“What are you hoping to find, Captain Recker?” asked Sergeant Shadar on the third day. The mess room was full and Recker poked an unappetising heap of glutinous lumps around his metal tray.
Recker met his officer’s eyes. The Daklan seemed older than before, as if the Extractor had done him lasting harm, though his gaze was unwavering and his voice strong.
“Death or salvation, Sergeant. One or the other awaits us, and nothing in between.”
Shadar understood. Somehow, he always understood. “I choose salvation.”
Sergeant Vance was also sitting at the table, his suit helmet and rifle next to his own tray. His expression showed uncertainty and a willingness to believe, even if he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to believe in.
He gave a short laugh. “I guess I choose salvation too.”
Recker was grateful neither officer asked him to make promises or predictions and he wasn’t sure what answers he would have given. His appetite hadn’t returned and he took his leave, pausing only to push his tray of unfinished food into the disposal slot. On the nearby table, Corporal Hendrix, Private Enfield and a couple of the other soldiers laughed and joked like they were in a bar on the first night of a month’s shore leave.
Halfway through the nine days, Recker managed a fitful sleep, from which fevered thoughts regularly brought him back to consciousness. Two days after that, he was sleeping as solidly as ever, though his guilt and sorrow had not entirely dissipated. Maybe they never would.
If I don’t come to terms with the past, I might as well stop living. And I’m damned if I’m ready to lay down and die.
The same thought played in his mind so often it became a refrain. I won’t lay down and die. Soon, every time the self-destructive part of his mind goaded him about his failings, those six words jumped to the forefront of his consciousness, drowning out everything else.
In the end, Recker knew he was coming to terms with what had happened and the familiar on-the-edge sense of agitation returned, like it always did when something critical was on the horizon.
By the end of the eighth day, everyone onboard had made good progress in recovering from not only the Extractor attacks, but also the drugs used to combat the effects of that same weapon. Even the Daklan were looking much improved and it gave Recker hope that they’d end up as healthy as before.
The only trouble was, he’d soon be asking everyone to take a double dose of Frenziol, while flying them towards another warship equipped with an Extractor. Nobody ever promised an easy life in the military.
When Lieutenant Eastwood called out his ten-minute warning, the Vengeance’s crew were at their stations and ready for whatever fate would bring. The two shots of boosters had left Recker with the feeling that he needed to vomit, while his mouth was parched.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” said Aston. “We’re sure the Laws of Ancidium keep modifying their Extractors, but maybe they don’t communicate those updates to each other.”
“How would they even know if those modifications are working?” demanded Burner. “We either die or we don’t.”
“A discussion for later,” warned Recker. “We’re about to drop into hostile territory – a solar system we know nothing about - and I want you focused.”
“Yes, sir.”
The timer fell and Recker felt a cold sweat prickling. His heart thumped in his chest, something he put down to the boosters.
“Two minutes!” shouted Eastwood.
Recker nodded in response and didn’t take his eyes off the timer. On an older HPA warship, the lightspeed calculations were usually a few seconds out, but the processing core on the Vengeance rarely made an error.
“Twenty seconds,” said Recker.
The timer counted to zero and he felt the juddering of the ternium drive switching over, sending the Vengeance out of lightspeed and into local space.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The arrival place chosen by Lieutenant Eastwood was a billion kilometres from the sun, which was an acceptable distance given the advanced detection capabilities exhibited by the Laws of Ancidium. Recker gave the Vengeance maximum acceleration and waited for his sensor officers to report.
“Local scan complete,” said Larson. “There’s nothing close by.”
Recker didn’t slow the warship and listened for the next update.
“Far scans underway,” said Burner. “I’ve located the star and it’s on the sensors. Not much to say about it – it’s a hundred percent larger in diameter and three times the mass of Earth’s sun. A star like others we’ve seen before.”
Recker didn’t spend much time looking at the fully zoomed feed. The star was little more than a bright, wavering disk on the screen.
“The Gorgadar is on the facing side,” said Larson. “We’ll talk about the best way to find it once we’ve completed the rest of the scans.”
“I know the routine, Lieutenant.”
“Far scans complete,” said Burner a short time later. “I’ve located a total of four planets, all of them farther from their sun than we are. Probability modelling suggests an exceptionally high likelihood of other planets, as-yet undetected.”
“Keep searching,” said Recker.
“Is it important we find other planets, sir?” asked Larson.
“Probably not, Lieutenant. Sometimes it’s good to have a place to run. Lieutenant Burner, have you sent that transmission to Earth?”
“Yes, sir. It won’t reach its destination for a long time.”
“No chance we’ll be recalled, then,” said Aston.
Recker looked her way and she offered him a grin. He felt better knowing her good spirits had returned and he smiled in response.
“I’ve located a fifth and sixth planet,” said Larson. “They’re both heading blind side of the sun and I’ve added them to the local chart we’re building of this solar system.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Now stop what you’re doing – it’s time to concentrate on the star.”
“There’s not a chance in hell of detecting anything from this range, sir,” protested Burner.
“I thought we had precise coordinates, Lieutenant?”
“I don’t know how the Lavorix configure their battle networks, but I assume they’re precise,” said Burner. “That doesn’t mean our sensors have suddenly learned how to ignore the radiation and other crap that spills from a star. If our information is accurate, the Gorgadar is on the edge of the corona.”
“Five million klicks from the surface,” said Recker.
“It’s sixty-two hours from here to there at our maximum sub-light velocity,” said Eastwood helpfully.
“Lieutenant Burner, you’ve informed me of the difficulties, but I’d like you to take a look before we start up the ternium drive,” said Recker.
“Yes, sir,” said Burner. “Just don’t be disappointed at the results.”
With nothing hostile in the vicinity, Recker slowed the Vengeance to a crawl, considered the matter further and then brought it to a standstill. Fixed sensors always gathered more data. “That should help.”
Neither Burner nor Larson responded, though the former muttered quietly under his breath.
“Uh, I’ve located something,” said Burner. “I should feel embarrassed because I said it would never happen, but instead I’m going to pat myself on the back.”
“What have you found?” asked Recker.
“I don’t know, sir. It’s not a physical object – more of an energy reading.” Burner made a hmm sound. “A distortion.”
“What kind of distortion, Lieutenant?”
“I don’t know, sir. It could even be coming from the star.”
“You don’t think so.”
“No.”
“Add it to the tactical.”
“Done. The readings are coming from dead on the battle network coordinates.”
“Shame we don’t have a lightspeed missile to poke the hornet’s nest,” said Eastwood.
Recker st
ared at the red dot on the tactical. No additional insight came, but there again he’d already made up his mind.
“We’re going closer,” he said. “Lieutenant Eastwood – target a place five million klicks from the source of that reading. That’s five million klicks farther out from the sun in case you hadn’t realised.”
“Thank you for spelling that out, sir. I have entered the destination. Six minutes on the timer.”
“What aren’t you telling us, sir?” said Aston. “It’s like you’ve brought us here with more knowledge than you’re letting on.”
“I don’t know anything, Commander. All I’ve got is a feeling.” He sighed without knowing why. “When you started talking about roads and how I could see the right one amongst the others, it made me start thinking about the Gorgadar and what it’s doing here in the back end of beyond instead of fighting the Kilvar or guarding the Ancidium.”
“What conclusions did you reach?”
“The Lavorix won’t have left a primary asset doing nothing. That much is obvious. So the Gorgadar either has a purpose being out here that we don’t understand, or something else happened.”
“What else?” said Aston.
“That’s what we’re here to find out.”
“Death or salvation.” She smiled.
“Where did you hear that?”
“The mess room. It’s what the soldiers keep saying – that we’re here for death or salvation.”
Recker laughed and it was so long since he’d done so that the noise was strange in his ears. “And they’d be right, Commander.”
Six minutes after the timer started, the Vengeance entered lightspeed in a quick in-out that made Recker’s stomach lurch. Without waiting for the sensors, he requested maximum power from the engines and the warship sped away from its arrival place.
The sensors came online quickly and most of the feeds were of the local star, the light from which filled the bridge with a white-tinted yellow that made him squint. Once again, the sensor team scanned the locality and this time the tension was more palpable than before.
“Nothing on the near scan,” said Larson. “I’m searching for the energy reading.”
“Fars ongoing,” said Burner.
“I’ve located the energy reading,” said Larson. “The type is still unknown – maybe there’s an interaction with the sun’s radiation that’s fooling the sensors.”
“Fars clear, sir. And we’re not dead yet.”
“There’s plenty of time for that to happen, Lieutenant.”
“I’ve located an object, sir,” said Larson.
Recker’s heart thudded harder than before. “Tell me.”
“It’s stationary and made of alloy, with an active energy shield which has probably been triggered by proximity to the sun - the temperatures there are high enough to melt any known substance. I’d estimate its longest dimension at approximately twenty-nine thousand metres.”
The agitation Recker was experiencing didn’t go away. “Zoom and enhance, please.”
“Working on it. Here.”
“Definitely a spaceship,” said Recker. “Can you enhance further?”
“That’s the best we’ll get from this range, sir.”
“Maybe the Gorgadar is the oldest of the six,” said Eastwood. “From its looks, anyway.”
“Age doesn’t explain what it’s doing here.”
The distant spaceship’s flank was facing the Vengeance, giving Recker an idea of its shape despite the light and radiation interference affecting the sensors. If this was the Gorgadar, its profile more closely resembled an older model HPA battleship, with perhaps some extra bulk and twenty-five-thousand-metre landing skids instead of legs. There was something else – the intense light of the star was suppressed as it passed the warship, as if a sphere different to the energy shield surrounded the Gorgadar’s hull.
“What is that…darkness…around it?” asked Recker.
“I don’t know, sir,” said Burner. “But it’s producing the same readings as I took from a billion klicks.”
Recker stared and Aston mistook his silence for uncertainty. She offered a suggestion. “Our missiles won’t lock from here, but they’ll hit a stationary target with a bit of guidance reprogramming. We could fire a shot and see what happens.”
“Hold the weapons, Commander. We’re heading in.”
The cold sweat from before had dried on Recker’s skin and his scalp itched. He took the Vengeance to maximum velocity and the tactical informed him the warship was eighteen minutes from target.
“Shouldn’t we watch things from range for a while longer?” asked Burner.
“Scan for a receptor, Lieutenant,” said Recker, not answering the question.
“No visible receptors, sir.”
The distance between the two spaceships decreased and the outside temperature climbed. Soon, the first of the hull alerts appeared on Recker’s console and, at two million kilometres from the target, he slowed once again to a standstill. From this distance, the suppression of the sun’s light was much more apparent.
“That sphere has an eighty-klick radius, sir. The energy type is something I’m unfamiliar with and there’s no match in the Vengeance’s databanks,” said Burner. “I won’t be able to tell you what it is.”
Recker placed his finger on the mode 3 activation button. “Open up a comms receptor and start sending transmissions to that ship, Lieutenant.”
“The miniscule chance they don’t know we’re here will then fall to zero, sir.”
“Open the receptor, Lieutenant.”
“Receptor open…bombarding unknown warship with comms transmissions.”
The warship, which Recker deep down knew was the Gorgadar, didn’t respond.
“I’ve seen enough,” he said. “We’re going to mode 3 into its shield. Lieutenant Eastwood, program the coordinates into the navigational system.”
“Already, sir?” said Aston. “Perhaps we should continue our observation.”
She was the second member of the crew to express doubts and Recker saw the concern in her face.
“I haven’t gone mad, Commander. That’s the Gorgadar, I’m sure of it. Fleet Admiral Telar believes the Lavorix are in retreat and I think it started when they lost that warship.”
“They’ve lost four others, sir.”
“I know, and I think the enemy have been acting in desperation since this happened.” Recker lifted a hand and pointed at the spaceship on the feed.
“That sphere?” said Aston, struggling for comprehension.
“I think the Kilvar did something. Whatever it was, we’re looking at the results.”
“A dead ship,” said Eastwood.
“If I’m right, we have an opportunity,” said Recker. “If I’m wrong…”
“Death,” said Larson. “Whatever happened to the Lavorix will happen to us.”
“I’m willing to take the chance, Lieutenant. Are you?”
“I’d prefer a better idea of what effects that sphere might have on us.”
“I’m not dictating anything, Lieutenant. I’d like agreement first.”
“The sphere might be something emitted by the spaceship,” said Larson. “If the Gorgadar was attacked, there’s no reason to believe the effects have lingered.”
“Except that the Lavorix haven’t recovered their warship,” said Recker.
“You’re hoping that we’re resistant to an unknown weapon in the same way we are to the Extractor,” said Larson.
“I feel like we should have died in RETI-11, Lieutenant, yet here we are. The Ixidar will soon be on its way to HPA or Daklan territory and we have nothing that can stop it. We’ve been given a chance.”
“Death or salvation.” said Larson. She smiled at Recker. “Let’s do it.”
Recker didn’t wait any longer and he pressed the mode 3 button on the control bar.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Recker waited in anticipation of that death. It didn’t come, though a stran
ge tingling made his skin feel like he’d just stepped out of a hot bath and he experienced a vague feeling of detachment from his body which was different to that imparted by the Frenziol. None of it was pleasant but he could live with it, assuming it didn’t get any worse.
“Sensors coming online,” said Burner.
Recker didn’t take his hands off the controls, but made no effort to use them. The sensors came up and the portside arrays were full of spaceship, the Vengeance being too close for everything to be visible. The part Recker saw was an immense slab of alloy, which was curved rather than flat like he’d expected. On the opposite side arrays, he saw the same translucent effect caused by the energy shield as he’d seen in the Ivisto construction yard.
“We’re not dead,” said Eastwood. “But I don’t feel right.”
“Me either,” said Larson.
Now that he had external visibility, Recker carefully turned the Vengeance to obtain a better view of the Gorgadar. From this close, it was impressive and while the general shape still bore a resemblance to an older HPA design, the curves added a sleekness that made it appear far in advance of anything humanity had constructed. Aside from that, the pointed nose and the long main structure were as classical as it came.
“I can only see conventional weaponry,” said Burner. “Missiles and shit.”
“This is the Gorgadar, Lieutenant. It has more than just missiles.”
“Now that we’re so near, I’m getting some clearer hull readings, sir,” said Eastwood. “I wonder if that other energy was masking them.” He swore loudly. “These hull readings are of another unknown type.”
Recker glanced at the outside readings. Despite the Gorgadar’s proximity to the star, temperatures within its shield were far below zero. “Hold the analysis, Lieutenant Eastwood – we’re going onboard.”
“How?” said Aston.
“The same way we entered the Aeklu – through the topside hatch.”
“What about the security?” asked Burner.
“The construction yard discovered only limited security systems on the Aeklu, Lieutenant. There was an access system, but you could touch almost any panel and the door would open. Almost as if it never occurred to the Lavorix that someone would try to break in. Most importantly, I have the command codes we extracted from the Aeklu’s control core.”
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