by Terry Mixon
“Invincible has positive control of the ship and weapons,” Jared said. “Relocate to operations.”
Unfortunately, the lift was offline. They weren’t going anywhere.
All scanner platforms destroyed. Boxer Station is still firing beams, but they missed us. Courageous is now firing on the destroyers. I am joining her. Combat effectiveness down to thirty percent.
“Focus on four ships and open fire.” He expanded his internal awareness of the scanner readings and saw that the enemy had also heavily damaged Courageous.
The destroyers peeled away from Scott Pond and opened fire on Invincible. This time, the superdreadnaught had enough range to use her anti-missile defenses.
The short-range missile duel was brutal. Thank God the superdreadnaught could absorb damage that would kill a battlecruiser. The first exchange took out three of the destroyers and crippled a fourth. It also dropped Invincible to twenty percent combat effectiveness. Courageous was also operating way below normal, but she killed two destroyers.
The second exchange eliminated all the destroyers. Which is, of course, when four more disengaged from the station and came after them.
“Execute phase three,” Jared said. “Send the signal, Invincible.”
New York and Ginnie Dare opened fire from hiding in the cloud of dead ships surrounding the station. Their missiles were no match for the Rebel Empire destroyers, but they came out of nowhere, striking two of the destroyers before they could even raise battle screens. Those two promptly exploded.
Courageous was in better shape and turned to help her sisters before Invincible could move. The battlecruiser engaged the last two destroyers while New York and Ginnie Dare went totally defensive. The fight was brutal and short. After one exchange, the two enemy destroyers were gone.
The destroyers in his task force were moderately damaged in the exchange of fire, but operational and fully combat capable. Courageous seemed to be in as bad a shape as Invincible. His estimation of the enemy response had been a few orders of magnitude short of reality. His plan had almost failed.
Boxer Station was still firing beam weapons, but they were far enough off target that he wasn’t worried about them. Without scanners, the enemy wouldn’t be able to hit them at all. The same was not true of the seven destroyers heading back toward them from Harrison’s World.
Invincible, are there any ships left attached to that station at all?
“Bridge communications restored. With active scanners online, I can tell all the docks are now empty except for the large vessel used to move ships.”
“What is our condition? Engines, weapons, and defensive systems?”
“Our drives are fully operational. Screens are down, but damage control is working on them. The engineer might have a more accurate timeframe for availability, but I estimate half an hour for two-thirds power. Weapons are almost all offline due to battle damage. I am unable to estimate repair times.”
Jared considered their tactical options. “Set course for the flip point leading deeper into the Old Empire at full speed. Signal Courageous to join us. The destroyers can keep a watch on the station while hiding in the Fleet graveyard. Put me through to Commander Baxter.”
“Baxter. Go ahead, Captain.”
“How long will it take to restore control of the ship to the bridge or flag bridge?”
“The main bridge is gone. We took a couple of direct hits in that area of the ship. We have a team in operations and they’ll have the ship back under control in a few minutes. Mostly people from my staff, so don’t count on any fancy shooting. The flag bridge power and control runs will take longer to get fully back online. The lift is cut a few decks away from you, but I should have you out in half an hour.”
“Do what you can. Keep me in the loop for any major challenges. Mertz out.”
Zia turned to face him. She had a handheld communicator to her ear. “My people say we’ve lost twenty of our twenty-four missile tubes. We might be able to bring four back online with a few hours work. That’s not enough to handle seven enemy destroyers.”
He considered his options. “What is the enemy doing?”
“They’ve changed course as a group and are heading for the flip point leading to the Rebel Empire. We’ll beat them to the flip point by about half an hour. It’ll be one hell of a fight, but I can’t say I’m feeling good about it. Courageous has significant damage. She’s lost ten out of twelve tubes. Let’s say she can get two or three of them back online. Seven destroyers are probably going to be a tough nut for the two of us together.”
“Then we better be on our game. Work it as best you can. I want as much of our combat capability restored as possible. If nothing else, we leave what’s left of the enemy in bad enough condition that the destroyers have a chance.”
* * * * *
It took them almost an hour to pry his people out of the flag bridge. He spent the time coordinating repairs and talking with Graves over on Courageous about possible tactical plans. None of them seemed very promising.
When the lift doors finally opened, he sent Zia with the remaining bridge officers to take over operations. A call from Doctor Cartwright diverted him to the main cargo bay.
He found the scientists scrambling around one of the devices. The combat had torn all three loose from their pallets and dumped them against one of the bulkheads. They all showed varying degrees of damage.
“I’m a little pressed for time, Doctor,” he said.
The older man broke away from his fellows. “Captain. I’m certain you are, but I need to give you an update on these devices. We’ve confirmed that they are almost certainly designed to be some kind of flip point plug.”
“That’s useful, but they look like they’re out of service.”
Cartwright nodded. “We’re working on getting one of them repaired by salvaging the parts from the others. I believe the damage is mostly cosmetic. Carl is working on unlocking the least damaged device and trying to access the onboard computer. I realize they may not be useful at the moment, but I wanted you to be aware of their purpose. It does indeed look as though they are meant to prevent ships from using a flip point.”
Jared took a minute to consider his options. It was possible these might be helpful, if he could arrange the circumstances just right. “What happens when one of these is turned on? The flip point becomes unusable? Keep the details brief.”
“Any ship attempting to use the flip point would almost certainly be destroyed.”
“How long would the flip point be closed after the machine is turned back off?”
The scientist shrugged. “We don’t know. Perhaps it would be immediately traversable. Or the wormhole might take hours or days to stabilize. Perhaps longer. We won’t know without experimenting.”
That didn’t sound healthy to Jared. “Experimenting how?”
“Sending probes through. If they don’t make it, the wormhole is still closed.”
“And if they do?”
“Then a ship should be able to survive the transition. The probes would be much more sensitive to damage than a ship.”
That wasn’t the most appetizing course of action to Jared’s thinking. The next system over had been lightly occupied before the Fall, but it might be more heavily seeded now. They had no way of knowing without checking. And if they did go, they might find themselves trapped on the other side, unable to assist the two destroyers in any way.
“Get one working. I have complete confidence in you and your people. Position it so we can drop it if we decide to use it. And secure these other two. We might need them later.”
“Of course.” The scientist returned his complete attention to the strange device.
Jared motioned for Carl to come over. “The AI took control when we lost the connection to the flag bridge. It fired the weapons. Do you know anything about that?”
Carl smiled. “Certainly. This is a warship, so it needed to be able to control the weapons. I removed the prohibition against
harming human beings, but added language assuring it would not act against the best interests of its crew. Plus it’s bound to obey you under all circumstances.”
Jared sighed. “I’m not this ship’s commanding officer. Even if I were, I’m not immortal. Someday this ship will be in operation without that kind of oversight. That makes it potentially very dangerous.”
Owlet sagged a little. “I’m sorry, sir. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
He clapped the younger man on the shoulder. “You did. We would’ve all died if you did anything else. I just wanted to press the point to you that you need to ask us before you make these kinds of changes.”
“Should I start setting things up to recreate the AI without those changes?”
Jared shook his head. “No. We’ll run with it as is for a while. Go help them get this flip blocking device working.”
“Yes, sir.” The boy headed for the other scientists.
It was hard to be angry. Carl Owlet might be a genius, but he was only sixteen. If Jared wanted something done a specific way, he had to remember to say so.
He headed for operations. He had one more battle to plan for. The most important one of his career. If he lost it, his people were certain to die.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Breaching Boxer Station went more smoothly than Kelsey had hoped. The cargo bay they entered seemed abandoned. The crates had sagged and fallen over in places, occasionally spilling their contents on the deck.
As soon as the entire team was inside, Reese had them moving toward the cargo lift. They’d use the stairs beside it to get down to the deck they wanted. From there it would be a relatively short trip to the maintenance tubes.
They hadn’t made it that far before she felt a slight vibration in the deck. The station had just fired missiles. That was fast. She hoped Jared was one step ahead of the weapons headed his way.
The hatch leading to the stairwell opened without any trouble and the marines began streaming into it. They made the dozen levels down without running into anyone.
That’s when a transmission came over the general channel. “Tiger Three in contact with hostile weapons platforms. The IFF units seem to be working. They are withdrawing ahead of us without firing.”
“Thank God for small favors,” Reese muttered on the command channel. “With any luck, that’s the only resistance we’ll encounter.”
Kelsey doubted things would be that easy. That proved to be the case moments later when her armor indicated a stunning blast had struck her, almost certainly from the anti-boarding weapons on the station. That happened several more times before they stopped. The AI in control of the station had discovered they were immune to the attack.
She had no doubt that it would come up with a different plan shortly.
They made it to their level and entered the maintenance hatch. The cramped ladder took them up to the area between decks. They’d make their way to the main computer center without being in plain sight.
Other teams began reporting that they were under observation by the weapons platforms. Lieutenant Reese had made the decision not to fire on them if they didn’t pose a direct threat.
Kelsey searched for implant access to the camera systems, but the computer had her locked out. So much for doing what Jared had done on Courageous. They’d just have to go in blind.
“We’re at exit point alpha,” the lead marine said.
“Go,” Reese responded.
The marines went up the ladder and out the hatch, spreading in both directions. Kelsey popped out and headed for the computer center right up the corridor. The hatch was closed, but she’d come prepared with a breaching charge. No need for a plasma rifle this time.
Or for the charge, either. The main hatch opened at her touch and she slid in with her flechette rifle at the ready. The control center was unoccupied and looked disused.
“Clear.” She touched one of the consoles and it came to life. The computer was offline.
That made no sense. That couldn’t be right.
Kelsey called several of the marines to help her and opened the wall hiding the computer. The systems were cold and dark.
“The main computer is offline,” she said. “Something else is calling the shots.”
Reese stared past her. “The AI is in control of the system. It has to be on this station.” He switched to the general channel. “All teams, Tiger Actual. The AI in control of this system is on this station. If you encounter an area that looks suspicious, report it at once.”
He turned to Kelsey. “What’s our next target, Princess?”
“Let me see if I can access the station’s internal scanner network. That might help us get out of here faster.”
The console she’d brought online was one of the most secure on the station. The designers had it hardwired into all the critical systems. With a little work, she managed to access the station’s internal vid feed.
Kelsey set the screens to a very high rotational speed, so the images were only there just long enough for her implants to register the data. To her eyes, they were moving far too quickly to make any sort of sense.
Moments later, the console blanked. The AI had locked her out. It was too late, though. Her implants had captured some good data. By her guess, she’d seen about two-thirds of the station.
Her implants correlated the data. It wasn’t complete, but it told her what she needed to know. “I got it. The mobile weapons platforms are in four areas of the station. I missed seeing a few sections, but it looks like our team and one other isn’t under direct threat. I can see why, too. The prisoners are in the main cargo hold.”
Reese nodded. “Tiger Four, Tiger Actual. Reroute to the primary cargo hold. Locate our people and secure them.”
He switched back to the command channel. “What about the AI? Any idea where it is?”
“The other computer centers all registered as offline. Wherever it is, it’s in complete control of this station. I spotted one small group of weapons platforms near fusion plant three. It might be close to that, but I’m grasping at straws.”
“Shutting down all the power to the station will stop the damned thing, too. How do you think the captain is doing?”
“Well, there hasn’t been any interference from other ships and I don’t feel like there are any missiles being fired. I think that’s good news. What’s the plan?”
“We go in fast. What’s the fastest path to fusion three? And how many fusion plants are there?”
Kelsey consulted her map. “Six. Maybe main engineering would be a better choice. We might be able to shut down all the power if we get there.”
“It locked you out of the console. I’m thinking we need to be more direct.”
“Go back toward the maintenance hatch, pass it, and take the first stairwell up eight decks. Keep going forward and it’s on the right at the next main cross corridor.”
A marine shouted as she was about the exit the computer center. “Hostiles incoming!”
Kelsey ran into the corridor and saw the man running toward them with a rifle in his hands. She shouldered her way forward as the marines dropped into firing positions. “Hold fire! Hold fire!”
The man’s hair was long, but moderately well kept. Dressed in a Fleet uniform that had seen better days, he wasn’t a savage like the Pale Ones. He was screaming something as he ran.”
“I’ll kill you! Run, you fools!”
He raised his rifle, but she was faster. Her neural disruptor was in her hand and firing. The blue bolt took him in the center of the chest and he dropped, his rifle clattering toward them.
“He’s sentient,” Kelsey said as she made her way to him. “Stun human opponents, if they’re unarmored.”
She knelt beside the man. His rank tabs indicated he was a lieutenant in the engineering department. His uniform was patched, but serviceable. He only had the rifle as a weapon. He didn’t even have a spare magazine.
“Where there’s one, there’s more,�
�� Reese said. “He’ll be out a while. Perez and Kuban, grab the prisoner. We’ll take him with us. Keep an eye out for more hostiles.”
As soon as he said that, another dozen men and women ran around the same distant corner as the man had used. All of them were screaming warnings of some kind or another. Kelsey imagined that was how the compromised men and women had acted during the rebellion. It chilled her to the bone.
The marines had already swapped their flechette rifles for their neural disruptors. Their concentrated fire took the hostiles out just as they opened fire. A few men took hits, but their armor held.
“Leave them all,” Reese commanded. “The AI is more important. All teams, Tiger Actual. There are sentient, but controlled human defenders. Stun only for unarmored personnel, if possible. Tiger One cover Tiger Four. All other teams prepare for new targets. We have some fusion plants to take offline.”
Two groups of armed humans interrupted the trip to fusion plant three. The team took some injuries, but stunned them all.
They also ran into some of the weapons platforms, but they were rushing elsewhere. That made her nervous, since none of the teams were in the area the machines were heading toward.
Kelsey signaled Reese. “Lieutenant, continue on to the fusion plant. Shut it down and move on to the next one. I want this station in the dark ASAP. Talbot and I are going to find out what those things are up to.”
The marine officer didn’t look happy, but he headed off with all but a dozen of the marines. Talbot and the rest followed her as she ran. They trailed the machines to a large open hatch.
The compartment was like the one she’d seen on the destroyer. Charging stations everywhere. Some already occupied.
“It doesn’t seem like they’d need a snack in the middle of an attack,” Talbot said as he had his people take up defensive positions.
She agreed. “It might be trying to reprogram them so they can shoot on us. The scientists said they couldn’t alter that code, but let’s not take chances. Take those things out. Hell, stand back.” She brought her plasma rifle off her back and lit up the machines on one side of the compartment just as two of the machines that had been there rose from the charging cradles.
