Shadow Core - The Legacy (28 page)

The beam was inching ever closer to the asteroid mining outpost the fleet had been using as a base of operations, the Captain's face going pale as he was informed that the beam would hit the base before the platform's particle chamber was depleted.

The Admiral knew that there was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen, the fleet was too far inside the dead zone to try and Burst to the platform's location, and even if they did, there was no way to disable the platform in time. The only thing he could do now was preside over the massacre which was about to unfold in front of his very eyes.

He had been warned by the construction crews overseeing the platform's development that the installation was not yet ready for active duty, that there were still too many unknowns with the system to try a test firing again, let alone a full discharge.

He had deemed it an 'acceptable' risk since all of the previous tests had demonstrated the installation’s almost unlimited destructive potential. And now he was seeing all of that potential sweeping across the solar system and atomising anything unfortunate enough to find itself in its path.

If there had ever been a bad moment for the passage of time to come to a crawl, this would be it, with the crew of every ship in the fleet watching in agony as the beam got closer to the mining outpost.

The gigantic particle beam cutting through the solar system had hardly gone unnoticed, and every single ship capable of space flight was rushing to clear out of the path of destruction.

The mining outpost's harvester ships were scrambling to try and get away from the asteroid field, which was being vaporised by the plasma stream. But the only place they could run to was the nearby station, which would offer little protection in the face of such overwhelming power.

Every Burst capable ship in the station's vicinity was rabbiting out of the area. And the residents of the mining outpost unlucky enough to be near a window watched in shock, seeing that their lives and the lives of their families were about to come to an end.

The beam was inching ever closer to the outpost as it swept mercilessly though space, leaving little more than a few melted rock fragments in its wake: all that remained of the larger asteroids after exposure to a few seconds of the beam’s immense power.

And then... it ceased. The particle stream dissipating just as it was about to come into contact with the outpost's outermost framework. Causing screams of joy to come from every single crew member of the fleet.

“Huh... Sir!” Ashlyn said with a horrified expression as she brought the image of the Zenith's former location up on the screen again. The Captain and Admiral watching in shock as the target had not only survived, but seemed to be emitting a strange blue aura that completely encompassed the ship. And its orientation had also changed.

“How did that God damned ship survive?” The Admiral demanded to know.

“Give me a trace on the target's orientation, why is it pointing in-system?” The Captain asked.

“Tracing now. It's... it's aiming at the defence platform Sir!” Ashlyn said.

“No, don't tell me...” the Captain said as he considered what had just happened. He didn't want to believe it was even possible, but all his doubts were about to be put to rest.

The fleet watched in shock as the Zenith discharged its main gun again, sending what looked like a bolt of blue energy directly into the flank of the defence platform; ripping through the station's heavy armour as though it was wet tissue paper.

The platform was starting to collapse under the weight of its own superstructure as explosions happened throughout the complex. And then a third shot from the Zenith's main gun ripped through the body of the platform again, clipping the particle collector arrays as it exited the structure's body on the opposite side to the point of impact; severing the interconnecting pylons and leaving the arrays floating free from the main body.

And back at the Zenith...

Drake ordered angrily, “Again!!”

“I think it's dead,” Kade said.

“I want that freaking thing atomised! Hit it again!” Drake ordered without a hint of compassion.

“Priming Linear Burst Cannon. Targeting estimated location of primary particle chamber... Firing!” Toby said, and a mighty rumble could be felt throughout the Zenith. The discharge of the hyper-light projectile causing a shock wave to be sent through the ship's structure.

The main gun of the Zenith ran almost the full length of the ship. The muzzle flaring up as the projectile launched into space, leaving behind a trail of blue-shifted light as it streaked towards its target.

The shot hit its mark, a small and intense flash of light filling up the void as the projectile ripped straight through the the platform’s main particle storage chamber; what remained of the platform violently breaking apart at the seams as the compressed matter vented into space, destroying everything in its path.

Back at the fleet, the Captain of the Regent was struggling to keep all the other captains in line after having seen the Zenith rip the Defence platform to shreds. Half of the fleet wanted to rush in for the kill while the other half was advocating retreating to a safe range in order to regroup and come up with an effective strategy. But things were not that simple.

“Sir, analysis has confirmed that the target's main gun can discharge rounds at faster than light speeds. We can't get any clear readings from the target, but the techs believe that the gun is some kind of Burst accelerator cannon,” Ashlyn reported.  

“We've been trying to come up with that technology for decades, how did they beat us to it?” The Captain asked as he considered his next move.

“Where do you think the idea came from?” The Admiral asked while staring at the Zenith.

The Captain asked in shock, “You don't mean?”

“I do. They had the same fire-power when the Second Fleet was lost. We've been trying to recreate the weapons ever since,” the Admiral explained.

“Dammit! How are we supposed to stand against that kind of fire-power? They just destroyed something that's almost...” the Captain was saying when the realisation hit him of just how far the distance was between the Zenith and the now defunct Defence platform. “Ash, what's the target's offensive range?” The Captain asked, though he feared he already knew the answer.

“If it can fire faster than light projectiles it's possible that their maximum range is only limited by the ship's effective sensor range. If they can see it, they can probably destroy it,” Ashlyn reported, re-enforcing the captain's worst fears.

Ashlyn's mind was racing; this enemy was unlike anything her days at the academy or any amount of experience gained on the field could have prepared her for. Not only had it withstood the sheer raw power of the Union's new system defence platform, it had also managed to destroy said platform seemingly without effort. And the platform had been designed with the latest armour technology, which was vastly superior to that of the Regent's, or any other ship in the Solarian Union military. How could this be happening, she thought in a near panic.   

What little remained of the defence platform was still being rocked by secondary explosions as the superstructure collapsed in on itself and then broke apart violently. The captains of the fleet watched helplessly as they waited for orders, with tension and anger rising steadily for each new detonation that rocked what was left of the mangled remains.

And through all of these events, life in the solar system went on as usual: the average citizen being completely unaware of what had just taken place.

The Union had issued a statement to all the major networks about an impending test firing, so the entire event had been all but ignored.

Information control was running at full power as the Union tried to censor what was really happening, but the GAIA communications network was still quickly becoming overwhelmed with reports coming from the now safe mining outpost, as speculation grew at an exponential rate.

The Admiral sat quietly in his chair, as he leaned back with folded hands and a solemn expression, considering the situation.

The whole plan had been based on the assumption that the overwhelming fire-power of the defence platform was enough to destroy the enemy ship.

Out of all of the strategies they had considered, this was the only sure move the admiralty had. All other scenarios of ship to ship combat they had simulated would always result in a complete loss.

The plan had been simple: distract, immobilise and destroy. A simple, clean and elegant plan. Which had failed in the most tragic way imaginable. Not only had the enemy survived, it had also saved the lives of those the fleet was supposed to protect.

The Admiral bent his head, looking down as he closed his eyes, obviously conflicted. There were no more options open to him. The only other viable plan had been ruled to be too dangerous, but there was no other choice now. He prayed and hoped that history would eventually forgive him for what he was about to do. For this enemy could not be allowed to live.

“Captain,” the Admiral said in an assertive tone while still staring at the floor, unable to look him in the eyes as he gave out the order.

“Sir?” The Captain said.

“Release the safeties on the class 10 fusion warheads,” the Admiral ordered.  

“Sir?” The Captain and his X.O. asked in unison.

“You heard me! We can't allow this threat to exist! They could take out every single ship in this system before we knew what was happening. I am authorising the deployment of our nuclear arsenal,” the Admiral said, finally looking up and into their questioning eyes, painfully aware that this move would have dire consequences.

Ashlyn could see the determination in the Admiral's eyes, and she could certainly understand where his apprehension was coming from. This enemy had the ability to sit outside the solar system's monitoring perimeter and destroy every ship and installation in the system with impunity. Not only did the Union have no defence against it, it could also withstand an attack from the defence platform.

But on the other hand, this enemy had also been sitting in the system for months and had not taken any action that was even remotely threatening, other than the recent move which safeguarded the lives of the workers on the mining outpost.

Ashlyn couldn't help but wonder just what was driving the Admiral to these extremes. What was it that he and the Captain knew that would even allow them to contemplate deploying class 10 nuclear armaments inside the Sol system?

The class 10 fusion warhead was commonly known as a planet cracker, and it was banned by the Colonial Assembly Charter. It was so devastating that its deployment could not even be considered inside the territory of any of the Charter's member colonies.

It was devastating when fired at a planet and even more so when detonated in empty space: since it could generate an energy shock-wave intense enough to disrupt critical systems over half an Astronomical Unit.

Detonating a single warhead here would not only cripple the fleet, it would disrupt systems all over Earth and Mars, as well as several outposts.

During this sequence of events, back at the Zenith.

“How many people were in that thing?” Kade asked as she looked at the exploding platform.

“None. Goliath platforms are unmanned,” Drake replied calmly.

“Your platforms are, but this was a Sol installation, so how can you be so sure?” Jude asked, casting doubt on Drake's belief.

“The Shadow Goliath design is unmanned by necessity, not by choice,” the sisters heard Static say. “Because of how they work, the installations are exposed to so much solar radiation that they simply cannot be reliably shielded. Organic beings simply can't survive being inside one,” Static explained.

“Would you think less of me if it had been crewed?” Drake asked, causing Kade to be confronted by the simple truth that the only reason they had opened fire to begin with was because the outpost had been in danger.

“Depends. The first shot stopped it, so why did you feel the need to destroy it?” Kade asked.

“The first shot merely crippled it, causing the discharge to pause, but it would have resumed in due time. The pressure in the chamber would have had to be vented eventually. And what was it pointing at?” Drake asked.

“The outpost,” Kade answered instinctively.

Drake said calmly, “Or worse. The Platform's orbit was unstable. It could have eventually fired on one of the system's colonies. I may not have any love for the Union, but I have nothing against its people.”

Out of all the other men she had known in her life, with the exception of her grandfather she could not think of one who would ever put the greater good first when making such a decision, and this saddened her.

It was true that Kade's line of work didn't exactly bring her into contact with the most righteous members of galactic society, but she still couldn't help but think that this kind of behaviour was the exception rather than the rule.

Could she have taken the lives of hundreds in order to save thousands if the situation called for it, she wondered. She just didn't know the answer to that question. But, if nothing else, she was happy that the platform had been unmanned.

“I have good news, strange news and weird news. Which one do you want first?” Jude asked.

“Choices, choices... strange news!” Drake replied.

“Not a single patrol ship has been deployed to this area after that little display,” Jude reported.

“What's the good news?” Kade asked.

“All the crap they shot at us was swept away by the beam. Our sensors are back to full strength.” Jude smiled.

Concerned, Drake asked, “And the weird news?”

“The GAIA network is becoming flooded by reports of the mysterious ship that saved the Union mining outpost 56-beta. They even have a picture of the Zenith firing its main gun. It's very pretty.” Jude grinned. “So yeah, we're all famous now. I just wonder where they got the picture from.”