The Sunfire

by Mike Smith

  “Shit,” he cursed.

  “The ship talks?” Miranda asked intrigued, but hardly surprised. Like Gunny, she considered after the events of the last few weeks nothing would truly surprise her any more.

  “Yeah, I’ll introduce you two later. First I need to go and open the external hangar bay door, I had completely forgotten about it. Stay here and finish the pre-flight, I’ll be back soon.”

  However, before Jon could even get out of his seat, the shuttles thrusters fired. Seeming to be under its own control, the ship hovered and turned round so it was now pointing directly at the external hangar door. “What the hell?” He exclaimed, but was interrupted by the ship.

  “Analysis complete,” the ship reported, deploying and activating the ships ventral rail guns. The next instant Jon watched opened-mouthed as the guns opened fire, the dense rail guns rounds tearing through the bay doors. The weapon systems on the shuttle were designed to pierce heavily armoured ships up to several hundred meters away. The bay doors, barely two hundred meters distant were instantly shredded as if they were made of paper.

  “Pre-flight checklist is now complete. The ship is ready for departure, Commander. Do you wish me to continue to engage the automatic pilot?”

  Jon’s mouth had been open in disbelief and he snapped it shut. He idly wondered if the ship’s actions had been precipitated by some of the personality stamped into it from Sofia’s long dead mother. If so, Jon felt a pang at never being able to meet such a woman, as she was surely a force to be reckoned with. “No that's okay, I’ll pilot the ship manually, thanks.” Jon replied, dazed.

  “Very well Commander,” the ship replied after a significant pause.

  Jon wondered if it was possible for a ship to sulk. Seeing no reason to stay a moment longer, Jon once again engaged the ship’s thrusters, but this time bringing them quickly to full power as they slipped easily though the remains of the bay doors.

  The shuttle climbed quickly into the dusty yellow sky.

  *****

  Rapidly ascending, Jon could feel himself being pressed firmly into his seat as the shuttle climbed quickly away from the planet’s surface, the ship’s internal stabilisers unable to completely offset the massive force of gravity pressing down on them. Now they were finally free of the hangar bay, Jon’s eyes scanned the horizon, then cast one eye over the ship’s external sensors.

  “Miranda?” He asked.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m going to need your help. Keep an eye on our altitude indicator and sensors for me?”

  “Sure,” she replied, confused. As the shuttle was still climbing at a steep angle, she wondered why Jon was worried about their altitude. Then suddenly, as if the shuttle had been shot out of the sky, its climb seemed to come to a halt. Then with a sudden hole in her stomach, the surface of the planet came back rapidly into view as the shuttle began to nose dive back towards the surface at a frightening speed. “Jon,” she cried. “Altitude!”

  It seemed it was only at the very last minute Jon managed to bring the nose of the shuttle up and they shot across the surface of the planet, at times seeming to only be skimming a few meters above the ground.

  “I thought that we were heading for the Sunfire?” Miranda asked, confused.

  “We are, eventually,” Jon replied. “However we have a slightly more immediate problem.” With that he pointed to the horizon slightly off to starboard.

  Squinting, Miranda could just make out several dark dots hanging above the horizon. “What are they?” She asked.

  “Fighters, and seeing that we didn’t bring any with us, I think it’s a safe bet they belong to the Tyrell Corporation.”

  “What are they doing here?”

  “No idea, but I have no plans on hanging around to find out,” Jon replied. Adjusting the course of the shuttle and now heading away from them.

  “Commander,” the ship’s computer interrupted the pair. “Now that we are clear of the hangar, I have begun broadcasting an emergency distress signal. I am requesting any Imperial Navy ships in the vicinity to assist us.”

  Jon did not have the time or the energy to get into a political debate with the ship, in that the distress signal was about five years too late, as the Imperial Fleet had long since been disbanded. Instead, he focused on the ships scanner, which indicated the fighters had now changed course and were in pursuit. Jon did not give them very good odds out in the open. “I need you to find me a mountain range, valley, or canyon. Anything that I can hide the ship in, and do it fast,” Jon instructed Miranda.

  *****

  “Captain.” The Communications Officer on the bridge of the Sunfire called out. “I’m receiving a distress signal.”

  “Only one?” Paul replied sardonically. “Have you checked the scanners recently? This system is littered with ships in distress.”

  Indeed the system was starting to rapidly fill up with debris, because so far they had fought past two Titan defence stations and at least half a dozen enemy warships. While they had managed to overcome all, the Sunfire had taken a terrible beating, with one particle cannon, the aft missile battery, not to mention a dozen rail guns destroyed, and many other weapons either critically short or now empty of ammunition.

  “But Captain, this ship is broadcasting an Imperial distress signal. According to the ship’s database, the ships registry belongs to the Endless Light. Sir, it’s the Emperor’s personal shuttle!”

  Paul could only stare at the Officer in disbelief: no way could it be a coincidence. Jon had actually gone and pulled it off. He had rescued Marcus, and furthermore had escaped in his personal shuttle. “Can you get a lock on that ship’s location?”

  “Only an approximate position as the planet’s ionosphere is extremely active with numerous electrical storms, which may be due to the planets active volcanoes. It is causing terrible interference to our communication systems.”

  “Very well. Helm, lay-in a course to their last known position, we’ll try and pick them up on sensors when we are in orbit above their position. Try and get a message through the interference and let them know we are on our way,” Paul replied to the Communications Officer.

  “Captain,” The Operations Officer interrupted. “Looks like we are not the only one to pick up that signal. Sensors are detecting a destroyer class vessel already underway on an intercept vector. They have already launched fighters.”

  “Damn,” Paul said smacking his fist against the armrest in frustration. “Is there any way we can reach their position before the destroyer?” Jon would have to deal with the fighters on his own.

  “Negative Captain. That destroyer is already in a low orbit. If we were to accelerate to such a velocity as to catch it, we would not be able to brake rapidly enough to make orbit.”

  Paul just stared at the view-screen in frustration, knowing that they could only obey the laws of physics. The faster they accelerated the harder they would have to brake, and the internal dampeners on the ship could only offset so much gravitational forces. It reached a point that while the ship might survive such massive deceleration it would not matter, as none of the crew would be alive by the time that the ship completed the manoeuvre. Paul stared at the massive planet ahead of them; there was no way to break the laws of physics. However, staring at the planet it did occur to him that while they could not break the laws of physics, there was no reason why they could not follow a completely a different set of rules.

  “Lay in a course,” Paul ordered the helm Officer. “Flank speed. Take us in.”

  “Sir?” The Helm Officer queried the command. “We will not be able to make stable orbit.”

  “I have no intention for us to make a stable orbit. Take the ship into the thermosphere and the friction of the thin atmosphere will help us bleed off velocity and brake in time.”

  “You want us to do what?” The Helm Officer asked aghast. “Sir, the Sunfire is a starship, she is not rated for atmospheric re-entry. She’ll be torn to pieces.”

  “The
Sunfire is an Imperial Navy warship, Lieutenant. A ship-of-the-line,” Paul snapped back frostily. “She is made of stronger stuff than you realise. The bow armour will shield us, mostly, from the thermal temperatures caused by entering the upper atmosphere. I gave you an order. Now take the ship into the thermosphere.”

  The Helm Officer nodded and turned back to his console. Paul could feel the bow thrusters firing as the ship rapidly reduced velocity, and the planet on the view-screen suddenly seemed to grow in size as the ship started to descend into the planet’s upper atmosphere.

  Tapping the control on his chair to activate the ship’s internal communications, he broadcast a warning to the rest of the crew. “Brace yourself for—” Paul never before thought that he was going to utter the following word on a starship, “Turbulence.”

  *****

  Miranda closed her eyes as another ridge of the canyon seemed to suddenly appear in front of the shuttle. However, with Jon’s deft touch of the controls, the shuttle rose a few meters, skimming across the top of the ridge before diving back down into the valley.

  Considering the geological nature of the planet, Miranda doubted a river had formed this valley. She guessed it far more likely they were flying along the edge of a tectonic plate, where the crust was being pushed under another plate, being absorbed back into the planet’s mantle.

  As always, Jon’s decision to dive the shuttle into the canyon was equal parts genius and insanity—although at which point it crossed the line from one to the other, Miranda was unsure. For the shuttle, designed for atmospheric flight, with its large flight control surfaces was far more stable at lower speeds within the canyon than the fighters in pursuit. Miranda did not even need to glance at the rear scanners to know they were directly behind them. The fighters must be flying barely above their stall speed, the little air passing over their much small flight control surfaces making them incredibly unstable. A fact she could attest to as two of them had already slammed into the side of the canyon, some kilometres behind. However, two more were still close behind, while the remaining fighters were buzzing above the canyon, just waiting for the shuttle to reappear.

  One side of the canyon suddenly disappeared into a pile of rocks and dust so close that Miranda felt that she could reach out and touch them. She could feel the rail-gun rounds from one of the fighters passing just above the shuttle to impact into the side of the canyon wall.

  With a swift jerk on the controls, Jon pushed the Endless Light deeper into the ravine, away from the stream of gunfire. The cliffs around them seemed to get even higher, and even closer.

  “Agh,” Miranda could not help it. The screech slipping out of her mouth.

  Jon only laughed, rotating the shuttle by ninety degrees to squeeze through a particularly narrow section of the canyon.

  “By the great Maker, Jon,” Miranda growled, keeping her eyes firmly shut. “If I turn around and find you smiling, if we make it out of here alive I am going to find a pistol and shoot you. Dead.” She did not need to open her eyes or look at Jon to picture the expression on his face. His eyes gleaming in excitement, face glistening, a smirk resting on his lips. The only time he ever seemed to show any excitement was when somebody was trying to kill him. He had tried to explain it to her once, when they had been back on Terra Nova but Miranda could never understand it. In these situations she was trying to hold back her terror, not enjoying herself. Meanwhile the shuttle rocked sharply as another massive explosion detonated behind them. “They are using missiles now? In here?” She asked incredulously.

  “Nope,” Jon replied. “Looks like one of the fighters behind us didn’t make that last turn. Losing situational awareness, focusing too much on the target and not the surroundings,” Jon made a tut, tut noise with his tongue. “Amateurs.” Jon had a strong opinion about other pilots, having once been the Commander of the Praetorian Guards, the Emperor’s personal elite fighter squadron.

  Meanwhile Miranda was thinking Jon was finally living up to his overblown reputation as being the greatest pilot in this galaxy or the next. As with barely centimetres to spare on either side of the ship the Endless Light seemed to glide through the canyon like a great condor in flight.

  “So any plans on what to do when we reach the end of this canyon?” She asked conversationally.

  “Not particularly,” Jon replied. “Why?”

  “Well according to the scanners we have about eight kilometres more to go before it ends in a sheer cliff face, one kilometre in height. So you might want to come up with a plan, quickly.”

  “Commander,” the ship interrupted them. “I have received a response to my earlier distress signal.”

  At the time Jon had forgotten completely about it, as he knew that there was no Imperial Fleet to respond. “Oh?” he replied. “Perhaps some out of office message? The organisation that you have tried to contact no longer exists?” He quipped.

  After a few moments the ship replied. “The message simply states, on our way.”

  “The Imperial Navy is on its way?” Miranda replied with a frown.

  Jon rolled his eyes. “It’s Paul on the Sunfire. Obviously they received our message.”

  “So what now? We have less than five kilometres of this valley before it dead-ends.”

  “Now,” Jon grinned. “We head for the Sunfire. Make sure that you are strapped in tight, this ride is going to get bumpy.”

  “How could it possibly get even more bumpy?” Miranda demanded.

  “I am about to bring the main engines on line.”

  Miranda went still for a moment, before replying in a very quiet voice. “You are going to engage the sub-light engines within the atmosphere; which I should remind you is completely prohibited—in a canyon? Are you crazy?” She screamed.

  Jon frowned. “Good point. I forgot there are fail-safes stopping us activating the ion engines within the confines of the atmosphere. Ship, disable all the failsafe devices surrounding the ion engines.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Good. Then deploy the dorsal rail-guns and await my command to fire.”

  “Jon…” Miranda replied in a warning tone.

  “Trust me,” he smiled.

  Miranda just gritted her teeth in frustration. She hated it when he said that. It usually meant really bad things were about to happen. Suddenly Miranda’s eyes went as wide as saucers when the canyon seemed to come to an end, opening up into a vast valley with seemingly endless, sheer cliffs directly ahead of them.

  Laughing Jon engaged the powerful twin ion engines on the shuttle, pushing both engines straight to full power. Both pilots were immediately pressed firmly into their seats, as the massive engines caused the shuttle to leap forward like a stallion bolting from its stall. The ship quickly accelerated from a relatively slow speed of three hundred kilometres per hour, to almost one thousand in the space of a few seconds. Ignoring how many flight regulations they were breaking, Jon pulled back sharply on the flight control, sending the shuttle into a vertical climb only meters from the sharp, jutting cliff face.

  Miranda winced as once again the shuttle shook from a tremendous explosion behind, this time she did not need to look back to know it was the final fighter slamming into the escarpment. She could not imagine what it must have been like for the fighter behind to be so close when the ion engines ignited. The pilot was probably blinded, certainly for long enough to fail to notice the canyon had come to an abrupt end.

  Climbing vertically now at over one thousand kilometres per hour, and still accelerating, the shuttle shot out of the valley as if it had been fired from the barrel of a starting gun. Miranda watched mesmerised, time seeming to slow as the shuttle climbed directly between two fighters that had been providing cover above the valley, waiting for the shuttle to appear. Miranda had an instant to observe the stunned expressions on the pilot’s face as the shuttle climbed vertically between them.

  “Fire!” Jon ordered, and the shuttle started to vibrate, the dorsal rail-guns opening fire as the s
huttle climbed past the two fighters. Both fighters paused an instant too long, shocked by the sudden manoeuvre, and in that time the shuttle’s guns cut both fighters to pieces, leaving nothing but flaming debris to fall back to the surface.

  “Miranda have you got the Sunfire on your sensors? I need a vector to the ship.”

  “No. Wait, yes, I’ve got her. She’s directly ahead, no up, uh you know what I mean.”

  Jon just laughed. “I know what you mean.”

  But Miranda was staring at the scanners intently as something was not quite right about the ship. It was too small; the profile was all wrong. “Jon,” She said urgently. “That's not the Sunfire, and it’s just locked its weapons onto us.”

  Jon looked around frantically, but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. They were still in a steep vertical climb, having just passed twenty kilometres in height. Still in the atmosphere, climbing steeply. Go where? The enemy ship was directly overhead in orbit and they had a clear shot. “And we were so close,” he sighed quietly, taking Miranda’s hand in his. At least everybody he cared about was on the shuttle and this time there would be no lasting regrets. Staring up into the dark blue sky, which was rapidly darkening as they passed through the stratosphere, Jon could imagine the guns on the enemy warship turning to target them, the missiles that would soon leap from their launch tubes.

  Suddenly, something from the corner of his eye caught his attention. A flaming ball of fire, leaving a trail of smoke hundreds of kilometres in length. At first Jon assumed that it was a meteorite entering the atmosphere. However, as it came closer it rapidly grew in size and Jon judged that it must be almost a kilometre in length. Surely too large to be a meteorite?

  It was only when it altered course to intercept the shuttle that Jon finally recognised what it was. The ship was living up to her name, as it was completely encased in a flaming ball of fire. The Sunfire had arrived. “It’s the Sunfire,” Jon breathed in astonishment.

  “It can’t be,” Miranda replied in awe, finally seeing what Jon had just seen. “They cannot take the ship into the atmosphere. It wouldn’t survive re-entry.”