Storming Heaven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“I hear they lost your toy.” Captain John Raines Johnson said, as the attack wing gathered to support the Lightning. “What do you think of that?

“I don’t believe it,” Andrew said, shaking his head. If he hadn’t been on the priority list for any updated intelligence regarding the Killers, or their technology, he wouldn’t have heard about it for a few more days, or hours. The civilian scientists at Star’s End — those who had survived — would probably be clogging the communication channels to report to their universities about the missing starship. Hardly anyone would believe it at first. Starships didn’t simply operate on their own — well, human starships didn’t. Perhaps the Killers operated by different rules.

He pushed the matter out of his mind. “Leave it for the moment,” he said. Whatever happened, the attack wing had its own mission to complete. “Start the countdown; thirty seconds and counting.”

“Counting,” Captain Johnson agreed. He had a lean and hungry look on his face. He’d survived the Battle — Slaughter — of New Singapore and the chance to tear into the Killers was something he’d always wanted. The implosion bolts had their limits and the more conventional weapons only inflicted tiny amounts of damage, but they were far better than watching Killer starships advancing, shrugging off enough firepower to devastate enough star systems. “We run cover for you; you nip in, destroy their sun, and then we all go back home for victory celebrations.”

Andrew nodded. The latest reports from the observation starship and its deployed sensor drones had warned that two new Killer starships had arrived in the system, bringing the total up to forty-two, counting the damaged ships from Shiva. The undamaged starships would be targeted first, in hopes of knocking more Killer starships out of the fight, but no one knew how quickly the Killers could repair the damage to their hulls. Some scientists had speculated that it would need a repair facility, others had believed that the starships had limited self-repair capabilities — which the escape of the ship they’d captured rather proved — but no one knew for sure. Andrew had no particular interest in watching the Killers repairing themselves, and then attacking them. Damaged ships would find it harder to strike back.

And they’d have to stay and fight too, unless they wanted to lose the star system as well. Andrew knew that the Killers had vast powers and thousands of star systems, but the investment they’d put into the system they were about to destroy had to be significant, even by their standards. The loss of the system, with or without the starships, had to hurt, even if no one knew how badly. The same could probably be said for the Killers, in their hunt for human settlements; they couldn’t know how important each settlement actually was. They might hit Sparta, which would cause massive disruption, or they might hit an insignificant little black colony with only a few hundred souls. In this war, both sides were equally blind.

“Ten seconds,” Captain Johnston said. “See you on the flip side, Andrew.”

“Good hunting,” Andrew said. Johnston was right; it did feel good to be the hunter for once, rather than the hunted, or the distraction while civilians escaped the combat zone. “Kill one of them for me.”

The communications channel closed. A moment later, the icons representing a full attack wing — one that hadn’t been involved in any prior skirmishes — vanished from the display as they jumped out. Andrew rather wished that there had been time to amass more ships, but with half the Defence Force still refitting with the new weapons and the other half being sent hopping around the Community on defence missions or preparing counterattacks, it had been hard enough to scrape up a new wing. The sheer scale of the war continued to daunt him. It was hard to grasp how far the distances actually were using the Anderson Drive. Their staging area was over a hundred light years from the Killer system.

“They’re gone, sir,” Gary said. His voice was tense. “I am picking up their live feed through the relay stations.”

Andrew pursed his lips as the brief transmissions echoed through the bridge. He could see the battle on the display, with the starships zooming down at their targets and showing them with implosion bolts as soon as they entered range, ducking and weaving to avoid the return fire. The Killers were no longer ignoring them, he realised; they were wiping out all of the sensor probes within range, along with any human starship that didn’t move fast enough. A single hit was still lethal — the engineers hadn’t been able to fix that problem — and the Killers were in their element. The damaged starships could still fire… and each of their shots was still lethal. It was a very balanced contest.

“They’re pushing the Killers as hard as they can,” Gary injected, slowly. “The Killer stations are also capable of opening fire.”

“I wondered about that,” Andrew said. A human installation would have mounted weapons on a shipyard as a matter of course, but the Killers might not bother — after all, what was there that could threaten them? They’d mounted the weapons anyway and human starships died. Whatever the Killers used their installations for, they were still lethal and deadly. “Keep relaying the signal out to Sparta.”

He leaned forward as the attack wing swooped around a damaged Killer vessel, launching a spread of energy torpedoes and fake Footsoldiers into the gash in their hull, before jumping out and regrouping just out of range. The Killers reacted sharply to the apparent threat, dispatching smaller automatons that operated in space from their shipyard — if it was a shipyard — to tackle the Footsoldiers before they gained entry. That settled another question in Andrew’s mind. The Killers knew how the human race had boarded and captured one of their vessels. Tiny explosions glittered out in space as the automations closed in on the fakes, only to discover that they were keyed to explode when touched. There were always more replacement automatons.

“The automatons are not coated in hull material,” Gary said, as several automatons were picked off by the starships. “They are not designed for combat operations.”

“They’re improvising, then,” Andrew decided. He looked up at the timer. There were seven seconds to go. “Stand by to jump.”

“Coordinates set, sir,” David said. “We’re ready.”

“Jump,” Andrew ordered.

The ship shuddered slightly and then they were in the target star system. “Near-space scan,” Andrew snapped. “Have they been distracted?”

“I have no active Killer vessels within engagement range,” Gary said, after a moment. It would have been irony indeed if they had come out of Anderson Drive inside a Killer starship. It would have destroyed both ships, but the Killers would have saved their system — and never even known what they’d done. “They are currently engaged with the attack wing. I do have several installations near the star, but they appear to be without power.”

“Keep us away from them,” Andrew ordered, looking down at the display. Seventy-two starships had roared into battle; fifty-three of them were still alive, buying time for the Lightning and her crew. “David, take us down towards the star.”

The starship turned and flashed down towards the star, which grew rapidly on the viewscreen. Andrew wondered, absently, if the Killers had noticed, or realise that the attack wing was playing with them. The crews had been specifically ordered not to ram their targets, even if they wanted revenge; the Killers had to think that they could win the fight. It made Andrew sick at heart, but until some older ships could be reconfigured as ramming ships, they had to sacrifice their lives. If the Killers realised what the Lightning had in mind, they would certainly attempt to stop her, or evacuate the system themselves…

“Gravity disruption,” Gary barked. “I have a wormhole opening, right on top of us.”

“Evasive action,” Andrew snapped. The Killer starship was coming through terrifyingly fast, despite its bulk. Even with a warp field, a human starship that size would have difficulty moving that fast without tearing itself apart. “Gary; don’t bother with firing more than noisemakers, but prepare to launch the supernova bomb.”

“Aye sir,” Gary said. He sounded a little disappointed, but Andrew was adamant. There was no point in wasting firepower on the Killer when they had a supernova bomb to deliver. “Two minutes until we are in firing range…”

“It might be more than that,” David said, as the starship heeled over. Bright flashes of white light were rocketing past them towards the star. Andrew wondered briefly if the Killer weapons would have any effect on the star, but it didn’t seem likely. The star spat out more energy than that on a daily basis. It probably wouldn’t notice. “That bastard is sticking to our tails like glue.”

“Fire noisemakers,” Andrew ordered, slowly. The starship shuddered as the weapons were fired, but the Killer starship bulled through them and kept going. “Gary… I think we’re going to have to use the Implosion Bolts after all.”

“Yes, sir,” Gary said. “I have the weapons locked on target.”

“Fire at will,” Andrew ordered.

Lightning shivered again as it fired a spread of implosion bolts into the Killer’s path, sending streams of tiny explosions over the alien ship’s hull. The Killer starship didn’t slow, even though it had to be exposed to the heat of the star, threatening it with a melted end. Andrew wondered how quickly the Killer starship could back off, if it started to take significant damage from the star’s heat, but it showed no sign of pain. Perhaps the Killer had grown used to pain, although he was sure that the ship chasing them hadn’t seen action before. There was no prior damage on its hull.

“Minor damage, sir,” Gary said. He fired another spread of implosion bolts. “They should be taking damage from the heat, but… nothing.”

Andrew nodded. Superior manoeuvrability was about the only advantage the Lightning had over the Killer ship and it wasn’t enough, not in the long run. A single shot would doom them. He checked on the remaining attack wing starships and wasn’t surprised to see that they were down to thirty ships, although they had managed to take out two of the Killer starships, with a third suffering heavy damage. The odds might be evening up.

“Prepare to launch the supernova bomb,” he ordered. “Fire noisemakers, and then launch the bomb.”

“Aye, sir,” Gary said. There was a long pause as he worked his console. “Noisemakers away; supernova bomb primed, locked, and away…”

“Keep us on this course,” Andrew ordered, before David could throw them away from the star. If they were lucky, he reasoned, the Killer would miss the tiny supernova bomb against the noisemakers and the stream of radiation from the star, preventing them from destroying the weapon before it detonated and blew up the star. They might just think that it hadn’t been launched yet. “Gary; keep firing implosion bolts.”

He watched, grimly, as the Killer starship closed in on them. They knew where the missile actually was, but it was still hard for the Lightning to pick it out against the star’s background emissions. The Killers showed no awareness that it had been launched; they kept chasing the Lightning, their weapons flaring out repeatedly as they crawled into range.

“The supernova bomb has entered the star,” Gary reported, finally. It had only been a few minutes, but it had felt like hours. “The star is doomed, sir.”

“Take us out of here,” Andrew ordered. “Jump us out to the first observation point, and then inform the attack wing that the bomb has been deployed. Tell them to break contact and meet us at the rendezvous point.”

The starship shivered slightly as she jumped away from the star and the Killer starship. “We’re clear, sir,” David said, after a moment. “The Killer starship didn’t follow us.”

“I wonder if they know,” Gary said, with a grin. “They may think we decided to turn coward and run.”

“What?” David asked, his voice breaking the tension in the air. “You two have turned cowards? Two cowards… and me. Do you know what this means?”

Gary laughed. “Three cowards?”

Andrew shook his head. “They’ll know because we fled,” he said, dryly. They were only ten AU from the star. The supernova blast would envelop them as well, yet he wanted to watch what happened when the Killers had an idea of what was going on. They had a fully developed star system in the system, a shipyard and industrial centre and they wouldn’t want to lose it if they could avoid it. “Keep a close eye out for enemy wormholes and jump us out of one forms near us. We don’t need to engage them any further.”

“I’m picking up major gravity waves from the star,” Gary said, suddenly. “She’s going to blow and…”

His voice broke off. “That’s odd.”

“Odd?” Andrew repeated, feeling a cold hand clutching his heart. “What’s happening?”

“I’m not sure,” Gary said. “They’re focusing gravity beams through their facilities and onto — into — the star. I think they’re actually trying to snuff out the supernova.”

Andrew stared as the invisible titanic struggle started to play itself out. The Killers were bringing all their power to bear on the star, enough power to dismantle the entire star system, and trying to prevent the supernova from detonating. The star seemed to wobble violently in the display; buffeted by powerful external forces, it seemed to twist out of shape, before its natural gravity reasserted itself and it continued to destabilise. Andrew was reminded of an egg yolk being cooked, but this egg yolk contained enough power to wipe the system clean. Somehow, he almost felt sorry for the Killers, even though they had wiped out billions of humans. The struggle was desperate, perhaps futile, but very brave.

“That’s impossible,” David said, slowly. “They can’t prevent the star from exploding, can they?”

“They might have succeeded if they had knocked out the supernova bomb before the process became impossible to reverse,” Gary said, after a moment. “I’m not up on the theory, but I believe that if they could prevent the compression process from succeeding, they might succeed in preventing an explosion.”

He shrugged. “They’ve certainly got nothing to loss in trying.”

The Killers evidently agreed, just as they weren’t putting all their eggs in one basket. Their starships — some of them — were opening wormholes and escaping, while some of the more damaged starships were remaining in the system, apparently unable to escape. Their strange cities were rising up from the gas giants — they looked as odd and alien as they had at the Cinder System — and heading out to where they could open a wormhole and escape themselves. Andrew felt a moment’s pity, but not much. He had seen too many human civilian populations trying to flee while the warriors held the line, somehow. The Killers had sown the wind… and now they could reap the whirlwind.

“They’re losing her,” Gary said, suddenly. The gravity beams were flickering out of existence, one by one, replaced by a pair of far more powerful beams that seemed to be trying to speed up the compression, rather than preventing it or slowing it down. Andrew silently took his hat off to the Killer who had thought of that; if it worked, they would have a new black hole to use as a power source, rather than a supernova exploding in their system. “I don’t think they can compress it down enough, sir…”

There was a long pause. The fate of the universe seemed to hang in the balance. “And they can’t,” Gary said. “The star has gone supernova.”

The display looked odd. The star looked normal and would continue to look normal until the light and blast of the supernova finally reached their position, but the gravimetric sensors told the true story. Agonised, tormented beyond reason, the star had blown off much of its mass in a colossal explosion and doomed its child star system. The Killer gravity beams flickered out of existence as the Killers redoubled their attempt to escape. They couldn’t get their entire population out in time.

“Get us out of here,” Andrew ordered, quietly. Warp bubble or no warp bubble, nothing human could protect the Lightning if she were caught by the expanding wavefront of energy. He could have taken the starship to shelter behind a planet, but with so much gravity disruption in the system, it might have had additional dangers. “Take us to the second waypoint.”

From a safe distance, they watched the star system die. The expanding wavefront had washed over the gas giants, igniting the gas of two of them and burning billions of Killers living down in the clouds, and overwhelmed the remaining Killer starships. They hadn’t even tried to seek shelter, or escape from the supernova; they’d just… accepted their fate and died. The massive Killer installations melted under the wavefront, but were too large and solid to be completely destroyed, even the ones completely exposed to the supernova. Andrew made a note in his report; the Defence Force would have to send experts to pick over the rubble and see if there was anything useful there. It didn’t seem likely, but the Killers had surprised them before.

“I think we won,” Gary said, softly. He sounded as shocked as Andrew. This was the third star that humanity had killed… and the second Killer star system to be utterly destroyed. It represented a whole new level of destructive achievement. “I think we hit them hard enough to make them consider peace.”

“Sure,” David said, from his console. He looked up from laying in the course back to the supernova bomb arsenal. Lightning had three more systems to roast before the end of the day. “Or perhaps we made them really mad at us.”