The Topaz Operation

by Jared Sizemore

  Jyssa gathered her thoughts. A Gelibor had to be there...Ryle? Jez? Where are they now? She squeezed Aphiemi harder. “Where’s Ryle? Have you heard from him?”

  Aphiemi shook her head. “I haven’t heard. But I’ve learned to trust that guy.” She smiled.

  Aphiemi’s smile managed to perk up Jyssa, even pulling a grin out of her. “Two lights in one week. This is nuts.”

  Mitchett ran past, saying, “I have an idea. I’m going into the city.”

  Before Jyssa could react, Mitchett sprinted off with Semo and Rostov behind him.

  * * *

  When the Chironex had gone off course, the Battleship Barbarian was ordered to go toward the mountain to lend aid but was delayed by irksome Chrysolite fighter attacks. When the Barbarian finally arrived at its coordinates, it rested directly above Mount Trizo when the light was lit. The mountain shot a tight cone of extraordinarily bright light straight upward into space, completely enveloping the Barbarian.

  The light blinded the ship’s chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Flaxxer. He screamed in pain as his eyes were already sensitive to light. Flaxxer stumbled through the engineering section, tripped, and fell headfirst into the ship’s deflector shield core, triggering an explosion, then meltdown, and subsequent shutdown of the ship’s entire shield array.

  * * *

  With deflector shield pockets dissipating all over the planet, Rusthill and his Onyx fleet sped off the planet and slipped through the battle over Topaz—though not without parting shots. As they passed under a set of cruisers, each Onyx fighter released a volley of slicers ripping holes in their hulls, crippling the cruisers to such an extent they became easy prey to Chrysolite fighter attacks. Rusthill led the race back to Onyx with the children.

  * * *

  Admiral Swaqmota, Lieutenant Noff, and other crew members scrambled onto the Kyanite’s escape pods. Swaqmota said an inward goodbye to his command ship of five years as it was currently coming apart at the seams under a barrage of concentrated Archon fire.

  “Sir, what’s our destination?” asked Noff. “The Archon fleet is still between us and the planet.”

  As the pod’s door swung down over them, sealing them in, Swaqmota showed Noff his green flashing wrist scanner. “We can hitch a ride!”

  The Azurite and the Fizer entered the fray with their accompanying ships and fighters. Moments after the Kyanite’s escape pods launched, the entire battleship collapsed, fracturing into an amalgam of burning pieces. The pods shot across space into the open hangar bay of the Azurite.

  * * *

  Mitchett, Semo, and Rostov’s shuttle sped through the abandoned streets of Laylon to their destination—the rocket-launching station. Ecstatic that everything was intact and the ammo had not been stripped bare, Mitchett and his team went to work. Semo got the tracking system up and running. A juicier target could not have been imagined–the Barbarian with no shields!

  “Could this be true, Mitch? I mean, M-1,” said Semo with a smirk.

  Mitchett ogled the display screen. “Lately I’ll believe anything. Rostov, are the rockets armed and ready?”

  “Yes, Commander!” shouted Rostov from down the corridor by the silos.

  “Fire away!” said Mitchett.

  Semo pressed the launch button. A dozen rocket-missiles flared up and blasted out of the station, racing unimpeded through the sky.

  * * *

  Exla was more than happy to pick up the Kyanite’s escape pods, but the battle remained grim. “Is that you in my hangar bay, Swaq?” said Exla into his comm.

  “Yes, sir. Sorry to impose,” said Swaqmota.

  “We have worse problems. Why didn’t you tell me this was a blowout loss?”

  “Very funny. Haven’t you seen, another light is lit? I don’t know how they do it, but those things keep lighting and giving us a chance.”

  Exla examined his updated tactical. “Indeed they do. The Barbarian’s shields are down!”

  Wys spun toward Exla. “And they’re already taking hits, sir, but not from us!”

  Twelve rocket-missiles raced from the planet and smashed into the Barbarian’s underbelly, tearing into and through the hull, causing fires to erupt all over the ship’s stern. The Barbarian attempted evasive maneuvers but was forced to halt because of damage to its thrusters.

  “Launch fighters,” said Exla. “Full attack!”

  Half the Chrysolite fleet ganged up on the Barbarian and fired every weapon in their arsenal. Hydro-5 squadrons knocked out the Barbarian’s forward cannons, weakening its defense and allowing flocks of fighters to swoop around the sides pummeling it with laserfire. Within minutes, the Archon’s lead battleship was crippled beyond repair and sent careening toward the planet in a crash dive.

  Another volley of rockets from the planet pounded the Archon Battleship Negator until its deflector shields were compromised enough for Chrysolite forces to make an effective assault. Exla received an unusual comm signal.

  “Admiral Exla. Calling the Admiral.”

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “This is Sergeant Rik Flaro piloting the Orca Two, executing the Flaro Wizard Commando mission.”

  “What was that, Sergeant?”

  “It’s a bunch of wizards about to wreak havoc inside the Negator. Do not destroy it. Repeat, do not destroy. Please.”

  Exla chuckled. “Got it, Sergeant. Go for it.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Flaro.

  * * *

  While the Chrysolite fleet focused attention away from the Negator, Rik took the Orca Two and sped straight toward it. His readings showed cracks in the deflector shield of which he was determined to exploit. The Orca sped through the failing shields into the Negator’s hangar bay, blasted a few Archon troops who were present, and came to a rapid halt.

  A dozen wizards, including Indeen, Rhema and her son, Avren, unloaded and fought their way through the ship’s corridors—singing songs, twirling staffs, and flinging soldiers against the walls. Rik followed behind them riding a snake speeder from the Orca, blasting with his rifle whatever enemy targets came across his path. The startled Archon troops were no match for the fighting wizards whose passionate music refused to be impeded. Even the three dark wizards stationed on the ship didn’t last long and were turned into piles of rubble.

  Rik entered the command center with the wizards and they wrenched control of the ship away from the crew. The cowardly Captain Mosh capitulated instantly when surrounded by a group of six wizards of harmony. Rik jumped to the main control board and sealed off all hangars to prevent any Archon ships from leaving. Once the wizards broke into the weapons systems, they set their sights on enemy capital ships.

  * * *

  President Prevwahn nearly had a stroke from joy at the news of the light on Mount Trizo, though many questions—which would have to wait—surrounded its lighting. He made a special call on his comm. “Admiral Fucarsen, are you ready?”

  “Been waiting for your call, Mr. President.”

  “You have my approval, not that you needed it,” he said with a grin.

  * * *

  Admiral Nom Fucarsen led his fleet back toward his home world. They had already taken off from Chrysolite and kept to a circling pattern waiting for the right time. Fucarsen wasn’t about to jump into a disaster, but if Prevwahn said the outlook was good then it was good enough for him. By this point, Chrysolite had more than repaid the debt for the last battle.

  Along with two mid-size battle cruisers lent from Chrysolite, Fucarsen entered the battle over Topaz with a hundred TZ-8 starfighters. His pilots were more than ready to take their planet back. They swooped in and immediately took down an Archon cruiser, decimating it with plasma missiles. Next they targeted the Archon Battleship Grix. The Grix gave a stiff defense but was caught off guard when the Negator instigated a point-blank assault of six Neon Prime missiles that smashed up against the Grix’s starboard hull. Under combined attack, the Grix was pummeled until it eventually exploded into myriad ch
unks of metal space trash.

  * * *

  Regrouping their forces, the Archon assembled four battleships together to make a stand regardless of shining mountain lights. Aqtal wasn’t about to simply hand over Topaz to the rebels. He tasked Commodore Vormann and the Battleship Darrage, fully stocked with Havoc squadrons and Gak Destroyers, with leading the charge to drive away the Chrysolite fleet. With the Barbarian destroyed, Vormann was now the highest-ranking Archon fleet officer at Topaz.

  Vormann rose from the Darrage’s command chair and pulled out his personal sidearm, a deadly and painful electron slicer pistol. “Anyone who does not do their part in eradicating the usurpers will be eradicated by me. We are holding this planet. Understood?”

  Crew members gulped with dread and returned to their stations.

  “All power to weapons,” said Vormann. “Launch all fighters. Gak squadrons to follow. The enemy flagship is straight ahead and its destruction is indispensable to our success. Should we forsake our duty, all who survive will become slaves in the Archonage.”

  Chapter 60

  A one-woman escape craft landed near a village nestled in the northern hills of the nation of Ceidoria, on the continent of Palona, in Topaz’s southern hemisphere. Sienna unpeeled herself from inside the cramped craft and stretched out her muscles. With admiration she gazed at the thick trees of the forest, the grasslands, and the streams leading into the nearby Lake of Whispering.

  The sound of singing tickled her ears.

  It didn’t take long for her to find the gathering. Hundreds—no, thousands—of people were standing together on the grass upon a hill singing a beautiful song. As Sienna approached, one of the village elders stopped singing and greeted her with a smile.

  “Ah,” he said as he broke into a hearty chuckle. “I knew your kind would sniff us out eventually.” The man, with grey hair and a short beard, was dressed in simple clothing: a beige shirt and the trousers worn by a working man.

  “My kind, eh?”

  “Yes, especially since that happened.” He pointed behind her toward the horizon where yellow-orange streaks of light blazed forth from a distant source.

  She gasped. “Oh dear, I didn’t see that! Is it—”

  “Light has returned to our world.”

  Sienna was overcome by not only the light in the distance, but also the joy evident in the man’s eyes. “What is your name, sir?”

  “My name is Jobarr, and my wife and daughters are here also.” He pointed them out in the midst of the crowd of singers.

  “Jobarr, your world is not out of the darkness yet. I have sought you out in order to observe for myself but also to encourage you. Whatever is within the ability of you and your people—keep singing powerfully, in harmony, and focus. The enemy is up there right now desperately trying to trample your light.”

  Jobarr looked straight up into the sky and squinted as if seeing into space. “Thank you, Madame…”

  “Sienna.”

  “Sienna. You are welcome to join us,” he motioned to her to join the group. He pulled out of his trouser pocket a flat electronic device with a screen that showed the outline of his entire country. “I will send word to the other groups.”

  Sienna observed on the screen a glowing yellow dot indicating their position. At Jobarr’s touch, about twenty more pockets of yellow popped up around the country.

  * * *

  “This is far from over, my friends,” said Exla. Swaqmota joined them on the bridge. The crew braced for the looming assault from the Archon’s four-battleship pack, which was advancing on the Azurite. “All power to shields!”

  Swarms of fresh Havocs blanketed the Azurite raining fire on all sides. Exla’s fighter squadrons couldn’t provide much cover as they were nearly depleted or committed to other skirmishes. Fucarsen’s Topazian fighters were out of reach fighting against an ambush, outnumbered two-to-one by a massive Havoc counter-assault. A wave of Neon missiles struck the Azurite, rocking it violently. Sparks exploded from the bridge’s ceiling sending a piece of bulkhead crashing to the deck.

  “Lieutenant, call for help from Battlegroup Two!” Exla shouted at Wys, but just as Wys started to make the call his station exploded throwing him backward. Exla cradled Wys in his arms, alive but his face scarred with burns.

  * * *

  Commodore Vormann smiled.

  “We’re turning them back, sir,” said Ensign Rater.

  “Order the battleships Maygor and Slinzer to flank the Azurite. Once we finish it off their entire fleet will flee. I’ll be made a vice admiral for this,” said Vormann as he fell smugly into his command chair.

  With a dull rumbling and reverberating noise, all the bridge’s power—lights, stations, instruments—suddenly powered down. Even the emergency lights failed, leaving the bridge in complete darkness.

  Vormann jumped up in fury. “What is happening?” He pointed his pistol at Rater but the darkness obscured his vision.

  “Uh..uh..I don’t know, sir,” sputtered Rater.

  “Were we hit?” shouted Vormann.

  “I don’t think so, sir.”

  “Lieutenant. Lieutenant!” Vormann screamed at Lieutenant Hoka.

  Hoka came running from the far side of the bridge but banged his knee hard on a console and hit the floor moaning. “Yes…sir…” Hoka rolled onto his side. “Commodore, it appears our power is off.”

  Vormann boiled inside, pondering how to respond to the obvious observation. “Any other useless information will get you—any of you—a dose of this pistol.”

  The room remained silent—except for the faint sound of singing voices. Vormann turned round and round, attuning his ears. Voices? Singing? His eyes adjusted to the only light in the room: golden light seeping from the viewport windows. Bewildered and angry, Vormann made his way to the main viewport.

  The light from Mount Trizo shone as a beacon, disbursing light over the capital and surrounding areas. Vormann’s eyes were drawn to the southern hemisphere where patches of light were flashing high above the land. Lightning? No, it was too odd for that. The lights passed over the countryside—the cloudless countryside. The sound of many voices grew louder, pressing upon Vormann’s eardrums. As he covered his ears with his hands, the viewport window “moved” downward—Vormann realized he was floating upward into the ceiling.

  * * *

  “Admiral Exla,” said Corporal Thompson, crawling from the Azurite’s engineering comm station. “We’re getting reports that the Archon fleet’s power has somehow been knocked out.”

  “Which power systems?” asked Exla.

  “Uh…all of them, sir. It’s the four battleships just ahead.”

  “Ensign Dothan, are you still here?” said Exla into the cloud of smoke filling the bridge.

  “Yes, sir!” Dothan said, coughing.

  “Patch through to the fleet a call for help.”

  Dothan coughed and nodded in affirmative.

  “Where’s the Fizer? She’s been by our side the whole time,” asked Exla.

  Swaqmota jumped behind a tactical display. He shook his head. “Fizer’s been ravaged. Still functioning but in retreat to avoid catastrophic damages.”

  Emergency generators helped clear the bridge of smoke. Exla joined Swaqmota at the tactical. “Those Archon battleships…looks like they’re just floating. I’d sure like to know what happened there.”

  “Look, from Quadrant 3, is that a ship coming to help?” said Swaqmota. The damaged screen made identifying the ship difficult.

  Exla and others ran to the viewport. His eyes widened at the sight of an Archon battleship bearing down on them. “Everybody down! Enemy vessel!”

  The crew ducked and watched in silence as the battleship passed by without firing a shot and charged toward the other four enemy ships. A crackling voice sputtered over the bridge comm. “This is Rik Flaro of the Battleship Negator. Azurite, hold tight.”

  A volley of Neon Primes launched from the Negator and slammed into the starboard hull of t
he Maygor. The Maygor’s side erupted with explosions forcing the whole vessel into a lumbering drift toward the Yorx which could do nothing in response. The Maygor rammed into the Yorx and they exploded together in a fiery spectacle.

  * * *

  Commodore Vormann, still weightless, floated across his bridge to another viewport and witnessed the collision of the Maygor with the Yorx. He pulled out his personal comm. Upon activation the only sound it emitted was more of the singing voices. Vormann shrieked with anger and released the comm, letting it drift in mid-air. He grabbed his pistol and blasted the comm to pieces.

  “Co…Commodore?” said a timid voice in the darkness.

  “What?” Vormann spun around, aiming his gun at the voice.

  “Projectiles approaching. Fr…from the planet.”

  Vormann stared out the viewport once more. Fifteen pinpoints of light emerged from the atmosphere, signifying the booster glow of surface-to-space missiles.

  The rocket-missiles struck the Darrage, a few penetrating through several decks before exploding inside, causing vicious blazes to overtake the ship’s interior. Most of the other rockets struck the exterior, gashing open machinery across the outer hull. A wave of plasma cannons and Neon missiles from the Negator sent the Darrage plummeting toward the planet where it would finish burning up in the atmosphere.

  A squadron of Hydro-4 Chrysolite fighters was cobbled together and attacked the Battleship Slinzer, which could provide no defense and was easily rendered useless. Though before the Slinzer was annihilated, Exla got to word to the squadrons not to destroy it completely. Infiltration teams—with flashlights—commandeered the ship and took a battalion of prisoners.

  Meanwhile, Fucarsen’s tough-to-beat Topazian fighters valiantly beat back impressive numbers of Havoc squadrons and rejoined the main Chrysolite fleet.