Understanding came. The Vengeance had been hit by an energy weapon and the status display indicated that the mesh deflector had activated, diverting the enemy attack into the planet’s surface and causing it to explode into the air with such violent energy that the entire warship was caught in a maelstrom of earth and stone.
With a roar of engines, the Vengeance burst free from an immense fountain of rock, much of which was still on an upward trajectory. The enormity of the weapon’s attack began to sink in – the entire horizon behind the Vengeance was erupting towards space and amongst it, Recker saw dull reds and bright oranges which made him think the planet’s crust had been ruptured by the attack, casting the hot rocks of the upper mantle into the sky.
“The mesh deflector went offline, sir,” said Aston. “It’s either failed or there’s a cooldown period.”
“Find out which.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where’s that enemy ship?” asked Recker angrily.
“I’m looking, sir,” said Burner. “I can’t see anything through all this rock.”
Recker didn’t have time to stare but his eyes kept jumping to the rear feed. The flight of the Vengeance was carrying it further from the eruption, which only served to allow a more expansive view of the devastation.
To Recker, it seemed like he was staring at a sheer wall of fragmenting stone, from which immense boulders tore themselves free as they raced for the heavens, whilst others were travelling so quickly they overtook the Vengeance, giving the illusion that the warship was amongst a storm of fiery missiles.
The tactical computer tracked the highest threat objects and marked them as orange squares on the screen. Every second or two, one of those missiles impacted the rear plating with enough force that the sound of it was audible over everything else happening on the bridge.
“That’s going to be one hell of a crater,” said Eastwood.
“I don’t much care about the crater just now, Lieutenant. I care about the warship which is trying to kill us.”
The rock explosion had blocked the sensor view of the enemy craft, but the tactical displayed the vessel’s assumed course. It was difficult to be certain with so much happening, but Recker thought his opponent should be visible already. The fact that it wasn’t made him think it had changed heading.
“Maybe they think we’re dead,” said Aston.
“They must know about this mesh deflector we’re carrying,” said Recker.
“And if it’s got a cooldown period, they’ll know about that as well, sir.”
Recker bared his teeth. “Then why haven’t they taken advantage?” His brain served up a possible answer to his own question. “Whatever they used against us, it can’t be a rapid-fire weapon. Not with that much destructive power.”
“I’ve been checking out the energy readings from their hull, sir,” said Eastwood, talking quickly to get his message across. “It’s almost the same as what I saw on the cylinder back on Oldis.”
“That warship is carrying a portable tenixite converter?” asked Recker in disbelief.
“Looks like.”
“The effect was different,” said Burner. “On Oldis, the Daklan warships disintegrated.”
“We don’t know what effect the mesh deflector has on the discharge,” said Eastwood. “Maybe it converts the depletion burst into a different kind of energy.”
“However it works, our opponent must be using tenixite they’re carrying onboard,” said Aston. “Otherwise the weapon would be useless without a nearby source of ternium ore.”
“It was a big craft,” said Burner. “Hard to be sure on the numbers, but I reckon we’re facing something of a similar size and mass to one of our battleships. They could be carrying a few billion tons in their hold if that’s how it was designed.”
Another check of the rear feed informed Recker that the Vengeance was far enough ahead of the stone eruption for him to bank east without the warship’s flank being exposed to projectile impacts. Still the wall of rock hadn’t fallen, like it was suspended in defiance of gravity. Recker knew that it was a trick caused by the distance and the magnitude. While a few trillion tons of ejected rock had likely made it into orbit, the rest of it was only going in one direction and once it was over, Vitran would never be the same again.
“I’ve detected the enemy!” said Burner. “They’re heading the wrong way!”
A red dot appeared on the tactical - amongst the thousands of orange targets - high and five hundred kilometres behind. On the sensor feed, the enemy craft and its trailing smoke was partly obscured by debris, preventing Recker from obtaining a good view of his target. He preferred to see what he was fighting and he growled in irritation at being denied this simple satisfaction.
However, from the enemy’s trajectory, Recker could see they’d tried to anticipate the Vengeance’s course and got it wrong. At the same moment, he realized that his opponent didn’t know that he and his crew were inexperienced with this alien tech – the enemy was treating the Vengeance like it was fully battle-ready and with a crew who knew how to operate it at maximum efficiency.
“They’re banking towards us,” said Recker.
“Mesh deflector still offline,” said Aston. “Our missiles are locked – I can’t recommend firing them until they have a clearer path to target.”
“I agree, hold fire. Any readings from the enemy hull, Lieutenant Eastwood?”
“I’m not sure, sir – too many obstacles between us and them.”
“Commander Aston, you mentioned we’re fitted with an energy weapon.”
“Yes, sir. It’s called Executor and it has a narrow front-firing arc. It’s tied into the propulsion and is currently showing offline.”
“Damnit,” Recker swore. “We need an hour to pick this apart and find out how everything works. As it stands, we’re an easy target.”
“I’m detecting a missile launch from the enemy ship,” said Aston. “Interceptors launched. Uh interceptor storm activated.”
Everything happened so fast that Recker’s brain struggled to keep up. Dozens of red dots – enemy missiles - appeared on the tactical and many of them detonated fruitlessly against the intervening debris. From the size of the plasma blasts it was apparent the warheads carried a massive payload.
At the same time, a thunderous boom of several hundred propulsions igniting came to the bridge and tiny missiles burst from concealed launch tubes positioned around the Vengeance’s hull. Green dots met red dots on the tactical and the enemy missiles were destroyed by the agile interceptors sent against them.
“That was close,” said Aston.
“We’ve got to give them something back,” said Recker, wondering how he was going to achieve it. The Vengeance was travelling low and fast and he banked again, aiming to skirt around the still-hidden crater formed by the tenixite converter weapon. By now he could clearly see the shower of rocks was coming down rather than going up and countless fragments punched into the sea of green below, crushing the trees and leaving huge gaps in the canopy.
“The crater’s got a 220-klick diameter,” said Burner, when the path of the Vengeance brought it close enough for the ground to be seen over the planet’s curvature.
“I’m detecting a second missile launch,” said Aston. “Interceptors away.”
For the second time, many of the enemy warheads crashed into flying debris and those which made it through were knocked out by the Vengeance’s interceptor storm. Meanwhile, the opposing spaceship increased its altitude further in order to maintain a constant visual lock and Recker couldn’t do much to counter the move.
“Our nose section’s getting hot,” Eastwood reminded him. “Much more and the plates will soften.”
It was just one concern amongst a dozen which competed for Recker’s attention. Every one of his crew was in the same position – they were being asked to familiarise themselves with new weapons and tech whilst under the greatest of pressure.
“Executor still offli
ne,” said Aston. “It’s not getting enough supply to activate.”
“You said it taps into the propulsion.”
“It does and the link is open. Still not enough.”
The time for timidity was over. “Hit that bastard with missiles,” said Recker. “I don’t care if there’s too much debris – I want to give them something to think about.”
Way overhead and far behind, the fireball which was the enemy warship accelerated higher still, now on a course that would carry it directly over the Vengeance. Recker adjusted his own heading, aiming to cut across the edge of the crater and lose his warship amongst the rocks. Once the enemy’s sensor lock was broken, he intended to make a run for it to buy some time for him and his crew to figure things out.
“The mesh deflector came back online, sir,” said Aston.
“I’m detecting an energy build up on the enemy hull again, sir,” said Eastwood.
The first thought that jumped into Recker’s head was depletion burst and he prepared himself for a second expulsion of the planet’s surface.
“Sir – it’s a core override!” said Eastwood. “They’re about to fire!”
Not exactly sure why he did it, Recker banked again and this time he aimed the Vengeance directly at the centre of the newly formed crater in the planet’s surface. No longer did he see the sheer cliff of an unimaginable mountain – now gravity had asserted itself, turning the mountain into a deluge of boulders raining upon the ground.
“Core override discharged.”
The needles on Recker’s console jumped and swung, while the bridge light flickered and the onboard systems went offline one after another. A message appeared on his screen.
> Core Override detected. Configuration: total shutdown.
A second later, the propulsion stuttered and then fell to idle. The last thing Recker saw before the sensor feed went out was the rock-shattered forest coming up fast to meet the warship, while the hard rain of stone continued to fall.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The sound of impacts against the hull was deafening and the controls juddered in Recker’s hands. He felt the Vengeance hit the ground – the impact should have killed him and the crew, but then he noticed that the life support modules hadn’t gone offline. In fact, a few of the monitoring gauges were still receiving input, though he didn’t like what they were telling him.
Long before the spaceship’s momentum had run out, Recker’s eye fell on a single line of text which appeared on his left-hand screen.
> Core override: backup restore in progress.
“I’ve got access to the weapons again!” said Aston, shouting over the sound of the rocks hitting the warship’s armour.
Recker hadn’t let go of the controls and they weren’t responsive. “Nothing here,” he said.
“Propulsion still not available!” said Eastwood. “How long until those alien bastards locate us amongst all this crap?”
“I’m not planning to guess,” said Recker. He winced at the solidity of a thud on the plating, which he felt through the padding of his seat. He’d taken a gamble on hiding the Vengeance amongst the falling stone, but it would only pay off if the spaceship wasn’t completely crushed.
We’re solid alloy and ternium. No amount of rock is going to hurt us.
Even as the thought appeared, Recker knew it wasn’t quite true. He clenched his jaw and hoped the Vengeance would resist the weight piling on top of it.
“Propulsion online!” said Eastwood. “Whatever modifications we received at Excon-18, they’re purging the core override!”
“Sensors back!” yelled Burner excitedly.
The feeds reappeared simultaneously, though they didn’t have much to display other than the mountain of rocks piled up on the warship. On the forward feed, the hull plates were still glowing and the rock there was already melting into a glutinous sludge.
The status display on Recker’s console updated.
> Core override. Restore complete. Adaptation partially complete.
“We’re getting out of here,” said Recker.
“Where to, sir?” asked Aston.
“Away from this mound of stone, Commander. Ready on the weapons.”
He increased power to the engines and the warship strained against the weight holding it down. Recker gave it yet more power and suddenly the Vengeance surged upwards, like it was completely unencumbered.
In a new explosion of rock, the warship escaped from the ever-increasing pile that was forming on the surface of Vitran. Once free, the vessel’s hull was again subject to a bombardment of missiles coming from above and the sensor feeds were a chaos of shapes and movement, with patches of sky and ground only glimpsed in the most fleeting of moments.
“I can’t see the enemy, sir,” said Burner. “Visibility is poor.”
The clattering on the hull didn’t reduce at all and Recker was amazed at the aftereffects of the depletion burst’s discharge. He peered ahead, accelerating steadily. Having eyes on the enemy would be a big advantage if they were to get through this.
“There’s not much more to come down, sir,” said Burner. “So if you were hoping to play hide and seek…”
An immense falling boulder, which Recker had already noticed a few kilometres ahead of the Vengeance, suddenly exploded into a shower of fragments. Recker got a sense of a huge, white-hot projectile blur past the portside sensor feeds. A moment later, he watched a diagonal line of other, smaller rocks detonate into pieces as a second projectile from the enemy warship smashed through the debris. Somehow the superheated gauss slug missed the Vengeance by a hair and Recker could only imagine that it had been deflected by its path through the falling rocks.
“I’ve detected a missile launch, sir,” said Burner. His voice climbed an octave. “There’s the enemy! From their course, I’d say they’ve completed a half-circuit of the crater. They’re at a three hundred klick altitude and west of our position.”
“Launching interceptors.”
A series of plasma explosions went off all around the Vengeance, some within touching distance. Recker banked, still accelerating, and then the spaceship was through the blasts, its hull scarcely licked by the intense heat.
“Missiles incoming,” said Aston. “They’re not holding back any longer.” She cursed. “Our interceptors haven’t reloaded!”
Recker banked again, instinctively, just as a third gauss projectile crashed through the thinning rocks. He had no idea how it missed the Vengeance, but he didn’t think the enemy missiles would do the same - they filled the tactical and the falling rocks were too few to thin their numbers significantly.
A cage of blue energy sword cuts sprang into being around the Vengeance. The barrier held for several long seconds, while plasma missiles exploded against it. Just before it winked out of existence, Recker saw a gauss slug strike the mesh and flatten into a brightly glowing disc which slipped away as the shield faded.
“Automatic activation?” asked Recker, hardly able to believe he was still alive.
“Manual control,” said Aston.
“Good timing. Damn good timing.”
“And now the mesh deflector’s back on cooldown.”
The Vengeance emerged from the fringes of those tumbling rocks which were last to escape the heavens, and the warship was already travelling fast enough that its nose glowed anew. Overhead, the enemy warship hadn’t slowed and the pattern of its trailing smoke in the now-clear skies made it easy to read the vessel’s path.
“Missiles locked and launched,” said Aston.
The missiles streaked through the air – forty-eight pinpoints of orange from the spaceship’s upper four clusters. A split-second later, a hundred or more lines of white light sprang from the centre of the fireball which still concealed the details of the opposing warship.
“Interceptors,” said Aston.
“Let’s hope we get a few hits,” said Burner.
The Vengeance’s missiles were rapid and they packed a real punc
h. Several flashes of white plasma appeared in the midst of the blazing fireball of atmospheric friction. Recker had no idea if the damage was significant and his thoughts were still on escape. He mentally plotted a course away from the enemy spaceship which would also allow the rear clusters to launch. The propulsion rumbled and the Vengeance thundered for the horizon.
“Engine mode 2 is a controlled overstress,” said Eastwood, from out of nowhere, and calmly like he’d been poring over a technical magazine while drinking a cup of coffee. “Maybe not exactly the same, but that’s the best way I can think to describe it.”
“Switch us over, Lieutenant,” said Recker without hesitation. “I’ll take all the extra power that’s available.”
“Sir, I also found out that the Executor is tied in to mode 2,” said Eastwood. “Once we’re switched over, it should become available.”
“Do it.”
“I already did, sir.”
Unlike the overstress mode on an HPA warship, which made the propulsion howl like banshee, the Vengeance’s second engine mode only straightened out the lumpiness which Recker had often noticed. He checked the monitoring gauges – their needles hadn’t shifted, but the scales had updated and the numbers were bigger. Much bigger. At the same time, one of the previously dead buttons on the left control bar lit up, with no clear indication what it was for.
He tested the controls and discovered a step change in the Vengeance’s acceleration. It almost leapt into the distance, catching Recker by surprise and setting off a series of temperature alerts for the hull.
“As Lieutenant Eastwood said, the Executor is now available,” said Aston.
“What does it do?” said Recker.
“Blows shit up I hope,” offered Burner.
Fractured Horizons (Savage Stars Book 2) Page 19