Deeper and Darker (Deep Dark Well Book 3)

by Doug Dandridge

  The Imperial ships’ defensive fire proved much less effective. Of the sixty missiles heading for the task force, forty-three made it through the counter missiles and laser fire, evading, jamming, hiding behind their own electromag screens. Twenty-three made contact, all that were needed to take all of the ships besides the battleships out of hyper. The rest continued on, starting to decelerate so that they might return for another attack, not against the ships they had originally targeted, which no longer existed, but what their launching vessels might call upon them to strike.

  “Enemy ships are translating,” called out the Tactical Officer after several minutes.

  “Follow them,” ordered Pandi from her chair. “Prepare the graviton beam for deployment,” she continued, a cruel smile on her face.

  “You sure you want to do that, ma’am?” asked Mandrake over the holo com.

  “These people took Watcher from me,” said Pandi, shooting a glare at the holo. “I’ll give them a chance to surrender first, because I want information about this Empire we’re invading, and this is our best chance to get it. If they play fair with me, I’ll spare them. If not, I won’t shed any tears over their remains.”

  “All recon probes back aboard,” called out Satyapathy, the Tactical Officer.

  “We’re translating down to normal space,” called out Basumatary. “Range in normal space, thirty light seconds.”

  The hole into the black of normal space opened and Niven fell through, her pack mates coming after her on their own matching vectors. The space around them blazed with stars, and the glowing gas cloud of a large nebula could be seen in the near distance.

  “Releasing recon drones,” called out the Tactical Officer, and the small icons of the tiny probes appeared on the tactical plot, using their wormholes as direction drives to move at over thirty thousand gravities toward the enemy ships, then decelerating to match velocities at one light second from the battleships, still undetectable by anything those ships deployed as sensors.

  “Are you ready to give me what I want, Admiral?” she said into the com as soon as a link was established with the enemy battleship.

  “Damn you, no,” said the ashen faced officer, staring out of the holo at her.

  “Missile launch,” called out Satyapathy, as two hundred icons appeared on the plot.

  “Blast those missiles out of space, then get us in the range of the graviton beam,” she ordered, then leaned back in her chair to watch the icons of the small counter missiles her ships carried bloom on the plot, moving at thirty thousand gravities toward the enemy weapons. Niven and her sisters moved closer, till they were within ten light seconds of the enemy, all the while blasting the few enemy missiles that survived the counters out of space.

  “Lock onto that vessel there,” said Pandi, pointing to the closest of the battleships, and one that was not identified as the flag on the plot. She stared at the ship with rage in her eyes. “Rip the damned thing apart.”

  * * *

  Admiral Emilio Tounces stared in disbelief at the impossible vessels that had destroyed all of the escorting ships of his force. And with only minor damage, if any, to one of their vessels. And jumping to normal space hadn’t seemed to have improved the situation any. At least we can abandon ship here, he thought. Some of their shuttles were hyper capable, but that was not true for any of the life pods.

  “They have knocked all of our missiles from space,” called out the Tactical Officer. “Should we give them another volley, sir?”

  What good will that do? The only chance we have is to get in some hits with our energy weapons, damage them enough to take them out with missiles. And that’s not really much of a chance. “No. Make sure all tubes are loaded and ready to fire on my command.”

  The large destroyers or light cruisers continued in, swatting the last of the most current missile swarm from space. A missile swarm that would have destroyed three Imperial battleships, or at least severely damaged them.

  “The Captain of Indomitable is on the com, sir,” called out the Com Officer. “He sounds, panicked.”

  “Put him on,” said Tounces, thinking they all could be panicked in a situation like this.

  The Captain of the battleship in question appeared on the holo, eyes wide, sweat beading on the face that was revealed with the visor of his battle armor up. The bulkhead behind him shook, and the klaxons of alarms sounded over the circuit.

  “We’re under attack, Admiral,” yelled the officer, over what sounded like a wind that was rising in the background.

  “By what?” asked Tounces in confusion. He glanced over at the holo that showed the enemy ships on approach. There was no indication that they were doing anything but moving along just out of effective range of his energy weapons.

  “Something has appeared on the ship, some kind of energy, in several places,” shouted the Captain, looking over his shoulder, then back with a panicked expression. “They’re sucking in everything, like a black hole.”

  The man directly behind the Captain screamed, then flew from his chair and out of sight. The Captain looked at where the man had gone, screaming as the air flew from his lungs. The holo died, and with it all com with the Indomitable.

  * * *

  The graviton beams were smaller versions of the devices carried by the huge stations around the Donut that had been originally used to pull planets, and even stars, into the orbits the ancestors of the New Terran Empire had desired. These were much weaker, but still strong enough to form point sources of extreme gravity where they were concentrated. The stations could form temporary neutron stars, while the shipboard beams could form at best the concentrated matter that existed at the center of a normal star. Still enough to tear apart alloys, decks, bulkheads, the bodies of armored crew members. Compressing the matter into ever growing spheres that swept through the vessel, adding more mass.

  The Indomitable shook as the gravity started to tear the vessel apart. Many of the crew panicked, standing or sitting where they were until swept into one of the three globes of heavy mass. Those who tried to flee found they could only get so far, before the gravity pulled them back to their doom. In moments the ship was crumpling in upon itself. Given time, most of it would have crumpled into a superheated ball, until, with the cessation of the beams, that matter would have exploded back out with the pressure of compressed matter that was no longer being pulled in by a gravitational field. Instead, antimatter breached in several places, the storage pods of the reactors, missile warheads, until the ship exploded outward into plasma at velocities too great for the point sources of gravity to hold.

  * * *

  “Admiral Tounces,” said the infuriating woman over the com, as her ships moved outside of effective energy weapons’ range. “I will do that to another of your vessels if you do not immediately surrender to me and give me the information that I want. And the next time,” said the woman with a nasty grin, “I will choose your ship, and then treat with whatever officer becomes the next commander of your reduced force. No use dispensing more punishment to the dogs, when the master is the idiot who needs killing.”

  “Very well,’ said the Admiral, shaking with the combined emotions of fear and fury, though, truth to be told, fear was winning that battle. “What do you want of me?”

  “Your ships will cease all boost and stay on their current headings,” said the woman. “You will power own all of your weapons. And believe me, we will know if you power up your weapons, and you will not like our response. And you are to open the doors on your hangars, all of them. Maintain the cold plasma fields. I want there to be atmosphere in those compartments. And prepare to be boarded.”

  “What not just let us send you the information that you want?” asked the Admiral, not really liking the idea of enemies aboard his ship.

  “Perhaps we can destroy their shuttles,” said the Tactical Officer in a quiet voice from off the range of the viewer.

  “That would be a very bad idea, Admiral,” said the woman. “If
I would even give you the opportunity. Now, you have one minute to acquiesce to my demands, before I tear another of your ships apart.”

  “I agree,” said the Admiral, glaring at the Tactical Officer. “I agree to all of it. I will order my crews to cooperate in full with all your demands.”

  “Smart move, Admiral,” said the woman. “Now get moving. The timer is ticking.”

  The viewer went blank, replaced moments later by the trio of alien ships that were threatening his force. And there’s not a damned thing I can do about it.

  * * *

  “Watch out for traps,” said Pandi from the holo to the battle armored man. “I want all the information you can gather, but I don’t want to lose any of my own people.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Suryan Marine Lieutenant Aakash Maindalkar.

  “I wish we could just grab the information from their own databanks,” said Pandi, frowning. “Unfortunately, we need a physical contact with their computer systems to gather the information, unless they willingly send us what we want. And I don’t trust them that much.”

  “We’ll get you what you want, ma’am,” said the Marine officer, looking around at the platoon he was taking with him, which included several naval engineers. “Don’t you worry.”

  “That’s part of my job, Lieutenant,” said the woman with a smile. “I would prefer that you not resort to any kind of force. But at the first sign of deception you are authorized to use whatever force you need.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said the officer, monitoring the probe on his HUD.

  The recon drone was only ten centimeters in length, massing twenty grams, and was the stealthiest device known to the science of the ancients. It contained a wormhole linking it back to its vessel, and used the actual passive and active sensor suite of the ship. It was perfect for giving the ship real time data of whatever it was observing. And it was perfect for covert ops. The small drone sliced through the cold plasma field of the otherwise open hangar and moved to one of the corners of the room, near to an assault shuttle. While the enemy personnel were watching for something to approach through space, the probe extruded its wormhole, negative matter and the expandable frame moving from Niven to the hangar. In a couple of seconds it was large enough to pass an armored Marine.

  “First squad through,” ordered Maindalkar as the other side of the wormhole expanded on the hanger deck of the Niven. The ten men and women of the first squad, all in battle armor, carrying heavy weapons, jumped one at a time through the wormhole. They spread into a perimeter around the hole at the other end and spent a few seconds examining their surroundings before giving the go ahead.

  The Lieutenant followed next, motioning for the second squad to follow. He took the step across the twenty light seconds in an instant, his eyes sweeping the area in front of the wormhole, his weapon moving with his vision. “Secure the hangar,” he ordered his first squad as the second came across and took over the perimeter. Those Marines moved out, swarming around the spacecraft parked within, while the third squad and the naval techs came after them.

  “What the hell,” yelled one of the Marines, as three doors into the hangar opened and armed Imperials came swarming into the chamber.

  * * *

  “I am warning you, Admiral Tounces,” said Pandi into the com, watching on the other holo as her own Marines moved back on the wormhole, their weapons pointed at the Imperials who were advancing on them, brandishing their own particle beams. “If your men open fire on those people, I will return the favor.”

  “And hurt your own people,” said the officer, glaring at her through the com. “I think not.”

  “You have two ships that do not have my personnel on them. You might want to rethink your position.”

  “And if you fire on my ships, I will have your people aboard this ship killed.”

  “Orders, ma’am?” asked Lt. Maindalkar, his own face looking out over the com holo.

  “What is your assessment of the situation, Lieutenant?”

  “I think we can take them with no trouble,” said the Marine, as the view of the holo swept out to show almost seventy Imperials taking up firing positions surrounding the Marines. About half of them were heavily armed Marines as well, while the others were armed spacers.

  I know we have the tech advantage. But I didn’t lead these Suryans here to be killed by these arrogant sons of bitches. Is the tech advantage enough?

  “Tell your people to drop their weapons and they will not be harmed,” said Tounces, his eyes narrowing. “If they do not drop their weapons in ten seconds I will order my people to open fire.”

  “Take them, Lieutenant,” she said, looking over at the other holo. She looked back at the Admiral on the other holo, waiting for his expression to change.

  * * *

  “On my command, open fire,” said Lt. Maindalkar quietly over the com. “Now,” he yelled, raising his own rifle and pulling the trigger an instant before it came into line with his target. The beam flew past the naval rating that was his target, splashing a gash into the hull, then sliding down into the join between chest and shoulder on the spacer. The beam sliced through the armor and out the other side of the neck. The man fell to his knees, helmet falling backward off of his shoulders, revealing the scorched and partially carbonized head within. He continued sweeping the beam into the next target, and the one beyond, taking down three enemy with the long sword of protons.

  Around him the rest of his people fired at the same instant, hitting an enemy that was sure they had the upper hand. Before any Imperials could fire, over half of their number were down. Many more went down while trying to fire their opening shots. Only a couple actually got hits. And only one of those that actually accomplished anything was a shot that hit one Suryan Marine on her shoulder armor. If it had maintained contact for more than an instant it might have done something. Unfortunately for the shooter, he could not maintain contact with a large hole burned through his chest.

  “Get me the information that I want and get back here,” said the Commodore over the com. “Anyone gets in your way, blow them away.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” agreed the Lieutenant, sending the orders to his squads over the tactical com as he spoke to his flag officer. Each of the three squads ran as fast as their suits would carry them. Maindalkar and his command group, which included three heavy weapons specialists and the two naval techs, headed for the command deck of the hangar.

  Each squad sent a fire team through a hatch, setting them up in the hall beyond, while the second team and squad leader set up the secondary position inside the hatch, a couple of Marines in each unit assigned to watch the hanger itself to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them. The LT set two of his heavy weapons’ troopers to cover the hatch to the control room, while his platoon sergeant and the third man watched over the hangar itself.

  “This should do nicely, sir,” said the Chief Petty Officer who was carrying the back pack comp, a unit that probably contained as much computing power as the entire ship they were on. He moved a small laser rod over the input jack of a control panel, then shined the light over the opening, taking a 3-D picture of the system. After a moment he held up a small connector that was in the process of changing its shape, until, in about a minute, it matched the jack it was to fit into. The Chief pushed the unit into the jack, then waited another half minute until it was completely configured to match the input/output.

  “We’re interfacing now,” said the Chief, looking at the small flat comp that was synched with the backpack unit.

  The sounds of fighting came over Maindalkar’s com circuit, and he checked his HUD to see that two of this three forward fire teams were engaging enemy Marines and Spacers who were trying to push down their corridors. Without much luck in the face of the superior firepower of the Suryans. The LT was again amazed that they were now the most advanced military force in this space, when less than two months before they were the primitives, especially compared to the people they were fighting now.<
br />
  “How’s it going, Chief?” he asked the Naval Tech, looking at the screen that was showing some symbols that the Marine was barely familiar with.

  “Breaking through the firewalls now,” said the Chief, the expression on his face showing how much respect he had for the new tech he was working with. “Through the last firewall and into the last encryption sequence. Now.”

  The symbol on the screen showed a loading graph, with just a little bit of color on the otherwise black line. As Maindalkar watched, the blue on the graph began to creep over, each second representing terabytes of information being transferred from the memory banks of the ship to the backpack unit. Astrographical data, history, science, politics of the Empire, everything they needed to get a good handle on the power they were invading.

  “We need to get going, Chief,” said Maindalkar, tapping the tech on the shoulder. What the hell are these idiots thinking, thought the officer, watching as more Imperial Spacers tried to fight their way forward through the particle beams of his own Marines. Don’t they know this is not going to get them anything but more trouble. And we’re starting to run low on protons, he thought, looking at the stores on some of his troops over his HUD.

  “Just another couple of seconds,” said the Chief, looking at his screen. “I think we can skip a lot of this. OK. Done.”

  “All Marines. Fall back to the wormhole. Forward teams, fall back through the hatches.” The LT waved his own command team and the heavy weapons section into the hangar, then set the two heavy beamers to cover the most likely approaches to the wormhole. The forward teams fell back and set up twenty meters closer to the portal. As soon as they were in position the other teams fell back behind them.

  The Imperials were coordinated enough to come through the three hatches at the same time. Two of those hatches were within line of sight of heavy weapons. As soon as they appeared the angry red of heavy particle beams cut into them, dropping their bodies, smoke rising from the holes and gashes in their armor.