The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  “The communication equipment aboard the Fury has the capability, but the transition signal will be detectable at the power levels required to send a message that distance. I am reserving that option if we are forced to fight our way to the planet.” Justice answered.

  We nervously watched as a Prule resource gathering platform passed within a couple of thousand yards of our hide. The ship was at least forty times larger than the Fury and had pieces recovered from the orbiting junkyard piled high on its barge-like deck. It momentarily slowed and our breaths caught in our throats. It made an abrupt course change and moved off toward the last large ship fragment to exit the gateway. It would be foolish to think that the salvage ships were not keeping a running count of everything that came out of the portal. I suspected they were already coming up with a figure that was minus one.

  Justice used the Fury’s gravity drive to push us out away from the ship fragment without disturbing its slow leisurely movement. He was slowly maneuvering us lower in the debris field and closer to the planet. The Prule were concentrating their search close to the ring. It was just a matter of time before they increased the search area, and I hoped we could stay ahead of them. Just when I thought that we were going to slip away clean, Justice put a blinking red box around a large group of ships that just launched from the facility on the planet’s surface. There were two-hundred and fifty Resource Gathering Platforms heading up to the orbiting junkyard. We had no way of knowing if this was a normal salvage fleet, or they were coming to help locate the missing Fury. It would have been advantageous to have the Fury’s cloaking systems operational, but it wasn’t an option. The one thing that did give us an edge was the pitch black of our surroundings. The nearest star was thousands of light-years away. When the new fleet of salvage ships closed with the debris field they started dispersing. Justice took this as his cue to make a break for the planet's surface. We cleared the edge of the scrap field and moved toward the planet at a maddeningly slow pace. I knew we had sustained some hull damage when we collided with the space junk in our exit path. I also knew Justice would try to keep that side of the Fury turned away from the searching Prule ships. At some point, that vector would expose us to the ground-based sensors I knew had to be searching the junk field as well.

  “Principal Investigator,” Justice said. “If it is agreeable to you I would like to have Engineer Coonts remove the IST transponder from your shuttle and install it into a jump buoy.”

  We were all stressing and Sael physically jumped at the AI’s sudden speech, but quickly composed herself. “Justice, I cannot allow that technology to fall into Prule hands. I would rather destroy it than take that chance.”

  “I have anticipated that scenario and propose rigging the transponder with one of your remaining prototype mines. I will alter the onboard AI’s programming so it will execute its proximity detonation command fifteen seconds after the IST is activated.”

  Sael chewed on the comment for a couple of seconds. “Won’t the Prule detect the buoy’s transition?”

  “Yes, Principal Investigator, there is also the possibility they will detect its exit transition in the void between the rogue planet and our home galaxy. There will be little they can do before it ends its preprogrammed operations, and may divert Prule search assets to that location.”

  “It will make a good diversionary tactic if we have to make a run for the planet.” The Troop Master added.

  “Yes Justice, your plan does have positive merits. Do you have an idea of how long it will take for the signal to reach friendly forces?”

  “Negative Principal Investigator, but the time will be less than from our present location.”

  “Go ahead with your plan, when can you have it ready to launch?” Sael confirmed.

  “No more than thirty minutes.”

  Sael Nalen grimaced but let it go. She knew our situation was precarious at best and looking grimmer by the minute. She just hoped like the rest of us that we had another thirty minutes before we were discovered.

  Coonts skills were quickly becoming an intricate part of our survival. He gave us a thumbs up and boosted down the corridor.

  Klutch stood up and moved to the bridge doors. “Commander, Principal Investigator, I know Coonts would never admit it, but he has difficulty doing anything without my help. I think I should go with him and share my expertise in problem-solving.”

  Sael seemed distracted and did not comment on Klutch’s request. I let the Troop Master’s sarcasm go with a roll of my eyes and waved him on. I knew it would be one of those occasions where the Troop Master had the best of intentions and would do whatever he could to aid Coonts in completing his assigned task. I looked back at Sael wondering what was so distracting she did not respond to Klutch. I saw that Tria was now standing next to her, and they were both staring intently at the viewscreen. I looked at the screen and there were hundreds of red boxes rising from the Prule installation. They were spreading out rapidly in groups of three and moving into the debris field. The gateway disappearing was enough to agitate the Prule, but an unaccounted-for ship probably triggered a general alert.

  “Justice,” Sael called. “Target the Supercarrier with two torpedos maximum yield. Locate its power source and make that the primary target. Target the tether’s anchor points with a single torpedo and then put two into the installation. One at five hundred feet below the surface and another at two thousand feet. I want time-on-target detonations.”

  “Weapons programmed and ready to launch on your order,” Justice replied.

  Sael turned away from the screen and sat back in the Fury’s command chair. “I need an update on Coonts’s progress. If the Prule activate their shields and take an aggressive posture, destroying the installation and the supercarrier may no longer be an option.”

  The bleak outlook of our situation faded from Sael’s demeanor and the commander that she had trained her entire life to be, took control.

  “Coonts confirms he will have his task completed in eleven minutes,” Justice confirmed.

  “How long until we reach the planet’s surface?”

  “ETA sixteen minutes at our current velocity. We will be over the planet’s horizon from our active targets in fourteen point nine minutes.” The AI replied.

  I looked over at Tria and she pointed to our chairs and I nodded. She commed me on a discreet channel. “The Sael Nalen of old has returned, and she will do what is necessary, regardless of the outcome.”

  I no longer worried as to who would be in command when things inevitably turned to scat. Seeing Sael Nalen come to grips with our circumstances and decide to take control of her command, was a confidence builder. Wringing our hands and doing nothing proactive to prepare for what may be our final stand, was a defeatist mentality. The look of determination on Sael’s face pretty much told me, if we were going to die, we were going to take a lot of Prule with us

  “I need that buoy launched as soon as we cross the horizon,” Sael ordered.

  “Acknowledged Principal Investigator,” Justice replied.

  A series of beeps sounded and two large red boxes appeared on the viewscreen. They were coming over the horizon of the planet. Justice zoomed in on them and the outlines of the heavily armed ships were familiar to me. It was two Prule battleships and if they did not detect us, they would pass between us and the Prule installation.

  “Justice, target those ships with our last two torpedos,” Sael ordered.

  “Targets locked.”

  Coonts called us on our group comms. “The buoy is ready to launch Principal Investigator.”

  “What have we got left for armament Justice?” Sael asked.

  “Two of the Fury’s main weapons are still operable and there are one hundred and eleven stealth missiles in the magazines.”

  “Choose the Targets that will be the biggest threat to us, and target each of them with two stealth missiles. I want them to strike at the same time as our torpedos.”

  “Targets locked, and I wil
l begin launching stealth missiles on your mark. We will be below the planet’s horizon in fifty seconds.” Justice replied.

  My attention was riveted to the viewscreen. The large black outline of the planet was quickly obscuring our direct line of sight to the Prule Supercarrier. As it disappeared from view, Justice reported the jump bouy was ready to go on Sael’s order.

  “Launch everything we got Justice,” Sael ordered.

  The Fury’s missile and torpedo magazines started emptying at high speed. All the weapons were gone and jumping to their targets in under two minutes. The jump buoy was the last to go and had the most significant jump signature. The two Prule battleships immediately started turning on a heading that would bring them barreling right down our throats. They never completed the course change. Twin flashes flared and temporarily whited out the viewscreen. When it reset, the ships were gone and we only detected small high-velocity fragments. The shock waves shook the Fury violently and rolled us off course. Justice’s subsystem fought for control of the ship and got us pointed back at the planet.

  “Take us down to the surface Justice!” Sael called out.

  It was unnecessary because Justice had already engaged the gravity drive and was headed toward a huge crevasse that was going in a direction favorable to our retreat. As we cleared the rim, Justice slowed our forward velocity to a safe maneuvering speed and headed deeper into the massive ravine.

  Klutch called us on our group comms. “Principal Investigator, I took the liberty of prepping the shuttle for launch while Coonts was rigging the jump buoy. The hangar door is damaged and will only partially open. I have a contingency for the problem, should you decide to use the shuttle to continue our attack.”

  Sael did the most unexpected thing. She barked out a laugh. “Very good Troop Master, please stand by for further orders.” She said.

  The screen switched to a rearview. The results of our attack on the Supercarrier and the base completely obscured the horizon. Huge pieces of the planet, as well as the carrier, were rapidly expanding in all directions. Many of the spacecraft searching for us were destroyed by the detonations or engulfed in the massive debris cloud. Those that survived, were now on a vector toward the planet and the position where the buoy made its jump. We were already more than a hundred miles from that location and hugging the bottom of the crevasse. Justice’s terrain-hugging maneuvers were nauseating to watch and the screen finally blacked out. The shockwave from our attack finally made its way through the planet and Justice was forced to pull up sharply out of the crevasse because the planet quake started collapsing the rock walls on both sides of the Fury.

  The viewscreen came back on and I wished it had stayed dark. There were hundreds of hostile ships populating the screen and every second more were dropping out of hyperspace in front of us. The Prule were making short jumps to try and blanket the area where our buoy jumped. They were trying to cover as much of what was left of the planet as possible. It was the only place for an enemy to hide and they had the numbers to cover the search area quickly. Justice nosed the Fury back down toward the planet and started zig-zagging around the planetary obstacles in front of us.

  Justice called out an urgent warning. “I recommend all personnel immediately board the assault shuttle and prepare for departure.”

  The AI’s statement let us know our chances for survival were going down the crapper at an advanced rate.

  Sael closed up her helmet and turned to Tria and me. “Take your crew and board the shuttle, that’s an order!”

  “Sael, Justice will fight the Fury more effectively if he is not trying to protect us,” I yelled back at her.

  “I gave you an order Nathan. As long as this is my command I expect you to follow it. Now get off my ship!”

  Tria grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the blast doors. “Kala Mor Dee will not listen to reason Nathan.”

  I was going to tell Tria I didn’t give a shit what she had to say, she was coming with us one way or another. The thought never made it out of my mouth. The Fury heaved under our feet and we were thrown into the overhead and then to the deck. I heard Sael tell Justice to open fire. The corridor lights dimmed as Tria pulled me back to my feet. We boosted down the corridor as fast as possible.

  “Klutch!” I called. “Are you and Coonts aboard the shuttle?”

  “Negative Commander, we are coming to help you evacuate the Principle Investigator.” He replied.

  “No! You and Coonts get to the shuttle and prepare for launch, we are on our way.”

  The words had scarcely left my mouth when a tremendous impact drove Tria and me into a bulkhead. The corridor went dark and we got atmospheric warnings on our HUDs.

  “Commander,” Justice called. “The Principal Investigator is unresponsive and is pinned by wreckage. You need to evacuate the Fury immediately.”

  I got back to my feet and pulled Tria’s helmet up to mine so she could see my face. “Go to the shuttle now, I will be right behind you!”

  “No!” She yelled. “We will go to our maker together or not at all.”

  I should have known she would say that. We both boosted back up the corridor to the bridge. The Fury was shaking violently and debris were being sucked down the corridor and into the bridge. The hull had to be breached at that location. My HUD gave me a sitrep on Sael’s life signs. She was alive but in critical condition. Her suit was ripped open on her lower left arm. The emergency systems sealed her armor off around her damaged appendage with a nanite gel. As we entered the bridge we could see an eight-foot-wide rend melted through the hull. Everything loose on the ship was being sucked out of the hole and we were being pelted non-stop by flying debris. A large piece of the overhead machinery was crushed inward onto Sael’s command chair and was pinning her damaged arm. Tria and I rushed to her side but were knocked to the deck again by another jarring impact.

  “Commander, you must evacuate now!” Justice’s subsystem warned.

  I ignored the AI. Tria and I grabbed onto Sael and tried to pull her free of the wreckage. Her arm was securely pinned and crushed almost flat. I could see her flesh through the hole in her suit. It was a black frozen mess. Tria did not hesitate and shoved me aside, extending a fighting hook. She hacked savagely at the rend in Saels armor until the arm severed and she slid free of her chair. We dragged her to the corridor and found both Coonts and Klutch boosting rapidly up the passage.

  “Commander we lost comms with you.” Klutch bellowed over the din of alarms going off in my HUD. I knew better, but could not think of anything useful to say since I thought we were all going to die anyway. Coonts and Klutch grabbed onto Sael and the four of us boosted toward the lift tubes. As we went over the edge of the deck, the Fury was struck another blow sending us all bouncing side to side down the tube. We ended up in a heap at the bottom.

  Klutch pulled me off of Sael’s body. He had a crazy look in his eyes and a goofy grin. He said the damnedest thing. “Commander, I think that is inappropriate behavior with Tria present.”

  We were surely going to die and the big lummox was cracking jokes and acting like he was enjoying himself. Only a madman would understand what was going through his Tibor brain right at that moment, and I wasn’t quite there yet. I told him to quit screwing around and get moving. I pulled Tria and Coonts up with me. They both gave Klutch a questioning look. We latched onto Sael’s armor once again and boosted for the hangar. We set down in front of the hangar hatch and Klutch made a hole. We dragged Sael’s body through and Klutch closed the portal. The atmosphere in the hangar was already purged and the hangar door partially opened. I could see a Prule ship through the opening and knew that was not a good thing. We boosted up the shuttle’s open cargo ramp and Coonts quickly closed it. Klutch didn’t even slow down and went right for the cockpit. Tria, Coonts, and I were trying to put Sael in the shuttle’s med pod when Klutch released the locks securing it to the hangar deck. He spun the shuttle around so quickly that we were sent crashing into the hull. I got back to m
y feet and told Tria and Coonts to get Sael into the med pod. I boosted up to the flight deck to have a word with the Troop Master. My admonishment caught in my throat when he blasted the hangar door with the shuttle's beam weapons. The fragments bounced off a nearby Prule ship’s shields in a burst of sparks. The Troop Master fired another volley point-blank into the side of a Resource Gathering Platform. His second volley buckled its shields and he followed it up with two missiles that folded the hostile ship in half and sent its remains bouncing into the high cliff walls on either side of the Fury.

  Justice’s voice blared loud over our comms. “You must launch now. Jump to hyperspace as soon as you are clear of the hull or you will risk being destroyed!”

  All I could see was a cliff wall until Justice rolled the Fury ninety degrees. The view in that direction was no better. A lot of Prule ships were out there, and they were shooting into the crevasse the Fury was wildly zig-zagging through. The Troop Master activated the shields and negation systems, then cloaked the shuttle. He must have seen something I didn’t and engaged the gravity drives at maximum power. I clung to the back of his seat as we went out to greet the party that had gathered in our honor. The viewscreen was filled with hostile ships. Klutch jerked the shuttle from side to side as we weaved our way through hundreds of Prule ships. At this range, they had to be getting a read on the output of the drives.

  There were times when I hated to be correct, and this was one of them. Brilliant beams of energy crisscrossed in every direction in front of us. Some of the beams were intersecting with other Prule ships, their shields flaring against the friendly fire.

  We were hit multiple times and Klutch pointed at a warning light on his control console. “The shields are going fast. Hold on, I am going to make a blind jump!”

  Being out in the void between galaxies was about the only place a sane person would even consider a blind jump without a good set of target coordinates. It was still crazy dangerous, but we were going to get our asses shot off if the Troop Master didn’t do something quick. Klutch pointed the nose of the shuttle at one of the few open places between hostile ships and jumped. It was one of the few times I welcomed the feeling of jump sickness. The sudden quietness was both alarming and comforting at the same time after the non-stop ear-shattering violence of combat.