Chapter 610: Interlude (2/2)
A burning light appeared in-system, between the dwarf gas giant and the Red Zone planet.
It suddenly unfolded in a geometric pattern that made the sole aware Digital Sentience wince with pain and several of the VI's throw heavy errors.
The pattern remained crinkly, like space had suddenly unfolded into one of the old origami flowers. It glimmered and sparkled even as shattered fragments of another stellar system could be seen.
”Deathblossom!” Captain Hooker called out over the link. ”Confirmed Deathblossom! Type Alpha-Two!
Captain Choi moved everyone's wakefulness up a notch even as she swallowed involuntarily, her spike of anxiety somehow stimulating a nerve that should have been disconnected.
”Doublecheck all silent running systems,” Choi ordered, keeping her voice calm.
A hull slowly slid from the folded and warped space.
Dull gray, the color of unpolished iron. The ship was blocky, heavy looking. The forward section on a 'neck', a long body, a connected after section. Four side sections connected by heavy angled sections.
”IFF detected. Multiple signals. Mantid. Treana'ad. Rigellian. Confederate. Republic. Imperium. Lanaktallan. Twenty. Thirty. Sixty ID signals,” Captain Hooker said.
”Don't target it, not even passive targeting,” Choi sent out to the Master Guns and all gunnery crews. ”What's the ID?”
”Working,” Hooker replied. There was silence as the ship slowly drifted from the crinkled space.
”Get me an ID,” Choi pushed.
”The Theseus. It's the Ship of Theseus,” Hooker said, sounding like he was choking. ”It's the fucking Ship of Theseus.”
Choi felt her stomach clench and she suddenly felt like vomiting even though she knew the sensation was entirely psychosomatic.
”All stealth officers, double-check silent running systems,” she ordered.
Lights blinked off to the side of her vision, beyond her peripheral vision. Seven lights went red, then amber, then green, one at a time as each stealth officer checked his systems.
Another ship slid from the crumpled space. Same design, just two-thirds the size of the first.
”The Let There Be Wrath,” Hooker said.
Choi could hear the sweat.
Another ship, same as the second.
”The Omnicide's Little Sister,” Hooker said.
”Decrypt the files. What kind of capabilities do they have?” Choi asked.
”They might have different capabilities than the last time they spotted,” Commander Tilkak'Nok suggested.
”Doubtful. We'll just watch,” Choi said, whispering despite the fact she was speaking over heavily shielded fiber optic cable.
More ships came out, each with names that dripped with malice. We Don't Want to Talk Either and Roomy Grave and Cold Grasp all filled Choi with dread.
Quack Quack Motherfucker was the last and the largest, bigger than Theseus by half again.
To Choi it felt as if they should all be covered in space dust, derelict looking.
Instead, their running lights burned brightly, their hulls fully illuminated, portholes and windows lit up brightly.
Despite Choi's expectations, the ships did not make for the gas giants. Instead Quack launched two torpedoes even as the ships moved steadily in-system. The two torpedoes sunk into subspace, far enough that they were not exposed to realspace attacks, but close enough to realspace that they 'sprayed' a 'wake' behind them.
”Ready sensor switches, it's about to get ugly,” Choi ordered.
Half of the sensors went down as the torpedoes suddenly 'sprinted' at the gas giants, exiting subspace and hitting the gas giants at nearly .8C before detonating.
The sensors rotated out and most caught what happened.
Heavy graviton compressors went off, like an artificially generated black hole had suddenly erupted in the middle of the gas giants.
Then the final effect of the torpedo caused them to ignite.
The compressor went off and the gas giants, now burning, seemed to wobble.
Choi was watching the ships as they swept in closer. She noticed the ships didn't deploy torchships, didn't deploy parasite craft or fighter craft, did not even bother deploying decoys.
They just moved steadily in-system.
”Theseus is firing. Looks like an nCv cannon,” Hooker said. ”Shells are already at .9C.”
”Target?” Choi asked.
”Fifth planet. Three shots. Polar, Anti-Polar, Equatorial,” Commander Tilkak'Nok said.
Choi watched as all three shots hit at the same time. She saw literal gigatons of material spewed off the top and bottom of the planet as the nCv shells hit, fluorescing the thin atmosphere in a needle that touched the crust of the planet. The shells obviously drove deep enough to be a kinetic kill.
But that obviously wasn't enough.
No. Not for this group.
Choi winced as the shells exploded. She could almost taste the white-blue snap of antimatter.
The poles blew off the planet at the same time as hundred of miles of surface leapt from the bedrock as the nCv round that had driven miles into the crust detonated. Over half of it was moving faster than escape velocity as the bluish-white hellfire detonated at the border of crust and magma.
”That's a kill,” Commander Tilkak'Nok said softly.
The ships kept moving inward.
”Theseus is firing,” Hooker said, his voice sounding sick.
”Target?” Choi asked, wishing she could wipe her mouth.
”First planet. Same shot pattern,” Commander Tilkak'Nok said. ”It will be four point six two hours till we get standard visual.”
”Activate one of the paired quark drones, bounce the signal in the Oort cloud, laze it to us,” Choi said. ”We need to see it.”
”Shells are at .985C already and are making evasive maneuvers,” Hooker said. ”Signal lost. They're running dead and stealthed.”
”Smart weapons on that,” Choi said. She shook her head. ”Have they noticed us?”
Commodore Tunlu'uk shook his head. ”No, Ma'am, doesn't look like it. If they have, they're ignoring us.”
”Got a trace,” Hooker said. ”Profile says it's a scanning drone web. Two traces. Three. Looks like they're scanning the planets.”
”The Atrekna better hope there's people that these guys want to keep alive,” Tunlu'uk said.
”They might not care,” Choi said softly. ”You don't recognize them?”
Tunlu'uk shook his head. ”One of the LARP worlds?”
Choi shook her head. ”No. We wish.”
”Signal coming in,” Hooker said.
Choi watched the closest planet to the sun get slaughtered the same way.
Violation of the Orion Compact, the Revised Geneva Convention, and the Rigellian Rules of Space Warfare.
Not that they are signatories, she thought to herself.
”They're scanning,” Hooker said. ”Omnicide's Little Sister is making for low orbit on the fourth planet.”
”So they're going to go to ground assault,” Choi said. ”Get every detail you can.”
”Who are they?” Tunlu'uk asked.
Choi swallowed twice before she could get the word out.
”Earthlings.”