by Peter Kenson
“Your Majesty, we got here as fast as we could.”
“And your arrival was very timely, my lord, as we were in imminent danger of being turned into space dust. However, there is still a battle going on around Ystradis and I’m sure Captain Boronin would appreciate whatever assistance you can give him.”
Dhamina turned his head and barked out a series of orders. “We are on our way, your Majesty. I cannot say how relieved we are to find you safe and I hope we can have a longer conversation, very soon.”
“We will, my lord,” Rachel assured him. “Now go quickly.”
***
“Torpedoes away and running, sir,” Dag reported.
“Helm, begin your turn,” Mikael ordered. “How long before we catch those missiles?”
“They’ll be within range of the main phasors in two minutes, sir, but it’ll be another five minutes before we actually catch up with them.”
“Shall I retarget the phasors, sir?” Dag asked.
“No, the odds on hitting something that small at this range, are infinitesimal. Keep the main phasors on those incoming escorts. Let’s see if we can discourage them.”
“Sir, I’m detecting another missile launch. The cruiser has fired a second salvo from its port tubes.”
“Dammit, where are those torpedoes?”
“Impact in five seconds, sir. Four… three… two… one… Direct hits from both torpedoes, sir. She’s got a major breach all along her starboard hull and I’m detecting secondary explosions inside. Sir, she’s breaking up.”
“Right, Helm take us close to that second salvo. We’ll try to hit them as we go past, but keep after the first salvo. Where are the escorts now?”
“Closest escort will be in range in just under a minute, sir,” Frank reported. “The other frigate was on the far side of the cruiser and is having to steer round the debris field.”
“Guns, you are weapons free. Open fire as soon as you have the range.”
“Sir, the probe is reporting a new contact,” van Gelst announced. “It looks like a battle cruiser.”
“One of ours?”
“No sir. Well I don’t know. It’s confusing.”
“Get unconfused, Lieutenant. What is that ship and what’s it doing? And where’s the Destructor?”
“The Destructor was chasing Lord Held’s ship, but since that battle cruiser turned up, it’s broken off the pursuit and appears to be hightailing it out of the system.”
“So if it’s not a friend of Vostov, who the hell is it?”
“Well sir, that’s the thing. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was the old Tolstoy. The electronic signature’s different but she matches in almost everything else.”
“That’s impossible. The Tolstoy was sent to the breakers, years ago.”
“I know,” van Gelst replied unhappily. “But…” He stopped as the alarms signalled incoming fire from the first escort.
Mikael pushed the puzzle of the mystery ship’s identity to the back of his mind and concentrated on the immediate problem. “Report, Guns.”
“We’re doing damage, sir. Our phasor mods are cutting through her shields and we’re warming up her hull. Our own shields are holding for now but the second escort will be within range in another minute.”
“And the missiles?”
“We’ll be coming up on the second salvo in twenty seconds, sir. All point defence systems, railguns and lasers, are standing by.”
“Fire as you bear, Guns. Helm, how long before we catch the first missiles?”
“3 minutes 45 seconds, sir, but the salvo is spreading out all the time. They’re all still aimed at the planet, but they’re going to hit the atmosphere at different points.”
“They’re trying to seed the entire planet in one hit,” Mikael swore.
“Point defences opening fire, sir,” Dag reported. “We’ve hit one… she’s down.”
“Second frigate coming within range, sir,” van Gelst said. “She’s firing.”
“We’ve got a second one, sir. It’s not destroyed but it’s veering off course. We’re through that salvo now. Point defence systems ceasing fire.”
“How are our shields holding up?”
“Rear shields are failing fast, sir. That’s where they’re concentrating their fire. Mid-ships are down about 10% and the front shields are at full strength.”
Mikael hit the button on his communicator. “Engineering.”
“Engineering, aye.”
“Chief, re-route all power from the front shields to the rear.”
“That’ll leave the bow section completely unprotected, sir.”
“Just do it, Chief. We have to protect the engines at all costs in order to chase down those missiles.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Sir, you need to see this,” Ewan called from the comms station.
“What is it, Comms?”
“You remember there was that sudden increase in comms traffic, originating from Belsia. Well I pushed it through decrypt and it’s a general recall to all ships from a Commander Sitrona. They’re ordered not to fire the missiles and to return to base.”
“Bit late now,” Mikael said bitterly. “Are they still transmitting?”
“No sir. They stopped a few minutes ago.”
“Well let’s try re-transmitting it ourselves. Send the original message in code and in clear. See if that gets their attention.”
“Aye sir.”
“Coming up on the first missiles in ten seconds,” Fleurie reported from the helm. “I can only put us alongside one missile at a time, sir. The separation is too great.”
“Co-ordinate with Guns. As soon as we hit one, take us to the next. What are those frigates doing?”
“Still coming, sir,” van Gelst replied. “First frigate has hull damage in the bow section, but she’s still firing.”
“One missile down, sir. Waiting for number two to come within range.”
“Sir, the frigates have stopped firing. They’re still following us but they’re not firing. And that battle cruiser is heading in our general direction.”
“Comms, try hailing that battle cruiser. See if we can find out who she really is.”
“Another missile down, sir. Moving to number three.”
“Frigates changing course, sir. They’re heading back towards the wreckage of the cruiser.”
“Sir, I have the commander of the battle cruiser on line. He claims to be part of the Ystradian navy.”
“I didn’t think the Ystrad had a navy. Put him on screen.”
“Third missile down,” Dag announced.
The screen changed to show the unsmiling face of Lord Dhamina. “Captain Boronin, I believe. My name is Dhamina and I am the commander of the Ystradian navy ship, Phoenix. What can I do to help?”
“Commander Dhamina, I’m very pleased to see you. The situation is, we were unable to prevent the launch of the missiles. There are two waves of missiles inbound to the planet and we are chasing them down. You’re too far away to help with that, I’m afraid, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep an eye on those Belsian frigates and make sure they don’t interfere again.”
“That will be my pleasure, Captain. Phoenix out.”
“Fourth missile down.”
“How long have we got before those missiles start hitting the atmosphere?”
“About 90 seconds, sir,” Fleurie replied. “We might catch number five but we won’t get the last one.”
“Guns, bring one of the main phasors to bear on last missile. It’s a long shot but we have to try.”
“Coming up on number five.”
“Is the second wave still coming in our direction?”
“Uh, not exactly sir. Crazy bastards put them on a different trajectory to maximise the coverage over the planet.”
“Fifth missile down, sir.”
“Helm, bring us about. Let’s get after that second wave. Guns,
did we hit that last missile?”
“No sir. Missile is now inside the atmosphere.”
“Damn. Comms, get a message off to Lord Held. Tell him one missile got through but we’re still going after the others. How long have we got?”
“Second wave will reach the outer limits of the atmosphere in three minutes, sir. Closest missile is 60 seconds away. We should catch the first two but we’ll never get the others.”
“Guns, target the two missiles furthest away. We may get lucky.”
“Sir, I’m picking up an explosion inside the planet’s atmosphere,” van Gelst reported. “That last missile just detonated.”
“Coming up on the closest missile, sir. We got it.”
“Whoo, we got one,” Dag yelled excitedly. “Sorry sir. I mean we hit one of the furthest missiles, sir.”
“Good shooting, Guns. Now try again.”
“Next missile coming into range… now. Missile destroyed, sir.”
“Where’s the last one? Did we get it?”
“Sorry sir. Last missile is now inside the atmosphere.”
“Sensors, plot the coordinates of the detonations and get that information off to Lord Held,” Mikael ordered. “The spread of the virus will depend on winds and air currents so they need to know where it’s starting from.”
“What’s going to happen to them down there?” Suzanne asked, as she came over to stand by him.
“I don’t know but it’s going to be nasty. We may have bought them some time, but that’s all. From the initial reports of what that virus will do, the planet is dead. It just doesn’t know it yet.”
Chapter 29 - Ystradis
“Chaqi, Anise, wait for me.”
Startled, they stopped in the middle of the passage and turned to see a small red-faced boy, racing towards them as fast as his legs would carry him.
“Chaqi,” he panted. “It’s… it’s from the queen.”
“What’s from the queen, Robbo? Has something happened to her?”
“No she’s fine,” he said between gasps. “She was captured… but she escaped.”
Anise dropped to one knee in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Slow down, Robbo. Tell us what’s going on.”
“I’ve got a message from Queen Rachel. She broadcast it to everyone. I heard her myself,” he added proudly. “But Salman said you wouldn’t have heard it down here because of the shielding.”
“Salman was right,” Anise told him. “So can you tell us what the queen said?”
“Yes. Salman made me repeat it so he knew I had it right. Queen Rachel said that the whole planet is under attack by a virus that will kill everybody. All the villagers have to get underground and seal the entrances to the tunnels to stop the virus from getting in. Salman’s rounding up the villagers and leading them here now. Chaqi, what’s a virus?”
“It’s like a very bad cold, only worse. Did the queen say anything else?”
“Oh yes, sorry. She said to switch the shielding off so that she could talk to you direct. She said the sniffers aren’t a problem anymore, ‘cos this virus thingy is going to kill the Belsi as well.”
Chaqi and Anise exchanged looks. “That must be what they used at Sorinto. Did she say anything else, Robbo? Anything at all?”
“No that’s it, Chaqi. Honest.”
“All right. Well done, Robbo. Now I want you to go with Anise and help her organise a welcome for the villagers. Find them some food and somewhere to sleep. I expect you’re hungry too.”
Robbo’s face lit up and he nodded eagerly.
“I’ll contact the other leaders,” Chaqi went on. “We’ll drop the shielding and see if we can get an update from the queen.”
***
Reports of the first casualties were already coming in by the time the Salamander joined Swordfish and Phoenix in orbit around Ystradis. Rachel had been distraught at the news that two of the missiles had escaped with their deadly cargo and she held on tight to Jeren’s arm as she walked into the conference facility on-board the Phoenix. David and Lord Dhamina were already present, and Mikael had brought Suzanne and Anton with him from the Swordfish. Rachel was visibly fighting back the tears as she sat down at the head of the table and greeted them all.
“Doctor, perhaps we could start with you. What do we know about this virus? How can we stop it?”
Anton shook his head sadly. “I wish I had better news, your Majesty.”
“Please call me Rachel. Everyone around this table. We don’t have time to be formal and besides, I’m not sure what I’m going to be queen of for much longer.”
There was a swell of comments contradicting her from all around the table but she raised her hand to silence them. “Please go on, doctor.”
“The man who created this virus was an idiot; a genius but an idiot. The virus that specifically targets the Ystrad is nothing special. They’re commonly used in medical research to target a specific gene and alter it in some way. In a normal environment, if it didn’t find a suitable host, the virus would only survive for two or three days at the most. Then it would die; end of story.
“However, the virus has been modified in an unstable way and the form that it mutates into, is entirely different. First it regards any host as being suitable but, if it really can’t find one, it doesn’t die. It will go into a sort of hibernating state and wait for a host to come along. We have no idea how long this hibernation phase will last but I came across some very old research which suggests that it could be decades if not hundreds of years.”
“Can the virus be killed?” Rachel asked. “Or can we protect people against it?”
Again Anton shook his head. “Some of the top virologists in the empire are looking at both those questions but, so far, we have no answers. The only solution is to get people into a sealed and isolated environment, and hope they don’t bring the virus in with them.”
Rachel gasped. “You mean if some of the villagers are infected before they enter the tunnels, the virus will spread to the resistance fighters?”
“The virus is highly contagious. It will infect anyone it comes into contact with. However, I understand that the tunnels were constructed in such a way that sections can be isolated in case the enemy break through. That may make it easier to contain any outbreak below ground.”
“I will let the resistance leaders know. What about treatment for the infected?”
“The virus attacks the central nervous system and is very fast acting. Death generally occurs within minutes. If we can reach the victim within that timeframe, we can apply a general anti-viral treatment that might slow it down, but there is no specific cure. Some people, a very small percentage, do seem to have some sort of natural immunity and that’s another area of investigation.”
“Hundreds, thousands of my people are dying down there,” she sobbed. “I can feel their suffering and then, suddenly, they’re not there anymore.”
Jeren got up to stand behind her chair and wrap his arms round her. She rested her head against his arm for a second and then sat up, to look around the table with renewed determination.
“Right then, if we can’t stop the virus spreading, and we can’t prevent or cure the infection, how are we going to help the survivors? Assuming they get safely underground in the first place, they can’t stay there indefinitely. If the good doctor is right, they will never be able to walk on the surface of the planet ever again. So what are we going to do?”
“I’ve seen the research that Anton was talking about,” David said. “The surface of the planet is going to be potentially lethal for an indefinite period of time. We can’t even build a series of domes like you had at Sorinto, because that damned virus may be hibernating in the soil underfoot. The only solution is a complete evacuation of the planet.”
“But how? There are thousands, tens of thousands of people down there. How can we save them all?”
“There will be some navy ships from the Third Fl
eet arriving within the next 24 hours,” Mikael said. “They will be able to help, but warships are not designed to carry passengers. They don’t have the space, food supplies or the life support systems, to take more than a few dozen people.”
“Unless they don’t take them very far,” David suggested. “I have sent out a distress call using an emergency protocol of the Held Trading Company, to get some merchant ships here that will have the capacity to carry large numbers of people. But that may take days. We can use what ships we have now, and the navy ships as they arrive, to extract small groups of people and move them somewhere safe. A transit camp until I can organise some more permanent transport arrangements.”
“Where can we set up a transit camp?” Rachel asked. “You just said there’s nowhere safe on the surface of the planet.”
“Not your planet, no. I was thinking of Belsia.”
“That’s impossible,” Dhamina burst out. “Our people would never accept it and the Belsi will never allow it.”
“Your people have very little choice,” David replied. “It will only be for a short time, but you and Rachel will have to manage their fury and try to limit any reprisals. As for the Belsi, I wasn’t proposing to ask them. They are in deep trouble with the Empire and they are starting to realise it. They may be willing to co-operate anyway but, when the Fleet arrives, they’ll do as they’re damn well told.”
“How are we going to manage the extractions, given that the surface of the planet is now a hostile environment?” Mikael asked. “I have two bio-hazard suits on-board the Swordfish, but we’re going to need a lot more than that.”
“How many marines do you have on-board?”
“Four, why?”
“Their space armour will be just as effective as a bio-hazard suit. If it’s sealed against space, it’ll be sealed against the virus. I have three suits on the Salamander that are still functional, and there are almost certainly some here on the Phoenix. We just have to ensure the suits are thoroughly scrubbed down, every time they come back on board.”
Anton nodded. “I’ll set up a full decontamination unit in one of the airlocks. We’ll use volunteers in the bio-hazard suits to scrub down the space armour of anyone who’s been down to the planet.”