“Is everyone clear on what’s expected?”
Three voices responded. “Yes, sir.”
“We’re on the finest of edges,” said Duggan. “If we fall to the wrong side, we’ll lose everything we’ve fought for. All of this crap will have been for absolutely nothing. Those bases we destroyed and that fleet we wiped out won’t matter a jot. If we get it right, we’ll make a difference and there’s nobody can ask more from us.”
“Let’s get on with it!” said Chainer, looking genuinely keen to throw himself into the fray.
Duggan found McGlashan looking at him with sad eyes. She was recovering from the drugs the enemy had injected her with – it didn’t take a doctor to see it. The greyness under her eyes was fading and there was a hint of warmth in her skin.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. I won’t let us down.”
The remaining minutes flowed away like water. The Valpian’s three AI cores calculated the length of the journey to within a hundredth of a second. A few gauges flickered gently to indicate the switchover from fission to gravity engines and then they arrived.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“DO WE HAVE HOSTILE ACTIVITY?” asked Duggan, unable to wait for Chainer to confirm.
“Nothing close up, sir. It won’t take me long to complete a wide area scan.”
Duggan took the Valpian to fifty percent on its gravity engines, since he liked to be moving instead of waiting for the enemy to come to him. The warship responded eagerly as if it were ready for the challenge of what lay ahead.
Chainer called up the feeds from several of the warship’s sensors and split them across the central bridge display. There was nothing but emptiness, seemingly an infinity of it, broken only by hints of distant stars. The forward sensor showed their goal – the Helius Blackstar blotted out everything and it was the absence of light which made it faintly visible against the rest of the darkness.
“Ten minutes away,” said Breeze.
“No point in hanging around any longer,” said Duggan. “We know what we’re going to do.”
“I’ve sighted two vessels away to starboard, sir. They’re a million klicks away.”
“Size? Speed?”
“Small and fast. Only a thousand metres long. I don’t think they’ve detected us.”
“Single-core models,” said Breeze, already showing pride in the Valpian.
“Any others, Lieutenant?”
“Still scanning.”
Duggan took the engines to one hundred percent. “I’m bringing us to maximum speed and aiming directly for our target.”
“The two smaller vessels know we’re here. They’ve changed course and are coming towards us. They have no hope of an interception before we get a shot at going through the wormhole. They’ve been joined by a third – this one is three times the volume of the others.”
“They’re going to be late to the party,” said Duggan. “Eight minutes until we’re at the Blackstar.”
Breeze cleared his throat. “I’ve activated the energy shield manually, sir. All you have to do is aim for the middle of the wormhole and I’ll launch us into it at the right time.”
“We have a problem,” said Chainer. “There’s something much larger heading our way. This one’s several klicks in length. It’s been keeping close to the wormhole, which made it harder to spot. They’re coming directly towards us.”
Duggan knew what it was. “The Zansturm,” he said. “Those bastards keep turning up where they aren’t wanted.”
“They must have guessed we’d end up here eventually,” said Breeze.
“They will definitely intercept us, sir. We have to go by them to reach the wormhole.”
“They’ve locked on,” said McGlashan. “Missile launch detected. A cool eight hundred coming straight at us. That’s a good range they’ve got.”
“They’ve given up trying to recapture the Valpian,” said Chainer. “There’s a fifth vessel here as well, sir. This one’s a heavy cruiser by its size.”
“I see them,” said Breeze. “Well spotted, Lieutenant, they’re eight million klicks away. They’re warming up for a jump our way.”
“This is hotter water than I expected,” growled Duggan.
“Want me to return fire at the Zansturm, sir?” asked McGlashan. “I can answer with six hundred of our own.”
Duggan didn’t think it likely they could bring down the battleship’s energy shield, but he didn’t like to be attacked without giving a response of his own. “Yes, fire everything at the bastards.”
“Our first wave is launched. They’ve fired again,” said McGlashan. “At this rate we’ll have five waves to contend with by the time we fly past them.”
“They can have five of ours as well.”
“We’ll lose a big chunk of our shield, sir,” said Breeze.
“Will we have enough to get through the wormhole?”
“I have no idea. If you want to play it safe, try and preserve as much of the shield as you can.”
“In that case, Commander McGlashan, please use our own missiles to thin out their salvo.”
“We can’t get them all, sir.”
“We can get some. Today isn’t about fighting, it’s about escaping. If we can get away, we’ll have won.”
“Our second wave of six hundred is away, looking to intercept the enemy inbound. If that’s the fastest they can fire, our reload time is significantly shorter than theirs.”
“What if we get out of here and they follow us through the wormhole?” asked Chainer suddenly.
“Our lightspeed jump will carry us away from the Blackstar,” said Breeze. “If they’re able to follow us they might well try it, but the odds of them emerging next to us are exceptionally remote.”
“The heavy cruiser has jumped,” said Chainer. “And there they are. They’ve overshot and are a hundred thousand klicks behind us.”
“They’re attempting to lock on,” said McGlashan. “They’ve fired four hundred.”
“We’re not going to make it to the wormhole at this rate, let alone get through.” said Breeze.
“I’ve hit the heavy cruiser with our rear particle beam,” said McGlashan. “They’ve retaliated with one of their own.”
“Negligible damage to our shield, sir.”
“We’re faster than them,” said Chainer in satisfaction. “Not that it’s going to make a difference.”
The distance between the Valpian and the Zansturm decreased at nearly five thousand kilometres per second. Behind, the heavy cruiser gradually dropped away, though it continued to launch missiles in thick waves. McGlashan hit it with the particle beam for a second time and its nose glowed.
“Can we lightspeed jump past the Zansturm and then straight through the wormhole?” asked Duggan.
“We can do one jump past them. The trouble is, I don’t know how long it’ll take until we can fire up the fission drive again.”
“The Crimson could manage two jumps with one damned core!”
“It was specifically set up to do so, sir. The Valpian could probably do the same, just not yet.”
The first wave of the heavy cruiser’s missiles struck the Valpian’s energy shield. Duggan’s eye was drawn inexorably to the power gauge as it slid downwards. It was a long way from failure, but there was still a lot to deal with.
“There are two fission signatures across the wormhole from us,” said Chainer. “Unidentified ship types.”
Breeze laughed bitterly. “We chose a bad time to come.”
“There was never going to be a good time, Lieutenant. Those two new ships rule out a short-range lightspeed jump. It’s now or never – we’ve got to hope our shield holds out long enough to get through.”
Duggan was beginning to feel like he was backed in a corner and armed only with fists, whilst his enemy closed in with guns and rocket launchers. The first of the Zansturm’s missiles met the interceptors from the Valpian. Many of the enemy missiles were destroyed, whilst
others flew on. The heavy cruiser continued its pursuit and didn’t show any signs of letting up with its bombardment, even when third and fourth particle beam strikes melted a vast chunk of its outer plating into a thick liquid.
“Our shield power gauge is at fifty percent of maximum, sir,” said Breeze. “We’re not going to make it. Do you want me to prepare a jump elsewhere within Dreamer space? We should have enough time before we’re destroyed.”
Duggan clenched his jaw tightly in frustration. To have come so far and be driven away like this was more than he could cope with. At that moment, McGlashan reminded him what made her such a valuable addition to his crew.
“I think I know what this secondary particle beam function is,” she said.
Duggan was taken by surprise. “What?”
“I don’t know a better way to put it, but I think it has a short-range overcharge. It can expel a much higher intensity beam.”
“How short a range?”
“I don’t know, sir. It wasn’t available against the heavy cruiser at a hundred thousand klicks.”
“Get ready to fire.”
With that, Duggan swung the Valpian around in a tight circle. The forces exerted on the hull were immense and the metals creaked with the strain. A creeping nausea reached Duggan’s stomach before the manoeuvre was complete. Then, he levelled the warship out, this time pointing it directly towards the incoming heavy cruiser.
“They’re turning,” said Chainer.
“Not quickly enough,” said Duggan grimly. “Where’s that particle beam?”
“Not available, sir.”
“We’re at fifty thousand klicks! I could hit them with a golf ball!”
The captain of the heavy cruiser had evidently been told to keep a certain distance from the Valpian. The enemy vessel twisted and turned as it attempted to increase the distance between them.
“Forty thousand klicks.”
“They’ve launched missiles!”
“Thirty thousand.”
From the corner of his eye, Duggan saw a large, square symbol illuminate orange on the weapons console next to him. McGlashan pressed it at once. The front beam turret made a soft thumping sound, unheard by those on the bridge. An invisible ray shot across the intervening space, linking the Valpian with the heavy cruiser for the tiniest fraction of a second.
“The heavy cruiser is….gone,” said Chainer.
Duggan watched as a million chunks of overheated metal spread across his tactical display like the dying sparks of a firework. Some of the pieces were several hundred metres in length and Duggan had to change course rapidly in order to avoid the rapidly-expanding cloud of debris.
The death of the heavy cruiser didn’t alter the state of the missiles it had launched. Hundreds of warheads smashed into the Valpian’s decaying shield, each punishing impact draining the cruiser’s ability to repel further attacks.
“We’re still in the shit, sir,” said Breeze as another salvo, this time from the Zansturm, hit them.
“I’m launching interceptors as quickly as they’ll reload,” said McGlashan. “They’re no more effective than a shock drone.”
“Our shield is closing on twenty percent remaining. We’ll die if we stay any longer. Sir, we need to get out of here!”
“Bring the fission drive online,” said Duggan.
“Yes, sir. I’m selecting a random location, six hours away.”
“That’s not what I want, Lieutenant. I want you to get us close to the Zansturm.”
Breeze stuttered for a moment. “That’s a tiny jump, sir. Then they’ll destroy us.”
“No, they won’t. We are going to destroy them.”
“The front particle beam isn’t ready to fire again, sir.”
“It’ll be ready.”
The Valpian’s AIs prepared for this shortest of jumps.
“The Zansturm knows we’re up to something, sir. They’re preparing their own engines.”
“Whoever they have in charge, he’s a wily bastard,” said Duggan in grudging admiration. “Do you think they know what we’re up to?”
No one wanted to offer a guess. The Valpian performed its jump at the same time as the front particle beam overcharge light glowed. The cruiser arrived less than a hundred kilometres away from the enemy battleship – almost close enough for the naked eye to see. McGlashan activated the beam at the same time as the Zansturm went to lightspeed.
Duggan had often wondered what would happen if a spaceship were destroyed at the precise moment it went into lightspeed. On this day, he got a partial answer. The battleship disappeared in an immense cloud of energy. It reappeared, at least in part.
“Would you look at that!” said Chainer in wonder.
They saw the result – a trail of white-hot debris stretched for ten million kilometres in a straight line, heading directly away from the Helius Blackstar. The pieces, individually unable to sustain their presence in the chaos field that allowed lightspeed travel, re-entered normal space where they retained a fraction of the velocity they’d attained. Soon, they were so far away it wasn’t worth the effort tracking them.
“That wasn’t the entire ship,” said Chainer confidently.
“They got away?” asked Duggan.
“Part of them got away, sir.”
Duggan couldn’t bring himself to feel upset that his foe might have escaped. The enemy captain had lost this engagement and Duggan bore him no ill-will.
“There are no further enemy vessels close enough to interfere with our transit, sir,” said Chainer.
“Our shield isn’t recovering very quickly,” added Breeze. “Plus, it’ll be a sort while until the fission drives will go for a second time.”
“How long until the shields are at full strength?”
“Fifteen minutes if they continue at their current rate of recovery.”
Duggan weighed up the options. There were five enemy vessels in the vicinity of the wormhole. The latest two arrivals were heavy cruisers and they were heading towards the Valpian at full speed. It felt to Duggan as if this was an opening he couldn’t turn down. The enemy were flooding this area with their warships and this might be the last chance there was to return home.
The Helius Blackstar was four minutes away and the Valpian sped onwards, heading towards the fathomless depths.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“WE’LL HAVE forty percent of our shields remaining when we reach the outer edges of the wormhole’s gravitational field,” said Breeze. “We need to get to twenty thousand klicks and then I’ll launch.”
“The gravity increases exponentially, doesn’t it?” asked Chainer nervously. “Can’t we go at thirty thousand and have the same result?”
“Twenty thousand is when the ship’s cores are programmed to fire,” said Breeze. “I haven’t had the time to do the calculations, so we’ll need to rely on our enemy’s mathematicians.” He pondered for a moment longer. “In truth, this theoretical stuff is way beyond my grasp of numbers. That’s why we’ll leave it to the people who’ve devoted their lives to figuring it out.”
Duggan kept a tight grip on the controls, his face impassive. Inside, his brain fought against the calm he tried to impose upon it. The final moments. Success or failure. He looked across at McGlashan and found her doing the same to him. He tried to smile and she did likewise. It was a start.
“The gravity is going to affect the hull soon,” said Breeze. “I’m assuming the shield mitigates the effect partially or entirely.”
“The power level is falling already,” said Duggan.
The gauge wobbled and then moved downwards so slightly it was almost imperceptible.
“That’s going to happen a lot faster the closer we get.”
Chainer took a drink from his ever-present cup of coffee. “We’re at a distance of one hundred thousand klicks.”
“The shield is dropping – faster now.”
“Ninety thousand.”
Duggan opened an internal comms channel, realisin
g he’d left his warning far, far too late. “Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for transit.”
“Thirty percent on the shield.”
“Seventy thousand.”
“Look at how fast we’re going!” said Breeze.
Two thousand eight hundred klicks per second.
The shield’s energy reserves fell. Where it had begun slowly, it started tumbling at an ever-increasing rate. Duggan fancied he could hear the walls flex under the strain and dismissed it as the workings of his overactive mind.
“Sixty thousand.”
“It’s going to be tight.”
Three thousand four hundred klicks per second.
“Forty thousand.”
“We’re not going to make it.”
“Too late to pull out.”
Five thousand klicks per second! Catch us if you can!
“Twenty thousand.”
“Shield at zero. Launching.”
The Valpian went through.
Duggan blinked, his mind suddenly empty. His consciousness fought hard to remind him who he was and the memories came rushing back. The sensation was familiar – he remembered it from the first transit through the wormhole. The feeling of dislocation was milder this time, as though his body was already adapting.
“Did we make it?”
He was unsure if he’d spoken the words or merely thought them. He tried again.
“Did we make it?”
“Give me a second,” said Chainer thickly.
Duggan looked at the others in turn. McGlashan looked ill and she retched twice. She gave her head a shake and Duggan was relieved to see her visibly recover. Breeze was asleep, as though his brain coped with the inexplicable by shutting down temporarily.
“I need you at your stations!” Duggan said loudly.
“Impatient bastard,” muttered Chainer.
Duggan pretended he hadn’t heard. “I need a short-range scan, Lieutenant. The enemy are known to be active on both sides of the wormhole.”
“I’m on it, sir.”
“Then, I want you to send a signal to the Juniper. In fact, send it to every allied spacecraft you can find and let them know we are not to be fired upon. Alert them to the fact this is a prize of war and we wish to return it intact for study.”
Guns of the Valpian (Survival Wars Book 6) Page 22