“I like the sound of that. What do you suggest?”
“What about I kick your ass in a dogfight? In simulation of course.”
Daniel smiled. “Is overconfidence another side effect of trying to silence your emotions?”
“What do you say we find out?”
7
It had been hours since Chase woke from his nightmare. He was still rattled. Even though it hadn’t been real, his killing Sarah once more made his already unbalanced emotions worse.
So much for hoping to get the past behind me by leaving the Earth Alliance.
But there was no escaping his own heart, and on some level, Chase knew that. He just hoped being away would give him a slight respite from his pain. But it mattered not where he was, Sarah was and always would be a part of him.
I need to find Argos and kill him. Perhaps then things will change.
But would they? Chase wondered.
A beep resounded in the StarFury, and instantly the holographic HUD (Heads-up Display) turned itself on inside Chase’s mind and field of view. A star chart appeared with a pulsating red dot.
A distress beacon.
Chase first thought about changing course to intercept and then stopped himself. He wondered if this concerned him or if he should just ignore it. After all, he was no longer part of the Alliance. Maybe there was an Earth Alliance ship in the area he could relay the information to.
Chase zoomed out of the star map until it showed an Earth Alliance subspace signal.
The nearest ship was days away from the distress beacon. There was a jump gate being built nearby, but it wasn’t yet operational, making any rescue attempt by the Earth Alliance a lengthy prospect.
Chase scanned for other energy signatures around the beacon, hoping he could try to contact any other ship and inquire about the possibility of a rescue. But his ship was the nearest, and the only other energy signature in the area was a Zarlack frigate.
Chase sighed. Doesn’t look like I’m leaving the past behind today.
Of all the races, why did it have to be Zarlack? On the other hand, perhaps if Chase managed to board that ship, he could find a clue to track down Argos. For that alone, it was worth the small detour.
One thing was for sure, if Chase didn’t answer the distress call, the Zarlacks would most likely investigate and kill whoever activated that distress beacon.
He set a course toward the beacon with his mind and jumped his StarFury.
Daniel veered his StarFury to avoid the missile locked onto him, but he had run out of countermeasures, and the damage on his ship’s engines didn’t allow him to get out of the way in time.
The missile tore through his left wing and sent his fighter spiraling out of control. A couple of seconds later, Daniel’s StarFury exploded before he had time to eject.
The program reset, and Daniel was back in the pilot’s seat. He received a transmission.
“Had enough?” Fillio asked.
“Hey, don’t be too cocky. We’re tied at two kills each.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
“Best out of five?”
“You’re on. I hope you’re ready to lose, Commander.”
“Commander?”
“Alright, then, would you prefer Scorpion?”
“What happened to Daniel?”
“Don’t take it personally, but I usually don’t call my prey by their first name.”
“Oh, it’s like that?”
She giggled over the comms, “Yes…it’s like that.”
“Then I hope you and your ship are ready to be blown out of the sky.”
“There’s no sky in space.”
“You’re in a good mood.”
“Seems like I’m not the only one.”
Daniel realized that Fillio had diverted his attention away from his sorrow about Chase’s unexpected departure. Even if it had only been for an hour, it felt good. Very good, in fact.
“I am, thanks to you.”
“Anytime, but the game isn’t over. Get ready to lose.”
“In your dreams!”
“I can’t get a hold of Chase,” said Aphroditis.
“How’s that possible?” asked Ares.
“I don’t know. It’s like something is interfering with our systems.”
“There’s been a lot of solar activity in this area, could that be related?”
“I suppose that’s one explanation, but my gut feeling tells me it’s something else. But just in case, if you wouldn’t mind running diagnostics on it, you’ve always had a better knack at technology than I did.”
Ares sighed. “Sure, I’ll take a look. But out of curiosity, what does your instinct tell you about the interference?”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“Look, sister, if it were nothing, you wouldn’t have mentioned it.”
“Missing your pupil? I thought you didn’t agree with me about Chase.”
“I see you’re trying to change the subject. But it’s your choice so I’ll play along. What is it you think I don’t agree about Chase?”
“That’s he’s the chosen one.”
“What I object to isn’t necessarily that he has a role to play in this war, but calling him the chosen one is a little too…”
“Prophetic?”
“As good a word as any, I guess.”
“My visions are clear. If Chase isn’t part of this war, Argos will win.”
“Yeah, and I have no love for Chase’s brother. But did you ever stop to think that perhaps this is a war that needs to be lost?”
“How could you say that?”
“Look, Aphroditis, I realize your abilities to see different futures are both a gift and a curse, that much seems clear to me. But unless I’m mistaken, you don’t have a long-term vision of the universe.”
“I see billions upon billions dying, many star systems wiped out if Chase can’t help stop his brother. Isn’t that enough?”
“I suppose so, but that doesn’t negate my way of looking at it.”
“You’re just as stubborn as our father.”
“Leave Zeus out of it, he’s got nothing to do with this conversation.”
“You started it.”
“I wish I hadn’t.
“As we’ve seen lately, we don’t always get what we wish for.”
And trust me, brother, thought Aphroditis, I wouldn’t wish our fate on anyone.
8
Daniel fired his last missile on a strong lock. But Fillio turned off her thrusters, swiveled her ship on its axis, and shot down the incoming projectile with ease.
She’s good.
Daniel opened fire with his ship’s laser cannons, but Fillio micro-jumped away.
“I haven’t seen this crazy a flying technique since—” but Daniel didn’t end his sentence.
“Since Chase?” said Fillio over the comms.
“Yeah.”
While the dogfight training had been really distracting, Daniel still wished he knew where Chase was and why he left the way he did.
His HUD flashed to inform Daniel his ship was being locked upon. Fillio fired two missiles at him.
Daniel deployed the last of his countermeasures, which stopped the first missile, but the other one broke through. He went evasive, but the missile lock was strong. When it was about to impact with his shields, Daniel micro-jumped away.
With both StarFuries having jumped, they had about five minutes until the jump engines recharged. Both ships had depleted their complement of missiles. So the last kill would probably be determined by cannons now.
Daniel was behind Fillio’s fighter and opened fire. She went evasive, preventing him from draining more than twenty percent off her shields.
She’s one hell of a pilot, that’s for sure.
But when Daniel’s latest laser volley hit home, smoke escaped one of the StarFuries’ engines.
I got you now!
Daniel boosted thrusters and was soon upon her. She once more
made a one-eighty swivel on her ship’s axis. Daniel showered her frontal shields with laser fire, and Fillio shot two supercharged shots before engaging her thrusters.
She was so close that Daniel had no way of evading the shot or avoiding a collision. She turned her ship vertically, and both wings collided together. Because of the supercharged hits that impacted Daniel’s ship on that side of the craft, Fillio’s StarFury aimed her wing to impact at that exact location, slicing through whatever was left of the shields. Daniel’s wing was torn and ripped away upon impact, and sparks flew from the side of his ship as blood would from a detached limb.
Both ships swirled in space. Before Daniel could recover, his HUD flashed, reporting more laser damage. All it took was three direct hits of supercharged laser fire to tear Daniel’s ship to shreds.
The simulation ended, and the mechanical cockpit rose above Daniel’s head. As it did, he saw Fillio in the next simulator, a grin across her face.
“That’s a crazy way of winning a fight,” said Daniel.
“Well, you didn’t leave me much choice,” said Fillio. “Besides, I came in to win.”
“Does that mean I didn’t?”
“We both know your focus is something to be desired, especially in that last engagement. Your head wasn’t in the fight.”
Fillio was right, of course. Daniel had been thinking of Chase instead of focusing on winning. And it had cost him the victory.
“Touché.”
Chase scanned the area as soon as his StarFury exited hyperspace. He located the distress beacon and plotted a course toward it at maximum sub-light speed. In order to get there faster, he redirected power from every system except life support into the ship’s engines.
A few minutes later, Chase had the target ship in sight, but the Zarlack had entered the system as well. A frigate and three starfighters escorting it were nearby. Chase changed his ship’s vector to intercept.
Looks like I’m going to have to fight.
Suddenly, fear rose inside Chase’s heart. He didn’t understand why. He had gone against bigger foes and higher odds, and Zarlack pilots weren’t exactly great pilots. Still, Chase’s heartbeat kept pounding harder in his chest.
Not now! What the fuck is happening to me?
Chase tried taking a few deep breaths while his StarFury was on an intercept course with the enemy, but it didn’t seem to help one bit. He started to tremble when he heard her voice.
I will wait for you at the gates of dawn.
Sarah’s last words before Chase took out her fighter, and with it, sealed his own fate.
Enemy fire impacting on his shields took Chase out of his head and back into the present. Chase went evasive and veered his ship to land behind one of the Zarlack fighters. He obtained a good lock, but when he was about to fire, he saw something.
His eyes must have been playing tricks on him, as he was looking at a StarFury. Sarah’s StarFury. And he couldn’t bring himself to fire upon it.
His ship shook as more enemy fire impacted with his shields, draining them little by little.
I can’t do this. Not again.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and Chase felt like he was trapped in a time loop. Even if he hadn’t opened fire, the ship in front of his eyes kept exploding over and over again, sending waves of pain, sadness, and self-hatred throughout his very being. His eyes teared, and his breath was shallow.
The overlaid HUD flashed red more and more, alerts informing Chase his ship was getting pounded to oblivion. But Chase still felt stuck in time, in the past, where he wished he could travel to change his fate.
You can do this, Chase, said a familiar voice.
It was Sarah’s. But it couldn’t be. Still, hearing her voice even as a hallucination was sweet, and even if part of him was perfectly content dying with her voice being the last thing he heard, he felt something deep inside his soul.
He couldn’t explain it, but Chase felt he couldn’t die, not now. He had to live, his path wasn’t over yet.
Chase! screamed Sarah’s voice in his head. Wake up before it’s too late! I beg you, if you love me, you’ll wake up and defend yourself.
That did it!
Everything happened quickly. Time seemed to resume its normal pace. The StarFury outside of Chase’s crosshairs morphed back into a Zarlack fighter, and every warning system on board Chase’s ship was flashing like an overloading power conduit.
Chase opened fire and didn’t allow the Zarlack fighter to go evasive, even though the duo of other enemy ships were pounding his aft shields to smithereens. They were dangerously low, but Chase went evasive, swirling his ship and affecting slight trajectory changes, all the while keeping a lock on the Zarlack starfighter in front of him. The fighter’s shield dropped, and Chase sent a mental command to switch from fast-rate fire to supercharged and blew the enemy craft with a pair of well-aimed shots.
The Zarlack fighter exploded, and Chase flew through its flaming debris, briefly illuminating everything orange around him. He then cut thrusters and swiveled the ship to keep his current momentum. Once his one-eighty maneuver was done, he readied to shower the incoming fighters with rapid fire. His frontal shields took a massive pounding, but the StarFury’s shields were way stronger than the Zarlack’s.
Chase locked onto the fighter with the lowest amount of frontal shields while the distance separating him from his enemies was diminishing, and he fired a missile at the same time as he fired two volleys of supercharged shots.
The first volley of supercharged shots nearly ended the enemy’s shields, and the missile finished the job, igniting one of the Zarlack’s engines in the process. The second volley of shots tore through one of its wings and sent the enemy into an uncontrollable spin, and it impacted with its wingman and exploded, draining the ship’s starboard shields completely.
“See you in hell!” shouted Chase as he targeted the ship’s starboard engine and showered it with heavy fire.
The ship exploded into a million pieces and lit up Chase’s cockpit briefly.
9
“Perhaps it would be best if we headed to a system nearer to the Earth Alliance,” said Ares.
“I don’t think distance is an issue,” said Aphroditis.
“Perhaps not, but we’ve tried contacting Chase over and over from this position, and we still don’t know what interfered with your last strong connection. As discussed, I ran more diagnostics and found something troubling.”
“Care to be more specific?”
“It was not easy to identify, but I can tell with certitude now that it wasn’t spacial interferences. I believe your transmission was hijacked.”
“That makes no sense. Who could be hacking Olympian technology? Especially, the holo-comms. This is one of our most ancient and secure systems.”
“I can think of one person.”
“Argos.”
“Who else?”
“But then…”
“Yes, my point exactly. If he hijacked your communication with Chase on Damocles-3, then it’s only safe to assume he may be able to locate us, especially if we keep trying to contact Chase.”
“I see your point. But then what should we do?”
“Play it safe is what we should do. Since you think Chase could be unconsciously interfering with our signals, I’ll reprogram the emitters to transmit on another frequency, perhaps that will allow us to punch through whatever Chase’s brain is doing to block the transmissions.”
“But won’t we risk exposing our position that way?”
“More than likely. So I suggest you try it once I make the modifications and then we take the ship and move to another system, preferably far away from here.”
“I must say I don’t like the idea of moving. I only started to feel settled here.”
“Better to feel unsettled than dead.”
“Can’t argue with that logic.”
The StarFury shook as long-range heavy fire exploded nearby. The enemy frigate had turned its a
ttention toward him. But now that it didn’t have its fighters to protect it, it made a tempting target.
Chase’s blood boiled inside him, he was aching to take the frigate out, but that wouldn’t help him locate Argos.
Chase noticed the ship that had sent the distress beacon was no longer on his scopes.
Was it destroyed while I was dealing with the enemy escort?
But there was no debris to be found where the ship once stood. Chase extended his mind into the computer systems and scanned for the energy signature of the missing ship. He found a faint echo of the ship inside the large cargo bay of the frigate.
They must have tractor beamed the ship while he dispatched its escort. One more reason for Chase to tame his thirst for Zarlack blood still building up inside his being. Chase saw new sensor information on his mental HUD. The ship was powering its hyperspace engines.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” said Chase out loud.
Chase’s mind raced. He chose a target, one his instinct told him wouldn’t destroy the ship, and he locked three missiles to the coordinates. He fired them one after another at two-second intervals. Chase then micro-jumped near the frigate and showered its ships with rapid fire while the missiles kept incoming toward the enemy.
Chase had hoped he could lower them faster so at least one missile would penetrate the shields and do enough damage to prevent the ship from jumping away. But reading the sensors, Chase realized he had overestimated the effect of his main laser cannons against the Zarlack’s frigate ship.
Dammit!
Chase’s mind raced, and an idea crazy even for him came to the surface.
“This better work,” he said.
Chase diverted every ounce of power he could and transferred it to his StarFury’s shields while he made another pass at the frigate. Heavy fired exploded all around him, making his StarFury shake forcefully.
Chase then mentally changed the power distribution of his shields to boost his frontal shields to one hundred fifty percent, leaving barely twenty percent of power on all the others. That was a risky move, several well-placed shots could take him out, but with missiles only moments away from impact, Chase had run out of options. He focused all his laser fire toward the point of impact while he approached the frigate.
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 82