Renegades (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Two)

by Dan Worth

  ‘The Barbarossa is drifting, she only has manoeuvring thrusters. Her main drives are still offline,’ Singh added.

  ‘Excellent, alert our deck crews to receive our squadrons, Mr Haldane. Helm, make sure we shield those ships with our mass as they come in, they won’t survive long against the Agrippa’s guns.’

  Suddenly there was a flash from the destroyer and an arcing of bright energies.

  ‘Admiral, the Agrippa’s aft shields have completely failed!’ Singh reported. ‘Our weapons are now impacting the hull.’

  ‘Lucky break for us,’ Haldane commented. ‘This’ll be over in moments.’

  With the aft shields gone, the Churchill’s weapons flayed the hull plating from engine section of the Agrippa, tearing into the housing around the propulsion systems and main reactor. Its demise was only a matter of time. A fireball erupted from the rear of the vessel, growing in brightness and intensity to consume it. The superstructure, forward gun decks and bow section remained relatively intact as they tumbled forwards, wracked with minor explosions and trailing debris, systems now suddenly dead. Chen wondered about the trapped things within, wondered if they felt fear at their inevitable deaths in the freezing vacuum. Did they feel anything? Were they any more than automatons? Did the greater Shaper whole feel any pain or loss as these motes of its consciousness were extinguished? She hoped that they did. She hoped that pain and loss and sorrow were as much a part of the Shaper mind as hers as she ordered her crew to turn the main guns of her ship onto the surviving fragments of the Agrippa and obliterate them.

  ‘Look, I shouldn’t have to justify myself to you,’ Chen said angrily to her mother. ‘I want my life to mean something, to be part of something greater than me, something lasting.’

  ‘What you have become,’ her mother spat, ‘is a killer. You have the blood of thousands on your hands, the blood of innocents even! We know all about what happened at Urranakar. Is that what Earth means to you? Something worth killing for?’

  ‘If that’s what it takes, then yes,’ Chen replied. ‘Sometimes force is necessary to protect what we cherish. But I admit that I made mistakes at Urranakar.’

  ‘And what is the point of cherishing something if you destroy its ideals in the process? Your father and I remember the early days of the Commonwealth, when it was founded on hope and a new future for humanity among the stars. You and your ilk have made it into little more than an armed camp.’

  ‘Out of necessity! Do you think the K’Soth would have given in to reasoned debate?’

  ‘Some say that they were provoked, that we simply never took the opportunity to understand them, that we could have reached an accommodation.’

  ‘No, no we really couldn’t have. Believe me.’

  ‘They’re not all savages. There are many individuals within their society who secretly despise the regime. I’ve seen countless accounts of…’

  ‘But they’re not the ones in control mother, they’re a tiny minority. They’re the ones who are publicly tortured to death for the amusement of the crowds! Jesus Christ, you should have asked your own father about this! He knew well enough what it meant to stand against them!’

  ‘Your grandfather never spoke of the war, and don’t you drag him into this!’

  ‘Why not? He’d be proud of what I’ve become! He’d have been cheering me on as I sent those vile creatures straight back to whatever hell they crawled out of! I became who I am partly because I was proud of him, proud of how he’d served and the bravery that he’d shown, oh yes I saw the medals that you tried to hide because you thought it was a bad example. But I wanted to become him and I wanted to earn him some payback!’

  ‘Michelle,’ her mother said after a few moments. ‘Did you ever consider that we stood in your way because we were afraid that you would become like him?’

  They were heading towards the stricken Barbarossa now, which was struggling to orientate itself to bring its weapons to bear. They left the debris field that was the remains of the Agrippa tumbling in their wake.

  Chen watched the other destroyer grow from a speck against the star-field into a recognisable shape. The wallowing ship was trailing a faint cloud of gases - vented from the damaged systems in its aft section.

  ‘Admiral the Trebia is moving!’ Singh cried. ‘She is signalling the Barbarossa and locking weapons onto us. The Trebia’s guns will be in range within four minutes.’

  ‘God damn it!’ spat Haldane. ‘What the hell is going on onboard that ship?’

  ‘Looks like they made up their minds,’ Chen replied. ‘Comms, signal to the Trebia that they will meet the same fate as the Agrippa if they attempt to engage us. Any communications from the Barbarossa?’

  ‘None, ma’am,’ Andrews replied. ‘And their comm. is operational. I can detect encrypted traffic passing between them and the Trebia.’

  ‘I’d say it’s safe to assume that the crews of both these ships must be under Shaper control,’ Haldane commented. ‘Any sane human captain would be seeking terms by now after what just happened to the Agrippa. The Barbarossa and the Trebia can’t expect to win this fight.’

  ‘But they’re still a threat until we take them out,’ Chen replied. ‘We don’t know how badly damaged the Barbarossa’s engines are. If they come back on-line she can still fight. We can’t take that chance. We have to take her out. However, I would suggest that we first deal with the greater threat that the Trebia presents us.’

  ‘Then we turn our attentions to the Barbarossa once she’s out of the way,’ Haldane added grimly.

  ‘Quite. Gunnery. Status of the cannon?’

  ‘Charged and ready to fire on your command, Admiral,’ came the reply.

  ‘Good. Helm, change course and advance towards the Trebia. Ahead full. Mr Singh, keep a careful eye on the Barbarossa . Alert me at once if it looks like she might be about to rejoin the fight.’

  The ship swung to face the distant, dully glinting speck of the Trebia, the destroyer illuminated by the faint blue glow of its engines as it charged head-on towards the Churchill.

  ‘How are our pilots doing?’ said Chen.

  ‘Good,’ Haldane replied. ‘We suffered only a handful of losses during the attack on the Barbarossa and we’ve recovered all remaining craft. Alpha, Beta and Theta wing have almost completed re-arming and are ready to go.’

  Excellent, thought Chen, she could use the Beta and Theta wings’ torpedo bombers to further pummel the already foundering Barbarossa.

  ‘Have Beta and Theta wing launch from the aft catapults as we advance,’ she ordered. ‘Tell them to return to the Barbarossa and take its engines apart.’

  ‘Aye, sir.’

  She could pick out the form of the Trebia without the magnification the HUD offered her. Head on, the twin, knife-like keels formed a V shape beneath the superstructure that ended in a vicious cutting laser at the apex. The barrel of that weapon was pointing straight at her. Its operator was merely waiting for the moment when the Churchill came within range. They wouldn’t get that chance.

  ‘Comms, hail the Trebia. Tell them one final time that if they don’t stand down that they will be destroyed.’

  ‘Aye,’ replied Andrews, then spoke urgently into her mic. ‘Trebia, Trebia this is the Churchill, break off your attack at once or you will met with deadly force. Surrender and you will not be harmed. The orders you have been issued with are illegal and invalid. Trebia please respond.’

  The two ships continued to advance towards one another. There was no response from the destroyer.

  ‘Range to target is twenty kilometres,’ gunnery commented, though Chen could clearly see that from her HUD. ‘We are well within optimal firing distance for the Arkari cannon.’

  ‘Wait,’ said Singh. ‘Something’s not right; the Trebia has stopped targeting us.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Chen replied.

  ‘Positive, though the weapons are still fully powered.’

  ‘Could be a ruse,’ said Haldane. ‘Something to make us
lower our guard.’

  ‘Could be,’ Chen responded. ‘Andrews, hail them again.’

  ‘Aye, Admiral. Trebia, Trebia please respond. What is your status?’

  There was no reply.

  ‘Trebia please respond.’

  ‘We’re wasting valuable time,’ said Haldane. ‘Admiral we should destroy the ship whilst we have the opportunity.’

  ‘No,’ Chen replied. ‘I think we need to give them a chance.’

  ‘Wait!’ cried Andrews. ‘The Trebia is hailing us, audio only.’

  A voice came across the comm.; a man’s. He spoke haltingly as if out of breath and desperate.

  ‘Churchill this is Commander Hersch, XO of the Trebia. Captain Moore has been relieved of command. Those of us still loyal to Earth have regained control of the ship. We have the bridge locked down. Please be advised that gunnery control is still contested. We are attempting a lock out of all fire control systems.’

  ‘Roger that Trebia,’ Chen replied. ‘We will despatch a contingent of marines to assist.’

  ‘Negative! The fighter defence grid has been set to auto. Any boarding attempt will be shot out of the sky until we can regain full control of gunnery. I’d advise you to retreat to a safe distance outside of weapons range and concentrate on the Barbarossa until we can deactivate the ship’s weapons.’

  ‘Roger that Trebia.’ She ordered helm to back off from the destroyer. ‘Our primary objective here is to rescue the President. Do you have any information as to his current status?’

  ‘I know that he’s the one giving the orders here. We were under direct Presidential orders to attack any ships that approached, including other Navy vessels and we were told to expect re-enforcements. Captain Moore followed those orders without question, but I’ve always had my doubts.’

  Chen remained silent, horrified by what she had heard. It had been a vain hope at best, but now the President belonged to the enemy. She wondered how it had happened. Had he struggled in his restraints? Or had they got to him whilst he slept in his makeshift cell?

  ‘Trebia, were these transmissions verified? You’re sure it really was him?’

  She heard Hersch swallow heavily before he spoke. ‘Yeah, I uh, had one of ensigns analyse them, to see if they’d been faked in any way, and I’m sorry to say that they were real alright. You know when I saw them I couldn’t believe that it really was him telling us to fire on our own people. Made me sick to my stomach. I guess we ended up on the wrong side.’

  ‘Transmit them to us, we need to see them.’

  ‘Roger that.’

  Chen saw Andrews turn and nod to her in acknowledgement of a successful download.

  ‘How bad is it, on your ship?’

  ‘Most of the crew are still loyal to me. Captain Moore and a few senior officers remain loyal to Morgan, but it looks like our entire contingent of marines have turned on us as well as key technical staff. We’re being locked out of numerous key systems as we speak and engineering is barricaded. The marines are holding gunnery, but they can’t stay there forever.’

  Haldane leaned over. ‘Smart tactics,’ he commented. ‘Gain control of key people to keep the rest in line.’

  ‘At least we know that some ships can be persuaded to switch to our side,’ Chen replied.

  ‘There’s more though, Admiral’ Hersch continued. ‘We found one or two of Moore’s men killed in combat from rounds to the head. There were... things inside, trying to get out.’ She heard a shudder in his voice.

  ‘Shapers,’ Chen replied. ‘Isolate or destroy any that you find. Not all of those who are still holding out may be host to such things and may simply be following orders of those who are, but I’d say there’s been a contingency plan in place from the start to prevent any attempt to wrest control of the ship from them.’

  ‘Couldn’t agree more,’ Hersch replied. ‘Anyone who hasn’t realised that they’re on the wrong side is too dumb to live anyway. They don’t get second chances.’ There was a pause, and then. ‘Looks like the Barbarossa just went down.’

  Chen accessed a rearwards camera and saw the broken shape of the destroyer, snapped in two by the force of an internal explosion. Probably the primary magazine, she noted grimly. One of her pilots must have got lucky.

  ‘Our wings report a successful kill,’ Haldane said. ‘They’re returning to the Churchill.’

  ‘Have our deck crews ready to receive them.’ Chen replied. ‘Trebia, we’re going to take a look at these transmissions and decide on our next course of action.’

  She looked at the destroyer now receding through the forward bridge windows as the Churchill backed off to beyond the range of its guns.

  ‘Roger that Churchill, good hunting,’ said Hersch. ‘My advice: destroy the base with Rheinhold in it, or whatever the hell that thing is that used to be him.’

  ‘Michelle, your grandfather was traumatised by the war; not only by what he witnessed, but the things it made him do, the things he had to do at the time...’

  Chen looked at her mother and saw the pain in her eyes.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘During the closing stages of the war when things were looking pretty bad for us your grandfather’s cruiser was escorting a civilian convoy out of the battle zone in the hope of getting them to safety when they were attacked by a squadron of Imperial corvettes. It was... sport really, for the K’Soth. They disabled the engines on the transports and left them floating dead in space. You grandfather knew that his cruiser couldn’t hope to hold out against such odds and that there were no re-enforcements on the way. He also knew that the K’Soth had disabled the transports on purpose and that they would board the ships and use the passengers for sport, that each would be murdered for their amusement.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘He turned the guns of his ship onto the transports and destroyed them, killing over three thousand people in the process instead of letting them fall into enemy hands.’

  ‘And the K’Soth ships?’

  ‘Your grandfather ordered his ship to jump away. With the transports gone there was no need for them to stay and fight the K’Soth vessels. He saved his crew. It was only afterwards that he found out that a destroyer squadron had been approaching from around the limb of a nearby gas giant and his ship had never detected them owing to battle damage to its sensors. They arrived barely ten minutes after he had jumped. He didn’t have all the information he needed and as a result, a lot of people died.’

  ‘He never told me this, never. But how could he have known at the time?’

  ‘No he never told you. Why would he expose a child to something like that? He was a good man and it haunted him for years, ate away at him like a cancer; the guilt and the curse of hindsight.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure that these transmissions are genuine?’ said Chen to Singh and Andrews in the privacy of her office. Haldane was the only other person in the room.

  ‘Yes ma’am, Ensign Andrews and I have run every sort of data and image analysis technique available to us. As far as we can tell it’s genuine alright.’

  ‘As far as you can tell? I need something concrete, Commander.’

  ‘It’s the best we can do with what we have available. With a supercomputer and several days to spare we could be more thorough but we don’t have the time or those kind of resources.’

  ‘Or that sort of time. I need to think. Thank you, you are all dismissed.’

  Singh and Andrews left smartly. Haldane hung back.

  ‘Admiral, if I may, what options are you considering?’

  ‘Whether to go ahead with the landing, or whether to use the Churchill to destroy the facility.’

  ‘Those transmissions could be a desperate ruse to get us to kill our own President along with his cabinet. Look at it from the Shapers’ point of view: they know that they can’t defend this facility. ‘

  ‘Don’t you think I hadn’t considered that from the start? We have no way of telling whether the XO of the T
rebia is telling the truth or even is who he says he is.’

  ‘We need to get a team in there and try to scan him, if it turns out that he is infected or that the information is false, we use the Arkari cannon to level the place and then destroy the Trebia.’

  ‘We still risk losing the team, though admittedly I don’t think we have much choice. Okay Commander, make it happen. Use what information we have on the layout of the facility to locate likely holding locations. We’ll use the Churchill’s guns to reduce the defences and get the team in safely, but once they’re in there, they’re on their own. We lose contact with them and we assume the worst.’

  Chen stared over the bows as the face of Chiron was peppered with a set of fresh new craters. Blossoms of light flared against the dark surface as munitions from the Churchill’s torpedo tubes and rail guns hit home, annihilating emplacements and tracking stations. As the bombardment ceased, one of the modified, gun-heavy Spec Ops drop ships sped from the bow catapults and was quickly lost against the looming bulk of Chiron, upon which the base clung, limpet-like, to the rock. They were close enough to discern its shape – a rough hexagon of linked modules attached to a cluster of landing pads and a separate structure holding the base’s fusion reactor. The Churchill’s gun crews had been very careful to avoid hitting that.

  Chen switched to maximum magnification and followed the small craft for a moment. She saw the distant flashes as it swept the landing zone with fire. From this distance she couldn’t see the ship flare and come to a sudden bone jarring stop before it disgorged a dozen black-suited figures.

  She listened intently to the transmissions from the team as they forced their way into the complex through an emergency airlock. Once they were inside she could hear their clipped, businesslike tones as they swept deserted rooms by quarters and found nothing.

  As the operatives headed for the brig she could sense from their vocal nuances that they were becoming tenser. The men were picking up the sounds of other beings in the complex, as if something were shadowing their movements. One man reported movement down a side corridor. Another detected heat traces though the walls ahead.