Homestar Saga

Chapter 12: Kamikaze

The image zoomed closer to the Klaath fleet. Every time a tendril touched a ship, streaks of silver would shoot over its purple hull. The other Klaath in the area would pull away from the infected ship, pouring beam fire into it until it fell into the planet's gravity well.

"By the Bright Lady," Yvian breathed. "That's why there were so many of them in the Incursion. They're not expanding. They're evacuating the entire sector."

"I think so, too." Lissa brought the sensors out to show the Queenships. Seven groups of eight Queenships each stretched over an area far from the planet. They were in pieces, each missing a middle section over ninety kilometers long. They were in motion, but carried no signs of life.

An eighth group was still alive, moving through a portal. The back ends of the ships stretched three hundred forty kilometers into the void.

"Shit," Yvian cursed. "Fightsmart didn't get them all."

"A few more minutes, and they'll pass far enough in to be active in Krog space. Fightsmart won't have the firepower to take them on even if we didn't count the millions of Klaath already in system. Krog Prime is fucked."

Yvian glared at the Queenships. She'd lost her Vinga fighters. Crippled her ship. Broken her body. To do all that and still lose...

No. Not today.

"Lissa," Yvian's anger gave way to the beginnings of a plan. "That thing, it's been infecting ships. Are there any of them...you know... close by?"

"Let me see," Yvian's display shifted around as her sister manipulated the sensors. "Yes. Sort of." Sensors focused in on a mass of debris. Silvery material still writhed around the remains of broken hulls. "They're drifting, about nine hundred k from where you are. I'm guessing they were heading for the Queenships and the Klaath rammed them, then shot up the whole mess."

"Give me the coordinates," Yvian told her. "I've got a bad idea."

"I don't think that's... wait. You're already heading in that direction." Lissa's voice switched from concern to rage. "Mims, you motherless son!"

"Do you, mind?" asked the human. "I'm a little busy, here."

"Are you out of your fucking mind!?" she demanded. "That shit's murdering a whole planet of Klaath, and you're sending Yvian at chunk of it!"

"Not directly at it," he corrected. "She'll pass within about ten kilometers. Then we'll have to turn the ship around."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lissa was not mollified.

"Decisions," he said. "I wanted to see if you two would make the right one." He cursed. "Be quiet a minute. This isn't as easy as I'm making it look."

Right. The human must be fighting the Klaath. Yvian wanted to see. "Lissa, can you...?"

"Yeah, yeah." The display changed. The Random Encounter was flying backwards, spitting fire at a Klaath Corvette. The Corvette was bobbing and weaving, trying to evade the fire. There was no sign of the Raiders and Fighters, but the human's ship had lost a third of its shields.

"Why isn't it shooting?" Yvian asked.

"What did I just say?" Mims grumped. Two seconds later he answered. "I'm staying just outside of its firing range, and just inside the range it can't dodge. Fighters and Raiders can match my speed, but a Corvette can't."

It took another minute for the Encounter to whittle down the Corvette's shields. When the enemy vessel had been pounded into debris, Mims swung around and plotted a course to meet up with Yvian.