Ex Nihilo - Abyssal Prophecy

Chapter 7

Silence permeated the bridge of the Alcatraz, broken only by the occasional sounds of officers at work. Kain, sittin the captain’s chair, stared at the viewer showing nothing but the black void beyond the ship. The remains of ships floated by on occasion, breaking up the monotony. Leaning back into the plush cushions of the chair, he stretched and fought the fatigue of the long day he had already endured.

            On the weapons and scanners, Joshua was busy calibrating the massive spinal laser cannons. He was in the middle of the work when he saw something appear on the fringe of the sensor range. With a few taps of the holographic matrix, he pulled up the scanner system. He increased scanner resolution to determine what the object was. He was certain it had to be a large asteroid or derelict.

            Reading the outputs, he saw the massive object was almost ten times the size of the ship, but it wasn’t moving.

            “Kain, I’ve detected something unusual.” Joshua tapped some buttons. The sensor information began displaying on the captain’s chair tactical system.

Reading the information, Kain felt his heart palpitate.

            “Put that on the screen, Joshua,” Kain instructed.

The image panned, showing the object in the distance. Metal plates and parts that looked to be from other ships had been welded together crudely. There was no discernible pattern to the organization of the ship. It looked like it was created much like the Lower Wards.

            Standing up, Kain stepped closer, examining the ship for weaknesses. A glow came from the middle of the ship, but he knew it couldn’t be the engines. He tapped a button and magnified the viewer. He could see portions of what appeared to be some sort of reactor that had been exposed to space. With another tap, he switched thermal scans. The readouts spiked, showing the massive heat radiating from the object.

“That’s not a derelict!” Kain tried to activate the battle warning system on his tactical console. The system reported an error. He slammed his hand down in frustration. He tried to activate the communication systems manually but discovered that that was where the error was occurring. Someone else had taken control of the communications system. The hacker had used the system override lockout instead of disabling it. Kain figured whoever it was had to be the same person who had hacked into the meeting of the clan lords.

“Damnit, this isn’t good. Communications has been rerouted. We have no way to warn the ship or our captain,” he declared.

“You’re acting captain right now,” Celeris stated. “We’re with you, and that’s all that matters.”

“Our sister is right. We can handle this,” Joshua stated.

            Scanners lit up on Joshua’s screens, showing the ship had begun to move. The computer calculated the trajectory of the vessel. On the viewer, the trajectory showed the vessel was on a direct collision course with the Alcatraz. Sitting back down, Kain activated the combat alert system. Sparks flew from the panel of the armchair, burning his hand.

“Chief Joshua, open fire now,” Kain commanded, still clinging to the burn on his hand.

“Roger.” Joshua activated the cannons and began transferring power. Meters began rising to show the weapon's current charge levels. On the screen, the enemy vessel was increasing speed. Trepidation filled the room, forcing all to watch the imposing monster coming towards them.

            Accessing the still functional sensors on the other arm of the chair, Kain tried to get a reading. He knew he needed to guess the weapons and their range. For all he knew, they could already be in range. It took a moment for the sensors to show that the enemy weapons systems were already charged and appeared to be kinetic. Scanners zoomed in, displaying the size of the massive kinetic cannons on the enemy ship.

Kain knew that with kinetic cannons, the ship was already well within range. Newton’s First Law of Motion. Those kinetic cannons would fire projectiles that would stay in motion unless acted on by another force. There was only one reason he could think of to explain why the enemy ship hadn’t fired yet. They just needed to close distance to increase accuracy.

            “Target the reactor, Chief Joshua, and fire when ready,” Kain ordered. He could see the weapons system almost fully charged on his tactical console. Looking back at the screen, the colossal ship grew closer. The charge hit a hundred percent and he looked to the chief.

Joshua was struggling to get the targeting scanners to lock onto the reactor. Sluggish system controls caused him to sweat so much that it was dripping off his brow. He was fighting the limited Alcatraz ship system more than the enemy.

The lock was confirmed on the screen.

“Fire now,” Kain declared.

 “Opening fire,” Joshua reported.

            Two large, bright beams of light flared on the viewer, striking the enemy ship.

Panels in the bridge exploded in flying pieces of debris. Systems overloaded in a dazzling display of sparks and puffs of smoke. Warnings beeped of the catastrophic energy feedback. Everyone stared through the chaos at the enemy ship. A bright flash of light at impact caused the screen to conk out for a second.

Coming back, the image was fuzzy. It was hard to make out anything other than just the shape of the enemy ship. Second by second, the image cleared. Joshua, ignoring a small burning chunk of wires near his feet, tried to get full sensors back online. Information was now coming in on the laser strike. He transferred the details to the viewer so that everyone could see.

“No damage to enemy vessel detected, and our shields have failed. Our sensors were lagging at the time of firing, but from reports coming in now, it appears the enemy ship has a powerful shield. Scanning the shield now,” Joshua reported.

            “I’ve lost helm control,” Celeris informed them. “The ship’s locked on course. I’d say I’d fix this but...” She pointed to the mess of her control console.

 On the scanners, Joshua saw a build-up of power. The enemy ship opened fire from its quad front-mounted kinetic cannons. On the screen, the bursts of light was a stark contrast to the surrounding darkness. Joshua redirected the ship's scanners at the incoming kinetic rounds.

“Those aren’t kinetic rounds or warheads,” Joshua stated. “They’re boarding vessels.” He brought up the scanners to show biological readings inside the shells.

“There is no way to inform the rest of the ship,” Kain admitted. “We need to get emergency crews in place for hull breaches!”

            Joshua shifted the viewer and magnified one of the incoming shots. The sleek tube tapered to a point. Along the tube, there appeared to be ports that could open. He focused his scanner to see if he could detect what was behind them.

            “There won’t be hull breaches. Those things are going to deploy clamps to attach to us,” Joshua declared. “They’ll fire reverse thrusters from the front ports to slow their approach.”

“Do we have point defense weapons online?” Kain asked.

There wasn’t much hope in Joshua’s mind, but he tried to get the system to respond.  “Our entire weapons systems and shields are dead. We could use the magnetic field produced by the reactor to repel the enemy ships, but they’d already be attached by then,” Joshua stated. “All we’d be doing is opening multiple hull breaches.”

Kain stood up from the chair and marched to the door to the captain’s quarters, but he was unable to open it. Frustrated, he pounded on the door, praying his father was at his desk. After a few moments, he lost hope and stopped banging. He turned to look at his two siblings and the guards.

“Prepare to be boarded,” Kain ordered. He opened the nearby weapons locker built in the wall. Behind the panel were rows of automatic assault rifles and boxes of ammunition. He tossed a rifle to Joshua and then grabbed one for himself, but Celeris had already pulled her rifle. Throwing the gun over his shoulder, he grabbed clips of ammunition and distributed them.

The sound of clips locking into the rifles echoed on the bridge. Everyone now looked to Kain to see what to do next. He motioned for everyone to follow him and headed to the bridge door. It whisked open and he started down the long corridor. The lights were still functioning.

“Well, thank God for small mercies,” he mumbled.

The ship rumbled from the impact of the attack. Lights flickered in the hallway before going out. Doors along the corridor opened and officers began assembling in the hall. Rumblings of confusion echoed through the hall.

“Officers of the Alcatraz, we are under attack. You need to arm yourselves now,” he ordered. “We must hold this hall at all costs.”

There was no answer. Everyone just stood still, trying to process what they were being told. When the reality of what they’d heard finally sank in, they returned to their quarters to arm themselves. Seeing the guards returning in full armour with their weapons filled Kain with hope.

“Hold that lift at all cost.” He returned to the bridge. The door whisked shut behind him. “Seal it!”

With a salute, the guards pulled cutters from their belts and began welding the door shut. Celeris and Joshua returned to their stations. On the viewscreen, the massive ship began to turn.

Looking at sensor reports, Joshua saw the side of the ship was a broadside of kinetic cannons. He knew there was no chance against that many projectiles. Sensors showed another vessel entering range and moving fast.

“We have another contact moving fast,” Joshua informed everyone.

“God, we really can’t catch a break,” Kain lamented. “On screen.”

A small, sleek vessel only two hundred meters long appeared. The black hull made it almost invisible except for its speed. At two hundred meters, the ship was twice the size of one of the mining vessels carried aboard the Alcatraz. Compared to the seventeen hundred meters of the Alcatraz, this new ship was tiny. Kain wondered what a little ship could do.

“What’s the new ship's vector?”

Trying to follow the ship with the scanners was no easy task. It moved so fast, and on top of that, its flight course was erratic. Giving up on the computer, Joshua employed his math skills based on the sensor readings. Mumbling numbers out loud, his brain chugged to calculate the complex algorithms. Gaping, he turned to his brother.

“I can’t be certain, but I think they’re attacking the enemy ship.”

“That can’t be right. What the hell could they do to a ship that size?” Kain asked.

On the viewer, the massive ship bearing down on them lit up the screen. The massive enemy ship fired a broadside of shells at the other ship. Kain and his siblings watched the shells trace through the void. Bright flashes lit up all around the smaller blur when the kinetic rounds detonated. Kain lost count of them, but the scanners displayed the total number. Eighty-two rounds had detonated in a few seconds. Everyone thought the new ship must have been destroyed.

The blur raced out of the explosions. Dark green energy blasted forth from the small ship, lighting up the screen with an eerie glow.