The Ascendant Stars (28 page)

‘Oh aye.’

‘We thought that might have been a consequence of getting Panabec’s help. Have any sectors been depressurised?’

‘No … eh, I think.’

‘Take that as a no … what’s the matter?’

Greg was straightening from his crouch, turning his head this way and that, listening. ‘It’s gone quiet – the ventilation’s off.’

‘Not much time left – open the flap on the underside of this datapad, press and hold the red button for five seconds, then press the blue button.’

Quickly he upended the pad, flipped open the recess and just as
he pressed the red button the lights flickered into a dull pulsing pattern and an ululating alarm began to sound. Suddenly the Hegemony AI spoke.

‘A cunning ploy, to install an intelligence unit independent of all ship-nets. Yet your punishment is assured, one way or another.’

Counting five, he released the red and punched the blue.

Then he felt the faint breeze.

‘My God,’ said one of the guards. ‘It’s opened the locks!’

Edgy with panic, Greg turned the pad over but the screen was blank and an amber light was winking next to the recessed interface grip.

‘C’mon Ash, where are you?’ he muttered.

‘
Starfire
-copy now embedded,’ said a different voice. ‘Rerouted bridge systems online – access is partial due to encrypted lockouts … onboard environment compromised by depressurisation.’

‘
Starfire
-copy, this is Greg Cameron,’ he said aloud. ‘Do you recognise me?’

‘Voice pattern confirmed as Greg Cameron, Darien envoy … ’

‘Okay, listen,’ he said as he sat on the equipment case. ‘We need you to close all the hatches which have been opened.’

‘Security and maintenance system lockouts have been encrypted – decryption estimate thirteen point seven minutes.’

Greg felt like tearing his hair out. ‘We’ve not got the time! Is there any other way to override the hatch controls?’

‘Data on Hegemony ship systems hierarchy incomplete – shall extrapolate using Tygran vessel
Starfire
systems.’

‘Fine – and can you open a channel to the bridge of the
Starfire
while yer at it?’

There was no response. Greg stood and went over to the line of consoles, speaking again to the ship AI and still getting no reply. He was starting to feel light-headed when the lights abruptly brightened and shifted to a new pattern of pulses. The alarm also changed to a higher, faster pitch.

‘In the name of the wee man,’ he snarled. ‘What now?’

‘This alert signifies a containment breach in the fuelling sublevel and a discharge of radioactive material into the environment
circulation,’ said the ship AI. ‘This triggers a high-priority override which closes and seals all doors and hatches – shipboard atmospheric integrity is no longer compromised and all sectors are now repressurising.’

Greg grinned. ‘And the containment breach?’

‘A fiction – false sensor readings were sent to the air quality subsystem, which escalated them to the environment oversystem. Another false report from the fuel pressure subsystem corroborated the warning and the override was triggered. System lockout decryption estimate nine point six minutes.’

One of the overhead screens flicked on and there was Ash, gazing down.

‘Good work keeping your nerve, Mr Cameron. We’ll make a Tygran of you yet.’

‘Aye, well, I’ll be happy to take a shot at it if we can get back on course … ’

Ash hesitated. ‘Star
fire
’s thrust drives are offline, but without the power drain of towing us, the
Silverlance
might manage it.’

‘I see, you mean a one-way ticket, suicide mission sort of thing.’

‘Yes, that would be … wait, energy readings for your weapons have just spiked, and the targeting sensors too.
Starfire
-copy, explain.’

‘Weaponry and sensors are among a group of systems locked out of access – decryption estimate eight point two minutes – warning: beam projector targeting has switched to long-range mode and is pinpointing the carrier – flank and forward batteries have opened fire.’

‘That vessel is at the outside limits of long-range weapons,’ Ash said.

‘Sensor data indicates that the Hegemony carrier has suffered minimal hull damage,’ said the
Silverlance
. ‘Carrier velocity is falling – we are being probed by their sensors – incoming communication: “War-vessel
Ivwa-Kagoy
, you are to render all weaponry inert and prepare to be boarded” – no response is possible due to comms lockout – warning: shipboard launchers are now powering up – nearby targets have been acquired.’

‘What targets?’ Greg said sharply.

‘Four evacuation pods recently ejected from this ship and currently headed towards planet Darien.’

The Sendrukan escapees?
Greg thought.
That Hegemony AI did this
…

‘That AI said our destruction was assured,’ he said. ‘It set this up, to make it look as if we’re firing on defenceless … ’

‘Missiles launched and on course.’ Seconds passed, then on one of the big screens there was a bright flare, followed by another three. ‘Evacuation pods destroyed.’

Greg felt sick to his stomach. One of the holoscreens step-zoomed in on the Hegemony carrier group. The carrier was a long vessel with a hexagonal cross-section and a large triangular midsection which was probably where the command and control decks were. But as he watched the viewpoint pulled back and swung to frame a much smaller, blockier ship.

‘Two of the carrier’s battery-support ships have broken formation in our direction, due to intercept our course in six point three minutes – they will be in weapons range in three point nine minutes.’

Greg gritted his teeth and shook his head. ‘Estimated time until lockouts are decrypted.’

‘Five point five minutes.’

‘There is some good news,’ said Ash.

‘Hope so – d’ye know how many beam projectors each of them battery ships carries?’ Greg said, peering up at the sensor readings. ‘Twenty-four, that’s how many! So, how good is your good news?’

‘Self-repair systems have got one of the
Starfire
’s main generators back online.’ Ash smiled down at him from the left-hand screen. ‘We’ve now got one of our beam cannons charged and ready to fire.’

Greg nodded, smiling weakly. ‘I suppose you could get in a lucky shot, or ten.’

‘If we even had the thrust drive at least we wouldn’t be such a sitting duck.’

A gloomy silence held sway. On the central holoscreen a countdown ate away at time. Greg was restlessly pacing the deck when he felt a shudder underfoot.

‘
Starfire
-copy, what was … ’

‘Full control over main systems has been regained – instructions?’

‘Bring thrust drive online,’ said Ash. ‘Initiate evasive manoeuvres. Re-establish forcefield tow on
Starfire
. Ready all weapons, target the leading vessel.’

‘Hegemony vessels have increased velocity,’ said the ship AI. ‘One point one minutes till their weapons are in range.’

Greg gnawed his lips, drawing blood. ‘Are we moving at all?’ he said. ‘It feels like we’re … ’ He paused, seeing the countdown slip below one minute, seeing the seconds pour away, wondering if Catriona would ever know, wishing he’d taken time to write her a note …

‘Hegemony ships have stopped and are reversing course,’ said the ship AI. ‘The carrier appears to be under attack from another vessel – newcomer did not register until twenty seconds ago then swiftly approached Hegemony carrier – newcomer’s configuration is unfamiliar, has a rough hemispherical shape and a number of tapering spokes around its edge – hull seems featureless and black. Carrier has engaged with all onboard defences and is deploying interceptors.’

On the screen missile strikes and beam impacts wreathed the mysterious black ship in a corona of fire and destruction. Seemingly unaffected, it had not thus far responded with weapons of its own. The battery ship which had remained with the carrier had already unleashed the full force of its twenty-four beam cannons, a column of dazzling energies that struck the black ship square on. When the back-tracking companion vessels at last came into range they likewise brought their cannon arrays to bear, and then there were three spears of ferocity hammering away at that black hemispherical hull.

The unknown vessel seemed not to notice. Going by the onscreen images, there was no evidence that the fearsome triple
onslaught was having any effect at all. The black ship, however, was moving with almost casual grace through the firestorm to position itself at an odd angle to the Hegemony carrier, poised forward of the midsection and off to one side.

‘What is it doing?’ Greg murmured.

‘Nothing friendly,’ said Ash.

The three battery ships had ceased firing and were moving round to focus their attacks on the mystery vessel’s underside. At the same time one of the spines protruding from the black ship’s rim began to extend towards the carrier. A weird jagged radiance played around the gradually telescoping tip and Greg was wondering if it was some kind of onboard systems disabler when it suddenly shot forward.

The impact wasn’t visible from the
Silverlance
’s perspective but the long-range visual feed showed a few glittering pieces of debris come into view. Ash muttered something under his breath and Greg watched in appalled fascination, unprepared for what happened almost ten seconds later. The interceptors had redoubled their efforts and the battery ships were unleashing the fury of their beam cannons then a gout of debris erupted from the carrier’s underside as the other end of the black ship’s extending spine punched its way out.

‘This is like the ship rams from ancient Earth history,’ Ash said. ‘Crude but effective … ’

The carrier had put all its thrusters into reverse but the black ship kept pace. Then something else happened – another black spike smashed its way out through the hull, clearly branching off from the first impaling spine. Then another broke out, and another and another until the carrier from its midsection to its prow resembled a grotesque, gargantuan pincushion. The black ship then used other spines to spear two of the battery ships: run through and fatally weakened, they began to suffer internal explosions which reduced them to torn, leaking hulks. The third had been under way when the deadly spine leaped out and glanced off its hull. Thrust drives ramped into full burn, it accelerated away but too late – from the black ship’s underside a tentacle of jagged
radiance uncoiled, snaked out and engulfed it, dragging it back in so that two rim spines stabbed out and skewered it. Staved in and mangled, it burst apart in a paroxysm of fire and havoc.

It was like a signal for the carrier’s end. The branching spikes began to move, some rotating one way against the rest. Chasms were ripped open in the hull, more debris and bodies, more puffs of escaping air. Something vital, a refuelling station, perhaps, exploded, sending fire racing through a line of the interceptor berth decks, which touched off a string of secondary explosions.

Then the black ship finished it. At some point, that lethal central spin must have telescoped out within the carrier because the hull visibly tore open from the upper section down. Misfiring thrusters and blasting explosions forced the bows askew and the huge warship’s back was broken. The spike branches shrank, the long spine withdrew, then the black ship manoeuvred to the aft of the crippled Hegemony vessel and repeated the deadly assault, this time with two of its rim spines.

Fifteen minutes later the carrier had been reduced to half a dozen massive, ragged pieces, racked by explosions, drifting amid a cloud of pulverised wreckage and contorted bodies. The interceptors fought to the end, expending the last of their energy cells in useless attacks, and those not caught by the black ship’s force-field tentacles crashed themselves into its impervious black hull, final acts of pointless defiance.

At last it appeared that all resistance had been crushed and all life snuffed out – the black vessel had hunted through the debris field for lifepods, destroying those it found. Now, with all its spines withdrawn, it moved out of the spreading cloud of wreckage and towards the two Tygran-controlled ships.

Ash and his remaining officers had crossed over to the
Silverlance
during the carrier’s drawn-out demolition. Greg was watching the black vessel’s approach just as Ash entered engineering with a dataslate in hand.

‘More trouble, I see,’ he said to Greg.

‘Never a dull moment round here,’ Greg said. ‘But this time we’re ready. Hyperdrive is prepped for a fast exit, or if ye fancy a
brief shot at suicidal glory all the weapons are online and charged. I’m assuming that the latter ain’t your first preference.’
Or even your tenth
.

‘Today is not the day for suicidal glory, Mr Cameron,’ Ash said with a level smile. ‘
Starfire
-copy, ready drive for evasive jump pattern alpha.’

‘Jump pattern alpha ready – unidentified warship has altered course and is now accelerating away – it has transitioned to hyperspace.’

The change in the black ship’s behaviour happened as swiftly as the ship AI’s commentary, and took everyone by surprise. But Ash’s stern demeanour remained fixed.