Five Empires: An Epic Space Opera

by Steven J Shelley

  The bay doors closed once again, only this time the emergency lights went out too.

  “Are we good, Jake?” Fusar found herself asking.

  “I’ll get you out of here, Fusar,” came the duellist’s voice through the gloom. “I kinda like the idea of protecting an Empress.”

  This time the humor worked. Fusar smiled, her panic dissipating for the moment. At least, until the bay doors opened again, releasing two more paladins. Men with families, friends, clans.

  The PIN must’ve picked up speed, because Rivia’s dead field seemed much closer now. In fact, the shuttle would likely dip its nose in less than a minute.

  Another blast rocked the PIN. Fusar held her harness tightly as the vessel began tumbling end over end. The doors opened again, ejecting more paladins. Mandie was next.

  74

  The PIN was now sliding rear-first into the dead field. One of the ejected paladins came drifting back into the hold just as the doors slammed shut again. Only his legs made it, falling to the floor with a horrifyingly wet sound.

  Fusar screamed despite herself. Jake struggled like mad against his harness, sawing through the right strap with his combat knife.

  Too late. The bay doors opened and flooded the hold with pale blue light. Mandie was released, but wasn’t sucked out into space like the others. Instead, she floated without velocity or direction. The PIN was now submerged under the dead field. It had reached Rivia’s controlled atmosphere.

  The bay doors stayed open as the PIN seemed to lose all remaining power. Jake swore and cut through his other strap, grabbing Fusar’s harness so he didn’t drift away. He worked her straps furiously, like a man possessed.

  Mandie spat from the bay doors. Fusar blinked several times, acclimatizing to the bright light. At length she fell forward gently, weightless. Jake took her by the hand and dragged her through the hold.

  he muttered, peering around the edge of the bay doors.

  Mandie said, firing the grappling hook built into her demolitions suit. She crouched, watching the hook soar through the azure mesosphere.

  Fusar could see why Jake was so concerned - hundreds of PINs were drifting aimlessly near the top of the dead field. The Cava05 had cleverly allowed the Jaj through the barrier only to deny them a means of propulsion through the atmosphere. The dead field had taken away gravity AND power.

  At this altitude they could be shot down with impunity. It made sense to cover as much air as they could before their PIN was blasted to smithereens.

  “We need to locate the dead field generator,” Fusar observed, mostly to herself.

  Jake said, watching Mandie push herself away from the bay doors and cruise toward the PIN some two hundred yards below them. He waited until she landed on the shuttle’s starboard hull before aiming his own grappling hook.

  he said, firing carefully. The hook struck the ailing PIN right on the fuselage. Orange plasma bolts peppered the vessel from below, tearing hull plates from the exposed port side. The Cava05 had cannons on the ground.

  Jake said, ensuring his cable was secure.

  The duellist pulled Fusar close.

  he asked.

  Fusar shook her head.

 

  And with that, he triggered the cable’s retraction mechanism and they were whisked through the air. Fusar felt a savage rush of adrenalin as they coursed straight for the PIN. She realized she had no idea how to land, but Jake took most of the impact, using his powerful legs as shock absorbers. They all hung from the starboard hull as they got their bearings. It felt strange to be weightless at such a high altitude.

  Hundreds of PINs had passed into the dead field only to lose momentum at the critical moment. Fusar could see the orange flash of plasma cannons against grey mountains, but the drifting PIN blocked their view of the Embank facility.

  A steady line of corpses were drifting from the PIN’s rear doors. Fusar held a hand to her mouth in shock. Such a waste of manpower. These men hadn’t been able to reach their battlefield.

  Jake said.

  Fusar could understand Jake’s brutal pragmatism, but she didn’t have to like it. The thought of firing the grappling hook into those corpses made her feel ill.

  And yet that was exactly what Jake intended. He fired a thirty-yard shot that split a paladin’s head open.

  he said, pulling Fusar with him on a lightning retraction.

  The pair soared across the top of the stricken PIN and into free air. Jake’s body thudded into the corpse, where he released the hook and studied the terrain far below them. Fusar was only too glad to look down and ignore the stiffening corpse they were hanging from.

  The first thing she saw was a large, glistening reservoir surrounded by jagged mountains. It had been dammed at the south end with a massive stone wall. A Cava05 command facility sat at the base of the wall and extended into a valley further south, where a huge, transparent orb sat half-buried in the rock. Over a mile in diameter, the orb occasionally flickered with intricate tendrils of light. Fusar couldn’t tear her eyes away from it, struck dumb by the breathtaking, unimaginable technology.

  Jake said, motioning for Mandie to grapple with a corpse below them. Her shot hit the mark and she sailed to it without incident.

  Jake continued, frowning.

  Three plasma cannons had been positioned at regular intervals along the top of the dam wall.

  Jake asked, pointing a gloved finger at the tiny craft crossing the lake from the north.

  “What now?” Fusar asked, dreading the answer.

  Jake said, spotting a small force field on the reservoir’s east shore.

  Jake’s gaze seemed to shift to a thick slab of hull plating drifting forty-five yards below them. In the opposite direction, beyond the blue dome, Fusar could see the dark outlines of several warships exchanging heavy fire. It looked as though the Aegisi had fulfilled their end of the bargain valiantly and were fighting to the death.

  crackled General Teronde.

  “Loud and clear,” Fusar said, flinching as she was whisked away to her next grappling port. Feeling acutely nauseous, she didn’t speak again until Jake had absorbed the shock of impact against the hull plate.

  <… what is your position?>

 
 

  “We can see it,” Fusar said. “I think Jake has something in mind.”

 

  Jake urged.

 

  “Look, Jake!” Fusar said. A huge shape moved below them - the Jaj warship that had tried to ram the dead field earlier in the battle. Even in anti-gravity, its momentum had taken it to around 1000 feet. The plasma cannons on the dam wall were systematically ripping it apart with concentrated fire. Amongst the debris trailing from the smoking aft deck were hundreds of paladin corpses.

  Mandie wasted no time in firing a grappling hook at the unmissable warship hull. J
ake followed suit, holding Fusar tightly with his free hand. Though the Empress was ill-suited to the queasy flights, she began to nurse the faint hope that they might actually make it to the ground.

  Jake completed an awkward landing on the thick iron hull, swearing when he almost stepped into a smoldering plasma hole. The hull was pockmarked with breaches, many of which had weakened its integrity. Mandie grunted in pain when she sank waist deep in ruptured metal. Jake was able to pull her free.

  he muttered, critically appraising the hull. The underside continued to be hammered by plasma fire and the entire ship threatened to come apart at any moment.

  Mandie commented.

  It was a tantalizing prospect. The grappling hooks were elite pieces of equipment, but the cable only ran so long. The distance had to be three hundred yards or less to reach the dam safely.

  Fusar checked her footing, knowing she was liable to fall through the treacherous hull at any moment.

  Jake said, crouching low and peering through a hull breach.

  Fusar could barely contain herself as the warship rocked from a massive blast.

  Jake said, drawing Fusar near.

  A terrific screech assailed them as the vessel began splitting in two. Fusar fell into Jake as the hull lilted to one side. The duellist peered into the expanding abyss and fired his grappling hook at the dam wall, which was now very close. The pair soared in between the separating warship halves, Mandie close on their heels.

  Fusar got a glimpse of exposed decks riddled with terrified Jaj personnel. She yelled encouragement as several sappers launched from the broken, smashed corridors, streaming down their cables like red spiders.

  The Empress felt adrenalin coursing through her as Jake made landfall on the dam wall. The pair were on their feet and running for the cover of some kind of ornamental obelisk. The dam’s central plasma cannon squatted less than twenty yards away. The three Cavan infantry astride the great weapon were drawing pistols and climbing down a service ladder.

  Jake snarled.

  Mandie was firing as she landed. Her first, unbalanced shot struck the foremost soldier in the thigh, sending him tumbling. Jake lined up the second and put a bolt through the back of his skull. Fusar looked through her liquid sights at the third, who had wisely waited at the top of the ladder.

  She peeled off a shot, hitting the simian in the leg. The violet soldier fell back on his haunches but managed to squeeze his own shot off. Fusar wasn’t really sure what happened next - all she knew was that she was on her back, drifting several yards away from Jake.

  “Fusar!”

  He hauled her to her feet, scrutinizing her left shoulder with a frown. That was when the pain arrived. It pounced on Fusar mercilessly and lapped at her brain in sickening waves. She chanced a look at her wound and could actually see daylight through the ragged, fleshy bolt hole. She was perilously close to fainting, but Jake shoved battlefield salve under her nose.

  he said.

  “Right,” Fusar said uncertainly.

  Mandie warned, still anchored to her grappling hook.

  A squadron of Cavan infantry were spilling from a guard house further down the dam wall.

  Jake said.

  By this stage other paladins were arriving on the wall having successfully rappelled from the splintered Jaj warship. Anchored to the dam, they couldn’t really do anything but fire their weapons. Jake shoved Fusar into Mandie’s waiting arms and fired his grappling hook at the abandoned plasma cannon.

  Perched on the side of the domed weapon, the duellist relieved the dead simians of their boots, draping them by the laces around his neck. By the time he returned the Cavan squadron was almost upon them. Jake and the women changed quickly, mindful of their vulnerable position. With the customized boots, Fusar was able to follow the others to the cover of a stone obelisk. Walking had never felt so good!

  The Cavan infantry attacked boldly, clearly instructed to smother the first wave of enemy infiltration. Trying to stay calm, Fusar use her liquid sites and made sure of her targets. She’d slowed down three enemy soldiers, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the squadron from reaching their position.

  Mandie drew her pike and danced into the enemy ranks, slashing with lethal precision. A Jaj pike was a multi-faceted weapon - not only could it rupture light to medium armor with the curved blade head, it also had a barbed tip for thrusting attacks. Best of all, melee attacks were executed from a range of two yards. If used correctly, the Jajan pike was peerless in open melee combat.

  Mandie certainly knew how to wield her weapon, dropping three enemy soldiers on her first run. She received a glancing plasma blast on her hip, but her armor was enough to deflect the blow.

  Jake growled, moving into the fray with purpose.

  Fusar had no choice but to follow, looking for a target to engage. A simian emerged from the chaos, truncheon raised to strike. Fusar instinctively shoved a heavy boot into his midriff to stall his momentum, following up with a brutal front kick to the face. The man’s data visor crumpled and he fell awkwardly to the ground. Hating herself, Fusar finished the job with a heel stomp to the simian’s throat.

  Jake was leaving a trail of destruction. He had already tailored his melee attacks to compliment his platinum hand. The new appendage was a weapon in itself, crushing windpipes and skulls with savage regularity. With Mandie continuing her bloody pike work on the edges of the main group, the invaders had a dozen simians on the ground in no time. More enemy squadrons were on route from the western end of the dam wall. Too many for the thin Jaj force.

  During the melee only four more paladins had arrived by air. The rest of the Jaj host was still being slaughtered by plasma fire in the upper atmosphere.

  Jake said angrily.

  Jake eyed the abandoned central plasma cannon with interest.

  he murmured.

  Mandie said, already halfway to the plasma cannon. Thankfully the other two cannons were both still engaged with the distant Jaj PINs.

  Jake said.

  “Clear,” Fusar said. “Just tell me where to go and I’ll follow.”

  Jake nodded.

  75

  Fusar hauled herself over the dam wall, narrowly avoiding a burst of laser fire. The remaining paladins were unlikely to last five minutes against the Cavan infantry. Hopefully Jake needed less than that. The burly duellist lifted the Empress down to the narrow maintenance ledge he’d mentioned earlier.

  The deep blue reservoir was less than ten yards below them. The water stretched for several miles to the north. The scene might have been perfectly tranquil on any other day, but today the Jaj were bringing the fires of hell to Rivia.

  A convoy of cargo barges were making their way into some kind of processing facility built into the dam wall. The wide, flat craft were manned by simian guards, one of which spotted the invaders on the maintenance ledge.

  Jake said.

  Fusar sprinted at his heels, half-expecting a plasma bolt in the back of her head. Her shoulder ached hard, sending ripples of pain all the way down her spine. The pair hared along ledge until Fusar had exhausted the air in her
lungs. She was about to beg Jake to stop when he spun around, squeezing off several shots at the moving targets below.

  Fusar crouched beside him and fired a few rounds, careful not to overheat her pistol. At this range she wasn’t confident of hitting targets, so she smiled with surprise when one of her bolts knocked a barge pilot into the water, sending the vessel into a shoal of rocks.

  The other barges began withdrawing into the dam wall.

  Jake said.

  Jake grabbed Fusar’s hand, and together they leaped off the maintenance ledge. The Empress screamed as the water rushed to meet them. It was cold, clammy, and slimy. Once she’d fought her way to the surface, which was predictably difficult in her paladin armor, she followed Jake to the rocks where the onbantium barge had founded.

  A simian rose from nowhere and fired his pistol, but the shot missed Fusar’s face by inches. Jake pulled the guard into the water. Fusar didn’t miss a beat, clubbing the simian over the head with her pistol. Dead or unconscious, he was out of the game.

  She hauled herself onto the rocks and was on her feet instantly. The battle chemicals she’d been administered on the Resolute were still holding her in good stead. Jake found a way through the tall, jagged rocks, denying the other guards a line of sight.

  Keeping low, the pair stood beneath the barge’s black hull. Jake reached up to the leading edge and propelled himself onto the vessel. Cursing his agility, Fusar skirted the starboard fuselage until she found an access ladder.

  Jake was grappling with a guard on the fore deck. A second guard was looking for a clean shot from the roof of the steerage cabin. Fusar fired her weapon. Nothing. Her pistol had shorted out in the water. Cursing, she threw the thing as hard as she could. It hit the guard in the cheek, momentarily stunning him.

  Fusar leaped onto the cabin ladder and yanked on the simian’s legs. The guard fell to the deck, his pistol clattering across the boards. The Empress delivered a breathtaking kick to the simian’s chest, then followed up with a chop to the neck. This time she must’ve had the angle wrong, because she missed the windpipe.