Battleship Furiosa (31 page)

"General, the route to the command deck
is sealed, but more are coming from below."

Commander Higgins left his post
and moved to the young pilot.

"Ensign Lewis and the others?"

She shook her head, and then he
spotted tears running from her eyes.

"Valdis and the others, they were there
when the ceiling collapsed."

He grabbed her, lifted her to her
feet, and then spoke more forcefully.

"Are they alive?"

Again the young pilot shook her head.
Before she could speak, Captain Krammer was there, and he looked
equally angry.

"My fighters. Are they
operational?"

Svana spat blood on the floor and
then snarled in frustration. "The fighter deck is lost, and my kin
have vanished."

Captain Krammer sighed, glanced at the
last remaining seconds, and then looked o General Honorius.

"This is it then.
W
e will fight in the old ways. We may
have no fighters or working communications. But we do have
this."

He moved his hand to a large
metallic lever hidden behind articulated plating. Commander Higgins
had no idea what it was, but as his hand opened the plate, the
effect on the rest of the officers was electric.

"If it comes to this, we will sound the
horn of our ancestors."

Commander Higgins looked at them and
then shook his head.

They are insane! A horn?

He didn't even notice the Rift
flash and distort
as one by one the four
ships breached the tear in space-time. The view of the Serpentis
System changed in the blink of an eye, and there before them was
the planet of Martos III, Tenth Quadrant. It was much further away
than he'd expected, and much yellower. He had never been in this
part of space, but he did know from his research that the world was
one of the many barren planets in the system. Only Karnak,
Initochs, and Agriphos were inhabited, the remainder were barren
husks, apart from Medamud, but that was a shattered ruin instead of
a planet.

"We have
arrived,
" said Captain
Krammer.

More flashes marked the arrival
of the three Viper Class destroyers. Even from this distance, he
could see their gun ports opening as they readied themselves for
battle. Their long elegant vanes pushed out, and the solar
membranes glistened with the collected light. The gilt on the ships
was unlike anything he'd seen before, making even the standard
Byotai ships of the line pale to insignificance.

They are
b
eautiful ships. I'll give
them that.

A cheer rang out as a number of
friendly IFF markers began to fill the central display. At first
there were just a handful, and then the number moved into double
figures and continued to increase. Though far away, the blink of
lights showed the position of many ships, most of which could only
be minutes away from their current position.

"Excellent," said General
Honorius,
"The war fleet of our hero,
General Makos. We will regroup and return to the Admiral
shortly."

He looked to his officers and
nodded.

"Contact the Admiral, and inform him of
our success."

"Sir!"

He looked back, relieved as more
and more appeared. Yet in just a few more seconds the expression on
both senior officers transformed. What had started as excitement
and joy, quickly changed to suspicion, and then something much
worse.

"What is it?"
Commander Higgins asked.

Even Svana looked couldn't quite
see the problem at first. They examined the information, but
finally Commander Higgins saw it, and his face seemed to drain of
colour in an instant.

"No,
"
he said, saying aloud what all of them were thinking.

Captain Krammer ignored him and
began issuing orders to his officers. The bridge turned red once
more, and time seemed to slow down as the crew returned to their
battle stations. Higgins looked to the small group of pilots, and
especially to the confused Svana.

"It's Makos.
His fleet has already been defeated. Look!"

He extended his arm and pointed
to the position of the scores of ships. There were several groups
of friendly vessels, but many smaller groups were separating and
moving away. Yet at one point there was a double line of red, and
the difference between the two formations could not have been more
obvious.

"It can't be,
" she said.

General Honorius placed his
forehead in his right hand and spoke words so softly that the
translator had no chance at all of converting them into passable
English. After a pause of several seconds, he looked up, blinked,
and then straightened his back even though it clearly hurt
him.

"The enemy has
defeated Makos. His ships are broken and fleeing.
Look."

With his right arm, he pointed to
the squadrons of ships. They were in stark contrast to the two
lines of Star Empire ships even though both sides appeared roughly
equal in numbers.

"Half of their fleet is in pursuit. And
the rest..."

Commander Higgins knew the Byotai
well enough to tell when there was something troublesome. He moved
alongside the two officers and examined the mapping data. At first
he couldn't see the problem, as he was looking too far away. Only
when he examined the formation of vessels near to the Rift did he
understand.

"They are coming here?"

General Honorius nodded.

"Yes, thirty plus ships, and they are
heading right for us."

Captain Krammer finished whatever it
was he'd been doing and signalled towards the General.

"I can reverse our thrusters, but it
will take over five hours to pull back through the Rift, perhaps
longer."

The General snorted for what must have
been the fourth time in as many minutes.

"No, not today."

"Then full acceleration. If we are fast
enough, we can breach their lines."

General Honorius shook his head
again.

"The fleet is shattered, joining them
will change nothing."

Commander Higgins pointed to the
formations of ships.

"The General is correct. The
fleet is shattered, but there are still a lot of ships out there.
We need to rally them...and fast."

General Honorius grunted in
agreement.

"Is the open channel communications
equipment working?"

The Captain nodded.

"Yes, General. Only the internal
wireless communications are down."

"Good. Put me on.
I
t is time..."

"For what, General?"

The Captain, though an old and
wizened officer, looked terribly worried. His ship was facing an
impossible number of enemy ships, and it was clear he was unable to
avoid them. The General closed his eyes, and when they opened
again, he looked as though he'd been transformed.

"A new day. We will rally the
fleet and win the battle that Makos began."

With a subtle twist of his head,
he faced the lever on the wall. As he moved, he spotted the new
lights showing on the central display. They were moving so fast
that they could only be one thing. Commander Higgins saw them, too,
and his eyes widened, realising the rear formation of ships had
targeted the Byotai ships and already unleashed a heavy
bombardment. The shells would arrive in seconds.

"It is time, Captain Krammer.
Sound the horn. The end times are here."

* * *

The siren blasted so loudly inside the
ship that Nate thought part of the wall had been blown out into
space. Even as the sound stopped, the reverberation continued for
several more seconds, only to be followed by the shudder as the
main guns on the massive ship began to fire. A fraction of a second
later, an entire volley of something struck Furiosa. It must have
been significant because Nate actually felt his weight shift for a
moment.

"What is that?" he shouted.

The Captain kept on running, much to
Nate's amazement, but Valdis threw him a cursory glance.

"It is the horn of our ancestors. I
have heard it used only once. We must be through the Rift, and in
battle."

Nate ran so quickly through the
next set of blast doors that he caught his elbow against the frame
and nearly spun into the wall. Only the fact that Billy blocked his
path stopped him from tumbling and hitting the ground like an
infant. They steadied themselves and kept going. Nate felt his
chest pounding and wanted more than anything to have a sit down.
The panic of the gun battle had now vanished, and in its place the
physical exertion of the dash through the ship. He pushed his body
harder and just about caught up with those at the front.

"So what? It's a battle station klaxon,
right?"

Valdis shook her head and tried
to speak. Instead, she coughed and then panted a little. Nate
actually felt relieved that it was not just him in physical
trouble.

"It means that the end times are near.
All crew must fight to their last. It is an order given under the
direst of circumstances."

When she looked back at him, her
eyes were bloodshot and enraged.

"It means we are about to face
death."

They rounded the next bend and
into a wide passageway. An open area led off to the left.
Rectangular markings, like those at a rail terminal led outwards,
stopping in front of large panels that looked like doors. All of
them were sealed shut, blocking off access to whatever lay behind.
A crackle of gunfire sent then in all directions. Nate rushed to
the left and near the doors where Valdis and Billy had gone. The
rest moved to the right as yet more shots struck nearby.

"They've broken through!" said
Captain Sobiex.

A shot narrowly missed his head, and
Cassandra pulled him back.

"Stay down, you old
fool."

She leaned out to fire, and a
shot struck her carbine, splitting it in half and causing her to
cry out. Matilda fired twice and then ducked down.

"We can't stay
here,
" said Nate.

Three more shots hit the ground
near his feet, and splinters of metal glanced off, leaving streaks
and sparks. Nate took aim, and then another of the powerful impacts
shook the ship. So great was the impact that cracks appeared in the
ceiling above him. As a consequence, the enemy fire missed by quite
a margin. He took his time and then fired a long burst at the
distant shadows. He couldn't tell if any had been hurt, but they
certainly moved back.

"We're trapped,
" said Valdis, "What now?"

Nate looked around them and then
pointed to the sealed sliding doors.

"What's behind there?"

"Torpedo
bulges.
" Her eyes lit up unexpectedly,
"and the cutters."

Nate's expression changed in an
instant.

"When you say cutters, you mean
what I think you mean, right?"

Another fusillade of gunfire
struck nearby, and this time a pair of the enemy jumped out from
cover. Nate could see many more as they poured in from somewhere to
the side of the ship. Billy fired, but his shots went wide. Though
he managed to avoid hitting anybody, he did at least force them to
scatter. Valdis checked her portable computer and let out an odd
sound as it brought up a page.

"The engineers have regained access to
parts of the ship."

She then gulped.

"What is it?" asked Nate.

A shot slammed into the door and
glanced off, leaving a massive black mark. He aimed at the flashing
lights and activated the high-power mode on the weapon. The
capacitor charged up, and when he fired, all three barrels blasted
their projectiles out at the same time. The effect was to hit the
target with triple the mass in one go. Valdis bent down low and
checked the schematic.

"
They
have something jammed between the torpedo bulges and the starboard
side of the command deck."

Valdis
looked up.

"It's a prison transport shuttle,
I think. They must have crashed it. According to the computer, it
can carry..." She blinked twice before finishing, "Up to a hundred
convicts."

Nate shook his head in amazement.

"A hundred. That's a problem. We can't
handle them ourselves."

As if to emphasise the point,
four or five more slipped through the doorways and spread out into
the compartment. More shots now struck around them, leaving few
options.

"What now?" asked
the Captain.

The others returned fire, but Nate
couldn't take his eyes off the doors.

"We go back, forward, or we take
the cutter."

"Wh
at?"
said the Captain.

Valdis looked
to Nate and shook her head.

"It's a small ship, Ensign. You'll need
seventy or more people to crew her."

Nate grinned.

"You forget something.
W
e've controlled Byotai customs duty
cutters before."

Valdis sighed, but the Captain
heard him and leaned down. Billy pushed past, took aim, and fired
two more shots. More flashed back and nearly deafened them
all.

"You can fly the
cutter?"