Mission: Eradicate (Obsidiar Fleet Book 6), page 21
“What have we unleashed?” asked Cruz. “There’s nothing capable of this.”
Blake shook his head sadly. “There is now. We’ve still got work to do before we can think about the consequences. Lieutenant Cruz, find out if any of the fleet requires our direct assistance. Lieutenant Pointer, find out what’s happening at Rangel-3. Check the sensor logs and see if they picked anything up.”
Cruz responded first. “Admiral Talley is alive and has taken charge, sir. He will deal with matters relating to the fleet. The Fulminator is equipped with the newest sensors and he would like us to perform a super-far scan of Rangel-3.”
“Sir?”
It was Pointer and Blake knew her well enough to detect the fear.
“What is it?”
“There is no Rangel-3.”
Blake wanted to ask her to repeat the words and after that he wanted to ask for confirmation – a second opinion from another competent officer. He knew he’d be wasting his breath.
“We destroyed a sun.”
“No, sir, we destroyed the Rangel-3 solar system. Felspar is gone.”
“What about Lox-Pion?” he asked numbly. The planet Lox-Pion was the eighth planet and on the far side of the Rangel-3 sun at the time of the conflict.
“Gone as well, sir.”
The numbers weren’t hard to add up. Felspar and Lox-Pion were approximately thirteen billion kilometres apart when the bomb exploded and now both planets were gone.
“Thirteen billion klicks,” he said.
“Minimum,” said Hawkins. “The maths guys will probably be able to come up with a number based on the Fulminator’s speed and the amount of damage we sustained.”
Blake sat down. “The blast sphere could conceivably exceed one hundred billion klicks.”
“Conceivably.”
In the context of the universe as a whole it was nothing. An insignificant event lost in the infinite. It was the promise which was important. If an unstable, imperfect Obsidiar-Teronium bomb could do this, what would be next, when they worked out how to properly refine Obsidiar? And when they managed to fuse it with something else that made it a trillion times more efficient? What sort of bombs would humanity control by then?
Better we have them than somebody else, thought Blake. Humanity has had its wars and now we’re one of the few species that isn’t trying to kill every other poor bastard out there in the universe.
In his mind, he pictured the file image of the Destiny bomb. This one had a nameplate in the same way all the others had their own nameplate. Except this one was blank, as if nobody had dared come up with suitable words to capture the essence of what Destiny meant for the future.
“At least we won, huh?” said Hawkins. “We took a kicking, but the Aranol came off worse.”
“Yeah, maybe it’s time for celebration instead of acting like we lost,” said Quinn. “How about you get us a round of drinks from the replicator, sir?”
Blake wanted to share in the optimism. In the wake of the bomb’s detonation, he’d almost forgotten what it was designed to accomplish. What it surely had accomplished. Until he knew for absolute certain, there would still be that nagging doubt.
“How are you getting on, Lieutenant Pointer?” he asked. “Rangel-3 is gone. What about our enemy?”
Pointer stared at the reams of sensor data on her console’s centre screen. She spotted something which caused her to jerk as though she’d been touched with a live cable. “We haven’t won,” she said quietly.
“I don’t want to hear that, Lieutenant.”
Pointer waved Cruz over for confirmation. Within moments, Cruz’s face went pale. It told Blake everything he needed to know.
“There’s no doubt?”
“No, sir. The Aranol is in the same place as we left it.”
Blake punched the comms console. “It can’t be!” He closed his eyes and forced himself calm. “Can you give me anything more? Is it damaged? Is it moving?”
“It’s not moving. I can’t tell you much else, sir. We’re too far away from it.”
“It’s smaller,” said Cruz. “Significantly smaller.”
“That’s got to mean it took some damage,” said Blake. “Get me Admiral Talley.”
It took less than five seconds to get hold of him.
“Captain Blake, what news?”
“We didn’t destroy the Aranol, sir. It’s right where we left it and I believe it has sustained damage. I can’t give you specifics.”
Talley didn’t answer at once and Blake could picture the man summoning up his reserves of strength.
“I’ll get a message to Fleet Admiral Duggan letting him know,” said Talley. “We’ve lost far more than I hoped and now this.”
“We’re still in the hunt, sir. Might I provide a recommendation?”
“I think I know where you’re going with it.”
“We can’t delay. We’ve been hurt, but so has the enemy. We should return immediately and finish what we started. If the Aranol is damaged it means we have depleted its shield and that gives us an opportunity.”
“I understand what you’re saying, Captain Blake.” Talley’s voice strengthened. “We have not yet deployed the Worlds Apart bomb. If the Aranol is unshielded, we may yet surprise the bastards.”
“I’m sure they are already surprised, sir.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Damnit, I thought Destiny would be enough, but I will not permit this second chance to slip away! I will rally the fleet and we will return!” He gave a bark of laughter. “I bet John is furious at sitting this one out.”
“I imagine his wife is happy, sir.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. If Fleet Admiral Duggan is furious, I can guarantee you Lucy will be incandescent.”
The arrangements didn’t take long and Blake found himself impressed by Admiral Talley’s organisational skills and willingness to listen to advice. There was more than one admiral in the Space Corps who Blake was sure would shy away from taking direct action having suffered such devastating losses in the first encounter with the Aranol.
“Only ninety-five ships this time,” said Pointer. “The rest are too beat up to make lightspeed safely. They’ll have to wait for a pickup.”
“Half of the ninety-five aren’t in great shape,” said Cruz. “And the other half aren’t much better.”
“It’s what we have, Lieutenant.”
Blake watched the updates on the battle network as the lightspeed-capable ships signalled their readiness.
“We’re going all-guns blazing again, folks. Keep the stealth modules deactivated – we take the punches the same as everyone else.”
“Our shield is at fifty percent,” said Quinn. “We won’t be taking too many punches from those gauss turrets.”
The final warship checked in.
“That’s us ready,” said Blake.
There were some occasions which benefitted from extra preparation time. This wasn’t one of them. If the enemy was weakened, it was important to strike before their shields could recharge or come back online. The ES Maximilian triggered a fleet-wide short-range transit and the spaceships entered lightspeed.
The journey wasn’t long, but it was enough for Blake to reflect that he hadn’t been expecting to fight again so soon after using the Destiny bomb. It was meant to be an all-or-nothing response to the Vraxar – a device to save humanity or to fail utterly. Instead, the indications were that the fighting would shortly continue, like a contest between too bloodied, battered opponents who’d been so exhausted by the opening exchanges they were required to rest before beginning once more.
His wandering imagination did not prepare him for the truth.
“Entering local space,” said Lieutenant Quinn.
“Commencing local scans,” said Pointer. “I have located the Aranol and…”
“And what?” asked Blake sharply. The enemy ship appeared on his tactical screen as a huge, red dot, surrounded by dozens of much smaller green ones representing the Alliance Fleet.
“Still checking, sir,” said Pointer. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on.”
“Target locked, firing missiles,” said Hawkins.
Half of the Fulminator’s missile clusters were gone. The launchers which survived the Destiny blast slid open and missiles spilled into space. Elsewhere, the other members of the fleet unloaded with everything they had.
On the Fulminator’s bridge Blake was still awaiting answers from his comms team. “What about other hostiles? Where is their fleet?”
“There are no enemy spacecraft on the nears or fars,” said Cruz. “Starting on the supers.”
“The enemy fleet is gone,” said Pointer. “I’m sure of it.”
“Where?” said Blake.
“Destroyed, sir. Look at this – coming up on the main screen.”
The Aranol hung motionless in what had once been the Rangel-3 solar system. The planets and the sun were no more, having been so utterly obliterated by the Destiny bomb, there weren’t even detectable clouds of dust on the sensors.
The planetship was much smaller than before, with a diameter closer to one thousand kilometres than six. It was still a perfect sphere, though where it had previously been the darkest of greys, now it was a black so deep it seemed to absorb light and it stood out against the background of space like a sullen disk. The outer structures of the spaceship were gone and what remained of the Aranol was smooth like the nut at the centre of a rotten fruit.
“We took out its shield and everything else apart from the core,” said Blake in wonder. “How the hell did they manage to live through that blast?”
The first wave of missiles detonated against the Aranol’s shell, while the Maximilian fired three of its overcharge particle beams. The Fulminator came within fifty thousand kilometres and Hawkins discharged the two underside beams, which thumped and whined.
“Direct hit,” said Hawkins. “Let’s see how they like it.”
“There’s no sign of damage,” said Cruz. “No increase in surface heat, no impact craters. Nothing.”
“Is there any indication the enemy are building up for a response?” asked Blake.
“Not yet, sir. We have the Sandarvin and Rawklond with us, so we should be able to withstand the first stasis attacks. And there are no turrets on what’s left of the Aranol. I don’t even know if they have any offensive capabilities remaining.”
“They’ve got something,” said Quinn. “There’s an incredible amount of power flowing out to the surface of their ship.”
Blake didn’t want to find out what the planetship was capable of. The Destiny attack had been at least a partial success, albeit in a different way than expected. The blast had stripped away most of the Aranol’s outer structure, appearing to destroy potentially thousands of Vraxar spaceships it kept in its hangar bays, whilst leaving the centre entirely untouched.
The Aranol wasn’t at all helpless and it used its stasis emitter, which the Sandarvin nullified. The Rawklond discharged its particle disruptor and the planetship was engulfed. Shimmers, Lambdas and Ghast Shatterers ignited within the midst of the incendiaries. It was an awe-inspiring sight.
Then, from the midst of the fire, Blake saw the Aranol’s immense disintegration beam lance outwards. The beam was broad enough to hit three spaceships and it was followed immediately after by a second beam which destroyed the Sandarvin. The Vraxar had evidently had enough of the Oblivion’s particle disruptor and its stasis nullifier.
“Damnit!” shouted Blake. “What the hell is going wrong here? They should be out for the count!”
It was Quinn who realised the problem.
“Sir - I spoke to Captain Decker about her work when we were in Estral Space,” he said, talking quickly. “About how the Lightspeed Catapult shifts phase when it creates the wormhole.”
Missiles continued to strike the Aranol and the Sandarvin fired a second particle disruptor, followed a moment later by its stasis nullifier. Million-degree flames encircled the planetship, hungering fruitlessly for its destruction.
“What are you trying to tell me, Lieutenant?”
“It’s out of phase, sir! We’ve destroyed the Aranol’s outer shell, but they’ve got sufficient power to keep the core in a different time phase to the rest.”
“We can’t damage them,” said Blake, realising the implications.
“Lieutenant Quinn is correct, sir,” said Pointer. “What’s left of the Aranol is completely untouched by our attacks.”
“While they can kill us at their leisure,” growled Blake. “Contact Admiral Talley and advise him, Lieutenant.”
“Do you have any recommendations, sir?”
“Hold off with the final Obsidiar bomb.”
“Admiral Talley acknowledges. He asks your opinion on whether or not we should break off.”
Blake threw his hands in the air. “What choice is there? We have to keep up the attack in the hope something gets through.”
Before they could lay down anything more than the most basic of plans, the Aranol vanished. There was no warning, or build-up – the Vraxar planetship entered lightspeed and was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Alliance Fleet comms went crazy with questions and guessed answers about what the enemy were up to.
“Find out where the hell those bastards are going!” said Blake.
“I’m on it, sir,” said Quinn. “The predictive modelling software is tapping into the sensor data. If they’re staying local I should have an answer for you shortly.”
The Fulminator’s exterior was badly damaged, but its core clusters were intact. The Obsidiar processors hit one hundred percent utilisation and stayed there for a few seconds, before the answer came up.
“They’re going to Old Earth, sir,” said Quinn.
It wasn’t a surprise. The Vraxar were here to punish the Confederation for its resistance, so it was natural their first choice would be the home of humanity.
“Make sure Admiral Talley is aware.”
“He just worked out the answer like we did, sir. He has spoken to Fleet Admiral Duggan and the advice is to pursue.”
There was no other advice Duggan could have offered.
“It’s ten hours to Old Earth, sir,” said Quinn. “The Aranol can probably manage it in two hours unless they’ve lost some of their propulsion systems in our attack.”
“What do you think?”
“I think what’s left of the Aranol is made up from near-solid semi-depleted Obsidiar, sir. I think they’ve got practically unlimited power to get them to Old Earth.”
“That’s what I think too, Lieutenant.”
“The Alliance Fleet is synchronising in preparation to depart,” said Quinn. “We’ll be on our way in less than fifteen seconds.”
“To face an enemy we cannot possibly defeat,” said Blake too quietly for the others to hear him. “Let’s give it another go,” he added, louder this time.
“Five seconds.”
The Alliance Fleet entered lightspeed on a course which would see them reach Old Earth long after the Aranol arrived. There was a single warship left behind in the area of space which had once been home to the star Rangel-3 and its nine planets.
“Our fission engines didn’t launch,” said Quinn. “There’s been a remote override.”
“Why the hell would anyone do that?” asked Hawkins. “I didn’t even think that was possible.”
The cause was soon revealed.
“I’ve got Fleet Admiral Duggan on the comms,” said Cruz.
Duggan’s voice was calm on the surface, but Blake could detect the undertones of tension. It was the voice of a man who was going to say something he hated.
“Captain Blake, I used Cerys to stop your lightspeed engines firing in order that I might talk to you.”
“What is it, sir?”
“Admiral Talley has provided details about your engagement with the Aranol and the outcome.”
“Our weapons cannot harm them, sir. Not while they are in a different phase.”
“I know and I have an idea which might help us. Do you remember what I told you about the Estral missiles?”
“Yes, sir. They go out of phase for the amount of time it takes them to pass through an energy shield.”
“I conferred with Captain Decker on the matter and there are surprising similarities between the Estral missile tech and one of the control modules on the Lightspeed Catapult. They use different methods to achieve a similar result.”
Duggan was clearly heading somewhere important and Blake tried to predict the course of the conversation. It clicked in his head.
“The ES Cataclysm was out of phase when we left it.”
“And it’s still out of phase. Captain Decker has been studying it.”
Quinn was on top of his game today. “We are twenty minutes from the place we abandoned the Cataclysm, sir,” he said in a loud whisper.
“Do you believe the Cataclysm’s weapons systems have the capability to damage the Aranol?”
“That’s exactly what I believe, Captain Blake.”
“We’ll set a course at once, sir. I must warn you, we believe the overcharge repeater is in a state of failure and the Aranol is too large for us to inflict significant damage with our missiles. That’s assuming those missiles don’t return to their normal phase five thousand klicks outside their launch tubes.”
There was a hitch in Duggan’s voice when he responded. “I didn’t expect a different response from you or your crew. However, you are unaware of what this means – what I must ask you to do.”
“We are here, sir. Tell us what is required.”
“Board the Cataclysm and use the Lightspeed Catapult to pursue the Aranol. If you live through the transit and the catapult holds together, detonate the out-of-phase Obsidiar-Teronium power core. That should be sufficient to destroy our enemy.”
There were many questions and, on this occasion, the one concerning how the Cataclysm’s crew would escape was of secondary importance.
“Sir, did Admiral Talley inform you of the magnitude of the Destiny blast?”
“He did and I will advise you that the Obsidiar-T in the lightspeed catapult is in a completely changed state. Our projections suggest it will be vastly more potent pound for pound than the Destiny bomb.”
