“Gauss slugs,” said Aston. “They haven’t forgotten about us.”
Suddenly, four red lights on the schematic diagram turned green.
Backup: Burst Restore: Complete.
Three more reds turned green. The propulsion kicked back into life with a rumble and the controls started responding. Recker banked the Axiom steadily, listening for the sound of distressed alloy which would indicate it was breaking up. The hull groaned more than usual, though it didn’t sound terminal. He banked harder and the Axiom held together. Another gauss projectile racketed off the armour.
“Weapons panel available!” said Aston. She stabbed one of the buttons with a straight finger. “Disruptor drones away.”
The drones were the only autonomous countermeasures – everything else relied on the sensors for targeting.
“What’s the status on the sensors?” asked Recker.
“Not yet online.”
A faint glow on the bulkhead screen indicated the sensors were almost back. Three of the feeds came up, showing nothing but darkness. Recker kept an eye on the tactical to find out if the sensor arrays had started gathering target information yet. So far, nothing.
“Comms systems are back!” said Burner. “I’m re-linking us to the battle network.”
The news brought a surge of relief and hope to Recker. If the battle network was available, that meant the Aktrivisar was operational.
“Come on, folks. We’re in with a chance,” he muttered.
“Battle network data now available!”
“It’s not accurate,” said Recker, glancing at the tactical. “I’m not reading any positional data for the enemy warships.”
“Sir, it’s definitely…” said Burner. He interrupted himself. “I have Captain Jir-Lazan on the comms.”
“Bring him through,” Recker ordered, not letting up on the controls.
Daklan laughter came through the speakers. “Captain Recker, it is over. You have nothing to escape from!”
“We suffered a core override attack and lost our sensors. What happened?” Recker asked, not yet ready to believe the engagement was over.
“The Aktrivisar is a mighty warship, human. We destroyed the Lavorix and saved you from certain death!”
Recker pictured the situation at the time of the core override. One of the Lavorix spaceships was carrying two impressive Hellburner craters, along with a series of smaller ones. The other two opponents had taken moderate damage in addition to that which they’d suffered during their earlier engagement with the Daklan fleet.
The Aktrivisar was a powerful ship, but Recker didn’t think it had the firepower to finish off three equivalent sized Lavorix opponents in less than two minutes.
“I’ve got a sensor lock on the Aktrivisar for you, sir,” said Burner.
A feed of the desolator appeared. The heavy cruiser hadn’t escaped unscathed – far from it. Large sections of its armour glowed and in other places was missing entirely. Heat-edged furrows and indentations spoke of multiple gauss projectile impacts.
Recker muted the comms channel. “Find the wreckage of the Lavorix ships and show me that as well.”
“I’ve already got one for you, sir,” said Larson.
The enemy warship was beyond repair, with a burning hull and dozens of missile craters. As the drifting hull turned, Recker caught sight of a much larger opening in the warship’s mid-section, where the alloy was still white with retained heat. He rubbed his chin as he realized what had caused so much damage.
Taking advantage of the muted comms, Lieutenant Eastwood gave a brief, preliminary damage report for the Axiom. “No hull breach, no major system failures. I’m sure we’ve lost much of the outer armour.”
Recker nodded his acknowledgement and took the comms off mute. “Captain Jir-Lazan, I see the Aktrivisar is carrying lightspeed missiles. You have not mentioned this capability before, nor was it in the data you sent before our departure.”
“I omitted it from the specification file,” said Jir-Lazan, with something Recker hoped was genuine regret. “I was not permitted to disclose details of their presence, and to only deploy them when there was no other choice.”
The outcome was starting to make sense. “You destroyed all three enemy spaceships with your lightspeed missiles?”
“I cannot claim full credit,” admitted Jir-Lazan. “In truth, your final two Hellburners were enough to cripple one of the Lavorix vessels. The Aktrivisar launched two lightspeed missiles, which were enough to turn the tide.” The Daklan’s voice dropped conspiratorially. “Alas, the production expense of the missiles is such that my warship started this mission carrying only four in total.”
“Now you have two.”
“That is correct. Should I return to base having fired them all, I will be required to deal with a mountain of paperwork to explain my profligacy.”
“Does that mean you’re holding onto them?”
“If necessary, I will empty every single one of the Aktrivisar’s magazines and then set fire to the debriefing paperwork!” Jir-Lazan laughed again. “Your warship looks like shit!”
“I’m sure it does,” said Recker dryly. “Were you attacked by the core override?”
“No,” said Jir-Lazan, just quickly enough that Recker couldn’t be sure if the Daklan was trying to hide something. “Though I am not sure why the Lavorix targeted the weaker ship, when the Aktrivisar is clearly vastly more capable.”
“I received another message from Excon-1,” said Recker. “It warned me about the core override.”
“That is a positive sign, is it not?” mused Jir-Lazan. “The Meklon facility might provide us with assistance or technical data.”
“I’m sure it has been infiltrated,” said Recker. “Without knowing exactly what Excon-1 is, I don’t know what this infiltration might entail.”
“I will attempt to make contact,” said the Daklan. “Though last time it didn’t respond after issuing an initial warning.”
“The facility won’t give you any information.”
“Why is that, human?”
“Because it doesn’t recognize you or your ship. It knows me as the commanding officer of the Meklon warship Vengeance.”
“Very well. You will lead. Update me with your findings.”
“Agreed.”
Recker cut the channel. Before attempting contact with Excon-1, he had other matters to worry about. “I need additional status reports,” he said. “Double check the core override is gone. Lieutenant Burner, show me what my warship looks like.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Axiom’s sensors were nearly flush with the hull, limiting their ability to provide a comprehensive view of the exterior. Following some adjustments, Burner put up a variety of feeds on the bulkhead.
“I think the Daklan was being kind when he said we look like shit,” Eastwood remarked.
“Yeah,” said Aston.
Seeing the indentations, the splayed metal, the missing plates, the patches of orange and red, and the cooling rivers of hardening alloy, made Recker wonder how the Axiom hadn’t broken into pieces. He had to keep reminding himself that this was how the heavy cruiser was designed.
“It’s only superficial,” he said.
“Of course it is, sir,” said Eastwood. “I’ll put on my suit helmet and go outside with a laser welder. It shouldn’t take me longer than a couple of hours to patch things up.”
“What happened to respect for a superior officer, Lieutenant?” asked Recker.
“I have complete respect, sir.”
“See that you don’t forget.” Recker flexed his fingers. “I’m going to send another message to the Excon-1 station. I’ve got plenty of questions I need answering.”
He poised his hands over the keyboard, only for a new message to appear and this one was even less welcome than the core override warning.
Excon-1> Captain Carl Recker. Prepare your ship for Fracture.
Recker stared at the writing and, in that instan
t, he didn’t have the faintest idea what to do.
Chapter Eleven
Recker’s single experience of the Fracture told him that it had an almost instant warm-up and discharge. He was certain the Lavorix had partly corrupted the Excon-1 onboard systems and was also sure they had used the station’s weaponry against the Daklan fleet. How the enemy had accomplished this, he had no idea.
Almost without conscious thought, he typed.
Axiom> Excon-1. Cancel Fracture discharge.
Seconds passed.
Excon-1> Fracture discharge cancelled.
Recker grasped this opportunity. He dropped his hands onto the controls and gave the Axiom maximum thrust. At the same time, he shouted orders to ensure that Jir-Lazan was made aware. Within seconds, the desolator was accelerating with similar urgency.
Excon-1> Captain Carl Recker. Prepare your ship for Fracture.
A darting motion of Recker’s hand set the Axiom on autopilot, allowing him to type a response.
Axiom> Excon-1. Cancel Fracture discharge.
Excon-1> Fracture discharge cancelled.
Seconds passed.
Excon-1> Captain Carl Recker. Prepare your ship for Fracture.
“Shit!”
Recker typed out the cancellation command and added some additional text.
Axiom> Excon-1. Cancel Fracture discharge. Set Fracture to offline state.
Excon-1> Request denied. Security tier too low.
“How the hell are the Lavorix able to active the weapon?” asked Larson, watching the exchange.
“I don’t know,” said Recker grimly. “Either they pulled off the same trick as we did with the Vengeance, or they’ve got some hardware that allows them to activate the Excon-1 weaponry.”
He typed quickly.
Axiom> Excon-1. Provide your location coordinates. Set Fracture two million kilometres off target.
Excon-1> Location coordinates provided. Second request denied. Security tier too low. Prepare your ship for Fracture.
Axiom> Excon-1. Cancel Fracture discharge.
Recker felt like he was back in the training simulator, in one of the thumbscrew scenarios designed to ratchet up the pressure to find out if the poor bastards in the pod would crack, fail, quit the military or any combination of the three. The Excon-1 station recognized his authority to cancel a Fracture activation, but not do anything else. It said something about the Meklon that they’d made it easier to prevent their weapons discharging than to fire them in the first place.
“I’ve received coordinates for the Meklon station, sir,” said Burner. “It’s an orbital – currently geostationary five million klicks above Qul. You won’t believe how big this thing is.”
“It’s about fifty klicks in length, with a fifteen-klick diameter,” said Larson, just in case Recker needed it spelling out.
The station targeted the Fracture again and once more Recker issued the cancellation order. He knew they were running out of time – whoever was on the station ordering the Fracture activation, they’d be trying their damnedest to figure out a way to block the cancellation commands.
Axiom> Excon-1. End sensor tracking of Axiom warship. Place Fracture into maintenance mode. Elevate security tier: Captain Carl Recker. Recognize Lavorix security breach. Shut down data cores. Shut down Excon-1 station.
Every idea Recker could think of, he tried. Each one was met by the same warning that his security tier was too low. All the while, his crew offered suggestions, and Burner was getting his ear chewed by Jir-Lazan, who wanted to know why the situation wasn’t resolved.
And then, a new idea came to Recker. If it worked, there’d be ramifications, though he’d far rather be alive and dealing with them than dead and not knowing.
Axiom> Excon-1. Please provide location coordinates of Fracture hardware.
Excon-1> Location details provided.
“Lieutenant Burner, send those coordinates to the Aktrivisar and request that Captain Jir-Lazan hits them with his last two lightspeed missiles.”
“Yes, sir.”
Recker cancelled another Fracture activation and kept his eyes glued to the screen for the next warning.
“Captain Jir-Lazan is concerned that his warship might become the target for an overwhelming response from the Excon-1 station, sir.”
It was a definite concern and one which Recker had not considered given how many plates he had spinning.
Axiom> Excon-1. Your systems have been infiltrated by the Lavorix.
Excon-1> Yes. They have control of the Fracture. My protocols have also been corrupted. My AI module tie-ins are severed. I am no longer capable of acting upon evaluation of known data. Fallback rules implemented. I cannot elevate your security tier without biometric scanning. This channel is discovered. Switching to new channel.
Excon-1> New channel.
Axiom> What happens when Excon-1 is attacked?
Excon-1> A defence response is initiated.
Axiom> Is that response governed by the fallback rules?
Excon-1> No. The discharge of weaponry is governed by the AI module.
Axiom> Your AI module is disconnected.
Excon-1> That is correct.
Axiom> Does that mean you can’t fire these other weapons?
Excon-1> Yes. Unless they are manually operated by the Lavorix infiltrators.
Axiom> Can they do so?
Excon-1> Insufficient data to confirm.
Axiom> We intend to destroy the Fracture weapon with missiles.
Excon-1> Good luck.
Recker blinked at the response and then shouted an order for Lieutenant Burner to relay. A few seconds later, he got the answer he wanted.
“Captain Jir-Lazan has agreed to fire his last two lightspeed missiles. Apparently, he’s going to send you the paperwork.”
“Tell him I’ll hit it with a plasma missile,” Recker smiled. Another Fracture warning appeared on his screen. His smile vanished and he sent the cancellation command.
The Daklan didn’t earn their reputation of being competent enemies by waiting around meekly for an invitation to unload copious quantities of explosive weaponry. Hardly ten seconds after Jir-Lazan had agreed to launch the Aktrivisar’s missiles than the first one was ejected from its launch hatch beneath the desolator.
Burner had a sensor array focused on the place and Recker got his first good look at a Daklan lightspeed missile. It was little more than an enormous grey cylinder, which appeared, boosted ahead of the Aktrivisar on a standard propulsion and then vanished into lightspeed, leaving a small ternium cloud as evidence of its transition.
Ten seconds after the first missile disappeared, a second launched from the same place. Soon, it too was gone into lightspeed.
“The Aktrivisar can fire them quicker than any other Daklan ship we’ve seen,” said Recker. It was a concern, but one for another day.
He looked at Burner and Larson. “Any way we can confirm successful detonations?”
“As it happens, Captain Jir-Lazan’s comms team have just advised me that both missiles hit their target,” said Burner.
Axiom> Excon-1. Please confirm destruction of Fracture weapon.
Excon-1> Status report for Fracture weapon: disabled.
Axiom> Can the Lavorix reactivate the weapon?
Excon-1> This outcome has a low-low probability.
Recker suddenly remembered how the Excon-18 station at planet Vitran had brought the Vengeance in under direct control.
Axiom> Requesting permission for manual approach for biometric re-scanning.
Excon-1> Request denied. Security tier too low. At thirty million kilometres, the flight controller will take over. You will be brought into the upper dock for biometric re-scanning.
Recker didn’t like it, but recognized he had no other choice.
Axiom> Request for Daklan warship Aktrivisar to also dock.
Excon-1> Request denied due to hostile action from Daklan warship Aktrivisar.
Axiom> Will the Lavorix
infiltrators fire the Excon-1 station’s other weaponry at the Axiom while we are brought in by the flight controller?
Excon-1> Negative. The weaponry cannot target spaceships held by the flight controller.
It was information which might have been useful to know before the desolator hit the Fracture weapon with two lightspeed missiles, though the Axiom was a long way from the thirty-million-kilometre activation range for the flight controller. Recker put it from his mind.
Axiom> Do protocols permit the Aktrivisar to be brought in by the flight controller, without docking at Excon-1?
Excon-1> Yes.
“Lieutenant Burner, relay the details to Captain Jir-Lazan,” said Recker, looking up from his screen. “I want to know his opinion.” He remembered something else and the memory brought with it a sudden shiver of fear.
Axiom> Excon-1. You warned about the imminent arrival of a Lavorix Galactar. Please provide details.
Excon-1> The Lavorix Galactar. The deciding force in this section of the conflict sphere. The probability model suggests that a threshold has been breached as a result of recent warship activity in the Lanak system. The Galactar may investigate.
Axiom> What capabilities does the Galactar possess?
Excon-1> It is equipped with step-change technology. It is impervious to harm. It is impervious to Fracture. It is impervious to depletion burst. It destroys life.
Even the computer seemed to be getting emotional about the Galactar and Recker was already one hundred percent certain he didn’t want to encounter this warship. He had a thought.
Axiom> The Meklon raided the tenixite converter network. Was this to aim a depletion burst at the Galactar?
Excon-1> Yes. The raid was successful. The depletion burst was not.
Recker sat back, thinking. He was gradually learning snippets from the Lavorix-Meklon war and he was fascinated.
“Sir, Captain Jir-Lazan wants to talk,” said Burner.
“Bring him in – open channel.”
The bridge speakers hummed. “I do not like this, Captain Recker,” said Jir-Lazan, cutting to the chase. “What happens if the flight controller will not relinquish control of the Aktrivisar?”
Galactar (Savage Stars Book 3) Page 9