Beacon of War (The Augment War Book 2), page 42
“They’re here to ensure we die,” Siena said.
Iso and Linx exchanged a look, and then Teth handed Siena a cup of water from a dispenser. Siena looked at it, and then at Teth. The dakorian shrugged sheepishly.
“Tara’s right. You’re our only hope here.”
“How fast could they get to us?” Siena accepted the cup and sipped it. Water had never tasted so good. “And, Mora, bring up a holo of the system.”
Tara gauged the distance. “At sublight, maybe five minutes. But if what you’re saying is true, then the moment we change course—”
“—If we can change course,” Teth said.
Tara rolled her eyes. “The moment we do, they’re going to come right at us.”
“We can’t fight them out here,” Siena said. “We need to take the fight groundside. There should be two habitable planets in the system.”
“Two farming planets.” Mora opened the holo and expanded it to show the system. “A handful of other non-habitable planets further out.”
“We’ll have to land on the farming planet closest to the star.” Siena gauged the distance. “We don’t have time to go for the other one.”
“Aren’t you forgetting the ship’s engines are disabled?” Linx folded her arms.
Siena smiled faintly. “Who said anything about using an engine?”
Everyone blinked at that, and Siena gingerly came to her feet. Then she approached the nearest gravity sphere. She’d seen in the system holo that there were eight onboard, each charged nearly to maximum. She knew from experience that if the seracrete shielding was damaged, the gravity drive would implode in a blast of energy strong enough to turn even a ship. But would it be enough?
Siena eyed the supports and noticed they had couplings attached. Almost as if they were designed to be severed. There was even what looked to be an exterior hatch adjacent to the sphere. She tapped a nearby console and brought up the schematic.
“The gravity drives are designed to be ejected if compromised,” Siena realized aloud.
Iso had drifted closer. “Of course. Twelve years ago, new safety protocols were issued to shipbuilders. Every gravity sphere must have the ability to be expelled so an implosion couldn’t destroy a ship.”
Siena and Mora exchanged a knowing smile. Twelve years ago, she’d imploded the Kildor’s gravity spheres, and it had torn the ship in two. Looked like the Empire had learned from the vulnerability.
Tara joined her. “Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”
“Do you have another idea?” Siena asked.
Tara released a long breath. “I swear, you’re even crazier than Ero.”
“Well, this idea is about to save your life.” Siena turned to the other trainees. “Since we’re short on time, I’m going to assume you would all rather obey a human than die with your prejudice. And since I don’t have time to explain and ask permission, I’ll also apologize in advance for this.”
Linx frowned. “For what?”
Siena opened a shared mind link.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Before anyone could react, Tara, Teth, Mora, Iso, and Linx were all connected into Siena’s consciousness. Mora didn’t flinch, while Tara and Teth recoiled. Iso and Linx cursed in unison. Unwilling to waste time explaining her desperate plan, Siena pictured the ship, the need to turn, and what each of them would have to do in order to use the gravity spheres.
“I’ll recode the safety protocols.” Tara jumped to manually uncouple the safety latches on each of the starboard-side gravity drives, while Teth sprinted to series of supply cabinets to look for seracrete chains.
Iso blinked and rubbed her head. “You want me to figure out the timing of the implosions so they turn us toward the planet?”
“Seventeen degrees,” Linx supplied. She was already at a command console. “And we have thirty seconds before the first needs to be dropped.”
“You really trust her?” Iso asked Linx.
Linx shrugged. “I trust Mora. And she trusts her.”
A thudding of boots came from the corridor and Siena leaned back to spot a squad of dakorians with a trio of krey. They were sprinting toward the engineering bay, obviously rightfully assuming something had happened to the engineering crew. But Siena didn’t have time to fight them and save them, so she drew on her shielding augmentation and reached to the wreckage. The emitters were there, as she expected them to be, so she just activated the nodes. A security shield charged to life, drawing muffled shouts from the crew on the opposite side.
“Keep working!” Siena called. “We’re running out of time.”
“Siena?” Mora’s voice was small. “I don’t know if I can do what you need me to.”
“I can’t do it without you,” Siena said softly. “I’m still too weak.”
Mora held her gaze, and then swallowed. She lifted her hullblade over her shoulder. “Linx, tell me when.”
The girl grimaced. “Now.”
Mora stepped to the gravity sphere and swung the hullblade in a titanic blow. The crash echoed throughout the bay and reverberated into the hall. Obviously assuming they were the saboteurs, the crew on the other side of the shield grew frantic, and Mora spotted a krey male in uniform barking orders. The captain had come personally?
Mora hit again, and this time, the thick gravity shielding gave way. A crack formed, and purple light seeped out. With the outside of the sphere compromised, it would gradually pull the sphere inward and implode, sucking everything inward.
“How is this going to work?” Mora asked. “The ship has much greater mass, so if the imploding sphere is on the outside of the hull, won’t it just get sucked back?”
Linx poked her head into view. “Not if it has enough momentum heading outward. Its speed will give us a tug.”
Siena caught her eye and the girl flushed. “What? Your plan should work, in theory.”
Teth appeared with a length of seracrete chain and latched it on to the hooks on the sphere. Siena summoned her gravity augmentation and attached a tether to further secure the chain. Teth attached the other end to the housing supports and then sprinted up a gravity lift to help Tara do the same above.
“Ready,” Siena called.
Linx counted three seconds and then nodded. “Now!”
“I am so getting discharged for this,” Iso muttered as she slammed her hand on the release holo.
The emergency hatch opened. Its mechanism was designed to get a damaged sphere away from the hull quickly, so it would pack a punch. Siena watched the timing and then nodded to Mora.
“Start now.”
The girl nervously stepped forward and pointed to the sphere outside. Her bones turned spikier and sweat beaded her forehead, her body reacting to the rewriting of her genetic code. Linx glanced over.
“What’s she doing?”
“Detonating the sphere,” Siena called over her shoulder.
“With her mind?”
Siena ignored her. “You can do this, Mora. I know you can.”
The seconds ticked by—the tension heightened by the crew attempting to breach the shielding. As it cracked, the gravity pulled them all toward the sphere. Siena timed it, and then slammed the release. It ejected in a burst of power and streaked away from the hull—
Boom.
The ship heaved to starboard as the sphere cratered inward, the pull of gravity warping the outer hull and forcing the ship to turn. Mora shouted in excitement even as she clung to a beam.
“I did it!”
“Forty seconds until the next one,” Linx called.
The security shield blew, sending pieces of metal skidding across the floor. Siena pointed upward. “Mora, you’ll have to do the others on your own.”
It was clear Mora wanted to fight, but Siena was already hurrying to the security team. She arrived just as the captain entered the room, his gaze widening in horror at the damage to his vessel. Then he noticed Siena.
“You.”
“I’m sorry, Captain,” seracrete molecules seeped from her pores to form the hilt of her energy blade, “but I’m trying to save your life.”
“Kill her!” the captain barked.
On impulse, Siena expanded the group mind link, forcing the image of the gravity spheres being used as a rudder into the minds of the captain and his two krey companions. Then she went on the defensive.
The first dakorian swung a hammer for her skull and she sidestepped. Still weak, she kicked the back of his knee and used a pulse of gravity to pull him to the floor. He was knocked sprawling, and she used her blade to deflect the attack from the next soldier. The remaining two flanked her, forcing her to retreat. Above, the second sphere was ejected, and seconds later it too, detonated. Again, the ship heaved to the side, and the hull further warped. A handful of emergency shields flickered to life to prevent air escaping the cracks.
“They’re destroying my ship!” the captain roared.
Siena allowed a support beam to take a ringing blow. “They destroyed your ship, Captain.” She used the mind link to show the dead splicers.
A third orb burst from the starboard hull, followed by a shout of delight and another detonation. More shields blossomed as the ship lurched again. But the captain’s attention was divided, his eyes on the four dead splicers. Tara and Teth finished prepping the last starboard gravity sphere and dropped to the deck to help Siena, arriving in time to keep her from being overwhelmed.
“How close are we?” Siena called to Linx.
“Four degrees!” she shouted back. “It’s working!”
Mora struck the final gravity sphere, cracking the housing before it too was ejected. Siena retreated from the other ship’s guards behind a cooling coil. Teth and Tara did the same. And the ship heaved a final time. There was a screech of metal as three rents tore in the compromised hull, and emergency shielding charged to fill the gaps.
“We’re on target!” Linx shouted in relief. “Sixty seconds ‘til we hit the atmosphere.”
Linx joined Siena, as did Iso. A moment later, Mora dropped the entire height of the bay, her boots slamming into the deck. She twirled her hullblade until it emitted a dull whine, the sound causing the strike team to hesitate. The captain, too, seemed uncertain, his attention vacillating between Siena, the dead splicers, and the emergency holos now showing them headed for the planet. Realizing she would not have a better opportunity, Siena took a step forward, drawing his attention.
“Captain Zerin,” she read his lapel. “I know this is a lot to take in, but in sixty seconds, this ship is going to hit the atmosphere of Hathor-4. The engines may be offline, but emergency gravity repulsors will automatically activate and force us to land. With only four gravity drives, it’s going to be rough, but survivable—if you order everyone onboard into crash harnesses.”
Captain Zerin was livid. “You destroy my ship and then dare to issue orders?”
“Another ship is inbound.” One of the captain’s lieutenants sounded relieved. “It looks like a light cruiser. Hammer class attack vessel.” He frowned. “But it’s been modified with stealth characteristics. I’ve never seen a ship like it before.”
“They must have gotten our distress call,” the second lieutenant said.
“They aren’t here to rescue you,” Siena said. “They’re here to bury you.”
“You expect me to believe a wanted criminal?” the captain scoffed. “A slave, no less?”
Mora bristled, but Siena raised her blade and slowly retracted it. “I don’t expect you to believe me, Captain. I expect you to believe the evidence.” She motioned to the dead splicers. “You know a strange crew showed up, and shortly after your ship began to lose systems. You know my companions are all graduates of Iron Hill—a training program renowned for producing soldiers with integrity. And you know the flight plan for that ship is not one to offer rescue.”
His lieutenant grimaced. “She’s right, Captain. It’s keeping its distance and not sending any signals. It’s like it’s watching us go down.”
“Twenty seconds until we hit the atmosphere,” Iso said evenly.
The captain didn’t move. “You’re suggesting the Empire wants to kill thousands of grunts. That’s madness.”
“I’ll explain when we survive the landing,” Siena said.
The captain stared at her, and Siena held the krey’s gaze. Golden eyes, which meant House Ruath’Is, arguably the only House that didn’t treat humans like animals. But was it enough for him to overcome generations of prejudice?
Captain Zerin activated her command holo, and when he spoke, his voice reverberated throughout the ship. “This is Captain Zerin. We’re making landfall, and it’s going to be rough. I’m ordering everyone to crash harnesses.”
He nodded to one of his lieutenants, who sprinted to a command console. As he input his authorization code, the ship entered the upper atmosphere and began to shake. Beneath the decking, seracrete modifiers activated, and the flooring reshaped, the metal lifting up and bending into chairs. Siena nodded to the captain.
“Thank you.”
“I’m doing this for the crew,” he said acidly.
“I know.”
“And if we survive this madness, I want answers.”
“You’ll have them,” she promised.
The two sides reluctantly separated, with everyone darting to nearby crash chairs. Siena buckled into hers and thumbed the activation trigger. Gravity immediately enveloped her, crushing her into her seat and making it difficult to breathe. One of the four remaining gravity spheres flashed a warning holo as its entire contents were sucked dry by the thousands on board rushing into crash seats. It was a desperate ploy, and everyone knew it. But it was better than burning up in a star.
The vibrations in the metal increased as the ship plowed through the atmosphere. Emergency grav repulsors were coming online but were at partial power without the four starboard drives. The buckled hull abruptly ripped away, peeling back like a piece of fruit. The air vented in an explosive blast, giving Siena a front seat to the contrails of fire. Only the gravity cushion and the seat shield kept her alive. Weak, exhausted, and terrified, Siena closed her eyes and hoped she didn’t get sucked into the void.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
“I’ve got a signal!”
Luna’s voice washed over the inmates of Exile, sparking a palpable wave of relief. After Siena had left, it hadn’t taken long before they realized that unless she succeeded, they were all trapped on Exile, and it had taken all of Reklin’s skill to keep them from turning back into a mob. In Reklin’s entire life, he’d never felt such relief.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
“The signal is garbled,” Luna frowned, “but it looks like she managed to survive the exit from hyperlight and stop the attack. She just landed the transport onto a planet.”
“You owe me thousand glint,” Ero crowed triumphantly.
Shatteron grumbled, “How soon until she can get us a Gate?”
Luna’s hands flew as she manipulated her augment, and then a holo appeared. Scratchy and flickering, Siena’s expression was haggard. In the background, a smoking starship lay on its side in the middle of a field of corn. The image lasted for only a moment before crumbling into static.
“What’s going on with the beamcast?” Reklin shot Luna a look.
“The signal is being jammed on their end.” Luna frowned. “But Siena must be using her augmentations to bypass the jammer.” She pointed to the makeshift arch. “She says it’s taking everything she has to open a Gate but doesn’t know how long it will last.”
Sparks of purple energy ignited in the Shattered Cage, and then the Gate blossomed to life. Reklin didn’t hesitate. Calling orders over his shoulder, he sprinted for the flickering portal. There was the familiar hook in his gut and then he stumbled out the terminus and into a maelstrom.
The Gate was inside a wrecked starship, but it was tipped on its side, the arch warped. They were in a devastated cargo bay, with the crew and young dakorian grunts huddled behind wreckage on one side, and Imperial forces pouring through a massive breach on the other side. The Imperial soldiers were expertly advancing from cover to cover, forcing the officers and grunts to stay down. They were seconds from being overwhelmed.
As criminals burst from the Gate at his back, Reklin bellowed a war cry and charged into the flank of the Imperial line. He swung his energy sunderblade, carving an opening into the side of their forces. Two went down before they saw him coming, but then three turned to deal with his surprise attack. One fired point blank, while the other two used their hammers from the side. A textbook Imperial flanking maneuver—one which Reklin plucked from his memory with his augmentation. Sidestepping to avoid the initial attack, he caught the right hammer and yanked it down, forcing it to fire into the first dakorian. Then he sliced him across the belly and used his falling body to absorb the impact of retaliating charge. By then, Alina had attacked the other two, turning the breach into a charge.
In the lead, Reklin sliced and cut as he raced into the sea of red and black uniforms. Through the Gate behind him, the inmates of Exile flooded, and collectively unleashed a terrifying rage. Their charge cut so deep into the Imperial force that they were forced to turn wholly to face the escaped criminals.
Reklin twisted to avoid a hammer lance and kicked the attacker’s knee. The dakorian went down without a sound, his strange dark eyes showing no emotion. Reklin picked up a section of plating and hurled it sideways, sending the sharp metal slicing through two more splicers. They too died without any hint of pain twisting their features.
“These soldiers don’t seem normal.” Visika picked a dakorian up by the horn and launched him bodily toward his companions.
Shatteron barked orders to his loyal Spinebreakers and they crashed into the enemy, expanding their breach. Other inmates took command from him, and Reklin yielded command to the general. But a young dakorian darted through a gap and joined Reklin.
“They’re splicers.” Mora grinned at Reklin. “About time you showed up.”
