58. … in to the light

• “Irondome to Steeldome, Earth is under attack, stand by, we are protecting home.”
• “Uploading the self-destruct commands to the warheads. Irondome, still chasing but they getting out of my range.”
• “Sir, the torpedoes accelerate faster. They may get out of range.”
• “Target them and launch interceptor missiles.”
• “Sir, our squadrons are in the way.”
• “Irondome, do what you have to. We will chase the torpedoes until we can. Alpha one out.”
• “Open fire!”

• “What are they doing?”

Haggardt didn’t answer to the Steeldome’s captain. Still sitting in his chair, watching the events unfold right in front of them. Irondome still spinning, every rotation launching missiles from all tubes away from Earth. The scene didn’t make sense to the captain. It didn’t look like a traitor for him.

• “Are we in firing range?”
• “Yes, sir, but…”
• “Launch drones and fire forward cannons!”
• “Drones away. Firing.”

Steeldome’s integrated projectile launchers came alive. A few long tubes, diameter like a family house heated up, radiating blue light along its tracks. The automatic loader prepared the molten steel cubes and hanged to the magnetic field deep in the tubes.

Then the magnetic field changed pulling the heavy steel to a quarter speed of light.

Then all four of the projectiles missed the Irondome by a few hundred meters.

• “What the hell happened?”
• “Sir, not sure. We never tested the weapons yet.”
• “Then figure it out, quickly.”

• “Steeldome is firing!”
• “All decks, prepare for impact!”

Even bridge crew ducked deeper into their seats. And waited. The automatics kept launching interceptors as the rotation continued. Every minute or so a series of whooshes reminded them of the launches.

They waited until a tactical analyst joined the comms.

• “The Steeldome missed. Seems calibration error.”
• “Probably they rushed out of the space-yard. How long they can fix it?”
• “I would say ten minutes if they figure out the problem as I did.”
• “Launch a squadron of interceptors. Designation Echo squad. Echo one, your task is to line up between Steeldome and us. Do not engage, only defensive moves.”
• “Sir, drones incoming from the Steeldome.”
• “Point defense system, fire at will on the drones. Still, do not engage the Steeldome directly.”

• “Admiral Haggardt!”
• “Yes?”
• “Identified the problem, miscalibration of sensor input, programmatical issue. I can correct for it.”
• “How long it takes?”
• “Only a few minutes.”
• “Do it. Keep jamming the Irondome, I don’t want them to be able to call for help from the damned pirates!”
• “… sssssshhhhh … Earth is under attack, we are … “
• “Sir, Irondome directly hails us, on narrow band.”
• “Can you play it but still jam them?”
• “Yes. I can separate the signals.”
• “Don’t listen to them, they are trying to confuse you!”
• “Admiral, we have to. Otherwise what evidence you have that they are traitors?”
• “I gave you a direct order, son.”

• “Sir, the Steeldome is jamming our comms.”
• “How many torpedoes are down?”
• “Two are still flying.”
• “They will come until fifty thousand kilometers, right?”
• “Yes, if their goal is to destroy the judiciary building and not half the planet, then yes.”
• “And if the planet?”
• “Then they have to get closer, to ten thousand. The torpedoes don’t have much FTL fuel, only a few seconds. From ten thousand clicks they could fly through half the planet, causing it to crack.”
• “And they would make an omelette out of three billion people.”
• “Sir, Steeldome prepares to fire again.”

• “Drones ineffective, a squadron of fighters cleaned them up.”
• “Launch another wave.”
• “Excuse me, sir, I can’t. We don’t have any more left.”
• “And the cannons?”
• “Rail-cannons charging, ready in one minute.”
• “Make it a sure fire this time, son.”
• “Admiral, they could have fired on us by now. Instead they still launch interceptors away from Earth. Tactical, anything on sensors toward their firing direction?”
• “Two faint signal. Otherwise a few of the Irondome’s squadrons.”
• “Identify, what are those faint signals?”
• “Searching database.”
• “Ready to fire.”
• “Open fire!”
• “Belay that order!”
• “Sir, I can’t, already launched!”

• “Engineering, direct it to the bow segment, please.”
• “Aye, aye.”
• “Sir, Steeldome firing from all four cannons.”

Just a moment. As the sentence finished, in the silence, the impact already happened.

The two ships are at point blank range, the quarter of light speed meant the projectiles arrived almost instantaneously.

• “Report! Did we destroy them?”
• “No, sir. I never seen anything like this.”
• “Did we miss again?”
• “No, we did not. All four cannons are a hit.”
• “Then what is that?”
• “Their shield…”
• “Those shields could only handle energy, not matter.”
• “Except theirs.”

• “Irondome, this is Victoria, come in!”
• “Stand by, captain.”
• “Sir, we are still here.”
• “Yes, we are. Engineering, great job! It worked. Mr. Sotomayor’s team was right all those years ago.”
• “Engineering here. Sir, it won’t work much more. We need a way to restock on dark matter. Can’t predict the effectiveness of these new shields.”
• “Sir, bogeys down!”
• “All of them?”
• “Yes, last two got intercepted around sixty thousand clicks.”
• “Which means, wait, there are still two warheads out there.”
• “Sir, I don’t see anything on radars.”
• “Alpha one, are you still out there?”
• “Yes, Irondome, nice fireworks with the interceptors!”
• “Are you sure the cruiser is destroyed?”
• “Yes, it is a burnt out empty hull by now.”
• “Wasn’t fully destroyed? Is it adrift?”
• “Not entirely but surely everyone is dead on board. Yes, adrift.”
• “Analysts, skim through Alpha one’s sensor logs, calculate trajectory. Give me potential direct torpedo paths toward Earth.”
• “Working on it. Simulations coming in.”
• “Engineering, direct all dark matter to the starboard side. Helm, prepare for micro-jump to this coordinates.” — just as the simulations predicted a ninety seven percent chance for a single path.
• “Engineering here, redirected. Not sure how effective it will be.”
• “Sir?”
• “Yeah, we gonna face-tank two Alcubierre torpedoes.”
• “Sir.”
• “Was an honor serving with you all. Wait for my mark.”
• “Sir, radar shows two new bogeys! Path matches! They are at fifty thousand clicks.”
• “Mark.”

• “Fire again!”

As the Steeldome’s four cannon spit out the next molten steel, the Irondome vanished for a moment just to reappear a few kilometers above. A moment later all screens of the Steeldome switched to bright white.

The power of the screens blinding the crew, Admiral Haggardt had to cover his eyes with his arms. A moment later it all subsided to blinding darkness.

• “Did we hit them?”
• “No, we missed. But something hit them. Sir. The faint signals, they matched with Alcubierre torpedoes.”
• “What? And their path?”
• “They were aimed at Earth.”
• “So Irondome was telling the truth?”

The captain discussed this with one of his analysts without Haggardt hearing them over. The screens returned to normal and showed the Irondome’s heavily damaged, but still rotating body.

• “Fire again! Destroy them!”
• “Belay that order! Admiral Haggardt, ordering execution of our fellow citizens is a crime, and my crew won’t do that.”
• “You are destroying your career, captain!”
• “No, I don’t think so. Lieutenant, please escort the admiral to a guest quarters and keep him under guard. Court marshal can wait until later.”
• “Sir, should we stop jamming the Irondome?”
• “Yes, and hail them. Ask if they need any assistance. We won’t fire any more on them, we had a leadership change.”
• “Yes, sir.”

• “Sir! Sir!”
• “I am… am okey.” — the XO pulled himself back up to the captains chair, an ugly cut on his forehead.
• “Sir, the Steeldome hails us. They ask if we require assistance.”
• “Tell them, we need whatever they can provide. And damage report!”
• “Sir, the impact was reduced by the new shields. But still took out a dozen decks. Reports for casualties coming in, at least in the hundreds.”
• “Sir, the impact was by two Alcubierre torpedoes. Now all accounted for and destroyed.”
• “Good…” — as he heard the mission success, the XO succumbed to his injuries and lost consciousness.

Read the story leading up to now:

Giant of the Stars

Fictional story of a luxury starliner’s catastrophy