On Dagger's Wings (The Spiral War Book 1)

by SF Edwards

  "We were able to destroy seven Splicer 3000s and five Splicer 1000s. We only detected ejection from two of the 1000s and four of the 3000s,” the commander said solemnly, his already weakened task force now a mere shell of what it once was. “We show only one loss to the Splicer 5000s.”

  "Can we take the dark matter drive out of here?" Captain Delgado asked, searching for hope.

  "No, sir. The dark matter drive is offline and the two remaining reactors are operating at only thirty-three percent efficiency. Those bomber pilots knew where to hit us,” the commander replied tersely.

  “Sir, the Dracula is attempting to activate its dark matter drive!” the sensor officer called from his crackling console.

  Captain Delgado felt a pang of hope as the crippled carrier twisted about on the screen before its dark energy drive spun up and with a flash of its engines, raced away. Captain Delgado slumped back in his seat watching it escape. He wiped at his eyes and smiled before a bright flash lit the screen a moment later. He didn’t need to ask but he did anyway. “What happened?”

  The sensor operator hung his head. That’s right he was screwing someone aboard the Dracula, wasn’t he?

  “Her reactor went critical. She’s gone,” the sensor operator replied quietly.

  An idea began to form in Captain Delgado’s mind, a way to recover from this disaster. “Bring us about and get us out of here.”

  From his console, the engineering officer looked up at him. The damage board behind him was alight with red markers all across the ship. “Sir, didn’t you hear the commander? We barely have maneuvering thrusters and the dark matter bulb shattered when main engineering when down. I’m doing everything I can just to keep the ship together.”

  The commander left his station to confront the captain. “We’ve lost! We should surrender and let them take us captive.”

  “No!” Captain Delgado screamed back at him. “The battle isn’t over yet! We can still yet do something!”

  Delgado looked at the screen to see the asteroid shell before them and his plan solidified. We still have enough power to fly through the shell. We can engage the base at the heart of the shell, crash into it if we have to. Even if it means our deaths we can destroy the academy and emerge the victors. He looked back at the commander. “What’s the status of the enemy forces?”

  The commander looked at him incredulous. “The bombers should be out of ordnance but we have no turrets left and most of our torpedo tubes are damaged.”

  Captain Delgado looked at the asteroid shell again. “Shields?”

  “Weak and we have holes all over the ship.”

  “No matter. All ahead full!” he ordered, snarling at the screen.

  The Thal helmsman looked back at him as if he hadn’t heard him correctly. “Sir?”

  “You heard me! Best speed through the asteroid shell. All ahead full.”

  The commander stared at the captain, slack-jawed.

  “We can’t run. We can’t escape but we can at least take them with us.”

  A few stray grunts of approval came back from across the bridge.

  The commander grabbed him by the collar and jerked him around. “Sir, no! This is insane. At least let us try and get a few people out on the shuttles, report…”

  A muffled clap of thunder filled the bridge and the commander shuffled back--a plaser blast drilled through his heart. Captain Delgado looked back in the commander’s lifeless eyes. The pistol in his hand felt cold, he found that odd. He’d never killed a man so personally, but no one would steal his victory from him now. He met the helmsman’s eyes and leveled the gun on him.

  “All ahead full,” he called and kicked over the commander’s body.

  The helmsman complied.

  UCSBA-13, Command Center

  Admiral Sares stared at the tactical hologram with an air of triumph washing over him. The Nosferat hung in orbit over the asteroid shell. Its armament was gone, its escort destroyed and all of its fighters were adding to his asteroid shell barrier. He smiled at the display.

  The reinforcements that would arrive in a few hects would find the battle already won. Now he only wondered what the captain of the Nosferat would do. Will he surrender or make a vain attempt to escape? The ship twisted about in the display. Guess that answers that, looks like he’s trying to break orbit. However, the movement was wrong. They weren’t turning away from the shell but nosing towards it.

  “What are they doing?” the admiral asked no one in particular.

  “We show them powering up their engines. They appear to be going for the shell,” Ichoji called. “Do you think they’re going to try and ram us?”

  “Can they breach the shell?”

  “Possibly.”

  “What’s the status of our bombers?” the admiral asked turning towards Commander Pio-Tolis as she coordinated the fighter groups outside the shell.

  “We don’t have any heavy ordnance ready for them beyond training rounds. Chief Flind is attempting to get them from our launchers but it will take another hect to transport them.”

  “We don’t have that kind of time. Half of Monstero Nach has experience taking a Geffer corvette and they’re bucking to be a ship capture team. Order them in to take the ship. They haven’t got the ordnance to try and destroy it. We’ll give them all the time we can but we will destroy it if we have to,” the admiral ordered.

  GFS-Nosferat, Upper Port Hangar

  Marda’s hearts swelled as she watched the last of their fighters come into position. Landing gear extended, they used the magnetic locks to hold themselves to the deck. These ships were the ones she longed the most to see. Each of the craft carried their ejected squadron members on their backs. She did her best not to show emotion when they clambered down. The lack of Seri and Joda did not go unnoticed.

  Marda felt the ship lurch beneath her feet, and looking forward, saw the asteroid shell grow. She could make out some of the asteroids within now as the cruiser fell from its orbit. The crew must be suicidal to attempt to breach the shell in a ship this size without shields.

  Porc ran up and brushed past her before she could assess his condition.

  “Are you OK?” she called after him.

  “Bastards smashed up my ride, I’m taking this one instead!” he bit back.

  Marda turned and took a step back as Arion and Gokhead stepped up. Arion’s blackened suit set her aback. How is that thing still holding in atmosphere? A tiny geyser at his neck ring told her the truth, it wasn’t. She pulled a patch out of her survival kit and slapped it onto the leak.

  He nodded at her and she looked him over, spying the plasma exciter from his fighter under his left arm with his old seat harness straps holding it in place. On his back he carried one of the crystallic fusion power cells from his ship in its armored shell with the cables running directly to the weapon. She shook her head as she saw his sidearm cold-soldered to the accelerator casing, wires leading from it to the firing mechanism of the exciter.

  “Nice toy,” Marda commented. “Now let’s get you inside

  Arion lifted it up, showing off the red casing. “Thanks, now Big Red and I have some unfinished business here.”

  Marda turned towards Gokhead. “Can this ship penetrate the shell?”

  “It’ll make it through but it’ll get battered. It could still make a suicide run on the academy.”

  “Then let’s move!” she ordered and they piled into the airlock where Gokhead set to work cycling it to allow them access to the antechamber beyond. When the air pressure inside rose Marda heard a distinctive snap and turned to find the ring seals of Arion’s helmet lying on the deck, her patch still oozing sealant.

  Gokhead ran up to him and examined the suit before looking up at the big man. “Good news! It waited until now to bust.”

  “Bad news?” Arion asked.

  “You’ll need a new suit before you can leave,” Gokhead grinned.

  Marda expected that after seeing Arion, but given their shrinking timeline, d
id not feel reassured. After the lock reached full pressure she forced her doubt aside and stepped into the antechamber with the rest of the squadron.

  “Good! You’re here!” Blazer said welcoming them. “Trevis, it’s your show.”

  Trevis nodded at Blazer and pulled his sidearm before he turned towards them. “Explosions, we be knowing the layout of this ship and be studying it less than a tridec ago.”

  The twelve of them nodded. Marda had heard rumors about Trevis’ unofficial training sessions before but had never imagined they would come into play this soon.

  “With the amount of damage this ship be taking and our lack of hardware, it be best if we don’t make for environmental. They be streaming enough air to have everyone on suits. Blazer, I want your first two flights with mine. We’ll be needing help to reach the bridge quickly. Blade Force Flights Three and Four go with our environmental and engineering teams and take main engineering. They likely be reinforcing the guard there to keep us from stopping their suicide run.”

  I suppose that makes sense, but I wish I knew something about ship capture, or at least had a spirit orb as a guide.

  “Arion!” Trevis yelled and motioned towards the armored door out into the passageway before pointing at his arm. “There likely be a reception committee waiting for us out in the passageway. You be thinking your new friend there can be giving them a proper welcome?”

  Arion stepped up and leveled the weapon on the door. “Gladly! Now, everyone, get back. This baby has a mean kick.”

  GFS-Nosferat, Battle Bridge

  Captain Delgado stared at the screen with bated breath, his pistol resting on his lap. Security forces assembled in the passageway outside the airlock antechamber. He eyed the head of security beside him. The commander’s body still lay on the deck beside the main tactical display behind the captain’s chair.

  “Don’t worry, sir. My men will stop them from getting through.”

  Captain Delgado looked up at him and petted his gun. “They’d better,” he replied and felt the ship shimmy with the first asteroid impact. “We will take this base with us if we have to.”

  A loud noise resonated out over the security feed and all eyes turned back to look at the screen. The door blistered outwards before their very eyes. A second loud thump echoed back and the door exploded. A plasma bolt raced down the passage blackening the walls and floor. Captain Delgado jumped before two more followed and then all went still. The guards assembled there a moment before were nothing more than charred corpses on the deck.

  “Do they have a tank in there?” the security officer asked and a moment later he had his answer.

  Captain Delgado seethed when Arion stepped through the blasted out door. The blackened out layers of his flight suit sloughed off with each step, and underneath his arm, the red core of a plasma exciter. A shorter hominid then followed him through the door. He scurried out behind him, a sidearm in his hand and brought it to bear on the camera.

  The feed went black and Captain Delgado turned to the security officer, the commander’s desire for a marine contingent ringing in his ears. “Stop them, don’t let them disrupt our attack,” Captain Delgado ordered in a voice so calm it chilled even his bones.

  Captain Delgado felt like he was playing a chess game where his pieces had minds of their own. The cameras and internal sensors painted a picture for him that turned his stomach. Their token security force couldn’t hold back the tide of the Confed forces raiding his ship. Every time the pilots entered into view of a camera, the feed would go dark and he felt a little more of his control of the ship slip away. Thermal sensors showed their movement best, and when the group split, he ordered security forces to intercept the larger group of fourteen. The smaller group would head for the bridge, but he was safe in the battle bridge behind over a foot of armor.

  “Sir we have the group stopped ten frames forward of main engineering but I’m not sure how long we can hold out,” the report came several minutes later.

  “Explain,” Captain Delgado ordered before the thermal sensor lit up. He knew the answer now. That psychopath with the cannon is amongst the assault group heading for main engineering. He breathed a sigh of relief at that. Main engineering is a fortress, and he isn’t coming for me.

  “Team five, come in, Team Five.” The security chief called and then dropped his head. “They’re gone, and I’m not sure how long the blast doors will be able to withstand that cannon of theirs.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Captain Delgado replied, and all eyes turned towards him. “Can’t you hear it, the silence?” He smiled when he saw recognition on the helmsman’s face--they had cleared the asteroid shell. “They’re too late to stop us. Best speed for the asteroid at the center of the shell,” the captain ordered.

  The sound of Plaser fire outside from outside the bridge pulled Captain Delgado back into the moment and he fixed the security chief with a hateful glare.

  “They’re in the corridor outside! Security forces are engaging!” the security chief reported after checking his station.

  The sound of the firefight resonated through the door but captain didn’t care. With a grim smile on his face, he turned to the main viewer as the ship approached the asteroid at the heart of the shell. The cadets outside had no hope of breaching the armored door. He had won. Engineering could hold out long enough despite the heavy fire.

  “We’ve forced them into the ready room next door,” the security chief reported a moment later. “They’re trapped.”

  “Best speed then.” Captain Delgado ordered. I would have preferred a hero’s welcome after my victory but at least history will remember me now as the hero who destroyed an enemy academy.

  His grim smile faded when a thumping sound echoed through the bridge an instant before the viewer went dark. It felt like a nightmare, and he just stood there as the screen exploded outwards. The blast knocked him to the deck before five more explosions echoed around him. Officers felt to the deck across the bridge, the telltale scarring of plasma grenades marring their flesh.

  Stunned, he climbed back up to his seat and a shape born of a nightmare burst through the hole in the wall. Even through the haze of shock he recognized the shape, a Lycan in full wolfen form. He reached for his pistol but it was too late, the beast had him by the throat and hefted him from the deck. His heart thudded harder than he’d ever remembered as he looked at the grotesque hairless visage before him. The feeling of the claws against his neck, the venom of an infective lycanthrope dripping from them, was too much for him to handle, and he lost control of his bladder.

  A motion at the edge of the captain’s vision pulled his eyes away when his Thal helmsman jumped to his feet. Sidearm in hand, he leveled it on the Lycan. Before he could fire, however, a spray of blood erupted from the stump where his hand had been a moment before and the young man fell backwards.

  The captain’s eyes shifted and he spotted a rodent-faced Nerzain with the name Porc emblazoned on his flightsuit. He stood there with the natural blade claws extended from his right hand dripping blood. Leveling a side arm on the helmsman’s head with his left hand Porc said, “Don’t do that. You’ll just upset him.”

  ***

  Blazer seized the opportunity and leapt through the hole as the security troops leveled their weapons on Zithe. He took a quick shot at one of the troopers while the rest of the bridge team poured in around him. Each aimed shot dropped an enemy combatant to the deck.

  Blazer took up a position next to the helm and leveled his gun on who he assumed was the second officer. He had his gun on Zithe. He had no compunction about killing the man. The security trooper he’d shot lay at the man’s feet. The blast had cleaved out the side of the dead man’s face. We need to take a senior office alive.

  “Looks like we have a standoff,” Blazer called out. “I wouldn’t do anything. My friend there is an Infective Lycan and I don’t think you want him to turn your captain.”

  Blazer listened to Zithe’s low guttural g
rowl. He could barely make out the words in it and knew that inside that feral body, Zithe’s mind fought to maintain control of the beast he had transformed into. Blazer maintained a straight face in order to cover his ruse. Zithe was no longer infective. The venom ducts in his wrists had been removed by law. They don’t need to know that though. Shreg the venom would likely just poison him if he even had any. Though their anatomy was externally similar Anulian amino acids mirrored Terran, so all Zithe’s venom could do was poison the captain, not turn him.

  The second officer kept his gun leveled on Zithe. “Ask me if I care. This fool has already sent us on a suicide run. Check for yourself. We’ll all be dead soon enough.”

  Blazer caught Telsh jumping into action. She shoved the wounded helmsman away and examined the controls. “They be taking us straight towards Singularity Base.” She turned towards the captain. “What be the code to unlock the helm?”

  “Go to hell!” the captain squeaked out.

  Telsh turned to Zithe. “Zithe! Squeeze!”

  Zithe did as commanded and tightened his grip on the man’s throat.

  “I’m committed to dying. What makes you think I care?”

  Gokhead shoved his way onto the second helm and began to mash away at the controls. The keypad there was simply a ten-digit lock. “How long would the code be?”

  Telsh shrugged her shoulders. “No longer than ten digits.”

  Blazer dared not take his eyes off the second officer as the helmsman lay there on the deck, writhing and screaming at them. He could tell that Gokhead was trying to make out what the man was yelling and couldn’t understand him. There has to be some clue. The chrono on his macomm blinked away the time until the academy fired on them. His eyes danced about frantically then back at the captain as everyone screamed at him for the code.

  Blazer had it and locked eyes with the second officer. The twitch of the eye, and the sweat on his brow stood out as the clearest of signals. “He knows the code, and he wants to live.”