by Trevor Wyatt
Jeryl began wondering about the real reason why he wanted to save everyone. Was it to save his ass by the time he had to face the inevitable?
Jeryl pushed the thought out of his head. They were still stuck in the space station. However, at this point, they were more trapped on a thick blanket of laser flashes and ships plying the space surrounding the space station. It was almost difficult to see beyond the immediate vicinity of the station.
“How many Tyreesian fighters are in play?” Jeryl asked, working through their escape strategy in his mind. He wanted to do it as easily as possible; maybe he could get them to not fire on him by broadcasting an image of Veld under the business end of a knife. But then again, the Tyreesians were extremely unpredictable and Jeryl wasn’t so sure Veld would make any difference.
“There are six hundred and seventy-five unmanned fighter drones in play at the moment, sir,” Mary said. “The space station has a contingent of a thousand fighter boths. But a lot of them were destroyed in the attack on beta quadrant by the Sonali craft, and a lot of the ships were damaged in the when The Seeker was destroyed.”
Jeryl could see the fighters zipping by, trying to take out the space station’s weapons. Jeryl figured that this was the only way they could take the weapons system offline. The only other way would be to shoot at the control center, but that would mean damaging their own space station. Even though the Tyreesians were a belligerent bunch, they were also efficient. They wouldn’t destroy their station just because they wanted to disable a rogue control center.
The weapons systems could be easily fixed. The bulkheads and several decks they’d have to torpedo through to get to the control center was another issue. Jeryl suspected that currently no one in the star system could give the order for them to fire on the space station, which was a good thing.
“What’s the status of our ship?” Jeryl asked. “Are the diagnostic scans complete?”
“Yes, sir,” Tira replied. She was standing by the work station to his right hand side, where his First Officer should be standing.
“How are we looking?” Jeryl asked.
“Shields and weapons are at one hundred percent and online,” she replied. “Engineering reports that the propulsion systems are primed and ready to move. They informed us, however, that this ship is only capable of a maximum FTL speed of four. It’s not that fast, sir.”
“It’ll get us where we need to go,” Jeryl said.
“Sir,” said Mary, “the battle fleet is here.”
And just like that, ships began popping out of flashes of light into the star system as they exited FTL space. Amidst the fleet, there was a massive Tyreesian capital ship, larger than the one that Jeryl had commandeered by a factor of two. Immediately, hatches to the vessel as well as the smaller craft opened and the vessels launched their own fighters that screamed towards the space stations, firing lasers and launching torpedoes.
Some of the lasers found their way through the hangar’s open door and struck their ship. Their shields deflected them easily. Jeryl watched with terror as the numerous fighter jets swarmed the station like a million mechanical bees.
“Is our escape still possible, sir?” asked the science officer, Ensign Adewale.
Jeryl didn’t respond immediately. If he had gotten a single credit chip every time he faced a situation that most people thought was impossible, he would be retiring on New Sydney by now.
“Yes, Adewale,” Jeryl said. “The universe must have a reason for bringing us to this point, right? It won’t be for us to get squashed by the Tyreesians.”
Veld laughed. This was a shocking awakening to the fact that he was still on the CNC.
“You are even more foolish than I thought,” he said. “Do you know who just came into this system?”
Jeryl didn’t even look his way. He was listening to the Tyreesian, but he was more busy plotting their escape and thinking of Ashley and the rest of his CNC crew.
“That battle fleet is led by my father,” Veld said, “and I’d be damned if he lets you get out of this space station alive.”
“Really?” Jeryl said. “Leader Greer came to save his failure of a son?”
This got to Veld in a bad way. He leapt to his feet with a growl, but the security guard was ready. He hit the Tyreesian on the head, knocking him back down to the ground.
Veld yelled in pain. Then he said, “He is going to destroy you all. If he has to burn down this space station to do it, he will.”
That gave Jeryl a vital piece of information.
“Even with you aboard?” Jeryl asked. “Greer may be a useless son of a bitch like you, but he’s a father and he won’t want any harm to come to you. As long as we keep you on this ship and on the space station, I’m sure he won’t do anything to put your life in jeopardy.”
Veld gave him a bitter smile. “You are staking your life on a lot of love. In case you have not noticed, Captain Jeryl Montgomery, we Tyreesians are not exactly the loving type.”
“I hear you. Let’s see what your father thinks about this.” Jeryl glanced at the security officer. “Restrain him properly and put him at the center of the CNC.”
Veld panicked. As the guard began to put shackles on his legs and hands, he protested and tried to fight it. The guard overpowered him effortlessly.
“What are you doing?” Veld exclaimed. “You cannot do this to me.”
“I can’t restrain you?” Jeryl asked with a sarcastic twinge in his tone. He watched as the guard bundled Veld to the center of the CNC.
“Hand me your weapon,” Jeryl commanded the guard.
The guard handed him the Tyreesian pulse weapon.
“Anyone with a blade?” Jeryl asked. “Not the laser one. The one with an actual sharp edge. Serrated, preferably.”
“What do you need those for?” Veld called out. He had his back facing Jeryl, so he couldn’t see that Jeryl was taking a massive blade from Tira. He tried to turn to see what Jeryl was up to, but was unable to fully execute the turn without crashing to the ground.
Jeryl walked up to the Tyreesian. He flinched when Jeryl’s shoulder brushed against his. Jeryl stopped a little to his right.
He looked over his shoulder at Veld. “I’m about to show to the whole of Tyreesian battle fleet how you’re such a lousy interrogator, and that you’ll be the reason why we’ll be able to escape.”
Jeryl turned to Mary and said, “Open a system-wide broadcast. I want everyone to see me and Veld. While you’re doing that, send Ashley a message telling her we need the mine field launched as soon as we give her the go ahead. Also, tell her to be ready to teleport to this quadrant and send her the coordinates for the hangar.”
Jeryl stood up straight. He had the Tyreesian pulse weapon slung over his back via a belt, while he held the blade in his right grip. The subdued light in the Tyreesian-designed CNC didn’t illuminate it well, although it did glint in the sharp glare of the view screen.
“We’re live, sir,” said Mary Taylor. “Go ahead.”
Jeryl looked up. “This is Captain Jeryl Montgomery of the Terran Armada. A couple of hours ago, my ship, TUS Seeker, was conducting a rescue mission of a Sonali vessel in Tyreesian space, when we were attacked and captured by a Tyreesian ship, which was apparently owned by this scum right here.”
Jeryl pointed his blade at Veld. He cringed backwards at the nearness of the pointy end.
“We were unlawfully tortured and would have been killed had we not been saved by our away team. Our ship has been destroyed by this same Tyreesian and we have commandeered the same ship that took us. Now, we’re attempting to return back to our space. We’ll keep Interrogator Veld as our prisoner until we have crossed into our space, after which we shall return him to you.”
Jeryl marched to the back of Veld. The Tyreesian squirmed forward, making terrified noises. Jeryl kicked the back of his knee, causing him to jerk and fall down to his knees; then he slapped Veld’s neck with the side of the blade and twisted it until the pointy edge was making contact with h
is silky skin.
He looked up at the view screen and his audience. He realized that a lot of the ships stopped firing, even though the fighters were still parroting about.
“Make no mistake,” Jeryl said, gaining more confidence by the second. “I’ll kill him and take my chances with this ship’s weapon. Don’t test my resolve. Captain Montgomery out.”
Mary tapped her work station and gave Jeryl the thumbs up signal.
“The ships have stopped firing, sir,” Mary reported.
“Get me Commander Gavin,” Jeryl said. “And get ready to move out. I want the sub light drive engaged once we’re ready to move. I don’t want to be strolling through fleet out there, giving them any ideas.”
“Roger that, sir,” Mary said.
“This is Commander Gavin,” said a voice. There was no video.
Jeryl glanced at Mary for an explanation. She shrugged.
“We’re ready to proceed through the field of Tyreesian warships,” Jeryl said. “The moment you launch the mines, we’ll be making an sub light travel through the field, which should put us beyond the field and ships in three minutes.”
“Negative, sir,” Ashley replied. “You go first, and then I launch the mines. The mines will cripple sub light drives. Only thrusters can work when mines are active.”
“No,” Jeryl said. What was Ashley thinking? If the ship left the hangar how would she get back to them?
“There are a few pods in the hangar,” Ashley told him, almost as if she could read his mind. “We’ve already located four of them, and we’ll be using them once we deploy the FTL mines.
“Ashley –”
“I know what I’m doing, Captain,” she replied fast, cutting him short. “We’ll use the pods.”
“Roger that,” Jeryl replied, his heart tighter than it had ever been. “Once we’re beyond the Tyreesian fleet, we’ll wait for a few minutes before we have to engage the FTL. I want you aboard then.”
“Copy that, sir,” she said. “Good luck. Commander Gavin out.”
Jeryl looked down at the navigator. “Engage the sub light drives and take us out of here.”
Jeryl felt the floor vibrate as the sub light drives powered up, sending the ship through the hangar door and into space.
Chapter 28
The ship shot through space, barreling towards the line of Tyreesian ships between them and safety. Around their trajectory, in strategic locations, Ashley and her team began to throw up FTL mines from the station to cover their escape. Jeryl watched on the viewscreen as the other half of the station – still controlled by the Tyreesians attempted to pick off the mines. For every five mines Ashley shot out, two were successfully taken down before they got a chance to deploy. He hoped that this course of action would work. His commandeered Tyreesian ship was pushing its sub-light engines as fast as it could go. Their speed was so fast that some fighters didn’t have enough time to get out of the way and just smashed into their shields.
“Shields at eighty five percent and holding, sir,” called Tira.
“Fire the main forward cannons,” Jeryl ordered.
“Wouldn’t that be seen as provocative, sir?” Mary said. “We’re approaching them and are within range of their long-range sensors. They can fire on us but they haven’t. I advise that we head on without further provocation.”
“I agree,” Jeryl said. “But if we go on like this, there won’t be much of us left. Our shields will collapse from these fighters ramming into us by the time we’re past the fleet.”
“Roger that, sir,” Mary said.
“Fire the forward cannons,” Jeryl ordered again.
Pulse shots slashed across space, slicing the numerous fighters that were scrambling away from their paths. The cannons kept up in firing sequence, two shots every ten seconds, incinerating any and every small vessel lying on its path.
Jeryl paused as a possible Tyreesian plan formed in his mind. Maybe their plan was to weaken their shields and then damage their engines.
Fuck these treacherous bastards, he thought to himself, promising to kill Veld if they were stopped, but no ships had fired on them so far. They were moving too fast and the fighter bots just kept slamming into them. The mines kept going up and so far it was only one half the station that was attempting to stop the mines. It looked strangely schizophrenic, with one quadrant trying to mitigate the actions of another. But even those mines wouldn’t keep the Tyreesian fleet at bay for long. Even if Jeryl didn’t kill Veld, he wouldn’t take his chances with the Tyreesians and start negotiating—he’d just be a sitting duck.
Besides, if Jeryl’s crew was forced to negotiate, it surely wouldn’t go well for them. The Tyreesians would just board their ship and arrest them again. This time, there would be no one to come and save them. They would be doomed.
The captain realized that it was imperative they’d make it out of the Tyreesian web of jet fighters—even if they died trying. It was better to die out there in a space battle than to live the rest of their lives in the terrible, torture-prone captivity of the Tyreesians.
Soon enough, they were past the net of fighter jets and were now approaching the motley collection of Tyreesian warships. There were about thirty of them now that Jeryl got a closer look. They weren’t top of the line in any way. More like cobbled together buckets that were meant to fly surrounding one large capital ship, all hanging in the void of space with no recognizable pattern. It was obvious that this wasn’t the Tyreesian Navy—it seemed to be Leader Greer’s personal fleet of warships, much like the corporations of Terran Union that maintained their own collection of warships.
“Commander Gavin to Captain Montgomery,” said a voice through their comms.
Jeryl looked up instinctively, hoping to see Ashley’s face somewhere. The view screen still showed the Tyreesian vessels and the readouts imposed on them.
“This is Captain Montgomery,” Jeryl replied. “What’s wrong with your visuals? We can only hear you.”
“Our visuals were damaged in the last attack, sir,” she replied.
Jeryl could tell she was lying through her teeth. Immediately, his heart climbed up to his chest. The only reason she would be lying to him was that she was planning to do something he wouldn’t approve of or like.
“What’s your status?” Jeryl asked.
“We have sent out all the FTL mines,” she said. “They have been programmed to only come active when you clear the zone. They’ve also been programmed not to jump into your way in case they extend beyond their range.”
“Perfect,” Jeryl said. “You’ve done well. I want you to transport to the hangar, get into that pod and make our way toward us. We’ll use the long range weapons to provide cover.”
There was silence.
“Sir, I have set the torpedoes to launch in one minute,” she said. “They have been programmed to avoid your ship and attack any and every ship on your path. They will follow your vector and move at twice your speed. This means they will surpass you before you reach the Tyreesian warships.”
“That will break off the embargo or destroy them in time for us to fly through the debris,” Mary said. “Good work, Commander.”
“Thanks, Mary,” Ashley replied.
“You’ve done all you can do,” Jeryl said. “You’ve programmed everything. There’s no need for you to remain in the control center. Come aboard. Our FTL calculations have been made. As soon as we clear the last Tyreesian warship, we’re making the FTL jump.”
“Sir, there’s something I have to tell you,” Ashley said. “It’s why I don’t have my visuals on. Yeah, they’re working. I just don’t have the stomach to face you and say it.”
Jeryl didn’t respond. He felt his knees weaken as a hot wash of tension poured down his body.
“The pods in the hangar have been affected by the Seeker’s explosion,” she said. “They’re not going anywhere.”
Jeryl’s whole world came crashing down.
“Jeryl?” Ashley said. “Did you he
ar me?”
Her voice became thick with emotions. “I’m so sorry. I know there’s a wedge between us, but never doubt that I love—”
There was a static feed.
“Get her back!” Jeryl boomed, the tears pooling in his eyes. His heart was heavy with hurt.
“Sir, I can’t,” Mary said. “There’s an electrical failure in that part of the station. It looks like the Tyreesian fleet is trying to jam communications between us and the station.”
Just then, the torpedoes began to launch from the space station. They came in their hundreds, a rain of hellfire descending upon the Tyreesian fleet.
“Turn us back!” Jeryl said. “We won’t leave her!”
“Sir, that’s impossible,” Tira replied. “If we deviate from our present course, we’ll run into the approaching heavy torpedoes. We have to maintain our present course otherwise we risk being incinerated by them.”
Jeryl sank to his knees, defeated.
Ashley, don’t do this. No, please. Don’t do this!
“We can still save them,” Jeryl said, springing back on his feet and refusing to give up. “We can still save them. All I need is ten brave men and women who would volunteer to help me.”
Jeryl wasn’t talking specifically with anyone, so no one replied to him. “Once we’re clear of the Tyreesians’ fleet, I’ll take a shuttle and pick off a ship in that fleet. Find the smallest one and take over their crew. We’ll fly over to the ship and rescue her. We can still…”
Right then, the lead Tyreesian capital ship—the largest one, which Jeryl presumed to be Greer’s flagship—fired their main weapon. They shot slices through the air and struck the beta quadrant.
Immediately, an explosion occurred that led into a chain reaction. Within seconds, the entire beta quadrant, where Ashley, Adachi, Ferriero, and Sef were, exploded in a glorious splash of red and orange.
When the explosion cleared, there was nothing left of the quadrant, except a field of debris. The ring-shaped space station had been cut by a quarter.
“No…” Tira sobbed. “No…”
Jeryl felt cold from top to bottom. He was still trying to process what had just happened. His mind went blank as a hollow feeling took over his heart.