by G J Ogden
“It’s no less crazy than the stunts that crew has already pulled off,” said Sonner, “so, yes, I think he can. Providing, of course, his ship is given time to jump away.”
“I’ll make sure they get away, Sarah, you have my word on that,” said Reese, now oozing confidence. Then he added, “On one condition.”
Sonner frowned, “What?”
“If we win this thing, and we both make it through alive, we give ‘us’ a second chance.”
Sonner laughed and brushed her hair from her eyes, “And you say I’m out of my damn mind!”
“I mean it, Sarah,” said Reese. Now he was the one talking with a cold seriousness. “A second chance for Earth, a second chance for us. It’s only fair. What do you say?”
“Okay, Captain Reese Turner,” said Sonner, coyly, “If we achieve the impossible and actually pull this off, then maybe there’s hope for impossible relationships too.”
Reese smiled, and then blithely added, “You’re talking about me and you, not you and Taylor Ray, right?”
Sonner laughed and shook her head, “You’re an idiot, Reese.” But then they took each other’s hands again and smiled.
THIRTEEN
Due to its unique, many-faceted connection to the Fabric, Vice Provost Adra was able to jump her new Destroyer from the Nexus to the star system where the anomaly originated in two hops. From any other location in the galaxy, it would have required many times that number, given the Destroyer’s limited jump capabilities.
The first jump was excruciatingly painful, even compared to the agony that Adra had experienced while double-jumping the frigate. Fortunately, her period of recovery on the Hedalt home world had given her the strength to endure it. Even so, as they emerged from the second jump, Adra had to grab hold of the pedestal on which her console screen was mounted in order to stave off the dizziness and blinding pain that tore through her head and neck. Quickly glancing across to Vika at the front of the compact bridge, Adra noted that her Adjutant had done the same. Nonetheless, her ability to endure the savage mental and physical strains of super-luminal travel was as impressive as her fighting skills had been back on the Nexus.
“Jump complete, Vice Provost,” said Vika with only a few seconds delay from the point at which they had emerged out of the Fabric. Adra knew that she would be feeling the same as she did, or worse, but she hid it perfectly from her voice.
Though they had not spoken of their fight since it had happened, Adra sensed that Vika had already analyzed why she lost. In short, Adra had gotten under her skin, drawing destabilizing emotions to the fore; emotions she was now burying deep down. Adra knew this would only serve to make her stronger and more dangerous. Once they had destroyed the human base, and Vika brought her challenge again, she knew that the second fight would be the hardest of her life.
“Charge weapons and set a course for the second moon of the fourth planet,” ordered Adra, as a medical drone flitted out from its perch and continued to patch up the damage to Adra’s face, head and neck. Though the worst of their injuries had been repaired at the advanced medical facility on the Nexus, Adra did not want to wait any longer than was necessary to get underway; as such, work to heal them continued as they travelled. Vika was being attended to by a similar device, and both had removed their black coats and armored jackets to allow the drones to work unobstructed, revealing the extensive nature of the injuries they had sustained. Injuries that would have been fatal to the average human.
“Yes, Vice Provost,” Vika replied dutifully, but Adra could see from her small console screen that Vika had already programmed the route and begun charging the weapons. She then placed her hand on the shoulder of the pilot simulant to execute the command, displaying the same ceremonial precision as she had done while executing all of Adra’s commands.
They traveled the distance from their jump entry point to the second moon in silence, save for the low thrum of the ship’s engines and occasional chaotically-melodic bleep from the various consoles and stations on the bridge. Vika issued a command to the pilot simulant to enter a high orbit, and then began working at her console, still without a word to Adra. But Adra was too consumed with her own work to notice or care. From reviewing the data on the rogue Hunter Corvette’s attack on the reclamation facility, Adra had learned that the two human transport ships had departed from a base concealed inside a lava tube on the planet. As such, she had been focusing sensor scans on the moon, looking for former volcanic regions and cave formations, but she had yet to find anything of significance.
“Vice Provost, I believe I may have found something of interest,” said Vika after an hour had passed, during which time Adra had discovered nothing of value. Vika enhanced a location on the moon’s surface on the viewport, but Adra could only see a tall cluster of rocks. Then Vika highlighted a section of the rock cluster and overlaid a metallurgical scan, which picked up a regular shape hidden within the rocks, something that was unlikely to be naturally occurring. “It is possibly a communications mast or sensor tower,” Vika added.
“Scan for nearby cave structures,” said Adra, turning from the viewport back to her own console screen.
“The composition of the volcanic rock in this region is preventing our scans from penetrating the surface,” Vika commented, “but I have found a cave opening, not far from the location of the metal structure.” Vika threw the image up on the viewport and they both studied it with sharp, attentive eyes.
“That is it,” said Adra, certain they had found the entrance to the human base, “Take us to the mouth of the cave, I want to see if our scans can penetrate through the tunnel.”
“Yes, Vice Provost,” said Vika, placing a hand on the pilot simulant’s shoulder, prompting it to begin maneuvering the dragonfly-like Destroyer over to the narrow cave.
Adra focused her scans into the throat of the tunnel, rapidly assessing the data as it appeared on her console. “There are sections of the inner cave wall that have been damaged recently,” said Adra out loud, though she was as much talking to herself as to Vika, “and there are traces of metals in the gouged sections.” She smiled and then sneered, “The human pilots clearly lack the skill to navigate this tunnel.”
Suddenly, Vika’s station sounded an alert, and she switched to review it with lightning reflexes. “There is a power signature inside the tunnel,” Vika announced, as new data continued to flood onto her screen, “It’s getting stronger... It’s a ship!” Without waiting for Adra’s order, she grabbed the pilot’s simulant’s shoulder and cried, “Take evasive action, now!” but it was already too late. As the nose of a Nimrod-class cruiser emerged from the shadows, its forward cannons flashed.
Vika’s decisive action meant they narrowly avoided a crippling strike to the command section, which would have instantly killed Adra and Vika too. Instead the cannon shells pummeled into ventral armor as the Destroyer lifted away from the cave, smashing open the hull and exposing the aft section to the thin atmosphere of the moon. Alarms erupted all over the bridge as the force of the impact sent Adra careening off the low command platform and into the side wall of the bridge. Vika had managed to stay standing, clasped to the back of the pilot’s chair like a limpet. As soon as the ship leveled off, Vika threw the pilot simulant from its chair and dropped down in its place. Adra scrambled back to the command platform, blood leaking from a gash to the top of her head, and grabbed the command pedestal, almost tearing it from its mounting.
“Fire aft turrets!” she yelled, turning to where the simulant at the tactical console should have been positioned. Instead she saw its broken and burned body twitching on the deck in front of the charred remains of the station. She roared with frustration and switched her console to the tactical layout, before quickly laying down a spread of plasma fire directly aft. She had no idea if the Nimrod was pursuing, but she wanted it to know they weren’t out of the fight yet.
“Three Nimrod-class cruisers have emerged from the cave mouth!” Vika cried, her eyes flicking b
etween the main viewport and the pilot’s console, which showed three red chevrons closing fast. The ship shuddered again as smaller turret rounds fired from the lead Nimrod snaked across their hull.
“Can we outrun them?” Adra yelled, as she locked onto one of the trailing Nimrods and fired the port turrets, watching the narrow beams of plasma burrow into the Earth Fleet vessel. It fell back, but didn’t break off. Then they were rocked again. Consoles blew out, with the pilot simulant taking the brunt of the energy, blasting its torso into chunks of melted synthetics and metal. Gas vented from cracked conduits and electrical fires started to grow out of control. Flames engulfed the disabled simulant body, melting the synthetic skin on its face and turning it into a ghoulish caricature of itself.
“Negative!” Vika cried back, “Main engines are damaged. It is impossible to escape!”
“Then take us low!” shouted Adra, “Use the terrain to evade them – we must not fall!”
Vika turned the Destroyer back towards the craggy surface of the moon as more cannon and turret rounds raced past them and out towards space. Ahead was a dense mountainous region with a deep ravine cutting between the sheer cliff faces, and Vika urged the damaged Destroyer towards it, pushing as much power into the engines and thrusters as she could pull together. In space the damaged engines lacked the straight line thrust to break away from the Nimrods, but weaving through the moon’s thin atmosphere she had a chance. It would come down to her piloting skills versus theirs. Skill versus skill alone.
Adra continued to fire bursts from the aft turrets, forcing the Nimrods to jink and correct their courses to avoid being hit, and with each evasive maneuver, the Earth Fleet ships lost ground to the Destroyer. By chance one of the trailing Nimrods turned into a volley of plasma shards, heavily damaging its aft quarter and forcing it to fall back and disengage from the pursuit, just as Vika swooped into the deep ravine. Flames now began to lick at the base of Adra’s boots, but it did not break her laser-like focus. She continued to fire back at the Nimrods, while hastily directing repair drones to patch up the critical systems.
Cannon rounds flashed past and smashed into the cliff face ahead of them, but Vika maneuvered around the toppling rocks, evading the larger hunks. On the pilot’s console, she saw one of the two remaining Nimrods peel off from the pursuit. Cowards! she cried out in her mind as she pressed the Destroyer deeper into the mountains. Ahead, she could see the ravine fork into three, with one of the paths disappearing beneath high overhangs. It was a perilous route to take, even in a small ship such as the Destroyer, but she was confident she could make it through. Then she had an idea; if she could collapse the overhangs at the moment they passed though, the remaining Nimrod would have no choice but to withdraw or risk being pummeled or even buried under the rock fall.
“Fire dorsal turrets on my command!” Vika shouted. On any other occasion, an adjutant issuing a command to a vice provost would have been unthinkable, but their relationship had transcended Warfare Command protocol long ago. Besides, Adra would not attack Vika while she needed her; and right now, she needed her.
Adra was too preoccupied to respond to Vika’s insolence, though in truth she found she was not provoked by it either. By joining her in disobeying Kagan’s directives, Vika was no more an officer of Warfare Command than she was. They were both renegades now, and though their causes were different – Adra’s to destroy humanity and Vika’s to take revenge for her brother’s death – their current common purpose of staying alive was all that was needed to maintain the delicate truce.
“Fire!” shouted Vika, as the Destroyer soared under the high rocky overhangs. On cue, Adra released shards of plasma from the two dorsal turrets mounted just inside the Destroyer’s wings, collapsing the roof of the ravine behind them. Vika then swung the Destroyer down the narrowest of the three forks, but the damaged thrusters lacked the power to overcome the ship’s momentum and they collided with the rock face. Alarms rang out again as more consoles and conduits exploded, taking the bridge lighting out with it, leaving only the glow from the main viewport for illumination. Vika shunted all the power she could into the thrusters and dragged the ship off the rocks. Behind them the final Nimrod had been unable to pursue, and was instead gaining altitude, attempting to spot them from above, like a hawk hunting prey.
Vika wrestled the Destroyer away from the cliff face and tucked it underneath a deep overhang, concealing it from view. Engaging the landing struts she then dropped the ship down hard onto the uneven rock and quickly powered down the engines to reduce their energy signature. She climbed out of the pilot’s seat and turned to Adra, “We must shut down the weapons and all non-essential systems!” she called over, but Adra was already in the process of powering everything else down, bar essential life support to the bridge only.
“We know the rocks on this moon are an effective shield against sensors,” Vika added, as power bled out of the ship’s remaining functional systems, accompanied by a low, descending hum. “I do not believe the Earth vessel will be able to detect us.”
“We must accelerate repairs to the ship,” said Adra, reaching down to extinguish the flames that had begun to creep up her boots. “They will assume we communicated their location to Warfare Command, and they will soon abandon their base to launch for Earth. We must collapse this lava tube and entomb them here forever.”
Vika had been checking the scale of the damage on her console while Adra was putting out her personal fires. “The damage is extensive. It includes external sensors and our link to the CoreNet. It will be many hours before we are capable of what you suggest. Kagan will have traced our jump by now. He will be coming.”
“Kagan will not have this victory!” Adra growled as she redistributed the repair drones to work on the essential systems that would allow them to get under way in the shortest possible time. “The humans are mine to destroy!” Repair drones began to circle around the bridge, frantically extinguishing fires and darting from section to section, patching up the vital systems. Looking up from her console, Adra turned to Vika and snarled, “Activate the reserve simulants. Direct them to assist with repairs. Now!”
Vika could hear the strain in Adra’s voice and recognized the flash of madness in her eyes. It was a look she had once seen staring back in her own reflection, in the moments after she had learned of her brother’s death. Vika knew only too well the dangers of letting emotions cloud her judgment. Emotion had caused her to intervene in Adra’s tribunal in the naive hope it would allow her to take personal revenge for Lux. That misjudgment had caused the loss of her position and status. She had allowed Adra to rile her during their fight; it had clouded her judgment and handed the Vice Provost the victory. She had given her word that she would follow Adra’s commands until she had defeated the humans, or no prospect of that remained, but it was clear to her now that they would play no further role in the war to come. She considered issuing her challenge then and there, on the smashed and smoke-filled bridge, while Adra was distracted and consumed with anger. But it would do no good to kill her now, not while their broken ship lay stranded with the enemy circling above, looking for an opportunity to finish them off. But the time would soon come when Adra would have to accept defeat and failure. And then, when Adra was at her lowest ebb, she would finally settle her debt.
Vika bowed her head and simply replied, “Yes, Vice Provost.”
FOURTEEN
Commander Sarah Sonner burst through the ready room doors and ran into the hangar bay just as the rear ramp of the last Nimrod thumped into the metal decking. The other two Nimrods were already on-station beside it, with crews working to patch up the damage sustained from the battle with the Hedalt warship. Sonner reached the Nimrod just as Captain Reese Turner stepped down onto the deck.
Sonner caught Reese by the shoulders, “Are you okay?” she asked, quickly checking him over.
“I’m fine, Commander,” said Reese, sticking to character since the ship was already being overrun by repair crews. Ree
se’s other three crew members then began to make their way down the ramp and Sonner quickly pulled her hands away, pressing them to the small of her back instead.
“Did you destroy the enemy ship, Captain?” she asked, quickly switching back to her pricklier ‘commander’ persona as the crew approached.
“I don’t know for sure,” Reese admitted. “We hit that sucker pretty hard, but it dove into a deep series of ravines running through the mountain range, maybe a hundred clicks north, and then we lost contact.”
“Damn it, then we have to assume it’s still out there. Either way, this base has been exposed.” Sonner met the eyes of Reese’s crew members, who had all hung back while they talked, wary of a repeat performance from the ready room, then looked back at Reese. “Stay alert, we may need to get out of here in a hurry.”
Suddenly klaxons began to blare out in the hangar bay and the evacuation signal lights pulsed on and off. A crackly voice came over the intercom, “All hands, evacuate the base immediately. All ships are to immediately jump to rally point alpha. Repeat... evacuate the base, all ships are to immediately jump to rally point alpha.” Reese and Sonner stared around the hangar bay as panicked crews hustled onto the deck and began racing towards their ships.
“Looks like you spoke too soon...” said Reese, and then he turned to his crew. “Shore leave is over folks, get back on board and get the ship prepped. I’ll be back in ten.” They all nodded frantically, eyes wide with fright, and ran back on-board.
“I need to get to the command center and find out what the hell is going on,” said Sonner, setting off at a jog.
Reese followed, “I’ll come with you,” he called out, “I want to know what we’re facing too.”
Streams of flight and engineering teams raced past them in the other direction until they reached the central command and control center. She saw Taylor standing behind one of the few remaining crew members that was still on-station and ran over to him.