Blazer swallowed hard and flashed a thumbs up to his Shinekian crew chief, catching a glimpse of Zithe’s fighter beside his own. An unpainted spare replaced the damaged wing of his wingman’s craft. The naked dark grey carbon fiber outer armor stood out against the squadron’s normal midnight blue and silver-white markings.
The docking claw indicator blinked on Blazer’s console bringing his focus forward again. Blazer resisted the urge to look down; thankful that Arion had not yet activated the Sensor Imaging System (SIS). The hiss of the docking claw sounded and it extended, all noise outside the cockpit disappearing in an instant.
He closed his eyes tight as the fighter breached Mercy’s hull. He could never look out at hyperspace without getting disoriented. Readying himself, he forced his eyes open. A backdrop of infinite swirling darkness greeted him. He tried to focus on anything in the distance, but everywhere he looked the mind bending concave jump points in normal space awaited. Through the nearer ones he witnessed distorted alien starfields, and in the distance the miasma blended into an ever-moving surrealist landscape that twisted his perspective and his stomach.
The resulting vertigo threatened to throw him from his seat despite the lack of gravity. He forced himself to focus on the task force around them. The SIS activated a moment later and, out of habit, he looked down. He regretted the action instantly.
Only the presence of the saber-profiled Atorg Class Cruiser in the near distance allowed Blazer a point for his eyes to lock onto in the flowing miasma of concave jump points. “You just had to do that didn’t you?”
“We’re closing on the jump point, need all systems on standby,” Arion replied dryly.
Blazer looked ahead, and sure enough they were almost at the jump point. The countdown to their drop showed less than a pulse. Blazer flexed his hands on his controls in anticipation. Familiar flashes of light appeared through the concave depression back into normal space; the death throes of starships.
Blazer took a breath and a moment later the Mercy pierced the barrier between universes. The blinking of the docking claw indicator increased in intensity, the color shifting from blue, through purple and finally to red. “Scramble Launch!” the launch controller called, and the docking claw kicked his fighter away from the ship.
Blazer pushed down on his throttle and rocketed away from the frigate before rolling about to level his artificial horizon with the system’s ecliptic. Orienting himself to the battlespace, Blazer’s stomach fell away. The remains of the advanced force that had taken the jump point hung in space before the task force. In the few pulses since they’d dropped out of hyperspace a half-dozen beam cannon heavy Mangler Class Corvettes had died as had one of the trio of Atorg cruisers. Their mauled remains drifted through space with what Blazer could only assume were the destroyed sentry satellites. Off in the distance the last two Atorgs exchanged fire with something Blazer couldn’t make out. The damage to the two cruisers was evident even from a distance, blast marks scoring their pierced hulls and their engines flickering. If no one made it out then, that’s what, at least twelve hundred dead already?
“Monstero Nach, Lead, assume close escort formation around the Mercy. Keep clear of her beam turrets,” Tadeh Qudas ordered.
“Flight Two lead copies. Assuming position,” Blazer replied and vectored his fighter alongside the Mercy, his two wingmen keeping position with him.
“What can you see Arion?” Blazer asked, his sensor sphere filled with noise.
“You probably have a better view than I do at this point,” Arion replied. “There’s so much interference across the EM and tachyon bands that I can’t see anything beyond the targeting array right now.”
“Then how are the Gorvians detecting anything?”
“We’re working that over the WSO net right now. We’ve found a spread of EM and tachyon frequencies that go clear. But by the time we lock in, the Gorvians have shifted away. We’re trying to work their frequency-shifting algorithm. Right now, it appears completely random.”
“So, we have no idea what might be coming for us?”
“We’re tapped into the battlenet with the big ships, but even that’s not getting us much.”
A movement off to Blazer’s left caught his eye; fighters pouring out of the carriers and the command ship. “Looks like the recon teams are heading out.”
“Good luck guys,” Arion commented.
“Monstero Nach, Mercy Control, we have located a possible jammer in the area. Coordinates uploaded. Investigate and destroy.”
“All Units, Nach Lead, form on me and prepare to slipstream,” Tadeh Qudas called out as the navigation point ten light pulses away resolved itself on Blazer’s display.
“Nach Three Copies,” Blazer replied and moved into position.
Command Center, UCSBS Nosh’tak, Tib’Trim System
Admiral Quin Tosh stared at the recon ships and fighters disappear into the jamming field permeating the system on the tactical display. She kept her hands clasped behind her back and concentrated on keeping her feet planted to hide her anxiety. The only indication of their progress for now were the slight gravitic anomalies their slipstream drives produced. “Have we pinpointed any of those jammers yet?”
“We have possible locations of the ten nearest jammers and have dispatched escort squadrons to investigate,” Office Krade replied. The suspect volumes of space began to glow in response; the jamming signal strength peaking around tiny thermal points at their hearts.
The Admiral’s gut gnawed at her as she watched the display. New gravitic pulses revealed the squadrons moving out. “A full squadron per jammer?”
“These are large volumes of space. If the jammers are anything like the sentry satellites, then they’ll need the firepower. Also, with jamming this heavy, they won’t be able to call for backup. Everything short of short range tach or laser links are scrambled.”
Quin Tosh didn’t like it. Flying blind like this, she had no idea what awaited her task force. “Order all escorts in closer to the carriers. I want overlapping fields of fire from all defensive weapons for maximum coverage. Nothing gets through.”
Monstero Nach 03
“Where the Sheol are these guys Arion?” Blazer hollered, G-forces slamming him back into his seat as he pulled back on his stick and fired his side thrusters. The lance of a beam cannon bore through space where he’d been a moment before, its source invisible in the distance. The G-forces pouring on, Blazer spun his fighter about to get a visual on the beam’s origin. It had already disappeared.
“Working on it, there,” Arion called out and a targeting box appeared.
Blazer stared at the point and felt his eyes fall into it. There was nothing there, just utter blackness. “I don’t see…”
“That’s the point. Don’t look straight at it. Look at what’s not there, no stars, nothing.”
Blazer chuffed. “You have to be kidding me.”
“I caught the heat bloom while it was firing, and that’s it. The spot is cold and dark otherwise, but the jamming signal is definitely coming from there.”
“Copy that. Four, Six, on me. Target the dark spot.”
“Lead, Four, we think that thing is coated in vantablack,” Marda called out.
“Makes sense,” Blazer replied. “But then where’s the heat going?”
“ZKEPs,” Arion replied. “The vantablack absorbs all the light and they dump everything into their thermal traps. They must have pulled in their primary radiators when they saw us closing in.”
“Any clue how big this thing is?”
“None,” Arion replied. “I can’t even tell how far away it is. The vanta is absorbing across the whole EM spectrum, and the jamming is too intense to get any other signal. We could fly right into it and not know.”
Blazer considered that; even their gravitic sensors weren’t likely to pick anything up, calibrated as they were to detect much larger masses. “How long can you maintain shark control?” he asked as the infinitely dark volume
of space grew before them.
“Not long. But I can set them to hunt that thing.”
“Do it.”
“Will do. Shreg! Thermal spike!”
“All units, scatter!” Blazer roared and pressed down on his throttle. Another plasma beam pierced their formation a moment later and arced down towards Blazer’s fighter. Cold sweat flooded Blazer’s forehead as he nosed over and fired his afterburner to escape the beam. But he wasn’t fast enough and his fighter bucked when the beam slammed into his shields. Blazer squeezed his right slide thruster and pressed even harder on the afterburner switch.
“Beam out,” Arion hissed a moment later. “Shields are at twenty percent.”
“At least tell me that you got a good trace on that beam cannon’s location,” Blazer huffed and pulled back up towards the massive black spot in the sky.
“I did. Shark is ready.”
“Let her go then,” Blazer ordered
A single shark burst free of its launch tube under their cockpit. It raced away before its own vantablack skin sprang to life; standing up the carbon nanotube array and it disappeared. Blazer just stared into the stygian darkness and a moment later a blinding flash lit up the blackness when the Photon Detonator crystal at the core of the torpedo shattered. Blazer looked back; his expectations low. His hearts swelled at the sight of electrical arcs, sparks and outgassing from a breached hull in the middle of the black abyss.
“Good shot! Four, Six, coordinate fire around that spot, try and open it up more. Put sharks in there if you can. Arion?”
“Already on it. Shark two away!”
“Sharks out,” Gokhead called.
“Swimmers in the black!” Matt added.
Blazer counted out the time after the torpedoes launched before five more bright spheres blinked to life. “Frag me, we’re close,” he hissed and hauled back on the throttle as more of the massive satellite burst open. “Weapons free,” he ordered and squeezed his trigger. “Arion, any effect on the jamming?”
“Minimal,” he replied as Blazer walked plaser rounds across the stygian surface.
“Can we raise…”
Before Blazer could finish asking, twelve more bright spheres cleaved away chunks of the giant jammer. The static filling his sensor sphere all but disappeared but what replaced it left a gravity sink in his stomach. Dozens of Gorvian contacts; fighters, corvettes and cruiser-sized vessels began to emerge from what he thought was empty space.
“Lead, Three. Are you seeing this?”
“Confirmed, Eight. I don't care if it fries your transmitter. Get a signal to the fleet and let them know that they have company coming. All units. Prepare to slipstream back to the fleet.”
Command Center, UCSBS Nosh’tak
Admiral Quin Tosh almost jumped when the sensor image around her fleet cleared. Eager to see what might be out there, she rushed over to look. The sight sent the hairs of her mane to attention. “Is this correct?”
The intelligence officers conferred with the sensor technicians over their links, their faces draining of any color as more of the jamming net dropped and new contacts appeared. “It’s worse ma’am. We’re outnumbered at least ten to one.”
The admiral turned back to the display and narrowed her eyes to focus. The situation was untenable, but they weren’t here to win. They had to gather intel and retreat. The Gorvians are far better equipped than we ever dreamed. We might need to pull assets from even the frontline and home guard fleets to stand against them.
“Ma’am, orders?” Officer Krade asked.
“Recall all fighters and put them on bomber intercept. Move the corvettes forward a full light pulse as our first defensive screen. Set the cruisers between us and them. Draw the frigates in close to us and the carriers as the final defensive layer. Try and hail the recon craft. Order them to get whatever they can and retreat.”
Quin Tosh watched as several gravitic anomalies that she’d assumed marked the location of her stealth scouts cut out. Don’t assume the worst yet. They were close to that gas giant. They probably just dropped off slipstream.
Make Your Mama Cry, Tib’Trim System
The stealth sloop, Make Your Mama Cry, all but fell off the slipstream as it approached the gas giant. In the cramped cockpit Tam Colege and the rest of his shark-like Lodran crew scanned space for any problems. “What in the deep trench just happened?”
“Gravitic shift near the gas giant,” one of the three enlisted sensor operators replied. “I think our target might have come around the planet.”
“How big is that thing that it could disrupt the slipstream drive’s lock and kick us off?” his co-pilot, Tolgen, asked from beneath his WSO shroud, throwing his twin thumbed webbed hands in frustration.
“Can you give me a vector for it?”
“Already on it,” Tolgen replied before a navigation marker appeared on the synthetic display surrounding them, the cockpit having no actual windows while in stealth mode.
Tam zoomed in on the location. He focused all four of his eyes on the image but couldn’t make anything out. Then what appeared to be a waxing moon resolved on the display, but the shadows were all wrong. The crescent shaped object held a fast orbit in the middle of the gas giant’s ring system, cleaving a path for itself. “By the abyss!!! Get me readings!”
“Full passive scan is already online,” the sensor tech replied.
“Slipstream drive is on standby. We can self-navigate in closer, but it might get bumpy,” Tolgen whistled between razor-sharp teeth.
“Do it. Let’s get our scans and get out. Can you pick up any hostiles?”
“Jamming is massive here, and the gas giant’s own radiation isn’t helping matters. We’re getting good visuals though sir.”
“Okay,” Tam began. “Can you get a good enough gravitic lock on that that thing for us to slipstream at it? I want to stay stealthy as long as possible. Once we get within a light pulse, shine everything we have at it. I want the most detailed scans we can get.”
Tolgen remained silent for a moment then replied. “Gravitics are locked in so long as they don’t accelerate again. Prepare for fall insertion. The ZKEPs are at half capacity. Once we light up the sensors...”
“Do it,” Tam ordered; he knew what would happen once the ZKEPs were fully heated.
The slipstream drive at the heart of the ship reactivated at Tolgen’s command. The captured hyperspace bubble within the silicasteel sphere pulsed to life; wrapping the ship in dark energy and reducing the sloop’s effective mass to less than that of a single crew member. Attuned to the gravitic profile of the crescent-shaped object, the ship fell towards it. Accelerating up to half light speed in just under a pulse, the sloop’s acceleration compensators held them together, but poured waste heat into the ZKEPs.
“We’re going in for a single high-speed pass, so make every sensor pulse count. Once we’re clear we’ll throw open the radiators and run full burn back to the fleet. Let’s see any of those monsters catch us.”
The tension in the cockpit ramped up with each passing cent as the monstrous object they fell towards came into sharp detail. The size of the giant craft boggled the mind; at least twice as wide as Lodrus’, their home world’s, diameter. The hull was like nothing they’d ever seen, covered in bumps and blisters with no sense of uniformity. Shield generators and turrets blanketed the construct in an almost impenetrable defensive net.
“What are those three objects on the bow?” Tam asked, highlighting them on his screen.
“Readings indicate heavy rock and iron. They’re wedge shaped too,” one of the sensor operators commented. “I read their widths to be at least a thousand kilometra, masses are each in excess of two times ten to the seventh tons.”
“That’s on the order of a dwarf planet. What in the abyss would they do with those?” Tam asked.
“I have a theory. I don’t think that those rings are entirely natural,” Tolgen replied. The cockpit went silent for a moment; the crew exchanging nervous glan
ces.
“I have readings of active anti-matter jets,” one of the sensor operators commented.
“Where?” Tam asked.
“All along the bow. Mother save me. I think this thing slices planets in half.”
Tam tried to shake that idea off as their course brought the massive engines lining the rear of the behemoth into view. Drawing closer, it became apparent that Tolgen’s assessment might be correct. Before he could say anything, his threat display lit up brighter than he’d ever seen it. “Are they just hunting or have they locked on?”
“Active scanners from across the spectrum. I can’t tell if they’ve locked onto us yet or not, but I’d rather not stick around to find out,” Tolgen replied.
“Me neither. Engage main engines, but keep the radiators tucked in as long as you can.”
Tam didn’t even bother to grab his controls. At this speed, the navigation was all up to Tolgen and his programming. He kept his eyes on his displays however and noted several bursts of light over the Gorvian ship. “What are those?”
“Hard to tell amongst everything else and the noise. But some of those thermal signatures look like ZKEP bursts,” the third sensor technician called, his voice radiating concern. “Confed ZKEP bursts, those are sloops…”
“Focus on the mission,” Tam snapped as they drew near enough to spot individual lights and observation domes on the surface. Space all around them lit up; plasma laser and mass driver rounds tracking in on them from the surface. “Have they locked on?”
“Negative,” Tolgen replied. “But at this range and with all the sensors they have, they must notice the hole we create in their sky.”
Tam didn’t even mull that over. “Full acceleration. Dump heat into the ZKEPs as long as we can then eject them and throw the radiators out. I want us as light and as fast as possible before we become a giant thermal target.”
“I knew you’d say that. Prepare to slingshot,” Tolgen called.
Tam slammed himself back into his seat as their bomber-sized craft skidded within a few kilometra of the Gorvian juggernaut’s surface. Even with their acceleration compensators and slipstream drive lightening the load on their bodies the G-Forces forced his vision to dim and grey. Tam struggled to breathe, unwilling to look at the G-meter as everything on his displays blurred beyond recognition. Rounding the aft end of the ship, the G-Forces let up and they rocketed away. Tam didn’t dare relax however. “Is our path clear?”
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