Another incoming transmission chimed. It was Daniel.
“Welcome back from the dead, Chase! I thought we’d lost you there, and I couldn’t even say goodbye. My StarFury’s comm got damaged during the last sentry run. These things sure pack a punch, huh? You’re okay?”
“I’m fine, buddy, you?”
“Well, we’re getting our proverbial asses kicked but your arrival seems to have given the enemy pause. What are your orders?”
“Don’t you have them from Saroudis?”
“He got severely injured when one of these behemoths engaged the Destiny. Last I heard Commodore Saroudis was being transported to the med-bay, vitals critical.”
Chase roared as an answer. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes: tears of rage.
“Okay… I’m pissed off about that too, but what the hell was that sound?”
“Never mind that.”
“Alright, you’re clearly in command now. What are your orders?”
“Just destroy every JIF ship, so we can jump out of here when we need to.”
“Agreed. See you on the other side.”
“Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s good to hear your voice. No unnecessary risks out there, okay?”
“Haha, right... Sorry, I’m trying to keep a straight face over here. That’s so funny coming from you… But aye, Captain. But you know what, it’s damn good to hear your voice too, bro.”
Chase permitted himself a smile. The fact that Daniel called him bro warmed his heart. He was more of a brother than Argos could ever be. He wondered if at one point in time things had ever been different between them, perhaps during the time he had no memory of.
A salvo of heavy fire and torpedoes pounded into his ship from the nearest behemoth and brought his attention back to the fight just as shields fell down to sixty percent.
“All caught up with your friends?” Argos laughed within his head.
He had to expend a huge amount of mental energy to stop himself from replying, but he managed not to.
“Chase, I’m in space rejoining the Destiny’s wings.”
“Be careful, love. Daniel has your orders.”
“Understood. You be careful too. You do seem to have all the aggro on you at the moment.”
“Argos is trying to make me believe he could kill me, but we both know he’s wasting his time posturing. I just hope it’s not part of another trap.”
“Yeah, me too. Firefly out.”
Chase engaged smaller ships in the armada, and pushed the sub-light engines to the maximum, trying to evade as much incoming fire as possible. The Hope was no StarFury; but still immensely more maneuverable than the Destiny.
He took another Zarlack destroyer out of the equation, when an incoming transmission on all Alliance bands came in.
“This is Spiros Malayianis, onboard the Damocles-3 space station, hailing any and all Alliance forces in the sector. I have reasons to believe you are currently engaged with the enemy. I am a scientist working on next generation weaponry, highly classified and highly advanced stuff. I have been tasked with improving our weapons to better fight Obsidian. I believe my new weapons will also be highly efficient against Zarlack technology. I am in possession of the schematics for these weapons. They could be crucial to the Alliance. While I managed to kill every Zarlack on Damocles-3, I need evac as soon as possible. If you receive this signal, please respond.”
“This is Captain Chase Athanatos of the EAD Hope, message received. As soon as we’re done with our current engagement, I will come for you. Can you please tell me more about the technologies you possess? How’d you manage to have data about Zarlack ships, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Captain Athana… You? No, no, no! Your name is Argos!”
“No, wait! Argos is my twin brother.”
“Please transmit your Alliance identification codes or I’ll terminate this communication this instant.”
“Done.”
“Confirmed. Weren’t you in one of my classes at the academy? Always talking during my courses. So that’s why Argos’ photo was so familiar. Captain, huh? Sometimes it’s not the ones you think that climb the ranks.”
Chase was a little taken back by the comment, but then he remembered his days at the academy.
“I’m actually a Lieutenant Commander. As for the academy, you taught space applied physics, right?”
“And other science courses, yes.”
Another Zarlack volley of torpedoes bee-lined for the aft of the Hope. Chase managed to boost both engines and inertial dampeners on the fly, and the Hope dodged the torpedoes on their first pass. He hastily redirected turrets to them, actually controlling each of them precisely with his mind, to destroy the torpedoes before they could re-acquire lock on the ship.
“I really can’t take a trip down memory lane at the moment. We have to destroy three JIF ships, and these are quite heavily shielded.”
“Right, let me send you an encrypted file that should help with that. Forward to your starfighter pilots. It’ll cut through this particular shield’s design like a hot knife on butter.”
“File received; hang on.”
Chase forwarded the file to Yanis, and tasked him to distribute it within the wings.
“Now on to your other inventions, if you don’t mind?”
“Right, mostly new shields, multi-phasic, highly adaptable; they would be much harder to bring down. They’re AI controlled, so their frequency intelligently adapts as they get taxed.”
“Like the EAD Cronos? And therefore my ship as well.”
“Their shield was my alpha version, so yes, in the same vein. But much more efficient and resilient.”
I’ll take three, Chase thought to himself.
“Boy, you said EAD before. You meant SAD right?”
“No, the Star Alliance fell. We’re now the Earth Alliance.”
“What’s Earth?”
“A planet we saved, that gave us sanctuary.”
Chase absently realized that Zarlack ships had redistributed their firing pattern to engage other ships now. So he no longer seemed to be the focus point of interest. A voice in the back of his mind didn’t like the timing, though.
“Son, can you come and get me?”
“As soon as we blow these JIF ships, you’ll be our first stop.”
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
“One more thing… How do you know about Argos?”
“Damocles-3 was under Zarlack occupation. I’ve managed to stay onboard, undetected, for ages. Unlike my fellow citizens, who all got either imprisoned or killed,” said Spiros gravely.
“Yeah, we’ve lost more good people than I dare count as well...”
“Onboard, I managed to study their systems from my hiding place, long enough to even research Zarlack tech. And oh boy, they sure are a few steps ahead of the Obsidian, technology wise!”
“We’ve noticed. It’s with their help that they annihilated the Alliance.”
“I’ve also gathered that, from their inter-fleet communications. Just before the fleet stationed here jumped out, I found the Argos file, and some very interesting schematics about a shipyard they’ve got hidden in the Gatos Nebula. If you need me to find a crack in its defenses, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”
“That shipyard is gone, but we sure could have used that information an hour ago.”
“I bet! Sorry about that. I’ve been in a battle for my own survival in the last few hours.”
“No worries. What matters now is that we—hang on!”
The ship that Chase was currently targeting and firing upon with his main guns had just entered hyperspace. He checked his sensors and saw that every ship but the JIFs had jumped to hyperspace as well.
“Spiros, the Zarlacks have entered hyperspace. Any idea how they did that with the jump interdiction field active?”
“The JIF ships are Obsidian in design, but the Zarlack’s ship engines are a totally different
design than either Obsidian or Alliance. They aren’t affected.”
“That’s handy! I gotta go. Be aware that you might soon receive the wrong kind of visitors knocking at your doors. We have a leak.”
“Well, that’s just great! Fortunately I’ve put contingencies in place for that very scenario. Please just don’t be too late to the party. I can hold them off for a while, but...”
“That’s all you’ll need. We’ll be there shortly.”
“Roger that. Malayianis out!”
Chase commed Daniel.
“Status on destroying these JIFs.”
“Beta through Gamma wings are engaged dispatching the rest of the Zarlack fighters; Alphas are less than a minute away from targets. We’ve received Malayianis’ modifications.”
“Good, we need to jump the second these ships are destroyed. So once all that’s done, haul-ass and rejoin your carriers at maximum burn.”
“Roger that.”
* * *
Sarah and Fillio rejoined Daniel’s wing. They were entering firing range of the first JIF ship.
“Switch your lasers to new settings, secondary fire options.”
“Roger,” both Fillio and Sarah chirped, almost in perfect unison.
“Entering firing range. Fire at will!” ordered Daniel.
All three ships and escort fired their lasers at the first Jump Interdiction Field Class ship in unison. The result was nothing less than spectacular. Each and every laser passed through the shields as if they weren’t there anymore, slightly illuminating the points of entry. Pieces of armor and debris started flying like dust amid the laser volleys. It took less than twenty seconds to destroy the first JIF ship, even though its armor was quite strong.
“Wow,” Sarah murmured, dazed at the sight of the ship exploding into a million pieces.
“I second that,” Fillio added joyfully.
“Alright, girls, no time to lose. Let’s dispatch the other two. Split forces so we can be done sooner.”
Sarah and Fillio took the first target, accompanied by three more ships from Alpha Wing. Daniel and the rest of the wing went after the second target. The newly loaded settings on their starfighters cut the ships to pieces with ease.
“Great job, everyone. Now back to your ships at max burn. We gotta jump out of here.”
“Chase, mission accomplished; returning to base. What’s next?”
“Daniel, go secure.”
“Done. What is it?”
“We have a spy.”
“We know that.”
“Yes, but I suspect it’s within the fleet. Perhaps even someone close to us.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, did you get the distress call from the Damocles Station?”
“Sure. It was on an open channel, wasn’t it?”
“Encrypted for Alliance only, but yes. Right after that, all the Zarlacks jumped.”
“I thought that was because we were finally kicking their asses.”
“No, the timing is more than suspicious. I’m pretty sure they jumped towards the Damocles Station so they can make sure we don’t get whatever tech is awaiting us there.”
“New tech?”
“Yes, stuff we cannot afford to let fall into the hands of Argos. In fact, we can’t even let it be destroyed. This could be the key to winning this war; you saw firsthand how easily you were able to dispatch those JIFs.”
“Yeah, that was like magic.”
“Imagine this installed on a grander scale onboard our ships.”
“Yeah, I see your point. You’re probably right. Damocles is Argos’ next stop, then.”
“We cannot let him destroy, or worse, steal those schematics!”
“I hear you. We’re all onboard.”
“Good, jumping the fleet now.”
Chase sent the jump slave request to every ship in the fleet. Once he got all of them confirmed and synced to the Hope, he entered the coordinates for Damocles-3 and opened the hyperspace corridor.
* * *
Onboard the Kolassi, Argos was looking at the hyperspace stream of horizontal light comfortably from his throne. He hesitated over having a go at his newly cloned Kyrian snake, ultimately deciding against it. The next hour would probably determine whether or not his plan would come to fruition. It had to. No matter what happened, he had to deliver that blow to Chase’s heart that would crush him from within. The hero needed to fall. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to deal with his brother’s bravado.
Just like when we were kids, Argos reflected. He was always the bull-headed, nauseatingly optimistic Samaritan.
That memory sent a shiver down Argos’ spine. This time was long gone. We are sitting at opposite extremes of the spectrum now. Part of him longed for the time when they were playful siblings, and life seemed bliss. That thought alone almost made Argos change his mind about the snake. He grabbed the handle of the jar’s lid and lifted it just enough to see a pair of glowing eyes in the dark, followed by a strong hiss. He put the lid back down and heard a second muffled hiss.
“You’ll get some flesh time later,” he murmured out loud.
The problem with Kyrian snakes was they were extremely rare and highly difficult to obtain; the only reason why Argos resorted to cloning. But the poison was an incredibly potent drug, were one to survive the bite. The Dragonmen of the once beautiful planet Kyria, destroyed long ago, had been very selective about to whom they gave them. Argos’ initial request to acquire one had been turned down. He had to go to great lengths to obtain another one from a different source.
Of course the drug had been synthesized for a long while. Millions of junkies bought it every day, all over Obsidian territory. But in its refined, synthesized form, the drug potency was lowered and its addictiveness multiplied. Like every drug, it was manufactured for profits or control. Cloned snakes weren’t cheap by any means, but cheaper and easier than requesting a new snake. And Argos knew he was much less in control when the poison ran through his veins… much more likely to kill the beast during bouts of anger, just like he had a few hours before.
He then remembered how much of a beating he’d received from their father, after he’d discovered that Argos was doing drugs. This was long before he’d been introduced to the deliciously life-threatening pain mixed with ecstasy that Kyrian snake’s poison brought to his life. When he first used Raintox and got caught, the beating he received was forever marked in his mind. He was fifteen. It wasn’t the pain that bothered him, but Argos’ instinctual aversion to obeying orders of any kind. To a certain extent, he knew he shared that, at least partially, with his brother Laiyos.
What dumb-ass started calling him “Chase,” he wondered?
A passing thought interrupted his painful drive through memory lane. He had to check something before they exited hyperspace. He opened a channel, and one of his Zarlack officers answered.
“Have you made the necessary modification to my ship?”
“Yes, Master. The Dark Star can now fully cloak for about thirty minutes.”
“Very good. Anything I should know?”
“Just that if you stay cloaked for more than ten minutes, you’ll have to do without shields temporarily.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Thank you.”
“It’s an honor to serve, my Master.”
Argos flicked the holo-conversation away. Such a dumb, spineless race these reptilian Zarlacks were, but they served their purpose. For the time being. Once their former masters reclaimed the universe that was once theirs, things would get back to how they should’ve been all along. Today was the day Argos would speed that future day along.
C H A P T E R
XXVIII
Spiros heard the long range detection alarm and braced for what was coming, but not before one last check on all systems. Everything was in the green, shields were at one hundred twenty percent capacity, and he had his fingers placed on the firing controls, ready to open fire on the Zarlack fleet
.
“Let’s just make sure it’s not the Alliance jumping in,” he murmured to himself. “After almost ninety years of service to the Alliance, today is not the day I want a blemish on my file.” He chuckled.
A hyperspace window opened just outside of weapon’s range, giving him time to confirm that indeed the ships were Zarlacks—quite the fleet too. While he had no doubt that the Damocles-3 would be able to give them pause, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of all of them on his own. But he wouldn’t have to. Soon captain Athanatos would come to the rescue. All he had to do was make sure that the station wasn’t destroyed and his work wasn’t captured.
It would probably take years for them to crack his encryption—unless of course they took him with it, in which case they might be smart enough to try his DNA against the encryption, a decision that would unlock it in no time. But Spiros would destroy everything from the ground up rather than hand it to an enemy.
I really have to stop thinking about worst case scenarios, he thought.
Some of the ships entered firing range. That was Spiros’ cue. He selected the ship that seemed to have suffered the most damage in its previous battle with the Alliance fleet and targeted it. He diverted all power to just one of his last-minute enhancements, a concentrated stream of energy, and fired.
The purple stream of concentrated laser fire tore a hole in the target ship and it exploded.
“Welcome to Damocles, bitches, it’s payback time!”
The Zarlack armada responded in kind, firing at will at the station. The shields were holding pretty well, but he would have to get rid of a few more ships or they might be in for the long haul. He activated all laser turrets to concentrate their fire on the next ship on his list of weakened targets, and once its shields were low enough, he fired another shot of his main guns. Again, the purple burst of energy pierced its target, though it did not explode. It did, however, cripple the ship. And that was more than enough for Spiros to get to the next target, when he received an incoming transmission.
“This is Argos to the engineer currently firing at my troops.”
Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) Page 28
