by James Palmer
The enemy assault ships fired powerful energy blasts, disintegrating the small one-man ships instantly, as they in turn were blasted by the next wave of small attack craft. Mile long ‘Dreadnaught’ class Earth ships formed blockades about the space stations, using their own mass to protect the vulnerable orbiting city-sized space stations. Powerful deck cannons fired missiles and energy upon the enemy ships, decimating them.
But it was slowly, once again, becoming a matter of numbers. It was now the denizens of one planet against the soldiers of many. Even with the massive planet-wide retaliation, the surface of the Earth was in turmoil. Streamers of enemy fire raked the planet below, leaving a scorched Earth in its wake.
“Mark!” Ariel began with stunned trepidation edging her voice, “Cities are burning. New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, they’re all in flames, and more are being attacked at every moment.”
“This is like the end of the world,” Dan murmured.
“It will be Dan, unless we do something about it. There has to be a way to stop this.” Mark’s jaw set grimly in determined fury.
Red turned to him, “Cut the head off and the tail dies.”
“What?” Mark snapped, turning towards his tactical officer.
“The command ship. We take that down; this all goes to hell. Well, hopefully at least.” He shrugged.
“And what if it doesn’t? It’s a good start and I’m not discounting it, but we need to destroy this fleet completely.”
Red cocked his head sideways before continuing, “Start with the command ship, it’s as good a place as any. The rest we can make up as we go.”
Mark nodded in agreement, “All right, let’s do that.”
“Mark, what about that dampening weapon of theirs? You know they’re going to use it again and drain all these ships and stations of power?” Dan offered.
“Yeah, I do Danny, I’m working on that right now, I have a few ideas and you and I are going to talk about that after we take out that command ship.” Johnson turned back to Red, “Where is that damned ship?”
“Trying to find her now, boss. There’s lots of static out here, blocking sensors. They’re trying to hide it.”
“Where’s the static thickest? The most concentrated?”
“Ummm, this makes no sense,” Ariel exclaimed.
“What is it Ari?” Mark snapped.
She turned to look at him, “The largest concentration of what we’re referring to as ‘static’ is coming from Mars. Actually, behind it.”
“Sonuva-” Mark trailed off. “They’re hiding the command vessel behind the red planet. That’s why they cleared us from the asteroid belt. Whoever’s in command of this attack is orchestrating it from the dark side of Mars.”
“The cowards!” Dan blurted out angrily. “They’re usin’ their troopers like cannon fodder. They don’t care how many die, as long as the bosses are safe an’ sound. Sittin’ back sippin’ their lattes.”
“For all we know they may all be clones, which would make sense actually,” Red offered.
“Ari contact command, tell them what we are doing and where we are going. Warn them about that energy dampening attack they used on us, send them all the pertinent information we gathered on that attack before everything went dark, then tell them I’m working on something to counter it, but first we’re going to take out the command ship.”
“Got it,” she replied.
“Dan, get us back to Mars. Hyper-warp. Now!”
The Cagliostro exploded away from Earth as if it was shot out of a cannon, space blurred around it and the great manta-ray shaped ship disappeared, starlight reflecting off of its mirrored surface as it streaked away towards the red planet.
“Exit hyper-warp on the opposite side of the planet. Now it’s time to try out some of those improvements we installed after our shakedown run, Dan.”
Sledge nodded his big head grimly upon his muscular neck and shoulders, “Reflective skin?”
“Yes, I was saving it for something just like this situation.”
“We’re exiting hyper-warp now,” Dan commented.
“Turn on the reflective skin as soon as we exit.”
Dan nodded. “Done and done.”
“Let’s hope it works,” Eddie added.
“Agreed,” Mark replied
“Where to now, boss? Around the planet?”
“Yes, try to keep us close to the planet but stay out of the atmosphere; I don’t want them to see any heat ripples from us skirting what little atmosphere there is. Red, the Mars stations have all been evacuated, correct?”
“Yeah, they did that days ago, actually when we returned everyone was recalled. All our people are out of there.”
Mark nodded silently.
“What are you thinking boss?” Eddie asked.
“Don’t worry about it DiGenovese. It’s something nasty, and if I decide to do it you’ll be the first to know.”
Mark clenched his teeth and set his lip as thoughts and calculations flew through his mind quickly.
“Bring us about, Mr. Sledge. It’s time to confront our enemy face to face.”
The Cagliostro shimmered as the reflective skin took effect, more akin to a chameleon’s ability more than to true invisibility. But still the ship seemed to disappear, its graceful shape blending in with the space about it as it sailed around the curvature of the red planet towards its opposite side.
“Uhhh, Mark,” Red began, “the shields are down, you do know that right?”
“Can’t be helped, Red. It’s part of the reflective skin. For now we have to rely on our armored hull. Hopefully we won’t need either armor or shields, for now.”
“And that just make me feel all the more secure,” Red replied hesitantly.
The Cagliostro silently flew to the side of Mars away from the Sun, and almost immediately Mark ordered, “Full stop.”
Dan eased the throttle down on his virtual control panel as everyone upon the command deck caught their breath and stared silently at what was before them.
“I didn’t realize that thing was so big,” Eddie announced in an awed whisper.
“Yeah that’s one word for it I guess,” Dan replied, just as stunned by what he saw.
The ship that faced them was akin to a small city. It was tremendous, dwarfing the giant battleships that even now fought above the Earth.
“How come we didn’t realize how large this thing was earlier?” Red asked.
“Too many other ships around it at the same time I suppose, plus we were in battle. Some of its mass had to be hidden. At least that’s what I’m going with, for now.” Mark replied.
“So what do we do now? This thing is so big it’s ridiculous. I mean it’s almost the size of Manhattan Island.”
“I know Dan, I know. It’s probably got ridiculous firepower as well.” Mark paused a second before continuing, “But so do we.”
“Ariel put me through to the heavy ordinance bay please.”
She looked at him warily, narrowing her eyes to slits, and then she clicked a few buttons on her virtual control panel. “They’re up, Mark.”
“Gentlemen I need the Planet Buster weapon readied for immediate firing.”
All heads on the deck turned to stare at Mark when he spoke.
“You’re going to use it?”Ari asked incredulously.
“Yes I am. I don’t care if I have to take Mars down to do it either. It’s a lifeless rock, and Earth is all that matters right now. Everyone on the Earth is counting on us to save them, and we are about to.”
Everyone on the command deck stared first at Ariel then at Mark, then back to Ariel once again.
Finally she spoke, “Mark, I’m not arguing with you on this. I’m not trying to be your conscience, not at all. I want this to work, if it’s going to save our world.”
“So do I Ariel, so do I. I don’t just want this to work, I expect it to.”
She nodded then, setting her beautiful jaw firmly, before answering, “Good,
then let’s blow these bastards straight to hell, where they belong.”
“How are you gonna do this boss?” Dan asked, “You gonna fire it into the planet or directly at the ship?”
“Danny, I have to get through their shields first to nuke ‘em outright, which with our nukes payloads shouldn’t be a problem, it’ll probably disintegrate that ship instantly, but I don’t know that it will definitely. If I sacrifice Mars, its larger mass will cause them to be sucked in to the black hole or singularity that will exist there temporarily.”
“What about us? We’ll be sucked in too, won’t we?”
“No, Eddie. If we hyper-warp the instant that missile is away, we’ll be fine.”
“I say open the singularity up in their faces. Use their ship for the mass.” Everyone turned towards the sound of Ariel’s voice. “What? It’s the logical thing to do. Hit them straight on. After everything these bastards have done to us this past few weeks, they deserve to be nuked.” Her voice was vehement as she finished.
Suddenly the Cagliostro rocked hard as a klaxon went off.
“We’re under attack!” Red shouted.
“No, really?” Eddie replied.
“They saw through the reflective skin,” Dan announced.
“Shields full strength, double front, damage control I need assessments yesterday,” Mark commanded.
The Cagliostro began to weave through space, energy blasts sparking on its shields as the great ship swooped and dove to and fro majestically under Dan’s deft manipulations.
“Heavy ordinance, what’s your status?” Ariel shouted as the ship shook again from another hit.
“The weapon is being loaded now, command.” A static filled voice replied frantically.
Again the ship rocked violently as Dan flipped it over and shot away from the planet at an angle. Dan’s face was tense as sweat dripped down his brow, even though the command deck was cool, which he wiped with the back of his hand.
“How’s our hull integrity?” Mark questioned, exuding calm and confidence even though it seemed like hell was exploding all about them.
“Hull integrity is strong but dropping steadily with each hit,” Red replied, “Shields are taking a beating from that thing. We’re down to fifty eight percent now.”
“Just keep that ship within range, Danny. We’re only going to get one shot at this.”
“Understood, boss-man,” Dan replied nervously as he fought the controls.
“Mark!” Ariel shouted, “We’re being hailed by the enemy ship.”
Mark looked at her sideways at first, and then nodded. Instantly the same yellow skinned alien with the large black eyes they had encountered earlier appeared on the view screen, “Greetings human Captain,” the alien began. “You will immediately surrender your crew and your ship will, of course, be destroyed. That is the only ‘deal’ that will be put forth.”
“Here’s the only answer you’re ever going to get, you mass murdering sonuvabitch! This one’s for General Abruzzi!” Mark replied as he punched a glowing red button on his virtual control board.
Instantly the missile carrying the war head leaped from the underbelly of the manta-ray shaped vessel, streaking across space towards its intended prey. A heartbeat after the missile left its launch tube, the Cagliostro disappeared in a burst of light.
Aboard the Agalum command ship, the alien commander shouted, “Battle stations!” then continued with, “Shields at full! Brace for impact!” as the missile streaked unerringly towards the huge ship. “These foolish humans dare to fire a missile at our vessel? Surely they underestimate us.”
“Commander!” one of his subordinates shouted in obvious fear, “That weapon is nuclear!”
“What?” The commander leapt from his seat and stared incredulously as the nuclear warhead exploded upon their shields, spreading light as great as a newborn star out behind Mars
A hundred thousand miles away the Cagliostro stood stationary and all aboard watched as the nuke exploded, sending cascading waves of radiation across the Agalum command ships shields, instantly collapsing them.
“Boom.” The word escaped Mark’s lips as he watched the second component of the planet buster begin to work. Built to destroy a world, the quantum singularity generator had no problem using the mass of the city-sized ship itself to create a smaller, but still powerful artificial black hole that sucked the Agalum vessel into its maw, crushing it like wadded paper.
The enemy command and control ship disappeared into the event horizon of the black hole, crushed to less than one tenth its size. After he watched it disappear, Mark touched another button on his console, which fired a second missile that streaked towards the artificial singularity and impacted upon its spinning maw, exploding just as brightly as the first had, only this missile held a component that reversed the flow of the artificial singularities direction, effectively shutting it down.
Dan, Red and Eddie all turned and looked at him with their jaws dropped and their faces white.
“When’d you discover how to do that?” Eddie asked.
“A while ago, to be honest. Discovering how to shut it down was the hard part. It had to do with varying radioactive frequencies and such. It’s all very complicated.” He waved his hand dismissing it.
“Dan, get us back to Earth pronto,” Mark ordered. “We have a war to finish and fires to put out.”
The Cagliostro spun on its axis in space and disappeared into hyper-warp, leaving streaks of light behind it.
Seconds later it emerged above Earth, as battles raged all about space above the blue-green planet.
“Ariel, put me through on every damned frequency we have.”
“All bands are activated,” she acknowledged.
“Agalum vessels, this is Mark Johnson aboard the Cagliostro. Your command and control ship is destroyed. You are ordered to surrender and prepare your ships to be boarded.”
A moment passed with no reply, then a voice crackled over the communications unit.
“We will still destroy your entire fleet and then rain death on what is left of your world.”
Instantly the Agalum ships that were able to, began to line up as the dual prongs on each ship’s bow extended and began to glow.
“I seen this show before,” Dan growled. “I hope you got a trick up yer sleeve fer this one.” The powerhouse pilot/engineer turned towards Mark hopefully.
On the main view screen before them, the remainder of the earth fleet continued to bombard their enemies relentlessly.
“They’re not even firing back on our ships anymore.” Eddie commented as he turned toward Mark, “You better hurry boss, I think this is the final round and these guys are going for the knockout.”
Mark was staring at his display as he punched buttons and entered figures into a virtual pad that was suspended over the desk on his command chair.
“Boss, hurry!” Danny implored.
“Working on it,” Mark replied quietly, as he concentrated.
“Not to put too much pressure on you boss, but now would be good,” Red added.
“Working…”
Eddie turned nervously and looked at Mark, “Boss, you gotta hurry, if these guys fire that thing again, every earth ship will be destroyed, or de-powered. If this line of defense goes down, the planets a goner!”
In space the prongs on each of the enemy ships glowed brighter and then energy began to arc across their bows, connecting one ship to another.
“Dan, check this quick.” a display opened above Dan’s desk showing the mathematics Mark was working on.
Dan wasted no time, nodding his approval almost immediately. “Looks good.”
“Eddie, fire!” Mark ordered.
Eddie found a button glowing on his console and his aiming reticle was already up and ready. He didn’t hesitate at all as he aimed and fired in one precise motion, instantly a beam of energy streamed from the ships forward weapons array, directly at the energy stream that was now arcing through space connecting the
Agalum ships. The ray from the Cagliostro interrupted the arcing energy as it reached between the Agalum vessels and suddenly, spectacularly the enemy ships connected by the arcing stream shuddered for a nano-second before simultaneously exploding brightly, spraying near space with untold tons of debris from the enemy ships, which had exploded one after another straight down a many miles long line.
“Wow,” Eddie DiGenovese almost whispered.
“Yeah Eddie, that just about sums it all up.” Mark replied stoically as he flopped back into his chair and watched the small particles begin to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, leaving small fiery trails towards the planet’s surface, but disappearing as they turned to ash long before they would ever reach it.
The command crew continued to stare at Mark with a combination of relief and shock upon their faces.
Mark saw this and continued,
“What? You guys were actually worried? We had eleven seconds, I measured the time it took to fire that thing from the last time they used it at the asteroid belt.”
“And how long did that take?” Eddie asked.
Mark grinned, “Ten point two, we had plenty of time.”
Chapter 29
The fighting was not over yet. For two more days above Earth’s surface, as well as upon it, the battles raged. In space, Earth’s fleet, as well as her space stations harangued the remnants of the enemy fleet. Taking whole ships captive and destroying others. Mark Johnson and the Cagliostro led and coordinated those efforts, driving the enemy away, or decimating them where they tried to make a stand.
Earth’s fleet was now less than half of the size it had been, ship repair and reconstruction would commence immediately. The remaining ships would be placed in close proximity to Earth and her artificial satellites where ship building would be taking place.
On the evening of the second day a message was received from deep space. The president immediately contacted Mark Johnson and spoke to him behind closed doors.
Mark exited his conference room, rubbing his chin in thought as he sat down in his command chair. Ariel noticed the look on his face, and then nudged him mentally.
