A swift glance around her cockpit revealed that many of the allied fleet were doing the same, falling back towards Sky and away from the advancing enemy line that continued to push forward, almost totally unstoppable. She saw that both Leviathan and Amarok had already pulled back quite some way, now close to the position where the colonists were making their withdrawal. She wondered how they would get the remainder off the planet. Those civilian vessels likely weren’t jump-capable. If they had been, they wouldn’t have left it this late to leave.
“Ten seconds,” Bailey’s voice then came from Talos. “I’ve never been any good at speeches, so I’ll just say it’s been a privilege. Good luck to the rest of you.”
Estelle couldn’t help but turn to look in the direction of the carrier. Both the O’Neil and the lander were extremely close, appearing to be latched onto her. A few moments later, explosions began to rip their way through Talos, tearing the carrier apart. The detonations continued as the links between the various sections began to sever, some explosions beginning to also dot the O’Neil. The build-up complete, Talos ended its service with a tremendous crescendo, scattering its remains into the space around it. Estelle only looked on for a few moments more, before returning her attention to the escort of the Harlequin and Prospector, and preparing to once again meet the still numerous weight of enemies that stood in her way.
She noticed something strange just then. A long-range, high-concentration particle beam issued from a Pandoran-controlled frigate, striking the port side of the Prospector, just off the bow. The shields there had weakened from continuous hits, and were quick to relent to the power of the weapon. It cut into the vessel’s armour, stripping down the metals and chunking them off along the point of impact. But what was odd was the reaction of the Pandoran pilots that flew within the vicinity. Was it her imagination, or had several of them failed to move out of the way of the beam in time? They were caught in the line of the devastating attack, their fighters exploding within moments of being caught in the particle stream. The Pandorans never flew as poorly as that. Had they failed to see it in all this chaos?
No, that was impossible. The Pandorans’ reactions had always been unparalleled, almost as if the world around them was moving in slow motion and they could take their time in assessing how to react to every input. Additionally, the operators of the beam weapon itself would never allow one of their own to be lost to friendly fire. So why then was it that she had seen not one, but three Imperial starfighters lost to that beam? Correction, four, she saw, as another Imperial starfighter went up just as the beam shut off.
Something wasn’t making sense here. The enemy’s flying wasn’t as efficient as it had been. Was it a feint? A hell of a feint, to throw away the lives of four pilots and four perfectly good starfighters. What had happened? The first could’ve been considered to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the others appeared to have blundered into the path of the beam while it was firing. Not even human pilots flew that badly.
“Dragon is on final approach,” a relay caught her attention.
Estelle didn’t need her radar for that: Dragon was making its presence felt very loudly across the battlefield. It was barging its way through the fleet, its two frontal plasma accelerators blazing, concentrated fully on a large warship that lay in its path. The ship was returning fire, holding its ground admirably in the face of such a huge opponent. But against the immense firepower that Dragon was able to muster, it was only ever going to be able to do this for a short while. The battleship’s accelerator beam shut off as its opponent met a swift end and Estelle saw Dragon’s bow starting to split to deploy its main cannon. A great deal of the enemy forces were now starting to draw away from the planet, breaking off engagements and falling back. Their job had only ever been to ensure that Dragon could get through to Sky unhindered.
Estelle’s comms popped. It was Meyers. “de Winter. You’re to fall back to our position immediately and prepare to evacuate the system.”
“Sir—” Estelle started.
“Pre-emptive orders from Admiral Jenkins,” Meyers said, cutting her off. “Should it become clear that we have entered into an unwinnable battle, we are to concede victory to the enemy and exit the system. Alpha is lost. All craft are to retreat to Sol, immediately.”
Though she tried not to admit it, Estelle saw that it was true. The hopes of holding the Pandoran army at bay for days had always been an overly optimistic one. No battle had ever lasted that long, and this had been one of the shortest engagements of all.
“What about the colonists?” she wanted to know. “Are we simply going to abandon them?”
There was a pause from Meyers. It seemed for a moment that he agreed with her and desperately wanted to order the remaining fleet to concentrate on the evacuation of all those still on the surface. “Fall back, de Winter, and prepare for jump. That’s an order.” The words came with unmistakable reluctance.
“Yes, sir.”
Estelle turned away, heading for where the retreating forces were gathering, engaging only the enemies that lay in her path and were of a direct hindrance to those around her. Up ahead, she could see blooms of explosions and the ripple of shields as cannon fire was exchanged between the allied forces and the enemy craft that still attacked them. Her radar showed that the bulk of the Pandoran fleet had fallen back and was making no effort to pursue the allied forces in retreat.
“Dragon is preparing to fire,” Estelle caught over the chatter of her comms. She was almost directly on top of Leviathan now, and flipped around to watch helplessly. “Firing …”
Even from this distance, the great ball of antimatter that leapt from Dragon’s main cannon was clearly visible as it streaked towards Sky. It didn’t take long to traverse the distance between the battleship and the planet, and in less than a minute it struck the atmosphere. The magnetic containment field broke, releasing the small, but not insignificant amount of antimatter that resided within. A white-hot spot appeared at the point of impact, expanding out across several hundred kilometres in mere moments, consuming a greater expanse of the atmosphere. The edges of the spot began to redden, shortly becoming angry, raging hues. Clouds shifted, being pushed away by some unseen force. The firestorm had started. From there it would spread out, igniting the atmosphere and consuming everything on the planet. Organic life would perish first, buildings would collapse as steel was superheated and could no longer support the weight imposed on it. Rivers, lakes and oceans would soon begin to boil. In less than three hours, the world would be completely engulfed in flame. Less than forty-eight hours after that, Sky would be nothing but a burned out husk.
Those poor people. She prayed they died quickly.
“de Winter, Taylor, jump point is open,” Leviathan instructed. “Get inside. Return to Leviathan once we are underway.”
Estelle saw an ATAF winging its way toward her, the first time she had seen Kelly so close in hours. She appeared to be dragging a vessel behind her, via her tether. Estelle followed after Kelly as Leviathan and a number of other fighters and warships surged into the jump point, to escape the lost system.
*
“I hope I never have to see that again,” Estelle had said to her team-mates, after witnessing the firestorm event for the first time. But as she flew alongside Leviathan, heading for Sol, to the place where the allied forces would make their last stand, she knew it was possible that she might well do one final time.
She put her hand over her heart, feeling its strong rhythmic beat and found herself wishing that she could be dead already.
VIII
— Deaf Ears —
“So, this is where it all started, then?” Dodds said, looking about the ruins of the Forum. A thin layer of snow covered the floor, a large hole in the roof allowing it to drift inside and settle.
“In a way,” Chaz said. “But ultimately the Senate planned the overthrow of the Crown Emperor from Krasst. They only remained here for about a day after the fallin
g out, before they abandoned the Forum.”
“Were you here then?” Enrique asked.
Chaz shook his head. “Claire was, that is to say Barber, but I was yet to join her.”
Dodds noted how the bitter tone that would usually accompany statements such as that was absent. Maybe Chaz was starting to think that the Confederation had actually done him a favour by coercing him into the service. Had he not, it was likely that the man might’ve lost his life during the Great Panic and the Pandoran advance. So many people had.
“How long were you stationed on Kethlan?” Dodds said.
“Three years, eight months and six days,” Chaz sighed.
Okay, maybe there still was some bitterness there. “You never met any members of the original Senate?”
“None. I’m not even sure if we’ll find anything useful in here, to be honest,” Chaz remarked, looking around at the desolate, ruined chamber. “They would’ve taken everything with them.”
“That’s why we first tried to head to Hyanik?” Enrique asked.
“Precisely,” Chaz nodded. “Parks figured that since it was where the Senate had reconvened, it was most likely where Zackaria was headed. The Senate could’ve left instructions there. But then again, it’s possible that since they had taken Kethlan they might have shifted the Forum and everything back here.”
“Did you come here a lot?” Dodds asked.
“Once, and only briefly at that, which is why I’m going to have to refer to this to remember the layout of the place,” Chaz said, reaching to his belt and removing something that was holstered. To begin with, Dodds believed it was the man’s Kyllini. He then saw it was a device that had been distributed by the CMI to the squad leaders. “I snuck in with Barber when we were searching for evidence of what the Senate were planning,” Chaz continued. “The security systems discovered us before we could find out anything, so we had to make a swift exit.”
As Chaz tapped away, Enrique wandered over to the main speaker’s podium and fiddled about with the control panel there. “No power in here, either,” he reported.
“I think it’s safe to assume that, other than for some isolated emergency services, there won’t be any power anywhere throughout the entire capital. The fighting probably damaged most of the power lines and generators. The Pandorans would also have taken them out themselves, to disadvantage their ‘opponents’,” Chaz concluded, replacing the device at his hip.
“That thing help at all?” Enrique asked, nodding to the PDA.
“This place is bigger than I remember,” Chaz said. “Everyone okay to split up? We don’t have to, but we can obviously cover more ground that way.”
Dodds looked at Enrique, who shrugged his indifference. “I think we’re good to go it alone for a bit,” Dodds said. “Especially since we locked up after ourselves this time.”
“Good,” Chaz nodded. “There are three floors marked out on my map – upper floor, ground floor – where we are now – and lower ground floor. It’s possible there might be a few more levels, too. All of the ground floor should be easily accessible, but the upper floor is likely to be suffering from internal structural damage as we saw outside.”
Dodds nodded to himself, remembering seeing how one side of the building had collapsed in on itself. Still, at least everything now looked settled, and wasn’t threatening to cave in at any moment. He was quite surprised that the Forum was in such good condition, compared to so many other parts of the capital he had seen. Perhaps the Pandorans had taken extra care around it.
“This is the central rotunda,” Chaz said. “There are two more in the west and east wings, a little smaller than this one. There will be several conference rooms, dining rooms and offices scattered about, so we’ll need to ensure that we search all of them. Even the toilets,” he added.
“Really?” Enrique chuckled.
“They might be stuffed with nanomachines that make them super human, but the Pandorans still have to pee,” Chaz said, evenly.
“What about the smaller buildings outside?” Dodds said. “Are those part of the Forum?” The grounds were enclosed by a tall iron fence that circled all around, the only real way inside being through the main entrance or from the air. The anti-aircraft guns that dotted the grounds suggested that that hadn’t been much of an option, though. With no opposition to be seen – only a scattering of bodies – the three men had walked unchallenged through the main gates and up the steps, into the entrance hall and then into the central chamber.
“Hmm, we’ll come back to those,” Chaz said. “From what I understand, they may be no more than security posts and overspill for administrators, but we’ll double-check that. All the major goings-on happened where we are now. There are even some bedrooms on the upper floor.”
“Bit exposed,” Enrique commented.
“Which is why we’ll find the most interesting stuff below ground,” Chaz said. “But the power outage will probably have put those areas into lock down, so they’ll prove difficult for both us and Zackaria to get into, which is why we’re checking up here first.”
Dodds nodded his understanding, Enrique doing likewise, still clicking and fiddling away at the controls on the podium.
Chaz pointed, “Right, Dodds, take the west wing, Enrique, go east. I’ll check the central sectors and see if I can find something to open up a way downstairs. Keep an open mic and provide regular updates. If you encounter any live soldiers during your investigation and they don’t seem like a threat, just walk away and we’ll regroup here. Otherwise, holler and the rest of us will come to help.”
“I get the feeling that most of them are outside fighting their little turf war,” said Dodds.
“Quite likely, but we can’t assume anything,” Chaz said. “We should even be careful of those that might just be playing dead.”
Dodds looked at a number of bodies near the main entrance. They’d checked each one of them carefully, just as they had done with the ones in the Pantheon, but none had been alive. Chaz was right, though – it was possible that one of the more cunning soldiers would simply disguise himself amongst the dead.
“If either of you manage to locate Zackaria, then we should let Griffin know immediately. They’ll radio the other teams and they’ll converge on our position. Dodds, as you know, if he’s going to talk to anyone then it’s most likely going to be you. If he does, try and get a dialogue going. It’ll give everyone time to get into position to apprehend him.”
“Right,” Dodds said. For a moment, he pictured himself returning to this central chamber and finding both Enrique and Chaz dead, Zackaria with his boot upon one of their bodies, that bloodied dagger clutched in his hand, ready to take him down next.
“And don’t panic, just remain calm,” Chaz added, as if Dodds were projecting the mental image for the two other men to see.
“Didn’t you meet him once?” Dodds asked.
“I did, but that was before he was infected. It wasn’t a long conversation, but he was well aware of who I was. The Empire had been keeping tabs on known agents for months. When we were eventually arrested, he told me, Barber and Grace to leave before things turned nasty. There’s a chance that he might recognise me now, but I doubt it. If it’s me who finds him, I’ll try talking to him about the time he interrogated me in 2614, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Enrique …” Both Dodds and Chaz turned to look at the man still standing by the podium. “Having thought about it, it’s probably best that you don’t say anything,” Chaz concluded.
“Very funny,” Enrique said, coming back over to join them.
“Right, let’s spread out. Meet back here in an hour,” Chaz said.
*
The west wing had been deserted. The chamber that Dodds investigated was smaller and felt far more intimate than the expansive central one he had stood within earlier. Unlike that one, the chamber here was undamaged, so quiet and still that it felt almost frozen in time, dust covering much of the furniture. He was quite surprised by the lack o
f any obvious visitation. The Forum did indeed appear to be off-limits.
No more bodies and no more signs of anyone having been in. He had started at one point, seeing boot prints in the dust, before realising they were his own. He chose to scout more carefully from then on. He had reported in and then made for the upper floor, finding a number of the doors locked. Many required electronic swipe cards, making them useless in the city’s current state. Suggestions of shooting off the lock had been made. Chaz had advised against it, citing the level of noise it could create, echoing easily down the various corridors of the building and reaching the ears of their quarry, should he be here. Keep searching, Chaz told Dodds. Persistence had eventually paid off, Dodds finding a way up through a door that had seemingly been in need of maintenance, the brass handle coming off in his hand. He had made his way up.
The first floor was just as empty as the ground floor had been. One side was colder than the other, the reason being an open window in one of the bedrooms, snow covering the windowsill and a small portion of the floor. The carpet was slippery where the snow had spread out across it and turned to ice. He searched as thoroughly as he could, before returning to the ground floor and looking for a way to reach the lower ground. This proved easier than ascending. Along a stretch of corridor, leading off from the west wing, a set of steel doors stood closed. This was obviously a lift. A button to one side invited him to push it. He did so, the little ping and the sliding apart of the doors surprising him.
“Chaz, Enrique, I’ve got power to one of the lifts,” he communicated.
“Where?” Chaz wanted to know.
“Corridor just off the west wing,” Dodds answered, peeking inside cautiously and checking out the interior. It was a standard lift, perhaps a little on the small side, able to hold around four people at most. A control panel on one side offered a choice of just two buttons – G and LG. Ground and Lower Ground that would be. What looked like an infrared card reader resided below them. “I’m going to take it down to the lower ground floor.”
The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy) Page 101