Gamma Nine (Book One) (15 page)

The arm rests
detached from the rest of the command chair, extending slightly on
jointed arms to allow free movement of Gray’s arms. This free
movement allowed direct manual control of the Hyperion, enabling
precision manoeuvring of the giant vessel. Gray could feel the
control pins insert themselves into his arms, connecting himself to
the Hyperion’s OS, it was a primitive version of the technology
Titan’s used to control their suits with, but this one was still
very effective. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but the feeling
vanished as soon as the human captain’s mind melded with the ship’s
mechanical brain.

Gray’s voice
changed when the connection was completed, taking on a metal-like
tone. “BEAM drive shut down in ten seconds.” His eyes left the
displays, looking at Remy for a moment, he hoped it would not be
the last time he saw her. “Hold on my dear,” he said to her with
his robotic voice. His eyes flicked back to the displays around
him. “All crew! Hold on!” he shouted over the ship’s radio.

The Hyperion
started shuddering, the sudden shut down of its jump drive exerting
unimaginable forces on the vessel’s hull. Everyone on-board grabbed
onto anything within reach, hoping they would survive the next few
moments.

Even the Titans
had to steel themselves against the vessel protesting beneath their
armoured boots.

Whatever the
plan was, Captain Gray had to execute it perfectly, if he did not
they would not live for much longer.

“Remy! On my
mark, disengage the fail safes on the reactors, I need as much
power as they can provide,” Gray yelled over the almost unbearable
shaking. The Hyperion was slowly tearing itself apart, its
structural integrity stretched to its very limits.

Remy
frantically worked on her display, trying to maintain her footing
as she did what her captain had asked.

“Now Remy, do
it!”

The reactors at
the heart of the cruiser broke free of their virtual restraints,
flaring like new born gods, lending Gray the power he needed to
execute his emergency plan.

It was a simple
plan, but it required perfect timing, something only the most
experienced captain in the galaxy could ever hope to pull off.

Once the BEAM
drive was shut down, the Hyperion would ride the light wave, using
the speed to drift outside of the path the drive had carved through
the void. The vessel’s void engines needed to be burned at exactly
the right moment, if they did not the forces outside of the wave
would be impossible for the vessel to take, breaking it into atoms
against an invisible wall of zero velocity.

The Hyperion’s
engines blazed with maximum power, replacing the propulsion the
BEAM drive had provided. To the crew it felt like the ship was
going to disintegrate any second, but on the bridge the captain
knew what he was doing. The moment between the decreased speed from
the jump drive’s shutdown and the void engines taking over almost
caused the Hyperion’s demise. It was that single moment that had
the highest risk, if the timing was off by mere seconds nothing
would be left of the crew except memories. And in the silent, cold
reality of space the memories on-board the Hyperion would vanish
without a trace.

But that would
not happen today, Captain Gray had timed everything perfectly,
proving once and for all that he was one of the best captains in
the entire galaxy. The Hyperion would be the first and only vessel
to ever break free of a BEAM drive’s light wave, recorded in the
history annuals of our race as a true legend. It slid out of the
light wave with diminishing shudders, slipping into the darkness of
the void mostly intact.

“We’re free!”
Gray said through gritted teeth, the strain evident on his
face.

Remy next to
the command chair almost cheered, stopping herself from showing
emotion in front of the crew just in time. “Impossible...you did
it!

“Watch it my
dear, you might just compliment me before you know it.” Gray was
still straining in the command chair, the vessel’s speed still
dangerously high. “I need to bleed off some of this speed before
the reactors burst. Remy, re-assert the fail safes if you
please.”

She was too
shocked to reply to her commanding officer, she just stood watching
the displays around the command chair.

“Snap out of it
girl!”

Remy was
ashamed of losing her concentration at such a time, she blushed
slightly, brushing her hair behind her hair again as she worked on
re-asserting the fail safes on the reactors.

“Captain, we
have a problem!” A deck officer seated at the scanners yelled at
Captain Gray.

“What is it
now?” he demanded from the man.

“It’s an
asteroid field sir, we are surrounded, and there is a growing
gravity well further in. Scanners can’t see past it.”

Remy spoke out
of turn before Gray could reply. “What the hell, that can’t be. An
asteroid field can’t just appear in our path. The BEAM drive would
have seen it in its calculations. We were supposed to pass the
planet Nox at this point in the jump. Where is it?”

“I think it is
everywhere around us my dear. But we can worry about it later; at
this speed we will taste our own asses up against one of these
rocks.”

Gray pulled
back on the controls, manoeuvring the giant vessel in an upward
loop dodging a colossal, spinning asteroid. The gravity wells
created by the spinning and drifting asteroids helped the Hyperion
decrease its phenomenal speed.

“Remy, find us
a path through this mess. We need to get clear of this so we can
get our bearings. I am flying blind here.”

Remy nodded and
went to work with the scanner officer, calculating the variables of
the asteroid field and the safest route out of it.

Asteroid fields
of this size were hazardous, not only because of the giant rocks
drifting constantly and unpredictably, but also because of its ever
shifting nature. There could be an opening one moment, and the next
moment two asteroids would collide closing that alley of escape
forever.

“Path
calculated, but we will have to amend it as we move through the
field.” Remy said as she transferred the data to Gray’s central
display.

The centre
display highlighted a virtual path through the asteroid field, a
three-dimensional overlay would help guide the Hyperion to safety.
The captain needed to follow the display, his bridge crew would
stay a few steps ahead of him, scanning and calculating as the
asteroid field altered itself.

Gray had bled
enough speed and was running the engines within tolerable levels;
the vessel was safe from self-destruction for now.

The Hyperion
needed to circumvent its ceaseless, rock prison before it could get
back on track with the mission, but that was easier said than
done.

Another
bus-sized rock bounced of the Hyperion’s hull, followed by blaring
sirens as another breach to the vessel’s thick skin was reported.
“Calculate faster Remy. We are taking a beating. I wish to keep my
beautiful ship in one piece.” Gray was sweating from the
concentration of piloting his ship through the asteroid field.

“It would go a
lot faster if you stopped asking me for updates every five minutes,
old man,” Remy replied, she was hunched over a larger display
table, her hands never stopping while she calculated and updated
the path they needed to follow to safety.

Gray could not
respond. He was too busy mumbling to himself while trying to stay
on course, battling with the ship’s controls. “Come on my big
beauty, tighten up that giant behind of yours...squeeze through
now...that’s it girl.” He spoke to the Hyperion as if she - Captain
Gray always referred to his ship as she or her - was a living,
breathing woman.

“Medical just
took a hit sir!” a crew member reported from the other side of the
bridge.

“Order Sabian’s
men to help,” he paused for a moment, dodging an asteroid the size
of a city, “seal anything that’s leaking into the void.”

“Sabian himself
is on route to secure the medical sector, the rest of his company
is busy putting out fires and rescuing trapped crew.”

“Good news.
What about Locke? Where are the Titans?” Gray asked, not directing
the question at anyone specific.

“Right here,
Willis,” Locke replied from the shadow behind the command chair.
“We wanted to see this from the front row.”

Everyone on the
bridge froze the moment Locke had spoken, one or two letting slip a
few drops of bladder fluid in their uniforms. No-one knew how they
were able to move so stealthily with all of the armour and weapons
they carried, but it was as if they just materialized out of
nothing. Like mythical phantoms appearing to prey on unsuspecting
victims.

The Titans
stood in a loose formation behind Captain Gray, Locke had his arms
folded, standing almost next to the command chair, looking at what
Gray was seeing on the displays.

Pyoter stood
close by, his massive heavy machinegun resting on his right
shoulder, belts and boxes of heavy calibre ammunition attached to
every possible piece able to hold equipment. The armoured giant
almost never bothered carrying his melee weapons, his physical
strength more than enough to kill most living creatures in the
galaxy.

Xander was
absently flicking the pin of an explosive grenade, his hands
resting on the belts of bombs festooning his stocky frame. His mind
was elsewhere, thinking about what grenade he should use first in
the mission. To him, it was like choosing a fine wine, every
situation needed to be paired with the perfect device.

Nathan, as
always, rested against the bridge’s metal wall directly behind the
command chair, mimicking his captain’s folded arms, he preferred to
remain quiet, just watching the activity on the bridge.

His brother,
Christian, was checking all of his weapons constantly, standing
slightly apart from the rest of the squad, symbolically not yet
completely a member of the Wolves. The fidgeting was already
getting on his older brother’s nerves. Nathan could only shake his
head in irritation.

Rivers was down
on one knee, working on a knee high automaton of his own design,
unscrewing the plating on the back of its metal head, calibrating
its systems. He had called the small robot Roger when Christian had
asked him about it on the way to the Hyperion’s bridge. Its eye
lenses zoomed in and out, beeping and squeaking as Rivers fiddled
with the cables inside his metal head, sounding somewhat pleased to
be given attention by his creator.

Locke rested
his hand on the side of Gray’s command chair, leaning slightly
forward to see the path Gray was following a little better. “How
long until we are clear of this?” he asked the struggling
captain.

“I have no idea
Gabriel. This doesn’t seem natural to me. We were meant to either
be destroyed during the jump or if we survived a jump exit be
obliterated in this asteroid field, like rock mines set up to tear
us apart. It has the makings of something very elaborate.” he
replied to the Titan.

“I was thinking
the same thing. It feels like a trap.”

“You read my
mind. A trap designed to kill us more than once.”

Their voices
were lowered slightly; Locke’s voice could be heard from small
speakers located in the extended jaw of his helmet. If you weren’t
looking at the Titan while speaking, you would have thought he was
wearing no helmet, the speakers broadcasting his voice with perfect
clarity.

“Beacon ping in
the asteroid field! It’s broadcasting something!” The scanner
officer yelled suddenly. His voice sounded panicked. “Straight
ahead of us sir!”

Gray felt his
stomach tense, something man-made inside the asteroid field meant
only one thing - trouble. “I want a deep-void pulse on the beacon.
Tell me what it is.”

The seconds
ticked by slowly as the scanner officer initiated a pulse strong
enough to pass through most of the drifting rocks ahead of them.
The pulse would bounce off of the beacon, confirming the identity
and exact location of whatever was broadcasting inside the asteroid
field.

The scanner
officer stood out of surprise as the pulse from the beacon pinged
back; he was already as white as a sheet, the shock robbing the
blood from his face. “It’s....it’s the Fateful Moment Sir!”

Remy looked up
from the display table, clearly confused at what the scanner
officer was reporting. “That is not possible. Its last known
location is almost half a sector away. Let me take a look.” She
walked over to the console in front of the officer, sitting in the
chair the officer had jumped up from. They talked in hushed
whispers for a few moments.

“Today is a day
of many improbabilities it would seem.” Rivers had finished
tinkering with Roger, and was also waiting for Remy’s
assessment.

“It would seem
so, “Captain Gray said, navigating the dangerous field while
everyone waited.

Remy pushed
herself away from the console; her body language was that of
someone in disbelief. “It’s confirmed. It’s the Fateful
Moment.”

Locke and Gray
looked at each other, a silent confirmation of the same idea
passing between them.

Locke turned to
face the Wolves. “Ready to spring a trap?” he asked them.

Two squads of
Sabian’s Lancer Elite were waiting for the Wolves, ordered in two
lines of thirty soldiers. They stood unmoving in their segmented
armour in front of a drop ship, the armour covering almost every
part of the fragile human bodies underneath. The emerald-green
armour was standard issue for all military personnel on active duty
across the galaxy. There was no Anctinium plating or interface
plugs, nor any assistance from a suit OS, it was just light-weight
steel formed into chest and limb plating. It did not offer the same
protection the Titan suits did, but it increased a soldier’s
survivability enough to make a difference during combat.