The incoming Lavorix warships were a mixture of types, most of which Recker had encountered before in Meklon space. Even the smallest rivalled a desolator in size and mass and he knew they were dangerous and their crews experienced.
Arriving from lightspeed put the enemy at a temporary disadvantage – they were stationary and their sensors were not yet online. Missiles and gauss slugs crashed into the Lavorix warships, reducing the firstcomers to fiery debris, which spun outwards with the force of multiple explosions.
Recker found himself rapidly falling into the semi-trance he’d first experienced when piloting the Ixidar within the Ancidium. He targeted an enemy warship – this one an eight-thousand-metre battleship – and hit it with the facing destroyer cannon, reducing its armour plating and many of its ternium modules into powder.
Meanwhile, the Gorgadar pulled away from its start point, ejecting hundreds of warheads. Its particle beam stabbed into a Lavorix heavy, separating the vessel at its midsection. The heat expansion produced immense showers of torn plating which raced from the severed halves.
“Extractor fired!” said Larson. “Three enemy warships caught in the arc. Our batteries have fallen to thirty-four percent.”
“These Lavorix spaceships aren’t carrying enough personnel to replenish what the Extractor pulls from the life batteries,” said Eastwood.
“Three of the enemy ships out of action from a single discharge,” said Recker. “That’s a good return whichever way you look at it. Fire the Extractor again, the moment it’s ready.”
“I’ve got a count of ninety targets on the tactical, sir,” said Montero. “They’re sending plenty of firepower our way.”
“They’re going to need it,” growled Recker. He had another thought and he didn’t say it out loud.
Why isn’t the Ancidium joining them?
It was a question with several potential answers and Recker wasn’t able to give the possibilities much consideration. The Ixidar’s next cannon finished charging and he fired it at another of the Lavorix battleships. A dark energy flash engulfed the enemy vessel’s forward two-thirds and what remained when the blast faded wasn’t going to trouble anything.
“The enemy spaceships are recovering from their transits, sir,” said Montero.
Recker could see it too – the tactical became so crowded with missiles that the data became meaningless. His hand darted out and switched off one of the information layers, so that only the warships remained on the screen.
A scattering of plasma warheads exploded against the Ixidar’s energy shield and Recker took out a third Lavorix spaceship with a destroyer cannon strike. The Daklan were ruthless opponents and they were showing a remarkable coordination as they focused the enemy craft, destroying them three at a time.
Ready for the chaos.
The moment came, as it did in every fleet battle. Countermeasures were unleashed and every warship unloaded their arsenals without restraint. Whites, oranges and pulsing reds appeared and disappeared, and dense clusters of interceptor missiles tore into the staggering waves of plasma warheads heading in both directions.
Still the Lavorix kept on coming and Recker stopped counting. The Ixidar had achieved a punishing velocity and it was incredibly agile. He fired the next destroyer cannon and then used the energy shield as a battering ram, knocking aside a sixty-billion-ton enemy battleship as if it were nothing.
“That impact affected our shield, sir,” said Montero.
“Not enough to stop me doing the same thing again, Corporal,” said Recker, smashing the Ixidar straight into a Lavorix heavy.
The Gorgadar’s particle beam cut a sharp line of blue across one of the feeds. It was shot that broke one enemy warship in half and continued into a second a few hundred kilometres directly behind. Recker couldn’t decide if the double-kill was a result of luck or if it was the most incredible demonstration of skill and timing he’d ever witnessed.
It wasn’t all good news.
“The Daklan lost a desolator and three ravagers, sir,” said Montero. “And one of their annihilators is under heavy fire.”
“Focus on the Ixidar!” Recker yelled at his opponents.
The enemy weren’t listening. While the Ixidar’s energy shield was subjected to a sustained bombardment, the Lavorix didn’t forget about the Daklan. Outnumbered and lacking energy shields of their own, Ildir-Ta-Rok’s fleet would be whittled away with inescapable certainty, and there wasn’t a damned thing Recker could do to stop it.
“We’ve still got ninety Lavorix warships on the tactical, sir,” said Montero. “But there’s been nothing new for the last twenty seconds.”
“What I wouldn’t give for another decay pulse,” shouted Recker through his chin speaker.
“I’d give double,” said Aston.
“We’ve lost another stabiliser, sir,” said Eastwood. “The rate of switchover is increasing. On the plus side, our energy shield is recharging so quickly it’s nailed on one hundred percent.”
“Lieutenant Eastwood, I thought I asked you to pinpoint the Ancidium.”
“I’m on it, sir. The lightspeed tunnel data contains more precise coordinates, but I’m having to drill down through a lot of unfamiliar crap to find them.”
Recker targeted and destroyed yet another battleship. With two of the Ixidar’s cannons out of action, he’d modified the charging pattern so that the failed guns were cut out of the sequence. Already he was adapting and by altering the warship’s roll hardly any of its efficiency was lost, as the Lavorix were learning to their cost.
“We’re dancing to our enemy’s tune,” said Recker. “The Ancidium either doesn’t want to commit, or it doesn’t see the need.”
“It’s got to be the destabiliser, sir,” said Aston. “They’re scared we’ve figured out what it does.”
“Our batteries are at thirty-three percent, sir,” said Larson. “I fired the Extractor again and the charge level dropped.”
Gritting his teeth, Recker took his frustration out on the enemy fleet, reducing two of their largest vessels to powder in rapid succession. By this point, the nonstop plasma explosions against the Ixidar’s shield were taking their toll and the reserve gauge was falling – not rapidly, but steadily enough that it would collapse long before this fleet of Lavorix warships was finished.
For a period – Recker wasn’t keeping count of the seconds or minutes – the two sides exchanged fire. The Ixidar and the Gorgadar inflicted enormous harm on the opposing forces. Each shot from a destroyer cannon reduced the enemy total by one and to Recker, piloting the Ixidar had become second nature. He revelled in the way it responded to the skill of the pilot and how it tore through its opponents. Truly, it deserved to be called The Destroyer.
Yet, it wasn’t going to be enough. The enemy fleet still numbered sixty and they made hardly any effort to evade the Ixidar or the Gorgadar – not that it would have done them much good. Slowly, they were coming out on top.
As if to rub salt in the wound, another ten Lavorix spaceships exited lightspeed within a few thousand kilometres of the ongoing engagement. Recker wanted to take advantage of their stationary positions, but he had too many other targets on his mental radar. He disintegrated an enemy battleship that was focused on Ildir-Ta-Rok’s flagship and then got a second one in his sights. The next gun wasn’t charged in time and Recker chose another Lavorix warship instead.
“Down you go,” he said, reducing its outer five hundred metres to powder. What remained was no threat, and Recker’s eyes sought out the next target.
“We’ve got to change this!” he said, loudly so the crew on the Gorgadar would hear the words over everything else.
“How?” asked Burner. “We’re outnumbered and we can’t retreat without leaving the Daklan neck deep.”
“Lieutenant Eastwood, I need you to locate the Ancidium!” said Recker.
“I’m doing the best I can, sir.” The man sounded stressed, though that wasn’t always a bad thing when it came to Eastwood.
“Why is it so important, sir?” asked Aston, her own voice fraying. “We don’t have a destabiliser. The Gorgadar’s Extractor only worked once against the Ancidium and the only other weapon confirmed to damage the enemy ship is the particle beam. It’ll take a few hundred shots from that to do any serious harm!”
Recker didn’t want to give up and, even as his brain formulated a reply, he landed a destroyer cannon shot on a Lavorix heavy cruiser. He didn’t watch the aftermath and switched his attention to a new target, while he counted down the recharge for the Ixidar’s guns.
“We can’t lose this,” he said.
Recognition followed immediately after he spoke. Whatever he said, this battle was lost and he doubted the Ancidium had dispatched any more than a fraction of the warships in its hold. Defeat hadn’t happened yet, but the bitterness of it was there nonetheless.
For once, no amount of effort, skill or experience was going to be enough to turn things around. The Lavorix were on the verge of victory over the only two warships capable of inflicting any serious harm upon their fleet, and Recker either had to let it happen or abandon his allies and get the hell out of the Evia system.
Recker cursed everything for bringing him to this moment.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Corporal Montero, open a channel to Admiral Ildir-Ta-Rok,” said Recker. “I need to tell him this myself.”
“We’re getting out of here?”
“We have no choice, Corporal.” Recker disintegrated a Lavorix battleship, just as six more emerged from lightspeed. He glanced at the Ixidar’s shield reserves. “Twenty-five percent,” he said.
“Sir!” yelled Eastwood. “Another two of our stabilising modules went into superstress!”
“The destabiliser is now available!” said Larson with equal excitement.
“We thought the destabiliser required energy from the life batteries and maybe it does, but the superstressed propulsion modules must be enough to activate the weapon!” said Eastwood.
“The Ixidar’s shield is in a bad way,” said Recker. “It’ll collapse soon.”
“I’m analysing the last of the data for the Ancidium’s inbound lightspeed tunnel, sir. I should have their location any moment.”
Even as he talked, Recker never let up on the controls and the Ixidar continued tearing through the enemy fleet. The Daklan had lost seventeen of their ships and two of the annihilators had exhausted their lightspeed missiles. Constant reinforcements had brought the enemy fleet up to sixty-three, though Recker didn’t lose his appetite for cutting them down.
“I have Admiral Ildir-Ta-Rok on the comms, sir,” said Montero.
“Pass him through.”
“Captain Recker, we are not outfought, yet this battle is lost,” said the Daklan.
“I don’t think the Lavorix are even trying, Admiral. If we came with two hundred ships, the Ancidium would have sent five hundred to meet us.”
“No doubt you are correct. It is time for you to leave the Evia system. There is no need to lose the Ixidar and the Gorgadar – they will prove useful when the Ancidium arrives at your planet Earth.”
This was the best of the Daklan, reminding Recker in a way he didn’t need what selfless and loyal allies they were - their word truly was their bond, in letter and spirit.
“We may have to leave your warships behind, Admiral, but I assure we’re not running from this encounter,” said Recker. “The Gorgadar is carrying a weapon called the destabiliser and we’re going to use it against the Ancidium, just as soon as my engine man has determined its precise location.”
“Will this destabiliser bring victory?”
“I don’t know, Admiral. We’ve had little time to study the Gorgadar or learn how it operates. I believe the destabiliser is what killed the original crew. I intend to test it out on its creators.”
“Very well. Do as you must, Captain Recker.”
Recker closed out of the channel and maintained his assault on the Lavorix fleet. The Ixidar’s shield was absorbing far more impacts than a few seconds ago and the reserve gauge dropped below fifteen percent.
“I think the enemy have had enough of us, sir,” said Montero. “We’re taking a lot more fire now.”
“Lieutenant Eastwood, you may have the luxury of a fully-charged shield, but we on the Ixidar do not. Please find those coordinates.”
“Nearly there, sir!”
A salvo of several hundred warheads detonated against the Ixidar’s shield and the gauge fell to nine percent.
“We’re running out of time, Lieutenant Eastwood.”
At that moment, the dodecahedral warship Recker had seen in the Ancidium’s construction yard appeared from lightspeed, complete with the hole created by the Gorgadar’s particle beam. Recker didn’t need to alter course to put a destroyer cannon shot into its shield. The blue sphere darkened, but didn’t collapse. In a few seconds, the enemy warship’s sensors would be online, its crew would be oriented and the Ixidar would go down in a barrage of dark energy.
“Have a particle beam,” said Larson with satisfaction.
The blue shaft of energy jumping from the Gorgadar’s nose made a new hole in the huge enemy warship and Recker hoped it had taken out a few critical hardware modules on the way through. His wish wasn’t granted and the dodecahedron accelerated across the Ixidar’s path, twelve thousand kilometres distant, and the intense light from the superheated alloy around the new particle beam opening left a blur on the sensor feed.
Recker gave it a second destroyer cannon shot and again the enemy warship’s shield held. He was sure it would withstand another five or six shots, while the Ixidar’s would not.
Suddenly, many of the sensor feeds went completely dark and a sprinkling of amber lights appeared on Recker’s console. The Ixidar’s shield gauge flashed orange and its reading had fallen to zero. A moment later, a hundred or more inbound missiles detonated against the warship’s armour. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but without its shield, the Ixidar was doomed.
“Lieutenant Eastwood, my shield is depleted,” said Recker. He reached for the tactical screen, wondering if he should take an immediate mode 3 exit.
“Hold your course, sir!” said Aston.
Recker wasn’t sure what she intended, but he did as she asked. The dodecahedral warship had begun rotating and he got a sense that its crew weren’t competent to control twelve guns at once. It likely didn’t matter – with its shield down, the Ixidar was easy meat.
“Next shot and we’re goners,” said Montero.
From Recker’s left, the Gorgadar swept in under maximum acceleration. At the last moment, Aston slowed sharply and then matched velocity with the Ixidar. It happened just as Recker detected a dark flash and recoil from one of the enemy destroyer cannons. The blast hit the Gorgadar’s shield, turning it deep blue and leaving the Ixidar intact.
“Nice block, Commander Aston,” said Recker.
He watched the dodecahedron ship bank hard as it attempted to bring its guns to bear again. Aston was having none of it and she held her ship directly between the enemy vessel and the Ixidar. It was an incredible demonstration of intuition piloting, though given the velocities and distances involves, Recker didn’t think she’d be able to keep it up for long.
Lieutenant Eastwood came up with the goods in the nick of time.
“I’ve extracted the Ancidium’s coordinates, and I’m sending them over to you, sir,” yelled Eastwood. “Oh crap – I think they’re warming up for a Gateway transit! They’re getting out of here.”
“How certain are you?”
“The readings aren’t clear from this distance, and the background radiation isn’t helping. But I’m sure enough, sir.”
“It’s going to Earth,” said Recker. “Damnit!”
“And the Gorgadar just lost another stabiliser. When I guessed we had an hour, I was wrong. Every stable module is going into superstress. I’ve got an amber light on our energy shield generator – it can’t handle the f
low and it’s going to fail soon.”
As the missiles rained down upon the Ixidar’s armour and Aston did her best to protect the warship from enemy destroyer cannons, Recker shouted his order.
“Lieutenant Eastwood – create a synch code – we’re going inside the Ancidium.”
“Sir, I don’t know if the coordinates of the lightspeed tunnel’s end point coincide with one of the internal bays. If we arrive in the middle of anything solid, we’ll be destroyed.”
“We should mode 3 next to the Ancidium, sir!” said Aston. “That’s the only way we can be sure of a destabiliser activation!”
“The Ixidar has no shield left to withstand the corona’s heat, Commander. If you and everyone else on the Gorgadar are to get out of this alive, I need this ship intact to mode 3 you out of there.”
“That means a shuttle trip, sir. There’s no time!”
“There will be no time if you keep arguing, Commander!”
“I’d rather die with the Ancidium than survive and see it escape to Earth!”
“It’s not ending this way!” shouted Recker.
“Sir!” yelled Eastwood. “I’ve got what you need - the coordinates to the same bay we put a particle beam hole into last time we encountered the Ancidium!”
Recker didn’t question how Eastwood had derived the precise coordinates of the bay. “Create the synch code, Lieutenant Burner. That’s an order!”
“Synch code created, sir.”
“Corporal Montero, accept that code.”
“Code accepted, sir,” she confirmed.
“Commander Aston, we started this together and we’re getting out of it together. Activate mode 3.”
“Damnit, sir, the destabiliser might kill us anyway.”
“That’s a chance I’m willing to take.”
Aston delayed no longer. “Activating mode 3.”
The short lightspeed journey left Recker feeling like he’d been punched in the guts, kicked in the balls and had a spike hammered into his skull, right between the eyes. It was the hardest in-out he could remember and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. He groaned and tensed every muscle, as if it would somehow drive out the pain.
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