The Spindle Station: Book 2 of the Alliance Conflict

by Jeff Sims

  Ace fired the gravity missile directly at the battleship’s hangar bay. He then flipped the transport front-to-back (making the transport up-side-down) and upped the sub-light engines to 150% of maximum allowed power. He adjusted maximum power to his rear shields.

  The three fighters reformed in front of the transport. Ace targeted all three at once and fired his remaining 3 offensive missiles in dummy mode. Each missile struck an enemy fighter and destroyed it.

  Doctor Purami looked up at the control and noted that virtually every system was flashing red. She looked back at her diagnostic computer and thought, the transport is about to blow up and the human is still remaining calm. Interesting.

  Then the gravity wave from the missile struck the transport. Dolen felt like he was going to be ripped from his chair and the chair was going to be ripped from the floor. He felt like a doll being thrown around. The stress was too much for his intestines and he projectile vomited. He noted that Chief and Purami were also puking.

  Ace struggled mightily to keep the transport aligned with the battleship and his lunch aligned with his stomach. He could feel the transport destroying itself. They passed through the gravity wave and into the hangar. Ace rotated the shuttle so that it was facing down again.

  They reached a velocity of zero only millimeters before they reached the end of the hangar. Ace turned off the sub-light engines before they could damage the battleship. He allowed the transport’s shields to bump the hangar bay’s shields and move the transport a few meters forward – far enough to allow the rear cargo door to be opened. He then shut down the power generator before it could blow up.

  Ace said, “We have now reached our destination. Please use caution when gathering your belongings as they may have shifted during flight. Have a pleasant afternoon.”

  Paul woozily got up and stumbled out of the cargo bay door. He looked back and noted that none of the Advranki had moved yet. Well, other than to obtain fresh vomit bags that was. Paul pulled out his communication pad and tried to access the ship.

  Fortunately, the Hiriculans hadn’t shut off the communication system or disabled the computer. Paul was able to determine that there were 5 Hiriculans aboard. Two were on the bridge proper and the other 3 were on the lowest level of the bridge.

  Paul had been sitting relatively close to Captain Koner during the shuttle flight. Paul looked back into the shuttle and said, “Captain, is there any kind of override that you have to keep the Hiriculans from closing the main bridge door?”

  Koner replied, “Yes.” He grabbed his com pad and entered his personal code. Koner said, “The command was accepted. The door has been deactivated.”

  Paul saw that none of them had started moving yet. He decided to give them a valid reason to remain seated in the shuttle. He said, “Everyone, there are Hiriculans aboard. Please wait here until I give an all clear signal.”

  Paul walked from the hangar bay to Guardian’s main corridor. He delighted in watching the birds flying around him as he walked down the corridor. Paul entered the bridge and saw the two Hiriculans working at stations. They jumped up when they saw him.

  Paul really didn’t know exactly what to do. Both his sword and his Gatling gun were horrendously overpowered to use on an unarmored being. Further, he couldn’t use grenades because he didn’t want to damage the battleship.

  They started running, so Paul grabbed one in each hand and banged their heads together. The force was too strong though because he smashed in their skulls. Both were dead instantly. Paul rode the electro lift down two levels and exited. He saw the three Hiriculans working on the computer.

  Paul stepped on the first, crushing the Hiriculan’s entire chest cavity. He caught the second and flung him across the room. Then he moved his arm in a backhanded swing and crushed the Hiriculan’s skull.

  Paul gathered all five bodies and dragged them back to the shuttle. Once there, he checked and found the Advranki were recovered enough to move. Paul told them it was now safe to leave the shuttle and waved them forward.

  Admiral Dolen unfastened his safety straps and gingerly stood up. He looked at Ace and said, “I owe you an apology. I was wrong about your piloting skills. I honestly believe that you are the best pilot in the galaxy. Are all humans that good?”

  Ace smiled and said, “No, Captain Solear sent his best pilot to retrieve you. The other humans are pretty good though.”

  Dolen exited the shuttle with Ace and spotted Paul standing next to the bodies. Dolen pretended not to notice that they all had been crushed.

  Paul asked, “What should I do with the bodies?”

  Somehow, Dolen still half-expected the human to eat them. However, it was clear to him now that was just a prevalent rumor. Dolen turned to Ace and said, “Can this transport still fly?”

  Ace replied, “Maybe at minimum power and a speed of .001 light.”

  Dolen replied, “Put the bodies in the shuttle. Program a course back to the station and put the shuttle on automatic.”

  After completing the task, Paul removed his armor. Ace and Paul sat on the hangar deck. There was little else for them to do for the next 7 hours except talk and rest. They were technically stranded on the Guardian because there wasn’t enough time to return to the Sunflower before the Alliance fleet jumped.

  Paul said, “So, tell me everything about yourself.”

  Ace replied, “Well, I’m good at video games.”

  ………………..

  Jim landed his fighter in the elevator and got out. It felt strange seeing an empty spot in the formation where Jolly was supposed to be. They had won convincingly, but it still hurt.

  Jim looked at his Blaze’s fighter and was stunned to see the amount of damage it had taken. It was scratched and dented and there were several scorch marks on it. The one laser hit had torn a hole from the front to the back of the fighter. It passed right through the cockpit.

  Jim looked over at his friend and said, “The fighter is a wreck. I think every major system is damaged. I can’t believe you made it back in one piece.”

  Blaze smiled, but didn’t reply. He sat down on the floor in the pilot’s quarters and started strumming his guitar. Blaze was playing a melody that Jim didn’t immediately recognize. Jim turned away to go to the galley when he noticed that Blaze stopped playing.

  Jim walked back over and saw that Blaze had slumped over his guitar. Jim thought that he must be sleeping, so gently tapped him with his boot. The guitar slid from Blaze’s hands and his dead body tipped over.

  ………………..

  Solear watched the command carrier Retribution come to a full stop and escape pods start leaving the ship. The front part of the ship was still somewhat intact despite have been vivisected and it appeared that there were multiple survivors.

  Solear said, “Lexxi, stop firing missiles effective now. Also, deactivate any missiles still in flight.”

  As Lexxi was deactivating the missiles, Putat said, “I have received a message from the Guardian. They have retaken the ship and they will be underway momentarily.”

  Solear checked the main plot. All Alliance warships had left the station and were making their way to the hyperspace lane. The Hiriculan fleet could not catch them.

  Solear sent his final order as commander of the rescue fleet. He ordered all ships to form a single file line spaced 5 minutes apart and jump to hyperspace in order. Sunflower was leading the pack.

  Solear stood up and walked back to the Captain’s chair. He paused for a moment and asked, “Clowy, are all human pilots accounted for?”

  Clowy responded, “Humans?” She paused for a moment and continued, “Yes. Four marines and Alpha squadron have safely landed on the Dandelion. One pilot and one marine are on the Guardian. All remaining pilots are on the Sunflower.”

  Clowy thought for a moment and clarified, “All living pilots that is. Three fighters were destroyed by the enemy and the pilots were killed.”

  Solear grabbed his com pad and found the application t
o self-destruct the fighters. Solear closed his eyes for a moment of silent thanks and pressed the button. The fighters remaining in the Influenla system violently and completely exploded. Solear completely forgot about Ace’s old fighter still sitting inside the Spindle Station.

  Clowy stood up and asked for everyone’s attention. She said, “Today, an alliance of humans, Solarians, Altians, and Advranki fought to free our friends and fellow military members. Although we lost several good friends, we succeeded beyond our imagination.”

  Clowy paused a moment. She knew that she had to give an actual account of the battle, but really didn’t want to do so. Once she said it, she knew that Ella’s death would be real.

  She finally said, “We launched 40 unbelievably brave fighters. They are credited with killing 237 enemy fighters and one frigate. Thirty-seven returned from the battle, but one died of his wounds. We sent a 6 person rescue mission to the station. They are credited with 23 enemy kills and responsible for rescuing an entire fleet including 1 battleship, 4 destroyers, and 8 cruisers.”

  Clowy stopped talking because she had started crying. She sobbed for several long moments. She wiped her tears and continued, “My friend Ella died during the rescue. Finally, the Sunflower engaged and killed an asteroid base and a command carrier.”

  Solear silently counted – 2 destroyers in Hepitila, 1 destroyer and 2 cruisers in Trilon, and now 2 more in Influenla. The Sunflower had single-handedly defeated 7 enemy warships, including two in a populated system. This time, there were far too many cameras monitoring the battle; a revision of history to hide the humans’ performance would not be possible.

  Further, now that Admiral Dolen had now seen the humans in action, he will more than likely want a full accounting of their abilities. Solear would not be able to hide the truth about their performance much longer.

  The Sunflower reached the Influenla – Opron hyperspace lane. Captain Solear programmed the jump coordinates into the navigation computer, ran a simulation, checked for accuracy, and pressed the button to jump.

  ………………..

  Supreme Admiral Fruid’la finished his juice in one drink and stood up. He contacted the commander of the guards and told him to get all available personnel armed and to the prisoner area as soon as possible.

  There were no combat troops stationed on the Spindle Station – only a handful of civilian policemen. The HAS units guarding the Alliance prisoners were on loan from the Retribution. Admiral Fruid’la exited the café and ran toward the barracks. Once there, he personally led 30 HAS units toward the top spindle. There were 36 total HAS units available, but four of the soldiers were late. Fruid’la didn’t have to time to wait for them.

  They hurried to the electro lift and took it to the upper level. Admiral Fruid’la was the first one to reach the archway. He realized that it was blocked and banged on it in frustration. One of the HAS units gently shooed the admiral aside and pushed on the plate.

  At that moment a giant explosion ripped through what felt like the upper half of the station. Fruid’la grabbed his com pad and asked Plot’ko, the station commander for an update.

  Plot’ko replied, “Someone blew up the transport hangar. As soon as you secure the area, I will send a repair crew.”

  The HAS unit gave the plate a huge push and finally succeeded in breaking it free. The walked as quickly as possible up the corridor to the prisoner area. Fruid’la looked in and saw the dead and mutilated bodies. He gave another quick look around, but clearly all of the prisoners were gone.

  They continued down the corridor until they were blocked by the wreckage. Fruid’la contacted Plot’ko and told him to send the repair crew.

  Fruid’la noted that there were three messages marked important waiting on his com pad. He quickly scrolled through them – his command carrier was destroyed, the prisoners escaped and jumped to Opron, and Admiral Lopeq’la from the prisoner transfer force was requesting docking instructions.

  Fruid’la said, “Perhaps we should have him arrive on the lower spindle.”

  Chapter 22

  Ella smiled. She was at the Solaria Sun beach and was lying on the warm sand. The waves were just barely hitting her toes. She was relaxed and clearly enjoying herself. She listened to the loud fireworks display in the distance.

  She looked over and saw her mother approaching. Her mother! She hadn’t seen her mother in years, not since the accident that claimed her life.

  Ella’s mother covered her entire body in the sand. They were laughing and singing as they did it. The only thing still showing was her head and shoulders. She laughed and smiled again. It was great to be reunited with her mother.

  Ella noticed that her mother stopped smiling. She was now frowning and looking out at the ocean. Ella turned and looked that way. She saw a large wave of water coming straight for her. She realized that she would drown.

  Ella struggled with all of her might to free herself from the sand. She got one arm free and used it as a lever to get the other out. She pushed and kicked with all of her might until she was free.

  She looked around. The sand and waves were gone; so too was her mother. She looked around and saw a pile of dead Hiriculans next to her destroyed AAU. She realized that she was still in the Spindle Station and still in the prisoner holding area. She felt the aftershock of a large explosion somewhere else in the station.

  Ella grabbed a beam weapon from one of the corpses and walked out of the room. She retraced her steps past the control room and back to the main corridor. Ella turned right and stepped onto the small people conveyor. She found it hard to believe that only a few short weeks ago she had been riding this very same escalator disguised as a Neto.

  She increased her pace until she reached the transport storage area and stopped. The area was a mess. Ella realized that this was the explosion that had woken her up. She saw that the majority of the blast had been directed out of the station.

  However, a small portion of the blast went inward and destroyed the interior corridor. It was blocked by the remains of a shuttle or possibly a fighter. Ella was trapped. There was no way that she could go further.

  She was having difficulty breathing and realized that the oxygen was slowly drifting out of this section of the station. Ella checked; her gloves and helmet were still attached should she need them.

  She heard banging in the far distance. It sounded like it was coming from the arch. Ella figured that the Hiriculans were breaking through and would be there at any moment.

  Ella grabbed her com pad and said, “Computer, is there another way around this area?”

  …Crewmember Dekow drew a schematic of the ductwork in the area. It should be possible to crawl through the duct and reach the other side of the obstruction…

  Ella found the approximate location of the duct and fired her beam weapon at it. She repeated twice more until she had an opening large enough to crawl through. She entered the duct and crawled past the obstruction. She again used the beam weapon to create an opening and crawled out.

  She passed the area and entered the top spindle. She kept going, not entirely sure what she was looking for. Two minutes later she found it.

  …………………..

  Jack Dogbarks was getting extremely nervous. His scanners were blocked because he was still attached to the Spindle Station, but he knew that something was wrong because he had heard and felt several large explosions.

  Jack contacted traffic control for an update, but did not receive a response. He was about to try again when the computer interrupted him.

  …The main cargo hold door is being hacked…

  Jack yelled, “Stop them.”

  …Correction. It isn’t being hacked. Someone just entered the door code. The main cargo hold is opening…

  Jack stood up and exited the Jackal’s control room. He made it about 3 steps and came to a complete stop. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Ella Birdsong was standing in front of him with a beam weapon in one hand and chewing some Advranki s
ea moss in the other.

  Jack tried to process all three things – Ella, weapon, and sea moss.

  Ella said, “Jack, we need to leave now.” Ella casually waved the beam weapon for emphasis and took another bite of sea moss.

  Jack’s brain had reached a tipping point; one of the three items finally won. Jack responded, “Where did you get that sea moss?”

  Ella replied, “There are two pallets of the stuff in the third hold.” She paused for a breath and repeated, “Jack, we need to leave now.”

  Jack said, “We can’t. Traffic control hasn’t officially released the Jackal yet. If you haven’t forgotten, there is a Hiriculan frigate out there patrolling the station. They would stop us long before we reached the hyperspace lane.”

  Ella said, “Jack, there was an Alliance fleet held prisoner here. The Sunflower just attacked and destroyed the frigate. They rescued the prisoners and the entire fleet is fleeing the system. We need to leave now before the Hiriculan fleet arrives.”

  Jack undocked the ship and left the station. He wasn’t hailed or challenged by traffic control. Once they cleared the station, Jack activated both passive and active scanners. Jack couldn’t believe the carnage.

  There were wrecked fighters everywhere. He saw the asteroid was on fire. Next to it was a humongous ship with huge holes in it. He spotted a cloud of dust where the frigate should be and the large Hiriculan fleet just about to arrive at the station. Finally, he found the Alliance fleet jumping to Opron.

  Jack set a course for the hyperspace lane and increased his speed to .04 light. Hopefully, he could catch the Alliance fleet in Opron. Otherwise, he would have to entertain Ella for another 19 days.

  Ella deactivated the weapon and tossed it into the recycle bin. She sat down next to him in the control room and said, “It’s time to leave. Let’s go home.”

  Table of Contents

  Title

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