Slave Empire - The Crystal Ship (6 page)

Rayne wished
the alien could be killed by stamping on it, as she longed to
do.

The Shrike
studied the ships that twinkled in the foreground of a spectacular
star field known as the Medulan Belt as Scimarin decelerated
towards them. His three ships were clustered ahead of the Draycon
battle cruiser, which glowed in the starlight like a massive
crimson saucer. Behind the saucer, the silver ovoid of the
Atlantean ship glinted. Everything stopped rushing towards him as
Scimarin dropped out of the Net and halted, the two cruisers
flanking her. The golden fire crawled off the screens as the energy
shell dispersed, and he examined the situation. His timing was
good, because several more golden spots swelled into visibility and
slowed, shedding shells to reveal their true colours. Three more
Atlantean cruisers, and another Draycon ship, a cruiser, smaller
than Norvar.

“
Well, well. It’s getting quite crowded around here,” he
muttered. “Let’s hope the neighbourhood bullies don’t decide to
pick on me.” He consulted the holograms. “Contact Shadowen; find
out what’s happening to the girl.”

A few seconds
passed, then Scimarin replied, “She is in a cell with a random
waveform field. Apparently the Draycons became suspicious when the
Atlantean ship arrived, and put a mariner in with her.”

“
Then there’s no time to waste. We’ll have to board her. What
ships are on the way?”

“
The five you called will be here in half an hour. Two more
cruisers, two battleships and a star class carrier.”

“
A carrier. Good. I’ll need the troops to board Norvar. Right
now, we’ve got to breach her shields and try to rescue the
girl.”

“
Norvar has stress shields,” Scimarin pointed out.

“
I know. And whoever sold them the technology should be shot.
Get me Erdan.”

While he
waited for the space line to connect, two more Atlantean ships
arrived, one of which he recognised. He glanced at the space line,
where a broad, bearded, frowning Atlantean had appeared.

“
Commander Erdan. I want that ship boarded within the next
fifteen minutes. Altogether we have seven ships here, with five
more due in the next half an hour. Time is of the essence. Ignore
the Atlanteans unless they interfere, and keep that cruiser
busy.”

Erdan’s jaw
tightened, his eyes narrowing. “Sir, that’s a battle cruiser, not a
slaver. With all due respect, you’re asking the impossible.”

“
Then do the impossible.” Tarke’s tone brooked no argument,
and the Atlantean paled.

“
Sir, you’re in grave danger -”

“
Let me worry about that. Board that ship,
Commander.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Tallyn frowned
at the bizarre collection of ships on the main screen. Never had he
dreamt to see these three enemies in such close proximity. Most
surprising was the Shrike’s presence, which still perplexed him.
From what he had learnt of the ships in the area, the Shrike
himself was now here, aboard a small ship like Rayne’s. He pulled a
wry face at Marcon.

“
All we need is for the Char’agran to turn up, and the four
greatest powers in the known universe will be represented. But
we’ll have to settle for three. Have you found out who the other
Draycon ship is?”

“
Yes, sir. Carron, captained by Ronass.”

“
And her affiliation?”

“
Gorder Bonn Priesthood, same as Norvar.”

Tallyn
grunted. “Pity. Some rivals are bound to show up soon, though. If
they start fighting each other, so much the better.”

“
That’s unlikely, sir. Historically, Draycons always stick
together in times of war, plus it would endanger the
girl.”

“
I’m aware of that, Marcon, thank you. But these are different
circumstances, because whoever wins the girl becomes ruler of the
Draycon Empire. Which means they won’t co-operate, and nor will
they endanger her. They need her alive, or at least intact, to show
the priests. If she’s lost, they lose.” Tallyn turned his attention
to the main screen and raised his brows in surprise. “What the hell
is he doing?”

Marcon shook
his head. “That’s suicide.”

On the screen,
the giant red saucer hung now within a glowing golden nimbus, its
energy shell activated by the proximity of three ink-black ships,
each similarly engulfed. The shells blazed with hot yellow
brilliance where they met, flashes of radiant energy shooting off
into space in random bursts as the shells’ confinement was
breached.

“
They’re pulling themselves closer with attractors,” Tallyn
said. “The overloading will burn out Norvar’s stress shields,
reducing them to an energy shell only.”

“
Which will be nullified if the Shrike’s ships can tune their
shells to the same waveform,” Marcon observed.

“
It’s still suicide.” Tallyn’s eyes flicked to the lone black
ship at the edge of the screen. “Our slaver friend isn’t partaking
in it himself, only ordering it.”

“
Those men must have nerves of steel, or death
wishes.”

“
Or immense loyalty. If any of those energy shells overloads,
the whole lot will blow. Norvar will survive, but those cruisers
will be vaporised.”

A flash of
blue radiance engulfed Norvar for an instant, and Marcon said,
“Their stress shield just burnt out.”

A burst of
laser beams slashed space with eye-searing brilliance, making many
of the observers wince and squint, while others looked away. Tallyn
blinked spots from his eyes. Most of the beams missed; only a few
could be brought to bear on ships that were in such close
proximity. Those that found their targets left glowing spots on the
black ships’ sleek hulls, for they had been forced to deactivate
their stress shields in order to overload Norvar’s.

Tallyn shook
his head in reluctant admiration. This was obviously a
well-practised tactic, but one he guessed had never been tried on a
heavily armed battle cruiser before. Even so, it was proving
effective, and he pitied any ship that took on the Shrike’s
captains. The three black ships fired back, scoring hits on
Norvar’s unprotected hull. The energy shell would not protect
against weapons, but it would prevent transferring or physical
contact until it was neutralised. A fourth black ship moved closer,
a huge battleship larger than Vengeance, its weapons targeting the
area Tallyn knew contained the heavily armoured Net link. Once that
was gone, Norvar would be almost helpless.

Carron headed
towards her embattled sister ship, but three black cruisers blocked
her way, each more than a match for her. Tallyn noticed the extra
ships with a start, nudging Marcon, who consulted his
holograms.

“
Five more of the Shrike’s ships, three cruisers, a battleship
and a carrier, have arrived. They’ve only been here for a few
minutes.”

“
He’s certainly not taking any chances. I wonder who he’s
planning to fight, the Draycons or us.”

“
Four more ships approaching from the direction of
Amranon.”

“
Draycons. I think it’s time we got involved. Tell the other
ships to head towards the new arrivals and meet them when they
emerge from their shells. Instruct the senior commander to ask what
affiliation they have, or find out, at any rate, then advise
me.”

“
Sir, what are we going to do?”

“
We’re going to see if we can beat the Shrike to the prize. If
Norvar’s energy shell fails, we can transfer Rayne out within a few
minutes. We just have to locate her and get her out of that random
stress field.”

Marcon’s brows
rose. “And how will we do that?”

Tallyn
shrugged. “Someone will have to go and look for her.”

Rayne faced
the alien, frozen against the wall, hardly daring to breathe. For a
while it had stayed still, but now it moved towards her again. Its
feelers waved at her as if sensing her, as Shadowen had said it
might. She tried to decide whether to move away or remain still. If
it had sensed her, remaining where she was would be folly, but if
it had not, moving was suicide.

A feeler
brushed her leg, making her shiver and fight the increasing urge to
run. The three-eyed nub popped out of its bony socket and seemed to
look straight at her. The feeler slid up the silky material of her
suit with a soft rasp. Her nerve broke, and with a shriek, she
dived aside, throwing out her arms and snapping into a roll that
brought her up against the other wall.

The alien
moved, and she knew why it was called a mariner. The tri-tail
uncoiled with a snap, and its six legs whirred in a swimming motion
that propelled it towards her at an alarming speed. She leapt away,
bouncing off the padded wall, not taking her eyes off the alien.
The tri-tail lashed, sending it through the air at her. With a sob,
she smashed it aside, hysteria rising in a choking tide. She used
her slight powers of teleportation to aid the alien’s flight across
the room, where it rebounded off the wall. As soon as its claws
touched the floor, it zoomed back towards her, feelers lashing. She
leapt over it, and the tri-tail whipped around her ankle.

Rayne
screamed, a red haze of terror invading her mind. Pure panic made
her try to fling the creature off, kicking out like a demented
ballerina. The alien’s tail wound up her leg, the muscular whips
gripping her, withstanding her desperate kicks with ease. She
screamed again, flinging herself down in a desperate frenzy. She
beat her leg against the wall, disregarding the fact that this was
futile, uncaring that the library tapes had taught her that once a
mariner had a hold of you, you were doomed. The alien had its legs
clasped around her ankle, and she knew that within seconds it would
inject her with the paralysing venom, and her struggles would be
over.

Scimarin’s
calm voice broke the silence, dragging Tarke’s attention from his
embattled ships. “Shadowen reports that the girl’s biorhythms have
become elevated. He deduces that the mariner has attacked her.”

“
How close are they to boarding?”

“
A few minutes. The shells are almost
synchronised.”

“
Go closer. Tell Shadowen to pinpoint her position as close as
he can with his bio link, and get ready to transfer me there as
soon as Norvar’s shell goes down. Fire on her Net link.”

Tarke rose and
left the bridge to enter his cabin and open a locker. He pulled out
a padded waistcoat of space armour and strapped it on, shucking his
coat. Returning to the bridge, he studied the battle again, now
from close range. The energy shells had almost ceased to ripple
with disharmony, paling as they approached synchronisation. The
commanders of his three ships would be monitoring each other’s wave
forms, each trying different ones until one found a match, thereby
speeding the result. Scimarin fired an energy weapon, the bolt of
brilliance lancing through Norvar’s shell to strike the hull,
making it glow red hot. The battleship, which hung above the saucer
a few thousand metres away, fired lasers into the Draycon ship’s
hull in a line of red spots. It was only a matter of time before
one of them hit the Net link’s hook, or the shell was disarmed.

“
Well?” Tarke demanded. “Has he found her?”

“
He has narrowed the area to a few hundred square metres close
to the centre of Norvar. He is refining it further.”

The screens
blazed with golden light as Scimarin’s stress shields shredded an
energy bolt from Norvar. Tarke looked away until the dregs of
brilliance had leeched off into space. A string of laser bolts
slashed across the front shields, smeared to harmless light. Norvar
fought back with all she had now, strafing Scimarin and Starlight
with energy and laser fire. The exercise was fairly pointless,
since both ships had functioning stress shields, but it did serve
to keep Scimarin linked, preventing his transfer. He cursed,
watching Scimarin’s energy bolts blazing across Norvar’s pitted,
scorched hull.

“
Four more Draycon ships have arrived,” Scimarin informed him.
“The Atlanteans have confronted them. They are
communicating.”

“
Tap it.”

“
They are enquiring as to their affiliations.”

“
And?”

Scimarin
paused. “Two ships are of the Gorder Bonn Priesthood, same as
Norvar. The other two are from the Merval Agben Priesthood, which
is a rival.”

“
Well, this should be interesting. The Merval won’t help us,
but they might decide to try to snatch the Golden Child for
themselves, which would put them in conflict with the rest of the
Draycons.”

“
Shadowen informs me that the girl’s biorhythms have become
erratic.”

“
Hit that Net link, Scimarin.”

“
That won’t be necessary. The shells are coming into
synchronisation... now.”

The four
shells, each bordered by brilliant, rippling energy, melted into
one. The ships now shared a single shell, an even more dangerous
situation. If Norvar tried to move now, the stress would tear all
four apart. The three cruisers moved closer to their prey, their
powerful attractors overcoming Norvar’s repellers. The battle of
super magnets was not without its toll, and parts of Norvar’s hull
bulged, pulled out by the cruisers’ attractors. The cruisers’ hulls
also suffered, pitting and sagging under the massive power of
Norvar’s repellers.