Boyd nodded—just before a burst of crackle beam knocked the young Marine off his feet.
“Move, Marines. Move, everyone. Fall back, they are on us. Fall back.”
13
Featherstone reduced speed at the last moment and dropped the Resolute on top of the Skarak warship. A small number of Blades danced around the huge warship and fired into the deep, dark hull. The fighters’ high-powered lasers struck the massive Skarak ship like hornets attacking a giant alien beast. The Skarak ship’s hull absorbed the damage, the laser beams appearing to sink slowly into the hull like light vanishing into a thick liquid. The warship appeared to ignore them and hung over the asteroid, blocking access to the main landing pad.
“All stations, this is Featherstone. Mass beam and high-powered lasers open fire. Target the Skarak’s primary weapon.” Featherstone sent an evasive maneuvering package to the pilot console. “Keep us on the move, Mr. Hemel. One good hit from that warship’s main crackle beam and we’ll be out of this fight.”
Featherstone opened the channel to the fighters swirling around the Skarak vessel.
“All Blades, this is Major Featherstone of the Blue Star Marines. I am taking command. Concentrate all fire on the forward weapon. Let’s see if together we can do some damage.”
Featherstone looked at the main holo-stage. The image of the warship dominated the center of his command deck. He rotated the image and focused on the long rapiers that protruded from the forward section. The weapon emitter housed within started to build up power as the Skarak readied their primary weapon.
“She’s preparing to fire on us,” Featherstone said “Jim, keep us moving. Keep us out of the way of their main weapon. Sergeant Dorik, you make sure you angle all the shielding to deflect any attack.”
Doc Cronin ran onto the command deck and took its position at the weapons console. He was a fully-qualified doctor and the best field medic in the battalion, but, first and foremost, he was a Blue Star Marine and the Resolute’s gunner. Right now, there was only one place he needed to be.
“I thought you had work in the med-bay, Doc,” Featherstone said as he worked on setting evasive maneuvers and coordinated with the Blades.
“That work can wait, major. You need your best gunner on deck.” Cronin took control of the weapons console. “All weapons at peak efficiency. We will smash their forward array before they can open fire on us. We only have moments. They are getting ready to fire.”
“I am about to make our attack run,” Hemel said. “We will be cutting across their forward section. The starboard weapons systems will have a clear shot right down the warship’s throat. Sergeant Dorik, make sure you put every scrap of shielding on our starboard side.”
Featherstone looked up at the main holo-stage and saw the image of the Resolute moving across the front of the Skarak ship as the intensity of the blue crackle fire built deep within the cluster of hundred-meter-long rapiers. One blast and the Resolute would be utterly consumed by the Skarak weapon. The frigate was much smaller than the huge warship, but it had far greater maneuverability. At such close quarters, speed was not an issue, fire power and maneuverability were paramount.
Featherstone clenched his fist. He was outclassed by the Skarak ship. They should have sent a cruiser, not a Blue Star frigate. The Resolute was a tough little ship with teeth and claws enough to do major damage, but she was not a ship truly capable of going toe-to-toe with a massive Skarak warship. The Resolute’s most dangerous weapon was its company of Blue Star Marines.
The Resolute and a few Blades could hold out against the warship, but taking it down would need skill and a little luck.
“Sergeant Dorik, where are my starboard side defense fields?” Featherstone shouted as the Resolute moved closer into the firing position in front of the Skarak. “The hull stability field is inactive. Deflection shield is inactive. Report, Sergeant!”
Dorik threw his hands in the air and looked at Featherstone. “There’s the problem with the inner tertiary shunt from the main reactor. My shield generator is losing symmetry. I can’t maintain the Resolute’s defensive capabilities.”
“Incoming fire from the Skarak warship,” Hemel shouted. “They are firing their primary weapon.”
Featherstone looked at the main holo-stage. Hemel was flinging the Resolute about, pushing it to the limits of its maneuvering capabilities, just as the blue crackle beam burst out from the rapier cluster. Hemel put the ship in a spin, flipping it over its forward section. The crackle beam glanced off the Resolute as she moved out of the way.
Alarms sounded from various consoles, and the officers began calling out damage reports.
Power was down across the entire upper deck, effectively knocking out half the Resolute’s laser emitters. There was a minor hull breach where the beam had struck, and blue crackle fire had rendered a dozen of the ship’s company unconscious.
“Seal off all damaged areas,” Featherstone said. “Sergeant Dorik, get my defensive systems online now.”
Sergeant Dorik looked up at Featherstone and shook his head. “I’ve lost all symmetry on the deflection shielding. She’s down until I can run a full diagnostic. The hull stability field is about to lose symmetry any second now.”
Featherstone started to feel the dizzying effects of the stability field’s failure. He felt himself being tugged in his chair this way and that as the Resolute moved violently. The warship was turning to fire at the Resolute as she ran. Featherstone could feel the ship begin to tear itself apart as the drive field pulled the ship in a tight evasive maneuver.
“Stability field failing,” Hemel announced. “I can keep her steady and give us some speed, but I’m not going to be able to pull off any tight turns or we will all be crushed by the inertia of my first maneuver.”
“Mass beam is fully operational, Major,” Cronin said. “If Jim can give me the shot, I can put a mass beam right into that Skarak’s crackle beam emitter. I’ll have few seconds to deliver the shot after she fires a beam. It’ll be close, we will only have a fraction of a second to get this right.”
A report from deep in the Resolute said injured crewman were regaining consciousness but attacking their crewmates. Featherstone looked at the report with horror. The Skarak were known to take control of people’s minds and turn them against their fellows. He looked over at Sergeant Dorik.
“Sergeant Dorik, assemble the team and go and see what you can do about the wild crewman in the upper deck. Non-lethal force. Incapacitate them. I’m not going to have the Skarak turn my own men against me.”
“I can get these defensive systems back online,” Dorik said. “Just give me a few minutes.”
“You have your orders, Sergeant,” Featherstone said. “Don’t make me tell you again.” Featherstone was furious with Dorik for having let the defensive systems fail, but they were still in the fight.
Dorik slammed his fist on the defensive console and then left the deck. Featherstone focused on the attack.
“All Blades, this is Featherstone. I need you to draw the Skarak fire. Position yourself in front of the forward crackle beam emitter. I’ve got one shot. I need you to help me take it.”
Acknowledgement reports came in from the remaining fighters. Featherstone watched them on the main holo-stage as they went around the Skarak ship and took position directly in front of the forward section, tiny ships against the huge warship.
“Put us in position, Mr. Hemel,” Featherstone said. “Give Doc the shot he needs.”
Featherstone climbed down from his chair and moved quickly to the defense console. Warning lights were blinking all over the console. Every subsystem of both major defensive systems—hull stability and deflection shielding—were down. Hull stability was being held at a level that just about kept the ship from flying itself apart, but all other systems were scrambled. The Resolute had to be incredibly unlucky for both its major defensive systems to fail suddenly at the same time. Featherstone could not shake the worrying thought that it looked
a lot like sabotage. If someone wanted to render the Resolute defenseless, this would be the perfect way to do it. He knew Dorik was an expert with the defensive systems and would be able to prevent anyone from scrambling the system so utterly.
“Resolute moving into firing position,” Hemel said.
“Mass beam charged,” Doc said. “I’ve narrowed the beam to a micron. I am going to create the equivalent of a billion tons on a pinhead. The crackle beam emitter will collapse under its own weight within a second.”
The blue crackle-beam emitter began to glow before blasting out a fierce beam of crackle energy. The three blades maneuvered away at high speed, twisting and turning and fighting to get clear. The beam struck one Blade on its drive assembly. The crackle energy flickered over the fighter’s hull for a moment before consuming the ship with a fierce white flash as it was annihilated.
The brilliant blue crackle beam spluttered out the moment the Resolute swept in front of it.
“Firing now,” Doc said. “Mass beam activated. Sub-micron beam on target.” Doctor Cronin punched the air in celebration. “We got her. Get us out of here, Jim.”
Featherstone looked at the main holo-stage and saw the forward section of the Skarak warship begin to collapse. The long rapiers were falling inward, crumpling and shattering as they fell onto the tiny high-mass zone that the mass beam had created. The crackle-beam emitter succumbed, and bursts of crackle energy leapt out from the Skarak ship, erupting chaotically from within the rapier cluster. The blue energy fire rippled back over the hull, and the deep, viscous surface rippled. The warship was thrown suddenly into a spin and then the emitter finally exploded.
The warship was out of control in a flat spin and moving toward the asteroid. Featherstone could see, without running the calculations, that the Skarak ship would collide with the asteroid. The calculations were presented on the main holo-stage a moment later. The warship was going to impact the main landing pad.
Featherstone clenched his fist. He was here on a rescue mission. But no one expected him to encounter a Skarak warship.
“Open a channel to tactical intelligence,” Featherstone said. “Resolute encountered resistance. Resolute engaged. Skarak warship crippled and crashed to asteroid’s surface. Beginning rescue operations now.”
Featherstone watched the final moments as the Skarak warship, crippled and out of control, slammed into the asteroid. The detonation overwhelmed the Resolute’s sensors momentarily, and the holo-stage displayed a single bright white image. When the sensor flash subsided, it was replaced by a clear image of the Skarak ship embedded in the asteroid’s surface.
Boyd fell back deeper into the mine tunnels as the Skarak came forward cautiously. A fresh wave of flesh drones came rushing into the tunnel to protect the Skarak soldiers as they advanced. Boyd looked around and saw unfamiliar faces—Union Marines and Faction civilians and Faction troopers. All were armed and determined. A fresh barricade, hastily thrown up by the miners, was the last defensive point. Boyd knew that if the Skarak pushed them back any further, they would be at the active mine face where several tunnels from around the settlement converged. Boyd was running out of space, and as the Skarak pressed in, he guessed he was running out of time too.
The survivors were all pressed in tightly. Boyd looked around, but couldn’t see Thresh. He felt an urgency to spot her in the crowd grow as a small group of the mindless came ambling forward. All those in this group were damaged with broken limbs or huge wounds in the torso, bodies from the previous assault. They came limping forward, the Skarak soldiers scuttling and hovering behind, their handheld crackle emitters raised and ready to fire.
Boyd checked his pulse rifle. It was a battered old unit, and the charge was running low. He either had a few minutes of rifle fire available to him or thirty minutes with the electron bayonet. Boyd saw the Skarak soldiers closing and the mass of people behind him. He realized grimly that he probably didn’t have thirty minutes left, so he may as well use the remaining charge on pulse round fire. Boyd set the yield on the rounds to the lowest deadly setting. He would need to make accurate shots on vulnerable positions to drop his targets on these settings.
Boyd took aim, targeting an old man staring at him with dark, empty eyes. The old man came scrambling forward on a broken ankle. One of his arms was hanging by strands of tattered flesh. Boyd had seen these reanimated dead under Skarak control before. He couldn’t imagine the pain and suffering in that tortured mind, in what remained of the person they had once been. Boyd was sure he was doing this old man a favor by dispatching him cleanly with a round between his hollow eyes.
Boyd breathed easily, steadying his shot. Just as he moved his finger to the trigger, the ground began to quake beneath his feet. Dust and rock showered onto the survivors huddled behind the defensive line.
The survivors let out cries of panic as the tunnel shook. The barricade separating Boyd and the defenders from the ambling dead began to shake itself apart. Boyd could not keep his rifle steady as he tried desperately to focus on his target. Then the tunnel was lit up with a red, roaring fire that came rumbling down the tunnel as the vibration grew more violent.
The Skarak soldiers at the far end of the tunnel and the small group of reanimated slaves in front of them were consumed in billowing wall of flame. Boyd felt the heat on his face and turned away, shielding himself from it. He turned his back and raised his arm, covering his cheek as it burned from the heat of the fire. Just as Boyd began to think he was consumed by the fire, the heat and flames died away, sucked back the way they had come. Gone as suddenly as it had arrived.
Boyd looked up to see burned bodies of the Skarak and their human slaves laying in charred heaps on the tunnel floor. The rock was glowing in places from the intense heat. Boyd heard the panicked murmuring and screaming and shouting from the survivors deep in the mine.
Boyd checked on his holo-stage for any surveillance data from the central chamber, but all sensors were unresponsive.
The violent shaking underneath him grew more intense. Cracks in the walls and ceiling began to open, dropping debris onto those in the mine. As the floor underneath his feet began to split and crack, the survivors panicked and scattered. Some ran deeper into the mine toward the dead end of the mine face, while others ran toward Boyd, heading back toward the central chamber.
Boyd burst into a run to avoid being trampled. The quaking continued, splits opening up like lightning flickering across a dark sky. He looked around to see panicked faces of all sorts, all racing as the mine groaned and creaked and cracked.
The ground in front of Boyd cracked open and he leapt over the new crevasse in the rock. He could only estimate its depth as he jumped across the crack, but it could have been several hundred meters. He didn’t know how thick the asteroid outer wall was at this point in the mine, but it couldn’t be more than five hundred meters. If the crack opened any further, the mine would be exposed to space. The atmosphere contained within the habitable interior of the asteroid would be blasted out into space, along with any persons unlucky enough to be caught up in its violent winds.
As Boyd moved further along the tunnel, getting closer to the central chamber, he encountered more burned bodies. Some were the bodies of the fallen from the mine defense, and others were the Skarak dead. All were burned, dark husks. Boyd burst into the central chamber. Buildings were smashed, and fires raged. It was a vision of the apocalypse. Whatever had happened here had been huge and violent. Cracks were appearing along the streets, buildings were crumbling and falling to the gravity plates that lined the inner chamber. Overhead, Boyd saw a group of survivors rushing out of one of the tunnels, their screams were distant and more terrifying than Boyd could believe.
Then he detected the wind picking up and his hair was caught in a breeze. The running people he could see overhead were sucked back into the tunnel they had just run out of. Boyd knew instantly that the asteroid had cracked open to space, blowing everything inside out into the void. The settlement
was breaking apart. A loud, earsplitting crack confirmed Boyd’s conclusion.
Boyd looked to the main landing pad and saw that the entrance was blocked by a huge ship wedged into the rock. It looked like a Skarak hull, deep and dark. It quivered as its drive assembly flared violently and uselessly, continuing to press it into the rock.
People were fleeing the tunnels and rushing out into streets lined with flaming buildings. Boyd knew he couldn’t help. Panic had set in. Panic was worse than fear. Fear could be managed, but panic was a total loss of control. It was every man for themselves.
Boyd had joined the Blue Star Marines to do good for the people of the Union by fighting Faction pirates, but now, seeing the people fleeing in disorder, some crushed under collapsing and burning buildings, others sucked out into the vacuum of space through the cracks that opened all around, he felt it was not enough just to help people of the Union. These Faction people were ordinary people just like him—just like anyone he had ever known. They were no different than him. They lived the same. They loved the same, laughed the same… They died the same.
The wind around Boyd grew stronger, and he knew it could be only moments before a fissure opened under his feet and he was thrown out into the dark cold of space. He checked the map his micro drone had created. The map shook over his wrist, and Boyd realized he was shaking, and the ground beneath his feet was shaking. He held his arm steady to view the map. There was a secondary dock in an access tunnel not far from here. Boyd had no other course. He had to try.
Boyd ducked into the partially collapsed secondary tunnel following his direction finder. The settlement’s manifest recorded small personnel shuttles at the secondary dock. As Boyd burst into a sprint, his lungs burning on the thinning atmosphere, he pushed the negative thoughts to the back of his mind where they waited for him like bandit in ambush, waiting to come back and attack him again when he was least expecting them. Were there craft there now? Was all this effort ultimately in vain? Would he find himself at a dead end waiting for the asteroid to crumble around him, waiting to be cast into the void, waiting to choke on a lungful of vacuum? He pushed the thoughts away again, managing his fears before they turned into full-blown panic.
Blue Star Marine Boxed Set Page 58
