Black Sun (Phantom Server: Book #3) Read online

  The unclear schematic picture gained brightness and detail. I could see the structures built around an ancient mine shaft: two oblong vacuum docks, locked and powdered with a fine layer of dust. Between them, the delicate openwork of a loading line glistened silver. The sloping bulk of a cargo ship loomed above the mine, adapted for defensive purposes.

  Jurgen’s intel proved correct. The Outlaws had used the space defense system developed by the Technologists clan. They’d concealed the controls deep within the ancient mine and set up their firing points on the asteroid’s satellites: the large chunks of rock orbiting our main target. Together they formed the so-called “asteroid family” — a group of minor celestial bodies that shared the same orbit and speed as they traveled through space.

  I was met by a surge of radiation. When your nervous system is at one with a ship’s cyber modules, it feels like a gust of hot wind searing your skin, leaving behind the prickling sensation of a sore itch.

  Our Condors’ diaphragm hatches opened up, disgorging nanite colonies. Dispersing immediately, they formed a level-10 Steel Mist which concealed us from enemy sensors. Thus camouflaged, Liori and I began scanning our main target.

  The asteroid’s depths were threaded with a complex tunnel network that formed five underground levels.

  “Zander? This looks like the right signature!”

  A green marker lit up about five hundred feet below the asteroid’s surface.

  I began studying the object’s power imprint, comparing it with the existing databases.

  This was the Founders’ artifact, no doubt about that. The only identity-copying hyperspace module, the last one in the Darg system!

  This was our only chance to survive, the promise of a new life.

  We closed in on the target. So far, everything was going to plan. Liori and I had to use our mnemonic abilities to paralyze the enemy’s defenses, turning them into static targets for the Haash yrobs.

  New details kept flooding in, filling out the picture.

  But what the hell was that?

  A cluster of bright red markers appeared out of nowhere within one light second from our position. Three cargo ships, about a hundred drones and... was that really a man-made object?

  I banked away from the attacking course, then adjusted my speed to that of the nearest rock, camouflaging myself behind it. Liori mirrored my maneuver. The yrobs slowed down too, taking cover amid the asteroids.

  My Condor’s sensors kept collecting data non-stop until a picture of an enormous man-made space body formed in my mental view. It resembled a bundle of tumbleweed glistening with steel. My mind expander added detail. Now I could make out a gossamer exterior structure holding the body of a behemoth spaceship in the process of construction, several times larger than our frigate!

  Was this a shipyard?

  In the meantime, the three alien cargo ships had changed course and had opened their hatches, releasing hundreds of tons of cargonite ore into space.

  The drones headed for the cloud of ore and began harvesting it with their power fields, delivering it to large energy bubbles. I saw the ore being melted within them, dissolving into clouds of Molecular Mist.

  These were ancient technologies at their finest.

  “Zander, what do you think you’re doing?” Jurgen’s voice rang out. Impatient, he’d used the laser beam communications. “Why aren’t you attacking it?”

  I streamed him the sensors’ data. “I want you to kill the Relic’s engines and activate the shields until further notice. We need some time to sort this out.”

  “That’s not an option! I’m not changing course!” the Technologist snapped. I could detect desperate notes in his bravado.

  Any delay could mean death for all of us. Literally. Still, a goliath technogenic object just next to our main target screwed up our plans. I refused to believe that the Outlaws could have built something like this “shipyard” themselves. It must have been created by the ancient AIs. They were the only ones who could manipulate industrial quantities of Molecular Mist.

  I released a probe to form a general laser communication channel. “Liori? What d’you think?”

  “The ship building process is being controlled by an AI,” she replied. “But I don’t think it has anything to do with the Outlaws’ base. It’s too far. Besides, I don’t detect any activity in the area of the old mine.”

  Frieda sniffed in disbelief. “So you think they might ignore us as long as we don’t approach the shipyard or attack it?”

  “Don’t you remember how maintenance robots behave?” Liori answered calmly. “They’re always busy following their routines. They don’t get distracted even if there’s a combat going on just next to them.”

  “Weak reasoning,” Charon snapped in his usual straightforward manner. “Our storming of the Outlaws base is bound to draw the AI’s attention!”

  This unexpected delay when we’d had our objective already in our sights was preying on our nerves.

  “We can’t go back!” Arbido’s voice broke. “You know very well we have no choice!”

  “I’m not aborting the attack. Danny,” I addressed Danezerath whose yrob was equipped with an advanced tracking station, “do you register any data exchange between the shipyard and our target?”

  “Nowr,” he snapped in the negative.

  Our radars were pockmarked with hundreds of bright red dots. I clenched my teeth without even realizing as I watched them. The clusters of markers were all heading for the shipyard. The cargo ships seemed to be leaving to bring another batch of cargonite ore. Soon their signatures faded, disappearing from sight.

  The Founders’ drones de-energized the power bubbles, spilling their contents into space. Molecular mist rose about the shipyard, forming an incandescent veil of gas that shielded it from our scanners.

  We kept watching. Just as Liori had suggested, the Founders’ drones minded their own business. They changed their formation, breaking into several groups, then commenced the next production stage, creating electromagnetic fields that compacted the incandescent substance.

  This process was followed by a series of dull flashes.

  The drones had just used the Object Replication command to create armor plates! I could clearly see the diamond-shaped segments drift through space, oozing heat, until they fused into small formations.

  I had to agree with Charon. Our storming of the mine was bound to attract the shipyard’s AI’s attention. But what did it have to offer against our Relic? There were no large ships around. All of Avatroid’s forces were now tied up chasing whatever was left of the Eurasia Colonial Fleet.

  “I’ve got an idea!” Jurgen exclaimed.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Relic’s tractor beams! I can use them to grab the asteroid and tow it to the edge of the system. And whoever’s holed up inside, we can sort them out nice and quiet later, without attracting the AI’s attention!”

  “That’s logical,” Charon agreed.

  “Good. That’s what we’ll do, then,” I had no time to mull over alternatives. “Take your positions! Don’t aggro the drones! And stay away from the shipyard!”

  * * *

  I had the first of the asteroid’s satellites in my sights.

  The oversized boulder kept growing rapidly, its depths concealing a compact reactor. Scanners reported laser and electromagnetic guns outside.

  My heart palpitated but I couldn’t help it.

  The ancient alien drones were buzzing around just one light second away. They scurried amid the clouds of Molecular Mist, collecting the slowly cooling armor segments and transporting them toward the vessel under construction.

  My Condor’s systems kept scanning communication frequencies but detected no data exchange between the shipyard and the old mine.

  The communication scanner clicked, switching between frequencies. A distant voice broke through, distorted by interference,

  “This is Eurasia Station! Mayday! We’re under attack from an unidentifie
d enemy! Our shields are failing! We’re losing atmosphere! Mayday!”

  New quest alert: Eurasia Rescue!

  Find a way to stop Avatroid. Reward: your relationship with the Colonial Fleet command will improve considerably. You will be able to trade with the station and use its equipment to repair your ships.

  “Liori? Did you hear that?”

  “I did! I also got a quest!”

  We zeroed in on our target. Our Condors circled it rapidly, intersecting each other’s orbits. Our guns were silent. We attacked the space defense unit using nanites alone, controlling them with our Mnemotechnics skill. The microscopic robots penetrated the defense installations, blinding their sensors and disrupting their data exchange, paralyzing their kinematics. The enemy batteries began sporting tags which read,

  System Failure

  Critical Damage

  Equipment Failure

  This one was done for! We changed course, bringing the next satellite into our crosshairs. The faint signature of the Relic reappeared just within my scanners’ range. The frigate was heading toward our main target.

  The Haash yrobs stormed the paralyzed defense unit. They had two minutes to scorch its gun nests.

  Liori and I repeated our attack.

  System Failure

  Critical Damage

  Equipment Failure

  The second satellite had been deactivated. Now that we’d made a dent in the enemy’s defenses, we headed for the ancient mine shaft. Our Condors were still concealed by Steel Mist. I wish I could say the same about the Haash yrobs which now came under long-range fire. True, the enemy’s firing arcs were awkward but still it was hardly pleasant.

  We didn’t meet with much resistance. No one had expected us to attack. At the moment, everything was going to plan, but still the proximity of the shipyard made me uneasy.

  The Relic kept accelerating, its signature glowing brighter with every moment. It was closely followed by the bright dot of a cargo ship transporting the assault groups of the Daugoth clan. The moment the frigate grabbed the asteroid with its tractor beams, Vandal and Foggs were to take their men inside.

  I was a bit worried about the old spaceship that the Outlaws had turned into a permanent fire position. I marked it as target. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough nanites so we were forced to continue orbiting the asteroid looking for a structure rich in cargonite suitable for utilizing.

  Finally, we found one. The small crater lit up with a series of flashes as we began the nanite replication process. A system message appeared in my mental view,

  Your nanite stocks have been refilled

  I focused on the entrance to the mine and sent the nanites in to disable the gun control module and prevent it from coordinating the satellites’ operation.

  Now the old spaceship. We dashed to attack it — apparently, just in time. Our sensors detected two batteries of plasma generators. Their signatures glowed brighter with every second as the weapons accumulated enough energy for a volley.

  Our coil guns ripped through the ship’s hull, then breached the shields of its power module. It took but a split second. An explosion gutted the old vessel, ejecting the hatches and gun ports out into open space. The ship’s docking nodes failed. With a jolt, they released its mangled body, sending it into an uncontrollable drift.

  I took my bearings.

  The Haash had done their job too, littering space with clouds of debris. No casualties.

  Four minutes till the Relic’s arrival.

  * * *

  “Good job!” Liori’s Condor floated up to my side, taking up the position of a wingman.

  I switched to autopilot, unsealed my helmet and used the back of my gloved hand to wipe the perspiration from my forehead.

  My fingertips twitched. I’d never noticed this before.

  A couple more minutes, then everything would be over. Our new life, what was it going to be like? In a moment, the Relic would engage the asteroid with her tractor beams and drag it to the star system’s edge. There we’d mop up the old mine and get to the Founders’ device discovered by the Outlaws. We would then use it to digitize our identities. Basically, we were about to conquer death in emulation of the ancient alien race.

  “Scanners report an unidentified signature!”

  Danezerath’s report brought me back to reality. My visor’s drives squeaked, sealing the helmet. Both my mind expander and metabolic implant went into overdrive.

  Just next to the shipyard, the cloud of diamond-shaped armor segments revealed large clots of swirling matter. The Founders’ drones stopped whatever they’d been doing and surrounded these new formations, pumping them up with energy.

  I did a quick evaluation of their power imprints and flinched. “They’re Phantom Raiders!”

  I’d been the only one “lucky” enough to witness the alien ships’ materialization just before they had attacked Argus. You just couldn’t mistake it for anything else.

  “Give me one minute!” Jurgen’s voice pleaded in the earphones. “I’ve already activated the tractor beams!”

  “Foggs,” I snapped, “dock your ship in the Relic! Charon, I want you to cover Liori and myself!”

  Flash!

  My Condor’s optical multipliers streamed the frightful scene into my mind as a fighter ship complete with an AI module loomed out of the incandescent cloud, fire scales still flaking off its armor. Its 10-megawatt shields glowed, betraying their presence; its hull bristled with gun ports, its bow reflected the phantom light of its antimatter engines. The Raider began to accelerate.

  I double-checked its course. It was heading for the Relic!

  “Just one more moment!” interference drowned out Jurgen’s voice. “I’m busy with the asteroid!”

  The vicinity of the shipyard was lit up with yet more arrivals. A volley from a giant laser system missed the Relic by a hair’s breadth, hitting the chaotically rotating asteroid instead.

  The enormous rock, already deorbited by the frigate’s tractor beams, spewed flaming slag into space.

  186,000 miles was a perfect effective fire range for a weapon firing at the speed of light!

  “Jurgen, try to maneuver out of their arc of fire! Take cover behind the asteroids!”

  Too late.

  A fresh volley hit the frigate. In order to activate the tractor beams, Jurgen had to transfer part of the energy from the shields. The frigate’s power fields surged, then extinguished, unable to absorb all the damage. The laser beam sliced through the frigate’s hull. Luckily, it wasn’t fatal: the impact zone was one of the ship’s already-damaged depressurized areas which luckily prevented an explosion. The ship’s hull was peppered with about a dozen fire-polished breach holes, not large caliber even, but at least it stayed in one piece.

  The two Wearongs headed forward, blocking the danger zone and taking the next volley onto themselves.

  “Jurgen, get the ship out, now!”

  The Relic’s bow glowed with the activated plasma engines. The ship accelerated smoothly, heading toward Argus. This must have been the best decision. For a while at least, they could use the destroyed space station as cover.

  The Wearongs (who now resembled two gigantic medusas, their translucent bodies permeated by red-hot veins throbbing with electricity) blocked another volley, then began to fade away. Their glow was rapidly losing its intensity.

  The Relic spat back from her main calibers, obliterating the nearest asteroids in a cloud of rock debris which shielded her from the enemy, forcing the Raiders to abort the firefight in order to close in.

  Unexpectedly, the Raiders split. Five of them continued their assault while the rest turned back toward the shipyard. Why would they do that?

  Their signatures gave the answer. They looked pale and distorted. Did that mean that the shipyard’s AI had failed to build fully-fledged combat ships with whatever Molecular Mist it had available for armor plate replication?

  “The Raiders’ antimatter engines are at 30%!” Liori confirm
ed my suspicions. “They don’t have enough antiprotons!”

  “Attack!”

  * * *

  We’d been just one step away from a new life, and what now?

  Five Phantom Raiders were coming for us head-on. The rest had been swallowed up by the clouds of Molecular Mist swirling around the shipyard. They’d left in search of more nanites but they were bound to be back!

  Even despite their replication faults, the enemy’s combat characteristics were way out of our league. Both Liori and myself had already encountered them in battle and knew well what they were capable of. Still, we’d come on a lot since then. We’d done some decent leveling and acquired new abilities. If only we could prevent the Phantom Raiders from getting to the Relic!

  Slowly the frigate accelerated, heading for Argus. Tethered by tractor beams, the asteroid obediently followed in her wake.

  I squeezed every ounce of power out of the engines. We needed to smoke the Raiders ASAP! Liori by my side held a confident course while the Haash yrobs intentionally lagged behind, maneuvering non-stop. Our Haash friends hadn’t wavered under fire: they were diverting the enemy’s attention to themselves, allowing us to regroup for a surprise attack.

  The Raiders continued to close in. Still, their scanners couldn’t see us yet, their sensors powerless against the Steel Mist.

  Ten thousand miles. Seven... six.

  I nudged my thrusters into a strafe. My Condor was still closing with the enemy while shifting to one side. I kept a bead on the Raiders, waiting for the right firing angle that could allow me to attack them all at once.

  Got it. Their outlines began to superimpose. I opened fire from all four coil guns.

  We were exposed. Spewing fire, my ship strafed to one side, leaving a large plasma arc fading in her wake.

  The Raiders’ shields weakened sharply, absorbing damage. Liori’s Condor was strafing in the opposite direction.

  The Raiders’ AIs didn’t like our three-dimensional crossfire! They became nervous and left the Haash alone, reacting instantly by switching their targets.