“The enemy must have split into groups to search the Ixidar,” said Vance. “We killed this bunch, so maybe we’ll have some clear space before we run into the next ones.”
Not long had passed since the Ancidium sent the shutdown code to the Ixidar and Recker was willing to believe the enemy soldiers were not everywhere. However, he was sure a few of their squads would have the same target as his own soldiers.
“They’ll want to secure the bridge,” said Recker, indicating that Vance should take the left-hand door.
“Gantry, set up your MG-12,” ordered Vance as he headed that way.
Kicking out the repeater’s tripod, Gantry set it down and lay flat where he had a good firing line into the next passage. Without delay, Vance touched the access panel and the door opened.
“Hostiles,” said Shadar calmly.
Gantry held the MG-12’s trigger, sending a few hundred slugs into the passage. “Clear,” he said.
Quick as a flash, Vance was into the tunnel, while Shadar directed Zivor to set up his own repeater at the edge of the doorway.
“Ready,” said Vance.
Watching the squad operate made Recker understand how rusty his own skills had become. He’d convinced himself that he was the same commander as he’d been way back in his early years, but seeing the troops respond to orders almost before they were given made him realise it wasn’t the case. It gave Recker a feeling of regret mixed with pride.
A few Lavorix were present in the next room, though the first Recker knew of it was when Zivor’s and Gantry’s repeaters fired twin roaring bursts. The discharges ended and Recker heard the fizz of Vance’s gauss rifle, once, twice, three times.
“Clear.”
The squad advanced into the next room, carefully avoiding the spilled blood and entrails of the freshly killed Lavorix. The scent of their death was sharp and unpleasant, though Drawl sucked in a deep breath, as if it were the cleanest, sweetest air imaginable.
“These ones must have been searching through there, sir,” said Vance, indicating the passage leading to one of the Ixidar’s shuttles. His rifle didn’t move from where he had it aimed at the airlock passage.
“Others might be onboard,” said Recker.
“They might,” Vance agreed.
“No way to tell except by waiting or heading in there for a look,” said Recker. “And that’s not happening.”
Crossing the room watchfully, the squad entered the tunnel leading to the internal shuttle car. So far, the going had been comparatively easy, though Recker didn’t expect that would continue once the Lavorix got themselves organised.
When the squad was inside the car, he selected the bridge level and the shuttle glided upwards.
“So what’s the plan, sir?” asked Eastwood on a private channel. He faced Recker from the other side of the door.
Recker brought Montero into the channel, since she needed to hear this as well. “The Lavorix powered up the Ixidar again,” he said. “That probably means the whole ship became operational, but the enemy have put a block on our access – something which makes them confident we won’t be able to do anything to steal it back off them.”
“What are you getting at?”
“The Ixidar might just accept a request from the Gorgadar to join a battle network. Since we can’t speak to Lieutenant Burner while we’re away from the shuttle’s FTL comms system, I gave him an instruction to wait ten minutes and then create the battle network. If that doesn’t work, he’ll issue a synch code and see if the Ixidar will accept that instead.”
Eastwood’s eyebrows climbed two inches up his forehead. “Once we’re synched or on the same battle network, the Gorgadar will be able to issue commands to the Ixidar.”
“Better than that, Lieutenant. If the enemy applied blocks only to the bridge hardware, the Gorgadar might be able to revoke the Ancidium’s control over this warship.”
“That’s assuming the Lavorix didn’t already freeze the Gorgadar’s access to their hardware.”
“The Ancidium accepted and routed the earlier comms, so any block isn’t total.”
“That still doesn’t mean...” Eastwood exhaled and his expression indicated he was giving himself a mental shake. “We’ve got nothing else and this is going to work,” he said.
“The positivity classes had an effect, then?”
“The only way you’ll get me into one of those is by carrying me there in my coffin, sir.”
Recker laughed. “I wouldn’t change you, Lieutenant.”
“I wish my wife was so understanding, sir.” Eastwood laughed as well.
“You’ll see her soon,” said Recker, reaching across and putting his hand briefly on the other man’s shoulder.
“Damn right I will.” Eastwood’s eyes didn’t hold the same confidence as his words. “What about you, Corporal Montero? Have you got someone waiting for you back home?”
“Aside from family? A few others,” said Montero evasively.
“Just a few?” joked Eastwood.
“That’s people who hope to know me better, Lieutenant,” she said with mock indignation. “Doesn’t mean I’m interested. Not all the time, anyway.”
Recker wasn’t surprised that Montero got plenty of attention, since she was smart and attractive. In another lifetime he’d have been interested himself.
The car was approaching its stop and Recker cleared his mind. He turned to make sure the squad was in position and saw readiness in each face.
“If the bridge is taken, we need to capture it and hold,” said Recker on the squad channel. “There might just be a way we can take control of the Ixidar again.”
“What then, Captain Recker?” asked Shadar.
“You know how war goes, Sergeant.”
Shadar laughed, a booming sound with a harsh edge. “That I do,” he said. “You can’t guess what lies ahead, yet you are determined to defeat it.”
“We’re on a wing and a prayer,” said Recker. “That’s what we call it.” He checked the timer he had running. “And we’ve got less than three minutes to reach the bridge.”
These soldiers had seen enough of war to understand that all they could do was accept what was coming and fight their hardest to get through it alive. Shadar knew it as well as any of them and Recker wondered anew at how the war between humans and Daklan had lasted for so long, given the many similarities between the two species. Or maybe it was those similarities which had started the war in the first place.
The car slowed to a halt and Recker touched the access panel. Outside, it was still and the only sound was that of the Ixidar’s propulsion. From the car, a straight passage led to the bridge stairs and Recker was about to order the squad to move when he spotted a fast-moving group of Lavorix coming from the opposite side of the stairwell.
“Ipanvir,” he ordered. “Lavorix – 120 metres.”
The Daklan was near the door, with his rocket tube held vertically. As soon as he heard the order, he rotated the tube smoothly onto his shoulder, with a simultaneously step towards the door. Recker heard the launcher’s coils whining as they charged up and the Daklan wasn’t yet out of the car.
Ipanvir was a master with the shoulder launcher – far and away the best Recker had ever seen. He timed it perfectly, emerging from the car at the exact moment the rocket was ejected from the tube. The projectile made a whooshing sound as it sped along the passage. Recker didn’t wait to hear the blast and he closed the car door again. The target enemy were a good distance away, but the Daklan rockets carried a heavy payload and he didn’t want the heat and flames channelling into the shuttle.
“That is long enough,” said Ipanvir. “Open the door and I will look.”
Recker opened the door again and the Daklan leaned quickly out.
“The way is clear.” Ipanvir didn’t need to follow it up with the obvious It may not remain so for long.
“Let’s go,” said Recker, motioning with his rifle.
Vance went first again, though he
had nothing to prove. The squad followed and Recker found himself once more at the bottom of the steps leading to the bridge. On the landing above, Vance crouched with Steigers and Reklin.
“I can’t open this, sir.”
Sprinting upwards, Recker joined them on the compact landing. He sent his codes into the access panel and then scrambled four steps down, where he crouched out of sight. The bridge door opened.
“Clear,” said Vance after a moment.
“Inside,” ordered Recker.
The soldiers on the landing disappeared into the bridge and Recker joined them a couple of seconds later. Out of habit, he paused to be sure the other members of the squad were coming, and they were - at great speed, since the bottom of the stairwell was exposed and nobody wanted to be left behind.
“Move, move!” said Recker.
When the last soldier was across the threshold, he activated the panel again and the door closed.
“To your stations!” he yelled.
Recker could have saved his breath, since Montero and Eastwood were already seated.
“Thirty seconds on the timer,” Recker said, taking his own station.
“What am I looking for?” asked Montero. She gave one of the console buttons a prod. “Still locked out.”
“If the Ixidar accepts the battle network or synch request, Lieutenant Burner will know what to do. If we’re lucky – if we’re really lucky – you should have immediate access to the sensors and comms.”
“I know what to do from there, sir.”
“The moment the Lavorix understand what’s happened, they’ll throw everything at us.” Recker smiled grimly. “Not that all-out attack helped them much last time.”
“How long before they realise?”
“Not long. Seconds.”
Recker looked again at the timer and the last few seconds counted down. Once the synch or battle network requests were accepted – assuming they were – Burner would require a few additional moments to rescind the override code. Even if everything went to plan, there was a distinct possibility the Lavorix would react quickly and shut the Ixidar down again.
However, Recker had a quiet hope that it wouldn’t be so easy for the enemy this time. If Burner could set up the battle network, he would then have access to create the synch code and vice versa. From there, he could configure the link between the two ships so that any shutdown code would have to originate from the Gorgadar.
Once that was set up, Burner could create a loop whereby if the Ancidium sent a shutdown code to the Gorgadar, the Ixidar could rescind it and vice versa. Assuming Eastwood came up with a few additional delaying tactics like he had earlier, the Lavorix might just find themselves facing two Laws of Ancidium, with no easy way to disable them. Recker supposed the enemy could send shutdown codes to both ships at once, but they’d have to arrive together with such infinitesimally perfect timing that he couldn’t see the method being successful.
“Still nothing,” said Eastwood.
“Patience,” said Recker, though he didn’t have much of it himself.
A full minute passed, which felt like twenty. During that time, Recker made repeated attempts to access the command and control software. On each occasion, he was denied access.
Then, it happened – the menu opened and Recker punched the air with excitement. “We’re in!” he shouted.
“Sensors coming online!” said Montero with equal joy. “Comms link to the Gorgadar available!”
It was an incredible development and Recker could scarcely believe his luck. Although he had no idea what the sensors would show when they came online, anything was better than sitting in the Gorgadar’s shuttle and waiting to die.
The bulkhead screens illuminated and Recker stared at them with eagerness and trepidation.
Chapter Sixteen
The Ixidar was no longer in the original bay, though it was in a place of similar dimensions. Having been sensor blind during the run back to the Gorgadar’s shuttle, Recker wasn’t sure exactly where the Ixidar was in relation to its entry point - more than enough time had passed for it to have travelled from one end of the Ancidium to the other.
Recker’s eyes danced across the feeds, a few of which were aimed at walls or nothing of interest – something Montero was fighting to correct.
“A construction and repair yard,” said Eastwood.
Recker thought the same. The Ixidar’s lower five thousand metres were inside a square bay in the floor and the floor of this bay contained a shaft that was slightly deeper than the destroyer cannon that was currently inside it. Recker had no doubts this bay was where the Destroyer had been originally created.
“We’re two hundred kilometres from the left wall, a hundred from the right and fifty kilometres from each of the nearer two walls,” said Montero, reading out the sensor data. “Lots of activity outside.”
Dozens of shuttles flew in the vicinity, some carrying thick sections of armour plating – the Ancidium clearly wanted the Ixidar repaired and operational as soon as possible.
Other work was underway in the yard. Towards the left-hand wall, Recker spotted other warships at varying stages of construction. A few were battleship sized, which in the Lavorix fleet meant a mere seven or eight thousand metres in length. These were dwarfed by the work beyond. One part-built hull was about twenty thousand metres, its underside deep in another trench. This vessel was more than halfway complete and its curved sides made Recker think of the Gorgadar. The outer plating wasn’t finished and huge, cube-shaped ternium modules were visible through the openings.
Further yet was another incomplete warship, this one slightly shorter and with a height that allowed Recker to discern much of its shape. This second warship reminded him of the Galactar, in that it appeared to be a collection of massive cylinders, cuboids and struts, cobbled together, as if the intended design had been altered several times during the construction process.
These two huge warships took only a fraction of Recker’s attention. The star of the show was at the extreme end of the bay and this new vessel was going to be the most terrible of them all – a sixty-kilometre titan of alloy with sleek lines and a broad beam that would likely scrape the sides of the exit tunnels as the spaceship flew outside at the beginning of its first mission to kill any living species it happened upon.
“Check out the other end of the bay, sir,” said Montero, still fine-tuning the sensors.
“A copy of the Ixidar,” said Recker, turning to the feed Montero highlighted for him. He stared at what would eventually be the twin of his own ship, once the Lavorix had fitted the upper fifteen hundred metres. A swarm of lifter shuttles and welder robots were in the process of dropping components into place.
“And another not like the Ixidar,” said Eastwood, indicating the second major warship at the right-hand end of the bay.
“An advancement of the design. A dodecahedron,” said Recker. “Twelve guns. Twice the firepower.”
“It’s nearly ready to lift off,” said Eastwood. “These other ones, maybe not so soon, but less than six months for most, and twelve months for the big one.”
“Five new Laws of Ancidium, in this single bay,” said Montero. “And one to rule them all.”
Witnessing the construction of what amounted to replacements for the lost Laws of Ancidium, Recker felt empty inside. The Lavorix may well have been on the run from the Kilvar, but they hadn’t accepted defeat, that much was certain. Worse, he didn’t know how many other bays like this were contained within the hull of the Ancidium. Conceivably the enemy could be working on another ten of their monstrous warships. Maybe more than ten.
“The Lavorix have been warring with the Kilvar for hundreds of years,” said Recker. “And that’s with six Laws of Ancidium. If they finish these and even if they don’t have other work underway, they’re going to be back in the game.”
“We thought the Lavorix only wanted the Meklon for their life energy,” said Eastwood. “Look at all this – plundered resou
rces used to create new fleets.”
“I’ve located three exits doors.” Montero focused the sensors on one of the bay’s longest walls. “Thirty thousand metres like the others. And….one is opening.”
The indicated door was midway up one of the longest walls and from its position in the repair bay, the Ixidar’s sensors lacked the angle to see much of what lay beyond. Recker glimpsed another cavernous space, along with the movement of dozens of construction shuttles. Another interrogator passed through the door, followed by eight lifters, each with a ternium propulsion block suspended underneath by gravity chains.
“Watch that interrogator,” Recker ordered.
“It’s heading the other way, sir,” said Montero.
Sure enough, the cube-shaped vessel drifted off towards the left-hand end of the bay, like it was set to patrol the interior of the Ancidium.
“I’ve also been watching the internal monitors and I’ve figured out how to do a life sign count of our interior,” Montero continued.
“With what result?” asked Recker.
“There’s movement in several of the shuttle bays and a single group of Lavorix soldiers is heading for the bridge on the same internal car we used – twenty in total. All told, I’d say the Lavorix landed about 120 of their troops. Some we already killed.”
Recker didn’t want anything to distract him from his study of the bay, but neither did he want to become trapped on the bridge if he could avoid it. He turned towards the squad, the members of which were doing an excellent job of keeping out of sight and out of mind.
“Sergeant Vance, Sergeant Shadar,” said Recker on the squad channel. “I’ve given you the authority to open the bridge door – we have twenty Lavorix incoming on the internal car. I think they’d appreciate it if you were there to greet them.”
“That would be the polite thing to do, sir,” said Vance, pushing himself from the wall he was leaning against. Moments later, the squad were heading off the bridge to give the enemy something to think about.
Montero wasn’t done. She pointed at a huge transport shuttle which was travelling rapidly across the bay. “This one’s thirty klicks away and making a beeline for us.”
Recker's Chance Page 12
