Griffin’s shoulders lifted as he took in a deep breath. “What did they tell you about the mobilization on New Destiny?”
“Same as they always tell us. Grab your shit, you’re moving out.”
“A Sekar rift appeared half a million klicks from the planet. Last I heard, nothing came through, but it’s growing.”
Conway felt his chest constricting.
“It gets worse,” Griffin continued. “Since the commencement of this mission, the Raggers have parked a fleet off New Destiny. That means we’ve got both our enemies there.”
“What do the Raggers want, sir?” asked Conway. It didn’t take a genius to guess.
“Last communication Admiral Kolb received was that the enemy haven’t given us any demands.” Now Griffin did turn, while leaving his hands on the control sticks. “How much do you know about this mission, Captain?”
“Like I said – Ragger data to stop us dying to the Sekar.”
“Fleet Admiral Stone has been trying to negotiate with the enemy for their stealth tech as well. They tricked us and we came away empty-handed.”
“What do we need their stealth tech for? Apart from the obvious.”
“We need it for our death pulse generator research. I’ve been told the Ragger stealth modules provide the right kind of energy for the prototypes.”
“There’s no time to build anything with the Raggers at New Destiny.”
“I know. When it comes to the details, I’m in the dark like you, Captain Conway. We had comms from the Defiant and then it went into lightspeed. We’ve heard nothing since.”
“Admiral Stone is heading to New Destiny?”
“He wouldn’t do anything else.”
“Can he turn this around?” asked Conway, wondering if he dared hope.
“The Hantisar ships proved themselves superior to the Ragger fleet in every way. The only problem is the planet itself.”
“The Raggers will do whatever they choose,” said Conway softly.
“So they have proven time again.” Griffin sighed. “I wish I had something more for you, Captain. I felt I owed you the truth.”
That truth hurt like a kick in the balls, but Conway was glad for Griffin’s honesty. Confronted by the reality, he felt drained. Someone tapped him on the arm.
“Have this,” said Lieutenant Dominguez, offering him a cup of coffee. “Tastes like shit, but…”
Conway unsnapped the clips holding his helmet in place, took it off and placed it next to him, leaving the hood of his stealth webbing trailing down his back. He was surprised at the steadiness in his hands when he took the coffee. A sip told him that Dominguez’ evaluation of the drink’s quality was an understatement, but he didn’t care too much. The coffee was a reminder of his last time on New Destiny and he choked it down.
Twenty-five minutes later, the carrier Juniper appeared on the forward feed and Griffin activated the auto-dock.
“It took some damage,” he said. “A couple of missiles and a railgun strike.”
“The bridge crew reports the vessel is one hundred percent operational,” said Dominguez. “And we’re the last one home.”
With the unerring accuracy of its computerized autopilot, the Raider entered the bay. Conway saw plenty of gaps in the rows of parked Vipers and smoke poured from the badly damaged hull of another. It was too hot for the maintenance crews to get in close and they were spraying it with heat-dispersing chemicals to cool it down.
The Raider landed gently and, once clearance was obtained, the crew and the soldiers disembarked, just as the carrier’s main bay doors closed. A group of intel personnel was waiting for the data cube and Corporal Freeman handed it over with reluctance, like he’d grown fond of the extra weight.
“You keep an eye on that thing, right?” he asked. “You know what’s on there.”
“It’s in the best of hands, Corporal,” said the unnamed officer. “We’ll get the data off this thing and the Juniper will stream it to Earth and the designated Fangrin comms station during our first lightspeed stop.”
It was more than many other intel personnel would have offered and Conway was pleased this man was keen to give reassurances. Freeman wasn’t quite done.
“Why not broadcast it before we enter lightspeed?” he asked accusingly.
“We can’t stick around at Hul-J5, Corporal,” said Griffin. “First thing is to reach safety.”
“Right. I understand.”
An increase in propulsion volume heralded the Juniper’s preparation for departure and Conway got a sense of the acceleration. He guessed the carrier would put in some sublight distance first in order to get away from easy sensor detection by any Ragger reinforcements which might show up.
“What now?” asked Torres.
“First we rearm, then we go and sit in that breakout room until we hear otherwise,” said Conway.
“The mission’s done and we get forgotten,” said Kemp.
“Even the Savior of the Universe is allowed to put his feet up once in a while,” said Lieutenant Rembra, staggering Kemp with a comradely pat on the back.
“Aw crap, don’t you start with the savior bullshit, Lieutenant.”
It was like the flicking of a switch. The mission was over and the squad turned off as easily as that. With admiration for their stoicism, Conway led them from the bay.
Viewed from five million klicks, New Destiny appeared serene and beautiful, its colors reminiscent of Earth in a way which instilled a romantic yearning in the hearts of the Defiant’s watching crew. Except this was not a time for sentiment or a loss of focus. The Ragger fleet surrounded the planet in a high orbit, the distance and their stealth modules making it difficult to track the enemy’s exact positions – even for the Hantisar arrays.
Exactly twenty-four hours after his previous communication, the most senior known Ragger got in touch again.
“Indriss-Zar-005 is on the comms, sir,” said Lieutenant Wilton Dowd.
Fleet Admiral Stone gritted his teeth. “Bring him in. Open channel.”
“The terms of your surrender,” said the Ragger in the same hissing tones as all the others of his species. “You requested time and I granted you time.”
“One day is not enough,” said Stone. “What you’re asking requires the agreement of many within the Unity League.”
“You claim to lead. Should I find another? Someone more capable of facing the realities?”
“There is no other.”
“Then you have no choice. The terms are clear – you will provide clean, unedited data on your military assets for my personnel to examine. Once we have determined the quantity of spaceships under Unity League control, you will hand over every one of the Hantisar vessels to my control. If you comply precisely with the terms, the people on your planet nearby will live. Otherwise, they will die.”
“With no guarantees you won’t come back tomorrow. Or the day after.”
“Oh, rest assured you will become a vassal species, human. For the moment, I only offer you a chance to live long enough to see it happen.” The comms went briefly silent. “You betrayed us, human. You offered a trade, when all the while your intention was dishonorable.”
Stone didn’t take the bait. “Another twenty-four hours. Then I will have agreement.”
“No.”
“What do you have to lose?”
“You anger me! Get me that data before I rain incendiaries upon your people!”
Indriss-Zar-005 exited the comms channel, leaving Stone feeling like he’d extracted a minor victory. The Raggers didn’t usually offer concessions unless they believed it was in their best interests, and even then it was unpredictable.
Numbers ticked down on one of the bridge screens. 00:23:38:27
“Are we handing over the data, sir?” asked Dyer.
“We may have to. Is it ready?”
“Yes, sir. We can transmit on your word.”
“Hold until I say.”
Stone returned to his station. He did
n’t sit – instead, he read through the status updates on his console. The fleet which had returned from the Indul-975D system was now bolstered by a significant quantity of additional craft, drawn in from other parts of the Unity League.
And then came the Fangrin contribution. The aliens who had once been humanity’s greatest enemy were turning out to be its greatest friend. Not only had they committed the majority of their Hantisar warships, but also three hundred additional craft from their extensive fleet. They hadn’t all arrived and some wouldn’t be at New Destiny for a couple of days.
Even with what he had, Stone was confident he could send Indriss-Zar-005’s fleet running for the stars. The only problem was New Destiny and the billions of people living there. It was a big problem.
Somehow, Stone was required to defeat the Raggers at the same time as he prevented them blanketing the planet with nukes and incendiaries. As powerful as the Hantisar fleet might be, it lacked a weapon capable of doing what was needed.
Which left him with the most powerful of the two fleets, yet unable to engage unless he accepted the loss of the planet. Stone thought it best to hold the attack while he hunted for other opportunities. He was working on something already.
As if on cue, the first stage in that plan emerged from lightspeed.
“Sir, the ULS Castigate just arrived a million klicks from here and joined the battle network,” said Lieutenant Dowd.
“Check in with their comms team – make sure their passengers and cargo made it through the journey without incident.”
Stone didn’t expect anything to have gone wrong, but the way things were going, nothing would have surprised him. He tapped the back of his chair impatiently.
“Passengers and cargo intact, sir.”
“Now we’ve got to fit them into the bay, sir,” said Commander Blackwood.
“Plenty of room,” said Stone.
The Defiant’s bay had physical space for two light cruisers of the same dimensions as the Castigate, though it was not designed to hold anything of that size. The carrier’s hull tolerances checked out, though Stone would have ignored them even if it was otherwise.
“We’re up against the clock,” he said. “Give the order for our Vipers to clear the bay immediately. I expect the Castigate to be within that same bay in less than one hour.”
The Viper pilots were ready. They were gone from the bay in ten minutes and then circled lazily around the carrier. The Castigate’s commanding officer was an experienced pilot and he needed to be. The light cruiser’s autopilot refused to engage on the basis that it wasn’t programmed to dock within the bay of a carrier. Consequently, it all happened under manual control.
The bridge crew watched it proceed in near silence. The Defiant was at a dead stop, so in theory, Captain Evie was only required to line up and come marching in. Height wise, there was plenty of room, but the Castigate’s beam was within a whisker of the bay’s width.
Given the inertia of an object as heavy as a light cruiser – even one travelling at a crawl - a single misjudgment might result in catastrophic damage. So, everything was done with the utmost care.
When the Castigate finally set down on the Defiant’s bay floor and the rear doors were safely closed, the crew let out a cheer. Stone allowed himself a tight smile and checked the clock.
00:22:41:27 until the Juniper’s arrival. And with it, the hopes of the Unity League.
Chapter Twenty-Six
With the clock at 00:20:15:09, Indriss-Zar-005’s patience finally snapped and he made it clear that if Stone didn’t transmit the data on the Unity League’s military assets, a few million people on New Destiny would suffer the consequences.
“You will have your data,” said Stone angrily.
“That means now!” said the Ragger. It was difficult to be sure if Indriss-Zar-005’s anger was real, feigned or somewhere in between.
“Don’t think yourself too much ahead, Ragger. Perhaps I will change my mind and destroy your fleet instead.”
Indriss-Zar-005 was an old hand at the game and he laughed with what might have been genuine mirth. “I am aware of what you accomplished at Indul-975D, human. Indeed, you may accomplish a similar feat here, were you bold enough to try. I assure you, the cost will be high. New Destiny is not the only one of your planets we know, and the Ragger fleet counts many more than these nine hundred in its total.”
“And what if I were to accept the loss of those planets?” asked Stone.
“You are weak and you will not. Even were you to surprise me, it matters little. We have already intercepted enough of your planets’ comms broadcasts to allow us to locate your other worlds.” Indriss-Zar-005 laughed with quiet self-satisfaction. “And you thought we had forgotten about you, human. Instead, we have watched and listened while you remained in blissful ignorance. Your planet Earth will be our next target and my species will feast upon your flesh. You will live and you will breed and we will eat.”
Hearing the words made Stone shake with fury. It was likely the Ragger mixed fact and falsehood together, but even a few grains of truth amongst the lies meant that humanity’s existence as a free species was becoming more precariously balanced with each passing moment.
Indriss-Zar-005 wasn’t done. “So make your choice, human. Attack my fleet. You may emerge victorious, but the planet will die. And then your other planets will also die. One-by-one, we will come and we will deploy incendiaries until your species is extinct. We have food aplenty and can afford to be wasteful.”
“Very well,” said Stone. “I will broadcast the data immediately.” He looked towards Lieutenant Dowd.
“Now, sir?”
Stone nodded. “Do it.”
“Transmitting data.”
The Ragger didn’t speak for a short while. When he did, Indriss-Zar-005 was unable to keep the gloating from his voice. “We have received your data and from it I will select which of your warships we will require from your fleet, as well as anything else which might benefit the Ragger species.”
“Not every ship is close to New Destiny,” said Stone, hoping to buy some time.
“They are nearly all here, are they not?”
It wasn’t a spectacular feat of guesswork to assume that most of the ULAF fleet was somewhere in the vicinity of New Destiny, so Stone didn’t get himself worried that his opponent had access to intel from an unknown source. He didn’t respond directly to the question.
“Examine the data,” he snapped. “When you’re done, you know how to contact me.”
Lieutenant Dowd cut the channel, though not before the Ragger’s triumphant laughter came through the speakers. Stone took a deep breath.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to stall our enemy long enough for our plan to bear fruit, Captain Dyer,” he said.
“Whatever is required, sir. You must do it.”
Stone felt the sudden urge to get away from the bridge. “I’m going to the bay to see how our science teams are progressing.” He raised a hand in anticipation of Dyer’s next comment. “Yes, I’m aware they aren’t long off the Castigate. Are you coming?”
“Yes, sir.”
The two of them exited the bridge and set off for the secondary bay with a security team in front and another one behind. The Ragger incursion from Indul-975D had left everyone jumpy, even with the carrier out of combat.
Ten minutes later, they walked through one of the many airlocks keeping the secondary bay atmosphere separate from that on the rest of the spaceship. The place had changed significantly since his last visit – instead of six, the secondary bay now contained two shuttles, which were clamped to the far wall. The other four had been ordered into space to make room for what Stone intended.
A makeshift weapons lab had been set up in a very short space of time and it was crowded with personnel both from the Defiant and those newly arrived from the Castigate. Preparations were incomplete and ongoing. Just when Stone arrived, an enormous cube-shaped power block came up on a cargo lift from the stores
area below, to join the two others which were already present.
Elsewhere, a collection of multi-function consoles were in position, with teams of maintenance crews and technicians working to get them powered up and online. The carrier’s main processing core was fitted with a slot-in cruncher unit and Stone saw the heavy device on top of a gravity-engined mini-crawler, along with a robotic lifter and some other gear.
No vessels in the fleet other than the Defiant and the Juniper were designed with such flexibility in mind and Stone could only hope that the carrier’s stores held sufficient resources for the science teams to do what they needed to do.
In the center of the activity, the two captured Ragger stealth modules were gravity-clamped to the floor. The single time Stone had come to see the tech with his own eyes, the modules had appeared small in comparison to the bay. Now, at twenty meters high, they seemed to loom above everything.
The tall figure of a Fangrin walking amongst the throng with effortless grace caught Stone’s attention. He raised a hand in greeting.
“Tonstin,” he said. “How are you proceeding?”
“We will do what we can, human.”
“I know you will.” He pointed at the power cubes, each designed to kick-start a heavy cruiser in the event of a propulsion failure. “Will those be enough?”
“I have seen the specifications and the only answer I can offer is perhaps.”
“Should I bring more up?”
“How many are there?”
“Two more.”
“Bring them.”
Dyer got on the comms to make it happen.
“You are aware of the importance of this.” Stone said, making it into a statement.
“If we fail, humanity will become extinct. Afterwards, perhaps the Fangrin also.”
“That’s how it is,” Stone agreed. He checked his watch. “And you’ve got less than twenty hours to figure this out.”
Tonstin grinned. “Without any of the technical documentation.”
“This is your chance to show the Raggers what a Fangrin scientist can do.”
Scum of the Universe (Fire and Rust Book 7) Page 20