Authors: Steve Wheeler
A fast picket popped into existence behind them, observed for a few minutes and then disappeared again with no one giving it a second thought. The distant enemy base was destroying or damaging the missiles and the Compressors with lasers, particle-beam weapons and, in closer, linear rifles. Large amounts of the surface area of the base were being hit, but they could not see any really serious damage. There was an enormous flash from a detonation down in the moon’s opaque atmosphere and it looked as if a huge fish was rolling up out of the cloud cover before visibly shuddering and slowly falling back. The frigates kept firing down onto whatever it was.
Lilly exclaimed loudly, ‘Wow, here we go!’ just as seven Busters — with hundreds of combat drones attached to their outsides — popped into existence beside them. The Busters targeted the base, moving very, very fast, then, as the moon’s countermeasures attacked, the drones peeled off, engaging separately. The defences gradually wore down three of the Busters, which were hit hard and disintegrated, but eventually the remaining four vanished inside the enemy base before exploding and shattering it into three large pieces. And during this action Marko had to sit in his beautiful Hanger, fidgeting and frustrated that he was not allowed out to play.
They watched for another hour, staying in the same place, as other frigates flashed through the LP to travel down towards the shattered base, before Veg said: ‘Well, everyone, that went a lot better than I expected. The base is now in manageable pieces. The Games Board ships that were with the enemy are wanting to negotiate their release, which will take a very long time as they have some explaining to do. The primary weapons carrier is currently in pieces on the moon’s surface. One absolutely huge cleanup operation for the Administration. Fortunately, we do not have to have anything to do with it. We are requested to jump back to rendezvous with
Basalt
and from there we make our way back to Cygnus 5 for a well-deserved break and also to cure the rest of our crew. I know that you would like a little fun in your Hangers and I am sure that can be arranged at a later date. Stand by to jump.’
The jump was smooth and normal, but when they popped back into existence they were nowhere near where they should have been. Marko’s screens only showed one large frigate, of unfamiliar configuration, coming up on them from the rear. Comms were down — he could not raise anyone. Looking at the incoming ship, he figured they had ten or so minutes before it arrived.
He swore loudly. ‘Tux, what is happening?’
‘I don’t have sufficient information yet, Marko. I have a record of Veg saying to Stephine that the “jump had been twisted” but it was cut off in mid-sentence. I am receiving no telemetry from any other source. It would seem that the entire ship has shut down. This is unprecedented. I would suggest that we have been hijacked. I believe that we should also power down to appear that we too are in a controlled state.’
Marko swore again, thinking fast. ‘Before you do that, is the secure spectral comms unit software working in you? Can you quickly configure one of the screens so that we can all converse without being eavesdropped on?’
‘Yes, it was loaded when you took complete control of me; switching to that. I really like the new protocols that you have installed in me and I understand exactly why you did so. I believe if you hadn’t, we too would be under hostile control. Your installations have overwritten a number of Stephine’s programmes. The taste of her control is gone and I now taste of you, Marko. Interesting. We have total control of this Hanger, its weapons and propulsion.’
Marko heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Good. Nail. Thoughts?’
The cat had been designed and built years earlier by Marko and Topaz as an information-gathering and -analysis ACE, and Nail now gave his opinions. ‘I agree with Tux. We should behave as if we are totally shut down until we know the intentions of the approaching craft. I also think it would be a good idea to opaque the canopy before they view us. I am interfacing with Tux and shall review all passive information.’
‘Flint. Can you jury-rig a unit for my comms piece? If I seal up, I won’t have a link to any of you.’
‘Actually, Marko, it is built into the suit. Will pick up the crew comms on any of its surfaces. Fritz will be keen to see the tech involved.’
The canopy had shielded and the information from the Hanger’s passive sensors was being fed directly into his mind. The ship coming up behind them looked very much like the one
Crystal
had RVed with, but he could not see
Crystal
at all. As it approached, its nose slowly opened up to reveal a cavernous storage deck and they were slowly taken inside. It was so huge, it could have swallowed another five of them and still had room to spare. Two multi-hinged arms swung out from one of the walls and folded against Stephine’s ship, holding it firmly in place. They then started to swing the ship against what looked like even heavier locking mechanisms.
Marko watched the developments with alarm. ‘Guys, we will lose the element of surprise very soon. I am only seeing light weapons inside this carrier deck. Right, there is
Crystal
up against the wall. Decision made. This frigate is hostile towards us. Nail, Tux, can you see anything else which is a real threat to us?’
Nail answered that one. ‘Apart from
Crystal’s
rail guns, yes, numerous small autoguns. I have plotted their locations. The clamshell doors are closing. We could fire on the exposed mechanisms, destroy
Crystal’s
weapons, mess up the drive and then create lots of mayhem.’
~ * ~
Five
‘Sounds like a good plan to me,’ Marko said as he sealed up his visor. ‘Bring everything online and disengage the locks.’
They popped away from Stephine’s craft as Tux fired a continuous burst from the side rail guns, shattering the hinge mechanisms of the huge clamshell doors. He then walked the gun’s rounds through the drive mechanisms and very effectively jammed two of the segments open. Marko flew the Hanger up and over the bulk of Stephine’s ship as Tux engaged
Crystal
with the Hanger’s belly linear accelerators, pulverising
Crystal’s
visible weapons, tearing large chunks out of the armoured cockpit and smashing the engine room. Simultaneously, the Hanger slewed upwards, then sideways, as Tux used the wing-mounted rail guns again to smash the heavy locking mechanisms closing on Stephine’s ship. With
Crystal
effectively wrecked, they set about finding and firing on every internal autogun that had been trying to engage them.
Marko, in spite of what was happening, found himself grinning — the Hanger was such fun to fly. It had ring gimbal thruster units deployed around its centre so it could fly in any direction and Marko was thinking that it was like being inside a very punchy mosquito. Tux and Nail were actively assisting him in the control of the craft and were quite frequently overriding the controls to get the ship out of the way of incoming rounds. Suddenly, they found themselves without targets, so Marko had them chew some holes in the aft bulkhead to make life a little difficult for whoever was behind them, knowing that the holes would be autorepaired but taking satisfaction seeing the damage they were inflicting.
‘Bloody hell, what kind of ammunition are we using? The damage is ferocious!’
Glint answered. ‘Every fifth round is antimatter in micro-containment. The rest are diamond or polyyne-coated iridium. And we have used thirty-five per cent of our current load.’
‘Right, how did this happen in the first place? There must be something on Stephine’s craft’s surface which has taken over control. We need to find whatever it is fast. At least, I sincerely hope it is something external. I would expect company soon in the way of fighters or mechs. OK, fast overflight. Nail, you look for it; Tux, look for targets; I’ll fly; Glint and Flint watch for the enemy.’
They flew up and down Stephine’s ship three times before they finally found what they were looking for. There were three organic-looking limpet-type units which appeared to be fused onto the surface.
After they had looked closely at the limpets for a few seconds, Nail said, ‘Marko, I believe that we are looking at an urchin-based technology.’
‘Rather than risking damage to Stephine’s craft,’ Flint suggested, ‘perhaps we should place a single antimatter round against one and see what happens?’
Nail replied before Marko did. ‘Good idea. Yes, it will take a couple of moments to obtain some from the magazine. It will require one of us to place it.’
Marko nodded and called, ‘Glint?’
‘On my way.’
Nervously keeping a lookout all around them and waiting for the inevitable counterattack, they waited for Glint to grab a few antimatter rounds from the magazine, cycle through the belly airlock and place an antimatter round on the nearest limpet. He had no sooner laid the first shimmering slug of material than the limpet unfolded and seized it. Glint ran back across the hull after rapidly flicking the other two rounds over the other limpets, and leapt into the open airlock as the three limpets were in pursuit, sensing more antimatter. The limpets now raced towards the wall, creating a little space for Tux to get a clear shot; he slewed the belly guns around and blew them to pieces. Marko thought that sometimes it is impossible to remove the need for a creature’s basic desires, even when it has been greatly modified.
Marko had expected Stephine’s ship would suddenly come to life, and wondered aloud if maybe they had missed some limpets, when a little Orbital fighter came flashing through the wrecked doors shooting at them. Marko was feeling the impacts on the hull. He rolled the Hanger, slid sideways and tucked them up against the wall behind some huge trusses and waited for the fighter to present itself. Three more fighters poured through the opening as Tux fired three high-acceleration mini-missiles across, knocking them out of the battle. The remaining fighter popped up and fired, hitting the starboard-side rail gun and immobilising it. Rounds then started hitting the belly gun which completely jammed. They could feel more explosive shells hitting the Hanger’s rear. Then, miraculously, the fighter exploded as did the armoured units coming through the rear bulkhead; Lilly and Jasmine, piloting their Hangers, had joined in the carnage.
Marko yelled in relief and delight.
‘Hey guys, you decided to join us!’
‘We could not move,’ Jasmine replied. ‘We were completely blind and dumb. You must have done something to free us. Stephine says that she and Veg will have control in another ten or so minutes as they reconfigure their systems. Something is happening outside this frigate. It is being attacked. We have no idea by what.’
Marko let out his breath, looking across the displays, and asked, ‘Status, Tux?’
‘Starboard gun damaged, self-repair inoperable, belly gun jammed, we have a major propellent leak and the primary propulsion is non-functioning. We can manoeuvre but we are down to fifteen per cent efficiency. Suggest that we use what little power is left to hard dock with our mother ship.’
‘Do it. Have we many missiles left?’
‘We have another twelve.’
‘Use them to destroy the antigravity generators in this part of the frigate. There is nothing like denying the opposition its tools and control mechanisms.’
The missiles flashed away and struck their separate targets.
The Hanger and its crew were sitting ducks, but Lilly and Jasmine were like angry hornets moving around looking for something to shoot at. Two more enemy fighters arrived inside the damaged doors and Marko could not quite work out if they were blown in or blown out; they were hit from both sides and exploded into small pieces. He was hoping that whatever was outside was on their side.
He nursed the damaged Hanger and docked up against Stephine’s ship with the hard comms links locking on.
‘Stephine, Veg, do you read?’
‘Yes, Marko. We are fine. Come on board; there is little you can do in that Hanger now.’
Marko allowed himself a sigh of relief. ‘OK, guys, let’s go see our leaders.’ Tux took him down though the hatch and back inside Stephine’s craft while the ACEs followed.
As they all slid to a stop in the main room, he saw that Stephine and Veg had a type of suit on that he had not seen before.
Stephine briskly began to speak. ‘Once again, excellent work, Marko. Our thanks. We do not know what is outside this frigate. We do know that it is hostile to our captors and that it is time for payback. Behind you is the other part of the suit that you now call Tux. I am proud of you, Marko. You did what you needed to do in taking complete control. You will make a very good officer one day. Now, I’ll give you a few moments to take control of the heavy-weapon segment of your suit and then we’ll go for a walk.’
With a groan almost escaping his lips, he realised that once again he had been put in a position he did not fully control and that Stephine had been pulling his strings all along. He mentally shrugged, and considered that that was what made a good commander: select the weapon and allow it to do the job. He physically shrugged and looked across at Veg.
‘Don’t worry, friend Marko,’ said Veg. ‘There are great benefits from being around Stephine. And yes, she still frightens me also.’
Marko murmured to Tux to ‘do your thing’ and, in answer, the seat enclosed him further and parts folded out forming the little walker which walked backwards against the two-metre cube that Stephine had indicated was the heavy-weapon segment of his suit. Tux extended a spindly arm with an electronic jack in the end of it and plugged it into the cube. Marko’s HUD came alive and he gasped, seeing now that the thing behind him was an absolute brute. Tux opened up its computer and they effected control with the AI speeding up the process. The container proceeded to unfold a little, sufficient for Tux to lock into it.