by T. J. Jones
USS Odyssey
Deck 10, Tenaport
“Commander,” Linara insisted.
Adrian glanced up from his glass. He hadn’t touched it.
“Hey, that’s damn good Saurian brandy. If you aren’t going to touch it, I’ll save it.”
He shook his head. “Sorry. Just thinking.”
“Finally. About?”
“I thought you could read minds?”
Linara smiled, her azure skin seemed to make it look better than if she’d been a human. “I can, but it’s my policy in these situations that someone says it on their own. It helps to work through things.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll play along. It’s just been nagging me you know? How we got cut off. How we couldn’t get everyone out.”
“Bad luck. Happens all the time.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. When we started the mission, we had to use shuttles to boost the porter’s range. We also had to activate the QT drive to generate the power we needed to pull it off. A power source like that would be traceable…” He glanced up to Linara. “Sonuvabitch. They saw us the whole time.”
Linara wasn’t following him so he continued, “They started to fire blindly once the fighters and bombers laid into them. But they were just pretending to shoot wildly. They saw those shuttles the whole fucking time. The Empire knew exactly where they were and they pretended to not be able to see us. They walked their fire in and cut us off at exactly the moment they wanted to. Dekav said as much, but I didn’t think they had our number the whole engagement.”
“Meaning?” Linara asked.
“Meaning, the enemy commander wants us here longer. He’s keeping us in play. Biding time. And he’s damn confident he can win the long game. Just like Dekav said.”
“Time for what?”
“Reinforcements.”
“So the bad guy is calling in his goon squad, huh?”
Adrian nodded ruefully pushing his glass around the countertop some. “Yeah. That kinda complicates things for us. Especially if they can see through our bluffs.”
“Dekav is the Alien that joined us during the assault on the ship?”
“Yea. He’s not happy with how the show is being ran.”
Linara propped her chin in her palms with her elbows on the bar counter and looked at Adrian quizzically. “So what’s your plan?”
He pursed his lips in thought unsure. He’d played his hand for the moment and the empire had played theirs. It wouldn’t be safe to go back on the enemy ship again so soon. He was going to need the elites to give the Odyssey some cover.
“Well, the ship needs some pretty crucial repairs so we’re going to hang in here for a bit longer. Tia needs time to work her magic and I intend to give her as long as she needs. When things finally do spill over into a fight, it’s going to get nasty.” He glanced up at her. “Were you on any Alliance ships during the Dominus War?”
Linara shook her head. “Can’t say that I was, no.”
He nodded. “You’re lucky for it. It was pretty painful for the Alliance starting out. When the Milsarians joined in, they took some of the heat off of us, but that initial brunt of it was pretty bad. I watched an attack frigate ram a cruiser square in the star drive and detonate the core. All hands lost. That was just the first of many. I’ve seen probably more than I needed to of war to know just how nasty it can get. Those little exchanges we’ve had with that ship out there?” He waved dismissively. “Those were just feeling each other out. This is going to get a lot worse before we get home.”
He stood up and walked to the window. Linara followed behind him. He folded his arms, leaning against the bulkhead and gestured out to the nebula. “This thing is all that’s saving our skin right. Without it I’d have nothing.”
Linara stood next to him and smiled. “You shouldn’t do this to yourself. This nebula is here, and you do have something. You’ve got the Alliance’s best cruiser. You’ve got its best crew, and you’ve got your wit and your experience.”
He pursed his lips as his gaze got lost in the swirling gasses outside the vessel. “Well, that is true.”
She nudged him in the arm. “There’re a few cards you’ve still been holding up your sleeve aren’t there?”
“Are you reading my mind again?” He grinned at her.
She played innocent with a shrug. “Maybe. But I’m beginning to get to know you, and you seem the type who likes to play things close to the chest but at the same time fast and loose,” she said to him.
He nodded. “Yeah. The ship was designed with some of the lessons we learned from the Dominus War. It’s got a mounted escort ship that can launch from its aft, and the fore section can be detached from the main star drive for another battle mode as well. To top it off it comes with a pretty nasty bite.”
He thought about why he hadn’t used them yet, and she was right. He was holding those in reserve. One of the first rules of command was to never play your full hand. Always keep something in reserve. He still had those options. The clock was ticking though and he was pretty certain the time was approaching he would need to use them.
“So you’re biding your time. And still holding some decent cards,” Linara commented, pulling him from his thoughts.
He turned to her and nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. With that being said, you may want to be ready for battle on a moment’s notice. We made the first move last go, so now it’s their turn. And I haven’t the faintest clue what they’ll come up with. So be ready.”
Linara smiled. “Don’t worry, Captain. I have no intention of going back to some slave pen now.” He nodded with a smile and turned for the exit. “Commander,” he corrected. “Thanks for the chat. Take care of yourself.”
Linara bowed her head with a smile. “And you the same.”
He’d returned to the bridge with a heavy mind. Gamma shift was on the bridge while most of the others were down on a rest plan. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, feeling the exhaustion of the past few days’ stress wearing down on him. He’d been so exhausted he barely noticed the young lieutenant on the helm turn to address him.
“Sir? You look exhausted. Go ahead and take your rest shift. We can keep watch. First instant something changes, you’ll be the first to know.”
He rubbed his eyes tiredly and felt a headache threatening to catch him. He nodded. “Alright, notify me the moment anything changes before I resume shift.”
“Of course, sir.”
He stood up and felt the ache setting into his body. He’d been running on adrenaline so long that he’d literally run himself ragged. Maybe he could use some rest after all. He wasn’t going to be any good to anyone too tired to think straight. He drifted down the corridor to the lift and took it down a deck. A short walk later he was in his room trying to tug off his jacket. Eventually, he struggled out of it but couldn’t be bothered with the rest of his uniform and just collapsed in a heap onto his bed.
Sleep eventually overtook him. His dreams were fitful, filled with images from the Dominus War and his time as a fighter pilot. Then they switched to him watching his crew being taken away from the Odyssey and the captain dying.
HWE Retribution
6 Lightyears away
Aboard the White Empire vessel Retribution, an elite corvette, a blue-eyed platinum-haired warrior in silver armor watched as Dekav made his impassioned plea on the main view screen. He was cautious to trust an unknown face with his cause. It had been a few years since he’d been branded with the label of Arbitrator. For an elite there was no greater shame to carry the will of the empire. Normally arbitrators would carry out the missions doled to them from the prophets and the docents. These usually were suicide missions.
The Empire issued the title and armor to those elites who accused of heresy. It was a title unjustly mantled onto him to cover the shame of a high-ranking Docent. He’d been a loyal believer once. His faith in the prophets and their system of rule, destroyed that day. Now he could only see the em
pire for the corrupt power base that it was. A system of control for the prophets to manipulate others with “faith.” Now he was secretly championing a rebellion and, as it seemed, fate had handed him an opportune moment to deal a crippling blow.
He glanced over at his first officer. “Can we authenticate this?”
The officer typed in a few commands and looked up. “It originates from the Truth and Jubilation. Acolyte Dekav.”
“Acolyte Dekav?”
“Yes, Arbitrator. He’s always been an outspoken elite. He serves on the vessel under Docent Vay.”
“Vay.” He spoke the word with so much venom in his voice his crew looked as though the deck plating would melt under him.
“Yes, Arbitrator.”
He stood and scrutinized the message once more. The picture was starting to come into focus. Vay was a known docent in the empire. He was as ambitious as he was cunning. No wonder the acolyte posted to him was sending this message. He’s lucky Vay hadn’t tried holding his own heresy trial yet as it was.
“How many vessels are in that sector?”
“Just Vay’s arbitrator. However, there are three others converging from several sectors away. The situation appears to be authentic.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you up to, Vay?” he muttered to himself. He weighed the situation carefully. They’d been gathering followers for a long time now. Vay’s battlegroup would prove problematic, but nothing he wouldn’t be capable of dealing with. Especially if he was laser focused on something else, which seemed apparent for the remainder of his battlegroup to be closing in on his position at high warp.
With Vay this distracted, he could move his forces in from the surrounding four sectors unnoticed until they were on top of that self-righteous, self-absorbed blowhard. Then he would show the docent what the true face of heresy looked like as he struck down his battlegroup. He turned to his helmsman. “Lay in a course to intercept the Truth and Jubilation.”
Turning to his operations officer, “Send a wideband message. All elite vessels within the surrounding sectors are to converge on the coordinates the acolyte provided. Let them know that today is the day we stand up against the false prophets and their corrupt empire. Today is the day that the elites reclaim their destiny and their faith.”
The operations officer nodded with a determined expression. Everyone felt the arbitrator’s energy. In a perverse way, he was living up to his title, just not how the prophets would have ordered him to. He turned to the view screen as the corvette launched into warp. The reckoning would be upon them soon. All the true heretics would know that the arbitrator cometh and none would be free of his retribution.
He turned to his marine commander. “Have the men prepared and ready. Pre-combat checks and pre-combat inspections. Conduct drills and walkthroughs when you’re done. We are the empire’s elites and we will live up to our name.”
The marine commander nodded and exited the bridge with haste. He turned and reclaimed his command chair with an intent gaze on the view screen. He prayed the acolyte and his alien allies could hold their ground long enough for him and his forces to arrive. He wouldn’t waste this gift to retake his faith from the gods.
He ran the battle math in his head very quickly. The docent’s battlegroup would be composed of an Deacon class capital vessel, two Occogadiss-class support craft, and a Hahne Frigate. Clearly the Deacon provided the clearest presentable threat. The question was could they level enough munitions on it to make a difference? He was well versed in its stories of resilience in battle and even the alien vessel had only been able to scratch it thus far.
“Science officer, I want up-to-date scans of the Truth and Jubilation.”
“As you wish, Arbitrator.”
Within moments, the data scrolled across his tablet. He looked it over. As he suspected, mostly superficial hull scoring. Some deep impacts occasionally, but nothing widespread. The aliens aiding the acolyte seemed to enjoy employing small strike craft to deliver anti-capital ship munitions. It was a curious tactic. One he hadn’t considered. The Truth was too large to outmaneuver such an attack, but it’s sheer size and redundancy made it immune to that for the most part. He also noticed the enemy tended to strike with precision. The Truth’s engines were also pretty gravely damaged.
He perked up when he noticed this. “So. You can’t limp away, can you?”
This all but guaranteed a successful strike for him. What better way to send a message to the prophets than to throw their favorite poster child, Docent Vay, at their feet. This truly was a gift from the gods. For the first time in a long time, the mantle of arbitrator was feeling less like a curse and more like a blessing. Perhaps that was the gods’ intent all along. To teach him shame before teaching him true faith.
“Science officer, scan the nebula as best you can. Give me the data results as you get them.”
As the data scrolled he smiled. “There you are.” The fuzzy outline of the USS Odyssey sat snugly within the nebula. So the alien commander was wise as well. Good. This would be a fortunate day for the elites after all. He sat back with an eager smile on his face as he waited for his corvette to near the battle space, excited to see what developed when they got there.
Chapter Fourteen
“To conquer a difficult enemy with a powerful shell, sometimes the best route to victory is from within.” – 2nd Prophet of Sorrow.
Docent Vay descended his ship the Truth and Jubilation to visit his “guest,” Lieutenant Solamen Kaine. He’d held the senior officer of the Odyssey for some time now — ever since his retrieval teams first brought back members of the alien ship aboard the Truth. This Kaine had vital information he wanted. After subjecting him to the mental erosion treatment, the man’s willpower should be all but absent now, leaving Vay the opportunity to retrieve the information he wanted. His forehead antennae twitched as he mulled over how hard he’d have to push Kaine for the information.
He neared the cell and turned to greet the guards, who both bowed and stepped back away from him to give him space. He stepped inside and noticed at first that Kaine had a lucid expression. His gaze seemed distant but focused. Vay knelt down in front of him and sniffed. The pink skin smelled of stress and fatigue. He nodded. This would prove adequate.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Solamen Kaine.”
“And your position aboard your starship?”
“My position is Chief Security Officer.”
Vay smiled satisfied. “Good. Can we be friends? I would very much like if we could be friends.”
Kaine nodded. “Yes, we can be friends.”
Vay noted that Kaine’s voice was sing-songy and distant. His mind a million miles away. “I need your help, Kaine. And friends help each other, don’t they?”
Kaine nodded. “Yes. Friends help each other.”
“And you’ll help me because we’re friends, right?”
“Yes, you’re my friend.”
“Good. I need to make more friends like you. I need to know where you come from. What is the galactic grid coordinates for your people’s home world?”
Kaine opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Vay assumed as much. Kaine didn’t have the information he sought.
“You don’t know the coordinates do you?”
Kaine shook his head silently.
“That’s ok. You wanted to help. That’s what counts, right?”
Kaine nodded.
“Good. There’s still a way you can help me. I need you to send me astronavigation data from your ship. You can do that right?”
Kaine nodded again.
“You’ll do that for your friend?”
“Yes, for my friend.”
Vay smiled. What passed for lips curled upward and revealed his teeth. “Good, Kaine.”
“Good, Kaine,” Solamen repeated in his sing-songy voice.
“I’m going to take you back to your home ship. When I do, you’ll be just as you were before you got here. Save f
or your one task to do for me. Because we’re friends.”
Kaine nodded. Vay stood up and patted Solamen on his head. Then he promptly wiped his hand clean on a towel. He emerged from the torture chamber and glanced at the guards. “Administer the second phase of the treatment and see to it he is prepped to be returned to his vessel.”
“Yes, Docent.”
Vay nodded and then proceeded back to the command center. When he reached his position at the command altar, he looked down at the rest of the crew performing their jobs and inhaled deeply. So this is what victory tasted like, he thought. A satisfyingly toxic and sweet aroma.
Tacent Cor approached his flank and bowed briefly. Vay acknowledged him. “Speak.”
“Your Holiness. We’ve managed to repair the sublight engines to within fifty percent of operational parameters. Weapons and Shields remain a high priority as well and are subsequently in better standing. Some of our smaller beam cannon turrets are too badly destroyed and will need to be replaced at dry dock.”
Vay nodded. He’d assumed as much. The enemy was able to pack a terrible hit with their difficult to target small strike fighters. The empire hadn’t relied on small ships of that scale since the advent of large sector-traversing vessels. They were able to hit harder, withstand more damage, and travel farther. However, because the empire hadn’t faced them in so long they were sorely unprepared for them.
It was a weakness the enemy commander knew how to employ quite well. He turned to face Tacent Cor. “Continue your report.”
Cor nodded. “Of course, Your Holiness. The Tetryon cannon should be back online within a tenth of the decicycle. There’s also something else. During the last engagement, there were scattered reports of alien boarders on our ship.”
Vay’s antennae lifted as his brow raised while his eyes narrowed. “Do explain.”
Cor shifted uncomfortably under the weight of Vay’s tone of voice. “There were two, Your Holiness. Far too small for our internal sensors to notice. It would appear they found some way to project themselves inside our ship using a type of matter teleporter. It wasn’t very powerful. Perhaps just strong enough to have teleported only the two aboard. They entered near a breach in the hull where our shield was likely at its weakest.”