by James Palmer
Throughout the Cagliostro, people scurried and ran to places they needed to be. No one was off duty now. The entire ship was moving and alive.
Mark pointed to Ariel who immediately put him through to the ships interior communication system.
“This is Mark Johnson,” he began, “I don’t have to tell any of you what we’re up against here, you already know. We’re fighting for our survival, and judging by what was just detected coming for us, it’s a vastly superior force. There may be five times as many ships in that fleet as we have. But we have a few surprises on our side. I’m hoping; no make that praying, they are enough. I suggest you pray as well. We all may be needing it today.” He pointed at Ariel and the system shut down.
“All right Ari, put me through to General Abruzzi’s ship.”
“Okay Mark you’re on,” she nodded in reply.
“General,” Mark began.
“Captain Johnson. How goes it aboard the Cagliostro?”
“We’re as prepared as we’re going to be, General.”
“As we are across the rest of the fleet, Captain.”
“Has the plan I suggested proven satisfactory?”
“Yes Captain, it has. The fleet is moving into position, or I should say positions as we speak. Let’s just pray this all works.”
“I’m ahead of you there sir.” Mark replied stoically.
“Very good Johnson, let’s move out then, shall we? The asteroid belt awaits. Fall in behind the ‘Titan’ until we get to position.”
“We’re on your four O’Clock, sir.” Mark answered and then the comm went silent as first the war ship ‘Titan’, Abruzzi’s ship, powered up its just installed magno-disc engines and disappeared in a burst of light followed closely by the Cagliostro and then nearly two hundred other ships blinked away behind them in elongated flashes of light.
Five minutes later, approximately two hundred ships of war exited hyper-warp and spread out amongst the three hundred that were already there.
“Lots of ships here, Mark,” Red commented.
“These ships don’t have hyper-warp tech, Red.” Mark replied, “They began moving here before we left for that little dirt world Duddas, where we picked the real General up.”
“Why? How’d anyone know to position ‘em here?” Dan asked in surprise.
“The president and I worked that out before we left. Even while those ships were chasing us, this group was heading here, to lie in wait.”
“So they were that group we made that end run through on our way back to earth?”
“Some of them were. Others were on their way.” Mark shrugged as he answered in reply.
“This is gettin’ better an’ better.” Dan shook his head in disbelief.
“Relax big guy, we need to be totally focused on this.”
“I am boss, count on that.”
“Always have, Danny.”
“Gentlemen, we are here and moving into position.” General Abruzzi’s voice announced over the ships comm.
“God speed, General,” Mark offered.
“And to you as well…Captain Johnson.”
Mark smiled at this. But that did not change the butterflies in his stomach as he watched two disparate images on their view screen. One showed the ships of Earth lining up approximately a mile apart behind the asteroid field. The other was one beamed to everyone from deep space surveillance satellites between Jupiter and the asteroid field.
It showed ships streaking towards Earth, leaping into hyper-warp once more as they crossed into the solar system. A veritable herd of ships, filling the space before the camera on the satellite with their immense numbers.
“This isn’t lookin’ too cool,” Eddie DiGenovese spoke aloud.
“Stay frosty, soldier.” Mark replied.
“Hey boss, I stopped bein’ a soldier years ago,” the black haired man replied, “I liked bein’ one then, and I liked doing my job.”
“You were good at it DiGenovese, that’s why I hired you. It sure as hell wasn’t for your personality.” Mark smirked.
“They’re starting to spread out,” Red announced.
“Visual.” Mark commanded. Instantly the view screen image changed and one of the satellites on the other side of the asteroid field broadcast its feed directly to the Cag as well as every other ship in the fleet.
“Ariel, get the General back on the horn please.”
“Aye, aye sir.” She replied while adding a mocking salute to her response.
“I see somebody got over her nervousness.”
She sighed, “Looks can be deceiving.”
“Don’t worry honey; I’m as nervous as the next guy.”
“How come you ain’t showin’ it?” Dan asked.
“You know me Danny, on the outside cool as a cucumber. On the inside, well a little less cool.”
“Just not by much,” Eddie quipped, and everyone had a laugh. It was a laugh filled with anxiety, but a laugh nonetheless.
Ariel raised her hand and stopped everyone then. She turned toward Mark as she began to speak again, “I’m receiving a signal from…them,” she stated enigmatically.
“Video or just audio?”
“Video, Mark.”
“Let’s see it.”
The screen blinked before them and suddenly there was a yellow skinned alien with dark black eyes seated in a captain’s chair aboard the bridge of a very militaristic looking ship. It was not bright and gleaming like the Cagliostro’s command deck. It was dark with deep blues, blacks and maroons overrun with cables and wires running everywhere in sight. The yellow skinned aliens wide set, jet black eyes stared straight ahead with his hands clasped before him almost regally, as if he thought very highly of himself. He had a flat face, his nose was virtually non-existent. He appeared relaxed. He had no hair present anywhere on his skull. Not his face, nor his head. He looked straight into the camera and began to speak.
“People of Earth. Surrender your world and your lives to the Agalum. We have come for you. You have been judged and found wanting. We are the fist of the Agalum and have been sent to claim your lives and world. Surrender peacefully, and you will be treated fairly. Resist, and we will obliterate you.”
Immediately in reply the Cagliostro’s view screen split in two as General Abruzzi was now seen sitting aboard the Titan’s command deck. Abruzzi snarled his reply, “If you want this world and its inhabitants you better prepare yourselves for a long, drawn out conflict, mister. If you know anything about us you know we don’t give up without a fight, and isn’t that what has you all afraid of us to begin with? Our ability to fight? You should turn around right now and head back to whatever swamp you crawled out of, son. I guarantee you’ll wish you had when this is all over, if you survive at all.”
The alien smirked, showing rows of glistening yellow teeth, “Ah, General Abruzzi, I had heard you were a tough man from your inquisitors. No matter though, when this is over you will kneel at my feet and beg for death.”
Abruzzi squinted his eyes as he stared at the alien on the screen across from him, letting the air hang silent and dead for a long moment before he replied, “Try your damnedest, alien. I’m going to show you the error of everything your people did to me and my world the past God only knows how many years. As my grandfather used to say, you pompous jackass, bring it!”
Abruzzi immediately had the connection cut, leaving the alien to fill the Cagliostro’s screen fully. Mark motioned to Ariel and she cut their view of the alien ships bridge as well.
“Did you see the bridge on that thing? It looked like it was held together with bailing wire an’ bubble gum,” Danny commented.
“Don’t underestimate them, any of you. We really have no idea what we’re up against. For all we know, they could obliterate us instantly,” Mark admonished.
“Hey Mr. Cheery, give it a rest for now, we ain’t beaten yet,” Dan replied.
“The Titan is moving,” Red advised.
Abruzzi’s ship placed itself before
all the rest, on the Earth side of the asteroid belt.
“Agalum.” Mark murmured.
“What Mark?” Eddie asked.
“He said they were called the ‘Agalum’ what does that mean? Who was called that? His race in particular? Or the entirety of all the races involved in this little group of thugs? Or maybe the race that runs the whole show?”
“We’ll have to ask them after we kick their asses,” Ariel offered with a grin.
“After we kick their asses Ari, you can be the first to ask that question of every one of them, just do it as painfully as possible. We owe them that much.”
She nodded with a smile, and turned back to her control console.
“Dan, bring us into position.”
“Will do, boss.” the big navigator and pilot answered.
“Battle stations people, this time it’s for real,” Mark announced, leaning forward in his seat.
The ‘Cagliostro’ swept to the right of the ‘Titan’ spreading about two miles between them before coming to a halt and holding position. Other ships in the fleet did likewise, following down the line in either direction on the earth-side of the asteroid belt.
“Now what?” Red asked.
“Now the fun begins,” Mark replied as he nodded to Ari, who immediately queued up the comm system, leading to the General’s face appearing on the main viewer.
“We’re ready, General.”
“Okay Johnson, let’s get this show on the road, then.”
Across the depths of space the two fleets stared at each other, the earth fleet was made up of men who were walking a razor’s edge of fear and trepidation, but the alien fleet? Who knew? They were an unknown quantity. Were they as afraid as the humans fighting for their own lives? Or were they simply emotionless killers carrying out their orders? No one knew. Not Mark Johnson, not General Abruzzi.
Suddenly the Titan coughed a burst of energy from its forward most guns that streaked across space, between free-floating asteroids and exploded against the hull of the alien command ship. The blast was potent; it shifted the Agalum war ship in space, actually moving it from the impact, knocking it aside as if it was in slow motion. But by that time all the ships on either side of it began firing, sending blasts through the asteroid field at their enemies. Space was lit up like a city at night with flashes of light and the corresponding explosions. The breadth and scope of it all was intimidating. For the first time in human history, the people of Earth were at war with someone other than themselves.
“Shields holding up okay?” Mark asked as the ship rocked seemingly to the sound of thunder as each blast it received was felt throughout its stout hull.
“Yeah, all good so far,” Red replied.
“Eddie, try to actually hit something,” Mark jibed his weapons officer.
“I’ve hit everythin’ I shot at boss.” The marksman replied through gritted teeth. His HUD holding steadily before his eyes as he fired again and again.
“That’s one hell of a lot of ships,” Red remarked quietly.
“No kidding,” Mark replied stoically. “Time for phase two.”
He pointed again at Ari, who immediately opened a channel to the Titan, “General phase two is a go, sir?”
“That it is Mr. Johnson that it is. Initiating phase two on my command…Initiate!” The elder warrior announced authoritatively as the earth ships began to back away from the asteroid belt while firing. Instantly the alien marauders followed them into the belt itself.
“How are we doing?” Mark asked Red.
“We’ve lost two ships so far, and twenty two others are damaged appreciably. On their side we’ve taken out about forty of their ships. But there are so damned many of them, by my calculations they will overrun and overwhelm us.”
Mark grinned wolfishly, “Not by mine, Red.”
Mark stabbed at a button on his virtual console and the asteroid belt lit up with a blinding flash of light so bright everyone covered their eyes just before the view screen automatically dimmed to filter out the harsh light.
“What the hell?” Eddie asked in surprise.
“Eddie shut up and lock and load. Full attack on anything that comes through that hell!”
Dan turned back and looked at Mark smiling, “You sly fox, you mined the asteroid belt.”
“Bingo Mr. Sledge.” Mark replied with a slight grin.
All throughout the asteroid belt, explosions reverberated as asteroids from the size of pebbles to the size of whole states collided with the enemy vessels with catastrophic results. Explosions, silent but for the lack of oxygen to carry that sound, lit the star scape brightly. Ships were crushed, sending plumes of ionized debris upward, downward and to both sides of every ship that was caught between the massive asteroids in horrific collisions.
Asteroids and ships rebounded chaotically, lighting up the Cagliostro’s sensor board and view screen as the great ship split off from the Titan and began to cut to the right, away from the much larger war ship, attacking anything that was getting through. Several ships of the Earth fleet followed the Cag, strafing enemy vessels that the Cag had already passed.
But it was not going to be enough.
“Mark!” Shouted Red Robinski, “Too many are getting through the line!”
Just then the General’s visage filled the view screen, behind him the command deck of his ship was in pandemonium. Lights flashed and klaxon’s sounded as people were seen running to and fro. The image blurred several times while explosions sounded through the speakers.
“Johnson! We’re going to meet their flagship head on. If I don’t make it, the ‘Titan’ I mean, you have command of the fleet. You’ve served us all well so far and everyone here owes you a debt of gratitude we can never repay. They will listen and more importantly advise you as well.”
“General, stop it!” Mark commanded, “The Titan is damaged, you’ve taken a lot of hits and that flagship has been hiding behind other vessels, biding its time. It’s unscathed. You might as well be starting a suicide mission. Wait for us to get to you; we’ll fight our way through together. The Cagliostro is barely scratched. Don’t be foolish; don’t sacrifice yourself and your crew.”
Abruzzi looked at him stoically before replying, “That’s what I always liked about you Johnson, you always speak your mind. No, son, I’m not going to wait. I have to hold that ship back from breaking our line no matter what the cost. We’re spread out right now over a hundred thousand miles from each other. That’s too short a distance for you to hyper-warp to my aid, and at regular speeds it will take you too long to get here before I have to engage that ship. But I have to stop them from getting any further. Your asteroid mining was a good idea and tactic, but there are far too many of these bastards left out here and that big ship of theirs is not going to get any closer to Earth while I can help it.”
“We’re on our way, General.” Mark replied, grim faced.
“God Speed, Johnson,” the General replied.
“The same to you sir,” Mark answered, his expression pained.
The view screen returned to a view of space. Explosions continued to flare across the panorama of the image before their eyes—bursts of light flaring to brightness and then fading away.
“Full ahead on the Titan’s position,” Mark ordered.
“Aye, aye sir,” Dan replied.
“Mr. Di Genovese, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to shoot anything that gets in our way, and blow it straight to hell, do I?”
“Not at all, sir.” Eddie replied, as he began firing the ships massive solar cannons at full strength.
Almost instantly the Cagliostro was under fire from several fronts at once, energy flaring across her shields, which glowed brighter with every hit.
The Cagliostro cut a line though the enemy ships, darting on end under Dan’s steady hands while its cannons exploded with fury, smashing enemy ships with solar blast after solar blast.
“Incoming!” Red shouted, as he diverted power to certain shield
generators manually. The ship rumbled as twin missiles fired from the invaders before them exploded harmlessly on the Cagliostro’s next generation shields.
“How are the shields holding up?”
“Better than the ones we replaced, that’s for sure. She’s taking a pounding, but they’re hardly losing strength. They’re down to ninety-four percent right now. We’re doing well so far,” Red replied.
“Good, how’s the Titan?”
“She’s under siege. Surrounded and alone out there, we’re the closest ship to her and she’s still two minutes away.”
“Just get us there,” Mark answered quietly, resting his chin on his clenched fist, staring straight ahead at the view screen. “Hang on General,” he muttered as he stared straight ahead. Ariel turned her head to look at him, pain reflected in her own eyes, and then returned her gaze to the control panel before her.
“We’re thirty seconds out, Mark,” Dan announced.
“DiGenovese, fire on anything that’s even remotely near the Titan, starting now.”
“We’re still twenty seconds out of range yet.”
“Just do it!” Mark ordered angrily as the Cagliostro’s cannons began to fire again. Strafing everything before them further away than the naked eye could see. The seconds each seemed like an eternity as the Cagliostro drew closer to the beleaguered Titan.
Suddenly a bright explosion filled space as the Cagliostro hurtled onwards, instantly the screen dimmed to compensate, but everyone knew what they had just seen without it being verbalized.
Ariel continued to speak into her headset, almost pleading for a reply, but none was forthcoming. Finally Red turned back towards Mark, “The Titan. Mark, she’s…gone.”
Chapter 27
Mark stared at the view screen as specks of steel burned away from the explosion that had consumed the Titan. Flecks of burning debris shone brightly as they arced away from the war ships death, finally burning off and disappearing into the depths of space.
Four ships had surrounded the Titan and had brought a devastating attack upon her. She gave a good accounting of herself as two of the ships now billowed smoke into space. Each was a mile long behemoth, and each of those two was in bad shape.
