“Janice’s ship has taken some major hits and so far they’re not letting up,” Dangard said. “She really wants Vega’s head very badly.”
“It would have been better if she held back and waited till we got into range to support the Stiletto,” Creull said. “The rate she’s going, her ship will be heavily damaged by the time we join in.”
“She’s got a reputation to uphold,” Dangard said. “What’s the status with Strand and his people?”
“The automed is keeping Karana alive for interrogation,” Creull said. “I’m having the lieutenant and his strike team suit up with battle armor in case of a boarding action.”
Dangard opened up the com-link to the engineering deck. “Viniimn, how are we doing?”
The chief engineer’s hissing voice came over the channel. “Radiators almost back to full capacity. Engines at eighty percent. Most hull damage fixed, though there are unarmored patches that needs working on. Half of our laser banks still undergoing repairs—they’re pretty fragile, as you well know.”
“How long?”
“Two hours, at least,” Viniimn said.
“Alright,” Dangard said. He knew the engineering teams were working round the clock, so there was no need to tell them to hurry up. “Keep me updated.”
Oana Florescu blinked twice as she stared in disbelief at the helm console in front of her. She glanced back towards her superiors. “I’m getting strange sensor readings from the dark matter field in front of the Tiburon, Captain.”
Dangard raised an eyebrow. “What kind of readings?”
“I’ve never seen them before,” Oana said. “It could be a t-drive, but the scans seem all wrong.”
Creull used her own console to double check. After staring at the virtual numbers, she let out a frustrated growl. “A Concordance ship is in the area.”
Oana was shocked. She had never encountered a ship from this faction before. “What?”
Dangard activated the com-link to the Stiletto. “Janice, there’s trouble up ahead of you.”
The command pod of the xtid starship resembled the interior lining of a gigantic beast’s stomach. Fused solid material and biomechanical curvatures gave the entire place an organic look. The personal consoles of the crew seemed to sprout from the floor, and the chairs they sat on engulfed them like a tentacled sea anemone would grab and smother its prey. Bulbous stalks hung and grew in strategic locations, each one emitting a ball of dim light.
Executor Zytll sat in the uppermost husk chair, overlooking his subordinates. Since everyone around him was a fellow xtid, he preferred to speak to the crew using the native vernacular rather than the Comm-5 galactic standard all the other races used. “Any change from either of the ships?”
“None, Executor,” the battle master said. “It seems they have not yet detected our presence since we have stayed within the dark matter cloud.”
“Range?”
“The two vessels in front of us are within optimal range, but the larger one is still at moderate to extreme range, Executor.”
“Very well,” Zytll said as his third hand extended and gestured at another xtid male to his right. “Travel Master, prepare to shunt heat back to our radiators and engage the engines at my command.”
“Ready, Executor,” the travel master said.
“Let us begin,” Zytll said.
Everyone inside the Nepenthe’s battlesphere silently stared in awe as the xtid ship emerged from the outlying clouds of the dark matter field ahead of them. Long-range scanners painted a virtual picture as to how she looked, and viewing the computer-generated image gave them the creeps. Along with the bulbous front hull, the xtid vessel had long trailing modules resembling a monstrous squid with glowing tentacles.
Oana’s eyes were wide open; she could hardly believe it. “Those …. feelers. Why do they glitter like that?”
Sappho’s voice remained calm and analytical, in contrast to the young spacer’s. “They are called spider silk radiators. The Concordance vessels produce the biological equivalent of a protein fiber and shunts heat along their length, which may reach up to hundreds of klicks.”
Creull turned to look at the captain. “Have you fought one of these things before?”
“A few times,” Dangard said. “I know what you’re thinking, and no—targeting the trailing spider silk won’t work since those things can be easily discarded and replaced.”
Creull inputted new commands onto her tactical grid. “Sappho, give me as much information as you can about that thing just ahead.”
“Concordance vessels have equivalent firepower to the Union Star Force,” Sappho said. “That ship would be classified as a battlecruiser—excellent acceleration and firepower, but not as well armored as a battleship.”
Creull roared with dismay. “The Stiletto isn’t letting up; she’s in a tight maneuver, still battling with Vega’s ship. The xtid vessel is accelerating, trying to get in between us and them.”
Dangard pushed open the com-link on his armrest. “Janice, pull back. We can’t cover you if you stay on that course.”
Janice’s voice was stressed out, yet there was a tinge of confidence in it. “We’re almost done. We’ve damaged Vega’s fusion drive and his ship is slowing down. Just give me a few more minutes.”
“We don’t have a few minutes,” Dangard said over the com-link. “That xtid ship is trying to cut you off from us.”
A series of curses came over the com-link circuit. Janice clearly wasn’t happy at having to pull back again. “Alright, we’re veering away now.”
“Enemy ordinance is coming our way,” Creull said. “Orders, Captain?”
“We’ll have to get Vega some other time,” Dangard said. “Begin evasion maneuvers and fire back. Let’s try to help Janice out.”
Creull snarled as her scans of the Stiletto began updating. “The xtid fired a full barrage at Captain Gwynplaine’s ship. She’s really decelerating now.”
“Concentrate main guns on the xtid ship,” Dangard said. “We need to link up with the Stiletto before it’s too late.”
“That means we’ll have to close,” Creull said. “The xtid vessel is in a tight maneuver while orbiting her.”
“We’re not leaving Janice behind,” Dangard said. “We will fully engage the enemy battlecruiser.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The full name of the xtid ship was the Wondrous Beacon of the Way, since their species had always preferred to use benign labels and titles for their military vessels. The other races in the galaxy regularly scoffed at their ironic conventions, but everyone respected their deadly effectiveness.
The defense master continued to look at the results from his console, and he remained tranquil. To show anger during the heat of battle was frowned upon, for they were all expected to bear any hardship with calm stoicism. “The Nepenthe is turning to engage us, Executor.”
“A very human trait,” Zytll said. “To try and rescue their wounded ally when the logical thing is to retreat and save themselves. I can’t help but admire humans for it.”
The battle master swiveled his head to look at Zytll. “Shall I unleash the swarmers, Executor?”
“Yes,” Zytll said. “Do that.”
Within the Nepenthe’s battlesphere, Oana couldn’t help but wince as she heard the distant tapping noises coming from the impacts along the vessel’s outer hull. “I’ve locked in the angle, but we’re starting to lose maneuverability again.”
Dangard switched on his com-link to an internal channel. “Viniimn, what’s up?”
“One of the enemy laser attacks ablated through a patch in our armor and partially damaged the fusion drive,” Viniimn said. “I’m rerouting to see if we can maintain thrust.”
“If we lose too much delta-V we’ll have to pull back, Captain,” Creull said.
“Janice won’t make it if we do that,” Dangard said. “Let’s give her some more time.”
A shrill grinding noise of twisting metal echoed somewhere
close by.
“What was that?” Oana asked nervously.
“Swarmers,” Creull said. “I think there are at least a dozen which landed on our hull. They’ll be boring through to get at us.”
Oana could barely think. Too many things were happening at once. “What are those things?”
“Biological war machines designed for boarding actions and sabotaging ships,” Dangard said. “Viniimn, what’s going on?”
“As I told you, Captain,” Viniimn said over the com-link circuit. “Half our laser banks were down when this battle began, and it means we don’t have optimal close-in weapon systems for point defense.”
Dangard clenched his jaw. The noose was tightening around them. He turned to look at his executive officer. “Seal off the battlesphere and tell the crew to repel boarders.”
14 Repel Boarders!
Duncan Hauk had just managed to grab another battery pack for his Armatus battle suit when he heard the warning klaxon sounding throughout all the decks of the Nepenthe. Using his jump thrusters, he quickly maneuvered down the corridor until he got close to a pair of warbots situated behind a bulkhead leading to the engineering section.
The voice of Lieutenant Garrett Strand was heard over everyone’s com-link system. “Okay, boys and girls, get ready. We’re being boarded, so I need you all to stick to the plan. Cover your assigned defensive areas. I’ll be heading up the sweeper teams, so if you’re getting close to being overwhelmed then give me a holler.”
Hauk mentally accessed the virtual menu on his helmet and set his shoulder-mounted gauss rifles to low velocity mode. The last thing he wanted to do was to over-penetrate while firing through the numerous rooms and corridors of the ship, lest he cause friendly fire casualties.
Strand called him using a private audio channel. “Hey kid, how are you doing?”
Hauk mustered a faint smile. He could tell the lieutenant was starting to count on him more and more. “I was hoping to get a break after Angkor, LT.”
“No rest for the weary,” Strand said. “Take it from me—there’s never a dull moment in this ship.”
“I hear you, LT.”
“I’ve assigned you to a very important defensive point,” Strand said. “You gotta maintain control of that juncture at all costs. You’re the last line of defense for the engineering teams.”
“Don’t worry, nothing’s going to get through me.”
“I’m not—that’s why I assigned you there,” Strand said. “This going to be your first time fighting these things?”
“Yes, LT,” Hauk said. “I had a couple of hours on the virtual simulators, but this will be the first actual one. What are these swarmers exactly?”
“Think of them as genetically engineered parasites designed to disable enemy ships by boring into them and unleashing a bunch of smaller kamikazes,” Strand said.
“I had one simulator run where I was shooting at them from outside of the hull,” the boy said. “They’ve got armored shells. Can they travel through space like that?”
“They’re actually fired from Concordance ships using fusion-powered missiles and they’re inside the warheads,” Strand said. “They get shot out when the missile is in range while in bunches like our lancers, so maybe a few get through the point defenses.”
“Wow,” Hauk said.
“Upon impact, they attach themselves onto the hull,” Strand said. “The shells you see when you’re outside are their tops, and their bottoms are softer and ringed with little tentacles that can spray powerful acids to burn through the ship’s outer layer.”
“So that’s all they do?”
“Swarmers can do one other thing,” Strand said. “Once they penetrate into the habitat sections, they release eggs—thousands of them—and those hatch right away.”
“I tried shooting those things while using the simulator. They’re called antibodies, right?”
“Yup,” Strand said. “Those things move fast and they’ll try to go for your head. They got limited intelligence, but they’re smart enough to spot a weakness.”
“How dangerous are they?”
“Once they attach themselves to your head, they’ll explode,” Strand said. “Since you’re in battle armor, one or two hits will be manageable, but their acid is pretty strong and they come in waves, so you could get overwhelmed if you ain’t careful.”
“I’ll be careful, LT,” Hauk said.
“Let the warbots do most of the work for you,” Strand said. “And use auto-targeting.”
“Got it.”
“Don’t forget to switch to low velocity frangible ammo for your gauss guns and set lasers to low power mode,” Strand said. “The last thing we want is a blue-on-blue friendly fire situation due to over-penetration.”
“Done that already.”
“Then you’re all set,” Strand said. “Chat with you later, kid.”
Hauk positioned himself behind a support column while switching his suit AI to automatic fire mode. Now’s the hard part. The waiting.
Strand’s boots were in magnetic mode as he ran along the length of the Nepenthe’s outer hull. He could have used his a-suit’s thrusters to get to where he wanted to even faster but detaching himself from the hull meant he would have to keep a close watch on the ship’s sudden acceleration and match it, lest he get separated and left behind in deep space.
The distant star cast an eerie bluish twilight over the ship’s black hull as he raced forward, one eye paying attention to what was happening in front of him, while the other focused on his overall tactical map. It felt like the swarmers were situated along the opposite side of the ship, and he needed to get over there as quickly as possible.
Spacer Sergeant Diego Rodriguez’s voice came over his audio link. “LT, I found a couple. I’m waiting for a warbot to get to my position because my weapons are having no effect.”
Strand kept moving, his armored feet making heavy strides while getting closer to the youth’s position. “Try shooting at the gaps in between the armored plates. If you can concentrate in one spot, it might also do the trick.”
“Okay, LT.”
When he got to where Diego was, he could see the youth taking cover behind a damaged hull protrusion while firing his lasers at maximum power towards the swarmer. Looking like a gigantic grayish barnacle stuck along the length of the Nepenthe, the organism seemed to get smaller while its underbelly continued to eat away at the layers of armor in order to inject the eggs it carried.
Diego looked towards his superior. “No effect, sir. The warbots are busy fighting with another pair just on the other side. I can’t seem to make any headway with this one.”
With his right hand, Strand pulled out an implosion charge from the internal weapons bay on the back of his a-suit. As the commanding officer for the strike teams, he was one of the few allowed to carry full-powered ordinance while onboard the Nepenthe. “Cover me. I’m gonna try and get close to it.”
“Those things have got tentacles, right?”
“Yup,” Strand said, “and it’s got flechettes too. Use auto-targeting and keep them off me. I just need a few seconds.”
“Yes, sir.”
This time Strand used his suit thrusters to propel himself directly on top of the creature. Grabbing hold along the sides of the armored shell, he hurriedly looked around for a possible gap on the swarmer’s armored top that he could exploit. Spotting a surface wound near the base of the creature’s cone-shaped body, he aimed an arm-mounted laser at it and began ablating the swarmer’s outer layer to get to its internal organs.
The creature instantly reacted when it felt a slight pressure on its body. Several tentacles whipped out from the swarmer’s cone-shaped top and tried to grab onto Strand. Diego’s suit AI locked onto the base of the swirling mass of tentacles and automatically fired a stream of gauss rounds and laser fire, severing the whip-like limbs from the body of the organism.
Strand was just about to place the fusion grenade into the now gaping wound whe
n a pseudopod emerged near the base of the swarmer and pointed a bulbous organ in his direction. A stream of needle-like thorns powered by compressed gas was fired in his direction. Strand was able to crouch down and hold his other arm up to protect his helmet. Several flechettes embedded themselves into his armored forearm, yet none of them were able to breach it.
Diego gritted his teeth as he manually targeted the raised pseudopod and fired a stream of hypervelocity gauss rounds at it. He had forgotten to grab a few battery packs before he got to the outer hull and now his lasers were nearly out of juice.
The resulting fire from the youth ripped open the globular pseudopod, rendering it useless. Strand used his free hand to tear open the formerly closed wound near the swarmer’s base. Wasting no time, Strand thrust the fusion grenade in as deep as he could before pulling his arm out and kicking himself away to gain some distance. The moment he cleared a five-meter gap, he issued a mental command with his suit’s battle computer to detonate the charge.
The swarmer seemed to shudder for a brief microsecond before its top cone separated from the rest of its body and disappeared into the unending glooms of space. Globules of assorted nutrients slowly floated away from the cratered body.
Strand crouched along the hull as he began pulling out the embedded flechettes along his forearm. “Give me a status report.”
“Warbots four to twenty took out ten of those things,” Diego said. “The hull is all clear except for the last one over there.” The youth pointed to another conical swarmer towards the starboard side of the hull.
“Let’s head over before it—”
The remaining swarmer seemed to compress as its flattened base finally penetrated a weakened section of the Nepenthe’s hull. The top of its armored cone quickly disappeared beneath a hole it had managed to bore through just as the two men got close.
Strand let out a curse before switching to a wide com-link channel. “Attention. One of the swarmers got into the internal superstructure. All hands, prepare to receive some unwanted guests. My team is coming back in to assist.”
Shards of Eternity (Stars in Shadow Book 2) Page 13