One Dark Future

by Michael Anderle

  “Uh…” Cutter transmitted. “What now?” he looked around to confirm what he was positive was the truth. “I’m out of missiles and torpedoes.”

  The jumpship’s cannons and turrets continued firing, but contrary to Jia’s theory, the Hunter ship didn’t seem any more bothered by them now than before being struck by the barrage of missiles and torpedoes.

  Erik let out a frustrated bellow. “Those damned bastards should just die already.”

  “I don’t mean to sound like a chickenshit after what I said earlier,” replied Cutter, audibly swallowing over the line, “but based on what Holochick told me, those dudes are tougher than the Navigators. I was all pumped, but it’s obvious now they’re out of our league. How the hell do we beat people who are stronger than the Navigators? This might be a good time to show them our asses. Discretion is the better part of valor and all that.”

  “We have to stop that ship,” Jia insisted, her voice stern. “We don’t know how they travel. If it’s got anything like our jump drive, we’re screwed. No, humanity’s screwed. They could jump right to Earth.”

  “But it doesn’t even have guns,” Cutter complained.

  “They don’t need guns,” Erik muttered, his jaw clenched. “And that’s assuming they don’t repair them in a couple of days. Even without them, they can go to Sedna and infect everyone, then the outer colonies, or like Jia said, go straight to Earth and land in Neo SoCal so they can make millions of parasites. The UTC has all the colonies, but one out of every two humans lives on Earth. If it falls, humanity’s done. The UTC will collapse, and what the Hunters don’t finish off, the Zitarks will.”

  “But we can’t win!” Cutter argued. “We threw everything we had at them, and it didn’t even scratch them. This isn’t a fight anymore. This is us awaiting execution. What do you plan to do, Blackwell?”

  “Ram them,” Erik declared, his voice calm. “It’s the only option we have left. If we run, we’re dooming thousands, if not billions, to die.”

  “Oh, man,” Cutter grumbled, wiping his face. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

  Jia turned to Erik and shook her head. “I get what you’re saying, but it’s not a viable strategy. Even taking into account the kinetic energy we could with a decent run-up, if our missiles and torpedoes didn’t scratch it, we wouldn’t accomplish anything without something like years of constant acceleration. I don’t think they’re going to sit around and wait that long.”

  “I refuse to give up,” Erik replied, his face blank. “Those soldiers didn’t die for nothing, and I’m not going to run when a damned alien ship full of monsters is in my home system.” He growled, “Lanara, isn’t there something you can do? Turn us into a bomb, like Vand did with her ship?”

  Lanara didn’t answer for a couple seconds, and when she did, her voice was noticeably more subdued than normal. “It’s like Lin said, Blackwell. I can turn us into a bomb, but it’s not going to be worse than what we just delivered.”

  “Somebody give me an idea that works then!” Erik slammed a fist into a bulkhead in frustration. “We have to win. We’ve got the best AI in the UTC and a state-of-the-art ship. This is our home system, and the piece of Hunter crap sat in a freezer for thousands of years. They haven’t even fired on us.”

  Jia wondered if that represented contempt more than a technological limitation.

  “I-I…” Raphael sputtered. He let out a nervous titter. “If you’re thinking about ships as bombs, I’ve got an idea. Get the Argo back here and dock. I’ll need Emma’s help, and I can’t guarantee it’ll work, and you know how much I respect you all, but I’m going to need to go radio-silent for the next few minutes as I begin setting it up. Remember, no guarantees.”

  “A chance is better than nothing,” Erik replied. “Do what you need to, and I’ll talk to you when I get over to the Bifröst.” He switched the comm broadcast to everyone aboard the Argo. “We’re going to return to the jumpship. Once we arrive, everyone head over there and strap in. I’m going to level with you. Our first attack didn’t go well, but Raphael has an idea he’s working on. I’m not sure, but this might come down to turning the Argo into a bomb, so haul ass the second we dock.”

  Jia stared at the camera feed, calm settling over her. The red glow was brighter than before, but she didn’t worry. They had a chance.

  Humanity wasn’t defeated…yet.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Erik stomped through the doors to the bridge of the jumpship, Jia right behind. He’d wanted to go check on the soldiers, but they were big boys and girls and knew what they needed to do. For now, he needed to concentrate on winning against the enemy ship, and that would come down to whatever plan Raphael had cooked up.

  Despite being larger than the cockpit of the Argo and having more seats, the bridge of the jumpship didn’t look much different.

  In some ways, it was inferior. The chairs weren’t as comfortable as those aboard the smaller ship, and the increased number of seats and consoles made it a tighter area for individual crew members despite the overall larger area.

  Erik understood. The military had focused on pure utility for the bridge of the experimental jumpship. After all, they hadn’t been sure it wouldn’t explode on the first jump.

  The risk of participating in the propulsion test almost seemed quaint now that they were facing off against a monster-sized ship that had shrugged off their best weapons like they were nothing.

  The Lady wouldn’t abandon Erik, not yet. If she wanted him to die, she would have let him die on Molino or taken him out during the jump.

  Fear was only useful in that it kept one from blindly throwing their life away. If Raphael’s plan didn’t work, Erik had to find a new one.

  “If we can’t ram the ship,” Erik glanced at Jia, “We will have to get our exos on and go back inside.”

  She gazed at him as her brain worked through what he’d said, then delivered a quick nod.

  Erik turned back and continued his thoughts.

  Blowing it up from the outside might not work, but they’d already proven they could hurt it from the inside. They just needed more coverage.

  Since the Hunter ship still lacked weapons, they could potentially drill inside or use local explosives to force their way in. They’d have to face off against the mutants again, but this time, they would bring their exos.

  Cutter kept licking his lips in his seat near the front of the bridge but didn’t bother to look at the new arrivals. Raphael hunched over in a chair surrounded by data windows, murmuring quietly under his breath, the occasional number slipping out. It reminded Erik of Lanara.

  Erik walked past him to an IO port in a command console and inserted Emma.

  The AI had warned him on the way up that she would go quiet after a brief examination of the Bifröst’s systems. She didn’t bother to explain what Raphael had in mind, only told Erik to get her to the bridge and insert her for “maximum efficiency if you want to live” and requested that Lanara head to the engine room of the jumpship to prepare for both manual assistance in power rerouting and grav emitter manipulation.

  Erik trusted his people, virtual or otherwise. He was good at many things, but he wasn’t an engineer or a scientist. He was a master of the art of killing enemies, and now it was time to let the others do what they could.

  I bet the military never thought the ship would get this kind of workout so soon, Erik thought.

  He dropped into a seat near Raphael in the back and strapped into his harness. His fingers tapped on the console as he brought up his own data windows, including camera feeds of the Hunter ship.

  The enemy remained stationary, the energy field surrounding the ship continuing to grow brighter. That had to mean something, but no one had said anything. The others were distracted, but if it were easily interpretable, Jia would explain.

  Erik had his own theory. It had to be a powerful shield, something operating on different principles than the basic grav shields human ships used. Th
at was the only explanation for how the Hunter could have shrugged off the apocalyptic onslaught they’d just delivered.

  The theory continued under the assumption that Raphael was a bright guy and a military scientist who understood battlefield needs. He must have figured out some way to disrupt the shield, and if all he wanted was a few minutes to himself to set it up, Erik was more than happy to give it to him—as long as it ended with the Hunter ship destroyed.

  Raphael jerked his head up and gave Erik a wild-eyed stare. “First of all, Erik and Jia, I want to be totally honest with you because I couldn’t live with myself if we did anything without you understanding everything.”

  “No one’s asking you to be anything but that,” Erik replied. “We don’t have time for bullshit right now. Just lay it on us and tell us what we need to do.”

  Jia nodded her agreement, her attention glued to her data windows, including numerous secondary sensor displays. She would speak up if she noticed anything unusual.

  “The thing is, I’ve got an idea, and I’ve got the basics for it laid down,” Raphael continued unsteadily. “But I can’t guarantee it’ll work. I think it will work, and I’m not just saying that because it’s you two.”

  Erik snorted. “There are no guarantees in life and especially no guarantees in combat. If that’s what’s worrying you, drop it. We’re dealing with something none of us was prepared for. We’re long past the phase of workshopping ideas through committees for cost/benefit analysis.”

  “It’s, uh, bigger than that.” Raphael swallowed and bit his lip. “It’s not just that it might not work. Even if it does work, there is still a good chance we’ll die.”

  “Can I vote no on the dying part?” Cutter asked. “Because I’m not cool with that.”

  “Shut up.” Jia glared at him. “This isn’t a democracy.”

  “Jia’s right,” Erik added with a nod. “Dying’s not high on my list of things to do anytime soon, but I’m far less worried about whether we’ll die than if whatever Raphael has planned will take that Hunter ship with us. We have to think about what’s best for the Solar System and the UTC, not what’s best for us.”

  “Still not fond of the dying part of the plan,” Cutter mumbled.

  Raphael took in several deep breaths and slowly let them out. “If I can pull it off, I’m pretty sure it’ll take out the Hunter ship, ‘cause what I have planned would take out a small moon or a large city.”

  Erik grinned, hope flooding back in and pushing away his doubts. “That ship’s big, but it’s a lot smaller than a moon. I like your plan already. Not so much the dying part, but the killing the Hunters part.”

  Jia watched Raphael for a moment. He had placed his hands like he was going to slap someone, talking to himself.

  Seriously brainy individuals exhibited odd characteristics when they were stressed.

  “Okay. Time to man up like the Obsidian Detective and woman up like Lady Justice.” Raphael slapped his cheeks. “You can do this. I can do this. We can do this.”

  She winced; he had slapped someone.

  “We need to know what you’re going to do,” Jia offered quietly. “So we can set up an appropriate follow-up plan. We trust you, Raphael, but we have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Sure, sure, sure. That makes sense. Um, do you want the technical version or the laymen’s version?”

  Erik grimaced. “Give me the kids’ version. I don’t want to spend the next hour asking questions.”

  “The jump drive’s kind of like a portable HTP,” Raphael explained, tracing a circle in the air with his hands. “It’s less that we’re jumping from point to point and more like we’re opening a gate and shoving it over the ship, then going out the other side. It’s obviously a lot more complicated in terms of the physics, but that’s the laymen’s version.”

  Erik nodded slowly. “I follow you so far, but how does that affect your plan? Remember, this isn’t about getting away. We can’t just run. If we gather the Fleet, they might be able to take that thing out, but it would take too long, and we could lose a couple of planets by then, potentially including Earth. I am interested in the part where you said this was about blowing up small moons.”

  Raphael waved his hands in front of him. “No, I’m not talking about running. I get that we need to take that thing out.” He squared his shoulders and puffed up his chest. “I know you would never run to save yourself when other people are in danger. This is an attack plan.”

  Jia’s brows slowly lifted. “I don’t understand. How is it an attack? What does the jump drive have to do with blowing up the ship?”

  “You going to try to slice them in half with a hyperspace gate?” Cutter suggested.

  The pilot’s suggestion surprised Erik. He wasn’t sure if something like that was possible. It wasn’t something the military had ever suggested as a viable tactic.

  Raphael shook his head. “No. Something like that wouldn’t work. If I…” He sighed. “The simple version is, the gate the jump drive generates would collapse instantly and do nothing to the enemy ship, but there is a way we can use it. We can do something with this drive that is normally impossible because it’d require building an entire HTP. It’s been considered theoretical until now, but I know the ID and DD have been combing astronomy data, looking for evidence that the Leems have done it.”

  Jia gasped. “You’re going to nest hyperspace gates? But if you do that—”

  “It’ll create a forced hyperspace leakage into normal space without the normal inverted field barriers that prevent significant overlap and start baryonic and gravitational disruption,” Raphael explained, grim-faced. “A cut in space. The wound will quickly seal itself, but not before releasing more energy in a relatively contained area than any weapon humanity’s ever thought about producing.” The uncertainty left his face. “We’re lucky that we can even try this. We might be able to jump anywhere with the drive, but this trick isn’t as forgiving. It’s only possible because we’re so far away from a significant gravity well. I’ve done some quick calculations, and like I said earlier, I’m pretty sure I could destroy a moon with this, or at least take a major chunk out of it.”

  “Good.” Erik focused on the Hunter ship in the feed. “They aren’t gods, and let’s hope they haven’t ever had someone come up with this idea before. I’d like to see them become a large number of tiny particles.”

  Cutter waved his arms. “Sure, but what about us? Remember the part where he mentioned us dying earlier? I know it’s a noble thing to die protecting people, but I’m not that noble. I’d prefer to kill the enemy and survive.”

  “Yes.” Raphael offered a sheepish grin. “That’s where things get a little dicey.”

  “Define dicey,” Jia replied.

  “Here goes.” Raphael nodded firmly, his gaze flicking between Erik and Jia. “I’m ninety-ninety percent certain I can pull this off. Obviously, Emma will be doing the heavy lifting of directing the nested jumps. I’ve got most of the systems set up, and Lanara’s setting things up on her end, but I’m not certain we can survive. We’ll be awfully close to the hyperspace leak.”

  “Can’t we just fly away and then do it?” suggested Cutter. “Why do we have to be close? I can live without getting a great view of the ship being destroyed.”

  Raphael’s shoulders slumped. “We have to be relatively close to pull it off. It’s a limitation of the fundamental nature of how our jump drive works. There’s nothing I can do about it. Give me billions of credits and a couple of decades and I could maybe make something longer-range, but as far as things in the next few minutes, this is it. We’ve got to stay close to kill the ship.”

  “But you can guarantee the explosion at ninety-ninety percent?” Erik asked.

  “Yes, but I can’t—”

  “I only care about the explosion,” Erik interrupted curtly. “If it doesn’t go off, we’re not going to die from it, so that doesn’t matter much.” He nodded at Cutter. “You didn’t see what was in there
. We can’t let that thing get out of here, no matter what. I’m not here to die, but I’m not here to let that thing get away, either.”

  Cutter pointed to a radar display. “If it’s stuck out this far, it might take a year or two to get to Earth and months before even something like Sedna. That’ll give the Fleet plenty of time to gather an armada. Two ships might not be enough, but a hundred?” He clapped. “Boom!”

  Erik shook his head. “We can’t assume the ship doesn’t have better propulsion tech, something like a jump drive. They might not be able to use it right away, but if we leave them alone, they can continue repairing their ship. We might have only days, not months. Shit, considering what we’ve seen, we might only have hours, Cutter.” He gestured to a data window with an image of the Hunter ship. “Even if we leave, the only thing we can do with days to work is jump back with this ship, and we’re back to the same thing. If our cannons and missiles won’t scratch it, it’s not like coming back with slightly better-tuned weapons will do much. Jia and I spoke about boarding it again, but if we go back for reinforcements, when we come back, they might have anti-ship defenses ready.”

  “I always knew I was going to die young.” Cutter averted his eyes. “I didn’t think I’d die in a hyperspace leak explosion thing, though. I guess if you’re going to die, you might as well do it in a spectacular way.”

  Raphael managed a weak smile. “Our deaths aren’t assured. I’d estimate we’ve got better than even odds of surviving. With good piloting, the odds go up.”

  “Good piloting?” Cutter’s brow lifted. “Okay, this sounds like a part where I can help. I’m liking this plan a lot better now.”

  Erik nodded to Jia. “I’m not trying to die here and take you with us. I’m trying to stop something beyond our tech, and Raphael’s got the only option short of us trying to fight our way back in.”

  “I know,” she answered. “And I agree with your call. I trust Raphael, Emma, Lanara, and Cutter.”