“Yes, ma’am.”
“Chase?”
“We don’t have any choice, unless you can think of anything else?”
“No, I’m out of my element here. A few days ago I had never travelled to space. Too bad we don’t have F-140s…”
“I thought about that. We could have loaded the quadrinium we have and used it to detonate one fighter instead of the Oblivion.”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”
“But the F-140s could never hold that much quadrinium, and they need a really big bang to stop that Droxian armada.”
“Something tells me a big bang is what they’ll get.”
Chase dropped back to his chair with a grave expression on his face.
Cedric was sleeping when the doorbell rang.
“Whaaaaaat? Go away!”
“Cedric, I’ve been ordered to bring you back to base. The chief needs you.”
He turned into his pillow. “Everybody is going to die in a few days anyway, so no thanks.”
“Actually the fleet is less than three hours away.” Frank pounded repeatedly on the door. “Open up, now!”
Cedric grunted something unintelligible and shuffled to the front door. When it swung open, he squinted into the bright sunlight.
Frank clapped his shoulder. “Get dressed! We have to go!”
“Okay, okay, give me a minute.” He shuffled back inside and, unable to decide between the two, grabbed both his jacket and his bathrobe. At the last second, he grabbed his pillow as well. “I’ll come,” he mumbled as he headed out to the car, “but you’re driving.”
The roads were practically empty so it only took fifteen minutes to reach the office. A planetary-wide message was transmitting on all frequencies: TV stations, radios, social media, you name it. It said, in the gentlest possible terms, that an attack was imminent, so it was best if everyone either stayed in their homes or evacuated to anti-nuclear shelters beneath ground. Saying that in the gentlest possible terms was tricky, to say the least.
Frank parked the car in a hurry and shook Cedric awake, partially to get him inside, and partially to stop his ungodly snoring.
“We’re here! Let’s go!”
“Yeeehmemme...”
“Cedric! We gotta report to Boralis ASAP or he’s gonna kill us!”
Cedric tentatively opened one eye, then the next. He grimaced as if he had been asked to do some sort of impossible task but, under Frank’s insistence, he finally mustered the energy to get out of the car and walk slowly toward the entrance. Slowly indeed. One of the only perks of being on planet Earth right now was the newly found legality in smoking copious amounts of marijuana. Cedric had taken to it like a fish, and was having the time of his life, speeding up and slowing down, watching Frank’s eyes bulge out to the point that he was worried his old friend might have a stroke.
“You stress too much, Frank,” he said with a mischievous smile.
“And you don’t stress enough!”
“It’s in the eye of the beholder. I have my own rhythm; that’s all that matters.”
“Yeah, when Boralis assigns us to the night shift for three weeks in a row, we’ll see whose rhythm will have to change.”
“I’m not worried; he wouldn’t waste a precious resource like me on the night shift. You on the other hand...”
“Funny. Precious resource. Coming from the man who was living on his couch.”
“I like the couch. No surprises there.” Cedric sighed wistfully. “No enemy armada coming to blow you to kingdom come.”
“Yeah, speaking of…” Frank opened the door and led Cedric to the elevator. They rode it to the seventeenth floor and, a moment later, they were in Chief Boralis’ office.
“Hello, boss,” Cedric said cheerfully.
The chief looked up from his desk. “So nice of you to finally show up.”
“My pleasure. What can I help you with?”
“Hang on, gonna open a channel with Greece.”
“Ah Greece, what a nice country. I need to go back there if we survive this.”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Boralis used his computer to initiate a video conference conversation; it started ringing.
“Why would I? I like to breathe.”
“You have the most peculiar sense of humor, but we’ll discuss that another time, as well as your decision to skip work.”
“First of all, I wasn’t skipping work. Second, I can do whatever I want; there are no salaries anymore, we can do as we please. And third, I was working thank you very much, just from the comfort of my own home.”
The chief’s eyes narrowed sarcastically. “From the comfort of your own home. You must be single-handedly keeping Netflix in business.”
Cedric opened his mouth to defend himself, but shrugged and said, “Well played. Although there is something to be said for multi-tasking when—”
The chief held up his hand to cut him off as the video connected. The blank screen suddenly turned into the face of a man who looked at Cedric curiously.
“Boralis, is that your network guru with you?” he asked.
“Yes, he’s here,” the chief answered.
“What’s your name, son?”
“Cedric.”
“Cedric, we’ve been working on a theory, and we need your help.”
Cedric stifled a yawn and tried to appear alert. “What’s the theory about?”
“Don’t want to bore you with details, but it’s basically teleportation.”
“Neat,” Cedric said with a nod, “that way we could beam nukes at our enemies by flicking a switch. Could be useful.”
“See, Boralis, it wasn’t such a stretch of the imagination.”
The chief straightened his jacket indignantly. “Well I don’t watch as much TV.”
“Maybe you should. Anyway, Cedric, we need to muster as much CPU power and storage as we can in the next two hours. Any idea how to do that?”
“In two hours… Well, I’d say we should hack the planet, via the Internet.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“Almost every human has either a smartphone, tablet, cloud storage, home storage, personal computers, you name it. Some nerds have all of those and more.”
“Are you a nerd?”
Cedric tossed back his hair. “The good-looking kind. But yes, I have many devices and I know countless others who do as well. That being said, I thought the Alliance ships had supercomputers that put our technology to shame.”
“It does, but we need even more power. Networked, and able to calculate immense data in real time.”
“I see… Then we use the computers on the ships to hack the planet, use every bit of CPU from every device that’s turned on. We’re talking hundreds of millions of them.”
“Can you do this from Geneva?”
“Not a chance, unless you teach me your computer’s language and give me direct control.”
“Actually, we could just open a channel to the ships. But if communication was to be broken during the battle...maybe it’s safer if you come aboard the Destiny and work with our chief engineer.”
“Alright. I’d say beam me up, but somehow I think that would be premature.”
The man in the screen cracked a smile. “I’ll contact Captain Saroudis and inform him of your arrival. Please be ready to be picked up within the next twenty minutes by a shuttle.”
“Alright, sir.”
The communication ended and Cedric smiled at Frank who was still standing by the door.
“From the couch to the stars in less than an hour… I might even have time to smoke.”
22
The Dragon’s Claw battlegroup exited hyperspace around Saturn. The fifteen battleships and their escorts then proceeded in sub-light speed toward Earth. On the bridge, an image of the Emperor appeared on the main screen.
“While I will participate in this assault, you will receive your orders from my...tactical advisor. You are to treat his orders as if t
hey were mine. Failure to do so will result in immediate execution. This is effective immediately. He will now take command.”
The air on the bridge cooled with a sudden chill as the crew looked back and forth at one another. They were supposed to be taking commands from a stranger? But they knew better than to challenge a direct order from the Emperor, and quickly resumed their tasks.
Then, a voice that no one recognized boomed from the shadows.
“Troops, battle stations! Navigation officer, long-range scans at maximum. I want a detailed status of every ship in this system projected directly into the war display in the throne room.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You shall address me as master.”
“Absolutely, I apologize…master.”
“I will be sending most of my orders via the holo-interface but, if you hear me vocally, do not hesitate a split second. Are we clear?”
“Crystal clear, master.”
“That goes for all of you!” the voice threatened.
“Yes, master!” said the crew in unison.
Back in the throne room, the hooded man took a seat on the throne as the holographic war display sprang to life in front of him. He studied the image while the Emperor paced back and forth on the floor, enraged at being rendered so powerless.
“Will you be doing this the entire time?” the man asked, clearly annoyed. “The battle hasn’t even started.”
“I’m unaccustomed to not giving orders on my own ship.”
“Accustom yourself then. Your constant pacing is distracting. Either find a way to refrain, or excuse yourself from the war theatre.”
The Emperor gave a low growl of discontent. He’d reached his limit with this man and his lack of respect. If it weren’t for the fact that he, through weaponry and sheer intellect, had almost single-handedly defeated the Alliance, he would have tried to dispatch him already. Days ago, the man had told him the reason for the sudden attack. Something about Olympian gods trying to rebuild a bigger and stronger Alliance. But what did the Emperor care about the will of the gods? When this battle was finished, he may decide to strike.
He realized he was still pacing when he heard the click of an impatient finger tapping on the throne and followed the arm up to a glacial stare. He froze in his steps.
“Better.”
This time, the Emperor literally had to close his eyes to stay calm. “Yes…master.”
Not master for long, he thought. Not for long at all.
The man’s head snapped up. “What did you say?”
The Emperor did a double take. “I said yes, master.”
The man’s eyes gleamed in the semi-darkness. “I got the impression you said something after that, or maybe you’re just thinking too loud.”
What the hell did that mean? Was this man also capable of reading minds?! No, that couldn’t be. He would have killed the Emperor long ago if that was the case.
Without realizing it, the Emperor started pacing again.
“Look, I understand this isn’t fun for you. So may I suggest you go watch the battle from the comfort of your own quarters? Have a drink, take a nap, play with your ears… Just get out of my sight.”
The Emperor stopped pacing and looked straight in the eyes of the man he would soon take immense pleasure in killing. “Very well, master. Call me if you need me.”
“That won’t be necessary; you’re dismissed.”
Another wave of hatred threatened to overwhelm the Emperor, but he turned his back to the throne and left the room in silence.
“About time,” the man murmured to himself. “I’ll deal with your rebellious thoughts later.” And he returned his full attention to the holo-display.
From his first analysis of the long-range data, he could see that the Alliance had clearly enlisted the help of the humans of Earth. This planet was classified as being about two centuries shy of space travel, yet the data was showing what looked like four orbital defense platforms and a space construction dock. There were also a few large ships and lots of smaller craft—short-range fighters in defensive patrol.
Earth and the Alliance had clearly been expecting them. But no matter. There was no way they could be prepared for what was to come.
He touched the controls on his console and started tagging the battleships and defense satellites in order of target priority. Then he brought up camera feeds from the Dragon’s Claw and brushed it to the right of the tactical display, while brushing live feed of the enemy fleet to the left.
He was still working when he noticed a small blinking dot in the corner of his display. Fast as he was, it was too late for him to react. There was a giant noise and the entire ship trembled, sending a tingling sensation up his spine.
“Full stop!” he cried.
“Full stop acknowledged, master.”
“Damage report?”
“Two of the battleships and three escorts have exploded; another two battleships and their escort were damaged in the explosion.”
“Nature of weapon?”
“Nuclear, probably a mine.”
“Didn’t we scan for mines?”
“We did. None were detected.”
“Stealth, then?”
“Most likely, master.”
He didn’t see that one coming. The Alliance had banned the use of nuclear and fusion based weaponry, but obviously, they didn’t intend to play by their own rules. It was a cheap trick but, he had to admit, an efficient one. They had made the first move. A good one too.
“Have the damaged ships retreat and return to base immediately.”
“Yes, master.”
An annoying buzz sounded in the throne room and he waved a switch on his control panel to have an infuriated image of the Emperor appear in yet another display.
“What can I do for you, Emperor? I thought you were going to your quarters to calm yourself down.”
“I am not amused. I’ve seen a huge explosion; we’ve lost ships and we haven’t even reached our destination yet.”
“I am aware. This is the nature of war.”
“Why have we stopped?”
“I don’t remember saying I would inform you of either the status of the battle or my tactics…”
“Tactics? You call that tactics?”
“I don’t think I like your tone, Emperor. Would you like me to show you how I deal with impudence?”
“Impudence?! Enough is enough! I’m coming back to the throne room right away.”
“No, you are not!”
“This is still my ship!”
“No, it isn’t. I’ve granted you use of the Dragon’s Claw. That’s a big difference. This is a Zarlack ship and, by that definition, it is mine.”
“What?!”
“I don’t have time for this.” The man’s eyes almost seemed to glow and he spoke with a voice that could have come from hell itself. “SLEEP!”
As if by magic, the Emperor collapsed on the floor of his room. Then, with total calm, the man swiped the video feed away and went back to analyzing his screen, resting his chin on his hands as he peered at the ships.
Onboard the Destiny, Captain Saroudis asked his tactical officer to report.
“One of the smart nukes just detonated, Captain.”
“Damage?”
“It took out two of their battleships and a few escorts; our sensors show some of the damaged ships are already retreating.”
“That’s odd. But that’s a few more ships we won’t have to destroy so let’s count our blessings and hope the rest of the mines will keep up the good work.”
“Yes, Captain. However, the fleet stopped cold after the explosion.”
“Mmm, they’re evaluating what their next move will be. I would do the same. What’s the status of the other mines?”
“They’re active in passive mode. Should we move the next one toward the fleet?”
“Are they on the fleet’s advancing vector?”
“Not quite.”
“Then w
e don’t have a choice. Activate the nearest mine into search and destroy mode.”
“Activated, Captain.”
“Time to impact?”
“About a minute or so.”
“Good. Keep me informed.”
“Captain!” the officer suddenly yelled.
“What is it?”
“All the enemy ships have started firing in almost every single direction they can.”
“Dammit! They’re trying to fish out the rest of the mines.”
“Onboard telemetry indicates that the travelling mine’s shield has been scored a couple of times.”
“Turn that mine off now!”
“Too late, it’s been destroyed by a concentrated laser burst from the biggest battleship.”
“A single burst?”
“Yes, Captain.”
Its firepower seemed much stronger than any of the previous ships to attack Earth. It would have to be monitored with extra care.
“Have the sensors identified the class of each ship?”
“Yes, Captain. Most are battleships and dreadnoughts of Zarlack design. The main battleship, however, is a class we’ve never encountered. The computer has no information in its database.”
“On-the-fly assessment?”
“Five times the size of the biggest Obsidian or Zarlack ship in the database, much stronger shielding, extremely high energy output, maybe twenty times the energy signature of the Destiny. The silhouette is reminiscent of the Zarlack design, but much larger.”
“Good god.”
This one vessel alone could be the difference between victory and defeat. If Chase didn’t come back soon, and with reinforcements to boot, this battle could be over before it began.
“Target destroyed, master.”
“Very well. There are more mines, but I don’t have time to play cat and mouse.”
“Your orders, master?”
“Prepare a micro jump. Calculate the coordinates in between the ships and the satellites orbiting around Earth.”
“Calculating… Computer warns it’s a dangerous jump. Ships could materialize within some of the targets.”
“I am very well aware of that. No more warnings, just execute the jump when the calculation is ready.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 30