Immediately in reply the Cagliostro’s view screen split in two as General Abruzzi was now seen sitting aboard the Titan’s command deck. Abruzzi snarled his reply, “If you want this world and its inhabitants you better prepare yourselves for a long, drawn out conflict, mister. If you know anything about us you know we don’t give up without a fight, and isn’t that what has you all afraid of us to begin with? Our ability to fight? You should turn around right now and head back to whatever swamp you crawled out of, son. I guarantee you’ll wish you had when this is all over, if you survive at all.”
The alien smirked, showing rows of glistening yellow teeth, “Ah, General Abruzzi, I had heard you were a tough man from your inquisitors. No matter though, when this is over you will kneel at my feet and beg for death.”
Abruzzi squinted his eyes as he stared at the alien on the screen across from him, letting the air hang silent and dead for a long moment before he replied, “Try your damnedest, alien. I’m going to show you the error of everything your people did to me and my world the past God only knows how many years. As my grandfather used to say, you pompous jackass, bring it!”
Abruzzi immediately had the connection cut, leaving the alien to fill the Cagliostro’s screen fully. Mark motioned to Ariel and she cut their view of the alien ships bridge as well.
“Did you see the bridge on that thing? It looked like it was held together with bailing wire an’ bubble gum,” Danny commented.
“Don’t underestimate them, any of you. We really have no idea what we’re up against. For all we know, they could obliterate us instantly,” Mark admonished.
“Hey Mr. Cheery, give it a rest for now, we ain’t beaten yet,” Dan replied.
“The Titan is moving,” Red advised.
Abruzzi’s ship placed itself before all the rest, on the Earth side of the asteroid belt.
“Agalum.” Mark murmured.
“What Mark?” Eddie asked.
“He said they were called the ‘Agalum’ what does that mean? Who was called that? His race in particular? Or the entirety of all the races involved in this little group of thugs? Or maybe the race that runs the whole show?”
“We’ll have to ask them after we kick their asses,” Ariel offered with a grin.
“After we kick their asses Ari, you can be the first to ask that question of every one of them, just do it as painfully as possible. We owe them that much.”
She nodded with a smile, and turned back to her control console.
“Dan, bring us into position.”
“Will do, boss.” the big navigator and pilot answered.
“Battle stations people, this time it’s for real,” Mark announced, leaning forward in his seat.
The ‘Cagliostro’ swept to the right of the ‘Titan’ spreading about two miles between them before coming to a halt and holding position. Other ships in the fleet did likewise, following down the line in either direction on the earth-side of the asteroid belt.
“Now what?” Red asked.
“Now the fun begins,” Mark replied as he nodded to Ari, who immediately queued up the comm system, leading to the General’s face appearing on the main viewer.
“We’re ready, General.”
“Okay Johnson, let’s get this show on the road, then.”
Across the depths of space the two fleets stared at each other, the earth fleet was made up of men who were walking a razor’s edge of fear and trepidation, but the alien fleet? Who knew? They were an unknown quantity. Were they as afraid as the humans fighting for their own lives? Or were they simply emotionless killers carrying out their orders? No one knew. Not Mark Johnson, not General Abruzzi.
Suddenly the Titan coughed a burst of energy from its forward most guns that streaked across space, between free-floating asteroids and exploded against the hull of the alien command ship. The blast was potent; it shifted the Agalum war ship in space, actually moving it from the impact, knocking it aside as if it was in slow motion. But by that time all the ships on either side of it began firing, sending blasts through the asteroid field at their enemies. Space was lit up like a city at night with flashes of light and the corresponding explosions. The breadth and scope of it all was intimidating. For the first time in human history, the people of Earth were at war with someone other than themselves.
“Shields holding up okay?” Mark asked as the ship rocked seemingly to the sound of thunder as each blast it received was felt throughout its stout hull.
“Yeah, all good so far,” Red replied.
“Eddie, try to actually hit something,” Mark jibed his weapons officer.
“I’ve hit everythin’ I shot at boss.” The marksman replied through gritted teeth. His HUD holding steadily before his eyes as he fired again and again.
“That’s one hell of a lot of ships,” Red remarked quietly.
“No kidding,” Mark replied stoically. “Time for phase two.”
He pointed again at Ari, who immediately opened a channel to the Titan, “General phase two is a go, sir?”
“That it is Mr. Johnson that it is. Initiating phase two on my command…Initiate!” The elder warrior announced authoritatively as the earth ships began to back away from the asteroid belt while firing. Instantly the alien marauders followed them into the belt itself.
“How are we doing?” Mark asked Red.
“We’ve lost two ships so far, and twenty two others are damaged appreciably. On their side we’ve taken out about forty of their ships. But there are so damned many of them, by my calculations they will overrun and overwhelm us.”
Mark grinned wolfishly, “Not by mine, Red.”
Mark stabbed at a button on his virtual console and the asteroid belt lit up with a blinding flash of light so bright everyone covered their eyes just before the view screen automatically dimmed to filter out the harsh light.
“What the hell?” Eddie asked in surprise.
“Eddie shut up and lock and load. Full attack on anything that comes through that hell!”
Dan turned back and looked at Mark smiling, “You sly fox, you mined the asteroid belt.”
“Bingo Mr. Sledge.” Mark replied with a slight grin.
***
All throughout the asteroid belt, explosions reverberated as asteroids from the size of pebbles to the size of whole states collided with the enemy vessels with catastrophic results. Explosions, silent but for the lack of oxygen to carry that sound, lit the star scape brightly. Ships were crushed, sending plumes of ionized debris upward, downward and to both sides of every ship that was caught between the massive asteroids in horrific collisions.
Asteroids and ships rebounded chaotically, lighting up the Cagliostro’s sensor board and view screen as the great ship split off from the Titan and began to cut to the right, away from the much larger war ship, attacking anything that was getting through. Several ships of the Earth fleet followed the Cag, strafing enemy vessels that the Cag had already passed.
But it was not going to be enough.
“Mark!” Shouted Red Robinski, “Too many are getting through the line!”
Just then the General’s visage filled the view screen, behind him the command deck of his ship was in pandemonium. Lights flashed and klaxon’s sounded as people were seen running to and fro. The image blurred several times while explosions sounded through the speakers.
“Johnson! We’re going to meet their flagship head on. If I don’t make it, the ‘Titan’ I mean, you have command of the fleet. You’ve served us all well so far and everyone here owes you a debt of gratitude we can never repay. They will listen and more importantly advise you as well.”
“General, stop it!” Mark commanded, “The Titan is damaged, you’ve taken a lot of hits and that flagship has been hiding behind other vessels, biding its time. It’s unscathed. You might as well be starting a suicide mission. Wait for us to get to you; we’ll fight our way through together. The Cagliostro is barely scratched. Don’t be foolish; don’t sacrifice yourself and your crew.”
Abruzzi looked at him stoically before replying, “That’s what I always liked about you Johnson, you always speak your mind. No, son, I’m not going to wait. I have to hold that ship back from breaking our line no matter what the cost. We’re spread out right now over a hundred thousand miles from each other. That’s too short a distance for you to hyper-warp to my aid, and at regular speeds it will take you too long to get here before I have to engage that ship. But I have to stop them from getting any further. Your asteroid mining was a good idea and tactic, but there are far too many of these bastards left out here and that big ship of theirs is not going to get any closer to Earth while I can help it.”
“We’re on our way, General.” Mark replied, grim faced.
“God Speed, Johnson,” the General replied.
“The same to you sir,” Mark answered, his expression pained.
The view screen returned to a view of space. Explosions continued to flare across the panorama of the image before their eyes—bursts of light flaring to brightness and then fading away.
“Full ahead on the Titan’s position,” Mark ordered.
“Aye, aye sir,” Dan replied.
“Mr. Di Genovese, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to shoot anything that gets in our way, and blow it straight to hell, do I?”
“Not at all, sir.” Eddie replied, as he began firing the ships massive solar cannons at full strength.
Almost instantly the Cagliostro was under fire from several fronts at once, energy flaring across her shields, which glowed brighter with every hit.
The Cagliostro cut a line though the enemy ships, darting on end under Dan’s steady hands while its cannons exploded with fury, smashing enemy ships with solar blast after solar blast.
“Incoming!” Red shouted, as he diverted power to certain shield generators manually. The ship rumbled as twin missiles fired from the invaders before them exploded harmlessly on the Cagliostro’s next generation shields.
“How are the shields holding up?”
“Better than the ones we replaced, that’s for sure. She’s taking a pounding, but they’re hardly losing strength. They’re down to ninety-four percent right now. We’re doing well so far,” Red replied.
“Good, how’s the Titan?”
“She’s under siege. Surrounded and alone out there, we’re the closest ship to her and she’s still two minutes away.”
“Just get us there,” Mark answered quietly, resting his chin on his clenched fist, staring straight ahead at the view screen. “Hang on General,” he muttered as he stared straight ahead. Ariel turned her head to look at him, pain reflected in her own eyes, and then returned her gaze to the control panel before her.
“We’re thirty seconds out, Mark,” Dan announced.
“DiGenovese, fire on anything that’s even remotely near the Titan, starting now.”
“We’re still twenty seconds out of range yet.”
“Just do it!” Mark ordered angrily as the Cagliostro’s cannons began to fire again. Strafing everything before them further away than the naked eye could see. The seconds each seemed like an eternity as the Cagliostro drew closer to the beleaguered Titan.
Suddenly a bright explosion filled space as the Cagliostro hurtled onwards, instantly the screen dimmed to compensate, but everyone knew what they had just seen without it being verbalized.
Ariel continued to speak into her headset, almost pleading for a reply, but none was forthcoming. Finally Red turned back towards Mark, “The Titan. Mark, she’s…gone.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Mark stared at the view screen as specks of steel burned away from the explosion that had consumed the Titan. Flecks of burning debris shone brightly as they arced away from the war ships death, finally burning off and disappearing into the depths of space.
Four ships had surrounded the Titan and had brought a devastating attack upon her. She gave a good accounting of herself as two of the ships now billowed smoke into space. Each was a mile long behemoth, and each of those two was in bad shape.
The other two ships were another story. They were barely scratched. One of those two was the command ship.
The four ships turned in space, seemingly almost in slow motion as they came about to face the Cagliostro. Then they spread out from one another, creating a greater distance between themselves. Nearby, other ships in their fleet positioned themselves equidistantly as well.
“What are they doing?” Ariel asked quietly.
“Boss, I don’t like this at all,” Red announced.
“Agreed. Full reverse. Tell the other ships to reverse as well, reconnoiter back on the other side of the asteroid field.
Suddenly the ship at the furthest end of the line opposing the Cagliostro and the remaining Earth ships began to glow from two protruding rods that had emerged from the bow of each of the alien ships. Energy crackled like lightning in space first across the two prongs on the ship at the far end of the group, and then it leaped to the next one, and then the next and then the one after that. In less time than it would take to tell it, ever one of the enemy ships was connected to that almost living arc of energy thousands of miles wide across space.
“Full reverse and all power to forward shields; steal it from life support if you have to. Front shields need to be powered up more than any other system on these ships now, and keep reversing.”
“Boss! What are you doing?” Eddie asked, wide-eyed.
“Trying to save all our lives,” Johnson barked in reply.
Instantly the arc sprang forward, leaping from the prows of all the enemy ships positioned across the gulf of space from their Earth-born foes, simultaneously.
The arc of energy slammed into the asteroid field, disintegrating everything before it, shattering asteroids, and detonating un-exploded mines, burning the depths of space white hot before the Cagliostro’s crew’s stunned eyes.
Several slower moving Earth ships were caught in the wave of energy. The arc tore through them like they had no shielding at all, decimating the ships of the fleet and leaving them either de-powered or simply decimated.
The Cag backed away quickly, followed closely by less than a hundred other remaining ships.
Johnson stood as he watched the arc slowly gaining on them as they backed away, covering thousands of miles in instants.
“Prepare to go to hyper-warp,” Dan advised.
“No, wait,” Mark ordered. “That arc or wave or whatever you want to call it is losing cohesiveness.”
“He’s right,” Red replied, “it’s falling apart somehow, it must be reaching the end of its limits of travel,” he apprised as he watched his sensor grid. “What’s left of it is still going to impact us, brace yourselves, ‘cause here it comes.”
Almost as soon as Red had advised it, the Cagliostro was buffeted horribly, violently slammed as if by a gargantuan fist in space, the ship spun across the void out of control. Sparks flew from control panels across the command deck, and then everything went dark as the Cagliostro lay horribly askew in space, seemingly teetering helplessly on end.
Nearby, the much larger ships that had survived the battle and had been gathering with the Cag were also similarly devastated by the attack. Smoke and sparks curled into the airless void. The Earth fleet floated, decimated in space and powerless.
“What was that? What the hell did they hit us with?” Dan asked, in stunned shock.
“Some variation of that energy sucking attack they used on us in deep space,” Mark replied as he rubbed his head. “Is everyone okay?”
Ariel, Red, Dan and Eddie all replied affirmatively.
“Do we have any power left?”
“Emergency only Mark, not enough to start the magno-discs,” Dan answered.
“What about the rest of the fleet? Are any other ships viable?” Mark asked desperately.
Ariel merely shook her head, fear playing across her eyes as she did.
“Find me power, we have to start the engines.”
“Wait Mark, look!” Red pointed at the view screen as over a thousand of the massive enemy ships began to pass them, heading towards Earth.
“Th-they’re ignoring us.” Eddie announced, wide eyed in surprise.
“We’re beneath them now. We can’t fight back, or they think we’re all dead already. Either way it’s their mistake,” Mark growled menacingly.
He sprang from his seat, “Danny you’re with me, I think I have an idea, but we have to hurry.”
“Okay Mark, let’s go.” The big native of Jupiter’s moons stood and answered as he followed Mark into the maglovator.
Once inside, Dan turned towards Mark and asked, “So what’s the plan?”
Johnson shrugged, and answered in a low voice, “I don’t have one. I’m fresh out.”
Dan looked at him wide eyed and incredulous, “Are you kiddin’ me? Now’s not the time fer foolin’ around Mark. The whole damned planet needs you. You gotta have somethin’ up your sleeve?”
Mark looked up at his friend, “I’m trying to work it out Danny, but I can’t. They steamrolled us. What’d I miss? There has to be something.”
“No, we didn’t miss anythin’. They had numbers on us, by a freakin’ big margin too. But now ain’t the time to be thinkin’ about that. C’mon Mark, you’re the only guy I know smarter ‘n me. Let’s get this baby fired up again and get after those creeps.”
“Danny, I should have hyper-warped us out of there, we’d still be in the fight right now.”
“It wouldn’t matter, Mark. We’re out gunned an’ outnumbered. We need a big thing, like what they used against us. Somethin’ ta even the odds. Usin’ the asteroid belt was a good start, but we needed more‘n that.”
“I know,” was Mark’s terse reply. He touched the cuff of his sleeve and spoke, “Ariel, any word from Earth yet?”
“No Mark, not yet.”
“What about the other ships damaged in the attack? Are any of them under power again?”
“No Mark, I have no contact with any other ship that was hit by that dampening wave.”
The Cagliostro Chronicles Page 19