The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4)

by Christian Kallias

  “Let’s hope that buys us enough time. Any way to make them more efficient?”

  “These droids have self-generating, anti-dampening fields to prevent being affected by the gravity variations as much as living beings would, so if you could change the gravity around them while they fight the Furies, they might actually overcome them.”

  “Interesting. I’ll have to try that.”

  “Yes, but this is academic at best. Unless you could transport this entire facility to Droxia with you and lure them in here.”

  “I don’t think I could move something so big, but perhaps I can locally affect the gravity once I’m there. I’m not yet sure of everything I can and cannot do in this new form. It’s definitely something worth trying, though. Perhaps artificially altering gravity in a small, localized area might be doable.”

  “I’m not even gonna pretend to understand how that is even possible without technology.”

  “I wouldn’t have time to explain anyway.”

  “Then perhaps you have a way to buy some time. But please note, Chase has been training at 10 Gs for quite a while now and his overall speed, reaction times and strength have all increased dramatically when he returns to Earth’s normal gravity. It may be that the Furies will also see an increase in power if you force them to fight under gravity constraints.”

  “That’s good to know, but it would only be for a few minutes. I doubt they’d gain much power in that time. Can you please have all the battle droids assembled in the center of that room?”

  Spiros entered a few commands into the nearest console. “They’re on their way. They should arrive in less than a minute.”

  “Thank you, Spiros. You may want to start building new ones for Chase to train with later. These you can mark as scrap metal already.”

  “Yeah, I got that. We’ll crank up production on the newer units right away. Mind telling me how you’ll transport them to Droxia? I’m really curious.”

  “It’s complicated. I can affect time and space in this form, but it comes pretty much instinctively to me. I just think what I want to accomplish and voilà. I’m not really supposed to do these things, but today there’s no choice.”

  “What do you mean you’re not supposed to?”

  “We’re not supposed to use our evolved powers in non-corporeal form, but I don’t see any other way out of this mess.”

  “What could happen if you do?”

  “My father Zeus could probably find a way to banish me from this plane of existence. If that happens, I won’t be able to help Chase anymore.”

  “Are you sure you want to risk doing it, then? From what I hear you’ve been extremely useful to us since . . . Well, since you died.”

  “I can’t just let Furies destroy Droxia while there’s a chance to do something about it. The blow it would strike to this still new Earth Alliance would be too severe. Plus, I’ve already been using my powers to help Chase and his friends, and managed to stay under my father’s radar. I don’t think I’m enough of a nuisance to him just yet. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  “Very well, as long as you know what you’re doing,” said Spiros. The droids entered the training room. “Your diversion army is here. Good luck, Ares.”

  “Ares?” said the Gaia droid.

  “Yes? Gaia, is it?”

  “It is. I’ll be coming with you with my prototype avatar droid. My observations of Fury combat and my more advanced neuro-net should make one of the droids much stronger. Plus I could actually remote control them much more efficiently on the battlefield, rather than letting them fight using their basic sparring subroutines.”

  “That sounds great, thank you, but wouldn’t it be more efficient to copy yourself to every one of the droids?”

  “These models haven’t been designed to hold my complex AI matrix. They won’t do. The newer model however, is made of a much more durable alloy, with a stronger power source, shields and more advanced weaponry.”

  The current Gaia droid’s lights turned off in its eyes and the droid fell to the ground, startling Spiros.

  “Gaia! What happened?” he exclaimed.

  “Over here!” said the only red-and-silver droid in the training room. It looked slicker and more advanced than the others.

  “I guess that’s my cue to go as well. Thanks, Spiros.”

  Before Spiros could say anything Ares’ golden aura vanished from the control room and a golden light engulfed the battle-droid army inside the training room. They all vanished.

  * * *

  Chase had brought the Hope about and commenced firing upon the nearest Zarlack destroyer with a full salvo of torpedoes, but the ship micro-jumped at the last second before the torpedoes could impact its shield.

  “Dammit! They’ve learned since last time. This will make everything more difficult.”

  “Chase,” said Sarah, “any way I can help you?”

  “You can assist Ryonna with targeting the laser batteries,” said Chase, at the same time charging the Hope’s main weapon to max power.

  “Roger that. I’ll give her a hand.”

  “Be ready to open fire with every battery shortly.”

  It was time to test a theory. If it failed this would make this fight infinitely more difficult than Chase initially thought.

  He jumped the Hope right next to the destroyer that had jumped away a few seconds earlier. The second the Hope exited hyperspace Chase unleashed the Hope’s main guns towards the Zarlack destroyer’s starboard side. As Chase suspected, the Zarlacks either didn’t have time to jump again or were simply unable to, needing time to recharge their hyperdrive engines. The powerful plasma canon drained most of the destroyer’s shields, but they were still up. Ryonna and Sarah unleashed a barrier of laser fire from the Hope’s batteries, which drained what was left of its shields little by little. Chase redirected every ounce of power from life support to their shields and engines and pushed them to the maximum, attaining a very fast ramming velocity as he adjusted his course.

  “Chase! What in god’s name are you doing?” shouted Sarah.

  “Hang on and trust me!”

  The Hope impacted the Zarlack destroyer and broke it in half. The Hope’s shields were heavily taxed and dropped to less than ten percent in the process. The ship rocked heavily as fire and bright light engulfed the bridge’s viewport. Sparks shot from bulkheads and the ceiling all around them, and a nearby console exploded and started a fire. Ryonna, who was nearest, jumped to get an extinguisher and dealt with it quickly.

  “You’re insane, you know that!” spat Sarah.

  “We need insane today.” There was determination in his eyes.

  “I think it’s not just today, but that’s a conversation for another day.”

  He shot her a quick look and smiled.

  But then the two remaining Zarlack destroyers jumped to either side of the Hope and pounded the ship’s shields, as well as vectoring towards it.

  “Now what, Chase? Please tell me you can jump again?”

  “Not for another minute, I’m afraid.”

  “We don’t have a minute!”

  “I know.”

  The Zarlack ships were closing in.

  “Are these ships gonna ram us?”

  “Looks that way. It’s their new way of fighting anyway.”

  “How long do we have?”

  “About forty seconds I’d say, if our shields hold for that long, that is.”

  Chase felt the pressure rise inside him. Adrenaline shot throughout his body and his mind raced to find a solution.

  He opened a channel to engineering.

  “Chase! What the hell are you doing to my ship!” exclaimed Yanis, unable to contain his anger.

  “Sorry, no time to talk. Please tell me you have a nuke on board.”

  “We do have one, yes, as per your request. You know how I feel about this, though.”

  “Not now, Yanis! Can we teleport it through one of the Zarlack’s shields?”

  “W
hile Gaia provided us with the technology to beam objects safely now, we still haven’t tested it. And to answer your question, no.”

  “Alright, prepare to beam the nuke the moment I send you coordinates. Do not hesitate!”

  “Boy, I sure hope you know what you’re doing—”

  Chase turned off the communication.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said to Sarah, before punching a hole in the nearest bulkhead and flying off the bridge.

  Sarah’s eye widened and met Ryonna’s gaze.

  “He’s nuts!” said Sarah.

  “He hasn’t let us down yet. We should trust him.”

  Chase exited the ship from the nearest airlock with a shield protecting him from the void of space and providing him with an oxygen bubble. He flew towards the nearest ship in less than a second. He extended both his hands and joined his index fingers and thumbs together, forming a diamond shape. He mentally sent the coordinates to Yanis at the exact moment he shot a tempered shockwave towards the Zarlack’s ship. He didn’t use any more power than was needed to accomplish his goal, remembering very well what happened last time he used too much of his power in outer space. The moment it struck the destroyer’s shields, it destabilized them for a brief instant. That was when he sent a telepathic message to Yanis.

  Now!

  Chase saw the nuke materialize inside the Zarlack’s shields, and flew back towards the Hope as it detonated. Most of the blast was sent inwards and obliterated the destroyer. The shield provided enough containment to prevent damage to the Hope.

  Chase mentally redirected every ounce of the Hope’s power to the engines, disabling the batteries instantly. They stopped firing. He needed to get the Hope out of the Zarlack’s ramming trajectory, but there simply wasn’t enough power to do so in time. That was when he heard a single word in his mind. Push.

  He didn’t even try to understand the provenance, and grabbed the Hope, helping it out of the way. He made sure not to use all of his power once again. If he did he knew that not only would their mission to reclaim Alpha Prime fail, but he could actually destroy the entire system if he created another anomaly so near the planet.

  Then he felt another force join his. It was warm, but Chase didn’t recognize it. It certainly wasn’t Ares. It must be his unborn child helping him once again by adding his own energy to his. The Hope’s escape velocity grew and it dodged the incoming Zarlack ship by only a few yards. Both ships’ shields ignited from the close encounter.

  * * *

  Having regained weapons control, Ronan and Arknon fired upon the cloaked magnetic-field generators in their firing range. It took a good minute to lower their shields before they finally managed to take them out. Less than a minute later the Manticora and Sphinx had dispatched the remaining three devices, and the few ships that had survived the relentless, cowardly bombing by the Zarlack forces all started moving again. They launched fighters and started firing back at the Zarlack destroyers.

  The eleven ships still operational besides the Phoenix were in bad shape, but their added firepower gave pause to the Zarlacks, who went on the defensive and entered evasive patterns as they launched their own waves of starfighters to deal with the incoming Alliance wings.

  Someone hailed them. “This is Admiral Zendonis to the Phoenix.”

  Ronan looked at Arknon. “Wanna answer that call?”

  “This is Commander Arknon Ritalis onboard the Phoenix. What can I do for you, Admiral?”

  “Where’s your captain, Commander?”

  “He didn’t make it, I’m afraid.”

  “Are you the ones we have to thank for being able to use our engines again?”

  “My colleague Ronan and I, yes, but we also had outside help.”

  “In any case, thank you. We thought we were toast. Our engineering team was unable to find a solution. We don’t know how you’ve managed that, but well done. Is the Phoenix battle ready?”

  “Barely, but we will still join the fight shortly.”

  “Try and stay in our shadows. My readings show that your shields are low and your structural integrity is critical.”

  “Very well. Thank you, Admiral.”

  The communication ended.

  “We’re not out of this yet,” said Arknon.

  “No, but at least we stand a fighting chance now.”

  “I’ll pilot the Phoenix while you mend the main gun batteries.”

  “Aye aye, Captain.”

  Arknon smiled as he vectored the Phoenix to trail in the Manticora’s shadow. “For the time being we use the Manticora’s shields while ours recharge. When they’re at fifty percent I’ll vector us away so we can have a clear line of fire.”

  Another hail came in. “You may want to take that call, Ronan, it’s your friend, Keera.”

  “Hello, Ronan, you seem to be free of the magnetic fields.”

  “We are, thanks to you.”

  “You’re welcome. Your ship seems badly damaged. Perhaps you should vector away from danger?”

  “We can’t let the other ships down. They’re also quite damaged. Every gun counts. And this is the Droxian way. We don’t shy away from battle, no matter the cost.”

  “Please be careful. If anything happens to you your mother will rip me a new one.”

  “She doesn’t have to know you were ever here if anything happens.”

  “Still, she’s my friend as well. I would rather not lie to her.”

  “I gotta go, Keera, we’ll soon enter firing range.”

  “I’ll stay at a safe distance and cloak if necessary. If you need to evacuate the Phoenix, I’ll swing by to get you out, okay?”

  “Sounds good. Thank you for your help, Keera, you may have saved my entire world.”

  “Don’t want to be a party pooper, but two very powerful Furies are attacking your planet on the ground as we speak. Cities are being leveled at an alarming rate.”

  “Still, now we have a chance to do something about it. Ronan out.”

  The moment the communication ended, he brought the long range sensors online and saw what Keera was talking about.

  “This is very bad.”

  “What is it, Ronan?”

  “Look at these readings, Arknon. At this rate every city on the surface of Droxia will be entirely destroyed within the hour.”

  “I’m not sure we can do anything about it.”

  “But if there’s a way we should consider it. Keera said the damage is being done by only two Furies.”

  “How can anyone have that much power?”

  “I’ve witnessed Chase, a friend of my mom, fight on Hellstar. Suffice it to say these Furies are very powerful.”

  “I might have a way to rid us of one of them, but you’re not gonna like it.”

  “I think I know what your idea is. You want to crash the Phoenix into one of these Furies.”

  “How did you know?”

  “’Cause that’s the only thing that makes sense and has even the slightest chance of stopping these monsters.”

  “We could exit the ship using escape pods once we enter the atmosphere.”

  “What about the other people on the Phoenix? If there’s anyone else still alive on board they’ll be killed.”

  “Never said this would be a perfect plan. We’re fighting for the survival of our entire race. We may not have a choice.”

  Ronan felt frustrated, but knew that Arknon was correct. There was little choice in the matter. They needed to do whatever it took to defend their world.

  C H A P T E R

  XI

  Chase flew back inside the Hope and returned to the bridge.

  “Well, that was stupid!” said Sarah.

  “It worked.”

  “And if a black hole forms from your little stunt?”

  “I was careful about that.”

  “You’re reckless, and you know it.”

  “What do you say we table this argument for later. We still have a destroyer to take care of.”

  Ch
ase checked his instruments. The destroyer had passed through the rest of its destroyed counterpart and was already vectoring back towards the Hope.

  It was gaining on them, and Chase swore before opening a channel to engineering.

  “Yanis, why can’t we lose that ship at sub-light?”

  “We can’t go any faster because your last stunt has blown three more power conduits. We’re literally hemorrhaging power.”

  “Anything you can do about that?”

  Chase wanted to tell Yanis that he had no idea if his sister had survived the suicidal blast that had started this fight, but he needed Yanis frosty. So against his better judgment he kept silent.

  “You’re impossible! You push my ships past their limits and then who’s got to fix them for you when you break them?”

  “Yanis, can you do it or not?”

  “I’ll try to reroute power as fast as I can.”

  “Thanks, Yanis. Chase out.”

  Multiple torpedoes impacted the already weak aft shields. This is not going to end well.

  Checking power levels, Chase decided to micro-jump the Hope back near where the ambush had happened. Perhaps the Zarlacks’ hyperspace engines needed more time than the Alliance’s to recharge. He was about to find out. The ship wouldn’t take this treatment for much longer. Perhaps he could try to locate Fillio at the same time.

  The Hope micro-jumped once more. The sight of the devastation the ambush had caused the entire battlegroup grabbed Chase by the heart. So many had died, and they might have been added to the list if Chris hadn’t told him to jump out of here. The Hope’s shields were recharging, but just when Chase thought he had bought a little reprieve from the enemy, the Zarlack jumped to less than three thousand miles on the Hope’s port side. It unleashed a flurry of torpedoes and a barrage of laser fire.

  Chase tried to boost the shields but there was no more power. Now was as good a time as any to call the Destiny back into the fold. Chase reached for long range communications and tried to send a message, but the array had been damaged.