The Resistance- The Complete Series

by Nathan Hystad

  Larspen looked as though she didn’t want to talk; her thin lips formed a seal. But her shoulders slumped forward a little, and she spoke in low groans and growls. “This is what the Faithful do. Ober bids we expand our reign, and we do so at any cost. We have seven major settlements around the galaxies now. We have defeated many races, sometimes against all odds. The Faithful expected an easy assault here. After so long, they think Ober is testing them. They will not fail, or so they think.”

  The Watchers were a terrible force. Seven major settlements. That meant they’d killed off at least that many races in order to expand so far. Charles couldn’t believe the information he was getting.

  “We wish to end this war, but the Fleet will not surrender. Is there no way to peace?” Charles asked, still keeping in her tongue.

  Larspen shook her bald head and fidgeted with her long arms, the minute suction cups flexing as she did so. “They will not leave. Not unless it is in the midst of battle.”

  Charles had suspected as much. He was going to ask further questions, feeling like he was on a roll, but he could sense she was about to clam up, so he changed directions. “You aren’t a warrior, are you?”

  “Very astute of you. What gave it away?” she asked.

  “Your disposition is far different than the other Faithful we’ve encountered. You are kind and speak with free will.” Charles noticed a slight smile form on her lips.

  “I was a cook. Feeding the Faithful was my role in this life. We lost a lot of lives in the war, and I was asked to take on an assistant role to the drop ship that eventually fell to the surface here. I was the only survivor,” she said. “Ober willed me to witness our downfall. I see much more clearly now. I want the war to end so I can go home.”

  “Is home far?” Charles asked.

  “It is. It will take many of your years to get home, but I want to find a way,” she said, eyes sad now.

  “Help us,” Charles pleaded with confidence. “We can end this together.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  Flint

  Feeding time came again, and Flint held back, staying behind with Tag. “Don’t you understand? They’re animals,” Flint said, hating seeing his own people like this. They were back to their old selves, far worse than he’d seen them; but according to Tag, they’d also been worse. They fought and clawed toward the slop as if it was the last meal of their pitiful existence.

  Flint couldn’t wait long. It had already been a few weeks, and he’d had enough. It wasn’t worth waiting this out. He’d rather die than be forced to live in this pen like an animal, like the others trapped there with him. Now he understood those begging to be taken by the Watchers. Maybe he could get them to take him; then it would be over.

  “They need you,” Tag said. “I’m in. Clark’s in. With the Boss gone, there’s no hope for order. It left the moment she did.”

  Flint nodded. “I have something to show you.” He turned from staring toward the trough and walked to the washroom with Tag on his heels. Before entering, he made sure no one was looking. There was no sign of the Watchers or of any of the humans paying attention. Good.

  Flint opened one of the stalls inside and shifted the tile behind the toilet. It came loose, exposing a tiny cubby. From the hole, he pulled a handmade shiv, built from pieces of the Boss’ chair she’d left behind. No one had paid attention to the lone seat on the training floor, so he’d pried pieces off and wrapped the sharp metal together, forming a blade and handle. It wasn’t pretty, but it would do the job.

  “We take one of the secondary guards down, get their gun and knife. Take the leader down, and hopefully before the other lazy guard knows what’s happening, he’s in a pile on the floor,” Tag said, reiterating their plan.

  Flint was glad to have the Marine on his side. He’d finally snapped out of his shell and was ready to kick it into gear when the time came. They needed Clark to make it work, but the old man still seemed to be on the fence about it.

  Flint tucked the knife back into its hiding space and they left the washroom, Flint waiting a minute after Tag left to not make their conspiring so obvious. The rest of the people were finishing up from the slop feeding, wandering around, faces grimy with oats or whatever concoction the Watchers were using.

  He felt sick to his stomach as he made his way to his bed. Tomorrow he’d find a way to bring the knife under his mattress, and then he’d be ready.

  Serina

  Serina watched the icons of the lander and fighter head from the surface of Mars toward the Eureka. The ship was beautiful. It was only a matter of time before she confiscated it for her own, taking over the most impressive vessel left within the Earth Fleet. She’d keep Barkley on as commander, of course, as long as the woman didn’t raise too much of a stink at being demoted.

  She was glad to hear Mars was functional. It had been a year or so since anyone had been down to check on the systems, and Charles had done well. Ace had explained how much he’d always dreamt of seeing Mars, so she was happy to make his hopes come true as well.

  Music played softly from her office’s speakers: an Old World concerto from one of the greats. Serina closed her eyes, letting the notes wash over her. She was so tired.

  They were going to meet Shadow tomorrow. The message had been clear. They were willing to work with the Fleet, but Benson had to be at the meeting. Serina still hadn’t met the insufferable man, and to be honest, she wasn’t looking forward to spending time with the traitor. But if having him there helped solidify the one relationship that could turn the tides of this war, she would do what it took.

  The doctor was also coming, and Serina knew she wouldn’t even have the contact with Shadow if it wasn’t for Wren. Their meager group of three would be throwing themselves into a dangerous situation, heading for a location set by Shadow. Serina found she usually had a sense for a trap, but didn’t feel the walls closing in on this one. She truly felt optimistic about the upcoming encounter.

  An alarm rang out, and her eyes sprang open in reaction.

  “Grand Admiral, we have company,” Adams said through her speakers, the music cutting out.

  She focused on the console and saw ten enemy blips appear. No. They were here.

  “Alert all fighters, send them out. Tell the Eureka we need their assistance, and do it now. All hands on deck, Adams. This is as large an attack as we’ve seen in over a year.” The defense they’d placed on the day the Rift opened had been larger, but it was a fight the Fleet had brought to the Invaders. Now the Invaders were trying to hit them where it hurt, in neutral Mars space, and with one of the enemy warships in tow.

  “The Eureka has been alerted. We’ve sent out thirty fighters, and every Recon we have.” Adams’ voice cut out.

  Serina left her desk, racing for the bridge.

  Ace

  Ace stayed behind the lander as it entered Hangar Five, and saw the icons appear right before a familiar voice from the Eureka entered his ship. Tsang was sending out all fighters to fend off the Watchers’ attack. Ace had been ready for a shower and something to eat, but all thoughts of comfort and relaxation vanished as his training took over.

  He counted the ships. Ten. Two of the large warships, three mid-sized corvettes, and a few fighters, which were growing in number as they disembarked from the warships’ hangar bays. The Eureka was already firing pulse cannons at the warships, a long-range battle commencing. Ace zoomed on his viewer to see the weak shields of the Pilgrim glow against the bright pulses of the mobile enemy fighters. A lot of the crew had vacated the ship while it was under repair, but Captain Aldene Hawk and some others were still on it. All of its EFF-15 fighters were currently inside Serina’s carrier or on the Eureka, so there was less to worry about there.

  Ace didn’t wait for the rest of the squadrons to emerge from the ship behind him; he raced toward the battle. A minute later, he heard Oliv’s voice through the chatter on his speakers: “Ace, I’m coming.”

  He smiled, fe
eling better that she was coming to back him up. As much as he wished she was safely tucked back inside the ship, he trusted her on his side more than anyone else.

  The Watchers were moving toward their old warship. Most of their focus seemed to be on destroying their own vessel.

  “Protect the warship!” Serina said, and the fifty or so fighters the Earth Fleet had out in space started for the warship, leaving the Pilgrim open. Ace knew there was no hope for the old colony ship, and his stomach filled with lead.

  He found the channel for the Pilgrim and reached out. “Captain Hawk, you’re a sitting duck. They want to destroy your ship. Abandon ship! Get off the Pilgrim!” His voice was raw as he shouted.

  “Ace, is that you? I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I can’t leave her. You’ll understand one day.” Hawk ended the communication, and Ace flew toward the warship coming for the colony ship. It slowed twenty kilometers from its target and fired a pulse cannon.

  The Pilgrim began moving, detached from the station it was clamped to. She’d freed it from the restraints and was moving away from the rest of the fight. Ace glanced to the HUD to see the warship where they’d lost Flint being destroyed, and the Watchers attacking it were killed at the same time. They’d sacrificed their own lives just to annihilate the ship the Fleet had stolen from them. Any remaining enemy ships were now turning their attention to the moving target flying away from Mars.

  Ace chased a Watcher fighter now, trading shots on its shields with Oliv, and eventually, the ship weakened enough and Shifted away. So close.

  It was chaos everywhere, and Ace suddenly found himself far from the fight. He wondered just what Captain Hawk was doing; then he recalled the Destroyers they’d built on board the colony ship. It was housing two of them, and she wasn’t going down without a fight. Two of the enemy warships remained; one of them limped toward Hawk’s vessel as a dozen Fleet fighters barraged it with fire from a distance.

  “She’s going to use the Destroyers! Everyone back!” Ace shouted, watching most of his team arc away from the enemy warship as Captain Hawk fired the terrible weapon.

  It hit the weak shield of the warship, and the large Watcher vessel exploded on impact. The other warship looked torn between running and ending the colony ship. It chose the latter, alongside the last remaining Watcher corvette. They flanked the Pilgrim, and Ace watched as Hawk made her choice. She could only hit one of them, and she chose the larger, more dangerous warship. It was too close for her to remain unscathed, and Ace shouted as he saw the Pilgrim explode seconds after the enemy did.

  The last corvette, sensing its doom, Shifted away, leaving nothing but Fleet vessels and shrapnel above Mars.

  12

  Wren

  “I’m sorry, but this is the only place I can put you where no one will have access. You understand why I can’t let you roam around, right?” Wren asked Larspen as she showed her into the same cell where the previous Watcher had been held captive. All remnants of the virus had been wiped clean, the whole laboratory sterilized.

  Larspen assessed the confined space, and Wren wondered if she knew one of her people had been held captive inside. Wren couldn’t tell.

  “What choice do I have?” Larspen asked in English.

  “None, I suppose. I’ll be back with clothing and food. Any requests?” Wren asked.

  “I’ve gotten used to canned human food. Does it all come like that?”

  “No. We have fresh. I’ll bring you some fish and some steamed vegetables. You’ll like that,” Wren said, not really knowing what they usually ate. She’d have time to find out later. For right now, Wren had to meet with Barkley and discuss the recent attack. She’d let the captain know about their new guest as well. The Watcher attack had been devastating, but if there was a silver lining, it had caused enough distraction that Wren had no issues getting Larspen from the hangar to her lab.

  The Watcher looked scared, and she had every right to be. Wren would be too, if their positions were reversed. “I’ll be back soon. The door will be locked, and only Charles and I can access it.”

  Larspen nodded and took a seat inside the cell. Wren activated the energy barrier, forcing herself to keep her gaze forward as she left the lab.

  In a few minutes, she found herself in Captain Heather Barkley’s office. The woman’s eyes were red. The news of Captain Hawk going down in her blaze of glory was still only an hour fresh.

  “How are you holding up, Captain?” she asked the other woman, who lifted her gaze straight at Wren.

  “Please, just use my name. I don’t want to be a captain, or anything but Heather.” Heather sat back in her chair, pushing away from her desk, and motioned for Wren to take a seat opposite her. “This was a disaster. Damn Serina and her desperation. If it wasn’t for her delaying us to get that warship, the same one that now sits in a billion pieces, we could have been closer to Earth and still had Flint with us.”

  Wren didn’t speak yet, letting Heather get it all out. “What a waste. This has all been such a waste.”

  “They came out of nowhere,” Wren said finally.

  “That’s how this works. Modern warfare, with Shift drives and darting enemies. It used to be so much simpler. Everything was. What do we do, Wren?” Heather asked, and it took Wren a minute to realize it hadn’t been a rhetorical question. She really wanted the doctor’s opinion.

  Since Wren had the opportunity, she took it. “We have to meet with Shadow tomorrow. That hasn’t changed. We need their help more than ever.” She waited for Heather to cut in, but the captain didn’t. Wren kept talking. “Then we find Flint.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Heather asked, and Wren took a chance.

  “We found one of them below,” she whispered, leaning closer to the desk.

  Heather frowned. “What do you mean, one of them below?”

  “We found a lone Watcher female on Mars, inside the dome. She speaks English and has been useful in sharing information. We’ve already learned that they come from far away and have overtaken seven different races in as many systems. They plan on doing to Earth what they did to the last world we visited. She told us that her people are angry with how long it’s taking. She takes it as a sign from Ober, that Ober’s displeased. I think her faith will give us the crack we need to get more details of their camps and people,” Wren said.

  Heather’s jaw dropped. “You left her down there?”

  Wren shook her head.

  Heather’s voice dropped low. “Wren, where is she?”

  “She’s in my lab,” Wren answered.

  Heather rested a palm on her own face, letting it drop down over her mouth. “My God, what’s happening here? Wren, I feel like we’re swimming upstream, and a bear is waiting for us to jump out.”

  The metaphor reminded Wren that she’d promised Larspen some fish for dinner. “You can’t tell Serina about her.”

  Heather went rigid, suddenly the captain of a Fleet ship once again. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”

  “She won’t let us send a rescue after Flint. He’s our crew, our family. We have to find him,” Wren pleaded.

  “I’ll agree to this for now, but don’t make this a habit, okay? And keep a close eye on her. I don’t want anything going sideways because you had the ambition to stow one of our enemy away on my ship.” Then the captain was gone once again, replaced by the thirty-something woman in mourning. “I can’t believe we made it all this way only for Aldene to die.”

  “But her crew is safe. At least we have that,” Wren said.

  “At least we have that,” Heather repeated. “When are you going over to see the Grand Admiral about this Shadow meeting?”

  “First thing in the morning. I’ll be taking Benson with me.” Heather knew that, but Wren thought a reminder might be good.

  “Tell Serina she can keep him, for all I care. I loathe that man,” Heather said, showing Wren more emotion than she’d ever seen from the ordinarily calm woman.

  “I’m not sure
that’s a good idea. I’d rather he stay close. Who knows what Serina will do? We have to make sure he gets what’s coming to him,” Wren said, mirroring the captain’s attitude toward the man.

  “Fine. You make the call. I’ll be glad to get back to Earth, how about you?” Heather asked.

  “I’m not sure I’ll be going. We’ll find Flint before then,” Wren said, and the other woman just smiled sadly and nodded. “If Shadow’s fleet is big enough, we might be able to hit them where it hurts and finish this. I’ll see if Larspen can teach us anything of value. She seems to want to get home. All else is a means to that end.”

  “Good. Good work, Wren,” Heather said, spinning around slowly in her chair to look out a viewscreen at the nearby carrier and the half-dozen fighters still roaming in space, on alert for another attack.

  “Try to get some rest,” Wren said as she stood and walked to the door, but she didn’t think Heather even heard her comment.

  Serina

  Serina listened to the reports of the recent attack. Twelve fighters destroyed; the carrier was hit, killing five in the process; they’d lost the warship and the old colony ship, along with the hard-nosed captain she’d admired. It was almost too much to bear. She sat stoically, accepting the numbers, as if the words somehow didn’t correlate to real lives and hindering their chances at victory.

  Adams went over the details calmly, and she appreciated him for it. She was on the verge of hysterics. How could she keep going like this? There had to be a finish line one direction or another. Grand Admiral Serina Trone was at her wits’ end. Maybe it was time to step down and let someone else take over. Heather Barkley had a good head on her shoulders, or maybe Adams. He’d been with her since close to the start, but that meant he’d picked up all her bad habits in the process.

  “We have to get back to Earth. I’m leaving for the meeting with Shadow in a few minutes. Can you assure me you’re able to get this done?” Serina asked Adams, who seemed insulted that she even had to ask.