by William Wood
“We won’t know for sure until we try,” Astra said. “But I think it will. The manuals we recovered from the main lab on Cusendea showed me how to assemble it, and then perform a functional check. But, two of the segments were heavily damaged. I was able to use the manuals as a guide as best I could, but again, there’s no way to know for sure.”
“Were you able to program it?” Calvin asked.
“Yes, I programmed it to destroy Goremog and No’Rath power signatures,” Astra said. “In theory, it should only destroy their technology, and leave ours intact.”
“I like how you said that,” Calvin said. “In theory.”
“This has never been done before.”
Everyone tried to eat dinner together in the library. They each took a package of cold rations and sat at the table. Calvin’s meal resembled some sort of ‘mystery meat’ and mushy white grains, like rice.
The food tasted awful, the light was low, and it was cold. Everyone looked tired and worried. But apart from all of that, it felt good to be with the people that had become more than just friends. They were his family now.
Halfway through dinner, the engines started to shake and Nils ran out of the room. Astra had to take care of an emergency with life support and Dev left to deal with a hull breach on deck four.
Later that night, Calvin sat in a big padded chair by the window in the library, drifting in and out of sleep. He woke up every time the door opened, a light was turned on, or something was dropped.
Sometime during the night, Dev stormed into the room and announced loudly that he’d repaired the gun turrets. That brief happy moment helped Calvin fall asleep, but an hour later he was wide awake again.
When he was tired of trying to sleep, Calvin got up. There was one thing he had no trouble doing, and that was eating. He sat by the window and munched on crackers and over-dried meat. Calvin sat half dazed and stared into nothingness, letting his mind go blank. Astra sat down next to him, bringing him back to the present reality.
“Good morning sweetie,” she said warmly. “Are you as tired as I am?”
Calvin chuckled. “I don’t know. I’m not really awake right now. Did you get any rest?”
“I’ll rest later,” she yawned. “You can handle the bridge by yourself, right?”
“Of course,” Calvin said.
“I know you can, you’re the best pilot to come through this dump in years,” Astra laughed at her own joke. “Well, listen, I’m gonna be in the engine room with Nils and Ion, if you don’t mind. We’re going to make sure the engine works long enough to get us to the base.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Calvin said.
“The engine is barely being held together by string and tape at this point. You’ll have to be very careful when you take us out of hyperspace. Make the transition as slowly as you can. Plus, landing is going to be very difficult. You’ll only have rear maneuvering thrusters and roll jets.”
“I’ll be careful,” Calvin said. Astra kissed him on the cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Astra turned and left the room.
Calvin dressed in his advanced combat suit and headed to the bridge. Walking the airless, cold corridors of Azure Frost was an eerie experience. He glanced at his air supply; time remaining: 5:32. Five hours of air; that should be enough.
Due to power restrictions and widespread damage throughout the ship, only the navigation and flight computers were on.
Calvin leaned back and stared into the hyperspace tunnel. There was nothing for him to do now but wait. This was it, Astra was right, all their time of hunting for the ten segments was over, and they were hurtling through space towards what would most likely be the greatest event in his lifetime. This was the moment he would look back on and say everything that occurred in the future was because of this event, whether the outcome is good or bad. Salvation or destruction for everyone in the galaxy was about to be determined.
An alarm startled him awake. He sat forward quickly and looked around anxiously. A small display in the navigation computer told him they were approaching Pentazia. A sudden burst of apprehension and fear made him feel very awake.
“Standby,” Calvin announced to everyone over his Helcomp communicator. “We’re here.”
“Remember, just like I said,” Astra said. “Nice and easy.”
“Got it.” Calvin pulled the hyperdrive engine control down slowly, but the transition back to normal space was not gentle. There was a bright flash like a supernova, followed by an explosion from somewhere on the ship. Azure Frost was slammed from side to side. The blue swirling clouds vanished, replaced by a rotating star field. The ship rolled uncontrollably on its side. They were back in normal space.
The intercom erupted with screams of hull breaches, overloads, blown power conduits and fires. But Calvin had his own problems. He had to regain control of the ship. He increased power to the roll jets and steered into the spin. Azure Frost groaned under the tremendous strain of opposing gravitational forces, but in the end, Calvin was able to level out.
Far off in the distance, directly ahead of them, was a small, bright moon. The last surviving battleship, Defender and the mother-ship Aleria’s Hope hung in orbit over the moon. The only light in the system came from a distant white dwarf star.
“We made it!” Calvin yelled over the intercom. “Is everyone still there? Check in!”
“Dev here; I’m going to the rear turret.”
“This is Wexton; I’m in the top turret.”
“I’m in the engine room,” Nils said. “The fire is almost out.”
“This is Astra, I’m in the engine room.”
“What was that explosion?” Calvin asked.
“A plasma line on deck two ignited,” Astra answered. “Everyone, we have new hull breaches on all decks, sections five through ten. That means it’s too dangerous to go anywhere! Do you hear me? I mean it! You’re stuck where you are. Stay there unless you are going to die, do you understand?”
Calvin gently increased power to the aft maneuvering engines, the only propulsion system that wasn’t damaged, and set a course for the moon. Azure Frost limped forward slowly; the response time was terrible.
The arrival of two Goremog battleships was imminent. Any time now they would drop out of hyperspace right on top of Azure Frost. They had no shields and couldn’t move. Calvin suppressed the feeling of panic; they needed to get out of the area, fast!
Several Alerian ships broke orbit and were on an intercept course, but they wouldn’t get their soon enough.
“Astra,” Calvin called. “You know me, I don’t like to complain, but I could really use some more power. I don’t suppose you could help me out, could you? I mean, we’re expecting company any second now.”
“Hold on,” Astra said. “You’re in luck. I’ve got something special for you. Since there’s no reason to save power now, I’ve got some extra. Here you go.” The maneuvering thrusters roared to life. There was a sudden boost in speed and Azure Frost began to accelerate. Calvin’s chair shuddered under a sudden increase in energy.
“Can the engines handle this?” Calvin asked. “I don’t think they were designed to handle this much power!”
“Complaining?” Astra asked playfully.
Calvin’s feeling of euphoria quickly faded when he realized they were out of time. For a second, blue and purple clouds dispersed across space as far as Calvin could see. Two massive Goremog battleships emerged behind Azure Frost.
Swarms of dark colored fighters and bombers darted into space. The terrifying beauty of blue and purple was quickly replaced with a bright red torrent of laser fire. Calvin, with skill and lightning-fast reflexes dove between the laser blasts, but Azure Frost was too slow. Several lasers hit the hull. Alarms rang; the ship shook violently. A shower of sparks rained down on Calvin and smoke filled the bridge.
“Weapons are offline!” Astra screamed over the cacophony of sounds.
“That didn’t last long,” Calvin mutter
ed.
“Wexton, get out of the turret!”
Laser fire rained down on Azure Frost. Sections of the ship were blasted apart, having nothing but a layer of armor for protection.
“I hope he got out,” Astra said. “The top turret is gone.”
The pounding got worse, laser fire sliced through the ship on all decks. The noise was horrific.
Suddenly the laser fire stopped hitting them, and was redirected ahead. When he looked up, he saw the most amazing sight, Defender, the massive Alerian battleship dead ahead. Its beam weapons filled the bridge of Azure Frost with an icy blue light. At least a dozen smaller Alerian ships were alongside.
Space lit up with plasma beams and laser fire. The tsunami of firepower unleashed on the Goremog was shocking and terrifying to see. It took them a few seconds to respond, but by the time they returned fire their shields were already down. First one, and then the other, both battleships disappeared in bright balls of fire. Calvin shouted with joy, along with Dev and Nils.
“Did you see that?” Dev shouted.
Calvin kept them on course for the moon, but the thrusters were having serious problems; switching back and forth from high to low power.
“Come on!” Calvin said. “We’re almost there. Just a little bit further, you can do it!”
“It’s a good thing we’re almost there,” Astra said. “Life support is fried. Calvin, you might want to hurry and land.”
“I’ll do my best,” Calvin said. “But since you’re down there, can you check the engines? Power keeps dropping off.”
“Yeah, like I said, you need to hurry and land.” Her tone suggested that now was not the time to joke.
The Defender turned and headed back towards the edge of the system.
“Go get ‘em,” Dev yelled.
Three Alerian fighters flew ahead of Azure Frost; one in front, and one on each side.
“Calvin, can you see this?” Dev asked.
“See what?”
“How can you not see it? Defender is blasting Goremog ships as they exit hyperspace. I’ve never seen anything like this!”
In fact Calvin could only see an occasional bright flash outside. He had to keep his attention on the fighter ahead. Azure Frost’s life was nearly over. It creaked, groaned and made other noises a spaceship shouldn’t make. Either they were going to land on the moon or crash into it. He had a bad feeling the second of those was going to happen.
“I don’t think we’re gonna make it,” Calvin said nervously.
There was a pause. “We’ll make it,” Astra answered. Calvin followed the lead fighter into orbit. The flight controls shuddered in his hands.
In the distance, three Alerian fighters made high speed strafing runs on a Goremog destroyer. Further away, two No’Rath cruisers were engaged in a battle with three Goremog ships.
They crossed from the night side of the moon to the day side. In the sunlight, the surface appeared white and shiny. The base was located deep inside a wide-rimmed crater. A vast array of domes, interconnected by a network of glass tubes spread out across the floor of the crater. A large dome stood in the middle.
Calvin carefully followed the fighter down to the base. The ship protested every movement, and screamed in protest, like an old man trying to sit down. Calvin knew if the gravity of the moon were much stronger, the descent would have been quite different.
One of the smaller domes was open, with bright red landing lights on the floor beckoning him to touch down in the center. Calvin fought with the flight controls, and there was little power left, but he did his best to guide the ship down. Fearing they were approaching the ground too fast, Calvin reversed thrusters to full. When he did, there was a small explosion; the ship failed to slow. One of the thrusters had exploded! Calvin increased power to the last remaining thruster, way past the safety line, but nothing happened. Now there was no time to do anything other than hold on tight and hope.
“All hands brace for impact!” Calvin shouted, and gripped the sides of his chair. Azure Frost crashed into the deck in the center of the dome.
There was a deep angry rumble as the ship was ground into the deck. The sound of metal being crushed was deafening. Calvin was pushed into his seat as the gravity inside the dome asserted itself mercilessly. A last gasp from the engines sounded like a quiet choke and cough.
The dome closed quickly. Calvin took off his seat harness and stood up. All at once he staggered forward. Azure Frost was resting at an odd angle.
Once the dome was fully shut, overhead lights illuminated the featureless surfaces like daylight.
A loud rush of air could be heard as the dome filled with oxygen. Calvin made his way to the door. It jerked open.
Calvin used his Helcomp to try and get a sensor reading of what was left of Azure Frost. The ship was dead. The oxygen level inside was normal. Fresh air was flowing inside the ship through cracks in the hull, more cracks than he cared to count.
A shout from down the corridor made him look up. Astra was sprinting towards him. She was not wearing her helmet, or gloves. She jumped into his arms and held him tightly.
“We made it!” She squealed. “Come on!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the corridor. Calvin dropped his helmet and ran with her. They ran down the stairs. Bright light beamed inside through holes and cracks.
At the airlock, Calvin pressed the button to open it, but nothing happened. He was about to try again when Astra tore open an emergency control panel and pressed a red button. There was a very loud blast as explosive bolts blew the door wide open. Calvin followed Astra to the ramp.
Outside, hundreds of Alerians cheered loudly as Calvin and Astra walked down the ramp. Astra wore the biggest smile Calvin had ever seen. The King and Queen of Aleria were waiting at the bottom, and embraced Astra. Calvin stayed back to let Astra have her moment with her parents.
“You made it,” King Fulton said to Astra. “I’m relieved beyond words. We’ve been very worried since we haven’t been able to reach you. We were afraid the worst happened. Are you all right?”
“Yes daddy,” Astra said. “Our communications array was destroyed. I’m sorry. Oh, and we were successful. We have all ten pieces of the weapon. I’ve assembled it, and it’s ready to deploy.”
There was an explosion of cheers from the crowd. In the midst of the jubilation, King Fulton reached out to Calvin and said,
“I knew you could do it. Excellent job, son!”
“Thank you sir,” Calvin said. “But we need to hurry. There are No’Rath and Goremog fleets behind us.”
“We know,” the King said. “We tried to warn you.”
“Yes sir,” Calvin said. “We got your flash message.”
“Oh, excellent. Where’s the weapon?”
“It’s in the lab,” Astra answered.
Calvin turned and examined Azure Frost. It was a wreck! The front end was smashed into the deck. Smoke and steam rose out of hundreds of holes and cracks in the hull, as if recent fires had just been extinguished, and were simmering, ready to flare up again. The skin was burned and charred. Both wings were missing.
“I can’t believe you made it in that thing,” an Alerian said, pointing at the wounded ship.
Another burst of cheers erupted from the assembled crowd as Dev, Wexton and Nils walked down the ramp. Dev smiled and waved. Wexton looked uncomfortable and tried to look away, but several Alerians reached out and pulled him into a crowd. Nils tried to stay back, but was swept up in the crowd also.
“Ion, please go get the weapon,” Astra said.
“Yes, mistress,” Ion said, then led two robots into Azure Frost. “Then what?” Calvin asked.
“We will detonate the weapon,” Fulton answered. “All enemy ships, robots and technology within six thousand light years will be destroyed. The war will be over.”
Moments later, Ion and the robots emerged from the ship, carrying the weapon. The crowd parted, all conversations ceased and a thousand eyes stared with awe.
“Take it to the fusion chamber,” Fulton said.
“I’ll take it,” Astra said. “I’m the only one who can install it properly.”
Fulton regarded his daughter with approval. Then to the robots he said, “Follow her.”
“I’ll just catch up to you later, then?” Calvin asked.
“Don’t worry,” Astra said. “I’ll come find you. We can’t fire the weapon without you, so don’t wander off.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Calvin said.
As everyone started to disperse, King Fulton said, “Alpha Seven,” Ion stopped and faced the King.
“Yes, my Lord.”
“I need you to take command of Aleria’s Hope.”
“Yes sire,”
“Defend the base,” The King Commanded. “Don’t let any ships near us.” Ion left the dome through a doorway to the north.
“Can I tag along?” Dev asked, running after Astra. “Do you need help?”
“Yeah, come on Dev,” Astra said. Calvin watched Astra and Dev leave with six armed guards. “Hey!” Astra called to Calvin. “I love you!”
“I love you too!” Calvin shouted back. Then he turned and looked at King Fulton, to see his reaction, if any, to hearing Calvin say he loved his daughter. The only thing he saw was approval behind Fulton’s thoughtful gaze.
“Let’s go watch from the command center,” Fulton said to Calvin. They turned and followed in the direction Astra had gone. Before they had gone ten feet, they heard a voice.
“Is there anything I can do?” Wexton asked. “I hate the idea of just standing around, watching.”
Fulton considered for a moment. “They need help manning the defensive turrets,” he said.
“Perfect,” Wexton said. “Where do I need to go?”
“I’ll take you there, sir,” a man in uniform said.
“Lead the way,” Wexton said with a smile.
“I think I’ll tag along,” Nils said, and ran after them.
Calvin followed King Fulton down a ramp and into a transparent tunnel. It was a ten-minute walk to the main dome. The view outside was uninteresting. The surface was plain, white sand and gray rock. At least, that’s what it looked like. There was no life; no plants, animals or oxygen. It was a dead moon.
