“Aren’t we all going to die if we don’t do something?”
“Most likely. But you could just use the next fifty-odd minutes to get the fuck away from this world.”
“Does it look like I’m fleeing? Tell me what you actually need me to do.”
Cedric nodded. He took a smartphone, fiddled with it for a few seconds and handed it to Tar’Lock.
“What do I do with this?”
“You get to these coordinates as fast as humanly possible. One of the bombs is there. Fortunately, there’s a targeted power plant about fifty miles from here. At least you’ll know where you’re going. Once you arrive on the premises, it will guide your way inside as well, all the way towards the device. Once you arrive near it, the interface will change automatically. You simply need to press the ‘scan’ button.”
“What will that do?”
“It will provide me the exact frequency I’ll need to tag and lock all the bombs simultaneously, so I can beam them together to that ship.”
“Which you’ll send into hyperspace, so the bombs detonate in space, but nowhere near Earth.”
“Pretty much, yes,” said Cedric, surprised Tar’Lock had figured out that part of his plan. “There’s a catch though.”
“Which is?”
“If some of the devices resonate at varied frequencies, they won’t get picked up. Some of the devices will still blow down here.”
“Do we have any choice in how this plays out? I mean, could you do something about it if that were the case?”
“No. I’m afraid not, in the time we have left.”
“So let’s not worry over things we can’t do anything about.”
“Right. You should get goi—”
Before Cedric could finish, Tar’Lock blurred. He disappeared so fast from the office that Cedric was startled anew, and fell off his chair. He sat back up, slowed his breathing, closed his eyes and mentally raced towards the precious projects he needed to accomplish in a very short window of time.
I thrive under pressure. He pushed past the growing fear festering in every part of his being. Let’s do this.
Ryonna approached him as she ended her communication with the admiral.
“You’ll have your ship ready in forty minutes. Will that be enough time?”
“Yeah, that should be fine. The main problem is that I have to not only replicate the miracle beam-up we used disabling that behemoth Zarlack ship, but also figure out a way of beaming thirty bombs all at once. I could very well fry every power generating facility on the planet doing so, so I can’t risk beaming them one by one. Nor can I risk missing any. If one of them is separated from the others and detonates it could still trigger the departing cluster.”
“Are you confident you can do it? Where did you send Tar’Lock?”
Cedric took a deep breath.
“Confident would be pushing it, but I did learn a lot from the last time. I’m gonna say maybe. Don’t hold me to that, if we all die. As for Tar’Lock, I sent him to the nearest device. It’s crucial that he gets me the info I need, so I can calibrate locks on all of them.”
“Do you need to stay here to do this? Could we move you to an orbiting ship while you work?”
“Yes, I need to be here, in case these…” he said, pointing at the circular devices attached to his temples, “go wrong. They’re a prototype, after all. I may need to have access to my own gear as a backup. It would all be out of range for me to use from orbit, and while I could fix that too, I simply don’t have the time. You, however, don’t need to stay here. You should go.”
“What else did these files tell you? Any leads on who did this? Perhaps I can locate the perpetrator, and thereby locate the means to disable those devices in the process?”
“That’s a great idea. But I can’t reinvent teleportation to get this stuff off this rock, and do detective work at the same time.” Cedric quickly grabbed a tablet from an open drawer. He entered a few inputs to it, and handed it over to Ryonna.
“There’s a copy of the file on this device. Deliver it to my assistant at the end of the corridor and tell her to trace the source. She’s very good at data mining, perhaps even better than me.”
Ryonna did not waste any more time; she stormed out of the office at full speed.
“If we survive this, I’m never smoking pot again,” he said to himself, fully aware he was alone in the office. At least not while working, he compromised.
C H A P T E R
XXV
The Earth Alliance fleet jumped out of hyperspace a few thousands clicks away from their target in the Gatos Nebula.
Commodore Saroudis ordered a series of scans. As expected, however, the nebula’s strange composition perfectly disguised any power signatures emanating from the shipyard within.
He hailed the EAD Hope.
“What are your orders, Commodore?”
“We can’t detect any signatures. I sure hope this isn’t a ploy to divert our forces, while Argos mounts an attack on Earth...”
“Commodore, between the admiral’s fleet, planetary defenses and the Droxian reinforcement, I think Earth would be more than ready to defend itself.”
“What if they send more of these massive ships?”
“The Hope’s weaponry is partially based on the admiral’s ship. She has the firepower to deal with them. And if there is nothing in this nebula, well, I know an emperor whose last hour just started.”
Commodore Saroudis could hear a disapproving growl over the call.
“Speaking of the emperor, now would be a good time for him to provide the information he promised.”
“He’s sending the disabling codes as we speak. Hang on.”
The commodore did not like this one bit. Their entire plan rested on codes that could have been changed a million times by now. At least there were no enemy ships in sight, or on scans. That was a good sign for this mission, though he still feared that Argos would attempt a full-on attack on Earth. He tried to push the thought away. For now his mission remained clear, whether he had doubts or not.
“We’re good to go, Commodore.”
“Sub-light engines, half impulse ahead then. Let’s destroy that target.”
“Understood. Athanatos out.”
The fleet reached the outskirts of the nebula. Its green-orange tones gave it a toxic air: dangerous looking. Soon its cloudy composition engulfed the cautious ships.
On board the Hope, Chase requested a full scan. The composition of the nebula made any reading imprecise at best, though the scans did reveal peaks of technological signatures. But the interference was too strong to really get a clear picture of what awaited them inside. At least it confirmed that there was something lying in the center of it. But for now, all they could do was wait.
After five minutes, obscurity within the cloudy nebula decreased somehow. On every ship, audible gasps were heard as a gigantic installation arose in silhouette from within the fog. The emperor turned towards Chase, and cast him a dark look.
Chase understood full well what it meant, but felt no need to answer it in kind. Instead he requested that scanning be pushed to maximum.
“Report?” added Chase.
“We’re getting a clearer picture, Captain,” one of his officers began. “There are thirteen separate installations. One is much larger than the others. Most of them have ships under construction; most look nearly completed. The scans aren’t clear enough to determine their firing capabilities or whether their engines are functional. But it does seem that for now all ships are offline, as very little power signature is emanating from them.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Emperor?”
“I agree. They should be fully powered during final construction stage. I don’t like this. May I personally just suggest we blow them all to hell, right now?”
Something in Chase’s mind squirmed. This did not feel right.
The commodore’s incoming transmission interrupted his thoughts.
“
Ready to open fire. Maximum firepower.”
“Wait!”
“What is it, Chase?”
“I don’t know. Something feels wrong here.”
“The shields and defenses are down. These ships look like ghost ships. Completely unpowered. We won’t see this easy opportunity again, so let’s just take them down now.”
“This is a trap. I can feel it.”
“Lieutenant Commander, I don’t need this right now. We’re here, their shields are down; god knows for how long. If we’re going to do something, we should do it now.”
Chase’s mind raced with an ever-increasing flurry, intensifying every second now. What was going on?
“Alright, let me make it simple, Lieutenant Commander: all ships engage! This is a direct order: destroy these ships and structures, now. Fire at will.”
The entire fleet but the Hope opened fire, pouring forth a beautiful light show of blue, red and green laser fire. Explosions burst out across the shipyard. A ship and its construction scaffolding burst into a fiery display of yellow-orange tones that illuminated the foggy atmosphere all around it.
The door of the bridge opened and Sarah stepped in.
“What’s happening? Why aren’t we firing on anything?”
“Why did you exit your starfighter? You're this ship’s wing commander. I might need you out there at any moment’s notice!”
Sarah looked puzzled. Not by the remark, which seemed valid, but more by the tone behind it.
“What is it, Chase?”
“Something isn’t right; everything is too easy.”
“Wasn’t that the plan all along behind the emperor giving us an advantage? Wasn’t the plan that we would then take out Argos’ shipyard with minimal damage?”
“I expected some resistance.”
“And I expected to blow up more ships, but I’m glad to watch the fireworks from here. Now will you please shoot at something?”
Before Chase could answer, his tactical officer interjected.
“Captain, there’s a behemoth class ship in that larger structure—”
“What about it?”
“It’s powering up, Captain. So are other ships. They’ve already raised shields.”
“I knew it!”
Sarah started running towards the doors. Chase rose up from his chair.
“Commander Kepler! Stand fast!” he shouted.
Everyone on the bridge was stunned. But not as stunned as Sarah was. The tone of his voice hit her like the simmering explosions outside. She stopped in shock and spun around to face Chase.
“What the hell? You’ve just reprimanded me for leaving my post, and now what?”
“Now you stay on the bridge. That’s an order.”
“Mind explaining why?”
“Argos orchestrated this. He knows full well that I’ll do anything to protect you, which is true,” Chase muttered, not comfortable saying this in front of his crew. “I cannot take the risk he uses you to get at me; or the Alliance. The safest place for you to be right now is onboard the most powerful destroyer ever created.”
She stayed silent but cast him a blistering look. She was furious he was trying to shield her like a child. Part of her knew it was just how much he loved her, and she wondered if she wouldn’t act the same if the situation was reversed. And of course she didn’t want a repeat of what had happened in orbit of Earth the last time Argos was involved: she had enough nightmares about being tortured as it was. But at the end of the day, this was war. She was a soldier, and her place was in a cockpit, blowing the enemy to pieces.
“Captain,” cut in the tactical officer, “incoming fighters.”
“Chase!” she implored loudly.
“I’m sorry. Request denied.”
He could feel her anger and frustration boil near the point of explosion, but then he remembered something. He lifted his index finger slowly.
“However,” he began, grabbing the round neuronal link devices from the arm rest of his captain’s chair, which he threw to her, “you can still be part of the battle. All I ask is that you do it from here, onboard this ship. These devices are configured to give orders to the Hope as well, so just don’t use these subroutines please. It looks like today isn’t the day I’m gonna fly the F-147 remotely and command this ship at the same time.”
She instinctually wanted to stay mad, but smiled automatically when she put the devices on her temples. She was greeted with a similar HUD experience as she’d found onboard the StarFury, except that she was seeing two images at once: both what her own eyes were seeing and the view from the ship’s screen—currently still onboard. She sat down at the chair nearest Chase on his right. Closing her eyes helped her block out confusion from the double imposed image. Immediately, she felt like she was onboard the ship.
On one corner of the HUD there was a dedicated EAD Hope command menu. She simplified, selecting only to see the ship’s vitals at all times: its shield level, currently at maximum, engine energy levels, and hull damage. That way she could always keep half an eye on local status while flying, though she was sure if the ship started shaking, commotion around her would alert her of trouble onboard anyway.
Or would it? Her eyes set upon a command called immersivity and noise cancellation. Once selected, all of a sudden all she could hear was the humming of the StarFury engines as she activated them. In less than ten seconds, she’d completed her pre-flight checks, inspected her ordnance and was blasting out into the green-orange foggy space. She headed towards the incoming fighters that spewed from the behemoth Zarlack ship. Soon she would be entering firing range. The rest of her wing came about.
“Sledgehammer to Firefly?” buzzed in Fillio.
“Yeah, I’m here.” She was amazed to hear herself speak the moment she thought about it. She didn’t even have to open her mouth. This was a practical consideration; this way she wouldn’t interfere with the rest of the bridge’s operations locally.
“Firefly, how come you’re flying the reserve StarFury?”
“Long story. I’m actually onboard the Hope physically, but still here with you, remote flying this craft instead.”
“Now why am I not surprised? Would I be right in assuming that ship would normally have been flown by Phoenix?”
She was not used to using call-signs, but apparently the admiral’s wing commander did things differently.
“That’s correct. Heads up; enemy entering firing range. All ships, engage and destroy.”
She received multiple comm clicks as acknowledgement of her orders. She loved this. She had to admit, the part of her who wanted to rip Chase a new one had quickly been tamed by the experience of flying a craft remotely with her mind, all while comfortably seated onboard the Hope. She could get used to this!
The first wave of Zarlack ships flared out a barrage of laser fire, but the Omega fighters simply vanished from view as they cloaked. Sarah activated drones on her fighter and assigned offensive patterns to them. She then locked two of the incoming ships with missiles, rained down laser fire on their frontal shields with the help of her drones for added firepower, and when she felt satiated depleting shields, she fired both her missiles and blew them out of the sky.
Chase commed in. “Having fun?”
“You and I still have things to discuss when this is over. But yeah, right now I’m enjoying your precious toy. Surely you’ll get to play, eventually.”
“Next time, next time. There will always be a next time. Today doesn’t seem like the day I will fly the StarFury either.”
She felt a little selfishness beneath her glee, but considering the situation, Chase needed to give his full attention to captaining the Hope. Even though she had little doubt that his Fury mind could probably handle both ships at once; intimidating in and of itself.
“Just don’t break my toy, please.”
She laughed.
“Roger that, Phoenix.”
The communication ended right when two bandits started to tickle her a
ft shields with heavy fire and missiles.
The prospect of relative risklessness gave her wings. She thought about trying new tactics she wouldn’t have dared in a normal craft, and started a bit of impulsive improvising. She spun her craft around by cutting the twin engines and engaging the reverse thrusters to max power as she ended her turn. When she saw the two incoming missiles, she decided to shoot them out of the sky with laser fire; and it worked. She was amazed how precise the neuronal targeting was. Whatever she thought, the ship did to the letter, at the exact time she thought it.
With both missiles out of the way, she rained heavy fire and the drones did the rest. The first bogey didn’t have time to react and was quickly obliterated. The second fighter veered just before its front shield gave in, but she’d already locked on another missile, and experimented with the new, advanced targeting upgrades of the StarFury. She discovered she could select which part of the shields the missile was to impact with, and cooed with joy. She selected aft, fired her missile, and disengaged to acquire a new prey, as the forgotten ship melted into fire. She moved towards the next ship on her starboard, but before she could engage, it exploded. Blue fire from two separate cloaked Omega fighters had blown it right out of the sky. It never had a chance.
She checked her virtual instruments. Even if that behemoth ship spewed fifteen squadrons, they’d all be easily dispatched by this alliance fleet. She casually targeted another ship with a missile, just to see it disappear into another blue fireball when it impacted.
She cracked a smile. I have to thank Yanis for his wizardry in terms of engineering, she thought.
It took another three minutes to dispatch what was left of the incoming fighters, and for a moment it seemed like the action was all over. But then something unexpected happened: broad, glowing bands of much stronger firepower sizzled past her ship, lightly grazing her shields. They were still holding at ninety percent, but she recognized she was facing something new, something more dangerous. The Zarlack starfighters had all been destroyed. That’s when an incoming transmission from Chase addressed the fleet.
“This is Captain Athanatos. The enemy’s supposedly disabled defense systems have reactivated. These are your new targets. Seek and destroy first, then we’ll take care of the capital ships.”
Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) Page 24
