“Five seconds to impact,” said Shelton. “Holy crap, those are big cannisters.”
The first of the bombs exploded, producing a tiny flash of white. Before Griffin’s disappointment took hold, the flash expanded rapidly, growing at an incredible speed into an inferno which changed color as it spread, producing the strangest red flames he’d ever witnessed. Like a tsunami, the flames rushed in every direction, climbing to a height of twenty thousand meters or more.
Another rift bomb went off and then another. The cannisters were so huge that each battleship only carried one. As Griffin watched the result, he asked himself how anything could survive such an onslaught. Into the distance went the flames, racing for the horizon, maybe as far as the chasm’s walls.
“A sea of flames,” said Dominguez.
“It’s beautiful,” said Shelton in a hushed voice.
Flames overtook the Nullifier and more appeared ahead. They came to the writhing bulge and flooded over the top without slowing. To Griffin’s eyes it seemed like the inferno went on forever and part of him hoped that it did. He thought that nothing other than fire could cleanse the wounds on Dominion and he wanted it to burn until every last Sekar – every last hint of the enemy – was expunged, their ashes turned to carbon that could never again threaten the Unity League or the Fangrin.
Hell, even the Raggers.
“The vantrium drive is capable of powering a ninety percent burst from the emitter, sir,” said Kroll.
“Do we need it after this?” asked Kenyon. “I mean, look.”
Griffin was looking and, like Kenyon, he wanted to believe that the rift bombs would be enough. However, the bulge was less than fifty klicks ahead and it hadn’t stopped moving. If anything, the writhing beneath was more frantic and desperate than before.
“We need it, Lieutenant. And what does it hurt to give it a shot?”
“Nothing at all, sir.”
With the flames raging everywhere, the Sekar-Prime erupted from the rift. Or at least some of it did. Like a nightmare spilling from its birthing sac, the upper part of the creature tore free. Griffin stared in horror as a thick appendage, which could only have been an arm, lifted upwards like a drowning swimmer reaching for the ocean’s surface.
“Sixty klicks long,” said Shelton in utter disbelief.
The arm was pure black amongst the rift bomb fires. Disproportionately thick, it was jointed once at the elbow and again at the wrist. The hand was badly formed, with four fingers and talons which could run furrows through entire cities.
With a surge, a shoulder came after the arm. Then, an elongated, featureless head which Griffin knew could nevertheless sense life, wherever that life hid itself. With great, jerky movements of its upper body, the Sekar fought to get through the opening.
“Ninety-five percent on the emitter,” said Kroll.
“We’ll get one shot and then a long wait for the recharge,” said Griffin. “I don’t want to screw up.”
The broad figure of Captain Isental appeared at the command console. “That creature must not escape,” he said.
Griffin was once again torn. He could hit the rift with the emitter at ninety-five percent, or he could order the Hantisar fleet to launch tharniol explosives at the Sekar-Prime to slow its escape.
“When you don’t know what the hell to do for the best, just do something,” he muttered.
GRIFFIN> Hit that bastard with missiles and gauss rounds.
NULLIFIER> If the emitter fails to close the rift, the underlying fabric will be substantially weakened.
GRIFFIN> The emitter isn’t going to fail.
NULLIFIER> So we hope.
The control entity didn’t argue further and Griffin felt its presence slip away.
“Ready on the emitter, Lieutenant Kroll.”
“Yes, sir.”
With a convulsive wrench, the Sekar-Prime got a second arm clear and then its chest. It was aware of the Hantisar fleet and swung the first arm in a wide, sweeping arc. The movement was sudden and so rapid that several warships were smashed out of the sky, their alloys crumbling as they came down.
“Here comes the launch.”
The tharniol missiles travelled way too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Griffin caught sight of endless green dots on the tactical and then the Sekar-Prime vanished in the center of ten thousand tharniol-laced plasma explosions. The intensity and size of the combined blast was such that Griffin was forced to bank and climb, to put distance between the Nullifier and a heat which challenged that of a star.
An arm cloaked in flame lashed out and then the Sekar-Prime twisted in order to swing the second arm. The Hantisar battle computers were alert to the threat, but for some warships the attacks were impossible to avoid.
A second wave of missiles came after the first and through the glare, Griffin saw darker patches where tharniol gauss slugs punched into the enemy.
The Sekar-Prime swung again and again. At the same time, it heaved its way further out of the rift and Griffin guessed the creature would be in excess of hundred klicks in height - a collection of negative energies that paid no heed to the physical laws of this universe.
“It’s going to escape,” said Dominguez.
“Ninety-eight percent on the emitter, sir.”
“Shit. Fire it.”
“Firing,” said Jackson.
The emitter hardware was a long way back from the bridge. Even so, the whump of discharge rolled through the command section with unstoppable force. It struck Griffin like a hammer blow and made his teeth and bones ache. For a split second, he thought that every cell within his body would rupture and fill his suit with a bloody paste.
Captain Isental made a sound between a growl and a yelp and, from his periphery, Griffin saw the Fangrin hunch over his console, his shoulders shaking with pain.
The discharge faded and was replaced by a distressed whine from the propulsion which was no more pleasant and which persisted for much longer. Every gauge dropped to a fraction above zero and the Nullifier’s controls became so unresponsive that Griffin believed the battleship would crash.
“Our shield has failed!” shouted Kroll over the whine.
Griffin noted the fact, though he couldn’t change it. As he struggled with the controls, he couldn’t help but watch the outcome of the emitter’s discharge. The sensor view was dramatic. A series of ripples spread out from the Nullifier, appearing like dark, perfect circles amongst the rift bomb and tharniol fires. They expanded faster than the eye could follow, but more came after, washing over the Sekar rift and bombarding it with an energy type known only to the Hantisar.
“Is it working?” yelled Kenyon.
“I don’t know!”
Another wave of tharniol missiles struck the Sekar-Prime and still it thrashed with undiminished vigor. It swatted at another Hantisar spaceship and the blow failed to land.
“Maybe it’s hurt,” said Griffin, taking heart from the missed attack.
“Something’s happening to the rift, sir,” said Dominguez. “It’s changing, but I can’t tell you the significance.”
“And those rocks have stopped flying,” Shelton added. “That’s got to be a good thing.”
“Yeah, gotta be,” said Jackson. “I want to believe.”
The Nullifier’s stuttering vantrium drive recovered a little and the monitoring gauges inched upwards. It wasn’t enough to give the battleship anything like its usual maneuverability and the best Griffin could manage was to bank it away from the Sekar-Prime. He aimed for the chasm’s side wall, which was a long way out of sensor sight.
“The Hantisar fleet is still in range of the enemy attacks,” said Jackson.
“They’ll have to stay there,” said Griffin. “They’re distracting the Sekar-Prime. I don’t want it to hit the Nullifier.”
“If you’re hoping for a second big shot with the emitter any time soon, I’ll have to disappoint you, sir,” said Kroll. “It ain’t happening.”
“We’re taking ever
ything as it comes, Lieutenant.”
The Nullifier slowly gathered speed and Griffin banked further, so that the battleship was heading directly away from the Sekar-Prime. The craziness of the world outside hadn’t diminished. Rift bomb fires burned and an eighty-klick column of writhing fire marked the position of the enemy. Each moment, more tharniol-plasma warheads detonated, preventing the intensity from fading even a fraction. The ripples of the emitter were gone and Griffin could only hope it had done what was required.
“Let’s gain some altitude,” he said. “Maybe get a better view.”
The battleship climbed reluctantly at first and then with increasing purpose. With height came a better view of the conflict below. The rift bomb fires were receding, their flames much lower than before and with their colors fading to an even duller red.
“Can the sensors get through?” asked Griffin.
“Trying, sir.”
The sides of the chasm holding the rift came into sight and the fires burned there too. In moments, the flames pulled back and then patches of darkness appeared everywhere amongst the red sea. Griffin feared those patches indicated the Sekar rift had endured and he waited to find out what Dominguez and Shelton would discover.
“The sensors are detecting rock to the north sir,” said Dominguez in disbelief. “I think the rift is narrowing.”
The Sekar-Prime sensed it happening. The Nullifier’s sensors pierced the white flames around the creature enough that Griffin could see it bent double with its arms pressing against the rift.
“It’s trying to get its legs through,” he said. “Dammit!”
“The rift is definitely closing, sir,” said Dominguez in fear and excitement.
“What’s going to happen to the Sekar if it’s gets caught midway?” asked Kenyon.
Nobody knew the answer to that one and Griffin didn’t want to speculate.
NULLIFIER> It will die.
GRIFFIN> For definite?
NULLIFIER> Yes. Their forms must remain whole.
With its body contorted into a position of desperate effort, the Sekar-Prime hauled one leg free, which it put onto the rift like it was a solid surface. Then it twisted its body violently to the side, pushing with the free leg and swinging its arms to add momentum.
For a long, terrifying second, Griffin was sure the creature would escape into his universe. He couldn’t permit it.
“Fire the emitter.”
Jackson must have been waiting for the order, so quickly was her confirmation given. “Firing. Eleven percent of maximum.”
Griffin readied himself for the pain. The weapon thumped with the discharge and the force of it came through the bridge once again, though this time the effect was far less debilitating. Rings of energy raced from the Nullifier, passing through the dying rift bomb flames.
The rift vanished. Griffin didn’t know if it would have happened anyway, or if the last moment firing of the emitter was the deciding factor. Without giving any indication it felt the agony of death, the Sekar-Prime slumped to the bottom of the chasm, with one leg missing.
Even with the Sekar-Prime apparently dead, the Hantisar fleet continued their bombardment and the cavern floor was lit up in white.
GRIFFIN> Is it dead?
NULLIFIER> Yes.
GRIFFIN> Call a ceasefire. We don’t want to weaken the fabric anymore.
NULLIFIER> It is too late for that. I have ordered the firing to end.
GRIFFIN> Will another rift appear?
NULLIFIER> Perhaps. If the Sekar have reason to try.
GRIFFIN> We won’t give them that reason.
NULLIFIER> Then the Sekar will try elsewhere.
GRIFFIN> That’s the way it’s going to be.
His link to the control entity ended and Griffin turned his attention to the aftermath.
End
Thirty minutes after the death of the Sekar-Prime, 598 Hantisar warships, plus the Nullifier, entered lightspeed. Their destination was a Fangrin military planet close to the edges of Unity League space. It was disappointing that so many of the alien fleet had been destroyed in the engagement, but Griffin reflected that what remained was a powerful force. Maybe enough to make the Raggers back off, or to blow the crap out of them if they refused.
“What happens now, sir?” asked Shelton.
Griffin smiled. “I was waiting for someone to ask that question.”
“And what’s the answer, sir?” Shelton could do impertinent so well it seemed pointless getting irritated over it.
“Fly home and rest. Hope we’ve bought some time for the Unity League and Fangrin scientists to copy the emitter hardware and maybe build us our own death pulse.”
“Shoot some Raggers, shoot a few billion Sekar, collect a medal,” said Jackson.
“I could go with that.”
“We have hard times ahead,” said Isental. He grunted and then bared his teeth. “But I will do my utmost to enjoy them.”
“You’re not telling me you enjoyed this, are you sir?” asked Shelton, wide-eyed.
A rumbling laugh. “For thirty-five years of my life, I have fought. This has been unique.”
“Yeah. Unique.”
With the Nullifier on its way, the instrumentation didn’t require too much attention. Griffin closed his eyes and let the soothing note of the propulsion calm his mind. Victory had been hard won, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about the future. Whatever came, he was certain he’d be ready for it.
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Nullifier (Fire and Rust Book 6) Page 23