by C. G. Hatton
The realisation hit him again. The Alsatia was gone.
And Leigh… Leigh, who had got him through the last few months, had been nothing but an illusion.
‘Not an illusion,’ Sebastian murmured. ‘In her own way, she was real enough for what you needed. Ironically, she really did care for you. That’s what got her killed – following you out onto the battlefield. She was dead long before she could ever be what you needed her to be.’
Another explosion against the shields sent the entire ship rocking.
“You need to come and help LC,” Evelyn said.
Sebastian was smouldering. ‘You need to come with me and wipe them out.’
He was shivering.
‘Enough, Nikolai.’
Sebastian tried to nudge him aside but he resisted, anger fuelling his determination.
‘No,’ he thought. ‘I need to do this.’
“Where is he?” he said, the words catching in his throat, flashing back to the moment when the Man had said that to him all that time ago.
She took him to the briefing room, holding the doorframe as the ship lurched again, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on him as if she thought he might disappear if she lost track of him.
LC was sitting on the deck, leaning back against the bulkhead with his eyes closed, deep black bruising beneath each eye, a trickle of red running from his ears and nose. Hal Duncan was crouched beside him.
All the screens were black, flickering intermittently.
The kid was breathing shallowly, brain function erratic, the virus going wild. He half lifted his hand in a wave as NG knelt, dropping it as if even that was too much effort.
‘LC?’
‘He can hear the Bhenykhn…’
Duncan overheard that and swore.
NG put his hand on LC’s neck and almost flinched from the pain. He did what he could but it wasn’t much. He looked up. Leigh was standing at the back of the room, watching. He almost lost it, seeing her there, a curious, sad look on her face. He forced himself back to here and now, struggling to speak out loud. “What happened?”
“He screamed and dropped, same instant the Alsatia was hit,” the big man said.
“How about you?”
Duncan shrugged. “I felt you go out. Saw Luka drop. I knew something was wrong. Didn’t know what. I’m not getting anything from him, are you?”
“Sebastian is.”
‘You can’t do anything for him. The organism is ripping apart his brain and rebuilding it and right now you’ve just got to let it do whatever it’s going to do. We need to come up with a plan, Nikolai.’
The door opened, Pen and Quinn bursting in, both of them with faces set.
“NG, what looks like an entire fleet just dropped out of jump. They’re tearing us apart, taking out our ships with one hit,” Quinn said. Like shooting fish in a damned barrel, he was thinking.
‘Get to the bridge.’
NG stood. His knees felt weak. “Get LC onto glucose, anything with energy that you can pump into his system. He’s in agony. We need him. Just feed the damn virus as much and as fast as you can. I need to go.”
Pen’s expression was dark. “What the fuck do we do?”
He brushed past them as the ship took another direct hit.
“NG?” Pen shouted.
The deck dropped out beneath them. He staggered into the table and grabbed a handhold on its edge to stop himself falling.
He didn’t stop, hearing Quinn curse and sensing the big handler following him out.
The lights in the corridor were out, secondary red lighting pulsing a glow that set his eyes aching.
‘The shields are failing,’ Sebastian whispered. ‘Much more and this ship will be dust.’
Quinn ran to catch up with him. “NG. Talk to us, for Christ’s sake. What do you want us to do?”
“I don’t know.” His voice was shaking. “I don’t know what to do. I just…” He reached the steep steps that led to the forward section and grabbed the handrail, pausing. He shut everything away, closed it down tight and looked at Quinn. He pulled in a deep breath. “This is the Man’s ship. There’s Bhenykhn technology on board, more than just artefacts. If we can withstand their weapons, we might be able to fight back. I don’t know.”
Another blast almost sent him tumbling. Klaxons began to wail like banshees.
Quinn grabbed him and propelled him up the stairs.
Morgan was directing emergency measures to contain the damage and monitor losses, calm, unruffled.
NG slowed to a walk as he entered the bridge. He was used to setting the atmosphere in a room, not needing it to calm him.
The crew looked round as he walked in.
Morgan began to give a sitrep, reeling off numbers, positions. His voice blurred into the background as NG stood there, complete focus, seeing into every mind, reading each thought, going wider and seeing the exact position and state of each ship they had left, each Bhenykhn vessel. Sebastian joined in and started to stream intel from the hive, their intentions, their capability, the overwhelming odds. There was one commander in control of the whole fleet. More powerful than anything they’d encountered so far. Way more powerful. It all swirled around him. He could see every possible move, the outcome of each strategy, move by move, way down the line. And each avenue led to defeat, whatever he tried.
Another barrage of explosions rumbled across the shields.
Morgan stopped, realising NG wasn’t responding.
He stared at the main screen and the massive Bhenykhn command ship they had up there in the centre of the cross hairs.
‘Come up with something, Nikolai.’
There was a flare on the screens as the Marrakech exploded, more Bhenykhn ships coming round to bear down on them.
He felt cold. Numb.
It suddenly felt like all the games he’d ever played, every manipulation, every daring risk and strategy, was for nothing. It all meant nothing. He had no control in what was happening, no more plays to pull out of a hat, no cards up his sleeve, no pieces waiting patiently to move across the board into a position of power. Nothing in reserve. No one to sacrifice but everyone. It felt like this outcome had been inevitable all along and he’d been a damned fool for thinking otherwise.
“We attack,” he said. “We attack the command ship.”
Chapter 34
“So he finally put it together?” she said softly. “You could have told him.”
Should have told him.
All his protections had come falling down. He thought he’d been taking care that Nikolai, Sebastian, couldn’t be hurt. But in the end he had caused more hurt by not preparing them.
The ship, the key, the kill tokens… All had pointed to the truth. Why could he not have just laid it out for them? Was it so hideous a truth that he, and his kind, were from the same galaxy as the Bhenykhn? That they had brought with them so many artefacts, so much technology and knowledge? The research he’d kept so hidden, so secret, from them all?
“They are young,” he said, the excuse sounding weak as he said it. “It makes no difference whether they know the truth or not. The Bhenykhn are here in this galaxy now and they must fight them. For their own survival as much as ours.”
•
They all looked at him, horrified.
‘Good,’ Sebastian murmured. ‘Get me close. I want to kill this bastard.’
‘That’s the idea.’
Another direct hit rocked the ship.
The Senson engaged with a crackle. “In your current state, that’s a really bad plan, Nikolai.”
He opened up the link to a wide connection, including everyone in there, and sent back, “Elliott.”
There was no sign of the Duck on any of their screens, none of their sensors picking up a trace.
“How about we give you a fighting chance?”
We? The Seven?
“How?” he sent back.
Sebastian laughed. ‘No, no, Nikolai, don’t question him. Take him up
on it. Whatever he’s offering. Sell your soul, Nikolai. We’re damned whatever we do. You’ve always known that.’
Quinn opened his mouth to object but Duncan gestured him to hold. Everyone on the bridge was standing there in silence, watching him.
NG turned to Duncan. “Where’s Hilyer? Get him up here.”
He switched back to the Senson. “Elliott, we know what you are. Why don’t you and your buddies just blast them to bits right now?”
“Believe me, Nikolai, if we had the hardware we once had, we would be doing just that. As it is, we need to make the best of what we have.”
“So what can you do?”
“You’ll see. Get a ship ready, boarding party, heavy guns, everything you’ve got. We learned a lot from Erica. I can hide you for a short while. You’ll know when to make your move.”
The connection cut out.
Quinn nudged him in the ribs. He turned to see Hilyer enter the bridge, working hard to control his breathing, expression dark.
“He has the others with him,” the kid said. “The Duck is right in the middle of their fleet but the Bennies aren’t detecting them. The Seven seem to think they can take over the Bhenykhn ships.” He nodded towards the main screen.
There was a shimmer, confused telemetry, numbers flashing, then six unknowns flared out across the screen from a central point, travelling at incredible velocity, targeting six of the alien ships. At first he thought they were missiles but they didn’t explode.
“What the hell are they?” Morgan muttered.
“Drones,” Hil said. “That’s them. That’s the others of the Seven.”
The Bhenykhn armada was ripping though the Imperial and coalition fleets but then, in excruciating slow motion, six of those huge ships began to turn and fire upon their own. Warships the size of cities flared in nova-like explosions.
“Shit,” NG muttered. He turned and broke into a run. “Come on,” he yelled. “Get to Spectre. Someone grab LC. Hil, I want you as well. Morgan, back off. Get clear and stay clear. If this doesn’t work, jump. Get away. You understand? If I don’t come back, you’re in charge of whatever’s left.”
He didn’t wait for a reply.
His hands were still shaking as he kitted up. Leigh was watching. He was trying to avoid looking at her.
He took a combat knife as Duncan handed it over, taking three attempts to slide it into the sheath on his leg. They were all looking at him, thinking they’d never seen him like this before. He couldn’t shake it off.
“I’m still here for you,” Leigh whispered into his ear.
Spectre was moving fast.
“Can we trust them?” Quinn said.
NG almost laughed. “No.”
LC was sitting watching, still suffering but somehow, slowly, he was bringing it under control. At least, he was talking, mostly swearing, but claiming he’d be fine, an assault rifle in one hand and his flask of moonshine in the other. Hil was ribbing him, saying hearing aliens was nothing, try listening in to a bunch of barking mad AIs. Both of them were wearing minimal kit, all they’d had time to grab and more like the kind of stuff they’d wear on a tab, not combat gear, only light body armour.
Evelyn was quiet, slipping back into assassin mode, mindset switching to the coldblooded killer she thought she’d buried. He’d felt her reject it at first, then embrace it when it dawned on her that the life she thought she’d had wasn’t there any more and if anyone was going to survive this then she’d need her head in the game. He’d tried to tell her not to come but she was having none of it. In her mind, losing Devon was all down to the Bhenykhn, they owed her and she was going to collect.
Pen and Jameson were also there, all the big guys in powered armour with integral heavy weapons. They’d scraped together a full contingent of Security totalling thirty and another sixteen of the Man’s elite guard in their distinctive crimson powered armour.
He had no idea if it would be enough.
Leigh smiled at him from the back of the room, reassuring.
He shivered.
‘It’s all very touching,’ Sebastian chided. ‘Even when they die, they don’t lose their blind loyalty to you.’
They all knew what they had to do. Elliott had briefed them on what to expect on the Bhenykhn ship, sent over scans and deck plans, told them what targets to take out and where to go.
The Senson engaged. “Now or never,” Elliott said. “See you on the other side.”
The pilot was throwing Spectre into tight manoeuvres to get into position, slowing as she approached the command vessel. He could feel the intensity of the hive increase as they got closer. Whatever Elliott was doing to shield them, it was working. They bumped up against the hull of the Bhenykhn ship and locked grapples. The aliens had no idea they were there.
‘Elliott is causing chaos,’ Sebastian murmured. ‘But it’s not going to be long before the Bhenykhn start to overpower even the Seven. Pure numbers. We need to get on board this ship and get to the commander. That’s the only way we are going to win. And trust me, Nikolai, as soon as we get in there, they are going to come after us. Are you ready?’
As if Sebastian was inviting him to a game.
Sebastian laughed. ‘Shall we begin?’
They were locked up against an exhaust vent and used shaped charges to blast an entry in the hull, automatically sealing it to make a perfect airtight ingress. It was pure pirate, not usual for the Thieves’ Guild. Jiro Tierney would have been impressed.
Then they moved fast. He sent a squad of Security in first, led by Duncan, a second wave headed up by Jameson and Pen. He went in then, Quinn sticking close by his side, flanked by the elite guard. Evelyn and the two field-ops followed, backed up by the rest of the Security team.
As they started to move, alarms began to scream, a pitch deeper than normal and more grating on the nerves by a magnitude. The ship was dark. Hot. Twisted conduits of black metal lined the bulkheads, soft panels that were warm, pulsing with some kind of bioluminescence.
They had a perfect network of undetectable, uninterrupted communication and the best stealth kit the guild had. Plus they had Elliott bombarding the Bhenykhn technology from without and Sebastian screwing them up from within.
The crew they encountered were lightly armoured and armed with shipboard weapons. No energy shield pods. It made it easier to take them down with the sheer volume of firepower they were laying down but the aliens’ natural armour was still effective which meant they were still burning through ammunition faster than they could sustain.
So far, so good. They established their beachhead, however tenuous, and cleared the immediate area with no fatalities, minor injuries, and a headache banging at the back of his mind by the time the dust settled.
He felt heavy. Higher than normal gravity.
LC sank down as soon as they were done, insisting he was fine, Evelyn crouching at the kid’s side and pulling injectors out of pouches on her belt.
NG stopped. He took the magazine Duncan was holding out and switched it with the spent one in his rifle, looking around and trying to figure out what felt wrong.
“What is it?” the big man said.
“I don’t know. Give me a minute,” he muttered, sending the thought to the others.
Quinn stayed with him. It was weird. He felt like a field-op being baby-sat by his handler.
He walked back along what looked like a line of cells. Empty, he could see that even in the weird low lighting. A trickle of sweat ran down his back. It was stifling.
Quinn was uneasy, walking just behind him, turning regularly, a rifle up and ready. “NG, come on, what the hell are you doing?”
He didn’t reply.
He pushed open one cell and peered in, pulling a flashlight off his belt. Trails of old and congealed blood were spattered and splashed on the floor, the walls.
“Jesus,” Quinn muttered.
NG moved on, unease prickling at the back of his neck. There was a room at the end of the row, walls lined
with shelves, everything a scale bigger than human, massive glass jars filled with murky fluid and what were unmistakably body parts. He let the beam of torchlight drift over them. Half the specimens didn’t look human. Some had intact, embryonic forms curled in them, floating. There was something resembling a brain in one that he could have sworn was still pulsing. It turned his stomach. And in amongst it all was a rack with massive blades hanging from it, curved knives, cleavers, all stained red. The stench of it caught at the back of his throat.
He backed away.
‘They’ve been experimenting on us,’ he thought.
‘Forget it. Get away from here. Do your job.’
Sebastian sounded strained.
‘You have no idea.’
‘You all good to go?’ he thought wider.
He got affirmatives back from them all and turned, walking past Quinn to the door.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
They moved one level at a time, fast after that, sticking together, trying to minimise losses, concentrating firepower, taking out pockets of resistance as they went.
The Bhenykhn had never expected their command ship to be boarded, Sebastian relayed that and even LC was picking up on it. It was unprecedented. There were no heavy defences on board, none of the massive soldiers they’d encountered on the ground. But as much as their command and control system was heavily hierarchical, this was the fleet commander they were attacking and the rest of the hive weren’t slow to react.
Elliott warned them a ship was docking and they tracked alien marines spreading out through the ship.
They ended up pinned down by a unit of the big, heavily armed and armoured foot soldiers while they tried to work out a way through.
They couldn’t afford to be flanked and surrounded. NG glanced round at the others, stood up and walked forward.
‘Stay back,’ Sebastian hissed.
It was Pen who grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, gesturing him to stay, sneaking a peep round the corner and almost getting his head blown off.
‘Do you want the pleasure?’ Sebastian thought.
NG steeled himself, focused and sent a blast into the squad leader, frying the three soldiers in its unit as he did it. That was about his limit.