Seeds of Earth (59 page)

Very well - risks and possibilities. Before leaving the
Viganli's
bridge he had left a destruct trigger buried in the hyperdrive datachain matrix, but it was quite likely that if any or all of the Construct's rustbucket Als boarded the harvester (itself quite likely) the trap would be uncovered and made safe. Therefore, there was a good chance that they were following him to this Darien, the warpwell planet, which had been colonised by Humans. He knew, from news feeds picked during his travels, that there were warships in orbit there, a dangerous obstacle to any arriving vessel. He would have to find a way to make that potential aggression, and the inherent territorial paranoia of military hierarchies, work in his favour.

There were a few options but one of them stood out from the rest in its simplicity. It would require a certain amount of finely-gauged role-playing, but he was sure that his recent experiences would prove invaluable in that respect.

Aboard the
Heracles,
Sub-Lieutenant Tuan Ho had just gone on overwatch in Sensory when one of the outer boundary beacons went off. He shook his head, put down the plastic beaker of coffee from which he had been about to sip, and called up Hugo, the resident expert system.

'Yarr, matey! There be a ship incoming off the larboard bow . ..'

Ho sighed when he saw the eye-patched, tricornhatted visage. The middle-watch operators must have been exceptionally bored.

'Hugo,' he said. 'Setting command - reskin to default.'

Suddenly the head and shoulders image reverted to Hugo's usual appearance, attired in the pale green onepiece of a navy tech.

'Okay,' Tuan Ho said. 'Let me have the report again.'

'A badly damaged small ship, possibly a shuttle, dropped out of hyperspace just inside the deci-au marker. The pilot is speaking Brolturan, says he is the sole survivor of a Brolturan prospecting expedition that was attacked by a hijacked harvester ship, and claims that this harvester is chasing him. He also says that his guidance systems are down and that he's flying on manual with the aim of landing on Darien. His life support is on backup and his comms are down to audio only; his ship is not emitting an ident but he claims to be from the
Perquisitor.
A Brolturan-registered ship of that name was reported missing in the Huvuun three weeks ago.'

Tuan Ho frowned. 'No ident, audio only - could be anyone or anything. Have you piped it to Tactical?'

'I did so when I piped it up to the captain's portable.'

His eyes widened in surprise. 'Why do that?'

'Because fifteen seconds later the captain received a direct query about the newcomer from Father-Admiral Dyrosha aboard the
Purifier.'

Tuan Ho grinned. 'And it would have looked bad if Velazquez had had to get the information from Dyrosha. Good thinking, Hugo.'

The expert system smiled and shrugged. 'I am coded for initiative.'

'Over-Lieutenant Schenker once said he wished I was. So what's happening now?'

'I am tracking this ship in tandem with Tactical, Velazquez and Dyrosha are still in conference, and the
Purifier
has just launched a pair of interceptors.'

'Goodness, I do hope they don't lose those ones too!'

Like almost everyone on board
Heracles,
Tuan Ho had watched the incredible dogfight over the forest moon, which had been shown on all the communal and rec screens. The sight of one of their own shuttles being piloted with insane bravado and destroying not one but two Brolturan interceptors was electrifying, and revealing. The crew had been divided into a minority who were shocked and upset, and the majority whose approval ran from a kind of fateful resignation to outand-out pro-Dariens who later put together a noticeboard shrine to the Scots pilot, Donny Barbour. It had not escaped Ho's attention that most of the proBrolturans also had Al-companions.

'Well, it'll probably turn out to be nothing serious,' he said. 'While you're keeping your eye on it, I'm going to heat up my coffee.'

'You may be right, sir,' said Hugo.

But twenty minutes later, when a
Star-Eater-class
cloud-harvester came out of hyperspace a mere 2,000 kilometres from the
Heracles,
tripping every alarm, Tuan Ho soon found that there was no time for sips or even thoughts of coffee.

From the moment they appeared in the Darien system, they were bombarded with a stream of increasingly trenchant demands, and finally warnings of dire consequences. Yash, however, was giving as good as he got.

'No, no,
Heracles,
you listen to me - I am the wronged party, I am the victim and I'm in pursuit of the thief who stole my shuttle . . .'

'Harvester
Viganli,
we have to verify your story which is why you
must
cut your velocity and assume stationary orbit

'Why aren't you putting the clamps on that shuttle, eh? Why? . . .'

'As a Brolturan vessel it is being handled by . . .'

'It's not a Brolturan ship! - can't you jelkers understand? The thieving, stinking machine who stole it is lying to you and the Brolturans, lying to everybody . . .'

'Harvester ship - this is Tactical Dominance Enabler
Purifier,
Father-Admiral Dyrosha commanding. You are ordered to reduce your velocity to zero and prepare for boarding scrutiny . . .'

'No one gets to scrutinise me,' snarled the Voth.

'. . . and possible charges. Failure to comply will result in diligent threat elimination. That is all.'

'Heracles
to
Viganli
- in case you didn't get the gist of that, I should tell you that the
Purifier
has launched fifteen close support fighters due to intercept your trajectory in less than six minutes. But you are already in range of our standoff weapons and in two minutes you will be in range of our full deterrent. Consider your position carefully.'

Yash nodded sourly at the dead channel then looked round at the Construct droid, the spokesman.

'I hope that you know what you're doing - it looks as if we're about to become involved in a bit of target practice.'

'We have reconfigured your fields into defence shields, Pilot Yash,' said the bulky droid, who went by the name Gorol9. 'Our opponents should be surprised, especially when the target starts firing back.' Part of its upper carapace swivelled to bring its lens cluster to bear on Kao Chih. 'Has there been any change, Human Gowchee?'

Kao Chih had been assigned a console dedicated to tracking the stolen shuttle's course, velocity and other aspects of its flightpath.

'None, Gorol9,' he said. 'It is still broadcasting that Brolturan message and heading straight for Darien at constant speed - we can expect to overtake it before it reaches atmosphere.'

'Good, then it is time to get the Instrument's attention by increasing speed.'

'It is done,' said the droid overseeing navigation, a broad-torsoed droid called Ysher23; it had four curiously slender legs and two immense arms with interchangeable effectors.

A moment after the increase, the comm channel livened up again.

'Heracles
to
Viganli
- you are traversing restricted space without authorisation! Cut your velocity at once and power down your defences ...'

'This is Captain-Pilot Yash - I have made no threats or hostile moves towards you but I will defend myself if necessary .. .'

'They've targeted our stern,' said Dalqa42, the smallest of the three droids who was overseeing the tactical/weapons station. 'Any moment now . . .'

The bridge jolted and Kao Chih and the Voth grabbed their consoles in reflex. Alerts flashed then subsided,

'Well within shield tolerances,' said Gorol9.

'More beam and particle attacks coming,' said Dalqa42. 'The Humans have also launched a flight of missiles.'

The bridge and the ship shook again and again from repeated impacts, yet there was an air of strange calm. From the narrow viewports Kao Chih could see Darien, a fist-sized, dark-blue and white object directly ahead with its forest moon a dull green coin off to one side. A few of the overhead screens showed a 3D graphic of the harvester's shields, red spikes indicating hits, symbol reels detailing depth of penetration and shield recovery rates. Then there was the holotank sitting over its projection niche, displaying the relative positions of the
Viganli
and the Earthsphere ship,
Heracles,
its beam attacks depicted as stabbing white lines, its missiles a curve of winking motes sweeping ahead in deflection strike.

And through it all there was almost no talk, an eerie peace, even though he knew that the droids had to be sharing data via proximity transfer, but for Kao Chih and the Voth there were only the screens.

'We're pulling away from the
Heracles,'
Yash said, peering into one of the tactical screens. 'They're holding position in high orbit but their missiles are still on target - will these shields be enough to stop them?'

'Probably not,' said Gorol9.

'Beam turret ready for interdiction,' said Dalqa42. 'Outer optimal range now in effect, commencing preemptive strike.'

Out in the murky darkness there was a tiny flare, then another and a couple more . . .

'What is the status of the shuttle, Human Gowchee?' said Gorol9.

'We are gaining on it,' he said, trying to ignore the jolts and quivers of the
Heracles's
attacks. 'At our current velocity we will overtake it in 5.7 minutes however, those Brolturan interceptors are still on course and we will encounter them in . . . 3.8 minutes.'

'That's too much like sticking our head into a mouthful of fangs,' said Yash. 'We should veer off and make a run for open space.'

'There is no need for concern, Pilot Yash,' Gorol9 said. 'We have prepared for every eventuality and, after all, we have every intention of returning your ship after completing our mission.'

'Right . . . okay then.' The Voth rubbed his face, nodded and was turning back to the holodisplay when Dalqa42 said:

'Missile incoming - brace for impact!'

An instant later a crashing explosion shook the ship and Kao Chih was thrown bodily out of his seat. Alarms yammered and the consoles flashed with violet emergency symbols as the synth voice spoke.

'Hull breach, outer hold 11, outer hold 12 . . . inner bulkhead breach, section 32, deck 11... severe pressure drop detected, junction 89 blast doors closing . ..'

'My ship!' Yash groaned as he picked himself up.

'What happened?' said Kao Chih, climbing back into his seat.

'A single missile survived our beam-cannon interdiction,' said Dalqa42. 'The Humans are launching no more, since their Brolturan allies will soon be upon us.'

On a side monitor, he could see a jagged, gaping hole in the flank of the harvester's starboard bow.

'Comforting,' the Voth said. 'Do they carry missiles too?'

'I believe that these interceptors are Rampart Monoclan Mark 8 Warwings,' said Gorol9. 'Rebadged for the Star Forces of Broltura ...'

'Armed with double-twin pulse cannons, plus triplelayer field chamber upgrades,' said Ysher23.

'And a dozen Sacred Lance missiles with integrated expert-system guidance,' said Dalqa42.

Kao Chih looked over at Pilot Yash. 'Isn't that nice they have a hobby!'

Yash sniggered. Seconds later, the first Brolturan interceptor got within range and opened fire.

The next ten minutes were like a passage through hell, a
Hell of Tearing Explosions,
Kao Chih thought sardonically,
reserved for those who allowed themselves to he fooled and used.
The Brolturan fighters swept past in twos and threes, hammering the
Viganli
with beamcannon volleys and, like the
Heracles,
discovering that the harvester's shield could take all they could throw. Then came the missiles, which is when the running battle really began.

Meanwhile, the stolen shuttle had, infuriatingly, put on more speed and pulled ahead slightly, giving it a twominute lead on the harvester, which was hard pressed to keep pace.

The Brolturan interceptors began sending in wide spreads of missiles whose inbound trajectories zigzagged wildly, thus reducing beam concentration on their casings. Despite hasty modifications to the beamcannon strike patterns, a handful made it through and slammed into the forward section, blew open three holds and ripped off one of the huge emitter masts. The bridge lurched sickeningly but everyone kept their seats while Yash wailed in distress at the punishment his ship was getting.

By now the
Viganli
had reached low orbit above Darien yet it was continuing along a descent trajectory with the thermosphere coming up fast.

'Jelk it, why aren't we assuming orbit?' said Yash.

'Because we're still under attack,' said Gorol9. 'And our enemy is going to attempt a landing.'

Wild-eyed, the Voth clenched his fists. 'But
Viganli
has no flight surfaces, no suspensors, and no vectored thrust - it's a jelking cloud-harvester not a glider! You said you were going to give me my ship back . . .'

'That was our intention, Pilot Yash, but our enemies' intentions are otherwise.'

The missile impacts and the loss of an emitter mast had degraded the shield coverage and beam-cannon bursts were getting through to punch holes in the hull plating. Then an interceptor, its stern wrecked by a lucky shot from the
Viganli's
particle gun, came flying in, caromed off the upper hull and smashed into the aft superstructure. The impact threw everyone violently back, as the lights and deck gravity died. There was a terrifying moment of weightless motion in complete darkness before the lighting and the gravity returned.

'Structural integrity compromised,' said the synth alert voice. 'Hull temperature rising ... coolant system coverage at 68 per cent and falling

'Enemy interceptors breaking off,' said Dalqa42. 'More missiles dispatched, however.'

'The shuttle,' said Gorol9. 'The Instrument, where is it?'