Spinebreakers

by Mitch Michaelson

  #4: Keep distance between ships.

  Admiral Slaught was so confident in his new fleet, so sure that no one in the entire galaxy knew where it was, that he made a critical error. He assumed one little ship was no danger.

  “Dream come true!” Yuina said as the Eye of Orion charged into battle.

  They had seen the destruction at Kurzia Station. Hundreds of thousands had been killed or injured. The station itself was a twisted wreck. Ships were returning – both to loot and to help. In the chaos, Hawking found the pattern indicating where the AndroVault had gone. They had no idea how the signal even existed, but they pursued without delay.

  The Eye of Orion had to come out of FTL flight far away since there was only one planet present. Using their advanced sensors, they witnessed the end of the battle of Insolent Stray. They had plenty of time to prepare their attack.

  The carrier missiles they acquired from Muliar were vehicles for multiple smaller nuclear missiles: essentially nuclear cluster bombs.

  The missile frigate Tragedy and two other ships disappeared in a knot of white-hot spheres each hundreds of miles in diameter.

  “Are any of their ships atmospheric?” Steo asked. He wasn’t obsessed on creating a perfect plan this time. His eyes were bloodshot, but he was alert and angry.

  “Those little cutters can go into the upper atmosphere, but otherwise no,” Yuina said.

  “Then let’s introduce them to a sharp learning curve,” he said.

  As Pesht moved quickly to the bridge he said, “How many times did we make FTL jumps since the graveyard? Three? Four? This is unbelievable!”

  The retainer robot Leech followed him. “This should be impossible, Bridge XO Pesht. Perhaps you made a mistake.”

  The Eye of Orion flew by the fleet at maximum speed, directly toward the planet. Some ships launched missiles at it. The corvette darted around the planet but didn’t come back out the other side.

  Soon they discovered that the Eye of Orion had stopped and descended into the atmosphere.

  They swarmed toward the planet. The Eye of Orion slowly came around the edge as the planet turned. Fourteen missiles were launched toward it, but the corvette didn’t react. The missiles fried in the atmosphere.

  The ships drew closer to the planet.

  Then the planet seemed to erupt with red dots. The nearby ships thought it was a trick. It wasn’t. The Eye of Orion had set a massive number of their missiles in the upper atmosphere and when they were activated, they all sought their targets at once. Some switched targets as they raced outward. Some split into multiple missiles.

  A few were shot down, but several ships including the destroyer Dastard were struck and erupted.

  When Pesht reached his bridge, he saw mayhem and destruction. He was there in time to see his own trick, a missile cloud, used to destroy seven ships. Back in the graveyard, he had set up hundreds of inactive missiles ready to pounce when the Eye of Orion arrived.

  Now the corvette had set up a cloud of inactive missiles that launched all at once, just like he did.

  “Ten down, 25 to go,” Yuina said.

  “Stay in the atmosphere,” Steo directed.

  The planet had a thin atmosphere, but it had one. It also had choking ash and smoke from the destroyed pirate base.

  “The cutters have lasers, and many have guns,” Hawking said.

  “Is that a concern?” Yuina asked.

  “I hope they think so,” Steo said. He’d studied space tactics like a fanatic over the last few days.

  The cutters were emboldened. They gathered and moved toward the planet. As they entered the upper atmosphere, their shields grew hot. The Eye of Orion stayed near the surface, not reacting.

  “Do you know why I was happy we got atmospheric missiles?” Glaikis said.

  “I do,” Steo said.

  “I do,” Hawking said.

  “Shut up,” Yuina said. “Why, Navigator Astrometeorologist Glaikis, are you so happy about those missiles?”

  “Because they can fly out of the atmosphere, too,” Glaikis said.

  Admiral Slaught demanded an update. Pesht didn’t want to explain the disaster happening to the admiral’s fleet. His own tactic had been used against him. He watched the cutters go after the enemy ship.

  Missiles flew upward at an ever-increasing speed as the atmosphere thinned. The five cutters were all struck. Simple missiles had hit them because they couldn’t fire anti-missiles in defense. Space missiles accelerated to millions of miles an hour on launch and in even the thinnest atmosphere simply vaporized.

  The cutters tumbled into the atmosphere and burned up.

  The front panel had the numbers 15 and 20 in the corner.

  “What’s that?” Steo asked.

  Hawking said, “I thought a simple display of destroyed and active enemy ships might be useful.”

  Three ships had been destroyed in the initial attack. A missile cloud had destroyed seven. Five had tried fighting in the atmosphere and been destroyed.

  With Admiral Slaught’s request still pending, Pesht fired off commands, turning disarray into order. He successfully recalled most of the ships. Two flew away and Pesht knew what that meant: deserters.

  Pesht formed a standard battle globe around the Fire Scorpion, a zone of protection including the AndroVault. His orders to the fleet were to stay away from the planet and let the little corvette come out and face 1 : 18 odds.

  “They have retreated and formed a circle, Master Steo.”

  “Now we can move to the next stage.”

  “What were those things you dropped on the way in? They didn’t seem to notice them,” Yuina said.

  “They’re pods. Sort of like small shuttles loaded with missiles. Let’s introduce them to the rest of our fleet,” Steo said.

  “Oh we have friends now?” Glaikis said.

  “Sort of. Keep all scanners at full. We want to see anything coming at us immediately.”

  Pesht was calm on the outside and starting to settle down on the inside. No ship in his memory had taken on 1: 18 odds and survived. Overconfidence was a human trait, not a kalam one.

  The Eye of Orion rose through the atmosphere. All mercenary ships were instructed to hold fire. The corvette sat safely near the planet, as if awaiting something.

  Pesht saw movement on a console and was about to yell cease-fire. He thought he saw missiles. The main panel showed more than 19 ships in the system. In fact it showed several dozen. Destroyers, frigates and even a battlecruiser had appeared out of nowhere! They launched missiles at his fleet.

  This was what Pesht feared: that Admiral Slaught thought one enemy couldn’t go get more. Pirates, mercenaries, even knight-mercenaries, vengeance-minded merchant ships … the Eye of Orion could have found friends.

  It wasn’t possible to go to a higher alert. The entire fleet was at full battle readiness. He watched as hundreds of missiles flew back and forth between the two fleets. This wasn’t his specialty. He was used to an admiral sitting in the big metal seat, directing the ships.

  “Tragedy, protect all ships with anti-missiles!” Pesht ordered. A crewman noted that the Tragedy was destroyed in the initial attack.

  “Cacophony, get me readings on those ships, I want names!” Pesht said. “Sunder, Tirade, Anarchist: focus your fire on that cruiser. I want it dead!”

  Pesht fired off orders faster than the fleet could react. None of the enemy ships moved. They didn’t have names either, only vague descriptions based on their electromagnetic signatures. It would take minutes to get actual bounce-back readings at these distances. The Anarchist rushed in to take out the unnamed cruiser and was ground to space dust by fragmentation missiles.

  When the Anarchist died, the numbers changed: 18 out of action, 17 active.

  Hawking said, “The missile pods have launched all of their submunitions. They are broadcasting signals that appear to be real starships. The enemy has targeted them. They won’t last long, nor will their disguises.”

 
“Good. We turned the tide,” Glaikis said.

  “Another ship destroyed, and two left formation. They are leaving the system.”

  “Keep moving. Yuina? Ready?” Steo asked.

  “Done targeting,” she said.

  “Fire at will. Glaikis, Renosha, launch alpha strike.”

  Pesht kept the crew alert and busy. They launched missiles to defend the other ships, and the onrushing wave of missiles dwindled. He ordered ships to move and fire in the bedlam.

  The Eye of Orion became a shining spot on the tactical display as it launched a flurry of missiles, far more than its last attack on the fleet.

  “Sir! Reports in! The enemy fleet isn’t ships at all but small shuttles! Many destroyed now sir.”

  Boc appeared in the bridge in time to see a frigate named the Bounder collapse in on itself.

  “What was that?!” Boc said.

  Pesht was beyond agitated. He cursed in his gurgling way and said, “Kinetic cannon! Get those ships moving! Don’t stand still!”

  “Almost there,” Steo said. They moved forward. The barrage of missiles from the pods had overwhelmed the mercenary’s defenses. The Eye of Orion’s own missiles had cut down several ships, and none were prepared for Spike. Yuina even successfully hit one with a solid projectile, caving in its hull. Several ships simply fled. Just because they volunteered to fight alongside mercenaries didn’t mean they had the experience to fight in large space battles.

  Nuclear explosions ripped across the front of the fleet as the Eye of Orion’s missiles exploded.

  “Now!” Steo ordered.

  Everyone stopped firing as Yuina hit the accelerator. They shot forward. The mercenary fleet was blinded by the nuclear explosions and couldn’t see past them. It took two full minutes for the corvette to reach them, and even then the glowing orbs were still tens of miles wide.

  The front panel said 29 and 6. “Several more enemy ships have fled,” Hawking said.

  When the nuclear explosions had faded and information came in again, the bridge of the Fire Scorpion panicked. Although a trained and battle-tested crew, they had never seen such firepower from one ship. Obviously they had never encountered Gleen and Lafiou technology.

  Men yelled incoherent information, pressed the wrong buttons or screamed at other ships.

  Bridge XO Pesht didn’t dare apply punishment now; it would tilt the scales and men might do crazy things, so he kept shouting orders.

  “I hope they don’t know those are almost the last,” Glaikis said as she fired another volley.

  “They won’t forget these,” Yuina said.

  Cluster nuclear missiles arced out to the last ships in the circle. Their defenses already past the breaking point, they simply fled from the speeding missiles.

  Hawking removed the number of destroyed/active ships. The Eye of Orion stopped, facing the Fire Scorpion, AndroVault and two other ships – the destroyers Scrag and Incite.

  “Yuina, please be ready to bolt out of here. Open communications to all ships,” Steo said.

  CHAPTER 21

  Brief Deadlock

  “Fire Scorpion. Admiral Slaught. This is Steo Liet and the Eye of Orion. Surrender.”

  Pesht’s face came up on the front panel.

  “You can talk to me, human. The Fire Scorpion will never surrender and you know it. You still face three ships that can destroy you, and you’re running out of munitions. You came too close. Human overconfidence?”

  Steo said, “I notice that you didn’t include the AndroVault in your count. The Fire Scorpion protects the generation ship. It isn’t ready to move again, is it? If you fire on my ship, I will alpha-strike the AndroVault.”

  Pesht wasn’t a negotiator. They had people on board for that. He needed to stall until he got advice on his console. “Then why not do it? Go ahead, take the big ship and yourself down with it. Why are we bantering?”

  Steo had a suspicion and had it half-confirmed. “Bring Admiral Slaught to the bridge or I fire.”

  Boc stepped up. “Who do we have here? Nice shooting little man! Whoo! Tell you what, when the admiral gets back, I’ll be sure to convey your memo.”

  Steo cut off communications. “Fire.”

  Glaikis launched the last missiles they had, targeting the destroyers. Yuina had been gently rotating the ship. She punched a button and the front of the Incite crumpled in. She quickly moved the ship in case of return fire, and tried to strafe the destroyers with the rotary cannon.

  These destroyers were better prepared and began defensive maneuvers.

  “Bah! Lost the Fire Scorpion! Missile dead!” Glaikis yelled.

  Hawking said, “The Fire Scorpion has modified their signature. Now they are modulating it, making missile tracking very difficult.”

  Renosha said, “Where do you think Cyrus is?”

  “There! The AndroVault,” Steo said.

  “How do we know he’s not on another ship?” Glaikis said.

  “He’s not. He’s there,” Steo said, pointing at the colossal ship. “Cyrus is wherever Slaught is.”

  The ships jockeyed for position. The Fire Scorpion and Scrag fired at the Eye of Orion, but – while the corvette had little offense left – it still had plenty of defenses. The Scrag’s missiles were old and susceptible to chaff and decoy drones. Steo had evaluated the Fire Scorpion’s missiles and given Hawking an application to hack them. Unfortunately, the Fire Scorpion’s modulation made it nearly immune to missile tracking.

  Yuina moved the corvette around in quick jaunts. Then one of her moves took her on a crash course with the AndroVault. Aboard the Fire Scorpion, Boc howled. He loved ship collisions.

  The Eye of Orion disappeared from the mercenaries’ scanners. Pesht and Boc both shrieked for information on where it went. The corvette was gone. There was no explosion, and no debris.

  CHAPTER 22

  Ideologies

  “Emergency high-speed docking maneuver complete,” Hawking said.

  “Nice bit of programming there,” Glaikis said. “The AndroVault’s tractor beam is the strongest I’ve ever seen. It pulled us into this bay safe and sound.”

  “Thank you,” Steo said. “I knew a ship this old couldn’t have good electronic security.”

  He had hacked into the ancient ship’s computers. As soon as the AndroVault’s docking bay was open, the Eye of Orion took a faster-than-light jump next to it, and been pulled inside.

  Renosha said, “We don’t know if they detected the docking, so time is of the essence.”

  “Right. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to board the bioark and find Cyrus. Give me one hour. If I don’t return, leave. They can’t fire on you inside here. They may not even know where we went. A sudden exit should give you time to get away.”

  Yuina said, “You’re just going to walk in?”

  “Acting like I belong is a part of gearjacking. I have experience in this.”

  “Is there any way we can convince you not to go alone?” Renosha asked.

  “I found Cyrus once, I can do it again.”

  He went to his quarters to prepare. He changed clothes to look tougher. Governor applied silvery lines to his skin to make him look enhanced.

  When he returned to the exit door, Renosha was there. The robot looked him over. For once he had a look of concern. “Be careful.”

  Glaikis’s voice came over the ship-wide comm. “The docking bay is pressurized. Our tunnel is connected.”

  The lights above the door flashed white, indicating it was safe. Steo looked at Renosha, but they didn’t say anything. He opened the door and marched down the tunnel.

  The tight spaces and metal walls of the bioark seemed foreign and obsolete to him. He was there to find someone, so he headed deeper into the colossal ship.

  When he heard voices, he followed them. Soon he came to a small dining room. Inside were a handful of men dressed in jumpsuits. He noticed they all looked misshapen: club feet, cauliflower ears and thick foreheads.

&nb
sp; “Hey. You. Have you seen the admiral? Or Cyrus?” he said in a gruff voice.

  They looked at each other in confusion.

  Steo wasn’t sure they spoke Glish, but he tried again. “You can speak, right? Where is the admiral?”

  “Sorry sir, we don’t know who you’re talking about.”

  Steo grunted and walked away.

  On the Fire Scorpion, Kiluth leaned over a panel and watched it with interest.

  Steo tried again when he found another group. The women didn’t seem inclined to talk to him.

  Eventually he passed a corridor and saw a mercenary standing guard. The merc wore black reflective armor and carried a tension shield and crashbar, the signs of a boarding combat specialist.

  Steo stopped and thought. He straightened his back and returned to the corner. He approached the mercenary in a deliberate fashion.

  “I need to speak to Admiral Slaught. I have a report of a disturbance I need to give him personally.”

  The mercenary moved faster than Steo could even register. He used his crashbar like a sword, punching Steo so hard in the chest it nearly burst his lungs. Steo only saw the quick movement and then blackness.

  “Alert Admiral Slaught, we have Steorathan Liet,” Kiluth said.

  Steo woke up and wretched. He faced a cold metal floor. His insides ached and felt shaky. His arms and legs barely responded to the surging pain in his torso. He quivered on all fours.

  A man next to him delivered a sharp kick to his leg. When Steo tried to get up, another pushed him back down. They laughed.

  Through watering, blinking eyes, Steo saw that they were young men in jumpsuits. One had a sloped forehead, the other had protruding eyes. They weren’t soldiers, but they had guns. Steo’s arms and legs twitched and he floundered on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

  The door opened with a squeak. Another man walked in, this one older. He had an air of authority about him and didn’t carry a gun. The bug-eyed one kicked Steo again, making him cough fiercely.