The Coming Storm_A Pax Aeterna Novel

by Trevor Wyatt

Ashley was surprised when she heard him say that. It wasn’t like the Terran Armada to prepare for defeat in the face of a battle. She told him so.

  “We’re not planning for defeat here, Commander,” Jeryl replied. Was it just her or was she starting to associate him more as Jeryl and less as Captain Montgomery, she wondered. Maybe it was New Sydney. Maybe it was the brief shore leave they had enjoyed right as war had broken out. But whatever it was, their bond seemed closer now than it had been for awhile.

  “What are the parameters for mission success then, if it’s not to drive out the Sonali invasion of the Calendra system?” Ashley asked at that point.

  Jeryl sighed to himself and then passed along the mission briefing packet to the First Officer.

  “We need to ensure that Calendra II is given the time to evacuate as many colonists as possible before the Sonali arrive. If necessary, we are to engage the Sonali and make a stand to buy time for the citizens to evacuate,” Jeryl stated. “If needed, our lives are expendable to ensure that as many colonists get out as possible.”

  Ashley simply nodded. It wasn’t the time to point out that a large number of Terran Union bureaucratic functions for the Edoris Sector. That this plan to slow down the Sonali but not actually defeat them was giving up before the first shot had been fired. That out of the million colonists on Calendra II, only a small number were probably being evacuated.

  “What happens to the people who won’t be able to evacuate?” Ashley asked.

  Jeryl looked pained as he replied to her. “The automated defense platforms and the colony defenses will try to hold off the Sonali as long as possible.”

  Ashley looked at him and couldn’t help herself from retorting, “Jeryl, you know that there are about three hundred thousand odd bureaucrats on Calendra II. I’m sure that we’ll give our last to get them all the time they need to FTL out of here. But what about the rest of the people?”

  “Ash, we have a job to do and Armada Command believes that we need to ensure that critical segments of the population are given time to re-establish operations elsewhere,” was all Jeryl could bring himself to say.

  “No wonder we’re getting our asses handed to us,” Ashley sneered. “It’s not even a month in and we’ve given up after a few engagements. Now we’re throwing some people to the wolves while the ones who got us in this mess are fleeing for safety.”

  There was nothing that Jeryl could say to that. They both knew that their orders were clear; to engage and harry the enemy and draw them out as long as possible.

  “So that the greatest number of people can continue the fight,” Jeryl said before dismissing Ashley.

  “Disengaging FTL drives and coming into normal space, Captain,” the helmsman alerted Jeryl.

  Ashley looked over to the viewscreen. She noticed Jeryl tense up.

  “Put me through to the fleet,” Jeryl instructed Communications and waited until he was given the signal before delivering his message.

  “Attention, flotilla. This is Captain Jeryl Montgomery. We’re going in to stop the Sonali dreadnought and her support craft from getting into the Caldera system. Crazy Horse, Chuckchansi, George Washington, Yorktown, Hirohito, and San Francisco, as discussed, you will engage the peripheral Sonali vessels as the remainder of the fleet while The Seeker goes after the dreadnought head on. Keep this channel open for secure intraship communications. Montgomery out.”

  The channel was muted and an otherworldly red glare lit the CNC as The Seeker went to battle alert.

  Moments later, the flotilla dropped out of FTL and into the outskirts of the Caldera system.

  And into chaos.

  “Sensors detect twenty small crafts strafing the lead Sonali frigates, Captain,” Ashley called out from her station. A moment later she looked at the viewscreen to see a motley collection of Terran fighters launching torpedoes against a Sonali craft that dwarfed the fighters by a magnitude of five.

  “That’s got to be the colonial defenses,” Jeryl said, more to himself than anyone, before directing his next command to the tactical officer. “Let’s begin our run. Weapons ready, defensive shields at maximum, full speed.”

  Ashley could sense the palpable tension in the air. This was the most dangerous mission that many of the crew of The Seeker had ever engaged in. Fighting border skirmishes with the Human Confederation, otherwise known as the Outer Colonies was one thing.

  Tackling an alien life form that was apparently much more advanced than humanity and had only been discovered less than six months ago?

  Completely different.

  She could see it in the way people tried to do their jobs without letting the fear get to them. How they answered the Captain that they were launching torpedoes on the dreadnought.

  She could hear the collective gasp through the CNC as the viewscreen showed, in unmerciful detail, the two lead Sonali frigates veer away from the main fleet and concentrate their weapons on the Crazy Horse.

  Ashley turned to her sensors and watched as particle beams from the Sonali ships lanced out towards the Crazy Horse. The ship attempted to follow normal Armada protocol and launched torpedoes to blunt the intensity of the particle beams, but the Sonali ships were able to sustain their fire at top speeds and they began to batter the defensive shielding on Crazy Horse.

  “Crazy Horse shields are buckling, Captain,” Ashley found herself announcing. “They won’t last much longer under a barrage like that.”

  As if to vindicate her assessment, the viewscreen dimmed itself to compensate for the intense bright explosion as the antimatter drive of the Crazy Horse exploded, ripping the entire ship apart with all hands lost. Ashley watched as the helmsmen covered their eyes from the brightness of the blast instinctively.

  They weren’t in the battle more than ten minutes and had already lost a top of the line Terran Armada vessel.

  “Concentrate our fire on the dreadnought weapons systems, come in at bearing five, three, zero, one, from their aft side,” Jeryl instructed, not giving himself a chance to get distracted by the loss of a fellow ship.

  The crew complied and The Seeker raced through a fusillade of enemy fire to launch several torpedoes that struck the Sonali dreadnought’s aft weapons.

  Ashley watched her sensors keenly as she saw the weapons striking. She looked at the damage report with dismay as Tactical reported, “Minimal damage to their shielding, Captain.”

  Unwilling to be deterred, Captain Montgomery ordered another run.

  “The Calendra fighters are regrouping on the far side of the eighth planet,” Tactical reported.

  “How many of them are left?” Jeryl asked.

  “Five, sir,” Tactical reported stoically.

  Ashley shook her head. There were twenty when they had jumped out of FTL.

  Another explosion lit up the viewscreen and Ashley looked through her mountains of data when the Tactical officer called out, “Chuckchansi has been destroyed, sir.”

  “Maintain firing solutions on the dreadnought,” Jeryl commanded. “We need to punch through their fucking shields!”

  Chatter began to come through the open line between the ships.

  “This is Yorktown,” Ashley heard the Captain of that ship call out. “We’re taking heavy fire from Sonali fighters and are pinned down. Retreating from our position towards Calendra II.”

  “Maintain your position, Yorktown,” Jeryl instructed. “We have to hold the line. Here.”

  There was no acknowledgment and Ashley wondered whether the ship would listen to Jeryl.

  It turned out that they did.

  “Hirohito, can you provide cover for Yorktown?” Jeryl called through the open channel.

  There was only static through the line..

  A moment later, the answer came from Tactical. “Hirohito is crippled sir. She’s listing in space. Her weapons and shielding are offline and life support is sporadic. She’s taken heavy damage.”

  The minutes went by faster than Ashley could count. The flotilla went through
various combinations to attempt to harass and pick off the Sonali ships.

  Space lit up again as Yorktown had her hull breached in multiple areas from Sonali fire and exploded.

  “Status of Sonali fleet?” Captain Montgomery called out from his chair.

  After a brief minute, the report came back for everyone in CNC to hear.

  “All Sonali ships seem to be functional, sir.”

  There it was. So many lives extinguished from the human side. And not a single Sonali ship had fallen.

  “Signal the Calendra II colony,” Jeryl said to Communications. “Tell them we need to pull back to the planet. Maybe we can use the orbital platforms to help us.”

  “Sir, I’m not able to get a signal to Calendra II,” Communications called out. “The Sonali seem to be jamming our hails. The last thing I was able to glean was that widespread riots were breaking out across the colony as people were trying to board the limited ships available to take them off planet. There seems to be a breakdown in the colonial government.”

  Jeryl sighed and Ashley could understand why.

  With most of the fighters from the colony destroyed and nearly half the Terran flotilla destroyed or incapacitated, the end of this battle was drawing closer. Humanity was losing. As if the end of an era of space exploration were at hand. And an age of extinction were imminent.

  “Take us around for another pass, Lieutenant,” Jeryl instructed from his chair. “Target anything you can and give them everything you got.”

  As the ship began another pass into the maelstrom, two Sonali frigates and the dreadnought began to concentrate their fire on The Seeker.

  “Evasive actions, Helm!” Jeryl yelled and the ship swerved hard to port, evading two crisscrossing particle beams from two different ships.

  But a third one rocked the vessel and Ashley had to hold on to her station to keep from being thrown off.

  “Status?” Jeryl yelled in one breath as he gave another order. “Maintain firing!”

  “Hull breaches being sealed on Deck 5 and 6, shielding down to 50%,” Tactical reported back.

  “Sir, another few hits like that and there won’t be a ship left,” Ashley said out loud to the Captain. Jeryl nodded. He knew that their death was at hand.

  Jeryl

  “Fuck,” Jeryl muttered, his eyes trained on the viewscreen. He saw as the hulking Sonali dreadnought seemed to grow larger and larger, and his fingers grew white as he gripped tight the armrest of the Captain’s chair.

  Was this the way he’d go? Crushed, alongside his whole crew, in the first real battle The Seeker faced? No, he wouldn’t allow that to happen. He didn’t care about his own life, but he’d be damned if his whole crew would suffer because he wasn’t up to the task. No. Whatever the cost, he’d ensure they’d all live to see another day.

  “Sir, their weapons are locked on us. They’re powering them up again!” Someone shouted, and Jeryl gritted his teeth so hard his jaw felt as if it was about to shatter.

  “Evasive maneuvers!” He shouted, getting up from his chair and looking straight at the viewscreen. The cannons in the dreadnought were lighting up at a steady rhythm, eager to unleash hellfire upon them.

  “We don’t have enough power to—”

  “Shut the shield down and redirect all power to our thrusters,” Jeryl commanded, his heart beating so fast he wouldn’t be surprised if it simply exploded. Shutting down The Seeker’s shield during a battle was pure insanity, but it was either that or suffer an immediate death. The ship would never survive another blast from the dreadnought.

  “But, sir, that’s—”

  “Do it!” Jeryl bellowed, digging his fingernails into the palm of his hands.

  “Yes, sir!” He heard the Ensign reply. A warning took over the viewscreen, letting everyone in CNC know that shields were down.

  “Take us out of here, Helm,” Jeryl commanded, and a second later he heard the thrumming of the thrusters as they received a surge of power. He gripped the handrail in front of him tight as The Seeker swerved starboard, doing it so fast the gravitation stabilizers barely had the time to compensate for the change of direction.

  The moment The Seeker moved, a particle beam flew from the dreadnought and right into the space previously occupied by the Terran Union ship. If Jeryl had hesitated a simple second, the beam would’ve hit them right in the hull.

  “We’re receiving a message straight from the Armada Command,” Mary Taylor, the comms officer, said. She looked back over her shoulder at Jeryl, an expression of fear and desperation coloring her eyes. Even though her skin was dark, Jeryl almost swore she had grown pale in the last few seconds.

  “Go on.”

  “They’re telling us that most ships have evacuated, and our orders are to retreat immediately,” Mary Taylor told him, and Jeryl raised his eyes and looked back into the viewscreen. He watched as the dreadnought followed after them, the two Sonali frigates still flanking it.

  “Prepare to engage FTL drive,” Jeryl commanded, even though he knew he was turning his back to the millions of innocent men and women that inhabited the Caldera system. But what could he do? Condemn everyone aboard The Seeker to an early death just because he didn’t have the necessary grit for war? No. If a heavy conscience was the price to save his crew and continue the war effort, that was what he was going to do. “Tell the rest of the fleet we’re heading back. We’ll stay behind until everyone jumps into FTL, and we’ll follow after them.”

  “Yes, sir,” Mary replied, her fingers flying over the screen in front of her as she talked into her headset. “All remaining ships are engaging FTL drives.”

  “Good, let’s do the same,” Jeryl nodded.

  “Engaging FTL drive!” One of the ensigns shouted as Jeryl sank back into his seat. The dreadnought was closing in on them, and he was starting to get worried. One lucky shot before they jumped into FTL and it’d be all over.

  “We won’t make it out in time, Captain,” Ashley told him, her face so pale Jeryl could swear all blood had left her body. “In a few seconds they’ll have the drop on us, and then...”

  “Captain, I’m receiving a transmission from the Hirohito,” Mary Taylor cut Ashley short, her voice brimming with panic. “Their FTL drive has been damaged beyond repair. They won’t be able to make the jump.”

  Abandoning a colony was one thing. But abandoning someone in a fleet he was commanding? He knew it was what he needed to do, but somehow Jeryl just couldn’t say it out loud. He simply stared at the viewscreen for two long seconds, watching as every remaining ship from the fleet jumped into FTL and vanished. Only The Seeker and Hirohito remained.

  “We need to go, and we need to go now,” Ashley whispered, leaning into him. Jeryl barely listened to her. He just watched as the dreadnought’s cannons powered up again, and for a moment he felt as if time had stopped. He felt the blood grow cold inside his veins, and both his heart and lungs seemed to stop working.

  “Take us out of here, Helm,” Jeryl finally commanded.

  “It’s too late, sir, they’ve locked on to our coordinates!” One of the youngest ensigns cried out, panicking. It was true—ten more seconds and The Seeker’s hull would be pierced by the destructive particle beams, and there was little Jeryl could do to stop that.

  “What the…?” He heard Ashley mutter behind him, and he looked back at her over his shoulder. Her eyes were focused on the sensors in her workstation, where blinking dots signaled the position of every starship in the sector. The moment Ashley noticed that Jeryl was looking at her, she patched her workstation to the view screen. A fraction of a second later and the sensors were superimposed on the screen.

  “Is that…?” Jeryl started, but Ashley didn’t even let him finish.

  “The Hirohito,” she nodded, watching as a blinking dot moved fast, closing in on the dreadnought. It was doing it so fast that there was simply no way they’d be able to avoid a collision.

  “They’re going to sacrifice themselves so that we can leave,”
Ashley muttered, her tone a somber one. Not a second after and Jeryl saw Hirohito on the viewscreen, its large shape moving toward the dreadnought at blinding speed. It happened fast; one hull hit the other, metal twisting fast, and then both the dreadnought and Hirohito seemed to implode.

  The dreadnought was about to fire when the collision happened, and its particle beam cannon blew up from the inside out, a blinding white light taking over the view screen.

  “Take us out of here. Now!” Jeryl shouted, jumping up from his seat. The crew of the Hirohito had sacrificed themselves so that everyone aboard Jeryl’s ship could live one more day. He wouldn’t allow that sacrifice to go to waste.

  “Yes, sir!”

  And then they were out of the Calendra system.

  “Dead. All of them,” Ashley said as Jeryl simply looked down at the glass of whiskey in his hands, the amber liquid swirling around the glass. Even though they still hadn’t received any official confirmation, there was no doubt in Jeryl’s mind about what happened once they left the Calendra system. The Sonali unleashed their weapons and laid waste to each settlement on the planet, killing every single soul that wasn’t lucky enough to evacuate.

  “I know,” he simply whispered back at her, slowly raising his eyes and looking into hers.

  “We should’ve done more…” She whispered, and Jeryl noticed that her hands were trembling. Her hair was disheveled, and her lips were a thin line. Even though he trusted Ashley more than anyone else in The Seeker, he knew she was having trouble dealing with the consequences of everything that had happened.

  “There was nothing we could’ve done,” Jeryl told her, setting the whiskey aside and going up to his feet. He walked around his desk and walked toward Ashley, stopping just a few feet away from her. Without even thinking of what he was doing, he raised one hand and tucked a stray lock of hair over her ear. “It’ll be alright. We survived. We’ll keep on fighting.”

  “Promise me, Jeryl,” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his. “Promise me it’ll be alright.”

  “I promise you, Ash. I promise you,” he told her. He shouldn’t be doing it, promising her the world like this, but he simply couldn’t help himself. If Ashley wanted him to promise, he’d do it, and he’d crush the whole Sonali Combine because of this promise. He wasn’t sure of much nowadays, but he always took his promises seriously.