“What is that thing?” I yelled. What's next? Giant flying devil monkeys?
“I have no idea!” Yelled the co-pilot. Out of the corner of my eyes behind the head of the serpentine creature I witnessed what looked like a meteor go flying up and across the sky, reaching our altitude. In fact, it was going so fast it nearly hit us as we made our own reckless ascent out of Europa's atmosphere. It disappeared into space.
“Did you see it?” I asked. Tulos was sitting beside me, his hands gripping the sides of his seats. He nodded.
“I saw it.” But there was no time to ponder what it was. Or which it he referred to. Did it come from that creature? So many things were happening it was hard to process. The ship was violently swung by storm winds. The pilot turned the ship sharply, rolling it in turns and loops. I rolled my head back, closing my eyes, fully expecting to crash. I heard the creature's angry roars at our disturbing its under water lair. Both our unit and Unit One had just missed being swallowed whole.
We'd escaped the atmosphere just in time to find a space battle in full swing!
14
Hundreds of Martian Allied fighters were engaged in furious battle with three loyalist assault frigates. A long stream of fire power came streaking toward the Selus from one of the frigates. Sarah gunned the engine, swerved up and looped and to the right, barely avoiding complete incineration. One of the alliance ships, a star cruiser, was engaged with the first frigate, intercepting its firepower with its own stream of short, powerful blasts. The enemy ships were shaped like oversized D-shaped vessels with sharp noses. They were considerably larger than the Alliance battle ships and faster but we had the great advantage of the ghosting technology that disrupted their sensors when trying to get a lock on our ships and ghost shields made the Allied ships hard to see. With the exception of the outfitted barges the Allied star cruisers were long and narrowed shaped, like spears.
I could see the faint flash of protective shield barriers around each ship, flickering each time one of them was hit with laser fire. The first volley bounced off the hull of the enemy frigate. The second volley hit the frigate square on, then it disappeared back into ghosting mode, vanishing as if into smoke. We in the Selus, however, didn't have powerful shields like these big battle ships. Two or three minor hits from an enemy ship and we were done for.
“Activate defensive shields!” Said the pilot to Arauto. We needed to find the Dyra before getting roasted out here in cold space and the furious motion of ships and fire power made it dizzying and confusing to find our way. Sarah punched the comlink channel. There were two sharp beeps.
“Admiral Suttu! This is the Selus! We have completed the mission! Where is your location?” There was an immediate response.
“Selus! I have received your signal! The Dyra is located at-” his voice was interrupted as a frigate rained down laser fire on the Dyra. I saw an insectoid-like fighter ship coming that didn't look like anything I recognized. It was bearing down on us.
“Enemy fighter is on our tail!” Announced the co-pilot.
“Tulos! The gunner!” Tulos was already there, strapping himself in and swerving around in the seat. He grabbed the controls and fired the mounted gun. A thin stream of laser fire streaked toward the enemy fighter, missing by a hair. We were shot with a jolt of laser fire.
“Shields holding! Ghost Protocol down!” Said the pilot. Sarah dipped the Selus in an evasive maneuver, just barely avoiding another stream of laser fire from the enemy fighter. I saw a familiar black fighter ship fly past over us. The black fighter blasted the enemy fighter with a torpedo. The fighter exploded in half.
“Selus, this is Genevieve! Follow me!” Our pilot came up beside the black fighter ship. We followed the fighter to one of the many bays in the Dyra's hangar. Streaks of laser fire power flew past us from all directions. I saw a group of black fighter ships dive below us and fire on the second enemy frigate.
Once we'd finally made it to the hangar medical mechs gathered around and raced Ven to the medical pod. Amazingly, I didn't feel nauseated after all that jolting and flying around. Odd how that worked.
I went to find the ship's bridge and stood at the wide doorway to the bridge and watched. Admiral Suttu was right there in the portside crew pit directing the fleet, watching from both the wide view port and the tracking holographic tactical display map of the battle on a console table.
“Shields on the front frigate are down! All ships in sector one, fire!” He commanded. His hands were clasped behind his back as he moved from one seat to another, studying the holographic tactical displays. Through the holographic screen I could see a group of black fighters responding and soon they had reformed into an arrow formation and reappeared out of ghost protocol, diving in toward the first frigate. The Dyra and three other Alliance ships along with the alliance fighters made a relentless and concerted attack. Lightening fast laser fire rained down on the frigate as well as blasting laser canons. Torpedo missiles bombarded the frigate. It was larger than the Alliance ships and was more than a match for any of them but the rapid fire attack from near invisible Alliance ships caught its crew by surprise and it sustained critical damage.
“We need to finish this before any gorgons arrive. If they arrive, it's over for us,” snapped Suttu. Seven more allied star cruisers moved in as the first frigate came apart. Explosions could be seen throughout the ship as it broke apart, pieces of sections colliding with each other, loyalist soldiers being cast off into space. Finally, in a great bloom of fire the frigate exploded entirely, wreckage shooting out, turning into projectiles. The second frigate moved in and fired a volley of powerful laser fire right at the Dyra. The entire ship shuttered and jolted. I was nearly rocked to the floor. It and seven others then retaliated with huge blasts of fire, disintegrating nineteen loyalist fighter ships.
“Shields holding at fifty percent,” called the helmsmen. Star cruisers pummeled it with torpedoes and Allied fighters dove in, some flew under it, hitting the frigate's underside, while the rest seared off its hull with a ferocious rain of canon laser fire. This one, too, separated and broke apart. Another Allied ship came in and finished it off and under this fire, the second frigate exploded in a brilliant burst of fire. The Dyra suffered minor damage but was holding.
The third frigate turned to escape. A rear guard of twenty-five star cruisers waiting in the wings at the admiral's command came out of ghosting protocol to chase it down but it was swift and too far away. We watched the ferocious flares of fire from the viewport as the second frigate exploded.
“Open a communication link for all channels,” commanded Suttu.
“Channels open, admiral,” said the helmsman.
“All ships, retreat! I repeat! All ships retreat! We've won the day!”
Just in time as we arrived at one of the loading bays of Suttu's ship, the battle was over. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was. We'd sent the enemy running for cover. It was easy. Too easy. Fighter ships were entering the hangar and soon the fleet was on its way back to the inner rim. I went to a resting chamber and collapsed into a seat. Captain Tagor suddenly appeared.
“Where did it go? The third enemy ship?” I asked, nearly out of breath from adrenaline.
“We tracked it in the tactical bay before it got away. It went toward the moon Io. We suspect another, smaller military base is located there,” he said.
“I can't believe we . . .got away with it.”
“Got. . .away? This is one battle in a long war, I suspect. Your fighters are faster and more advanced than ours. They helped win the day. But like the gorgon attack, this was too easy.”
“What will you plan to do now?”
“We expect an imminent and deadly attack before the year is out. That is why Ophir is so important. Ophir is being built as a fortress of protection. When they come for us they won't find us unprepared. I am glad you succeeded, Robert. We accomplished what we set out to do. But this is not the end of it,” he said gravely.
I could here th
e joy and elation from the fighters until it became deafening cries. Down the corridor I saw Genevieve and Diamond hugging each other. Hey! When did that happen? Then I laughed. Well, why not? I ran to meet them. She turned to me, her face incandescent. I had never seen her this way before. It was pure joy on her elfin features. Her bionic, orange rimmed eyes were lit with intense fire.
“You did it! You did it!” She exclaimed. Diamond's laugh was boisterous and infectious.
“We all did it!” I said. And it was true. Even the normally solemn Tulos was for once, happy.
“We should never take this for granted. One never knows what's in store for the future,” he said.
'”But let's enjoy this moment. We gave them a crushing shot across the bow!” I said.
“We gave 'em hell!” Said Diamond. Around us cheers were deafening and our own cheers were added to the chorus. Soon we heard Suttu's deep, growly voice over the ship-wide intercom channel. First he said something in Hanga. Then in Gorso, German, Chinese and then in English: “We've won the day.” The cheers throughout the ship, and undoubtedly the fleet, were deafening.
Right now luck was on our side and we had taken the advantage. They never expected us coming and didn't know what hit them. Their loyalist allies were still out there beyond the system, heading toward us but for now we'd sent the front guard running. The Realm's advance guard suffered a defeat. Us: one, them: zero.
. . .
When the fleet arrived back to Mars everyone was ready to continue celebrating. The residents and rear guard of Syzygy had gotten message of the destruction of the base and it flew like wildfire through the city. We were heroes. It was a brand new experience for me and I wanted to savor it forever. I wanted to tell my family in person. But I was so far away.
Will, on the other hand, was getting his first taste of being a hero. I wasn't exactly sure what he made of it. I think he rather liked it. On the journey back to Mars he spent the vast majority of the remaining time in sleep mode, with very little activity. This puzzled the admiral, Genevieve, Tulos and Rychik and most everyone else who'd come in contact with him. They thought that perhaps he'd suffered an overload of information and his systems shut down because of it. I wasn't so sure.
“Leave him be,” I said. “He's probably processing information. Remember, this information is alien in form and make, alien code to an android created on Earth.” I said, hoping that he really was processing information and not malfunctioning. Speaking of malfunctioning, my laser dragon, which I was sorry to say, hadn't been weatherized for the extreme temperatures I'd experienced on Europa had frozen up completely and needed repair. Genevieve took a good look at it and whistled softly.
“A beautiful work of art. Looks like a British sea service flintlock pistol. Am I right?”
“Yup.”
“You seem to like these old beauties. I know they aren't cheap or plentiful either. I swear, Bob, where do you find these things?” I just smiled slyly. She gave me a mock warning look.
“If you want me to repair this thing you better cough it up, pal. Or I just might be tempted to keep this as payment for services rendered.”
“Two words for ya. Diamond Dog.” She grinned widely now.
“Well, well, well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.” Her voice took on a rather sultry tone I'd never heard before. Then she got serious as she moved into “fix-it-haus-genius” mode. “I meant to ask you about it but never got around to it. While I take a look at it maybe I can get it weatherized for you too. It'll do you no good freezing up when you need to sling it at a moment's notice.”
“I would deeply appreciate that, Genevieve. It's become my favorite gun to use. Even more than my rifle.” She feigned shock, then laughed.
“Even more than that old beauty? I don't believe you.”
. . .
The whole city was preparing for a big celebration. According Genevieve this would mean mostly drunken partying. She basically said: “Picture New Year's Eve party-goers at Times Square. Times ten.” Hey, we earned it. A little niggling thought in the back of my mind asked just when our winning streak would end. But I didn't want to think about that now. There was, however, one extremely significant piece of information that we all sought, I, most of all.
“I couldn't get any information out of Will. He couldn't tell us anything. It was like. . .” she threw Will a questioning gaze. “Well?” She asked him. Will looked at me.
“I couldn't communicate with any of the mechs or the alien computers on the frigates, Bob. Not while we were out there.”
“You didn't receive any information? At all?”
“I didn't say that. I've had time to examine and process some of the information and make sense of it. It took a long time. The language is Hanga but the dialect is a different one than what I've noted is mainly spoken here. There was something strange. Something significant that I picked up.” We were both listening attentively.
“In all the fighting there was one communication that I definitely noted from my limited knowledge of the language from the alien files you gave me over a year ago. I was able to tap into communications between the base and the frigate that escaped us. From that communication I was able to ascertain that a pod escaped the explosion on the military base on Europa.” I felt a sickening, foreboding feeling, recalling the object that at first appeared as a meteor streaking through the sky.
“A capsule-pod.” Genevieve's bionic eyes grew bright and I could see her irises widen, focusing on Will very closely.
“I was able to make a rough translation of the information I was tapped into,” he continued. “They are in the process of creating plans for another stargate. The information for these plans were in this pod. It escaped the military base right before the explosion.” Dead silence.
“Where did this pod go?”
“Toward another base on the moon Io.” I sat down. The news hit me like a boulder.
“I see,” I said. Genevieve's expression turned deadly serious but she placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Are you upset, Robert?” I was surprised by the question. And by her expression. Usually she took on a hard, hunted look or an indifferent expression. The concern in her eyes softened her face and the faint creases at the corners of her eyes.
'”Well, of course! It means I really did fail when I first came out here! It was all for nothing! Nothing. He died for nothing.”
“No. Taylor didn't die for nothing. We destroyed their major base out here in the solar system. That counts for something.”
“I would say it counts for a lot,” chimed Will.
“The question is, are you upset?” I asked. She shook her head, giving me a rueful smile.
“I've made the decision to live my life on the edge out here. I'm a sentinel. I'm a rebel. We don't always win everything. The only thing we can do is give it our all. That's what you did. I believe you will always do that.”
“But it's such a crushing blow!”
“Look. Admiral Sutto and the other captains and sentinels are already at work in the Oculus, plotting an offensive against the base on Io.”
“Suttu's retiring soon. And you can bet that attacking Io won't be anywhere near as easy as the sneak attack on Europa. They'll be ready for us next time.”
“We know. We're on the blade's edge, Robert,” said a voice behind us. It was Tulos. He was holding the gristone sword, balancing it delicately upon his palms. “We've still an advantage. Will is our advantage in all this. They don't know that we have a spy in their networks.” He nodded at Will.
“And remember, Bob, I said that I couldn't communicate with them, not that I couldn't receive or understand information going back and forth through their networks.”
“Will, do you think you can recover any more information?” I asked.
“With time. It won't be easy.”
“Yes, we have Will. And you brought him to us. You must realize how important you are to us here. Not all is lost,” said Genevieve.
&n
bsp; “Besides, there's more to simply building a stargate. You must work to plot a path that won't collapse and tear apart your ship, which is very difficult. And their ships are not entirely stable,” Tulos said.
“Right,” I said quietly. Admiral Suttu had said the same thing. It re-fired my glimmer of hope. I looked at Will. Will's face was beaming with. . .was that pride? Its openness reminded me of the faces of my children.
“Alright. Alright!” I finally said. Genevieve smiled.
“We're heroes today, Bob. Let's have a good time, 'cause we don't know how long it will last.”
15
The cantina was, packed to the gills, interestingly enough, a saying in English and also in Gorso, another Erautian alien language. But I guess that's neither here nor there.
Independents and separatists, soldiers, or warriors as they called themselves, pilots, commanders, mercenaries, captains and many who had taken part in the mission – all of them scavengers, where everywhere. Most of the clientele here were human but there were a few Glia, Miku and Suwudi warriors and pilots mixed in with the human company. I stayed along with Rychik. The others, Diamond, Genevieve and Tulos had long since left. Tulos had gone back to the rusting gorgon hulk on the outskirts of the city to shave off more metal for a personal project. Scavenging. An important cultural aspect of every place on Mars. Or Yiral. Which ever name you preferred for the planet. Then he would be off to study at the temple in Noctis Labyrinthus. He was at the beginning of a deep spiritual journey and I think he'd finally found his true calling.
Mission: Attack on Europa Page 16
