Titan Fleet: The Invictus

by Jason J Black

  “I will send a progress report back to Greyfields, but I think they need to set off soon, if we are to make it off this pile of sand.” Pace looks out of the window. He is stood up, thinking what a great home this will be for them all. “We need to get to the bridge and take control, we can’t afford to blast off without our people and I need to know if Eve is on the ship or elsewhere.” Cassy pauses for a moment and looks up from her screen.

  “Already checked, she is not on the ship, they are awaiting her arrival from her bunker to the north of here. It seems her troops are all over the planet, still taking what is not theirs and shipping things back through White Crest. I will place a marker on any communications about her traffic to let us know when she is inbound. I have also been able to access scans of outer space and the Oakthians are approaching and will be here in a few hours it seems.” Pace is amazed at Cassy’s information and organising skills. She would make a great captain and today he has learned so much about her, things he admires.

  “Great work, squirt, you amaze me, you have grown up to be a great person to have around and I am so glad to have you back again.” Cassy walks over to stand beside Pace and stares out of the window, watching stars fly by at an alarming speed.

  “It’s a beautiful ship; it feels good to be here. I missed you so much and thought you had died in your life pod. I miss Mum and Dad; it’s like a hole in my heart that can never be filled again. It still hurts so bad, Joseph, I can’t explain it, but I am sure we will make up for lost time along the way.” Pace pulls Cassy in close to hugs her, like he did when she was a small child.

  “You said you have a little one, Lily, and a husband too, what are they like?” Cassy stops a tear from falling.

  “My husband and I met on the mining planet, Ulsar. He was a doctor there and I was involved in a cave-in, working with an idiot that got a laser target wrong. The laser killed almost a whole crew, and the idiot blamed it on the spaceships engines being off when he put in the coordinates. Well, my husband was the doctor there, and when I looked up and saw his eyes and his cute goatee, and a smile that could heal a broken heart, that was it for me. It took me a long time to recover; even when he found out I was just faking it, just to see him. We married quickly and then Lily came along, not planned but a gift she is indeed. She is just a happy little girl, you will love them both, I’m sure.” Pace squeezes Cassy.

  “Cassy, I am sure I will, they are family after all. What did your husband say when you contacted him at Greyfields?”

  “He told me to stay safe and that he will be here as fast as he can. He had mustered two mining ships, they are old, but will make the trip.” Pace notices a platform in the distance and walks over to the karts door, ready for it to open, and Cassy follows. The brakes on the roof screech as the kart begins to slow some distance from the platform. It had been going so fast and yet they had had a good little chat. The screeching gets louder and they both sway and stumble as it stops. They are both holding onto the rails so tightly that their knuckles turn white, but now they let go, as they leave the kart.

  The platform is not busy at all, so they move without a care in the world to another lift, which it takes them up once again, and opens onto a long corridor. The rooms off the corridor are busy with people going about their jobs, and they go unnoticed and find the bridge at the end, and they have a stroke of luck, no one is on the bridge. The consoles are black and there was no power. It was a large bridge, which probably had a crew of at least twenty to twenty-five just to run everyday things.

  “Ok, we’re at the prime spot for takeover. We need to secure the bridge and then wait for the others. Hopefully, we will go unnoticed.” Just as Pace turns around to the door, two bridge crew enter the room. The door locks behind them, due to Cassy’s quick thinking. The two men raise their gauntlets and Pace lifts up his hand to try to stop them firing and alerting others. As he does this, the lump on the palm of his hand ejects two spinning blue balls, which hit the two men in the chest, sending them smashing backwards into the door. They both writhe in agony and the two balls open up on their skin and sticky, pungent ooze slowly covers them, devouring them as it spreads. It is a dreadful sight and Pace can’t believe what has just happened.

  “I … I, what is going on? Now I am firing stuff out of my body. It’s getting worse!” Cassy tries to comfort Pace with a joke.

  “You always fired stuff out of your body, especially after eating eggs; I would not worry if I were you. You sorted out that problem. I would say you’re quite handy to have around too. Get it, handy?” Pace, who was fretting, now turns and just laughs, knowing if he did not laugh he would only cry, and laughter was a good thing.

  “Cheeky, ha, I get it.” The two begin to laugh.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  A tired Nova walks into the canteen in her dressing gown almost covering her otherwise naked body. She makes two cups of coffee before she notices Sam, who is eating some biscuits and looking at a litepad. Lucky for her, he is engrossed in his work, so she quietly creeps out again with two coffees and some prized ham for Len, which she knew was hard to get hold of on Foloss. She goes back to her room and Len is led in her bed with such a big smile on his face that it lit up the room.

  “Here you go, lover boy, got to keep your strength up.” Len puts his cup and ham on the bedside table and grabs hold of Nova and begins to kiss her once more.

  “Maybe I should apply to your ship and get on your crew, and then we can have more perfect times.” Nova responds once she catches her breath from all the kissing.

  “Would be nice I must admit, but my captain is a ball crusher and would skin me alive if he found out we were here like this, but when you get on that Titan ship we could meet up there and have a little fun. It would be safer for the both of us, trust me.” Now sat up and reaching for his coffee and then burning his lips with a sip, Len agrees that it would be best for her, and that he wants to see her again soon.

  “Of course, babe, when this whole thing blows over, we can see each other all the time.” Nova has no intention of making it a regular thing, but she wants to let Len down gently. “So when you leave not a word to anyone, especially my crew, or I’ll be shot. So drink up, babe, I am sure we both have things to do.” Len drinks up and eats his chunk of ham, savouring every mouthful. He then kisses Nova at her door and leaves her to go and take a shower.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Rusty has finished all of the modifications and most of the repairs and has left Anc to finish off the rest. He is sat with the governor, chatting about old days when the report comes in from Cassy.

  This prompts the governor to bid his goodbyes. “It’s time, Rusty. We got to get under way. I will let the others know and we will set off. I will miss this place. Oh, before I go, here, a crate of my best rum. I figure I took enough money from you over the years and thought you should have something back, to make up for the ribbing we all gave you. We all knew that you were a good sport.” Rusty is grinning like a Cheshire cat. He takes the crate, the weight pulling down on his shoulders but such a tolerable load.

  “No, thank you buddy, for not setting my hat on fire all those years ago.” Rusty begins to walk out with a dance in his feet.

  “Still think you need a new one.” Rusty just smiles and walks outside and makes his way to the ship. The air is soft now and the sand and dust has settled, but the sun is still so hot in the sky. As he reaches the ramp to the loading bay of his ship, he notices Pace’s rover roll into town. The door opens and two children climb down into the arms of a happy couple, who embrace them as their own. The rover closes the door and rolls up the ramp onto the ship, empty and still after carrying out its mission. Rusty puts his crate down in the loading bay, and attaches it to a holding hook for safety. Apart from his hat and engine, it was his prized possession and he did not want it to break. He makes his way up to the canteen. Nova has showered and dressed and sits eating some spaghetti.

  “We got to set off soon; we got word from Cassy a
nd Pace,” says Rusty. “They are ready their end, so we should light the engines and get on our way.” Nova finishes her mouthful and Sam looks up and gulps down his tea. They all finish their breakfast and Nova puts her baseball hat back on and wipes the sauce from her lips, and she stands up ready to leave the room.

  “I have plotted a route based on old maps and intel, and I thought we would take a look around the planet for Eve and her troops and see what they are up to, and be a kind of rear guard. We don’t want them spoiling things, do we? Do we agree?” The two men nod in agreement and think it is a wise idea to know what they are up against. The loading door closes and Anc clambers in a hatch on top of the ship, and Padley has left the last few patients to the older robot to deal with. On their journey, Padley enters the ship though a side port and goes to medbay, and opens a comms to the other medical robot to help and advice if needed. Nova, Sam and Rusty sit on the bridge at their consoles, at the ready.

  “Let’s get this done then. Here we go in three, two, one.” The engines light up and thrusters lift this mammoth off the ground. Nova is taken by surprise by the extra weight on the front of the ship and the Invictus veers off to the left, demolishing the governor’s house with one hit.

  “Whoops, there goes the neighbourhood again.”

  Rusty laughs. “He loved that house, but like they say, you can’t take it with you.” Nova fights for total control, her arms jostling the controls to win the battle.

  “What have you stuck on the front, another ship or something?” She yells at Rusty. Finally she adapts and they fly off with a million eyes watching. The governor shakes his head in disbelief. He had built that house when they first landed on the planet. His wife had designed it and he had spent sweat, blood and tears over it, and now there was nothing to remind him of his love, apart from his wedding ring and a small photo lens in his shirt pocket.

  “Good people. It is time, so we just need to get under White Crest and through the tunnel disguised as a supply convoy, while some of you assault White Crest as a distraction. There will be air transport for you once we are through, in the way of runners and a few fighters to boot. Let’s go people, and be safe.”

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  A mass of people begin their journey. They are riding in all sorts of vehicles; bikes, rovers, trucks, speeders and on foot. A sizeable force stays above ground and makes their way for a frontal assault. They are armed with codes for the explosives Cassy had placed earlier at White Crest, which should be a surprise for the troops there. The assault troops have the heavy armour and big guns to make an impact. They are the governor’s men, people who stood their ground with him when Eve’s guard attacked men who wanted payback for the massacre on this planet, men who had lost everything and had everything to give for a good cause.

  The governor’s rover enters the Fortune Mines first and his gunner scans the tunnels as they go. They are following the old maps but were fearful of the Kalgoray. The Kalgoray were a subterranean race of fast moving lizard-like creatures with many legs, and a tail that could cut a truck in half. A Kalgoray’s head was armoured with thick scales similar to a blue, but its mouth could open up and swallow a human whole in an instant, and that was why they abandoned mining on the planet and began mining on other planets. They had lost too many people and now everyone knew they were taking a chance down deep underground, but this way was in fact safer. Everyone was quiet, no one spoke a word, and the air was stagnant and thick so people were using breathers. There were plenty of air boost canisters to go around but it was slow moving. However, the main battle force reaches their observation post and gets ready for the signal to attack.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  The Invictus makes good time flying over several camps and towns, only to find destruction again and again and again. They fly over the lost shore and notice a silver glimmer in the distance west of them, so they go to investigate, still having the ship cloaked as they fly. They approach with caution, because unlike the other towns and camp, this one has no smoke bellowing out from it. In fact, there is what seems to be a convoy readying to travel.

  “Looks like an underground bunker to me. Those silver towers are air towers and they stand out like a sore thumb, and it looks like the Thorn Guard colours too.” Sam turns his turret gun towards them and zooms in with his scope. “That’s the prime lady’s rover, I can tell. I would know that rover anywhere. I helped design the shields on it.”

  Nova flies past and turns around for another pass. As she passes over the top of the mountains she notices the Fahrenheit; a dark mass that has never been seen from the air before as this was restricted space. Suddenly four drone ships detect the cloaked ship and begin to open fire on the Invictus.

  “Oh crap! Well, they know we are here now. Let the others know, Rusty. We will have to get started sooner than planned, that’s all.” Rusty contacts everyone involved and everyone begins to hurry.

  * * *

  Noticing the Invictus drop out of cloak, Eve is infuriated and jumps into her rover. “Get me to the Fahrenheit now. I’ll teach this fool a lesson he will never forget hurry.” Eve and her guard set off for the Titan ship, unaware of the surprise that waits them. “Call the other troops back to defend the Titan. Not that one ship will do anything against my mighty flagship.” Eve’s driver puts his foot down and they fly towards the ship as fast as the machine can drive, but it would still be a while before they got there.

  “Ma’am, the ship is almost ready and by the time we get there, we will have some time to get away from the Oakthian vessel.” The driver waits for an answer but Eve is silent, looking at a litepad.

  * * *

  “Yes!” Sam laughs, “I got one, three to go.” Sam is enjoying using the turret gun again. It was like a computer game but real to him, the same thrill and the same kind of fun. A spray of fire leapt up towards the Invictus from Eve’s convoy like angry hornets, and Nova spins the ship avoiding most of the fire, and soaks up the rest without concern. The Invictus is once again in the thick of it and holding its ground. Nova manoeuvres the ship downwards, the ball vessels still hot on her tail. She levels off and is flying now almost at ground level, just a few feet from the surface. The weapons fire is hitting the shields like tiny sparklers bouncing off with no effect. It seems the modifications are working a treat.

  At the last possible moment, Nova pulls up and the chasing ball ships collide with the first few rovers of Eve’s convoy, exploding and lifting dirt, and metal showering Eve’s convoy like molten rain. Smoke bellows from the twisted shells that have been used for death and destruction. They now lay hissing and popping with regret, motionless, their drivers and pilots erased from the time line. Now that the ball ships are gone, air space is free again and the Invictus lifts up into the sky and disappears. They had done a fair bit of damage and slowed the convoy down somewhat. They are free to soar up in the blue sky once again. They head towards the Fahrenheit to help there.

  Chapter Seventy

  It was cold in the Fortune Mines and slow moving. Trying to navigate underground was hard going and it seemed they had been there for days, yet it had only been a short time. The governor’s rover pressed on, its powerful search lights cutting through the dark murky air like lasers, with each turn the gunner holding his breath and fear inside.

  “By the looks of it we are almost through, sir.” One of the governor’s men is sat at a console gazing at the map and navigating. He had done an amazing job of getting them all through, so far avoiding giant chasms and tight ledges. There had been several cave-ins along the way, which had cost them a few lives, but despite this the people were in high spirits.

  “Wait a minute, sir. Stop! Something big is above us. I have only just noticed it. It must be the metal in the rock that has hidden it from our scanner. There is what seems to be a … oh crap!” The man turns to the governor with fear in his eyes.

  “Spit it out man, will you!” The governor brings the rover to an abrupt halt and sliding a few yards,
the whole column comes to a grinding halt.

  “Sorry, sir. We are almost there and there is a large open area up ahead, and then a short way along a tunnel to get out. However, the open area up ahead seems to be full of what I can only make out to be Kalgoray. We would have no chance of getting through, plus there is something extremely large somewhere above us.” The governor shakes his head in disbelief. They had come so far and there was no other way around, they would have to fight through.

  “Right, everyone that is walking, get them on top of a transport. I don’t care how, even if they are clinging on by their fingertips, we will have to drive through quickly and out the other side. We need to act as rear guard for them. You understand what that means?” Two men with the governor agree, there is no other way, and they let the column of people know their plan. A second rover and its crew decide to stay behind and help, and their plan is to seal the exit shut and hold off any of these hideous creatures from taking more lives. People clamber on top of vans, trucks and anything with wheels. They are ready with their weapons and waiting for their first fight and surprisingly most of them are calm.

  “Ok, here we go.” The governor accelerates into the open cave before them. It is a massive place and now it is very obvious that it is a nest teaming with life. They peel off to the left hand side of the cave and the other rover goes to the right hand side, while the column makes a mad dash straight down the middle towards the exit tunnel. They get quite away along before the Kalgoray begin to wake from their slumber, now angered that someone is in their home. These creatures are fast and deadly, and quick to kill anything that moves. The two rovers notice the movement and open fire. Arches of light lift into the air as hundreds of small rockets and land mines are launched. The rockets find their mark and the land mines wait for their prey. The large turret guns blast huge amounts of energy at anything that moves towards the rovers. Hundreds of Kalgoray die in just seconds as they spring up into the air to attack, only to return to the ground as dust.