Invardii Box Set 2

by Warwick Gibson

  The memorial service was short, and heartfelt. It could have been any one them that had died that day defending their way of life, and their right to freedom, and they saluted the sacrifice the villager had made.

  “Bravery is what happens when ordinary people do what has to be done, in the cause of something bigger than themselves,” said Hudnee, and the service was over.

  A little later something blinked on Battrod’s comms armband, and he took a call from the Javelins above.

  “It’s working,” he said to Hudnee, a fierce joy coming into his eyes. “Twenty enemy ships have arrived off the planet. That will be just the first contingent. Pray for many more, my friend, and the chance to destroy them all!”

  Hudnee felt the same exultation stir in his heart. The plan was working.

  CHAPTER 23

  ________________

  Ayman Case thought again about the situation at the Barrens, and wondered what his next step should be. Three shuttles had been sent in, and three shuttles had come back – but there had been losses. One of the shuttles had sent in a torpedo unit only to have it stopped by some sort of Invardii war machine.

  The torpedo crew had abandoned the unit when it was damaged, and managed to make it back to shore. A fierce firefight had erupted but the machine had been unstoppable, and the shuttle had barely escaped with the crew.

  The second shuttle had also sent in one torpedo unit initially, and that unit had disappeared. The shuttle had seen no sign of the many-legged war machines, and there had been no comms feedback from the torpedo crew. Whether the unit had managed to plant its explosives was unknown.

  The Hud pilot in charge of the shuttle had decided against detonating the charges. There was always the chance the torpedo crew were still alive, and somewhere near the detonation zone. A second torpedo unit had returned without sighting anything. The shuttle had returned to its Javelin warship, and the area where the torpedo unit had been lost was being closely monitored. If there were any signs of life an extraction team would be sent in immediately.

  The last shuttle, which Ayman had sent to collaborate with the Shellport villagers, had been the most successful. It had fielded all three units it carried, and their explosives had torn holes across a wide section of the mining base. Still, he thought soberly, success came at the cost of a life.

  On the plus side, there were now twenty enemy ships within the Aqua Regis system, and with any luck there would be more coming. He was confident he could keep the Reaper ships busy until every one of them that the Invardii had sent finally arrived, and the trap could be sprung. In the meantime he had to keep up the pressure on the mining base.

  Ayman dispatched 80 of his Javelins to meet the Reaper ships while they were still on the outskirts of the system, and then returned to the most important question of all – what to do about the mining base below him?

  He left his chair to pace up and down the long corridor at the back of the bridge. He was running through the scenarios he had been given for the situation. They were a range of suggestions from his best tactical brains, but they all seemed so – ordinary. If he wasn’t careful the attack on the mining base would start to look like a diversion, meant to bring the Reaper ships to the system, and that might suggest a trap to the enemy.

  If they were even capable of thinking like that, murmured Ayman to himself. He had to assume all intelligent life would think along similar lines, so the Invardii must have tactical skills something like his own. The problem was they had already shown an emotional side to their thinking – arrogance, independence and a lack of concern for others – that might override any rational decisions. Who knew what they might feel compelled to do.

  Then he stopped pacing in mid-stride. That was it! He had thought of a weak point in the mining base defenses, something the Javelins should be able to exploit.

  The mining base had fired the mass launcher through the shield, so there must have been some sort of hole in the shield at that time. The pods would have been destroyed against the inside of the shield otherwise. If he could get the mining base to fire the mass launcher again, he would be able to use that moment to do it some real damage.

  But before he did that, there was one thing he wanted to do.

  Ayman opened a comms link to the three shuttles that had returned from the Barrens. They were being refitted for their next task, and the crews debriefed. Ayman asked to speak to the company from Battrod and Hudnee’s shuttle as soon as their debriefing was finished.

  He would ask them to go back and look for the lost torpedo team. It was ultimately their choice whether they would do so, but knowing the people of Hud he didn’t think they would pass up a chance to help some of their own. That is, if the torpedo team were still alive. There was something to be said for bringing their bodies out if they weren’t.

  Ayman worked out the details of his plan to get the mass launcher at the mining base to fire again. It wasn’t long before a squadron of Javelins left the safe area above the dome and crossed above the mining site. Not directly overhead, but close enough, Ayman was sure, to trigger the interest of the Invardii.

  The crews had disembarked, and the ships had been rigged to run on remote. They were the bait to get the Invardii to fire the mass launcher.

  The next pass was a little closer to the trajectory of the pods as they left the mass launcher, and this time the Javelins were more spread out. Even though there were no crews on the ships, Ayman didn’t want to lose any more of the sophisticated pieces of hardware than was necessary.

  On the next pass three pods in quick succession left the Barrens and passed through the Javelin formation, hitting one near its stern and damaging the star drive engines. It heeled slowly to one side, and started a long descent toward the planet. Ayman cursed his luck, but he now the navs officers had a fix on the spot where the pods left the shield.

  Everything hung on the third pass by the Javelins. Ayman ordered them in from a different direction, but on a track that took them over the center of the mining base.

  Another sequence of pods erupted from the mass launcher, and passed through the top of the shield. They passed between two Javelins in the middle of the formation, and Ayman released the breath he had been holding. At the same moment as the pods emerged from the shield, the manned Javelins above the mining base struck.

  The combined energy weapons of close to a hundred destroyer class Javelins hit the top of the shield. Despite some diffusion from their passage through the atmosphere, dozens of megawatts of pure disruptive power, riding laser beams, punched through the spot on the top of the shield.

  A plume of black smoke burst from the top of the dome, and the dome itself flickered and dulled. Moments later the plume was abruptly cut off as the shield stabilized.

  Ayman took it philosophically. He hadn’t expected to destroy the mining base in one strike – that would take away incentive for the Invardii to mount a rescue mission – but it was obvious the Javelins had done a lot of damage to the mining base.

  As if in some strange response to the latest attack on the mining base, another 32 Reaper ships came out of star drive at the edge of the Aqua Regis system. They would join the firefight between the Javelins and Reaper ships that was already underway far out in the system.

  Yes! thought Ayman exultantly, as he watched them come out of star drive. It was still a lot less than the roughly 380 Reaper ships the Invardii had in Alliance space, but the numbers were building nicely in the right direction.

  Ayman watched the visuals from the Alliance ships, relayed by sub-space, as 80 Javelins fought an enemy force now numbering 52 Reaper ships.

  With the extraordinary speed of the Hud pilots the Javelins were much more maneuverable than anything the Invardii had, but the shields on both sides were equally able to block the attacks of the other. It was – apart from rare losses – a stalemate.

  The numbers of enemy ships weren’t high enough yet to call in the Valkrethi, but Ayman was watching the situation closely. I
t was starting to work out the way the Alliance wanted it to.

  While Ayman waited for more enemy ships, the shuttle carrying Battrod and Hudnee’s combined teams had left for the Barrens. They’d decided, on a unanimous vote, to make an attempt to find the lost torpedo team, alive or dead.

  It wasn’t long before the shuttle landed at the base of the island called the Pillar, where the second torpedo team had entered the inner sea. When they disembarked onto the beach, there was nothing to say the others had ever been there. Regardless of that, the Hud men and woman felt they had to make the effort to find their own.

  Battrod assembled the crews from on the sea shore. Dusk was almost upon them, and there was little wind. The rippled water of the inland sea stretched out to the abrupt orange wall of the dome.

  “We may be looking for bodies,” said Battrod quietly, “so be prepared for that. We’ve got activation codes for the explosives they were carrying, so we can finish the job if they managed to put them in place.”

  There were nods around the group at this statement. It seemed right to finish what the torpedo team had started.

  “The head man of the Alliance force above us thinks we should go in without torpedo units. We would be less likely to be detected, but we’d also be slower on our way back if we ran into trouble.”

  The others nodded again. Cagill would always be the big boss as far as the Hud pilots were concerned – while Cordez was next to God – but Ayman Case was turning out okay when it came to task forces and smaller operations like this. The villagers understood little of the Alliance hierarchy, but if the Hud pilots – their own young people – thought leaving the torpedo units behind was a good idea, it probably was.

  “We’ll be going in same as the first mission,” said Battrod. “Three teams of three, and pilots turn all comms off unless lives are in danger. We don’t want to alert the mining base to our presence.

  “Tie yourselves together in the same teams as we had before. Some of us have experience using the side fins, but most of us don’t. If you’re one of those that don’t, just do what you can to help and let the others tow you in. Remember, long, slow beats with your legs, don’t cramp up by trying too hard.”

  This time around, every one of those going in would be carrying the long tubes with the short, solid cylinders attached. They were good under the water or above, firing a brace of tiny torpedoes below the surface and a magazine of super-dense slugs above it.

  The Shellport villagers had been through a brief course on how to use them, but they still treated the strange weapons with a good deal of nervousness.

  The water in the shallow sea was almost warm. Hudnee did his best to help his team with the swim in, but found himself mostly towed along behind the others. The re-breather worked perfectly, as they had during the first trip in, but the long tube-weapon was uncomfortable across his back.

  It took the teams longer to reach the bottom edge of the shield without the torpedo units, but at last they swam under it. A few minutes later the vertical wall of the mining base loomed out of the murk ahead of them.

  CHAPTER 24

  ________________

  Battrod signaled to one of the teams to go left along the wall, while he took his team right. Hudnee and the remaining team waited where they were, keeping a close lookout for signs of the Invardii war machines. Battrod returned first, indicating something of interest to their right. When the other team had also returned, the group set off in that direction, and soon arrived at an indentation in the wall.

  It was an entrance of some sort, but it was hard to say what it was for. Did it take in water to cool the fusion ring when it was operating, or was it an exit point for the war machines? The teams spread out, and examined the large recess and its surroundings. One of the villagers began to point excitedly toward a particular spot, and Hudnee swam over.

  It was one of the explosives packages, stuffed behind a mechanism that ran along the top of the door. So, thought Hudnee, the second team from the first attack run had made it this far.

  Battrod’s team produced more of the packages from their body packs, primed the detonators, and fixed them all the way along the top of the door. When all three teams had backed off into the murk, Battrod sent the activation codes for the explosives. The shock wave swept toward them as a boiling wave of white bubbles. Hudnee was tossed around by the surge, and clung to his tube-weapon to make sure he didn’t lose it.

  When they came back to examine the effect of the explosives, they found the top of the door peeled back, making an entrance way. Oddly, the sea wasn’t pouring in through the hole. Perhaps it was one of the areas that had been sealed off after the first attempt with the explosives.

  Battrod shone a light into the gloom, but nothing reflected back. Whatever body of water was on the other side of the wall, it was big.

  There was some agitated sign language among the teams. Battrick wasn’t in favor of anyone going in through the hole to look around, but they still hadn’t found any sign of the torpedo team. There hadn’t been any sign of the Invardii war machines either, though all of them were looking nervously into the surrounding gloom.

  In the end Battrod sent two of the Hud pilots through the opening, deciding they would be more used to the technology they might find within than the villagers, and motioned for the others to wait where they were.

  It was a long wait. Those on the outside of the wall were about to send in another team when a strange clattering built up, transmitted through the wall. It took them a while to understand what it was, until one of the Hud pilots kicked himself up level with the top of the mining base.

  He broke comms silence immediately.

  “War machine coming!” he shouted, and the rest of the group recognized the sound as the clatter of many legs on the roof of the mining base as it hurried toward their position.

  “Check underwater firing option,” snapped Battrod, referring to the twin torpedoes in the shorter, solid tubes, and they went through the load and check procedure. He motioned them up to join him, and they formed a ragged line at the top of the wall. It was nerve-wracking to hear the Invardii war machine coming, but not see it.

  At last a dark shape materialized out of the gloom, headed straight for their position. The response was instantaneous, and a web of white bubble lines shot out from the tube weapons toward the mechanical contraption. For a moment there was the continuous glare of exploding charges, and then the machine was obscured as the shock wave engulfed it.

  When the view had cleared, the war machine was still coming on. It had been damaged – parts of the structure were bent or missing – but the torpedoes hadn’t stopped it. Hud pilots and villagers alike scattered, diving down before heading off into the murk.

  One figure, however, headed straight for the advancing war machine. Battrod pulled the last of his explosive charges from his body pack and primed the detonator as his side fins powered him onward. At the last moment he turned and dropped lower, fixing the charge as he passed under it.

  He had barely cleared the end of the structure when he tapped in the activation code, and the many-legged machine was obscured, once again, by an enormous underwater blast. This time when the view cleared it was lying on its side. Its many legs were still rotating feebly, like a giant beetle upended and unable to right itself.

  Battrod came to his senses a few moments later, sprawled on the top of the mining base. That had been a little too close for comfort, he thought wryly. He swam awkwardly past the disabled machine in the direction of the others, favoring his right knee, which wasn’t working properly.

  The rest of the company had heard the rumble of the second explosion, and cautiously regrouped near the top of the wall. They weren’t far from the entrance into the mining base that they had blown open.

  At the same time as Battrod appeared over the top of the wall and drifted awkwardly down toward them, the two Hud pilots who had gone in through the opening reappeared, dragging a third figure between them. One
of them had fixed his re-breather to the limp form, and was buddy breathing with the other pilot. An urgent gesture toward the shore by Battrod sent them all back toward the shuttle.

  It was a very relieved team that took off fins and re-breathers as the shuttle lifted off from the base of the Pillar. When they had stored their gear and put on dry clothing, they turned their attention to the unconscious form on the floor of the shuttle. The villager had been given some blood sugars and painkillers straight through the side of his neck, and he was coming round.

  “This is one of the second torpedo team, all right,” said Battrod, closing up a bad cut over one eye with a temporary skin solution.

  “Is he up to telling us what happened?” said one of the pilots who had brought him in.

  “Maybe later,” said Battrod. “Where did you two find him?”

  “Well,” said the pilot, “there isn’t much to tell. We surfaced inside a loading dock of some sort. We were still a long way under the surface of the sea, so the dock must have been pressurized.

  “The place was deserted, and there were stacks of goods along a dock on one side. They were strange things I can’t really describe to you. Once we saw it was safe, we hauled ourselves out of the water to take a look around.

  There was a corridor leading into the dock area and it was a huge thing, ten times the height of us. We heard something coming along it, so we hid on the dock. Then a couple of those orange Invardii shapes showed up.

  I jumped back into the water, but Hedras here saw one of our guys laid out on a ledge in the side wall. He managed to get him into the water when the orange shapes were on the other side of the dock. The shock of it seemed to bring him around a bit, so we fitted one of the re-breathers on him and shared the other one.

  “The rest of the story you know.”

  The rescued villager was too dazed to tell them much during the trip back to the Javelin task force, but they spoke to him again when he’d been stabilized in a medical bay on one of the ships.