“We’re not going anywhere …”
Orion interjected, “Captain, the Pharlom ship is charging weapons.”
Before Jason could say anything else, five consecutive plasma bursts erupted from the bow of the Pharlom command ship.
Jason reached for the chair’s armrest. “Damage report,” Jason yelled.
“It’s not us, Captain … it was one of the two large transport ships,” Orion said.
Jason saw that a new segment had been added above and he was now looking at significant space debris from one of the two transport vessels.
“Apparently the two ships were being held captive, Cap, and one of those transports was just fired upon … not destroyed, but has sustained heavy damage. With close to one hundred thousand passengers on board, the casualties could be high.”
Jason wanted to atomize the Pharlom warship. The command to do so was on the tip of his tongue. He looked at Orion and then back to the screen. “And the other one … how many are on board?”
“Even more, approximately one hundred and thirty thousand passengers.”
Jason looked up to the display. He pictured himself taking a sledgehammer to the pile of rocks sitting there. He managed to somewhat rein in his emotions. “Orion, go ahead, make that command ship our bitch.”
“Gladly, Cap.”
In a flurry of plasma fire, small explosions erupted along the exterior hull of the Pharlom command ship.
“She’s currently weaponless and her drives are toast … I’d be happy to finish her—”
“No … that’s fine for now. Okay … do the same thing to the ten closest Pharlom warships.”
Orion faced her tactical board and momentarily spoke a series of commands. Another flurry of plasma fire erupted from the Minian as well as six other Star Watch armada warships—each contributing to the rapid-fire attack. “No return fire, Captain. All of the closest enemy ships are disabled. All other Pharlom vessels are keeping their distance.”
“We’ve made our point to Mangga and his fleet. I think what’s needed now is a little face-to-face time,” Jason said, through clenched teeth—realizing that probably wasn’t the best choice of words. The Pharlom Grand Overseer didn’t really have much of a face. There was a loud roar of noise—much of which were insults—coming from Mangga. The pile of rocks was standing and looked to be stomping.
“Stand by, Grand Overseer Mangga, your vessel’s about to be boarded.”
He turned toward Orion. “Find Traveler and a few of his friends. Have Billy assemble a team of no more than ten. And roust my XO … tell him he’s needed on the bridge.”
“Yes, Cap,” Orion said.
Jason surveyed the bridge, looking for Ricket. Less than four feet tall, he was often easy to overlook. Ricket entered the bridge and headed directly for the command chair. Jason had given up a long time ago trying to figure out how he did that … how he seemed to show up just when he was needed.
“Yes, Captain?”
Jason was still shaken. “Ricket, I have a special project for you.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Communications with Trom went dark some time ago. We need to know what’s going on there. It’s evident an insurgency of Pharlom forces is already on the planet. I need to know if there are survivors and, specifically, where we can find them … perhaps communicate with them. It looks like we’ll be preoccupied here for the immediate future.”
“I suggest we send a series of probes, Captain. Once we have more information, more data, I can better suggest a methodology for communicating with any survivors.”
“Good. I’ll check in with you later.” Jason rose, hurrying to his feet.
“Captain, Traveler requests you meet him at the entrance to the Zoo. He says he doesn’t know his way around the Minian yet.”
He’s not the only one, Jason thought to himself. When things settled down, he really needed to spend time exploring the rest of his ship. “I’m on my way. Have Billy and his team meet us there as well.”
Commander Perkins entered the bridge, blinking away sleep from his eyes. “I am ready to relieve you, sir.”
“Thank you, Commander, I am ready to be relieved.” Jason waited for his XO to approach so he could talk to him in a lowered voice. “Orion will bring you up to speed. I am not looking to go to war here, Commander. Fire only if fired upon. Use your discretion. Measured force only, is that understood?”
“Perfectly, sir.”
“For now, have the armada sit tight here. Be prepared to bring the Minian, via a series of phase-shifts, to the Pharlom command ship’s coordinates. I’m taking an assault team onto their vessel … have a little powwow with their commander.”
Jason gave Perkins a curt nod and headed for the exit.
“Good luck, Sheriff,” Orion said to him with a smile.
* * *
Jason found Traveler, plus three other rhino-warriors, standing at the entrance to the Minian’s Zoo. Rhino-warriors First Reflection, Hangs to Ground, and Few Words stood with him. Hangs to Ground, aptly named for his remarkably long, almost touching all the way to the deck, member, grunted recognition at seeing Jason. What first grabbed Jason’s attention was the young girl, staring up at Traveler. Boomer! Her scolding finger pointed up at Traveler in the middle of some sort of reprimand.
“You need to wipe your feet when you come in here to the Zoo, Traveler. Who do you think mops the deck? I do.”
Jason held back a comment and let Traveler take his medicine. The beast looked somewhat dejected. Traveler glanced over to Jason but only got a commiserate shrug in response.
Boomer saw her father and smiled brightly. “Dad!” She ran over and gave him a hug.
He looked down into her large brown eyes. “Hey, little one, where’s your …”
“I’m here,” came a woman’s voice.
Petty Officer Briar Mansfield peered around the bulk of Breeds Often. She gave Jason a little wave.
“I’m showing Briar what my duties are in the Zoo.”
“That’s good. You’re doing your studies … your school work, too?”
“We did that this morning, Captain,” the petty officer answered, replying for his daughter.
“That’s excellent … why don’t you run along now, Boomer. I’ve got some business to attend to with Traveler and the others here.” He watched Boomer, who first assessed the team of rhinos, and then Billy and his assault team, who’d just entered. Her interest in such things did not elude him. She was a smart, plugged-in, little girl.
“Come on, Briar, I want to show you the Shintoh Gloths.”
Jason waited for them to disappear from sight before turning toward Billy.
“What’s on our plate today, Cap?” Billy asked.
Rizzo and Sergeant Jackson were among Billy’s assault team and Jason acknowledged them with a nod of his chin. “We’re dropping in on a Pharlom command ship. They’ve invaded this Allied star system and we need to convince them to leave.”
“That sounds very diplomatic, Cap. Should we bring chocolates, maybe some flowers?” Billy asked him, with a lopsided grin.
Jason didn’t respond, he was being hailed by the bridge.
“Go for Captain.”
“Captain, we’ve completed our phase-shifts. We’re in close to the Pharlom command ship … we’re actually well inside their shields.”
“Thank you, XO. Have Gunny update our HUDs with the Pharlom ship’s layout … no, never mind; it just came through. I’ll be in touch.”
Jason saw Billy’s helmet visor open, a wet and soggy stogie protruding from the corner of his mouth. He caught his eye and Billy removed the cigar, placing it into one of the many small compartments on his battle suit. Jason perused the overlay of the Pharlom ship’s layout on his HUD. He found the bridge and a section of the ship large enough for his team to phase-shift into.
“Everyone ready?” he asked.
Chapter 17
Alchieves System
Pharlom Command Wa
rship
_________________
In a white flash, Jason collectively phase-shifted his assault team into the Pharlom command ship. Ensuring they were all were accounted for, he turned his attention to their surroundings. Steam rose everywhere, making visibility difficult.
“What is this place, Cap?” Billy asked.
“Not sure. I do know the Pharloms have thick, mineral-based, epidermal layers. Like rock. Perhaps they need moisture … like some kind of wetting treatment so they don’t completely dry out.”
Jason noticed grittiness beneath his boots—as if he were walking on a layer of sand. The area was large—easily sixty to seventy feet square. Bench-like seating was built into the surrounding bulkheads. As he approached one of the bulkheads, he saw evenly spaced openings in the bench.
“Looks like you dropped us into the shitter, Cap,” Rizzo remarked humorously.
Chuckles came over the open channel from the rest of the team. Jason even heard Traveler grunt, which was as close to a chuckle as it got.
Jackson said, “Exit’s over here.” He waited for Jason, and together they moved through a wide corridor, which eventually led into an even wider one. The steam had dissipated and according to Jason’s HUD overlay they were close to the bridge. As he waited for the rest of his team to emerge from the steamy bathroom, a klaxon began to bellow.
“Looks like it’s show time,” Billy said.
“Yeah, so much for our element of surprise,” Jason replied, watching the movement of life-icons at the bottom of his HUD. In addition to showing their own team’s fourteen blue icons, no less than twenty alien icons could be seen, approaching them—five from the bridge and fifteen from the far end of the corridor.
“We’ve got the others, Cap,” Billy said. In a flash, half of Billy’s team phase-shifted away while he and four others headed on down the corridor.
Pharloms from the bridge were the first to enter the wide corridor. Jason wasn’t prepared for their size. Even taller than the rhinos, they moved surprisingly well, considering their hugeness. There was something unnerving about the grating sound they made as they moved forward, like large rocks being rubbed and scraped together.
Traveler and the three other rhino-warriors were the first to come into contact with the emerging Pharloms. Plasma fire erupted and Hangs to Ground took several energy bolts directly to his face. He went down, fast and hard. Jason raised his multi-gun, ready to take down the rhino’s attacker, but Traveler had already rushed forward, blocking his aim. With his large arm outstretched, winding around counterclockwise and gaining tremendous centrifugal force—the business end of Traveler’s heavy hammer connected with the Pharlom’s bowling ball-sized head, shattering it into a large puff of dust.
The corridor was now ablaze with plasma fire from all sides. Distant sounds of battle came from further away, where others of the assault team were also engaging the enemy.
Jason fired into the mid-section of an approaching Pharlom. Fracturing rock chips, the size of baseballs, broke away from the alien’s hulk, but didn’t seem to slow him down much. Soon, more Pharlom combatants found their way into the battle. From behind him, a massive, eight-fingered fist connected with Jason’s helmet. Even with the advanced Caldurian dampening technology built into his battle suit, Jason saw stars and staggered. Another blow, this one from the front, hit him below his chin. The force of the punch propelled him off his feet. He landed on his back, further down the corridor, and lost his hold on his multi-gun. From out of his peripheral vision he could see it, lying out of reach on the deck. The once seemingly large ship corridor now seemed small—packed with too many fighting combatants, each engaged in his own personal altercation. Two Pharloms towered over Jason, pointing their large plasma pistols at him. Reflexively, Jason raised and extended both arms. Plasma fire spewed from his battle suit’s integrated wrist guns. Without any conscious thought behind it, he aimed both guns toward their heads. He kept on firing until first one, and then the second, head blew apart.
“Shoot at their heads!” Jason yelled into the open channel.
“You just figuring that out now, Cap?” Billy replied.
Getting to his feet, Jason saw that the skirmish was coming to an end. Piles of rock chunks filled the space around him. In addition to Hangs to Ground, two of his assault team members were also down. According to Jason’s HUD, and their three still-active life-icons—each was injured … but still alive.
“Rizzo, you and the others guard the entrance. Billy and Traveler … you’re with me.” Jason moved toward the entrance to the bridge and saw that the hatch was securely closed. With a quick check of his ship overlay, he phase-shifted the three of them into the bridge.
They flashed into the very center of the near-circular bridge compartment, landing within the bright contours of a large holographic display. Jason saw a distorted partial image of the planet Trom displayed on Traveler’s back. The three took several steps forward, out of the flickering projection’s range, and took in the unconventional layout of the bridge. As if standing on a stage-in-the-round, the bridge officers and crew around them were situated in a circle.
Jason said, “Nobody move!”
According to a pop-up tag on his heads up display, sitting directly across from Jason was Grand Overseer Mangga. Billy and Traveler walked around the inside perimeter of the bridge consoles, ensuring that no one made any abrupt movements. Jason approached Mangga, who’d awkwardly risen to his feet. Mangga’s face was featureless, and Jason felt slightly cheated he couldn’t visually catch a shocked expression at their sudden presence.
An explosion of sound erupted behind him. Startled, Jason spun around to see Traveler lifting his heavy hammer away from a collapsed section of console. The Pharlom who’d been sitting at that station now lay on the deck, apparently unhurt. Traveler turned toward Jason. “He moved.”
Jason turned back toward Mangga. “I am Captain Jason Reynolds, of the Star Watch vessel Minian. You were warned, and now I’m commandeering your ship and placing you under ship arrest. You will issue an order of surrender to your fleet.”
The Grand Overseer began to speak, “Another will take my place … my Pharlom fleet is ten times the size of yours—”
Jason held up a hand, stopping Mangga mid-sentence. With two fingers up to his ear, Jason listened to Perkins, back on the Minian, relaying recent events in space.
“Captain, as soon as the Minian phase-shifted, the armada was attacked.”
Jason wasn’t in the least surprised to hear that. “Go on.”
“The space cannons took us by surprise; we’ve sustained moderate damage to three ships.”
“And the Pharlom fleet?”
“Apparently Bristol was working on something. I’m not really sure what.”
Bristol’s squeaky voice came on the line: “Captain, I hacked the cannons. It’s really not that complicated.”
“So what happened with the cannons? You do know I’m sort of in the middle of something here … right?”
“The cannons have been firing non-stop. They’re beasts, those things!”
“What the hell are you talking about, Bristol?”
“The Tromian cannons … they’re taking out Pharlom ships. I reprogrammed them. Hell, all the cannons in the system are on a rampage.”
“Well, stop them! Those weren’t my orders. I’ve got things under control here. Perkins, you still there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stand down and wait for my command. Keep an eye on Bristol.” Jason cut the connection and turned his attention back to the Grand Overseer. He let out a breath … things were so much easier when you could just annihilate an enemy.
“Cap!”
Jason turned toward Billy. He was pointing a finger in the direction of the large holographic display in the middle of the room.
Debris, like countless colossal meteors, was falling from numerous pummeled Pharlom warships, and beginning to strike Trom’s outer atmosphere. Bristol’s actions
were, inadvertently, causing more damage to the planet than even the Pharloms intended.
Jason opened a new NanoCom connection. “Orion! Lock on and take out that debris.”
“I’m already on it, Captain.”
Jason heard the Minian’s powerful plasma weapon pounding away through the comms connection. “We definitely won’t be able to get them all. The planet’s already suffered substantial damage.”
Chapter 18
Alchieves System
Planet Trom, Cloud-Port E5926
_________________
Leon and Hanna moved from one barracks tent into another, doing their best to stay out of sight of any patrolling Pharlom guards. Good news for them, most of the Pharloms were now congregating outside for the evening festivities-where hordes of prisoners were gathered around a raging bonfire. Leon picked up his pace, seeing that dusk was quickly turning to night.
“We need to move it along … why are you dilly-dallying back there?” he whispered over his shoulder.
“I’m two steps behind you. What do you want me to do? Walk on your shoes?”
They reached the far-side opening in the tent closest to the main tent, sited about ten feet away from where they stood. As he pulled the fabric of the tent apart to peer out, the distant sounds of Pharlom activities grew louder. He looked both ways and, seeing it was clear, opened the flap of the tent wider. “You go across first … I’ll follow you.”
Hanna nodded, not looking particularly comfortable with the switch. She looked out, verified the coast was clear, and quickly darted across to the main tent’s opening, ten feet away. Ready to sprint across himself, Leon hesitated. Two armed Pharloms had come around the corner and were approaching. He saw Hanna’s pretty face peering back out from the flap on the main tent. She didn’t seem to notice the two Pharloms, which astounded him, since they weren’t exactly light footed. If she makes any sudden movement, or opens the tent flap—she’s as good as dead, he thought.
With the guards less than fifteen feet away, Hanna opened the tent flap several inches wider and stuck her head out. Leon bit his lip in frustration. She was probably curious to see what he was so interested in. The flap movement caught one guard’s attention and he reached for his holstered energy weapon. Leon cursed under his breath. He looked around for something substantial to use as a weapon. There was nothing. One of the guards disappeared into the tent, while the other, his weapon drawn, stood less than five feet away from Leon.
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