Rayl wasn’t kidding about the traffic above Uskrre as Andy brought the Cartella quickly back into space. He had to be careful as some of the bigger ships, thinking the nuclear detonation had been an attack from space, were firing randomly, searching for a cloaked warship.
Phil had retreated the Gabriel thirty light seconds away, giving him ample time to dodge anything nasty coming in their direction. Even though the Gabriel’s shields were incredibly robust and had the latest anti-flare technology when hit, an eagle-eyed gunner could witness his shot vanishing suddenly, giving away the ship’s location.
Having returned the Cartella to the port hangar, Andy, Rayl and Bache hurried up to the bridge to discover everything had gone quiet again.
Although there was still a lot of movement from the fleet, the random firing seemed, at least for the moment, to have ceased, as had the stream of freighters to and from the surface.
‘What made them stop?’ Andy asked, sliding onto his couch under the dominating holomap.
‘I believe they reviewed footage of the event and have come to the conclusion it was in fact an accident,’ said Phil.
‘We only meant to take out two or three on the landing area,’ said Bache. ‘I don’t know yet if this was an unexpected bonus or not.’
‘How many of the fleet on the ground are still serviceable?’ asked Xutan from the side of the room.
‘Difficult to tell,’ said Phil. ‘The dust cloud needs to settle a bit first, but from initial scans, I don’t think it will be many.’
‘That’s gotta be a good thing isn’t it?’ asked Rayl, looking up to gauge everyone’s reactions.
‘Yes and no,’ said Bache. ‘So long as they don’t change their plans now and do something totally unexpected.’
A ping sounded from the holomap as a new red ship designator appeared in system and began approaching Uskrre.
‘Who’s that, Cleo?’ Andy asked. ‘Why’s it not designated?’
‘Ship of undetermined origin,’ she replied. ‘It’s big and not in the GDA database.’
‘Can we get a close-up?’
The red dot grew rapidly into a huge blue and grey-striped octagonal vessel.
‘What the fuck is that?’ said Andy. ‘Anyone seen one of those before?’
The bridge remained silent for a moment, before Groxl cleared his throat.
‘Erm, a couple of years ago a Spleeta ship designer approached us with the blueprint for an octagonal warship. I seem to remember it being somewhat similar to that.’
‘What are all those arms sticking out of it for?’ asked Rayl.
‘I think it was some sort of revolutionary beam weapon that utilised mirrors or something,’ he answered.
‘When was it commissioned?’ Bache asked.
‘That’s just it,’ said Groxl. ‘It wasn’t. Deemed vastly too expensive and a weapon of unproven design. He lost his job and shortly afterwards disappeared.’
‘It looks as though someone with a lot of cash took him seriously,’ said Andy. ‘Can you tell us anything more about it, Cleo?’
‘Not really,’ she said. ‘It’s very well shielded, so apart from being five kilometres in length and a kilometre at its widest point, that’s all I have at the moment.’
The mystery ship slowed savagely as it approached Uskrre and settled into a high orbit.
‘The wind’s picked up down on the surface,’ said Rayl, transferring the holomap view from the mystery ship to the site of the earlier nuclear detonation.
As they watched, it became clear the destruction was close to total. Nothing remained of any buildings and ships, at or near the epicentre. A few upturned hulls could be made out on the fringes, but nothing remained that was anywhere near operational.
‘Well, that’s that then,’ said Andy. ‘No more battle fleet for them. What they’ve got in space now is all they’re gonna get.’
‘How many have you knobbled so far, Cleo?’ asked Phil.
‘Just over half,’ she said.
‘How many are left operational?’ asked Bache.
‘Four hundred and eleven, well, twelve if you count the new arrival,’ she said.
‘Better than three thousand,’ said Bache.
‘Still a lot if we’re on our own,’ said Phil, looking nervous. ‘That new ship worries me too.’
‘It didn’t seem to have any weapons nacelles hanging off it,’ said Pol.
‘They were hidden,’ said Groxl. ‘At least, on the original design they were. He tried to sell it as a dual-purpose ship, one minute a full-on planet-killing battle cruiser and the next as we see it now, a non-threatening diplomatic vessel.’
‘Diplomatic?’ scoffed Bache. ‘Not a word I’d ever associate with your clan.’
‘I agree,’ said Groxl, seemingly unoffended. ‘That’s why he was ridiculed and the design ignored.’
‘Can you remember anything else about it?’ asked Bache. ‘It’s that bit you said about planet-killing that worries me.’
‘And me,’ said Phil.
‘Me too,’ said Pol, all of them turning to face Groxl.
He gave them a Klatt’s best impression of a shrug.
‘It was a while ago,’ he said, staring intently at the floor. ‘All I can remember is the eight arms with shaped mirrors were important.’
‘What about its capabilities?’ asked Andy.
Another shrug.
‘Something to do with abrupt climate change, I think. Anyway, the council decided if it couldn’t seriously engage other ships, it was a waste of time and wasn’t of interest.’
‘There’s something going on,’ said Rayl, interrupting them and pointing at the holomap.
The fleet of Klatt ships were streaming out away from the planet and forming up behind and around the octaship, which itself was slowly turning on its axis.
‘What the fuck are they up to?’ said Andy. ‘They better not be off to Earth – we’re not ready.’
‘They’re not leaving,’ said Bache. ‘It’s like they’re forming a shield around the newcomer.’
‘Have we been detected?’ Phil asked, his eyes nervously flicking from person to person.
‘No,’ said Cleo, appearing in the centre of the bridge, dressed today in her nineteen-sixties biker chick outfit again, head to toe black leather, with big zips and tassels down the arms. ‘I would’ve felt it if we’d been discovered. That new octagonal ship, however, is powering up for something and it’s not for a jump.’
They all looked back at the holomap and the hundreds of ships crowding in around the bigger ship that had now fully turned its back on Uskrre.
‘Shit,’ said Bache. ‘I have a feeling they’re going to test the weapon against the planet.’
‘You might be right,’ said Rayl. ‘I’ve got some strange power fluctuations on that ship. Wow, its shields have just dropped, as has environmental.’
As they watched, the giant ship seemed to light up from within. Its central hull area began to glow, light appeared to pulse down the blue hull stripes, travelling down the eight arms before a concentrated blinding white light beam flashed out from each of the tips. They glistened as they ran down the outside of the vessel before being concentrated through some sort of lens inside the eight smaller arms at the very rear of the ship. The intense narrower beams then converged about two kilometres behind the ship, immediately becoming one huge fluorescent purple shaft of light that flashed down into the upper atmosphere, blinding everyone and lighting up the bridge with its intensity.
At first, nothing seemed to change, then the beam ceased, casting the Gabriel’s bridge back into its normal operating low-light gloominess. Where the beam had struck, a dark stain was left that grew and spread alarmingly quickly.
‘What is—?’ said Pol.
Before she could continue, Cleo appeared again and interrupted her.
‘Ed’s here,’ she said.
‘What?’ said Andy.
‘Be more specific,’ said Bache. ‘Where – and is he alive?’
‘He’s unconscious but alive on that ship.’
Pol emitted a squeak, closely followed by a sob.
‘We have to get to him,’ she cried, her voice cracking.
‘How’s the silly bugger still alive and then get on that thing?’ said Andy, putting his head in his hands. ‘He’s so bloody irresponsible.’
‘Whereabouts on that ship exactly?’ asked Bache, addressing Cleo.
‘The shields are back online now,’ she said. ‘But in the brief period they were down, he seemed to be situated somewhere near the bow of the ship.’
‘We need to formulate a plan to get him off,’ said Xutan. ‘We have the marines from the 28, remember.’
‘I haven’t exactly told you everything,’ said Cleo.
Everyone on the bridge went quiet and stared at her.
‘I’m already on the ship.’
‘I thought the shields were impregnable,’ said Bache.
‘They are,’ she said. ‘In the seconds they were down, I transported myself into their systems.’
‘But the shields are back up,’ Andy said.
‘Yeah, but I’m still over there acting independently and doing what I can.’
Bache and Andy’s eyes met.
‘Can you shut the thing down?’ Andy asked.
‘I’d like to think so,’ she said, sounding a little irresolute.
‘But?’ said Bache, picking up on her hesitance.
‘I’d only got eighty-four percent of me across by the time the shields went back up.’
‘Is that enough?’ asked Andy.
‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ she said, with a half smile.
‘You’re a computer,’ said Bache. ‘You’ll have the exact odds.’
She adopted a pinched expression.
‘Well?’ said Andy.
‘Eighty-four percent sure,’ she said, hopefully.
‘I thought you’d say that,’ said Bache, rolling his eyes. ‘Well, I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.’
‘Look at the planet, guys,’ said Rayl.
They all turned back to the holomap to witness the dark area had continued to spread, now obscuring at least half of the surface. Hundreds of lightning flashes pulsed irregularly across the dark region as it continued to swirl and develop.
‘The surface temperature has dropped by twenty-two and a half degrees already under that thing,’ said Rayl.
‘That’ll probably create an instantaneous and permanent cooling of the planet,’ said Phil.
Xutan turned to stare at Groxl.
‘Perfect for the Klatt though,’ he said, accusingly.
‘For Spleeta, yes,’ said Groxl, returning the glare. ‘But not the Grondalle.’