Broken Stars

by L Bowers

  Just as the white plum was about to envelope us it snapped back. Our rear sensors showed me a clear picture of the white ball collapsing at an incredible rate. It shrunk down to the size of a softball but the ship it used to power was no longer there. The ball burst into colorful shards which dissipated on an invisible wind.

  “What the hell just happened?” I asked.

  It imploded.

  “Anything else to add that might clarify the situation a little?” I asked, but I knew he didn’t have any more answers. I was privy to the same font of information as Titan. Nothing described what we just saw.

  “What about speculation?” I asked.

  Once you have upgraded my intelligence enough for such speculations I will give it a shot. Until that time I have nothing more to add.

  “I figured you would say something like that. Let’s get our heads back in the game.”

  We scanned the battlefield. The explosion before the implosion had devastated this section of the enemies formation. Just a small force of fighters and gunboats stood between The Liberator and wide open space. That and some debris, not enough to account for all the ships that used to occupy the space, however.

  “Francine, form up on me. We’re going to plow the road so Liberator can get free,” I said.

  My fantastic friend did as I asked without question. She flew just above and to the left of us as we headed into the fray once more. Our cannons belched out round after round tearing holes into the smaller ships. Francine fired right along with me and for the first time I saw what she was packing. Foe Hammer had two cannons that matched our set of weapons. She also had two that were double the caliber and seemed to do triple the damage. I can admit that I had a little gun envy as we charged on.

  “Holy shit, Tom. You did it!” Bridget’s voice cut through the speakers of our coms.

  “You doubted me?” I asked with mock indignation.

  “Nope, not once. We’re heading out. Good luck and thanks for the save, Tom. We would all be dead without you.”

  “It wasn’t just me Bridget. Francine played a big role in all this. You guys did a bang up job in keeping the enemy at bay until we could clear a path. This is a victory for all of us,” I replied.

  “You haven’t won anything yet,” the voice of the beam dude interrupted our coms. “I haven’t started on you yet, fly!”

  That thick beam of energy from earlier lanced through space barely missing us. Francine had to dodge up and away from us to not get hit. We moved away even though the beam wasn’t moving. A cursory glance at the rest of the field told the story of why we were not being pursued. Several enemy ships the size of the one we imploded were too close to the beam for it to safely move. The beam died down.

  All the ships in the area moved away from us at max speed. For some, that meant they were gone in a flash, others lumbered away like giant slugs. We were in trouble. There was only one way to keep from becoming the main Bar-B-Q dish on tonight's menu.

  Our thrusters pushed us toward the source of the beam, the biggest ship in the battle sphere. No beams shot out as we closed the distance. It was like they were waiting for us to get closer. The lack of a response made me think charging them might be a bad idea.

  “Tom, I’m not sure about this,” Francine said through coms. Either we both had great instincts or we were just scared of the unknown. One thing was certain, I was doing this as a part of a two man team, or two persons and one AI team. Semantics.

  We slowed as we grew closer. The size of the ship was staggering. It was cigar shaped from what we could tell with a control tower near the rear. There was even a statue of a robot on the front of it as big as Titan was, almost.

  “That figure head looks …” I stopped talking when the figurehead moved.

  The robot’s arms shot up then it launched from the nose of the ship. It came at us fist first and hit us dead center before we could react. Titan and I tumbled through space catching a glimpse of Foe Hammer as it streaked by us toward our attacker.

  “Oh no,” I said with a smile. “She isn’t getting all the glory.”

  Our back thrusters fired off in spurts to level us off. Once our head over heels rotation stopped, we shot toward the new threat. Our sensors fed us details, which weren’t much, about our target as I took a good look at it.

  The machine had thin long arms attached to a bulbous torso with a squat head. The legs were beefier than the arms but short making the robot shorter than Titan by a good twenty meters. In the center of his chest was a depression on the shape of a satellite dish with a hole in the center.

  “You are more than I thought you would be,” Gigalance’s voice came uninvited over our comms. “We could use a guy like you if you play ball we might even consider making you a Champ.”

  We came to a stop, and Titan sent a signal to Francine to do the same. We gathered as much data as we could on the new threat with our passive sensors.

  “I know you're new to this galaxy and all, but trust me when I tell you this is the winning side, and who doesn’t want to be a winner, Bruh?” He didn’t give me a chance to answer his question. “The process is easier than getting crammed into a Master Gear, and you end up with a sweet ass power. Check it, Bruh.”

  The robot in front of us turned slightly to the side and released a thick green beam from the center of it’s chest. The beam died down after a few seconds, but that was enough. Behind us hundreds of ships were just gone. All of them on Gigalance’s team.

  “That shit was sweet right? That’s my power. The green lance of energy capable of destruction off the scales, Bruh. It’s different for all of us and there is no telling what you will end up with, but it will be sweet-ass-sweet for sure. What do you say? You down with going Champ?” Gigalance asked.

  “Titan, what are the chances of us surviving a direct hit from that blast?”

  We would hold for three point six seconds. Then our outer shell would begin to breakdown. I calculate it would take another two point two seconds before our power core ruptured and we blew up.

  “That’s comforting. What about Francine and Foe Hammer?”

  Francine would die instantly, but Foe Hammer would last point three seconds longer than us. Her armor is stronger as it is made of the unknown alloy.

  I had to remember to be specific when talking to Titan. Would that change as I upgraded his AI?

  “I had a feeling you would say something like that. Maybe not as detailed, but close enough,” I said.

  “You listenin to me, Bruh?” Gigalance asked with his frustration clear in his harsh tone.

  “I hear ya,” I replied. “You mind if I ask question before I decide?”

  “Oh yeah, Bruh. Informed decisions are always the best ones,” Gigalance said.

  “I saw some things planeside that I was curious about. Do you Champs condone pleasure dens? Like you said, I’m new here so my experiences are limited. Was the one here a one off or a common occurrence?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah, Bruh. That is just one of the perks. We get to do whatever we want, Bruh. Who needs pleasure dens? We see someone we want and we take em. No one is going to stop us, Bruh. We are basically gods.”

  “I thought that might be the case,” I replied.

  “Sweet huh?”

  “You’re wrong about one thing though,” I said.

  “What’s that?” Gigalance’s voice took on a hint of confusion.

  “You’re dead wrong about no one stopping you. I am going to stop you and all the other so called Champions. A reckoning has come,” I snarled.

  “Sorry to hear you say that, Bruh. Come at me!”

  Chapter 35

  Francine didn’t wait for my signal. She started shooting as soon as Gigalance finished talking. We shot forward pulling our remaining blade. Francine and Foe Hammer were better suited for laying down a shit-ton of space-lead. Titan and I had her beat at the up and personal stuff. I just wish we had two blades again.

  Gigalance didn’t seem to relish the i
dea of playing the close game. The disk in his chest lit up green a split second before the beam shot out. We dodged to the right and the beam followed. Out legs came up so our feet positioning our body at a ninety-degree angle from the beam. Our foot thrusters gave us some space from the beam, and we righted our self. The beam died down, so we slowed and turned to face our enemy.

  Francine maintained her distance while slowly moving sideways and keeping up her attack. We saw the rounds bounce off Gigalance’s mech without so much as scratching the paint. Her heavier rounds were far more effective than our smaller caliber weapons, so we had to find a way to close the distance with him.

  We took off heading straight for him. While we fought, Titan collected tons of information by the second. Information that told me just how futile the long game would be.

  Getting closer was the only option that made sense. To achieve this, I came up with a plan. I would have to scooped up a gunboat and thrown it at his head. When the thing obscured most of his vision we will strike from the flank and end him.

  Rarely do things work the way we want. While Gigalance was occupied with the minor annoyance of Francine’s shots, we intercepted a gunboat. Using all of our thrusters we built momentum. Our speed added to that of the gunboat as we hurled it. It was no where near our enemy when a smaller beam left the bulbous body from a smaller emitter on his side and shredded the ship.

  “Hey, Titan,” I said as we charged for the second giant robot I have ever seen. “Any tactics in your head for a situation like this?”

  A green beam shot out as Gigalance started to move back. We dodged once more, and I wondered if he would come up with an effective counter move before I could.

  To the best of my knowledge no situation like this has ever existed. We are charting new territory here, Tom. It is up to us to find a strategy that will lead to victory.

  The beam stopped. A much thinner beam shot out and ended just as quick as it started. This one proved to be harder to dodge, but we managed, barely.

  “When you say we, I get the feeling you mean me,” I said.

  Astute.

  “Great. Just fucking great.”

  I stopped our forward moment and dodged another quick thin beam. The green beam glanced our side between out left arm and torso. I felt the heat of it score our paint. A direct hit would be bad for sure.

  “Francine, cease fire and pull back. I have an idea, but I need you to cover me,” I told my friend.

  “Copy, I have your six.”

  We turned tail and ran at full burn. I made for the heaviest collection of enemy ships. While I knew Gigalance had no problem killing his own troops I figured there had to be a limit to how much destruction he was willing to do. Even a Champion with a giant laser would have a hard time fighting his own troops if they turned against him. And I had no doubt that if he killed enough of them, they would do just that.

  The killing blow never hit us confirming my suspicions. But as we closed the distance to the fleet new problems flew out to greet us in the form of fighters and gunboats. Before I could react Foe Hammer unleashed hell. Her guns tore into the enemy cutting a path for us. We didn’t hesitate in taking the lady’s invitation.

  We used our freedom to fly into the middle of the formation and get behind the biggest ship. A long-range weapon would have been great, but since we didn’t have one, I pulled the blade from the disc and went to work. A few minutes of slice and dice caused the ship’s engines to sputter and die.

  With the ship dead in the water I went about enacting the plan. We pushed our hands against the rear hull and pushed with both back and foot thrusters at max burn. The ship groaned as it started forward. Once I was satisfied with its speed I let go. The vessel moved fast enough to crush any fighter or gunboat dumb enough to not get out of the way. I marked the next target and sent that info to Foe Hammer. Francine went to work plowing the road and we repeated the process of crippling a ship then giving it a good shove.

  Speed was key to making this plan work. Thanks to Foe Hammer’s outstanding work we were able to do what needed doing. Five ships, each bigger than Titan, floated through space heading toward Gigalance. Next came the second phase.

  “On to the next one, Francine,” I said. To ensure Gigalance couldn’t pick up on my plan I had Titan send a tight beam transmission to Foe Hammer.

  Francine shot away from us with her guns blazing. While she did, I moved the opposite direction back through the destruction we caused. To make sure we were not seen I kept our thrusters on minimum burn. While it was cool as shit to look like a comet at full burn it did nothing for us when it was time to be stealthy.

  The second ship we shoved was moving faster than we were, so we bumped up our speed in order to catch it before it was too late. We had positioned our self behind it relative to Gigalance’s position. The danger of him spotting our exhaust was minimal if not nonexistent. A few minutes later we grabbed onto the rear of the ship and held tight.

  I am picking up tight beam transmissions from this ship.

  “Can we listen in?” I asked, knowing the answer as soon as I did. “Let’s see what they have to say.”

  “... we can’t stop, Sire. Our engines are disabled much like the Devastator, The Pincer, the …”

  “I don’t care what the names of your shitty little ships are. Just fucking stop!” Gigalance shouted.

  “We are trying, Sire. Our technicians and engineers are working as fast as humanly possible to get the engines back up,” The voice from the ship we clung to responded.

  “FUCK!”

  “That’s enough, cut transition,” I said. “This may be working better than I thought.”

  MOVE!

  We jumped to the side just as a green beam tore out of the back of the ship. It seems our plan was working too well, and I hadn’t accounted for Gigalance’s lack of respect for the lives of his men. The only good news was that the hollowed-out ship didn’t slow down and stayed on course.

  We peeked through the hole and saw the green beam shoot out at another ship. He fired at each ship in turn, but like the one I hid behind they continued forward. Momentum was a bitch when there was nothing to slow you in space.

  If I needed any more reasons to end Gigalance I got it in the form of two uniform clad people drifting out of the hole toward us. Neither one was dressed in a space suite and their lack of movement screamed dead to me. This Champion needed to be just as dead and probably all of the Champions after him. I was going to start educating myself on these fuckers as soon as we were safe and back onboard The Liberator.

  We were forced into action early when Gigalance turned away from us and started to move to where Foe Hammer fought. We shot through the center of the ship letting it’s hollow bulk provide us cover. A second after we cleared the ship Gigalance started to turn back. Our speed was too great and we slammed into his side.

  The force of our collision pushed the smaller robot away from us, but our full burn thrusters let us close the gap before he could recover. We slammed into him again, this time grabbing Gigalance with our left arm and jamming our blade into his right arm. The appendage broke free and fell away as we continued forward at full.

  Our right arm pulled back for another strike when we learned something new about our playmate. A green beam no bigger than my human sized fist shot out and hit us in the chest. Titan screamed a warning into my mind, and we let go dodging to the right. The beam slagged the armor where it hit and scored a line across our paint from the dodge, but there was no internal damage.

  “Active scans,” I said. “We need as much data as we can glean from that thing.”

  Specs appeared in my field of view as we weaved through beam after short beam from Gigalance’s mech. The robot had the big emitter on its chest, but the torso was also dotted with smaller ones as well as the medium sized emitters on its sides. The count came up to two hundred and one emitters counting the big one.

  “Shit that sucks,” I said. “Too bad we couldn’t scan it
sooner.”

  It could be worse.

  “Don’t sa …”

  he could be able to fire from all of them.

  “And you said.”

  The universe decided Titan’s word needed to become prophecy. Gigalance fired beams in all directions at the same time from all the emitters except the big one. Staying out of the line of fire became a lot more challenging.

  “You had to say something, didn’t you?” I snarled as we rocketed away and moved erratically.

  Was I not supposed to? It only seemed like a logical conclusion.

  “We are going to have a long talk about superstition and battle when we get back to The Liberator. For now, let’s focus on not dying,” I replied.

  “Tom! What is happening?” Francine shouted over the comms.

  “I am what’s happening,” Gigalance butted in. “Your big friend made me have to pull out all the stops. You should have joined us, Bruh. Now I am going to fuckin erase your ass from existence.”

  I chose not to respond. Anything I said to Francine would be heard by Gigadouch. Instead I sought out Foe Hammer with our sensors to see how she was doing. Just like us Francine was dodging green beams as Gigalance’s mech spun in a lazy circle. We kicked our thrusters to max going full comet mode. No point in staying separated from Francine now.

  With Titan’s calculations and predictive algorithm, we were able to crisscross our way to Francine with just a few minor burns. We scooped up the small ship and pulled it to our chest. Francine being the smart woman I knew her to be cut off her thrusters and let us carry her. Titan’s calculation also gave me an estimate of how far away we had to be for Gigalance’s beams to lose enough effectiveness to not damage our armor. We continued to that point.

  A reverse burn and slowed to a stop. I decided to keep our back to Gigalance so we could shield Foe Hammer just in case. With our sensors we had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. The real question was how to get close without turning around and putting Francine in danger.

  I remembered that Foe Hammer could magnetically lock to Titan’s back. We spun around lifting Foe Hammer locked it to our back as we did. This was the problem with going into battle and bringing new, untested toys. You lack the training that builds muscle memory reducing the amount of time thinking and maximizing the time spent moving.