She had not, however, counted on Michael now charging into the fray, as right behind where the commando had fallen, the Liberty captain stood. His pulse rifle aimed directly at her, and with her leaping through the air towards them, she could not change her direction. Michael simply squeezed the trigger, and blasted her straight through the mid-riff, she screamed aloud in agony and fury combined as she slammed hard into the ground, a second shot silenced her for good.
Nikolai was fighting Kallos, both putting up an even battle, the Kallan swung his wristblades in an effort to behead the colonel where he stood, though Nikolai managed a block with the body of his weapon, though only barely. The Dracos then performed a graceful backflip kick, catching the Russian just under the jaw, cracking the glass on his breathing apparatus, and sending the commando tumbling to the ground heavily.
Kallos though, like Drax before him, had made the same fatal mistake; in his fervour for the imminent final kill, he had broken one of the fundamental rules taught to every Kallan warrior. He focused solely on the opponent ahead of him, on Nikolai, thus had not even noticed that Michael was fresh from dispatching Aelthris, and was now levelling his own pulse rifle directly at him.
“Hunting seasons over!” He whispered as he pressed the trigger.
Kallos’s head burst apart in a thick spray of crimson froth, his body crumpled to the ground next to Nikolai.
With a smile, the Liberty captain proffered an outstretched hand to Vargev, who was still lying dazed, face up after landing hard.
The colonel took Michael’s hand and gradually got to his feet, he was bleeding slightly as the force of the blow caused him to bite into his bottom lip, the blood stained his chin. He held his breath as he took off his cracked mask, wiped the blood with his sleeve, before putting it back on again. The mask was leaking oxygen slightly, but it was better than leaving it off.
“Cheap shot,” the colonel muttered.
“That’s another you owe me,” Michael said with a grin.
“Who’s keeping count?”
“I think its time we got off this hellhole of a planet, for good.”
“Couldn’t agree more, lead the way comrade.”
The two of them made their way back to the shuttle, to be greeted by a relieved Kathryn, and Logameier who had by now fully powered up the craft.
The hatch slowly sealed behind them, and the gravitic engines kicked into life with their customary whine, gently raising it off the ground before its main engines took over, and the small craft soared skyward.
The colonel took off his breathing mask, relieved at having finally rid himself of the stuffiness inside the damaged apparatus, and dabbed at his now swelling lip as he looked down at the sight of the wrecked craft on the surface, the massive crater left by the Eisenhower, and the enormous focusing pylons of the eye, and he said, “you know, I’m going to miss it here.”
Michael smiled, “we could always set her down again.”
“Heck no; besides too much of a good thing is always bad for you anyway.”
The shuttle gently climbed through the thick methane cloud cover, through the upper atmosphere, and toward the flotilla waiting above, now a ship lighter.
With the inter-connecting corridor so badly damaged, Logameier had to attempt a ‘hard dock’ with the Liberty, a manoeuvre that was tricky in the extreme. He had to align the rear of the shuttle in such a way as to line it up exactly with the Liberties still functioning starboard docking hatch. Taking into consideration the shuttles own engine pods overhang the top of the rear hatch by about a metre. The only way to do this safely, and without wrecking the engines was to dock the shuttle inverted, so that its engines were clear of the warships hull.
Lieutenant Logameier manipulated the controls, rolling the craft gently so that it exposed its underside to the Liberty. Slowly and very carefully, he reversed the upside down craft, metre by metre, inch by steady inch until the rear hatch gently locked into position with the Liberties hull.
With a sigh of released nerves, he magnetised the docking coupling clamping the shuttle secure.
“Welcome home,” he said as he released the rear hatch with a whoosh of escaping air, revealing the battered interior of the Liberty.
“You know, that was some top notch flying, you sure you don’t want to study as a pilot?” Michael asked as he clapped him on the back.
“Nah, I’m happy just tinkering around in the ships engine room.”
After a brief walk; Michael, Kathryn, and Nikolai made their way to an elevator, and were quickly deposited on the bridge. Logameier waved as they parted ways, he returned to engineering to help with the emergency repair effort.
“Been having a little trouble with the bad guys, I see.” Michael said as he took over the central chair.
“Just a little,” Kinraid smiled, “The Arizona managed ‘t’ pick up te’ majority of the escape pods, survivors ‘ave been distributed amongst te’ fleet. We ‘ave tree crowded little ships out there, so we ‘ave, and we’ve managed ‘t’ replace our own losses.”
“Good work commander, have one of the Eisenhower survivors pilot the shuttle back to the Arizona immediately, so we can engage plasma drive and get the heck out of here, I don’t want to delay.”
“Right wi’ ya’ cap’n” Kinraid said as he took over the auxiliary sensor officers station from Lieutenant Hicks, and quickly began compiling a list. Just a single name came up, Ensign Andrews, Quinn contacted the ensign to let him know of his orders.
Michael smiled as he looked toward Eldathar ahead, “Well I believe we should be getting underway, plot a new course back to charlie gamma base, bearing zero-eight-five degrees, elevation minus twenty-one. Initiate plasma drive as soon as the shuttle is secured, and contact the fleet to do the same.”
“Understood captain,” a relieved Eldathar replied.
“All ships are standing by,” Quinn said.
The tiny shuttle successfully detached from the dark outer hull of the Liberty, and Michael watched the tiny craft gently fly out towards the much larger Arizona, waiting patiently alongside them.
The first rays of sunlight shone through from the curved edge of the planet below, illuminating the command structure and dorsal laser turrets of the cruiser, as well as the silhouettes of the Ghandhi class destroyers to either side of it. It looked almost as if a new dawn had come to Auriga III, and in many instances it had, it was no longer a forgotten world, and the Dracos were no longer a forgotten race either.
“Shuttle is safely secured aboard.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of this crap hole!” Nikolai said.
“You heard the man,” Michael smiled as he looked at Eldathar.
“Goodbye sergeant,” Kathryn whispered as she stared at the planet below, “you will always be in my heart, rest in peace my love.”
The fleet slowly came about, firing their inter-system boosters with a great roar before activating their plasma drives and disappearing through the swirling multi-hued morass that was the plasma wake.
The Aurigan sun shone out brightly as they left, a fitting tribute to the brave, gentle hero they had to leave behind.
14. Reflections
The return trip to Charlie gamma base had taken two days, for the Liberty alone it would have taken but a matter of hours, yet had to keep pace with the slower vessels of the E.D. F flotilla.
In that time Kathryn’s leg had come on a long way, she had taken some much needed time to rest, and could walk with only minor discomfort.
The worst of the damage had been repaired, although the ship still looked rather battered, the micro-fractures in the ships hull and the great twisted rent near the ships engine would require the services of a major naval yard to fix fully.
Nikolai paced about the ship as usual, being a commando there was one thing the Russian hated, and that was having to sit on his hands. He had been informed that his own Stockholm class lander had been picked up by the Yukon while out on patrol, and was being transported to the
base, he was pleased to know it would be there by the time he arrived.
Michael had a sense of pride at how his ship and crew had performed, they had faced a powerful and relentless enemy, more powerful even than themselves, and defeated it. Though both he and Nikolai had a new found respect for the Kallan’s capabilities in battle, he wondered how the Dracos would fare now that the galaxy knew of their existence again. He guessed that they would simply become more isolationist than they were before and that saddened him. Yes the Dracos were brutal and aggressive and sadistic, despite this the galaxy could still learn a great deal from the technology and skills they employed.
Kinraid had grown in stature immensely, his handling of the incident with the Eisenhower had shown that he was a capable commander, and Michael suspected that his name would feature highly on the list of possible commanders of the future Valley forge.
“Approaching Charlie gamma base captain,” Eldathar pointed out.
“Understood, contact the fleet, tell them to drop out of plasma drive on my mark.”
There was a brief pause before Kinraid announced, “fleet confirms, all ships standing by.” He kept an audio-link open so that the other ships could hear Michael’s orders.
“Mark!”
At once bright white flashes heralded the return of the flotilla, with the battered Liberty at its head.
The numerous twinkling lights of the outer structure of the small naval yard and research facility were plainly visible in the distance. A Lincoln class supply vessel drifted out from the station, no doubt just completed its latest supply run. Its inter-system boosters fired up and glowed brightly as it headed away from the station.
“ Gentlemen, we’ve come back home.” Michael gave out a slight sigh of relief as he said it, the mission had been a brief but gruelling one.
“Wherever home is,” Kinraid replied.
Michael smiled at the sentiment, it was true, the Liberty was one of the most well travelled of all ships in the navy. Home was wherever they happened to be at the time.
“Increase power to main engines, lay in a standard approach vector.”
“Aye captain,” Eldathar replied, a smile broke out across the Solarians own blue tinged features, he was also relieved to finally leave that place, the whole thing had been a great wrench on him personally.
“Contact Charlie gamma base command and control, and request permission to dock.”
“Aye, sir.” Kinraid carried out the order with his usual level of light hearted professionalism. “Charlie gamma base confirms, we’re cleared for approach, ‘tey also say welcome back, Liberty.”
“Good to be back,” Michael replied with sincerity.
The matt-black hull of the warship, slowly glided into the small sub-orbital dockyard. Michael watched as Eldathar expertly guided the ship in, thinking that the small, cramped interior of the relatively remote facility seemed to close over them, as though protecting them, the thought gave Michael a measure of warmth as he continued to watch.
The interior lights played along the black and silver hull of the ship as it gently drifted further inside, highlighting the crumpled twisted port docking hatch, the site of the damaged inter-connecting corridor.
The giant searchlights continued to inspect the flotilla as they all slowly glided inside the facility in close formation, it showed up the horrific jagged rent in the Liberties aft section, a painful reminder of just how powerful those Dracos warcruisers really were. If they could do that to the Liberty, a typical E.D. F vessel stood no chance.
Finally, the small warship came to rest, as its starboard docking hatch clamped onto one of several terminals with a dull ‘thunk’, Michael breathed a final, relieved sigh; it was over.
A few hours later after grabbing some much needed rest, Michael returned to the command and control deck of the facility and submitted his official mission report to Commodore Valente, who thumbed through the information on the data navigator in his office.
“We took quite a beating out there, fifteen of the sixteen scientists and landing party dead, over twenty commandoes, five on the Liberty herself, another fifteen on the Eisenhower, as well as the losses of both the Eisenhower and the Copernicus.”
“Aye sir, total casualty count stands at three hundred and forty five, all told.”
“Well at least we managed to drive those damned Dracos back into their own territory again, how is Kathryn anyway?”
“She’s pretty shaken up sir, she has been through a lot on this mission.” The understatement of the year, Michael thought, but said nothing.
“I bet she is, poor woman. You’ve done one heck of a job captain, in very difficult circumstances, once again the Liberty has done us proud.”
“If I may sir, I have requested that Sergeant Heinrich Rachthausen of the 69th Sicarian guards be honoured with a posthumous citation for bravery. If it wasn’t for his sacrifice and leadership in trying to keep those around him alive, even when faced with such a threat as the Dracos, I don’t think we would have found anyone down there, sir.”
“Noted, I will take a look through the mission report in more detail with regard to that. If he fought as you say he did, then a citation should be the least of his reward. By the way captain, Admiral Mason sends his congratulations on your success.”
“Understood sir, we’ve secured what could prove to be a vital facility for E.O.C. A, I just wish it was worth it, because we have more than paid for it in blood out there.”
“Aye captain, that we did.”
A few hours later Nikolai and Kathryn had joined Michael as he sat in the stations restaurant overlooking the various ships berthed in the shipyard beyond, just as he had done before the mission began.
“Have you given any more thought as to your next posting?” Michael asked Kathryn who sat opposite him.
“Apparently I’m being assigned to the Archimedes as it heads out to study an unusually bright star forming nebula near the Epsilon system,” she said with a sigh as she ran her hand through her long dark hair.
“But you don’t want to go, do you?”
“The Liberty is my real home, always has been.”
Michael nodded knowingly, “my voice carries some weight with the admiralty now, I’ll see if I can get you reassigned.”
“Would you!” She asked, her face brightened noticeably as a big grin began to play across it.
“I can’t promise, but I will speak to Admirals Mason and Montrose, see what they say.”
“Oh thank you!” She leaned over and gave him a tight bear hug.
Michael smiled, “hey what are friends for, right?”
Nikolai nodded approvingly, as he took a sip of synthetic vodka, the non alcoholic stuff was pitiful compared to the real Russian spirit, yet out here this was all there was. “My next stop is back to Alpha centauri for a full debriefing from General Mc’ree. The old bull is getting a little long in the tooth now, he’s considering retirement, when he does I guess I’ll finally be promoted to a full general myself and be bound to a desk for eternity. I suppose that’s where all old warhorses go to pasture.”
Michael smiled, and made a move to leave, he had pressing business to attend to. “Well I shall have to bid you all a fond farewell, I have a matter I need to discuss with a certain Solarian governor.”
They both nodded as Michael left the grizzled commando veteran, and his former medical officer turned geologist to their conversation, and made his way down to his personal quarters aboard the Liberty. It still looked dishevelled from the mauling the ship had taken, and he had to clear several pieces of broken cable and detritus from his cracked glass desk, yet his personal terminal was still functioning.
He contacted Kerulithar again, to update him on the unification process, or lack of to be correct.
“Ah Michael; good to see you again, any news since our last talk?”
“Actually there is, the four prisoners who I had intended for you to use in talks with the Dracos are dead. They hijacked one of ou
r ships and crashed it into the surface of the planet, they were killed attacking myself and the rest of my team.”
“That is a shame, though not all that unexpected. It would have been an amazing thing if the Dracos and our own people could integrate as one again. It seems like they are just not ready to let go of their bloodthirsty instincts. We will keep monitoring the situation, and at least it is good to hear that our brothers and sisters were not completely wiped out all those years ago, perhaps one day the Dracos will be ready to embrace the galaxy once again.”
“Perhaps,” Michael said, though in truth he had no idea when that day would come. “Thank you for your time and patience with this Kerulithar.”
“It was my pleasure, old friend.”
With that, he ended the communication.
Maybe the Dracos could one day change their ways, maybe the Solarians could in future re-unify with a long lost part of themselves, the truth is who knows what the future really holds for any of us.
What he did know, was that slowly but surely mankind was becoming an ever-greater presence on the galactic stage, they had now proved that they were not a tiny, weak, backwater empire any more. Through blood, through sacrifice, through pain and hardship they had finally earned their place amongst the powerful races of the galaxy, and were finally respected amongst the elite, and Michael smiled with that thought.
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