by Andrew Gates
“By the Chiefdom,” she muttered as she stared at the sight before her eyes.
The individual rocks suddenly broke formation, expanding out like a thick cloud. Within seconds, the mass practically tripled in size.
“The individual entities are not rocks,” Krass said as he stared at his screen. He turned to face the rest of the bridge crew with a pale expression of fear in his eyes. “They are spacecrafts.”
“There must be millions of them,” Ri’Ango added
“The spacecrafts are accelerating,” Krass said. “They are moving right toward us!”
The science officer’s words were quickly verified by the actions displayed on the projection. Azar watched as the cloud of ships immediately took off at impressive velocity. To make matters more curious, a small number of vessels stayed behind, guarding a larger ovular ship of some sort behind the cloud. The captain took note of it but paid that ship little mind. She was more concerned about the cloud-like swarm of ships heading right toward them. She felt her heart beat faster, but dared not show it.
“Kal Zeelo, link up to the Chiefdom, now!” Azar ordered, quickly turning to the communications officer. “Inform Fruitful Spring of what is transpiring. The leadership must know.”
“Understood, Captain,” she replied.
“Kho Ri’Ango, raise shields and prime weapons systems. We know nothing of what we face.”
“Understood, Captain,” he said.
“Kho Metfallah, return to your station and alert the rest of the crew that we are moving to Threat Level C. If any aboard this ship are in slumber or on leave, make sure they are battle-ready now.”
“Understood, Captain,” he said as he promptly walked back to his station.
“Kho Krass, what does our timetable look like?”
“The mysterious ships are fast, Captain, much faster than Infinitum, or even our fighters. The tiny ships are moving at nearly double our max speed, at practically five-million kotans-per-minute. At this velocity, they will reach us in seven minutes and 32 seconds and enter firing range in t-minus 74 seconds.”
“How is that possible? Nothing in Kholvaria can travel that fast.”
“Then perhaps we are looking at something from outside Kholvaria,” Krass replied. His tone was blunt.
Azar could not help but recall Kal Kh’Datto’s words in that moment. The mysteries that trouble Mars may prove more paramount than we could have known. She felt herself clench her claws again.
“Intense heat signatures,” Krass narrated. “The shadowy force is powering up weapons.”
“Are you certain?”
“I am, Captain.”
“The hour is now. Bring us to Threat Level B.”
“Understood, Captain,” Metfallah replied.
“Kal Zeelo, any word from Fruitful Spring?”
“Negative, Captain,” she replied. “It is strange. I am getting through, but no one is responding. The ship is sending out some sort of pre-recorded message about an attack from the Kreeds. It says Kho Ikharus leads an assault against the Supreme Chieftain. I cannot get through to anyone!”
“Damn the Kreeds! Why would they do this? And why now of all moments to disrupt communications with Fruitful Spring?” Azar swung her claw through the holographic display in frustration.
“Enemy fire!” Krass reported.
Seconds later, the ship trembled as a barrage of lasers collided against the forcefield shielding.
“The hour is truly upon us. The enemy has chosen to engage. All hands to battle stations. Scramble fighters. Target and engage the enemy. We are at Threat Level A. Is that understood?”
“Understood, Captain,” the entire bridge crew repeated in unison.
Now that the enemy ships were closer, Azar could see the crafts more clearly. The individual ships looked like four thick spikes pointing forward and backward, connected by a small bridge and ovular cockpit. The hulls appeared to be completely symmetrical, both from the front and from the side.
“Kho Krass, isolate an individual craft and enhance the image,” Azar ordered.
The yellow projection of an enemy ship grew in the holographic display. Azar took a step forward and studied it closely.
“I see no engines,” she noted.
“I do not see any either,” Krass agreed.
“How large is each vessel?”
“Small, Captain, even smaller than our fighters.”
“If the vessels lack engines, then what powers them?”
“Captain, I detect unique disturbances in the gravitational field. I postulate that these disturbances may be caused by those crafts,” Metfallah interrupted.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean to say, Captain, that I possess a theory, one which would explain the apparent lack of engines. These ships may move via gravitational manipulation.”
As if right on cue, another barrage of laser fire shook the hull as he said those words.
“Gravitational manipulation is just theoretical. No scientist has ever managed to achieve it,” Ri’Ango retorted.
“No, but it would explain how these small ships are able to move so quickly and in so many complex directions,” Krass replied. He turned to face the crew again and nodded to Azar. “Captain, I think Kho Metfallah may be right.”
“But… but how is that possible?” Azar muttered as she turned to face the hologram again.
The image zoomed back out to display the entire battlespace. Azar spotted their own fighters moving to engage. Within seconds, their ships let out laser fire in return.
“Fighters have engaged the enemy, Captain,” Metfallah reported.
Azar watched as the swarm of enemy ships broke apart, some engaging the Kholvari fighters, but most continuing onward toward Infinitum.
“The enemy is not stopping,” Azar noted. “Fire three forward missiles straight into the densest part of the enemy formation.”
“Understood, Captain,” Ri’Ango replied.
Azar watched on the projection as three missiles launched from Infinitum and blasted through space, straight toward the swarm of enemy ships. She held her breath, just waiting. When at last it looked as if the first missile would hit its targets, the enemy swarm suddenly pulled apart and spun into a perfect circle around the missile. The projectile passed right through its targets like a tunnel through a mountain.
“What madness lies before my eyes…” Azar said to herself.
The swarm of fighters must have been hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of units deep, all synchronizing in a perfect formation at once.
The next two missiles met the same fate, simply passing through a tunnel of ships in the enemy swarm.
“By my eyes, no enemy can enter a formation that complex so quickly!” Ri’Ango said, practically falling from his chair in shock.
“This enemy can,” Azar replied. “Curse them, whoever they are. We clearly face a foe beyond anything we have ever faced before.”
Azar watched as some of her fighters took down targets here and there in the swarm. Clearly it was easier to destroy them one on one than it was to destroy them in large groups.
“The enemy is still on course, undeterred, Captain. They will reach us in less than a minute,” Krass reported.
“Shields still up?”
“Affirmative, Captain,” Krass replied.
“Good. We will need them. Our hull will not withstand those lasers for long unguarded.”
Suddenly the cloud of enemy ships started to condense together. Rather than fly spaced apart in a large formation, the crafts clustered close together in a straight line like a snake slithering through space. From this view, the formation looked like one solid entity. Azar guessed the ships must have been flying mere milli-kotans apart from one another, yet never colliding.
“What display of force is this?” Metfallah asked as the snake of ships drew ever nearer.
“By the Chiefdom,” Azar muttered as she watched the events unfold. It suddenly occurred to her what they planned to do
next. “They are not going to fire. They are going to ram us!” She quickly turned to Ri’Ango. “Full power to reverse thrusters! Get us out of here!”
“Of course, Captain, but I should note that the enemy ships are traveling far faster than we are. We will not be able to escape them!” Ri’Ango reported.
“I understand that, Kho Ri’Ango, but I welcome anything we can do to dampen the force of that impact!”
The ship suddenly jolted as the forward engines pushed it in the opposite direction. Azar nearly stumbled, but saved her footing at the last second.
“Full reverse engaged, Captain,” Ri’Ango said.
“All weapons, fire, fire!” Azar shouted.
The holographic display lit up in a variety of colors as every weapon at Infintium’s disposal erupted at once. Enemy ships at the head of the snake exploded under the barrage of fire, but the body continued along, unwavering. The enemy was so close now that Azar did not even need to rely on the holographic display. The sight through the forward window was clear enough.
“Impact imminent!” Krass reported. “T-minus six… five… four… three…”
“All hands, brace for impact!” Azar shouted.
She watched and held her breath as the snake angled down below the bridge and then…
Boom! The entire ship rattled as if they were grounded during the world’s most powerful earthquake. Azar fell to the floor and grabbed onto a nearby beam. Lights flickered off, then back on. Sparks fell from the ceiling.
Azar’s left two legs ached, but she managed to stand. The holographic projection flickered back on and the captain quickly evaluated the scene. The snake was beyond Infinitum now and did not seem interested in arcing back around. For the time-being, it seemed they were safe, though there was now a gaping hole through the ship. The snake must have passed right through the hull – in one side and out the other.
“I need a hull report, now!” Azar demanded.
Metfallah stumbled up to his station and stared at the screen before him.
“Levels 1 through 4 have been breached, Captain. Ship computers automatically triggered airlock doors to isolate stable rooms, though those inside do not have much time left. We lost our oxygen generators in the strike. We will not be able to produce any breathable air without it.”
“Backups?”
“Backup oxygen generators are only powerful enough to sustain the bridge. The rest of the ship only has hours left.”
“Bring all remaining crew to the bridge, Kho Metfallah. I do not care if it means hundreds of Kholvari will reside in a space large enough for a dozen. We will make due and save as many as we can.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“I am afraid there is more to worry about than oxygen. Shields sustained critical damage, Captain,” Krass reported. “The shields flickered back on after the collision, but remaining power levels are low. One more strike of that nature and our shields will not recover again.”
“How… how could they even do that?” Ri’Ango asked, staring straight forward. “To think of the number of pilots they must have sacrificed to perform that attack… it is staggering!”
“This enemy does not seem concerned about the lives of individual units, only the whole,” Azar replied. She sighed as she stared at the image of the enemy ships, still holding their dense snake-like formation. “And with numbers like that, losing a few pilots in the process means nothing. Their force is still just as powerful without them.”
“Captain, we have lost all long-range communications equipment. Even if I could get through to Fruitful Spring, I no longer have any means to communicate with them,” Zeelo reported.
“Short range?”
“Still functioning. We can talk to our fighters, but that is all.”
“Then we have surely met our doom. We find ourselves far from home with limited oxygen and no way to call for help,” Ri’Ango lamented, lowering his head. “The hour of our end is near.”
Azar did not want to show it, but she knew Ri’Ango was right. The enemy had crippled them in one simple maneuver. She had never faced a foe so strong. But she was not about to admit defeat.
“Hope is not yet lost while this ship still endures,” Azar said, masking her true thoughts. “Do not be so quick to call this our hour of doom, Kho Ri’Ango.”
“Infinitum.” The mysterious deep voice returned to the captain’s mind in that moment. Azar grabbed her head as she felt another presence inside of her thoughts. “Now you know our power,” the voice continued.
Azar saw the flash of an image in her mind; a figure shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke. Perhaps this was her foe, or a separate entity entirely. She did not know and she did not care. She only wanted the haunting thought to go away.
“Who… who are you?” she muttered as she slowly dropped to the floor.
“Captain? Captain, are you alright?” Metfallah asked, standing up from his station. He ran toward her and knelt beside her.
The presence lingered for longer this time. She felt different sensations, like the touch of something slimy wrap around her brain, as if her skull were filled with lengthy tentacles squirming about.
“Infinitum cannot stop us. Any efforts to defeat us are folly. You have but one opportunity to survive. I urge you to heed my words.”
“Wh… what words?” the captain replied. It pained her just to speak.
“My desire is simple: I seek the location of your home world.”
Earth. That’s what they’re after.
“Earth? So this is what you call it,” the voice repeated.
He can read my thoughts.
“Yes. I am in your mind. I can read your thoughts and hear your plans. And I am no he, for I am a queen and this is my army.”
“Earth… they’re after Earth!” Azar shouted to her crew, to the entity in her mind, to anyone who was listening. “You can try, Queen, but you won’t get it! Not from me and not from this ship!”
“So be it. Then you shall meet your doom!”
With those words, Azar felt the presence suddenly leave her mind. She gasped for breath and dropped to the floor. It took her several seconds before she found the strength to recompose and stand up again.
“Captain, what was that?” Metfallah asked.
Azar turned to face her young helmsman. His eyes were wide with the look of concern.
“I… I have only just figured it out. The colonists. The blackout,” she started. “The enemy did not destroy them. The colonists destroyed themselves. They shut it all down. They must have known what the swarm was after. They did not want any trace of Earth left behind for the queen to find.”
“The queen? Who is the queen?” Metfallah asked.
“There is no time to explain. I now understand what we must do,” Azar said. She stepped up to the display and stood as straight as a beam. “We need to destroy this ship. We need to self-destruct, leave no trace of data behind for the enemy to find. We cannot lead them to Earth. We must protect its location at all costs. The fate of Kholvaria, and the planet, may depend on it.”
To the captain’s dismay, those words were met with nothing but blank stares and silence from the bridge. She knew the crew understood her order, but perhaps it was simply too much for them to fathom.
“Is that understood?” she asked.
“Understood,” the crew unenthusiastically replied in unison.
“I know this is not an easy thing to ask of any of you, but you must understand the magnitude of what I am ordering. If this enemy can access our computers, if they discover Earth, it will be all over.”
“We are with you, Captain,” Krass explained, “it is just… I think I speak for everyone when I say, we never thought we would meet our end this way or this soon.”
“I understand,” Azar said. She nodded her head.
In that moment, Captain Kal Azar had never heard the bridge sound so quiet. It was as if they were in the void beyond the walls of Infinitum.
Eventually Ri’Ang
o was the one to break the silence.
“Captain, I can give full power to the engines with the dampener enabled. The dampener will prevent any thrust, but the kinetic energy buildup will be enough to trigger an explosion that will destroy this ship and anything else within a 150,000 kotan radius.”
“Do it, Kho Ri’Ango. If fate be on our side, hopefully we can destroy some of our foe in the process,” Azar ordered. She spun to face the communications officer. “And Kal Zeelo, inform all fighter squadrons to do the same to their ships. Those fighters have coordinates to Earth stored in their computers, just as this vessel does. We must not leave any trace for the swarm to find.”
“Understood, Captain.” Though subtle, there was a tone of sadness to her voice.
“Captain, the swarm is arcing back around. The enemy is preparing for another incursion,” Krass reported.
Azar returned her attention to the display again. Sure enough, the snake-like shape had looped back around. It was headed right for them at full speed.
“How much time do we have until they reach us?”
“T-minus 54 seconds,” Krass reported.
“And Kho Ri’Ango, how long until our engine erupts?”
“One minute, 43 seconds, Captain.”
“By the Chiefdom, so all we must do is endure this final strike,” Azar muttered under her breath. She turned to her crew. “I want all fighters, all weapons, all everything, to protect our engines! If the engines meet their end, we have no explosion. Is that understood? Fire everything at our disposal, now! I do not care if we need to reroute power from the shields to do it!”
“Understood!” a crowd of voices echoed, this time full of reinvigorated enthusiasm.
Azar faced the holographic display again and clenched her claws.
“Let’s show these vermin what it means to challenge the might of the Kholvari Chiefdom!”
The ship shook as it released its entire arsenal of lasers, missiles, plasma blasts, charges, EMP bombs, and old-fashioned ballistic weapons. A series of explosions erupted at the front of the charging enemy mass, taking out what must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of hostile ships. But the mass, too large and too dense to fight off, continued along like a relentless predator, despite everything Infinitum threw at it.
