The scale was all wrong, he realised, as the human fleet massed. They’d jumped in from various points, aiming to surround the sphere, yet it was futile. If they hadn’t had quantum entanglement communications, it would have taken hours to send signals between the different attack wings, using primitive radiation. The sphere didn’t seem to be emitting much of anything, apart from the low-level RF transmissions that seemed to be a stable of anything involving the Killers. It just sat in the darkness, against the blazing light of the Galactic Core, mocking the humans with its sheer intensity. It was just… too large for a human mind to grasp.
“The Killer starships are powering up their weapons, sir,” Gary said. Andrew, who had been staring at what looked like an access point that would have been the size of several Jupiter-sized planets put together, was almost grateful for the interruption. The Dyson Sphere cast a spell right across the proceedings. “I think they’re preparing to engage us.”
“No shit,” David muttered. “I’m getting wormhole emissions from several different coordinates. They’re also bringing in reinforcements.”
Andrew muttered a curse under his breath as seventeen new wormholes materialised, disgorging Killer starship after Killer starship. They’d misjudged the Killers again, he realised, as the wormholes remained open; the Killers kept most of their starships inside the Dyson Spheres and used wormholes to allow them to jump in and out of the interior as necessary. They didn’t need an access port or an airlock, merely a wormhole generator and the power to run it. They had both of them inside the sphere.
“Contact the attack wing,” Andrew ordered, curtly. It was simple enough to designate targets for a swarm attack… and this time, no one had to commit suicide to take out a Killer starship. “Tell them to lock their weapons on target and prepare to follow us in.”
He looked back up at the sphere. It seemed absurd that anything as puny as their weapons would make an impact on the vast construction, but the Killer starships had seemed to have the same problem… and they’d learned how to destroy them. The sphere only needed to be cracked so that they could break in and send the star supernova — he would have liked to see the Killers survive that, if they could. Brent had been right at the briefing. It didn’t really matter what happened when the star went supernova. The Killers would lose, at the very least, their source of power.
“The attack wing is responding,” Gary replied, calmly. “They’re standing by. The Admiral has told us all good luck and good hunting.”
“Understood,” Andrew said. He gripped the handles of his command chair, as if it would provide some safety if something went badly wrong, and smiled. “Helm, take us in towards the target ship.”
The Killer starship seemed to zoom closer at terrifying speeds as the starships closed in on it. Andrew linked his mind into the AI and used it to designate targets; not just for the Lightning, but for the other starships in the attack wing. The Admiral had designated five more attack wings to stand by and follow his wing into action; the Killer starship would be overwhelmed and rendered harmless before it could tear his wing apart, let alone the fleet. He found himself smiling as the Killer starship seemed to flinch. Now, whatever the outcome of the war, the Killers would lose their complacency now and forever.
“Entering firing range now,” Gary reported. “The Killer starship is opening fire.”
Bright streaks of white light shot past them, striking and destroying two of the attack wing. “Return fire,” Andrew snapped, as new explosions marked the death of his comrades. Ironically, not knowing them provided him a shield against his guilt; he’d been the one leading them into battle, making him the one who’d gotten them killed. “And continue firing until we are out of range.”
A thousand implosion bolts lanced out of the attacking starships and plastered the Killer’s hull, which seemed to shatter as the starships swarmed around their target, firing blast after blast into the Killer ship. The white streaks of light faded and died as chunk after chunk of armour was blasted off, leaving the Killer inside completely exposed — and helpless. Andrew laughed aloud as Gary switched to energy torpedoes and particle beams, digging deep gorges into the heart of the Killer ship. Strange energies flickered over the enemy ship’s remaining hull as it struggled to survive, diverting power to its internal force field in a desperate attempt to retain its structural integrity.
“I’m picking up gravity twists,” Gary barked, suddenly. “They’re trying to crush us!”
“Evasive action,” Andrew snapped, sharply. “Don’t let them get a lock on us!”
The starship seemed to shudder under the strain, and then they were free, rocketing away from their victim at several times the speed of light. Andrew looked back at the Killer starship and almost felt sorry for it — almost. It was a lion being torn apart by hyenas, he realised; great bursts of plasma were flaring off the hull, sending streaks of light dancing through space. The Killer starship was dead, yet it didn’t seem to know it. There was little point in prolonging the agony.
“Bring in one of the ramming ships,” he ordered. The Killer starship couldn’t destroy the rammer, even if it had time to react… even if it saw the new threat in time. Had their bombardment blinded it? In their place, Andrew would have opened a wormhole and tried to escape, yet it was remaining stubbornly in the real universe. Had they knocked out the wormhole generator? “I want it destroyed before it can escape.”
A flicker of light marked the arrival of the first ramming ship, dropping out of Anderson Drive and racing down towards its target. Its controllers, hundreds of light years away, steered it towards the rear of the craft, attempting to destabilise the black hole in the first few seconds of disaster. The other starships saw the threat, turned and rocketed away, leaving the Killer starship alone for a few microseconds. It had no time to even notice. The rammer slammed home and the starship vanished in a blaze of white light.
“One Killer starship gone, sir,” Gary reported, his voice law and controlled. “I have five more possible targets, all insufficiently engaged.”
“Order the attack wing to follow us in,” Andrew ordered, shaking his head. The Killers didn’t have the numbers or firepower advantage any longer and they were being mobbed every time they showed themselves. What did it matter if they swatted one or a hundred of the gnats surrounded them, if there were thousands more gnats ready and awaiting their chance to tear the enemy ship apart? The humans had had advantages in numbers before, but they had never been decisive, until now. The new weapons weren’t dangerous in small doses, but with thousands of blows…
The Killers didn’t stand a chance.
“Wormhole opening, right on top of us,” Gary snapped. “They’re coming through!”
“Evasive action,” Andrew barked. There was barely any time to react. They skimmed the hull of the Killer starship and barely avoided the burst of white light fired at them in passing. Other starships weren’t so lucky. They slammed into the Killer starship hull and died, smashed to nothing against the impregnable hulls. Andrew snapped orders, bringing the attack wing around to engage the new target as it opened fire, sweeping dozens of human starships out of existence. “Take us in, now!”