Clio could hardly believe he was standing at all. He couldn't have been in the Kragak regeneration chamber for longer than an hour.
Doctor Roshi followed Grimshaw, scanning him with his medical SIG as they descended the steps and to the command hub.
Eline slowly rose from her chair.
"Captain," she said. "I'm glad we didn't have to leave you behind."
"I'm glad you took the initiative and put the crew first, Eline. I can take it from here."
Eline looked him up and down. "Are you sure that's wise, sir? You've been...through a lot."
"I'm a bit wobbly on my feet, but Doctor Roshi can give me the all-clear if you're that worried."
Eline looked to the doctor.
He dropped the medical SIG to his side. "I can't find a scratch on him, Commander. Just the usual signs of wear and tear. Blood pressure’s a little high. But nothing to worry about. It's remarkable."
Eline looked to Clio and back to Grimshaw as though Clio had exaggerated his injuries.
"I'm a little bit hungry, if I'm honest, and I could do with a pot of Joe, but I feel as good as new." He gave Eline a rare half-smile.
"The Kragak regeneration chamber is nothing short of a miracle," the Shanti doctor said. "If only we had time to study them. Can you imagine how many lives would be saved if every race had access to such tech? Can you remember anything about the experience, Captain?"
"I remember losing consciousness after Aglat attacked. Everything's a bit fuzzy after that. It's difficult to separate dream from reality... Next thing I know, Oryon is throwing robes over me and leading me to the hangar."
"Going by the medical scans," Roshi said, "I don't see any reason the Captain cannot resume command. But it's your call, Commander."
Grimshaw regarded Eline expectantly, like a puppy under a dining table begging for food.
"Fine..." Eline sighed and stepped aside. "Welcome back to the bridge, Captain. The chair is yours."
Grimshaw slipped into the chair, running his hands along the armrests like he was relieved to be back. "Thank you for taking care of her for me while I was gone."
He looked at the display. "What have we got?"
"The external hangar doors haven't opened yet, sir. Evans suggested that Aglat's people have something to do with it. Seems the Foundry's jump engine is distorting our comms so we can't contact hangar control. Ascari's working on it."
"The Kragak are bound to jump soon," Grimshaw said. "We can't risk getting dragged with them."
"I recommend powering weapons to be on the safe side," Eline said.
Evans shot the Zaqaran a killer stare and he remained quiet, but he grew restless in his chair.
"Make it happen, O'Donovan."
"Yes, sir."
"Can we even cut through those doors?" Grimshaw asked.
"Going by the new lascannon specs the Omnion installed, we'll cut through that rock, but it probably won’t be fast.”
"Let us know when weapons are ready. We'll give them ten minutes."
"Of course, sir."
"Contact with hangar control complete," Ascari announced.
As though on cue, the behemoth doors slid open.
"At least something's going our way today," Grimshaw said. "Evans, take us out. O'Donovan, keep charging those weapons. There's no telling what we'll find out there."
Clio obeyed, guiding the North Star into space.
She'd never been so relieved to see stars, space rocks, and debris.
"Bring us back the way we entered, Evans," Grimshaw said. "Full speed.”
"Yes, Captain."
She calculated the flight path with Ascari's help and followed the guidance counters in the flight helmet, upping power and speeding away from the Foundry.
"Immense gravitational distortion detected five-point-three clicks off the prow," Eline said.
Clio activated her helmet's bridge mode. An expanding red field appeared on the primary display, indicating the distortion's growth path. The North Star was heading straight for it.
"Crazy Traditionalist bastards are jumping straight into the debris field," Grimshaw muttered. "Evans take us around the jump field!"
"Already on it, sir."
She returned to flight mode and watched as the vast spherical area expanded faster than the North Star could accelerate. It would take them hours to get around it no matter how fast they went or which route they took.
"Going to take a while to get around this thing, sir."
"How long before the Traditionalists complete their jump?"
"No telling, sir," Eline answered. "Ascari is still processing the archives the Foundry shared with us. Based on what's been processed already, it could be anywhere between minutes and days."
"Going through's too risky," Grimshaw said, thinking out loud. "Stay the course, Evans.”
"Look sir," an operative called from a systems terminal.
Lightning arched across the display. Blue forks joined and exploded to white. Ships appeared in the fading light.
"The Traditionalists have arrived.”
"Is the ghost-drive up?"
"Yes sir," Eline said.
"Clio, run her cold. Keep us coasting. Hopefully they won’t see us. I’m not holding my breath after what happened outside the Shroud, but it’s worth a shot.”
Clio ran the command in an instant and Ascari confirmed the execution, the systems levels in her flight helmet dropping.
The bridge lights dimmed as countless other ships appeared ahead of the North Star.
"There must be thousands of them,” Eline said. "And not all are Kragak."
She zoomed in on the screen’s top left corner.
"What is that?" Grimshaw said, indicating a colossal ship dwarfing those around it, its hull covered with reflective, sleek curves.
"Must be a Tal'Ri dreadnaught," Eline said. She moved the feed further to the right, focussing on a dozen vessels. "That cluster is emitting Chimera signatures."
"Well that confirms that Chimera are also pulling Traditionalist strings," Grimshaw seethed.
A particularly bright flash erupted before the cluster and a behemoth vessel appeared. It contended with the Tal'Ri dreadnought for the largest ship in the fleet. It was an asteroid a quarter the size of the Foundry with a long fin-like wing jutting from its bottom.
"What the hell is that?" O'Donovon squeaked.
"Something tells me that's Chimera's flagship,” Eline answered.
"The Kragak Separatists won't stand a chance," the Zaqaran said.
"If things kick off before we get out of the way, we won’t stand a chance," Eline said.
As if on cue, the display lit up.
"They're opening up on the Separatist fleet,” Eline said with surprising calm. "The Separatists are returning fire."
Canon fire and projectiles whizzed by in streaks on the display.
"No one is targeting us at the minute.”
"Buffer shields in case that changes,” Grimshaw said. "Evans, keep your foot by the pedal in case we need to get out of dodge.”
Part of Clio wanted to move out of the crossfire there and then, but she saw the wisdom in remaining still. Better to hope that one isn’t hit by chance than flee and be hit for certain.
The bridge fell into deathly silence as everyone held their breath.
With the North Star's shields and kinetic barriers down, one lucky shot would finish her.
Proximity warnings flashed on various parts of the VD.
A lascannon tore through space three hundred feet off starboard, triggering an orange warning. A line of torpedos whizzed by port-side so close half the display lit up red and yellow.
Lightening cracked across the primary display again.
Enemy fire decreased and vessels vanished.
"What's going on?" Grimshaw said.
“The Separatists jumped," Eline said. "The Traditionalists are setting chase."
Clio watched on her helmet's feed as the enemy fleet flashed out of exi
stence bit by bit.
Blue and white exploded and the second-last ship vanished.
Only the Chimera asteroid-vessel remained.
"Why isn't that ship going?" O'Donovan said.
"Probably takes a big charge to move that thing,” Eline said.
"They've locked weapons onto us."
"Shields!" Grimshaw ordered. "Evasive maneuvers. All crew to battle stations."
Combat alert rang out across bridge.
Clio pushed full power back into the primary thrusters, pulling the North Star into a wide arch just in time to avoid a stream of torpedoes.
"That was too close," Grimshaw said. "Evans, find a way around that thing. O'Donovan, return fire."
The display flashed as O'Donovan let a dozen torpedoes fly.
The dreadnought's anti-missile system took out half. Five detonated on the edge of the fin.
"We barely put a dent in their shields, sir," Eline said.
“They must be swapping secrets with the Tal’Ri.” Grimshaw asked. “That’s the only way to explain how they saw us. Evans, what are you doing?”
"Doing my best to get around, sir," Clio said. "But that thing is matching every course change I make despite its size."
"What about this way?" Marilda said on Clio's right.
She transferred her flight path data onto Clio's visor.
"I'm impressed," Clio said, confirming the entry with Ascari and pulling the North Star into a spiral as she dodged another stream of enemy fire.
The Shanti co-pilot calculated a route taking the Chimera vessel’s shape and weight-distribution into consideration. Its powerful thrusters could make it bank and turn on a dime, blocking the North Star's path, but they couldn’t swivel anywhere near as fast. Going over the asteroid was worth a shot.
"Going over," Clio agreed, driving the nose up and hammering on the burners.
The North Star creaked as Clio drove her engines above maximum output.
The dreadnought didn't follow their path as before.
Marilda was right.
A flickering line flashed from the asteroid. Space turned white and stars became black dots.
The North Star rocked.
An explosion erupted in the systems modules below Clio. Someone screamed and someone else called for a medic.
"Damage report,” Grimshaw demanded.
"Whatever that was cut through our shields. Power surges on all decks. Three injuries reported. Make that seven. Nothing fatal reported yet. Structural integrity holding, but that hit took armor plating down to thirteen percent."
"What kind of weapon was that?” Grimshaw said.
"Must be Ancient tech," Eline said. "I’ve never seen anything like it."
"O’Donovan, arm another torpedo cluster. Include three warheads."
"We’re too close for warheads, sir," O’Donovan said.
"They aren’t for the Chimera ship," Grimshaw said. "But I want you to make it look they are. Make them narrowly miss. Let a few of the standard torpedoes hit. Set the warheads up for remote detonation and have them stop inside the debris field. Mask their energy signatures if you can. Make Chimera think they’re standard torpedoes."
"Sir, you’ll kill all of us," Eline said.
"It’s just a precaution, Commander."
"Clio take us close to that asteroid again. But try to stay beyond the range of that Ancient weapon.”
"Sir, another one of those beams will tear the North Star in half," Eline said.
"If they wanted to destroy us, they would have done so already."
"You think they’re toying with us?”
"I think they want the North Star in one piece."
"What makes you so sure?”
"When I spoke to Ovious, he made it clear that he wanted the North Star.”
"Why?"
“I’m not sure. But I have no intention of giving it to them. Evans, take us in.”
"Torpedos armed, sir," O’Donovan said. "I’ve tucked the warheads between the standards in the sequence. Hopefully that’ll help mask them."
Grimshaw drew a deep breath. "Fire."
Twelve white stars flew towards the Chimera ship.
Clio pressed the North Star forward and banked to the right, avoiding a burst of plasma.
The dreadnought’s anti-missile system fired, prematurely detonating several torpedoes.
"Pull us back again, Evans," Grimshaw said.
Clio obeyed, eager to get beyond the inversion weapon’s range.
"They got seven, sir," O’Donovan reported. "Two struck. Three made it. One was a warhead."
"Tuck it away.”
"Yes, sir."
Just as Clio thought they were out of range, another beam cut across the display.
Sparks rained from the ceiling. Another explosion erupted in systems. A second tore through the bridge somewhere behind.
"Fire on deck!” Grimshaw shouted.
“Full medical team to the bridge!" Eline called over shouts and screams, the sparks and hisses of fried electronics, and the shrieks of rending metal. "Engines are out. Losing primary systems fast. Multiple hull breaches across the lower decks. Engineering has been hit the worst. All three reactors are out, but the core remains stable."
"They're powering down weapons," O'Donovan said, coughing as he waved away a cloud of smoke.
"They’re getting ready to board," the Zaqaran operator muttered.
Clio's flight controls no longer responded. She tore off her flight helmet, acrid smoke stinging her eyes and throat.
Female screams tore from the systems section lower down. Clio tried to ignore the horrific sounds as she focused on the problem at hand.
Her control terminal flashed on and off. She looked underneath and found smoke bellowing from a popped access panel.
"Dammit. Do you have access to flight controls, Marilda?”
Marilda moaned on her right.
Clio stood again and found debris jutting from the Shanti's shoulder, a deep gash cut across her forehead.
Clio scrambled over the partition and checked on her co-pilot. Something had struck Marilda hard on the head, but she was semi-conscious. Her shattered flight helmet lay by her feet. The shrapnel jutting from Marilda was about the size of a knife. There was less blood than Clio expected. She took that as a good sign and figured it best to leave the debris where it was in case she made things worse.
She pulled at a passing Zaqaran medic hurrying towards the systems tier. "Take care of her."
The medic seemed confused, as though he wanted to go to where he'd been called.
"I said help her dammit!” Clio seethed.
"Ye..yes,” he stammered. "Of course."
Clio helped him unstrap Marilda.
Satisfied the Shanti was stable, he guided her off the bridge.
Clio checked the co-pilot controls and found they were as useless as her own.
Eline limped by, holding an injured arm.
She operated a secondary display and the Chimera ship appeared.
"It's approaching slowly, Captain."
Grimshaw stopped next to the Commander, a half-spent fire extinguisher in one hand.
He turned to Clio. "Evans, can you get us out?"
"Controls aren't responding," she said, throwing her hands up. "And even if they were, I doubt the power-cells would have enough juice.”
"Ascari won't respond either," he coughed.
"I've tried bringing her back online," Eline said. "That last beam scuttled us. We're lucky life-support’s still functioning. Sensors are picking up fires all over the ship, and the anti-fire system is down."
Grimshaw gestured to the display. "They still haven't finished us off."
"That last one came close, though," Eline said pointedly.
"Hail them," Grimshaw said to Eline. "I doubt we can talk our way out of this one, but it's worth a try."
She worked at the controls under the display. "Hail sent."
Almost instantly, the screen flashed and
a Shanti male appeared.
The feed’s angle was tight, but he was clearly standing on some kind of command deck, soft red lights pulsing in the background. A particularly bad scar twisted his otherwise handsome face.
"Ah, Captain Grimshaw," he said with a grin, revealing particularly long canines even for a Shanti. "I've been waiting for you to call."
"What do you want, Ovious?"
"Why, Captain, your memory can't be that bad. As we already discussed, I would very much like you and your ship. It's a pity we had to mess her up a bit, but we couldn't just let you leave. No matter, we'll fix her up."
"Why go to such trouble for a ship when you've got that thing?"
"The Monolith is a fine vessel, yes," he said with a proud smile. "Let it suffice to say that we don't need Project Zero for fighting. Our short exchange proved that much. Project Zero might be one of the most advanced vessels in the galaxy, but she's still just a frigate.”
“Then why the interest?”
"We do not have time for questions, Captain Grimshaw, though I think you already know the answer to that one."
"The North Star can go places you can't."
"Something like that. Now, I suggest you give yourself and the North Star up, Captain. In return we'll let your people go peacefully."
"You can't be serious," Eline said to Grimshaw more than anyone else.
"Ah, is that the fabled Naralla Eline speaking? I've read a great deal about you. Grew up in the gutters on Claracia. Worked for various street gangs until Minister Straiya took you as her kitten. A pity the Aegis Order has been destroyed. Chimera would have made good use of the Order, you know. But Straiya had to destroy anything she couldn't have for herself. And that's why she had to go."
"Fuck you, Ovious!" Eline snarled. "You traitor."
"Rich, coming from the girl who let her sister die then ran away.” The General grinned again. "I will be sure to send Malek your regards next time I see him."
"Malek..." Eline hissed, the hair on her head bristling visibly.
Clio put her hand on the Shanti's shoulder and led her aside, making room for Grimshaw. Eline seemed like she might explode at any second. To Clio’s surprise, she willingly moved into a systems hub.
The Shanti stared into nothing as the crew brought the chaos around them under control.
The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure Page 112