“Please don’t tell me that’s our flight path.”
A red holographic square was flashing over the section that passed through the fighting. In the centre, one word was flashing yellow, hazard. That was one way of putting it, he thought.
“If we follow this flight path we’ll reach it halfway to Solson.” Li’ara had already pulled back on the control aligning the Fathom with the calculated flight path.
“What are we going to do when we get there, ask it to turn around? I don’t know if you noticed but everything just bounces off that...” he lost his train of thought as he remembered the scans Telarrek had shown them. Then he knew. “No... you’re not serious?” He was watching her face for any reaction.
Her look was that of fearless determination. “I’m always serious.”
He let his head fall into the rest behind. They were going to board it. The scans had shown a small airlock of some kind situated on the top right hemisphere. As the Fathom was hurtling towards the battle Kalian was desperately thinking ahead.
“How are we even going to dock with it? It’s an alien ship, thing!” He couldn’t imagine how they would ever connect the two very different vessels.
“This ship can do more than you know.” Her reply was cryptic but he assumed she was concentrating on the controls.
The approaching firefight made Kalian forget any docking procedures for the moment. Besides, they might not even make it that far.
They were so close now he could clearly make out the names of the attacking ships. The first vessel they passed was the Dauntless. It was at least ten times the size of the Fathom and shaped like a fork with the engines at the prongs. Guided missiles were being launched from every side while being reinforced with railgun fire. The railguns themselves looked as big as the ship he was sitting in.
Li’ara followed the flight plan perfectly, dodging the streaking missiles that swirled around them. She pushed the control, ducking under the Intrepid, almost flying parallel to a newly launched missile. As they got closer to the great ship, the Fathom was shaken by concussive shockwaves from the many impacts. Kalian could see the sweat forming on Li’ara’s brow.
As they passed from under the Intrepid, Kalian looked up at the black ship. Even on its flat side, it was bigger than any mega-skyscrapers. It must have been able to accommodate several million crew at least. Gliding over the top, the Centurion came into view far above. Like the others, it hadn’t taken any damage in the fight.
“Why isn’t it fighting back? It’s just letting them hit it with everything they’ve got.” It was obvious the beast could take it, but Kalian couldn’t understand why it would even allow it.
“Maybe it’s because they don’t need to, fire one of those things,” Li’ara nodded towards the holographic image of the rocket, “and the whole fight’s over with; there wouldn’t even be any stragglers to deal with.”
Li’ara’s belt began to beep softly. They both recognised the sound this time, though Li’ara made no move to do anything. Kalian saw the look on her face; she didn’t have time for a speech from Telarrek about his safety.
“Li’ara...” She gave him a sideways glance but nothing else. “They might have some advice on you know... how to break into an alien rocket ship.” He hoped by saying it out loud she would realise how ridiculous it sounded.
“Fine.” She pulled it from her pouch and slapped it onto the console. As before, a life-size Novaarian head materialized above the device.
“Telarrek!” Kalian couldn’t hide the relief in his voice. “We need some advice here, we’re going-”
“You must return at once, both of you.” His voice sounded more gravelly than normal. “The Valoran will attack them, but you must return at once. Your ship has little defences and no shields, I cannot allow you to be caught in the crossfire.”
The Fathom banked to starboard trying to avoid a particularly large explosion on the hull of the massive ship.
“Just fire everything you’ve got!” Li’ara dropped her fist through the hologram and on to the device’s activation button.
Telarrek’s head disappeared as it flew off the console and onto the floor.
“Right then...” Kalian couldn’t think of anything else to say. Li’ara banked upwards, if there is such a thing in space. Solson’s light shone between the warring ships. Any other setting and Kalian would have found it beautiful. “You know they could have helped if you let them, they are more advanced you know.”
Li’ara turned to him for a second. “You want me to put my fist through your head?”
Before he could reply, the console made a strange affirmative sound. The image magnified as they were now on the straight path directly to the rocket.
“We’re almost there, once we get out of this mess it should be a smooth ride.” Li’ara was talking as well as frowning at a new readout. “Providing we survive this mess.”
Kalian’s fingers started hurting, he wasn’t sure at what point he had dug his hands into the armrests.
“What the hell is this?”
Kalian didn’t like the edge in her voice. He leaned over to see the readout she was talking about. According to the sensors, the hull of the colossal ship was changing in small sections all over. They both looked out of the port side to see the new configurations. Like the change that took place for the launch of the rocket, the hull was deteriorating inwards to form small holes. Each one shone from inside a tiny luminous green light.
“What is that?” There were so many Kalian couldn’t count them all.
“They’re... oh shit!” She yanked the control to port, trying to create as much distance between them as she could.
Again Kalian felt nothing, only the view shifting to the left.
Three hundred and sixty degrees of chaos erupted. At that exact moment, the Valoran unleashed its powerful weapons on the enemy. Intense beams containing every colour burst from the port side of the Novaarian ship, striking the massive vessel. Kalian didn’t have the chance to see what damage it caused as the enemy ship released its own form of attack. At first, Kalian wasn’t sure what he was seeing until one flew past only metres away from the viewport. He swore at the sight of what was clearly a bipedal creature identical to the one that attacked the Icarus. The light from surrounding explosions shone off their dark plated armour.
Every UDC ship was impacted by at least one of the destructive monsters. Their thick hulls appeared no match for the speed and force of the alien creatures. Each one dived head first into different sections of the ships. Through the chaos, they could see individual crew being sucked out of the holes into cold vacuum. Between the Valoran’s attacks, the constant barrage of missiles from the UDC ships and the brutality of the alien foe, Kalian lost sight of the rocket.
Li’ara wasn’t speaking anymore; she was a constant flurry of movement over the console. The view was rotating in every direction as she tried to avoid every form of attack. They could finally see the end of the black ship and space beyond.
“We’re almost clear!” Li’ara was too focused to reply.
Kalian saw the UDC ship Noble above them to starboard. It had stopped firing any missiles and the rail guns appeared to have shut down. He could see the charred entry point where one of the invaders had penetrated it. The ship began to explode from the inside. Debris and crew were vented like a wounded animal being drained of its blood. A pit opened up in his stomach at the sight of all the people disappearing into space. The lights flickered until they went out completely. The ship seemed to drift off its course as it was caught in Century’s gravity well. Before they flew out of sight, he craned his head to see the armoured creature burst from the innards of the ship. A trail of debris could be seen above the Fathom as it landed on another ship. They were literally leaping from ship to ship and tearing them apart from the inside. How did they get their momentum? There were no obvious attachments to their armour.
Kalian refocused on the path ahead as they miraculously cleared the fight a
nd the viewport levelled out.
“There it is.” Li’ara took an audible breath.
Kalian wondered if she had been holding her breath for as long as he had. The rocket was the size of his thumb hurtling towards Solson. From behind, it looked to be a simple brass coloured ball. She keyed some more commands into the console and the viewport dimmed in tone, blocking the glare from the approaching star.
“Reverting power to main engines. Manoeuvring thrusters offline,” Li’ara had a dangerous glint in her eye as she looked up at their prey. “Time to punch it.”
The Fathom made a mechanical noise as the small manoeuvring thrusters folded back into the hull. The touchpad that controlled speed began moving the dial further down on its own. It was hard to gauge speed in space with so little around, but the rocket was clearly getting bigger in the viewport.
They could no longer see the raging battle behind them, but it wasn’t hard to imagine it. Those UDC ships wouldn’t stand a chance against those things. Thinking about their method of attack Kalian could only come to one conclusion; they liked it. Knowing that their weapon would do the job of obliterating all life and still deciding to attack in person, this must be fun for them.
“So what happens now?” Kalian no longer felt comfortable sitting down, the thought of what was to come pumped him with adrenaline.
“We find that airlock and attach the emergency hatch to it.” Li’ara thumbed in the direction of the main cabin behind them.
Kalian recalled his memory of the cabin and couldn’t remember seeing any emergency hatch, there had only been one door in and out.
Seeing his quizzical look Li’ara explained, “It’s in the centre of the ceiling. You didn’t notice the round hatch?”
Kalian was embarrassed at not noticing something that had been above his head for hours. He quickly got out of his seat and opened the cockpit door. In his defence, the hatch was set into the ceiling creating a smooth appearance. It still didn’t convince him of their plan though; it only looked big enough for one person to fit through.
“How is that going to attach to the airlock? From the Valoran’s scans, it looked as big as the main door.”
Li’ara sat back in her chair for the first time since they left the hangar. The hologram of their projected flight calculated two minutes until both vessels were aligned.
“There’s a square outlay on top of the Fathom, it surrounds the hatch. Using magnetic seals the outline will extend for two metres until it makes contact, so we’re going to get pretty close.”
Kalian couldn’t picture what she was saying; the ship wasn’t big enough to extend that far. “How does it extend, where does the extra metal come from?”
“It’s a micro tungsten filament folded into the ship’s hull. We can pressurise the space between and walk across.” Li’ara explained it like a walk in the park.
“So...” Kalian wished he was wrong, “there’s going to be a thin material between us and space?”
“Do you need to change your pants?” Li’ara enquired.
Kalian sat back in his chair putting on a tough exterior. “Just wanted to be clear.” He looked around hopelessly for something to distract him.
The minutes seemed to pass in seconds. The rocket had eclipsed the entire viewport, blocking out the light. The Fathom’s sensors had detected the airlock after Li’ara focused them on one section of its giant hull. Setting the ship to emergency docking procedures was all she needed to do as the Fathom took over.
“Come with me.” Li’ara left the cockpit and headed into the armoury. Depressing one of the lower drawers, it slid out to reveal a similar holster to the one she wore. “Put this on, it straps round like this.”
Extending her leg, Kalian could see the stiff material wrapped around the thigh with a small clip on the inside. On the outside was a raised circle just smaller than his palm, he had seen Li’ara fix her gun to it earlier. Turning to the wall behind her she picked up a sidearm. It looked like a similar model to Li’ara’s, only with fewer accessories. She handled the weapon expertly, holding it up to the light for inspection.
“You ever held one of these?”
Kalian silently shook his head.
“Good, you shouldn’t have.” She looked down the cylindrical barrel checking the sight on it. “This is an LX 14-02. It’s the standard sidearm for any band five UDC operative. It fires charged particles at speeds you can’t comprehend.”
Kalian was sure she was reeling off a speech she had been given by some drill sergeant.
“It has its advantages and disadvantages. If you shoot someone with it, they will not get back up. Since it fires particles and not projectiles, it’s got five thousand shots before reloading is required. On the downside, if you fire too many shots in a small space of time, it will begin to overheat. If you continue to shoot before it can cool down,” she paused to ensure his attention, “it will explode.”
Kalian couldn’t help but look surprised; that seemed a bit of an extreme reaction for a gun.
“Got it.” Even Kalian wasn’t convinced at how confident he sounded.
Hesitantly she passed him the weapon, handle first. It felt heavy in his hand. He moved it around, inspecting it just because he thought he should. The handle dropped half an inch below his grip. He noticed a small rectangular screen on the left side at the back of the barrel. Seeing his inspection Li’ara elaborated.
“It’s the heat level; keep an eye on that in a firefight.” She held up her own gun displaying the left-hand side. “See the impression?”
He saw the small circle depressed into the gun and noted his own had the same. She clipped her gun into the identical raised circle on her holster. Kalian strapped his to his right leg and did the same. The weapon made him feel empowered and more confident.
Li’ara turned to leave and picked up another weapon as big as his arm. She put the strap over her head and let it rest on her back.
“Do I get one of those?”
“No.”
Probably just as well, he thought, he hadn’t even fired the smaller one yet.
Opening a compartment next to the door, Li’ara removed what looked like two face masks. From the shape, each would fit over the mouth and nose and sit over the wearer’s cheeks and jaw.
She threw one over to Kalian and kept one for herself. “We don’t know what the atmosphere is over there, so keep it on until we know for sure.”
The circular hatch in the cabin’s ceiling opened and slid to the side. Looking up, it was exactly as Li’ara had explained. The magnetic seal had secured itself around the airlock with what appeared to be a golden fabric connecting it to the Fathom. They could both see through to the brass coloured hull of the rocket. Answering Kalian’s question of how they actually got up there, Li’ara lifted a hidden compartment in the floor. The compartment was long and blended into the floor perfectly. Kalian was happy to see something low tech for a change. Li’ara removed a ladder from the floor and placed it against the hatch above.
Putting on their masks, they ascended the ladder into the pressurised section between the two vessels. Once stretched to its limit, the tungsten filament felt hard under-foot, allowing them to step on it. It didn’t make it any easier to know that it was the only thing between them and an icy death. Thinking of the cold Kalian was glad he remembered his jacket, despite a few scorch marks and tears. They experienced a disorientating sensation as they passed the threshold of the Fathom. Gravity vanished, making them float over to the rocket. Kalian was unaccustomed to the movement required to navigate direction and speed. Li’ara, on the other hand, looked quite comfortable as she pushed herself across.
She frantically moved her hands over the alien alloy in different sections around the edges.
“What’s wrong?” He was eager to get through this particular part of the plan.
“There’s no handle, not even a touchpad.” Her voice sounded tinny through the filter in the mask.
They hadn’t thought about thi
s; the door was so alien it didn’t even work the way the Novaarian ones did. There was no handprint to touch or handle to pull.
“What do we do now?” He had to put his hands up to stop himself from head-butting the filament.
Li’ara checked the information on her armour. “We have twenty-six minutes until we reach the corona.”
Kalian remembered the term from his physics lessons, although it did have some crossover into his own lectures. Once they reached the corona they would be on the outer edge of Solson. It was the region in which all Solar Drive powered ships would sit while charging the Solarcite. He also knew it was the point of no return. All UDC ships were built to withstand the heat at that distance, but any further was futile. Also, he wasn’t sure what the limits were on the tungsten filament. He didn’t want to think about that while he was floating inside it.
He gently pushed off the filament towards the alien door, putting his hands out in front to stop himself. The moment he made contact with the rough metal, they both heard a heavy click from the other side. Afraid of what it might be he pushed off instantly, his momentum carrying him into the filament wall. The airlock pulled back into the rocket and split in two down the middle, though the dividing line was a mystery in itself. The door was at least three feet thick and there was nothing but darkness beyond.
Li’ara had her hand on her sidearm as she looked at Kalian in shock.
“How did you do that?” She kept looking from him to the open airlock.
Kalian looked at his own hands in shock. “I have no idea...” But it scared him.
“Is this one of your things?” She had completely disconnected her gun from its holster now.
“No, it’s usually the opposite of this sort of thing.”
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 15