The Rising Darkness (Space Empires Book 1)

by Selby, Caleb

  “It’ll be hard to run this ship for any length of time under those circumstances,” remarked Drezden.

  Fedrin shook his head. “I don’t know what else to tell you. If an Unmentionable did get aboard your ship, it could mean disaster for you and your crew. We don’t know how to find them, let alone fight them.”

  Drezden shook his head. “We need to think of something and soon. I want my ship back Fedrin.”

  “We’re coming up on the Sibid warp-point,” Kesler’s voice sounded out.

  “We will think of something,” Fedrin said intently, looking at his friend. “I promise! For now, you must maintain the best control of your ship that you can. I don’t know what else to say. We need you and your ship for the battle.”

  Drezden did not answer. He simply shook his head and turned back to his bridge in a near daze.

  “Do you really think an Unmentionable is aboard her?” Kesler asked.

  “I do,” Fedrin answered with a nod.

  His simple yet convicted answer sent chills through the fellow officers.

  “Do we have a plan to help them?” Jonas pressed.

  “No,” answered Fedrin flatly.

  Jonas, Kesler and Gallo looked at each other uneasily.

  “Orders, Sir?” Kesler asked after a few moments.

  Fedrin shook his head. “Orders haven’t changed Lieutenant. Steady as we go.”

  “Aye, Sir.”

  20. The Invasion!

  “There’s another one!” yelled Kebbs, pointing toward a low-flying Krohn gunship before ducking under the next available cover.

  The Krohn fleet had arrived and as predicted by Professor Jabel, the Clear Skies System never fired. Without Clear Skies, the Krohn fleet easily crashed through the lines of lightly armed freighters, transport ships and few fighter squadrons that dared to challenge the far superior force.

  “Where can we go?” Reesa screamed as she watched the building in front of her turn into a massive fireball and then begin to rain down molten debris.

  “That way!” yelled Darion over the roar of Krohn transport engines as he pointed down another street. “It looks clear!”

  After defeating the pitiful attempt at stopping them from space, the Krohn warships descended into low orbit in preparation of planetary bombardment and a general softening of the ground defenses, as insignificant and uncoordinated as they were. Thus, with nothing left to oppose them, the Krohn Armada started the daunting task of landing troops on the surface in and around Larep. With the support of the Krohn fleet from above, Krohn fighter squadrons in the atmosphere and the overwhelming troop presence on the surface, the few Namuh positions and strongholds that had not been transferred to the arctic, were quickly overrun and destroyed.

  Nevertheless, even as the paltry capital defenses burned, brave soldiers, civilian volunteers and even some noble Branci, rallied together and marched to face the Krohn onslaught as it closed in on the city. The resulting battle was quick and decisive. When it was over, only a burning field and charred skeletons remained as testament to the heroics of the Namuh and Branci defenders.

  “Not going this way!” Kebbs said as he rounded a corner in the street and stopped cold.

  “Why not?” asked Reesa as she ran up behind.

  “That’d be my first reason,” Kebbs said as he pointed to a Krohn landing craft that had just touched down and was releasing a squadron of heavily armed Krohn shock troops.

  “Lovely,” Darion said as he watched the reptilian creatures, their deadly tails waving wildly, as they made preparations to secure their specific objectives in the city; his city...the city he had been responsible to protect, and had failed so miserably at.

  Larep citizens lucky enough to have won lottery places in the bunkers were tucked safely away, for the time being. Those who were shuttled out of the city now made their way to nearby mountain ranges and thick forests on foot in a desperate attempt to put as many miles between them and the city as possible. Still others chose to make their stand in their own homes and apartments, not wanting to risk the perils and uncertainties of nomadic refugees.

  “Look out!” Reesa yelled as she watched a large piece of rubble come tumbling down the side of a nearby building.

  Darion dove out of the way just as it crashed into the ground not far from where he had been standing. “Thanks!” he yelled as he scrambled back to his feet, clutching the all-important parcel in one hand and his weapon in the other.

  “Don’t mention it,” answered Reesa.

  “What’s that noise?” Kebbs said as his eyes took to the sky once more.

  “Sounds like engines,” Darion said, as he shielded his eyes from the bright sun and looked up.

  Kebbs shook his head. “They sound different than the others.”

  “Over there!” Reesa yelled, pointing to several fast moving black dots on the horizon.

  “Fighters,” Darion said knowingly.

  “Hurry! In there!” Kebbs yelled pointing to a pile of debris that had once served as an ornate façade to a mighty skyscraper.

  “Are you crazy?!?” Reesa shot back as she frantically looked around for alternatives.

  “He’s right!” Darion agreed as he ran toward the pile of stone blocks, motioning for Reesa to follow. “We need to get out of sight before those fighters strafe this entire area!”

  Reesa and Darion followed Kebbs as he climbed up the pile and then disappeared into a small cavern within. Darion had barely squeezed in when the loud roars of the Krohn fighters flew overhead, followed by loud pitched laser rounds smashing the street and low level buildings all around.

  “Sounds like they missed us,” Darion said, several minutes later as he peeked out between two jagged blocks.

  “Yeah, but not for long,” Kebbs warned crouching up on his feet. “By nightfall these streets will be filled with Krohns looking for a snack.”

  “Incase anyone cares, I’m not down with that,” Reesa said. “I have a particularly poignant aversion to being eaten!”

  Darion shook his head. “Kebbs, how far to your place?”

  Kebbs glanced out the opening and spotted laser and missile fire striking seemingly random locations all over the city, sending flames and ash high into the sky. He shook his head. “Too far with all that going on. But then again, I don’t think we have a choice.”

  “We have to go now!” Reesa yelled after a blast smashed the street in front of them, spraying up rock and dirt all around. “Otherwise we’ll be buried in here! And in case you were wondering, I have an aversion to that too!”

  After another murderous pass overhead by the fighters, the trio hastily began their climb back out of their makeshift bomb shelter. Reesa, as always, took the lead with Darion right behind. It was a tough climb but Reesa and Darion managed to ascend the heap in good time. Kebbs, however, struggled on a particularly nasty and steep slab of polished stone and could not get a solid footing. Over and over again he tried but to no avail. He was just considering climbing back down and looking for another way when a hand was lowered from above.

  “It’s been awhile since I’ve climbed,” Kebbs confessed as he reached for Darion’s hand. “I haven’t gone since…"

  Darion nodded before Kebbs could finish his sentence. Kebbs looked intently at Darion for just a moment, but in the silent moment the two men spoke of many things; Darion’s brother, their childhoods, the Krohn invasion, the Codex, and so much more than mere words would ever have been able to say.

  “Areyou two coming?” Reesa called from the bottom of the pile, weapon drawn, watching and waiting for anything.

  “On our way!” called Darion after he had hoisted Kebbs up.

  “Thanks,” Kebbs said as he placed both feet on the top.

  “Not a problem,” Darion answered.

  “We’ve got places to go boys!” Reesa prompted. “Lets go!”

  “Right behind you,” Darion said as he quickly began to climb down the pile.

  “I think she’s beginning to li
ke you,” Kebbs said as he climbed down behind Darion. “She hasn’t threatened to kill you once today.”

  “I hope not,” Darion said as he followed Kebbs.

  “Why’s that?” Kebbs asked with a chuckle.

  Darion shook his head. “She scares me. She’s not the cute secretary I thought she was. I don’t think I could handle her like this.”

  Kebbs laughed. “I’m sure you’d manage.”

  The three companions continued on their journey out of the city keeping a watchful eye on the sky as well as the streets.

  ***

  “We’ll punch through the gravitational well of the warp-point in another fifty-eight minutes,” Kesler said into his tele-link.

  “All ships at tactical readiness?” Fedrin asked.

  “You bet!” Jonas answered from his station. “Ready and waiting to kill things!”

  Fedrin smiled and shook his head. “Glad to hear it.”

  Kesler flipped a few switches and turned back to his transmitter. “I’ll contact you when we’re a few minutes from entry.”

  “Thanks Lieutenant. I’ll be there!” Fedrin finished and cut the transmission.

  “Am I the only one a little freaked out about this jump?” Jonas asked. “I mean, we all know what’s waiting for us on the other side, right?”

  Tarkin looked up from his post and nodded. “Not too thrilled here either, but we’ve got to do it.”

  “But shouldn’t the fact that we know what’s on the other side make us adjust our moves?” Jonas implored to anyone that would listen. “Granted, I’m no tactician. My job is to sit here and blow things up that Fedrin doesn’t like. But this just seems ridiculous! An enemy fleet twice our size is waiting for us. What about this isn’t making sense to anyone?”

  Kesler leaned back in his chair. “The situation stinks but Tarkin is right. We have no viable alternatives. We need to get to Sibid and there’s no other way to get there than straight through the jumps.”

  Jonas sat back in his chair and folded his arms. “Well I’d like to officially protest this action.”

  Kesler sat up and pretended to type. “While I log your whining, how about you see to it that the weapon systems are primed. After you do that, feel free to sit there and wait to die.”

  “You have such a poetic way with words,” Jonas answered. “It’s a wonder you didn’t get into politics.”

  Tarkin chuckled.

  ***

  Fedrin glanced at the faces of his commanders in separated sections of his room’s transmission screen. The pressure that each face unknowingly placed squarely on his shoulders was staggering. He wondered if they knew.

  After glancing down at a few hastily prepared notes, Fedrin cleared his throat and began to speak. “Sometime yesterday afternoon, the automated telecast broadcasted these images over the Cortex Network,” he said, as a parade of images appeared before each of the commanders. “As you can see, the Krohn Fleet has successfully reached and attacked Namuh Prime.”

  Searle gasped as she saw the horrifying images of Krohn warships in orbit over her world.

  Commander Colby sighed as he looked at several pictures of Larep in flames. It was a demoralizing sight.

  “So does this mean we lose?” the ever-unabashed Commander Sanders asked. “We all knew the Krohn Fleet was going to reach home before we were able to return, but this? I thought the Unmentionables were essentially in control of both sides here. Why would they need to do this?”

  “Because they’re the bad guys,” Kendrick answered.

  “And they’re hungry,” Colby added as an image of a Krohn hunting squad appeared.

  “I think there’s more to it than that,” Fedrin remarked.

  The commanders looked intently at their leader.

  “How do you mean?” Kendrick asked.

  “I can’t explain it fully,” Fedrin said shaking his head. “But something tells me that the Unmentionables don’t want us just crippled as a military force. Why would they? We pose no tangible threat to them.”

  “Then what?” asked Searle.

  “I think they want us exterminated, as a people, as a race,” answered Fedrin somberly.

  “But why?” Tenith, the youngest of the Commanders asked impetuously when nobody else did.

  “I think is has something to do with what Trab said to me before my link with the Sions was severed. Something that we possess that the Unmentionables desperately want and, yet, also fear,” he said pensively.

  “Sounds like a good reason for genocide,” added Searle, followed by several solemn nods in agreement.

  “I don’t mean to always sound like the voice of doom and gloom,” spoke up Sanders, “but at the rate our ships and cities are falling, I don’t think there’s going to be anyone left to capitalize on what we possess, whatever that may be.”

  The other commanders slowly nodded in agreement and then looked up at Fedrin for an answer.

  “All the more reason to keep our focus and be true to one another!” Drezden declared. He held out his hand and continued passionately. “Friends, our enemy fears us! If they must resort to butchering civilians from space and using their Krohn pawns to murder our people on the ground, it means they are desperate! Take their fear and draw courage from it, not doubts!”

  Fedrin nodded slowly. “I agree with Drezden. Our enemy fears us for reasons we do not yet fully appreciate and won’t unless we stay the course.”

  The other commanders again nodded, albeit this time reluctantly. They trusted their Admiral, but the stakes of the game were growing higher and higher with each tragedy endured by the wounded and bleeding Federation.

  “Sibid is fast approaching,” said Fedrin resolutely, aware of the subtle misgivings of his subordinates. “Be vigilant and strong and we will prevail.”

  The other Commanders nodded and smiled, more for Fedrin’s sake than their own, as one by one they cut their links until only Drezden remained.

  “You ready for this?” Fedrin asked as he buttoned up his uniform jacket and glanced at the lone commander still connected in the transmission screen.

  Drezden smiled. “I’d feel better if there wasn’t an Unmentionable aboard my ship.”

  Fedrin shook his head in anguish.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Drezden quickly shot back, noticing Fedrin’s distress. “We’ll be fine. The real question here is if you’re ready?”

  “I guess we’ll see in a few minutes,” answered Fedrin as he made his way to the door.

  “Do you think Etana will be there?” Drezden asked as Fedrin stepped into the hall.

  Fedrin froze in place for just a moment. “I’m not counting on it,” he answered flatly and then walked away.

  Drezden shook his head. “I hope she is for your sake,” he said to the empty room.

  ***

  “Status report?” Fedrin called out as he entered the bridge.

  Kesler turned in his chair and looked back at his instruments. “We are preparing to enter Sibid.”

  Fedrin nodded in response and began checking his own monitors.

  “Are all fleet system checks completed?”

  “Aye Sir,” Tarkin answered immediately.

  “And?” Fedrin asked promptly.

  Kesler pulled up a screen. “All vessels are faring well except the Hornell’s engines which have reached critical overheat. She will be forced to decelerate or risk a meltdown if they are not given rest within the next few hours.”

  Fedrin shook his head and closed his eyes. “Will she be ok for the entry?”

  “Kendrick’s officers are promising me that she will,” Kesler said doubtfully. “They know her better than me, so… I’m saying yes.”

  Fedrin breathed a sigh of relief. The Hornell Carrier was the backbone of the humble Sixth Fleet. Without her and her fighters for support, the other ships in the force didn’t stand much of a chance.

  A series of alarms and sirens began to blare at multiple stations.

  “Activate dampener
s,” Kesler ordered to the propulsions engineer. “This is it!”

  An officer in the front of the room rapidly flipped a series of switches on his console. “Dampening thrusters engaged,” the officer announced as the ship slowly stabilized.

  Fedrin’s gaze was absorbed in the growing star filled hole at the other end of the warp-point. Random bursts of energy emitted from the eye of the jump, but were quickly pulled back into the anomaly.

  “Ten seconds to warp exit!” Tarkin announced, trying to sound brave and calm but in reality was anxious to the point of being sick.

  There was complete silence on every bridge of the Sixth Fleet. Each officer focused intently on their respective stations making sure everything was just right while inwardly relying heavily on their shipmates to care for their own tasks with the same level of attention. All the commanders looked out their viewing screens as their ships prepared to enter Sibid. On the other side of the jump was the Voigt Colony, the Krohn Fleet, the Clear Skies program and their destiny.

  21. One Less Hero

  Row upon row of the tall, subsidized housing towers stretched as far as the eye could see. Each identical, hideous gray tower reached toward the hot, unforgiving sky in a vain effort to escape the filth and moral decay clawing at their foundations. This was Kespa, the pinnacle of a noble program to provide free housing to all, but now arguably the worst slum in all the Federation, and a blight on the socialist record.

  “I sure don’t miss this place,” Darion exclaimed after the three companions rounded a corner and took in the full view of the depressing sight.

  “I wish I could miss this place,” Kebbs retorted, nodding to the dumpy shops, streets in disrepair, and dilapidated facades that lined the tower’s street level floors. “Maybe when this stupid war is over I can get a place in Larep somewhere.”

  “What? And miss all of these wonderful neighbors of yours?” exclaimed Reesa as she pointed to a group of wild men and women running around the street laughing loudly, seemingly oblivious that their world was under siege.