“Let’s move this over first,” he said to himself, selecting an alternative technical file relating to tenixite conversion.
While that copied, he accessed the Gateway section of the control menu. Immediately, the wall screen directly in front of him changed to what he recognized as a map of sorts. A dozen blue circles – locations - were linked by orange lines. Not every location was connected to every other, though each had three or four destinations.
Lines of text appeared on one of the console screens.
Warships Aktrivisar and Axiom. Gateway locked.
Tenixite requirement: 23 to 4091 billion tons, destination dependent.
Approximate tenixite available: 10468 trillion tons.
Warning: Aktrivisar and Axiom lack mesh deflector protection.
Select destination?
Recker knew at once that this was something of incredible importance and he quickly ordered the Gateway file to copy over to the data cubes.
“What’s that you’ve found, sir?” asked Hendrix. She was either naturally inquisitive or chosen by the squad as the one most likely to obtain information from their commanding officer. Recker didn’t mind which.
“The Excon-1 station operates something called a Gateway.” He tapped his fingers on the console in thought. “From what I can tell, it converts ternium ore into energy and opens up a fast-travel route to other places in the Meklon empire. Or what’s left of the Meklon empire.”
“That’s…amazing.”
“It is,” Recker confirmed. It was so amazing he wondered if he understood the hardware correctly. “It uses a lot of ternium ore, which I assume it extracts from Qul when the Gateway is opened.”
“Are we going on a trip?” asked Hendrix.
“Not a chance of it, Corporal. We’re going to fill those data cubes and return home.”
Recker exited the Gateway menu, just as the flight control room became bathed in a deep red colour. The sound of a low volume, yet insistent siren came from several hidden speakers. Turning rapidly, Recker thought he might see Lavorix coming through one of the doorways, before sense kicked in and told him the alarm was triggered by one of the monitoring systems in the Lanak system. The moment he followed that thought to its logical conclusion, Recker felt his skin tighten.
“Shit,” he said, and ordered an end to the questions coming his way. He called up the list of satellites and accessed the one which had triggered the alarm and he swore again when he realised the monitoring station was less than fifty thousand kilometres from Excon-1. With a stab of his forefinger, he opened the target list and felt a chill of fear at the words.
Lavorix Galactar.
Gateway exit: 25,000 kilometres.
Lavorix Galactar: preparing for lightspeed.
Recker called up the feed from the monitoring satellite and all he saw on it was empty space. The alarm on the satellite ended and another – this time thirty million kilometres from Excon-1 - started flashing red.
Lavorix Galactar.
Lightspeed exit: 13,000,000 kilometres.
“What the hell?” said Recker, switching the feed to the second satellite. He raised his voice. “Sergeant Vance, Sergeant Shadar, I think we’ve overstayed our welcome. Get ready to move out.” A moment later, he spoke to Lieutenant Burner and told him the same thing. Burner had questions and Recker lacked answers.
The visual stream from the second satellite came up on one of the wall screens and Recker could see the sensor lens going through a process of adjustment, zooming and focusing as it tried to lock onto a distant target. He caught a hint of an immense shape, stationary and almost as dark as the void around it.
A thought – a terrible thought – made adrenaline pump into Recker’s body like someone was squirting it into directly into his system through a thick hose. He called up the tactical data being fed into Excon-1. A red dot representing the Lavorix warship appeared, way out in space – almost fifty million kilometres out.
“It arrived on top of us and then went straight to where the Axiom and Aktrivisar first exited lightspeed,” he said.
Hendrix wasn’t a warship officer, but she understood the significance. “How did it do that?”
“A short-duration lightspeed jump. Some of the Lavorix and Meklon warships have the capability. Zero ramp-up, go from here to there and start shooting. I’m more worried about how it knew where to go.”
“Should we leave, sir?”
“Absolutely.” Recker glanced at the progress for the Gateway files. “80%. We’ll go once this is done.”
He estimated the copy operation would be finished in less than thirty seconds and he passed on a couple of orders. While he was doing so, he discovered that he could access top-level data for acquired targets and he called up the Meklon file on the Galactar. What he read instilled him with a sense of even greater fear.
“We can’t leave,” he said. “Even if we somehow make it to lightspeed, the Galactar will follow us. This is one opponent we can’t outrun.” A thought came to him. “Unless…”
He opened the Gateway menu option.
Select destination?
Wondering what the hell he was getting into, Recker entered his choice.
Chapter Sixteen
Gateway opening: 10 minutes.
Destination: Kemis-5.
Warning: Aktrivisar and Axiom lack mesh deflector protection.
Warning: Axiom docked. Gateway activation not possible for docked vessel.
Warning: Gateway activation requires maximum distance between target vessels: fifty kilometres.
Wasting precious seconds, Recker attempted to exert some level of manual control over the Gateway hardware, so that he could trigger the opening by remote command. The method wasn’t obvious and he soon abandoned the effort.
“What’s that about mesh deflector protection, sir?” asked Hendrix, acting like she’d only read the words by accident.
“Another question I can’t answer, Corporal. I’m assuming if it were a big problem, Excon-1 wouldn’t allow the Gateway to activate.” He stepped away from the console and noticed the file copy operation was at 100%. “Pick up those data cubes and let’s go!” he yelled.
“Where is the Gateway taking us?” Hendrix asked, shrugging into the med-box shoulder straps.
“Damned if I know, Corporal. A place called Kemis-5. It’s away from here and away from that Galactar.”
The soldiers were ready for the order and Vance opened the door which led most directly to the Axiom.
“Clear!” he shouted, darting into the passage.
Other soldiers followed and Recker heard the next door open. Once more, Vance gave the all-clear. Following closely behind Private Halsey and Litos as they laboured with the burden of the data cubes, Recker emerged into a room where the soldiers watched the redundant exits and Sergeant Vance waited to activate the panel for the door leading to the Axiom.
“Go!” said Recker.
Vance didn’t need to be asked twice. The door opened to reveal a group of Lavorix advancing along the passageway. A hail of bullets from the edgy soldiers sent the aliens dead to the floor and Vance was in the corridor almost before the enemy had hit the ground. One of the Lavorix must have twitched or done something the soldier didn’t like and he combined the actions of shooting it in the chest and delivering a vicious kick to the creature’s head. Satisfied, he advanced to the end door, clearly expecting to find more aliens coming his way.
If Vance was disappointed to find the next room empty, he didn’t say, and the squad advanced once more, this time into a space they’d passed across on the way to the security station. Recker spotted half a dozen Lavorix sprawled on the floor, each with multiple bullet wounds from where they had stumbled into the five soldiers left to guard the room earlier. The alien nearest to the exit had spilled so much blood that the frosted gore made the footing treacherous.
“This way leads to the storage area,” said Vance. He blew out between gritted teeth but didn’t say anything
more.
“If the enemy are there, we’ll kill them, Sergeant.”
The ten minutes for Gateway activation didn’t offer much leeway for the return trip to the Axiom, though Recker was more concerned about what the crew of the Galactar were planning. The Lavorix warship had arrived near Excon-1 and then entered lightspeed only a short time later, meaning it had the same propulsion modes as the Vengeance and the smaller Lavorix warships which the Axiom and Aktrivisar had faced earlier.
The important question was how long the Galactar crew would stay at 48 million kilometres and then whether they could immediately re-enter lightspeed for the return journey. The Vengeance had a cooldown period of several minutes between its Mode 3 activations and Recker had no way of knowing if the Lavorix technology was equivalent. Thinking about it wasn’t helping, though his brain wouldn’t stop.
Vance opened the door to the storage area. “Vacuum, for all the difference it’ll make to us,” he said. “If we run straight through, we’ll get ripped to pieces if the enemy catch us by surprise.”
Recker squeezed to the front and looked inside. To his right, along the aisle, he could see piles of dented and smashed crates, where the Railer slugs had torn through the warehouse. The place had a scent of something acrid and the air had a peculiar thickness to it, which made Recker think some chemical containers had been ruptured.
The warehouse slowed their progress and he ground his teeth at the reduced pace. The storage area was large enough that it would require a full minute to cross at a sprint and the safe way to progress wasn’t half as fast. After the storage area came the docking bay and an eight hundred metre dash to the Axiom’s forward boarding ramp, in a full loadout.
It was time for risks and Recker pushed Vance and Shadar to move faster. Neither officer complained – they knew what was at stake. By the halfway point, no Lavorix had appeared. Their main attack had come from a different direction to the storage bay and Recker hoped the bulk of the enemy forces was now behind rather than ahead.
“Look at that,” said Private Raimi, when the squad’s progress brought them a clearer view of the Railer damage.
Most of the soldiers – Recker included – simply glanced at the massive hole through the metre-thick side wall and at the toppled crates and said nothing more.
Eagerness to escape carried Recker near to the front of the pack. The squad crossed the bay successfully and without further gunfire. Soon, they were inside the loading airlock tunnel that connected the storage area with the main docking bay.
Recker opened the connecting door, confident the Axiom’s weaponry would comprehensively slaughter any Lavorix who ventured into sight. After a second or two spent checking for motion – just to be sure - Recker set off in a flat-out sprint for the Axiom, the soldiers with him.
“Five minutes,” he said.
The image enhancers in Recker’s helmet outlined the warship in green and the heavy cruiser appeared incomprehensively vast to his eyes, yet still dwarfed by the enormity of the bay. A scarcely seen shape told him the forward ramp was halfway down and he wondered if Aston had spotted something which gave her concern for the warship’s security.
He got his answer. Streams of flickering light jumped out from two of the warship’s starboard flank Railers, aimed at the opposite wall of the docking bay. The lack of atmosphere meant the attack was conducted in merciful silence, yet Recker was sure he could sense the savage force of the projectiles like an imagined pressure against him as he ran.
“Keep going,” he yelled.
Recker’s heart rate climbed and his breathing deepened. The forward boarding ramp was near and he could feel the warship’s engine vibration through the solid floor. Aston was ready to depart the moment the soldiers were onboard.
The Railer fusillade continued for a long time and Recker didn’t even try to determine the effects it was having on the enemy. A streak of propellant emerged from a different doorway on the other side of the bay and a Lavorix rocket detonated against the Axiom’s nose, the payload so pathetically small the Railers didn’t even target the missile. One of the turrets directed a short stream of projectiles into the doorway and then went still.
“Stupid bastards,” said Vance, his breathing laboured.
Recker couldn’t think of a more apt description of the Lavorix effort to take out a heavy cruiser using a shoulder launcher. He was third to the ramp and charged up the steps, ignoring his complaining muscles. The pain in his arm had returned – worse now – and it would need attention once he returned to the bridge.
With ninety seconds left on the timer, Recker dashed across the airlock, past Private Drawl and Corporal Givens who’d arrived before him. On the comms, he ordered Corporal Hendrix to follow him to the bridge and he set off that way, his elbows scraping against the walls as he ran.
“How does this Gateway work, sir?” asked Aston on the comms.
“The control hardware targeted our two ships by name,” Recker panted. “I believe it creates the gateway around each ship.”
“And off we go to Kemis-5, wherever the hell that is.”
Recker had been keeping Aston updated and relying on her to handle Captain Jir-Lazan. She had questions but knew now wasn’t the best time to ask them.
“It’s not here and that’s all that matters, Commander.”
“That’s the last soldier inside and I’m lifting off,” said Aston.
The floor shook underfoot but Recker hardly noticed. Only another short corridor separated him from the bridge. He turned the final corner, hurtled up the steps, through the blast door and jumped into his seat while checking the sensor feeds. The view on the screens told him the Axiom was reversing rapidly through the half-open bay doors.
“Twenty seconds,” he said.
“I’ve got this, sir,” said Aston, piloting the ship using the backup control bars.
A figure appeared next to Recker’s seat – it was Corporal Hendrix and Recker asked her to stay back.
“Ten seconds,” he said. “Does Jir-Lazan know he has to be close?”
“Yes, sir.”
The Axiom exited the bay, accelerating so rapidly that the bay doors dwindled and the outer edges of Excon-1 became visible. The Aktrivisar appeared on one of the portside feeds, the desolator facing the opposite direction to the Axiom and accelerating alongside it. Seeing the Daklan heavy cruiser gave Recker a feeling of relief that at one time would have seemed impossible to imagine.
“Five seconds.”
The Galactar appeared on the starboard feed, no more than ten thousand kilometres from the Axiom. When Recker saw it from so close, he understood at once how the warship had turned the tide of the Lavorix’s war with the Meklon.
“Ah crap,” said Burner.
The Gateway opened, or rather, it appeared as an expanding sphere of utter darkness, engulfing both the Aktrivisar and the Axiom. The last thing Recker saw before the sensors went offline was a mesh deflector appear around the Excon-1 station, to defend it from the Galactar’s depletion burst.
Then, the sensors went dead and Recker felt an unpleasant wrenching, like his body was forcibly dislocated from reality. The sensation intensified and he clenched his jaw to stop himself from swearing. Behind him, one of the crew – he didn’t know who it was – shouted in pain.
The feeling passed, vanishing like a memory of painful, invasive surgery and Recker knew they’d arrived. With an effort, he lifted his head, trying to ignore the renewed throbbing in his arm.
“Commander Aston, I’ve got the controls,” he said, pushing the control bars forward. “I want status reports.”
The engines responded, though with a notable lack of urgency. Recker scanned the instrumentation, but the needles hadn’t settled. “Something’s wrong,” he said. “We’re way down on power.”
“The monitoring tools have gone crazy, sir,” said Eastwood. He blew out as if he were recovering from the same sprint across the Excon-1 docking bay floor. “A few ambers have come up, but the
y’re the same ones from our engagement with the Lavorix warships.”
“Something is still not right, Lieutenant.”
“I know, sir. I’ll find the problem.”
Eastwood knew this was critical and Recker didn’t remind him of the fact. The Axiom accelerated sluggishly and, when he banked left, he discovered it was lacking its usual agility.
“Sensors calibrating,” said Burner, the words thick like he was recovering from a three-day drinking session.
“Weapons online and available,” said Aston. “Waiting on tactical data.”
The sensors came up all at once. Most of the screens showed darkness and then one array auto-locked on the Aktrivisar. The desolator was also accelerating, keeping pace with the Axiom.
“The Daklan made it,” said Burner. He cleared his throat. “Near scan clear.”
“I’m attempting contact with the desolator, sir,” said Larson.
Recker detected an increasing lumpiness to the propulsion that didn’t sound anything like normal. “Lieutenant Eastwood?”
“Working on it, sir.”
“Work fast.” Recker felt a gnawing worry about what damage the Gateway might have caused to his spaceship. He put it to one side. “Lieutenant Burner, keep a watch for that Galactar.”
“Can it follow us through the Gateway?” asked Burner.
“Instinct tells me it can’t, Lieutenant. My instinct has been wrong before.”
“I haven’t yet located the cause of our engine problem, sir,” said Eastwood. “We’re at seventy percent of maximum power.”
“I need better than that, Lieutenant.” Recker focused his hearing on the propulsion note. If anything, it sounded worse than it had a few moments ago.
“I know, sir. I told you I’d find the cause and I will.”
“The Aktrivisar also reports engine problems,” said Larson.
“Get me Captain Jir-Lazan,” snapped Recker.
Galactar (Savage Stars Book 3) Page 14
