Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (30 page)

Admiral Anderson
looked back to the mainscreen where the vast pentagonal shape was
sending strea
m of projectiles out and
toward the newly arrived ships.

“
Communications, get
greetings sent out on all frequencies!” snapped the
Captain.

“
And
lig
ht up those projectiles! Get our
turrets moving!” added the XO.

His words were
unnecessary
, however, as the tactical
officer and his team of experienced crew was already busy
activating the many defensive systems throughout the ship. It took
only a few more seconds before the stream of rounds from the
station reached the T’Kari ships that had pushed out far from the
Alliance warships.

“What the hell are they doing?” snapped Captain
Parker.

Admiral Anderson
watched the tactical display with calm precision. He could already
see their position, and it was clear to him what was
happening.

“
They are moving
into defensive positions around their lost ship. Look, the first
scout vessel is in two halves.”

As he pointed at
the
nearest ships, the first rounds from
the station arrived. Round after round hit the T’Kari scout ships,
and with each impact a piece of metal armor was ripped off.
Anderson wiped a bead of sweat from his face and then called out to
Captain Parker.

“
Bring us into
position ahead of the T’Kari. I’ll bring up Crusader and Serenity
to watch our flanks. We have to keep the weapons fire off them
until they can recover their wounded.”

“
Ay
e, aye, Sir,” she replied
smartly.

The
idiots. They are either unable to defend
themselves
, or they refuse to
do so.

It only took a few
deft hand movements to connect directly to the commanders
o
f the other ships. Each followed his
commands without argument, and in seconds, the ships were all
moving. With a lurching feeling, the great warship powered up her
main engines and pushed out and past the smaller T’Kari warships.
Anderson looked at the images of the Crusader class warships and
couldn’t but be impressed with their speed and power. He just hoped
they could keep them alive long enough to either withdraw or find a
way to stop the violence.

Good, first job is to protect the ships. Second is
to stop this insanity!

“
Admiral, we’re in
range of their projectile weapons. Our rules of engagement are
confused, can we return fire?” asked Captain Parker.

Admiral Anderson
looked up to the mainscreen and shook his head.
Much as he wanted to open fire, he was loath to turn a
violent first encounter into a full-scale war; at least, not
yet.

“
No. For the sake of
damage to our ships, I cannot risk a war. Our mission parameters
are clear. We are to investigate Helios, clear the Rift, and
maintain the security of the Alliance. We cannot leave backdoors
into any regions of space we have access to.”

General Daniels
nodded at his words, “Yes, the last thing we need is to turn
another race against us. We need the Helions on our
side
, or at the very least
neutral.”

Captain Parker
looked unimpressed at the response and turned back to her XO with
whom she had a curt confrontation. Anderson
commanded the fleet, but the operations of the ship
belonged to the Captain. He looked briefly at the tactical screen,
along with General Daniels.

“
This is taking too
long,” s
aid Anderson, now realizing the
T’Kari must be in a worse state than he’d imagined.

“
I don’t like this,”
s
aid the Marine officer
slowly.

Anderson nodded.

“I agree.”

He then called out
to the CAG, the single man responsible for command of the fleet’s
fighter squadrons. Normally, he would coordinate just the fighters
from ANS Victory, but today he was controlling the position of the
fighters from each of the Crusader class ships.

“
Get birds in the
air and put a protective cordon around the fleet. We have to keep
the big stuff away from our hulls. The point defense gear can deal
with the rest.”

The young looking
marine saluted
and proceeded to move
icons about on his large glass vertical display. It was a fast and
effective way to communicate directly with each of the
pilots.

Anderson looked to
the XO, who was doing his best to keep the crew on task while
avoiding damaging the station that seemed so intent on destroying
them. He almost called out an order before forcing himself to take
a step back. He had the tactical control of the situation from his
position in the CIC. The tactical display showed him the status of
every vessel under his control, as well as direct communication
with any ship in the formation. He tapped the lead T’Kari ship,
surprised it actually connected. He breathed a sigh of relief as
the image of T’Kron appeared.

“About damned time! What the hell is going on?” he
roared.

“
Admiral. We are
evacuating our crippled ship. They were fired on by the automated
systems on the station upon arrival. It is…”

“
Enough of that!”
interrupted the Admiral, his voice straining with impatience. “Why
have you not told them to stop firing?”

The image flickered for a moment and then went black
before quickly returning.

“
Admiral Anderson,
you do not understand. They are broadcasting a general alert in
seven languages. It says they are treating all of us as intruders.
They will continue firing until we leave. Any vessel moving closer
to their station will be attacked with their anti-ship
systems.”

Anderson shook his head angrily.

“What do you mean, closer?”

“
Where our scout was
hit. By moving out here to protect us, you are inviting their
wrath.”

Anderson’s face was starting to redden with anger
and frustration.

“
T’Kron, get a
dammed move on. Look after your people, and keep sending the
Helions our messages. This madness must stop. I will protect your
ships, but this cannot go on forever.”

He paused as he contemplated the situation they were
in.

“
How long do you
need to get your people out?”

“Fifteen minutes, maybe more. Some are trapped in
the wreckage. I have teams bringing them back.”

“
Good, I want
updates every five minutes. If we can’t stop this fighting, then we
will have to withdraw. I am creating a cordon around your ships. If
you have any defensive systems, I suggest you use them.”

T’Kron nodded and the feed cut.

I
need
status reports from the
rest of the fleet. We need time to sort this out.

He then
looked
at the tactical display in front
of him. His fleet was strung out and vulnerable, and he was acutely
aware of how fragile the ten ships were if it came down to a major
confrontation. He thought back to some of the greatest battles of
the Uprising. In those encounters, he’d witness columns of dozens
and dozens of ships moving in to deliver broadsides of railgun
shots. The battles had gone on for hours, and the casualties had
been terrible.

I’d forgotten how vicious this can get!

“We need to know what the hell is going on out
here.”

The Alliance ships
had already altered their formation, and as expected, the gunfire
from the station switched to the nearest of the ships. With ANS
Victory at the forefront, the bulk of the fire targeted her flank.
Small dimples on every part of the ship moved as the multitude of
rapid-fire point-defense turrets opened fire. Each was fully
automated and contained multi-barreled kinetic weapons and a mixed
visual and radar based tracking system. Lines of tiny rounds
streamed away and struck at the approaching weapons fire. Even so,
a small percentage managed to penetrate the protective screen and
make it through to the thick hull of ANS Victory. Dozens of rounds
struck the armored flank. At first, they seemed no more serious
than rain falling upon a thin roof. The intensity increased until
emergency alarms sounded.

“
Captain, the
reactive plating is breached!” called out
Lieutenant Powalk.

It wasn’t as serious
as it sounded
, as the reactive plating
was an additional layer of armor that extended out several meters
from the hull. It was thin and equipped with modular explosive
plates that detonated when an impact was detected. Though it could
only be used once, the modular components were small, each no more
than a meter in length and able to stop a large projectile or
warhead from causing serious harm when it finally struck the
primary armor.

“
Keep the guns
running. Everybody else, get me information!
The armor can only take so much.”

Admiral
Anderson
watched the approaching fire
from the pentagonal station at his formation of ten ships. The
T’Kari vessels were moving out of the line of fire, and now the
heavy warships were doing their work. On the tactical screen were
various clouds of projectiles, but the Crusader class ships
appeared to be fending off the worst of it.

“
Captain, armor is
holding,” s
aid the tactical officer
calmly.

“Good. Power up the primary weapons, but do not
fire.”

Lieutenant Powalk
nodded in agreement. At the same time, the gruff XO examined all
the data coming in from each station. He made a mental note of the
most important pieces of data before passing them on to the
Captain. Commander D'Vani, on the other hand, had already run
through scans and looked first to the Captain before
speaking.

“Captain, scans are complete.”

“Good, give us a précis.”

Admiral Anderson smiled grimly at her curt reply.
The Commander looked to the Admiral before starting.

“
The description
given to us by the T’Kari seems close to what we have encountered.
Orbiting the star are five planets, all populated to various
degrees. We are closest to the first planet in the system. There is
a belt at approximately twenty-seven astronomical units from our
current position. I’m getting odd readings from it.”

“
Forget the
belt.
I just need information on what we
have around us.”

The
C
ommander looked back at his screen but
was instantly overawed by what he could see. Admiral Anderson
stepped closer, leaning in to look. He shook his head in surprise
at the variety of images flashing by as the Commander classified
them by group.

“What is it?” asked Admiral Anderson, expecting
trouble.

“
Its…it’s just the
amount of traffic. Our threat indication system has flagged over
three hundred vessels within a day’s travel already. Not even Terra
Nova has this concentration of craft. All five planets are
populated have similar traffic levels.”

“
That is all very
interesting
, Commander. What I really
need to know is the tactical situation.”

“
I have that, Sir,”
announced Lieutenant Powalk.
“There are
four ships on an intercept course for us. They are of a similar
size to ours and are escorted by a dozen smaller vessels, possibly
fighters. Scans indicate energy weapon capacitors, possibly similar
to our own.”

He then pointed to the nearest planet that was over
twelve hours away.

“
Closer to the
nearest planet are another thirty plus craft, and they look like
they are activating their systems. They are not a threat, not yet.
I suspect they are preparing for a fight, just in case.”

Captain Parker
sighed at the news. She looked at the center of the detailed
system-wide model and tapped the station.

“Sir, there’s something else.”

With those words, he
enlarged an image of a region of space well out from their current
position.

“
Our optics are
unable to isolate detail at this distance, but we are picking up a
number of collapsed Rift signatures in unprecedented numbers. It’s
unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

Admiral Anderson
looked at the shapes appearing on their star chart as it filled in
with details. At different points through the solar system, Rift
after Rift appeared like exit points into a hive.

“
I’ve got over a
dozen, including the one we came through, and more are still being
picked up.”

“
So, it is true.
Helios really is the center of this Network. No way is this
natural. The Helions and their friends must have built this at some
point.”

“
Not just
that
, Admiral, there is this one right
out on the periphery.”

The man’s finger
stopped on an empty region of space. As his finger sat there, a
large number of flashing red boxes appeared in an almost hexagonal
shape.

“
It looks like a
distortion to me, and there are massive objects, possibly moons or
maybe artificial objects have been positioned around
it.”

“
A
R
ift?”

Lieutenant Powalk nodded.

“
Probably, but a
Rift unlike any of the others here.”