After more silence, Jenkyns shook his head. “No, sir, we don't have her on our radar.”
Admiral Byrd brought his fingers to his forehead, rubbing his thick, dark skin. “We have a problem, Jenkyns. We lost all of our fresh water reserves. We’re empty.”
“You have water in Aquaponics, correct?” asked Jenkyns.
“Aquaponics is gone as well. A rupture wiped them out...” he glanced up, trying to better describe the damage. “No, a rupture sucked them both out. We have no food or water, and no Starbase Matrona to bail us out.”
“You were our lifeline, Admiral,” stated Jenkyns. “Our Starship doesn't hold water reserves. We have a minimal amount of food and water. Our run to get more from Matrona was scheduled for later this evening.”
“How much do you have on hand?” inquired Admiral Byrd.
A short pause. “About two days, sir.”
“Incoming vessels!” yelled Eden.
Admiral Byrd's eyes shot to the vid screen and Admiral Jenkyns’ image bleeped out.
“They're coming in fast, Admiral,” said Eden.
The admiral knew there was no way they could survive another attack. He glanced at his shoes, seeing how clean they still were. An image of them blowing up and bursting into flames popped into his mind. “Jenkyns—evasive action! Command at will!”
“Aye, aye, Admiral!” The com link clicked off.
Admiral Byrd watched two large, red pyramid-like shapes on the vid screen many miles away; and Eden was correct—they were coming in fast.
“Any idea when the hyper drives will be fully functional?”
Eden moved her eyes all around the HDC. “Yes, about half a day. Engineering is working on it.”
“We don't have half a day. Tell them to speed it up!”
“Yes, sir.”
A loud beep sounded throughout the bridge and the vid screen zoomed in on three small objects speeding toward them from the direction of the pyramid ships.
Before he could inquire, Eden spoke. “Heat signatures suggest torpedo projectiles carrying a photon load.”
“How big is the load, Eden?”
“I don't know. Most of our sensors are down. All I have is the heat sensors.”
“Launch countermeasures,” responded the admiral.
Eden pointed to a crewman operating another station. He pressed a few buttons, targeting the torpedoes, and gave a nod to Eden. “Countermeasures launched.” The vid zoomed in, showing two dozen star-like projectiles soaring from Brigantia, toward the torpedoes.
The admiral folded his arms and watched, but, just as the countermeasures eventually met the torpedoes, Brigantia’s star-like projectiles exploded, shooting thousands of pieces of shrapnel outwards. It was an explosion ten times what they were expecting, and then another one occurred. Then a blue haze blasted out from the explosions, looking like a ring around a planet, expanding as it went and spreading toward Brigantia.
“Brace for impact!” shouted the admiral.
They all grabbed safety bars built into each station. The admiral clicked the restraining belt on his seat and held on to his bars. Then, like a wave hitting a large ocean vessel, Brigantia rocked back as a rise of photon energy hit, moving it up and backwards, vibrating Brigantia into a massive shudder.
After a few moments, another wave hammered the starship, causing everyone to overcome the shock as best they could.
The admiral closed his eyes when the third wave hit, wondering if his vessel would make it, or if every screw on board would vibrate loose.
For a moment, he thought all would be easier if it just ended now. All of this would be over in seconds and he wouldn't have the remainder of the fleet to worry about. It would be done. He wouldn't have to decide the fate of anyone and the enemy would no longer matter. It wouldn't matter that they didn't have any water. Nothing would matter. It would all be over.
“Admiral. Admiral!” someone yelled.
Why had he chosen this path, to be in charge of thousands, no, millions of souls?
“Admiral!”
Admiral Byrd jostled himself from his thoughts. “Yes!”
Eden stared at him. “Orders, sir?”
“What?” Admiral Byrd pondered her question, wondering why she seemed to be in such a hurry.
“For the second time, Admiral! We have more inbound torpedoes! Shall I launch more countermeasures?”
He looked at the vid screen, seeing that there were indeed more torpedoes. After a brief pause, he exhaled a breath he didn't know he’d been holding. “Launch more countermeasures.”
“Countermeasures launched, sir!” said Eden, wiping her auburn hair off of her sweat drenched forehead, eying the Admiral, hoping he could keep himself cool, unlike the way he'd behaved in his Thunderbird.
The Admiral placed his palm under his chin, deep in thought yet again. Eden wanted to pinch him, pull his hair, punch him–do something to get his mind back in the game where it belonged.
Two words kept repeating in his mind. Knights Templar...Knights Templar over and over again. Those were his grandfather's words, and his great grandfather's words before him. They were the saviors of the lost. They gave their lives to be in service to others. Their oath was to help those less fortunate, to be a force of light in any darkness. But, he knew the Knights Templar were a myth. Everyone knew that, but there were no other options, no other strategies. He simply couldn't hold off this enemy forever. They were out-gunned and outnumbered, so why not think about Knights and Templars?
Eden leaned over, whispering into the admiral's ear, “Never give up, Admiral. We need you now, more than ever.”
He gazed into her eyes and then narrowed his own. “Press the distress beacon.”
“What?” Her eyes widened, thinking this wasn't her idea of not giving up. “The distress beacon?”
“You heard what I said, Lieutenant.”
A frown appeared on her face, not fully understanding why he'd send out a distress call. “To who, Admiral?” She put her hands out, palms up. “There’s no one else out here. It's only us and the enemy. No one can save us but ourselves.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his golden pendent, rubbing his thumb over the knight sitting on a horse, wondering why there was a second knight sitting behind the first one. “Send the distress call, Lieutenant. Now!”
“But, sir! Who will receive it?”
He stopped thumbing his pendent, looking deeply into her eyes. “The Knights Templar.”
She tilted her head, frustrated. “What?! But that's a myth, sir!”
“We’d better hope it's not.”
Then an alert horn sounded throughout the bridge. The admiral and Captain Stripe hurried out of their chairs to view the HDC in front of Eden. Eden stared at them as she reported, “We have inbound fighters headed our way. It looks like hundreds, sir. Between Brigantia and Taranis, we have just over two hundred pilots remaining—if that.”
The admiral stepped around and walked closer to the vid screen, his lips quivering with fury. He wanted to tear the attackers apart–every atom–destroy them all! But, it didn't matter what he wanted. He had to do what admirals do. Give orders and make the final decision. “Open com link.”
“They're open, sir.” said Eden. She crinkled her brow, staring at the HDC. “The torpedoes have just deactivated, Admiral, giving the enemy fighters a clear path to us.”
The admiral glared at the vid screen as he watched two torpedoes slow down and stop, then hundreds of oncoming craft barreling past them, heading straight toward Taranis and Brigantia with incredible speed. “Pilots! Report to your Thunderbirds!”
He flipped over the pendant, mouthing the words inscribed on the back:
Equites non intercedere nisi invocatum
* * *
Knights Do Not Interfere Unless Called Upon
Episode 2
Prime Zim
A creature peered through the glass pane, showing itself. Crystal screamed at the top of her lungs, crawli
ng backwards and doing her best to get as far away from it as possible, hitting her head against the metal cockpit hatch. She swiped hair out of her eyes, but suddenly relaxed.
“Daf?”
Her friend—her fellow Mechie—was blinking her eyes frantically, peering through the Mech window. It had been Daf, driving her own Mech, who had pulled Crystal's Mech into the warehouse. It wasn't an alien creature with fangs hanging down to its knees like she'd imagined. No, it was human. Thank the Guild for Daf.
“You're alive!” Crystal gave a hardy laugh full of relief.
Realizing that Daf couldn't hear a word she was saying, she reached up and pressed the hatch button. When a hiss and a clank told her the hatch had unsealed, she pushed it open, feeling cool air rushing into the cockpit.
Crystal felt strong hands grab her by the collar and yank her out of her Mech. Wow, thought Crystal. Daf is strong, something Crystal had never thought about before. Crystal wondered if the heavy gravity of planet Lumus had somehow made the Mechies a lot stronger than normal. It probably did and it was probably something that all Mechies and everyone in Star Guild knew about except Crystal.
Daf's labored breathing brought Crystal back to the moment. Daf was dragging her across the warehouse, to a door leading to several offices. Crystal glanced up. Her eyes widened, seeing that Daf was pale and her breath was heavy as she pulled.
“Daf?” said Crystal.
No reply.
Daf's breathing hastened and her pace quickened. Crystal looked at her own feet, watching the heels of her rubber soles sliding against the grayish black floor. Crystal wasn’t hurt, so she was wondering why Daf felt it necessary to drag her. But, she relaxed her body as she was dragged closer and closer to the office door, not wanting to stop Daf's progress or potentially screw up what may be Daf's time sensitive plan of escape from these enemies.
Daf's voice suddenly came alive, quiet and low. In a breathy whisper she said, “They killed everyone. All of the Mechs are down and the Mechies inside...dead. Who are they, Crystal? Who are they? Why did they kill them? Why? What do we do now? Will they send someone to come after us? Will Star Guild send someone to rescue us?”
Before Crystal could answer or even throw out a guess, Daf let go of her, letting her drop to the hard floor. Crystal quickly spun around to see Daf struggling with buttons on a wall panel next to the office door.
“3-2-2-1,” said Crystal. “The code is 3-2-2-1.”
Daf looked at her, lips quivering, arms shaking. She blinked, and then blinked again in rapid succession. It was a little too fast for Crystal's liking. Crystal stood up as fast as she could, knowing what was happening to Daf. Just as she started to move forward, she saw Daf faint, fall against the wall and slide to the ground.
Crystal bent down, slapping Daf's face. “Daf, wake up. Daf? Daf!
Crystal sighed. This wasn't something she needed to deal with right now.
Shaking her head and pulling Daf up from the ground, Crystal held her in one arm and pinned her against the wall with a leg as she typed in the code. The door slid open vertically. Why don't we have voice command operations for this? I'm going to have to get that changed, STAT!
She shook her head, understanding her plight and thinking how convenience was the last thing she should be thinking about at a time like this.
Turning Daf around and grabbing her by the underarms, she pulled her through the office doorway. An automatic light turned on when she entered, brightly lighting the room. “No!” shrieked Crystal in her mind. She didn't want to draw attention to the warehouse. Moving around several desks, pulling Daf along, she crouched down, hiding next to a large one.
I've got to turn off the light.
Crystal froze as a loud thud reverberated through the warehouse, definitely coming from the Mech Bay door. If she had wanted to move, her body wouldn't allow it. Then she heard it again. She looked through an office window and saw that the Mech Bay door now had a slight dent in it.
“Dammit!”
Again, she thought about moving, but her eyes stared through the window, unflinching, at the Mech Bay door.
Another thud and Crystal snapped into action. She ran into the side office containing the security vids.
She sat at the desk, eying the vids and suddenly realized that not a single soul was here manning the station. They would have been here, doing their normal routines for Ebb Operations. But, where were they? The Mechies wouldn't be here because they were usually outside in their Mechs collecting ebb, but the warehouse men and women, the Star Guild officers, the boss man, engineers and the Techies—where the hell were they?
Looking around, she saw no evidence of a struggle. It was as if they had simply disappeared. They couldn't have gone outside without a Mech or they would have gone insane or brain dead, or better yet, had a heart attack within two minutes due to the dense gravity exposure. Maybe they did attempt to leave regardless of the gravity, doing their best to escape a bad situation. The back window would tell her. She could see if there had been any attempts to escape through a back door. She might see dozens of dead people littered across the ground. Right now, though, it wasn't that important to see and it really wouldn't change anything.
She stood up as another thud slammed against the Mech Bay door, deforming it even more. Bastards! Leave us alone!
She turned her attention to the office walls all around her, white with silver sparkles. Then another thought occurred to her. Duh, the vids!
She looked first, then dashed over to the vid console. But, when she looked at the holovid all she saw was static, so she pressed a button and said, “Re-route all security vids to nearest Lumus satellite. Sync into Mech Warehouse 11 and display.”
Thud!
She looked up expecting the worst, but the bay door held.
“Holovid!” she yelled, bringing up a holographic display so she’d be able to see exactly what was happening outside. The satellite camera zoomed in, passing through the atmosphere, displaying a world of red rock, large mountains, dark gray ebb spiking out of the redness, and large craters where ebb had once been.
“Zoom in on Warehouse 11.” She pounded the holographic display. “Go! Hurry, hurry!”
It zoomed in.
“Stop.”
The zoom halted, the holovid displaying the exterior of Warehouse 11.
“Mech Bay door,” she ordered. The satellite panned and stopped. She whispered out loud, “What in Star Guild's name IS that!”
Then nervously, she glanced at Daf lying on the ground next to the desk in the other office. She and Daf had to get into a Mech before the bay door was forced open.
∞
“I repeat…pilots to your Thunderbirds!” yelled Admiral Byrd over the com link.
Captain Stripe read the status of repairs on her HDC and glanced at the admiral. “Four hours until we can jump again, Admiral.”
“It's better than the original report,” replied Admiral Byrd. “They're working fast. Get Admiral Jenkyns on the com.”
A click, then a hologram of Jenkyns appeared on the holostage near Admiral Byrd's command chair. Jenkyns gave a nod, noticeably irritated with this sudden distraction. “Yes, Fleet Admiral?”
“Are your pilots ready?”
“Ready on your mark,” responded Jenkyns.
“Launch at will.”
“Aye, Admiral.” With that, Jenkyns' hologram faded out.
“First wave away, sir!” shouted Lieutenant Eden, staring intently at the HDC attached to her station—the one previously occupied by Lieutenant Brigger less than ten minutes ago. She lifted a hand, as if she were about to start the first string of an orchestra. “Second wave away, sir!”
Admiral Byrd stared at the vid screen surrounding Starship Brigantia's bridge, seeing two groups, each with a dozen Thunderbirds, flying head on toward the attacking starfighters. “Keep 'em coming, Eden!”
Arm still raised, Eden spoke, “Third wave...fourth wave...fifth wave...sixth and final wave, away!”
/>
The Admiral continued to watch the vid screen as Starship Taranis' Thunderbirds exited their launch bay and came into view, joining Brigantia's Thunderbirds.
The Admiral looked over his shoulder, eying Captain Stripe. “How long before our Thunderbirds are within weapon range?”
The captain glanced at her screen, seeing the enemy coming in fast. “Two minutes, although I'm already hearing reports of enemy weapons locking.”
The attacking enemy had left their pyramid ships less than five minutes prior, yet at top Thunderbird speed the pyramids were more than a half hour away. With both Thunderbirds and the enemy bearing down on each other, they'd meet half way between the pyramids and Brigantia sooner than the Admiral wanted—within bare minutes. He needed time to think, time to plan a strategy, but time wasn't on his side. He wanted to meet with military counsel, find his long dead mentor, Fleet Admiral Revel Sune, and figure out what the hell to do. This battle, this war, was something he'd never thought he’d experience. It was something no admiral in Star Guild had ever experienced. He had to learn quickly and make the right decisions, because if he didn't they'd all die on his watch and he couldn't let that happen.
The admiral wiped his brow and folded his arms. We need a miracle.
Eden looked up. “We've lost two birds, Admiral. The Thunderbirds are still one minute to weapons lock.”
“Brigger?”
“Yes, Admiral?” Brigger stood at attention. He'd been monitoring the pilots at the flight commander's desk, Eden's usual station. He didn't know what to do there.
“Have your nerves settled down?” asked the admiral.
“Yes, sir.” Brigger was young. His nerves hadn't completely settled and he didn't want the admiral to know.
“Good. Now, take over Com Desk. I need Eden to command the pilots.”
“Aye, sir!” Brigger ran down a couple of stairs to the Com Desk next to the admiral's station. Eden got out of her seat and snapped to attention in front of Admiral Byrd.
The Veil Rising Page 4
