Armada Page 12

  “Each sphere has a beam weapon,” said Davies. “That suggests they’re built to the same design, so they probably carry Mechs.”

  “I knew we hadn’t seen the end of these bastards,” muttered Jackson.

  “What’s the next step, Double-D?” said Conway calmly, ignoring Jackson.

  “Access. We need to get back into their systems and shut them out.”

  “Good, Davies, that’s good,” said Conway. “How do we do that?”

  “I don’t know!” said Davies, voice rising again. “I lost my kit when we left that last room. I’ve got nothing left, it’s all out there, somewhere!”

  “I know,” said Conway soothingly, “but the box is wireless, right? Can you connect remotely?”

  There was a moment’s silence, and then Davies said, “Hah, yes! I’m in! The signal’s weak – must be all the steel – but I’m in.”

  “That’s good, Davies, so–”

  “Shit,” he interrupted, “I left an open link to Vengeance while the Sphere was transforming.”

  “So?”

  “If they disabled my firewalls, they could have accessed our systems,” said Davies.

  “And did they?” said Conway.

  “I don’t think so,” said Davies uncertainly. “Can’t tell for sure.”

  “Then forget about it,” said Conway calmly. “Talk me through it, Davies. What’s the next task?”

  “Hack the system, take control,” said Davies.

  “Good man,” said Conway. “Nothing we can do about what’s happened. Our job is to stop it happening again. You can do that, right, Double-D?”

  “Sure,” said Davies, sounding back to his old, confident self, “I can do that.”

  “We’re working on your position,” said Conway. “We’re close, it’s just a matter of reaching you. Keep at it, and we’ll be with you soon.”

  “Got it,” said Davies. “Out.”

  Conway opened a channel to Gray, Jackson and Ten. “We need to find Davies and cover his back while he sorts this out. He’s our best hope.”

  “Roger,” said Ten. The others nodded. “How do you want to do this?”

  “He’s in a control room,” said Conway. “We know that’ll be close to the centre of the Sphere, so we go looking.”

  Ten hefted his rifle. “Let’s make it quick,” he said. “I don’t trust these bastards not to come after us again.”

  Davies whistled tunelessly as he worked. He’d already checked the link back to Vengeance and confirmed that the firewalls were in place. Now he was sifting through the Sphere’s systems, looking for something that would allow him to take control. It was a long slog.

  “Lieutenant,” he said, opening a channel to Yau, “are you able to help, sir?”

  “What do you need, Davies?” said Yau.

  “I want to check that you’re receiving data from the Sphere over the secure link.”

  “Confirmed,” said Yau.

  “And was there anything useful in the files Hunter retrieved? Have they been analysed?”

  “We’ve been busy,” said Yau tersely. “The files weren’t our top priority.”

  “Okay, I’ve got a route in, I think,” said Davies. “I’ll send you some more files. We need to know where their systems are integrated and where top-level commands are issued.”

  “And you want to work this out from their files?”

  “Yes, sir,” said Davies. “I think I have a hack to stop them firing their weapons, but we need to lock out their central command system and replace it with our own in order to control the ship.”

  “That makes sense,” said Yau dubiously. “Do you think it’s possible?”

  “Absolutely,” said Davies with a confidence he didn’t really feel. “Just need some time to figure it all out, sir.”

  “Roger. We’ll crunch the files we have and let you know as soon as we have anything,” said Yau. “Out.”

  Davies took a deep breath, paused to check the status of the rest of the team in his HUD, then dived back into the Sphere’s computer systems. The hierarchy was logical, but the nomenclature was unfamiliar, and even navigating the system took time. Finding specific features and files when it wasn’t even clear that they existed was a non-trivial task.

  “Shit,” Davies murmured to himself eventually, “how much more of this stuff is there?” He was working via his HUD, using it as an interface to the Sphere’s main system and making notes as he went. Teasing his way through the complicated hierarchy of components, backups, redundant failovers and half-hidden decoys was time-consuming and difficult. He was starting to fear that the task might be beyond him.

  “Oh,” he said with sudden realisation. “That’s not a decoy.” He opened part of the system he’d previously dismissed and found himself peering into the heart of the machine. “Fascinating,” he murmured, copying files and forwarding images to Vengeance.

  Then there was a hiss, and atmosphere flooded back into the control room. The lights came on, and a few of the dormant consoles awoke from their slumber. In the bright light, the bullet holes around the huge room were suddenly obvious, and Davies frowned as he looked around.

  “What the fuck happened here?” he said to himself. It looked like someone had stood on the edge of the room and sprayed it with fire, shredding the screens, the computers and much of the network infrastructure. It was blind luck that Davies had found a functional terminal.

  Then there was the gentle swish of a door opening. Davies threw himself behind the console, scrabbling for his rifle as he went.

  There was nothing in sight, but on the other side of the doorway Davies could hear stealthy movement.

  “Mechs,” he muttered, aiming at the door. He opened a channel to the rest of the team. “I’ve got company.”

  “You’re still in the old control room?” said Conway.

  “Yes, and the door just opened.”

  “That’s us,” said Conway. “Don’t shoot.” And she stepped through into the control room, with the rest of the team behind her.

  Davies stood up from behind the console and lowered his rifle. “Thought I was in trouble for a moment.”

  Gray and Jackson waited by the doorway, checking for any sign of movement, while Conway and Ten hurried across the control room.

  “Is this your handiwork?” asked Davies, waving at the wrecked equipment.

  “Er, yes,” said Ten. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “I worked around it,” said Davies darkly.

  “Forget all that,” snapped Conway. “Do you have control?”

  Davies paused. “Almost,” he admitted. Conway just waited, face hidden by her helmet. “No,” he said finally, “not yet. I’ve found the fire control system and taken control, but it’s only a matter of time before the Sphere’s commander realises what’s happened and works around it.”

  “The ‘commander’?” said Ten. “What commander?”

  Davies shrugged. “Stands to reason. Something’s issuing the orders, probably an AI of some sort, and it must be inside the Battle Sphere now that all five Spheres have merged.”

  “So we’re not safe yet?” said Conway, glancing at the doorway.

  “Er, no,” said Davies. “But I think we’re close.”

  “How close?” said Ten. “I mean, I’m not one to hide myself away, but it would be good to know if something’s about to go badly wrong.”

  “Because that never happens,” muttered Jackson. “Not if there’s a chance for things to go spectacularly wrong instead.”

  “We need to find the central command system,” said Davies, “and isolate it from the rest of the ship.”

  “Isolate it? Won’t it be woven throughout the structure?” asked Conway.

  “I don’t think so,” said Davies, shaking his head. “Look, the first Sphere was in the front line, right? The other four weren’t backups, they were part of this extended battle group, and that means there has to be a commander, an admiral of some sort, ready to
take over.”

  “Why couldn’t it be on a nearby planet?” said Ten.

  “Or a sixth Sphere that hasn’t shown itself?” said Gray.

  “Or with the incoming armada?” suggested Conway.

  “It could,” said Davies impatiently, “but there’s still got to be a local commander for the Battle Sphere, something inside the merged ship that gives the orders. A captain that can operate if the Sphere is alone or cut off from outside contract.”

  Davies pulled up a 3D schematic he had found of the Battle Sphere and flashed it into the team’s HUDs. “I think it’s here,” he said, dropping a flag into the plan.

  “That’s not something we saw in the original Sphere,” conceded Ten. “Looks like something new.”

  “Let’s say you’re right,” said Conway. “What’s our next step?”

  “Something’s controlling this ship,” insisted Davies. “We need to find it, supplant it, and take control ourselves. If we don’t, it’s only a matter of time till the death beam fires on Vengeance and Orion.”

  “Game over, man,” said Jackson with a sad shake of his head, “game over.”

  Conway was quiet for a moment, thinking it over. “Agreed,” she said finally. She opened a channel to Vengeance and Orion and delivered a brief update. “It’s time to bring in the troops, sir.”

  “Thank you, Corporal,” said Stansfield. “You’ll have reinforcements as soon as we’re able to deliver them.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Conway.

  “I will send a company of Marines under Captain Figgis,” said Ryan coldly, his voice dripping with hostility and scepticism. “You will now take your orders from Captain Figgis. Orion out.”

  “Good work, Charlie Team,” said Stansfield. “Keep it together and we might still get out of this. Vengeance out.”

  “This day just keeps getting better,” muttered Ten when he was sure they had the channel to themselves again.

  “You know Figgis?” asked Gray.

  Ten hesitated. “I know his reputation,” he said, noncommittally.

  “And?”

  Ten hesitated again, then sighed and shook his head. “Let’s just focus on the job at hand,” he said wearily.

  “At least Orion can send shuttles without them being fried by the Sphere,” said Conway.

  “Or sliced into sushi and incorporated into the fabric of an enemy vessel,” said Jackson.

  “Oh, shit,” said Ten quietly. The others all turned to look at him. “We found Centurion’s name plate on the Sphere’s inner hull.”

  “Yes,” said Conway. “So what?”

  “Centurion encounters the Sphere’s builders,” said Ten slowly, as if piecing together his thoughts as he spoke, “and gets torn apart. Her panels are incorporated into a Sphere, her systems are stripped for knowledge, and the enemy sits back to wait for the next enemy ship to fly through the portal.”

  “Colossus,” said Davies.

  “Right,” agreed Ten. “But she isn’t what the Sphere expects to see. The Sphere’s waiting for more ships like Centurion, so Colossus gets fried.”

  “Okay,” said Conway, “but so what?”

  “Centurion went missing about a century ago, right?” said Ten. “And Vengeance has been sitting out here in the dark, waiting for the portal to reappear for, what, about a hundred years?”

  “I don’t see where you’re going with this, Ten,” said Conway.

  “What else does Stansfield know about this armada?” said Jackson.

  “Yeah,” said Ten quietly. “So maybe it was Commander Vernon, in the study, with the candlestick.”

  “What?” said Conway.

  “You think Stansfield knows more than he’s letting on?” said Jackson.

  “He’s an admiral,” pointed out Conway. “Knowing more than he’s letting on is part of the job description.”

  “Yeah,” said Ten. “I just hope he’s going to share his intel before this alien armada arrives.”

  “Charlie Team, this is Lieutenant Yau.”

  “Go ahead, sir,” said Davies.

  “We’ve got a problem over here,” said Yau.

  Davies felt a brick form in his stomach. “Yes?” he asked, not wanting to know the answer.

  “We’ve got an intrusion alert on Vengeance, which seems to originate from that connection you set up to the Sphere. Is that possible?” asked Yau.

  “Er, I–” Davies began, his mind racing.

  Then they heard the familiar clank of feet on steel decking. The Mechs were back.

  18

  “Admiral, we’ve found Hunter on Deck Three,” said Kearney. “We’re moving to engage.”

  “Very good,” said Stansfield. “Keep me informed. Hunter’s off switch is armed and ready. I can take him down at a moment’s notice. Out.”

  “You heard that?” asked Kearney, looking first a Mason and then at the team of Marines who still accompanied them.

  “Yeah,” growled Mason, “we heard.”

  “I think he’s serious,” said Kearney, “so let’s make sure we don’t have to test him.”

  There was a round of nodding from the eight Marines in the team. Then Kearney went on with her briefing.

  “The mission is to engage, disarm and disable, okay? We do not want a kill. If you can, take out the OctoBots attached to his head, but not with a bullet. Knives only, stab the brain through the casing.”

  She looked at each member of the team in turn, checking that they had understood the mission. Hunter had fast become one of the team, and she wasn’t about to lose him.

  “I want two teams of three to herd him toward that dead end along the third corridor fork,” said Kearney.

  “And I’ll set up a little trap for him,” said Mason, “something to take him down nice and neat.”

  The lights flickered.

  “What was that?” said Kearney, looking around.

  “Batteries running out,” said one of the Marines. Kearney glared at him.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” Mason interjected. “Remember, we want him alive.”

  The two teams of Marines set off along different sides of the corridor, armed and alert. Hunter was a better friend than he was a foe.

  “Have you got this in hand?” asked Kearney.

  “Yup. Just make sure you don’t miss when it comes to the crunch,” said Mason.

  Kearney snorted and jogged after the second group of Marines, leaving Mason to head for the dead-end corridor with his bag of tricks.

  Mason hummed quietly as he unpacked his explosives and tools. He needed to work fast and smart; there was no time for a test run. As he set about building his trap, he heard shooting along the corridor. “What’s happening, Kearney?”

  “Bloody OctoBots!” she replied. “Remember that cluster we hadn’t cleared out? Some of them came looking for us.”

  “Any sign of Vernon?”

  “No,” said Kearney, “but I’m hoping that’s what they’re protecting. They’re up to something with Vernon, fuck knows what. I’ve had no visual yet – over there, Marine, shoot that OctoBot.”

  “I’ll leave you to it,” said Mason, signing off as Kearney shouted her way down the corridor with her team.

  “The damn Bots are dropping off the ceilings,” Kearney said as she followed her team along the corridor. Most were armoured, but all seemed to be vulnerable to the OctoBots. There was more gunfire from ahead.

  “Resist that,” said a Marine, smashing an armoured foot onto a crippled OctoBot. The thing went limp, legs twitching briefly before falling still.

  “Watch out, Roach,” called Kearney. “Don’t let them drop on you! If they clamp on your head, that’s you a goner!”

  Roach turned and nodded, then raised his weapon and shot just above Kearney’s head. A splash of brain dropped onto her shoulder.

  “Shit,” said Kearney, jumping clear and staring up into a vent. Nothing moved in the torchlight, and she moved on. “Thanks,” she said with feeling. “Can’t believe th
ey’re dropping from vents. Oldest trick in the book.”

  “Easy mistake to make,” said Roach with a careless shrug. “And this ain’t my first bug hunt.”

  Kearney filed that away for future investigation, and they hurried after the rest of the team. There were OctoBot corpses everywhere, but so far the Marines seemed to be coming out on top. Of Hunter, there was no sign.

  Then the lights went out. There was no backup lighting, and the corridor was completely dark.

  “Lieutenant Yau,” said Kearney as the Marines’ HUD and helmet lamps flicked on, “are you having problems with the lights, sir, or is it just us?”

  “Just your level, Kearney. We think it’s some sort of malware or virus. Sorry, there’s nothing we can do until we flush it out. Fernandez and Davies are working on it now.”

  “Roger, understood,” said Kearney, looking around. The corridor, never very appealing, was a lot less inviting without overhead lighting. “I’ve done some interesting things in the dark,” she muttered, “but hunting bugs wasn’t on my bucket list.”

  “Is that what we’re doing?” said Roach, standing closer than Kearney had realised. “I think they’re hunting us now.”

  Then there came the gentle tappity-tap of tiny metal feet on the steel of the deck, walls and ceiling. The Marines’ lamps flashed across every surface as they hunted for the source of the noise, but the Bots were all but invisible.

  “I can’t see shit,” she whispered to Roach. “Where the fuck are they?”

  “Maybe those encasements shield them?” he suggested.

  “Maybe,” she said quietly as the team huddled together, unconsciously closing the gaps between them like primitive hunters gathering together around a fire. “We need to clear this corridor and get to Hunter.”

  Then Kearney screamed as an OctoBot dropped onto her head. It scrabbled at her hair, and she could feel its feet searching for purchase on the top of her skull. She dropped her rifle and grappled with the thing, ripping it away before it could take a solid grip.

  “Fuck off,” she yelled as she hurled it away. Another tapped at her foot, and she kicked out. Kearney drew her pistol and fired at a shape that flashed through the lamps of her HUD.