The deck under Alice’s feet rumbled as Frost fired each of the railguns in turn. There was only a second and a half between the last weapon firing and the sequence starting over. The Warlord’s fore shields took fire, but Ashley kept the ship in a strafing pattern with the nose pointed directly at the enemy vessels, giving Frost a long opportunity to rapidly fire the biggest guns aboard for over forty seconds before Finn announced, “Fore shields down to thirty-five percent.”
“Evasive action,” Frost said as he released the manual tactical controls. “Tell me they don’t have some kind of heavy kinetic damper or gravity countermeasure.”
“Gravity countermeasure? That’s not even possible,” Finn said.
Only the first round of shots were stopped by energy shielding, the rest ripping through two of the cruiser class ships, leaving broad breaches in their armour. “So glad those ships haven’t proven you wrong,” Frost said.
The third cruiser broke away, only grazed by the torrent of explosive projectiles. It returned fire with an unexpected barrage.
The hull whined under the pressure of heat damage and pinged as solid matter impacted its surface. “All dorsal shields are down,” Finn reported. “We lost some emitters in that last attack; we’re missing coverage we can’t compensate for.”
“Bring us about, get that ship in front of us,” Frost said. “All weapons focus on that ship.”
The enemy ship pointed its nose downward, exposing the top surface to the Warlord as it accelerated at them, firing weapons installed across the dorsal side of their vessel. Flashes of light across the dark green and blue skin of the enemy vessel were punctuated by the sounds of hull impacts on the Warlord, and the sounds of the ship systems changed, rising in pitch. “Multiple breaches across our aft dorsal sections and aft port sections. Sending damage control teams in with temporary shielding,” David reported.
The Warlord finished turning towards the enemy ship and Frost fired the railguns at the centre of the vessel. The delay between the rumble under Alice’s feet and the visible impact on the enemy vessel grew shorter and shorter as it closed the distance. A glance at Ashley working at the helm revealed that she had rotated all the Warlord’s thruster pods so they were firing in reverse.
There was no noticeable delay between Frost firing the railguns or the Warlord’s missiles and the visible impacts on the enemy ship by the time Frost’s rounds began breaking through the middle section of the enemy ship.
“That’s it! That’s all the time I can give you!” Ashley said as she sent the Warlord in a sideways arc so that it was out of the enemy ship’s way. She spun the Warlord around so Frost could fire the stationary guns at the rear of the enemy vessel, and he hit it several times before the power readings from the enemy ship dropped to a negligible level.
“Why was that bugger so much tougher than the others? It had the same profile, near the same mass.”
“Scans results coming back from breaches in the enemy ship,” Kadri reported, “Edxi crew, evidence of several major internal explosions. I read twenty-nine survivors, though I can’t tell what condition they’re in. Ship systems seem disabled, but there are several very low powered objects still running between eighty and one hundred and fifty watts apiece.”
“What about backup? Any signs of incoming ships?” Frost asked as he looked through the ship status and command hologram projected in front of half of his field of view. The other half of his view was purely tactical, with an interactive map, strategy assistant software, and targeting system.
“The same two signals are coming in, backup will be here in a hundred and twenty-three minutes at the earliest,” Kadri replied. “This plan is working. I can’t believe it, but it’s working.”
“Can’t say that yet, we’re still waiting on Captain’s results with that destroyer. Get us along side that ship, let’s make an impression. How are my damage control teams doing, Alice?”
Alice was startled at being called on; she wasn’t trained to fill in for David, who was busy helping Finn find workarounds for systems that were damaged or destroyed. She looked at her panel and focused on the damage control teams marked on her security map. “One sec,” she said as she made sense of their short status reports. “Okay, they’re all on assignment, most are patching minor breaches and approaching sections of inner hull that registered heat damage. They report two injured, medical has already gotten to them. I’m going to send two of my security people to help a team working on the aft dorsal section.”
“Good, keep an eye on it while the geniuses behind me work on the bigger problems,” Frost said.
“Aye,” Alice replied. A direct message came through her station from Remmy Sands, whose team had boarded the Sunny Shifter, the military cargo hauler they were after. She answered it using her personal comm unit. “What’s up?”
“Why aren’t you using your neural interface?” he asked. Pulse weapon fire sounds sizzled and popped in the background.
“Turned it off when I got to my post, it was getting hard to concentrate,” Alice replied. “Why?”
“I could use a hand breaking through this system, they’ve got some kind of hardware lock set up and I need to find the system they use to control it. It would be fantastic if you could get it open while you’re in there, too.”
“You can’t do it from there? You’re right on the ship.”
“My interface is reporting twenty hardware locks on their system, each linked to different programs. I know there’s only one real lock, but I don’t want to waste time manually figuring out which one it is. I can give you a relay connection to the trunk line from my position.”
Alice immediately had a mental picture of what Remmy was seeing in the system. It was as though the computer aboard the Sunny Shifter was representing the single hardware lock securing the system with twenty doors, but only one of them led to the location of the main processing unit. Remmy could crack them one after the other and hope to get lucky, or he could get help. “Lemme assign my post to someone else and send a message to Frost telling him what I’m doing.” She activated her neural node and took control of the flow of data, then assigned her post to Havernash, an experienced security officer who was guarding one of the hallways leading to the bridge. It only took her a moment more to send a message to Frost with the details of the situation.
“Activate the link,” Alice expressed through her comm channel with Remmy.
“Wow, your neural voice sounds a lot older,” Remmy said before activating the direct line to the Sunny Shifter’s computer systems.
“All right, time to find out which door hides the prize,” Alice replied. “You should look into getting a neural node put in, you could do this yourself.”
“Nope, had one. Forgot to eat for a while and woke up in an addiction treatment centre,” Remmy replied hurriedly. “Gotta keep a safe distance between me and the data.”
“I know what you mean,” Alice said as she got familiar with the Sunny Shifter hauler’s operating system, which tried to reject her several times, but she easily found her way around. There was an artificial intelligence inside, roughly trying to block her, reporting a digital incursion to the bridge staff. She tried to activate several weapons systems aboard the hauler, and the primitive artificial intelligence shifted its attention to block her attempts. With a thought, she activated a piece of software from the Warlord’s library that continually attempted to infect and control the Sunny Shifter’s weapons systems, distracting the artificial intelligence. It tried to execute programs to assist with the computer’s security outside of the bridge, and she halted the processes.
“Where is your hardware really located?” Alice asked herself as she virtually attacked all the security walls protecting the information she was after. After several attempts the ship’s artificial intelligence realized what was happening and tried to counter, but it was too late. “The response from one of the hardware locks on the main system was faster than the rest, I’m sending you the location n
ow.”
“Holy crap, that was fast!” Remmy said. “We’re moving out. Thanks, Alice.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied aloud. She deactivated her neural node and realized that Havernash was just arriving behind her. “Sorry Percy, you can return to your post.”
“Oh, all right,” he said with a quizzical expression. “Did you send the order by mistake?”
“No, I just thought it would take me longer to hack the Sunny Shifter’s peripheral systems and find her main processing vault, but it turns out that the hauler’s AI wasn’t all that bright. Sorry.”
“Well that answers another question,” he said with a light chuckle.
“What’s that?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, Havernash, spit it out,” Frost said over his shoulder. “Your superior officer isn’t asking just for conversation’s sake.”
“Uh, a bunch of us kind of thought you got the promotion because you were the Captain’s daughter,” Percy Havernash replied awkwardly. “But you took care of some serious problems, and if you’re hacking enemy ships while you’re doing your thing on the bridge, well…” He eyed Frost and Kadri, who both had an eye on him before continuing. “Looks like you can do things none of us can. So, um, what are your orders, Sergeant?”
Alice couldn’t help but smile a little at the compliment, even if it was pressured out of him. She tried not to think about how she got her position, suspecting the same thing that Havernash and his fellows, but it was good to hear that a few of them might be coming around. “Back to your post three frames down the hall, Percy.”
“Aye,” he replied.
“And keep your yap shut next time you have an opinion and not a report,” Frost added. “We’re in it, lad. No time for back slapping or navel gazing!” He waited until Havernash was off the bridge before turning towards Alice and David. “I need you to pay attention there, help other stations as you can. I know it looks like we’re through the worst, but we’re nowhere near. Times like these, a crew relaxes a little, and that’s when it all goes sideways.”
“Aye, aye,” Alice replied, feeling singled out.
“Aye, aye” David added.
“Captain Valent is about to break through to the command deck of the Barricade,” Kadri announced. “Looks like the resistance was waiting for them there.”
CHAPTER 44
Quick Communications
“Our scouts have been defeated,” said the translator to Clark. He was in his private quarters. Only one room was dry, and the entire wall was transparent so he could watch the Order of Eden Fleet and the warped stars beyond. They were in transit, using one giant wormhole. He watched the smaller ships move like a school of fish between whales, luminescent gaps in their armour shining along their lengths. One of the Edxians had broken through on an emergency channel and interrupted Clark as he was preparing to join a combat operation as soon as they emerged from their wormhole.
“When?” Clark asked.
“Moments ago. A ship called the Warlord is assaulting a group of your vessels. My commander in the area sought to lend aid,” replied the Edxian. There was no way of knowing who was speaking. They refused to identify themselves unless Clark met one in person, and that had only taken place once. Another fact of speaking with the Edxians that annoyed him to no end was their access to communications systems his people hadn’t been able to reverse engineer. They could communicate instantaneously with any of their ships. At first they thought they used methods that were similar to their space travel technology, but no, it was something different, and they weren’t sharing. Every time he had a conversation with an Edxian, he couldn’t help but think about the technology they were using to communicate with him.
“The Warlord was last reported on the far side of the Iron Head Nebula, you aren’t permitted to have ships there,” Clark replied, suppressing his rising frustration.
“We sent them to observe one of your more vulnerable points. We were right to do so.”
“That position and several like it are left vulnerable because the losses we suffer are acceptable when you consider how much hardware will make it through the nebula. Having said that, it’s no business of yours, Communicator. Your job is to supervise and secure the eleven worlds your people are allowed to settle as broods. How is that going?”
“The humans on Pandem resist more than expected. You promised they would be easy fodder for our young,” replied the translated voice. It was easy to imagine the repulsive Edxian speaking with the lights out, its carapace plates shifting as it clicked and hissed in its own language.
“Your young are not robust enough,” Clark said. “Maybe you landed eggs from the wrong genetic line. Just like I’m starting to believe your commanders are of an inferior brood themselves. By interfering in human concerns so far from your designated territory, you’ve exposed yourselves as aggressors in our war. I’m maintaining the Order of Eden as a system to deliver worlds to you as brood planets, and to hide your presence in our galaxy. If everyone finds out that you’re here, that the true purpose of the Order comes down to supporting your race’s desire to move into the Milky Way, then everything I’ve done becomes pointless, and I may as well dissolve the Order and take my core fleet elsewhere.”
“The overly-complex political manoeuvres of your people do not concern us. We have already begun building our own army of humans and they are on their way to the Milky Way, as you call it.”
Clark had heard that before, that the Edxians had somehow bred humans in their own galaxy and they were a subjugated people in their culture. He’d been hearing of this human army for months, but never met a single human who said they were a servant to the Edxians. He decided to move on to more important things. “The Warlord defeated your people and still has escape capabilities?”
“Yes, they were well armed. It was unexpected.”
“Did they capture any of your people or technology?” Clark asked.
“Not yet, our ships were able to self corrode their systems. The crew will find other means of survival,” the communicator replied.
“You mean they will try to take the Warlord?” Clark asked.
“Yes.”
“Then some of your people will be captured!” Clark burst. He couldn’t contain himself any longer. “Dead or alive, Jacob Valent will drag what’s left of one of them in front of the British Alliance, the Core Worlds media, and everyone else, and prove that you’re in our galaxy!”
“My people will kill Jacob Valent and take the Warlord. This is something that will be. There will be no revelation. Humans are weak. You will see.”
The communication ended and Clark was left in the dark with his rage. The peaceful scene of his fleet around the command carrier was something to glare at, not take solace in. “God damn it! Why did I take Hampon’s place?” he shouted.
He knew there was no one else he trusted. If the Order and their various partners weren’t in place to at least try and contain the Edxian threat, they would wage open war against humanity. If the Order turned and fought the Edxians, they’d win for a day, wiping out a few small fleets. Not long after, a few months, perhaps a year later, the Edxian warrior clans would come, and humanity could be subjugated utterly, or destroyed.
“I either recruit more into the Order until we can win every war in front of us, or I disappear and save myself,” he whispered into the darkness. A mental image of Eve in one of her fine dresses addressing a crowd with fevered zeal flashed through his mind and he shook his head. “She’s become a freak of faith, believing her own rhetoric. There’s no trustworthy leader there.”
His mind wandered to the Warlord and he couldn’t help thinking about Jacob Valent. “If he were in my position, would he do anything differently?” The question haunted him as it filled the empty room, and continued to for days after.
CHAPTER 45
Placement and Progression
Ayan took it upon herself to guide a pair of brothers, the MacMillans, from the sh
uttle transporting them from the Port Rush recruitment base to their new apartment inside the Everin Building. She was escorted by a pair of senior placement officers, security people, and she had Lacey at her side. The brothers looked ragged, wide-eyed, and just recently scrubbed. They were surprised to see her and Lacey with their security escort, even more shocked that she was going to personally lead them to their new quarters in the building.
They were experienced shipwrights from the York-Townsend System sectors away, and were trapped on Tamber when the Holocaust Virus infected the starliner taking them home. York-Townsend was struck hard by the virus, and the whole system was a lawless waste. The most common footage available was gang recordings made by groups bragging about territory, their supply stockpile, and their firepower. If they were anything like the gangs that were plaguing Port Rush City and many parts of Kambis, then it wasn’t fit to return to. Haven Shore was the first bit of luck the pair she was guiding had in nearly a year. They’d met the gangs in Port Rush and been forced to work for one on several damaged shuttles. They were only able to escape by stowing away in one once it was finished.
The new recruiting representatives followed Ayan and her entourage as she told them about the building, asking the MacMillans about what they wanted to do, and about their hopes upon arriving on Haven Shore. “Hopes?” asked the younger brother, who looked older at first with an out of control beard, standing a few centimetres taller than his brother. “What d’you mean, hopes?”
“Haven Shore will be here a long time,” Ayan told him with a smile. “The people who have stayed with Haven Shore and Triton Fleet have survived a direct assault from the Order, and we won a fight with the Carthans. Skilled people like you and your brother have dreams, I’m sure, and even though we’re headed into a war, those dreams can help shape what happens here.”
Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades Page 36