Dark Space: Avilon

by Jasper T. Scott

  “The neutral ship!”

  “Checking . . .”

  Suddenly Hoff’s view of the map panned over to the Sythian fleet, zooming in until he could see the mass of red enemy contacts as individual icons. There, in the midst of them lay one small yellow dot. Zooming in further, he was able to confirm that it was the Emancipator. She was just a few hundred klicks below the Sythian formation.

  “What are they doing there?”

  The question had been hypothetical, but his XO, Tactician Okara, answered. “I believe they used their jump drive to make a short hop, sir.”

  Hoff turned to her, his eyes narrowing swiftly. “I know that, I want to know why. Surely they don’t mean to attack the enemy.”

  “They remain cloaked. Perhaps they have a plan?”

  “One that will alert the Sythians to our presence. Comms! Advise the Justinian and ask them if they want us to do anything about that ship before they give us away.”

  “Yes, sir . . .”

  Hoff waited for what felt like an eternity, watching as the Emancipator began accelerating toward the nearest Sythian command ship. His brow dropped a troubled shadow over his eyes as he tried to understand what they were doing.

  “The Justinian just replied with a fleet-wide update. They’re aware of the position of the neutral ship. We are to ignore them. They are not operating under Omnius’s authority.”

  “I could have guessed that. If they were operating under His authority, then they wouldn’t be trying to ruin His battle plan!”

  “They didn’t elaborate further, sir. Those are our orders. Would you like to send another inquiry?”

  “No, never mind.” Hoff continued watching the map on his ARC display, unable to tear his eyes away. As he watched the cruiser, awareness trickled slowly through him, and he began to sit up straighter in his chair, trying to get a better look even though the map was projected just a few millimeters from his retinas. His ARCs read his intentions and zoomed in on the neutral ship, providing extra details about its speed and heading.

  “That’s a collision course! What are they doing?” Hoff bounced up from his chair, his heart pounding and his brain buzzing with adrenaline.

  He became gradually aware of his crew turning from their stations to stare at him.

  “They’re going to use their ship as a missile, sir,” the sensor operator replied. “That Sythian cruiser isn’t moving, so they won’t be hard to hit. By the time the Emancipator reaches it, she’ll be traveling dozens of kilometers per second.”

  Suddenly Hoff understood what they were doing. The Sythians couldn’t see the Emancipator coming, and their command ship wasn’t moving. That made them the perfect target. Given enough time, the Emancipator could accelerate up to a lethal speed. That much mass, moving that quickly . . . they would overload the enemy’s shields and cut them in half.

  “Sir?” Hoff’s XO said, trying to catch his attention. “Our orders were to ignore them.”

  Hoff shook his head. “Who are they?” he wondered aloud, and hoped to Omnius that his family wasn’t aboard. Maybe that was what Omnius had meant when he’d said they’d be reunited soon. Maybe Omnius knew they were going to die and be resurrected on Avilon.

  “Sir?” his XO tried again.

  Hoff slowly sank back to his command chair, but he remained silent, watching until only seconds remained before the inevitable collision.

  At the last possible moment, the Sythian command cruiser fired her engines at full burn to get away.

  Hoff gaped at that. The Emancipator missed its target by just a few klicks. “They moved!”

  “Sir? Who moved?”

  “Wasn’t anyone watching? That command cruiser moved just before the Emancipator could hit it.”

  “With all due respect, sir, we don’t have time for—”

  “Comms! Hail the Justinian. I want to talk with the Overseer.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Hoff heard his XO make an irritated noise in the back of her throat, but he ignored her. Moments later the blazing silver eyes and chiseled features of the Grand Overseer appeared. He looked impatient. “What is it, Strategian?”

  “Sir, I’ve been tracking the neutral ship, and—”

  “I thought I ordered you to ignore them.”

  Hoff bridled at being cut off, but he rallied his patience. “Yes, sir. I was curious about their intentions, so I kept an eye on them. They set a collision course with one of the enemy command ships. The Sythians moved to get out of the way, sir.”

  At that, the overseer sighed and shook his head. “You think they somehow saw the Emancipator coming. Even through its cloak.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Heston. The ship we’re talking about, the one you designated neutral, just finished contacting me to describe the same coincidence. They seemed equally surprised that they didn’t die in a fiery explosion.”

  “They contacted you? Who are they?”

  “They’re Nulls, and this is the second time that they’ve tried to convince me that the Sythians can see through our cloaking shields. But the fact remains that the Sythians have yet to open fire on any of us—including the ship that just tried to ram them.”

  “How did Nulls get off Avilon?”

  “Now there’s a good question. Spend your time thinking about that, and let me know if you come up with any answers.”

  The overseer turned away, no doubt intending to end the comm call there. Hoff called out to stop him, “Wait, sir!”

  “Make it quick, Heston.”

  “What if it’s true? What if they can see us? We’ll be flying straight into a trap.”

  “Why would Nulls warn us about that? They’d let us fly to our doom, laughing as they watched.”

  Hoff wasn’t convinced. “It’s still a big coincidence. We should look into it, sir.”

  “If there were a real threat, don’t you think Omnius would be warning me instead of you? Or do you think your instincts are now better than His? He’s watching this battle, too, Heston. I suggest you examine the situation more thoroughly before you go casting doubt on Omnius’s plans. Otherwise, you risk making a terrible fool of yourself.”

  Hoff frowned. “Yes, sir.”

  “Thardris out.”

  The grand overseer’s face vanished as the comm call ended.

  “I tried to warn you, sir,” Hoff’s XO said.

  He turned to glare at her. “Helm!” he called out.

  “Sir?”

  “Calculate a micro jump to the far side of Firea. Set a pre-defined course that will bring us to our objective, and leave our coordinates at the time of the jump as variable for now.”

  Tactician Okara fidgeted beside him. “Our orders are to—”

  Hoff waved away her objections. “I know what our orders are, Tactician.”

  “You’re planning to run. You doubt Omnius’s plan will work?”

  “I doubt nothing. I am simply being careful. If Omnius didn’t need us to think for ourselves, He would command this ship Himself, don’t you think, Okara?”

  She had no reply for that. She looked away, and Hoff did likewise. He shook his head and went back to watching the star map. The Avilonian fleet flew onward, drawing ever closer to the enemy formation. It wouldn’t be long before they came into range of the enemy’s weapons. . . .

  If they can see us, we’re about to find out, he thought, frowning at the map. He hoped the next thing they saw wouldn’t be a blinding wave of enemy fire, followed by a long, dark tunnel with a light at the end of it.

  * * *

  Lord Kaon watched the enemy ship enter the light stream and drop out a moment later—right on top of them. The gills in the sides of his neck flared with shock, and his twin hearts beat suddenly faster.

  “What is thisss?” he hissed. “The humans send this puny vessel to taunt us!”

  “It is cloaked, Lord Kaon. They don’t know we can see them,” Lady Kala replied from the command chai
r to the right of his own. “They must be trying to analyze our formation for weaknesses.”

  Kaon rubbed his translucent lips together, thinking. “No, that is not it. Look . . .” He pointed to the holographic star map hovering in the air in front of his command chair. “They are setting course to intercept us.”

  They watched together in silence. Lord Shondar spoke up from Kaon’s left, “That is not an intercept course. They mean to collide with the Kilratha!”

  Kaon’s eyes grew even wider than their usual aperture. He studied the enemy ship’s heading and ETA, querying the Kilratha’s computer for a prediction of how fast the enemy vessel would be moving when it reached them . . . and how much energy it would impart in a collision. When he saw the answer, he hissed.

  “We must shoot them down!”

  “We cannot,” Lady Kala replied, “not without revealing that we can see them.”

  “We cannot allow them to destroy us, either! Weapons! Track that ship!”

  Lady Kala flew out of her chair—literally—flapping her glossy black wings and landing on the crew deck below. “Belay that order!” she shrieked.

  Kaon gaped at her and slowly rose from his command chair, astonished that she would contradict his orders. This was her ship, but he was the ranking Lord. “You dare to defy me?” he said.

  “This is not your battle, Kaon. Queen Tavia has command.”

  Kaon hissed and subsided to his chair. He had gone too long without a direct superior. He had almost forgotten what it was like to submit his plans for approval before acting on them. “You are right. The Queen must be informed.”

  Moments later the Queen’s round face appeared projected in the air before his command chair. Tavia’s glossy obsidian skin and glowing red eyes robbed the child-like impression that her visage gave. Being a Kylian like Lady Kala, the two of them were almost impossible to distinguish from one another.

  “What is it, Kaon?”

  “Have you noticed the enemy vessel that tries to collide with the mighty Kilratha?”

  “Are you certain that is their intention?”

  “There can be no mistake. We must open fire on them before they slice us in half, My Queen.”

  “You will do no such thing!”

  “But, My Queen . . .”

  “Where is Lady Kala?”

  “She is on the crew deck, Glorious One.”

  A loud whoosh sounded behind Kaon and he jumped with fright.

  “I am here, My Queen.”

  Kaon turned to see Kala land behind his chair.

  “Good. You now have command of the Kilratha. I trust that you shall not ask me such foolish questions.”

  “I shall not.”

  “Good.”

  The queen’s nightmarish face vanished as the contact ended from her side, leaving Kaon’s eyes watering and itching with frustration. Lady Kala came to stand in front of him a moment later.

  “You are sitting in my place.”

  Kaon rose slowly, woodenly from his seat of honor and command. His tail thrashed the deck as he stood aside.

  “You do not have long to sit in it,” he said, glaring down on Lady Kala. “The enemy draws near, and both you and your queen insist that we do nothing!”

  Lady Kala ignored him. “Helm, begin evasive maneuvering! Full speed ahead.”

  Kaon’s gills flared with surprise once more. “You mean to evade them? What is the point? You may as well shoot them! Either way they must know that we can see them.”

  “No, Kaon. Ships move. That is why they have drive systems, is it not? The enemy will see our evasion as coincidence, nothing more.”

  “Then they will try again to ram us.”

  “But by then we shall not be a stationary target, making it impossible to reach a lethal velocity. They shall splash harmlessly off our shields.”

  Kaon sat in the vice lord’s chair that Lady Kala had occupied only moments ago. His eyes continued to itch and water. Tears began streaming down his face as his frustration mounted. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Perhaps Shallah, the Supreme One, had been right to send Queen Tavia to take his place. Had he lost his instinct for command?

  “The enemy fleet is almost in range, My Lady,” the sensor operator reported.

  “Weapons! Stand by!”

  Kaon hissed quietly to himself, hoping that Kala made enough of her own mistakes in the coming battle to eclipse his prior lapse of judgment.

  * * *

  Hoff held his breath as they flew into weapons range of the Sythians’ formation—

  But nothing happened.

  He had half expected them to open fire with a withering assault of missiles and lasers. The fact that they hadn’t seemed to agree with the Grand Overseer’s assessment that the Nulls aboard the Emancipator had been trying to trick them.

  Hoff let out the breath he’d been holding, and continued watching while the Avilonians pressed onward, flying closer and closer to the enemy. They flew past the nearest warships and into range of hundreds more.

  Still no response from the Sythians.

  “It would appear your caution was unfounded, sir,” Tactician Okara said.

  Hoff didn’t waste his breath on a reply. He sat there, stroking his chin as the Avilonian fleet flew to the center of the Sythian formation, where the enemy’s command ships lay.

  After just a few minutes, the navigator called out, “We’re in position, sir!”

  “Good. Hold steady. Start feeding our current coordinates and flight path into your jump calculations.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re still worried that they can see us?” Okara asked. “If they could, they would have opened fire by now, sir.”

  “Transmission coming in from the Justinian! The fleet is in position. We are to power weapons and open fire on their mark . . . mark is set for one minute and counting.”

  “Gunnery!” Hoff called out. “Get your crews ready! Remember, shoot to disable. Helm—make sure we keep our distance as much as possible! We want to avoid any blind fire that gets directed our way.”

  Without energy shields raised they were dangerously exposed, but space was vast. It was unlikely that the Sythians would score a blind hit on any of the tiny specks now encircling their command ships.

  “Crews ready and standing by, sir!” the gunnery officer reported.

  Hoff nodded, his eyes on the countdown projected on his ARC display. Ten seconds . . . nine, eight, seven—

  A bright flash of light illuminated the bridge. Hoff minimized his ARC displays to see what was happening.

  All around them, space was alive with spinning, sparkling purple stars that flocked and swarmed like a cloud of insects. The light show was dazzling and strangely beautiful to look at. Enemy lasers were faster to reach their targets, leaping out in blinding torrents and slamming into the Dauntless with perfect accuracy.

  “Shields!” Hoff yelled to be heard above the simulated roar and sizzle of their hull melting out from under them. “Helm! Get us out of here!”

  “Jumping in five, sir.”

  “Shields at 10% and rising!” engineering reported.

  Then the first missiles began to hit them. The explosions sounded like thunderclaps, and they heard an ominous shriek that went on and on.

  “Hull breach!”

  The world turned white. For a moment Hoff was afraid that was it. Then stars and space returned. He saw a bright, snow-white crescent on the horizon.

  Firea.

  Hoff shook his head, trying to rid his ears of the residual ringing from the explosions. “Report!”

  “Shields recovering at four percent. Hull breach on deck 22. No major damage.”

  One of the drone decks. Hoff nodded. Those decks were depressurized, so the damage wouldn’t be critical.

  Hoff eyed the star map, searching for the rest of the fleet. He’d been prepared, so they’d jumped away to the far side of Firea, but the rest of the fleet was still surrounded by Sythians, caught in the thick of the fight
. Hoff saw two Avilonian cruisers simultaneously explode as they succumbed to enemy fire.

  “They’re being slaughtered,” someone whispered beside him. Hoff turned to see that it was his XO, Tactician Okara. Her jaw was slack with horror, her glowing green eyes fixed and staring as the Avilonian fleet was cut to pieces.

  She looked as frightened as he felt.

  “Orders, sir?” someone else asked. It was the ship’s navigator.

  “Engineering—what’s our status?” Hoff replied.

  “Shields at 25%.”

  Hoff came to a decision then. His ship, the Dauntless, was a covenant-class battleship—eight kilometers long with a crew of over 50,000 drones, and two thousand living crewmen. They had over a hundred thousand torpedoes on board. Those munitions could be quantum-launched from extreme range, and the Dauntless was much faster than her Sythian counterparts, so there would be no concern about return fire. Even without the rest of the Avilonian fleet to support them, the Dauntless would be a formidable foe.

  Hoff mentally selected one of the Sythian command ships from the star map on his ARC display. “Gunnery! Open fire on that ship with everything we’ve got. Shoot to kill.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Helm, keep us away from the enemy. Engineering—activate SLS disruption fields.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said, one after another.

  “Sensors! Get me a virtual rendering of the battle and put it on the main screen.”

  “Focal point, sir?”

  “For now, our target. Comms—launch fighters! Have them fly cover for us. I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of Shell Fighters coming our way very soon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Okara turned to Hoff, her eyes still wide and blinking. “You’re going to fight back?” she sounded confused.

  “Did you think I would run?” Hoff smiled and slowly shook his head. “No, Okara. From what? They can’t catch us.”

  The main viewport shimmered, and their view of Firea transformed into a virtual rendering of a Sythian command ship. It was a massive, teardrop-shaped cruiser with organic lines and a shining lavender hull. Explosions began sprinkling that hull with fire as torpedoes teleported straight to their target. The alien ship’s shields flared brightly with the assault.