“Gravity disruption,” Gary barked. “I have a wormhole opening, right on top of us.”
“Evasive action,” Andrew snapped. The Killer starship was coming through terrifyingly fast, despite its bulk. Even with a warp field, a human starship that size would have difficulty moving that fast without tearing itself apart. “Gary; don’t bother with firing more than noisemakers, but prepare to launch the supernova bomb.”
“Aye sir,” Gary said. He sounded a little disappointed, but Andrew was adamant. There was no point in wasting firepower on the Killer when they had a supernova bomb to deliver. “Two minutes until we are in firing range…”
“It might be more than that,” David said, as the starship heeled over. Bright flashes of white light were rocketing past them towards the star. Andrew wondered briefly if the Killer weapons would have any effect on the star, but it didn’t seem likely. The star spat out more energy than that on a daily basis. It probably wouldn’t notice. “That bastard is sticking to our tails like glue.”
“Fire noisemakers,” Andrew ordered, slowly. The starship shuddered as the weapons were fired, but the Killer starship bulled through them and kept going. “Gary… I think we’re going to have to use the Implosion Bolts after all.”
“Yes, sir,” Gary said. “I have the weapons locked on target.”
“Fire at will,” Andrew ordered.
Lightning shivered again as it fired a spread of implosion bolts into the Killer’s path, sending streams of tiny explosions over the alien ship’s hull. The Killer starship didn’t slow, even though it had to be exposed to the heat of the star, threatening it with a melted end. Andrew wondered how quickly the Killer starship could back off, if it started to take significant damage from the star’s heat, but it showed no sign of pain. Perhaps the Killer had grown used to pain, although he was sure that the ship chasing them hadn’t seen action before. There was no prior damage on its hull.
“Minor damage, sir,” Gary said. He fired another spread of implosion bolts. “They should be taking damage from the heat, but… nothing.”
Andrew nodded. Superior manoeuvrability was about the only advantage the Lightning had over the Killer ship and it wasn’t enough, not in the long run. A single shot would doom them. He checked on the remaining attack wing starships and wasn’t surprised to see that they were down to thirty ships, although they had managed to take out two of the Killer starships, with a third suffering heavy damage. The odds might be evening up.
“Prepare to launch the supernova bomb,” he ordered. “Fire noisemakers, and then launch the bomb.”
“Aye, sir,” Gary said. There was a long pause as he worked his console. “Noisemakers away; supernova bomb primed, locked, and away…”
“Keep us on this course,” Andrew ordered, before David could throw them away from the star. If they were lucky, he reasoned, the Killer would miss the tiny supernova bomb against the noisemakers and the stream of radiation from the star, preventing them from destroying the weapon before it detonated and blew up the star. They might just think that it hadn’t been launched yet. “Gary; keep firing implosion bolts.”
He watched, grimly, as the Killer starship closed in on them. They knew where the missile actually was, but it was still hard for the Lightning to pick it out against the star’s background emissions. The Killers showed no awareness that it had been launched; they kept chasing the Lightning, their weapons flaring out repeatedly as they crawled into range.
“The supernova bomb has entered the star,” Gary reported, finally. It had only been a few minutes, but it had felt like hours. “The star is doomed, sir.”
“Take us out of here,” Andrew ordered. “Jump us out to the first observation point, and then inform the attack wing that the bomb has been deployed. Tell them to break contact and meet us at the rendezvous point.”
The starship shivered slightly as she jumped away from the star and the Killer starship. “We’re clear, sir,” David said, after a moment. “The Killer starship didn’t follow us.”
“I wonder if they know,” Gary said, with a grin. “They may think we decided to turn coward and run.”
“What?” David asked, his voice breaking the tension in the air. “You two have turned cowards? Two cowards… and me. Do you know what this means?”
Gary laughed. “Three cowards?”
Andrew shook his head. “They’ll know because we fled,” he said, dryly. They were only ten AU from the star. The supernova blast would envelop them as well, yet he wanted to watch what happened when the Killers had an idea of what was going on. They had a fully developed star system in the system, a shipyard and industrial centre and they wouldn’t want to lose it if they could avoid it. “Keep a close eye out for enemy wormholes and jump us out of one forms near us. We don’t need to engage them any further.”
“I’m picking up major gravity waves from the star,” Gary said, suddenly. “She’s going to blow and…”
His voice broke off. “That’s odd.”
“Odd?” Andrew repeated, feeling a cold hand clutching his heart. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure,” Gary said. “They’re focusing gravity beams through their facilities and onto — into — the star. I think they’re actually trying to snuff out the supernova.”
Andrew stared as the invisible titanic struggle started to play itself out. The Killers were bringing all their power to bear on the star, enough power to dismantle the entire star system, and trying to prevent the supernova from detonating. The star seemed to wobble violently in the display; buffeted by powerful external forces, it seemed to twist out of shape, before its natural gravity reasserted itself and it continued to destabilise. Andrew was reminded of an egg yolk being cooked, but this egg yolk contained enough power to wipe the system clean. Somehow, he almost felt sorry for the Killers, even though they had wiped out billions of humans. The struggle was desperate, perhaps futile, but very brave.
“That’s impossible,” David said, slowly. “They can’t prevent the star from exploding, can they?”
“They might have succeeded if they had knocked out the supernova bomb before the process became impossible to reverse,” Gary said, after a moment. “I’m not up on the theory, but I believe that if they could prevent the compression process from succeeding, they might succeed in preventing an explosion.”
He shrugged. “They’ve certainly got nothing to loss in trying.”
The Killers evidently agreed, just as they weren’t putting all their eggs in one basket. Their starships — some of them — were opening wormholes and escaping, while some of the more damaged starships were remaining in the system, apparently unable to escape. Their strange cities were rising up from the gas giants — they looked as odd and alien as they had at the Cinder System — and heading out to where they could open a wormhole and escape themselves. Andrew felt a moment’s pity, but not much. He had seen too many human civilian populations trying to flee while the warriors held the line, somehow. The Killers had sown the wind… and now they could reap the whirlwind.