Drakos, when will we be ready to deploy the weapon? asked Chase.
Patience, Dragonheart. We’ll enter firing range within three minutes.
Chase didn’t understand why there were no ships waiting for them; he expected the entire Fury forces to do whatever it took to impede them from approaching the planet. But since Menelas had never cracked under torture, it was possible that Spectre Arakan didn’t know about the soul ships, their power, or their ability to end this war in one swift move.
While Chase was looking forward to sending Erevos straight to hell where it belonged, his instincts were on full alert. He could feel it in his bones that something was amiss.
Chase mentally opened a channel to the rest of the soul ships.
“I don’t know why there are no ships blocking our path to Erevos, but I don’t like it.”
“Let’s blow this wretched world and go home; I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” said Chris.
“You may still be too young to understand this,” added Argos, “but trust me, when your father is worried, you should worry as well. Chase, what do we do?”
“We’re almost there; perhaps we can end this war here and now. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
“I say if the Furies are stupid enough to not have defenses in place, let’s blow them to kingdom come,” said Sarah.
Chase felt energy being siphoned away from his body little by little. Drakos was powering up the ship for the firing sequence.
“Let’s get ready; we’re less than a minute away from destroying the Fury stronghold,” said Chase.
As he finished his sentence, a large red light illuminated Chase’s cockpit, and the ship began shaking.
“What’s going on?”
A large tractor beam has locked onto me, answered Drakos.
Can we get free from it?
I’m afraid not; the source is on the planet itself.
Can we still fire the weapon?
That could result in all of your deaths. We could be trapped with the planet as it shifts dimension and explodes. It’s also possible the weapon won’t work in these conditions. I recommend not firing, and you need to disable the power source that generates the beam.
Dammit!
“Guys?” said Chase
“We know!” answered Argos.
“What do we do?”
“We can’t risk firing; if Spectre Arakan isn’t on the planet, we can’t sacrifice ourselves until we’re sure he’s dead.”
Argos was right. Soon after the beam had pulled the ships in the planet’s atmosphere, Drakos detected multiple hyperspace windows were forming.
It’s a trap!
Tanak’Vor studied the holo-screens he had projected around him in the throne room. The Earth Alliance fleet was impressive and would prove to be a worthy adversary, but he was determined to cut the head of the snake. Today, both Chase and Earth would fall.
The Spectre looked forward to what was coming next. But for now, four soul ships were approaching a seemingly undefended planet. The trap was set, and soon he would get his hands on the soul ships and a shot at exterminating the Ultra Furies.
That’s how you do things, Arakan; you’d know that if you had listened, but instead your soul is mine for all eternity.
Tanak’Vor deployed his massive tractor beam and locked onto the soul ships. The lock was secure, and they couldn’t escape its grasp.
Tanak’Vor laughed out loud.
They’ll soon be mine. He opened a channel to one of his generals.
“Supreme Commander Arakan,” said the tall Fury who had scars running over his entire face. “At your command.”
“Are you ready?”
“We are. As requested, I have assembled ten thousand ground troops. But, if I may ask, why so many?”
“You’re about to face Ultra Furies, and I do not want to take a chance. Kill them all, even if every one of your soldiers must be sacrificed. But make sure their ships are left intact. At the very least, I need one of them unscathed. Is that understood?”
The Fury bowed.
“Report back to me when it’s done, General.”
“Thy will be done, Supreme Commander.”
It better, or I’ll have your head, General.
Tanak’Vor looked at his tactical console and ordered his first fleet to jump in.
“The soul ships have been hit by a tractor beam,” reported the Victory’s tactical officer.
“What?!” Daniel barked. “Can we pinpoint its source and destroy it?”
“It’s coming from the planet. We’re out of range.”
Before Daniel could order the ship to micro-jump forward, his tactical officer announced more bad news.
“Captain. Multiple hyperspace windows opening!”
“How many?”
“Over fifty, Captain.”
That was a whole lot of super-destroyers. Even with the technological edge some of the ships in the Earth Alliance fleet had, especially the Victory and other ships of her class and the Asgardians destroyers, they could, theoretically, hold their own, but it would not be an easy fight. Chase was right; a lot of people would die today.
“Lock weapons on the nearest destroyers and open fire, and try to get Chase on the line,” ordered Daniel.
“Aye, aye, Captain. Locking on targets.”
This is going to be a very long day.
“I can’t establish a holo-comm with the soul ships. The tractor beam is generating too much interference, and so is the planet’s atmosphere. I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do for them at the moment.”
“The hell we can’t!”
Daniel opened a channel to Engineering.
“What is it, boss?”
“That tractor beam!”
“Already working on it, Captain.”
The ship rocked as thousands of laser fire streaks were being exchanged between the two massive fleets. If it weren’t for the utter chaos and the lives of every living being in the universe possibly at stake, Daniel thought the light show looked somewhat pretty.
“Why are we cooped up in the mess hall?” complained Poseidon. “Why aren’t we going with Chase and the rest?”
“We will join him when he calls upon us,” said Menelas. “Right now, Chase is trying to destroy Erevos, and only the soul ships can do that, so until he calls, we are of no use to him.”
“We could have accompanied them with normal starfighters,” insisted Poseidon.
“Relax, my friend,” said Thor as he put his hand on Poseidon’s shoulder. “He’ll let us know when he needs us. For now, this is their time.”
Athena watched the arguing men but stayed silent.
“How are you holding up?” asked Menelas.
“I’ve lost my appetite. I agree with Thor on this one; perhaps we should have found a way to accompany them.”
“They’re indestructible in those soul ships; you shouldn’t worry.”
“And yet I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s get out of here. I should have stayed on my ship for the battle.”
“Trust in your people, Athena, they’ll prevail. Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s go to back to your quarters for now.”
Menelas and Athena left the mess hall as Poseidon and Thor continued to argue about the situation.
“How do we disable that thing?” asked Yanis.
“Its power emissions are enormous,” said Cedric, “even if we could target the surface, which at the moment isn’t an option now that the orbital war party is in full effect, it’s going to be near impossible to do anything.”
“I don’t want to hear that word today, you hear me? We’ve done the impossible time and time again, and today will not be any different.”
“As much as I appreciate your optimism,” said Kvasir as his facial tattoos lit up his entire face, “I’m afraid there’s little we can do until we find the exact source of the beam. I’m sure Chase and his friends are also trying to locate it. But th
e Victory won’t be able to do anything about it. Since the time chamber is still running, we can’t take the risk of going in. If the containment field is lost, we could wipe out the entire fleet.”
“Well at least we’d be taking out the Furies with us,” said Yanis out of frustration.
“While this would probably be the likely outcome of such an event, we don’t know if this is Spectre Arakan’s full fleet. He could have reserves scattered at every corner of the galaxy. And without this fleet, they could conquer and destroy every world unchallenged.”
“I know!” said Yanis. “What about the power source? Can we locate its origins?”
“If you’d let me focus instead of buzzing around and yapping incessantly,” protested Kvasir, “then maybe I could help you with this.”
Yanis blinked in surprise, and then he glanced at Cedric.
“Did he just tell me to shut up?”
“Yeah, and you know what, I think he’s right. Let’s focus on finding any piece of information that can help Chase disable that thing.”
Yanis was fuming inside, but he knew his friends were right. His frustration about the situation was running wild, and he needed to get a grip so he could help his friends.
21
The ship continued to rock, and there was nothing Chase could do to break free of the tractor beam that had taken hold of the soul ships.
Chase chastised himself, as he should have known better than to think he could just blow Erevos up and go home. Spectre Arakan was a formidable enemy, one that he wasn’t ashamed of admitting he feared. There was no doubt that this tactical mastermind had been working in the shadows of Arakan’s leadership.
Drakos, can the ship survive a crash on the planet’s surface?
Unknown, but the power exerted by the tractor beam is simply too strong to counter. If we survive this, you’ll have to locate its power source and destroy it, or we’ll never get off the planet, and I don’t have to tell you what that would mean.
No, Drakos, you don’t have to. Chase knew full well that the success of the mission depended on their ability to send Erevos back to the alternate dimension and blow it up there.
I don’t want to sound like an alarmist, added Drakos, but our technology can’t fall into the wrong hands. If you fail in getting us back to space, we’ll have to self-destruct.
What?
That’s one thing Chase didn’t expect to hear.
The technology onboard this ship is far more advanced than anything else in this universe. It belonged to an ancient race, the Atlantians, and if used by evil forces, it could result in the eradication of all life.
In case you haven’t read the memo, that’s exactly what the Furies want to do.
Which is why we have to avoid being captured.
I won’t let that happen, I’ll get us back to space so we can achieve our objective.
I know you’ll do everything you can to succeed, Dragonheart.
“Listen up everyone,” said Chase over the comms. “We can’t let the Furies get their hands on the soul ships. The ships won’t allow it and would self-destruct rather than take that chance.”
“We can’t let that happen; these ships are our only hope to end this war,” said Chris.
“We’ll have to find a way to get free of the tractor beam and complete our mission,” said Sarah.
“That’s if we survive the crash,” added Argos.
“I don’t think we’ll crash,” said Chase. “Think about it. Spectre Arakan wanted us to think we had a clear shot at Erevos the whole time. The moment the beam locked onto us, his fleet jumped into orbit and engaged our forces. That was his plan all along; he wants these ships. He’s not gonna risk damaging them.”
The ships cleared the thick red clouds, and Chase could see the ground approaching.
“One way or another, we’re about to find out,” said Argos.
The amount of laser, plasma fire, and torpedoes filling the Victory’s main viewport was unimaginable. Almost every ship in sight had its shields lit up, and explosions of all sizes popped everywhere.
“Captain!” exclaimed the Victory’s tactical officer. “More hyperspace windows forming behind us.”
“Bastards,” exclaimed Daniel. “They have us exactly where they want. How many ships?”
“Another twenty-five.”
Daniel knew very well what that meant; the battle as it stood was never assured to be a victory unless the soul ships helped somewhat, perhaps at least in bringing down the heavy shielding of the Fury super-destroyers. Though Daniel knew better than to count on them since he was well aware of the energy-taxing effect the soul ship had on Chase and the others. But now with an additional twenty-five destroyers, the balance of power in this battle might have tipped to the wrong side.
“Let me guess,” said Daniel. “Any jump interdiction fields?”
“There are at least three ships with JIF deployed at the moment.”
Of course, there was. Chase had been right when he said that this battle could be the last one, and Daniel realized that he didn’t necessarily mean for the Furies, but most likely for the Earth Alliance. The odds of success were now far lower than Daniel was comfortable with.
The JIFs were bad news for the Victory, as Daniel needed the ability to jump away from the battle at any moment so that Chase could return and use the time chamber, should he need to. It also meant that if the chamber’s containment field failed, it could unleash a mini Big Bang and wipe out both the Earth Alliance and the Furies, and most likely Erevos in the process.
But with the bulk of the forces present in this last assault, it was not something Daniel would ever consider, nor was it his orders, and Chase had been adamant about not using the Victory in that fashion. If it came down to the Victory as the final vessel in the battle, then perhaps Daniel would consider it, even though he told Chase he wouldn’t do it. But, for the time being, his orders were to protect the Victory at all costs, so the ships generating JIFs needed to be found and destroyed.
“Locate the JIF emitting ships, and ask the Asgardian ships to destroy them at once.”
“Message relayed,” said the comms officer.
As much as he hated the next order he had to give, he knew he had to, nonetheless.
“Take us to six by four by twelve, and use surrounding ships as cover; we can’t allow the Victory’s shields to drop below fifty percent until those JIFs have been taken care of.”
Gaia had been pushing herself to try and access the information inside the alien tech, which now served as the main storage for her matrix. The pain feedback she received from her repeated attempts was reaching excruciating levels.
Her migraine pulsated with each one of her heartbeats and sent waves of pain that traveled throughout her body.
Spiros returned from the bathroom and saw the pain on her face. He ran to her side.
“What’s wrong with you? Do you want me to take you to med-bay?”
Gaia opened her eyes and took multiple deep breaths.
“That won’t be necessary, I just—”
“You tried accessing that darn information on the sphere.”
“Spiros, you know I have to try at least.”
The Victory shook, and Spiros grimaced.
“No, you don’t. You’ll hurt yourself, and for what? Today we’re fighting the last battle. We don’t need the blink drive or whatever else this device once contained.”
“You don’t know that.”
Spiros got up, purposefully walked to the window, and swiftly split their drapes open, revealing ships exploding, laser fire and torpedo trails passing in front of the window.
“Look at it! This is madness. We should have stayed behind. I don’t know why I accepted coming here with the rest of the fleet; we have been through enough.”
Gaia shook her head, got up from the bed, and came by his side. She cupped his face in her hands.
“We can’t let our friends fight our battles alone. After everything the
y’ve done for us, that just doesn’t seem right.”
Spiros furrowed his eyebrows.
“What about what we did for them?”
“Don’t go there; they saved your life, you saved theirs at one point, that’s what friends do, isn’t it?”
He exhaled deeply before running his palm over his mouth.
“Yes, and I don’t want to sound selfish, even though I know I am, but I wish we could just get the hell out of here.”
“Well, that’s not happening. This battle has started, and I don’t understand why you’re not in engineering.”
“They don’t need me there. They have Kvasir.”
“Don’t do this, Spiros. You’re more valuable than you give yourself credit for.”
“Perhaps. But I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone, especially when you seem determined to access that damn device that, as far as we know, could be mortally dangerous for you to do so. There’s a reason you feel physical pain when you try. I think it’s the universe telling you to stop doing it.”
She smiled.
“That’s nonsense. Now stop acting like a child and go help your friends.”
“I can’t; the moment I leave this room, you’ll continue trying. At least if I’m around, you’re distracted. Have you seen the way the pain distorts your face? I should have taken a holo-pic, you’d understand my concerns if you saw it.”
“I do understand, and I’m the one feeling that pain, so I don’t need a picture. Spiros, please.”
“I’m not going.”
“For me, love?”
“That’s not fair; you can’t say that.”
She smiled at him. “And, yet, I just did. If you go help us win this war I’ll do anything you want me to do, you know…” she gestured her head toward the bed, “in there.”
Spiros narrowed his eyes.
“I’ll go only on one condition, that you promise me you won’t overdo it?”
“I promise.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
The ship rocked, and Gaia lost her footing. Spiros caught her.
“Go help our friends,” she pleaded. “They need you.”
Into the Fire Part II: To End All Wars (Universe in Flames Book 10) Page 21