Chase interrupted his dark train of thought. “I kept one. I thought, what the hell, one more missile ain’t gonna make a difference; I might as well keep it for something that will.”
“I like your thinking buddy, but if you don’t shoot now…”
“Firing.”
The missile vectored straight to Daniel’s ship but, a fraction of a second before it connected, Chase remote detonated it. The shockwave that followed stopped most of Daniel’s spin and sent him hurtling through space like a dead rock.
“Uuuuuurggh…”
“Daniel, are you alright?” Chase asked fearfully, peering out the window to get a visual on his friend’s ship. When there was no reply, his face whitened. “Daniel?!”
“Yeah... I’m... here... I’m contemplating my breakfast but, thanks to you, I might actually get a chance to have another one tomorrow.”
Chase sighed in relief, but it was short lived. “What’s your status? We have to destroy that ship, and we’ve just lost our window to do it.”
“Status check is erratic. I lost most of my shields, inertial dampers at twenty-five percent,” Daniel reported. “So I have to watch for crazy maneuvers unless I want those words engraved on my tombstone. Otherwise, weapons seem to be online. I can still deliver my full complement of torpedoes, but I’ll need a shield.”
Chase nodded and hit the comm. “All fighters report.”
“Alpha Four reporting ready. Shields minimal.”
“Alpha Seven, I’m still in the green.”
“Alpha Two, I lost a stabilizer, but I’m good to go.”
“Beta Three, shields in the red, good to go.”
“Alpha Eight, in the green.”
“Beta Four, I’m hit, but the ship can fly.”
“Beta Seven, shields are holding.”
“Alright everyone,” said Chase, “we’re going to surround Alpha Leader and go for an afterburner run on the target. We’ll only get one shot and we have to make it count. We must stay in Alpha Leader’s proximity and cover his ship with our shields. If necessary, cover him with your ship itself.”
“Beta Leader, this is Alpha Four. The targeting system won’t engage at this velocity; it won’t have time to get a good lock.”
“He won’t need to,” Chase replied. “Daniel will manually release the torpedoes when we’re in sufficient range.”
“And what would that range be, Chase?” Daniel asked nervously.
“Say, about a klick or two away from target.”
“…You’re insane.”
“I thought someone said that we had to do everything possible for this mission to succeed. I’m only telling you what our course of action should be.”
Daniel sighed again and glanced around at his damaged ship. “You’re right Beta Leader; we’ll proceed as you suggested. Everyone in position!”
Daniel engaged his afterburner and everyone else followed closely, trying to stay in a tight, defensive sphere around him. When it started to rain lasers, the ships protecting him saw their shield levels drop at an alarming rate. The ones whose shields were already down started venting parts into space. While the first five seconds of the run were crazy, the next ten were even worse. Almost every few seconds, a ship would either explode or be disabled. Before long, there were only two pilots remaining, Daniel and Chase.
Only when the instruments told Daniel he was under one klick did he hit the trigger. The weapons deployed and both pilots made a hard break left. Chase was soon out of range, but Daniel fell behind—his inertial dampeners and engines being low on power. It took only a fraction of a second for the torpedoes to reach their destination. It was a direct hit. The resulting blast engulfed everything around it in a fiery wall of flames.
“Daniel?” Chased asked nervously, watching the fire get closer to his friend.
“I see it.”
“…Daniel!”
“Chase, I promise you I see that massive explosion!”
The fire got closer and closer to Daniel’s craft. Soon, only the nose of his ship was visible to the outside world. Chase held his breath… But then the flames started to dissipate. With a whooping cheer, Daniel shot out of the explosion and into open space.
On the command deck of the Iron Claw, Admiral Zan started to lose his composure. When he could stand it no longer, he turned away from the main screen and glared at his second in command.
“Major Extor, would you mind telling me what just happened?”
“We just lost the battleship Sudden Death.”
“Fitting end for a ship of that name, I suppose. But how could they destroy one of our battleships so easily?”
“They launched all their torpedoes at once, Admiral,” the major replied nervously.
“They did.” The admiral’s voice was dry and dangerous. “Very well then, concentrate your efforts on destroying them now that they lack their precious ordnance.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
But moments later, a red light started to blink on the tactical console and the lieutenant’s face changed radically.
“Admiral, one of the ships with a full tactical load of torpedoes is converging towards the Titanium’s coordinates.”
“Deploy all cannons and every fighter, even the ones out of range. Fire on the ships with everything we’ve got.”
He spun back to the main screen and watched as a storm of firepower converged near the Titanium. There were multiple explosions and shield impacts. Several of the Alliance vessels were quickly dispatched and bits of them drifted behind the attack like a deathly cloud. Finally, there were only two ships remaining. The admiral smiled to himself as he watched their imminent collision. Not only would they fail to destroy his prize ship, but they’d end up painting its hull.
But at the last second, everything seemed to go wrong.
Both ships broke hard left and, almost at the same time, the Titanium got caught in the biggest explosion yet. The admiral put his hand to the glass as he watched Titanium and its vital anti-gravity engine go up in flames.
“How the hell did this happen?!” he shouted in a blind rage.
“Unknown, Admiral,” replied the tactical officer.
“Find out now! Or there will be hell to pay! In the meantime, deploy all ships and engage this pathetic excuse for a battlegroup. Wipe them out this second! You hear me!?”
The tactical officer thought he might have been having some kind of mild heart attack. But he finally managed to get control of himself and turned back to the comm.
“Relaying command to the battlegroup, Admiral.”
The admiral turned his back to his crew and returned to his place in front of the main screen, staying silent as if meditating on the situation. His brilliant plan had been thwarted by…what…two lousy ships? Two lousy starfighters?!
“Alpha Leader and Beta Leader, this is SAD Destiny. Congratulations on a job well done. Now hurry up home so we can jump the hell out of here.”
“Copy that!” said Chase. There was no reply from Daniel and he glanced down at the comm. “Are you alright, Alpha Leader?”
The radio cracked, and Daniel’s voice could barely be heard. “I think so...”
“You did it, Daniel! You blew up the ship; we can go home!”
“That’s great, but I don’t think my fighter is going anywhere.”
He was suddenly cut by photon fire from one of the battleships vectoring fast on their position. It blew off half his left wing.
Chase hit the comm and shouted, “Eject! I’m gonna tractor you through!”
Inside his failing craft, Daniel shook his head. “As much as I want to live, I don’t want to get us both killed. Get out of here, Chase.”
A second laser hit and blew up part of his cooling system.
“Your engines are going to blow; you have to eject!” Chase cried. “Listen, I won’t go without you, so unless you do want to get us both killed... Eject, eject! NOW!”
Daniel hit the ejection button, and suddenly his cockpit w
as spinning in open space. As the stars flashed by, he saw Chase’s fighter vectoring at a high velocity towards him. With a startled frown, he clicked the comm device in his suit.
“You’re not gonna grab me in afterburner mode are you now my friend?”
“Unless you have a better idea?”
“Chase…do you have any idea what that would do to me?”
“Look at the bright side Dan, you already threw up your breakfast.”
As the ship hurtled towards his floating cockpit, Daniel couldn’t help but yell, “YOU ARE INSAAAAAAANE!”
The tractor beam got a good grab on him, but Daniel blacked out instantly. Chase tore through heavy enemy fire, not even engaging potentially easy targets, concentrating only on getting back to the Destiny as fast as possible.
“Destiny, this is Beta Leader. I have successfully tractored Alpha Leader after his ejection and I’m coming in hot. Have medical teams standing by on the landing pads for Daniel.”
“You got it, Beta Leader,” said Captain Saroudis. “Good job.”
“Thanks. It cost us dearly though, Captain.”
“I know, Lieutenant, but we did what we had to do.”
Chase nodded to himself. “Will we be jumping soon, Captain?”
“The second your craft has landed, Lieutenant, so hurry up.”
“Copy that.” Chase ground his teeth together and went as fast as he could.
He vectored his fighter into the landing bay, carefully unloading Daniel’s cockpit to the ground and then disengaging the tractor beam. The cockpit moved a bit, but secured itself quickly. Chase then landed his craft, jumped out of the cockpit, and started running towards his friend who was already being taken care of by the medical crew.
The medical first officer looked grimly at Chase. “We have to take him to a life support system right away; he’s in a coma and his vital signs are fluctuating radically.”
“Will he make it?” Chase gulped.
“It’s too soon to tell. I’m sorry,” replied the officer as they loaded Daniel up.
“I’m sorry too,” Chase said to no one in particular.
The medical team placed Daniel on a mobile health-bed and plugged him in with an oxygen flow and an automated cardiac stimulator. A few seconds later, they vanished through the doors on their way to the med-bay.
Chase watched them go with a strong pain deep in his chest. He couldn’t help but feel responsible for his friend’s condition. But just as he was replaying all his actions to see what he could have done differently, his comm system activated and the captain called his name.
“Lieutenant Athanatos, to the bridge on the double.”
Chase stared at the doors his friend had just been carried through, but clicked his comm and answered, “On my way, Captain.”
Just as the elevator opened up on the command deck, flames shot down and almost burned Chase where he stood. The fire quickly stopped, but the whole ship shook violently, and Chase was thrown to the floor along with several other people. When he got up, the bridge was filled with smoke and some equipment wiring was sparking on and off, but he could see that the battlegroup had successfully entered hyperspace.
He took an unbalanced step and came to stand beside the captain’s chair. When the captain saw him, he immediately got up and shook Chase’s hand.
“Well done, Lieutenant. I’ve been told that Alpha Leader is in critical condition; I’m really sorry about that. I know how you and the wing commander are close friends.”
“Thank you, Captain. We’ve lost a lot of good men and women today; I hope he won’t be added to the list.”
“So do I, Lieutenant, so do I. But since you’re the highest ranking officer for the time being, you’re temporarily our new wing commander. And, unfortunately, we have a lot more problems ahead of us, Lieutenant.”
Chase’s dream of a hot shower and a nice rest went up in smoke.
“I’m listening,” he said.
“We had to jump in a hurry with some heavily damaged systems. The computer was unable to determine all the coordinates in time, so the last two coordinates were randomly selected. As of now, we’re in critical condition. But I’m afraid if we hadn’t done the jump blindly when we did and not a moment later, we would have been blown to pieces. The SAD Faith and Courage are badly damaged as well, but fortunately they successfully slaved their jump engines to ours seconds before I gave the order to go. That being said, we’re not sure if any of them will be able to sustain such a long jump.”
“What about the dreadnoughts?”
“Four of them, including the Iron Fire, have managed to jump with us as well.”
Chase frowned. “How long a jump are we talking about here?”
The captain looked away a moment before reluctantly returning Chase’s gaze.
“Seventy-two hours, Lieutenant.”
Chase’s eyes grew wide and he put a hand on the chair to steady himself. “Seventy-two hours?” he repeated. “That’s madness—we’ve never done such a long jump! We could end up on the other side of the known universe. We should try to contact headquarters to send reinforcements to help us defeat this armada. Otherwise…I mean…god knows what they’ll do to the Star Alliance, sir.”
The captain’s face grew grave and he paused a moment, regarding Chase thoughtfully. “I don’t think you’re grasping something here, son. The Star Alliance is history.”
Chase blinked as the words settled over him like a fog. Sensing his temporary speechlessness, the captain continued.
“While you were engaging the enemy forces, we received multiple distress calls from all over the sector. All of the attacks happened at the same time; they were precisely orchestrated and surgically executed. There’s just nothing left.”
Chase’s mouth went dry and his throat closed up but he nodded robotically. Now was no time to fall apart. The enemy was still out there. And at least a few ships had survived.
“Did you notice that the second wave of ships was of a different design, Captain?”
Again, the captain seemed reluctant. “Yes I did. We’ve checked with our internal database and, while they weren’t an exact match, the computer came up with…”
Chase fought back his impatience. “With what, Captain? What were those ships?”
“Zarlack, Lieutenant. The computer thinks they must have been Zarlacks.”
Chase almost had to laugh. “That’s nonsense. The Zarlacks were wiped out a thousand years ago.”
“All evidence to the contrary… Or maybe our computer is wrong.”
Chase nodded confidently. “Maybe they just look like their ships. In any case, we’ll have to analyze the logs.”
“We already have a team working on it. But right now, we must proceed with caution. We could very well be the last of the Alliance.”
Chase’s throat closed up again and he shook his head wildly. “But we escaped the attack, Captain; maybe other battlegroups have as well.”
“Maybe, but even so. Imagine the difference in firepower they would be facing right about now. I don’t usually care much about the odds, but a few scattered ships against an armada of hundreds if not more battleships stand no chance. Our only possible course of action is to escape and survive at all costs.”
“How the hell did the Obsidian Empire get their hands on an armada like that so quickly, Captain?”
“I wish I knew. Obviously these new ships, Zarlack or not, gave Obsidian a serious advantage in firepower and numbers. That’s the only way they could have delivered such a death blow to the Alliance.”
Chase hesitated as he trod on shaky ground. “Did you consider going to Alpha Prime? The great council should make this decision…No offense, Captain.”
The captain shook his head. “None taken. But I’m afraid Alpha Prime was also targeted by the Obsidian Empire today. From what we can gather, we believe it fell within the first minutes of the attack. All our attempts at communication have gone unanswered. The logs show some distress calls that a
lso mention vessels of unknown configuration and immense firepower. My best bet is that Obsidian made an alliance with a race we’ve never heard of and, if today was any indication, they must be very powerful. From the reports we’ve gotten…it seems they may have vaporized our forces throughout the entire sector.”
“My god.” Chase shook his head, trying to absorb everything. “I’m still not ready to accept the Zarlacks are still alive…but whatever this new race is, they have fundamentally shifted the balance of power in the universe as we know it.”
The captain nodded. “That was my reaction as well. I still hope I’m going to wake up from this nightmare…but it seems that this is all too real.”
“What are we going to do, Captain?”
“We’re going to find a refuge planet and try to stay out of trouble for a while. With any luck, we can find some allies of our own and begin the process of reconstructing the Alliance. But we must do that far, far away from what is now Obsidian space. We must put ourselves out of their reach or we’ll be hunted down and annihilated.”
Chase frowned thoughtfully. “But is there anywhere we can go? If they have so many ships, they can make blind jumps just like we did... Eventually, they will find us.”
“I suppose they will. But if we end our jump deep in the unknown regions, we might have a chance to buy ourselves at least some time to repair.”
“They’ll search the universe with everything they’ve got.”
“Perhaps, but the unknown regions are huge. It would take them a long time. Years if we’re lucky. Months or weeks if we aren’t.”
Chase resisted the urge to start pacing as his mind raced away. “Not necessarily. They could have calculated a partial vector from our escape; that would considerably lower the amount of space they’d need to search—”
The captain cut him off. “That’s a possibility, but right now we can’t think that far ahead. We need to concentrate on getting ourselves a new base of operations and see what we can do to ultimately survive.”
Ryonna's Wrath: Universe in Flames 1.5 - A Novella Page 14