“Sergeant?”

  Gabriel turned at the sound of Corporal Ziegler’s voice.

  “What’s the problem, Corporal?”

  “There’s no problem, sir.” Ziegler’s eyes went to the Galos, and recognition lit in his eyes. “We can’t stay here.”

  “This is what we came for, Corporal. Maintain the watch while I bring this module outside.”

  “Is it safe?” asked Ziegler hesitantly.

  “Safe enough to be transported in the back of this truck, Corporal.”

  “I mean, is it safe to touch? With the Sagh’eld jamming the comms, we won’t be able to remote link to that gravity drive. We’ll have to push the Galos to move it.”

  “There’s only one way to find out if it’s safe or not,” said Gabriel.

  Stepping sideways between the cube and the nearest corpse, Gabriel positioned himself behind the module. Just looking at it, he knew it was heavy and thereby had plenty of inertia, but the gravity drive’s inbuilt systems should hopefully be intelligent enough to detect his intentions.

  With a feeling of unexpected trepidation, Gabriel placed the palms of both hands on the cube. The display on his HUD told him the surface of the device was minus two hundred Celsius. Maybe, Gabriel thought, the low temperature helped the module to survive the incendiaries.

  Or maybe it’s just tough.

  A gentle, experimental push didn’t set the Galos in motion. When Gabriel pushed harder, the gravity drive accelerated towards the rear of the truck, carrying the device with it. After a couple of metres, the gravity drive slowed to a halt in a way that was designed to mimic natural motion.

  Approaching the module once more, Gabriel gave it another push, and this time it dropped out the back of the truck. The gravity drive prevented an impact with the floor and once again, it came to a halt a short distance away.

  Gabriel called in the soldiers, and they gathered around the device, looking at it with curiosity.

  “Until we can interface with this gravity drive to send it a leash command, we’ll have to push the module to keep it with us,” he said.

  “We’ve got a long way to go, Sergeant,” said Corporal Hennessey. “Pushing that thing is going to be a pain in the ass.”

  Gabriel knew it too. “We’ll handle it, just like always.” He pointed at Teague and Davison. “I’m leaving you two in charge of the device. Don’t lose it and don’t crash it into anything.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Davison with obvious reluctance.

  Although he was eager to be on his way, Gabriel allowed the two soldiers a short time to experiment with the device. They stood five metres apart and pushed it between themselves while they became accustomed to how much force was required to get it moving.

  “It’s not so bad,” said Davison, when Gabriel called a halt.

  “Easy,” said Teague.

  The dust from the collapsed building was settling and Gabriel wanted to be back under cover before he and his squad became any more visible. A check of the base map was enough to remind him of his planned route back, this being little more elaborate than retracing his steps.

  As he was about to give the order, the building which had collapsed to the south gave out a series of scraping, crunching sounds, followed by the pinging sound of snapping rebar.

  “Well, shit,” said Gabriel, knowing immediately what was about to happen. “Get behind this transport! Quickly!”

  Sure enough, the damaged structure of the building, which was still hardly more than a darker shade of grey in the dust, sagged, creating yet more noise as it did so. As he was running for the far side of the transport – which would offer a degree of cover against any debris that might be hurled in this direction – Gabriel glanced once over his shoulder. From this one brief sighting, it appeared as if the entire building was breaking into pieces.

  In a few seconds, the squad were crouched behind the transport. The rumbling of the building’s ongoing collapse seemed to take a long time to settle. When it was over, Gabriel discovered that his intended return route was completely blocked.

  As he did his best to plan a new route, Gabriel was at least comforted by the additional dust thrown out by the fracturing building. If he and his squad were to make it back to the New Beginning, they were going to need all the help they could get to evade detection from the Ex’Kaminar – not that Gabriel was entirely certain the dust would be enough to keep him hidden from the Sagh’eld sensors.

  The moment he’d determined the new route, which began with a short journey north, followed by a cut to the east, Gabriel gave the order to move. Before setting off, he looked at the Galos again. The device hovered silently on its gravity drive, still untouched by the dust.

  The unease which Gabriel had felt earlier, returned, only this time it affected him much more. While he wasn’t an expert in cutting edge technology, he couldn’t help but feel that the Galos hadn’t been created in a Human Confederation research lab, nor, he suspected, had it been made by the Sagh’eld.

  That left only one explanation, and it was an explanation Gabriel didn’t feel comfortable with at all.

  Heading north, he led the soldiers into the dust.

  FOURTEEN

  Having completed the transit on the underground shuttle without incident, Captain Lanson and his crew emerged from the airlift into the parking area near the underground bay. Lanson was eager to finish the journey in order that he could board the New Beginning. Although the cruiser was surely not a match for the Ex’Kaminar battleship – with or without the new super propulsion module the Cornerstone base had been working on - he knew he would feel far less vulnerable once he was sitting at the command station on the vessel’s bridge. The only problem was getting there.

  “Let’s take this gravity car,” said Lanson, pointing to the nearest vehicle with six seats.

  He climbed into the driver’s side and waited for the others to join him. Once everyone was inside, Lanson guided the car into the tunnel which linked the parking area with the bay accommodating the Gallivant.

  Once inside the passage, he had a good view of the bay. Oddly enough, and despite everything that was happening, repairs had commenced on the Gallivant, and, from the activity surrounding the vessel, they were still ongoing.

  Lanson kept the gravity car to a medium velocity and made frequent checks to the rear, in case any Sagh’eld troops emerged from the airlift behind. Halfway to the bay, he heard an explosion, somewhere faraway, but not so far that it was inaudible.

  “Shit, where did that come from?” he said, bringing the car to a halt.

  “It’s hard to tell from here underground,” said Matlock.

  A second explosion followed the first, and this one was much louder. It also, unmistakeably, came from the bay ahead. Holding his breath, Lanson waited and, sure enough, a third detonation came. This time, the flash of it was visible in the repair bay.

  “The Sagh’eld have located the bay doors and they’ve blown them open,” said Lanson angrily.

  He waited for a fourth detonation and when, after a full minute had passed, it didn’t come, he guessed the enemy had ruptured the surface doors, leaving them with no further need to expend their ammunition. Pushing the gravity car’s control stick forward, Lanson set the vehicle into motion in a sudden lurch of acceleration.

  “Captain, are you planning to cross the bay?” asked Matlock. “The enemy might spot the Gallivant through the opening and launch another missile attack.”

  Matlock’s words were enough to give Lanson pause. The Sagh’eld had blown open the underground bay and that meant they were sure to investigate. His first thought had been to wait for the missiles to stop hitting the topside bay door and then to make a rapid transit of the bay before the enemy sent one of their shuttles down the shaft.

  “Damnit,” Lanson said, slowing the gravity car again. “If we’re lucky, the Ex’Kaminar launched missiles from a place that denies it a viewing angle down the shaft. That way it won’t know about the Gallivant.”

  “That’s a possibility, sir,” said Abrams. “But I reckon the battleship’s last known position would give it the view it needed.”

  “Lieutenant Turner, contact Sergeant Gabriel,” said Lanson. “If the battleship has changed position, he might be able to tell us about it.”

  “The link light to the squad channel just went out, sir,” said Turner. She cursed the bad timing. “Sergeant Gabriel must have entered an area that’s being jammed by the Sagh’eld.”

  Lanson bit down on a curse of his own. “Nobody said this had to be easy.”

  He drove the car nearer to the bay entrance. The Gallivant was hovering a few hundred metres away, and that was likely far enough that a few plasma missile strikes on its hull wouldn’t incinerate the gravity car – unless the Ex’Kaminar really went to town and saturated the bay.

  No missiles descended through the shaft and Lanson was about to recommence the journey, when he heard the drone of a shuttle propulsion. The fact he could hear it over the sound of the Gallivant’s Rodos drive indicated the incoming vessel was larger than a normal shuttle.

  “We missed our chance,” said Lanson.

  For a moment, he was angry that he’d been too timid, but then he gave himself a mental shake. He hadn’t been in a position to make a good call, and on this occasion, he’d fallen on the wrong side of luck. This kind of shit tended to even itself out, given time.

  “Maybe the Sagh’eld won’t destroy the Gallivant anyway,” said Massey. “It’s not like a Carbine is going to worry an Ex’Kaminar, so what if the enemy are coming to see if it’s operational? The Sagh’eld might want to send a lifter to pick it up.”

  As far as Lanson was aware, the enemy weren’t interested in salvaging HC warships – after all, it wasn’t as if the Sagh’eld could benefit much from the technology onboard, except perhaps the hull repeaters and the targeting systems, which were about the only advantages humanity had over their opponents.

  Lanson didn’t want to be drawn into a maze of guesswork, so he decided to wait and see what the enemy had planned for the Gallivant. He kept the gravity car stationary, about a hundred metres from the bay entrance. There were plenty of other vehicles parked up, so the enemy had no need to pay this one any particular heed.

  Leaning forward, Lanson pushed the switch to activate the reflective effect on the windows and the front and rear screens. That way, the aliens wouldn’t be able to see inside, even if they were interested enough to start looking. From what he knew of the Sagh’eld, they tended to slip into overconfidence, especially when they had the upper hand. Occasionally, it made them careless.

  For a time, the shuttle remained out of sight, though the increased volume of its propulsion indicated it was at a low altitude. Then, the vessel descended just enough that Lanson could make out its undersides. At nearly two hundred metres in length, he recognized the type as one of the fast, heavily armoured dropships the Sagh’eld used to deploy their troops into frontline positions.

  As far as Lanson was aware, an Ex’Kaminar didn’t carry any vessels like this one, which only reinforced his feeling that the battleship was not alone in this attack on Cornerstone.

  “Those dropships normally arrive in the hold of a cargo carrier,” said Matlock.

  “That’s what I was thinking, Commander,” said Lanson. “And those carriers can hold dozens of dropships just like that one.”

  “Which would be overkill for this attack on Cornerstone,” said Abrams.

  “The Galos unit is clearly important to the enemy,” said Lanson. “And that means plenty of ground backup for the battleship.”

  “Or what if the Sagh’eld launched this mission from somewhere nearby?” asked Matlock. “The dropship couldn’t nearly keep up with an Ex’Kaminar through lightspeed, but it wouldn’t matter across a short distance.”

  “I’m all for speculation when it might lead somewhere, Commander,” said Lanson. “And I’m aware that the Human Confederation really needs to learn how the Sagh’eld discovered one of our top-secret facilities, but here and now, I think we’re wasting our breath.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Matlock.

  For another couple of minutes, Lanson watched the enemy transport, which remained in sight but dropped no lower. Whatever the Sagh’eld wanted from this bay, they were unintentionally doing a damn fine job of preventing him and his crew from reaching the New Beginning.

  And then, it struck Lanson.

  “At the moment, the Gallivant is blocking the enemy’s view along the tunnel leading to the adjacent bay with the New Beginning,” he said. “Sooner or later, the Sagh’eld are going to investigate, and then they’ll learn about the Vachal destroyer and our cruiser.”

  “How are we going to stop them, Captain?” asked Perry. “Our gauss rifles aren’t going to bring that transport down.”

  “No, they aren’t,” said Lanson. “But the Gallivant won’t have any trouble blowing it to pieces.”

  “Shit, of course!” said Matlock. “We can take remote control of the Gallivant and command it to fire its weapons.”

  “Once the transport is destroyed, the Ex’Kaminar is sure to launch plenty of missiles into this bay,” said Lanson. “As soon as our spaceship is reduced to wreckage and the Sagh’eld turn their attention elsewhere, we might have an opportunity to reach the New Beginning.”

  “If we sit here in this gravity car, we’re going to suffer the same fate as the Gallivant,” said Abrams.

  “That’s a chance we have to take,” said Lanson. “We’ve got some space behind us. Maybe that parking area back there will be far enough.”

  “Let’s do it,” said Turner.

  Lanson was pleased that nobody suggested abandoning the effort to reach the New Beginning - not that he’d expected it to happen. While it was likely true that he and his crew could have headed back up the airlift and kept their heads down until the Sagh’eld found what they wanted and left the planet, taking such action would be tantamount to cowardice.

  “I’ll instruct my comms unit to link to the Gallivant,” said Lanson. “Once I’ve issued my command codes, you’ll be able to take control of the weapons systems, Commander Matlock.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Lanson was about to make the comms link to the Gallivant, when the enemy shuttle suddenly dropped lower in the bay. Now, it had a clear view along the tunnel in which he and his crew were hiding. Lanson felt the urge to duck lower in his seat, even though the mirrored windows would prevent the enemy sensors from detecting him.

  “If the shuttle stays where it is, we won’t be able to retreat to the parking area until after it’s been destroyed,” said Massey. “If the Ex’Kaminar launches its missiles quickly, we might be in real trouble.”

  Rather than heading elsewhere, the Sagh’eld shuttle set down on the bay floor, its immense landing legs sinking deep into their suspension mountings.

  “They’re about to deploy troops,” said Lanson angrily.

  His chance to act was slipping away, and he couldn’t allow that to happen. Quickly, Lanson ordered his suit comms to link with the Gallivant. Once that was done, he sent his command codes over to the warship. The codes were accepted, and he was allowed access to the vessel’s onboard systems.

  “I’m in,” he said. “Commander Matlock, you should have access too.”

  “Connection request sent,” Matlock confirmed. “Connection request accepted.”

  Lanson, meanwhile, had accessed the Gallivant’s sensors, in order that he could have a look around the bay. He could switch between the different feeds and watch their output on his tiny HUD screen. The result was far from perfect, but it was good enough that Lanson could see what he needed to see.

  “There’re two other shuttles in the bay,” he said. “They’re up near the ceiling, and they’re much smaller models that that fast transport.”

  “The Gallivant can take out three small targets as well as it can take out one, sir,” said Matlock.

  Lanson switched to the feed of the landed transport. One of its flank doors was open, forming a ramp, and enemy soldiers were sprinting down to the bay floor. They evidently had instructions to search the gravity vehicles which were parked up here, and they broke off into several different directions.

  “Commander Matlock, it’s time,” said Lanson. “Hit the fast transport first.”

  “Yes, sir. Primary enemy vessel targeted with two Fury missiles. Secondary vessels targeted with hull repeaters. Firing.”

  The primary target wasn’t much more than two hundred metres from Lanson’s gravity car, and he hoped that would be far enough. He didn’t see the missile launch, but the outcome was unmissable. A huge flash of plasma engulfed the enemy shuttle in a moment and the roiling fires spilled into the passage.

  Lanson put the gravity car into reverse and commanded it to maximum acceleration, hoping he and his crew would survive.

  FIFTEEN

  Light and heat filled the passage, sweeping around and then past the gravity car. For a moment, Lanson was unable to see where he was going, but he held the control stick in place and managed to avoid a collision with the walls.

  When the fires receded, the gravity car was still accelerating, with no sign it had suffered critical damage. The view through the front screen cleared and Lanson saw that the shuttle had been torn into at least two pieces. Only one piece was visible, about fifty metres from the passage entrance, and still ablaze.

  “Confirm the number of kills, Commander Matlock,” said Lanson.

  As he was speaking, a repeater-pummelled lump of wreckage dropped down from somewhere above, and struck the floor behind the primary target with a crash.

  “Three confirmed kills, Captain,” said Matlock.

  As he waited for the inevitable retaliatory strike, Lanson kept the gravity car on course. The parking area by the airlifts still seemed like a long way off. If the Ex’Kaminar’s crew were slow to react, maybe he’d be able to steer the car around one of the corners to reduce its exposure to the incoming missile strike.