Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

Take us deeper into the Flux, Legroeder said, praying that his certainty was not misplaced. Now. While they can’t track us .

But we’ll lose sight of them, Palagren protested.

Didn’t you bring me along to tell you how the pirates think? We’ll pick them up again.

Palagren reluctantly complied, stretching out the battered fabric of H’zzarrelik ’s net to draw the ship deeper into the multidimensional layers of the Flux. As the glowing mists darkened and became less focused, Legroeder explained his reasoning. It was likely that the pirate ship had suffered severe damage to her rigger-net when the torpedo had exploded. There was no way to know how much damage, or how long it would take to repair, if it could be repaired. But Legroeder knew what most raider captains would do, in a case like this. They’ll try to sink into the deeper levels and get out of the turbulence .

Palagren sounded skeptical. There’s not much movement down there. Are you sure they’ll try it, without a working net? It’d be hard enough to steer there normally.

Legroeder nodded, scanning the surroundings. They were sinking into a level of the Flux that was comparatively sluggish. Ordinarily no one would choose to enter such slow-moving currents, but he had learned, with the raider fleets, that the underlayers made good hiding places at need. This is far enough, I think . Legroeder could still perceive the whirlpool shape of the region they had left; it looked ghostly now, on the verge of vanishing. For visual clarity, they viewed it as a cloud stretched overhead.

What now? asked Palagren.

Well—they’re in serious trouble. And if their captain is anything like the ones I knew, they’re going to try to slip into hiding while they make repairs. Even without their net, they can move into deeper layers by manipulating their flux reactor, just like a submarine flooding ballast tanks.

The usually stolid Voco sounded surprised. This is true? They would do that?

Oh yes, Legroeder said, scanning the ghostly region. It sounds primitive, and you need careful coordination between the flux reactor and the net sensors, or you can lose control and wind up so deep you’ll never get out. But it works.

They had lost sight of the raider vessel. The turbulence in the levels “above” had not affected this layer at all. There was a slow, steady movement of current away from the point at which they had entered. Legroeder pointed ahead and to the left. If we take a looping path around, it’ll bring us back to where we can intercept them when they drop to this level . The Narseil riggers agreed, and they took H’zzarrelik in a slow arc, searching out currents one by one until they had achieved the sweeping movement he wanted—almost an orbit around the place where he guessed the raider would come out.

So far so good. They hadn’t heard back from the captain or anyone else on the bridge for a little while now. Legroeder assumed that Ho’Sung and the rest of the crew were busy with emergency repairs. They had taken a couple of good hits from the pirate ship, and some of it showed in the sluggishness of the rigger-net.

We’re on the verge of losing maneuverability, Palagren warned, as they slipped unevenly through a transition layer.

All right, Legroeder said. Let’s edge back upward a little. If we hug those clouds, we should still be in good position to spot them.

Stretching their arms out, they worked to nudge the ship upward. The clouds sparkled more brightly, and they felt the streams of the Flux stir around them with a little more force. Beneath them, the gloom of the deeper layers remained quiet, scarcely moving.

I’m concerned about what’s happening on the bridge, Palagren muttered. No one’s answering—

There he is! Legroeder interrupted. A small, grey shape had just dropped out of the clouds toward the darker underlayers.

Captain, we have the adversary in sight, Palagren reported.

There was still no answer from the bridge. Legroeder found this worrisome, but there was nothing they could do about it now. The riggers focused on carrying out their last orders, bringing the ship into position for an intercept. They climbed a bit more, for mobility and for greater cover in the light-and-dark lanes of the misty whirlpool. At the same time, they scanned for currents that could carry them to the enemy more quickly than the pirate could move away. Legroeder’s plan was to approach with both speed and stealth.

Palagren continued calling to the captain. As they drew closer to the pirate ship, now from above rather than below, they could see that it was still tumbling slowly; its crew had not yet regained control. But that didn’t mean it was harmless. If Legroeder and the Narseil were to attack successfully, to take out the enemy’s remaining weapons, they would have to coordinate closely with H’zzarrelik ’s gunners. The moment they were in a position to strike, they would become a target, as well.

Palagren tried once more to raise the captain. Finally he said, Ker’sell, take a look outside the net. See if the com is down .

The keel rigger acknowledged, and vanished from the net.

In the instant he disappeared, there was a momentary outcry—from Ker’sell—followed by an alarming silence.

Popping the clamshell of his rigger-station, Ker’sell was surrounded by noise and smoke and chaos. Lights flared, and he heard the crackle of beam weapons. He cried out in alarm, and rolled forward out of the rigger-station—just as a laser beam slashed across the open clamshell. He started to shout to the captain, but someone grabbed his neck-sail, yanking him sideways and down, behind a bank of consoles. It was Agamem, the weapons officer. “Enemy boarders on the bridge!” Agamem hissed. “They got in through the airlock!”

“How is that possible?” Ker’sell protested. “I thought you hit them all.”

“We did, too. But they were fast. They killed our guards at the airlock. We didn’t know any had made it on board until they were halfway to the bridge.” Agamem was cradling a neutraser, waiting for a target to appear. Across the bridge, a raider commando was firing from behind the cover of another console, keeping several of the Narseil pinned down. “There were two of them. I don’t know where the other is. They disabled the door, so right now we’re—”

The flash of an energy beam cut off his words.

Ker’sell whispered an oath. What a disaster. Leave it to these two-ringed humans to engage in such treachery. “What about ship’s weapons?” he whispered to Agamem. “We’re coming into attack position on the pirate right now. What does the captain want us to do?”

Agamem’s eyes flashed. “The captain’s dead. We’re trying to keep the weapons panel protected here—but we can’t possibly—”

A figure of rippling silver leaped overhead, sparkling with laser and neutraser-light. Agamem twisted to follow, firing his neutraser, but the commando was too fast, taking cover again behind the rigger-stations. There were shouts, Narseil voices, somewhere in the smoke-filled room.

Ker’sell glanced over at the rigger-stations, like boulders looming out of a fog. He was useless out here; he needed to get word to Palagren, if he could do it without being killed in the process. “Com to the net—is it down?” he hissed.

Agamem nodded.

“Then I must get back in the net, to warn the others.”

“I’ll cover. Be fast,” Agamem said.

Ker’sell hummed his understanding and crouched to spring to his station. But before he could move, he saw in a tessa’chron blur another flash of silver as his station exploded in fire.