The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Sixty Eight

Tila and Grace ran along the short passage connecting the mess hall to the landing bay. Grace counted distance under her breath as she ran.

'What are you counting?' Tila asked.

'Distance from the EMP blast radius.'

'Does that mean your guns will work now?'

They reached the door. Grace shook her head.

'No, they're gone. Everything's gone. But anything the other side of this door will still work. Guns, sensors, everything.'

'Ships?'

'And ships. Don't worry, we're almost out.'

'What if they put guards in the hanger?' said Tila.

'We run.'

'Run?'

'We get to the Jubilee as fast as we can. We'll be safe once we're on board. Ready?'

Tila nodded. Grace opened the door.

The hanger was a wide, narrow opening in the side of the Solar Forge. On the other side of the room, the space side, six giant doors sealed access to the launch areas. Between Tila and the doors were four ships. Two were the assault landers. Dark oblongs with a flattened hammerhead cockpit area big enough for four or five crew. A turret with twin barrels was mounted above the cockpit.

Between the assault landers was a small fighter, their escort. Two weapon barrels were mounted in fixed positions under each wing, close to the body. What looked to Tila like missiles hung from pylons at the end of each wing.

A short distance from the three dark ships sat another ship. It was a little over twice the size of the fighter, gunmetal grey with white decals and black trim. Fins jutted out from the rear end at the top and sides. At the front, two shallow domes shared space with a forest of antennas. It was all strange angles and engines and gave the impression of a ship twice its size that had been squeezed into something smaller.

Where their Valkyries had an aura of speed, the Last Jubilee whispered of secret strength.

Or so Tila hoped. She couldn't see a single weapon.

Grace and Tila sprinted across the hangar. The Jubilee crouched on four feet a metre above the hanger floor. There was only one door, closed of course, but four steps hung from the side of the ship. Grace took them in two. She flipped open a panel to reveal a keypad and hit eight numbers in sequence. The keypad slid aside to uncover a palm print. Grace slapped her hand on the screen, fingers played, and the door opened.

Tila made to follow her mother up the steps.

'No, prep the launch bay. I'll start the ship.'

Tila looked at the bay doors. There was a fixed terminal near each one, and she noticed now tracks in the floor. 'How do I do that?'

'Over there, activate the terminal, tell it you're ready to launch. The rest is automatic or I can control it from here.'

Tila threw her staff into the Jubilee and ran the 25 meters to the launch terminal. It was almost idiot proof, clearly designed to act more like a safety check on the launch bay doors than anything else. She hit the controls as instructed. Another twenty meters in front of her the bay doors lit up. Orange warning lights circled the frame. A klaxon warned of an imminent launch. The tracks on the floor lit up. Orange and white arrows showed the Jubilee's direction of travel.

'Tila, come on,' shouted her mother.

Tila ran back to the Jubilee and jumped all four steps.

'Door,' said her mother.

Tila hit the door control. The door slid shut, sealed and the cabin pressurised. She could feel the vibration of the motors retracting the steps into the body.

She shuddered as the launch track started to move and jolted their ship. Quickly, Tila strapped herself into the seat next to her mother.

Grace was already working on secondary systems. She flicked overhead switches and ran her finger down a list of system readouts. Tila couldn't read the words, but the green was reassuring. Her mother squeezed her hand in between button presses. That was reassuring too.

The Last Jubilee turned on the docking tracks. The inner door admitted them, then closed behind them. The lights in the bay turned red. The outer door opened. Beyond the bay horizon turned the inner sphere of the dead fleet, though it was not the quiet grave that Tila remembered.

Ships and other wrecks were out of position, parts of the fleet turned at different speeds. Behind the first layer Tila saw bright lights flare and die. Coloured pulses dotted the sky. Overhead, two small ships that looked like they had been cobbled together from spare parts flashed by. They reminded Tila of Ellie's racer, a ship that was little more than an engine and life support held together with good intentions.

Another ship flashed overhead, sleek and dark and dangerous. Its weapons pulsed once, twice, and the other ships turned into fireballs. The fighter banked hard and turned back, flew underneath them without noticing the open bay, and hunted the Solar Forge in search of more easy targets.

'Cabal fighters are here,' said Grace, grimly.

Ellie.

'We need to—'

'We're launching, hold on,' said Grace. The Jubilee blasted free from the docking bay.

'But we need to—'

'We will. We'll find them.'

'But those fighters?'

Grace tightened the straps on her chair and powered the Jubilee into the fleet. Her scanner came on line, and filled the screen with two dimensional images. She settled her hands on the controls, rolled her shoulders, and let the g force take her.

'They won't be a problem. Trust me.'

Tila turned her head to look at her mother. Her mother! Here she was. If this was really some kind of illusion it was incredible.

Tila gripped the arms of her chair. This wasn't her fight any longer. She was the passenger. Helpless and out of control for the first time in years. All she could do was watch.

But she didn't have to do it alone. Not anymore.

Grace looked back her. 'Trust me,' she repeated.

'I do', she said.