Embers of War (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 8)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Beth, good to see you up again,” Andy said as he saw her approach.

  “Captain,” Ayala said. “We were just discussing next moves…”

  “Loud enough that the Naga could hear you in the next star system, yes, I gathered that. From sickbay,” Beth said.

  Both of them looked suitably contrite, so she moderated her tone a bit. “We’ve lost some good people on this mission already. I’m not in the mood to lose any more.”

  “My thoughts precisely, Captain,” Ayala said with a smile.

  “But Beth, we can’t just give up now!” Andy said.

  “It’s not giving up to admit we went in with a crappy plan,” Beth said, cutting in. “Let’s face it - we underestimated them. You did. I did too. We assumed they were just stupid insects. We were wrong.”

  The two men were silent as she regarded them. Beth glanced from one face to the other. Neither of them had been following the same line of thought she had. She held her frustration with them in check as best she could. How could they not see?

  “What are you saying? How smart do you think they are?” Ayala asked at last.

  “When they ambushed your team on the moon, I thought it was bad luck,” Beth said. “We didn’t know how they acted, what was normal for them. Remember how they all jumped out at once from the vats where they were hiding?”

  Ayala nodded. “Vividly.”

  “I read it as us disturbing their nest,” Beth said.

  “As did I,” Ayala replied. “They reacted to us when we killed one of their young.”

  Beth remembered the scene well. She’d been back on the ship, watching from the bridge as Ayala and his security teams broke into a hydroponics bay gone completely wild. The men had encountered some of the insects’ young and shot them.

  “They all broke out at once after that,” Beth said.

  “Right. Natural response. They were protecting their young,” Ayala said, clearly growing impatient that she get to the point.

  “But they didn’t do that this time. They waited. We shot, what, six of the larvae?” Beth asked.

  “At least,” Andy replied. He was beginning to understand what she was getting at. Beth could see the recognition dawning in his eyes.

  “But they waited, the whole cluster of adults. They paused until we were spread out and vulnerable. Only the improved weapons we brought in with us enabled us to beat them,” Beth said.

  There had been ten of them in all, including the enormous one she’d killed. Ten of the creatures. And they hadn’t attacked as soon as they saw the invading humans. They hadn’t even attacked when the first larva died, or the second, or the fifth. The things remained hidden on the ceiling, waiting for precisely the right time to maximize the impact of their assault.

  “I’m not even certain they would have attacked when they did, except that I happened to look up and see them,” Beth said. “They were holding out as long as they could so that we would continue spreading out our teams. If they’d waited another minute or two, how far apart would our fire teams have been?”

  The two men looked grim. Neither of them said anything.

  “These bugs are a lot smarter than we’ve given them credit for,” Beth said. “A whole hell of a lot smarter.”

  “I’ve analyzed the footage from the attack and concur,” Majel said. “Mathematically, the most opportune moment to strike would have happened roughly forty-four seconds after they moved. I suspect that had they not been detected they would have waited about that long before launching their strike.”

  None of them said a word. None of them had to. But Beth let them think about the implications a bit before going on.

  “I think this planet is a bust, gentlemen. I don’t think we can place a settlement here at all. Anyone we leave behind here is going to die,” Beth said. She pointed outside the ship, toward the cave. “Those things will kill them.”

  Andy shook his head. “We’ve already unloaded most of the gear, though. Two-thirds of the colonists are outside and setting up temporary shelters, and reinforcing the cave entrance in both directions.”

  Beth grimaced. She hadn’t given that order. “Charline’s idea?”

  “She thought it best to get things moving while you were being patched up,” Andy said.

  “And you went along with it?” Beth asked Ayala.

  “She’s the colony governor. The ground stuff is her mission,” he replied. “I was against the idea, which is how I ended up debating the topic with Andrew.”

  Beth shook her head. They’d have to reload everything, get everyone back aboard the ship. It would take time, but there was no way she was leaving people behind on this rock. Not given what they’d learned about these creatures. They were just too dangerous.

  “Have them load back up again,” Beth said. “This mission is scrubbed. We’re going home. They’ll have to find another planet for their alpha site.”

  As soon as she said the words, there was a loud rumbling from somewhere outside. Not an earthquake. The ship itself wasn’t shaking, so it wasn’t an explosion either. Beth glanced toward the closed hatch, started toward the panel which would open it up.

  “Majel, what’s going on out there?” she asked.

  “Cave in. The entrance to the cave area has collapsed,” the AI replied.

  “Shit. Do we still have people inside?” Beth asked.

  “Affirmative. I’m detecting the signals from twenty of the colony team,” Majel said. “Including Charline.”

  “Shit,” Beth said, her palm already pressed against the panel to open the cargo door and lower the ramp. They needed to get in there, fast.

  But as the ramp slowly descended from the ship, the lighting in the cargo bay suddenly went to flashing red. Alert klaxons sounded.

  “Now what?” Beth called. Andy and Ayala were rushing down the ramp, weapons in hand. More men followed them, armed to the teeth and ready to help rescue their trapped people. She paused, trying to assess what this new threat was.

  “The alert came from Lieutenant Foster, on the bridge,” Majel said. “A ship has just arrived in the system, and it’s making its way directly toward us.”

  “Shit,” Beth repeated. “Naga?”

  “I do not believe so,” Majel said. Her next words made Beth’s blood run cold. “Sensors indicate the ship arrived via wormhole.”

  Fifteen

  Beth raced to the bridge like she was being chased by demons. Which might well be the case. There was damned little time before that ship arrived in orbit. The Satori would be helpless, sitting on the ground. It could blast her ship to bits from orbit if it wanted to. Or it might opt to land and try to board the Satori, which might be even worse. With her crew scattered and many of her security personnel injured, defending the ship would be difficult at best.

  They needed to get airborne. Fast.

  “Majel, patch me through to Ayala,” Beth said as she sprinted down the corridor. “And prep the ship for takeoff.”

  “Already on that,” Majel replied in her earpiece. “You’re connected to him now.”

  “Captain, we’ve got a situation out here,” Ayala said. “Twenty of the colonists are trapped on the other side of a cave-in. We’re working to clear it now, but it’s going to take time.”

  “We don’t have the time,” Beth said. “An unknown ship just jumped into the system via wormhole. It’s on its way to the planet right now. We’re lifting off. Get everyone back aboard, now!”

  “The gear for the colony?” he asked.

  “Leave it.”

  “And the trapped people?” he asked, his voice more stressed.

  Beth swore under her breath. Twenty people stuck down there. No help for them, no way out if the Satori left without them. If she abandoned them, their best hope might be that the alien ship showed up and took them prisoner. Otherwise, they’d likely become fodder for one of those giant insects.

  She blinked. Charline was down there, too. They’d been through so much together. How could
she leave her friend to die? But if she didn’t, then she would lose the Satori and everyone aboard as well. It was an impossible scenario.

  “Major, get your ass back aboard before the hatch closes. Anyone slower than you is remaining on the surface,” Beth said. She knew as she gave the order she was going to trap a lot of people out there. Probably Andy would be among them, and she winced at the thought, but there was nothing to be done about it.

  “You’re going to leave them?” Ayala asked.

  “We’ll deal with this ship and then come back for them,” Beth replied. “I need you in here to help me fight the ship. Move!”

  “Already on my way up the ramp,” Ayala replied. “I’ll close it behind me.”

  Beth heaved a sigh of relief and slowed to a jog as she entered the bridge. “Engines hot, Lieutenant. We’re airborne as soon as you can take us up.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Foster replied. His fingers flew over the controls. Beth felt the hum from beneath her as the ship’s powerful engines began pushing against the terrain beneath them.

  She sat down and pulled up her console, watching the tracking data on the other ship. It had evidently detected them. The ship had been making a bee-line for the planet as soon as it entered the system, but now it was performing small vector changes to bring it directly toward the Satori, too.

  They would get airborne, but could they get high enough to maneuver before the other ship hit them? Beth did a little mental math, and it wasn’t looking good.

  “Majel, prep a micro-jump. Bring us up into orbit about twenty-five thousand miles from the surface,” she said.

  “Roger, sending data on the jump to the helm,” the AI replied.

  “Got it,” Foster said. “Ready to jump on your mark.”

  “Do it!” Beth said.

  The wormhole drive in the ship’s nose engaged, igniting the air in front of them with a swirl of brilliant light. Foster kicked in the primary engines and the vessel darted forward into the wormhole. There was that strange but now familiar not-moment of transition…

  …and then they were in space, flying free. Beth rechecked the plot. Majel had brought them out of the wormhole behind the other ship. She grinned. That ought to give them a little shock. Now to see what they would do about it. There was something almost familiar about that little ship ahead of them, but she couldn’t quite place it at this distance.

  “Here, ma’am,” Ayala said from the doorway.

  “Glad to have you back,” Beth said. He nodded in reply and took his station.

  “Alien ship isn’t turning,” Hernandez said. “They’re activating something - big energy surge.”

  Beth braced for an attack, but it didn’t come. There was a flash of light on the screen, showing that the other ship was discharging an energy beam. She recognized it immediately.

  So did Majel. “The enemy ship is activating a wormhole!”

  “Brace for impact!” Beth shouted. “Foster, evasive-“

  The Satori shook as beams of energy slammed into the hull. There was a sound of metal tearing, and klaxons sounded on the bridge, deafeningly loud. Beth ground her teeth together as the impacts overcame her ship’s inertial dampeners and nearly tossed her from her chair. She gripped the arms and held on for dear life. Seat belts. They needed seat belts in this thing, she thought wildly.

  “Bring us about!” Beth shouted. “All railguns, continuous fire! Hit them back, damn it.”

  The screen turned in a dizzying way as the Satori pivoted hard about to face back toward the alien ship. It continued to fire beams of some sort of energy, and another impact smashed into the ship. But Foster was good at his job, and he was making the Satori a hard target to hit, altering vector with apparent randomness, trying to be anywhere except where the alien ship expected them to be. It wasn’t perfect, but he was sparing them some of the abuse of the attack. Another beam shot out from the enemy ship, streaking past over the Satori as he dove the ship out of the way.

  Meanwhile her own gun crews were doing their job. The Satori had two sets of twin high-powered railgun cannons, each one capable of spitting out hundreds of rounds of iron a minute at extremely high velocities. They might not be energy weapons like the Naga had, but they were Earth tech - reliable, steady, and easy to maintain. Beth favored the simplicity of the design.

  Now all four guns spat out a hail of fire at the enemy ship. They couldn’t sustain this rate of fire forever, but the results when those rounds hit were spectacular. Each one blossomed into a little fireball on impact.

  The enemy ship was small, darting through the hail of fire coming its way, but multiple shots impacted anyway. Then it was gone, vanished into another wormhole. But not before Beth was able to get a good look at the vessel, and realize why it seemed so familiar.

  She’d seen it before.

  Not this ship - but another that was similar. The alien craft was built by the same race which had constructed the original Satori - the alien ship they’d rebuilt into the Satori, anyway. She’d been in charge of the rebuild. Beth knew those lines, those curves. She’d recognize them anywhere.

  The ship she was fighting now wasn’t the same class as the one they’d discovered abandoned on the moon. But it was made in the same style, and it was about the same size. That would make this ship the great-great-grandchild of the one they’d found, perhaps.

  It flashed out of the wormhole directly behind her ship, hammering the rear of the Satori with those deadly beam weapons again. It was every bit as dangerous as the Satori, too, capable of making short-range jumps and using them to dart around a target, avoiding most of its fire and hitting a new and vulnerable spot with each pass.

  She’d helped develop that strategy for their wormhole ship. The ship shook again from multiple impacts, and sparks flew from a console behind her as it overloaded and blew out. Now Beth was on the receiving end of the tactic, and it wasn’t a place she wanted to be.

  Sixteen

  Dan opened his mouth to ask what the 'Kkiktchikut' were, but before he could say a word the Independence shuddered. Dan grabbed hold of the wall as his stomach seemed to sink away in the now-familiar sensation of dropping suddenly out of hyperspace. The lights went red, and alarms sounded.

  "Damn. They're nothing if not persistent," Martelle said.

  Dan tapped a button on his tablet. "Bridge, give me a report."

  "We were knocked out of hyperspace by the same alien ship, sir, or at least it appears to be the same one. But it brought company this time."

  There was a loud clanging sound from somewhere several decks away. That didn't sound like impact explosions. It was more like docking clamps.

  "They're going to try to board," Martelle said.

  "Go. Get your Marines in place to repel boarders," Dan said.

  Martelle turned to go, but Dan wasn't moving. "You good?"

  "Yes. I want to know what the hell these things are, Garul. All our lives might depend on it," Dan said.

  "They are a legend. Stories to scare children," Garul said. "Thousands of years ago, the legends say that the Naga lived only on one world. The Kkiktchikut found us and taught us to build things for them. They armed us and had us serve in their ships as soldiers."

  "And then they just vanished?" Dan asked.

  "No, we rebelled," Garul said. "Or so the stories say. Our ancestors yearned to be free. They fought off the Kkiktchikut masters, seized ships, and made war on them."

  More explosions sounded. The ship rocked. Dan had to get back on the bridge. He was needed up there, not down here. But he had one more question he needed to ask.

  "Garul, what are they? Are they creatures like you and me? Can they be killed by normal weapons?" Dan asked. He had visions of some hyper-advanced race made of energy or something similarly fantastic, and hoped that whatever they were facing was flesh and blood.

  "They are mortal. The legends say they can die like any of us. But they are not like us. They are demons," Garul said. Then he sank back down onto his bed
.

  Dan slapped the panel, shutting the cell door. Then he headed for the bridge at a flat sprint. The enemy was on top of them. It was going to be up to him to find a way to beat them back.

  "All squadrons launch as you're able," Dan called into his comm-link as he ran.

  "Already on our way, sir," Captain Larsen said. "Alpha Flight is out, Bravo Flight is on its way."

  "Good. Engage and destroy all enemy targets," Dan replied.

  "We see two ships engaging from the front. You've got one attached to the side of the ship like a slug on an apple though, sir. Might be tricky peeling it off."

  "Oh, don't worry about that one. The Marines are already one their way."

  Larsen laughed. "I don't know who I feel sorrier for, the murderous rampaging horde...or the alien invaders! All right, sir, we're engaging."

  "Godspeed," Dan said, wishing he were out there in a cockpit too. He was used to being in the thick of the battle, not leading from a command post. But that was his place now - on the bridge, where he could direct all of these moving parts, coordinate the pieces of the ship into an effective whole.

  Colonel Martelle checked the map on his HUD. This was the spot, all right. A major intersection which lay directly in the path of the aliens boarding the ship. If they took this spot, they could move to control either the bridge, the engine room, or both. Therefore it was his job to make damned sure they didn't get one foot past this spot.

  He directed Marines off to the left and right. It was a four-way intersection, and they already knew the direction the enemy was coming from. Setting up the defense wasn't an elaborate affair. They set up barriers and tossed mines out into the path he was pretty sure they were going to be attacked from. Martelle had drones proceed down all three other halls for about twenty meters. Just in case the enemy got sneaky, those drones would give them warning of a flanking attack.