Olsen turned to the pale-faced android, who now sat in the seat that Novak had previously inhabited. "Rob, I need your input. What have you learned from the Gennethal's databanks?"

  "Sir, against any small-craft weaponry known to be equipped on our ships, the Gennethal's shield is virtually invincible. It would take hundreds of thousands of hits from small plasma torpedoes and low-Celsius laser cannons to take it down."

  "I see," Olsen said, and he put his hand to his chin. "But is there any Tauian weaponry that can be equipped on Arstan shuttles?"

  "Let me check for you," Rob said. The android put his hand to his temple and lowered his head as his eyes glowed white.

  Olsen swallowed air as he watched those ships edge even closer. They clearly had something; otherwise they wouldn't be swarming on the Okranti like that. From the distance, there came the telltale shimmering effect of the sonic disruptors firing. Some hit Arstan weapons modules, creating explosions on the port side of space. But Cadinouche had got the Gennethal over to James in time to protect the Benedict.

  "If we get out of this," Olsen said, "beers are on Captain James and his crew for saving their asses."

  Someone whooped, but Olsen didn't even bother looking to see who. Presently, Rob lifted his head, and his eyes went back to normal again. "Sir, the Tauians have a weapon that would literally translate to quadruple quantum plasma torpedoes. They've been specially designed for taking down a Gennethal's shields. They can only use them short range, and it takes around a hundred of them to disable a ship's shield for about an hour."

  "That doesn't sound good," Olsen said. "How close is close range?"

  "Around one hundred meters, sir," Rob said. "The resulting explosion also complete annihilates the attacking ship."

  "So they basically ram them, kamikaze style?"

  "In a way. The weapon needs to be fired up at the precise moment. Even a slight modification in a fighter's trajectory might result in a reduction of efficiency of ninety percent."

  Olsen clenched his fist. "Schmidt, don't even bother aiming with those tentacles. Lash out in as many directions as possible. We need to block those fighters coming through."

  "Yes, sir," the weapons officer replied. He started moving items around in three-dimensional space on his console's holographic display. Purple metal arms lashed out into space that quickly became spectral displays of purple light, flailing at the space in front of them like elaborate whips.

  Some fighters got taken down in the barrage. Others made it through, miraculously unscathed. Then there came a flash of brilliant white, and explosions filled the immediate space in front of the Gennethal.

  "Shield down, sir," Rob said.

  "Shit," Olsen said. "We're screwed."

  "I don't think we are, sir," Chang said, still tapping furiously away at the keyboard jacked into his console. His voice sounded ebullient.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I've worked out how to activate the fighters. They're like drones. I can launch them now... With your permission, sir?"

  "Damn it, Chang, yes! Do it!"

  "Yes, sir."

  Chang typed a command into his console. Then the ship rumbled, and a bright white light filled the ship. This faded to purple, then blue, and then a siren sounded, the noise seemingly coming from all directions at once.

  What must have been thousands of fighter craft streamed out, smooth sleek designs that resembled the Tauian ambassador's ship, the Oracle, which Olsen had seen before. The only difference was that these ships seemed smaller.

  Like drones programmed for one task, they swarmed in on the Arstan fighters that surrounded the Gennethal. Massive sparks shot out from their bodies as they passed, rendering Aarsh's fighters immobile. They swept onwards towards the enemy shield barrier and the configuration of detached modules that Aarsh had arranged behind this.

  "Don't worry, sir," Chang said. "I've found the command to set them to disable our targets."

  "Good," Olsen said. "Well done, Chang."

  He took a deep breath as he assessed the situation. They only had one more hurdle to leap now. Olsen just hoped that Novak would pull through.

  7

  From the entrance hatch came the terrifying shrieking war cries of the Arstans. One charged forward with his bayonet held out in front of him. He headed left, straight towards Riley.

  Kota's heart jumped in her chest. She peered through her scope, trying to find an opening to help her friend and trusted squaddie. But she could find no direct line of fire that wouldn't either injure Riley or risk ricocheting off the walls, potentially injuring Novak.

  Riley yelped, then raised his XM-461 assault rifle. He pumped lead out of it, and the bullets hit the Arstan crocodile in its chest armor, kicking up dust and scraps of synthetic fibers from the armor there. But they only slowed down the Arstan slightly. The massive crocodile man had so much momentum, he carried on barreling forward, and he speared the bayonet into Riley's leg.

  Riley let out another burst from his rifle that seemed to pull it upwards. The jet of bullets sprayed towards the Arstan's head, and hit true, decapitating the alien.

  Meanwhile, a cloud of smoke emerged from around the Arstan's makeshift entry hatch. It started to clear, and Kota saw an Arstan in the cockpit at the front of the shuttle, his hand on the throttle. "Shit," she screamed out. The last thing they needed was for that transport to launch back into space, leaving a massive hole to suck everyone here out.

  Adrenaline pumped to Kota's legs, and she ducked out from under cover and charged forward. It had been a rash move, and it was a good thing that she noticed the two Arstans ducked down by either side of the Arstan shuttle's bay doors. Just as the one on the left turned towards her, she took it down with a direct shot to the head. A round of rifle fire boomed out, and she half expected to get shot in the chest by the other Arstan.

  But Kasparov had her covered from the door, and he let out a whooping sound as the Arstan to Kota's right crumpled on the floor. Kota continued to sprint forward and let out the rest of her cartridge into the head of the Arstan at the shuttle's controls, spraying green blood over the window. She was in the shuttle now, the floor rumbling underfoot, and she felt the ship lurch to move forward.

  She reached the throttle just in time, and she pulled the lever downwards to stop the shuttle from traveling any further. She then nudged the ship into a slight reverse, ensuring the suction pad stuck the shuttle to the Kinlysta's hull.

  "All clear," Kota shouted, and she ran back over to Riley to check his wound. Single-handedly, the tough Marine had pulled the bayonet out of his leg, and he was wrapping the wound in a swath of fabric he'd torn off his sleeve. That Marine had never needed looking after.

  Two more explosions came from behind, and Kota spun around to see the two round sections of the carrier module's hull fly inwards. One of them almost hit Smith on the side, but he rolled out of the way just in time, and then let out a round of blind fire into the Arstan ship.

  Then there came a barrage of fire from both holes simultaneously. Smith got hit first, and he got flattened to the ground before the blood even had a chance to show. Kant fired back into one hole, screaming out in rage as if in tribute to his fallen comrade. But an Arstan charged in from the side and speared a bayonet through his ribcage and out the other side.

  More shots came from the hull, this time directed at the Unicorn. Kota could see that Kasparov wanted to charge them, but she raised her hand to direct him to stay. She knew Redrock, and she knew exactly what he was about to do. The Arstans finished up their round, leaving little damage but dents in the Unicorn's framework. Two Arstans came out from each ship, and they raised their rifles as if ready to fire. Instead of firing, Kota ducked behind the door for cover, pulling Riley with her. Kasparov stayed concealed, as instructed.

  The jets on the Unicorn powered up, and it hovered ever so slightly above the ground. They shifted in tiny motions that allowed the Unicorn to get near to the holes; then the flamethrower spun around on the Unicorn's underside. It bathed the scene in amber flame, filling the insides of both of the berthed shuttles. Screams of agony came from the two ships, and they lasted a while before finally dying down.

  "All clear, ma'am," Kota said and, just as she said it, the ship rocked again.

  "Good," Novak said. "And I've got it. I only need ten seconds."

  About time, Kota thought. But there came more, even slighter tremors, and a sound as if someone was banging on the hull with a gigantic hammer. "Please don't tell me we have more Arstans inbound, sir," she said over her wristwatch to Olsen.

  "Fortunately, not," Olsen replied. "You're in the clear--"

  Kota was going to say something else. But she forgot herself as soon as an electrical shrieking sound came from the superweapon, causing her to drop her weapon and clutch her hands to her ears. Then, a bright yellow pulse came out from the spatial disruptor. It looked like a shockwave, but it didn't feel like a shockwave. Rather, it seemed to cleanse Kota somewhat, made her feel a lot calmer, despite the fact she'd just lost two of her Marines. Her breathing slowed, and she had a sudden image of being on a beach with a cocktail in her hand, Redrock lying on a lounger just next to her.

  "Novak, you did it," Olsen said. "Aarsh is powering down the weapons."

  "Great," Novak said, and Kota bit her tongue. She wanted to tell Olsen that Novak wasn't the only part of this task force. She'd lost two fucking Marines for this. Two men had sacrificed themselves so that Novak could live.

  But then, that was the nature of war.

  "Kota, how are the Marines?" Olsen asked.

  "We lost Kant and Smith, sir," Kota said. Her voice came out as more strained than she'd expected. "Riley's injured too. He took a shot to the leg."

  "Sorry to hear that," Olsen said. "Get back to the Gennethal at once. Remain on standby in the module for now. Hopefully, we'll get Aarsh to see sense. But we need to be prepared for what might happen if we don't."

  "Yes, sir," Kota said, and she glanced once more at Riley, and then she walked over to the two dead bodies to make sure that at least their eyes were closed.

  8

  The worst part of Olsen's job was seeing the devastation after the battle. Now, Aarsh's weapons had powered down, and he could at least enjoy a period of ceasefire, the length and certainty of which depended on what Aarsh decided to do next. Meanwhile, space was full of scraps of metal, and much of that belonged to Olsen's allies.

  But the news from Kota that the two Marines had gotten taken down had tipped him over the edge. He had his fists clenched by his sides, his heart was racing, and his arms were shaking. What he could do with right now was a punching bag, or at least a sparring partner, to hold up some cushions for him to punch. Unfortunately, they didn't have such equipment aboard this ship.

  Instead, the bridge played soothing music, the kind of rhythmic minimalist stuff that seemed to want to take emotion away rather than add to it. Meanwhile, the lights on the bridge flowed slowly across the color spectrum. To some, this might have been quite a calming experience. But not to Olsen, who realized that this Tauian technology was to suppress emotions and turn them into ruthless killing machines.

  Tauians... There had to be at least one out there somewhere who had orchestrated this battle. If Olsen could work out where they were, then maybe he could eliminate another unknown in this equation, much as they had eliminated Oort.

  "Rob, see if you can find a way to identify cloaked technology in the databanks," he said.

  "I'll investigate, sir, but I can't recall anything that I've encountered so far."

  "Just keep searching."

  "Yes, sir."

  Olsen waited, controlling his breathing through steady motions. Other crew members, he noticed, were also allowing for a period of respite. Santiago leaned back in her air-chair, which almost magically seemed to support her posture. Chang typed slower than usual, and Cadinouche now stood by the coffee machine, sipping slowly at his cup. Olsen would allow this for a moment--everyone needed their time to rest. Besides, now the work to be done was likely to be less about charging weapons and more about diplomacy.

  Eventually, Cadinouche's console started beeping, and the pilot rushed back over to his station, spilling coffee on the way. When the coffee hit the floor, it didn't seem to stain, but rather evaporated, as if the technology here was set to clean anything that shouldn't be there.

  "It's Admiral Aarsh," Cadinouche said, without sitting down. "I guess we should put him through?"

  "Aye," Olsen said.

  "Roger, sir," Cadinouche said, and he tapped something on his console.

  The screen cropped up above Olsen's display, and the ugly crocodile man displayed his yellowed incisors on screen. He blinked his bulbous eyes, then looked forwards as if staring straight at Olsen.

  "Captain Olsen," he said. "What is the meaning of this insult?"

  Olsen shook his head. "That's Rear Admiral Olsen, now. And I didn't do this," he explained. "You did."

  The Arstan grunted, and then he opened his mouth to roar. Olsen knew that if it was there on the ship, the sound would be near deafening. But as soon as the noise came out of the speakers, the Gennethal modulated it, so it sounded more like a soft groan. The music had now faded, and the only other sound Olsen could hear was the rhythmic, fast taps from Chang's keyboard. The ensign now leaned forward over his screen, and he looked as if he was on the verge of discovering something.

  "Do not play games with me," Aarsh said. "You are on an alien warship. It was you who destroyed my ships, and now you must die."

  Olsen let out a grunt of his own. He had known that this Arstan would be difficult to deal with. He saw himself as royalty amongst his people, after all, and he expected to be treated as such.

  "I'm sorry, Admiral Aarsh. I didn't mean to imply that you destroyed your own ships on your own volition. But you weren't at your full capacity, as a Tauian had taken over your mind. You know about the cellular modifier, right?"

  "Of course I know about it," the Arstan snapped back.

  Olsen felt his heart beating in his chest. He considered himself at least decent at diplomacy, but with this Arstan in particular, all social rules went out the window. Really, he was lucky that the Arstan hadn't cut off the channel and powered up his weapons again. The Gennethal still didn't have its shield, and Olsen wondered how many blasts from ion cannons and sonic disruptors it would take to destroy it.

  "We don't know if there was or is a Tauian in the vicinity orchestrating the whole scenario. In your former capacity, you were winning. But if you had won, I doubt the Tauian would have ever given you or your crew their minds back. You would have been Arstans no longer."

  Aarsh glanced cautiously from his left to his right. "Inkh, are you here?"

  "Who's Inkh, sorry?"

  But Aarsh didn't seem to want to divulge that information. "Inkh, if you're listening into this channel, I want a word with you." He turned back to the screen. "Now, where are you going with this, Olsen?"

  "We'd like for you to join our cause. The Foorint government has already allied with us. Now, Earth and Foorint Palliana want to sign a treaty with the Arstans, so we can focus on building up our defenses, should the Tauians ever return."

  At that, the Arstan let out a hefty laugh that shook his gigantic shoulders. "You really think we would ever ally with inferior races? You and the Foorints have destroyed so many of my people. What can you give us that will make up for your crimes?"

  There came a beeping sound from Santiago's console, and the virtual screen widened to display a video next to Aarsh's face. It showed a green planet, and it didn't take long for Olsen to recognize this as Krsst--the homeworld of the Arstans, which consequently was where Aarsh had spawned from. The feed zoomed out to show five Gennethals, just like Olsen's ship. They had five large beam weapons poised on their heads, the muzzles glowing bright white. Olsen's heart skipped a beat when he recognized these as the same weapon that Brownstone had used to destroy the peaceful Foorint planet of Soori.

  Santiago typed something into her console, and then a message popped up above the screen in a box. "I thought you should see this, sir. Communications were jammed up to now, but Chang hacked a way through."

  Olsen nodded. Chang never ceased to amaze him. "Patch this through to Aarsh, Santiago. Forward it to Frega as well."

  In response, the Arstan rear admiral raised a fist, and he looked like he was about to smash the camera to pieces. "How dare you! Addressing your crew members while you speak to a senior officer of another fleet. Have you no respect?"

  Olsen bowed his head. He hated having to be so deferential to this rear admiral. But he had no choice, really. "I have the utmost respect, Admiral. But this is something you should see."

  Olsen saw the video feed come up on some of the consoles on the CIC of the Kinlysta. Aarsh turned his head, and the muscles in his massive extended jaw rippled. Just at that moment, the beams fired on the video feed. They hit the planet at five points on its surface, and five shockwaves spread out as if they'd been hit by massive comets. The planet shook, and red cracks appeared across its surface. Now Santiago had added the feed to various points across the view that looked out into space.

  The entire crew watched in stunned silence, and not a word was spoken on Aarsh's ship, either. It felt as if both humans and Arstans shared a minute of terror, one that seemed to last much longer than merely sixty seconds. The cracks underneath the planet's surface went white, and then a much larger shockwave pulsed out from the planet.

  The rock split apart, becoming meteors in space. Krsst housed tens of billions of Arstans, and now they were dead.

  Aarsh slowly turned back towards Olsen. "This has to be some kind of trick. Anyone can create this. You cannot fool me."

  Olsen shook his head. "Santiago, what is the signature on the feed?"

  "It's Arstan," Santiago said. "The official Arstan governmental intergalactic news network."

  "Can you send that signature over to our doubting Arstan admiral?"

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13