by C. M. Kane
She had tried to reach Brightmoon, whom she could sense was in enormous pain. She wanted to see if the ship would bring one of the other dreadnaughts into play. Even a few extra hits on the Eos’s shields could turn the tide in her favor, but for some reason Brightmoon refused. Tae got the distinct impression of a deep underlying rage coming from the dreadnaught, this had become personal. Brightmoon wanted no outside interference, from anyone.
Their long range sensor operator now informed them that a massive fight had now broken out between the older ships near the portal. Tae immediately bought it up on the view-screen. She couldn’t believe they might finally be catching a break, but sure enough, what looked like a small war seemed to be starting between two factions of Hyperion’s fleet. She didn’t know what had caused it, but as long as it kept them back there and not attacking Brightmoon, she was all for it. She looked away from the battle and focused on her problems in the here and now. Tae once again looked at the darkening force field, it was then she noticed the still fully intact hyper-drive emitters, it gave her an idea.
‘Where getting hammered staying here,’ she said turning to Loki. ‘I’m not sure how much more our shields can take, but I’ve got an idea.’
Loki glanced over at her while he continued to program different firing solutions into the computer to keep hammering the same piece of weakened force-field, as the Eos continuously tried to shift away.
‘What if we fire our missiles then make a small hyper-space jump, we could jump to just out of damage range before we move back in to finish him off,’ she said.
Loki turned to Claysal who was just about to launch the last of their buzz bombs. ‘Can you be ready?’
Claysal nodded. ‘Just give me three minute warning before we jump. I’ll launch the last of our buzz bombs, then a minute later I’ll launch the missiles. I’m hoping the majority of their interceptors and chaff are going to get the weaker buzz bombs first, it should give the bigger missiles a better chance of getting through.’
Loki nodded and looked back at Tae. ‘You heard?’
Tae nodded. ‘Starting now,’ she said. As the power in Brightmoons engines began to build Tae turned to Claysal. ‘Three minutes to hyper-space jump.’
Claysal immediately launched the buzz bombs and looked to a small timer she had set up. When the vibrations from the engines began to be felt in the bridge she launched the second wave of missiles.
Tae knew Hyperion must be shocked at their action, not to mention wondering just what the hell they were doing; launching missiles this close would damage both ships equally. Tae had now begun to slowly move Brightmoon to her side, until her nose was pointing slightly away from the Eos.
It was then that the emitter beams lit up, a shimmering black haze appeared in front of Brightmoon and she moved through. She appeared almost instantaneously twenty thousand kilometers off the port side of the Eos, just as a dozen of Brightmoons missiles smashed into her force field, finally collapsing it. A further nine missiles then slammed into the dreadnaught causing massive explosions. Tae quickly bought the sensors back online; she smiled in relief when she found the Eos now had no working pulse cannons. It also had three massive holes in its bow that were venting atmosphere. The missiles had done their job, the Eos was defenseless.
Loki looked intently at the readings before moving back to his original consol, he then he contacted Brohan to see how the fight with the breaching pod was going. He listened intently for several minutes before turning to Tae.
‘Brohan thinks they’ve killed over half the invading force. He and his men are picking off anyone they can with Zap guns; once they’re injured the Tore are moving in and finishing the job. Vulcan’s just killing anyone with-in swords reach, and doing quite well according to Brohan.’ He quickly switched frequencies and was silent for a moment as if listening to something. Tae heard a faint scream from over the com and Loki began grinning.
‘Sorry for interrupting your fun, Vulcan, but we’d like an approximate time of when you’ll be done,’ he said.
Tae thought she heard some faint shouting before Loki turned to her again. ‘He says they’re just mopping up the last of them now, so it should be over with-in a few minutes.’
Tae nodded, wondering whether or not Loki knew his fangs were fully extended. She realized with a start that, while she was riding a towering wave of barely suppressed terror, he actually seemed to be enjoying every moment of this fight.
A few tense minutes of waiting later Vulcan signaled them that the last of the breaching pods crew had been eliminated. Tae looked out at massive debris field now surrounding the Eos. It was time to finish this; she fired up Brightmoons main engines and began to close in her prey.
Chapter 37
‘We may have some help,’ said Tae as she switched the long range sensors back to the fight between Hyperion’s other forces. She quickly transferred what she was seeing to Loki’s station. He smiled in delight as he saw their forces starting to come through the now open portal. Better yet, the titan forces that had won the battle with Hyperion’s minions were standing down.
Can they be joining us? If they are, that means we’ve already won; at least for now. He frowned in thought before moving over to the main communications com-panel where he quickly up-loaded a message he had pre-recorded. Tae watched him curiously, but he neither explained his actions, nor allowed anyone to know what he had just sent.
Loki moved back to his station and looked at the Eos as they closed in on her. He smiled and nodded to himself slightly, as if pleased with what he’d just imagined.
‘Open a channel to the, Eos, Dolath, it’s time Hyperion and I had a little chat, and make sure the entire fleet can hear what we say, I want no misunderstandings.’ Dolath nodded and quickly did as ordered before he nodded to Loki that he was ready.
‘Battleship Eos, this is Loki of the free titan dreadnaught, Brightmoon. I am prepared to offer terms for your immediate surrender.’
Hyperion’s face immediately came onto their view-screen; he gave Loki a flat hard stare before smiling coldly. ‘Loki, I see you’ve upgraded your ship while you’ve been away, but I see from my sensors that the rest of your rabble seem to be using the same ships they left in … tell me, do you lead your group of traitors now? Did you finally have the courage to kill the betrayer Zeus? And where pray tell is that fool Vulcan? Gone to hide while the fighting is occurring, like the pathetic tech he is,’ he snarled.
Loki raised an eyebrow looking amused. ‘Hardly, Zeus is on his way over now, as you will soon see. As to Vulcan, he and his men have just finished killing all those on that breaching pod that managed to make it to the ship. I should imagine he’s on his way to the bridge as we speak. He didn’t want to miss your defeat, so he insisted on coming with us on our little sortie and, from what I can tell, he’s been enjoying himself immensely. Oh, and by the way, if you’re thinking of luring us in closer before you unleash your missiles, don’t bother, we’ll simply jump again, so it would be a useless gesture.’
‘Surely you don’t expect me to simply surrender, Loki? If so, then you’ve sunk far lower than I could have anticipated while you’ve been gone, which will only mean that destroying the Eos will avail you nothing! The others who have joined you will eat you alive. Your only chance to survive this is to join me; together we can still turn this around.’
Loki smiled as the turbo lift door opened and a bloody be-fanged Vulcan entered, his equally bloody sword still gripped in his right hand. Loki nodded to him before turning back to Hyperion.
‘Actually I have another proposal for you. I will allow you to evacuate to the nearest planet, Preashan, I believe it was called. You will be joined by the rest of the crews in the surrounding fleet of dreadnaughts. From here you will be forced to live out the rest of your life with no contact from anyone. We will of course set up a large blockade of drones and mines to prevent your escape, but for whatever time you and your friends may have left, you will be left to your own devices. You
have five minutes to decide before we complete your destruction.’ He then turned off communications and turned to Tae.
‘Can Brightmoon start evacuations on the other ships immediately?’
Tae shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea, I’ll ask her,’ she said closing her eyes. Brightmoon I need you to sound the evacuation alarms on the ships in dreadnaught fleet. You’ll also have to stop any communications from the bridge to any other part of the ship. If anyone on board refuses to evacuate either knock them unconscious or kill them. Those ships must be made safe, she finished.
She felt the Brightmoon complying with her order. As Tae got information on the evacuation of the other ships she quickly relayed it to Loki, all the while Brightmoon continued to close slowly on the Eos.
‘You’re letting them go?’ said Vulcan, completely shocked at what Loki had just proposed. ‘You can’t be serious?’
At that moment Dolath turned to Loki, ‘My Lord, we have an incoming call from the Olympus, it is Lord Zeus.’
Loki nodded and Zeus face suddenly filled their view-screen. Tae saw that he had the same wild look in his eyes as Loki, and Vulcan. She thought he looked both scary and magnificent all at once.
‘What are you doing? Why are you letting Hyperion go?’ he asked in a quiet deadly voice.
Loki nodded in greeting. ‘Brightmoon is evacuating the dreadnaughts crews to the surface of Preashan to make them safe for us to enter unhindered, as to Hyperion, he’s ours!’
‘And if we want him?’ Zeus said dangerously.
‘Too bad,’ said Loki, ‘we’ve earned him through right of battle.’
Zeus looked at him for a long moment, Loki stared straight back at him, his own fangs fully lengthened in aggression.
‘This is our fight, Zeus, so back the hell off, you want him you’ll have to go through us first.’
‘And that includes me,’ said a bloody Vulcan who had moved over to stand beside Loki. Zeus noted that from the looks of him, he now had a few more scars to add to his collection.
‘We’re owed this victory, by right of blood!’ he snarled.
Tae knew what this meant, many on the Brightmoon had perished in this fight, and Brightmoon herself was badly damaged. Vulcan is right, she thought, they’d earned this victory through right of their spilled blood.
Zeus nodded. ‘We will keep the retreating shuttles under our view as well as the dreadnaughts,’ he said.
Loki nodded and switched his attention fully back to Hyperion’s ship. He nodded at Dolath who re-opened communications.
‘Have you come to a decision? He asked, ‘or do we just get on with destroying you where you sit.’
Hyperion came back online; Tae could see a look of cunning was now in his eyes. ‘And how do I know you will simply not blast us out of the sky if we should accept?’ he asked.
‘Because I can do that right now, and secondly I give you my word of honor that as long as both you and your crew proceed directly to Preashan and land there, neither Brightmoon, nor any of the assembled fleet will attack your ships,’ he said. ‘We wish to imprison you and your followers for the rest of your natural lives as a warning, Hyperion, not destroy you utterly.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ muttered Vulcan under his breath as he glared at Hyperion.
Hyperion nodded. ‘Very well, I accept your terms. I will begin evacuation procedures immediately.’
Loki nodded smiling, ‘Oh and Hyperion, we will continue to scan you, if we detect any form of sabotage we will immediately begin firing upon you, is that understood?’
Tae noticed Hyperion’s eyes narrow slightly, but he nodded. She knew he was already thinking of escape plans, formulating ideas for himself and his loyal followers. As Loki was talking to Hyperion, Tae saw a young man in the background at what looked to be the sensor array; he had a look of defeated hopelessness on his face. She knew instantly that he was the one who had scanned them. She also knew she had to do something to save him from whatever fate befell the others.
She impulsively reached out her hand to Loki’s. ‘My Lord, we will also need them to send their sensor operator over to us.’
She saw the young man’s head snap up in surprise, Hyperion immediately turn suspicious eyes towards him. Tae thought he just might arrange an accident for him if she didn’t word this just right.
‘Right from the first moment he saw us he’s been trying to peek up our skirts. I’ve had a devil of a time keeping him from finding out what we were up to. I think it might be wise if he come onboard for questioning, to see what he may have learnt.’
Loki looked blankly at Tae for a moment before she saw a dawning realization enter his eyes; he turned back to the screen and looked directly at the young man in question. ‘You are the one that my Captain says has been scanning us since we arrived?’ he asked.
Hyperion turned and looked at his son; he found he had a decidedly odd look on his face. It almost looked calculating, something that Hyperion now found oddly disturbing.
Krios looked directly at Loki. ‘Yes,’ he answered quietly.
‘Send him,’ said Loki. ‘I want to question him a little more closely. Besides, it seems I might need someone to do a few… odd jobs, around the ship.’
Every Titan alive knew that “odd jobs” was a euphemism for slavery. Sometimes after an intense battle a captor would be taken to be tortured and humiliated. He or she would be forced to perform the most menial of jobs, as well as be open to any form of abuse the crew saw fit to inflict.
Tae saw Hyperion’s quick nasty little smile. It had actually looked as though he had nearly laughed before he’d quickly covered it. He nodded and turned to the warrior in question.
‘Well Krios, it looks like you might get to die after all. Please try to make your death that of a warrior and not some piddling fool, now go!’ he ordered.
Krios looked up at his father and smiled contemptuously. He saw Hyperion’s eyes widen in anger, but before he could say another word Krios turned and walked swiftly to the turbo lift with his head held high.
‘Is that it?’ Hyperion asked.
Loki nodded. ‘You have two hours to finish evacuating.’ Then he turned off communications and closed his eyes.
‘It’s over,’ he said, a wide smile beginning to form on his face. ‘We did it. WE JUST WON!’ He opened his eyes and shook his closed fist in delight.
Of course that’s when Tae noticed another new, more pressing problem. Where Loki might have made this promise to Hyperion in good faith, he had failed to consult Brightmoon, and she’d agreed to nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact she was still totally enraged and out for blood; even as Loki was talking Tae noticed she was starting to work out firing solutions of her own for the Eos.
Chapter 38
‘Oh shit!’ said Tae as she saw what Brightmoon was preparing to do. She immediately set about trying to calm her.
Okay sweetie, it’s over, it’s time to do as Loki says and let them go. He knows what he’s doing. Sometimes we just have to just trust people, whether we want to or not, she soothed. I trust Loki; I know you don’t, but I really need you to trust my judgment in this. Brightmoon, I’m your Captain, remember our deal, I’m the one that’s in control during fights, you must obey me, if I’m wrong I will never ask another thing of you, please, Brightmoon, trust me. As she finished her impassioned little speech Brightmoon cut off her access to her mind. Tae was now effectively shut out of all decisions.
Loki walked over to her and put his hand on her, ‘What’s happening,’ he asked in concern.
‘Brightmoon still wants to fire on the Eos, she has a targeting solution and is now loading her missile tubes.’ Tae said in panic. ‘She won’t listen to me; she’s actually blocking me from joining with her. Loki, she’s going to destroy them before they can evacuate!’
Tae thought fast. There was only one thing she knew Brightmoon feared, and it was the only way she could think of to get her attention. Of course this obviously meant that what she was about to
do would hurt like hell. She grimaced and turned quickly to Loki.
‘Draw your sword and hold it near my throat, quick.’
Frowning heavily Loki quickly drew his sword and held it to the right of Tae’s throat, just as she drew a large knife from her boot.
‘Brightmoon!’ yelled Tae. There was no response, the missile tubes finished loading. Tae took a deep breath, and then plunged the knife she was holding into her leg.
She was right, she had thought she’d been prepared, but once again she was wrong. She couldn’t stop the loud moan of pain from escaping her lips as she felt the knife plunge into her upper thigh. When she opened her eyes again she saw that the vid ball was now in front of Loki with every gun port open. Vulcan had moved behind the vid ball and had his sword raised as if to strike. For a moment there was dead silence on the bridge as everyone stared at each other.
‘Damn it! I am your Captain, Brightmoon, you may not like my orders but you will obey them. What I do is for the greater good. I know you’re angry and so am I, but if you continue to defy me then Loki will take my head.’ She nodded to Loki whose face went blank; he moved his sword slightly closer to Tae’s neck as if in warning.
Tae braced herself and withdrew the knife from her leg. It seemed to hurt just as much coming out as it did going in. Through a thick veil of unshed tears she noted that even now her blood was beginning to clot over the deep wound, already her nanites were beginning to heal her. She knew that now she had the ships attention, she had to continue to scare her. The missiles were still sitting in their tubes, but she had yet to stand down and relinquish control back to the bridge crew. Tae was playing a massive game of bluff. She was hoping against hope that Brightmoons love and need would overshadow her desire for revenge.
