by Lee Watts
***
In another section of the asteroid, Ramillie troops advanced rapidly, clearing each compartment before moving to the next area. Coming to a hatch enigmatically labeled "Tooka," they found it unlocked. Hitting the switch, the door slid aside. Instantly, a long, gray-furred arm reached out, grabbed the closest man and jerked him inside. There was a mighty roar, terrifying yell, and within half a second the soldier came flying out the doorway, slamming forcefully against the far wall and thumping down with his neck broken. Quickly, the Ramillie resealed the door, deciding it best to bypass that room and move on to the next.
On the top level of the control tower, Alexander watched in misery as he saw one of the main habitation asteroids now drifting as lifeless chunks. Looking at the display, he asked, how many civilians were on that asteroid.
"Twelve hundred," Grant replied lowly.
Lowering his head, Alexander closed his eyes and let out an agonized groan.
"Twelve hundred lives," he whispered.
He thought of families torn apart and children who would never get to experience all the wonders of life. All of them were robbed, robbed of life, of freedom, of a future, and unless he stopped it, the Ramillie would do the same to every soul of The Remnant.
Glancing to the Guardian, he pleaded with him.
"Merrick, I'm failing these people. Help me."
Merrick slowly shook his head.
"I'm not the one you need ask, Sire. You know the-"
"Confounded it, Merrick! I don't want to hear about your restrictions! These people are dying."
"It is against the will of the Elder. Guardians are not to lead the nations of mortals; we protect them."
"Then protect them now! Take command!"
"The Elder's will forbids it!"
"BLAST IT, MERRICK," he roared. "Do it! I don't care about the Elder's will!"
"THEN YOU'RE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THIS WAR," Merrick answered back.
The Guardian's words shocked Alexander as much as an electric jolt. He stared at his longtime defender and confidant.
"What?"
"You still don't get it, do you?" Merrick said. "Alexander, the battle isn't against those ships out there! It's not even against Salazar or the Hegemony. It's against the unseen foe, those in rebellion to the Elder, and right now that includes you. You're putting what you want above what He wants. That was your father's mistake, and the reason he was removed."
Alexander, cut to the quick, was shamed and silent by Merrick's stinging reproach. Pressed by the battle, Veltri was forced to interrupt and bring the Prince back to the moment.
"Sire, the ships," he prompted.
Alexander looked at the floating display noticing the nearing Deinodon and cruisers. The two remaining heavy cruisers were within the ideal range, but the battleship was still distant enough to give its commander time to think, which might ruin the trap. Knowing if he waited too long, he would lose the chance at the cruisers, Alexander gave the order.
"Full power to the freighters," he softly commanded still in a near daze from Merrick's comment. "Target one per cruiser and two on the battleship."
Several times larger than the shuttles, Ramillie sensor operators quickly detected the remotely controlled mining freighters vectoring on a collision course. Remembering the tactic used against the Megalaeto, Qil'Donan ordered the cruisers and his own gunners to hold their fire. Confident in his counter-measures, Qil'Donan assured the cruiser captains the freighters would do nothing but harmlessly bounce off their shields. With this assurance, the cruiser commanders were completely taken off guard when the freighters activated the enormous heavy drills recently mounted on them. The oversized drills, designed to sever the largest of the asteroids, poured devastating energy onto the cruisers' shields.
Both Ramillie cruisers trembled violently under the weight of the strange attack, but the freighters closing on the Deinodon were still too far away to have a clear shot. On the cruisers, interior lights flickered, and the crews had to grab onto something or were tossed to the floor.
To halt the attack, each cruiser instinctively opened fire. Seeing this, Qil'Donan quickly shouted reminders to his gunners to hold their fire.
Powerful, jagged beams of energy from the drills crackled over the failing Ramillie shields as cruiser cannons rained red blasts into the approaching ships. When each freighter exploded, it loosed vast chunks of burning tizanite. The brimstone slammed into and through the already weakened Ramillie shields. The burning stones penetrated deeply into the Ramillie hulls, and within seconds, each cruiser exploded in boiling surges of flame and flying wreckage.
CHAPTER 40
"…pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." - Proverbs 8:13
Tia led her fugitive group through the tunnels of the embattled asteroid. She intended to get her wards safely to the supply room on the far end of the level. During their flight, risking a quick glance over her shoulder, she noticed the group spreading out.
"Everyone, stay together," she shouted.
They continued their hurried pace another few seconds then a deafening, shaking thump sent everyone crashing against the wall and many crumbling to the floor. Before they even had time to get up, the blaring sound of cutting rang through the hall. Aulani looked around in confusion.
"What's that?" she yelled.
"Trouble," Tia answered. Scrambling to her feet, Tia motioned the people to change direction and shouted over the deafening noise with urgency. "It's the cutter from an assault shuttle! Everybody back! Go down those stairs we passed! Head down a level!"
Jaiden now found himself in the front of the pack. He extended an arm to help up an older, heavy-set man still getting to his feet. The man grabbed Jaiden's forearm and pulled up.
Taking charge and trying to instill confidence in the fearful group, Jaiden made a sweeping gesture for them to follow saying, "This way! Hurry! We're almost there!"
The group was only a few seconds into their backtrack when the cutting beams of the Ramillie assault shuttle broke through the rock. Behind them, shattered bits of stone flew down the corridor. Fortunately, the hall curved and the group was far enough away to not be hit by the projectiles. Everyone quickened their pace while Tia and Aulani looked back to see if they needed to provide cover-fire.
Like ants from a disturbed hill, Ramillie troops poured from the shuttle and into the tunnel. Jaiden was the first to reach the staircase and quickly started down. He practically flew over the steps, the hodgepodge of people behind him struggling to keep up with the agile teen. A boy, about eight-years-old, tripped and fell down several stairs before halting his tumble. Taking the stairs three at a time, Jaiden quickly made his way back up to help him.
"You alright?"
With a hurting look on his face, the boy nodded and started to get up but collapsed again when he put weight on his leg. Bending down, Jaiden motioned for the boy to climb on his back then repeated his descent.
While the escaping group bottlenecked at the staircase entrance, Tia and Aulani turned to protect the group. Rounding the curve of the tunnel, the first two red-armored Ramillie soldiers came into view. Each woman fired, dropping the invading pair. To get out of the line of fire, the soldiers quickly stopped and took a few steps back. Not knowing how many Remnant soldiers there were around the corner, the Ramillie advanced with caution. The people still cramming to get in the staircase began to scream and push.
"Hurry! Hurry," Tia shouted.
Both women knew if the Ramillie saw there were only two defenders, they would charge and quickly kill everyone, so they began rapidly firing down the hall. Though they couldn't see the enemy around the corner, they knew the weapon's fire would pin the Ramillie down. The last of the group entered the stairway leaving only their two defenders in the hall. Aulani knew when the Ramillie entered the stairwell it would be a massacre.
She called to Tia.
"They're all in! Go on!"
Tia darted in the entran
ce and down the stairway expecting Aulani to follow. As Tia realized Aulani wasn't behind her, she heard a thunderous crashing and saw rocks falling in front of the stairway entrance. At the cost of her own life, Aulani was blasting the opening to seal it so the Ramillie couldn't reach Hannah, Jaiden, or the others. Everyone in the stairwell heard the noise and saw the rocks tumbling. Jaiden looked up and realized his sister was still in the hallway. He saw falling stones pelting her, but the thickening dust cloud quickly blocked his sight.
"AULANI," he shouted. There was no way for her to hear him, but he yelled again. "AULANI!" Changing direction, he started up the stairs, against the flow of fleeing people Jaiden made slow progress but refused to stop. Finally past the group and approaching the still descending Marine, Jaiden said, "Take the boy," as he passed the child into Tia's arms. "I'm going after Aulani!"
As Tia took the child, she shook her head to try and stop Jaiden's climb.
"She's gone," Tia said. "She collapsed the tunnel to block the Ramillie from following us. There's no way through those rocks. Now come on, don't let her sacrifice be in vain! We've got to keep moving. Let's get these people out of here."
Jaiden remained motionless while staring up at the immense pile of heavy rocks blocking the entryway. Tia couldn't allow herself such delays and continued after the group. He refused to accept she was gone. Knowing, but discounting the uselessness of his shouts, and with tears filling his eyes, he repeated his calls with increasing heaviness in his voice.
"AULANI… AULANI!"
Overcome, he went to call again, but his voice faltered from the crushing load of sorrow. Tears flowed freely from his eyes, and he felt as though the weight of the universe was on him. He stood there trembling in grief and bitter at his helplessness to do anything about it. Composing himself, he looked up, his eyes bore into the rocks, and a deep, abiding hatred of the Ramillie ignited in his soul. For now, there was nothing he could do, but that would change. They had taken her from him. After all they had been through, after finally escaping Acatus, to die in the cold center of a lifeless rock, the tragedy of it stung him. Knowing he had to move, he turned and went back down the stairs.
***
In the operations control room, Lieutenant Grant called out a report.
"Sire, I've got a Commander Rayne insisting to talk to you."
"Put him on."
The speaker clicked, letting Alexander know the line was open.
"Cale, it's Alexander, go ahead."
Over the sound of laserfire and distant shouts came Cale's voice.
"Control, we've got one of those fire sword guys down here in the hangar bay! He's shooting everything with fire blasts, and there's tons of ore down here! He's going blow this whole place from the inside if we can't stop him! There's a Ramillie squad too! We're pinned down! Need reinforcements now!"
"All counter-insertion teams are already engaged, Sire," Grant reported.
Merrick locked eyes with the Prince then nodded letting Alexander know he would take care of it. Then he darted out of the room.
"Hold on Cale," Alexander called. "Help is on the way."
In the ravaged space outside, the admiral tracked the approach of the two freighters rapidly charging his ship. Within moments, they would have a clear shot and would ignite their recently mounted drills. Qil'Donan hadn't risen to the level of a fleet commander by heredity or wealth. He was experienced, cunning, and knew how to adapt in battle.
"Set weapons for electromagnetic pulse and ready the tractor beams," he ordered.
Racing through the asteroid field, the freighters finally got a clear line of sight. Their drills powered up and lanced at the Ramillie command ship. Returning fire, the Deinodon's cannons unleashed their EMP attack upon the freighters. Within seconds, the mighty drills ceased functioning, and the freighters' engines fizzled. Inertia kept the two craft plummeting toward the battleship, but they were halted when tractor beams locked on and then reversed polarity slowing the freighters and ultimately pushing them harmlessly away.
In frustration, Alexander slammed his fists against the HPT.
"So close," he shouted.
He knew this was the risk of exposing his last trick too soon, but had to take out the cruisers when he still could. Now, only one capital class ship remained, but it was still one too many. Qil'Donan's gargantuan vessel alone had enough firepower to extinguish every life in The Remnant. With all Alexander's tricks used, the Deinodon stood virtually unopposed and continued its march to erase the last bits of resistance posed by the rapidly weakening Remnant.
Though Alexander had marshaled his forces in destroying seven of the Ramillie ships, the one remaining promised death for them all if he couldn't stop it. Within moments, the battleship would have a clear shot at the second inhabited asteroid and then the one with the control tower. Each of those rocks housed more than two thousand souls. If Alexander couldn't come up with something quick, it was only a matter of minutes before they all were robbed of existence. His mind desperately sought inspiration in forming one last hope of defense but found none.
Snapping the Prince out of thought came the voice of Lieutenant Grant.
"Sire, the Ramillie are evading most of the counter-insertion teams. They seem to know where they are."
Colonel Veltri was puzzled.
"How can that be?" Veltri asked. "Did they hack into the security camera feed?"
Checking the computer, Grant answered, "Yes and no. They've hacked in, but they scrambled the signal so neither us nor them can use it."
Tilting his head, Veltri offered a thought.
"What if they didn't? What if they recoded the transmission and are now the only ones who can read it? They could be using that to bypass our teams."
Grant nodded his agreement.
"If that's the case," Veltri added, "then they're all linked to it right now. I think I've got a way to use that to our advantage." He went on to detail his plan while Alexander silently looked out the window at his steadily approaching nemesis.
Dodging blasts from the numerous firefights throughout the tunnels of the embattled control complex, Merrick made his way to the hangar bay. As the wide, main door slid open with a clank and whir of servomotors, the sound was drowned out by intense laserfire. His lungs filled with the reek of ionized air and heat washing from the room.
Large metallic crates provided cover, and he rushed to the nearest. From the open second level looking down on the main floor, a group of Ramillie soldiers kept the Remnant defenders on the lower level from moving position. A second set of red-armored soldiers was spread out on the main level. Center of the far end of the room was a Ramillie assault shuttle; its top-mounted swivel gun blasting away at anything that moved. Merrick deduced the ship must have come in through the magnetic field. One bulky mining freighter and three utility shuttles also lay scattered in the bay. Scavenged for parts, each vessel was in various stages of disassembly. Mounds of tizanite ore were piled on each side of the bay, each with handles of discarded shovels protruding from them.
Merrick, on the right side of the room, wasn't concerned as much about the blasts hitting around him as he was the shots slamming into the already softly glowing piles of ore. He knew if even part of the ore reached its flashpoint, the whole thing would ignite and blow the entire complex to bits from the inside out.
To his left, Cale was with a set of Remnant soldiers taking cover and returning fire from inside one of the shuttles.
"CALE!"
Turning to the sound of his name, Cale saw Merrick and held out a hand letting the Guardian know to wait a moment. He tapped his comrades, and on the count of three they popped up providing cover fire as Merrick sprinted toward them. Lasers tracing his steps caused Merrick to make a diving roll into the shuttle. The entire craft shook and thundered from the powerful blasts of lasers slamming hard against the hull.
Daring a look, one of the Remnant soldiers checked for the source of the artillery. Leaning out from the assault shuttl
e was a red-armored invader, who, instead of a rifle, held a burning dagger shaped like a set of wings. Spotting the soldier, the invader stretched out his arm, a ball of fire leaping from his hand-held blade. The soldier ducked down as the sphere of flame slashed against his covering wall.
"WHAT IS THAT?" he exclaimed.
"That," Merrick answered, "is the real enemy, a Dridmor."
"A Dridmor! What does it want?"
Merrick knew and rubbed the stone on a necklace beneath his shirt.
"I know what it wants, but it can't fall into their hands. Cale, where's the-"
Before Merrick could finish, there was a loud sound quickly rising in pitch.
"RUN," Merrick shouted and darted from the small ship as the assault shuttle's cutting beams started slicing through it. Cale and three others made it out, but the rays halved the last man. In a panicked run, Remnant soldiers made for the crate Merrick initially used as cover. Spewing rapid fire, the Ramillie swivel gun mowed down another soldier and pounded at the container.
"Cale," Merrick shouted over the blasts, "I want you and your men to get out of here!"
"If we leave the bay to them, they'll be able to blow this whole rock!"
"I'll take care of it!"
"What about the Dridmor?"
"Leave him to me! Here, pass me that launcher."
Cale handed over the shoulder-mounted grenade launcher with a warning.
"It's only got two shots left, and that shuttle's armor is too thick for this to take it out!"
"I'm not going for the shuttle! Now, get your men out of here! Go!"
Popping up, Merrick aimed the launcher and sent one of the grenades straight for the shuttle. As predicted, the explosion didn't destroy the Ramillie ship, but it did block the view long enough for Cale and his team to get out of the bay while Merrick grabbed the fallen soldier near him and drug the body behind the crate. Hastily, he unfastened the helmet, donned it, and then looked for something to anchor himself. All he could find was a strap used to secure cargo, but he wasn't optimistic of having enough time to lash it to the nearby beam quickly enough to do him any good.
