“The Langinstol appeared on the tactical, sir!” said Becerra. “Some of the other ships are coming back!”
“Two more engine modules went critical!” said Fredericks.
“Target selected,” said Maddox.
The sensors went blank and Flint’s head thudded. “We entered lightspeed,” he said, gritting his teeth against the pain.
“It was a remote activation, sir,” said Lieutenant Bolan. “The command came from the Amber base.”
“Fleet Admiral Recker?” asked Flint, belatedly remembering that a lightspeed transit would cut the comms channel dead. He guessed at what had happened. The personnel on Basalt believed the Firestorm’s ternium drive had reached a tipping point and they’d sent it as far from the planet as possible, relying on the local fleet to finish off the last of the smaller Kilvar warships.
That meant Flint had one priority and the increased whining of the propulsion made him sure there wasn’t much time left.
“Lieutenant Fredericks, shut us down,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”
“Sir, I’m trying. The critical modules won’t respond. They’re resonating with the adjacent modules and the effect is spreading.”
“How long do we have and what will happen?”
“Minutes. Seconds. I’m not going to give you a prediction about the outcome, sir.”
“We’ve got a lot of people onboard, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir, we have.”
“You’re the best there is, Lieutenant Fredericks,” said Flint, turning so he could see the other man. “The technicians can’t fix this and I’ll wager neither RL Moseley nor Lera-Vel could do it in the time we have left. This one’s yours.”
“Damnit, sir,” said Fredericks, though from his tone, his brain was elsewhere. “It might be too late, but let’s try this. I can recover all the non-critical modules and hold them at twelve hundred percent overstress. If I divert their output into the critical modules, maybe I can…there!”
“Is it done?” asked Flint. “Already?” He wanted to jump from his seat and stand at the engine console, but he needed to remain at his station.
“Yes. Maybe.” Fredericks sounded exhausted. “The overstressed modules are containing the critical modules. How long it’ll last, I don’t know.”
“Should we evacuate?” said Bolan.
“There’s no shuttle on the Firestorm,” said Flint. “I assume they preferred to use that space for extra weapons or propulsion.”
“Damn.”
“I’ve got Fleet Admiral Recker on the comms again, sir,” said Becerra.
“Bring him in – open channel.”
“Captain Flint,” said Recker. “I see your engine man has worked something out.”
“Yes, sir. It’s not a permanent solution - we don’t know how long it’ll hold.”
“RL Moseley is on the comms to Lera-Vel. They may have the makings of a resolution.”
“Will it happen in time, sir?”
“It’ll happen in minutes. I can’t promise that it’ll be in time.”
“What about the rest of the Kilvar fleet, sir?”
“Gone. One of their battleships entered mode 3 and our lightspeed tracking hardware failed to locate its trail. Luckily, one of our remote monitors spotted it. Our fleet pursued and the Kilvar vessel was destroyed.”
“What now, sir?”
“For you, your crew and for me, a nervous wait to discover if the Firestorm can be returned to a stable state. After that? War.”
Five minutes went by and Lera-Vel arrived at the bridge. She spent several additional minutes in a three-way conversation with Lieutenant Fredericks and RL Moseley. In the end, their combined expertise was enough to shut down the critical ternium modules. It was a close-run thing, that much was obvious.
Fleet Admiral Recker was not prepared to allow the Firestorm back to the Amber base and a rescue vessel was dispatched.
As he sat in the starkly lit transport’s passenger bay, an hour after the last shot had been fired in the engagement at Basalt’s moon, Flint thought about the future. Hardship and death were coming in great measures.
Whatever war brings, I’ll face it head on.
Flint tipped back his head, closed his eyes and let the transport carry him home.
Amber
Fleet Admiral Recker sat at his desk, deep in one of the Amber underground bunkers. The Kilvar were gone – for now – but the base had suffered extensive damage. Much of it was recoverable, though only because the enemy warship hadn’t dropped incendiaries.
His mind wandered back to the Lavorix wars. The Lavorix had been equipped with vile weapons called extractors, which could suck the life from living creatures and use the energy for purposes which Recker had never gleaned.
Having heard a report about Private Arnold’s death, and how the Kilvar had drained his life, Recker was struck by the thought that perhaps the Lavorix’s efforts to extract life had been a way to contain the Kilvar. Perhaps, the Kilvar had a use for life energy that was so terrible the Lavorix had chosen to expunge life wherever they found it, so their opponents would be denied use of that resource.
Recker’s thoughts swum with guesses and possibilities. The universe could be appallingly cruel and, in his mind, it was a wonder that life strove to exist at all, given how easily and painfully it could be snuffed out.
Putting the thoughts aside, Recker bit down on his simmering anger and planned how he was going to deal with the Kilvar.
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Other Science Fiction Books by Anthony James
Survival Wars (Seven Books) – Available in eBook, Paperback and Audio.
Bane of Worlds
Chains of Duty
Fires of Oblivion
Terminus Gate
Guns of the Valpian
Mission: Nemesis
Obsidiar Fleet (Six Books – set after the events in Survival Wars) – Available in eBook and Paperback.
Negation Force
Inferno Sphere
God Ship
Earth’s Fury
Suns of the Aranol
Mission: Eradicate
The Transcended (Seven Books – set after the events in Obsidiar Fleet) – Available in eBook, Paperback and Audio.
Augmented
Fleet Vanguard
Far Strike
Galaxy Bomb
Void Blade
Monolith
Mission: Destructor
Fire and Rust (Seven Books) – Available in eBook, Paperback and Audio.
Iron Dogs
Alien Firestorm
Havoc Squad
Death Skies
Refuge 9
Nullifier
Scum of the Universe
Anomalies (Two Books) – Available in eBook and Paperback.
Planet Wreckers
Assault Amplified
Savage Stars (Seven Books) – Available in eBook and Paperback
War from a Distant Sun
Fractured Horizons
Galactar
Fulcrum Gun
Laws of Ancidium
Empires in Ruin
Recker’s Chance