Teera stumbled toward the nearest Raython, her legs numb with fatigue and her throat tight, the wind across the hillside blowing with enough force to almost knock her off her feet. She was almost at the Raython when she heard a shriek that rang on the cold air, and she looked to her left to see a Marine locked in mortal combat with a Veng’en.
*
Qayin stalked closer to Kordaz, the knife light in his grasp, the blade wicked and glinting in the sunlight that flickered between the low-scudding clouds. Kordaz backed away, his chest heaving and blood spilling in copious amounts from the wound. His yellow eyes were pinched with pain, the irises tiny points of black focused entirely on Qayin.
Kordaz backed into the landing strut of the big X-shaped cruiser behind him and Qayin lunged forward and jabbed the blade directly toward Kordaz’s throat. The Veng’en’s right arm swept across and smashed Qayin’s blade aside as Kordaz jerked sideways, grabbed Qayin’s collar and smashed him into the landing strut. The Veng’en’s immense strength pinned Qayin’s chest to the strut, preventing him from bringing the blade to bear as Kordaz leaned in close, all pretence of pain and fear vanished.
‘You’re the kind of scum that my kind and I used to enjoy slicing to pieces in front of their friends, Qayin.’
Qayin glanced at the Veng’en’s chest wound and saw the the blood was already congealing in thick clumps around it, the flesh able to regenerate far faster than that of humans. He looked up at Kordaz in time to see the Veng’en force onto his stoic features something approaching a grin, his fangs bared.
‘I should have killed you long ago,’ he growled. ‘I won’t delay any longer, and it will be me leaving aboard this ship.’
Kordaz’s fearsome teeth lunged toward Qayin’s face and then a terrible heat seared Qayin’s neck as a plasma blast smashed into Kordaz. The Veng’en howled in agony as he was hurled aside and the smell of burning flesh scorched Qayin’s nose. Qayin whirled to see a Colonial pilot with pale blue skin standing nearby, a plasma pistol held double-handed in her grip and smouldering from the blast.
Qayin looked down and saw Kordaz sprawled upon the damp earth, the flesh of his chest crackling as it burned.
‘You okay?’ the pilot asked.
Qayin nodded, his heart thumping inside his chest as he turned to the pilot. ‘I owe you one,’ he said as he pushed away from the landing strut.
‘The Veng’en are infected,’ the pilot reported. ‘The Legion found a way to get to them.’
Qayin nodded and glanced down at Kordaz’s body. ‘Damn near got me.’
‘I’ve got to go,’ the pilot said, and before Qayin could respond she whirled and sprinted away toward two Raythons parked nearby.
Qayin turned as he heard the deafening roar of the Arcadia’s engines reach a new height and the huge frigate began to lift off. From his vantage point he could see the massive hull cradles detaching and falling over with deafening crashes as they were impacted by the frigate’s thrusters.
Qayin looked down at Kordaz’s smouldering body, and then he smiled and threw the doomed Veng’en a mock salute. Qayin whirled and dashed up the cruiser’s ramp. As he reached for the switch to close the ramp, he glimpsed the sight of his Marines valiantly fighting off the hordes of Hunters with an apocalyptic blaze of flame and smoke.
Qayin watched them only for a moment longer before he closed the ramp.
***
XL
‘Do as I say!’ Andaim shouted. ‘Maintain orbit!’
Andaim’s Raython raced away from the Veng’en cruiser, pursued by a volley of plasma fire that rocketed past his fighter as he weaved left and right to confuse the enemy’s aim.
‘Negative!’ came Mikhain’s reply. ‘Atlantia cannot withstand much more!’
‘The Veng’en ship is infected!’ Andaim yelled. ‘Taron was right! The Legion is affected by the star’s cosmic rays. It’s why they haven’t attempted to infect this system before, and how Salim Phaeon’s pirates took Arcadia! Some of her crew must have become infected and the rest abandoned her! There was no battle!’
Andaim rolled his Raython over and pulled in toward Atlantia, two squadrons of Raythons following him and forming a protective patrol around the frigate. A cloud of Scythe fighters rocketed in pursuit, plasma shots glowing red as they sought to hit the fleeing Raythons.
‘Then how come the Veng’en ship’s Legion isn’t being fried by the cosmic rays?!’ Mikhain asked.
‘They’re staying inside Chiron IV’s magnetic field,’ Andaim replied. ‘It’s allowing them to remain here longer.’
‘And what if Arcadia is under Salim’s control?!’ Mikhain demanded. ‘Even if we can escape the Veng’en, if the jamming is broken Salim will be in a position to hack and attack us!’
‘Deal with one damned problem at a time!’ Andaim insisted. ‘Maintain orbit and protect those on the surface from a Veng’en bombardment!’
‘Or we can flee, escape the cruiser and save Atlantia!’ Mikhain countered. ‘If what you say is true, they can’t follow us!’
‘They’ll catch up with you eventually once their damage is repaired!’ Andaim snapped back. ‘We must finish this, now! If we don’t give the captain more time and win this battle, the war is over! Atlantia is too far gone to repair her damage, Mikhain!’
Andaim watched as Atlantia was pounded by another broadside from the Veng’en cruiser, and he heard the transmission break up as the immense energy interference threatened to short out Atlantia’s entire electrical system. The XO’s voice broke through, distorted against crackling static.
‘… direct hit … port nacelle… overloa… weapons down…’
Andaim looked back and forth from the Veng’en cruiser and the stricken Atlantia, fires glowing through her hull like city lights viewed from a distance at night, and he knew that there was no longer any time to defend against the Veng’en cruiser.
Atlantia was already down and out.
‘Reaper Flight!’ he called. ‘Cover me!’
A flurry of affirmatives crossed the communications channel as Andaim rolled his Raython and pulled into a turn that placed the Veng’en cruiser right on his nose. He scanned his instruments and saw that her shields were still at thirty per cent, weak against a frigate like Atlantia, but still far too strong for his own plasma cannons to pierce.
A shower of bright red plasma shots raced up toward him and he banked left and right, rolling hard to confuse the enemy’s aim.
‘Their shields are too strong boss!’ one of the other pilots called. ‘Your weapons won’t break through!’
‘I know,’ Andaim replied. ‘I’m not going to use them. Just keep those Scythes off my back!’
Andaim watched as the huge cruiser grew rapidly in size before him, the plasma shots rocketing past his Raython as he weaved and aimed at a ridge of sensors high on the cruiser’s hull. He noted huge gashes where the Atlantia’s guns had penetrated the hull, fires and clouds of floating debris spilling from within. Amid the ragged wounds, machines moved, attempting to repair the damage. Countless machines.
‘Reaper One, pull up!’
Andaim did not reply, instead focusing his every sense on the surface of the Veng’en cruiser. He flew his Raython close to the cruiser’s bow and then turned and flew low over her hull, heading toward her stern at maximum velocity. Suddenly the massive ship seemed to leap in size before him, filling his vision as his Raython rocketed toward the sensor array. For a brief instant Andaim saw every tiny detail of the array before him. Hundreds of tiny blisters, each skinned with metal far thinner than the rest of the ship’s hull to allow signals both in and out. They ran in a line away from him down the hull, like a runway that no craft could use. His instruments blinked out at the last moment, their circuitry blown by the tremendous electro-magentic radiation blazing from the sensor array, and his communication link switched off.
Andaim let go of his controls and gripped hold of his seat as though doing so might save him from the impact.
*
/>
‘Sheilds at eight per cent! We can’t hold position any longer!’
Mikhain heard Lael’s cry and saw the tactical display showing Atlantia’s systems at critical overload and the hull breached on four levels.
‘If we move, the captain dies and so do the rest of the people down there!’ he yelled.
‘Arcadia’s lifting off!’ Ensign Scott shouted above the din of alarms echoing around the ship.
‘Maintain a sensor watch on her!’ Mikhain ordered. ‘Prepare main guns!’
‘We can’t assault the surface ourselves!’ the tactical officer cried. ‘We don’t have enough power to defend against the Veng’en attack!’
Mikhain’s mind screamed for release from the pain of the impossible choice facing him. The chaos, the conflict and the noise swelled in his mind until suddenly everything fell quiet. It was as though he could not hear a thing but for the immense silence humming through his overloaded brain.
In his mind’s eye, three simple facts stared at him, beckoned him to make his choice.
We can afford to lose Arcadia.
We can afford to lose the captain, the crew members and the slaves on the surface.
But we cannot afford to lose Atlantia.
We cannot afford to lose Atlantia. He was now her captain, and if they broke orbit the Veng’en cruiser would not be able to give chase. Risk everything in the remote hope that Captain Sansin would succeed in gaining control of Arcadia, or guarantee Atlantia’s escape and live to fight another day? The captain had said it himself, do not risk losing Atlantia.
Mikhain closed his eyes and thought only for a moment longer. The hell with Commander Ry’ere.
‘Helm!’ Mikhain yelled. ‘Break left, disengage immediately!’
‘Aye, cap’n!’
Mikhain whirled to the Ensign Scott. ‘Aim all weapons at Arcadia and blow her from the skies if she comes within range!’
Ensign Scott stared blankly at Mikhain, his reply monotone as though spoken by rote.
‘Aye, captain.’
Mikhain saw the tactical display switch to focus on the shape of Arcadia as she lifted off from the compound dock far below them on the surface, the pixelated image clear enough to deduce that she was already clear of the ground and moving. Around her, pinned down, were hundreds of human beings.
The helmsman engaged Atlantia’s main engines and the frigate surged out from beneath the huge Veng’en cruiser. Almost immediately Lael called out.
‘She’s charging weapons and targeting the surface captain!’
‘Helm, maximum power!’
The helmsman leaned across his console and pushed the throttles wide open.
‘Belay that order!’ Lael cried out. ‘The jamming signal has been broken!’
Mikhain’s eyes widened as in the same instant the sounds of the pilots of the Raythons broke through, the radio static clearing.
‘The Veng’en’s sensor array has been destroyed!’ one of them yelled. ‘Get Arcadia up here now!’
Mikhain’s brain could not comprehend how the fighters and bombers had gotten through, but he did not waste time finding out. He whirled to Lael.
‘Hack the ship’s systems, now!’
‘Signal’s already being emitted!’ Lael replied. ‘Computers are accessing Arcadia’s control networks!’
‘Helm, reverse course, engage the Veng’en cruiser, full attack!’ Mikhain snapped.
‘Aye sir!’
‘Tactical, open fire as soon as our cannons come to bear!’
‘Aye sir!’ Ensign Scott replied.
Mikhain clenched his fists as he felt the Atlantia heel over once more, swinging around to broadside the Veng’en ship.
‘How long before Arcadia reaches us?’ he demanded.
‘She’s climbing now,’ Lael replied. ‘Her trajectory will take her into orbit far from our position. Salim must be in control of her, and he’s too far out for our signals system to hack the controls!’
Mikhain grasped at his hair. On the surface below, hundreds of innocent lives that he could not abandon. Far away, Arcadia slipping away from them with her massive arsenal of guns. Ahead, he saw the Veng’en cruiser’s massive cannons open fire.
‘Intercept, now! Maximum power!’ he yelled.
The Atlantia surged forward as the shower of massive plasma charges rained down toward the planet below.
‘Brace for impact!’ Mikhain bellowed as the displays showed the Veng’en broadside rocketing down toward the surface and Atlantia rushing in to intercept them.
The salvo of blasts smashed down across Atlantia’s hull and the entire vessel shuddered as the lights flickered erratically and panels were blasted from the bridge walls as circuits overloaded and sprayed showers of sparks across display consoles.
‘Hull breach astern!’ Lael called. ‘Fires through multiple decks, hull integrity at twelve per cent! Another salvo and we’re done for!’
Mikhain saw a handful of plasma shots race past Atlantia and rocket down toward the surface below.
‘Wait,’ Mikhain ordered. ‘We can hold on, just a little longer! Helm, maintain position but keep jinking!’
‘Aye sir!’
‘And keep hitting her with everything we’ve got left!’ Mikhain bellowed. ‘We’ve got to give Captain Sansin more time!’
***
XLI
‘Take cover!’
Evelyn heard General Bra’hiv’s bellowed command even as the shrill din from Arcadia’s enormous engines shattered the air around them, the already turbulent winds of Chiron’s atmosphere amplified by the gigantic intakes sucking in vast quantities of air.
Evelyn ducked down as the wind howled past her, hundreds of others mirroring her actions. Ahead, she saw clouds of Hunters being sucked up off the ground and whipped upward toward the huge engines.
The massive docking cradles groaned and shrieked as metal under tension was warped by the shifting weight of the huge frigate above them. She tried to aim her pistol straight at the Veng’en warriors advancing from cover to cover on their position, but she could not draw an accurate bead as the gusting winds tugged at her body and arm.
‘Where’s Teera?!’ Ishira cried out.
Evelyn could not reply as the wind buffeted her head, and then she heard the Marines cry out together in unison.
‘Fire in the hole!’
A flamethrowing soldier opened up on the liquid drenching the Hunters, the jet of flame licking out and caressing the machines with brutal efficiency. Even though the winds were racing past, the heat was enough to spark the fluid into flame and suddenly the entire wave of Hunters was transformed into a sea of burning machines, heat haze rippling upward from their surface.
‘Get down!’
Evelyn threw her hands over her head and crouched down as the flames crackled overhead, the Ogrin around them fleeing in pain as the super-heated air scorched their faces and burned their clothes. The dense, acrid smoke soared upward in billowing veils toward Arcadia’s huge engine intakes, thousands of burning Hunters aglow with flame flying up into the air with them as Evelyn squinted against the force of the wind and saw Arcadia’s hull lift off its massive cradles and begin to ascend.
‘Get flat on the ground!’ she cried out around her. ‘Lay flat!’
Hundreds of slaves within earshot dropped onto their bellies as Arcadia’s main engines engaged and the huge ship eased forward, thousands of atmospheric thrusters blasting jets of vapour at supersonic speed in support of the massive internal anti-gravity gyroscopes that enabled Arcadia to lift off. Evelyn, her eyes squinted against the immense force of the wind, saw clouds of flaming Hunters blasted through the air over their heads like flaming meteors to vanish into the distance.
‘We’re out of Devlamine fluid!’ a Marine shouted in desperation.
Arcadia’s thrusters blasted downward into the deep valley of her docking bay and then upwards out of it, clouds of dust and rock spraying up into the sky as she lifted off and thundered away over the c
liffs and the ocean. Clouds of debris, vortexes of dust and whorls of burning Hunters swirled through the skies around them as they crouched and watched the frigate escape.
‘Enemy front!’
Bra’hiv’s cry alerted the Marines as the remaining swathes of Hunters, immune to distraction from their murderous primary goal, surged ever forward as the deafening roar of Arcadia’s engines began to fade away. The Marines opened fire again but there was little chance of them holding back the dense sea of machines sweeping toward them.
Evelyn turned and saw more Hunters swarming in across the landscape behind them, running like oil down watercourses and flattening seas of grass as they advanced in their millions.
The Marines switched positions, dashing to encircle the entire crowd of slaves and Ogrin as they began drawing together and away from the advancing machines. The densely packed slaves stood shoulder to shoulder with each other and stared wide eyed as they were encircled by the Hunters. The entire field was littered with the dead bodies of countless Veng’en, their corpses being consumed and torn apart as the Hunters advanced.
‘This is it!’ Bra’hiv roared.
Evelyn suddenly felt a bizarre sense of calm descend upon her. Faced with certain death and with no possible means of escape, it was as if a terrible burden had been released from her shoulders. Evelyn lowered her pistol, realising that it was useless against the massive army of machines bearing down upon them.
It was over.
‘Let’s take as many of them down with us as we can!’ Bra’hiv yelled.
Evelyn watched as the Marines opened fire as one, and then suddenly a series of massive plasma blasts ripped through the Hunters. Evelyn’s eyes widened and she whirled to see a Raython hovering nearby, its engines whining as it fired repeated blasts into the sea of Hunters. Evelyn felt a wave of relief as she recognised Teera’s face in the cockpit.
‘It’s not enough!’ Bra’hiv yelled.
Evelyn was about to wave her arms at Teera and try to indicate that she should clear a path for them as best she could when another series of blasts hammered the Hunters around them. The plasma rounds thundered closer and closer as cries of alarm went up from the crowd, explosions rippling toward Evelyn and churning the earth and with it thousands of the nanites.
Atlantia Series 3: Aggressor Page 29
