Wing Commander Junior Novelization Chapter 29

Chapter 29
Book	Wing Commander Junior Novelization
Parts	6
Previous	Chapter 28
Next	Chapter 30
Pages	136-140
Source	Wing Commander Chapter 29, Part One, Part Two, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven and Part Nine

Dramatis Personae

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5	Part 6
POV	Thiraka nar Kiranka	Paul Gerald	Christopher Blair	Paul Gerald	Todd Marshall	Christopher Blair
Speaking	Bokoth nar Kiranka Ke'Soick	Harrison Falk James "Paladin" Taggart	Merlin	Harrison Falk James "Paladin" Taggart Unnamed Ordinance Room Crewperson	Adam "Bishop" Polanski	Devi Soulsong Merlin
Mentioned			Jay Sansky

Text

KILRATHI BATTLE GROUP

SNAKEIR-CLASS CRUISER KIS GRIST'AR'ROC

ULYSSES CORRIDOR

MARCH 17, 2654 1259 HOURS ZULU TIME

1 MINUTE FROM CHARYBDIS QUASAR JUMP POINT

Part One

Admiral Bokoth's plans were falling apart. But Captain Thiraka would not wave his earlier doubts in the admiral's face. He felt more comfortable now. He had decided to let Ke'Soick kill the admiral. Thiraka would sacrifice the life of a dear friend for the preservation of the Empire. As agonizing as it was to lose Ke'Soick--who would be executed for the admiral's murder--Thiraka had come to see the truth and the honor in disposing of Bokoth. He bowed before the old one. "Kalralahr. A manned Confederation fighter is approaching the quasar with its jump drive engaged. We're not in position to intercept."

     "A fighter?" Bokoth asked, turning in the command chair.

     "Using what coordinates?"

     "Apparently the right ones, sir. The ship is on course."

     Bokoth's good eye bulged. "He's going to warn the Confed fleet of our jump coordinates. Follow him. Instruct all ships to mark our course but follow original coordinates through. Sixty-second intervals."

     "As you wish." Thiraka nodded and stepped away. He gave the new orders to the helm, then stood beside Ke'Soick.

     "Now?" the commander asked.

     "I agree with his orders," Thiraka said. "We'll wait until after the jump. But don't worry, my friend. You'll have your chance."

Part Two

Gerald did a double-take as he watched the Kilrathi cruiser turn hard to port, away from the Tiger Claw. "Mr. Falk?"

     "She's changing course, sir."

     "Mr. Gerald," Taggart said. "Prepare to lower our shield. Starboard missile battery prepare to fire."

     After setting the shield to performa flash shutdown, Gerald discovered an error in Taggart's order. "Sir, the missile guidance systems won't activate at this range."

     "They won't need to. Arm warheads."

Part Three

So many vibrations rumbled through Blair's Rapier that he swore he now plunged into an atmosphere, a degree away from burning up.

     "Merlin?" he shouted, warping the computer's name.

     "Velocity?"

     "Light speed mach-point-eight-two," the little man responded, his voice as shaky as Blair's. "Twenty seconds to jump. Can you do it?"

     "Only one way to find out."

     When Blair had plotted the course through Scylla, he had closed his eyes, fingered the touchpad, and played a song of coordinates. He had obeyed the feeling and felt the need to surrender to it now. "Computer. Switch to voice recognition and prepare to plot course."

     "Acknowledged. System ready."

     He reached out with his mind, with his body, into the quasar, feeling his way through a transparent maze of gravity and magnetic fields. Then he pictured the correct coordinates and spoke the numbers.

     "First set of coordinates plotted. Warning. Deviation in jump course found. Do you wish to adjust course?"

     "Ignore deviation. Maintain speed and heading."

Part Four

The Tiger Claw approached the Kilrathi cruiser head-on. The enemy ship fired thousands of laser bolts that weakened the Claw's shields. Soon the two great ships would pass each other, headed in opposite directions.

     Gerald buckled into his seat, seeking courage in his torpedo sta tus display. "Commodore. Four tubes loaded and online. Warheads armed. Range of target: four hundred six meters and closing."

     Taggart sat in the command chair, his face tight and serious. He clutched his armrests and leaned toward the Kilrathi cruiser as though he would leap at it himself. "Lower shields. Give 'em a -- broadside, Mr. Gerald."

     "Fire all batteries!" Gerald cried.

     "Aye-aye. Fire all batteries," came the reply from the starboard ordnance room.

     Kilrathi cannon fire continued to hammer the now-unshielded cruiser in rumbling waves, but Gerald ignored it, focusing on the four torpedoes. Three shot through the cruiser's shield to impact on its hull, tearing up portside batteries and a launch bay. The fourth torpedo found the ship's bridge and blew it into a billion pieces.

     As the cruiser tipped over, a dozen of the Claw's guided missiles burrowed into her hull, stopped short somewhere inside the ship, then exploded. Fiery light filtered through the cracks and holes.

Part Five

"Hey, Maniac? Where are you going? Don't leave my wing!" Polanski shouted.

     Maniac continued in his eighty-degree dive to escape the raging dogfights over the cap ships. "Two Krants broke loose. They're after the Claw. If they hit the Ion engines, the ship'll be dead in space. Now don't leave my wing!"

     "I'm with you, buddy."

     The blue blip that was Polanski's Rapier slid onto Maniac's radar display. "Take the one going for the bridge. I'll get the other."

     "He's really moving," Polanski said.

     "Get him, man! Get him!"

     Jamming the stick back, Maniac pulled out of his dive and streaked toward the carrier's stern. He targeted the Krant swooping down on the Claw, and his VDU showed that the pilot had missile lock. Maniac hollered his war cry and issued last rites to the cat with Neutron guns. Once a fighter, the Krant blew into a flaming trail that blocked Maniac's path. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he muttered, going upside-down. Showers of burning fuel splashed on the Rapier's belly. He angled away, and the last of the fuel burned off.

     From his new position, Maniac saw that the Tiger Claw glided alongside the cruiser at point-blank range. "And they say I'm crazy."

     A flash at his port quarter gained his attention. Polanski's Rapier cut a jagged line across the heavens. "That's six kills today, Maniac. You won't top me."

     "Oh, no?" Maniac pinned the throttle and went straight up like a missile. The enemy fighters rushed toward him.

     "Hey, don't do anything reckless," Polanski warned. "Not without me!"

Part Six

The jump drive shrieked, and the rattle had become a single noise that made it almost impossible to concentrate. "Second set of coordinates at four-seven-five-five-three-nine-nine," Blair shouted.

     "Warning. Course deviation. Do you wish to--"

     "Stay on course."

     "Five seconds," Merlin reported. "Four, three, two--"

     The striped vortex winked out of existence.

     "Mother?"

     You shouldn't do this to yourself, Christopher. You weren't meant to see me. This is not your continuum.

     It is mine. I chose it.

     You don't have the right to choose. Only one does.

     What do you mean? There aren't any rules. I feel this. I can do what I feel.

     Then you'll fall. Like the others.

     You're not my mother, are you?

     I'm everything your mother was, is, and will be. I'm in every part of the universe at once, as you are now, as you shouldn't be.

     Why?

     I wish you could understand. I wish that more than anything. But I've seen your path. And there's nothing I can do to change it.

     Wait. We've had this conversation before. This has already happened.

     No, it hasn't. But it will.

     I don't understand.

     You don't need to.

     Where are you going? We have to talk! I need to know--

     Thunder overpowered his words. Suddenly, the harness dug into his shoulders. His head fell forward, then ripped back. Star lines whirled, grew shorter, formed into points as the jump drive turned off. The faint smell of heated metal passed into his O₂, flow. He blinked to clear his vision, then squinted at the stars and knew, knew with his eyes and with his blood, that he was on the edge of the Sol system. "We did it," he muttered. "We did it!" He patted the canopy. "I love this baby. She held together."

     "I'm not sure I did," Merlin moaned.

     Blair quickly dialed up a secret Confederation channel on his comm system. "This is Lieutenant Christopher Blair of the TCS Tiger Claw calling any Confed ship. A Kilrathi battle group has the Charybdis jump coordinates. They'll breech at one-six-seven mark eight-eight-nine, Sol system. Do you read?"

     Only static replied.

     "Merlin. Check your frequencies for signs of the fleet."

     "Nothing ... Wait a minute. Check behind us."

     "Behind us?"

     The still and silent darkness exploded in a terrific white circle filled with webs of energy. A giant, ferocious-looking carrier flew out of the circle.

     "Kilrathi capital ship," Merlin said. "Snakeir-class."

     Blair pounded the instrument panel. "We're too late!"

Scans

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