by Christi Smit
Once these escape pods were launched, they would follow a pre-programmed course to nearby sectors, and then broadcast a recorded message for all to hear on all channels relaying the treachery of one Lord Victor Vincent of Earth Prime’s ruling council. The message also called for aid from all nearby vessels capable of reaching New Horizon, pleading and begging all ship captains to drop what they were doing and help before it was too late.
Everyone hoped that this message would be heard by enough people to help with the coming fight of New Horizon. Or at the very least bring the truth of Lord Vincent’s treachery to light should the Hyperion be destroyed during the battle.
“All pods launched, zero were destroyed Captain,” Remy said from her seat behind Gray.
Gray did not reply, instead he just nodded and sighed with relief. He returned his focus to the final phase of the jump, using what energy he had left to steady his ship’s constant growling.
Nobody knew exactly what to expect when they reached New Horizon. They could be arriving to an already destroyed world, or arrive in time to stop Lord Vincent’s plans. There was no way to know, and that fact made everyone uneasy on-board the Hyperion. The only advantage they had was that Lord Vincent was unaware of the Wolves and the Hyperion’s survival. It was all they had, but they would milk that advantage for all it was worth.
“It won’t be long now Gabriel, less than six hours before we reach our destination. The only thing we need to fear now is the Hyperion disintegrating before we reach New Horizon,” Gray said without taking his eyes of the displays in front of him.
“What are the chances of that?” Locke asked Gray.
“Fifty-fifty,” Gray replied.
Remy’s head snapped up, her captain’s joke was uncalled for. “I would have never suggested this course of action if our chances were that bad. It is more like twenty-eighty, give or take a few percent, depending on Captain Gray’s skill to finish.”
“Don’t you worry about my finishing, I finish like the best of them,” Gray said before Locke could say anything.
Locke laughed a little, he was glad to hear that Gray’s spirit was still high, and that was always a good sign, especially before a mission. “I will take my leave then,” Locke said, turning to leave the bridge. He left Gray to wrestle with his ship in peace.
Locke waited until he was in the passageway outside of the bridge before opening a channel to the rest of the Wolves. “It’s time Wolves,” was all he needed to say.
The other Wolves replied almost instantly, gearing up and grabbing whatever they needed - or whatever made the biggest boom - before they would join their captain where the Maiden of Flame was waiting for them.
It was almost time to know the fate of the planet all of them had grown to love during their Titan trials.
All of them hoped that there was still someone left alive, someone still worth fighting for.
Within two hours the Wolves had assembled near the Maiden’s dock. All of them were armed and ready for Locke to brief them on what the plan was once they reached New Horizon. Their freshly painted and repaired armour gleamed beneath the bright lights attached to the side of the Maiden’s outer hull.
Nathan was without his shield, its destruction during the events on the Fateful Moment still fresh in his memory. He felt its absence, and hated every moment of it. Nathan had chosen two large calibre launchers in his shield’s place. Launcher ammo hung on belts criss-crossing his chest and thighs. He held his rifle in his hands, tensing every now and then as his grip tightened on the rifle. It was his way of focusing, building his anger slowly until all he saw was hatred for the enemy, and he was succeeding even though he did not know exactly who or what the enemy would be.
Christian stood next to his brother, silently checking and rechecking his rifle, as was his way. Fidgety is what previous squad-mates had called him, and the Wolves would soon adopt the same descriptive word for his behaviour before a mission. His choice of weaponry had not changed since the Fateful Moment. His shield was on his back, his combat blade in the perfect position to unsheathe quickly and his new, but proven, Kicker in his armoured hands.
Rivers was tinkering with Roger’s metal brain, muttering curses under his breath as the little automaton resisted its master’s touch. He was down on one knee as he tried to calibrate the little bastard for the coming battle. His trusty shotgun was attached to his back accompanied by what looked like a large calibre revolver, although it was far too large to resemble any standard issue weapon anyone had ever seen before. Next to the revolver there was another unrecognizable weapon attached to his back plating, it was anyone’s guess what function the weapon was meant for, but whatever it was Rivers had probably designed it to be extremely lethal.
There was not much to see regarding Xander, he was crouching against the side of the Maiden, making jokes to ease the tension, although no-one was really listening to him at that moment. Everyone’s thoughts were on what was to come. He had his regular plethora of devices hanging from belts looping around his armour. The annoying sound of explosive devices rattling against each other accompanied every movement the stocky Titan made, something that made Jay, who was seated next to him, very uncomfortable.
Poor Jay had to endure Xander’s terrible jokes since he had arrived; luckily his helmet hid the annoyance from the Titan, fearing that his unwillingness to laugh at the Titan’s jokes might get his limbs pulled off. Pissing off his new-found squad was something he did not wish to do, at least not so soon. What made matters worse he had gotten into the position without thinking about how heavy his new weapon was, and to his utter shame he had pinned himself to the Maiden and decking. Godwaker was resting across his lap, its long barrel and bulky stock too heavy to lift from either side. Jay lowered his head as he realized he would have to ask one of the Titans to help him up once the captain arrived...shit, he thought to himself.
Pyoter was standing as still as a statue, he rested his hands on the hilt of his giant blade in front of him. The blade’s terribly sharp tip piercing the decking between the Titan’s armoured boots. Pyoter had his head bowed, reciting some ancient battle prayer from his ancestors in a language none of the Wolves understood. But it made no difference to any of them, Pyoter’s tone and how he announced every word filled the rest of the squad with courage. Had they known what the prayer truly meant, they would be filled with doubt instead of courage. Roughly translated the prayer spoke of glorious death and fighting until your spirit perished - not something one wants to hear when gearing up for a suicide mission.
Locke arrived moments after Pyoter completed his prayer, strolling from the docking bay’s inner doors towards his squad. Two combat blades protruded from his back plating on either side of his fastened Kicker rifle. He had removed his helm and carried it underneath his right arm. Locke’s expression was a mix of excitement, joy and casualness. Ammo pouches covered his torso wherever there was space for one. Locke was not going to take any chances; he wanted to have enough bullets to put holes in anything hostile they came across. A belt of grenades hung from his hips, all of them creations from Xander’s strange imagination.
Locke stopped in front of his squad, looking at each of them in turn. “The time is almost here, within a few hours we will be in the thick of things. Are all of you ready to make difficult choices?”
A chorus of yes sirs answered him.
“Good. By my estimation New Horizon is in big trouble, either from military attack or from something else,” Locke said.
“How do you know that?” Rivers asked.
“We can only hear emergency beacons transmitting from the planet’s surface, most of them inside the capital. All military channels are silent. Which can mean only one thing,” Locke replied.
“A shit storm,” Pyoter interjected.
Locke nodded at Pyoter. “Correct. The situation is not ideal. We will infiltrate via a stealth combat drop, fast in and fast out for the Maiden, and then make our way to the beacons in range. We can’t
get to them all, so we have to decide before we drop which ones to go for.”
“Let’s do it, before we get mushy.” Nathan stepped forward as he spoke.
Locke produced a map from one of his armour pouches, unfolding it as the Titans gathered around him.
Jay was about to ask for help to stand when Christian saw him struggle. Without a word Christian lifted the rifle and acted as if he was checking it instead of helping Jay to unpin himself. “It looks good,” he said to Jay.
Jay was relieved and smiled before replying to Christian. “Indeed it does, sir” he said.
Christian tapped Jay on the shoulder and ushered him towards the others who were already pouring over the map Locke had brought.
It took only a few minutes to decide on which objective to pursue and which ones to abandon. Their main objectives were three beacons, the first was a school, the second a hospital and the third a civilian emergency bunker.
Christian looked at the map as the others were working out tactics, searching for a beacon he had hoped he would see. It was not there, somewhere to the west of the hospital was where Jessica had told him the hidden bunker was, and there was no beacon or transmission to indicate that such a bunker even existed on the map.
He tried to not think of it, focusing his mind on the other people that were calling for help instead. He hoped that Jessica and her sister were safe near one of the objectives.
If they were not, he doubted he would get the opportunity to search for them, and even if he could he would not know where to start his search exactly. The bunker could be in any of over twenty buildings in close proximity to the hospital beacon, or even further away.
He shook his head to clear his mind.
Nathan saw his brother shake his head, and immediately switched to a private channel. “What is it?” he asked his brother.
“Nothing,” Christian replied.
Nathan did not press the matter. He resumed his discussion with the rest of the squad.
Christian half listened to what the plan would be, the other half of his mind feared for the worst.
He did not want to even think of the worst case scenario, it was too painful. Whatever was waiting for him, for them, on New Horizon, was surely to be horribly unpleasant.
“Sir, I am tracking an anomaly behind the binary star in this system,” a crew member yelled out. He was dressed in the same black uniform his lord and master was.
“Focus,” Lord Vincent ordered.
The Stygian Council’s bridge display focused on the scanners picking up on the anomaly passing through New Horizon’s system.
“What am I looking at?” Lord Vincent asked calmly.
The crew member Lord Vincent expected to answer hesitated for a few moments, before replying. “I...we...have no idea, sir,” the crew member replied uneasily.
“Tell me,” Lord Vincent sad as he shifted in his throne. He used his free hand - the one that was not holding some extravagant liquor - to wipe the lone strands of black hair back into position above his pale forehead. “Why do I keep you around?” he asked the crew member.
“Uh, I don’t know...sir,” was the reply.
“Exactly, neither do I,” Vincent smiled softly, and then snapped his hand up towards a bodyguard stationed by the bridge’s door. “Remove him,” Vincent ordered. “Now, can anyone else tell me what I am supposed to see, or do I need to make more examples?”
An officer replied before anyone else could. “We suspect that it is a rogue comet passing through the system. It is nothing to be worried about my lord.”
“And if you are wrong?” Lord Vincent asked the brave officer with an arrogant smirk on his face.
The officer did not know what to say, so instead he just guessed at what his lord and master was hinting at. “You will throw me in the brig,” the officer replied, his forehead and hands sweating profusely.
“No,” Lord Vincent laughed, “nothing so dull.” his expression changed from cheerful to fanatical. “I will feed you to my new pets.”
The officer swallowed hard, saluting Lord Vincent in understanding. It was not like he had any choice in what would happen to him should he be wrong or fail his master.
“Good, that goes for the rest of you as well. My pets will be hungry once we are done with this, filth.” Vincent took a sip of his expensive liquor, savouring the glorious taste before speaking again. “Is there anything else to report?” he asked another officer standing beside the communications console.
The man was instantly filled with fear as his master’s scrutinizing eyes bore into him. “Ninety-eight percent of the military’s presence on the planet’s surface has been silenced. New ships have arrived to help whoever sent a message through the jamming, but they are of no threat to your magnificent ship my lord. We should destroy them soon enough, our bombers are making runs on the larger vessels as we speak.”
“And what of my support?” Lord Vincent asked.
“They are mopping up the stragglers that tried to escape, my lord.”
“Good news. Very good,” Lord Vincent said, but a sound from the officer he had threatened moments before interrupted what he was about to say next. It had sounded like the officer had just caught his nuts in something, and the pain and shock manifested into whatever sound he had made. Vincent’s mood changed immediately, his annoyance immeasurable because of the interruption. “What!” Vincent screamed at the man.
The poor officer’s gulp could be heard on the other side of the bridge. He straightened his black coat before he spoke, not daring to look his master in the eye. “Nothing your grace, I merely hurt my genitals on my console, nothing serious.”
“Interrupt me again and your genitals will be removed for your arrogance!”
“Of course my lord, I apologize.”
Lord Victor Vincent did not say anything else. He took a mouthful of his ostentatious drink, sitting back into his throne as he thought of the superb destruction below him on the surface of New Horizon. Relishing as he thought of how his subjects would adore him more as he ransacked more planets. Oh how his stature would grow, it was a wonderful thought. Glorious death and destruction fed his insane mind, filling his coffers with blood. He loved every second of it, and that made him more of a monster than the Beast could ever be. At least the beasts could not help its greed, Vincent on the other hand was well aware of it.
Little did Lord Vincent know, but the officer had lied to his master. He had seen something on the scanners, something he had recognized instantly. But instead of telling his lord and forfeiting his life, he had cleared the scanners and focused them on a different part of the void. Hoping no-one else would see the identity codes of the Hyperion inside the anomaly hurtling towards the Stygian Council.
Hell was coming, and because of one man’s fear for his terrible lord, it would arrive without any resistance, hitting their intended mark and unleashing all of their hatred upon the treacherous Victor Vincent.
There was no way to gauge who was more surprised at the Hyperion’s sudden breach back into real space - the enemy or the handful of defenders of New Horizon that were still alive after days of playing hide and seek with the enemy fleet.
The BEAM jump had been flawless, and Remy’s calculations had been spot on for the most part, except for one tiny detail. She had not factored in the gravitational pull of New Horizon’s unique gravity fields protecting the planet, and because of that oversight the Hyperion had overshot its exit by tens-of- thousands of miles. Instead of entering real space near New Horizons closest moon, they had instead burst back into the void almost on top of the Stygian Council’s backside. Nothing more than a few thousand miles separated the vessels.
Just the way Gray liked it.
Captain Gray smiled as the bright light of the BEAM jump subsided, blinking to clear his vision as he looked through the displays around his command chair. “All crew to battle stations!” he yelled over the vessel’s ship-wide channel. “Brace for battle!”
With
out thinking all fire and defence crews sprung into instant action. Manning their assigned stations, they readied themselves for the rare opportunity to take part in a real void battle. Since the Rebel Wars there had been no major void conflicts, only Beast incursions from derelict ships, and those were hardly battles to remember. Destroying infected ships from a distance was nothing to write home about anymore, and it was not like the Beast had planned any of their random appearances inside the safe zones.
This time, however, it was a different thing altogether. This time the ships were going to fire back, and people were going to die, people that were not infected. But they were the enemy nonetheless.
“Locke? Are you ready?” Gray asked over the Wolves’ private channel.
“Ready to reap the whirlwind old friend,” Locke replied flatly.
Gray switched channels again, this time speaking to all offensive crews on-board the Hyperion. “All crews fire at will when we are in range. I am taking us underneath the bastard’s scaly belly,” Gray switched channel again, yelling directly at the engine crews all the way in the back of his beloved ship, “give me everything you have! I don’t want to give it a chance to bite back.”
The Hyperion’s engines flared, hurtling the cruiser forward like a spear sailing throw the void. Gray aimed his ship directly for the Stygian Council’s engines protruding from the stern of the destructive vessel, diving below it suddenly as the black-hulled ship started turning. Gray smiled to himself as he saw it starting to move, their unintended surprise had caught the Stygian Council’s commander unaware, and they would use that gap their lax in rear-guard had provided.
The Hyperion was the faster vessel, its manoeuvring capabilities far better than that of the bulky Stygian Council, but what the capital ship lacked in speed and manoeuvrability it made up for it in sheer fire-power. Smaller defensive batteries and fighter wings reached out to the Hyperion as it passed beneath the larger vessel. But the Hyperion reached back, and far more fiercely.