The messier fold, p.27
The Messier Fold, page 27
All eight antigravs on cruiser number 1 had fired up and were showing a combined total of ninety-one per cent efficiency. The ship could theoretically achieve orbit with only six drives but it was good to have some fall-back.
Number 3 cruiser on the other hand wasn’t as lucky. Only six of the drives had spooled up, showing sixty-seven per cent. It was enough, just, but left nothing in reserve if anything failed.
Andy had felt a bit sorry for the engineer strong-armed into taking that one up, so he’d offered to assist with the mini-me’s tractor beam to help drag the beast into orbit if one of the drives failed.
Much to his relief, the rain had ceased and visibility was much improved when he flew out of the hangar and up to a thousand feet above number 3 cruiser.
‘Okay, Lei,’ he called. ‘Let’s be having you –– last one in orbit gets the drinks.’
‘It’s all right for you cracking the jokes, you’re not the one sitting in a potential million tonne meteorite.’
Andy noticed a few trees surrounding the ships collapse outwards; dust, debris and anything not bolted down became airborne and disappeared into the forest. First cruiser 1, then cruiser 3 lifted from the cleared area within the trees. He held his breath as they both lumbered upwards, dropping huge sods of earth dragged skyward by the rows of landing struts that had sunk into the loam over the last fifty years or so.
Cruiser 1 went past Andy in a matter of seconds, but it was number 3 clearly lagging behind that got his full attention. It was still ascending, but at a much slower rate. The power difference was clear now and Andy decided to give him a hand.
He locked his tractor on to the middle of the two-kilometre-long beast and engaged full power upwards. Although the mini-me was small, everything built into it was massively over-engineered, including the tractor beam.
It certainly helped and cancelled out the difference in speed between the two cruisers.
Upwards and upwards they sped. A kilometre, five kilometres, ten, twenty, until finally after seventeen minutes, escape velocity and a low orbit was achieved.
Andy could hear the smiles on both the engineers’ faces, as they chatted to each other.
He zipped the mini-me back into number 1’s hangar and landed right at the back, next to what looked like a power node. Lei joined him in the hangar as he was pulling out the hastily produced cable with a connector made from designs provided by Lei.
They were utilising a method for including the cruiser’s outer hull with the mini-me’s cloak. Something that had worked well last year in the Andromedan galaxy.
Andy opened a small port on the underside of his ship and ran the cable over to the node.
‘Ah –– shit.’
‘What?’ said Lei, strolling over to see what the problem was.
‘It doesn’t fit.’
‘Turn it over!’ he said, giving Andy a worried glance.
‘Ah –– yeah, that’s it.’
‘What was it you said you were on your planet? An air and space engineer.’
‘Err –– yeah, aerospace engineer.’
‘I think your brain has more air and space in it than engineering!’ said Lei, shaking his head and grinning.
Andy laughed out loud.
‘That’s brilliant,’ he said. ‘You’re learning fast. That’s the piss taking sorted, it’s still a love of real ale I have to work on.’
‘What? That brown water you drink and then fall over?’
‘Hmm, still a bit to be done there, I fear.’
Andy checked the cable was secure and turned towards the airlock.
‘Come on, Lei, let’s go see if the manoeuvring and jump drives are tickety-boo.’
‘Tickety what?’
42
Starship Gabriel, Orbiting planet Heeder, Messier 86 Galaxy
Spin 220, Revolution 3081, Z-5 H-43
‘Transmitting now,’ said Cleo. ‘I imagine this planet will be reasonably favourable as it’s the Warden’s home planet.’
‘One would hope so,’ said Ed, watching for any obvious reaction to their message.
They had spent the last two days visiting all ten Gao Trex worlds and transmitting a complete rundown of Shencol’s crimes on every wavelength, news network, tablet, visual display and holo projector. A huge reward was offered for knowledge of his whereabouts or arrest and it was made quite clear that anyone aiding and abetting him would also be considered an enemy of the Trex council of worlds.
The soldier left aboard the Wei ship with the council that Le’Gard had stunned with his laser rifle had sung like a canary. Once he realised he was facing a death sentence for attempted murder of the entire council, he told them they had been ordered to disguise themselves as Wei forces and execute every member of the council by dumping them out of an airlock. The resultant recorded footage would give Shencol all the ammunition he needed to begin a full scale invasion of Wei space.
As far as the Gao navy was concerned they had been conspicuous by their absence. A half dozen of the smaller vessels had been in orbit around two of the other planets and hadn’t made any move whatsoever when the broadcast had been initiated. The larger ships, however, were nowhere to be seen. The transmission had given Heeder as the point for all Gao navy vessels remaining allegiant to the council, to meet at by the end of spin 219. Hence the reason for leaving it till last.
‘I thought they had sixteen planets?’ said Tony. ‘Are we not visiting the other six?’
‘They’re independent Gao worlds not represented by the Trex,’ said Rayl. ‘And they’re pretty remote too.’
‘I have a sizeable ship just jumped into an empty system thirty light years away,’ said Cleo.
‘I’ve got it,’ said Rayl, concentrating on her display. ‘Too distant to tell what it is yet, but it appears to be coming this way.’
The holomap scaled out to show a red flashing icon in an unnamed system travelling in their direction at about .7 light.
‘It’s coming from the direction of the Luzhou system,’ said Phil.
The flashing icon suddenly became two flashing icons.
‘Did it just launch another ship?’ asked Rayl.
‘No, they’re both the same size,’ said Ed. ‘The second one must have uncloaked –– which means only one thing.’
‘Which is?’ said Tony.
Before Ed could answer, the two icons disappeared and reappeared as large ships twenty-thousand kilometres away.
‘Knock, knock, anyone home?’ a familiar voice boomed around the Gabriel’s bridge.
‘Morning, Captain Faux,’ said Ed, squinting at the holomap and looking bemused.
‘Permission to join the fleet, Admiral?’ came the reply. ‘Wherever you are?’
‘Did you steal those from the Empire?’
‘They do look a bit like that, don’t they? I understand Tarkin’s not happy.’
‘What are you two on about?’ said Rayl, turning to glance at Ed.
‘Classified war diaries,’ replied Andy.
Tony scoffed on the far side of the bridge, which didn’t go unnoticed by Rayl.
‘Classified my arse,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Some of your ancient science fiction movie crap more like.’
‘I find your lack of faith disturbing,’ said Ed.
‘You tell her, Darth.’
‘You’ll receive something disturbing if you two don’t shut up,’ said Rayl, struggling to keep her poker face.
‘You sound more like Linda every day,’ said Ed, giving her a sly grin and getting a wink in return.
‘How operational are those old clunkers?’ asked Phil.
‘My one has three working cannons and a reasonable shield,’ said Andy. ‘The other, however, has shields that will probably fail if assaulted by anything more vicious than a kitten, but it has six cannons that will fire, two of which are seized pointing straight out and can’t traverse.’
‘But the cloak works with the mini-me plugged in?’
‘Yeah, it works fine –– are you going to bring yours over for the other one?’
‘That’s the plan.’
‘Haven’t you had any reaction from Shencol or the Gao fleet yet?’
‘No, not a peep.’
‘That’s worrying –– we’d better get this other ship cloaked up as soon as we can.’
‘I’m on my way.’
‘I’ll light up the hangar you want and don’t forget to bring supplies, you might be sitting in that mini-me for a while.’
Ed yawned; he’d been sitting in his tiny ship connected up to the bigger vessel by another of Cleo’s created umbilicals for several hours now. The three large ships were all cloaked and slowly flying a random route around planet Heeder at approximately three hundred thousand kilometres’ distance.
Earlier, Cleo had piloted one of the Gabriel’s shuttles over to both of the Wei cruisers and picked up Lei and the two engineers. They were now safely ensconced in the blister on the top deck of the Gabriel, discovering the wonders of pepperoni pizza and coke.
‘I spy with my little eye –– something beginning with B,’ said Andy.
‘Bugger all,’ said Ed.
‘How the fuck did you get that?’
‘Just blind luck, I guess,’ Ed mumbled. ‘What happens if he’s just flown off with the fleet to resettle somewhere on the far side of the galaxy?’
‘Cleo would have to bring me more pizza.’
‘No, really –– we could sit here forever, waiting for a fleet that’s never going to come.’
‘He wouldn’t do that, would he. Everything he has, is here –– and there are thousands of crew on those thirty ships who wouldn’t want to leave their homes, families and lives. He’s still around, probably telling the crews a bunch of lies about us and the council. Our transmissions will have been blocked from getting to the ships, so the crews won’t know they’re on the side of a psychopath.’
‘Where could you hide over thirty ships though?’
‘In the atmosphere of a big gas giant, like the PCP did last year and remember, some of those ships would have been on regular scouting missions out to the remote corners of Gao space, days even weeks away. Well’Jic told me that at any one time at least a third of the fleet are doing just that. So he won’t have thirty ships, maybe twenty, but not thirty. Perhaps he’s out there rendezvousing with those ships as they return and building his strength.’
‘That is a possibility I suppose.’
‘A Gao battleship has jumped into the Rait system only five point two light years from us,’ called Rayl. ‘It’s moving through the system in this direction at point seven six light.’
‘Does Le’Gard know which one it is?’ asked Ed.
‘I can’t tell from this distance,’ said Le’Gard. ‘If it jumps closer, I will…’
‘It’s jumped,’ interrupted Rayl. ‘It’s emerged on the outskirts of this system and still heading this way at the same speed.’
There was a slight pause as Ed allowed Le’Gard to study the array returns.
‘It’s the Milwal,’ said Le’Gard. ‘They were away in deep space for the last fifty spins.’
‘The Millwall?’ questioned Andy. ‘Be careful –– no one likes them and they don’t care.’
‘What?’ said Le’Gard, sounding confused.
‘Ignore him,’ said Ed, ‘it’s an Earth joke, he’s just being a twat.’
‘It’s definitely heading for this planet,’ said Rayl.
‘Give him a hail, Le’Gard,’ said Ed. ‘It’ll be better coming from you.’
‘Gao battleship Milwal, this is sentinel Le’Gard. Please explain your presence in the Weltor system?’
‘This is Captain Drye of the Gao battleship Milwal,’ came the reply. ‘Le’Gard was reported killed in a jump accident –– so would you like to try that again?’
‘Duster –– is that you?’ asked Le’Gard. ‘I’m still waiting for that introduction to your cute sister.’
There was a slight pause at the other end.
‘What was my father’s occupation?’ asked Drye, in a suspicious tone.
‘Mayor of Catislen District and you lived in the house next to the Falt River where we used to catch Gattee fish.’
‘And we’d frequently drive down to Depletion Bay to trap Leapers in the deeps.’
‘Yes, I remember Depletion Bay very clearly,’ Le’Gard replied. ‘Those Leapers were delicious, weren’t they?’
‘Zoomer, that’s right, it’s definitely you and you sound very alive to me. I seem to have been given false information and where the fuck are you anyway?’
‘Close by, my old friend. Drop your ship into orbit around Heeder and I’ll introduce you to some people you really need to meet.’
‘We’re on our way.’
The huge vessel slowed a few minutes later as it approached Heeder and adopted a high stationary orbit over one of the poles.
‘Did he sound genuine to you?’ Ed asked Le’Gard.
‘It’s a trap,’ said Le’Gard. ‘He’s under duress.’
‘Something he said in your conversation?’
‘There’s no Depletion Bay at all on the coast of the Catislen District. We once went to spear Reapers in the shallows at Degellan Bay and we only went once because they actually tasted disgusting.’
‘Ah, I get it, that was your way of telling him you understood. Well, Zoomer, in that case we need a plan to take that ship with the minimum of damage,’ said Ed, with a malevolent grin.
Le’Gard rolled his eyes.
‘When I was a cadet that was my nickname, okay?’ he said, giving Ed an embarrassed glance. ‘Getting back to the job in hand, do you have any way of seeing inside their ship?’
‘Cleo, can you organise that for the gentleman previously known as Le’Gard?’ Ed asked, with a smirk.
The battleship was one of the latest models, with the most up-to-date shielding the Gaos had. It held Cleo back for fourteen seconds before she broke the cushion coding and spliced into the ship’s security cameras.
All those on the bridge of the Gabriel were treated to a three-dimensional real time view of the bridge on the Milwal.
‘That’s Captain Drye, there,’ said Le’Gard, pointing to a slim man on a slightly raised seat in the centre of the small room.
There were ten other officers all seated at control stations in a circle facing inwards towards the captain. Le’Gard wasn’t interested in them. It was the six soldiers in full body armour, brandishing laser rifles, that had his attention.
‘I take it a Gao bridge crew don’t normally have weapons pointed at them?’ said Ed, watching via his DOVI.
‘It’s not standard policy, no,’ said Le’Gard, grimacing. ‘There won’t be just six either.’
At that exact moment another soldier strode onto the bridge, glared at the captain and spoke. His voice was also picked up by Cleo’s intrusion.
‘Do we know where that fucking alien ship is yet?’ he asked.
‘No,’ said Drye. ‘Their cloaking technology is very good. It could be anywhere.’
‘Does President Shencol know we’ve found them?’
‘We’ve sent a message, yes.’
‘Good, your shuttle is almost prepared, contact Le’Gard again and ask for a flight plan into his hangar. By the time they realise you’re not actually on it, it’ll be too late.’
‘Andy,’ called Ed. ‘Can you penetrate their ship and find that shuttle? If it’s the captain’s, it’ll be in one of the forward hangars. Whatever surprise they’re installing, make sure it’s under your control.’
‘I was way ahead of you,’ Andy replied. ‘It’s enough explosives to blow the side off the planet. D’you want me to detonate it?’
‘Not yet. I’m going to send them a route that’ll ensure the shuttle on departing the battleship goes directly past their main array. Without that they’re as good as blind.’
‘Gotcher –– I’m all ready.’
‘Rayl, are you familiar with the Gabriel’s Raga Fos rail guns?’ Ed asked.
‘Yep.’
‘Have them ready and set for single shot.’
‘Okay.’
Moments later Captain Drye hailed Le’Gard and asked him for the shuttle route.
‘My pleasure, Captain,’ said Le’Gard. ‘I have dinner prepared.’
‘I look forward to that,’ came the reply.
‘Dinner?’ said Rayl, glancing across at Le’Gard.
‘It’s a Sentinel code,’ he said. ‘If you mention dinner at any time in a conversation it lets the recipient know somethings awry.’
‘The whole crew of the battleship just belted up and sealed all compartments,’ said Phil.
‘Good,’ said Le’Gard. ‘He understood the message.’
‘Anytime now, Andy,’ said Ed.
‘Front starboard hangar door opening,’ said Phil.
A small oblong vessel exited the Gao battleship, turned right and ran along the side of the three-kilometre-long ship. Ed was worried that Andy wouldn’t time it right, but just as he was about to say something, an enormous flash completely blinded him.
‘Shit,’ he shouted, blinking wildly as the shock wave hit his Wei ship and rattled the mini-me around on the hangar floor.
‘Holy Mother,’ said Andy. ‘Did they ever overdo that?’
‘They sure as hell weren’t trying to disable us, were they?’ said Phil, sounding scared.
Once their eyes had all recovered it was obvious the battleship had not only lost its main array, but a considerable section amidships was either missing or crushed. Several decks were open to space and two of the battleship’s huge laser cannons were wrecked beyond repair.
‘I’m surprised it’s still in one piece,’ said Ed.
The camera view from the Milwal’s bridge showed the crew had been strapped in and were unhurt. The soldiers that were standing around the outside were slowly picking themselves up. Some of them had hit the bridge wall hard and their leader was frantically waving his hands around.
‘Have we got sound from there still?’ asked Le’Gard.
