Free Omega Force 6: Secret of the Phoenix by Joshua Dalzelle

through the system and avoid any navigational hazards.
    “Hit!” Kage called. “Missile one has detonated within five kilometers of the target, battle damage assessment coming in now.”
    “Target two has jumped to slip-space,” Doc called.”
    “Shit!” Jason said as he dove for the helm controls. He called for a full stop and brought the grav-drive to standby. “Shut down all tactical systems, full countermeasures, passive sensors only. Time to disappear.” The crew didn’t question his orders as the Phoenix went from a bright sensor contact emitting tachyons and a large gravimetric signature to just a dark hole in space.
    “The last sensor data we had on the ship we hit was that it was listing and streaming atmosphere, but still maneuvering,” Kage reported.
    “Let’s hope the blast distracted their sensor operator, or even better knocked their sensor array offline,” Jason said quietly in the sudden stillness of the bridge under low-power mode.
    “Target two has reappeared,” Doc said. “Passive sensors caught a slip-space distortion just over forty million kilometers ahead and to starboard.”
    “They jumped out and back in,” Jason said. “They knew they couldn’t catch us in real-space.”
    “Why did they jump out of the system and then back in?” Naleem asked, looking a bit shaken.
    “Not too many ships can execute an intrasystem slip-space jump safely. We can; they obviously can’t,” Jason explained. “They had to jump a large distance out and replot a jump back into the system that they assumed would be ahead of us. If all goes well, they’ll scan around for a bit and then assume we jumped out of the system while they were gone.”
    “How long will that take?” she asked.
    “How the hell would I know?” Jason asked rhetorically. “Twingo, get any damage control done that you can without compromising our stealth.”
    “I’m already on it,” Twingo said. “It wasn’t really that bad. Two power junctions overloaded for the shields was about it.”
    “We’ve got active scans in the system,” Doc said. “Nothing focused on us, just wideband sweeps.”
    “Keep on top of it, Doc,” Jason said. “We may be in for a grind depending on how long they feel like hanging around looking for us.”
    “It looks like the ship we hit is limping out of the system,” Kage said. “Slow acceleration profile and a course for a good mesh-out point.”
    “That data is over thirty minutes old with the passive array, though,” Jason mused. “You don’t think they’re just breaking orbit to swing around this way and join the hunt?”
    “Highly unlikely given the spike in radiation readings I’m seeing,” Kage answered. “Looks like our one little missile may have breached their engineering spaces and done some real damage.”
    “Not too much if they’re steaming towards a slip-space jump point,” Jason pointed out. “Still … not bad for a single wild shot. I was really only trying to see if I could knock their shields down on one side and convince them to stay out of the fight. Were we able to get any ID on these guys?”
    “No,” Doc said, “they were running without transponders, and visual scans of the hulls revealed no identifiable markings. There were actually no markings of any kind and the ships themselves were of an indeterminate make.”
    “Figures,” Jason muttered. “Okay everyone, let’s settle in for the long haul. Kage, take over all sensor monitoring. Doc, Twingo, and Crusher, go grab some chow and get some rest. If this goes past eight hours you three can come up and relieve us.”
    The three filed off the bridge and headed down to the galley. Naleem looked to be undecided as to where she should go, so she settled back into her seat and stared blankly out at the stars. Jason hoped it would be a long boring watch and then they would be able to fly out of the system without any more exchange of weapons fire.
     

Chapter 6
     
    It was nearly twelve hours later