Scrapyard Ship 7: Call to Battle (13 page)

Bristol sat next to Grimes in the cockpit, while Jason knelt between their seats. Hunched over a virtual display mere inches from the tip of his long nose, Bristol shook his head.

“What … what’s wrong?” Jason asked.

“We just got close enough to acquire a lot more data. Here’s the
Dreathlor prison barge
, meandering along at a snail’s pace.” Bristol leaned back to let Jason look over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was an oblong vessel, in the middle of the holographic representation, in that section of space. Bristol adjusted the view’s dynamics and they could now see a wider-scale perspective of space. An undefined blob of solid red took up the top third of the display.

“What is that?” Jason asked, leaning in.

Bristol used his fingers to zoom in on the blob. What first seemed solid was an illusion: They now saw, instead, thousands of smaller dots that were actually warships. Bristol said, “Drac-Vin.”

Seeing it, the magnitude of what Ot-Mul had amassed filled Jason with an overwhelming feeling of dread. Dread he’d have to keep to himself. “So … it looks like they will be converging about here,” Jason said, pointing to a location in front of where the two symbols would intersect—moving along their relative vector angles. “How long before they converge?”

“Eight hours,” Bristol said.

“And our ETA?”

“Four hours.”

“So we have four hours to reach
Dreathlor
, get on board, rescue Ricket and Gaddy, and take control of the vessel’s helm,” Jason said.

“Yes, and get that thing over to the loop wormhole. In essence, we have to get in front of Ot-Mul’s forces and beat them to the wormhole.”

“Is that even possible? Is that old barge capable of that kind of speed?” Jason asked, realizing implementation of his plan might not be feasible.

“No.”

“So how?”

“The prison barge isn’t traveling alone. There’s an armada of old Craing heavy cruisers … her protection detail … a detail that goes wherever she goes. I count ten ships encircling
Dreathlor
.”

“Is that supposed to be encouraging?” Jason asked.

For the first time Bristol smiled. “In time, you’ll be glad those big cruisers are there.”

Jason still didn’t get it. Sure, the
Starlight
,
with her Caldurian technological advancements, could probably put up a good fight against those heavy cruisers. But he didn’t see … “Wait … added propulsion?” he asked, seeing now what Bristol realized sooner.

“Each of those heavy cruisers has multiple high-yield drives. Land those big pigs at just the right location, secure them to the outer hull, and we’ve got ourselves a hot rod.”

Jason continued to stare at the display as Bristol brought up an even wider perspective.

“Here is the loop wormhole, our ultimate destination.”

Jason took it all in—the Drac-Vin forces, the prison barge, and the loop wormhole. “So exactly where does that wormhole exit, come out?”

Bristol tapped at the console until the display changed again. Two wormholes appeared—one showed the location into it, and the other showed its exit location, at the farthest sides of the display. He manipulated the display and like bending space when folding over a piece of paper, the two points were now virtually on top of one another. Bristol zoomed into the right-hand point and a grouping of several distinct star systems came into view.

“What am I looking at here, Bristol?”

“The beginnings of Allied space. Earth would be somewhere around here … obviously not in view; too many light-years away from this perspective.”

Jason now recognized the section of space Bristol was zooming in on. He stared at one point of light in particular: Jhardon. Her sister planets were now gone. Destroyed earlier by Ot-Mul’s Vanguard fleet. He continued to stare at the small, flickering point in space and thought of Dira. His mind filled with that last image of her standing in her majestic gown … looking so lovely … and the futility of their situation continued to permeate his thoughts.
God
… How she’d looked at him, the sadness in her eyes.

“They’ll plow through this corridor of space like—”

Jason cut Bristol off. “That’s not going to happen. That wormhole’s got to be destroyed. That’s all there is to it.” He looked over to Lieutenant Grimes, who’d remained quiet for the last few minutes. She turned her face toward him, her expression hard to read.

“What is it?” Jason coaxed.

She let out a long breath. “This is what it’s all come down to, isn’t it, Captain? Years spent fighting the Craing for the survival of our Allied worlds; for our own existence … Earth’s existence. It all comes down to this—what we can, or cannot, accomplish over the next few hours. I guess, I’m just sad that humanity … our history … might be coming to an end.”

Jason wanted to tell her to keep the faith, take stock in the fact they always seemed to find a way to pull another rabbit out of the hat. But there were no more rabbits. She was right. This was it. Everything hinged on the next few hours.
Dreathlor
was their last hope.

* * *

“Captain, we’re coming within phase-shift distance,” Grimes said.

Jason, seated next to Traveler, got to his feet and approached the cockpit. “Are we visible to them?”

Bristol said, “No. We could be right on top of them and we’d still be invisible.
Dreathlor
’s got ancient technology. The tech on those heavy cruisers is just as archaic. We’re safe, in that regard.”

“Life signs?”

Grimes checked her console readouts. “Each heavy cruiser has a minimum of three hundred crewmembers. As for the prison barge, I’m having difficulty getting an accurate true reading.”

May as well get the show on the road
, Jason thought. “Go ahead, phase-shift two hundred miles behind the prison barge armada, Lieutenant.”

The bright white flash came and went. Grimes adjusted the primary virtual display, manipulating it with her fingertips to hover high enough above the console for Jason to see the
Dreathlor
prison barge in all its glory.

“What a piece of shit,” Bristol said, glancing up at the ass-end of the biggest ship any of them had ever seen. Virtually every inch of the vessel was coated with streaks of what seemed to be orange and brown rust—something not possible in the vacuum of space.

“What’s with the rust?” Billy asked, now standing at Jason’s side.

“Rust is the conversion of a passive-eating ferrous oxide layer on iron,” Bristol said. “This ship isn’t made of iron. What you’re seeing is Galitamide mineral deposits. Similar to diamond crystals forming on the outside of the hull. One more example of why this prison barge has never been breached. Hull’s coated with an impregnable layer that only gets stronger over time.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not interested in blowing a hole in it,” Jason said. “How come I’m not viewing any of the heavy cruisers?”

“That’s because at this view they’re too small. Depending on where you’re looking, the barge spans up to eight hundred miles,” Grimes said. She manipulated the display again, bringing into play the zoom factor. Sure enough, one of the cruisers appeared, its bright blue thrusters on two aft drives.

Seeing Jason’s expression, Bristol said, “I know the cruisers look insignificant compared to the barge in size. Just remember, there’s no resistance here in space; their combined thrust will do the job.”

Jason nodded. “Can you bring up an internal layout of the prison barge?”

Grimes pulled one of the smaller displays forward and expanded it out. It looked like an intricate maze of both small and large compartments, with intersecting corridors. But the bulk of the internal space, Jason determined, was holding cells. The closest thing he could compare it to was the thousands of small indentations found on the surface of a golf ball. Somewhere in the vastness of that internal space were Gaddy and Ricket.

“Captain … we’re being scanned.”

Chapter 19

“Didn’t you say there was no way these older vessels would be able to detect the
Starlight
?”

Bristol was looking at the console; his fingers moved in a blur over the input device. “I didn’t say the scan was generated by any of these ships.” He scratched at a row of fresh pimples on his chin—one was beginning to ooze. “It doesn’t make any sense.” He continued to stare at the lines of code on his display.

Grimes and Jason exchanged a quick glance. Grimes said, “Sometimes it helps to talk things through … even if we don’t fully understand what you’re saying to us.”

Bristol looked up at Grimes with a furrowed brow. “No, I was wrong.”

“We’re not being scanned?”

“Yes, we are being scanned, but not by any ship in this vicinity. That’s what threw me. The scan has all the markers of a local nature, originating close by. Ingenious really … one of the heavy cruisers is being used as a proxy to retransmit the scan.”

Jason shook his head. “I’m not following.”

“It’s got to be coming from the Drac-Vin forces. Looks like there’s a vessel back there that has some kick-ass tech on board.”

“You’re telling me Ot-Mul knows we’re here?”

“Definitely,” he said, turning back to his display.

“I doubt the detection of one tiny, fairly insubstantial ship will divert the course of the Drac-Vin forces,” Jason said.

“There’s no need for conjecture, Captain. Thirty heavy cruisers and two destroyers just broke away from the fleet,” Grimes said. “They’re on a direct intercept course for
Dreathlor
prison barge.”

“How much time do we have before they get to us?”

“An hour, maybe an hour and a half. But if we can halt the forward progress of the prison ship, we can dramatically extend that timeframe … make it more like two or three hours.”

“The problem will be phase two. We need time to get the prison barge configured with those heavy cruisers … to build our hot rod. Adding thirty more heavy cruisers to the mix and the potential for a battle in space—”

“Maybe we can cross that bridge in several hours, Cap?”

“You’re right, Lieutenant. We need to get our ass over to the barge,” Jason said.

“Bring up the prison diagram again.”

Grimes did as he asked.

Jason scanned the thousands of lines. “I looked for a central bridge location before. It’s an unconventional configuration.”

“I suspect it’s like that for a reason,” Bristol said. “There’s probably an AI that pretty much controls every aspect of the ship, including all navigation. Another reason this ship has never been hijacked, they’ve removed the personal … organic … element.
Dreathlor
’s AI takes its orders from high command; everyone on the ship is only along for the ride. There is no ship’s bridge, per se.”

“There is this,” Grimes said, pointing to a compartment larger than any around it. “There’s significantly more conduits … cabling, coming out of there.”

“Maybe a warden’s office,” Jason said. “Can you separate the life form readings in the prisoner holding cells from the rest?”

Bristol turned back to his console. “Yeah … I was looking at this before. With the exception of about fifty organic life forms, the holding cells are empty.” Bristol brought up a new layer to the ship’s diagram. Yellow icons came to life at various points within the vessel. “I’m assuming these are prisoners, since they’re situated within these indentations, the holding cells. Exactly fifty. These others, I guess, are prison personnel … administrators, maintenance workers, and guards. All in all, about one hundred.”

“Can we pinpoint Ricket and Gaddy’s location?”

“Not through that massive hull. The materials it’s made of, its thickness … there’s just no way. The good news is it looks like all the prisoners are clustered together, here in one section.”

“What about those blue icons moving about here?” Jason asked.

Bristol smiled, “Oh, come on, Captain … guess what a Craing prison ship would have wandering the halls … in spades?”

“Serapins.”

“That would be my guess … a shitload of Serapins.”

“Forward everything you have to our HUDs, Lieutenant. Keep us apprised of anything happening with those ten cruisers. You may be playing hide-and-seek for a while. Do your best not to engage. Remember, we’ll need a ride home.” Jason gave Grimes a pat on the shoulder and turned toward the rear of the
Starlight
. All eyes were fixed on him.

“It’s
go
time.”

* * *

With the exception of Lieutenant Grimes, who was remaining at the controls of the
Starlight
, the assault team phase-shifted to a mid-ship location on the barge, one large enough to accommodate all nine, and not in proximity to other life forms.

Jason’s first impression of the vessel’s interior was its decrepitude. Being a naval officer, he’d had opportunities to visit multiple ship graveyards in the past. This old vessel had the same feel as those ships, which had long past been put to rest—where the salt in ocean seas had turned metal surfaces to rust; where years of wear and tear, and inevitable obsolescence, had taken its toll. But this vessel was far and above the dreariest he’d ever seen. The rust had been replaced by streaks of dirt and grime. Chipped layers of varying shades of gray paint covered the bulkheads. What lighting there was filtered down through yellowed fixtures, hanging down from high overhead cables. Dark shadows made every corner, every nook and cranny, a potential hiding place for danger.

“This is one creepy place,” Billy said.

Jason agreed. Even the unflappable Traveler seemed to be on edge. “I guess we’re in some kind of head … bathroom.” He scanned the ten or twelve protruding fixtures on the deck. They could be toilets—really
big
toilets. His HUD indicated the breathable air was at near-toxic levels.

Rizzo brought up his multi-gun. “Company’s coming.”

Jason, too, saw the blue icons on his HUD moving in their direction. “Either deal with them now or later … so let’s just take them out now and be on our way.”

With their latest multi-gun and battle suit advancements, going up against Serapins was far less of a concern than it had been in past months. But Jason was also well aware that overconfidence could have dire consequences. Billy and Rizzo took point and moved out from the head into a wide corridor. Virtually every inch of the bulkheads held suspended black pipes and conduits. A klaxon began to screech—the repetitive
beewooo
beewooo
beewooo
blared forth from all directions. Jason hadn’t been prepared for this—for them to be discovered this quickly. An ominous sign that things were already moving in a bad direction.