‘Thanks, genius,’ Marshall muttered as his experienced eyes gauged the distances and the movement of Titan and its would be assailant. ‘Helm, elevation four–two, corner velocity to port and bring our starboard batteries to bear.’
The helm was moving before Marshall had even finished the sentence.
‘Incoming message from the Ayleeans!’ the Tactical Officer warned.
A secondary hologram shimmered into view as Ambassador Vyree appeared upon Titan’s bridge deck. ’Your hour is up, admiral! Where are the survivors?!’
‘They’re dead, and this ship is contaminated!’ Marshall snapped. ‘Get the hell off my ship and get out of here, while you still can!’
Ambassador Vyree stared in amazement at the admiral, as though he were not sure whether to explode in rage or ask a question. Then, he scowled and his hologram vanished.
‘XO?!’ Marshall demanded. ‘Weapons assessment?’
Foxx could see the tactical holo–display showing Titan’s shields at maximum, ready to protect her against whatever barrage was coming. The alien vessel swung around, still entombed in its icy cocoon as it turned side–on to Titan and a flickering series of lights glowed on its starboard hull.
‘Cannons,’ Olsen said with relief. ‘Maybe their technology wasn’t so different from our own and…’
He broke off as the flickering points of light suddenly seemed to meld into one as several beams of light collided into a devastating pulse of energy that filled the viewing panel as it flared like a newborn star right before them.
‘Brace for impact!’
The blast hit Titan even as Foxx managed to grab hold of the command rail. The huge warship surged to starboard as though she had been hit by a wandering planet, the lights flickering out as Foxx was slammed against the rail. In the dim light she heard a terrific series of explosions and saw officers hurled from their seats to crash down onto the deck as showers of bright sparks splashed down from the darkened ceiling.
A series of whining alarms wailed across the ship as Marshall staggered back upright from where he had fallen onto one knee. Sparks tumbled in electrified waterfalls from panels blasted out by the power surge, cries of pain from injured crewmen competing with the crackle of wild energy surging through the ship as the lights flickered back on.
‘Status?!’ Marshall snapped.
The Tactical Officer hauled herself back into her seat, her hair in disarray and blood trickling from a wound on her head.
‘Shields holding, hull breaches on decks nine and fourteen, plasma batteries still charged but they hit us hard captain!’
‘Then hit ‘em back!’ Marshall yelled. ‘All batteries fire as they bear!’
Titan’s helm responded and the ship turned slightly as the two massive vessels passed each other in the frigid blackness of space, Titan trailing a glittering cloud of debris that sparkled in the light of the distant sun. Foxx held on to the command rail as she heard a deep and rhythmic pounding echo through the huge warship as one after another her massive plasma cannons blasted rounds toward the alien vessel.
She watched with the rest of the crew as the huge plasma rounds rocketed toward the alien ship and then plowed into her one after the other in vivid explosions of bright blue–white plasma and flame. Foxx squinted and saw the rounds plunging through the ship’s freezing cocoon and crashing into the superstructure, smashing huge hull panels outward to tumble through space as they punctured the ship’s protective chrysalis.
‘Direct hits!’ the Tactical Officer yelled, but then her joy faltered as she frowned at the screen. ‘No damage, all systems aboard her fully operational?’
Schmidt smiled as he replied to her.
‘The entity itself is bridging the damage,’ he replied, ‘electrically conducting and thus able to reform itself into the structures that we’ve destroyed. It’s why the ship still works, captain – there’s nothing that this being cannot effectively replace.’
Marshall’s fists clenched by his sides.
‘Signal the fleet,’ he growled. ‘We’ll have to join forces to obliterate this thing if we’re going to stop it.’
‘That might risk the entity getting aboard another vessel via the debris that would be created, captain,’ Schmidt pointed out. ‘Bringing any other vessel too close to this thing, even cannon range, could be suicide in the long run. I insist that the fleet remains clear of Titan, Polaris Station and Tethys Gaol for the duration!’
‘Then what do you suggest, doctor?’ Marshall snapped. ‘Because it’s on the warpath and we’re going to have to stop it somehow!’
Schmidt did not respond and simply vanished from sight as he travelled directly to his laboratory to work on the problem.
‘Fighters launching!’ the Tactical Officer yelled, ‘multiple targets bearing eight–oh–four, elevation minus two–niner!’
Marshall peered at the display screen and saw specks of lights pouring from the vessel’s lower hull, delta–like wings flashing in the sunlight as they turned and rocketed toward Titan.
‘Phantoms to intercept!’ Marshall snapped. ‘Tell the pilots to keep their distance though!’
The CAG relayed the order and Foxx saw pairs of Phantom fighters rocket past Titan to intercept the swarm of incoming vessels. The tactical screen zoomed in and she saw the alien craft appear, their hulls glowing a strange hue in the sunlight reflected from Saturn’s vast surface. They were small, arrow–like vessels with a form somewhat recognizable as fighter craft although their forward–raked delta wings made them look as though they were flying backwards. She could see no cockpits and the craft seemed to flock like birds did in the skies over Earth, wheeling and turning as one.
‘Drones,’ Marshall said, ‘controlled by the mother ship. We’ve seen this before.’
‘The Ayleeans tried it for a while back in the day,’ Olsen agreed with a grim smile. ‘Our fighter pilots have tactics to defend against them.’
Foxx watched as the Phantom fighters and the wheeling cloud of drones rocketed toward each other, saw pin–prick flashes of light zip between them as they opened fire with their cannons and heard the communications chatter between the fighter pilots.
‘Razor four, splash one!’
‘Like shootin’ rats in a barrel, Razor Four!’
‘Keep it loose, guys, don’t collide!’
As she listened, Foxx heard one of the pilot’s tones change dramatically.
‘There’s something on my screen!’
‘I’ve got nothing new on radar.’
‘No, on my canopy! It’s eating at the…’
‘Razor six, abort immediately, return to Titan!’ Marshall snapped, and then turned to the Tactical Officer. ‘On screen.’
Foxx saw one of the many holo–screens appear and show a fighter pilot in the cockpit of his Phantom, his face pinched with terror as he looked at the camera.
‘Get me out of here!’
‘Get back aboard Titan!’ Marshall ordered him again.
‘I can’t see out of the canopy, I can’t… they’re coming through! I can’t stop them, I can’t stop the…’
The words turned to an agonized scream as the canopy fractured and burst inward, the atmosphere inside the fighter vanishing in a puff of white vapor as all oxygen was frozen in an instant. Foxx saw a dense cloud of material flood the cockpit and swarm across the pilot’s body, his screams silenced by the vacuum of space but his mouth and eyes wide open as the gruesome stream of particles poured into every orifice, the pilot thrashing in silent agony as the very flesh and bones of his body eroded before their eyes, turned into clouds of frozen tissue that spilled from the cockpit in the bitter vacuum as he was literally eaten alive cell by cell in an instant. The pilot’s body fell still, his eyes opaque with ice where they had frozen solid until they vanished within the swarm of particles. The communications and camera link crackled into silence and darkness as Foxx saw one of the Phantoms on the main viewing screen spiral out of formation as it trailed a thin line of
sparkling debris behind it.
Suddenly, the fighter pulled up and opened fire on the other Phantoms.
‘They’re attacking the fighters directly,’ Olsen said. ‘That entity is using the drones to get to them, to us.’
‘Take Razor Six down, maximum firepower!’ Marshall roared.
Titan’s main guns boomed, and a terrific salvo of plasma fire blasted from her hull, charges that dwarfed the tiny fighter as it tried to rejoin the battle. Foxx watched as Titan’s salvo smashed into the Phantom and obliterated it in a fearsome inferno of flame and energy. The salvo dissipated, leaving absolutely no debris in its wake, the fighter completely incinerated.
‘All fighters pull back!’ Marshall ordered. ‘Get away from the drones!’
The Phantoms split away from the battle, accelerating in pairs to get clear of the swarming drones, but almost immediately Foxx and everybody else on the bridge realized what was about to happen.
The dense cloud of drone fighters wheeled about and rocketed toward Titan as they accelerated to maximum velocity. Behind them, the alien vessel’s huge cannons combined their fire again as a bolt of energy blossomed into life and blasted toward Titan, zipping past right beneath the advancing drones.
‘Evasive action!’ Marshall yelled, but it was already too late.
The blast of energy slammed into Titan and the entire ship shuddered beneath the tremendous blow as the lights flickered out once again. Foxx tumbled onto the deck and Vasquez fell alongside her, sparks and crackling energy running like glowing rain across the control panels as more cries of pain and alarm added to the chaos.
The cloud of drone fighters slammed through the massive warship’s shields as they faltered beneath the blast, and Foxx saw a series of dozens of tiny blasts flare against Titan’s immense hull as the drones deliberately crashed into her, plunging into the hull breaches from the mother ship’s infernal salvo.
‘Hull breaches penetrated by enemy drones!’ the Tactical Officer cried in horror, the terrible fate that had befallen the fighter pilot clear in her mind. ‘They’re inside the ship, captain!’
***
XXXIII
Foxx saw the admiral hesitate as he struggled to calculate a suitable response to the multiple crises enveloping the huge battleship as she tangled with the alien vessel and its menagerie of deadly weapons.
‘The Ayleeans are leaving!’ the Tactical Officer warned.
Foxx could see on the main display panel the ambassador’s vessel turning and accelerating away out of Saturnian orbit. Moments later, the gigantic warship’s fusion cores flared brilliant white and the Ayleean vessel vanished into super–luminal cruise.
The admiral whirled to the bridge crew.
‘Seal all decks and shut off the landing bays! Despatch the Marines in to guard the bulkheads around the impact point!’ he roared, and then he turned to the XO. ‘Order the fleet into firing position!’
Olsen hesitated. ‘Schmidt said that if we blasted the alien ship it could risk contaminating the rest of the fleet.’
Marshall’s reply was calm but forceful. ‘I’m not going to ask them to target just the alien ship.’
Olsen stared at the admiral for a long moment as he realized what Marshall was intending, and then he relayed the order as the rest of the bridge crew continued in silence with their duties, every single one of them fully aware of what Marshall would do if Titan could not shake off her attackers.
The Tactical Officer called out across the bridge. ‘Emergency distress signal from Tethys Gaol, admiral! They have no escape vessels available and there is evidence of a riot in progress!’
Foxx heard the call and her world seemed to stop moving. Tethys. Riot. Nathan. She looked at Marshall, aware of the burden the admiral was bearing but unable to hold her silence.
‘I need to get to the gaol,’ she said. ‘Nathan and Allen are in there alone in the middle of a riot. We can’t abandon them.’
‘We can’t help them,’ Marshall uttered, preoccupied with the battle. ‘Ironside knew what he was getting himself in to when he insisted on meeting with that criminal.’
‘Who may be innocent,’ Foxx reminded him.
‘May be,’ Marshall agreed, his voice rising, ‘while we are definitely facing a major invasion of our space! I don’t have time for this, detective. As long as this ship is locked down, so are you!’
Marshall stormed by her as he made for the Tactical Officer’s position. Vasquez moved alongside Foxx, Betty right behind him.
‘He’s not going to budge,’ Vasquez said. ‘Nathan’s got Allen with him, and if Reed really is innocent then they’ll join forces.’
Foxx glanced at Vasquez for a brief moment and then she whirled and marched off the bridge.
‘That’s not a risk I’m willing to take. How long do you think they’ll last in that gaol with the other prisoners running riot?’
‘We can’t leave,’ Vasquez pointed out as he hurried after her. ‘The ship’s on lockdown.’
‘Not yet it isn’t,’ Foxx shot back. ‘The Phantom fighters are still out there, which means the launch bays are still open. You know your way around this ship, you wanna go for a ride?’
‘You’re going out there?!’ Vasquez gasped. ‘There’s a battle raging!’
Betty hurried up alongside Foxx. ‘There’s a battle raging in that prison too, and your partner and Nathan are caught up in the middle of it with no weapons.’
Vasquez held her gaze for a moment and then glanced at the Marine guards nearby as he lowered his voice. ‘What did you have in mind?’
Foxx glanced back into the bridge, where she could see the captain monitoring the main display as the battle raged outside.
‘The fleet’s moving into attack position, and Marshall will let them blast Titan and that alien ship to hell if it halts the attack and protects the rest of the system,’ she said. ‘We need to get to Tethys first.’
‘How?’ Vasquez asked in confusion.
Foxx did not reply as she hurried through the ship’s corridors, crewmen rushing this way and that as they rushed to fight fires or repair damage to the ship’s battered hull. She saw a troop of Marines jog past, weighed down by their heavy armor as they headed with grim expressions toward where the alien material had entered the ship.
She reached the sick bay and dashed inside to see Schmidt’s glowing blue form hunched over a data display as he continued to scrutinize the samples he had taken.
‘The ship’s been breached,’ Foxx announced as she walked in with Vasquez.
‘I know,’ Schmidt replied without looking up. ‘I’m working as fast as I can, but this form of life is not like anything we’ve seen before.’
‘I need to get to the prison before the ship’s locked down.’
Schmidt looked up at her. ‘Ironside?’
‘He’s trapped there with Allen and the prisoners have started a riot,’ she replied. ‘We’re no good to him if Marshall has Titan blasted to pieces.’
Schmidt stared at her for a long moment. ‘What do you need from me?’
‘Access to a shuttle,’ Foxx said. ‘Can you clear us through?’
‘Marshall will have us strung up for it,’ Vasquez warned.
‘Marshall won’t be here if Titan is forced to sacrifice itself for the greater good,’ she pointed out. ‘If we succeed, you’re golden.’
Schmidt appeared to curse under his breath, although technically he didn’t breathe.
‘Ironside creates as many problems as he manages to solve.’
‘He went over there to defend an innocent man,’ Foxx reminded the doctor in a stern voice. ‘The problem was with the system, not Nathan.’
Schmidt’s apparent irritation dissolved into a warm smile as he looked at Foxx.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Nothing,’ Schmidt said, still smiling, ‘nothing at all. I have accessed shuttle 517, but you’ll have to hurry to reach it before the ship is locked down and you don’t have a pilot.’
&
nbsp; ‘Yes, we do,’ Foxx replied as she gestured to Betty. ‘If you’re game for this?’
Betty shot Foxx a disapproving look. ‘Are you kidding, honey?’
Foxx grinned as she dashed out of the sick bay with Vasquez and Betty close behind.
‘Marshall might have you blasted out of the sky for this!’ the former Marine said as they ran, dodging between Titan’s many crew all hustling this way and that through the ship’s corridors.
‘The battle is no excuse for leaving Nathan and Vasquez to die down there on Tethys!’
They hurried to an elevator shaft and boarded one heading down to the launch bays, the elevator travelling smoothly through the ship although Foxx could hear the blasts from outside reverberating through Titan’s immense hull and shuddering through the elevator shaft.
The doors shimmered out as the elevator reached the launch bays and Foxx hurried out with Vasquez close behind. She strode to the main entrance to the bays and saw two Marine guards snap to attention as they watched her approach, the lights around them flickering weakly under the barrage of fire from outside.
‘New Washington Police Department,’ Foxx said as she and Vasquez flashed their badges at the guards. ‘We’ve got a flight leaving.’
‘Launch bays are locked down ma’am,’ one of the Marines replied crisply. ‘Nobody goes in or out and all pilots are on Search and Rescue or reserve fighter pilot duties.’
‘We have our own pilot,’ Vasquez said, ‘and clearance from the captain himself, who right now is in the middle of a battle and trying to stop this ship from being blown to hell. If we don’t get aboard that shuttle, he might not make it.’
‘Orders are orders,’ the Marine replied.
‘Yes they are,’ Foxx said, ‘and Marshall gives them. You wanna call him up on the bridge in the middle of a battle and query the command you go ahead, but it’s your funeral.’
The Marines looked sideways at each other, and then they stood aside as the launch bay doors opened.
Titan (Old Ironsides Book 2) Page 24
