The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1)

by Adrian Fulcher

  ‘Do it, or we’ll all be dead! All decks prepare for impact!’ Isistia said.

  In an instant the fighters were engulfed, and the wave struck the Lonori.

  *****

  James looked up at the rear of the Aurora. It was standing on three new landing legs and the new event horizon drives were visible through the large tapered ducts in the Plyane hull. In the distance, on the far side of the Aurora, lay the shell of the Pulsora.

  James walked over to one of the doors of the workshop which was open. On a table just inside the door was a half-eaten meal. Kira followed him into the workshop. She sniffed around.

  James felt uneasy. Kalrea, where is everyone?

  You’re the only one left here, she replied.

  Where’s everyone gone?

  The engineers left on that transport. They’ve done all that is required of them.

  Are we going to be safe here? James thought, hearing the first muffled explosions outside.

  Only a direct hit from a mass-converter would penetrate the doors. The chance of that are three thousand, five hundred and sixty-three to one.

  James could hear more muffled explosions outside. Occasionally he could see dust falling from the ceiling.

  I wish we knew what was happening outside, Kalrea, James thought.

  He suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine. He gripped the telementor on his wrist.

  Have you received any transmissions from Londuo, he thought nervously.

  The hangar is shielded, Kalrea reminded him.

  Suddenly there was a loud bang and roar. James put his hand over his heart. Kalrea! You just scared the life out of me. Please tell me when you’re going to do something like that!

  He felt a cool rush of air, which was being drawn to the front of the ship.

  Sorry.

  James looked up at the rear of the Aurora. An orange flame shot out of one of the new drives as they started; then, with the noise decreasing, the flames retreated.

  When can we leave, Kalrea? We’ve got the help the other ships.

  Four hours and the drives will be tested, Kalrea replied. Then, we can leave. I still need another ten days to finish the construction of the rear plasma tubes.

  Can’t you speed things up a bit?

  James, I’m doing everything I can to get us into space as soon as possible. I have to test the drives. We don’t want anything to fail in combat.

  I understand, Kalrea. It’s just I’m worried about Londuo. She’s only just recovered from her injuries and I know her; she’ll be out there fighting.

  I know, James.

  Is the reactor from the Pulsora onboard?

  No, we only have the one reactor. If you want to leave in four hours, then we’ll have to leave it behind.

  Then we leave it.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The Aurora’s drives suddenly became silent. James listened. All was quiet outside the hangar.

  Event horizon drives operational, Kalrea reported.

  Let’s go, James thought eagerly, hurrying over to the Aurora. He took one last look around the hangar before entering the now operational pojin lift.

  What about Sarhao. Will he be safe here? James asked Kalrea.

  Without any plasma reactors the Pulsora’s internal emitters won’t function. We must get out undetected and close the hangar doors. He will be safe until we can recover him, Kalrea replied.

  Wait, where’s Kira?

  He glanced around the hanger once more.

  ‘Kira!’ he called out.

  Kira appeared at the door to the workshop.

  ‘Kira!’ James shouted again.

  She ran over into the lift.

  ‘There you are.’

  James felt the lift jerk and vibrate as it moved upwards. He entered the bridge and could hear the familiar rumble of the inner event horizon drives in the distance. The Aurora lifted into the air and its new landing legs retracted.

  Right, let’s see what’s out there, James thought.

  He laid down in the seatra, with Kira alongside him.

  Access the door control systems!

  James was very nervous, wondering what would be out there. He looked up at the roof of the hanger. The doors started to lower slowly but shuddered abruptly to a stop. Debris from some of the trees blown on the rocky ground fell through the gap around its edge onto the ship.

  Damn! Kalrea said in a concerned voice. Any ship out there will know we’re here now.

  Try again, Kalrea, James thought.

  It’s no good; the mechanism’s fused. We’ll have to blast our way out, Kalrea said.

  And if there is a Treitan ship out there? James thought.

  Then it’s going to get a big surprise, Kalrea replied.

  The Aurora slowly tilted towards the doors above. James heard explosions from behind the ship. Concerned, he glanced back to check to rear of the ship. The two fighters had been thrown against the workshop windows, by the power of the drives, which swept across the floor like a whirlwind. Both had been destroyed.

  The ship moved slowly upwards.

  Fire! James thought.

  Two torpedoes left the front tubes and exploded high above. Rocks and metal rained down on the ship. The Aurora accelerated through the gaping hole and rose rapidly up into the dull sky.

  Scanners? James thought quickly.

  All clear, Kalrea reported.

  James looked around at the countryside below. The forests had been decimated, stripped of all life, and all that remained were the charred, torn and uprooted stumps of thousands of trees.

  Head back to the base, James thought, stunned by the devastation he could see leading away into the distance.

  The Aurora turned and powered quickly over to where the base was.

  James felt a deep sadness. Below on one of the landing areas were the burnt out remains of an assault ship and seven large transports lay scattered like discarded toys in a child’s bedroom. None of the buildings remained standing. He looked at the accommodation block where he had been staying. He could clearly see the outlines of the rooms. Within its remains, there were many dead bodies.

  There’s no one left, is there. The entire base has been destroyed, James thought.

  The scanners are picking up a lot of debris in the atmosphere, Kalrea reported. It extends out to the rim of the system.

  Our ships or theirs? James thought.

  At least five of our ships, Kalrea said.

  The Aurora turned on its axis and powered into space. Which ones? James asked.

  Three frigates, the destroyers Vinqui, Landopila and—

  Kalrea stopped abruptly.

  What is it? James thought.

  I’m sorry, James.

  He suddenly realised.

  The Lonori! It’s the Lonori, isn’t it?

  Yes, it is. Kalrea’s voice was sombre.

  Londuo went back onboard the Lonori, James thought and released his frustration by firing six torpedoes, which detonated in the distance. The lid of the seatra rose up.

  She may not have been onboard, Kalrea said, trying to comfort him. She could have launched her fighter. We just don’t know for sure.

  James climbed from the seatra.

  ‘Any signal from the bracelet I gave her?’

  ‘No.’ Kalrea replied, now talking over the ships address system.

  ‘I need to know what happened to her, Kalrea. Search for her fighter.’

  ‘With this quantity of debris, it will take over twenty hours—’

  ‘Just do it, Kalrea!’ James said abruptly and with anger to Kalrea.

  He sat in one of the seats and stared at the blank monitor.

  ‘I’ve started to search the debris,’ Kalrea said. ‘I’m working outwards from the remains of the Lonori.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Kalrea. I’m not thinking straight; this is pointless. I don’t even know if she was in her fighter. She said that they were testing modifications.’

  ‘I’ll still carry on looking,
’ she replied.

  ‘Kalrea, I didn’t mean to shout at you. I just want to know if I’ve lost her.’

  ‘James! Six heavy cruisers have just appeared on the scanners. They’re tracking us.’

  ‘Where the hell did they come from? How far are they away?’

  ‘Twenty-three thousand kilometres.’

  ‘What? How did they get that close without us seeing them?’

  ‘They were hidden by Qintaino. They must have detected the firing of the torpedoes.’

  The Aurora turned towards the advancing ships.

  ‘I know you’re angry, James. You want to avenge the death of all our people, but this isn’t the place; there are too many cruisers!’ Kalrea sounded concerned. ‘If any of the ship’s critical systems are damaged again, I won’t be able to repair them.’

  There was silence, while the Treitan ships split up.

  She’s right, you know. You can’t let your anger endanger the ship.

  ‘All right, Kalrea; get us out of here,’ James said.

  The Aurora flipped over and accelerated hard.

  ‘ENTERING LIGHT SPEED.’

  ‘Two of the cruisers are following. The others look like they’re heading towards the location of the Polune hangar,’ James said.

  ‘I know,’ Kalrea said.

  ‘Wait!’ James said suddenly.

  He looked back from the ship in the direction of Brinoli.

  ‘Sarhao. They’ll find Sarhao.’

  ‘Sarhao cannot be taken,’ Kalrea said.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Kalrea said with sadness in her voice. ‘Sarhao can take care of himself.’

  The Aurora continued to accelerate slowly.

  ‘They’re catching us, Kalrea. Kalrea!’ James said nervously. ‘And we can’t fire at them. We have no rear plasma tubes—’

  ‘Nearly there. The event horizon drives must be balanced.’

  Twelve orange dots emerged from the Treitan cruisers.

  ‘They’re firing at us, Kalrea!’

  *****

  High above Brinoli, assault ships left each of the Treitan cruisers and headed down through the atmosphere towards the Polune hangar. Through the ripped doors below, the helpless Pulsora was partially hidden by the rubble. Two of the assault ships circled the entrance to the hangar before entering. They slowly descended towards the Pulsora.

  ‘Goodbye, Kalrea,’ were Sarhao’s last words.

  The Pulsora exploded and everything inside the hangar was instantly enveloped in a ball of fire. A Treitan assault ship hovering just above the entrance was caught by the blast. It was tossed skyward like a toy, before it spiralled into the ground.

  *****

  The Aurora suddenly increased its speed to Q3.4, leaving the Treitan cruisers in their wake.

  ‘It looks like we lost them, Kalrea. What do we do now? We can’t go back to Brinoli,’ James said, but there was no reply from Kalrea.

  He suddenly sensed an overwhelming sadness in his mind.

  Kalrea? What’s going on?

  ‘Kalrea, you’re very quiet. Are you all right?

  ‘No, I don’t think I am!’ Kalrea replied. ‘I’m confused! Why do I feel different?’

  ‘What’s wrong, Kalrea?’ James said, now getting concerned.

  ‘I don’t feel whole anymore!’ Kalrea said, very emotional now. ‘I’ve never felt like this before. It’s like a part of me is missing.’

  ‘Kalrea, I think you must be feeling grief. You’ve just lost someone you had a connection with.’

  ‘That must be it. Sarhao would have been like… I suppose like a brother to me. Yes, a brother.’

  ‘Then that’s why you’re feeling that way.’

  ‘But I never thought I would feel like this because of Sarhao. I’ve not been in contact with him for many sykals; yet, now he’s gone, I feel a great emptiness. It’s not just sadness; it’s far worse. I want him back, James!’

  James could not sense Kalrea in his mind any longer.

  Kalrea! Where are you?

  ‘I don’t like this feeling, James. It frightens me! I feel alone; helpless—’

  ‘Kalrea, you’re starting to really worry me!’ James said, interrupting.

  ‘I need time to think, James! I need to be alone!’

  With that, the Aurora’s event horizon drive suddenly became silent. The ship coasted from light speed.

  ‘Kalrea!’ James said, but she did not reply.

  Kalrea, please respond. We’re drifting in space.

  He tried to start the drives with his mind.

  I can’t get the drives online.

  He focused on the monitor.

  Nothing’s working. I should be able to control the ship.

  He looked at the telementor. It was flashing yellow.

  Kalrea must have disabled it. Shit, what if those cruisers turn up! I can’t see outside the ship anymore. Kalrea, where are you?

  James felt completely helpless. He sat nervously in the seat, worrying and trying from time to time to contact her. Over ten minutes passed.

  Suddenly, Kalrea said,

  ‘James, we must find Londuo! You must not feel this way.’

  James was angry.

  ‘Kalrea, where the hell have you been? What if those bloody cruisers had turned up! We’d have been sitting dirkons.’

  ‘James, you were not in danger. I was monitoring the surrounding space.’

  ‘But I didn’t know that! For all I knew, you’d gone walkabout. And don’t say you can’t walk! You know what I mean!’

  ‘I’m sorry I worried you, James. It won’t happen again.’

  James calmed down.

  ‘I shouldn’t be angry with you; it’s very insensitive of me. It’s just that I’m so worried about Londuo. I do know how you’re feeling. It takes time to come to terms with the loss of someone so close.’

  ‘And that’s why we must find Londuo.’

  Kalrea sounded determined.

  ‘I suggest we head for the primary rendezvous location. That’s where our forces will be. When the alarms sounded, the base network sent out a coded message to all our ships. The primary rendezvous location is Satirel.’

  ‘But how do you feel now?’ James asked.

  ‘Much better,’ Kalrea replied.

  James was confused by her suddenly changing emotions.

  ‘James, my moment of grieving would be like an eternity to you. Trust me! I’m over that now.’

  James shook his head.

  ‘All right, I expect I’ll never understand what you just went through. I’m just glad to have you back.’

  James asked Kalrea to show him the position of Satirel on the monitor.

  ‘It’s two point four light years away,’ Kalrea said. ‘Do you want me to set a course?’

  There was a long pause, before James answered,

  ‘Yes. How long?’

  ‘Just under two hours.’ Kalrea said. ‘James, I believe Londuo’s still alive.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘It’s the diary. I know it has entries still in the future. To have recorded those and travelled back in time, Londuo must still be alive.’

  James felt some optimism.

  ‘I hope you’re right, Kalrea, but who’s to say this timeline is following the diary?’

  ‘I cannot be sure, but we haven’t had any solid information to do anything to change what was going to happen, so I believe she’s alive.’

  James felt many different feelings as he thought of Londuo. Hope turned to despair; despair turned to aguish. He had to hold onto a belief: a belief that Londuo had to be alive, somewhere.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The two-hour journey to Satirel seemed like an eternity to James. He sat staring at the monitor, thinking over everything that may have happened. He suddenly focused again as the Aurora decelerated. He impatiently viewed the scanners.

  ‘I’m picking up plasma bursts and—’

  James stop
ped.

  A large area of space, close to Satirel, appeared to be moving in the distance.

  ‘There’s debris everywhere,’ Kalrea said.

  The Aurora approached Satirel. James could see the sparkling remains from many ships stretching out into the void. The light from a nearby star reflected off the pieces of material drifting and spinning slowly. Large rivers of cyan coloured plasma from the tumbling remains of event horizon drives and reactors meandered through the wreckage.

  James heard loud bangs on the hull, caused by bits of wreckage deflecting off the Aurora. After travelling about three kilometres through the debris he saw a large section of a ship slowly rotating.

  ‘It’s a Treitan ship,’ Kalrea said. ‘I’m picking up fluctuating power. No life signs.’

  ‘What happened?’ James asked.

  There was no reply from Kalrea.

  ‘Kalrea, I said what happened?’ he repeated.

  ‘The rest of the fleet is here,’ Kalrea sounded sad.

  ‘What? Every ship? They can’t all have been destroyed. You must be wrong!’ James said, in disbelief, but in his heart, he knew Kalrea couldn’t be wrong.

  The Aurora turned slowly and moved closer to the Treitan wreckage.

  ‘I’m reading a Gulp transmitter in the debris,’ Kalrea said. ‘Downloading.’

  ‘This cannot be happening!’ James said. ‘Everyone’s dead! The Treitans must have known. That Dreh agent; they never found the Dreh agent.’

  ‘I’m afraid what you just said is correct. The rendezvous was relayed to the Treitan fleet from Brinoli. They didn’t stand a chance.’

  James shut his eyes, leant forwards and rubbed his left hand along his forehead. There was a tear in his eye.

  ‘What are the chances there are any survivors?’

  ‘The Treitans are very thorough,’ Kalrea replied.

  James sat motionless, his forehead resting on his left hand.

  ‘In a battle of this size there’s always a chance, though,’ Kalrea said, trying to comfort him. ‘I’ll scan the system for other fragments large enough to sustain life.’

  Two minutes passed while the Aurora moved slowly through the wreckage.

  ‘James, I’ve got something,’ Kalrea said. ‘The scanners have located a large section of ship. Part of it’s still pressurised.’

  James lifted his head and composed himself.

  ‘Show me?’