by William Wood
“What are they doing?” Calvin asked, alarmed.
“It looks like Ion is taking the Frost to the edge of the system,” Astra said. “They’re getting ready to jump into hyperspace. Take us to these coordinates.” She programmed a new destination into the computer. Calvin turned the ship to the new course, just as a small group of laser bolts shot past them; several were close enough to make Calvin flinch.
One solid blast hit the rear shields. The lights flickered and dimmed. Calvin looked over at Astra, her expression said it all.
“We’re in trouble,” she said. “That hit the main power grid; we’re bleeding power! I’m channeling every drop of power into the engines. The cloak isn’t working anyway and neither are the weapons. Put your helmet on, I’m taking life support offline.” There was a slight, but noticeable, increase in power.
Another shot smashed into the shuttle. Most of the screens on the computers blinked out.
“We just lost sensors!” Astra shouted over the roar of the engines, which had grown very loud. Then she gasped out loud. “We won’t be able to find Azure Frost!”
“We just have to maintain this course,” Calvin said. “Hopefully we can find them visually when we get closer. If not, we’ll be in big trouble.” In the back of his mind he knew that was going to be next to impossible.
Several terrible minutes passed. Calvin did his best to avoid flying in a straight line, but was forced to keep flying in the same general direction. Laser blasts were picking them apart. Calvin wondered how long it could last. If they didn’t find Azure Frost soon they would be destroyed.
“Where are they, we should be able to see them by now,” Astra cried.
Calvin strained his eyes. How hard could it be to find a dark ship against the black of space? But suddenly he saw something. He saw laser lights, converging on a single point.
“There it is!” Calvin shouted, and pointed straight ahead to a small pinprick of blue glowing orange light far ahead of them. Tiny lances of red light zapped the ship from all sides.
“Ion, I see you,” Calvin said. “We’re right behind you. Slow down!”
“Calvin,” Astra said. “The engines will die in two minutes; they’re way past the red line.”
“Ion, if you don’t slow down we won’t be able to catch up,” Calvin said.
“Ion,” Astra commanded. “Slow down!”
Azure Frost must have almost stopped. The shuttle began to gain ground very quickly. Several explosions hit the Frost, and debris could be seen tumbling away.
“Hurry Calvin,” Astra whispered. The shuttle began to shake, and red lights began flashing all over the computer panel. “We’re losing the engines!”
Calvin was relieved that the Frost had the shuttle bay doors open. Calvin pointed the nose of the shuttle right at the open doors. Two fighters broke off of the Frost and opened fire on the shuttle. He barely had a fraction of a second to react. Calvin pulled up slightly and turned just to starboard. Two missiles darted under them, and three just to port. It was so close he could see the red glow from the missile’s engines as they passed. Astra winced.
Suddenly the Frost loomed up in front of them, filling the window. Astra screamed. Calvin reversed the engines as quickly as he could and they were forced harshly into their seats, but it was too late. The shuttle passed through the open doors and slammed into the rear wall of the shuttle bay. They had their belts on, which was the only thing that saved them, but the impact was so great they smashed into the wall and broke through it. The glass window on front of the shuttle shattered into a million pieces and showered them with glass fragments. When he opened his eyes, Calvin saw half of the shuttle was in the lab. The front of the shuttle was also crunched in. Calvin took his seatbelt off and started helping Astra.
“Sweetie,” Calvin said. “Are you all right?” He got very scared when she didn’t move. But slowly, she put her hand on her head and held it there. She groaned.
“Come on, we need to get out of here.” Calvin helped her to stand. He wasn’t sure how they were going to get out of the shuttle. But he didn’t have to worry long.
“Calvin! Astra! Are you all right?” A voice called. It was Wexton. The sound of things being thrown could be heard just outside. Wexton and Nils were at the back of the shuttle and dug a way out. Astra held onto Calvin as they climbed out of the shuttle into the shuttle bay where the external doors were slowly sliding shut. Wexton and Nils helped them out of the shuttle and into the main corridor.
“Do you need to go to the medical bay?” Wexton asked.
“Later,” Calvin said. “I’m feeling okay.”
“Me too,” Astra said, even though she looked shaken. “I might go later. We’ll be all right, Wexton.”
“If you say so,” Wexton said. He was not convinced.
Calvin and Astra went to the bridge and sat down. The stars were visible through the window ahead; they were not in hyperspace.
“What’s going on?” Calvin asked.
“We’re almost clear,” Ion answered. “We should be able to jump to hyperspace in a minute or two.” The ship shook with the force of an explosion. Calvin looked at the readouts and saw shields were down to eight percent.
“No, Ion,” Astra said, sounding visibly upset. “We need to jump now. Calvin, prepare to jump to hyperspace.”
“But mistress, the emitters are not fully charged, and the computer has not finished calibrating the jump engines.”
“Ion, if we don’t get out of here now, there won’t be a ship left, they’re killing us!” There was a single beep. “Go Calvin! Get us out of here.” Calvin pressed the hyperspace engine levers to full, and the ship jumped forward. The explosions stopped. Shields were at two percent.
“That was close,” Astra said, massaging a black mark on her forehead. “We need to assess the damage.”
CHAPTER SIXTY:
THE FINAL BATTLE
“How bad is it?” Calvin asked. Everyone was sitting at the table in the library. They looked tired, dirty and frustrated. All eyes turned to Nils, the man in charge of the engine room.
“It’s bad,” Nils said. “I thought we were going to escape Noor Anon with at least one shield generator, but that last shot took care of that. It’s official; we have no shields.”
Calvin exhaled and rubbed his forehead. “How long will it take to repair?” He asked.
“No, you don’t understand,” Nils said. “We used the last of the spares repairing the backup life support system. The shields are gone.”
“That’s going to be a problem,” Wexton said. “A big problem.”
“But not the worst one we have,” Nils said. “We’ve also lost primary life support, the main sub-light engines, main power, all our weapons, defensive countermeasures, the main computer and communications, long and short. Fortunately, the hyperdrive engines are still working, for now.”
“How could this happen?” Calvin asked quietly.
“We got lucky,” Astra said. “It could have been worse.”
“It should have been a lot worse,” Dev corrected her. “That titan was waiting for us, exactly where we dropped out of hyperspace. I can't believe this ship was able to absorb that much punishment.”
“I wasn’t finished,” Nils said darkly. “Most of the aft sections aren’t accessible due to hull breaches. Force-fields are holding, for now. That includes the engine room by the way. Unless you’re wearing a space suit, only repair-bots can work in there.”
“I hate to add to the pile, but power is a big problem too,” Astra said. “The main power plant is dead, and the power grid was burned up.”
“Is that why the lights are so dim?” Calvin asked.
“Yes,” Astra answered. "The emergency generator is running everything. If power drops, even for a second, the force fields will collapse, and the interior of Azure Frost will be exposed to space.”
“Wait, can that happen when we’re in hyperspace?” Dev asked. “That would be bad.”
; “The ship would be torn to pieces so fast we wouldn’t even know it happened,” Astra said.
“That’s a comforting thought,” Calvin said dryly.
“That's why I've got two repair-bots down there whose only mission in life is to keep the generator running,” Nils said.
“Well that’s just great,” Wexton said. “But what happens when we drop out of hyperspace? The Goremog are right behind us, aren't they? We won’t last two minutes when they catch up, or worse; they’ll be waiting for us just like the titan.”
“But you’re forgetting something,” Astra said. “We have all ten pieces of the weapon. We’re on our way to the Pentazia base at the center of the galaxy. Defender and Aleria’s Hope will be there waiting for us, along with every surviving Alerian ship. They’ll shield us from enemy ships and escort us to the base.”
“How can you be so sure?” Wexton asked. “We haven’t heard from them in weeks. We don’t even know if they made it there or not.”
“No! That’s not true,” Astra said. “Early this morning, we received a flash message from my father. He sent it yesterday but we only just received it because our comms keep going up and down. Anyway, he informed us that they were in place at Pentazia. They also sent this image.” Astra held up a computer pad. The base was at the center, with hundreds of red and orange lines running into it.
“What’s that?” Dev asked.
“This is a snapshot from the universal space scanner,” Astra answered. “Each one of these lines represents a space fleet, and they’re all heading to one place: Pentazia. Two-thousand and five Goremog ships versus one-thousand, nine-hundred and ninetyone No’Rath ships; various class and sizes.”
Dev leaned forward and studied it hard. “Oh, there we are,” he pointed to a small black dot. “We’ll arrive ninety-five seconds before the first Goremog fleet. They’ll launch squadrons of fighters and bombers immediately. It’s their standard doctrine. If your Alerian friends aren’t close by, we’ll be killed.”
“We have no shields and we’ll probably move slower than a garbage collector,” Wexton added.
“And if we somehow survive that, and make it to the base, the rest of the enemy ships will arrive and have us completely surrounded; four thousand to four,” Nils added. “What a nightmare.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Astra said. “The weapon will destroy them.”
“I’ll say it again, I hope you’re right,” Dev said. “I really hope it works out that way.”
“I do too,” Astra said. “Because we won’t get another chance. Dev, I could really use your help in the lab. Between the two of us, we should be able to assemble the weapon.”
“Sure,” Dev said. “I’d love to help.”
The meeting ended and everyone went back to work. But Calvin had nothing to do. If power hadn’t been so precious he would have spent some time in the simulator. But power couldn’t be wasted on anything that wasn’t critical to the survival of ship and crew.
Calvin stayed busy by keeping an eye on the ship’s status, writing in his journal, and occasionally running errands for anyone who needed something.
What Calvin really wanted to do was contact his father and update him on the situation, but he was worried about using power when it was in short supply. Even with Astra’s assurance that it would be OK; the power usage would be minimal as long as it was short.
When he finally made up his mind to try, Calvin turned on the communication system. It took six attempts to connect. Calvin was ecstatic when he finally made a connection to the Laurite base in the asteroid field near New Arlandia.
Captain Vinder’s face filled the screen. When Vinder told him Foster was not there, his temper flared. Not again!
“Listen, I don’t have a lot of time,” Calvin said firmly. Forgetting the fact that Vinder was a captain, Calvin looked at the man in the eyes and said, “This connection won’t last very long, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a signal out again. I have information and I’ll only give it to my father, directly. I know for a fact there’s nowhere on the planet he can go that you can’t reach him. You can do it; make the connection now!”
Captain Vinder looked surprised. He fumbled over his words, then turned and commanded someone behind him.
“Do it!”
“But what if they trace the signal?” A voice asked.
“Encrypt it and use the polar station to mask the origin!” Vinder shouted. There was a long pause. Vinder did not look happy. He just glared at the screen. Calvin had a bad feeling he was going to pay for this later. The silence was very uncomfortable. Calvin looked down, and pretended to be busy with something. A sudden burst of static made Calvin look up. The screen flickered then changed. Foster Range sat comfortably and smiled when he saw Calvin.
“Dad!” Calvin exclaimed. “I’m so glad I reached you. I don’t have a lot of time. We’ve sustained a lot of damage. I don’t think this connection is going to last very long.”
Foster’s expression became serious. His lips moved but no sound came out. Calvin was so excited and worried over being cut off that he pressed on.
“We’ve got all ten pieces of the weapon now, and in three days we’ll arrive at the Pentazian base at the center of the galaxy. This is it! It’s almost over. Every enemy ship is on its way to stop us. We’ve only got one shot at it. I just wanted you to know, just in case,” Calvin stumbled over his words. “If the weapon doesn’t fire, and you don’t hear from me again. I think it would be best for New Arlandia if…”
“Now don’t talk like that,” Foster’s words were difficult to make out; clogged with heavy static. “It’ll work. We’ve … the schematics from … first nine segments. … an engineering standpoint … told … sound. But listen to me, and … … important, if … doesn’t, I highly recommend … … a backup plan. We … a … for you. I’ll have … Vinder transmit … …to you. Look it over, and … if anything in there … help you.”
“Thanks dad, I will.” Calvin had no idea what that meant, but didn’t want to waste time having his father repeat. The file they were going to send would explain it all, Calvin assumed.
“…, please … careful, contact me as soon as … over. I want to know you’re all right. Do you have … to send the … on the tenth segment?”
“Sorry dad, no. We weren’t able to scan it. We’ve been busy trying to keep the ship flying. I’ll send it to you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you; always know that I love you. I look forward … hearing from … when you…” The communication ended abruptly. Calvin stared at the screen for a moment.
“Dad,” Calvin said quietly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be home soon.” He wanted to believe that, but deep down Calvin wondered if he would ever see his family again.
“Sorry Calvin,” Astra said softly over the intercom. “I’m afraid that does it for the communications system. No repairing it this time.”
“That’s OK,” Calvin said sadly. “At least I got to check in.”
Later that evening, he met Astra for dinner. A heavy blanket of anxiety and stress suffocated the crew of Azure Frost. They were nearing the end of their journey, and things were not looking good.
For dinner that evening, they managed to find time to eat together, but they had to eat a survival meal that consisted of dry rations. They also had to use candles to conserve power. The dinner did little to comfort Calvin. He sat next to Astra, watching her in the flickering shadows. She smiled and laughed with the others. But Calvin’s fears and worries worked their way to the forefront of his thoughts.
Astra was like a drug to him, and he was addicted. As they neared the end of their mission, they also neared the time that Astra would have to decide whether she was going to go with Calvin, like she said she was going to do, or go with her parents. He feared that when the actual moment came, that she wouldn’t be able to leave her people. Especially since there weren’t many of the Alerian people left. Calvin was certain that her parents would insist she marr
y one of her own, to help bring her race back from the brink of extinction. Would they try and force her to go with them? Calvin wanted to believe her, but despite her reassurances, he wouldn’t stop worrying until it was over; one way or the other.
The next three days were horrendous. Nobody slept very much, and they ate while working.
The hyperspace engine was operating right along a thin line of near failure. It required constant work and attention to keep it up and running. On four terrifying occasions the power failed without warning, causing the engines to begin transitioning to real space. Caught in the phase between real space and hyperspace, the ship vibrated so badly it seemed like it might tear itself to pieces. It took a desperate, concerted effort by Astra, Dev and Nils to avert a catastrophe.
Then the life support system would fail, launching another frantic repair session. Three times the system failed and everyone had to wear oxygen breathing units for a few hours while the work was being done.
Two days out from the base there wasn’t enough power or time to repair the food computers, and they were stuck eating dehydrated rations.
On its last legs, the life support system crashed hard. Four hours of exhausting work in space suits yielded fifty percent of normal capacity. Only four rooms could sustain life; the rest were left without oxygen and heat.
As a result, they had to work in advanced combat suits and make frequent trips to the workshop to recharge their oxygen and shield units.
Astra and Dev finished assembling the weapon nine hours before arrival at Pentazia. Astra took Calvin to the shuttle bay, where the fully assembled weapon sat in the middle of the bay near the doors. Dressed in an advanced combat suit, equipped with shields and an oxygen supply, Calvin examined it closely. The weapon was ten feet long; six feet wide at the front with dozens of arms protruding around it like a large metal flower. Each spike had an emitter on the end. The other end was narrow, and ended in a dish.
“Wow,” Calvin said. It had a malevolent feel about it, but he didn’t say it. “The big question is: will it work?”