Lacuna: The Ashes of Humanity (4 page)

Their search and rescue Broadsword, infamous for taking on suicidal odds and returning alive. She slipped on her short-range communication headset.

"This is Lieutenant First Class Medola. Ah, I love hearing your voice, Captain. You always give us the best jobs."

Liao touched the talk key. "Not a hint of sarcasm. Amazing. You realise I'm going to kill you all one day, right?"

"Captain, the world's ending before our eyes. That means no more coffee. Life's already lost all meaning for me."

"Right, well, you're not wrong; I've got a job for you. The Broadsword
Farsight
went down in the Atlantic Ocean, full of survivors and a crew we're going to need in the coming days. I need options for retrieving a Broadsword crew with reduced reactionless drive capability and survivors, in fifteen minutes or less, that doesn't involve returning the
Beijing
to the surface. Go."

"Standby while we unload our own survivors and I think about it. A'right, everyone out! Sergeant, get these people out of here!"

Liao kept the line open. The brown dust on the ship's external camera monitors gave way to the faintest layer of blue skies, then open space.

"Captain, it's Medola. Spoke to the
Farsight
commander. Got a plan for you."

"Go."

"The
Farsight
is dumping their fuel and ammo before they ditch. We're having the flight crew unload what they can from the
Archangel
, and the same on the
Switchblade
. We don't have the time to transfer the crew, so we're going to have to get a bit crazy. The plan is this. Industrial strength cables, the stuff they use to restrain Broadswords on the flight deck. We're going to fly down, strap the
Farsight
to both the
Archangel
and the
Switchblade
, then haul arse to the jump point. Request authorisation to make magic, Captain."

It sounded impossible, but if anyone knew the structural limits of a Broadsword and what could be accomplished with a bit of luck and a lot of guts, it was the
Archangel
crew.

"Haul arse on my authority, Lieutenant Medola.
Beijing
actual out."
 

Liao closed the channel then reopened it almost immediately. "Actually, Lieutenant, after your thrilling heroics with the
Switchblade
last time, why haven't you made Captain?"

"Slept with Major Aharoni, sir. It'd be a conflict of interest if he promoted me after that. Mmm—can't say he was worth it."

Rowe, whom Liao knew to be dating Alex "Jazz" Aharoni at one point, shot the radio a filthy look and muttered something Liao was glad she couldn't hear.

"Well, fortunately you're not sleeping with me,
Captain
Medola. Bring my people back, and I'll make it official.
Beijing
out, for real this time."

She took off her headset. It was time to give Summer something to think about other than her ex. "Rowe, status report on the jump drive."

"Well, it's not
quite
as bad as we thought, Captain. There are fractures all around the surface, but I had engineering crews spot-weld what they could find. It's rough work, performed under less than ideal conditions with significant time pressure and improper tools, but it should get us through another handful of jumps as long as we don't have to emergency jump again. The whole outer shell will need to be replaced, though."

She mulled over this prospect as the ship sailed towards the jump point. The damage to her ship was distant to her and far less significant than she knew, on an intellectual level, it should have been. "How long will that take, assuming we don't have access to the proper manufacturing process or anything?"

"Outside of Lunar space dock? Nine months. Best case scenario. Probably more."

Not a great scenario, either. "We'll try to avoid emergency jumps then." She turned to Dao. "How long till the jump point, Lieutenant?"

"Fifteen minutes, Captain."

Fifteen minutes would pass in the blink of an eye. Liao studied the monitors before her. "And the Toralii are still ignoring us?"

"For the most part, Captain. In fact, they appear to be pulling away from Earth."

"Guess they got their fill of murdering civilians for today. Estimate on the casualties on the surface?"

Nobody spoke up. Nobody had any kind of estimates, and their guesses were as good as hers were. "That bad, huh?"

"Pretty much," said Rowe.

"Captain," said Jiang, "report from the
Archangel
. They're attaching the retrieval cable to the
Farsight
now."

"Good. Keep me posted as to their progress."

Iraj tapped his console. "Captain, the
Madrid
is holding at the jump point until we're ready to jump with them. We're beginning to decelerate to pull alongside them."

"Acknowledged, Commander. Status on the
Washington
?"

"Long gone, Captain. They jumped while we were on the surface."

"Anderson's a smart man."

"Captain," said Hsin, his tone conveying distress, "receiving a long-range signal from the
Archangel.
They report that they attempted to lift the
Farsight
out of the ocean but the cable snapped. It might have been damaged during atmospheric re-entry. They request permission to return for another two so they can tie them together."

A glance at the navigation monitor on her command console gave her the answer she knew was true. "Denied. Have the
Switchblade
and
Archangel
evacuate as many survivors as they can between them and flood the
Farsight
. Send it to the bottom of the ocean so the Toralii can't recover it."

Not that they would care about Human technology, but protocol was protocol, and it felt good to have some clear direction to follow.

Hsin relayed the message. Liao could hear him arguing with Medola in the background. She gritted her teeth.

"Mr. Hsin? Instruct the
Archangel
that this order comes directly from me. I expect it to be obeyed immediately."

"Aye aye, Captain."

They had lost too many lives today. As grave as the loss of a Broadsword was, Human beings were more important. The survivors aboard the bomber were more important than the metal. They could always make more ships.

Or could they? Space or fire filled every one of the monitors around her. Every industry on the planet had been annihilated. Could they really make more ships?

She wouldn't allow herself to go down that line of thought. People had to come first.

"The Toralii are coming about," said Ling, jabbing a finger at his monitor for emphasis. "Captain, the strike fleet is turning back to Earth."

Liao frowned. "Why?"

"It's hard to tell at this stage, but they appear to be making for the
Farsight
splashdown point. They're launching strike fighters."

She had no idea why the Toralii would let so many Humans escape but then take particular interest in a single ship. The aliens' motivations were opaque to her. It might be a slight upon their honour to allow an armed vessel to travel through space they considered "theirs", or perhaps they were simply concerned about counterattacks, or any number of what-ifs that circled her brain, all largely unimportant. The reasons didn't matter.

"How long until the worldshatter devices are within firing range of the
Farsight
?"

"Five minutes," said Jiang. "Less. They didn't move far."

"Captain," said Dao, "we have arrived at the Earth-Moon L1 point. We are in formation with the
Madrid
. They're waiting for us to jump."

They should be long gone from this place like the
Washington
, but the
Switchblade
and
Archangel
were still out there. She reached for her long-range communications headset.

"
Beijing
actual to Broadsword
Archangel
, Broadsword
Switchblade
. Report status."

Medola's voice, barely audible over the howl of wind and the crashing of the roiling ocean, filled her headset. The whole craft must be open. "Captain! We've evacuated some of the
Farsight
, but they've got a lot of wounded. Some are pinned in the lower decks."

"How long?"

"Fifteen minutes, Captain. Maybe twenty."

Command was about making hard decisions. The thought didn't make things easier, but it made things simpler.

"
Archangel
, the Toralii have made you. They're coming to your location. End the operation and withdraw with the
Switchblade.
Get out of the atmosphere and head out to the L4 point; rendezvous with us at Velsharn when you're free."

"Negative, Captain, we need more time. We've picked up less than half the survivors."

"And that's all you're going to get. I'm giving you a direct order to head to the L4 Lagrange point and jump, effective immediately."

No response.

It was a serious breach of protocol, ignoring a direct order. There would be hell to pay for this, but for now, the Broadswords had to save themselves. Liao tried again, her tone softened slightly. "If you stay, you'll die, and so will all the people you've saved so far. We're going to need them in the coming weeks, Lieutenant."

Nothing still, and then Medola's voice returned, minus the howling wind. "Copy that, Captain.
Archangel
disengaging."

"Very good.
Beijing
out."

Liao took off the headset and then reached into her breast pocket for the key to the jump drive. "This better work."

Rowe shrugged helplessly. "Velsharn locked in, Captain. If I screw up, well, at least we'll all die quicker than the poor bastards down there did."

"Wait," said Hsin at Communications. "Captain, we're receiving a communication from the Toralii Alliance vessel
Seth'arak
."

Avaran. Liao could barely stand to talk to him, let alone be civil. She reluctantly placed the long ranged headset over her head.
 

"This is
Beijing
actual."

The voice filled her ears, so full of pride and smug accomplishment she wanted to retch. ["How pleasant it is to see you again, Commander Liao."]

"You're a gutless bastard, Avaran. You murdered billions of people today. Innocent men and women.
Children
." Her tone turned acidic and emotion, anger, surged in her for the first time. "Saara tells me that Toralii believe children to be the greatest treasure anyone can have. My daughter was on that planet." The force of remaining calm almost broke her. "She was a year old.
One
. An infant. How can you do this? How can you murder innocent people?
Children
?"

["Not
our
children,"] said Avaran. ["The children of an impetuous, reckless race who misuse universe-destroying power, who gallivant around the galaxy heedless of the risks they take for all of us. I did not murder Human children, Captain Liao, Slayer of Varsian the Immortal, I
saved
them. The children of the Toralii. The Telvan. The Kel-Voran and the Iilan and all the other living races. Your anger is misplaced;
you
and your avarice killed your children. I saved the ones who were left."]

"We will never forgive you." It was a simple statement of undeniable fact, spoken for all of them. "We will
never
forgive you for this, Warbringer Avaran, and as long as I live, you're going to pay for what you did today."

["No,"] he said, ["I will not. Run where you will, Commander Liao. Our ships will find the rest of you, and we will destroy your species."]

She could stand to hear no more and cut the connection. She tore the headset off her head and flung it across the room.

Silence reigned for a time and then—somehow—Liao collected herself. The anger faded and the emotionless robot returned.

"Mr. Iraj."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Jump the ship."

Iraj moved to the jump console, and she followed suit, the pair of them sliding their keys in. Liao raised her head to the monitor that showed Earth—a dark, roiling ball that seemed so unrecognisable to her now, consumed by fire and smoke—and took a last look at her homeworld as she turned the key.

C
HAPTER
II

Better Days

*****

L1 Lagrange point

Planet Velsharn

Velsharn system

L
IAO
GENUINELY
THOUGHT
THE
SHIP
was going to break up this time. His metal hull strained and twisted, protesting the treatment with a loud, profound groan that echoed through every bulkhead, every deck-plate of the entire ship.

Eventually it settled, taking far too long to do so for Liao's liking. In the commander's console, the floating blue ball of Velsharn floated in space, as beautiful and serene as the last time she saw it, a stark contrast to the Earth they had just left.

The ship began to move, clearing the jump point for the Broadswords behind them.

"Report," she said, reaching up to wipe sweat from her forehead.

"Jump successful," said Rowe, "more or less. But Captain, I'm serious—really, really serious—we shouldn't try jumping again so soon. I mean, not now, not for a long time. The jump drive's fracturing deeper into its core. If we push it, it'll break for good, and we simply will not have the capacity to fix it."

Rowe was prone to hyperbole and exaggeration, but this time Liao could tell she was serious. "Noted," she said, staring at the planet. "We're not going anywhere. Dao, clear the jump point. Move us to within ten minutes of entry, though, in case we need to move and move fast."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

"Mr. Ling," said Iraj, "keep a watch for any further contacts, especially the
Archangel.
"

"Aye, sir. So far scope is clean, no hostile vessels."

"Did the
Washington
and the
Madrid
make it?"

"Yes, Captain. They're holding just outside the jump point."

That was a relief, but they had other issues to deal with, too. James jumped into her mind. His ship would be at the Telvan world, Belthas IV. "Launch a Broadsword," said Liao to Jiang, "and deliver a message to the Belthas system."