Liori and I were reversing toward the shipyard, picking the targets off one by one.
The AIs hadn’t dared leave us in their rear. They about-faced. Their shields were virtually dead, barely glowing at one megawatt and unable to restore. They’d channeled all their power to their weapons, hoping to wipe us out in one fell swoop.
The Haash jumped at their chance and opened up rapid bursts of laser fire. The already-compromised power shields of two of the Raiders flashed and went out. Crimson scars covered the ships’ hulls; then they exploded in a shower of debris.
Their antimatter engines blew up, blinding my sensors momentarily.
The two leaders were toast! The remaining three were left without shields. I sliced through one with my ECGs. Liori shot down another one. Only one last Raider managed to escape: maneuvering dangerously, it ducked into the safety of the Molecular Mist.
* * *
The ammo loading indicator kept blinking.
Sweat trickled down my spine. My light onboard suit was soaked.
Switching your mind expander to overdrive always costs you. The seconds of combat burn your body’s resources, followed by acute bouts of sickness when reality seems to lag. Still, it doesn’t last long.
We’d shot down four of the Phantom Raiders. My Condor had gotten away with minimum damage: weakened shields, a couple of red-hot scars still glowing crimson on her hull plus the scorched sensors which had already been replaced by the backups.
I killed the speed and surveyed the scene. The shipyard was a meager seven thousand miles away. Thin clouds of slowly cooling Molecular Mist were camouflaging me from the enemy but it was a mixed blessing as my scanning range had been decimated. Liori’s Condor was nowhere to be seen. Gremlins prevented my communications with the Haash.
One thing I could detect very well was the Relic’s power imprint. Which was bad news. The ship was still within the asteroid belt and leaving it wasn’t going to be easy.
An unread message icon persistently blinked within my interactive visor. Mechanically I opened it,
You’ve received a new level!
You’ve received +1 to the following skills:
Piloting of Small Spacecraft, 11 (+0.93)
Combat Maneuvering, 13 (+0,74)
Your Navigation skill is at 15 (+0,3)
So the in-game interface was still functioning. Apparently, we’d have to learn to live with it. “Liori?”
No answer. Where was she now?
I maneuvered my Condor along the edge of the artificial cloud enveloping the shipyard, looking for a gap in the incandescent molecular mist large enough to take stock of the situation. No Raiders in sight. Plenty of drones scurrying around though, plus occasional clusters of armor plates that they’d failed to deliver to the ship under construction.
The location where our asteroid had just been was now aglow with silent explosions as its absence had affected other asteroids’ orbits, causing them to collide and crumble into red-hot boulders.
Finally, the Relic was within my line of sight, allowing me to employ laser communications. “Jurgen, report!”
“We’ve got about a dozen breach holes but we’ll live,” he replied instantly. “The tractor beams survived!”
“What’s with the asteroid?”
“Unstable energy emissions. An intense heat imprint. I think that the impact followed by the acceleration might have caused damage to some equipment. The artifact it still there but I really couldn’t tell you whether it’s still operable. Foggs and Vandal are itching to find out.”
“Tell them to wait. You can’t send assault groups down the mine yet. It’s not safe. Can you contact the Haash?”
“I can indeed.”
“Tell Charon I want them to cover the Relic. Whatever it takes. What’s with the Wearongs?”
“Dead.”
“You sure?”
What a shame. Such amazing mysterious creatures.
“Frieda has lost mnemonic contact with them. Our sensors detected two disintegrating signatures. I just hope they have a respawn point back on Wearong somewhere,” he didn’t sound too sure.
“Has Liori contacted you?”
“No,” he sounded surprised and anxious. “Isn’t she with you?”
“She was. We lost each other. She must have chased after a Raider. I’ll go and look for her. I might check what happened to the other Raiders while I’m at it.”
“Zander, be careful!”
He didn’t need to tell me. I just hoped that today Lady Luck had sided up with us for a change.
I approached the shipyard.
The gossamer structure I’d noticed earlier turned out to be part of a much larger installation that counted dozens of shipyards. An entire fleet was currently being built there.
The sheer scope of it humbled you. The Outlaws had resurrected Avatroid without pausing to consider the consequences of their daring experiment. And when they finally had, it had been too late.
I scanned the ships’ bodies. To my surprise, I detected neither sign of bustling activity inside nor the presence of complex equipment.
What could that mean? Could Avatroid lack all the necessary knowledge? Does that imply that he too had to study the Founders’ technological legacy to fill in the gaps, just like we had?
“Zander!” Liori’s Condor slipped out of the crimson cloud just in front of me. “I’ve found them! Eleven Raiders! They’re heading for the Relic!”
* * *
The Founders’ fighter ships sliced through the dark. Liori was right: they were heading for the frigate. They moved fast, concealed within the plumes of Molecular Mist.
Although our Mnemotechnics skill put us at a slight advantage, our enemy was better armed and protected with their 10-megawatt shields. They'd managed to find the necessary source material and replenish their active matter stocks for the ships’ antimatter units.
Two against eleven? A chill ran down my spine.
What was it Charon had said? You need to use your old skills. His words pierced my mind. “Liori, we should attack them with nanites, then retreat toward the shipyard.”
“We can’t do it! Nanites can’t penetrate their force fields!”
“I know! We’re going to use Molecular Mist,” I forwarded her my mind expander data.
“You’re crazy...”
We banked in synch, approaching the Raiders. Still safely camouflaged, we breezed through their formations without opening fire, leaving their AIs dumb with amazement.
Replication!
Replication!
Replication!
A trail of newborn nanites followed in our wake. The molecular cloud created by the drones made perfect material for nanite replication.
We accelerated sharply, breaking off and heading toward the nearest building dock.
“Liori, max out the shields! Full energy to the stern hemisphere!”
I activated Plasma Blast.
A blinding sheet of fire cut through the Raiders’ formation, predictably followed by a powerful explosion as the nearest clouds of Molecular Mist detonated with the impact.
The drones’ markers blinked and expired. Swirling jets of plasma spewed into the shipyard, cutting through the unfinished ships and melting the gossamer structures of the docks.
Our own shields were hovering dangerously close to zero. I struggled to stay on course. Debris whirled past, tumbling uncontrollably. The translucent windows of my interface flashed a constant flow of messages.
The Raiders, where were they?
I hurried to employ thrusters, steering my Condor into a narrow gap between two white-hot crossbeams which suddenly spattered a hail of molten steel, hit by heavy laser guns.
We zipped through the open-work structures and swung round, scanning the area non-stop.
Two of the Raiders were down. The others had survived the Plasma Blast but lost their shields and received minor damage in the process. They didn’t chase after us. Instead, they restored their shields an
d went for the frigate again!
Dammit! My plan had failed to stop them!
Quest alert: Eurasia Rescue. Quest completed!
By destroying the shipyard’s control module, you’ve diverted Avatroid’s attention to yourself, forcing him to abort his attack on the dying Eurasia station. It now has a chance to-
I didn’t read any further. “Charon, nine Raiders are heading toward the Relic!”
“Roger that,” the Haash pilot’s voice barely cut through the interference. The area was at the mercy of a magnetic storm.
The space around us was chock full of cargonite debris.
“Commence nanite replication!”
In two brief flashes, our ships were safely blanketed within a new layer of Steel Mist.
“There’s no way Avatroid’s fleet can get here soon!” Liori’s voice rang with victory. “It’ll take them three hours at least! And now that we’ve destroyed the shipyard’s AI, it can’t make more Phantom Raiders! We’ve smoked over a hundred drones. I’ve done four levels!”
“I’ve done five.”
“Zander, you need to invest in Disintegration. We really need it now!”
Good advice. We had very few ECG projectiles left and mid-range lasers were no good against our enemy’s shields.
There was no time to think it over. We headed off to intercept them. The Phantom Raiders’ antimatter engines were way superior to our weaker plasma units, but the sheer amount of junk littering space didn’t allow them to attain their full capacity.
We closed in.
Our emotions faded. The tension was palpable. The distance between us continued to shrink. The Haash wing couldn’t tackle nine lethal fighters. We had to split the enemy, destroying or at the very least engaging some of them, preventing them from reaching the Relic.
Liori tuned into my idea and began lagging behind, our mnemonic channel offering us a silent means of communication.
A small asteroid came into my crosshairs, complete with a few Raiders skirting it.
Disintegration!
I banked behind a pre-chosen rock, and still my shields dropped all the way down to zero.
The asteroid was reduced to atoms.
My ship’s hull was red-hot. Sensors kept beeping anxiously. I activated the emergency decompression. One less thing to worry about.
The enemy shields were down. Liori charged.
Her Condor traced a complex path through space as she fired non-stop, not letting the Raiders’ AIs restore their shields.
One of the Raiders dissolved in a flash; another’s hull was ripped open by tracers. A weak glow escaped the structural damage — she’d hit the power unit!
The remaining Raiders turned around. Four of them came for me, three went for Liori.
Maneuvering desperately, I broke through their formation, hurrying to her rescue. I got one of the Raiders with my ECGs, showered another one with lasers and sent nanites to attack the third one. I didn’t even try to finish them off but banked into a steep turn — I still had four more AIs tailing me!
We were closing head-on. I focused on their leader, bringing him into my crosshairs.
Disintegration!
Simultaneously two heavy lasers sliced through my Condor. Control panels began exploding all around the cockpit. Navigation equipment and engine controls were down. Spinning uncontrollably, my ship began drifting away from the scene.
I managed to swipe my eyes across the remains of the downed Raider, sending a quick succession of mnemonic commands,
Replication
Emergency Repairs
The latter was an ability I’d acquired when I’d perused the Technologists Clan’s databases.
Immediately nanites set to work with damage control.
I was drifting.
Four of the Raiders had been destroyed but the surviving ones accelerated again and closed on the Relic. They didn’t bother chasing after us to finish us off. We were neither worth their time nor their power resources.
“Zander?” Liori’s voice rang with anxiety.
“I’m fine. You? Any damage?”
“I’ve burned my reverse thrusters. The ship looks like a sieve. But it’s nothing critical. Engines are still working.”
There, I found her! Her reactor was in overload, leaking radiation. Her injuries were much worse than I’d thought. “I want you to try to get to the Relic’s docking pods,” I said. “I’ll catch up with you. My controls are almost restored. Don’t engage anymore. The Haash can finish them off without us now.”
“Zander, I-“
“Just do it! Please!”
We both knew this was a touch-and-go situation. If her reactor failed, there’d be no respawn for her.
“All right... Promise you won’t be long... Make sure you follow me... You promised...”
Her voice distanced, consumed by the crackling of interference.
Chapter Two
All I could do during the ten minutes it had taken to fix the ship was watch helplessly as the Raiders went for the Relic. More drones and three cargo ships appeared from the shipyard and headed for the frigate: reinforcements!
The Relic’s heavy ECGs spewed fire three times in a row, downing the cargo ships, then fell silent. They didn’t have enough energy. The tractor beams were consuming most of it.
Space was rife with battle as the Haash confronted both the Raiders and the drones. Still, they were outnumbered badly. I put my foot down. Hold on, guys! Steady just a bit more!
“I can’t see them! Where are they? Where are they-“ an animal growl rose to a scream of agony.
They’d downed Danezerath! The remains of his yrob sped past me.
I entered the dogfight head-on, attacking the nearest Raider and planting the remaining ammo into the skirt of its cockpit. Molten metal splattered everywhere. The Raider’s AI attempted to change course — too late. His deadly ship kept accelerating, strafing haphazardly, until it rammed one of the drifting cargo ships and disappeared in a splash of flames.
The laser pulses of three Phantom Raiders continued to rake the Relic’s hull. The frigate shuddered with a number of internal explosions. Her armor burst in places, gutted by decompression. Ugly long gaps in the hull spewed tornadoes of murky discharge and clusters of technogenic debris.
Jurgen wasn’t replying. The frigate’s signature was crimson and deformed.
Her shields were down. The Relic drifted on, her engines dead, as she sacrificed her last remaining watts of energy to the towing beams. The three-mile asteroid obediently followed in the frigate’s wake. Still, its path was littered with debris which continuously collided with the asteroid’s surface, demolishing the last remaining structures of the ancient mine shaft.
My ECGs choked and shut up. I only had one charged accumulator left complete with two localizer lasers connected to it. The rest of my weapons were out of commission.
We were one step away from immortality and a hair’s breadth away from death.
Still, there were only three Raiders left.
I accelerated. I’d managed to burn my shock absorbers so now every maneuver pinned my body to the seat. The Raiders noticed me and scattered. You didn’t have to be a mind reader to second-guess their actions. Two of them would try to attack me while the third one would wait for an opportunity to finish me off.
I steered my ship within inches of the Relic, aligning myself with her as I pierced the murky clouds of debris.
“Someone, cover me!” I wheezed. “I’m engaging!”
I shot up vertically. My vision darkened. The mangled ship’s outline on the screens keeled over and began to distance itself. I had one Raider on a collision course while another one was trying to intercept me as I maneuvered. His laser beams traced past, barely missing my engines.
An yrob flashed past, hacked into several pieces, its frayed remains of fiber optic cables sparking. The scorched stump of the pilot’s seat trailed behind, tethered by a cable.
I passed the Raider head-on,
just managing to get in a burst from my lasers. The two others flanked me from behind. They weren’t firing yet, trying to save power. Very soon they’d be able to shoot me at point blank.
Take that, you bastards!
I lingered, waiting for the right moment. Just as the Raiders were about to fire, I released a cloud of nanites and sent them a mental image.
Object Replication!
Space exploded.
My mind went blank. One Raider less. Still speeding, he’d rammed the swarm of cargonite pellets head-on. The second one had managed to swerve, avoiding an inevitable collision.
The Relic’s signature was dying away as the frigate had reached the edge of the asteroid belt heading for Argus. But was there anyone still alive on board?
“Jurgen... Arbido... Frieda... anyone! Talk to me!”
Immediately the frigate’s tractor beams croaked. The three-mile rock tumbled and collided with a few smaller boulders. The collisions threw it off course. Slowly the asteroid began to drift away from the collision site, heading back into the asteroid belt.
The two Phantom Raiders were still following me. Space around me seethed with countless collisions. The stars in my screens faded, obscured by clouds of debris. I had no nanites left nor could I replicate them: the suspended mixture of fine rock dust and incandescent gas was not good for nanite replication.
I killed speed, forcing my ship to dive under the chaotically spinning body of a cargo ship.
The Raiders whizzed past, unable to react in time, then swung round, looking for their evasive target.
They didn’t have it easy, either. Their power field emitters were also down, their hulls planished with impacts. Expert warriors, the Haash had put up a good fight. Pale light seeped through numerous breaches in the Raiders’ armor. Their antimatter units had had it. They were destabilizing.
I was going to kill them, then catch up with the asteroid and see if I couldn’t get to the artifact. There was no other option.
Black Sun (Phantom Server: Book #3) Page 3
