“The planet’s surface is inhospitable,” she said. “Sandstorms and high winds. I wouldn’t like to be down there unless I was in a something more substantial than a spacesuit. Other than that, it’s a blank so far.”
“I can’t see anything to suggest there’s a single enemy ship here, let alone three,” added Chainer.
“Keep looking,” said Duggan. “As soon as we’re certain, we’ll make our way to the next solar system on the list we’ve been given.”
They completed a three-quarter circuit of Corai and Duggan adjusted their course in order to loop around each of the two moons. Neither had an atmosphere and they were little more than bleak spheres of stone. As Chainer and McGlashan completed their scans, a brief summary of the results was fed through to the captain’s console. There was little of interest here, with plenty of ores which could be found in abundance almost anywhere. Duggan was readying a new course towards Diopsis, when he was given the news.
“I’ve detected an enemy warship, sir,” said Chainer, his voice eerily calm. “They must have been orbiting Corai and we’ve simply missed them up until now.”
“What sort of warship?” asked Duggan. He also felt strangely calm – the reassurance offered by the stealth modules had given him a feeling of confidence.
“Slightly over two klicks in length. It’s one of their mid-sized warships like we destroyed near Trasgor.”
“A cruiser,” said Breeze.
“A significant resource to leave out in the back-end of nowhere,” said Duggan. “There must be something here.”
“There’s a second one a few thousand klicks behind it,” said McGlashan. “It’s not following the first – its course will take it on a separate orbit. That’s two significant resources out in the back-end of nowhere. There’s no indication they’re aware of our presence.”
“How many damn warships did they pack onto that mothership?” asked Chainer.
“They won’t have room for many battleships, but I reckon there’d be plenty of space for a few more of these cruisers in their hangars. Along with a couple of dozen pyramids for good measure,” said Breeze.
“I wonder how many motherships they have back where they come from,” said Chainer.
“That may not even be their biggest ship,” said Breeze.
“Great,” muttered Chainer.
“If there are two warships here, there’s a good chance the third one is somewhere near,” said Duggan. “Don’t let up with your search.”
“Try and keep your distance, sir,” said Chainer. “The battleship on Kidor would have been equipped with a lot more detection equipment than these smaller vessels, but we can’t get complacent.”
“I hear you,” said Duggan. “If these two are orbiting the planet, I think we’ve found our destination.”
“What do you mean?” asked McGlashan.
“The fact that they came here and have stayed put tells me they’re likely to be watching out for something.”
“Something on the surface?”
“Exactly. Keep an eye on the enemy but switch focus to what’s on the surface of the planet and the moons.”
“Both enemy vessels are in a high, fast orbit, sir. You might have to be careful they don’t catch us unawares.”
Duggan nodded. “The battleship came close enough without being able to pinpoint us. Still, you’re right – we don’t want to push our luck.”
With that, he took advice from the ship’s AI on what it considered to be the best speed and trajectory to maximise their distance from the enemy at all times. When it fed through its recommendations, he changed their course in order to enter a slightly higher orbit than he’d initially intended.
“We might need one more loop at this height,” said Chainer.
“The AI has taken that into account,” said Duggan. “Get scanning and tell me what you can see.”
The first orbit was comparatively slow. The two enemy warships were on divergent orbits and they were soon lost from sensor sight. The turbulence on the surface was more violent than they’d first thought and it made the surface scan slower than it otherwise would have been. On more than one occasion, Chainer cursed as he tried to draw a clear picture through the interference. There was no sign of a third enemy warship. Nevertheless, Duggan was certain it was somewhere in the area and he became progressively more worried when it continued to evade detection. Halfway through their second orbit of Corai, Chainer found it.
“I’ve got a third vessel pulling away from Corai’s surface,” he said. “Eighteen thousand klicks to starboard.”
“The same as the others?” asked Duggan. “And has it detected us?”
“Negative on both questions, sir. It’s lifting off vertically and at a fairly low speed. I’m not sure what it is. It’s three klicks to a side and shaped like a cube.”
“What the hell are they up to?” asked Breeze.
“It’s nothing like a warship in shape,” said McGlashan. “There again, the mothership isn’t either and we know what that can do.”
“See if the scanners can pick up anything else,” said Duggan. “Send me the coordinates of its take off site – we’re going to see if it’s left anything behind.”
“You’ve got the location now, sir,” said Chainer. “If there’s anything there, we should see it when you come closer.”
“It’s just a plain old cube,” said McGlashan, sounding disappointed that she’d discovered nothing more interesting about the enemy vessel. “Built for a specific purpose, do you think?”
“No doubt,” Duggan replied. He was gripped by the certainty that there was something significant going on here and he was desperate to find out more.
“It’s picked up a bit of speed,” said Chainer. “Not what you’d call fast compared to their other ships, but it would keep up with an unmodified Gunner. Still heading straight up and away.”
“Where will its course take it?”
“Nowhere, unless it goes to lightspeed.”
“There’s no sign it’s preparing to do so,” said Breeze.
“Odd,” said Duggan.
“It’s left something behind on the planet,” said Chainer. “I don’t know what it is – it’s a hard alloy object, a few meters in diameter and maybe twenty metres long. It’s cylindrical in shape.”
“Is it doing anything?”
“Nope. There is nothing coming to or from it.”
Without knowing quite why, Duggan felt gripped by a coldness. Nothing the Dreamers had done so far had any positive outcome for the Confederation. Whatever this object was, he doubted it served a benign purpose. With every part of him wanting to be away from here, Duggan breathed deeply and then spoke.
“We’re going in for a closer look,” he said.
Chapter Eight
The ES Lightning descended steadily towards the surface. The cube-shaped spacecraft had accelerated away until it was nothing more than a pinpoint on the fars. There was no sign of the two enemy warships and Duggan kept his fingers crossed it would stay that way. A short distance above the surface, they entered the upper reaches of a ferocious sand storm, which raged across a thousand kilometres. Particles of grit scoured the Lightning’s armour and high winds buffeted the spaceship. Inside, the crew felt nothing – the Lightning was much too heavy to be affected by atmospheric conditions, no matter how harsh.
“How’d you manage to see the object through all of this?” asked Duggan.
“That’s what they pay me for, sir,” Chainer replied.
Duggan had always known Chainer to be a skilled officer and it was times like this he was grateful to be accompanied by some of the best men and women from the Space Corps.
“I’m impressed,” he said, not shy to admit it.
“Thank you, sir.”
They sank lower through the storm, until they were only a few hundred metres above the alien object. The surface was uneven, though there were few substantial variations in the elevation. This was about as flat as it got in
places like this. While they descended, Chainer continued gathering data about their target. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much more to say.
“It’s definitely a cylinder, with a four-metre diameter and a total length of seventeen metres. It’s standing perfectly upright, so it must have a way of self-levelling. The sighting we’ve had of the two warships strongly suggests they will fly directly overhead on each orbit. They’re keeping an eye on it. I guess they’re orbiting to maximise their chances of detecting any unwanted arrivals in the area.”
“Could it be a weapon?” asked Duggan. This had been his first thought and he’d kept the ES Lightning purposefully off to one side, in case the cylinder could fire at objects directly above it. If it was anything sophisticated Duggan knew his method was unlikely to keep them safe. He’d decided to investigate and these were the risks.
“It looks a bit like a missile tube,” said Chainer. “There’s no place for the ammo to go, so it’s single-use if that’s what it is.”
“A beam weapon or disruptor? Or a simple high-explosive?”
“It doesn’t seem likely,” said Chainer, picking up on Duggan’s worry. “There are no readings that suggest it’s any of those things. It could be something we’ve not encountered before, I suppose.”
Duggan furrowed his brow in thought. “They took away the Lightning’s four armoured vehicles when they fitted the stealth modules, but there’s still part of the cargo bay that hasn’t been filled with engines. Would there be room to fit the object in there?”
“It should squeeze in, assuming it’s not too heavy for the gravity clamp to pull it up,” said McGlashan. “We’re designed to deploy only and leave the collection to someone else, so I’m not sure it would be a good idea to try.”
“The cylinder isn’t noticeably heavier than you’d expect, given its size,” said Chainer. “There shouldn’t be a problem picking it up. It’s getting it inside that will cause problems. We have no way to rotate it into place.”
“We could hold it in one of the tank launch tubes,” said Duggan.
“It might break the clamp under hard acceleration,” said Breeze. “I wouldn’t want it crashing into the underside of the launch hatch at high speed.”
“Damnit, we need to see what it is,” said Duggan.
“Won’t the enemy notice it’s gone?” asked Chainer.
“I should imagine so,” said Duggan. “How long are their orbits taking to complete and do we have enough data to pick a decent window where we can land, steal their cylinder and be on our way?”
“Assuming they’re maintaining the same speed as when we first saw them, they’re taking about fifteen minutes per orbit. In fact, one of them has just come into sensor sight. It hasn’t deviated from its course, so we’re safe for the moment.”
“How long a window can we expect?” repeated Duggan.
“Anywhere from eight to twelve minutes,” said Chainer. “With no way to be certain exactly where in that range.”
“We’ll need to land with the launch hatch directly over the cylinder, get someone out there to attach the clamp, get that person back onboard and then fly to safety before the enemy realises what we’ve done and start searching. Does that about sum things up?” asked Duggan.
“Yes, sir.”
“Send a message to Lieutenant Ortiz. Tell her what the plan is. I want her suited up and ready to go as soon as she gets the nod. She’ll need a second person with her for backup.”
The message was relayed. It would take about ten minutes for Ortiz to get into her spacesuit and then make her way to the boarding ramp. Duggan kept the ES Lightning hovering, a hundred metres above the ground and a few hundred metres to one side of the target.
“The enemy ship will be out of sensor sight shortly,” reported Chainer. “I’m expecting to see the second one arrive two or three minutes after.”
Duggan checked the timings. It was going to be a close-run thing for Ortiz to get ready for this coming window. Several minutes went by and the second ship didn’t appear.
“It’s running late,” said Chainer nervously. “I don’t like it when the enemy starts behaving erratically. The first ship is due back in eleven minutes.”
Duggan didn’t enjoy having his plans thrown into disarray. He was a man who believed robust planning could eliminate much of war’s uncertainty. He was the first to admit he liked having to adapt to changing circumstances, but only when this fell within the bounds of his wider strategy.
The voice of Lieutenant Ortiz came through the bridge speakers. “Sir, I’ve got Dorsey with me. We’re suited up in the forward airlock and ready to go.”
Duggan was frozen by uncertainty. There was no sign of the second enemy warship, whilst the first was still eleven minutes away. In theory, there was no specific need to rush, since the stealth modules were operating far above the level Duggan would have expected. Still, he didn’t like the idea of waiting in a single place for longer than necessary. The sand storm would provide a degree of additional cover, but he knew the enemy would be focusing a great deal of attention on this area when they flew overhead. Duggan felt pushed into taking a gamble he might have otherwise avoided.
“We’re landing immediately. I want you to run out, attach the targeting box for the clamps and then get straight back onboard. We’ll be leaving in a hurry.”
“Understood,” said Ortiz. “There’re two hundred metres between the ramp and the tank launch hatch. It’ll feel good to stretch my legs.”
Duggan grunted an acknowledgement. His focus had already shifted to getting them onto the ground as quickly as possible. The positioning had to be so exact that he’d have preferred to utilise the autopilot for it. Unfortunately, there were so many in-built safety systems, the autopilot was painfully slow. This was fine if you were docking with an orbital or landing at a base. When you needed to act fast, manual control was a better option.
“Give me the underside sensor feeds,” he said. Images appeared on one of his screens, showing swirling clouds of sand. They billowed in eddying winds, before being whisked away by the powerful gusts. The ground was lost amongst it and it was hard to distinguish what lay below. Suddenly, the image sharpened and the sands cleared. The ground became visible – with a peculiar undulating appearance, as though it was viewed through a covering of water.
“That’s the best I can give you, sir,” said Chainer. “The AI’s working overtime to filter out the sand, one grain at a time.”
Duggan was sure there was a technological miracle happening in order to see through the maelstrom, and he was grateful for it. He was also unable to spend time thinking about it. Instead, he looked carefully for the target object.
“Got it,” he said. The cylinder was below the front of the ship, not too far from the underside hatches.
“Eight minutes left for the first enemy ship, sir,” said Chainer.
“No sign of the second,” said McGlashan. “The third vessel is a long way out now – still running at the same speed.” She was silent for another few seconds, then she gave a half-shout of surprise. “I’ve located the second enemy ship, sir! It’s three hundred thousand klicks away from Corai and travelling in a straight line away from the surface – just like the cube-shaped spacecraft!”
“What does that mean?” asked Duggan, unable to divert his brain to the task of thinking about it.
“I’m not sure,” said McGlashan. “It gets them out of our hair.”
“Where’s the last ship?” muttered Chainer. “Is it still in orbit?”
Duggan couldn’t engage in conversation. He struggled to fine-tune the position of the warship – he wanted to get it right first time. If the cylinder was too much offset from the hatch, there was a chance they’d have to take off again and they might have to abort the whole recovery attempt if the last enemy ship detected something amiss. The landing feet descended from ten metres to five metres, then two. With a soul-destroying slowness they touched down, making hardly a bump.
“
Forward ramp opening,” said Duggan.
“I see it,” said Ortiz. “Shit, it looks nasty out here.”
“Don’t get lost,” said Duggan. In reality, the suits would be fine outside and the sensors would be able to pierce the shrouds of sand well enough for the soldiers to find the target and get back.
“I’ve located the final ship,” said Chainer, the tone of his voice telling Duggan he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. “It’s almost a quarter of a million klicks away and still going. The angle between us and the planet means I’ve only noticed it now.”
“Any suggestion they are preparing for lightspeed travel?” asked Duggan. The coldness he’d felt earlier had become dread and he couldn’t put his finger on why.
“None whatsoever.”
“I’m getting something from the cylinder sir!” said McGlashan. “It’s sending out a series of short signals – there’s less than a second between each one and they’re all identical.”
“Is it something we’ve done?” he asked.
“I doubt it, sir,” said Chainer. “We’ve not interacted with the object in any way, unless it’s designed to respond to proximity.”
Duggan’s mind churned through the uncertainties. With a flash of realisation, he came to a logical conclusion that explained everything which was happening.
“Lieutenant Ortiz, return to the Lightning. Drop what you’re carrying and do it now. As fast as you can.”
“Roger that, sir,” said Ortiz at once. “We were almost at the cylinder, it’s going to take a few seconds to run through this wind.”
“What’s wrong, sir?” asked McGlashan.
“The cylinder isn’t a weapon,” said Duggan with certainty. “It’s a beacon of some sort and it’s just started signalling.”
“You think something’s going to come in response?” asked Chainer.
“Yes, Lieutenant, something very bad. Those three Dreamer ships aren’t going anywhere – they’re simply keeping their distance.”
Chainer’s face went pale as he figured out what Duggan was getting at. “Crap,” he said.
Fires of Oblivion Page 6
