Lacuna: Demons of the Void (8 page)

Sheng inclined his head. “A scout?”

“Possibly,” answered Liao, frowning and leaning forward in her chair. “But scouting for
what
...? Are the Demons checking up on their handiwork? They’re a hell of a long way from Earth... I’m disinclined to think they travelled who-knows-how-many light years to end up at the wrong planet...”

Sheng didn’t have an answer to that. He merely shrugged. “It isn't given to us to question our good fortune. Let’s report this finding back to Task Force Command and terminate the shakedown cruise early. Helm, prepare to...”

Liao leaned forward over her console, frowning. “Belay that command.” She looked up at Sheng’s shocked face. “I have absolutely no intention of turning tail and running, Commander. This vessel is on his shakedown cruise – a test of his capabilities. Given the opportunity presented to us, I fully intend to test
all
aspects of its performance.”

Sheng stared down at his commander, open mouthed. “You’re going to
engage
them? Surely you can’t be serious.”

“I am serious,” she replied. And then as an afterthought, “and as Rowe might say... don’t call me Shirley. Power up the railguns. Load all missile tubes, and charge the hull plating. Helm, intercept that ship. Maximum sub-light. All hands to general quarters.”

The klaxon of the ‘general quarters’ echoed throughout the corridors of the ship. This was the crew’s signal to adopt their battle stations. Immediately the crew sprang into action; the heavy steel doors to the Operations room, and all over the ship, slid closed. This prevented a breach in any one section from spreading.

Liao glanced over her shoulder. “Communications, relay to Task Force Command what we have found. Inform them that we will be engaging the enemy momentarily.”

“Aye, sir!”

Sheng shook his head violently. “Captain! I must protest; this vessel is still being
tested
. It is not combat ready…”

“…And yet despite this I have every faith in this ship and her crew,” Liao replied, her tone even. “And I expect my orders to be obeyed. That hostile ship is significantly smaller, and presumably weaker, than the one that attacked Earth. Its appearance represents the perfect moment for us to test the
Triumph
class vessels in combat.”

“
Presumably
weaker?” Sheng practically spat out his words. “We have no idea what that ship can do, or if our weapons can even harm it. The mere fact that they’re here, and the intelligence we’ve gained from observing them, is invaluable!”

“I would have thought you’d appreciate the chance to bloody their noses, Commander Sheng.” Liao regarded him curiously. “After what happened in Beijing, I would have thought you’d jump at the chance...”

“These Demons represent a power beyond what we are capable of destroying,” Sheng said, jabbing a finger towards the radar screen near Liao. “So while your courage is admirable, I ask you... what if we lose? We’ll have tipped our hand
and
sacrificed this vessel for
nothing
, a pointless waste of one third of our naval assets!”

“I’m aware of the risks, Commander... and I’m not being impulsive about this. In fact, I’d imagined that I’d be holding
you
back in this situation.” Liao carefully and deliberately articulated her words with calm precision. “But the reality is this: if we cannot defeat a simple scout ship one on one, holding the initiative and the element of surprise, then all hope for future engagements is already lost.”

Sheng balled his fists, looking desperate. “Captain, please reconsider.”

Liao did not listen. Instead, she moved over to the tactical console and tugged down on her jacket. “Enough, Commander. Tactical – weapons status?”

“All missile tubes loaded, railguns at full power,” came the reply from Lieutenant Jiang, the woman manning tactical. Liao recalled what she had heard the woman say earlier... ‘I’m with stupid.’ Funny at the time, less funny in hindsight. Still, Melissa had to trust her judgement.

“Good.” Liao placed her hands on her hips. “Distance to target?”

“Fifty six thousand kilometres. We are closing at fifty kilometres a second. The target is still stationary... no movement at all.”

Liao wondered idly if the Demons had seen them... or if they had, but didn’t care. The initiative lay with them, clearly, and Liao intended to use it.

“If they’re going to just stand there and let us punch them, then let’s bloody their noses good and proper. Tactical, align railguns and prepare to fire.”

“Captain...” Moving behind her, Sheng leaned in closely. “I want my objections to this action noted in the ship's log.”

Liao’s head snapped around, glaring at the man. “Commander Sheng, at your request your objections will be formally noted in the ship's log. Now... prepare this ship to engage our contact.”

Sheng seemed for a moment as though he would contest the move. Then, with an angry sigh, he nodded. “...Sir.”

Liao watched the man return to his duty. Bringing her attention to the scene before her, she took a breath and slowly let it out.

“Railgun crews report ready,” came the call from Jiang.

Liao took another breath. Right at this very moment, they stood at the precipice of either the first victory of mankind or a stunning, catastrophic defeat. Sheng’s warnings echoed in her head – there was still time to avoid all this. They could still turn around and head back. There was some tactical sense in that decision. Even their brief contact would provide Task Force Command with a huge wealth of information on the Demons, including the very fact that they were still visiting the solar system. Their passive sensors and optics would be invaluable intelligence...

But there was more at stake here than simply facts about their enemies. Melissa firmly believed what she had said to Sheng earlier. If the Demons... aliens... were so supremely powerful that one of their scouts, apparently caught unawares, could not be stopped by the best humanity had to offer, then their fight, their struggle, was already over. Liao might as well find out either way.

“
Fire
.”

Act II

Chapter IV

“Fortune”

*****

Operations Room

TFR
Beijing

Space, near Jupiter

“Fire
.”

For a moment, nothing at all happened. Then a soft hum filled the Operations room as, fuelled by the ship’s nuclear reactors, the twin magnetic accelerators propelled their projectiles into space.

“Time to impact, Mister Jiang?” Liao asked her female tactical officer. Although it had taken her some time to become accustomed to after enlisting, as per naval tradition, even female officers were referred to as ‘Mister’. Liao didn’t exactly care for it, but it was a tradition and protocol.

“Fifteen seconds, Captain!”

“Mister Ling, any change in the target’s position on radar?”

There was a slight pause as Ling interpreted the radar’s information. “Negative, Captain. Due to the speed of the projectiles, by the time they see them the target will only have a few seconds to react before impact.”

There was a brief quiet as time ticked down. Liao inspected her radar, glancing between her senior officers, to ensure that everything was still working. Then the radar operator spoke up again.

“Captain, the projectiles have merged with the hostile target.” A pause as Ling consulted his long range radar screen. “I’m seeing numerous small contacts spreading out from the main ship in addition to a slight drop in mass. All consistent with a direct hit.”

An elated murmur ran through the Operations room. Ling’s voice was triumphant as he twisted in his seat, grinning to his Captain. “It’s debris, Captain. Good effect on target.”

Sheng called out from his own station. “Confirmed, Captain. There's a sizable debris field forming.”

Liao nodded with satisfaction. “Excellent work. Helm, close the rest of the distance to target. Inform the marines to prepare a boarding crew and prepare to salvage what we can from the wreckage... and someone wake up Summer. I want our best Engineering team on the job, and-”

“Captain!” Ling shouted over Liao, something that would be considered to be quite a significant breach of protocol. “The debris, it’s
moving
!”

A hush fell over the Ops room. Liao blinked in surprise. “
Moving
?”

“Straight towards us, Captain.” Ling’s voice intensified. “...in
formation
.”

“
他妈的
!” spat Liao. “That’s
not
debris! How big are they?”

“Approximately twenty metres long, ten metres wide, five high.” Ling spent a moment reading his radar again, tweaking some of the settings to get a more accurate picture. “It’s hard to tell since they’re all close together, but it seems like... it seems like they’re about the size of a fighter aircraft.”

The reality dawned on Liao. “That’s what they are; they’re
strike craft
.” A pause as the information sank in. “How many?”

“Thirteen- no, fifteen. And they’re closing fast,” Sheng called, “as is the larger ship!”

“So if the ‘debris’ we saw are strike fighters, did the railgun barrage even damage the larger ship
at all
?”

Liao was grateful that Ling nodded. “Yes, Captain. There is a lot of much smaller radar debris back at the Lagrangian point. We hit them alright, but to a fairly modest effect...”

Summer had warned that the railguns did a lot less damage than the nukes. They were moving so fast that the majority of their energy wasn’t transmitted to the target - they instead tended to go ‘in and out’, leaving a relatively manageable hole in their hull.

“Very well then. Keep hitting them with the railgun, maximum sustainable rate of fire, and load all missile tubes. Then open the launch doors. When they get into effective range, nuke the strike craft.”

There was a tense silence as the preparations were made, punctuated only by the occasional soft hum of the rounds of railgun fire.

“Status on railgun effect?”

Ling shook his head. “Minimal, Captain. They’re anticipating our shots and moving to compensate. Ten shots, two hits.”

20% effectiveness, Liao mused to herself. That was actually not
too
bad... but it wasn’t too good, either.

“Just keep firing. Any evidence of return fire?”

“Negative, Capt-.… belay that, the strike craft are-”

There was the faint rumble of some kind of impact ahead of them in the ship’s bow, followed by several more in quick succession. Senior Lieutenant Jiang from tactical spoke up, her voice charged with energy.

“They’re firing some kind of directed energy burst. External sensors report the hull temperature has increased by one hundred kelvin, and there’s significant beta and gamma radiation.”

Liao put her hands on her hips. “Evasive manoeuvres. Avoid the blasts as best you can. Damage assessment?”

More rumbles. Jiang checked her sensors. “The forward hull is now at four hundred kelvin, but the temperature is rising rapidly. If it reaches around one thousand two hundred kelvin, that’s it – the alloy begins to break down and return to its liquid state.”

Liao could just imagine the whole front of the ship boiling off and the catastrophic damage that would cause. She nodded. “That would be bad.”

Jiang, despite herself, couldn’t help a dry chuckle. “That would be bad. Aye ma’am.”

Liao grinned a strange, proud grin. “Let’s not break the ship on his first day out, then. Ling, weapons status?”

“We’re too close for railguns now. We can’t turn our bow fast enough to aim. However, missile crews report they are ready to fire, Captain. The hostile strike craft are getting into range...” The ship shook a little more violently. Alarms started calling out from Jiang’s console, echoing around the Ops room. “...but their fire is getting more intense, more accurate. Forward hull at six hundred and eighty kelvin!”

“Duly noted. The ship’s ballistic and since our guns are useless anyway… Rotate us one hundred eighty degrees to the incoming fire. Present our rear to them, and prepare tubes one through six. Mister Ling, fire when ready!”

“Aye ma’am!

More and more shots hit the ship’s hull, on the stern now. Liao put her hand on Ling’s shoulder. “Missiles, Mister Ling! Fire them!”

“Belay that
!
” Commander Sheng’s voice rang out across the room, cutting over the tactical chatter.

Liao spun about, a deep scowl on her face. Sheng moved over to her, stepping so close their faces were almost touching.

Sheng’s voice was barely a whisper, pleading. “Liao, just
listen to me
. It’s not too late to stop this! We can move past them, into the Lagrangian point, and jump back to Earth! The aliens will probably…”

“…follow us straight to Earth again, Mister Sheng. Or report their findings to their people, including their assessment of our significantly improved tactical situation. That’s not a good outcome for us, no matter which way you spin it.”