Diaz brought the heavy cruiser back around so she was once more facing the same direction as she was going, her bow facing toward the stern of the battle cruiser as it came into view at close range. “Main propulsion on full,” Diaz ordered. “We want time to put a lot of shots into his tail! All weapons, fire!”
Manticore unleashed a barrage from her own hell lances, launching missiles and, this close to her target, also firing the ball bearings called grapeshot. “Continuous fire!” Diaz called out. “Maintain attack!”
The battle cruiser’s stern had the weakest shields and the least armor because of the main propulsion units clustered there. The bow was always supposed to be pivoted to face an enemy. But that couldn’t be done when the enemy couldn’t be seen.
The hits registering on the stern of Vengeance were a clear sign of Manticore’s general location, however. Even though the battle cruiser did not yet have a precise target to engage, Vengeance ceased hurling hell lance shots into empty space, cut off main propulsion completely, and began firing thrusters to pivot around and face toward the attacks.
But as the battle cruiser’s bow began to swing up, the stern remained clearly in sight of Manticore. The heavy cruiser’s weapons impacted on Vengeance’s stern shields with brilliant flares of light that blazed and faded with every blow as the merciless barrage continued. Marphissa, checking the time, was startled to see that barely a minute had passed since Manticore opened fire. For those used to typical microsecond-long firing engagements, this one felt incredibly prolonged.
“Enemy shields are almost down,” the combat systems specialist reported.
“Their turn rate is increasing, but we’ll still be able to hit his stern for another two minutes before it swings out of our line of sight. How much longer do we have before Vengeance can see us again?” Diaz wondered, his eyes locked on his display to monitor the attack.
“We won’t need much longer,” Marphissa said.
“Hell lance batteries are beginning to overheat,” the weapons systems specialist warned.
Marphissa breathed another one of the prayers that Bradamont had told her. Designed for fights of very short duration, the particle beam weapons could not sustain firing for long periods. If they overheated enough and shut down too soon Manticore would lose critical weapons capability.
That was just one of her concerns. Was the green malware marker changing color? Not yet. Marphissa blinked rapidly, trying to spot the first trace of change in hue.
The stern shields on the battle cruiser collapsed. Manticore’s shots began impacting the ship, slamming into Vengeance’s main propulsion units and in some cases triggering secondary explosions.
“Hit them!” someone on the bridge whispered exultantly.
Marphissa stared intently at the malware status marker. Had the green shade flickered? There it was again. “Kapitan, continue your attack with any weapons that can bear on the enemy but get this ship turned and start braking hard!”
Diaz clearly wanted to keep landing blows on the enemy, but hesitated for only a fraction of a second before calling out orders. Manticore’s main propulsion cut off again. Vengeance, though pivoting now as fast as the thrusters could bring the battle cruiser around, was still rocketing forward at undiminished velocity. The distance had already opened enough that Manticore’s grapeshot was no longer effective, but the heavy cruiser kept throwing out missiles as fast as the launchers could reload and firing any hell lance whose projector could bear on the enemy as Manticore’s bow swung through another half turn.
Facing away from her foe once more, Manticore lit off her main propulsion and began reducing velocity as fast as the ship and crew could endure. The inertial dampers shrilled protests again as red stress warnings pulsed on displays and the heavy cruiser’s structure groaned under the conflicting forces that threatened to shatter it.
Marphissa, her head once again pressed against the back of her seat by momentum forces leaking through the inertial damper fields as Manticore labored to slow down, saw the malware marker abruptly turn as red as the stress warnings. Seconds later, Vengeance, bow pointing straight up relative to Manticore, began firing the hell lances that could target the heavy cruiser astern, following those with a stream of missiles that rolled and spun onto intercepts aimed at the heavy cruiser.
With the distance between the two warships now increasing rapidly, Manticore dropped out of range of the battle cruiser’s hell lances after only a few shots had been fired, flaring against Manticore’s shields and weakening them but not breaking through. Marphissa breathed a sigh of relief as the chance of a full volley of Vengeance’s hell lances slamming home vanished. But the missiles were another matter.
“Target incoming missiles with hell lances and grapeshot,” Diaz ordered, his face reflecting the strain that the entire crew was feeling as Manticore continued to brake velocity at a rate that was producing increasingly urgent warnings from the ship’s systems.
With Manticore’s stern facing toward the rapidly receding Vengeance as the heavy cruiser reduced speed, few weapons could engage the oncoming missiles. Diaz opened his mouth to give a command.
“Hold your current vector and propulsion settings,” Marphissa ordered.
Diaz gulped as if swallowing his unspoken command before replying. “Yes, Kommodor.”
“Stand by for maneuvers, Kapitan. Keep your combat systems targeted on those incoming missiles, and remember that maneuver that Captain Bradamont showed us against the Syndicate warships.”
Marphissa waited for the right moment, watching as the missiles tore closer, hoping she had learned enough from watching and listening to Bradamont. “Main propulsion off!”
Diaz repeated the order, but Marphissa’s command was already being carried out. Manticore’s propulsion units ceased laboring to lower her velocity. Her speed unchecked now, the warship was moving faster than if she had kept slowing down. The incoming missiles, aiming to hit the heavy cruiser where she would have been if she had kept braking, were now aiming for a point behind where Manticore was.
Two missiles passed close enough to Manticore for their proximity fuses to detonate. The warship shuddered as the shock waves of particles and shrapnel slammed into her shields, but the shields held. The rest of the missiles shot past the heavy cruiser and labored to turn fast enough to reengage their target. Most of those missiles disintegrated as their structures failed under the stress of the too-rapid maneuvers. The few that survived were almost at a standstill relative to Manticore when they came out of their turns, and having raced past the heavy cruiser were now facing Manticore’s heavily armed bow. Hell lances tore into them and wiped out the remaining missiles.
“We are out of range of Vengeance’s weapons,” the combat systems specialist announced, sounding dazed.
Marphissa could see the battle cruiser on her display, the massive warship still pivoting under the push of her own thrusters to face back fully toward Manticore. “I need an assessment of damage to Vengeance’s main propulsion units.”
“Preliminary estimate from our sensors is that Vengeance has lost eighty percent of her main propulsion,” the senior watch specialist said.
“Eighty percent?” Marphissa felt herself finally beginning to relax. “And he got his velocity up to nearly point three five light speed before we clipped his wings. With that much momentum, that much mass, and only one-fifth of his normal propulsion working, it’s going to take Vengeance a long time to slow down again.”
Diaz was working on his maneuvering display. “Our systems say Vengeance won’t be able to get his velocity down to reengage us before overshooting the jump point. We can just keep going, following Vengeance at a distance, until we reach the jump point after he overruns it. Imallye’s light cruisers and HuKs back at the planet’s orbit are so far out of position they couldn’t catch us unless we dropped our velocity to the pace of a CEO going to hand out bonuses to worke
rs.” He put up one hand to rub his forehead, smiling in disbelief. “Your plan was a good one, Kommodor.”
“I’m certain that you never doubted me,” Marphissa replied dryly, then smiled as well to take any sting out of the words.
Diaz squinted at his display again. “Our engineering specialists are saying that while we did extensive damage to the main propulsion on Vengeance, none of it was extreme because the battle cruiser was able to shift her stern out of a direct line with our incoming fire. They believe that the damage can be repaired without wholesale replacing of those units once the battle cruiser reaches an orbital dock. That won’t be until long after we leave Moorea, of course. Granaile Imallye is going to be very unhappy.”
“I imagine she is already very unhappy.”
The message that arrived from Vengeance several minutes later confirmed Marphissa’s guess. Imallye wasn’t sprawled in her seat this time but sitting rigidly, her eyes lit with a cold fury that chilled Marphissa even across the many thousands of kilometers already separating the two warships.
“I underestimated you, Kommodor,” Imallye said, her voice as frigid as the breath of space. “I will not do so again. Your tricks will not save you the next time I encounter you. Nor will tricks save CEO Iceni. When you get back to Midway, tell your president that the fate she long ago earned by her actions will soon be visited upon her and anyone who dares to follow her orders.”
The transmission cut off. That was rude, Marphissa thought, then almost laughed at the absurdity of that characterization of the message after the brutal threats contained in it. What the hell. She did laugh, drawing surprised looks and then smiles from Diaz and the rest of the crew on the bridge. “Get us back on a clean vector to the jump point for Iwa, Kapitan. We don’t appear to be welcome in Moorea Star System!”
Even with the long acceleration, chase, and a battle in which everyone had continued to head at very high velocity in the direction of the jump point, it still took two more days of travel, including the time spent braking Manticore’s velocity down to point two light speed, to reach the jump point. The sensors on the heavy cruiser had been able to spot a lot of activity on the outer hull of Vengeance as her crew labored to repair enough main propulsion to allow another fight. But Syndicate warships were designed efficiently, which meant not enough crew to repair battle damage, little repair training for a crew expected to simply swap out broken black boxes with new ones, and not enough spares or other parts aboard to do such extensive repairs even if the necessary men and women had been available. Surprisingly, Vengeance did manage to get one of the damaged main propulsion units working again despite all of those hindrances, but by the time that happened Manticore was on final approach to the jump point and Vengeance had already rocketed helplessly past that point despite all attempts to reduce velocity.
In the privacy of her stateroom, Marphissa prepared a final transmission aimed at Vengeance, ensuring that there was no trace of gloating or amusement in her expression or her voice. “Honored Granaile Imallye, I regret that our first encounter has involved hostilities. On behalf of President Iceni, I once again extend the hand of friendship to you and urge you to contact her peacefully for negotiations. Whatever past events lie between you, I assure you that President Iceni is no longer the person who did you such a wrong. I also assure you that should you come to Midway Star System with hostile intent, neither you nor any of your warships will survive. Iwa Star System offers a clear and ugly example of what the enigma race intends doing to every human-occupied star system. You can see it for yourself and know that the threat is real. We can face that threat together, to the benefit of all. For the people, Marphissa, out.”
She relaxed as the transmission ended, leaning back to gaze at the hatch to her stateroom. As was common with Syndicate warships, that hatch was both armored and outfitted with alarms, because their own subordinates were feared by Syndicate bosses almost as much as the enemy. But the defenses increasingly felt to Marphissa like anachronisms, souvenirs from another time, no longer needed when the crew was motivated by belief in what they fought for and loyalty to their leaders rather than terror of the consequences of failure or insubordination. Imallye’s grudge against President Iceni, no matter how well justified it might be, was also an anachronism, rooted in the past.
The past could not justify destroying the future Iceni was creating.
“Kommodor?” Diaz called down from the bridge. “Manticore will reach the jump point for Iwa in five minutes.”
“You have permission to jump when ready,” Marphissa said. She activated her stateroom’s display and sat watching it until the stars disappeared and were replaced by the gray nothingness of jump space.
* * *
MARPHISSA had Manticore once more at full combat readiness when the heavy cruiser left jump space. But there was no sign anywhere in Iwa Star System of the enigmas. Iwa was still a lifeless graveyard whose markers were debris floating between worlds and the craters pockmarking the surface of those worlds. If the aliens had returned, they had apparently departed again already.
“Head straight for the jump point for Midway?” Diaz asked.
She paused to consider the question, studying her display. Nothing visible. But . . . “Do you remember that the humans captured by the enigmas were confined inside an asteroid?”
“Yes.” Diaz gestured to his display. “But we would spot that. There would be waste heat that could not be hidden.”
“Maybe.” Marphissa shook her head, not sure why she was feeling uncertain. “But the enigmas hide themselves. They hide everything. We can’t take time to tour this star system looking closely at every object, though. President Iceni needs to be informed about what has happened here and at Moorea. Take us to the jump point, but route our path through the star system instead of skirting along the edge. That will bring us closer to many of the objects orbiting Iwa, though still a long ways from many others. Make sure our sensors look over every object in this star system as best they are capable for any signs of anything amiss.”
“Yes, Kommodor. I will ensure the specialists are alert.”
Another long transit through space, this one longer than necessary because of Marphissa’s orders to take a more lengthy transit that swung through the inner planets and past the star, but unmarked by any events or tension except for the need to get home. Marphissa checked at random intervals on the specialists on watch and found them always attentive to their displays, but no one reported anything and none of the automated scans reported anything unexpected.
Until they were an hour from their closest point of approach to the world where most of the Syndicate presence had been before the enigmas destroyed everything.
“Kapitan?” One of the specialists spoke with growing worry evident in her voice. “There is something happening on that planet where the Syndicate city was located.”
“Something?” Diaz prodded. “Show me.”
“What our sensors are seeing is very subtle, Kapitan.”
“Show me.”
“Yes, Kapitan.”
Marphissa watched as Diaz studied his display with a frown of puzzlement. “What am I seeing?” he finally asked the specialist. “What do these indications mean? They are barely detectable by our sensors.”
“Show me as well,” Marphissa ordered.
The data that appeared on a magnified image of that world didn’t mean anything to Marphissa, either. But she did see that it clustered near the large craters that were the grave markers for the mostly buried Syndicate city which had been totally destroyed by enigma bombardment.
“We haven’t had a good look until now at that location on that world during this transit because of the planet’s position relative to our track,” the specialist explained. “But we are now only about ten light minutes from the planet, which is approaching our track as it orbits Iwa, and we can get a clear view of the planet as it rotates.”
“What are we seeing now that we can see it?” Marphissa asked.
“I believe,” the specialist said cautiously, “that this data indicates substantial subsurface activity. From this distance, with our sensors, we would only detect large-scale events deep beneath the surface of the planet.”
“Large-scale events?” Marphissa questioned. “Do you mean earthquakes? Triggered by all of the impacts of enigma bombardment projectiles on that world?”
“No, Kommodor.” Some of the data reports glowed a little brighter. “These indicators show regular variations. That would mean they are artificial.”
“Artificial?” Marphissa felt a glow of hope. “Some of the people here survived the enigma attack by going deep? I didn’t think Syndicate shelters could have ridden out impacts of the size that struck that area.”
“No, Kommodor,” the specialist said. “They should not have. Any Syndicate shelters, even deep ones, should have been pulverized.”
“Then who is digging—” Diaz began irritably. He stopped speaking, his face going rigid. “Or should I be asking what is digging very deep on that planet?”
“We may be detecting enigma subsurface activity,” the specialist said in a rush. “A very large amount of subsurface activity.”
Marphissa exhaled slowly, feeling a coldness that was not born of any life support fluctuation. “Just as we feared. They’re establishing a base. In a place where we couldn’t see any trace of it, their work and any excavated materials hidden by the devastation where they tore that part of the planet to hell.”
“No surface facilities at all?” Diaz asked, bewildered.
“I told you. It’s consistent with what Black Jack’s fleet saw in enigma space. Captain Bradamont and I have talked about it,” Marphissa said. “She said the enigmas hide everything as much as they can from any possible observation.”
Diaz nodded, rubbing his chin as he gazed at the apparently innocuous data. “I once saw the Syndicate base at Kure. An entire moon hollowed out. If the enigmas want to construct a major base deep beneath the surface of that planet, and if they have automated construction capabilities anything like ours, they could do it. Any surface accesses, even ones big enough for a battleship, could be concealed.”
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