Stealing Light

It made no difference to the fact that Nova Arctis was doomed. The final legacy of Trader’s virtual doppelganger came in the form of a whirling storm of singularities spi

Arbenz and Kieran had enjoyed a narrow escape from the Hyperion, moments before its destruction. There had been barely seconds to spare as they had crammed themselves into an escape vehicle and launched away. A few hours later, they were brought on board the Agartha in time to witness the Hyperion’s final plummet down towards Theona’s surface, which was now entirely wreathed in white clouds.

Following the destruction of Bourdain’s fleet, the path of action had appeared to be clear. But that changed irrevocably when the derelict had disappeared on its way into the i

On the bridge of the Agartha, Senator Arbenz gripped a railing tightly as he witnessed the derelict’s disappearance. Just then a roaring sound, like a waterfall, filled his head and occluded his thoughts.

‘Perhaps.’ he muttered quietly, to no one in particular, ‘we deserve to die.’

‘Senator?’

He turned to see Kieran’s puzzled frown. Mansell had been speaking with a very grim-faced Captain Liefe, commander of the Agartha, and heir to one of the Freehold’s most powerful ruling families. Liefe, like Kieran, had lost much back home because of the recent coup.

Liefe wasted no time. ‘Senator, the derelict that took off from Theona has just disappeared from every sensor system. It’s clearly jumped into transluminal space-’

‘I know.’

Liefe nodded. ‘But we’ve been continuing our analysis of Ikaria, and we’re definitely picking up extremely low-powered encrypted telemetry that matches that of the derelict. There’s clearly something else down there.’

Arbenz nodded. Along with the rest of the Agatha’s crew, Liefe knew nothing of the derelict’s more destructive capabilities, or that its disappearance might very well mean it had dived into the heart of Nova Arctis itself.

He caught Kieran’s eye, and saw the same thoughts mirrored there. If Liefe suspected that the entire system might be about to detonate, he might not continue performing his duty to the best effect.

Arbenz blinked his tiredness away. They might have just minutes still to live-or days. There was no way of knowing, but that didn’t mean inaction.

‘Then that settles it.’ he said, speaking more to Kieran than Liefe. ‘We destroy the remaining derelicts before they too have a chance to jump out of this system. Similarly, we destroy the machine-head woman’s craft before it can manage to rendezvous with any of them. That’s clearly what she’s pla

Liefe blinked, looking perplexed.

‘Senator-’

‘Remember who’s in charge here, Captain,’ Arbenz replied mildly. ‘Kieran here will be overseeing the operation.’

Arbenz saw the shudder that passed through Liefe as Kieran caught his eye. The latter’s deadly reputation extended far.

Emotionless bastard, thought the Senator, not without admiration. A machine in flesh-and-blood form, all the way to the bitter end.

‘Senator, I must-’

He cut Liefe off again. ‘We lost the first derelict because we were careless with the machine-head pilot. We were infiltrated, right from the very start. That doesn’t mean we can allow our enemies to win what we have lost.’

Liefe wasn’t a coward. His voice became more determined as he turned his back on Kieran.

‘Senator, with all due respect-’

‘With all due respect, Captain,’ Arbenz snarled, ‘if that derelict somehow just jumped into Consortium space with Merrick on board, we’ve lost this fight already. But I really don’t think that’s the case, given we’re still chasing her ship. We can clearly see where she’s heading, and the only possible reason for her current trajectory is because she thinks there’s something down on the surface of Ikaria that she can steal from us. I am not prepared to go down in history as the one who allowed that to happen.’

Liefe’s nostrils flared in anger, but after a moment he nodded sharply, saluted, then turned away to address one of his crew.

Arbenz meanwhile turned to Kieran, and saw a death’s-head smile creeping across the man’s face. The Senator felt a thrill of the same emotion Liefe must have felt when confronted with that same smile.

‘Merrick has altered her course to stay well inside Ikaria’s shadow-cone,’ Arbenz muttered, ‘and it’s not hard to guess why. If the worst happens, we might be able to find some shelter from the nova’s initial expansion by keeping that rock between the sun and us. I want you to watch Liefe’s every move in the meantime. The last thing we need now is insubordination.’

Kieran nodded. ‘She killed my brother,’ he half-whispered, eyes glistening. ‘If we’re to die, she dies with us, rest assured.’

There were shouts and exclamations from the far end of the Agatha’s bridge. They both turned to see Liefe and the rest of the bridge crew gathered around a floating display that showed an image of Ikaria, and Nova Arctis beyond.

Something was clearly happening.

‘Corso?’

As he woke, he could detect the strain in her voice. He blinked himself wider awake, trying to make sense of what she was now seeing on one of the displays. His body still ached from the constant stress of the gees they were being forced to endure.

‘Look,’ she said, her voice thick. ‘Nova Arctis-it’s changing colour.’

The filters that processed incoming data from the ship’s external cameras were shifting to accommodate a sudden radical shift in the star’s appearance. It was becoming redder-darker. As they watched, a vast loop of plasma, long and wide enough to cut through a Jupiter-sized mass, arced outwards from the star’s surface. Numbers flickered constantly next to the flare.

They continued diving down towards the surface of Ikaria, still locked into their acceleration couches, as the Piri’s engines used up the last of their fuel to drop them into a low orbit around the little world.

Corso glanced for the millionth time at the torrents of information sliding across the screens and the holo display, but the figures resolutely refused to change into something more accommodating to their continued survival.

He looked back over at Dakota, whose attention had drifted again, as it had done more and more frequently over the past twenty-four hours. The times she was fully aware of her surroundings were becoming rarer. It was getting easier to spot whenever the Ikarian derelicts were communicating with her: her face would become slack, eyes focused on some nonexistent horizon.