The Great Betrayal - By Michael G. Thomas Page 0,3

experiences aboard the Biomech command ship they didn't want to remember, and neither knew how long they were there. It might have been weeks, but it could as easily have been months or even years. The interrogation, punishment, and torture had taken its toll on the two of them. Their escape had been violent, and it had taken no small degree of skill and ingenuity to slip the fleet and make it this far.

“Yeah, I’m not arguing with that.”

He nursed his stump where one of the Biomech machines had torn away his arm. The pain had long gone, although he was convinced he could still feel where his hand had once been. The machines had done that to him, but he was certain it was for nothing more that perverted pleasure. The thought of the blades cutting into his flesh made him queasy, so he shook his head and concentrated on the pulsing shape waiting for them at the end of the debris field. It was one of the largest Spacebridge tunnels he’d seen so far.

“What do you think is on the other side of that Rift?”

Khan lifted up the side of his lip, an expression he often gave when confused.

“It might be a friendly region of space; it might be another region they have passed through. Either way it won’t be here.”

“What happened here though?”

He pointed to the debris circling the planet.

“This was no skirmish. It looks like hundreds of thousands of ships, and a lot of them are as big as very small moons.”

Khan looked at them. Spartan watched him, wondering if his friend was merely examining their shapes, or if he genuinely had an explanation for what was going on. Neither said anything for almost a minute before Khan turned back to him.

“I’d say this was an extermination battle. Just look at the numbers. We have capital ships, remains of transports, and smashed space stations…and what about the planet?”

Spartan looked at them and tried to visualize the scene of what must have been the greatest ever space battle. He had seen enough battles in his time, but even the massive battles in the Uprising had rarely involved more than a score of major ships on each side. Even the accounts of the Great War fifty years before had shown battles with no more than fifty ships as the norm.

He’s right. This is a graveyard.

The planet showed no signs of life, its atmosphere was toxic, and there were clear signs of destructive activity showing up on the scanners. Spartan used the long-range targeting cameras to examine the area in more detail before the glowing entrance moved into view. It instantly brought his attention back to their current predicament.

“Remember the Biomech fleet, Khan, how many ships were there?”

Khan lifted his shoulders slightly.

“Who knows…a lot I would think.”

“Hang on,” said Spartan; shifting slightly in his seat, “that’s not a cruiser, look.”

He turned the scanning unit toward the ship guarding the entrance to the Rift and activated the passive scanning equipment. They had made that assumption based on the size of the vessel. The shape was different though, and as they watched, it became clear that it was something else.

“You’re right, look at the configuration. A control station,” said Khan.

Spartan altered the settings to show an even closer view of the station. It looked in poor shape, but even from that distance, they could make out the outlines of a substantial powerplant that was attached via a series of reinforced gantries.

“Exactly. This must be one of the entrances to more enemy space. Why else have a station to monitor and control it?”

Khan placed his chin in his hand and considered their problem.

“In that case, how the hell will we get through without them stopping us?”

Spartan had already returned to the small tactical map shown on a computer display to his left. It showed the dead worlds and the debris field, as well as this destination.

“We can’t stay here. Look, the carrier that followed us here is moving up out of orbit. I’d say three, maybe four hours, and they’ll catch up with us.”

“Unless we make for the Rift?” he asked rhetorically, “But if we do, that station will just shoot us down as we enter the place.”

Neither seemed to have much of an idea. Instead, Spartan made the final adjustments to leave the higher layers of debris prior to breaking out to the Rift. Khan watched the station and scratched his forehead.

“It’s not right, Spartan. We can’t make it this far,