Eclipse: Book Two of the Dark Tide Trilogy

by Dayne Edmondson

  A green light indicated an open channel to them. “This is Captain Marchenko of the FSS Intrepid hailing the Imperial fleet orbiting Crossroad Station. Please state your intentions here.”

  An unsettling silence dominated the line. Kimberly worried they would not answer. At last a female voice replied. “This is Captain Vlastok of the Imperial Navy Vessel Dominator. We are here to assist in the suppression of hostile activity aboard Crossroad Station and to bring order to such a critical asset for trade in the galaxy.”

  Captain Marchenko muted the line and the green light changed to red. He arched an eyebrow at Kimberly.

  “Oi smell bull crap,” Corbin muttered.

  Kimberly was inclined to agree. She nodded in agreement. “It sounds like Captain Vlastok wants to lay claim to Crossroad Station.”

  “And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it,” the Captain said, “other than wait for reinforcements.”

  “We have to stall them,” Kimberly said. “If their troops board the station we’ll never dislodge them without more bloodshed.”

  “And that could well lead to war,” the Captain finished. “A war we cannot afford to fight now. We’re already at war with the Krai’kesh and on the brink of war with the Commerce Sector. We don’t need to add the Empire to the list.”

  “What is the merchant fleet doing?”

  “They’ve stopped and are floating around the station.”

  “Protecting it?”

  “That’s my guess.”

  “Have we been able to raise them?”

  “No.”

  “And reports from the station?”

  “Are becoming fewer and farther between. Early reports were chaotic, now there is mostly silence. A few holdouts that are minutes later overwhelmed.”

  "Damn it." Kimberly's mind raced. If they let the Imperials take the station, they would never get it back and they would lose a valuable trading post. But the same thing would happen if the merchant fleet were allowed to maintain their foothold. If they attacked the merchant fleet the Imperial fleet could betray them and attack them and the merchant fleet. Likewise, they couldn’t afford to fight the Imperials as that would look like they were defending the merchants.

  Kimberly lowered her mouth to speak in Corbin’s ear. “What are your thoughts?”

  Corbin stroked his beard. “Well, lass, the whole point of this whole thing,” he gestured at the ship around him and everything surrounding Crossroad Station, “is to stop the Krai’kesh from escaping the station, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well we know the Imps won’t help the Krai’kesh escape, so I say we do whatever necessary to stop them merchants.”

  “I never thought I’d say this, but you speak sense, Corbin.”

  “Me mind’s like lightning.”

  “Fast and bright?”

  “Nah, rarely makes a connection.”

  Despite the circumstances, Kimberly laughed.

  The Captain stared deadpan at her.

  She stopped laughing. “Corbin is right, Captain, we have to work with the Empire if we hope to have any hope of containing the merchants and thus the Krai’kesh.”

  The Captain pursed his lips.

  Kimberly wondered if he had served in one of the many past conflicts with the Empire. She used the term “conflicts” because they hadn’t technically been individual wars. Instead, they had officially been part of a long-standing cold war between the Empire and Federation. Even the Putrid War and Trade War had been isolated to a relatively small number of ships and hadn’t engaged the full military infrastructure of either government. She tried a different approach. “Captain, I don’t like working with the Empire either, but we don’t have a choice. Unless you have a better idea?”

  Captain Marchenko shook his head.

  “Then it’s settled. Unmute the channel please.” She waited until the light turned green. “Captain Vlastok, this is Agent Kimberly Hague of the Federation Intelligence Agency. I am the special agent in charge of intelligence operations on the station.”

  “What relevance is that to me, Agent?” the captain spat the last word.

  If she’d let me finish… “I was hand-picked by the deputy director of the FIA, Isabelle Thorpe. Perhaps you’ve heard of her?” She did not wait for a reply. “I have a proposition for you.”

  “I am listening,” Captain Vlastok replied cautiously.

  “Neither of us want the Krai’kesh aboard that station to escape. The merchants do. I propose we team up to destroy or capture the merchant fleet and clear out the Krai’kesh from the station.”

  “How do we know we can trust you?”

  Kimberly rolled her eyes. She supposed it was nice to know the distrust between their peoples went both ways. “I would ask you the same thing, Captain, but neither of us have a choice, do we?”

  “We could destroy the merchant fleet and your small fleet.”

  “And if you did that you would cause an international incident and there would be reprisal.”

  “You are already fighting a war on one front, Agent, you cannot afford to fight both us and them.”

  Kimberly looked to Corbin for encouragement. He made a hammering motion with his fist, slamming it into his palm. He pointed to his palm and mouthed “Empire.” “Which is why it would be a quick war to quash the Empire so we could get back to fighting the Krai’kesh. Do you want to take that chance? Every moment we waste bickering is another civilian who dies on the station.”

  “Fine,” the Captain drawled, no concern present in her voice for the civilians Kimberly mentioned. “We will work together to destroy the merchant fleet. But rest assured any betrayal will be met with swift retribution.”

  Kimberly gritted her teeth. “Likewise.” She signaled and the light turned red. She breathed a sigh. “Hard ass Imp.”

  “Oi don’t know, she sounded kinda cute ta me,” Corbin said.

  “Likely has a face for comms.”

  “Eh, that’s what light switches are for.”

  Kimberly shook her head. “Men.” She looked at Captain Marchenko. “You may advance on the merchant fleet, Captain.”

  The Captain nodded as if her words were obvious. “Tactical Commander, move the fleet forward. Leave two squadrons of fighters behind to defend the shadow gate from any stragglers. I hope you’re right about this, Agent.” His last words were accompanied by a quirked eyebrow at Kimberly.

  The ship shuddered as it accelerated toward the merchant fleet. The Imperial fleet also advanced from the other direction. A pincer maneuver, but what surprises would the merchants have in store? “What do you expect from them, Captain?”

  “Merchants?” he grimaced. “They’re worse than Imperials, ma’am. Some of them, anyway. Armies filled with soldiers of fortune willing to do anything if they’re paid for it. Makes for morally ambiguous soldiers.”

  “And the Empire has morals?” Corbin asked. “If so, I ain’t seen them.”

  “Twisted morals. The Empire believes in law and order, which can’t be said of the merchant guilds and corporate overlords, but how they go about enforcing that law and order is where we differ. The Empire won’t hesitate to execute the entire family of someone they deem a “traitor” for speaking their mind about the Emperor.”

  “It breeds a culture of fear,” Kimberly guessed.

  The Captain nodded. “Aye, ma’am.”

  Kimberly wanted to ask if he had been in Imperial territory earlier in his life but didn’t think the moment they were about to engage the merchant fleet alongside the Imperial fleet was the right time for that. Better to not dig further at any scabs. She was spared an awkward transition by a beeping from the display. The merchants were scattering and accelerating toward the Federation and Imperial fleets. “What are they doing?”

  “I don’t know,” Captain Marchenko said. “Could be trying to board us.”

  “If they have some of them Krai’kesh aboard…” Corbin began.

  “Shit,” Kimberly said.
“They’re going to try to board us!”

  “Full stop!” the Captain ordered. “Focus all fire on the closest vessels. Target their engines.”

  “Should we be warnin’ the Imperials?” Corbin asked.

  The Captain shot him a dark glance.

  “Oi guess that’d be a no, then.”

  The ship came to a gradual but full stop while the Imperial fleet continued advancing toward the merchant vessels. A few merchant icons disappeared but more were closing with the Imperial warships. “We have to warn them,” Kimberly said.

  “It wouldn’t do them any good now,” the Captain shot back, not taking his eyes off the display. He pointed. “They’re in among them now.”

  “They could prepare their Marines. At least…”

  Captain Marchenko turned crisply to face her. “With respect, Agent Hague, I appreciate your help negotiating earlier, but leave the military strategy to the professionals.” He turned back to the display.

  Kimberly bristled and clenched her first. Her cheeks burned. She snapped her mouth shut.

  “It’s not worth it, lass,” Corbin said, seemingly reading Kimberly’s mind. No, he hadn’t read her mind or he would have been dragging her from the bridge instead of talking to her.

  The first merchant vessel which had survived the Federation barrage slammed into the side of the ship, causing Kimberly to rock back and forth and put her hand on Corbin’s shoulder for support.

  “Here they come,” Corbin said.

  “Where did they breach, Tactical Commander?” the Captain asked.

  “Deck twelve, sir.”

  “Dispatch Marines and security forces.”

  “Come on, let’s go,” Kimberly whispered to Corbin. She headed toward the exit from the bridge.

  "Where are you going?" the Captain asked.

  “To assist with the defense of this ship, Captain,” Kimberly said without turning around.

  “I didn’t authorize you to leave.” At his words, two guards at the door stepped in front of it.

  “I don’t report to you,” Kimberly said through gritted teeth, glaring at the guards.

  “Fortunate for you, or you’d be in the brig for insubordination.”

  “Tell your goons to back off before I make them.”

  The Captain laughed but must have made a gesture of some sort, for the guards moved to the side.

  Corbin did not speak until they were in the corridor heading toward the lift. “Oy, we’re just making all kinds of friends today, aren’t we?”

  “I didn’t start it. That chauvinistic pig did.” His words hadn’t irked her more than his dismissive attitude. She had been raised to be a strong woman and not take shit from anyone. To see some people still held on to traditional views of the role of women in military and intelligence services bothered her.

  The two rode the lift in silence and descended to the twelfth deck. No sooner had the doors opened than she heard laser fire and shouts in the distance.

  “Oi’ guess we found the party.”

  They made their way toward the ruckus and found a fierce firefight ensuing. Marines and security forces engaged mercenaries who shot through the hole their ship had made in the hull.

  “Just mercs?” Kimberly asked. Where were the Krai’kesh?

  As if summoned by her thoughts, three blurs raced through the doorway. It took a moment for her to recognize them as Krai’kesh skitterers. They slammed into the line of defenders almost in unison. Blood spurted into the air and shouts erupted as the Federation forces attempted to repel the skitterers while taking fire from the mercenaries.

  Kimberly took up position in a doorway. She couldn’t get a clear shot on a skitterer, but fired at the mercenaries. Corbin joined her from his place across from her.

  One of the skitterers died. Two more Marines fell to laser fire and a third died to a stab wound in the chest. Kimberly seized the opportunity when a clear shot opened on one of the skitterers. She fired. The beam slammed into the side of the creature’s head.

  It whipped its head around toward her and started toward her.

  “Now you’ve pissed it off!” Corbin shouted. He shifted his fire to it.

  Kimberly continued firing at the monster. A lucky shot, whether from her or Corbin she couldn’t tell, hit it in the face. It stumbled and fell, lying still. She wiped sweat from her brow and spotted the third Krai’kesh facing a pair of Marines. One stabbed it in the back with his knife but before he could take another stab a beam of energy hit him in the side, sending him reeling backward. The Krai’kesh turned and swiped with a claw, slashing through the Marine’s armor. The second Marine seized the opportunity to leap onto the back of the skitterer and stab it in the face. They rode it to the ground and rolled to the side, coming up behind cover and continuing to fire at the mercenaries.

  The mercenaries, realizing their main weapons were dead, retreated into their ship. Kimberly’s eyes opened wide. “They will vent the atmosphere!” she shouted, though the Marines and security forces seemed to have already realized this for they were running in her direction.

  “Seal blast doors around section J on deck twelve,” she heard one Marine saying into his comm. The set of blast doors directly behind them closed.

  “Come on!” she shouted to Corbin. She ran toward where the blast doors were closing, Corbin close on her heels. They made it through with seconds to spare and felt the pull of the vacuum of space in the moment before the doors clicked shut. Just in time.

  “Where’s the next breach?” she asked.

  One Marine, a Lieutenant, cocked his head, listening to chatter through his implant. “Deck sixteen, starboard side is being overrun. Let’s move.”

  Kimberly was halfway to the lift when a familiar voice came through her implant. Kimberly, are you there? Isabelle had returned.

  Yes, I’m here. The ship is being boarded by mercenaries hired by the merchants and Krai’kesh skitterers, but we’re managing for now. Did you find the fleet?

  Of course I did. But I see the Imps are here?

  Kimberly grimaced. Yes, they arrived shortly after you left. We think they wanted to take the station for themselves.

  Typical.

  But I convinced them to help us stop the merchants.

  And then the merchants acted like wild animals would when backed into a corner, Isabelle observed.

  Yes, we didn’t expect that.

  You’re not on the bridge?

  No. Corbin and I came down to assist with the defense. The Captain and I…we didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on strategy.

  I’ll deal with the Captain later. Continue with the defense of the ship and report to the Vindicator when done.

  Understood.

  Chapter 18 - Aftermath

  “With all due respect, Governess,” John said, “it’s time to go.”

  “My husband is right,” Ashley said. “That is the last transport.” A transport rose from the empty landing pad and shot toward space.

  “I have eyes,” Governess Rigsby said. She sighed and her eyes drifted toward where the moon loomed larger than the sun in the sky. “How long before impact?”

  “Five, ten minutes, tops,” John said. “The planet’s gravity well has increased the orbital decay.”

  “How could it have come to this?” she asked.

  “Do you really want a recap? Because I can do that, ma’am, but we don’t have time,” John said.

  The Governess and Ashley both shot John a sharp look, which he doubly ignored. Derek turned around to hide a smirk. The man spoke his mind, that was for sure. No wonder he didn’t serve officially in the Federation military. How would he follow orders?

  “Fine,” the Governess said, casting a final wary glance at the moon. “Lead the way.”

  John and Ashley led the remaining people toward the Dauntless. They settled into the rear of the ship while Derek adopted his usual position in the cockpit. A pressure seemed to build around them and Derek felt a pull skyward. "Anyone else feels tha
t?"

  “That would be the ol’ moon saying ‘I’m here!’”

  “Then I suggest you punch it, dear,” Ashley said.

  John accelerated away from the site of impact and angled toward space. Within moments the blue of atmosphere gave way to the dark of space. The Dauntless turned toward the Federation fleet.

  The view of the moon descending on the planet differed greatly from space. It reached the outer atmosphere of the planet and passed through. The space between moon and planet continued to close until it became indistinguishable. A massive cloud of dust obscuring their view indicated impact. The atmosphere turned from blue to brown and then black as the dust cloud birthed by the combining of moon and earth dominated the sky.

  Derek wanted to turn away, but his eyes remained locked on the devastation. Eligar II broke apart, large chunks of planet bursting out. He had listened to Selene’s description of the aftermath of the destruction of Serpentis III but hadn’t really understood. He hadn’t been able to envision it. “Shit,” was all he could say.

  “We’ll be amid an asteroid in short order,” John said.

  “Well then hurry,” Ashley said.

  “Yes, dear.”

  ***

  Selene brought her fighter around and lined up a shot on a Krai’kesh fighter. She pulled the trigger. Dual streams of coilgun shells slammed into the fighter, sending pieces flying into space. One down, too many to go.

  The enemy fighters were still in amongst the Federation fleet. Those who were aiming to board the Federation ships had either succeeded or been destroyed, leaving the more agile fighters behind to provide cover.

  Coilguns aboard the Federation capital ships fired at the enemy fighters as fast as possible, but they kept coming. Pieces of ships, both Federation and Krai’kesh, bounced off the shield of Selene’s fighter.

  The Krai’kesh fighters turned toward the Federation capital ships and rammed them. These weren’t the boarding fighters, so what were they doing? She expanded her sensor range. The Krai’kesh ships were turning away. Were they retreating? Sending their fighters on one final suicide mission before they fled?