Out there, they wouldn’t need a colony dome. They wouldn’t live in a cold, desolate wasteland, hoping the domes would protect them from the solar storms, radiation, and bone-freezing temperatures. The world they’d found with their probe so long ago was so akin to Earth, Jarden had to wonder if there was intelligent life there.
Just where had the large group of two thousand colonists arrived at, and what were they doing sixty years later? These were questions that had plagued Jarden for countless years, every single day, driving him forward in his single-minded task.
“Activating the Shift drive,” Lancaster said from his seat at the front of the bridge. He looked every bit the part in his uniform. An air of casual leadership enveloped the man, and Jarden found himself liking the pilot more each day. He’d picked up the training with no issues. Captain Barkley was impressed with him as well, which didn’t come as a surprise.
Barkley spoke now, sitting in her captain’s chair. “Set coordinates, Junior Lieutenant Bron. On my mark…” Her hand was in the air, her index finger raised to the ceiling.
Jarden took a deep breath, closing his eyes while she spoke. “Hit it.”
When Jarden opened his eyes, the image out the massive viewscreen was totally different, and they were millions of kilometers from their previous location. Lancaster looked back at the captain, then to Jarden, with a smile on his face.
“Nice work, everyone. We wait here until tomorrow. You know the drill,” Jarden said, and he left the bridge to get some sleep. With everything that might happen tomorrow, he knew it was now or never.
Ace
It was time for Ace to leave the Stellae. He could already tell the Grand Admiral was getting nervous about the delay, but she didn’t want to rush his training on the new drive technology. He was confident he could use it to get to the target in time. The idea of folding space around him scared him, but the GA claimed it was as safe as, or safer than, their current technology.
He had no leg to stand on and couldn’t very well ask to send someone else. If he did that, he was heading right back for that cell, or maybe for the airlock. He didn’t want either of those options, so he stuck with the mission at hand.
A man simply named “Henry” entered his quarters and handed Ace something. Ace felt the familiar rough edges of his playing card hit his fingers, the ace of clubs back in his possession.
“Jish thought you might want this,” Henry said, using the leader of the Earth Fleet’s first name. It sounded strange to Ace, but he was thrilled to have his memento from his previous life back.
“Thank you,” was all he could muster out of his tight throat.
Ace looked around the small room he’d called home for a short period of time, and entered the hall just as a series of alarms rang out. Red lights strobed along the ceiling and floors, and Ace instantly felt stressed and anxious.
“What’s that?” he asked Henry, who was fumbling for his earpiece.
“What’s going on?” Henry asked someone through his mic.
Ace noticed the man’s already pale face turn ghost white. “That’s impossible,” Henry said, his voice little more than a whisper. “Defend the Fleet. Give us cover on the Stellae. We’re sending a ship out in a few minutes. Don’t let them get it.”
Ace could hardly hear the conversation. His heart beat so loudly, his blood was filling his ears in time with each pulse. The klaxons were deafening in the corridor, and he wanted to go back into his room and hide his head under a pillow.
Henry grabbed him roughly by the arm. “Come. We have no time to spare.”
“What is it?” Ace asked, still not sure what was happening.
“We’re being attacked.”
CD6 (Charles)
The elevator door released, and CD6 locked it open before removing the protruding merger-stick from his finger. Anyone looking to use the elevator would be notified it was under repair.
He left the lift and entered the narrow space before him. He scanned the walls and found a hidden compartment where a stunner sat mounted inside. He took the weapon, just to be safe. He still didn’t know exactly what was on the other side of the doorway fifty yards away, and he needed to play it cautiously.
Each footstep was too loud as his metal feet clanged on the grated floor. This hall wasn’t finished like the ship’s main corridors, likely so no one would notice the extra cost and effort to build the secret area. CD6 moved quickly and arrived at the doorway. It didn’t open for him. He’d been warned it might have some sort of biometrics reader, and that was indeed the case.
He tapped the left side of his torso and pulled a device from inside. This was one of two given to him by Benson. It was supposed to duplicate the last bio-readout from the corridor, and since CD6 was an android, Benson had claimed it would work. He activated it, and an invisible pulse erupted from the stick-shaped device.
A long minute passed, and CD6 was sure it had failed, when the doors slid open and an alarm rang out. Red lights flashed all around him. He scanned inwardly on the ship’s server, which he’d linked up to earlier. He was relieved to know it wasn’t him who’d set the alarm off by opening the doorway. The nearby Earth Fleet appeared to be under attack. He had to hurry.
The room was dim, but lights came on as his movements disturbed the sensors. He found his target across the space, where a blue barrier kept the being trapped. CD6 felt trepidation as he crossed the room, arriving a few feet from the barrier. The keypad had the same biometric scanner on it. No one but the Grand Admiral could let the prisoner out.
Before using the device again, CD6 looked past the glowing blue energy field to see a creature huddled in the cell’s far corner. It was a thick animal. Even in its crouched position, CD6 could tell it was tall: at least eight feet in height, with long arms and a wide torso. Its head lifted from a resting position, and two black eyes stared back at him.
“Hello,” CD6 said. “Can you understand me?”
The creature stood now, and CD6 stepped back in fear.
He tried again. “Do you know what I’m saying? My name is” – he hesitated before saying the name Wren had given him – “Charles. I came to break you out of your prison.” This was becoming a common occurrence for him, only he was sure the alien before him was going to end up back in another prison once it was with Councilman Fairbanks.
The alien used a palm to hit itself in the chest as it stood proudly. It said something unintelligible, which CD6 assumed was its name.
“Pleased to meet you. Will you come willingly?” he asked it, knowing he still had the tranquilizer if necessary. The creature lifted its head and nodded up and down in an exaggerated yes.
The alarms still rang out, but they were muted inside this room. The noise carried to them from the corridor he’d come from. Without a second thought, CD6 tapped the device again and gained access to the console, where he turned off the energy field.
The alien started to move slowly, reaching a two-fingered hand toward the spot where the barrier had stood a second before. When it met no resistance, it made its move. It ran past CD6, knocking him to the ground. He landed on his back and watched the creature race down the hall.
“It’s going to be like that, is it?” CD6 said out loud to himself, and picked up the stunner. He ran for the corridor and spotted the alien struggling to get down the tight hall. With hard effort, and probably a few cuts, the alien made it into the elevator.
He couldn’t leave without access, and CD6 kept moving, slowing as he neared the lift. The stunner was raised in his hand. This was programming he was used to. They always carried stunners at the prison and were each well-versed in taking a prisoner down if necessary. This was the same act. He leaned on those abilities as he waited for the alien to poke some part of his body into view.
He didn’t have to wait long. An arm exposed itself in the elevator doorway, and CD6 tapped the trigger, hitting the thick forearm. The creature fell to the ground, all of his nervous system freezing up. CD6 pulled the tran
quilizer pen out and pressed it against the alien’s thick gray skin.
CD6 had done it! Wren would be so proud of him. Even though the creature had attempted an escape, he was grateful of one thing. He didn’t have to drag its huge frame down the narrow hallway. It was already in the elevator.
He closed the doors and set forth on the next part of his mission: getting off the Stellae and back to Eureka.
The elevator lifted. CD6 hurried to cover the alien with the energy field and strapped a tarp around it. The end result looked something like a pile of rocks in a bag, but CD6 didn’t have to be in the hallway for long. He’d stolen a hovertrolley from a storage room, and he hefted the creature onto it now, the trolley’s magnetic base sagging toward the ground under the weight.
When the doors opened, CD6 did his best to look like a maintenance android hauling away a load of refuse. He passed a few people, none giving him the time of day. As he was nearing the hangars, he heard a voice directed at him.
“You there,” it said. CD6 turned to see a uniformed officer, hand heading to hip, where a stunner sat holstered.
“How can I be of service, sir?” he asked, using phrasing from his programming.
The man bent down as if to touch the tarp. “What’s under here?”
“The refrigerators broke down on deck two. I’m hauling away the rotten meat. Would you care to see it?” CD6 asked, reaching toward the wrapped-up alien.
The man’s interest vanished quickly. “No, be on your way.”
CD6 watched the man walk down the hall, then took the opportunity to enter the first hangar he could find. A sole ship sat there, one CD6 didn’t recognize from his database.
Ace
Henry left him to it, called away on some urgent matter. It was pure chaos out there. Ace hopped into the modified fighter. This one was twice the size of the ones he was trained on. The Shift drive technology took more space than the ones he was used to, and they had an added storage space for passengers or goods behind the cockpit.
He was in the secret hangar alone. The rest of the Fleet didn’t know about the Grand Admiral’s plans, he was told, and this ship was the backup to the probe failing. He was sure that if there was no attack on the Fleet at that moment, there’d be a full array of people in the hangar with him, making sure he was prepared for departure.
He flipped his earpiece in and turned the ship’s power on. Instantly, the screens flashed red, and he zoomed out, seeing a map of their sector of space. There were hundreds of green lights racing around, some in formation, but mostly, they were broken and sporadic. Any non-fleet vessel nearby was red, and Ace was surprised to see as many as there were. Just who had this kind of fleet to attack them with? Were they being invaded by an alien race?
His earpiece buzzed, and he tapped it. “Ace, this is the Grand Admiral. I can’t be there for your takeoff, but I’m there in spirit. Regardless of what you see out there, you must leave. Do not fail. Go to the coordinates I’ve given you. Send the feeds back to us.”
Ace strapped himself in, and his chest rose in pride. “I won’t fail you, ma’am.”
“Very well. Godspeed.” The communication ended. He glanced at the console again, seeing green and red lights blink out as they were destroyed. It was a real battle out there.
The hangar was small, only made for a couple of the Grand Admiral’s private ships. Now Ace was the only one in the hangar. The modified fighter was the solitary ship sitting there. He tapped the console and the wall slid up, revealing the energy field and space beyond. Even from here, he saw the warzone in the distance. His heart hammered hard as he activated the drive.
“You can do this,” Ace whispered to himself and sealed the mask over his head.
The fighter hopped forward, a little touchier than he was used to. The hangar was only a few hundred yards deep, and in no time, he’d breached the energy field and soared into open space. Chaos erupted around him. His console showed ten red icons within a few kilometers’ range of his ship, and he arced the ship away from their clusters.
His HUD zoomed in on the ships one at a time, showing him a fleet of derelict run-down vessels. This was no alien invasion. It was a terrorist attack. The Grand Admiral had spoken of an attack coming where the probe was supposed to travel to, and where Ace was destined for now. If the attack had already happened here, what was the point of him even going? He could help his Fleet here by fending them off.
He was about to reach out to the GA, when her voice carried into his earpiece again. “What’s the delay, Ace? Get to your target destination. Do it at all costs.”
He didn’t bother questioning the command. There was a reason behind it, and it came from somewhere far above his pay grade.
Pulse fire erupted around him and he rolled the ship, narrowly avoiding being struck by the enemy blasts. The incoming vessel was an old Recon model from the turn of the century. Ace raced around it, firing at the ship as he tried to escape. He connected with fire to its underbelly, and it stopped dead in space. He kept moving. All around him, skirmishes were taking place. Some of the EFF-17s showed familiar names on his readout, and he silently cheered on the other recruits.
An EFF-17 exploded in front of him, and Ace let out a shout of rage as his ship barrelled through the debris. He had to leave, but it wouldn’t hurt to avenge his fellow Fleet pilot first. The attacker was in a clunky freighter, its weapons slow to charge. Ace targeted the thrusters and fired his pulse cannon. Seconds later, the ship exploded, and he curved around the destruction into open space, past the fluttering icons on the screen.
When he thought he was in the clear, one of the Fleet carriers appeared in front of him, and he heard the command in his ear. “Serina Trone, destroy that fighter. It’s been compromised!” The voice was clearly that of the Grand Admiral, and it was sent out across all frequencies.
He saw fire from the Earth Fleet vessel begin to race toward him.
24
Jish
Everything had gone to hell. Jish Karn felt her world slipping between her fingers. How did this group find her? She’d told a lie to the troops about a rogue group threatening the Fleet, but she had no real intel that an attack was imminent. Somehow, she felt the touch of Fairbanks on the incursion. She had no idea how he’d done it, but he had to be behind the terrorist assault.
Ace was still in the ship, and she watched as its icon moved on her holoscreen. He had to escape and make it to the Rift watching point. There was no other way to know if the Invaders were coming through. She’d done so much, given up too many years to waste the opportunity. If they failed here, they might have no chance at defending the colonies and Earth. And here they were, the Fleet engaged in a battle with a ragtag group.
She watched as far more red icons flashed out of existence than Fleet green, but any loss was too much at this point. They’d need both Fleet and rogue vessels if they were to hold off a real invasion. For the first time, she noticed the yellow blinking light on her holoscreen.
“What’s that?” she asked herself out loud from the seat on the bridge. Her team was active, moving from attacks, and destroying as many ships as they could with her powerful warship. Stellae wasn’t to be trifled with. They’d need a lot more than old smuggler ships and run-down rock haulers to destroy her.
Then it hit her. The yellow blinking light was the Invader. She’d chipped it long ago, and since it never moved, the small dot remained synonymous with her hidden floor below deck. Now it was off the ship and appeared to be in Ace’s modified Shift drive fighter. Had he been sent here purposely? Had Fairbanks been behind that too? She was furious.
The closest vessel was the EFC-02EP, and she was startled to see a new recruit being trained as the captain. The name was familiar, and she knew it to be Admiral Helina Trone’s daughter.
She sent the message across all channels. “Serina Trone, destroy that fighter. It’s been compromised!” With that, she raced off the bridge as her crew members shouted. Stellae jostled from an attack a
bove, and Jish stumbled from the bombing. Alarms rang out loudly in the halls, and she found her footing, heading for the elevator. Inside, she used her code to get to the lower level. The lights in the elevator were dim, as the ship’s main power was diverted to shields.
The doors opened below, and she knew he was gone the instant she set foot in the corridor. The stunner door was open, as was the main door at the end of the hall. The only Invader they had under lock and key was free and loose, and in one of their most powerful new fighters.
Ace
“You have to escape,” a voice said from behind Ace.
He nearly jumped out of his skin, and his hand jerked the throttle, sending the ship into a roll. “Who said that?” Ace was strapped firmly down and couldn’t see behind him. The cockpit was large enough to house a stowaway or two, but he’d been in too much of a hurry to check the compartment.
“My name’s Charles. I’m an android, and I have something back here that will help save humanity,” the voice said, and Ace now caught the monotone timbre to the words.
The carrier ahead was sending out EFF-17s toward him, and when Ace looked at his screen, there were few red icons left. Now the Fleet could focus on him. But why? What had changed the Grand Admiral’s mind? It had to have something to do with the android talking to him.
Ace tried to get through to the ship. He found its bridge-comm channel and hit it. “Serina! Don’t do this. Call them off. It’s me, Ace! Don’t do this!”
He was being shot at, and he pushed his fighter as hard as he could while the Shift drive charged. It was almost there, but he knew the fighters would catch him before he could activate the Shift.
“Ace?” Serina’s voice cut into his ear. “What are you doing? Why is she telling me to stop you?”
“I don’t know. It’s a setup. She gave me the ship, pardoned me, and sent me on my merry way!” He was running out of time, and he zig-zagged from the incoming fire on his tail.
The Resistance- The Complete Series Page 22
