Schmidt glanced at Marshall. ‘Cloning technology has been available to humanity for centuries, but these creatures may have possessed it for millennia, and notice how she refers to herself as
we
. Who knows what they could have cooked up out there?’
Marshall nodded as he observed the woman.
‘Why did you attack the Ayleean’s vessel?’
‘We had travelled far, and needed fuel.’
‘From their fusion cores?’ Vasquez asked, curious now.
‘From everything,’ came the reply. ‘All matter has its uses.’
‘You killed the entire crew,’ Marshall pointed out.
‘All fuel has its uses.’
Foxx heard that reply and her skin crept with a sudden chill as she realized that this being, this entity had no concept of what it had done. It did not understand that in taking the lives of other beings it caused pain: to it, they were simply the next meal.
‘We will require more fuel,’ the woman said.
‘Then take it from planets,’ Schmidt suggested, ‘not other beings.’
‘Planetary gases are not complex, they are insufficient. Free us now or we will be forced to consume your vessel also.’
‘You would have done so anyway, had we not seen you coming,’ Marshall pointed out. ‘Why should we believe that you won’t attack us now?’
‘It is not for us to say,’ came the reply. ‘You must release us.’
‘I can’t do that,’ Marshall said.
There was no hesitation: the woman’s form collapsed downward like falling smoke and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
‘Where’d it go?’ Vasqeuz asked.
‘It’s still in there,’ Marshall said. ‘Shape shifting freak or not, it can’t get out and it can’t call for help.’
As Foxx watched, suddenly she felt a vibration coming from inside the quarantine cubicle. She took an involuntary step back as Marshall glanced at the Marine guard.
‘Increase the holding power to maximum and shield against all vibrations.’
The Marine complied and the vibration vanished, but now Foxx could see the metalwork of one of the gurneys beginning to glow as a red haze blossomed into view within the cubicle, billowing outward, filling the cubicle as though the interior were aflame.
‘What’s it doing?’ Foxx asked.
Schmidt edged closer to the cubicle as though he were about to walk inside, but then he hesitated for a moment as though he were realizing something. Then, he whirled to the captain.
‘Put the shields up, admiral! Prepare for battle!’
‘Why?’ Marshall shrugged. ‘It’s trapped.’
‘It’s not trying to escape! It wanted you to seal it in! It’s generating heat, and heat is light, and light has a spectra. It’s signalling the rest of itself and sending a distress signal!’
As if one cue a low, mournful alarm sounded through the ship and the XO’s voice crackled into the admiral’s communicator.
‘Captain on the bridge, all arms!’
***
XXXII
‘Pull all of the fighters back and charge all cannons!’
Marshall’s voice boomed across the bridge as he marched onto the command platform and saw the main display screen showing the alien vessel moving across the star fields. Although none of its running lights or anti–collision beacons were switched on Foxx could see the hull was aglow with light, the vessel’s propulsion system flaring blue–white as the ship began to turn toward Titan.
‘They’re coming for us,’ Olsen said, ‘I’ve got weapons of some kind charging, high–energy electrical impulses across her hull on both sides, can’t tell what she’s carrying though.’
‘It could be a form of weapon we’ve never encountered before,’ Schmidt said as he materialized alongside them on the bridge. ‘We should keep our distance.’
‘Thanks, genius,’ Marshall muttered as his experienced eyes gauged the distances and the movement of Titan and its would be assailant. ‘Helm, elevation four–two, corner velocity to port and bring our starboard batteries to bear.’
The helm was moving before Marshall had even finished the sentence.
‘Incoming message from the Ayleeans!’ the Tactical Officer warned.
A secondary hologram shimmered into view as Ambassador Vyree appeared upon Titan’s bridge deck. ’Your hour is up, admiral! Where are the survivors?!’
‘They’re dead, and this ship is contaminated!’ Marshall snapped. ‘Get the hell off my ship and get out of here, while you still can!’
Ambassador Vyree stared in amazement at the admiral, as though he were not sure whether to explode in rage or ask a question. Then, he scowled and his hologram vanished.
‘XO?!’ Marshall demanded. ‘Weapons assessment?’
Foxx could see the tactical holo–display showing Titan’s shields at maximum, ready to protect her against whatever barrage was coming. The alien vessel swung around, still entombed in its icy cocoon as it turned side–on to Titan and a flickering series of lights glowed on its starboard hull.
‘Cannons,’ Olsen said with relief. ‘Maybe their technology wasn’t so different from our own and…’
He broke off as the flickering points of light suddenly seemed to meld into one as several beams of light collided into a devastating pulse of energy that filled the viewing panel as it flared like a newborn star right before them.
‘Brace for impact!’
The blast hit Titan even as Foxx managed to grab hold of the command rail. The huge warship surged to starboard as though she had been hit by a wandering planet, the lights flickering out as Foxx was slammed against the rail. In the dim light she heard a terrific series of explosions and saw officers hurled from their seats to crash down onto the deck as showers of bright sparks splashed down from the darkened ceiling.
A series of whining alarms wailed across the ship as Marshall staggered back upright from where he had fallen onto one knee. Sparks tumbled in electrified waterfalls from panels blasted out by the power surge, cries of pain from injured crewmen competing with the crackle of wild energy surging through the ship as the lights flickered back on.
‘Status?!’ Marshall snapped.
The Tactical Officer hauled herself back into her seat, her hair in disarray and blood trickling from a wound on her head.
‘Shields holding, hull breaches on decks nine and fourteen, plasma batteries still charged but they hit us hard captain!’
‘Then hit ‘em back!’ Marshall yelled. ‘All batteries fire as they bear!’
Titan’s helm responded and the ship turned slightly as the two massive vessels passed each other in the frigid blackness of space, Titan trailing a glittering cloud of debris that sparkled in the light of the distant sun. Foxx held on to the command rail as she heard a deep and rhythmic pounding echo through the huge warship as one after another her massive plasma cannons blasted rounds toward the alien vessel.
She watched with the rest of the crew as the huge plasma rounds rocketed toward the alien ship and then plowed into her one after the other in vivid explosions of bright blue–white plasma and flame. Foxx squinted and saw the rounds plunging through the ship’s freezing cocoon and crashing into the superstructure, smashing huge hull panels outward to tumble through space as they punctured the ship’s protective chrysalis.
‘Direct hits!’ the Tactical Officer yelled, but then her joy faltered as she frowned at the screen. ‘No damage, all systems aboard her fully operational?’
Schmidt smiled as he replied to her.
‘The entity itself is bridging the damage,’ he replied, ‘electrically conducting and thus able to reform itself into the structures that we’ve destroyed. It’s why the ship still works, captain – there’s nothing that this being cannot effectively replace.’
Marshall’s fists clenched by his sides.
‘Signal the fleet,’ he growled. ‘We’ll have to join forces to obliterate this thing if we’re going to stop it.’
‘That might risk the entity getting aboard another vessel via the debris that would be created, captain,’ Schmidt pointed out. ‘Bringing any other vessel too close to this thing, even cannon range, could be suicide in the long run. I insist that the fleet remains clear of Titan, Polaris Station and Tethys Gaol for the duration!’
‘Then what do you suggest, doctor?’ Marshall snapped. ‘Because it’s on the warpath and we’re going to have to stop it somehow!’
Schmidt did not respond and simply vanished from sight as he travelled directly to his laboratory to work on the problem.
‘Fighters launching!’ the Tactical Officer yelled, ‘multiple targets bearing eight–oh–four, elevation minus two–niner!’
Marshall peered at the display screen and saw specks of lights pouring from the vessel’s lower hull, delta–like wings flashing in the sunlight as they turned and rocketed toward Titan.
‘Phantoms to intercept!’ Marshall snapped. ‘Tell the pilots to keep their distance though!’
The CAG relayed the order and Foxx saw pairs of
Phantom
fighters rocket past Titan to intercept the swarm of incoming vessels. The tactical screen zoomed in and she saw the alien craft appear, their hulls glowing a strange hue in the sunlight reflected from Saturn’s vast surface. They were small, arrow–like vessels with a form somewhat recognizable as fighter craft although their forward–raked delta wings made them look as though they were flying backwards. She could see no cockpits and the craft seemed to flock like birds did in the skies over Earth, wheeling and turning as one.
‘Drones,’ Marshall said, ‘controlled by the mother ship. We’ve seen this before.’
‘The Ayleeans tried it for a while back in the day,’ Olsen agreed with a grim smile. ‘Our fighter pilots have tactics to defend against them.’
Foxx watched as the Phantom fighters and the wheeling cloud of drones rocketed toward each other, saw pin–prick flashes of light zip between them as they opened fire with their cannons and heard the communications chatter between the fighter pilots.
‘Razor four, splash one!’
‘Like shootin’ rats in a barrel, Razor Four!’
‘Keep it loose, guys, don’t collide!’
As she listened, Foxx heard one of the pilot’s tones change dramatically.
‘There’s something on my screen!’
‘I’ve got nothing new on radar.’
‘No, on my canopy! It’s eating at the…’
‘Razor six, abort immediately, return to Titan!’ Marshall snapped, and then turned to the Tactical Officer. ‘On screen.’
Foxx saw one of the many holo–screens appear and show a fighter pilot in the cockpit of his Phantom, his face pinched with terror as he looked at the camera.
‘Get me out of here!’
‘Get back aboard Titan!’ Marshall ordered him again.
‘I can’t see out of the canopy, I can’t… they’re coming through! I can’t stop them, I can’t stop the…’
The words turned to an agonized scream as the canopy fractured and burst inward, the atmosphere inside the fighter vanishing in a puff of white vapor as all oxygen was frozen in an instant. Foxx saw a dense cloud of material flood the cockpit and swarm across the pilot’s body, his screams silenced by the vacuum of space but his mouth and eyes wide open as the gruesome stream of particles poured into every orifice, the pilot thrashing in silent agony as the very flesh and bones of his body eroded before their eyes, turned into clouds of frozen tissue that spilled from the cockpit in the bitter vacuum as he was literally eaten alive cell by cell in an instant. The pilot’s body fell still, his eyes opaque with ice where they had frozen solid until they vanished within the swarm of particles. The communications and camera link crackled into silence and darkness as Foxx saw one of the Phantoms on the main viewing screen spiral out of formation as it trailed a thin line of sparkling debris behind it.
Suddenly, the fighter pulled up and opened fire on the other Phantoms.
‘They’re attacking the fighters directly,’ Olsen said. ‘That entity is using the drones to get to them, to us.’
‘Take Razor Six down, maximum firepower!’ Marshall roared.
Titan’s main guns boomed, and a terrific salvo of plasma fire blasted from her hull, charges that dwarfed the tiny fighter as it tried to rejoin the battle. Foxx watched as Titan’s salvo smashed into the Phantom and obliterated it in a fearsome inferno of flame and energy. The salvo dissipated, leaving absolutely no debris in its wake, the fighter completely incinerated.
‘All fighters pull back!’ Marshall ordered. ‘Get away from the drones!’
The Phantoms split away from the battle, accelerating in pairs to get clear of the swarming drones, but almost immediately Foxx and everybody else on the bridge realized what was about to happen.
The dense cloud of drone fighters wheeled about and rocketed toward Titan as they accelerated to maximum velocity. Behind them, the alien vessel’s huge cannons combined their fire again as a bolt of energy blossomed into life and blasted toward Titan, zipping past right beneath the advancing drones.
‘Evasive action!’ Marshall yelled, but it was already too late.
The blast of energy slammed into Titan and the entire ship shuddered beneath the tremendous blow as the lights flickered out once again. Foxx tumbled onto the deck and Vasquez fell alongside her, sparks and crackling energy running like glowing rain across the control panels as more cries of pain and alarm added to the chaos.
The cloud of drone fighters slammed through the massive warship’s shields as they faltered beneath the blast, and Foxx saw a series of dozens of tiny blasts flare against Titan’s immense hull as the drones deliberately crashed into her, plunging into the hull breaches from the mother ship’s infernal salvo.
‘Hull breaches penetrated by enemy drones!’ the Tactical Officer cried in horror, the terrible fate that had befallen the fighter pilot clear in her mind. ‘They’re inside the ship, captain!’
***
XXXIII
Foxx saw the admiral hesitate as he struggled to calculate a suitable response to the multiple crises enveloping the huge battleship as she tangled with the alien vessel and its menagerie of deadly weapons.
‘The Ayleeans are leaving!’ the Tactical Officer warned.
Foxx could see on the main display panel the ambassador’s vessel turning and accelerating away out of Saturnian orbit. Moments later, the gigantic warship’s fusion cores flared brilliant white and the Ayleean vessel vanished into super–luminal cruise.