They continued to pull in the Zidian ship. Its pilot obviously started to panic and began firing his weapons wildly. Most of the shots spun off harmlessly into space. Some, however, impacted on the hull of the Essex. Thankfully no more marines were killed but there was still the danger that he might somehow sever the cable.
“I want that ship intact!” said the Commander. “Especially the weapons! But if he decides to fire those things once we lower him inside the ship then we can kiss the Essex good bye.”
“We have no choice,” said Jack. “We have to disable the weapons.”
The commander ordered the two marines with rocket packs to do just that. The marines eyed the fuel gages on their wrists. They were running low, but both figured they had enough for one more quick flight. They shot off and circled around the fighter and expertly shot out its weapons. They then returned to the hull. Finally, the captured ship was secured to the shuttle pad. Jack looked over the alien craft now that he could see it up close. It was larger in sized than a Star Sword. Its forward-swept, blade looking wings and bright red-orange color made it look very menacing. The fighter was lowered down into the Essex.
Jack and all the marines returned to the pit and the doors above them closed and the chamber was filled with fresh oxygen. When the gauges said it was safe to do so, the Commander said “Helmets off.” A large vibration let them all know that the battle was still going on. Jack pulled off his helmet and immediately started for the hatch that led to the inside of the ship. As soon as it was open, he went in and started to get out of the horrid space suit. He never wanted to see another one again.
As Captain Doran stood on the Saratoga’s bridge, he realized that his forces could take no more. Around him his damaged bridge stood testimony to the beating the ship had taken. Blown out consoles and injured crewmen were everywhere. He honestly didn’t believe they were going to get out of this one with their lives. Nonetheless, he had to put the next phase of his plan into action. He turned to April Kelley.
“Address all craft.”
Kelley’s was one of the few consoles still fully functional.
“Ready, sir.” The Saratoga shook again violently. This was it.
“All craft come about and head for Titan base. Once you get to it don’t stop. Keep on going and don’t look back. Once you’ve left orbit set an immediate course for Mars.”
Doran then turned his attention back to the viewports. Most of the human fleet was coming about. The Nagato, however, had been disabled. The Japanese battleship was being hit on all sides by beam cannon fire from the surrounding Zidian battle cruisers. Finally, the enemy command ship itself fired its massive forward beam cannon and the Nagato blew apart.
Doran hung his head. The Japanese had fought bravely. They had all fought bravely. He fixed Kelley with a stare. “Is it ready?”
“Affirmative, sir. Titan base’s reactor has been set to overload. If the enemy pursues us as you believe they will, then we will be able to detonate the base by remote just as you planned.”
“Excellent,” said Doran. The deck shuttered beneath him, the result of another attack. “I hope we live to try.”
“Commander! The large human battle cruiser has been destroyed. The rest of their ships are breaking off and are in retreat!”
“They shall not escape!” roared Akdon. “It ends here! Order the entire fleet forward and crush them!”
Kaydan entered the bridge and ascended the platform.
“Commander, the human has been captured and secured in the laboratory.”
“How did he escape?”
“Apparently there were power outages in that section of the ship when one of our fighters saw fit to crash into us.”
“Commander,” came a voice from below the platform. “The human ships have passed their orbital base.”
“Pursue them.”
“What about the base?”
“Leave it for now. We will mop up later. Right now, I don’t want a single enemy ship to escape. We must overtake them!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Commander,” said Kaydan. “I was able to communicate quite well with the Human when I had him cornered. He realized he had no hope and so gave up. He came along quietly. We have their entire language in our computer now and we can match their communication frequencies in a matter of moments. Why not order them to surrender? It is possible they might capitulate if given the chance.”
Akdon eyed Kaydan. “Do you really believe that? Look at the way they fight—tooth and claw for every inch of space! We have not faced an opponent this determined since we invaded the Sirans!”
Kaydan wasn’t sure about that. The Sirans had been a much more advanced race. They had possessed energy fields and jump gate technology. The war to conquer them had lasted for years. Still Kaydan felt that the situation had gotten out of hand. They had taken far too much damage and Kaydan was convinced that if the fighting continued like it was, then they would end up having to call for re enforcements from Zidia. But Kaydan knew he’d never convince Akdon to do that. Besides seven months was a long time to wait for more ships to arrive. And so Kaydan clung to the belief that the Humans would see that their fight was hopeless and surrender.
“There is nothing to lose, Commander, by seeing if they will surrender.”
Akdon stared at the massive view screen. His ships were just approaching the human orbital base.
“How long until we overtake the Humans?”
“Nine minutes, Commander.” came the reply from the floor.
“Very well, Kaydan. Put a message through to the Earth ships. They will surrender or they will die!”
Sam Grayson’s shuttle was just leaving Titans. The first thing he realized as he emerged from the cloudy atmosphere was that the alien fleet was right on top of him. He was flying straight into the oncoming armada. The Space Force fleet was now well on its way out of orbit. Suspended between him and the oncoming enemy was the orbital space station which was now quite close. Sam realized that he would never be able to catch up to the Saratoga or any other Space Force ship for that matter. Sam noticed two enemy fighters were now headed straight for him. He was no fighter pilot, but he reasonably assumed it was a good time to turn back around and duck back into the atmosphere.
April Kelley was watching the enemy ships on her radar screen.
“Captain, they’re coming up on the base!” Doran hurried over to her station. The enemy cruisers were just reaching the base and the command ship was right behind them.
“We’ve got to wait until the best possible moment!” stated Doran. Kelley was all set to detonate the base at the Captain’s word. “Wait for it.” said Captain Doran. “Wait for it...” He said again, not taking his eyes off the monitor as the enemy drew ever nearer to his booby trap.
“Sir!” came the voice of the communications officer. “You’re not going to believe this! We’re receiving a broadcast from the enemy!”
“Let’s hear it!” yelled Doran. The communications officer hit some switches and the bridge speakers came alive with a deep voice which spoke in perfect English.
“You cannot resist us. You have no hope, no chance. You are ordered to surrender immediately. No one can overcome the might of the Zidian Empire. Surrender and you will not be destroyed. We offer your world a bright new future. You have seen our power. Further resistance will only lead to billions of deaths and the devastation of your home world. We cannot be defeated. Answer immediately or be destroyed!”
Doran face went hard with malice as he looked down at the monitor and then at April Kelley. “Give them our answer!”
Without any words, Commander Kelley activated the detonator. It was only then that she realized the small dot that represented Sam Grayson’s shuttle in the immediate vicinity of Titan Base.
“Captain!” yelled Kelley but it was too late. Titan base exploded in a great flash taking several Zidian cruisers with it and rocking the nearby Krusha with an enormous shock wave. It also, to Kelley and Do
ran’s horror, sent the shuttle spiraling down into Titan’s atmosphere out of control. There was no way for them to know what happened to it after that.
Chapter Fourteen
Akdon was thrown from his feet and hit the floor of his platform. His ship was wreathing from the massive explosion. He quickly clambered back to his feet.
“Report!” Akdon received no response as his entire bridge crew was in a state of chaos. He quickly came down from his command platform and made his way to an undamaged terminal. He tossed an injured crewman out of the way and checked his ship’s status himself.
There were several hull breaches in the forward part of the ship. In addition, the ships powerful plasma fusion reactor was once again malfunctioning. As a result, systems were going out all over the ship.
“All available engineering crews to the reactor compartment!” ordered Akdon.
“Sir,” came the voice of an officer whose control station was spitting out sparks in several places. “We lost five battle cruisers and several more are seriously damaged.”
Akdon let out a cry of rage and pounded his fist down on the control panel. He then stormed back up to the top of the command platform where Kaydan was waiting. “So the humans will surrender will they?!” One of the crewmen below called up to Akdon.
“Sir, the ship commanders want to know if they should continue the pursuit?” Before Akdon could respond Kaydan addressed him.
“Commander, I recommend we hold back here. We have taken serious damage and may require the assistance of our other ships. In addition there are several damaged battle cruisers in need of aid. Also, we still have the human colony to deal with. Brigadier Kondor has signaled that he is ready to take the moon. That is unless you would prefer to bypass it.” Kaydan knew that would be most unlikely. Considering his commanding officers anger at the moment, he wouldn’t be surprised if he just decided to bombard the colony into oblivion from orbit.
“Inform the Brigadier that he may begin with the operation!” ordered Akdon.
“All other ships hold position in orbit. Let the remaining Earth ships flee.”
Sam Grayson struggled to regain control of his shuttle as it did a nose dive into Titan’s atmosphere. He heard the screams of all his passengers in the back—passengers who had been crammed into the shuttle beyond all safety standards. If he couldn’t manage to pull up, they would all burn alive. Finally, at the last moment, he managed to level off the shuttle. He then started a semi safe descent trajectory. The shuttle was badly damaged though, and a vital system could fail at any time. Sam prayed he would be able to make it back to the colony alive.
Squad Leader Brel’s weightless body was freezing. The cold of space had him stiff. The power pack on his space suit that was supposed to keep him warm was beginning to run low. When it ran out, he would freeze to death. He continued to work the transmitter controls on his forearm. He still received nothing but static and there was no sign the Zidian fleet was receiving his broadcast. He had watched as his fleet had flown past him and engaged the humans. He had watched the great battle from a distance. He had seen his comrades beat the humans. He had seen the Earth ships flee before the oncoming Zidian juggernaut. And he had seen Titan base explode taking many Zidians with it. His only comfort was the fact that the humans who had consigned him to this fate were probably dead now.
It was so cold he began to feel sharp pains in his stomach, his head felt like it was being squeezed, and his entire body felt like there were a thousand knives stabbing every part of him. He felt his eyes becoming heavier and heavier until finally they shut as he lost consciousness.
Sam Grayson’s shuttle finally came out of the ceiling of clouds that hung over Titan’s surface. Beneath him was a sea of liquid nitrogen. Ahead of him was a rocky coast that led up to a range of mountains. He was on a direct course for the colony. Unfortunately, his computer was registering massive amounts of structural damage. If the hull breached even slightly then Sam and all his passengers would be exposed not only to temperatures colder than any on Earth, but to the unbreathable atmosphere of Titan. Sam knew they were lucky to be alive. The explosion of the orbital base had nearly been their doom.
An alarm sounded in the cockpit and the shuttle started to drop. Sam checked his instruments. The shuttle’s starboard engine had given out. Sam increased the power on the port engine. While this slightly stabilized the shuttle’s flight, it also doubled the possibility that the port engine would also give out. Sam tensed as it started to whine and buckle under the strain of doing twice the work it was meant to do. It did not go out in an instant as the other engine had. Instead it slowly began to lose power. The shuttle again began to drop, though much slower this time. The shuttle was nearing the coast and the mountains. If it continued to lose altitude at this rate they would smash into a mountain. Sam struggled with the controls. He veered the shuttle to the right just in time to avoid a collision with a cliff. He managed to dodge two more mountains, but the shuttle was still getting much lower and the mountains harder to dodge. Finally, the shuttle cleared the mountains and Sam found himself flying over rocky plains and just ahead of him he saw the bio-domes of the colony.
The shuttle’s remaining engine sputtered. Sam knew it was on its last leg and would soon fail completely. He saw the landing strip just ahead. He lowered the landing gear and took the shuttle down. It landed hard on the strip, the engine struggling to do its job. No sooner had they set down then the port engine gave out. A moment later and they would not have made it. The shuttle slowly came to a stop.
The main hangar stuck out of the bio dome. Its huge doors opened and a small tow vehicle on tracks emerged. It was operated by men in space suits. They drove up to the shuttle and proceeded to attach a cable to it. They then, over the course of several minutes, towed the large shuttle into the well-lit hangar. There was a hissing noise as the un-breathable air was pumped out of the station and fresh oxygen pumped in. They also had to wait for the thermal heaters to heat up the hanger so that it would be safe for people. Finally, Sam was able to open up the shuttle door and lower the ramp. His passengers then disembarked right where they had started from. They and the rest of the colony’s population had been left behind. Only time would tell what was to become of them. Sam felt they would not have to wait long.
On the Essex, a dozen uniformed space marines stood guard around the fighter inside shuttle hangar two. The alien occupant had given no sign that he was ready to come out. Both Jack and Captain Hudson were there along with the ship’s scientists.
“Let’s open her up!” said Captain Hudson.
“Um sir...” said one of the scientists, “...we have no idea what kind of air the creature inside there breathes. Exposing it to our atmosphere could kill it.”
“Who cares,” said the marine commander.
“No,” said the Captain. “He’s right. We need to ascertain what kind of environment this thing will need to survive.”
“Captain, with all due respect there is no time.” said the commander. “What do we do if that thing decides it would rather die than be our prisoner and blows up the ship taking us with it?”
“He has a point there,” said the Captain to the scientist. “You have one hour to examine this thing and try to figure out...” The Captain never got to finish his sentence for at that moment a rush of air poured out of the alien ship as what appeared to be a cockpit came open.
A large figure in a shimmering black space suit appeared. Its head was covered in a black helmet that revealed nothing. The marines all trained their weapons on the alien.
“Hold your fire!” ordered Captain Hudson. The alien slowly turned to the left and to the right examining the hangar and the humans. His hand brought up a device of some kind from inside the ship.
“Look out it’s got a weapon! Shoot!” cried one of the marines.
“No wait!” said Jack but it was too late. One of the marine plasma rifles flashed to life. The shot hit the Zidian pilot, blowing a hole in his c
hest nine inches across and killing him instantly. His body began to float up towards the ceiling of the hangar.
Captain Hudson swore and berated the marines for jumping the gun. “Get that body down!” He then turned to the scientist. “Then you get it on ice and start examining the ship.” The Captain then started to head back to the bridge. Jack then remembered what it was he was doing there in the first place.
“Captain, might you arrange a shuttle to transport me back to the Saratoga.”
“Yes Lieutenant, just as soon as we clear the Saturn region and make sure that the enemy is not in pursuit.”
The entire Zidian fleet had settled into orbit around Titan. Behind the Krusha and the cruisers, were the fifty massive transport ships. These were second in size only to the Krusha. Each one carried an army of troops and equipment. On the bow of every transport ship were two enormous doors. The doors of the lead transport ship slowly opened. Out of the doors, flew five assault barges. The landing craft were filled with troops and designed to go in under hostile conditions. Each one carried two platoons of Zidian soldiers. The barges themselves also bristled with weapons, so once they dropped off the troops they could still be used as very effective air cover.
In the cockpit of the lead barge, Brigadier Kondor stood in full battle uniform with the exception of the helmet. He eyed the approaching moon with his one real eye while his cybernetic eye surveyed the control panel.
“We’ll be entering the atmosphere in moments, Brigadier,” stated the pilot.
“Very well.” Kondor was not expecting the humans to put up much of a resistance. He had seen images of the captured human that Kaydan had in his lab. If the specimen represented an average human, then Kondor felt that they surely would not be much trouble. Kondor’s Zidian soldiers were physically superior to the Humans. All of them were well over seven feet tall. Some were near to eight. Their weapons were based on advance ion technology. He theorized that the humans would be carrying plasma weapons similar to those mounted on their ships.
Starstorm (Starstorm Saga) Page 13