Something flashed in the sky - a speck of white light which grew at incredible speed until it lit up the ground for hundreds of meters in every direction. In the center of it, Griffin saw the dark silhouette of a spaceship – Ragger, he thought. The vessel split slowly in two and the pieces reluctantly separated to begin their inexorable journey to the ground.
The light of the enemy warship’s destruction highlighted other, unwelcome shapes. Spindly figures darted across the ground, heading for the Sekar battleship a couple of hundred meters away. Griffin yelled a warning to the others and urged them towards the crater.
“We’ve got to find the opening,” he shouted.
A moment later, the Twister lifted off and the force of it made Griffin stumble to one knee. He fought his way upright and the Viper surged into the sky with defiant ease. Looking upwards, Griffin saw its Ultor clusters open. The missiles launched and then were gone. New explosions appeared, too many to have come from the Twister alone.
Suddenly, everywhere was alight. Ice and wind were forced to give way and the temperature hit two hundred degrees. Griffin wanted to hurl himself into the safety of the crater, but he didn’t know what lay over the rim. Instead, he scrambled down as rapidly as he dared, dimly aware of the others coming with him.
Twenty meters into the descent, Griffin heard gunfire coming from the north. Then, Captain Sparks activated the Twister’s boosters, overwhelming nearly every other sound. The noise of the boosters faded rapidly, and the explosions and gunfire returned to the fore.
“Over this way,” growled a Fangrin voice on the comms.
Griffin turned his gaze in the direction of the signal. A shadowed group of figures crouched beneath the battleship’s overhang a little way north.
“I see you and we’re coming,” Griffin replied.
He changed direction, angling across the uneven slope to where the soldiers waited. One of them – a hulking Fangrin - stepped out. At first, Griffin thought it was to wave him over. Instead, the soldier opened up with a chain gun, firing northwards along the crater. A second chain gun joined in, with the flat crack discharge of Gilner assault rifles hardly audible above the din.
“That’s going to bring the fires down on us,” said Dominguez.
Griffin knew it too and he did what he could to increase his pace without breaking his neck at the same time.
A second figure detached itself from the group of waiting soldiers and it hurried to a darker patch on the battleship’s hull a little way from the squad.
“Here.”
With a certainty that time was in short supply, Griffin came to the bottom of the crater. The lone soldier stood adjacent to the hull opening, his features cloaked in shadow. He pointed at the spot and said nothing further.
The opening was a misshapen wound in the side of the battleship and Griffin clambered through too fast, painfully hitting his knee and his spine in the process. And then he was inside.
Dominguez came second. Griffin reached out to haul her inside, but she made it without his help. Kenyon was next, then Shelton and Kroll. Last through was Captain Isental, who had a much harder time in the confined space. He stood and bared his sharp teeth.
“Now this is war,” he rumbled in a voice laden with visceral emotion.
Griffin didn’t know what to think. He turned towards the airlock exit and strode towards it. On his HUD was the step counter data from Conway’s own journey through the battleship. The route looked straightforward.
“What about the others?” asked Dominguez.
“I don’t know what their orders are, Lieutenant.”
“They’ll get killed out there.”
It was enough to make Griffin pause mid-stride. The squad outside were neck deep in crap, but they weren’t his to command. He didn’t want to spend time asking about their situation and yet he couldn’t do anything else. Griffin located the first receptor which had connected with his suit.
“Lieutenant Atomar, withdraw into the battleship.”
“Yes, we will withdraw.”
It was done and Griffin sprinted from the airlock, almost stumbling into three soldiers who were coming the other way. In the light, he recognized them.
“Captain Griffin,” said Lieutenant Rembra. “We will take you to the bridge.”
The confidence of these soldiers offered Griffin a sense of great reassurance. He nodded once.
“Lead on, Lieutenant,” he said.
Rembra spun on his heel and marched away, while Private Warner and Corporal Brice waited for the battleship’s intended crew to go by. Griffin set off after Lieutenant Rembra, unsure what was to come, but nevertheless feeling a sharp excitement at the possibilities.
Chapter Eleven
A bunch of headless corpses lay in a heap outside the bridge, along with various lumps of biological matter. Griffin didn’t pay them much heed and he went directly through the doorway next to the bodies.
“Welcome to the bridge, sir,” said Conway, with another body slung over one shoulder.
“Tidying up?”
“Yes, sir. The previous crew blew their brains out.”
Griffin headed straight along the central aisle, looking left and right as he did so. His first impression was that the alien consoles were more advanced than anything coming out of the Unity League or Fangrin war factories.
“Find something you like the look of and figure out how it works,” he ordered his crew.
A few members of Conway’s squad were still in the room and they carried strange, new weapons instead of the usual Gilners.
“We’ll make room, sir,” said Private Berg, unable to take his eyes off Lieutenant Shelton.
Griffin wasn’t paying much attention. He stopped in front of the main console and spent long seconds studying it. At his side, Captain Isental did likewise. This was the first time Griffin had seen his battle companion so close. The Fangrin seemed older than most others, with greying fur at his muzzle and stark white brows.
“Designed for one,” said Isental. “This is your opportunity, Captain Griffin. I would not take away your glory.”
Griffin detected a note of yearning in Isental’s voice. “It’s not glory I’m here for,” he replied. “I want to destroy our enemies.”
“That is a good way to be. My assistance is freely offered.”
“We need to figure this out.”
“It is only partly online. I hope the backend systems are functioning.”
The console was strangely laid out – a fact which wasn’t unexpected. Griffin thought he identified several of the major functions, whilst others were a mystery to him. Most of all, it lacked a control stick. He leaned for a closer look at a collection of yellow-colored analogue keys, wondering if they were part of the method. If so, it would be a clumsy way to fly. A six-inch metal bar protruded vertically from a place nearby, with no apparent purpose.
“This switch here,” said Isental.
Griffin heard a soft clack when the Fangrin operated the switch. Additional lights on the top panels illuminated at once and the bulkhead screens glowed softly, though without displaying any images.
“If those are the external sensor feeds, we won’t see anything since our hull is covered,” said Dominguez.
A glance over his shoulder was enough for Griffin to note that his crew had each chosen their own station and were busy figuring out how everything worked. Private Kemp was in the process of kicking an unseen object towards the exit.
“Let’s see how this goes together,” said Griffin.
He tested the seat, lowered himself into it and immediately felt more comfortable. The console’s mysteries were as-yet unraveled and he was happy with the challenge.
A crackling in his earpiece presaged a warning.
“Captain Griffin,” said Admiral Yeringar. “Corporal Freeman informs me you are in position.”
“Yes, sir. The tech is new and we’re doing what we can to figure it out.”
“Will it fly?”
&nb
sp; “I don’t know, sir. We haven’t got that far.”
“The enemy capital ship is cutting us down, Captain. It won’t be long until I am obliged to order the Broadsword and Gradior to self-destruct in your vicinity. If this removes the shell around the battleship’s hull, what lies underneath will be exposed to the enemy missiles.”
“I understand that, sir. We require time.”
“So long as you are aware the value of that particular commodity is increasing with each passing second.”
“Yes, sir. I know it only too well.”
Yeringar closed the channel and Griffin redoubled his efforts to understand the alien console. He was gifted with experience and an intuition which allowed him identify the functions of a spaceship irrespective of how they were operated. The method of this console eluded him and the six in-built screens waited patiently for him, a single line of incomprehensible text at the top of each.
“The panel seems incomplete,” said Isental.
“Yes,” said Griffin.
He gritted his teeth in frustration and closed his eyes for a few seconds in order to clear his mind. When he opened them again, nothing was different.
“How are you getting on with those other consoles?” he asked on the suit comms.
“Everything is multi-function,” said Shelton. “I’m certain of it.”
“That’s what I think too,” said Kenyon. “However, I keep pushing buttons expecting something to happen and the console doesn’t respond.”
Griffin usually held off with the button pressing until he had a good idea of how everything was linked. The technique wasn’t working and he poked at a few different sections of the command console. Each button, switch and touch panel worked fine, yet the commands weren’t going anywhere.
“And what the hell is this bar doing here?” he asked in frustration.
The answer, of course, was that it must be doing something. In curiosity, Griffin curled his fingers around it. At once, a message appeared on the center screen.
[Translation unknown]> [Translation unknown] [Translation unknown]
“What the hell?”
Touching the bar had formed a link, though to what Griffin didn’t know. In probability, a node of battleship’s security computer was trying to speak to him in order to find out what he was up to. On a whim, Griffin checked the interface on his flight computer and discovered an available receptor. He instructed his suit computer to request a link.
The request was accepted immediately.
“You have discovered the way,” said Isental.
“Not yet but I’m trying.”
“You are linked.”
“Yes.”
“Send your language modules to the battleship computer.”
“That’s a good plan.”
Griffin tried it and the language file uploaded in a fraction of a second. A moment later, a reciprocal file was offered, which he accepted and saved to the suit’s databanks.
NULLIFIER> You have come.
Griffin wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He got his suit to live-record his voice and send the data across the link.
GRIFFIN> Were you expecting us?
NULLIFIER> Not exactly. This battleship requires a crew.
GRIFFIN> The ship is called Nullifier?
NULLIFIER> That is correct. The Sekar-Major presence is expunged. The Nullifier may soon fulfil its purpose.
GRIFFIN> And what purpose is that?
NULLIFIER> The Rift class have a single purpose. To destroy the Sekar.
GRIFFIN> Well this all sounds tremendous, since that’s exactly what the Unity League and the Fangrin need right now. How exactly do you fulfil this purpose?
NULLIFIER> You will learn.
GRIFFIN> How’s about telling me now?
NULLIFIER> The Sekar-Major has damaged many systems. I am unable to answer your question because I do not know what is functional.
GRIFFIN> Can’t you run an audit?
NULLIFIER> The Sekar-Major must be removed. It has breached the tharniol containment core and infiltrated the hardware.
GRIFFIN> Can I fix it?
NULLIFIER> A tharniol flush will delete the presence. Once that is complete, the main drive may restart. The main drive provides power for the subsystems.
GRIFFIN> My commanding officer wants to detonate two tharniol reactors in proximity to the Nullifier’s hull. Will that be enough of a flush?
NULLIFIER> The tharniol must reach the intakes. If the intakes are clear, the tharniol will circulate throughout the interior.
GRIFFIN> No part of the exterior is clear. The Sekar-Major covers the entire hull.
NULLIFIER> The intakes connect to the hull. A tharniol detonation may clear the intakes.
GRIFFIN> What happens after that?
NULLIFIER> I will give you access to the Nullifier.
GRIFFIN> As easy as that?
NULLIFIER> This warship was built to combat the Sekar. It requires a crew.
GRIFFIN> The Sekar-Major is protecting your hull from attack. Once it is gone, I believe you will be destroyed.
NULLIFIER> If the onboard systems are functional, the destruction of the Nullifier will not come to pass.
GRIFFIN> You sound sure.
NULLIFIER> Yes.
GRIFFIN> How do I ensure this ship remains safe?
NULLIFIER> You do not. The automatic defenses were active when the Sekar-Major came.
GRIFFIN> If the Nullifier is so powerful, how did it lose?
NULLIFIER> A story for another time.
Griffin wondered briefly if the control entity was playing him for a fool. Certainly, it appeared to have all the answers, but only gave him clues about what they were. He knew he was thinking like a human – aliens were meant to be different and trying to shoehorn their words and meanings into neat, recognizable packages was the biggest mistake of all. At least that’s what they taught in basic training and in the refresher courses. Griffin always had the sneaking suspicion that a larger part of those lessons was made up from what many people would call bullshit.
GRIFFIN> I will request the tharniol detonation.
NULLIFIER> Yes.
GRIFFIN> In the meantime, how do I go about getting full access to all these consoles?
NULLIFIER> You do not.
Griffin swore under his breath at the recalcitrant nature of alien computers and disengaged the link. He gave his crew the briefest of updates and then requested a connection to the Revingol. Following a short delay, Admiral Yeringar spoke.
“Sir, the battleship is called Nullifier and it was designed to fight the Sekar. I have spoken to the control computer and it does not know which of the main systems are operational. You need to bring forward the detonation of the Broadsword and the Gradior.”
“I will order it at once. What will happen to the Nullifier once the Sekar is cleansed from its hull?”
Griffin filled Yeringar in on the rest of his discussion with the control entity. When he was finished talking, he heard Yeringar give an audible sigh.
“I hope this comes to fruition, Captain Griffin. It will save me from the hardest of decisions.”
“You’re on the verge of pulling out?”
“The current rate of losses is something which Attack Fleet 1 cannot sustain for much longer. If the troops in Refuge 9 cannot be saved, then I cannot permit the destruction of the remaining ships. Sometimes the moment comes when a retreat leaves people behind.”
“I don’t want that moment to be now, sir.”
“Nor do I, human.”
The channel went silent, but the humming indicated it was still open. Yeringar returned. “The order is given.”
“What is the ETA, sir?”
“Five minutes.”
This time the channel closed, leaving Griffin with plenty to think about. The situation called for action, not quiet reflection and he rose from his seat to fill everyone in on what was happening.
“These bars on the consoles provide a link to the
main control systems?” asked Shelton.
“Yes. I want you all to try the same thing as I did. If we’re going to fly this spaceship, we’ll need to understand the language.”
“You could send us the files through the suit comms, sir,” Kenyon pointed out.
“I could. I’d prefer it if you linked to the Nullifier.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the crew tested their ability to link with the spaceship, Conway watched from the doorway, his face impassive.
“Are we secure, Captain?” asked Griffin.
“Only in this section, sir. Lieutenant Atomar has joined us with another nine soldiers. He reckons the enemy are coming.”
“Lieutenant Atomar’s squad is the last?”
Conway nodded once. “Yes, sir. Everyone else who came off the Iron Cell is gone.”
The words were a sobering reminder of how damaging this encounter on Glesia was turning out for everyone involved. The thought of it made Griffin more determined that hardship here would make things better for the Unity League. It was a distant hope, yet one he refused to give up on.
“I can link with the Nullifier, sir,” said Dominguez. “I don’t know how it happened, but I received a language module and now I can read the text in front of me.”
“Same here,” said Shelton.
One-by-one, the other members of the crew reported success in obtaining language modules for their suits. Isental did it too, by clamping a massive hand around one of the bars on a front row console. The control entity didn’t speak to any of them and Griffin wondered at its sudden reluctance.
“Three minutes left,” he announced. “And then we find out what exactly a Rift class battleship is capable of.”
The faces of the other crew members told their mood. They weren’t scared of the future, only eager to see what it would bring and to overcome whatever difficulties came their way. It was the best Griffin could expect and a smile came to his face.
“Let’s kick some ass,” he said.
Chapter Twelve
Griffin was disappointed that he was unable to witness the Broadsword’s final moments. He felt no shame at his emotional attachment to 450 meters of engines and weapons and he felt like he owed something to the heavy cruiser for the service it had given. It wasn’t to be and instead Griffin was reduced to sitting and watching the seconds on his HUD counting towards zero. Throughout it all, he kept his left hand on the interface bar and maintained a link to the Nullifier. For whatever reason, the control entity made no further communication.
Nullifier (Fire and Rust Book 6) Page 9