by G J Ogden
“Aye, Captain,” Razor replied.
Sterling could see that the engineer had resumed most of her fluidity, though she still wasn’t operating at full capacity. No-one on the bridge was, least of all himself.
“Based on the scanner data we acquired before the reactor cycled, that Sa’Nerran warship is a variant of a phase one heavy cruiser, Captain,” said Lieutenant Shade from the weapons console. “But it’s something we’ve not seen before. Maneuvering capability is severely limited, but it has twice the firepower a ship of that era and class should have.”
Sterling continued to study the alien vessel, watching as its thrusters started to flash into life. Questions were whizzing around his mind. Why was the ship there? Why had it been powered down? Why was it so old as to be obsolete? As usual, however, he had more questions than answers.
“It’s a gatekeeper,” said Banks, cutting through the confusion like a shark swimming through calm waters. “It’s guarding the aperture. But maybe the shuttle was the last thing to come through here in a long while, so it went into a sort of hibernation mode to reserve power.”
Sterling nodded. It was as good a theory as any. However, he also then realized that the “why” questions were unimportant. All he needed to know was how to stop it.
“Lieutenant, I need a weakness,” Sterling said to his weapons officer. “If it’s similar to a phase one design, we should know everything about it, including where to hit it to do the most damage.”
“I know exactly where to hit it, Captain,” replied Shade, with a cold, clinical certainly. “But we need to get close.”
The familiar thrum of the deck plating then began to vibrate through Sterling’s boots. He could literally feel the ship’s vitality returning.
“Reactor restart complete,” Razor called over. “It will be several minutes before we’re at full capacity, but I’ve given everything we have to weapons and engines.”
The Sa’Nerran gatekeeper had begun to turn toward them as Razor was speaking. Sterling peered down at his console and saw that the aged but powerful warship was charging weapons.
“One shot from its forward battery and we’re finished,” said Banks. Her report was given without undue alarm. It was simply a statement of the facts. Sterling knew she was right.
“Ensign, keep us out of reach of that ship’s main guns,” Sterling called out. He saw an attack pattern flash up on his console. He scowled at it then turned to Shade. “I know you said we had to get close, but does it need to be that close?” he asked, hoping that the woozy weapons officer had made a miscalculation.
“Our weapons are at reduced power,” Shade replied, calmly. “If we want to take it down in one shot, this is the only way.”
Sterling nodded then sent the pattern to Ensign Keller. “Time to impress me with your fancy flying, Ensign,” Sterling called over to his pilot. He then saw the forward plasma cannons of the alien gatekeeper begin to glow. “You can start by evading those guns!” he added, gripping his captain’s console tightly again.
The kick of the Invictus' engines made Sterling glad he had held on. With the rest of the ship on minimal power, the inertial negation systems barely compensated for the ship’s trust. Moments later the alien cruiser’s guns flashed and four massive blasts of plasma raced across their bow and disappeared into the Void.
“That was damned close, Ensign,” said Banks, glancing across to Sterling. “Less than ten meters.”
Sterling flashed his eyes at his first officer. “I don’t give a damn if it misses by ten meters or ten centimeters. A miss is a miss,” he replied before turning his attention back to the viewscreen.
Under the expert control of Ensign Keller, the Invictus was now approaching the alien cruiser like a cannonball. Turrets flashed across the three-kilometer-long hull of the old alien warship and Sterling felt the impact of each blast as if the strikes had landed on his own body.
“Regenerative armor at twenty-seven percent, and holding,” Shade called out. “Hull integrity stable.”
Sterling’s grip on his console continued to tighten as the Invictus powered toward the cruiser on a collision course.
“Impact in ten seconds, get ready to pull up,” Shade called out. Her body was as steady and immovable as a marble statue, finger poised over her console, ready to fire. “Now!” she yelled.
Keller pulled the nose up and at the same time Shade unleashed the Invictus’ forward plasma cannons at the cruiser at point-blank range. Explosions rippled across the hull of the cruiser and the Invictus rode the blast, like a surfer on the crest of a wave. Lights and consoles flickered on and off on the bridge and power relays blew out, but seconds later they were clear. Sterling allowed himself to take a breath – the first he’d managed since starting the attack run – and pushed away from his console. Keller slowed the ship and looped around, bringing the alien gatekeeper back into view. Shade had hit the alien beast exactly where she’d intended to, Sterling realized, disabling its main reactor and leaving it powerless to respond. The cruiser was now simply listing in space, crippled and defeated.
“No other contacts on the scanners, sir,” said Banks, maneuvering her console back into position, having inadvertently torn it away from the deck during the battle.
“We’re going to need to get you a stronger station,” Sterling said. He then let out a long, loud sigh. “Good work, people,” he said, casting his eyes first to Keller then to Shade. Then he turned to Lieutenant Razor and waited for the engineer to reluctantly meet his gaze. “Good work, everyone,” Sterling said, holding Razor’s gaze long enough for her to accept his sincerity. “Remain at battle stations and begin repairs. Weapons and armor are the priority, people. This is enemy space and we could be back in a fight before we know it.”
There was a chorus of ‘aye, sir,’ from around the bridge and the crew of the Invictus immediately got to work.
“I have an idea for how we can discover where that shuttle went next,” said Commander Banks, casting a sideways glance at Sterling.
“Is it an idea I’m going to like?” Sterling replied.
Banks shrugged then pointed to the Sa’Nerran Heavy Cruiser on the viewscreen. “That ship would have monitored Colicos’ shuttle arriving through the aperture, so it stands to reason it probably also knows where it went.”
Sterling smiled. “Are you suggesting we board that thing and interrogate its computer?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Banks, firmly. Then she shrugged again. “Along with whoever else we find alive over there.”
Sterling nodded then looked out at the alien vessel on the viewscreen, bleeding smoke into space.
“Awaiting your orders, Captain,” Banks asked. Sterling could sense that she was eager to flex her muscles once again. “Shall I plan a little expedition?”
Sterling clenched his fists and stood tall. “Suit up, Commander, we have a ship to board.”
Chapter 19
The good homewrecker
Sterling peered out at the crippled Sa’Nerran Heavy Cruiser from the cockpit of the shuttle, while Commander Banks piloted the craft toward the stricken vessel. Due to the devastating close-range assault by the Invictus, more than half of the cruiser had been rendered uninhabitable. However, even though the cruiser was dead in space, with its weapon systems and engines disabled, it still clung to life like a battle-scarred old shark. Several sections of the three-kilometer-long behemoth remained intact and pressurized, including its bridge and command deck.
Sterling’s plan was to land the combat shuttle near the command center of the alien vessel then breach through an emergency escape hatch. Once the assault team had fought their way to the alien bridge, they would hack into the ship’s command computer and download the data from the central memory core. Contained somewhere in the archives was the information that would point them to James Colicos. It was their only chance to pick up the trail of breadcrumbs that they’d lost at the entrance to the newly discovered Sa’Nerran aperture. If they fai
led then their mission was just as dead in the water as the heavy cruiser. Without Colicos, any chance of counteracting the alien neural control weapon would be lost.
Based on scans of the Sa’Nerran cruiser, Sterling had concluded that the bulk of the alien forces on board were either already dead, or cut off from the command deck. Nevertheless, Sterling was planning to go in hard. Seated in the rear of the shuttle was Lieutenant Razor and Lieutenant Shade along with the Invictus’ four best commandoes. Shade’s forces would secure a route to the bridge, where Lieutenant Razor would then hack the computer and recover the data.
Sterling glanced back at his engineer from the second seat of the combat shuttle. There was a hunger in her eyes that he’d not seen before. The talented engineer appeared eager to earn back the trust and respect she believed she had lost from her commander. The reality was that Sterling was not angry or disappointed with Razor over what happened to the Invictus after surging through the new aperture. Razor couldn’t have known what would happen; none of them could. This was uncharted territory and risk was part of the game. However, the fact that Razor had not allowed the incident to rattle her confidence was encouraging. And the hungrier his unique engineer was to prove herself the more Sterling was sure that she would succeed.
“Thirty seconds to hard dock,” said Commander Banks.
Despite this announcement, his first officer was still accelerating so hard toward the cruiser that it looked like she planned to ram the massive vessel. However, the element of surprise was crucial to the success of their plan. As such, hot-rodding through space like a cadet trying to impress his classmates was a necessary risk.
“Assault team, get ready to breach,” Shade called out to the row of four commandoes seated opposite her. Each of them wore a helmet with a full cover face mask, giving them an anonymous, almost robotic-appearance.
“Breaking thrusters firing in five,” Banks added from the pilot’s seat, her voice now betraying her own unease at their rapid approach.
The shuttle spun around and decelerated hard, pressing Sterling into the back of his seat as if an invisible sumo wrestler had just sat on his lap. The roar of the engines was deafening and the whole shuttle shook like it was being buffeted by a tropical storm. Suddenly the weight pressing down on Sterling vanished and there was a solid thud against the hull. It sounded like someone had just pounded it with a sledgehammer.
“We’re down and locked,” Banks called out, appearing physically unaffected by the pressures that had just ravaged Sterling’s body. “Hatch seal intact, cutting beams activated.”
Shade punched the buckle on her chest to release her harness then sprang up and grabbed her plasma rifle from its stow to her side. The four commandoes were on their feet moments later, but these soldiers were packing far more devastating firepower. Two of the commandoes grabbed plasma hand-cannons from the rack; the twenty-fourth century equivalent of a sawn-off shotgun. The remaining two commandoes drew down heavy plasma rifles and moved to the side of the docking hatch. These heavier weapons were rarely used due to their propensity to blow holes through walls and even the sides of ships. They had earned the nickname, ‘Homewreckers’ on account of this. However, on this occasion, Sterling was willing to throw caution to the wind. The Sa’Nerra's armor, combined with the alien species’ exceptional resilience to injury, meant that sometimes two or three shots from regular weapons were needed to put them down. In contrast, the Homewreckers could one-shot-kill even the toughest alien warrior.
“I haven’t seen those used in a while,” said Banks, sliding out of her seat and drawing her pistol. “I just hope those commandoes can shoot straight, otherwise we’ll all end up being blown out into space.”
Sterling might ordinarily have laughed, though on this occasion, Banks’ joke was a little too close to the truth for comfort.
“Breaching in thirty,” Shade called out as Sterling, Banks and Razor gathered their gear and got ready to move.
Razor pulled on a backpack containing the hardware she needed to hack the alien computer system. However, also tucked away inside the bag was another piece of equipment that Sterling was hoping they’d not have to use.
“Remember, we need to take one of the warriors alive,” Sterling called out to Shade and the commando squad. “Someone on the bridge or close to it. We may need an alien commander for this to work.”
Shade acknowledged Sterling, but kept her eyes locked ahead. Her expression had hardened like granite and the weapons officer did not show a flicker of fear. This was Opal Shade in her element. Violence fueled her and Sterling knew the assault would be like injecting nitrous oxide into her veins.
Seconds later the cutting beams shut down and a commando kicked the hatch open. Immediately, plasma blasts flashed through the opening from inside the Sa’Nerran cruiser, illuminating the lusterless armor that Shade and the commandoes wore. Undeterred, the two lead heavy riflemen leaned out and fired. The sound of the over-powered Homewrecker weapons was more akin to the pulse of a rail gun blast than a hand-held weapon. Sterling imagined the rifles could probably take down an alien Wasp fighter as easily as a warrior.
“Moving out!” one of the commandoes cried before pushing through the hatch and into the alien ship. Shade and the remaining three soldiers followed right behind the helmeted commando. Sterling moved up to the hatch and peeked inside the alien ship. The Homewreckers had already left devastation in their wake. Walls had been blown through, metal panels were melted and the remains of five warriors with missing limbs lay scattered across the deck.
“This armor looks old,” said Banks, moving through and taking cover behind a melted support column. “And look at their skin.”
Sterling dropped to a crouch beside his first officer, keeping his plasma pistol held ready. He pressed a hand to the dead alien’s leathery face and discovered it was clammy and slightly sticky.
“Hibernation,” said Sterling, meeting Banks eyes. “These warriors have recently been thawed, and quickly too. I’m amazed they survived the process.”
Banks nodded. “Something tells me they don’t get much trade through that hidden aperture. They likely abandoned it because of the havoc it wreaks to ships passing through.” Banks rapped her knuckles on the partially-melted chest plate of the dead alien. “These poor bastards were probably left to guard it, just in case. They could have been here for decades, for all we know.”
Sterling felt a neural link form in his mind. It was Lieutenant Shade.
“The section is clear, Captain, you can move up,” Shade called out. Sterling could feel the unadulterated thrill of his weapons officer’s bloodlust through the link. It was intoxicating, like a sudden hit from a powerful narcotic. “Scans are showing at least another dozen warriors between us and the bridge.”
“Understood, Lieutenant, proceed as planned,” Sterling replied through the neural link. “Leave this channel open.”
Sterling stood up and proceeded to walk through the corridors of the old warship. He checked the adjacent corridors as he moved, just to be sure that the commando squad hadn’t left any of the warriors alive. However, Shade’s team had been as brutal in their work as Shade herself had been.
“Be advised that these aliens are recently out of hibernation stasis,” Sterling added, allowing the entire assault squad to listen in. “That means there could be more of them in freezers, still waiting to thaw out.”
Sterling, Banks and Razor caught up with Shade, who then moved into an adjacent section of the ship. It wasn’t long before a thick blast door blocked their access to the next intersection. Shade ordered a commando to run a bypass, then they all took cover, expecting to meet resistance on the other side. Moments later the door swooshed open and plasma blasts flashed through, slamming into the ceiling and walls, causing showers of sparks to rain down on Sterling’s crew. One of the heavy riflemen was hit in the neck and went down. It was a lucky shot to one of the only weak points in the combat armor. Cursing, Sterling darted over to the wounded s
oldier, picked up the powerful weapon and returned fire. The kick of the Homewrecker was ferocious, as was the effect of its blast. Plasma tore through the advancing alien warriors like bullets through paper, splattering their remains across the walls.
“Move out!” Shade ordered.
The three remaining commandoes advanced, blasting aliens, walls and decks to pieces as they pressed on.
“He’s dead,” said Banks. She had knelt down to check on the commando who had fallen.
“Here, you can probably use this one-handed,” said Sterling, passing the Homewrecker rifle to his first officer.
Banks shifted the pistol to her left hand and took the weapon from Sterling. As expected, she wielded it like it was no more substantial than a plastic toy ray-gun.
“We’re meeting more resistance than I anticipated,” Sterling added, as the sound of more blasts filtered along the corridor. “We need to pick up the pace before more of these bastards thaw out.”
He ushered Banks and Razor ahead then followed a few steps behind, checking their rear to make sure no more aliens had defrosted and come after them. Suddenly, a door thudded open to Sterling’s side and he found himself staring into the yellow eyes of a Sa’Nerran warrior. Reacting on instinct, Sterling shot the alien at point-blank range. With his pistol set to full power, the blast burned straight though the warrior’s gut, leaving a hole as wide as his arm, but to his astonishment the warrior didn’t die. Hissing madly, the Sa’Nerran grabbed Sterling around the throat, seeming unaware that a chunk of its flesh had been melted away. The alien’s clammy fingers dug deeper into Sterling's skin as he fought against the warrior’s grip. Moments later the effect of the critical injury hit in full force and the warrior’s strength faded. It released its hold on Sterling and dropped to its knees, revealing five more Sa’Nerran fighters in the room behind it. Opened hibernation chambers surrounded the aliens and Sterling could see a dozen more chambers inside the room that still remained sealed.