Empires in Ruin

by Anthony James

  Maybe the Extractor and the Tenixite Converter are enough.

  Recker found out soon enough.

  “I’m reading a series of power spikes on the enemy ship’s hull, in an area just behind the nose, sir,” said Eastwood.

  “What are they up to?” asked Recker.

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  The Aeklu’s subverted battle computer spat out the answer without being asked and placed it on Recker’s main screen in big, glowing letters.

  > Aeklu Target: Halo. Source: Hexidine.

  “What the hell?” Recker had no idea what the Halo weapon would do to his ship and he quickly selected a random location for the next mode 3 transit. Before he could press the activation button, another Extractor attack came and within a split-second Recker could tell this was going to be the worst one yet.

  Unconsciousness or death beckoned; he didn’t know which. The Frenziol and his will fought against both. A sound came from his mouth – pain and anger in combination. He tried to press the mode 3 activation button, only to find his hands had slipped from the controls. Recker sank towards darkness and desperately pulled himself back, already knowing even if he won this personal battle against the Extractor, the Hexidine would fire its Halo and the Aeklu would surely be destroyed.

  The Hexidine launched another salvo of missiles and somehow Aston fired in response. Bright, flickering patterns of gauss repeaters cut vivid marks against the endless depths of space, while Trinus-XN’s expanding core burned nearby, like a dark-rimmed star. Despite the agony crushing every nerve in his body, Recker thought he’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  An even greater wonder appeared.

  From out of nowhere, three colossal detonations blossomed on the Hexidine’s flank behind its energy shield and, a moment later, a fourth struck the Lavorix warship on the nose. Each blast created an enormous crater and hurled plates of armour into space. Without warning, the enemy ship vanished into lightspeed.

  Before Recker’s eyes, a third vision materialised. Corporal Hendrix, her expression filled with concern, stabbed him hard with a Frenziol injector. He felt nothing.

  The Extractor won and Recker blacked out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I think he’s awake.”

  “Yes, Corporal Montero, I’m awake,” said Recker. He was curiously free of pain, though his body felt detached, as if his mind were inhabiting a borrowed skin.

  “You’re full of painkillers, Frenziol and whatever other crap Corporal Hendrix’s med-box thought you could handle,” said Private Drawl cheerfully. “Sir,” he added belatedly.

  “Those are medical substances developed by the HPA’s research labs, Private, and administered by a trained professional,” said Hendrix from elsewhere. She didn’t sound angry. “Not crap.”

  “The Captain’s woken up,” said Enfield, repeating what everyone who was conscious already knew.

  Recker opened his eyes, expecting a pent-up wall of nausea and agony to be waiting for him. It didn’t come.

  “Someone’s trying to reach us on the comms, sir,” said Sergeant Vance. “It’s Captain Vazox from the Langinstol.”

  Unsure how much time had elapsed since the Hexidine’s departure, and equally unsure when or if it would come back, Recker forced himself to alertness.

  “Commander Aston?” he asked, his eyes jumping from the sensors to the tactical. Three green dots were close to the Aeklu and travelling in slow circles around it.

  “I’m awake, sir.”

  “We’ve got to move,” said Recker. “The Hexidine will probably come back and we can’t face it like this.”

  “Lieutenant Larson ready for duty, sir.” Larson didn’t sound ready, but at least she was conscious and talking.

  “Speak to the officers on the Langinstol, the Incendus and the Pulveriser,” said Recker. “Whatever insight or information they have, I want to hear it.” He turned to check the state of the personnel on the bridge. Most of the Daklan soldiers were out of it and the technicians likewise. Lieutenant Burner showed signs he was rousing and he mumbled nonsense.

  “Corporal Hendrix, what’s the status of my crew and soldiers?”

  Hendrix rose from her crouch next to Ipanvir, clutching a handful of differently coloured injectors. “I’ve given your crew shots of four separate drugs from the medical box. They’ll keep you conscious and pain free, but you’re going to need some downtime eventually.”

  “What about the Daklan?”

  “They’re alive, sir, but I can’t risk giving them any more Frenziol and I don’t know how they’ll react to the painkillers. It might be best if the Daklan remained unconscious.”

  “The Lavorix are adapting the Extractor,” said Recker. “Sooner or later, there’ll be no drugs that will keep us alive.”

  “Yes, sir. Technically we’ve all taken a significant overdose of the Frenziol already. I’ll have to keep monitoring everyone for signs of heart failure.”

  “We’ve reached a definite limit on the boosters?” asked Recker.

  “I guess we’ll do what we have to do, sir. In normal circumstances, I’d recommend letting the existing doses wear off, followed by three or four days in bed.” She half-smiled. “Which isn’t going to happen any time soon.”

  “Not likely, Corporal,” Recker agreed.

  “Sir, I’ve spoken to Captain Vazox,” said Larson, waving to catch his attention while he was turned. “They managed to reprogram the Langinstol’s lightspeed missiles to bypass the enemy’s shield and that’s what drove away the Hexidine. Unfortunately, the guidance systems can only target a stationary warship and they haven’t yet figured out a way around that limitation. Captain Vazox reports his ship and the others are scanning for the Hexidine. He recommends we leave this solar system as quickly as possible and await further instructions from our superiors.”

  Recker didn’t commit to a response on that last recommendation. “Pass on my thanks for their assistance,” he said. “How many missiles are the Langinstol and Incendus carrying?”

  “Five on the annihilator and two on the desolator, sir. Their stocks are almost depleted and with Ivisto gone, they have no immediate way to rearm.”

  “Did any other members of the local fleet survive?”

  “No, sir.”

  “The Verumol?”

  “No, sir. It didn’t get off the ground.”

  The fog in Recker’s brain was gradually lifting and he paused for a moment in thought. Events at Ivisto had ended up somewhere between a disaster and a catastrophe, with the Aeklu’s escape being the only notable positive. He supposed as positives went, it wasn’t a bad example.

  “Where’s the Vengeance?” he asked.

  “I’ve located it, sir,” said Burner, his words slurred like he was at the end of an eighteen-hour drinking session. “Back where we activated the first mode 3 after lift-off.”

  Recker furrowed his brow at the state of the man’s speech and caught Corporal Hendrix’s eye. She got the message and went over with her med-box to check Burner out.

  By this point, Lieutenant Eastwood was also awake, though judging by the oaths spilling liberally from his mouth, he’d have preferred unconsciousness. “Our shield has recharged, sir, and we have no new status alerts.”

  “We’re in a bad situation, folks,” said Recker to his crew. “And that situation will only improve once we’re in full control of the Aeklu.”

  “Awaiting orders, sir,” said Larson.

  Aston nodded. “Me too.”

  “Lieutenant Eastwood?”

  “Give me five minutes and I’ll bench press two hundred kilos for you, sir.”

  “What about you, Lieutenant Burner?”

  “I did feel like total crap, sir, until Corporal Hendrix jabbed me with a fat needle. Now I only feel like plain old normal crap.”

  “I need you, Lieutenant. Are you ready?”

  “I’m getting better every passing moment, sir.”

  As far as answers went, it noticeably
failed to address the original question, but Recker let it slide. “We don’t know where the Hexidine went,” he said. “Our brief experience suggests it’ll come back.”

  “The enemy crew are cautious, sir,” said Aston. “Four direct hits from lightspeed missiles is probably enough to convince them the Daklan overcame the technical problems with the guidance systems.”

  “You think the Hexidine will go elsewhere?”

  Aston shrugged and pursed her lips. “We don’t know how it located Ivisto in the first place. It’s possible the enemy have secondary targets. After all, we know of two other Laws of Ancidium that we haven’t encountered yet. Why would the Hexidine’s crew take the risk of further damage when backup may be on the way?”

  “Commander Aston makes a good point, sir,” said Eastwood. “The Aeklu and Verumol were fitted with Gateway hardware and it’s certain the Galactar was too. That means the Laws of Ancidium can travel more or less anywhere they please and in practically zero time.”

  “The limitation could be comms travel time, sir,” said Burner, his voice sounding much stronger than it had a couple of minutes ago. “As far as we’re aware, the Lavorix can’t send a comms message instantly, which means the Hexidine would be required to return to home territory by Gateway in order to call in reinforcements. At least that would be the fastest way to accomplish the task.”

  Recker tapped his knuckles on the console. “That’s assuming the other Laws of Ancidium are free to respond. If the Kilvar are applying pressure, they may be assigned elsewhere.”

  “Which makes me wonder how much leeway the Hexidine has in its own mission,” said Aston. “If it’s here for a quick life energy grab to refuel the Ancidium, then I doubt its crew will allow it to suffer extensive damage.”

  “Or be delayed in an extended campaign against the Aeklu,” mused Recker.

  “Maybe. The Daklan lightspeed missiles hurt the enemy, sir. It’s possible the Lavorix priorities have changed now.”

  The more Recker thought about it, the more the idea made sense. While he was certain the Lavorix would not abandon the captured Aeklu, they surely had other objectives - which made Recker ask another question.

  “Assuming the Hexidine will come back for another attempt to recapture or destroy the Aeklu, how will they find us?”

  “That’s a good question, sir,” said Eastwood.

  “Maybe we can find them first, Lieutenant. Do you have access to a facility that allows you to locate and follow a lightspeed tunnel?” asked Recker.

  Eastwood grimaced. “We’ve been working on the Aeklu for months but we know so little about how it works. The problem is, we’ve tied in our own control system, but our software doesn’t know anything about lightspeed tunnels – it knows how to operate the tech in an HPA warship and nothing else.”

  “When was the software due to be reprogrammed to recognize the extra capabilities of the Aeklu?”

  Lead Technician Roy was awake and slumped in the corner. She made no effort to answer, and Recker was glad that Eastwood – who wasn’t officially part of the Aeklu’s repair team – had kept his ear to the ground.

  “The reprogramming was due to take place concurrently with the final stages of testing, sir,” said Eastwood.

  “Why not sooner?”

  “It was thought the Aeklu would need to be in a fully operational state before we’d get any value from the effort, sir.”

  Decisions like this weren’t taken without due consideration, so Recker accepted that a competent team of individuals had come to what they believed was the right decision. Given how events had unfolded, those individuals had made the wrong choice but it was far too late to do anything about it.

  “Can you make it so our hardware speaks to the Lavorix hardware, Lieutenant?”

  “I guessed that would be your next question, sir,” said Eastwood. “The short answer is yes, probably. That’s with the assistance of the technicians we have onboard. The long answer is don’t expect results any time soon. This stage of the project was estimated to take between one and two weeks, and that’s with the full resources of Ivisto available.”

  “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you we don’t have that long,” said Recker. “If the Hexidine is on its way to one of our planets, we could lose billions of people. I have a feeling their Extractor doesn’t require much more fine tuning before it’ll kill humans and Daklan, with or without the Frenziol.”

  “All I can do is get started, sir,” said Eastwood. He pointed towards the comms team. “Remember that everything in the navigational system is picked up by the sensors first.”

  Recker nodded. “The raw data.” He let the words hang.

  “Yes, sir,” said Larson, stepping in obligingly. “The navigational system pulls out a specific data stream from the sensors and that’s what Lieutenant Eastwood checks for output spikes, ternium waves and everything else he needs to tell you about. The other data streams can be interpreted into a visual format and that’s what I deal with, alongside Lieutenant Burner.”

  “Since our control software isn’t fully configured to handle the Lavorix navigational hardware, maybe there’s something in the other sensor data you can extract that tells us where the Hexidine is going?”

  Larson’s face indicated she was considering the matter. “I can access the raw data no problem and I’m sure I can identify the stream intended for the navigational system…”

  “I detect a but coming, Lieutenant.”

  “You do, sir. These sensor and comms stations lack the ability to process and interpret that particular data stream.”

  “Anything we can do to get around that? Like sit you next to Lieutenant Eastwood and let the two of you figure it out?”

  “No, sir. The interpretation is done using a dedicated hardware module in the console. If that module isn’t tied in to the Aeklu’s navigational system, we’ll have to manually read through the raw data. That won’t be a quick process.”

  “How long?”

  “I don’t know, sir. We have no idea how a lightspeed tunnel shows up in that data, so I’ll have to search for the parts I don’t recognize and see if I can make sense of them. On top of that, the Aeklu’s sensors may well have detected dozens or maybe hundreds of different lightspeed tunnels from the other spaceships that came to and from Ivisto in the last days or weeks. I can’t guarantee I could pick the Hexidine out of the other traffic.”

  “Just like when we confused the Galactar by sending all those transports into lightspeed back in Meklon space,” said Eastwood.

  “I don’t appreciate the parallels, Lieutenant,” said Recker without humour. He sat back in his seat, trying to ignore the sudden pounding in his head. “It’s been too long – the Hexidine isn’t coming back for us,” he said. “That means it’s gone elsewhere and we’re flying the only spaceship that can meet it head on.” Recker closed his eyes and the pounding receded. “I will not sit here and wait for the FTL comms reports telling me that another human or Daklan planet has been destroyed.”

  “We may not have a choice, sir,” said Aston quietly.

  Having survived the inferno on Trinus-XN and the planet’s destruction, Recker couldn’t accept the escape of his enemy. Worse, a voice inside told him that his ass had been comprehensively kicked during his short engagement with the Hexidine and that if he didn’t learn fast, next time his ship and his crew might not be so lucky.

  “Sir? I think I’ve found something,” said Burner.

  The barely concealed edge of excitement in the other man’s voice was enough to plant a seed of hope within Recker.

  “What have you got for me, Lieutenant?”

  Burner told him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “It’s the comms system, sir.” The excitement was no longer contained and Burner talked fast. “I’ve located numerous FTL comms pings from the Hexidine. Not just the Hexidine.”

  “Handshakes?” asked Recker.

  “No, sir, much more than handshakes. These are lik
e the big data packets sent between warships on the same battle network. The Aeklu started receiving them when you entered your command codes back on Trinus-XN, but I didn’t find out it was happening until now.”

  Recker knew at once this was enormously significant. “The other packets are from different Laws of Ancidium?”

  “Yes, sir. We’re receiving data from the Gorgadar and the Ixidar as well. I can open the packets but the contents don’t make any sense. I’m confident that with Lieutenant Larson’s help, I can figure out what they contain. And it won’t take weeks.”

  “This is all well and good, Lieutenant, but I’ve spotted an obvious problem,” said Recker.

  “We’re transmitting our own data packets as well, sir,” Burner confirmed. “If the Hexidine hadn’t already found out we’d captured the Aeklu and Verumol, I imagine our renewed transmissions would have come as a surprise to the Lavorix.”

  “Now they know what happened, why not cut the Aeklu off the network?” asked Eastwood.

  “They want to find us again,” said Burner. “And they’re likely taking a gamble we won’t discover the existence of their ship-to-ship comms.”

  “A gamble they’ve already lost,” said Aston.

  “That’s right, Commander.” Burner replied.

  “Is an FTL battle network even worth a shit over such enormous distances?” asked Eastwood.

  “Any comms is better than no comms,” said Larson. “We don’t even know what kind of amplification the Lavorix have achieved with their transmissions. If they’re ahead of the new tech we’ve been testing in the HPA, then it’s possible the Laws of Ancidium can speak to each other with only a short delay. Besides, we’re talking about warships which can destroy empires. It’s not like they need to call for backup every couple of days. They’re designed to operate independently for months or years, so these comms are enough to keep the other members of the network informed.”

  Recker wanted clarification. “Does this mean we can track not only the Hexidine but the last two Laws of Ancidium as well?”