The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (29 page)

The deep rumblings of the closing Containment Fields were starting to grow louder amidst the shuddering and jarring of the Ganthoran weapons fire. Looking at the debris and wreckage strewn across the once-pristine corridors of the Appomattox, Billy Caudwell knew that he had to run for his life. He had to get as far away as he could from the great, white-hot wave of Proto-Star matter that would surge and sweep along these corridors, melting and destroying everything in its path. Every yard that he could put between himself and the roaring and surging Proto-Star flood was another split-second that the Tele-Port Technician would have to gain a lock-on and get him out of there.

But, now, with his life at stake, Billy Caudwell had to run.

With a simple thought command to thousands of microscopic machines in his Personal Environment Suit, Billy began to run as fast as his legs could drive him. However, with the intensity of the Force Shielding around his body set to maximum, the effect was to multiply the pushing effect of his muscles against the pull of the artificial gravity of the warship. Just as the PES had allowed him to move the heavy beam over the Control Console, the same effect allowed him to run far faster than he would normally be able to. And, aided by the powerful Force Shielding of the PES, Billy covered the first hundred metres of dimly lit, grey corridor in less than four seconds. It was a feat that Olympic sprinters back on Earth could only dream of achieving. But, here in the depths of space in a race against death, a terminally unfit, overweight schoolboy was putting them all to shame.

“Thirty seconds to detonation,” the crew address system announced.

At the end of the first corridor, Billy had to turn right. At full pelt, Billy tried to take the corner by bouncing from the opposite wall as he turned, to try to keep as much momentum as possible. Unfortunately, as he swept around the corridor into the next gloomy stretch of his journey, he tripped over a dead crew member who had been covered by a piece of dark sheeting. Billy, moving as fast as he could, went sprawling forward, and unable to stop himself, bounced and slid along the corridor as far as his momentum could carry him. The PES, with Force Shielding set to full intensity, protected him from the bumps, scrapes, and bruises that he would normally have sustained. However, the PES could not protect him from the time that he had lost in the accident.

Coming to a clattering halt against another fallen beam, Billy rose to his feet and started to run once again. He had lost precious seconds tripping over the fallen crew member, and he was aware that he could not afford to lose any time in getting away from the doomed vessel.

“Twenty seconds to detonation!” The sweet, syrupy female voice made the announcement to a crew that had long since abandoned it.

Twenty seconds
, Billy thought to himself as he took the corner of another corridor just a little too quickly.

Bouncing from the edge of the corridor wall, he pushed onwards, feeling the slight jolt of the impact, and having enough presence of mind to notice a fallen “H” beam, which he jumped over awkwardly. Ahead of him, in the gloom of the corridor, Billy could see electrical and power cabling hanging down from the ceiling. Some of it gave off sparks and flashes that made some of the dull, darkened shapes that littered the corridor floor appear sinister and dangerous.

But, there was no time to contemplate these shapes. He had one last stretch of corridor to clear before he reached the long corridor beneath the Ready Rooms for the pulsar-cannon. Picking up speed as he drove himself onwards, Billy dodged and weaved his way around obstacles that loomed menacingly from the gloomy darkness of the wide corridor that stretched before him. At the end of this corridor, he had to turn left. After that, it was a straight dash to the rear of the vessel and, the rear Viewing Window.

And, at the end of the corridor, as he stopped to draw breath, Billy looked behind him and saw the boiling, surging, rolling and tumbling, white-hot and cloudy mass of the Proto-Star matter that had seeped through the failing Containment Fields. With a loud, rumbling roar, the white-hot cloud made its presence known.

Although the Proto-Star matter was white-hot at its core, the leading edge of the cloud was tinged with a yellow that indicated that the front of the cloud was starting to cool.

Like a huge wall of water back on Earth, the leading edge of the Proto-Star matter bounced and volleyed from the corridor corner, delayed by only a few moments before resuming its relentless and unstoppable path, directly towards Billy Caudwell. The Proto-Star matter was now around one hundred metres behind him, and would make up that distance very fast. In front of him, Billy could see the last stretch of corridor that would, hopefully, lead him to the rear Viewing Window. It was about three hundred metres to the end of the corridor, and Billy knew that it would be a straight race between himself and the white-hot surging cloud of Proto-Star matter. He had to move; he had to run, now, if he was to have any chance of survival.

“Caudwell to Olympus.” Billy hailed the Tele-Port Technician on the Star-Destroyer. “I hope you’re ready!”

Hurtling down the final three hundred metre stretch of corridor, Billy could see the huge lattice of the rear Viewing Window. Made up of twelve two-metre-by-two-metre panes, in a four-by-three pattern of a thick, clear, plastic-like material, the rear Viewing Window allowed crew members to look out into the emptiness of space. For the crew members of the Appomattox, it was a convenient Viewing Window for them to contemplate the mysteries of the universe or simply to allow them to see where they had been. But, for Billy Caudwell, it was a potential life saver.

Already, as he sprinted through the corridors of the Appomattox, he could feel the hot breath of the Proto-Star matter through the maximum intensity of the Force Shielding of his Personal Environment Suit. The great white-hot avalanche of Proto-Star matter was getting closer and closer to Billy Caudwell.

“Ten seconds to detonation,” the cold, dispassionate and syrupy voice announced.

Ten seconds
, Billy thought and put his head down to increase his efforts as his legs pumped furiously beneath him.

Three hundred metres in ten seconds was something he didn’t think he could do, but the anger and despair within him meant that he had to try.

“Eight.”

Come on
, Billy urged himself onwards, the ground being devoured beneath his feet as he focussed on the Viewing Window; which was growing larger in his field of vision.

“Seven,” the voice announced dispassionately.

Nearly there
, Billy thought to himself as he jumped over a large box-like structure in the middle of his path.

From the corner of his eye, he could see a flash of the great white-hot mass of Proto-Star matter bounce from the corridor wall behind him. It was getting close- too close for Billy’s particular comfort.

“Six.” The voice sounded as if it were conveying some trivial piece of news to a disinterested crew.

I have to make it, I have to make it,
Billy ordered himself and gritted his teeth as he dug deep into his reserves of strength.

Pushing his legs harder and faster into the rapidly heating deck floor of the corridor, Billy could sense that the Proto-Star matter cloud was catching up to him very rapidly. The loud roar of the relentlessly advancing cloud had grown perceptibly louder in only a few seconds.

“Five.” The voice calmly continued the countdown to annihilation.

I’m not going to die, I’m not going to die
, Billy tried to convince himself as he sped down the corridor, surging through a tangled web of electrical and power cabling that hung from the ceiling and sparked dangerously.

Knowing that the Force Shielding of the PES would protect him, Billy did not break stride as he surged onwards to his target; the Viewing Window and survival.

“Four.”

Suddenly, the Viewing Window seemed to rush towards Billy at an alarming rate. This was what he had been taught to expect in his pilot training. It was called “Ground Rush”, and usually happened within the last fifty metres before landing an aircraft. And, although Billy expected the phenomenon, it still came as an unexpectedly unpleasant surprise. However, it did not impair his survival instinct, which told him to keep running.

“Three,” the voice announced with almost hypnotic calmness.

Billy almost cried out with frustration as he felt the heat from the Proto-Star matter piercing through the Force Shielding of his PES. The matter was that close.

With every thought and sinew in his body, Billy tried to run that little bit harder, to push on a little bit faster. But, with agonising certainty, he knew that his body had no more left to give.

“Two.” The crew address voice showed no sign of any alarm or fear of what was about to happen to the ship.

I’m not going to make it, I’m not going to make it,
Billy thought angrily to himself as the Viewing Window grew to enormous proportions.

He was so close to the Window, yet he thought it would take another few seconds to reach it. He could see the reflection of the massive white-hot cloud of Proto-Star matter was almost upon him, ready to devour him as it was destroying everything else.

“One.” The countdown voice led to the complete finality of the destruction of the Alliance Star-Cruiser Appomattox.

With one final despairing yell, First Admiral Billy Caudwell flung himself head-first at the large, clear Viewing Window at the very rear of the Star-Cruiser Appomattox. And, as the huge surging wave of Proto-Star matter licked hungrily at his flying heels, the teenage Space Admiral crossed his arms in front of his face and shattered through one of the bottom panes of the Viewing Window. The twenty centimetres of clear plastic-like material was no match for the intensity of the Force Shielding around his body. The moment the Force Shielding from Billy’s PES struck the Window, the clear material cracked and shattered, allowing him to pass through into the freezing, airless, emptiness of space. A split-second later, the great seething mass of white-hot Proto-Star matter emerged from the Viewing Window, shattering the entire rear of the Star-Cruiser, and engulfed the tiny, bright flash of light that had been First Admiral Billy Caudwell.

“Got him!” The triumphant voice of the Tele-Port Technician rang in Billy’s ears, as a singed and smoking First Admiral Billy Caudwell landed, with a loud grunt, in an ungainly heap on the deck floor in one of the Tele-Port Stations aboard the Star-Destroyer Olympus.

Raising his head, Billy mouthed a silent “Thank You!” to the Tele-Port Technician who had just pulled him from the jaws of certain death in a Proto-Star matter liberation. The delighted Tele-Port Technician snapped to attention, a broad, beaming smile spreading across his face as the stand-by Medical Technicians dashed forward to tend to the Supreme Military Commander of the Universal Alliance. With an exhausted sigh, still gasping and coughing for air, his heart hammering in his chest, Billy Caudwell slumped back down again. If he was ever to suggest a hare-brained scheme like that again, he would give Marrhus Lokkrien permission to shoot him.

As the Medics tended to Billy, out on the battlefield, the Proto-Star reactor aboard the Appomattox finally detonated.

With a huge blinding flash of white, searing light, the Containment Chamber around the few dozen kilos of Proto-Star matter collapsed, releasing the massive surge of energy that tore the fatally wounded Appomattox, along with her huge cargo of explosives, to pieces in a huge and terrifying explosion. At the very heart of the Ganthoran formation, the exploding Star-Cruiser lit up the Wormhole like a massive Supernova. The large chunks of red and white hot metal that were flung in all directions from the final deadly convulsions of the Appomattox hurtled out in all directions from the central point. Everything that stood in the path of the flying debris was destroyed in the great maelstrom of destruction.

The Ganthoran Cruisers and Destroyers close to the Appomattox had no chance of survival, and were torn to shreds by the flying metal amidst the huge sun burst of the explosion. However, the destruction of the vessels close to the Appomattox was not the end of the story of devastation. Like some monstrous chain-reaction, those vessels hit by the flying fragments of the Appomattox exploded just a few short moments later. The debris from their destruction also radiated out from a central point to overwhelm those vessels stationed close to them. The chain-reaction then spread rapidly outwards towards the periphery of the Ganthoran position at the Wormhole. Cruisers and Destroyers were smashed indiscriminately by the tidal waves of debris and destruction that swept and swirled through the closely-packed Ganthoran vessels.

Aboard the Alliance vessels, those who had sight of the last moments of the Star-Cruiser Appomattox shielded their eyes from the intense, blinding light of the Proto-Star-fuelled explosion. There was no sound to accompany the devastating inferno of fire and destruction. The Alliance crews watched in stunned horror as the heart was ripped from the Ganthoran position amidst an eerie and brutal silence. To those viewing the destruction of the Ganthoran Frontier Fleets, it looked like a large, livid yellow stain slowly spreading out across a black table cloth. The waves of destruction spread outwards, almost uniformly, as one after another, the Frontier Fleet vessels were torn apart in massive and cataclysmic explosions. No one on the Alliance side spoke; no one cheered, and all marvelled at the devastating power of a Proto-Star explosion. For several seconds, the Alliance crews stood in awed silence. The gunfire from the low and high-yield pulsar-cannon ceased as the gunners shielded their eyes from the flash.