by D. M. Pruden
Every part of it seemed to flicker in and out of existence as the hulk floated, like a ghost.
“What the hell?” said Pavlovich. “Gunney!”
“It’s in my sights, sir. All weapons are hot and at your command.”
“Gimme a second, Cap’n,” said Cora as she returned to her engineering station. “I’m going to patch Alcon into the feed.”
The captain shot her a withering glare, but she remained oblivious to him as she donned an odd-looking headset. Looking up, she said, “It’s a Glenatat interface. I use it to speak directly to him, but I can bring our conversation up on my console for you to follow along.”
She manipulated the controls. Hayden stood behind her and peered over her shoulder. She moved aside a little to give him access to the readout.
“According to the Glenatat’s sentinel,” he said, “that ship is phasing between normal and dark matter states.”
“Is that even possible?” said Pavlovich.
“The Glenatat database says it is. The physics is beyond me, though—”
He gave Cora a questioning look.
“It looks like gibberish to me,” she said.
Hayden regarded the image on the viewer that riveted the entire crew. “This is the location where we last encountered the Malliac.”
“The one you said the girl killed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get her in here.”
A few tense minutes later, Stella entered the bridge. She gasped when she caught sight of the alien vessel on the display.
“I presume by your reaction that thing is familiar to you?” Pavlovich asked her.
She pressed her back to the bulkhead, as if attempting distance herself from it. “N...no. I’ve never seen that before.”
The captain raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
She stared at the image. “I...I didn’t see it, but it feels...sort of the same, but almost as if it is only partly there. Does that make any sense?” She looked at Hayden. “How is it possible that we can see it?”
“We were hoping you could tell us,” said Pavlovich. “Kaine thinks this is the ship you wrecked.”
Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead as she turned back to the viewer. “I...I...don’t know. It was all so fast.”
Hayden spoke softly. “We think it’s dead. I just hoped you could tell us something.”
“Can you describe what took place?” asked the captain.
Stella nodded. She gently disengaged from Hayden’s protective embrace and faced Pavlovich. “I can only try to explain the sensation. During the attack, it felt like I was connected to every one of them.”
“You’re sure they were the Malliac?”
“Oh, yes. I could not mistake that kind of experience for anything else.”
“What happened?” asked Hayden.
“I...I was angry. I wanted to hurt them. I...reached out for them with my mind, and they suddenly went away. It was like a bunch of popping bubbles. Does that make any sense?”
He regarded the flickering vessel on the screen. “In a way, it does.”
Pavlovich grumbled something inaudible to himself, then addressed Cora. “Is that wreck in any state for us to board it?”
“What are you thinking, Captain?” said Hayden.
“If we’re to go up against them, now might be the ideal opportunity to study one of their ships for vulnerability or technology we can employ. I want to believe she could potentially think our enemies out of existence, but I don’t want to rely on that ability. No offence implied, Miss Gabriel.”
She shook her head. “None taken, Captain. I’m not sure how I did it or if I can do so again.”
Pavlovich nodded, then turned back to Cora. “Well, Chief Engineer? Does your pet say we can board that thing?”
“He says it is physically there, but not temporally stable. Anyone who enters it will be ripped to shreds by the temporal tides.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It...oh, it seemed so simple when he explained it.”
“Take your time,” said Hayden.
“That ship normally occupies multiple timelines simultaneously. But with its crew dead, parts of it begin leaking into something called null space.”
“Is that why we can see it?”
“Yes, but then it drifts back into our dimension.” Cora paused, listening to someone. “Alcon says that the Malliac and their ships can only function in our space-time when they are fully energized. He says that as time passes, they lose their ability to coexist with normal matter.”
Pavlovich shifted in his seat. “Well, if we can’t learn anything by boarding it, maybe it can tell us other things. Gunney, didn’t you say you wanted something to shoot at?”
“Aye, Cap’n.”
“It’s time for a bit of target practice with the new weaponry. Let’s see how it performs on that wreck.”
“Yes, sir,” said the cyborg, showing the most enthusiasm Hayden had ever seen from him. He thought he caught the hint of a smile flash across Gunney’s ugly face.
“Cannon is locked.”
“Fire at will.”
Moments later, the lights dimmed as Scimitar spat a crimson bolt of energy at the derelict vessel. It struck one of the sections that was transitioning between states. It appeared to plunge into a deep stack of distorting mirrors. As the dark energy bored into it, the ship dissolved into a million glimmering pieces before it winked out of existence.
“Effective,” said Pavlovich.
Hayden analyzed the results at his science station. He looked up. “How precisely can you target the cannon, Gunney?”
“At this range? To within a metre.”
He returned to the terminal. “I’m sending you new coordinates. Please see if you can hit the location, if you don’t mind.”
The cyborg looked to Pavlovich. “Cap’n?”
A grin broke out on Pavlovich’s face. “Do as he asks. I’m curious to learn what Kaine is up to.”
Hayden looked up from the station. “The first bolt struck a part that was in transition. I want to see what it can do against a piece that is still stable.”
“Targeting locked, sir.”
“Let ’er rip,” said the captain.
The dark energy pulse bored into its target. The spot seemed to collapse upon itself, distorting and dragging the vessel into a hole in space. Seconds later, the distorted region expanded in a brilliant blue light, and the derelict was ripped apart in an explosive chain reaction.
“Well, that was impressive.”
“Now all we have to do is use that weapon to get close enough to the jump-control module,” said Hayden.
“And hope it will be enough for us to fight our way out again,” said Pavlovich. “Because those aliens will be pissed at us when we destroy that gate.”
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Taking the Fight to the Malliac
WITH NO REASON for further delay, the Scimitar departed for the Mu Arae jump-gate at one-half light speed.
“Miss Gabriel, you should remain on the bridge from this point onward. You’re our canary.”
“Sir?”
“It’s a historical reference,” said Hayden.
“Canaries were used in coal mines as a warning for gas build-up,” said Pavlovich with a smile. “I don’t fully trust the Glenatat technology.”
“Of course,” said Stella. She assumed a seat at an unoccupied bridge station. “But please remember that they can see me too.”
Hayden was annoyed the captain chose that analogy. He had neglected to mention that the canary died.
“Is there a problem, Mister Kaine?”
“No, sir.”
Pavlovich grunted and turned his attention elsewhere.
Hayden, noticing Stella’s discomfort, approached her, and spoke quietly. “Are you all right?”
“There are a lot of strong emotions. I’m worried they will mask the Malliac from me.”
�
�We can’t really sedate the crew.”
She smiled at his joke. “I just need to focus. I wish I could...attack them with my mind from here...”
“It’ll be okay.”
He squeezed her hand and returned to his station.
“How’s our canary?” asked Pavlovich.
“She’ll be fine, sir.” Hayden spoke stiffly.
“Look, Kaine, I can either put her to use for me on the bridge or sedate her so the enemy doesn’t sniff her out and come looking for us. At this stage, we’re going to encounter them anyway, so I see no point in knocking her out.”
He clenched his jaw. “Yes, sir.”
“I don’t require your approval for either option regarding the girl, XO.”
He scowled at Pavlovich, searching for words of outrage that would not form on his tongue.
“Captain!” Stella called out.
They both turned to see her doubled over in her chair, hands clutching her stomach. She looked up at them, her face pale and eyes filled with fear.
“I feel them. They’re coming.”
Hayden fought every instinct to rush to her aid but instead hurried to the science station.
Pavlovich’s voice cut through the chatter on the bridge. “Everyone look alive. Kaine, is there anything on those new sensors?”
“Nothing so far—wait. Yes, two enemy ships approaching on intercept vectors. Passing coordinates to gunnery officer.”
“I’ve got ’em,” said Gunney. His raspy voice was charged with excitement.
“Well, score one for our little bird. She spotted them first.” Pavlovich winked at Stella then ordered, “Give me a tactical display.”
A schematic came up showing the positions of the Scimitar and the inbound Malliac vessels.
“It looks like they’re both coming from the general direction of the jump-gate,” said Hayden.
“They must perceive us as a threat, or else they wouldn’t bother sending those ships at us.”
“They might be reacting to Stella’s presence.”
Pavlovich grinned. “Let’s give them a surprise party. Helm, accelerate to maximum sublight speed and point us at the nearest one of those bastards.”
“Aye, sir,” said Kwok after only a second of hesitation.
“Gunney, I’m giving you as much forward momentum as possible. Make our guns sing.”
“Closest target is in my sights, Captain.”
“Fire when ready.”
Hayden’s eyes were fixed on the display as the distance between Scimitar and the approaching vessel closed. The floor vibrated under the first volley.
He activated the controls and put up both the tactical and a forward view. The new imaging technology clearly showed the ship accelerating toward them.
He imagined the Glenatat-enhanced projectiles from the rail gun impacting whatever armour the Malliac possessed. He hoped their mass, increased by relativistic velocity, would rip through it like a bullet through paper.
The star-studded skies on the screen lit up as if a small sun went nova. In an instant, the other ship was gone.
A cheer erupted from the crew. Hayden noted relief on Pavlovich’s face that mirrored his own. Their invisible foe could be beaten, and their mission had a real fighting chance of success.
Scimitar was rocked by an impact. Several people were knocked from their feet as the lights flickered and dimmed. The main viewer went dark, as did many of the work stations.
“A direct hit to our bow,” shouted Cora above the chaos.
“Damage report,” called Hayden as he scrambled to the science station.
“It looks like the enhanced armour took the brunt of the blast. An energy pulse put two of our engines offline. We are running on emergency auxiliary power.”
“Get down there and get the everything turned back on,” said Pavlovich. “We’re blind and hurtling near light speed out of control. I don’t like it.”
She ran out the hatch.
“Kaine, can you see anything on instruments?”
“One Malliac ship is a million kilometres behind us, in pursuit and closing. It is twice the size of the one we took out. They hit us as we passed them.”
“They’re catching us? Helm, what is our present speed?”
“We got up to 0.79C before the engines went out.”
“Estimated time until we are in their weapons range?” asked Pavlovich.
The bridge shook again.
“Never mind, I think I have my answer.”
Hayden was at Cora’s engineering console. “A hit to our stern section. The armour appears to be holding. I don’t know how many more hits we can take until have a hull breach.”
“Weapons status?”
“Aft rail guns are all out. There is power to the forward ones, but at the present relative velocity between our vessels, I don’t know if they can pierce their armour.”
“What about those dark energy cannons?”
“They’re powered by the engines. With only two operational, I don’t know if we can fire them.”
“Damn it,” said Pavlovich as he hit a comm switch on his chair. “Speak to me, Cora.”
The bridge shook again from another Malliac barrage. A few seconds later, Cora’s stressed voice came over the speaker.
“Working on it, Cap’n.”
“Work faster. Is there enough juice to fire the cannons?”
“Just a sec, I need to ask Alcon.”
Pavlovich scowled at his first officer and drummed his fingers.
“He says they’ll operate on one engine, but the output won’t be optimal.”
The ship shook more violently as the Malliac closed the gap between the ships.
“Armour integrity is at risk,” said Hayden. “The interval between their shots is consistent, Captain. They must need the time to recharge their weapons. If they’re running their engines hot to catch us, it’s possible they can’t fire a full charge either.”
Stella shivered. Pavlovich turned to her and said, “Can you do your wipe-out-all-the-bad-guys trick?”
“I...I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’m sorry.”
“Hmph. Gunney, are the aft guns charged?”
“Yes, Cap’n.”
“Then, please kick ’em in the balls.”
The lights dimmed as Scimitar unleashed a volley from the energy cannon.
Hayden monitored the science station. “Direct hits. I think we damaged them.”
The ship reeled under another barrage. He gripped the console to prevent being knocked from his chair.
“Hurt ’em again,” said Pavlovich.
Once more they fired.
Hayden, eyes glued to the sensor readouts, called out, “I’m detecting micro fissures in their hull; at least I think that’s what they are. They are flickering like we saw that other ship do. Gunney, I’m feeding you the coordinates. Try to concentrate your fire on those areas.”
The cyborg nodded curtly. They were plunged into near darkness as the humming cannon drew the maximum available power.
The released energy erupted along the length of the cracks in the Malliac hull. Seconds later, the ship expanded into a brilliant blue flare before vanishing from the sensors.
“They are destroyed,” said Kaine. “Completely obliterated.”
“Cora, where are my engines?”
Pavlovich’s inquiry seemed to jerk everyone’s attention back to the moment, and they scrambled to prepare for the damage report request they all knew was coming.
“Five more minutes, Cap’n.”
Pavlovich looked up from the comm panel and surveyed the crew. “Well done, people. Mister Kaine, we now know that we can dish it out better than they can. We may actually succeed at this crazy mission.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
A Last Desperate Plan
“ENGINES ARE BACK online, Cap’n.”
“Bloody well about time. Get your ass back to the bridge, Cora.” Turning to the helmsman, he barked, “Kwok, get us to
that jump-gate yesterday.”
“Aye, Captain,” answered the ensign as her hands were already inputting the commands.
Pavlovich turned to his XO. “How long until we arrive?”
Hayden hesitated over the readout screen.
“I’m waiting, First Officer.”
“Um, sorry sir. We’ll be there in two hours and sixteen minutes, but we’ve got a problem. A class six singularity is forming two million kilometres away from it.”
Pavlovich pushed himself out of the chair. “How is that possible? The stolen singularities?”
“I believe so. Graviton spin decay signature is consistent with UEF engine specs. I’m also detecting multiple Malliac ships amassing near it.”
“How many?”
“I’m still not used to these Glenatat instruments; something like thirty, of varying size and configuration.” He looked up from the console. “And one of them has docked with the jump-gate station.”
“Shit! We’re too late.”
“For what, Cap’n?” asked Cora as she entered the bridge.
Pavlovich said to her, “Watch the shop for a moment. Kaine, walk with me.”
He hesitated until Pavlovich’s scowl told him he was serious. As they walked down the corridor, the captain remained tight-lipped, and Hayden dared not inquire what was going on.
They ended up in front of the captain’s quarters. The big man opened the door and gestured for him enter first.
Inside, with the door closed, Pavlovich indicated the empty chair while he went to the cabinet and removed a bottle. “Do you like Kentucky bourbon, Kaine?”
“Sir?”
He held up the bottle.
“Um, yes, please.”
The captain poured them each a generous amount. After lifting their glasses in a silent toast, Pavlovich downed the contents in a single gulp.
Hayden took a tentative sniff of his before mimicking the older man. He struggled to match Pavlovich’s gaze.
The captain broke out in laughter. “You’re not a bourbon drinker, are you, Kaine?”
“No sir, more of a whisky sipper,” he gasped.
“But you shot the drink anyway. Why?”
“Well, I suppose I didn’t want to be rude.”
