“A large enough error to miss the Hexidine across a similar distance.”
“Yes, sir. I hate to say it, but I recommend a second shot to help gauge the variation.”
“Do I need to reposition the Aeklu for the sensors to detect the impact point?”
“I would recommend it, sir,” said Larson, her voice steady now. “There’s too much airborne debris around the first crater. Even with the Aeklu’s sensors, the reading might be off.”
Maintaining the same distance from Ebos, Recker piloted the Aeklu a quarter of the way clockwise around the planet. From this new position, the dividing line between night and day cut a sharp line from north to south, while the original crater remained in sight. A smear of fast-moving dust, kicked up by the first impact, was spreading rapidly and would likely soon encompass the entire planet.
“Is this far enough?” asked Recker.
“Yes, sir,” Larson confirmed.
“What are you waiting for, Commander?”
“You know what I’m waiting for, sir.” Aston glanced his way then back to her console. “Here goes.” Her fingertip delicately touched the activation panel and the Toll fired again.
Recker braced himself for the effects. The sound came for a second time, the same as it had before, only this time it was only sound, as if the initial experience was a unique insight into despair – a glimpse and a promise that would forever remain a memory.
A second impact crater appeared, as large as the first. A new series of shockwaves encircled the planet, while more debris was thrown up and another huge cloud of dust was formed. Larson zoomed in the sensors and hundreds of snaking cracks were apparent, some extending as far as the first crater.
“Fifty kilometres from target that time,” said Aston, the colour returned to her face.
“Have you learned enough from the second shot, Commander?”
“Yes, sir. Either the barrel is too short or the rifling isn’t perfect - the projectiles aren’t spinning fast enough when they emerge from the muzzle and they have a slight wobble.”
“We’re shooting into a vacuum,” said Burner in puzzlement. “How can the projectiles have a wobble without any atmospheric resistance?”
“The slugs are mostly ternium, Lieutenant, and that ternium is what increases the velocity both in and out of the barrel.” said Eastwood patiently. “If the projectiles don’t emerge precisely as intended, the acceleration in conjunction with a lopsided spin will shift them off course and then...”
“I’ll take your word for it,” said Burner.
“Quiet please,” said Recker. “Commander Aston, can you compensate for the inaccuracy?”
“We can perform further testing, sir, but I suspect we could fire all nine of our remaining projectiles and still be unable to predict exactly how the tenth will fly.”
“And from this I conclude that any discharge of the Toll should be from a closer range than one million klicks.”
“Yes, sir. I’d suggest no more than a quarter of a million klicks, assuming a stationary target. If the Hexidine is in motion, you’ll have to lead the shot as necessary.”
“Not the outcome I’d hoped for,” said Recker. “Damnit.”
“Maybe we should return to Lustre, sir,” said Aston. “In case we completely underestimated the Hexidine’s travel time.”
Recker placed his hands on the controls and then was struck by a thought. “Lieutenant Eastwood, you said those Toll projectiles are mostly ternium in composition.”
“Yes, sir. They contain a hardened alloy core, with a thick cladding of ternium - similar to the projectiles fired by the Tri-Cannon.”
“And would I be right to think that the Aeklu’s ternium store is self-loading?”
“Yes, sir. The storage bay is just behind the underside armour plating. It’s fitted with gravity scoops which are designed to suck in tenixite powder from a thousand metres – the Aeklu doesn’t even need to land.”
“Would those scoops work with larger objects? Like a ternium slug from the Toll?”
Eastwood stared straight ahead and Recker could have sworn he heard the cogs turning. “I don’t think so, sir. Besides, we have no way to eject a slug from the magazine without shipyard facilities.”
“I wasn’t thinking about ejecting an unspent projectile, Lieutenant. We’ve fired two perfectly good shots into Ebos. We could recover those and use them as fuel for our Gateway generator and tenixite converter.”
Again, Eastwood stared.
“He’s thinking about collision elasticity,” said Burner. “I can see it in his face.”
“That is what I’m thinking about,” Eastwood admitted. “And I believe the spent slugs will have been compressed into disks, but not broken into pieces. Therefore, they won’t fit into our storage bay.”
“Unless we subjected them to an extended burst of gauss fire,” said Recker.
“Yes, that would do the trick.”
Recker smiled. “Can you confirm the auto-loading system is functioning, Lieutenant Eastwood? Before we waste any ammunition.”
“I haven’t inspected the hardware personally, sir, but the lights are green.”
“That’s good enough. Let’s travel a little closer to Ebos before we start firing.”
“I’ve located what might be the second projectile, sir,” said Larson.
“That dark orange smudge?” asked Recker, peering at the zoomed feed.
“That’s it, sir. It’s hot from impact.”
Recker pushed the control bars forwards and the Aeklu sped towards the impact crater. Already, the clouds of dust from the twin impacts had obscured much of the surface and the feeds were becoming grainy. When it approached the planet, the Aeklu’s shield was struck by dozens of rocks, the largest being a hundred metres in diameter and travelling at high velocity. Not one of the impacts significantly affected the gauge.
Having such incredible defences at his disposal made Recker grudgingly impressed that the Lavorix had not taken their near invulnerability for granted and had treated the Laws of Ancidium as precious objects, not to be risked. That caution explained why these warships had been able to terrorise the Meklon for so long, without being destroyed in battle.
“That’s definitely the ternium slug, sir,” said Larson.
Recker guided the Aeklu through the dust. A few ejected rocks which hadn’t escaped into orbit rained down in numbers too few to give any concern. The crater was vastly bigger than the Aeklu and Recker was left in awe that a single shot from a gun was capable of such a feat.
“I’ve taken manual control over one of the underside repeaters, sir,” said Aston, once the warship was stationary over the crater.
“Be my guest,” said Recker.
Aston used the backup controls to target the gauss gun and she directed a stream of bullets into the ternium slug. The orange metal turned white in patches and the disk split into pieces. For long seconds, Aston continued and the slug broke into progressively smaller parts.
“Is that enough?” she asked, taking her hands off the controls.
“I don’t know,” said Eastwood. “I’ve never operated the self-loading systems before.”
“Give it some more,” said Recker. “Better to spend a few extra seconds on it now.”
Ten seconds later, Aston relented and sat back with a smile. “There was something satisfying about doing that.”
“All that shooting mixed lots of rock in with the ternium,” said Larson. “Along with pieces of alloy from the projectile’s core.”
“Which won’t be a problem,” said Eastwood. “The depleted ternium is turned into powder anyway and ejected from the Aeklu via a chute. Any impurities in the bay will get the same treatment.”
“Let’s go get our fuel,” said Recker.
He brought the Aeklu steadily lower and the dust became thicker. In the background, he could hear Lieutenant Burner marvelling at the capabilities of the Lavorix sensors and, indeed, Recker had no problem with visibility.
In the end, that game wasn’t played. Following some careful positioning that saw the nose and stern come within a few metres of the rocky sides of the crater, Lieutenant Eastwood declared he had a green activation light on the scoops.
“Hold it right here, sir,” he said. “We’re playing with metres, and there’s no wiggle room.”
“I know, Lieutenant,” said Recker through gritted teeth. “I just flew us down here and I’m aware of the margins.”
Eastwood grinned and Recker knew he’d been done. “This won’t take long, sir.”
The crew, the mostly forgotten soldiers and the completely forgotten technicians watched the operation on the underside feed. A hatch in the Aeklu’s armour slid open, revealing a dark shaft. The gravity scoops weren’t visible, but they began sucking up pieces from the surface immediately. Chunks of the ternium slug rose from the ground and disappeared into the opening.
“The scoops are selectively grabbing the ternium and leaving the rocks behind!” said Eastwood in excitement. “We should have plenty in the tank when we’re done.”
Recker didn’t have any firm plans for either the Gateway or the tenixite converter, but he felt nevertheless relieved that both would soon be available should they be needed. Given the tremendous possibilities offered by these technologies, he was certain it wouldn’t be long before a suitable use became apparent.
Vacuuming the ternium from Ebos didn’t take longer than ten minutes and towards the end, Recker was becoming fidgety at having to keep the Aeklu in one place for so long. The moment Eastwood declared the operation complete and the underside hatch closed, Recker piloted the warship away from the planet at maximum acceleration.
Those ten minutes had also given him some time to think and he had the beginnings of an idea. Before he revealed the details – scant as they were – he activated a mode 3 transit to Lustre, where his sensor team performed a rapid local area scan. Those scans were no more than a formality - the Langinstol, the Incendus and the Vengeance were in the same place as before, half a million kilometres from Lustre and directly above the deserted Adamantine base.
With the Aeklu back among the other warships, Recker turned the idea around in his mind.
“We need someone on the Vengeance,” he said at last.
Aston was usually alert to Recker’s ideas, but from the expression she wore, she couldn’t guess what he intended.
“Why?” she asked.
“I said before that our only options against the Hexidine are the lightspeed missiles and the Aeklu’s main armament,” he said. “I was wrong. The Vengeance already created a big hole inside the enemy ship and we saw how it took off when we fired those missiles into the same place. That makes me wonder if we were close to hitting something critical. Like the shield generator.”
Various emotions passed across Aston’s face and Recker fully expected she’d talk through his plan before she voiced her main objections. He guessed right.
“Another mode 3 behind the Hexidine’s shield and a second Executor strike?” she said. “If the enemy shield went down, we’d have a good chance of destroying them. Even if they broke off the engagement, without that shield they’d be vulnerable to attacks from our fleet wherever they showed up next.”
“Or if the Executor took out their life support module, they’d be stranded here at Lustre,” said Recker. “That wouldn’t be a positive outcome for the people who stayed behind, but it would prevent the Hexidine from troubling any of our other planets. It would effectively be out of the war.”
“Alternatively, the Executor might not hit anything and the Vengeance would be destroyed,” said Eastwood. “I’m sure you’re about to tell me it’s a worthwhile risk.” He nodded. “And I’d agree with you.”
“Thank you for the input, Lieutenant,” said Recker dryly. “Now, Commander Aston, it looks as if you have something to say.”
“The Aeklu is our most important warship. I can fly the Vengeance,” she said.
“You can and you will be doing so,” said Recker.
“You made it seems like…” Aston started.
He smiled. “I know what I made it seem like, Commander.”
“We’ll be spread thinly,” she answered, recovering quickly.
“You’ll take Corporal Montero for comms and sensors.”
Montero had an aptitude for flight and planned to request a transfer to warship duties when the opportunity arose. Having made the jump himself and knowing the difficulties, Recker had allowed Montero to sit in with him and his crew during routine patrols over Trinus-XN. She was a fast learner and capable of operating both Meklon and HPA hardware.
“Sink or swim time for Corporal Montero,” said Aston.
“It’s got to happen for her some time. When the shooting starts, you’ll need to keep the Vengeance out of trouble until the time comes to mode 3 behind the enemy’s shield. Then, you fire the Executor.” Recker smiled again and this time it was harder to make it seem genuine. “In truth, I’d prefer to go myself. That part you guessed right.”
“You think it’s a bigger risk being on the Vengeance,” she said in a private channel.
“I don’t know one way or another, Commander. It’s the feeling I get.”
Aston didn’t normally sigh. Now she did. “Lieutenant Larson knows the weapons console, sir. How she’ll handle it in real combat I couldn’t tell you.”
Montero wasn’t the only one with ambitions and Aston had spent many hours with Lieutenant Larson, training her in new skills that would help her progress from comms lieutenant to warship commander. The ten months at Ivisto hadn’t been entirely spent chewing the fat in front of the replicator.
“She’ll cope the same way we all did on our first time,” said Recker.
“She’s good.”
“I know.”
“We’re still too few to effectively manage two warships, sir. You could request assistance from the Daklan.”
“Their crews know Daklan hardware. They don’t know the Meklon or HPA kit. Besides, I had a different idea in mind. We have fuel for the Gateway – I’m going to take the Aeklu to Earth and pick up some extra crew. Enough for both ships.” He pointed at the door. “I’d like you and Corporal Montero on the Vengeance before we leave. It’ll make me feel better knowing we’re prepared for the unexpected.”
“How am I getting there, sir?”
“The same way you came in.”
“Topside plating?”
“Yes. I’ll remote land the Vengeance nearby.”
“Don’t accelerate while we’re up there, sir.”
“I’ll try my best,” said Recker. “If the Hexidine comes early and I have to take off, I’ll be sure to give you a wave.”
“As Corporal Montero and I go tumbling off into the void.”
“Come to think of it, you’ll more likely be killed when you impact the Toll turret at fifty klicks per second.”
Aston stood. “If you need to clean any stains off, make sure you use Adam’s toothbrush.”
“Will do. Good luck, Commander. I’ll give you further instructions once you’re over there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And look after that ship.”
“Always.”
Having picked up her gauss rifle, Aston beckoned for Corporal Montero to follow. Montero asked a couple of questions on the way through the still-open blast door, but didn’t object to her new orders.
When they were gone, Recker called Lead Technician Roy across. With everything happening it seemed like s
he’d decided it was best to sit quietly in one corner with the other members of her team. Recker had different plans.
“While the interior scans indicate none of the Lavorix came onboard at Ivisto, I’d really like you to fix that damn door,” he said mildly. In case Roy had forgotten exactly which door, he thumbed over his shoulder.
Bobbing her head in agreement, Roy got on with it and Recker turned back to his console.
Chapter Seventeen
While Recker piloted the Vengeance remotely towards the Aeklu, Larson took the seat next to him. She looked nervous and was trying to hide it.
“We all started somewhere, Lieutenant. Now it’s your turn.”
Larson gathered herself and signed into the weapons console. “Yes, sir.”
“Lieutenant Burner, please get in touch with Fleet Admiral Telar on Earth and tell him of our requirements for additional crew. We’ll benefit from having a few dozen extra soldiers and a fully equipped medical team as well.”
“I’m speaking to him right this moment, sir.”
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” said Recker, watching Larson from the corner of his eye.
“I won’t need assistance, sir,” she said, noticing his attention.
“I know you won’t, Lieutenant. If I thought you did, you wouldn’t be sitting there.”
“I finished hundreds of simulator runs when I was on Ivisto, sir. I know they’re no replacement for the real thing, but I’ve got the muscle memory now.” She patted the side of her head without taking her eyes from her console. “Once you’ve got the muscle memory, the limitation is up here, and I’ve been through enough to know I’ll cope.”
When she first came aboard the Axiom heavy cruiser, many months ago, Larson had been happy to accept a junior role to Lieutenant Burner. Gradually as time went by, she’d developed into an equal partner instead of a subordinate. Recker didn’t think she’d ever have the same almost supernatural ability to glean snippets of vital information from raw sensor data as Burner, but she had the talent to advance through the ranks. Burner, on the other hand, had found his level and he was happy there.
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