What used to be the main administrative building of Post Alpha lay in utter ruin in front of them. No wall stood higher than two meters, while rubble often did.
But these were inanimate metal and stone. The cellular composition of the rubble and edifice vanished from her top-level perception as she began seeking indicators of living organic cells. Heartbeats, spots of heat created by warm body temperatures.
I see death. So much death. “There are only two discrete life signs detectable within this structure. One is—” she flowed forward, into the ruins, and paused at a point near the center “—here. The other is—” she moved to a corner of what had once been the front wall, facing the slope on the far left “—here. The characteristics of the readings suggest this second one is most likely to be Felzeor.” She shifted back toward the interior. “And the first one is…no longer registering.” Life, gone.
“Understood.” Caleb had followed her movements without question or effort. He studied the rubble burying the tiny, weak life signs for a few seconds, then sent out a wave of diati. The topmost slab, possibly from a ceiling, tumbled away.
Valkyrie circled, particles flowing one after another in a slow-motion pirouette as she took in the full measure of the scene. Past the outline of the administration building rose a towering mountain; no more survived beyond this point. But below? “I must go. I can find others who are injured, down the hill where structures still stand.” Where life still stands a chance. “Perhaps I can bring them help.”
He waved her off as a cross-beam lifted up and toppled over. “Go. Do more good. And thank you.”
13
AFS STALWART II
CHIONIS STELLAR SYSTEM
MILKY WAY SECTOR 59
* * *
MIRIAM ACCEPTED AN UPDATE on damage reports across the fleet from Major Halmi. The data revealed what looked to David like encouraging numbers, but this didn’t stop her from frowning and issuing several new orders.
Halmi pivoted and strode purposefully off, and Miriam redirected the frown to the tactical map. She studied it with the intensity of a painter mid-masterpiece, when the formless swirls of color and vague contours became texture, shadow and light.
“Suggestions?”
David stood off to her left, close but far enough away to not interfere with her work or the work of those who bustled around the bridge. Much occurred both here and out beyond the hull for him to observe, but again and again he found himself entranced watching Miriam adroitly maneuver through the intricacies of pitched space combat.
In the now distant past, he’d been the ship captain and the one always knee-deep in one fracas or other, while she managed the complex systems that made the waging of war possible, usually from the safety of an office. In his absence, though, she’d done more than step up when duty demanded it—she’d surpassed him. She’d transferred her considerable skills at logistics and systems management to the front lines. There she’d adapted them to suit the specialized needs called for by her position at the helm of the command ship of a vast multi-agency fleet in the throes of a multi-universe war. The realization evoked pride, not jealousy…but it also left him wondering what his place might be. In the war, in the world, in her life.
In the here and now, he merely shook his head wryly. “How did you learn to be a battlefield commander?”
“Necessity.” She arched an eyebrow. “Suggestions?”
He blinked and shook off the vestiges of the reverie. If she was asking for his help, he would not deny her.
The tactical map showed, as he imagined it often did when engaging Machim forces, a battle of attrition. Her ships were superior in every way—better equipped, faster and hardier—but the enemy numbered so damn many. “Honestly, I’m impressed. It’s going well. You’re holding your own, and if the current trend holds you will eventually win against far larger numbers.
“But if you have a recurring problem, it’s the Machim battlecruisers. Everything smaller you can swat away with little trouble once they’re all you’re facing, but those behemoths are clogging up the battlefield and forcing you to spend most of your time shooting at them. Putting aside for the time being the spectre of the Imperium, you need to clear out as many battlecruisers as you can as fast as you can, or we’ll be here all day.” He brought a hand to his chin. “Do the Sabres have arcalasers?”
“No. The expense was prohibitively high, even for a well-funded operation.”
“It’s all right. The battlecruisers don’t have them either, so it can still work.”
“What can still work?”
He stepped closer to the tactical map and her as a faint buzz of adrenaline began to hum beneath his skin. Battle, the waging of it and the winning of it, had always been in his blood. “Their battlecruisers can fire at three separate targets at once, correct?” She nodded. “Put five Sabres on a battlecruiser. I know, they’re glass cannons. What are your toughest tanks on the field?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Alliance cruisers.”
He chuckled. “Was true then, still true now. Assign an Alliance cruiser to each Sabre. When the Machim battlecruiser turns its weapons on an attacking Sabre, the cruiser will sweep in and block for it, absorbing the bulk of the fire. The instant the Machim vessel directs its attention to another attacker, the cruiser will drop out of the way and the Sabre will resume firing. A minimum of two Sabres will be delivering sustained, full-strength fire on the battlecruiser at all times. The enemy’s shields then its hull will buckle in…” he did a rough approximation of the math in his head, for while his consciousness may be quantum in origin, his neurons were not “…twelve seconds. Fifteen at most.”
She stared at him, skepticism prominent on her features. Bozhe moy, did he know that look. But he didn’t back down.
“Artificials are piloting those Sabres, Miri. They can move themselves far more rapidly and precisely than you, I or the Machim captains could dream of achieving. And if a cruiser happens to catch a swipe of friendly fire on its backside, well, that’s why it’s a tank.”
“David, there are eight hundred twenty battlecruisers on the field.”
“Do this, and there will be six fewer every fifteen seconds. In ten minutes, you’ll have cut their number by a third. In half an hour, the engagement’s over.”
“What about all the other Machim vessels? They will come to the battlecruisers’ defense.”
“The evidence outside that viewport there says they don’t matter. Raindrops plinking off a tin roof.”
She was silent for a moment, then checked the tactical map. “Okay.”
Commandant Solovy (AFS Stalwart II): “AEGIS Sabre and EA cruiser captains, switch to Mission Channel 4 for new instructions.”
When she’d finished relaying the details, she turned back to him. “Now, about the Imperium.”
SIYANE
CHIONIS STELLAR SYSTEM
MILKY WAY SECTOR 59
Alex dodged laser fire not meant for her and arced away from the dogfight she’d apparently wandered into the midst of.
Despite the glib assurance she’d given Caleb, she found herself surprised at how odd it felt for the Siyane to be under her sole and complete control. She’d flown it solo for years, but to do so now felt foreign. Unnatural, even. Objectively, the ship responded to her actions with no detectable lag in performance. Hell, it responded faster and more smoothly than it did in the old days thanks to a slew of upgrades acquired over the last eighteen months. Still, she’d taken for granted how much work Valkyrie did behind the scenes.
But it was more than that. For the first time in quite a while, she was truly, completely alone on her ship. Funny, it didn’t seem to hold the appeal it once did. She had all these wonderful people to share her days and nights with now—Caleb, Valkyrie, her mother, her father—and her life was so much richer for them being in it.
Commandant Solovy (AFS Stalwart II): “AEGIS Assault Brigade #2, reinforce EA NW Regiments #7 through #10 in Quadrant 2.”
; On the tactical map, dots began moving against the current of the natural flow of the battle. With any luck, the movements appeared random to the enemy.
Brigadier Ashonye (EAS Marengo)(Command Channel): “Have we been able to find out if they brought Igni missiles? I haven’t seen any fired.”
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II)(Command Channel): “No recorded use as of yet. Thomas, can the Connexus analyze enemy vessel movements the way they did at the Provision Network Gateway?”
Thomas (Command Channel): ‘None of the battlecruisers exhibit signs of carrying Igni missiles. It cannot be determined whether the same is true for the Imperium, however.’
Blasted Imperium. The imposing command vessel stalked the battlefield like a tromping elephant, cowardly firing from behind its uber-shielding in short bursts so as to avoid falling into the trap Malcolm had sprung at the Provision Network Gateway. Knowing they couldn’t damage it, the AEGIS vessels tried to ignore the Imperium until it turned its firepower on them, at which point they stealthed or fled. It was a stalling tactic with no defined goal on either side, but the game would nevertheless have to resolve eventually. If the Imperium carried Igni missiles, it was holding the winning hand in reserve.
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “One second. I’ll find out.”
She pointed the Siyane away from the crux of the combat and engaged the autopilot, then slipped into sidespace and mentally breached the interior of the Imperium.
The Machim Central Command data cache had included images of the Igni missiles, and the weapons were notable for being significantly larger and bulkier than other Anaden weapons, so they should be easy to spot. She ignored the bustling of the crew to zip through the weapons bay and torpedo tubes until she found what she was searching for.
She reopened her eyes in the Siyane cockpit, took the controls and pivoted to rejoin the battle.
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “The Imperium has four Igni missiles on board. Two of them are loaded in torpedo tubes.”
Brigadier Ashonye (Marengo)(Command Channel): “Four is better than the kind of numbers we’ve faced before, but it’s still worrisome news.”
Alex drummed the fingers of one hand on the dash. The brigadier was correct on both counts. Four Igni missiles targeted appropriately stood to wipe out a significant number of AEGIS ships and inflict a grievous toll, but four wouldn’t win the Machim the engagement. On the other hand….
Machim commanders had shown a willingness to take out their own people if it meant damaging their enemy in the process, and somehow she doubted this commander was going to lose sleep over incidentally killing a few hundred Ch’mshak. If the Imperium sent a single Igni missile through the atmosphere to strike Post Alpha, the entire base would be obliterated, along with every ship in the air above it and twenty kilometers of land in every direction. Every Marine, every fighter pilot, every anarch. Caleb was down there, and she didn’t think the diati could keep him safe from a blast of such magnitude.
She’d pulse him and ask him to leave, but it would be a futile act. He’d never do it—not until he found Felzeor, and probably not even then.
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “If they haven’t used them on us by now, it likely means they’re meant for Post Alpha. What are they waiting for?”
Commander Lekkas (MA-Primary)(Command Channel): “They’re waiting for the Ch’mshak to wreak as much carnage as possible first. Bloodlust and vengeance are driving this attack. Only when there are no anarchs left to kill or no Ch’mshak left to do the killing will they finish off the post. At that point, since they can’t beat us, they’ll leave.”
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “You’ve got eyes on the ground, Morgan. When will that be?”
Commander Lekkas (MA-Primary)(Command Channel): “Honestly? Soon. The Marines are still clearing out a fair number of Ch’mshak in the ruins, but their ship and their reinforcements are dust, so it’s only a matter of time.”
Fuck. Nobody down there was apt to want to leave until there were no more survivors to find, which was far too long to stay. So how to stop the Imperium from loosing a torrent of antimatter destruction upon the surface?
Ugh…she longed for someone to bounce ideas off. But she was alone; she had to think for herself.
A Kat could spirit away the Igni missiles, much as Mesme had done with the Tartarus Trigger at the Provision Network Gateway battle. But the Kats were busy defending multiple anarch-friendly locations, in at least two instances from active attack at this very hour. Also, the odds were high that as soon as one Igni missile vanished, the Imperium commander would react by firing the remaining three.
No, they needed to destroy the damn elephant, and in a rapid, unexpected manner that didn’t give the elephant’s commander time to go scorched earth.
Kennedy had said the wormhole tech might provide the answer to circumventing the Imperium’s shielding…because the shielding wasn’t pandimensional, merely thick, strong and reinforced. A wormhole could get around it and open an exit inside the shielding!
But a hundred meters was not a great distance when one was in space, and a thick hull and the intact shielding bounded either end of that distance. Hell, the Siyane’s wingspan alone stretched nearly thirty meters, leaving little buffer for maneuvering in what was effectively a crawlspace.
After using her supply on Ekos-2, on returning she’d restocked with a fresh pair of negative energy missiles. They packed enough of a punch to blow a sizable hole in the Imperium’s hull for certain, and at point-blank distance should take it out entirely.
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II): “All vessels, monitor the Imperium for signs of an Igni missile launch. If one is detected, any and all measures are authorized to intercept and destroy the missile or missiles.”
The order evidenced a decision on her mother’s part to protect the people on the ground, but it was going to cost lives nonetheless. The cruisers and interdictors had anti-missile weapons, but given the short distance from the battlefield to Post Alpha below, chances were ‘any and all measures’ would come down to a ship sacrificing itself by placing itself in the path of the Igni missile. Assuming they reached it in time.
Chto za khuynya! In polite terms, fuck this shit.
Her hands were moving toward the dash when she forced herself to pause. To take a moment to soberly contemplate what she was about to do, since she’d promised Caleb she would try not to stress her limits, and this was several parsecs beyond any limits. Well, the self-imposed ones, anyway.
Alternatives? Morgan could do it. But she was in-atmo and fully occupied providing needed cover to the Marines and to Caleb. Since Morgan was worth four Eidolons and a dozen fighters all on her own, Alex didn’t want to deprive those on the ground of her skills.
An AEGIS Prevo-joined ship could do it, in theory. But the smallest of those were frigates, and in practice the hundred-meter space between the shielding and the Imperium’s hull was too little room for a frigate to do anything, if it fit inside at all.
Okay, then. She’d gone through the paces and checked the boxes, but she’d already known the answer: it was up to her.
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “I have an idea for a way to damage and hopefully destroy the Imperium.”
Commandant Solovy (Stalwart II)(Command Channel): “Alex? What are you thinking of doing?”
Alexis Solovy (Siyane)(Command Channel): “If it works, you’ll know it. Be ready to order everyone to either open fire or get clear, depending on the state I leave the Imperium in.”
Next, she pulsed Caleb.
I love you.
She needed a concrete connection to the power of the Caeles Prism in order to open the wormhole. Typically, Valkyrie provided the connection, but Valkyrie wasn’t here. She was down on the surface saving lives, and Alex intended to give her every opportunity to continue doing so.
After a quick glance around the cabin and the cockpit, she worked open a section of the dash cover to
expose the quantum circuitry beneath it. Valkyrie’s circuitry, mostly, embedded and intertwined with the ship’s functional wiring.
Milaya, your mother has concerns.
She chuckled. Oh, the conversation that must be underway on the bridge of the Stalwart II.
Just stall her for me. Use some flowery words.
Milaya, I have concerns.
I’ll be fine.
Totally fine. Of course, she and Valkyrie had never gotten around to testing whether one of them could open wormholes without the assistance of the other. Ah, well. No time like the present.
She closed her eyes and—
—Caleb’s pulse interrupted her.
Alex, baby….
I promise I tried.
She lowered both palms into the circuitry.
Space welcomed her into its arms like a long-lost lover. The demarcation lines separating her, the ship and the atoms of the universe blurred. Alive, she and it and everywhere were all alive, deafening and brilliant, sparkling with effulgent photons and radiant energy. The energetic forces of battle screamed past from every direction. Engine output, lasers, plasma, all clashing to drown out the symphony of the cosmos beneath a discordant concerto.
In her body, she breathed out, long and slow…and in her mind, she withdrew into herself. In the gap between the two, the connection remained open. It was all there, in her vision and within her reach to touch. But it did not, would not, consume her.
It would not erase her. Not this time.
Exigency did not allow for further introspection. She spun up the Caeles Prism, which was also a part of her. As soon as the power reached the required threshold, she opened a wormhole in front of her—the ship—and designated the exit as a point inside the Imperium’s shield but outside its hull. It was a moving point, so she continued to not dally. She did wonder what she might have seen had she lingered in the space in-between from this vantage, but it wasn’t important. Not so important as succeeding in her mission.
Requiem_Aurora Resonant_Book Three Page 12
