The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars

by Colin Weldon

  “What the hell are you? And what have you done with Carrie?” Aron said.

  Carrie looked over at India who had a weapon pointed squarely at her head and then to Tyrell.

  “You of all people should know how futile this is,” Carrie said.

  Aron looked at Tyrell.

  “Perhaps, but I of all people also know what it is you are and what it is you want,” Tyrell said.

  “Is that so?” Carrie replied.

  “Okay, can someone please tell me what it is Carrie is, and what the hell is going on?” India said.

  “An organism, ancient. Intelligent. It was discovered in a cave on Mars. I had a sample of it in a container on board The Agathon. After the ship crashed on that mechanical world, it got out and entered my body. Took over. It was originally designed to be a weapon. Something to fight the Targlagdu with, but it became much more. It wants Carrie’s abilities. To combine them with its own, which I can assure you, are quite formidable. It wants to wipe out the Signal Makers once and for all,” Tyrell said.

  “The who?’ India replied.

  “Signal Makers, that’s what we called them. They’ve been at war with them for thousands of years,” Tyrell said.

  “Great,” India said huffing.

  Aron glared at Carrie.

  “How do we get it out of her?” Aron said.

  Carrie’s eyes widened, she tilted her head to Aron giving him a pitiful expression.

  “You’re not serious, are you? You’ve made two crucial errors here,” Carrie said.

  Aron furrowed his brow.

  “Your first is believing that I’m secured to this container,” Carrie said and with one quick movement, she flexed her shoulders, snapping the restraints.

  Before India could react, Carrie was on her. With a snap of her arm, she connected a closed fist into India’s jaw, dropping her instantly. Aron lunged for her, but it was too late. An elbow that seemed to come out of nowhere connected with his eye sending the world into a starry haze. His body dropped to the ground as the disorientation took hold. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Carrie and Tyrell facing off against each other.

  THE AGATHON

  Captain Barrington waited. The alien ship approached quietly on the centre view screen overhead. Of the five view screens displaying information above the bridge, only four were currently operational. Tark’An’s vessel was being displayed on the screen to the far right, with the ship Carrie was on, Jack’s ship, now front, and centre.

  “It’s slowing down, sir, now under fifty klicks off the port bow,” Chavel said from the navigation station.

  “All right, everyone, stay sharp,” Barrington said looking up at Tark’An, whose large eyes were transfixed on the screen.

  Barrington adjusted the translation device still wrapped around his neck. He had been tempted to ask Tark’An to remove it, but given the circumstances, being able to understand this being could save all their lives.

  “They gonna open fire on us?” Barrington said to Tark’An.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Boyett turn her head slightly to listen.

  “I do not know Captain,” Tark’An said.

  “Okay?” Barrington responded unsure of what to do with that.

  “Incoming transmission, sir,” said Ferrate from the rear of the bridge.

  Barrington turned.

  “Let’s hear it,” he said.

  “Sir, it’s text only.”

  “Route it to David’s station,” Barrington said.

  Barrington furrowed his brow and rose from the centre seat. A tingle went up the back of his neck. It was a hunch he’d gotten on a thousand other occasions, usually battle related. He moved over to Chavel’s station and looked down at the panel. Tark’An joined him. His huge frame towered over Chavel’s shoulder. Barrington began reading the message.

  AGATHON THIS IS TYRELL- IN DANGER - ATTACK - DEFEND YOURSELF - JOHN THE BLACK HAS CARRIE- DON’T ...

  Chavel turned to the captain. Barrington felt nauseous. His eyes widened as a terror he’d not felt in years made its way through his body.

  “What does it say?” Tark’An said.

  Barrington looked up at the ship on the screen. He took a step back and rubbed the stubble on his cheek. For the first time in his military career he had no idea what to do.

  “Captain?” Tark’An said again from somewhere off in the distance.

  “Sir, we have something approaching from port,” Chavel suddenly said.

  Barrington kept his eyes firmly on the screens. He took a breath. Something was about to happen, he was sure of it, his command training kicked in and he did what he was best at. He segmented the shock of the news into a hidden part of his brain for processing later and opened the tactical part. He flooded his rational thought with his ship, his crew and his survival. He took a breath and looked at Tark’An.

  “It’s got my little girl,” he said before turning to Boyett, “lock on the main cannon to the incoming vessel and prepare to fire.”

  Boyett didn’t hesitate. She knew his voice well enough when to obey orders quickly.

  “Yes, sir,” she said as her hands began punching codes into her consoles.

  “David, give me a tactical read on screen one,” Barrington said.

  “Yes, sir,” he said.

  There was a crackle in his voice. Barrington was suddenly reminded of Carrie and David’s romance. Chavel continued, “Sir, the object approaching appears to be a person.”

  Barrington retook his seat. He already knew who it was.

  “Is it Carrie?” he said.

  David turned and locked eyes.

  “Yes, sir,” Chavel said activating the exterior cameras on the ship and displaying the data on screen four. Sure enough, there she was, thrusting her way towards the ship in her alien space suit.

  “Can we open a comm link?” Barrington said watching as his daughter approached the ship.

  Carrie had given them the frequency of her suit, so opening a comm link with her should be easy.

  “No answer, sir,” Ferrate said.

  Barrington opened his mind. It was a far more effective way of communicating with Carrie anyway. Their telepathic link was probably weak at this distance, but it was worth a shot. He concentrated, watching the images of Carrie as she approached.

  Carrie, can you hear me?

  His mind remained silent. There was nothing. He could be too far away.

  “She’s slowing down,” Chavel said.

  He was right. Carrie was now drifting, making small course corrections with the palms of her hands until she came to what looked like a complete stop, right in front of the bow of The Agathon. The bridge was silent as all eyes locked their sights on the images being displayed above their heads. Carrie was drifting, ever so gently, in front of the ship. There had been no contact, no reason for her to be outside the ship at all. She was just there, looking quietly on at the ship.

  Or was she looking at them?

  “Can you get me a closer look at her face, Lieutenant?” Barrington said to Chavel.

  “Yes, sir,” came the swift reply.

  The image shifted, zooming in directly onto Carrie’s face. She WAS looking at them. Her piercing blue eyes gazed straight into the imaging arrays outside the ship. Barrington kept his mind open, kept probing to see if she would communicate with him. Her eyes suddenly began to change. The piercing blue that he had grown so accustomed to, began to turn almost invisible. The beautiful blue hues were replaced with pure black. The message had been true. The Black, or Yal’Ren, had somehow gotten inside her, was now in control of her. Barrington could see her smile. It sent a wave of panic through his bones.

  “Incoming transmission,” Ferrate said.

  “Let’s hear it,” Barrington said.

  A light bleep was he
ard as the comm system activated.

  “Hello John,” Carrie said, her voice echoing around the walls of the bridge.

  There was something so familiar in her voice. Something Barrington had heard in his conversations with Tyrell. A confident malevolence. Whatever was speaking to them now, it wasn’t his daughter.

  “Well?” Carrie said, “are you not going to greet your own daughter?”

  Barrington caught Boyett’s eye. She looked nervous.

  “What’s going on? Did you rescue the others?” Barrington said.

  “Yes, we did. I see you have brought new friends,” Carrie said.

  Barrington didn’t answer.

  “You’ve been sent a transmission, yes? So, let’s not play games, John. Carrie and I have important work to do and I really don’t want you or your friends getting in the way of that, so I’ll make you a deal,” Carrie or rather what was controlling her said.

  “I’m listening,” Barrington said.

  Tark’An began moving to the rear of the bridge. Towards a weary looking Ferrate. Barrington followed his sudden movement wondering what the hell he was up to.

  “I’ll return your colonists to you now, unharmed, if you set The Agathon down on the planet surface below and wait for further instructions,” Carrie said.

  Barrington turned and kept his gaze firmly fixed on Tark’An who had nudged Ferrate out of the way with his huge frame and was now punching something into the communications system.

  “The planet opened fire on us,” Barrington said.

  “No, it didn’t. The proximity of the Ruthenium vessel activated an old defensive system. I wouldn’t worry about that,” Carrie said.

  A sudden bleeping sound notified Barrington that the transmission had been muted. He looked at Tark’An.

  “What are you doing?” Barrington said.

  “They’re going to attack,” Tark’An said, “I’m telling The Praxis to prepare.”

  “You don’t know that,” Barrington said.

  “Captain, if I were you I would target your weapons system on that ship and prepare to defend...” Tark’An was cut off as the bridge shook, an explosion at the computer station where Leanne Ripley was sitting sent sparks bursting out in all directions as she dove for the ground.

  The bridge lurched making Barrington grab hold of the arm of his chair. He turned, looking up at the screen to see his little girl, arms outstretched and sending massive bolts of electrical energy towards The Agathon. The bridge lights dimmed.

  “Sir, we’re being hit by a massive electrical discharge. She’s firing on us,” Boyett shouted from the flight chair, “The Praxis is approaching from starboard.”

  Barrington clambered into his seat and stared up at the screens.

  “Charly, back us off!” Barrington shouted.

  A bright flash of light from the number two viewing screen made him flick his eyes towards it. A solid bright white beam of light appeared from the nose of Jack’s ship. It connected with the port side of The Praxis, breaching its hull and exploding out the other side of Tark’An’s ship like a hot knife through butter. Huge swaths of debris and ship parts burst out into space. The beam continued for several seconds before ceasing. Barrington looked back up at Carrie as The Agathon shook again.

  “Praxis, this is General Tark’An, report,” said Tark’An from behind the captain.

  He had obviously just tried to open a communications channel.

  “General, they’ve taken out our primary drive coil, weapons are down,” Barrington heard a voice say.

  “Shri’An, retreat, that is an order,” Tark’An said as another bright beam of light shot out from Jack’s ship.

  “Bridge, this is the engine room,” came Tosh’s voice out of nowhere, “we have to get out of here, Captain, half the control circuits just melted. It’s a real shit show, John, I’ve got electrical discharges blowing up down here!”

  Tosh was shouting over the sounds of explosions. Barrington looked up again as screen four exploded, sending shards of glass raining down on their heads. He looked up at Carrie again. Continual bursts of her lightning power streamed out of her hands towards his ship. He had to take her out. It was the only decision forcing itself to the forefront of his mind. Tark’An’s voice burst through the chaos as the beam from Jack’s ship tore straight across the nose of the Praxis sheering it entirely off the ship.

  “Shri’An, retreat, now,” Tark’An growled forcefully from behind the captain.

  “Sir, we’re losing manoeuvring, we’re listing out of control,” shouted Boyett from the flight chair, “engines are offline, weapons are offline.”

  “Captain, life support levels are falling on all decks,” Chavel said.

  The announcement had come seconds before he was about to order the cannons to be trained on his little girl. The little girl who was now about to destroy his ship.

  An explosion in space lit up the main screens as The Praxis erupted into a fireball.

  “Shri’An!” shouted Tark’An from behind the captain as he slammed his huge fists down on the control panel.

  Barrington looked on helplessly as Tark’An’s ship disintegrated. He looked again to his daughter and tried once more to reach her before she killed them all.

  CARRIE! PLEASE STOP! he screamed into his mind.

  24

  “I’ll kill you, you bastard!” shouted the real Carrie as she watched what was happening in the strange sky above her.

  The Black had accessed her power, and was now unleashing it on The Agathon. All she could do was watch as she free floated in this new area of her mind. A darkened region, somewhere deep in her subconscious, trapped forever. She had watched as members of Jack’s race had dragged Tyrell, India and Aron onto a transport pod and whisked them away to another part of the ship. Her body had then activated its body suit and headed out of the ship towards The Agathon. Then she had heard her father’s voice as The Black spoke to him. Knowing all the while that it was going to try and destroy the ship. There had been a new alien vessel nearby. A Ruthenium vessel. Jack had destroyed them and now Carrie was going to destroy what was left of her family. Then she had heard it. As clear as if he’d been standing right next to her.

  CARRIE! PLEASE STOP!

  The voice of her father came bursting into her own mind. Or rather the section of consciousness that still belonged to whatever was separating her from The Black.

  “That was John,” Jennifer’s voice said from the darkness.

  “Father?” Carrie shouted back.

  No response.

  “You can’t communicate outside this space, Carrie, The Black still controls that part of your mind,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie looked up and saw a small explosion erupt from the stern of The Agathon.

  “I have to do something!” Carrie shouted.

  “Listen to me, Carrie, you need to focus. There isn’t much time. You need to get his attention. You can do that in here. Calm your mind and try and use your power,” Jennifer said.

  Carrie tried to stem the overwhelming panic at seeing the damage being inflicted on her father’s ship. On her ship. She looked down at her hands and gritted her teeth. She stretched them out and tried to summon up her power. Nothing happened.

  “It doesn’t work,” Carrie said looking back up at the image of her body.

  The Agathon looked scorched. There seemed to be a hole in the aft section.

  “Stop looking at that and focus, Carrie, how did you first learn you had this power? When did it manifest first? Remember back to that time, remember how it felt to destroy that mechanical planet. Remember how it felt.” Jennifer said, “Go back to the basics.”

  Carrie closed her eyes. She focused on the panic, the fear, the sadness. She grabbed hold of it and transformed it into the one thing she knew she could draw on. Rage. Pure rage. She released a
feral scream, opened her eyes, extended her arms out and spread her fingers wide. A huge burst of electrical power exploded from within. She felt the heat as it spread from the base of her spine into every nerve ending, every muscle, every cell. The darkness of her subconscious lit up with white light. Arcs of lightning spread out in all directions.

  THE AGATHON

  The emergency lighting, once again, illuminated the bridge. Barrington felt a trickle of warm blood creep down the side of his cheek. He had been hit by a sharp piece of an exploding panel. He ignored it as he kept his eyes on the screens overhead. Carrie had stopped. It looked like she had fallen unconscious. Her body was bent over. He couldn’t help the paternal panic from nearly overwhelming him. He wanted to run to the nearest airlock in a space suit and go out and get her, but the bridge was in chaos. The engine room wasn’t answering. Boyett was frantically tapping her control panel and Chavel was out of his seat putting a fire out with Ripley that had broken out on one of the science stations. Ripley had a large gash on the side of her head, half her face covered in blood. He was sure that they were dead. The sounds of short circuiting equipment and smoke perforated the bridge. Barrington looked behind him and saw Tark’An standing motionless. His four huge arms hung limply at his sides as he stood looking at the screen where the debris of his ship floated out in all directions. Barrington turned back and rose from his seat, moving to the flight chair. He placed a hand on Boyett’s shoulder. She jerked slightly, snapping out of her concentration and looked at him.

  “Report,” Barrington said softly, his tone mirroring the dire situation the ship was in.

  Boyett simply shook her head. It was all he needed to know. Barrington looked to Chavel who had successfully just put the fire out. All eyes were now on the captain. He looked back up at the screen, where Carrie was drifting quietly. He tried to think of what to do next.

  “Engines?” he said to Boyett.

  “I need to get to the engine room to find out,” she said with a sombre but determined look on her face.