“This has got to make us stronger,” said Hawkins.
“How much stronger do we need to be, Lieutenant?”
She had no answer and fell silent.
The number of bodies lessened until there were only a few here and there – the fastest or luckiest of the Vraxar. By the time they came to within fifty metres of the bridge, there were none.
“I don’t want to walk that walk again,” said Pointer, close to tears.
“Shut it out, Lieutenant,” said Blake. “Come to terms with it later – we’ve got a tough time ahead of us and we can’t be distracted.”
The bridge door whisked open and the crew entered. Corporal Bannerman was inside, fiddling with the comms console. He looked up guiltily when the crew approached.
“I’m just checking it out, sir. Professional interest.”
“Don’t worry about it, Corporal. Where’s Lieutenant McKinney?”
“Scouting the ship, sir. To see if we’re alone.”
“This is the only room which matters.”
“He doesn’t want the Vraxar planting explosives on the door while we’re inside.”
“Fine. Lieutenant McKinney knows what he’s doing.” Blake turned to his crew. “There’s no time to lose. Find your seats and let’s get this spaceship in the air.”
With that, the crew found their stations, leaving the soldiers with the task of eliminating any pockets of Vraxar which may have escaped the withering fire of the internal defence systems. Blake pushed the memory of what he’d seen in the corridor from his mind. He accessed the main console on Earth’s Fury and got to work.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The brutal attack on the Sciontrar and its subsequent disappearance into lightspeed had a sobering effect on the crew of the Ulterior-2. The destruction of the Vraxar battleship was a victory of sorts, yet only really a sideshow to the main event.
“Have the Ghasts abandoned us?” asked Ensign Park.
“I might not be trained for ship duty, but that damage to the Sciontrar looked fairly terminal to me,” said Sergeant Li.
“It was,” Duggan replied. His voice rose. “Lieutenant Cruz, where is Ix-Gorghal?”
“I’m looking, sir. Their stealth modules are just as good as ours.”
“They’re somewhere close,” said Duggan. “I can feel it. After that engagement, they’ll know we’re here as well.”
“Captain Blake can’t fire at them if he can’t see them, can he?” asked Li.
Duggan shook his head in answer. Ix-Gorghal was nearby and maintaining its stealth cloak. The Ulterior-2 was also hidden and this was the only thing keeping the crew alive.
“What are they playing at?” He didn’t expect anyone to respond and they didn’t.
The answer came to him with a certainty he couldn’t shake. The Vraxar were enjoying this – to them it was a game; a hunt in which they stalked their far weaker prey. Until they get bored.
Duggan didn’t enjoy games, particularly when they put the lives of billions of people at risk. Somehow, he had to play for time until Captain Blake got Earth’s Fury ready, and then he would need to figure out how to bring Ix-Gorghal out of stealth. The odds were far lower than he would have liked.
“I’ve located the Sciontrar,” said Cruz. “They got dumped out of lightspeed close to the moon. They’re going to impact.”
The Oblivion was too far away for the Ulterior-2’s sensors to produce a pin-sharp image. The view was good enough to show the Sciontrar heading down at high speed. If the battleship’s life support was active, the crew might live. Otherwise, there’d be nothing left to scrape off the walls and the only monument to their deaths would be a thousand-kilometre crater in the middle of New Earth’s moon.
Just then, all hell broke loose.
“A big gauss slug went past our nose,” said Cruz. “That one was close. Holy crap, dozens of them!”
Duggan pushed at the controls. “Time to get out of here.”
He didn’t hold back and took the Ulterior-2 up to full speed. The battleship wasn’t only loaded with weapons, it was also the fastest ship in the fleet excepting the spy craft ES Blackbird. It burst away from New Earth, reaching a velocity of 2600 kilometres per second. Gauss slugs from Ix-Gorghal tore through space in their hundreds, some coming perilously close to the Ulterior-2’s shields.
“They don’t know exactly where we are,” said Cruz.
Duggan had been in this position before. The enemy would gradually narrow down the precise location of the fleeing battleship until eventually one of those massive projectiles would score a direct hit. “They soon will.”
“They’re right where we want them,” said Li. “Hot on our tail.”
Li spoke the unpleasant truth. They had a good idea where Ix-Gorghal was and all they had to do was keep it in pursuit until Captain Blake got Earth’s Fury into a position from which he could fire. As easy as that, laughed Duggan bitterly.
“I can tell you exactly where the enemy ship is, sir,” said Cruz. “It’s hard for them to conceal their location when they’re firing a thousand guns at us.”
“Hold fire,” warned Duggan. “If we open up, it’ll give the game away.”
The Ulterior-2 sped through space, heading for the New Earth moon. The satellite was a bleak, cold rock and the Sciontrar’s impact had produced a vast crater near to its northern pole. The Ghast battleship lay at the bottom. It had flipped over during the impact and its nose pointed at an angle towards the sky. Aftershocks from the collision spread outwards for thousands of kilometres.
“I’m going to bring us around the moon in a tight circuit. It’ll prevent them from seeing the Earth’s Fury when it takes off,” said Duggan.
“If we make it. That last slug missed our shield by fifty metres,” said Cruz. “Their average miss distance is less than a thousand metres.”
Duggan had a sudden thought. “Can you communicate with the Earth’s Fury now Ix-Gorghal is away from the surface?”
“Negative and they’re still on the ground. Whatever was jamming the comms, it’s still in place.”
“Send them our coordinates and keep sending them updates. We’re stealthed, but they should be able to locate us from that.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll set up an automated update.”
Cruz made an exclamation of surprise.
“What is it?” asked Duggan sharply.
“An open channel from the Sciontrar!” she said excitedly. “Tarjos Nil-Tras says hello!”
“Well I’ll be…”
An idea appeared in Duggan’s mind, slotting in with the sort of perfection he didn’t believe existed. His breathing deepened and his heartrate quickened at the sheer audacity of it.
“Tell Nil-Tras to warm up the Particle Disruptor and be ready to fire!”
Cruz talked quickly. Before she was done speaking, the Ulterior-2’s approach towards the moon took it out of comms sight and the connection with the Sciontrar went dead.
“Did he get the message?” asked Duggan.
“I don’t know if he got it all, sir.”
“The Sciontrar is badly damaged,” said Park. “Do we know if their Particle Disruptor is even working?”
“We call this taking a chance,” said Duggan.
“I’ve heard it called many things, sir,” said Sergeant Li.
The Ulterior-2 came within a thousand kilometres of the moon. A series of huge craters caused by the fire from Ix-Gorghal’s guns suddenly appeared on the surface below, each impact throwing up a fountain of rock shards. Before Duggan could adjust the battleship’s course, disaster struck and one of the slugs crashed into the spaceship’s energy shield, sending the primary Obsidiar core’s power reserves plunging.
“I don’t think we can take another,” said Ensign Bailey.
They didn’t have a choice in the matter and a second projectile followed the first, depleting the shield entirely. With its momentum almost spent by its passage through the shield, the eighty-thousand tonne ball of allo
y thudded into the Ulterior-2’s rear section with insufficient force to rupture the armour plates, and then spun off into space.
“That’s got to have given them a big clue about where to aim,” said Bailey.
Duggan knew it as well. He hauled the Ulterior-2 into a much tighter arc around the moon, coming to within a few hundred metres of the barren surface.
“Whoa, shit!” said Cruz.
Ix-Gorghal’s gauss slugs drubbed the surface, creating another storm of rock which clattered against the battleship’s hull. Duggan increased their speed and altered course again, hoping to throw off the Vraxar ship’s aim.
“We’re coming up on the Sciontrar, sir,” said Cruz. “They won’t be able to see what they’re aiming at.”
It was possible the Ghast comms team would be able to identify the location of Ix-Gorghal in a split second and then fire the Particle Disruptor. On the other hand, they might be too late and this opportunity be forever wasted.
This was the moment. Duggan saw it clearly – the fulcrum upon which everything was balanced. Success and failure at opposite sides of the scales. Success could not exist without failure, but sometimes the scales could be given a push to disturb their equilibrium.
Duggan took the Ulterior-2 higher above the moon’s surface and then, when the Sciontrar appeared on the sensors far below, he gave the order.
“Target Ix-Gorghal and fire Shimmers.”
Park had been slow the first time. On this occasion he was like lightning.
Sixteen upper and rear Shimmer tubes launched their missiles. The enemy ship was under cover of stealth, but it was huge and presented a far bigger target than the Ulterior-2. The Shimmers detonated in less than a second and their explosions spread outwards and around Ix-Gorghal’s energy shield, defining its shape and betraying its location.
Duggan was shocked at how close the enemy was to them - the Vraxar spaceship was within five hundred kilometres and its fearsome size made him experience a wave of terrible doubt. We can’t beat that.
He didn’t allow weakness to consume him. “Lieutenant Cruz - if the Earth’s Fury is listening, let them know it’s time to fire. We don’t have long.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Shimmer launch was the final piece of the puzzle for the Vraxar and a series of gauss slugs skimmed across the Ulterior-2’s hull. Another struck the battleship’s upper section, knocking one of the Havoc cannons free and leaving a furrow in the armour plating.
Duggan and his crew stared death in the face.
“Captain Blake, don’t let me down.”
Meanwhile, on the surface of the moon, a bright blue light glowed fiercely at the nose of the Sciontrar.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Earth’s Fury wasn’t ready to join the Space Corps fleet and it showed. The comms was the only main system fully tested and functional. Everything else was partway there, some of it more partway than others.
“No sign of the Ulterior-2 on our sensors,” said Pointer. “Or anything else, for that matter.”
Lieutenant Quinn had the most difficult job and he spoke with Blake to try and figure out how to get the Earth’s Fury off the ground.
“Four of the main engine modules are missing, sir,” said Quinn. “The shipyard wasn’t finished tying the others in yet, because they were waiting for the life support.”
“As long as we can get off the ground, Lieutenant, that’s what matters. Without the life support, we won’t be able to utilise a fraction of the engine output before we get spread across the rear bulkhead.”
“True enough. This is still a heavy ship and we need ten or fifteen percent to get into the air.” Quinn drummed his fingers. “I’m going to activate modules ZF and ZR.”
“What will that give us?”
“Eight percent.”
“Not enough.”
The two engine modules kicked into life and sent a vibration through the walls, which quickly died away to a steady hum.
“Those are good ones,” said Blake.
“Yep, we’re at two percent of maximum and rising.”
“Which other modules are ready?”
Quinn grimaced and rubbed his face. “Some of these other tie-ins look finished, just not tested.”
“Do whatever it takes, Lieutenant.”
“Let’s see if modules RC and LLQ will come online. Here we go.”
This time, the result wasn’t so good. The entire ship shook and rumbled, accompanied by the sound of one inconceivably heavy object colliding with another. Quinn hammered a hand onto an area of his console to shut it down.
“I guess LLQ wasn’t tied in after all.”
“You reckon?” said Hawkins.
“How are you getting on with the weapons?” asked Blake. “We need more than just engines.”
“What weapons, sir? If they fitted anything other than the main gun, they haven’t been linked into our consoles.”
“Don’t worry about that – Earth’s Fury was meant to carry one thing and it’s up on the roof.”
“The Shield Breaker has extensive test records, sir. They haven’t sent live ammo through it yet.”
“We’re fully loaded now, right?”
“Absolutely. There are twelve Obsidiar projectiles in that magazine.”
“Are you comfortable with targeting and firing?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m exactly comfortable, sir. See these numbers on this screen? That’s how much time it takes the barrel to re-target.”
“That isn’t good.”
“We can hit Ix-Gorghal, as long as it stands in one place long enough.”
The walls of Earth’s Fury shook again and the entire vessel shuddered.
“I’m getting a response from module RC,” said Quinn. “ZF and ZR are warming up nicely.”
“What’s our estimated output with those three?”
“Ten percent.”
“Is it enough?”
“Do you want me to do the sums right now, sir?”
“Bring module LLR up,” said Blake, ignoring the question. “That one is tied in – I can feel it.”
“You can feel it, huh? Who am I to argue?” said Quinn. He activated module lower-lower-rear and sat back to watch.
Blake grinned. “Well?”
“Like I said – LLR is a good one, sir.”
“Output?”
“Twelve percent when fully warmed up.”
Blake watched the available power climbing steadily on his console. Earth’s Fury vibrated like a thousand-year-old diesel engine and the lumpy note of its gravity drive didn’t inspire confidence. One console screen showed only amber warning alerts and a red symbol flashed distractingly. He turned the display off.
“This would never have been ready in five weeks,” said Hawkins.
Blake clicked his harness into place - it felt strange having to use one. “It’s going to fly now, Lieutenant. Time to buckle up.”
With no life support it was definitely time to buckle up.
“Engine output is only nine percent of maximum, sir,” said Quinn, trying to get his fastenings in place.
“I’d rather start slow and see what falls off.”
Pointer laughed. “Truly inspiring words, sir.”
Blake took hold of the control sticks and fed power gradually into the gravity drive. The vibration increased and the engine note climbed louder and louder. At maximum available output, the Earth’s Fury remained planted on the ground. Blake didn’t let up and watched as the active engine modules slowly reached normal operating levels.
“Up we go,” he said.
Earth’s Fury lifted off on its maiden flight. The positioning of the active engine modules made it unbalanced and the levelling systems hadn’t been calibrated. Neither was the autopilot available.
“There go the trench airlifts,” said Pointer.
“They can build new ones.”
Slowly at first, the Earth’s Fury cleared the sides of the construction trench. It climbed pondero
usly, whilst Blake struggled to correct a list to one side. In normal circumstances it didn’t matter even if a spaceship was upside down, since the life support would keep the occupants firmly on the floor. On this occasion, it made things harder for the crew and Blake heard one or two comments about the quality of his flying.
He adapted and got the spaceship level. The available engine power peaked at slightly more than twelve percent and he accessed the new reserves. Earth’s Fury accelerated and the crew felt the crushing effects of it pressing them into their seats.
“You forget what it’s like,” shouted Blake over the engines. The muscles in his neck pulled and his shoulders ached. He clung onto the controls and kept the spaceship climbing.
“Twelve thousand klicks per hour,” said Hawkins. “This thing is fast.”
The acceleration went on and on. The Earth’s Fury reached escape velocity and pulled free of the planet. New Earth dwindled slowly on the sensor feed as the spaceship drew further away.
“Find Ix-Gorghal.” Blake’s jaw was hurting now and it was hard to speak.
“I’m trying,” said Pointer, fighting the words out.
Blake was conscious of his promise to Fleet Admiral Duggan that he would take Earth’s Fury far from the planet before he did any shooting and he left the spaceship’s engines on full until he felt his sight dim.
“Time to back off!” yelled Hawkins.
Blake relented and pulled down on the control sticks. The relief was instant and he felt blood rushing into his head. Nausea followed and then his body adjusted once more.
He checked the navigational system, which was only connected to a quarter of the sensor arrays. The spaceship was heading on a rough course towards the moon, with an estimated arrival time of five hours at their current speed.
“Lieutenant Pointer?”
“I’m looking, sir.” Then, “I’ve located the Ulterior-2!”
Earth's Fury (Obsidiar Fleet Book 4) Page 24