When the Stars Fade (The Gray Wars) (12 page)

             
“ExoPod overloaded. Automatic launch halted. Manual override is necessary to release pod
.
”

             
Edward looked back over his shoulder at his terrified crew. He allowed a few more people into the shuttle and closed the lock from the outside, ignoring the shouts of protest. Floating to the other side of the launch bay he found the control panel for the manual release of the pressurized door. He input his access code and a handle emerged from the wall. The word
s“
Emergency Overrid
e”
stood out in red and yellow letters.

             
He took one last look around the hall, at the eyes of the men and women who were
n’
t going to make it off his boat.

             
“
I’
m so sorry
.”
Edward gripped the handle on the wall and heaved up.

             
The blast door slammed down, the sound of clanging metal overpowering the protests and pleas of the crew. Sixteen small charges detonated with barely audible pops. Then the ballast door blasted off its hinges, flying out into space. The pod led the way, launching in an awkward tumble toward the amassed Terran front. A horrid sound of groaning metal quieted the room. With a sickening crunch, the blast door broke loose from the wall and flew unhindered into space. Screaming and flailing for something to grab, the remainder of the crew followed. Edward remained in place, his arm hooked into the handle. He shouted in pain as his arm bent and fractured under the stress. Just as he felt the invisible hands pulling him away, the emergency shutoff kicked in, closing the vented portal. Edward drifted above the floor, coughing from oxygen deprivation. The air stank of ozone and halon and caught in his throat with each breath. Bodies covered the ground, faces stretched into masks of pain and fear. More floated outside, frozen straight through.

             
Now a new alarm sounded. This time, Edward smiled. He let his body float upward as a cool metallic voice spoke.

             
“All pods released. Fusion core overload in progress. Clear the immediate area
.
”

             
His arms was shattered, bent and dangling loose in his sleeve. Blood filled his mouth no matter how often he spat it back out. But there was still a mission. Summoning a final reserve of strength, Lieutenant Lautner set out on one last task.

*              *              *              *              *

              Cameron and George finished towing the overstuffed ExoPod to
Midway
and released their lines, allowing a recovery ship to grab the shuttle and carry it the rest of the way. They turned back into the fight to see
Savann
a
’
s engines suddenly fire out, pushing the heavy frigate toward the enemy carrier. Whittled down by overwhelming fire, every cruiser, frigate and destroyer from the black fleet burned in a floating sea of melted metal and shattered hulls. As
Savanna
approached, the last remaining fighters launched a desperate counterattack.

             
The bolts and bombs tore into the damaged hull, but momentum carried
Savanna
past the field of broken ships. With a stomach-wrenching crunch, the missile frigate drove deep into the belly of the carrier, fire spewing from the collision. The impact fused the two crafts, sending them on a wild spin. Debris spiraled around the derelicts as they tumbled together.

             
From every direction, enemy ships converged on the human warship.

*              *              *              *              *

              The impact had
n’
t killed him. That in itself was a surprise, but Edward was used to his bad luck lingering. Alarms continued to warn that dangerous gasses were already being released around the overloaded core. H
e’
d thought that the impact would set off the incredibly volatile chemicals, maybe even take out the carrier in the process. He had
n’
t counted on the quality of the hul
l’
s construction.

             
With his one good arm, he pulled himself forward into the left missile array. Munitions floated around the room, some spilling propellant in a bubbling orange stream. The tubes emanated heat, glowing an alluring red. Every few feet he would stop, tapping a command into nearby panels. Alongside the grated path, standing thirty-feet from the deck, the Ten Plagues came to life.

             
One good round,
Edward thought.
All I need is one good round
. He went from rack to rack, trying to locate a single missile that still looked remotely held together. Toward tube 5, a single missile still clung to the magnetic ready storage. Had there not already been so many broken cases, Edward might have noticed the acrid scent of accelerant. In another circumstance, what happened next would have been tragedy. For Edward Lautner, it would be a sudden and fortunate turn of luck.

             
Sucking in his breath, Edward pulled the missile loose and pushed it into the glowing hot tube. He had just begun to close the door when the explosive detonated.

*              *              *              *              *

             
Savanna
erupted into a glowing blue star, completely engulfing the ships around it. Floating wreckages dissolved under the intense heatwave and the incoming fighters disintegrated. A trio of alien bombers ran straight into the inferno, disappearing in smaller puffs of orange and white. The ball of light and fire expanded rapidly, stopping only a few kilometers from the Terran front lines. A massive concussion wave rippled through space, knocking hundreds of satellites out of orbit and causing a rolling blackout across Luna. Dust kicked up from the blast swirled into a thick cloud that moved slowly across the moo
n’
s face.

             
Without any oxygen, the fire put itself out. As quickly as it started, the violence ended. Squadrons of Terran fighters searched the area, but all of the alien ships were destroyed. Huge undulating balls of slag floated in space, drawn slowly but imminently back toward Earth, along with the derelicts and debris. Lieutenant Young and the rest of Helios squadron began escorting rescue shuttles to pick up escape pods or ejected pilots. Lumbering Dodos and nimble Valkyries wove through the cluttered field in search of life. The remaining Fleet forces, including newcomers from CBG Sol and Venus SP, took up a blocking position between Earth and the silver navy. There had
n’
t been a single shot exchanged between the humans and the other group, but the blood was in the water.

             
Valley Forge
rotated toward the largest vessel, opening up every weapon port as it fired a salvo of flares into no ma
n’
s land. It was a posturing move, meant to intimidate. If that did
n’
t work, the twenty battle-scarred destroyers and frigates alongside the cruiser did the trick. As the carrier groups arrived toward the rear, pilots began taking bets about which side would strike first. No one wanted to be right.

             
Aboard
Midway
, Hiro sat in his chair and waited. He had survived the first part of the battle. Perhaps he could make it through the next.

             
At the center of the room, at a large computer station, Ensign Nari Suffra received an alert. As the communications officer for
Midway
, she handled all incoming and outgoing signal traffic. What caught her eye was
n’
t the message. The source stopped her heart mid-beat.

             
“Commodore
,”
she began, her voice wavering.

             
Hir
o’
s smile dissolved. He recognized the tone of the young office
r’
s words and his own pulse quickened
.“
What is it
?
”

             
Nari pointed to her screen, ashamed at how badly her hand shook
.“
I
t’
s a message. No encoding
.”
She swiped away images so only the words remained.

             
Hiro walked over and leaned down, staring dumbfounded at the message. His mouth dried up. Fighting to swallow, he typed a rapid reply and sent it out. Standing back up, Hiro moved quickly to the wall and grabbed the communication handset. He tapped his free hand against his hip, agitated.

             
“
Valley Forge
actual
.
”

             
“Sam
,”
Hiro said
.“
Tell the Fleet to hold fire. No matter what they see, no one shoots at the silver ships
.
”

             
Commander DeHar
t’
s voice came back low and angry
.“
What the hell are you doing, Commodore? We should push them out of the system before they decide to bomb a city or blow up a goddamn planet
.
”

             
“They have
n’
t so much as grazed one of our scouts. If they wanted to attack, there was plenty of opportunity before. This is an order, Commander
.
”

             
Sam was silent for a long time. Then, simply
,“
Understood
.
”

             
Hiro cleared the line and activated the PA
.“
Attention,
Midway
. This is Commodore Osaka. All soldiers stationed on this ship are to report to Alpha Hangar immediately. I repeat, all soldiers are to report to combat stations in Alpha Hangar
.
”

             
Ensign Suffra turned in her chair as Hiro ran toward the door
.“
Sir
?
”

             
Hiro turned, his hand on the frame of the door. He looked at his second-in-command
.“
Earl, you have the bridge. The
y’
re on their way here
.
”

-                           
VII                            -

              Cameron stared deadpan across his wing toward George. Between them, gliding on a flat stream of blue energy, a silver vessel unlike any the
y’
d ever seen followed a human escort toward
Midway
. Aside from a shimmering green bar across the front of the  craft, Cameron could
n’
t find a seam in the iridescent hull. Along with a full squadron of Phoenix fighters, silver saucers wove in and out of the formation. Their acrobatics came across as playful, but also demonstrated unbelievable maneuverability. Cameron could just make out the glowing outline of a kinetic barrier every time a bit of dust or debris flew into the shuttl
e’
s path.

             
The hangar floor was bare, save enough space for the craft to land and a good fifty soldiers on all three levels. Cameron and George looped around, docking on the top tier while the silver vessel hovered in place at the bottom. The dull thrum of the engines reverberated through the entire section of the ship, vibrating deep within the soldier
s’
chests. As three spindly legs descended from the bottom of the shuttle, it seemed as though the only sound in the world was that churning and grinding bass note.

             
Hiro jogged down the steps, an attachment of security guards and aides rushing to keep pace. For an older man, he was surprisingly spry. He jumped the last step, landing in front of the humming spacecraft. Easing between the growing crowd, the officer inched his way to the front.

             
There was no way to describe the ship without calling it alien. No metal known to man reflected light the same way, nor did there exist an engineer with such incredible skill. It was seamless, and the curves and angles were too perfect to be something off an assembly line. Around the room, a single thought passed through the minds of all present.
Who, or what, was about to emerge?

             
A line of light bisected the pristine hull, soon joined by other beams that crisscrossed the ethereal metal until a doorway formed. Steps emerged from the inside, dropping down until they touched the floor. Thirty seconds passed without a single sound, save the hiss of steam and the ebbing whir of the engine. From within the unknown vessel, footsteps approached.