Free Origins by Mark Henrikson

sorry I let you down, but this is the only way.  Execute order Omega.”
    With the order given, the Onagers broke away from the other ships, peppered the Alpha vessels with a volley of pulse concussion bombs, and made a break for one of the constrainer ships.  The Alpha were only too eager to go after the Onagers and deliver payback for the countless comrades they lost to those ships. 
    The Onagers were no match for the speed of the Alpha vessels.  All ten ships closed in for the kill.  At the last possible second, one of the ships felt the trap and pulled away.  Just then the two Onagers detonated their remaining ordinance inventory.  The result was a massive concussion wave that destroyed anything it touched.
    While the Alpha were busy closing in on the pesky Onagers, the two remaining Novi ships headed at full speed for the nearest constrainer ship.  The Hastati cruiser fired everything it had at the constrainer ship and didn’t flinch on its way to collide with the mammoth vessel where the shield generators were supposed to be located.  The fireball from the collision was so intense Hastelloy needed to shield his eyes.  The flames died down, and Hastelloy realized, in horror, that the constrainer ship was still there.  “Tonwen, what’s the status of the mass density field that ship was putting out?”
    “The constraining field is still in place, but both their shield and structural integrity fields are down,” Tonwen replied.
    “Did you say both fields were down?” Hastelloy asked hopefully.
    “Yes sir.”
    A bright and broad smile filled Hastelloy’s face.  “Valnor, plot a collision course for their engineering section.”  Then Hastelloy issued an order not uttered by a naval officer intending to survive a battle since wooden boats sailed the oceans propelled by wind.  “Ramming speed.  Execute.” 
    With both fields down the Alpha ship was only held together by the metallurgy of its hull.  This was no match for a fully shielded ship traveling 200 miles per second. In the blink of an eye the Lazarus flew in one side and blew out the other, igniting the fuel in the engine compartment which start ed a chain reaction of explosions that destroyed the Alpha ship.
    A deafening war cry came from the crewmen on the bridge.  Valnor bellowed at the top of his lungs, “It is a privilege to serve with you, Captain!”
    “Tonwen, what’s the status of the mass density field?”  Hastelloy inquired calmly.
    “It is down, leaving a small gap in the field for us to escape.  We need to move fast though.  The other constrainer ships are moving to close the gap.”  Tonwen replied.  “There are three possible systems we can go to, all unexplored and on the outer rim.”
    “Valnor, pick the farthest one and get us there – now.”  The captain ordered.  As the helmsman moved to comply with the order, Hastelloy looked at his display to make sure the Onagers had taken care of all the attacking ships.  He couldn’t be certain, but he thought one ship may have pulled away just before detonation.  That could be trouble he thought.
    The Lazarus completed the space fold to safety, and the bridge let out a collective sigh of relief.  They were out of danger, temporarily at least.  Without looking up from his display screen, Hastelloy commended his crew.
    “Well done gentlemen, but we need to save the celebrations until we get back to Novus.  We won’t be able to space fold again until the reactor cools down, which will be a few hours.  Make the damage assessment and begin scanning the system in case we need to hide from anything that may follow us here.”
    When he didn’t hear any movement from the crew to carry out his orders, Hastelloy looked up to find his four crewmen standing at full attention saluting their captain.  Suddenly realizing what they had all just accomplished, he stood and returned the salute.  All of them then set about their duty except Gallono, who held the captain’s