by Caleb Selby
“I don’t know but I doubt it was good,” answered Fedrin solemnly as he slowed his pace and listened to the distant thundering crashes.
“Admiral, this is Kesler,” the familiar voice spoke up on Fedrin’s link.
“Go ahead, Commodore.”
“Thank goodness you’re ok!” Kesler exclaimed. “Gallo and I have been trying to get a hold of you for ten minutes!”
“What’s going on out there?” Fedrin asked. “It sounds like the end of the world from where I’m standing.”
“It very well may be,” remarked Kesler. “The Ilo Battle Station just fired a volley of laser cannons at the colony. From here it looks like dome three is collapsing.”
“Oh my word,” Etana exclaimed in horror, covering her open mouth with her hands. “If it collapses millions will die!”
“Any reason or warning for why this happened?” Fedrin asked as he and Etana once again picked up their pace.
“None, Sir,” Kesler answered. “It must be some sort of automated system since there are no life signs aboard the station. Did anything happen down there that could have tripped it off?”
Fedrin glanced at Etana. “I’d say so!” he answered emphatically. “But we’ll get into that later. Right now we need to focus on getting out of here in one piece!”
“You guys better hurry!” Gallo spoke up. “That dome’s integrity is failing fast.”
Kesler glanced at a screen and his eyes grew. “He’s right Admiral. Your section is about to collapse. You need to get out of there now!”
Silence followed Kesler’s warning.
“Admiral?” Gallo said after a few moments of quiet. “Admiral, are you there?”
Still nothing.
Kesler sat back in his seat and shook his head. “Prepare evacuation teams and rescue response units. We need to get the Admiral!”
“Looks like we’ve got bigger problems on our hands than the Admiral,” Jonas announced, following an alarm at his own station. “Ilo has just oriented all primary weapons toward us!”
Kesler tapped several keys on his own console and then shook his head. “Battle stations!” he announced after tapping a red key at the top of his station and leaving his chair and walking straightway to the command platform. “Gallo, take my post!” he ordered as he sat in Fedrin’s chair.
“Aye, Sir,” answered Gallo promptly, leaving the communication station and taking the primary post.
“Show me Ilo,” Kesler ordered, his voice having an authoritative quality, seemingly by simply changing seats.
On the main screen, directly ahead of the fleet, was the colossal Ilo Space Battle Station. The Namuh fleet, lead by the Iovara, forged ahead toward it, main plasma weapons charged and shields up.
“Jonas! Have all shielding modulators focus on the prow quarter for the approach run,” he ordered.
“You got it,” answered Jonas.
“Gallo, have Kendrick keep the fighters away from the Ilo’s point defenses batteries. They’ll not be needed for this attack. This will be a contest for the big guns to decide.”
“Will do,” answered Gallo.
Kesler added, “I want the Revenge to increase to two-thirds battle speed and prepare to flank the station on her upper quadrant, and I want the Arbitrator to take up rear guard and prepare to fire on the second wave. Have the Idok take point with us,” Kesler ordered the complex ship movements like a veteran commodore, destined to be admiral.
Gallo hastily inputted the orders and then looked up at his screen as the lumbering ships slowly unraveled from each other and assumed their attack vectors on their daunting target. The Hornell Carrier and Sion ship stayed behind.
“Shields locked and weapons are hot!” Jonas announced after receiving confirmations from all stations.
“All ships are falling into formation and the Hornell has dropped back,” added Gallo.
Kesler stared at the station, as it grew larger and larger on his screen. He was just about to have the ships assume final attack vectors when hundreds of flashes emitted from various points all over the station.
“The station has opened fire on us with her EMOD canons!” yelled Jonas.
“Brace for impact!” Kesler shouted as the laser beams came crashing into the ship sending shutters through the structure but holding firm.
“Are these guns firing on automatic settings?” Kesler yelled.
“That’s a big fat negative!” Jonas answered. “They are being fired manually. You can tell by the sporadic firing patterns.”
“But you haven’t locked onto life signs yet ensign?” Kesler implored. “That makes no sense!”
Gallo nodded. “Life scans keep coming back negative...” his words trailed off. “What an idiot I am!” he exclaimed, as he flipped a switch and then gradually tuned a dial.
“What is it?” asked Kesler.
“Krohns don’t turn up on thermal life scans since they are cold blooded,” Gallo answered promptly. “But switch the scan parameters to animated organic signs and you can plainly see the base is crawling with Krohns!” Gallo announced, showing a cross-section view of the station to Kesler.
“And you are sure there are none of our own people on there?” Kesler asked carefully.
“If there were, they’re long since dead,” Gallo replied grimly. “That place is a lizard hive now!”
“Then let’s roast them!” Jonas called out.
Kesler nodded. “Couldn’t agree more. All ships, open fire!” Kesler ordered. “I repeat, open fire. Let’s take them out!”
“You got it!” Jonas called down.
“All ships copy orders,” Gallo voiced up. “Attack vectors approved! Fire at will! Fire at will!”
The ships sped toward the station and released their powerful plasma rounds once in range. The Idok sped ahead and taking point, fired several dazzling salvos of her Sion incinerator beam, which sped past the plasma rounds and pierced deeply into the station.
“Plasma away!” Jonas announced excitedly, his eyes tracing the molten fireball as it burned toward the station, enamored with the destructive capacity it contained.
The station continued to fire at the closing ships but to no avail. The outdated Ilo weapons could not penetrate the shielding of the modern warships and they pressed on despite her best efforts to keep them at bay.
The plasma rounds were closing in on the breach caused by the Idok’s incinerator beams when Gallo gaped at his screen in disbelief. “The station’s shields have just dropped!”
“What?” Kesler asked.
“And the station’s colony side weapons have just supercharged and are now firing at the colony with triple power!” added Jonas.
“Monsters!” Kesler exclaimed. “They’re redirecting the shielding power to get one last shot off at the colony!”
Kesler and the other officers in their respective vessels looked on as the station released one last murderous salvo toward the colony below. Their gaze fixed on the traveling laser rounds was interrupted when one by one, the plasma rounds crashed into the station in relative proximity. Each impact was worse than the previous, blasting massive armored plates and mighty bulkheads through space until the last rounds smashed into what was left of the core, turning the station into a massive fireball. The huge fiery mass of twisted metal and protruding appendages began to descend down toward the planet where it slowly burned up in the atmosphere.
Kesler sat back in Fedrin’s chair and watched as the remains of the station disintegrated; while, far below, the visible colony domes were smashed, yet again, by the last laser rounds the Krohns managed to fire off. He swallowed hard, knowing Fedrin was down there in the midst of a collapsing colony.
“Etana!” Fedrin called out as he lay panting in the darkness. “Etana, where are you?” He reached forward through the darkness only to find a large slab of a collapsed wall. It was c
old to the touch. He struggled to turn around and reached forward again. Another cold sensation welcomed him there. He then reached up to find the same result. He was trapped!
“Etana!” he yelled. There was no reply. “Etana!” he shouted again. “Where are you?”
Several minutes of tortuous silence passed when above his head where he lay, he heard the faintest sound.
“Etana!” Fedrin yelled. “Is that you?”
A moment passed before Fedrin heard a faint reply. “Its me,” the familiar voice of Etana answered.
Tears came to Fedrin’s eyes with the affirmation that she was alive. “Can you move?” he called out.
“No,” was her reply. “My arm is pinned to the ground.”
Fedrin shook his head in anguish. “Hang on! We are going to get you out of here!”
“Fedrin,” said Etana calmly.
“My transmitter is smashed,” Fedrin said after feeling the exposed wires on his tele-link. “Maybe we can...”
“Fedrin,” Etana said again.
Fedrin paused.
“Trab told me that it wasn’t you in that picture,” Etana said softly.
“We can have this conversation another time,” Fedrin said firmly. “There is no need to bring that up now. We need to focus on getting out of here!”
“Let me finish,” Etana spoke with conviction into the darkness. “If I don’t do it now, I might not get another chance!”
“Ok,” was Fedrin’s only reply.
Etana paused before continuing. “Trab told me that the Unmentionables created the image to compromise our relationship and make you feel isolated and alone.”
“Seems like a lot of effort just to make me lonely,” Fedrin commented.
“That wasn’t their end goal,” Etana remarked.
Fedrin nodded. “I assumed as much.”
“By making you alone, they hoped to make you ineffectual as a leader and vulnerable to attack.”
“It would have been a lot easier just to put a lydeg round in my brain,” remarked Fedrin.
“They tried, Fedrin,” she answered gravely. “Trab told me that they tried many, many times to kill you. Each time, they were stopped by the Sions.”
“Really?” Fedrin exclaimed. “Trab never spoke of this. I wonder why all this fuss over me?”
“You are our leader,” Etana said emphatically. “And a people without a leader are a lost people.”
Fedrin shook his head, feeling nearly sick that so much pain and sorrow had been generated on his account, especially when he felt that he was nothing special.
“When they couldn’t kill you, and couldn’t stop you from leading, they settled for the next best thing,” Etana continued.
“Discrediting me,” Fedrin said, remembering all too well, the images of himself in the dock sub-levels just prior to the explosions.
“Exactly,” Etana affirmed. “They used your likeness, just like in my picture, to cast doubt on your integrity and thus undermine your ability to lead and thus oppose them.”
Fedrin shook his head as he marveled at the intricacies his enemies had undergone just to detract from his ability to lead. The thought was simultaneously flattering and unnerving. Could he really make such a difference in this conflict as to warrant such attention? If so, how?
Etana spoke up again. “Once I learned of this deception, I realized that I was, and had been for sometime, very much in the wrong Fedrin.”
“You are not to blame for that,” Fedrin asserted. “You were manipulated by a very crafty enemy. No guilt should be placed at your feet for what they have done.”
“Perhaps,” Etana said. “But had I done what you said in the beginning and considered your character, the character I fell in love with so many years ago, I would have known the accusation was a fraud. Your devotion to me has always been unwavering. I am so sorry for ever doubting it.”
“As I said, I don’t hold you to blame,” Fedrin answered. “Besides, part of your grievances was true.”
“How do you mean?” Etana asked.
“Had I been more attentive to you in the months preceding the contrived image, perhaps we could have been in a better position to discuss the situation as partners instead of fraying acquaintances.”
“Lets just agree here and now, to put it all behind us,” Etana said with finality. “Its done and over now. We have a big job still left to do and we need to tackle it together, not separately.”
Fedrin smiled. “Couldn’t agree more.”
The two lay there amid the ruble of the colony for several hours, sometimes speaking about the events of late and sometimes in complete silence, their own company being a sufficient enough retreat for them. They had each a newfound admiration for the other, which afforded them a level of happiness and contentment they hadn’t experienced in years. As the hours passed however, they began to notice the air gradually become thinner and thinner and breathing became harder and harder. Neither spoke of their dire situation partly to conserve the remaining air they had, and partly because there was nothing to be done.
“Do...you...think...they’ll find us?” Etana finally asked when her breathing was becoming so arduous that she felt it was time to say goodbye.
“Not sure,” Fedrin answered honestly, the time for optimistic wishes and false hope long since passed.
“If they don’t...I’ll...die happy,” Etana’s words trailed off.
“Me too,” Fedrin answered weakly, wishing he could move the blocks between them just so he could hold her hand one last time.
He didn’t know how long he had been lying there and he barely had the strength to react when he finally noticed the large block above him slowly move away and light came pouring in.
“Did you find him, Papa?” a familiar girl’s voice sounded out from behind a breathing mask.
The man nodded emphatically and then called out. “He’s over here!”
Moments later, Iovara and Idok marines, in full non-atmospheric gear, converged on the spot, shinning lights down into the shallow chasm.
Fedrin scooped up the package containing Trab’s hand and his gifted dagger with one arm and shielded his eyes from the light with his other. He tried to speak but found to his horror that he had no voice.
“He’s alive!” a soldier called out. “Let’s get him out of there!”
“Did you hear, Papa?” Jeni exclaimed. “He’s alive, he’s alive!”
The man nodded with a smile. “I heard, I heard!” he said as he lent a hand to help hoist Fedrin out of the hole.
As Fedrin appeared from the opening, he pointed to one side of him. “Eta…Etana,” he tried to yell over the oxygen mask one of the soldiers gruffly placed over his mouth. His yell came out as a unintelligible whisper. “Over...over there,” he said again. “Commander Etana is...” and with that, he passed out.
Two marines hoisted Fedrin between them and then slowly began to make their way out of the collapsed corridor.
“I think he said there is someone else,” remarked Jeni curiously.
One of the marines looked back at Jeni and then glanced around the area. “I doubt it missy,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t think anyone could be alive in here. It’s a miracle the Admiral made it!”
“But he said there was someone else,” Jeni protested. “He pointed right there!” she added, pointing to another pile of rubble.
The marine looked at the girl and then at her father for affirmation. The father shook his head and smiled. “My Jeni saved several hundred colonists today including my son,” the man said with pride. “Their Krohn captors were preparing to slaughter them all as a final act of terror when we broke into their dock, fought and killed them all. Her heroics didn’t stop there though,” he continued. “When we returned with my son, she immediately had me signal the fleet and instruct you where the Admiral had gon
e so you could help him,” he said and then looked down at Jeni with affection. “I feel that she has earned at least a few minutes of our time looking for one more survivor.”
The marine hesitated for just another moment before nodding and signaling for several other marines to come over and help look around the surrounding area.
A few minutes later Jeni herself spotted a nearby crevice large enough for a body. A few minutes after, the remaining marines had excavated the sight and had retrieved Commander Etana from within. She was alive, but barely. The marines fixed an oxygen mask about her face and then, carrying her in similar fashion to Fedrin, slowly turned to follow the rest of their team out of the corridor.
“Good work, Jeni,” the man said to his daughter as he gave her a hug. “I’m so proud of you!”
Jeni smiled. “He helped us save brother, Papa. It was the least I could do.”
The man smiled and hugged his daughter all the tighter.
Fedrin woke up to the sound of rhythmic beeping. He quickly sat up and found himself in the critical care unit aboard the Iovara. A pale blue curtain with faded designs was drawn around his bed. He shook his head and tried to get up but stopped short when he noticed the tubes and wires going in and out of his arms.
“Nurse!” he yelled out.
Nobody answered.
“Somebody get in here and help me with these!” he called out again.
A few moments later, a stern faced, middle-aged nurse marched into the room. Her graying hair was pulled back tightly into a bun that did nothing to soften her countenance. She wore a bright white uniform complete with matching hat and had blue rank markers stitched into the shoulders. An infrared cardio monitor was draped around her neck and she held a data pad filled with blinking screens and sinusoidal waves. She bore the look of one who was not to be trifled with and for a moment, Fedrin forgot he outranked everyone in the fleet.
“Can I help you, Sir?” she demanded in an authoritative voice that would not have won her a bedside manner award.
“Yes,” Fedrin said, in a much more subdued voice. “Can you help me get this stuff off?” he said holding up a handful of tubes and wires.