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“Are they? How far are they out? Will they have enough fire power? You don’t know because you’re cut off. If Haseon falls, the Alliance falls. Everything Jace is trying to accomplish is done.” Jack sliced a hand through the air. “We need a win here.”

My loss would cripple the Pilot, the Osiris answered.

It was a low blow, but it was likely true. Jace had tasted freedom mostly from the pain and limitations of his old life. Jack knew that even if somehow Jace survived what was happening down on that planet, it would destroy his son at some integral level to be reduced again. But he knew that wouldn’t matter to Jace. Not enough to stop his son from doing what was right.

Jack felt like he was stabbing his own heart repeatedly, but he said, “If Jace were here, he would tell you to do it, to do anything to save these people.”

The cursor blinked.

Jack turned back to Dai. “Keep looking for options, okay? Contact me at any time.”

“Yes, Flight-Commander! Bob and I will do our best!” Dai made a salute even though he was a civilian.

Jack saluted back. Dai’s image winked out. He glared at the cursor. He was certain that without the Osiris’ buy-in that they could not force the AI to do what they wanted. Only Jace could do that and his son was not there.

Please be okay, son, Jack prayed.

He shook himself. There was more than one way to approach a problem. If draining the shields was not an option then maybe there was another. He wasn’t going to stop trying.

“Get me Colonel Parker and High Commander Staed on the comms,” Jack ordered.

Diane immediately appeared in a section of the screens ahead of him. “Jack.” She then straightened up and said, “Flight-Commander Parker, thank you for the assist out of the Gate.”

“Happy to help, Colonel. You need to stay in our shadow for now. That bucket of bolts has nothing that can take down a Hive and the shields are iffy,” Jack said and tried to keep the anger out of his voice.

This was not the ship that they had been promised. But he knew that sending the rustbucket that Diane and Intoshkin were on had been a petty act, but not a malicious one. No one had known that the Khul could get here and attack like this. Now though it mattered that his wife was on a vessel that could be cracked open like an egg with a few well-timed blasts from a Hive. He had flown plenty of missions where his life was on the line. But Diane had always been safe at the base.

Well, except for that one time the Osiris thought it could rip our son out of her body.

He glared at the blinking cursor again. But the point was that now he wasn’t just dealing with the possibility of his own death, but Diane and Jace’s. Being the one in danger was so much easier.

Staed appeared on another screen. He looked ill, but determined. He had lost half his fleet in moments. If the Osiris hadn’t been there in time, his own ship would have been split open and his people sucked out into the void. So his hatred of humans was more on a low simmer rather than a blaze like earlier.

“Flight-Commander Parker, where is your son?” Staed barked. “He can restore our defense grid, but not communications with the ground?”

He saw Diane’s expression going arctic. He could feel a cutting remark coming. But Staed’s ego was already too brittle to handle much more. Besides, he was on the ropes and he knew it.

“If he could, he would, Staed,” Jack replied calmly. “We’re all blocked from ground support. Until we get rid of those damned Hives, I’m betting nothing is going to change. And that also means the Osiris cannot reliably control your ships so we have to work together the old-fashioned way.”

Staed’s chin lifted, which was a warning sign if Jack ever saw one. “My ship will lead in any attack--”

“Then you and your people will die,” Jack cut him off. Brittle ego or not, he wasn’t listening to this crap. His eyes went to the other screens where the Hives spun and dodged. “We’ve got to be smart about this. Here’s the deal. The Osiris has three shots. There are four Hives.”

He saw the grim understanding flow over both Staed’s and Diane’s faces.

“What are our options, Jack?” Diane said, dropping the titles.

He was glad. This might be the last time they spoke. A wave of despair flowed through him, but he pushed it away. He had always taken chances. Life was lived on a knife’s edge no matter the illusion of safety.

Jack scrubbed a hand over his head. “As I see it, we have a few options. First, we can try to herd or lure the Hives near enough to the planet that the big gun there takes one or more out.”

“Space is vast, Flight-Commander, and our shields are low,” Staed said. “It is unlikely that such a lure or herding maneuver would be successful.”

At that moment, Staed’s ship gave a shuddering jerk. The High Commander nearly lost his footing. Electrical shorts appeared on the nearest console. Jack saw Staed’s crew frantically trying to put the resulting fire out. He would have to check in with Dr. Isa to make sure none of the Osiris’ crew were badly injured. But due to the Osiris’ unique shields, other than a few jolts they’d been fine so far.

“True.” Jack nodded. “Another option is to get the Hives lined up so that one blast from the Osiris’ main weapon takes out both, or at least, wounds the second enough that conventional, less powerful weaponry can take it out.”

Diane crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a crooked smile. “Do you think the Khul will be so obliging?”