we are still adjusting relative velocity."

Gabriel glanced at the rangefinder reading, and his heart pounded in accelerated rhythm. They were getting close, certainly within plasma cannon range. 

After what seemed another eternity, Eshe said, "It's time. Brace for separation."

Actually, there was not much to brace for, only a small jerk as the holding straps swung away. A flat tether connected Eshe and Gabriel as they floated in space. Once far enough away, the drone thrusters fired under Eshe's command, sending it toward the Invictus. Only a few moments passed before a streak of orange sprang from the enormous ship, shredding the drone in a bright flash.

Gabriel whistled. "Glad we weren't on there. They have no respect for Confederate property."

Eshe replied, "It is good, though. The wreckage will help hide us. Now we wait for the Invictus to come to us."

More waiting. Gabriel sighed.

Despite his anxiousness, there was a peace to interstellar space, where time and distance became malleable. Gabriel reflected on the improbable events that led him to this point, here floating with the embrace of vacuum and starlight beside his sister's protector. The abyss induced both humility and resolve. Within the cosmic time-space, his influence was insignificant, hardly a flicker of starlight, but within the bounds of his existence, he mattered. Family, friends, humanity — these were things worth fighting for.

Gabriel broke the silence, puffing a maneuvering thruster to turn toward his partner. "Eshe, have you ever considered what your part is in the universe?"

Through her visor, he just caught the wrinkle of her brow. She replied, "There is little point to think about it. My part is here, now."

"I suppose so. When this is done, what do you say we go out for a fancy candle-lit dinner, just the two of--"

Eshe interrupted him. "Gabriel, let me stop you there. First, I don't date on-duty. Second, we have something in common — we both prefer women."

"Oh." A moment of silence passed. "Really?"

"Yes. Really."

That explains her resistance. "Nonetheless, my offer still stands. As friends then?"

"I would agree with that." A smile came to her face.

"Okay, then." Several moments of silence passed, then he said, "Maybe if we found a woman who swings both ways--"

"Let it go, Gabriel."

In the far distance, bursts of light appeared between the stars, flashing orange and yellow, showing that the fighting had begun. Gabriel noted how unlike the old space battle stories this was, where ships battled like knights at close range. As with space itself, the distances between ships were enormous. An expanding orb of blue-white appeared, brightening, then dissipating, a sign of a fusion reactor breach and the demise of a starship.

Eshe broke Gabriel's attention. "The Invictus is accelerating. We need to compensate." The ship appeared ever larger, coming closer.

"Would they notice us if we fired out thrusters?" Gabriel asked.

"We will have to take that chance. Hopefully, with the battle ongoing, they will not notice. If we don't, it will hit us at over fifty meters per second."

"Yeah, that would hurt."

Under Eshe's control, the thruster packs spun them around and fired. The thrust lasted two minutes, creating an artificial gravity that felt like standing on a massive planet. When it stopped, they returned to weightlessness.

The Invictus continued its approach, taking up more of Gabriel's view. The massive dreadnought was designed for intimidation and dominance, like the sea battleships of old, featuring heavy armor and overwhelming firepower. Over two kilometers long, it looked like a rough brick with four massive cylinders attached and facing rearward, the fusion thrusters. Many other shapes jutted out from the surface, including the docking ports and weapon placements.

Right, and the two of us are going to subdue that? No problem...

A streak of white shot past Eshe and Gabriel, emanating from the Invictus. "A railgun slug," Eshe explained.

Some poor ship would likely suffer the deadly wrath of the hyper-velocity kinetic weapon, Gabriel feared. I hope it was not the Firebird Rise.

The Invictus drew ever nearer, now filling Gabriel's vision. "Wow, that thing is big."

Eshe fired the thrusters once more, making final velocity adjustments. "Prepare for impact," she warned. "Approach velocity is fourteen meters per second."

Gabriel did the math in his head. Like falling from ten meters at normal Earth gravity. This won't be any fun.

The collision punched the air from Gabriel's lungs with a loud grunt. They slid along the hull surface, tumbling in dazed disorientation. Arms and legs flailed to catch anything that might slow them down. Gabriel grabbed a support beam while Eshe continued to slide on. But when the tether between them yanked taut, he lost his grip.

Sliding further, they passed on both sides of a pylon of crisscrossing support bars. The tether caught on it and swung them around like pendulums to smash into each other, settling face-to-face.

"Are you alright, Gabriel?" Eshe said, gazing straight into his visor.

Throbbing pain from a shoulder and ribs brought out a groan. "Yeah, but let's never do that again." Red lights flashed from one side of his heads-up display. "I broke my thruster pack, though."

"We may not have much time. Let's find an AI connection and complete the mission."

Gabriel nodded. "I think we passed a maintenance hatch on the way. There should be a connection there."

Eshe helped Gabriel shed his thruster pack and attached it to the pylon frame. With Gabriel holding on, she flew back along the surface, using her thrusters.

"There it is," he said, pointing at an oval-shaped door on the hull surface next to some sort of large riser.

After engaging his magnetic boots, Gabriel walked around the door to find a small, covered panel. Using a knife, he pried open the cover to find a round beveled hole. "I think I found the AI port."

Eshe shed her thruster pack and attached it to the door frame. "Well, hurry up and plug in, we've got company."

Gabriel turned his head to see two saucer shaped drones racing toward them, skimming along the hull like raptors, likely part of an anti-boarding defense system. "Oh, that's not good."