The jet of highly concentrated energy that was the rapier beam connected with the Centurion at its stern. The Vizier continued to turn, sweeping the beam along the mercenaries’ prized vessel as it went. The Centurion’s shield was obliterated in moments, the beam slicing into the armour beneath, totally unhindered. It was exactly like watching a hot knife plunging into butter. The Vizier did not terminate the beam even after its sweep was complete, slowing and starting to turn back the other way. It finally shut off around a third of the way back, its power supply seemingly exhausted.
How deep the beam had penetrated, Chris couldn’t tell. Not that it mattered – the Centurion had already started to come apart, each of the vessels that had formed together to create it going up one after the other, in quick succession, leaving behind a massive debris cloud. In less than a minute, the WEAPCO Star Killer had defeated the one opponent that stood a reasonable chance of taking it down.
Sid swore over the comms channel.
“So much for that,” Chris said.
I am returning control, the Firefly said, Chris feeling his world begin to slow once more. I’m sorry for interfering.
“Don’t worry about it,” Chris said automatically before contacting Sid. “Sid, we need to find a way to take that thing down. If it turns that weapon against Hail, the Resistance is done for.”
“It’s changing course,” Sid said. “It’s heading for the Alpaca Group. At full speed, it will be in range in about two minutes.”
Chris heard Tyler and a number of other mercenaries shouting to one another over the open comms channel, ordering them to find a way to prevent the Vizier from getting close to their base of operations. The frigate might not actually be capable of destroying stars, but, based on what Chris had just witnessed, an asteroid would prove a much easier target.
Chris adjusted the timeslip, resurfacing and turning after the vessel. With no other fighters to deal with, he did not need to be under for the moment. Seemingly sensing the same, the Firefly did not stop him from doing so. Mercenary ships were streaming after the Vizier, but were being cut down within moments of approaching its weapons range.
Chris pondered the weak spots once again. Shots from the Vizier were being fired with deadly precision. An AI was almost certainly in charge of that warship, perhaps more than one. That ruled out attacking the bridge and killing the crew, ending the threat quickly. But perhaps he was in possession of armaments that could bring the thing down more easily.
“What have we got?” he asked the Firefly.
We’re equipped with the standard loadout: two plasma cannons, two rockets, and two missiles.
That would never do, Chris thought to himself, looking over the Vizier. It would be like attempting to take down an elephant with a blowgun. His eyes strayed to the cluster of asteroids that were home to the mercenaries’ base. A shame they couldn’t just grab one of those asteroids and hurl it into the frigate. No amount of shielding or armour could withstand being struck by something such as that. Entire planets had been destroyed by impacts from asteroids just a few kilometres across. But again, they had nothing to hurl the asteroid with. A thought then occurred to him.
“What is the Vizier equipped with?” he asked Sid. “What kind of propulsion systems, I mean.”
“Standard systems to enable space flight – multiple Hall thrusters, to act as dampers and aid manoeuvrability, and the set of engines that you can see at the back. Nothing else.”
“Good,” Chris said.
“You have an idea?”
“One. But it’s going to be extremely risky. How’s your cyber warfare? Think you can access that frigate’s systems remotely?”
“I’ll give it a shot. What do you want me to do?”
“Kill its Hall thrusters. I want to make sure that thing can’t slow itself down. Firefly ...”
That’s not my name ...
Not this again. “Tell me later,” Chris said, bluntly. “How close will you let me get to the Vizier?”
It depends on from where you approach.
“The rear. I’m going to knock its engines out.”
You’ll never get through its shields.
“Not on my own, no,” Chris said. He opened a channel to Tyler. “Tyler, this is Bainfield. I think I’ve found a way to take down that frigate, but I’m going to need your help.”
“Let’s hear it, boy,” Tyler said.
“We need to hit its engines, stop it from being able to control its velocity.”
“And what good will that do? It will stop moving, but we won’t be able to shoot it down. We can’t get anything in close enough to it to bring it down after that, and we’ll just spend a week trying to chip away at it ourselves with long range fire. WEAPCO’ll send in backup within the hour.”
“That’s why we’re going to take it down in just a few minutes,” Chris said, confidently. “We need only destroy the engine block. Trust me, Tyler.”
“Ha!” Tyler snorted. Even so, the man began to send instructions to the remaining mercenary fighters on the field, telling them to concentrate their efforts on attacking the Vizier’s engine block.
The mercenaries went to it, Chris diving beneath the timeslip as he moved in closer to the WEAPCO frigate, doing what he could to dodge the incoming fire. He could feel the presence of the Firefly’s AI next to him. It felt tense, perhaps even a little scared. He told himself that that was ridiculous; the thing couldn’t feel emotions; it was simply processing a huge number of inputs, recognising that it was under threat from the warship’s guns, and was making assessments as to how to react. It would likely seize control from him again and move the fighter out of range of the guns if it calculated that it needed to.
“Sid, how’s that hack coming?” he asked.
“One moment,” Sid returned. “Okay, I can talk to its Hall thrusters, and I have full control over the entire damper system. I don’t know for how long, though. It’s sure to notice the intrusion within just a few minutes, if not sooner.”
“Hold on for just a little longer,” Chris said, banking hard to avoid a pair of laser bolts that he could see coming his way. “We need to do this at the exact same time.”
The mercenaries were cutting through the rear shields, directing their heavy weapons, missiles, and rockets around the area of the engine block. Chris saw at least three of their fighters go up as they were caught by fire from the Vizier’s rear cannons. It was quite difficult to dodge the incoming fire, even when perceiving the world at a far higher rate and having time to avoid the laser blasts.
“I’m losing men here, boy,” Tyler snarled.
Chris looked at his reading. “Just a little longer. Once the engines are down, pull back.” He continued to add his own fire to the proceedings, watching the Vizier carefully.
Finally, he saw the frigate’s rear shield break, the field splintering like shattered glass.
“Rockets! Missiles!” Chris barked to the mercenaries. “Everything you’ve got! Fire at the engines!” He dispensed all of the Firefly’s rockets and missiles himself, aimed straight for the Vizier’s engines. Several missiles fell to the frigate’s countermeasures, but not all of them. The unguided rockets, too, were impervious to such systems. A torrent of cannon fire joined them about the point of impact, and he saw the glow of the engine start to fade.
“Now, Sid!” Chris cried. “Kill the Halls!”
“Done,” Sid responded, after what felt to Chris like a minute.
There was no visual indication that anything had happened, no flickering of running lights or any such thing. All that Chris saw was that the engines of the Vizier had failed and that the ship was continuing onward. He released the timeslip, slowing himself, and watching as the frigate slid towards the Alpaca Group. He was sure his plan was now clear to everyone.
In preparing to take down the mercenary’s base of operations, the Vizier had been heading straight for the Alpaca Group. It had been moving at quite a speed, likely intending on slowing once it wa
s in range and prevent itself from entering into the deep cluster of rocks. Now, unable to stop itself, the frigate smashed headlong into one of the tumbling asteroids, going up as soon as contact was made.
“Ha!” Tyler’s voice came over Chris’ comms. “Couldn’t find a way to bring a rock to it, so you brought it to the rocks! Clever, boy!”
Chris grinned to himself. “You’re welcome. And please don’t call me ‘boy’. My name is Chris.”
Tyler didn’t answer him, a frantic voice cutting in over Chris’ comms.
“... are coming this way! We’re going to try to shoot them down.”
Chris saw fire erupting from the asteroid that had been the Vizier’s target, and briefly caught the glitter of light as it reflected off the sleek bodies of some pipe-like objects hurtling towards it. Missiles or rockets.
“Too late! Everyone brace for impact!”
It’s an asteroid, Chris thought. Missiles can’t hurt it.
Those aren’t missiles, the Firefly told him.
“Then what—”
The bright, instantaneous flash caused Chris to cover his eyes. It was brighter than the sun on the clearest day, brighter than the explosion of the Vizier as it had hit the asteroid that had destroyed it.
Nukes, the Firefly said.
Chris lowered his hands once the bright light had subsided. Rocks were tumbling everywhere, a lot more of them now. Some had been shattered, either by the explosion of the nukes going off, or due to the fallout of the ejecta crashing into one another. One thing became very clear to Chris – New Chile was gone. The city had been blown to smithereens. A nuke had somehow found its way into the very insides of the rock and detonated from there. It had obliterated the entire stronghold.
“What fired the nukes?” he asked the Firefly.
The Vizier, just before it was destroyed. It fired them as it entered the vicinity of the asteroid group. It was in range a few seconds before its fatal collision. Those few seconds were all the time it needed.
Chris swallowed hard. Had he done that? Had he, in his attempt to destroy the Vizier before it could attack the mercenaries’ base, inadvertently caused its destruction? If he hadn’t ordered Sid to kill the warship’s Hall thrusters, would it have simply ground to a halt outside of range? Possibly.
Hell, this wasn’t good. He fingered the flight stick in front of him nervously, not knowing what to do. He wondered if Tyler and the other mercenaries who were still alive would soon start pointing the finger. He shouldn’t be here if and when that happened.
“I think we should make ourselves scarce, Chris,” Sid said, as if reading his mind. “I doubt that WEAPCO will stand by and do nothing, even if they have completed their mission objectives.”
“Agreed,” Chris said, watching as a few of the mercenary ships started to weave their way gingerly between the tumbling asteroids, in an attempt to discover what had happened to their stronghold, and if there was anything left of it at all. Many of the mercenaries were holding back, sensing the danger of the disturbed rocks. The merest brush could crush those flimsy fighters in moments.
“Let’s get over to Hail,” Chris said, swinging around and starting back towards the space station, where Sid was waiting for him. “See if you can pull up the jumpgate schedule.”
“It would be better if we could get hold of a jump-capable ship, ourselves,” Sid said.
“Yes, that would be useful. Something biggish. See what you find in used ship sales. You can just use some of your jiggery-pokery to get us some money to pay for it.”
“Already looked into it,” Sid said. “They’ve got nothing here. The only ships that are in any way jump-capable belong to WEAPCO. We can hardly steal those – they’re all AI bound and we’d never be able to get within fifty metres of them, let alone get aboard and rip out the AI modules.”
I can help you with that, the Firefly offered Chris.
“How?” Chris asked.
I’ll just ask them nicely.
“What?”
I’ll ask them to help us, the Firefly said, smoothly. And if that fails, I’ll order them to.
“Sid, the Firefly’s got an idea. It’s going to try to talk one of the automated WEAPCO vessels into assisting us. Stand by, I’ll be back there ... soon.”
Even with the speeds attainable by the Firefly, Chris knew it would be several hours before he was back at the Ceradse space station. He looked behind himself and then to the radar. The mercenaries that hadn’t lost their lives were inching their way into the Alpaca Group, to look for survivors and what now remained of their base. Though it might not be entirely his fault, Chris was sure he was in some way to blame for the base’s destruction.
“How fast can you go?” he asked the Firefly.
Fast enough that they won’t be able to catch us, the fighter responded.
“Yeah, let’s go that fast, then,” Chris said.
The Firefly sped away.
~
The fighter did as it promised. Berthed outside Ceradse space station was a WEAPCO vessel, named the Artful Dodger. According to the schematics provided by the Firefly, it possessed a cargo hold large enough to accommodate around a dozen or so small craft. It suited Chris and Sid’s needs down to the ground.
Whatever the Firefly did, Chris wasn’t entirely sure. The exchange lasted less than a second. It declared it was going to initiate discussions with the freighter, and was then given clearance to land.
The Dodger was unmanned, though it still had fully operational life support systems, as well as crew quarters and a recently replenished stock of food and water. The AI module inside introduced itself as TF-951. Chris introduced himself as the ship’s new captain. It made no objections, and upon Chris’ order commenced the jump to Hail.
Chapter 11
[Encrypted Data Transmission]
[To >> Lance Skillman, CEO]
[CC >> Erik Overlook]
[From >> Kline Kethlan]
[Subject – Mission 3412]
@KethlanK – Mission 3412 has been successfully completed, but not without significant losses.
@OverlookE – The mercenary base within the Alpaca Group has been destroyed?
@KethlanK – Yes. The Grand Vizier deployed seven guided nuclear missiles into the asteroid at the first opportunity. They entered through the deflector field we identified, and destroyed the base from the inside.
@SkillmanL – What exactly were our losses, Commander? The word ‘significant’ troubles me.
@KethlanK – The Grand Vizier, as well as all the fighters that escorted her to the system.
@SkillmanL – How could you have allowed the Grand Vizier to be destroyed, Commander?!
@OverlookE – Was this the work of the Centurion?
@KethlanK – The Centurion was taken down by the Vizier within a few minutes of its appearance. Contrary to initial reports and analysis, the vessel was not a single unit but was actually composed of several; it was created via a union of more than three dozen separate parts. The craft were able to operate independently and combine together as needed, to create a more powerful weapon.
@OverlookE – Interesting. How much data did we manage to collect on the individual craft and the nature of their union before they was destroyed?
@SkillmanL – Erik, those details are irrelevant! Commander, how did you lose the Vizier? It should not have been possible to lose a vessel of that calibre to a bunch of pirates and looters.
@KethlanK – Reports are currently being verified, but it is believed that the mercenaries were being assisted by a Firefly.
@SkillmanL – A Firefly? Our missing Firefly? The one with the human-AI interface?
@KethlanK – This has yet to be confirmed. I will contact you with the full details as soon as I receive them. Right now, I do not wish to comment on the situation until there is more information available.
@SkillmanL – But assuming that it is the same starfighter, what can we say about its behaviour? Was the Firefly acting of its own ac
cord, or has it been convinced by the mercenaries to turn against us?
@KethlanK – Perhaps both. There is recorded footage of the battle that shows the Firefly reacting and making decisions that are more consistent with that of a human, rather than an AI, sentient or not. It shows the Firefly working to take down the Grand Vizier in less than three minutes, from the point of initial engagement.
@OverlookE – I would like to see that footage.
@KethlanK – Transmitting.
@OverlookE – It looks like a mixture to me. The decision making is more in line with that of a human, but the reaction speeds suggest otherwise.
@SkillmanL – Who or what is in control of that fighter is irrelevant. We must destroy that fighter as soon as possible. This is to be made our number one priority. I do not care one jot about its level of intelligence or sentience. I want the recovery objective for the Firefly to be updated to a destroy on sight order.
@OverlookE – Sir, I would like to suggest that we still attempt to recover the fighter. It could prove invaluable for us to discover just how this event occurred, and how it achieved sentience in the first place.
@SkillmanL – Your objection is noted, Erik, but as I said, I do not care. Commander, I want that fighter destroyed.
@KethlanK – Very well.
Project Starfighter Page 15
