Ghost Wing (The Ragnarok Saga Book 4)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  Remarkable, really. He didn’t see how it was possible. The base was a fortress. The armor he wore back then should have been all but invincible. The young man had far more luck than anyone had any right to carry around with them. Luck had left him the victor on Earth’s moon. Luck must also have led him to deduce that he was still alive as an uploaded mind. Luck would undoubtedly carry him out here to Neptune on his new ship ahead of schedule as well.

  Best to prepare for what the enemy could do, rather than what he was most likely to do. Especially when it came to Stein. But how to survive this? It was more complicated than he’d initially hoped. Xiang managed to confirm that yes, these were indeed the same aliens who’d contacted Earth all those years ago. Being a hive-based species with a strict chain of leadership established at birth, they found the planet to be chaotic and dangerous. They would expunge all life from the Earth.

  Xiang got his home a stay of execution, promising to follow their example and bring all humans under the control of one being. The alien race - he never had learned their name - had never replied, but Xiang took the lack of invasion as tacit acceptance of his proposal. He’d then used technology drawn from the alien probe ships to establish the beginning of a UN hegemony over all humanity.

  It would have worked, had it not been for Thomas Stein and his father. Now they were facing the thing he’d worked so hard to avoid: the destruction of all human worlds by a massive invasion fleet.

  He’d fight to avoid that at all costs. Stein might never believe him, but Xiang was just as fervently devoted to humanity’s survival as he. Of course, he wanted to ensure his own survival at the same time, but that was only natural. Xiang would give his own life to help defend his world if he had to. He’d just prefer not to.

  How best to accomplish all his objectives, and if possible improve his own situation in the process? It might be time to share at least a small bit of his information with the others.

  “The shield isn’t impervious. Your scan picked up a small shudder in the field after the missiles hit. It should be possible to overload it,” Knauf said.

  “Then we can beat it. We need to try before it’s too late,” Sam replied.

  “No. We have orders. I don’t understand them either, but they’re valid,” Knauf said. “We should get a reply back within seven hours or so. With luck, we’ll know more by then.”

  Xiang would bet money that long before seven hours was up, Stein and the Intrepid would be in their laps. How long would it take him to make the trip? Only minutes. The better question was how close was the ship to departing? It could arrive at literally any time. Once the Intrepid was here, Xiang’s options would become much more limited. Stein had the power to order him erased entirely, or at the least locked up into a computer system sealed off from the outside world. He suspected Stein would choose the latter course. He lacked a ruthless streak. But you never could tell for sure. It was time to act.

  “The shield will come down if it’s hit hard enough. But it would require a tremendous amount of explosives or other energy transposed into it,” Xiang said. “It transfers the energy into the shields. They’ll change color as they get closer to breaking.”

  They all stared at him for a long silence before Knauf finally spoke. “And how do you know this?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say. But what I’m telling you is the truth. You didn’t really think this ship was humanity’s first contact with alien life, did you?” Xiang asked. “Far from it.”

  “And you know all about these things?” Knauf asked. His face was growing red. Xiang would need to manage this man’s anger carefully, or he could be in as much danger from Knauf as from Stein.

  Xiang shook his head. “No. I don’t have all the information either. Admiral Stein probably would.”

  There, that should plant a seed of doubt in some minds. He watched as Knauf’s eyes clouded over, worry creasing his brow. Xiang knew what he was thinking. Why would Stein send them out there without the rest of the information he had? Why risk his peoples’ lives with incomplete data if he knew more? Those were good questions. Xiang thought it likely that Stein was perhaps a little more ruthless than he had been, after all.

  “Why would he hold that information back from us?” Sam asked. “For that matter, why did you?”

  “I am - or was, in my old life - privy to a fair amount of highly classified data. I’m not at liberty to pass that information along. If I did I’m certain I would be brought up on charges, correct?” Xiang said, directing the last bit to Knauf.

  “Yes, I’m sure you would,” Knauf agreed.

  “I didn’t even know these aliens were the same ones that had already contacted humans until we hauled one from a wrecked fighter,” Xiang said. “Even now I shouldn’t be telling you what I know. But Earth’s survival matters more than whether I face charges or not.”

  That bit of self-sacrifice should cement the deal. They would trust him again, now. He could see an appreciation of the risk he was taking for them all written on their faces. All but the old Marine, Harald. Xiang wanted to scowl and managed to hide the expression. Why was it always Marines who ended up causing him more trouble than they were worth? That one had Samantha’s ear. He could be trouble, and bore watching.

  Gurgle appeared in the room in front of them all, breaking into the conversation. He flapped his wings around furiously, although they didn’t do anything in this simulation. It took him a moment to calm down enough to speak.

  “Danger! The ring, danger!” Gurgle said.

  “We know it’s dangerous, Gurgle. We have to find a way to beat it anyway,” Sam said.

  Xiang wanted to roll his eyes. That wasn’t what the being was saying. It was a remarkable thing. He didn’t think most of the other crew were even aware Gurgle had never been human, that he was a true artificial intelligence or something very close to it. He’d seen it fairly early into the trip, of course, but he suspected most people would never guess. They just read Gurgle as being someone who was a little slow.

  “No. Ring is showing energy reading,” Gurgle said. He waved his arm, and a holographic display appeared in front of them. It showed the ring, with a graph indicating the energy output. The bar was growing. Sharply. “Is more energy every minute.”

  Shit, they were building up to activation. They were out of time. Stein would never get there before the invasion fleet came through. “I think this puts our orders in a new light,” Xiang said aloud.

  “It could be almost anything,” Knauf said.

  “You know as well as I do that’s not so. Look at the wave-form of that energy output. At the rate it’s building, how long before they can activate that gate? Xiang asked.

  Knauf frowned and nodded. “You’re right. They’ve got to be building up to activation. I’m pretty sure they’re trying to generate a wormhole. It could be minutes before they activate. Maybe an hour tops.”

  “Stein isn’t going to get here in time to stop it,” Xiang said.

  They all looked at each other, then at Knauf. He hesitated. Xiang gave him the time he needed to think. The little man wasn’t a person of action by habit - he’d stumbled into this role and was doing well despite himself. He would reach the right conclusion. And he did, looking up at them all and giving Samantha a sharp nod.

  “Do it,” Knauf said.

  Samantha clapped her hands together. “OK, people. Saddle up. We have less than an hour to save the world.”

  21

  Eighteen fighters launched from the bays of the Hermes, barely more than half the ships they’d begun with. Sam felt the loss of each pilot acutely as they soared back into space. In the battle ahead every missile and gun was going to count. The enemy knew they were coming and was sallying forth from the gate to meet them partway. Her scans showed thirty hostile fighters, plus of course the big ship. They weren’t likely to be aiming for capture this time, either. The odd sucked.

  “All right, everyone. Pairs of two. Let’s make every shot count. Cover the He
rmes - without her missiles, there’s nothing we can do about the gate,” Sam said.

  They’d opted to skip flying with torpedoes this run. That allowed each Wasp to carry extra missiles - useful for protecting the Hermes or taking out enemy fighters. It also meant they were effectively useless against the ring itself. They would need to rely on the Hermes and her arsenal to take it out. To do that, they needed to get past the alien ships.

  “Missiles inbound. We’re not the target,” Harald said.

  True to their earlier tactics, the fighters were sending all their early fire toward the Hermes and ignoring her ships. That was going to cost them, but it was a calculated gamble. If they could blow the Hermes, they won. Those wouldn’t be SABOT missiles this time. The Hermes might survive one shot or even a few, but they had to stop as many as possible.

  “One volley at the fighters, then focus all fire on the missiles,” Sam said.

  She followed her own command, lighting off one missile at the still distant targets, then concentrated on locking down the incoming wave of projectiles. The rockets were fast and had built in jamming technology that was making it hard for her railgun to lock. Finally, she got a tone that said the gun was locked on target. She fired a burst of rounds from the weapon, spitting metal into space in the path where the missile should be going. All around her the other fighters were likewise filling the space between their ships and the missiles with a cloud of fast-moving metal shards.

  The railgun pellets moved faster than the missiles and slammed into the enemy wave of shots more than halfway to their source. Half the enemy missiles exploded. That was a good start.

  “Break wide, Ghosts. Give the Hermes space to fire,” Sam ordered.

  They split into nine teams of two, fanning out away from the ship in an arc. That gave the Hermes a direct line of sight on the wave of enemy missiles. Her anti-missile guns opened up, spitting steel out at a furious pace. One after another the alien rockets blew apart. The Hermes’ own missile bays were not silent, too - they fired a steady series of shots directly into the mass of enemy fighters. The space between the two contending parties was quickly becoming full of dangerous bits of debris. The two larger ships maneuvered so they wouldn’t run headlong into the mess, circling like two cats waiting to pounce on each other.

  “The big ship is closing on the Hermes,” Grimalf warned.

  Sam could see it, but there wasn’t much she could do. The enemy fighters were still between them and their mothership. The only way they could scare off the bigger vessel would be to fly straight at it - through the fighters.

  “Ghost Wing, form up on me. We’re going to rush. Fire a few missiles, but save a couple. Focus railgun fire on their fighters,” Sam said. She pushed her throttle forward, jetting toward the alien formation.

  The first missiles struck the enemy fighters. Their own anti-missile fire took out a great many, but explosions flashed in the dark as one invader after another was blasted to shrapnel. They’d dropped at least half a dozen enemy ships without losing any of their own. It was a good start, but Sam knew better than to think it would last, especially once they got in close.

  “Here we go!” They were rocketing straight at the enemy ships, forming a tight, spiraling formation that allowed them to all focus railgun fire forward. Over thirty missiles streamed ahead of them, giving the enemy a conundrum. They could either target the missiles bearing down on their location or the human fighters right behind those missiles. They couldn’t take out both.

  The aliens opted to focus on the missiles. Their mothership joined in, the powerful beam weapon licking out to snap one missile after another out of space. Almost all their missiles were destroyed before they were in railgun range. But then it was the Ghosts turn.

  All eighteen Wasps fired burst after burst from their railguns, filling space ahead of them with a massive cloud of speeding iron. The alien fighters attempted to evade but focused as they’d been on protecting their mothership from missiles, they couldn’t move in time. Enemy fighters came apart under the barrage. One after another, they either broke from their formation or blew apart.

  “We’ve got them running!” Grimalf said.

  “Not running, just reforming. Watch above us,” Xiang said.

  He was right. They’d killed more than half of the enemy fighters, but those who remained were already beginning to gather again. They had one good shot at the mothership here. It was time to take it.

  “Fire all remaining missiles at the mothership! Hit her with everything we’ve got!” Sam said.

  All their remaining missile ordinance sped toward the giant ship. The alien fighters saw the assault and dove. They opened up on the human missiles, blasting away a dozen of them. Then they drove their ships directly into the remaining missiles. Only half a dozen broke through the defense to strike their target. They exploded against the ship’s hull, raining debris into space. Sam could see the signs of a hull breach in at least one spot. The vessel was wounded, but not out. It turned toward her people and spat fury with its particle beam weapon. One of the Wasps exploded.

  “Well, the fighters are all gone, but I’d rather face more fighters if it meant more of our missiles hit that damned thing,” Grimalf said.

  “Eh, we’re not the only ones on the battlefield, Grim,” Harald said.

  “That’s right - remember, we’ve got the Hermes behind us,” Sam said. She dove toward the invaders’ ship, blazing away with her railgun. Little explosions dotted the hull where her shots hit, but this close to the ship there were dozens of smaller cannon trying to take out the Wasps. It was everything Sam could do to evade their fire. She twisted the Wasp around, weaving through streams of deadly energy weapon fire.

  They only had to hold out a little longer, though. The Hermes had already fired a massive barrage of missiles. They were bearing down on the alien ship. Another minute and the thing would be a charred husk.

  More of her fighters were dying around her. Sam focused on the small batteries, hoping to reduce the threat to their Wasps. The main alien gun was firing rapidly, blasting apart the Hermes’s missiles. Their defense was incredible! Sam watched as the enemy ship dove to one side, burning human missiles out of space one after another. It looked like some shots might get through, but most of them were being blown up long before they were close enough to do any damage in spite of all their efforts.

  “Sam! New problem!” Max called out over the radio. “Look at the ring!”

  She turned her scan focus toward the ring for a few seconds. That was all she could spare without being blasted to smithereens by the enemy ship. The ring wasn’t sitting still anymore. It was glowing, the brilliant light casting shadows. And it had begun spinning - not rotating around like a disk, but spinning in an axis that made its glow look like a sphere. As she watched the sphere continued to get brighter.

  “What the hell?” she asked.

  “They’re doing it! They’re opening a wormhole,” Max said. “We have to stop them right now, before it’s too late!”

  But even as Sam changed vector to head over toward the ring she could see it was already too late. The ring’s spin picked up speed until it was hard to see the metal structure through the brilliant sun flaring in its center. All at once the light vanished, replaced with something that looked like a soap bubble floating in space, the ring gently rotating around it a few more times before coming to a stop precisely where it started.

  There was a moment’s pause like the universe was holding its breath. Sam knew what was coming next. She’d never felt so helpless.

  The nose of a ship slid slowly from the bubble. At first Sam thought it was a small vessel, but it kept coming - and coming. The thing was larger than any ship she’d ever seen before. Worse, Sam had a hunch that ship was just the beginning. The invasion they’d fought so hard to prevent had begun.

  22

  Max could only watch with horror as the massive ship slipped free from the sphere and glided slowly forward. It was moving at prac
tically zero velocity, barely creeping along. A side effect from the trip through the wormhole? He didn’t know, but his scientist’s mind wanted to ponder all sorts of theories about why that might be the case. He realized that he was freezing in reaction to the sight. Intellectually, he knew that he was facing a fight/flight/freeze reaction and that his response was not a great one for survival. That didn’t help him break out of the spell as the colossal ship finished cruising clear of the portal.

  It had to be the size of four, maybe six aircraft carriers stacked alongside each other. He’d never seen a vehicle so large. The thing dwarfed every spaceship humanity had ever launched. How the hell were they supposed to fight that? There was no way, at least not here, with just this one ship and a handful of fighters!

  “Max! You need to get the hell out of here. Warn Earth. We’ll cover you.”

  He heard Sam’s voice over the radio, but even that didn’t entirely break through. Running away wasn’t going to do any good. Where could he go? They’d follow him to Earth. Nothing humanity had could stop that monster. Worse, now that it was through the portal Max saw the nose of another ship nudging its way clear of the bubble. How many were they going to send? One probably would have been enough. Everything else was overkill.

  He felt a sharp pain, something he hadn’t experienced since leaving his physical body behind. The ship that was his new body had taken damage, sure. But it wasn’t connected to any sort of pain reception. He read damage as…damage, not as a painful stimulus. What hurt? Whatever it was jabbed at him again.

  “Wake up. Sam need you,” Gurgle said.

  “How?” Max asked.

  Gurgle gave him another mental jab. “Gurgle do what Gurgle need to do. You do what Sam need you do. Now!”

  “Thanks, Gurgle,” Max replied. He needed to get his head back in the game. Sam was right. Earth had to be warned. He was about to flip the ship over to begin decelerating when he did the math and realized there was no way he could stop the ship before he went sailing into the gate. He’d be in range of the enemy guns long before he could get the Hermes stopped, let alone going back in the right direction.