Chaos Quarter (25 page)

The computer chirped a reply. Lucius sat stone-still at his station. The nervousness he had to be feeling stayed hidden behind his wooden façade.

Rex aligned the ship perfectly between his pursuers.
Long Haul
shot through, accelerating beyond combat speeds. Cannon fire spewed out from the defensive turrets, most missing harmlessly as they accelerated. A few shots hit the Europan frigate, but did little more than scratch the warship’s armor. Both enemies moved to pursue.

As they did, streaks of light hit the bioship, small explosions rippling across its surface. Byzantine fighters swooped in and opened fire, a half-dozen peppering the ship with shells. Another six barreled in toward the
Severn
, their small rounds cratering the armor around the Europan vessel’s engines. Corvettes approached as the fighters pulled away.

Both ships responded violently, breaking their chase to face the new enemy. Defensive turrets on the Europan ship opened up, blasting three fighters into oblivion in a barrage of pulse fire. The bioship's defensive rail-guns flung out metal spheres at incredible speed, ripping through two of its attackers and shattering them into spinning piles of debris.

The remaining fighters swarmed behind the four approaching Byzantine corvettes and then raced forward. They fired first, the Europan defenses taking down another as rounds exploded across the top of the large, flat ship. The corvettes, with four times as many cannons as the fighters, focused their fire on the bioship. Sixteen tracer trails shot through space, impacting the front of the massive ship. A wall of sparks and fire erupted across the front of the War-beast before dying off in the void of space.

The War-beast shrugged off the fire, its two forward rail-guns hurling large projectiles at its enemies. The shots were overkill, designed for use against large ships. Two of the corvettes exploded, their remains rocketing off into space in every conceivable direction. The other two corvettes ducked below the bioship, spinning upward and firing into the War-beast’s undersides. Defensive fire answered their assault, slamming into the attackers. The lead corvette was hit again and again, chunks of the vessel being torn off, until finally it floated away, dead. The remaining vessel pulled away, spinning to its left to face the Europan frigate.

Only two fighters remained, the others taken down by the
Severn’
s point-defense cannons. They grouped with the frigate and made a run toward the bioship’s rear. As they did, the
Severn
maneuvered. Another dozen fighters were approaching, so the frigate turned and accelerated away in pursuit of its quarry. The War-beast moved to follow, its defensive guns destroying the final corvette as it moved to attack. The remaining fighters tore up its carapace with fire and then fell away as the War-beast moved to pursue its Europan rival.

While they fought, Rex pulled into the system’s asteroid belt, after ten minute’s flight at full burn. The Byzantine attack had bought them those precious minutes. Rex had no doubt that by now the warships following him had shaken off their attackers and moved to pursue.

So he looked, scanning space for any rock big enough to swallow the ship. A few particularly bright stars, actually water-ice asteroids catching the glint of the system’s sun, met his gaze. The rest of the rocks were dull and shrouded in darkness. But luckily the ship’s sensors and scopes saw better than his eyes ever could.

“
Seventy thousand miles from our bow is an asteroid eight miles in diameter
,” the computer announced.

He adjusted course, moving for the rock. Lucius sat nervously at the weapons station, ready to fire.

“How did you know that the locals would attack?” Lucius asked.

“I didn’t,” replied Rex. “I figured when our ‘friends’ realized they were chasing the same guy, they’d blast away at each other. Byzantines must have figured what better time to attack?”

Lucius nodded, watching as Rex maneuvered the ship toward the asteroid and into a large crater, at least half a mile in diameter. It faced away from the sun, shrouded entirely in dark shadows. The viewscreen had to shift to a false-color radar-based image to let Rex maneuver.

“You’re betting that they’ll not want to stop and search the belt?” Lucius inquired.

“They have the Byzantines hounding them so long as they wait around. Enough bee-stings can kill even the strongest man,” Rex explained.

“Sobieski might leave, but that bioship has followed us almost across the whole of the Quarter,” Lucius pointed out.

“Well, hopefully while they’re looking, the Byzantines will do enough damage to
force
them to leave,” spoke Rex.

“Or wear them down enough to make this fight even,” Lucius continued.

“Power of positive thinking,” Rex said with a smile. A tremor ran through the ship as it touched down on the crater floor.

“Kill all external lights,” Rex ordered. The computer complied. Rex leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to relax. Angry shouts interrupted his reverie. Memories of his newly insane crew-member flashed through his mind.

“What’s that old saying about rest for the weary?” he asked.

Lucius shrugged, saying, “I’ve heard of no such phrase.”

Rex rolled his eyes.

“Of course not,” he grumbled, moving toward the main corridor. “The bridge is yours!”

* * *

The War-beast’s eyes magnified images, bringing rock after rock to Blair’s eye. The primitives called such things asteroid fields, but when you were actually in one, it didn’t look much different from empty space. Even in a high density formation like this one, the vastness of space meant that the asteroids of this field could be tens of thousands of miles apart from each other. At ten thousand miles distance, a grey rock a few miles long didn’t look like much.

The fact that the indigenous primitives mined these asteroids didn’t help matters. His sifters were now swirling amidst proton traces from dozens of ships, all jumbled together. Some were from vessels long gone; some couldn’t be more than an hour old. Now, with an Europan close-by and a horde of angry locals in pursuit, he had to stop and try to sort through this mess.

“The Europan primitives are holding six miles off port,” Flynn spoke from his command pod.

“Waiting to see what we do,” Blair concluded.

“They have yet to actually shoot at us,” Flynn noted.

Blair nodded to himself. The local ‘Byzantines’ had done the attack. The Europans had only acted in self-defense, not targeting any of their weapons at his War-beast. Their commander was careful, possibly not willing to risk a war with an unknown power over one ship. This made Blair reconsider the situation. How important was the body to them? Were they even aware of it? They’d spoken of a traitor to their people aboard the ship. It was possible they didn’t even
know
of Ambassador Cody and his Second.

It occurred to him that both parties might be able to get what they wanted, if the War-beast got to the ship first. His warriors could take Cody’s body on-board and turn over the primitive traitor to his people. He could fulfill his mission and buy some goodwill from one of the few primitive nations that could threaten his people. Such an action could even convince Him to reward Blair greatly.

However, if they found it first and discovered that body alongside their traitor, they might not be so ready to give it back. Knowledge of Cody’s body could bring them advantage in any future conflict, or at minimum deliver them a propaganda weapon to use against the Hegemony.

Blair paused for a moment, weighing the options.

“Move to inspect the nearest asteroid,” he finally ordered. “And have all rail-guns stand by.”

* * *

“Sire, they’re moving toward the nearest asteroid. We’re detecting emissions consistent with scanning,” a tech spoke.

“Move to pursue. Keep at present distance,” Julius ordered.

His Second-In-Command approached, nodding respectfully before speaking.

“Sire, our speed is significantly greater than theirs. We can double their performance and potentially find Baliol first,” he spoke.

“And if they find him first, we’ll be thousands of miles away,” Julius replied. “We will be patient. If they hand over Baliol upon discovery, we will depart peacefully and not plunge the empire into war.”

“And if they do not, sire?” his Second-In-Command asked predictably.

“Then we shall make known to them the consequences of angering the Almighty’s Own People.”

* * *

She pounded the lifeless body furiously, her fists striking his ribs again and again. Her knuckles were raw from the repeated blows, but she didn’t stop.

“Second?” Rex asked, stepping carefully into the sick bay.

She screamed—a primal roar of pain and rage that chilled his blood.

“It has to die! I
t has to die
!” she bellowed.

Outside, Quintus began to wail. Rex rushed up to Second, grabbing her from behind in a bear-hug. She struggled, furiously trying to get back at the ambassador.

Rex slowly walked backward, dragging her out of the medical bay. He ordered the door closed and pulled her toward a couch in the common area.

“Kill it!” she roared.

“He’s already dead!” Rex replied. He sat down, but she continued struggling. She fell backward until she was sitting on his lap, enclosed in his vice-like grip.

“How can it be dead?” she asked, thrashing from side to side. “
How can it be dead?! We have to kill it
!”

Quintus’s screams muffled. Chakrika must have brought him into her cabin, away from the noise. Second continued her bellowing.

“It—he’s already dead,” Rex repeated. “He’s dead, Second. He can’t hurt you or touch you. He’s
dead
.”

“How can it be dead,” she repeated. “How can it be dead, dead…”

“You were there, Second. He was crushed, remember? On Cordelia? During the attack?”

Her breath steadied, still heavy, but not quite so ragged. Her muscles relaxed a bit.

“He was crushed,” she spoke. “Was he crushed enough?”

“What?” Rex asked.

“Did it crush him enough?” she said, the hyperventilation beginning again. “It can’t be dead if it wasn’t crushed enough!”

“Second, I know not much makes sense right now. We’re going to help you understand all this, but trust me when I say the ambassador is dead—”

“
Rex,
” Lucius’s voice came over the intercom. ”
We seem to have visitors.
”

Rex sighed again, releasing his grasp. Second stumbled forward a few steps, regained her balance, and then stood, motionless. She had the posture of a scared child. For all intents and purposes, she was.

“I—I’ll be back later,” Rex spoke. “I promise, Second. Just sit here, please.”

He dashed back toward the bridge, hearing her mumble as he went.

“…how can it be dead…”

A heavy weight filled his chest.

* * *

“Are you sure the sifters followed the right trace?” Blair asked, staring at the large asteroid before him. A large crater, dominated by shadows, filled his view.

“The primitives of this star put out a trail quite different from our prey,” Flynn spoke. “It was minimally difficult to tell one from the other.”

“And the Europans?” asked Blair.

Flynn could not reply. Blair knew nothing he could say would be good. The Europans had gone off-scanner, but had to be near, to try and stop him from capturing the ship should he find it first. Blair smiled, an idea coming.

“Fire one shot, away from the crater.”

* * *

The asteroid shook from the impact. A plume of pulverized rock ejected from the surface, fanning out into space. Some particles drifted down into the crater, captured by the asteroid’s weak gravity. The rest floated away into the void.

Lucius cocked his head quizzically.

“They think we’re hiding on the surface? Bathed in sunlight?” he asked.

“No,” Rex said, “That shot wasn’t for us…”

* * *

“There they are, sire!” a tech shouted.

“Close in on their exposed flank. I want four missiles in space and locked on their position!” Gaius ordered.

Severn
surged forward in space, its missile launchers loading and firing off four Slattern missiles in quick succession. A light anti-ship missile with a 475-pound warhead, the Slattern was designed to damage large ships or kill if used in mass. The missiles streaked forward, doubling the ship’s speed.

But instead of the exposed flank of the bioship, they found its bristling front. Tentacles whipped out from the surface, slicing through three of the missiles, sending their broken bodies hurtling off into space. The fourth struck home, driving into the port-side ‘claw’ of the ship before exploding. The blast tore through the armored plates of the War-beast, hurtling shrapnel and fire into one of the forward rail-guns, crippling the weapon.

The bioship’s other guns opened fire, flinging large projectiles at a tenth the speed of light. The frigate replied in kind, bolts of pulse fire streaking forward. Large and small bolts slammed into the front of the bioship, tearing away armor.

Then the War-beast’s projectiles hit. The frigate shuddered from the impact of the heavy weapons, two shots tearing through its light armor and into the guts of the ship. The frigate maneuvered above its enemy. The bioship’s defensive rail-guns let loose in a hail of fire. Explosions rippled across the bottom of the frigate, blinking out as they came into contact with vacuum. As they cleared, a checkerboard-pattern of craters became visible on
Severn
’s underside, great cracks in the armor radiating outward from the impacts.

Severn
pulled past the slower War-beast, another one of its missiles striking the bioship’s topside, just in front of the engines. The War-beast lurched from the blow, but continued maneuvering, turning to face the frigate. The Europan ship pulled a hard loop, moving to come down on the bioship from above. But the wounded vessel moved without its customary speed, two of its damaged engines belching only flame and fire into space.

Instead of putting all its forward guns against the bioship’s weaker dorsal-side, the frigate found itself once again head-to-head with the larger War-beast.