Deathstalker Rebellion

all weapons systems charged and ready, and immediately began broadcasting warnings on all channels. Sensors raked the darkness for signs of the alien ship, and only then discovered that the homeworld's defenses were in a complete shambles. The Dauntless homed in on the main starport, only to find everyone was shouting at everyone else, and no one was listening. Cross ran through all the comm channels, but the chaos had spread even to the most restricted emergency channels.

'What the hell is going on down there?' said Silence. 'Did the alien ship beat us here?'

'No sign of anything on the sensors,' said Frost immediately. 'But that's not all that's missing. There are supposed to be six starcruisers constantly on patrol, orbiting Golgotha, as the Empire's last line of defense. I can't find a trace of any of them.'

Silence looked across at the comm station. 'Cross, are our warnings getting through?'

'Impossible to say, Captain. The channels are such a mess that priority's a joke.'

'Let me try,' said Stelmach, moving in beside Cross. 'I have access to security channels that most people don't know about.'

'Go ahead,' said Silence. 'Frost, use the long-range sensors. Get me some pictures of what's going on down there.'

Frost grunted something, preoccupied with her instruments, but after a moment the viewscreen suddenly flickered into life. The starport and its landing pads had been systematically destroyed. Smoke rose up from blazing buildings, and broken starships lay scattered across the broken pads like so much shattered crockery. The steelglass control tower was cracked like a jigsaw, and everywhere fires blazed out of control. Emergency services were doing what they could, but things had obviously got out of their control long ago. There were bodies everywhere, and Silence had no doubt there were many more he couldn't see.

'The alien ship got here about six hours ago,' said Stelmach. 'Launched an attack while the control tower was still trying to identify it. It blew up the ships on the pads and then made dozens of strafing runs, raking the port and the city with energy weapons of an unfamiliar type. Force fields and Screens were no protection. They either failed or the energy weapons blew them aside. Known casualties are in the hundreds of thousands. As yet the Empress is in no danger; she's safe in the Imperial Palace, deep below the surface. We can only hope the aliens don't know she's there.'

'This is insane!' said Silence. 'How could one ship have done so much damage unchallenged?'

'It appears the aliens got a lucky break,' said Cross. 'As far as I can make out, the rebel underground launched some kind of sabotage attack only a few hours before the alien ship arrived. They then made their escape on a Hadenman ship. The six starcruisers took off after it. Security were busy chasing their own tails trying to sort out the extent of the sabotage, and got caught napping.'

'It wasn't security's fault!' Stelmach said quickly. 'The rebels crashed nearly all of the computer defenses. We were helpless.'

'Forget about laying the blame and get me some information I can use,' said Silence. 'Where's the alien ship now?'

'On the far side of the planet,' said Frost. 'It's on its way back here. Two, three minutes tops, depending on whether it stops to blow something else up.'

'What are you going to do, Captain?' said Cross.

'Blow it to shit,' said Silence.

'No,' said Frost immediately. 'Normally, I'd agree with you. Captain, but for now we need answers more than revenge. We have to know more about them, where they come from. If this ship really did cross the Darkvoid to find us, who knows what else might be following them? We need prisoners to interrogate and the ship as intact as possible, to study.'

'Any other restrictions you want to lay on me?' said Silence.

'There's also the case of the missing Base personnel,' said Cross stubbornly. 'If they're being held on the alien ship…'

'Then they're expendable,' said Silence. 'I'll save them if I can, but I'm not making any promises. Same to you, Investigator. Stopping the attack comes first. Homeworld must be protected. And if it comes to blowing the alien ship apart rather than letting it escape, that ship is dead.'

'Understood,' said Frost. 'You'd have made a good Investigator, Captain.'

'Thanks a whole bunch,' said Silence. 'Cross, where is it?'

'It's coming,' said Cross. 'Should be in visual range any time now.'

'Red Alert,' said Silence. 'All shields up, everyone to their battle stations. Power up all weapons and tie in fire-control systems. Cross, download our log so far, along with any other useful information concerning the aliens and what happened at Gehenna Base, and launch the files in an emergency buoy. If anything should happen to us, the information can be retrieved later by whoever survives this mess.'

'It's coming,' said Cross. 'I have it in my sensors. Its speed is incredible.'

'Put it on the viewscreen,' said Silence.

The scene on the viewscreen changed to show the great glowing curve of Golgotha, and the darkness and the stars beyond. One of the stars was moving rapidly toward them, jumping in size as Cross increased magnification. The alien ship finally sprang into view, and Silence leaned forward in his command chair. The alien craft appeared to be a huge hull of sickly white webbing, tied and tangled together. It reminded Silence of a wasp's nest or a cocoon. Insect imagery. The ball had no details of shape or structure and no identifiable technology.

'How big is it?' Silence said finally.

'About two miles in diameter,' said Cross. 'I'm listening on all channels, but I'm not picking up anything from the alien craft.'

'Sensors indicate mainly organic material,' said Frost. 'Presumably protected by some kind of force shield, but the few energy readings I'm picking up make no sense at all. No identifiable drive, or weapons, or… anything, really.'

'Try talking to them,' said Stelmach. 'Maybe we can negotiate.'

'Unlikely,' said Frost. 'Even the best computer translators take months to produce a working language. Besides, I'd say they've already made their intentions clear.'

'Damn right,' said Silence. 'I don't negotiate with butchers. Anything else on the sensors?'

'Getting some high-energy readings as we get closer, nothing familiar. Wait a minute. Something's happening. The energy readings are building…'

Flaring energy leapt out from the alien ship, crossing the intervening miles in a moment, and crackled across the Dauntless's force shields. It seethed and hissed all over the shields, testing, searching for weak spots. Alarms went off all over the Dauntless as slowly, inexorably, the crackling energy tore through the force shields, seeped through the outer hull, and burst into the ship's interior. Blazing light leapt out of workstations on that side of the ship, incinerating crew members where they stood. More alarms sounded every minute, and fires burned unattended in a chaos of screams and shouted orders. Emergency systems were bypassed, and the energy spread.

'Evacuate that section!' said Silence. 'Get out as many as you can, and then isolate the section and seal it off. Set up a series of force shields in the corridors. See if you can slow it down at least. Frost, talk to me. What is that stuff? What is it doing to my ship?'

'Sensors indicate pure energy, Captain,' said Frost calmly. 'But it also has definite physical properties. Possibly some form of plasma energy in suspension, but don't quote me. It's ignoring everything we throw at it. And if these readings are to be believed, the energy has begun to infiltrate our instrumentation in that section, subverting it and taking it over.'

'We just lost sectors H through K,' said Cross. 'They're no longer responding to central control, or auxiliary backups. Life-support systems are shutting down in those sectors.'

'Is everyone out?' said Silence.

'Most of them,' said Cross. 'Those that didn't get out won't last long.'

'Evacuate the adjoining sectors,' said Silence. 'Seal them off with as many interior force shields as we can generate. Any injured are to get themselves to the Infirmary. Everyone else is to stay at their posts. Investigator, any recommendations?'

'Our shields won't hold back the energy for long, Captain. Defensive measures are strictly temporary. This would seem to indicate the need to take the offensive. If the alien ship has any force shields, my sensors can't find