by JN Chaney
“Keep up!” snapped Alphonse.
I let go of the doctor and pulled out my pistol, ready to return fire. I got off a couple of shots, hitting the windows behind the soldiers and forcing them to take cover. That would buy us a few moments.
I came to a quick stop, dragging my heel in the grass, and turning around. In seconds, I was facing the soldiers, my arm steady with the gun.
Right as Abigail was about to pass beside me, I raised my other hand and motioned at her to toss me her gun. She tossed it at me and I caught it, wrapping my fingers around the butt as I brought it around toward the other men, along with my own weapon.
Using both pistols, I unloaded a steady flow of bullets, making sure the men stayed down. There were only four soldiers, from what I could see, which meant the others were somewhere else. There had been six originally, when they’d met us at the loading dock.
I began to back up, continuing to fire in a steady rhythm. These guns each carried two dozen bullets, and I only had one spare magazine. If we didn’t get out of here soon, things might not end so well.
“Jace!” shouted Abigail, the urgency in her voice telling me it was time to go. I turned around, replacing my backwards jog with a hard, forward run.
I saw the two remaining soldiers near The Star, holding rifles and waiting for our group.
They looked like they were about to fire on Dressler when I managed to get a shot off, hitting my own ship. This forced them to hit the ground. One of them shouted something to the other, which caused them both to aim at me. Apparently, they viewed me as the larger threat.
That was a mistake.
Abigail pushed Dressler into Alphonse’s arms. The Constable caught the doctor and brought her to the ground with him, while Abigail continued forward.
The nun leapt into the air, taking out her baton and activating it. The pole extended, a spark igniting at the end. In a hard swipe, she brought the object down, hitting the first soldier square in the face, breaking his nose and spattering blood into the air.
The second man raised his weapon, ready to shoot her before she could get any closer.
I squeezed the trigger on both guns, but I’d finally run out.
The soldier stood there with Abigail in his sights. She wasn’t reacting, which made me think her shield must be depleted.
I reached for the last remaining magazine, hoping I still had enough time to get a shot off before that soldier did what he was about to—
Alphonse ran straight into him, knocking the gun to the side, right as the soldier fired. The man turned on him, but Alphonse responded with a kick to his stomach, then a quick tap to the man’s throat. The soldier fell on his knees, gasping for air, like his wind pipe had collapsed. Alphonse took his head in his arms and twisted, snapping the man’s neck before he even knew what was happening to him.
Abigail was gawking at what the Constable had just done. “What did you—”
“I suggest we depart,” said Alphonse, motioning to the ship. “More of them will be here soon.”
I ran over to Dressler and helped her up, then joined the others. “Nice one, Al,” I said as I passed him.
He nodded. “Happy to help, Captain.”
Another burst of gunfire followed, hitting the ship as we ran into the lift. “Siggy, close the goddamn hatch!” I shouted.
“Right away, sir,” answered the A.I.
The lift raised as multiple shots ricocheted through the shrinking opening. “Take cover!” I ordered.
Everyone ducked as the bullets bounced overhead, hitting metal and disappearing into the walls.
“Get us in the air, Siggy!” I shouted, just as the door closed.
“As you wish, sir,” he said. “Activating thrusters.”
I crawled my way to the stairs, but stayed down, knowing better than to move too much or risk a deflecting bullet.
The gunfire continued as we lifted into the air. We all stayed on our faces, waiting for the bulletstorm to be replaced by the silence of space.
The engines activated, rumbling through the entire ship before the stabilizers had a chance to kick in. As it settled, I felt us lift off the ground.
“Everyone okay?” I asked, now that we were rocketing away from the planet.
“I think so,” said Abigail, who was on her knees.
“Constable…are you alright?” asked Dr. Dressler, still out of breath. She edged her way closer to Alphonse, who was lying on his back. “Y-You’re bleeding!”
Alphonse tried to stand, but stopped and clutched his stomach. When he took his palm away, I could finally see the blood.
I sat forward, pushing myself up from the stairs. “Alphonse?” I said, trying to get a better look. He had sweat all over his forehead, strain in his eyes. Something was definitely wrong.
Abigail ran over to him and pushed the kid on his back. “Lie down for a second and let me see,” she ordered, lifting his shirt above his stomach.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. His eyes fluttered, like he was about to pass out. “I…should have been faster…”
“Idiot!” snapped Abigail. “Why didn’t you run faster?” She looked at me, her eyes fixed with anger. “Get me the goddamn med kit!”
Nine
By the time I returned with the med kit, Alphonse had lost consciousness. Abigail managed to get the wound wrapped, but without the necessary tools, we wouldn’t be able to excise the bullet.
I had to leave him with Abigail and Dressler while I made my way to the cockpit. I didn’t want to, but someone had to man the cannons and fly us out of here, and I couldn’t rely on Siggy to do everything. Impressive as he was, Sigmond could only handle so many things at once.
I entered a command on the console and took the control sticks, leading us away from the planet. Before I could even call down to check on Abigail or bring up the camera feed from the cargo bay, Siggy informed me that we had a tail.
By the look of it, three of them. All Union strike ships.
“Out of the fire…” I muttered. “Siggy! How long before Titan comes out of that tunnel?”
“Approximately eight minutes, sir,” he answered.
“Close enough! Let’s see if we can make it there before those ships catch up to us.”
“Based on their current rate of acceleration, I do not believe that will be possible,” informed Siggy.
I cursed, then activated the holo display to show the system we were in. I looked frantically for somewhere to go, anything with a narrow enough space to—
I paused on the fourth planet in the system, the closest to Priscilla. It had a thin, but wide ring of rocks around it, like many other class-3 planets. A quick analysis revealed that this world also had a whopping seventy-six moons.
“Siggy, I’m taking us behind that ring, close to the planet. Make sure we don’t hit anything,” I ordered.
“Acknowledged, sir,” said the A.I.
If I could buy some time before Titan arrived, I might be able to get away without any excessive damage, but I’d have to stay out of their line-of-sight. I hated not being able to take them all head-on, but I couldn’t risk my crew or my ship, not if there was a better way out.
I brought The Renegade Star within orbit of the ringed planet, then reduced our speed to a slow crawl as we neared the ring itself—a thin spread of ice and rock, twice the size of the planet.
“Time to lay the traps,” I said, sweeping my finger across the console, dropping one of the mines that Athena had given me. “Let’s see if these things are as good as she said.”
I placed six mines, nearly all of them—three below the ring and three above—and brought my ship to the rear of it, nearer to the planet.
I watched the holo as it showed all three ships drawing closer to my position. The centermost strike ship had its shield raised, encompassing all of them. I activated my own, waiting for them.
Any second now, I thought.
The ships neared the ring, heading above and ignoring the bottom.
I backed up, closer to the planet.
The three ships moved together, their shield grazing the ring and causing the particles and fragments to swirl and displace.
The first of the three mines reacted, its sensors detecting the incoming vessels, and it homed itself towards them. The mine ignited right as it reached the shield, exploding in a mess of blue plasma, lighting up the darkness for a brief second, and causing the protective layer to fracture and flicker, like it was about to break. My mouth fell open at the sight. Talk about a bomb! My old mines didn’t hold a fucking candle to these. “That’s what I’m talking about!” I shouted, smacking my console.
The ship closest to the ring jerked slightly as the shield settled.
I dropped The Renegade Star further below the ring, priming my quad cannons as I tracked the ships’ movements.
The second mine reacted as they drew closer to the end of the ring, and it lunged itself towards them, exploding at the same distance as the first. The shield surrounding the ships flickered once again as the blue light encapsulated it. The shield cracked and broke, finally dissolving as the damage became too great for it to bear.
The three ships separated, moving away now that the shield was gone. Since they had no reason to stick together, they could move freely. It was hard to say if things had just improved or gotten worse for me.
Or for them.
I tracked each of the ships, all of them moving in different directions. The first continued along the same path, headed unknowingly toward the next mine, while the second and third broke apart and headed to each side of the ring, no doubt to flank me.
I’d be ready for all of them. I clutched my control stick and began firing a spray into the ring, targeting the nearest of the two that were breaking free. My shots went straight through the ice, obliterating rocks and creating clouds of heavy dust as I continued firing at the moving ship. As it neared the edge of the ring, one of my torpedoes struck it in the side, grazing its secondary engine. The ship spun repeatedly, out of control, going directly into the particles of the ring and displacing them further.
This was my chance.
With another spread, I fired at the ship, missing all but two blasts, which hit the vessel at its center, clear through the cockpit, breaking the ship apart.
An explosion boomed from further down the ring as the first pilot inadvertently triggered the third mine. He was gone, instantly, which left only one to contend with.
I charged forward, right as the last ship came around the other side of the ring. We fired our cannons together at one another.
I missed most of the spread, while his struck my shield. The cockpit shook violently, and I held onto my seat while the stabilizers adjusted. If not for my shield, it would have been far worse.
“Sir, the slip tunnel is opening,” informed Siggy.
“Not now!” I barked, holding the control sticks and trying to target the other vessel. He rolled sideways, out of my spread. “Fuck!”
This ship moved better than the others, adjusting for my actions. This guy was a pro, I acknowledged, but he wouldn’t beat me here. Not after I’d gone through all the trouble of stealing that core.
I targeted the nearest mine, one of the three resting beneath the ring, none of which had been detonated yet, and fired.
The mine triggered, exploding in a wild display. It was too far to actually hit the other ship, but for a moment he stopped firing, probably surprised.
The strike ship wavered, and I fired off his right side, forcing him further toward the other mines. When he was close enough, I shot again, but this time I hit the second bomb, and it lit the ring up, catching the ship with it.
The enemy vessel tumbled, half of its left side gone. Before it could do anything else, I unloaded a string of torpedoes into him, landing two direct hits. He was gone in seconds, turned to dust and scraps.
“Captain Hughes,” came a voice from out of nowhere. I recognized it as Athena’s.
“I’m here,” I answered, trying to pull myself out of my focus. My whole body had been tense, without me even realizing it. I tried to relax, taking a long breath and exhaling.
“This is Titan. Prepare for departure, please. We must leave quickly.”
“Right, I’m coming back now. Hold your position,” I answered, turning The Renegade Star towards the recently opened slip tunnel and the giant moon that had just left it.
My thrusters kicked in and the ship began to move, headed straight for Titan. “Siggy, take us close enough for the tractor beam to grab us. Let me know when we’re there,” I said.
“Understood, sir,” said Sigmond.
I watched as my holo changed to a close up of Titan, with our new coordinates locked in.
With a quick breath, I steadied my calm, and unlocked my harness, pulling it over my head. I got up and headed to the door, intent on checking back with Abigail and the others. I’d left them in the cargo bay, hoping they could handle the situation themselves, but Abby wasn’t a medic or a surgeon. She couldn’t save a dying man, not if it came to that. Taking life came easy to me and her, but saving it…that took another kind of skill, and it was beyond us.
I jogged through the ship, passing through the lounge and into the rear corridor. When I finally reached the cargo bay, I found Abby resting on her knees with Alphonse’s head in her lap. His eyes were closed and I instantly thought the worst.
But no, I quickly noticed, his chest was rising. He was only asleep. The nun had managed, somehow, to keep him alive through all the fighting, through all the death and killing taking place beyond these walls. Somehow, this little prick was hanging on.
And, much to my own surprise, I was glad for it.
Ten
The second we docked on Titan, Athena asked me to head to the elevator. I’d have to get the core to Engineering…and fast.
I didn’t waste any time.
The Star’s engines were still settling when I bolted out of my ship’s cargo bay and into the megastructure, leaving Abigail to tend to the injured Constable and the no-doubt confused Dr. Dressler beside him.
I saw the elevator doors open before I even reached them. Racing through the corridor towards them, I was surprised to see someone already inside. It was Athena, standing tall and vibrant, with Lex beside her, smiling. “Mr. Hughes!” called the little girl, waving at me.
I slowed, stopping when I reached the lift. “What’s this about?” I asked, looking at Athena. “Why isn’t Lex with Octavia or Freddie?”
“I’ve asked Lex to assist us in this process,” explained Athena.
“Assist?” I asked.
She stepped aside, inviting me to enter. “Please,” she said, gesturing with her hand. “I’ll explain on the way. We must hurry.”
I decided to trust her and boarded the elevator. As the doors closed, I felt Lex’s hand touch my sleeve. I glanced down and saw her smiling at me. I couldn’t help but return it. “You okay, kid?”
She nodded. “Did you have fun on your trip?”
“Always do,” I said, leaving out the part where I almost took a bullet in the face.
“I had fun, too,” said Lex, enthusiastically.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked.
She grinned. “Me and Camilla played while you were gone. Athena helped, too!”
I glanced up at the Cognitive. “That right?”
“The children found their way into one of the lower sections of the ship. I escorted them out,” explained Athena.
The elevator slowed as we reached our destination. “You still haven’t said where we’re taking the core,” I said, right as the lift opened. The deck looked dark and dimly lit, from what I could see, like all the life in this place had been drained out.
Lex and I stepped out of the lift, while Athena remained inside. I looked back when I realized she wasn’t with us. “You coming?” I asked.
“You will require the child’s dermal implants in order to gain entry to the engine room,” said Athena. “
The emitters on this level are currently inoperable, due to the power shortage we are experiencing. It seems I used too much during our stay in the slip tunnel. I’ll regain control once you insert the core.”
“You’re not making this easy,” I said, but didn’t bother asking any questions. If Titan was losing so much power that Athena couldn’t even display herself in certain areas of the ship, we probably didn’t have much time before the entire megastructure ran out of juice. I took Lex by the hand. “Ready to do this, kid?”
She nodded. “Ready!”
We left Athena and began moving to the far end of this part of the deck. There were seats and consoles sitting everywhere, giving the appearance of a bustling facility where one might expect to see dozens of personnel, only now it was totally empty. I felt like I was running through an abandoned ship, which I supposed was exactly true, since it had been nearly two thousand years since living humans walked these halls.
Lex and I came upon a gray door, taller than me and three times as wide. It had no handles or nearby pads to enter any codes. Nothing to tell me what to do next. I stood there for a second, stupidly ignorant of how to proceed.
The little girl beside me released my hand and approached the door. I opened my mouth to tell her to wait, when suddenly a soft blue light emitted from above our heads. It was a scanner, resting on top of the door, shining down on us. I blinked, watching it curiously before I realized what it must be picking up.
I glanced back down at Lex to see her tattoos lighting up, the same way they had every time she’d played with an artifact. She glowed in the dark, illuminating the area around us.
Lex raised her hand to the door, and suddenly it opened, cracking apart with a heavy grind.
“Nice one, kid,” I muttered, staring at the opening doors.
“Told you I could help,” she said.
I smiled, nodding. “That you did, kid.”
We continued forward, running further into the deeper recesses of Engineering. More empty consoles and seats on each side. I was surprised to find Lex unfazed by this, as so many children seemed to fear dark places. Instead, she was curious enough to explore, to keep going farther.