Status Quo

by Drew Wagar

  Jim had his head in his hands. Nothing was wrong, yet something most obviously was.

  'We gave it our best shot.' Rebecca said uncertainly,'Look, we could still just run for it…'

  Jim motioned for her to be quiet.

  He checked the scanner again. The mine was still there! It was still giving off strong gravimetric radiation, just like in the lab accident, before the cascade effect destroyed the gravity sled. It was working! Something must be preventing the cascade reaction. The gravimetric radiation was being blocked somehow…

  'Oh god,' he said, looking up at Rebecca.

  'What?'

  'Don’t you see? The Quirium cascade is based on an initial gravimetric surge!'

  'So?' Rebecca queried; he was talking gibberish as far as she was concerned.

  'We’re next to a massive moon! At the bottom of a gravity well! The gravimetric radiation is nothing but a gravitational effect! The mine is jammed! The cascade can’t happen in close proximity to a large mass! God, I’m an idiot!'

  He realised his idiocy was complete. The shock of it resonated through his mind, stunning him. The mine was of no use in a planetary bombardment; his fears of an interstellar war of complete planetary destruction were unfounded. The mine could only be used in clear space outside of a gravity field. How could he have missed something so trivial?

  The wireframes! They’d been running them in simulation. They didn’t simulate gravity: it wasn’t a necessary parameter in engine tests; it had never been factored in. Their extrapolations were based on a faulty premise. The Quirium Cascade appeared to be far more dangerous than it really was. Quirium simply couldn’t cascade in a strong gravity field!

  He shook his head,'Damn eight-bit simulators! It’s a dud!'

  'A dud? You saw what it did to those Vipers!'

  'In clear space, yes. Next to a planet, a moon or anything that big, it simply won’t work!' His eyes were wild.

  Rebecca stared at him.

  'Well it’s a prakkin’ great time to figure that out!' she shouted back at him, apoplectic.

  The Ospreys lead pilot saw the confusion in the Viper ranks. Whatever that device was, it wasn’t doing anything. There was a tactical advantage to be had. He took it. Explosions spread across space. The Vipers were being shot to pieces. More Vipers swooped behind and retaliated. Tiny fighter ships streamed across space, trading weapons fire. The battle was joined.

  The Galnavy Admiral saw what happened. The gravimetric bomb didn’t work. The Vipers veered aside and came under attack. The pivot point had been reached. There was no going back. He instinctively knew what was going to happen next. He’d trained for this. It was time to put the training into operation.

  'Launch missiles! Wave one! All capital ships! Flank speed! Battle formation!'

  'Admiral!' The President called, sharply.

  'You owe me an explanation, Mister President, sir!' The Admiral returned furiously. 'However, for the moment I suggest you brace yourself. All hell is about to break loose.'

  The missile ports on the four Anacondas opened. Four missiles launched from each of them and sped across space, heading towards their intended targets, the six Federation Pumas.

  'Asp Alpha! Engage Imperial Couriers!'

  Within a few brief seconds the tidy fleet formations broke up. It became a mêlée; ships trading fire with whomever came into their sights. A Federation Puma, damaged by Galnavy fire, reeled over through the Imperial lines, annihilating an Imperial Courier and impacting on the surface of the moon in a huge conflagration. One of the Galcop Anacondas was taken out by a sustained missile barrage, its destruction destroying the Ospreys that had launched the final assault. Heavy lasers scored flaming gashes in the sides of the bigger ships. In between, the fighters flitted like fireflies. From a distance it looked like quite a serene scene.

  Rebecca was holding her own. She wasn’t quite sure whose side she was on, so she shot anyone who fired at her, trying to make her way across to the other side of the fleet so she could make a run for the star while hoping the SuperCobra wouldn’t take any serious damage in the meantime. She’d never been in such an intense fire fight before. Ships were everywhere.

  The scanner was having trouble keeping track of it all. The overlapping coloured dots were causing serious colour clashes. She zoomed the scanner resolution up: 256x192; 320x200; 640x480; 800x600; 1024x768. Ah, better: now she could see clearly.

  The competing fighter craft around her were trying to lock onto her with magnetic grappling hooks but it was proving impossible for them. Every time somebody got a lock on they’d be blown apart by another faction. Soon it simply became a fight for survival.

  She turned looking for an escape angle. A small gap appeared in the spinning, tumbling metal menagerie.

  Jim felt his stomach lurch as the SuperCobra dove, twisting and turning through space. Laser fire was all around him. He was paralysed with indecision and guilt. It had all been unnecessary. The death of his friend Geraint, Rebecca’s family on board the Boa, the Viper pilots. He looked across at Rebecca, skilfully flying the SuperCobra defiantly onwards. He knew it was hopeless; there was no way they could possibly escape this. Another death on his conscience. He swallowed. He didn’t want her to die as well.

  Rebecca doggedly pursued her plan. Her mind was locked on her plan for her survival. She intended to live, regardless of what Jim thought or did. Two Vipers and a set of Ospreys were still in pursuit behind them, but space in front was clear.

  Suddenly a Puma cruised into view before them. They had a terrifyingly close view of the turret mount weapon arcing up towards them before Rebecca rolled the SuperCobra aside.

  The turret fired. The pair of Vipers and one of the Ospreys exploded into fragments behind them, tossing the SuperCobra into a spin. Rebecca used the force of the explosion to turn the SuperCobra out of the firing solution the Puma had drawn on them.

  'Prak that was close!' she breathed.

  She saw the lead Anaconda launching energy bombs. She twisted the SuperCobra around again, bring the Puma between them and the Anaconda. The outbound burst of energy impacted against the Puma. The Ospreys, not in the shadow of the Puma, exploded behind them. She flew on.

  The Galnavy Admiral staggered, clutching the console as the Anaconda shuddered beneath them. The President stood next to him, calmly surveying the destruction. The Admiral was impressed: most civilian politicians were cowards. This one wasn’t.

  'Sir! Energy down to forty percent, forward shields are critical!'

  'Maintain fire! Standby energy bombs! All ships key into blast frequency!'

  They’d done well. More than half of the Federation fleet had fallen and the Asps had made good account of themselves. Whoever came out victorious, it wouldn’t be the Galnavy, but they would have only a pyrrhic victory.

  'Energy bombs away!'

  They were currently in a furious long-range battle with one of the Federation Pumas. They’d knocked out its turret weapons and were slowing circling each other trading laser blows. The Anaconda was slowly succumbing. Defeat stared him in the face. He consoled himself with the knowledge of a battle well-fought. His ancestors would have approved.

  'Sir, incoming witchspace!'

  'Who is it this time?' the Admiral demanded. Galnavy reinforcements? Imperial or Federation?

  'Can’t tell, sir, no ID! Something big judging by the witchspace sheer!'

  The Admiral turned to look out of the starboard viewer, seeing the characteristic flash of light that preceded ships emerging from witchspace.

  The Puma was turning, lining its forward weapons up for a strike on them. The Anaconda’s shields were still fractured. The next volley would make a serious impact.

  Suddenly the Puma was not alone.

  The Admiral stared in absolute disbelief. There behind the Puma was a vast ship, kilometres long. It’s hull gleamed threateningly in dark purple and green hues. As he watched a massive green hued laser snapped out, hitting the Puma squarely in the flank,
drilling through to the other side of its hull before continuing on into open space. The Puma rolled drunkenly. The laser cut out.

  'Look at the size of that thing…' somebody said.

  The Puma exploded moments later.

  'Cut the chatter!' The Admiral hit the wideband comlink. 'THARGOIDS!'

  Rebecca saw the Thargoid materialise almost directly behind her. The Puma they’d just hidden behind was skewered by the new ship’s primary weapon, exploding into dust.

  'Thargoids!' she whispered in disbelief.

  'The mothership!' Jim echoed in response and awe.

  'THARGOIDS!'

  Something had happened. While the Federation, Imperials and Galcop had always operated on the verge of internicene war, their issues paled into insignificance when confronted with this familiar menace. Across all the combatant ships a tacit agreement took place, almost magically. This was one thing everyone had in common.

  Almost as one, the human vessels turned and attacked. The reaction was instinctive, drilled into every human pilot, regardless of political alignment, from the moment they began their training.

  The Thargoids were everyone’s enemy. Kill them. No quarter. No mercy.

  The three remaining Anacondas flanked the four Pumas. The remaining Couriers covered them in a box formation and the fighters began immediate attack runs against the Thargoid mothership.

  Galcop, Empire and Federation attacking as one force. Missiles streaked across space. The battle intensified another notch.

  Terrifying, horrendous clicking and rasping noises came over the wideband transmitters. They struck fear into any who heard them. The translations were no less peculiar.

  Steak death! Mirror finished dusty locusts!

  Deadly thesaurus! Conjugate neck tie!

  Every time the Thargoid superlaser struck, a ship died, regardless of size, regardless of speed or shields. Rebecca watched as an Imperial Courier had one of its engines sliced cleanly off, before it tumbled against the Thargoid mothership, exploding into fragments. The mothership shrugged off the impact with no damage at all. One of the Anacondas was impaled by the mighty beam as it launched its remaining missiles. It was crippled, but the captain heroically rammed his ship into the starboard flank of the Thargoid mothership, ripping its shields away and exposing it to the heavy artillery of the Pumas’ turret guns. The superlaser struck out again.

  'All missiles, fire!' the Admiral shouted. The two remaining Galnavy Anacondas launched the last of their combined ordnance. They impacted against the mothership’s flank, causing massive breaches in the hull. The Thargoid vessel continued on, indomitable, driving straight into one of the Pumas, ripping it to shreds on impact.

  'We’re just not causing enough damage, sir! It’s too big!'

  The Admiral acknowledged the fact. Soon the combined fleet would lose its big guns, and the Thargoid still seemed to be able to cycle its laser about every thirty seconds.

  'It must have followed our witchspace trail!' Rebecca said, watching horrified as the mothership continued surgically obliterating ship after ship, 'Those Thargoid vessels that chased us in interstellar! They must have thought we were spying on their new super-ship!'

  'They might have detected the mine too,' Jim said, horrified to the core at the destruction he was seeing; thousands of people were dying. 'Maybe they came to investigate…'

  'That’s it! The mine, that’s it!' Rebecca shouted. 'We can drop the mine on it!'

  'The mine is in low orbit around the moon!'

  'So? We tractor it with the cargo scoop, towards the Thargoid!'

  'Scoop a live mine?' Jim couldn’t believe she could even entertain the idea.

  'We keep the bay doors closed. Override the tractor’s auto-off! It will hold it! Then we fly up to the Thargoid and dump it!'

  'Override the… you’re mad! Insane!'

  'Got a better idea?'

  There were so many problems with her plan that he couldn’t even start to explain them, the odds of successfully scooping an active mine, in a gravity well, at high speed, whilst being fired on, not knowing how it would react to the tractor, trying to drop it at speed, not knowing when it would be far enough out of the moon’s influence to start working, into the face of an implacable enemy with a killer weapon were just ridiculous.

  But it was just possible. It might work. He could monitor the gravimetric flux, it would tell him when the mine was about to go critical. He’d simply have to trust her intuition.

  I'll have to trust her. Is she as good as she thinks she is?

  'Do it!' he yelled back. 'I’ll get on the comm to anyone else who’s listening and try to explain what we’re trying to do.'

  Another Imperial Courier was sliced into oblivion.

  Rebecca rolled the SuperCobra out of the fight and down towards the moon. The mine was still visible as a flashing dot on the scanner. She brought the ship in fast and the decelerated harshly. They heard the sound of the tractor sucking the mine towards them.

  'Got it!' she called, turning the ship around and heading back towards the shadowy Thargoid vessel.

  'They’re what?' The Admiral assumed he hadn’t heard correctly.

  'They’ve scooped the mine, sir. They say they’re planning to drop it on the Thargoid mothership. They’re requested covering fire and advising all ships to vacate the vicinity.'

  'But the mine doesn’t fraggin work!'

  'They say it will work outside of the moon’s influence, sir.'

  The Admiral glared out of the viewers, catching the sight of the SuperCobra in the distance. What a damn fool plan. Zero chance of success…

  An Asp was impaled by the Thargoid laser, exploding not far from the Anaconda.

  He was out of options. Zero chance of survival.

  'I suggest we give them a chance, Admiral,' said the President.

  'All ships, covering fire for the SuperCobra! Keep that stard insectoid vermin occupied!'

  The SuperCobra barrelled in at full speed, flanked by Vipers, Ospreys, Hawks and Falcons. The Thargoid mothership responded with anti-fighter short range weapons. Close up the hull was dotted with turrets, towers and protrusions of all sorts. The wideband chatter confirmed the view.

  'How many guns do you think, Group Leader?'

  'I’d say about twenty guns, some on the surface, some on the towers…'

  The reporting Osprey exploded into atoms. The SuperCobra rattled and shook.

  'If this doesn’t work…' Jim began, looking at her from the co-pilot’s seat.

  'We’re hull fragments either way,' Rebecca snapped back.

  'Exactly… I just wanted to say…'

  'You don’t want to die without revealing your true feelings for me,' Rebecca quipped in a mock romantic voice.

  'Very funny.'

  'Cheer up, Harmless! We’ll survive.' She looked back the screens, then muttered to herself, 'I hope.'

  She’s actually enjoying this! Definitely mad.

  A nearby Hawk flashed into oblivion.

  Rebecca piloted the SuperCobra close into the vast bulk of the alien mothership. Its incredible size was difficult to grasp, rather like the mythical space dredgers and generation ships the old-timers talked about in the null-gee bars. Its proportions were truly staggering. Small anti-fighter weapons continued to fire at them. The shields shrugged off the impact without too much trouble, unlike the small fighters around them. The SuperCobra was a tough little ship.

  Jim watched the sensors, 'The mine’s about to go critical!'

  'Just a little closer…'

  'Rebecca!'

  'Now!'

  Jim cut the power to the tractor beam. The mine tumbled away. She pulled the SuperCobra up.

  'It’s away!' Jim shouted looking at the astrogation scanner. He shouted into the commlink’s wideband transmitter. 'All ships! Run! Run for your lives!'

  Rebecca hit the fuel injectors and the escorting fighters peeled away.

  The Thargoid mothership continued to drive forward. Its pr
imary weapons glowing, almost ready to discharge again.

  The Admiral could see it was tracking his ship. There was nothing he could do.

  'Mister President…'

  The green destruction never came.

  The unleashed fury of the Quirium Cascade reaction burst forth. A terrifying wave of blue fire spun out into space, the Thargoid mothership was directly in the path.

  'Oh my God!' the president exclaimed, 'What the prak is that!'

  The Thargoid wasn’t destroyed immediately on contact; it was too big for that. The blue fire bit into the ship, bolts of lightning cascading around the hull, striking deep within it. Gradually sections of the ship emitted their own blue cascades until the entire length of it was a mass of flaming blue and white energy.

  Suddenly the blue fire expanded, shattering the ship in a glare brighter than the sun. Pieces of débris flashing out at half the speed of light destroyed some of the unfortunate fighters caught in the way, en route to the distant stars. The SuperCobra was caught a glancing blow and tumbled briefly before Rebecca righted it. None of the ships were caught by the Quirium cascade.

  The blue halo faded and then there was nothing but a burning core of debris, slowly disintegrating into space.

  'We did it!' Rebecca screamed. 'We did it! Awesome! Did you see it go bang! Prakkin’ awesome! Take that you insect scum! Wooooo!' She launched herself at Jim and hugged him close. 'Told you it would work, Harmless!'

  'Right as always, Dangerous!'

  The wreckage of the mothership continued its slow disintegration surrounded by the fierce glow of ionised plasma. It was impossible to see how many of the Galnavy, Federation and Imperial ships had survived. Little by little the explosion dispersed. Space cooled. The Lave star shone through once more.

  'We fraggin’ well did it!'

  They could see the Galcop, Federation and Imperial ships limping back into their formations, their numbers sadly much reduced. Surely they wouldn’t continue the fight now…