by Jerome Kelly
“Likewise James, they have been the greatest adventures of my life too, now go on, get out of here,” Ansare was quickly losing his strength. Even with the pressure and the wrappings now placed on the wound, he was still losing blood and he would not last much longer.
With one final look back, James turned and followed behind as his crew made their way up the flights of stairs to the roof of the bunker. His legs were heavy and he was aching all over but he forced himself through the pain barrier to reach the roof where the group was gathered, waiting for extraction.
“Come on, come on,” James found himself saying impatiently. He had expected Melina to have been there by now, she was behind schedule.
“James… are you there?” he heard Isha’s voice from the other end of his commlink, “James… what’s going on down there? The alliance forces are pulling out.”
“Isha, thank god you’re Ok,” James said as he pulled out his commlink, “is everything Ok up there?”
“We’ve taken some damage but we’re Ok,” Isha replied, “the Al’cari are giving us hell up here, the fleet has suffered losses.”
“We’re on our way back now,” James said with the hints of sadness still in his voice, “the Shadow Bringer is set to blow, we’re waiting for Kaydenne to pick us up.”
“Then you get yourselves off the surface,” said Isha, “I’ll contact Marek, let him know it’s almost time. You hurry up and get yourselves out of there, you have to get out of there before it blows, I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”
“Isha, it’s Ok, we’ll get out of here,” James assured her, “I’ll see you soon.”
He had managed to hide his feelings that time but once they got back to the ship he would have to tell her what had happened. Ansare had played such a huge part in the Morning Star’s rescue of the Andurian survivors six years ago, she and Melina would be devastated to hear that he had gone.
A few minutes later than planned, the flyer was on it’s way towards them, dodging fire from the few remaining active anti-air guns and touching down on the roof of the bunker. She quickly opened the loading ramp for them to board, James ushering the engineering crews on first. He took one hesitant look back before finally boarding himself, urged on by Morelli who had to physically drag him aboard.
“Ok, lets get going!”
Melina hit the power, surging forwards and up into the air, heading back into orbit around the small planetoid. James took one last look behind him at the scene of the Al’cari base. The last of the alliance forces were pulling out and their ships were fleeing to safety. Only a small portion of them, maybe about a fifth, had survived the battle but at least some of them were able to leave the scene with their lives. Joining in with the convoy of escaping ships, Melina headed back towards open space.
“Uh-oh!” James heard Melina say, “guys, I’m getting a strange reading from the planetoid. It’s some kind of warning signal, I think the Shadow Bringer just started it’s countdown to detonation!”
“No, it’s too soon!” James exclaimed, “how long do we have?”
“Four minutes, forty seconds,” said Melina, “after that… BOOM!”
“Get us back there as fast as you can! Damn it Kaldun, what are you doing down there.”
James thought they might have had more time. It was barely enough time for them to get clear of the planet and the battle between the alliance fleets and the Al’cari was still going on around them. James scanned the area looking for the Evening Star but he could not see it. All he could see was a Lataka ship on an intercept course towards them.
“Come on Isha, where are you!” James was totally on edge, they needed to get back to the ship as soon as possible but there was no sign of it. What was Isha doing?
The Lataka ship opened fire, narrowly missing the flyer. Melina quickly altered course and went to maximum speed but the Lataka were in hold pursuit of them. They were closing in, ready to deliver a final blow when out of nowhere, a wave of fire struck the Lataka ship, smashing through it’s armour and sending it spinning out of control.
“Your chariot has arrived, captain Tavarez,” he heard Isha jokingly say over the comm as the Evening Star came into view through the chaos. It had suffered some surface damage from the battle and had multiple small hull breaches but it looked in good enough condition. The ship turned, opening it’s hangar bay doors to allow them on board, Melina quickly flying them in.
“Great timing Isha!” James said with a huge sigh of relief, “impeccable as always.”
“Well you can thank me later,” she retorted, “get back up here, that thing is going to blow in two minutes.”
James leaped down from the loading ramp the moment it opened up and forced his tiring legs to run him to the bridge. Every step was agonising but he managed to make it. There were hints of interior damage to the ship along the way, the Evening Star not at all looking like the brand, shining-new starship that they had take from it’s construction dock just a few weeks ago. Despite the beating, it was still in full working order.
The moment James stepped onto the bridge and his eyes met Isha’s, she ran over to him and threw her arms around him, she could not have been more relived to see him if she had tried. Breaking apart from her, James watched the screen as it showed the planetoid behind them rapidly disappearing into the distance, the many alliance and Adean ships all hurrying to escape the blast range. The countdown was at fifteen seconds… ten seconds… five seconds…
“Oh my…” James gasped as the space around them was lit up by a blinding white light, emanating from the planetoid. Seconds later, a massive blueish-white explosion burst from the centre of that light, spreading around at an incredible speed. It was like a supernova going off behind them, the explosion was simply immense. They had been right to fear the Shadow Bringer all along, it’s power was off the scale of any weapon of mass destruction ever known to man or to any alliance race.
The whole crew just watched, speechless from the bridge as the light continued to spread. The rest of the team had arrived from the shuttle bay just in time to see it in all it’s glory.
“Sir, the blast is continuing to spread,” Ivanov quickly warned them, “without knowing it’s full capabilities, I would recommend we leave the area now, just to be sure.”
“Yes, you’re right, Daniels get us out of here, maximum speed.”
With the blast quickly encroaching on them, the Evening Star, followed closely by the rest of the fleet, made the jump to warp. The Al’cari base was gone, in the distance behind them… it was over…
James collapsed into his chair, the weight of everything that was going through his mind was just too much for him to bear. Head in hands, he just sat there for a while, not knowing what to think or what to say.
“Wow, James you look absolutely exhausted,” Isha noted, also taking note of the rest of the crew too, “you all do actually, you should probably all… hey… wait a minute! James, where is Kaldun?”
James didn’t have the strength to say it. He just shook his head and Isha seemed to quickly understand what had happened.
“NO! Oh no…” she gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth, “. . . I can’t believe it, Kaldun…”
“He died to give us time to escape the base,” said a sorrowful Saavoy, “he died a hero, we should be honouring him, not crying over him.”
“He was one of the bravest men I have ever met,” Kristea added, “he gave no second thought to staying behind to set the detonation when all else had failed.”
“It was an incredible act of selflessness,” said James, “I don’t think it was something I could ever have done if I had even wanted to. It was hard to see both Kaldun and… oh my god! I totally forgot! Jaiden!”
“It’s Ok James,” Isha quickly intervened, “a Suran transport brought both Jaiden and Julio back on board ten minutes before you arrived. Apparently she was in pret
ty bad condition though, I haven’t had any updates. Markova would have told us if anything had gone wrong though so I’m pretty sure she’s gonna pull through.”
“Well that’s one piece of good news,” James let out a sigh of relief, “if I had lost two of my crew down there… I don’t even want to think about it. Jaiden is tough though, I knew she would pull through.”
“You should probably all get down to the medical bay too,” said Isha, “you all look like hell, you should get checked out and get any injuries treated.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” James agreed, “I’ll head down there now and…”
“Whoa! James, you Ok,” as he had tried to get up, his legs had almost collapsed under the weight and Isha had to catch him to hold him upright, “right, I’m taking you down there right now.”
“Isha, it’s Ok…”
“No, that’s an order,” Isha insisted, “you still haven’t relieved me from my command so I’m telling you to get down there now. Ivanov, you have the bridge.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ivanov tried to hide a chuckle which James was quick to notice. Nothing would make his crew more amused than to see their captain being dragged around by his wife in front of them. Still, she was right, he needed to be checked out. Isha helped him out as they walked from the bridge and down towards the medical bay, the rest of the team following in behind them.
It was a busy scene in the medical bay. Markova was rushing around, trying to attend to a number of Suran patients who had all seemingly been brought aboard when Julio and Jaiden had returned. She did have help in the shape of a couple of Suran field medics but there was still a lot of work to be done.
“You’re going to have to wait!” Markova shot at him from across the room, “we’re backed up enough as it is. Unless you’re about to drop dead in front of me, find a seat and wait your turn.”
“You always look so glad to see me back, eh doctor?” James came close to cracking a smile but the weight of emotion on him was still very heavy, “how is Jaiden doing? Is she going to be Ok?”
“Remarkably, yes,” said Markova, “she had some severe internal injuries but thanks to the excellent work of these field doctors, they stabilised her and got her back to the ship. You should also thank your friend Julio Castellan, I hear she wouldn’t have made it without him.”
James looked over to where Kosare lay. Julio was sat next to her, leaning over her bed, gripping her hand as she slept. James was sure that she would never have allowed him to get so close had she been awake but what she didn’t know wouldn’t harm her. Julio had his feelings for her and he wasn’t afraid to show them.
“Hey captain,” Julio said as he saw James approaching. He looked exhausted, as if he might suddenly drop down at any moment, “I just heard about Kaldun… I’m sorry.”
“We all are,” said James, “but at least Jaiden made it out alive. How is she doing?”
“Doc said there was some pretty bad internal injuries,” said Julio, “had to remove her spleen and remove some shrapnel from the abdomen. Lucky she got back so soon. Another few minutes and she wouldn’t have made it.”
“I think it’s lucky she’s Juyoan,” Markova interjected, “she is healing at a faster rate than any other person I have ever seen. Without that, she would have died before you had got her off the scene. No Human would have survived those injuries, that’s for sure.”
“True, her people do have some limited self-healing capabilities,” said Saavoy, “she’s still lucky though, she could have died just as easily as the rest of us had she been any closer to the blast.”
James sat himself at the side of the bay, alongside Lucy and Kristea who both also had their fair share of scrapes and bruises and would need seeing to by some of the medical staff. Lucy certainly looked like she had seen better days, she had a tear in her eye and looked to be struggling to contain everything that must have been going through her head.
“Was it like this last time?” Lucy asked him, “you know… the revolution? Was it as bad as this?”
“Yeah, it was just like this last time,” said James, “we lost a lot of really good people back then too. It never gets any easier, losing people under your command… it will always hurt pretty badly.”
“I’m so sorry” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “I honestly don’t know how you cope with all of this. You’ve lost so many people, I can’t possibly imagine how it feels.”
“Nor should you,” said James, “I guess I just know that no matter how bad things might feel at any one time, you just have to hold onto hope that things will get better. I guess we just have to try and remember what these people did for us in life rather than spend too much time mourning over their deaths. When someone dies, we can’t become so consumed by it and lose ourselves in it otherwise we risk dying inside along with them. I remember a very wise Malorian captain teaching me that once, I wish I had listened to him at the time.”
“You learned your lesson James,” said Saavoy, “you’re a lot more mature than that young and struggling captain I first met back when you brought me aboard six years ago. You’ve grown up so much despite everything that has happened to you and you’ve become a fine captain. You’ve taught me more than a thing or two as well.”
“So are you still going to go through with what we spoke about before?” James asked him, “you still planning on making that change we talked about?”
“Change!? What does he mean by that?” Morelli quickly butted in, “what’s going on Kasha?”
“Well… I was going to wait until we got back to Tolis…” Saavoy said awkwardly, “. . . I guess I should tell you now though. Loca, when we get back… I’m retiring. I’m stepping down as an admiral in the Malorian fleet. I will still be an ambassador for my people but I’ve reached a point in my life where enough is enough. I will step down and I will live a quieter life from now on… the kind of life that I would like to share with that one special person.”
“Oh… Kasha,” Morelli was almost lost for words, which was an extremely unusual occurrence, “you really mean it?”
“Yes, it’s time to step aside,” said Saavoy, “I almost pushed you aside once, not realising what I was about to lose when I did. Do you think that we can go back in time and correct a mistake that one foolish man made. Can we go back to the way we were.”
Morelli almost could not speak. James knew she still had the feelings for Saavoy, she had just been so angry at him for leaving the way he did that she had let it get in the way of things ever since then. Without a word, she simply threw herself into his arms, the tears welling up in her eyes.
“You have a lot to make up for, mister,” she said aggressively through the tears, “don’t just think I’m gonna forget everything that happened.”
“We’ll work it all through, one step at a time,” Saavoy said as he held her closely to him, “in time, I think we can move on from everything in the past.”
It was a touching end to a very difficult few weeks for them all. No matter how dark the days had been, they had come through it all with the possibility of a fresh beginning for each one of them. Saavoy and Morelli, assuming they could work through their differences, would certainly go on to be a great couple in the future. James obviously had his own happy days to go back to, what with Isha carrying his child now.
James sat back in his own seat, needing to rest his head after what had been an incredibly tiring day. He had known it would be difficult but he had not envisaged the way things would have all turned out in the end. The Al’cari threat was over. With the Shadow Bringer nothing but a memory, they would have no further reason to continue to plague the Blue Ring sector and the survivors would return to their masters to face judgement for their failure. James wondered just what would become of them, whether they really would be facing a torment worse than death for not returning the weapon and whether their race really would become extinct.
As for the Lataka, they seemed like far less of a concern. They were nothing more than thugs and brawlers and they posed no real threat to the alliance, they were far less formidable than their former employers who would now likely have no further need of their service.
“James, you look like something is bothering you,” Isha noted, seeing the look on his face, “what’s on your mind?”
“This isn’t over yet,” he said, knowing that there were likely to be consequences for the actions he had taken in the events leading up to the final battle at the Al’cari base.
“There will be an awful lot of mess to sort out once we’re back. Artennes allowed a lot of stuff to happen that should never have happened. He has made a real calamity of errors in the lead up to all of this and he will have lost a lot of credibility, especially after what Tasos did. We’re going to have to fix this and we’re going to have to fix it quickly.”
“You know, I can’t believe I’m saying this…” said Isha, “. . . but I actually think Tasos did a very astute thing there. If he hadn’t acted, we would never have made it off of Alatennia. I hate to admit it but he saved us.”
“Yeah, I guess he did,” James agreed, “but his father is the one I’m worried about. I just hope that this whole thing doesn’t bring down everything that he worked so hard to build.”
James had made a very clear statement to Artennes by going against his wishes and even tricking the council into believing they had obtained a genuine piece of the Shadow Bringer. Any other captain would have been arrested and discharged for taking that kind of action against the council and James was worried about how the politicians would respond to his decisions and his course of action. He needed to think things over in the quiet of his own room. He lifted himself out of his seat but he did not get far…
“Sit down!” Markova snapped at him, manhandling him into a seat, “you’re not leaving this bay until you’ve had that looked at.”
She was of course referring to the large burn across his shoulder where he had been lucky to escape with such a minor injury from a Lataka weapon. It was paining him a fair amount although he had barely noticed it until a few minutes before, the sheer weight of everything that had happened in the past few hours had blocked the physical pain out.
