‘This is suicide, for one man, for a convict.’
Sergeant Djimon’s voice reached Bra’hiv from the troop compartment behind him, where men from both Alpha and Bravo Company sat. The general looked over his shoulder and saw the familiar expressions of men about to join a fight: stoic, tense, staring straight ahead into nowhere and alone with their thoughts.
‘We don’t leave anybody behind,’ Bra’hiv replied in a low growl. ‘We can’t afford to any more.’
‘And lose more people in the process?’ Djimon challenged, drawing a few glances from the other Marines around him.
Even though they were all hardened men, combat ready, that did not mean that a single one of them wanted to join a fight that they may not survive. Nobody wanted to die, no matter how tough they thought they were, and the merest hint of a chance at escape was as addictive as any drug to men who were, in the end of all things, human. They joined the fight because it was the right thing to do.
Bra’hiv knew that they had to believe in what they were doing, and Djimon was trying to take that away from them.
‘Qayin would not be where he is now if it were not for his own courage and your betrayal, Djimon,’ the general replied. ‘You told us you saw Qayin die, and yet he’s reported as being alive and a hostage aboard that Veng’en ship. We’re facing death again because you didn’t want to. You got a problem with that, why not talk to your fellow Marines about it?’
Djimon did not dignify the other Marines by looking at them, his gaze remaining fixed on Bra’hiv, but the general saw the Marines all glaring at the sergeant with questioning expressions on their faces.
‘Forgot to mention that to Alpha Company, did you Djimon?’ Bra’hiv asked.
‘You calling me a coward?’ the sergeant challenged.
‘I’m calling you a traitor,’ Bra’hiv snapped. ‘Qayin may be a murderous convict but he’s also got guts and he’s trapped because he didn’t want to leave anybody behind. You, on the other hand, were more than willing to leave a fellow Marine stranded aboard an infected vessel under direct fire from a Veng’en cruiser.’ Bra’hiv glared at Djimon. ‘You’re not the man I want watching my back, sergeant.’
Djimon opened his mouth to respond but his reply was cut off as the shuttle pilot spoke into his intercom.
‘Company, stand by for deployment!’
***
‘Fire!’
Ty’ek watched as another gigantic salvo of plasma rounds thundered away toward the Atlantia, the blasts smashing into clouds of asteroids shielding the frigate. Chunks of rock were shattered to tumble in countless swarms, veiling the Atlantia in ethereal clouds of glowing dust.
‘Only two direct hits from six, commander,’ his tactical officer reported. ‘We can’t get enough strikes to bring them down.’
Ty’ek let out a roar of frustration. ‘What about our fighters?!’
‘We’ve destroyed two Raythons for nine losses sir,’ Rivlak replied.
‘Why are they winning?!’ Ty’ek raged.
‘Because they’re smarter than you.’
The voice was that of Qayin, who sat strapped to a chair behind Ty’ek. Ty’ek whirled and smashed the back of his hand across Qayin’s bruised face, a spray of blood and bioluminescent fluid splattering across the soldier’s vest and hanging in fluid globules in the air.
‘They are nothing to us,’ Ty’ek snarled back at Qayin, ‘nor are you.’
The Slyph’s crew, likewise strapped to chairs on the bridge, remained silent as Ty’ek stared at the main display screen for a moment longer and then he made his decision.
‘Take us in closer,’ he snarled.
The Veng’en’s First Officer, Rivlek, stood up from his crouch behind the tactical station and shook his head. ‘We cannot move too close to the asteroid field, our hull is not as strong as the Atlantia’s. One direct hit and we could be severely compromised!’
‘We already are!’ Ty’ek bellowed. ‘Would you have us abandon the chase and flee like cowards?’
‘We cannot afford to lose our hull integrity!’ Rivlek insisted. ‘It may be precisely what they want us to do! We must force them to fight on
our
terms.’
‘A Veng’en will fight on any terms,’ Ty’ek snarled back. ‘That is who we are!’
‘It is who
fools
are!’
Ty’ek’s leathery skin flashed dark crimson as he moved on reflexive impulse, his massive thighs propelling him across the bridge as he ploughed into Rivlek with a shrieking sound so loud and high–pitched it caused Qayin to wince.
Ty’ek’s razor sharp claws plunged into Rivlek’s throat and abdomen like knives and tore through his flesh. Qayin saw Ty’ek’s limbs whipping up and down in a frenzied blur, dark blood flying in globules to float across the bridge or splatter across screens as the Veng’en commander shredded his former shipmate. Rivlek’s abrupt scream of agony pinched off into a gargled, bubbling groan as the officer died at his commander’s own hands.
Ty’ek turned, his hands smothered in glistening purple blood that reflected the lights of the bridge as he pointed with one clawed finger at the main viewing panel.
‘Take us in closer and blast them with everything we have, now!’
A Veng’en officer shook his head and pointed at the tactical display.
‘Incoming, we’re under attack!’
Despite his expressionless face, Qayin thought he saw a glimmer of surprise and panic in Ty’ek’s features as he whirled and saw a pair of tiny Raythons rocketing toward the cruiser.
‘Crush them!’ Ty’ek roared.
*
Captain Idris Sansin gripped the support rail of the command platform as a murderous hail of plasma fire smashed through the asteroid field outside and debris pummelled the frigate’s hull. The Atlantia rocked and shuddered and the lights dimmed and flickered as Lael’s voice, as calm as ever in the face of despair, called out to him across the bridge.
‘Fires on decks six through eight. Laceration to hull plating on the starboard stern, engine bays intact, no leaks. Crew has sealed off the bulkheads.’
Idris watched through the main viewing panel as the huge asteroids shielding the frigate from the worst of the cruiser’s shots were shattered one by one. The view was clouded by dust and debris that glowed in the sunlight coming from the far side of the frigate, but Idris could still just about discern the long, slender hull of the Veng’en cruiser.
‘We can’t take much more of this captain,’ Mikhain said. ‘We won’t last much longer against all of these asteroid impacts.’
‘We’ll last longer than we will against that cruiser’s cannons,’ Idris snapped in reply. ‘What’s their status?’
‘They’re holding position sir,’ the XO replied, ‘they’re not taking the bait.’
Idris kept hold of the rail as the latest salvo of shots subsided, casting his glance across the tactical displays as well as the warning lights detailing fires and hull breaches across the frigate.
‘She’ll hold for a bit longer,’ he insisted, as much to himself as to the bridge crew. ‘Ty’ek is young, angry and impatient.’
‘That’s not much to base this strategy on, captain,’ Mikhain pointed out.
‘There’s not much else we can do.’
Idris watched the display for a moment and his practiced eye picked out the faintest of motions in the cruiser’s giant hull.
‘She’s moving,’ he said.
Mikhain frowned at his tactical display and then looked at Kordaz. ‘What’s Ty’ek’s play?’
Kordaz stared at the screen for a moment as though mesmerized by the damage being wrought on his own people, and then spoke.
‘He will attack directly,’ he replied. ‘Ty’ek is young and cannot help himself. He craves revenge and fame for actions in battle.’
‘He’s right,’ Lael said. ‘The cruiser is moving in closer. They’re targeting asteroids now, not our hull.’
‘Good,’ Idris replied, tightening his grip on the rail as he glanced at Mikhain. ‘Grappling lines?’
‘Charged and ready, sir,’ the XO replied, ‘but we don’t have nearly enough men to board and take the Rankor. I don’t know what the hell you intend to do with them.’
‘What they were intended for,’ the captain replied, ‘more or less. Keep the engines spooled up ready for my command.’
‘Aye sir,’ the helmsman replied. ‘Ion drives at fifty per cent power and awaiting your orders.’
Idris watched the cruiser and then his heart sank in his chest. He heard Lael’s words as though from afar.
‘She’s coming in broadside to us sir,’ she said. ‘She’s keeping her guns to bear.’
Ty’ek had perhaps a little more to him than Idris had hoped. The Veng’en commander was using lateral thrusters to keep the majority of his massive cannons pointed at the Atlantia as he closed in on the edge of the asteroid field, preventing Idris from gaining any kind of fire power advantage.
‘I knew it,’ Mikhain snapped. ‘Damn it Idris, as soon as she blows through those asteroids we’re going to be fully exposed to her broadside. One full set of direct hits from close range and we’re done for.’
Idris gritted his teeth and glanced at the tactical display.
‘How long before they break through?’
‘Sixty seconds, no more,’ Lael replied. ‘They’re blasting the asteroids with their secondary weapons and charging the main guns for their final assault.’
Idris scanned the displays with his practiced eye and knew instinctively that the time for planning and deliberation was over. This was it. He either acted to defeat the Veng’en cruiser or he chose to flee.
‘What do we do, sir?’ Lael asked.
‘The shuttle, Ranger One, what’s her location?’ Idris called.
‘Sector Five, elevation minus four two,’ Mikhain reported. ‘She’s hiding just inside the asteroid field.’
Idris released his grip on the railings and made his decision.
‘Deploy the shuttle to board the cruiser!’ he ordered. ‘Fire grapples on my command!’
‘Captain!’ Mikhain yelled. ‘If we grapple her she’ll be in position for a full broadside from point blank range! We’ll be cut into pieces!’
Idris saw the cruiser’s guns shatter the last of the large asteroids shielding the Atlantia, the vast rocks breaking up into dense tumbling clouds surrounded by halos of glowing dust and debris, and through it all the cruiser’s immense hull looming toward them.
‘Grapples, now!’ Idris yelled. ‘Fire them at her stern only!’
Mikhain scowled but he reached across and targeted the cruiser’s stern before slamming his palm down on the launch button.
A series of dull thumps reverberated through the Atlantia’s hull as ten grapples, each the size of two Raython fighters and attached to cables as thick as ten men, were propelled by rockets toward the Rankor’s stern.
Idris saw them rush across the empty space between the two ships and slam into her hull close to her engines, bright flashes of light caused by friction as the huge metal grapples plunged into the cruiser’s hull and were welded into place by the kinetic energy of the impacts.
‘We’re exposed!’ Mikhain yelled as the last of the asteroids shielding the Atlantia was blasted into a billion fragments by the cruiser’s guns. ‘There’s no time left!’
The captain pointed at the helmsman.
‘Full power, hard to starboard, now!’
***
‘This is it! Activate weapons!’
Bra’hiv called out to the men in the rear of the shuttle as it broke free of the asteroid field and rushed toward the huge Veng’en craft.
The Marines activated their plasma rifles and pulled their visors down, the masks sealing with a hiss as the interior was pressurised in anticipation of a hull breach and “
zero–zero
” combat: zero gravity and zero atmosphere. Bra’hiv saw Djimon activate his rifle and check the visor of the man next to him, each Marine ensuring that his companion was fully prepared for battle.
The shuttle rocked violently as massive plasma rounds were discharged to whiz close by outside, the two huge spaceships hammering each other with broadsides in an attempt to batter each other into submission. The general glimpsed the surface of the Veng’en cruiser looming large through the viewing panel ahead as the pilots corkscrewed the shuttle through a violent approach manoeuvre designed to shake off any tracking cannons as they rushed in.
‘Aim for a spot astern of the bridge!’ Bra’hiv yelled above the din of exploding cannons and whining engines. ‘Put us down hard!’
The shuttle rocketed in across the cruiser’s hull, its shadow racing across the surface as it approached the bridge from astern and the pilots aimed for a ventral exhaust duct. The design of the Veng’en cruiser was well known to the colonial forces and detailed schematics available to the pilots. Those schematics were overlaid on their windscreen, the duct outlined in bright green as a possible access point. The pilots slowed the shuttle and then deployed the magnetic claws, an aggressive secondary undercarriage designed to bite into even the toughest hulls.
The shuttle jolted violently as the claws gripped, scraping briefly across the hull as they dug in directly overhead the exhaust duct. A deep boom thundered through the shuttle as the craft settled on the hull.
‘Breaching charges, deploy!’
The pilot’s command was followed by the hiss of a central deployment chute that extended from the bottom of the shuttle and slammed into the cruiser’s hull. From the chute ten blast caps drove titanium spears deep into the cruiser’s hull and then detonated, forcing the hull inward as though by the blow of a giant hammer.
The hull breached with a terrific blast that strained the shuttle’s claws but they held firm as the breaching mechanism pierced the cruiser’s hull plating. Instantly, the floor of the shuttle opened up as revolving retractable plates wound back to reveal a smouldering passage down into the cruiser.
‘Charges, go!’
Four Marines hurled explosive plasma charges down into the cavity, the charges blowing with dramatic force and a series of bright flares designed to both blind and shock defenders. Bra’hiv heard the last of the charges go off and immediately hurled himself head–first down the chute, his rifle pointing ahead of him as he flew vertically down the shaft and plunged into a ventilation channel running below the surface of the hull.
He hit the deck and rolled, coming up in a firing position and moving forward as more Marines flooded down into the cruiser.