“Two hundred? That’s low.”
“Yes, sir, it is. It’s not clear what they are there for.”
“Lieutenant Quinn, do you have any idea? Could they be part of a monitoring or comms network?”
“I’m still checking, sir. It seems logical they would contain both monitoring and communications elements, however…”
“Out with it.”
“They’re far bigger than necessary and they’re giving off large power readings. As Lieutenant Pointer said, we’re too far out for certainty.”
“I think you’ve said enough for me to be sure these satellites are an important secondary target.” The possibilities were worrying. “You remember that device they left under the sea at Atlantis?”
“That reactor we heard about from the old man on his boat?” said Hawkins. “Hard to forget.”
“It was intended to kill everyone and I think we can safely assume these satellites have a similar purpose.”
“We can knock out the visible ones with the Shimmers from here,” said Hawkins. “Seventy-nine minutes travel time.”
“Want me to plot a course that will allow us to get a lock on the others, sir?” asked Pointer.
“Thank you, the plan is a good one, but I’m not going to act on it immediately. I don’t want to give the game away until I’ve decided how much we can snatch off the Vraxar. I want to hurt these bastards as much as possible.”
Blake’s conviction wasn’t in doubt and none of his crew made any effort to persuade him to make an early commitment to destroying the satellites.
“Most of the important stuff was based out of Tucson,” he said. “Work out the most efficient course that will give us a view of the base and send it to my console.”
“On its way, sir. I’ve added in trajectory links to each of the other bases on New Earth. If you want details of the capital cities, I’ll add them too.”
“We’ll check out Tucson first.”
The main military base was a third of the way around New Earth. The ES Lucid was so far out it would take a good number of minutes to bring it into view. The warship flew and the crew did their best to uncover as much information as possible about what the Vraxar were planning. The closer they came, the more hints they found.
“Something’s disturbed the Postern Ocean,” said Pointer. “There are a series of overlapping ripples with several points of origin. There’s a huge cloud of steam coming from an area to the north.”
The sensor image appeared on the bulkhead screen. New Earth lacked the vibrancy of colour which had been so abundant in Atlantis, and every shade was dull as if seen through a filter. The visible land mass was greys mottled with greens and whites, while a range of mountains extended for thousands of kilometres to the north and south, the hostility of their peaks tangible even across the huge intervening space. The Postern Ocean was a patchwork of blues and greens, which covered twenty percent of the planet’s surface. The crew watched the image intently.
“Any idea what’s going to happen when those waves reach the shores?” asked Hawkins.
“It’s not going to be good,” said Quinn. “I don’t have the core cycles spare to do the model.”
Blake stared miserably at the screen. “Does it matter? One million or five million dead. The numbers begin to lose meaning.”
“You know it matters,” said Pointer.
“Yes, I know.” Blake shook himself. “No distractions. Can’t let it get to me.”
Pointer told the others what they already knew. “There’s an object on the ocean floor beneath that cloud of steam. It’s a piece from one of the defence fleet spaceships, about a billion tonnes in weight. It’s going to take a long time to cool down.”
“Keep an eye out for other wreckage. If there’re pieces still due to come down I’d like to add them to our targeting system. We’ll shoot them down if we can.” He had another idea. “Also watch for another of those Vraxar reactors – not just in the ocean, but anywhere on the planet.”
Pointer gave a loud exhalation of pent-up breath. “I’ve found Ix-Gorghal,” she said. “I’m updating the viewscreen feed.”
The all-too-familiar image of the Vraxar capital ship drifted across the screen, travelling high above one of the most densely-populated areas of the planet. It was exactly as Blake remembered it; the ovoid shape, monumental gun turrets, the towers, the complicated sensor arrays. Details etched into his mind forever.
“At least they don’t have their stealth system activated,” said Quinn. “That’s one spaceship I don’t want sneaking up on me.”
“It’s holding an altitude of forty thousand klicks, sir, and it’s travelling directly over the ring of satellites.”
“That’s going to make it a little harder to bring them down,” said Hawkins. “It limits the opportunities for a surprise attack.”
“Send this data to the main base on Prime.”
“Taron, sir.”
“Yes, Taron. I’m sure they’ll be grateful.”
Blake kept the ES Lucid on course, bringing it steadily closer to New Earth. Ix-Gorghal disappeared from sight, its vector putting it on a two-hour full orbit. It showed no sign it had detected the heavy cruiser; even so, it was a relief when the alien craft vanished around the cusp of the planet.
“I know what those satellites are there for,” said Quinn suddenly. “They’re screwing up the composition of the atmosphere.”
“In what way?”
“The oxygen levels are going down and the nitrogen levels are going up.”
“Are the changes significant?”
“Significant enough to kill everyone on the planet in a few hours, sir.”
Blake scowled. “That’s a good way for the Vraxar to ensure they have endless undamaged bodies to choose from.”
“I’m still trying to work out how they’ve locked down the comms,” said Pointer. “At first, I thought it was the satellite ring. Now I’m not so sure.”
“New tech,” said Hawkins. “The Vraxar have developed kit that enables their style of warfare. I’d like to know what it is.”
“Me too,” said Blake. “The more intel we gather, the better a chance we have next time.”
Following Quinn’s discovery about the enemy satellites, Blake once more considered his decision on destroying the satellite network, finally rejecting it for the second time. Even if the ES Lucid was successful in bringing them down, there was nothing to stop the Vraxar deploying more. Or just blowing the planet to pieces and moving on to somewhere else.
The discovery of the Vraxar’s intentions was a sobering one, though ultimately not something unexpected. It made each passing moment feel like a wasted chance to act and it took all of Blake’s inner strength to resist the urge to launch missiles at the Vraxar satellites and deal with whatever might come afterwards.
“Tucson is just coming into view now, sir. We’ll be able to see it directly in a couple of minutes,” said Pointer. “And there’s an enemy battleship directly overhead.”
“Figures,” said Hawkins.
“It’s just another bump in the road,” said Blake. “Give me the stats.”
“Another new shape, sir. It’s seven-thousand-eight hundred metres long and two thousand on its Y-axis. There’s not enough data to tell you what sort of tricks it has up its sleeve.”
The Vraxar battleship was V-shaped, with a squared-off nose. It tapered slightly from nose to tail and its hull was near-black metal. No matter how hard he tried, Blake was unable to decide whether the enemy ship was a new design, an old one, or neither. With the Space Corps and the Ghast fleets, there was a clear evolution between each new generation of warships. The Vraxar were different and Blake was curious to know why.
“Check to see if there are any signals coming from the Tucson base,” he said. “Maybe they’ve worked out a method that gets around whatever the Vraxar are using the jam the comms.”
The Lucid was still ten million kilometres from New Earth and Blake knew it was hard
work for his officers to provide any degree of certainty. Even so, there were no complaints about his orders.
“There’re no comms signals in the sky, sir.” Pointer fell silent.
“What is it?”
“They’ve been attacked. There is extensive damage across most of the facility.”
The bulkhead view changed again, showing the Tucson base as a bright patch of light amongst the darker towns and cities in the surrounding area. Smoke poured upwards, obscuring much of the view.
“That must have been a couple of thousand missiles,” said Hawkins.
Blake spat angrily. “Most of them on the barracks area.”
“There’s a Vraxar craft on the ground. It doesn’t look much like a warship.”
The enemy vessel was a series of mismatched cubes joined unevenly together. It was approximately eleven hundred metres long and rested on an open area of ground a short distance from the nearest building. The distance was too great to make out any of the details.
“It’s a transport,” said Blake. “I’d bet a month’s pay on it.”
“You’ve been sacked, sir.”
“Not yet, I haven’t!”
“There’s plenty of comms activity on the base itself,” said Pointer, working hard. She was in sore need of a backup officer. “It’s shielded traffic, so they must be using some of the old hard links put in when they first built the place.”
“Can you intercept what they’re saying?”
“No, sir.”
“I thought as much.” Blake got up from his seat and walked closer to the main screen. He indicated one or two places on the image. “Interesting what they left intact.”
“I’ve never been to Tucson,” said Quinn. “I don’t know what they keep in those areas.”
“This building here with these big walls around it is by far the largest single storage facility for Obsidiar in the whole of the Confederation. We hold more than fifty percent of our remaining stocks here.”
“It’s got ten gauss emplacements on the roof,” said Pointer. “They appear to be firing at the battleship.”
“With no sign they’ve got enough grunt to take down its shields, or indeed the battleship itself even if it didn’t have shields,” added Quinn.
“And those other areas you were looking at are the Ulterior-2 and the Earth’s Fury,” said Hawkins. “Still intact as well.”
Quinn was busy checking. “Both spaceships are offline. There are a few modules with power flowing through them, which is to be expected when the construction is at such an advanced stage. They’re not going anywhere in a hurry.”
“That’s got to be why they’re still in one piece, eh?” asked Ensign Toby Park. “Why destroy something that can’t fly?”
Blake wasn’t convinced. “The Vraxar don’t usually act in a rational manner. There’s no way they don’t know about those two spaceships, so I’m stumped. If it was me, I’d make absolutely certain and hit them with a few hundred missiles.”
“They might not care anymore,” said Quinn shrugging.
With a grimace, Blake backed away from the screen and returned to his seat. The closer they came to New Earth, the clearer it became how little they could do to influence the final outcome. Whatever they did, however well they played the limited cards in their hand, there was one thing against which they had no hope. As long as Ix-Gorghal remained close by, the death of everyone on New Earth was assured. To cap it off, it was going to happen in the coming few hours.
He drummed his fingers against the arm of his seat, lost in thought. His mind turned over each problem, hunting for a new approach that might extract a better result from the situation. Not necessarily a good result, he reflected. Right now, I’d settle for something other than a total disaster.
It was no use and his brain refused to offer anything incisive. At the moment of despair, something new came.
“Sir?”
It was Lieutenant Pointer, clearly excited.
“Tell me.”
“I’ve got Lieutenant Cruz on the comms. She’s on the Ulterior-2!”
Blake felt a spark ignite inside him, though he was as yet uncertain if this development was in any way significant. He waved frantically and Pointer opened the channel.
Chapter Nine
“Lieutenant Cruz, it’s good to speak to you,” said Blake.
“And you, sir.”
“We’ll save the details for later. How come you’re able to speak to us?”
“The Ulterior-2 has new sensor and comms arrays, sir. Whatever the Vraxar are using to jam everything else it isn’t working against this battleship.”
“Have you spoken to anyone? Is Fleet Admiral Duggan alive?”
“I haven’t spoken to anyone else. Every receptor is open, but they’re all quiet. I’m using the sensors to see what’s going on around me, but the view isn’t great from this trench.”
“Have you attempted to make contact with these receptors?” asked Pointer. “The ES Lucid’s comms are working so the interference is local to the planet. I can’t see any receptors on the surface, so whatever they fitted to the Ulterior-2, it’s the only vessel currently able to talk on the whole of New Earth.”
“I’ve linked, but there’s no handshake at the other end. That’s as far as I’ve taken it.”
“There’s a chance they can hear you without being able to respond,” said Pointer.
“I considered that. I’m not sure what I can do to help the situation. The Ulterior-2 is mostly offline and even if it was capable of flight I couldn’t personally get it off the ground without flattening what’s left of the base in the process.”
“And you don’t have clearance to pilot it anyway,” said Blake. “The ship wouldn’t accept your request for it to take off.”
“Yes, sir. I’m stuck.”
Blake scratched his chin in thought. “Do you have access to the construction progress reports? I’d like you to send them over.”
“There are parts of the files I can’t access, but I’m able to send them. They’re coming to you now.”
Blake turned to see Pointer lifting a thumb in the air.
“We’ve got them, thanks.”
“What now, sir?”
“I need some time to think. In the meantime, I’d like you to collate a list of the receptors available to you. Send a message to the local command and control immediately, telling them your status. I’ll get back to you shortly.”
“Okay, sir.”
Blake closed the channel and turned his attention to the construction progress reports. He had the beginnings of an idea, though it was far too early to know if it was feasible.
His intentions were evidently clear to his crew. “Do you think you can get those new spaceships up in the air?” asked Hawkins.
“I’m not thinking anything at the moment, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, you are,” said Pointer accusingly. “Don’t keep it quiet – you never know, we might have something to offer.”
Blake sighed and leaned back. “I wasn’t intending to keep anything to myself. In fact, I think I tell you far more than I’m meant to.” His eyes roved over the top-level plan for the Ulterior-2, following the project’s critical path from start to end. “Assuming this plan is up-to-date, the Hadron could fly right now. Everything is fitted except for the armour plates covering the final engine modules. They haven’t done extensive testing however, and they’re running late with it.”
“Is that a problem?” asked Quinn.
“I personally wouldn’t like to fly an untested battleship,” said Blake. “Ah! Here’s why they’ve left off the testing. There are problems with the Earth’s Fury and they diverted several teams from the battleship to help out on this one.”
“What’s wrong with the Earth’s Fury? You said it was just a big gun, right?”
“That’s more or less right, in the same way that a Colossus tank is just a larger version of a child’s plastic tank.”
“Fine, it’s a r
eally big gun,” huffed Pointer.
“A really big experimental gun, Lieutenant.” Blake corrected her. He read through the series of problems. “No life support, incomplete engine installation, they haven’t installed three of its four Obsidiar cores yet. The list goes on. The comms and sensor arrays were due to finish their testing a couple of hour ago, so anyone onboard will be able to call in their food order since they haven’t installed the replicators either.”
“Does the main armament work?” asked Hawkins.
“It’s been test-fired only at this stage. Obsidiar is a little too valuable to start hurling balls of it towards random moons. I don’t know for definite where the live magazine is. However, it’s almost certainly in the Obsidiar Storage Facility.”
“Could you take control of Earth’s Fury from here and launch a few pot shots at the battleship with conventional rounds?”
“Not without comms I couldn’t. From memory, those conventional rounds aren’t anything more sophisticated than balls of Gallenium. Earth’s Fury wasn’t meant to use anything other than specially-designed ammunition and I doubt it’ll be effective without it.”
“We’ve got to do something with the Ulterior-2, then,” said Pointer firmly. “I’ve had a look at the specification documents, or at least the non-detailed version they allow officers of my rank to look at, and those Havoc cannons seem like they’d go clean through a thousand metres of armour.”
“They performed a lot better than that in final testing,” said Hawkins. “I get to hear a few things.”
Blake didn’t like to bring the mood down, especially since he often called others out for doing the same. Nevertheless, he felt obliged to inform his crew of the difficulties.
“We have no crew for the Ulterior-2 and no way to organise a crew. In addition, it might require anything from fifteen minutes to an hour for its engines to wake up and be ready for flight. Lastly, it’s not going to face any Vraxar until Fleet Admiral Duggan signs it off.”
“I’m sure he won’t mind if it flies without signoff, given the circumstances, sir.”
“Without his direct approval, the battleship will remain in maintenance mode, Lieutenant. Its weapons will only fire after its crew jump through additional hoops and its engines will only permit full power in very short bursts, such as would be necessary for testing purposes.”
Earth's Fury (Obsidiar Fleet Book 4) Page 9
