Titan Fleet: The Robur

by Jason J Black

  “Fight and survive it seems. I will help with this Blue, if you help find the other human.” The Tarkon pulls his helmet back on and agrees with Megan.

  “Have you engaged the Oakthian yet? Report!” yells the Commander, and waits for a response. No response is given or heard. “That is strange, my men are well trained they know to report to one another.” Several other Tarkons report in and give their positions, which tally with Megan’s map.

  “You say the Blue is in the city, were your men following it, only I can see a large creature, but no one in the area near it.”

  “Come, follow me, we must crush this thing before it destroys us.” The Commander and Megan move off down a side street leading away from the main gate area.

  The city is cold and dark and very quiet. The only thing to be heard is the buzzing of power as they pass buildings with lights on, and a distant rumble. Many eyes are watching them now, as thousands of Almak get into position around the city, readying for their attack. Just outside the gates an armoured rover, covered in skulls and bone, waits. Its putrid green glow in the windows hide the Master, who is just waiting for the right moment to attack, his elite troops in an armoured truck poised for battle.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Steg and Drax are now deep underground in their bunker. The offspring are safe and Steg is asleep. Drax checks on the pods and then is about rest himself, when he notices on his security screen, the Almak and the Masters rover just outside the city. He warns the Commander and Megan, and then remembers the ancient spear the Master had in his possession. He ponders about going to get it back, before activating the defence spikes near the front gate and around the city.

  Chapter Forty

  Lori has almost done a complete circuit of the city, and is running back towards the main gates, when she feels the compulsion to jump the chasm, and then start tearing at a pillar that helps keep the walls up. Her monstrous claws rip rover size holes in the stone and metal, and a building blocks the line of sight to a tower, which does not fire to stop her. A few minutes pass and the Tarkon commander and Megan catch up to the giant blue creature tearing at the wall.

  “Wow! Now that is big!” Megan doubts if the two of them could do it any damage, let alone kill it.

  “I will draw its attention and you attack from the rear, go for its legs to bring it down,” the Tarkon commander instructs her. Megan nods, still unsure if they will even hurt it.

  She raises her shield. The golden glow reassures her and relaxes her, as she sneaks off and hides at the side of a building for cover. The Tarkon Commander raises his shield and his large hammer begins to glow a bright red, almost the colour of lava. His armour also begins to change, as if it has doubled in thickness, and more spikes are visible now, even on his helmet. The shield begins to glow a white colour and after a few seconds a white ball of energy shoots from it and burns a small hole in Lori’s scaly armoured back. Lori jolts. This has got her attention now, and she leaps back over the chasm to attack the Tarkon Commander.

  Lori lands just feet away from him, and with a mighty roar she swings at him wildly. He manages to roll out of her way and brings his hammer down onto her foot nearest to him with all his might. Lori moans, but once again she is only bruised and kicks the Tarkon in the chest. He rolls backwards into a building where he stops, holding his chest.

  Megan is now in a good position to attack. She runs the short distance and leaps as high as she can. She impales Lori’s left calf muscle, the spear cuts the scale and imbeds into her, like a bee sting. Megan is still holding onto the spear, and is now being swung around, feet off the ground, trying to get the spear back. Lori reaches back and grabs the spear and Megan in one swipe. Megan’s force field shield, that surrounds her, is holding out well from the tons of pressure. Lori throws Megan twenty feet away, and she crashes through a window and into an apartment, where she lies on her back coming to her senses. Before Lori can turn back, the Tarkon Commander is back on his feet and attacking once more. He has seen Megan’s blow and is now smashing at the same leg with his hammer, his shield held above his head taking several blows in the process. Lori is not enjoying the pain and hears Megan shout at her from the building.

  “Hey! Over here ugly!” Megan looks as Lori turns to face her. “No way!” Megan can now see it is Lori. She had been transformed from a human monster to a Blue nightmare. “Yeah, this way you piece of crap. Come on, you and me, bitch!”

  Lori runs full pelt at the building and Megan, knocking most of the front of the building down in the process, but not quite reaching Megan, who is calmly walking backwards to the back of the building. Megan has noticed a defence tower through the window behind her, and she knows that once the towers weapons system gets line of sight, then guns will be firing on Lori, so Megan is drawing Lori deeper into the building.

  The Tarkon Commander is now attacking Lori from behind, but with no real effect. Lori scrambles through the building, her size not helping as she ducks down to see Megan smash through the window and down onto the dusty ground in front of the tower.

  “Commander, get down!” yells Megan, as the tower locks onto Lori, who just begins to break through the back of the building.

  A beam of golden searing heat passes over Megan’s head and hits Lori smack in the middle of her chest, with such force that it sends her sprawling backwards, yelling in agony. She passes over the top of the Commander, back through the building, and out onto the ground once more. Red and purple blood is spewing out all over the floor and she is writhing in immense pain. The tower had done its job and done it well. As Megan got closer, she could see the giant hole the weapon had made, and standing just feet from Lori’s head, she draws her spear above her head with two hands, and then drives it down to deliver its deathly blow.

  “Consider that your court martial, Sergeant!” The final blow ended Lori once and for all. Not just in the physical form, but for Megan, the mental side of life would be better now. No more nightmares about the past.

  The Tarkon commander is impressed with the skill that Megan showed.

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?” asked the Tarkon. Megan smiles and pulls out the spear.

  “I am a human. It is just survival, them or me.”

  As Megan shakes her spear to get the blood off, she looks up as she notices lights in the night sky.

  “Drop pods. Here we go again.” The Tarkon Commander sends out instructions to what is left of his men, and Megan and the Commander go back towards the main gate and the courtyard full of statues, and ready themselves for battle.

  There are hundreds of drop pods in the sky. Megan contacts Anc.

  “Anc, you better leave Titch in the ship and get yourself up here. We have a fight coming our way.”

  Anc finishes off some wielding and Titch is no longer dependant on an external power supply. He can move both arms, but he just can’t walk, but it is still a vast improvement.

  “Put me in the pilot’s seat, Anc,” Titch whispers, his voice unit still damaged. “I can pilot the ship if needed.” Anc does this, and then hurries off, while Titch contacts the Invictus and gives Nova a progress report.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “Cap, they are under attack at the city, we need to act now.”

  The Elusive is ready to act as the shield and waits a few moments for Rusty to report.

  “Ok, this should hold. Ok, done. We are good to go. Like I said, we will be slower, but we will be able to fire every minute or so. It’s the best I can do without blowing us up. However, it will get hot in here.”

  The Elusive takes up its position in front of the Invictus, and the two ships head for the mothership. The Elusive begins to take fire and the shields hold, much to their surprise. They duck down and the Invictus delivers its first punch. Once again, the shields flicker and go off line for a few moments, and then back on again. The Elusive pops back up, as a giant beam hits it, taking the brunt for the Invictus. The power fluctuates, making the systems flicker, but t
hey are still in one piece.

  Another large wave of ball ships launch towards the two ships and begin to attack, and the crews hold steady their course, but now the Elusive is beginning to feel the impact of the mothership as they duck down once more. The large gun blasts away, destroying six ball ships in the process, and taking the mothership’s shields down. As they draw closer, their guns become in range, so now the Elusive and the Invictus can do damage to the mothership while her shields are down.

  “Yeah! I bet you like that!” Pace smiles as the Elusive takes a heavy blast, almost sending their shields offline.

  “Dell, reroute power from the engines to compensate,” instructs Talia.

  Dell looks at Talia. “I have already been doing that, Captain. We cannot draw any more power or life support will shut down.” Things are becoming hot in The Elusive and small systems are on the verge of malfunction, but they battle on forwards, until the heavenly glow disappears from the front of The Elusive.

  “Captain, we have no shields!” yells out Dell. Pace and Talia are working hard on the gun turrets and fighting the ball ships, but it is not enough. The ball ships find their mark and several blasts later and The Elusive is in trouble. The computer systems begin to pop and fry, and the outer hull is being peeled off at a rate of knots.

  “Helmets on!” cries Pace, as he notices a large glow in the mothership.

  “Cap, get out of there!” Nova has noticed the shields go down and The Elusive sustain a lot of damage. She tries to pilot her ship in front of The Elusive, but it is too late. The blast from the mothership hits the middle of The Elusive and the ship explodes in front of her.

  “Nooo!” cries Nova, not believing what she has just seen.

  As the ship explodes, Talia and Pace are sucked out into space by the blast. However, Dell is impelled to his seat and then vaporised. Fragments of ship are all around Talia and Pace as they cling onto each other, totally disorientated. They fight the spin they are in and bash helmets together several times, before drifting towards a large piece of ship, which they grip onto, catching their breath. They were adrift and shaken, but happy to be still alive. Pace raises his gauntlet and tries to raise the Invictus, but his gauntlet was broken. Talia was fine in her safety bubble and her hood communications system got through to Nova without any problems.

  “Nova, we are ok. We lost Dell, but Pace and I are at these coordinates and in need of pick up, when you get chance.” Talia and Pace are floating around in the middle of space, with help just over a mile away, but the darkness grips them both. They both begin to reassure each other that things will be ok.

  Nova responds, “Will be there asap. Turning now.” The Invictus begins to turn and the warmth grows in the hearts of the two drifting survivors.

  Suddenly, there is another explosion and the Invictus suffers a mighty blow and the whole ship goes dark. Pace and Talia look onwards with large open eyes, drifting slowly away from their rescue, deeper into space. Talia begins to panic, and the look of fear on her face makes Pace panic too slightly, before he comes to his senses and remembers his suits jetpack.

  “Hey! Hey, look at me. We will be fine. Look, jetpack! If we can get to the Invictus, we may be able to help them.” Pace knows he has to keep them both doing something or they will be lost, and so he fires his pack a short burst, which begins to move them back towards the Invictus.

  “Rusty, what just happened?” yells Nova. They are in total darkness and the emergency power has not even come on. Rusty can vaguely see Nova on his gauntlet, and she does not look happy.

  “It’s ok, Nova, I’m working on the solution now.” Rusty notices some wiring that has fried with all the power being rerouted. It was no surprise really, he thinks, and after a few seconds of him scrambling around in the dark, emergency power is restored, and at least life support was now working again. To Nova’s surprise the ball ships had stopped firing at them and all was quiet. It was just like time had frozen.

  “Rusty, we need full power or we are toast,” whispers Nova. Rusty is cussing his suit, as the spacesuit was cumbersome and he liked his overalls, as they were easier to work in. Sam stands up and is looking out of one of the side windows to get a better look at what is going on.

  “They are just sat there, doing nothing. What they waiting for?”

  Nova responds, “Perhaps they are waiting for us to make a move, who knows, but they are not attacking and that is good.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Firing the jetpack in short bursts, Pace and Talia notice the lights come back on the Invictus. They are close now, to reaching one of the engines.

  “See, I said they will be fine and they would keep her running.” Noticing a ball ship right behind them now, Pace indicates to Talia to use the age old technique of play dead. The last thing they needed now was to be shot down. The two friends grip the hunk of metal and play dead, and it seems to work as they float and the ball ship uses its floodlights to take a look at them closer. They dare not open their eyes as they know a Blue will be staring back at them. Blood races through their veins and their hearts pump faster, as they wait for the ball ship to move on. Almost as soon as the lights of the Invictus come on, they are switched off again. Pace opens his eyes to see the ball ship gliding past and the Blue mothership was now towing the powerless Invictus towards it. Pace, thinking fast, grabs Talia’s hand and with his robotic arm, clamps down on the ball ship with great force, opening the outer hull slightly and gaining grip, and they are both pulled off the hunk of metal and are towed, unknown by the Blue pilot, steadily behind the Invictus. Talia pulls herself closer to Pace and grips more of his body, to be closer to the ship.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “Rusty, we need power now. We are being towed, get us out of here!” cries Nova, frantically tapping buttons on her console, some of which were not even working. A large pulse travels down the towing beam into the ship, knocking out the power once more and the lights turn off again. Rusty is holding a wiring loom, when it fizzles and jolts him with power. He is stunned and drops to the floor, still holding the loom, shaking before he passes out. No power means no life support, so Nova and Sam activate the helmets on their suits and head for the bridge door, which now had to be opened and a new plan had to be made, before they got to the mothership.

  “Padley, check on Rusty, and get his helmet on him.” Nova and Sam begin to open the blast doors to the bridge with the robotic space suits. After a few minutes, the door is open wide enough to squeeze through, and with their working lights on, they walk calmly out of the bridge.

  “Nova, you get to a runner and I will get my project up and running. I take it we are abandoning ship?” Nova nods and is sad, the ship was their home and the last thing she wanted to do was abandon it, but life was more important and she had to get to Pace and Talia, who were somewhere spinning in space by now.

  “Ok, be quick,” replies Nova, as the two of them split up.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Padley reaches Rusty, who is slumped on the floor unconscious, and she kneels down beside him, her bright operating lights almost lighting up the whole room. She checked his pulse through a panel on his suit. He was still breathing and signs were all good, so she fires an electric pulse down her wires to awaken him, which works a treat and he wakes up with a new energy.

  “What happened? The ship… Oh my…” Rusty lifts his woollen hat from his eyes and surveys the damage to the engine room.

  “Rusty, your helmet please.” Padley gestures to him, so he can breathe.

  “Oh yeah, thanks Padley. I need to get the spares sorted out and fast.” Padley helps Rusty to his feet, while keeping an eye on his stats and then retracts the wires from his suit.

  “Nova and Sam are heading to the loading bay. We must leave.” Rusty can’t believe his ears.

  “What? We can’t just abandon her, we only just got her flying again. No, I am staying. I just need a little bit of time.”

  Padley looks at Rusty and reassur
es him. “I know you love this ship, but we are being towed into the Oakthians ship, and that is a place we do not want to be. Now, we must go!” Almost lifting him off the ground, Padley yanks on Rusty’s arm to convince him and only gets dagger eyes for her trouble.

  “Ok, ok, take it easy will ya, I’m coming.” Rusty looks around. Although the damage was easy to fix, it would indeed take a while to do, and time was something they did not have, so after shrugging Padley off his arm, Rusty follows her down the newly installed ladder, down to the loading bay, with thoughts still on his mind. He dismisses the idea in his head about detaching the front of the ship from the main living area, as there was no power to do this, and as he stands in a world of his own, he can hear the clambering of someone also travelling down to the loading bay, and turning around he can see Sam emerging from the ladder tube with a large silver box.

  “Help me with this, Rusty, will you.” Rusty pulls from his dreams and runs over to help Sam carry the container over to the runner ship.

  “What is it?” asks Rusty, slightly out of breath.

  “A surprise for the Blues. If they want to play, we can play,” smiles Sam. They load the container onto the small runner and one by one they strap in to their seats. Padley half crouches at the rear of the ship, magnetised to the floor. The door closes and the ship is airtight and ready for its chance to escape.

  “Oh crap! I forgot the loading bay doors. How are we going to get out?” Nova can’t believe that she had not thought of this before.

  “I can operate the manual crank to the door, if you like, and then get onto the ship.” Padley stands up tall and walks over to the runner’s door. It was a good idea and she did not need air or securing to the ship.