In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 26: Turning Back

Shield power gradually returned as they circled the dwarf planet. Tyrone eyed the indicator a couple times a minute as they recharged. He would probably be looking at it regularly for the rest of their trip. Close encounters with death made him edgy for days afterward. Taking on the pirate fighters had been their second such encounter in two weeks, and there was still time for another today.

Thankfully, they would have some support in the next fight. White Onyx Devastator would arrive before they could circle back to the corvette, and that was fine with him. The corvette wasn't going to run out of ammunition.

Victory would still have been achievable if that hadn't happened. There was a reason Joseph took the gunner's station every time the two got into trouble; he excelled in the job. The fact remained however that even the most skilled gunner couldn't stop the enemy from shooting back. Tyrone didn't care to think what state Garden Variety Animal would be in with a few more minutes of exchanging fire.

"How much time do we have before we finish our orbit?" Joseph asked.

"About ten minutes."

"I'm going to head to the back and refill our magazines then."

"Are they low?" Tyrone looked back at his partner with some alarm. Had they really used up that much against the fighters? The fight hadn't seemed quite that long, but Tyrone had been focused on flying.

"We're not in danger of running out, but I fired a lot of the mixed plasma and explosive magazine." Joseph shrugged as he stood from the gunner's chair. "We prefer that one pretty heavily, so I'd rather have it full. Also, since we just watched someone else run out of ammo, I'd really like full magazines when we get close to the corvette again."

At least Tyrone wasn't the only one developing nervous tics about the status of ship systems. Joseph's sudden obsession with having full magazines wasn't entirely reasonable, but neither was his own preoccupation with the shield monitor. "Alright then. I'll get in touch with the Devastator while you're gone." Joseph nodded and left the cockpit.

Tyrone turned to the comms panel and sent a hail to the warship. The White Onyx Devastator opened the connection instantly, and the radio officer's helmet appeared on the windshield again. "Garden Variety Animal, are you alright?" Her question came with no preamble whatsoever. They must have been worried.

"We're fine. We have a few thrusters damaged or destroyed, but not enough to significantly impair our maneuvering. Beyond that, it's just nuisance damage. Any change in your ETA?"

"No, we haven't made any course changes. We could see from your tactical feeds that you'd been hit, but couldn't tell how bad the damage was. The captain was concerned you might have lost too much power to break orbit and need us to fish you out of the well."

"We didn't take anything like that kind of damage, thankfully." Tyrone shook his head. "We plan to leave orbit once we're facing the Comet again and head back their way. We'll time our arrival for a minute or two after you revert from FTL so we can support you. I'll send you our intended course."

The Devastator returned theirs as well, and he added the information to the ship's heads up display. The warship was planning to come out of FTL with barely enough space to come to a stop before hitting the corvette. They would be too close for either ship to fire missiles without hitting themselves, and too close to miss with guns. It was aggressive, designed to force the corvette to back down. If they didn't, the Devastator was the more powerful vessel by far.

"Speaking of support, thank you for what you've already provided," a new voice said. The window on the windshield containing the video call split to show Captain Meyer's position on the Devastator's bridge as well. "You gave their fighters a good thumping, and I have to say watching you tear up their bay door and engineering department was satisfying."