The Terminal War: A Space Opera Novel (A Carson Mach Adventure) (11 page)

A young female officer, dressed in the stiff blue Fleet uniform and cap, appeared on the screen. “We’re searching for a path, preparing to L-jump.”

She jerked to one side and the image flickered. The
Chester
must’ve taken its first hit from the lactern cannons. Steros moved around in the background, barking orders at other members of the crew.
 

“You won’t find a path,” Babcock said. “There’s too much debris.”

Steros barged the woman off her chair and leaned forward. “Our shields won’t hold long enough. You’re too far away. We can’t outrun them on photon drives.”

“You don’t know the
Intrepid
,” Babcock said. “Hold your nerve and return fire.”

“This is utter madness. I haven’t got time for this.”

Lines of static fizzed across the screen again, and Steros grabbed hold of his chair to maintain balance. Babcock knew there was just a single way out of it. “Fire your lasers. Keep your shields up and keep them interested.”

“Shields down to eighty percent,” one of Steros’ crew shouted in the background.

“Hold your nerve,” Babcock said. “We’ll get through this together.”

Steros closed his eyes for a moment. “Okay. Keep the channel open. I hope to God you’re right, Babcock.”

A distant red glow from
Chester's
lasers illuminated chunks of debris. At least no other enemy ships had uncloaked. Two lactern frigates were easily manageable. They would be completely unaware of the
Intrepid’s
power. Only a few people in the Axis knew about the vestan-produced prototype, and they wouldn’t be expecting it to be part of the Commonwealth Fleet.
 

“Take us beneath the closest frigate,” Babcock said to Lassea. “As fast as you can.”

Lassea turned and gave him a wild-eyed look. “How close?”

“I’ll hit the bastard as soon as we’re in range,” Sanchez said. “Don’t worry about that.”

Squid Three chirped through Babcock’s smart-screen.
 

“They have the
Chester
in a pincer move,” he replied.

The
Intrepid’s
engines ground to a high whine as they thrust forward. The deflector shield battered away pieces of twisted metal in their path until they hit clear space. Lasers streaked across the distant blackness.
 

“Shields at sixty percent,” Steros shouted through the comms channel.
 

Babcock moved to Sanchez’s shoulder. “How much longer ’til we’re in range?”

“Thirty seconds at this speed, unless we can go any faster?”

Tulula didn’t say a word while she focused the crosshairs of the laser’s guidance system toward the ongoing battle.
 

“Shields at fifty percent,” Steros said, sounding even more frantic.

The standard operating procedure for any destroyer was to retreat at this level. Babcock knew it was flawed. When facing enemy ships with faster engines and superior firepower, the only way to defeat them was to destroy them. Running led to a prolonged death.
 

“Forty percent,” Steros said. “We can’t keep taking these hits. You’ve left us as a sitting duck. I’m thrusting—”

“Calm down,” Babcock said in a raised voice. He hadn’t spoken to somebody like that for over two decades, but it worked in silencing the stunned-looking young captain. “We’ll be there in fifteen seconds. Focus on the starboard frigate.”

The
Chester
shook again. Smoke curled across the screen.

“Ten seconds,” Sanchez said and placed his thumb over the fire button. On his console screen, the circular locking target fixed on a lactern frigate and glowed red.
 

“Thirty percent. I can’t believe I let you do this.” Steros gasped and turned to a member of the crew. “Prepare the life ships. Order all nonessential crew to board.”

The
Intrepid’s
engines roared to their full strength and Lassea thrust left to sweep them below the frigate.
 

Both frigates were now visible on the main viewscreen. The locking target on Sanchez’s console screen switched to green. He immediately fired.
 

A low boom echoed from the top of the ship. The roof-mounted cannon spat out a bright bolt of condensed energy that streaked across space. A second later it slammed into the hull of the closest frigate.
 

The lactern ship’s reading dulled to a faint glow.
 

Babcock didn’t need to wait to see the results. He’d seen the
Intrepid’s
cannon in action before and knew it was one of the most powerful in the galaxy. A lactern ship was no match. Only a capital ship could withstand a couple of hits.

“Nice work,” Steros said. “I’ll hold the other ship in position, and you take it out.”

“Great idea,” Babcock replied. The easiest way to deal with the likes of Steros was feeding him ideas and letting him think he made the decisions. It seemed the young captain’s ego couldn’t manage any other way.
 

Lassea rolled her eyes from the holocontrols. She thrust to the right and headed below the second Axis ship. Sanchez grunted and locked on to the remaining active frigate.
 

“Shields at twenty percent,” Steros said. “Hurry the hell up.”

An electronic alarm flashed from the scanning screen. The frigate had locked its lasers on the
Intrepid
. At this range, they would be useless against the deflector shield. Tulula already knew as much and didn’t even attempt to return fire in the opposite direction.
 

Two red lines speared across the darkness and failed to register a percentage point of damage on the shield. Babcock thought they’d have turned and fled after seeing what happened to their other ship, but then again, the frigate could have had the Axis equivalent of Steros at the helm.
 

Sanchez fired again.
 

Babcock gazed up at the main screen and watched the bolt zip through space and successfully strike.
 

All lights on the frigate blinked off. Babcock took a deep breath, turned to the comms screen, and wondered if the young captain had any idea how close his destroyer had come to being violently transformed into space junk.
 

Steros peered back. A genuine smile had replaced his previous look of terror. “Both enemies are barely registering a signal. Great teamwork, Babcock.”

“Thanks. Next time, don’t go running off on us like that.”

“I’ll bow to your experience. What’s the plan?”

“Pick up any survivors from the orbital’s escape pods. The Fleet needs to know what they’re facing and where they might be heading.”

“Excellent. You lead the way.”

Babcock returned a smile but had deep internal concerns. If the
Intrepid
had been any further away, he would’ve been reporting a lost destroyer back to Commander Tralis. Probably the last thing his old friend wanted to hear after Babcock informed him that an Axis grand fleet had deployed if a survivor confirmed his suspicion.
 

Lassea didn’t need to wait for instructions and navigated the ship in a wide arc back toward the remnants of Orbital Hibock.
 

“Squid,” Babcock said into his smart-screen, “prepare a fighter drone to retrieve any manned escape pods.”

Squid Three beeped acknowledgment.
 

As quick as the pain had arrived, it had gone. The torture device on Mach’s wrist eased its grip. He shook his arm, trying to get the blood running again and ease the ache. He pictured Kortas’ smug face and then pictured it after he had blasted it with his Stinger. The vestan would pay for this one way or another.
 

On the ground beside Mach, Beringer lay curled into a fetal position, sobbing quietly through a tense jaw. His right hand shook with the pain. The light on the manacle had changed back to a blinking light and sat visibly loose on the older man’s wrist.
 

To Mach’s right-hand side, Adira got to her feet and leaned back against the semi-frozen wall. Her face was passive through her helmet—never a good sign; this was her ‘I’m gonna murder every fucker in the room’ face. She shook her arm, clenching and unclenching her hand.

“Are you two okay?” Mach asked them.
 

“I will be in a minute,” Adira said. She looked at Mach, a silent question on her face that Mach had come to know to mean, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ Her single raised eyebrow had the amazing ability to communicate both disdain and genuine query.
 

Mach simply nodded to her, knowing she knew he was full of shit. He had no idea how this was going to go down. Kortas seemed out of control for one of the most revered of all vestans. This episode had affected him, and his fellow Guardians, far more than he was letting on. But that was fine, Mach thought, he’d just see this through, one way or another, and get some answers at the end of it.
 

Just as soon as he figured out how to remove these damned manacle, or at least find a way of disabling the signal to them. It was situations like these he wished he had Babcock with him.
 

Mach looked down at Beringer, who was now slowly getting to his feet, and wondered if he had made the right decision to bring him along after all. Back in the war, Mach wouldn’t have been so sentimental to consider the idea that he owed someone. And it wouldn’t have even crossed the old Mach’s mind to feel that he ought to make it up to someone and bring them along as a way of assuaging their frustrations. Beringer’s mission could have waited.
 

Mach didn’t need to have brought him along. His archeological skills were clearly of no use here.
 

Feeling bad for thinking like this, Mach helped Beringer to his feet and steadied him by gripping his shoulders. “Are you all right?” Mach asked.
 

Beringer wouldn’t look up, presumably shamed for his sobbing.
 

“Couldn’t be fucking better,” Beringer said, shrugging Mach off and bending down to pick up his laser. He then wandered a few meters further down the dirt- and ice-encrusted tunnel.
 

Mach was about to tell him not to go too far, but it was clear the older man needed some space. Mach would keep him in sight, but would let him have a moment to himself.
 

“Kortas,” Mach said, speaking into his manacle, “you there? We get your message loud and clear. But if you keep incapacitating us, we won’t be able to complete your task.” It was an effort for Mach to remain civil and in control, but it was clear Kortas had all the power in this situation, and it made no sense to antagonize the Guardian any further. It was quite obvious to Mach now that the Guardians were panicking about this whole situation, which made them unpredictable.
 

“I needed to show you the severity of the situation,” Kortas said, his voice even, almost distant now as though his thoughts were somewhere else—perhaps communing with the Saviors. “And the consequences of failure to do as we ask. We have requested your help and have made an exception to have you here. But you also need to respect our customs. Work with us, Carson Mach, and you’ll get out of this alive.”

The alternative was obvious. “Fine,” he said. “Then let us do our jobs. You want this thing found and destroyed; we can do that, but not if you’re going to shut us down every time we say or think something you don’t like.”

There was a minute’s silence before Kortas replied. “It is agreed,” he said. “Do what is necessary, but remember, we’ll see what you see. Don’t deceive us, and we won’t be forced to—”

“Yeah, we get it,” Mach said. “We’re going to continue and find this source of heat, as that’s all we have to go on right now.”

“We think that is a wise course of action,” Kortas said. The light then blinked off, and the manacle eased further so that it fit loosely over the wrist of his suit.
 

“Ready?” Mach said to Adira.
 

She had retrieved her laser pistol and stood, waiting for orders. “Always. Let’s do this.”

“Beringer?” Mach said through the comm system. “You okay? You can return to the Guardians if you don’t wish to continue. Adira and I can take it from—”

“Holy crap,” Beringer said, disappearing round a bend in the tunnel. Mach grabbed his laser from the floor and chased after the older man. Adira was by his side, matching him step for step.
 

They came to the edge of the tunnel. Beringer spun round and shouted for them to stop. Mach and Adira did so just in time. A few inches from their feet a dead drop fell away into icy darkness.
 

The three of them held onto each other and stared over the boundary.
 

Above them, a cap of domed ice gave the huge cavernous space the feel of a contained city, the kind they built on Summanus. Bio-domes mostly. This one, however, was the largest Mach had ever seen.
 

The dome itself must have been at least a hundred meters high. The weak sun shone through the blue crystalline material, bathing the space below in a light blue haze, making it seem as though they were underwater. But it wasn’t the domed ice cap that caught everyone’s attention; it was what lay beneath it, far below their current position.

“It’s an entire city,” Beringer said breathlessly. “So ancient. Look at it! The coldness must have preserved it. It’s… unbelievable.”

“Are you seeing all this, Kortas?” Mach said, slowly sweeping the manacle across his body so as to take in the full scope of the city that stretched out for kilometers in all directions.
 

The vestan Guardian didn’t say anything. Mach knew that he was looking, though. How could he not? The city below them looked as if it one day it had just fallen asleep beneath the ice and remained that way for… how long, Mach didn’t know, but it must have been a millennia or more given the thickness of ice above them.
 

“That’s incredible,” Adira said.
 

It appeared they were on a rocky abutment protruding from a straight rocky cliff face. “They must have dug the city into this bowl. Can you imagine the effort and technology required for that?” she added.