by T. L Smith
While we toyed with the enemy warships, my fighter crews prepped their birds. Our battleships primed weapons and shields. Huracid arrived with his ships and our newest arrivals, chomping at their bits to get into battle. The Collective ships set up triage points. Medical ships acknowledged ready-status for mass casualties.
The sound of our Chief Medical Officer’s voice acknowledging our status reminded me of Everett. A pang of guilt and longing struck me hard. I should have gone to see him before now, before we leapt into battle. I needed to touch him once more.
My second officer turned to look at me. “Go. There is nothing you can do here until attack is imminent and we need you focused when the time comes.”
Gardner’s game of cat-and-mouse didn’t need me there. We’d drop out of FTL to take pot shots at them, then disappear again. All to annoy them. She’d give me time to be near him, to feel his presence and to let him feel mine.
She gave me a nod. Had this last encounter with the Elders made her dormant abilities stronger?
I didn’t care to find out right now. I slipped out of my chair and hurried into the lift, down to the medical deck. People sensed my urgency and cleared a path. Everett’s eyes were open as I entered, as if waiting for me.
He smiled, though I could see he forced it, as he did each breath. No matter the amount of meds they pumped into him, he was in pain. He let the smile go. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I don’t have a choice, remember?” He didn’t normally speak through his talents, but I understood it was less physically stressful.
“I needed to see…”
“I know. You were virtually shouting for me, and I couldn’t be there for you. I’m sorry.” The fingers of his right hand invited me to touch him, demanding it in my head. “We don’t have much time.”
I’d let all the images out of my head, reaching all the EH, even through the thick barriers of my quarters’ walls. Clearly my abilities were stronger than the Elders designed the room for. But all because I went exploring.
“I needed to know what we were up against, but I blew it. I let her see me.”
“You didn’t blow it. You found out what the true threat was. I can’t believe we didn’t know their soldiers weren’t the real Puni. The Elders never gave us a clue otherwise.”
“I don’t think they knew. With a millennia to evolve, there was no telling what their creations would look like now. They didn’t think it mattered lying to us about their origins. But the resemblance gave it all away and the truth is out. At least we know what they really look like.” I stroked his hand, feeling calmer just sitting here with him.
But I was still scared. “Without you there with me, I don’t know how this will turn out. I’m not a battle commander, even with Sharmila. And now their queen is out to get me. She’s launched a force against us. We’re delaying a face off, letting our fleet get into position.”
Suddenly Everett’s fingers tightened on mine. “Get one here! One of the ships.” His whole body shuddered with pain as he shouted the words. “Hide and seek.”
“Don’t talk. It hurts you.”
“Yeah…” His thoughts rushed through my head and I reached out to Gardner.
“Kill one of the ships we let go. The biggest one. Sync the wreckage here at top speed. Rig it to explode, the biggest charges we can plant.” I relayed the rest of the plan to Gardner and knew she approved.
Everett relaxed as she disconnected. The med-pumps over his bed helped the process along and I could see him getting sleepy. “I’m sorry. You wanted time with me and…”
“I needed to see you, even if you were asleep. That you’re alert and can come up with strategies only gives me more confidence.” I leaned down and pressed my cheek to his hand. “I know you’re recovering now.”
“I am. I will. And even if I can’t be up there beside you, I’ll be with you.” His fingers rubbed against my cheek, just slightly, before tightening around my hand. His eyes looked sorrowful. “Release Sharmila, let her help you. You’re more powerful now, but she knows what these people are capable of. It’s the only way.”
“I don’t know if I can trust her again.” I gripped his hand tight. “Look at what she’s done. To you, to me. I spent my whole life not feeling normal, and now she’s turned me into this. I wasn’t a soldier, or a killer, but she made me into both. Part of me is afraid I won’t be able to do this. Another part is afraid I will, and that’ll be the last of me.”
“Stop!” Everett squeezed my hand as hard as he could. “You’re stronger than you think.” He tried to smile again, but stopped. “I can be with you. I can help keep her in line.” His eyes locked onto mine and I could almost see his Elder. “Take us with you.”
I saw what they proposed. “No. I can’t do that.” I tried to pull my hand loose, but he wouldn’t let go. “I won’t put you at risk.”
“We’re all at risk and you need me. If you don’t do this, I’ll be reaching out to you anyway, so do it.” He pushed and the monitors showed his heart rate surge. “NOW!”
Through the glass I saw Dr. Arroza look up at the increase in his readings and she rushed into the room. “Col. Everett, I need you to calm down.”
“He wants to mentally link with me, an Elder technique, a prolonged telepathic connection… it’s hard to explain, but he’ll go into battle with me. I told him it’s too dangerous.”
Arroza looked confused, then worried. “Never heard of this before, but I think she’s right, Colonel. You need to concentrate on yourself and healing.” She looked to the nurses’ station for assistance, but she jerked her head back to stare at Everett.
Her eyes squinted slightly before she nodded. “Yeah, you would. Fine! I’ll cut a deal with you.” She turned to me. “You know it’s impossible to stop an EH. If you don’t do this, he’ll only use more energy trying to reach out to you anyway. So in compromise, and to assure there’s no physical damage, we’ll put his body into a state of full paralysis. He’ll be mentally able to completely focus on you.”
“You’re going to let him do this?”
“It’s not up to me. And from his urgency, you don’t have time to argue, so do it.”
“I don’t know how.” Sharmila stirred inside me. She knew. Everett’s Elder knew, and I could feel him starting the process. “Damn it. Like I don’t have enough voices in my head.”
The doctor gave me a look that said she sympathized, but walked away, conversing with her nurse.
Everett’s eyes stared quietly at me. Quiet, but determined. “I have a condition too. If it gets to be too much, you break. I can’t be distracted worrying about you.”
“Deal!” He eased his grip on my fingers and closed his eyes.
I hated this idea, but Dr. Arroza was right. Everett would stress over the battle, over me, and I had to admit, I wanted him with me. So I forced myself to relax, closing my eyes and opening my mind. I let Sharmila guide the process. Everett let his Elder do the same.
She welcomed them and I felt a swirling sensation wash over my face, back over my scalp and down my spine. Everett’s consciousness flooded into mine. I didn’t realize how painful our physical separation had been, until I felt him again. Now all I wanted was to forget everything else and lie here with him.
It was a battle of wills, but Everett urged me to duty. With our bond truly in place, I looked to the doctor and nodded. The nurse immediately increased his sedation and his body slumped into a near coma state.
I gently removed my hand from his, but still felt his grip as I left the sickbay. I trembled from the fullness of our bond. As close as we’d been, this brought on a level of ecstasy I’d never experienced. I could feel Everett’s amusement at this distraction.
“We should have done this sooner.”
I tightened my barriers as I received confused glances from people I…we passed. I dodged into an empty room, clinging to the wall as the door closed. “I agree, but I need to get to the bridge, without being stuck in some kind of psychic
sex.” I eased down to sit on the floor. “This will pass if I give it a couple minutes, right?”
My chest heaved as Everett sighed, so deeply intertwined. “It will, but when we get a chance to do this again…”
“Stop it!” I couldn’t help but laugh. This was better than sex.
“I can hear you.”
“Ok…ay…” This was all too weird, but I also felt calmness edging into our erotic closeness. “…I promise we’ll fully explore this, later.” I took a few more breaths, each one deeper, each one left me steadier, until I could stand again.
Everett didn’t tease or distract me this time, letting me resume our way back to the bridge. By the time we arrived, I had full control of my senses again. On our main screen I saw the enemy fleet. They’d grown in numbers, but had no idea the size of our forces.
On a side screen I could see another battle in play. Our ships taking out one of the remaining ships hobbling their way back to Punitraq. Multiple hull breaches killed the ship, but left it intact enough for our purposes. The other two ran.
As we circled back around their planet, we went into a more elaborate game of hide-and-seek. Our trio of ships split up and coordinated popping up in one spot or another. Scattered around as we were, it gave them no targets to lock onto, or get an accurate count. All the while we waited for the wreck to appear.
We toyed with them until one of Huracid’s ships flashed into the coordinates we gave him. Then two more. He surprised me. Gardner had expounded on Everett’s idea and chased them all down. Huracid piggybacked them into the Punitraq airspace.
I sat forward, watching the Punitraq divert to these new targets. They closed in to find the ships were their own, remnants of their destroyed fleet. They circled the wrecks, but only let a few of their ships closer to investigate. It was the best we’d get. Gardner gave the order.
In a massive explosion, we eliminated two of their ships and the explosives created a distortion field capable of blacking out most radars, scanners or visual equipment. The ploy left the other ships dazed. It was our signal to have the rest of our warships Sync in, surrounding the Punitraq.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
It was my signal to let Sharmila out. My instincts resisted, but as she came forward, I slipped closer to Everett. The transition was easy, despite my trepidations. Sharmila opened a com line to the entire fleet. “Companions take the lead. Keep a tight bond.” She took a deep breath. “You’ve learned from each other and don’t need me now. Be strong and safe.”
She spoke with a voice of confidence. I was shocked she didn’t cling to them anymore. Instead, gave them a mental push, like a mother to the infant who is ready to walk on their own.
Sharmila rose out of her chair and stepped down into the logistics hub. She moved to the war board and without speaking, reached out to touch the planet I’d visited. Drones circled the towers in every city, drawn by the energy signals within. Detailed scans appeared and she zoomed in on the spiral towers. They were so out of place in the dismally sterile city, but they were the hub of the infrastructure.
“Commander. The EH no longer need me to guide their battle. I want to take a wing of cruisers and fighters, and launch an attack on their main city. Those towers have to come down.”
“Primary?” Gardner’s eyes reflected how annoyed she was at being distracted from the immediate battle, just as it flared up. “Why? We’re not ready for a planetary offensive.”
“The towers are how their queen communicates. Taking out the towers will weaken them, making your job easier.” Sharmila bowed to Gardner, displaying none of her prior arrogance, using no attempt to compel the woman. “I surrender full command to you, Commander Gardner and am only at your service, but this needs to be done.”
Gardner didn’t answer for a few seconds, then nodded to her logistics officer. “Pull the ships she requests.” She fixed her eyes on Sharmila again. “No need to surrender among allies, as long as there is cooperation and trust.” Gardner handed the bridge to her first officer and joined us at the table. “Tell me your plan.”
Sharmila quickly laid it out to Gardner, even taking suggestions from Everett. It felt odd, all this cooperation, no snarling arguments or tension. Everett felt it too, the three of us in here together. He also felt more confident knowing what she was up to. We set out on our side mission, crippling the enemy.
As soon as our squadron launched, we broke the attack formation and changed course for the Punitraq planet. Our minds linked with the mission commander, seeing everything.
Approach was relatively easy, too easy, heightening the senses of every soldier aboard. It wasn’t resistance-free. Punitraq ships attacked as we dropped through the atmosphere above the city, but their ships were small and inadequately armed for the assault. It felt like swatting at annoying insects.
The patrol ships were eliminated, but radars picked up larger ships approaching. Sharmila repeated orders Everett shouted from inside my head. Together we pushed back against the Punitraq, edging closer to our mission, the spires. We could see them now, spinning high above the depressing city.
In her oldest memories Sharmila knew these towers, duplications of those from their own home-world, destroyed as their planet lost its will to live. While the Elders evolved outwards, the Punitraq clung to what they knew. To the tatters of what they’d been, but also what they rejected.
They built their own beautiful towers and ensconced their own queen, but turned these icons to their dark purposes. Into places of death and torture. Now Sharmila intended to rip those majestic towers to the ground.
But it would take more than tearing down stone walls. We had to destroy them and the creatures within, before Sharmila’s strength waned. Now that I knew of the limitations put upon her, I understood why I’d grown strong. The Elders had said it often enough, that nothing ceases to exist, it only transforms. What she brought with her was becoming mine.
All but the resolve to do what was necessary and kill every single hybrid Elder monster we could find. For that I knew Sharmila needed to get on the ground and hunt down this queen while she still could. But at the moment Punitraq ships were trying to block our way.
We’d guessed there was more their queen hadn’t sent after us and dropping down nearly on top her city managed to draw them out. We started to take direct hits, so we struck back twice as hard. Knocking their ships from the sky as the towers got nearer.
Sharmila gripped the arms of her chair in anticipation, but felt me thinking of the slave population in the shadows of those towers. Everett intervened, reminding me that innocents were going to be injured or killed. Sharmila promised not to target them. I had no choice but to accept what was going to happen as we crept closer and closer to the towers. Close enough.
“Open fire!”
The weapons officers reacted together, along with those in the fighters. Multiple beams of blinding light cut through a violet evening sky, focused in tight rays at the spires. The stone began to glow as destructive energy disseminated down the long winding columns. Sharmila shouted as the peaks started to crumble. “Increase output.”
A jolt nearly knocked us from the chair.
Gardner hung on to the edge of the war table. “We have a warship targeting us. Secure all crew. Fighters, concentrate on the warship!”
Sharmila held tight. “The sooner we disrupt her control, the easier her fleet will be to destroy. Keep on the towers!” She hung on as weapon fire pounded our shields. “Just a little longer. They’re starting to break down.”
They were. The stone was cracking and falling in larger chunks to the ground below. Her satisfaction and disappointment flooded through me. She’d come here to destroy a plague on the universe, but watching the last remnant of their ancient civilization crumble away, stung. It was another sign her time was nearly over.
The first tower shattered and fell. They shifted the excess fire onto the other towers and they came down even faster. As Sharmila predicted, the Punitraq ships in our
snare tried to break out and run. Throwing themselves against our forces. Our fleet cut the ships to shreds.
Gardner looked up at Sharmila. “You were right about the towers being possible transmitters. I’m getting reports that the enemy fleet is disoriented.”
I could see the same thing on the ground. “They can’t talk to their queen, but we can’t let her commanders recover enough to regroup. They’re as lethal as she is if they can concentrate their powers against us.” Sharmila jerked her head towards the warship trying to get away. “Take out the warships as the most immediate threats, then follow the lesser ships to find out where they’ll run.”
Gardner confirmed the order. From both fronts I watched us pursue the bewildered battleships, while our cruisers and fighters concentrating on the smaller ships, who scattered across space and the countryside. I shifted all my attention to the surface squadron.
We had two warships trying to get away from us. We split up and I stayed with the squadron commander. As soon as we reached open lands we turned loose all the fire power on the massive ship. We aimed for engines and exhaust ports, hitting our targets.
The warship went down in a pyrotechnic display of explosions that only an atmosphere could provide. The immense ship hit the ground, disintegrating, gouging a horrendous path in the remote countryside and throwing up a massive tower of fire and smoke.
In the midst of a satisfactory mêlée, one of our pursuit cruisers struck paydirt, locating one of their bases. Another warship was preparing for takeoff. We diverted from the warship bonfire and we caught up the other ship as it entered the exosphere. Hit from two sides, we killed it, though that explosion was not nearly as dynamic. Even the shockwave was reduced at the extreme elevation, rather anti-climatic.
Our space battle yielded results. The corralled enemy ships made easy prey. Five warships, a number of smaller cruiser class and uncountable fighters were wreckage. Someone on the bridge called it ‘shooting fish in the barrel’. All part of Everett’s plan.