by Kal Spriggs
The Balor had begun to alter course to maintain the range between them and the force they’d just fired on. The appearance of the massive fleet at their rear came totally unexpected. The smooth choreography of their maneuvers faltered.
The ship thrummed as it opened fire. Around it, the other ships fired.
A wave of twelve thousand missiles surged out from the United Colonies Fleet. Three thousand of those missiles were the light Interceptor missiles. All five hundred of Lucius’s fighters carried the lighter missiles, the better to sweep the enemy fighters out of the sky.
Shields flared and died. Ships shuddered. Debris and explosion haloed within the Balor formation. Then the missiles, unopposed by jamming and anything but sporadic fire, detonated in one long, ripple of explosions.
Lucius dimmed his screen, he wasn’t sure if his gunnery officers still had targets or just fired blindly into that hash. Slowly the haze cleared somewhat.
Three of the dreadnoughts and seven of the battlecruisers remained, battered but still active. The ships began to return fire.
“Baron, their missile flight!” Reese shouted.
Almost half of the enemy missile flight had gone inactive. Those missiles drifted, drives silent. “But why…” He stared, thinking. “Their missiles are directed through command. We destroyed their ships, the missiles lost track.”
A staggering number of missiles continued, still directed by the Balor ships. But as Balor ships died, more missiles went ballistic.
It might be enough, he decided.
The Patriot shuddered as Balor fire made it through the defense screens. Lucius picked out the battlecruiser that targeted them immediately. He opened his mouth to snap out firing directions, then realized he was on a flag bridge. He should be directing the fleet, not a ship.
He opened a link to a cluster of ships on the right flank, “Close the range further, their ships in your sector are trying to break away.” When he looked back at the screen, the enemy battlecruiser broke up under the attention of the heavy guns.
Another of the enemy superdreadnoughts died. It exploded in a massive flash of energy.
A squadron of Kukri-destroyers began to close in on the flank of an enemy battlecruiser. They began to take direct fire. “Pull, back you’ve extended too far,” Lucius said, too late.
First one, then a second died as they flared brightly under the battlecruiser’s fire. The third exploded, as fire hit its antimatter plant. The last ship, heavily damaged, bulled forward, guns firing at maximum. It collided with the larger ship and a moment later, its antimatter plants let go. Lucius looked away, tears in his eyes for the bravery and loss of the crew.
The human fleet slowly enveloped the Balor force. The massed heavy fire eroded the alien shields. One of the remaining Balor superdreadnoughts fell silent; the colossal ship a gutted wreck.
The super-heavy ships of the Crusader-class continued to close, while the bulk of the Patriot followed sluggishly behind. Around them, squadrons of fighters crisscrossed. A dozen enemy Bane Sidhe fighters made a run on the Patriot. Their light guns strafed the surface. The multitude of close in weapons fired and half the squadron died. A group of Harassers pursued, and killed three more.
The fight became a melee, as the two fleets interpenetrated. Lucius bit back a curse as fire missed one of the Balor ships and struck the human destroyer on its flank. “Captain Crysnik, watch your fire. All ships, monitor your fire patterns!”
The last Balor superdreadnought shuddered under massed fire and began to break up. A series of secondary explosions rippled through the interior. The only remaining carrier exploded, violently, as something hit its magazines. When the glare cleared, two human destroyers had died with it.
The enemy fire dropped off. All the enemy capital ships lay powerless or as clouds of debris. Lucius stared, almost afraid to speak. “We’ve won.”
“Oh, boy.” Kandergain said, then gave a gasp.
Lucius looked over at her, then shouted, “Medic team to the flag bridge!”
***
CHAPTER XVI
May 3, 2403 Earth Standard Time
Faraday System
United Colonies
“Look at me, Kandergain, focus.” Doctor Varene didn’t even try to get him to leave.
She clenched his hand in hers, “I didn’t think it would hurt so much.”
The ship’s surgeon spoke, “I can give you something—“
“No!” She shouted. “A psychic in pain is bad enough, a drugged psychic in pain is an accident waiting to happen.”
The surgeon looked over at Lucius, “Sir, I’m really not qualified…”
“You’re a doctor, right?” Lucius asked, no longer even trying to hide his own worry.
“Well, yes, but I’m a trauma surgeon, not—“
“Just do your job.”
“Oh,” Kandergain grunted.
Lucius clenched her hand, “Look at me, Kandergain. Focus on me.” He winced as her grip on his hand tightened. He put his face over hers. Look at me, breathe. You’ll get through this.”
He heard the surgeon mutter. “What’s that?” Lucius asked.
“Almost there.”
“See, babe, we’re almost there.”
“I don’t want to be almost there, I want to be done!” Kandergain grunted again. “Oh, this is so your fault!”
“My fault?” Lucius asked.
“Your fault.” Kandergain grunted again. Lucius wiped some of the sweat off her forehead with the hand not held in a vice.
“Almost there.” The surgeon grunted.
“Almost there, are you kidding, you said that an hour ago!” Kandergain shouted.
“It’ll be fine, Kandergain.” Lucius said, “Focus on me.” He didn’t want to think what would happen if she snapped and threw the surgeon across the room.
“Almost there.”
“Stop saying that!” Kandergain and Lucius both shouted.
“She’s away!” The surgeon shouted.
A second later, there came a shrill wail.
The sweating ship’s surgeon stepped forward, “Congratulations, Baron, you’re the father of a beautiful baby girl.”
***
Lucius started awake at a soft noise. He opened his eyes, and realized he’d fallen asleep in his chair. The noise that awoke him was the soft sound of his daughter as she came awake in his lap. She stared up at him, piercing blue eyes stared sleepily into his heart.
Lucius felt tears in his eyes. “Hello Kaylee, welcome to the world.”
He looked up, “Kandergain, look what…”
His voice died. The bed before him lay empty.
A plain paper envelope lay on the crisply made linens. He awkwardly opened it, while he held his daughter.
Dear Lucius,
It’s a terrible thing to do, I know, but I have to leave.
I’ve never let myself love anyone before now. It hurts so much to go that I half wish I hadn’t. But we made something beautiful, didn’t we?
Anyway, I wish it wasn’t so, but I do need to go. The main reason, as I’m sure you feared, is that I’ve got my own war to fight. It’s been a long one. I hope, someday, that we’ll have an opportunity to be a family. Until then… I love you, and I’ll always cherish our thirty seconds together.
You know me, I cheated a bit. I don’t know if you noticed, but all us powerful psychics don’t seem to age much. We can control our metabolism. I altered yours. I could have made you a bouncy young man of eighteen, but I thought that might be hard for you to explain. You won’t age, not a single day. When we finish our battles, Lucius, we’ll have a long time together.
I would stay longer, but one of the things Lachesis said was a warning to me. If I stay there, I’d be a direct threat to the Shadow Lords. The thing they fear above all else is a powerful psychic with access to a fleet like yours. If I’d lingered, they would have combined forces and come after us. The first thing I’m off to do is to personally warn them off you.
Now, we come down to payment for my services. My first favor I ask is that you raise our daughter to be the woman she should be. She’s inherited my abilities, though they won’t manifest till she’s older. Neither you or I had childhoods that we’d have wanted. Give her the one she deserves. Never let her doubt that her parents love her.
The second favor is this: on her eighteenth birthday, take her to Fey Darran, and find someone there to teach her. Don’t go there until then. Trust me on this.
I’ll keep my last favor in reserve.
All my love,
Kandergain
***
“Baron Giovanni, did you hear anything I just said?”
Lucius looked up with a start, “Sorry, what was that?”
Admiral Dreyfus sighed, “I know this is hard for you…”
Lucius shook his head, “I’m fine. My head’s back in the game. Start from the beginning.” He would not get melancholy and maudlin about Kandergain’s departure.
“I said, we’ve finished damage estimates. The whole fleet’s taken some heavy damage. The worst is with our Chxor converts—“
“How many Chxor volunteers did we lose?” Lucius asked.
“A lot. Their position and a majority of the missiles going ballistic sheltered the Nova Roma forces from catastrophic damage, but... a lot of Chxor died.” Admiral Dreyfus shrugged, “They knew what they were getting into.”
Lucius nodded, “I’ll meet with Kral later, try to find out if there’s anything we can do to honor them.”
Admiral Dreyfus raised an eyebrow, “You think they’ll want a memorial?”
“We’ll have a memorial, regardless of whether they want one or not,” Lucius responded. “If only to remind ourselves how close we came to defeat. But we owe those Chxor a debt, and I need to find out what we can do to repay that.”
The other man stared at Lucius for a moment, “You realize you’re talking about aliens from a race that’s even now participating in genocide against a dozen worlds.”
“Not these Chxor.” Lucius said. “And even if it was... they just saved us.”
Admiral Dreyfus shrugged, “Agreed.” He cleared his throat, “Just the one dreadnought and the seven cruisers are salvageable. Recovery is still under way, but it’s not likely they’ll find many more survivors.”
“The Marines are handling the Balor ships with caution. They’re opening holes, venting compartments still under pressure, and then slowly moving through the wrecks. We’ll have a lot of things, maybe even a few relatively intact ships for our scientists to look over.” He paused, “The Nova Roma ships are back in orbit, receiving attention.”
Lucius nodded. The Nova Roma forces, shielded by the Chxor, had survived with much less damage. None of their ships received crippling damage, anyway, though he knew hundreds of men had died in the Emperor’s actions. “We owe them a debt too.” He sighed, “We both know how we can pay that one.”
Admiral Dreyfus nodded, “I’ve already got members of my staff considering how to run the campaign to liberate Nova Roma. I assume you’ll want to move soon?”
Lucius nodded, “As soon as our own forces have repaired their damage. We also need to build the infrastructure to support that campaign, however.” He frowned, “I don’t know if we have the manpower for this.”
Admiral Dreyfus chuckled, “Baron, with what I’ve seen so far, I think you’ll manage.”
Lucius snorted, “We’ve got a lot at stake here.” He looked down at the infant asleep in his lap. “I’ve got a lot at stake here.”
“We’re building a future, of course there’s a lot at stake.” Dreyfus said. “But I think we’ll manage now.”
The com link buzzed.
Admiral Dreyfus flipped it over to speaker.
“Admiral, Baron, you need to see this, immediately.”
“What is it,” Admiral Dreyfus asked.
“A Balor battlecruiser just jumped into the system.”
***
Lucius settled into the now-familiar command chair of the flag bridge, “What’s the status?”
“It’s… hailing us, sir,” Reese said, plainly confused. “It’s just outside of our missile envelope.”
Lucius stared at the lone ship in confusion. “Connect them,” he said.
A familiar human face appeared, “Baron Giovanni, this is General Shaden.”
“General!” Lucius let out a relieved sigh, “You gave us a scare. We thought we had another Balor force inbound.”
“Sorry about that. I would have called ahead, but I realized we never exchanged ansible codes. And… I came as fast as I could.”
“I thought you had a battle elsewhere?” Lucius asked.
“The Balor never showed.” The other man said, “As a matter of fact, they pulled back from attacks on a dozen systems in Republic space. They halted all their offenses, everywhere for the time being.”
“Why?” Lucius asked.
“Because they threw a quarter of their fleet at you, here.” Shaden Mirra said. “And you just destroyed it.”
“A quarter?” Lucius asked, startled. “You mean they only have twenty four dreadnoughts total?”
“Had,” Shaden nodded, smiling broadly. “You’ve set them back years, at least. Maybe decades. With this, the Republic warlords might be able to take the offensive. If I’d known they would send so much of their fleet here…”
“How long will it take them to replace their ships?”
“It took them two years to replace the one superdreadnought we’ve captured.” Shaden shrugged. “Like I said, it could be decades. In the meantime, that’s freed me up for a brief visit here.”
“Going to lend us a hand with the Chxor?” Lucius asked, eyebrows raised.
“Ah… no. I don’t have that long. Kandergain said you had a lot of Balor wreckage. I thought I’d loan you some of my engineers who’ve got some experience working with it.” Shaden shrugged, “Best case scenario, a Shadow Lord won’t be the only one with a Balor superdreadnought.”
“I like the sound of that.” Lucius grinned.
“I thought you would.”
***
“The Emperor will see you now.”
Lucius stepped into Romulus IV’s office, and gave a deep bow. “Thank you for your time, your Highness.”
The younger man spoke, “I hope we’ll begin the offensive on Nova Roma now.”
“Yes, your Highness,” Lucius said, “The United Colonies Fleet will begin a campaign to free Nova Roma from the Chxor. Admiral Dreyfus and his staff are going over possible strategies as we speak.” He sighed, “I want to personally thank you, and your men, for your actions against the Balor.”
The Emperor shrugged, “Baron, I know you think me impatient and arrogant,” the youth held up a hand to forestall Lucius. “Let me finish. Even with the ships I have, I must be a beggar, asking for help to save my people, my world. That’s been hard for me. That the Empire my great-grandfather... your grandfather... founded has fallen so far…” The man shook his head. “On top of that, we both know how brutal life under the Chxor must be. They’re killing our people, Lucius. They’re killing them all.”
“I know, your Highness,” Lucius said solemnly.
“At first, I thought you were stalling, trying to use time as a bargaining chip.” The young man shrugged, “Honestly, I thought you wanted the throne. It frustrated me because, when it came to it, if you’d asked, I would have given it to you.”
“It’s never been about that,” Lucius said.
“I realize that now.” The Emperor shrugged, “But even so, it’s been hard to wait. Hard knowing that the people I’m responsible for are dying in the millions while I wait here.”
“We’re going to Nova Roma,” Lucius said. “And when we do, we’ll kick the Chxor Empire hard enough they’ll never recover.”
“We’d better,” Emperor Romulus IV said, his sad eyes saw the mass graves that awaited his return. “We’d better.”
***
“Daddy, tell me about Mommy.”
“Again?” Lucius asked his daughter.
“Again.”
Lucius looked down at her as she stared up at him with the solemnity that only a five year old can have. With her blonde hair, pulled back in a ponytail, she looked so much like her mother his heart ached. He picked her up, lifting her onto his shoulders.
“Your mother,” Lucius said, looking up at the night sky, “is the smartest, bravest, most beautiful woman in the universe. And you’re going to grow up to be just like her.”
“Really?” Kaylee asked, in a small voice.
“Really,” Lucius responded.
THE END
DIAGRAMS
About the Author
Kal Spriggs started reading science fiction and fantasy in elementary school. Eventually he was the only eight year old with permission from the local public library to check out books from the adult section because he’d read everything else. He’s written ever since he started running out of ‘good’ stuff to read when he was twelve, although he likes to think his writing has improved, if only slightly. His range of interests has since expanded to include computer and console games, tabletop RPGs, and strategy games.
An Army brat born overseas, Kal was born with a wanderlust to see what lies over the next horizon. Kal visited 22 countries on five continents before he turned 25, and hopes to add many more to the list, as well as revisit some of his favorite places. Spriggs loves to ski, hike, fish, and camp, especially in the Rocky Mountains where he spent much of his childhood.
Kal Spriggs is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy with an engineering degree. He followed in his parents’ footsteps and joined the US Army after graduation and currently serves as an active duty Engineer captain. As well as earning a masters degree in environmental engineering, he’s been deployed to both Afghanistan and Iraq.
