Nullifier (Fire and Rust Book 6)

by Anthony James

  “Ten seconds,” he said.

  The countdown hit zero and Griffin requested a channel to the Revingol. A Fangrin officer answered immediately.

  “Can you confirm a successful detonation?” asked Griffin.

  “Yes. The tharniol drives on both the Gradior and the Broadsword have detonated. The Revingol is under attack. Admiral Yeringar wishes you to act quickly.”

  “We will.”

  Griffin dropped the channel link and watched the console in front of him. In truth, he didn’t know what the hell was going to happen.

  Without warning, one of the bulkhead screens changed to show an image of the burned-out Iron Cell. The image was startling in its clarity, as if the storms and the darkness didn’t exist at all. A moment after the first feed came up, the others followed until each one displayed something of the world outside. It was a scene of devastation, with missile craters pocking the incendiary-scoured surface in their hundreds.

  NULLIFIER> Command console unlocked.

  The suddenness of it caught Griffin by surprise. His eyes darted to the console screens, which began to throw up hundreds of rows of status text. With tentative movements, Griffin’s hands touched the controls. He was slow and everything was unfamiliar. The weight of circumstance pressed down upon him, threatening his composure. This was going to take far more time than he had available.

  NULLIFIER> Neural link established.

  Griffin scarcely had time to comprehend the words. A framework appeared in his head, separate from his own consciousness, yet completely accessible. This framework contained rules, methods, constructed muscle memories – everything he required to control the spaceship. His free hand darted out and his fingers danced across a row of buttons, unlocking the other consoles on the bridge.

  “Consoles active,” he said. “Tharniol flush commencing.”

  With absolute confidence, he operated the controls. He queried systems he wouldn’t have known existed without the neural framework in place. Griffin’s skin prickled with excitement at the potential of this technology.

  “Take hold of those link bars,” he ordered. “Do it quickly.”

  “Neural link?” said Shelton in surprise. “What the hell.”

  Griffin was only half listening. In a state of awe, he scanned the options on the command console. Many of the systems were still offline and he knew they tapped into the propulsion system. The tharniol flush wasn’t done and Griffin saw no way to anticipate its completion.

  “We need the main drive,” he said. “Maybe it’ll come online with a partial flush.”

  Without delay, Griffin sent the activation command.

  “Vantrium drive coming online,” he said. “Yes!”

  “What the hell is vantrium?” asked Kroll. “Whoa look at these output readings!”

  Whatever the Nullifier used for its main propulsion, it activated and warmed up in the space of only a few seconds. Griffin expected grumbling lumpiness. Instead, the vantrium drive powered up to one hundred percent with a low-level, yet electrifying whine.

  “I don’t see a fuel monitoring gauge,” Kroll continued. “Some of these other monitoring tools suggest the propulsion is a self-sustaining power source. In theory this spaceship could fly forever without stopping!”

  Out of every technological discovery far, this one had the potential to be the most significant – easily the most significant.

  “How certain are you?” asked Griffin.

  “I’ll confirm when I can.”

  “Keep me updated.”

  “The Revingol has accepted a direct comms link,” said Kenyon.

  “What are the Raggers doing?”

  “So far, nothing, sir.”

  “They think there’s an opportunity here for them,” said Griffin. “That’ll change once they realize we’re in control of the Nullifier.”

  “The external sensors are clearing, sir. I think the Sekar around the hull is gone,” said Dominguez.

  “We’ve got to act fast,” said Griffin under his breath.

  “Admiral Yeringar would like an update, sir. The situation is getting worse for AF1.”

  “I’m working on it,” said Griffin. He accessed some of the main systems. “We’re fitted with an energy shield generator and something called a dark cannon. They both tap into the main drive and neither is online.”

  “Will they come online?” asked Jackson.

  “I don’t know. I think there’s an additional problem caused by the Sekar. Once the tharniol flush is complete…”

  Despite the neural framework, Griffin was becoming overwhelmed. The Nullifier was new and different, created by a species who didn’t think quite like humans. Each system was tied in with another, which in turn relied on something else. A few of the subsystems were coming online and tapping into the vantrium drive, but everything else was dead. Trying to understand the hundreds of interconnections was hard, even with the neural framework in place. With a slow, deep breath, Griffin made himself calm and he began a methodical series of checks.

  “Tharniol flush still in operation,” he said. “The remains of the Sekar-Major are preventing access to parts of the central core. The central core activates the weaponry and the life support.”

  “The sensors are online, sir,” said Dominguez. “Whoever built this ship they used a new kind of lens. It’s better than anything in the ULAF of Fangrin navy.”

  “Is anyone surprised?” asked Jackson.

  “Here’re are some of the feeds.”

  The larger screens across the front bulkhead brightened and various images of Ragger spaceships appeared. On the central screen, Prime011 came into sharp focus. The capital ship had suffered damage across the visible area of the disk. Plasma burns scarred the metal and Griffin counted six railgun indentations.

  “Battered but dangerous,” said Shelton. “It’s in pursuit of one of our ships and heading away from the flashpoint.”

  The unfolding story was important, but Griffin needed to focus on getting the Nullifier working if he was to play any part in it. He kept one eye on the data for the weapons system and energy shield. Still offline.

  “What does this dark cannon do anyway?” asked Shelton.

  “You remember the way our ships and the Ragger ships disintegrated?” asked Jackson. “That’s what it does.”

  “And it’s still not online,” said Griffin in frustration.

  The distant sound of a chain gun and a few shots from a Gilner informed him of another problem.

  “We’ve got incoming, sir,” said Conway. “Raggers in stealth suits – numbers unknown.”

  “I’ll lock the area down so they can’t get through.” Griffin tried and swore when he realized the security system was also offline and waiting on the tharniol flush. “You’ll have to hold them off, Captain Conway.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The chain gun started up again and this time it was accompanied by a low whining sound which Griffin didn’t recognize. He gritted his teeth and fought the urge to punch something in frustration. That’s when he had an unwanted realization.

  “Those Ragger soldiers will let Hass-Tei-112 know we control the bridge,” he said. “Dammit, where’s that energy shield?”

  The gunfire died away and then resumed.

  “Captain Conway, please report.”

  “We’re holding a choke point, sir. I believe we’re facing a limited quantity of Ragger soldiers. Even in their stealth suits they aren’t getting past us. Not unless they have another hundred troops we don’t know about. Or a tank.”

  “Prime011 is returning to our location, sir,” said Dominguez.

  “ETA?”

  “Seconds. It’s launched an incendiary. Whoa, that’s a big one - heading our way.”

  “The Revingol reports we don’t have any warships close enough to knock the cannister out with interceptors,” said Kenyon. “We’re going to have to ride it.”

  “With no energy shield,” said Griffin. “What was that you said abo
ut a warship surviving an incendiary burst, Lieutenant Jackson?”

  “I stand by those words, sir.”

  The Nullifier’s lock-and-track facility was advanced enough to follow the incendiary’s progress. The cannister was a huge alloy cylinder with no outer markings.

  “Enemy missile launch detected. Thirty-six plasma warheads.”

  “Ah, crap,” said Kroll.

  The Nullifier’s armor might withstand the incendiary, but thirty-six plasma missiles would leave a big hole. Maybe a hole big enough to disable the entire ship if they landed in the wrong place.

  “Energy shield online!” said Griffin, his heart thumping painfully in his chest when he saw the status update on his console.

  The missiles struck first and they crashed against an invisible barrier a couple of hundred meters above the Nullifier’s upper section. Multiple flashes produced over-bright patches on the sensor feeds and Griffin squinted.

  Then came the incendiary. It exploded in a flash, turning every single one of the feeds completely white. The lenses adjusted and when they were done, Griffin was able to see the fires burning against an intricate spiderweb of crackling black energy, which shifted and pulsated in a mesmerizing pattern.

  “Damn that was close,” he said.

  The background whining of the vantrium drive steadily increased in pitch. A fluctuating gauge on the main console informed Griffin that the energy shield was drawing an exponentially larger amount of power in order to maintain its integrity. Incredibly, the Nullifier seemed to have plenty in reserve and the main drive monitoring screen gave no indication the hardware was struggling to cope.

  “Another wave of missiles incoming,” said Jackson.

  “We need to get out of here.”

  The Nullifier was a sitting duck and though its shield was holding up, Griffin didn’t want to test how far it could be pushed.

  “Still no life support or weaponry,” said Kroll.

  “It’s getting busy overhead, sir,” said Dominguez. “We’ve got a total of fifteen Ragger ships within sensor sight.”

  “Here come the missiles.”

  A combination of missiles and railgun slugs smashed against the Nullifier’s shield. It seemed unlikely the Raggers would run out ammunition before the shield collapsed and the first indication of strain appeared on Griffin’s console.

  “The draw on the main drive just exceeded a threshold,” he said.

  “I’m checking the significance of it, sir,” said Kroll. “It’s not likely to be a good sign.”

  “We can’t wait any longer.”

  The Nullifier was flown by a completely different method to any other spaceship in the ULAF. Rather than being controlled manually by sticks, the alien spaceship was piloted via the neural link. All Griffin was required to do was issue his commands by thinking them and the spaceship would respond. At least that’s how the framework in his head told him it worked.

  He gave it a go. With the life support currently offline, Griffin was required to take it carefully. He felt a sense of buzzing excitement and fed power into the main drive. The propulsion note didn’t change appreciably and he increased power to the level required for lift off.

  “Here we go.”

  With the bombardment of the exterior continuing unabated, the Nullifier rose slowly from its crater. Every bulkhead, every piece of tech, seemed to creak under the strain. The battleship was damaged and it made sure the crew understood the fact.

  Into the sky it went with several major systems offline. The Raggers had no intention of letting the Nullifier escape and they gave their full attention to bringing it down.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The idea of neural control was better than the reality and Griffin soon discovered that the limitation was his brain’s ability to process and react to circumstance. This was the same limitation as on a ULAF spaceship but there – on his home turf - he was so familiar with the technology that the requirement for the physical movements of his body introduced no additional delay to flying. And where on a ULAF warship his eye could recognize the thousands of status codes in an instant, here on the Nullifier he experienced a tiny hesitation where his conscious mind referenced the neural framework.

  In time, it would become second nature. Step one was to keep the Nullifier intact so that he was given an opportunity to move on from the basics.

  “A second threshold got breached on the shield,” said Kroll. “There are all sorts of other readings, which I guess relate to a disruptor being fired at us.”

  “Any sign of it working?”

  “Not yet, sir. They can’t shut us down, but their missiles will do the same job in a different way.”

  “We need backup,” said Griffin. “Find out what Admiral Yeringar has planned.”

  “We’ve got that backup coming, sir.” Kenyon sounded like he was in a state of disbelief when he spoke the next words. “The whole of AF1 is heading our way.”

  It was a significant change in tactics. “ETA?” asked Griffin.

  “Approximately one minute, sir.”

  “Admiral Yeringar knows the value of what we have found,” rumbled Isental. “He will not allow it to slip away.”

  “Let’s hope he gets here in time.”

  The Nullifier attained an altitude of a thousand meters, at which point Griffin increased its rate of acceleration. Without the assistance of life support, he felt the strain and the muscles in his body tightened in response.

  “When is that damned tharniol flush going to end?” he muttered angrily.

  “Thirty seconds before we see any assistance, sir. The Raggers outnumber AF1 now.”

  “The enemy are clustered because they don’t want the Nullifier to get away, Lieutenant. We can attack from every direction.”

  It was a minor positive and not much else. The Raggers had the upper hand and only a fool would think otherwise.

  “We’re under attack from thirty or more sources,” said Dominguez. “Something’s gotta give.”

  “And that something’s going to be our shield,” said Kroll. “I’ve detected a fluctuation in the energy levels. It’s trying to pull more than the main drive can provide.”

  Griffin watched the tactical and the sensor feeds at the same time as he piloted the spaceship using the neural link. The bulkhead displays showed the enemy ships, most of them travelling at a low speed and keeping their attention focused entirely on the Nullifier. Prime011 was amongst them, twenty klicks up and flying a randomized, roughly circular course around the flashpoint. The capital ship was damaged and some of its external armaments were out of action. For some reason, it looked even more dangerous than when it was intact.

  “I did underestimate that Ragger bastard,” said Griffin. He had another realization - this one positive. “Their stealth isn’t working against our sensors.”

  “No, sir. We can see right through it.”

  “Can we join the AF1 battle network to share the positional data?”

  “Not without some additional work, sir,” said Kenyon. “I can provide them with coordinate updates, but there’ll be a delay. That delay will be enough to make targeting almost impossible.”

  “Do it anyway. Our battle computers have predictive algorithms which might allow us to land a few hits.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  One of the Ragger spaceships was struck by a wave of plasma missiles and another suffered what appeared to be a dozen simultaneous railgun strikes. The warships of AF1 emerged over the planet’s curvature, adding more orange dots to the tactical screen which already displayed orange dots representing the Ragger fleet.

  With each passing second, Griffin’s hope increased. The attacks on the Nullifier lessened and the Raggers diverted more of their attention towards the incoming allied fleet. The battleship’s sensor capabilities were technologically advanced, but not so much that they were able to discern a clear picture of such a colossal exchange of firepower. Instead, Griffin caught glimpses here and there – a flash of pla
sma, a ship torn apart, fragments of tumbling debris.

  Through it all, the Nullifier climbed and the crew suffered under the accelerative forces. At one point, Conway gave Kenyon an update on the situation for his squad.

  “Captain Conway reports the all-clear, sir. He can’t guarantee it’ll last,” said Kenyon.

  Griffin had almost forgotten the Raggers had boarded the spaceship. When you had a man like Conway in charge of the defense, it was easy to assume everything was in hand.

  “Good. Any change, I want to know about it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The conflict raged outside. Orange dots on the tactical vanished with finality. For once, Griffin was unable to judge who was gaining the upper hand. It all came down to Prime011 – the capital ship was as tough as it looked and still it flew, launching countless warheads and railgun projectiles at the same time as its massive chain guns sprayed a devastating hail of high-impact bullets into the approaching allied warships.

  “Hass-Tei-112 knows how to play this game,” said Dominguez. “He’s sticking close to the center of his fleet and relying on his other ships to knock out inbound missiles. Prime011 is taking a few railgun strikes, but it seems to be riding them well enough.”

  “Plenty of armor,” grunted Kroll.

  Although both sides were taking losses, the tactic of drawing the Raggers away from the Nullifier was working. Lieutenant Kroll reported that the energy draw from the shield was stable. It was a relief, but Griffin was increasingly concerned about the tharniol flush. The Nullifier didn’t seem to have any way of auditing the progress, which left him guessing whether it would successfully complete. The control entity which first greeted him had gone into hiding. Maybe it thought its duties were complete following the handover to the new crew.