Broken Glass (Glass Complex Book 1) (18 page)

“You don’t know?”

“No. My ears are ringing and everything’s spinning.”

Steg tried to settle the dizziness and reached out to the star ship’s system. To his dismay he sensed nothing, nothing at all. He tried to contact a Xesset system. Nothing. He shut his eyes as blackness again loomed. He fought it off and opened his eyes.

Denke spoke. “
Ziangka
reported the larger Xesset vessel self-destructed. The other two immediately hightailed it. One with us on board.
Ziangka’
s in pursuit, trying to keep up. These Xesset craft are fast.”

“The larger Xesset ship blew up?”

“Yes. It apparently was one helluva bang.”

Steg cursed his oversight. He had blocked the larger Xesset ship’s s-t drive ability, but had been too absorbed in merging with both
Ziangka
and Xesset systems, and as a result he’d overlooked its self-destruct routine. He’d been immersed in all systems when the alien ship exploded, tearing itself and its computer systems into tiny shrapnel and spreading the results across a suddenly torrid section of space. He understood
now
why he was feeling so bruised; the experience had jarred him to the bone.

“You said
Ziangka
’
s trying to keep up with us?”

“Trying is the key. These Xesset ships can move when they press the go button. We’re still receiving signals from
Ziangka
but unfortunately, as we are locked inside this hold, we cannot signal out. Prisoners of our own making. Currently neither Xesset or
Ziangka
can penetrate s-t fabric, because too many gravitational bodies are around here.”

“What’s your current plan?”

“For the moment we are sitting tight. The Xesset don’t know we’re here. Just as well; with only twenty marines we may not survive against a ship full of Xesset. We could try to infiltrate the ship. Or we can try to blast out of this hold and head back to
Ziangka
. Or perhaps we can wait for your head to stop spinning and see if you can control the ship’s system?”

“How much longer will
Ziangka
follow?”

“I can’t say. She’s falling further and further behind and at some stage the distance will be too great for them to track course changes.”

“Difficult.”

“That must be the understatement of the year,” interjected Cat. He and Captain Silver had been listening to the conversation with undisguised curiosity. “Stuck inside the hold of a Xesset ship that’s moving away from our base ship at a phenomenal speed is a tricky situation. We could break out. But we couldn’t do it, undetected. Xesset would really pounce on the mice, then.”

“So we have to take the ship over,” suggested Steg. The four men looked at him in wonderment.

A junior lieutenant interrupted them, squeezing into the small space remaining on the flight deck.

“Sir,” he addressed his captain. “The communication link with
Ziangka
has dropped out. The last I heard Control said she’d continue on this heading for another twelve hours. After that, we’re on our own.”

Denke looked at the Green’s captain. “How are you men coping with this?”

“They’re OK. Looking for a fight, if you can find them one.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“What are the odds of breaking into the Xesset ship?”

Denke considered the problem. “Well, we know the general layout. Over the last two—three years we’ve managed to put together approximate layouts from captured wreckage. They tend to have very cramped crew quarters and lots of empty space. Corridors are very narrow.” He sketched in the air. “Look, we’re here, in one of their boat holds. Amidships, if you like. Aft, the engine room and drive system. Forward, first we have crew quarters, then fighters or warrior-officers. Further forward, the bridge, weapons systems, and so on. The design’s not intended to support defense against an on board foe. Still very tricky.”

“If the engine room is aft—” began Steg.

“Aah, now you may have an idea,” interrupted Denke. “If we can get there, take over their engine room and stop the ship—that, Long John, should give your men the fight they’re looking for?” The Marine captain nodded. “The risk is, of course, if we succeed in taking over their engine room, the Xesset may trigger their self-destruct.”

“No, I have blocked their ability to trigger it,” commented Steg, realizing he was providing more details of his abilities than he had intended. “Or at least they can only manually trigger it from their engine room.”

“Hmm. So you weren’t just sleeping,” Denke observed. He did not expand on Steg’s comment. “The Xesset certainly will react. If their ship stops in mid-flight and
Ziangka
is bearing down on them and they can’t self-destruct, they’ll go berserk.”

“The other craft?” queried Steg.

“Difficult to say,” replied Denke. “If this ship stops with drive failure, the other one may stop to provide protection and support. The closing presence of
Ziangka
is likely to negate that reaction, however. I think—and I’ll run a probability check—the other ship will continue on and leave this one. They won’t place both ships at risk.”

“What about my cutter?” The pilot already knew his cause was hopeless.

“Cat, my friend, you’ll have to give up this little bird of yours. We need everyone on this; we’ll probably need to hold off a raving horde once they realize their engine room has been captured. Captain, brief your men. Full armor. The hold is airless and once we’re inside the ship, Xesset will blow the atmosphere, rest assured. And if they don’t, we will.”

They joined the armored marines who already were assembled in the cold and airless hold, eager to move into action. The marines speedily dealt with the lock to the interior of the ship; however, before they entered the interconnecting passageways, the marines set and armed a booby trap that would block access to the hold.

They cautiously moved along the passageways, following Steg’s directions. He had absorbed more details about the ship than he first realized, and now he was utilizing those memories to direct the team. Seemingly impregnable doors were quickly and silently opened, and then softly closed after the last marine had passed through. Although the marines were well trained and accustomed to shipboard actions, they were burdened with heavy weapons and all the explosives Denke had been able to remove from the cutter. Their armor exoskeletons complained against their burdens as they struggled to match Denke’s pace. Steg felt like an unskilled intruder as he tried and failed to match Denke’s mix of stealth and speed, traversing passageway after passageway on their long trip aft to the engine room.

“They have a small maintenance crew on continuous duty,” he whispered to Denke. “They have quarters alongside the drive monitors.” More and more information was filtering through to his awareness.

“How many?”

“Eight, ten at the most. Plus two or three armed guards.”

“Can you identify communication lines between the engine room and the command deck?”

Steg provided details and Denke organized a squad to insert explosives that would sever Xesset communication links in multiple places. Explosive traps were set along the corridors, hidden in air vents and shadowed areas where they would be difficult to detect. These were all placed to do maximum damage, and would be triggered remotely; the blasts would block corridors and hinder the alien forces. Denke also instructed the team to mine selected access locks.

“When we stop the drive,” he explained, “we can explode our mines; the loss of pressure’ll add to the confusion. With luck the Xesset may think a star ship has attacked them, or a missile penetrated earlier that did not immediately explode, and they may not realize we’re on board. We need to keep them under pressure and confused for as long as possible.”

Denke mapped out step by step tactics for their attack on the engine room using the now voluminous flow of details provided by Steg. Their final assault would be sudden and sharp, a shock attack with no quarter given. Denke also had stationed small teams of two marines each, along the corridors and passageways leading towards the engine room; their task was to hold off the expected counter attacks when Xesset forces attempted to win back control of their drive system. Each small team would fall back towards the engine room as they battled against Xesset forces.

Steg provided the Greens with details of access doors, of equipment locations and other data required for their push to capture the engine room and its vital drive. When the team was in control of the engine room, his task was to cut the Xesset drive.

Denke gave the signal to attack. The assault team moved forward, bursting into the engine room with a suddenness that took the Xesset engineers and guards totally unawares. The murderous chatter of hand weapons counterpointed the heavy crump of stun grenades as the assault team attacked and Xesset belatedly reacted. Acrid fumes drifted out into the corridor.

“It will soon clear,” commented the marine lieutenant who was standing with Steg.

Steg waited impatiently for the signal that the team had control. When it came he joined Denke in the engine room, ready to identify controls that would stop the headlong flight of the alien vessel. After one rapid glance he ignored the dead and wounded Xesset. He retained an after image of pale, almost paper white, hairless bodies; Xesset were short legged and long armed, and their hands and feet appeared overlarge. He concentrated on his task, studying workstations and controls, matching their features and functions to the memories he retained.

“Here,” he indicated a workstation and Denke moved to assist, clearing away aftermath of the assault. Steg at first struggled with the Xesset codes and controls and fought the clumsy keyboard. Then his confidence grew and he worked quickly and deftly at the workstation, keying in commands to isolate the engine room from the main Xesset system, hacking maintenance shutdown procedures and relying on memories implanted by his earlier experience. He gave an audible sigh of relief when he was able to enter his instruction to change the drive status. So far his unauthorized activities had not attracted attention from the command deck.

“Well, de Coeur, now we shall see how reliable all this is. Let me check with the Greens, first. Then on my mark, shut down the drive.”

Steg readied himself and at Denke’s command he killed the drive. Simultaneously, a ripple of explosions sounded in the distance. The alien ship seemed to stagger and then quieten as an unnoticed roar of sound suddenly was replaced by complete silence. Console lights flickered and died. Then pressure waves from numerous explosions washed through the corridors, warping bulkheads and buckling walls and panels. Finally silence reigned.

Denke checked with his scattered two-man teams. As yet no one had sighted any Xesset. The command deck now would be aware that some kind of catastrophe had occurred on their ship and a troubleshooting team shortly should be heading to the engine room.

Minutes passed. Each man waited alone, isolated by silence and nervous anticipation of pending battle.

“Contact.” Denke was reporting to all team members. “The first team has contact. Apparently the Xesset were unarmed. No survivors. No Fleet casualties. The first team has set its mines and is drawing back to join the second team.”

Time passed. Steg paced back and forth across the small engine room. Denke did not move; he was focused completely on the need to monitor his deployed forces.

“Mines triggered, section one,” Denke relayed. “Teams one and two, prepare for contact. Other teams, alert.”

The minutes ticked by. Xesset officers apparently had realized something was terribly wrong. They would be planning their next move with utmost caution and the marines braced for a major assault.

“Teams one and two, fall back one section. Team three, fall back and join team four. Mines in sections two and three now armed. Confirm.”

Shortly after the teams confirmed their positions, Xesset attacked in a suicidal charge of heavily armed fighters, desperate to regain control of their engine room. Xesset sustained heavy casualties and the few survivors broke off their assault and withdrew.

“All teams fall back one section. Mines in section four armed.”

The marines were starting to fall back to the engine room. They had given a merciless example of disciplined fighting against Xesset forces, in turn suffering only minor casualties. Now the attention and efforts of both groups would move closer and closer to the engine room until it became the focal point of violent conflict. Eager to join the fight, Steg was impatient with restrictions Denke had imposed on him. He listened to the exchange of communications as again Xesset mounted an assault, dispatching wave after wave of fighters into the deadly defensive fire patterns maintained by the marines. They held their positions against mounting pressure and again Xesset casualties mounted. However, now the sheer weight and desperation of Xesset attackers began to take toll of the marines. Each side was fighting a grim battle. Xesset needed to take back control of their ship and the Imperials needed to hold them off until
Ziangka
came to their rescue.

“Fall back to final positions, all teams. All remaining mines are armed.” Denke had set his final defense positions from which they could not retreat. The engine room was beginning to take on the appearance of a field hospital as wounded marines were carried in to shelter, for triage and treatment. Steg and Cat quickly worked to dress and patch wounded fighters, some of whom were in need of far more expert treatment. Fortunately so far the Imperials had not suffered fatalities.