Shadow of the Blue Ring

by Jerome Kelly

  “You do not get to die on me now!” Morelli yelled at him, “you hear me!? You don’t get to die!”

  One of the medical staff was quick to help her up and onto crutches but she was refusing to leave Saavoy’s side, even as Markova attended to him, her team lifting him onto a stretcher and giving him an oxygen mask.

  “We’ve got this,” said Markova, “get back to the bridge captain, that Hunter ship is still out there. We’re not out of this yet.”

  “I’m on my way,” said James, “all of you not heading to the medical bay, come with me, we have to get back to the bridge.”

  He wanted to go with Morelli and Saavoy but he was needed on the bridge. They still had a Hunter ship to deal with and an escape to make and there was no way their enemy was going to make it easy for them. James sprinted out of the hangar bay, ripping off his re-breather mask now that he was in a breathable atmosphere once more, and made for the bridge as quickly as he could.

  “We’re just clearing the atmosphere now,” Daniels informed him as he rejoined his command crew, “the Hunter ship is on an intercept course sir… orders?”

  “Hold your course helmsman,” James said confidently, “raise shields and arm weapons. Divert all reserve power to the shock cannons, I think it’s time we tested them out.”

  “Sir… I don’t think I need to remind you what these ships are capable of…”

  “No lieutenant, you don’t,” James cut Daniels off mid-sentence, “you have your orders helmsman, increase speed and head directly for the Hunter ship.”

  “Going to get us killed,” James head Daniels mutter under his breath as he obliged. James had no intention of getting anyone killed but he certainly wanted to make a statement of intent to these Hunters.

  “What are you doing, James?” Kalmar said as he arrived on the bridge, “we already tried this in the simulation and we lost every time.”

  “I know what I’m doing, Kalmar,” said James, “we just need to maintain our speed. Wait until they open fire, dodge them and then return fire right into the these coordinates.”

  James entered the coordinates in question into Ivanov’s tactical console. Not one other person on the ship shared his optimism but James knew what he was doing. The two ships were about to come into firing range of each other… the Hunter ship opened fire first, spraying powerful blue beams of energy in their direction, Daniels doing his best to dodge out of their way and continuing to keep up the ship’s speed. They were closing in on each other fast.

  “OPEN FIRE!

  Just as he had ordered, Ivanov activated the shock guns, searing white blasts of energy striking the Hunter ship right where James had specified, on the forward starboard section of the Hunter ship where it’s guns were placed. The Hunter ship hit home with one of it’s shots but the full forward firepower of the Evening Star continued to strike it in a concentrated pattern and there was a noticeable strain on it’s shields. The two ships were getting closer and closer, the Evening Star bearing down on it at an incredible speed.

  “Prepare all forward torpedo launchers, fire on my mark.”

  They were almost on a collision course, they were going head to head with the Hunter ship, dodging and weaving in and out between it’s shots, another one skimming the shields on the Evening Star.

  “NOW! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!”

  At that second, the Evening Star launched a full volley of torpedoes right into the weakened section of the Hunter ship’s shields, the close proximity of the ship allowing them all to hit at almost the exact same time, the resulting explosion impacting on the surface of the ship and bursting into a fireball, spreading debris from the Hunter ship in all directions, they had broken through it’s shields.

  No sooner had they hit, Daniels pulled of an evasive maneuver, passing within barely a few hundred meters of the Hunter ship itself. At the speed they were going, the Hunter ship didn’t have time to aim nor turn to engage them, they were past it and in the clear.

  “Engaging warp engines now,” said a very relieved Daniels, hitting the lever and sending the ship forward into hyperspace. For the second time since they had entered the Blue Ring sector, they had gone head to head with the Hunters and survived.

  “I guess they aren’t so tough after all,” said Isha, who had looked a little panicked over the whole ordeal, “that was still very risky though, how did you know it would work?”

  “It was all thanks to the simulations actually,” said James, “when I was testing out attack strategies, I noticed that when the Hunter ship fired, the shielding around it’s main guns was very briefly weakened due to the power their weapons would draw from nearby systems. The shock cannons are designed to overload shields and break through them so it was a double advantage to us, but only if we could hit them with precise timing which Ivanov was able to do.”

  “Happy to be of service” Ivanov was always happy to see his work appreciated.

  “But we never managed to get through their shields in those simulations,” said Kalmar, “we would always lose because we would always get outmaneuvered after the first attack.”

  “But there was also a noticeable pattern that I was able to spot,” James revealed, “the Hunter ships are relatively slow and each time we ran the battle simulation, we would get maybe about ten to fifteen seconds with which to work an opening because we had the greater speed. Only this time, we weren’t trying to battle them, we just needed to get past them. By building up enough speed from escaping the planet’s atmosphere, we took advantage of their lack of mobility and we were able to get past them by exposing that small window of opportunity. By passing them at such close quarters, by the time they could turn to engage us, we were already far out of range.”

  “And there I was thinking the whole thing had been a waste of time,” said Kalmar, “but even though we did score a hit on them, I doubt the damage was any more than superficial. It takes an incredible amount of firepower to take one of those down. They aren’t going to be too happy that we just damaged one of their ships, you can bet they will be coming for us now. Now that they know we have the Shadow Bringer too, I think they will have even more reason to come looking for us.”

  “Well we aren’t going to wait around and let them find us,” said James, “helmsman, set a course for Tolis, I think it’s time to go back and see the council and let them know what we’ve found. I’m sure we’ll have some words for them too. Meanwhile, crew is dismissed until we reach the Valoran sector. I think we all need a break, we had it rough down there and we were lucky that everyone got out alive.”

  He allowed everyone from his command crew and his bridge crew to take their leave, the reserve bridge officers stepping in to take over for their shifts. There was little for them to do until they were back in the Valoran sector and in the relative safety of the alliance fleets. If the Hunter ship decided to follow them, they would have the strength to fight it off, especially as it had just taken damage. As the rest of the group left, James noticed Isha making a quick retreat towards their quarters and he was quick to follow behind her.

  “How did I know you would be following me,” Isha sighed, clearly reading James’s intentions, “I guess there’s no point me dragging this out anymore.”

  James followed Isha back to their quarters, hoping that she might finally be willing to open up about what had been bothering her so much.

  “Time to come clean then Isha,” James said as they stepped inside, trying not to sound hard on her but still wanting to get the truth out of her.

  “Well… I…” she replied awkwardly, “. . . I suppose I should talk to you about something.”

  Isha took a seat next to him on the bed and took his hand. She was looking directly into his eyes, something on her mind clearly desperate to come out.

  “What is it?” James asked her.

  “James, I… I’m pregnant,” Isha finally revealed her big secr
et.

  “What? How… how do you know?”

  “I took a test yesterday, it was positive, I’m six weeks gone. That’s why I was feeling sick before, it wasn’t the bodies back on the Churian ships that did it, it was the first symptoms of the pregnancy kicking in. I had Kaydenne get me some medication for the sickness so I can carry on with the mission but it’s only a temporary fix for now.”

  James was speechless. He hadn’t predicted this happening, not at this time, not in the middle of this potential crisis. He had always wanted children of his own, he had always known the two of them would start a family eventually but… of all the times for the news to break… this was not it.

  “James, say something, please.”

  “I’m sorry I… I just didn’t see this coming,” James replied, “I wish you had told me before, I would have understood what was going on and I wouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

  “I wanted to tell you,” Isha assured him, “I wanted you to know as soon as I found out but I didn’t want to distract you from the mission. If I had told you about this before, would you have pulled that stunt back on Sharstrom?”

  “No,” said James, “no I wouldn’t have let you out of my sight and I certainly wouldn’t have pulled that maneuver off. I would have done everything possible to make sure nothing could hurt you, regardless of the cost.”

  “And if you had done that we would never have made it off the surface,” said Isha, “we would probably be dead and the Hunters would have another piece of the Shadow Bringer.”

  “I guess you’re right,” James muttered, “I guess I wouldn’t have done what was right, I would have opted for the safe course of action.”

  “You’re not one for the safe course though, James,” Isha told him, “you forged your reputation from making the most of unlikely situations, you take risks and get the job done and save lives in the process. Captains who always follow the rules and safety guidelines without allowing flexibility are the ones who get more people killed because they don’t take measures to protect them.”

  “So what about the rest of the mission?” James asked, “we’ve still got a lot left to do and I don’t want to put you in unnecessary danger.”

  “I’m staying here,” said Isha confidently, “I’m not backing out now, I’m seeing it through to the end.”

  “I can’t let you get in harms way,” James said to her, “you’re carrying my child, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she assured him, “don’t worry about me, I’ll be able to take care of myself. You worry about getting the job done and saving us all from the Hunters, let me worry about this.”

  It was impossible for him not to worry. There was no way he was going to allow her to come to any harm, no way he was going to lose his family. If she was going to be insistent on staying put on the ship then it would come as a major distraction to him and it was going to affect his decisions. Still… if she was close by him the whole time, at least it would stop him worrying as to whether or not she was safe in another location and he could keep a watchful eye over her.

  Chapter Eleven

  An Unlikely Alliance

  “Doctor Markova, how is he doing?”

  No sooner had they set their course for Tolis, James was quick to make his way down to the medical bay to check on the condition of Saavoy. He had been very badly hurt in the fight on Sharstrom and things hadn’t looked promising when they had arrived back on the ship. James trusted his chief medical officer and her team to do a good job though, they were easily some of the best medical staff in the fleet. If anyone could keep him alive, they could. With Isha’s big secret out, she and James were now on good speaking terms again and the two of them had gone together to check on their wounded crew member.

  “He’s alive and in recovery,” Markova stopped them at the door to the medical bay, “but he is still out cold. He lost a lot of blood but he is hanging on, we’re giving him drugs to stimulate increased blood cell production. We’re hopeful that it will make up for the loss now that we have stopped the bleeding and sealed the wounds.”

  “Can you not give him a transfusion?”

  “No, James, we can’t,” Markova said sternly, “as a Human ship, we don’t exactly have a plentiful supply of Malorian blood and as his people have a unique blood typing, no one on board is a suitable donor. We would do far more harm than good.”

  “But he will pull through won’t he?” Isha asked worriedly, “you can keep him alive?”

  “We’re doing everything we can for him,” said Markova, “if the drugs work and his blood losses are replaced, he should regain consciousness in a few hours. It’s experimental medicine though and so far it has only been tested with Humans, I don’t know how his physiology will respond to the medicine. No problems so far but we’ll keep a close eye on it.”

  “And what of Loca?” James asked, “how is she doing?”

  “She was far more fortunate,” said Markova, “she just fractured a bone in her ankle and we’ve already repaired most of the damage, she’ll be walking around again in a few days but you should tell her to take it easy. Even if we can heal these injuries at a miraculous pace now, it will still need some time before it is at a hundred percent again. You’re welcome to come in and see them if you want.”

  Markova stepped aside and allowed James and Isha to pass. Saavoy was lying in one of the beds in the medical bay, unconscious, his oxygen mask still on and he was still looking pale. Morelli was at his side, still tightly gripping his hand, looking fairly pale herself too. Julio and Ansare had also come down to check on the two of them.

  “I noticed that you two are on speaking terms again,” Markova said with an indication towards James and Isha, “I’m assuming she finally let you in on her big secret?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t be so surprised, the signs were obvious, I could have spotted them a mile away,” said Markova, “I’m just surprised you didn’t spot them yourself, it’s not like you don’t spend enough time eyeing her up.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” James stopped her there before she embarrassed him too much, “it’s all sorted out now, we’re all good again.”

  It was a little bit of a shock though. James knew this day would come eventually and he would have welcomed it, it was just the timing of the news. It was the story of his life that everything always seemed to happen at the worst possible moments, even the good things tended to come at difficult times. Once this mission was out of the way, a lot of things would change, both for him, and also for the alliance, especially with the Blue Ring situation only likely to escalate now that they had a piece of the Shadow Bringer.

  James and Isha made their way over the where Saavoy was lain. He had been cleaned up and the wounds were sealed but he was still out cold.

  “It makes you wonder doesn’t it?” said Ansare, “this guy takes down Vulian soldiers in the hundreds, barely getting a scratch in return but when faced with half a dozen of these Hunters, he barely makes it out with his life. I don’t think any of us could have foreseen that we would be fighting an enemy like this.”

  “I agree, it was a tough fight,” said James, “and I don’t think it will be our last one against them either. I think we just stirred up a hornet’s nest by taking that thing onto the ship. Loca, are you doing all right?”

  “I’m fine,” was all she was able to say, although she definitely didn’t look it. Whatever had happened between her and Saavoy, it was all in the past now and Morelli was showing her true feelings, she clearly still loved him.

  “So typical of him to do this to me,” she grumbled, “just when I thought we were all good again, he goes and tries to die on me. He won’t get away from me that easily though, he is going to pull through and if he doesn’t, I’ll kill him.”

  “He’ll make it, Loca, he’ll make it,” Isha put a comforting hand o
n her shoulder, “Markova is a great doctor, if anyone can get him through this, she can.”

  “You know he tries to act like he doesn’t care but I think he really does,” Morelli went on, “he’s just scared to show how he really feels about me.”

  “He does have a difficult history with this kind of thing you know,” James reminded her.

  “Yeah, I heard the stories,” said Morelli, “he was married before, even had a baby on the way, then his family was murdered by Vulian assassins sent by Sarkisian, everyone knows the story. I thought all the scars were healing though, I thought he was ready to put it all behind him and move on and then… he just left, never looked back.”

  “He really never gave you a reason for leaving?”

  “He didn’t need to, I know exactly why he did it. He’s scared that if he moves on then it will be an insult to the memory of the family that he lost but he’s wrong, it’s been thirteen years since then, he was barely out of the academy when it all happened. For all his courage in battle and his ability to lead his people, he is fragile and insecure about his past. I just wish he would snap out of it and move on, it’s too long to hold onto something that wasn’t his fault.”

  “It’s easy to blame yourself for something like that,” said James, “I remember when Malaya died, it damn well felt like it was my fault and I blamed myself for it for a while.”

  “You snapped out of it and moved on though,” Morelli reminded him, “it’s easy to feel like it’s your fault when someone close to you gets hurt or gets killed. I know he’ll probably blame me for getting him into this, I did drag him along after all.”

  “It was me who roped you all into this, if its anyone’s fault then its mine,” said James, “I know he wasn’t keen on coming out here but if he hadn’t, who would have killed those Hunters and gotten us out of there safely?”