Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

I’ve got signs of weapons powering up, Agamem warned.

Legroeder blinked in dismay.

He heard a shout from the bridge crew, and then Glenswarg snapping: Flux-torpedoes incoming! Riggers, prepare for countermeasures!

Christ! Legroeder thought, still trying to locate the other ship. There it was, ahead of them. It had moved in fast . Three tiny twinkling lights were streaking through the Flux toward Phoenix . About four seconds to impact.

Riggers, hard to port! Captain Glenswarg shouted. Prepare to launch countermeasures… launch countermeasures!

No time for thought. Legroeder fell into a smooth motion with Palagren, Ker’sell, and Cantha. The net had returned to about half strength, and they warped it carefully, forming the ship into a stubby-winged aircraft. They banked sharply left, as a swarm of decoys shot out from the ship’s stern and billowed away like swarming bees. Some clouds passed between them and the incoming torpedoes, and for several seconds, they were blind to both the enemy ship and the torpedoes.

They dove, banked right, then left again, and climbed. As they passed around a cloud bank, there were two bright flashes behind the clouds, and concussions: thump! thump! Legroeder glanced back and saw one remaining torpedo, streaking in a long arc toward them. One incoming behind us! he called out.

Hold your course, Glenswarg said calmly. Then: Neutrasers—fire.

A bright streak lanced out from the tail of Phoenix , caught the torpedo, and destroyed it. The concussion wave shook Phoenix , but the riggers held tight and rode it out.

Damage report! Glenswarg called. Riggers, do you have the enemy in sight?

Negative, Legroeder replied. They had lost sight of it during their evasion. They brought Phoenix around now and passed beneath a puff of cloud…

Mother of— Legroeder recoiled as a dazzling white light split through the vapors far off to their right. What the hell is that? Legroeder squinted, shielding his eyes. Bridge, is that more incoming fire?

He heard a lot of shouting, with Agamem’s voice among them. But even as the captain replied in the negative, he saw the flash fading, and something streaking away—another ship, moving fast through the Flux.

Hell’s bells. Was that ship coming out of the folds of the underflux? Legroeder felt his implants suddenly buzzing back to life. It’s IMPRIS! Legroeder bellowed. He couldn’t hear anything comprehensible from the implants, but he could feel them seeking a connection. IMPRIS! IMPRIS! They made it through!

His heart threatened to pound out of his chest, as the other riggers and the bridge crew shouted at once. Glenswarg broke through finally. Have you got a lock yet on the enemy ship? Are you sure that’s Impris?

Yes! No—no lock. Palagren—Cantha—Ker’sell—any sign of that Kyber?

The implant link opened up, interrupting him, and he felt Deutsch at the other end of it, and he shouted silently, (Freem’n, you’re alive—are you there?)

Find me that Kyber! demanded the captain.

Still searching, called Palagren.

The reply from Deutsch was shaky and bewildered. (What—? What—? Legroeder? Is that you?)

(Yes, we—)

He was interrupted by a thunderous flash across the bow of Phoenix . The attacking ship—a Kyber raider twice the size of Phoenix —had just streaked out of the clouds, moving at tremendous speed. Had it missed them? Or was it on another errand now? It was arrowing straight for Impris , whose riggers were almost certainly dizzy and disoriented from their passage. The link with Deutsch was flickering out, probably interference from the attacker.

Captain, I had a link with Impris, but I’ve lost it! We’ve got to warn them! Legroeder shouted. Impris probably had no armament, and was certainly in no shape to deal with a surprise attack. (Freem’n!) he called urgently. (Impris! If you can hear me, flee for cover!)

An instant later, Glenswarg’s voice boomed out through the Flux, amplified by the net: ATTACKING SHIP, IDENTIFY YOURSELF! YOU ARE WARNED AWAY FROM OUR COMPANION! THIS IS CAPTAIN GLENSWARG OF KYBER-IVAN PHOENIX! He snapped to tactical, How soon can we get a torpedo off?

We’ve got problems here. Not for a few minutes, came the answer.

Legroeder drew a steady breath. Glenswarg was inviting a renewed attack on Phoenix with his challenge—but at the same time, he’d warned the captain and riggers of the starliner. Impris was already altering course, with slow, difficult movements.

Riggers, stand by for battle, Glenswarg ordered.

The attacker, dwindling in the direction of Impris , answered Glenswarg’s challenge with a sternward volley of torpedoes, streaking back toward Phoenix .

Legroeder and the Narseil hurled their ship at once into violent, evasive course changes. The Flux came alive suddenly with DROOM, DROOM, DROOM , the drums of a raider ship in full attack, and then the voice of the raider captain, booming through the clouds:

THIS IS HYUTU OF KM/C HUNTER! YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF A DESIGNATED HUNTING SPACE. YOU ARE INTERFERING WITH OUR MISSION, IVAN! EXPECT NO CONSIDERATION.

Legroeder choked. Hyutu! On the com from the bridge, there was an angry outcry. The captain was shouting instructions, but Legroeder barely heard him. The name was ringing in his ears, threatening to drown out all other thought.

Hyutu…

—launch countermeasures!

Legroeder, follow!

That last was Palagren, jerking him back to the present. Legroeder struggled to keep up with the Narseil on a barrel-rolling dive.

Hyutu—the murdering—!

Legroeder, move it! What’s the matter?

That bastard—Hyutu! he sputtered, late with his rudder movement.

Palagren had to compensate. What?

The bastard who betrayed the L.A.!

Worry about him later! Palagren shouted. Let’s stay alive!

The Narseil was right. They were straining the net with their diving and twisting. The torpedoes were sparkling closer, turning to match their turns. The countermeasures hadn’t worked—the torpedoes had adapted. Up and left! Legroeder snapped, suddenly seeing a way to do it. Palagren, give me the image!

Are you s—?

Do it!

In the blink of an eye, he changed the ship to a fluttering bat, blindingly quick and maneuverable. The image helped them fly the same way—darting up, sideways, down, wings flicking in a blur. Was Weapons ever going to get a shot off at those things? The spread of torpedoes swept around, following, gaining. But the torpedoes were taking the turns a little wider than Phoenix .

Stabs of light went out from Phoenix in a machine-gun burst, catching the lead torpedo. It detonated—thump!—and as the others were caught by the explosion, they went off, too. Thump! Th-kump! BM-BOOM!

Too close. The shock wave rippled through the Flux and hit Phoenix . The net shook and lost its hold, and the ship tumbled. The net was ablaze. Get it out! Get the fire out! Legroeder cried, trying to dampen the net. It wasn’t a literal fire, but energy was flooding through the damaged net and the feedback pain was incredible. It slowly subsided as they damped the net down and began to reshape it; and as they regained a measure of control, the pain became more tolerable. They were skidding in a slow turn now… coming back around…