The Agathon Book 3: Sword Of Stars

by Colin Weldon

  “That’s why you’re here, to take that technology,” Carrie said.

  “That, amongst other things, now lay down please,” Jack said.

  Carrie gave one more glance to the fleeing alien race, the Signal Makers. A metal swing arm appeared from the floor suddenly and moved its head, which had some sort of long metal rod attached, over her head. She looked up at Jack, no longer able to stall, no longer able to stand by and do nothing.

  “Jack,” she said.

  “Yes, Carrie?”

  “I’m going to need one more thing from you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Your ship,” she said snapping her arms back, bringing her focus to bear, feeling the energy as it raced up her back and into her arms.

  She made her hands into a fist and released a powerful burst of energy straight into Jack’s chest. He let out a howl as it struck his torso, punching a hole straight through it, exposing blue and green innards that splattered all over the walls of the bridge. The lightning bounced around the bridge, hitting three others and finding its way into the nearby computer systems. The bridge exploded all around her as she rolled off the table and onto the ground. She looked back to see blue goo and some long tendrils leaking out of Jack’s chest. He fell to his knees and dropped, as did the others. An explosion at the head of the bridge blew Carrie backwards; she felt a rushing of air. She had breached the hull. She grabbed at the floor as she looked back to see stars. Jack’s body was blown out into space, along with the other dead grey aliens. She reached up to her chest and immediately activated her face plate. She felt oxygen. The air continued to rush towards the hull breach. She looked towards the transporter pod and began crawling her way towards it. Her body suddenly felt light. Another explosion from inside one of the walls sent chunks of debris free floating all around her before getting blown out of the hole in the wall. She continued to crawl towards the pod. She lost her grip on the floor as she floated upwards. Turning the palms of her hands upwards, she gave a light burst from the palm thrusters, which forced her body back to the ground. She entered the pod, placed her hand on the wall, and surveyed the destruction of the bridge.

  “Bye Jack,” she said as the cold air of the pod took her.

  Just as she dematerialised, another huge explosion ripped through the bulkhead, sending blue flames slithering over the walls, striking every inch of what had once been the bridge.

  THE AGATHON

  “You need to drop the ship out of hyperspace here,” said Tark’An pointing over Chavel’s shoulder to the display.

  Chavel looked up at him, and then back at the screen. It showed an overlay of a star system and Tark’An was pointing his finger just to the right of a large planet.

  “Next to the planet?” Chavel replied glancing at Barrington.

  Tark’An looked at Barrington and waited for the translation.

  “That’s correct,” Tark’An said.

  “I wouldn’t advise that, sir, we’ve never disengaged the FTL that close to a planet before. It’s practically in orbit. If we’re off the mark, even by fraction we’ll fly straight into it,” Chavel replied.

  Barrington turned to Boyett who was focused on her flight controls.

  “Charly?” Barrington said.

  “Yes, sir, he’s right on the money with that,” she replied.

  “My people are telling me that we could end up inside that planet,” Barrington said to Tark’An.

  “You will not,” Tark’An replied, “allow me access to your navigational systems. I will input the exact coordinates and program the flight computer so that the ship enters normal space at that exact point,” Tark’An said.

  Barrington nodded.

  “I will need to be able to communicate with your flight officer,” Tark’An said pointing to the translation device around Barrington’s neck.

  The captain nodded and disengaged the device. He moved over to Boyett.

  “Charly, I need you to put this on. Tark’An is going to need to talk to you through this,” he said to her.

  “Great,” she replied looking at the neck ring, “it’s not gonna blow my head off, is it?” she said turning back and adjusting some controls.

  “Well, if it does, at least it will be quick,” Barrington said smiling.

  “Not funny, sir,” she said taking the device and wrapping it around her neck.

  It clicked shut and made a bleeping noise.

  “Hello?” she said looking at Tark’An.

  “Hello,” he replied.

  “Wow, that’s weird,” she replied.

  Tark’An moved over to her and began relaying his instructions to her as Barrington retook the centre seat.

  “Time to destination?” he said to Chavel.

  “Twenty minutes by my reckoning, sir,” Chavel replied.

  “Status of the cannon?” he asked Charly.

  “She’s operational, sir, ready to shoot,” she replied.

  Barrington cracked the knuckles on his right hand and began running through a series of scenarios in his mind. The time delay from dropping out of hyperspace to the reengaging of the FTL for a second jump would be several minutes. They wouldn’t last long in a firefight, not against what they were about to encounter. He pressed his comm system.

  “Captain to the engine room,” he said.

  “Engine room, go ahead,” replied Tosh.

  “Tosh, how are my engines?”

  “Working,” replied Tosh in his matter of fact tone.

  “How long can you shave off the FTL start up once we drop out of hyper?” he said.

  “Looking to make a quick exit?” Tosh replied.

  “If needs be,” Barrington replied.

  “Well, if you want to shoot at anything, we’ll need to lock up the FTL ring. We can’t fire when it’s engaged or you’ll blow the cannon clean off the ship, and us along with it more than likely,” Tosh said.

  “Shit,” Barrington said under his breath.

  “So, you’re talking about a complete restart if you want to defend the ship properly. At least three minutes,” Tosh replied.

  Barrington remained silent.

  “I’ll try and shave a few seconds off it, leave it with me,” Tosh said.

  “Every second counts,” Barrington replied.

  “Yes, sir,” Tosh replied.

  “Bridge out,” Barrington said clicking off the communications channel.

  He changed the frequency and pressed it again.

  “Bridge to hangar two,” he said.

  “Hangar two here, sir, go ahead,” said a young female voice.

  “Prep a shuttle craft for launch and have it ready to go the second we drop out of hyperspace,” he said.

  “Yes, sir,” she replied.

  “Bridge out,” Barrington said.

  He looked around the bridge, it was quiet. He thought of the rest of the people on his ship, bit his lip and pressed the open comms. There was a ship wide hail as the channel opened.

  “This is the captain to all hands,” he said.

  Chavel glanced back at him. Barrington took a breath.

  “Let me first start by saying that I apologise for not being able to speak directly to all of you about our current situation. As some of you may be aware, we have made contact with an alien race, one of whom is on the bridge assisting in operations. His name is General Tark’An. He is a member of a race that we have known all our lives. We know them as the Signal Makers. Now I know that this will cause many of you, most of you, to feel anger towards this race, but let me assure you, that as of right now, they may be the only hope for us to survive,” he took a breath.

  “We are about to drop out of hyperspace next to the Signal Makers’ home world where they have some sort of portal in orbit. That portal leads to our nearest galaxy, Andromeda. The Targlagdu th
reat is far greater than any of us could have imagined. Tark’An’s race is evacuating through the porthole as I speak. In an attempt to contain the Targlagdu threat, they will seal the porthole behind them. I plan to take The Agathon through as well. It’s our only option,” he said.

  All eyes on the bridge were now fixed firmly on the captain, including Tark’An’s. Barrington stood from the centre seat and smiled at each of his crew.

  “I’ve asked a lot from each of you, I know that. None of us could have possibly imagined back on our little research station on Mars that it would come to this. We’ve lost so much … friends, family, our home and I know that the leap of faith that you have all taken in me as your captain has been above and beyond, but we have survived. We have found those that we left behind. We’re going after them, we’re going to get them back. They survived for all this time without us and now they need our help. Our job has always been one thing and one thing alone. To find a new home. It has been my greatest honour to be a part of this crew and I wanted each and every one of you to know that I WILL get this ship, get you all, to that new home. In the end, it doesn’t matter what galaxy we end up in, because there is nothing we cannot do if we all stick together and fight. I need you all, this ship needs you all, to find strength. If you are afraid, use it. Harness it. Focus on looking out for one another, focus on your jobs, and above all else, keep this ship flying at all costs. This is the captain, I’ll see you all on the other side, bridge out.”

  He looked around at the faces of his bridge crew, all-waiting for his next order.

  “Battle stations,” he said.

  THE SIENNA CLARK

  Carrie moved quickly down the corridor. Her environmental suit told her there was still air here, so she deactivated her face plate. It slid off the back of her head and disappeared into her suit. She opened her mind and searched. A soft pinging klaxon began sounding as a long red light encased inside the walls began glowing every few seconds.

  Maya, she said as she checked behind her.

  Hello Carrie, replied Maya in her mind as if she was standing right next to her.

  It’s time.

  See you soon.

  Carrie continued down the corridor. The room she was looking for was right at the end of the hallway. She heard a thud, stopped, and waited. A second thud sounded as one of the doors suddenly became translucent. She began moving again as Aron appeared, followed by Maya and Tyrell.

  “Hello Carrie,” Maya said.

  Carrie looked inside the room and saw a member of the grey race lying on the ground. She glanced at Maya and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “You ready?” she said.

  Maya nodded.

  “You guys all right?” she said to Aron.

  Tyrell brought his reattached hand up and flexed it.

  “That’s not something I wish to experience again,” Tyrell said.

  “Where’s India?” Aron said.

  “Next door,” Carrie said moving past the trio.

  She gave Maya a nod, who followed closely behind. Carrie placed her hand on the side of the wall creating another doorway from the solid white space. She nodded to Maya who walked calmly inside, Carrie followed. India was lying on a table with another grey alien beside her. Maya quickly raised up her arms and in what looked like a rush of air, the alien was blown clean off its feet and sent sailing across the room. It hit a wall and crashed to the ground.

  “Good job,” Carrie said.

  Maya smiled at her.

  “India, are you all right?” Carrie said.

  India nodded, sitting up.

  “I’m feeling like a new woman, but I still want to know how the hell you two are able to do those things,” India said.

  “We can talk about it later, India, but right now we have bigger problems,” Carrie said, “like how the hell to get off this ship.”

  “Where are we?” asked Aron.

  “In a world of shit,” Carrie said moving past the group and back into the corridor.

  They followed without question.

  “What does that mean?” said Aron as they reached the end of the hallway to another transport pod. The hallways shook causing Carrie to balance herself by placing a hand on the wall.

  “What was that?” Tyrell said.

  Carrie turned to Tyrell.

  “Tyrell, there’s a larger transport pod in one of the main hangar bays, right?” she said, “I can’t remember which one.”

  “Yes, there is, I remember seeing it,” Tyrell said.

  “What’s the range on it?” Carrie said.

  “I don’t know, Carrie,”

  “What are we talking about here?” said Aron.

  They stepped onto the transporter pod at the end of the hallway and Carrie placed her hand on the activation pad.

  “I don’t know yet,” Carrie said.

  “You’re thinking of transporting off the ship?” Aron said, “to where?”

  The transporter pod activated and the group was deposited on the main habitat deck where the rest of the human colonists were living. Carrie figured it was the next logical place to go. Aron didn’t take his eyes off her the entire time and had materialised with a stern look on his face. Carrie stepped off the pad and began moving quickly. The group followed. The klaxon continued to sound from all around them.

  “I need to unlock all the doors in the main habitat and get all the people together. Aron, India, I need you to start gathering everyone in the common area. She stopped and turned to Maya.

  “Maya, I need you to protect these people, more of the grey people will be coming,” she said.

  “Ok, Carrie,” she said smiling.

  “Tyrell, you come with me,” Carrie said turning to walk again.

  “Hang on a second,” Aron said lightly grabbing her arm.

  Carrie glanced at him.

  “We don’t know how many of those things we’re dealing with here,” he said.

  “Would you believe, not that many, the ship is mostly automated, and it’s been badly damaged. They’ll have their hands full and seeing as they don’t rate humans that highly, they’ll mostly be coming after me, and I can handle myself,” Carrie said.

  “What happened up there?” Aron replied.

  Carrie took a breath.

  “I blew a hole in the bridge,” she replied.

  “You what?” Tyrell said.

  “And if we can’t use the transporter to get off the ship?” Aron said.

  Carrie widened her eyes indicating that she hadn’t planned that far ahead.

  “Oh, screw it, come on, Aron, let’s get our people,” India said.

  “I’ll come back for you all, twenty minutes. I’ll meet you in the common area, now go,” she said.

  Aron, India and Maya began walking.

  “Be careful,” Aron said.

  Carrie smiled at him, turned to Tyrell, and motioned for him to follow her. It was at that moment that she began feeling something familiar. A powerful presence in her mind. Then she heard the voice.

  Tar … Gla … Gdu!

  31:

  DEVICE CORP:

  RUTHENIUM HOME WORLD

  Drak’Lk watched the floating holograms overhead with a growing sense of dread. The swarm of mechanical planets was entering the Ruthenium star system. He stood next to Gra’Xn in the device chamber and stared up. The entire room of scientists and engineers seemed to have their mouths open. They had lost so much, fighting just one of these Targlagdu planets, now there appeared to be hundreds, all headed towards the Ruthenium home world. The entire fleet of Ruthenium ships had formed a ring around the planet. A last stand. Their ships had become formidable. Drak’Lk would make sure that they inflicted as much damage to the Targlagdu vessels as they could, before they were destroyed or absorbed. That was not the only issue. It was what the mechani
cal planets were carrying that really worried him. All the replicated life forms that the Targlagdu had absorbed and replaced. They would be sending legions to the surface of Ruthenium. Trillions of replicants. He hoped that his fleet could hold them off long enough to evacuate his people through the porthole before firing off the Sword of Stars. Their last and only hope. He turned to Gra’Xn, who had turned a paler shade of green.

  “Are you ready, Gra’Xn?” Drak’Lk said.

  “Sir?” he replied.

  “To fulfil our destiny.”

  “Yes, Your Eminence.”

  “Begin the sequence,” Drak’Lk stated.

  “Sir, you realise there’s no way to directly alter the Sword of Stars energy release once it begins. There will be no way to reverse it.”

  Drak’Lk kept his gaze firmly on the images of the approaching machine worlds. There were so many of them.

  “How long will we have until the shock wave destroys our planet?” Drak’Lk replied.

  “Not enough time to evacuate the very last of us,” Gra’Xn replied.

  Drak’Lk flexed his large hands and grimaced at the armada.

  “Are you ready to die, Gra’Xn?” he said.

  Gra’Xn bowed his head.

  “By your command, Your Eminence,” he replied.

  “Then begin the ...” Drak’Lk began saying.

  “Sir, I have a new contact coming into orbit,” came a voice from another station.

  Gra’Xn looked up at the holographic images.

  “Imaging,” Drak’Lk shouted.

  A large disc-shaped ship came into view. It looked like there was a ring of some kind spinning around it.

  “Incoming transmission,” said another voice.

  “Let’s hear it,” said Drak’Lk.

  A light bleeping noise was quickly replaced by a voice.

  “Device Corp, this is General Tark’An. I’m aboard the ship that just came into orbit. Do not fire on us.”

  Gra’Xn and Drak’Lk glanced at each other.

  “General?” Gra’Xn said surprised realizing too late that he should not have spoken first.