When the Stars Fade (The Gray Wars) (101 page)

             
“Too close
,”
Cameron said
.“
Torch, this is one. Give me a SitRep
.”
He looked up through the glass canopy, imaging he could see the blue vortex that had become an almost permanent fixture in the sky over New Eden. Intel said it was an incoming asteroid, though no one wanted to speculate how exactly a rock managed to slip into the in-between. Cameron did
n’
t want to imagine what it was. Anything creating an exit that big had to be unfathomably large, and there was no way it was going to be a pleasant surprise.

             
Another bolt zipped past him, burning a black line across his starboard wing. Cameron turned his head to sight the target. His heart nearly stopped. The Y-Fighter on his tail was larger than the rest of its squadron. Pock marks and burns covered its hull, and the opaque black glass of its canopy was scratched and stained. Blood-red paint marked the ends of each pointed wing. He would have recognized the ship anywhere. It had been haunting him since Tallus.

             
“Son of a bitch
,”
he said. Fire burned in his chest and the sounds of the world shrank away
.“
Torch, this is one. Nobody touches the big guy
.”
Cameron jerked the stick hard to the right, pulling a gut-wrenching 180. The Boxti Ace rocketed passed, its shots missing wide as it struggled to correct. Cameron corrected his spin, dodging blasts from other ships as he zeroed in on the larger fighter. His vision darkened until all he saw was the fiery engine of the enemy craft
.“
Yo
u’
re mine now
.
”

*              *              *              *              *

              They ran full speed at the carrier, the scent of blood sending powerful signals through their mutated brains. The alarm triggered by the human ambush had sent up a warning flare for all druumatan in the area. A swarm of misshapen creatures galloped toward the towering fortress, chests heaving in a chorus of grunts and growls. Hooves and paws and padded feet pounded the earth soft as the stampede closed in on the site. Dust kicked up from the thousands of limbs, trailing in a massive cloud behind the group.

             
With each passing minute, the snarling horde neared their prey. A single thought ran through their heads, aided by the parasites in their brains:
The humans must not destroy the Hive.
As they approached the high black walls, the group funneled into a small sewage tube. It would take them time, but this would deposit the beasts right underneath the carrier without arousing the enemy.

             
It was the perfect place to start an ambush.

-                           
XVI                            -

              Hiro gripped the arms of his chair, riding the shockwave. Most of the fighting had slowed down once the huge vortex reached its limit. Emanations from within the tumbling void reaped havoc with the two armadas. Navigation systems fluttered and crashed, pressure plates buckled and several derelicts disappeared into the tunnel.
Midwa
y
’
s engines burned nearly at full reverse to keep from spiraling out of control.

             
On the opposite side of the room, Earl held tight to his tether. Sweat poured down his face as he strained against the violent shift in gravity
.“
Hiro
,”
he called out
.“
We ca
n’
t take much more of this
.
”

             
“I know
,”
Hir
o’
s stomach churned as another swell caused the entire bridge to lurch up and forward. It was like riding the univers
e’
s largest roller-coaster. On the monitor, the brilliant blue funnel continued to glow in brighter and brighter pulses
.“
Lieutenant, bring us to full reverse
.
”

             
The flight officer nodded
.“
Aye, sir. All reverse
.”
He unlocked the safety lever by his station and pulled the throttle all the way back.

             
With a huge shudder, the engines gave their last push. Fuel cells dumped power into the raging inferno, coaxing every last ounce of thrust from the building-sized pods. Vibrations rattled every corner of the wounded ship, knocking crew to their knees. Metal groaned and panels popped free of the walls as the powerful rockets fought against the vicious pull of the Blue. Slowly, inch-by-inch,
Midway
managed to break free of the tide and steady itself in New Ede
n’
s orbit. Alarms sounded around the supercarrier as Hiro and his crew took stock of the damage.

             
Earl sat with his back to the wall, out of breath
.“
Jesus Christ, Hiro
.”
He swallowed a surge of bile, forcing it back down
.“
What in Go
d’
s name is out there
?
”

             
Hiro did
n’
t answer. He stared at the monitor, absolutely enchanted by what he saw. His eyes grew wide as saucers
.“
All hands
,”
he said softly
.“
Battle stations
.”
His lips were moving, but it was hard to get the words out when he could hardly breath
.“
Battle stations
.”
He tried, but his tongue felt dry as cotton in his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, summoning every bit of strength he could muster
.“
BATTLE STATIONS
!
”

             
It emerged from the swirling void, a mind-numbing expanse of metal and rock. The juggernaut was
n’
t so much a ship as it was an asteroid made to function like a ship. Whoever had built this living nightmare had
n’
t possessed the time or technology to build a vessel this large, so they slapped it onto a broken moon. Every inch of hull sprouted at least one turret, and in many cases whole clusters of them. The entire backside seemed comprised of hundreds of tiny rockets. From his position inside the supercarrier, Hiro thought another planet had just appeared over New Eden. A planet with teeth.

             
The monstrous
Gehnom
arrived with its sixteen arms folded forward, looking like a flower preparing to bloom. Its black-and-green-plated armor showed no windows or ports of any kind, and the barren gray rock of its body was rough and solid. No on
e—
human or alie
n—
made a move, lest they anger this new threat unintentionally. The Boxti halted their attacks, withdrawing to the safety of the resupply area. There was no need to press further. If the humans chose to pursue their fight, they could take it up with the new arrival.

             
“Primus
?”
Hiro asked, almost a whisper
.“
Are you seeing this
?
”

             
There was a long pause, as no one in the Primus TOC was in any condition to speak. A timid voice came over the net. The fear was evident in every cracked note.

             
“Stand by
.
”

-                           
XVII                            -

              Josh had never run so fast in his life.

             
The first part of the plan had gone swimmingly. There were no real engines to speak of, so h
e’
d set the bomb at the lowest point in the bottom floor, down an exhaust shaft underneath a heavy armor plate. The ground was soft and cracked from the landing; it would quickly melt away once the bomb detonated, sinking the carrier deep down below the surface. After setting the timer and double-checking the charge, Josh had scrambled back to the lowest floor of the carrier and begun working his way out.

             
Josh grinned. His heart was pounding so hard it hurt, but there was nothing like the thrill of a mission. And things were, thus far, going better than expected. Still, there was a nagging thought in the back of his head, and old saying from the Infantry Field Manual that had been passed down for hundreds of years: If your attack was going well, yo
u’
re walking into an ambush. Seconds after the thought passed through his head, Josh was sprinting for the exit as though Hell itself were at his heels.

             
While Josh worked his way through the maze of corridors, Dax and the rest of the Archangels prepped for their exit. Squinting through his visor, Dax could just make out their ride as it descended into the carrier. Dust and steam billowed from the engine
s’
exhausts. Dax waved the pilot down toward the landing zone while the rest of the squad stood guard.

             
“Josh
,”
Dax said
.“
Valkyrie is on station. W
e’
ll be ready to leave in two
.
”

             
Then he heard something. A noise unlike anything h
e’
d ever known. A roar that touched upon a primal part of his brain, the animalistic instinct that a predator was coming and he needed to run and hide. It howled with rage and hunger, echoing off the walls of the cavernous space. And then it was joined by a hundred more voices. Dax, along with the rest of the squad, felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach.

             
“Dax
,”
Alexa said
.“
Did you hear that
?
”

             
His heart was still pounding, but no longer from excitement. Perspiration leaked down into his eyes, stinging them
.“
All right, Angels. Le
t’
s hurry this the hell up. I think mom and dad are coming home early
.
”

             
Heavy breathing came over the net, and for a moment Dax could
n’
t tell who it was. Then Josh spoke
.“
No, Dax
.”
He sounded as though he were in the middle of a dead sprint
.“
The
y’
re already here
.
”

             
Josh broke through into the Scourge chamber with a dozen barking dogs snapping at his ankles. They were big, some as large as dobermans, and all seemed intent on eating his flesh. As he ran, Josh fired his rifle at the pack. Something screamed and collapsed into a bubbling pool, but the lieutenant did
n’
t turn to see his handiwork. He rounded a corner and barreled through a small door, slamming it shut behind him. A quick look around found him a heavy crate to use as a barricade. Seconds later the walls shuddered as the animals slammed their bodies into the metal, searching for the human.

             
He did
n’
t stop. Each floor was a maze of turns followed by a quick sprint up a ramp or staircase. Jos
h’
s legs burned from the effort, but fear kept him moving. He paused every few turns to drop a mine, grateful for the effort every time an explosion vibrated the walls. He did
n’
t now how high he climbed until he reached the operation center. Strange computer consoles covered the wall, while another section looked down over a hundred feet to the ground floor. Holographic tables displayed the war zone just outside the ship. Josh secured the entrance and went to the windows.

             
His blood ran cold as he heard the howling cries of the mutated fiends. Josh could see them racing into the chamber by the hundreds. They wore no clothing or armor as they sped screaming toward the encircled humans. The Archangels had formed a small wall around the Valkyrie as it hovered near the center of the hangar. Each soldier took a quadrant and opened fire, sending a steam of lead into the oncoming horde. The creatures shrugged it off and kept charging.

             
“Josh
!”
Alexa screamed
.“
Ther
e’
s too many of them
.
”

             
They must have emptied a forest for the amount of mutated beasts inside the carrier. They clawed their way forward, pushing past the bodies of the dead to get toward the humans. Every second that passed put them closer.