Far From Home: The Complete Series

by Tony Healey

  “Hail the lead vessel, Ensign. Open a channel,” Singh said to Ensign Boi. The display went blank for a moment before it was replaced with the face of a Draxx unlike any she’d seen before. It was a male, and he didn’t have the huge snout and cold dark eyes of a common Draxx. He was more humanoid, with a flat, almost featureless face. His eyes were yellow, and his skin more like wet leather than scales.

  Not your average reptile.

  King looked first at the screen, then at Singh. He had a frown on his face. She knew how he felt, but there were many Draxx variants. This was evidently one they hadn’t seen before.

  “I am Captain Andrew Singh, of the Union Starship Defiant. To whom am I speaking?” he said.

  The Draxx on the screen shifted visibly from one foot to the other. King imagined it standing with its hands clasped behind its back.

  It spoke perfect, fluent Terran Standard.

  “Prince Sepix, first-heir to the throne of the Draxx Dominion. The name of my vessel is not important. Neither are the names of the two vessels that accompany me,” it said.

  Singh glanced sideways at King before he said “Then what is important?”

  “The terms of your surrender, of course,” Sepix said plainly, a note of humour in his voice.

  “We are in neutral space. We are not encroaching on Draxx territory. You cannot ask that we surrender to you, when there is not just cause. Now -“

  “You are wrong, Captain,” Sepix broke in. “I do not ask. I demand. You, and the convoy you protect, will surrender immediately to the Dominion or face the consequences. From my standpoint, you do not have any choice but to obey.”

  Singh looked down for a moment, quickly weighing his options. “I will need a moment to inform my crew,” he said.

  Some of the bridge crew looked at him with horror etched onto their faces. King knew better than to think he’d turn them in.

  “I will allow it. A courtesy from one leader of men to another. You have your moment, Captain,” Sepix said. The screen switched back to a view of the convoy.

  Singh quickly unstrapped himself and started to pace back and forth.

  “Okay listen up. Lieutenant Banks, you will manoeuvre us over the convoy. Put us between it and that Draxx ship. We will take the brunt of any enemy fire until they’re safely away. It’s imperative they reach Carridian VI,” he ordered.

  He spun on his heel and jabbed a finger in the direction of Ensign Rayne. “Ensign, you will plot a course out of here. Fire up the Jump Drive and be ready to go at a moment’s notice. As soon as the convoy has left the party, so too will we.”

  “Are we to open fire?” Lieutenant-Commander Greene asked him.

  Singh smirked. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I want you to co-ordinate the batteries with Lieutenant Chang. The Draxx favour projectiles over energy weapons. I want the batteries’ focus to be on detonating their warheads before they can reach us.”

  “Understood,” Greene said with a nod.

  The batteries were located at multiple points all over the hull, and once fully-powered could fire a continuous stream of energy bolts to protect the ship from attack in all directions. They operated under computer control, but could be guided manually to focus on a specific objective. In this case, shooting down Draxx warheads.

  “Ensign Boi, signal the convoy on the emergency channel. Tell them to Jump,” Singh said. He walked to the front of the bridge, rested his hands against Banks’s chair back and watched as the first ship made the Jump.

  Sepix reappeared on screen. “We see that you are moving between us and the convoy. I expected such deception,” Sepix said.

  “I won’t let you have them,” Singh said. “And neither will I allow you to have this ship or its crew.”

  Sepix laughed. It was an awful sound. A crocodile’s cackle.

  “Then there is nothing further to discuss,” Sepix said.

  The screen went dead.

  Singh spun about. “Action stations!”

  * * *

  King explained how the Defiant had held off against the enemy fire that rained down on them as the convoy Jumped away.

  “Of course, they didn’t all Jump at once. Their drives fired up at different times,” she explained.

  Admiral Grimshaw shifted in his seat. He looked across at the note-taker, to make sure she was following the conversation.

  “And this led to several of the ships in the convoy being destroyed,” he said.

  King nodded. “Yes. We couldn’t cover them all. The hull plating destabilised early on. As we held off against the lead ship, the two at its flank started to pick off the ships that hadn’t made the Jump …”

  * * *

  On the front viewscreen, another ship from the convoy burst into flame. It listed to one side, rolled slightly then exploded. The Defiant shuddered from the shockwave of the blast.

  “Another one lost, sir,” Lieutenant Chang reported.

  “I can see, Lieutenant,” Singh snapped, irritated.

  King monitored the department reports flashing up on her own display.

  “Captain, decks eight and ten have lost pressure,” she said. “Crews are sealing those decks off. Nine reported killed.”

  Singh’s jaw tightened at the news. “How many more ships until they’re all away?”

  King looked toward Chang’s station. “Another six.”

  He shook his head. “This won’t do.”

  The Defiant took another hit. The ship rocked from the impact. The lights flickered on and off several times.

  King checked the ships diagnostics. “Stress on the hull now at seventy percent. If we keep taking hits like that, we’re going to lose more decks.”

  “I know,” Singh said. Up ahead the two smaller Draxx ships pummelled the convoy. So far all of the Defiant’s efforts had gone toward fighting the lead ship. He turned to Lieutenant-Commander Greene. “Del, target the smaller Draxx ships. Prime tubes one and two.”

  Greene nodded and set about targeting the two Draxx ships.

  Singh turned to King, his face a mixture of emotions. Duty versus morality. He had only ever had occasion to fire a Duotonic Missile a handful of times in his career, King knew. But if they were to survive, they had to get the two smaller ships out of the way. Then they could deal with the behemoth that pummelled them from above. The Duotonic Missiles were so powerful, they almost guaranteed instant destruction. But one of the prime directives of the fleet was to cripple an enemy vessel and take it prisoner rather than outright destroy it.

  “Tubes locked,” Greene said. He had his hand braced on the firing trigger.

  Still looking King dead in the eye, Singh said, “Fire.”

  Lieutenant-Commander Greene depressed the trigger. Two bolts of sparkling blue burst free from the front of the Defiant. The crew watched them split, each heading for a Draxx ship. Seconds later they both hit. The ship on the left broke in two before exploding. The second ship spun out of control as several explosions burst from its torn underbelly.

  “Direct hit. Both ships,” Chang reported.

  “Lieutenant Banks, ninety-degree roll. Bring us to bear on the lead ship,” Singh ordered.

  “Captain, at that vector we won’t be able to stop every warhead getting through,” King advised. They couldn’t use all of the batteries to their benefit if they were face on.

  “I’m aware of that, Commander. However they will have less ship to shoot at. I plan on ending this now,” he said. “Del, target the lead ship. Tubes three and four.”

  “Aye,” Greene said.

  The Defiant lurched to one side, its nose veering away from the convoy to face the giant Draxx ship.

  “Locked,” Greene reported.

  “Fire both birds!” Singh ordered.

  The viewscreen showed the two sparkling balls rush into the irregular hull of the Draxx ship. There was a shimmer of light as they exploded against the ship’s energy shielding. Small explosions bloomed along its outer hull but the ship stood whole. />
  And still firing.

  “Minor damage,” Chang reported.

  Singh’s face went white with shock. “Banks, get us out of here!”

  At the helm, Lieutenant Kyle Banks’s hands flew across the controls. The Defiant turned.

  King became aware that the batteries were still.

  “The enemy vessel has stopped firing,” Chang said, studying her readouts in confusion.

  “Maybe we did more damage than we thought,” Greene offered, standing from his station.

  Singh cocked his head to one side. “I don’t know …” he said.

  Kyle took the Defiant above the last of the convoy as they Jumped away.

  “Firing up the Jump Drive,” Ensign Boi reported.

  “On my count,” Jessica said.

  “Incoming bird!” Chang yelled. All of the bridge crew turned to face her. “It’s some kind of stealth torpedo. Our sensors can’t get a proper lock. Five seconds!”

  “All hands, brace for impact. Banks, evasive -” Singh started to order.

  The Draxx weapon hit. Singh was knocked back into his chair.

  King flinched but looked up in time to see Lieutenant-Commander Greene fly across the bridge and strike the far wall.

  He’s dead, she thought. We’re all dead.

  Circuits blew all over the bridge. Sparks rained down. The Defiant rode an earthquake. The emergency klaxons sounded.

  Jessica hit the comm. panel at her station, “Emergency. Medical team to the bridge. Medical team to the bridge.”

  A fire erupted by the side of the helm. Lieutenant Banks sprang from his seat to grab an extinguisher.

  “Damage report!” Singh shouted over the din.

  King got up and ran to Greene’s side. A gash in the side of his head pumped blood that formed a thick, red puddle on the floor. She removed her uniform jacket, bunched it up, and held it hard against the cut.

  “Multiple hull breaches decks thirteen through to sixteen. Teams are working on them. Power down to thirty percent. Damage to the fin. Coolant from the Jump Drive leaking into space,” Chang said. The last was a blow to them all. There was no way the Drive would work without the proper coolant. She looked up at her Captain in need of direction, reassurance.

  King could see that Singh wasn’t sure he could give it.

  “I want all repair teams to make the Jump Drive their number one priority!”

  A medical team rushed onto the bridge. King handed over to them as they worked on the floor to stop Greene bleeding out. Despite herself, she could feel her eyes fill with hot tears. She bit them back.

  Now is not the time.

  “Sir! They’re firing again!” Chang said.

  King ran to the now-vacant weapons station and quickly targeted the incoming warhead with the batteries. They fired a hail of energy against the warhead, successfully detonating it before it could hit. The Defiant shook.

  “Fire reported in munitions tubes,” Chang called.

  King shot Singh a look. “Captain, if that fire reaches the Missiles …”

  Singh got up. “Commander, you have the bridge. See to it we don’t let any of their birds through. Buy us some time.”

  “Captain, I’ll go,” King said. She walked toward him. Singh smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “No. This is my ship. I’ll go,” he said, his voice strong and sure. “Keep her together for me.”

  He turned and left the bridge. Jessica looked about. Every eye on the bridge watched her as she sat down in the captain’s chair.

  “Ensign Rayne, take the weapons station. Co-ordinate with Lieutenant Chang and try not to let any of their birds through,” she ordered. “Banks, try and get us some distance. We need to give the repair team time to fix the Drive.”

  “Aye ma’am!” they reported in unison as they followed her orders.

  * * *

  “I’ve seen the data from the sensors, and the visual logs. That was a big ship, Commander. The biggest I’ve ever seen that’s not one of ours. And you say the Duotonic Missiles had very little effect?” Grimshaw asked.

  “No. They had a very powerful energy shield around their hull, unlike any I’ve ever encountered. It seemed to absorb the hit. The damage was minor at best,” King said.

  Grimshaw nodded slowly, in thought. “I see.”

  “I think that if this is the new class of Draxx ship, then they’ve upped their game sir,” King said.

  “Yes, well, I will be sure to pass on the data from the Defiant to Central Command. I’m sure it will assist them in their analysis of the new Draxx starship classes.”

  King frowned. “Sir?”

  “We’ve known for some time that they’ve been focusing their efforts on building bigger, better ships. Several months ago we came into possession of intel pointing to a ship of the size you encountered,” Grimshaw explained. “But we weren’t sure if they had the capability, or the resources, to build it. Evidently they have.”

  “How many of these things are there?” King asked.

  “We think just the one at the minute. They call it the Inflictor. The first of a new class,” Grimshaw said. He shook his head. “I don’t know … just when you think the conflict has abated, it goes a stage further. This is just the beginning of something bigger I feel. The next stage in the conflict.”

  King let that sink in.

  “Where were we?” Grimshaw asked.

  King looked up at the ceiling as she found the words.

  “The fire …” she said.

  * * *

  “Fire team, report!” King snapped into the comm.

  The speakers issued a loud roar, filled with clicks and static. The voice of a male officer broke through it.

  “Lieutenant Morris here, sir. The fire has breached sections two, three and four. We’re trying to fight it back and stop it spreading further.”

  “What’s causing it to take hold like that?” King asked.

  “Propellant leak, sir.”

  “Okay, Lieutenant. Do what you can. Is the Captain with you?”

  “Yes sir. The Captain is assisting the crew trying to control the fire in section three.”

  “Keep me informed,” King said, closing the channel.

  The Defiant was rocked by a direct hit. She gripped the sides of the captain’s chair despite being strapped in.

  “Load whatever tubes we have left at our disposal and return fire,” King told Ensign Rayne.

  Another hit made the Defiant skew to one side. The bridge tilted and all hands took hold of something to keep from spilling out of their seats.

  “Re-stabilizing,” Banks shouted as he fought with the controls to bring the Defiant level again.

  “We can’t take much more of this. Are the tubes ready?” King asked Rayne.

  “Yes sir, ready to launch,” Rayne said.

  “Fire starboard tubes.”

  The front display changed to a view of their starboard side. The huge Draxx battleship loomed to the side of them, the jagged, almost haphazard design of it like some deformed mythological sea monster. Eight Duotonic Missiles spiralled away from the Defiant on a direct collision course. The Draxx ship made no attempt to stop them hitting. They struck with full force. The energy shield on the Draxx ship erupted in white light as it took on the full brunt of their explosive power and absorbed the majority of its energy. The shockwaves rocked the Defiant as if it were fighting a rough sea, but the Draxx ship remained unscathed.

  Union starships only ever carried twenty or so missiles at any one time, due to their power.

  “Jesus …” Olivia Rayne said in disbelief.

  “Right. Lieutenant Banks, full power to the engines. Drain every system if you have to,” King ordered. “Chang, I want you to -“

  An explosive scream tore through the Defiant. Bits of hull and particles blasted out from the bow of the ship. The secondary tactical console to the left of Chang’s station burst into flame and spat white sparks. Chang took a fire extinguisher from the
wall and smothered the console with it. The ventilation systems whined as they sucked toxic fumes from the bridge and out into space.

  Before the bridge crew could say that it came from inside the ship, King knew it was the Missile bay.

  She unbuckled herself, got out of the chair and ran to her own station below Chang’s. She saw the flashing red sections of the ship illuminated on her screen and swallowed, hard.

  She jabbed a finger at the comm. panel. “Captain Singh. Come in please.”

  Silence.

  “Captain Singh?” King repeated.

  Silence.

  She looked at Lieutenant Banks. She tried not to let the distress register on her face.

  King stood.

  “Lieutenant Banks, you have the con,” she said on her way off the bridge. “Keep her flying until I get back.”

  She caught a few looks of bewilderment as she left, but they were background noise to her need to see that Captain Singh was still alive.

  I shouldn’t be leaving the bridge. This isn’t the time to have a personal crisis, she told herself.

  But it was no use. She’d already reached the end of the corridor and slid down the ladder to the deck below. Then she ran.

  * * *

  Immediately following the explosion, the fire team had dragged the bodies of the wounded and deceased out behind the nearest blast door. The tear in the hull made short work of sucking the atmosphere into the vacuum of space, along with the fire. The blast door separated them from the severe pull of the void through the broken hull. If the fire team had wasted any time they would have been sucked out as well.

  King spotted Singh straight away. He lay on the floor, his helmet off. Two medics worked to keep him alive. They looked up as King approached.

  Doctor Clayton stood. Jessica went to fall at Singh’s side, but the doctor stopped her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, held her at arm’s length.

  “Commander, look at me. Look at me,” he said.

  Her eyes locked onto his.

  Dr. Clayton’s eyes were full of regret, his voice firm but tinged with sadness.“He’s dying. The explosion tore him apart. There’s too much … there’s nothing I can do for him now …”

  Jessica looked over his shoulder. She saw the blood that covered the Captain and coated the floor around him. Her hand went to her mouth.