Darien didn't let his elation at their escape last for long. They might have avoided the collapsing ruins of the city, but one operative was dead, another was knocking on death's door and there was still a monster the size of a city block lurking out in the ocean. He gave Amber's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and stepped back, folding his arms as his mind went to work. The first and most obvious course was to see if the main guns of this ancient dreadnought were still in working order.

"Idas," he barked. "Take three with you. Get below decks and take a look at those cannons. Let's see what kind of bite this old beast's got in her."

His friend nodded and grabbed the three nearest operatives before disappearing from the bridge.

"Amber," he continued. "Get a position on the Leviathan and the Manitta-Vanna. If you can, get us on an intercept course with the sub. They might need help." Then he turned and strode from the room, knowing that somewhere not far away another fight for life was underway.

The medics hadn't moved far from the main boarding ramp, simply finding the first room with a big enough surface they could lie Mina's stricken body across. Vandal's operatives were clustered outside and he could see the signs of their ordeal clearly. Most of them sported superficial injuries and they were covered in residue from broken stone. As he approached one boy stood up with a groan and moved to meet him. He gave a weak salute. His mousy brown hair was a dishevelled mess and his armour bore a slew of scratches and dents.

"Easy there," Darien said, taking a firm but gentle grip on the boy's shoulder. "You alright, Taggs?"

"Aye...I'm a'right," he murmured, the twang of his Donia accent still enduring through everything.

"You did good."

The operative gave a derisive snort. "All I did was run our backsides through that piss-hole."

"You kept your head. That's what counts." Darien sighed heavily. "Who'd you lose?"

"Kamper," Taggs replied and his voice shuddered as he forced the words out. "We were circlin' up to Blink when the whole roof came down on us. A big slab hit her and..." He swallowed, and Darien could see his eyes shining. "At least it was quick."

"I'm sorry. Hekket's the best medic in Blink – Mina's in good hands."

Taggs nodded half-heartedly, turning to look into the room. Deciding there was nothing else he could say to deaden the impact of losing a squad-mate, Darien stepped past him and into the improvised triage unit. Hekket's face was a mask of pure concentration. Opposite him Cath was working feverishly but her face betrayed her anxiousness.

"Hekket," he said quietly.

The medic rounded at the sound of his voice. "What is it?"

"What's the damage?"

"More than our field kits can cure." He shook his head, stepping over to him. "It looks like a jagged rock caught her in the cave in – it cut straight through her armour, broke one of her arms and tore a three-inch-deep gash through her right abdomen. To top that off she must've cracked her head when she went down. I can't be sure without getting her under a scanner but...well she may have fractured her skull." He gave a fatalistic shrug. "Darien, I'll do everything I can, you know that, but at this point I'm on damage limitation. I can staunch the bleeding; sow her up as best I can, but if we don't get her to a proper medical facility in the next six hours she's dead."

"Six hours?"

"And we can't take her to the research station, not with that thing lurking out there."

Darien felt anger rising in his chest. "Just keep her alive. Let me worry about the Leviathan," he grated. "That's an order." With that he whirled and stalked back through the vessel's halls to the bridge. Heads turned expectantly towards him as he entered.

He stepped up to the central console, staring blackly at the readout as his mind went to work. The display on the main screen was moving and it showed a big glowing blob that he presumed denoted the ship's position. Around it the contours of the sea bed moved and changed as the ancient vessel crawled further away from its berth.

"Brannigan," he said, motioning the girl over. "Can you operate this thing?"

"I can try," she replied, moving to the main controls. "What am I looking for?"

"Give me a bigger view. I need to see what's out there." He leaned heavily on the console as she set to work on the interface. A kernel of anger was slowly building in his chest. Anger that one of his fellow squad leaders probably wouldn't see out this mission; anger at the lack of information they'd been given before delving into the deep; anger at that creature out there that was responsible for not only their current catastrophe, but for the fall of a once great civilisation. Darien didn't like feeling powerless. It was time for them to bite back at the Leviathan of Marianas.

As Brannigan worked he stalked back over to the controls and to Amber. "How're we looking?"

"I think I've got positional readings on both the Manitta-Vanna and the...the Leviathan," she said, and he could still her arms trembling as she steered the massive ship on course. "I'm doing what I can to take us on an intercept course, but if this monster has an autopilot I don't know how to switch it on. We're eye-balling it for now."

"How does she handle?"

"Like a garbage hauler with a bad attitude," Amber muttered. "We're not going to be doing any evasive manoeuvring, that's for sure. Right now I can just about maintain a course."

"That's all we need." He tapped his earpiece. "Idas, give me a report."

"Err, well these puppies look primed for action," came the apprehensive reply. "There are power conduits lit up all up and down the main chambers. I think we've found the ammunition too – there are big drums, half a meter across. There's a kind of loading apparatus at the back end of each gun that looks like it feeds into a firing chamber. I don't see a trigger down here though – they must be controlled from the bridge."

"They are," Vass interjected. "I've got the firing controls on my console. According to the readout it doesn't seem like there are any rounds in the chambers. You'll need to get that apparatus working."

"Copy that; leave it with me. I'll get these boomers locked and loaded. Idas out."

Darien exhaled a long breath. Getting the ancient ship moving had been one thing, but taking it into a fight would be quite another. Even if they could get the main guns firing he didn't have the slightest clue what they fired, or whether it would even make a difference. The weapons of this civilisation hadn't stopped the Leviathan in the past – why would they do so now? But he needed to exhaust all the options. More importantly, he knew that there were well over a hundred people up on the research station that would have no defence at all against the creature if it chose to attack.

He returned his attention to the main map where a three dimensional image of the sea bed now showed two pulsing dots – the other much smaller than the central position of their ship. He cast a questioning glance at Brannigan.

"That other reading is the Manitta-Vanna," she explained, pointing at it. "Still drifting. If we zoom out..." She touched her fingers to the display and gently extended them. The image expanded its scope until a third huge blob emerged, lurking above them in the ocean and slowly ascending. "And I guess that's the Leviathan." She zoomed out again, leaving the ship signatures as little more than pinpricks of light in the ocean. Above them a fourth reading showed. "That's the research platform. If I'm reading this right, the Leviathan is right on course for it."

"Son of a bitch," Darien muttered to himself, before tapping his earpiece and contacting the Manitta-Vanna. "Tyndall, this is Hammerhead. What's your status?"

"Our engines are back online," the lieutenant replied. "Secondary systems are rebooting and Churchwood's boys are working on rigging one of the temporary Nav-Rods so you can get your people off that hulk if you have to. Though right now I reckon you're safer than we are."

"Do you need any assistance?"

"Negative, we just need to keep our distance from that thing. We're currently on one third manoeuvring power – should be enough to keep us out of trouble for the moment."

"Lieutenant, the Leviathan is heading straight for the research platform, and if I had to guess it's going up there to do some damage," Darien warned. "We need to get those people out of here, and us too."

"I'm open to suggestions, operative."

His brow furrowed in surprise. "Don't you have evacuation protocols?"

"We have enough submarines to evacuate personnel into the sea, but I think you'll agree that's not an ideal plan. We don't have enough ground-orbit-craft to take everyone. To be frank, we never thought we'd need to evacuate the whole planet."

"Brilliant." He turned his eyes skyward. "So what are we going to do?"

"We're working on that – just standby."

"Copy that, Hammerhead out." He straightened up, resolution swelling in his chest. He was not about to sit and wait for Tyndall to come up with something, not while he was already commanding the biggest weapon they had. "Amber, change your course."

She looked round at him. "To where?"

"The Leviathan, intercept course."

"Darien..." Amber's mouth hung open for a moment as she considered trying to dissuade him.

Eventually she just shook her head and turned back to her controls. A few seconds later the cumbersome bulk of the alien ship lurched and turned. Darien rubbed the back of his neck, trying to shake the nagging ache that had settled in there as he prepared to launch his team and their companions into an under-sea battle against a creature that shouldn't even exist.

He was no biologist, but it didn't seem possible that a beast of such size could function – gravity ought to have flattened it under the weight of its own exoskeleton. His mind flashed back to the warning, the message they'd found in the city. The alien herald had said they delved too deep into the planet. Did this monstrous arthropod come from within the planet itself? Maybe the sea wasn't its natural habitat, but it had simply ended up there.

"Idas," he said quietly as they slid on through the ocean. "Status?"

"The loading gear is functioning...just let me figure this. This is some big machinery, Darien, and I don't know what we're loading it with. One of these shells falls and we could all go up."

"We're closing on the Leviathan," Darien answered. "We're going to need those guns before we reach it, understand?"

"Yeah I gotcha, we'll be ready."

Then everything went quiet. If anyone on the bridge of the ship disagreed with the plan, they kept their thoughts to themselves. The dim, glassy waters of Marianas stretched out endlessly before them and Darien scanned the depths, waiting for a glimpse of their quarry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Niamh move up beside him. Her carbine hung in one hand and her jaw was tight with anticipation. Then her good eye widened.

"There," she whispered, pointing.

He squinted, following her finger, and sure enough there was a faint dark smudge visible on the left side of the bridge window.

"Amber..."

"I see it." The ship swung to bear on the blot. The deck trembled under the force of the manoeuvring. Meter by meter they closed the gap until the full reality of what they were dealing with became clear.

They were still a considerable distance away, but even now the creature formed a huge dark cloud in the ocean. He could make out the dangling structures of its legs beneath the oblong torso and its baleful head. It drifted up, slowly and inexorably, like a malevolent glacier. An apprehensive murmur passed through the other operatives as they caught their first glimpse of the Leviathan. Darien stepped over to the console where Vass was staring intently at the targeting screens.

"How are we looking?"

Vass rocked his head from side to side. "Looks like the guns are loaded now. I've identified the firing control, but if there's an auto lock-on it's not functioning. I'm manual-aiming this thing. Best thing we can do is point the nose of the ship at that sucker and hope for the best." He smiled nervously. "At least it's a big target."

"Okay, Amber," Darien said. "Just go slow and steady – aim us straight and true."

She didn't reply, her face a mask of concentration as she wrestled with the massive control stick of the sub. The ship turned, bringing the huge dark mass of the Leviathan into the centre of the bridge window. They kept closing and the sheer size of the thing hit home with an unwelcome abruptness. Seeing the thing up close had been terrifying in a different way. Now it was like they were about to try and kill a piece of the planet itself.

He pressed a hand over his mouth, half-thinking, half-praying.

"Okay..." Vass murmured from the weapon station. "The targeting reticule just switched to bright happy blue. I'm guessing that means we're in weapons range."

"All right then." Darien nodded. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'm going to be."

He took a deep breath, speaking into the comm. "Idas, brace yourselves. We're about to light it up." Then he pointed to his fellow squad leader. "Vass, crack that thing open."

The other boy's face lit up in a vicious smile. The firing controls consisted of a double joystick with one large lever for aim and a second smaller one jutting off to the side that held the trigger mechanism. Vass's right hand snapped tight around the larger control, holding it in place as firmly as he could. Then the four fingers of his left hand curled shut, pulling the trigger with a heavy clunk.

Darien felt the whole ship shake as thunder roiled in her under-decks. He grabbed the nearest console to steady himself, but kept his eyes locked on the Leviathan in the distant waters. Two lances of green fire ripped through the water in an instant and he saw explosions blossom against the dark smudge. A hit.

"Yes!" Vass whooped. "Direct hit – both barrels!"

"Good work." Darien thumped his fist against the console.

"I'm not so sure about that," Amber interjected anxiously. "The Leviathan's still moving."

"Well hoping to kill it in one shot was probably a lot to ask." Darien composed himself and stepped forward looking out into the water. Sure enough, the big dark blot was still getting closer, and he could see the legs moving in huge, sweeping motions to propel it along. The features were getting more defined now too – he could see the tusks.

"It's turning toward us," Amber warned.

"Hit it again," he ordered. "And keeping hitting it – don't wait for my order."

"Copy that."

More bolts of alien energy tore up the water, screaming on course for their target, and most of them slammed home. Darien had no idea what the huge cannons slung under the ship were firing but from the looks of it they would have made short work of a human sub. The Leviathan, on the other hand, had formidable outer armour. Even though the shots were finding their mark it didn't seem to be slowing down.

Then a deafening crash sounded from below decks and the whole ship lurched violently to its port side, throwing several operatives from their feet.

"What the hell was that?!" Amber shouted, fighting wildly with the controls.

"We've got a hull breach, port side," Chayze yelped. Then a radio message from Idas cut through the pandemonium to provide an explanation.

"Darien, I'm sorry," the other operative coughed. "These things are so damn old – the port side loading chamber just ruptured and blew a hole in the deck. It couldn't take the strain."

"Casualties?" Darien asked.

"Some cuts and burns but these things are big enough the rupture wasn't anywhere near us. Bulkheads closed to seal off the hull breach. We're okay but we're down to one gun and I don't know how long it'll last."

Immediately the ship swung to the right, away from the encroaching shadow of the Leviathan. At first he thought it was an unavoidable motion from the damage, but when he looked to the pilot station he saw Amber, grim-faced, heaving at the control stick to turn them away.

"Amber!"

"Darien, I can't close manoeuvre this thing!" she snapped as she heaved at the steering column. "These controls were never designed for humans; I can barely hold a course! If we get too close I won't be able to dodge it. If it gets a hold of us with the tusks or its jaws we're dead. All we've managed to do is piss it off and our firepower just got cut in half. We need to pull back and come up with a new plan!"

He bristled at her swift demolition of the situation, and he knew she was right. His mind started working feverishly again to come up with another approach. But how did you approach something so wrong? Whether sustained bombardment with the alien cannons would have had more of an effect, he didn't know, but now it seemed their most powerful armament was out of action. What else did they have in their arsenal? None of the submarines on the station carried anything more powerful than torpedoes.

Then his mind flashed back to their briefing on board the station and an idea occurred to him. It didn't fill him with confidence, but as far as he could see it might be the only chance they had to kill the creature once and for all. He pressed a hand to his ear-piece and took a deep breath before making the call.

"Hammerhead to Manitta-Vanna, come in."

"We read you Hammerhead."

"We lost the port-side cannon – the mechanism gave out," he said. "The Leviathan is back on course for the research station."

"That's bad news."

"Yes it is, but I think I've got another idea."

"Lay it on me, Operative. Our options are pretty thin on the ground right now."

"Tyndall, in the briefing Churchwood talked about blasting through the outer doors of the city," he explained. "He said it would take a blast yield of at least fifteen megatons."

"True enough," Tyndall answered sounding slightly perplexed. "What of it?"

"Do you have that kind of ordinance stowed on the research platform?"

"Well, yes, we had all contingencies accounted...wait – wait a damn minute-"

"It's the only way."

"Just back the hell up, Operative," Tyndall growled. "To be clear: you're suggesting we rig up a fifteen megaton bomb and use it on that thing out there?"

Darien saw Amber turn to stare in horror as he continued. "Got any better ideas?"

"You don't even know if it will work! That thing's carapace has been holding a city together for a thousand years. And it shrugged off the hits from the cannons on that monster you're swimming around in. What makes you think a bomb will blast through it?"

"It probably won't blast through it," he agreed. "But maybe from inside it."

"You're not saying what I think you're saying...are you?"

Darien tried to ignore the staring eyes of his fellow operatives as he revealed his desperate scheme. "I'll Blink up to the research station, strap the bomb to one of the subs and drive it straight down that thing's throat."