The Ascendant Stars_Book Three of Humanity's Fire

by Michael Cobley

  ‘In the name of the wee man,’ he snarled. ‘What now?’

  ‘This alert signifies a containment breach in the fuelling sublevel and a discharge of radioactive material into the environment circulation,’ said the ship AI. ‘This triggers a high-priority override which closes and seals all doors and hatches – shipboard atmospheric integrity is no longer compromised and all sectors are now repressurising.’

  Greg grinned. ‘And the containment breach?’

  ‘A fiction – false sensor readings were sent to the air quality subsystem, which escalated them to the environment oversystem. Another false report from the fuel pressure subsystem corroborated the warning and the override was triggered. System lockout decryption estimate nine point six minutes.’

  One of the overhead screens flicked on and there was Ash, gazing down.

  ‘Good work keeping your nerve, Mr Cameron. We’ll make a Tygran of you yet.’

  ‘Aye, well, I’ll be happy to take a shot at it if we can get back on course … ’

  Ash hesitated. ‘Starfire’s thrust drives are offline, but without the power drain of towing us, the Silverlance might manage it.’

  ‘I see, you mean a one-way ticket, suicide mission sort of thing.’

  ‘Yes, that would be … wait, energy readings for your weapons have just spiked, and the targeting sensors too. Starfire-copy, explain.’

  ‘Weaponry and sensors are among a group of systems locked out of access – decryption estimate eight point two minutes – warning: beam projector targeting has switched to long-range mode and is pinpointing the carrier – flank and forward batteries have opened fire.’

  ‘That vessel is at the outside limits of long-range weapons,’ Ash said.

  ‘Sensor data indicates that the Hegemony carrier has suffered minimal hull damage,’ said the Silverlance. ‘Carrier velocity is falling – we are being probed by their sensors – incoming communication: “War-vessel Ivwa-Kagoy, you are to render all weaponry inert and prepare to be boarded” – no response is possible due to comms lockout – warning: shipboard launchers are now powering up – nearby targets have been acquired.’

  ‘What targets?’ Greg said sharply.

  ‘Four evacuation pods recently ejected from this ship and currently headed towards planet Darien.’

  The Sendrukan escapees? Greg thought. That Hegemony AI did this …

  ‘That AI said our destruction was assured,’ he said. ‘It set this up, to make it look as if we’re firing on defenceless … ’

  ‘Missiles launched and on course.’ Seconds passed, then on one of the big screens there was a bright flare, followed by another three. ‘Evacuation pods destroyed.’

  Greg felt sick to his stomach. One of the holoscreens step-zoomed in on the Hegemony carrier group. The carrier was a long vessel with a hexagonal cross-section and a large triangular midsection which was probably where the command and control decks were. But as he watched the viewpoint pulled back and swung to frame a much smaller, blockier ship.

  ‘Two of the carrier’s battery-support ships have broken formation in our direction, due to intercept our course in six point three minutes – they will be in weapons range in three point nine minutes.’

  Greg gritted his teeth and shook his head. ‘Estimated time until lockouts are decrypted.’

  ‘Five point five minutes.’

  ‘There is some good news,’ said Ash.

  ‘Hope so – d’ye know how many beam projectors each of them battery ships carries?’ Greg said, peering up at the sensor readings. ‘Twenty-four, that’s how many! So, how good is your good news?’

  ‘Self-repair systems have got one of the Starfire’s main generators back online.’ Ash smiled down at him from the left-hand screen. ‘We’ve now got one of our beam cannons charged and ready to fire.’

  Greg nodded, smiling weakly. ‘I suppose you could get in a lucky shot, or ten.’

  ‘If we even had the thrust drive at least we wouldn’t be such a sitting duck.’

  A gloomy silence held sway. On the central holoscreen a countdown ate away at time. Greg was restlessly pacing the deck when he felt a shudder underfoot.

  ‘Starfire-copy, what was … ’

  ‘Full control over main systems has been regained – instructions?’

  ‘Bring thrust drive online,’ said Ash. ‘Initiate evasive manoeuvres. Re-establish forcefield tow on Starfire. Ready all weapons, target the leading vessel.’

  ‘Hegemony vessels have increased velocity,’ said the ship AI. ‘One point one minutes till their weapons are in range.’

  Greg gnawed his lips, drawing blood. ‘Are we moving at all?’ he said. ‘It feels like we’re … ’ He paused, seeing the countdown slip below one minute, seeing the seconds pour away, wondering if Catriona would ever know, wishing he’d taken time to write her a note …

  ‘Hegemony ships have stopped and are reversing course,’ said the ship AI. ‘The carrier appears to be under attack from another vessel – newcomer did not register until twenty seconds ago then swiftly approached Hegemony carrier – newcomer’s configuration is unfamiliar, has a rough hemispherical shape and a number of tapering spokes around its edge – hull seems featureless and black. Carrier has engaged with all onboard defences and is deploying interceptors.’

  On the screen missile strikes and beam impacts wreathed the mysterious black ship in a corona of fire and destruction. Seemingly unaffected, it had not thus far responded with weapons of its own. The battery ship which had remained with the carrier had already unleashed the full force of its twenty-four beam cannons, a column of dazzling energies that struck the black ship square on. When the back-tracking companion vessels at last came into range they likewise brought their cannon arrays to bear, and then there were three spears of ferocity hammering away at that black hemispherical hull.

  The unknown vessel seemed not to notice. Going by the onscreen images, there was no evidence that the fearsome triple onslaught was having any effect at all. The black ship, however, was moving with almost casual grace through the firestorm to position itself at an odd angle to the Hegemony carrier, poised forward of the midsection and off to one side.

  ‘What is it doing?’ Greg murmured.

  ‘Nothing friendly,’ said Ash.

  The three battery ships had ceased firing and were moving round to focus their attacks on the mystery vessel’s underside. At the same time one of the spines protruding from the black ship’s rim began to extend towards the carrier. A weird jagged radiance played around the gradually telescoping tip and Greg was wondering if it was some kind of onboard systems disabler when it suddenly shot forward.

  The impact wasn’t visible from the Silverlance’s perspective but the long-range visual feed showed a few glittering pieces of debris come into view. Ash muttered something under his breath and Greg watched in appalled fascination, unprepared for what happened almost ten seconds later. The interceptors had redoubled their efforts and the battery ships were unleashing the fury of their beam cannons then a gout of debris erupted from the carrier’s underside as the other end of the black ship’s extending spine punched its way out.

  ‘This is like the ship rams from ancient Earth history,’ Ash said. ‘Crude but effective … ’

  The carrier had put all its thrusters into reverse but the black ship kept pace. Then something else happened – another black spike smashed its way out through the hull, clearly branching off from the first impaling spine. Then another broke out, and another and another until the carrier from its midsection to its prow resembled a grotesque, gargantuan pincushion. The black ship then used other spines to spear two of the battery ships: run through and fatally weakened, they began to suffer internal explosions which reduced them to torn, leaking hulks. The third had been under way when the deadly spine leaped out and glanced off its hull. Thrust drives ramped into full burn, it accelerated away but too late – from the black ship’s underside a tentacle of jagged radiance uncoiled, snaked out and engulfed it, dr
agging it back in so that two rim spines stabbed out and skewered it. Staved in and mangled, it burst apart in a paroxysm of fire and havoc.

  It was like a signal for the carrier’s end. The branching spikes began to move, some rotating one way against the rest. Chasms were ripped open in the hull, more debris and bodies, more puffs of escaping air. Something vital, a refuelling station, perhaps, exploded, sending fire racing through a line of the interceptor berth decks, which touched off a string of secondary explosions.

  Then the black ship finished it. At some point, that lethal central spin must have telescoped out within the carrier because the hull visibly tore open from the upper section down. Misfiring thrusters and blasting explosions forced the bows askew and the huge warship’s back was broken. The spike branches shrank, the long spine withdrew, then the black ship manoeuvred to the aft of the crippled Hegemony vessel and repeated the deadly assault, this time with two of its rim spines.

  Fifteen minutes later the carrier had been reduced to half a dozen massive, ragged pieces, racked by explosions, drifting amid a cloud of pulverised wreckage and contorted bodies. The interceptors fought to the end, expending the last of their energy cells in useless attacks, and those not caught by the black ship’s force-field tentacles crashed themselves into its impervious black hull, final acts of pointless defiance.

  At last it appeared that all resistance had been crushed and all life snuffed out – the black vessel had hunted through the debris field for lifepods, destroying those it found. Now, with all its spines withdrawn, it moved out of the spreading cloud of wreckage and towards the two Tygran-controlled ships.

  Ash and his remaining officers had crossed over to the Silverlance during the carrier’s drawn-out demolition. Greg was watching the black vessel’s approach just as Ash entered engineering with a dataslate in hand.

  ‘More trouble, I see,’ he said to Greg.

  ‘Never a dull moment round here,’ Greg said. ‘But this time we’re ready. Hyperdrive is prepped for a fast exit, or if ye fancy a brief shot at suicidal glory all the weapons are online and charged. I’m assuming that the latter ain’t your first preference.’ Or even your tenth.

  ‘Today is not the day for suicidal glory, Mr Cameron,’ Ash said with a level smile. ‘Starfire-copy, ready drive for evasive jump pattern alpha.’

  ‘Jump pattern alpha ready – unidentified warship has altered course and is now accelerating away – it has transitioned to hyperspace.’

  The change in the black ship’s behaviour happened as swiftly as the ship AI’s commentary, and took everyone by surprise. But Ash’s stern demeanour remained fixed.

  ‘Maintain battle readiness,’ he said. ‘Sensors at full range … ’

  ‘Contact,’ said the ship AI. ‘New vessel has appeared three point eight thousand kiloms off our lower port quarter – profile matches that of the Imisil heavy recon scouts previously encountered – incoming multistream signal.’

  ‘Screen it,’ said Ash.

  The central overhead holoscreen lit up, showing the familiar features of the Imisil commander. Ash stepped to one side and with a look urged Greg to step up.

  ‘Presignifier Remosca,’ he said amiably. ‘I’m very glad to see that ye made it through that wee skirmish.’

  The humanoid’s smart white garments were now smudged and streaked with grime and blood. The skin spot-clusters pulsed between dull amber and pale green.

  ‘Captain Cameron – it is most acceptable to re-establish our acquaintance. I had not realised that you were so daring as to capture a Hegemony warship – this will not endear you to them.’

  ‘Well, if they insist on leaving their property lying around unattended … ’

  ‘I note and share your levity,’ Remosca said. ‘More seriously, did you observe the ship which destroyed the Hegemony carrier group?’

  Greg nodded. ‘It was quite a show. No one here has ever seen anything like it.’

  ‘We knew of such vessels only as dark legends from the distant past,’ Remosca said. ‘That ship belongs to a race called the Vor. It was a force of their ships that attacked the Imisil fleet – our co-signifiers managed to fight off the ambush but at considerable cost.’

  ‘You must have impressive weapons,’ Greg said. ‘Don’t know what was protecting that ship but nothing the Hegemony had could touch it.’

  ‘The Vor have only a few of those render-ships – they are shielded by a bubble of subspace which here in normal space makes them almost invulnerable. In hyperspace, less so. That vessel I am sure was hunting for us.’

  ‘And instead it ran into the Hegemony carrier and gave it a serious amount of grief.’ Greg chuckled. ‘Shame we couldn’t persuade them to stick around and help us out.’

  ‘The Vor are a vile species, Captain Cameron,’ said Presignifier Remosca. ‘They are biological parasites that ride around in the bodies of captured enemies; all brain tissue involved in higher functions is removed, reducing all cerebral activity to basic, primitive functions, then the Vor climbs in and interfaces its mind with what remains. Our legends tell of the millions who were abducted to serve as hosts for these creatures. They cannot be compromised or negotiated with, much less considered possible allies.’

  Well, that’s me told, Greg thought.

  ‘And now it’s vanished back into hyperspace,’ he said. ‘It could have gone after us or destroyed the Darien colony, or both, yet here we are.’

  ‘I have no answer for you,’ said Remosca. ‘Except to say that whatever the strategy the Vor are following, it will not be to our benefit.

  ‘However, now you must listen carefully. The Imisil fleet, despite its losses, is back on course and will be here in less than two hours, by your reckoning. We have been in touch with the edge commanders and they have informed me that the Hegemony armada will be supported by a combat fleet from their Yamanon partners, the Earthsphere. But be aware – the Hegemony will not be permitted to establish overwhelming military supremacy here.’

  Despite these stirring words, Greg still felt the optimism drain out of him. For a moment he was directionless, then a spark of anger flickered inside him.

  ‘After all that’s happened here – to us – they still let themselves be used!’ The anger was hot now. ‘The Hegemony snaps its fingers and Earthsphere hurries along to their master’s bidding, grovelling puppets, the lot o’ them! While Darien is a piece to be fought and wrangled over!’ He paused to rein in his rage. ‘Just as a matter of interest, how might the combined Hegemony and Earthsphere forces compare to the Imisil fleet?’

  ‘Conservative estimates suggest that we could be outnumbered by seven to one,’ said Remosca.

  Eyes widening, Greg uttered a low whistle. He glanced over at Ash, who was watching the screen with a thoughtful smile on his face. Then for some reason Greg’s mood changed and he found himself striving not to laugh out loud.

  ‘We shall send to you the latest reports on the likely composition of the Hegemony and Earthsphere fleets,’ said the Imisil commander. ‘When our fleet arrives, the Predominant Commander will wish to meet with us all, therefore you should be attired accordingly. In the meantime, we must attend to essential repairs.’

  The image of Remosca vanished, to be replaced by a wide-angle shot of the vicinity, including Darien and the forest moon, Nivyesta. Dynamic tags floated around the image border, updates on debris density per 100 cubic kilometres. Some tags identified the locations of bodies.

  ‘Seven to one sounds worse than the actuality,’ Ash said. ‘Strange things happen during battle, witness our most recent encounter. And anyway, so far the space around Darien has been a graveyard for starships. I think that the Hegemony is going to learn a painful lesson here.’

  ‘And Earthsphere? – what will they learn?’

  Ash shrugged. ‘To choose better allies, perhaps.’

  As the Tygran officer went off to talk to his techs, Greg stared up at the screen, at Darien hanging in space, looking just then more beautiful than he could rem
ember.

  If I asked Ash for permission to return to Darien he would probably allow it. Yet here am I, on a captured Hegemony warship, mentally preparing myself for more fighting against insane odds.

  And just then, he found himself picturing Catriona listening in on his thoughts, her face lit up with a sceptical smile.

  Oh aye, Mr Cameron? And what makes you so special that these fine, brave Tygran soldiers just canna leap into the lion’s mouth without you, eh? Tell me that if you will.

  And he imagined himself replying:

  Well, I don’t think I could sit down there, safe and powerless, while Darien’s fate is being decided up here. I might die, but if Darien lives on then that’ll be okay. But what if I lived through it all and Darien was wiped out? I couldn’t bear that, losing you and … home.

  So ye see, a leap into the lion’s mouth may not be such a bad option, if you give it something that’s really hard to chew …

  18

  ROBERT

  At the edge of everything, it began as a hiss, a sough soft as a faint breeze touching long grass. Slight variations crept in, made it sound like a long whispered conversation overheard from the far end of a great hall. When at last it was loud enough to wake him properly, he had already arrived at the realisation that he was lying on something padded at the bottom of a boat. And his ears were full of the sound of rushing waters.

  Carefully, Robert Horst sat up. Sheer grey cliffs loomed to either side while some distance back the way he had come was an immense arched portal, perhaps a hundred feet high and set into the rocky sides of the deep gorge. Beyond it was an inky darkness and the hazy outlines of great orbs, those eroded, hollowed-out bodies that the sim-AI was convinced had once been armed planetoids, built for an ages-gone battle against something called the Sun-Hydra …

  The last moments of that terrifying chase across the inner surface of the planetoid came back to him, the console alert which showed the huge black bulk of a megavermax hurtling after the lifepod he was in, and the awful crash into oblivion just as he entered the anomaly. And yet apparently he had made it, crossed into some strange territory on the fringe of the Godhead’s mind. The Tanenth machine had impressed upon him the dangers of entering these domains, levels of hyperspace that the meta-quantal properties of the Godhead’s thoughts had refashioned in ways both conscious and subconscious. The machine had warned that intruders could also influence the characteristics of an environment rendered malleable by the pressure of those thoughts.