by G. P. Hudson
They were stuck together, after all. They needed to work with each other moving forward. The Hermes was gone. They couldn’t continue behaving as two separate crews. They would eventually have to merge. Become one. By doing so they would become stronger and benefit from the other. He would just have to win Captain Pike over to his cause. The Hermes crew was still loyal to him. That was obvious. If Captain Pike agreed to merge the crews, the rest would follow. If he didn’t… things might become uncomfortable.
The other thing was Doctor Ellerbeck. If they found her, the Captain’s support for their cause would ensure her compliance. They needed to remove the chips once and for all. Otherwise it was like having a gun permanently pointed at their heads. One day someone would come along and pull the trigger.
Under the Juttari, they would have merely sought out the Doctor and captured her. Then they would have used any of a number of methods to force her to comply with their wishes. While that would be the easier course of action, it wasn’t who they were anymore. He knew in some ways he was being idealistic, but what else was there? Under the Juttari they never acted of their own free will. They had none. No choice in any action they took. They weren’t really monsters. The true monsters were their masters. Now that Juttari control was gone, what would they do? If they still used Juttari methods, then they truly were no different, the brain chips merely a convenient excuse to hide their true nature.
He refused to accept such weakness. Their true nature was human, not Juttari. Their humanity was stolen from them when they were children. But it wasn’t lost. When they mutinied they stole it back. He planned to keep it this time. It would not be easy, but they all had to learn to be human again. What better way to start than with the crew of the Hermes?
He knew convincing Captain Pike was not going to be easy. He knew Pike’s history. His reputation. He had killed countless Juttari and Chaanisar during his career. No other Space Force soldier came close. That level of success requires more than just ability. It requires zeal. Obsessive commitment. Pure hatred of the enemy. Captain Pike had lost his family during the war. His fury must run deep.
Were they really that different?
Every Chaanisar had lost their families as children. Their hatred of the Juttari was merely suppressed by the brain chips. But would Captain Pike see it that way? Not at first, but maybe over time. How do you win over someone like that? With deeds, that was how. They had rescued his men from the prison planet. They were searching for the escape pods and fighting to retrieve them. Words were meaningless. Their actions would win over Captain Pike in the end. Their actions would reclaim their humanity. They would prevail.
“We are being hailed by the station, Sir.”
“Route transmission to my console.”
The screen flickered to life and the rather unpleasant looking Mr. Kulberg appeared.
“Colonel Bast, why have you returned?”
“I missed our long conversations,” said Bast.
Kulberg frowned, apparently unimpressed by Bast’s wit. “I warned you that we would fire on you if you returned, Colonel.”
“Yes, I do remember you saying something like that. I think we’ll take our chances.”
The screen went black and Bast waited, certain that Kulberg was ordering the station’s weapon systems to bombard his ship. It didn’t worry him. He had full confidence in Lieutenant Jarvi, as he did in all his men. If the Lieutenant said the weapon systems were disabled, then it was so.
Some time passed and nothing happened. No cannons. No missiles. No attack. The screen came alive again and Kulberg’s face reappeared, scowling more than before.
“Is there something wrong, Mr. Kulberg?” said Bast.
“I’m sure you think you’re very clever,” said Kulberg, his eyes all but burning holes through the display.
“Now why would I think something like that?”
“Don’t play games, Bast. Somehow you’ve managed to disable our defenses. I don’t know how you did it, but I can assure you we are more than capable of defending ourselves.”
“Mr. Kulberg,” said Bast, trying hard to sound conciliatory. “We mean your station no harm. We merely want our people. If we can get past this misunderstanding I am willing to establish diplomatic relations.”
“Diplomatic relations? Who do you represent?”
“Ourselves.”
Kulberg leaned back in his chair, studying Bast. “You want to propose diplomatic relations between this station and your ship?”
“Yes. Why not?”
“You’re a fool,” said Kulberg, leaning in. “Your people are out of time. As we speak my forces are running them down. They are not going to make it off this station alive. Your ship is not going to fare any better. Two DLC destroyers are coming for you as we speak. Your ship will not make it out of this system. Enjoy what little time you have left.”
The display went black again and Kulberg was gone. Bast pulled up a tactical display of the surrounding system. He saw the destroyers racing toward them. They looked to be the same size as his ship. He pulled up another display analyzing their weaponry. Again they seemed to be evenly matched, with a similar array of weaponry. He felt confident that they could defeat one of the ships, though they would sustain a fair amount of damage in the process. Fighting two, on the other hand, would be far more difficult, and he didn’t know if they could win, even with the jump system.
He wasn’t sure how much time they had as he didn’t know the range of their weapons. He had seen some warships with tremendous energy weapon range. While it was true long distance firing dissipated some of the weapon’s power, it could still cause damage. Sustained firing even more so. If the other ship couldn’t fire back, well then it turned into a game of target practice. Provided the ship couldn’t jump away. But he couldn’t just jump away. He had to retrieve his people.
Bast opened a channel with Lieutenant Jarvi. “What is your status, Lieutenant?”
“A sizable force is bearing down on us, Sir,” said Jarvi.
“Can you outrun them?”
“No, Sir.”
“I am ordering the remaining force guarding the docks to assist you. Transmit your coordinates to them.”
“Understood.”
“Signal when you’ve successfully reached the extraction point.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Bast studied the advancing warships once more. Right now they were spread apart, but as they came closer to his ship they would close the gap between themselves, making them harder to defend against. He didn’t know how long it would take for the landing party to reach the extraction point. If the destroyers managed to get within weapons range they could easily shoot down any shuttles sent for extraction. He couldn’t allow that.
“Helm, prepare to jump,” said Bast. “Plot coordinates to land us directly behind the destroyer on our starboard side.”
“Coordinates plotted, Sir.”
“Jump.”
Chapter 63
The past twenty four hours had turned Captain Seiben’s life upside down. Jon had laughed when he said he should have never picked up the escape pod earlier, thinking he was joking, but he wasn’t. He didn’t wish for Jon, Breeah and Anki to die, and he knew that if he hadn’t picked them up they might very well have died. He just wished someone else rescued them. Someone like Neeman should’ve found them. Neeman’s life should be in tatters.
Seiben worried. The anxiety was almost overwhelming. He worried for his daughters, and for his wife. What if something happened to them? How could he protect them now?
His life had been simple. It was a good life. No matter how much Darla complained, they had all they needed. He had the security of a good job. They had a good apartment. The kids went to a good school. They didn’t want for anything. Now it was all gone. They had nothing. All because he listened to his nephew and retrieved that escape pod.
He tightened his grip on the weapon’s stock. All that mattered now was that they come out of this alive,
and the only way to do that was to escape with Jon and these other men. He looked around at the men. They had stopped running now and took up defensive positions, waiting for the coming DLC attack. Who were they? Where did they come from? They were all clearly soldiers, but from where? He had hauled freight his whole life and had been to all the human worlds, and he knew with certainty that these men came from none of them. How was that possible?
He had listened in on Jon’s conversation earlier and from what he understood they weren’t all from the same place. He understood they were also enemies at one point, waging war against each other. That certainly hadn’t happened in this region of space. Something about it triggered a memory. He remembered the old myths he heard as a child. The stories told of how they came from another part of the galaxy. The birthplace of humanity. They told how a great evil came and destroyed it forever. They were taught in school that they were all that was left of humanity in the universe. Yet these humans were clearly from somewhere else. Could they be from the place the myths spoke of? Perhaps it wasn’t destroyed after all? He tried to remember the planet’s name. It was so long ago and his memory wasn’t what it used to be. It escaped him.
He turned to Darla. She was crouching beside him with the girls. They were hidden behind some trees, with the soldiers in position in front of them and on their flanks. The soldiers had chosen a hill as a good place to mount a defense, and they all spread out along its ridge, their weapons ready. The attackers would have to get past the soldiers to get to his family. If the soldiers couldn’t hold them off they were done for anyway.
“Darla,” said Seiben. “Do you remember the old myths about how we all originally came from another planet?”
“Yes, my grandmother told me the stories often when I was a child.”
“What was the name of the planet?”
Darla thought for a moment, searching her memory for the information. Her eyes suddenly brightened and she said, “Earth.”
“That’s it,” said Seiben, the name awakening more memories.
“Why would you ask me something like-” She looked around at the men surrounding them and said in a whisper, “You think these men are from Earth?”
He thought about it some more and said, “Where else could they be from? They’re not from any planet I know.”
“But, those stories… they’re just myths.”
“How do we know that? The stories came from somewhere. What if it wasn’t from someone’s imagination? What if the stories are true?” said Seiben, feeling like he had just uncovered some deep, dark secret.
“But they said that Earth was estroyed,” said Darla. “If the stories were true, these men can’t be from Earth.”
“What if that part is wrong?” said Seiben. He felt like he was on the verge of some major discovery, but wasn’t qualified to put the pieces together.
“Now you’re talking nonsense,” said Darla, patronizingly. “You can’t just pick and choose only what information suits you. If the stories are true, then they are true. Simple as that. Otherwise they’re just myths.”
Seiben wasn’t convinced. He would have to ask Jon about it. But first they had to survive this encounter.
One of the soldiers yelled, “Incoming!”
Seiben peeked around the tree and saw a line of security craft in the sky, converging on their positions. When they came nearer the soldiers opened fire as one. The sound was deafening and Darla pulled the screaming girls in close. Seiben stayed fixed on the unfolding battle. The initial salvo from the soldiers downed a few vessels. They seemed surprised by the attack and they changed directions, backtracking while returning fire. It seemed like a real passive strategy, almost a retreat, until he realized what they were up to.
They lowered themselves close to the ground and DLC soldiers started to jump out. Soon there was a sizable ground force of black clad DLC troops advancing steadily on their positions. The soldiers stayed low and continued shooting, while the security craft above them fired. They advanced together and the sustained barrage had a noticeable effect on his defenders, forcing them to keep their heads down more than they would prefer.
Seiben got nervous. He wasn’t a soldier, but he could see that defending against such a large force was not going to be easy. At this point it even seemed impossible. They were outnumbered and outgunned. The slow, steady DLC advance made it worse. It looked like they had learned their lesson from the last engagement. They respected the soldiers’ abilities and were not taking any chances. There were no heroics. Nothing fancy. They moved forward inch by inch like a steamroller. Seemingly unstoppable.
Seiben’s mind raced. What could he do? How could he save his family? He couldn’t fight. If the men surrounding him couldn’t prevail, then what hope did he have? None. He had to surrender. That was his only option. Hopefully they wouldn’t kill him anyway. He could plead ignorance. He would be telling the truth. He didn’t know why they were after Jon. But he did know that Jon didn’t kill Jansen. That was enough. That knowledge made him dangerous to Kulberg. They wouldn’t arrest them. They would kill him and Darla to keep them quiet. They could easily justify it after this. How hard would it be to claim that they were killed in battle? That they fired on DLC security?
What about his daughters? They didn’t know anything. Could they be that cold? Could they murder innocent children? Could he take that chance? Even if they didn’t kill them, what would happen to his lovely girls? How would they be treated? The thought horrified him. He decided he had no choice. If he was going to die anyway, it would be defending his family.
He looked out at the battle and saw that things had changed quickly. The security craft had jumped ahead and the DLC soldiers were charging. The men defending them couldn’t fight off both and were focusing their fire on the charging force, in most cases cutting them down before they could reach their positions. The charge didn’t make sense until he realized that the hovercraft had sailed over their positions and were now behind the defenders. His heart pounded against his chest as he took quick shallow breaths. The hovercraft were turning. They were going to shoot the soldiers in the back.
Without thinking he raised his weapon and fired on one of the vessels. Terror gripped him when it stopped its turn and swung around to face Seiben. He kept firing to no avail. The vessel pointed its nose downward to get Seiben in its sights.
Oh no, he thought. What have I done?
Chapter 64
The Chaanisar ship landed behind the unsuspecting destroyer and opened fire. Energy weapons, missiles and rail guns lit up the void, targeting the warship’s propulsion system. It took the enemy’s crew some time to figure out what had happened. To comprehend that the ship they were bearing down upon had somehow shown up behind them. In that time the Chaanisar had inflicted a fair bit of damage on the DLC vessel. Not enough to disable it, but enough to get its attention. The destroyer had heavy armor plating that seemed capable of taking a significant pounding. Its deflectors dispersed much of the penetrating power of the energy weapons. The DLC vessel recovered from the attack and returned fire.
Energy weapons hit the Chaanisar ship. While they didn’t have deflectors like the destroyer, their armor plating was robust enough to withstand the pounding. Bast monitored the position of the second warship on his tactical screen. It had been notified of the attack and now changed course.
“Helm, prepare to jump behind the destroyer on our port side,” said Bast.
“Coordinates plotted, Sir.”
“Jump.”
The Chaanisar heavy cruiser landed behind the second ship and opened fire once again. This destroyer responded faster than the first, tipped off to the Chaanisar jump capabilities. The Chaanisar were still able to get off the first shot before the DLC ship could respond. When they returned fire it wasn’t just with energy weapons, but with a salvo of missiles too.
“Launch counter measures,” said Bast. “Rail guns in point defense mode.”
Some of the DLC capabilities impres
sed Bast, especially the deflectors. But their missiles were not sophisticated enough to defeat the Chaanisar defenses. Most of the missiles chased after the decoy drones, and the rest were easily defeated by the point defense shield. Still he had to keep them guessing.
“Helm, prepare to jump directly in front of the other destroyer.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Jump.”
The Chaanisar landed and fired. Bast hoped to confuse the ship, if only for a split second. Any advantage was useful. The enemy was learning, however, and adapted quicker this time, returning fire from all its weapon systems. The onslaught rocked the Chaanisar ship and Bast’s console lit up with alerts reporting damage throughout the ship.
“Sir, second destroyer is firing on us.”
Bast saw it on his screen. They used their energy weapons, and while they were quite a distance away, they had enough range to hit the Chaanisar ship. More warnings flashed on his console as the reality of the two on one engagement took hold.
Now that we have their attention, thought Bast. It’s time to play a game.
“Helm, jump us one thousand kilometers behind the destroyers.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Jump.”
The Chaanisar ship landed a safe distance from the enemy vessels, but close enough that they were clearly visible to the two ships’ scanners. He wanted to play chase with the two ships. He wanted them to come after him. To draw them away from the station. He knew it was a simple tactic, but sometimes they were the best. He didn’t need both ships to chase. One would do just fine. If he could split them it would be ideal.
Bast sat and waited. The two ships held their positions. Would they fall for it? Staying put could work too. He simply needed to stall them until his team made it to the extraction point. Then the Chaanisar ship could jump back to the station and pick the teams up before the destroyers posed a threat.