The Lost Marine

by DN Farrell

  Kell looked up and saw a smiling Regares, so once again he put his right forefinger up to his mouth to suggest silence, then he got himself up from the floor and coming over to Regares he reached out for his knife.

  All that remained now where the three men down below. Once again Kell put his finger up to his lips, in front of Private Regares and Ceres. He looked down the stairwell and one man was standing watch as the end. As he came around, he saw two men standing guard at the gangway. Once again kell tried to repeat his performance from level two, but just before he made contact with the rebel at the end of the stairwell, one of the guards who was standing at the gangway, saw him and began to yell, but was muffled when Kells knife made contact with his Adams apple.

  Then Kell rapidly punched the man at the stairwell in the back of the neck, thus confusing him and in three steps he had reached the second guard, knocking the man's blaster rifle out of his hand with his right hand and at the same time punching him hard in the throat with the finger knuckles of his left, thus crushing his Adams apple. As the man slumped forward, kell then grabbed him between his left hip and left arm and with a yank he snapped his neck. Then turning back to face the man at the end of the stairwell, who was reeling, he ran over quickly, grabbed his head as if he where grabbing an American football and once again he repeated the neck break, but this time with the man's head directly in front of Kell's torso.

  In less than one minute, Kell had killed eleven men, good even by his standards, as the most decorated marine in the armed forces. Of course he had being lucky, but then speed and skill help a man to make his own luck!

  Chapter Fifteen – Escape

  Kell carefully looked down the hatch into the gangway, a circular plastic looking structure which linked the two ships. All was quiet, so he carefully moved the dead men out of the way and looking up, he could see Kolkalka and Regares, at the top of the circular stairs looking down at him. Kell once again put his finger up to his lip to suggest quietness, then briefly leaned over the last two guards and pulled them well away from the gangway door. Then quickly he ran up the stairs and with one hand on each shoulder, he walked the two marines halfway down the corridor, so there would be no chance of anyone standing near the gangway, on the other craft, picking up what was been said.

  "Ok marines here's what we're going to do." Kell said in a steady tone, trying to reassure the two marines, who were obviously feeling stressed as they were well versed in ship to ship combat but knew nothing about flying ships tactically, which was what they as a group had to do now. Kell on the other hand, with a vast amount of experience under his belt, was well able to tackle just about anything which was thrown at him.

  "First of all we're all going to suit up including Ceres. Then Regares you go down to the gangway door and wait for my call to close the door, meanwhile me and Kolkalka will be on the bridge." Then looking at the two of them again he said, "Go on suit up and expect anything!"

  Within a couple of minutes everyone was suited up, Regares went back first to Ceres and then down to level one where, she waited for her orders at the door and Kolkalka and Kell went back up to the command module. Once back in the command module, Kell and Kolkalka moved the bodies of the dead men of to one side and then Kolkalka took his weapons station seat, while Kell sat in the captains chair.

  Looking at the Holo Tube, Kell ordered Kolkalka. "Ok Kolkalka I want you to line up that laser directly at the ship, which is joined to us, and when I say so, fire down the length of its portside." Then pointing with his forefinger at the Holo Screen he noted "Kolkalka once we start moving, I want you to turn that weapon around and to the best of your ability I want you to take out one of the remaining two rebel ships," he then paused and looking over at Kokalka he said " which one doesn't matter, just do what you can, for once we're up and running, they are faster than us and better armed, got it?" To which Kolkalka simply nodded.

  "Ok" Kell shouted down his unit comms, "guys be prepared for a fast exit. Regares on my word close the hatch and then get yourself tied into a chair as quick as you can, as it might be shaky."

  Then he paused and remembered Ceres, "Regares is Ceres strapped in?"

  Regares replied "Yes sir."

  Then turning back to Kolkalka, Kell nodded and pointed once again at Kolkalka's weapons screen. "Ok guys ready on the count of three, one, two and three, go!" He exclaimed and with that Kolkalka fired the laser cannon straight down the port side of the rebel ship, which they were tethered to, while Regares locked the hatch and rapidly ran back up the stairs to the sick bay, where she strapped herself into the chair besides Ceres. Meanwhile kell gave them ten seconds to do this, then he hit the Pulse engines and tore away from the tether.

  As the ship pulled away, a couple of rebels were sucked out into space and Kolkalka's ten seconds laser round sliced a decent chunk out of the port side of the other ship, thus crippling it. Once away from the ship, kell initiated the warp drive, but it being a Mark IV Saucer, this was a slow process which would take a few minutes to kick in, so he had to drive at Pulse and see how he got on.

  The other two ships started firing blinding and missing the saucer, while Kolkalka did the best he could to get a lock on one of the rebel craft, which he managed to do so, as kell was purposefully flying in a straight line for a few seconds, to facilitate this. Then with a "zing" sound reverberating throughout the hull, he fired a two second round which went clear through the middle of one of the rebel ships, quite possibly damaging the engines, in any case the ship didn't move. However the second ship started moving rapidly towards them.

  With Kolkalka's two "good luck" shots out of the way, kell starting zig zaging like crazy, hoping that this rebel ship had poorly trained weapons personnel and low grade equipment, but you never know.

  The speed was building up to Pulse 0.5 and the entire ship was wobbling all over the place, as kell did his thing. Shouting over to Kolkalka, who was now a little confused about what to do, kell exclaimed "Cover fire!" Kolkalka hadn't got a clue about how to fight a laser cannon battle in space, but at least he understood the concept of cover fire, so he started blasting away with his cannon, here and there, in the hope of forcing the other ship to take evasive action, which in turn would slow it down.

  Kolkalka's cover fire was working, as the other rebel ship was now also zig zagging and it was becoming almost impossible for them to hit the Mark IV saucer ship. Kolkalka just kept his finger on the trigger and squeezed like crazy while releasing his tension, by screaming at the top of his voice "Yaaaaah, yaaah, die you bastards, scum, just go and die!" Meanwhile Kell just kept warming up the warp engines and ziggzagging like crazy.

  The ship was now moving at Pulse 0.75 and was only about thirty seconds away, from launching into warp drive, when there was a sudden burst of blinding light in the command module. For a fraction of a second, Kell couldn't see anything, while Kolkalka who had being facing towards the back of the command module at the time, in his weapons station, he saw the flash directly in front of him and so he shrieked "Arrgghh, my eyes!"

  Kell then felt a whooshing sound, as air escaped the command module, so for a moment he looked back and saw a nice deep slice mark through the command module, as the rebels laser cannon had momentarily made contact and now a six inch wide and four feet deep gash, was present in the command module dome. Air was rushing out of the ship, but fortunately the marines had their suits on, so turning quickly Kell remotely closed the emergency hatch between the command dome and level two of the ship, so this way the command dome would be without air, but air would still be present in the rest of the ship.

  Kell then went back to his back zig zagging again, while Kokalka took a break so as to recover his vision, which was coming back slowly. At last warp drive launched and suddenly there was a feeling of upwards movement and quietness, they were in warp drive. However, their encounter was not over yet, as the rebel ship quickly launched its warp drive and according to the instruments it was going to overtake them.

&nbs
p; Fighting at warp speeds, was particularly tricky, for a start it was almost impossible to hit another ship, when it was travelling at super luminal speeds, for the weapons could only fire at light or less than light speed. The Federation had designed special weapons which could create a wobble in the warp field, which would implode the warp field, allowing gravity to press down on the ship squishing it instantly. The rebels did not have these guns, but as they travelled along and the rebel ship went ahead of him, Kell knew only too well, that a clever captain with a highly trained weapons crew, could fly ahead of the other ship and just start throwing carefully placed plasma shots, more or less in the area of space, where the super luminal vessel was travelling. It was still a crap shoot, but sometimes it could work.

  A minute or so later, the rebel ship had created a large distance between it and Kells ship, as kells ship was just accelerating past warp level two, while the enemy ship had managed to get up to warp level four, then it started decelerating and coming out of warp drive. Kell knew what was coming next, with a good minute gap between breaking out of warp drive and the Mark IV saucer catching up, the rebel ship could sit there in space and start throwing out a wide dispersal of laser cannon fire and plasma fire, in the hope of just maybe hitting the part of space where the marines ship was flying through.

  Kell started zig zaging and next thing here or there, there were momentary flashes and the ship would sudden rock from the shock waves. If the enemy captain was good enough, one of those plasma fire blast vibrations, would create a wobble in the warp field vortex, either making the warp field implode, thus crushing the ship or it could cause the ship to have to drop out of warp , if it were lucky.

  The ship rocked and bucked, but then it was clear and ahead for now. Kell looked over and smiled at Kolkalka, who was just getting his vision back. They couldn't even fire back at the rebel ship, while in warp drive, as their own laser gun would burst their warp bubble, so all they could do, was continue to accelerate, which they did as they were now reaching warp level three.

  The rebel ship wasn't hanging around, it turned and rapidly re-engaged warp dive. Within a few minutes it was bypassing kells ship, at warp level six. Kell knew that they would keep on repeating this process, until they finally blew the saucer out of warp drive and since the rebel ship could probably travel at warp level fifteen or so, while the saucer would max out at warp level four, there wasn't much that kell could do for now, other than to hang on in there.

  Once again the rebel ship put some space between itself and the saucer and again Kell started to zig zag wildly. The rebel ship disengaged from warp drive and started firing sporadic plasma bolts and laser cannon shots and Kells ship started to receive some turbulence, as it wobbled through the space, which the rebel ship was busy obliterating. This time, however, the rebels made a lucky shot, for it takes a lot of luck to blow a ship out of warp drive. The plasma blast, hit the ship hard and luckily the warp field flickered but did not fail, however, a warning signal flashed on the navigation console and a beeper sound alarmed, indicating an imminent implosion of the field. Kell yelled at Kolkalka "We're coming out of warp drive!" and with a flickering of his fingers, across the navigation console, the ship came out of warp drive.

  The Mark IV saucer was now faced with the rebel ship, as it fired head to head from just over a million kilometers away, which sounds like a long way, but a laser cannon could slice through this distance in just over three seconds. Kell continued on with his zig zagging manoeuvring, while Kolkalka got back to his laser cannon fire, which once again forced the rebel ship to also start zig zagging, as although it was well equipped with weapons, it had no shielding.

  Both ships where now heading towards each other at 0.25 Pulse power, each approximately, meaning that the huge distance was covered within a little over ten seconds, with no shots impacting either ship. Kells ship blasted past the rebel ship and now the rebel ship was forced to decelerate and carry out a u-turn, before once again beginning the pursuit.

  Accelerating hard, the rebel ship started to close the distance between it and kells ship. Blast after blast of plasma shots exploded in space just kilometers from the Mark IV saucer causing vibrations, which made the ship wobble and bounce around. Kell just kept his face in a grimace, while Kolkalka was content to growl, shout and scream, while he kept firing the laser cannon. "Losers, scumbags, rebel filth, go and die the lot of you!" he exclaimed; it didn't help Kolkalka get a hit on the enemy ship, but it certainly made him feel better.

  At last kell was out of luck, when a plasma shot made a direct hit on the starboard aft side of the saucer, blowing a big hole in the ship, which made everyone inside bounce around, but at least they were strapped into their seats, so they managed to stay in one place.

  Both Kell and Kolkalka screamed and yelled as they bounced back and forth like rag dolls. Downstairs in level two, the sudden hole in the ship, had damaged the ships electromagnetic engine which was used to power the Pulse engine, so the engines cut out and the ship was now powerless in space. Luckily, however, the hole in the ship had just about missed both the sick bay, where Regares and Ceres where staying, and the rec room, where the Incenotopians where gathered. Kell called down to Regares and Ceres, who survived miraculously, but who now had a picturesque view of space and the rebel ship chasing them, where the doorway used to be in the sick bay.

  But the air supply in all but the rec room, were the Incenotopians were housed, rapidly got sucked out into space and the ship momentarily lost gravity control. Kell regained his composure and now found himself floating in his seat. "Kolkalka keep the gun going, you might get lucky!" He shouted and then fiddling with the gravitron engine control, he managed to get the gravity back, which felt reassuring.

  Sitting there heading in a forward direction at 0.25 Pulse, but incapable of engaging the engines, kell was only left with the option of reengaging warp drive, which would take several minutes and the rebel ship was only a few hundred thousand kilometers away and would cover this distance within a few seconds.

  Kolkalka kept on firing furiously, while the rebel ship zig and zagged defensively, but still it kept on firing, but thankfully missing the Mark IV saucer, which continued moving forward at Pulse 0.25 speed, thanks to momentum. But there was no engine power there to manoeuvre the ship, speed it up or slow it down.

  The seconds ticked by and the rebel ship came closer and closer. Kell tried to work out some options and was even considering ordering the marines to abandon ship, but that would put everyone back in the same boat, which they had already been in. "Think, think Kell, you got to think!" He rattled off his thoughts, but nothing came to mind.

  Quickly the rebel ship was upon them and had slowed down, so as to be in tandem speed with the Mark IV saucer. However it kept flying by the ship, coming from starboard to port, then a few seconds later it would fly by port to starboard, firing plasma bursts and laser cannon fire as it went, while trying to avoid laser cannon fire from Kolkalka. It was only a matter of seconds before they took out the ship.

  Then suddenly "Boom", went a large explosion and now the ship received another direct hit, this time in the aft section of the ship, ripping out a big hole in the bottom of it. The ship jumped upward and changed its trajectory, as a consequence of the violence of the blast. Once again everyone was thrown around, but still miraculously no one was hurt. Everything continued on as before, with Kolkalka continually firing the laser cannon, without even a second's intermission. It was his single minded determination to get a hit on the rebel ship, which had prolonged all of their lives so far.

  "Who knows maybe he will get a lucky shot in." Kell thought to himself and with that there was a sudden large explosion in space. The occupants of the Mark IV saucer reeled, as the shock waves bounced of the hull, but a few seconds later all was peaceful again. Kell looked down at the controls and the rebel ship was gone, blown to smithereens! Could Kokalka have been that lucky with his laser cannon? Well they wouldn't have long to find out.


  Kell looked at the Holo Tube and directly above them was the super cruiser, the Byrant!

  They must have seen the dogfight and recognizing the rebel ship for what it was, they decided to take it out. They probably presumed that the Mark IV saucer was just an unlucky scavenger, but kell wasn't go to let the Byrant just slip away. He immediately hailed the ship and a voice came through the ships comms unit into his helmet comms, where he had redirected it, thanks to the lack of an atmosphere in the command module.

  The voice came across the ether. "Communications Officer Pylor here, identify yourself please."

  Kell replied "Colonel Kell here of Alpha Battalion, boy are we glad to see you!"

  There was a sudden furor of activity in the background, and then the communications officer came back on line, "Colonel Kell Captain Jobi wants to talk to you by Holo Tube." And with that the Holo Tube clicked on and before him kell saw Captain Artelius Jobi, clearly shocked by the sudden sight of Kell in his armored battle suit, sitting there at the helm of the Mark IV saucer.