Recker didn’t have a better plan. “Whatever the function of those weapons, we’ll be better off having them available, sir. Do we have any other options beyond the shield breakers, our fleet and the captured Laws of Ancidium?”
“We have been working on new hardware, as I have made you aware in the past,” Telar conceded. “However, I will not discuss it further. Not yet.”
“Our own lightspeed missiles?” asked Recker, unwilling to be deflected.
“I will not discuss the readiness of our ongoing weapons projects,” repeated Telar with a touch of impatience. “Whatever is suitable, we will put it to use.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I have nothing more to say on the matter. Take the Ixidar and the Gorgadar to Terrani. The Daklan will be expecting you. Once there, await further orders.”
“We have Lavorix troops onboard the Ixidar, sir. My squad are hunting them, but are outnumbered. I’d prefer to recall my soldiers to the bridge and have the Daklan flush out the enemy when we land.”
“I’ll make the arrangements,” said Telar. “Go.”
“Yes, sir.”
Telar left the channel and Recker didn’t envy him for the mountains of steaming manure he’d be shovelling his way through in the coming days. Not that Recker was expecting to have it easy himself, but he knew whose shoes he’d rather be walking in.
“Corporal Montero, you heard the Fleet Admiral. Transfer the coordinates for Terrani to Lieutenant Eastwood and we’ll be on our way.”
“We don’t have those coordinates, sir.”
“You’ll need to pull them out of the Vengeance’s databanks,” said Recker. He wondered where the Meklon spaceship was located and realised he had no idea. “Maybe it’ll be best if you speak to Lieutenant Burner and let him handle it.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do that,” said Montero with evident relief.
Arrangements didn’t take long. Recker sent a recall order to his squad and learned from Sergeant Vance that the enemy were on their way to the bridge. For a moment, Recker wavered and then repeated his command for the soldiers to fall back. The Ixidar’s bridge door was monumentally sturdy and capable of withstanding any number of hand-laid explosives. It would last until the Daklan soldiers from Terrani arrived, Recker assured himself.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Burner brought the Vengeance into close range using its propulsion mode 3. When that was done, Recker considered using the Ixidar’s Gateway to bring all three ships to Terrani at the same time. Such a method required a larger quantity of tenixite from the vessel generating the Gateway and since both Laws of Ancidium had plenty of the ore in their holds, it didn’t seem important enough to overthink matters.
“We’ll go separately,” Recker stated. “The Gorgadar will transport the Vengeance.”
“What’s Terrani like?” asked Montero.
“I’ve never been there,” said Recker. “I don’t think I’ve even seen a photo.” He was tempted to call Sergeant Shadar over, but held off. They’d find out soon enough whether Terrani was a place of stupendous beauty, an industrialised hellhole or somewhere in between.
A few minutes later, the preparations were complete and the Ixidar’s Gateway hardware readied itself for activation, which would take eight minutes. During that period, Recker didn’t let his guard down and he assisted Corporal Montero with the sensors in case the Ancidium had indeed left behind a nasty surprise as he’d initially feared.
If there were any Lavorix nearby they evaded detection. Having seen what the Ixidar was capable of, Recker was sure the enemy would be reluctant to attack, though he was becoming gradually more confident that the Lavorix had simply not followed his exit from the Ancidium.
“Another shitty transit coming right up,” said Eastwood sourly, once the timer fell below ten seconds.
He wasn’t wrong. The Gateway activated with a thumping expulsion of energy that Recker felt in every part of his body. Despite the pain, he was pleased to have the option for near-instant travel. The sensors came online long before the Gateway’s aftereffects faded and Montero obtained a lock on the target planet a few seconds after she confirmed the safe arrival of the Gorgadar and the Vengeance.
“There it is,” she said. “Planet six out of fifteen and seven million klicks from our location. The original home of the Daklan.”
“Continue the area scans.”
“Yes, sir.”
The soldiers – human and Daklan alike – shuffled closer to the bulkhead screen and Recker studied the home world of his one-time opponents. A glance at Terrani told Recker enough, but he continued to stare. The place was heavily built-up, with many expansive cities of grey, along with areas of desert, parched forest, faded plains, ice, and cold, deep oceans.
“It looks like a less hospitable version of Earth,” said Eastwood, not unkindly.
“In the early days of my people, it was a harsh home,” said Sergeant Shadar. “Our technology has tamed many of the planet’s excesses – what you see now is an improvement over what it once was.”
“No wonder you Daklan are all so miserable,” said Drawl. “I would be too if I lived there.”
“It is not so bad,” said Shadar. “My wife is there.”
Unwisely, Drawl kept going. “I’ll bet your Daklan sausage will be leading the way down, huh?”
“Private Drawl, you are a very entertaining human. It is why I have not killed you. Until now.”
From the corner of his eye, Recker watched Drawl’s expression as he tried to work out if Shadar was joking or not.
“Sorry, Sergeant. No offense meant.”
“It is too late for that, Private Drawl. Honour dictates I must eat your spleen.”
Drawl stepped back nervously. “You can’t do that! It’s my spleen.”
“Please, Sergeant Shadar,” said Recker, lifting a hand in warning.
“Thanks, sir,” said Drawl.
“Once we are safely landed, you may do whatever is required to satisfy your honour,” Recker continued. “Though I demand half of the spleen.”
Realising he was being played for a fool, Drawl stomped about and put on a show of curse-laden bravado, while the other soldiers – Daklan included – laughed at his expense.
Recker tuned it out, turned to Corporal Montero, and gave her a questioning look.
“Nothing on the area scans, sir,” she told him.
“Any communication from the ground stations?”
“I don’t think they’ve realised we’re here, sir. I’m sure they know we’re coming, but they haven’t located us yet. I’ve discovered a single open receptor, which I think is a comms satellite a couple of million klicks above the planet. Should I initiate contact?”
“The Daklan know we’re here,” said Recker. “I don’t know why they haven’t contacted us. Get me a channel to Lieutenant Burner and keep scanning.”
“Lieutenant Burner is in communication with one of the ground stations, sir. He’ll enter the channel when he’s done.”
Burner had done this hundreds of times before and he didn’t keep Recker waiting.
“I’ve spoken to the Daklan, sir. We’ve been ordered to stay put until our escort gets here.”
Recker was irritated by the delay, though he didn’t blame the Daklan for wanting to send the local fleet out to meet the new arrivals. Doubtless a few dozen ground batteries had also acquired the Ixidar and Gorgadar as targets for their lightspeed missiles. The war between the HPA and the Daklan was over, but the Laws of Ancidium were enough to put anyone on edge.
“Where are we heading?” asked Recker.
“A place called Hakarul,” said Burner. “I guess it’s their primary military facility, and it’s on the blind side.”
“I was trained there,” said Shadar. “Along with my squad.”
It was quicker for the Daklan warships to warm up their ternium drives and cross the seven million kilometres at lightspeed. They all came at once, indicating the use of synch codes, and, less than fifteen minutes aft
er entering local space, the Ixidar, Gorgadar and Vengeance were surrounded by thirty-five Daklan vessels, including five annihilators and twelve desolators.
“Half of these look new,” said Montero, focusing the arrays on different warships in the local fleet.
It was a reminder, were one needed, that the Daklan could still build faster and better than the HPA, no matter how much money humanity threw at its military. Until recently, pride in his species would have made the reality bother Recker. Now, he was thankful the Daklan could rebuild their battered fleet in double-quick time. They’d suffered badly at Ivisto and, more significantly, at the hands of the Ixidar in the RETI-11 system. Yet here they were, showing off plenty of firepower, and the newest annihilators had grown a few billion tons over the old ones.
“We’ve been ordered to follow at sub-light,” said Montero.
“And we’ll do as we’re asked,” said Recker.
The slowest warship in the local Daklan fleet had a maximum velocity of fourteen hundred kilometres per second, which meant a journey time of more than eighty minutes. Recker was already agitated and he felt as if this was an unnecessary delay. He didn’t complain – not outside of his head – though he did speak to Lieutenant Burner to enquire about the viability of setting up a synch code that included the local fleet. The discussion came to naught, since the Daklan weren’t keen to be involved. Accepting defeat, Recker settled down for a low velocity approach to Terrani.
After eighty-seven minutes, which included time for acceleration and deceleration, the Hakarul facility became visible on the sensors. Once again, Recker was impressed by the Daklan’s industrial prowess. The base was roughly square in shape and situated in the centre of a scrubby plain. No towns or cities were nearby, but straight, wide roads cut across the land. Recker saw plenty of ground traffic, despite the comparative economy of building transport shuttles.
“A ninety-klick square,” said Montero. “Most of the buildings are in the south-eastern thirty klicks and the rest of it used for storage, construction and parking their fleet.”
“Trenches to build eight warships at a time,” said Eastwood. “The largest two are ten klicks. Big, but there’s no way we’re fitting inside.”
Aside from the scale, Recker saw nothing out of the ordinary. Hakarul was busy – its skies filled with vessels in many shapes and sizes, while the construction yard was empty. He was sure the Daklan hadn’t given up reinforcing their fleet and he looked for where they’d parked the incomplete hulls. He located them – six in total, three annihilators and three desolators - on the western edge of the landing strip. They all looked near completion, which is the reason he hadn’t spotted them straightaway – at first glance, they looked as if they were waiting for their magazines to be reloaded, or to have other supplies brought onboard.
“We’ve received instructions on where to set down,” said Montero. “The gravity field generators won’t support our weight, so we’ll have to leave the engines running.”
“The destroyer cannons protrude four thousand metres,” said Recker. “If they want us to hover, our topsides will be in those clouds we just came through.”
“Apparently, there’s an underground storage unit directly beneath one of those trenches, with a linking shaft, sir,” said Montero. “The shaft is two thousand metres deep and the gun barrel should fit right inside.”
The Ixidar’s guns must have retracted automatically when it crashed inside the Ancidium, but Recker hadn’t come across a way to manually trigger it happening. If the Daklan were able to cope with the extended barrels, he was happy to let them get on with it.
“Put the location onto the tactical,” said Recker. “Then talk to someone on the ground and make sure they’ve got a few thousand troops ready to come inside and turn our Lavorix guests into chunks.”
“Everything is ready and waiting for us, sir,” Montero confirmed. “And I’ve added the landing position onto the tactical.”
“Thank you.”
The base was huge, but so too were the Laws of Ancidium, and that meant there was only one option for landing.
“We’re setting down on the western side of the construction yard and the Gorgadar is setting down east.”
“Have you informed the ground crews about the death sphere, Captain Recker?” asked Sergeant Shadar. “Unvak has already died – I do not wish any more to suffer the same fate.”
“The death sphere will cover every part of the base, Sergeant,” said Recker. “Lieutenant Burner has already warned them and Fleet Admiral Telar did likewise.”
The answer didn’t satisfy Shadar. “Have my people taken precautions?”
As far as Recker knew, there were no precautions against the death sphere. Still, he understood Shadar’s concern. “You didn’t notice, but when the local fleet came to meet us, two of the smaller warships purposely flew within the death sphere. Their crews reported no casualties. I apologise, Sergeant – I should have made you aware.”
“Then Unvak died of something else,” said Shadar.
“It’s likely,” said Recker.
The Ixidar’s course had brought it directly above the base at a twenty-kilometre altitude. A thick layer of rainclouds troubled the sensors not at all, and the view of the ground was startling in its clarity. The local fleet hadn’t gone anywhere and they remained within striking distance. It would have seemed threatening had Recker not trusted the Daklan. He knew they weren’t intending treachery, not that they could defeat the Ixidar anyway.
“We have clearance to land, sir,” said Montero.
The engines rose in volume as Recker brought the warship in to land. The Ixidar didn’t have a flank as such, since it was a perfect cube, but it made it easier for him to think of the Gorgadar’s as being positioned to starboard. At first, Aston kept the second warship within five thousand metres and then she held altitude to allow Recker to land first.
“Looking busy. A few hundred shuttles, a few thousand plates of armour, ground crews, gravity cranes,” said Montero, listing what she saw.
“Any idea what they’re planning to do, sir?” asked Eastwood.
“I only just arrived here, Lieutenant,” said Recker. Still, it was a reasonable question. “Corporal Montero, get in touch with the Gorgadar. Tell Lieutenant Burner I want to know what’s about to happen to these warships.”
“I’ll speak to him, sir.”
The warship’s altitude fell and, as it approached the ground, the base didn’t seem so large after all. In order for both Laws of Ancidium to land, the Ixidar was required to be aligned perfectly from south to north and at the same time, the underside destroyer cannon required exact positioning to fit into the square shaft at the bottom of the construction trench underneath.
“It’s going to be tough for the Daklan to work on the Ixidar with the underside two thousand metres above the surface,” Eastwood observed.
“They’ll have to deal with it,” said Recker. Most of the work would be done by automated machinery. It wasn’t as if the Daklan technicians would be lowering ten-million-ton slabs of alloy to the ground using ropes and pulleys.
Into the shaft went the destroyer cannon. Having seen what those guns could do, Recker found himself being exceptionally careful that he didn’t scrape the sides and damage the barrel on the way in. Following two minutes of slow and steady, he was satisfied with the position and activated the warship’s autopilot.
“Commander Aston asks if you’re finished parking, sir,” said Burner on the comms a moment later. “It’s just that there’s a war to fight, and we’ve only got fifteen days.”
“I’m done,” said Recker, wondering what happened to his crew’s respect for a superior officer.
Aston had fewer obstacles and she dropped the Gorgadar vertically into place. The warship wasn’t designed to land – at least not in any HPA or Daklan facility – and she left it hovering with its lowest underside plates less than a hundred metres from the ground. Given the lack of space for both Laws of
Ancidium, two thousand metres of the Gorgadar’s starboard wing intruded into the landing field.
“We’re down,” said Recker. A tension he hadn’t known about slipped away, and was replaced by the mental and physical mugginess of the death sphere which now encompassed the Ixidar. “Make the ground control teams aware. Re-enable docking at our shuttle bays and tell them to get those soldiers onboard.”
“Yes, sir,” said Montero. “I’ve provided copies of the Ixidar’s map files and pinpointed the current location of both the enemy troops and the bridge.”
“Good work, Corporal.”
Recker turned his eye towards one of his status screens and spotted a blue light on his comms monitor. “You’re still there, Lieutenant Burner?”
“Yes, sir. You wanted to know what the Daklan are planning to do with the Ixidar.”
“I do.”
“You might not like the answer.”
“Is it ever different?”
“They’re going to send teams onboard both the Gorgadar and Ixidar to check for the location of the batteries. If there’s no easy way to link the two by cable, or if the hardware isn’t designed for a battery-to-battery energy transfer, they’ll have to break the ships apart to find out if they can swap the hardware. Given the size of the two vessels, it’s unlikely they’ll have time to put both back together again in fifteen days. Maybe the Gorgadar alone will be too much.”
Recker had been clinging to a hope that the Daklan would pull off a miracle which would allow both Laws of Ancidium back into service in time to meet the enemy head-on. The Ixidar was an immense, potent force and now it was possible it would play no further part in the conflict.
“So, we’re pinning everything on the Gorgadar,” Recker said. “It’ll have to be enough.”
With nothing else to do, he leaned back and waited for the Daklan troops to arrive.
Chapter Twenty
As bloodthirstily efficient as ever, the Daklan soldiers swept through the Ixidar and mercilessly slaughtered the Lavorix troops. Teams of construction yard technicians followed and the internal monitors showed them plugging diagnostic equipment into whichever interface ports they could find. Intrusion warnings appeared on Recker’s console and he cleared them as quickly as he could, to allow the Daklan teams access to the hardware.
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