HarperRF: Kitteny? Really, Lekkas?
Commander Lekkas: I’m simply trying to entice you. How are you doing?
HarperRF: Hunting for something to land on while Malcolm shoots at all the ships. Do you think you could convince Solovy to let us infiltrate the Imperium?
Commander Lekkas: Not today, I’m afraid. Do what I’m doing and appreciate the show.
HarperRF: But I want to stab one of these assholes with my fancy new blade. Or twenty of them.
Commander Lekkas: You do realize they just come back to life in a lab somewhere, right?
HarperRF: Then I’ll find them there and stab them again.
Commander Lekkas: That’s my girl.
The hull shuddered as the force from the detonation of the negative energy bomb they had placed earlier washed over it. But it was hardly a tickle as she, Stanley and Charlie wove through the acrobatic symphony of combat in its highest form on the way to their next target.
SIYANE
MILKY WAY SECTOR 41
“There. Thirty or so degrees starboard. One of their strike fighters looks as if it’s trying to sneak up the ass of one of our…did they call them Sabres?”
“I see it.” Alex let Valkyrie handle the flying while she readied a delicate power-balancing routine that put an extra oomph into the Siyane’s lasers then pivoted on demand and raised shield strength to maximum. “I desperately want to use the Rifter.”
Caleb chuckled. “I know. But we’re fighting close. You don’t want to accidentally take out one of our own.”
He’d been surprised to hear of the unanticipated side effect of the Rifter’s energy diversion, but Alex had been shocked…for roughly ten seconds. She’d spent the next thirty minutes muttering on and off about how obvious it was. Easy to say, but many things were obvious in retrospect.
Like the fact the diati was without question an intelligent, sentient life form, and as much without question was tied inextricably to the Praesidis bloodline. His bloodline. A cold, hard truth he had better find a way to accept, and soon.
After the battle was won sounded like soon enough, though.
He checked his hands and was relieved to find them neither glowing nor trembling. It had taken hours, but he could now feel his body absorbing and incorporating the new diati’s essence with its brethren, and the process didn’t feel as odd, or alien, as it rightly should. The buzzing in his head had also quieted, which meant he could concentrate on other matters, so he filed away the puzzler as something else for soon but later.
He peered out the viewport as they flew deftly through the bedlam, a tiny spec in a sea of starships waging war on one another.
The degree to which their efforts were making an impact on the tide of battle was debatable, but it was important that they help. They’d brought everyone here, after all; by their actions they’d been leading everyone here for more than a year. When the pivotal moment finally arrived, it wasn’t like they weren’t going to join the fight.
The Machim strike fighter had just opened fire on the Sabre when Valkyrie glued them to the tail of the enemy craft, stealthed, and Alex let loose on it.
The data they’d stolen from Machimis had, among so many other things, enabled them to pinpoint a number of small weaknesses in every Machim vessel’s design, and she targeted the small conduit running from the power core to the engine to space. The limited shielding covering the engine’s exhaust nozzles and the conduit were two of those weaknesses, and the ship blew apart in seconds.
Alex boosted the Siyane’s shields—less to protect against return fire, although the Machim weapons were soberingly powerful, and more to protect against the high-velocity debris which resulted. Chunks of metal and multiple dagger-shaped shards bounced off the strengthened shield as they sped away.
She rolled her shoulders gamely. “Next?”
He began scouring the area for another suitable target. “What about—”
A rush of blue-white lights flooded the dark cabin with light, and they both spun around. Unusually for a Kat, the entry appeared more fevered than dramatic, and the lights continued to dart around in agitation following their arrival.
Alex frowned at the vague outline of their visitor. “Who are you?”
She would’ve checked, and if she didn’t recognize its base avatar…. Caleb tensed, instantly on guard. At least one Kat had already turned traitor, and several they knew could not be considered allies.
It is Paratyr. I come to you bearing a dire warning—late, far later than I should. I did not understand.
The identity of the Kat would not have led Caleb to relax in any event, as after the stunt the Sentinel had pulled in the Mirad Vigilate, he didn’t trust or particularly care for Paratyr. But the Kat’s words removed relaxation as an option.
Alex remained equally perturbed. “How did you find us? You’ve never been here and we’re stealthed—not as if that’s stopped half of Amaranthe from randomly showing up in our cabin whenever they feel like it.”
Mnemosyne instructed me on how to locate your vessel, but it is not important. You must know this information, and you must know it now.
She nodded. “Okay. Talk.”
The Imperium vessel situated at the rear of the Machim fleet carries inside it a weapon which, if detonated, will annihilate every ship, life form and molecule for many parsecs. If not countered, it will then destroy the galaxy, followed by the universe.
64
AFS SARATOGA
MILKY WAY SECTOR 41
* * *
CHAOS. MAYHEM. PANDEMONIUM. Any number of colorful descriptives sprang to Malcolm’s mind, yet none did justice to the scene surrounding his ship.
Thrust into the heart of the conflict on Commandant Solovy’s command alongside the bulk of the AEGIS fleet, he might even be responsible for a portion of the chaos himself.
The AFS Saratoga’s primary function was to serve as a troop carrier, and it was presently filled with Marines going stir-crazy on account of having nothing to shoot at. But as a custom-designed AEGIS vessel, it wasn’t only a carrier.
The added motive power from the engines of the four modular, detachable transports which made up the bulk of its frame meant that when it was whole, it could move. While hardly Sabre-level, the lightweight but precise firepower the modules wielded brought its aggregate weaponry up to respectable status.
Not unlike the ship, Malcolm’s primary function was to serve as the AEGIS Marines Director, but it turned out it wasn’t his sole function. His time on the Orion had earned him a reputation as a fair ship captain, and here, outnumbered and possibly outgunned, they needed every able-bodied ship in the fight.
So here he was, flying through the center of the maelstrom where order had long since departed—because that’s where he’d taken the Saratoga.
Their current target blew apart from the inside out, and immediately a new one revealed itself through the wreckage. They were finding targeting the engines to be the most effective strategy, though it did tend to create something of a mess. “Frigate due ahead. When you lock on him, Ettore, let’s play chicken.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ettore was a Major in the Earth Alliance, and he was also a Prevo. As of three weeks ago, his Artificial counterpart resided in the walls of the ship.
The arrangement was taking some getting used to, but not because he didn’t trust Ettore or the Artificial. Events had taught him the greatest of respect for their capabilities, and while he hadn’t worked with Ettore prior to his becoming a Prevo, the man’s record was above reproach.
No, the arrangement was taking some getting used to because it upended the traditional roles of everyone on the bridge. There was a navigator in the pit, but the Artificial was really the navigator. Same with weapons and most other positions. The crew wasn’t standing around with nothing to do—that honor was reserved for the Marines on the lower decks—but the evolving give-and-take was unfamiliar. New.
It seemed like Malcolm kept trying to settl
e into the familiar, and ‘new’ kept kicking down the door.
A shudder chilled his bones as two dozen Metigen swarmers latched onto one of the enemy frigates in their field of view. He accepted the reality that they were fighting on the same side, for their masters were the reason AEGIS existed in the first place. But he would never look kindly upon the monstrous vessels that had killed so many.
A Metigen death beam cut across the viewport to tear into a Machim battlecruiser, reminding him why.
The explosion when the battlecruiser ruptured gained an eerie corona from the detonation of a negative energy bomb beyond it. When the light faded, the Machim Imperium was framed perfectly in the span of the Saratoga’s viewport.
He watched as it fired on one of the nearby Alliance cruisers. Its shockingly robust weapons ripped through the shielding until the adiamene was under full assault. Jesus, use your Rifter already!
A Federation cruiser crossed between them, taking the brunt of the fire for several precious seconds—then the chaos of the battle swallowed up his view of the engagement.
In the corner of his vision an entire regiment of Federation ships vanished under the blast of an Igni missile. The Eidolons were taking out the battlecruisers suspected of carrying the antimatter weapons as fast as they could get to them. But, perhaps realizing what was happening, the missiles were being deployed with increasing frequency.
Intel suggested the Imperium carried at least ten of the Igni missiles, yet thus far it had used none of them. It was a hulking tank of a warship, and no AEGIS weapons were touching it, including Sabres. A negative energy bomb couldn’t touch it—though twenty-two such bombs surely would, as the obliteration of the Provision Network Gateway had demonstrated. But they couldn’t get close enough.
The source of the problem and the cause of all these failures was an impregnable physical force field encasing the Imperium. It stopped any missile, energy or vessel cold a hundred meters out from the hull, yet allowed the ship’s own weapons to pass through unhindered.
His hand came to his jaw as a certifiably crazy idea popped into his head. What if….
“Major Ettore, how would you like to take a whack at the impossible?”
“No such thing any longer, sir.”
Wasn’t that the truth. “Let’s try to prove it. See the Imperium out there? Tell me where we need to be situated so that, when it fires on us, our Dimensional Rifter will send its fire back out through an exit rift which will open about five centimeters off its lower stern hull. Right where the schematics we have say the weapons bay is located.”
Ettore whistled. “Captain Casales, you have full weapons control for a minute. We’re going to be a bit busy.”
“Copy, Major.”
It took almost twenty seconds—an eternity for a Prevo—but a set of coordinates appeared on Malcolm’s primary screen. Ettore stood and came up beside him. “As the Imperium moves, these are going to change slightly. We can adjust on the fly, but I need to have navigational control during the attack.”
“Understood.” Malcolm paused. They’d explicitly been given free rein to act as they saw fit, but…. He activated one of the many comm channels operating during the campaign.
Brigadier Jenner: “Commandant, I have an idea for a way to take out the Imperium. Major Ettore, the Saratoga’s Prevo, thinks we can pull it off.”
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II): “Will you be sacrificing yourself in the process, Brigadier?”
He needed to survive and get back home, as he had a date, an apology and a slate of soul-baring confessionals to finish—but if he wanted to survive to do those things, he didn’t dare dwell on them now. He’d forced thoughts of Mia from his mind when the first shot was fired, and they had to stay there until the last one landed.
Brigadier Jenner: “Not part of the plan, ma’am.”
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II): “Excellent. Then I won’t delay you asking for details. See what you can do—”
Alexis Solovy: “Wait! You can’t blow up the Imperium!”
Malcolm’s brow creased in surprise. “Alex?”
SIYANE
MILKY WAY SECTOR 41
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II): “Alex, what do you know?”
She eyed the Kat currently gracing her cabin. “There’s some kind of black hole generator weapon onboard the Imperium.”
The silence before her mother responded lasted less than a second. “Hold on.”
Then, still on the command channel: “Admiral Rychen, you have fleet command. I’ll update you momentarily. Brigadier Jenner, back off of the Imperium. I will loop you into a holocomm in ten seconds.”
It only took eight, during which time Alex played observer to Valkyrie prioritizing and cross-referencing two universes’ worth of knowledge on black holes, their creation, destruction and weaponization while Caleb flew them out of the fray, to the extent such a place of safety existed.
The holocomm request came in, and they moved to the data table.
Miriam looked to be in the office situated off the Stalwart II’s bridge, but she hadn’t taken the time to sit. “Can I assume a ‘black hole generator’ is more or less what it sounds like?”
“Yes, but it’s worse than that.”
“Alex, how could it possibly be worse than the enemy opening up a black hole in the middle of the battlefield?”
She laughed; it had been a hellacious two days, and she just couldn’t help it. “Apparently, this weapon doesn’t merely create a black hole—it then fuels the black hole so it grows larger and larger, enabling it to draw the surrounding space into an ever-expanding vortex.”
“Oh. I see. That is worse. Is there no way to shut it down?”
“No way we have for damn sure. But allegedly the Anadens do have a way to halt its growth, which is why we need to consider the possibility that they will use it should they decide the battle is unwinnable.”
Malcolm had been conferring with an officer but now returned his attention to the conference. “All the more reason to destroy the Imperium before they have a chance to make that decision.”
Miriam shook her head. “They’re already losing. Once the command ship starts to take damage, they may go ahead and activate the device.”
“No, our idea would in theory destroy it quickly enough the captain won’t have time to react.”
Caleb leaned into the table. “Alex got the download from your Prevo. It’s a brilliant tactical move, Colonel—sorry, Brigadier. We’ve been gone. But you can’t risk the attack while this weapon is on board.”
Malcolm stared at Caleb in something akin to surprise for a second, but shook it off. “You’re afraid the device will activate, detonate, explode, whatever it’s designed to do, when the ship does. But if they’ve been flying around with it in the hold all this time, it has to be reasonably stable, doesn’t it?”
More blue-white lights marked Mesme’s arrival; it was beginning to resemble a damn circus in the Siyane’s cabin. She lifted her hands in question. “Where have you been?”
Occupied. The Anadens include among their number many skilled and knowledgeable scientists. However, my colleagues in the Idryma know more about manipulating cosmic forces than any Anaden who has ever lived. They apprehend several ways to deliberately bring about the creation of a black hole. None are free of risk and most are highly volatile. However safe the Anadens believe their device to be, they are incorrect.
It was a forceful speech, but in typical fashion Mesme had circled around the crux of the issue. “So if the ship blows, the device will blow?”
Without knowing what method they have devised to power this Tartarus Trigger, we calculate at 36.21% the likelihood of this occurring.
Malcolm ran a hand through his hair. “And if the ship blows because the Igni missiles detonate?”
Their antimatter weapons? The likelihood approaches one hundred percent.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you were going to say.”
Miriam drummed her fing
ers on the edge of her desk. “So if we ignore the Imperium and eliminate enough of their vessels to be considered victors, they may use the device, presumably ordering someone else to get here and shut the black hole down before it consumes the rest of the galaxy. Alex, as you pointed out earlier, they consider themselves expendable.
“If we destroy the Imperium, we probably set off the device and it destroys all of us at a minimum and possibly everyone. And we aren’t so expendable.” She sighed. “I’d like to hear Rychen’s opinion, but someone’s got to fight the damn battle underway out there. Brigadier, don’t say Field Marshal Bastian—I’ve never seen him in action before, and I don’t trust him enough. Not yet.”
Malcolm looked as if he was trying not to smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
Miriam surveyed those present. “Ideas?”
Valkyrie?
All my potential ideas thus far end in widespread destruction when a simulation is run.
Awesome.
Caleb was pacing with notable fervency, popping in and out of their holo projection. “Jenner, do you have any viable plan to get a team onto the Imperium? Even a stealth team of three or four people?”
Malcolm chuckled wryly. “Harper would dearly love to try it—but no. The force field is both physically and energetically impenetrable. Opening a rift inside the field is the only means of entry I can see and…well, I don’t think we’ve figured out how to send people along for the ride quite yet.”
“True.” Caleb rubbed at his jaw. “Okay, what about—”
I will do it.
Everyone turned to Mesme, but Alex asked the obvious question. “Do what?”
The vessel’s shield is indomitable here in physical space, but it is not pandimensional. I will access the vessel, locate the device and transport it away from the conflict.
Miriam frowned. “You can move so large an object? I mean, I assume it’s fairly large.”
Caleb nodded. “Mesme carried the Siyane through two Mosaic lobbies, a portal and a planetary atmosphere when…it was disabled.” He stepped back, out of the holocam’s range, and winked at her.
Relativity: Aurora Resonant Book One (Aurora Rhapsody 7) Page 38