What did The Fridge want? Eva wondered. Were they trying to destroy the station? This couldn’t be the only Forge facility, but it certainly seemed likely to be the largest and most vital, given the sheer quantity of personnel and defenses. There was probably a lot of tech they could steal, or steal back if it had come from the raid on their own base on Pupillae. Not to mention the whole Gate experiment . . .
Don’t think about Mari, Eva told herself sternly. You don’t have time. Escape now, mourn later.
Eva pulled up the fore camera display as they approached the Gate, backlit by the system’s dying binary stars. It was always a little uncomfortable to see a big hole in space, a doorway to somewhere in an entirely different part of the universe, like an impossibly realistic holovid display floating serenely in the void. At first, the only thing visible on the other side of the Gate was more space, strangely devoid of stars, but the view changed as Min altered their approach angle to avoid the mangled remains of a pair of ships.
Me cago en la hora que yo nací, Eva thought. She knew that place. She’d only had a brief glimpse of it once, from a different distance, but it had haunted her for the past six months, awake and in nightmares that left her sweaty and breathless.
It was a planet, covered entirely in the same strange metal she had seen at the ruins on Cavus, back when she and Vakar were rescuing a team of quennian scientists who had found a Proarkhe artifact. The very same artifact had been taken by The Fridge, and later turned into a giant robot, opened a portable Gate, and vanished through it.
And if Eva was right, this was where it had ended up.
“What is that?” Min yelped, pulling Eva out of her reverie.
She took a deep, cleansing breath. “That,” Eva said, “is not our problem. Reset the coordinates to Brodevis and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
The closer they got to the Gate, the more of the strange planet became visible. There was no apparent source of water, no visible atmosphere, just kilometer after kilometer of metallic material wrapping around the enormous spherical body. Patterns were formed by the ways the metal connected or overlapped, primarily concentric circles with a few gaps that revealed what might have been underground cities, and other deep, broad chasms lit by the faintest pinkish-purple glow from somewhere far below. Small ridges and indentations on the surface might have passed for topography on any more familiar terrestrial body, but were too geometrically regular to be anything but intentionally fabricated.
And, barely noticeable against the eerily starless backdrop because of the scale and distance, flashes of weapons fire and explosions streaked across the black.
“Any cycle now, Min,” Eva said, wincing at her own sharp tone.
“It’s not working,” Min said. “It won’t accept my coordinates.” La Sirena Negra slowed down and changed trajectory, avoiding another set of incoming ships while maintaining the equivalent of a holding pattern around the Gate.
Far away above the mystery planet, a ship appeared. Eva squinted at it and, in a fit of curiosity, deployed a scanning probe through the Gate. Quantum relays should get the data back to her quickly enough, but given all the unknowns currently in play, she might be wasting her time and tech for nothing. Then again, if Mari could communicate with The Forge from there, Eva’s probes should be able to as well.
The results came back within moments, and they were confusing. Some familiar elements and minerals, but a lot of errors and unknowns. The planet was reportedly about the circumference of Saturn, with two large orbiting satellites, but its mass and density and other data were unavailable. Several vessels currently moved around in there, along with an uncomfortably large amount of debris that suggested either more Forge ships had gone through than Eva expected, or Fridge ships had followed them in, or remnants of older battles were still caught in the planet’s gravity well without falling to its surface. None of these thoughts was particularly comforting.
Also, the approaching mystery ship was at least the size of a BOFA dreadnought. Which meant it was easily as big as the Forge space station, and much bigger than any of the other ships on this side of the Gate.
“Um, Min,” Eva said.
“Still not working, Cap,” Min replied, her voice rising in pitch. “It’s like someone is jamming it open? But that’s not possible!”
Lot of impossible going around this cycle, Eva thought. Qué mierda.
“Focus on keeping us in one piece,” she told Min. Then she signaled the Forge station, asking for Agent Elus or Agent Miran, hoping they were alive and available for a random call.
Agent Miran answered, his dark face grim as his eyes flicked rapidly from their ocular implants working overtime. “Captain Innocente. I presume this is important, given the circumstances.”
“I presume you know the Gate is being jammed open?” Eva asked.
“We were aware of that situation, yes,” Agent Miran said.
“And there’s a giant-ass ship getting ready to come through?”
“Indeed there is,” he replied, his tone dry as a desert. “Attempts have been made to destroy the Gate, but thus far it appears to be impervious to our light weapons, and our heavy cannons are focused on the Fridge incursion.”
Destroy it? With Mari still on the other side? Eva exhaled sharply.
“Got any other options?” Eva asked.
“I have Dr. Carter and the rest of our team working on that,” Agent Miran said. “They believe that if enough of the Gate’s power sources were removed, it would shut down, but we haven’t been able to get any of our people close enough to try. Now, with respect, I need to get back to—”
“I’m close enough,” Eva said. “Tell me what to do.”
“Cap?” Min asked behind her. “What’s going on?”
“One second, Min,” Eva said. Then, to Agent Miran, “I’m in pissing distance of this thing. How do I depower it?”
“Stand by.” Agent Miran vanished, and Eva switched to the tactical display and sent out a few tricks from the bag to hopefully keep Fridge fighters at bay while they loitered in the area.
Pink appeared suddenly, leaning over the side of Eva’s seat. “You making deals behind my back, Co-Captain?”
Eva shook her head, then shrugged. “Getting information. The Gate isn’t working right, and if someone doesn’t close it somehow . . .” She gestured at the huge ship through the hole in space, growing larger and closer by the moment.
“Woman, you haven’t learned yet to take a step back when someone asks for volunteers?” Pink sighed, but stared at the looming threat and pursed her lips.
“We could make a run for the other Gate,” Eva said. “But what happens to everyone here when that thing comes through?”
“Nothing good, I’m sure,” Pink murmured. “Is this really a first-contact scenario?”
Eva thought of the artifact robot transforming in front of her, the harsh, modulated noise that seemed to be speech, its glowing red eyes. “It might technically be second contact,” she said. “Either way, it’s definitely a complete arroz con mango.”
A new figure appeared in place of Agent Miran: Emle, her brown eyes wide with alarm. “Captain Innocente, I’m told you’re near the Gate?”