by T. J. Jones
She sobbed and collapsed into his chest crying. He felt his throat tighten into a knot. He patted her back softly a few times and she pushed herself off and struggled to regain her composure.
“It’ll be ok now. Just stay with these boys. They know what they are doing.”
One of the marines gave her a confident nod. “Ok,” she said meekly and he led her toward the rest of the subjugates.
“Alright, Captain, let’s help get these people out of here.”
The marine saluted him. “Yes, sir.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind” – John F. Kennedy
The marines started getting the escaped slaves into an orderly group, Adrian and Dekav watched. Adrian wanted to be sure they got out of here at least before they ran into any trouble. He had no doubts that Vay would be watching this somewhere and just throwing an absolute shit fit. The thought made him grin smugly. Good. It was about time that asshole was on the receiving end of the fuck you stick.
He was taking such a beating over the head with it by now he was impressed he was still conscious through all this nonsense. Before the marines left, Captain Valentine approached him again. “Sir, we’re going to leave you with the fourth squad. They’ll get you to where you need to go.”
Adrian shook his head to protest, Val cut him off before he could speak. “Out of the question, sir. They go with you. Consider it an inconvenient protocol. No more running around maverick anymore.”
Adrian sighed. “Ok, I guess the extra help couldn’t hurt. Just make sure you boys don’t get hurt. Deal?”
“Deal,” the squad said in unison.
“Do you guys practice that or something?” he asked with a weirded out expression. Fourth squad exchanged grins with each other. “Alright, Dekav, let’s get a move on.”
“Right. This way.” Dekav led the way with Adrian and the marines falling in behind him. They moved a little slower now, a little more cautiously. They had less killing power than when they had as an entire platoon, but they would still give any standard security team pause. As the group progressed, his mind drifted to the ship. He was praying they were doing ok. He didn’t know about all this cipher nonsense. Nevertheless, he sure hoped someone was keeping an eye out for his people.
Mary Jo gripped the captain’s chair tightly as the ship rocked. “Someone put that fire out!” she shouted, pointing to a console in the far corner of the bridge, the junior officer working it dead on the floor. The lighting had switched to the red-hued battle lighting to conserve power for the weaponry and shields. It also prevented further surges and flash outs like what just happened. She cursed herself for not having made the decision sooner. It cost someone his life.
As a few engineers rushed to the console and put the fire out with an extinguisher, she shot Tiaahl a look. “What’s the status of the marines?”
“I’m reading several shuttles on a return vector. Twice as many life sign readings. The commander, his Imperial ally, and a squad of marines are not aboard, however. It would seem they remained behind.”
The marine captain’s image popped up on the main screen. He leaned over the pilot in the troop shuttle, and it was packed to the brim with people. Many of them looked malnourished and beaten. “Sorry, ma’am. The commander insisted he still had a mission to carry out and asked we get these people to safety.”
She nodded, understanding. The commander had freed the last of the Truth’s slaves. “Understood, Captain Valentine. What exactly was his mission?”
“Ma’am, I believe his exact words were ‘I’m going to go kick Vay’s ass.’”
She blinked, looking back to Tiaahl who appeared as though he approved, and then back to Val. “Um. Right. Well, carry on then.”
“Valentine out.”
Mary Jo looked over to Trident. “See what you can do about scooping them up just in case the Truth decides to take shots at them.”
“Right.”
As the Odyssey moved into an intercept course to scoop up the marine shuttles, the Truth battered her shields relentlessly until they buckled and clipped her nacelle again. The damaged nacelle began hemorrhaging plasma into space.
“We’ve lost the nacelle again; they keep crippling us.”
“Do what you can,” Mary Jo insisted.
Before another word, they noticed the massive built-in cannon barrel start charging.
“Shit,” Mary Jo said softly.
Before the cannon discharged, multiple ships dropped out of warp in their immediate airspace. “Reading multiple contacts! Is it the arbitrator and his fleet?”
The cannon fired and crippled a ship that had positioned it to block the shot. The arbitrator’s image popped up on screen. “Commander Rain, we apologize for our tardiness.”
“Arbitrator. Are we ever glad to see you! We’re in bad shape and could really use a hand here.”
“Gladly. All forces, open fire.”
Instantly, all the elite vessels began firing on the massive Truth and Jubilation. Its shields absorbed the brunt almost effortlessly.
“Arbitrator, their siege mode shields are on.”
“Keep it up. We’ll punch a hole through with brute force if we have to. Our human allies have. Fall back and lick your wounds, we’ll take over from here.”
“Thank you,” Mary Jo said with a nod. What a relief. “Lt. Vail, back us off just out of weapons range. Once we’re in shape to fight, take us back in.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The Odyssey went into full reverse thrust backing out of the battle. A green plasma trail flowed from the damaged nacelle. Her hull glowed in multiple spots from damage sustained by the Truth’s weaponry. Elite vessels exchanged fire with the Truth now in the Odyssey’s stead.
“Now it’s all on you, Commander,” Mary Jo said. “Go get him.”
Adrian braced himself as the ship rocked violently. Dekav glanced up, checked his comm device and smiled. “The Odyssey is safe. The arbitrator has arrived and his forces have opened fire on the Truth. With its siege mode shields active, however, they won’t be able to effectively damage it with the sustained pressure. However, it will force the gunnery officers to choose their shots more carefully. Lensing the shield to fire will much more likely result in a disabled weapons array now.”
“Good. Anything we can do to help them out some?”
Dekav thought for a moment. “Well. There are several but I fear we would only have time for one or two options. The longer the battle drags on, the more in Docent Vay’s favor this will slide. The Truth is made for operations like this being prolonged with other vessels gradually succumbing to their wounds.”
“Right. We strike hard and strike fast. The question is what would be the most bang for our buck?”
“Speaking of bang, sir, we’ve got some party poppers if you think they’ll help?” a marine sergeant said with a grin holding up a few demo satchels.
Adrian nodded. “Excellent.” He turned to Dekav. “Well?”
Dekav’s face twisted in thought. “I am unsure. The engineering junction for this quadrant of the ship is not far from here. We could also plant them near several power nodes that feed the siege shields. That would prevent them shrugging off so much damage so easily. Or we could conserve them for the command center and neutralize the entire command staff.”
Adrian thought it over. “The last one sounds too forgiving. That bastard needs to go down hard and slow. Let’s hit their biggest strength.”
“The shields?”
He nodded. “Show them how vulnerable they really are and they’ll rethink their life choices.”
“Now I’m more certain than ever that I don’t wish to play this ‘poker’ with you,” Dekav mused.
“Who? With the commander? Oh, he’ll clean you out,” one of the privates joked.
“Hey, I’m not that bad, am I?” He glanced around. “Am I?”
The marines all exchanged a few chuckles. “Eh, you guys are all rid
ing my ass. Alright, let’s get these charges sorted so your people can hammer this place hard.”
“Agreed.”
Dekav led the way with Adrian and the marines in tow once again as they made their way through the dark emerald corridors. The doors were large hexagonal in pattern and split down the center. Simple, if different from Alliance themes.
Docent Vay’s lip twitched with anger. At his feet lay two dead elites. Who knew how many more of the filthy traitors were lingering on his ship. As if his fight with the humans was not enough, now the arbitrator of all people showed up to join in the battle. The opportunistic little parasite. Upset he replaced the elites with the Loerians, no doubt. Those of true faith reaped the rewards over the false believers.
“Get this scum out of here.” He gestured to the bodies. A few of the security officers made their way around to help drag the bodies from the command center. It was no secret that Docent Vay held no small amount of contempt for the elites, seeing them as unworthy of their position and sliding ever so quickly into disgrace in the empire. He did not figure it would be long before they did something this rash.
He just never expected them to get in bed with these humans. The Elites were so naively simpleminded. He would get the joy of destroying the arbitrator finally. Perhaps he would mount the arbitrator’s head next to Commander Rains head.
“Docent Vay. Urgent news from below decks. The slave pens have been emptied and much of the security between it and the third shuttle bay have been killed.”
“What!” He smashed a clenched fist down into his console, threatening to shatter it in one blow. He was trembling with anger. “Rethink your statement and repeat.”
“D-docent Vay. The prisoners have escaped.”
“How?” His voice dropped several octaves and dripped with venom and ice.
“It looks as though they had some assistance. Judging from the bodies, we are anticipating somewhere around twenty to thirty armed soldiers, sir. Professional grade. They also disabled several of the internal barrier fields we set up.”
“Rain.” He scowled. It was that meddlesome commander, skulking around inside his ship again. He must have teleported himself aboard after crashing his escort ship into the Truth to detonate its core.
“Your Holiness?”
“It’s Commander Rain. He is mucking about inside my ship. Find him and terminate him. Do not even bother with capture protocols. I just want him dead.”
He howled in anger at the main screen as the elites continued to defy him and now Commander Rain was aboard his own ship undermining him. This human was tenacious and cunning — qualities he both admired and loathed in an enemy.
He drummed his talons against the top of his station in thought for a moment. “Report. What are the intruders doing now?”
The sensor tech input a variety of commands. “Unknown, Your Holiness. I can’t seem to track them down.”
Vay purred in thought for a moment. Freeing the slaves was a bold move. They could have spurred them to violence inside the ship, but the commander was an altruist. He could not bring himself to use those innocents like that. No, his only recourse was to send them away. How pathetically naïve.
Nevertheless, he was clearly here to accomplish something. Had the commander come to disrupt the Truth perhaps? Maybe Rain sought a face-to-face resolution? Yes, that sounded much more like the bold and headstrong commander. How fitting. To choke the life from the commander and watch the man gasp his last dying breath under Imperial hands. This battle would become his burial site, the Truth, his gravestone.
“Your Holiness, perhaps we should dispatch more armed personnel to disrupt and intercept them,” Tacent Cor said to him.
Vay shook his head. “No, stand all security down. I want the commander to be able to find the command center freely.”
Tacent Cor opened his mouth to protest, but catching the look in Vay’s his eyes, he stopped. Clearing his throat Cor nodded and leaned back. “As you wish, Your Holiness.”
Cor gave a look to a security officer on the bridge who then turned to his station and input several commands. The officer turned back to Cor and nodded. “Orders given and received Tacent.”
Vay watched with satisfaction. He wanted to ensure his guest of honor arrived for his final act. He turned to Cor. “Now, we simply wait for our friend to arrive so that we may greet him with his death.”
Cor seemed conflicted but Vay brushed it off. Now wasn’t the time to be bothered with excessive worry and caution when their victory was at hand. He turned his attention to the irritating fleet firing at the Truth.
“Someone do something about this fleet of Eaons protecting that human vessel.”
The Truth twisted along its X axis as the massive cannon barrel bore down on a vessel in closest proximity to the Truth. It began to build its charge, the surge of energy gathering at its circular maw. As the charge built, the energy snapped and lanced outward like writhing vipers of cerulean tetryonic energy. It cut loose for the nearest elite vessel, which quickly punched out the vessel’s shielding. Soon after the Truth’s beam cannons made short work of lancing the ship up. Its core breached, engulfing it in an explosion that rocked several nearby vessels in formation.
Vay watched from the command center of the Truth and Jubilation smugly as the vessel disappeared in a ball of plasma and fire. He contemplated the irony of such a display being silent in the vacuum of space. The lack of cries from the vessel as its crew atomized in an instant.
“Good riddance.” He scowled. “Continue picking them apart. The faster we’ve dealt with them, the faster we can refocus on the Odyssey,” Vay Ordered.
“Yes, Your Holiness,” the fire control officer replied. He set the cannon into recharge mode and selected a new target. Gods knew there were several to choose. Any would suffice.
The Truth unleashed another azure-tinted hell storm of energy onto another elite cruiser. Overloading its systems, the beam quickly tore it apart with blistering fire from its many cannons. The fireball coughed from the cruisers wreckage into space snuffed out quickly and the glittering debris left in its wake would serve as the only memorial to the crew lost aboard.
Vay figured that picking the Eaons apart and finally casting them from the empire as the hands of the prophets would be a cathartic and entertaining endeavor, but he never expected it to be quite so satisfying. He was beside himself with amusement and joy. To be the herald of the prophets is truly a blessing indeed.
“Again!” he ordered. The Truth’s weapon systems locked onto another vessel. As before, its cannons began amassing a charge. This time, the vessel in question came about hard to port and set a collision course. His brow arch lifted in curiosity. “Oh?” he mused to himself. He wondered now. Would the vessel ram them before the ship could fire, or did it mean to meet its end head on? Now this was truly entertaining. Like jesters, these Eaons were.
“Your Holiness, the enemy vessel is on a ramming course.”
“Stay your ground.”
The cannon completed its charge, the shield lensed open, and the cannon prepared to fire just as the elite cruiser smashed clean into the muzzle of the cannon. The ship buckled and folded along its spine. Detonations and explosions blossomed along the vessel’s hull until it detonated in one massive bloom of fire. When the flash settled, the cannon muzzle was ruined and warped. Incapable of firing again.
“Docent Vay,” the fire control officer said with a shaky tone in his voice.
Vay rose. “What?”
“Your Holiness. The elite vessel rammed our primary cannon. It’s incapable of building its charge to fire now.”
Vay’s cranial antennae twitched as his lip curled. In a snap of motion, he drew his pistol and fired, killing the officer dead in his chair. “Clean him up and open fire on those ants!”
For all the prophets’ blessings, it was so troublesome not to have a more capable crew. It was something he planned to fix once he strip-mined the Alliance of all its personnel and resou
rces.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Through faith, we affirm our commitment. Through the gods we execute their word. The prophets their voice. The elites their will.” – First Arbitrator, Holy White Empire Golden age.
Dekav paused the team after a short trot. Adrian bumped into the private in front of him and apologized softly. They exchanged glances with each other. Adrian gently pushed his way up next to the Eaon, or elite, as the prophets had renamed them within their Empire.
“What is it?”
Dekav shook his head, brows furrowed and eyes focused forward intently. “I don’t know, but something is off. We’ve progressed three junctions without running into further resistance.”
“Maybe we lost them?”
Dekav twisted his head slightly. “No, they would be able to track our movement based on the weapons fire. Vay is up to something. Of what, I am unsure.”
“Maybe he’s pulling his troops back to reinforce the command center. He might suspect that’s our next move.”
“It is a tactically sound ploy, but there are plenty of soldiers to position along the junctions even if he fortified his position on the command center.”
“Well, if we’ve got a few minutes of breathing room, let’s not waste them.”
Dekav frowned, clearly disagreeing with him, but then nodded. “Ok, let’s go. The first shield grid junction is up ahead.”
The assault team moved forward following Dekav. It was odd to think of it like that, but he realized that is what they were now. A motley crew of an acting ship’s captain, an alien exile/refugee, and a squad of marines. Not exactly the ideal pick for a mission like this, but then again it wasn’t exactly his best moment of planning. They had to play the hand they had and so far, he thought they were doing as good a job of it as they could.