"It's coming right at us!" Lailani said.
The ravager was heading their way, yet its flight was erratic. It rose, fell, swerved from side to side.
"Is there a drunk marauder flying that thing?" Noodles said.
"It seems to be malfunctioning," Kemi said. "Maybe it was damaged in the battle. We'll go around it. We need to conserve our missiles. We reach the asteroid, then engage the azoth engine and knock off all those ravagers. Hold on!"
She shoved down on the throttle and gripped her joystick. The Saint Brendan streamed forward, racing toward the asteroid. The rogue ravager kept careening toward them. In the distance, the other ravagers—those hovering around the asteroid—came flying toward them too. Plasma blasted out.
Kemi tugged the controls. They dodged one plasma bolt. She swerved sideways and barrel-rolled, dodging more of the assault.
Ahead of them, the rogue ravager took a blast to its back. It careened, righted itself, and kept flying forward. Smoke rose from its tail.
"They're firing on their own ship!" Lailani said.
"We're being hailed," said Noodles, sitting at the communication controls. "The rogue ship is hailing us. Kems?"
"Put them on screen!" she said, then winced and yanked sideways, trying to dodge more blows. "God damn it!"
Dozens of ravagers were now flying toward them. Kemi wanted to turn on the azoth engine, to bend spacetime, to knock those bastards back.
But let us talk first.
"Putting them through," Noodles said. "Central viewport."
On a screen ahead, a view of the ravager's bridge appeared. It was a dank, cavernous place covered in cobwebs. A marauder sat there, half its legs severed. Its three remaining legs were tugging on strands of web, piloting the ship. Blood dripped from its jaws, and it sneered at the Saint Brendan, malice blazing in its eyes.
"Who are you?" Kemi said. "What do you want?"
The marauder squealed, a cry of agony, and its head tilted.
Kemi, Lailani, and Noodles gasped as one.
The marauder had a blade embedded in its head. Ben-Ari stood behind the alien, holding the hilt.
"Captain!" Kemi cried.
Ben-Ari wore a bloodstained prison jumpsuit. More blood covered her face and stained her blond hair. She twisted the blade in the marauder's head.
"Keep flying, buddy," she told it. "And I might just let you live."
The marauder whimpered and kept tugging the webbings, piloting the ship onward. The ravager lurched forward.
Kemi wanted to say more, wanted to laugh, to cry, to speak to her captain after a year apart. But the other ravagers were flying in fast, and more plasma blazed forth. Both the Saint Brendan and the commandeered ravager lurched to the side, dodging the fiery bolts. A stream of plasma grazed the Brendan's hull, and the ship trembled.
"Lieutenant Abasi!" Ben-Ari shouted through the controls. "I don't trust this ravager flying faster than light; we're likely to end up inside a black hole. Make the jump into warped space! I'll fly close. Suck us into your warp!"
"Captain, you'll have to fly really close!" Noodles cried. "As close as two coats of paint."
Ben-Ari nodded and drove the dagger deeper. "You heard them, buddy. Fly us right up to their ship, and I might let you keep the rest of your legs."
Kemi soared higher, moving farther from the asteroid. The ravagers pursued. Plasma blazed forth. She nudged forward, dodging one blow, then pulled back. More plasma streamed ahead of them. The commandeered ravager flew toward them, inching down, closer, closer—five hundred meters away, then fifty, then alarms blared as it moved within five meters of the Saint Brendan.
The enemy ravagers moved in from all directions.
A ring of plasma blasted out, storming toward the Brendan.
Kemi grimaced, praying Ben-Ari was close enough.
She activated the azoth engine.
Spacetime curved.
They blasted forth.
Strings of starlight smeared around them. The asteroid vanished behind; within seconds, it was millions of kilometers away. Kemi checked the viewport, heart pounding, and breathed in relief.
The commandeered ravager, Ben-Ari inside it, was still with them, flying a mere three meters above them, caught in their bubble of warped spacetime.
Kemi laughed. "We did it! We goddamn did it! We—whoa." She cringed as the ravager dipped too far down, banging the top of the Saint Brendan.
"Watch it, bubs!" Ben-Ari said, voice emerging from a viewport's speakers. Kemi glimpsed her captain tugging the blade sunken into the ravager's mutilated pilot.
"You all right, ma'am?" Kemi said.
"Damn it." Ben-Ari spat. "My pilot is losing blood fast. I might not have a pilot much longer. Lieutenant, are you reading any terrestrial planets nearby? Anywhere we can land?"
"Scanning," Kemi said, checking the logs. "Nothing but empty space or asteroids too small to land on nearby. Mars isn't far, but I'm detecting ravagers there too. Otherwise, the closest worlds are at Alpha Centauri, but it's still a bit of a distance. We'd need to fly for another few hours. Can you keep your copilot alive that long?"
"I'm not sure," Ben-Ari said. "But I'll try. If he passes out on me, try to catch me, will you?"
"I can open the airlock right now, Captain," Kemi said. "I'll extend a jet bridge for you."
"Negative." Ben-Ari shook her head. "I'm not leaving this ravager. We need this enemy ship. It might be our only chance to study one." She grabbed the bleeding marauder and yanked up its head. "Keep flying, buster! I don't allow you to die. If you make it to Alpha Centauri, I'll feed you a few nice cattle brains for a snack. Now keep flying!"
The marauder groaned, Ben-Ari's dagger still in its head, three of its legs severed. But with its remaining three legs, it kept tugging the webs, propelling the ravager onward. Kemi wondered how a human might fly that ship; she doubted it would be possible.
They flew on.
Kemi kept checking the controls for pursuing enemies. The ravagers from the asteroid were indeed following, but the Saint Brendan had a few seconds' head start. That meant there were millions of kilometers between them and the pursuing vessels. For now, they were safe.
But when we emerge from warp, we'll have a battle on our hands, she thought.
They flew in nervous silence. Several times the commandeered ravager began to veer, and Kemi flew closer to it, keeping it in their bubble of warped spacetime. All the while, the enemy pursued—a hundred alien ships, maybe more. The Saint Brendan perhaps had a stealth cloak, but their ravager companion did not.
Civilian starships, even with warp engines, would need a week to travel to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to Sol. The Saint Brendan, built for speed, made the trip within hours. Around the star orbited New Earth. Upon this planet rose humanity's largest colony in space, larger even than Nightwall: Haven, home to millions.
"I'll take us out of warped spacetime as close to New Earth as I can," Kemi said. "The atmosphere is thick. The planet is engulfed by a storm. We'll hide in there. Can you make it that far, ma'am?"
In the viewport, Ben-Ari nodded. The captain looked ragged, thin, her eyes sunken. Blood still covered her. She still held the knife embedded into the marauder, who looked even worse; the creature seemed barely alive, barely able to keep flying its ship.
"All right, Lieutenant," Ben-Ari said. "Lead the way. I'm right on your tail. Bring us down on the outskirts of Haven. We might want supplies from the colony."
Kemi nodded and flipped switches. "Deactivating azoth drive in three . . . two . . . one . . ."
The azoth engine shut down. Spacetime smoothed out around them.
Kemi grimaced.
"Fuck!" Lailani shouted at her side.
The marauders were here too. Thousands of their ships, the clawed ravagers, were flying around New Earth. A battle was raging. Firebirds, emblazoned with the colors of New Earth, were fighting the invaders. Here too, like back on Earth, the human force was falling fast. Firebirds burned, falling
into the smoky atmosphere.
Behind the Saint Brendan, dozens of ravagers—those that had pursued them from the asteroid—emerged from warped space.
"Hold onto your butts!" Kemi said, diving toward the planet.
Ben-Ari's ravager followed only meters behind.
Kemi flew toward the battle, zigzagging between the Firebirds, and pointed her nose straight down. She plunged toward New Earth's atmosphere. Ben-Ari followed on her heel. All around them, Firebirds fired missiles and ravagers belched out plasma. Metal and flames filled space. Starships shattered all around. Shrapnel pummeled the Brendan.
"Here we go!" Kemi shouted, praying that the damaged hull would withstand entry.
They plunged into the storm.
Fire and smoke roared around them.
Kemi couldn't even see Ben-Ari's ravager anymore, could barely see more than a few meters ahead.
They dived straight down, sinking through clouds of indigo, blazing red, and swirling black and blue.
For a hundred kilometers, they plunged down, and the alarms blared.
Impact warning! warned a robotic voice. Impact warning!
Kemi grimaced, tugging on her joystick, leveling off. She couldn't see anything but clouds. They kept diving. She struggled to right the ship. Still only clouds, only—
There! She saw a mountain range ahead, rising from the storm. She sent out a blast of sonar, scanning the landform. Caves peppered the mountainsides, most too small. But one cave was just large enough for both ships to enter, if they squeezed side by side. It would hide them from the elements and prying eyes.
Kemi skirted a mountain peak, nearly shattering a wing. She kept diving, struggling to slow down, but they kept flying at terrifying speed. Through the storm, Kemi could see it now: Ben-Ari flying beside her.
"Down we go!" Kemi said, lowering the ship. She tugged up the nose. The mountains rose below, their peaks threatening to pierce the Saint Brendan, and she struggled to slow down, blasting out her forward thrusters. She was approaching the cave too quickly. Another peak rose, and she dodged, rose higher, and looped around the mountaintop. She spiraled down, slower now, heart pounding.
She glided into the cave and thumped down with a thud that shook the ship.
A second later, Ben-Ari's ravager landed beside them.
Both vessels shut down their engines inside the cave.
For long moments, the crew sat still, just breathing.
The scanners showed no enemies nearby. They were hidden here beneath the storm.
"Well," Noodles said, green in the face. "Does anyone have a change of underwear?"
Lailani slumped in her seat. "Put me down for a pair too."
Ben-Ari's voice emerged through the communicator. "Well, damn. My copilot just died on me. Good timing." She smiled wearily on the viewport. "Hang tight. The atmosphere here isn't too pleasant, but I'm making a run for it. Mind opening the airlock for me?"
Kemi raced into the airlock, opened the double doors, and saluted. Tears filled her eyes.
"Welcome aboard, Captain."
Ben-Ari's lips were tight, her eyes damp. Wearing a bloody, orange jumpsuit, she returned the salute. Broken handcuffs still dangled from her right wrist.
"It's good to be home, Lieutenant."
Then Kemi could help it no longer. She broke protocol and pulled her captain into an embrace. For a long moment, the two officers stood together, embracing, eyes closed.
"Someday you'll have to tell me how the hell you broke out of prison and stole a ravager ship," Kemi whispered, tears on her lips.
Ben-Ari laughed. "A massive alien invasion creates a terrific diversion." She swayed. "Dizzy."
Kemi led her captain onto the bridge, where Noodles and Lailani stood at attention. For the first time in over a year, Einav Ben-Ari sat in her captain's seat. Outside the cave, the eternal storm of New Earth raged on, obscuring the grotto and the two ships within.
"Tell me what you know," Ben-Ari said.
"We must tend to your wounds, Captain. You need rest, healing, food, and—"
"First I need briefing," Ben-Ari said. "Brief me, Lieutenant. I've been locked up for almost two years. Tell me everything."
For a long time, Kemi spoke, briefing her captain. She spoke of the ravagers destroying Nightwall and conquering Earth. She spoke of humanity's fleet collapsing. Of the marauders rounding people up across the planet. And finally, Kemi spoke of the mythical Ghost Fleet, perhaps only a legend.
"An ancient fleet," Kemi said. "A fleet built when Earth's apes were just starting to walk upright. For a million years, it floated through space, its alien pilots long extinct. Some claim that ghosts still haunt those hulls."
Ben-Ari nodded. "We studied the legend at Officer School. They say it's the greatest fleet ever built in the Milky Way galaxy, perhaps the greatest ever built in the cosmos. But a million years ago, the civilization that built the fleet vanished. According to myth, their ships are still out there, waiting for brave pilots to find them." She gave a tired smile. "It's a legend. A ghost story for children. Just a myth about haunted ships in the unexplored darkness. Maybe just a story created to give hope to species threatened by the scum . . . and now by the marauders."
For the first time since Ben-Ari had climbed aboard, Lailani spoke. She gazed out the viewport, seeming lost in thought. "And yet this story is told across the galaxy. Every culture has a version of it." Lailani turned to look at the crew. "For three years after the Scum War, I served at the Oort Cloud, several light-years away from Earth. And there, in the deep darkness, on a secret base, we studied this fleet, this supposed legend." She inhaled deeply. "It's more than just a myth. The Ghost Fleet is real. It can help us defeat the marauders. And I know where it is." Her eyes shone. "We picked up ancient signals. From many ships. Alien signals. They came from behind the Cat's Eye Nebula, thousands of light-years away. Farther than any human has ever traveled. But we will travel there."
They were all silent for a long moment, staring at Lailani.
Then Ben-Ari laughed.
"Guys! It's just a bedtime story. You can't be serious." The captain shook her head. "No. We have two capable ships here. We'll lie low just long enough to patch up the Saint Brendan and the ravager we captured. We can put together a harness, allowing a human pilot to control the ravager's webs. And we return to the fight. We might have only two ships, but we will do our part to win this war."
Lailani glanced at Noodles, biting her lip. Kemi shifted her weight from foot to foot.
"Ma'am," Kemi finally said, "the tribunal might have demoted you, might see me as an outlaw, but as far as I'm concerned, you're still my captain, and I'm still your lieutenant. And I'll follow you to whatever battle you choose to fight. But with all due respect, ma'am . . . the war against the marauders is over. They won." She shook her head, her mane of curls swaying. "We cannot defeat thousands of ravagers with only two ships. Our only chance of saving Earth—of saving my parents, of saving everyone who's dear to us, of saving our species—is to find the Ghost Fleet. It might only be a faint hope. Maybe only a legend. But if Lailani says it's real, I'm willing to go chase that hope, the only hope we still have."
Ben-Ari narrowed her eyes. "You're serious." She looked at Noodles and Lailani. "You're all serious, aren't you?"
Noodles nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I looked into the data. I see a reasonable likelihood that the Ghost Fleet is a goal worthy of pursuing. In fact, it was my idea to pick up Tiny." He grinned at Lailani. "Never thought I'd see this little one after boot camp, but it's a small galaxy."
Ben-Ari sighed. "If only that were true. The galaxy is large and full of horrors, and the Ghost Fleet is thousands of light-years away. Even with the best azoth engine in the world, traveling at full speed, it would take months to get there and back. Maybe even a year."
"I'm up for a long quest," Noodles said. "Frodo-into-Mordor style."
"I've been living with this for a year already," Kemi said with sigh.
Ben-Ari sw
iveled her seat around, switched on a control panel, and spent a moment reading the updates coming from Haven, the colony a few kilometers away on the surface of this stormy world. A few reporters were still covering the battles, streaming images of marauders toppling buildings, rounding people up, and loading them into ravagers.
"Haven is lost," Kemi whispered, looking over her captain's shoulder.
"Not yet." Ben-Ari turned toward her crew. "Looks like, during my captivity, I received a message from a friend. It appears we have another volunteer for our mission. We still have a soldier to enlist. He's here on this planet. We'll find him, if he still lives. And then we will chase light in darkness."
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Brigadier-General James Petty stood on the bridge of the Minotaur, watching the human fleet collapse.
Around Earth, the last human warships were scrambling into defensive positions. Once thousands of warships had flown in humanity's fleet. Today only a couple hundred remained. Petty saw a few old Hydra-class warships nearby: the Chimera, the Medusa, the Sphinx. All three were sending out their starfighters. Farther out, the bulky Cyclops and Nymph were firing their cannons, desperate to repel the ravagers. The last few Iron Sphere satellites were firing their missiles, and Firebirds flew everywhere.
And within just that one instant, just that one stare, Petty saw that humanity was losing.
He saw dozens of Firebirds burn.
He saw a great warship with a thousand marines aboard—the mighty HDFS Cerberus—crack and sink toward the planet.
He saw human corpses floating through space.
He saw countless ravagers charging through exploding shells and photon blasts, barely dented in the assault, and fill space with their plasma.
He saw marauders already swarming through cities below. Manila. New York. Beijing. Toronto. They and hundreds of other cities were burning. Reports were coming in from the colonies. Mars. Nightwall. Haven. All were falling.
But we're still flying.
Petty stepped closer to the viewports that wrapped around the bridge.
The enemy was tough. But so was the Minotaur.
Earth Fire (Earthrise Book 4) Page 29
