Parker reveled in Hannah’s glee. She had waited a long time for this moment, much as Sarah had been waiting to strike back at the MSA, and for that matter, he, too, wanted to knock the MSA in the teeth. Ever since his defeat on Jupiter, he had felt like a failure, even though he had been the one who had destroyed nine MSA freighters before that. It stung to return to the asteroid base with his tail between his legs, especially when it put his squadron into question.
"She is with us," Parker said. "Fire toward the portside bridge shielding. It is weakening."
"I read you, buddy."
The Protector swooped in a long arch and headed toward the MSA cruiser at a steep angle. On the opposite side, Red Dust and Quartz zigzagged through a series of salvos directed at them from the MSA cruiser. The starwing headed away from the Sheriff on a direct course to the MSA cruiser.
Normally, it would be insane to go against a cruiser-class ship with only a fighter, but Chloe was more than adequate during this battle at avoiding the incoming fire from the MSA. Perhaps it was her innate sensory perception of the minds around her, but Parker suspected she was a far better pilot than anyone had ever given her credit for.
The sweat squeezed between Parker’s fingers as he guided the Sheriff onward to its probable destruction. Hannah opened up fire at the MSA cruiser opposite to the one she had sent the fighters toward. This slowed the cruiser slightly, allowing the Sheriff and her fighters more time to press against the MSA cruiser to the port side.
The destructive forces acting against one another made Parker shudder. A constant stream of sonic bullets raced away from forty, perhaps fifty, vessels. Two groupings of dogfights fought below his feet in an effort to gain space superiority in the area around the shipyards. An area they knew the MSA cherished.
Above him, a group of heavy fighters exchanged missile fire. The MSA won that tiny battle. The Alliance didn’t have the missile resources the MSA had. He drew in a breath. He didn’t have any statistics to back up his observations, but it had to be a four-to-one exchange rate. His mind kept repeating the same nine words: How can we win this battle against so much?
Hannah stepped beside him. "Once we destroy the MSA cruiser to our port side, I want you to turn us hard to starboard and get on the far side of the MSA cruiser."
"Far side?" he said, questioning the angle stress he would put on the ship.
"Yes," she said. She turned away from him, uninterested in his opinion. She hurried out of the pit of the bridge and up to the weapons control station. After a short conversation, she dashed back to her command chair.
"Parker, it’s about to come." Hannah took in a deep breath behind him.
The sensor screen showed the shielding on the MSA cruiser was significantly down on the portside bridge shielding. The assault, with fighters blasting the area continually, persisted for several passes without contest. The MSA fighters were too busy worrying about the Solarspot. And then suddenly the shielding was gone from the MSA cruiser.
Parker looked up instantly toward the viewscreen, watching with his own eyes instead of the color splash of the sensor screen at the next pass. They fired everything they managed to squeeze from their missile tubes at the exposed section. A huge explosion bubbled away from the bridge section, and some of the bridge crew cheered a subdued whoop.
Trailing the group, Quartz finished off the bridge with a volley of missiles. The second explosion glittered more spectacularly than the first. The MSA cruiser started to roll. Out of control, it roiled through space. Escape pods jettisoned from the side of the cruiser, and the Alliance triumph was complete.
Parker turned his attention back to the other MSA cruiser before Hannah relayed an order to him. Maybe the MSA cruiser’s shield failure and bridge explosion awed her, but he didn’t wait. He yanked on the control stick, sending the Sheriff away from the derelict ship.
Hannah’s footing wasn’t set for the sudden shift, and she toppled to the other side of the bridge, along with three or four other officers. Parker only heard their cries. He didn’t take the time to look over; he was too busy fighting against the control stick. It wanted, needed to straighten out, but he pressed against it. The Sheriff was his slave, not the other way around.
The ship’s struts moaned in protest.
Parker understood why the ship panicked. The hoot of proximity alarms blasted over the speakers on the bridge. He didn’t need the alarms telling him the Sheriff was in desperate trouble. He saw the MSA cruiser as plain as a Lunaran day, a million-ton behemoth only a kilometer in front of him. They would collide.
"Do something, Parker!" Hannah shouted from behind.
"Just hold on!" he shouted.
Luckily for her, he did something that probably saved their lives. He managed to roll the Sheriff enough to avoid the head-on collision, but neither pilot could do anything to avoid the hulls rubbing together.
Rippling along the Sheriff, the wake of the contact gnashed at everyone’s nerves. The shaking and the cries echoed through the bridge. For Parker, the shriek of the compressing metal gnashed against his nerves. He believed the ship couldn’t be salvaged anymore. But he was wrong in the end.
After guiding the ship as straight as possible for a long stretch, he let the MSA cruiser pass. He had no maneuvers left that might soften the impact against the MSA cruiser, especially with it pushing so firmly against the Sheriff. He didn’t want to rotate the Sheriff for fear the large MSA cruiser would out-leverage the cruiser and completely rip open the hull. He decided to wait it out.
And it worked. The Sheriff cleared the MSA cruiser without any crippling damage. He let out a long sigh of relief.
"Excellent, Parker," Hannah said from behind him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "We have arrived at the Solarspot. Prepare our weapon systems for a complete assault on it."
Sarah stepped forward from the shadows. "That will leave us vulnerable to MSA fighters in the area. We should leave the Solarspot to the Protector."
Hannah turned toward Sarah. "The Protector is a fine ship, but it doesn’t have the firepower to take down a freighter, especially one with that much shielding."
"You underestimate Eamonn Dalton," Sarah snapped back.
Parker smiled.
"Two on your tail!" Eamonn shouted. "Get up so I can use our turret cannons."
"If I go up, we will move into their line of sight. We will be dead!" Shannon screamed back at him.
"Do something then," Eamonn said, looking at his viewscreen for any hope.
They were near the Solarspot now. He could see the Sheriff break free of the MSA cruisers and head toward it. That was where he needed to be.
"Break toward the Solarspot. We can find help there."
"You can find help now," Chloe said over the radio. Her starwing swooped over the Protector toward the MSA fighters tailing them. The proximity alerts faded a second later. She had destroyed them.
He grinned. Chloe’s piloting skills surprised him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn’t that large a stretch. She had always been one of his best meteor pilots. The agility and the awareness were the same principles. He realized he must have questioned her heart. Somehow, he never envisioned her risking her life for anyone, except Seth, and it shamed him that he didn’t know why.
"Good work," Eamonn said. "Help us with the Solarspot. We need to punch a hole in the aft hull."
Chloe replied, "Is that what the drone ship is for?"
"Yes, but we have to weaken the plasma shielding or the drone ship will fry before it can crash far enough in."
"Understood," she said.
The Protector weaved in and out of the battle traffic, avoiding debris as it caromed and careened through the area in front of them.
"I don’t know," Shannon said. "The drone ship will get pulverized in this mess."
Eamonn didn’t reply. He was too busy studying the layout of the Solarspot. "Bring us close in. We will have to stop at some point to release the drone ship from our carg
o bay. The closer we are, the more cover it provides."
They came to the Solarspot without much interference. The MSA fighters had a bigger problem, namely the Sheriff, which pounded against them with a barrage of fire. Eamonn had a hard time believing it could survive the direct assault. He looked away, unable to watch anymore.
He had matters that pressed him more. The Protector had slowed enough for him to release the drone ship, and he had to be exact, because the drone ship couldn’t take more than a jostle without damaging its hull. The hull had no reinforced metalor struts or hull plating. It had been constructed with softer titanium metal.
Shannon steadied the Protector to a level position. Eamonn released the locking mechanism on the ship, but nothing happened. As if feeling their need, an alert warble sounded.
Eamonn swore viciously. He brought up a camera view of the back side of the ship and zoomed in on the problem. It was a fused locking mechanism—the worst possible battle scar at this moment. The drone ship wasn’t going anywhere.
Eamonn groaned. "The drone ship is useless now."
"That leaves us with only one choice," Shannon said. She accelerated the Protector around in a long looping arch.
Eamonn opened a channel to the Sheriff. "This is Eamonn Dalton aboard the Protector. We are preparing to ram the Solarspot. If I can’t detonate the metalor explosives in the next five minutes, destroy the Protector.
"No, you can’t do that!" Chloe shouted. "I can do something."
Eamonn looked toward Shannon. "It has already been decided."
Through the firefight around the Sheriff, Parker watched helplessly as his beloved ship smashed into the Solarspot, exactly where Eamonn had told them he would detonate the explosives. However, the Protector didn’t explode. It sat wedged in the Solarspot.
"Target the Protector and destroy it," Hannah said from behind him. "Ignore the MSA fighters."
Parker spun around. "He told you to wait five minutes. Let him escape in a pod."
"We can’t allow this opportunity to pass," she said. "The Protector must be sacrificed. Eamonn wants it that way."
Sarah stepped forward. "Eamonn is a loyal Alliance member. He’ll detonate the metalor explosives. You should be more worried about the fleet that has just passed around Phobos and is heading toward us."
"What fleet?" Hannah stepped toward Sarah.
Sarah pointed past her toward the viewscreen. "Magnify section G1, Control Officer."
The screen zoomed in to what looked to be random twinkling of debris and weapons fire. It was actually another MSA fleet. Without radar and with several immediate concerns, it had gone unnoticed.
"Jinx to the planet Mars," Hannah said. "We are doomed if another fleet joins the fray."
"Perhaps relying on Captain Dalton’s word and allowing him to do his job is more prudent. We should formulate a retreat plan," Sarah said. "You must save some lives in order to fight another day. Eamonn will complete his mission. He always has."
"You don’t understand," Hannah said. "I have no escape plan or another fight. The ships in the Alliance fleet will perish today, or we’ll be victorious."
"I’ll not face certain death," Sarah replied. "I didn’t come here voluntarily."
"You’re no longer the minister and chief commander of this fleet. I suggest you sit down, Mrs. McCloud. We are in this until the end."
A fire flared in Sarah’s eyes. "Parker, would you straighten this madwoman’s view? We can’t allow ourselves to die. We’re too important."
"No, Sarah," Parker said. "We’re the reason the Alliance was so weak. Hannah Rohen has given the Alliance hope, and I’ll die by her side today if need be."
Sarah clenched her teeth. "This battle will be remembered for the Solarspot’s destruction. Our valiant effort will fall on blind eyes and deaf ears on Mars."
"Don’t be so sure of that," Hannah said. "We have operatives in the holotube networks. The entire battle is broadcasting across the planet. Everyone is watching the Battle of Phobos."
Sarah stepped forward. "Then we shall die as unknown martyrs, and I shall orphan two children, the second time it has happened to them. The value of our deaths isn’t there. We’re the leaders of the Alliance. A highly unstable Alliance at that."
"The value is a free Mars. There is no greater or more noble act," Parker said. A beep sounded from his control panel. He read the message scrolling across. "Three minutes until the Protector is detonated."
The bridge fell silent.
Eamonn cradled his broken arm against his body, trying to minimize the pain. It throbbed with each heartbeat. Shannon stepped carefully in front of him as they moved to the back of the ship and the escape pods. Torn pieces of metal lay in their path as they squeezed through the once wide hatchways.
Through the haze of smoke, he hardly recognized his ship. The main lights were dark, and the yellow caution floods blinked dimly, casting the ghostly shadows of memories. Passing through the derelict ship brought back a recollection of the good times of his days on Lunara, and more importantly, his last crew. The memories would remain memories forever, never to be repeated or erased. The Protector would never fly again. The crash had ravaged the old ship too badly.
A sadness overwhelmed Eamonn. He tried to fight it, but tears trickled down his cheek. The mission still needs to be completed, he thought. He pressed on.
They reached the rear compartment, which was lying in shambles. The hull had collapsed down from the top, and he wondered how the containment wasn’t breached; the control station was smashed, making it unusable; and the floor was littered with tools, nuts, bolts, and everything else that wasn’t secured.
Eamonn wiped the cuff of his sleeve over his eyes and moved to the left, grabbing an air tank littering the floor. He tossed it into the life pod to his right.
He turned to Shannon, who by this time had activated the detonation control pad.
Shannon studied the screen for a long moment. "We can’t detonate the explosives from here," she said. "The detonators must have been damaged."
"I’ll go into the hatchway across to the drone ship," he said.
"But we don’t have enough time. You need to get out of here. The Sheriff will destroy us shortly."
"I’m staying here," he said. "I never was going to leave."
Tears welled in Shannon’s eyes. "I can’t let you go alone. It isn’t right. Not after what you have done for me and what I did to you."
"Adol needs his mother. Don’t argue with the captain. You must go."
Shannon stood in silence. Her arms shook, her lip quivered, and her knees wobbled. Eamonn knew she still loved him, but he couldn’t let her stay. One of them had to detonate the explosives, and only one of them needed to be there. It was him. His ship, his life, and his mistakes demanded he be there.
He moved to her, grabbed her by the arm, and ushered her to the escape pod. He pushed her, trying to get her to enter, but she protested, hitting his broken arm. He winced.
"You can’t do anything with that arm," she said. "I have to stay."
"I wish there was a way for me to go, but there isn’t. This is my ship, and my mission."
"Your ship, your mission. What about me? I’ve been with you for the last two years. Everything the MSA has made you, it has also made me. You can’t justify this by saying such things."
"Shannon Buckley, I order you to get in that escape pod."
Shannon’s face hardened. "There is no way I’m entering it without you."
Eamonn looked at her. "I love you, Shannon. I always have. Please, listen to me for once."
"I can’t," she said. She lowered her gaze away from him.
He pushed her chin up with his index finger and gazed into her eyes. "Okay, we can go together," he said. "The Sheriff will just have to complete the mission. I have faith in Parker."
"Come on, then." Shannon turned to the escape pod.
Eamonn seized his opportunity. He drew his fist back, drove it downward, and slammed it into
the base of Shannon’s neck. She slumped to the floor unconscious.
"I’ll miss you, Shannon Buckley," he said. "Even if I never loved you."
He moved her into the escape pod, closed the door, programmed the flight plan, and jettisoned it toward Mars. He smiled, seeing her leave. The pod was programmed to take her back to Castor and Pollux. He couldn’t think of a better place for an Alliance member to land.
He turned toward the hatchway leading to the cargo bay and the drone ship, but he stopped short, realizing for the first time he was alone in his ship. The ship creaked and cracked as it swayed. The great ship known as the Protector would disappear momentarily. He brushed his hand against the bulkhead in front of him. The ship’s death wasn’t right. It had treated him so well over the years, and now, for him to destroy it in the name of a free Mars felt somehow wrong. It didn’t care about politics or relations. It only wanted to fly.
"Not anymore," he whispered. "I wouldn’t want to die anywhere else…"
The chirp of a CommUn startled him. He rummaged through the junk until he found it.
Chloe’s starwing ID was flashing. He groaned. "What do you want?"
"Thank the stars I finally found you," she said. "The Sheriff can destroy the metalor explosives. You don’t have to do this."
"The escape pod is already jettisoned, and there isn’t a guarantee the explosives would trigger properly." He entered the hatchway.
"You were noble to save Shannon, but there is nothing noble about killing yourself, even as a martyr. You can still do well within the MSA."
"Listen to her," Parker added, cutting in from the Sheriff. "The Alliance needs you. You’re the reason we shall be victorious today."
"Don’t you start with me," Eamonn said, wincing as he crawled along the hatchway. "This is my destiny. I knew it when I awoke this morning. I felt it in the sun."
"Let me attach to the Protector. There is still a clear spot where the starwings dock. I can get you out," Chloe said. "Don’t be absurd."
"Absurd?" he said, feeling a touch offended, but he understood her motives. "You’re not the only person with special abilities. Sometimes, some people can just know something. I know I am going to die today. Just as you know there is still good within Seth."
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 91