Titan Fleet: The Robur

by Jason J Black

  “Master, one of the Gulmeds towers is active again, and we cannot get close to destroy it without help.” Kneeling before the Master, the puny servant cringes in fear. The dark eyes of the Master just stare at the top of the bowed head and then back at Miles.

  “The Gulmeds are back and alive. I thought the Oakthians were meant to destroy them for us, after all we did for you? This is our planet now and we do not want to share it with them or anyone else.” Miles moved in close to the Master’s face in a threatening manner.

  “I think you are forgetting who lets you live here. If you ever want your people to survive and someday be able to travel in space, then you will not question me again.” Miles turns his back and walks off to search for himself, dark eyes follow him, stabbing him in the back as he goes. The Master turns back in rage and grabs the kneeling servant by his head and squeezes, until his skull begins to give way. A bone crushing pop is heard and blood pours out of the Almaks head, running down its body like a waterfall as it twitches its last movements, and then it is flung into a bush, discarded without a second thought.

  Talia instructs the drone to follow Captain Miles, while looking to see how the others are doing. She breathes a sigh of relief, as they have reached the cave and safety. Talia balances carefully, walking slow across two more tree limbs twenty feet off the ground and gains sight of Miles. Her blood begins to race around her body also being fuelled by adrenaline, her eyes are fixed on his scaly blue hide. She knows he will be a challenge, but then most targets were.

  Miles walks slowly, scanning the area in the darkness and Talia sets her visor to night vision. Her drone is still floating slightly above her at the ready. Now is the perfect time to launch an attack, she thinks, looking at her visors map. The Almaks are searching in the other direction and as long as she does this quick, then she would be out and disappear without a trace. There is a gap in the trees, and she silently runs along the branch she was perched on and launches off the tip into a deadly dive, her arms outstretched and poisoned tipped blades extend from her wrists, ready to deal damage.

  The impact of Talia, and the weight of her suit all factor in this attack, and delivering the first blow was crucial. Her blades meet blue skin, sinking into the flesh on Miles’ neck and gouging holes that slide downwards from his neck onto his back. The poisoned serum that Sam had made was already eating flesh from the inside. Miles lets out a screech of pain and claws at his back with his twisted metal talons, trying to get the poison out, but unable to reach. Talia bounces off Miles and side rolls on the floor, quickly gaining her feet and before Miles can turn, four hand-size rotating saw disks launch out of Talia’s shoulder pod, spinning through the air and embedding deep into the back of the blue monster, swiftly followed by four more fast blades which dance into his skin. He was caught totally unaware and off guard. Talia turns with Miles in an instant with her quick feet. She had anticipated the direction he would turn and yet again two more slashes rain pain on to the back of Miles, before finally he faces his attacker. He raises his arm and launches several parasites in Talia’s direction. She dodges several, but two land on her chest plate and try to pass on the blue genes, but are quickly picked off her suit and crushed by her armoured hands.

  “Remember me do you?” shouts Talia, as she advances on Miles, grabbing hold of his arm and swinging him up and over her shoulder. Miles comes crashing down onto the ground with a thud. He tries to get to his feet, but Talia is already on his chest, her blades deep once again in his now melting flesh, stabbing away, blood spitting out over the ground and her suit. All of her gadgets and skill had led her to this point. Her daggers were drenched in blood, her auto-saws were still spinning in his back. He was done for. This giant evil that she had feared was about to become extinct. Miles claws at Talia’s face with his huge hands and her helmet visor becomes damaged. Her suits shields had been turned off, as they tended to hum and she had needed to be silent, so the blow to her head was a disorientating one. Her daggers retract from Miles’ sides and a second blow, this time to her chest, sends her sprawling up and backwards in the air. Her chest armour dented and clutching her ribs, she lies on the floor in front of Miles, gasping for air. She can hear the sound of troops approaching in the woods behind her.

  As Miles looms over her and leans down to grab her, she fires her boot rockets while grabbing on to the floor with her hands, and then lifts her legs quickly up to his chest, kicking him with her molten heels. The heat was immense and Miles is now in flames and quickly stumbling backwards, crying out in pain. But now he is ablaze, the Almaks can see him clearly in the darkness and move toward him.

  Talia has to move fast now, as her position was given away by this move. She gains her feet once more and launches her final attack. She fires several more auto-saws and blasts at Miles with her blaster. From her other shoulder pod, a metal net is fired with spinning drills that catch the blazing Blue and pins him to a hefty looking tree. Miles is now too weak to claw himself free and is still burning.

  Talia, looking over her shoulder with a few moments to spare, walks calmly up to Miles’ face and smiles. “You should have never have messed with me. You should have gone down with your ship, Captain.” Talia reaches into her waist pouches and pulls out two mines, sets the timers and plants them onto the net holding Miles, and then moves out into the darkness, planting more mines behind her as she quietly leaves.

  The Almaks appear and catch a glimpse of Talia as she leaves the area and they fire on her. A blast hits her in the centre of her back, sending her flying forward onto her face. Her drone opens fire on the Almak to defend her, while she tries to get on her feet, but she is not moving.

  The Almak approach Miles to release him. He tries to warn them of the mines, but several explosions later, an angry Master surveys the area with the few remaining Almaks. Pieces of Almak and Blue litter the floor, and flesh hangs from the branches, dripping blood. The Master is angered at the loss of his men, but is also relieved at the death of Miles. A just dessert, he thinks as he moves back towards his rover, thankful he was still alive. Whoever had attacked them was the best he had ever seen.

  Megan and the Gulmeds had entered the cave and were staying quiet. A few Almak had quickly passed by them, and then several explosions had echoed in the night like distant fireworks, then there was silence. Megan pulls up the location of the drone on her gauntlet screen. It is still active and was still firing on the Master as he retreated to his rover. Megan waits, viewing her screen and watching on the drone’s camera. The drone hovers for a few moments as the rover disappears along the road from which it had come, and then the drone returns to Talia’s side.

  “Talia, no!” cries Megan, as she sees Talia lying flat on her face, her back smouldering, as she lay still as stone in the dirt.

  “We have to get to Talia, now!” Megan grabs hold of Drax’s hand and begins to pull. The three remaining crew run as fast as their feet can carry them, towards Talia’s location. Branches and twigs snap on them as they fly through the forest, without concern for themselves at all. They reach the area of the explosions and Megan, who is ahead of the running race, ignores the bodies and flames that surround her and carries running through towards Talia.

  Drax and Steg pause for a moment, as their eyes witness the destruction around them. Megan’s eyes fix on the back of Talia’s broken suit and with her next footstep, she is blow twenty foot into the air. She had stood on one of Talia’s mines. Her suits shields failed instantly and as her suit splintered and dented on her, she loses consciousness and falls to the ground like a meteor, exploding metal pieces all around her, she too now lies motionless.

  Drax and Steg cringe at the explosion and make their way with urgency towards Talia, being careful to look for other mines. She had been down the longest.

  “Oh my,” whispers Steg. “They died to save us.” Drax holds Steg’s hand as they safely reach Talia.

  “We don’t know that yet, Steg. Look at Talia, her signs are weak, but she is ali
ve.” Drax turns Talia over. Her eyes are closed and she has blood leaking out of her suit. “Give me a hand to get this suit off, Steg. We can’t heal her if we can’t get to her. These heavy human suits are just a pile of metal rubbish.”

  After a few moments of stripping off Talia, they find her wound and Steg stays with Talia while Drax makes his way over to Megan.

  Drax is in eye sight of Steg; they both now have their shields turned on and are glowing bright white in the darkness. Steg begins to meditate and the healing process begins on Talia. They are surrounded in light and a protection shield, so Drax knows they will be fine. Most of the metal armour had been blown off Megan, even her underclothing was burned and torn. Drax removes the metal debris and looks Megan over. She has severe lacerations and burns around her feet and piece of metal imbedded in her side. She is in a bad way indeed, thinks Drax. He very slowly pulls the piece of metal out, not knowing for sure if this would kill her or not, but if he left it in, it would be an open wound and that would not be a good thing. Drax and Steg were great healers, just like the rest of their race, but the human body was a strange thing to fix indeed. Drax worried if he was doing the right thing or not, but then only time would tell if he got it wrong, and Steg and Drax were their only way of survival, so Drax sat next to Megan and began to meditate. His protective shield embraced them both and the healing began, the bright white glow making him feel at peace once again.

  Chapter Eight

  Eyes opened and Steg was knelt next to Talia. Talia looked up at Steg and wondered why she was knelt next to her.

  “Hey Steg, what are you doing? Are you ok?” questions a concerned Talia as she tries to sit up.

  “You were wounded in battle and I am here to help you, like you have helped us. Rise up slowly or the blood will rush to your head.” Stegs eyes also open and her arms help Talia lift her head up slowly.

  “Well Doc, whatever you prescribed to me was fantastic. I feel great. Is everyone ok?” Steg points over to Drax, who is still mediating over Megan.

  “Megan stepped on one of your mines trying to get to you, but I feel she will be ok. She will just need a bit of time.” Talia looks over to Megan and then back at Steg.

  “Did we win?” Steg looks at Talia, confused.

  “Win? There are no winners in war!”

  Talia falls quiet, her back throbs and is still sore. Steg thinks to Drax. They have a connection that is unique, a telepathy enabling them to communicate wordlessly, and Drax soothes Steg’s mind and he opens his eyes and turns to look at her. It had been a long night and the Gulmeds were tired from the healing they had carried out on the others. They needed sleep, but also wanted to get to the sacred grounds.

  Megan’s eyes slowly opened and are stuck together with sleep, but after a few moments she is aware of her surroundings and that Drax is next to her. She reaches up and holds on to his arm gently.

  “I had a bad dream. We were stranded on a planet that wanted to kill us, and I was a rubbish captain and we all died,” sobbed Megan, bursting with emotion. Drax comforted her and realising she was on that planet, her eyes widened again to the fear that surrounded her.

  “You are not a rubbish captain, Captain. You have got us all this far and we are almost there. Try to sit up and get your bearings, you will feel sore for some time and we will need to find food and water, but we are all in good shape.” Megan slowly sits up. She is stiff and sore, just like Drax said she would be, but it was a new morning and she was alive to see it so she felt that in itself was a blessing. Megan looks across at Talia and the two women wave at each other, happy in the fact that the other was ok.

  Chapter Nine

  As they lose sight of the Fahrenheit, the crew of the Invictus hurtle towards the distress signal, not knowing if they will find any survivors, or if it was just a cunning plan to trap them.

  Pace is sat in his chair looking out into the darkness of space, hopeful that Megan is alive. He can feel something tugging at him in his chest, something he has never felt before.

  “Nova, I’ll take it from here, you go and change.” Pace smiles at Nova and Nova stands up, just about to leave the room. “It was good to see you dance again, kid.” Pace winks and returns his attention to his screen.

  Nova leaves the bridge with a warm feeling in her heart. She loved to dance, but after her accident she had to leave her dance company, which broke her heart. Perhaps one day someone could fix her ankles, so that she could dance again, she thought. But that would take a miracle, also entered her mind. She opened the door to her room to get changed.

  Pace looks at Rusty on his screen. “Hey Rusty, so how is she holding up?”

  “She is fine, Captain, providing we don’t get into any fights for a while. We could do with a bit of peace and quiet around here. I have a few repairs yet to do, but she won’t sink anytime soon.” Rusty straightens his hat and the screen goes blank.

  “Sam, everything good with you?” asks Pace, just checking the moral of his crew.

  “All good here, Captain. Anc and Padley are running well with no faults, and your nanites seem to be stable, so all is good. The lab is ready to deal with anything, you know me.” Pace nods and feels like he can fight the whole universe if he had to. The fact that his sister and niece were safe was reassuring and a hope of getting Megan back was just warming his insides.

  “How far away are we, Sam, from the signal?”

  Sam taps his console. “Umm, hard to say, depends on speed and if we run into anything, the Blues are still out there, maybe a day or so tops. Oh, just to let you know, we now have two shuttles on board and a rover. We have room for salvo pods, but only have two, so if we find any salvage we can get them off to the Fahrenheit.”

  “Thanks, Sam, that is great work, full steam ahead.”

  Chapter Ten

  Megan and Talia sit next to each other, with two piles of metal junk in front of them that used to be their armour and space suits. It was an arduous task trying to find anything they could use that was not either too heavy or too broken to use.

  “Gauntlets and that’s about it then. Oh wait, and maybe my visor. Yes, it works, what a relief, at least I can still see what my drone is doing.” Talia cleans the dirt off the visor and places it on her head. Megan holds up some wires and pieces of metal strung together.

  “Yes, look at this, oh fantastic, that will work.” Talia looks at Megan not sure what she has found, and it sure did not look of any use at all.

  “What’s that?” Talia looks at the wires. Megan smiles and laughs with a cheeky grin on her face, going slightly red in the cheeks.

  “A lovely piece of art necklace to go with my outfit.” The two women burst into laughter. It has been a few hours since they woke and the two Gulmeds were curled up next to each other, still asleep; they needed the rest. The two women, not wanting to wake the Gulmeds, realised that they were being too loud and keep their chuckles down to sniggers. They both stood up, armourless but happy. For the first time they felt free and not restricted. They had salvaged what they could and sat eating the last of their rations to gain a bit of strength again. Talia had fashioned her blades onto one arm, and used her pouches to store some mines and auto-saws, along with her tarp bag, and her shoulder armour and a chest-plate tied on with wires. It was a little heavy, but she was strong enough to carry it.

  Megan had her gauntlet and tarp bag and some makeshift boots, you needed something on your feet on this planet. She also made a spear, mostly from metal hydraulic rams and had wielded them together with Talia’s laser and other components. It would make a good weapon with her poison dagger on the end, she thought with a smile, as she tied some wires around the handle for grips.

  “I guess we had better be moving soon, the sooner we get to the sacred grounds the better, I think.” Megan twists the last bit of wire on the handle and her spear is finished. She then hurls it towards the nearest tree with all her might, her arm muscles flexing like an athlete throwing a javelin. The spear sails through
the air unhindered, and finds its mark and embeds in the trunk.

  “Yes, that will do nicely.” Talia smiles at Megan, who is happy with her new weapon, but thinks to herself that spears and blades don’t quite cut it on this planet, and with crazy thoughts running through her head, she swiftly stands to her feet.

  “Yep, let’s get the show on the road, as they say.” Talia brushes herself off and walks over to the Gulmeds, who were curled up warm in their defence shield.

  “Hey, you two wake up, we should be moving, we have little time to rest, I’m afraid.” Drax and Steg began to move and a hand shoots up towards the sky and waves at Talia to go away, like a flag blowing in the wind. The Gulmeds are tired and not ready for the day to begin.

  Talia checked over her drone and adjusted a few sensors, and then it blasted quietly up into the air once more, and hovers like a hawk in the sky, waiting for its prey with keen eyes.

  “According to the map, the road will take us straight to the sacred grounds, Captain. There are many more monument towers in the area, which will help fend off anymore aggressors. We should power them up, if we come across any more, the glowing stones will guide the way.” Drax helps Steg up, who is now so tired she can hardly stand still, swaying slightly from side to side as if she were on a boat. Her lump was getting bigger by the moment and the two women felt her pain, so they nod and began to walk slowly down the road.

  The red sky shining down through the trees, making the ground look like it was covered in blood, which was something they had become accustomed to.

  “Is she going to make it?” whispered a worried Talia, not wanting babies running around to protect.

  “She is a tough one, she will be fine. They have been good to us you know, they are a kind race of people.” Megan looks back at the Gulmeds. They were walking along holding each other up, obviously tired as they dragged their feet across the dusty ground.