by C. M. Kane
‘You’ll never be able to stop him in time, Brightmoon, and if it’s not him it will be Vulcan, who, you will notice, is right behind you.’
She felt the Brightmoons fear of her death beginning to assert itself so she pressed her point. ‘Is this what you want, Brightmoon? To be alone, with-out a Captain, friendless, unwanted, unloved by all … C’mon sweetie, I thought you cared about me, I thought you were looking forward to all the things we’d see and share together in the future? Was I wrong to think this?’ she said.
‘I’m your Captain as well as your friend,’ she said even more gently. ‘I know that you’re hurting, and I promise that I’ll share every bit of your pain with you, but you must stand down and hand control back to the bridge, okay?
Slowly, bit by bit, she felt her calming, but as she calmed Tae suddenly began to feel not only the pain from her own slowly healing leg, but all of the pain that Brightmoon was feeling. She whimpered aloud, as finally the Brightmoon relinquished control back to the bridge and began to fully take stock of her own injuries.
Tae opened her tear filled eyes and looked up at Loki; he was still standing impassively beside her with his sword at her neck. ‘It’s okay, you have full control again.’
Loki watched in alarm as tears began steaming from her eyes. ‘Tae?’ he said sheathing his sword quickly, ‘What’s wrong? What’s going on?’
Tae shut her eyes. ‘Brightmoon,’ she mumbled, ‘feel, her pain.’
‘Disconnect, Tae! Disconnect now, that’s an order!’ Loki said immediately.
‘No! I can’t leave her alone, I won’t! She saved us, Loki, she saved us all! I won’t let her suffer through this by herself, not after what she’s done for us. Like I said, I’m her Captain, her friend, her family. She deserves better than that from me,’ she finished on a low moan.
Loki looked down at her, and for the first time in his life he realized he genuinely cared about someone from outside his own race. This was more than just a stupid fixation. This woman was both braver and wiser than anyone he had ever known, and somehow she had captured a piece of him.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if this will help you both, but it’s the least I can do given the circumstances. The Brightmoon is now yours, Tae, just as she always has been. Now, if you’ll both let us, we’ll begin to help with repairs immediately, and thank you, for letting us borrow her for a while.’
He noticed a small smile curve Tae’s lips before he turned to Vulcan, who had also re-sheathed his sword and was watching him with a small approving smile on his face.
‘Alright people, we have work to do,’ he said gruffly looking around at the crew. ‘As soon as we’re sure everyone has left the dreadnaughts I’ll begin sending work crews out to assess our hull. In the meantime send a message to Zeus telling him I’ll be in contact with him to arrange a meeting time as soon as I’ve assessed our damage and organized the work crews.’
Vulcan nodded in agreeance with his instructions, ‘I’ll be in engineering assessing damage if I’m needed,’ he said before striding off to the turbo lift.
As both Vulcan and Loki left the bridge Dolath turned to his com-panel and sent out a coded transmission to Zeus with Loki’s precise wording attached. He then set about trolling through the various communications arrays on the ship to see what was operable. It was time to get to work.
Chapter 39
It was another hour before Zeus and the remaining titans arrived back at the scene of the battle. Zeus and Asteria – who had been hastily elected as the titans liaison - immediately began sending warriors over to the abandoned ships to check for booby traps. Unsurprisingly, they found that every weapon that was transportable had been ripped out by the defeated armies in a mad scramble to take anything of value.
In the meantime Brightmoon had been sending her bots over to the Eos and had begun cutting out large chunks of material to use on herself. Zeus had contacted Loki to ask him to stop this practice as it would render the Eos totally un-space worthy. Loki, who was in the Brightmoons hull examining the great tear that had occurred when the two ships had collided, had told him to jam it. He had said that the Brightmoon was his major concern at the moment, and if she wanted some of the Eos’ hull, then she could bloody well have it. They then arranged to meet in a further twenty four hours, once all the surrounding ships had been searched and, the engineers that Zeus was now organizing, began to arrive to help with repairs.
When Loki and Vulcan finally arrived back on the bridge, Tae surfaced again. She had been trying to share Brightmoons pain with her, but after an initial short period of time Brightmoon had decided she would have none of it. She let Tae know in no uncertain terms that she was hurt and angry with her for frightening her, and especially for stopping her from destroying her nemesis. She had even gone as far as throwing the warrior code that Tae had stuck by with Hera in her face. Tae had immediately fired up herself. She’d pointed out that their deal was that she, and she alone was the Captain, and that she had total faith in Loki, besides which, as Brightmoon had control of the remaining ships, and now the Eos, the warrior code didn’t apply.
Brightmoon was now ignoring her and sulking. Tae still refused to leave her, at least for a while. She needed to let her know that she was there for her, so she watched while the rest of the crew- along with workers from the incoming ships– started working feverishly to heal the most grievous of her wounds. She had of course listened in on Loki’s conversation with Zeus and was thrilled; she knew that soon Brightmoons hull would start being sealed at a tremendous rate. Between Brightmoons bots and nanites, along with a slave driving Loki, and the fresh material now being scavenged from the decimated Eos, things were looking good.
Brightmoon was allowing the hive of workers to work alongside her bots, but Tae noticed that she kept a close eye on them all the same. She also let it be known that she would allow Vulcan, and Vulcan alone, to touch any of her vital internal systems. As Tae saw their entrance to the bridge she told Brightmoon she and Loki needed to speak to the other Captains, and then she opened her eyes and stood.
‘Signal the others Captains, we need to talk now,’ Loki said to Dolath.
It took another few minutes to assemble every Captain in their extended fleet to their view-screens. In the meantime Loki gave Tae a wicked smile, and told her to join him.
‘So, you deign to talk to us at last,’ said Zeus. ‘Good, now you can explain that idiotic stunt you pulled with Hyperion! Do you even realize what you’ve done Loki? Do you think Hyperion will stay on Preashan just because you told him to? He will, at this very moment, be planning his escape; along with how to get the remaining dreadnaughts and destroy all of us in the process. I may hate the bastard, but even I acknowledge he’s as clever, if not more so, then you, when it comes to plans. His main problem has always been his own ego and temper, once he puts them aside he is one of the most dangerous titans to live. Far too dangerous to be left to his own devices!’ He finished on a shout.
Tae could both hear and see the other Gods angry ascertains, she glanced around and saw Radnor smiling at her. He gave her a brief nod and winked, her eyes widened in surprise and she turned back ready to defend Loki’s idea, even if she, too, thought he was out of his mind. She’d seen Hyperion’s eyes and agreed with Zeus completely, she knew he would be halfway through formulating an escape plan already.
‘That’s what I was counting on,’ said Loki, with what Tae could only describe as the most triumphant smile she had ever seen in her life.
Zeus quieted and gave Loki a shrewd questioning look. ‘So just what you have been up to now, my friend.’
‘You’re right about everything you have said,’ replied Loki. ‘I knew he would fight to the death if cornered, and that we’d lose even more people. But, Hyperion is too clever to do that if we gave him a genuine way out. Brightmoon was badly injured; she ran the risk of being critically injured if she continued the fight. We also needed to show everyone,’ he said emphaticall
y, ‘that we are not to be screwed with. We needed to make a statement to all those in the future who might one day think to follow in either Hyperion’s or Cronus’s footsteps.’ At Zeus thoughtful nod he continued.
‘That’s why, while we were still back at Tartarise, I went to the planet and arranged something, as a do or die stop gap measure.’
‘Excuse me, Captain,’ said a new officer on the sensor array. Tae turned to see what was happening. ‘There is another Orion class vessel approaching, she is starting to show signs of distress. Captain, my scans have indicated its insignia matches that of the Kydomois.’
‘Right on time,’ said Loki. ‘Let her through.’
‘What the hell!’ yelled Ares. ‘What have you done to my ship, Loki?’
‘She’s now launching a great deal of your buzz bombs, Captain,’ said the sensor operator urgently.
‘Let them though,’ said Loki. ‘You will see that they are not targeting any of our ships. They are our insurance, and are headed towards Preashan.’
‘What in the seven hells going on?’ said Zeus as he turned to his own sensor officer who was also tracking the path of the buzz bombs.
‘You would attack unarmed warriors from the air?’ yelled an outraged titan.
‘We heard your message to Hyperion, you transmitted it to all of us. You told them that if they evacuated they could live out the remainder of their natural life on the planet,’ another repeated angrily.
‘Exactly!’ said Loki triumphantly. ‘They are programmed for a high altitude airburst above their landing site,’ said Loki with a faint smile. They are merely designed to hold those captured indefinitely and stop any form of escape’
‘That impossible…, unless,’ said Zeus.
Thalia’s face suddenly filled the screen, ‘I have released all of the bombs that are still operational to their co-ordinates above the major landmass where Hyperion and his commanders have landed,’ she said defiantly as she addressed the shocked Captains of the surrounding ships.
‘As we expected, a lot of them have begun to leak and I cannot release them. For that reason I have set the interstellar engines of the Kydomois to critical, so please move your ships away now so they are not damaged in the coming explosion. I have timed the overloads so they should reach critical and explode as we reach the upper atmosphere. This should scatter the remaining Felice on board over anything that hasn’t been covered by the initial wave.’
She looked to Zeus and the others, and although she now appeared to be an old woman of around seventy, pride and strength radiated from her every pore. ‘Loki gave both myself and some of my crew the chance to redeem ourselves,’ she said proudly nodding to a now ancient Elven warrior that Tae still recognized as her second, Spaen.
‘We knew this was a one way trip and what would, in all likelihood happen with the Felice, but we recognized the validity of the fight. We agreed to transport the Felice to the front line; because of our sacrifice we will finally defeat Hyperion and his followers for good! As Loki showed me, it is the Felice radiation that will finally achieve this. I was born a Titan!’ She said raising her chin and looking at them all arrogantly. ‘I am a Warrior in both my heart and soul! All I request is that I, and my crew, be remembered, not for any stupid mistakes, but for how we died. Loki has promised us this.’ she finished.
Zeus stared at her in shock as the Kydomois moved slowly past the assembled fleet just as the first of the buzz bombs reached their targets and exploded scattering their contents of the ground Felice rock over everything beneath them. He quickly explained to the other Titans the effects of the Felice would have on Hyperion’s nanites, jumpers, weapons, and anything mechanical. After that they agreed that Loki had not lied; he had given Hyperion and his men safe passage to Preashan as promised. They could now live out the full extent of their natural lives, just as Loki had promised.
Phobos had actually begun to bellow with laughter at what Loki had done. He’d raised an eyebrow at the others and told them to imagine Hyperion’s face when he realized none of his jumpers or weapons would now work. Or even better; when he noticed that he was starting to age rapidly. The other titans seemed to agree with Phobos and several had joined in his laughter. Loki had, after all, just outwitted the master strategist.
That’s when Zeus turned back to address Thalia who was now nearing the planet. ‘We honor you, Thalia. You will be remembered as a true warrior of Titan.’ Then he watched the woman he had once condemned fly silently to her death. Slowly, one by one, each of the titans slammed their fist to their chests to honor her sacrifice before they ordered their ships to be moved away to a safe distance from the explosion that was to come.
Tae felt the Brightmoons interstellar engines engage as she too moved to a safe distance to watch the death of the Kydomois, along with Thalia and her crew.
‘She’s very brave,’ she said quietly to Loki as they watched the increasingly distressed ship start to enter the atmosphere.
Loki nodded. ‘She is Titan,’ he said. Then he went back to staring at the increasingly erratic path of the Kydomois. The explosion, when it occurred, was blinding. Tae and the others felt the massive shock wave from the exploding ship rock them even from their distance, she turned to her sensors officer quickly.
‘Did she make it? Was she over the target area?’ she asked. He nodded. ‘Yes Captain, she was over Hyperion’s main landing site, just as she planned,’ he said.’
Zeus and the other titans came back online after the shockwave had passed. ‘You took a risk,’ said Zeus eyeing Loki speculatively. ‘I’d be interested to know why you came up with this scheme in the first place, especially considering we abandoned the Felice bombs originally because of their volatility.’
‘It was Tae,’ said Loki looking at Tae and smiling. ‘Or more importantly, it was what she said.’
At Zeus’s frown he added, ‘remember what she told us of Cassandra’s original warning? She said Cassandra had told her to find the Felice, and that it was our only hope. It wasn’t until after our near miss with the bombs when Brightmoon was nearly contaminated, followed by our abandoning the plan as too dangerous and unpredictable that I began to question myself. I started to look at Cassandra’s original warning again. I began to think, what if she had been right all along? What if the Felice really was our only hope to end this for-ever? I thought things over and realized that if we lost we were going to need a last resort option. Hell, even if we won we would need something to serve as a warning. We needed a statement of what would happen to any who should choose the same path as Cronus and Hyperion. That’s when I decided it would be better to imprison them if we could, but to do that successfully we would need the Felice, just as Cassandra had originally envisioned. I thought that if we could somehow get Hyperion to surrender and confine him and his followers permanently to a planet, then we would, in all likelihood, have fewer problems with continuous insurgencies and infighting. After all, if everyone that remained after the fighting had ended saw that Hyperion’s reign had ended permanently. And worse yet, his shame in dying as a feeble old man, then surely they would seek out a new way of life. With that decided I went to find Thalia to see if she sought redemption for what she had done. I told her of my plan and she agreed to it, under the condition that both she and some of her crew be reunited, and that they be remembered with honor, rather than for what she had done. I agreed.’
‘So you blew up my damn ship,’ said Ares resentfully.
Loki nodded. ‘I’m sorry, Ares, but the Kydomois was the only ship available that could make the journey, and at least she has been destroyed in battle defeating our greatest foes!’
Ares nodded, he didn’t look happy, but he accepted Loki’s reasoning. To him the only saving grace to Loki’s plan was that his ship was destroyed defeating Hyperion; and that was an honor.
At his nod of acceptance Loki continued. ‘I knew it was a gamble to trust her, but despite her anger and hatred of both you and me, I also knew that she was a
warrior at heart. She didn’t want to see everything we had built destroyed by Hyperion and his followers. I banked on her hatred of the titans to outweigh her hatred of us. All she demanded for the flight was her original bridge crew and Spaen. I have had Vulcan’s work crews making the Kydomois ready for flight ever since we left, including having her fitted to have most of her systems automated for the journey.’
Vulcan raised his eyebrows at that. Obviously Loki had made it seem that the orders had come directly from him, otherwise this could never have happened; his work crews would have contacted him immediately at strange orders. He wondered exactly how his clever friend had done this.
‘After that I shipped every container we had down to the surface. I had organized for the Minotaur and some of my own men to start processing the ore again. Once I sent the word they immediately started filling the containers before sending them straight to the Kydomois, where they were fitted to the bombs. Thalia suggested putting them in four separate sections away from the engines, in case of just such a contingency as had happened. As we left the portal I sent the order to begin filling the containers. As soon as the fight with Cronus ended I sent her the order to detonate the bombs over Preashan.’
He took a deep breath and looked at the faces of the watching titans. ‘As you have witnessed, she was able to launch all the bombs that had not began to leak as soon as she got with-in range, and also, by crippling the reactors before the radiation spread, she was also able to release the rest of what was still on board into the atmosphere. Now thanks to Thalia and her crews sacrifice, Hyperion and his followers are trapped forever,’ he finished.
Zeus shook his head. ‘Bold, risky, brilliant, and decisive, it’s something I’d expect from you,’ he grinned. ‘You have done well, Loki, as have you Tae,’ he continued, looking at her and smiling. ‘Without you we would have been lost, now because of you both we are reunited with our own once again. We will finish our sweeps of the remaining dreadnaughts, and then we’ll begin preliminary discussion on what were going to do from here on in.’
