So far at least, no attack had been launched by the forces unknown which had engaged the Tagha’an and the Ex’Kaminar, and nothing had appeared on the sensors. However, the New Beginning’s visual arc was significantly lessened by the hull walls of the lifter, so it was entirely possible that the enemy ships were still here and remained unseen.

  “Approximately three minutes before we’re over the crater, we should be able to establish a comms link with Sergeant Gabriel, assuming the Sagh’eld are no longer jamming the underground facility,” said Lieutenant Perry.

  This time, Lanson didn’t answer, and he continued staring at the rear sensor feeds. The planet’s surface below was illuminated by the local star, and it was hard for him to tear his eyes away from the contrasts between dark shadow and light.

  “I’ll be ready to implement the new instant lightspeed transition option on the tactical in about twenty minutes, Captain,” said Abrams. “Our monitoring tools haven’t detected any new anomalies since I managed to suppress the last ones, but still—” He drew air in between his teeth.

  “I haven’t forgotten the dangers, Lieutenant,” said Lanson. “I’m not planning to chain ILTs around this solar system just to find out if anything breaks.”

  “I know, Captain, I’m just on edge, that’s all,” said Abrams. “Usually, I have a feeling for how a Rodos drive is going to behave, but here—” He swore. “It feels like I’m fumbling around in the dark.”

  “We’re all hoping for some luck on this mission,” said Lanson. “I’d like to tell you that I’d settle for rescuing those soldiers and bringing everyone home safe and sound, but there’s too much at stake here. We can’t allow the Sagh’eld to recover the hardware on Scalos.”

  “Even if preventing them involves chaining ILTs around this solar system?” asked Matlock, with a raised eyebrow.

  The situation wasn’t funny, but Lanson couldn’t help but laugh. “Maybe, Commander. If that’s what it takes.”

  “Five minutes until we’re directly over the crater and two minutes until we’ll be able to make a comms link to Sergeant Gabriel,” said Turner. “Unfortunately, we won’t have sensor sight on the crater for nearer to four minutes, owing to the orientation of the superheavy. We can bounce a comm transmission off the inner wall of this lifter’s hull, but that’s not how the sensor arrays work.”

  Lanson had already discussed this with his comms officers, and Turner was just giving him a reminder. He continued watching the planet’s surface, as the seconds counted down.

  Without any warning, the light on the planet’s surface went out, as if it had been turned off with a switch. For a moment, Lanson thought that Turner or Perry had applied a filter to the rear sensor arrays, but then he heard them both exclaim at the same time.

  “What just happened?” asked Lanson. “Do we have a problem with the sensors?”

  “No, Captain, the hardware is operating normally,” said Turner.

  “Then why did the lights go out?” asked Lanson. From out of nowhere, he felt a coldness sinking into him.

  “I don’t know, Captain,” said Turner. “All I can do is tell you that there’s no problem with our sensors.”

  Lanson’s mind spun as it conjured up one implausible explanation after another. “Something big is happening here at Scalos,” he said. “And we can’t find out what it is because we’re stuck in the bay of this damn superheavy.”

  “Thirty seconds and I’ll attempt to make a comms link to Sergeant Gabriel,” said Lieutenant Turner.

  Deciding against anything rash, Lanson breathed steadily and turned his attention once more to the feeds. He saw no sign of wreckage, and no other indication there’d been an engagement over this area of the planet.

  “Attempting comms link,” said Turner. “No receptor found.”

  “Try again,” said Lanson.

  “Attempting comms link. Receptor found! Captain, I have Sergeant Gabriel!”

  “Put him on the bridge speakers!” Lanson ordered.

  “Yes, sir, that’s done.”

  “Sergeant Gabriel,” said Lanson, the moment he heard the hum of a live connection. “What is your situation?”

  “We’re four levels deep in this facility, Captain. We found something called an Infinity Lens – it detects lightspeed tunnels.”

  “Are you certain that’s what it does, Sergeant?” asked Lanson. This was so important, he needed to be sure.

  “Yes, sir. We found some other aliens as well – a new kind – and they activated the lens. They killed us, and a few last Sagh’eld using a death weapon, but the acceleration field on Cornerstone changed me and my squad. We came back.”

  Lanson could hardly believe what he was hearing, but the conviction in Gabriel’s voice was absolute. “We’ve got some catching up to do, Sergeant,” he said. “We should have visibility on the crater in less than a minute.”

  “Captain, whatever fired the death weapon, it hasn’t left Scalos,” said Gabriel urgently. “The Infinity Lens hasn’t detected a lightspeed tunnel entry, so assuming we’re dealing with hostile warships, they’re still here.”

  “In which case, we’ll have eyes on them any moment now,” said Lanson.

  “There’s something more, Captain.”

  Lanson closed his eyes, sensing the worst. “Tell me.”

  “The hardware down here reports the imminent formation of a singularity – in about two hours and fifty minutes. I believe the contents of the facility storage bays have been used for a purpose that will kill us all if we don’t get out of here.” Gabriel swore. “Having seen what the Galos was capable of—"

  Part of Lanson hoped that Gabriel was wrong about everything. About the singularity, but most of all about the alien warships. The singularity was nearly three hours from formation, but the enemy vessels were here and now.

  Even so, Lanson needed to see what might well be a new enemy for the Human Confederation to deal with. The only consolation was that these new aliens were no friends of the Sagh’eld.

  Perhaps, Lanson thought, those two species could duke it out, leaving humanity well alone. The realist in him didn’t think that was going to happen. More likely, the Human Confederation would soon find itself deeper in the shit than was already the case.

  The ongoing drift of the superheavy carried it high above the planet and soon, the edge of the crater became visible.

  “There’s no sign of enemy vessels, Captain,” said Turner. “If they’re at a high altitude, we might not spot them until we’re directly overhead.”

  “And if they’re at a higher altitude than this lifter, we won’t spot them at all,” said Lanson.

  “That’s right, sir.”

  Soon, the wrecked superheavy was almost directly over the crater, and, if alien spaceships were anywhere in the vicinity, they weren’t within the New Beginning’s sensor arc. Lanson found himself doubting Gabriel’s assertions about the Infinity Lens – perhaps the soldier had misunderstood the purpose of the hardware, and the vessels which had engaged with the Sagh’eld were long gone.

  Deep inside, Lanson knew that Gabriel wasn’t wrong. Scalos was home to technologies that were off the scale ahead of anything the Human Confederation and the Sagh’eld were able to create. In his mind, the Infinity Lens was a prize almost beyond imagining, and he could well believe that other – as yet unknown – species would be interested in it.

  “Sergeant Gabriel, we’re now directly over the crater,” said Lanson. “There’re no vessels of any kind visible on our sensors.”

  “Maybe they’re gone, Captain,” said Gabriel, though his voice was laden with doubt.

  “Let’s not take the risk,” said Lanson.

  Given the circumstances, he didn’t want to chance exiting the bay of the lifter in order to enact a rescue, but neither did he want to leave the soldiers on the facility. As far as Lanson could see, he had no option other than to allow the lifter wreckage to complete another circuit of Scalos. Maybe when the next orbit was complete, Sergeant Gabriel would be able to confirm the enemy vessels had opened lightspeed tunnels and exited this solar system.

  Lanson knew his plan was lacking and it didn’t sit well with him. He opened his mouth, ready to let Gabriel know the bad news.

  At that same moment, a near-black shape dropped into view across the lifter bay opening.

  “Oh crap,” said Turner. “This is beyond anything—”

  The New Beginning’s rear sensors had only a limited view of the enemy warship – enough for Lanson to see the angular hull plates and to gain an idea of its length.

  “Eighteen thousand metres,” he said in utter disbelief. It suddenly struck him that the Sagh’eld hadn’t been defeated by an enemy fleet at all – just this one, monstrous warship.

  “And more than a trillion tons in mass,” said Perry.

  Lanson knew the game was up. “Lieutenant Abrams, we need an ILT and we need it now.”

  “Yes, sir, I’m working on it.”

  “Sergeant Gabriel, there’s just one enemy vessel and it has not exited this solar system,” said Lanson. “We’ll be unable to offer you any assistance until it’s gone.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Gabriel.

  Lanson’s fingers were wrapped so tightly around the controls, that the muscles in his forearms ached, and the tension in his shoulders left him feeling almost frozen in place. He forced himself to relax – this was a life-or-death situation, but he’d survived a few of those in the past.

  “Lieutenant Abrams,” Lanson said, through tightly clenched teeth.

  “Almost ready, sir.”

  “We need it—”

  Lanson didn’t finish his sentence. He was suddenly racked by the most excruciating pain he’d ever endured. It tore into him without mercy and Lanson heard himself shout incoherently. His heart thundered in his chest, and his head felt as though it was about to explode.

  Hardly able to control his body, Lanson slumped forwards, pushing the control bars as he went. He felt his heart stop, but somehow, he didn’t die straightaway. For several seconds, Lanson remained conscious. The agony drifted away, becoming remote. Then, he succumbed.

  EIGHTEEN

  For long seconds, Gabriel listened to the comms channel. Although he had no view of the New Beginning’s bridge, the sounds he was hearing painted a vivid picture. After a time, those sounds ended, leaving only the drone of the warship’s engines.

  “Death weapon,” said Gabriel.

  “The Captain might come back from it, Sergeant,” said Hennessey. “The same way we did.”

  “I hope so,” said Gabriel. “Assuming the enemy vessel doesn’t blow the New Beginning to pieces while its crew is out of action.”

  “There must be something keeping that spaceship here at Scalos, sir,” said Hennessey. “Those alien assholes already switched on the Infinity Lens, so why do they need to stay? So they can get pulled into a singularity as well?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that,” said Gabriel.

  “And if there is something important here, why aren’t we seeing any more of those energy-shielded aliens? You’d think they’d want to stand guard over this tech until their warship was ready to leave,” said Wolf.

  “Enough questions,” said Gabriel. “Give me a moment to think.”

  He cursed inwardly. The mission was on a rapid downslope and he didn’t know where to find the brakes. Only a few minutes ago, he’d been buoyed by the news that the New Beginning was still operational and still at Scalos. Now, the prospects for the mission personnel were as bad as they’d ever been. Even if Captain Lanson and his crew recovered from the death weapon, Gabriel strongly suspected the destroyer wasn’t going to be much of a challenge for the alien vessel.

  “We’re on our own again,” said Gabriel. “For now, at least.”

  “Does that mean we’re going to make a run for the exit, Sergeant?” asked Hennessey.

  “Yes – that’s what we’re going to do.”

  “What about this hardware?” asked Wolf, gesturing towards the circular console. “Maybe we should destroy it.”

  “I’m not even sure if this console is important,” said Gabriel. “I have a feeling that just by switching on the Infinity Lens, these new aliens have accomplished their primary goal. Now I’m asking myself if this place is no more than an activation station – maybe there’s a central control facility somewhere else.”

  “I wonder how many other sectors there are,” said Wolf. “And I’m hoping more than anything that Human Confederation territory doesn’t fall within any of them.”

  Gabriel was done with the discussion for the moment, and he switched into the squad channel. “Listen up. We’re getting out of here by the Level 6 exit.” Quickly he explained the new circumstances. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can extract from this console – not in the time we have available.”

  “What about the singularity, Sergeant?” asked Private Teague.

  “I don’t know, Private,” said Gabriel. “The best we can hope is that it’s going to form somewhere far from here. Otherwise, we have less than two hours and fifty minutes to make it to the New Beginning and exit this solar system at lightspeed.”

  Gabriel was desperate to learn more about what was happening and he stared at the console for a moment longer, wondering if he should press a few buttons just for the hell of it. Maybe he’d get lucky and stumble across a combination that would reveal a useful function of the hardware – just like Hennessey had managed a short time ago.

  “Shit,” he muttered, stepping away. “Private Galvan, lay some charges around this console.”

  Whether it was the right move, Gabriel didn’t know. Certainly he wasn’t in a position to secure the hardware and if the Human Confederation couldn’t have it, he might as well deny it to the other species vying for control over the Infinity Lens – even though he was ninety-nine percent sure the console itself wasn’t important.

  “Yes, sir,” said Galvan. “I’ll make sure there’s left nothing but scrap.”

  Beckoning Hennessey and Wolf to follow, Gabriel hurried to join the other soldiers at the southern exit. Meanwhile, Galvan circled the console, placing charges every few metres.

  “It’s going to be overkill,” said Galvan, once he’d finished his circuit. “Better safe than sorry, huh?”

  Gabriel didn’t wait any longer. He broke into a jog, at the same time as he ordered the soldiers to move out. The squad members were ready to go, and they looked eager to be away from this place. Gabriel doubted they’d end up anywhere much better.

  Despite the urge he felt to run flat out through the interior of the facility, the risk of encountering aliens remained significantly greater than zero. Consequently, Gabriel kept to a slow jog, in order that his aim wouldn’t be disrupted. Having seen how many gauss slugs those alien energy shields could soak, he intended giving the next enemy he saw an extended burst from his rifle, and his accuracy would suffer if he was running too hard.

  Gabriel and his squad exited the Infinity Lens activation area. The airlift which had taken them down to Level 4 also offered access the lower levels, and he traced the route back that way.

  Soon, the soldiers were in the airlift room and the only aliens they’d encountered on the journey were dead Sagh’eld.

  “Boom,” said Galvan.

  A moment later, the sound of detonations rumbled along the passage. Gabriel didn’t pay them any heed. He stepped up to the control panel and called the lift. To his relief, it opened immediately. Had the car been elsewhere in the shaft, it would have indicated that enemy soldiers had used it recently to access the other floors.

  Even so, the thought lodged itself into his brain, and Gabriel pulled the extendible sensor out from his shoulder plate. Positioning it at the back of the lift car, he set the lift’s destination to Level 6 and then stepped quickly outside before the doors could close.

  The car descended while Gabriel stood with his nostrils flared in irritation at this additional delay.

  At Level 6, the lift doors opened to reveal a ten-metre corridor leading to a room, the contents of which were not clear. Gabriel was only interested in aliens and defensive miniguns, and since neither of those were visible, he called the lift car back up the shaft.

  “We’re going down in a single group,” he said. “I’m cutting corners here, so I want everyone on their toes.”

  When the lift returned, Gabriel entered the car, retrieved his extendible sensor, and then positioned himself next to the activation panel. The soldiers entered the lift and Gabriel instructed the car to descend to Level 6. He was on edge, but tried not to show it. Breathing the cold air steadily in through his nostrils calmed him a little, but Gabriel knew that he either needed to fight or escape in order to break the tension gripping him.

  “Ready,” he said, when he felt the lift car’s deceleration.

  The car door opened and Gabriel exploded into a run along the short passage. As he approached the room, he dropped low and finished the last three metres in a crouch-crawl. Ahead, he could see more of the same consoles as elsewhere, along with another circular model which had a pillar rising from its centre, identical to the one Gabriel had seen in the Infinity Lens area on Level 4.

  Wrecked miniguns hung down from the ceiling in both opposite corners, and there was neither sight nor sound of aliens, though he could hear a high-pitched humming, the source of which he was unable to pinpoint.

  “The Sagh’eld took out the automated defences already,” Gabriel said on the squad comms. “We’re heading across the room,” he said. “I’ll lead.”

  Staying low, he dashed to the nearest console and then to the next. Gabriel’s destination was the southern exit, which led eventually to what he hoped would be the way out of the facility. Halfway to the central console, he came across his first Sagh’eld. The alien was on its back, sightless eyes staring at the ceiling, and its face locked in a snarl of agony. A second corpse lay farther along the aisle.