“I don’t know what I think.”

  They lapsed into silence and the seconds to the Gundar’s arrival at Zantil counted down.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Zantil processing facility was an immense construction, which floated stationary in an area of space far from anything else. It was clad in sheets of black warship-grade alloy and its main platform was eight thousand metres in length and three thousand in depth. Along the middle two-thirds, five huge cylinders made from the same dark metal jutted upwards for two thousand metres, each one representing its own single-fingered salute to the terms of the Human-Estral peace treaty.

  JN> Centrifuges.

  BK> The intel guys got it right.

  JN> I still can’t believe we spotted this place from so far out.

  BK> The sensors are pickup up emissions consistent with the presence of significant quantities of Istoliar, somewhere in that central section and in front of the middle three centrifuges.

  JN> How significant?

  BK> Somewhere between twenty and sixty million tonnes.

  JN> That is significant.

  BK> Enough to fit out plenty of new warships.

  JN> Now all we have to do is take it.

  The Zantil station was not quite so defenceless. At each end of the upper platform, wide-bore gauss cannons protruded from enormous turrets. At the base of these turrets was a row of square launch hatches.

  JN> Missiles, gauss turrets. Maybe incendiaries.

  BK> And I count eight generators slung underneath the main platform. The Gundar’s sensors confirm they contain Obsidiar-Teronium.

  JN> Shield generators.

  BK> I think we can safely say this is going to be a tough one to break open.

  JN> And that huge dome in the centre of the underside? It’s too big to be a particle beam, surely?

  BK> It’s definitely a beam weapon of some kind and from the signature, it’s running off Obsidiar. I reckon it doubles as backup power for the main facility.

  JN> And we have twenty minutes to neutralise this thing?

  BK> Yes. Tap into the battle network and see how it unfolds.

  JN> Will do.

  BK> On the plus side, we get a surprise attack from stealth. Looking at the facility, I don’t think it’ll take long before it’s shooting back.

  JN> Let’s get on with it, then.

  “Twenty minutes is more than sufficient for a mission with such simple aims,” said Keller, imitating the voice of AI Klister.

  Normal speech was painfully slow in comparison to the speed of the neural link and during the course of this single sentence, the fighting began.

  The Atlantis and Granite executed short-range lightspeed transits, bringing them within two thousand kilometres of the processing facility.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Deploying Tactical Devastator.

  AI Klister (Granite):: Deploying Tactical Devastator.

  The Retaliators were each equipped with a single Obsidiar-accelerated plasma incendiary cannister. The cannisters were huge and the technology old. Once the weapons were deployed, they tumbled onwards, using the momentum imparted by the parent spaceship to carry them to their target.

  AI Spindle (Foolhardy):: Launching Sublight Lambdas.

  AI Sol (Rust):: Overcharging particle beam. Neutralised by phase-shifting energy shield.

  AI Rune (Sunder):: Overcharging particle beam. Neutralised by phase-shifting energy shield.

  The list of updates rolled up the Gundar’s tactical screen, too quickly for the human eye or brain to comprehend the details. Nation was tapped directly into the feed and his augmented brain had plenty of time to study and digest. He sensed Keller nearby, except she wasn’t interfaced with a single system – she was everywhere at once.

  Keller (Gundar):: SRT complete. Target: Zantil Obsidiar-Teronium generator one. Stasis emitters one and two fired.

  BK> Here comes the response.

  Keller’s earlier prediction that the Zantil base wouldn’t take long to see through the Attack Fleet Z stealth modules was accurate. The processing facility’s guns opened up so quickly Keller was certain it must be packing thousands of dedicated sensor arrays tuned specifically to the task of locating cloaked warships. Zantil’s many gauss cannons fired, their recoil visible on the Gundar’s sensor feed. At the same time, a dozen or more hatches protecting the missile launch tubes opened up and high-yield phase-shifter missiles raced out into space.

  JN> They are focusing fire on the SC Revelation.

  In the age of fast-regenerating shields, a common tactic was to focus attack a single target until it was destroyed. Past strategies involved dividing firepower between two or three targets in order to keep the enemy guessing, or simply to hope for a lucky kill.

  The SC Revelation’s shield was lit up in the centre of a plasma explosion a hundred kilometres across.

  AI Flex (Revelation):: Damn they’re fast. Shield at 78%. Executing SRT.

  The Revelation jumped away to a distance of five million kilometres and launched a wave of eight Lambda sublights. The Zantil facility defences had an impressive range, backed up by an equally impressive targeting computer. Its guns retargeted and fired. The Revelation executed a second SRT, this time emerging at ten million kilometres. The Zantil tactical computer switched targets, this time aiming at the SC Rust.

  The Tactical Devastators were the first weapons launched, but not the first to impact. They struck the Zantil facility’s energy shield, a few hundred metres apart. Nation watched the sensor feed, his eyes narrowed in anticipation.

  The twin detonations were incredible to behold. White fires, tinged with blue and specks of darkness, swept around the Zantil facility’s energy shield in a split second. They expanded, further and further, until the Estral station was at the centre of an inferno thirty thousand kilometres across. The fires were wild and they burned in a turmoil of chaos, hotter than the corona of the hottest star.

  JN> We’re looking to salvage this facility, right?

  BK> Don’t be too worried. The Gundar’s sensors can read the output from their generators and believe me, they’re coping.

  Enemy missiles and gauss slugs continued pouring from the centre of conflagration, striking the SC Rust’s shield time and again. The spaceship retaliated with stasis emitters, missiles and an expulsion of its overcharge particle beam. Another volley struck the Rust.

  AI Sol (Rust):: Shield at 70%. Executing SRT.

  The warship entered lightspeed for a short moment, emerging close to the SC Revelation. Gauss slugs and missiles pursued it across the void. The Rust vanished again.

  The exchange continued. The Zantil station’s defences switched target time and again, whilst the focused Space Corps vessel took the punishment and then jumped away. The Tactical Devastator incendiaries showed no sign of burning out and they continued to chew away at the facility’s energy shield.

  JN> Any sign of give?

  BK> Not yet. Those are big generators. This place was designed to soak and that’s exactly what it’s doing.

  JN> Have we got the firepower for this?

  BK> We can knock out their shield. It’s just a question of whether or not we can do it before the Estral cavalry shows up.

  Each attack against one of the Space Corps vessels whittled away some of its Istoliar core’s reserves. Once a spaceship’s power core ran out of juice, its shield would fail and the craft would become vulnerable. The core would regenerate over a period of between twenty and thirty minutes, so these hit-and-run tactics would eventually be successful, as long as the Estral fleet didn’t get here in time to intervene.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Order: Target Zantil generators with stasis emitters.

  With three of the Attack Fleet Z spaceships – including the MHL Argonaut - keeping their distance, the remaining six, including the Gundar, swooped beneath the space station. The large turret Keller had seen earlier was indeed a beam weapon with a short range and a repeating capability. It opened up on the SC Gundar, and a series of concealed missile clusters launched dozens of smaller warheads at the ship.

  Keller (Gundar):: Firing stasis emitters. Firing overcharge particle beam.

  She kept the warship in close for a harsh exchange of blows. The Gundar’s overcharge repeater thumped five times in quick succession. The Zantil station’s shield showed no sign of collapse and Keller swore under her breath.

  BK> This place packs a serious punch.

  JN> And half of the Gundar’s weaponry is sitting on the landing strip at Fortress-3.

  BK> They should have recalled us for a proper fitting out.

  JN> Since we’re here and in the line of fire, why aren’t our stasis emitters shutting down their power cores?

  BK> I don’t know. They’ve either got another huge core somewhere in the upper section, that’s able to keep the shield going, or they’ve developed a way to deflect the effects of the weapon.

  Keller (Gundar):: Shields at 68%. Executing SRT.

  Under Keller’s control, the Gundar jumped out of range, before it could sustain a significant draining of its shield. The accepted strategy was to take a modest amount of damage before jumping away, rather than pushing it to the edge.

  AI Nox (Piledriver):: Deploying plasma incendiaries.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: Deploying plasma incendiaries.

  AI Klister (Granite):: Deploying plasma incendiaries.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Deploying plasma incendiaries.

  BK> Here we go. Subtlety out of the window.

  JN> You class the Tactical Devastators as subtle??

  BK> There’s no need for a double question mark. Gane-Q12 has decided it’s time to push things along. Anyway, the TDs are burning out.

  Keller was right. The fires from the main incendiaries were fading. Once their fuel was spent, they receded fast and the sphere of flames surrounding Zantil shrank like they were being sucked into a giant hole.

  The standard incendiaries exploded before the Tactical Devastator fires could vanish. They detonated in pure white and with a far smaller blast radius. Still, they clung to the station’s energy shield, pulling at its reserves. A second deployment of incendiaries followed, feeding the flames.

  Through it all, missiles from both sides flew back and forth, along with heavy slugs of hardened Gallenium. Modern weaponry could travel close to the speed of light and often a missile launched and detonated with only a tiny interval between each event. The SC Granite suffered a sustained bombardment and broke away, whereupon the SC Revelation rejoined.

  BK> There’s a flicker.

  JN> Their shield is coming down?

  BK> No. They’ve switched it from one power source to another.

  JN> It’s a start.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Lambda SL full launch. The Estral bastards will succumb.

  AI Nox (Piledriver):: Deploying plasma incendiaries. Executing SRT.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: Victory for the Space Corps!

  JN> Are they meant to be this happy?

  BK> Unfortunately. It’s all business until their battle sim tells them victory is a certainty. Then they celebrate. It’s in the programming.

  JN> What’s your battle sim telling you?

  BK> I don’t have one running. There’s something depressing about having a processing cluster telling you if you’re going to live or die.

  JN> This time we win, huh?

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Die, Estral filth!

  Nation shook his head, wondering what was more depressing – Keller’s feelings about the battle sim dictating her future, or the relish expressed by Gane-Q12 about the death of its enemies. There was no wonder the Confederation had laws to prevent computers becoming fully sentient. This glimpse into the world of the Space Corps’ most powerful warships left him completely bemused.

  JN> This is what we used to do to our soldiers. Train out their personality to make them better killers. Now we do it to our spaceships.

  BK> The underbelly of war. The price of winning we don’t ask too many questions about.

  JN> Yeah. I’m no revolutionary, but it leaves a strange taste.

  BK> Odd words from a covert op. And not the time to explore them further.

  JN> I’ll shut up until this is over.

  Nine minutes and fifteen seconds after Attack Fleet Z arrived in proximity of the Zantil station, the facility’s energy shield collapsed in the heat of incendiary fires and a sustained bombardment of Lambda sublights and particle beam repeaters.

  Whilst the MHL Argonaut remained at a distance, the other warships circled around, directing precision strikes of reduced-intensity particle beams at the facility’s missile launchers, gauss cannons, sensor arrays, and the underside repeater turret. Keller joined in and she flew the Gundar in a tight arc, firing its particle beam again and again, each hit enough to melt shut one of the missile launch hatches or disable a gauss gun.

  In less than two minutes, the Zantil weaponry was completely disabled. At the end of the process, both end sections of the facility were a mess of burning, misshapen metal in a range of colours from sullen red to bright orange. Lumps of molten alloy occasionally fell into space, leaving trails in their wake.

  The five main centrifuges hadn’t completely escaped. When the facility’s energy shield failed, burning plasma had fallen upon them in places. Here and there, sporadic fires burned, one or two looking serious to Nation’s eye and he wondered what would happen if they opened a breach into one of the centrifuges.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: That’s game over for the Estral dirt. Commence mission phase two. Time is passing, let’s move it people.

  Nation felt his head swimming at the words. Keller offered him a sympathetic smile and a shrug. She was far less a stranger to this than he was.

  “We got the prize,” she said.

  “A good result.”

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: Mission phase two commencing.

  Keller and Nation prepared themselves for the second stage of the attack on Zantil. With the facility’s defences out of action, it was time to capture it and take it back to the Confederation.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The heavy lifter, Argonaut, was only a few million kilometres away from Zantil and it didn’t take it a moment to lightspeed jump close enough to commence its pickup operation.

  “Is it safe for the Argonaut to attach its winch with the station still alight?” asked Nation.

  “Safer to get it into the Argonaut’s hold and get away from here than it is to wait for those fires to burn out.”

  “I knew that already. My mouth is just talking while my eyes watch.”

  “You do that as well?”

  “Don’t tell anyone.”

  The Argonaut was huge, but it wasn’t ponderous. It turned parallel to the Estral facility, climbed a few thousand metres vertically and then flew sideways, until it was directly above. At the same time, the heavy lifter’s main cargo bay doors opened smoothly and steadily, until they disappeared into their recesses in its double hull.

  Nation and Keller watched in fascination. It wasn’t that neither of them had seen an operation like this before, it was simply the fact humanity had spaceships which could lift ninety billion tonnes without breaking a sweat, that made it impossible to look away from the spectacle.

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: Targeting main winch. Targeting forward chains. Targeting aft chains.

  AI Sol (Rust):: This is one hot potato.

  “Here we go,” said Keller. “It shouldn’t take long to pull it into the hold.

  They watched and nothing happened.

  “What’s taking so long?” asked Nation.

  “I don’t know.”

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: Main Istoliar winch has failed to couple. Forward and aft gravity chains connected.

  “What does that mean?” Nation performed a quick search through the Argonaut’s design documents, but found nothing to explain the reason for this failure.

  “I’m not sure. The gravity chains are powered by plain old Gallenium and they’re just used to stabilise loads, rather than do the heavy lifting. The Istoliar winch does the hard work.”

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: Second attempt to connect Istoliar winch. Failure.

  Part of Nation’s processing cluster continued to pore over the design plans for the Argonaut, before moving onto the technical specifications of the main Istoliar winch.

  “I’ve checked the plans. The Gallenium chains have a maximum lift of fifteen billion tonnes. This is a vacuum – there should be no trouble, right? The Argonaut could drop right down over the space station, close its doors and then we leave this place.”

  “It can’t go to lightspeed with an unsecured load. A lifter’s life support modules don’t cover what’s in the hold. It relies on its lifting gear to keep everything stable.”

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: Third attempt to connect Istoliar winch. Failure. Aborting.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: You will not abort. Resume.

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: The winch will not attach.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Then there is a technical problem.

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: There is no technical problem with the module. The winch is being repelled.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: Connect at a different location.

  AI Jason (MHL Argonaut):: The load would be unbalanced and I would be destroyed entering lightspeed.

  AI Gane-Q12 (Atlantis):: If the Istoliar winch will not attach, we must destroy the target.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: If we do so, the mission will be a failure.

  AI Klister (Granite):: Partial success is not the same as failure.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: Success is an absolute.

  AI Spindle (Foolhardy):: No. There are degrees of success. What you are referring to is perfection.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: I hold myself to higher standards.

  AI Spindle (Foolhardy):: I see the bigger picture. The outcome of this war depends on more than one success.

  AI Feds (Boxer):: That is apparent, and also irrelevant to our discussion.