by I G Hulme
Ryann made out a thinning of the gas clouds up ahead, and he urged the Interceptor on faster. He burst out into clear space, and for a brief moment everything seemed calm and serene, the familiar depths of space scattered with twinkling stars.
And then he glanced to his left, and to his horror saw the brooding shadow of the Luminal battleship silhouetted against the Halion Belt.
It was the very same ship that had almost destroyed the Raven, only now it looked even larger than he had remembered. And it was steering a course directly towards him.
He could see a huge battle raging in the distance, as hundreds of Luminal fighter drones engaged the Ghost-Runner fleet. Bright streaks of laser-fire lit up the gas clouds like some immense firework display, as the Ghost-Runners attempted to draw their enemy away from the corridor that led into the ice-field. It appeared to have worked for the drone-ships at least, but the main battleship had obviously broken off and turned to pursue the Ibis as it had appeared from its hiding place.
Ryann tried desperately to catch a glimpse of the Marianne amid the spiralling shapes of the battle, but they were far too distant to make out any detail.
He powered his ship onwards, running up his scanners in search of the Ibis. He quickly found her heat signature, burning a trail across the open space as she tried to outrun the Luminal battleship. It was some way off, heading out on a similar course to when Ryann had first sighted it from the wreck-field in what seemed like a lifetime ago.
He gave his drives full-burn, cancelling the warning alarms as he pushed them way into the red.
Soon, he found himself caught in a slow pursuit as the Interceptor crept ever-closer to the old ship. After a few minutes he began to make out the distant trails of the Ibis’ engines.
But his scanners told him that the Luminal battleship, though still some way off, was closing inexorably in on them both. At least the Ibis was drawing the battleship away from the Halion Belt, thought Ryann gravely. They were buying extra time for Defiance and their evacuation.
He willed his ship on as he tried to hail the Ibis over the communications channel. After a moment’s silence he heard the familiar sombre tone of Jean-Baptiste Grande in his earpiece.
“It seems that you are the most tenacious young man I have met in some time Ryann Wade.”
“What the hell are you doing?” called Ryann frantically. “If you turn back now you might still be able to get back into the Halion Belt before that Luminal battleship cuts us off! You can get your people aboard the Defiance. We can fight our way out past that ship!”
There was a long pause before Grande spoke again.
“My people belong aboard the Ibis,” came back the slow, melancholic voice. “This ship is our home.”
“But you’re defenceless! Your jump-drives are still down — you can’t out-run them!” pleaded Ryann.
“We were born aboard the Ibis, we will die here if we have to. It is our choice to make.”
Ryann cursed, banging his hand down on the control panel in frustration. He was closing in on the old ship now. It was struggling to keep up its pace, and smoke still streamed from numerous points along its hull where it had been damaged by the Luminal drone-ships.
“Hell, it seems that you are the most stubborn man I have ever met Jean-Baptiste,” growled Ryann, and he heard the big man’s laughter over the comms.
“Save yourself Ryann Wade, there is still time.”
“Not until you tell me the way through to the Luminal source,” said Ryann.
There was a long pause, and Ryann checked the progress of the Luminal battleship. It was inexorably gaining upon them; he thought that he would reach the Ibis before they were in range of the Luminal guns, but he wouldn’t have much time.
“You ask for something that is not in my power to give,” he heard Grande’s sad reply. “You are a good man Ryann Wade — but you are not one of my people. I am sorry that I cannot help you.”
With a quiet click the comms went dead.
Ryann swore to himself. He was closing in on the Ibis now, and he searched along her rusted hull for the same airlock door that he had docked the Raven alongside. He caught sight of its dark shadow, still broken open: if he could get the Interceptor attached he would still be able to get aboard.
He brought the little ship up alongside the Ibis so that he was in line with the airlock. But to Ryann’s dismay, the great ship began to roll slowly, as Jean-Baptiste fought to keep him from boarding.
Ryann veered the Interceptor away as a navigation strut swung around, almost colliding with him.
“Damn you Jean-Baptiste!” yelled Ryann into his comms. “If you die, then all that knowledge of yours dies with you! All of it, for nothing! Can’t you see, I’m trying to save my people too! You, your people, everybody! Don’t let them die for nothing! At least give me the chance to get revenge for them!”
He waited desperately for a reply, but all he heard was static.
And then, the ponderous bulk of the Ibis slowed its spin, resuming a straight and level course, the airlock aligned with Ryann’s ship.
“Thank you Jean-Baptiste,” he breathed. “Oh god, thank you.” He swerved the Interceptor in towards the Ibis, flipping it over at the last moment. He feathered the controls, concentrating on the docking computer as the two ships swayed and shook, still travelling at full speed.
There was a low boom that echoed throughout the little ship, and he killed the engines as the docking computer flashed green.
In an instant, Ryann was crouching down through the escape hatch at his feet, squeezing out into the Ibis’ airlock.
There was a hiss of air and vapour as the inner airlock door slid open and Ryann was confronted with the imposing bulk of Jean-Baptiste Grande.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE RELIQUARY
For a long moment the two men stared at each other in silence, before Grande slowly raised his hand, offering up a curious object.
Ryann reached forwards hesitantly. The object was a brass disc, around fifteen centimetres across and ten deep. It was decorated with ornate engravings, and seemed to be comprised of many layers. The symbols upon it shone faintly as a white light glowed from within. He took the disc tentatively in his hand, and for a moment Jean-Baptiste kept hold of it as though he struggled to let it go.
“This is a small part of our treasure,” he said, finally releasing the disc. “It is a reliquary; it holds many secrets.”
The object felt cold and unnaturally heavy in Ryann’s hand. As he studied the symbols, he realised that they described star systems and planetary orbits, and that some of the lines were cut into the surface in concentric circles that appeared to be moving incredibly slowly, altering the interactions of the symbols to create new shapes.
He studied the reliquary in fascination.
“Keep this memory of my people alive Ryann Wade,” murmured Jean-Baptiste, laying his great hand upon Ryann’s shoulder and pushing him gently back into the airlock.
“Thank you Jean-Baptiste, thank you,” croaked Ryann as Grande stepped back into the corridor, staring down at him with those eyes that seemed to contain all the sorrows of his people. “But, what do I do with it? How does it work?”
“Take your people to Stormfall,” replied Jean-Baptiste solemnly. “Find the system with the triple-suns. From there the reliquary will guide you through.”
“Stormfall?” exclaimed Ryann; he had heard tales of that nebula — it marked the very edge of the Outer Rim systems. No ship had ever navigated it, and the expansion of humanity had ceased in that direction, choosing safer systems to explore instead.
“Return to the alien source and destroy them,” said Grande fiercely. He looked up as the ship rocked, reverberating to the unmistakeable sound of heavy gunfire striking their hull. “Go quickly! Have revenge upon the aliens. For my people.” He paused a moment and then added: “For all our people.”
“But, you haven’t told me how it works!” called Ryann. But the airlock was
already closing, and he had a last, brief glimpse of Jean-Baptiste Grande smiling sadly down at him before the door slid shut with a boom.
For a moment Ryann thought he had seen tears wet upon the great man’s cheeks.
Ryann stood in shock, pondering the strange feel of the reliquary in his hand. And then the realisation of his situation came crashing back and he dragged the Interceptor’s hatch open, scrambling back into his ship.
In a few seconds he was powering up the little ship as the locking bolts disengaged and he drifted free from the Ibis.
A streak of green plasma roared past his ship, and he looked around in alarm to see the dark shape of the Luminal battleship in the distance. Another volley of green trails issued forth from the ship and he threw the Interceptor to one side as explosions burst all around him.
He saw the Ibis wreathed in flame, rocking as multiple shots found their target. But still the craft carried on, rolling slowly once again in a vain attempt to evade the incoming fire.
Ryann looked around in panic as the Luminal’s launch tunnel opened up to disgorge the bright shapes of distant fighters. In an instant, they too opened fire and the space all around was filled with hundreds of streaks of laser-fire.
He veered madly away, trying to draw the fighters from the Ibis as it was struck time and time again. As he looked back he saw a couple of fighters break off from the main group, but the rest kept on towards the old ship, strafing all along her hull sending up bright blossoms of flame.
The Luminal warship was almost upon them now, dwarfing everything around it.
Ryann brought up his rear display as the Ibis receded slowly into the distance, and he looped in a wide arc around the Luminal ship, heading back towards the Halion Belt. The two drone-ships were still in pursuit but he ignored their wild fire, unable to tear his gaze away from the Ibis.
The Luminal fighters swarmed all about her now, firing shot after shot into the defenceless ship.
And then, from within the great Luminal battleship, a glow began to form. A green light intensified, as though a sun were burning inside the heart of the ship.
With a blinding flash, a bright beam of plasma shot out across the darkness of space, engulfing the Ibis.
It erupted in a mass of flames, the hull splitting clean in two. Smaller explosions spread out in a chain of destruction as the Luminal drone-ships were also caught in the blast. The fragments span off into space, burning intensely.
And then, in a moment the flames had died away to nothing and there was no longer any sign of the Ibis in the darkness.
Ryann stared in disbelief, unable to move. He felt the tears running freely down his cheeks, and he waited, breath held for some glimpse of life signs — escape capsules, lifeboats. But there was nothing.
Dimly, he heard the familiar warning alarms as incoming fire shook the Interceptor, but it felt distant, as though perhaps he were still back aboard the Ibis with Jean-Baptiste, and he too had perished in those flames.
But then an image of the Reliquary in Grande’s hand came to him. The thought of keeping this memory safe sent him crashing back into the present, and he jumped as another burst of gunfire struck his tortured shields.
Ryann didn’t attempt to turn and fight his pursuers. He fled for his life now, racing back towards the glowing mass of the Halion Belt in the distance.
He willed his ship on faster towards the safety of the ice as he checked his scanners and saw the Luminal battleship turning ponderously back to follow him.
He tried hailing anybody that might be within range, and to his relief a faint voice drifted in through the static in his earpiece. He almost cried out as he realised it was Angelique.
“Ryann? Ryann, thank god — we’ve been trying to reach you!”
“I’m okay Angelique!” he called back, throwing his ship into a roll as another streak of laser-fire tore past his cockpit. “I’m coming in hot — two drones on my tail!”
“We see you Ryann!” came back Angelique’s voice full of concern. “Hurry! We’re all heading back to the Defiance — get to the Defiance! It’s meeting us at the entrance to the Halion Belt!”
“I’m on my way!” called Ryann, pushing his engines further into the red, just praying that the little Interceptor would hold together. The two drones were falling behind now, their laser-fire becoming more intermittent, allowing Ryann to head in a direct course for the mouth of the corridor that led into the Halion Belt.
He could make out the distant specks of the Ghost-Runner ships waiting, silhouetted against the glowing green clouds. And then the great shape of the Defiance broke out into the open, her launch-tunnel already opening up as the Ghost-Runner ships approached. One by one the fighters disappeared inside the Defiance and were gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
AN OLD FRIEND
Ryann gave a sigh of relief to see his friends safely back aboard the Defiance. The great vessel waited for him upon the edge of the ice-field but he was still some distance away and the Luminal battleship was beginning to close in on him from behind.
“Ryann? Ryann, can you hear me?”
His father’s voice cut in over the scream of the Interceptor’s engines.
“Just keep going full speed — that battleship’s closing in on you fast!”
“Get the Defiance out of there dad!” shouted Ryann. “Don’t wait! I can lose them in the Halion Belt!”
“We’re not leaving here without you — just hurry dammit!”
Ryann looked to his scanners in alarm as the Defiance began to register a huge power surge. The bright rectangle of its launch tunnel shone out like a beacon of hope, and he willed his ship towards it.
“What are you doing dad?” he called, as the readouts rose off the scale.
“Just get here fast!” replied Grayell. “We’re powering up the hyperspace drives — we’re going to jump this system!”
“What?” exclaimed Ryann in shock. “But, there aren’t any navigation lanes left in this sector — you’ll fly straight through the nearest uncharted asteroid, or —”
“Shut up and fly faster!” cut in Angelique’s frantic voice. “They’re almost upon you!”
Ryann risked a glance back over his shoulder and saw the towering shape of the Luminal battleship filling his view.
He turned back in fear, staring out to the Defiance. The clouds around her were already white, reflecting the intensifying glare of her drives.
“Hurry!” shouted Grayell, urging his son on. Ryann desperately routed his shield boosters into the drive systems, bypassing the safety protocols in an attempt to gain more speed. Alarms blared out as a panel on his control console burst out in a shower of sparks, his systems overloading under the strain.
“Close the launch tunnel!” screamed Ryann, his ship surging forwards, eating up the space to the Defiance.
“We’re not leaving without you!”
“I’m coming dammit! But you can’t jump with the tunnel doors open — close the damn doors — I’ll make it!”
He saw the slit of the launch tunnel begin to narrow as the great blast doors slid ponderously closed.
“Ryann, the Luminal ship is powering up her weapons! Ryann!”
He was almost there now, but the doors were closing too fast and he wasn’t sure if he would make it in time. He cried out in fury, throwing the little Interceptor on its side as the tunnel streaked towards him in a blur.
He heard a crash as one of his navigation antennae clipped the closing door, dragging the ship around violently. But he was through, spinning down the tunnel at full speed as the gates slammed shut behind him.
“I’m in! Punch it!” he yelled, and even as his ship careered down the tunnel he felt the world around him slow, as though the universe itself had ground to a halt, and everything hung stationary, frozen in time.
And then, with a deep boom that tore through his ship, he came out into the vast open space at the heart of the Defiance.
The world blurred around him a
nd he felt a pressure upon his body that threatened to crush him. He tried to cry out in pain but there was no air left in his lungs. A white light enveloped him, and then everything went black.
“Ryann, are you okay? Ryann?”
Dimly, he heard Angelique calling him.
“I, I’m okay, I think,” he mumbled drunkenly. He suddenly panicked, reaching for the flight-column, and then realised that the sound of his engines had ceased and he was floating in an eerie stillness.
“Did we do it? Did we make the jump?” He looked around, still trying to get his bearings. He gazed out of the cockpit to see a whirling mass of ships all about him as his Interceptor tumbled slowly in zero gravity. Smoke from a hundred different flaming vessels obscured his view, those ships that could be salvaged from the refugee fleet had been dragged inside the Defiance and dumped in a chaotic tangle of debris.
“We did it,” came back Grayell’s weary voice. “So far at any rate. We’re halfway across the Viridis system already.”
Ryann let his head fall back against his headrest in relief; he tried to focus on the Interceptor’s control panel but he must have taken a knock when his ship clipped the gates, as he was struggling to remain conscious.
“Stay where you are Ryann,” he heard Angelique say, her voice full of concern. “We’re coming to pick you up. Your ship took quite a pounding in the jump.”
A few minutes later Ryann was sitting aboard the Marianne wrapped in a blanket. He gazed out through the windows in disbelief as they picked their way through the chaos, heading for the Defiance’s control centre. Angelique held him tightly as he shook.
“Is this all we managed to evacuate?” he whispered, his voice cracking with the strain. He felt utterly spent now after the trials of the past few days. All he could think about was the image of Jean-Baptiste; he clutched the cold disc of the Reliquary to his chest until his knuckles were white.
“They got as many of the bigger vessels aboard as they could,” whispered Angelique, staring out into the chaos. “But there were too many ships and not enough time. They managed to evacuate most of the refugees aboard the Aurora and the Liberty, but they’re full beyond capacity.”