In A Starship's Wake

Chapter 27: A Few More Minutes

Joseph kept a close watch on the corvette and the clock. The first he was watching for any sign of aggression. The second he watched to know how long they had left. Twenty minutes remained until the Devastator would arrive.

Considering the way they had provoked the pirates, it was only a matter of time before something was fired their way. They knew for certain the corvette carried guns and missiles. Those were bad enough, but they were not the only weapons available, and the ship might have more.

After that call, Tyrone had adjusted the pace of their approach slightly. The original plan to arrive at almost the same time as the Devastator had called for the maximum acceleration their ship could produce. Now they had slowed, trying not to get quite that close until the warship arrived. The goal was to hold the corvette's attention without coming close enough that the commander decided to address the threat. They didn't want the pirate vessel changing position, and especially not coming towards them. For all their tough talk, getting into a firefight with that ship was a very bad idea.

Joseph glanced again at the HUD timer, but it had only been a few seconds since his last look. Still, it was reassuring to finally see a small number there. When they had started that count, Joseph had expected the Comet to be breached and the corvette ready to leave by now, with Tyrone and himself potentially dead.

"Anything happening yet?" Tyrone asked.

"Not yet." Joseph scanned the monitors as he had a second before, alert for any change. "I expected them to do something by now. I'm sure they have more missiles.

"Well, no news is good news on that front. Whatever number of missiles they're carrying is a number I can live without seeing. How long do you think they'll wait to start shooting at us? The fighters were firing at us from way too far, just to see what we'd do."

"Hard to say. I'd be willing to bet they have a better understanding of the corvette's weaponry. The fighters probably aren't quite as disposable to him as the gunmen, but turnover might still be high."

The comm link with the Devastator was still open, but there wasn't much conversation flowing between them for the moment. The radio officer was the only one paying attention to the link. The warship's bridge was a flurry of activity as they made preparations of their own.

"Devastator, what's your plan of attack once you're in system?" Observing the bustle on the bridge, Joseph realized he didn't actually know yet. "I saw you were coming out of FTL very close to the corvette, but that's all I really know."

"We'll give them an ultimatum as we're arriving so that they have an opportunity to surrender," the radio officer replied. "They won't have long to take us up on it. If the ship starts maneuvering or they don't give an affirmative response in about thirty seconds, we'll open fire. Our engineers are fairly certain they've isolated the FTL drive, so we'll target that. Captain Meyer doesn't want any chance of them escaping."

"That's not a surprise, given what they've already done."

The computer started beeping a warning at him, and he jerked his head around to check it. His mouth went dry as he spotted the cause, and he turned sharply back toward the gunnery console.

"What's the noise about?" the radio officer asked.

"The corvette is firing missiles at us." Joseph mentally listed the options they had for countering the attack. "This could get a little bumpy."

"If you need something from me let me know," Tyrone said. Joseph hoped he wouldn't, most of what the pilot could do to avoid missiles was dodging. He'd much rather shoot them down before they were that close.