Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (59 page)

The biggest challenge was that of keeping himself sane.  He began to live inside his head, tell himself stories, recall things that had happened to him in the past or construct imaginary vistas where he could retreat to and which he used both to exercise his mental faculties and to stave off the effects of the sensory deprivation, fear and mind-numbing boredom from being locked in a pitch black cell for who knew how long.

There had been no more beatings since the Shaper had invaded his mind.  He supposed that there wasn’t much point in them bothering, since the creatures now knew as much about him as he knew himself.  The memory of that swarm enveloping his skull and entering his mind still made him shiver with revulsion.  The cold, clinical touch of those thousands of crawling, cybernetic things as they scuttled across his face, into his eye sockets, god, even into his brain...  He had blacked out after a few minutes, coming to in the cell afterwards, caked in his own vomit, but miraculously still alive, for now at least.  He wondered what the Shapers really wanted with him.  They hadn’t killed him, they hadn’t implanted him and any secrets that they could have got from him, they could easily have got from Morgan if they had just asked him.  The man outranked him after all.  Perhaps somehow they had absorbed and copied something of him, his abilities perhaps?  It made his skin crawl to think that there might be a copy of his mind; his personality, his innermost thoughts, somewhere in the vast data streams of the Shaper collective consciousness, for them to prod and poke and experiment on at their leisure.  Was it/he conscious in some way?  Did it/he know what was happening to it at the hands of an implacable alien consciousness?

He pondered his current ignominious situation.  In the end, the Shapers had defeated him.  So much for his reputation.  They had outgunned and outfought him, and when he had survived, they had exploited the one thing that he had thought he could rely on - the people under his command – and used it to capture him and the others in his ragged band of survivors.  He wondered whether there were still others out there right now in the jungle, running and hiding from the enemy and living off what they could forage, a guerrilla army continuing what he could not and planning his rescue.  Perhaps, he reflected glumly, it was a false hope.  He would most likely die here, or be hauled out and executed in a similarly blank room after being forced to confess to whatever trumped up charges the creature inhabiting what had once been Admiral Cox could think up in order to humiliate and demonise him in front of the people of this new puppet regime of the Shapers.  Whatever they did to him, he wasn’t going to beg for his life.  He had no intention of giving the bastards the satisfaction.  Whatever happened, he would never surrender to them.  He allowed himself a broad smile.  They would never break him, and thus, they could never completely beat him.  In the darkness, Haines started to laugh.

Chapter 36

On the outermost edge of the Santiago system, space was torn apart as the Commonwealth invasion fleet emerged from hyperspace.  The fleet of over a hundred warships had followed a series of waypoints from the Delta Pavonis system designed to obfuscate their true objective and, at times, had divided the fleet into its constituent carrier groups before re-uniting them as a coherent force for the final jump to Santiago.  Now they emerged in perfect formation, a vast wall of ships centred around the
Churchill
.  It was a triumph of command and fleet co-ordination, a testament to the professionalism of the Commonwealth Navy and the vessels that Cartwright had hand-picked for this mission.  It also spoke volumes for the capability of the fleet’s commander.

              Admiral Chen leant forward in her command chair as the
Churchill
emerged from hyperspace.  Ahead, through the bridge windows, Santiago’s sun shone like a baleful yellow eye, the planets around it just faintly visible as points of light arranged along the system’s ecliptic.  To port and starboard, space was filled with ships under her command, their be-weaponed, armoured hulls shining dully in the weak light from Santiago’s sun.

              ‘All stations report,’ said Chen.

              ‘We have emerged from our jump at the correct co-ordinates,’ said O’Rourke.

              ‘Jump successful. All ships have emerged from hyperspace at the correct location,’ said Singh.

              ‘Mitchell here,’ came the report from gunnery. ‘All weapons ready and shields fully operational.’

              ‘All ships reporting in and are at full combat readiness,’ reported Andrews.

              ‘The flight deck is reporting in,’ said McManus.  ‘All wings are ready to go.’

              ‘Excellent,’ Chen replied.  ‘Mr Singh, do we have sight of the enemy?’

              ‘Recon cruisers coming on-line now ma’am,’ said Singh and scrutinised his console for a moment as the results from the Thea class cruisers began to flood in. ‘We are not detecting any Shaper ships within sensor range.  Two carrier battle groups are on station in high orbit above the planet:  Jupiter class with a dozen escorts each.  Signatures match the
Pompey Magnus
and the
Roosevelt
.’

              ‘What about Shaper ships deeper within the system out of our detection range?  What have the Nahabe spotted?’ said Chen.

              The Nahabe had advanced ahead of the main fleet as a heavy scouting force, using their stealth capabilities to conceal themselves and their superior sensor capabilities to get a fix on the position of the Shaper ships in the system.

              ‘
Shadow in the Void
and three of her sister ships are on station as planned, concealed within the asteroid belt between the orbits of the fourth and fifth planets.  The other four vessels are in a similar position on the opposite side of the system.  We’re getting the data from them now,’ Singh replied.  ‘Confirmed: seven Shaper ships in system, two more than intel. suggested. The super-destroyer and four of the destroyers are shadowing the carriers, the other two destroyers are in different locations around the asteroid belt - looks like they’re hunting for the Nahabe.  Data from the Nahabe indicates that the super-destroyer is acting as the command ship in the system and forms the key link back to the Shaper hive-mind. Wait... there are three more destroyers inbound at high speed, heading for Valparaiso.’

              ‘Damn. Time to their arrival?’ said Chen.

              ‘Based on their current speed and heading, just over three hours,’ replied Singh.

              ‘Meaning we’ll have to defend the landing against them when they arrive,’ McManus commented. ‘Do we abort?’ he asked, meeting Chen’s gaze.

              Chen weighed up the situation, then made her decision

              ‘No.  We position ourselves between them and the landing and have the Nahabe outflank them.  It’s time that the Shapers felt the bitter taste of defeat once again.’ She fixed McManus with a steely eyed look. ‘I intend to take this system and hold it against all comers for as long as is necessary,’ she added and then began to issue orders.  ‘Ensign Andrews, signal to the Nahabe that we shall proceed.  They are to engage the bulk of the enemy fleet, concentrating on the Shaper vessels.  We shall not be far behind.  We are go for the operation.  Navigation, adjust our next waypoint to bring us out of our jump five hundred kilometres from the enemy force and above them relative to the position of the planet.’

              ‘Aye, Admiral,’ said O’Rourke and consulted his console. ‘Co-ordinates adjusted.  We’ll be coming out right on top of them.’

              ‘Glad to hear it.  Ensign Andrews, inform the fleet to prepare for immediate combat following the jump,’ Chen replied.  ‘Helm, engage jump drive.’

              ‘Of course, if we can see them, they sure as hell can see us,’ said McManus under his breath as the
Churchill
and the rest of the invasion force jumped once more.  ‘We should be on the look-out for them trying something crafty.’             

              ‘Don’t you think I know that?’ Chen replied.  ‘They’ll have seen us coming.  Damn it, they could hardly
not
see us. I’m just banking on them not being able to work out where we were going until it was too late to redeploy sufficient forces to engage us.  Those three incoming ships won’t be the last once they work out what we’re up to.’

              ‘What do you intend to do?’ said McManus.

              ‘Kill them, of course.’

              ‘I wouldnae have it any other way,’ the Commander replied, his face a picture of grim satisfaction.

              The fleet emerged from their jump into the chaos of the already unfolding battle in low orbit above the Earth-like surface of the planet Valparaiso.  The Shaper super-destroyer, a vast, glittering behemoth over five kilometres from bow to stern, was under heavy attack from the Nahabe gunspheres, who in turn were taking heavy fire from its considerable defences as well as its two destroyer escorts.  Two of the gunspheres had been heavily damaged already, and space between the frantically manoeuvring ships was criss-crossed with searing beams of energy.  The two enslaved carrier groups, meanwhile, were facing directly towards the Commonwealth fleet as it emerged from hyperspace and advancing upon their current position.  As Chen had rightly suspected, their arrival had not taken the Shapers by surprise.  She ordered Andrews to put her through to the fleet.

              ‘All ships, this is Chen.  Concentrate all fire on the carrier groups.  The Shapers are using them as a blocking force: we have to push past them. 
Leonides
and
Nelson
groups, advance on our left flank. 
Plataea
and
Pericles
, push forward on the right.  Everyone else, stay with the
Churchill
and loosen formations.’

              At Chen’s command, the fleet began to spread out, aiming to trap the enemy carriers in the cross fire as they advanced and also give themselves more room to manoeuvre.  As they closed with the enemy, those same enemy ships were now preparing to fire.

              ‘Admiral, it’s the
Shadow in the Void
.  The Lord Protector wishes to speak to you,’ said Andrews.

              ‘Put him through,’ Chen replied.  A second later the armoured form of the Nahabe commander appeared in her HUD.

              ‘Admiral Chen, this is the Lord Protector.  We are currently engaged with the Shaper command vessel and her escorts.  Gunspheres
Broken Moon
and
Cursed Star
have sustained heavy damage but are still able to fight.  The super-destroyer’s shields are weakening, but her defences are considerable.  I’m not sure how long we can keep this up - only our superior manoeuvrability compared to the super-destroyer is giving us any advantage.  Four of my ships are currently engaged with the escort destroyers.  Two more vessels have recently jumped in from elsewhere in the system.’

              ‘Lord Protector, we need to concentrate on the larger vessel.’

              ‘I realise that,’ replied the Lord Protector.  ‘But we need those destroyers dealt with.  They have us penned in against the super-destroyer’s defences and we cannot jump clear.  I fear I may have miscalculated and allowed them to flank us.  We are outgunned.’

              ‘Roger that.  We are preparing to engage the carrier groups and will render assistance as soon as possible,’ Chen replied. ‘Hang in there. Chen out.’

              ‘How soon?’ said McManus.  ‘They seem to be taking some punishment.’

              ‘Let’s see shall we?’ Chen replied. ‘We have the carriers outnumbered four to one.  Time to test the new weaponry at our disposal.’

              As Chen spoke, the
Pompey Magnus
unleashed its main gun against the advancing Commonwealth forces.  The massive plasma cannon spat a bolt of white hot energy towards Chen’s ship, but the shot was premature and glanced off the forward shields of the carrier
Marcus Aurelius.
The
Roosevelt
wisely held its fire, whilst the beam cannons of the escort vessels were still out of range.  The two fleets were still closing with one another.

              ‘Helm, aim us at the
Pompey Magnus
,’ ordered Chen.  ‘Gunnery, prepare to fire the main gun.  All other ships, pick your targets and prepare to fire.’

              The
Churchill
shifted, aligning itself with the enemy carrier.  The other ships in Chen’s HUD lit up with icons indicating that they were being targeted by the other carriers and destroyers equipped with the new spatial distortion weapons.  They were now within optimal firing range.

              ‘Fire!’ barked Chen, and a dozen ships died.

              Space between the two closing fleets rippled suddenly, torn apart by the exotic weaponry now fitted to the Commonwealth ships.  The lead ships among the enslaved carrier groups simply came apart under the onslaught, their bows shattered suddenly as if they had driven into an invisible wall, and then the tears in reality continued to rip along their lengths, twisting decks and hull plating and bursting them open.  Chen saw the
Pompey Magnus
torn open in a split second from bow to stern, the two kilometre long vessel hanging open, ripped almost clean in two, before her reactors detonated with a blinding flash that engulfed the remains.  The bows of the
Roosevelt
, hit by several of the smaller destroyer mounted cannons, simply ceased to exist, before a final blow ripped out her entire bridge section along with a two hundred metre chunk of her upper decks.  Escort destroyers, frigates and cruisers were pummelled as if by a gigantic fist both from the front and from both flanks.  Ships began to break apart, explosions tearing along their shattered hulls as blow after blow from the massed Commonwealth ships tore into them and broken energy capacitors, ammunition magazines and smashed reactor cores went critical.  Hopelessly outclassed and unable to return fire, the remaining vessels now struggled to manoeuvre around the expanding fireballs, wildly tumbling debris and shattered wrecks.