Chase had brought the Hope about and commenced firing upon the nearest Zarlack destroyer with a full salvo of torpedoes, but the ship micro-jumped at the last second before the torpedoes could impact its shield.
“Dammit! They’ve learned since last time. This will make everything more difficult.”
“Chase,” said Sarah, “any way I can help you?”
“You can assist Ryonna with targeting the laser batteries,” said Chase, at the same time charging the Hope’s main weapon to max power.
“Roger that. I’ll give her a hand.”
“Be ready to open fire with every battery shortly.”
It was time to test a theory. If it failed this would make this fight infinitely more difficult than Chase initially thought.
He jumped the Hope right next to the destroyer that had jumped away a few seconds earlier. The second the Hope exited hyperspace Chase unleashed the Hope’s main guns toward the Zarlack destroyer’s starboard side. As Chase suspected, the Zarlacks either didn’t have time to jump again or were simply unable to, needing time to recharge their hyperdrive engines. The powerful plasma cannon drained most of the destroyer’s shields, but they were still up. Ryonna and Sarah unleashed a barrier of laser fire from the Hope’s batteries, which drained what was left of its shields little by little. Chase redirected every ounce of power from life support to their shields and engines and pushed them to the maximum, attaining a very fast ramming velocity as he adjusted his course.
“Chase! What in god’s name are you doing?” shouted Sarah.
“Hang on and trust me!”
The Hope impacted the Zarlack destroyer and broke it in half. The Hope’s shields were heavily taxed and dropped to less than ten percent in the process. The ship rocked heavily as fire and bright light engulfed the bridge’s viewport. Sparks shot from bulkheads and the ceiling all around them, and a nearby console exploded and started a fire. Ryonna, who was nearest, jumped to get an extinguisher and dealt with it quickly.
“You’re insane, you know that!” spat Sarah.
“We need insane today.” There was determination in his eyes.
“I think it’s not just today, but that’s a conversation for another day.”
He shot her a quick look and smiled.
But then the two remaining Zarlack destroyers jumped to either side of the Hope and pounded the ship’s shields, as well as vectoring toward it.
“Now what, Chase? Please tell me you can jump again?”
“Not for another minute, I’m afraid.”
“We don’t have a minute!”
“I know.”
The Zarlack ships were closing in.
“Are these ships gonna ram us?”
“Looks that way. It’s their new way of fighting anyway.”
“How long do we have?”
“About forty seconds I’d say, if our shields hold for that long, that is.”
Chase felt the pressure rise inside him. Adrenaline shot throughout his body and his mind raced to find a solution.
He opened a channel to engineering.
“Chase! What the hell are you doing to my ship!” exclaimed Yanis, unable to contain his anger.
“Sorry, no time to talk. Please tell me you have a nuke on board.”
“We do have one, yes, as per your request. You know how I feel about this, though.”
“Not now, Yanis! Can we teleport it through one of the Zarlack’s shields?”
“While Gaia provided us with the technology to beam objects safely now, we still haven’t tested it. And to answer your question, no.”
“Alright, prepare to beam the nuke the moment I send you coordinates. Do not hesitate!”
“Boy, I sure hope you know what you’re doing—”
Chase turned off the communication.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to Sarah, before punching a hole in the nearest bulkhead and flying off the bridge.
Sarah’s eye widened and met Ryonna’s gaze.
“He’s nuts!” said Sarah.
“He hasn’t let us down yet. We should trust him.”
Chase exited the ship from the nearest airlock with a shield protecting him from the void of space and providing him with an oxygen bubble. He flew toward the nearest ship in less than a second. He extended both his hands and joined his index fingers and thumbs together, forming a diamond shape. He mentally sent the coordinates to Yanis at the exact moment he shot a tempered shockwave toward the Zarlack’s ship. He didn’t use any more power than was needed to accomplish his goal, remembering very well what happened last time he used too much of his power in outer space. The moment it struck the destroyer’s shields, it destabilized them for a brief instant. That was when he sent a telepathic message to Yanis.
Now!
Chase saw the nuke materialize inside the Zarlack’s shields, and flew back toward the Hope as it detonated. Most of the blast was sent inwards and obliterated the destroyer. The shield provided enough containment to prevent damage to the Hope.
Chase mentally redirected every ounce of the Hope’s power to the engines, disabling the batteries instantly. They stopped firing. He needed to get the Hope out of the Zarlack’s ramming trajectory, but there simply wasn’t enough power to do so in time. That was when he heard a single word in his mind. Push.
He didn’t even try to understand the provenance, and grabbed the Hope, helping it out of the way. He made sure not to use all of his power once again. If he did he knew that not only would their mission to reclaim Alpha Prime fail, but he could actually destroy the entire system if he created another anomaly so near the planet.
Then he felt another force join his. It was warm, but Chase didn’t recognize it. It certainly wasn’t Ares. It must be his unborn child helping him once again by adding his own energy to his. The Hope’s escape velocity grew and it dodged the incoming Zarlack ship by only a few yards. Both ships’ shields ignited from the close encounter.
Having regained weapons control, Ronan and Arknon fired upon the cloaked magnetic-field generators in their firing range. It took a good minute to lower their shields before they finally managed to take them out. Less than a minute later the Manticora and Sphinx had dispatched the remaining three devices, and the few ships that had survived the relentless, cowardly bombing by the Zarlack forces all started moving again. They launched fighters and started firing back at the Zarlack destroyers.
The eleven ships still operational besides the Phoenix were in bad shape, but their added firepower gave pause to the Zarlacks, who went on the defensive and entered evasive patterns as they launched their own waves of starfighters to deal with the incoming Alliance wings.
Someone hailed them. “This is Admiral Zendonis to the Phoenix.”
Ronan looked at Arknon. “Wanna answer that call?”
“This is Commander Arknon Ritalis onboard the Phoenix. What can I do for you, Admiral?”
“Where’s your captain, Commander?”
“He didn’t make it, I’m afraid.”
“Are you the ones we have to thank for being able to use our engines again?”
“My colleague Ronan and I, yes, but we also had outside help.”
“In any case, thank you. We thought we were toast. Our engineering team was unable to find a solution. We don’t know how you’ve managed that, but well done. Is the Phoenix battle ready?”
“Barely, but we will still join the fight shortly.”
“Try and stay in our shadows. My readings show that your shields are low and your structural integrity is critical.”
“Very well. Thank you, Admiral.”
The communication ended.
“We’re not out of this yet,” said Arknon.
“No, but at least we stand a fighting chance now.”
“I’ll pilot the Phoenix while you mend the main gun batteries.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
Arknon smiled as he vectored the Phoenix to trail in the Manticora’s shadow. “For the time being w
e use the Manticora’s shields while ours recharge. When they’re at fifty percent I’ll vector us away so we can have a clear line of fire.”
Another hail came in. “You may want to take that call, Ronan, it’s your friend, Keera.”
“Hello, Ronan, you seem to be free of the magnetic fields.”
“We are, thanks to you.”
“You’re welcome. Your ship seems badly damaged. Perhaps you should vector away from danger?”
“We can’t let the other ships down. They’re also quite damaged. Every gun counts. And this is the Droxian way. We don’t shy away from battle, no matter the cost.”
“Please be careful. If anything happens to you your mother will rip me a new one.”
“She doesn’t have to know you were ever here if anything happens.”
“Still, she’s my friend as well. I would rather not lie to her.”
“I gotta go, Keera, we’ll soon enter firing range.”
“I’ll stay at a safe distance and cloak if necessary. If you need to evacuate the Phoenix, I’ll swing by to get you out, okay?”
“Sounds good. Thank you for your help, Keera, you may have saved my entire world.”
“Don’t want to be a party pooper, but two very powerful Furies are attacking your planet on the ground as we speak. Cities are being leveled at an alarming rate.”
“Still, now we have a chance to do something about it. Ronan out.”
The moment the communication ended, he brought the long-range sensors online and saw what Keera was talking about.
“This is very bad.”
“What is it, Ronan?”
“Look at these readings, Arknon. At this rate every city on the surface of Droxia will be entirely destroyed within the hour.”
“I’m not sure we can do anything about it.”
“But if there’s a way we should consider it. Keera said the damage is being done by only two Furies.”
“How can anyone have that much power?”
“I’ve witnessed Chase, a friend of my mom, fight on Hellstar. Suffice it to say these Furies are very powerful.”
“I might have a way to rid us of one of them, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“I think I know what your idea is. You want to crash the Phoenix into one of these Furies.”
“How did you know?”
“’Cause that’s the only thing that makes sense and has even the slightest chance of stopping these monsters.”
“We could exit the ship using escape pods once we enter the atmosphere.”
“What about the other people on the Phoenix? If there’s anyone else still alive on board they’ll be killed.”
“Never said this would be a perfect plan. We’re fighting for the survival of our entire race. We may not have a choice.”
Ronan felt frustrated, but knew that Arknon was correct. There was little choice in the matter. They needed to do whatever it took to defend their world.
11
Chase flew back inside the Hope and returned to the bridge.
“Well, that was stupid!” said Sarah.
“It worked.”
“And if a black hole forms from your little stunt?”
“I was careful about that.”
“You’re reckless, and you know it.”
“What do you say we table this argument for later. We still have a destroyer to take care of.”
Chase checked his instruments. The destroyer had passed through the rest of its destroyed counterpart and was already vectoring back toward the Hope.
It was gaining on them, and Chase swore before opening a channel to engineering.
“Yanis, why can’t we lose that ship at sub-light?”
“We can’t go any faster because your last stunt has blown three more power conduits. We’re literally hemorrhaging power.”
“Anything you can do about that?”
Chase wanted to tell Yanis that he had no idea if his sister had survived the suicidal blast that had started this fight, but he needed Yanis frosty. So against his better judgment he kept silent.
“You’re impossible! You push my ships past their limits and then who’s got to fix them for you when you break them?”
“Yanis, can you do it or not?”
“I’ll try to reroute power as fast as I can.”
“Thanks, Yanis. Chase out.”
Multiple torpedoes impacted the already weak aft shields. This is not going to end well.
Checking power levels, Chase decided to micro-jump the Hope back near where the ambush had happened. Perhaps the Zarlacks’ hyperspace engines needed more time than the Alliance’s to recharge. He was about to find out. The ship wouldn’t take this treatment for much longer. Perhaps he could try to locate Fillio at the same time.
The Hope micro-jumped once more. The sight of the devastation the ambush had caused the entire battlegroup grabbed Chase by the heart. So many had died, and they might have been added to the list if Chris hadn’t told him to jump out of here. The Hope’s shields were recharging, but just when Chase thought he had bought a little reprieve from the enemy, the Zarlack jumped to less than three thousand miles on the Hope’s port side. It unleashed a flurry of torpedoes and a barrage of laser fire.
Chase tried to boost the shields but there was no more power. Now was as good a time as any to call the Destiny back into the fold. Chase reached for long-range communications and tried to send a message, but the array had been damaged.
Crap!
He called engineering.
“Yanis, status on these power modifications of yours?”
“You’re shitting me, right? Your last jump disabled yet another conduit. Whatever time I needed before has just tripled.”
“Chase out.”
Chase realized he had been terribly rude with his friend, but the fact that he didn’t even know if his friend’s sister was alive or dead made matters even worse.
Three ceiling bulkhead panels fell down when the next set of torpedoes impacted the Hope’s shields. They almost fell on Sarah and Ryonna, but Chase stopped them with his mind and threw them to the side.
“Thanks,” said Sarah.
“Anytime,” added Chase.
The next laser-fire impact went through the shields that were no longer up on the port side. Part of deck three exploded and metal and other debris was sucked out into space.
Chase erected a force field on that deck.
Not going to end well at all.
Chase turned the Hope on its axis to present the starboard shields in an attempt to delay the inevitable but, while rotating, the ship moaned and the lights inside the bridge turned off.
Not now!
A laser pierced the bridge viewport. Chase tried to intercept it with his mind but was too late.
When it was about to incinerate both Sarah and Ryonna, a shield rose around both of them and absorbed the blast. It also protected them from the explosive decompression that followed.
Chase didn’t know if he should be in awe of his yet-to-be-born child’s powers or scared of them. For the time being that save had been a godsend, but he was wary of what that could mean in the future.
The decompression sucked a lot of equipment from the bridge out into space before the automatic force fields kicked in.
The blue-tinged field flashed multiple times. The power within the ship was too low and soon it would fail.
“We have to abandon ship,” said Chase out loud.
“Chase!” exclaimed Sarah pointing in front of her.
That’s when Chase saw it. The Zarlack ship blocked the light coming from the system’s blue star and plunged the bridge into total darkness.
The enemy’s destroyer charged its main plasma guns and opened fire.
When Ares arrived on the surface of Droxia with the battle droids, a city exploded in the distance. The shockwave traveled in their direction really quickly.
“Brace yourselves!” shouted Ares to the droid army.
The Gaia
droid took a defensive stance and all the other droids took the same stance a fraction of a second later.
The shockwave hit them full force and most of them skidded a few yards back until it had passed. Ares hadn’t moved an inch, his non-corporeal form unaffected.
“We need to act fast. There’s no way Chase can defeat both of these Furies. We need to get one of them out of commission, or at the very least wound him, before I can bring him here to finish him off. Perhaps that would give the other one pause.”
“I’ve located the nearest Fury about fifty miles to the north of here. We’re going to intercept him right away. Perhaps you should go get Chase?”
“I will come with you to see if I can be of assistance.”
“As you wish,” said Gaia as she flew into the air.
The other droids followed as she flew north. After fifty miles they started their descent. They landed one after the other in front of General Arkoolis.
“What do we have here?” he said with a smirk. “I don’t remember seeing these guys before. Too bad you’re just a bunch of tin cans.”
The general extended his right hand and sent a fireball toward the droids. The targeted droid deflected the fireball with its hand as its shield lit up. The fireball flew into the sky.
“Interesting. Finally some challenge. This might not be a boring day after all.”
At least fifteen droids launched toward the general and delivered highly complex combos of punches, knees and kicks. The general blocked each of the attacks but had to take a few steps back in the process. He grew his aura and unleashed a war cry that sent a powerful shockwave all around him, flooring all fifteen droids. But the next wave was already on its way.
The general blocked the incoming attacks with ease. He sent three droids to the ground and decapitated a fourth with a powerful hook kick. Sparks shot from the droid’s neck. The general was so distracted fighting another ten droids that he was surprised when the decapitated droid grabbed him from behind.
“What the hell?” The droid immobilized Arkoolis with all four limbs. “I thought I had killed that thing already.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 130