Lacuna: Demons of the Void (31 page)

The disciplined Chinese woman would not allow herself to throw up in the command centre of her own ship, so the feeling was brutally suppressed and the sickness ignored. However, despite her best efforts, the upset in her belly remained doggedly nagging at her; she knew that, if artificial gravity were cut, she would almost certainly lose her breakfast.

Excusing herself from the Operations room the woman visited the head. Instead of throwing up, however, she reached for her radio.

“Captain Liao to Doctor Saeed.”

It took a few moments for the call to be answered, moments that seemed to crawl by to the anxious woman. When Saeed’s voice finally filtered through the radio’s tiny speaker she felt relief flood her.

“This is Saeed. What can I do for you, Captain?”

Liao knew better than to lie to her physician, but in some circumstances a slight untruth would be preferable than spelling out the whole issue. She did not want to be taken for a coward. “Doctor, I’m experiencing a little stomach upset;it’s possible that my breakfast was undercooked this morning. It’s not too bad, but if you had something to settle it I’d be quite appreciative…”

The man’s voice seemed to sound entirely understanding, and for that Liao was infinitely thankful.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he chirped through the radio. “We’ve been getting a few reports of similar cases today. Honestly, I think it’s some kind of bug going around. Probably to do with the food… I’ll have one of the nurses bring up something to help.”

Relieved, Liao stepped out of the cramped bathroom and waited outside Operations for the nurse. When he arrived, the Captain snatched up the two white and red pills and immediately swallowed them. The nurse, standing sheepishly nearby with a full glass of water, merely shrugged and went back the way he came.

She gave the pills a few minutes to work. Rowe or someone else in Operations would call her radio if her voice was required, but blissfully, nothing like that came through at all. She had a brief encounter with what she and other Captains referred to as ‘pure gold’ - that was, a moment or two of complete and utter, uninterrupted silence.

She rapidly began to feel better and made a mental note to thank Doctor Saeed for his skill. Stepping back through the hatchway to Operations, Liao was greeted, not with a barrage of reports and requests, but with a single voice – Lieutenant Jiang – who called to her from the tactical console.

“Captain Liao, all sections report condition green and the Forerunner is ready for launch. Martian surface batteries report they are standing by for fire missions.”

Jiang glanced around just to make sure nobody else had any other comments, then nodded to Liao. “We are clear to initiate the operation.”

Moving to stand by the command console, Liao nodded her head. “Very good, Mister Jiang.” There was a deliberate pause as she considered, ordering her thoughts and clearing her mind.

“Launch the Forerunner.”

Lieutenant Jiang flicked a single switch, read from her sensors, then twisted in her chair. “The Forerunner is away, Captain.”

Liao nodded to her, her hands on her hips. “Very well. When it reaches six hundred metres, return power to the probe.”

The minutes ticked by as the probe gently drifted away from the ship. When the time came there was another flip of a single switch, then a call from Dao, the radar operator. “Power restored, Captain. The Forerunner has jumped away.”

Liao settled down in the seat beside the command console, deliberately taking a moment to smooth out her uniform and get settled in. She would likely be sitting down for some time and she wanted to be comfortable.

With her hands folded into her lap, Liao looked around the Operations room, as if to check that everything was where she expected. She could be patient, yes, but this wait tested even
her
nerves.

There had been problems, yes, but at least the Forerunner had gotten away. The most critical part of their plan, then, the setting of the trap, was complete. They had done everything they could possibly have done; the crew had outdone themselves by every measure.

“And now… we wait.”

Chapter XIV

“Fire in the Sky”

*****

Operations

TFR
Beijing

One hour later

Liao felt herself becoming drowsy, her eyelids becoming heavy. Perhaps it was just her, but when the Forerunner had jumped away Liao had secretly expected the Toralii Alliance fleet to react almost instantly; Saara had told them that the Alliance kept a small fleet on standby for just such an occasion. But while her ‘gut instinct’ told her that the Toralii would come for them immediately, her military mind spoke common sense to her and reminded her that no military reacted instantly and that, no matter how fast the gears of the Toralii war machine turned, their enemies would need some time to gather themselves before any jump could be made.

“I’m
bored
,” came the predictable whine of Summer’s voice. The freckled, red-headed woman gently thumped her forehead against the metal of her console in frustration, creating a rhythmic
thump
,
thump
,
thump
that echoed faintly throughout the otherwise quite Operations room.

“Perhaps, then, you could entertain yourself by checking those reactors again. We’ll need that power to charge the hull plating when the Toralii Alliance arrive, and our railguns are going to chew through a lot of juice. They can’t have any more problems. Also, verify that our fire control systems are giving accurate data to the Martian batteries. They’re shooting a very long way and I don’t want any mistakes.”

“Right,” murmured Summer, who began absently tapping on some of the keys in front of her - not enough to press them, but still enough to cause Liao a mild degree of frustration. “I’ll be sure to check and recheck the
exact same shit
I checked only a few minutes ago. I’m sure that’ll
help
.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, Liao turned her head to her Communications officer. “Mister Hsin, if you could, please collect a status update from the
Sydney
and the
Tehran
.”

There was a moment of quiet, punctuated only by the youthful looking man’s voice as he made the request. While they waited, Liao rubbed her eyes with her thumbs, desperately trying to keep herself awake. Now was not the time to start yawning, not in front of the Operations crew, and not right as they were about to engage in the first mission featuring all three Pillars of the Earth.

“Captain Liao, the
Sydney
and the
Tehran
both report, again, that they are still ready for engagement and operating at-“

“RADAR CONTACT!”

The voice made everyone on the room jump with its volume and energy. It was Ling, the radar operator, and all eyes fell upon him.

“Report!”

“Captain, it’s a jump in… cap-ship sized. Two hundred-thousand tonnes! … exactly the same configuration as the last Toralii ship we saw!”

Summer’s laughter could be heard over the din. “I just
love
it when a plan comes together!”

Liao stood from her chair, striding over to the command stations. “Launch the strike craft! Missile batteries one, two, three: fire! Railgun operators, find and engage targets of opportunity!” She turned to Mister Hsin. “Inform the fleet we have engaged the Toralii!”

“Missiles away, Captain!”

“Major Aharoni reports that the strike craft are away!”

“Captain, the
Tehran
and the
Sydney
report that they have engaged the contact with strike craft and nukes... Effect on target unknown at this time!”

“Captain Liao! The surface batteries on Mars are reporting that they have engaged the Toralii with their high-speed railguns, and missiles are en route!”

Liao nodded, her eyes flying over her various screens as she took in a torrent of information. “Good,” was her only immediate reply, watching as the ship’s missiles – followed by a cloud of strike fighters – screamed towards their targets.

Ling, the radar operator, spoke up again. “The Toralii vessel is launching strike craft, Captain,” he called, but his voice was partially drowned out by another call from Hsin.

“Captain! I’m receiving a...
transmission
from the Toralii!”

Liao grabbed the long-range communications headset, slipping it over her head. The deep, guttural voice of the Toralii she spoke to previously once again echoed in her ears.

[“This is Warbringer Avaran of the Toralii Alliance Vessel
Seth’arak
.”] Liao swore she could hear a definitive snarl at the end of the sentence and the Toralii’s voice was clipped and abrupt as though he were holding back indescribable rage. From the corner of her eye she also saw Saara visibly relax as the Toralii ship identified itself as being of the Alliance. Liao, too, breathed slightly easier; that was one major drama they had averted.

[“You humans… you have the gall to think that you could
possibly
get away with attacking an outpost of the Toralii Alliance?”]

Liao clicked the talk key, raising an eyebrow, her glance falling upon the radar display she had pulled up on one of her many screens. “The way I see it, Warbringer Avaran, what I believe is basically irrelevant. We
did
attack your outpost, and we
did
get away – and now we’re about to keep up our winning streak. Your sensors will tell you that your vessel is completely surrounded and, in moments, will be destroyed.”

A low, echoing chuckle filtered down the line, a sound that seemed to be very alien yet also very human in its composition. [“…Your threats are spoken with such fire, Captain Liao, but... I’m afraid that your situation is far more perilous than you could
possibly
imagine.”]

“Captain!” Jiang’s voice called to her. Liao turned to face her tactical officer. “Captain, the Toralii ship is projecting some kind of energy weapon… they’re targeting the
Sydney
’s strike craft!”

Commander Iraj nodded to Jiang. “That’s to be expected. The strike craft should easily be able to evade that fire at this distance-“

Jiang shook her head, her cropped black bob flying around with the effort. “No, Commander, it’s not their standard weapons array. This is something
different
! It’s one large blast!”

Liao’s eyes widened. A glance towards Commander Iraj confirmed he was thinking the same thing; it was the weapon that had struck the
Tehran
when it was in the Hades system. She knew that it had to be avoided; the woman turned to Hsin. “Lieutenant! Hail those strike craft, tell them to-“

From her peripheral vision she saw the radar screen on her monitor crackle with a wave of static, immediately drawing her eye to its bright light. For a split second the image was overwhelmed, then a wave of bright green dots surged out and over the swarm of tiny radar blips that indicated the TFR
Sydney
’s strike craft, washing over them and narrowly missing their mother ship.

“...What the
fuck
was that? Was it the same thing that we saw in the Hades system?”

Nobody in the Operations room seemed to have any answer. There was a split second of silence, then a cacophony of voices began to shout their reports all at once.

“Radar function severely reduced, Captain, recommend switching to long-range thermal targeting instead!

“Captain, Major Aharoni reports seeing a bright white flash, visible to the naked eye, in the direction of the TFR
Sydney
!”

“Our electronics are
fucked
, Captain!”

Liao tried to sort through the jumbled mass of voices. “Lieutenant Jiang, give me an analysis; is it the same energy wave that hit the
Tehran
in the Hades system?” She jabbed a finger towards Ling. “Ling, do it. Switch to thermals!”

“It matches the description, Captain!” Jiang’s voice sounded horrified. “The
Sydney
’s strike craft are…
gone,
Captain! The energy wave got them all!”

Liao swore darkly, furrowing her brow. “Rowe! Rowe!” She tried to get the red-headed woman’s attention. “What’s the status on our electronics?”

“They’re fucked, like I said! That energy blast – it’s like the one used in the attack on Earth, except this one’s more powerful! It seems to have some kind of EMP or something!”

“Status on missiles?”

“Impact in twenty seconds, Captain!”

Liao nodded. That was good. They needed to hit them fast. She turned to Commander Iraj as the man called to Lieutenant Jiang.

“What about the strike craft from all allied ships?”

Hsin turned in his seat and faced the XO. “The
Sydney
reports that they are recalling what’s left of their strike craft – apparently one or two survived – and are preparing to close the distance to engage. The
Tehran
’s craft are still closing, Captain.”