by Isaac Hooke
“Maybe not something so severe,” Jain said. “But along those lines, yes.”
He glanced at his tactical display and studied the formation of the approaching ships, whose positions were determined by the probe he’d left in polar orbit.
“I think I might have a plan,” Jain said. “It won’t be easy, but at least we’ll have a small chance of victory. I can’t guarantee that everyone will survive.”
Gavin glanced at Sheila. “It’s too bad you haven’t finished those redundant AI core backup stores yet.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mark said. “I die here, I’m gone, at least from my viewpoint. Not from yours, maybe, if you can manage to scrounge up a backup from my wreckage. But from mine, if I go down, this is my last hurrah.”
“Then make it a good one,” Jain said.
A shot glass of vodka appeared in Mark’s hand. “I’ll toast to that.” He raised the glass in mock toast and drank.
Jain explained his plan.
“It might work,” Cranston said. “But I see now why you can’t guarantee everyone will survive. Damn, why did I have to be the one cursed with the ability to teleport?”
“It is a good ability, you have to admit,” Mark said.
“All right,” Jain said. “There’s nothing for us to do now but wait.”
23
Jain didn’t answer any of Prescott’s increasingly angrier messages demanding their unconditional surrender.
When the enemy fleet was forty-five minutes away, the Space Machinists recalled their repair swarms and spent the next thirty minutes landing on the surface of the moon. Jain noted that Prescott had split his team into four task units of four or five ships each, and the trajectories of each unit would take them around the polar opposites and two hemispheres of the moon. As such, Jain had chosen positions for each of the team members on those four sides, spots that were well away from the Daktor, which wouldn’t participate in the coming fight. Only Medeia remained in orbit, because of her cloak.
When the Space Machinists were in place, they shut down all thermal emitting processes and waited.
Jain continued to study the tactical display. There was one Heracles ship that remained well behind the divided formation—a lone Dominator class vessel. Likely it harbored Prescott.
So that’s the new flagship.
Jain highlighted it in yellow on the display.
When the enemy ships in the vanguard were within fifty thousand klicks of the moon, the positions on the tactical display froze.
“We just lost the repeater in orbit above the north pole,” Xander said.
Jain nodded.
“Gotta love the range of raptors,” Mark said.
“Prepare to initiate radio silence,” Jain said.
He watched the counter he’d setup in the right side of his HUD that would coincide with the appearance of the enemy fleet.
“I’m detecting radio signals coming from a region of empty space directly above the moon…” Xander announced.
Jain increased his time sense to the maximum, freezing external reality.
“We have our cloaked ship!” Jain said. “Xander, can you determine its course and speed, based on doppler shifting of the radio signal?”
“I’ll have to analyze more of the signal,” Xander said. “This will require returning time sense closer to normal.”
“Do it,” Jain said.
He waited.
Then Xander announced: “The transmission just ended, but I have its current course and speed. It’s fleeing.”
On the tactical display, a red dotted line appeared above the sphere that represented the moon, indicating the current position and estimated trajectory of the cloaked vessel.
Jain amped up his time sense again. “Space Machinists, sync your starboard raptors with mine.” He wanted to target that ship before it changed course.
The sync indicators highlighted. Jain lined up his targeting crosshairs with the source of the transmission.
“Xander, given the position of the antennae on the hull of a Dominator vs a Piranha,” Jain said, “and the radio signal dispersion patterns you detected, is it more likely we’re facing the former, or the latter?”
“The former, I’d say,” Xander replied. “A Dominator.”
So, if it was a Dominator Class vessel, then based on the mount points available to such a ship, and the design of the cloaking device Medeia carried, there were only a few places it could be attached. He chose what seemed the most likely spot to him. But now he had to guess the orientation, too.
“Xander, let’s say it is a Dominator,” Jain said. “Going back to the antennae position again, and the dispersion pattern, can you give me an estimate as to the vessel’s most likely orientation?”
Xander returned a 3D dimensional diagram of the ship. The diagram rotated forty-five degrees in the X-Z plane, then back again.
“The possible orientations are within this forty-five degree arc,” Xander said.
Jain chose a random orientation from that arc, targeted the spot he’d selected, and fired.
He returned his time sense closer to normal, and on his external camera, a Dominator Class vessel flickered into view. From Jain’s perspective, it was just above the horizon of the moon.
“A lucky shot,” Xander said.
“Not luck…” Jain said.
The Dominator quickly altered course, diving past the horizon and beyond the fleet’s line of fire.
“Well, now the enemy definitely knows where we are,” Jain said. “We have to reposition!”
On the tactical map, he chose new spots for the Space Machinists on the moon. Those spots were a lot closer to the outer horizons than their original locations, which would bring them that much closer to the incoming enemy units, allowing them to surprise their enemy, who now believed the Space Machinists much farther away along the surface.
Assuming Jain and the others made it to their new spots before the Heracles vessels arrived.
“There isn’t time!” Cranston said, echoing Jain’s last thought.
“Emergency acceleration!” Jain said. He amped up his power output.
His vessel thrust from the surface, and he quickly moved outward toward his new spot.
“I can’t get a signal to the Daktor,” Sheila said. “The terrain is too mountainous. If I go higher…”
“No time,” Jain said. “We’ll have to hope they leave it alone for now. Move into your new position.”
The jagged terrain of the moon below rushed past in a blur. Meanwhile, he transmitted a few quick modifications to the plan, and the other Space Machinists accepted the changes without issue.
He reached his designated position and cut power, activating dorsal thrust, and slammed into the surface. He felt the pain rip into his belly, and vibrations reverberated outward—it was like he was skiing or snowboarding, and just wiped out, landing abdomen-first before scraping across the snowy surface. Painful.
“Well that was a rough landing,” Xander said. “We took twenty percent damage to the dorsal armor.”
“Felt like more than that,” Jain said.
The grimaces on the faces of the other avatars on the virtual bridge told him that their landings hadn’t been any more comfortable.
On the bright side, they managed to reposition in time. None of the Heracles vessels had crested the horizon yet.
Jain glanced at Medeia’s location on the tactical map and confirmed that she had repositioned her cloaked ship in orbit.
“Shut down all thermal emitting processes!” Jain said.
Without an atmosphere, the only way to lose heat was via radiation; however, their external hull surfaces were designed specifically for heat radiation, to facilitate efficient cooling during operations, and in under a minute the different starships of the Space Machinists had cooled to the same temperature as the background landscape.
“Sync firing countdowns,” Jain said. When that countdown hit zero, the Space Machinists would open fire,
all at the same time. It was based on a calculation of when the enemy passed over their respective positions.
“And initiate radio silence!” Jain finished.
The other Space Machinists vanished from the virtual bridge.
They had initiated radio silence not a moment too soon, because the incoming red dots updated shortly thereafter: the enemy ships had accelerated into view over the four horizons.
Jain watched as the ships advanced, fast approaching the areas where they thought the Space Machinists were lying in wait. As soon as the four Heracles units passed the point where the positions of their expected prey would be cresting the horizon, they opened fire.
Raptors chewed into the surface, striking the areas reported by their cloaked friend. Stingers sprayed the terrain with slugs. Barracudas drilled the landscape. Black holes tore fresh craters. Missiles drove forth, blotting out the sky.
Jain couldn’t help the quote that bubbled into his thoughts, then. It was from Dienekes, a Spartan soldier who had died during the Battle of Thermopylae millennia before.
We fight in the shade.
Even though it seemed like a lot, the Heracles units hadn’t fired everything. They were clearly holding back. Prescott couldn’t be sure whether the Space Machinists had moved in time and was being cautious. Smart.
Allowing them to fire like that had been Jain’s latest modification to the plan.
Let them waste their weapons and exhaust their laser charges. Then we will attack.
Well, they hadn’t entirely wasted everything, but what he saw was certainly a good amount. These were less missiles and energy bolts the rest of the team would face.
The members of the Heracles fleet had ignored the Daktor, for now, because it was still well beyond the horizon, five thousand kilometers away, closer to the equator of the moon.
Certain members distributed throughout the Heracles fleet fired dispersion bolts to cancel the black holes as they grew nearer. Radio chatter between the four groups increased: no doubt the different captains were trying to determine whether they had hit their targets, or empty parcels of moon land.
Jain was sheltered near the north pole of the moon. He waited as the five ships belonging to the task unit in that area passed over his position.
He glanced at his countdown. It had just reached zero.
Perfect timing.
One of those ships broke in half.
“Nice one,” Jain told Medeia.
Her ship winked into view for only an instant, and when she was done carving through the Dominator with her sword extension, she vanished once more.
The other four ships would be calculating firing solutions at that very moment, adjusting their respective aims upward from the surface of the planet.
But Jain was already firing. His nose pointed skyward, and he released his barracuda in rapid succession, striking the Dominators and Piranhas in their weakest areas. At the current range, the energy bolt traveled too fast for any of the ships to dodge. Armor dissolved, and along with them, the internal power couplers inside the decks beyond. The ships went offline in rapid succession. One ship managed to swerve to the side, with the energy bolt smashing into a starboard-side wing instead. The bolt melted a huge section away.
Jain simply adjusted his aim and fired again. The vessel wasn’t able to successfully dodge this time.
Mark had similar success on his side using his black hole weapon.
Gavin launched his shockwave weapon, causing minor damage to the ships that passed by. He also sent his three drones into the sky and managed to cut off a portion of a Piranha with the energy field the drones produced. He launched missiles and utilized lasers, causing standard damage as well. He only took down two ships, and three continued away. They released their weapons at him in turn, and Gavin was forced to redirect his drones so that the generated force field shielded him from most of the attacks.
Cranston and Sheila sheltered together, and also unleashed standard raptors and hellraisers at their foes. When the enemy ships returned fire, Cranston teleported from his position, avoiding the shots. He reappeared directly above one of the vessels, and unleashed his missiles at point blank range, firing directly in front of it to cause the most damage: blunt force, and explosive. The Dominator was ripped apart. He couldn’t utilize his micro machines against the remaining targets, because the ships were flying away too fast, and he still had essentially no momentum since he had teleported from the surface. He applied emergency thrust to avoid the aft attacks that came.
Sheila meanwhile was fleeing as well; she intercepted him, placing herself between the incoming weapons and Cranston’s Forebode, using her fully charged force field to protect them.
They only managed to take down that one ship; the other four meanwhile limped away.
That left a total of eight ships, including the flagship.
“A cloaked vessel just appeared with one of the fleeing groups,” Xander said. “It appears to be a rift ship—it’s firing a blue beam in front of their common path.”
Jain restored full communications, as per the plan; the other members of the Space Machinists reappeared on the virtual bridge one by one as they did the same. All except for Medeia, who remained cloaked and didn’t want to give away her position.
“Let’s get into orbit,” Jain said.
His nose was still positioned skyward, so he fired aft thrust and accelerated.
Two minutes later, Xander announced: “A rift just opened. Two of the vessels escaped, along with the rift ship.”
“Going to call their friends, of course,” Gavin commented.
Jain glanced at his tactical map. There were only six ships out there now, including Prescott’s flagship; the latter’s indicator was still frozen on the map, as his vessel hadn’t yet come into view beyond the horizon. He’d obviously decelerated.
Cranston noticed, too, because he said: “Maybe Prescott wants to catch us in a pincer maneuver.”
Jain glanced at the other enemy ships on his map, and saw that they were decelerating and turning around, preparing to make another flyby.
“Join me,” Jain said. “Let’s form a coordinated defense. Pattern Bravo.”
The Space Machinists accelerated to match Jain’s trajectory, and moved inward, cozying up to within a thousand kilometers of him.
The two groups of incoming ships combined as well, forming a flotilla of five.
“Well look at that, we actually outnumber them by one,” Mark said.
A dot crested the horizon behind the incoming Heracles vessels. It slowly grew bigger. The heat signature matched that of another Dominator Class vessel.
“How did Prescott reposition his ship to the other side of the moon that fast?” Mark asked.
The dot continued to grow larger, fast encroaching on the five Heracles craft. It was moving faster than a Dominator was supposed to move.
“He must have some alien tech,” Jain said. “And he’s eager to join in this last battle. Wants to finish us off. I told you we could use his hatred against us. He’s committed his ships to a fatal attack run.”
“In this case, I’m not sure their attack run is going to be fatal, at least for them,” Cranston said. “You have to wonder, if he has engine technology like that, what other alien tech does he possess?”
“We’re taking raptor fire,” Xander announced. “Across the fleet.”
“Return raptor fire,” Jain said. “Give it to them worse than what we’re getting.”
“This is strange…” Sheila said.
“What?” Jain asked.
“The flagship isn’t firing with them,” Sheila said. “Even though they’re well within heavy laser range.”
“That is strange,” Jain said.
“Maybe he wants to make every hit count,” Mark said.
There wasn’t time to rotate their opposite banks of raptors to bear. Jain waited until the range was sub-twelve thousand, and then he unleashed his barracuda. The vessels were anticipating, and
decelerated, falling toward the surface, and diving out of the way of his attacks. They avoided the incoming black holes in a similar manner.
A black hole opened directly in front of Jain.
“Emergency dive!” Jain ordered the fleet. He decelerated just like the enemy units had, and dove underneath the gravity well, barely missing the event horizon.
Bright flashes erupted on the external camera feed ahead.
“Prescott is opening fire…” Sheila said.
Jain glanced at the tactical display. “Where are the indicators? I’m not seeing any missiles, or bolts.”
“He’s not firing at us,” Sheila said.
Jain returned his attention to the video feed. The five incoming ships were still moving forward, but all of their running lights were off, as if they were drifting. They also had scorch marks blackening various sections of their hulls.
“Did Prescott just use us to help him achieve a pincer attack against his own allies?” Gavin said in disbelief.
“That’s exactly what he did,” Sheila said.
Jain rubbed his chin.
Why do those black scorch marks look familiar…
And then he realized where he had seen them before. “Scatter!”
24
“Don’t let Prescott get within six thousand kilometers!” Jain continued.
He continued diving, but also issued emergency starboard thrust, darting his ship away to the left. The other ships similarly separated, moving away from the incoming Dominator.
The enemy vessel launched large blobs.
“Wait a second…” Cranston said. “Is this…”
The Dominator facade fell away, replaced with the alien pyramid.
“Holoemitters,” Gavin spat.
The large blobs struck the disabled Heracles vessels, disintegrating large portions of them. Two of the ships broke apart entirely because of the impacts.
The pyramid launched more blobs at the scattering Space Machinists, along with those small pyramidal transports that contained the alien boarding parties.
“Fire at those incoming targets!” Jain said.
Xander and the others did so.
