“Maybe,” said the tech, looking around and shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t think so.”
“We had to have got the shot off,” yelled Stumpfield, spittle flying from his lips. “We had to. We can’t fail like this. We can’t.”
A sound came from the door, and Stumpfield turned to see a glowing point appear on the hatch. A moment later metal sparks flew out as the cutting laser penetrated the alloy of the hatch, then started to work its way up. It was obvious that those outside were no longer afraid of what Stumpfield and his people could do, and were going to round them up.
“I won’t let them take us,” screamed Stumpfield, pulling a pistol from underneath his coat, aiming it at the tech, and putting a hyper velocity round through the man’s head. He turned and shot another of this people, then gasped out as he tried to turn and get Achieng Okoye, the most dangerous of his people, in his sights.
Okoye had already started moving when the count pulled the pistol, and she was in his face before he could complete his turn. A poke of her stiffened fingers to his throat and he could no longer breath. A second strike to his temple with her augmented strength and his lifeless body was dropping to the floor.
The woman walked to the door and disengaged the lock, letting those trying to get in through. She put her hands up over her head and let them restrain her. Yes, she was here for the mission, but the mission was over, a failure, and she saw no need to die when she didn’t need to.
* * *
Sean watched as the missile launch tube was blown into pieces, hundreds of thousands of small among four large. He waited a moment, wondering if they had gotten to it in time.
“Gravity from the hole is going down,” said Lucille, a note of triumph in her voice. “We got to it in time.” She looked up and into the eyes of the monarch. “I hope.”
Sean stared at the holo showing the tumbling pieces of a multi-trillion Imperial structure that had been one of the most powerful weapons of his empire. An expensive lesson. But less expensive than losing eight core systems and this station.
“Good job, Admiral,” Sean said over the com to the control bridge.
“We’re not sure we were the ones who got it, your Majesty.”
“What do you mean, Admiral? If we didn’t destroy it, what did?”
“We’re still not sure, your Majesty. We’re trying to track it now, and one of our destroyers is closing on it. We’re hoping she’ll be able to develop the target.”
The target, thought Sean. They were thinking of it as hostile, even though it had just saved their asses. The monarch approved of that way of thinking. They couldn’t afford to make a mistake if something that powerful was creeping around without letting them know who they were.
“We’re getting a com from the Damocles, sir,” said a voice in the background. “They’re still having problems getting a firm fix on the intruder. The captain says they are closing, and asks permission to fire a wide spread.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Permission granted, Admiral. Whatever it is, I don’t want it getting close to this station.”
“Yes, sir. Damocles. You have permission to fire.”
And I hope we’re not firing on a friend, thought Sean, staring at the tactical plot which had come up to replace the image of the destroyed launcher.
* * *
“That’s the best I can do, sir,” said the tactical officer.
“Then fire a wide spread. Let’s see if we can get them to come out into the open.”
Damocles was turned broadside to the target, allowing all of her laser rings and particle beams to bear. All fired at the same time, at a target that was less than ten thousand kilometers away. The beams flashed through the target area at the speed of light, or, in the case of the particle beams, as near to it as made no difference. All but one flew through nothing, but that laser beam hit something, photons splashing back into space to be detected by the sensors of the destroyer.
“We’ve got a fix,” yelled out the tactical officer.
“Hit them with everything you’ve got,” responded the captain. “Prepare to fire missiles.”
Damocles got off another set of beam shots, but before she could get off her missiles she became the target.
* * *
“We are being fired upon,” called out one of the Ancients in a burst of sound.
Jackson could understand enough of their language to get the gist, and was cheering inside that the Imperial Fleet had got enough of a fix on the ship to fire.
“Return fire,” called out the commander. “Damage?”
“Minor scarring on the hull,” said another crew member.
“Firing, now.”
If Jackson had thought the Ancient ship only carried the one beam weapon of limited range, he was soon disabused of that notion as a pair of powerful laser beams speared the destroyer. They blasted through with the strength of battleship rings, burning all the way into the ship in less than a second. A sphere of brilliant scintillating light flew in after the beams, striking the bow of the vessel and converting a hundred meters of hull into dust which flew away into the vacuum.
The destroyer didn’t give up, even mortally wounded, and it continued to fire into the Ancient vessel with all the beam weapons that were still functioning. The alien laser swept through, ripping a meter-wide swath through the ship, until it hit engineering and breeching antimatter put an end to the destroyer.
“They know we are here,” said the commander. “Raise shields and prepare to boost at full speed toward the station. The time for stealth is over.”
The shields came up just in time, as a pentawatt class laser struck the ship, followed a second later by another one. The Ancient vessel shook from the transfer energy, but there was no burn through.
“The gravitic shield has held,” said the Ancient who was acting as their tactical officer.
What the hell is a gravitic shield? thought Jackson. Whatever it was, it sounded much more effective than the electromagnetic shields that were used on Imperial ships, and just about any alien vessels known.
“We have more ships firing on us,” reported the tactical officer. “And more moving into place.”
“Fire on them until we are within range of the station. Then turn all weapons on it.”
Jackson knew his time had come. He had to do something, and now was the time. He might fail, he might die, but he had to try. While the Ancients all had their attention on the battle he moved toward a locker he had noted when he had first come on the bridge. He had seen one of the Ancients pull it open, and it appeared to have no lock. Now he could only hope that was true.
* * *
“They destroyed the Damocles, your Majesty. But we can see them now. I’m going to hit them with everything we have.”
Sean leaned forward in his chair as a half dozen holos popped into life over the table. One showed the alien ship, with estimated scale markings below it. It was like nothing he had ever seen. It was shaped like a dodecahedron, and looked to mass about a couple of thousand tons, though that was only an estimate. It had destroyed a two hundred thousand ton destroyer in seconds, and had blasted apart the larger structure of a missile launcher, so it held more power than its size would indicate. Immediately after it appeared, it blurred behind some kind of screen that didn’t look like the electromagnetic cold plasma variety the humans used.
“We’re hitting it with pentawatt lasers from two of the orbiting batteries, sir,” said one of the crew on the control bridge. “No affect so far.”
That raised the hackles on Sean’s neck. Those batteries, housing lasers that had once been used to create industrial micro-black holes, could tear through a battleship, shields and armor, in a second. But they weren’t going through whatever those shields were.
“These people are much more advanced than we are,” said Director Yu.
Sean glared at her for a moment. It was obvious that these people were as far ahead of the humans as the humans were ahead
of the first orbiting missions of their home world. And then the alien ship fired, a beam slicing into one of the orbiting batteries, going through its own shielding and armor as if it were air. A pair of scintillating globes shot from the ship heading for the other battery, and the holo slowed the image down for a second to give the viewers a good picture, before following them into the laser emplacement. Two one hundred yard bites were taken out of the weapon, waves of dust flying from the areas of impact.
“What the hell is that?”
“I’m guessing some kind of molecular bond suppression weapon,” said Lucille, leaning forward herself. “It must sever the bonds between atoms in molecules, turning what they hit into molecular dust.”
The first laser battery was sliced open, cut into two uneven pieces that floated apart. The weapon itself was no longer functional, and that battery was out of the fight. The beam then took the other platform under fire, and within seconds it too was out of service.
“We have a heavy cruiser and two destroyers closing, your Majesty. They will pass by at point zero five light and fire in passing.”
“What else do you have, Admiral? I don’t want that thing getting close to the station.” He was thinking about that first beam that had destroyed the missile platform. It hadn’t gently turned molecules into atoms. No, it had caused an explosion that had ripped apart a massive structure. Since they hadn’t used it since he had to figure it had a limited range, and he didn’t want them getting within said range.
“We’re getting the targeting solutions for missiles now,” said Sung.
It took more than just aiming the missiles and letting them loose. Those on the station would be coming from tubes that were rotating along with the structure at a very fast rate. The solution had to send them into the target in a way that took advantage of their rotational velocity.
“The cruiser is launching,” said Sung, looking off the holo for a moment.
The cruiser was moving toward the alien at point zero five light, at just under a light second and already firing its lasers and particle beams. The missiles accelerated out of its forward tubes, moving at point zero eight light and accelerating at fifteen thousand gravities. The flight time for the eight missiles would be just under eleven seconds. Before they had covered a third of that distance lasers speared out from the alien craft and detonated all of the missiles in less than a second. They then targeted the cruiser, slicing through its heavy armor as if it were light weight plastic. A pair of the glowing balls flew at it as well, moving at one tenth of the speed of light.
The cruiser switched its lasers onto one of the balls, following it in. After four seconds of contact the ball exploded outward, disappearing. The other hit the bow of the cruiser and vaporized a hundred meters in. The lasers continued to eat into the cruiser, burning through the length until they hit the engineering section and the cruiser went up in a blast of plasma.
“Missiles firing, now.”
There was no shudder from the station such as occurred on most ships. The station was just too massive for such a small object, no matter the acceleration out of the tubes, to register. A hundred missiles were on the way in seconds, all the tubes on one quarter of the station, using the rotation to throw the missiles into the side of the enemy craft. Flight time was just over thirteen seconds, and the enemy lasers blasted all but two of them from space. The two that hit detonated with gigaton blasts that did nothing to penetrate the enemy screens.
Everything that could bear fired on the enemy. Missiles, lasers, particle beams, everything but the close in weapons that really couldn’t reach the targets due to their slow velocity and the sideward velocity that was imparted by the station.
Now the station shook, slightly, as the lasers of the enemy started tearing across the outer skin. Several of the globes struck as well, digging balls out of the station that were almost unnoticeable unless one happened to be where they hit. It was turning into a slugging match, and almost everything the station was throwing at it was being deflected or blown out of space, while the alien vessel came closer.
Sean turned to see Lucille looking at a holo and talking. She turned back to him with a tight smile on her face.
“I’m sending something their way. With your permission, of course.”
Sean nodded, wondering what she was doing, but turned back to the tactical holo, his attention captured by what he knew was coming.
Another hundred missiles went for the alien, and again were almost all blown out of space, only a trio making it through. There were more launches, more interceptions. As the enemy drew closer they had less time for their own tracking, and a few more missiles made it through.
“Alberta is in range and ready to launch,” came a voice over the com.
Sean checked out the ship they were talking about. A close in system defense monitor, no hyperdrive capability, but able to accelerate at five hundred and fifty gravities. Eight million tons, armored and armed like a battleship. And carrying, at the moment, two wormholes, configured to launch missiles.
“Tell her to fire as soon as she has a lock,” ordered the admiral.
The enemy ship was now within fifty thousand kilometers of the station, moving at four thousand kilometers a second. It had fired on the missile launcher at six thousand kilometers, so that was the predicted range. It would probably take more than one shot to blast through a section of the station, but they also had their lasers and those disintegrator globes.
“Enemy ship is losing acceleration,” called out one of the tactical crew. “There appears to be a weakening on their shields over the mid port area.”
“That was my gift to our friends,” said Lucille with a smile. “A couple of kilograms of antimatter inside their ship, courtesy of quantum teleportation.”
Sean smiled back. He had forgotten about that tech, the ability to teleport substances close range. Only about half of the teleported substance made it to the target. The rest was spread through space, courtesy of the weirdness of quantum physics. Molecules might end up ten feet from the teleporter unit, or across the universe. There was always the danger that a significant amount might end up where they didn’t want it to be, but that was rare.
“Alberta is firing.”
Out in space, five light seconds out, the monitor released two streams of wormhole launched missiles within a microsecond of each other. Sixty missiles were in space in an instant, traveling at point nine-five light and accelerating at fifteen thousand gravities. Part of that acceleration was evasive maneuvers, and not even the technologically advanced alien could get all of them. Hopefully not even most of them. And the Emperor stared as they moved on the plot, travel time less than six seconds.
* * *
“What was that,” squealed the Ancient commander as the ship shook and the light dimmed for a second.
“Something exploded in our engineering section,” called out one of the crew. “They don’t know what it was, but there is a lot of residual neutron radiation.
“Are defenses still at full strength?”
“All weapons are operational, but shield strength has been reduced to seventy-five percent. And it is not an even reduction.”
The ship was coming in at the station so that it would barely pass over it. They would fire all weapons in passing, ripping through the structure with lasers, releasing disintegrator globes as fast as they could fire them, and shooting off all eight of the matter conversion beams. That should be enough to cut through the station. And once the ring was cut, it was just a matter of it unraveling and falling into the black hole. Actually, only about half of it would fall in. The other half would tear away and fall out of the system. But it would be destroyed, of no use to the humans, and never to be used again to make wormholes.
“What are you doing?” yelled Klorasoft, just before the weapons control station sparked as something cut through the metal and plastic of the control board.
“I’m stopping you from destroying my Empire,” yelled out Xavier
Jackson as he swung the beam of the emergency cutting laser into another station, taking off two tentacles of the Ancient manning that post.
“We have missiles on approach,” yelled out another Ancient. “Sixty objects, velocity point nine-six light. Impact in two seconds.”
The commander turned to stare at the human. If their firing systems had been up they might have been able to take out thirty of those weapons, maybe more. With systems damaged they would be lucky to get ten.
“You’ve doomed all of us,” said the commander to the smiling human, who still held the laser and obviously meant to keep using it.
The missiles hit so fast that in was like one impact. Sixty gigatons of antimatter warheads, over a hundred gigatons of kinetic energy. Enough to blast sixty battleships into plasma. The shields still almost held, failing at the last minute and allowing a couple of gigatons of force in to hit the hull. The hull was a tough alloy, with an outer layer of almost nuclear density. The blast still punched through, and the after third of the ship was turned into an inferno that melted machinery and Ancients both.
Klorasoft grabbed Jackson as he fell, then carried him over to a hatch set on the side of the bulkhead.
“Are you going to kill me?” asked Jackson, looking into the eyes of the alien he had thought of as a friend.
“No,” said Klorasoft, throwing him through the opening to land in a padded chamber. “Warn them of their folly.”
The hatch slammed closed and the chamber seemed to press him against the padding for some seconds. And then he was drifting weightless in the capsule, and knew that he had been ejected so that he might live. And warn his people.
* * *
“Enemy ship is without power, sir,” called out one of the control bridge crew.
“Can we capture it?” asked Sean, anxious to get that tech for his military. With shields and weapons like that, not to mention their stealth technology, they could rout the Cacas in a year.
“No, your Majesty. They are flying over the top of the station as we speak.”
Sean looked at the tactical holo, following the ship as it sped by the fifty kilometer thickness of the station like it was a mathematical line of no thickness. The black hole was over seven million kilometers from the inside skin of the station, and the enemy ship was already moving toward it at point one light, accelerating all the time. He watched in fascination as it fell inward, hoping they might get their ship working so he could meet and talk with these beings. They had tried to destroy his station, and with it his empire, but he thought he understood their motivations. They had been trying to stop the humans from making the same mistake they had, and he promised himself his people would not make that error again.
Time Strike Page 29