As Pace drifts down, his jetpack working hard to carry the weight of his suit, he scans for more enemy, but for now there are none forthcoming. Anc watches from above, covering Pace and standing guard. Pace’s metal boots hit the dirt with a gentle thud and his jets disengage, the red glow now turning black and silent. Pace strides over to the cockpit, ripping at it and pulling the metal away with his bionic arm. It is like tearing at tin foil. The cockpit canopy opens up, like a flower eager for sunlight. Pace looks down inside. A woman, covered in blood, is slumped forward, her head touching the console. Her back moves up and down slightly, so Pace knows she is breathing. Blood has pooled and congealed around her, and she is gripping her leg with her two hands.
“It’s ok, help is here, we will get you out.” Pace reaches in with one hand to lean the woman back in her seat, to see how bad her leg wound is, only to be shocked at familiar eyes looking up at him. A weak voice struggles to find words.
“My Pace? Is that you?” questions the blood stained face, looking up with hope in her eyes.
“Megan!” Pace hurries to get a closer look, and lifting her head so his work lights can shine down better, he sees that it is indeed his love. He lifts her gently, but quickly out of the cockpit, and rests her on the wing and assesses the injury. It is severe, and although he had plenty of medical supplies, seeing his love so badly injured scares him, and he just begins to panic.
“Pace to Nova. We have found Megan. She is in a bad way. We need a pick up, asap.” A few moments pass like hours and Pace realises that perhaps they cannot get a signal, so he instructs Anc to lower his grapples and attaches Megan to them, and Anc then hoists Megan up to the surface, and moves her gently into the rover, so she could be warm, as the night was getting bitter cold. Pace places a few explosive charges around the fighter and blasts out of the hole, with flames and rock hot at his heels. He lands next to the door on the rover and turns to see the hole filled in. This may buy them some time to get away from anything else that may be planning to attack them, which he does not know about.
Pace steps up and into the rover, closing the door. Megan is unconscious, and Pace tries to contact the Invictus once more.
“Nova? Kid, you there?”
A worried voice replies, “Hey, Cap, sorry. I am currently trying to avoid a gigantic Blue ship up here. I don’t think he has seen us yet, the scrap metal is a good cover, and so comms are being kept at bare minimum.”
“Kid, we have found Megan barely alive and we need Padley and a pick up, so you better find a way to shake that ship and get down here now!”
Nova detects the fear and frustration in his voice and slowly makes her way towards the planet, just using small thrusters. “Cap, clear me a small landing zone.” Pace points at the gunners chair to Anc.
“Anc, you heard the lady, blast the crap out of that forest, make a LZ.” Pace is holding Megan’s wound, pressing down with his heavy metal hand, while stroking her hair.
“Hey, you’re doing fine, you’re a tough one. I thought I’d lost you for good. I can’t believe you are alive and that I found you.” Pace leans down and kisses Megan on her forehead.
Blaster fire lights up the dark woods, like a firework display. Trees screech and crack as they fall to the ground and lay criss-crossed over each other on the ground, making a wooden platform to land on.
However, sinister eyes notice the flames and light from a distance and with a whisper, word is sent to send someone to investigate. The sinister eyes belong to an Almak, who has been spying on the sacred grounds for some time. He has been searching for a way to get in, a way to go unnoticed. Then the Almak finds his route, and an easy one at that. He quietly sneaks along a branch, balancing perfectly, and creeps towards a Great Red Finchling, a bird-like creature, which has curled up into a lump on a large branch. In one swift movement he is on the birds back, and grips the creature’s feathers each side of its head to control it. The bird wakes abruptly and is screeching and flying in moments, then it begins to relax. The Almak injects a liquid into the bird to soothe it. The Almak would often drug the creatures on the planet to avoid being eaten. Once above the city, the Almak flies close to the spire on the palace and leaps off through the air, only just getting grip and sliding silently down, until his feet hit a ledge, where he perches like a strong gargoyle, going unnoticed to the Tarkon guards below, who have now set up sentry posts around the palace.
“My master, I have gained access to the city.” The Almak sits and awaits its orders.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Looking down onto the large screen in front of the Tarkons, which lights up the whole front of the ship as if it was a window into space, Talia notices two ships in orbit.
“Boys, who are those guys there?” Talia leans forward in her seat with interest. The Tarkons bring up a closer view of the ships in space.
“One ship has only a small crew, and the other ship is almost as big as the planet, carrying millions of life forms.” One of the Tarkon guards informs her.
Talia recognises the Invictus ship and smiles, they did come back to find them after all.
“That ship, there, is my old ship. Try to contact them if you can. I fear the other ship is a Blue ship. I can’t keep calling you ‘boys’. What are your names?”
The two Tarkons look at each other and laugh. “You would never be able to pronounce them if we told you.” They giggle at each other, laughing while still trying to contact the Invictus.
“Ok, then you will be called from now on, Tell and Dell, nice and easy, and the ship, because we must have a name, hmm, will be the Elusive. We’ve got to stay hidden and out of trouble, so that works.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nova looks down on her console. She is being hailed from the planet. Intrigued, she opens a channel to the hail.
“This is acting Captain Nova Lee of The Invictus, commanding ship of The Titan Fleet. To whom am I speaking?” Nova looks at her screen and sees the two Tarkons, and then recognises Talia’s smiling face just above them in the captain’s chair. “Talia, is that you? How are you?” Talia is so excited she can hardly keep still in her seat.
“I am the best I can be. You need to tell Pace that we lost Megan and Titch.” Tears began to well up in Talia’s eyes, but before one could roll down her face, a smile destroys the water in her eyes.
“Megan is alive, Talia. Pace has picked her up. She is in a bad way, but we are making our way there now to get her, but we have a Blue on our six.” Talia nods to the Tarkons and gestures to them to start the ship.
“I will pick them up. It would be safer for us all if the Blue ship did not track you down here. I have a ship. Land at this LZ when you shake them off, and we will all meet up. We have troops here and the city is quite safe.”
Nova nods and agrees to the plan and begins to drift once more. “Sam, keep track of that thing will ya!” Sam is looking at his screen at the Blue ship. He had never seen such a large ship before. The Titan ships were big, but this was quite something.
“No problem. I got my eyes peeled, don’t worry.”
Nova opens a com to Pace. “Cap, Talia is en route to pick you up in a ship. I can’t shake this Blue yet. We will catch up with you soon. Nova out.” Pace receives the message and looks at Megan, still keeping pressure on her wound, and hoping Talia finds them quickly.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Talia takes the controls of her new ship, and slowly a large hanger door opens above her and she navigates upwards, through the stone tunnel to the sky, where she hovers for a few moments, looking down on the city.
“That way, Tell, towards that clearing.” Talia hands over control of the ship.
The Elusive accelerates on towards Pace’s position under the careful piloting skills of Tell, skimming across the tree tops. Talia is eager to see her friend again and cannot get there fast enough.
“Can’t we go any faster?”
Tell smiles at Dell. “I like this girl.” Tell presses a large green bu
tton and the three companions are pushed back into their seats. Now this was flying, thought Talia with a smile.
Chapter Thirty
A ship soon appears above Pace’s rover, and a beam of light begins to lift the rover up into the bottom of a ship that glowed gleaming white and gold. Soon they were in the hold, and Pace quickly opens the rover’s door and is met by Talia and Dell.
“Thought we had lost you. Glad to see you, Talia. Now give me a hand with Meg.” Talia looks inside the rover to see a bloody mess, barely the same woman she knew before. Megan was covered in blood and hardly moving. Her eyes were closed and she was only just breathing.
“What happened to her?” asks Talia, helping to lift Megan out of the rover with the aid of Dell and Pace.
“I pulled her out of a pit full of dogs. She was sat in the cockpit of a Pink Wing fighter.” Talia’s face frowned, and putting two and two together, she realised that Lori had left Megan to die.
“That bitch!” Talia shakes her head.
“Who?” asks Pace, lowering Megan’s head gently on to a floating stretcher.
“Lori. A girl Megan once knew. It’s a long story, but she is being detained at the city. Don’t worry about that now, I will deal with her when we get back. Tell, get us back sharpish.”
Tell turns the ship and they rocket off at great velocity.
“I can slow the flow of blood, but I have no way of healing her. We will meet up with Nova at the city and perhaps your robot can help.” Talia looks down at Megan’s blood stained face and smooths some of her hair from her eyes. “She is the only true friend I ever had.” Pace smiles and rests his hand on Talia’s shoulder.
“Yeah, she is a special lady. So glad you all made it.”
The Elusive lands back at the city, it had not taken them long. The ship descended back down from where it had come and landed perfectly. Waiting in the hanger stood a very happy Drax. He slowly walks over towards the ship, but then quickens his step when he sees Megan on a hover stretcher.
“What happened? I thought she was dead. Quickly this way.” Drax grips the handle at the front of the stretcher and tugs on it and then speeds off down a tunnel, quickly being followed by Pace and Talia. Talia turns back to the Tarkons, and calls to them.
“Dell, you boys stay here, keep the ship running, just in case.”
Drax enters a small room, which is full of pods of wriggling babies. He begins to work on Megan and instantly she begins to look better.
“How does she look, Drax?” Talia peers over his shoulder on her tip-toes, looking down with hopeful eyes.
“She is in a bad condition. I need to concentrate please.”
Pace takes hold of Talia’s hand and leads her off to the hanger. “We will wait outside.” A small light shines in the tunnel on Pace’s gauntlet and Nova’s face appears.
“Umm, Cap, we have a problem. We have engaged the Blue ship and we are pretty beat up. We are dodging blaster fire from dozens of ball ships. These Blues are relentless, as soon as Sam and Rusty shoot one down, another one takes its place. The Blue mothership is huge, Cap. Do you want me to lead them away?”
Pace stands still and looks at Talia for a few seconds and stops to think for a moment or two before answering Nova, thoughts racing through his mind like small rockets. Talia points towards the hanger.
“Captain, we could get a few pilots for a few ships and take the fight up to them. It would buy Drax time with Megan. I could get the Tarkon General to lend us a few of his boys.” Pace nods at Talia, it is a great idea and they could always fall back to the city if needs be.
“Does this place have any defence guns?” asks Pace in a hurried voice, needing to give Nova a response.
“Drax said something about orbital guns. Apart from that, the city has towers to keep the streets clean, and a small amount of troops. I will go and find out.” Talia races off back towards Drax for answers.
“Nova, hang on in there kid, we are coming up to you,” Pace replies to Nova.
Drax is busy with Megan. He is sealing her wound as Talia reaches the table.
“Hey, Talia. How are you babe?” asks a tired but happy Megan, lifting up her hand for Talia to take.
“Hey, you gave us all a fright back there, you know that?” Talia is smiling down on Megan and holding her hand, but she knows there is work to be done and she asks Drax about the two giant orbital guns he had mentioned before.
“They are non-functional. They did a good sabotage job on the guns. It would take weeks to fix them. Why?” asks Drax in a worried tone. Talia looks up at him as he continues working on Megan.
“The Blues are here and we are in trouble, and there is not enough of us to take care of things.” Drax pauses for a moment and frowns.
Megan interrupts, “Point me to them and I will give them what for. Where is my Pace?” Megan is feeling the effects of the drugs given to her to relax her, and everything is happy and light to her fuzzy brain.
“Megan, I have to tell you that we found Lori.” Megan turns instantly and with a glowing red look of fury in her eyes, she stops Drax from working by gripping his hand tightly.
“That bitch! Where is she? I owe her something. She left me to die down in that hole.” Talia grabs Megan’s shoulders to hold her down and help Drax finish sealing the leg wound.
“I had to tell you, hold still now while Drax fixes you. She is in isolation and not going anywhere. You will get the chance to speak with her later.” Megan relaxes back down, knowing that her enemy was locked up, and falls back off to sleep. Another injection had punctured her neck while she was struggling, and more drugs were administered to her.
“Talia to Tell. Can you ask your Captain to lend us a few men to pilot a few ships? We need to get up to Nova and give her a hand, and tell him to prepare for a ground attack, I think those Almak slime-balls might try something too. You grab a ship too, and let Dell know he will still pilot The Elusive. The more ships up there, the better. Sorry to break up the team, boys.”
Tell takes care of the plans and then goes to find a fighter to get cosy in.
Pace is waiting on the ramp of the Elusive, talking to Anc. “Anc, I need you to stay here and protect Megan and the Gulmeds, nothing is to harm them, ok?” Anc nods and turns and heads towards the tunnel leading to where Megan is being treated. In his arms he carries Titch and a small Gyron battery. His plan is to see if he can fix Titch up a little.
A squad of five Tarkons hurry down to the hanger and jump into fighters and begin their pre-flight checks. The hanger buzzes with activity, and stepping into the Elusive, Talia feels confident that they can do a bit of damage with these boys in tow.
“Let’s go, Captain.” Talia points up to the Captain’s chair and relinquishes command to Pace, and walks towards the co-pilot’s chair.
“Wait. This is your ship, Captain Kovalev.” Pace is standing defiantly and waiting for Talia to sit in her rightful seat. Talia’s green eyes blink in disbelief, but Captain Kovalev had a great ring to it, she thought as she sat in the command chair, and watches Pace take the co-pilot seat, while grinning broadly at her.
“Ok, Dell, take us out.” Dell’s hands quickly glide over the controls, as fast as a magician hiding a trick, and they lift up and out of the top of the hanger, slowly followed by Tell and five other fighters. The seven strong fleet exploded off upwards to aid the Invictus.
Drax sealed the doors around him to be safe, and the rest of the Tarkons along with their captain, carried out patrols around the city. One of the patrols looked in on Lori, who was just sat at the window, looking out but not moving. Lori was feeling a little bit ill and her head was feeling weird. It was like having a bad migraine, but without the pain. It was an odd sensation, and she had also noticed a patch of blue skin appear on the back of her hand, which she sat rubbing as the Tarkon guard passed.
Chapter Thirty-One
“Sam, one at our six is giving us a pasting, get on him. Rusty three o’clock, three o’clock!” Nova avoids a bal
l ship that tries to ram the Invictus, and it crashes behind them into two other ships. “Hold it together guys, we got this.” Nova’s encouragement helps Sam and Rusty to concentrate and to destroy more ships. Then there is a loud crack, and the boom of an explosion. The Invictus is hit by a large green beam from the Blue mothership. It tears at an engine and the engine is torn in half. The speed dies and the engine is lost, it floats in shards, which look like icicles glittering in space.
“Engine two malfunction.” Cries out the ships on-board computer voice.
“No crap, lady!” yells Nova, fighting the controls as the ship spirals around and around from the blast, until control is gained once more. “Hey Rusty, if I line her up, you got power in that big gun of yours?” Rusty looks over at Nova, who looks up for his answer.
“All my life, I’ve been saying yes to the girls who ask that same question!”
Nova quickly responds with a giggle in her voice, “No takers yet then, I see.”
Rusty goes red in the cheeks and smiles, pulling his woolly hat down over his face to avoid embarrassment.
“Ready and willing.” Rusty responds, his fingers at the ready.
Nova had turned the Invictus around to face her attacker, blaster fire splashing like water on the front of the ship, its red glow lighting the window like a signal flare.
“Few more seconds and we will be there. Fire, Rusty, fire!” Rusty presses down hard on his console to make sure the giant gun fires on the front of the Invictus and the ship begins to quake, and everyone can feel and hear the power surge. The energy created was making them all feel sick and they all held on for dear life, before the blast is released from the gun. The beam raced across space towards the Blue mothership. It crashed into the ship’s shields like a crashing wave upon a shore. The mothership’s shield flickered and disappeared. It was a great shot indeed.
Titan Fleet: The Robur Page 15