by Craig Allen
“Oh shit.” Sonja took Cody’s hand. “We’re going to enter the atmosphere.”
Cody stared at Stripe, who simply watched the monitor on the wall, uncaring that they were approaching the planet at speeds they couldn’t possibly survive.
~~~
Jericho stared at the formation of the Kali ships, utterly astounded. Tactics in battle were half science, half art. But what the toads were doing was suicidal.
A majority of the toads’ fleet was charging ahead of the three-ship configuration. Each ship would grase incoming UEAF torpedoes then use itself to block those torpedoes it couldn’t knock down. When the occasional UEAF ship approached close enough to grase the three ships, Kali ships would block the shots with their hulls.
Jericho watched as a smaller Spican ship waded into the fray, launching dozens of torpedoes. Kali ships swarmed in, taking out the torpedoes. One Kali ship didn’t even bother to evade as the Spican ship grased them. Flames erupted along one side of the Kali ship, which meant a major hull breach. The ship rotated, pointed its nose at the Spican ship, and accelerated to full burn.
The Spican vessel attempted to evade, but it was far too late for that. Grasers burned into the approaching Kali ship, until it finally detonated under the onslaught. The bad news was the Kali ship exploded only a few dozen kilometers away from the Spican ship. The remaining chunks of the Kali ship collided with the Spican ship at full force.
The Spican ship’s main drive sputtered then went offline. A spray of fire blew out of a section of her hull as the Spican crew vented their hydrogen before their reactors exploded. She floundered like a wounded whale—easy pickings for the Kali ships.
But the toads ignored the dead Spican ship. Surviving Kali ships, no matter how damaged, rejoined the main group around the three-ship configuration. Their priority was obvious: destroy Kali Prime, even at the cause of their own lives.
“Joan of Arc, Odin, Halifax,” Jericho said. “Focus on the Antediluvian weapon. All other ships approach at the following coordinates.”
Jericho transmitted the coordinates, and all ships complied. A little under two dozen Kali ships remained, enough to guard from two, maybe three angles. Their only hope was to attack at all possible angles. The Kali ships would have to thin their numbers to cover those angles. That was the human fleet’s advantage. The downside was that the Kali ships were willing to die to stop the human fleet. Also, the Kali ships didn’t need to win. They only needed to buy time.
Jericho gave the fleet a fifty-fifty chance of getting into position before the three-ship configuration was in range of Kali.
~~~
“You heard the admiral,” Gaston barked. “Let’s get those bastards.”
The Odin maneuvered toward the strange alien device and the three ships wielding it. The thing looked almost like a black golf ball. Gaston figured whatever they would do, they would do it by the time they got into orbit. That didn’t give them a lot of time.
One defending Kali ship peeled away. Gaston didn’t get the chance to order a firing solution before the Joan of Arc sliced the ship into pieces with a series of graser fire.
Gaston sank lower in his chair. “Show off.”
Then he saw it. The Tokugawa and the Joan of Arc had waded in and grased three more ships, and a hole was opening up, one just big enough for the Odin.
“Adjust course.” Gaston checked his board. “Zero zero four by three four five. Full burn.”
The Odin charged into the opening created by the two other ships. One Kali ship approached from their starboard, coming into graser range.
“That ship’s in our way,” Gaston ordered. “Take her out.”
The Odin vibrated as her grasers sliced away sections of the Kali ship’s armor.
“I have a firing solution on all tubes,” his weapons officer said. “We can engage ships one and two in the configuration.”
Gaston grinned. “Then do so. Launch all torpedoes.”
The barrage the Odin fired was far larger than anything his old ship, the Olympus Mons, could ever have done. He still missed that little ship, but the Odin would do the job just fine.
Three dozen torpedoes closed the distance quickly. A handful were grased away by the Kali ships strapped to the black sphere, but they could do little while that monstrosity was attached to their hulls. The Odin’s torpedoes swarmed the two lead ships, unimpeded.
The warheads detonated almost on top of the Kali ships. Shock waves cut through their hulls and turned bulkheads and armor into vapor. The ships erupted into flame as their magnetic bottles were breached and all the hydrogen in their engine cores fused. The combined explosions were enough to breach the third ship as well, and it, too, was consumed by the nuclear fires of its own reactors.
“The sphere is drifting, sir,” Johnson said. “Should we go after it?”
The Antediluvian weapon, now badly dented, tumbled through space. Gaston didn’t know if it was still active or not, but the detonations of the Kali ships had sent the sphere on a course away from the planet.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Gaston said. “Let’s get back into the fight. Helm, set course two nine—”
“Captain, we have a problem.” The sensor operator didn’t bother to explain but simply pointed at the viewing globe.
Seven Kali ships engaged the Joan of Arc, while three more charged the Halifax. Five ships came after the Odin. Dozens of icons filled the hologlobe as each ship launched dozens of torpedoes.
Gaston gripped the arms of his chair. “Point defense, take those torpedoes down!”
The Odin’s defense grasers lanced the sky, slicing torpedoes into pieces. As good as the targeting systems and its operators were, they had two problems. The torpedoes had to cross only twenty thousand klicks to reach the Odin, which gave point defense little time to take them all down.
“Veer off,” Gaston said. “Take us to zero six zero by—”
His tactical officer shouted, “Impact! All hands, brace, brace, brace.”
Gaston finished shouting the coordinates anyway, on the off chance they could get clear. They weren’t so lucky. Destroying all but two torpedoes out of the dozens launched was pretty damn good, but two was enough. The remaining torpedoes detonated along the aft quarter.
The artificial gravity wavered, and everyone on the bridge rose into the air two centimeters and fell again. Gaston was the only one not thrown to the deck. On the viewing globe, the view of the stars spun in place and was replaced by a view of the planet.
“Status!” Gaston tried to stand but thought better of it when the bridge shook again. “How bad are we?”
Johnson pulled himself into his chair and brought up a damage report on the hologlobe. “Main reactors are down. We’ve vented our hydrogen. Backups are coming online, but engines are down. They’ll be back online in five minutes.”
“We’ll be on the ground in less than that.” Gaston spun his chair around to face comms. “Send a mayday to the fleet. Helm, can we survive the impact?”
“Aye, sir.” The helm officer gritted his teeth. “We still have thrusters. We can land if we have to.”
“Then prepare for landing,” Gaston said. “Not sure I want the crew in escape pods. The toads don’t seem like the kind to respect the Sol Accords and will probably blow away our pods.”
The Joan of Arc continued to grase other Kali ships out of the sky. In fact, it had taken down a good number of them. But the sphere itself had adjusted course. One Kali ship, wherever it came from, had harnessed the sphere somehow. Both were heading for the planet, and the Joan of Arc wouldn’t reach the sphere in time.
“Do we still have fire control?” Gaston shouted.
“Aye, sir.”
“Lock onto that giant ball.” Gaston pointed at the hologlobe. “When you have solutions, open fire.”
Only three seconds later, the systems locked onto the Antediluvian sphere and fired. Gaston didn’t count the number of torpedoes, but he speculated it was all they
had left. The Halifax launched a few torpedoes of her own before accelerating away at maximum burn.
The few remaining Kali ships grased what torpedoes they could. One ship tried to intercept the remaining torpedoes. Three exploded along its midsection, ripping it in half. The aft end flipped end over end away from the blast… right toward the Antediluvian weapon.
The engine core impacted the lone ship hauling the sphere, along with two torpedoes that made it past the Kali ships. The explosion of the engine core and torpedoes cut through the Kali ship clinging to the sphere, reducing the vessel to fire and debris.
The Antediluvian device flared, and for a moment, Gaston thought they were too late. The sphere glowed and crumbled into pieces as if it had simply grown tired of existing and dissolved. In seconds, nothing was left of the ancient weapon.
Gaston checked the visual. No other Kali ships remained within range.
A cheer went up across the bridge, but Gaston didn’t join in. He still had a crew to save.
“Another contact, Captain.” The sensor operator put an image on the visual. “Visual only, sir. It’s the Hive.”
Gaston watched the massive vessel as it drew closer to the planet. She entered the atmosphere, without so much as a flare from re-entry, and continued. She’d crash into the surface soon.
And so would the Odin, but not with her crew.
Gaston activated the ship-wide comm. “This is the Captain. All hands, abandon ship. I say again, all hands abandon ship.”
The bridge crew scurried for the escape pods, and Gaston followed. The last thing he saw before he climbed into an escape pod was the Hive on the hologlobe as she dove into the atmosphere.
He grimaced as his escape pod launched. As large as the Hive was, she would do a hellacious amount of damage to the planet.
~~~
Soon, the clouds parted, and Cody could see the open ground. They had minutes at the most before the Hive crashed. The fliers had landed on and around the plateau within the Hive. Stripe didn’t appear concerned at all.
“C’mon.” Sonja tugged at Cody. “In the hopper. The artificial gravity will protect us more. I hope.”
Cody followed her, eyeing Stripe, who simply regarded them both calmly.
Sonja closed the hatch behind them and dashed for the cockpit. “I’m going to put as much power as I can into gravity stabilization.”
“I don’t think it matters,” Cody said.
“It might.” She jumped in the cockpit and brought up the HUD. “If we…” She wiped her hand over the controls once and then again. She leaned back in her seat, her hands on her face.
Cody dropped into the co-pilot’s seat. “What?”
“Reactors are offline.” She pointed at a gauge on the HUD, showing power levels. “We’re on batteries right now. Internal gravity is offline completely, as is our main drive.”
“It’s okay,” Cody said. “The Hive is going to preserve the fliers.”
“And us? We’re not with them. Will it protect us?”
Cody wasn’t sure but wasn’t about to admit that. “I don’t think we’re crashing. I think we are landing. Stripe controls the Hive. I don’t think he’d do anything to harm us.”
“But he won’t let me turn on the goddamn hopper,” Sonja said.
“Maybe for the safety of his people?” Cody shrugged. “He doesn’t want us flying around inside while he’s trying to land.”
Sonja stared outside the canopy, where the visual of the approaching planet was still present. “That ring is going to transport the planet soon, with us on it.”
Cody watched the visual. He had no clue what was going to happen next or if either of them would survive. All he knew was there was no time like the present.
“Sonja, I want to ask you something.”
“Yeah?” Her voice shook, something he’d rarely heard.
He took her hand. “Sonja, will you marry me?”
“What?” Her jaw dropped, and all military behavior, all officer protocol, completely vanished. “Now? How?”
“I don’t know how,” he said. “Not at the moment, anyway. We’ll have the chaplain on the Odin or the Tokugawa do it. Or any chaplain we can find.”
A nervous grin spread across her face. “Maybe Stripe could do it.”
“If he’s a chaplain, sure.” Cody laughed. “I’m up for it. Is that a yes?”
She stared at him for a long moment then nodded. “Yes. Let’s…”
Words failed her, and she pulled him close. They kissed, not caring at all what would happen next.
~~~
Jericho watched in horror as the Hive impacted the surface of the planet. He half expected an explosion of some kind. It traveling at thirty thousand plus kilometers an hour would create a huge explosion, the kind that would devastate the entire planet.
But nothing happened. The Hive simply melted into the surface. But that wasn’t all. The hologlobe zoomed in on the Hive. It was disintegrating as it made landfall, as if it were becoming part of the planet itself.
“What about the Odin?” Jericho looked at his sensor operator. “Has the crew escaped?”
“Detecting life pods, sir,” the officer said. “The Halifax is collecting them while the Joan of Arc and the rest of the fleet mop up. No complete numbers, but it looks like all the pods jettisoned.”
Jericho relaxed a little though his sensor operator didn’t. “Is there a problem, Lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir.” He stared at his board, incredulous. “I’m not detecting a splashdown by the Odin.”
Jericho frowned. The Odin was a big ship and would have left a large crater. Then again, the crew might have programmed the ship to land before evacuating. “Scan the surface for the Odin.”
“I have, sir,” the lieutenant said. “I’m not seeing the ship at all.”
The comm chimed, and a message sounded from the ring: “Computations complete. Beginning matter translation and teleportation. Time to completion: ten minutes.”
“All ships, head for zero one zero by zero niner one,” Jericho said. “Range, fifty million klicks minimum safe distance.”
All the ships adjusted their courses. The Halifax, which had collected the last of the escape pods, accelerated at maximum burn. No one wanted to get caught in the ring when it teleported the planetary system. But also, they could never get to Hopper One Eight.
“Contact, sir,” the lieutenant said. “I’m detecting a transponder beacon on the planet surface.”
The hologlobe showed the location somewhere in the northern hemisphere. Jericho recognized the transponder readout at once.
“Banshee One Eight.” Jericho shook his head. “Goddamn. They’re alive.”
The ring glowed as the transition process began. Soon, the planet wouldn’t be there any longer.
~~~
The ground didn’t shake or even tremble. Carefully, Cody unsealed the rear hatch and stepped outside, holding Sonja’s hand the entire time.
The walls around them fluctuated like heat waves in the summer then melted altogether as the structure of the hive sank into the surface. In moments, the sun shone brightly, and Cody had to shield his eyes until the polarization implants in his eyes adjusted.
The yellow sky stretched out before him, with reddish clouds in the distance. The brown-and-black ground was spotted with occasional tufts of red foliage. Everything was as Cody remembered about the land, yet it wasn’t the same. He’d always thought that Kali Prime was ugly, but not anymore. The planet was as beautiful as any world he had seen. Even the air, which usually reeked of rotting meat, smelled clean.
“Incredible,” Sonja said.
Cody couldn’t disagree.
Fliers bounced around the open plain, which had no trace of the Hive that had dumped them there. One by one, they took the sky. Soon, the sky was full of them, circling the landing site like some sort of tornado. One of them landed near Cody.
“Stripe?” Cody walked toward him. “How does it feel to be home again?
”
“It feels good.” Stripe spoke through the orb in his central claw. “This is truly our world, not like the one you knew.”
A snort caused Cody to look behind him. A small creature flopped about in a tiny puddle of water. It pulled its head out of the water and faced Cody. The creature looked like a toad though much smaller than Cody had seen before.
“Shit.” Sonja reached for her coil pistol but ended up sticking her hand into an empty holster. “Cody, draw your weapon.”
Cody didn’t have his either though that didn’t matter. “Wait a second. Look.”
The creature backed away. The shape of its body really looked more like a toad, with actual joints instead of the flexible arms. Cody strongly doubted the creature could flip onto its back to put its claw on top. The toad squealed then hopped away, bounding over a rock.
“They were harmless creatures long ago,” Stripe said. “It was the invader who made them into the monsters you knew.”
Cody looked at Stripe. “The invader?”
Stripe held up the orb in his hand. Above their heads, a holovisual appeared, one more detailed and realistic than any Cody had seen before, almost like a doorway to another place.
The visual showed a view of Kali. Just like the recording Stripe had shown him earlier, this view had dozens of towers reaching for the sky. The fliers flew from one tower to the next in a mad dash of some kind, like they were in a hurry or afraid.
A dark cloud blotted out the sun then filtered down to the city below. Reeds stretched out from the crowd toward fliers that couldn’t get away quickly enough. The fliers in the recording struggled as their bodies transformed. Their wings became sleeker, blacker, until the entire flier looked like a giant black wing, like a streamlined black bat.
The red tentacles released the batlike creatures, which flew high into the air and opened up like parachutes and let the winds carry them away.
Then the tentacles wrapped themselves around the towers, squeezing them. In moments, the buildings collapsed and sank into the ground, leaving no trace they had ever existed.