Avon had no idea what the others had been doing, and he didn’t like that. The displays on his flight deck console continued to flash warnings at him, but it was hard to piece together a bigger picture.
Another caution light winked from amber to red on his screen. ‘Zen, what is the status of the weaponry systems?’
‘OFFLINE.’
He went to check a different display console. To reach it, he had to navigate a pile of debris that had fallen from the ceiling when a support beam had dropped onto the floor. A grey layer of grime covered most of the equipment. Avon brushed a chair clean with his hand before he sat down, and dusted his hands.
So much for their strategic retreat to let auto-repair catch up. Vila’s carelessness had let the alien devices into the ship. And that had set them back to where they were before Liberator had disengaged from the war. Maybe even worse. The prospects of them returning to engage the enemy were diminishing by the minute. And the battle computer projections were pessimistic about the human fleet’s chances of holding back the invaders. At which point, the aliens would seek out Liberator, and the ship would be helpless.
They were fast running out of plausible options.
‘What about the teleport system?’
‘OFFLINE.’
‘Estimated repair time?’
‘THAT INFORMATION IS NOT AVAILABLE.’
‘Tell me something I don’t know.’
‘THAT QUESTION HAS TOO MANY–’
‘Never mind, Zen.’
He spun round at a clatter of footsteps from the entrance to the flight deck. Blake and Jenna jogged in. Jenna slid into her seat, and began checking the pilot’s controls.
Blake immediately cast a proprietorial eye over the flight deck, noting the damage. ‘What have you been doing with the ship, Avon?’
Avon pretended to be fascinated by something on his display screen. ‘I’ve had a busy day.’
‘So I see.’
Blake tugged at the sleeves of his thermal suit. He’d obviously not had time to remove it since teleporting up from Megiddo. The effort made him wince, but the suit was eventually off. He dropped it over one of the empty flight seats, raising a brief cloud of powder. Avon thought that Blake’s face looked as grey as the dust.
Blake sat down carefully, holding his injured side. ‘Jenna, can you steer us closer to Megiddo?’
Typical Blake, thought Avon. He’s only just back on the flight deck, and already he’s issuing orders.
Jenna didn’t seem to mind. She tapped a few commands into the flight controls. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Blake was reviewing his own display screen. ‘The human ships seem to be holding the line out there. Even if they only have forty percent of the Federation fleet engaged.’
That couldn’t be right, could it? ‘Forty percent?’ Avon asked. ‘What about the others?’
‘Servalan said she was holding the rest back,’ Blake said casually.
‘Servalan?’ Avon’s head snapped in Blake’s direction. ‘Is this yet another thing you’ve neglected to mention?’
Blake smiled. ‘I’ve had a busy day, too.’
‘INFORMATION. ALIEN VESSELS ARE APPROACHING THE STAR ONE DEFENCE NETWORK IN SEVEN SEPARATE VECTORS.’
‘On screen.’ Blake stood in front of the main viewer. Indicator lines traced a pattern across the schematic. The alien movements were marked in blue, while the satellite grid showed as a twisted skein of interconnected white lines separating Federation space from the unknown depths of deeper space. Seven different blue lines slowly arced towards disparate parts of the grid. ‘What are they doing?’
Jenna looked up from her console. ‘It’s a suicide run.’
‘Like yours?’ asked Blake.
Jenna looked exasperated. ‘They seem to mean it.’
Avon wasn’t sure what the odd little exchange between Blake and Jenna had meant. But he was sure what the evidence on the viewer told him. ‘Of course!’
He got up to join Blake at the screen. He pointed out the nearest of the blue lines on the schematic as it edged closer to the satellite grid. ‘The first ships that reach the barrier will be destroyed by the blast.’ His outstretched hand encompassed a crowd of other, static blue marks on the display that represented the rest of the alien fleet. ‘But a dozen others could get through the gap before the satellite generators have reset.’
Blake had his hand to his mouth, engrossed in the evidence before him. His eyes flicked from point to point on the schematic, pondering the implications. ‘Zen, show me the actual ships.’
‘CONFIRMED.’
The visual representation faded away to be replaced by a live feed.
‘Hybrid view,’ Blake said. ‘Overlay the schematic.’
The diagram reappeared, superimposed over the image of the distant battle.
‘And now, zoom in on grid nine five.’
The picture refocused again. The satellite grid at this point appeared as a silvery haze, with hundreds of alien ships massed behind it. They all hung in space, apparently immobile, except for one. A globular shape with one end tapering to a sharp point, like a vast teardrop. Its hull shimmered with a rolling movement of changing lights as it approached the grid.
‘Here it comes,’ breathed Jenna.
The teardrop edged closer and closer. And finally splashed against the satellite array.
A huge surge of light burst from the grid, coursing out in an explosion of devastating energy. The alien vessel instantly blipped out of existence on the schematic overlay.
The force of the blast rippled out across space. Even though the other alien ships had held back from the devastation, they shifted in its backwash like flotsam and jetsam bobbing on an outgoing tide.
Or an incoming tide, thought Avon.
The force of the wave reached Liberator. The three of them clung to whatever was nearest as the flight deck groaned and lurched.
Just as they thought the worst was over, another shock wave buffeted the ship, and they were thrown down onto the dusty floor.
Avon struggled back to his feet again.
‘INFORMATION. ALIEN VESSELS HAVE BREACHED THE DEFENCE BARRIER IN FIVE CONTIGUOUS SECTORS.’
‘Zen, wide shot,’ barked Blake. ‘Show us everything.’
The image expanded in a sickening zoom outwards. The shimmering plane of the satellite grid was sundered, like a shattered window smashed by a thrown brick. Beyond it, the hundreds of bobbing dots that indicated the alien fleet began to settle. And then they began to move forward.
‘Won’t the defence grid re-establish itself?’ asked Blake. ‘It’s still active.’
Even as they watched, the edges of the gap were beginning to fill in again.
‘It can’t fully regenerate in time.’ Jenna stared in appalled disbelief. ‘They’re swarming through!’
Avon saw the dots grow larger. The alien attackers speared through the chasm in the defence grid, and sliced into the human fleet. ‘You can guess where they’re heading next.’
Blake’s face was greyer than ever. ‘For us.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself, Blake.’ Avon pointed to a red indicator at the far right of the display. The final connection in the ragged remains of the defence grid. ‘They need to deactivate it completely. So they’ll target Star One.’