by Isaac Hooke
Rade and the others retreated into the concourse and raced toward the escalators.
The walkway shook and then Rade found himself sucked upward: the atmosphere was explosively decompressing. As the HS3s flew past him, Rade fired his jetpack, fighting the flow until he was close enough to grab on to a nearby railing.
He checked his overhead map and saw that all of his Argonauts, and the Centurions, had latched on to nearby objects. Only the HS3s were lost.
“We have impact,” Harlequin said over the comm.
“I see that!” Rade returned.
Furniture flew past, sourced from the breaches in the security walls that Rade and his team had made throughout the different levels.
The decompression ended a moment later and Rade landed on the deck as the artificial gravity reasserted itself. A couch crashed into the floor beside him. Rade glanced up, instinctively raising a hand to protect himself.
He saw the ceiling far overhead dissolving. Micro robots dropped inside, some of them landing around the party.
“Bitches!” Bender said. He fired repeatedly at the robots.
One of the micro robots landed on Fret, who swatted it away. Lui shot the thing a moment later. Having one or two of the things fall onto an Argonaut was one thing, but if the swarm were to envelope a jumpsuit, Rade knew that the occupant wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Go!” Rade said, racing toward the escalator.
Glancing upward once more, Rade saw more of the swarm flowing inside. They were feeding on the raw material of the station, using it to in turn create more robots.
“Come on you robot dust bunnies!” Bender said as he ran. He was firing up at the overhead, knocking out clumps of them. “I ain’t afraid of you bitches!”
“Bender, careful!” Rade said as a clump of loosened robots landed next to the fifth floor walkway beside him. The robots scurried across the deck to intercept the Argonauts, who either kicked them aside or shot them. Well, most of the squad: Bender pounced on any that got in his way, grinding them underneath his boots.
“Die little bitches!” Bender said.
“Shaw, update me!” Rade said.
“A got a few Viper shots in,” Shaw said. “But wasn’t able to stop that missile. I concentrated on the ship next... fired more Vipers, launched a couple of Hellfires. The Nablis vessel unleashed another projectile at the Molotok in turn, forcing me to take cover behind the station.”
The deck shook.
Rade glanced to the side and saw that the far bulkhead of the concourse was now dissolving. “Looks like that projectile just hit the station.” More of the robot swarm streamed inside through the breach, skittering across all the nearby surfaces.
The team reached the forth floor and raced toward the hatch that led to the Argonaut. It was getting fairly bad in that concourse, with the self-replicating micro robots constantly falling down from above. Overhead, the expanding swarm had eaten away the entire seventh floor, and were quickly devouring the sixth.
Rade and the others piled inside the entry tube and hurried the hundred meters to the Argonaut. They entered the airlock in rapid succession, forgoing the hatch regulation routine. The moment he was inside, Rade said: “Bax, shut the airlock when the last of us are in, then release the mounting clamps and break away from the station!”
“Yes, boss,” the Argonaut’s AI replied.
“Team, to the mech hangar bay!” Rade hurried through the passageway. A klaxon sounded, indicating that Bax had initiated battle stations. Rade glanced at the overhead map: the blue dots representing his team members and combat robots were all aboard. He placed the feed from the airlock external camera into the upper right of his vision, and saw that the ship was pulling away as ordered. He dismissed the video and continued running.
Rade hurried to the mech hangar bay, where the jumpsuit lockers were located. He had originally intended to strip off his jumpsuit, because he couldn’t really wear it on the cramped bridge—the chairs weren’t designed to fit the bulky suits. But then he decided he could command the Argonaut remotely from the hangar bay just as well. And it was safer that way, too, in case the ship was hit by one of those swarm missiles and the team had to evacuate quickly.
“Argonauts,” Rade said. “Keep your jumpsuits on. Access your stations remotely.”
All of the Hoplites had successfully transferred to the Argonaut from the Molotok, and resided in the bay. Rade sat down on the large foot of his mech, Electron, and pulled up the Argonaut’s tactical display. He saw that the Molotok was hiding behind what was left of the station and the vessels still docked to it. Meanwhile, the red dot of the Nablis Class ship seemed headed toward the populated moon.
Another red dot accelerated away from the enemy ship, indicating a projectile. It was rapidly approaching the Argonaut.
“Incoming...” Bax said.
“Bax, shoot down that object!” Rade said.
“I’ve struck it several times with the Vipers,” Bax said. “It’s not slowing. I don’t think it contains a traditional warhead.”
“Damn it,” Rade said. “Brace for impact.”
twenty-six
Rade watched on the tactical display as the red dot overlapped the ship. That dot winked out momentarily, and the deck shook.
“The forward hull has taken a breaching hit,” Bax announced. “Compression has been lost to decks four and five. Activating breach seals.” Bax paused. “Several of the seals appear to be damaged, but I’ve managed to close enough of them to prevent decompression of the entire ship.”
That would be Shaw’s doing, when she had to cut through the seals after Bax trapped her on the bridge. Apparently the Phants hadn’t engaged the repair swarm to fix them.
“Unfortunately,” Bax continued, “micro robots are swarming the exterior, and enlarging the breach. They’re reproducing... disintegrating the hull armor.”
“Looks like we’re going to have to evacuate in the Hoplites,” Tahoe said. “And make our way to the Molotok.”
“I’m not ready to give up on our ship just yet,” Rade said. “Surus, did you ever finish retrofitting the telemetry drone with the quantum Slipstream antenna?”
“Yes,” Surus replied. “But as I mentioned, it is untested, and may not work. I’ll have to adjust the control frequencies in realtime until I find something that hits.”
Rade tapped in Shaw. “I want you to launch the Molotok’s telemetry drone toward the Argonaut. Aim for the breach.”
“I’m going to have to leave the cover of the station,” Shaw said. “Okay, it’s done.”
“Surus, I’m transferring control of the drone over to you,” Rade said. “Meanwhile, Argonauts, proceed inside your mechs. Prepare for emergency evacuation. Centurions, join us in the mech hangar bay.”
Rade entered his own Hoplite and sealed the cockpit behind him. The inner actuators enveloped him, and the external camera piped the mech’s sight to his own.
He glanced at the tactical display that continued to overlay his vision and watched the telemetry drone come alongside the Argonaut.
The Centurions arrived a moment later, and boarded the passenger seats of different Hoplites.
“Ready to evacuate,” Tahoe said. In Shaw’s absence he had loaded into Nemesis, since he had no mech of his own.
“Wait,” Rade said. “I want to see if Surus can save the ship.”
The drone began to initiate a spiraling maneuver, repeatedly orbiting the forward breach section.
“What are you doing?” Rade said.
“Sweeping it over the hull section in rapid revolutions,” Surus said. “I’m cycling through the quantum Slipstream ‘frequencies’ at the same time. I’m hoping one of them will stick.”
Rade switched to the drone’s point of view to watch. The display was dizzying, so he quickly reduced the size and positioned it in the upper left of his vision. He saw the growing swarm of micro robots skittering along the hull just beside the breach region. Some of them shoved off the surface
, and floated toward the telemetry drone.
“Um,” Bender said. “Surus, my main woman. You see those robots drifting toward the telemetry drone, right?”
“I see them...” Surus said.
Come on...
Nothing was happening. The micro robots continued to swarm. Rade glanced at the overhead map representation of the ship, and saw the growing number of red dots poring through the breach area. In a few more moments, they would eat through to another deck. Rade accessed the camera in the hallway next to the breach. The micro robots were everywhere, crawling over all the surfaces, and devouring them.
Rade cycled the video back to the telemetry drone; one of the robots latched on to the drone’s hull as he observed. Then another.
“Now would be a good time, Surus,” Tahoe said.
“Almost,” Surus replied.
More and more robots landed on the spinning drone.
“Deck three has been breached,” Bax announced.
And then the micro robots on the Argonaut’s hull ceased moving all at once. They began to slowly drift away from the ship. They also floated from the drone itself.
Rade cycled to the hallway camera near the breach once more. All of the micro robots hall dropped away from the partially eaten bulkheads and overhead. They lay motionless on the deck, on their carapaces, legs curled up on top of them.
“Well that’s a whole lot of dead robot bugs,” Bender said. “Just the way I like them.”
“You did it, Surus,” Rade said.
“Yes, only just in time,” Surus said. “They’ve damaged the propulsion system in the drone. Someone’s going to have to spacewalk out there and grab it.”
“Bender, go get it,” Rade said.
“Thanks boss!” Bender said.
Rade vented the hangar bay and opened the doors; Bender jetted outside.
“By the way, Surus, we should celebrate later,” Bender transmitted. “I’m going to cook you up some chicken breast in my stateroom.”
“No, you’re not,” Surus said.
“Fine,” Bender sent. “Then we can roast up a couple of those robot bugs. I’d eat one for you.”
“I’m sure you would,” Surus replied.
“Lui, what’s the range on the enemy ship?” Rade asked.
“They passed beyond the upper limit of Viper range a few minutes ago,” Lui said. “They’re still headed toward the populated moon.”
“Shaw, fire more of the Molotok’s missiles at them, would you?” Rade sent.
She didn’t answer.
“Shaw?” Rade tried again.
“Boss!” Lui said. “The Molotok!”
Rade switched to the starboard-facing external camera, which was aimed at the Molotok. The forward portion of the ship was coated in the robot swarm. That section seemed significantly smaller, and Rade guessed the robots had already disintegrated much of the underlying hull.
“Bender, hurry up out there!” Rade sent. “We need to get the telemetry drone to the Molotok!”
“He won’t retrieve it in time,” TJ said. “And even if he does, we certainly won’t have enough time to effect repairs.”
“What’s the range on the telemetry drone?” Rade asked Surus.
“We’ll have to bring it to within five hundred meters of the Molotok,” Surus said.
“Bax, how far away are we?” Rade asked.
“Currently fifty kilometers,” Bax replied.
“Bender, get that drone aboard!” Rade said. “We need to turn back.”
“We won’t make it in time,” Lui said. “Look.”
Rade saw more swarm blooms appearing on the surface of the Molotok. It was almost like the ship was being eaten from the inside out.
Shaw...
“I’m detecting two shuttles moving away from the vessel,” Bax said.
Rade tried to tap in the Dragonflies, which were flying side by side. “Shaw, do you read?”
“I’m here,” Shaw said. “I’m in a Dragonfly. The twins are aboard, in their incubators.”
Rade slumped in relief.
“I took your advice to heart,” Shaw continued, “and switched to a jumpsuit early on. I commanded the Molotok remotely from the hangar bay, and abandoned ship the moment I realized we were breached. I figured Mikhail could handle things from there. No need to put the twins under unnecessary risk.”
“What happened?” Rade sent.
“I drifted too close to the station,” Shaw replied. “I didn’t realize the micro robots were shoving off its hull and floating toward the Molotok. By the time I figured out what was happening, hundreds had touched down. Scattered all over the hull.”
That they were scattered at different places along the hull explained the sudden swarm blooms Rade had seen appear on the surface, indicating spots where the robots were multiplying.
“Mikhail,” Rade sent. “Do you read? We’re going to recover the drone and send it your way.”
“I appreciate the valiant effort,” Mikhail replied over the comm. “Unfortunately, some of the swarm has already made it to the bridge. The armor of my AI core is under attack. I’m afraid this will be the last message I ever send. It was a privilege to serve you, in the short time that I could.”
The AI disconnected.
Rade watched on the external camera as the ship was enveloped entirely by the swarm.
Bender returned with the drone a moment later. “Here you go, bitches.”
No one answered him.
“What?” Bender said.
“Take a look at the Molotok,” Harlequin said.
“Oh,” Bender said a moment later. “That’s... shitty.”
Surus advanced her mech, Sprint, toward the telemetry drone, and picked off a couple of the micro robots that yet clung to its hull.
“These will make fine specimens for later examination,” she said.
“Bax, what’s the status on the enemy vessel?” Rade asked.
“No change,” the Argonaut’s AI returned. “The Nablis class ship remains out of range of our Vipers, and continues to head toward the populated moon.”
“How long until they reach it?” Rade asked.
“Forty-five minutes,” Bax replied.
“Alert the authorities of what has happened here,” Rade instructed the AI. “Although I’m sure they’ve witnessed the destruction on their long range sensors by now. Tell them they’ll have to defend themselves at all cost.”
“I’m sending the message now,” Bax said.
Rade steered the external camera toward the seething remains of the station and those ships still docked to it.
“Let’s hope the swarm can’t form anything capable of interplanetary travel,” Tahoe said.
“Doubtful,” Lui said. “They’d need to create propellant. And I doubt they’re equipped to gather it from the ships that were docked to the station. But there would probably be nothing stopping them from forming a particle beam weapon, similar to the one they attacked us with on the lava planet.”
“Harlequin, teach Bax what the particle beam weapons look like,” Rade said. “And then have him fire the Vipers at any formations on that mass of robots that even remotely resemble the start of a particle turret.”
“Will do,” Harlequin replied.
“Centurions,” Rade told the combat robots. “Climb down from the mechs. I want you to determine the extent of the breach damage. Bax, dispatch the repair drones.”
“Unfortunately, there are not enough raw materials aboard for repairs,” Bax said.
Well that explained why the Phants hadn’t previously repaired the breach seals.
“Algorithm, with me,” Rade said. He abandoned Electron and proceeded through the airlock into the ship proper. Algorithm joined him.
Shaw docked the Dragonflies in the second hangar bay shortly thereafter. Rade was waiting to give Shaw a hug when she emerged. He glanced at the incubators she held like baskets on either side of her. The twins seemed oblivious inside.
“I’
m bringing them to sickbay,” Shaw said.
Rade nodded and let her go. “Get aboard Shuttle A,” Rade instructed Algorithm. “Bender, I want you to place the telemetry drone outside once more.”
“You got it,” Bender replied.
Rade turned to Algorithm. “Once you’re out there, magnetically attach the shuttle to the telemetry drone. Coordinate with Surus, and knock out the rest of those robots out there.”
“Understood,” Algorithm said.
While Rade could have allowed the shuttle’s AI to pilot the craft, he preferred having someone aboard. If there was a problem with the telemetry drone, Algorithm could potentially go outside and fix it.
Rade returned to the mech hangar bay, where the other Argonauts were waiting. He had a feeling he would be deploying the Hoplites soon.
“Bax, update me,” Rade said.
“The swarms composing the station, its ships, and the Molotok have joined together to form a single mass,” Bax replied. “I’ve been firing repeatedly at that mass, targeting any formations that appear to be the beginning of weapons. Meanwhile, Shuttle A has attached to the telemetry drone, and is proceeding toward the combined swarm.”
Rade glanced at the tactical map, and saw red lines occasionally appear on the display, indicating fired Vipers. The blue dot of Shuttle A was slowly approaching the robot mass. When it was within five hundred meters, it came to a halt. Then it began flying in the same spiral formation as before.
“What’s the point of the spiraling?” Rade asked.
“I’m trying to determine the control center,” Surus said.
“I see...” Rade said, but he didn’t. He supposed it was best to keep his mouth shut and let Surus work.
Brat contacted Rade from one of the breached decks. “It’s a mess here. And as Bax mentioned, there aren’t enough raw materials to repair the hull breach until we return to dry dock. Unless we can melt down these micro robots...”
“Keep me posted,” Rade said.
A moment later Surus reported: “The swarm has been disabled.”
Rade examined the external video feed. The black mass had stopped seething, and the millions of constituent robots drifted lifelessly apart.
“Good job,” Rade told her. “Bax, recall the shuttle. As soon as the Dragonfly docks, I want you to initiate a pursuit course with the enemy.”