Nemesis

by Christian Kallias

  The Iron Fire’s barrage of torpedoes provided a good but short reprieve from the hundreds of laser cannon turrets firing toward the Earth Alliance destroyer. If it hadn’t been for the life-or-death battle happening outside the viewport of the Iron Fire, it would almost have been a pleasant, if chaotic, light show to look at.

  Daniel looked at the holo-timer floating a few centimeters over the right armrest of the captain’s chair. Twenty seconds left until the dragon fully transformed. The shields were down to sixty percent already, and now that the fire intensified, they were losing power at an alarming rate.

  The enemy’s tech was inferior to theirs, but in this case, it didn’t matter, it was the intensity and storm-like rate that was taking the Iron Fire’s defenses down faster than they could afford, especially if Daniel wanted the dragon to survive.

  He opened a channel.

  “Chase, we need a diversion. We’re getting pounded here while Ka’Rij transforms. I’m not sure we’ll be able to provide enough cover for him, and if he’s as vulnerable as he says he is in this phase, we could lose him. I would use the main primary plasma beam if we had the energy, but we’re using all our power to provide shielding to both the ship and Ka’Rij.”

  “We can’t afford to lose him. If you need a distraction, we’re happy to provide one. Don’t worry about not being able to use the primary weapon now, you’ll get your chance later. In the meantime, divert all power to your shields, even from life support if you have to.”

  “I’ve already done that.”

  “Of course you have.”

  “Chris,” said Chase. “You heard Daniel, time to take out a second ship, but as much as I don’t like it, we need to take it down even faster than before.”

  “There’s only one way to do that, and you’re not going to like how many ships it will cost us. Since we don’t have time to argue, fire every missile and torpedo your squadrons have left at the next tango. I suggest we take out their capital starship, which should considerably cut down their firepower.”

  Chase was frowning as his son relayed his plan but decided that time was too critical to be wasted again on debates. At this point, if they wanted Ka’Rij to survive and help them save Sarah, fast and wasteful would have to do. And time was not on their side, so the tactic would have to do.

  “Firing now,” said Chase and Argos in unison over the comms.

  Dozens upon dozens of missiles and quantum torpedoes screamed forward, filling the space ahead with their light-gray trails.

  The enemy capital ship’s turrets changed their firing priority almost instantly, stopping their onslaught toward the Iron Fire and trying to destroy as many incoming bogeys as they could. But their efforts were in vain as missiles and torpedoes impacted the capital ship by the dozen. A concerto of explosions engulfed the ship in flames.

  As the fire dissipated, the capital ship had been well scorched but still operational. It had suffered massive structural damage, but once it resumed firing, Chase knew their maneuver hadn’t succeeded.

  “At least their shields are down,” said Chris.

  Multiple visual alarms blinked inside Chase’s StarFury mental HUD. It informed him that a secondary shield generator inside the flagship had kicked in.

  “No, they’re not,” said Chase. “This capital ship has redundant shielding technology. They just activated.”

  “Holy crap,” said Argos. “That’s not good.”

  “Maybe taking on the bigger ship wasn’t my best decision,” said Chris.

  It had been the first time Chase hadn’t led the assault himself, and he wanted to be supportive. Even though he agreed the plan hadn’t work, he probably would have made the same targeting choice and take the biggest threat off the board.

  “It doesn’t matter now, and for what it’s worth, I would have made the same choice in targeting this very ship.”

  The radio crackled as the Iron Fire opened a channel to all squadrons.

  “Guys, we have a major problem,” said Daniel. “Ka’Rij just informed me that transforming inside the protection of the shield bubble has generated some unforeseen issues for him. It’s gonna take more time for him to end his transformation.”

  “How much more time?” asked Chris.

  “I don’t have an exact figure, but a lot!”

  To make things worse, the remaining ships then all focused on firing toward Ka’Rij as his expanding shape was hard to miss, and the enemy obviously decided he had became the bigger threat. Neither the Iron Fire nor Ka’Rij got hit as the extended shield bubble was continuing to intercept and diffuse the thousands of lasers blasts, creating a chaotic blue-orange halo all around the ship.

  They’re now only targeting Ka’Rij. They’ve stopped shooting at us altogether, said Chris.

  The enemy must think he’s the most dangerous thing out there now, added Argos.

  And Chase could see why—the dragon was now bigger than the Iron Fire.

  Chris brought about what was left of his squadron, and Chase followed suit.

  “Are we going to sacrifice all our remaining StarFuries?” he asked.

  “Unless you have a better idea.”

  Chase looked at his holo-projected neuronal HUD and saw that the Iron Fire’s shields were weakening at an alarming rate.

  “No, right now we have to take this ship out,” conceded Chase. “I’m linking control of the rest of my squadron directly to you. Their ordnance is gone, though.”

  “Roger that.”

  “I can’t do the same, obviously,” added Argos.

  Argos’ squadron was made of living, breathing pilots, so having their ships micro-jump in a kamikaze fashion wouldn’t be wise. At worst, it was up to each pilot whether or not to sacrifice their life to achieve the objectives, but neither Argos nor Chase would directly ask this of them.

  “That’s okay, have Gamma Squadron focus on diverting some fire from another ship,” said Chase.

  “Roger that,” said Argos.

  “Now, for the promised light show,” said Chris.

  All of Chris’ Beta Squadron StarFuries opened fire with low-powered laser shots but at extremely fast rates, and the more hits on the shields, the faster they lowered. This lasted for a handful of seconds before the enemy capital ship finally diverted some of its turrets toward the incoming starfighters.

  Every single missile and quantum torpedo onboard Beta Squadron fired all at once at their target.

  Even though the enemy captain made that decision a little on the late side, at these ranges, their turret gunners were pretty efficient at taking out the Earth Alliance’s veritable barrage of missiles.

  Soon, all incoming fire directed at the Iron Fire from the capital ship ceased, leaving the task to target the transforming Dragon to the remaining three destroyers, while the enemy flagship concentrated on defensive fire.

  By Chase’s estimate, the flagship had shot enough missiles and torpedoes out of the sky for its shields to deflect multiple impacts from kamikaze StarFuries.

  “Is this going to work?” asked Chase.

  “We’re about to find out,” answered Chris.

  With a single thought, Chris ordered every remote-controlled StarFury to micro-jump, and they all blinked out of existence at the same time.

  Ergon’Kar slowly walked toward Athena, like a hunter toward a prey he knew he had already defeated. His facial expression was mixed with conviction and determination.

  Athena’s blue eyes shined stronger, and their color switched to gold. She pushed her aura more than she ever had and created another energy lance, bigger and brighter than the last one. She roared as she threw the legendary attack at her enemy, this time aiming for the Spectre’s head.

  This time, however, Ergon’Kar was ready and tilted his head to the side and grabbed the lance in midair. The intensity of the attack burned half of his hand, but his regenerative abilities allowed him to keep a solid grasp on the energy-based attack.

  The Spectre produced a broad smile. “
You didn’t really think I would fall for the same trick twice, did you? Who do you think I am, a Fury?”

  Athena stayed silent as her aura slowly flickered down around her. She was barely able to remain standing, and her knees trembled and began to buckle under her. She had used the lion’s share of her energy in this attack for nothing.

  “What is it with you Olympians? I told you this battle was already over. Why wouldn’t you listen?”

  Athena’s heart thumped and raced wildly as her aura died off. Her beautiful, floating blonde hair fell back behind her shoulders. A dark veil of fear and sadness fell upon her soul.

  With agility, Ergon’Kar swiveled the lance half a rotation, now aiming the lance’s tip back at her.

  “For what it’s worth,” said Ergon’Kar, ”you fought bravely. I would normally assimilate your soul, but when a fighter displays incredible resilience and fights well, my caste believes they deserve a warrior’s death and for their soul to rest.”

  Athena swallowed hard as her eyes filled with tears of regret. She now realized why Menelas didn’t want her to face Tanak’Vor. Her next thoughts went to her children, and her heart filled with dread at the idea of never seeing them again.

  Chase, Argos, I’m so sorry.

  “I think this belongs to you,” said the Spectre. “Die well, Athena.”

  With extreme force and velocity, Ergon’Kar threw her attack back at her. Even though it only took a fraction of a second to travel the distance separating them, Athena felt like time froze. Her consciousness filled with regrets of things past and things she had hoped to achieve in the future, such as seeing Menelas again.

  Everyone thought he was gone, but in her heart, she always kept hope that he was still alive, somewhere, somehow. The remorse of realizing that she would never see him or her children again was overwhelming her.

  Then, suddenly, a typhoon appeared in front of her, swallowing the energy lance less than a meter before it impaled her. The typhoon’s circular motion slowed and then spun the opposite direction at an even faster pace, and the energy lance shot back again toward the Spectre, who never saw it coming. It impacted and pierced Ergon’Kar’s shoulder.

  It sent the Spectre crashing and sliding on the floor for twenty meters and finally pinned him to the farthest wall of the engine room. Thick black blood dripped like a dark cascade from his wound and puddled onto the floor.

  Athena blinked multiple times, still not sure if she imagined the whole thing. Then her uncle stepped in front of her, his mighty golden Trident glistening in his cybernetic hand.

  “Are you alright, Athena?” he asked.

  Athena’s energy was too low to answer, her knees buckled and she fell, losing consciousness. Poseidon caught her before she hit the floor, and he delicately rested her against the glass behind where the Prometheus’s engines were located.

  Rest now Athena, I’ll take care of this.

  Poseidon rose back to his feet, cracked his neck, and turned around to face his niece’s attacker. His eyes glowed a strong greenish-blue, giving him an intense presence.

  “You’re going to pay for this with your life,” growled Poseidon.

  Nyx thought she would lose her mind as she just couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Inside the lab’s pods was a weird, mutant copy of a being but with darker, arachnoid skin. There was no mistaking it, the monstrosity she peered at looked like her.

  “What the hell is this?” she asked.

  “From what I gathered from the data,” said Ares, “they’re a Fury-arachnoid, hybrid clone.”

  Nyx snarled and her purple aura grew and turned a deeper crimson hue.

  Suddenly, it clicked inside her mind. The reason Zarna was so obsessed with her. Nyx had wondered how come they never killed her on the numerous occasions when they caught her again and again? Now she understood why. Yet, somehow she wished Ares had never found the truth.

  Her Fury pride increased her anger tenfold. “But to what purpose?” she asked, smashing her fist against the pod.

  “To use as cannon fodder in their next war.”

  “And you think your friend Chase can stop this?”

  “If anybody can, it’s him, but we have to warn him first. Also, he could use another Ultra Fury.”

  “The Ultra Fury is a myth.”

  “You’re so close to transforming into one right now, you don’t even realize it.”

  She turned and looked at Ares. “Can you show me?”

  Ares nodded. “Yes.”

  He approached her and put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Close your eyes.”

  Nyx was reluctant to trust Ares so soon after she had sworn she wouldn’t, but she had been on such an emotional rollercoaster that she didn’t hesitate for too long.

  “Now what?” she said.

  “Visualize your anger, let it take shape inside your mind.”

  In her mind’s eye, a giant red ball of fire the size of a star burst into view.

  “Good. That’s your hatred, and it’s fueled by your energy, which is very strong. Now, project yourself in its center, and let it explode from the inside out.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “You don’t need to if you do what I tell you. Just focus on the center of the star you see in your mind, the absolute center. Think of it as a nucleus or the core of a planet if that helps you visualize better. With your mind, make that core explode.”

  What happened next made no sense to Nyx, but every particle in her body received an energy boost so strong she thought she was the one that would explode from the inside out. The amount of power that ran through her was beyond anything she thought possible.

  “You can open your eyes now,” said Ares.

  An orange glow radiated all around her, and her aura was shining brighter and expending much more energy than ever before. Her eyes sparkled orange and looked like a pair of miniature suns with multiple exploding flares.

  Her hair danced atop her head like a golden flame.

  The lab doors split open, and three more arachnoids opened fire on them.

  She mentally grabbed the plasma fire with a single thought, feeling the energy at a subatomic level, grabbing hold of it and destabilizing each sub-particle bond with one another until it vanished.

  She then used another mind push to grab all three warriors with telekinetic energy, and she paralyzed all their muscles with ease. She opened her palm and a golden fireball shot from her hand. A fraction of a second later, the energy split in three smaller projectiles that impacted with each enemy.

  They disintegrated from the amount of concentrated energy impacting with their frail bodies, leaving three burnt shadow outlines on the door behind them. A few concentrated specks of dust were the only remaining proof that these beings ever existed.

  She looked at her palm with awe. “I—I’m an Ultra Fury.”

  The jump gate exploded into a greenish-yellow inferno, engulfing the entire spider ship like a black hole relentlessly devouring matter.

  Secondary and tertiary explosions made the blast even bigger and shook the Bellerophon to its core, but its shields held, miraculously, just long enough to protect them from the radiation of the blasts before giving in.

  Tar’Lock released a long sigh of relief. “That was a great strategy, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Tar’Lock,” Talon said with a smile.

  Three impacts on the hull rocked the ship heavily.

  “What the hell?” exclaimed Talon.

  “Grappling hooks…but that can’t be,” said Tar’Lock.

  The green-yellow flames receded, and a hazy shadow appeared in their place; it wavered back and forth like dancing flames, but there was no mistaking the overall shape—it was a dark spider.

  “How could they have survived that explosion?!” exclaimed Talon, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t hallucinating.

  The Bellerophon was immobilized by the hooks that had pierced through the hull as if it wasn’t even ther
e.

  “We must have at least damaged their tractor beams, which is why they used grappling hooks instead. Let’s try and get free of these. Reverse engines at maximum!” ordered Talon.

  Tar’Lock entered commands at light speed on his console, but the only effect it had was a grinding noise as the ship barely budged.

  “It’s not working.”

  “I’m sorry, Tar’Lock. I was sure this was going to work.”

  Tar’Lock clicked nervously. He, too, thought they had defeated the spider ship. But he should have known better as he knew how resilient they could be. Back during the war with the Furies, the Hope had barely survived its skirmish with one of these, granted that it had been a larger class of enemy ships.

  “Can we fire at it?” asked Talon.

  “Currently, I’ve transferred all power, trying to break free of their hold.”

  “Little good that’s doing us. Transfer it back to the forward particle cannons, and open fire with everything we’ve got.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  The Bellerophon opened fire toward the spider ship, but its weak shots were no match for the spider ship’s armor plating and the few shots that did get through just bounced off the dark surfaces.

  “We simply don’t have enough power to damage their hull. I think we’re screwed,” Tar’Lock said with a multitude of interlaced clicking sounds at a rapid pace, even for him.

  “Maybe we are, Tar’Lock. But if we go down, we go down fighting, agreed?” asked Talon, locking eyes with his first officer and friend.

  Tar’Lock nodded.

  “Kill the engines.”

  The moment Tar’Lock did as his captain ordered, the grappling hooks started to bring the Bellerophon forward.

  “Why aren’t they blasting us with their plasma bolts?” asked Tar’Lock.

  “Perhaps for the same reason as they didn’t use a tractor beam. They may have survived a jump gate exploding in their faces, which is quite a feat, especially for a ship their size, but that had to cost them something. And we’re about to find out if this thing can be killed, even if we lay down our own lives to achieve the goal. Lock onto the center of the ship, and on my mark, give me ramming speed.”