The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy)

by Sweeney, Stephen

  “Wait here,” he instructed, before hurrying back up to the bridge and attempting to release the shield.

  “Negative,” Koonan told him, as he repeatedly failed to raise the barrier. Something must have affected it in the same way that had led to the Knights’ evacuation becoming blocked. Perhaps the depressurization and the inherent failing systems of the Elpis were now conspiring against him.

  Parks studied the overview of the ship. No other way around. For a moment, he considered requesting that either Dodds or de Winter locate a set of cutters that the Pandorans often used to get past obstacles such as this. No, he quickly decided, that would just endanger their lives and lower the defence of the asset.

  “There’s a control system at floor level,” Koonan then informed him. “Looks like we can use it to override the blast shield.”

  Parks hurried back to the big man, finding him down on the ground, fiddling around. He watched him for a time, keeping one eye on the way they had come. He eyed the woman on the floor and wondered if she had realised what had been going on around her after having been mortally wounded and collapsing here. That was what happened when they were close to death, according to the report from Kethlan.

  “It looks like it can be released with some sort of pass card,” Koonan said.

  Parks thought for a moment. “The captain’s ID. It might act as a general override.”

  Koonan tried it, and moments later the shield began lifting, Parks seeing immediately that the door on the opposite side was already open. The two men moved to either side of the door in response, anticipating the sight of a wall of soldiers awaiting them. Parks breathed a sigh of relief as they were greeted by nothing but a vacant corridor, leading up to the first container.

  “Admiral, I don’t mean to give you orders, but we’re dangerously close to being hit by stray fire here,” Wood, one of the shuttle pilots, said in Parks’ earpiece.

  “We’re just moving into the frontal container now,” Parks started. “See you in five minutes.” He motioned for Koonan to move first.

  It happened all at once – the high-pitched whine of the pistol powering up, the sound of the plasma bolt discharging, the sudden agony in his back as his legs gave way beneath him. He was vaguely aware that he had cried out as he had fallen, seeing Koonan spin around and discharge his rifle at the same moment.

  Parks put a hand to his lower back, feeling it both sodden and almost as if it were on fire. He brought his shaking hand away, seeing it covered in more blood than he might have at first expected. He was bleeding heavily. A horrible stench of burnt flesh, clothing and metal was already filling his nostrils. The body armour hadn’t helped at all, not against plasma, and not at that range.

  He turned as best he could, seeing the female solider who had collapsed in the corridor now shredded from the plasma bolts that Koonan had fired. A pistol lay just inches from her grasp, one quivering black-gloved finger still resting on the handle. Koonan fired again and the shaking stopped. He ran over, inspected the body and snatched up the pistol, before heading back to Parks.

  “Bitch wasn’t dead!” the big man said. “Or … maybe she was, but the nanites were still in control, or … hell …” His voice was deeply unsettled.

  Parks tried to stand. Pain raced up his spine as he did so, and he found himself unable to contain the cry of agony that escaped him. He felt his brow become moist, his breathing heavy and rapid. He tried again, but the result was the same. Sweat rolled off his forehead and dripped onto the floor.

  “How bad does it look?” he said, seeing Koonan’s eyes focused on the wound.

  Koonan said nothing, his face grim. The silence spoke volumes.

  Parks swore, then tried yet again to get back to his feet, gritting his teeth against the burning pain it caused him. Even so, it proved a far greater task than he’d imagined, his strength failing him. Koonan grabbed hold of him as he went down, trying to help him stand. Pain erupted harder than ever and Parks felt his vision beginning to slip.

  “Admiral …”

  Parks came to. He wasn’t sure how long he had been out. Maybe only a few seconds. He fought to focus. Koonan had an arm around him, trying to get him up.

  “Admiral, come on,” Koonan repeated.

  “I thought you weren’t going to call me that?” Parks said, despite himself.

  “Get up,” Koonan repeated. Then, when Parks was still unable to, “Parks, get the hell up!”

  Parks somehow did so, his legs wobbling beneath him. The pain was incredible; he’d never felt anything quite like it. They started forward, but made it only a few dozen paces before Parks blacked out again, dropping to the ground. He saw, as he came to, that Koonan’s expression was one of anger and deep frustration. This could prove an impossible task. Koonan had barely been able to keep his rifle straight while the two had been staggering along, and Parks himself wouldn’t have been able to shoot straight even if he’d wanted to.

  “Not that way, no,” Parks said, as Koonan made to start once more towards the cargo container. “Back to the bridge.”

  “We need to get off this ship before it’s too late,” Koonan said.

  “No,” Parks shook his head. “Not us – just you.”

  It dawned on Koonan a moment later what Parks was suggesting. He began protesting, but Parks cut him off immediately. “To the bridge, Mr Koonan,” he barked as best he could. “That’s an order.”

  It took them some time to reach it, the stairs proving the most difficult part of the trip, but eventually Koonan was able to lower Parks into the navigator’s chair.

  “Thank you, Commander,” Parks said. “Here, take this,” he added, placing into Koonan’s hand his wedding ring. “Make sure it gets to Sima.” The big man looked at it silently for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak. “Go,” Parks said, concentrating hard to maintain his consciousness. “Get back to the shuttle. Make sure you lock the door behind you.”

  Koonan turned around wordlessly, making his way to the door. He began working the lock, then paused on his way out. “Elliott?” he said, without looking back.

  “Yes, Charles?”

  “I hate you.”

  Parks couldn’t help but chuckle.

  Koonan continued, “But I understand you did what you needed to do.”

  Parks chuckled some more. “Get going, Mr Koonan,” he said. “You’ve got a war to win and a family to look after.”

  Koonan paused for a moment longer in the doorway before slipping out. Parks heard the doors seal and the lock engage, and then set about working at the console he sat before, doing the best he could to keep the tears at bay.

  *

  “We need to go back for him,” Dodds said, leaping up from his place in the shuttle and hurrying for the airlock door.

  “Dodds, no,” Estelle said, making a grab for him.

  He shrugged off the attempt, but made it only a few feet towards the door when he found Chaz blocking his way. He tried to force his way past regardless, but the big man held firm. “Chaz—” he started.

  “It’s too late, Dodds,” Chaz said. “Parks told us to get on the shuttle and get back to Cratos.”

  Dodds tried once more to find a way round, but each attempt was as unsuccessful as the last. “Chaz, get out of my way!” he shouted at the man.

  “Dodds, stand down!” Estelle said, then, to the shuttle pilots, “we’re all in. Get us over to Cratos.”

  The pilots, needing no more words of encouragement, sealed the airlock door and starting to disengage from the Elpis. Dodds looked on in disbelief as they did so, thinking only of Parks, trapped and bleeding on the bridge of the freighter. “No! We have to go back!” he started again.

  “Dodds, look around you,” Chaz said, indicating the other occupants of the shuttle.

  Dodds turned to his companions, seeing their wounds. Natalia was blind; Enrique’s face was bloody and bruised, his hands nursing different regions of his body; Kelly’s face was equally caked in blood, sourced from
a wound somewhere at the top of her head; Estelle, too, sported a variety of injuries. Dodds’ own eyes and ears still stung from the flashbang. Only Chaz was still in one piece, though his hands were soaked in blood. Parks’, no doubt. Seeing what his friends had already been through, he felt his anger and frustration beginning to slip away.

  “But what’s he going to do?” Dodds wanted to know. “How is he going to get back to Sol?”

  Chaz’s expression remained decidedly neutral.

  *

  Parks saw that the shuttle was safely back aboard Cratos, no mean feat given both the winds and the attacks that continued to pepper the dreadnought. The number of starfighters buzzing around it had steadily increased, though they continued to struggle against the gas giant’s atmosphere. Chimera was somewhere close though, and as he began bringing the Elpis about to face the colossal carrier, he saw the beam of a plasma accelerator sweep Cratos’ top side. The shields held, the intensity of the beam muted somewhat in the turbulence of the clouds. Even so, Cratos likely wouldn’t withstand a second or third attack.

  Not that he was planning on giving Chimera that chance.

  Now facing the direction of the carrier, he adjusted the Elpis’ energy distribution, shifting as much power to the engines and frontal shields as possible, taking it from almost every available system, save for life support. That amused him.

  He heard a boom behind him and looked about to see a very thin wisp of smoke issuing from the doors to the bridge. Someone was trying to get in. There was little doubt in his mind that it would be the Pandoran soldiers that had previously become trapped when the safety doors came down. Explosives had no doubt freed them, and now the same method was being applied to force entry to the bridge. Well, let them try. It would all be over well before—

  His head suddenly became quite light, and he felt himself tip in his seat, finding it difficult to stay upright. He couldn’t do with blacking out again, not now. It would likely last longer this time if he did. He concentrated harder on the task before him, fighting the sleepiness that was gripping him. The pain in his back had numbed now. He couldn’t remember when he had felt it go away. He then discovered that he could no longer feel his legs, or even move them. Not that that mattered now, either.

  He was approaching Chimera at quite a speed, the massive vessel still skirting around the upper atmosphere of the planet. Radar would be telling them that he was on his way over, and he was certain that the ship contained some visualization enhancements that would permit it to see past the cloud layers. Soon enough they would discover that the Elpis wasn’t intending on coming up alongside them. He wondered how soon it would be before they attempted to do something about it, if at all. He’d be on them in under two minutes.

  The console in front of him suddenly began to jingle. A communication was coming in over the emergency channel. He accepted it.

  “Admiral!” It was de Winter. “Admiral, what are you doing?” she cried. Though from the sound in her voice, she was already well aware.

  “Doing what I can to ensure victory,” Parks said.

  “Parks, don’t!” That was Dodds. “Get to an escape pod! There’s still time!”

  “There’s no time,” Parks said. He then heard another boom behind him, a greater stream of smoke beginning to rise from the door. It was swiftly followed by a shower of sparks from two points close to the floor. The soldiers had clearly run out of explosives and were falling back on cutting tools. Were they aware of what was happening? Or were they just trying to take control of the ship? Whatever it was, they weren’t going to gain entry in time.

  “And besides,” Parks continued, “I’ve got several angry Pandorans trying to cut their way into the bridge as we speak. de Winter, did you all get back aboard Cratos?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  “And the TSB?”

  “It’s safe in the hold, sir—”

  The communication cut off as Chimera’s second and third accelerators blazed. Parks saw on the radar display that Cratos’ shielding had failed to fully protect the vessel from the beams, the topside of the dreadnought taking a hit. The armour was thick, but another couple of hits like that would no doubt bring the ship down. He wondered how long it would be before the carrier’s accelerators were able to cycle. Five to six minutes, if they were anything like Griffin’s, he estimated. The console jingled again.

  “Admiral?”

  “de Winter, are you all okay?” Parks asked.

  “We’re okay, sir.”

  “Good. As soon as Chimera is down …” He felt his vision slide again, and he gripped the console tighter to keep himself steady. He heard voices requesting his attention as he fought to stay conscious. “As soon as Chimera is down, I want you to jump out of the system, de Winter. I am transferring command to you.”

  The Elpis broke the upper cloud layer of HD 21563010 Ab, the clouds peeling away like those of jump space. He found himself almost perfectly in line with Chimera, a minute course adjustment being all that was needed to fully ensure he was on target. He double-checked that the safety systems were properly disengaged and that all the controls were set to manual, and continued forward. Finally, Chimera appeared to have understood his intentions, and was preparing to counter them. The carrier’s forward cannons opened up, striking the Elpis’ frontal shield quadrant. Parks transferred all the power he could to the quadrant, knowing that every other part of the ship was now vulnerable.

  Less than one minute …

  “Sir—” de Winter began.

  Parks could hear voices talking in the background, all sounding decidedly distressed. He cut the woman off. “I just want to take this opportunity to tell you just how proud I am of all of you,” he said. “We’ve all been through a lot together over these last years, and I couldn’t have asked for a greater team of people to work with.”

  If something was said to that, he didn’t hear it. His hands were starting to shake again, making it difficult for him to work the console. He tried to speak, feeling pain starting to return, this time in his chest. It was causing his voice to quiver. He was numb from the waist down. Chimera was close now, oh so close. He once again concentrated hard, pushing past the pain so that he could carry on speaking.

  “Back on Mythos, I asked five of you to sacrifice your lives for the sake of billions of others, and you all stepped up to the plate, willing to play your part without question. It’s something that I never forgot. You were an inspiration.”

  There was silence on the link for a moment, and Parks only watched the distance measurement between the Elpis and Chimera continue to decrease. It was becoming difficult to read.

  “Thank you,” came a number of voices over the channel. They sounded distraught.

  “And now, it’s time for me to do the same.”

  “It’s … it’s been an honour to serve with you, Admiral,” de Winter said.

  “The honour’s been all mine.” Parks said, fumbling with the console and cutting the link.

  COLLISION WARNING! the console flared. He tried to determine the time to impact. It looked like ten seconds …

  Chimera’s guns stopped peppering the front of the freighter, just as the shields began failing and the carrier began making a vain attempt to escape from the path of the Elpis. Parks did nothing except continue to watch. Nothing the carrier did now would do it any good.

  Five seconds …

  He wondered how it would feel. It couldn’t be any worse than the pain he was experiencing now. More like a release.

  “I love you, Sima,” he heard himself say.

  A moment later, the Elpis hit … and he was at peace.

  XX

  — In Memoriam —

  An excerpt from A GIFT FROM THE GODS by Kelly Taylor

  25th December 2624

  Elliott Francis Parks was born 10th June, 2575, to Marie and Gerald Parks. From an early age he was fascinated by starships, space travel and the military, always wanting to play with any naval toy availab
le. After scraping through school, he spent a year in the service of the CSN, to help sponsor his further education in politics.

  But having completed his twelve month service with the CSN, Parks quit college after only one term, knowing where he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He rose through the ranks quickly, making captain and commodore impressively young. He spent much time under the guidance of Anthony Hawke, a man whom he called both a close friend and mentor. Parks, however, was more generous in spirit to those under his command than Hawke was; always giving committed servicemen and women who hit trouble the benefit of the doubt. The close relationship that he had also forged with David Turner meant that Parks was chosen for a crucial role in the development of the ATAFs, as well as Operation Sudarberg.

  Despite his successes in life, Elliott Parks could suffer from feelings of worthlessness and often considered himself to be a fraud, who would one day be exposed as only mediocre, a man who had simply been lucky. This diffidence blighted his relationships with women, until, that is, he met the love of his life, Sima Mandeep, at the opening ceremony of the United Naval Forces. Besotted from the first moment they met, Elliott and Sima became husband and wife in late 2622, just as the Pandoran army commenced their full assault against the unprepared and wounded allied forces.

  *

  Parks’ sacrifice was a shock to everyone. Out of all those that I had known and fought alongside over the years, I never actually considered that he would not live to see the end of the war. Even when he, Dodds, Enrique and Chaz separated from the frontline defence of Helios and travelled to Imperial space to search for Zackaria, the possibility of his death never crossed my mind. I always saw Parks as one of us, one of the survivors.

  When the shuttle from the Elpis had landed back on Cratos, we had raced up to the bridge to see just what Parks was planning. As it became clear that he was intending to ram Chimera, it took every fibre of our beings not to try and get back aboard the Elpis and wrench him from the bridge. Enrique and Chaz were forced to physically restrain Dodds, who was all set to do just that. We stood there, powerless to do anything but watch Parks drive the freighter into the bow of the Imperial carrier.