Fires of Oblivion

by Anthony James

  “I remain locked out. I’ve been checking it every few seconds and I’m certain it’s completely out of action.”

  “It was worth asking.”

  “Yeah. Sorry.”

  Duggan didn’t want to tempt fate any longer and he moved the Crimson away, until the mothership was no longer visible on the sensors. The depths of the bad news finally sank in. The Dreamers were going to sit it out until they’d destroyed both Atlantis and Sinnar. The Archimedes and the Ghasts would arrive soon. He didn’t know what armaments the Trivanor and Sandarvax carried, but he doubted whether their Shatterers would be sufficient to worry the mothership. The Space Corps and Ghast navies were about to lose several of their most important warships and billions would die.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve reached rock-bottom,” he said.

  “No we haven’t, sir,” Breeze replied. “There are two more fission signatures, consistent with the arrival of enemy cruisers.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The enemy cruisers established themselves high above the weapon site and circled continuously. They were surely aware that there was a cloaked ship somewhere in the vicinity, but they showed no sign they wanted to look for it.

  “They can’t know we’re as damaged as we are,” said Duggan. “Otherwise I think they’d be less passive.”

  “There is no need for them to do anything,” said McGlashan.

  “I have Admiral Franks on the comms,” said Chainer.

  Duggan jumped to his feet. “They’ve arrived! Find them!”

  “Captain Duggan, the Archimedes and Maximilian are at your disposal. The Sandarvax and Trivanor accompany us, but they have their own commanders.”

  “Things are not good, Admiral.”

  Duggan filled in the details. His mouth talked and his mind did its best to come up with a solution.

  “The Archimedes is more than nine thousand metres long and the Sandarvax is eleven thousand metres long, Captain. From the reports of your previous encounter with the enemy, the prides of our respective navies will be blown into pieces even with our new defences against beam weaponry.”

  “The mothership carries two cannons, each of which could put a hole clean through either vessel. A head-on approach will result in failure.”

  “We must do something!”

  “Bombard the planet. Launch nukes from far out in space. Ask the Ghasts to use their incendiary bombs. There is not long left. Also, be aware there are two enemy cruisers above the weapon site. I anticipate they will move to intercept.”

  Franks laughed, the sound mellifluous yet lacking in humour. “I’ve studied the details of their cruisers. They are technologically superior and will cause us problems, but we will destroy them. I have no doubt about that.”

  “Good, you will need to,” said Duggan. “My comms man has located you an hour’s sub-light distance away. Make preparations for a lightspeed hop. I warn you, Admiral. Do not come within sight of the mothership.”

  “Understood. What is your own status?”

  “We’re badly damaged and struggling to maintain stealth. We’ll do what we can to disrupt them.”

  With that, Franks was gone. There was no unexpected delay and within two minutes, four warships emerged into view, a hundred thousand kilometres above the surface and on the blind side of the planet from the mothership.

  Duggan had seen the Sandarvax once, without knowing what it was called. The memory and the reality were little different and the Ghast capital ship was as monstrously laden with weaponry as he remembered it, with sweeping curves, domes and the tell-tale signs of multiple Shatterer tubes. The Ghasts had kept the ship away from direct confrontation, apart from the single time they’d sent it against the Archimedes a couple of years previously.

  “I’m glad they held it in reserve,” said McGlashan, her eyes wide.

  “They will have had their reasons and it won’t have been sympathy for the Confederation,” said Duggan.

  The four warships didn’t pause and they headed directly for the planet’s surface at maximum speed. The Sandarvax was the quickest of the four and at fifty thousand kilometres, it launched its weapons.

  “Atmosphere bombs,” said McGlashan. “Dozens of them!”

  “Here comes the first enemy cruiser!” shouted Chainer.

  “The Maximilian’s powering up for something.”

  “Shatterers launched from both Ghast vessels. Six from the Trivanor and seventy-two from the Sandarvax!”

  “Crap!” said Chainer. “How many?”

  “We might as well fire our own two,” said Duggan.

  “Both forward Shatterers launched, sir.”

  “The Dreamer cruiser has shut down the Trivanor with its disruptor,” said Breeze. “And the Maximilian has fired something in return. It’s been fitted with a disruptor as well!”

  Duggan felt useless as he watched events unfold on the sensor feeds and on his tactical display. Hundreds of missiles filled the air. The second enemy cruiser raced to engage. It tried to shut down the Sandarvax, succeeding only in knocking the Ghast engines offline for a couple of seconds.

  Far below, the atmosphere bombs reached their detonation height. Duggan wondered how much effect they’d have, given the lack of oxygen on Tybalt. He was left in awestruck horror when the incendiaries exploded into a conflagration of unimaginable proportions, as though they carried a billion tonnes of accelerant. Within seconds of their detonation, the wave of flame had spread for thousands of kilometres in every direction, until it was lost from sight. The fires were not quickly extinguished and they continued to rage, far longer than Duggan believed was possible.

  “The surface temperature is as high as fifteen hundred degrees in places!” said Chainer, his voice choking with shock.

  “Is it going to be enough?” asked Duggan, hoping one of his crew would be able to tell him with certainty.

  “I doubt it, sir,” said Breeze. “I’ve seen how much power those pyramids can generate.”

  “There are several dozen nuclear blasts in the vicinity of the first enemy cruiser,” said McGlashan. “The Archimedes has been hit several times by a particle beam as well as a dozen missiles or more.”

  “The Trivanor and Sandarvax have launched more Shatterers. The second cruiser has taken twin disruptor strikes,” said Chainer, his voice rising an octave.

  “First cruiser destroyed!” said McGlashan with excitement. “The second cruiser is back online and attempting to break away. Damn, it’s fast!”

  For once, the Dreamer warships found themselves comprehensively outgunned. The human and Ghast navies had the combined weaponry to counter most of the technological advantages their foes possessed, as well as their warships being overwhelming larger and therefore able to withstand a considerable amount of punishment.

  “Second cruiser down!” shouted Chainer. “How do you like that, eh?”

  “Good work, Admiral,” said Duggan over the comms. “Who commands the Sandarvax? Pass on my regards.”

  “Subjos Gol-Tur is captain of their flagship. I believe you’ve met him.”

  “Once. What’s your damage status?”

  “We’ve taken several missile strikes. Their warheads have a far greater penetration than ours. We’re operational for the moment. Reports from the Maximilian and the Ghast ships indicate they’ve suffered moderate damage only.”

  “This is where it’s going to get nasty, Admiral. I think the enemy mothership is going to wait for us to act first. They have time on their side.”

  “There are fifteen minutes remaining,” she said.

  “Let’s get to it. Attempt nuclear bombardment from a distance. Don’t stay in the enemy’s line of sight for longer than it takes to launch your missiles.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  The four warships sped away, each taking a similar course to reach their destination. Duggan piloted the Crimson along the same path as the Archimedes. The spaceship felt slightly more responsive, but was still heavy and pond
erous compared to what he was used to. By the time they had completed the partial orbit necessary to view the site of the Dreamer weapon, it was a nuclear wasteland for a thousand kilometres all around. The planet’s surface was completely changed from how it had been and the rock had become molten in hundreds of places. Something caught Duggan’s eye – a crater, far larger than the others. There was an object at the bottom, huge and metallic.

  “The Trivanor,” said Chainer. “It’s full of holes.”

  “It didn’t take long to knock them out of the sky,” said McGlashan.

  “Ten minutes until the enemy can fire towards Atlantis,” said Breeze. He needn’t have spoken – the countdown timers continued to tick in full view of everyone.

  “Admiral Franks, please report,” said Duggan. “Has your bombardment destroyed the target?”

  “The target remains protected by its shield, Captain. We cannot get close enough to land a direct hit without risking instant destruction from the mothership.”

  “Have you tried?” he asked.

  The response sounded as if it were spoken through gritted teeth. “Captain Duggan, we have an extensive collection of fifty-metre holes through our hull. The casualty reports have yet to come in. The Trivanor is out of action and the Sandarvax is as badly-damaged as we are. On top of that, they’ve hit us with an unknown weapon that is causing our engines to degrade. We will be forced to land in a short while.”

  “I understand the issues, Admiral. We can’t allow them to fire that damned weapon!”

  The sensor feed from the surface turned orange once more, hiding everything in a carpet of unnaturally hot fire.

  “The Ghast incendiaries aren’t any more effective than what we’re doing,” said Franks.

  “We need to keep trying!”

  “We will, Captain Duggan.”

  “They’re too big and too powerful,” said McGlashan when the comms feed was ended. She looked at Duggan sadly. “Perhaps we should consider a withdrawal before we lose everything.”

  “I can’t do it, Commander. There’s got to be a way.”

  At that moment, an idea came to him. At first, he dismissed it outright. It was something which, as far as he was aware, nobody had ever successfully accomplished. He didn’t know if anyone had even attempted it. A voice whispered that he had no choice but to try. Gambling four lives to save billions was odds he couldn’t refuse.

  “Sir?” It was McGlashan. “What is it?”

  “Are you ready to risk everything, Commander?”

  “Always.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Lieutenant Chainer, I’m lifting us into a position where we can see the mothership. I need you to confirm its exact location, by which I mean the dead centre of their vessel.”

  “Okay, sir.”

  Duggan slowly took the Crimson above the horizon. At once, a particle beam flashed by within a few hundred metres, followed by a second and a third.

  “Well? I don’t want to stay here for long.”

  “It hasn’t moved.”

  “At all?”

  “No, sir. It hasn’t moved more than a metre from the position it took up when it first got here.”

  Duggan took the Crimson lower towards the planet. Once they were out of the mothership’s sight, the plasma beams stopped coming.

  “Pass those coordinates to Lieutenant Breeze.”

  “Done.” Chainer looked confused.

  “After that, get on the comms and let Admiral Franks know that we’re going to try and destroy the mothership. They must complete the job of destroying the emplacement. Don’t spend time trying to answer any questions.”

  “I won’t,” said Chainer, his expression making it clear he would have dearly liked to know the answers himself.

  “Lieutenant Breeze, deactivate the stealth modules.”

  “Sir?”

  “Do it.”

  “Done.”

  “Ready the fission engines. Set a target for the coordinates you have received from Lieutenant Chainer.”

  Breeze opened his mouth to say something. After a moment, he simply accepted the order. “It’ll be a couple of minutes until we can go. The Crimson’s core is quicker than the ES Lightning’s, but I still can’t initiate lightspeed immediately after stealth.”

  Duggan nodded his understanding. “Commander McGlashan, please prepare to fire our conventional weapons.”

  She grinned. “Aye, sir!”

  “Five minutes until the weapon array is in alignment to fire,” said Chainer. He noticed a forgotten mug of coffee nearby. He reached out for it with a shaking hand and swigged off the contents in one go.

  “Thirty seconds until lightspeed.”

  “The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” said McGlashan.

  “Ten seconds.”

  The Crimson spent so little time at lightspeed that their brains had no time to comprehend the dislocation. Duggan’s eyes caught the change in the sensor feeds. Instead of fire-blackened rock, the Crimson was suddenly in the middle of a vast, unlit hangar. The sensors adjusted and they saw the distant walls. There were cruisers clamped in place, alongside a dozen or more of the Dreamer pyramids. Tiny rows of white dots lined part of one wall – viewing windows for the crew of this unimaginably vast machine of death.

  “Fire,” said Duggan. “Lieutenant Breeze, ready the fission engines. Take us back to the place we came from.”

  The exterior of the Dreamer mothership bristled with weaponry and countermeasures. Inside, there was nothing to prevent the carnage Duggan and his crew inflicted. Two hundred and eighty-eight Lambdas blasted from their tubes. They had no time to reach their maximum velocity before they exploded against the bulkheads of the enemy ship. There was no energy shield to stop them and they ripped vast holes through the interior.

  “Commander McGlashan, fire the Lambdas and Shatterers when ready. Prepare the nukes.”

  “Thirty seconds until we’re off,” said Breeze, his mouth still open in shock. “One of those cruisers is powering up,” he finished, almost as an afterthought.

  “Not anymore,” said McGlashan.

  The next wave of Lambdas spilled out, with a hundred of them striking the enemy cruiser. It was ripped apart, utterly destroyed before its crew could think about a response.

  “We’re not doing enough damage,” said Chainer. “This ship is too big.”

  He was right – the Crimson could launch a lot of missiles, but against the vastness of the mothership they were lost. The explosions inflicted terrible damage, yet it didn’t look as if it would be enough. A third salvo followed the second, filling the mothership’s interior with pure, brilliant plasma light.

  “Ten seconds.”

  “Fire the nukes at one second,” said Duggan.

  There was time for a fourth launch of the rapid-reload Lambdas. As the countdown to lightspeed ended, Duggan saw McGlashan’s hand move with agonising slowness across her console. Don’t miss this one, Lucy, was the last thought he had before the Crimson flashed away into lightspeed, twisting reality in a way that allowed the warship to ignore anything so ephemeral as the alloy walls of the Dreamer mothership.

  “Did you launch?” he asked.

  She nodded silently.

  “Did we get it?” His voice sounded panicked to his own ears.

  “There’re signs of a nuclear detonation across the lip of the planet’s curve,” said Chainer.

  Duggan was desperate to have a look. The Crimson climbed steadily higher and nearer to the weapon site.

  “More nuclear blasts,” said Chainer. “That must be about twenty in one go.”

  “The countdown timer just hit zero,” said McGlashan.

  Petrified that his most daring plan had failed, Duggan willed the spaceship to go faster. When it reached a position from which the sensors could scan the target area, he slumped forwards, his head in his hands.

  “I’ve got Admiral Franks for you, sir.”

  Duggan slowly raised his head. “Brin
g her through.”

  “Captain Duggan.” There was relief in her voice. “You and your crew have destroyed the enemy mothership. The ground weapon’s energy shield was destroyed by our nuclear warheads and the weapon itself by our Shatterers and Lambdas.”

  “It’s over,” he said. “For now.”

  “I will speak to Admiral Teron and let him know the good news, Captain. I’m sure he will be pleased at what you have accomplished.” A rueful tone entered her voice. “I will also ask him to arrange a rescue party for us, since my technicians advise that the Archimedes’ engines will fail within ten minutes. You must excuse me while I locate a suitable place for us to set down away from the highest concentrations of radiation.”

  In spite of the situation, there was something in Franks’ tone that made Duggan chuckle. “Well fought, Admiral. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the vacation.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “We’re badly damaged, but we can fly. We’ll wait until your rescuers arrive. There could be other enemy vessels headed this way.”

  “Thank you, Captain Duggan. In the meantime, I have a video feed from our sensors which might help you pass the time. It shows the final moments of the mothership.”

  “That would be appreciated.”

  The file arrived and the crew watched it over and over. The enemy ship had been huge, but eight high-yield nuclear explosions within its hold tore it apart as easily as if it had been made of paper. Duggan felt a number of emotions.

  “You’re not happy?” asked McGlashan as they sat together in the mess room.

  “Relieved. Satisfied. If I knew that was the last Dreamer warship, then I might feel happiness.”

  “I know what you mean. We’ve earned some time to prepare.”

  “And some shore leave,” he said with a smile.

  “I hope so. We’ve earned it.”

  He put his arm around her and this time he did feel happy, if only for this fleeting moment.