by G J Ogden
Banks laughed. “Do any of these options include staying with us?” she asked. That was another very good question, Sterling realized. Whatever remained of humanity would, ironically, sorely need an artificial being of Ensign One’s immense capabilities in order to recover and rebuild.
“It is one of the sixteen, yes Commander.”
“That’s your business, Ensign,” said Sterling tearing the foil of his meal tray and savoring the aroma of his beloved grilled ham and cheese. “But for what it’s worth, I hope you stick around.”
“It is worth a lot, Captain, thank you,” the AI officer replied.
Sterling tucked into his sandwich, while Banks tore the foil back on her first meal tray. She grabbed her fork and was about to dive in when Sterling felt a neural link form in his mind from Lieutenant Shade.
“Captain, we’re in sight of the aperture,” the weapons officer said, calmly. “I’ve reduced engines to slow ahead and begun surge vector computations.”
“Understood, Lieutenant, we’ll be in the CIC presently,” Sterling said, dabbing some cheese from the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Prepare an aperture relay probe and ready it for launch. I want to see what’s on the other side of that aperture before we surge though it.”
“Aye, sir,” Shade replied, briskly. The link went dead.
“Eat up, Commander,” Sterling said. Banks was already more than half-way through her first tray. “It’s game time.”
Chapter 30
Back in the fight
Sterling stepped onto the spacious command platform of the Fleet Dreadnaught Vanguard and slid his hands down the sides of the primary captain’s console. After more than a month on-board the ship, the feel of the station was becoming familiar. He was even starting to get a sense for their maneuvers and engine speed through the minute vibrations that constantly hummed throughout the ship. Even so, commanding the Vanguard still felt like he was cheating on his wife. In the four weeks it had taken them to reach the nearest aperture, the Invictus had been moved to one of the Vanguard’s repair bays. However, with scant crew available to work on it, the Marauder was still little more than a wreck. Even so, Sterling had no intention of leaving the Invictus to rot in the repair bay of the Vanguard. They would need every ship in the battle to come and he already had plans for the role his punchy little warship would play.
“We’re receiving data from the aperture relay,” said Lieutenant Shade from the weapons control station. An Obsidian crewmember stood to her side, manning the secondary controls. “I’m picking up a small taskforce of six phase-two Sa’Nerran Skirmishers patrolling close to the exit aperture.”
“Six is manageable,” said Banks, who was now at the executive officer’s station to the left of Sterling. From the tone of her voice, it was clear she had been expecting a larger force.
“More will come, once those scouts see us exploding out of the ether,” said Sterling, casting a sideways glance to his first officer. Sterling turned to the helm control station. “If you plot the longest surge vector the ship can handle, how much of a head-start will we gain on those Skirmishers, Ensign?”
Ensign One swiveled in his chair and turned to face Sterling. For a moment, he almost mistook the AI officer for Ensign Keller. He still missed seeing the young officer in the pilot’s seat, though he was at least able to take comfort from the fact he’d brutally slain Keller’s murderer.
“I can surge to an exit point that places us within thirty minutes of the aperture to Omega Four at flank speed, Captain,” Ensign One replied. “Any further and we risk structural damage and temporary engine failure.”
Sterling paused to think, tapping his finger to the side of the console. The sound was different to what he was used to on the Invictus, partly due to the construction of the console and partly due to his metal finger. However, the act still had the same result of helping him to focus his mind.
“Thirty minutes should be enough time to reach Omega Four before the Sa’Nerra can surge reinforcements into the sector,” Banks said. “And those six Skirmishers don’t pose a threat.”
Sterling nodded. Banks was right, but they still needed a contingency plan, should the aliens manage to get ships into the sector sooner. It was imperative that no enemy ship or probe monitored their surge to Omega Four. If the aliens discovered the location of Griffin’s new Obsidian Base, their plan would fail. Sterling turned to the engineering section of the CIC, where Lieutenant Razor was busily flitting from console to console, assisted by two Omega crew.
“Lieutenant Razor, once we’ve surged, I need you to put out so much scanner jamming noise that we won’t even be able to see where we’re going ourselves,” Sterling said. “I don’t want any ship, probe or passing chunk of space flotsam to know where we’re headed.”
“I can do that, Captain, assuming you were being literal in your request?” Razor replied. “You want to blind even our own scanners?”
“That’s correct, Lieutenant,” said Sterling. He glanced over to Ensign One. The robot’s eye-like ocular sensors were studying him closely. “Once we have a fix on the aperture to Omega Four, I’m sure our new pilot can navigate blind, isn’t that right, Ensign?”
“That is correct, Captain,” the sentient AI replied. “I would actually enjoy the challenge.”
“We’ll also need to use manual targeting on the gun batteries,” Lieutenant Shade added. “However, I believe the Obsidian Soldiers…” Shade then stopped, realizing her slip, “…I mean the Obsidian crew can handle it.”
“I’m sure they can, Lieutenant,” said Sterling. By his calculation, having the Obsidian crew manning the gun stations manually was almost no different to having computer-assisted targeting.
“Our surge vector is programmed in and the surge field generators are at full power, Captain,” Ensign One said.
Sterling stopped tapping his finger against the side of the console and stood tall. “Very well, take us in,” he announced before turning to Lieutenant Shade. “Battle stations, Lieutenant.”
The general alert sounded and the light-level in the CIC dropped, bathing the faces of the crew – both human and robot – in the blood-red hue of a ship of war. Sterling felt instantly at home. It had been too long since they’d seen action and he was keen to test out the capabilities of their new dreadnaught.
The Vanguard hit the perimeter of the aperture and passed into nothingness. Sterling braced his mind, ready for his isolated, disembodied consciousness to assault him with nightmare-like images from his past. However, this time his thoughts were filled only with Mercedes Banks. His mind cycled through their moments together, from the many times they’d spent sharing a meal, to the less pleasant but still enjoyable occasions where Banks had beasted him during a workout. Sterling lowered his guard and allowed the images to swirl around his thoughts. Then at the last moment before the Vanguard dropped back into normal space, his mind went to a darker place.
“You’re weak, and because you’re weak, you will lose,” said the voice of Emissary Lana McQueen.
The former Omega Captain was standing before him, just as in his nightmare, weapon pressed to his chest. McQueen squeezed the trigger and Sterling felt the stab of pain and smell of his own burning flesh. Then the CIC burst back into reality and Sterling found himself bent double over his console, his organic left hand pressed to his chest. His heart was thumping hard and his gut was swirling like a washing machine. Sterling glanced left and noticed that Commander Banks was watching him out of the corner of her eye. He immediately straightened up and focused his eyes ahead, but he knew Banks had noticed his discomfort.
“Report,” Sterling called out while trying to bury the disquieting thoughts to the back of his mind.
“Surge complete, Captain,” Ensign One called out. “We are precisely where we intended to be.”
“Good work, Ensign,” Sterling said, thumping his palm down on his console. He had once again forgotten about his bionic hand and the strike resonated around the bridge
with more force than he’d intended. “Set course for the aperture to Omega Four, then all ahead flank.”
“Aye Captain, course laid in,” Ensign One replied, cheerfully. “Engines all ahead flank.”
Sterling turned to his weapons officer. “Tactical status, Lieutenant?”
“The Skirmishers have seen us,” Shade reported. “Their last-known vector puts them on a pursuit course. However, scanners are now useless due to the jamming field. I have switched to visual monitoring instead.”
“Watch out for torpedoes, Lieutenant,” said Sterling, returning his focus to the viewscreen and adjusting the angle to get a visual on the pursuing Skirmishers. “If they were on their toes, those alien bastards might have got a few off before we jammed their targeting scanners.”
“Aye, sir,” Shade replied, briskly.
Sterling was suddenly keenly aware of the powerful beat of the dreadnaught’s reactor through the deck plates and his console. If ships were cars, the Vanguard’s propulsion system sounded like the burble of a six-point-four-liter V8 compared to the machine-gun rattle of the Invictus’ supercharged four-cylinder. However, while the Vanguard was powerful, its mammoth size meant that it accelerated more slowly than the agile Skirmishers, and it wasn’t long before the alien ships were on their tail.
“Point defense cannons firing on manual, Captain,” said Shade, breaking what had been several minutes of silence. “Six torpedoes destroyed, but three have sneaked through,” she added. Sterling felt the dull thuds of the impacts through the deck and checked his damage control readout on the secondary console. However, while the Sa’Nerran weapons had struck their target, the Vanguard’s thick armor had protected the ship from harm. “Direct hit to port engines, section two and three,” Shade continued. There was a brief pause while she surveyed the more detailed damage report. “No damage, sir.”
Sterling smiled. Whereas the Invictus relied on agility and speed to achieve victory in battle, the Vanguard was a tank. The Skirmishers had fired their first and last shots.
“Return fire, all weapons,” Sterling called out, peering at the squadron of alien vessels on the viewscreen.
“Aye, sir,” Shade replied. “Dorsal main batteries aft, firing.”
The thump of the Vanguard’s huge plasma turrets was unmistakable, despite Sterling not having heard the sound for nearly two years. The blasts of plasma raced toward the alien ships, which tried to break off and evade the incoming fire. However, the Obsidian crew had proven just as precise in their targeting calculations as Sterling had thought they would be. Plasma blanketed the space around them, giving the destroyer-sized vessels no move that would allow them to evade the incoming blasts. It was checkmate and Sterling knew it even before the plasma slammed into their targets.
“Direct hit, three Skirmishers destroyed, three heavily damaged,” Shade announced.
“Finish them off, Lieutenant,” Sterling said, tightening his grip on his console. The metal creaked under the pressure of his bionic hand, but Sterling did not relax his hold. The thrill of combat had already amped up his senses and he wanted more. For too long, he’d been on the back foot. Now it was time to show the Sa’Nerra what an Omega Captain could do when in command of a weapon as formidable as the Fleet Dreadnaught Vanguard.
“All ships destroyed, Captain,” Shade said, as three more bursts of orange flame lit up the viewscreen and rapidly fizzled to nothing.
“What’s our arrival time at the aperture?” said Sterling, directing the question to his robot helmsman.
“Three minutes, two seconds from the point at which I finish this sentence, sir,” Ensign One replied. “I have already begun decelerating in preparation to surge.”
“Surge at the maximum safe velocity, Ensign,” Sterling added, keen to ensure that his new pilot wasn’t playing it too safe. Then he reconsidered his statement. “Scratch that,” he added. “Throw out the tech manuals and surge at the maximum velocity you think the Vanguard can handle.”
“Aye, sir,” Ensign One replied. The AI then swiveled its chair to face Sterling. “Though doing so may result in what some humans amusingly refer to as a ‘sporty ride’.” If Ensign One’s modified cranial section had included a mouth, Sterling was sure the AI would have been smiling at that moment.
“Sporty I can, handle, Ensign,” Sterling answered. “Just make sure we’re still in one piece when we reach the other side.”
An alert chimed from Commander Banks’ console and Sterling also saw it flash up on his primary console.
“Surge detected,” Banks called out. The urgent tone of her statement made the hairs on the back of Sterling’s neck stand on end. “There’s something coming through the aperture, dead ahead.”
“All stop!” Sterling called out. His helmsman quickly acknowledged and Sterling felt the rumble of the braking engines shudder through the deck. He frowned down at the reading on his console, unsure whether it was real or a sensor glitch. With all the interference they’d been putting out, there was no way the Skirmishers could have got word out of their arrival.
“Reading all stop, Captain,” Ensign One confirmed. The Vanguard was now parked directly in front of the aperture, like a gatekeeper.
“Lieutenant Razor, is this a scanner anomaly or is there really something surging through this aperture?”
Sterling remained focused on his console, waiting for his chief engineer to respond. However, Razor’s confirmation was not necessary. There was an intense flash of light from the aperture and moments later a Sa’Nerran Heavy Cruiser emerged from the threshold, travelling at speed. Alarms rang out all across the bridge and Sterling’s mouth went dry. The cruiser was on a collision course.
Chapter 31
The best-laid plans
Sterling gripped the side of his console and forced down a hard, dry swallow. Turning to the weapons control station, Sterling met the unruffled but alert eyes of Lieutenant Shade.
“Target the forward batteries on that ship and fire!” Sterling called out.
Lieutenant Shade and her Obsidian crew companion sprang into action, orienting the nose of the mighty dreadnaught so that it lined up with the incoming ship.
“Take emergency evasive action, Ensign,” Sterling quickly added, fixing his eyes on the back of Ensign One’s metal head. “Keep the main batteries aimed at that cruiser, but get this ship out of its path.”
The robot helmsman acknowledged the order and Sterling felt the ship kick into gear, but unlike the agile Marauder, the Vanguard was slow and cumbersome.
“Their gun ports aren’t even open, sir,” Banks called out. “They weren’t expecting to find us here. It’s just crappy luck that they were surging into the sector at the precise moment we were trying to leave.”
Then the thump of the main forward batteries pounded the deck and Sterling saw the massive blasts of plasma fly out toward the cruiser. The alien warship was also trying desperately to avoid a collision, but its evasive maneuver had exposed the cruiser’s belly in the process. The blasts struck the enemy ship and Sterling could see that it was done for. Moments later the bow-section of the alien warship exploded, sending chunks of metal the size of Skirmishers flying out in all directions.
“Point defense cannons!” Sterling called out, watching as the massive hulks of metal came racing toward the Vanguard.
“Aye, sir, engaging now,” Shade replied, already a step ahead of Sterling.
A swarm of explosive projectiles and focused plasma blasts erupted from the Vanguard, creating a protective barrier directly ahead. Several of the cruiser fragments were obliterated, but Sterling could see that others had got through and were pummeling their hull. Then the remains of the alien cruiser exploded violently, sending more fragments of the two kilometer-long Sa’Nerran warship flying at them like missiles. Sterling gripped the sides of his console as another hunk of the metal sped towards them. The point defense cannons focused their fire on the wreckage, but it was not enough.
“All hands, brace for imp
act!” Sterling called out.
The Vanguard was struck and this time the impact felt like they had crashed into a small moon. Sterling was thrown from the command platform, but was able to break his fall with the aid of his bionic hand. “Damage report!” he called out, clawing himself back to his station.
“Direct hit to the lower bow, sections fourteen and fifteen,” Shade called out.
“External communications and primary scanner array destroyed, Captain,” Razor added from her engineering stations. “And we’ve lost our interference field. If there’s anyone else out here, they’ll be able to lock onto us and see where we’re heading.”
“Escape pods detected,” Commander Banks chimed in. “Fifty-six so far, plus two evac shuttles.”
“Are they putting out distress calls?” Sterling answered.
Banks worked her consoles, focusing on the numerous different displays. She stopped and met Sterling’s eyes.
“Aye, Captain, distress calls have already been transmitted through the relays of three nearby apertures,” Banks confirmed. From the grave expression on her face, Sterling knew that Banks realized the implications just as well as he did.
“So much for keeping our arrival a secret,” Sterling said. “In a few hours, every alien bastard from here to Earth will know we’re here.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Banks replied, taking a more optimistic angle on the situation. “It’ll make them stop and think. If the Vanguard is still operational, how many other Fleet ships could be regrouping in the Void?”
Sterling nodded. His first officer had a point, but whether the Sa’Nerra knew about the Vanguard or not was not the key issue. It was vital that the aliens remained oblivious of where they were headed.
“How long until we can expect alien reinforcements or a rescue party to arrive?” Sterling asked. “We need to be gone before anyone else shows up.”
Banks was about to answer when her console chimed another alert. She diverted her attention to scan the new information and shook her head. “Two new surge fields detected,” she called out. “None are from the aperture ahead of us, which is something at least.”