James smiled to himself. “You don’t I am afraid, you will have to trust me.”
The Empress spoke in a tired and resigned voice, “Give the Guardian the code, Ilithyia.”
“The code is…” She read off a stream of numbers. James relayed them telepathically to his ship and commanded it to land on the pad within the defensive perimeter. The force field was no barrier to his communication with the ship’s computer.
James stood for a moment and waited for confirmation the ship was through.
I have landed as ordered, Guardian.
A radio crackled. James heard the operator tell Ilithyia a ship of unknown configuration had just landed.
James checked his tactical computer. The display showed the Gunards were massing behind the ridge and preparing for another attack. He turned back to the Empress. “Please wait a moment. The enemy is regrouping. I need to deal with them.”
He connected to the ship’s computer. Give me control.
Yes, Guardian.
James’s head spun for a moment. If it were not for his armour he would probably have fallen. His point of view changed. He was viewing everything through his ship’s sensors. He took off, watching the land fall away beneath him. He turned the ship towards the massing Gunards. It reminded him a little of playing an arcade game – there was no physical sensation of movement.
He armed the mini gun and fired it at the front ranks of Gunards, passing the ship over their heads. He rolled it over and returned along their lines, firing as he went. The power of the ship’s gun devastated the Gunards. They would not be able to attack for a while now, giving the Sinestrians time to escape. He guided the ship back to the pad and broke the contact. His head swum again as his point of view returned.
The Sinestrians had stood silent watching. James heard the communicator crackle into life again. The officer reported that the ship had destroyed the Gunards’ positions.
Twenty-Four: Escape
James spoke to the Empress. “You must order everyone to the ships. However, to ensure your cooperation, I require that woman and the baby to accompany me.”
Ilithyia gasped. “You can take me, Guardian, but please not the child.”
“You and the child will come to no harm as long as everyone cooperates.”
Ilithyia pleaded, “Please, Guardian.”
James felt sorry for her but shook his head. “It is not negotiable.”
Ilithyia shook her head in despair. The Empress gave the child to her. She held it close as if trying to protect the child from him.
James turned. “We are wasting time; get everyone to the ships.” He pointed to Ilithyia, “Please follow me.”
He walked out of the building. His heart was racing – how would she take it? He was a Guardian, one of the enemy. Knowing her temper and opinion he knew he was taking a big risk. He stopped. She almost bumped into him.
“Give me your gun.” He held out his armoured hand. She passed him the one at her hip, holding the baby in one arm. James checked with his tactical computer.
“And the one in your boot.”
She carefully bent down, holding the child close to her, and removed the gun hidden in her boot. James felt the hatred and fear as he crushed the gun in his fist.
He looked round – men and women were scurrying to the waiting ships. He commanded his ship to open the airlock and stood to one side to allow Ilithyia on board. She walked reluctantly through to the living quarters.
James indicated a chair. “Please sit down.”
Ilithyia carefully sat down, holding her child closely to her. Just at that moment his tactical flashed a warning at him, The Gunards had regrouped and were surging forward again. He had to act quickly or the retreating Sinesterians would be cut off. He reached for the last ammunition clip on the weapons rack then turned to Ilithyia.
“The seat will hold you safely during our flight; please don’t be concerned, it will not harm you.” Hold her and the child tightly please.
The computer moulded the seat to her and helped her support the child. James noted her dark eyes looked surprised.
“Please wait there for a moment. The Gunards are attacking again and will shortly cut off the retreat.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I intend to persuade them to keep their heads down a little longer.” He turned and ran down the ramp before she could reply. He made his way past the Sinesterians streaming towards their ships loading the final clip as he went.
The Gunards were overrunning the deserted defences as he opened fire. He had just cleared the immediate area of them when he was hit by heavy laser fire. The Sinestrians in their haste had forgotten to disable their heavy lasers and the Gunards had turned them on him. His suit cooling went into overdrive as it struggled to counteract the sudden rise in temperature. James dived behind a stone pillar. He checked his computer the last of the Sinesterians were aboard their ships but he had to disable the heavy lasers or they would be shot out of the sky. He held the mini gun ready checking the position of the lasers.
Taking a deep breath he stepped out from behind the pillar and sprayed the first laser with lead. His armour temperature warning flashed red as he turned the gun on the second laser. He fired again disabling it. He turned to the third the heat was starting to burn his skin. He pulled the trigger and the gun jammed. The mechanism could not cope with the temperature. He dodged behind the pillar and attempted to free the jam. Away from the direct heat from the laser the temperature dropped quickly and he was able to clear the jam. He had only a few seconds of ammunition left. He was panting, the air hot in his armour as he stepped out for the last time.
He was lucky, with only a few shots remaining the last laser exploded clearing the immediate area of Gunards.
He dropped the gun and sprinted to his ship commanding the computer to close the door as he jumped the last few feet.
He stood for a moment to catch his breath then turned to Ilithyia.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Yes!”
James sensed her anger. Nervously, he commanded the armour to retract. The gasp was expected.
“James!”
“I am sorry, Ilithyia, I will explain later. First we have to get everyone out of here and safely on their way. The seat will hold you and the child.”
He blocked out any emotions coming from her. He could not afford the distraction or heartache it may cause. He climbed the steps and, bending down, made his way to the pilot’s chair. Once he was seated he reached forward and keyed the communicator.
“Is everyone is ready?”
The other ships’ pilots acknowledged him. “We are ready, Guardian.”
“Follow me closely through the shield then I will make for the three Gunard ships and keep them busy while you escape.”
James paused. “Please set these coordinates into your ship’s computers.”
He transmitted the coordinates for Mordavia. There were only five ships that were fitted with Star Drives. He felt for their computers; he gained access easily and forced the coordinates in with a lockout so they could not be overwritten.
“Belt and braces,” he spoke out loud.
The ships rose. James forced himself to relax; his hand resting gently on the control stick, his mind interfaced with the sensors and weapon systems. He moved his head, checking the weapons tracked. He looked at the cabin monitor – Ilithyia was sitting upright, an unreadable expression on her face. He would take whatever was coming to him after the battle if they survived. He returned his attention back to flying the ship. The other ships were at the edge of the force field.
He keyed the transmitter. “All right follow me.”
He knew roughly where the enemy ships were. He was ready, he clenched his left hand and braced his mind for the flood of tactical information he knew would assail his senses once they passed through the field.
It came; suddenly he had a vista of stars in front of him, three large ships hung in line astern.
Several shuttles were ferrying troops down to the planet surface. They have been caught with their pants down! He pushed his throttle forward and his ship leapt under him. He aimed for the middle ship. It seemed as if it was coming towards him, growing in size at an amazing rate. He armed six missiles; the computer complemented his mind and assessed what he wanted almost before he thought it. The missiles launched, two for each ship – one aimed for the stern and one for the bow. The Gunards had yet to fire a shot.
James checked the rear sensors, the slower transports had yet to reach space. He flicked the control stick; the craft pulled up and turned to the left. He quickly flicked the stick right and the craft rolled right, running parallel with the Gunard ships. He ran down the three ships, raking them with his laser canon. The second was already twisting away the engines and bridge destroyed by his missiles. The third Gunard ship had destroyed one of his missiles but the second missile had taken out its engines. He pushed the stick forward; his craft loped down and he came out under the three ships. The Gunards had got over their surprise and were now firing at him. James zigzagged to make their weapon lock difficult. He ran underneath the three ships again, raking all three with his pulse laser canon. He felt his ship taking hits, the sensors linked to his mind warning him of heat rise as the armour plating dissipated the enemy laser energy.
One of the craft fired a salvo of missiles at him. James twisted his craft away and fired three missiles as he did so. They were targeted to hit the enemy amidships. System alarms were going off in his head as the enemy missiles locked on to him. He fired decoys; most of the missiles lost their lock on him but two held. James pulled up hard, rolled and made straight for one of the Gunard ships. He twisted his ship from side to side and up and down but held his course. At the last moment he pulled back on the stick hard, just clearing the hull of the larger ship. The two enemy missiles didn’t turn in time and struck the side of the larger ship.
The missiles he had fired had also found their targets. The middle and left-hand ship started to break up. The one on the right was still firing – it had begun directing most of its fire on the last of the transports. James came about to put his craft between them, firing his laser cannon continuously. The Gunard ship shook as his laser pulses hit it. He muted the alarms in his ship as the armour temperature was now outside maximum design parameters.
Suddenly without warning the last Gunard ship blew up. James pulled up to avoid the flying fragments. He could hear them pattering against his ship’s hull. There was no real damage except for a failed sensor. He let out his breath with a loud sigh. He turned towards the stricken transport just as it blew up. James swore. There was nothing he could do to save it. His tactical display suddenly turned red as fifty enemy ships dropped out of Star Drive. He checked all the remainder of the transports had escaped then, almost without thinking, brought his own Star Drive online. He saw the stars suddenly become streaks through his cockpit canopy.
Damage report?
Minor damage, Guardian, the armour plate temperature is returning to normal, inner hull temperature holding stable.
Good, estimated time of arrival?
Two months, five days.
James sat and tried to relax for a moment but his apprehension had returned. With a sigh he lifted himself out of his seat then made his way aft to the cabin to face the expected music.
He climbed down the steps to the cabin slowly; part of him wanted to avoid the confrontation as long as possible. He turned. Ilithyia was bending over one of the stasis pods. She stood and turned towards him. He could not read what was in her dark eyes, and felt his heart start to race the apprehension at how she was going to react made his mouth go dry, he swallowed. He could not make sense of her spinning emotions.
She walked up to him. He sensed the blow before it landed. He tensed and it felt as though the side of his face had exploded. “That was for forcing us to be hostages, James!”
The force of the blow made his eyes water. James felt rather than saw her grab the front of his overall. She kissed him hard and passionately on the mouth, pressing herself against him. It took James’s breath away. He put his arms round her and held her tight, the pain from the slap forgotten.
She pulled back looking him straight in the eye. “That is for coming back to us, James.” She turned, and he felt her take his hand. “Come and meet your daughter.” She led him to the stasis pod she had been bending over when he entered.
The small baby was lying in the bottom of the pod quietly asleep.
He squeezed Ilithyia’s hand. “She is beautiful, like her mother.”
“James, you are strange, a woman is not usually regarded as beautiful, but I accept the compliment.”
James looked down on his sleeping daughter. “Ilithyia, this ship is not really equipped to cope with a small baby for the length of our journey. You and she should use the stasis pods. The time will have no effect on you then and the journey will be over in a moment.”
She stood silently for a moment. “Kallista is sleeping peacefully; it is a good time to put her into stasis.” She bent and kissed her on the forehead.
James activated the stasis pod. “When she comes out of stasis, no time will have passed for her. Do you want to take the other pod?”
Ilithyia shook her head and leant close the James. “There are other things I would like to do first.”
Much later, as they lay quietly together, James turned to Ilithyia.
“When did the Gunards attack?”
She lifted her head, resting on her elbow and looked down at him.
“About two months after you left with the fleet we started to get reports of attacks against our colonies by the Gunards. The remainder of the fleet was sent to investigate. They fell into a trap. The Gunards outnumbered them, destroying all our remaining ships. Other than the planetary defences there was nothing protecting our planets. They wiped out each planet in turn until they reached ours. The only thing stopping them was the force field. They could not bomb us or land ships. All they could do was get lightly-armed infantry through. You know the rest.”
James felt her stiffen.
“What happened to the fleet, James?”
James sighed. “Most of the Sinestrian fleet is safe, Ilithyia. It was the Cartigian fleet that took casualties. We disabled the Sinestrian fleet by shutting down the ship’s computers. All the crews have been transferred to Mordavia, a deserted planet. Some of the infrastructure remains and it is a beautiful garden world. The Mordavians apparently loved nature. The fleet has been mothballed around a gas giant in the same solar system. The planetary AI monitors everything.
“The Cartigian fleet didn’t use computer systems we could interface to, so defeating them in battle was the only solution. At least your people now have a chance. It was probably only a matter of time before the Gunards attacked. All your worlds would have been destroyed and your people exterminated. At least now the main Sinestrian fleet and thousands of your people still exist. When the Gunards come you will not be alone and we will be ready for them.”
“I knew you were holding your true intentions back, James. I sensed something within you during unguarded moments. Something that you were hiding.”
“Why didn’t you report me, Ilithyia?”
“I was going to, but I found I couldn’t do it.”
James smiled. “We have sufficient supplies to last the whole journey without recourse to the other stasis pod you know.”
Ilithyia snuggled back down.
James heard a muffled, “Good.”
Octavian stood on the balcony watching the Mylian sunset. Tristain walked up behind him. He put his arm round her waist and pulled her tight to him. They stood watching the last rays of sunlight and the first stars appear in the gathering darkness.
She laughed softly. “My father is a pessimist, he would say…” she put on a rough approximation of his voice, “well I don’t know, it feels like the calm before a storm to me.”
Octavian fel
t her shiver. “Come on, let’s go in.”
They turned and walked back into the house together.
The End
Afterword
Thank you for reading my second book in the Guardian series. I hope you enjoyed it enough to give it an Amazon review. The next novel Guardian Rogue will be set in the same universe with some of the characters from this book. If you would like to hear about it as soon as it is finished please sign up for my newsletter at http://www.guardianscifi.com. You can also find the latest news on my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/guardianscifi please sign up and say hello.
Guardian Generations Page 24