SAL KONSTANZ
“We’re coming up on Variance,” the Trouble Dog said. She had dressed her avatar in white silk robes for the occasion. “Permission to re-emerge in fifteen seconds?”
I had already strapped myself into my command couch. Lucy, Preston and Nod were similarly braced, Lucy in her bunk, Preston at his workstation in the infirmary and the Nod in its nest in engineering, surrounded by its offspring. Over on the Penitence, I knew Schultz and Addison were similarly secured, and I could only assume the civilian vessels had taken their own precautions.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“Initiating.”
My stomach went light and I fell forward against my restraints as the jump engines went into reverse, slowing us enough to start falling through the higher realms. On the forward view screen, all I could see were the customary wisps of grey mist that filled the hyperspatial void. But as we dropped back towards the conventional four-dimensional universe, the mists started to take on tinges of teal and beige—the compressed light of the cosmos as seen from the outside. And then finally, with a sensation similar to cresting the top of a rollercoaster, we fell out of the formlessness, back into the familiar.
Ahead, Variance seemed to fill half the sky. I’d done some checking in the archives and found out that during the Archipelago War, it had been the site of a major fleet engagement. At the time, it had been a strategic shipyard; now it resembled a planet-wide scrapheap, littered with a fresh layer of broken ships and bombed-out refineries.
“Any sign of the Fleet?”
“No Fleet ships detected.”
I let out a breath. We were taking a chance coming here. Variance lay on the edge of the Generality’s spinward border.
“Anything else in the system?”
The Trouble Dog opened a window in the display. At full magnification, I could make out the carcasses of two rippedopen ships. Figures appeared beside each one, reeling off coordinates, velocity, mass…
“These wrecks still hold residual heat,” Trouble Dog said.
“Meaning they’re recent?”
“Within the past seventy-two hours.”
“What killed them?”
The Trouble Dog’s avatar frowned. “The damage is consistent with that seen on the Lucy’s Ghost.”
“The bite marks?”
“These ships were both inbound, but because they were attacked they fell out of the higher dimensions on the edge of the system instead of closer to the planet.”
“Any survivors?” Despite everything that had happened, we were still a Reclamation Vessel. If anyone on those ships was still alive, we were duty-bound to rescue them.
“Not as far as I can tell from this distance. The damage seems too extensive, and I’m not picking up any indication of functional life support.”
I drummed my fingers on the arm of my couch. We couldn’t afford to linger in this system a moment longer than necessary. And yet, I couldn’t simply walk away. Less than seventy-two hours had passed since those ships were attacked. Despite what the Trouble Dog said, there might still be people on them. At this range, we wouldn’t be able to see them if they were locked in a pressurised cabin or huddled in pressure suits. I couldn’t simply turn my back on them.
“Anything else?”
“A Gecko-class frigate, the Manticore.”
“Really?” Few military ships had escaped the Fleet’s assault. “Is she in one piece?”
“From what I can tell, she’s unharmed and sitting in a parking orbit over the planet.”
“Should I contact her?”
“No need. I already have an incoming signal from her commanding officer, Captain Nathaniel Murphy.”
I straightened up in my chair and pulled my baseball cap more firmly into place.
“Okay, put him through.”
Captain Murphy looked younger than I had expected, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. The war had taken a heavy toll, robbing the military of its more experienced officers. He had close-cropped rust-coloured hair and clear green eyes, and his uniform appeared clean and freshly pressed.
“Good to see you, Captain,” he said. “You’re the first intact human vessels we’ve encountered in several days. We were beginning to think we were all that was left.”
“I know the feeling.” I pulled up a picture of the two wrecks on the edge of the system. “Do you know what happened to these two?”
Murphy peered at the screen. “They came in a couple of days ago. We sent a shuttle to investigate, but both were empty.”
“Empty?”
“Catastrophic damage to both their living quarters. The crews wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“And this happened in the hypervoid.”
“Yes.” He frowned and leaned closer to the camera. “We think it might be a new weapon. Something deployed by the Fleet of Knives.”
“It’s not.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve seen it before. This is something else. Something potentially worse than the Fleet.”
“What could be worse than the Fleet?”
“The things they were created to fight.” I dropped my voice to a low snarl. “The things that have got them so scared that they’re happy to slaughter a good percentage of the human race in order to avoid attracting their attention.”
Murphy sat back in his chair. “And what might they be?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
I puffed my cheeks and pushed up the brim of my cap. “Hypervoid dragons.”
Murphy’s head jerked back. His lip curled. “What?”
“I said you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I don’t.”
Now it was my turn to lean back. “Well, that’s your problem, Captain. I just came here to find power cores.”
Murphy glared at me. His cheeks were flushed. He seemed to be trying to decide whether I was serious or mocking him.
“You won’t have much luck with that,” he said. “My teams have already combed the place for all compatible energy sources.”
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to share?”
“Perhaps, in the right circumstances.”
“And what might those be?”
Murphy slapped a palm to his chest. “Join me, and we can take the fight to the enemy. A Gecko can’t make much of a difference by itself, but with two Carnivore heavy cruisers, we might stand a chance.”
I pulled my cap off and dropped it onto the console in front of me. “Have you engaged with the ships of the Fleet?” I asked. “Because I have, and let me tell you: the only sane thing to do is run. You can’t fight them. Just taking on one would be a challenge—but there are nearly a million of the beasts. And they think faster and hit harder than we ever could.”
“We have to try.”
“I don’t see why.”
“It’s our duty.”
I raked my scalp with the tips of my fingers, brushing back the tangled hair. “It might be your duty, Captain. But I’m an officer of the House; my duty’s to save lives—including my own, and the crews of the civilian vessels I have with me.”
“Then I’m afraid you’re on your own.” Murphy straightened his back. The skin around his eyes looked tight with stress and tiredness, and I felt a twinge of sympathy. He’d been out of touch with his commanders and acting without orders for several days at least. Having been in the military myself, I knew how disorientating it could be when you were unexpectedly cut off from the chain of command.
“I need those power cores in order to hit back at the enemy,” Murphy said.
“And I need them to keep these civilians alive.” I rubbed my face with my hands. I didn’t feel like explaining what Bochnak had discovered about the Intrusion, but still felt I should offer the kid a way out. Maybe if I could convince him to help us he wouldn’t throw away his life, and the lives of his ship and crew, in a futile gesture. “We’re heading for a place of safety,” I said. “And we could use your help getting there. Why don’t you come with us?”
“No.” Murphy held up a finger. “No, my responsibility is clear. I need to gather as many surviving vessels as possible and launch a counterattack. If you won’t join me willingly, I may have to send some of my marines over to commandeer your vessels.”
I shook my head. “That won’t go well.”
“You’d resist, even in wartime?”
I thought of how Alva Clay would respond. “You’re damned right we would. Your marines’ shuttles wouldn’t even get close to our airlocks.”
“Opening fire on my troops would be an act of treason.”
“Oh, grow up.” Once I might have backed away from the threat of armed conflict, but not now. I’d been through too much to let this idiot intimidate me. “You wouldn’t attack a pair of Carnivores and you know it. Launch a torpedo at either of us, and we’d rip through you like tissue paper.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a realistic assessment of your tactical position. So, back the fuck off and leave us to find our own damn power cores.”