The Cyber Chronicles 08: Scorpion Lord

by T C Southwell

  "Area stasis field detected," Striker crooned.

  "Here we go." Kole tapped keys on his tactical console. "They're in a hurry. Our spin's slowing."

  Sabre bent to peer at the tactical readouts again. "They've left it too late. They won't have time to... Ah shit."

  "What?"

  "They're not going to try to board us before the Lair Nine exit; they're going to drag us past it."

  "Oh... bugger. What are we going to do?"

  "Striker, full reverse burn."

  "In a corridor?" Kole demanded.

  "Reverse burn, initiated,” Striker intoned. “Warning, warning, ion particle overload in seventeen seconds."

  "Sabre..."

  "Shut up, Kole. Striker, end burn in fifteen seconds."

  Flames sprouted from the ship's bows, dull against the backdrop of white light. It lurched, forcing Sabre to brace himself as the thrusters fought against the stasis net.

  "Reverse burn, ended," Striker informed them.

  "It didn't work," Kole said.

  "Shut up. Striker, initiate full reverse burn in two seconds."

  "Counting... Reverse burn, initiated. Warning, warning, ion particle overload in sixteen seconds."

  The ship lurched again, more violently, and Sabre gripped the back of Kole's chair, then slid into the co-pilot’s seat and strapped in. He could no longer see the tactical readouts, but the ship's struggles were going to get more violent.

  "Striker, end reverse burn before particle overload, then initiate another reverse burn two seconds later," Sabre ordered. "Continue until command is countered."

  "I hope you know what you're doing," Kole said.

  "I'm a cyber, Kole, what do you think? The overload is shed in two seconds, but every burn gets a second shorter, due to the build-up of particle matter -"

  "Okay, don't bother to explain it. I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Will it work?"

  "That depends on how strong Striker's reverse thrusters are, and how strong the enforcers' stasis net is. But it's weakening."

  The ship lurched again as Striker made another reverse burn, her running commentary spoken in a sweet soft voice.

  "The question is: will it work in time to make the exit vector?" Kole asked.

  Sabre leant over him to study the tactical readouts. "Exit vector in nine minutes. Maybe."

  "Maybe? And if it doesn't?"

  "We get dragged past, and we're in the shit."

  "Great. Then what?"

  Sabre shook his head. "We're in the shit."

  The ship lurched so violently that Kole was flung against his straps with a curse. Sabre hung onto his harness, leaning on Kole's legs to see the tactical readouts.

  "Striker, stop reverse burn loop. Full dorsal burn; full forward thrust, main engines, emergency online protocol, initiate."

  "Emergency online protocol, initiated."

  The engines came on with a dull thump and rose to a scream in a few seconds, making Kole's eyes widen in horror. "What the hell are you doing to my bloody engines?"

  "She can handle it. We're out of the stasis net."

  "We're still in a corridor!"

  "Warning, warning, ion particle overload in seven seconds," Striker intoned.

  "Shutdown engines before overload; deploy solar wings, emergency protocol, set course for Lair Nine exit vector, initiate," Sabre ordered.

  Kole stared at the tactical readouts. "We're too close to the enforcers to deploy the wings, Sabre!"

  "Theirs are off. They'll get a jolt, that's all."

  "And my generators will overload."

  "Quit worrying about the damned ship. It can be repaired."

  "Deploying solar wings," Striker crooned. "Emergency online protocol. Engines offline."

  Kole grunted as the ship veered, then lurched. The vast wings of electromagnetic power appeared on either side like networks of lightning.

  "Solar wings, deployed," Striker murmured. "Exit vector in three seconds, two seconds, one, exit vector established."

  "Striker, emergency main engine burn, six seconds," Sabre said.

  "Damn it, Sabre!"

  "Shut it, Kole. Do you want to get out of this in one piece?"

  "I'd like my ship in one piece too, if that's not too much damned trouble!"

  "She'll be fine."

  The main engines came on with a dull thud and rose to a faraway scream, making Kole grimace. Six seconds later, the scream died away, and Sabre leant across Kole to look at the tactical screens.

  "Okay, we're away from them, but they're following. They won't catch up before we exit. Striker, main engine burn, five seconds."

  "Warning, main engine three failure imminent. Fire danger. Explosion danger," Striker said.

  "Take engine three offline, burn with all other main engines only."

  "Main engine burn, initiating."

  Kole winced as another muffled bang turned into a tortured scream, and glared at Sabre. "You're just going to keep doing this until they all bloody fail, aren't you?"

  "Engine three was damaged before we came into the corridor. This isn't doing enough damage to cause them to fail. They might need an overhaul, but they probably need one anyhow."

  "Approaching corridor exit," Striker murmured. "Exit in three... two... one... corridor exited."

  "Main engines online, course, Lair Nine."

  "Lair Nine, arrival, twelve minutes."

  "Twelve minutes?" Kole squeaked. "Just exactly how bloody fast are we going?"

  Sabre nodded at the tactical screens. "See for yourself."

  Kole looked down. "Bugger me!"

  The cyber smiled. "Bet you didn't know she could go this fast."

  "She can't! Do we have enough fuel to stop?"

  "I hope so. That depends on how full your crystals are. How full are they?"

  "You didn't check before you put us into hyper light to the power of bloody infinity?"

  Sabre snorted. "Of course I did, but we'll have to refuel at Lair Nine."

  "Oh, right, buy fuel from a bunch of smugglers!"

  "Deceleration burn, initiating," Striker carolled.

  Sabre frowned at Kole. "How about you stop being so bloody negative about everything?"

  "How about you quit buggering up my ship?"

  "Oh, so you want to go to prison on Myon Two?"

  "You two argue even more than Estrelle and me," Martis commented from the doorway.

  "And that's saying something," Sabre said. "Fine, Kole, you take over from here, then. Let's see you shake the enforcers and dodge the smugglers."

  "Right, after you've got us into this shit!"

  "I got us out of the shit."

  "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't -"

  Sabre raised a finger. "Don't even go there."

  Martis coughed. "Guys, how about one of you take control before we get into even bigger shit?"

  "Striker's an AI," Kole said, "she can go into orbit on her own."

  Sabre glanced at the forward screens. "That might not be so simple."

  Kole looked up and recoiled. "Bloody hell! Striker, evasive manoeuvres!"

  A dark planet loomed on the screens, but it was the flotilla of ugly ships turning from their orbits to fire pulsing streams of crimson fire that made Sabre's hackles rise.

  "Striker, hold course," he said.

  "Are you nuts?" Kole demanded. "Don't countermand me!"

  "They're not firing at us."

  Kole stared at the smuggler ships, his eyes wide. The crimson lines of laser fire shot past all around Striker, aimed at the enforcer battle cruisers that had followed them through the corridor exit.

  "Why not?"

  "Because they don't like enforcers, but they don't know who we are yet."

  "And when they find out?"

  "We'll worry about that when the time comes. For now, the enemies of our enemies are our friends."

  Kole winced as the streams of light flashed past, and pulsing blue lines came from behind them to strike the smu
ggler ships and leave glowing spots. "We could get blown away in the crossfire."

  Sabre shook his head. "They're all using targeting computers. They don't make mistakes. We won't get hit unless we start bobbing and weaving. Right now, we're not a target."

  "There must be thirty ships out there."

  "Yeah, the enforcers are a bit outnumbered."

  "But better equipped and armed." Kole looked down at his tactical readouts as a red light flashed on the console. "Shit."

  "What?"

  "Four more enforcer cruisers just exited the corridor."

  Sabre scowled. "Damn."

  "They're sure determined to make you a daddy."

  Martis chuckled, and Sabre shot him a glare that wiped the grin off his face.

  "Six battle cruisers will make short work of this motley bunch," Kole said.

  "Striker, is the sideband frequency still jammed?" Sabre asked.

  "No, Sabre, the frequency is now open."

  Kole glanced at the cyber. "They're too busy!"

  Sabre nodded. "Striker, send this, priority one; Overlord Fairen, I require your assistance urgently at Lair Nine. Sabre."

  "Message sent."

  Sabre leant back and watched the streams of crimson and blue light flash past. "We'll be okay now."

  "If he comes," Kole muttered.

  "He'll come."

  ****

  Overlord Fairen frowned at the screens, where curtains of laser light ate up the land on the planet below. He had judged the leaders of the two warring factions whose conflict had summoned him to Esten Prime, and the touch of their slimy minds still made him shudder. The condemned men had been executed instantly, and now he turned his attention to the people on the planet. The factions had built up vast stores of vile weapons, weaponised plagues, toxic gasses and dirty bombs, with the intention of using them. There were still billions of innocents here, though, and he had resisted the urge to wipe out the entire planet. Perhaps he was mellowing with age.

  The Scorpion Ship hung like a massive hand of retribution in orbit around the green and yellow world, its six legs curved towards the planet. Pulsing streams of blue light poured from the tips of the legs and the two main arms, vaporising everything it touched. The Scorpion Ship's lasers were several thousand times more powerful than any other ship's weapons, capable of burning right through a planet's magnetic shields and ozone layer to vaporise the land below. He targeted the military areas, where the factions' vast armies resided, and their weapons. An entire continent had been reduced to scorched earth, and he was working on the second faction's land mass. Tracts of wild land and peaceful cities would be spared, allowing the Esten society to rebuild.

  Fairen turned his head and addressed the air. "Commander, summon the opposition leaders of the two countries."

  "At once, My Lord."

  The young Overlord walked to his golden-ornamented onyx throne and picked up his veiled hood, pulled it on and adjusted the voice distorter in front of his mouth. A minute later, eight of his black-uniformed men brought in a weeping middle-aged woman and a thin, stooped man with a receding hairline and sallow skin, then took up position on either side of the door. A further twelve soldiers stood in the shadows around the room, armed with poison dart guns.

  Fairen sat on the throne and beckoned to the pair. "Approach." His voice now had a deep, sexless, menacing tone.

  They sidled towards the dais, bowing, and then fell to their knees.

  "Lord, please, have mercy," the woman wailed.

  "I am the Scorpion Lord," Fairen stated. "I am not known for mercy. Your leaders were corrupt. They are now dead. Your weapons are destroyed, and your armies. You will never make war again. You two will sign a treaty, and you will enforce it. Break it, and your planet will die."

  The man stared at the main screens, where the lines of laser fire consumed the ground. "We will sign. Please stop the destruction."

  "The task is not yet complete." Fairen gestured, and an aide came forward, carrying a standard non-aggression treaty.

  The woman grabbed the light pen and scratched it on the translucent treaty, sobbing. The man went over and took it from her, signing where Fairen's aide indicated. The aide studied the treaty, then turned and nodded to Fairen before he left.

  "This treaty," Fairen said, "will be lodged with your governments, and a copy will be sent to the other Overlords. The punishment for disobeying an Overlord is death."

  "I beg you, lord," the man said, "stop the destruction. Enough has been destroyed! We have signed the treaty!"

  "You should not have attracted the attention of an Overlord if you were not prepared to pay the price," Fairen commented. "Once we intervene, we do so until we are satisfied, and I will be satisfied when that line of fire reaches the coast, not before."

  "My lord, you're killing millions of innocent people," the man protested, wringing his hands. "Please stop!"

  "They are soldiers, mostly, and the death of innocents, while regrettable, is, at times, necessary. Millions of innocents have already died in your war, and many more would have had I not intervened. Those who are slain today are probably far less than you would have killed, if your war had been allowed to continue. Be glad I have spared your planet, for now. I have destroyed others for less. Tax me, and I may change my mind on the matter."

  Commander Shrain entered, marched up to the throne and bowed, stepping forward to whisper, "A message, My Lord. Sabre asks for you aid."

  Fairen stood up. "Send them back. Ceasefire. Prepare to translocate."

  The guards hustled the Esteners out, and the wall of laser fire vanished, leaving a curtain of smoke and burning, molten earth on the planet's surface. The Scorpion Ship turned, and distant booms and groans echoed through it as the massive arms retracted and folded inwards. Fairen paced around, gazing out of the screens, then turned to Shrain.

  "Where is he?"

  "Lair Nine."

  "What's the problem?"

  "He did not say, My Lord."

  Fairen swung away. "Read me the message."

  Shrain consulted his com-link. "Overlord Fairen, I require your assistance urgently on Lair Nine. Sabre."

  "Urgently?"

  "Yes, My Lord."

  "How long before translocation?"

  Shrain consulted the com-link again. "One minute, My Lord."

  "Hurry it up."

  "It cannot be hurried up, My Lord."

  Fairen sighed and sat on his throne. "I know, Shrain."

  "Thirty seconds to translocation, My Lord."

  Fairen glanced at the screens again. "He doesn't know it, but Sabre just saved about five million people."

  "You could always come back and finish the job, My Lord."

  "They'll evacuate the soldiers. Now the balance of power is skew." Fairen shrugged. "No matter."

  "Translocating... now."

  Chapter Fifteen

  Estrelle joined Martis in the bridge doorway, staring at the fiery lines that caged the ship. Martis put an arm around her, and she leant against him, shivering. Striker was still in full deceleration burn, the white-hot flames that sprouted from the bow mingling with the barrage of deadly light that filled the screens.

  "We're going to die, aren't we?" she asked.

  "No," Sabre said, "Fairen's coming."

  "Overlords don't come when one man calls them."

  The cyber smiled. "Wait till you see what happens when he arrives. It's quite spectacular."

  "It'll take him hours, if he's far away."

  "Overlords translocate. He'll be here in a few minutes."

  A bang made Estrelle and Martis jump, and Kole swore. "Those damned enforcers are taking pot shots at us too now."

  "They're trying to damage our engines, that's all," Sabre said.

  "Great, then we'll be adrift in a crippled ship."

  "That's the idea."

  "Your Overlord had better hurry up then, because... Bloody hell!"

  A blinding flash of white light filled the screens
as vast, blood-red ship shimmered into being off the port bow. Massive curved arms and a needle-pointed tail glinted in the starlight. The smugglers ceased firing and turned to run, and the blue laser light from behind died away at the same time. Estrelle gaped at the enormous ship that blocked out half the planet, tiny lights shimmering on its hull. Lines of green fire streamed from its arms as they began to extend and spread. It lashed out in a web of scintillating green light that latched onto most of the smuggler ships and disappeared behind them as it trapped the enforcers, too. One tongue of fire licked over Striker, and the ship shuddered, coming to an abrupt halt that made Estrelle and Martis stumble into the back of Kole's chair despite the anti-inertia field.

  "That's it," Sabre said. "All fighting stopped. Fairen has arrived."

  Kole gaped at him. "That's Overlord Fairen."

  "Yup. And it took him all of five seconds to stop everyone."

  "That's the Scorpion Ship."

  "Yeah, Kole."

  "The Red Death."

  Sabre nodded. "That's right."

  "Unable to complete orbit docking," Striker crooned. "Grappler field detected."

  "Engines offline, Striker," Kole said, unable to tear his eyes from the crimson ship.

  "Engines, offline."

  A thin beam of red light shot from the Scorpion Ship and vanished behind them.

  "He's talking to the enforcers,” Sabre explained. “Then he might talk to the smugglers, but I doubt it."

  "Laser communications," Kole said. "No eavesdropping."

  A minute passed, then the filament of green light that held Striker vanished, and the red beam flicked across to touch the ship's bow. A husky female voice said, "Striker, you have permission to dock with the Scorpion Ship. Berth five."

  "Bugger me," Kole said.

  Sabre ordered, "Striker, approach the Scorpion Ship and dock in berth five."

  Striker moved towards the Red Death, which loomed over and around them like a floating city, blotting out the planet and the sun as they approached its belly. A port opened ahead, marked with the number they required, and Striker headed for it. Kole peered out at the scarred, ancient hull as it moved past.

  "Just how big is this thing?"

  "One hundred and forty kilometres long and ninety-eight kilometres wide, a hundred and fifteen when its arms are spread. The gun in the tail is a particle plasma cannon. It destroys planets."