by JN Chaney
“Failure? Does that mean the other kids…?”
“I’m afraid so, Captain,” said Alphonse. “I can’t begin to imagine how many were lost. Even after the girl was taken, the Union continued their attempts at replicating her abilities, none of which has been successful, last I checked.”
“How many?” I asked in a low growl.
He paused. “Hundreds. Maybe more.”
I stared at him in disbelief, trying to imagine so many kids, all of them gone. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The thought was unimaginable.
“To tell you the truth, Captain, I wasn’t certain whether or not you were any better,” Alphonse added. “Not until I was able to observe you for myself.”
“Observe?” I asked, coming out of my thoughts. “The way I remember it, we took you prisoner and stuck you in a cell. Are you telling me that was all part of the plan?”
“It went a bit messier than I expected, because of Docker, as you’ll recall. I only wanted to see whether you could be trusted with the girl.”
“And if I couldn’t?” I asked, raising my eye. “I seem to recall shoving a pistol in your face…more than once.”
“I knew you wouldn’t shoot me. You aren’t the type to shoot an unarmed man,” he said.
“You make a lot of assumptions,” I told him.
“No,” he said. “I research. You’d be surprised what you can find in the Tower’s database. They have profiles on all of you.”
“Is that so?” I asked with a smirk.
“You’re an honorable man, Captain Hughes, whether you want to admit it or not,” said the Constable.
I scoffed. “Shove it up your ass, Al.”
* * *
I walked out of the lift, on my way back from the med bay, when I saw Octavia. She was alone, wheeling herself along. I gave her a nod and asked, “Where’s the professor?”
“Helping Bolin clear out one of the rooms so that Camilla can have her own space,” she said.
Camilla and her father had been sharing a room since we arrived. We’d all be restricted to using the main deck, but now with power being restored, several rooms seemed to have opened up. “Are you going to check on Alphonse?” I asked.
“Hardly,” she said. “Athena says she can unlock that medical supply closet. I thought I’d have a look.”
“Supply closet? Wouldn’t all that stuff be expired by now?” I asked.
“Not everything,” she said. “This ship was meant to travel for generations. They went through the trouble of securing quite a bit of their medicine in stasis.”
“If the power was out on that floor, how could it maintain the supplies?” I asked.
“Power reserves,” Athena chimed in. Her disembodied voice made both of us flinch. “Pardon the interruption, Captain, but to answer your question, there are several emergency systems tied directly to the backup power supply. There is a priority tree in place to ensure the essentials remain online at all times.”
“Well, there you go,” said Octavia, wheeling herself past me. “I’ll do an inventory and let you know what we have. Hopefully there’s something worthwhile.”
She boarded the elevator and I watched as the doors closed.
“Captain,” said Athena. “If I might have a word.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“I believe we have a situation that requires your immediate attention.” She blipped into existence, manifesting beside me in her physical form.
My hand went straight to my pistol, quickly relaxing. “Goddammit.”
“I’m detecting movement, headed towards our current coordinates. I believe it is a Union ship, quite large, along with multiple other vessels.”
“A large ship?” I asked. My mind went to the worst possible scenario.
She nodded. “We’ve seen it before. The Galactic Dawn.”
My eyes widened at the sound of the name. “The Dawn? Are you sure?”
“I can’t confirm it, precisely, but given its size and shape, it is extremely likely,” she said.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Looks like we’re still not free of this mess.”
“Do we have enough time to run?” I asked.
“They’ll arrive within a few minutes. I apologize for not informing you sooner, but my long-range sensors could not detect them until power was restored.”
I felt heat in my cheeks, a rising tension in my throat. “Tell the others to meet me in the landing bay,” I said. “Prime whatever weapons you’ve got and get ready to make the jump to slipspace.”
“Understood, Captain,” said the Cognitive.
She suddenly vanished, leaving me alone in the hall. I began running, faster and faster, headed to my ship, hoping I still had enough time.
THIRTEEN
Everyone arrived in the hangar, including the kids. I was already in The Star, prepping the ship to launch if it needed to.
I tapped my ear. “Siggy, patch me through to the others outside.”
“Of course, sir,” said the A.I. “Please, speak when ready.”
I cleared my throat. “In case Athena forgot to tell you folks, Brigham is on his way. He’ll be here any minute,” I explained.
“On his way?” asked Abigail, who was standing beside Freddie and Hitchens.
Bolin tilted his head. “Is this the man who’s been chasing you? The general?”
“That’s the guy,” I said. “He’s coming to get us, along with multiple other ships. Athena’s prepping the slip engine, but she needs a bit of time. The new core hasn’t fully integrated yet.”
“What does that mean for the rest of us?” asked Octavia.
“It means we have to stall,” I said. “Athena, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Captain,” said the Cognitive.
“I’m taking The Star out to drop a few dozen mines, right in front of us. We’ll create a tunnel and they’ll have no choice but to go through the bombs,” I explained.
“What can we do to help?” asked Abigail.
“This is a one-man job. The rest of you stay here while Siggy and I handle shit on the outside.” I strapped myself into my chair and began the engine prep.
“You can’t just expect the rest of us to wait here while you run off alone,” said Abigail.
“Why not? It’s not like I need you to help me drop a couple of bombs,” I said.
“Someone needs to handle the guns while you’re dropping bombs,” she said.
“I can handle both. I’ve done it before.”
She stormed up to the ship. “Sigmond, open the goddamn door!”
“Acknowledged,” said Sigmond.
The lift door dropped slowly to the floor. “Goddammit, Siggy!” I barked. “You aren’t supposed to take orders from anyone but me!”
“Apologies, sir, but Ms. Pryar was rather insistent,” he said.
Abigail climbed inside and began jogging to the cockpit. I closed the lift and primed my engines. “Everyone else, get inside and wait for us to get back!”
“See you in a bit,” said Bolin.
“Try not to die,” said Octavia.
Abigail banged on my door and I opened it. She shuffled inside and took the seat next to me, strapping herself in. “I can’t believe you almost left me here, Jace.”
“I didn’t want you to take the risk,” I said.
She snapped her eyes at me, scowling. “It doesn’t matter what you want. All that matters is what’s best for the team! You running off on your own isn’t that. It’s the opposite. What happens if you get yourself killed?”
I sighed. “I can’t win for trying.”
“And you never will as long as I’m here,” she said.
The Renegade Star lifted off Titan’s deck and made its way into clear space, leaving the others behind. They’d be safe for now, so long as we could plant the bombs and stall.
Long enough so Titan could open that tunnel and get the hell out of here.
* * *
The slip tunnel opened while we w
ere still deploying the bombs, and the first of several ships entered the system. It wasn’t The Galactic Dawn, though, but another Union military ship with credentials I didn’t recognize. “Captain Jace Hughes of The Renegade Star, you are under arrest for the abduction of—”
I cut the transmission off. “Shut the fuck up,” I said, knowing they couldn’t hear me. I dropped the last of the mines in place. The little black bomb slid out of my ship and into open space, bringing itself to a motionless standstill.
“Do you really think this will be enough to slow down those ships?” asked Abigail.
“Without a doubt,” I said, pulling us back from the line of explosives that currently surrounded Titan.
“Sir,” interjected Sigmond. “Please be advised. The incoming vessel is charging weapons.”
“Raise shields!” I snapped.
A blast struck our side, but the shields took most of the damage.
“Idiots,” I muttered. “They’ll hit these mines if they aren’t careful.”
I brought us around, turning my targeting sights on the enemy spacecraft. Abigail grabbed the controls and locked on, firing a spread the moment she had the chance.
The enemy ship came flying in our direction, right as several others began to emerge from the tunnel. Before I could say anything else, another rift formed in the nearby space. It was a separate tunnel from the last, which meant even more reinforcements. “Sensors detect a Sarkonian vessel incoming,” informed Siggy.
I wanted to curse. I hadn’t expected so many of them this quickly. “Start firing!” I barked at Abigail, flying us in a 90-degree angle, away from the mines and the oncoming ship.
We dove, avoiding the shots. The other ship followed, and for a brief moment I considered trying to lure them closer to the mine field, but stopped myself. It wouldn’t do any good to waste the bombs on a ship that small. We needed those for the big gun, The Galactic Dawn itself, which still hadn’t arrived.
Athena’s voice came in over the com. “Captain, engines are online. I’m forming the slip tunnel now. Please, return to Titan immediately.”
“Give me just a goddamn second!” I yelled, pulling on the control stick.
We moved around the other fighter and Abigail kept suppressing fire on it, hitting its shields repeatedly.
“Siggy, what’s the status of that ship?” I asked.
“Analyzing. The vessel is using a standard mid-tier shield. Two direct hits with a quad cannon should disable it.”
“Hear that?” I asked, glancing at Abby. “Make it count!”
She nodded, then turned back and took aim, sweeping her hand over the targeting holo on the dash. She fired the first quad cannon, missing the enemy vessel.
Abby cursed, narrowing her eyes, and tried again. This time, the torpedo struck the ship, and I heard her breathe a sigh of relief. She quickly followed it up with another. The combined strength of the two blasts was enough to crack the shield.
I took us in closer. “Again!” I shouted.
She leaned forward, clutching the stick, and lit the goddamn ship up with a spray of shots. Multiple rounds penetrated the hull, ripping it nearly in half and igniting the engines. The ship exploded in a wicked blast, just as we turned back towards the mines.
Without missing a beat, the other ships began to move towards the field, each one activating shields and weapons. They weren’t about to let Titan leave, not without doing everything they could to stop it.
The lead ship in the fleet—a small Union vessel similar to the one where we’d originally found Alphonse—snagged a mine as soon as it entered the area. The explosion obliterated the small craft, splitting it into hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces. The rest of the fleet stayed back, finally realizing that there were bombs waiting for them.
In seconds, they began firing missiles into the mine field, trying to clear a path. It seemed to work, albeit slowly, as the torpedoes began colliding with the mines, one at a time.
We had created three hexagon layers of mines between the fleet and Titan, which was the most effective area of coverage we could establish in such a short amount of time. It wouldn’t take the fleet very long to break through, but Athena only needed a few moments.
Titan’s beams formed at its center, ripping a tear in space, creating a new tunnel. The process was fast and, within seconds, the opening had been formed.
“That’s our queue,” I said. “Siggy, move us—”
Before I could finish, I felt the entire ship toss sideways, like we’d been hit.
“What the fuck was that?!” I asked.
“Our shields are taking heavy fire, sir,” informed Sigmond. “We can’t sustain this for long.”
“Who the hell is it now?” I asked. The holo switched to show me a Sarkonian ship in pursuit, firing rapidly at us. It was way too close for comfort.
Abigail swiveled in her seat. “Should we run?”
“Not until we take it down!” I barked.
“If we’re not careful, we’ll be stuck without a shield!” she returned.
“We can’t let them follow us back to Titan,” I said.
I brought the ship around and targeted the Sarkonian vessel. Abigail hit the ship with a spread, but it didn’t seem to slow it down. “Sir, I am detecting movement on the surface of the enemy vessel,” said Sigmond.
“What kind of movement?” I asked.
“I believe they are deploying a weapon,” he said.
The holo showed part of the Sarkonian ship sliding back into the hull, revealing some kind of cannon. “What the hell is that?” I asked.
“Firing torpedoes!” snapped Abigail.
The quad cannons landed a direct hit on the other ship, but before we could congratulate ourselves, something struck the side of our hull.
The Renegade Star shook, forcing me into my harness. “What was that?”
“Enemy ship has been immobilized,” said Sigmond.
“That’s not what I asked, goddammit!” I said.
Abby touched the dash and pulled up a sensor analysis of the hull. “It looks like there’s something on the side of the ship,” she said.
I zoomed in on the object, which was glowing red against the blue outline of our hull. “Siggy, run a scan on that thing. See what it is.”
“Analyzing…” said the A.I. “Object appears to be a neutron bomb, primed for remote detonation.”
“Did he just say a bomb?” asked Abigail.
“He did,” I said, pulling the control sticks back and setting us in the opposite direction. “We need to get away from the other ships here, before one of them shoots at us and sets that thing off.”
“Should we dock inside Titan?” she asked.
I shook my head. “We can’t take it inside the ship, not until we get it removed.” I tabbed the control, activating the com. “Athena, you picking this up?”
“Affirmative,” she said.
“Take the tunnel. We’ll be right behind you. Got a little business to take care of.”
“Are you certain?” asked Athena. “What’s delaying your arrival? Do you need assistance?”
“We’re packing a bomb on our back. I can’t risk this thing getting back to you.”
“Captain, I must insist that you not—”
“Just do as I say and go!”
“As you wish,” said Athena. “I shall send our next destination to Sigmond. Please accept.”
“Coordinates received,” said Sigmond.
“Hear that?” I asked. “We got them. Now, get out of here! We’ll meet you there!”
“Acknowledged, Captain. Good luck,” said Athena.
Several of the enemy ships began to move toward Titan. The moon-sized vessel eased its way into the newly-created slip tunnel, gradually disappearing inside, until it was fully immersed. The other ships entered the minefield, determined not to let Titan escape.
While the fleet was distracted with their suicidal mission to reclaim Lex, I set our coordinates on another tunnel,
near the end of the system.
The Renegade Star took off away from the fleet, putting as much space between us and them as possible. My ship wasn’t the fastest in the galaxy, but with all of them so distracted, we might actually stand a chance at getting out of here.
I unhooked my harness. “Stay here and keep us on target,” I said, getting to my feet. I hit the switch to open the door and started to leave.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Abigail.
“In case you already forgot, we’ve got a bomb on our ass. Somebody has to take care of it.”
“By yourself?” she asked. “How are you going to—”
I took off running down the corridor. “I’ll call you on the com when I’m outside!” I yelled, over my shoulder.
I took the turn in the hall and went straight into the cargo bay. The lockers were already open, so I snagged one of the suits and began getting dressed.
“Siggy, how long before our shields are reactivated?” I asked, sliding my arms through the sleeves.
“The Sarkonian ship used an electromagnetic charge to disrupt the polarity of our shield. The effects are temporary. Partial power will be restored within thirty seconds,” answered the A.I.
