by Tony Healey
The Intrepid unleashed quick bursts of laser fire around him, blowing several small Namar fighters apart on impact. Shrapnel from their busted hulls clattered against his ship.
"Thanks Captain," Banks said. He signalled the other fighters to cover his path, and headed straight for the Amarax, full throttle.
* * *
Ensign Van Zandt let fly a cluster of torpedoes. They hurtled away, ploughing into Cessqa's ship in a huge explosion. But the spherical vessel still stood strong. It returned fire, the vicious energy of its weapon crackling against the Intrepid's shields, weakening them like never before.
Gentry sounded alarmed. "That hit cost us ten percent of our energy shields."
"Chief?"
Kolvin worked at his terminal. "I'm instructing Chip to relay extra power to the emitters."
"Fire again, Ensign."
The Intrepid turned to port, fired all forward tubes at Cessqa's ship. This time they did visible damage, but it wasn't enough. The Cotopaxi fired all of its guns at the ship, punctuated with whatever warheads it could muster. Sure enough, the Namar vessel was steadily getting pummelled on both sides.
"We have breached their hull," Gentry reported. "They're venting atmosphere."
* * *
Cessqa slammed her fist against the control, sealing the command deck off from the rest of the compromised vessel. Alarms sounded all around her, but she did not hear them over the sound of her blood boiling.
"Cessqa! The human ship has made contact!"
She stepped forward to listen, eyes narrow slits, teeth ground together in rage. "Put it on."
"Cessqa, this is Captain Chang. I'm offering you a chance to surrender yourself to us."
The Namarian warrior almost laughed.
Almost.
"I would sooner kill myself, than be a prisoner to you." She turned back to the officer. "Stop transmission!"
Cessqa plucked her weapons officer from his seat, lifting him by the neck. He squealed as she threw him across the room. She assumed his position and accessed the firing controls herself.
* * *
The sphere unleashed one hit after another upon both the Cotopaxi and the Intrepid. Firing from the few spikes that were left along its axis. The Intrepid shook from side to side, backups blowing all over the ship, buffers reaching their full capacity.
"She's channelling everything she has. No doubt depleting her reserves significantly," Gentry said.
Kolvin's voice was strained. "Shields down to forty percent."
"Ensign Gordon, evasive. Get us some distance. Ensign Van Zandt, I want that ship destroyed."
"Aye!" the Ensign cried.
The Intrepid turned away from Cessqa's ship, at the same time unloading all that it had on her. The Cotopaxi followed suit, punching with what it had, the two ships firing in unison to deliver the final blows. It worked. At first, Cessqa simply stopped firing. Then the spherical vessel cracked open like a chestnut, spilling radiation and light into space. One more hit from the Intrepid and it detonated entirely, the shockwave knocking both the Intrepid and the Cotopaxi off course.
Chang gripped the sides of her chair and squeezed her eyes shut as the bridge fell to darkness, and the Intrepid was rendered powerless around her. The Intrepid turned end over end, cartwheeling through the dark.
"Report!" Chang yelled as she opened her eyes to find the emergency lights just kicking in. No power to the viewscreen, however.
"We're free of the combat zone," Gentry said. "For now. The fighters are holding their own against the Namar. But it won't be long till we're a target."
"And the Cotopaxi?"
"Same. Powerless."
Chang looked at the doctor. "And Cessqa's ship?"
"Completely destroyed."
Kolvin did not turn around as he worked from his console to restore their power. "She sacrificed herself. She could've fled the area at any point, but she didn't."
"Gave her life to ensure the Array was activated properly," Chang said.
"Ah! We have power back, Captain," Kolvin said. On cue, the lights returned, the viewscreen flickered back to life, the familiar throb of the ships engines returned.
Chang stood, watched the viewscreen. Where Cessqa's ship had been before, a cloud of debris had taken its place.
"She really is gone," Dana said.
Chang looked at her. "Yes."
* * *
Commander Banks rolled, veered to the right, avoiding enemy fire coming from behind. The Spectre covered him best they could, but the space around the Amarax was a free-for-all. Union ships dog fighting Namarian fighters, the dead hulks of both Reliant and Brave drifting through it all. He watched the Array, burning hot. The inside of it shimmered with white light.
"Intrepid, do you see that?"
"What?" Chang asked.
"The Array. There's something happening to it."
The Amarax loomed large in front of him, three sections extended out on its central spine. He knew where he was going, what he was aiming for.
"We're monitoring it."
"I'm about to go in. Get ready to take control of the probe once I release it."
"Understood. Good luck," Chang replied.
Banks took her in. A small fighter sped up behind him, firing at his tail, and the Spectre blew it away. He glanced back. The Spectre swung to the left, headed in the direction of the Array. Banks looked ahead, jaw set, blood thumping in his ears. The inside of the Amarax swallowed him whole, falling under its mighty shadow. He dropped velocity and approached the long rods at the rear of the behemoth. Looking down, he saw a number of Namar rush out carrying weapons. They aimed them up at him and fired.
"Releasing probe," Banks said.
The device – the sticky bomb Chang instructed Chief Kolvin to make – dropped from the front of the craft, its aft thrusters firing. He watched as it approached the rods at the back of the cylinder.
"We have control of the bomb. Commander, get out of there."
He turned his ship around, fired up the engines, and made to flee from the Amarax. He happened to look down at the Namar on the ground, watching the bomb approach the rear wall. They'd stopped firing. Their eyes followed it, and he saw understanding there.
And fear.
His hand went to his control stick, to turn back perhaps. Or slow down. Do something to alert them to the fact they were about to die. But he didn't. The sides of the cylinder rushed past, he was back among the stars and leaving it steadily behind him when it blew, and everything around him turned to nothing with the flick of a switch.
* * *
Jessica flinched as the Amarax exploded. The aft cylinder burst, the detonation sending shockwave after shockwave. The waves slammed into the Spectre with an almighty crash of metal on metal. One station on the bridge blew entirely, showering them in sparks, filling the confined space with the acrid smoke of burning plastic and optics. The other two cylinders followed in sequence, but not with so much force as the first. The Array, however, remained intact.
Shaw coughed, trying to get a breath in there. "Get your rebreathers!"
Jessica handed them out, and they all fixed the masks to their faces. "The Array still stands," Ardai said.
"There's something coming through it," Punk said. He pointed at the screen.
He's right, Jessica thought. Inside the Array, a dark shape emerged from the smoky light, a starship for sure, but unlike any configuration she'd come across before.
"Do we have the firepower to take the Array out?"
Shaw rubbed at his chin. "Maybe–"
"Do we?" Jessica demanded.
Shaw grimaced. "Kay, get us close to that Array. Punk, prepare to fire everything we have at it."
The big, dark shape pushed on through the Array, almost breaching their side. Kalar flew the Spectre around the gigantic debris from the destroyed Amarax, and drew them as close to it as he could. "Holding position."
"Good. Punk, we set?"
The Alpor nodded, hands a
lready on the controls. "On your word, skipper."
"Punk, you have my word."
The Spectre rained death and destruction upon the Array, smashing through the many intricate parts of its framework. For a moment the operation of it held, as if nothing could harm it. Then it flickered, struggling to maintain the conduit it had been used to create.
A tiny ship emerged from the centre of the shimmering light, and was lost to the chaos of the battlefield. Then it collapsed entirely, closing the connection Cessqa had established with the past.
Consigning the Namar to oblivion, where they belong, Jessica thought.
The Spectre came about, launched half a dozen missiles from its rear and destroyed what remained of the Array.
"I wonder what that little ship was?" Ardai said.
Shaw shrugged. "Who knows?" He reached out and shook Jessica's hand. "Shall we call it a day, Captain King?"
As the ship turned, her eyes fell upon the Brave and the Reliant. Their dead hulks no doubt filled with bodies. She almost couldn't look – but felt she had to. For them. The last of the Namar fighters fled the area. A large group of them formed together and the Cotopaxi set off in pursuit.
"Yes. I think there's been too much bloodshed today."
Ardai looked up. "What're your orders?"
"Tell them . . . tell them it's time to go home."
13.
Six weeks later, Jessica watched the last of them file into her new office aboard Station 6. She handed out glasses of bubbling champagne to each and every one – and left a full glass on the side for those who were unable to attend. The fallen, the lost. The remembered.
A glass left sitting for Lieutenant Swogger, Ensign Boi, Eisenhower, Del Greene . . . especially of course for Andrew Singh.
She looked around, fully aware that it may be the last time she saw any of her family. For they were all family to her, each and every one of them. They'd followed her, and believed in her, and risked their lives for her, in one way or another, over the years.
Lisa Chang, Kyle Banks, Meryl Gunn, Dr. Clayton, Olivia Rayne, Hawk (incognito, of course), Selena Walker, Lieutenant Haller, Kaminsky, Hunter, White, Ken Dunham, Yamato, Dana Oriz, Gary Belcher, LaPlante . . . the list went on, and her office had steadily filled to capacity.
The crew from the Spectre mingled among her old crew, Barbie towering over all of them.
Will came to stand next to her. "Here, you don't have a glass yourself."
"Thanks," Jessica took the glass of champagne from him. "And thanks for coming."
"Well we're together, aren't we?"
She looked into his eyes, leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
"Can't you two love birds get a room?" Shaw grinned from ear to ear.
"Jealous, sir?" Will asked.
Shaw looked Jessica up and down. "Well she is an Admiral now. And you know I like a woman in authority . . ."
"Oh my God," Jessica said. "Maybe I should've turned it down."
"In all seriousness, you did good, kid. You should be proud of yourself," Shaw clinked his glass against hers.
"Isn't it time?" Will asked her.
Jessica nodded. She cleared her throat. "Excuse me, everyone? Hey–"
"QUIET!" Barbie growled; everyone in the office fell instantly silent.
"Uh, thanks Barbie," Jessica said. "Listen, everyone. I just want to say a few words. I want to thank you all for coming. It really means a lot. I know some of you couldn't come. And, well, some of you aren't here anymore . . ."
Her eyes drifted to the table with the glasses still on. Each a reminder of who'd fallen to the wayside as they travelled the cosmos together.
"Go on, Jess," Gunn urged her, smiling. Jessica saw there were tears in the Chief's eyes.
"It feels like we're all going our separate ways. Our family is moving on, which is right and natural. But that doesn't mean to say I won't miss you all. I will cherish knowing each and every one of you. And I wanted you all to know that. Everything we've been through together, as a family. It means a lot."
Chang stepped forward. "I propose a toast. To friends and family. Past and present."
Jessica raised her glass to that. Everyone followed suit. She looked at Will. He smiled at her. She smiled back.
She thought: Know what? I think we'll be all right.
* * *
The orbital fortress protecting the Sjan homeworld of Sj'iia admitted a single vessel. Large enough for only one occupant, the small ship settled upon the vast hangar deck of the mighty construction, jets of steam hissing from beneath it. Two legions of armoured soldiers marched out to meet the ship, forming two long lines – every soldier stood to attention, rifles over their shoulders.
Grah, the Captain of the behemoth in orbit of Sj'iia walked briskly between the two rows of soldiers. When he reached the end, he stood before the ship itself, chest puffed out, hands clasped tight behind his back, face upturned to show his prominent chin.
The chin of a leader, he'd often thought.
When the cockpit hatch released a scream pressurised gases, Grah nearly leapt into the air, but held his composure. A tall figure emerged from the small ship, his giant physique completely clad in red armour. His face was concealed by a metal face plate.
There were no introductions necessary. Silas Doum had been lost for centuries. Yet . . .
Here he was.
Grah dropped to one knee. "Your excellency. We have awaited your return."
"Rise," Doum commanded as he strode past.
Grah scrambled to his feet and hurried after him. "My Lord . . ."
"I will visit the capital immediately. I have urgent need to speak with the ruling council," Doum thundered.
"Of course. They have been alerted of your return. In your absence, my Lord, your name has become legend. Your disappearance has remained the greatest mystery of our people."
"A legend?" Silas Doum said. "A saviour. I have returned from the mists of time to guide our people forward. I have waited a thousand years for my resurrection."
A set of gigantic blast doors slid open to allow them access to the rest of the superstructure.
"If I may be so bold, my Lord . . . what is your plan?"
He stopped, turned around. Doum reached up, held a tight gauntlet-clad fist above him and gazed up at it, as if in his hand he held the mightiest power in the galaxy. "To seek that which will make us invincible."
Grah swallowed nervously. "To defeat the Union?"
Silas Doum looked down at him, lowering his arm. "More than that, Captain. So much more. To seek that which will allow us to rule the stars. As we were meant to . . ."
Afterword to Series Three
I never really intended to go past the first series, but when I reached the end I knew I had still had more stories to tell about Jessica King and her crew. Thus the second series materialised. And, of course, the questions and problems raised in series two meant I needed series three to deal with them.
Sometimes these things take on a life of their own. And now that I have wrapped up the third series, I find myself with yet more stories to tell. So stay tuned, folks. Series four is coming your way, starting with a 6-part adventure called 'Black Nova'.
Thanks for reading so far. I've had a lot of fun, and I hope you have, too.
Tony Healey, April 2015
A Question of Chronology
Something I get asked quite often is where all the different works fit in. Well, to answer that question, here's a handy list:
Operation Chimera series (written with Matt Cox)
*
Several decades later
*
Far From Home
*
Several decades later
*
Star Marshal Chase Striker
&
The Broken Stars
Operation Chimera concerns itself with the Draxx War. That war comes to an end in Far From Home, several decades later. Following on from Far From Home, the Terran Union gets into
a war with the Sjan. Both Star Marshal Chase Striker and The Broken Stars Young Adult series are set during the Sjan conflict, some years after Far From Home.
Look for more books in the Operation Chimera, Star Marshal Chase Striker, The Broken Stars and, of course, Far From Home, in the near future.
The Adventure Continues with
Black Nova
The 6-part continuation of the Far From Home series!
Sample of
Black Nova: Part One
"Come in."
Captain Lisa Chang walked into the Admiral's office to find her seated behind her desk, head down, absorbed in what she was reading on a data tablet. "Admiral?"
Jessica King looked up, and her brow unfurrowed, her mouth lifted with an all-too familiar smile, and she was up from behind her desk in seconds – whatever she'd been studying with such intensity instantly forgotten.
She embraced Chang warmly. "Lisa! How have you been?"
"I've been well, Admiral."
She waved her off. "Oh, you can forget the Admiral around me. Call it a Captain's privilege."
Chang grinned. "If you say so."
"Glass of water? Tea?"
"I'm fine, actually."
"Right," Jessica said. "Well, don't mind me if I have some water. Take a seat."
Chang looked about. The Admiral's office aboard Station 6 was little changed from how it had been with Admiral Kerrick, if you didn't count the inclusion of greenery in the form of potted plants here and there. It looked comfortable.
She felt Jessica's hand on her back, guiding her to the chairs on the other side of the desk. "I said sit. It's an order, Miss."
"Yes, Ma'am," Lisa said, playing along. She sat. "You're well yourself?"
Jessica shrugged as she sat back down. "You know. The medication is working, I don't suffer from the effects of my condition. What else can I ask for? I'm very lucky."
Chang nodded. "And Will?"
The shadow returned to grace her features, if only momentarily. "On assignment. Not even I am allowed to know exactly what it is he's doing."