The Ascent

Chapter 18

In less than five minutes, after a brief meeting with commander Brennon and Chief Droemer, I was back in the Argippos while a tech floated with his head in my control panel installing the remote control interface. It would take him longer to install it than it would actually be used, but it was integral to our plans.

"All done, sir." The technician crawled out from the console and touched a spot on the control pad to activate the new display. "You can control the ship's helm, such as it is, from here."

"Very good," I said. "Are the EPR transceivers installed?"

He gave me a worried glance as I sat motionless in the pilot's chair, then he tapped his netpiece. "We've removed three transceivers from the ship. One has been installed in a life pod and one in the auxiliary command boarding pod, but we're having difficulties rerouting communication functions in the command craft."

"Tell them I don't care if they can watch ISN. Tell them we're going to boost in a couple of minutes, so get the transceiver in now.

"Yes, sir."

"And call up my tac display before you go strap in."

"Yes, sir." The tech gave me another worried look as he punched up my tac display, then left for his life pod.

I sat still, not wishing to impair the efficiency of the nano-bots crawling over my body like a wave of oil. The nano-bots issued from a sphere the size and weight of a lead bowling ball which rested under my left hand. The first wave had covered my body and left behind a polymer skin which covered everything but my face. The second wave was leaving behind a network of sensors, actuators and heat/moisture exchangers."

"You're taking a risk," Kouvaras said from the breaching pod in which he would command our troopers. "Without sufficient cover, the Cacks will be able to pick us all off at their leisure."

"I think I can keep them occupied if Brennon's techs did their job. Can your men do their part? Without you, we really are dead."

"If you can get us there alive, we'll do our part, never fear."

"Good, have your men stand by. We'll boost as soon as I get the word that everything is ready. Phon out."

I sat in the silences of the Argippos trying to slow my heart and breathing. Outside, a titanic struggle was being fought in the silent void of space. Inside, I tried to forget that the Argippos was the fastest ship ever built and that if I were to run, no one could hope to catch me before I got back to Solarian space.

The third wave of nano-bots were disassembling the sphere under my hand and begun weaving an iridium-carbon mesh for my armor's outer shell. Underneath it all, my uniform had been disassembled, molecule by molecule, and was migrating to the small of my back where it was being reassembled, cleaned and pressed in a pod forming there. Mentally, I blessed my father for hiring such obsessively skilled programmers. Already my powered armor, unlike the general issue, fit better than any uniform I'd ever worn.

On the tac screen, the front line of the battle had swept over us, leaving us behind. All our calls for help had met with replies to the effect of "We'll be back," as each ship left, intent on claiming a prize. We could have easily ended up drifting out here a week—assuming we could get life support working again.

I watched our Cack opponent maneuver around a fresh kill. It had survived the conflict largely by staying close and playing dead. One Solarian warship had moved in to claim it and been promptly destroyed. As the zone of conflict left us, the Cack warship began to move off—most likely to claim more prizes. We were about to lose our chance.

"Evacuation complete, all personnel are accounted for and waiting in the life pods," Brennon said from the command craft.

"All hands brace for acceleration," I said, "in five seconds, four, three, two one...." Our ship lumbered forward on its single reaction drive, chasing the receding Cack warship. "Launching missiles now." With the targeting computer out, I had to paint the enemy ship manually with the laser range finder. Any chance of our attack being effective was slim. But then our attack didn't have to be effective, just creditable.