My brain went into hyper mode. That happened on the fighter in situations like this --
Well, not exactly like this. I don't think anyone could have imagined this nightmare. Not in my fighter. Not on a ship at all. Were craft darting out of the Mother Ship and that craft moving in closer as well.
"Befly, Brick -- round up everyone, and all of you get into the core. No, don't argue with me. Do it. I don't want to worry about things other than just the fight. Go!"
Befly looked at the screen, then turned, grab Brick, and started shouting orders. I didn't listen. I did glance at Lisel --
"No. I won't listen. Krisin, get your people into the core, too. We have the control we need, and they're going to need help. Just do it, or I'll send Tana to root you out."
I kept going over the boards. I was aware that one ship cut and run -- I wished it luck. Really. I tried to get the were fighters interested in us, so they didn't go after them. I wanted someone to survive.
And I became aware of the odd silence around us. We were alone on the bay. I knew the others would still be heading into the core, but here ... it was empty.
"Lisel, you know this is insane, right?"
"Tana, my friend -- it has always been insane. All the war, the making of the Catchin, us being here -- I don't look for sanity in humans."
"Oh, don't give me that," I said. "You're human. Just with fur."
He blinked.
"I suppose that's an insult?" I asked.
"I'm considering it." But I thought he sounded pleased. Had I never pointed that out to him before? Did he think I didn't consider Catchin to be people? Damn. I needed to think about that --
Later.
"What do you see here?" I said with a wave of my hand toward the screen. "Any ideas?"
"We need to scare the Mother ship off."
"Right. That's going to happen."
"We might if they think we're crazy."
"We are crazy. What's your plan?"
"We have roboships filled with explosives. Maybe -- a minefield?"
"That might work." I leaned over the controls and shot at a couple more of the were craft that had come closer again. They might have thought we'd run out of power or something since I let them get so close. "Okay, how about this. Send a couple robos out to take off a few of the smaller craft. Stop firing with the upper gun and let it cool -- we can bring it up fast enough if we want it. Make them think we're running out of resources."
He agreed with a quick nod. I let him handle the one gun, and I started programming the roboships. Befly had put in enough info on the explosives that I had a good idea what they would do.
With no humans aboard ... oh, that might be interesting.
"They never shoot at craft once the crew is dead," I said.
"So if we kill ourselves, they'll stop shooting?"
"Ha."
I didn't have time to discuss what I planned. Lisel was used to that, of course, but there were times when I wondered why he put up with it. Granted, everything had worked so far, but even I thought most of my plans were more insane than inspired.
Like this one.
Oddly, Befly went along with what I asked, too, and the only questions were technical, not anything about why.
I don't know how long we worked on the problems. I was aware that the Mother Ship was coming far closer, and the were fighters had begun to fly in more frantic circles.
Just what I had hoped to see.
"I need to take out one of the ships. Then you can take out all the others you can get. Just let me have the first, Lisel."
"Sure. Of course."
I thought maybe I was coming close to his acceptance without question level. I supposed I had better do this quickly.
I tracked the most likely were fighter through one circle, held my breath, and shot it on the next, clipping the nose and sending it tumbling --
"Tana, it's going to hit us --"
"Yes, it will. I was afraid I couldn't do it."
"But --"
The were craft impacted low on the station structure and sent a jolt through the shell. There might have been some damage since bulkheads went down. I paid it little attention as my fingers played over the controls Befly and I had arranged. The tiny work ships tumbled out of the bay, and a few broke loose from their holds on the side of the station.
I now had a dozen unmanned craft filled with explosives heading in vaguely the proper direction. Lisel had taken our five more craft in that time. I got one more. The last few pulled back out of range, moving closer to the larger ship.
The Mother Ship hadn't noticeably slowed on the path toward us. I wondered if they intended simply to plow into us. I would have to let it get a lot closer before I moved to part two of the plan.
I happened to see that Brick was still with us, his eyes darting from the screens to us and back again. I offered him a smile, but he looked more panicked afterward. Maybe I needed to work more on not looking crazed.
The Mother Ship now practically filled the entire screen, making it harder to see the smaller were fighters that might be heading their way.
I would have to do what I could soon, or else the larger ship would get far too close, and no matter what happened after that, there would be extensive damage. I looked over my board and my controls. At least this would be fast.
"Tana, Lisel -- reading a laser pistol battle in the Sailfor and heading for the airlock," Krisin warned.
Great.
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